Winter of Discontent (Four Seasons Book 1) (22 page)

‘Lorcan, stop this now. Back down or this is gonna end badly,’ Dad pleaded with him. Personally, I’d have seen the bastard get shot, but Dad was always more of a peacekeeper than I was.

‘And what do you think shooting me is gonna achieve? Do you really think the rest of the coven are just gonna let you go?’

‘They won’t have a choice.’

Lorcan looked around the room. Some of the others were starting to look edgy, uncomfortable.

‘I’m not afraid of you.’ Lorcan said arrogantly.

‘Well you should be. You should all be.’

His tone had changed now; it was more threatening, more menacing. It was clear he was still in control but he was angry now.

‘I know you’ve been working together to find the girl. You had no intention of killing her; you want to hand her over. Well, that’s not gonna happen. I’d kill her myself before I would allow that.’

Lorcan had said he wasn’t afraid, but I could tell he was bluffing; it didn’t take a Warlock to sense that.

‘We can talk about this. You didn’t say who you were. You’re not Segan, so what are you?’

Mr Trent looked toward Jared. ‘Do you wanna tell him?’

Jared laughed.

‘He’s Kintarian. The only Warlocks powerful enough to sire females.’

Lorcan looked stunned; it took him a moment to react and when he did all hell broke loose.

Raising his hands towards me, he threw me backwards across the room. Jared’s captors let go and made a run for the door; Mr Trent didn’t hesitate. He threw the door shut and the men clear across the other side of the room. The men holding Dad stood firm – he struggled bravely, but couldn’t free himself. Ben was still unmoving but screaming at Lorcan to kill us all. Jared had no power but tried to get over to me, fighting fiercely against a Warlock who was much bigger, much broader, with arms wider than Arnold Schwarzenegger. He punched Jared clean in the stomach, lifting him clear off the ground with each jab. He fought back heroically but, without his power, he was no match. Mr Trent was taking care of the others – he was the only one, other than Lorcan, that had power and he used it efficiently. As he had with the Tracers the night we first met, he threw all those that challenged him against the wall and disintegrated them in seconds. Lorcan tried to get to me again but Mr Trent stood between us and threw him to one side with ease. Dad was still being held. He was screaming at Leon to help, but he just stood motionless in the corner.

‘They’re your family, Leon. For God’s sake, help them!’

Leon didn’t move. He looked across at Jared curled up on the floor trying to protect himself from the boot of his aggressor.

‘You traitor, they are your kin. You’re a coward, Leon, a fucking coward – you’re no brother of mine!’ he yelled.

I’d been stunned, almost knocked unconscious with the force with which Lorcan had thrown me against the wall. Dazed and unsteady, I managed to stagger to my feet and jump on the back of the man trying to kick the life out of Jared. I held on tightly around his waist with my legs and forced my fingers into his eyes. He tried vainly to throw me off, but Jared got to his feet, picked up an ornamental sword from the wall, and thrust it deep into his chest. The man staggered back. I jumped off him and ran to help Jared who was struggling to remain standing.

The violence only lasted about five minutes, maybe a little more, but, by the time it finished, there were only eight Warlocks left standing. Lorcan was still pinned to the wall unable to move.

Mr Trent was magnificent – he’d managed to hold Ben, hold Lorcan, throw some clear across the room, and disintegrate others all at the same time. I’d never seen or heard of power like that before and, as scared as I was, I was in total awe.

Jared had said he was Kintarian. I’d heard of that line but only in myth and legend – I’d never known anybody who had actually met one. It is said that theirs is the root of all magic. Maybe this is why he was so strong, why he was still able to perform magic in a protected house.

As the room went quiet Mr Trent walked over to the men still defiantly holding on to Dad.

‘Let him go. I won’t ask you again,’ he said calmly.

They looked briefly at each other and then around the room before relinquishing their hold on him and stepping back. As they let go, Dad turned and thumped the one, knocking him off his feet. He must have felt bad that he’d been unable to help Jared; this was him just releasing his anger.

‘You OK, Logan?’ asked Mr Trent quietly.

Dad just smiled and nodded.

‘Thank you for not giving her up. I know now who my allies are. You have to decide what you want to do with the rest of them,’ he said, indicating toward the remaining Warlocks.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Do you want them to live?’

Dad looked across at Leon; he was as white as a sheet and shaking like a frightened child.

‘What’s the alternative?’

‘Mental incapacity.’

I’d heard of this before – it’s when a memory wipe is so severe that the victim becomes almost lobotomized.

‘Logan, don’t do this, please,’ pleaded Leon.

I could see he was unsure – this was his brother, and these were people he’d grown up with, thought of as friends. To make such a decision, such a choice was impossible. I did the only thing I could think of; I took control.

‘Kill them. They don’t deserve to live, they would have handed me and Sarah over without a second thought. That would have been a death sentence. Kill them.’

‘Jared?’

Jared was sat now; the beating he’d received had been brutal. He cocked his head to one side as he looked up at me and then back at Dad.

‘Kill them.’

Mr Trent nodded his head and smiled.

‘Get Jess and your boys out of here, Logan. I’ll take care of this.’

As they realized what was going to happen, the remaining Warlocks, rendered unable to move, were screaming for mercy. But no mercy was due and none was given.

As we walked out of the house and down the street, we didn’t look back until the sound of the windows shattering caused us to turn around. Within seconds, the house was ablaze and the sound of the screams of Warlocks burning alive filled the air. We stood for a moment and then continued on our way.

We needed to deal with Jess. She was in a state of shock, but we would make sure she remembered nothing. We knew Mr Trent would be OK and that we would catch up with him soon enough. I needed to speak to him. He had made a comment earlier and I wanted to know what he meant by it. He said that he would rather kill Sarah himself than let The Council take her. I needed to know why. She was the most important person in his life; he’d made that abundantly clear. So why would he say this? What was The Council doing that was so bad that he would sacrifice his own daughter rather than let them get control of her power? I had no idea what the answer was – it was a question for another day; I would have to wait to find out. Dad had just seen his only brother betray us and had stood by while his sons handed out a death sentence for that betrayal. There would be repercussions for the loss of so many senior Segans, as well as the loss of Leon, but thoughts of that would have to wait. For now, we needed to go home, to be together as a family, and to heal.

To be continued …

To the reader

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Book 2 in the Four Seasons series is now available:

‘Rules are not made to be broken, however, occasionally, when something stands in the way of you doing what is right, rules are there to be rewritten’