The Return by Nicole R. Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

before and exactly what she had been capable of. Zac knew he had been in the cemetery as   he lay unconscious. Sam had told him how Arturius had stood over Aya's lifeless body like it was some kind of trophy. And he'd seen Gabby there. Would he now come after her too?
    He didn't know what Arturius was looking for, he never understood everything that had happened that night, but he seemed to think Gabby could tell him something.
    The Roman sneered at her and gave a final warning glance to Zac before turning and leaving the bar, obviously regrouping now that Gabby had come forward to protect the town. She didn't seem to be worried about the vampires fighting.
    Zac turned and gave her a look. The fleeting note of panic that flickered in her eyes didn’t escape his notice. He knew something was up. Fact was, he always knew, regardless if anyone told him or not. He didn't know if it was the encounter with Arturius or the amount of alcohol he had consumed, but for the first time ever, he let it drop, not saying anything. Maybe he was just mad she had stopped him from hitting the Roman. Or maybe he just didn’t care.
    "Go away, Gabby," he said, sitting back down.
    And she was gone before he could change his mind.
     

 
    Gabby had called a 911 on her oldest friends, something they hadn't done in ages. When they were in high school they did it all the time. Alex always complained, but had gone along with it nonetheless. Usually, their 911 sit ins had been about boy problems or getting back at the school bully. In the girls' case, the captain of the cheerleading team, Stacy Howard. In Alex's case, golden boy class president and football player Kane Watson. They would scheme epic payback when it was most deserved. Like the time Kane had filled Alex's locker with whipped cream and they had put itching powder in his football uniform, applying it thoroughly to the crutch of his pants. That had earned them all a month of detention.
    It had been almost two weeks since she had gone to Memphis with the brothers to free Aya who had been captured by the founding vampire, Caius. And it had been a week since she'd found out who Aya really was.
    She was a Celestine. The beginning of magic. The race that founded the first witches and the caretakers of the earth. Creatures with power beyond reckoning. This was what Aya was. She'd dedicated herself to protecting the origins of power. Their secrets in the wrong hands… the world could be plunged into darkness.
    The weight of all these secrets was suffocating.
    She didn't know what exactly Aya had become when Arturius had turned her, but with her help that night in the void, she had become something close to what she once was. Her kind had granted the first witches their power and had promptly become extinct at the hands of a woman of their own creation; Katrin. It was a tale that was as sad as it was twisted. And Gabby had to keep this secret or face the possibility of doing greater harm.
    In her desire to help her new friend, she had to awaken powers inside herself she never dreamed she could possess. It was a dream she wanted to take back. All she wanted was to understand and control her power, but she got the complete opposite. Gabby wanted a full refund. The power she had coiled inside, it seemed endless and that terrified her.
    When she stood in that yard in Memphis, it had been so  easy . She had obliterated the three witches with nothing but an absent flick of the wrist. They had disintegrated, their ash flying away on the breeze like sand in a sandstorm. If she hadn't of done anything, they would have all died. Sam, Zac, Aya; they would have all died. Aya had told her after, that she would have killed them, that they had given themselves over to evil. But it didn't make it feel any better. 
    That seemed like nothing now that Aya was gone. She could have helped her to understand. Magic was truly dead without her. 
    She now sat with Liz and Alex in the middle of the lounge room