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That fact doesn’t do much to ease my guilt, but it seems to have tempered the blame heaped in my direction.
“And before we lay Bernadette Brummett to rest, I do have an announcement to make,” the witch says, and bowed heads snap up across the crowd. “I’ve spoken with the other council members, and we’ve decided to add another chair to the table…for the Grundelier Coven.”
Gasps ring out all around as he locks gazes with me. Witches whisper to each other about the Grundeliers being extinct. Others whisper my name, having already figured out who and what I am.
And most-overwhelming is the shock and disdain that the council would ask a vampire to join their ranks.
I shake my head slightly, but the witch just presses his lips together before lifting a hand in the air to silence the furious, yet quiet, conversations that have broken out. The noise ceases in an instant.
“I know this is a shock to most of you, and you will have a chance to discuss it with the council at length at another time. For now, let us lay our dear, sweet Bernadette to rest.”
Voices ring out in a soft, mournful song as two men work to engage the motorized pulley system attached to the coffin. A soft hum fills the air, and the coffin begins to slowly move, lowering into the deep hole beneath it.
Steph lets out a painful wail, then leans into me, burying her face in my chest as she sobs. I wrap my arm around her and hold her firmly against me as Jesse tightens the grip he has on my other hand.
That’s when I feel it. A churning in my gut that’s never steered me wrong.
Someone is watching me, and not because I’m a vampire at a witch funeral, the ultimate cause of Bernadette’s demise, or the next possible member of their esteemed council.
No. It’s something else. Something deeper.
Lifting my head, I look over first my right shoulder, then my left, scanning the sea of faces. Several people catch my eye, but none of them seem to be causing this feeling inside me.
It feels…electric.
Like the moment I found the ruby necklace that suddenly feels hot where it presses against the skin of my chest beneath my black dress.
I gasp at the feel of it and what I know it means. I scream as the expected pain streaks through my head. Steph bolts upright just before Jesse lands on his knees in front of me, his hand gripping my cheeks.
Then everything goes black.
30
A LIE
Iblink my eyes open, then blink again as the scene forms around me. It’s familiar. I’ve been here before, though not physically.
This is the exact setting of the vision I had that day in my hotel room. The vision of my birth.
The hard tiles bite into my knees as I push myself up to my feet. I glance around to gain my bearings, and a low groan comes from my left.
A woman is stretched out on a bed, panting and moaning in pain while two women hover around her. The man is leaning against the wall next to the entertainment center, still in that Green Day t-shirt and jeans. The woman on the bed screams, and my gaze darts back to her.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” the man says, and I freeze, my eyes flaring wide.
That voice.
“You know we can’t do that,” one of the women replies, and the bedside lamp clicks on.
But my gaze remains on the man, who straightens and steps into the light. His features aren’t blurred this time. Everything is crystal clear. My throat tightens painfully as electricity skims over my skin.
“It’s too dangerous,” the woman goes on, just like before. “The baby––”
And once again, the laboring woman’s shout cuts off her sentence, and the man rushes from the corner to her bedside. Taking her hand, he squeezes it.
“What can I do? Tell me what you need, Evie.”
That’s when I finally let my gaze move to the soon-to-be-mother’s face. I don’t want to look, but I know I have to. I have to see if I’m right.
