Page 119 of Prodigal Son

She turned back to his father, arms extended, palms down, and fingers spread over his body. “Tempora subsidia immortalitas, ne plus mali ex viis tuis commodis venire possit.”

Jonas screamed and Cain struggled to stand. “What are you doing to him?” His father’s back bowed off the bed, arching while some unseen force anchored his arms and legs. Cain’s body flung into the wall, crashing hard enough to crack the plaster.

“Venus, no! You said you wouldn’t hurt anyone else!” The younger girl cried, her worry bouncing between Cain and the woman chanting over his father.

“Furor in tuo delicto domum ardet, intus Satin ardet.”

His father roared in pain, his body spasming as his fangs punched though his gums and his eyes flashed. He clawed at his clothing, ripping them into shreds and gouging long cuts into his skin.

“Stop this!” Cain begged. “You’re hurting him!”

Her fingers widened over the bed as his father thrashed. She shut her eyes and chanted low, speaking in tongues and drawing energy from the fire below. “Linguam tuam, et aerumnas tuas serva. Expergiscere mentem tuam, dum recedit cor tuum. Tua erit aeternitas, sed labatur pro certo sanitas.”

“You’re killing him!” Cain barreled forward, fangs distended, prepared to destroy—

She pivoted and turned her splayed fingers at him. “Cerebrum.”

Cain dropped to his knees as pain exploded in his skull once more.

“Venus, no! That’s enough! You’re killing both of them!”

The screeching rush of blood ripping through the capillaries in his brain had Cain biting down and wrenching in agony. He lost control of his body as blood vessels burst in his brain and debilitating damage short-circuited his brain. His body twitched and spasmed on the floor as he watched in horror.

“Carmine meo sanguine signabo, ne unquam iterum aliam laedat animam.” She gripped the blade of an athame in her fist and yanked it free, spilling blood over his father’s chest.

Glass exploded from the window, and the witch was hurled to the ground. Snarls ripped through the air as Grace tore open her throat and the chanting stopped. The younger witch screamed. The moment the teal haired witch was dead, the pain in Cain’s head subsided and he gasped, muscles still too taut and ravaged to move.

He lay on the ground, panting, as his sister went feral. Blood sprayed the walls and soaked her chin and chest. Their father lay silently on the bed, his eyes open and terrified, but his body still. Grace hissed at the young girl.

“Gracie, no!” Cain called, horrified by the murderous glint in his sister’s diamond eyes.

She stilled and snarled, roaring at the girl so she understood she’d been saved. The girl covered her head and cowered on the floor, scrambling into the farthest corner.

Panting, Gracie looked at him on the floor. Cain weakly held up an arm. “She tried to stop her.”

The witch’s blood spread over the floor and the walls caught fire, the room no longer protected by a spell. The young girl cried hysterically, falling to the floor and flailing as she stared at the dead witch. “What have you done?”

In that moment, humanity returned to Gracie’s eyes and she staggered back.

Cain rose to his feet, body weak and trembling. “We have to get out of here. Get Father.”

An explosion blasted from the next room and the fire snuck under the door, crackling and burning the moldings. “Now, Grace. I’ll get the girl.”

Grace lifted their father and jumped from the window. The girl sobbed over the fallen witch. “You must come with me.”

“I’m not leaving her!” She threw her body over the witch’s, and Cain yanked her back.

“The house is burning. You don’t have a choice!”

“I don’t care—”

He seized her mind. “Do as I say.” She instantly complied.

Flames buckled the floorboards and the dead witch fell through as the rafters gave way. Cain lifted the girl and jumped from the window, landing in a squat in the muddy earth below.

He threw the girl into the mud at the bishop’s feet. “Take her. She’s a witch. The other one’s dead.”

The blare of the fire trucks overwhelmed the land with their shiny lights and rushing hoses. The injured were taken to his grandparents’ and the healthy stayed behind, making sure any questionable impressions were removed from the firefighter’s minds.

---