Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Finally, he exhaled and spoke, “What did I tell you to do, Druella?”
“Your exact words were, ‘Show them our wrath.’”
Turning, he looked at me, confused. “So you heard me. Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t destroy Taelon because he is the son of the president of vampires. Yes, it would have been a strong message, but then all the vampires in America would have come down on us—”
“Which is why I did not say only destroy Taelon Swan. I said to show them our wrath! Put fear in them to never come here again!”
“We didn’t have a full circle! There were a least a dozen of them, Uncle! It was daytime! That meant they were all Nobles! We didn’t know what their powers could be—”
“And none of that mattered when you took out four of them in a blink of an eye!” he shouted at me. “With ease, you destroyed four! With that same ease, you could have destroyed all of them, but you didn’t! You held back! You decided to talk it out and let dozens of other vampires live another day to terrorize another Wiccan or human!”
“You wanted me to destroy them all?” I gaped. “Without even speaking? Without no understanding of what is happening?”
“That is wrath! That is who you are supposed to be! The destroyer, the witch of vengeance! The goddess of—”
“I am not any of those things!” I screamed, feeling the ground under me shake. “I am not a weapon to destroy anything that stands in front of me! I am a witch who wants peace like the rest of the witches! And for there to be peace, there needs to be understanding! Taelon said it was not their vampires—”
“What in the heaven is the matter with you?” He spat out in disgust. “Why are you even taking the word of a vampire at all? Because he said it wasn’t, you believe them?”
“I am not saying that. I am trying to say we need—”
“We need strength and a witch ready to use it! Which you never seem to be!”
“Why is it that nothing I ever do is good enough?”
“Because everything you do is not even half of what you can do!” he hollered back. “I do not know what makes you so soft and weak! But one day, that will cost not just you but all of us! You could have sent a powerful message today. You could have done so much, yet you barely did anything except threaten them. Everything this coven has sacrificed, all the witches who fought before you. All the magic you have been blessed with sometimes feels like a waste. When will you stop being such a disappointment?”
I knew he was upset, but he had taken it too far, and it…it hurt.
“Sorry for being such a disappointment to you, Uncle. Maybe you should find another witch to play your goddess,” I whispered, doing my best not to let the angry tears in my eyes fall, but they sure burned. “I, on the other hand, never wanted the job, and I am tired of being blamed for it.”
Turning from him, I bit my lip as I walked away. Not a single tear fell until I got through the mirror and stood inside the guest bedroom. I didn’t want to stay here, and I didn’t want to see the others, either. I wanted…I wanted to go somewhere I could feel better.
Reaching for my phone, I stared at it for a moment before I dialed. It only rang once before he answered, and I spoke first.
“Where are you, and can I come there?”
“Of course.”
* * *
I pulled up to a beautiful cozy cabin right on the lake and nestled between the trees about an hour away from my home in Bymoor. When he told me he had a home here, this was not what I’d imagined. I wasn’t exactly sure what I had imagined, but still. Parking, I leaned over the steering wheel, searching to see him, when all of a sudden, there was a tap on the side of my window, causing me to jump.
“Oh, my God!” I gasped, looking over to see him dressed in jeans and a casual long-sleeved shirt.
“I apologize. I thought you would sense me,” Theseus said as he held the door for me to get out.
“You arrived too fast, so I didn’t sense anything until just before you tapped.” I laughed awkwardly as I grabbed my bag over my shoulder.
He glanced at it, then at me but didn’t mention it. “Welcome,” he said instead with a kind smile on his lips, but I did notice the slight dark circles around his eyes.
“Thank you. Are you okay?” I asked, leaning in. “You look really tired. Are you hungry?”
“Why? Will you try to offer your own blood again?” He grinned. “I pity your poor arm.”