“Stay safe!” he called back. “You can do this! With or without the hunters’ help!”
I sent him a small wave.
Thanks to my new vampire hearing, I caught the last bits of Gabriel’s muttering.
“Don’t encourage her,” he hissed. “She’ll get herself killed.”
“I have faith. She got this far, didn’t she? Just think about it, okay? We have more than a few heads who would love a chance to get back at the vam?—”
They were far enough away for me to hear anything else.
With a sigh, I looked up at the sky, wondering how on earth I was going to tell Aurelia I failed.
Cedar
The pulsing cube in the sack on my hip felt like a bomb. I could still feel the dark magic seeping out of it and brushing over my body.
As I walked, the eyes of the witches that had once accepted me felt like daggers.
While I didn’t know each and every one of them on a personal level, I felt as though there once was a camaraderie between witch covens. That was lost to me now.
Maybe it had been the atrocities my coven played a part in, maybe it was my status as a vampire princess’s pet. Or maybe they could feel the dark secret I carried with me.
To them, I was an intruder. An outsider.
My coven, for the most part, liked to stick to itself. We rarely took the chance to interact with others, probably because our leader didn’t want our crimes known to the public. I could see that now.
But this one… They knew me.
It was one of the few located in the heart of the city closest to the Castle family. They put up barriers around their territory that would repel anyone who would do them harm and all humans.
Except if they were wanted for something.
Levana had used their territory to lure Vesper to her. She and I had been the only two to deal with this coven and, to be honest, the only two on the coven grounds.
While I didn’t know their official coven name or the name of the attack dogs they kept, there were one too many Edelweiss scattered about. On street corners. Street signs. On top of the entrance to what looked like a normal office building.
I swallowed down all the nervousness as I looked up at it. It was taller than all the other buildings around it and its very tip seemed to brush the clouds in the sky, almost as if it were a finger gently running across them.
There was no guarantee they would let me in. There must have already been rumors about what happened between me and mine.
But what they don’t know is that my coven is helping the vampires.
Or at least it seemed like it, and I wouldn’t put it past them. Things were all starting to click into place, and as much as I didn’t want to be here, I felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to at least warn them about what was happening.
And try not to start a war while I’m at it.
Easier said than done.
Just go in. Drop it off. Make a quick exit.
It was about a half a day’s journey here and back, so at least if I was locked out, I could get back before dinner.
The bond was already aching and pulling me back to Aurelia and Vesper. I didn't want to leave them, not now.
We had agreed that I wouldn't point fingers at the council. I was just a messenger, nothing more, nothing less.
I just hope people still choose not to shoot the messenger.
