Page 112 of Bad Witch

Her mouth opened and closed, and I could see her shriveling up before my eyes. She was dying in front of me. “June?” I said, trying to force my healing powers into her, even though I knew it was no use. She was too far gone.

She tried to lift her hand but couldn’t do it. Her gaze slid from me then, wild with terror, and locked on something behind me—then she was gone.

“I thought it was about time I formally introduced myself,” a horrifying voice said.

Slowly, I rose and turned.

Disease stood before me. The same male who I’d seen walking around the clinic, the one who had made me sick when he’d touched me that one time. He wore jeans and a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up. He smiled broadly. “I am Disease, and it’s time we had a little talk, don’t you think?”

Chapter

Thirty-Two

Tempest

* * *

“Unless you’re here to tell me you’ve decided to stop making everyone sick, then I can’t think of anything I’d want to talk to you about.” I had no idea where I’d found my courage, but seeing June like that, the way she’d suffered before Disease had killed her, had filled me with rage because sadness would be no help now.

The room was dark, and I couldn’t see him clearly, but his eyes glowed a toxic green, and when he smiled, he flashed teeth that looked darker than they should be. “You, daughter of Terra, have been meddling in things that do not concern you. You have interfered, getting in the way of my work, and that will not do. Not at all.”

Straightening my spine, I stared him down, fighting the urge to shrink back. I would not cower to this twisted male. “You’ve hurt people I care about. You have taken people who were loved from their families. So if I’ve interfered, if I’ve made your task more difficult? I’m glad of it.”

The green of his eyes momentary flashed brighter. “You will tell me how you cured the sick.”

Without realizing it, he’d just told me the Agattealia Pontella had worked. At least now I knew for sure. “I’m not telling you anything.”

His head tipped to the side. “You realize there is only one solution to my problem, don’t you, witch?” He said witch as if he were saying a curse word. “I will be forced to make you tell me, then afterward, I will kill you, slowly.”

“You can try,” I said, no doubt foolishly, but I was too furious, too filled with rage to bite my tongue.

“I’ll make it slow. I’ll drag out your suffering,” he spat.

“So be it.”

If I were still the Matilda, I might live through this, but I wasn’t, I knew that now. I’d tried to hold out hope that the coven was still with me, but I couldn’t feel them anymore—they were gone.

I’d caused harm to everyone I knew, so if keeping this monster occupied while those still able to fight could gather an army to defeat him, then the loss of my life would have been worth it. Thanks to my mother and Matilda W, I’d known real love. Thanks to Magnolia, I had experienced kindness and friendship. And thanks to Fender, I had known what it was to be truly wanted, and even if we weren’t meant to be, I had felt what it was to love—to be in love. For that, I would die happy.

His hands shot out, his fingers curling into fists around nothing.

It was as if he’d grabbed my throat. My hands flew up as his magic squeezed tight, then slowly, I was dragged toward him.

“This is going to be very enjoyable,” he said when I was only an inch from his face. It was pockmarked and oozing puss, and the putrid smell coming from him made me gag. He smelled like rot and infection. “Do I offend?” he snapped. “I am this way because of you.”

His virus had turned back on him because I’d found a way to cure it. That had to be what he meant.

“Only giving the disease to others will restore me to my former self, and you will help me with that as well.”

Then he touched me. His cold and clammy hands slid around the side of my throat for real. And as soon as his skin met mine—everything went dark.

Fender

My leg throbbed, and it didn’t help that I hadn’t stopped pacing since I got back to the clubhouse. I didn’t want to be here, I wanted to be with Tempest. I needed to talk to her, to explain, to…to what? Convince her to want me back? Fuck. I wasn’t even sure if that was possible, but I couldn’t even try when she wouldn’t talk to me.

My phone cracked. I was close to snapping it in half. She couldn’t call or text if the thing was in pieces all over the fucking floor. I took another step and it started ringing. I slammed my finger down on the screen so hard and fast it was a miracle I didn’t put a hole through it.

“Hello? Peaches?”