Born of Shadows- Complete Series

by J. R. Erickson

  Suddenly she thought of Oliver, Lydie, Helena and Julian.

  "We can't leave," she told him urgently. "We have to go back and help them."

  "No." He shook his head. He took the amulet from his chest, grimacing as his fingers touched it, and reached beneath his seat for a heavy metal box. He opened it, wrapped the amulet in a black cloth and shut the lid, screwing up the number combination on the front. He slid the box back beneath his feet.

  "We have to get as much distance between Kanti and this amulet as we can."

  He started the Jeep and drove down a rough, barely discernible trail that wound through the forest. The Jeep slid in the snow and bounced over roots and uneven ground.

  Abby braced her hands on the dashboard and closed her eyes as a spasm coursed through her belly. She clutched her stomach.

  Sebastian glanced at her.

  "We're almost out, two more minutes and we'll hit the pavement."

  When they reached the road, the tires squealed as they found solid ground. The trees formed a black dome around the yellow beam of headlights. Abby searched the trees, wondering what lay beyond the scope of their headlights.

  "What the hell just happened?" she asked, finally.

  Sebastian let out a huge sigh and then grinned.

  He beat his hands on the wheel and turned to her in amazement.

  "It worked! It actually worked!"

  "What worked? I thought...I thought..."

  She started to cry then. A huge uncontrollable sob rolled through her body, and she buried her face in her hands.

  She thought he had become one of them, that the prophecy had come true, that the curse had taken her beloved Sebastian.

  "Oh Abby, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Sebastian murmured, reaching across the car and wrapping his arm around her. He pulled her against him and she pressed her face into his side.

  Her body shook as she cried, but she couldn't seem to stop. In the moment, there hadn't been time to feel all of it, or any of it. The moment when she watched him cross the snow and stand by Kanti. In that instant, their whole life, the dream of their future, dissolved before her. Despair and relief poured out of her as she understood that it had been a setup . He had never left her.

  ****

  As Oliver watched, a skin-walker landed at Kanti's feet. It transformed quickly. The creature rose up next to Kanti-Tobias. He smiled at Oliver and his sharp teeth glinted.

  Beside him, Kanti's eyes flickered. Oliver saw Dafne, her face desperate, reclaim her body. Dafne turned to Tobias, unknowing beside her. She plunged the dragon blade into his chest. She snarled and screamed as she drove the blade in deeper. Tobias grabbed her shoulders, shoving her away, and stumbled back. Dafne dove for him on the ground. She took hold of the dagger a second time and pushed it further, harder. He tried to shove her away, but black blood spurted from his chest. The malice drained from his eyes and he fell backwards into the snow.

  Oliver raced toward Dafne as Kanti washed back over her. He could see the struggle happening within her. Dafne re-emerged. She pulled the blade from Tobias, and Oliver skidded to a stop, horror-struck, as Dafne turned the blade and drove it into her own heart.

  "No!" he screamed and ran for her. He pulled the dagger from her chest and thrust it away as she slowly collapsed beneath him.

  "Dafne, no, no, just hold on," Oliver crooned. He pressed his hands into her chest, trying to stop the flow, but it was so much blood and moving so fast as it left her body. It soaked the snow beneath them.

  She reached her hand to his face and took a rattling breath. Blood trickled from her mouth.

  "Destroy the amulet," she whispered. And then she was gone.

  Chapter 30

  "Julian has known since the beginning," Sebastian told Abby, holding her hands tightly in his own. "I didn't want to lie to you and I'm so sorry that I did."

  They sat together at Ula, in the bedroom that Abby had stayed in on her very first night in the castle, when witches and Vepars were mostly a dream that she expected to wake up from at any moment. It hurt that Sebastian had lied, and had been lying for months.

  "After the second time I woke up in the shed, I knew that Kanti was getting into my head. Whatever they did to me in the Vepar's lair must have given her access to my mind."

  "So Faustine was right."

  "Yes. I went to Julian and told him. He believed that Kanti would know I was deceiving her if you knew what was happening since she was influencing your dreams. She obviously had access to you too. Julian started to work with me to block her psychically. He also sent me home with a shielding elixir, which I added to your coffee."

  "Are you serious?" She stared at him, incredulous.

  "It made sense, Abby. We needed everyone to see me shifting to the dark side. Kanti wouldn't believe it otherwise."

  "What if his elixir had hurt the baby? Did you consider that?" She pulled her hands away, fighting the desire to lash out at him.

  "Julian knew about the baby. I made it clear that you and she were all that mattered, that everything we did had to be in service to you and our child. I would never have done any of it if I'd seen another way."

  "How about come to me, your future wife? Include me? Include the coven so that we could create a plan together?"

  "And lose access to an evil spirit hell-bent on destroying us all?"

  "I get the feeling Dafne had similar thoughts when she started her web of lies. Look how that turned out?"

  Sebastian frowned.

  "Abby if you had felt what I have experienced, losing my parents and Claire, chasing this mysterious evil, then you would understand."

  "It's not fair that you use those feelings as an excuse, Sebastian. I know that Claire's death devastated you, but she can't be the reason that anything goes. If we're going to have a life together, you have to bury the past. You have to come into the here-and-now and make choices based in your new reality."

  "Do you think that I was wrong? Tell me this, if the roles were reversed, what would you have done?" he asked, trying to temper the anger in his voice. Anger, but also shame. He felt badly and she knew it, but did that let him off the hook?

  Abby bit her lip and looked away from him. She didn't know what she would have done.

  "In Chicago, Julian pressured me to talk about you, as if he suspected you were being pulled toward evil, and wanted me to admit it. Why?"

  "He told me about that," Sebastian admitted. "He wanted to gauge what you were thinking and feeling. It was important that you believed something was happening to me, something bad, because then Kanti would be able to sense that in you and perhaps also sense that you were hiding it from the other witches. He wanted your feelings to mirror back to Kanti what she already believed. He pushed you to see if you would get defensive."

  "Which I did."

  "Yeah."

  "I have to admit, I feel like I've been played for a fool."

  "You haven't. You're entitled to your feelings, but I swear to you, this was never meant to hurt you. I did all of this to ensure that I didn't hurt you."

  Abby touched the tattered journal on the floor.

  "You went to the Lourdes? Do you know how dangerous she is?"

  Sebastian shuddered.

  "Yes, I do and I did. It was Julian's idea, but the truth is that I wanted to go. I wanted to do whatever it took. For you, for our baby. I know how it must seem to you."

  "Reckless."

  "Necessary."

  ****

  "It is bothersome that you did not tell us, Julian," Elda chastised.

  "Seriously," Oliver snapped. "You've known Sebastian for what? Three months?"

  Julian continued buttering his toast. After several moments of silence, he sighed and set down his knife.

  "I think that I offered a thorough explanation for my secrecy."

  "You don't think we deserved to know what was happening?" Helena asked, not touching her breakfast. "What if Oliver had killed Sebastian? He nearly did, you know?"

&nbs
p; The sky beyond the breakfast window matched the mood in the room, gray and bleak.

  "Faustine agrees with my choice. And the more who knew, the more likely that Kanti would have realized what was happening. It's that simple. Sebastian had to hide it from Abby. That's how far this had to go. Can you possibly deserve that information more than her? You don't see her raving about the situation."

  "Yeah, well I'd bet Sebastian has had an earful from Abby," Oliver challenged. "And with good reason. You might have put her and the baby in danger with your lies."

  "Or we might have saved her. Who knows what Kanti might have done if she believed that she had lost her control of Sebastian. Can't you see that everything depended on it?"

  "My God, Abby thought he was trying to conjure his sister from the dead," Helena murmured, holding her hand over her heart as if it hurt to utter the words.

  "Yes, an unfortunate belief, but that was Kanti's intention. She was using that promise to control Sebastian. Or so she thought."

  "So why didn't it work? How did he get control back?" Oliver asked.

  Julian shrugged.

  "I honestly don't know. He is exhibiting powers. He has been since the Vepar's lair. Is he a witch? None of us can feel him in that capacity; maybe he is some kind of hybrid."

  "Or maybe Kanti is giving him the power because she intends to exploit it," Elda sighed.

  "That's what I thought originally, but he used it against her. You saw what happened, Oliver. He ripped the earth apart to get Abby to safety. If Kanti had given it to him, why didn't she take it away the moment he turned against her?"

  "And he took the amulet. Why didn't it affect him?"

  "We prepared him for that. I didn't know of course that she would put it on him, entrust him with it so quickly, but I suspected that her power would be greatest through the amulet. She survives through it, after all. Like most evil, she became arrogant. She believed she had him under her control. She was not afraid to put the amulet on him, but you see we've been building a psychic shield around him for months. I even created a shirt made from hair, sage and copper fibers to protect him if the moment came that he had to put the amulet on."

  "Whose hair?" Oliver asked, looking disgusted.

  "Sebastian and Abby's. Their love is the ultimate protection. Of course, I performed magic on the hair to ensure that it held only their purist intentions."

  "Obviously it worked," Elda admitted. "Did you have a moment at all, when he went to Kanti, where you wondered if she might take control of him, after all?"

  Julian considered, but shook his head.

  "Nope. He has a strong mind. Few people could have pulled this off. He met her four or five times. She appeared as Dafne. The first few times, he had no control. We retrieved those memories with Faustine's crystal. After that, we prepared. The last two times, he was fully present. He told her everything she wanted to hear. He played the tortured soul desperate to bring his sister back from the dead. He was the man who wanted to be a witch and hated how everyone else had power, except him."

  "All those times he had Dafne in his grasp. We might have saved her," Helena murmured, her eyes sparkling with tears.

  Oliver moved close to her, wrapping his arm around her back.

  "I wanted to save Dafne," Julian said. "I believed in the end that we would. I thought once we had the amulet..."

  "You'd destroy it?"

  "Yes, of course. That's the next step. I thought we would have the opportunity to take Dafne and the amulet."

  "Instead she killed herself," Helena sniffled.

  "Sacrificed herself," Oliver corrected. "She wanted to end Kanti."

  "She took Tobias down too," Julian added. "Her life was not wasted."

  Helena grimaced and Elda pursed her lips. None of them agreed with Julian's choices. They all considered how it might have gone differently. Could they have saved Dafne?

  "But she told you to destroy the amulet," Elda said to Oliver. "So she knew that killing herself would not kill Kanti."

  Oliver closed his eyes, trying not to see Dafne as she faded from the world.

  "She wanted out," Julian told them. "Who hasn't felt that way at some point?"

  ****

  That evening, Victor and Kendra joined them at the Coven of Ula.

  "We will wait until the full moon to destroy the amulet," Faustine told the witches gathered in the library.

  "Are you concerned at all about keeping it here in the castle?" Kendra asked.

  "Yes," Elda answered. "But we have a special room in the dungeons that shields magical items. Any power that Kanti has through the amulet will be restricted to that room."

  Julian had draped the amulet over a black canvas.

  Abby watched the firelight flicker off the gold setting.

  "So what is it?" Oliver asked. He walked closer to the necklace, but stopped short of touching it. None of them wanted to get too close.

  "It's an ouroboros," Faustine told him.

  "A snake consuming itself," Julian finished. "In ancient Egypt, it symbolized everlasting life. Of course, it was more than symbolic. There was powerful magic cast within many of these amulets."

  "By witches?" Lydie asked. She sat on the floor with her back resting against Helena's legs.

  Abby had noticed an extra hardness in Lydie's demeanor since they had returned to Ula the night before. Oliver had confided to Abby that Lydie had cried over Dafne the entire drive to Lake Superior and then stopped abruptly at the shore.

  "Yes, witches and probably some Vepars."

  "What is the stone in the center?" Kendra asked.

  "Red jasper," Victor told her.

  She looked at him in surprise.

  "Been studying minerals lately?"

  He shrugged.

  "I've come across it a few times during research."

  "Also regularly used in Egypt," Julian added. "And also representative of eternal life, eternal youth—that sort of thing."

  "How could she possibly have gotten it?" Helena asked skeptically. "Could the magic have been placed in the amulet after her death."

  "Doubtful," Faustine replied. "I have never heard of a soul being transferred from one magical item to another."

  "The man who took her was not ordinary," Julian interrupted. "Those journals implied that he had powers. Possibly a dark witch or even a Vepar, though that's less likely."

  "Why is it less likely?" Abby asked. She shared an overstuffed chair with Sebastian. It felt good to have him crammed against her side.

  "Because they're savage animals," Oliver murmured. He looked tired and sad. Abby knew that he mourned the passing of Dafne more than he could admit, even to himself.

  "Because they're often impulsive and violent. It seems that Kanti traveled with this man for a long time. He also impregnated her. I'm not sure that a Vepar can reproduce."

  "I hope not," Oliver grumbled.

  "So how do we destroy it?" Lydie asked, calling everyone's attention back to the necklace.

  "We're still figuring that out," Elda admitted. "We've got to do our due diligence and make sure we perform the proper magic."

  "There's an ax owned by the Sky Mother's Coven in Australia," Julian added. "They say it can destroy the most powerful, the most evil, objects in existence."

  "How do we get it?" Sebastian asked.

  "We go to Australia," Oliver answered.

  ****

  Dafne, a fire witch, had wanted her body consecrated to fire at the end of her life.

  They had built the pyre together. It would sail through the cliff and into the lake beyond. Dafne lay on a bed of flowers picked from the floating garden.

  The witches and Sebastian stood on the lagoon edge as Faustine folded Dafne's arms across her chest. He kissed her forehead. Elda pressed her hand into a stone bowl and smeared something red on the space between Dafne's eyebrows. She closed her eyes, as if warding off tears, and stepped back from the bed.

  Lydie walked to the pyre and rested a glass ball of
glowing fire on her funeral bed.

  "By the element of fire you lived, passionate, driven and strong. Let fire light your path in the realms beyond this one. From fire you came, to fire you return."

  She stepped back, closing her eyes as if she didn't want to watch as the others bid farewell.

  Elda walked to Dafne next. She wove a braid of ice with her hands. It shimmered as Elda lay it around Dafne's neck.

  "By the element of water you flowed, you dreamed, you loved, you changed. Let water carry you into the realms beyond this one. From water you came, to water you return."

  Oliver stepped next to the pyre. His eyes glistened and his hands shook as he sprinkled sand over Dafne's body.

  "By the element of earth you were grounded, you found roots, family, home. Let earth keep you steady as you travel into the realms beyond this one. From earth you came, to earth you return."

  Helena went last, struggling to ebb her cries. She placed her hands on Dafne's arm and continued to cry. Faustine put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

  "By the element of air, you soared, you knew knowledge, wisdom and freedom. Let air liberate you from this realm into those beyond. From air you came, to air you return."

  Helena took Dafne's hand and kissed it.

  "Goodbye, beautiful friend," she whispered.

  Faustine held his hands in the air and closed his eyes. The pyre pushed away from the shore.

  Abby bit her lip. Tears streamed down her face as she watched the witch's black hair blow in the wind. Sebastian held her hand tight in his own.

  Kendra and Victor had joined them for the death ritual. They stood further back from the other witches. Kendra's eyes mirrored the sorrow in the group, while Victor watched with an expression of curiosity. Abby knew that neither of the witches had experienced a death ritual for a witch. She too had never experienced one. When Max had been laid to rest, Abby and Sebastian had been in Trager.

  Lydie did not cry. She stood resolute, her body tiny in the red cloak that she wore. Dafne's cloak. Oliver stood behind her, his face grim.

  When the pyre reached the center of the lagoon, Lydie raised her arms. She conjured a ball of fire and then blew it from her hand. It sailed through the air and landed in the center of the pyre. The wood began to burn.