by Patti Larsen
I bent and picked him up, hugged him. He sent me a thread of power, healing the pain in my mind. While I was still weak, at least I could think straight without flinching.
“I need you to stay here,” I said. “To protect Meira and Gram.”
He was already shaking his head, but the moment I mentioned my sister and grandmother he sighed. “That’s not fair.”
“I know,” I said. “But if anyone can protect them, it’s you.”
Sassy’s amber eyes met mine for a long moment. “Be safe,” he said.
***
Chapter Thirty
I took two minutes to change my clothes and spin my hair into a ponytail before pounding back down the stairs.
To find my grandmother standing next to Quaid in the dark kitchen.
“How did she escape?” I was about to lead her back to her room all the while thinking I did not have time for this drama right now, when she reached out for me and touched my hand.
It was like a light turned on in my body, power flushing through me. The feeling of it was infinitely familiar, a power I’d known my whole life. Not just because she was my grandmother, either. Her magic was connected to me in a way I couldn’t begin to understand. I felt a rush of green magic under the blue, the touch of the Sidhe, and wondered as it spread out like a thin shield where it was coming from.
Even my demon fed on it. When Gram was done, I felt fantastic.
She sagged a little, Quaid catching her before she could fall. But she smiled at me, patting my cheek with her thin fingers.
“You have something for me,” she whispered, “and I have something for you.”
There wasn’t time to ask questions or figure it out. “Thanks, Gram.”
The peaceful moment snapped as her instant of lucidity was replaced by the private hell she lived in.
“You’re ugly and you smell!” She smacked my shoulder and drooled as her tongue stuck out. “Half-assed! Poison! Blueberries!”
Okay. Warm fuzzy time over.
With Quaid’s help I managed to manhandle her into her room. She fought us by sagging, her dead weight a literal drag. For such a tiny woman, she weighed a ton.
I ripped open a chocolate bar and left her on the end of her bed happily stuffing her face. I double sealed her wards, exploring the edges of the Sidhe power as I did. The house hummed, a power in its own right, warded and filled with family magic four times a year. But the energy Mom left behind in the door wards was gone. I realized then when I drained some of the buried energy from the house I accidentally took my magic back from her lock.
“We have to hurry,” Quaid said.
I hated leaving Sassy again, so I refused to look back as we ran out the door. Quaid’s bike fired up and we flew across town.
Same plan, I sent him.
Got it.
The side road was now familiar. So was the half-mile walk. Quaid guided me a little closer, but we were forced to run to reach the site.
For a moment, I caught a flicker of shadow to my right out of the corner of my eye, shadow infused with softly glowing white. Sebastian, had to be. But when I turned my head to look for him, the mirage vanished.
Imagined or not, I chose to believe he was here with us and it made me feel a little better.
As long as he could control whatever was happening to him. Otherwise we’d all end up dead. Lovely thought. I chose to vote for confidence and moved on.
I reached out to Quaid’s mind to tell him what I saw when I heard someone laugh.
It sounded an awful lot like Alison.
What? Couldn’t be. It was like three o’clock in the morning. On a school night. What would my friend… what would Alison be doing all the way out here? Not to mention the wards the family put on the site and perimeter should have kept anyone away.
Quaid and I slowed, eased toward the edge of the trees. There, just on the border between the woods and the site, were a group of familiar people. Talking and laughing and giggling in the dark.
Heading right for the clearing.
Oh crap. I reached out, felt around. That was when I understood. The wards were down, the protections gone. Somehow the Chosen and Nicholas figured out a way to collapse the magic that kept the site clear.
This was very, very bad.
I didn’t stop to ask Quaid what he thought. I lunged forward and spun, planting myself in front of my ex-friends, forcing a smile on my face. I even waved a little. Yes, pathetic. Beth let out a meep of fright while Simon tripped over his own feet. The rest of them stopped clearly shocked to find me there.
“Syd.” Simon was bundled up inside a heavy jacket even though it was pretty nice outside. He almost sounded happy to see me. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s a good question.” Mia looked me up and down. “Well?”
“Just out for a stroll, you know.” Sounded so lame. Quaid rescued me.
“Bike ride,” he stepped up beside me. “Heard about this place, thought we’d check it out.”
“At three o’clock in the morning?” Alison’s sarcasm cut me.
But Quaid just rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “You’re here, aren’t you?”
Simon laughed. Even Beth giggled a little. Mia shrugged back while Alison scowled at him.
Benjamin just smiled right at me.
“The gang’s all here,” he said, turning to point at Blood who stood apart, just a few feet away, looking miserable and grumpy. “So great to have all of us together at last.”
Whatever. “Um, how about we all go back to my house?” I could feel a stir in the air, a chill coming. The vampires, had to be. And I knew Erica couldn’t be far behind. I didn’t want my old friends to witness anything they’d have to be mind altered for, but we were about to run out of time. Still, it couldn’t hurt to try. “Hot chocolate, popcorn. What do you say?”
Benjamin shook his head while Mia looked down her haughty little nose at me. I hadn’t seen this side of her before. Or if I did, at the time I didn’t mind.
Now I minded.
“We’re here for a reason,” Mia said. “Benjamin wanted a séance, to raise his dead mother.” She gently patted his cheek. “Poor dear. Anyway, he said he knew this place, that it felt different. And he’s right.” She drew a deep breath, arms wide, drawing in the flavor of the family magic. I could feel a slender tendril of it making past whatever boundaries had been put up to block her power. “This place is perfect.”
If she wanted to be killed. Or mind wiped.
I didn’t have time to argue with her. “Look, you really need to go.” I knew I sounded desperate and hoped they listened even while Mia pushed past me on her way to the center. “Please, listen to me.”
Quaid made a grab for Simon and I felt his magic whisper out. The boy collapsed slowly to the ground.
“Simon!” Beth was beside him in a flash. Even Alison turned to see what happened.
Quaid met my eyes.
It’s the only way.
He was right. I touched Alison’s hand as she passed me on her way to Simon.
I pushed a little too hard. She hit the ground with a thud. Oops.
Meanwhile, Beth sighed herself into sleep. Mia rushed back, glaring at Quaid.
“What did you do to her?”
Quaid shrugged as Blood stepped up, still her defender. Quaid touched her cheek. “Just this,” he said.
She folded like her knees were water. Blood tried to catch her, but Quaid was already touching him, too.
That left Benjamin. He was mine.
He didn’t look surprised. Why? Didn’t matter just then. His smile even survived me putting him to sleep.
We just finished dragging them all into a pile when I felt the first rush of power, heard the flutter of shadows. Quaid’s energy surged out in a net and covered us from view. I knew the illusion wouldn’t hold if someone was really looking but it was the best we could do.
Which meant his magic was now tied up in protecting the others.
I
was on my own.
I crouched under Quaid's shield and watched the vampires materialize. Three of them landed, dumping a pale figure out onto the ground. I heard a soft groan, felt the familiar touch of the woman who slowly sat up. Ground my teeth against the fury overcoming me at the bruises on her beautiful face and the fresh blood trickling from small punctures in her neck and arms.
Those vampire bastards fed on my mother.
***
Chapter Thirty One
The vampires weren’t alone. Within moments, the Chosen appeared on the borrowed ride of another group. Nicholas crashed the party with a scowl as the leader let my father settle to the grass, still trapped in his bubble.
Dad lunged to the edge, his mouth calling for Mom, but no sound emerged. She turned and saw him. Reached for him. I felt their pain and longing even from where I stood. She sagged with the weight of her understanding, a slow and crippled motion bending her forward like an old woman. I saw it in her face when Mom realized Dad wasn’t there to save her, that everything had gone to hell. Her whole being crumbled and she buried her face in her hands to cry.
Dad’s power lashed out inside the bubble, knocking him to his knees.
“Yes, excellent,” the man in the white robe said. “Using your power will only soften you for us. As you can see, your position is quite hopeless. Please, continue.”
Dad just glared at him.
I couldn’t bear to watch. But I didn’t have a choice.
Nicholas swung the man around. “Where is he, Annick?” His hiss traveled despite the quietness of it. “Where is Demitrius?”
“He’ll be here,” Annick said, pulling his arm free, looking at the vampire with great distaste.
So Demitrius was alive after all. Or was he? Maybe white cloak was bluffing? No, it made sense someone so evil would still be alive. Like a cockroach after you tried to squish him.
“That’s my cue.” I jerked my head around as Benjamin opened his eyes and looked at me with those pale blue eyes, that horrible smile.
And I finally understood. There was a very good reason I couldn’t stand him. As Benjamin’s face began to age slowly, his whole body growing and changing while Quaid and I just stared, I figured it out it at last.
Demitrius looked back at me from where Benjamin had been. “Hello, Syd,” he said. “Surprise.”
Son of a… Quaid lashed out at him, but the power just rippled over the smiling man and back at Quaid. He grunted, the shield wavered. It couldn’t be.
“I thought you were normal.” I felt around him again, found nothing. “How?”
His smile widened. “You’ll see.”
Demitrius stood up and walked into the center of the clearing. “You were looking for me?”
Nicholas growled under his breath. “Finally. Where have you been?”
“Entertaining myself,” he said. “Come along, then.”
Mia’s eyes shot open, still asleep and unseeing. Before I could grab her, my magic sliding over her, she shot to her feet and went to his side.
“I found this lovely witch all blocked up.” He patted her cheek. “She’ll make an excellent addition to our ranks. Oh, and let’s not forget,” he spun and did something with his hand. Quaid’s shield collapsed. “The lovely Miss Hayle and her charming protector have joined us.”
Quaid looked baffled. I tried to help him, but as I reached out with my magic, I felt something pushing against me. It was subtle and hard to feel, but definitely not of witch magic origin. Or any other magic I knew of. It had to be the same power Demitrius used to disguise himself, something none of us recognized.
But what could it be?
“What have you done?” That came from Mom, a wavering sound, but still full of defiance.
“Nothing, witch,” Demitrius said, “except alter the rules of engagement.”
At least my friends were still asleep. That much of the magic held. I climbed to my feet and moved forward. Not like hiding was doing much good anymore. “You’re such a hypocrite,” I said. Demitrius’s smile never wavered. “You hunt and kill witches when you’re one yourself.”
“My dear, dear Sydlynn,” he said, “who better to hunt the evil than those who know the evil first hand? Besides, not all of us are witches.”
“You have magic,” I said. “That makes you one of us. Unless you turned undead when I wasn’t looking. And there’s no way you’re a demon or Sidhe.” Was he?
He laughed. “Of course not,” he said. “I’m as human as you… well. I’m human. But there are more types of magic in this world than you can imagine.”
“Sorcerer.” Mom spit the word out like it was evil itself. And as far as I knew, she was right.
But he couldn’t be a sorcerer. That brand of magic died out before I was born. Before Mom was born, even. The ability to use the power inside animate and inanimate objects was no more.
“Why yes,” he smiled at Mom while he took a step forward, standing over her. “A five element sorcerer to be precise. And you will speak to me with respect, witch.” White teeth flashed as he faced her, his cherub perfection all the more terrifying because I knew he was insane and purely evil. His tone stayed light and kind as he planted his foot in her side so hard she almost lifted from the ground.
Mom crumpled as my rage let loose. I gave him no warning, just lashed out at him with demon fire. It engulfed him, sheeted off and dissipated. He still stood there, perfectly fine and smiling at me.
“Too bad demon magic is based so strongly in fire,” he said. “Since I happen to control all combustibles, it’s not possible for your power to harm me. Unlike my vampires.”
Nicholas flinched away from the attack. Now the hopeful, eager look in his eyes, the one that told me he wanted Demitrius dead as much as I did, was gone.
Annick stepped up and handed Demitrius the crystal. The same one that turned my dad into a bubble boy. I had to steal it from him somehow.
Distraction might do it. I didn’t wait to see what he would do, just marched forward and went to Mom, kneeling beside her to hug her. “I thought you were dead in that crash,” I said to him as I sent Mom a thread of healing power.
“Syd,” she whispered, that one word carrying all of her grief.
But I wasn’t listening to her.
“Ah yes, your demon’s little rebellion. How quaint.” He shrugged. “A few of my people were badly injured. A pity. But I of course was unscathed.” Demitrius’s smile broadened. “Were you surprised to see me just then?” He hugged himself, gleeful grin so tight his eyes were almost closed from it. “I was so sure you would find me out. You’re not as clever as I thought.”
“Why did you bother?” I glanced at Mia. Right. He recruited her.
“Yes,” he said, gazing with adoration at my friend, “I did it for her. But there was another reason, far more personal. Did you want to know what it is?”
I almost didn’t just to piss him off. But my curiosity won.
He giggled. Like a girl. Disgusting. “Because of you, Syd,” he said. “I wanted to ruin you. To tear away from you everything that made you happy in your so-called normal life. Like you destroyed my happiness.”
How could he blame me for the night his people were slaughtered by Cesard? Wasn’t he burning me at the stake at the time?
Demitrius bounced on the balls of his feet in his pure delight. “And I won, didn’t I? I won.”
I hated him so much at that moment I would happily have killed him and laughed as I did it. He didn’t give me the chance. His glee settled and he returned to business.
“I wanted to hurt you. For all the pain you caused. But this was different. I knew you and your family were evil, Sydlynn. In that moment when you lost control and your demon half took over, I understood at last. You and your family were not only the very thing I needed to destroy, but the tools I would use to purge this world at last of all forms of unholy magic.”
“So sorcery is holy, is that it?” Whatever. He wasn’t doing anything to change
my mind about how insane he was. “And if that’s true, what about the witches who work for you?” I pointed at the zombie Mia. “What about her?”
“Exceptions are made for the exceptional.” He shrugged. “I made you the same offer once.”
“Just before you tried to burn me at the stake.” I was still pissed about that one.
He smiled. “I’m so happy I failed.”
Sicko.
“I’ve done as you asked.” Nicholas stepped up, cutting off our little conversation. “Fulfilled my part of the agreement. It’s time you did the same.”
Demitrius’s bell-like laughter hurt my ears. I was growing very sick of it. We should have been surrounded by reinforcements by now, cutting that laughter to the quick.
Where was Erica? Better yet, where the hell was Sebastian? Was I wrong? Had I just imagined seeing him following me? If ever I needed a deathly angel, it was now.
“Nicholas,” Demitrius said with a shake of his head, cherub face pink from his laughter. “Did you really think I would just let you go? You’re a vampire, the lowest and darkest of the evil. Even demons are above you, my dog. You I will hold onto until you are no longer needed and then I will stake your heart personally with a silver spike and watch you burn.”
Nicholas shook with rage. I could tell by the way he held himself he wanted to attack. But something held him back.
The crystal. It glowed. Was this the core of Demitrius’s power? The other Chosen used it as well. Was it some kind of sorcerer’s key?
Nicholas finally backed off as I realized the truth about our situation. Erica should have beaten us here. There were coven members far closer than me to the site. If they were coming to the rescue they would have been here by now. Even if Celeste somehow managed to convince the others to stay away, Erica and the Vegas would have come anyway.
And there was no sign of them, not even a touch of their magic.
For whatever reason, they weren’t coming. And since Sebastian was also absent, no rescuing undead whatever he was becoming in sight, I had to believe the inevitable.
We really were on our own.