Sacrifice

by Heather McCollum

  Anna’s gaze shifted to him. “Don’t kill her. I love her, Drustan. I love you. You aren’t a monster. You can’t do this.”

  Her words made him choke on his own breath. He fought to inhale. “There is a prophecy that she will kill you,” he whispered. “I cannot let that happen.”

  “There are a thousand prophecies,” she panted. “Semiazaz would only show you the ones he wants.”

  “You cannot die today,” Drustan insisted, shaking his head.

  Anna grabbed his shirtfront, lifting her face close to his. “I would rather I die today than her. Kill me, but leave her alive.”

  “No!” he yelled, the one word vibrating with deep, hollow pain.

  “I, Jackson Black, gift the Orb of Life to Drakkina.” The words exploded in the clearing as the orb leapt from Jackson to Drakkina. The blast scattered the wolves that were beginning to close in on Kailin and him again. Jackson’s whip cracked out toward three demons who had taken a stand before them. Drakkina grabbed the small boulder, and the dragonfly amulet hanging from her neck glowed like a sun.

  Drustan blinked and looked back at Anna. Her eyes stared down the table, her mouth open gulping breath. Merewin straightened, and a tiny cry rose above the chaos around Drustan. The baby was born.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Drustan stood rooted to the ground, as if his entire being had turned as solid and still as the stone slab itself. Merewin wiped and wrapped, her hands efficient yet gentle. She swiped another cloth into a little mouth. So small. Pink. Could this be the monster, the monster that he had made?

  “She’s beautiful,” Merewin said and lifted her up to set in Anna’s arms. Drustan propped Anna’s back up. She cried as she took her baby, cradling her. Drustan was very aware of the thick extension coming from under the blanket, still tying her to Anna.

  Kill it before they cut the umbilical cord, or she will use her power against your queen. Semiazaz’s voice rose up inside Drustan. While he held Anna, he could rally no defense, no barriers to keep him or any of them out. All the demons began to whisper.

  Monster. Kill it. Use the knife. You will bring her back untainted. You will make it right, perfect. Kill the babe. A sacrifice. Kill it. Kill it. Kill it.

  Serena yelled something, but all Drustan could do was watch the infant blink its blue eyes open. Intelligent eyes. Kill it. Power so great in her little body. Kill it. Once free of Anna, her power would be free. Kill it. The whispers grew in his mind, rising like a consciousness that clouded out everything else, catching him in a spell. Kill it. Kill it. Kill it.

  Gurgled cries tore through the air beyond the slab.

  “By the Earth Mother,” Merewin cursed on a gasp, making Drustan glance up, the dark words dissolving in his mind.

  Butterflies filled the circle between the standing stones, millions of yellow wings, fluttering and diving. Attacking. The demons batted wildly at them as the tiny insects shoved their way into mouths, up noses, into eye sockets. The butterflies choked Megaira’s serpents and filled Erubus’s empty skull, making him wild with their fluttering. They covered Bechard, holding on even as he swung around and around with his war hammer. Dariah’s scream was cut off by a clump of yellow wings shooting down her throat. Troglodytarum scurried about, turning himself into what looked like a boulder. Gehenna grew larger, swatting huge hands at the butterflies. But the yellow creatures wouldn’t relent.

  Hauk came beside him and seemed to shudder. “The smallest warriors can be the fiercest.”

  The demons disappeared and reappeared, trying to shake the butterflies, but they continued to circle. Semiazaz kept an invisible barrier around himself that expelled the butterflies. His words reached Drustan’s mind.

  The time is now. There is only one way to save us. Kill the baby. You will bring her back innocent, untainted by your curse. The blade that Drustan had dropped amongst the scattered wildflowers and faded autumn leaves rose in the air, and he clasped it. He lowered Anna, removing his hand, and his magic surged into an inferno within his body. Hauk lunged for the knife, and Drustan threw him back with a blast of power, catching Merewin as well. They fell against the stones, leaving Drustan with Anna holding the infant.

  Kill it now!

  You lie. Drakkina’s voice shattered Semiazaz’s command. The Silver Witch walked toward Semiazaz, the butterflies parting like a yellow curtain over a theater stage to let her through. Her body pulsed with power and looked as solid as his sisters’ bodies. If you ever cared for me, you will stop. Do not make him kill an innocent babe. The words penetrated his mind, but they also radiated throughout the stones for all to hear.

  Semiazaz stared at Drakkina, her white robes constantly moving with the dragonflies circling her. I do this for you, Kina. I will capture time and change our lives.

  Drakkina stood within his clear circle, the yellow wings starting to retreat. She shook her head. I will never love you.

  You did once. Eògan stole you from me. I will find the thread where you chose him and stop it. You will love me! He turned away from her toward Drustan.

  Semiazaz grew in size, and his voice swelled inside Drustan’s head. Kill the baby now. You must obey me. All the other demons shriveled, giving their power over to Semiazaz as his words worked on Drustan’s battered mind.

  Kill. You must kill the monster. You will kill the monster!

  Drakkina yelled at Semiazaz, trying to grab him, but his barrier withstood. For a moment Semiazaz seemed to struggle as if another wrestled to control his words.

  Drustan. Fight for love. Protect love. It is in you. The words were deep, masculine. They came from within Semiazaz.

  “Eògan?” Drakkina yelled. “You are in there. Eògan!”

  But Semiazaz roared, and a surge of magic blew through the wizard. He dissolved and appeared at Drustan’s side. Not touching but filling his mind to where Drustan couldn’t think of anything else. Lift the blade.

  Drustan lifted the silver blade. The rest of the world slipped away, his whole focus on Anna and the baby. Anna cried, trying to cover her daughter, twisting away, but in her weakened state, she couldn’t escape. Drustan hated that she feared him, but…

  Kill it. Quickly. Painlessly. Make your life perfect.

  Drustan tugged the blanket away, exposing the baby’s small, perfect body. His daughter’s little stomach rose and fell with breath, her tiny fingers curled into fists, her blue eyes watched him.

  “No,” Anna sobbed. “Don’t.” She grabbed Drustan’s other hand, clinging to it. “I love you, Drustan. I love you.”

  Kill it. Kill it, continued to run through Drustan’s mind.

  Anna’s words overrode Semiazaz, the power behind them pure and true. Drustan met her watery gaze. “I love you,” she said again. “She loves you.” Drustan looked back at the little baby watching him. Just born, but full of blossoming power.

  Slowly the baby’s hand released its tight fist and reached toward him. Drustan remained motionless despite Semiazaz’s words throbbing in his head. Just born, her arm was thin and pale, the skin so soft it looked as if it could tear upon touch. The knife held steady in his right hand as Drustan reached forward with his left. Just to touch her, so tiny in her perfection, so full of promise and life.

  Kill it. Kill it. Kill it, ticked away in his head, and his hand gripped tighter around the dagger. It ached and felt slick with sweat. Without conscious thought his right arm rose, the blade pointed toward the baby’s miniature, pumping chest. Kill it. Kill it. Kill it.

  He watched the little babe breathe, watched her move. His newborn daughter’s hand wrapped around Drustan’s finger.The chaos and noise in the background faded away as the strongest magic in the universe unleashed in that single small action. Anna held onto his wrist, and the baby grasped him like a lifeline. The gentle pressure and warmth from the baby’s palm radiated up through his hand. Was this magic? Yes, but not the magic Semiazaz warned about. This magic was something much more powerful.

  Drustan’s chest squeezed, an
d he fought to pull in air. He felt the combined dark magic moving his hand with the knife. No matter what, it would strike. He raised the knife high, the muscles in his right arm gathering for a sharp thrust. Would the blade really be painless and quick as Semiazaz had promised? It didn’t really matter.

  With the downward surge, Drustan guided the eight-inch blade down in an arc, stabbing right through his own chest into his heart, the very organ he thought was dead, the very one filled completely with love.

  ****

  The dust settled as Drakkina watched Semiazaz’s body fall. She lowered her hands as her magic tore through him.

  “Kina,” he called, but she raised her hands again. With one more blast, the last shreds of his essence slipped away. Was Eògan with him? But she didn’t have time to grieve. With the added power from the orb, Drakkina focused her assault on the remaining demons. She contained them within the stones, seeking them out even in their invisible state. As each coalesced into their hideous form, one of Gilla’s daughters or their mates attacked, slicing their bodies before they could escape into vapor. With bolts of lightning, she aimed at Bechard.

  “He betrayed us,” the tempest demon snarled just before Drakkina struck him where his heart should have been. His essence scattered, filtering down back to Hell. Betrayed us? Did he speak of Semiazaz or Drustan?

  Sobs came from the center altar. Drakkina blew a fresh wind through the stones to clear the air. Tenebris sat by a large body on the ground, his snout pointed high into the air. He let out a piercing howl, long and mournful. It sent chills up Drakkina’s arms and back, making her glance down. She wiggled her toes in the damp leaves, real toes, not misty toes. She held her breath, and her chest demanded air. She smiled and almost laughed at the pleasure of inhaling. She did it again.

  “No, no!” Anna’s voice cried from the altar. Was the baby dead? Drakkina’s smile vanished, and she whisked over. Blood slid along the side of the altar, but the baby whimpered unharmed in Anna’s arms. Anna struggled to push her legs over the side as Merewin took the baby from her. Toren helped Anna to the ground beside Drustan.

  “Heal him!” she yelled at Merewin.

  Merewin passed the baby to Serena. “Hauk, you must remove the knife,” she said, and he planted his hand on Drustan’s chest. Drakkina could barely make out a shallow breath from Drustan. Gilla’s son was beautiful in repose. So strong and handsome, his hair dark like Druce’s.

  Hauk yanked in a swift upward motion, and a well of blood burbled from the cut. It surged out with the weak thudding of Drustan’s heart. Merewin placed her hands over the wound and closed her eyes for several long moments.

  All of his sisters and their mates gathered around. Kat’s lips moved, fists under her chin as if in prayer. Toren held her close. Tears sat in Kailin’s eyes. Drakkina blinked back the watery vision from her gaze and watched Merewin’s hands.

  Blood continued to well up through tight lines between her fingers. “It won’t heal,” she said.

  Serena handed off the baby to Keenan who promptly tucked the wee head under his chin and swayed, a warrior turned comforting father in the span of a heartbeat. Serena bent down, touching Drustan’s shoulder. “He doesn’t want to live,” she said, meeting Merewin’s teary gaze.

  Anna clutched Drustan’s face in her hands. “We’ve won. Come back, Drustan. You have to live! You’re not a monster.” She coughed and tried to lie on top of him, but her still swollen belly got in the way.

  “She’s bleeding,” Merewin murmured, touching Anna’s arm.

  “Fix her,” Drakkina said, tears running freely down her cheeks. Merewin couldn’t heal anyone who didn’t want to live. Had Anna given up on life as well? They both couldn’t die. The little girl they’d brought into the world needed love and guidance. The thought pressed hard on the backs of Drakkina’s newly made eyes. Merewin’s lips opened, her brows rising as she took in Drakkina’s anguished face. Drakkina flapped her hands. “Help her.”

  “Anna, you must live for your daughter,” Serena said near her ear. The calm words were tinged with magic so Anna could hear them inside despite her weeping. “She needs you.”

  Serena glanced at Merewin, a tightness around her eyes. “I need the baby,” Serena said to Keenan and lifted her from his chest. “Hello little one,” she said. “Your mother must see you.” Serena knelt slowly, holding the baby close.

  “Anna, your baby girl.” Keenan helped lift Anna’s torso up so Serena could rest the baby into her arms. Tears dripped from Anna’s chin as she looked down. The baby blinked wide blue eyes up at her.

  “Amazing,” Drakkina whispered. The eyes were attentive, almost wise. They held sadness and hope and…love.

  “Keep trying to reach him,” Anna pleaded. Blood continued to soak deep red through his tunic. It would be over soon.

  Drakkina turned away from the scene, the orb sitting heavy in her hands. The breeze blew faintly, the smell of leaf mold and the sea tickling her nose. She inhaled fully. Oh how she’d missed it, the feeling of her body expanding with breath, the smells of the earth, the beat of a real heart.

  But there was something else. A hollow feeling in her chest, consuming the joy of each heartbeat. Eògan was dead just like Drustan was dying. He’d surfaced in Semiazaz, trying to reach Drustan, doing his own part in the battle. Pride and heartache filled Drakkina’s chest. Yet she hadn’t been able to reach him. Drakkina was still alone. Except for this family.

  On her quest to right her wrong in binding the demons and Semiazaz, Gilla’s children had become Drakkina’s family. She’d first found Serena on a thread in the year 1746, pushing her to love Keenan. Drakkina had used manipulation and magic, nearly killing her, to bring them together. She’d learned that love can’t be forced. Drakkina turned to watch Serena cry now over Merewin’s shoulder even as she tried to convince Drustan to live.

  Serena had helped Merewin in her healing before, convincing a child to desire life when Merewin had been captured by Vikings in the tenth century. Yes, Drakkina had influenced the Viking to hunt for her. Otherwise Gilla’s second daughter never would have found her true mate, Hauk. Now he knelt beside her, support and love in his posture. By following them, trying not to interfere further, Drakkina watched love grow and heal internal wounds better than any magic.

  Drakkina’s gaze moved to Kat. Yes, she’d interfered again with Kat in the twenty-first century, bringing her mate across time to find her. There had been no other way Kat could have found Toren in the sixteenth century. Kat’s childhood scars still rippled against her cheek and jaw, but instead of ugliness, Drakkina now saw strength.

  Kailin left Jackson to kneel beside her brother. She spoke to him as Tenebris lay down along his other side, resting his black nose in the crook of Drustan’s shoulder. The wolf whined softly, adding to the quiet, horrible melody of mourning that rolled through the stone circle.

  Tears coursed through the dust on Kailin’s cheeks as she shook her head at Jackson. So strong. Whether honed from years of controlling her immense power or from something born to her, Kailin had always been resilient. And yet she cried for her brother. She loved him. Kailin had learned to surrender everything to love, and in so doing she’d grown stronger.

  Love. A small word, a single thought with infinite meaning and power.

  As Drakkina watched Gilla’s family, who had become her own, the word “love” resonated within her. Drakkina had learned and evolved while watching these sisters find love. They had become everything to her, teaching her, and eventually trusting her.

  Kat came to Drakkina and linked her arm through hers. Warmth and comfort infused her, and she hugged Kat. “I am so sorry,” Drakkina said and backed up to kiss Kat’s forehead.

  “Is there nothing we can do?” Kat asked.

  Drakkina looked back at Drustan, his tunic soaked with dark blood as Anna cried softly while holding her wee babe, a babe who would never know her father. Was there something they could do? Something that Drakkina could do? Her hand ros
e to grasp her amulet that dangled from the chain around her neck. Realization came over her, blanketing Drakkina in calm as her heart beat faster.

  She turned to Kat, a small smile tipping up her mouth. “Perhaps.” She gave Kat another hug and pulled away, her smooth hand touching Kat’s puckered cheek. “Love works miracles. I’ve seen it. I’ve learned it.”

  Drakkina walked over to Drustan. “Let me see him.” She knelt.

  “He’s stopped breathing,” Merewin said. “We’ve lost him.” Someone reached to take the baby so Anna could fall across Drustan.

  “Let me try,” Drakkina said. “I need to touch his face.” She waved in Hauk to help Anna up. Drakkina lifted her amulet up and over her head. As the chain slipped away, she felt sensation fade, but the need to help her family far outweighed the disappointment.

  Quickly, she placed the chain around Drustan’s neck and set the Orb of Life next to his arm on the ground. “Dearest, wisest Earth Mother,” she said, her voice rising. “I, Drakkina of the ancient Callum clan from Britain’s southern henge, gift the Orb of Life to Drustan, son of Gilla and Druce.”

  Someone gasped behind her. Words flew around, but Drakkina’s focus was on the cold jolt that bored through her. Her breath tugged and ripped away from her body. She felt herself rise like she had for millennia in spirit form. The sweet tang of earthly smells faded away with her heartbeat. She floated to a point above Drustan, looking down at her body slumped next to him. Kat and Merewin jumped toward her empty shell. The Orb of Life glowed beside Drustan to match the blue in the dragonfly amulet around his neck.

  Dearest Earth Mother, take my sacrifice, my life in exchange for Gilla’s son.