Cursed (The Spellbound Series, #2)

20 | Ad Domum Demetrio

A/N: Pause for a moment and vote for this chapter. Thanks! 

Chapter 20 – Ad Domum Demetrio

Cameron sat on the edge of his bed with a great sense of unease and incompletion, which he always felt when he watched Melissa lying unconscious. It was strange to think that this was the third time it had happened since they'd met. Granted, one of those times had been his own doing, but that didn't mean that it had brought him any joy. It was a frenzied time, Melissa being under the curse, and it was something he very much would like to put behind him.

Though, before doing that, he silently mused how preferable that situation would be to this. To Melissa losing her aunt, the only real family she had left. To her being in ineffable despair and anguish, and him being unable to take it away. To their whole world seeming to fall apart in a matter of one night. At least with the siren's curse, he'd known he could find a cure, a solution, a way to end the pain.

Then again, maybe that was a moot point in the timeline of their lives. Who could say they hadn't all been fated to fall apart the moment they were born – Melissa to the Demetrios, the most powerful white witch coven; Malachi to the powerful dark witch coven with whom they were tangled in an endless war; Cameron and his brothers to the Blakes, who stood by their side; and Sam and Serena to the Hendersons, who opposed them to retaliate against the oppression they'd experienced throughout their lives.

Cameron didn't know whether the way all their lives had collided into each other, and intertwined with each other, was something that nature had already predetermined before they were even conceived. Whether the paths they took were mapped out, the way he had seen his and Melissa's bound magic as a patterned vine on their arms when they performed the spellbinding, and they were simply following them to their distant or abrupt ends.

But right now, with Melissa resting on her side before him, her hands tucked under her temple and honey and gold flowing about her face, none of it mattered. Cameron was perfectly content with living in this moment, where she was peaceful and unharmed, away from the things that threatened to break her down. And he was perfectly content with watching her sleep, and not having to worry about the possibility of everything being out of their control.

There was always tomorrow for that.

A soft, knocking sound broke the silence in the room. Cameron glanced up and saw Diane at the open door, seeming strangely out of place. "Hey," she said quietly, feet planted in the doorway. Her knuckles lingered on the door, and her face spoke of uncertainty and concern. "Is she- Can I-"

Cameron waved a hand in the air, beckoning her over. Diane inhaled slightly and stepped inside, walking gingerly, as though she did not want to be an intrusion. She set her eyes upon Melissa, and a small gasp escaped her throat. She looked at Cameron. "What happened to her? Is she going to be alright?"

He wanted to say yes, of course, absolutely, but he wasn't certain he could give her that answer. Not after tonight. "She's just out. She was fighting Serena and she overexerted her magic," he said, and as the words left his mouth, he felt the strangeness of discussing this with Diane. "It's happened once before. She'll be up and running in the morning."

Diane nodded quickly. "And Vera?"

Cameron flinched. He hadn't had the chance to break the news to Diane, or even his brothers. Everything had been such a blur after he'd left the abandoned house in the Edge-woods; there had been no sign of Serena, or Vera's body. He remembered carrying Melissa through the trees and back to the car, and then driving back here. He'd taken her straight up to the room, after acknowledging Sam's return, and rebuffing everyone's questions. It had been barely twenty minutes since then, and he didn't have it in him to say it now.