“Yes. You wench. How dare you come in here with a bulletproof case. I hear you. It doesn’t change the way I feel or why.”
“I’m not telling you to cast aside your emotions. Work through them together, so you can both learn from the past, and move forward. You can’t freeze him out forever. More so, we need you whole and on the same page.”
I sink lower in the bed, bringing the blankets up to my chin. It’s a healthy dose of tough love I need. “I hear you, chaton. Thank you for caring about both of us so much.” I grab her hand between my own. “It’s going to be okay. I don’t want you to worry—”
I pause. I can feel Cristobal coming toward the room. “
We’ll talk, and clear the air. Okay?”
Luz gives me one of those rare smiles of hers, that lights the entire room, and bounds off. Today I face the event that drove me away from home.
“It’s time we talk about that night.” I toy with the light peach silk sheets.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Cristobal admits as he enters the room. He closes the door behind him He’s changed clothing. I admire the cut of the gray slacks and the contrast of the white button up shirt he’s rolled to his elbows. The matching gray vest keeps him walking the line between casual and dressed up. The shirt is open at the neck revealing the strong column of his neck. His adam’s apple bobs as he speaks.
“I know. Thank you for giving me the time I needed.”
“When will you believe that I’m always doing what’s best for you?” He sits on the bed beside me.
“Looking at it now, I can admit. I scared myself.”
PAST
“I wonder if your grand-mère knows where you’re sneaking off to, little girl.”
The voice sends invisible spiders crawling over my skin. Soulange steps from the shadows dressed in all white, from the head wrap to the skirt trailing over the grass. It’s a mockery of the dark heart that lies within her chest. Soulange Sepion is a well-known Voodoo Priestess who happens to be on a recruitment mission. Her dark eyes are abnormally bright in the moonlight, standing out against her gaunt, angular face. Her high cheekbones lead down to cupid’s bow lips curved into an evil smirk and painted black.
Fed up with the council and their limitations on magic, she’s out to form her own coven. I can tell her right now she’s barking up the wrong tree. I can smell the rebellion she’s trying to force. It’s rotten. We need people to police us. The ability to do something doesn’t mean we should explore all those venues. Magic is too dangerous to go unchecked. Consequences keep people in line. Doing away with the council, forming a coven that could rival them would be opening a door that would let darkness seep in.
“I appreciate your concern, but it’s no secret to anyone who I’m dating. I don’t slink around in the darkness.”
Her eyes narrow and I know my barb struck home. “I’m also not the one who’s trespassing.” I nod toward the plantation in the distance.
“Most people wouldn’t be brave enough to talk to me that way … or are you stupid?”
“What do you want, Soulange?”
“You in my coven.”
“It’s not going to happen. I have responsibilities to my family.”
She chuckles darkly. “You’re already bending the rules. A witch with a vampire? Clearly, you’re not as tight-laced as other Esçhetes. You’re still green. I can teach you everything you need to know to be truly independent. “
“There’s strength in numbers.”
She huffs. “We’re not wolves. We’re witches.”
“It doesn’t make it any less true. My family is my life’s blood. I won’t turn my back on them.”
“You can come willingly, or I can take you by force.”
I take a step back into a fighting stance. “You can try.”
“Please fight back; it’ll make my victory that much sweeter.”
“How can you create a coven of the unwilling?”
She chuckles. “My friends in the shadows don’t much care about how as long as I have control.”