Dominion 4 - Ascendance

by Lissa Kasey

  He was at home, like Minnesota home? With Kelly? How was that possible? “When did all this happen? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  “I got the call after we dropped you off with your gifts. Your phone kept going to voice mail, and I’d already left a message. I figured you’d call. Kelly said he got your text but hadn’t heard from you since. I didn’t want to worry you.”

  So he’d never left home. The room suddenly seemed to spin. Who had I let into my house? Who had hugged me when I cried? Gabe’s arm snaked around my waist. He had my phone for some reason. He spoke to Jamie. I just let the last few days replay in my head, heart pounding like crazy. “Come home with me,” I begged Gabe.

  “Are you going to let us in this time?” He’d already been inside. But my heart thumped in a crazy beat while my head replayed those moments. Something had been off about him. That “something” meaning it hadn’t been him. Oh blessed earth. Someone was pretending to be Gabe and Jamie; at least I hoped it was the same person both times. I’d let them in the house, past the wards that had been built up for decades, and hadn’t even felt the difference? What was wrong with me?

  My world dissolved into black and white stars spinning about my head. The room lost all its air. Gabe was saying something, his arms wrapped around me, but I couldn’t understand the words. His voice broke through in my head first. Sei?

  I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to me, not for a kiss, but to sniff his hair, which smelled like that awful fake cucumber-mint shampoo he always used.

  “I invited someone in. Another vampire, I think.” I had invited Jamie in. Only it obviously wasn’t Jamie. Was there a way to undo it? Who was it? Max? But then why introduce himself to me if he was already pretending to be Jamie? And then at the fairy ring, only to meet me back at the house as Gabe? Who else could it be? Caleb? Timothy? Mr. Odagiri? My heart seemed to be beating too fast for me to catch my breath, and my sight was spotted with black dots.

  Gabe and Sam led me out to a rental car. Sam got behind the wheel while Gabe and I sat in the back. I couldn’t focus my mind enough to even care where we went. Maybe they would just take me home to Minnesota. But what if whoever was in my dad’s house destroyed something? Maybe took something that would have led me to more information on my father? I blindly reached for the bag with the journals in it and found it in Gabe’s lap. The tremble in my limbs shook me like a seizure. I couldn’t breathe.

  “Sei, you need to focus on my voice, okay? Your mind is retreating to your cat form. Don’t let the panic force the change. We can fix this, but I need you functioning as a human, not a lynx.”

  “Are there vampires who can change shape?” Sam asked from his seat behind the wheel. “No. Whoever is doing this is good at illusions. To fool an earth witch of Sei’s level, he’d have to be really damn powerful too.”

  The earth welled up around me, offering comfort and peace, rest. A sharp pain pierced my arm. I blinked away the stars and looked at Gabe, who’d pinched me really hard. That would bruise.

  “Stay with me, Sei.” He kissed my cheek, then the other, his lips like soft caresses. My right hand gripped his blond curls so hard it probably hurt, but he didn’t pull away or reprimand me. He tried to hold me still, keep the shaking down, but my teeth chattered. I was losing focus again. “Seiran Rou, you will stay with me,” his voice commanded. “Breathe, calm and slow. I’m here.”

  The fire of our mingled blood kicked at me, telling me to obey. He didn’t often use that power. Having become his focus had faded most of the ability. Yet I wanted to give myself over to his control. The tears that blurred my sight and the feelings of helplessness would pass eventually. If I could give him the reins, he would take away the fear, steer me back to a sound mind.

  “We’ll have to put up new wards. I can’t do that. Even with his power,” Sam was saying.

  “He can do a total revoke of all and recharge the wards pretty easily. I just need to get him calm andfocused.” “Jamie could do it.” Sam parked the car in front of the house. The lights were on upstairs, though I hadn’t left them that way. Was someone still in the house?

  “Jamie’s not here,” I heard myself say. “He hugged me and let me cry, but he’s not here.” I clung to Gabe as we headed through the manicured path toward the door. What a dumb idea to come here. Had I gotten complacent these past few weeks? Forgetting about the safety and necessity of wards, and how other people always wanted to hurt me, was stupid. Just because I’d graduated college didn’t mean the attacks would end. This was proof of it. No matter what job I took, they’d still come for me. Pretending to be my family was unforgivable.

  Gabe unlocked the door but didn’t try to open it. “I need you to go inside, Sei. Stand in the threshold and revoke the invite. Recharge the wards. Then you can invite us in.”

  I nodded, raising one shaky foot after another to mount the stairs and shove the door open. My mind kept flashing images of someone waiting on the other side of the door with a gun or some other horror movie image, but no one was there. I flicked on the light and stood in the doorway, tuning myself into the earth. The tree welcomed me home, told me the house was empty, and appreciated my strength renewing the wards. I whispered, “None but myself shall be welcome within this dwelling.”

  The magic coursed through the halls almost like a living being. I could feel it racing from door to door, window to window, removing all trace of anyone else from the house. After the tingling subsided, despite my exhaustion, I poured power into the threshold, rebonding with the wards and adding my will to them. The old magic recognized me, giving me a bit of a welcoming surge of warmth. Wards, unlike spells, were tied to objects, so if the castor passed, the ward remained instead of dying. I wondered if any of this power was my father’s. It held me for a moment in a soft embrace before racing to the edges of the property to renew the fences and thick overgrowth of trees.

  “Gabriel Santini, I invite in you and your spirit, may you come and go in peace.” I watched his face while he recognized the invite for what it was. Anyone pretending to be him would not be able to pass, but he would have total power and will to come and go. He stepped through the threshold, set his bag down, and kissed me.

  “Sam Mueller, I invite in you and your spirit, may you come and go in peace,” I said when Gabe let go. Sam looked a little shell-shocked, but entered the house too. We shut the door. I locked it and wondered what was next to come. The night had already given me several unwelcome adventures. I’d be smart to just pack it all up and take the history home with me, sell the house, and forget about the fairy ring of evil.

  Sadly, Max’s words were true. I couldn’t leave knowing that thing was still in use. I couldn’t let young witches continue to be abused. And I couldn’t let more people die for power. It just wasn’t right.

  I showed Gabe and Sam the closet in my bedroom, still more than wary of whoever had been in the house. They’d known about this space, yet the earth magic had obviously taken over this part of the house. The real Gabe looked around the study, but didn’t touch the journals. He’d more likely hack into the computer for details. The room was small, and I had no desire to leave Gabe, but the two vampires had to stay here out of the sunlight.

  “Does that look like a ladder to anyone else? Or just me?” Sam asked, pointing toward a wall of vines. “Ladder to where?” Gabe approached it and climbed carefully until he reached the top. He touched the wall, which just looked like a mash of branches. “This part is painted, not real.”

  “Looks real from here,” Sam said. Gabe felt around the wall a bit and then there was a soft schnick sound. A panel shifted, opening to a passageway. Gabe glanced back at us but climbed inside. I worried every second I didn’t see him. Then he popped his head out. “You have some clean sheets somewhere, Sei? There’s a bed up here, and the windows are covered.”

  I raced back through the main tunnel, grabbed a sheet set and a couple of pillows, and then handed them to Gabe. He vanished again. Sam looked at the cot
and then around the room.

  “I’ll stay down here. Looks secure enough. You go on up.” He didn’t look at me at all while he spoke. I followed Gabe up into the space. An old lamp lit the room with a soft glow, casting shadows on the walls, which were covered in vines. The bed took up one entire end of the space, below a window and the peaked ceiling, but looked comfortable enough. Gabe patted the sheets and covers down, then threw the pillows toward the head of the bed.

  “The room will need some cleaning, but there’s a private bath and it’s secure from sunlight.” He pointed to a small door on the other end of the room.

  The bathroom was pretty small, but had a toilet, a tiny sink, and a huge wooden bathtub. I tested the water. It ran clear and, after a moment, warm. This would do. The little door to the hidden space had a steel-gauge lock and made another sort of mini threshold.

  I sent a quick text to Timothy and set my phone to wake me up at noon. Tomorrow, more obstacles could be conquered. For tonight I just needed sleep, hopefully in Gabe’s arms. Sam handed us some towels and a jar of dirt and said goodnight. While Gabe opened the jar, I stripped out of everything except my briefs and waited for Gabe, who did the same, grabbed up the blankets, and pulled us both down onto the bed. He wrapped his arms around me but didn’t bother turning off the lamp. I fell asleep within minutes of listening to his heartbeat.

  Chapter 11

  I DREAMT again of being in Wonderland, as I thought to call it. This time, instead of exploring, I found a comfortable spot in the bloom of a giant dandelion. The feathery petals cradled me like a supersoft mattress. The powder-blue bright sky stretched clear and calming.

  Was it possible to sleep in a dream? I felt like my soul rested wrapped in the warmth of the earth. The heat of a body pressed against me awoke me slowly. I expected to awake in the hidden room, sleeping beside Gabe, but I opened my eyes to a darkened sky, glowing flowers, and the red-haired man curled up beside me.

  His dark eyes stared into the distance, unblinking. I turned in his arms to face him. Why it felt so amazing to be entwined with him, I couldn’t understand. It made me guilty of cheating on Gabe, even if it was all in my head. I’d have to tell Gabe about the handsome fantasy man. He would probably remark on the man’s beauty, but brush off my idea that it was cheating.

  A ghost of a smile touched the man’s lips.

  “Will you tell me your name this time?” I asked him.

  “Wouldn’t matter. Wouldn’t make any sense to you. You’re too human.” He didn’t sound bitter about it, just matter-of-fact. “Usually we take the name we are given by your kind. I haven’t yet been given one.”

  Human. What did that make him? “Do you want me to give you one?”

  “Only if you want to.”

  I frowned at him, wishing he were more direct. “Are you the earth? Like the spirit of the GreenMan?” He laughed, the sound turning me on faster than it had a right to. “Do I look green to you?” He shifted to press himself against me and ran his hands through my hair, holding it in front of my face. “You look more like the GreenMan to me.”

  The length just appeared dark to me; only when I touched it and the light glowing beneath my skin illuminated it did I see the green tint to my hair. How was that possible? “Are you doing this to me?” I asked him. “Changing me?”

  He shook his head but settled me against his chest. His heart beat slow and gentle, flesh warm against my face. “You’ve been changing for years.”

  “Not like this.” I stared at my glowing hand. “What am I?”

  “That is always the question, isn’t it? The better question is, what do you want?” “You keep asking me that, but I don’t know what you mean.” I wound his red curls around my fingers, marveling at the brightness of the color. It didn’t look dyed and it felt like the softest silk.

  “Money, power, love, whatever.” “I have money. I’m one of the most powerful earth witches in the world, so I don’t need that. And I’m in love with Gabe, so I think I’m good.”

  He tilted my head up to look at him. “You have to want something.”

  “Nah. I’m good. What about you. What do you want?” He appeared shocked that I asked, then thoughtful. “Freedom.” “From what? To do what? Don’t we all have freedom? I guess it’s different for everyone. Like, I never really got to decide what I majored in, but it was my choice how to approach it. Waste it or make the most of it.”

  “Free will. That’s an amazingconcept.” I pulled away from him, sitting up to stare at him curiously. Was this really some sort of forbidden wonderland? Was he stuck here? Who stole his free will? “Is there something I can do to help you?”

  He laughed, chuckling so hard he shook and rolled onto his side, holding his stomach. It went on so long, I turned away and folded my arms across my chest, feeling a little humiliated for no reason. Why was he laughing at me?

  Finally he sucked in a deep breath and then sprawled out, hands beneath his head. “You are too beautiful to be real.”

  “Look who’s talking.” I tugged lightly on his red hair and slid close enough to touch him again. The overwhelming peace made me close my eyes and breathe slowly in through the nose, out through the mouth. Sleep seemed to overtake me again, pulling me away from my mysterious red-haired friend and back into normal rest.

  My phone alarm broke me out of a deep sleep in which I dreamed of my father reminding me how to reawaken the slumbering earth. The two different dreams felt so disjointed, I began to wonder if the first was really a dream or just the earth’s way of communicating with me.

  The light from the lamp stung my eyes a bit. The reply from Timothy on my phone said he’d be here after two. That gave me just over two hours to be ready. I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Gabe—he needed his sleep too. Dragging all my things up to the hidden upstairs room and then cleaning before I hopped in the tub made the time breeze by.

  I added my father’s journals to the shelves of other journals, most of them nicely worn but still readable. The dresser even contained his clothing, some of which appeared wonderfully vintage. Most didn’t have tags, and only a few looked really worn and unusable. They made me wonder at his style, personality, and temperament. These clothes would have certainly made him stand out, even twenty-five years ago. I tried on a handful of things, marveling at how cool they looked on me. My dad must have been taller than me by several inches, but he had the same build. Maybe a good tailor could hem up the pants for me.

  The buzzing of the door interrupted my thoughts. I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was just after two and though it took me a few minutes to get downstairs, the buzzer didn’t ring again. I hoped Timothy stuck around. When I hit the stairwell, I heard the sound of yard equipment coming from the back of the house, which meant Caleb was working. Sprinting the last few feet, I opened the door and smiled at my cousin. Just how much did he know?

  He looked nervous. “You wanted me to stop by?” He looked at the doorway. “Pretty strong threshold. Going to invite me in?”

  I shook my head. He didn’t need an invite if he left most of his power at the door. The wards would effectively bind his powers until he left. I’d spent months studying legal wards and trained others on their use; there wasn’t much I couldn’t do with them anymore. The stuff I’d learned in school barely breached the surface of what could be done with magic. Maybe I’d convince my mom that the education of witches really needed to be overhauled.

  Timothy could decide to stay outside, not step through the wards. That was his choice to make. I did, however, step aside to give him space to come inside. He passed slowly through the doorway, paused just inside, and shook himself, like he was trying to brush away the feeling. “Harsh, Rou.”

  “You’ve heard of me,” I repeated his words back to him. “I’ve found living cautiously when around other witches is best.”

  He just frowned. “Let me make you some tea.” I headed for the kitchen without waiting for him to follow. He sat down at the breakfast bar, fee
t hanging and kicking like a little kid. After the kettle heated up on the burner, I sat down across from him. “So were you born with the power or did you get it from some tainted fairy circle?”

  His jaw dropped, and he gaped a few times like a goldfish. “It takes a powerful witch to change on a non-new moon night.” He’d been the ringtail I’d played with last night. “Why are you sleeping in the trees here? Don’t you have a home? Or are you spying on me?”

  His face flushed with color. “I’m not spying on you. I just don’t have anywhere to sleep other than my car. It’s safer here. I work in construction, but work is hard to find, so money is really tight. Housing isn’t exactly cheap in California.”

  “So why didn’t you ask to stay? I’m surprised your dad didn’t leave you the house.” There must have been some way to buck the papers that said it was mine, else he wouldn’t have remained in possession of it for so long.

  Timothy jumped up from his seat and began pacing. “My dad wouldn’t give me anything. He hated me. When I went into rehab four years ago, he pretended I didn’t exist.”

  Rehab? “Drugs or magic?” The second was as impossible to cure as the first. It was all about self-denial. “Drugs. I try not to use magic.” He glared at his hands. “They did this to me when I was a kid. I never asked for it.” “Your dad?” “Yeah. It’s part of why I turned to coke and heroin. I just couldn’t handle it all. I’m a level-four witch that was born a level-one. The nightmares never end. If I could undo this, I would.”

  “How much was your dad involved in the Ascendance?” Did he know how deeply his father was involved in the corrupt organization?

  “A lot. He was a leader, which really just meant he got to decide who lived and who died for the good of the whole. It was a bunch of crap. Just like any other religion, they think they are right when all they do is hurt others.” He crammed his hands through his hair, making it stand up in crazy ways. “The meetings, the chanting, the memories of people screaming….” Timothy paused and looked at me. “You have no idea how awful it was. When he threw me out, I’d never been so happy in my life.”