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Peri stopped in the middle of the room as Skye moved toward the tray perched on the edge of the desk.
“What are you doing up past the witching hour?” she demanded of Maya, trying to lighten the tension that pulsed in the air.
“Thankfully, I’m not a witch,” Maya countered in dry tones.
“No shit.” Peri grimaced. A witch was a woman who could use spells and incantations, but they didn’t possess wild magic. Which was why they routinely tried to destroy mages. “What happened?”
Maya nodded toward the leather chairs, her scar more pronounced than usual. “Maybe you should sit down.”
Peri clenched her hands. She hated surprises. Probably because they usually tried to kill her.
“Maya. Just spit it out.”
“Sorry.” Maya wrinkled her nose. “There’s no easy way to say this. Your mother is dead.”
Peri absorbed the news with a small flinch. Her mother was dead. The woman she’d hated with the force of a thousand fiery suns was dead. The bitch who’d condemned her to death on her sixteenth birthday was dead. The leader of a witch’s coven who placed her ruthless ambition above the life of her only child was dead.
Dead…
It didn’t seem possible.
“When?” The word came out as a hoarse croak.
“Last night,” Maya said.
“I…” Peri’s words faltered, her brain functioning in weird bursts intersected with blank spaces. “How did you find out?”
Maya touched her temple. “Our Benefactor.”
The Benefactor didn’t have a name. At least Peri had never heard Maya say it. In fact, all she knew was that the mystery creature spoke to the older woman telepathically and that he offered a cloak of protection to Maya, and indirectly to Skye and Peri. Not a tangible source of security, but a basic understanding that they were allowed to remain independent.
A special gift for mages, who were rare enough to be highly sought after by the Vampire Cabal. And the reason they’d never been forced to become Valen’s minions.
In return, he occasionally demanded that they complete random tasks.
“What did he say?” she asked.
“Not much,” Maya admitted. “He simply urged me to check out the news connected to Wisdom Ranch.”
Peri’s breath tangled in her throat. Wisdom Ranch was the name of the isolated compound her mother owned to provide privacy for her coven.
“Let me see.”
Maya held her gaze. “It’s bad, Peri,” she warned.
Peri clenched her teeth, her fingers brushing over the scar in the center of her chest. “When it involves my mother it’s always bad.”
Maya stepped toward the desk, turning the computer monitor so Peri could see the front page of the Casper newspaper.
Mass suicide at Wisdom Ranch.
Following a tip from an unknown source, law officials made a grisly discovery at the ranch located north of Casper, Wyoming. Twelve women were found dead in a locked barn.Although the sheriff has assured the public that he has ruled out foul play, he refuses to give details, citing an ongoing investigation. More information as it becomes available.
Peri sucked in a sharp breath. “Twelve? That’s most of the coven.”
“I’m sorry,” Maya said.
A strange numbness spread through Peri. Shock. No matter her troubled past with the coven, the thought of twelve women destroyed in one night was horrifying.
