Cursed (The Spellbound Series, #2)

18 | The Sword Falls Down

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Chapter 18 – The Sword Falls Down

It was fairly disconcerting for Melissa to be standing inside that mess of a living room in the abandoned house; she had only bad memories from the brief time she'd been held captive there. But what jarred her even more was the sight of her aunt, terrified and helpless as she struggled to free herself from the arboreal ties that held her to the wall, with Serena less than ten feet away from her.

Melissa stepped out from behind Cameron and stood beside him, despite his protective, outstretched arm. She narrowed her eyes at Serena. "I'm the evil one?" she scoffed. "You cursed my friends and me, including your own brother, and almost killed us all. You helped kill my parents. And I'm the evil one?"

Melissa heard a gasp from behind her, and cast her gaze over her shoulder. Vera's face with sheet white, her eyes glazing over with tears. "Mel, what's going on here?"

Melissa's heart broke for her, and the pain she likely felt from discovering the horrible truth. But she tore her eyes away from her aunt, and told herself that when they got her out of here, they would take away that pain with a memory spell. They had never used one on her so it would be safe, but Melissa would worry about all those details later.

"The whole Demetrio coven is evil," Serena spat out, her eyes dark and fiery. "You white witches always see yourself as better than the rest of us. All their lives, my parents lived in fear of your kind. They'd seen their friends attacked, and some even killed, for no reason other than being dark witches. And that's why they fought with Malachi – they were tired of standing by and doing nothing. And your parents killed them for it."

Melissa exhaled slowly, her fists clenched. She didn't in any way want to sympathize with the Hendersons; they had murdered Cameron's parents, and their children had helped kill her own. And yet, she could feel Serena's words forcing their way through her anger, appealing to her better nature, bringing up the thoughts she'd been grappling with about her family, until her mind was too conflicted for her to reply.

But Cameron's wasn't. "No matter what little sympathy I could garner for your story – and trust me, I don't have a single ounce of it – that doesn't justify anything," he stated plainly. "Murder doesn't serve as justice for murder. Everything you do now is by choice, just as Melissa has chosen to forgive Sam, and him Melissa's parents."

Serena scoffed, her eyes rolling. "I don't want your useless sympathy, or your moral garbage. I know what I'm doing is right by my parents. It's not my concern that you're too weak to understand it." Her mouth suddenly formed a smirk. "Though, now that you mention Sam, how is my traitorous little brother?"

Melissa shook her head. "You know, we all refused to believe you could actually do something like that to him. Even despite the way you stood by and watched as Malachi was killing him just weeks ago." She shook her head. "He'll be fine, now that the people who care for him are working on a way to break your horrible curse. And even then, I'm sure he'll say something forbearing about you not being able to let go of the past. How the two of you are related, I'll never understand."

Serena seemed to falter slightly at this, but only for a second, before she sneered. "It doesn't matter. Even if you manage to save him, he'll get what he deserves for deserting his own. He'll realize what a terrible mistake he made shacking up with white witches, because deep down we all know you'll never fully accept him."

"You can say what you want about the white witches your parents knew," Cameron declared, and Melissa saw him slowly lifting his hand behind him. "But we're nothing like them, and we're nothing like you. Sam is part of our family now. And Vera over there, she is too. And we do whatever it takes to protect our family."