A Witch's Fury (5 page)

“Damaged,” I breathed the word, closing my
eyes and bowing my head. Forcing myself to look at him through
blurry eyes, I searched my mind for something to say, anything to
make him stay. This really was happening. He finally saw me exactly
as I am. That thought silenced my unvoiced protests.

“I am so fucking sorry,” he whispered, his
hands reaching out across the table. My own clutched the fabric in
my lap. I felt his hesitation; if he wanted to, he could extend his
long arms, breach the distance and touch me, but he didn’t.
Instead, he pushed back his chair with a screech and fled the
restaurant.

It certainly wasn’t new information that I
was broken. After everything I had confessed, all the terrible
memories I had shared with him, I had fooled myself into hoping. It
was a foolish hope that another being could love me enough to look
past the broken pieces. I knew this moment was coming, had always
known that one day the blinders would come off for Blake and he
would see me exactly as I am.

Broken.

I was a foolish, hopeful, idiot.

The waiter arrived at the table, awkwardly
holding the bill in front of him. “Did he pay?” I asked softly,
unable to look at him directly. I wasn’t leaking my emotions, but I
didn’t have to be for him to pick up on my pain. My body language
and the tear slipping down my cheek were evidence enough.

“No,” he answered softly.

I nodded, pulling out my card, grateful in
that moment that Grams had the foresight to leave one along with my
phone. The waiter took it quickly, scurrying away. I should have
ordered that entire damn bottle, not just the glass I drank. I
needed something to numb the pain about now.

The waiter returned swiftly and I forced my
brain to focus on the numbers in front of me before I stood to take
my leave. What was I paying for anyways, two glasses of wine still
in the bottle? It didn’t matter, I just wanted to run away and lick
my wounds.

What was best for his family? I slammed the
pen down on the table. As if I hadn’t saved his ass on more than
one occasion? What the fuck is wrong with him?

No. What the fuck was wrong with me? Plenty.
If I could just be what he wanted, just be what he needed. Biting
on my lip, I pushed down my misery. I was damaged, broken beyond
repair and Blake deserved better. There was no happy ending in my
life.

I needed to accept that.

Heads turned as I left, whispers and snickers
following me, but I held my head high. I was falling apart in a pit
of self-loathing, but weakness equated to challenges for my title
and my life. I could at least keep it together professionally.

I pushed out the glass door and stepped into
the chill of the night air.

Something fundamental had changed in me with
Blake. Walls I had built around my heart and my past crumbled under
his gentle caresses and kind words. For a brief moment, I felt
worthy and dammit, even loved.

I was such a fucking fool.

Waiting in line for a cab, I smelled him
before I saw him. I closed my eyes and turned my attention downward
to my crossed arms. I needed him to leave me the fuck alone. My
eyes hadn’t quite dried up and I did not need the leader of the
Shifter Nation seeing me in this condition.

“Olivia!” Lorraine, his fiancée, called out
drunkenly. Fuuuuck.

I pulled my head up to stare at her, unable
to utter a word or perform any action in greeting.

“You alright?” Logan asked, stopping short
when he saw me.

I shrugged, not trusting my voice or the
concern in his caramel eyes. Maybe this whole ugly event could just
stay at the restaurant.

“She got dumped, dude,” a slurred voice
blurted out behind me as Logan handed his ticket to the valet. For
the love of the seven hells, please tell me Logan was not in the
restaurant witnessing my humiliation.

I closed my eyes to stop the threat of tears
and to not kill the drunk behind me.

“Oh, Olie, how terrible!” Lorraine said,
coming to put an arm around my shoulders with a drunken sway and a
false sense of giving a shit.

Logan pulled her back quickly as my eyes
opened to depths of pure insanity, I was certain.

“The fucker didn’t even pay the bill,”
confided the drunk, throwing a companionable arm around my
shoulders. “You can do so much better than him, honey,” he tried to
comfort me.

Keeping Lorraine behind him, Logan eased
forward, removing the man’s arm tentatively from my shoulder before
I had a chance to remove it from his body.

“You probably shouldn’t touch her right now,”
Logan muttered, pulling me to him. I moved stiffly, staring into
his eyes, needing a fight.

“Let me give you a ride home,” he said
cautiously, as though I would snap any moment.

He was right, I might.

I said nothing as the valet drove up in a
tiny sports car with a miserably small excuse for a backseat. If
not for the drunk still calling out to me, I would have preferred
the roomier backseat of a cab, but in my current state I wasn’t
sure what I was going to do. I knew what I was capable of, however,
and that thought made me shove my tall frame into the cramped
backseat.

“I hate this car,” I murmured under my
breath. Actually, I hated a lot. The fancy restaurant, of which I
couldn’t recall the name, the drunk behind me, but most of all,
myself. I couldn’t fault Blake for ending it—hell, I could
understand. I just had hoped it would last.

Logan sped away from the corner. “Lorraine,
move your seat up,” he scolded.

She huffed but obliged. “Thanks,” I muttered,
gaining a precious few inches for my long legs.

“How did you get reservations there,
anyways?” she asked hauntingly. Good to know that out of the public
eye, she was the same old bitch I detested.

“I didn’t,” I responded blandly, looking out
into the rain-damped night and feeling my heart beginning to shut
down. If I was lucky I could rebuild those precious walls, maybe. I
would never make the same mistake of letting another in as deeply
as I had Blake.

Logan and Lorraine were fighting and I didn’t
care, couldn’t bring myself to give a shit, even when Lorraine
lobbed insult after insult at me. She was a lowly, cruel human. I
had no use for her.

My phone rang, pulling me from my miserable
circle of thoughts. For a split second I hoped it would be Blake,
but Grams’s name appeared instead.

“Yep,” I answered, disappointed.

“Olie, Blake just delivered your things to
the manor.”

“Yep,” I repeated, my heart hollow.

She paused for a moment. “Are you
alright?”

“I don’t know how to answer that question.
I’ll be there in a bit.” I ended the call, glad our earlier fight
had been forgotten, though almost certainly not forgiven.

I had made the decision on a previous case,
when a vampire visiting The Centennial House kidnapped Tommy, that
I wouldn’t be spending any additional time at the manor. Good idea
in theory, but over time, I found I was physically and emotionally
unable to abide by those rules. The simple fact was that I missed
the screaming hellions under my watch, especially Tommy.

Aside from his impressive tech skills, he
kept me sane.

So I doubled security instead.

Logan’s phone rang and he hit ANSWER on the
steering wheel. “What’s up, Darren?”

“Did you hear about Olivia?” Worry clouded
Darren’s voice.

“Yeah, actually we are giving her a ride
home,” Logan answered while making a turn.

The fast clicking of a keyboard in the
background stopped. “I guess I don’t need to track her cell
phone.”

“No, I have her. We will be at the manor in
fifteen minutes.”

“Did you find her?” Kass’s anxious voice
broke in over the speakers.

I groaned. “Why is everyone freaking out?” I
yelled. “I got dumped, not killed. Fuck. I will be back to the
manor any minute.”

“Olie, I was worried…” Kass began, her pause
telling. Another person carefully wording a response because of my
fragile emotional state.

“I’m fine Kass, now really isn’t the time,” I
growled, rubbing my temples. I did not want to be pitied. I might
be a broken, rage-fueled, alleged demon, but one man would not
shatter me.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit then,” she
finished, her relief evident as she ended the call.

“No fucking way,” I muttered. I knew the best
way to get my mind off the hell my heart was going through: work, a
lot of work.

The drive was shorter than I anticipated, or
perhaps my attention was simply elsewhere. I was surprised when we
stopped in front of the manor’s tall doors and Logan got out,
pulling the driver’s seat forward so I could contort my way
out.

“Thanks,” I muttered, taking his hand to
disentangle myself from the backseat.

I couldn’t look at him, but I needed to. As
his partner on the Shifter Council, I had to. I had to see the dark
glee in his eyes at my pain.

Pulling my gaze off the cobblestone driveway,
I met his caramel depths. His hand still intertwined in my own, he
gave a gentle squeeze. There was no joy at my misery, only
compassion, and it threatened to break me all the more.

“I’m sorry, Olie,” he said, gently and
unexpectedly.

I nodded, unable to voice my thanks, choosing
instead to storm into the house. I froze on the steps, however,
staring at my SUV parked in the driveway. It was planned, he knew
it was coming. Closing my eyes, I lost the fight as weakness
dripped wetly down my face.

Grams greeted me at the threshold, uncertain
and wary as I closed the oversized door quietly behind me. She
wasn’t the cause of my pain, not currently. I shouldn’t take it out
on her.

“I’ll take those cases back now,” I said
softly, heading upstairs.

Her soft steps echoed behind me up the stairs
and into her office, where I rummaged through her desk for the
files.

“Are you certain that is a good idea?” She
moved to my side, resting a hesitant hand on my shoulder.

“I am certain. Nothing good can come of my
staying. At least on the road…” My voice cracked before I regained
control. “On the road, no one will have to deal with my misery, and
my anger will have an outlet.”

She nodded, pulling her hand back while
watching me closely.

“I’ll have the rest of the files scanned over
to you.”

Why had I picked here for Grams’s office? I
asked my subconscious, which answered, probably because I didn’t
have a room here anymore. We were damn near at capacity and I had
been staying at Blake’s when in town.

I quickly turned away from those thoughts,
accepting the file Grams handed to me, the one that I had been
unable to find.

“He isn’t worth it, Olie. You deserve
better.”

I didn’t mean to laugh, but I couldn’t help
it. “I am a fool for believing anyone could ever love me.”

“Oh, Olie,” she said, reaching out again.

I pulled away, blinking back the sting of
tears that just wouldn’t fucking stop. “I have to go,” I said,
fleeing the safety of the manor.

I let the tears out along a deserted stretch
of highway two hours out of town, sobbing until my throat felt raw
and my stomach muscles hurt. Only a few headlights dotted this
remote landscape as I made my way north to Pennsylvania. It would
take me sixteen hours to make it there, to hunt down and kill a
rogue vamp that had been taking out its nest mates.

Sixteen hours and then I could kill
something. It couldn’t happen soon enough.

Chapter 5

I drove
straight through, only stopping for gas, water, and an occasional
bathroom break. I ate once and it sat badly in my stomach. So, when
I finally arrived at the small town of Wellsboro, I was primed to
do some soul cleansing damage. Typically, I went to the source of
the complaint first, asked a few questions and gathered some intel,
but not today. Today caution could get lost.

Today, in the setting sun, I marched up to
the dilapidated barn and threw open the rusted red door, sword in
my hand.

“Come out and play, bitches,” I taunted.

Several shadows moved rapidly over the
rafters and I smiled. There was more than one.

…

I popped the trunk open and took out the baby
wipes and a garbage bag. Those fuckers bled on
everything
.
Stripping out of my now soiled black shirt, I used the wipes to
clean my skin as best I could, along with the leather that wouldn’t
absorb the vile remnants of a vampire nest gone mad.

I heard the steps approaching me before he
cleared this throat. I made no attempt to hurry my process. If he
was here to try and kill me, I’d be pissed it was after I had
cleaned up. Given his attempt to announce his presence, however, I
was betting he wanted to talk about the vampire issue.

“Are you here to take care of the problem?”
he asked uncertainly, coming around as I pulled a clean shirt on
and tossed the bag of filth into the back.

“Problem is gone. Call whoever you reported
this to and they’ll come clean it up,” I said, slamming the
tailgate and making my way to the driver’s door.

“You just got here,” he argued, confused.

“I work fast,” I called over my shoulder as I
climbed into the SUV and started the engine. I called Grams.

“Olivia,” she said on an exhale, clearly
relieved I hadn’t gotten myself killed.

“Wellsboro is done, next?”

Silence met my reply, but I waited. She knew
me well. She understood I had to do this, it was the only thing
left in my life that had meaning.

“Ohio looks to be the next in line,” she
rebounded. “I’m scanning over the report now.” All business.

“Great.” I answered, ending the call. Fucking
Ohio. Again.

…

I zigged and zagged across my territory,
killing anything and everything in my path. The calls from Kass,
Jerry and even Darren had stopped coming and I was glad. I had
nothing to say to any of them.