Page 169 of Demise

“He called a mob doc he knew, had him patch me up, and I laid low in New York for a few days until I was healed enough to leave.”

“What about the body that was found?” Ronan asks.

Vincent flicks his gaze to him and shrugs.

“Zayden apparently grabbed a security guard and set him on fire, charred the shit out of the body so they wouldn’t know it wasn’t me, and left it at that. Everyone knows he’s unhinged for the fun of it, no one bothered to question it.”

“Who ordered this hit on you?” Wesley asks.

A thunderous look passes over Vincent’s face.

“Christopher Putnam.”

I fucking knew it.

Angered looks pass in the room before Vincent speaks again.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what it takes, I’m killing him. I’m killing all of them. They almost took me away from my siren. They all have to burn.”

The room is tense with silence for several seconds before Ronan speaks.

“Agreed.”

The drive to New Hampshire feels faster this time. Maybe because I’m just eager to see my mom, anxious of what Ronan has planned, or so fucking grateful that I’m currently in Vincent’s arms. He presses a kiss to the side of my head, and I plaster myself against him.

I’ve hardly let him out of my sight. He’s lucky if I allow him to go to the bathroom alone. I’m terrified that if I leave him alone for too long, he’ll disappear again. There was a debate about if we should leave him at the house while we go. I mean, everyone except for us believes him to be dead. With all the cameras in and around the house disabled, loading up in the garage, and the tinted out windows on the car, we decided it was safe enough. Oh, and I refused to leave without him.

When we turn off the highway and drive down the dirt road to the witches’ houses, nerves begin churning inside me. Ronan hasn’t shared all the details of the plan with me, and maybe it’s for a good reason. I’m not sure knowing would put me at ease. At the end of the day, we can’t go on like this. Because of this world, because of this society, I almost lost Liam, I almost lost Vincent. Who am I going to lose next? What if it isn’t an almost next time? What if it’s forever?

As soon as we park, my mom and dad begin making their way towards us, smiles on their faces. Because we don’t have each other’s phone numbers, it’s not like I could tell them I absolutely was not planning on coming today like originally discussed. I was grieving, dying on the inside and had no plans to leave my depressive hole for an undetermined amount of time. Things change, this time for the better.

“There she is.” My mom smiles warmly, wrapping her arms around me as she holds me tight.

That familiar scent of vanilla and coconut fill my senses, and I smile against her hold when she releases me, placing a loving kiss to my cheek while my dad stands there.

“We’ve missed you, Sky,” he says, almost nervously.

I wonder if he feels uncomfortable because, although he was there for the first three years of my life, I was never told about him. My memories don’t really start coming in until four, almost five, so the only thing I really know about this man is what theyhave told me. Same could be said about my mom, though, just from Steph.

Regardless, that isn’t the way it feels. From the moment I saw him I knew in my gut that there was something tethering us together. So, I close the distance and wrap my arms around him. He holds me, rocking us from side to side as he smiles.

“I’ve missed you guys too.”

When we pull apart, I see my mom hugging each of the guys. Even prickly Vincent gives her a hug that melts my heart.

“Thank you all for making the drive, I really appreciate it.” She smiles.

“Of course, Mrs…” Ronan trails off like he’s unsure. Should he use Parris, Thompson or Proctor?

She smiles warmly, no offense taken as she nods. “Just call me Giselle, or G.”

Ronan nods and Liam shoots her a dorky finger gun.

“You got it, G!”

Asher scoffs, shaking his head as Liam giggles and I can’t help but laugh along. He is so ridiculous.

“Come on, we just made lunch,” my dad says as he ushers us into the house.

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