Power [The Angel Pack 11] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

by Maggie Walsh

  A ball of fire shot toward the house where the energy blast had come from and Slade heard a meow come from inside. “Come on out, familiar. You know you can’t hide from me and your measly powers are no match against mine. Let’s stop fighting the inevitable. You belong to me now,” Francis announced as he started walking toward the house. “Don’t make me come in there after you, cat, or I will be very unhappy.”

  “Leave him alone, you fucking bastard,” Slade sneered as he twisted and fought against his hold, trying to free himself.

  “This is of no concern of yours, daywalker. You’ll be joining Anthony soon in the afterlife. That concrete will continue to grow until you are fully cocooned. Oh, and don’t even bother trying to disseminate. It won’t work.”

  Yeah, like he was going to take Francis’s word for it. Slade tried to disseminate, but the prick was right, it didn’t work. He tried to cast a spell of his own, but it only sparked against the hard surface and bounced away. Damn it. Slade looked down quickly when he felt the concrete that was holding him move up his legs. Now it was almost to his hips. He needed to get out of this and get to his mate.

  “Come out, familiar, and maybe I’ll let Anthony live. Don’t, and I will kill him now. Then you will cease to exist, too,” Francis called out as he passed the house and continued to walk toward Sage.

  A white cat sprang from one of the gaps in the wood and landed on Francis’s back. The cat dug its claws in, holding on with his back feet as he scratched Francis’s head and face with his front paws and hissed angrily. Francis reached back for the creature and it scratched his hand, causing Francis to cry out. He finally got hold of the cat and ripped it from his back, then slammed it to the ground. The cat hissed out in pain, then went limp, and lay motionless.

  Francis looked down and laughed, but was suddenly thrown forward, landing on his face. He looked up and Slade followed his line of sight. Taylor was alone as he walked toward Francis. He held up his hand and Francis was thrown over violently onto his back. His jaw clenched as his face contorted with pain and Slade smiled knowing Taylor had hurt the bastard.

  Francis turned his head to look at Taylor and he began to chant again. Taylor raised his other hand and flicked his wrist. Francis went flying across the road and landed heavily on the curb, his back hitting the raised concrete. He screamed out in pain as his back arched off the ground. His lips moved and Slade hoped Taylor saw the move. Taylor raised his hand again, but was too late. Francis vanished.

  “Where did you send him?” Slade yelled.

  Taylor turned to face him. “I didn’t. He did it,” Taylor announced, then walked toward the white cat.

  “A little help here please. I need to get to my mate.”

  Taylor squatted down over the cat and slid his hands carefully under its form. “Your mate is in good hands.”

  Slade looked to where Sage had been, but he was gone. “Where is he?” Slade growled.

  “When my man made us invisible, Zane spelled us over to Sage. Then he got them all out of here. Well, everyone except for me and my man that is. Then Gabe and I rushed back here to surprise Francine,” Taylor explained as he stood with the cat held carefully in his arms. Gabriel appeared next to him and wrapped an arm around Taylor’s waist.

  “Would you mind?” Slade asked and motioned down toward the concrete that was now past his waist.

  Taylor waved a hand in his direction and the concrete broke apart, falling in pieces around him. Slade stepped out of the hole and moved away. “So where is Sage?”

  “They took him back to Tempest’s. Then they were going to get Aaron to come and check him out,” Gabe answered.

  “Can’t Jesse just heal him?”

  “Yes, but before he does and maybe hurts someone, he likes to have Aaron check them out first. If he misses something and only heals what he can see, it can be dangerous,” Taylor explained. “So, want to get us out of here?”

  “Sure. Grab on,” Slade grumbled.

  Chapter 11

  “He’s fine, Slade. He took a big hit and broke a few bones, but I was able to heal him. The hardest was the head injury,” Jesse explained as he covered a sleeping Sage with a blanket.

  “He sustained a fracture to the back of his skull and a concussion, but thank gods he’s a shifter so he was able to start healing on his own before Jesse took over. There was no swelling in the brain or internal bleeding,” Aaron added.

  “So why is he still not awake? It’s been fourteen hours,” Slade demanded. He sat on the side of the bed, holding Sage’s hand. He along with Maddy, Raith, and their mates, taking up a vigil in Sage’s room. None of them leaving except to use the bathroom.

  All the others kept searching for answers on what to do about Francis, and saving Sage’s powers, and him. Tomorrow was his and Maddy’s birthday and it would be the day that the powers of the Tribeca would seek out his mate, claiming him.

  “I don’t know, Slade,” Aaron said gently.

  Slade could hear the strain and emotion in the ocelot’s voice. He knew Aaron was just as concerned as he was, especially since Sage was his stepson. And he also knew that Aaron and Jesse had done everything they could to save his mate. Slade turned to look at the doctor, who was sitting on Raith’s lap, both watching Sage, while Raith’s other mate, Rory studied page after page of writings in his Grimoire trying to find something that could help.

  “I know you’ve done everything you can. Thank you. I’m sorry I snapped at you,” Slade mumbled in a tight voice. He knew it wasn’t Aaron’s fault and he shouldn’t have jumped on him, but apologizing wasn’t something he normally did, and it wasn’t easy for him, even when deserved.

  “Boy, that took a lot out of ya. Did you hurt yourself?” Maddy said with a smirk.

  Slade turned to face Maddy, who was sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. His mate Josh slept quietly with his head on Maddy’s thigh, as Maddy ran his fingers through Josh’s hair. Milo, his other mate, sat next to him with his head on Maddy’s shoulder. He, too, was asleep. Slade narrowed his eyes at the wolf. “Shut up, pup,” he grumbled. Raith chuckled and shook his head. “He’s definitely your son.”

  “Yes he is,” Raith stated proudly.

  They all jumped when the door burst open and Zane, Adam, and two little guys Slade didn’t know rushed into the room. “I think we got it,” Zane announced.

  “What did you find?” Rory asked and jumped to his feet, meeting them in the center of the room.

  “I knew I had heard of a spell once that split a witch’s power in two, but it was so long ago, when I was a kid, and I remember my dad telling me that it was really dangerous and could have some bad side effects, so I guess I just let it go. But while I sat there thinking about Sage’s tattoo and how it just kept nagging at me that it had something to do with him being a twin, I thought how twins were split. And the word split made me think of that spell,” Zane explained.

  “So he called me,” the little cutie with the long golden hair said.

  “Right. I figured if anyone knew what spell I was referring to; it would be Demi. He’s the one who kept training me in my magic after my dad died and he’s the one who did most of Rory’s training along with Adam and Marcus.”

  “So were you able to remember the spell, Demi?” Jesse asked.

  “Sure. I know all the spells of witchcraft, both light and dark, as well as the fae’s spells. The one Zane was referring to is of dark magic. To weaken an enemy witch, one could cast this spell on them, and their power would literally split in half. Then the witch could place that power in anyone of their choosing. They just can’t take it upon themselves. Like a fate fail-safe. They could weaken their enemy but not make themselves more powerful with ill-gotten gain. Normally when this spell is cast, the witch who uses it puts the power into someone they know and trust, so that they can still use it in a way.”

  “A back door to the fail-safe?” Raith asked.

  “Exactly. But there is always a cost to using this spell. Be
cause it is of dark magic, it can still backfire on the person who cast it. Like it’s the powers way of getting revenge,” Demi answered.

  “So how can that help Sage?” Slade asked.

  “We can split the power,” Zane announced.

  “But you just said it could have dire consequences for the person who cast the spell so how do we do that without hurting someone?” Jesse asked.

  Demi gave Jesse a big smile. “Someone who is already a million times more powerful than the witch wouldn’t be looking to gain the powers, just weaken the witch. And because this person is so much more powerful to begin with, I think that they would be able to handle whatever the payoff would be. But…this more powerful person would have to be able to cast spells to begin with.”

  “Then the power could be put into someone that can be trusted. But then Oliver here told us something very interesting,” Zane added.

  Everyone directed their gaze to the cutie with the pure white hair and black eyes, who had come in with them, but was yet to say anything. “Oliver?” Raith prodded.

  So this is Oliver, huh?

  “Oliver, tell them what you told us,” Adam said gently.

  The little guy looked around at all of them nervously. Then his gaze fell on Sage. He stared at him for a moment, his head tilting, and he began to answer in a whisper. “A familiar is able to hold their witch’s power without consequences, and they can cast spells.”

  “Tell them what else you told us about the tattoo and the power itself,” Adam encouraged.

  Oliver cleared his throat and looked around at all of them again. “All witch power comes from a source. It is derived from its originator. Malachi was the creator of witchcraft, but when he created it something went wrong and that is why it split into two groups. His plan was to only have dark magic. So when his experiment went wrong, instead of trying to fix it, he walked away from the half that he saw as a failure and only encouraged the half he considered the success. What he didn’t realize at the time is that all dark magic has light and all light magic has darkness. One cannot live without the other. He finally realized this when Allison struggled with the light side trying to break through. She fought him and his views at first. He wanted the baby destroyed when he was only five, but Allison wouldn’t do it. Malachi kept pressing her to get rid of the child or kill it. He told her the baby would grow to steal her magic and use it against her when he found out how he came to be.

  “Malachi was also the great prophet, and he showed Allison the child all grown up. In the prophecy he showed her, she and the boy were locked in a battle, each casting spells at the other, until his rage took over and he cast the splitting spell and placed that portion of her magic inside me, making her weak. Then the prophecy showed her the boy and me using the powers against her to destroy her. But Allison still didn’t want to kill the child. She wanted him so that when she found his father she could make him stay with her. She figured if he wanted the child enough, then she could force him to stay. But she was afraid of the prophecy she saw. So she cast the spell that bound the child’s powers and never taught him how to use any magic. Then she banished me. If she ever saw me she would try to zap me with one of her spells, but I was too fast.

  “Either what Allison didn’t remember, or didn’t care about, was the fact that I am bound to her bloodline. I am to stay by the side of the witch holding the power until it is passed down. Then I am bound to the next person. As the familiar, I have been entrusted as its guardian and I cannot leave the power. I am bound to it until death. So I had to always stay close to wherever Allison was until she died. But instead of going to the next in line, the power had nowhere to go, so it went to her domain. That house. So I have been bound to that house since.”

  “And how about the tattoo?” Slade asked.

  “With the information I just gave you about light and dark magic, think of the triangle as a prism. It is a solid geometric figure whose two end faces are similar and equal. The power of dark magic is equal to that of light magic. One is not stronger than the other, because each hold a piece of the other inside it. When the two are brought together they become even more solid and powerful. What happens when you shine a light through a triangular prism? The light refracts and separates into a rainbow of colors on the other side. Blue having a shorter wavelength than red, would refract more, and so on, so you see the different colors, but essentially they are all a part of one. The original beam of light. So bringing the two sides together makes it stronger.”

  “I still don’t get it. What does that have to do with Sage’s tattoo?” Maddy asked.

  Thank you, Maddy. I have no clue how the two connect either.

  “Two geometric figures who are similar and equal. One light, one dark. The sign of the Tribeca is the triangle,” Oliver started.

  “Okay, so the Tribeca is the triangle, that we know, and it is represented by the dark or black triangle on Sage’s wrist, right?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” Oliver answered. Slade could see the little guy’s eyes light up with excitement that someone was understanding him.

  “And you can’t have one without the other. So the equal part would be a light triangle. So I’m guessing here, that when Allison had twins, that one of them got more darkness than light and the other the opposite. But because she denied Anthony…um…Sage, she never even gave him another thought. She believed that Maddy was her only child. Then she bound Maddy’s magic thinking he alone would inherit the power. So Maddy’s magic has just kind of been out there bouncing around the universe, and when Allison died and her firstborn then received the mark of the Tribeca, he got both the light and the dark, because the magic had no idea where to go.”

  “Yes, yes, yes!” Oliver said excitedly. “Keep going.”

  “So the mark of the Tribeca in its equal geometric form, appeared on Sage, but separated because Maddy didn’t have his power. When Allison died, the binding spell that kept Maddy’s powers from him, was broken and his powers were set free. But they had no idea where to go, so they attached themselves to the mark. Sage holds them both and that is why he struggles so much with the dark and light side since receiving the mark. The two sides are at war because they are not supposed to be in the same body. Allison had twins! And even though Sage was born a few minutes before Maddy, the power sees them as one!” Adam was moving around animated with a huge smile on his face.

  “Yes!” Oliver yelled and grabbed Adam’s hands and they both started to jump up and down.

  “So wait a minute. Let me get this straight. The power sees both Sage and me as the next in line to hold the power of the Tribeca, so it split into the two of us. One of us has more dark than light and the other more light than dark. They are equal parts when brought together though. So the closer Sage and I get, the closer the magic comes together? And the triangle moving on Sage’s wrist is because the two sides are joining? And once they completely join, then there will only be one triangle on his wrist. And I’m guessing unbinding my powers, which I never even knew I had to begin with, would then give me the same mark because the power sees us both as the rightful person to carry on the power of the Tribeca.”

  “Exactly,” Adam and Oliver said together, then laughed.

  “If Maddy’s powers are unbound and they each get the power, one more dark than light and vice versa, will one of them be evil and the other not?” Josh asked, his face pale and distressed and his eyes panicked.

  “I don’t think so,” Micah stated as he, Dante, Viktor, and Tempest walked in. “I think the power seeing them as equal will give them equal power. As Oliver said, when you bring the two together it makes them stronger. You said it was split already. So to use the spell to split it wouldn’t work, so the person trying to cast the spell would be in serious danger. Am I right so far, Oliver?”

  “Yes, Alpha Prime,” Oliver whispered.

  “If Sage goes to that house alone to claim the power it will be confused and won’t know what to do and it may destroy him or anyone
else trying to claim it alone because the power knows its home is to be split into two forms. So it will try to protect itself by fighting back,” Micah surmised.

  “Yes,” Oliver agreed.

  “But if Sage and Maddy both go to claim the power together, then no matter what Francis tries to do he cannot gain the power. One, he doesn’t know about Maddy, and two, the magic itself won’t allow him,” Dante added.

  “Let Francis claim the power,” Sage whispered.

  Slade’s head snapped in Sage’s direction and he looked down to see his mate’s beautiful blue eyes now open. “Oh, sweetness, you’re awake.” Slade leaned down and placed a tender kiss on Sage’s lips.

  “So who got the license plate of the bus that hit me? I feel like a whole marching band used me as the red carpet and then did the samba on my ass. Oh damn, with my luck it was probably some horrifying rendition of a Justin Bieber song. Now that’s what I call death before dying.”

  Everyone snickered as they watched Sage try to sit up. Slade slid an arm under his shoulders and helped Sage move, placing his back against the headboard. Slade kept his arm there and sat beside Sage, holding him as Sage cuddled against his side and rested his head on Slade’s shoulder. “Besides that, how are you feeling, sweetness?”

  “Tired, hungry, and now with you holding me, horny,” Sage whined.

  “Well I think that’s the second sign that he’s okay,” Maddy snickered. “Right, Aaron? The first sign is humor, the second, horniness.”

  “Shut up,” Sage said with a laugh and rolled his eyes. “And you’re one to talk. Aren’t you the lucky bastard that has two hot mates and sex marathons that last three days every month?”

  “Jealous?” Maddy asked with a bright smile and tightened his hold on both his mates, then stuck out his tongue.

  “Hell yes. I would love to have two of Slade. Could you imagine the hot sex that would be?”

  “All right, you two. Father in room,” Raith grumbled.