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One hundred.
Just one hundred people were left in all of Wolf’s Hollow and the other one hundred were six feet under because Serena couldn’t control herself.
I knew that I was partially to blame - I planted the idea in her head, after all - but I didn’t know how to go about fixing it. Or if I even wanted to fix it. Serena was the happiest I’d seen her in a long time. She had her magic back, though she knew it was temporary. Seeing her so happy made my heart soar. But still, at what cost?
“This won’t last forever, Serena,” I reminded her as I walked into the kitchen where she was sitting, flipping through the pages of a huge book.
It was the Wolf’s Hollow record book. It had every person that had ever been born in Wolf’s Hollow. She’d gone through and marked the pages with a drop of each of her victim’s blood to denote that she’d already taken their life and she was now shopping for her next victim.
She did the same thing every morning. Usually, she went off of how much power each of the witches had, but she also just went off of who she didn’t like that day.
Today, though, she didn’t seem to be liking anybody.
“What do you mean, Maya?” Serena yawned. She didn’t even look at me as she studied her book.
It reminded me of Priamos in a way. Even with as many books as he read over the years, he had his favorites (usually, the super old ones that no one cared about anymore) and no matter how many times he read one of those books, he would sit and slowly flip through them just like Serena was now. I missed getting to sit down every morning and talk to him about the book he was reading.
I missed him and Tempest so much. At least, that was what I told myself
“You know what I mean,” I replied as I folded my arms across my chest.
Serena rolled her eyes and stayed silent as she continued to flip through the book.
I sighed and pulled the book away from her and met her gaze when she looked up to protest.
“You can’t just keep killing people for more magic, Serena Annabelle Livingston, and you know it,” I hissed, “You should know better than anyone how it feels to lose a loved one - even if you’re just going off of your mother and I. Besides, at some point, it just becomes cruel to keep doing this.”
“Sure I can,” Serena argued, snatching the book away from me again, “Just make sure to keep a male and female around, force them to make babies and bam. Endless supply.”
“That’s not what I meant, Serena, and you know it. Not even black magic can work forever.”
Serena watched me, “So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that you need to face the fact that you can’t keep doing this forever and that you need to either slow down or stop doing this entirely,” I replied.
Preferably, just slow down, but...
Serena narrowed her eyes at me as she got to her feet, “Well, guess what, Maya? I don’t take orders from you. Whatever happened to that oath you took when you married me, anyway?”
I sighed softly as I watched her, “I still love you, Serena. I just-”
“Want me to stop doing something that’s giving me back the joy I lost?” Serena finished.
I shook my head, “No, Serena, that’s not-”
Serena rolled her eyes, “It’s fine, Maya. I get it.”
I looked down a little. There really was no arguing with that witch, was there?
“Now, I’ve picked out my next victim, Serena mused as she started towards the front door, “And you can either be on my side or in my way - and I can promise you that you won’t be in my way for very long if that’s what you choose. Are you in?”
I barely even hesitated before following her out the door. I was in. I was always going to be in.
My life depended on it.