Born of Shadows- Complete Series

by J. R. Erickson

  She ran into the night, her chest constricted with a terror that enraged her. How? How could someone have stolen the child as she slept? She had learned to sleep shallow, to be always alert to any sounds, smells, shifts in the night.

  Before she took a step into the dark forest, she smelled the fire. It called out to her, bold fingers beckoning her through the black night. She found him where the forest gave way to the beach. The earth had been scrubbed clean and a pyre erected in the center of a wide circle. Her baby, their baby, lay in a stiff wooden box in the center of the blaze.

  Kanti had not loved her child at birth. When she first stared into those unnatural blue eyes, she had hated the being who had emerged from her own. Now another emotion took over. Love did not explain the desperate, fierce rage that coursed through her at the man who put her fragile child into the mouth of the hungry fire. She gazed into the flames and began to sing.

  Abby startled awake in the bathtub, sitting up and sloshing water onto the bathroom tiles. The water had grown cold and her candles had burned to small puddles of wax on the bath's rim. She blinked and tried to get her bearings, shivering in the cool water. She had fallen asleep in the bathtub, but why hadn't Sebastian woken her? It was unlike him to leave her unattended for so long. She reached her energy beyond the bathroom and into the house. She expected to sense him in the kitchen cooking dinner, but felt nothing. Had he gone outside? Perhaps to the shed?

  Climbing from the bath, she dried quickly and slipped into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. The dream of Kanti had disoriented her and she took several minutes to successfully put on socks and shoes. She searched the house, but found no sign of Sebastian. She encountered the same emptiness in the shed. The sun had already set and the sky held the early dark blue of the descending night. She could see the full moon, huge and white, rising over the trees.

  Hurrying back toward the house, she noticed a sheet of paper stuck to the front door. Her heart sank as she studied the page. It was one of Victor's charcoal drawings. It revealed a dense wood and in the center a ring of witches standing in terror. She recognized all the witches from Ula and Chicago. In their center stood Victor and at his feet lay Sebastian.

  "Sebastian?" she screamed, suddenly frantic. She ran into the house and back through every room, bellowing his name.

  She knew that she would not find him. Somehow, Victor had escaped Ula, or worse. And now he had also subdued Sebastian. Abby thought of her mother's terrified words: "It's all coming true."

  "No," Abby whimpered and clutched her belly. She glanced up and stared at her own terrified face in the hallway mirror. Her hair was disheveled and still wet from the bath. Fear made her face look sallow and her eyes wild.

  "I won't give in to this," she shouted. She ran to her room and found the crystal of water that Elda had given her before the wedding. She needed her element now.

  Chapter 31

  The ring of fire had consumed the trees around it, but did not spread. It held hard and close, lighting the faces of the witches inside. Faustine had fallen to his knees, his cloak pressed against his face. Lydie's face glistened with sweat as she tried to fight fire with fire. She sent bursts of flame from her fingertips, but it fizzled and died the moment it left her. Dante and Marcus reached for one another, their black sooty faces mirrors of terror and grief. Kendra too had fallen. She wept openly and called out to Victor, begged him to stop, but he ignored her, ignored them all. Only Ezra remained still, motionless, the rage in her face like a mask of defiance that the blaze could not penetrate. Oliver stood across from Ezra, staring hard at the ground as if willing it to open. Helena stood, eyes closed, speaking incantations and gesturing as if performing magic. Elda clutched the stone around her neck, and she too whispered incantations. Julian paced and spun in a circle, staring at the flames, and then at Victor, seeking a way to escape.

  Sebastian lay in the center of the circle at Victor's feet, unconscious.

  Abby stood, rooted, frozen, watching her friends with such horror that it sucked the breath from her lungs and left her gasping in the smoke-filled forest. She was alone to witness this. Victor had planned it that way, all part of the ritual that began that fateful day in the woods when the dagger sucked hungrily at her blood. It took a piece and it left a piece behind. Now, in her greatest moment of need, she could do nothing. The dagger tucked in the belt at Victor's waist and amulet glistening on his naked chest gave him absolute power and control. When the ritual ended and her friends lay a pile of ash on the forest floor, Victor-no, Clyde-would rise again more powerful than ever before.

  Abby's hands shook as she reached to the water crystal at her throat. It filled her body with a cool power that invigorated her, but did not eliminate the wall of fear in front of her face.

  She thought back to the story that Dafne had left behind. The detailed retelling of that fateful night in the woods, a hundred years gone. Dafne had tried to save her friends, but Tobias had used her very own power to eliminate them. But Victor did not have access to Abby's power. Unlike Tobias, Victor had not fathered Abby's child. They did not share that link. He drew his power from another source.

  The woods surrounding Abby whipped and roared. When Victor realized she was there, he would begin to use that wind against her. She dared not climb into a tree for fear he would blow her out of it. She stayed in the shadows and called to the water of the lake. After several minutes the first deluge appeared. It fell upon the fire and the witches inside. Some of them cried out in relief.

  Victor did not shift from his place in the circle. He did not even turn to look for her. He lifted his arms overhead and the wind began to greet the water as she called it. It drove the water back and into the ground. She could not draw it past him to reach the circle.

  She conjured rain from the sky, calling upon her element and raising her hands and voice in a desperate plea.

  The rain fell in sheets and the sky cracked and thundered. Streaks of lightning drove across the black sky. The rain did not find the witches. Victor had created a bubble of air that blocked it from reaching the fire.

  Abby started to cry when Lydie fell to her knees. Helena reached for her, screamed at Victor, but he did not blink. Victor seemed to have left his body. Abby could barely recognize his face.

  She had not lived long enough in the world of witches to know advanced magic. She did not have spells for breaking the dark magic that Victor used. He had access to the power of every witch in the circle. Each time they attempted to use it against him, it fed the fire that would consume them all.

  "I'm a part of this curse," Abby whispered, the smoke starting to burn her eyes. "Clear and free, keep this smoke away from me," she whispered waving her fingers in front of her eyes and drawing on her element to make the magic known. The smoke dissipated and she could see.

  Clyde could not survive without the continuation of the bloodline. He had raped Kanti to ensure that she passed along a child. Abby was now the bearer of the next child in that long lineage of cursed kin. She touched her belly and swiped at her eyes. She had only one option that she believed, prayed, would force Victor out of the circle. Once she did it, she would be powerless. If the witches in the circle had grown too weak to perform magic, they would be powerless to stop him.

  Abby sprinted through the Ebony Woods. She raced out of the trees and into Sydney's moonlit yard. The sight of the house gave her a little jolt of pain, but she ignored it and slammed through the door into the garage. She snatched a ski rope from the wall and raced back into the woods. Her sided ached and her head had begun to pound. She returned to the ring of fire and this time, she did not hide in the darkness. She moved into the light. Victor turned to watch her. A huge, wicked smile stretched across his face. He looked like a monster in the firelight.

  "He is a monster," she whispered.

  Sebastian had begun to stir at Victor's feet. He crawled onto hands and knees, but Victor held a hand above him, immobilizing him. Sebastian looked up, slowly taking in the cir
cle of witches surrounding him and just beyond them the ring of fire, hungry and snapping at their clothes and hair. He followed the direction of all their gazes to Abby.

  She walked to a tree and threw the rope over a high, thick branch. She tied a noose in the nylon rope, her hands trembling and sweaty.

  "There's one way to end this curse, Victor," she shrieked. She placed the noose around her neck.

  "No, no, no," the screams of her friends came back to her, Sebastian loudest of all, but she ignored them.

  She climbed up the tree and found a thick branch. She slipped the rope over her head and pulled the noose tight. She couldn't drop and let the rope catch because it might break her neck. She had to lower herself by holding onto the rope above her head and letting the slack out. Her hands slipped on the rope as she slid off her branch.

  Victor-Clyde-watched her with mocking and then angry eyes. She could see the dilemma playing out in his head. If she died, he would die as well.

  "Abby, please no, God no," Sebastian screamed, struggling against the magic that held him down.

  Abby lowered herself down the rope. Her feet still hung several feet above the ground. She took a final deep breath and let go of the rope above her head. The noose held, growing tight around her neck as the slack released. Hot white pain drove through her head as the rope pulled tight and cut into her skin. The pressure was unimaginable, she felt as if the rope would pull her head clear off her neck. Her legs kicked at the air and she clawed at the rope struggling for breath. Victor, the circle, the witches, even her child ceased to exist. She couldn't breathe, the pain was excruciating. What had she done? She was dying. She felt her eyes bulging in her head, tiny blood vessels bursting. She gasped for breath, but could not breathe. Dizzying black spots blotted out her vision of the forest. The firelight began to fade and she felt her body slowing down. She wanted to struggle, to tear the rope from her neck, break the branch that held it, but her body had grown so heavy, weak, it was impossible. She couldn't think, let alone conjure her power. The black spots grew thicker, muted out the edges of the world. The forest disappeared.

  ****

  "No, no, please," Sebastian screamed. His eyes and nose burned and he dug at the earth with his fingers, clawing the soil, searching for a rock, but knowing he'd never be able to lift it if he found one. Victor held him down, using his element of air to create an invisible wall that Sebastian could not break through.

  He watched Abby struggle against the rope. For an instant, he thought it would kill him. He felt his heart being ripped from his chest. He would die there with her, and that would be better than living for a single breath after she had gone.

  The pressure holding him suddenly disappeared. He sprung up with such intensity that he flipped onto his back. He rolled over and sprang to his feet. The circle of fire had dissolved. He saw Victor, a blur, as he raced toward the tree and slashed the rope with the golden dagger. For a confused moment, Sebastian thought Victor had attacked Abby, but then she fell in a heap, the rope swinging above her. Victor had already vanished into the dark forest.

  Oliver darted into the woods and Julian followed.

  "Get him," Lydie screamed, tears pouring down her face. Elda went to her and crouched low. She wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into her cloak.

  Sebastian took Abby into his arms and pressed his ear close to her face.

  "She's not breathing," he howled.

  Helena pushed him aside. She took a deep breath and Sebastian felt the air sucked from the space around him. Helena opened Abby's mouth and sent the enormous burst of air into Abby's body.

  Sebastian's rage and fear boiled over. The tree that Abby had hung from split down the middle crashing into the forest.

  Ezra dropped down next to Abby.

  "She's still in there. Come on back, honey," Ezra pleaded as Helena breathed another blast of air into her.

  Faustine gently pulled Helena away and placed his hands on Abby's chest. His hands jumped as if shocked. Abby's body jolted on the forest floor, but she remained motionless.

  "Here, let me," Elda exclaimed. She pulled the water crystal from Abby's neck. Using her fingernail, she slit the fine glass and held the crystal above Abby's mouth, allowing the water to drip down.

  Sebastian moved closer, he pulled Abby back into his arms.

  "Please, Abby, please, wake up."

  He rested his forehead against her heart. A buzzing started in his ears, and for an instant, he was blind. A streak of warmth passed from his body into Abby's.

  "She's breathing," Ezra declared, touching Abby's chest.

  Sebastian pulled back and saw the tiny flutter of Abby's chest. He rested his forehead on the ground and cried.

  Chapter 32

  "The last thing I remember is crawling into bed. I'd had a bit of champagne, but..." Helena muttered.

  "He used snakes," Lydie said, looking up from her notebook. She sat at the base of the sand dune in her dream room, her legs pulled up to her chest and the notebook propped open on her knees. Her hair had been singed, but not burned off completely. She now had a curled bob. Her face looked red and shiny, as did most of their faces, but already the burn ointment that Helena made had begun to heal them.

  "Snakes?" Oliver asked, desperate to remember the night, but coming up blank. Like Helena, he recalled dancing and drinking. Afterward, he and Ezra had returned to his room to be alone. They had fallen asleep shortly thereafter and he didn't have any memory until he woke in the Ebony Woods surrounded by a ring of fire.

  "Yes, I woke up to pee and there was a snake an inch from my nose. I'm not sure if I screamed," Lydie remembered.

  "Snakes?" Ezra asked, examining her arms and legs for a snake bite.

  "I see it," Oliver told her. He scooted closer to her and touched a spot on the back of Ezra's neck. The skin was puckered with two small red bumps in the center.

  "Ouch," Ezra muttered, putting her hand on the bite. "It's sore."

  Oliver touched the back of his own neck.

  "Mine must be somewhere else."

  "Why would he use snakes?" Helena asked, lifting her skirt and examining her own legs.

  "He's been interested in them lately, Dante confessed.

  He and Marcus sat in Lydie's treehouse on the little porch, their legs dangling over the side.

  "Yeah," Marcus agreed. "We took a group of kids to the zoo a couple months ago and you could barely drag him away from the reptile exhibit.

  "Serpent House." Oliver sighed. "An island overrun with snakes. I'd say it's an interest he developed through Clyde."

  Ezra rubbed her thumb and forefinger against the bridge of her nose.

  "You were right," she told Oliver. "You suspected him and I didn't want to believe it."

  "You didn't have all the information," Oliver told her. "After Australia, we knew someone had stolen the amulet. It had to be someone who'd come to Ula."

  "But we had no idea that he'd been drawn into the curse," Helena said.

  "Because Sebastian didn't give in," Lydie said, pushing her pencil against her lip. "Sebastian was meant to be next, but he fought it."

  "So, it took Victor instead," Ezra sighed. She looked beaten. Her shoulders sagged forward. Her hair had mostly burned away, a few black and gold spikes stood out on her angry scalp.

  "Where's Kendra?" Helena asked.

  "In her room," Dante responded, gingerly touching a spot on his shoulder that showed a slick looking burn.

  "This is going to be very hard for her," Marcus agreed.

  "Abby sacrificed herself," Ezra said, changing the subject.

  "It was horrible," Oliver murmured. "She shouldn't have done it."

  "We'd all be dead if she hadn't."

  ****

  Abby woke to the sounds of trickling water. She lay for another moment, eyes closed, paralyzed. Her last memory of the Ebony Woods, Sebastian and her friends in the fire, caused her breath to catch hard in her chest. She fought to suck in air.

  "A
bby, honey?"

  Sebastian's voice allowed her lungs to open and the breath to whoosh in.

  She opened her eyes.

  He stood above her, his eyes searching. They were in the healing room and she breathed deeply the smells of lavender and eucalyptus.

  She reached up and touched his cheek.

  "You're alive," she whispered.

  "Because of you."

  Abby touched the tender skin of her throat. She felt the raw rope burn, already healing.

  "It worked, then? He broke the circle to cut my rope?"

  Sebastian frowned and nodded.

  "You shouldn't have done that, Abby."

  "You'd rather I let you all die?"

  He grimaced and looked away.

  "Honestly, yes."

  "I would have died with you, Sebastian. Don't you see? The Lourdes and Dafne both died when they lost the people they loved. They'd have been better off taking their own lives and ending the curse."

  Sebastian looked ready to argue, but closed his mouth instead.

  "Is the baby okay?" she touched her belly, knowing that her daughter was, in fact, okay.

  "Yes, Helena listened to her heartbeat when we got back-strong and fast. No bleeding. She seems to be just fine."

  "Is everyone else okay? What happened after I lost consciousness?"

  Sebastian sighed.

  "Are you sure you're ready to talk about all this? Wouldn't you like a little time?"

  Abby shook her head.

  "I need to know."

  "He did exactly what you thought he'd do. He broke the circle and ran for the rope, slashed it and disappeared into the woods."

  "He got away, then?"

  Sebastian nodded.

  "That's okay. We know his weakness now."

  Sebastian scowled at her.