Blood Magic (Blood Magic Series Book 1)

by Ann Atkins

  “In a minute. There’s one more thing you should know first and it can’t wait.” I said. I leaned over and pressed my lips against his ear as I whispered, “I love you, Mason Adams.”

  His eyes burned into mine for a brief eternity, and then he brushed his lips against mine, and whispered back, “I love you, too, Allie Chamberlain.”

  After a few more kisses, we stood up to go, but I guess I was even weaker than I’d thought. Black spots danced before me and the light grew dim. “Uh-oh,” was all I had time to say before I fell backwards, but I never even touched the ground, and I knew Mason would always be there to break my fall.

  When I woke up we were all outside: Mason, Ella, Matt (on a makeshift stretcher we had liberated from the late David Chamberlain), Snowflake and his companions, the baby Baku, and several others. Mason carried me toward a van as we walked away. I didn’t know where it had come from, and I also didn’t care; I was just grateful to be outside, and I couldn’t wait to climb inside and leave this place in my dust, but there was one more thing I needed to do first—the thing I’d wanted to do since the day I was captured.

  “Wait! Stop!” I exclaimed as I wiggled loose and stood on my own two feet. “Who is still in there?” I asked.

  “Just Sheridan and David,” Mason answered.

  “Is she dead?” I asked.

  “Yes, the powder from Snowflake’s horn poisoned her,” he answered, and Snowflake whinnied at the mention of his name. I patted him and smiled before turning back to that house.

  “So are we just going to leave them down there?”

  He shrugged. “They don’t deserve a proper burial, and besides, no one will ever find them down there.”

  “That isn’t good enough,” I said as I focused on the mausoleum that had never been a home. I felt power surge through me, and a small explosion caused the house to erupt in flames. Several of my companions emitted startled cries, but Mason had known exactly what I was going to do. Unfortunately, since I hadn’t had time to fully recover, I was zapped again. I fell backwards and Mason caught me up in his arms.

  I didn’t pass out this time; I was just weak. And as he carried me to the van, I looked over his shoulder and watched my haunted past burn to ashes.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Farewell

  Has it only been two weeks since I lost the love of both my lives, went back in time to save him, vanquished my enemies, and burned my house to the ground? Because sitting here in this sunny meadow with everyone I love, it almost feels like it happened to someone else. And in a sense, I guess it did, because I am not the same. No one can go through something like that and come out unchanged, but that ordeal forged me into a stronger person, not a weaker one, and although I may have been bent and even broken, I was able to find all the pieces and put myself back together.

  And I still don’t feel guilty over what I had to do to David and Sheridan; all I am able to feel is relief. Don’t get me wrong, killing them did not magically heal all of my emotional and physical scars, and I will always ache over the family they stole from me, but there is comfort in knowing that no one else will suffer at their hands. I feel free. I felt lighter as soon as the first hungry flame began to devour and consume that house and everything it held. I had been reborn from the ashes of my past.

  The fire had been ruled accidental since there was no evidence of arson, and Dr. David Chamberlain and several of his houseguests had, tragically, perished in the blaze. A little bit of coercion went a long way in convincing the investigators to reach this conclusion, and the case was now officially closed.

  Ella and I were staying with Sarah and Mason, and I was really enjoying getting to know her. In fact, she and I were the reason for this little get-together, a belated birthday party for me and a going-away party for her.

  Technically, my birthday had been two weeks ago, but I think anyone would agree that I deserved a do-over. I had refused to have the party until Matt got out of the hospital. Unsurprisingly, the doctors were baffled by his condition and had no idea what was wrong with him. He was kept alive by machines, IV drugs, and a feeding tube after he’d slipped into a coma. I kept trying to give him blood, Sarah tried several spells, and we all prayed that he would recover, and then one day he opened his eyes. He was still weak, but he was improving everyday, and he absolutely hated (or pretended to hate) the way we all fussed over him. And every time he made one of his snarky comments about me, I just thanked God that he was still around to be a pain in my butt.

  I laughed as I watched Matt, Cassie, Mason, and Eric toss a football around. And Sarah sat cuddling about five baby baku that we still hadn’t found homes for. Snowflake and his companions (who had been with us under the guise of ordinary horses these past two weeks) were grazing in the meadow, and Bella followed along, alternating between rolling in the grass and running around them in crazy circles.

  We’d already had the pizza and ice cream and cake and presents, and now everyone was just enjoying this beautiful yet chilly October day. Everything was perfect … well, almost perfect. After today, my grandmother and Snowflake would be worlds away from me. I would miss Snowflake, but I would ache for Ella. I had only just found her, and now I would have to let her go. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered as a lump formed in my throat.

  “Are you cold?”

  I looked over at Ella and smiled. Her blue eyes were filled with kindness and concern, and tendrils of her pale-blond hair blew against her heart-shaped face. It was still kind of hard to believe that someone so young and beautiful was my grandmother.

  “I’m fine. As long as I can see the sky and feel the wind on my face I’m good. Being trapped down there has given me a good, healthy case of claustrophobia, and I was only in there for about a week. How did you survive it for years?”

  “Oh Allison, I had searched for you for so, so long, and when I finally found you—finally held you in my arms—I can’t describe what that felt like. It was like looking back in time to your mother at that age. You had these big brown eyes and little blond curls all over your head, and I fell so completely in love with you. You were only three years old. I held you in my arms and you asked me if I was your fairy godmother. You wanted to know if I’d come to take you away from the bad man,” she paused as her eyes filled with tears. “I still remember you screaming when I was captured and he ripped you out of my arms. I swore to myself that I would hold you again someday, and every time the walls threatened to close in or the ceiling started to fall, I’d just picture that sweet baby girl. I survived for you. There wasn’t any other choice.”

  I threw myself into her arms and buried my face in her neck. She held me just as tightly, alternating between stroking my hair and rubbing my back.

  “I love you, you know,” I told her in a voice thick with tears. After today, I didn’t know when I would see her again, and I had learned the hard way that if you feel something for someone you should say it, because sometimes you don’t get a second chance. I had been so afraid to say those words to Mason, but I said them on a daily basis now. I almost hadn’t had the chance to say them at all, so now I took every chance I could get. This was the first time Ella had heard them, but I was determined that it would not be the last.

  Her arms tightened around me, and she started to shake, and when I felt the wetness on my shoulder, I knew she was crying. “I love you, too, Allison, and I swear to you that this is not goodbye. I’ll be back and you can come visit me as well.”

  I raised my head so I could look into her eyes. “Are you sure that you really have to go?”

  “I’m afraid so. What you saw me do in that dungeon is a mere fraction of what I am truly capable of. When we use magic in this world, it drains us. We weaken and get sick and in some cases even die. We need to commune with the land to retain our health and power. If not for the barrier preventing me from using the magic, I would have been dead long ago, yet I needed that power to save us both. The barrier kept me weak, but it also kept me alive.
True power can be both a blessing and a curse, but the invitation to return with me still stands,” she said hopefully.

  “I can’t,” I said sadly. “The people I love cannot exist in your world, and I cannot leave them behind, but Mason and I will definitely be coming to visit in the near future,” I assured her. “I just found you, and I’m not willing to lose you all over again.”

  She wiped her eyes and smiled. “Okay, enough sadness. This is supposed to be a party. What do you say we join in on the fun?” she asked as she started to stand up.

  I placed a halting hand on her arm. “Wait. Please? I just have one more question.”

  She nodded and sat back down.

  “Why didn’t you tell me who you were right away?” It was a question that I’d been pondering for a while, but for some reason I hadn’t asked.

  “I’m sorry for that, I truly am, but you were worried about saving everyone but yourself. I didn’t want to give you one more person to feel responsible for. If you had had the chance to escape, I didn’t want you risking your freedom worrying about me. Can you forgive me?”

  “Of course I can, but your plan wouldn’t have worked. From the moment you started helping me, I cared, and there is no way I would’ve left you behind. I already considered you family; I just didn’t know we were linked by blood,” I smiled.

  “You are an amazing young woman, and I am so honored to call you my granddaughter,” she said, wiping fresh tears away.

  “Thank you for that,” I said. “I think it’s the best present I’ve gotten today … or ever,” I smiled.

  Bella jumping into my lap and burying her head against my chest interrupted the moment. Matt followed closely behind her with an angry expression on his face, and she burrowed even closer to me.

  “What did you do to her?” I asked accusingly, not giving him a chance to speak.

  His mouth fell open, and then tightened into a thin line. “Me? What did I do? Look at what that little demon did to me,” he vented, turning around to reveal a sizeable hole in the back of his jeans that really showed off his bright red underwear.

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing and repeated my earlier question. “What’d you do? How did you provoke her?”

  “I didn’t do anything! We were playing football, and she pounced on it and refused to give it back. I shooed her away, and when I picked up the ball and turned around, she attacked. I think she should be put down,” he said irritably.

  And then, almost as if she had understood what he was saying, she turned to look at him as a little growl vibrated through her tiny body.

  He took a step back and glared at her. “See? She’s evil!”

  Ella and I both laughed; we couldn’t help it. “She isn’t evil, Matt. You probably just scared her.”

  “I scared her?” he asked incredulously.

  It was then that Mason, Cassie, and Eric joined us. Mason and Eric were laughing, but Cassie was completely hysterical. She plopped down beside me and kissed Bella on the head. Matt looked at her in disgust.

  Eric wiped tears of mirth out of his eyes. “You shoulda seen it Al. She latched onto his butt and just would not let go,” he laughed.

  Mason’s lips twitched as he added, “He was going around in circles yelling, but she still held on.”

  “How did I miss all of this?” I asked.

  It was then that Sarah walked over with the baby baku trailing after her. “Because you had much more important things on your mind,” she said, smiling at Ella lovingly. They hadn’t known her any longer than I had, but she was kind of impossible not to love.

  “I’m going to miss this,” she said sadly. “I’m going to miss you all terribly. I already miss you a little, and I’m not even gone yet.”

  “How much longer before you have to go?” Matt asked gently, his eyes caressing every inch of her angelic face. OMG! Matt has the hots for my grandma.

  And when she smiled at him and glanced down shyly, I thought I was gonna puke. My grandmother liked him, too. Really? Isn’t my world weird enough already? Do I really have to contemplate the idea of my grandmother hooking up with one of my best friends? Ugh!

  “I’ll stay until midnight. Midnight is a magical time—the time between day and night—when the veil between worlds is a little bit thinner,” she explained.

  “I thought it was the thinnest around Halloween,” Cassie said.

  “It is, but if I wait that long I may not have enough power to even open the portal to my homeland,” she explained.

  “What about Allie?” Eric asked. “Her powers are only getting stronger. If you wait until Halloween, maybe she can open the portal for you,” he suggested.

  “I wish that were possible, but only someone who’s been there can open the door to return.”

  “That sucks,” Matt volunteered.

  She laughed. “Yes, Matt, it does indeed suck,” she replied.

  “Then we should make the most of the time we have,” Mason said. “Who wants to play some football?”

  “I have never played football,” Ella said.

  “It’s easy,” Matt told her as he extended his hand to help her up. “C’mon, I’ll show you.” She smiled and took his hand, and the rest of us shared a knowing look.

  We played football for a little over an hour, and when Bella pounced on the ball again, no one tried to take it away from her. Sarah was supposed to be our scorekeeper, but she had fallen asleep underneath a blanket of tiny baby baku, and no one had the heart to wake her. It hadn’t really been about winning or losing, anyway; it was about life and the fact that we were still alive against all odds.

  As night began to fall, the air became much chillier, so we gathered up as many sticks as we could find and built a blazing fire. We roasted marshmallows and made s’mores, and Ella told us stories about the magical land she was returning to. She described a land beneath the sea, where the seasons are controlled by magic, wood nymphs frolic through the trees, and mermaids swim in the crystalline waters. We were enchanted. It was a lot better than telling ghost stories. We had had enough horror in our real lives; we didn’t need to make up stories about it. And before I knew it another hour had ticked away.

  We had been here all afternoon, but it felt like only a few moments had passed. Why does time always go so much faster when you’re running out of it? I probably could’ve turned the clock back a little bit, but Ella had said that spell should only be used in an emergency.

  I sighed as I stood up and walked over to where Snowflake, Ebony, and Sparkles stood nervously pawing at the ground and snorting. They always grew a little uneasy around nightfall. There was no night in their land. It was completely unnatural for them. I’d meant to send them back before dark, but time just kept slipping through my fingers.

  I would’ve sent them back right after our escape, but I was too worried about Matt to leave his side. Truth to tell, I still was. He’d shown no signs that the power transfer was successful, but I was still concerned.

  Snowflake interrupted my reverie by blowing on my hair and nuzzling my cheek. I laughed and wrapped my arms around him and he nickered. Everyone else gathered around to say their goodbyes, even the boys. Their time here had made them more tolerant of the males of our species but not much. Sparkles was more affectionate with the boys than the other two, because she was a girl. And according to Ella, she would be giving birth to her baby any day now. As much as I would love to see a baby unicorn, it would be selfish to keep them here any longer than necessary.

  I closed my eyes as a tear trickled down my cheek. I spoke the incantation to send them back and caught a brief glimpse of a land so beautiful that it hurt. One by one, they bowed to me, and then they galloped through the portal and disappeared from sight.

  Mason wrapped his arms around me from behind and whispered in my ear. “Just remember, it’s never goodbye. You can always bring them back.”

  I nodded and turned back around to see that everyone else’s eyes were over-bright with unshed tears as w
ell. It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only crybaby.

  “Allie? I have a gift to give you before I go,” Ella told me, and I turned around to face her one last time, and somehow, I managed to smile as my heart broke in two.

  She stepped forward and placed a necklace with a yellow stone in the palm of my hand. It felt warm and a faint glow emanated from the center.

  “It looks like the one Alexandria used to have,” Mason observed.

  “It is,” Ella said as she wiped her eyes.

  “I remember that!” I said excitedly. “I saw that stone in my first dream … but I thought it was blue.”

  “Look at it again,” she whispered, and when I glanced back down, the stone had become cold and turned a bright, beautiful blue.

  “How does it do that?” I asked.

  “It’s made by the magic of my land. It changes colors for different seasons. Blue in the winter, green in the spring, yellow in summer, and orange in the fall, but it tends to transform itself to its guardian’s favorite season, and it would appear that you take after your mother,” she said with a smile. I didn’t think there were any words good enough to thank her for this amazing gift, so I threw my arms around her and held on tight.

  We still had a few minutes before she had to go, but everyone hugged her and said their goodbyes, anyway, and then they left. Everyone wanted to give us time alone before she went away. Mason is the only one who stayed, but he kept his distance from us as we struggled with our imminent separation.

  We were sitting on the ground holding hands as we watched the stars blink in the sky, and then she broke the silence with an unexpected comment. “She would’ve been such a good mother to you. I’ve never seen a woman so thrilled about having a child. When she and Brian came to tell me about the pregnancy, she blurted it out as soon as I’d opened the door. We laughed, we cried, and we made plans that we never got to keep,” she said as her voice broke. “Your daddy was the same way. He couldn’t stop touching her belly, and I think he talked to you more than he talked to her,” she finished with a crooked smile. “I just want you to understand what you meant to them. You’ve always been loved, remember that, and don’t waste a minute thinking about the hatred and contempt you were raised with.