Page 67 of Taken By the Vampires
The crowd shuffled, not knowing that to do. They weren’t hate-filled. They were confused. It was the hate rolling from Jeremiah in oily waves I picked up. Usually they’d work as a hoard, acting without thought. As though they’d beenbespelled.
Understanding prickled my consciousness.
His words lacked power because it had been removed. Set on its natural course, where once it had been tied and locked in place. Turning into dark power of the festering kind.
I had a little score to settle.
“Make way.” My voice held the power of eons. The crowd parted, bodies scrambling to the walls as the four of us walked through.
The Trinity, as well as Gary and Dean, stumbled backwards, pushing amongst themselves to run out of the door.
“Close.” Magic coursed through me. The door slammed shut, the sound echoing against the walls.
“So that is how you managed to control everyone. You’ve been using magic.” Magic that should have rightfully been mine and my ancestors. Taken, abused and used to control. No wonder Conway and everyone in the region festered. “No wonder you have been able to live with riches, with everything going your way and everyone doing your bidding. It wasn’t because you were good leaders, or helped people, or wanted the best for them. You controlled them so you could live a life on top of the heap. Stepping on everyone. Using them. With magic. They had no chance. You make me sick.”
“I savedsouls, Ella. If you’d have come to me, I’d have saved your soul,” Jeremiah said.
I looked at my men. “My soul never needed saving.”
“I financed Conway. Without me, everyone would have been bankrupt years ago,” Herman said.
“I love the way your face goes red when you tell a lie.” Mom’s voice rang out, clear and strong.
I gasped as she stood next to me, healthy and vibrant. “Mom!” I threw my arms around her neck, hugging her close. Her thin frame was warm. Her once frail body had filled-out with muscle. I sobbed, tears running down my face. I had my Vampires to thank for her life. My life. Myeverything.
“I’ll put you all in jail and throw away the key. Anyone who doesn’t help me arrest these people will be charged with aiding and abetting. I’ll make sure you’re all thrown into the worst jails in the country. You’ll never see your family or friends again!” Ellis screeched.
“I think I’ve heard just enough of them, haven’t you, Ella?” Mom said.
“How have they controlled everyone for so long?” I wondered out loud.
“It isn’t…natural.” Xander eyed Ellis. He shriveled beneath his gaze and skulked behind Jeremiah. Coward.
“If you don’t release us, I will go out of my way to make everyone in this town as miserable as I can. You will be damned to Hell forever,” Jeremiah said.
“Not the words I’d ever hear out of the mouth of a minister,” Cassius said.
Something wasn’t adding up and I needed to know what it was. Reaching for the power within me, I infused my words with magic. “I will hear words of truth. Tell me how you used magic to control Conway and everyone that lives here.”
“We have a spell. Pages from your Grimoire, no less,” Jeremiah said.
I gasped. The Grimoire? “You knew I had a Grimoire.”
“Stupid girl. We knew everything about you and your ancestor. She cursed those – abominations – and cursed herself and your family in return. We were just utilizing your power,” Herman said.
“They are not abominations!” The walls shook and plaster dust powdered from above our heads.
Davon put a hand on my shoulder, “Shhh, Tu Ena. Don’t let him upset you.”
“No. Don’t get upset. Get even.” Cassius flashed his fangs.
“When you’ve finished getting the answers we all deserve, we will help them understand the error of their ways,” Xander said. God, I loved that man.
I smirked and turned back to the men who were once so powerful, but now looked like broken, quivering shells. Men, who, without magic, were nothing.
It all was beginning to make some sort of twisted sense. The Grimoire was never what I thought it was. Only telling me harmless bits and pieces, probably to keep me in line. The spells that appeared that weren’t there before I was here, suggesting the worst so that I might believe them.
“If you had the magic, why couldn’t I ever leave Conway?” Or my entire family.
