Page 80 of The 13th Daughter
"Then how are you here?" I asked. I'd seen him in my dream. I'd only caught a vague glimpse of a man through a haze of smoke, but I remembered the look of rage and pain on Sara's face. She'd seen them strike down the man she'd loved. She'd seen them kill him. What had she done?
"Pain and anger can do many things, Cassie Jayne," he said. "I was determined to see my own vengeance. The strength of my need for vengeance was strong enough that I became a part of the curse as they cast it. I have kept watch over the Coven since, waiting for the birth of the thirteenth daughter."
"Are you a...ghost?"
"That's as good an explanation as any," he shrugged. "But I am flesh and blood as well. I was given a corporeal body when I came back to see to it that what needs to be done is done. Jonasis right about why I'm here. I'm here because of what they did to Sara that night. I crawled as close as I could get to her. No one stopped me. Why would they? I was dying. I heard her screams, watched her skin blacken and swell. The smoke killed her first, but I saw her turn to ash," he said softly.
His eyes were full of remembered pain and horror. They held the same emotion I'd seen in them that first day in the cemetery. I never asked him how he'd understood my pain so completely. Now I knew. He watched the woman he loved die the most horrible death imaginable. And he hadn't been able to save her.
"And you're going to let them do that to me?" I asked, the tears falling down my face. "You said you loved me, Ethan. Do you want revenge so much, you'll let them burn me the same way they did Sara? You couldn't save her, but you can help me, Ethan. Please."
Ethan flinched with each word I fired at him.
"Enough, CJ," Mr. Martin snapped. "You won't change his mind. This is why he's here." He jerked me away from Jeff. "I'm done playing games."
"Stop it." Jeff tried to get to me, but he was pulled backwards. Mr. Corey and Deputy Sims held him at bay.
"You will tell me, CJ," Mr. Martin promised in a tone full of menace. "If you don't, you'll cost your father his life. I'll make you watch him die."
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, yes, I would."
"Did you kill Emily?" He'd alluded to it before, but I wanted to hear him say it.
"She was going to take you and Makayla away. I couldn't let her do that."
"How did you do it?"
"She ran from the house and drove away in her mother's car. The brakes weren't very good. I simply forced her to speed up toa point she couldn't stop. When she hit the brakes going down the hill, they gave out. She went over the mountainside."
"Bastard," I snarled and swung my fist straight into his nose. I heard the break. Blood spurted and I smiled.
"You little bitch," he ground out and slammed his fist into my face. I would have fallen if he hadn't had a death grip on my arm. My head spun for a second. My stomach heaved. I heard a scuffle and blinked. Jeff had broken free and was wrestling with Deputy Sims.
"Tom, deal with that boy!" Mr. Martin barked.
I saw the flash of metal, heard the shot rang out, smelled the acrid scent of gunfire, but still couldn't believe it. Even when I saw the red blossom across Jeff's chest, saw the surprised look on his face, I refused to believe it. It wasn't until I heard his gurgle of pain and saw him crumple to the ground that it hit me.
They'd shot him.
"NO!" I cried and tried to yank my arm away from Mr. Martin.
Mr. Martin's hands inadvertently touched my dress and I heard the sizzle of burning flesh. He cursed and threw me at Ethan, holding his hand to his chest. I saw the smoke rising from it.
"Let's go." Mr. Martin turned and headed back towards the clearing.
Ethan didn't say a word. He simply hauled me up, gripped my forearm in one hand and pulled me along the path. He didn't look back, but I did.
They left Jeff there, lying on the cold ground.
Bleeding to death.
Or already dead.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Numb.I felt nothing as I walked, not even the bruising grip Ethan had on my arm. I had nothing left. My friends, hell even my own mother, had betrayed me. They were willing to sacrifice me for their precious revenge. It didn't matter to them that it was wrong, that I hadn't agreed to any of this. All they saw was their need for vengeance.
