Chapter 19
Sammy
I really thought he’d understand where I was coming from.
Instead, he’d basically accused me of using him.
With a growl low in my throat, I shut off our connection.
I didn't want to feel his emotions right now. My own were enough. Everyone thought the best plan of action was to bait Joan with Blaze, but I was having none of it. I had to think about what we should do, without everyone’s interference.
There was a reason I had gotten used to doing things on my own. This was the reason. Involving other people just meant arguments, and compromise. What a dirty word. Why couldn't they see that I knew what I was talking about?
I was going to handle this without involving anyone else and without having to see anybody I cared about getting hurt. Once it was all over, everyone would understand, and I could ask for forgiveness instead of permission.
My plan was sound. I pulled out some paper and wrote a note to Anthony to let him know where I was going so that he could keep Blaze calm.
That was going to be a problem. As soon as he knew I was gone, that fool mate of mine would try to come after me.
I couldn't do what I needed to do if he were in danger.
There was nothing more important to me than keeping him safe.
For a split second, I opened our connection just to make sure I didn't feel any signs of distress.
I jumped to my feet when I felt panic and cursed for cutting off the connection to begin with.
And the panic was close. I rushed to my front door and as soon as I opened it, I heard his dragon land outside.
Shit, I had to go. Seconds later, I heard his voice. “Sammy! Get out here!”
My heart cracked at the sound of his concern, but I shoved down the pain, threw the letters on my kitchen table, and disappeared just as he entered the house.
Joan was close, but far enough away that it would take them a while to find me. The high priestess was far beyond Bluewater, pretty much baiting me to come after her.
I appeared on the trail that would lead me to her, and that sickly feeling in the air that was associated with dark magic tried to overwhelm me.
She was here, or had been recently, and she'd been doing evil magic. I followed the trail for a few minutes and found signs in a clearing of a dark ritual. Bones, what looked like blood splashed on the ground, signs of scorch marks on the earth. I cringed. Dark magic was so easily readable, and it made a witch quickly traceable because there was a print on it. Dark magic marked a witch’s soul every time she used it.
I hurried past the signs of the ritual and began to follow the path of the dark magic. Worry blossomed in my gut when the trail curled around and turned sharply back toward Bluewater. Why would she go back there?
I had to get back. I tried to poof back to my cottage, but I couldn’t move. Oh, no, my dumb ass had walked right into a trap. Just like they said we would.
Panic washed over me, but this time it was my panic, not Blaze’s. I rushed backward toward the ritual site and realized what was going on. Bile rose in my throat as I figured out what had happened here.
A cackle of laughter in the distance changed my panic to anger. She wasn’t in the clearing, but she was close.
“You are so predictable. I knew you’d come alone.” Joan’s nasally voice drifted through the trees from all directions.
I whirled around in circles with my magic ready to defend or attack, but I didn’t see her yet. I also couldn’t sense her.
“It’s just like you to be the loner. It took a while to get the spell just right.
It had to be strong to hold the great Samantha Black.
” Her low chuckles pounded at my ears like a drumbeat.
“It should hold long enough for me to do what needs to be done. I do hope you enjoyed your short reunion with your mate, because it’s going to be his lifeblood that brings me back to my full power. ”
“I’m going to kill you slowly,” I threatened. She had to know that I told the truth, there was no lie in my voice. And witches always knew.
“Of course you are, dear. Once you’re dead, I’ll start a new coven.” More laughter.
“As soon as I get out of here, I will not stop until I find you. You had better be prepared to run.” I pushed my power against the ward and kept trying to poof out. Roaming around the clearing, I searched for a weak point. “Mark the minutes.”
“You’re welcome to try, dear, but my new little witch, Roxy, she's a lot like you. As well she should be, since she’s your little sister.”
My blood ran cold. That wasn’t possible. Deserted as a child. Abandoned because my magic was too strong, and my parents feared me. They had dumped me on the coven to raise me because they didn’t know what to do with my magic.
“It’s really a shame, they did the same thing to poor Roxy. They dumped her off, but instead of doing it because she was too strong, they did it because she wasn’t showing any signs of magic. The poor lamb.”
Roxy’s scream filled the air.
“I’ll get you out, Roxy! I’ll save you!” I desperately hoped I was telling her the truth and that I could save her.
“Not to worry, Sammy. Your parents have paid for their crimes. They met their fate.”
Roxy screamed again, and I dropped to my knees, my emotions overwhelming me. I couldn't find a weak point to break through the ward. My magic reacted to my emotions, boiling over and feeling like it was going to split me down the middle.
Somehow, in my turmoil, a voice reached my ears that was not Joan or Roxy. “You’re so stubborn.” It was Olivia! Was I hallucinating? But then more voices filled the air.
“You look so like your mother.”
I jumped to my feet and whirled around. Women walked out of the trees. Most of them older, like Olivia, but some were younger, as young as what looked like a teenager.
“How?”
My magic and rage still boiled, like it would consume me, but then the women’s magic drifted toward me and it felt familiar. Like family. I couldn’t touch it thanks to Joan’s dark magic, but I still felt the belonging.
They were my coven.
Olivia stepped forward and I spotted Livvie behind her.
“You’re not alone,” Olivia said. “We’re counting on you to end Joan, but you have to trust us. You’re not alone.”
My throat clogged as I looked at these women who had come to help me, even though it put them in very real danger. “Why?”
“It was your destiny,” Olivia said. “We always knew you’d do right by the coven.”
“But first,” Livvie said. “We have to get you out.”
None of them had crossed the line over into the ward.
They began to crack their magic against the barrier.
A big grin spread across my face as I gathered the considerable magic that had risen in me, digging deep, and then slashed it against the dark magic.
The combination of my magic with theirs shattered the barrier.
I looked around at my coven, my sisters. “I’ll do right by you.”
Olivia nodded. “Of course you will, but for now you need to get home. Quickly!”
They were right. Joan was already gone. She’d left probably before we actually broke through the barrier. Now all she had against me was Blaze. I had to get to him first.