Page 41 of The Fearless Witch

“You bitch! You reek of blood even now!”

“At least I don’t reek of a wet dog that sleeps in the gutter!”

“You abomination…”

“Animal…”

I rubbed my forehead, fighting back the looming headache. The death was bad, but this was even worse. Everywhere I looked, all I could see were bared teeth and eyes demanding blood. More of the shifters had drawn closer, slowly circling the three vampires. Even Oscar flashed his fangs in warning, the rim of his irises turning red in agitation. My own body was getting caught up in the whirlpool of emotions saturating the clearing, the tremors of my fingers quickly spreading everywhere. I couldn’t let this go on, or everything we had worked so hard for would have been for fucking nothing.

“Enough!” I bellowed. Everyone froze, looking at me with shock. “That’s enough,” I said again, trying to calm myself before I punched someone in the face. “There will be no blaming and bloodshed today. Everybody, go back to your camps. I’ll take care of the body.”

Several people started to argue, but I let out a low warning growl and they immediately moved to leave. Only James and his two companions remained behind, along with Allison and Peter. Oscar watched the others go, his face returning to an unreadable, timeless mask. I waited until we were alone, meeting each of their eyes before stepping in front of the vampire.

“I trust you,” I told him, even though the words were hard to speak. He cocked his head in surprise before nodding in acceptance. “But there is still someone killing our people, and it’s a vampire. So we need to find them.”

As one, we all looked at the body at our feet and the stark bite marks on his neck.

“We need Roman for this,” I said after a long moment. “If word gets around and things escalate, we’ll have a bigger problem than the witches.”

Chapter 17

Roman

Imissed the quiet. I missed the solitude. I missed being the only predator in my woods... or so I kept telling myself while I walked through my land, trying to ignore the fearful voices and racing heartbeats of the people living there now.

I did miss having my home to myself and if all of these shifters told me they were leaving right now, I’d be happy to send them on their way with gift baskets, but… part of me was glad they were here. My brain welcomed the noise and the distraction their warm bodies provided. It helped me forget the emptiness in my chest and the absence of her—the one heartbeat I was dying to hear.

Picking up my pace, I made sure to give Isaac’s camp a wide berth. He had asked me to find him urgently—a summon I didn’t appreciate in my own home—but considering the predicament he was currently in, I was inclined to let it pass. He was going to have to wait, though, because there was one more important stop I had to make first.

The deeper into the forest I went, the quieter it got. The sound of conversations and movement died down to the point I couldn’t even hear any animals. That was the first sign that I was close; the second was the faint movements in the trees. They were good at hiding, but they were a few hundred years too young to know how to fully fool one’s senses.

I ignored them even as they followed, focusing on finding the cave Oscar had picked for his new nest. Considering the number of charges he now had, it was no surprise he selected the biggest one on my property. It was a far cry from a proper house, but it was probably cleaner than the dump they used to live in.

When I was close enough to see the cave’s entrance, I stopped, waiting for the figure on watch duty to come to me. She hadn’t put half as much effort into staying concealed as the others did, but this close to their nest, that didn’t matter. I recognized her from the last time I spoke to Oscar—she had been one of the survivors from his original nest and the reason the others were even able to get out. He hadn’t said it outright, but considering how relieved he had looked when he saw her, I figured she was more than just someone he was obligated to look after.

“Is he here?” I asked as she pushed her wild brown hair over her shoulder. She hadn’t mastered the stillness typical for older members of our kind, so her movements were sharp and too fast for the human eye to follow. A new vampire, no doubt, but no longer an offspring, or Oscar wouldn’t have let her out here alone.

“Yes,” she replied through gritted teeth. “He’s waiting for you.”

I looked at the dark mouth of the cave, ignoring the way her upper lip curled and her fangs flashed under the moonlight. I had no idea what made her so angry at me, but I couldn’t care less. If she was stupid enough to bare her teeth at someone my age, it wouldn’t be long before she met her last sunrise. I could just hope Oscar could beat some sense into her, for his own sake.

“Marcella.” A voice came from the entrance of the nest and she turned immediately, smoothing her face and lowering her head in respect. “Go inside and keep an eye on the others.”

Without another word, she hurried past him. More voices rose from within as the others greeted her, their hushed questions distracting me for a moment until Oscar cleared his throat.

“Let’s get somewhere a little more… quiet,” he suggested, motioning for me to take the lead.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, the sentinels staying behind this time. It wasn’t until I took him to the hill overlooking most of my property that the prying eyes disappeared. I could see the rooftops of my mansion from here, and if I focused hard enough, I could catch movements in a few of the windows.

“I assume this visit is about the body in the woods,” Oscar spoke while I was still staring at my home. When I turned to face him, he had made himself comfortable on a big boulder that had sunk halfway into the earth, with moss covering most of its smooth surface.

Before I could reply, he shook his head.

“We didn’t do it, I swear.” I continued to study his unfaltering eyes, noting the veins on his neck were a little more prominent than usual. I knew that look very well because I was sure I’d see the same in the mirror. He hadn’t had enough blood in a while. “It wasn’t anyone from my nest. We’ve been watching the offspring around the clock and the others know what is at stake here. They wouldn’t—”

“I know it wasn’t you,” I interrupted his blabbering.

A wrinkle formed between his brows. “You do?”

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