Lucas, and Delilah had just fought and killed people they used to consider their friends and allies. Finn, Gabriel, and I just saw a woman we’d all come to love die in front of our eyes. Not to mention I’d killed for the very first time in my life.
Before I discovered this new world, I never thought I’d have to kill. Now it had become this necessary evil that I had to embrace if I wanted to survive.
After a while, Gabriel went and picked up Alvie, carrying him into the RV. When he came back out, I assisted him in a small spell to clean up the remaining evidence of the fighting. Ethan, Lucas, and Delilah retired to their own house for the night, and all that remained on the street was an atmosphere of muted trauma.
I’d all but forgotten about Emilia taking Rebecca. Pamphrock, Finn, and the slayers left immediately to go and retrieve her from the Petrovsky Manor, though I had no clue how hard of a task that was going to be.
Soon the street was empty, with just Gabriel and me sitting on the wall at the front of Finn’s house keeping a watch over Rita. Ira sat by our feet, still in his animal form. He obviously wasn’t ready to change back yet.
We sat there in silence, tears streaming down both our faces now that we finally had the chance to embrace our grief over losing Noreen. She’d been a maternal presence in our little group, always there to give guidance and advice. I really didn’t know what we were going to do without her.
We were going to be so lost.
It wasn’t until hours later that Rita finally let down the wall of flames she’d surrounded herself with. We’d had to put a glamour on the entire street for fear of anyone seeing her magic. Gabriel organised for Noreen’s body to be taken away while I brought Rita into the RV and put her to bed. She didn’t breathe a word the whole time, and although the purple swirls had receded from her eyes, they were still disconcertingly black. Her body felt cold, and her face was an empty canvas, devoid of emotion. I knew she was waiting until I left to start crying. Just as I closed over the door to her room, I heard her weeping into her pillow.
I sat in the small kitchen area and drank a cup of tea, too afraid to leave her on her own. It was about two in the morning when someone stepped into the RV. I glanced up and saw Finn standing there, looking exhausted.
“Gabe said you were in here. Come into the house. You need to sleep.”
He motioned me out of the vehicle, but I stared apprehensively at Rita’s bedroom door.
“I’m not sure I should leave her. She seems … well, not herself.”
“The girl’s mother just died. What do you expect her to be like? Swinging from the rafters?” Finn tried to make a joke, but it fell flat. It was way, way too soon for jokes.
“No, I just … I feel like she might do something dangerous, like go over to the south side to try and kill Whitfield.”
“Gabriel and I will watch her then. We’ll take it in turns. You’ve been with her for hours.”
I ran my hand through my hair and rose from my seat. “Okay,” I whispered, feeling the need to sleep forever. As Finn led me inside the house, I asked, “So, what happened with Emilia?”
He shook his head. “That’s a whole other shitstorm. She’s put a spell over her house, so nobody can get in or out. Pamphrock has at least a hundred slayers surrounding the place, waiting for her to drop the spell so they can get in and take Rebecca back.”
“I feel terrible,” I said, grimacing. “I should never have involved her in all this.”
“Listen, what’s done is done. At least we know where Rebecca is. And as you said, Emilia just wants to mother her. She doesn’t want to harm her. The main thing is that the spell was successful. You should be congratulating yourself for that.”
“Yeah, the spell worked, and then everything else went to hell in a handbasket. I’m seriously starting to believe I’m hexed or something.”
Finn stroked a hand down my cheek. “Stop beating yourself up and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning,” I told him, before trudging my way out of the RV, into the house,