Hayle Coven Inheritance

Chapter 8: Ten Times The Witch

I wasn't far from the old coven site, as it turned out, or as luck would have it, or any number of clichés that led me down a road I really didn't need to be traveling right now. But I had a steam on now that I'd had time to get back into the cycle of thoughts circling inside my head and

by the time I reached the edge of the large clearing where our coven used to perform our most sacred ceremonies, I was ready to take on all comers.

There was a story behind the loss of power in this place, though bits and pieces remained behind, whispers of elemental magic that tugged at the edges of my own power when I passed through the tree line and into the meadow. As if to pull me back from the brink of this stupidity of the challenge to fight another witch. Or maybe just a sorrowful reminder that once greatness stirred here.

Whatever and irrelevant to my present mood. Fed by the fact there was even more history of my family I didn't have the details about. Yes, probably partly my own fault for not asking, not showing the requisite interest. But I couldn't help thinking GreatGram and Mom wouldn't tell me what happened to strip this place even if I asked.

Grumptastic.

Unimportant at present, especially when I'd felt the gathering from half a mile away. How the rest of the coven didn't feel their stirring need for action, the bubbling frustration and teenaged angst that burned holes in the shields they did their best to raise as protection from the eyes and ears of their parents I had no idea. There were times I despaired for the utter lack of anything resembling loyalty or discipline in the witches of my generation, worse so when I marched into their midst, the gathering half a hundred strong, sealing up the shields behind me with a flicker of magic that cost me nothing.

They felt how easy it was for me. And they hated me for it.

A bonfire lit the night, flames climbing toward the stars and the risen moon, lighting their gathered faces as they shuffled aside and let me pass to the center of the space. I knew them all by name, though most of them had never spoken a word to me. Hayle witch sons and daughters, fellow students, not a friend among them. I'd learned early on not to try to endear myself or even trust any one of them. That mistake I'd made too many times in my need to connect with the kids of my coven.

Case in point, and the most painful lesson, stepped forward from the ring of watching teens, her thick, blonde hair hanging over one shoulder, the ringlets bouncing as she tossed her head like I'd interrupted. But Coradine Flynn had called me here, so her little show of bravado in the face of my more mature and controlled power was just that.

How I hated the theatrics, the backstabbing and the games. But the fight... that made me feel alive, for a while a least.

"How was the party?" She sounded blasé about it, but I knew in the instant she asked that Coradine was burned to the core she hadn't been invited. While her mom and dad had been there, at least from my vague, fuzzy recall of the backyard's unhappiness, she'd been kept out of the loop. Small blessings and all that. Not like she or her immediate family had much influence over Mom or our coven leader anyway. Prominent or not, the Hayle women didn't listen very well. I guess I was included in that list, too. I smirked as I let her see and feel my contempt she'd let her weakness slip.

"So fun," I said, voice heavy with fake enthusiasm. "Everyone was there."

She glared at me, teeth clenched together while her little cronies whispered among themselves, giggling and looking at my feet. Let them find amusement in my socks, the toes now wearing through from all my walking without shoes. They'd find something to pick apart, so I might as well just shrug and let it happen. The girls of Coradine's clique did their best to stay on her good side, both at school and not, and that meant finding fault in me as often as possible.

While being nice to her might not have been my idea of fun, I knew from personal experience what drove the girls to do their best to stay on the safe side of the Coradine battle line. She might not be from one of the core families who stood in the inner circle at rituals, but she knew how to manipulate and hurt people in ways that bordered on magical.

"Whatever." She turned her head, sniffing the air as if I offended her. "We're not here to talk about some stupid party." When she looked back again, her green eyes glittered with venom, the smile on her face tight and expectant. "Are we?"

I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest, now suddenly wishing I had shoes on, feeling oddly vulnerable without them despite myself. The posse continued to whisper and laugh, Rennie Morgan pointing at my feet and whispering to Johanna Loss before they both giggled openly like they weren't already being obvious or anything.

Screw them in their designer jeans and high-heeled boots, their matching brown hair worn exactly like Coradine's though without her perfect lightness. The way they did their best to carry their overly thin bodies just like their beloved leader did. Down to the lip gloss they wore and the ridiculous heart pendant that hung in the hollow of their throats like they'd counted out the rings of the chains to make sure they were perfect. How absolutely pathetic.

I was ten times the witch they were, shoes or no shoes. Why then did my toes curl under in reaction as if for protection? I purposely relaxed my feet as Coradine c****d one hip to the side, a hand artfully resting on her waist like she was posing.

"Get on with it," I growled. "Are we bouting or not?" Now that I had time to think about it, I was actually tired. Physically and of her, of them, of this stupid game and all the dumb and useless hoops I let her force me through out of a need to show them they meant nothing to me. In fact, I was this close to walking when she shrugged.

"Oh, please," she said like the very idea was ridiculous. Was she conceding? "As if you have a chance against me."

She said what? The other kids tittered, nervous giggles traveling around the circle that had closed in on the bonfire. She'd cracked her cauldron, clearly. Coradine had zero chance if she fought me and she knew it. I'd beaten her into the ground once before, a long time ago, in private. I should have known there was no way she'd come against me directly. But before I could call her on her trash talk, she gestured behind her, a tall, handsome guy joining her as she smirked at me.

Um, hello, delicious. Wavy black hair, big, chocolate eyes and a jawline so chiseled he looked like a statue. Broad shoulders, lean but muscular, he stood a head taller than her, at least six inches over me and I'm no slouch thanks to my dad's impressive build. But the flutter of anxious attraction died when I saw the expression on his face.

Eagerness. Contempt. And an utter disdain for the Hayle power. It emanated from him like he'd poured it over himself, the cheap cologne of his arrogance hitting me in a wall about a second after I realized despite his handsome face, he was ugly, so very ugly. And not a Hayle, either.

"Jagger Santos," Coradine said, voice singsong and trying to be endearing while I gagged a little over her cutsie attempt to be coy. She grasped his bicep in one hand, blinking her long lashes up at him. So gross. "This is the one I was telling you about."

He didn't look at her, his hunger for the fight apparent. "Ethie Hayle," he said, deep voice full of daggers. "I've been looking forward to this."

I could have said no. Just turned on my heel and left, walked away, got the hell out of there.

Should have. It was one thing to fight my own coven for "fun" occasionally. A way to let off steam, to expend some of my pent up anger in a reasonably safe way that ensured if they didn't

like me, they at least stayed out of my way. But a witch from another territory? The Santos coven wasn't exactly on GreatGram's favorite list, either.

This could only end badly.

I felt his power as I waffled, felt the push of it, the way his magic challenged mine just as he prodded me with a sharp hit that was totally outside the rules. The demon side of me reacted with a roar and, for an instant, I saw the fear in his eyes, the fact he now understood he may just have underestimated what he was taking on. Made clearer when he glanced down a moment at Coradine as if blaming her for getting him into this mess.

I grinned then. Raised one hand and beckoned him to bring it. Because other territory or not, this full-of-himself piece of trash would learn the power of the Hayle core family up close and personal.

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