Chapter 295

Tessa’s POV

“How is that possible?” Patty asked, staring at Esme like she had grown an extra head. “Are you saying Lucias had been controlling us this entire time?”

“Yes,” Esme said, folding her arms across her chest as she fell deep into thought. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“But how??”

“I don’t have all the answers. But it’s the only thing that makes sense,” Esme said.

“He’s not strong enough to pull something like that off,” she said, shaking her head at the very thought.

“He must have had some help then,” Esme said. “I’m not sure how he did it. But how else could you explain this memory loss?”

“I don’t know…” Patty admitted, her eyes filling with even more tears as she thought about it. Then her eyes shifted to Derek and some of the other younger members. “Some of you weren’t even here during the war. What do you remember?”

“Most of us didn’t have a coven and Lucias recruited us,” Derek explained. “He told me that his coven would take me in without any questions asked. I was banned from my coven, and I had nowhere else to go…”

“Same with me,” Amy admitted, wrapping her arms around her body like she was desperately trying to hold herself together.

“I ran away from my coven because I was too cowardly,” said Laura, another girl said. I hadn’t noticed Laura sitting in the corner of the room with her knees pressed to her chest and her chin resting on her lap.

“During orientation, Lucias took me into a room and that was the last thing I remembered,” Derek admitted.

The others nodded in agreement with him and I felt the blood draining from my face.

“That must have been how he controlled you,” Esme said, still deep in thought. “None of you remember how he did it?”

“No,” Derek confessed. “Everything just went black…”

“Well, whatever he did, it wasn’t strong enough to stay intact,” Patty said, furrowing her brows together. “Why is that?”

“Because Lucias is dead,” Esme announced, causing everybody to gasp loudly.

“What?” Patty asked, covering her mouth with her hands. “He’s dead?”

Esme nodded.

“I’m afraid so,” Esme confirmed. “Lucias died and because of that, whatever mind control thing he had on you guys is no longer in effect.”

“How did he die?” Derek asked.

“A car accident,” Esme was quick to answer without even glancing at me. I was relieved she didn’t throw me under the bus. I wasn’t sure how they’d react if they knew that I had caused this accident, which meant I was the one who killed him. The thought still didn’t sit right with my stomach.

There were murmurs all around before Patty asked, “Are we sure he’s dead?”

Esme nodded.

“I checked him myself and I burned the body afterwards. He’s gone,” Esem announced.

I expected them all to be freaked out that their coven leader was dead, but I wasn’t expecting the relief that formed on all of their faces.

“Thank the heavens,” Patty whispered, sitting back on the couch like the weight of her body was too much to hold anymore.

“You’re happy about this?” I asked, staring at all of their faces.

“He mind-controlled us for over a decade,” Patty said through her teeth and I could see how angry she truly was. “Of course, we are happy that asshole is gone.”

I was glad to hear that, but it also didn’t make the situation any better.

“Why did some of you run from your coven and why were some of you banned?” I found myself asking, curious about their real stories.

They all looked at one another, unsure of what to say and how to answer. I’m sure they were worried about what I would think and do if I knew the truth.

“You all hold the power of the element, don’t you?” Esme guessed, surprising them all.

“How did you know that?” Derek asked, cautiously.

“Because that was why I ran from my old coven as well. Constance took me in while I was living in the streets,” Esme explained. Then, she turned to me to further explain. “Those who can manipulate elements are rumored to be dangerous. A lot of covens around the world don’t want those types of witches and wizards in their coven and some will even banish them. Constance always had a soft spot for those who were different and took them in without any questions asked. We were all pretty pleased when Alison ended up being the elemental master. There were 5 of us who had an element. Alison had the infinity for spirit, but she also had an infinity for each of the other elements as well. We made up a circle.”

“Which one of you was part of her circle?” I asked, looking around at the group.

“I have the affinity for fire,” Esme admitted.

Derek perked up immediately.

“So, do I!” But then he frowned and shrunk back into himself. “I don’t have a lot of practice with it though. When I came to the coven, I guess I was forced to forget about my infinity. But I accidently set a treehouse on fire in my old coven. Nobody was in it… but it still scared them. So, they kicked me out. My own family disowned me because I was a freak.”

“You aren’t a freak and I can help you,” Esme said, giving him a soft smile. “I’ll help you control your abilities and train you on how to use them properly.”

He perked up again.

“I’d like that.”

Patty was the next to say, “My affinity is air, so if you burn anything down blow it out.”

This made some chuckle.

“That’s my infinity too,” Amy said, beaming at Patty. “Do you think you could help me?”

Patty’s smile grew and she was starting to look like her old self again.

“Of course,” she said, wrapping an arm around Amy’s shoulders.

“My infinity is metal,” Laura in the corner murmured. “It’s not as exciting.”

“I beg to differ,” Cole, one of the strongest of the coven members said, folding his arms across his chest. While I stayed here, there were a select few coven members that Lucias used as security. Cole was one of them.

My eyes grew large from his admittance.

“You have the infinity for metal?” I asked, shocked.

He nodded and Laura immediately perked up, a blush creeping across her nose and cheeks. Cole was very cute so I’m sure that had something to do with her blush.

He looked at Luara.

“Metal is the toughest of them all. I’d be able to help you out,” he said, winking at her.

She nodded quickly.

“Yes, please.”

Another woman, Claira, a bit older than the others, raised her hand.

“I have the element earth,” she said, an aged smile spread across her lips, warming my heart. She was basically like the coven mother while I was here. She was an old woman filled with wisdom and I always thought she smelled a bit earthy, in the best possible way. It didn’t surprise me that she had the element for Earth; it actually made a lot of sense.

I looked at the other two younger coven members in the room, a boy and a girl, raising my brows and waiting for one of them to claim their infinity. There were only three others in the room, one of which was here previously. He was also part of the security team; he was strong and muscular and would make anyone run in the opposite direction.

Soon, the girl, Hannah, who I found difficult to get along with while at the coven, groaned and stepped forward.

“Fine… it’s me, okay,” she murmured. “I have this stupid infinity for the earth.”

Claire raised her brows.

“It is not stupid child. It’s one of the best elements and the foundation for the others,” Claira told her.

“I wish I could have forgotten about my element like the rest of you. But I can’t even walk outside without hearing the trees whispering. It’s so annoying,” she muttered.

“The trees speak to you?” I asked, shocked.

“All living things have a voice, but the trees are the loudest and the most constant,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “I hate it. My old coven house was in the forest and I couldn’t stand it. So, I left. It’s better here… but still annoying.”

“That explains why you don’t like leaving the house,” Amy said, teasingly.

Hannah scowled.

“I can teach you to control your powers,” Claira said, patting Hannah’s hand gently. “No need to fret child.”

“Whatever,” Hanna muttered.

“What’s left?” I asked, looking at the younger of the men, Austin. “Do you have an element too?”

He nodded, running his fingers through his shaggy blond hair.

“I think you can guess my element,” he said, looking a bit sheepish.

“Water,” I answered.

He nodded.

“I guess you are with me then,” Bennet said proudly, patting Austin on the back. “My infinity is water,” he clarified.

“So, that’s all of you,” I said, staring around at the coven. “You all had an infinity for an element. Which means you were all part of my mother’s circle. So, what happened to the others who weren’t a part of her circle?”

“Some fled not wanting to deal with any of this stuff,” Esme explained. “And some died during the war…”

We fell silent for a moment as we processed that.

“Except for Lucias,” Patty muttered. “He didn’t have an infinity, so, I’m still not sure how he managed to do all of this.”

“I don’t know, but we are going to find out,” Esme assured her.

“And you left us,” Patty said, sounding hurt. “Where did you go?”

Esme sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

“When Constance and Alison died, I couldn’t trust anyone. I didn’t know who was helping them for selfish reasons, and who genuinely wanted to protect them. I only ever wanted to protect Tessa and I promised Alison I would protect her family and I would protect Joseph. I needed to plant myself somewhere that I could protect all of them and also to ensure that Joseph and Tessa’s spirits crossed paths.”

“Wait, I just remembered, you can see and speak to spirits. You spoke to mine when I was born, and she told you that her true love was Joseph’s spirit. Do you have the infinity for the spirit too?” I asked.

Esme smiled and shook her head.

“I have a separate gift,” she explained. “The one with the spirit infinity can manipulate spirit into doing their bidding. They can summon spirits to them at any time. But in my case, I can’t summon them to me, but they come to me when they need me. They are the ones who summon me and sometimes allow me into their world for guidance. Your spirit came to me on its own nature.”

“So, what now?” Patty asked. “We don’t have a leader. What are we going to do?”

“I don’t want to stay here,” Laura said, her voice coming out as a whisper. “I don’t feel comfortable here knowing all that had happened…”

“I don’t either…” Derek said, his face pale. “I have weapons in my room… used weapons… I know I’ve hurt people. I can feel it. There are too many memories…”

“The trees aren’t very happy with this house,” Hanna admitted.

“I can hear that too,” Claira agreed, squeezing Hannah’s hand firmly.

I looked up at Joseph who had been quiet up until that moment and he looked back at me; a small smile on his lips as he bent and kissed me. Then, he nodded as if he could read my thoughts before turning back to the coven.

“If you don’t mind living with a vampire… Tessa and I would like to invite you into our home back in the city.”