Chapter 19

Nineteen

War can come in many shapes.

It can be like a storm cloud, the darkness rising on the horizon, the sky flashing with lightning long before the storm lands. You know when a storm is coming. You can see it and you can feel it.

But war can also be like an earthquake. One minute your life is normal and the next it’s falling in around you, the ground cracking beneath your feet.

This is like a storm and an earthquake. Because we felt this coming, but I don’t think we were prepared for the ground to shake.

Everything is still and then suddenly everyone is moving.

A Renshaw witch stands from her seat in the back of the room and lifts her arms in my direction. She mutters something to herself.

Bianca whips her hand toward me and there is a clash of air two feet away, followed by the overwhelming scent of magic—like tinder and wild earth.

The hair rises on the back of my neck.

“Mouse!” Bran yells. He is caught between coming to me or going to Damien. He picks me, but a Locke vampire catches him off guard and puts his hands on either side of Bran’s head, ready to give his head a swift yank to break his neck.

And that’s when the Alpha jumps in.

Cal slams into the Locke vampire and the sound of bones breaking rings in my ears.

Bran looks at Cal and gives him an appreciative nod.

The room erupts in battle.

Witches fighting witches and wolves tearing through vampire flesh. Vampires darting back and forth, tossing people like they’re nothing more than dolls.

What do I do?

What about Kelly and Damien and?—

Another vampire punches Bran in the chest and his ribs cave in. He gasps for air as blood spills from his mouth.

Those who aren’t ready for a fight scatter from the room, screaming and flailing, ducking when a body flies overhead.

This isn’t right.

Everyone I love is in this room.

There is the sharp tang of blood in the air and the whiff of defeat.

We don’t have enough witches on our side. Julian has the entire Renshaw house.

I’m not cattle. I cannot be bought or bartered for, but if my mother really promised me to Julian…then by law, I have to go with him. It’s an old rule left over from the founding days of Midnight Harbor. No one uses it anymore.

I never would have thought my own mother would turn on me. And worse yet, I can’t even yell at her.

Bran goes down when a vampire and a witch gang up on him.

He’s covered in blood. He’s healing just as fast as they’re beating him.

If something happens to Kelly and Bran, I will not survive it.

What is the point of being terrifying if I can’t do anything to save them?

“Stop,” I hear myself saying in a shaky whine, tears blurring in my eyes. “Please stop.”

Julian comes up on Bran and takes a fistful of his hair, yanking him to his feet.

“No,” I whisper and take a step, goosebumps lifting on my arms, a chill racing up my back.

A witch throws a hit at Cal and the Alpha is tossed into a row of seats.

“ No .”

Everywhere I look, there is carnage and pain.

“Your problem,” Julian says to Bran as Bran sways on his feet, “is your arrogance. You and your brother always assume you’ll be the most powerful person in the room. What you don’t factor in, is someone who is smarter.”

Bran spits in Julian’s face, splattering blood across Julian’s cheek. “You’re the dumbest little shit I’ve ever met,” Bran says. “I’ve never doubted that.”

One of the Renshaw witches flicks her hand at Bran and Bran’s body lets out a horrible crunch.

Fire comes to Bran’s eyes as he grits against the pain.

Behind him, one of Julian’s vamps grabs a chair and snaps the leg in two.

“ No , please…” My voice rises, hands shaking.

Two witches stand over Cal, hands raised in a spell. The Alpha roars.

Damien and Kelly still aren’t moving.

Fox is cornered by two Locke vamps as more shifters are caught in battle.

“I will be glad to be rid of you,” Julian says.

The Locke vampire lifts the makeshift stake behind Bran, ready to strike at his heart.

No. No .

I can’t lose Bran.

I can’t lose this battle.

It’s too much.

It’s all too much.

“ STOP !” I shout.

And the room goes eerily still.

I’m gasping for air. I’m hot all over. My skin is crawling.

What is happening?

No one is moving. Everyone is frozen mid-stride.

They’re all breathing, though, blinking through the disbelief.

“Mouse,” Bran says. He can’t seem to turn his head my way, but he can speak. He’s caught in place in front of Julian, the Locke vampire at his back, the stake inches from piercing Bran’s flesh. “Mouse.”

“I don’t know what’s happening,” I say, voiced edged in panic.

Julian blinks, his teeth gritted, his hand half-raised. “You undid the binding?”

“No,” Bran answers, not moving a muscle.

“Wait—” I take a step and Julian’s eyes narrow as if he wishes he could dart away. “You’re not surprised by this? What is it?”

Julian doesn’t answer.

“Tell me right now or I swear to god?—”

“You’ll what?” Julian challenges. “You don’t know the first thing about your power. Not what it is or how to use it.”

“Mouse,” Bran says again.

“What?”

“Use your voice.”

It’s an echo of what he’s said to me before. Use my voice. Speak my mind. Quit hiding what I want and who I am.

But he means it differently now. Julian was wrong—Bran is always the most powerful and the smartest person in the room.

He’s put it together much quicker than I have.

I used my voice. I told the room to stop and they did. All of them. Caught like a bug in a drip of amber.

Use my voice.

The things you did, Jessie…you were only a year old and it terrified me.

A year old, when a child, especially a fae child, might learn to speak .

A tingling chill runs through my entire body.

I turn on Julian. His eyes narrow.

“Jessie,” he says.

My heart thuds in my ears.

“You know what I can do,” I say. He doesn’t deny it. I think he’s known since Sasha bit me and I think he must have somehow forced my mother into admitting it. “You knew and you kept it from me and everyone else because you wanted to use me for your own gains.

“That’s not what it was?—”

“You’ve been conniving and controlling and manipulative from the beginning because you knew that if you possessed a power that no one else did, you would be the most powerful person in the room. You would strip Bran and Damien of that title and you would take over Midnight to be the king of a castle he stole.”

“Jessie—”

The heat builds in my chest. The blood pounds through my veins. And that dark thing, that dark feeling I had after Bran and Damien decimated the vampire court swims much closer to the surface.

I can feel it yawning inside of me, no longer tethered.

And the thirst for vengeance takes root.

I want him to die.

I want Julian to burst into ash beneath my hands.

“Jessie,” Bran says again.

I go behind him and take the stake from the Locke vampire. The bigger man grunts and groans, but there’s nothing he can do to stop me.

“Help me get out of this and I will take care of this for us,” Bran says. “Let me have blood on my hands.”

I stop in front of Julian, the stake held firmly in my grip.

“Mouse.”

“You deserve to suffer for what you did to my sister,” I tell Julian. “But I’m too impatient.”

“Don’t do this,” Julian begs.

“Fuck you.”

“Mouse!”

I drive the stake right through Julian Locke’s heart.

There is a moment between Julian’s life and death where he just blinks at me and then down at the stake protruding from his chest.

His lips move, as if he means to protest.

But before any words can come out, he bursts into ash.

A gasp wends through the room and the last of Julian Locke paints the air in swirls of dust.

“Mouse,” Bran says again. “Unfreeze me.”

I stagger back.

“Mouse, please.”

I bump into him, swallowing hard.

“Jessie,” he says, as if my real name might better get my attention.

I turn around to face him, caught between shock and awe.

I just killed a man and froze an entire room.

The tears start running down my face.

The line of Bran’s brow sinks over his eyes. He takes a breath. “Unfreeze me.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Just say the words, Mouse.”

I take in a breath and nod. “Okay.” Closing my eyes, I try to focus on what I want. I don’t know exactly how to use this power that burns through my veins, but it is mine. It’s always been mine. “Um… Bran …you can move freely.”

When his hands come to my face, I open my eyes and meet his gaze. More tears blur my vision. “Are you okay?” he asks.

I nod and bite at my bottom lip, not entirely sure I can keep it together for much longer. “I’m okay.” For now.

Bran blurs away and sinks beside his brother, turning Damien on his back. I go to Kelly’s side and check her breathing, putting my ear to her heart. The blackness from the spell has disappeared, leaving her unmarred. It’s almost like she’s sleeping.

“Kelly?” I give her a shake. “Can you hear me?”

She doesn’t respond, so I pinch her arm. Still nothing.

“What did they do to you?” I whisper.

“Jessie, I need you to unfreeze Cal,” Bran calls. “Get Fox and Bianca, and anyone else that we consider an ally.”

“I…I’m not…”

He looks up at me. “You can do it, Mouse. But hurry.”

I go to Cal first. He’s closest and the strongest. One of the Locke vampires has a fistful of his shirt in his grip. He’s got his teeth gnashed as he watches me, unable to stop me. There’s blood spilling from the corner of Cal’s mouth, and several splatters painting his blond hair.

I still don’t know how this power works, but hopefully it’s enough just to believe in the words. Otherwise, we’re all in a world of shit.

“Cal,” I say and push emphasis into my meaning, “ you can move freely .”

Like a movie suddenly set to PLAY, Cal staggers forward and then pries his shirt from the Locke vamp’s hand.

“Thank you, Jessie,” he says.

One by one I go around the room and unfreeze those we consider friends. And with every one, my body aches a little more, my vision gets blurrier, and my heart races in my head.

By the time I’ve done the last one, I feel faint, legs shaking. I nearly crash to the ground before Bran is behind me, catching me.

“Come on, little mouse,” he says and scoops me into his arms. My body is boneless in his grip, but I cling to him because I don’t know what else to do.

“I’ve got your brother,” Cal calls. Damien is slung over his shoulder.

“Kelly?” I ask.

“Fox has her,” Bran tells me.

The rest of the room—the remaining Locke vampires, the Renshaw witches—are still frozen in the grip of whatever power I wield.

“How long do you think they’ll be like that?” I ask.

Bran carries me toward the door. “This can become their tomb for all I fucking care.”

“You can’t just leave us like this!” one of the Renshaws says.

“The fuck we can’t,” Bran says as he leaves.

“Hey! Please! Don’t leave us!”

Someone shuts the door behind us, muffling the sound of their calls for help.