“We were going to stop it before he killed you—”
“But you were willing to let him hurt me! And just how were you planning to stop a son of a Fallen? The entire coven couldn’t stop him!”
She regarded me calmly and lifted one eyebrow. “And now you see why we chose the path we did.”
Vicky moaned, her eyes rolling back underneath her eyelids.
“How many died?” I asked. It suddenly seemed important that I knew. My mother warmed to the task, as if she’d been waiting for me to ask.
“Immediately he killed a hundred witches in his rage. He's killed nearly a thousand supernaturals over his lifetime to sate his needs.”
I nodded vaguely, understanding the dilemma. I simply didn’t agree with the solution.
“You understand the importance of making sure he can’t hurt anyone else, right?”
Her tone was off now more than usual, and my magick itched and felt like tiny little needles pricking from underneath my skin. Something was wrong. Get away, it warned.
“Well yes, but—”
My mother’s smile was half-crazed, half-delighted, and I closed my mouth in alarm. I went to Vicky’s side, magick flaring out from me to heal her. To my frustration it bounced off of her and away. With a snap of my mother’s fingers Vicky disappeared, and I cried out.
“He needs to be stopped. You agree with this, right?”
I nodded dumbly as my fingers grasped uselessly at empty air.
“Then you’ll understand why I told him where to find you.”
My heart stopped beating in my chest, and then I felt a presence behind me. No. No. I turned around, but my magick was already screaming at me to run, to fight, to do something—
“Seth.” His name was a curse on my tongue.
He grabbed me by my hair and forced me to my knees. “Hello, darling.”
Darkness claimed me.