Crossroads

by Wendy Saunders

  Nathaniel was going to come after Olivia sooner or later. He had to, she was the only one standing between him and the book. He knew it and so did Nathaniel. Hell, even Hades and Diana knew it. They’d all put her in the line of fire, not caring that it might cost her life. His fist involuntarily tightened in frustration, this time it was going to be different. He was going to learn everything he could about the demon Nathaniel and the next time they faced him he would make damn sure he killed the bastard, because one thing was for sure, if Nathaniel wanted Olivia he was going to have to go through him first.

  Chapter 11.

  Olivia stepped down from her front porch and looked up at the sky. It was back to the strange bruised daylight but there was something else, something different about it. She glanced across the sky and a dark ominous shadow caught her attention. She squinted slightly, shading her eyes with her hand as she tried to make out what it was. It was too dark to be a cloud; it was almost pitch black and stretched out far back over the choppy waters of the lake.

  She heard Theo close the door and jog down the steps after her. He picked up her backpack from the ground by her feet and slung it over one shoulder.

  ‘There’s no food in the house but I did refill your water bottle, you should drink something.’

  ‘I’m fine she murmured absently, ‘look at that, what do you think that is?’

  Theo looked up to where she was pointing.

  ‘It’s a…’ he frowned, his eyes narrowing as he looked closer. ‘I don’t know…what is that?’

  It almost seemed to be rippling like a wave lapping at the shore. A sudden gust of wind pulled and tugged at Olivia’s hair throwing it forwards into her face. That was also strange, ever since she’d arrived in the Otherworld there had been no deviation in the weather at all. The temperature had stayed the same, there was no bright sunshine, no rain, not so much as an errant breeze. Now all of a sudden a wind swept in from nowhere and tugged at her clothes, buffeting her body slightly in the air flow.

  Olivia glanced across at the small cabin nestled amongst the tree line and saw the door open.

  ‘We should go,’ she tugged lightly at Theo’s sleeve, ‘looks like Bridget is expecting us.’

  Theo turned and looked across the small expanse of grass to the small wooden cabin. It gave him a start to see such a familiar looking place, the Salem of his childhood had been filled with such dwellings. He saw a familiar looking woman step into the doorway, wearing a long dark dress and drying her hands on an apron before she leaned casually against the door frame waiting for them.

  He felt Olivia’s small warm hand slip into his and give a little tug to get his feet moving. They walked slowly across the grass, hands linked comfortably, as the wind tugged and pulled at them. As they neared the doorway the sight of Bridget gave him a jolt. She was almost the spitting image of Olivia; it seems the West line bred true, with a strong familial likeness passed to each generation.

  ‘I see you found him then?’ Bridget spoke softly as they stepped onto the covered porch.

  ‘Bridget,’ Olivia greeted her quietly, ‘I owe you an apology, last time I saw you I was pretty rude. I was frustrated and I took it out on you and it wasn’t fair and for that I apologize.’

  Bridget nodded slowly after a moment.

  ‘Unfortunately that temper and stubbornness runs true in our family,’ she looked past Olivia to Theo and smiled. ‘Hello Theo, it’s been a long time.’

  ‘Yes it has,’ he murmured, studying her closely. The last time he had seen her was the night he had saved Bridget and her sister Hester, when they had been just children.

  ‘Well come in, come in you two.’

  She stepped back to allow them to enter but as her gaze once again fell on Olivia she paused. Her eyes ran down the length of Olivia and then back up again, her gazed narrowed before once again meeting Olivia’s eyes.

  ‘What?’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘Nothing,’ Bridget murmured but as she stepped back once again a small smile curved the corner of her mouth.

  Theo pulled Olivia into the small welcoming cabin out of the wind, which had now reached a howling pitch. Bridget turned to close the door, casting an ominous glance up at the blackness in the sky before joining them. A fire burned merrily in the hearth and a small pot bubbled on a large hook suspended over the flames.

  ‘Sit down,’ she pointed them towards the freshly scrubbed table and reached up for two bowls.

  Doing as they were told, they watched as she retrieved the pot from the fire and ladled out two deep bowlfuls of porridge to which she added a generous dollop of honey and a pinch of cinnamon.

  Olivia’s stomach rumbled in appreciation as she picked up her spoon, even though she’d never particularly liked porridge. The stuff her Aunt Evie used to make when she was a kid had resembled a thick grey glue, but the glorious scent wafting from the bowl made her stomach clench and her mouth water.

  ‘So good,’ she sighed after spooning some into her mouth.

  Bridget took a seat at the table next to them and smiled as they ate.

  ‘Where’d you learn to cook like this?’

  ‘My mother,’ Bridget smiled. ‘As the older sister it was always my job to care for Hester and even if I was older by only a few minutes I always felt like she was my responsibility especially after mother was killed.’

  ‘What was she like?’ Olivia asked, ‘Hester I mean.’

  ‘She was sweet hearted and kind but so serious, maybe that came from being able to see what was yet to come. She understood the great burden on our family.’

  ‘You said the book was a curse on our family.’

  ‘Aye, that it is. Are you finally ready to listen?’

  Olivia glanced across at Theo who squeezed her hand under the table gently. She turned back to Bridget and nodded slowly.

  ‘Tell me everything.’

  She leaned in and folded her hands neatly on the table.

  ‘Our history is a long one,’ she began quietly, ‘and to fully understand everything that came after, you must first understand the why and for that we must go back to the very beginning, to Ancient Greece to the year 128 AD and to a woman named Althethea. She was married to a Roman by the name of Gaius, who had been appointed by the Senate as Governor of Eboracum and so they journeyed to their new home in Albion.’

  ‘Albion?’ Theo frowned.

  ‘It was what England was called before the Romans arrived and Eboracum, unless I’m mistaken, would be York,’ Olivia replied quietly.

  Bridget nodded and continued.

  ‘Unhappy in her arranged marriage and homesick for her native Greece she befriended one of the slaves in her husband’s house, a young Celt of Irish descent by the name of Áedán. Well, to cut a long story short, they fell in love and when Áedán’s brother Èibhir came searching for him and helped him escape, he took Althethea with him. In the dead of night, they stole away like thieves, across the wall to the wilds of Scotland and within a year their daughter Carrigan was born.’

  ‘Carrigan?’ Olivia interrupted, ‘you mentioned her before. You said all this was her fault somehow.’

  ‘I’m just coming to that part,’ she answered patiently. ‘Althethea’s husband Gaius tracked them down and killed both her and Áedán. Carrigan survived because her uncle Èibhir hid her. She was raised by him in a small isolated Scottish clan; once she was grown Carrigan had a brief affair with a Scot named Eòin and bore him a daughter of her own, whom she named Muirenn. It is here our story begins. The murder of Carrigan’s parents hurt her very deeply, even more knowing that Gaius not only survived but went unpunished. As the years passed she became bitter and hateful. Driven by the desperate need for vengeance she sought out an old witch who lived deep in the Highlands and begged her to teach her the secrets of magic.’

  ‘I assume she did?’

  Bridget nodded sadly.

  ‘But as I tried to tell you before Olivia, it is not the magi
c itself that is light or dark but the witch. The more that hate and bitterness took root in Carrigan’s heart the darker her magic became. Consumed by the need for revenge she used an ancient and forbidden summoning magic and raised a demon lord named Nathaniel, who tells her there is a way she could have power beyond her wildest dreams.’

  ‘The book,’ Olivia whispered.

  ‘Yes, Nathaniel told her of Infernum’s location. It was hidden deep in the mountains and protected by a spell he couldn’t break. Only a child of pure heart and spirit could cross the protective line and retrieve the book. The problem was, Carrigan knew her heart was no longer pure, if it ever had been.’

  ‘She used her own child didn’t she?’ Theo asked quietly.

  Bridget sighed. ‘She took Muirenn to the mountains tiny little thing that she was, barely more than six years old. They found the primitive and crude temple where the book had lain undisturbed for countless centuries. Muirenn did as her mother bade and crossed the line, retrieving the book, but Nathaniel betrayed her and tried to take the book for himself.’

  ‘Big surprise there,’ Olivia muttered.

  ‘So what happened?’ Theo frowned.

  ‘Muirenn. She took the book when Carrigan told her to run to the temple as it was the only place Nathaniel couldn’t enter. He killed Carrigan but he couldn’t get to Muirenn.’

  ‘God,’ Theo frowned, ‘how did she escape?’

  ‘Diana,’ she answered simply.

  ‘The Goddess?’

  ‘Diana appeared to Muirenn and alongside her was the God Herne, in the form of a great white stag. They waited until nightfall and under the cover of darkness Diana cast an illusion to fool Nathaniel. She made him think the girl was trying to escape to the East and when he took off in pursuit they spirited the child away to the West, all the way down to the coast. Once they arrived at the shore, Diana summoned a Silkie.’

  ‘What’s a Silkie?’ Theo asked.

  ‘They are from Irish folklore,’ Olivia told him, ‘magical creatures who resemble Seals and it’s said that when they shed their pelts they can take the form of a human.’

  Bridget nodded in approval.

  ‘Aye, Fintain was his name and he was but a boy himself. He stole Muirenn away across the cold icy waters to Ireland the land of her Grandfather and Great Uncle, under the watchful eye of Diana and Herne. The years passed by and Fintain stayed with Muirenn for he had come to love her deeply and from them came the next child of our line.’

  ‘Wait a minute’ Olivia held up her hand, ‘are you seriously telling me, we’re descended from a witch and a Silkie?’

  ‘Yes I am,’ Bridget smiled.

  ‘That is so cool’ Olivia laughed in delight, ‘no wonder I like swimming so much.’

  ‘So, Muirenn kept the book?’ Theo frowned in confusion, ‘or did she leave it in the temple?’

  ‘She couldn’t leave it in the temple, for it had been disturbed. The book was awake and it was calling for its Guardian.’

  ‘It’s Guardian?’

  ‘I don’t know the exact origins of the book but I do know that it had a Guardian once, long ago. The only one who could read it and understand its secrets. Diana knew it could not be left in the temple where anyone could find it, so she gave it to Muirenn and told her that as she was the one who had awoken it, it was her responsibility and that of all who came after her. She was told to keep the book safe but never to use it. She understood that she was its keeper only, until the day came that its rightful owner lay claim to it.’

  ‘So what happened to Nathaniel?’

  ‘He knew that from that point on our family were tied to the fate of the book. In order to find the book, he had to find the descendants of Muirenn’s bloodline, so he stalked the earth looking for any trace but we always managed to be one step ahead of him. Whenever he got too close the family would move again. When they eventually left Ireland they headed to England where they stayed until the great migration across the water to the Americas. There they joined the colonists and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which is how they eventually ended up in Salem.’

  ‘So Nathaniel has been walking the earth for the best part of a thousand years?’ Theo asked.

  ‘That I know of,’ Bridget replied, ‘but he has been searching for the book for much longer. There’s more though. How much do you know of his brother Seth?’

  ‘Not much admittedly’ Olivia replied, ‘only that he’s Nathaniel’s brother and that Hades has him trapped in a prison in the Underworld.’

  ‘They are more than just brothers; they are two halves of a whole. One cannot be fully complete without the other and together they will be unstoppable. If Nathaniel ever gets his hands on the book the first thing he will do is free his brother and if that happens, not even the Gods themselves will be able to stop them.’

  ‘God,’ Theo breathed.

  ‘Then we will just have to make sure he never gets his hands on the book,’ Olivia replied.

  ‘We should…’ Theo began speaking but broke off as the ground began to shake violently. Something behind them toppled from its shelf and smashed on the ground. The simple homely furniture began to rattle and shake. A terrible grinding sound began and the house itself began to toss and shake so violently they were almost thrown from the chairs they sat in. Suddenly there was a loud splintering sound above them as the main support beam began to give way and a large crack appeared in the roof.

  ‘Get down,’ Theo yelled above the grinding of bowing wood. Both Bridget and Olivia crawled under the stout wooden table followed by Theo, where they held on tightly while the house began to tear itself apart.

  Nathaniel sucked in a deep pleasure filled breath as he felt the blade slide into the warm soft body with a soft hiss of metal, feeling the point of the blade clink and spark slightly when it passed straight through and embedded itself in the moss covered stone. The man looked up at him, his wide green eyes filled with shock and pain. His mouth hung open in a silent scream as blood bubbled from the side of his suddenly lax lips. Although it was unnecessary Nathaniel twisted the blade viciously, causing the body to twitch and arch under his slick blood soaked hands. A final sigh of breath escaped the man’s mouth and it was done. He yanked the knife out causing the corpse to jerk once again. Nathaniel laid his hand over the wound in the dead man’s chest and felt warmth flood his hand. The tattered flaking skin of the flesh prison Isabel had forced him into glowed like the embers of a fire. He absorbed the rush of energy and felt the high as the power rushed through his body, weakening his prison and strengthening his own body trapped beneath.

  When he was done he looked down at the keeper of the second Crossroad. No longer a powerful being of ancient power, he lay at the center of the Crossroad he was bound to, callously discarded and pitiful. Now nothing more than an empty decomposing carcass for the filthy parasitic creatures of the Underworld to feed upon. He stepped back and flexed his hands, feeling the euphoric feeling of power spiking through his body. Isabel's feeble power pulsed once through the dead flesh she had stitched to his true form and settled into a dull itch. He reached down at the flap of skin on his forearm and grasped it with his fingers, tearing a long strip off and revealing a raw wound underneath. His eyes, one dead and colorless and one a cloudy blue glanced down to the gaping wound in his chest, where Olivia had pierced his body with Hell fire and he grinned. The little bitch had done him a favor without even realizing it. By breaching the fleshy prison, she had hastened its decomposition, weakening the binding magic Isabel had used. He turned back to the small puddle of water which had pooled in a crack at the edge of the crossroad and caught his reflection. The wound at his throat, which Theo had inflicted with the strange blade, caused him more pain than he would like to admit. It had seared through his skin and although it hadn’t killed him it slowly ate away at his flesh, like one of the filthy human diseases. The wound had blackened and spread down his neck and up to his jaw, the flesh had rotted away
and partially dissolved the bone of his jaw, leaving an unpleasant cavern like void in his face.

  Still it wouldn’t be long until he freed himself from the disgusting, rotting, pig flesh and emerged in his true form. The power he stole from the corpses of the Crossroad keepers were not only sustaining him but feeding him, making him stronger. He’d lied to Isabel; he’d convinced her that it was prudent to destroy all the other Crossroads so no one else could use the advantage against them. It wasn’t hard to convince her; she was obsessed by her desire for the book. It consumed her every waking thought, making her easier and easier to manipulate as she descended into madness. At this point it would be very easy to dispose of her, the binding magic she had used to keep him under control and unable to harm her, had long since crumbled but he wouldn’t kill her, not yet. She may still be of use to him.

  They all underestimated him; he smiled in cold amusement through the ruin of his jaw. They all scrambled, like tiny little pieces on a chess board, unaware that every move they made was predestined because of the events he had set in motion thousands of years ago. If there was one thing he knew it was infinite patience. The pieces were finally moving into place, he was so close. Gaining possession of Infernum was just the beginning. Even Hades, who at this moment hastened to consolidate his armies against him, had no clue as to his true intent.

  Turning back to Isabel who watched calmly from the edge of the stone walkways he stepped back towards her. Her gaze flicked to the corpse lying sprawled at the center of the Crossroad and then back to Nathaniel.