Page 39 of The Goddess is Angry
Even I could see the similarities between the victims. I think we all did. No one had to say it. None of us were idiots. Someone was murdering insanely-gifted witches. The question was, why?
“Did Saffron have a coven?” Azren asked. “She stayed to talk to me after class because she was fascinated with history and the gods, but we never talked about her love life.”
Mina just rolled her eyes.
“You’ve clearly never been to college. The legacy students are all here fishing for mates. If you’re a scholarship student who wants to focus on your education and happen to be talented, you’ve got people throwing themselves at you. Do you know how many boys at this school thought I’d just get over the fact that I’m not into dick at all because I happen to be powerful?Of course,she has a coven. Saffron has had men and women throwing themselves at her since it became apparent she was that gifted in potions.”
“I’ll need names. I can’t question Saffron now, but I’ll probably get more information about her behavior from her coven.”
“Why would a god target powerful witches?” Ren asked.
“It could be a god, but I’m also thinking it might be an angel. The god that created them broke a lot of rules the gods agreed to follow when they first started making living beings. They’ve also historically taken issues with Lilith and her creations.
“I’ve had their god in a jar in time out in my realm for a very long time because of it. I had hoped it would give his angels some kind of life where they could love who they wanted and figure out what kind of life they wanted when they were allowed to have free will without getting punished. They’ve stopped ambushing my reapers to demand their god back for a while now, but there could be one psycho who is still following orders.”
It was a theory. Lucifer and Samael told us about their brothers and Lilith told us stories about how she had to create Hell because the angels were being terrible. Lilith took demons and Hellhounds to her realm and created witches who were more capable of fighting back and left them on this one.
“Wouldn’t a rogue angel be more interested in my brother? He was born to a witch and a warlock who descended from Lucifer. If this angel was carrying old grudges, I think he’d be more interested in the brother who turned his back on his family and god than random witches at the Academy of the Profane. Plus, angels aren’t meant to love anyone but the god who created them. I think one of them would be after my brother because he’s in love andwhohe’s in love with,” I asked.
“That’s actually a damned good point,” Azren said. “I don’t know a single god who can mess with someone’s mind like that without killing them. I supposed it could be an ability we all have and can master if we’re willing to kill enough mortals while we practice.
“Angels were kept isolated in their realm. They were only ever allowed to leave when they were following orders and they had to immediately return home. We never really knew how many angels were created, just that there seemed to be a lot compared to how most gods did their creations. They were also all male, which didn’t make sense for the continuation of that race.
“Everything dies. Not even I have the power to grant immortality. Gods have died before. Humans don’t have any magic, so their lives are shorter than supernaturals. The gods that created you could have given you more magic and longer lives. You say you want that kind of thing, but trust me, you don’t.
“Humans and supernaturals used to live side by side in peace and even now, you fall in love with each other. Outliving anyone is hard and painful. When it’s repeated because you were given a lifespan drastically longer than your peers, it’s cruel.
“Trust me, the gods didn’t give you shorter lifespans because we were being cruel. We have them and it’s not great a lot of the time. It’s enough to drive someone insane. If they don’t go crazy, they get bored and start breaking things. That was done to angels.
“Theycandie because everything does, but I couldn’t tell you when that is because no one has reaped one yet. They were created by a god with a massive ego and bully tendencies under some pretty dysfunctional circumstances. Removing him from the equation was just a tiny piece of the puzzle. The fact that they’ve been alive this long and seen so much of this realm change could have some of them bat-shit crazy and yearning for the past.”
“I get what you’re saying, but we were in Hell a lot because of Michael and me,” Matilda said. “Samael has Lilith, but Lucifer has avoided relationships since his witch wouldn’t go to Hell with him. He’s one of the most well-adjusted people I know and an amazing extra grandfather to all of us, even if we aren’t angels.
“In addition to breaking the rules about how long angels lived, he didn’t put any of the fail safes in so that angels got their magic when they turned eighteen. Michael was born with wings and magic. Lucifer has been teaching him since his mind was able to process being taught.
“Michael wasn’t always some alpha, avenging angel who threatens anyone who looks at his boyfriend funny and tries to run off his little sister’s boyfriends. We’re only a year apart and Michael and George had magic. Lucifer would have taught Michael about all of his abilities just in case an angel tried to come for him, but if angels could mess with people’s minds, Michael would have totally used it on us. Nothing was sacred for a while.”
It wasn’t. My mom had the patience of a god because we were terrible for a while. We accidentally destroyed shit in the house flexing our abilities and came pretty close to maiming an innocent in the carnage. There was a point when things were so bad that if Michael could have mind controlled my twin against me to prove he was stronger than me, he would have. It would have been the worst thing he could have done to me and my dad and I couldn’t have fixed it without killing Matilda.
We were thankfully past that now, but my idiot brother liked to pretend he was stronger than me when it came to guys.
“It could be a potion,” Oscar said. “We have similar, but they are forbidden and have to be dosed just right. Even if you find the recipe, it’s really hard to get the ingredients if you aren’t a healer. Potions aren’t exclusive to any one race. Angels could have them, too, and easier access to ingredients on their realm.”
“Lucifer has been gone thousands of years,” Mags said. “When I came back as a familiar, I was surprised at all the new potions that were invented while I was dead and I wasn’t dead nearly that long.”
“I don’t give a shit if it’s an angel or a god. They are going after strong witches and that’s Mags. Mags ismine.I will raze this entire realm if something happens to her,”
“What about your twin?” Church demanded. “George is the strongest witch in this school. She has a massive target on her back.”
Matilda gave me a withering glare because my secret was putting Mags at risk. Everyone needed to be focused on Mags, not me. If it was a potion, it wasn’t going to work on me. If it was a god, I could use their own powers against them. Iwantedto tell them, but I kept getting interrupted in some pretty big ways.
I kept the necklace on to hide from any gods who might want to hurt me. I wasn’t dating Mags, but I loved her like a sister. If I continued to let everyone think I was a witch, it might bring the killer’s attention on me and I could try to stop them.
Or the attention on me could make them go after Mags.
church
Iwas trying to control my emotions because we were all about to go talk to Saffron’s coven. My emotions were going to leak out and make a shitty situation even worse. Because I was upset and mad as hell. George Bell started as an obsession, but it was so much more than that now. I was still obsessed, but I was pretty sure I was in love with her now.
