I had to pry my feet from the hardwood floor. The shock had cemented me in place, but as I examined the royal purple and deep red fabrics hanging around the room, I felt the need to explore more.My hand reached forward as I turned in the doorway and faced the wall. The fabric was silk and slipped through my fingers as I grabbed the edge and lifted it. Beneath the cover were more symbols, some were hand-drawn, and some were etched into the wall.It baffled me, and I took a step back, releasing my hold on the fabric."Oh, what were you two up to?" I whispered as I spun around, overwhelmed by the discovery. Out of all the fucking things they could have had up here, this was the last thing I would have guessed.I walked across the floor, the symbol beneath my feet giving me an uneasy feeling as I made my way toward the book. The unrealistic hope that they were reading Pride and Prejudice flew right out of my head as I approached the aged, tan pages and the u

Demetri stood on the other side of the kitchen island, watching me with his scrutinizing gaze as I tapped my fingers on the granite countertop. There was something about having his eyes on me that made everything feel like it was happening in slow motion.I was overly aware of every move and every breath during every second that passed while his gaze was on me. It was like I had forgotten how to move naturally, and I had to second guess the movement of each muscle. His remark about keeping me around for a while, did not ease my fear. It only increased it as I now had the cloud hanging over me, wondering when he would turn on me.The slow dripping of the coffee machine did nothing to break the tension, and I found my fingers moving from the cold surface to the mark on my inner wrist, rubbing and pressing down on it once more."If I accidentally let you roam free when I summoned you, why are you still here?" The words tasted bitter on my tongue as I still had a ha

My mind was racing. If my mom was trying to bind a demon to her or my father, she had to have known someone was after them. They both did. There was no other explanation I could come up with for it. My parents weren't evil. They wouldn't be dabbling in black magic if they weren’t desperate. Then again, I also didn't know that at least one of them had magic until now. It seemed that I had a lot to learn about them and a lot to learn about myself. Why was I just now discovering that I had powers? I pulled away from Demetri, placing one hand on his chest to push him backward and out of the doorway. Having his body so close to mine was making it hard to breathe, let alone think. "It is obvious you were not the creator of this casting." His voice seemed to darken with curiosity and suspicion. "It seems my little witch has secrets. What were you doing with another witch's spells?" My head shook on its own as my mouth tried to find the words. I had yet to vocalize the truth past the stat

We had to wait two days until my Aunt Isla was back from her trip to Greece. It seemed that even after her sister's murder, she was wanting to continue her trips to exotic locations. It didn't sit well with me, but everyone grieved differently. For her, it appeared that she wanted to stay active in society and travel around the globe.I had seen photos on her social media pages of her out and about over the past two months. Besides a phone call to see how I was holding up a month after I found the bodies, the funeral, and the visits to the lawyer's office to settle the will, I hadn't heard much from her.She had seemed irritated by the fact that she hadn't been left with anything, but when I asked her afterward, she stated that it was just how the family worked. She said she had expected it. Everything was passed down to the next generation, always. Not only was she linear to my parents, but she had no kids of her own.If she needed to get away and be alone to g

My tongue was tied as I stared at my aunt. Her lively summer dress and perfectly styled hair were contradictory to the words leaving her lips. Magic, let alone dark magic, still seemed so foreign. It didn't help that the only proof I had was the demon permanently bound to me. I had yet to see it for myself, let alone knowingly cast it. Perhaps this was all a hallucination from the stress and trauma I had endured when my parents died. I shook my head as I debated reality. The cup in my hand began to tremble against the saucer it was on as I began to shake. The sound of the porcelain clicking together filled the room. "Are you telling me that my parents thought I would grow up to be evil?" It was both a compliment and an insult at the same time. To be so powerful that I would be a threat, and yet, so untrustworthy that they would hide my powers from me, even as a baby. None of it made sense to me. How could you take a gift like that away from your own child? How could you not trust y