Dominion 4 - Ascendance

by Lissa Kasey

  My spotted red friend came back a time or two to dart at me, trying to get me to follow. I finally gave up on the play when he dive-bombed my ear and made it itch. After a good bit of scratching away the tickle with my back paw, I followed the little bug out of the stream, back into the woods, through a maze of trees and to a clearing. Then he vanished as if he’d never been there into a massive briar bush jutting out from a big rock. Even after waiting a few minutes, the ladybug didn’t return. I blinked a few times, looked around, but still couldn’t find him again.

  The little clearing looked odd and somewhat eerie. Circular, with stones on the edges, nothing grew in it. Yet the stones gave off a creepy glow. Stepping closer made my skin tingle as though there were ants crawling all over me. I put my paw to the edge of the ring and immediately saw flashes of human things bloody and dying. Their screams pierced my brain like a stream of bullets, causing pain and fear. I jumped away, shook my head until the image cleared, and moved at a safe distance around the space. The earth told me this place was very wrong. It begged me to fix it, but I couldn’t fathom how.

  A light flicked on, and a man sat in the middle of the circle, a glowing tube in his hand. His hair was dark, face hidden in shadows, but he smelled familiar. He got to his feet, approached the edge of the circle, then stopped when I bounced farther away. He leaned against one of the giant stones, then slowly sat beside it, just outside the ring.

  “Didn’t take you long at all to find this. We all had bets going. Some said you’d never find it. I knew you would. You’re a lot like your father was, Seiran Rou. Such untarnished power. The Dominion is clueless about what power truly is. There aren’t five levels of power. There are hundreds. And you are at the very top.” He stretched. “It calls to you, doesn’t it? Begs for help. The earth is a very vocal element.”

  I watched the man, wondering how he knew my name, but since he wasn’t moving closer I let him go on.

  “Won’t you change and speak to me?” He pulled off his coat, tossing it away from him. “For your modesty, perhaps?” Changing would make me vulnerable. No paws to run on, claws to fight with, or teeth to defend my life. Yet something about him drew me forward. He knew my father. My stunted little brain said that was important. I needed to know. The shift took only a few seconds, then I pulled the jacket around me, keeping far enough away that I would hopefully have time to change back and run if needed.

  The fog cleared away quickly enough. “Max?” He smiled. “So much like your father. He’d completely forget who he was in his cat form. It’s harder to keep the human side of yourself when your power is so high. Tell me, Seiran, do you recognize the ring now?”

  My heart skipped a beat while I processed it again, this time as a human and as a witch. A fairy ring. That was the only possible explanation. All the studying I did in college meant nothing in that moment. This very item was supposed to be something of myth. Yet the power pulsed so hard it made my skin crawl in not a good way.

  “I can tell from your expression you know what it is.” “It’s evil,” I told him. The images of death still lingered inside my head, tainting something in me I hadn’t known was still pure. I felt like I had taken part in the rituals, killed people, fed on their power. Even at this distance, the pulse of power made my skin crawl.

  “True. It’s been made that way by those who use it.” “Including yourself.” He had been sitting in the middle of the awful thing. “I suppose.” He shrugged. “When you’re as old as I am, you’ll do a lot to feel anything. Love, anger, pain, pleasure, it’s all a balance that humans experience so easily. Time, however, wears away the emotions of any creature. This circle has been misused, but the memories make me feel. It is a nice change from the numbness that has taken over my life.”

  “Did you lead me here?” I thought briefly of the little ladybug who’d been following me around since I’d arrived in California.

  “No. The power led you here. Just as it did your father so many years ago.”

  I didn’t really want to know, but had to ask, “Did he do bad things here?” “No. Dorien was incorruptible. Which I suppose is why he died in the end. Just like your grandfather Ruffman did.”

  John Ruffman, leader of the first male revolt against the Dominion, was my grandfather? He created the organization now called the Ascendance. The group of male witches had given me nothing but trouble. First with Brock, then with Andrew Roman.

  “Ruffman was very close to becoming the GreenMan, father earth. The Dominion killed him before he could complete the bond. Your father never aspired that high, but had the power to do it too. You have the power to become husband to the earth, living persona of virility and power.”

  “Not interested.”

  Max sighed. “This new generation has no ambition.” “I have ambition. I just don’t want to hurt people.” Which was what anyone involved in the Ascendance seemed to do. “The Ascendance uses this circle.” It all made sense. The reason so many powerful males were popping up now was not because they were born more powerful than their predecessors, but because they used evil magic to boost their abilities. Just like Brock had when he’d killed people to steal their power. How many had died here in this very spot? Was the man found in the caretaker’s house part of this? A sacrifice, perhaps?

  “I see you understand. The Ascendance was not always as it is now. There are very few males born with power. Not enough to make any sort of movement against a governing body as large as the Dominion. After Ruffman’s death, the few remaining members began recruiting. They used their magic to boost the power of the little ones. Corrupt only make for more corrupt.”

  “What does that say about you?” “I am not a witch. I am a vampire. I am one of the Ascendance supporters, leaders in fact, if you go just on the amount of money I provide them.”

  “So you are helping them kill people.” He shrugged again. “It used to mean something to me. I see it means a lot to you. You can change it. You have the power to take control and make it right.”

  “They want me dead, don’t they?” Timothy had warned me that others wanted my power. They wanted me, and not as a leader of the Ascendance, but as a sacrifice to make more powerful male witches.

  “Does that frighten you?” I sighed. Yes, but it didn’t really surprise me. “What do you want from me?” He could probably move faster than I could shift, and even if I hadn’t, he could have easily caught me in lynx form and hurt me to begin with. This man had power seeping from him almost equivalent to a level-five witch. Max could be strong enough to take over the TriMega. The idea made me shiver.

  “Destroy the evil and make the Ascendance what it should be. Protect and nurture the young men who have power.”

  Sounded noble enough, but he was part of the Ascendance. Why hadn’t he fixed it already? “The Dominion is accepting males now. I have no need for the Ascendance.”

  “They are accepting powerful males. What about the little ones, who don’t have much power? Girls with little power are accepted, treated like princesses, given every opportunity in life. But boys?” He shook his head. “I don’t believe you will toss them aside so easily.” He rose to his feet but didn’t approach me.

  “Why do you want to help them?”

  He appeared thoughtful for a moment. “Your grandfather was a close friend.”

  “Yet you allowed his creation to become corrupt. You helped them.” “I suppose. Revenge is a powerful thing, and a stupid thing. Not only did I fail to get revenge for his unjustified death, I failed to keep his dreams alive.”

  His words sounded genuine, grief-filled, but this vampire had had a long time to study how humans reacted. My head said, “Be wary,” but my heart wanted to believe him. Stupid conflicting emotions.

  “The power of the ring is capped. Each time they use it, the earth reabsorbs some of the power they seek to distribute. The tree in your house does that. That’s why the Ascendance wants control of the house.”

  “Charles Merth was in the Ascendance�
��why didn’t he just give them the house?” I was pretty sure that’s why this ring still existed on his property unchallenged.

  “He loved Dorien. I think he believed as long as he kept the house teeming with earth that Dorien would forgive him for continuing to allow the Ascendance to use other witches.”

  My heart hurt from the idea of it, but in a twisted way it made sense. “The Merth land sits on the intersection of the two largest ley lines in the country. The power here could be limitless. Charles was nowhere near powerful enough to control it. He feared it. Dorien could control it. The Ascendance wants it, but releasing it would cause a catastrophe like the world has never known.”

  “But it feels so peaceful in the house.” Max shrugged. “Centuries of wards and powerful earth witches, I suppose.”

  So it would be up to me to maintain that peace. If I let go of the house, someone could abuse that power. Damn.

  “It’s best if you don’t return here. The gate is warded to protect the property from intruders. Mostly other witches. We’ll talk again, Seiran Rou. I look forward to it.” Max vanished, like poof and gone. I blinked a few times, wondering how that was possible. Gabe never did anything like that. He didn’t have that kind of power rolling off him either.

  I shifted back to cat form and ran back to the house as if the devil were chasing me.

  Chapter 8

  THE horrific feeling of that ring lingered, making my fur twitch the entire way to the house. Up the stairs and through the tiny opening in the door I ran, not stopping until I was inside and had shut the door with a heavy body slam.

  My fur felt covered in blood and evil residue, pulsing from that nasty ring. I stumbled up toward my room, thinking maybe I’d jump in the shower to clean it off before shifting back. Jamie passed me in the hall. “Back now?”

  I ignored him and bolted into my room. The taint of the ring stretched around me. What an awful feeling, like a barrier between me and the earth of something heavy and tar-like. Thankfully I’d left my door open, and the bathroom door. I leapt into the shower, wondering how I’d turn the water on with my paws.

  The light flicked on and Gabe stood in the doorway. My heart skipped a beat. Something felt wrong about him being there, but I couldn’t remember why. I pulled away as he approached the shower. The evil had to go before I touched anyone. It felt like sap ready to leech onto the next person and drain them of all happiness.

  Gabe turned on the water, letting it fall in a warm rush around me. I shuddered in the cleansing warmth, begging the earth, the tree that had taken over the house, anything to clear away the evil. The shaking didn’t stop, even when the water felt scalding. A fluffy towel was wrapped around me. Gabe picked me up and carried me back to the bedroom, cradling me much like he would a scared child. He curled around me, pulled the blankets off the bed up to cover us, and held me.

  I shook in his arms for a while. This was the first time in a couple of weeks since it’d really been that bad. The light from the bathroom comforted me a little. Gabe hummed softly, fingers combing through my fur in small circles. He didn’t ask me to change back or even seem to think it. His touch soothed some of the worst trembles, but my heart still hurt. I wondered where Sam was and how soon before he’d pop back in to interrupt my life again.

  I shut my eyes, pressing back the tears, the oncoming rejection. Loving someone had never been easy. Somehow I’d hoped that with Gabe it would be just like breathing, since that’s how his touch felt most days, like a breeze tickling my skin. The pain in my head spread to my heart. I loved him too much to let go. Why did he let this happen if he was only going to leave?

  You left me, don’t you still love me? Tell me how to fix this. His voice in my head was filled with hurt and worry. Jealousy was such a vicious animal. It grew and raged, getting louder and larger until all you could hear was the screaming that ate away at your reasoning. I didn’t know how to answer him. He just felt so far away.

  His lips pressed against my forehead, scratching my ears just so nicely. If I weren’t so shaken up from the fairy ring, I might have jumped him right there. Gabe leaned over and flicked the light on beside the bed. I shook out my fur, feeling the chill in the air, then a bit of sadness. Gabe wouldn’t be able to stay. We had no curtains yet. This house was like a death trap for vampires. The silence in my head was more than a little unnerving. He never invaded my mind much when I was in cat form, but I figured he’d feel less distant since he was in the same room as me, only he didn’t.

  “I found something while you were out. Want to see?” Gabe went to the closet that was filled with my things, shoved the clothes aside, and pressed on the wall in the back. The wall opened, revealing some sort of passage. “It’s pretty narrow.”

  I snuck up close to him and peered inside, looking with my sharp cat eyes but only seeing a tunnel of darkness. Did my father know this was here? Where did it lead to? Stepping inside, the first thing I noticed was that it was clean. Unlike the rest of the house, there seemed to be nothing but the barest of traces of dust. How odd.

  “Do you want a light? I can probably find a flashlight.” He saw just fine without it, and after my eyes adjusted, I’d be able to as well. Gabe followed me inside. He had to squeeze and duck through some areas. The inner walls were covered with vines like out of some Armageddon movie. They were comforting, a reminder that the earth had control of this house.

  The cracks in the walls from past settling or maybe even earthquakes seemed to be held together with long, winding green-and-brown limbs. It fascinated me enough that I had to shift back to human. It only took a moment for my eyes to adjust, and though I couldn’t see as clearly, I could still see the faint outlines of the walls. They seemed to glow with power. The cold air hit my still-damp skin, forcing me to shiver. Gabe pulled off his shirt and handed it to me. The warmth of it reminded me he’d need grave dirt to stay warm. Had he brought some? A warm vampire was so much better than a cold one.

  The tunnel led around, down, and back toward the front of the house. At the end was a door. Gabe insisted on going first, though I don’t know what he expected to be on the other side. Maybe some giant people-eating plant, or a deformed relative who’d been locked away, but it was just a room. Gabe flicked on the lamp to reveal more of the odd space.

  Like the hall, this room was clean, cluttered, but mostly free of dust. A cot sat off to the side, made up like a bed with blankets and pillows. A laptop computer sat on the desk, closed but plugged in. The walls were lined with books and odd statues. The room curved, shaped sort of like a large slice of a pie. It was then I realized it had to be above the sitting room, near the tree and the staircase. None of the other rooms accounted for that space.

  Gabe was already searching through the many books. I went to the desk, sat down, and opened the computer. It powered on, not password locked, and came up with a user ID for Charles. So this is where he’d hid himself away. I wondered if Timothy knew about this space. I already had a lot to speak to him about. The computer didn’t have much I thought might be important. Just some information on the house, plumbers and things, nothing that sat on the desktop reading “Ascendance.” Had my uncle been part of the good group or the bad one? Did he know about the circle?

  “There are journals here, Seiran. Your dad’s and Charles Merth’s.” Gabe had one in hand and carefully flipped through it. “Only a couple from your dad, and they are in rough shape, but you can still read the writing.” He glanced up, looking me over, for what I don’t know. Maybe he thought I was going to break down just hearing about my dad.

  I peered over the crook of his arm at the pages of the book, seeing my father’s writing, which looked just as meticulous as my own. Instead of recipes, he wrote spells, everything from how to do it to how it made him feel, and the results based on the power level of the witch performing the spell. Other pages were just random bits of life, about school, secret meetings with fellow witches, and whispers of hopes for the future. These were the words of a very yo
ung Dorien Merth. Before Jamie had been born, before he’d ever met my mother. I wanted to read every page.

  “Charles has more than fifty of them. A couple per year. Maybe his son will want them?” Gabe scanned through those as well. “Not much magic in here. It sounds more like raving toward the end.”

  Was that something I had to look forward to if I lived a long life? Or had something made Charles Merth very afraid—for example, a fairy ring used to kill people and spread their power to other witches?

  “I want to read them all,” I whispered, my voice still a little rough from the shift. “Even my uncle’s. I want to know my family.” I grabbed the stack of my dad’s journals. “I’m sorry. I need some time.”

  Gabe nodded, his face somber but curious, an unusual expression for him. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Was he still mad? Why didn’t he rave or say sweet things? Anything? Sure, I was still hurt. Still trying to sort out the awful things he hadn’t meant to say but had said, and my feelings felt like a pot of bad all swirled with grim. Something seemed off about him, too, though what, I wasn’t quite sure.

  “Take your time. You don’t have to read them all in one night. I’m going to read through some right now. Call if you need me.”

  That’s all we had now, wasn’t it? Time. I fled through the tunnel back toward my room, pondering Gabe and the words Max had spoken to me. The old have a hard time feeling anything, he had said, so sometimes they created trouble just to feel something. That sounded so crazy. Yet I knew when a cuddle was all I needed to make the world right. Those times, and the times I just wanted to run from the pain, those were moments when the numbness faded. What if I was always numb? What length would I go to just to feel? Without thinking much, the answer was a lot.