Page 1 of Blood Claims (Garnet Dagger Mafia #2)

FLIP THE WITCHY SWITCH

VANESSA

“ W e will find you, Ness and make no mistake, we will not be so trusting the next time we make you our prisoner.”

I shivered as Victor’s threat still played out in my mind as I left their grand estate.

In fact, all of their threats did. They played on a loop and became the backing track to my misery.

But not a single person paid attention to my tears.

Nor did they pay attention to my walking out the door with what I now carried in my hand.

The Garnet Dagger.

“You have no fucking idea what would happen if that got into the wrong hands… it would destroy everything,” Victor had told me and well… I believed him. Because I may have not known anything of their world, but I could recognize desperation when I heard it.

But what else could I do? I knew this curse would never end for them unless I gave the witch what she wanted. Which was when a plan started to form in my head.

But first, I needed to get home.

Speaking of which, I knew that with the number of guards that walked the grounds, then my escape would be near-impossible. However, with this power of luck on my side, I simply walked past them all as if completely unseen.

The pain of knowing what the brothers must be going through in trying to get free in time to catch me just brought on another wave of tears. Tears fueled by not only my guilt, but from the pain of losing them.

They wouldn’t want to hunt me down the way they did now. And neither would they believe themselves in love with me enough to feel betrayed by me.

Because soon it wouldn’t matter, not when this would be the last day they would even know I existed at all. The last day they would remember me. The knowledge of which was a bitterness that just wouldn’t die. Like some emotional vine trying to choke me to death, I could barely breathe.

I fell as the tears got too much, unable to continue. I simply let my head hang, sitting there on the gravel driveway, as my heart prepared itself to split in two.

How I had fallen in love with them so quickly I didn’t know. I just knew it was real. The most real love I had ever known.

But it wasn’t real for them.

They just believed they loved me, so the witch could get me close enough to them to do her bidding.

I looked down at their fancy dagger in my hands, and I felt it mocking me.

Even as it sang to my blood. It was strange, the pull it had on me, as if trying to lure me to use it.

Telling me how sweet it would feel if I was to only slice it across my skin.

Like a whisper to a lover and a caress of a promise against my neck.

In the end, I took off my hoodie and wrapped the dagger up in it, because I couldn’t be seen wandering around with this weapon in my hand.

So, after one last tear-filled glance back at the house I forced myself to my feet, leaving their life of luxury behind.

Its stylish opulence nothing but a mockery to my own life and what would never be.

Not that I ever had foolish and grandeur dreams of living such a life.

But the love it held locked inside would have been one I would have given up every wish I ever had just for one more night.

A lifetime of genie wishes just to prolong the dream I could never truly have.

A lifetime living in continued poverty just to feel what these past few days had gifted me.

The love and protection that had shone light over the darkness that shroud their world.

Because despite how frightened I had been, despite how dangerous they were and how questionable their actions had been toward me, the truth of my feelings couldn’t be denied.

I had fallen in love with them both and that was why I had no choice.

Because true love makes you selfless. And for me, it meant only one thing…

It was the destroyer of dreams.

So, I kept walking, making my way to the gatehouse. The impenetrable fortress wasn’t enough to contain me, no matter how much I wished it would, and I simply made my next command.

“Open the gates, and allow me to leave.”

Unsurprisingly, they opened, and I strode right out of them, knowing I would never see this place again.

A place that looked like something right out of a fairy tale, making me question if I was still in the states or not.

At the first sight of it from the outside, I was unable to hold back my gasp, despite my heartbreak.

It almost didn’t look real, with its twin turrets framing the main part of the house, each topped with cone shaped roofs.

The stone building, big and imposing, just like its owners.

It was like some modern-day castle, with its blocks of stone in different shades of grey and its dark-slate roof tiles.

The manicured grounds curved around the house as if it was bending nature to its will.

The vast fields beyond it like a blanket of green that only ended at the forest tree line.

One that no doubt was contained by the huge stone wall I could see start at the gatehouse.

But I couldn’t stay and live a lie, no matter how beautiful that lie could have been.

Yet even as I thought this, it was like their own words argued against me. Words that assaulted me once more,

“The only lies are the ones you tell yourself by thinking you can just walk away. The lie you believe in thinking you can ever run from us, that there is a single place on this planet you believe you can hide… for I make you this vow, girl… we will fucking find you!”

Christ, how I wanted to believe it. How I even wished for it. But then I knew the truth of what would happen after the witch had broken the curse if they did.

They would kill me.

Especially if they woke from the curse and discovered I had stolen from them.

However, this thought came far too late, because I had already commanded a car to stop and take me back into the city.

Commanded the woman behind the wheel not to speak to me, nor would she remember me.

But none of this would help. Because it was all too late…

I was already on my way back home when I realized what I had forgotten to do.

I had forgotten all the cameras.

They had them all over the estate and once the curse was broken and they came looking for their dagger, they would find me as the thief.

Which meant that I would have no choice.

I would have to leave the city, regardless.

Because they may not remember me come morning, but one look at that footage and they would have another target to hunt. And this time…

It wouldn’t be one they believe themselves in love with.

No, I would be their enemy.

Fucking hell, just remembering what I discovered them doing to my ex was enough to cause a sob to break free. One I covered behind my hands, happy when the woman didn’t acknowledge it. Christ… would that be what they did to me?

The thought terrified me!

I knew what they were capable of. Fuck, I’d had only a taste of it that night when Talon first found me. What he would have done to me had my blood not sparked the curse. He would have drained me dry, that was what. Killed me quick when I had been nothing more than an innocent witness.

But as a thief?

The one who had stolen their most precious treasure…

fuck, that right there was the stuff of nightmares!

Which meant I had no choice. I had to come up with a backup plan.

So, I got out of the poor woman’s car, who would no doubt have no idea how she got here, and I ran up to my apartment.

I was thankful that Stacey was still spending time with family, because I really didn’t need her asking questions.

Although, I knew she wouldn’t be gone long, she texted me saying she would be back in about an hour.

So, I quickly started to pack, knowing I would have to be ready to leave as soon as this shit was done. I didn’t have much, but anything I couldn’t fit in the large duffle bag, I would have to leave. My mind seemed to operate on overdrive, focusing only on survival now.

I did what was needed.

After packing, I grabbed a quick shower, unfortunately allowing my mind the time to play everything back on a torturous loop once more.

This ended with me sitting at the bottom of the tub, curled into a ball, with the shower washing away even more tears.

My mess of a life was barely holding by a thread. I had worked so hard. So, fucking hard.

I had left a broken life behind, and now what had it all been for?

Every hardship was nothing but a lesson learned in the hard knock life academy.

And all of it only to find every damn wall I had started to build up around me now just crumbling, leaving me bare and broken again.

When would I finally make my way out of the rubble and breathe clean air?

“Just another fight, Nessa,” I told myself, trying to pick myself up and push through this like I always did. So, I forced myself to finish and get myself organized, because I didn’t have forever here. I needed to get this shit done.

However, after turning my phone on to check on Stacey, I forgot to turn it back off. I also forgot not to answer it when I heard it ringing, thinking it could be her. Mainly doing so out of habit, I tried to sound upbeat when I answered.

“Hey, what’s up?” I said, my body filling with dread the second I heard the growl in reply, making me instantly realize my mistake.

“Oh, but I think you know the answer to that one, sweetheart.” My mouth dropped but the instant he said, “Now be a good girl and don’t hang up the phone,” my gaze quickly shot to the window, relieved to see that it was still daylight, or I would have been screwed.

But I also knew time was of the essence here.

“Victor,” I said his name and again it made him growl, but this time it was as if he missed the way I said it.