She froze where she stood, her whole body going to ice.
That was when the others seemed to realize I wasn’t going down easy. Or at all.
They surrounded me and I let them since out of the corner of my vision I could see Rose had awakened her husband and they were working their way around, trying to stay out of the witches’ sights.
They would help Fen and Evan. The shield I’d erected around my son and Evan would allow those of good will inside and keep everyone else out. I didn’t have to watch over them. I could do what I wanted to. I could fight and kill so many of them. I could kill them all.
I let all thoughts of the people who should have been my priority drift right out of my head. The fact that I wasn’t thinking of Fen and Evan should have been enough to warn me, but honestly, the rage felt good. I’d let my sorrow flow, allowed Trent and Gray to wring it out of me, but the anger was still a tidal wave waiting to be unleashed.
I did that now—let my fury unfurl in a slamming wave of death and pain and blood.
Twelve fucking years. They’d taken twelve years from me. They’d remade the world I’d fought to make safe, remade it into something completely unrecognizable. These bitches had forced the children I loved to run, to fight, to grow up far too soon.
So I cut them down. Every time they sent pain my way, Gladys and I gave it back to them threefold.
They took my life so I fucking took theirs.
Invincible. That was how I felt in that moment. I didn’t need to be anything but vengeance. There was no softness in the magic that Gladys sent through me. There was rage and power and the absolute certainty that we would never be violated again. We would not be used. We would not be tricked.
I slaughtered them as they would have surely slaughtered me. I moved through, Gladys guiding my hand. When they tried to sneak back through the paintings, I sliced through anything that was left hanging out and reveled in the gasps of horror I could hear from the other side.
My gift to the witches—half-alive, soon-dead parts of their sisters. It was like prophecy. The witches at the Coven House would know this is what would happen to them eventually. They could run, but I would find them. I would stay in my cold fortress of rage until I’d killed them all.
I ran through them until only one remained.
Olivia.
She stood among the bodies, hands at her sides and eyes bled to black as we faced each other.
I could feel a fierce smile cross my face. “Hey, friend. You thinking of running?”
Liv’s shoulders were back, her body tense, and I could have sworn she was afraid of me.
I liked it.
“I don’t know. You thinking of following me? You considering going to the Coven House and starting this war now?” Liv asked. “How long will that power of yours last? As far as I know, the sword can’t keep this up forever. I take it my master bled on her during his experiments. It’s the only thing that makes sense. You don’t have a lick of magic in you but here you are whispering Latin words you couldn’t pronounce before.”
“I think she’ll last long enough.” I really wanted this fight. Of all the people who’d disappointed us, Liv was the worst. She knew how to twist our love, how to use it against us. “Just long enough to burn the Coven House to the ground with all of you in it. You want to see Hell so bad, Liv, I’ll send you there and I’ll send Myrddin with you. You can worship him all you like down there and then I’ll lock the door so you can’t ever get out.”
“You would do the same thing Myrddin wants to do?” Liv asked, tension ratcheting up as she obviously built up power. She was stalling, but I was confident. “You would close off Hell from the Earth plane? It’s okay if you do it, right?”
“I think I’ll follow Gladys’s lead on this one,” I vowed.
“You can’t win, Kelsey,” Liv said with a shaky laugh. “If you do what the sword tells you to, you lose yourself. Just like I did. We destroy each other, and while you might stay standing, you won’t ever forgive yourself. You’re caught in her web, but when you come down and realize what you’ve done, you’ll be broken. And that’s the best I could hope for now.”
Her hands came up, and she unleashed pain on me. Everything she had, and I waved it away. I could feel the power in her onslaught, and I simply brushed past her.
Poor Olivia. She’d given up her soul for that power and I was going to kill her like she was a bug I was stepping on. She was as insignificant as her sisters. Only Myrddin mattered, and she was a stone I would step on to get to him.
“Mom! Mom, please!”
I saw the fear hit Liv’s eyes as she tried one last time, sending out weak sparks. She hit her knees, skin pale and hands shaking, and her defeat was…nothing because she wasn’t the one I truly wanted to kill. I wanted Myrddin’s throat in my hands, squeezing the life out of him.
One more kill and then I would go through one of the portals and I would slaughter everyone in that Coven House. Myrddin would be the last. I would make him suffer before I sent him to Hell.
I drew Gladys back as Liv looked up at me, resignation in her eyes.
“I always knew you would be the reason I died,” she said with a snarl.