Chapter Twenty
Melinda
The smell of hay, wood and gasoline wafted around me as I slowly regained conscience.
After I became aware, I felt a throbbing in the back of my head where Gene had hit me.
He was not my father, nor had he ever been.
I had lived a lie for my entire life. He had every opportunity to tell me, but waited until he decided to start killing people to tell me the truth. Only when I knew his dark secret.
Lies.
My entire existence had been fueled with lies.
From my mother’s death to now. The only truth was Lucien.
It was Isa, Ambrose and Erie as well. Even Bryon had hidden what he was from me, even Dorian, so had everyone in this godforsaken town.
Groaning, I rose from my propped position against a hay bale.
“Easy, Mel. He wasn’t gentle with you,” a feminine voice spoke from the other side of the hay bale. I peeked around it to find Taffy. “Hey.”
“Taffy? When did he grab you?” I asked as I knelt beside her to untie the ropes that were grounded by a makeshift hook. I noticed her skin began to bubble as I moved around the rope. “What is happening?”
Grunting she shifted to look at me, “That would be holly. Poisonous to fae.”
“You’re fae?”
“I told your mate not to say anything when we met at the grocery store that day. I’m glad he honored it. I’m Seelie, which means I cannot lie. So, believe me when I say, none of us suspected your own father. Your father has broken more than mundane laws.”
I heard gravel crunching and quickly focused on the rope. I imagined it unweaving until it was loose enough that Taffy could pull her hands free. My magic worked with me, giving me no trouble in the already high risk situation.
“Run. Run fast and run hard and don’t look back. I need to get my revenge for Jeremy. Do not let him catch you,” I urged her. She looked torn, but I pushed her towards the door opposite of where I had heard the crunching.
“What about you? What if he kills you?”
“Then you know the truth and I will be avenged, but nothing good will come of this if we both die. Now, go,” I hissed as I heard a truck slam shut.
Frowning, her body disappeared before my eyes.
I would have thought she herself disappeared if it wasn’t for the footprints in the dirt covered floor.
The back door opened and closed with her, giving me only seconds to return to my spot before the monster I had once viewed as a paternal figure walked into the barn.
“You’re awake. Good,” he greeted me. Those eyes that once held affection for me now only held darkness growing with hatred.
“Why? Why are you killing all these people? You—.” My mouth snapped shut the second he had his shotgun aimed at my face.
Swallowing hard, I nearly choked on the saliva that tried to get stuck on its way down.
My heart was racing, but I tried desperately to keep a lid on my emotions.
I needed answers and the only person to give me the answers I needed was aiming a gun at me.
“Don’t speak. Monsters, all of them. They’re monsters! Monsters,” He shouted at me until the gun went off and I felt a warmth in my right ear.
I reached up to the warmth with shaky hands.
When my fingers touched wetness, I knew that I had nearly met my maker.
That ember formed again, the same one that had been ignited when Lance had attacked me.
But it was stronger this time, almost like it was combating against something. I had to buy it time to surface/
“Mel, I’m—.”
“Why do you hate them so much?”
He shook his head, throwing the gun onto the workbench he stood next to. When I flinched at the sound, I noticed a tiny spark of emotion in his eyes. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he breathed deeply before giving his villainous arc dialogue.
“Your mother laid with a demon. She brought you here two months before she was supposed to deliver. Then, the day of your birth, she changed. She went out on a full moon and by sunrise, she was shreds. I found her with the first smile on her face in six months. I plotted to take down all of the werewolves.”
I wanted to speak, to interrupt his villainous arc backstory, but nothing could emit from my lips. Every answer I wanted was about to be answered and I needed to hear before I carried through with my revenge. I needed to know why he killed Jeremy. So, I let him continue as he paced before me.
“But then the land started withering. I needed sacrifices to keep it alive so I decided to start the ritual. Then Agatha got too clever. So, I killed her like hunters would. Shift the blame so I could continue to work on my plan. Since I hadn’t collected her heart, I had to use a rabbit in her place.
Then, I killed the female werewolf when she came down to visit Bryon.
At least, that’s who she thought she was meeting.
Jeremy came into town to take you to Shadowhaven.
He told me he was a werewolf so he was next. ”
“You killed Jeremy because he was a werewolf?”
He sighed in frustration. “No, I killed him for the sacrifice. Haven’t you been listening to me, Mel? Didn’t I raise you better than that?”
“I must have missed the lecture on killing people being okay. So, it looks like you are also a lousy father as well as a terrible kidnapper.”
My words seemed to strike something in him. I watched as he ran towards me, diverting to look on the other side of the bale of hay. The scream that tore from him was frightening enough to make me jump to my feet, ready to run if I needed.
“You fucking witch! Now that you know I’m not your father, this will make the decision easier for me,” he snarled.
I took a few steps back, but didn’t make it any further as a blinding pain flared up my leg at the same time I heard a familiar clang of metal.
It was my turn to scream, but not in rage.
My body trembled as I slowly looked down at the bear trap that ensnared my calf. What was I supposed to do now? At my unspoken question, the ember inside of me flared again. The flames were too much that I couldn’t fight against it.
Every door slammed shut while the very foundation quaked with my pain.
Gene ran for his gun, wasting not a moment to fire it off in my direction.
The bullet missed my heart, but I felt its impact into my chest as I stumbled from its force.
The bear trap grinded my skin, only increasing the power that craved release.
Closing my eyes, I let the flames consume me until I was pure, hellish fire. When I opened my eyes again, I was forced from my body and watched as the blue fire wrapped around my hands and burned in my eyes. The ground continued to shake with my power.
Free of pain, I was able to give the scene my full attention.
“Mel, please. Don’t do something you’ll regret. Come back before you make a mistake.”
“She will regret nothing, Gene. You still warp your lies to my daughter. You killed me, Gene. Your family is full of archaic purity bastards that believe themselves supreme over us with shadow blood. Maybe you loved her like a father, but I have seen inside that darkness in your heart once. Now, I will make sure I protect my daughter,” My voice rang with an echo of another voice that had become familiar.
An echo that nearly consumed my own voice.
My mom had been my flame. She had tried to protect me against Lance and now, she was protecting me against the man that killed her.
She raised my arm, the flames creating a ball in her hands until she closed my fist to extinguish the flames.
My moment of confusion was cast aside the moment Gene burst into flames of the same pure blue that my hands once held.
His screams tore at my heart, somehow causing me to snap back into my body.
I was frozen, only able to watch as he died in front of me.
The flames spread quickly as it consumed Gene’s corpse, fanning out towards the hay until I was surrounded without escape.
The bear trap still held my foot hostage and the blood loss was causing me to grow weaker with the depleted magic I had used.
The flames blurred, but I saw a black silhouette approaching me and then a familiar scent enveloped me.
Lucien.
“Stay with me, Melinda. Please don’t leave me this soon. We’ve gotten through your near-death experiences so far. Don’t give up now,” he begged. His voice wavering as he sobbed, holding me against him desperately. Showing I was still coherent, I pointed to my foot that was caught in the trap.
He shattered it in an instant, taking me from the fiery barn and out to where almost the entire town was gathered. Taffy rushed over to us, Isa at her side, both wearing matching expressions of horror. I must have looked terrible.
“Save me,” I begged Lucien. He searched my face, knowing exactly what I meant.
“But I’m not the leader of the coven yet. I wouldn’t be able to provide you with an immortal life without regrets.”
Ambrose approached, tears coating his cheeks to show he had been crying for a while. I reached out to him, brushing away a tear with a weak smile. “Ambrose shed tears for me. I’m honored.”
“I will give away my power to her,” Ambrose announced.
Erie rushed at her brother when she heard what he said.
She grabbed him fiercely, turning him to her, but he pushed her hands away.
“No. Erie, do not change my mind. I’ve grown tired of people comparing us with you drawing the short end of the stick.
I want us to be evenly matched as well as on equal ground.
I never had a desire to learn magic, only learning at father’s behest. However, she needs it way more than I. I willingly give my power to her.”
Lucien reached over to the male twin, reminding him what this sacrifice meant, “You can never reclaim this power once it’s been freely given. Are you prepared to live for eternity without your own magic?”
“It’s only earth magic, Lucien. I can still have my vampiric ones like Erie, but with my magic and your blood, Mel will be reborn as a pureblooded vampire. This is my gift to both of you. Be a good leader, Lucien.”
“With her at my side, I will,” Lucien vowed.
Ambrose nodded before cutting his wrist. Blood did not come from his wound, but instead a green light. It flowed from his wrist, towards me. The very moment it touched me, Lucien’s teeth sunk into my flesh to draw the last amount of blood from my system.
He put his bleeding hand against my parted lips, right before I could die. His blood was intoxicatingly sweet and I consumed every drop he gave me until both Ambrose’s magic and his blood stopped flowing.
A silence fell over the world before an even worse pain radiated through my nerve endings.
Lucien held me weakly as I cried out in agony, writhing in his lap at each tremor of pain.
It was as though every bone was being crushed and every organ failing without reprieve.
No one helped, no one stopped. They only bowed their heads solemnly.
What was only minutes felt like hours in the torment of my body changing.
Then once the pain subsided, I became aware of the slowed beating of my heart.
Thump
Thump
Thump
Then there was only cold darkness.