by A. E. Watson
I turn and look at Michelle, not even sure what I’ve actually done. I guess I’ve stopped the possession and cleared her but now he’s free to take someone else.
“She—Stella held me—me down and he crawled down my throat. He tasted like ash and shit. Actual shit.” She shudders and wipes her red eyes. She’s Michelle again. That cocky confidence belonged to my father. The trembling, insecure mess in front of me makes me smile.
“He’s gone. You’re safe.”
She shakes her head as bloody tears slip from her eyes. “No. I’ll never be safe again. I sold my soul to the devil, Rayne. I let him have me. I won’t ever be safe again.” She closes her eyes, forcing more bloody tears to squeeze through the clenched lids. “I’ve betrayed you and Mona and Willow. The only people who ever mattered to me.”
“I knew it was him and not you. He isn’t as smart as he thinks.”
Her eyes pop open. “He’s smarter than even he knows he is. Almost like he’s psychic. He suspects Mona’s pregnant, and if she is, he wants that baby, I think for the fae queen.”
My insides tighten. “He can’t get to Mona, even if she was having a baby, he couldn't get into the garden.”
“Yes, he can. There’s some witchy mirrors that the fire witches have, and they each have a match. The mirrors were made to be portals to each other. He knows what they are. He said you can crawl through them if you know the right magic.”
“I know. It’s with the air witches. He can’t get there either. He would go into the fire witch portal and end up with the air witches.”
She shakes her head. “No! The mirror that’s with the air witches is the twin to the one the fire witches have. There’s one in the garden and it has a twin too. The mirrors can be used to talk to each other, but only to their twin. They used to all belong to the witches. The nixie had one but they gave theirs to Lillith, like idiots—that’s the one in the garden. The earth witches have the other, the twin to the one in the garden, but no one knows where it is. Lucifer is searching high and low for that mirror.”
My insides tighten again. I know where the earth witches’ mirror is, but I’m not telling her.
My mind is whirling. I suspect that when I was a baby and was given to the orphanage it was through the mirror in the garden. Of course. None of them would have told me about the stupid mirrors so I wouldn't spill the secret. That's how Lillith met up with Lucifer and got pregnant with me. Either he crawled into the mirror and impregnated her in the garden or she crawled out and met him. And then of course she gave me to Willow, using the mirrors. It all makes sense. The earth witches and the nixie all trusted her completely. I bet that’s also why Michael is being so nice to me. He wants the mirror that leads to the garden. He knows I know where it is. Shit!
And that is how Mona has been slipping in and out. Yikes.
“What are you thinking?” Michelle scowls.
“I’m trying to figure out this puzzle. If there’s a mirror in the garden and the earth witches have its twin, where would they have put it?”
“Lucifer said that he was able to make a replica once, but it broke. It was some form of ancient magic that the fae queen helped him with.”
“Faranelle? Of course. She wanted me born. She said she never knew the light would leave my mother and go into me, but I bet that's a lie too. I bet she helped make the mirror so it would aid Lillith in getting out of the garden to see Lucifer so she could bring about the end of days on purpose. She did want the end of days.”
Michelle nods, wiping her face and standing. “That's what I think. Stella and I found the old books about the mirrors. When the witches split into four sects a long time ago, back when the earth’s crust was cooling, they made the mirrors out of one piece of frosty ice. The four mirrors were for the defense of their sisters. They might have fought and hated each other, but they hated the angels and feared the humans more. They made a treaty so that they could call on each other if the need was so dire they feared for their lives. It was a pact made from magic.”
“Holy hell.” I slump onto the bed and stare at the hole in the ceiling. “And he knows all of this?”
“Yeah. He already knew a lot but being inside my head while Stella and I were doing our research, taught him even more.” She bites her lip. “Have you figured out who the Antichrist is yet?”
“No,” I lie, to her and myself.
“It’s going to be someone close to you. Someone you have to sacrifice. I got that much from the books. Someone who would be akin to the purest love ever. I get the feeling he thinks it’s Mona or Wyatt or even Willow.” She winces when she says it.
“Why them?”
“Because their death would be like death for you. Only worse. Wyatt is the closest thing you could have to a soul mate. I heard Lucifer say that he suspects it’s him when you brought Wyatt up just now. Willow is dead so it’s likely not her. Mona is in the garden so it’s probably not her. He thinks it must be Wyatt.”
My heart cracks a little more. This is the confirmation I didn't want. Her eyes are wide and honest and the cocky hate is gone from her. I have a hard time believing she would lie to me but believing her is a massive gamble I can’t afford.
“Come back to the witch house with me. We’ll keep you safe.”
She shakes her head. “I have to go back to Stella. I have no choice in the matter. She’s my maker. She controls what I do.”
“They can break that bond.”
She looks skeptical. “I’m willing to try. I don't want him inside me again.”
“RAYNE!” Mystica shouts again.
“Coming.” I grab Michelle’s hand and pull her into me, letting my wings do the work.
Chapter Eight
Mystica gives me a look from the corner as one of the elder fire witches runs her hands in front of Michelle’s face. Mystica hasn’t stopped looking completely angry since I walked out of the old house with Michelle in tow. The witches don't like vampires, but they seem to be taking an even stronger dislike to Michelle.
“She’s been possessed.” The older lady shakes her head. “His taint is inside her because she sold her soul to the devil. Even becoming a vampire can’t stop him from possessing her. He can claim her again and she can’t fight him.” She turns and scowls at me. “She cannot stay here with that pollution inside her.”
“Well, that's not entirely true, is it?” Constantine interrupts, offering me a severe look. “She could vow her eternal love for someone and stay.” He slaps his chest. “It worked on me once.” The dark heart of the vampire can be saved by a true love declaration. No one knows it better than he does.
The old witch shakes her head. “Her maker has marked her. She is the property of another vampire, and she sold her soul to the devil. This is likely to be the vessel.” I don’t know what that means, but she gives Constantine a knowing look.
“Good old Stella. I can always count on her to read ahead of everyone else.” He glances back at me. “I really wish you’d spent more time studying these things.”
“You could have studied too. You’re older than anyone.” I scratch my nose with my middle finger.
His lips crack into that super sexy grin. “I was focused on something else.” He winks and looks at Michelle. “I’ll walk her home.” He holds a hand out.
Michelle walks to him. She probably can’t fight it.
“I’ll come.”
“No, stay here and make sure the lad isn’t dying from whatever you ate. He sounded sick earlier.” He shakes his head and takes Michelle’s hand in his.
She looks at me with half a smile. “I miss you.” She says it and then they’re gone in a blur of dust and color.
“I miss you too,” I whisper.
Mystica saunters out of the corner with a heavy sigh. “We have to move.”
“Of course. Lucifer is aware of where we are. I just don't know where we should go.”
“The air witches.” I say it before I really think.
“We wouldn't
ever go there.”
“I know.” I nod. “No one would expect it.”
The older witch narrows her gaze, clearly contemplating the idea. “But how? That’s an annoying journey for a witch who is grounded by the loss of her wings. We have to make brooms and that takes a while.”
“No. The mirror.” The answer is so obvious.
Her wrinkled eyelids lift. “The mirror? How do you know—?”
“I saw the one in the air witches’ hall with the tree of knowledge.”
She folds her chubby arms and exhales loudly, tapping her long black fingernails on her dark dress sleeve. “We have been meaning to destroy the mirrors. Taking the fire mirror to the air mirror would eliminate them both.”
“You can destroy it? Why would you?” I don't understand.
“They are too easily corrupted by the wicked, and Lucifer can take any form he chooses now, so long as he can possess someone. Mystica says he is vapor.” Her lips press into a tight line.
“Then we must also destroy the one the earth witches have and the one—”
“Don't say anymore.” The old witch lifts a finger, glancing about the room. “We will go to the air witches and align with Michael. It is time. The prophecy always said this moment would come. This is the magic of the old pact pushing us in this direction.” She doesn't elaborate. She turns and leaves.
Mystica shakes her head, giving me a glare. I suspect we won’t ever be the friends I sort of imagined we might.
Giving up on it, I turn and head for the room to see if Wyatt is dying from my meal. I don't hear him from the hallway and when I push open the door, I pause. He’s not sick, not snoring, and not dying. He’s just not here.
The bathroom door is open but it too is empty. “Wyatt? Mags?” Where would he have gone without me or without telling me? The painting!
I turn but it’s gone as well.
My insides tighten as I realize there’s a chance Lucifer has him and the painting. The mirror that the earth witches once had is in there. Somehow Willow brought it into the painting with her.
There’s only one place to meet with Willow, besides the painting.
I turn and run for the window, crashing through as my wings burst from my back and I soar for the dock.
The wind is cold and the sky is gray, darkening like someone is pulling the shades down. I land at the earth witches’ house and sprint up the wooden dock.
The door’s open, black and charred like someone shot a fire bolt at it.
“Hello?” I step in cautiously and look around. “Ladies?” I call out softly as I realize I’m scared that I’m alone. That they have gone and deserted me.
Willow’s ghost runs from the back, looking terrified. “RUN!” she screams and disappears. I don't have a chance to run. I don't have a chance to do anything. Wyatt comes around the corner, holding the damaged painting in his hands.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?” he screams, tossing the battered painting to the floor. The gore and char on his hands is mixing, making it look like it’s tar coating him instead of blood. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
I step back, instantly going back to that place where he is gripping my arms and shaking me. “Noth-nothing.”
“Really!” he snarls, seething hatred. “You would lie—in this moment you would lie like a chickenshit? Tell me what you did, Rayne!”
I take a second step back and shake my head. “I don't know what you mean.”
“YOU LIAR!” He doesn't look sick or wounded from me eating. He looks crazed. His eyes are dark and sinister. “You made me a monster. I loved you and you chose the light and you left me in the dark.” He whispers it like it’s a threat against me. “You poisoned my uncle against me. He’s my last family member.”
“Maggie?” I’m scared to ask where she is, but I have to know if he has done something terrible.
“She ran away from me. She chose them.” He shakes his head and lowers his gaze. The fight and fury melts away, but I don't trust it. It dawns on me that I have never really trusted his temper, not since he hit me. His eyes lift, welling with tears, but I don't think they’re remorseful at all. “My own family kicked me out of their lives.”
“Wyatt, none of this is true. I think Lucifer is trying to make us go against each other. I don't know what happened, but you need to calm down and tell me what you did to the painting.” I lift my hands like I am trying to keep things low-key.
“CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN SO YOU CAN KILL ME?” He rushes me. I turn and jump, flying from the front door. His wings whoosh the air behind me as he chases me down. I go as high as I can and then drop, making my body as straight and tight as I can. The cold water hurts when I hit it, but the lights surround me the moment I enter the ocean.
I turn, getting lost in the bubbles and wings and nixie, but still manage to see his face as he enters the water with me.
The nixie grab him, dragging him down into the water, deeper than I am. He fights and screams as they surround him. Their lights block out everything else.
A blonde nixie with a beautiful face smiles and pulls me into her embrace. She hugs me and holds me tight but it doesn't block out the screams below us.
I know Wyatt is killing nixie and they are fighting him so he can’t get to me. When the second bloodcurdling scream hits, I push the blonde away and swim below the lights, finding him surrounded by the bloody water and dead.
I grab his arms and drag him down even deeper. My wings work in the water as I am pulling and swimming with my legs. He struggles and then stops, maybe realizing what he’s doing. His fingers have dug into my arms and back, scraping and cutting and my blood is mixing with his and the nixie’s.
I swim to the very bottom of the ocean, which isn’t insanely deep where we are, but it’s deep enough that no one else is there. Even the lights of the nixie have dimmed to nothing.
“Lucifer has done something to us both,” I plead with words, making bubbles as I speak. I stare into the dark glare he’s giving me. “I would have chosen my own death a thousand times before I would have picked the light and left you in the dark. Wyatt, I love you with all my heart.”
He clenches down, fighting whatever argument is in him.
“My father is an evil man who has played a terrible trick on us all. We can’t let him win. I won’t let him.”
The grip I have on his arms loosens as he loses the anger and the fight. He melts and slumps, becoming miserable instead of furious. “I keep dreaming about him. He’s standing on the edge of a cliff, and he says that I have to join him. He says the world is on fire, and I have to save it with him. I have to be strong and sacrifice you so we can all live. He says I’ll die if you don't.” He looks down. “I assumed it was a dream, but I’ve had it three times, the same dream. And then today I saw it in the mirror in the bathroom. I wasn't sleeping. I started to feel sick from your meal, but he came to me in the mirror and he took the sickness away.”
“Don't trust him, Wyatt. He’s the devil, literally.”
“I don't trust him. He just made me think maybe I shouldn't trust me either.” He lifts his sad eyes to mine and sighs. “I am the Antichrist, Rayne. I know it in my soul. I don't think I can be trusted.”
“I know.” I nod as tears slip from my eyes and join the salty water all around us. “I know and I’m sorry.”
“What are we going to do?” He looks lost, adrift in his heart and mind.
“Fix the painting and go and see Fitz and Willow.” I want so badly to hug him but there is a part of me that fears him.
“We don't have to fix the painting, I didn't ruin the real one. That was a fake that I broke. Mags went through the real one first while I went to the bathroom quickly. When I was in there someone switched the painting out, but I didn't realize. I just thought it was weird that I couldn’t get inside anymore. So I freaked out and went to the earth witches, thinking it must be broken. They said it wasn't the real painting and that they didn't know who would have switched it, but that they wouldn't
talk to me. Willow was there as a ghost. She told me that I was the Antichrist and that I couldn’t be there anymore. I was no longer welcome in the house. One of the witches went to do a spell to remove me from the house, but I killed her, I don't even know why. I should have just left.” His eyes look through me, not at me. “My shirt ripped and I saw this.” He pulls his shirt down, revealing the dark feather over his heart. It’s no longer white at all. “I knew then what Willow had said was true. I was evil. The witches vanished. All that was left was Willow, but I couldn't touch her.” He winces. “I tried to. I tried to grab her, I wanted to kill her, and then you came. We heard you and she ran from me.” His stare goes back to normal, but I can see the stain of my father in his eyes.
“You killed an innocent person for no reason?” My heart is breaking. If we weren’t underwater we might actually hear the sounds of the cracking.
“Yes.” He looks like a child. A memory slips into my mind when I see the look on his face. It’s from when he was a little boy and I knew him. The image isn’t clear, but his expression matches the one he’s sporting now.
I reach for his hand and take it in mine, squeezing. “I won’t let you die.”
His eyes don't change, but he tries to force a smile across his lips. “I know.” He pulls me in, hugging me and then shoving me back hard. Determination takes over his face as he turns and moves away from me. He kicks and swims for the surface, faster than I can, but I try to keep up.
The nixie come into view again, making stars at first and then bright spheres of light. When he swims past them they don't attack but rather turn and swim for me.
When I get close they circle me again, refusing to let me past as he swims away, breaking the surface and flying until I can’t even see the shadow of his dark wings.
I know I’m crying and that tears are streaming from my eyes, but the water is stealing them from me. The nixie circle me, hugging me and holding me as I close my eyes and wish I could take it all back.
Chapter Nine