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“Five minutes,” he said seriously. “Make them back down, or I will—”
“Okay!” I said, rushing out of the room.
I took a deep breath before opening the front door.
When I did, there they were—Simone, Tate, Adelaide, Jericho, Faye, Tala, Fiona, and Rue, my circle. The nine of nine all geared up and ready for battle…against me, surrounding the cabin from the lake to the trees.
Anger was the very first thing I saw on Simone’s face. She was so angry, in fact, that she, of all people, looked like she was about to scream and cry and bring forth all the thunder in the sky.
“Let me explain,” I said to them.
“Aren’t you ashamed?” Simone snapped at me, and her fingers came alive with magic with her anger. She was hurt, betrayed.
I had betrayed them.
“I asked you a question!” she yelled at me, shaking. “Aren’t you ashamed that you, of all people, have become a vampire plaything!”
“Simone—”
“Don’t try to deny it. I can sense him. He’s in there with you now, isn’t he? A vampire, Druella! Our sworn enemies, bastards of nature and magic.”
“Don’t talk about him like that!” I yelled back, my magic also rising in anger, causing all the birds in the trees around us to take to the sky. “Just because we’ve been told and taught they are our enemies doesn’t mean they are.”
“No one needed to tell us, Druella! We’ve seen them murder for ourselves!”
“He and his kind do not need to kill. People offer—”
“What choice do they have against a vampire? Do you hear yourself?” She gasped, clearly shocked that I, of all people, was saying this to her. “Did you forget about what one of their kind did to our parents, to your father—”
“It was not this vampire who did it.” I couldn’t blame every vampire for the actions of one, just like with Wiccan or humans.
“It doesn’t matter!” This time, the earth trembled at Simone’s magic. I could feel it to the strength of her magic.
“It doesn’t matter if he didn’t do it. He is a vampire, and vampires drink, kill, and they—”
“And they love,” I said. I was sure he could hear me as clear as day, and I wanted him to. “Theseus loves me, and I love him. Vampire, witch, human. I don’t care. No one tells me who I am allowed to love. I can’t even tell myself—”
“Axel will,” Simone sneered, her fist tight. “You think the coven will just let this go? It is forbidden. If you do not stop, you will become our enemy, too.” She stepped closer. “Druella…I’m begging you, if you ever considered me like your sister, please, please stop this.”
“You are not hearing me, Simone! I can’t. I cannot stop my heart, and I cannot ignore it, either. He isn’t the villain! Hear me out!”
However, as the rest of them came closer, I knew they wouldn’t. They were all just like Simone.
“As your circle, it is our duty to stop you no matter what,” Simone said.
“Simone, this is dangerous,” I said to her.
“Just yesterday, we were all laughing,” Faye said, heartbroken as well. “If you come with us, Druella, the elders can erase this vampire from your mind, and we can go back to being a family. We all make mistakes. You’re Axel’s niece, the future of our coven, so he’ll forgive you.”
“I do not want to be forgiven by him!” I snapped, lightning striking through the night sky. “The coven is wrong!”
“How have you fallen so far?” Jericho stepped forward. “For thousands of years, this is how it has been, and for as many years until the day of redemption, it will still be done after us. Monsters and mortals cannot coexist.”
“So, it is either you for us, Druella, or you for the monsters,” Adelaide said, her cat, Shadow, sitting on her shoulder.
The looks on all of their faces were the same. They weren’t going to hear me, and they were going to do everything they could to bring me back to the coven. And then the book could be used to destroy everything without them realizing it.
“What is your choice?” they asked in unison.
