Page 81 of Blood that Burns

He shrugs. “Change or simply help her become what she was always meant to be.”

“And you know this how?”

“You have your witches, and I have mine. It’s only a matter of time before you give in and change Maggie as well.”

I shake my head vehemently. “That will never happen. I won’t do it.”

“You have to. Or else the Bellamy line will fall.”

“I don’t care. I won’t damn her to this life to save ours. We’ve lived long enough. Perhaps it’s time for this line to end.”

“You haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Figured what out?” I snap, growing impatient with Marcellus’s half answers.

“It’s not something for me to tell. You’ll find out when it’s your time.”

“Stand up,” I bark, pulling him to his feet.

I pull him silently around the building until we come to the parking lot where we arrived. The human girls are being loaded onto a bus by Sarah Westoff, while Count Sagar and Bash talk by a black town car with tinted windows.

“Law, will you put him in here?” Bash calls out when he sees me. “Secure his legs and hands, and the Count and I will prepare to leave.”

I push Marc toward the car, lowering him into the seat.

“You really need to find Maggie and keep her out of that building. If she goes in there, two deaths will occur. Someone will find you when it’s safe.”

The reminder of what he said was going to happen to Marina almost knocks the wind from my chest. “You’re serious.”

He nods.

“Who is the witch who told you this? Tell me,” I say through my teeth.

“I can’t. You know I’m bound.”

He means that a witch has bound him to keep the witch’s secrets. It’s a very dark practice, one that will lead to his death if he utters the name.

“But I will tell you this,” he continues. “Count Byron is the traitor. He works alone where the Council is concerned, but his allies are evil. A demon and a witch.”

Ice-cold dread circulates through my nerves.

A demon?

I secure his legs and arms quickly, before turning around to search the area for Maggie. I feel her, which means she’s nearby.

“The bus,” he says, nodding his head toward the bus where the girls are being loaded. Through the window in the back, I see her. She has a small black-haired girl wrapped in her arms.

I pull my eyes away from the bus window and see Bash heading back toward the car. “Good luck, Marc.”

I turn to walk away since Bash is near, but Marcellus calls to my back.

“I know one more thing that would interest you.”

Twisting my body back to him, I almost shiver at the look of triumph I see. His smile turns into something macabre, spreading so wide he looks like a Cheshire cat.

“You killed our father.”