Each of the other men were doing the same with their wives – making promises that they were not sure they could keep.
All except Lafayette.
Standing quietly, looking the fiery hole where his house used to stand, he was struck with a jolt of bone breaking pain.
“Father?” Jules called out.
They all ran to his aid, but he raised a hand to stop them.
“Stay back,” he warned in a strained voice, crumpling to the wet ground. The rainwater washed over his silver head of hair and drenched his shoulders and back.
Burying his head in his hands for a moment, he prayed the pain had passed, but it quickly returned, much stronger.
Lafayette screamed out, lifting his head to the dark rainy sky. He grabbed his shirt and ripped it from his burning skin as his body finally combusted and set itself on aflame.
“Oh shit!” Toni screamed, covering her mouth. “Jericho, do something!”
Jacob fell backward onto the ground. Crawling away, he called to his father as black wings sprouted out of Lafayette’s back. Larger and larger they grew, expanding out several feet from his body. Raising from his knees, he felt his new appendages as they extended out.
“Father!” Jules screamed. He tried to run to Lafayette, but Nadia held him back. “It’s not him anymore,” she said, trying to reason with her husband. She shook her head emphatically. “It’s not him.”
With blazing eyes, Lafayette turned to his sons with an unreadable look on his face. His eyes were blazing with light, his skin ethereal and perfect, no longer bearing his human-made tattoos. The muscles in his wide chest flexed with returned vigor. Alas, he had been renewed.
“Father, are you alright?” Jericho asked cautiously as he blocked Toni from view. “Do you know us?”
Lafayette opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, a trumpet exploded in the air, sending everyone to their knees, covering their ears and fleeing from its powerful proclamation - everyone except Lafayette.
Lifting his head to the sky with closed eyes and a look of satisfaction, Lafayette flapped his new wings, levitating off the ground only a few feet first and then soaring up into the atmosphere at the speed of light and disappearing from his family.
The only thing left of him was the shirt he had torn from his body and the book sitting beside it.
Jericho quickly went to the book and picked it up. A feeling of deep sorrow filled him, though he tried to hide it. With tears, he turned to look at the large family left to him, understanding that as of right now, he was the head of the coven.
His father had warned him many years ago that when the call came, he would have to answer, but no one ever expected the appointed time to arrive so soon.
Everyone was looking to him for answers, and he had to provide that in due time for now, he had to get them to safety.
Looking down the driveway at the long processional of vehicles, he was relieved to see that they still had transportation.
“Right. Well, we have to go,” he said, moving toward the car with Toni. “Come on. All of us. Now.”
“Go where?” Jonas asked, walking with his wife. They had many places all over the world. The question now was which one was safest.
“To the mountains. Father’s old place in Austria. He kept it ready for us in preparation for this,” Jericho explained, and for the first time divulging the secret that he and his father had shared about the castle.
“I’m sure the planes are grounded,” Toni pointed out. Her voice vibrated against her fear. “How are we to get to another country, if we can’t even leave the city?”
“You have to trust me,” Jericho said sternly to Toni. He knew that she had a hundred questions. Who wouldn’t? But now was not the time. “No second guesses, no heroics. This isn’t a drill.”
Jumping into the passenger seat of Jericho’s car, Toni looked out of the window at the steaming depression where the house once stood and felt overwhelmed with responsibility. Her life’s purpose had abruptly begun, and her old life had suddenly ended.
Jericho jumped in the driver’s side and put his keys in the ignition. After checking to make sure that his brothers were ready to leave, he put the car in drive and turned toward the road.
The radio powered up to a DJ reporting on the afternoon weather.
Toni frowned. Why wasn’t there urgency in the man’s voice. Why wasn’t he reporting on the earthquake that had just hit.
Then suddenly, she screamed out, gripping the siderail of the door.
“What? What?” Jericho asked, foot pressed down on the accelerator. He looked over at her, eyes bright with fear.
“Martha!” she said with tears in her eyes. “She didn’t get out.”
“Damn it!” Jericho counted their first casualty. There was no way to go back and get her now. The house was underground, burned to a crisp, and there was no way he was going to risk Toni. “Don’t think about that right now,” he said, glimpsing into the rearview mirror.
“What am I supposed to think about then?” Toni asked seriously as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Surviving,” Jericho uttered.
Sitting deathly still as they, she looked out of the window at the trees that lined the property as they headed out onto the main road.
“Why aren’t any of the trees down like around the house?” she asked, sitting up.
Jericho changed gears as they headed out on the main road. The sun was already starting to peak out of the clouds again. “Because no one else even knows that this supernatural event just took place. They are still eating, still laughing, still living. The only people who know are people like us. Others.”
Toni envied the normals right now. At least she understood that life. This was all so surreal.
“I guess that’s why you aren’t worried about us getting a flight to Austria,” she said with a huff.
“We’ll be fine. I promise,” Jericho said, voice broken. He knew that she was worried, and for good reason, but he would not let anything happen to her. “I’ll get you to safety and then we can talk…about everything.”
She glanced over at him, grateful for his calmness. “What about Lafayette?” Toni knew how much Jericho loved his father. Watching him fly away had to be painful.
“He’ll be fine as well,” Jericho promised with a clenched jaw.
Closing her eyes, Toni rested her head back and tried to calm herself. As they had told her over and over, there was no turning back now. The only thing she could concentrate on was keeping her son safe.
“We’ll protect him,” Jericho assured her, putting his free hand over hers as he sped down the road. “We’ll protect them all.”
THE BEGINNING…
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You’ve now completed my first paranormal novel, Warlocks: The Creole Coven. Thank you so much for the time and energy you have given to support my work.
Now, I want to hear from you. After reading the beginning of Toni and Jericho’s epic battle against the other Laveau clan, would you like to see more of The Warlocks Series? Email me today with your thoughts mailto:[email protected].
If you really love the book, please give a good review and join my newsletter to get updates on when the next book will come out. But no matter what, please stay in touch.
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Book List
The Lonely Heart Series
The Ugly Girlfriend (2010)
Finding Opa (2010)
The Grunt 1 (2011)
The Contingency Plan (201
2)
Highness 1 (2015)
The Grunt 2 (2016)
The Medlov Crime Family Series
Dmitry’s Closet (2010)
Dmitry’s Royal Flush: Rise of the Queen (2010)
Anatoly Medlov: Complete Reign (2011)
Saving Anya (2012)
The Medlov Men Series
Vasily’s Revenge (2014)
Gabriel’s Regret: Book One (2016)
Gabriel’s Regret: Book Two (2016)
Anatoly’s Retribution: Book One (2017)
Anatoly’s Retribution: Book Two (2017)
The Agosto Family Series
Ivy’s Twisted Vine (2008)
The World in Reverse (2013)
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov:
Volume 1-7 (separate short stories)
UPCOMING BOOKS
The Lonely Heart Series:
Highness 2
Red & Blu
Gracie’s Dirty Little Secret
The Grunt 3: Gavin
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov:
Volume 8-12
The Agosto Series:
Wicker Men
The Medlov Men Series:
Dmitry’s Redemption (The Complete Book)
About Your Author
L atrivia Welch (formerly Latrivia Nelson) is a USA TODAY, Amazon and National Bestselling Author of interracial romance and interracial romantic suspense novels. She divides her life into three professions: author, CEO of Welch Public Relations and CEO of RiverHouse Publishing, LLC. Based out of Memphis, TN, she is considered one of the founders of the bw/wm romantic suspense genre. Latrivia is married to the love of her life, Bruce Welch, and is the mother of three beautiful children. She has penned over 20 novels under the Latrivia Nelson and Latrivia Welch brands.
Table of Contents
The Creole Coven
Latrivia Welch
Acknowledgments
Dear Readers
Latrivia Welch
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
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