Page 57 of The Coven’s Sacrifice

We all broke out in laughter. “We were wondering when you would bring that up,” I said, wiping my eyes.

Colin just glared at us, hands resting on his hips. “Which one of you was with me when I was sick?”

I stopped laughing, staring at the others. Alexander held up his hand, looking guilty. “That was me.”

Colin’s eyes widened. “But… I petted you!”

Alexander just nodded. “I liked being petted.”

“Gods, stop being all adorable!” Jacob whined. “I simply cannot take it.”

“Were you truly hurt? Or was it just a play to get inside my room?” Colin asked.

“Hurt?” Jacob and I asked simultaneously.

Alexander looked at Jacob before his gaze slid back to Colin. “I had a fight with Jacob that night and went for a fly. The storm caught me off guard and… Yeah.”

Colin stepped closer to Alex, brushing his cheek with a tender smile on his face. “I wish I’d known sooner.”

“We did not intend to keep our bat forms from you,” I said, not wanting Alexander to take all the blame. “We tended to see our forms as…”

“The monsters we were,” Jacob finished for me. “When we fed before, it was always in bat form, until the blood vow.”

“We could not control the shift, we just felt hungry and then we would strike. We shifted back while feeding, like the monster inside of us was controlling our bodies, only leaving us when the human was too far gone to be saved.”

“Oh,” Colin said, his eyes shining with sadness. “I can understand why you’d prefer not to use those forms.”

“It is different now,” Alexander said, kissing Colin’s cheek. “Now when we shift it will be for fun and nothing else.”

“You can still do it, right?” Colin asked, looking between us.

We all shifted in that moment, showing off our bat forms. Alexander was right that it was different now. I felt free whereas before I had felt burdened by what this form represented. Death and murder. Now I was simply a bat, flapping my wings around.

“You’re too damn cute,” Colin laughed, his joy infectious. We began chasing one another, just for fun, and as we fled through the trees, Colin’s laughter sounding behind us, I felt like something inside me healed.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Colin

It was getting late, but I wanted to try one thing before going to bed.

“You sure about this?” Jacob asked, sitting next to me.

“I am,” I nodded, my finger hovering over the call button. “They should know the blood vow is over.”

“We will be here,” Alexander said, also sitting on the bed. Harland was on the chair in the corner, smiling encouragingly at me.

I hit the button that would allow us to video chat, then waited. It took three rings and then my mother’s face filled the screen, her gasp so loud in the now quiet room. “How?” she demanded, sounding close to tears.

“Hi, mom,” I said, smiling at her. She broke down then, offering my father the phone instead.

“Son,” he greeted, looking at the screen like he was trying to see if this was a trick or not.

“It really is me,” I confirmed. “The blood vow is no more.”

“How?!” Mom demanded, grabbed the phone back. “Did you manage to kill the monsters?”

I laughed at that. “I have no desire to do such a thing.”