Dark Legacies (Book Four in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  “Brenna! The earth!” My uncle Mammon screamed in my head. He was the only telepathic demon that I knew existed.

  The horseman was rising not just out of the ashes, but also out of the earth. If I could stop the soil, I might be able to stop the horseman. I began to pull magic from the ground, dropping on my hands and knees to have more contact. The magic came, but there was too much of it, even for me. There was still plenty for the building of a single horseman and the magic felt so dark, it hurt to pull it within me. After only a few seconds, I felt sick. I stopped pulling and began pushing the magic.

  The world around us came to life. The trees yawned and uprooted themselves. The soil heaved as if it were breathing. Massive balls of light began to shoot from the earth. They hovered about thirty feet above us, almost level with the heads of the golems.

  The golems moved towards the edge of the circle. Their eyes locked on me. I could feel them staring. They were of the earth; I could feel their ties to the cursed land.

  Magic danced about, released by the ground, swirling in impassioned frenzies of movement. The colors blurred together, mixing until it was neither white nor black, but something my mind couldn’t comprehend. It was both light and dark. It swallowed me, cutting off my vision of anything but the magic and the golems that stood only feet from me. They slammed against the magic wall, but it held.

  Someone touched me. Without thinking, I began draining magic from them. It poured into me, filling me with healing powers. The bones began to assembly themselves around me. They jumped to attention. A second person touched me. I felt the world open to me. The creatures that lived in the woods were suddenly within my reach. They felt me and came out of the darkness.

  A third person touched me. I felt as if I would explode. There was too much magic, too many different types of magic. I screamed and fire came out instead of words. It burnt the ground, the dry grass instantly bursting into flames and the flames feeding the magic even more.

  In the insanity that consumed me, I heard someone yell that they needed to get away from me. I couldn’t tell who was yelling. My mind didn’t seem to understand the words. I shoved all of it into the ground and sent it towards the earth that was building the horseman. It was wild, raw, and powerful. As it raced across the ground, the ground moved like a rogue wave on the ocean.

  My mind slipped further into the abyss. The urge to kill rose up in me. Something needed to be sacrificed and blood needed to be spilled. The dark magic was consuming me. I pushed harder, trying to maintain the last remnants of myself.

  My eyes could see through the darkness. All of the golems stood and watched me. Their lives flashed inside my mind. I could see the coven that put them in the circle. I could see the witches building the prison for the man made of sand. He had no soul. The magic that created him was pure evil. His name floated into my mind.

  Ahkinamun beat against the magic. One golem slammed his fists against the archway. Another was stomping on the horseman. They wanted him to ride even less than I did. The eight golems pressed their hands against the wall, as if trying to brace it up.

  The hands of the golems and the fists of Ahkinamun inside the circle were no match for the magical curse. I was and I broke it. I felt it explode. It washed over me in a heated blast of magic and wind. The world returned to normal. All that remained were the beings that had been in the circle and the archway that had materialized with the horseman.

  I felt better and worse. The magic was gone. Ahkinamun was free. The golems were free. The horseman, riding a black horse and wearing black armor, was free. He carried nothing, but my stomach growled when I looked at him. Pale gaunt skin stretched over his face, while a round belly protruded onto the back of his horse.

  Someone touched me. I jumped as though they had shot me with a lightning bolt. The touch was cool, comforting. My vision returned to normal. The urge to spill blood retreated. Beneath my hands, the earth had turned to glass.

  Ahkinamun chose that moment to run at me.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  His touch was revolting. I felt dead inside when his body slammed into me, taking me to the ground. Daniel grabbed hold of him from behind, wrapping his still developing arms around the unnatural creature’s neck.

  “Don’t!” I shouted to Daniel. “Someone get Daniel and Nick away!”

  Uncles appeared at our side. Beezel grabbed Daniel and pulled him away from Ahkinamun. My father grabbed hold of the man instead and instantly released him. Lucifer stared at his hand as if it had just disappeared.

  Rachel rushed towards us. She pushed the stunned Lucifer out of the way and took hold of Ahkinamun. Eli grabbed me by the shoulders and the two managed to separate us. A golem reached out and grabbed Ahkinamun. The golem grabbed the smaller man and held him out at arm’s length.

  “What?” Rachel asked.

  “They are his keepers,” I told her. My body felt covered in squirmy things. I brushed at the invisible feelings, trying to rid myself of them.

  “Protectors actually and they were doing a good job until you arrived,” Vera said as she stepped out of the trees.

  My mouth fell open.

  “Vera?” My mother looked at her with as much surprise as I felt.

  “Of course,” Vera answered. “Things were going so well for us and then your boys had to resurrect Sonnellion. That was not part of the plan. We have hopes that the horsemen will return him to us though. Unfortunately, they got Leviathan the last time and that blasted horse saved him, but it was Sonnellion we wanted anyway.” She made a strange waving gesture with her hand.

  “You’re part of this?” I asked.

  “Someone had to be on the island with Ahkinamun. Since I live here, I’m the best candidate,” she said. “I know you’re confused, so I’ll explain.”

  “I’m not confused,” I told her, “I’m really pissed. How dare you try to create man?”

  “Oh, we didn’t try, we did it,” she pointed to Ahkinamun. “He’s flawed. He was supposed to be evil, but without the final piece of soul, he isn’t. Once we have it, he’ll be unstoppable.”

  “Nothing is unstoppable,” I told her. “Mammon, I think we need a guardian.”

  Mammon must have gotten the hint. Ba’al suddenly turned to stone, encasing Sonnellion and Gabriel. Levi took a step forward.

  “I wouldn’t,” Vera pointed to the horseman. “I’ll take my golems and go. Have fun!”

  The golems didn’t move. She glared at them. They didn’t budge. Ahkinamun dangled from the hand of one of them without the ability to do anything.

  Without warning, Jack sprang at the witch. It caught her off guard. The two tumbled into the trees. The trees moved, blocking my view. There was a strange gurgling noise. The trees moved again, this time moving away from Jack. Vera lay on the ground, blood pouring from her throat. Jack was drenched in the red liquid, making him look even more ghoulish.

  One of the golems plucked the horseman from his seat. He dropped the black cloaked man onto the chest of the witch and held him there. Vera made even stranger noises. Instead of healing, the wounds flowed faster, drenching the ground in her blood.

  The magic surged from the earth. Tree roots shot towards her, grabbing her. They wrapped around her body. She thinned as we watched until there was just an empty shell. Her soul floated above her body for a few moments before disappearing. The golem holding the horseman picked him back up. Another brought a jar to him. They tried, unsuccessfully, to shove the full-grown being into the jar that might have held a pound of ashes.

  “Let me,” Rachel stepped forward. She took the jar from the hands of the golem. Magic began to flow from her. It swirled around the jar and then enveloped the horseman. His horse collapsed, falling back into the ground, becoming soil again. The horseman turned to ash. The ash was sucked into the jar, as if it were a vacuum.

  “That’s three and a half,” I told her. “We should pay a visit to my house.”

  “What about Vera?” Daniel pointed. Something
small and ugly was gnawing on a bone. It didn’t seem to notice us.

  “That’s what you’re worried about?” I looked at Ahkinamun and the golems. “Little brother, I think we have bigger problems than one bag of bones.”

  “We should put her in a crypt,” my mother cried, while wiping a tear away from her face.

  “But we won’t,” I told her. “The woman was trying to harvest Sonnellion’s soul. She was more than just evil.” I didn’t mention the sacrificing of infants to bring about the horsemen or the fact that Ahkinamun was meant to be a creature of destruction.

  The golems followed us out of the woods. The night sky was starting to lighten. One problem solved. We had the horsemen in our possession. We just had to deal with Jasmine and the coven now. That seemed like a lot less work than dealing with the horsemen. However, I was willing to bet the golems weren’t going to be as helpful in that department.

  “Can we kill it?” Nick asked as we neared the house.

  “I don’t think the horsemen ever die,” I told him.

  “No, the man being carried by the golem,” Nick said.

  “Uh,” I paused, “I don’t think we can. I don’t think you can kill him. Just like you can’t kill Cerebus, Pegasus, or the horsemen. He is something beyond this world.”

  “That is a crappy answer,” my younger brother said to me. I agreed. It was a crappy answer, but I couldn’t think of a lie to tell him that sounded plausible.

  Rachel set the canopic jar for the first horsemen on the steps of my house. As she began to recite the incantation, my front door returned. It opened and the house tossed a burning horseman out the door before slamming said door shut again.

  “Your house is alive,” Pendragon whispered.

  “I know, it’s made of stone,” I told him. I finally understood why my house was the way it was. The nature-based magic within me had only strengthened the magic already in it. Together, the spirit of the earth had been brought into my house as a living being.

  A tree walked past us and into the field. It spread its roots across the grass and stretched out its limbs, shaking its leaves as it did so. A second tree joined it, moving away so that the first tree’s shadow wouldn’t hit it. This was going to be a problem. I wasn’t real great at undoing the magic I had done. Morgana had helped me the first time I had awakened the trees, but there was no Morgana. I wasn’t sure how well Ivy handled these sorts of situations.

  The ashes of the first horseman filled the jar. Rachel put the top on it and handed it to Anubis. Anubis held it as far away from him as he could.

  “Oh hell!” I exclaimed. “Did someone think to grab Ba’al?” The memory of my favorite gargoyle encasing Gabriel and Sonnellion jolted me out of the relief I had been feeling.

  “Yes,” Beezel set them down. “I want you to know, they are very heavy.”

  “Thank, God,” I sighed, the feeling returning. “I so want a shower and sleep in my own bed.”

  “We still need to talk,” Levi whispered to me.

  “Uncle, I love you and I’m sure whatever you have to tell me is dreadfully important, but if it doesn’t have any bearing on finding and killing Jasmine and dismantling this coven of assholes, I don’t care at the moment. So, does it have to do with that?” I asked, trying not to sound as rude as I wanted to be.

  “Not really. You can still track down and kill Jasmine and dismantle her coven with help,” he told me.

  “Great,” I sighed and sat down on the ground. “I’m exhausted and the trees are moving out into the sunlight. We have an unnatural creature hanging from the hands of a golem and nine other golems with nothing really to do. So I say we get Ivy and figure out what golems do when they aren’t keeping track of the root of all evil.”

  “Golems tend to turn to stone and sit in the sun,” Pendragon told me.

  “I’ll get Ivy,” Mammon said, “and maybe as many other nature related magical beings as possible.”

  “I will find Vera’s mate,” my mother sighed.

  “Not alone,” my father gently took her arm. “We will be taking Vishnu with us.”

  “And the jars?” Anubis asked.

  “What better place than a living house to keep them?” Daniel smiled. “I think if you put them in the basement, the house will hide them.”

  “They were in the basement when they went missing, brother.” I suddenly realized Vera was the one who had taken them.

  “True, but now the house is here,” Daniel pointed at my house. I had to admit, the house agreed with being on the island. Skylights had appeared on the roof and there were more windows than there had been. At least, it wasn’t upside down anymore.

  I wasn’t going to admit that I liked being on the island too. It just felt like home. It felt right to be there.

  Ivy and a horde of others were coming out of the city. A small, scrubby bush ran past me and into the rays of the rising sun. If we didn’t get them back into place soon, even the dark forest would be coming out to sunbathe.

  “You will make me an extremely happy half-breed if you can fix this,” I told her by way of greeting. She smiled and sat down next to me on the ground.

  “You look like an extremely tired half-breed,” Ivy said. We had never been friends, but I felt a kinship with her at that exact moment. She was definitely her mother’s daughter. Ivy was beautiful, radiant and everything a fairy overlord should be. I leaned my head on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  “Not really. I still have to track down and kill my sister,” I told her.

  “I can see where that would ruin the day.” Ivy thought for a moment. “Isn’t your sister immortal?”

  “Immortality is subjective. I’m hoping she’ll do something really stupid and be eaten by multiple creatures who are looking for a snack. Now, with all the dark magic she’s been using, I don’t think she’ll taste very good, but I don’t think dragons are that picky, so it might work.” I sighed again.

  “So you can put the trees back into the earth and root them to the spot?”

  “My mother taught me how after the incident with the zombies last year. She thought you might do it a few times.”

  “Do you have to stand up to do it, Ivy?”

  “Not if you don’t want me to,” Ivy patted my shoulder.

  “You feel,” I searched for a word, “cozy.”

  “That’s a first,” she let out a small giggle. “What’s with the golems and the man dangling and why does he feel evil?”

  “Because he is evil, pure evil, created from sand by dark witches to terrorize the earth. His only function is to cause chaos, death, devastation, and destruction. Their plan was to create an army of things like him, but they couldn’t, because the resurrector died in a tragic resurrecting accident and then they realized they needed a bit of soul from the first being to die because of evil deeds. That’s a problem, because my brothers resurrected him. So, the thing in the hands of the golem is an incomplete man of pure evil. The soul he does have is made up of pieces of all the dark witches and Elders ever to live that they could get their hands on. They’ve been building him since before the First Elder War. It was the armies of things like him that was supposed to beat the Elders fighting for humans,” I stopped, yawned. “Get this; he can kill Elders because they used ashes from each of the horsemen to create him.”

  “That’s bad,” Ivy said.

  “How’d you know all that?” Mammon asked me.

  “When I was fighting against the dark magic, it was showing me,” I told my uncle.

  “What do we do with him? He’s too dangerous to let loose and I’m not sure the prison will hold him,” Pendragon said.

  “The prison probably won’t, but I know ten golems that will and a wall,” I looked at my house. “If we build a wall around my house, we can put the archway from the dark forest into it. We put Mr. Evil to sleep and brick him up in the wall.”

  “That sounds inhumane,” Rachel said.

  “Got a better idea?” Pendragon asked her
.

  “No, I’ll go get to work on a sleeping spell or potion or charm or something,” Rachel spoke up as she started to walk away. “You realize that like the witches who were holding him in the henge, we’ll have to refresh the magic once in a while, right?”

  “Yes,” I told her, “which is why none of us can die.”

  “Glad you have a plan,” Rachel smiled and walked away.

  “And I have a plan,” Ivy started doing magic.

  “Whoa!” I sat up. “Nope, you can stand. I’m on magic overload as it is and some of it is dark magic. I don’t need to be exposed to your magic. I’ll go nap while you put the trees back.”

  Ivy nodded. I managed to stand, but I didn’t really walk. My feet felt like they were made of lead. I shuffled along feeling old and tired.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The door to my bedroom was shattered open. Splinters of wood shot out from the frame and flew across the room, falling in showers onto the floor and furniture.

  “There is a doorknob,” I said without rolling over. I had been sleeping. I didn’t know for how long, but it felt like a while. My first real sleep after being reunited with a body. Now, it was being interrupted by a very angry demon who busted down doors.

  “Sorry,” my father’s emotions toned down some. I rolled over. He was glowing, never a good sign.

  “What’s happened?” I was instantly awake.

  “Your sister,” Lucifer left my bedroom.

  My mother replaced him, tears pouring down her face. Her body was trembling. Whatever Jasmine had done must have been bad.

  “What is it?” I asked her.

  “Amanda is gone. She was napping in her crib, there was a commotion outside, something wrong with some mythics and when we came back, she was gone,” my mother said.

  “Are the portals still closed?” I was sitting up.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Then Amanda is still on the island. Where’s the root of all evil?”

  “The what?” My mother looked at me.

  “The guy made of sand and pieced together souls with the strange name that I can’t pronounce out loud,” I said.