Page 18 of Chosen, Eternally
Tears stream down my cheeks, warming my cool skin. Hearing the woman who raised me say thatshewas the traitor has left a hole inside my stomach. “What did you do?” I rasp.
She shrugs, nonchalant. “I reached out to one of the leaders of a vampire clan and offered him protection so long as he helped me get rid of James. You were too wrapped up in yourchildishcrush,” she spits out, disgusted. “This family couldn’t afford another member rejecting this most sacred position. I mean, why the Magicks picked you two instead ofme, someone who is utterly devoted to this cause, is insanity! So I wanted James dead. I wanted this strong connection to your non-witch life gone—and he was supposed to be. It wasn’t until early thismorning that I got a message from one of the vampires of the clan I worked with saying James had escaped.”
Cybil scoffs before continuing, flipping her auburn hair over her shoulder. “I cannot express my rage. He was supposed to be dead! ‘Mangled beyond recognition,’ is what they told me. You don’t need to worry about them, my dear Hecate. I’ve taken care of them. No one betrays me and gets away with it. But where is James now? So I can finish him off.”
“You stay the hell away from him,” I practically growl.
James takes another step toward Cybil, ready to pounce on my command. In the back of my mind, I admire the poise, strength, and self-control he has to overcome the urge to murder the person who is responsible for having him locked up for over a year. I would’ve ripped her throat out already. I want to.
Cybil laughs at my outrage. “Is he still human? Or did the vampires turn him? Either way, it doesn’t matter. This will all be over in a minute, and then I’ll find him and kill him myself.”
“I cannot believe you. How could you do that? How could you just stand there and so openly admit to wanting to murder James? He was the love of my life. He was everything to me.”
“Oh, please,” she rolls her eyes at me. “I wanted his death to give you an insatiable hunger for revenge, and it worked. The final push to get you to accept your role. It turned you into a better-than-average Protector.”
“I’m a fuckingamazingProtector, you jealous, back-stabbing bitch.”
James grins proudly in my direction, a crooked smile that would otherwise turn my legs to jelly.
Cybil narrows her green eyes at me, not impressed by my vocabulary. “Contrary to what you believe, Hecate, I didn’t do anything new. The witches have secretly worked with the vampires—or used them—many,manytimes over the years.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
She laughs softly. “How else do you think we saved ourselves from the Salem Witch Trials?”
Ifeel my brows pull together in confusion, my face the only part of my body not frozen by her spell.
“The Society and the vampires have worked togetherseveraltimes. The first was when we were getting murdered left and right by the disgusting humans. So The Four decided to get creative and bring a few vampires from the Old World. They promised them an open buffet if they started killing off the Puritans responsible for the Trials. But really, we just wanted a faux common enemy with the humans. Something to get them to need us.”
“So we double-crossed the vampires?” I ask, shocked.
She nods, a sly grin spreading across her face.
“Are you serious?” My whole training has been a lie?
Cybil laughs. “The Four were truly brilliant for informing the vampires where most of the town would be the night of their trial. But then, once they arrived to terrorize the humans, our own Society betrayed them and sold them out to the humans, making us a necessary ‘evil’ in order to secure the town’s safety.
“Obviously, the vampires who got away did not appreciate it, so we’ve been at odds ever since. But that doesn’t mean that we haven’t worked together again with the more free-agentvampires. Every time some ridiculous new political candidate starts to gain ground or anti-witch sentiment grows with the locals, we find ways to work together in lucrative deals.”
“I…” Don’t know what to say.
I look around the table at the more senior members of the Council and take in their guilt-ridden expressions, their mouths pressed shut by Cybil’s obscure incantation. Disappointed by how messed up the internal workings of our organization are, I take comfort in one thing: regardless of whatever dark magic Cybil might be using right now, there’s no way she can hold this spell for much longer. Not when she’s using it on so many people at the same time. And she’s definitely no match for me in a duel—I’m still the Chosen Protector, after all.
“What do you intend to do now, Cybil? Off the entire Council?” I scoff. “You’d never get away with it. The rest of the witches of Salem wouldn’t let you.”
She shrugs, relaxed. “Who knows? Maybe they’re tired of this Protector BS. And maybe the new mayor might want to actually work with me once I show him I had to get rid of the Council after I found out about their corrupt dealings with the vampires. Maybe, for once, I’ll get what I deserve.”
“Oh, I think you’ll getexactlywhat you deserve,” I sneer. “James,now!”
Cybil’s eyes widen in realization, her head turning quickly in every direction as she searches for my love. But it’s only when he tackles her to the ground that she realizes he’s under an Invisibility spell.
“How did you do it? How did you manage to hold a spell like that for so long?” She screams as James holds her down. “I was monitoring you through the town’s CCTV since you left your apartment earlier this morning, and I never saw him.”
Free from her magical shackles, I run over to Cybil and James’s side. I remove the incantation, revealing a gorgeousJames to the entire Council—all of whom have now been released as well.
“I told you,” I say, golden ropes wrapping around her body like a boa constrictor, restraining her physically and magically. “I’m stronger. Better. Faster.Smarterthan you could ever hope to be. And so was my mother. A Goode woman was destined to be the Protector, that’s for sure. But it was never going to be you, Aunt Cybil. You could never measure up to my mother or myself.”
With a final wave of my hand, I send another golden rope her way, this time serving as a gag.
