Chapter 13 #2
He wanted to hurt me, I could feel that to my bones, but he’d never get the chance. Taking my door handle from my bag, I placed it against the door I’d just walked through. “Guide me home,” I whispered, then twisted the knob.
The oak door opened to a view of my cottage.
I stepped onto the small wooden dock that edged one side of my moat.
Another door opened and closed in the distance.
It was Wendy and her children coming back into the kitchen at the other end of the house.
The frozen male’s gaze sliced in their direction.
“Oh no, you won’t be seeing them again,” I said and crooked my finger.
He snarled, but that was all he managed.
I’d sewn his mouth shut very well. There would be no more talking for him.
Suspended in the air, he floated forward until he was hovering above my dock.
I closed the door after me, and removed the handle, leaving Wendy and her children to try and recover.
I turned to the incapacitated witch. “My name is Matilda. I am whispered about among those in need of rescue from darkness.” Blood slid down my cheeks from my eyes, as they always did when I was about to pass sentence.
Tears of blood, not for him but for those he had hurt and for the mother’s gifts he had rejected and corrupted.
“I don’t need to know your name, and I don’t care who you are.
I’ve seen inside you, and I have deemed you unworthy in every possible way.
I sentence you to death. There is no coming back, and no one to help you.
Your power will die with you, and your family will live a long happy existence without you in it. ”
He screamed behind his sewn-closed lips, the sound muffled and filled with terror.
“So it will be done,” I said. Then, with a flick of my finger, I sent him flying into the moat surrounding my cottage.
His body hit the water with a loud splash, and I released the spell freezing his body, watching as he thrashed in the water.
He spun my way, and he started swimming toward me, arrogant enough to think he could reach me, that he could kill me like he eventually would have his family.
The arrogance of males like him knew no bounds.
Before he died, he would learn a very important lesson. When we work together—the maiden, the mother, the crone—there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.
And there is nothing that can stop the wrath we will unleash upon those who would harm us.
I crouched at the edge of the pier and whistled.
A loud splash came from the other side of the moat.
The male spun in the water, right as Manny’s back rose up, arching from beneath the dark depths.
Utter terror burst from the witch, and he started swimming faster, flailing in his desperation to reach me.
I rose, unmoved. The end must be witnessed.
Oh yes. Feel the fear. You deserve it. You deserve it and so much more.
He was but a stroke from me when Manfred finally tugged him under.
The male burst through the surface once more.
Manny was playing with him. A second later my familiar exploded out of the water, his massive head and knife-sized teeth flashing.
His scales shimmered in the moonlight as he chomped down on his dinner, and they quickly disappeared under the water.
“It is done,” I said.
It is done, the Matildas echoed, one after another, before they slipped away again.
Their collective power drained gently from me, leaving me with only my own. Glinda slinked up and rubbed her body against me. I scooped her into my arms. “Come on, my sweet girl, let’s get your dinner.”
After I fed her, I took out the very last container of Matilda W’s famous stew.
When she knew she was dying, she’d made a huge pot and froze a whole bunch of portions because she knew it comforted me.
I tried to keep it for special occasions, like saving another young witch and her children from darkness and abuse.
There was another reason to celebrate, though—I’d decided who I wanted as a lover.
A hound would be perfect. With their limited emotions, there was no risk of him getting attached to me.
I was a Matilda, and the fates never assigned us a mate, not in all the time we’d existed, so there was no risk of that either.
I’d decided I also didn’t mind if he had other lovers, since we would be casual. It was a perfect situation.
I just had to ask him.
Images, evil thoughts from that awful male, the things he’d planned to do to his wife and their children forced their way into my mind, and I squeezed my eyes closed. This was the hardest part, letting go of the horror I witnessed while in their minds. I needed a distraction. Badly.
Chewing my lip, I looked down at the Tupperware, the stew still frozen inside.
The horror that had been projected into my mind would haunt me all evening if I didn’t do something.
“Why wait?” I said to Glinda. My adrenaline was still rushing through my veins.
I’d never be as brave as I felt in this moment.
I’d saved another life, and I needed to celebrate that and not spiral thinking about what might have been.
The best way to do that was to secure the male I’d chosen to give myself.
I changed, then rushed to the bathroom to wash away the dried blood streaking my cheeks, and fix my tangled hair.
I was afraid if I took the bus, I’d chicken out by the time I got there.
Just this once, I’d take the easy way. After a light dusting of shimmery highlight on my cheeks and applying my favorite candy-apple-red gloss that made me feel pretty, I grabbed my purse, took out my door handle, and not allowing myself to overthink what I was about to do, I headed for the laundry room door.