Page 100 of Claimed By Blood

She can’t seriously…

Samuel ignores me. “When I couldn’t find your body in the wreckage, I searched the entire village until I found you at the house of your father’s sister. She wasn’t of the bloodline, but she was sheltering you—which might’ve gotten her killed had Cain found out. I took you from her and brought you to my sire’s palace as a means of assuring your safety. I believed you’d be safest hidden right under his nose where I could keep an eye on you. I had no idea…”

“The Night of Five Knives,” I whisper. “You brought me to him.”

“Along with a dozen other children whose deaths will stain my soul for the rest of my life.” He bows his head.

“Wait,” Finn grumbles. “What’s the Night of Five…” He trails off as Morwen, Immy, and I all look away.

Thankfully, Samuel answers for us. “My brothers and I were not the first sons of Cain. He used to turn men who showed promise on the battlefield. Or offer his curse to those he considered cunning enough to be worthy. All of them were adults. All male.”

“Until Evie and her sisters,” Frost mutters.

“Precisely,” Samuel nodded. “He made us go out into the world and pick the girls we thought held a spark of something special. The only requirement was that they couldn’t be too old for him to mould into his perfect children. Of course, most of my brothers went for the promise of beauty. That didn’t help them.” He sighs, running a hand over his bald head as he recounts a day I do my best to forget. “I thought he’d interview them. Pick them by testing them somehow. Instead, he put five knives in the middle of the room and commanded the girls to kill each other until only five remained.”

The vampire looks up at all of us, tormented. “I never knew. I swear. If I had, Ineverwould’ve gone along with it.”

“Get on with it,” Morwen growls. “We don’t need a rehash of the past.”

Samuel swallows and nods, turning back to me. “Once you survived that trial, you were safe. I watched you grow, hoping you’d show some sign of the power… I was ready to get you out of there at a moment’s notice because if Cain even suspected I’d hidden a witch under his roof…”

“But I haven’t got any powers,” I insist.

“I know. It became apparent quickly that without anyone to train you, it was unlikely you would ever learn to use the power,” Samuel concludes. “It’s not just an innate gift. It’s a craft which must be practised. From what little I saw, there were chants, ingredients, herbs, crystals, and other things you’d never think to combine unless you knew what you were doing. That is why there is no way to kill Cain. Even if vampirism hasn’t stripped you of the ability to use magic, there is no way for you to learn, and no guarantee that you’d be as powerful as you’d need to be to end him.”

Silas’s hold on my waist feels like the only thing holding me up. My legs have turned to jelly.

“So there’s no hope then,” I whisper. “He will find us, and we’ll all die.”

Finn tuts at me, and a pulse of disapproval echoes down our bond. “No. Now we research. You’re telling me an entire race was erased without a trace? I call bullshit.Somethingmust have survived.” He pins Samuel with a look. “I’m going to need every location you know of where the witches were before Cain killed them. They might have left something behind, or there may be survivors or records or anything…”

Samuel shakes his head. “You won’t find anything. Cain was meticulous.” He sighs. “But I will ride with you to the airstrip and tell you what I know on the way. Then I’m leaving.”

“Where will you go?” Immy asks, her eyes wide and watery. “We just found you again—”

“I’ll go wherever the wind takes me. My gift will ensure everyone forgets about me in a few weeks, and I’ll return to living in hiding.” He pauses. “I suggest you all do the same.”

“You could—” I begin, but Gideon cuts me off.

“We don’t have time to argue about this. Cain’s troops are canvassing the desert.”

Finn nods. “He’s right. It’s only a matter of time until they start searching out and killing survivors. We need to get in the air.”

And go where?I think to myself as we file into the van.

I’m still feeling numb as I take a seat between Silas and Vane, and I think the betas can tell because they both press their bodies against me, like their touch alone might help me maintain my grip on my sanity.

My mother was a witch.

Icould be a witch.

All this time, Cain’s favoured daughter has been the key to his undoing.

Only I’m not, because there’s no one to teach me.

In the seat ahead, Finn and Samuel sit with their heads pressed together, the former tapping away at his tablet as Samuel rushes through every piece of information he remembers. Frost is in the driver’s seat, and he starts the van with a rumble and drives like a maniac.

Through it all, I can only stare at the back of my brother’s head, wondering how any of this can be real. Everyone else seems to be taking it in their stride and I just… can’t.

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