Bound: The Hybrid's Witch Book 2

Chapter 17

A/N: The last chapter. There is one more book in this series featuring the same characters with a completely original plot but I am taking a break from Cassie and Nik for a while. Hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading!

***

Finn's smile as he looked me over was in no way reassuring. "Mother wishes to speak with you."

I was sure she did. I chose to ignore his statement for the moment. "I'm surprised to see you here. The witches don't seem to like intruders."

He frowned. "You are here, are you not?"

I hummed in agreement then pointed at myself with my thumb. "Witch."

"I have a witch with me as well. Perhaps mother was more prepared than your spirits."

I didn't respond to that because the fact was, it would appear that he was correct. At the moment, I couldn't even hear a whisper of the witches. Their power was still there buzzing under the surface, but their presence had been severely dampened. I was beyond done with Esther Mikaelson.

My father's warning that I needed to kill her here on the property flowed through me and I was tempted to reach for his magic. But I couldn't beat her. Not now and not on my own. I needed my family and my own magic back.

Finn gripped my upper arm and steered me through the house. As we moved from room to room, tendrils of the old magic that saturated the air around me brushed against my skin, begging me to use it. I still wasn't going to do anything without my hybrid. There could be no mistakes. She needed to die permanently this time.

The Original witch bitch was waiting for us when we left the house. "Cassidy, how delightful to see you."

"Yeah. Fuck you, too." My head snapped sideways when she smacked me. The increased pressure on my arm told me Finn didn't care for my comment either. I turned back to face her and worked my jaw. Ow. "At this point I think we can drop the pretense, don't you?"

"Very well." She snapped her fingers and I was out.

***

When I woke, the sun had already risen. I figured by that point Nik would be half mad with worry. As far as I knew, my phone was still in the witch house along with everything else I'd taken with me. I wondered how long he went without hearing from me before he broke down and started looking for me.

"It didn't work, you know." Esther's voice startled me.

I turned to see her sitting on a chair across from the couch I'd been placed on. I glanced around the room as I sat up. Nothing looked familiar. "What didn't work?"

"Your treachery. I knew you were stupid, but I had no idea you were so deceitful. You and Niklaus are a good much."

This woman had some nerve. "I'm deceitful?"

"Pretending you didn't remember our meeting on the other side. And that you were innocent in Niklaus's manipulations. Did you think I wouldn't discover your lies?" she snapped.

I pursed my lips. "And when exactly did you discover them? About the time your spell failed I assume?"

She smirked. "You aren't nearly as clever as you think you are. I would have been a fool to take your cooperation at face value. I had other measures in place so trust me when I tell you that my children are bound together despite your efforts to stop it."

Pure fear spiked through me. She was lying. She had to be. "That's impossible."

"It would have been foolish for me to place the blood in the champagne. There were too many factors I couldn't control. Mainly, making sure my uncooperative children actually drank it. But the blood bags they've all been using since I came back...well, that's another matter entirely." She crossed her legs and laced her fingers together in her lap.