Page 23 of A Bond with the Dark

“So a random woman in Colorado has to die?” I ask, confused. “What will that do to stop this problem?”

“I don’t know the specifics,” Shayde answers, shaking her head. “And believe me, I’ve been very blatant in my dislike for this resolution, but Aura would never come to this conclusion lightly. She just said the balance is off, and for it to be restored, Sayah must die. She was chosen. It’s out of our control.”

“And once she dies, all the grimspawn will disappear?” Ollie asks, his tone edging on confusion paired with disbelief.

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Shayde answers, eyeing him pensively. “I think her dying would be the catalyst that causes the downfall of the warlocks. That’s all I know.”

The information oscillates around me for a few seconds. Shayde’s words radiate jangling tension, and it leaks out into the air they punctured, causing my muscles to tense.

I lean forward, interlacing my hands on the table. “We have to kill an innocent woman for balance to be restored?”

Her green eyes go cold, the information unspooling something within them. “I’m afraid so.”

“So we’ll have to track this chick down,” Ollie says to our mom once we’ve arrived back at the cabin. She is reclined on the couch in the living room, her feet propped up on my dad’s lap. “You can do your locator spell, and then I’ll go out there and kill her.”

Ollie usually hates killing as much as I do but knows the last time I drained someone inadvertently, I was in a very dark place for a long time afterward. His volunteering to do this saves me from that dark.

“Why do we have to kill her at all?” I say, trying to find the more logical side to this. “Maybe ‘die’ is a metaphor for something. Why can’t we go out there, find her, and get to know her? See why she is the catalyst?”

“I say kill her,” Scarlet agrees.

She and Hattie are sitting on the other couch, Scarlet with her laptop on her lap and Hattie squinting, pointing the remote at the TV.

“I second that,” Hattie adds, finding something to watch and setting the remote down.

“I also think that if a wise witch of Salem and her energy spirit says it’s the only way, then we must listen and act,” my mom concurs with Dad, rubbing one of her feet.

So, everyone in the room wants this stranger dead but me.

“I get what you’re saying, guys, I really do,” I say, sitting on the arm of the recliner Ollie is in. “But hear me out. Let’s do some research first. Maybe there’s something else that can solve this. Maybe she’s just a symbol for something.”

“Says here on her Facebook profile that she’s single,” Scarlet expands, her fingers flicking over the trackpad. “Looks like she just lost her mom. Tear.” She feigns wiping a tear away and gives me a fake sad face.

“See, she’s single,” I exclaim, looking at my mom. “I can go out there and pretend to run into her somewhere and find out what she’s about. Figure out why she may be the catalyst.”

“Looks like she’s marked that she’s going to a concert at this place called the Gothic Theater on Friday,” Scarlet adds, her face aglow from the computer screen. “Now you know a time and place she’ll be.”

“Well, at least I didn’t need to get my hands dirty doing those blasted locator spells,” Mom says, smacking my dad on the shoulder playfully.

“So you’ll let me go out there and try to get answers from her before killing her?” I inquire, looking at my mom and sisters.

My dad has only observed the conversation and hasn’t put his two cents in. Normally he’s never opposed to a good old-fashioned murder, but the cold stare he’s giving the air in front of him is enough to give me chills.

I hate when he’s this quiet.

“You have two weeks to get us any information,” Mom states grimly. “If you don’t find anything out by then, we’ll come to kill her.”

11

WITCH’S BLOOD

DOM

“Iknow, Mom, I will,” I say into the phone, the Gothic Theater looming to my right out the rental car’s window. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

“Just don’t dottle,” my mom’s stern voice fills the interior of the car, her accent lilting through the slanted light from the streetlamp. “Hattie was almost attacked by a grim.”

“I’m trying!” I snap, my exhaustion and hunger getting the better of me.

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