“Yeah, I did.”
“So she told you everything?”
“More or less.” I thought of Laura and was sad for her. I pictured her sitting in her rocking chair and smoking her cherry wood pipe. I could picture the spirits dancing around her as she was lost in memories of her magic before it had been taken away.
“But what that sacrifice will be, I have no idea.” I braced myself. Tears splashed up against the back of my eyes, threatening to come out. “I am scared to death that the sacrifice will be a price I can’t pay.” I turned my back to her to hide the hopelessness plainly visible on my face.
“What do you mean, Nic?” Trace laughed. “If I were in your shoes, I would give anything. I would pay any price to end this evil and send Lou back to oblivion!”
I turned back to her. “Would you give up Joel? What about Strider? Would you do this, rid the world and our lives of one demon, just to lose what it was you had been fighting for in the first place?” My eyes pleaded with her to understand. She stopped short and thought about it. She looked at me and began chewing on her lip.
Yeah, I know; it is a freaking tough question.
Tracey sat back down on the stone bench. A breeze blew softly past her, her raven hair lifting to its caress. She sat in deep thought for what seemed like forever. Then she seemed to resolve, took a deep breath, and answered my question. “I think I would end my own life before I let that happen to someone I love.”
My jaw dropped. Tracey held a firm face. Tears streamed down my face. I was so shocked and hurt, but at the same time…
Tracey was right.
If I were forced to choose—if I would lose someone I loved—I could step in place. If I ended my life, there would be no evil aftereffects of a spent Lightning Witch; no sacrifices would have to be made. Honestly, it would also redeem the horror I’d brought onto my family. Well, one would hope. I resolved with a finality that scared me, gave me chills, but also finally took my worries away so I could face Lou with the focus and determination I would need.
When the time came, I would accept the sacrifice upon myself.
Tracey got up and was walking away. I called after her. “Tracey!”
When she turned back with unfeeling eyes, my heart sank a little more. She must think even worse of me since I hadn’t come to this conclusion on my own.
“Can I just ask you to keep this to yourself now? I don’t want Jasper to know this after everything,” I said sheepishly. She stared at me for a long moment, then nodded her head before walking back to the warmly lit house filled with my loved ones.
Chapter Thirty
The house was a whirlwind of people going about their tasks in preparation for the battle. Hayden was steadily back and forth between the kitchen, greenhouse, and garden. She had all kinds of herbal concoctions ready, labeled and jarred for emergency use only. As I helped her, I would see her wiping the sweat from her brow and pushing a loose strand of blond hair from her face, completely focused on her tasks. I prayed we wouldn’t need any of her concoctions. They were just for precautionary measures.
I looked down and noticed Hunter sitting next to me proudly, watching the process of boiling, drying, blessing, enchanting, mixing, and jarring, and he looked up at me with his smoky blue eyes. I thought I saw a hint of worry or sadness there. I smiled at him and patted his head reassuringly.
He slept a lot these days and did not have the same hitch in his giddy-up that he used to. He still had that puppy-dog face and goofy smile. Sometimes I forgot that he was essentially an old man on the inside, even though he’d never lost his pup face. He always had a smile for me, nonetheless. He didn’t care what we were doing as long as he was right there at my side. I wished silently that I could keep him someplace safe during this battle, but I knew this was his home too. He had to be present. He wouldn’t accept being anywhere else but by my side.
Tracey had her head bent in several books at once, muttering to herself and taking notes. Her raven-black hair floated around her, helping her turn pages every now and then. She looked like a goddess of the written word. Joel came up behind her and placed a cup of tea next to her and then scooped in for a distracted kiss. All of the books fell. I snickered and gave them their privacy.
I wondered idly if they would take their relationship to the next level when this was all over. I rolled my eyes heavenward.
If this would ever be over.
Hayden was all straightened away with everything, so I figured I would make myself useful elsewhere. I looked back down to Hunter. “Come on, bud; let’s go check on the boys.
We wandered outside, taking deep breaths of the fading summer, which the earth hadn’t yet accepted, still showing its bright blue skies and white fluffy clouds. But the trained nose of an Earth Witch could scent that the time of summer this year was running out.
Out in the garage, Duke and Theo moved rhythmically in check with one another as they laboured over their weapon creating with burning torches and heavy grinders. The thick welding masks sat on top of their heads, and dirt clung to the sweat on their bodies. The garage was a hotbox of clangs and bangs as they worked the hot metal, fire and sparks shooting out as they plunged the nickel and steel into hot coals.
The most impressive was a beautiful sword with engravings akin to Excalibur. Joel had followed us in here and retrieved the sword and swung it expertly, slicing through the air around him, checking the weight and alignment. Getting his body affiliated with the weapon. I could see he too was impressed.
Jasper was heating the metals with his Fire, seeming to hold expert control of his element now.
Wow. All that training had paid off nicely.
Joel, Jasper, and I moved outside, and we began practicing throwing fireballs as Joel counteracted them with his new blade. Theo would run back and forth with a bucket of water to ensure we didn’t set fire to anything.
A car suddenly was peeling up the roadway, skidding and fishtailing all the way. Hunter’s haunches went up, and he growled low and deep, but we knew it was not a threat because the driver had had no problem getting through the protection spell that still ran the perimeter of Autumn Moors lands.
Plus, it was the easily recognizable yellow Volkswagen beetle. Piper’s car.
When the car skidded to a stop, Reg exited the passenger side and slammed the door. “I swear to the Almighty, Piper, you will kill us before any demon has a chance!” Reg patted at her mussed-up hair and checked her lipstick in her pocket mirror. Piper fell out of the car and ran over to me in a flurry of bats and wasps. She was obviously in distress.
Piper was out of breath, her face flushed, and Betty came and was hopping around them, barking in excitement like a Chihuahua.
“I—have—to—tell—you—” she managed to get out between breaths.
I laid my hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Slow down, Piper. Get your breath.”
“I was following up on a vision I had. He must have been in hiding, which would explain why I haven’t had a glimpse of him in ages,” Reg filled in while Piper dropped to the ground, her small frame heaving for breath. Reg looked down at her. “Good Lord, Piper; you’d think you ran here, not drove.”
“Wait, Reg; you followed up on a vision? Of Lou?” I was so concerned and beyond mortified. She’d gone after him alone? To follow up on a vision?
“Darling, you’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning to put a fright in this ole lady.” Reg winked. It wasn’t cute; not now. Not about Lou.
“Reg, are you out of your mind?” Joel came over, shoving me to the side. “He would have killed you both just for spite!”
“You watch your tone with me, young man. I said I was fine. Besides, Tracey gave me this, should I get myself into any trouble I couldn’t get out of on delectable charm and non-relinquishing etiquette alone.” She held up one of the nickel-plated blades Duke and Theo had made. It was a handheld knife and glowed blue. “It’s nickel, and it’s drenched in a lovely poison that would ca
use all sorts of traumas.”
We all glared at her. Not good enough, Reg.
“Duke did call it a lady’s blade. I rather liked that moniker.” She smiled, pleased with herself. We were off track now.
“So what happened?” Jasper touched her arm to get her focus onto what the emergency was.
“Nic, we spotted him in town. First sighting in months!” Piper finally managed to say.
I shared a look with Joel and Jasper. Then I turned to Reg, who was somber and deadly quiet.
Piper scrambled up from her recovery. “We saw him! We saw Lou! Dance with the devil—” Piper started singing an oldie rock song and took off in a wild dance. Theo came out of the garage at that moment, and she grabbed him. He awkwardly tried to keep up with her, bouncing around like a jumping bean. I looked back to Reg, whose face was drawn, and her eyes were now a smoky green, like seeing a storm on the horizon of a great field. A telltale sign she was having a vision.
Reg spoke softly, but with absolute dread in her voice. “He’s coming, Nic. The devil is coming to Autumn Moors, and he comes for you tonight.”
Chapter Thirty-One
This was it.
This was the time when all fates would slam together and be decided.
There would be no more pondering outcomes, no more planning and preparing, no more discussions.
The battle would begin.
I could not worry; I would not fear anything. I would destroy Lou, the devil who’d come into our lives and destroyed what I known, changed me forever, and set me forth on the path of becoming the Lightning Witch. I would finish him and send him back to hell.
Then I would end my life in order to save the ones I loved.
Please, God, wherever I end up, please don’t let it be with Lou in hell.
He came at the tail end of dusk. The moon was quick to come out and get high up in the sky for a better vantage point. Everything was eerily quiet, except for the water trickling into the pools provided by the fountains and the evergreens brushing softly against each other with their giant branches.
The stars had already gone behind some overcast clouds that swept quickly by, one after the other, in the breezy air. The moon was a hook making an effort to pick up the earth from its slumber.
I waited for him in the gardens where I’d once come to find my peace, among the scents and sights of the wide variety of plants and flowers that Jasper and I had grown with care from seed. I would come here to find tranquility as I walked through the mosaic pathways, with the arbors draped in morning glories. I would pause at the stone sculptures of all kinds of angels blessing the greens, or sit on the marble benches in quieter moments. This was my safe haven, which was probably why I felt a wave of calm and peace flow over me and through me now, at this moment, when I should have been scared out of my mind. I was filled with awe of nature within the world around me. I was in my perfect center here. I was at one with everything.
Tonight my safe haven would no longer be remembered as such.
Tonight I came here to meet my enemy.
Tonight I came here for war.
I stood at the center of the gardens, the heart of our lands, not far from where the house was. I stood all alone, except for with Hunter at my side, as always. Jasper had been beside himself when we’d first planned how this would begin, with me alone.
“How am I supposed to protect you from him? How am I supposed to protect my wife?” His face had been glowing as he’d asked me that question.
I pleaded with him to stay back. “Jasper, if he gets a hold of you and your element—”
“No. I won’t let him get the chance.” Jasper’s eyes were blood red with fire boiling in his blood.
“Please. I know I shouldn’t ask you this, but please, Jasper; please trust me.”
We convinced him eventually to let me start this battle, providing he had the closest vantage point. We could not risk the chance of Lou getting a hold of his Fire. And I couldn’t risk losing the love of my life to the devil.
Everyone had their hiding places in the secret paths I’d created. They were not to come out until their cues—everyone was outside except for Betty, who stayed behind back at the house, safe with Hayden, waiting for the battle to begin and would come out to help, only if absolutely necessary. Betty had come down with something and wasn’t feeling so well lately, and we needed Hayden to stay safe in case one of us was injured, as she was the only healer among us.
I felt it in my bones that Lou was coming. The protection spell on the land would not keep him out all night. I listened to the earth, my hands clenching and unclenching, my eyes slowly scanning the area for the slightest movement. I knew in my soul he was near. It felt like spiders crawling on my skin; a sour heat filled my nostrils, and my stomach turned over. I rolled my eyes.
He had always been one for a dramatic entrance.
“Lou?” I called out to the winds. “I know you’re there.”
No answer, except for the wind.
Coward.
The breeze took off with my words, and I followed its path up to the trees and had to turn around to follow it as it jumped across the treetops and past every branch before it settled into the bushes. I kept my gaze there.
In one fast movement, Lou came out from behind the trees to my right, he stopped and began to slowly saunter toward me like a cat zoning in on its prey. The irritation solutions Tracey had doused the perimeter with were doing nothing I could see to aggravate him.
I turned to face him before he could get behind me.
He stopped about thirty meters from me when I held up a firm hand to tell him that was far enough. Hunter shifted to all fours and kept his head low, sniffing Lou’s scent.
Lou looked down his nose at Hunter, focusing on him hard, most likely to hurt him the way he had when he’d first stepped foot in my gardens and smothered my element. Hunter sat beside me, watching Lou, completely unaffected by Lou’s attempts to separate us again.
Tracey had cloaked Hunter in a protection spell like an invisible shield. It certainly was strong, because Lou couldn’t penetrate it. He looked annoyed and then raised his eyes back to me.
I smiled. “Something the matter, Lou?”
He scoffed at me and veered on his feet. The growing shadows made him seem even more grotesque than I remembered. It had been quite some time since I’d laid eyes on him. He did not look so well at all. He looked sick and undernourished. I considered his appearance to be a result of having absolutely no contact with me or any witch for a year. He had nothing to suck the life out of anymore to nourish himself.
Good.
He was still absolutely frightening inside of that moment, and for a second I wanted to be anywhere else in this world than right here, right now, with him. I had to banish that thought and stay here.
Finish this.
“Ugh; what do I care about a mangy old dog anyway?” he said in disgust. Hunter growled. I rolled my eyes. Lou began to circle me. I switched feet to keep him straight in front of me. My heart was hammering in my chest. I’m pretty sure my hands were shaking, and my mouth went dry.
“Nic—my darling Nicole.” He sighed. “How have you been? You are looking better than last time I saw you.” He chuckled to himself, remembering the days when I was his prisoner. “I’ve missed you and our shenanigans. I must say, I wasn’t sure if you would make it out of that slice-and-dice factory alive.” He had one hand on where his heart should be—a lame attempt at being sincere—but then, as if something had just come to him, he raised both arms. “Tell me, are you still capable of rational thought, or are you now akin to one of your fine squashes over there?” He laughed and pointed to the vegetable garden. Apparently he found it amusing to compare my brain function to a vegetable.
It was eerie to me to find out that all along he had known I was at Shadow Hills. Had he been following me the whole time? If so, how much did he know? Did he know I had met the last Lightning Witch, and did he know that I now too was a White W
itch?
I began to worry that he was again one step ahead of us. I had to play it cool. “Nope. I’m all here, Lou. Better than ever, actually. But I do appreciate your concern.” I held my chin up. He looked mildly disappointed.
“Well, I’m sure you are still capable of some useful things.” His beady eyes scanned my body and rested on my abdomen. “Or are you still useless in that department?”
I seethed with anger at the implication. I noticed my hands began to glow slowly. Hunter stepped closer to me, showing support.
Don’t give him the upper hand; he’s trying to make you mad. Joel’s voice was in my head. He was watching us closely. He was right. I had to start seeing through Lou’s antics, not succumb to them.
I held my hands together behind my back so Lou wouldn’t notice they were glowing. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I had let it go.
He tried a different tactic.
“Ah, but I see you’ve been quite busy.” He wagged a naughty finger at me. “What have you been planning here at Autumn Moors, Nicole? My demise?” He chuckled to himself. “You and your shabby version of a coven?” He was laughing harder now, mocking me. “You all think you can hurt me?” He stopped laughing and blinked his eyes at me, waiting for a response. I did not give one. He was playing with me. Then he went insanely serious. He growled when he spoke next. “I am going to teach you the hardest lesson, Nicole. I will make you watch while I come forth and rip apart everyone here!” His eyes scanned the surroundings as if he were picking out every hiding place of my family.
I felt Jasper and my heartstring flickering in panic. Jasper wanted to come out now. I settled the string, unsure now about everything, but not wanting to show Lou our cards so quickly. Lou looked at me more closely and then threw his head back in full-out laughter.
I felt my anger begin to rise in my belly, like an ember trying to catch in a hearth. In the darkening distance, thunder rolled and grumbled. I steadied myself and touched the crescent moon left by Lupa on my hand.
The Lightning Witch (Elements Book 2) Page 15