A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(45)
“Where are they?” she asked as he slammed on the gas, taking them away from the shitshow as fast as possible.
“Distracted,” he muttered, taking the first right and running a series of red lights. “Once Abigail recovers, she’s going to be pissed.” And if she wanted Claire dead before, she was going to move hell and earth to get it done now.
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Sam stood back as Dante carried Claire into the apartment. Claire was awake and didn’t seem all that happy about being carried. “I told you I could walk,” she said as Dante made his way to her room.
As much as Sam wanted to give them privacy, she wanted to yell at Claire a hell of a lot more. “What the hell were you thinking?” she snapped before Dante even set her down.
“Sam,” said Derek warningly.
“No. I thought we were a team. All of us were supposed to be open and honest with each other no matter what and Claire thinks she can go off and sacrifice herself without even saying good-bye?”
Claire looked down and balled the comforter between her fists but didn’t say anything to defend herself. Before Sam could yell anymore, Derek grabbed her upper arm and pulled her out of the room to the living area, where Angela stood awkwardly.
“She’s had a rough night.”
“She’s had a rough night?” shouted Sam. “We’ve all had a rough night thanks to her. Thanks to what she did. We have problems coming at us from every direction and we don’t need to be wasting time running after her!” Why wasn’t anyone else angry? Why wasn’t Dante fuming? Why couldn’t Derek understand that Sam had spent all night thinking she might never see her best friend again?
Was she the only one who hadn’t gone completely insane?
Finally, Derek said calmly, “Did you ever think that Claire doing this was how she thought she was going to solve our problems?”
“Well, she didn’t,” bit out Sam. Logically, she understood what Claire did and why, but she wasn’t even close to calming down about it.
“Besides,” said Derek. “It’s hard to say no to Claudia. You know that more than most.”
That brought Sam up short. “Claudia? What did she do?”
Derek looked between Sam and Angela. “I thought Parker told you.”
“She told me to get my ass here. What happened with Claudia?”
“She was with Claire. If you’re wondering why Claire left, it’s because Claudia told her to.”
Sam shook her head and her hands tightened to fists. But it wasn’t in disbelief. Because if there was one thing she believed, it was that Claudia was capable of pulling a stunt like this. “Son of a— Where is she now?”
“Downstairs,” said Angela. “Last I saw her, she was calling her bodyguard. Apparently she didn’t have enough juice left to twitch her nose out of here.”
Sam twisted around and strode out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her even though it never latched as Derek and Angela followed her out.
“Where are you going?” Derek kept up with her as she took the stairs two at a time.
“I’m going to find Claudia and shove my foot up her magical ass.” Sam stopped for a second and pointed a finger at Angela. “You stay here and keep an eye on Claire. If she tries to sacrifice herself again, shoot her.”
Angela looked as though she was wondering whether Sam was joking or not, but apparently decided against asking because she wordlessly turned around and ran back up to the apartment. Derek stayed close as she flung the apartment doors open to see Claudia standing on the street, head down as she spoke in hushed tones to Bastian where he stood on guard next to a limo he had apparently procured for them.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” called Sam as she approached, trying her best to keep the fire under control.
There was a hesitation before Claudia looked over at Sam, as though she was debating just ignoring her altogether. “There’s nothing wrong with me. That’s the problem, Samantha. You don’t want a plan to save the world. You want to save your world. The people you care about. What I have brewing, what I’m working on, will destroy the darkness for good. But if you think everyone you care about is going to make it out of this alive, you haven’t been paying attention to just how tight a hold the darkness has on this family.”
She wanted to defend herself, but she was becoming more and more convinced that Claudia was right. How could she be so naive to think that she could come out of this unscathed? Especially after the people she’d already lost....
“That’s bullshit.” Derek stood by Sam’s side, facing down Claudia as if she wasn’t one of the most powerful people in the city. “Will everyone survive what’s coming? Maybe not. But they sure as hell won’t if we don’t do everything in our power to make sure they’re safe. We can’t give up without exploring every possible route.”
Sam stood up straighter, bolstered by his words. It was easy to doubt herself when confronted by someone who intimidated her as much as Claudia. The reminder that she wasn’t facing this alone was comforting.
“No, she’s right,” said a sickeningly familiar voice.
As Sam turned, she heard the swoosh of Bastian pulling out his sword and the click of Derek pulling out his sidearm.