by Sean Stone
The fires around them exploded and shot up into the air. Great flaming pillars of orange heat joined the lightning in the sky and lit up the cemetery with a rich glow. The skies opened and rain fell in torrents as the earth started to shake. The wind kicked up a hurricane around them. The next roll of thunder sounded like God himself was screaming for them to stop. Nick could see the fear in the faces of his disciples as they struggled to keep balance against the forces of nature which were acting against them. Lightning struck several points of the cemetery. Tombs and headstones cracked and smashed. Concrete floor tiles exploded to smithereens and shrubs ignited. The pillars of fire remained high in the sky and Nick looked above as the pillars arched inwards and joined together forming a fiery cross above him. Bits of broken stone and concrete flew around them but the debris could not enter the courtyard; the fire kept it out.
“This is it!” Nick yelled above the storm that threatened to tear them all asunder.
The lightning smashed through the fire and bolted into the ambrotos dagger. A shockwave flew outwards from the dagger. It blazed through Nick but left him unscathed and still standing. As it reached the edge of the courtyard and connected with the disciples it knocked them all back into the forcefield around them. Nick saw their faces fill with pain and then they all fell down dead. Every single tomb and headstone surrounding them exploded with fire sending stone cascading all around the cemetery. Then the fire extinguished taking with it the thunder and lightning. The earth stopped shaking and the cemetery was silent except for the rainfall and the heavy breathing of Nickolas Blackwood.
Nick looked around for any sign that the ritual had been a success. The cemetery was a ruin. His disciples lay dead on the floor as did Clara Winters. But the ambrotos dagger remained hovering above the pedestal, blade down just as he’d left it. The storm hadn’t moved it. If the ritual had worked then only when he removed the dagger from its position would the barrier between realms be destroyed. Only the one who performed the ritual could touch the dagger. Anybody else would be destroyed trying. But that still was not proof that it had worked. He waited with bated breath for a conclusive sign. The rain was still hammering down and he was soaked through but he was not going to move until—
Jamal breathed in sharply lifted his head from the floor. Then one by one so did all the others. Nick breathed out and smiled. He had raised the dead. He started to laugh with pure unbridled glee. Six-hundred years had finally paid off. His laughter stopped when Clara Winters started to move. She looked up and pale terrified eyes met Nick’s. She froze where she was, lying on her front looking up at him. He looked over at Jamal who was still on the floor looking at Nick with pleading eyes. Nick turned back to Clara.
“Clara Winters.” He began walking towards her. She rolled onto her behind and scurried away until she hit the broken remains of a tomb and had to stop. “What to do with you.” He stopped before her and squatted down so his eyes met her terrified ones. It was good to see her robbed of all that self-assuredness. All that confidence gone.
“You killed me,” she said in a small voice. Her hand went to her chest. There was no longer a gaping hole where he’d torn out her heart.
“You killed me first. Sort of,” Nick replied. “But now I have brought you back to life.” He looked over his shoulder at Jamal. Jamal was standing now but hadn’t come any closer. Nervous anticipation was plastered over his face. “Jamal has asked that I resurrect you,” Nick said as he turned back to Clara. She said nothing. “And as he is my oldest and most loyal friend I have little choice but to grant him this request.” Nick conjured up a phial of ambrosia and offered to her. She didn’t move to take it. “Drink this before I restore the barrier that separates us from the dead and you will remain here with the living.” Nick waited patiently for her to take the phial. She looked over at Jamal who must have given her some sort of confirmation because she snatched the phial from Nick’s palm and clutched it to her chest. Nick returned to his feet. “Take my advice and stop trying to kill me.”
Clara lurched to her feet. She shared a look with Jamal that might have been gratitude or something else and then without a word she turned.
“Clara,” Casper called after her. “Are you forgetting something?” He pointed at a young man lying on the grass who was starting to wake up. She rushed over to him and helped him up. He nearly fell back down when he saw that all thirteen pairs of eyes were now on him. Then Clara led him away from them and out of the cemetery. Nick looked at Casper but Casper merely shrugged. Nick didn’t really care who it was. Nobody would be able to stop him now anyway.
“And now we wait for Olivia,” Nick said. He perched himself on the edge of a broken tomb, folded his arms and waited.
28
“You ruined my life!” Adam screamed as he punched Henry in the face and knocked him back. Henry dodged his next punch and delivered a blow to Adam’s kidney making him double over.
“I improved you life. You had a coven that didn’t respect you, a wife who despised you and a son who wasn’t even yours. I changed all that. I made the coven see you in a new light, I knocked all that derision right out of your wife and rid you of the burden of another man’s son,” he goaded. Adam screamed and ran at him. He barrelled him into the ruined car and began delivering punch after punch into Henry’s midsection.
“You murdered my coven members. You murdered my wife. You murdered my son. And you want me to be thankful?”
Henry laughed and then smashed his head into Adam’s. “If you’re not thankful for that then at least be thankful for the additional power I’ve given you.” Henry booted Adam in the balls and then pushed him to the hard ground. “Admit it, Adam, you were weak before. Your power was barely worth having. Look at you now. A mighty warlock.”
“I hate you,” Adam hissed. He lashed out but Henry kicked him away.
“That’s the problem with living your life with your head in a book. You don’t build up much strength.” Henry kicked Adam in the face causing blood to burst out over the floor. Adam collapsed on his back and stared dazedly up at the ceiling. “You’re weak in every meaning of the word.” Henry crossed to the athame and picked it up. “You should never have come out of that coma.”
As Henry turned back to Adam, thunder rolled overhead and the whole town started to shake. “What have you done?” Henry yelled.
Adam looked about in bewilderment. “This isn’t me!” he called back.
The storm grew louder and wind battered both men. A tremor ran through the earth and Henry was bowled over. He rolled across the road and the athame slid in the opposite direction. Right into Adam’s hand. Adam climbed carefully to his feet. Henry got to his knees but the earthquake sent him back down again. More thunder screamed above them as the lightning continued to flash.
“What is happening?” Henry screamed. He darted forward. Adam anticipated his attack and moved the athame just in time. Henry felt the blade penetrate his flesh and sink into his stomach. He cried out as he fell back, away from Adam. The earth shook again and he fell down. He reached out for something but there was nothing to grip. The road met his backside and sent another wave of pain through him.
“I’ve got to be honest, Henry. This feels bloody good,” Adam said, grinning from ear to ear. “How does it feel for you?”
“Actually,” Henry said as he realised the truth of the matter. “I feel fine.” His magic was working to heal his pain but it shouldn’t have been able to. Adam’s brow furrowed and Henry chuckled. “I don’t feel a thing. And do you know why? Because Nickolas Blackwood has broken the divide between the living and the dead.”
“What?” Adam said. Clearly confused. Henry liked that.
“My body literally cannot die.” He broke into another bout of laughter. He grabbed his athame and wrenched it out of his stomach. “Now, let’s start again shall we. And don’t worry, Adam, I can do this all night.” He laughed again and the two men once again locked in battle.
As they left the cemete
ry Kegan managed to wake up completely and could walk without Clara’s assistance. She began looking around for a car. Stealing wasn’t usually something she’d condone but she wasn’t walking back. Certainly not in this torrential rain. She had no idea what she was going to do now. She’d lost in every way.
“Did we fail?” Kegan asked looking at her sorrowfully.
“Yes.” She nodded. “But we can’t dwell on that. We just need to make sure no dead people cause any trouble in town.”
“Clara!” Jamal called from behind them.
“Give me a minute,” she said to Kegan and he walked away allowing them some space. Jamal had convinced Nick to bring her back to life so the least she could do was give him a minute or so to talk.
“I’m… It’s good to see you alive again,” Jamal said.
“I’m not alive yet,” she replied. She hadn’t taken the ambrosia yet.
“But you will take it?” he asked.
She shrugged. She had every intention of taking it as soon as she had a private moment to do so but he didn’t need to know that. Let him worry for a bit. “What do you want?”
“I just need to tell you one more time that I love you. And I’m sorry for what I did,” he said.
“I know you’re sorry and I know you love me. But tell me something, would you do things differently if you had the chance, or would you choose Nick again?” she asked. She knew the answer but she had to be sure.
“I love you beyond measure, Clara. But I owe Nick everything I have. My very life. He rescued me from slavery and abuse. If it wasn’t for him I would never have even met you. So no, I wouldn’t do anything differently,” he replied honestly. She could see that he knew what his honesty would mean.
“And that’s why there is no chance for us,” she replied. “Nick is a monster.”
“We’re all done now. The thirteen,” he said quickly. “Once Nick has Olivia he’s leaving. I won’t ever need to choose between you.” He looked at her pleadingly. Begging for her to tell him what he wanted to hear.
“You already chose him, Jamal. I do have feelings for you. I don’t know what they are. Love? Maybe. I don’t hate you, if that helps,” she said truthfully. Her anger at him was gone now as were her hateful feelings. She just pitied him now.
“It does a bit. But there’s no chance for us, at all?” His eyebrows rose in an adorable puppy dog manner. But she could not be moved.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head.
“There’s something I want you to have,” he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small phial of ambrosia just like the one Nick had given her. “Nick gave us one each for after the ritual. I want you to have mine. Give it to someone you want in your life.”
“Jamal, no.” She shook her head and backed away. “I’m not going to condemn you to death.”
“It’s my choice. I can’t force you to love me and you can’t force me to live without you. All the years I lived with Nick I though I was happy. But I didn’t know what happiness was. Not until you.”
“Jamal…”
He smiled gently and then forced the ambrosia into her hand. “Goodbye, Clara.”
She gave him a weak smile. “Goodbye, Jamal.” She turned away before she started to cry. A part of her wanted to stop him. She could tell him there was a chance for them and then he’d drink the ambrosia. But she couldn’t lie to him. He’d made his choice and she had to respect that. She wasn’t sure who she was supposed to give the potion too, though. So many people had been killed it would be impossible to choose between them.
She was distracted from her thoughts when a car came roaring down the road and screeched to a halt in front of them. Clara readied herself for a fight but her legs nearly melted when the driver climbed out. It was the answer to her question.
“Hello, Sweetie,” her father said as he stood in the road gazing fondly at her. “I thought I might find you here.”
“Dad, I…” She ran through the rain and wrapped her arms around him, erupting into tears.
“Hey, none of that,” Arthur said returning the gesture.
“I’ve needed you,” she sobbed into his shoulder. “You have no idea what I’ve been through with that horrible man.”
“I know, I know. I do know what you’ve been through, Sweetie, because I’ve seen it all. I’ve been watching.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes, “I am so sorry that I woke him up. If I could take it back then I would. I saw him…” Arthur couldn’t finish.
“Kill me,” Clara finished.
Arthur nodded. “It was the hardest thing I have ever had to watch,” he said. He was fighting his own tears back. “But, listen, I don’t know how long we’ve got before we have to go so we need to move.” By go he meant go to the realm of the dead where they both belonged now.
“No. We never have to go back,” Clara said. “I have this.” She held out her hand where the two phials of ambrosia were.
“Is that…?”
Clara nodded. “One for me. One for you.”
“Nick gave that to you?” Arthur asked dubiously.
“Yes. One anyway. Jamal gave me the other,” she replied.
“Why?”
“Jamal loves me,” Clara said. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him everything that had happened.
“Clara, I don’t know if I can come back,” he said. He looked at the ambrosia longingly revealing his true feelings to her. He wanted it even if he didn’t realise it.
“You have to come back. I need you, Dad. The town needs you. Have you seen the mess it’s in?” she said forcefully.
“Yes, but… Clara, I want to come back more than anything but what if I’m just not supposed to?” he asked.
“Supposed to? You’re not supposed to do anything. Dad, there is no fate or destiny, only choices. We make choices and we influence what happens. You aren’t dead because of destiny, you’re dead because you woke up an immortal and then pissed him off by going back on your word. And now you have the chance to undo that,” Clara said. “Don’t you dare waste it.”
Arthur lifted one of the phials from her hand. “I’m…”
“You’re scared,” she said as she realised it. “Of what?”
His face crumpled. “Dying was the worst thing that I ever experienced. I don’t want to have to go through that again,” he said.
Clara nodded. She’d experienced death as well now and she could attest to its unpleasantness. “Death is horrible. But living is better and it lasts so much longer. And I can’t do this without you. I tried and I failed. I need you, Dad. So shut up and drink that stuff,” she commanded.
Arthur smiled. “You’re still as wilful as ever,” he said.
“Bossy you mean,” Kegan chipped in. “Guys I’m not sure how much time you have so maybe you should just drink up and chat later. If you change your mind you can always kill each other, can’t you?”
Arthur laughed. ‘Where did you find him?”
Clara removed the stopper from her phial and raised it up. “Ready?”
Arthur nodded and copied her. “To family?” he said, eyebrows raised.
“Nah, to saying up yours to death,” she said and laughed.
“Up yours, death,” they said in unison and downed the yellowy substance. The change in feeling was immediate. Clara felt like she became more solid suddenly. One minute she was fluid and the next she was not.
“The town might be in trouble,” she said as she climbed into the car.
“Not our problem right now. Someone else needs our help. We need to find what’s left of the coven,” Arthur said and climbed into the driver’s seat.
29
Nick assumed that Jamal had received bad news from the way he returned to the cemetery. His shoulders were slumped and his eyes were red.
“Jamal, I’m sorry,” he said, going over to comfort his friend.
“It’s not your fault. It was my choice,” he said quietly but Nick still felt somewhat responsible. Jamal looked up an
d his eyebrows rose. “Is that…” Nick turned and took a sharp intake of breath. For the first time in six-hundred years he felt butterflies in his stomach.
There she was. Walking through the ruined cemetery towards him. Her brown hair, soaked from the rain, clung to her face and her long out of date clothing clung to her body. Even soaking wet and shivering from colds she was the most stunning woman Nick had ever laid eyes on.
“Liv,” he said in a choked voice. He ran for her. When she saw him she ran too. Two people running through graves and embracing in the middle would have looked unusual to a common person but that was hardly important. When Nick’s arms closed around Olivia he wanted never to let go again. She returned the gesture, squeezing with a tightness that nobody could replicate.
“I did it,” he said, full of joy. “I really did it. You’re back.”
“You did and I am.” She pulled away and looked into his eyes. Then she planted a kiss on his lips that went on for a decade and yet still it wasn’t long enough. When she broke it off Nick immediately gave her another one. The kiss they shared felt better than all the power Nick had consumed, better than every enemy he had ended, better than anything he had ever known.
“Oh, come on!” Kristen shouted at them. “You can do that lately surely?”
Nick laughed.
“She’s right,” Olivia said.
“I know but I’m just so happy to see you again. It’s been…” He tailed off as he remembered why he had been without her for so long. Tears rose in his eyes faster than he thought possible. “I’m so sorry. I never meant—”
“Ssh,” she said shaking her head. I said that I would forgive you and I meant it. You were manipulated and played like a puppet. We were both Set’s victims.” She took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. Her hands gave him a warmth he had not known for too long. “I have seen everything you have done to right your wrong. You have done the impossible for me. How could I not forgive you?”