Page 30 of The Rebirth
When I came to the end of the road, I glanced up at the star-ridden sky as the moon cast a glow in the distance. “You sound like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.”
“I don’t have the Council of Elders to deal with anymore. And I’m building my team with those I trust, and Samuel, you’ll be part of that. It’s a new era for us. It won’t be an easy road, but with the right people in place, I believe we can build strong relationships with those humans who run this country.”
“What role do you have in mind for me?” I was curious.
“Webb and I are still tossing around a couple of ideas,” he said. “But don’t worry about that right now. I’ll have two cars waiting when you land. I love you, son. I’ll see you later today.” Then he hung up.
My father was right. We were entering a new era. A scary one, in my book. Now that humans knew that vampires existed, I believed they were our biggest threat. Their population far outnumbered ours, and I wouldn’t be shocked if hunters came out in droves. I wasn’t afraid for me or Layla either, to a certain extent. Now that she was a witch, she could protect herself. It was our children’s lives that would keep me up at night, and by the time they reached their teenage years, I would probably be the first vampire ever with a full head of white hair.
12
LAYLA
Dark, angry clouds skated by outside the plane’s window, appropriate for the storm raging inside me. Time seemed to move infinitely slowly. Each passing moment felt like an eternity, each second ticking by with agonizing sluggishness. As the plane jetted across the country below us, my mind raced with it as I thought about Jordyn fighting for her life. No one had to tell me that she stood a good chance of dying, and somehow the weight of that knowledge made me feel as if I were the one who was about to take my last breath. The conflict within me was palpable, a struggle between hope and despair, faith and doubt. I could only wait and pray that she would make it through, hoping against hope that she would emerge victorious in this life-and-death battle.
I briefly closed my eyes, trying to focus on the myriad of other things and questions bouncing around my brain like a bowl of out-of-control jumping beans.
I couldn’t wait to see Ellie and Rorie and reunite them with their brother and sister, who were behind me with their daddy. Sam wanted to watch them while I relaxed.
The only relaxation I would enjoy would be a five-year vacation with no enemies hunting us, no one trying to kill me or anyone in my family, and no one out to steal my children.
It would also add to my comfort if Roman Brown had burned to a crisp and was now walking in the fires of hell. Though, knowing that asshole, he probably did survive, just like he bragged he would.“Fire will burn me to the bone, but I’ll walk out of here a skeleton. I’ve done it before.”
In between my thoughts, I’d been catching bits and pieces of Sam, Tripp, and Dane’s conversation. They were talking about how to take down Adam, the potential issues we were facing with humans, and a host of other topics, including Dane’s brother Ross. Dane was extremely nervous after hearing about Matthew Costner’s death. If in fact Ross was Adam’s prisoner, Dane was afraid his brother’s head might be next. Nerves were definitely heightened all the way around. Anyone on our team could be Adam’s next victim.
I swung my gaze from outside the window to my grandmother. Agnes was snoozing in the seat across from and facing me. As I studied her, I wondered what life would’ve been like if I’d known her growing up. Maybe back then, my sisters and I would’ve been practicing magic from an early age. Which led me to think that if I was a witch, did that mean Jordyn was as well? Rianne even? How would that play out if Rianne became a witch while she was a monster? That wasn’t something I had any desire to see.
Nevertheless, the years hadn’t been kind to Agnes. Her short hair was a silvery white. She had deep wrinkles marring her face and neck. I would guess she was in her early sixties but certainly not a frail woman. The yoga pants she’d borrowed from me accentuated her slender waist and wide hips, and the T-shirt she was wearing hugged her small bustline. She did look better now that she wasn’t wearing soiled pajamas.
All of us were clean after hot showers and fresh clothes. Sam and I had packed our luggage in Conrad’s car before we’d stormed the farm, and the vampire scout had shown up at the motel not long after Dane had given us the bad news about Jordyn.
Agnes opened her glossy brown eyes. “I can feel you staring at me.”
“Sorry. You look like my mom.”
She gazed out the window, crossing one leg over the other. “When your mom was growing up, lots of folks said the same thing.”
“I resemble my dad, but my sisters are more like our mom.”
“No one in my family or my husband, Derrick, had red hair. So I figured as much.” She sat up straighter. “Thank you for allowing me to stay with you until I can figure out what to do with my life now that Maeve is gone.” A hint of sadness threaded through her tone.
I sympathized with her over the loss of her sister. Maeve was just as evil as my paternal grandmother, Harriet Aberdeen, had been. Actually, more so, since Maeve was a witch. Still, when I jabbed a syringe of that genetic-altering serum into Harriet, I thought it would’ve felt good to see her take her last breath. In a way it had, but a part of me had wanted to puke. Taking a life was never easy, especially a family member’s. But in a supernatural world where the cliché eat or be eaten was so flipping real, Harriet wouldn’t have stopped gunning for my babies and their DNA. She’d thought they were her saviors for her incurable blood cancer.
“Maeve would’ve killed you and me,” I said.
“I know.” Agnes picked lint off her yoga pants. “She would’ve had Patricia do her dirty work.”
A thought surfaced about Patricia. She had helped kidnap Orion and Luna. She’d confessed she was at the house in Maine that night. Was she the brown-haired woman in my recurring dream? She had to be even though the woman had red eyes. Or maybe they were reddish orange.
“Anything wrong, Layla?” Agnes asked. “You’re wrinkling your nose.”
“Just thinking of something. When I found out I was pregnant, I started having dreams of a young boy with green eyes on a dark road. Over time, the dreams began to reveal more. But there was always the same young boy. Not long before Orion and Luna were kidnapped, a brown-haired woman showed up in that dream. I never saw her face except her red eyes. I assumed it was my sister Rianne since she’d taken the serum. Maybe it was Patricia. I know witches have orange eyes, not red. Am I making sense?”
She frowned. “It saddens me that Rianne chose the dark side.”
Agnes and I had a small window to chat while we’d been waiting for the pilot to arrive. After I told her what happened to Jordyn, she’d asked me about Rianne. I ended up explaining how my sisters and I had gotten to this juncture in our lives.
“As Jordyn would say, Rianne chose her path.” I briefly glanced at the dark clouds outside the window. “I’m so overwhelmed with everything, and as I look back on my dreams, I can’t help but wonder if I could have prevented Orion and Luna from being kidnapped.”
