Denai Touch: Excalibar Investigations Series

by Tiffany Shand

  It’s alright, sweetheart. Don’t be afraid of your abilities, said Ceri. Accept who and what you are.

  Cate moved over to Bethany, her fingers wrapping around her wrist. Skin contact, as well as eye contact would make it easier. She tried to look away, so Cate grabbed her by the throat, her eyes blazing with power as energy pulsed into the other witch. Bethany’s eyes shimmered as the magic reverberated through her. It was so easy; she hadn’t even had to command her magic. It simply locked Bethany within her control.

  “What’s your name?” Cate asked as she looked dazed. It was always easier to start off with simple questions.

  “For goodness sake, Catherine! Just get on with it!” Seline snapped. “We are not in the Enforcer’s Tower. Act like a true Denai.”

  She glared at her gran, power flashing in her eyes.

  “Bethany Norwood,” the compelled witch replied.

  “Norwood? I thought your name was Turner?”

  “I have had many names over the centuries.”

  Seline said, “Now that I believe.”

  “How long have you worked for the Covenant?”

  “Many times over the last thousand years. I am loyal to them. Raven promised me power.”

  “Yes, she likes to make promises she doesn’t keep,” Ceri muttered.

  “Has Raven given you power before?” Cate prompted.

  Bethany nodded. “Yes, she gave me Denai powers. Incredible powers, but I could only use them at her bidding.”

  “How did she give them to you? Did she take them from living Denai?”

  “Raven cast a spell to bestow the powers on me. I don’t know where it comes from, but she used the enchantment on me and her other Denai followers.”

  “What does she do when she casts the spell?”

  “This is taking too long,” Seline said. “Go into her mind.”

  “You know how hard that is for me,” she snapped. “And I could damage it.”

  “She’ll be dead soon and you’re the Goddess Marked. You have the ability to do whatever you will, use it,” said the Grand Mistress. “My patience is growing thin.”

  “I’ve barely started to question her.”

  “Just enter her mind. You’ll find all the answers we need in there.”

  “Mother–” Ceri started to protest.

  “You stay out of this. You’re lucky I’m tolerating your presence here.”

  Cate sighed. “Gran–”

  “Just get on with it, Catherine!”

  “Mel, please leave us,” said Ceri.

  Seline glowered at her. “Who is Grand Mistress here? You were banished with good reason!”

  “Only because I dared to question your authority and tried to lead the coven out of the dark ages. I forgot, no one must ever question your faultless judgement.”

  “Mel, you can go,” Cate said. “Mum, Gran, if you don’t stop arguing I’ll leave right now.”

  “You have no authority over me either!”

  “Doesn’t she? Or don’t I for that matter?” Ceri demanded. “My husband is the Tempus, and Cate isn’t just your granddaughter, but Niara’s. So that means we out rank you, dear Mother.”

  Mel quietly left the room and Cate was starting to see first-hand why Ceri had left the coven. “All right, I’ll go into her mind, but I can’t do it if I keep feeling waves of hostility coming off you two.” She decided to give in, if only to bring about some peace.

  “Before you do, I have something that can show us what you see.” A large orb, which looked similar to a crystal ball, appeared in her hand.

  Seline asked. “What is that for? Are you going to call your famous mother-in-law for help?”

  Ceri rolled her eyes. “It will show us whatever images Cate sees.”

  Seline was about to protest, but Cate turned her attention back to Bethany, who was still in the grip of compulsion. “I’m going to enter your mind now. You will do nothing to resist me.” Turner mutely nodded. Cate’s eyes glowed silver as light pulsed from her forehead into Bethany.

  Lights flashed around her as Cate travelled into the abyss of Bethany’s mind. Thoughts and images whirled around, echoing with sound. Her first instinct was to pull away; just because Bethany was a Denai didn’t mean she was easier to read.

  Bethany, show me how Raven bestowed those powers on you, Cate told her.

  The blackness swallowed her up, until she found herself standing in another room, in a different place and time.

  The room was lit with old-fashioned oil lamps. Cate could smell the oil and the scent of smoke as fire crackled in a nearby heath. Bethany walked into the room, where Raven and Tasha stood waiting. Tasha didn’t look happy.

  “Step into the circle,” Raven ordered.

  Cate could feel Bethany’s nerves and excitement. Finally, she would have real power again.

  “Why are you doing this?” Tasha demanded. “She doesn’t deserve it. Cast the spell on yourself, my love.”

  “The spell is to bestow power on another, not myself, and you know it wouldn’t work on me,” said Raven. “My powers can only be restored by the one who cursed me.”

  “I will serve you well,” promised Bethany. “I did before.”

  “Good thing the spell only lasts for 48 hours,” muttered Tasha.

  Raven held a piece of parchment in her hand which was yellow with age.

  Move closer, Catherine, Seline snapped. Get a look at the spell.

  Cate sighed. Seline knew she wouldn’t be able to see the words unless Bethany had directly looked at it, but she said nothing.

  Raven started chanting words of power; Cate couldn’t quite make out the incantation as the energy roared. She tried to cover her ears, despite only being in astral form. Orbs of light spiralled around the room, cascading down from the ceiling. She suddenly felt as if she were being drained of energy. Ignoring the ringing in her ears, she moved closer to Raven, feeling a stab of fear in her chest as if Tasha would suddenly grab her. It’s just a memory, she told herself, a telepathic image.

  Cate passed Tasha and moved closer to Raven as the orbs shot into Bethany.

  “Tasha, take her and go find that book. The Goddess Marked will not be able to resist us so easily now,” said Raven.

  Cate gasped, watching Bethany leave the room. How is this possible? How was she seeing events after Bethany had left? It must be some kind of vision, one power she’d always had little control over.

  Cate looked down at the spell, written in a flowing script, as Raven went over to a wall safe. Inside were several pieces of parchment. The safe itself was programmed to open only at Raven’s touch. To Cate’s amazement, she pulled out the pieces and laid them on the desk in front of her. Some were spells in similar writing, others contained pictures. At the top of one page was drawn a Denai star, underneath was written “To take the power of the Grand Mistress.”

  Cate gasped again and felt blood begin to drip from her nose. Ceri put a protective arm around her. “It’s alright, sweetheart. Just take deep breaths.”

  Cate looked over at Seline, whose face went from anger to excitement. “I knew it! I knew that bitch had pages from the Grimoire!” Seline said, grinning widely. “Grandmother said pages were missing, and Raven must have taken more the night she tried to steal the book.”

  “What just happened?” Cate asked as she sank onto a chair.

  “Well done, Catherine. I knew you would be able to see something.”

  “But my sight has never been that strong.”

  “Nonsense, girl,” her grandmother said irritably. “You just never trained enough to make your visions more controllable.”

  “How could Raven have pages from the book?” she wondered.

  “Someone gave them to her of course and it had to have been a McCray,” Seline’s brow wrinkled in concern.

  “Mother, I know we all had our differences, but none of us would have given pages of our book to Raven,” Ceri said indignantly. “Perhaps they were just copies. You and I both have
copies from the book.”

  Cate frowned. “Wow, I didn’t think anyone was allowed to make copies from the book, for fear the knowledge would leak out.”

  “I’m good at spell craft. Cercei let me copy some spells and so did Ide,” Ceri told her.

  “They were both too lenient with you, Ceridwen. Now we must get those spells back.”

  “You know we can’t do that. Raven moves around and those pages would never be far from her,” said Ceri. “We’d never be able to get to them, even if we did find them.”

  “There might be one way.”

  “No, absolutely not!”

  “This is important, Ceridwen. If Raven manages to find the book before we do then we are all as good as dead,” Seline replied. “Not all of the knowledge contained within the Grimoire was considered ‘good’. Some of it is very dark, forbidden magic.”

  Cate knew full well not all of her ancestors had been good witches, far from it. During the first Great War, one Grand Mistress had gone to extreme lengths to try to defeat Raven and had turned dark.

  “If we had them, we would have a connection to the Grimoire,” said Seline.

  “I have pages from the book too and it’s never helped me get any closer to it.”

  “You are not strong enough, not worthy of the task. Catherine has the power required.”

  Cate knew full well her mother didn’t lack power. Ceri was equal to her in that respect and stronger than Seline. She had a feeling Ceri’s talents and skill was what had driven a wedge between the two. “I don’t think I can find them on my own,” she said. “My sight is too unpredictable and so are my powers.” She took out one of Niara’s crystals to ease her hunger.

  “We need those pages!” Seline snapped.

  Cate went over to Bethany. “Sleep,” she told her. “You won’t remember anything that happened in this room.” Bethany’s head slumped onto her chest

  “What if Raven senses her?” Ceri demanded. “I won’t have you using my daughter for your own means anymore.”

  “That’s rich — you abandoned her and your family.”

  “You didn’t exactly give me much of a choice. You and Kal wouldn’t let me –”

  “Enough!” Cate snapped. “Mum, Gran is right. We need those pages back. They’re ours not hers.” Seline smiled triumphantly. “But Mum is right too, Gran. I can’t find those pages without help.”

  “Nonsense, you are tied to Raven, not just through the prophecy, but by what your magic did to her.”

  “She might have given me the power, but I’m the one who cursed Raven. Perhaps we should use the full strength of the coven to aid us,” said Ceri.

  “No. What was said here shall not be passed on to anyone else.”

  “Don’t you trust your own coven, Gran?”

  “I trust no one, Catherine, which is why I have reigned for so long.” Seline replied. “No, we’re McCrays. We are the strongest of the three clans and the most powerful. All we need is the three of us to find what we seek, a triumvirate, just like Denai’s daughters who passed down their gifts.”

  Ceri asked. “Are you certain this is a good idea?”

  “We shall use the spell circle in the temple. It will protect us, but we need our full strength. We should all feed before we go.”

  “I don’t need to feed. Through my bond with Kal, I have energy whenever I need it.”

  They headed downstairs and, Odin, Seline’s Elemental, came when she called. Cate had never liked Odin, he was slimy and she didn’t trust him one bit, though she never knew why. Odin had been a criminal, but was spared death because Seline had felt his power was too great to waste. So she had used her magic and trapped him within her power. He was made a virtual slave to her will; such was one of the darker sides of Denai magic.

  “You should call Jason,” Ceri told her. “You’ll probably find his energy better than anything else now.”

  “The crystals are doing the trick and he went to do a Nuardan thing.”

  “If you want to ask me anything about bonds I can answer your questions. I never liked the idea of being soul bonded at first, but it helps you to keep a constant supply of energy and I managed to keep my independence as well.”

  “Bonds? Why would I need to ask about that?” she asked, looking confused. “I’m not bonded to Jason, and I wouldn’t want to be tied to anyone like that.”

  Ceri’s eyebrows went up. “Oh, I thought – you should still call him. You’ll need all the energy you can get.”

  Cate thought about it and there was a sudden burst of static as Jason teleported in. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “You called me.”

  “No, I didn’t.” Cate glanced at Ceri, but she was already gone. “Well, given that you’re here. I need to feed.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No, I just need to keep my energy levels up. I forgot, you’re hurt,” she said. “Never mind, I can feed from Odin or one of the guard.”

  “No way!” Jason said and she was surprised by his outburst. “I mean, I’m fine. I’m healed. Feed from me.”

  Cate took his hand, feeling a flood of warmth that wasn’t just to do with the energy. She felt anger, frustration, and a little fear, as if a doorway had been opened between them.

  “Fuck! You can’t seriously be thinking of–” Jason demanded.

  Cate yanked her hand away and the wall between them went straight back up. “What the hell is going on between us? How are you reading my mind?” she gasped. “It’s a bond, isn’t it?”

  “It’s a partial bond. Don’t flip out.”

  “Flip out? We bonded!” she cried. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

  “I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “How did it happen? Oh wait, it was those rings, wasn’t it?” she demanded and her face turned white. “I knew I felt different. That Dwarf bound us!” The room began to shake.

  “Calm down!” Jason put his hands on her shoulders. “It’s a partial bond, lots of people get them. It’s like a telepathic link. We can ignore it.”

  “Ignore it? You’re the one person I can touch and not be bombarded with your feelings,” she said nostrils flaring.

  “We’ll talk about this later, but I don’t want you going after Raven.”

  “You’re afraid of me,” she accused. “I felt it.”

  “I’m afraid for you, there’s a difference.”

  “I don’t want to be bonded to you or anyone.” Cate saw the hurt in his eyes. “We’ll undo the bond later, but I have to go now.”

  “Shouldn’t we at least talk about this before we do anything rash?” he asked with a worried look.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” she said and turned away from him.

  CHAPTER 27

  Cate’s mind was reeling as she headed out to the temple. A bond. She was bonded to Jason! She couldn’t believe it. One thing she’d always vowed was not to end up being magically tied to anyone. She wasn’t happy having to rely on him for energy, but she’d grown to like their partnership. A bond was more than just a telepathic link, it went deeper than that. They would be magically connected too, in a way they never had before. She could feel him now, inside, and part of her was terrified by it.

  As much as she cared for him, loved him, she was afraid these feelings would go away after she ascended. It had happened to other Denais before, their emotions heightened and they confused lust with love. How could she be sure what she was feeling was even real, given this bond between them? She considered asking Ceri for advice but it was awkward talking to her about personal things. Denais always had to be in control of their emotions, to govern their powers. Being an Enforcer, she’d always kept a handle on her feelings, but she hadn’t lost sight of love and compassion as Seline had. She’d just convinced herself she didn’t deserve to have romantic love. She only slept with men she felt nothing for and Jason had always just been her friend and partner. Now they had started to cross that line, everything was confus
ed.

  Maybe Seline was right, what kind of future could they ever really have together? Her heart suddenly ached and she wanted to cry. Goddess damned ascension! She didn’t cry, not often, and not as much as she had lately. Cate gritted her teeth; she would break the bond and be ready for whatever the ascension threw at her. She had to be focused or she would die, or worse be a monster at the mercy of her own magic — dark, soulless, and worse than Raven. She shook her head; she had more important things to focus on. Hell, she couldn’t even say the words “I love you” to him and they were better left unsaid.

  Seline was lighting the candles as she walked in and Ceri was setting crystals. They would need all the protection they could get.

  “Why couldn’t Raven use that power spell on herself?” Cate asked, forcing her mind back to the task at hand.

  “Because the spell was written by a Grand Mistress, to draw power from our family line to bestow on others to aid them,” replied Seline. “It could only be used on the Grand Mistress, if cast by one of her bloodline.”

  “It wouldn’t work on Raven. I didn’t just try to burn her to death, I cursed her so she’d never be able to absorb power from another,” said Ceri.

  “But she could take strength from you or me because our power fuelled the curse,” Cate said, realisation hitting her.

  “Through that link we should be able to find those pages.” Seline lit the final candle.

  “Can a bond be broken once it’s formed?” Cate asked suddenly, thinking of Jason

  “It depends on the kind of bond,” her mother replied.

  “Of course it can and I will give you the spell. You can’t afford to be bonded to anyone and your feelings for Talbot are too much of a distraction,” said Seline. “You already know that.”

  “Mother, have you considered that their feelings are meant to be?” Ceri asked, sounding annoyed.

  “I won’t see the same thing happen to Catherine that happened to you and the Tempus.”

  “I could never regret my bond with Kal. I loved him.”

  “Yes, and now you can barely stand each other. I made the mistake of bonding with your father. It hurt when he left me and broke that bond,” Seline said. “The two of you need to learn that men do not last long in our world. They are there for when we need them and then gone. Talbot will always be hunted and even you, Catherine, are no match for the might and power of the Ashrali. Besides, there are rules against the mingling of the Elder Races.”