A Witch's Fury (2 page)

Selena, the psychotic vampire bitch who had
created, enslaved, and trained me, had drawn my blood repeatedly
until I could control the effects, could focus through the
immediate intense emotions and so hone my abilities. It was one of
the very few things she had done in my fucked up beginnings that I
was grateful for.

Kass never had such training.

“No,” I whispered again as the small mirror
slid through my boneless fingers to land at my feet. “No!” I
screamed louder, getting the attention of Darren and Logan, who
burst through the door.

Ignoring their panicked expressions, I flung
myself in front of Kass, facing her with arms braced wide.

Kass turned slowly from the mirror, her eyes
burning with hatred. She ignored me, her gaze locked onto Lorraine
with a need to kill vibrating off her body in powerful waves. Her
ruby red painted lips pulled back from her white teeth in a snarl.
Her body crouched slightly into the fighting stance I had taught
her.

“What happened?!” Logan and Darren yelled
together.

“Lorraine drew first blood,” I whispered as
Kass attempted to launch around me.

Holding her back easily, I settled into my
own stance.

“How do we fix this?” Darren asked, standing
next to me, his voice colored with worry for his soon-to-be
wife.

“Usually I drain both parties within an inch
of their lives,” I responded, letting him take Kass’s next advance.
He held her wiggling body against his own until she flung herself
backwards.

He turned to me, ashen.

“I am not doing that because of the baby,” I
assured him. He turned back to Kass.

“I could let Kass kill her,” I muttered.

“That bitch hits me!” Lorraine yelled,
pointing an accusing finger at me. “Why can’t I hit the slut?”

Yeah, I’ve hit Lorraine a lot. Trust me, she
deserves it.

I cringed as Kass renewed her efforts and
slammed into my body.

“Get Lorraine out of here!” I bellowed to
Logan, foolishly expecting him to listen.

Turning to Darren I said, “I am going to
drain her emotionally, that won’t hurt the child and should place
her in an unnatural calm.”

“I’m okay with killing her,” Darren answered,
his own eyes glowing with hatred at Lorraine.

“Me too,” I answered, looking at Kass with a
sigh. “But she won’t be.”

“If I kill her?” Darren asked hopefully as he
turned to look at Lorraine, whom Logan still hadn’t removed.

I shook my head, “Won’t help, but thanks for
offering.” Kass came at me again, spewing obscenities at Lorraine
while trying to claw her way around me.

Wrapping my arms around her slim shoulders, I
ducked my head into her neck, sucking a breath and holding it. My
power reached out and I quickly pulled Kass’s anger, disgust, and
hatred to me, letting them mingle with my own emotions, then
cramming it all into a metal ball inside of my head.

I was scared to pull back and see whether
what I had done worked. The pull was dangerously fast. It would
have been easy for me to pull too much or not enough. I was betting
on my experience to see us both out of this crisis unscathed. If
she hated me for what I had done, I’d understand. Perfectly.

“I’m sorry Kass,” I whispered, releasing the
breath I was holding. Pulling back, I braced for the results of my
handiwork. I had just deprived Kass of all her emotions from this
day and several more to come. Kass’s eyes found mine and instead of
the intelligent, witty, sparkling joy I had seen there just moments
earlier, only emptiness remained: a forced calm, forced by my
hand.

I pulled my arms off of her shoulders,
wrapping them around my middle instead, bowing my head as I took a
few steps back. Her emotions roiled inside of me, wanting an
outlet, wanting Lorraine’s blood to be spilled until the lifeless
look in her eyes would soothe my soul.

Clenching my jaw, I closed my eyes, sucking
in a deep breath and commanding those desires to lay still. I dug
my fingernails into the soft flesh of my palms, willing myself not
to draw my throwing knives.

Fucking weddings.

“What about Lorraine?” Darren asked, helping
Kass to sit. I hated myself for the blank expression on Kass’s
face.

It took me a few moments to focus on his
question rather than the guilt in my gut.

“She’ll need to be drained,” I answered. I
searched for my phone to text Blake. I was glad to have a menial
task to take my mind off what I had just done. I did not want to
deal with this shit today of all days. What was wrong with
Lorraine? Why didn’t I just kill her? The searing heat of first
blood warmed my body at the thought of breaking her slender neck
with my hands.

Blowing out a breath, I was startled by the
door bursting open again. I looked up to see Blake standing there,
handsome and regal, his eyes glowing amber.

“This is going to hurt,” he hissed, before
using his vamp speed to secure his fangs into Lorraine’s neck. I
smiled at her whimper of pain.

Have I mentioned how much I love that
man?

Logan moved to interfere, but Darren’s growl
stilled the Alpha. Unsure of what to do, Logan opted to stand
there, unwanted, glaring at Blake. He may be the Alpha over
shifters in the entire U.S., but what Lorraine had done merited
punishment.

A wave of jealously washed over me, blinding
me with the need to kill Lorraine. Leaning heavily against the
couch, I blew out a breath and secured those emotions down
deep.

Blake released Lorraine roughly, his face
contorted in disgust. She fell, limply, onto the couch behind
her.

“You should probably call someone to take
care of her,” Blake stated indifferently, holding out a hand to
me.

“You alright?” he asked, pulling me close.
Linked to me from our bedroom activities, he felt an echo of my
emotions.

I nodded, forcing a smile, not looking at
Kass. I already hated myself for what I had done to her. The
chances of her hating me when this was over were high as well.

The chipper photographer popped her head back
in. “We ready?”

All eyes turned to Kass, who smoothed down
her hair before standing. “Yes, we are,” she replied, far too
calm.

Chapter 2

We
successfully completed all the required pictures. The groom was
waiting with the minister or preacher or whatever. I smiled down at
Hannah, Darren’s daughter. The death of her mother, Darren’s first
wife, had awakened Hannah’s dormant succubus powers. Now she was
going to be Kass’s adopted daughter. I was thrilled Hannah would
have such a teacher and guardian.

“You ready?” I asked in an excited whisper as
music began playing.

She nodded, crossing her arms in her delicate
light purple dress and smooshing the basket of flower petals
against her. “I was born ready,” her saucy butt informed me.

I smothered a laugh as I said, “You have been
spending too much time with me.”

She shrugged. Holding her head high, tossing
petals regally, she gracefully walked the aisle to her father. I
love that kid.

As I turned to Kass, my smile fell away. She
looked at me blankly. “I should smile?” she questioned.

“Only if you want to.”

My own smile felt rigid and, like Kass’s,
didn’t reach my eyes.

…

The ceremony was elegant, just like Kass.
Darren gazed adoringly at Kass during the exchange of vows and I,
thankfully, couldn’t see Kass’s face as she gave hers. Her bland
voice had me cringing internally, though.

We finally sat down to eat. I could now relax
the smile that was straining my cheek muscles. I let out a breath
and commenced inhaling the food that was laid out before us, not
tasting much as my mind replayed the scene with Lorraine. It really
might be time to kill the bitch. However, killing humans is frowned
upon, not to mention that I’d have to deal with the fallout with
Logan.

Casting a look at Logan, who sat on the other
side of Darren at the long table, I drummed my fingers against the
cream tablecloth, deep in thought.

I watched the waiter lean forward to whisper
something into Logan’s ear. Based on the stiffening in his
shoulders and the twitch in his jaw, it wasn’t good news. He pushed
his chair back forcefully and followed the skinny human help to the
kitchens.

I waited a moment, watching them, before I
decided to follow. Let’s be honest, I don’t really trust Logan to
be able to handle much of anything, and when it came to Kass’s big
day, I wouldn’t be letting the overgrown shifter screw it up.

Not that I hadn’t already screwed it up, but
that was beside the point now. Pushing through the swinging double
doors and advancing down the long hallway, I found the kitchen.
Logan’s voice bouncing off the small space had me turning right
down another corridor, where I caught up to him.

“What’s going on?” I asked, coming up next to
him and scanning the shifters lined up in front of him. “Really
Logan,” I complained, “can’t I leave you alone for two
minutes?”

“Apparently, these folks have a problem with
a succubus marrying into the family,” he informed me, never taking
his eyes off the angry shifters facing us.

“Bring it on boys,” I challenged. Fangs began
to sprout from the angry group of idiotic shifters. Their eyes
emitted an intense glow that illuminated the dimly lit hallway.

Moving a hand to Logan’s back I pulled out my
blade, as his hands simultaneously sprouted talons. I huffed,
jealous of both his fangs and razor sharp claws.

The first two moved with impressive speed as
they lunged, snarling at us. I braced my legs wide for the impact.
Logan, however, leapt in front of me, taking the brunt of the hit.
His powerful shoulders bunched under the effort to keep from being
shoved back.

Not one to miss a fight, I kicked out at the
closest one, thankful for the floor-to-hip slit in my dress,
landing a solid hit to the solar plexus. The shifter’s air whooshed
out of his body, bending him forward. Following my kick with an
upper cut, I sent the first idiot onto his back with a bloody
nose.

“I can’t believe I have to save your ass yet
again!” I yelled at Logan in the tiny hallway, as I slammed the
second idiot’s head into the plaster.

Okay, so I was enjoying myself, a little
bit.

“I didn’t ask for your help,” he barked at
me, breaking the arm of his attacker.

“No, you just brought the fight to a location
where you knew I would be,” I answered, slamming my foot between
the thug’s legs, grinning evilly when his eyes bugged out of his
head.

Spinning, I wheeled my elbow into the
original idiot’s temple, dropping him for a second and final
time.

“I am perfectly capable of handling this
myself,” Logan growled, body slamming his next attacker with
ease.

I shrugged, realizing we had dispatched the
crowd quickly. “I needed a good fight, anyways,” I said, slipping
my blade under his jacket for safe storage again.

I hadn’t used the blade to do anything more
than inflict surface wounds on the idiots. We hadn’t killed them,
but we had delivered impressive damage; hopefully, the message
would be taken seriously by any who disagreed with Kass and
Darren’s marriage. Besides, killing people at Kass and Darren’s
wedding seemed pretty terrible, even for me.

“Let’s get back,” Logan said, turning.

“Whoa, turbo,” I advised, pulling him back
around.

He looked down at my hand on his bicep,
annoyed as I brushed plaster off his shoulder and out of his
hair.

“Am I wearing any plaster?” I asked, hands on
my hips.

“No,” he responded curtly, turning back to
storm down the hallway.

…

If I thought I had been excited to sit down
and eat, then I was ecstatic when we ushered Kass and Darren
through a tunnel of sparklers to their awaiting limo.

My final duties were to clean up, and to
gather and deliver gifts. Once I completed those tasks, I headed
outside to find Blake.

He was leaning against a pillar looking
around at the peaceful landscaping. Slipping up behind him, I
wrapped my arms around his waist, a contented sigh passing over my
lips.

“Penny for your thoughts?” I asked
softly.

Resting his hands over my own he said, “Do
you ever want to be married?” He didn’t look back at me.

I rested my cheek against his shoulder,
thinking about the question before I answered. “I never thought I
would find anyone I wanted to marry, until I met you.” I hesitated,
realizing I had just opened up a piece of my heart to him.

Blake turned in my arms, smiling softly as he
leaned down to kiss me gently, stroking my cheek. He leaned back,
searching my eyes before turning us to head toward the car. I
hadn’t asked him the same question. I was afraid of the answer. I
was afraid this wedding had made him realize that I wasn’t marriage
material, and I was not ready for the beautiful bubble to come
crashing down around me.

Chapter 3

It had
been a long time since I had pissed off Grams this badly.

Granted, since I had pulled her from
destitution as a cocaine addicted, poor excuse of a madam of a
drug-infected whorehouse, she typically put up with all my shit
rather well.

“I cannot believe you used George to catch
Governor Hash with prostitutes,” she stated yet again, eyes
clenched closed, fingers massaging her temples.

Tilting my head, I watched her strained
expression. “Don’t forget the drugs,” I added. I was impressed with
my creativity in using my human pimp contact to trap Governor Hash
in drug and prostitution charges. Hey, I didn’t kill the asshole.
That is progress.

She groaned, still not looking at me.

“What’s the big deal? The man deserved far
more than the slap on the wrist he is receiving now. He
propositioned me in the alleyway of Kitten,” I reminded her, still
mortified, annoyed, and wanting to kill the man.