Midnight Coven (Devil's Roses Book 7) (The Devil's Roses)

  Midnight Coven

  The Blackwater Witches

  A Devil’s Roses Story

  Tara Brown Writing as TL Brown

  Copyright 2014 Tara Brown

  http://TaraBrown22.blogspot.com

  Amazon Edition

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. No alteration of content is permitted. This book is a work of fiction, any similarities are coincidental. All characters in this fictional story are based entirely on the crazed mind of the author and are not based on any human. Any similarities are by chance and not intentional.

  This book is dedicated to my fans—thank you so much. The interest and support have been amazing. I also must thank my husband and children. You supported me, even when I was in my writer’s frenzy.

  Cover Art by Once Upon a Time Covers

  Edited by Andrea Burns

  Other Books by Tara Brown

  The Devil’s Roses

  Cursed

  Bane

  Witch

  Hyde

  Death

  The Born Trilogy

  Born

  Born to Fight

  Reborn

  The Light Series

  The Light of the World

  The Four Horsemen

  Imaginations

  Imaginations

  The Blood Trail Chronicles

  Vengeance

  Blackwater Witches

  Blackwater

  Midnight Coven

  The Single Lady Spy Series

  The End of Me

  The End of Games

  My Side

  The Long Way Home

  The Lonely

  LOST BOY

  First Kiss

  Sunder

  In The Fading Light

  One For the Money

  Chapter One

  The wind howls around me, raging in a way I don't think I have ever felt. It’s cold and hateful here, reminding me of the Rockies in Canada. It’s not a place I would have chosen had the world not fallen apart, drowning me in sorrow and mistakes.

  My eyes drift to the windowpane next to me where I anticipate my momma’s ghostly fingers will appear any second to frighten me with her creepy drawing. But it’s Momma, so I have to assume she will try harder next time. Maybe she’ll go for scaring me half to death with the reflection of her decaying face.

  I shudder as warmth wraps around me, but when I turn it isn’t Whit. It’s my sister, Em. She still has tears dried to her cheeks and her fingers squeeze harder than I would like, but at least she’s here.

  I think she still hates me, no matter how hard I try to make it all make sense for them. Especially Em. She was sixteen, madly in love, and completely normal two weeks ago.

  But how do you tell someone you love that you killed them to save their life?

  Shoot—I won’t ever be able to convince her of that. The best I can do is to prove I didn't have any other motive. But their general lack of trust, as far a Whit and his family are concerned, has them both suspicious that I’m working with Whit’s family.

  “What are you doing up here? We were worried. You left the table and never came back. I know no Southern lady would ever leave a table before a meal is finished, so I have to assume it’s something else.” She looks down like she might be harboring something or is ashamed maybe. “Is it me? Are you mad at Angie and me because we’re upset? You just have to know it’s all a shock to the system. Nothing I have lived through in sixteen years could have prepared me for this. Two weeks ago I was dating, sixteen, and pretty darned normal. Now I’m in Scotland and I had blood for dinner. Just don't be mad that it’s gonna take us some time.”

  “I could never be mad at you. Never. You forget I have experienced what you are going through—someone killing you for their own selfish reasons but making you stay alive at the same time. I too have lived through that.” I glance back at the Scottish hillside and shake with the cold air all around me. “I left the table to go to the bathroom and something happened. Something bad. I ran, desperate to get away or find you and Angie. Then this cold air hit me so I ran up here. I needed fresh air.” I don't want tell her the rest. It won’t make anything better. She doesn't need to know about the child’s voice that led me to the stairs. The child that told me to come up to see the secrets of the castle.

  She also doesn't need to know about the finger drawing on the mirror. Besides, it doesn’t take up near as much room in my mind as the frozen vampire in the bathroom. When they find him they’re going to kill me.

  What if I can’t bring him back?

  “Why do you look so upset? What were you running from? What was the bad something?”

  “Rydal.” There is no way I can keep the secret of what I have done. I may not want to burden her with it all, but we are alone in the world, the three of us. I look back at her, whispering, “They’re gonna kill me.”

  She looks confused. “What are you talking about? I saw you in the hallway, running. You looked like you saw a ghost. Who’s gonna kill you?”

  “Whit and his parents.”

  “Did you hear them talking about something? We can run, Lorelei. We don't have to stay here. We’re immortal, free in a terrible sense of the word.”

  As much as I don't want to tell her, I know I don't have a choice. Plus, if I am actually in danger for killing Rydal, we might need to run. I sigh. “I saw something in the bathroom and I have a bad feeling Momma was there. She might have made words on the mirror threatening me.”

  Her face pales. I nod again, realizing if I don't tell all the damned story it won’t make sense. “But that's not the scary part. Something happened with Rydal.” I close my eyes, hating what I did more than his attack on me. “He confronted me, wanting blood and other things ladies don't do, and I froze him. He’s stuck like a frog in a frozen pond, mid-stroke.”

  “Ohhhh. That. Yeah, I heard the commotion downstairs.” She starts to breathe again. “You have all the good luck. Momma and a twisted vampire? If Momma tracked us here, we probably need to leave, Lorelei. Tonight. I don't know if she can hurt us but if she can, she will.”

  “Not to mention, Rydal wanted to eat me. Whit swore he wasn’t going to tell them what I was and then I used my magic. But only because Rydal seemed to already know, so Whit must have told them.”

  She cocks an eyebrow, making me laugh bitterly.

  I put my hands up. “I know it. I know that look and I know you’re right. He never has been the sort of guy a girl should trust. I think you’re right though—I think we should leave tonight. The sun’s down and we have the whole night to run.”

  “You ready to leave him behind, for good?” Em asks.

  I nod, already exhausted from the level of running we will have to do, only this time I’ll have Aunty Tessa to boot. “Yeah, he don't love me the way he should, and I can feel my love for him is part of some kind of trick. A trick I can’t seem to reach and get rid of.” I glance back at the dark scenery and sigh. “I truly am sorry for what I done to you and Angie. I never woulda hurt you. I’d walk through fire before I’d hurt you. You know that, right?”

  “I do. I just don’t know how to reach inside of myself and forgive all of what you’ve done to me. When I come to terms with being this, I’ll probably be fine. Bu
t I need to come to terms and move on first. Just don't be mad at me needing time.”

  My eyes find the floor as the shame weighs more than one of Grandmamma Holt’s chesterfield afghan blankets. “I know what you mean.” Neither of them will ever understand that I do. I know what they’re feeling. That last sunrise and the betrayal of Whit and the death of my entire family was the most pain I have ever felt in my heart. Of course, loving Whit counterbalances it. Both things are equally disturbing.

  Angie comes rushing up the stairs and gives us a look. I can see she isn’t as close to being ready to forgive me as Em might be. She folds her arms across her chest and gives me a sassy look. “They were getting all suspicious so they went and looked for the sexy one, and found him in the bathroom. He was frozen solid, like that mountain lion Mr. Griffiths had in his deep freeze for the taxidermist to stuff in the spring. He was stuck with his fangs out and everything.”

  I swallow hard. “He’s still frozen in the bathroom?”

  Her eyes narrow.

  I shake my head. “I didn’t mean to. He grabbed me and said he wanted my blood. He got real pushy and I froze him somehow.”

  She sighs and mutters, looking out at the valley, “You always seem to pick the winners, Lorelei.”

  I let that one slide, but I don't know how much more I’ll be able to take before I start defending myself. Mean words and thoughts have been flitting through my mind for days. As much as I feel bad, I’m getting done with it.

  Em bites her lip, wincing. “Lorelei, you have to stop using the magic. Momma can probably sense it and track us.”

  Whit comes sauntering up onto the overlook. “Here you are. I was getting a bit worried. We were all worried. Are you all right?”

  We glance amongst each other before nodding.

  He doesn't look like he believes me but he points back at the stairs. “We found my brother in an odd situation. He seems fine now that he’s awake.” His stare hardens. “I have to assume that was some sort of self-defense against certain advances made on his part?”

  I nod, great he’s unfrozen?

  He sighs. “I’m so sorry, Lorelei. He’s an ass at times.”

  “Ass isn’t the word I would have used,” Angie snorts. “He’s doggone feisty about getting frozen.”

  The words make me gulp. “Does he remember anything?”

  “Yeah, and not happy about having been frozen in the first place,” Angie nods.

  “You’d think he’d be excited about being alive after what he done to me,” I mutter, pushing away the memories.

  She walks past me, looking out at the view, and then turns and smiles wickedly like she’s going to tell me a nasty story. “Let’s just say, he was madder than old man Bracken’s dog when he got the quills in his face. Poor Rocky, he was real upset about that.”

  Emily laughs, gripping to me. “Caesar, his name was Caesar.”

  “You sure it wasn't Rocky?” Angie cocks an eyebrow.

  Em rolls her eyes. “His name was Caesar. Rocky was that dog down the road from us, on the river side of the road. He was the one they always put a child’s raincoat on.”

  Angie’s eyes light up. “You are right! I remember that. Oh my, it feels like Baton Rouge is a million miles away.”

  I have to fight not to resent the intimate moment they’re having. The way the front of Emily’s body is pressed against the back of mine, holding me up almost, stops me from being angry with them for loving each other more than they currently love me. She is at least touching me again and Angie’s laughing. It’s a start.

  Whit gives us each a look. It’s awkward and I suspect he can tell he’s being intrusive just by loitering about. He nods back at the stairs. “I will wait below for you, and perhaps scold my brother some more.”

  We ignore him and enjoy the cold view of the trees swaying in the moonlight. Finally, just feeling brave enough, I whisper into the wind, “I wish you both coulda seen the future. It was shiny and pretty and everyone was so—different. Women didn't have to marry anyone. Angie, they were CEOs and had men for secretaries. They were pilots and senators. It was like a whole other world.”

  Em nods against my face. “Maybe don't talk about it. I can’t see it helping the cause of me and Angie thinking you’re sane in any way.”

  “Now that's a fact.” Angie nods.

  I laugh. Still wishing they’d been with me, so they could see the future I spared them—by killing them and making them monsters.

  Undead.

  It’s a word that sits on my tongue too easily. It’s in good company, like a bunch of fleas on a barn cat. Words like vampire and witch and werewolf and devil and angel. They all sit there on my tongue, mocking me, and the things I believed before. Or rather, didn't believe.

  I shake my head. “Please, if you both could just hear one thing from me, and take it and tuck it away in your chests next to your heart. It would be that I woulda chose my own death before I saw you hurt. Either of you. If I’d had a choice in the matter at all, it woulda been me every time. I don't care if you don't believe anything else, believe that.”

  Em sighs again. “I do. I know you wouldn't hurt me, Lorelei.”

  Angie looks at her and I see the fight die off in her eyes too. “Me too.”

  “It doesn't change the fact I did hurt you though, does it?”

  They both shake their heads and I hate everything. It makes me see the truth about Whit in my heart. NO amount of love and forgiveness is ever going to change the facts on how I became this.

  The wind picks up and Em wraps her arms around herself. “I don't like the wind. I’m going back in.”

  I nod, not moving, as she and Angie leave me there.

  I wish for a second I could hide away from it all.

  “Hide in here. He wants your blood. They all do.” A small voice flits onto the overlook with me. I don't even think it’s real until I hear a giggle. It’s the little kid again—the one who told me about the overlook when I was running in the hallway from Momma and frozen Rydal.

  The giggle rides the wind around my face, making my spine tingle and my arm hairs stand on end. I stop and look for the little girl but she ain’t there. No one is, and yet, I could swear the giggle wasn't alone. I could swear there were other voices.

  The weird part isn’t that there is no one—I’m pretty comfortable with the ghosts of the world wanting to talk to me. Too comfortable. No, the weird part for me is that I think the voice came from the wooden door next to me. My brain instantly recalls the words she said about the secrets of the castle. The door must be hiding them. I’m fixing to open it, when I feel the icy chill in the wind. It makes a barrier between me and the door, persuading me not to open it. I back away, unsure of whatever is there. It could always be Momma getting theatrical.

  “Lorelei?”

  I jump, turning to see Whit standing where he had been before.

  “You all right?”

  I shake my head. I don't want to talk to him about it. I don't want to love him or be near him, but I’ve never been so alone, even when I was running from him and living on the road for fifty years, I never felt this alone.

  I don't want to, and yet, I find my legs walking to him, like he’s caught me in his tractor beam. Like he did the night before. The spell isn’t broken between us; it’s lessened. I’m never getting rid of it.

  He wraps himself around me, resting his head on mine. “You seem a bit off, ya hearing things?”

  A whisper rides the wind, delicately telling me to lie. “No. I just thought y’all might kill me for hurting your brother.”

  “Rydal?” He pulls me back, almost roughly. “Why? Why would you say that?”

  “It was a joke.” It isn’t a joke at all. Neither is his response to my incredibly unfunny joke. He makes me nervous here in Scotland. His dad commenting that he was supposed to bring the blood and not the girls has been running through my head.

  There is a terribly large part of me that believes his speech in the rain
outside of my house in Baton Rouge. His devotion and love declarations are all still so enormous in my heart, but not my head. Since meeting Marcus, I’ve had a nagging feeling that I’ve trusted the wrong man. That feeling spends all its time seeing everything he does as suspicious. My fears have been picking apart the foundation our love is built upon, only to find the base is shallow and superficial.

  The last few days have been eye-opening. My initial instinct to run from him for fifty years was the right one.

  He gives me the look that tries to melt my heart and chip away at the doubts. It really is a killer. Then he does the thing I love the most. He smiles softly and looks at me through his lashes, blushing just a little. “We all know what Rydal is like. I have to assume he knew what you are before he went into the bathroom and that's why he attacked you. I don't know how he knew but I am guessing he did. He’s confessed to trying to get under your skin but I can tell he’s lying. Now that you’ve used magic it’s harder to lie to them. It doesn't matter though. I’ve told them you are mine. Come downstairs. You’re freezing and you need to just keep the heid! My father doesn't like it when the family is at each other. You’re family now.”

  “Keep the heid? Is that code?” I need to keep him thinking we might be okay. I need to leave, to run again now that they know I am a witch.

  His cheeks flush even more as a grin takes his lips to a place I enjoy them sitting. His bashful smile is a lady-killer, and it always gets me hotter than a whore at church on Sunday. But not today. Today my brain points out all the flaws in the system. He licks his lips. “It means stay calm and don't get upset. It’s just a saying. Like you and all the weird pig-in-a-fit talk.”

  I pull back. “Pig in a fit? I’ve never said pig in a fit. That sounds stupid. What pig has a fit?”

  He lowers his face, hovering over my mouth. “Just trust me, Lorelei. I won’t ever hurt you and I won’t ever let anyone else.”