Page 9 of Little Mate

“I’m coming for you, little girl.”

3

GABRIELLA

Another coven. Twenty dead bodies.

They’re scattered throughout the sacred grounds an hour from the family’s home back in Italy, their bodies decapitated and bled dry—the corpses left for our kind to find. No note. No demands, and yet, I know it’s my sister and me they seek.

Just like the last two times.

Just like our father warned it would happen.

“King Astor isn’t going to give up,” I say under my breath, my eyes scanning the report brought to me by a member of the royal guard. He’s traveled for days without respite to bring this, his body needing emergency assistance upon arrival. “How can we stop this mess, Isabella? This can’t go on…our people won’t survive it.”

The names of the fallen are written on our sacred paper, and each one hits me in the chest like a small dagger slicing across the beating organ. I’m bleeding for them. I’ve failed them.

The Salicio clan was a quiet group that for the most part governed themselves and came to the Moore home when a grievance needed an impartial ear. My family—my father—has always been fair that way. No dictatorship. Just laws. Our sole expectation is that you respect nature, each other, and those who are not of Wiccan belief.

No matter the species. We strike to kill only in self-defense.

Fight fair and never out of anger, dear child. Volatile emotions are uncontrollable. They’ll kill you from within. My father’s words ring in my ear as if he were standing beside me. But he’s not. They’re both gone, and I miss them.

“It’s going to get worse, Gabby,” Isabella whispers from behind me. Her hand on my shoulder gives a gentle squeeze, and I close my eyes. I’ve read each line in the report a few times, memorizing each detail while my heart mourns for all those innocent lives lost. “We have to go home. It’s the only way.”

“Leonardo can’t go back. He’s our hope for the future, sister.” Turning my head, I blink and meet her unwavering stare. Tears brim in my eyes, making her face a tiny bit blurry, but I don’t let them fall. She’s being honest. Our paths will soon deviate from one another and travel down roads without answers or assurances, but if we are to protect those we love, there is no other choice. “Please tell me you’ve found a loophole.”

“There isn’t. I’m sorry.” The pain in her tone mimics the agony in my heart.

We’re alone, and all because of the greed of men not worth the air they breathe. Our people turned against us and accepted the aid and money of others to ascend to power. They’ve planned and killed, and now hunt us as if we were nothing but wild game running through the dense forests we travel through. From witches to the fae to vampires, however, the latter wants me for a different reason.

The vampire king intends to use me—bend me to his will—but what’s worse is the collateral damage left behind as a reminder that he’s close. Waiting. Watching. He’s toying with me, and I know the time draws near for us to meet.

He’s left me a note in the past. Just one, and it corroborates everything Isabella has warned me about.

More importantly, I can’t let this go on.

I want them all dead.

Moreover, I’m ready to end my own life if it means my siblings will be safe.

“Fuck.” The pain inside my chest explodes then; the control I’ve been fighting to maintain shatters and my legs give out. Energy pulses all around me. My hands feel the tethers of those dead and alive who walk the halls outside this room. Some are strong, others faint—those who are destined to die soon are the loudest— and they all clamor for my attention.

And I let them speak.

Their hymn has a low cadence that I hold on to. I let it soothe my fragile soul, breathing in and out while Isabella lowers herself beside me. Her fingers gripping mine, our bodies sway as the scream that’s building within me finally releases.

The sound is full of anger and hurt—agonizing—and a few wails can be heard coming from the floor below where a group of older women have been attending the meals of those who’ve traveled with us. Pain radiates through the walls, and the stones nearly vibrate as tears fall from my eyes.

I’ve been holding it in for too long, something that Isabella has been warning me about since the night our parents were killed.

“Gabriella, get up!” I hear someone whisper-yell from above me, their hands shaking me awake. I’d fallen asleep outside again, my hands embedded deep into the earth as nature sang a soft lullaby. Because I can feel it; from the tiniest heartbeat to the gentle breaths each leaf exhales.

However, my nose crinkles then. The harsh scent of smoke greets my senses, and my eyes snap open. “What the?”

“Now, sister. We need to go!” Isabella’s frantic tone snaps me into focus; I turn toward her voice and take her in. Her face is ashen, her long white dress dirty while her red hair, the tone a few shades darker than mine, is in complete disarray. My twin looks like crap. “Please, Gabby. Focus. I need you—”

“Why are you here looking like that?” She’s barefoot, shaking, and trying to stand in the way of my view behind her. “Stop fidgeting, Isa. Tell me what’s wrong.”

---