Page 99 of Bewitched By a Vampire

“There won’t be a fight,” Lilian said and Night cast her a glance that told her he didn’t believe that for a second.

That part of her that didn’t want to forgive her coven didn’t believe it either.

Lilian glanced around the dimly lit park as she waited, every minute feeling like an hour. Where was Beatrice?

She was about to ask Night what time it was when she felt the familiar caress of magic sliding over her skin. Her head whipped to her left, gaze locking onto a point on the other side of the fountain, and her pulse picked up when she spotted Beatrice.

And eleven other witches.

“I don’t like those odds,” Night muttered.

She wanted to tell him it would be fine, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie to him. It didn’t feel as if it was going to be fine. It felt as if her coven was about to prove Night right about them.

This was a trap.

Lilian tried to be reasonable. Beatrice had said that she would meet her in the park. She hadn’t said she would be coming alone. Lilian had just presumed that was the case. And really, it made sense for the coven leader to come with backup. Beatrice hadn’t known what she was walking into and Lilian might have been the one setting a trap for her.

She looked at the older, fair-haired woman who stood front and centre in the group, flanked by Petra and Maryon.

“I have a potion.” Lilian reached into her pocket and stepped forwards, moving in front of Night. She held the small black bottle out to Beatrice. “I distilled the memories into it. If you drink it, you’ll see that Night didn’t attack our coven.”

Her hand shook as she waited for Beatrice to say or do something.

Finally, the witch angled her head towards Maryon and nodded.

Maryon crossed the short span of pavement to Lilian, her dark eyes cold and unreadable. Lilian swallowed as Maryon took the bottle from her and stared at it, and then at Night. She willed Night not to react. If he did, he would give her coven a reason to attack him.

Thankfully, Night remained still and silent behind her.

Maryon turned away from her, her fall of dark hair swirling away from the shoulders of her black dress with the sharp motion, and returned to Beatrice. She placed the bottle into the coven leader’s hand and moved back into place beside her. Beatrice didn’t even look at the bottle as she slipped it into the pocket of her black dress. Her grey eyes remained fixed on Lilian.

“Now, if you will hand the vampire over to us until we have had time to check what you have given me.” Beatrice held her hand out to Lilian, her tone gentle and her expression soft, warm almost. “He won’t be harmed.”

Lilian looked over her shoulder at Night, her heart pounding faster as she met his cold gaze and a shiver bolted down her spine. Not caused by him, but by what Beatrice wanted her to do. She looked back at her coven leader, a woman who had been like a second mother to her for her entire life, and for the first time, she felt she couldn’t trust her.

And that this was another test.

Beatrice wanted her to choose between Night and the coven. Beatrice knew what would happen if she let the witches take Night. Her vampire would turn against her, would be wounded and furious, and it would destroy his love for her.

His eyes softened, warmed, and a war erupted inside her. She didn’t want this to be the last time he looked at her like that, as if he loved her. As if she was the centre of his universe.

But if she didn’t do as her coven wanted, then she would lose her family.

A family that was important to her.

“Hand the vampire over or we will be forced to take him from you.” Beatrice’s harsh tone had ice forming in Lilian’s veins and she looked at the witch, no longer recognising her.

This wasn’t the witch who had helped raise her, who had shown her compassion when she had feared she would be exiled because of her tainted blood. This wasn’t the witch who had given her kind smiles in the hallways and had gently encouraged her to pick herself up and keep striding forwards whenever she had stumbled on her path to becoming a useful, powerful member of the coven. This wasn’t the witch who had guided her to her calling, helping her find the position that had made her feel fulfilled and often happy.

She was seeing another side to Beatrice, had witnessed the lengths the woman would go to in order to get what she wanted, and how ruthless she could be in pursuit of that. The coven wanted someone to blame for what had happened to their house in Germany, and all Beatrice cared about was giving them what they wanted.

She didn’t care that Night wasn’t to blame.

She was going to haul him up before the coven and kill him to appease them.

If Lilian did as Beatrice asked, Night would die and Grave or Bastian, or all of his family would come after her coven. They would kill them all and then what? One of their sister covens rose up to seek revenge?

She couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t let her coven have Night or any of his brothers. She wouldn’t let this turn into a cycle of revenge.

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