Page 48 of The Witch's Heart
“I found her like this,” he corrects. “Her symptoms are severe, as you can see, but from what my doctors can surmise, she is the victim of her own broken mind.”
I saw the police report. The photos they took of her lifeless body that made me vomit. Her cut wrists. But now her wrists are unmarked. Was it all a lie?
“You’re saying she put herself into some kind of coma?” I scoff but my mind races.
“It appears so,” Cutter says calmly. Too calmly.
The prick.
“She’s been here all this time.” I can’t think straight. But I have to.
Estelle’s life depends on it.
I glare at him.
“You’re trying to manipulate me.”
“No, Celeste. I’m trying to help.” I snort but he continues. “When I uncovered her identity—and yours—I tracked you down. We almost didn’t find you in time. In fact, it was the emergency call you made that led us to you, and you’re fortunate that it did. Dr. Livingstone healed you and brought you here.”
Estelle made that call. I’m sure of it, though I have no idea how if she’s been in a coma all this time. Still, it must mean something, her bringing me here.
“What do you want with me?”
“It’s not me who needs your help, Celeste.” He gestures to Estelle. “It’s her.”
I hesitate. Behind him, the spirits hover, every one of them whispering to ignore him. To run.
He’s a liar.
A monster.
He’ll kill you all.
“What can I do for her?” I ask, because no matter this monster’s true motive, I will never abandon my sister and the bastard knows it.
“My doctors are the best in the world, specializing in supernatural medicine, and they’ve tried everything, but nothing has worked. I think your blood is the key. Your family bond.”
“You want to use me to heal her,” I say and he nods, his eyes gleaming before he blinks, shuttering his expression.
But the eagerness is unmistakable, and I know for certain this is some kind of elaborate trap to help him get what he really wants.
Whatever that is.
“Fine. You brought Estelle here to help her,” I say, sarcasm dripping from the words. “But what about the rest of them? Declan, Dean, and all the others? Do they have a sick family member too? Someone to save that requires torture and pain?”
“Miracles always require sacrifice.”
“And you’ve deemed yourself in charge of who gets sacrificed?”
“I have a vision that, when realized, will set those like us free. Chains will not hold us. Neither will our own nature. They are the ones I do this for.”
“People are suffering because of yourvision.”
“I am not the monster you think I am.” He gestures to Estelle. “I would think your sister is proof of that. You thought her dead, but she is right here, waiting to be woken and reunited with you. And I’d like nothing more than to help make that happen, but it’s up to you.”
Truth wrapped in lies. Isn’t that what Estelle told me?
“You want my blood,” I say, recalling the doctor’s words about our blood being the key.
