I turned my car around. Kellan was going after Matt, and no matter how evil Matt was, he was still human. Something inside told me painting would wait. This was the right thing to do, which was ironic. It was dark out when I turned my car down Matt’s driveway, and I knew my brother was there. I felt his anger in the air. It surged everywhere, and then it switched dramatically.
Kellan knew I was there, too.
When I turned my car off around a bend on the driveway, where my car wouldn’t be seen from the road or home, I wasn’t surprised when Kellan stepped out from the woods. The driveway was a mile long, and it was cloaked by the forest.
“You came to do this yourself?” His voice seemed to glide toward me.
Shivers went down my back. “I came to stop you. I know what you’re going to do.”
“He’s a problem. He threatened a Braden.”
“Kellan.” I sighed.
He stepped closer. “He threatened you.”
“And if Giuseppa had been threatened?”
“She’d do it herself. He’d already be dead.”
I swallowed a tight knot in my throat. “Kellan, you can’t kill him.”
“Why not? They’d kill us.”
“With due reason. We’re not exactly normal…things.”
He was bored. “Let’s get it done. I still have to get over to Leah’s unless those two did the deed for me.”
That wouldn’t surprise me. “You can go. I’ll deal with Matt—go handle Leah’s dad. You’re the one who said you’d do it.”
“Deal with me? How are you going to deal with me?” Matt asked from behind us. We whirled around. I was shocked, but Kellan had a feral grin on his face. He’d known Matt was there, had probably been following him, and then came out when my car stopped. That was when I narrowed my eyes. “I thought you were drunk.”
Matt shrugged. “I was. I’m not anymore. Does it matter?”
Kellan smirked. “I wanted him sober. I want him to feel what’s going to happen to him.”
Matt didn’t react. He didn’t seem fazed at all, even scared. There was a zombie look in his eyes as he swayed on his feet.
“You put him in a trance?”
“I did what I had to do. He was passed out in his own piss. I took him out, cleaned him up, and now he’s ready to wake up.”
I closed my eyes and groaned. “Don’t wake him up.”
“I thought you didn’t want him in a trance.”
“You know what I mean.” If Matt woke up, then Kellan really would have to do something with him. He’d find himself in his driveway with us, sober. I wouldn’t want him to make his own assumptions as to how he got there.
“Trance or no trance. What do you want, Shay? Choose.”
“I’m choosing for you to shut up.”
“Just,” he seethed. “Watch your powers. I don’t enjoy being silenced.”
“Okay…” I looked at Matt, who’d been standing there. He looked from one to the other, but the look on his face made me twitch inside. He trusted us. It was similar to a child’s trust in their parent. “Kellan, leave.”
“No.” He moved to stand in front of Matt.
“I mean it.” I touched his shoulder, but drew back, surprised. His muscles were tight, clenched together. That was when I felt a force within my brother that I’d never noticed before. I knew he was darker than the others, but this was the first time that I felt it.
It didn’t sit well with me.
He didn’t move.
“Kellan. I mean it.”
“No, Shay. I know what you’re going to do. You don’t want me to hurt him, so you’ll promise me the moon right now. You’ll say something about you doing it yourself, and you’re going to try to distract me with Leah, that I should be helping her instead. It won’t work. I know all you’ll do is try to wipe his memory. For someone who doesn’t use her powers, you’re dangerous, even to humans.”
I was quiet for a moment, and Kellan relaxed slightly. Just slightly. Then he raised his hand to Matt, and I murmured, “You don’t think I can do it?”
“What? No.”
But it was too late. Kellan whirled around just as I lifted my hand in the air. I didn’t do anything great. I thought one word, but tried to put extra oomph in it. Forget! Then the air zapped. It felt like a tidal wave of electricity washed over us. When I looked up, Kellan was staring at me with something that looked like fear in his eyes. Matt was on the ground. And I was…I looked down. I was floating in the air.
“Oh!” Immediately, I crashed to the ground.
“Do you know what you just did?” Kellan growled.
“Thanks for helping me up,” I grumbled as I stood and then dusted off my pants.
He ignored me, staring at Matt. “I wasn’t going to kill him, Shay. I was going to make him hurt for a while, and then I was going to turn him into our bitch. He was going to live life normally, but he’d always do whatever we wanted him to do. That’s all I was going to do to him. Swear. Now, we have to sit back and see what you did to him. The most I do is wipe memories of certain events. I’ve never killed anyone.” Kellan looked and stared directly in my eyes.
When I stared back, I saw multiple layers in his eyes. The first was human. It was what anyone would see. The second was more demon, but it was what he thought was the truth. A part of him really thought he was telling the truth, that he was only going to turn Matt into our servant. Then I looked past into the third and fourth layers. There were more behind them, but I saw what I wanted to see.