Page 54 of Malice

“Seriously?”

“Yes. I didn’t know the name, but the specific cross symbol did belong to the church that used to be that exact location. Abigail Williams was a member of that church and died suspiciously in 1938.”

“What happened to her?”

“They think poison, but back then, they couldn’t be sure. And the only reason they think it was foul play was because in the weeks leading up to her death, several members of the church spoke against her, accusing her of being a witch.”

Chapter

Twenty-Two

The metallic whirl of the automatic blinds coming down, wakes me. I sit up, pulling out of Xavier‘s embrace. He’s asleep, and his arms around me are heavy. The room is pitch black so I conjure a string of magic so I can see. The remnants of my dream cling to me, and I have to remind myself what is real and not real.

I run my hands through my hair and look at Xavier lying next to me. I haven’t seen him fast asleep like this very often. When vampires are dead asleep, they look dead. Except in this case, Xavier would be the most beautiful and well preserved corpse I’ve ever seen.

I can’t quite remember everything about my dream, but it was similar to the one I had before where I was watching my parents discuss how to fight a demon. Did the Order know I came from a family of demon hunters? Was it some sort of sick irony on their part?

For my own mental health, I know I need to let it go. But I don’t know how I will ever move past this or let go of the anger. If they did this to me, who’s to say they won’t do this to anybody else?

I lay back down, watching the little string of magic float above me. My dream had to be just a dream. Premonition has never been my forte. Besides, my parents were alive in my dream. And I know they’re very much dead. Still, I can’t help but wonder what life would be like if they were alive or if somehow the graves I found were just markers like mine.

Obviously, I’m quite alive.

“Wren,” Xavier says sleepily. “Are you okay?” He reaches for me, rolling over so his body envelopes mine.

“Yeah,” I tell him. “Just a strange dream woke me up.”

“Want to talk about it?” he asks, kissing the nape of my neck.

“I think it was just a dream. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You can still talk about it,” he tells me.

“It was my parents,” I begin. “They were sitting around a table with a bunch of other people I think from their Coven. They were talking about hunting a demon.” I roll over and hook my leg over his. “Have you ever heard of witches hunting demons?”

“I have spent the better part of seven hundred years avoiding witches,” he reminds me. “But it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to me. Like you’ve said, having powers makes you a superior hunter. In a black-and-white world demons are bad. Humans are good. The Order isn’t the only organization who shares those beliefs. Well shared I suppose I should say.”

“You’re right. Anyway, in the dream, they were talking about how to hunt this demon and I know it’s probably just a dream and this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I want so badly for this to be a message from my mom. I want her to tell me what to do or, at the very least, to let me know that I’m doing okay.” Saying that out loud brings me relief. Xavier slides one arm underneath me and gently rolls me on top of him. “It’s silly, I know.”

“It’s not,” he tells me. “Everybody wants to know where they came from. I would say that’s normal. You were taken from your family before you got a chance to know them, so this would be the only way to communicate with your parents. I am sorry you will never get to know your parents. But I am certain they would be proud of you.”

“That shouldn’t make me so emotional,” I say with a laugh, blinking away the tears forming in the corners of my eye. “I wonder how they would feel about knowing I am married to a vampire.”

“They’d be very jealous,” he says, and slides his hands to the small of my back, fingers inching underneath the hem of the oversized T-shirt I wore to bed. He puts his lips to my neck. “When this is over, Wren, and it will be, let’s go back to Connecticut. I’m sure we can find some of your relatives somewhere or at the very least you could see where you lived before the Order kidnapped you.”

“You’ll come with me?”

“I would say I don’t want you going alone, but you seem to just do what you want anyway.”

“True, but come on,” I say with a smile on my face. “That’s just part of what you love about me, right?”

“Definitely part of it,” he says, and I feel his cock starts to get hard beneath me. Desire swells in me, taking over. Sex with Xavier is more than just physical. It transcends something and I never really understood it until now. He kisses me and slowly removes my clothes until I’m lying there, bare on the mattress beneath him. Being with him like this, completely naked and vulnerable yet knowing there is no one else in the entire world I trust more than him is a whole new level of connection I never thought I’d have.

He puts his mouth to my neck, fangs pressing against my skin. I turn my head as I reach up and take a tangle of his hair, pressing his face against me, offering both my body and blood to him. We kiss as I remove his pants, body desperate to feel him inside me. Usually, he will tease me, make me wait because somehow he has total control whereas I give in, wanting to be pleased now.

But tonight, he’s feeling the desperation just as much as I am.

“I wish you could stay,” I tell Leo, giving him one more hug before he gets in the car to leave. Hector is taking him back to Asheville today. I know it’s not a true goodbye, but having both my brothers here the last day or so has brought me more comfort than I thought it would.