by Kim Petersen
Selina stumbled back over her feet, catching herself on the back end of the sofa. Her chest heaved, and she grappled to wrap her bloodied arm away from his sight.
Zane stood firm, his broad shoulders taunt and square while he looked at her like cold hard steel.
‘Get it now.’
Selina lowered her eyes and nodded. Her long fingers quivered and snaked beneath her robe before she pulled out a vile filled with lucid blue liquid.
She glanced at him. ‘It’s for my son. I have spent hours and hours perfecting this potion especially for him. I designed it to strengthen his powers, keep his resolve. It’s for when he was ready to …’ She paused, and her tone became nostalgic. ‘He’s supposed to be the one, you know. He is the serpent god’s true son. He was born of his blood and raised to harness the Serenity Seed.’ Tears welled in her eyes.
Zane ignored her. All he saw was the blue liquid suspended in the small vile. His eyes rippled with excitement. He snatched the vile and turned from her, cradling it like it were a delicate newborn. He went over to Keira, then glanced back at Selina.
‘How many do you have?’
Selina shrugged. ‘Only one.’
Zane’s eyes dropped to Keira who was writhing silently on the floor at his feet. Her body trembled as she reached up for him. He kneeled beside her and nursed her head in his lap.
When he peered back at Selina, his eyes were endless black pools.
‘You will make more at once,’ Zane snarled.
Selina’s jaw tightened. ‘But you said you’d leave if you got the potion!’
Zane chuckled. ‘That was before you injured my queen.’
She shook her head furiously.
‘I’m not sure if I can …’
‘Oh, you can,’ Zane motioned toward the shrieks and wails filling the valley on the other side of the cottage walls. ‘My crew are eager to quench their growing thirst for blood. One of your warlocks and witches will become an hourly snack until it’s done.’
She gasped. Her face paled like the half-hung moon glistening over the valley.
The morning sun heated Arella’s skin through the BMW’s tinted passenger window. She smiled to herself and stared blankly out the window as they careened down the highway toward the coven. Who was she kidding? All she could think of was the night before. The way his lips moved against hers and his sharp urgent breaths as he infused himself with her. His desire lingered fresh on her body. His touch consumed her every thought like a secluded paradise. She knew this wasn’t an appropriate time to feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but she just couldn’t stop the sheer tingles warming through her body and mingling with the winter sunshine. She tried to push away the lusty feelings invading her, chastising herself for feeling like a silly teenager. After all, it was just sex and she’d had her fair share of encounters in the past. Yet still, the peace and serenity that had accompanied their lovemaking revealed last night was much more than just sex. She just had to figure out what it actually meant.
She glanced at Regan. His long hair was pulled back and cinched at the nape of his neck, the length of his ponytail tumbling bright against the black leather he wore. Even from her side view she noticed the frown creasing his forehead and the strong set of his jawline while his fingers forcibly gripped the steering wheel. If she were to guess, last night’s lovemaking was the furthest thing from his mind right now.
Regan glanced back at her. A smile drifted over his face and dissipated just as fast when he shifted his gaze back to the road.
‘We’re almost there,’ he murmured.
Arella nodded and inhaled deeply. Her nerves began to flutter with the race of her pulse. The steamy scenes of the night before quickly unraveled from her mind. We’re almost there!
‘What if your mother won’t help us or let you into the chamber? What if she wants to kill me? What if your dark magic strengthens and it’s you who wants to kill me?’ Her words tripped over one another.
Regan stopped the car as they reached a valley crest. He killed the engine and turned to look at her. His smile was gentle as he reached to cup her face in his hands.
‘I’ll keep you safe, I promise.’
He leaned in and meshed his lips against hers. Her body responded instantly with the intimacy of his touch. A ripple of arousal quivered through her and settled like a sizzling orb deep within her womb. She shifted in her seat and tugged away from him, casting her eyes to the village below.
‘How will you get into The Triquetra Sphere chamber?’ she said.
Regan winked and started the car. ‘I’m the Dark Star. I’m pretty good at persuasion.’
Her brows raised. ‘Is that what happened last night, with me?’
Arella was filled with regret as soon as the words spilled from her mouth. She knew better.
He scowled as he navigated the car down the winding narrow road.
‘Really, Arella? You think that highly of me?’
She shrugged. ‘I guess I don’t know what to think. I mean you’re you … and I’m me, and really – we’re on opposite teams, and …’
‘And it’s perfect,’ he finished the sentence for her.
‘That wasn’t what I was going to say.’
He flashed her a look. She noticed the usual darkness shrouding his eyes had lifted, leaving behind a virtuous clear deep blue. Her heart wrung. For a spilt second he appeared vulnerable.
‘Balance,’ Regan murmured. He swung his eyes back to the road. ‘You are like the flawless light within me I never knew existed; Anam Cara.’
She gulped. A sense of knowing swelled within her.
‘What does that even mean?’
‘I don’t know, but after we get the Serenity Seed and deal with Zane Crais, I sure intend to find out,’ he grinned.
‘You make it sound so simple.’
‘I have an Ascended Angel descendant on my side; how hard could it be?’
‘Ha! If only I had that much faith in myself,’ Arella said.
He slid a hand over hers and looped his fingers around her hand.
‘Your faith is alive and well, Arella. I feel it with every inch of my soul. All you need to do is believe.’
Regan drew a sharp breath, his body stiffening like a plank of wood when the road leveled out and the village appeared just up ahead.
Arella sat upright, alarmed. ‘What is it?’
‘Something’s not right,’ he muttered.
He stopped the car and slid out of the car.
She followed. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I don’t know yet, but I can see nobody in the fields and the village is a ghost town,’ Regan said, scanning ahead.
‘Maybe they’ve all gone on vacation. Witches do that, right? They dust off their broomsticks and fly further north for the winter,’ she chuckled.
Regan pouted. ‘Very funny.’
He wandered off toward the village, keeping along the edges of the road.
‘Well, I thought it was,’ Arella shrugged, grabbing her bag, a bottle of water and sunglasses from the car and scooting after him.
Regan glanced at her over his shoulder.
‘You should probably stay with the car just in case.’
‘Fat chance.’
He sighed. ‘It was worth a try.’
As they reached the first set of cottages, Arella noticed the coven village was quiet, even for a small settlement. Regan stopped in front of a small cottage. His reaction was instant. He gripped her arm and pushed her behind his solid frame.
‘Hey!’ Arella scoffed as she almost tripped over some loose stones along the pathway.
‘Shhh!’
Arella wrapped a hand around Regan’s upper arm. His taunt biceps didn’t go unnoticed as she tried to peer around him to see the cottage. The green timber door was wide open. She couldn’t make out the darkened interior against the glare of the sun in her eyes, but she did see the dried spray of blood staining the steps leading to the porch.
There was a faint sound c
oming from within the cottage. The crunch of footsteps moved around from somewhere to the back of the tiny house. A little rummaging, then nothing. A bloodcurdling scream followed by distant cries and rumbling growls filled the air around the village. The muted footsteps in the cottage thundered along wooden floorboards closer to the entrance. Regan pushed Arella further behind him and toward the shrubs bordering the cottage. He scrambled to conceal himself against the side of the short staircase and produced a gun from his jeans pocket. The black Glock gleamed in the sunlight as he raised the weapon and pointed it toward the cottage door.
Arella’s breath shallowed as her eyes stayed glued to the cottage as they waited. The commotion issuing from deeper in the village continued. Laughter mixed with hysterical wails rang out through the valley and united with the sudden squawks of white cockatoos. The footsteps in the cottage hesitated near the door before a tall lanky man appeared from the shadows. He was dressed in black, his scarred face half concealed with sunglasses as he peered toward the heart of the village, and in his hands a gun identical to Regan’s was poised at the ready.
Regan’s shoulders dropped as he lowered the gun. His sigh was one of relief.
‘What the fuck?’ he hissed toward the lanky tall man.
The man whirled toward them, his gun leading the way. Arella’s heart seized. She promptly drew a breath and centered herself, summoning the light-ray and spreading it to cocoon over Regan and herself. She stepped up next to Regan and clasped his hand.
The man lowered the gun. His black eyes narrowed to slits. ‘Where the fuck have you been? And what the fuck is this?’ he spat, gesturing at the light-dome.
Regan leaned toward Arella and told her it was okay to lower the dome.
Her eyes were wide. ‘You know this guy?’
Regan grinned. ‘It’s Eddie. You’ve met at the club, remember?’
She looked puzzled as she watched Regan and Eddie confer. Eddie had come to the coven in search of Regan at Vincent’s insistence. He had arrived here only a few minutes before them and had hidden his car among the forest shrubbery.
Eddie stuck a cigarette between his lips and pulled out a lighter. He continued talking without removing the burning tobacco. His head darted toward the village.
‘I got a bad feeling about this, boss. Some evil shit is going down. Did you hear those growls? It doesn’t sound human. What the fuck man?’
‘Zane Crais. He’s morphed into a serpent-hybrid and he wants Arella and the Serenity Seed,’ Regan said.
Eddie motioned to Arella, the cigarette flopping loosely between thin lips.
‘She has the seed? Your uncle is fucking livid. You’ve ignored his calls, he can’t reach you … he thinks you’ve gone AWOL, man! Dorian is awake too. He wants you there to protect him.’
‘Dorian is awake?’ Regan smiled briefly.
Eddie’s neck lurched over a slender shoulder. He removed the burning cigarette and spat behind him before turning back to Regan.
‘Yeah, forget about that for now. We’ve got more pressing matters to deal with. Like a pack of fucking hybrid creatures. How do you want to approach this?’
Regan shook his head and peered down the road toward the village. When he looked back at them, his face was awash with fury.
‘Without regard to past peace deals between the families, Zane Crais pumped my cousin full of lead and began a war. Gone are the moments of pussy-footing around with these fucktards; we approach this situation like the gangster slayers we were trained to be. We go finish what Zane Crais started.’
Eddie frowned and brushed a bony hand over his scalp.
‘Yeah, that sounds all good and all, but have you forgotten we’re dealing with half-crazed serpent-hybrid-weirdos over there?’
Regan gave him a cool look. ‘I haven’t forgotten. Just wait till you can see what she can do,’ he replied, gesturing at Arella.
‘Let’s get on with it, then,’ Regan added.
Arella couldn’t see Eddie’s eyes, but his forehead rippled as Regan took her hand and led them further into the village.
Oh, great! Talk about pressure! she thought, as she followed Regan and Eddie along the edges of the road and ducked behind each cottage as they approached. Yet despite the desperate cries still bouncing through the valley, she was very aware of a growing presence fusing within her being.
She was not alone.
Whispering chants floated like a billowing cloud through her mind as her angelic ancestors merged within her. Their divine spirits married with her own and shot luminous messages into her brain receptors. As they neared the last and biggest of the cottages, Arella closed her eyes and took a breath. Generations of the Ascended Angels’ sacred knowledge swirled and gathered around her. Radiance blossomed over her, and she accepted willingly.
An intense glimmer struck through her eyes as she opened them again. She peered beyond the cottage to the barn ahead and saw with absolute clarity the unfolding of the next few moments. Blood would spill and she knew precisely whose blood would soak up the parched gravel road.
The winter midday sun burned warm and bright overhead, mustering the distinct odor of cow manure that wafted from a nearby paddock. Eddie’s breath ran hot against Regan’s neck while he hovered behind him as they checked out the barn. A drop of Eddie’s sweat landed on the back of Regan’s neck. He squirmed and muttered a barrage of four-letter words at Eddie.
Eddie scowled and shifted away.
‘Whatever, man,’ he mumbled, wiping his brow with the backs of his hands.
Regan shushed him, glanced back at Arella to make sure she was still with them and turned back to scan the big red timber doors of the barn.
Three hybrid males loitered around the barn entrance. Big smiles plastered their scaly, blood-stained faces while they joked and playfully jabbed one another. The left side of the big barn was shaded and piled with strewn bodies, sending a dark river of blood leaking slowly around the edge of the barn wall.
Regan couldn’t help but cringe as the rusty scent of disgorged blood assaulted his senses. His gut lurched and he shuddered slightly.
‘It’s hard to believe you were raised on innocent blood, you know that?’ Eddie remarked behind him.
Regan ignored him.
‘They’ve all the village people in the barn,’ he whispered.
An occasional throaty growl, muffled screeches and stifling cries echoed out from within the barn. Among them were the cries of children.
They were the children of Regan’s village.
A cold chill ran along his spine as death and fury began to fester in him. He felt as rigid as a block of ice. His lips became thin and hard as he eyed the stack of villagers’ bodies. His people lay ravished, torn and lifeless, their bodies feasted on and cast aside as if they were a quick treat.
Regan tore his eyes away and cursed under his breath. Despite his mixed feelings about his coven upbringing and their beliefs, he knew they didn’t deserve to die this way. He wondered if his mother was among the villagers kept captive in the barn or if she lay among the savagely fallen.
Eddie’s voice whispered harshly in his ear.
‘Three out front. Possibly two, three or four inside the barn. I don’t see Zane.’
‘Me neither. You think he’s inside?’
Eddie shook his head. ‘Dunno. Likely not.’
Regan thought for a moment. Eddie was right. It was unlikely Zane would be inside the barn watching their captives. Regan knew if it were him, he’d leave that task to crew members. But if he wasn’t there, where was he?
He didn’t have to think for long as the cottage wall they took refuge behind erupted to life with noises, among them the distinct sound of Zane’s voice. A husky yelp followed by shouting and thundering footsteps exploded from within the cottage. At once, Regan recognized the voice of his mother. His mind raced with the clanking of his heart. She was alive and inside the cottage.
The front door swung open and a beefy looking hybrid with scaly tat
tooed arms emerged onto the porch. His muscled neck turned toward the barn as he called out and waved an arm at the hybrids guarding the door. One hybrid nodded in response and unlatched the plank of wood securing the double barn doors. He unhinged and pushed on one door and immediately a sea of cries and screams spilled from within.
Another of the barn guard hybrids slid through the opening and disappeared into the barn. The door promptly shut behind him, while the wails reached a hysterical peak.
‘They’re picking them off one by one. We have to act now, or they’ll kill another,’ Arella whispered next to him.
Regan spun to look at her, gasping when he saw the lucid glow of her eyes. She peered at him with untainted purity unlike anything he had ever seen. Between the urgency of the moment, she enthralled him. Regan reached out a hand and trailed his fingers down her face. He gave her a fleeting smile before his expression became grim.
‘The Triquetra Sphere chamber is beneath the cottage. Let’s invite them out of there, shall we?’ he said.
They rose from their hunched positions, and like thieves in the night steeled their way around the back of the cottage and skirted to the end where they had a clear view of the barn.
Regan and Eddie retrieved their Glocks and looked at each other.
Regan gave a quick nod. ‘I’ll meet you on the other side.’
Eddie stretched to his feet. He glanced toward the hybrid thugs guarding the barn. The two that remained out front seemed to be occupied in the throes of a heated debate, their voices heightening while they began to snarl. He made a dash to a rolled haystack some ten meters from the cottage. From there he snaked behind the stack of hay and used the opaque hues of the shade to race behind a huge tree trunk.
Eddie slid his sunglasses to his crown and raised his gun. He acknowledged Regan and Arella with a slight nod, aimed the barrel and squeezed the trigger.
The shot rang out, scattering birds in a screeching mass of wings overhead. Cows complained and horses bolted and leaped through the paddock.
A deafening silence followed. Gravel crunched under Regan’s feet.