Free Coven by Lacey Weatherford

a row. I think they’d
rather visit with you and get to know you better before they’ll
agree to let me go out with you, again. Plus, they might like to
hear about the other witches in the area. How about you come to my
house for dinner tomorrow night, instead? Then they can get to know
you better and it will help my dad ease up on you a bit.”
    Dropping his hand away from me, Seth sighed.
“I’d love to come to dinner, but I honestly advise against telling
your dad about any other witches, besides me, for the moment, at
least.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because, the other witches I said you might
know are the Blackstone’s. Jett is a warlock, but his parents are
demon witches. And in spite of the popular business they run, they
aren’t exactly the best sort of people.”
    Immediately, my mind snapped straight to
Jett’s aura and suddenly all the nasty, muddy colors I’d seen there
made perfect sense. “They drink from him, don’t they?” I asked,
sorrow washing through me. Seth nodded.
    “They also use his uncontaminated blood for
the rituals in their coven.”
    “Coven?” I squeaked the word out. “There is
a full demonic coven in Salem?”
    Seth slowly nodded. “I only know about it
because they’ve been trying to recruit me.”
    Well, shit. That explained the funky
flecks on Seth’s aura, too. “And you want to join?”
    He shrugged. “I’ve considered it. Jett makes
it sound so . . . enticing.”
    “So he wants to be converted?”
    “Desperately. He’s been begging his parents
for years, but they refuse because they need him in his current
state. Is it true what he says? That demons are much more powerful
than their counterparts?”
    “My dad is the most powerful warlock I’ve
ever heard of. Mom says he was extremely powerful before his
conversion, but even more so after. So yeah . . . it’s
true.”
    “I can’t even imagine what that would be
like.”
    “Then don’t imagine it. It’s dangerous. Both
of my parents have had terrible, terrible things happen to them
because of it. Things you couldn’t believe.” I was feeling
desperate. “Promise you’ll get to know my dad, and even talk to him
about being a demon, before you decide to do anything.”
    “You aren’t going to tell him?”
    I shook my head. “No. You trusted me with a
secret. I will keep it as long as I don’t believe you’re a danger
to yourself.”
    “So you wouldn’t want to be a demon?”
    “Never!” I replied vehemently. “Even though
my dad has learned control, it has come at a very great price. I’d
never risk my family that way.”
    Silence filled the car as Seth stared out
the window for several long moments.
    “Are you part of a coven?” he finally
asked.
    “No. My parents were initially part of my
family’s coven in my mom’s hometown. When everything went down with
my dad, he left the coven and joined with a demon one.”
    “Really?” Seth sounded surprised and I
nodded.
    “My mom said it was awful. The coven
brainwashed him and tried to get him to kill her on several
occasions so they could steal this special power called the
Awakening, which had been bound to the cells of my parents during
an earlier ritual. As long as both of my parents were alive, no one
else could use that power.”
    “And your dad actually wanted to kill your
mom?”
    I sighed. “It was much more complicated than
that. My dad actually died during his demonic conversion—killed by
his grandmother during a ritual in which she used his blood to try
and steal the Awakening for herself. But it didn’t work because my
mom and her coven killed the demonic coven before the ritual was
finished. The Awakening split—half of it going into my dad, and the
other half of it went into my mom. Because the Awakening
strengthens power and gives longevity, it brought my dad back to
life; but it restored and rebuilt all the demonic cells inside him
as it did so, completing his conversion in the process. So, when he
rose again, he was a