Julia took a deep breath, closing her eyes and listening to the voices in her head. “I wasn’t talking to you, Cass.”
The ancestors roared into her head, pushing through the pain and the fear, breaking past the ringing in her ears and the taste of blood that had permeated her mouth.
She listened as they gave her pieces of a spell unlike any she’d ever heard before. This magic didn’t require elements or herbs. It didn’t even require words and emotion.
She just had to tap into what they were handing her. The ancestor were giving Julia a gift. All she needed was to accept it.
She opened her eyes as the ancestors’ spell went into effect.
A pulse of energy, running concurrently with her heartbeat, shot out from Julia and passed through the room. A blinding light accompanied it and, when it passed, the urn fell away from her, clanging against the ground below.
She felt her power rush back to her and gasped as the energy pumped back through her veins. She felt free now, whole in a way she never realized could be taken away.
And more than that, she felt determined.
“Don’t make me do this to you,” Julia said. Her voice was strong again, but her heart was breaking. Cassandra had been her best friend, the closest thing she’d ever have to a sister. Reality simply could not wash away years of memories and emotion.
“Don’t worry, Juju,” Cassandra said, power floating around her in bright red waves. “You’re not going to do anything to me. I promise.”
Cassandra clapped her hands together and hands jutted from the walls. They grabbed Julia’s arms and legs, holding her in place.
There had been a time when this would have made Julia panic. That time, however, had long since passed. She wasn’t the squeamish girl who refused to listen to the dead people whispering in her ears. She was the girl that had been through hell and came riding out the other side with Satan’s scepter as a trophy.
She had been through worse than a couple ass grabbing walls. When she was done though, they wouldn’t be able to say the same.
She closed her eyes and whispered an ancient incantation. Julia’s entire body went electric.
The hands jerked away, retreating back into the walls and freeing her.
“Impressive,” Cassandra said. “But parlor tricks won’t save you.”
“What about a tornado?” Julia asked.
“What?” Cassandra answered.
“A tornado,” Julia repeated. “Will that save me? Because there’s one behind you.”
No sooner had the words left Julia’s mouth that a swirling twister formed behind Julia’s back. It was swift and terrible and it sucked the wicked witch up like some postmodern ironic twist on the Wizard of Oz.
Julia winced as she heard her cousin howl inside the twister. Still, she knew it was necessary. Evil had to be stopped, regardless of the cost.
Julia breathed a touch easier but it would prove premature.
From inside the tornado, she heard another cry from Cassandra. This, however, was a single word: “Thicken!”
The winds slowed, grinding to a halt as they formed a still, glasslike structure around Cassandra.
Julia’s eyes went wide as Cassandra punched the glass, shattering it.
The pieces floated in midair, obviously under Cassandra’s control. Julia turned away to shield herself as the glass shards flew toward her. The first of the shards drove into her back, causing her to stumble forward.
They came faster after that, a torrent of sharp hell unleashed on her. Small cuts became large divots in her flesh, and she tasted blood strong and metallic in her mouth.
So this was it. After all she had been through and overcame, this was how Julia would die.
28
Roman
The stone piece of the tree snapped in half. With the bottom half still wood, it didn’t surprise Roman that it wasn’t able to support its new weight.
Still, for the second time in just a few moments, Roman saw a tree falling toward him. This one, however, would crush if he didn’t move his ass fast enough.
He rolled, whispering an incantation as he did.
The grass was full of chlorine and, long ago, his father had taught him to use that to make himself invisible.
It would take a lot but, lucky for Roman, he had to roll a long way.
He pulled at the grass as the stone trunk shattered into a thousand pieces just shy of where he lay.
Paris stood over him, power still crackling around him. “You should get comfortable down there,” he snarled. “Because you ain’t never getting’ back up!”
He blasted another bolt of energy at Roman who spun again, this time uttering an enchantment. Pulling at the elements covering him, he bent the light around himself.
Paris blinked hard as he looked around. Obviously, the incantation had worked. Using his newfound invisibility, Roman rushed toward Julia. He had come here to save her, and nothing short of that would be a victory.
Let Paris scream and shoot stone magic until his red hair turned blue. None of that mattered. He was going to save his girl.
As he neared Julia, his heart sped faster. Sweat gleamed off her forehead, and a pained expression marred her features. She was hurting, perhaps even dying.
Roman reached for his love as he neared her, but a jolt of energy knocked him flat on his ass.
“Fuck!” he screamed as the power shot through him. She was spelled. The jolt shook his concentration, and the bend of light around him fell away.
Paris’s attention snapped toward him. “Thought you could run?” he asked, starting toward him. “Or is that considered hiding? I can’t ever get the straight of that.”
Paris shot another bolt of energy at Roman. The damn Louisiana boy was right: there was no use running anymore, and there was sure as shit no sense hiding.
This was happening now, right this instant. Julia needed him, and if he had to beat Paris to death with his bare hands to get to her, then that was what he would do.
Roman threw his hands out, ready to take the brunt of whatever Paris had to throw at him. The Louisiana warlock was strong. Roman knew that firsthand.
But as he braced himself, the dark magic of his family bubbled up in his gut. It wrapped around him, lighting up his insides with a fire unlike any he’d ever known and seeping out of his pores.
Paris’ magic struck hard, knocking Roman backward but not harming him. The dark magic hard formed a barrier. Wrapped him up and provided a shell against the other man’s onslaught.
Tapping into the anger that had been simmering within him for the last eighteen months, Roman fought back.
Energy swirled around him, lifting him off the ground and holding him steady. He could feel everything now, including the magic that surrounded Julia. It was strong, fatal even in the right doses. Too powerful for even the likes of Paris.
Cassandra had undoubtedly created this. Which meant that, even if he did take Paris out, the barrier between him and Julia would still be up.
Paris screamed something at Roman that he didn’t care to understand. The red-headed man’s next energy blast was as futile as it was short-lived.
Roman snatched him up, using his dark magic to hold the man still. Then, with rage slamming hard against his brain, he threw Paris toward Julia.
He wanted her. Well, now he was going to get her.
When Paris knocked into Julia, he got caught up in the electric energy surrounding her body. It shook him violently. He tried to move, but Roman wouldn’t allow it, holding him in place while the failsafe Cassandra put in place toasted him.
The dark magic dulled all of Roman’s senses. There was nothing but magic. No feel. No sound. Paris’ face twisted, his skin turning red, his mouth wide open.
He was screaming. Though Romance couldn’t hear it, it still rattled him. Paris was far from his favorite person, but to watch someone in such pain was torturous to Roman’s soul.
Still, it needed to be done. Roman squeezed his eyes
shut and turned his face away. Julia was priority number one, and using Paris was the only way to save her.
When Roman sensed calm, he turned his gaze back to Paris. It was over. The Louisiana boy was quiet. Still. Slowly Roman’s senses filtered back in, and he watched as the energy around Julia popped and disintegrated.
Finally, he dropped Paris, leaving him unconscious on the ground below.
After all he had done to Julia and all he planned to do to his own coven, Paris deserved to die. But that was not Roman’s decision to make. It was no more his choice to play god than it was Cassandra’s, and he wasn’t about to become anything like the person he hated most right now.
Rushing to Julia’s side, Roman wasted no time putting his hands on her shoulders, trying to connect with her however possible. Wherever she was, he needed to follow.
Roman would have to meet her in her psyche. The same at they did in dreams—only this wasn’t a dream. It was life or death.
He sat on the ground between Cassandra and Julia. Taking his lover’s hand in his own, he leaned in and brushed her cheek with a kiss.
“Hold on,” he said. “I’m coming for you, Juju.”
Romance closed his eyes. He knew where he had travelled before his eyes even opened. He felt the same opposing force, the same push that urged him to leave this place.
He wouldn’t leave, though—not without Julia.
He opened his eyes to utter chaos.
Cassandra stood there, lit with energy hair flailing in powered tentacles. Her skin was so full of magic that it had taken on a greenish hue. Her hands stretched in front of her, directing a tidal wave of what looked like rain toward Julia.
But this rain was tearing at Julia’s flesh. It was forcing blood from her beautiful body as she lay face-first on the ground.
Glass.
This wasn’t what the premonition had showed, and it wasn’t how things were going to end, either.
Roman screamed, unleashing the rage inside of him. It tore through the air toward Cassandra, white hot flames spewing right at her face.
She turned, raising a hand and extinguishing the flames. “Good of you to join us, Blackwood,” she said. Her voice sounded different. Gravelly. Possessed. “Did you come to see your girlfriend die? Because, if so, you’re just in time.”
“I came to put an end to this,” Roman said, dark magic flowing freely through him. “And an end to your terror.”
“Well, look at that.” She grinned wide. “And here I thought it was just Julia who had turned into a useless moron. Looks like that’s catching, isn’t it?”
She twisted her hand and Roman’s leg snapped, sending him crashing to the ground. He ground his teeth against the pain; his time jumping from roof tops had prepared him for such agony. This was nothing by comparison. But Julia, on the other hand—the glass shards were still ravaging her body. She needed him and, pain or not, he couldn’t let her down.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled himself back up, using the dark magic to mend his bones.
“It’s really a shame,” Cassandra said, shaking her head. “You two could have been something really special. Separately, of course. You could have run the greatest covens in the entire world. But you let love make you weak. You let your heart be your downfall.”
She twisted her hand again, and his other leg snapped.
He fell back to the ground, wincing at the pain and trying to gather more energy to heal himself once more. How was Cassandra regenerating her power so quickly?
She settled over him. “I was going to let you watch her die but, come to think of it, it would hurt her a lot more the other way around. And really, she’s the one I want to ruin. So, for what remains in the rest of your worthless, short life, I want you remember what I said. I’m not the reason you’re dying, Roman Blackwood. I’m not the one who made you too weak to stop this. She did that. You’re dying because of her.”
A bright flame of energy formed at her palm, and Roman knew without a doubt that this would be his death.
“I’m dying for her,” Roman answered weakly, then he muttered the darkest spell he knew. One that would send whatever Cassandra was about to do right back her. He would die, sure. But so would she.
Cassandra shrugged. “At least you’ll die reasonably happy. Let me know how that works out for you.”
The flame grew bigger and brighter. Roman could feel the mass of heat around him, threating to burn him alive.
Cassandra reared her hand back one more time.
Roman took a deep breath, readying himself for an agonizing death. Julia’s face flashed through his mind. This was for her.
Suddenly, Cassandra’s eyes went wide. Her face went pale, and the flame dissipated.
Roman gaped. As the energy left her, he could see a large shard of glass jutting through Cassandra’s chest.
He looked past her.
Julia stood there, cut within an inch of her life. She was ragged and tired and probably should have been dead. But she wasn’t. She was full of life and power. And the glass was still and lifeless on the ground, all but the large piece piercing Cassandra’s chest.
Cassandra turned slowly. “You fucking idiot. You’ll pay for that.”
“I already have,” Julia said. “I paid with my mind and my time, and the year and a half you stole from me.”
Cassandra formed another flame, but in a blink of Julia’s eyes, the power left her cousin.
“Don’t bother,” she said.
Blinking again, Cassandra was sent flying back toward the wall. She grunted as she hit, the force of it pushing the glass back out of her.
“I wanted to believe you, Cass. I really did. Even after all of this, I wanted to believe that there was a piece of the person I knew still in there. But I was wrong. I’ve seen the future, and you’ll never stop, will you?”
Julia didn’t wait for an answer. “So I have to stop this for you. For all of us.” She flew toward Cassandra, who was twisting and trying in vain to free herself. “Please believe me, this isn’t what I wanted. You said this was our fault, that our love made us weak, that our hearts would be the death of us. But that’s not true, Cass. Love is reason I’m standing here. It’s not the power or the ancestors or even Grandfather’s favor. I was never better than you, Cass. That’s not why I’m stronger. Love is the reason.”
She closed her eyes, as if what came next would haunt her forever. “It wasn’t me who was blinded by love, Cass, but you who was blinded by hate. And my heart never made me weak, cousin. But yours did.”
Julia lifted her hand and, in a moment that took the breath from Roman’s body, he watched Cassandra’s heart pull out of her chest and fly across the room, landing in Julia’s hand.
The woman let out a loud sigh and dropped it to the floor below.
“I’m sorry,” Julia whispered. “But it’s over now. It’s finally over.”
Julia blinked hard again, and the power left her. She walked over to Roman, looking him up and down.
He thought she would heal him for a second, but instead, she lay down next to him, took his hand, kissed his cheek, and said, “Let’s go home.”
29
Julia
It took a lot of explaining for Roman to finally understand that what Julia did hadn’t killed Cassandra. Of course, him waking up with both his legs intake went a long way in making that case.
In truth, she’d have never done something like that to her cousin, regardless of how much the woman might have deserved it. She wasn’t a killer.
They had been in an astral place, where things like broken bones and torn out hearts symbolized other things. The power transfer would have been permanent and the pain was real—but the death was only symbolic of the loss of power.
When Julia implanted a spell that one of the ancestors gave her, it stripped Cassandra of her abilities for now and for all time. In the astral world, that apparently looked like having your heart ripped from your chest.
The real pain, however,
didn’t begin until the three of them returned to the flesh world. Waking up next to her now powerless cousin and watching her come to terms with the consequences of what she had done tugged at her heart.
Cass deserved nothing less, though, and she and Paris were both exiled by the Southeastern Council.
Traditionally, their crimes were punishable by death and, without words spoken by Julia, Roman, Grandfather, and various other members of the Louisiana and Blackwood covens, they likely would be gone from this world forever.
Instead, they were sent to a province in Canada, abolished of any ties to magic, their memories erased.
She could walk past Cassandra and Paris and neither of them would bat an eye. Perhaps she’d do that one day. But that day was not today. Today was a different sort of occasion, a much happier one.
It had been six months since they took down Paris and Cassandra—three months since they watched them be banished, and two months since the night Roman got down on one knee and asked Julia to become his wife.
At first, she was afraid of how her family would respond. It wouldn’t have stopped her, of course. She was a grown ass woman and, after all she had been through, she was going to live her life the way she wanted. Feuds be damned.
They surprised her, though. As it turned out, stopping a dual takeover and saving the witch world earned you a lot of points as far as the both covens were concerned.
And, when Grandfather told her he would be honored for her to host her wedding and invite all her new inlaws to the ceremony, she actually believed him.
The wedding went as weddings go. The bride was draped in the same dress her mother tried to gift her during her failed wedding to Paris. Somehow, it looked much better on her today. The groom was, as grooms were, nervous and fidgety as he watched his bride move down the aisle.
Wicked Legends: A Dystopian Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection Page 21