Souls of Three: Book Two of the Starseed Trilogy

by Ashley McLeo

  Lily nodded though her attention had already shifted. She’d spotted Selma, Rena, and Annika, who should have been in the basement, across the large ballroom battling with all their might. From what Lily could tell, Selma was using her siren gifts to subdue any males within her range while Rena and Annika alternated fighting the females that approached and binding their captives. It was scrappy as all hell and she loved it. Lily watched as Annika shot a well-aimed hex and her worry deflated.

  “Let’s go help Sara,” Lily said, finally assured her adoptive family could take care of themselves. She took off, leaving Aoife and Brigit in her wake.

  Spell after spell flew from Sara’s outstretched hands as she whirled about battling a werewolf and two witches. A pile of ash lay at her feet, indicating what had happened to her last opponent. A mere thirty feet away, Lily saw one of the witches Sara was fighting, a pale, petite brunette, lunge at her sister with a dagger.

  “Come on, little witchling! Don’t tell me you’re out of gas already! Is that all you have?” the brunette witch jeered as she deflected Sara’s spell and threatened to throw the blade.

  Lily screeched to a halt and pointed carefully at the witch, not wanting to hit Sara instead. “Birarazi!”

  Her spell hit its target and the witch started to spin like a top, her long brown hair ending in a candle shape above her head. “I’d say she’s got one up on you, hag,” Lily yelled and sent the witch flying through the stained-glass window.

  “That’s her. That’s the other one,” the werewolf roared, and before Lily knew it a terrifying wolf man with enlarged canines and a chest so hairy it rivaled a gorilla’s was charging at her.

  “Cogerba!” Lily’s spell grazed his hide and Lily’s mouth fell open as she stood frozen in place while the wolf man kept charging. “Hercapto,” Lily tried again, but the grass that rose from the marble grew too slowly to grasp the man-wolf by the ankles and capture him.

  The half man, half wolf laughed and gained speed. “The weak one is mine!”

  “Like hell she is,” Brigit said, sending a shower of sparks at the were as she ran to Lily’s side.

  The sparks caught on the man’s copious body hair. He screamed and fell to the floor trying to pat the fire out. “Go help Sara, Lil. We’ll take care of him and those fools” Brigit gestured to a witch and vampire running toward them from the other direction.

  “You found me!” Sara said, exhaustion clear in her voice as Lily finally joined her side.

  “Of course I did. You’re my sister. I’ll never leave you.” Lily jumped to avoid a curse while simultaneously shooting a freezing hex at the blonde Amazon witch Sara had been fighting. Despite being a wand user, the Amazon was clearly a witch of great skill. That Sara had lasted this long on her own, with this witch, let alone the werewolf and the dagger-wielding brunette, was astonishing.

  Spells flew back and forth at a mind-boggling rate and the Amazon deflected or reflected them all. Within minutes it became apparent that Sara and Lily would not be able to beat the Amazon on skill alone. They didn’t know enough magic yet, and Brigit and Aoife were still preoccupied with the werewolf, now fully transformed, and the witch and vampire who had come to his aid. We have to shake things up, catch her unaware, if we’re to beat this witch . . . and I think I know just the way.

  Lily lifted a corner of her mind barrier and pushed her idea into her sister’s head.

  Sara’s eyes widened and her eyes locked with Lily’s.

  “Do you trust me? I swear I’ll be fast,” Lily gasped, hurled a spinning spell at the Amazon who cackled and flung it into the crowd behind her without looking.

  Sara nodded, no longer able to speak because she was panting so hard.

  With that Lily disappeared into the fray.

  The blonde Amazon’s laughter rang through the chaos, high and cold. “Your sister decided you weren’t worth it, eh?” the witch jeered.

  It took all the willpower Lily had to not turn around right then. But she stayed on track sprinting in a wide circle around the ballroom, hoping the witch would write Lily off as she waited for the perfect shot.

  As she ran Lily saw Alfred, now a dim yellow, beheading another daemon, and Jane leaping upon the back of a massive wolf pinning Sylvia to the ground. Dashing past the grand staircase, Lily shot a couple fireballs at two weres rushing up the steps. They howled and fell back down the steps as their fur caught on fire. Her pace slowed as she passed Rena, Annika, and Selma and sent their new opponents into a rousing Celtic jig. Rena gave her the thumbs up and Lily grinned, never breaking stride.

  And then she was back where she started, closing in and gaining speed. Lily practically flew toward Brigit and Aoife, who were still battling numerous opponents. But Lily didn’t dare act on their behalf. They were moving too fast, dancing around the burnt, furious were, witch, and agile vampire. She couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t hit them instead of their opponents. With a final burst of speed she rounded on Sara, bound in a flame gate of her own making with the blonde witch and battling for her life. As she drew closer Lily effortlessly wove a binding spell with water and shot it through the fire, right at the blonde witch.

  Sara’s flame gate flew back up a second after Lily saw the Amazon witch fall to the ground, her arms and legs clamped to her torso and water streaming off her face.

  “Hell yes!” Lily squealed.

  “Never thought I’d be happy to see that dirty trick again,” Sara wheezed as she dropped her flame gate.

  The witch snarled from her position on the floor, pure hatred in her eyes, “You’ll never be able to defeat him. Our master is too great. You don’t stand a chance.”

  “Oh, shove it,” Sara said waving her hand and spelling the witch’s mouth shut.

  Kicking the wand from the witch’s grip, Lily stomped on it, cracking it in half with an invigorating snap. “Herbcapto,” she said, just because the witch had pissed her off so much. She smiled as grass grew from the smooth marble floor to imprison the witch in long green blades. “Come on. Let’s help Brigit and Aoife.”

  The sisters snuck up behind the vampire dancing dangerously close to Brigit.

  “Together?” Sara asked, her cheeks flushed.

  Lily nodded. “On three. One. Two. Flampila!”

  The vampire never even knew they were there.

  Free of her opponent, Brigit shot them a grateful smile. “Dionean! Dionean!” she cried, knocking out the were and witch engaging Aoife with two sneaky stunning spells.

  “Great job, girls. And I saw that clever idea, Lily,” Brigit wheezed.

  “When you should have been focused on your own fight?” Lily raised her eyebrows at her mother.

  Brigit shrugged, “You can’t blame a mother for looking after her young. I told you, you three are my first priority.”

  “I bet they’re keeping Evelyn down there,” Aoife interrupted and gestured down the left fork of the hallway. “I saw the vamp you were fighting guarding the entrance to that wing before he took you on, Brig. Apparently, he couldn’t help himself.”

  Brigit held up her arm to reveal a superficial but profusely bleeding gash, “I think this may have lured him in. Lil?”

  Lily grasped her mother’s arm. It was riddled with red punctures as if teeth had ripped through Brigit’s skin. “Is it a werewolf bite?” Her heart was racing. If it was a were bite, nothing she did could help her mother.

  “Goddess be, no!” Brigit said. “A stray spell from that blasted witch who was fighting Aoife.”

  A breath of relief escaped Lily’s lips. She pulled a dried angelica leaf from her healer’s pack and placed it over the wound. “Salus,” she whispered, closing her eyes and trusting her family to have her back if anyone should rush them.

  Even with the added potency of the angelica, the spell took longer than usual to work but Lily was sure that was normal. I’ve used a lot of energy fighting, she reminded herself. I should just be happy this wound isn’t like Quinn’s and I can actually fix it. A final rush
of healing magic left her and Lily removed the leaf to find raw, pink skin on Brigit’s arm.

  Brigit examined the site of injury. “I’ll tell Fiona to work on building your stamina when we get back home, but this will work for now.” There was no malice in her voice, only honest concern and a certainty they would escape the manor tonight. “Now let’s go rescue your sister.”

  An Ally

  “Shield the door! They’re on this floor,” an athletic witch commanded.

  They’re coming to save me.

  “Drink this, siren,” Empusa snarled.

  “Again?” Evelyn croaked. She tore her gaze from her emaciated body to find the vampire hovering over her, a glass of blood in her hands. “But I had the other’s . . .”

  “I am aware you drank my brother’s blood this morning. And I’m bidding you to drink mine. In case you’re too dense to hear, your wretched family has brought an army down upon us. You must create another portal now and our blood is the only thing that makes you strong enough to do so.”

  There was no fighting it. Evelyn could barely lift her arms, let alone stop Empusa from pouring blood down her throat. While the sinewy muscles from her last vampire blood cocktail remained, they lay on bones without a smoothing cover of fat. It created the illusion that Evelyn was nothing more than a buff skeleton.

  She was sure creating another portal was out of the question. Just two hours prior, when the shield alarms first sounded, Noro had commanded Evelyn to open her second portal, and she’d failed. She was sure this was because it had been too soon after the first portal, which had nearly killed her.

  Slowly, she took the glass from Empusa and lifted it to her lips.

  “Drink faster, witch,” Empusa hissed and tilted the cup up so the blood rushed into Evelyn’s mouth faster.

  Evelyn’s eyes narrowed, though she continued to drink. Each drop I drink weakens Empusa and Amon. If I can’t fight them, it’s the least I can do.

  “The shields are on the door, Mistress,” a wizard simpered, earning himself one of Empusa’s seductive smiles.

  “Good. Father, would you add the final touch?” Empusa turned to the navy fata. Noro had been floating near the window for two hours, staring intently into the woods where a handful of Acolytes had guided the rest of the fata through the trees after the shield that covered Peacock Manor fell.

  Maybe my family will have caught a few of the escapee fata in the woods and handled them already. Even as Evelyn dared to hope she knew there was no way. Noro would never put Dimia or his kind in danger. The rest of the Acolytes sure but not the precious fata. No, he knew someone would come save me eventually. I bet he had an escape route planned the entire time. The fata are probably already on their way to a place where they can hide and absorb magic until they build up the strength to fight.

  “With pleasure. Move aside Acolytes,” Noro said and the crowd in the room parted wordlessly, creating a path from Noro to the door. A flourish of air—blue and purple and yellow swirls, the likes of which Evelyn had never seen—flew across the room to hit the door shielded with numerous layers of witching magic. The door sparkled, contracted, and then expanded back to normal size once more.

  Evelyn’s eyes widened and Noro’s mouth grew round with delight. He liked that he’d impressed her. “It’s not a charm you’ll be learning soon, Eve. We, the fata, use that charm on Hecate only for the highest defense. Any witch or wizard who gets past the superficial spells my Acolytes set will face instant death once they reach my spell. It is the strongest level of protection I can provide. My shield ensures you will not need to rush creating the portal. No one on this planet, save for the fata you brought over yesterday, have knowledge enough to break through my magic.”

  A flutter of movement pushed against Evelyn’s chest and she sighed. She’d discovered in her brief period of consciousness that she had, at best, a moderate amount of control over her pneuma. It seemed she was able to choose when to let it out and ask it where to go but it didn’t always listen. If she ignored it too long, the flutter often grew into pain and she ended up letting it out either way. It was infuriating to have something living within her but not have full control over it.

  So my family is finally here to save me and you want to abandon me for a little intergalactic mission, is that it? Evelyn’s voice was scalding inside her head. Well, I’m not letting you out until I have to. You’re part of me, so why are you on their side?

  The flutter stopped, shot up to her neck, and swayed from side to side.

  What the? Are you shaking my head?

  The flutter moved up and down.

  Holy shit. This is crazy. So you’re not on Noro’s side?

  The flutter moved side to side once more.

  Damn. That changes things. Sorry I yelled at you, but we have to talk fast. About that fata charm Noro just used . . .

  The Reckoning

  Lily, Sara, Brigit, and Aoife sprinted across the ballroom to the hallway entrance Aoife had seen the vampire guarding. Lily glanced over her shoulder as she ran and her eyes zeroed in on Selma, then darted to Rena and Annika, who fought nearby. She exhaled. All three were still safe—their reactions a bit slower, perhaps, but they were still fighting.

  Thank the Goddess.

  She reached the hallway first, turned, and saw Mary and Gwenn rushing to catch up with their group. Blood smeared Mary’s winter camo and Gwenn’s dark brown hair was falling out of her hair tie but they, too, appeared uninjured.

  “Mary! Gwenn!” Brigit cried after joining Lily in the relative safety of the hallway. “Where have you been?”

  The collective scents of her witchy family members—pepper, ginger, cinnamon, lavender, grapefruit, rain, and holy basil mixed with the blood and sweat from battle—overcame Lily and her head swam.

  “We were on the opposite side of the room. We saw Lil race around the ballroom and have been fighting our way across to join you since. Everyone good?” Mary asked, wiping her forehead and smearing blood across it.

  “No worse than expected.” Aoife nudged them down the hallway, away from the eyes of any Acolytes who might follow. “Now then, does anyone remember where the master rooms are? Evelyn wasn’t on the middle floors so I’d wager they’re keeping her near Empusa’s and Amon’s rooms.”

  “Near the end?” Mary offered, her soprano voice lifting into a question.

  They walked down the hall, listening and feeling for shields or magic congregated around the dozens of doors they passed. Twice Lily thought she heard movement behind the sheaths of smooth mahogany, though when she pressed her ear to rich wood the noise ceased. I wish Sylvia were here. Those last two banshee screams would be useful right now.

  Suddenly, a flash of blue light retreating under a door up ahead caught Lily’s eye.

  “Did you feel that?” Sara asked, clutching Lily’s arm and staring at the spot where the light had been.

  Feel it? Before Lily could ask Sara what she was talking about the blue light pulsed again. It extended all the way into the middle of the hall, lingered for a second, and disappeared beneath the crack once more. Lily’s heartbeat quickened and she crept toward where the light had just been.

  “Something’s over here. It’s the same shade of blue light that broke the shield. It flashed into the hallway then back under the crack twice.” Lily glanced at Aoife. “You know, the light that felt like Evelyn’s magic.”

  Aoife nodded, joined Lily, and pressed her ear to the door. A second later she jumped back, her red hair electrified. “This door’s bewitched, that’s for sure, and not by any regular shield charm. Strange magic, too, maybe elf?” She lifted her chin and narrowed her copper eyes in question.

  Lily couldn’t handle the elephant in the room any longer. “What about fata magic?”

  Sara inhaled sharply and her hand flew to her mouth.

  Lily quirked a brow at her sister’s innocence. She must not even have considered Noro would be here. Unlike Sara, I’ve learned to expect the worst.


  However, no one else looked surprised. Least of all Aoife, who didn’t pause in her examination of the door.

  “Even if Evelyn isn’t behind this door, we should check out what is. Any door spelled this heavily, with multiple levels of shields, is hiding something big. Let’s hope it’s Evelyn so we can get the hell out of here,” Aoife said.

  “If it’s under multiple levels of enchantment, how do we know which spell to use? The wrong one may backfire, right?” Sara’s brows knit together.

  “Aye,” Aoife leaned close and sniffed the dark wood.

  A nearby scream broke Lily’s contemplation and she turned to find Jane, Quinn, and Alfred at the end of the hallway battling a tall, golden-haired creature that moved with vampiric speed and a transformed werewolf.

  “Whatever it is, we better figure it out fast,” Lily pointed down the hall. She shot a stunning spell at the were. The spell made it only halfway down the long hall and Lily swore.

  “Bloody hell,” Gwenn followed Lily’s lead and stepped out of the group. “Flampila.” A bright blue fireball shot from her hands, missing Quinn by inches, and she swore again. “They’re too far away to be accurate. Should I go—”

  “No,” Brigit said, her tone cutting. “We need you to fight whatever is behind this door. Evelyn is in there. I can feel her. All of this is for naught if we can’t save her.”

  Brigit was right, though that didn’t diminish Lily's urge to run and help when the Vikingesque vamp lunged at Alfred fangs bared. Alfred slipped out of the way just in time his dagger extended in his hand. Goddess, please let that dagger be silver, Lily thought, turning back around to concentrate on the door. Surely none of the normal unlocking spells would work, or any spells to force the door open. It wouldn't be anything too obvious . . .

  Lily? Lily . . .

  “What?” Lily asked.

  Everyone stared at her.

  “Who said my name?”

  “No one said your name, honey,” Brigit said.