“The vampires who attacked us! All of them! They broke the treaty, and they will be destroyed!” I called out. “Or do you all not care anymore and wish for a war?”
“The same could be asked about all of you, Ms. Omeron,” Taelon shot back. “It is true that some vampires among us have grown…aggravated. We did not order them to attack. We wish to keep the peace. However, your coven pushes the treaty itself!”
“What does that mean?”
“The treaty was not for all the mid-Atlantic! Yet you Omeron Coven witches have claimed lands as far as West Virginia. Killing vampires as you please. Did you think there wouldn’t be pushback?”
I didn’t know that, and I did not let it show on my face.
“The coven is growing, so we—”
“That was not the agreement!” he interrupted. “Washington, DC, to Bymoor, Virginia, that is Omeron land. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“And we were attacked on those lands!” I hollered. “Vampires appeared outside the home of my circle in the heart of Washington! Two witches were killed in Bymoor!”
“The vampires who stepped into Washington have already been punished. The ones who killed your witches were us!”
“You are lying!” I yelled, and lightning filled the afternoon sky.
“I have no reason to lie to your kind! If there is going to be a war, let it be. I have fought in many! But do know it was not our side that started it! It was yours!”
That didn’t make sense.
We didn’t start this. We were defending ourselves.
“Druella,” Simone muttered under her breath, lightning crackling, itching to create a bow.
“What will it be, Ms. Omeron? Is this the end of our agreement? I see your circle is already intending to fight. So are my vampires,” Taelon stated. He stretched his arms out wide, and when they rose, a dozen more vampires came to the edge of the forest behind me.
“Druella, we can take them,” Tate said beside me. “We are the nine of nine.”
“From what I can see, it looks as though you are the seven of nine,” Taelon scoffed. “Do you all truly think so highly of yourselves? That you could destroy all of us with ease…with only seven. Even if your circle were complete, many of you would die here.”
“If you think we need all nine of us, you don’t know who our circle leader is.” Fiona stepped forward with her chest puffed up and head high. “You stand before Druella Zirie Omeron! The daughter of Circe!”
Dammit, Fiona! I wanted to scream!
“The daughter of Circe?” Taelon repeated, looking from her and to me before a wide smile spread on his face that then turned to laughter. That made the other vampires also laugh. “Little witch, in the hundreds of years I’ve been alive, do you know how many times a coven of witches has used that old prophecy—far too many. And they are all gone. Because it is nothing but a fairy tale that you Wiccan tell yourselves.”
“We look forward to proving you wrong!” Rue replied, for the first time ever agreeing and backing up Fiona.
Why did it have to be on this topic, though?
“Well, aren’t you all serious,” Taelon mused, once again looking at me. “You are the daughter of Circe? I have heard you are the strongest of your coven, Druella, but I did not know you were a goddess.”
“I want the vampires who killed the Allsbrooks,” I replied instead.
“And as I said, it was not us.”
Really? Fine. “Then give me the three vampires who arrived in our lands that you admitted to.”
“They are being punished, as I also said. Stay in your lands, and we will stay away. Any who do not adhere, we will punish, don’t worry. You have my word, Goddess,” he mocked, and the vampires beside him chuckled again.
My eyes narrowed, and I felt the anger rising in me. We had lost people, and while we were trying to keep the peace, they lied and mocked us.
“Stop,” I whispered, and the world froze around me once again. I walked over the creek’s surface to reach his side, then stood right in front of his face. I looked to the left and the right of him to the vampires who stood protecting. “Burn.”
Nothing happened, not yet.