Pernicious | Kai Parker

Chapter 38

Amelia woke up to a Heretic tea party.

In the time she'd been unconscious, Kai had established his leadership. He'd woken the Heretics up with some of his blood, then had let them know who he was, and who Amelia was (without using her birth name, of course).

It hadn't been easy to convince them that he was the leader of the Gemini Coven. But after several explanations and a threat to off himself to prove that the world would collapse if he did so, they decided to believe him.

Kai had taken Amelia to lay on the couch upstairs while the Heretics all bathed and prepared some food for them. The older siphoner had to keep himself calm, despite the fact he'd very much like to tear the house apart to get his anger out. He couldn't afford to lash out and risk Amelia getting hurt. He was already worried that the Heretics would attack her, and the last thing he wanted was for her to die because of his carelessness.

"What the hell?" Amelia mumbled when she came to, seeing she now had a seat at the table, and a plate of food in front of her. All the Heretics were wearing different clothes, and they looked quite jubilant. Even Kai had a smile on his face as he helped Amelia drink some water.

"They gave you some blood to heal you," he explained, beckoning some lamb chops toward her once he saw her holding her shoulder.

She squinted at him. "Kai... your neck..."

He put his hand over the marks on his throat, where the Heretics had fed on him. "It's nothing, I just needed to wake them up. It's okay, Meli, I'm fine."

Amelia frowned, and lifted up her hand to trace over his face, then siphoned just a bit, before putting her palm over the wound and healing it.

The Heretics were watching this with great interest. Kai had told them that both he and Amelia were siphoners, but now, seeing it firsthand, they were much more inclined to believe that he was definitely telling them the truth about being the leader of the Coven.

"She's your girlfriend?" asked one of the women, cocking her head toward the both of them, seeing the way they were looking at each other.

Kai smiled slightly. "Yeah, she is."

"So... the both of you are the leaders of the Gemini Coven."

"Oh, not me," said Amelia, making a face as she sat back, looking at the woman who'd spoken. That one wasn't Nora, this one was blonde, and had a thin face. "Um, what's your name?"

"Valerie Tulle," the woman replied. "I was the first Heretic. I just thought— er— well, in our time, whoever the leader had as a partner... that person was also the leader, in a sense, because the couple was expected to have children."

Amelia laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, we're not trying to do things the way the Coven wants us to. Kai may be the leader, but he and I aren't going to be procreating for their sake. We're going to take them down."

The Heretics all seemed to sit up a bit straighter. "Really?" said Valerie. "You wish to... destroy them?"

Kai nodded. "We know Lillian Salvatore turned all of you. Meli and I intended to come in to free all of you. She would turn me, and my death would trigger the destruction of the rest of the Coven. They'd never oppress any of us ever again."

"Fascinating," said the man at the edge of the table, the one who'd bitten Amelia. "Well, I'd very much like to be a part of this plan."

Amelia nodded, and the man extended his hand toward her. "Malcolm Vogel. Sorry 'bout the bite, darling, I didn't mean to hurt you." Once she shook his hand, he looked up at Kai, as if seeking his approval, too. "I swear, I never would have hurt her if I knew..."