A Werewolf, A Vampire, and A Fae Walk Into A Bar (Book 1 of The Last Witch Series) novel Chapter 46

No sooner have the words left her lips than her wand is in the air, pointed at Zev, a golden light bursting from it. He’s quick enough to move his head out of the way, but the blast catches him in the shoulder, sending him flailing away into the snow. The yelp he lets out as he crashes and falls still breaks my heart.

“No!” I shout, whirling back to face my mother.

“Baby,” she starts, ready to dish out another lie, or tell me the truth. I get the feeling I may not know who I should actually trust until it’s too late.

She takes another step toward me, but before her foot can settle, a blur of darkness streaks through my vision, toppling my mother and sending other members of the Order scrambling. Before my eyes can follow the movement, the shadow appears behind a hooded member and knocks them unconscious with a blow to the head before they can even turn around.

The vampire has arrived.

Fire starts to fly again and I duck down, hunching over my shrieking baby to keep her out of harm’s way. I look behind me to see if I can spot Zev. I can only make out what might be the outline of a rock, or perhaps a motionless wolf.

Suddenly, I feel a body at my side.

“We need to flee, Bernie.”

Order members are scattered about, some heading our way but ceasing the onslaught for fear of hitting Rain. This is as good a time as any to escape, but…

“Not without Zev and Rune.”

“Bernie, they may not survive--”

“It’s a three-way pledge, Darius,” I say firmly. “We’re not leaving if they’re still alive.”

Darius stands his ground, his face conflicted. He’s trying to respect my wishes, but it’s clear his chief concern is keeping me alive. I can’t imagine a world in which this man would hurt me, no matter what consequences he may face. If I had to choose between my mom and the vampire this instant…

“Bernie, you need to trust me!”

My mother’s voice comes from the ground near the fire. She’s slowly getting to her feet, obviously hurt from the blow she took.

“No matter how charmed you are, or protected you feel, each of these men is trying to save his own race! The stakes are too high to be blinded by their powers--or your feelings! Don’t you think they would snap your neck in an instant if it meant saving everything and everyone they care about? Do you really think you and your child matter to them more than their entire realm? More than their own lives?”

She limps toward me, looking hurt and afraid, and speaking words that ring true. It would be foolish to think about how each man has treated me without remembering why they came in the first place.

“Matilda’s daughter, I presume,” Darius says calmly.

“Don’t say her name like you know her,” my mom says.

Interesting. It looks like I know something my mother doesn’t. What to do with this information, I’m not sure.

“You don’t know of what you speak, woman,” the vampire spits back, sounding much more like the Darius I was first introduced to. “None of you know the first thing about this child, its powers, or the prophecy.”

While Darius gives my mother a verbal lashing, the other members of the Order fall in behind her. It’s me, my baby, and a vampire against a much larger, seemingly more powerful group. My baby might have magic one day, but that day is not today, and I already know I don’t have any--thanks to Nanny. So really, it’s Darius against the Order, which doesn’t seem like great odds, even for a super powerful vampire.

I look back toward the clearing, vaguely making out the movements of a body slumped against a tree. I know in my heart it’s Rune. He’s alive at least, though it’s hard to say for how long.

“Is that why you’ve killed so many of us, you monster?” my mom fires back. “Just racing to get to the last one so you could feast on the innocent for eternity?”

I throw another glance back toward Zev, and see that he’s starting to rise. I may not know who to trust, but I know I’m not ready to see any of these strange, beautiful men die.

When I turn back, I see my mom slowly raising her wand.

“Mother,” I say in my most admonishing voice. “Do not.”

I expect her to ignore me, but instead she looks at the ground and starts to cry.

“Oh, Sunshine,’ she whispers between sobs. “Why won’t you let me save you?”

Her words strike a chord, and I see how painful this is for her. She knows she hasn’t earned my trust, and yet I think she truly believes that I’ll die without her help. But then, her expression shifts, a new malice in her eyes and a harsher tone in her voice.