Bewitched (Betwixt & Between #2) - Darynda Jones Page 0,83
killer with that strange witch fire? Did I run? No. And that shit scared the hell out of me.”
“Wait, what serial killer?”
He looked at me. “A member of your grandmother’s coven turned out to be a serial killer. Only her clientele was exclusively witches. She joined the coven, then killed two of your grandmother’s best friends.”
Ruthie lowered her head, the memory obviously painful.
“When she came after Ruthie, we were ready. Her entire coven lay in wait to ambush the woman. Took her out with some kind of blue fire.” He looked at her. “But I stayed, Ruthie. All the hocus-pocus. All the bizarre incidents. All the secrecy. I stayed.”
I rubbed my forehead. “You killed her?” I asked Ruthie.
“I had no choice. No jail could’ve held her, and she would’ve gone on killing until she got what she wanted.”
My natural instinct was to ask what she’d wanted, but I already knew. She’d wanted me. Or someone like me. She’d wanted a charmling. What else would a powerful witch want but more power?
But that wasn’t the most pertinent question.
“I never left,” he continued. “Through all of that, I never left you. But the first time you die and come back to life without your powers, I’m history.”
“I’m sorry, Houston. I just . . . I didn’t handle things very well, did I?”
“No.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “Marry me, or I’m never coming back.”
She blinked up at him, her mouth forming a pretty O. “Houston.”
“I mean it, Ruthie. I think we’ve dated long enough. It’s time to take our relationship to the next level.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I know exactly what I’m asking. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that life is too short to live in fear.” He took her hands in his. “Marry me or lose me forever.”
The corners of Ruthie’s eyes crinkled. “Since you put it that way.”
My heart melted. They kissed, and it wasn’t as icky as I thought it might be.
Everyone congratulated them, and my dads took out a bottle of wine to celebrate. But once Ruthie and the chief got settled at the table, I planned to pounce. To catch her off guard. That was the plan, anyway.
Before I could bring up her lie, she said, “Defiance, there’s something I need to ask you, but I want you to feel free to say no.”
“I have something to ask you too.”
“You first,” she said, ever the diplomat.
“No, you go ahead.” I’d lost my window of surprise either way.
“I insist,” she countered.
“Okay. Why did you tell me you killed my mother?”
The room quieted around us.
“What?”
“You told me you’d killed three men and one woman in your lifetime. Is that true?”
Her lids drifted shut as she realized her mistake. “I—I wasn’t counting the witch. She was an unusual case.”
“Gigi.” I leaned closer. “Who killed my mother? Because it wasn’t you.”
The chief took her hand in his and squeezed. “She deserves to know, Ruthie.”
Ruthie shook her head.
“Gigi.” I kept my voice soft and even. “Who killed her?”
She swallowed hard, and whispered, her voice so soft I almost didn’t hear her. “You.”
I reared back, the thought so absurd. “I was three. How could I even manage something like that?”
“You were a three-year-old with the power of an atomic bomb behind you. When I got home that night, your mother was trying to siphon those powers, like I said.”
“And?”
“And I tried to stop her. You were hovering in midair, and she had one hand above your chest. She’d performed a transference ritual. Black magic. By that point, though she had only a fraction of your power, she was far too strong for me. I knew there was no stopping her, but I had to try. I recited a binding spell. She laughed at me.” Ruthie’s face showed the agony she felt. Her own daughter. “She sent out what power she did have to . . . to break my neck.”
A hand shot up to cover my mouth.
Her tear-filled gaze drifted to mine. “You knew. Somewhere deep inside, you knew what she was doing. While she was focused on me, you reached up and touched her face. There was such love in your expression when you . . .” She sniffed. “We both collapsed. You ran to her and threw yourself over her, sobbing and apologizing.”
“But in your book of shadows you wrote, She’s gone. I had no choice. May the great Goddess embrace her soul.” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“That was about you, sweetheart. When your fathers took