by Ava Benton
Cressida sat in the first chair on Vanessa’s right, while her sister Mariya sat in the chair on the left.
I took my customary place just a step or two behind the high-backed chair, watching the room.
“There’s a piece of business I would like to bring up at the start of our gathering,” Vanessa said, her voice rising.
She was anxious. Determined.
I could feel it as clearly as I could feel my own confusion.
What was she about to say?
She looked over all of them, one by one. “I’ve spent the last two weeks poring over the ancient books which record the history of our great coven. I’ve read of the Ancient Ones, the old laws set forth by them. I’ve even read of the prophecies the wise seers set down in those days. I’m sure we’re all aware of them, even if we’ve never read them ourselves. The talk of a Great One, one who would lead the coven through millennia.”
“Yes, yes,” Cressida smiled, cutting her off. “We’re all well aware of these prophecies, High Sorceress. Sorceresses throughout the ages have referred to them. Some even thought the prophecies referred to them and their reign. But, we’ve all seen how easy it is to misinterpret a prophecy, as none of those sorceresses are ruling the coven today.”
“You’re correct,” Vanessa said.
I was surprised for a moment at how even she sounded. How smooth. She had anticipated her mother speaking up that way, of course. “Because none of them were smart enough to understand the prophecy’s true meaning, and how to make it a reality.”
A murmur rose over the room. “Please, explain,” Cressida said in a voice that towered over the others.
“Gladly.” Vanessa stood, hands at her sides.
Those hands were powerful. I had seen them do incredible things. I’d watched lightning bolts zigzag from her fingertips. I’d seen her part rivers, lift a train’s engine fifty feet into the air and hurl it a half-mile away. She could harness the wind, control fire, change her appearance at will. And she was young. Her power would only increase as she matured.
For the time being, those powerful hands stayed at her side, but I felt energy crackling through her as she spoke. “According to our ancient by-laws, it is not necessary for a High Sorceress to relinquish power after a set amount of time or when the ruling ones deem so. That’s a rule we set in motion ourselves after a lot of in-fighting and backbiting, centuries ago. Those witches are long since dead, but we still follow their rules. As High Sorceress, I have the authority to bypass those rules and revert back to the original law. Which I choose to do now.”
It took a second or two for the meaning of her words to sink in.
“You mean…” Cressida murmured, eyes wide.
“I mean I have no intention of relinquishing my position in the Crescent Moon Coven. Ever.”
2
Mariya
Just like that, all hell broke loose.
“You can’t be serious!” My mother—I think she’d prefer to be called Cressida, even by her daughters—sputtered as she almost leapt out of her chair. Her eyes flashed fire. “This is outrageous!”
Vanessa stayed calm, for once in her life. “Remember who you’re speaking to,” she said, and her face was as emotionless as stone. “I am your High Sorceress. I deserve respect.”
My mother’s—I struggled with calling her Cressida, most days—face turned ten shades of red, and I could just see the wheels turning in her head as she imagined all the different ways she’d love to punish my sister.
But Vanessa was a little too old to be taken over her knee and spanked. She had been too old for a long time, and way too powerful.
“High Sorceress,” I said, stepping in between the two of them without thinking first. Just as I had been doing my whole life. “This is a very serious declaration. You’ve dropped it on us all at once, without giving us time to process it.”
Vanessa’s eyes softened, but just a little. They hardened again. How many times had I seen that stubborn look? She was born with it. “You can process it however you want. In your own time. But it doesn’t change the facts.”
“Vanessa…” I pleaded with her silently.
We still had enough of a connection as blood sisters that we didn’t always need to use words to understand each other.
And I felt what was going on inside her. How unsure she was at her core, and how determined she was to have her way. She’d always had her way. One of the pitfalls of being the most powerful witch born in centuries. She didn’t know how to live life otherwise.
“You’re all invited to go over the ancient texts, the way I did,” she offered with a smile, looking out over the rest of the coven.
I followed her gaze.
A few of the witches looked happy. A few looked like they couldn’t care less, since they would never be High Sorceress anyway.
Then there were the others. Those with exceptional powers who had probably been scheming to take over after my mother stepped down.
Vanessa was by far the youngest of us ever to take control, and they hadn’t expected her to come into full power for another few decades at least.
It wasn’t nepotism, either. My mother had nothing to do with the process. Still, they had hoped they would have their turn when the time came.
If Vanessa got her way, they never would.
She had to see what this would do to the coven.
I looked at her again, silently begging her to calm down and rethink her crazy proclamation.
All she did was dig her heels in deeper and double down. She always doubled down.
“If any of you have a problem with this, you’re more than welcome to address it with me—after you review the laws, as I did, and after a majority of the coven reaches the same conclusion. Just don’t expect me to change my mind, because I’m in the right.” She held her head high and let the chaos swirl around her.
“I don’t think this is wise,” I murmured just low enough for her to hear. “Vanessa, stop this now. Think it over.”
Her eyes shifted, and she looked down at me, but her face didn’t move.
The candles went out all at once, like a single breath had extinguished them.
The ground started shaking under my feet.
“Vanessa,” I growled under my breath as I fought to stay upright.
My mother leaned on me, and I helped her find a chair as she stretched one arm out and relit the candles.
Just another one of my sister’s temper tantrums, though I had never seen her throw one of them in front of the coven before.
I looked at her again and the smug little smile she wore made me want to slap her until I couldn’t raise my hand anymore.
Spoiled little brat, I thought, shooting it her way.
She didn’t flinch. She was too busy enjoying the little bit of chaos she had just caused as witches got back on their feet and dusted off their robes.
I glanced over at Elias, standing just behind Vanessa and to the left.
He stood the way he always did, with his feet at shoulder width and his hands behind his back. Nothing about his stony expression told me what was going on in his head.
What did he think about my sister’s ridiculous announcement?
Had she told him about it? No, she wouldn’t. She loved the element of surprise, the drama.
I always thought she should study acting.
His ice blue eyes, ringed in red the way all vampire eyes were, told me nothing as they stared straight ahead.
“Any other objections?” Vanessa asked sweetly.
“We’ll have a talk about this,” our mother promised.
“Fair enough. I’ll be happy to meet with you upstairs in the library. You can be the first to look over the texts if you want to.”
The coven parted as Vanessa made her exit, swishing her robes around like a little kid playing dress-up in front of a mirror. Acting the manner she thought a powerful witch should act, admiring her reflection.
Elias followed her up the stairs, as always.
“Who does she think she is,” My mother hissed, jumping to her feet.
“Please, Mother—“
She shot me a pointed look.
I gave in. “Cressida. Let’s calm down.” I glanced around the room.
Too many ears were listening while their owners bent over backward to pretend they weren’t.
I persisted. “We’ll go upstairs and talk to her and make her listen to reason. You know she always does, eventually.”
“I don’t know this time. I truly don’t.” My mother smoothed a few strands of gray-streaked black hair which had escaped her long, thick braid when she fell.
“It’ll be all right.” I hoped. I didn’t know. But I hoped. I shot a few reassuring, if apologetic, smiles to my coven sisters as I crossed the floor.
As always, I felt like I had to apologize for something Vanessa did. My burden. If I believed in karma, I’d have to wonder what I did to deserve her.
My mother’s shoes clicked on the floor as she marched to the library.
So fast, I had to jog to keep up.
Vanessa was in there, standing behind a podium on which a thick, dusty-looking book was lying open.
Elias stood by one of the windows, emotionless. He had to think something about this—if Vanessa never stepped down, he would be by her side for as long as she lived instead of going into stasis back in The Fold’s underground caves. He had a stake in her decision, too.
I wondered if he and Vanessa had exchanged any words before we got there and told myself for the thousandth time that I thought too much about the two of them.
Even so, I looked at him one more time before taking my place next to my mother, who glowered at my sister.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed. “I didn’t bear you and raise you and train you for this, Vanessa.”
“You did all those things in order for me to one day step into my power, which I’ve done.” Vanessa shrugged her thin shoulders. “I mean, what did you expect? Did you think I wasn’t smart enough to look these things up for myself?”
“Smart? Or devious?” My mother asked.
“What’s devious about making sure I know everything there is to know about my coven? About my place in it? About our history? I mean, you don’t want me to walk around with my head up my ass, do you? It wouldn’t look good for you,” she added with a nasty grin.
“Ness…” I whispered, shaking my head. Hoping that using her nickname would snap her out of her power trip.
She was playing with fire.
My mother might not have been quite as powerful as Vanessa, but she would put a hurting on her if given the chance. And all she wanted right then was an excuse.
Only the thought of what would happen if the High Council found out stopped her. It was a crazy situation, having to step down and let her daughter tell her what to do. I felt sorry for her. It wasn’t fair for Vanessa to take advantage of her power.
Vanessa sighed as she looked at me. “Don’t you ever get tired of playing the go-between?” she asked. “I mean, if you would get a life, you would find out there are other things to do besides this.”
Rage started to simmer within me. I was no slouch, either, and I wanted to shackle her in electric chains and throw her off a bridge.
“Maybe if you weren’t always starting trouble, I wouldn’t have to smooth things over for you,” I hissed.
“Enough.” Mother placed a hand on my arm, warning me to stop. Her head snapped around as she picked Elias’s shape out of the shadows. “You. Did you know about this?”
“Excuse me?” His voice was a deep rumble.
“You heard me, Nightwarden. Did you know what my daughter was doing when she traveled to and from this place to study these texts?”
“He doesn’t tell me what to do,” Vanessa cut in. “And even if he did, I wouldn’t listen. He knows that.”
He cleared his throat. “With all due respect, it isn’t my place to advise the High Sorceress on her choice of reading material.”
I barely stifled a giggle and only managed it because I knew my mother would blow her top.
She scoffed. “Just like a vampire. Never stepping up when you truly need him to.”
“Mother, that’s enough,” I hissed.
“Mariya’s right for once,” Vanessa agreed.
For once. How cute.
The only thing keeping me from slapping her was the fact that she agreed with me.
“Leave Elias out of this. This is between us, and the fact is, you can’t handle knowing this isn’t your coven to lead anymore. It’s mine. I am the High Sorceress, and mother or not, it isn’t your place to tell me what to do. If I were anyone else, you wouldn’t dare face me this way.”
“If you were anyone else, I wouldn’t have to.” My mother shook with rage as she turned away and swept out of the room.
My heart sank.
They would never understand each other, and I would always be in the middle.
The way it had been for endless decades.
I turned to my sister. “Just give this a little more thought, all right?”
“I’ve done all the thinking I plan to do,” she fired back.
“And as usual, your logic is fine. Your approach is what you seriously screwed up. But, way to go, pissing off most of the coven.”
“It’s not up to them—”
“—to tell you what to do. I know,” I said, nodding. “But it’s up to you to keep the peace. Being a leader isn’t all about sitting on a big chair or standing in the center of a circle. I wish you had grown up a little more and figured that out before your powers presented themselves.”
She glared at me, almost vibrating with energy, but only whispered, “Is that all?”
“Yes. That’s all.” My eyes found Elias one more time—I couldn’t help myself—before I followed my mother out of the mansion and to the car out front.
She had cast a protection spell on it so to the untrained eye it only looked like a burned-out shell. The illusion fit in well in that neighborhood.
“Oh, I could kill her sometimes,” Mother fumed, arms crossed as the car pulled away. “I don’t feel comfortable going back to the house after that little performance of hers. I have the feeling things won’t settle down for a long time.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have left,” I murmured.
“I needed to get out of there,” she replied. “But you could’ve stayed.”
“No. I would’ve lost it if I stayed around much longer,” I had to admit with a heavy sigh as I tugged my way out my robes in the car’s confines. “She’ll always be Vanessa. A handful and a half.”
“And more,” my mother agreed. “I don’t mean to be so hard on her. You know that, right?”
“Of course.” It was a knee-jerk response, practiced over many years.
“Do you mind my company at your place? I would rather stay close.”
“Of course,” I said again. Another automated response.
I had a spare room just for her at my Manhattan apartment. I had planned on heading back to my home in the Hamptons after the meeting since I hadn’t been out there in weeks, but that wasn’t in the cards.
All thanks to my sister.
I imagined her leaving with Elias.
Going home with him.
And there I was, with my mother. Calming her down, as always.
Just another reason for me to wish our roles were reversed.
3
Elias
“I guess you want to know what that was all about.” Vanessa’s voice was quieter than usual. Meeker.
“Not in the least.” I looked out the window as the city raced past.
“You weren’t surprised?”
“Why should I have been? Nothing any of you do has anything to do with me. As long as I keep you out of harm’s way, my job is done. I have too many things to consider without worrying about your business.” I turned away from her to signal the end of the conversation and wished she wo
uld learn a little something from her sister.
Mariya was the level-headed one. Guarding her would’ve been a breeze.
No. I ended up tethered to the impulsive one, the one who spoke first and thought later.
However… “ I hope you didn’t just make my job more difficult,” I said with a growl.
“What’s that mean?”
“It means you might have made a few enemies back there. You might have to watch your back now—or, rather, I might have to watch it for you.”
To say nothing of the fact that if she maintained power indefinitely, I would be stuck with her until the end of time. The thought of endless decades—centuries—at her side made me sick.
“Oh, give me a break. And you tell me I’m dramatic,” she sighed. “We’re coven sisters. Nothing can get between us. If it does, the punishment is death. You ought to know that by now. I’m not your first assignment.”
“That much is true,” I admitted.
“How long have you been at this again?” she asked.
“You know. I’ve told you how long.”
She was exhausting.
“Right. You turned back in... centuries ago. Isn’t that it?”
I nodded.
“And you’ve been Nightwarden to five High Sorceresses, including me?”
“Six, including you,” I amended. “The third didn’t live very long, though that was through no fault of mine. Witches weren’t known for living long lives back then, especially in New England. One Nightwarden against fifty men and women carrying lit torches and pitchforks isn’t my idea of fair odds.”
“Will you be honest with me about something?”
I wished she would shut up. “If it suits me,” I growled.
“Were any of them more powerful than me?”
“Come on…”
“Seriously. What difference does it make if the answer is yes? They’re dead now.”
If I had a beating heart, it would’ve clenched involuntarily at her words.
Yes. They were all dead.
“No, none were more powerful. And you already knew the answer before you asked the question.”
