Page 90 of Mage Massacres

What the fuck?

“Anyway. When I noticed that you guys spent so much time at home, I decided to spell your front door the same way I had done the cookies. That helped for a while. I was able to strengthen the spell every few days without any of you thinking twice about what the old coot of a neighbor was doing in the hall.”

She glared at my fae. “But you didn’t go home after work that day, did you, Vaughn?”

“I may have underestimated her,” I admitted. “I thought I was crazy, but I’m just a slice. She’s the whole fucking cake.”

“York had to be removed from the picture early on because he’d already sealed his bond. I had hope for the rest of you, though. Five out of six was better than none.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulder, then looked at her nails with disgust. She began scraping at the skin on her hand with her thumb, peeling chunks away and dropping them to the ground.

“I was so hopeful, and then none of you were home when it was time.”

The smile she flashed at Novak made me equally twitchy and curious. I was too caught up in the soap opera of their lives. We needed to kill this woman. Or was she a man? I was so confused about who she truly was.

The fae-mage, yes.

But other than that? Not a fucking clue.

Big doe eyes gazed at my guys. Her plump lips pursed playfully as she twirled her dark hair around her finger. The clothes she had on alluded to a club outfit, but her makeup was subtle.

Vaughn choked, and Novak was paler than usual. He looked moments away from being sick.

“Novak came home early, though. He dropped his luggage off and left, so I followed him to a vampire bar. Wretched place, but it did the job until your master was back home to tighten your leash.”

She glared at my fae again, as if he were the sole reason her plans had been thwarted.

“Jessica?” My vampire shook his head. “No, that’s wrong. Kathleen? Olivia? Nancy? Tera? Kelly? Bella? Am I getting close?”

Novak rambled through a list of more names, and I covered my mouth to smother my laughter.

She trembled as my guys began to snicker. Her appearance changed to the regal woman with burgundy hair, but her face contorted with anger at their lack of attention.

“Don’t feel bad,” I commented, the sarcasm thick in my tone. “They just need to get it out of their systems. I’m sure he remembers you.”

“Oh, I do,” Novak stated. “Not her name, but I do recall that she wouldn’t leave my bed. She kept spouting off about wanting a relationship, so I jumped ship. I was in Vaughn’s room when he got home from being out with you. He kicked her out.”

“I shouldn’t be standing here.” She pointed to the ground as her voice rose. “Everything was already in motion, even before Vaughn came home and said he’d found his mate. You were supposed to be mine.”

That shut us all up.

“He didn’t kill you when you were a baby because of that fucking woman. She stole everything from us while she toyed with the Fates. All that is yours should be mine. Your life, your future, your status. It’s meant to be mine.”

Shivers violently swept through her body as she stared at me. Her whispered tone was supposed to be threatening, and perhaps I should have heeded the warning.

“Everything that is Amelia’s was rightfully my father’s. But you’re too blind to see what your family has done. All of this is your fault. The capture of your parents, all the death and destruction, every ounce of bad that has happened is because he couldn’t kill you without fighting his sister.”

I blinked at her, my mouth gaping as I digested her confessions. I couldn’t fit the pieces together fast enough to argue, though there wasn’t much I could say to dispute her. I didn’t know enough about my mother, and I never considered that she had a brother.

Annette’s orb of raw magic slammed into my chest, knocking me into Briggs and throwing us both down the passage. We tumbled across the ground, and I righted myself, scraping my hands as I dragged them over the rough flooring.

“She’s gone,” York called as he rushed out of the darkness.

“Fuck.” I slapped at the ground, closing up my mental walls so I could rage in private. “Is everyone okay?”

“She hit you and Novak, and Briggs too,” my druid said, glancing at my chest as he grimaced. “You good, Wolf?”

“That fucking burned,” Briggs rasped, climbing to his feet as he patted the tiny embers eating away at his shirt. “Uhm, Barbie?”