All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [3]
“According to numerous sources, Sarah has chosen to … live.” She hesitated before the last word, knowing that it wasn’t exactly what she meant. “She has fed, and is now staying with Nikolas and Kristopher, wherever they are.”
Hasana sagged with relief. Evan closed his eyes with a wince, undoubtedly knowing what was coming. Zachary nodded, his expression remote, and Michael paled. Michael Arun had always been a mystery to Adia, but he and Sarah had been close. They had even dated for a while, before deciding they were good partners when hunting but weren’t compatible romantically.
Dominique didn’t even blink. Impeccably controlled as always, she simply said, “Well.”
She stood, and her gaze swept the assembled witches.
“My daughter is dead,” she announced. “I know her killers.”
She placed on the table a pencil drawing of the twin vampires Nikolas and Kristopher, provided by the fiends themselves. The one called Kristopher had courted Sarah with drawings. He had befriended her, and Sarah had let him, despite Adia’s begging her to be careful. She had always been headstrong.
“As a child of Macht, I am invoking the Rights of Kin,” Dominique said. Adia had known that it was coming, but she still consciously had to keep her expression controlled so she wouldn’t flinch. “Please witness.”
Now Hasana paled visibly. Apparently, she had finally caught up to the rest of them. A Smoke witch’s training was not as intensive as a Vida’s. They were taught to heal and tended to be less aware of the laws that governed all their lines, but Hasana’s reaction made it clear that she recognized the name.
“Dominique, don’t do this,” Hasana said. “Or at least give yourself some time to reconsider. Sarah isn’t—”
“Sarah is dead,” Dominique said flatly. “There is a vampire out there wearing her shape, her skin, but that creature is no witch, no Vida.”
Zachary spoke first, as the eldest of the Vida line after Dominique. He said simply, “Witnessed.”
“Is this truly necessary?” Evan asked.
“Yes,” Zachary replied.
Evan Marinitch drew a breath and said, “Witnessed.” He swallowed thickly. “We have only one hunter in our line this generation. My son. I will see that he joins you.”
“Dominique, please,” Hasana begged. All eyes turned toward her, the witches waiting. “Think about—”
“No,” Dominique interrupted, her blue gaze cold as ice. “My line has been savaged this generation.” She swept the room with her eyes, catching each gaze in turn. “Rose was bled dry as part of a sick game after she walked into a trap, after her husband was stabbed with his own knife by a bloodbond who claimed she was allied with SingleEarth, and their daughter Jacqueline was slaughtered despite having tried to give up our ways. Her son Richard, who was only a child, was taken—and god only knows what happened to him—and never seen again.” Zachary was one of the few who held Dominique’s gaze as she referred to the events that had brought him, an orphan, into their household when Adia had been a baby. “And then the father of my children was tortured to death and dropped on our front steps.”
Hasana looked away. Caryn seemed about to argue, but her mother put a hand on her shoulder; the young witch shook off the touch and stormed out of the room.
Still, Dominique was not done.
“Through the generations we have played it safe, and not sought personal vengeance—and now we who stand in this room are the last of the Vida line. The least we can do for our fallen kin is destroy the creature inhabiting Sarah’s skin before it can use her shell to commit crimes no Vida could ever condone. So I call on the ancient laws now to help me, so I can bury my daughter and let her rest in peace.”
No one said another word; there was no point in arguing. This was a formality, not a choice to be debated.
At last, Hasana choked out the word: “Witnessed.”
They turned to Michael next. Like the Vidas, the Arun line had faced hardships recently. They had never been prolific, and in the past century many had been born completely human, with no power to speak of. Michael was the