Page 80 of Mortal Desires

A growl escaped my lips just as I watched the dead witch prance about the place. Her eyes lifted to find us and she… smiled.

“Oh good, you’re already here!”

Anger like never before took root inside my chest. This witch escaped her fate and now she was looking at me like I was a guest in her house. I stepped forward, planning to drag her by the neck when Pilar’s hand stopped me in my tracks.

“Vic, the salt.” She nodded down toward her feet.

I looked down to find a salt line around the whole perimeter, protecting Cassandra.

I hated all witches but mine.

I grunted but stayed put, I had to think of another way to work around the salt line.

“What are you doing, Cassandra?” my wife asked.

“My lady.” Cassandra’s eyes glinted with mirth. “Let me get your father for you.”

The woman was so confident, she turned her back to us. My hands fisted and I looked to my side, Pilar looked as worried as I felt. It felt like an ambush.

I thought I could just drag them with me. I never considered I could barely make my own way back. I had no powers in this realm, only rage. My wife looked so small by my side and I felt like an idiot for not thinking this through.

Adrian came from the back, his face showing nothing but calculated horror. Of the girls, Marnie looked more like him. She had paler skin and the shape of his mouth. Pilar’s skin was golden, her lips fuller.

Still, I could see some similarities. None that I wanted to acknowledge.

He was a calculating son of a bitch. I knew that nothing that came out of his mouth was true.

“Where are the others?” he asked Cassandra instead of engaging with us. “Where’s Elisa?”

“Elisa is not coming,” Pilar replied to the woman.

Her father flashed her a look and I realized that even when I brought him to our wedding, he never spoke a word to her. To him, she didn’t matter. He had so little regard for his own daughter, he never cared to speak directly to her.

Until now.

“I doubt big sister would let you wander off on your own.”

“She’s not on her own,” I growled.

Pilar touched my arm again, grounding me back to life.

“She’s not coming, so you’ll have to deal with me.”

He watched her for a second but then waved her off. “You don’t want to do this, Pilar. Go home. Tell Elisa we have unfinished business.”

The dismissal hurt Pilar. She tried to hide it, but her shoulders drooped just a touch and she took a slow deep breath to keep her emotions at bay. He would pay for hurting her like this.

“It wasn’t just Lisa who killed you, Dad,” Pilar said, her voice catching in her throat. “I was there too. I held her hand and I agreed to it. I was just a teenager and yet I knew killing you was the only way.”

“I didn’t stay dead, did I?” he asked with a strange smile. “So I guess I forgive you.”

Pilar didn’t want forgiveness, and I wanted answers.

“How are you two even here?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.

“Oh my lord, now you must be slipping.” Cassandra giggled in a way that would make anyone nauseous.

“I was never fully dead,” Adrian replied. “I was banished with magic.”

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