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Francis steps out of her house next door and looks to Cinitta, who stands on shaky legs.
“You’re home,” she says, making her way to us. “And you brought a fire witch.” She reaches for Cinitta, who takes her hand, and helps her walk. “We fixed your house.” Other witches appear as I push the small gate open. Francis and Cinitta follow me through.
This place holds memories of good times.
Of how my sisters and I would play late at night before our mother would call us to come inside.
Of where I learned to fight and hide my magic as well as use it.
I push the front door open and note it is not the same inside. Even though the colors are there, it’s not how I remember it. Gone are the old walls that more than likely contained mold, and in their place are new planks that smell of fresh pine.
“We hoped you would reside back here where you belong, as our queen,” Francis says. I turn around to see Cinitta sitting on the floor, her head between her legs as she takes deep breaths. I walk over and place my hand on her head, giving her some of her power back. I don’t need it now, as I’m full of vampire power.
Cinitta sighs heavily when the power enters her, and her cheeks pinken.
“Thank you, queen,” she says, looking up at me with beautiful eyes.
“You don’t have to call me that,” I tell her. “Not you.” I touch her face, and she smiles.
“If you require anything, anything at all—” Francis is cut off as a girl runs into the house and comes to a stop in front of her.
“The vampires’ homes are all on fire. Most of them are dead,” she says while gasping for breath. I turn away when Francis looks at me.
“Queen.” I don’t answer, I just continue to observe. “Did you do this as a gift to us?”
A gift?
I guess witches would see it that way, considering vampires love our blood, and we hate them.
“She did,” Cinitta says. “A display of her powers.”
“Of course… of course.” Francis nods as the young girl stares at me.
“I heard you are the daughter of the Devil.”
Francis slaps her hard across the face. “You will not say such things out loud, child.” The girl starts crying and runs off. Francis looks at me. “I’m sorry for my niece. She will not say such things again.”
“Why? It’s true,” I reply with a smile.
Chapter Twenty-Two
TATIANA
We’ve been running for days. I’m tired, and half our people have died. John has lost hope. He’s angry, hurt, and desperate. I get it, I really do. But we have never dealt with something this powerful before. And no matter what traps and tricks we leave for it, it always finds a way through to get to us.
“It will kill us all,” one of the wolves says as we continue to walk. My feet are sore, almost to the point of bleeding. Our only hope now is to try our family home, hoping that maybe a witch old enough has dealt with something like this before or knows of something we haven’t tried yet.
We first have to make our way through the vampire quadrant, which is not a smart thing to do with wolves, especially with our numbers dwindling. But we have no choice. It’s the only way to get to the witches’ quadrant. We could try our luck and ask a vampire if they know what we’re dealing with, but I’m not sure they would give us answers, considering they hate our kind. Vampires only care about themselves and love power, probably equally as much as they love each other. The only thing they love more is blood, and we’re walking blood bags going into their area.
It’s not the smartest thing to do, but we have children with us, and going the long way around is incredibly hard to do with little ones who can’t climb by themselves.
One of the wolves up front yells out to John. He checks on me before he runs off, then they stand at the top of the hill, scanning the area ahead. We all watch them, unsure of what is happening but not wanting to move, just in case. I watch as John turns around and waves, indicating for us to follow. When we get to the top of the hill, we all stop and look down.
What was once one of the most beautiful areas in Cardia is now nothing but burned piles of ash and rubble. Houses that were better than the ones we lived in growing up are still on fire. I’ve never seen this much destruction before, and I know who did it in my heart. We should be thankful, but I have a feeling that’s only going to cause more trouble than it’s worth.
