Chapter 36
Severin
Only two days had passed since the fight against the Silver Lock Coven, but we were still weakened.
“Well,” Dina began, her hands twisting nervously in front of her.
We had decided a big meeting would help us all understand everything that had happened during the battle, so we were currently all outside in the grassy parts of the garden.
The worst of the wounded were left to rest inside the castle, but the rest of us were here.
I sat on a blanket with Felix in my lap, both of us needing closeness.
“I guess I should start with the worst first,” Dina took in a steadying breath.
“We lost twenty-three witches from our coven.” There were cries and I saw Dina’s own eyes were filled with them, too.
Dina stifled a sob as she continued. “Seven werewolves were killed, and all have been buried as is the tradition of the werewolves. My witches made sure they were all laid to rest in the closest forest, together with their fallen packmates.”
The werewolves around us howled in their human forms, showing their grief.
Dina continued. “I don’t have a number on the wounded, we’re all here in town, so I guess that doesn’t matter. But I also carry some good news.” She gestured to Giro, who quickly stood beside her in front of everyone.
Giro showed his wrist, the mark was black like a normal tattoo, the lines faded some, like it was done thirty or so years ago.
“I can finally speak freely without risking death,” Giro announced.
“I agreed to speak for my previous coven, a coven I was born into and forced to join, like so many others before and after me.” There was silence around us as everyone listened eagerly to Giro’s words.
“We weren’t allowed to leave the coven and join another, that would mean death.
We weren’t allowed to speak of our coven to anyone, just that we belonged to that coven. ”
“What about their killings?” a werewolf from the crowd asked, holding up her hand as she did so.
Giro nodded before answering. “I had no idea about them killing other species, but I did know they kidnapped witches and “convinced” them to join us.”
“What will happen to the Silver Lock Coven now?” I asked.
Giro shrugged. “They can do what they please. Dina gave them her number if they needed help on how to create their own covens, since no coven should ever be as big as theirs. Even with their loss in numbers, it was too big. And before you ask, no, I don’t know how many of their witches were killed, or if they joined the fight willingly.
I also had no idea who Joel was. I hadn’t met him before I came here. ”
“I can answer that,” a familiar voice said.
Everyone looked around to find the person, but they would not find him.
“You can’t see me,” Alec replied, his tone amused.
“I am the vampire who killed Theodore Lendon.” There was silence.
“I would show myself, but the sun is out and I don’t feel like getting burned today. ”
Peter laughed at that. “Go on then, old friend.”
Alec laughed, too, before continuing. “I was contacted by a friend, telling me someone was targeting vampires, so I simply visited them and, well, spied a bit. I quickly noted that to get information, I would need to find the leaders, since the other witches in the coven rarely talked about coven matters.”
“I was there when you arrived in your cars, already knowing they expected you,” Alec continued.
“I simply waited for my time to shine, knowing the sun would burn me if I missed. I was still hurt by it, so I had to stay calm and avoid getting killed after. But I did tell Severin I was there, just in case.”
“Did you get any valuable information while spying?” I asked, pleased that this old acquaintance of mine had been this big of a help. I had foolishly believed him to be across the globe, living in the jungle. He had been a few centuries ago.
“I arrived around the time Joel returned to them, I didn’t like the way they spoke to him, so I stayed close. I had to know if he was there willingly or not, especially since he was spying on you while working here.”
“And?” Dina asked, her tone hopeful.
“His sister had been taken by the coven; he wouldn’t get her back unless he did what they asked of him.
They branded his chest so you wouldn’t see his mark on his wrist,” Alec explained.
“I don’t know much else, just that they put some kind of runes on his back, too, to mask him from other witches. ”
Peter gasped. “Was that why I could not sense his true aura?”
“What?” Giro questioned? He was back to sitting in Peter’s lap, also needing the closeness.
“I told you how I can see if people are good or bad,” Peter began and Giro nodded. “I saw Joel as good. Meaning the masking of his nature, must have also masked his aura.”
“Or,” Giro countered. “He was a good person deep down, and that’s what you saw. Not his forced actions.”
“It does not work like that,” Peter said. “People’s actions tie into their aura, too.”
“I doubt they knew of your abilities, brother,” I said, hoping to calm his nerves. He did not like others knowing what he could do, fearing it could be used against him. But he did not seem to mind our allies around us knowing. I liked that he was trusting them with this.
“I doubt that, too,” Dina said, smiling kindly at Peter.
The weather chose that moment to grant us the pleasure of rain, so we headed inside, glad to have the answer to some of our questions.
Whispering so Alec could hear, I invited him to one of our sitting rooms, figuring a chat was in order between us. Felix, Giro, and Peter came along, too, pleased to see if Alec had more information for us.
Cole had led Dina back to her room, likely to comfort her after we heard about Joel.
While I shut the curtains, Peter closed the door, making the room safe for Alec to turn visible in. He soon stood in the middle of the room, smiling smugly before he sat in one of the armchairs. I would have been smug, too, had I been the one to kill one of the leaders myself.
“Nice to see you again,” Peter said, sitting down on the couch next to Alec’s chair. Giro was glued to Peter’s side, sitting as close as possible without being in his lap.
“Likewise,” Alec grinned. “Always a pleasure to shock people.”
I laughed at that. “I had believed you to be deep in the jungle. Had I known you were reachable, I would have tried contacting you myself.” I knew several people that could have surely granted me his phone number.
He waved me off. “I left the jungle less than a century ago. No way you could’ve known. Reminia didn’t even know of my whereabouts. It was actually a human who called me, telling me Reminia had asked for his help. I tend to help out where I can, as you know, so I agreed to use my ability.”
Alec had been one of those vampires we would see every so often whenever chaos was involved, he was a good guy, one who sought out the thrill of battle, but still a kind person.
“Had it not been for you, we likely would not have made it,” Peter admitted. “We were outmatched by their numbers alone.”
“But not outsmarted,” Alec reminded us. “They weren’t ready for a strategic battle, only a fight where they cornered you and simply killed.
And trust me, from what I overheard, they expected you all to fall quickly.
They told their witches to fight for their loyalties, implying they could die by their branded tattoos if they didn’t. ”
Felix gasped. “They would kill them if they refused to fight?!”
Alec shrugged. “Maybe, or maybe they just said it as a threat.”
“Sick bastards,” Felix muttered next to me. We had taken the couch facing the others, allowing us the room to speak freely while still having some room to breathe in.
Alec smiled at Felix, I did not know if I liked it or not. Not that I did not trust Alec around my greatest treasure, but simply the reason why he was smiling.
“You were the witch whose sister was taken, other than Joel?” Alec asked Felix, who nodded. “I overheard them talking about her, Astrea. They wanted to find her after killing all of you, and take her back to them.”
Felix stiffened. “Did they say why?”
Alec’s smile was kind when he answered, “According to them, she held a great amount of healing power. They hoped she would pass that power on to a child.”
“That’s what they did,” Giro muttered angrily. “They would take witches and force them to join, then urge them to get pregnant with the male witches, who were rare in number so many fathered numerous children. It was disgusting, and the men were just as forced as the women.”
“Was that why they had tried to force you to marry Astrea?” Felix asked, knowing Giro would not have wanted to marry her.
“I told them I was gay, hoping they would leave me alone when they heard I wouldn’t like having sex with women, even without the issue of not wanting to be a father at such a young age as they wanted me to.
My grandpa told them I was old-school, that I wanted just one witch.
I still have no idea if he did it for my benefit or not, it did buy me more time and I was left to do what I wanted until they found someone. ”
“Astrea,” I said, already knowing what happened after that.
“It’s worse than that,” Giro admitted. Alec just seemed content to listen to all of this, so we continued now that Giro could finally tell us his story.
“They didn’t want to wake her, afraid that if they did, she would escape before branding her, and she needed to be awake to consent to the branding. I was asked to…”
“They wanted you to force yourself on her?!” Felix screeched in disbelief. “While she was still asleep?!”
Giro nodded, then swallowed before continuing.
“That was why they took her from the hospital. I was branded, and couldn’t refuse them.
My grandpa—he always refused to be branded, telling them it would ruin his ability to see into the future, and they believed him—He took Astrea into our home and told the leaders he would make sure I did my duty to the coven.
But before I could fight him on it, I was put into the same coma as Astrea. Then I woke up here.”
“It suddenly makes sense why you were so angry,” Felix said, a touch of humor in his voice.
Giro smiled sadly at his lap. “I still don’t know what my grandpa saw of the future, but it seems he did everything he could to make sure we won in the end.”
Peter rubbed his back. “Do you regret not going to the burial?”
Giro shook his head. “I was still too mad at him then. It wouldn’t have been a good choice for me. Besides, I was needed here, and with things turning out okay, it seemed all the choices were the correct ones.”
Felix seemed hesitant to ask his next question, but his curiosity must have won out. “What about your parents?”
Giro looked to the curtained windows, before sighing deeply.
“My mother is somewhere in the desert, finding witches for the coven. I believed her to be freed now, but since I’ve never known her without the brand on her skin, I don’t know where her true loyalties lie.
I was never told which of the male witches my father was.
Many of them didn’t want to be a parent to twenty plus children, and I get that, so I never bothered asking who it was. Today, I’m glad I made that choice.”