I stared at Deb, not wanting to believe her words. When I asked, I did hope she would laugh in my face and call me crazy. But no, she admitted it. We were witches.
“Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?”
“Honestly, I didn’t think I had to. You didn’t seem to be exhibiting any obvious powers, and with your mom gone, I guess I…” She trailed off.
“What?”
“Well, I thought I could spare you all of that. Your mom wanted you to know, but I know what it’s like to have a crappy power and I wanted to spare you all the trouble.”
I got to my feet, mind reeling. “So Mom was a witch and you are one too?”
Deb nodded. “Yes, your mother was a gifted healer. See our power runs down the maternal line. Your grandmother was a witch too. An earth witch. My own power is somewhat different. You don’t get to pick and choose what you are born with. Some powers can lie dormant for generations before reappearing.”
She said it so naturally like she was explaining normal things people inherit like bad eyesight or high blood pressure.
“What power do you have?” I asked.
Deb looked away. “Not something you want to know about. Shall I fetch the tea?” She got to her feet, but a glare from me made her sit back down. She sighed heavily. “Okay, fine. My power is hard to explain. It developed when I was eighteen. I don’t want to scare you too much by going into the details, but you know my disastrous love life? Well, there’s a reason for that.”
And that’s when it clicked. All those stories she told me, now I was going through the same thing. We had the same power. “You attract demons.”
Deb’s eyes widened. “What? How did you know that?”
“Take a wild guess.”
“Oh no, honey.” She got to her feet and put her hands on my shoulders. “I’m so sorry. If I thought for one moment you’d inherited that power, I would have told you everything.”
I pushed her hands away. She was a liar. If she had told me the truth, everything with Zack wouldn’t have happened.
“How did you find out?” Deb asked.
“I met two witches who told me what I was. Something you should have done.”
Deb looked confused. “Two witches? What has been going on?”
Returning to my seat, I told her everything, including everything that happened with Zack. She listened silently, her hand pressed to her mouth, fighting back tears. “I’m so sorry, Anna. I should have told you the truth.”
“Yes, you should have.” I found it hard to let her betrayal go. The fight with Zack could have ended so differently. The only reason I survived was pure luck.
Deb headed to the bar in the corner of the room and poured herself a brandy. She returned with one for me.
“What use is this power?” I asked. “Who the hell would want to attract demons?”
“We attract them so we can kill them.”
“What?”
Deb shrugged. “We’re the only ones who can. The power is very rare but in the olden days, witches who had it were used to lure demons so the coven could finish them off. You need to understand that demons are extremely dangerous and are always looking to hurt someone. Some of them pose as humans in order to set themselves up in our world.”
“What about the power that came from my hands? Is that part of it?”
“No. I certainly don’t have anything like that. Most witches get one active ability, but some can get two. Maybe it’s something from further back in our line. Whatever it is, it saved your life.”
I knocked my drink back, the liquid burning my throat. This was all too much. I didn’t want to be a witch. I had a life and it didn’t involve demons or who knew what else.
“What am I supposed to do?” I whispered.
Deb came to sit beside me and put her arm around my shoulders. “After I found out what my power did, I spent time working with a coven, helping them fight demons. When you’re young, you think you’re invincible. But it eventually took its toll. When your mother died, I turned my back on all of it to raise you. The older I’ve gotten, the more the power seems to have faded. My advice? Live your life. Ignore the witch stuff. It will only bring trouble.”
“And when another demon shows up at my door?” Because it was bound to happen at some point.
“Leave it with me. I’ll speak to some contacts and see if they know a way to hide your power or dampen it.”
That sounded like a good idea. If I had something like that, I could go back to my life and be normal again. Almost. For now, I’d have to wait.