by Brea Viragh
“Come on!”
She allowed herself to be led with only the slightest off-kilter stumble until they reached the waiting motorcycle.
“They’ll come for us,” she tried to warn, her words slurred. Woozy, she gingerly touched the back of her head, surprised when her fingers came back smeared with blood. “Ouch.”
Astix shoved a helmet into her hands and whipped out a second one. “You’re telling me! Now get on and shut up. We’re leaving.”
Despite the fact that she was older by several years, Aisanna let her sister take the lead and gratefully followed. The girls slid onto frozen leather. Astix gunned the engine. They took off out of the back alley, cutting into traffic with only a single honk from an irritated driver, the air filled with the acrid scent of burning rubber.
Aisanna scooted closer until her front melded to her sister’s back. The two leaned into curves as a single unit. She tightened her grip, holding on for her life and ignoring the pain in her head.
“What did you do?” Astix questioned her, raising her voice to be heard. “What the hell did you do to bring them out?”
“I may or may not have attacked Orestes and Zelda in my shop.”
“Zelda Vuur? You’re kidding me. Right?”
“Nope.”
Aisanna did not question where they drove; instead, she relinquished control and hoped her sister had a better plan. After all, without Astix, she would never have been able to get out of the apartment in time. Her brain felt muddled. Going back had been a mistake despite her good intentions.
She fingered the agate amulet around her neck, the one she’d slipped on minutes earlier, and tried not to feel sorry for herself. It was difficult. She felt the pull in her blood, her newfound and constant dark companion. Maybe that was why she couldn’t think straight.
Instead, Aisanna gave in to her own shortcomings and slumped forward, letting her gaze drop to the continuous yellow lines of the highway. Soon she lost all concept of distance.
Astix skillfully took to the backroads. At long last, they pulled to a stop inside a thicket of trees outside a small hayfield. The sudden silence of the motor cutting off held the weight of the world, and Aisanna knew it came down to her.
Her legs wobbled when she rose from the machine and took in her surroundings.
“While I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, really, I do,” she began, “I don’t think freezing to death in a field is my idea of fun.”
Astix removed her helmet and shook out her hair. “Not quite what I had in mind, but great mental image. If you would rather stand here and complain, be my guest. This is my attempt to save our asses.”
Aisanna moved to stand beside her sister and took in the frozen wasteland in front of her. They were outside of the city by more than an hour, she knew. Here, the distance between houses lengthened until there was more land than metropolitan sprawl, more woods than suburbs.
Frost and snow dusted the dead grass in a pristine vision. Trees bare of their leaves shuddered in a slight breeze, ice adorning each branch. In the distance, a small stone cabin belched smoke into the atmosphere with regular gusts.
“What is this place?” Aisanna asked.
“This is asylum. Leo bought it.” Astix dug around in her pocket for a set of keys and gestured toward the house. “It’s off the radar, a small place in the middle of about fifty acres.”
“Fifty acres? Are you kidding me?”
It was a comfortable place on a comfortable amount of land. Defensible and private. It was the perfect stage for whatever it was Astix intended to do next.
She gestured. “Come on. Let’s get inside. I’m freezing my nuts off out here.”
Aisanna followed behind her and made sure to step in each footstep. “You don’t have nuts.”
“That’s because they’re frozen.”
Each step cracked a path along the ground. They cut through the field until the house grew larger. It was quaint enough to resemble a fairy cottage, with the industrial perks a man needed. When Aisanna looked closer she saw the metal glint of a satellite dish and cables running out of the ground and along the stone exterior. Brand new energy-efficient windows reflected back the beautiful landscape and shielded the inside from prying eyes.
Not that there would be any, considering the distance outside of the city.
“Are you sure no one knows about this place?” Aisanna shivered, wrapping her arms around her torso in an attempt to keep the warmth in.
Her sister bent to unlock the front door. “I’m positive. I never joke about staying alive. We’ve got it set up to be completely undetected.” Astix gave a final twist of the knob before pushing the wood open with a slight shuffle. “You’re safe here. Oh, you don’t trust me?” She pointed out into the distance. “You see those?”
Aisanna squinted, making out the long dark shadows of a stone monolith. “I think so, if you would tell me what I’m looking at.”
“You are looking at my own private security systems. With ten of those set around the perimeter and a couple of protection spells, they scatter any energies in the area. We are completely cut off. Think of it like a blank spot.”
“You…are so prepared. How long have you been at this?”
“Too long.” Astix pushed the door open and stood back. “After you.”
Aisanna moved past her into the small wooden entryway. A set of polished oak steps led to a second story, while slate floors completed the cabin look. To the left, a massive stone fireplace dominated the open living room. A modest bedroom sat to the right, and a short hallway led back to the kitchen.
“I know you’re going to accuse me of sounding like Mom, but can you do that thing you do?” Aisanna wiggled her fingers. “I’d feel a lot better.”
“While I’m at it, why don’t I put on my monkey costume and do a little dance for you?” Astix did not stand on ceremony.
She dropped her damp coat to the floor and kicked off her boots before leaving her sister standing in the foyer. Plopping down on the couch, she moved her feet to the armrest and closed her eyes.
“There’s no need, Aisanna. It’s already done. The spells continue twenty-four-seven, attached to me and Leo by blood magic. Just come sit. Like I said, I have it under control. I had a gut feeling things would go south soon, and since I’m not in a position to ignore my gut, I took the necessary precautions. This was my insurance if everything went to shit. I hate knowing I was right.”
Aisanna shot a look over her shoulder as though expecting the cavalry to come riding up at any moment.
“Karsia should be here soon,” Astix continued. “She’s trying to get Mom and Dad to come. You know how stubborn they can be. They think I’m going a little overboard. They…they don’t know what’s going on.”
Aisanna settled herself on the floor between the couch and the fire without bothering to remove her winter wear or shoes. “Thank you. For everything. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Astix leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. “Yeah, well, try not to think about. Apology accepted.”
“She almost had me. I can’t even tell you what it feels like, when you don’t have control of your body. She made me attack Orestes and Zelda. She made me—” Aisanna trailed a finger along her hand and wondered if it was her imagination when her skin rippled in response. “She made me do it. She’s inside of me and she made me hurt them. They came to my shop asking about my involvement with this fire elemental who shot up a FedEx office.”
Astix bolted upright. “What the what?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Aisanna rocked as she spoke. “It was the night I couldn’t remember. They told me I whispered in his ear before he… It wasn’t me.”
Astix moved from the couch and crouched beside her sister. “I know it wasn’t you. Not in the least. You have to believe that.”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore. Maybe it could have been, for all I know. I didn’t mean to shoot poisonou
s thorny vines out of my fingers, but I did. I was there, watching. Maybe there was something I could do to stop her. To stop that man from killing those innocent people.”
“Hey. Look at me. Aisanna, look at me.” Astix leaned in and took her sister by the cheeks. “I refuse to acknowledge you had anything to do with his decision. It was his. Do you understand me?”
Astix considered her sister, vulnerable on the floor. She’d never seen Aisanna like that, with slumped shoulders and grim consequence hanging from her every muscle and cell. Whatever happened to her had been bad enough to set off a chain reaction with the potential to damn them all.
Now they sat facing each other and everything seemed bleaker.
“Look,” Astix put in awkwardly, “let’s table that conversation for another day. After the trouble has passed and we can resume our normal lives. Then we’ll think about right and wrong. Think about our own responsibilities and guilt. Here, in this moment, we focus on staying alive. And we focus on finding the Harbinger witch and sealing the veil. You got me?”
“Yes.”
Astix hated what they had to do. She would rather do anything else. She would give anything to make it go away and return life to the status quo.
She had a sick feeling in her gut that the worst was yet to come.
“Karsia will be here soon,” she repeated, “and we’ll figure out where to go from here. This needs to end.”
“You’re telling me,” Aisanna said solemnly. “What are you planning to do?”
“I don’t know yet. But something is better than nothing.” Astix paused. “Prepare yourself. Whatever we do tonight, we may not come back from. I hope…I hope you made things right. With your human.”
Aisanna took her time before answering, agonized at what she’d had to do to Elon in the name of protection. “I did what I had to do. I’m ready.”
Astix hated to leave the warm confines of her new house. There was something about the property, or perhaps the solitude of it, that put her at ease. She’d fallen in love with it the first time Leo brought her out here. Somehow, he’d known exactly what she needed, what they both needed, and the deed was signed and in her hands before the end of the week. He considered it an early wedding present. Yeah, the man insisted they get married. He was a real monster.
She wrapped herself in the comfortable layers of her coat and contemplated the journey ahead. Their night was only beginning. Already an idea formulated in her head although no one was going to like what she put forth.
“Just stay here,” she warned. “Try to relax.”
“I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
“I know. Most important, don’t contact anyone. Don’t say or do anything that’s going to jeopardize your position here. However you left things with…what’s his face…Elon, leave them be.”
“Do I look stupid to you?” Aisanna asked.
No, Astix thought, she looked like she was in love. And love made fools of everyone.
CHAPTER 19
Astix was correct and Aisanna knew it, logically. She didn’t plan on contacting anyone once she settled down in the quaint cabin in the forest. In fact, she took great care to remove any electronic device from her person—i.e. her cell phone—and smash it to shards on the back patio. Her mind, however, spun a million miles an hour, going forward and backward over any detail she may have missed.
She clutched the stone at her neck and walked around the house, exploring rooms in an attempt to calm her raw, ravaged nerves. It was strange, she thought, being protected by the wards. Her insides felt as if they were cushioned, as if the magic wrapped her in packing peanuts. There was a considerable gravity to the whole area. A relief in some ways, but another hurdle to climb over in others.
Aisanna went over again the confrontation in her shop, now in ruins thanks to her. The police were probably having a field day trying to track her down. She looked forward to dealing with them and the insurance company when everything was over. If she made it out alive.
Having Orestes and Zelda corner her—in her safe place—and learning about Israel’s involvement added another layer to their overly complicated story. How could he betray her? Especially to someone like Zelda Vuur.
There was no doubt in her mind they were sleeping together. It didn’t bother her the way it might have before. When she thought about the double-cross, instead of an ache in her heart, her stomach churned with an acidic need for vengeance. Vengeance for her family. They’d been sold out.
Israel was a hound dog, sticking his nose into her personal affairs like she was in some sort of danger. And maybe she was, but it was none of his business.
He was playing both sides of the fence.
Energy spent and with nothing else to do, Aisanna roamed through the house before drifting into the living room. She sat down in front of the fire. Normally flames made her think of Israel. This time the warmth, the comfort, brought the image of another man to her mind. Aisanna thought of Elon, and a flush rose that had nothing to do with the heat.
An embarrassed smile teased her lips at the thought of his hands on her and their bodies moving together. He’d been good. Damn good. He’d treated her like a lady without any of the cheesy romance she detested. He could ravage her and she knew their friendship would still be intact. A solid steel foundation of friendship. Perhaps less solid now because she’d tried to do the right thing. Maybe for the first time, she thought. Why didn’t it make her feel any better?
Blossoms sprouted along the windows before she was aware of their formation. Pink camellias, like the ones he’d tried to give her on Imbolc. Aisanna stared at the flowers and wondered how she’d brought them to life without conscious effort.
“Hey, you.” Leo strolled around the corner with a pitcher of something smoking. “I made some tea.”
“I didn’t even hear you,” Aisanna admitted. She appreciatively accepted a mug of tea and inhaled deeply.
“I can be pretty stealthy when I want to be. The wards, they also make the atmosphere a bit heavy in the cottage. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed. It can mess with your hearing for the first few days.” Leo demonstrated by sticking a finger in his ear and swirling it around.
She held the mug between her palms to absorb the warmth. “Thank you for doing this, and for helping us when you didn’t have to.”
“It’s the right thing,” he insisted. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“I can’t help but feel like a line’s been drawn in the sand, and you’re standing on one side while your father is standing on the other.”
She watched Leo’s face harden. “My father is more concerned with control and authority than he is with helping people. It’s simple, Aisanna. He chose wrong. I’m always going to stand up when there’s a fight worth fighting.”
“What do you think we can do?” she asked. “We may be witches, but we’re still just people. We can’t stem the tide of a metaphysical tsunami.”
“We can do our best, and if that’s not enough, then I accept the consequences. Do you?”
Leo offered the sentiment neutrally, without challenge, then held his cup up for a toast. It brought Aisanna up short. Part of her, a part she trusted very little, wanted to leap up and agree.
“I’ll do my best,” she said at last, raising her mug to his with a clink. The severity of her immediate circumstances overwhelmed her other concerns, however well-founded they were. She couldn’t reason with logic.
**
Several hours later, Karsia burst through the door in a flurry of activity and snowflakes. “I’m here. I made it. Took me forever to find and I got lost a couple of times.”
Astix took the stairs two at a time. “Did they—”
“No,” Karsia interrupted, shaking her head. Water droplets dotted the floor. “They seemed to think the mansion was more defensible. They’re hanging back.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Aisanna wrung her hands. “Do they understand what’s going on?”
“Brought what?”
“Our winning ticket. I’ve been doing research in my spare time. I think I’ve found a way to capture her. An ancient spell designed to keep evil spirits contained.”
“Will it work?” Aisanna asked woodenly.
“I don’t know, but there is only one way to find out. It’s the best one I’ve found so far. By all accounts, it’s done the job before.”
“Where did you get the book?” Astix wanted to know.
“In the safe storage back at the house. Not sure where exactly Dad picked it up along the way, and Mom had never seen it before, but there it was. Flipped open to the right page like magic.”
Aisanna hung back. “I don’t know. It might not be safe. Could be a trap.”
“Look, from what I understand, there’s always a risk when it comes to spell work of this kind,” Karsia stated. She flicked her gaze around in a circle to encompass them. “The best we can do is try and see what happens. The only thing I’m not quite sure of is getting her here.”
Aisanna started, her back straightening and her mind going clear. “I know how.”
“Then please, enlighten us.” Astix gave her a hard stare.
“This.” Aisanna took her time pushing her sleeve aside. “The tattoo. It’s a location spell.”
“I thought you couldn’t read it?”
“I can’t. Vane told me. I wasn’t sure of the purpose until now, but it suddenly makes sense. She uses it to locate me, therefore I can use it to draw her here.”
“Then we better prepare for this.” Astix had her hands on her hips.
Karsia put an arm around her hunched shoulders. “Don’t worry so much.”
The three of them headed out within the hour, carrying the essentials with them. Astix led the way, book in hand, while the others trailed behind with bags of salt. They headed toward the center of the property where the power of the monoliths was at its greatest. A center crux.