“Because of me?” I start.
“Yes, Amura. It was my fault, really, for falling in love with an angel.”
“The angel of death, Samael?”
She nods her head, “Samael, is a dark angel, my love. The only one. He didn’t know who I was, because the white coven who brought me into this world kept my magik hidden from him. He only knew that I was immune to death, he saw me many times over the years, with everyone I ever knew passing away around me while I didn’t age. It must have been a strong attraction for the angel of death to finally meet a woman who wouldn’t die. He revealed his presence to me whenever I grieved for one of my coven. We fell in love, that was my corruption as a daughter of Gaea, my descent to dust. I was meant to have a mortal child, but instead, I conceived you, the daughter of an angel.”
My eyes go wide as I remember Teddy saying that a child had been born of an angel once before… it was me!
Pulania is sighing. “Samael is more than an ordinary angel. As the angel of death he carries darkness, Amura, and you’ve inherited some of that darkness. Did you notice your wings are black?”
I nod my head.
“Only one other angel has black wings, and that’s your father. Not even Lucifer has dark wings. I couldn’t hide your darkness in a white coven, my love, we had to join a dark one. The members of my own coven had passed away long ago, there really wasn’t any choice. We were able to remain hidden from the world for many years before your powers began to emerge, but when they started to manifest as dark magik, I knew we needed to be where your magik could be controlled and appreciated. ”
That made sense. “So you took my memory from before that time, so I wouldn’t seem strange to the coven?”
“You were only very young Amura, how was I to explain a child who had been alive for hundreds of years?”
“I’m hundreds of years old?” That still hasn’t really sunk in.
“Yes, sweetie, I was pregnant with you when the covenant was signed.”
“I…I don’t remember anything from before the coven.”
She’s brushing her hand along my forehead, and I can feel a tingle from her fingers. “You will remember over time, the memories were blocked from you, they weren’t removed.”
Something else occurs to me. “I saw him at the school this morning. I saw my father.”
“Oh, really? Do tell, I haven’t seen him in years,” she sighs. “I can only see him when someone close to me dies, and that hasn’t happened in a long time.”
I explained about the death of Mrs. Lesley. Then before I could forget, I also told Pulania about Hexabus wanting to sacrifice Susan.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”
“What is it?”
“Think about it, Amura, they wanted to sacrifice you, and then me, and now Susan. Hexabus knows about us. Shit! Maybe some of our other sisters in the coven too.”
“Oh. What do we do now?”
“It’s alright, sweetie, I’ve planned for this day, but I’m afraid it’s going to be easier for me, than for you.”
Chapter 27: Possession
The heat of the fire is so fierce from here that I can feel my face burning. The flames are licking my home of a hundred years and turning it to ash.
Funny how you get attached to things. It was a bit of a hole from the outside, but I liked it. I’m particularly sorry to see my new garden disappear at its side. After all, my grandmother planted that garden for me. There are tears running down my face, I wipe my nose with my arm.
“I’m sorry Amura, but it’s our only true link to the coven. My place has always been hidden from them, but it will be your home again, the same as it was when you were younger.”
I don’t remember that time though. Not yet.
I’ve managed to keep a few trinkets, some of my herbs and such. Oh, and I took some of the belladonna from the garden. But that’s it. My home is gone.
“We’ll still have to deal with the coven. We have an enemy, or enemies there.” Pulania reminds me. I just nod my head. I might be hundreds of years old, but I guess when it comes down to it, in some ways I’m still just a 16 year old girl. I feel very insecure right now. That’s not just because I’ve lost my home, though that’s a big part of it, it’s because of what Pulania found out about Ardan.
***
Ardan is waiting for us when we get back to Pulania’s. Well, not exactly waiting for us, he’s just… there. He’s in the same position he’d been in the last time I’d seen him – on the floor playing video games. He didn’t even acknowledge us when we came in, though I saw that he hesitated without looking up at us.
We’re gathering around him, and Pulania is standing in front of the video screen so that he has to stop. Without looking up, he turns off the game and puts aside the controller. He’s just sitting there, eyes down cast. It’s very sad to see.
“Ardan was demonically possessed. It took a while to get the slimy git out of him, but that’s one cunning little demon who’s not going to be possessing anyone anymore.”
Wow, that would have been hard to do. Ardan mustn’t have been possessed for very long, as time progresses a demon gains more and more control. For poor Mrs. Lesley, her life had been prolonged by her possession, so that only death could save her.
I’m also a bit surprised that I wasn’t able to pick it. What sort of demon can bury itself so deeply that there isn’t a hint of magik?
“An itsy bitsy one, dear,” Pulania answers my thoughts, I think Gil is used to that, but Susan is doing a double take wondering what’s going on.
“The threat of bodily harm isn’t something demons are enthralled with when they’re linked to a living body of flesh and bone. I had an idea we should check Ardan out for that, hence the use of the torture chamber earlier on.”
“So no one paid you to ‘do’ Susan then?” Ardan shakes his head in answer to my question.
“Does he speak?” I ask Pulania. She shrugs.
“A little, but not much.”
He was probably traumatised by the experience. He would have seen everything that had happened, and had no control.
“So what happened, Ardan?” I kneel down so that I’m looking at him from his eye level. He still won’t look me in the face though.
“There were three of them,” he whispers. “Mrs. Lesley and two others. They held me while it happened. I…”
“It was a demon worm,” Pulania explains. “They put a tape worm with the demon in his body. That’s why we couldn’t see the demon’s magik. Usually a demon will take months to cajole and corrupt a human mind. This way he could be taken right away.”
“They put that… that thing, inside me.” Ardan is looking right at me now, but his eyes quickly drop away again. “And then I couldn’t do anything. It was all, that thing.”
I stand up again to talk to the others. “So it was all an act by the demon before?”
“Everything.” Pulania confirms.
I just nod.
“Tell us what they looked like Ardan,” Pulania continues.
He lets out a deep sigh. “Mrs. Lesley brought them in to her class. Everyone was there and nobody did anything to help me!” he’s shouting.
I’m breaking out in a chill, I could have been there and I wouldn’t have done anything either, I wouldn’t even have known that something was happening, such was the power of the demon that controlled Mrs. Lesley. I’m mentally relieved that I didn’t share calculus with Ardan, that’s the only way I can be sure that I wasn’t there.
“There were three men,” Ardan continues after he’d had a chance to calm a bit, “they didn’t have to hit me, but they did, just for the fun of it. Then, somehow they managed to force my mouth open… without even touching me. And they poured that thing inside.” He’s pausing again. This is obviously very difficult for him. I can picture them forcing his mouth open with magik.
“They were big, over six foot each. Ripped. Their arms were as big as my torso. Two of them had sun glasses, even
though the class room was dark when they came in, and they wore dark suits. They reminded me of mob goons.” They might well have been, mobsters were easy prey for demonic possession.
“The third one seemed more like a bikie or something. He had tats on his arms and wore an old leather jacket. He was called Thomas, and just did as the other two told him.” Ardan adds.
Not anymore. I know Tommy’s fate.
“Your Mrs. Lesley probably identified Susan,” Pulania continues. “This has gone straight to some upper demons, the sun glasses would have been because their eyes permanently glow red, and sun glasses are the best way to hide that.”
“Does that mean that every demon out there is going to want Susan dead?” Gil asks.
Pulania cocks her head for a moment before answering. “No there’ll be some demons who are quite… satisfied… with the world as it is, they won’t want this change. On the other hand, there may be some angels who don’t want to see the world continue as it is. This is a problem that crosses the lines of good and evil. And we’re in the middle.”
Pulania taps her foot for a moment in thought. “We’re living here from now on, all of us. This place isn’t on anyone’s radar, good or evil. There are ancient spells protecting it, and we can’t trust anyone.”
Pulania is looking at me. I know what she’s inferring. “Master is good, he tipped me off about Mrs. Lesley, but I won’t tell him where we are.”
“Fine. We can use a few allies. We might be able to count on Samael too, he’s both good and evil, but even then we’ll have to test how strong those family bonds are. We can’t be sure of anything.”
“Gaea is on our side,” I comment.
“Yes, you’re right about that.” Pulania turns to Gil, “you said something about Gaea taking some of Amura’s blood?”
Gil shrugs, “I was a little ways away.”
“She cut my ear with her finger nail and then put my blood into the earth. When she did that I could feel new powers coming into me. I have some creation power now.”
“Hmmm, we’ll have to explore what that means exactly, but she’s given you those powers for a reason. And she told you to look after Susan. She’s effectively made you Susan’s guardian ang…” she pauses.
“You were going to say angel.” I finish for her.
But Pulania looks at me with a grimace on her face. “I’m not sure that’s what you are exactly, you’re something… new… Amura, a cross between many things. Part dark witch, part granddaughter of Gaea, part dark angel. Maybe in the end you’re just… Amura,” she’s smiling at that. “Magik defines what we are, and you have powers that are unique to you.”
But there’s business at hand. I nod toward Ardan. Pulania eyes me, she knows what I mean, a quick knife slash and problem solved, but she shakes her head.
“Ardan stays too. We still need him for testing, and there’s no one we’re going to be able to trust more than someone whose been saved from possession.”
“I hate them,” Ardan confirms. “They killed my parents, too.”
Oh dear, of course they would have done that, they were tying up loose ends.
“Besides,” Pulania turns to Susan, “there’s something else you should know, Susan. The first time you were with Ardan, he wasn’t possessed.”
Ooo, now that might change the game a bit.
Susan had been pretty sullen while all this discussion was going on, but now she lashes out, “yeah, well so what? He said it didn’t mean anything, that they paid him to get with me.”
Oh my God, I roll my eyes, you lemon-sucking bitch, give the poor guy a break. Has she been paying any attention? This girl is so slow. I can’t believe we’re related.
“That was the demon talking, sweetie, it wasn’t Ardan. You can be pretty sure that almost anything that comes out of a demon’s mouth is going to be a lie. The first time, it was just you and him, after that, well, after that it was the demon. Mrs. Lesley probably twigged to your relationship early on, and so they targeted Ardan to get at you.”
I can see that bit of information slowly processing through Susan’s brain. Shite, this could take hours, I’m going to go out and plant my Belladonna.
Gil and Pulania move out of the room too. Pulania is offering to give Gil a tour of the mansion, though I suspect it’s all just some excuse to give Susan and Ardan some alone time. Fine. I’m for the garden.
Chapter 28: Daughter of light
I actually find this quite relaxing. I mean, I’ve never really done anything like this before, well, not that I can remember. Planting the Belladonna is taking away all my stress, there’s something about gardening, about working with the earth…
“… that calms the soul.” She finishes the thought for me.
I don’t need to turn around to know who it is. I could feel her approaching, and it wasn’t as though she was trying to sneak up on me or anything. Not with that glow that encompasses her, and the soft shuffle of her feet as she walked toward me.
“Do I even have a soul?” I ask Gaea.
“Yes, daughter of darkness, though your soul is blended with both darkness and light.”
I smile at that, it’s actually a bit of a relief, because I had never really been sure that I wasn’t soulless. We pause in a comfortable silence as I dig in the garden planting the Belladonna.
“I suppose you and Pulania can read my mind because we’re related?” I eventually ask her.
“No, and yes. Those close to you, those who can be trusted, will be able to sense your thoughts: Gil, Susan, your angel friend and yes, Pulania, but I am different, all hearts and all minds are open to me.”
“I suppose that makes sense, you being a god and all. Oh! Thanks for the Belladonna, by the way. I was sorry that the rest of the garden that you made for me was burned.”
Her hand goes to my shoulder, “I was pleased that you saved the Belladonna, it is my special gift to you. It is like your soul, it has the characteristics of a poison and of a medicine, there are times when both those things are needed.”
I grimace at that. I stop patting down the soil around some of the roots of the plant I’ve been working with, and straighten my back. “Do you think I should have planted these so that they have more sun?” I’m actually working up to a broader question.
“You have chosen the best place in this garden for these to thrive, it is a gift that I have given you, part of the Earth magik, your judgement for this planting was well made.”
I look up at her face. She’s smiling at me. “I’m both evil and good. Don’t you want me to just be good?”
Her smile is still there, “Daughter of darkness, you are partly what you have been given in life, the soul of my darkest angel lies in your heart. But you are also the choices you make. Be it known to you, that your path will be a difficult one to tread, the task I have given you must be fought against creatures of both good and evil, for the world is at stake. Higher creatures than humans have tried to subvert the role of the daughters of Gaea, you are my choice for restoring a balance so that the test may remain inviolate. With your powers awakened, you are given wisdom to aid you in your choices.”
There are tears on my cheek. “You’re about to go aren’t you?” I ask.
She just nods her head.
“Will I see you again?” but she doesn’t answer that question. She only looks away toward the sky.
“Will you stay a moment longer, then?” I’m sure she knows what I have in mind.
“I will wait for her here in the garden, daughter of light.”
“Thank you!” With that, I’m up on my feet and sprinting to the nearest door. I look back for an instant, and see that she’s putting coriander around the Belladonna again. My heart is as light as a feather, and that makes it feel just that much lighter.
“Pulania!” I yell out as I come into one of the halls. “Pulania!”
She and Gil come rushing toward me, and a second later Susan and Ardan are there too.
“What is it? What�
�s wrong?” Pulania actually has her bronze dagger in hand, I must have sounded really urgent.
I’m a bit out of breath. “Put that away, there’s no problem, but you have to come, now!”
Pulania returns the dagger to her leg holster, there’s question in her eyes as I drag her by her arm out the back door toward a balcony and the garden. When we’re outside again, I’m startled by what I see, gone is the crone, the nice old lady who I think of as my grandmother, and there in her place below the balcony is a young girl skipping and singing as she circles around the garden, arms in the air with a swarm of butterflies about her. She’s wearing a light summer frock, and the garden has bloomed early from winter into summer greens with a lush lawn and with flower beds in a riot of colour.
Pulania has both hands clasped together in front of her face. “Oh, my.” Is all she says.
Slowly she walks down the stairs that lead toward the garden. Susan and Gil make to follow her, but I hold them back. “This is Pulania’s moment. She’s waited a long time for this.” I know that Susan is a daughter of Gaea too, but she’s only just found that out, and doesn’t really know what it means yet. Pulania has been waiting all her life to meet her mother - over a thousand years.
When Pulania descends to the garden, she drops to her knees with her arms outstretched, and the child Gaea races into them. I can hear Pulania crying again, but I think it’s tears of joy. We watch from the balcony, and it’s really only now that I realise what Gaea had just called me ‘daughter of light’, and at this moment that’s exactly how I feel. There’s still a daughter of darkness within me, but there’s also something I hadn’t really recognised before, there’s light. There’s both.
Pulania and the girl Gaea, spend some minutes together. It’s not much given that more than a thousand years has passed since Pulania was born, but it’s perhaps more than Pulania had ever hoped for. It reminds me of that moment when I discovered that Pulania was my mother. I don’t think there’s a dry eye in the house at the moment. Pulania was overcome with tears for a while, but now the young Gaea and her are just talking. I’d love to know what they’re talking about. I’ll try and ask Pulania later, maybe we can trade experiences.
The Dark Witch Page 11