Chapter 31

A blonde and brunet locked in carnal pleasure. A house outlined by darkness. Dead birds circling the house.

Gasping, Maya awoke, taking in a deep breath as she looked around, disoriented and confused, not sure where she was. It took her a couple of minutes to remember, and realization only dawned when she noticed she was lying against Sam on the ground, and Steve was snoring shirtless on the bed. She and Sam shared a pillow and blanket, her body stiff from sleeping on the floor.

Yawning, Maya stood, wincing as she stretched before heading to the window, staring out at the frost-covered earth. The wolf was gone.

She turned to Sam. "Sam."

He ignored her.

"Sam!" Annoyed when he didn't react, Maya crept over and shook him. "Sam, the wolf's gone."

"Five more minutes," he mumbled, before resuming his snoring.

Shaking her head, she slowly lowered herself back to the ground, pulling the blanket over her body. Figuring she could use five more minutes of sleep, she closed her eyes and drifted off.

"These are great," Maya chuckled as she gazed at this week's The Ville. "I have to say, I'm partial to Austin Aimes at this moment for tracking down the guy who trashed The Lantern and bringing him to justice."

Justin grinned. "I thought you might like that."

"Also, Cory Sullen getting to choose his punishment gave me a sense of vindication." She flashed him a bright smile. "Your work keeps getting better and better." Leaning forward on her desk, she continued, "You should really think about making these into a real comic book and getting it published somewhere. They're really good."

He blushed slightly, his grin widening. "You really think so?"

"Are you kidding?" She shook her head in shock. "You're incredibly talented. I'm already practicing my 'I went to high school with him' speech."

Justin chuckled, blushing deeper as he cleared his throat and lowered his gaze. "I'm not all that."

"I think you are."

He looked up at her words, eyes wide, face crimson.

Suddenly, the door flung open, and Sam strode into the room, barely glancing at Justin before slamming his hands down on Maya's desk, eyeing her gravely. "You drooled on my jacket last night while you were sleeping."

Maya's lips parted in indignation. "I did not!"

"You did too." He pointed to an invisible spot on his jacket. "You drooled, you harpy! Do you know how expensive it is to clean leather?"

Maya grabbed his jacket, yanking him down closer as she glared up at him. "Call me harpy one more time, and they'll be cleaning blood out of it."

He blinked, then smirked, putting his still-scarred hands up in a submissive gesture. "You're just so violent."

Rolling her eyes, Maya let go, watching him straighten up. "Is that all, or can I get back to what I was doing before you burst in here like you owned the joint and butted into our conversation?"

"Just wanted to remind you about tonight." He shrugged.

"I wouldn't forget that," she sighed.

Sam pulled out a cigarette and lighter from his pocket. "Yes, well, I was asked to remind you since the others are all busy doing their own little things, and I'm the only one smart enough not to join a club of some sort."

"No smoking in the Chronicle." She stood and grabbed the cigarette from his lips, snatching it away. "Or in the school, for that matter."

"What are you? Principal Kwan?"

She gave him a look, throwing the cigarette into her drawer. "As you were, Mister Turner."

He gave a little shiver. "It's so accurate it's freaky." And with that, he walked out, shaking his head to himself.

Smiling at his back, Maya shook her head before turning her attention to a much more subdued Justin. "Sorry about that. He's a real philistine sometimes."

Justin nodded, holding his bag to his chest. "I gotta go."

"Sure." Maya watched him leave in confusion, shaking her head, wondering what had happened.

Conner leaned against the door, arms folded over his chest, eyes narrowed as he processed what they had just discovered. "What does James get out of breaking up his daughter's relationship with the Conant boy?"

Otis, sitting on the bed next to Mandy, looked perplexed. Mandy had been unusually quiet since Pat's incident. "There's a prophecy that the Blakes and Conants are destined for each other," Mandy muttered, lying down and hugging a pillow to her chest. "No one knows exactly what's supposed to happen if they get together, but so far, things have always happened to keep them apart. A Blake female has never gotten with a Conant male."

"And after that spell to make them stop loving each other..." Conner shook his head. "It's been averted for at least one more generation."

"James is really ruthless," Otis snorted. "To do that to his own kid—and then nearly kill her other coven mate just to convince them that the curse was real—"

"Like we haven't done ruthless things," Conner retorted, raising an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Not to our family," Otis countered.

"He's obviously preparing for something big," Mandy said, sitting up cross-legged and eyeing Conner. "And while the coven here is wary of him, they're still turning to him."

"We have nothing concrete, though," Otis reminded them. "We still don't know what his end game is."

"How could we?" Conner asked. "We're just staying in the background, safe. If we're going to find anything out, we're going to have to be more present, but that means risking being found out."

Otis swallowed, nodding. "And His Baldness has ordered we stay in the background, unseen."

"Should we even be taking orders from him right now?" Mandy questioned. "With Pat—he's not himself right now."

"He's still the leader of our coven," Conner declared, ever faithful.

"What coven?" Mandy countered. "Our coven's broken, gone."

"But we're not," Otis placed his hand on her shoulder. "We're here, and we're still a family, a coven. Even if there are only five of us now."

She didn't answer but brought her hand to the one he had on her shoulder.

Resentful, as always, that he didn't have that... a person with whom he could find comfort with just a touch, Conner's dark eyes slid away from them.

"We've got most of the crystals," Austen declared to Gabe as he looked out at the group. He could see that Casandra was suffering; the spell hadn't worked on her due to the strength of her dark magic. It was as he'd planned because now that she loved Andrew, she could see how easily his emotions had been swayed while hers had stayed true. She'd be hurt for a while, but she'd grow to resent him and how easily he'd forgotten his love for her. And that was what Austen was aiming for. He wanted Casandra to not only fall out of love with Andrew but to resent and detest him. Austen wanted to crush any chance of them ever getting back together should the spell wear off of Andrew.

"Most?" Gabe asked.

"The kids think they've found the location of the last crystal, at the school," Austen replied. "We'll be getting it tonight at the dance."

"And then..."

"Yes." Austen nodded. "I got word from Samuel, one of the Witch-Hunters. Eben has the demons I tried bringing up sixteen years ago and has allowed them to possess him. He will use them to try and end us—me—once and for all. This needs to end now."

"I can't believe he'd be fool enough to let them possess him!" Gabe hissed, clearly agitated.

"Eliane found out that she's my daughter as well."

Gabe paused. "What?"

"Eliane's my daughter," Austen replied, as if this wasn't some huge revelation.

"You have three daughters," Gabe whispered.

"And three sons," Austen declared, pride in his voice.

"I realized you had the six... but I hadn't realized they were... equal numbered," Gabe mumbled.

"I couldn't have planned it better myself," Austen admitted, before clearing his throat. "How is she?"

"Something happened a couple of nights ago, but I'm not sure what because I was out doing that thing for you," Gabe declared uneasily. "I believe she was attacked in her bedroom."

There was silence.

"There's a huge dent in the wall opposite her bed, and there's a trail of blood she's tried to scrub out of the wall below the window." He cleared his throat. "She's also wearing high-necked shirts and winces, sometimes rubbing her shoulder. I've also found a bloody gauze in the trash when I was dumping it."

There was more silence until Austen finally spoke. "Don't worry, Gabe. Soon I will have the crystal skull, and this will be all over. She'll be safe."

Gabe sighed. "What about until that happens? What do you want me to do?"

"What do you want to do?" Austen asked curiously.

"I want to go hunting," Gabe responded without a second's thought.

There was a pause, and then the witch answered. "Happy hunting."

The next thing he heard was the dial tone.