Bitter Blood (BBi)

Chapter 17: Hunting Parties

Chapter Seventeen
Hunting Parties

The room is silent, with all eyes on me.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I exclaim. "I'm not a Witch!"

Whatever the hell that means. Avery hadn't mentioned anything about Witches in our conversations about the supernatural world. Actually, she hadn't mentioned anything but Werewolves.

"You are." Tori says, still staring at me with those wide, sea blue eyes.

"I'm not." I argue.

"You are."

"I'm not!"

"Hold on," Jennifer steps into the conversation and looks to Tori. "How can you be so sure?"

"I can smell it!" Tori exclaims, and waves her hands up and down to indicate the place where I'm standing. "Can't you?"

Jennifer slowly turns to me and raises an eyebrow. She leans towards me, squinting her eyes as she takes in a deep breath. She looks up at Tori and frowns like she's not sure if her friend has gone crazy or not, but does it a second time when Tori ushers her closer.

"Concentrate." Tori says quietly.

Jennifer remains still, focused. But then her eyes go wide and she straightens up.

“How didn't I notice!" She steps back and puts her fingers to her chin in thought as she examines me.

I flip around at all the stunned faces now staring at me. "I'm not a Witch! I think I would know!"

What they're thinking is impossible. Completely impossible. And as for the sniffing thing, its getting a little weird.

Jennifer and Tori won't stop looking me up and down. Maylin and Micah are frowning in my direction, their expressions not angry but just...confused.

It's then that my attention falls on Avery, who's clasping her hands so tight together in front of her that her knuckles have gone white. When I look closely, I notice that she's trying to stop her hands from shaking.

"So, is it your mum or your dad?" Jennifer asks. "Because there's no way your a full Witch and managed to hide it so well."

I frown. "I don't understand."

"She wants to know which one of your parents is a Witch and which one is human." A voice says.

Everyone turns to look at Maylin, who hasn't said more than two words since we got here. I'm slightly thankful she got the other's eyes off of me for a moment so I can take an unwatched and highly needed deep breath.

That moment doesn't last long though because a second later everyone turns back to me, waiting for the answer.

"I have no idea what you people are talking about!" I say, putting up my hands. "My parents are both human. I'm human! I didn't even know Witches existed."

"Well, they do." Jeremy says, dropping off the table again and crossing his arms over his broad chest. He looks at the others. "So what are we going to do with her?”

“Do with me?'” I try to hide the worry that sentence spikes in me.

“Jeremy, sit down.” Jennifer instructs. “She may be a Witch but she’s friend, not foe. You heard her, she doesn’t even know what Witches are.”

“The term is pretty self-explanatory.” He grumbles. “You learn about them in ninth grade.”

“Shut up. “ She snaps dispassionately.