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“I need to go to Oldwood Forest. The mother, she’s summoning me.”

“Why?”

Because she’s about to strip us of our powers. “I’ll find out when I get there,” I said instead. I didn’t know if the mother was open to making a deal or some other bargain, but I was willing to offer her my soul, if she was interested, to make sure my family didn’t suffer this.

Rose…she wouldn’t survive being stripped of what power she had.

“Is this what usually happens?”

My mind spun, and my stomach churned. “I don’t know.”

He gripped my upper arms. “Don’t go.”

I wish. But if I didn’t go, the punishment would no doubt be worse. “I have to.”

I pulled from his hold, shoved my feet in my boots, picked up my blade from the floor where it’d fallen, and jogged down the stairs.

“I’m coming with you,” he said, pounding down after me.

I’d say no, but I had a feeling I’d need help getting home once the mother was finished with me. “Fine, but you have to promise you’ll stay back.”

He grunted.

“I mean it. No matter what happens, you stay the hell back.”

“Is that you, Wills?” Mom called from the living room.

What the hell was I going to tell them? You won’t need to tell them anything, they’ll feel the mother stripping their power along with yours. I was going to throw up. “Yeah, I have to go out. Be back soon.”

“Is Warrick with you?”

“Yes!”

“Oh good, have a nice time.”

I rushed outside, climbed into the Morris, and fired her to life.

Warrick got in beside me. “I don’t like this. What the fuck happens now? What will she do to you? Every time you see that bitch, she pumps you full of fucking venom. Not fired up to watch her take a bite out of you, dove.”

However badly she’d hurt me in the past was going to be nothing compared to what was about to happen. “I don’t know what happens now.” I licked my lower lip and was hit with another taste of him. God, I wanted him to haul me into his arms at that moment, to tell me that everything would be okay, so badly I ached. But it wasn’t okay. It was the complete fucking opposite of okay. The mother was about to strip my entire family of everything.

“We better get going. The mother doesn’t like to be left waiting.” Shifting the Morris into gear, I roared down the driveway.

Warrick remained quiet after that, a large silent dark cloud beside me, and since my head was all over the place, wondering what I was walking into, I was okay with that.

Oldwood Forest was about twenty minutes from home. The Roxburgh State Forest split into two and joined with Wolf Hill Woods a hell of a long way from here, and both were currently full of monsters. Good times.

I parked the Morris, climbed out, and headed into the forest. Warrick was right behind me.

There was no moon tonight; it was concealed by dark clouds. The wind was gusty and icy, and it whistled through the trees, making branches creak and dead leaves fly around us before hitting the forest floor.

The animals had obviously found places to hide for the night, and I hoped that included the two-legged creatures that lived here as well. I was tired, worried…scared for my family and what this would mean for us, for our entire coven.

I hadn’t just failed Mom and Else, and my sisters. I’d failed my entire coven. Would they kick us out after this?

We made it to the clearing without too much trouble. A demon ran at us about ten minutes after we arrived, and Warrick beheaded it with his bare hands.

The next one, I got with my blade, taking it down, and again, Warrick tore his head off. He certainly was consistent. And I was much obliged. I wasn’t sure I had a decapitation in me right then, not when my stomach sank more and more with every step closer to the clearing that we got.