‘And you’ll go back into your body?’
Adam nodded—keeping to himself the fact that the very thing Shelley was afraid of could come to pass while playing his part. He could give too much, could be separated from his body in a final way that meant even if they succeeded, he would never come back. They didn’t need to know that.
‘Right. So, what do we need to do, A? What were Morghanna’s instructions?’
He told them everything he’d been told. ‘So, we’ll need some of the diaries and grimoires from Melbourne and we’ll need a space readied outside where we can set up protection wards and in full view of the moon when it rises on Samhain Eve. It needs to be fully prepped before then.’
‘The McClune witches will help,’ Jason said.
‘Good. Skye, Bron, Eloise and Shelley will all need to save their energy from now until then. They have to be protected at all costs. If Cain or Morrigan get wind of this, they’ll attack.’
‘I’ll call all the pack up here if necessary, quadruple the guard with the McClunes.’
‘Good, but we’ll need to call on others as well. We’ll need to tap into every bond we possibly can both inside and outside our packs. Any connection, no matter how slight, will need to be used.’
‘I’ll help with that,’ River said. ‘I’ve been making contact with other packs since coming back. Jason thought it was a good idea.’ He looked down. ‘It’s what Mum used to do for the pack, keep the connections alive.’
‘That’s great. The more involved worldwide, the better chance we have.’
‘They’ll all be scrambling to help when I tell them what’s at stake. Nobody wants to return to what we were when the Darkness had control over us.’
‘It will be worse than that. Far worse.’
‘What do you mean?’
He shook his head. He couldn’t share with them what Morghanna had shown him. Couldn’t put those images and thoughts in their heads. His mouth tightened. ‘Just believe me. If the Darkness wins, everything we know will be destroyed.’
‘Then let’s do everything we can to stop that from happening.’
The door behind them slammed open. A cold wind whipped through the room, the force of it knocking over a metal table of instruments and sending paperwork cascading around the room as if caught in a mini-tornado. It was so strong, those in the room were almost knocked off their feet.
‘What the hell?’ Jason snarled.
Cordy cried out and threw herself over Shelley, a flare of yellow power shot with violet, pushed out, shielding her and Shelley.
The amethyst of Shelley’s power sparked and jumped around Adam in response to what was coming through the door, as if pushing out in a protective shield. Unaffected by the fae wind as the others were, and sure that Shelley was being protected, he turned to face the danger standing at the door.
A woman stood there, her dark red hair blowing wild in the wind she’d created to blow the door open, obscuring her face. But he didn’t need to see her face to know who she was. He could feel her deep inside, the crawl of her presence skittering over his skin. ‘Morrigan.’
She jerked at the sound of her name. Wild eyes, green tinged with black whorls, snapped wide as she saw him. ‘Help me.’ She took a staggering step into the room. ‘You have to help me save him.’ Her hands cupped convulsively around the bulge in her belly. ‘Please. Help.’
Chapter 24
Adam stood next to River at the base of the lift, waiting.
The doors opened. ‘Adam?’ Iain said, staring at him from inside the lift.
‘I’m back,’ he said, waving his hand, the purple power sparking. ‘And do we have something shocking to share with you.’
‘It’s so good to see you,’ Eloise began and then gasped. Her gaze snapped to the door at the end of the corridor. ‘Morrigan. She’s here.’
‘What?’ Iain stepped in front of Eloise.
‘You know Morrigan is here?’ River asked.
‘I can feel her, the press of her power.’ She looked up at him. ‘Although, something’s changed. It’s almost as if …’ She pushed past him and took off down the hallway.
Iain raced after her. ‘Eloise, wait. She’s probably here to hurt you.’
‘No. She’s not. She wants my help.’ She stopped at the closed door, pushing the numbers on the panel. It didn’t open. ‘Come on, come on,’ she said, trying again.
‘We changed it,’ River said, reaching past her. ‘After she broke the door.’
‘You can’t go in there,’ Iain said, stopping River from opening the door.
‘I have to, Iain. Everything depends on it.’ She pushed past Iain and River and opened the door.
‘How the hell did she get in here?’ Patrick asked Adam in a whisper as they followed the others inside.
‘She apparently came in the same way Cain got out.’
‘I thought these caves were secure.’
‘They are. She used some kind of portal magic and stepped through the rock. At least, that’s what she said.’
‘Did she say anything else?’
‘No. Only that she needed our help to save her baby and that she’d say no more until Eloise got here.’
Eloise had stopped a few paces into the room, Iain a tense sentry at her side. ‘Morrigan,’ she breathed.
Morrigan’s beautiful face bloomed into a relieved smile. ‘Good, you’re here.’
‘What do you want?’ She took a step closer, ignoring Iain’s growl. ‘Why are you here?’
‘I see you’ve changed.’
‘So have you.’ Eloise nodded at Morrigan’s stomach. ‘In more ways than one.’
Morrigan’s green eyes widened. ‘You can feel the change in me?’
‘Yes. You’re no longer malignant. The Darkness is gone.’
Tears welled in Morrigan’s eyes. ‘Oh Goddess. I thought I might have imagined it, that it might come back, but having your confirmation gives me hope.’ She blinked rapidly and if Adam hadn’t known who she was and what she’d done, he would have felt sorry for her.
‘I’m sorry, Eloise. So sorry for everything I did to you, to your family.’ She nodded around. ‘To the Were. I wasn’t myself. I know that’s no excuse. It was my choice to invite the Darkness in. But I had no idea. No idea.’ Her gaze, her horrible, burning gaze, fell on Skye and River. ‘I almost destroyed everything and I didn’t care. He made me not care.’ Her gaze careened back to Eloise. ‘I didn’t listen to you and I should have. Blood does matter. You did the right thing. I know that now that I am freed of the Darkness’ influence.’
‘These are just words,’ Iain said, lip turned into a snarl. There were mumbles of agreement from the rest of the Were in the room; the spirits were nodding.
‘You can’t believe her,’ Patrick said.
Eloise tipped her head, gaze firmly on Morrigan. ‘Hear her out.’
Morrigan seemed to sag then. ‘Thank you. I know I don’t deserve it, but thank you.’ She took in a deep breath, eyes full of something that on anyone else Adam would have said was sorrow. ‘I’ve been empty for so long, full of rage tinged with the coldness of revenge, but it was never enough to fill the hole torn in me the night my sister was taken from me. I hated everything.’ Her fingers gripped convulsively around her stomach. ‘Until my baby came along, and then everything changed.’ She glanced down at her stomach and Adam was certain he saw love in her eyes, joy. It was disturbing. ‘The Darkness couldn’t stay in me when the baby was growing. At first I didn’t realise what was happening, but I began to feel love, true love, for my precious baby. And then I felt horror over all that I’d done and fear about what Cain and the Darkness planned. They’re going to kill the soul of my baby and use the flesh for the Darkness to fully come into this world.’
‘Just like you did with my grandmother,’ River snarled.
‘Yes. In a way. But worse. So much worse.’ She looked up, gaze going from one to the next. ‘You think I was bad? You have no idea what the Darkness will do
when he’s fully in this world. No power will be able to stop him. He will corrupt all, especially the purest, and turn them to his service.’
‘And why would you care about that?’ Jason asked. ‘Haven’t you done that very thing all these centuries?’
She shook her head slowly. ‘What I did was nothing as compared to what he will do if he is born into my baby. If he corrupts the innocent goodness growing inside me, nothing will be safe. Ever. You have to stop him.’
‘What makes you believe we can do such a thing?’
She laughed. ‘Because you have Eloise. And if you have the Nexus, you must have the Goddess Stone.’
Adam stiffened as the atmosphere in the room became even more electric with apprehension and mistrust.
‘How do you know about that?’
‘My sister and I once shared everything before I let the Darkness take over me. That connection didn’t break after her death, although, with the Darkness in me, it was dulled.’
‘Morghanna would never have told you about her plans with the Goddess,’ Adam said.
‘She didn’t have to. It took me a while to realise the flashes I kept having of her were not memory but something of what she was seeing wherever she’d been taken by the Goddess. It was a shadow of her knowledge, a whisper, but that whisper was enough for the Darkness and me to figure out the Nexus was important, as was the Goddess Stone, and why.’ She twined her fingers around the material of her t-shirt as she gazed sorrowfully at Eloise. ‘The Darkness desperately didn’t want you and the stone to come together. He made me think I needed to go after you to help in my plan to destroy the Were. I was too full of rage and anger to see he played me. Just as he played me about my treatment of you and Cain. I now see his fear was what led me to suppress your power. For that, I am so sorry.’
‘Only for that?’ Iain snorted.
‘No. Not only that. I’ve already said, I’m so sorry for it all. But it wouldn’t matter how many times I said it, you still wouldn’t believe me.’
‘Why should we, after what you’ve done?’ River asked. ‘You’ve hunted us, tortured us, enacted the Curse on us and tried to kill us for hundreds of years. And now you expect us to believe that you are sorry for all that and have only good intentions towards us?’
‘No. I don’t expect you to believe that. But I do expect you to believe that I want to save my baby. After all, what matters more than saving the life of an innocent child?’
‘How do we know it’s innocent? How do we know the Darkness isn’t in it already waiting to be born in our midst?’ Iain asked.
‘It has to be evil.’ Patrick gestured sharply at her stomach before she could answer. ‘You look like you’re about to pop, which is impossible given we had Cain captured for the first four months of this year. You couldn’t be more than six months along.’
‘My baby was born of magic. That magic has led to a faster gestation.’
‘That doesn’t mean it’s not evil.’
She shook her head vehemently. ‘How could you still understand so little about the world you live in? Magic is neither good nor bad at its heart, as your witches could tell you. Each of their powers has a destructive bent as much as one that can be used for the good of others. It’s a choice, nothing more.’ She gestured at Eloise. ‘You know that’s true, more than any others here. The Goddess told you as much.’
Eloise gasped. ‘How did you know that?’
Morrigan smiled sadly at her. ‘I was not always what you see. I was beloved of the Goddess. She visited me many times to gift me with her wisdom. I recognised her touch on you when Cain described what was going on.’
Eloise flinched at mention of her twin. ‘Why would the Goddess ever visit you?’
‘Because I had dual powers—that of doula and ….’
‘You were a midwife, like me?’ Cordy blurted out, disbelief in her tone. ‘How could you cause so much destruction and death when your gift was to give life?’
‘Because my other power was fire.’
Cordy gripped the side of the bed. ‘You had the power of cleansing, of energy, warmth and rebirth? Those are all gifts bestowed entirely by the light, and yet you became what you are? How is that possible?’
‘As I said, every gift has both dark and light in it. Fire cleanses. It’s a source of energy and warmth, but it also destroys. When I saw my sister taken by the Goddess’ fire, I felt betrayed by not only the humans and the Were, but by the Goddess I had dedicated my life to. Fire became my retribution and I turned it upon the humans who had tortured and killed my sister. But it wasn’t enough. Others were truly to blame. My fury was burning me up on the inside. I would have been swallowed whole by it except for the Darkness. He helped me to channel it to use against those who had destroyed the person I loved the most in the world. I had no idea what that decision would bring me to, and I didn’t care.’ Her hands spread across her stomach, love and protection glowing in her eyes as she looked down at the evidence of the baby growing there. ‘I didn’t care until my baby’s goodness and innocence began to make itself known to me and then I cared. Goddess only knows how I care...’ Her voice broke and she looked up at Cordy, Eloise, Skye and Bron, her gaze finally lighting on Shelley as she pushed herself up on the bed. ‘I ask for your help as I give you my help. Save my baby. Protect him as you would protect your own. And I will help you to expel the Darkness from this world.’
‘How will you do that?’ Shelley wobbled as she tried to sit up. Adam was at her side in an instant, helping.
Morrigan smiled at her. ‘Now my powers are freed of the Darkness’ influence, I can use them to stop my baby from coming forth on Samhain Eve.’
‘How will that help?’ Jason asked.
She didn’t look at him, her gaze still on Shelley. ‘I am a powerful doula.’
‘You can’t have used those powers for centuries,’ Cordy said.
Morrigan nodded at her. ‘You’re right. But they are not so rusty that I can’t use them to halt my labour for at least twenty-four hours. The Darkness needs the power of Samhain to allow him to expel my baby’s soul and enter his flesh to be born into this world.’ Her fingers splayed over her stomach again, stroking.
‘Why can’t it do that now?’ Jason asked.
‘While my child remains in my womb, he is part of the life force of the universe, his soul both of that force and in his body. At the moment of his birth, the soul will divorce its link with the universal lifeforce and will follow the link to the body to become seeded fully in the flesh. The Darkness will use the power of Samhain to cut the tie to the body and cast my baby’s soul into the void, taking its place in the body, and be born into this world.’
‘Holy shit!’
‘I thought the soul-link to the body at birth was strong,’ Cordy said.
‘It is. Perhaps the strongest in a person’s life. That’s why the Darkness needs the power of Samhain, when the veils between worlds are their weakest, when the moon is at its zenith for this to work. Without it, he will not be able to twist Nature’s work and come into this world through my child.’
‘Then why don’t you just stop the birth from happening on Samhain? Why come to us?’ River asked.
‘Because the Darkness won’t stop,’ Adam answered for her. ‘We need to get rid of it once and for all.’
Morrigan nodded, her face rigid as she clutched her stomach. ‘Yes. And just as the Darkness needs the power of Samhain to come into this world, you too need it to expel him for good.’
‘We’ve got two days.’
‘No. You don’t. I know from the whispers I’ve heard recently that the spell to weld the Goddess stone to the Nexus takes time to prepare and the stone must be seated in the Nexus for a good twenty-four hours before it can become fully part of her.’ She jerked her chin at Shelley. ‘And by the looks of your medium, she’s in no state to be able to complete the spell in the next three days let alone the next twelve hours.’
‘I’ll manage,’ Shelley said, pushing
to her feet. Her knees buckled. She caught herself on the edge of the bed before anyone could help her.
Morrigan quirked her brow. ‘Even if you did, you would have no energy left to be part of the triumvirate.’
‘I’m giving her my power,’ Cordy said.
‘It won’t be enough.’ Morrigan looked down at the cuff on her wrist. ‘But if you free me, I can do the spell to weld the stone to the Nexus, giving your medium time to re-energise for the main event.’
Everyone was vehement in their response to her suggestion except the witches, who watched her carefully. Finally Morrigan lifted her hand up and said, ‘Your argument is pointless. They know it’s the only way.’ She gestured at Eloise, Skye, Bron, Shelley and Cordy.
Eloise nodded slowly. ‘It probably is. But why would you do this for us?’
Morrigan’s hand dropped. ‘I know you don’t trust me, but I have changed. And even if I hadn’t, I need you. I need this spell to work. To save myself and my baby.’
‘Why can’t someone else do the spell?’ Eloise asked.
‘It requires a certain kind of power to be able to handle the Goddess Stone and weld it to the Nexus. One of life or death. Your medium and I are the only ones here who can manage it without burning ourselves out with our power.’ She nodded at Shelley, who was leaning against the bed to hold herself upright. ‘Obviously, she can’t do it. That leaves me.’ She laughed briefly. ‘This is obviously the universe’s way of having a joke on all of us, because I am seriously your only hope of pulling this off.’
A long silence followed this statement.
‘She’s not lying,’ Bron said. ‘I can see it in her aura. Surely you can smell that she’s telling the truth?’ she asked of River and the other Were.
‘We can’t trust her.’
‘No,’ Skye said slowly. ‘We can’t.’ Her gaze met Morrigan’s. ‘But Bron’s right. She’s not lying now. She needs us.’ Her hand clenched over her stomach. ‘She wants to protect her baby. That I understand.’
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