Free Bloodlines by Lindsay Anne Kendal Page B

our ancestors got their power. Do you want me to wait until you have finished your cigarette so you can hear?”
    “Do you smoke?” he asked.
    “Occasionally.”
    He held the pack out and offered me a cigarette. I took it, leaned forward while he lit it for me and then sat down next to him. He turned to look at me.
    “I hope you’ve not poisoned this,” I smirked
    “No,” he said, smiling and shaking his head.
    “You know, Danny, if you actually gave me a chance you would see I wasn’t a bad person.”
    “I know that, and I’m not as big of an ass as you think I am.”
    “I don’t think you’re an ass…well, maybe a little bit of one…but I understand that you were protecting your friends. You didn’t know who I was or what I was…”
    “Yeah, but I shouldn’t have been so cold with you.”
    “Maybe we should just start again?” I suggested.
    “I’d like that.”
    I stood up and held my hand out in front of me.
    “Hi, my name’s Keira and I’m the fifth bloodline,” I grinned.
    “I’m Danny, one of the other four, but I could have sworn your name was Cinderella,” he said, grinning back and shaking my hand.
    “God, no, who told you that?”
    We both laughed. We finished our cigarettes and went inside.
    “About time you two made up,” Jake said.
    “Is that the book?” Tyler asked with wide eyes.
    “The one and only,” I told him, sitting down and opening it. “Now it’s my turn to tell the story.”
    They all got comfy and ready to hear what I had to say.
    “OK, John and the others started the coven when they were seventeen. They would go out late at night into the countryside where nobody would see them. They took the book that John found and started to follow the instructions in it to conjure spirits. Nothing happened for months, even though they did everything the book said word for word. They started to get disheartened and were ready to give up. They arranged a meeting for one final go, but before they could try to conjure anything it found them…”
    I was enjoying this, telling a story, watching the wonder and anticipation on the faces strained toward me. “They were standing around a small fire when they were surrounded by a glowing mist. It circled them, the glow getting brighter and brighter until it hurt their eyes to look at it. Then it started to sink into their skin. They described the pain they felt as though they were being whipped and burned mercilessly. They woke up the next morning in the same place they had seen the mist. They all felt different. They all knew they had a power inside them but they didn’t know who or what had given it to them. They also instantly knew how to use it, as though they had been given lessons. Yet they had no memory of anything other than the mist and the pain. They knew it would be in their blood as long as they lived and passed down through their families, yet they didn’t understand why they knew this…”
    “So they never knew what gave them this power,” Lucian asked.
    “As far as I know, but I’ve only read the first few pages.”
    “Can I ask a question?” Lily said.
    “Yes,” Jake answered.
    “Just going back to something you said when we first came here. You said Ann Putnam made accusations about people being involved with witchcraft.”
    “Yes.”
    “But if her father had magic and power in him, why would she do that?”
    “We think she did it to protect her family. Once the other girls in the village had shown signs of being affected by witchcraft, people quickly started to accuse people. We think she thought if she made out she was affected by it too, then her family would be safe.”
    “Clever girl,” I said.
    “Yes, in a way, but she was responsible for a lot of innocent people being put to death,” Lucian said. “And it was all in vain – all her family was killed and her brother disappeared.”
    “At least she tried,” Lily said. “You’ve got to give her something for that.”
    “So you have no