“Are you happy?” I demanded. “Did you enjoy what you saw?”
His brow flickered. “Amelia?—”
The volcano erupted. My hand shot up. Rodney’s body flew across the room and exploded into the windows. The bars bent under the force, bones snapping, shattering. He cried out, then fell silent as his body dangled, jammed between the bars. He wouldn’t die, but I hoped it fucking hurt. Even then, it wouldn’t hurt as much as I was hurting.
Janice raised her sword.
I was far too furious to feel even an ounce of fear. “Do it, I dare you.”
“Janice, no.” Kenneth’s deep voice boomed across the room. Janice’s eyes glittered, her jaw clenched. “Rodney is fine. We’ve all seen enough hurt today. You know the pain rage and loss cause.”
Janice stiffened, the tattoo on her neck a mark denoting her loss of whoever she had loved. She stared at me for a moment, then she lowered her sword and stepped back.
A cracking sound shot through the room. I whipped my head back. Ethan had slammed into Karson. They were on the floor. Ethan was on top of him. Punch after punch smashed into Karson’s face. Blood poured from his broken nose. His jaw shifted to an unnatural angle. Karson didn’t defend himself, didn’t do anything but stare at me, his eyes completely and utterly broken.
The volcano died as pure agony roared its ugly head again.
Sobbing, I backed out of the room, and I turned and ran to the sound of his voice crying out my name behind me.
Chapter 74
Monster In My Bed
“Where are we going?” Josh glanced over his shoulder as he drove.
The look on Ethan’s face when Karson said he spelled me to come to Church Heights wasn’t one of complete shock. Ethan knew. He tried to warn me away from him but never told me why. Did he know about my mother too? Betrayal twisted my chest. He was my roommate, my best friend, I trusted him not to hurt me, but in the end, he had let me down too.
Truth was, I had nowhere to go, no one to go to. Not anymore.
I just knew I needed to get as far away from Karson as I could. I didn’t want to see his face, couldn’t stand the sight of him. Besides, if I knew anything about The Death Bringer, soon his pain would switch to anger.
I didn’t want to be near him then.
I’d been spelled to make him love me. I’d buried what happened that night when I was ripped from my bed, drugged and taken to the basement. Maybe if I’d reached for the memoryinstead of blocking it, I could have warned him. I could have stayed away from him … I snorted. As if I’d had a fucking choice.
Georgie stroked my trembling arm. I had to leave; I was barely holding it together. But the one thing that was most precious to me was still at his mansion.
“I need to go back to get my things.”
Georgie jerked her head to me. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if he comes looking for you?”
I turned my head to stare out of the window, seeing nothing. “It’s the last place he’ll think I’d go.”
“You can stay at my house.” Georgie squeezed my arm. “We’ll grab our things and go back to my place until you figure out what you want to do.”
I was hurting so bad, I just wanted to curl into a ball and die. I dragged my aching head back to look at her. “No, we’ll go back to Church Heights, but I can’t stay with you, Georgie. It’s not safe for you.”
She smiled weakly. “I don’t think they will let Sarah go now. I’m sure that danger’s over.”
My head stabbed with every beat of my heart as my brain tried to think about what I was going to do. Even if they locked Sarah up, with what I was, with the grimoire still out there, it put anyone I was around in danger.
I had lost my family. Both men I loved. I’d lost my best friend.
I couldn’t risk losing any of the friends I had left.
I had lost everything.
I hated the witches for what they had done.
