Coven by Lacey Weatherford Page A

researched the Salem area so
thoroughly, I was surprised he hadn’t turned up the demon coven,
himself. Dad was loaded, as in crazy-rich loaded. He’d inherited a
lot of it from his father’s estate after Damien was destroyed—for
real this time—but there was still plenty my dad had made on his
own, both working as a research doctor, building and selling custom
motorcycles, and investing. He had plenty of resources at his
disposal, not to mention how his years on the run had taught him to
be good with money.
    Dad wasn’t flashy at all. Other than liking
a decent size house and nice machinery to drive, he didn’t flaunt
his assets. He was very down to earth, even in what he wore—the
bulk of his wardrobe consisting of jeans, t-shirts, and two or
three favorite leather jackets that he like to go riding in. The
only time I’d ever seen him dressed up fancy, like in a suit or a
tuxedo, was for work related charity balls.
    As far as powers and abilities, he had
many—both those he’d been naturally born with and those he’d
assimilated from sucking the magic out of his father and my mother.
But his basic, natural, magic was fire—something I’d inherited from
him.
    While Dad liked the convenience of magic, he
taught me the importance of doing things the “real” way. Feeling
that witches often got themselves in trouble by using their magic
too much, he’d have me do things the same way anyone else would.
While there was nothing, in particular, wrong with using magic, he
simply felt that the magical community had too much free time on
their hands because they used their powers to take care of the
everyday, mundane things. All that extra time allowed minds to
wander; and often witches found themselves caught up in playing
with, or messing around with, things they had no business being
involved in.
    Dad warned me, repeatedly, to be careful
about experiments I tried with magic, telling me it should never be
used to bring harm. It was there to help defend and protect—to do
good for us and for the world. True, he was always teaching me how
to strengthen my powers and how to manipulate things, but it was
all for my own protection and for the greater good.
    The words he was constantly drilling into me
suddenly popped into my head. “The world should be a better
place because you are in it.”
    Those were the words I measured everything
by. Was I making the world a better place , now? Or was I
contributing to the delinquency of it by not informing him of this
other coven? It was driving me mad.
    Last night, I’d finally fallen asleep after
deciding that I’d do my best to find out everything I could about
this coven before I took the information to him. If they were able
to nicely co-exist with others, then there was no reason for me to
raise the red flag, right?
    “Well, I hope you have a nice day. Your dad
is working late at the lab today, so give me a call and I’ll come
pick you up after cheer.”
    “Do you think there is any chance I can
convince him to let me have a car? I know we’ve been working on the
motorcycle, but I won’t always be able to drive it once the weather
turns worse,” I blurted out as we pulled up to the curb. “Not that
I don’t appreciate the rides, I just think it would be more
convenient for all of us. I’m willing to get a job and make the
payments and everything.”
    Leaning over, she placed a kiss on my cheek.
“We’ll, discuss it tonight. I’m sure we can work something
out.”
    Excitement infused me at her words, giving
me the exact pick-me-up I needed. “Thanks, Mom. Love you. See you
later.”
    Bounding out of the vehicle, I closed the
door and waved as she drove off before turning and searching the
masses of kids strolling toward the building, looking for Seth.
    “Well, look who it is? Kick Ass Girl.”
    Turning, I found Jett staring at me. His
eyes traveled slowly over me as my mind scrambled for
something—anything—to say to him that might diffuse the