Seduced by Innocencey(12)

"That's kinky, even for you."

Her laughter brought all eyes to us, and we both shut up and focused again.

"I understand you all are scared, but we can't define our lives by fear," Mother said. "We have to fight back, take a stand, otherwise they will never leave us alone. They will force us to leave our home and our life here, and quite honestly, we can't afford to do that. We'd never be able to sell this property for what we purchased it, and that would make it impossible for us to find another property where we could all live in community."

She paused and made eye contact with each of us, letting her words sink in. Mother was the queen of dramatic pauses.

"If we don't do something soon, we will lose our way of life, and our coven will be disbanded, leaving each of us to fend for ourselves in a world void of any magic or sympathy for magic users. Is that what you want? To be forced our on your own?"

Heads dropped as people considered what their lives would be like without our coven. My stomach twisted into a knot at the thought of losing anybody here, even Blake. We could lose if we went against the Druids, and we could lose if we didn't.

I hated no-win situations. "Mother, why do they want to destroy us so bad? They're more powerful. They're rich. They have everything they could want. What could be so important about our simple life? We have a bit of mortgaged-to-the-hilt land and some dogs. We don't have anything that could help them. So what's this about?"

Mother stretched her spine to full height until she looked like a queen commanding her throne room. "You take much for granted, young lady. We live in splendor here. I grew up poor, impoverished, living on food stamps and sleeping in an empty corner of our tiny apartment. What power I had then couldn't help me, it only served to make me an outcast. Look around at the opulence you have at your fingertips.

"What we enjoy here is coveted by many. This community, these teachings, this way of life and even our magic, so grounded in the elements. They want what they can't have. They are motivated by greed and restlessness of the soul, which is why we must stop them."

I didn't refute her or argue, as that wouldn't have served a point, but her explanation left a lot of questions in my mind.

My dad returned at that moment and sat a few seats away from Mother. "The pups have been fed and the kennel cleaned."

Mother nodded. "Did you wipe the floors the way I showed you?"

He hesitated. "Not exactly, but I did clean the floors thoroughly."

Her voice escalated. "Rain, we can't run a business if you don't adhere to the guidelines I set up. Your way of cleaning is not effective. You risk leaving contaminants on the floor, which could make the dogs sick. Go back and redo it correctly. And don't take short cuts this time."

He looked so defeated as he got up and left again. My heart broke for him, but he also made me angry. Why didn't he defend himself? Or tell her to clean the damn floors if his way wasn't good enough? Their relationship perplexed me, and I knew for a fact that if I ever could have love and truly be with someone, it wouldn't be like that. But, it worked for them, at least enough that neither of them wanted to end it. I just hoped they were both happy.

"We need to destroy their base of power, somehow," Mother said, pulling me from thoughts of marriage and love. "They have to have something that's making them so strong, so undefeatable. If we can find that and take it from them, then we can infuse our own coven with that power, and we will no longer be their victims."

Darren raised a hand and spoke. "How do we know they actually have something like that? What if they just have power in them, like us? And besides, Rose defeated one, so they aren't really undefeatable, are they?"

"Rose neutralized one, true, but they are many and will not likely come at us so unprotected again. I've been around a long time, and I've heard stories of them, of their power and where it comes from. They have something feeding them, and we need to find it. Their shifting abilities and magical strength is simply impossible without a base of power. I'm certain of this." She stood and paced the room. "I want to send Blake in to find out what they're hiding and what their weaknesses are. We will form a circle and feed him power to see what cannot be seen and to remain unseen as he does so. Since he is empty of his own magic, he will be able to carry the combined power of ours without damage or consequence."

Stunned silence filled the room. What Mother suggested had never been done before, and the risks were significant. That much power could kill him, or render him lifeless, like one of my victims. I may not have been Blake's biggest fan at the moment, but I certainly didn't want him dead.