Autumn Storm (The Witchling #2)(57)

Stepping over a fallen chandelier, he paused to listen then pushed open the door closest to him. The hotel room was free of furniture – except for a single chair with a slumped over figure tied to it. From the rear, Tanya’s long hair looked like Autumn’s, except that it was straight where Autumn’s was curly.

Sonya was right. Beck stood for a long moment. If the person was alive, he’d sense her. Heart quickening, he went to the blond girl and crouched beside her. She was dead. Her skin was pale, her clothing bloodied. She’d been stabbed multiple times, and her blood had soaked her clothing and pooled around the chair.

The magick he heard calling him came from her amulet and the soul trapped within. Beck stared at her, unable to move for a long minute. Finally, he reached out and took the necklace off her.

He’d never had to take a Light soul before. It was part of his duties, to collect the souls of those Light witchlings that died. He held up the amulet. It was dull, lifeless, like the witchling to whom it belonged.

Sadness filled him for more than one reason. Tanya died because of him. He’d been trying to throw Decker off his scent, so his twin didn’t pursue and hurt Autumn. Sonya said Dawn was furious at him for seeing someone when she wanted him to take responsibility for his new family. Beck used Tanya and put her innocent life in danger.

Would there be a day when he didn’t screw up?

Swallowing hard, he pulled out his cell phone and texted his mother.

I need you and dad where I am now, he told her. She’d know how to find him; she always did.

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself then clicked his newest contact and called.

“Hello?” Sonya’s voice was soft.

“You were right,” he said.

“Oh, god.”

“Yeah.” Beck studied Tanya’s face. He wanted to remember her every time in the future he endangered someone who didn’t deserve it.

“Beck, I think there’s more.”

He waited.

“Dawn was furious when she left a little while ago. I think she’s gonna hurt someone else. I don’t know, though. I never took anything like this seriously.” Sonya’s voice filled with tears. “She talks about a lot of stuff like this, and I thought she’s venting, that’s it. She doesn’t have it in her to hurt anyone. Alexa does, but …”

As he listened, he realized he’d have to do something about Dawn. He had no idea what, since she was probably carrying his kid. She deserved jail at the very least but the idea of his daughter being born in prison …

Beck cursed. “Please let me know if she says anything else, especially if it involves Autumn. Call me right away, no matter what time,” he said. “You did the right thing, Sonya.”

Sonya mumbled something through her tears. The warm-cool touch of his mother reached him.

“I’ll give you a call later. I’ve gotta take care of this.” He hung up and rose to face his parents.

His mother paced forward and bent, looking into the girl’s face. Always business-oriented, she turned to him.

“You have the amulet?”

Beck nodded and held it up.

“Claim it,” she ordered.

He placed it on the ground and crushed it with his heel. He had no idea what was supposed to happen. A trickle of warmth crept up his leg, and the room pulsed brightly for a few seconds. The light died. The soul was claimed. His mother nodded in approval.

“My first,” he said miserably. “My fault, too.”

“You didn’t do this, Beck,” his father said, clasping his shoulder.

“Dawn had something to do with this. I guess she got jealous.”

Michael’s face grew grave. “Are you certain?”

“Mostly.”

“She’s not the type to do her own dirty work,” his mother said from the window.

Beck turned to her with a frown.

“She’s come close to breaking the Laws but never has.” She shrugged. “Not much I could’ve done, until she crossed them.”

“You knew she was a bad egg?” Beck asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“That’s not the way it works.”

“So it’s okay for me to knock up a crazy girl running around killing people because she’s jealous?” he demanded, anger rising.

“You know by now that you must let people choose their own paths. Even your family.”

Her calm words stung. Beck didn’t say what he wanted to, that he’d at least tried to protect those he loved. His mother’s gaze was steady. He began to realize just how different the Masters and Mistresses of Light and Dark really were.

“I’ll take care of this, Beck,” his father said. “The police will need helicopters to get up here.”

“What do I do?” Beck asked. “What can I do?”

“It’s out of your hands,” his mother answered.

“I promised her parents I’d bring her back,” he whispered. “What do I do now?”

“You tell them you were wrong.”

He winced. His mother’s words were unusually gentle. Death was different to a Dark Mistress than it was to him. His father was on the phone already to organize a recovery effort while his mother’s gaze grew distant.

She was thinking of Decker. Beck almost saw it. It infuriated him. Here he stood, struggling with his duty and his guilt, while she was focused on Decker.