Page 40 of Witch's Betrayal
18
DEJA
Diana's eyes opened to slits as she registered us in the doorway but never stopped muttering her spell. I tried to move forward but the guys blocked me from entering the room. Sal snarled like a predator at her but Raum looked unusually cool and aloof.
"Grandma," I whispered. "What's going on?"
My skin seemed to electrify at all the blood in the room and I knew it was my earth magic responding. Blood, bone, and living tissue always broke down and returned to nature after all.
"I've come to finish what I've started," she said in a barely recognizable growl. "Demon whore."
I blinked, my confusion spiraling as I tried to approach her again. But both guys blocked me with their arms.
"Guys, let me talk to her. That's my grandmother," I protested.
"I wouldn't advise that, babe," Raum said softly, never taking his eyes from her. "She's using blood magic, which means she intends to kill you."
"What?" I pushed against his forearm but like a boulder, he wouldn't move.
"He's right." A slow, evil smile spread across Diana's face. "He would know better than anyone."
"What?" I repeated, looking between Raum and my grandmother. My heart and brain felt like they were being ripped off in chunks as the information sank in. She wanted to kill me? And Raum knew?
"It should've been you," Diana mumbled nearly incoherently.
"You're wrong, witch," Raum snarled. "She wasmeantto come into this body in this lifetime. If only you would accept that, Deidre would still be alive."
"Deidre? My mother?" I turned to look at Raum, his jaw clenched with tension as he refused to meet my gaze. He just kept staring at Diana.
"Raum!" I yelled, clutching at his arm. "What the fuck do you know?"
"Yes tell her, demon," Diana sneered. "Tell her how you first met my daughter all those years ago."
He finally looked at me with something I never saw in those dark eyes before. Regret.
"I saw when you would return to us," he said darkly. "I saw the woman you would be born from. And I just... had this overwhelming urge to meet her. I wanted to make sure I found her."
My eyes opened so wide I didn't bother to stop the tears from falling.
"Found her? You found my mother?"
He nodded. "I met her and we spoke. I told her who her daughter was going to be. Lilith, the Mother of Witches would be returning with her soul intact again." He allowed a tiny smile on his lips. "And she was elated. I was so worried she hated demons like most people do at this time, but I didn't even detect an ounce of hate in her. She was so excited to be the one to nurture your powers and watch them grow." The smile disappeared as his eyes flicked back to Diana. "But then I suppose she told this vile woman right here, which ultimately led to her death."
"My Deidre was never supposed to die!" Diana shrieked. She jabbed a finger in the air, pointing it straight at me. "It was supposed to be you, demon whore!"
The realization hit me like a wall of bricks. And just when I thought my heart couldn't break anymore, it crumbled into numbness in my chest.
"Blood magic only has a fifty percent success rate," I said. "Even with the best odds, you can still kill the wrong target with the same blood type. That's what Ash told me."
"I couldn't take the chance of you coming back," Diana snarled. "Not after thousands of our people were publicly executed out of fear of the devil. Not after we worked so hard to keep all association away from you!"
"So you took the chance of murdering your own daughter?" I demanded. "Might I remind you that you're the one painting the room with blood?"
"Deidre was far too kind-hearted to understand," Diana lamented. "She was a dreamer, an idealist. She didn't grow up in the times that I did. If you were not white or not a Christian, your life was in danger every day! I couldn't let society go back to a world like that."
"Don't you realize you're perpetuating that hate?" I demanded. "Demons aren't responsible for the witch hunts, humans are! We're trying to ensure that humanity accepts all of us. Demon, witch, and human alike. That is the world we seek to create. This is what we've been trying to do for over ten thousand years."
"All you've done is stand by and watch idly as innocent witches get burned and hanged," she shot back. "The humans catch the faintest wind of you and they always come and target us. It doesn't matter to you. Why would it? You're all fucking immortal. You'll come back to earth and do nothing but seduce people for your demon orgies." Her fingers dug into the spongy flesh of the heart, causing it to leak more blood over her fingers and onto the floor. "But I won't take it anymore. I won't let another witch die for no reason."
