by Erin R Flynn
“I’ve never seen this species before,” I muttered as I felt the tingle of several possible spells formulating. “But my magic likes them a lot.”
“Silphium was used for many medicines. It was as expensive in weight as gold at one point, and humans used the resin for much as well,” he told me.
I realized what he was saying and didn’t hide my shock. “They’re extinct.”
“For a few thousand years,” he said.
“Wow, you’re really catching onto this courting thing fast,” I whispered in awe as I felt the energy of the bouquet. “Yeah, these are chock full of magical ingredient goodness.” I beamed at him. “Thanks. These are one of the best presents I’ve ever gotten. I can’t wait to get a day off to play with them and get the seeds going. I would never have thought you could make extinct things.”
He gave a slow nod. “Within limits like yours. Plants is one thing. Animals and life is another. Technically I used the remnant DNA of fossilized silphium, which is a gray area of our limits. If humans let it go extinct, we’re not allowed to meddle really.” He moved closer, cupping my cheek. “But I figured if you skirt the line to help, so could I, and you would do much good with such a flower.”
I went to say something flirty about him trying to wear down my resolve, but then I remembered the others around and the ruse. “Are you hoping to see me in a bikini tomorrow now that we’ve cut court short?”
“Yes,” he murmured, giving me a soft kiss. “I want to rub lotion all over you and then kiss your skin after the sun has warmed it. I want to see you smile and laugh and have fun instead of more stress.”
I had a girly moment to melt, kissing him back and letting him know I liked what he said. I mean, come on, what woman wouldn’t swoon at a bouquet of extinct flowers, not to mention everything I would use them for.
We toured the land a bit more, a few others saying it would be nice to have some areas of refuge for supes who were in bad countries. That wasn’t my deal, and I really couldn’t get all into that.
When we were done, I actually popped us all over to Chicago so I could add some charge to the seal and give the flowers and seeds to the front desk to keep them safe. Plus, some of the elders wanted to see the warehouse before tea. Several hadn’t understood that the farms didn’t have to deliver wares but we came and got them and there wasn’t any transport. I was explaining this when I felt the air change around us.
I turned to see Helen standing outside the building—having just ‘ported to us—with tears running down her cheeks… And something around her neck.
“Soraya, I’m sorry, I got caught,” she rasped, throwing up her arms and putting a barrier around her. “I’m so sorry I failed you. You are the sister and best friend anyone could ever ask for.”
“No,” I whispered in horror, realizing that she was saying goodbye and why.
“I’m sorry,” she choked out. “Please tell Tommy that I love him. That it’s always been him and no one else.”
The necklace beeped, and I took a step towards her as the weight of what was going on almost crushed me. They’d put a bomb on her neck and sent her to me in the hopes to get me.
“I love you, Soraya, and all of our coven,” she breathed before closing her eyes, ready to accept her fate.
But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t ever accept losing Helen.
I wasn’t sure it was up to me as the collar beeped again.
8
“No!” I screamed, my power lashing out in my fear and pain. I felt it pulse out of me like a different type of bomb and fan out. I realized what I’d done when everyone not only froze but a deep pressure pushed against me.
I’d stopped time.
I stepped towards Helen to help her and saw someone move, giving Brax as shocked of a look as he gave me. “You’re not affected.”
“You can stop time?” he blurted.
Two angels who must have been on the roof landed on the street and gave us scared looks.
I nodded, going over to Hunt to change the collar, as I had no idea what the repercussions could be to him if I kept him tied to me. “I’ve only done it a few times and not for long.”
“You’ve frozen time in all of Chicago,” one said, looking panicked.
I shrugged, hurrying over to Helen. “I can’t lose my family.”
I studied the necklace bomb, having seen the design before, glad it was a crude version someone had put together instead of some of the more advanced ones I would have had trouble with. I focused on it with my magic and in a split second separated every piece and component of it, practically shattering it off of her as it disconnected all at once.
Letting out a cry of relief, I closed my eyes and pulled in my power so as to stop affecting all of fucking Chicago. Time started again, and everyone only noticed because whatever they’d been doing, whatever motion they’d been in, stopped and it acted as if they were dropped onto their feet.
Helen’s eyes flew open, and she let out a whimper as she saw me but then realized the collar was gone. “You stopped time.”
“You were worth it,” I whispered, hugging her to me. I swallowed down the pain as time lashed out against me, punishing me for interfering.
“Get the healers!” Helen screamed as she clutched me. “No, no, Soraya, don’t let them win. No, I tried to protect you.”
“I’m okay, it was only seconds,” I promised, grunting as old wounds opened up.
“Help her!” someone else demanded.
Hunt was there and licking any wound that opened up along with Bacchus who I trusted not to lose his head around my blood. It was over in a few moments, as that was the length I’d screwed with time, but it was like getting run over by a bullet train for those moments and then dealing with the after echoes.
Healers showed up and helped me, and I thanked them, promising I was really okay.
“It was only seconds,” I said again, clutching onto Helen now that we were in the building and kneeling on the ground. “Who? Who did this?”
She gave me a worried look, knowing I would go nuclear on whoever had gone after her. I would decimate all the demons if they’d touched her and not only that, used her as a tool to get to me.
“Our elders.”
That took me a moment to let sink in. I had for sure guessed it was demons or those working with them. For the elders to take such a drastic step was so unlike them. Sure, hiring people to kidnap me so their hands were clean was typical of them, but normally they hid for years after I spanked them. Never had they gone to these lengths.
“You’re sure?” I checked when I could find my voice.
She nodded, and I saw it in her head. She’d gone to a popular place in London where we’d ordered a bunch of their famous scones and some extra tea options, and they’d been waiting. They’d laid a trap after hearing she’d been there the day before and knew of the tribunal, guessing she’d be back. I saw faces that haunted my nightmares and knew what I had to do.
“Soraya, no, they’re too powerful,” she begged when I stood. I sent a pulse to the charm Tanesha had to warn her we were attacked so she could get the children to safety. I didn’t know what else the elders might have planned, but I was going to make sure those gits never hurt any of my coven again.
“This ends,” I seethed. “Their tyranny and cruelty ends today.” I popped to the vault and opened it, taking out ten totems and absorbing them before heading to the enchanter elder estate outside London.
Helen and several others of the coven were there as well, trying to stop me, arguing that it was too dangerous and there wasn’t even any way in, as they’d just tried. Keegan told me it was some sort of spell that kept all enchanters out besides those from elder families.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped and walked right through the spell, able to as I was born of an elder family. Several had confused looks as if assuming I could break through the spell and shocked I could.
Several did not, and I was pretty sure they’d already guessed who I rea
lly was.
I went right to the front door, but instead of going inside, I wrapped my magic around the elders and brought them with me back to Arizona for something I’d long been working on. In a section of the land at The Resort, I had been concocting a plan since the first time they’d come after me when the coven was official and I had a place to start plotting what to do if we ever reached that level.
And we were there. I locked the twenty-one men in the magical seals I’d seared into the land that would nullify their magic. It was the same spell on the elder estate cells for those awaiting trial, but I was the only one who could open them.
Everyone appeared moments after, some probably already having stumbled upon what I’d been up to even if they didn’t know what it was for. They brought all the elders as well, and I couldn’t even care that it was for an audience, knowing what had to be done.
“Elena?” Nicholas Warloc breathed, his eyes wide as he stared at me.
It took me a second to recover from shock, but then I smirked at him. “Do I look like Mother?”
“Oh fuck,” someone hissed from the other supe elders, guessing what was really going on.
“You’re alive?” Father snarled, launching towards me, but the seal kept him there.
“Yes, well, you’ve never been all that good at trying to kill me, were you, Father?” I taunted, smirking when understanding filled his eyes. “How you stupid tossers didn’t figure it out sooner is a bloody miracle and the sad, sad downfall of ego and pride. Yes, I’ve been living as Soraya Devil for several centuries and a huge pain in your arse.”
I had more to say but was caught off guard by a thought from one of the other enchanter elders. I sneered at the man.
“No, I’m not still a virgin, you sick git,” I snapped. “I’m over a thousand years old. Of course I’ve had sex. That’s what you immediately think of? That you’ve got a chance at my virginal power?” I snorted. “That boat has long sailed.” I moved closer to him, letting him see all that hate I felt for him. “Aren’t I too old for you?” I nodded when he gave me a shocked look. “Yes, I remember you, you sick fuck.
“I remember you telling me at ten that I was ready for your bed and you would make sure to buy me from Father soon. That you would love me and my body until I got too old. The only thing that could be worse than Father’s cruel abuse was your sick plans and pedophilia.” I hissed at what I saw in his head. “Which hasn’t changed. Yeah, you’re dead, sicko.”
I made a chi jar appear as I used my power to drain him, taking every last ounce of his magical chi. I smiled evilly at him before tossing the jar to Jerome for safe keeping.
“Enjoy your last moments alive and without your magic. You deserve much, much worse.”
“You cannot do this,” he whispered in horror as the fear of the other elders shot up.
“I can and legally, you idiots,” I purred. “I am the recognized elder of all magics in the US. You’ve been extradited to there where you attempted a terrorist attack with putting a fucking bomb on my second’s neck and sending her to the middle of fucking downtown Chicago. It’s also an act of aggression against my coven.”
I might have said more, but his time was up and he dropped dead. I spun around to smirk at the others.
“One down, twenty to go.”
“And she came to us, Nicholas,” Victor informed Father. It took me a moment to figure out how he’d gotten there, but right, if I activated Tanesha’s charm, he could come to me.
“What?” Father whispered, his eyes going wide. “No.”
“Oh yes,” Victor purred, smiling widely at him. “Your daughter traveled all the way to my nest that day after you almost beat her to death, and asked for sanctuary. I granted it, and she lived with us for almost a decade as Soree, a distant human cousin of my family’s. She was right there under your nose in London the whole fucking time.”
“You will die for this,” he threatened.
I snorted. “Fucker, you ain’t getting out of this.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, and I saw the crazy that haunted my nightmares. “Child, you might have murdered your own family to get your power, but I am Nicholas Warloc, the most powerful enchanter that has and will ever be born.”
I snorted again. “Ego. Pride and ego is the downfall of so many self-stated great men.” I knelt and slapped my power into his spell circle and started having it slowly drain him without needing to touch him. I wasn’t stupid. I knew he was powerful, and I didn’t want to get close to him. I made the chi jar appear and showed it to him, smirking. “I don’t think you’re the most powerful one here, Father.”
“Murderer,” he bellowed.
“Yes, I was a murderous baby,” I drawled, rolling my eyes. “What baby can murder their mother and twin? How? How is that possible?” I tossed Jerome the jar and moved closer. “And if you were so fucking powerful, why did you not save them, Father?” He reacted like I’d slapped him. “The great Nicholas Warloc couldn’t even save his mate and unborn son and blamed his surviving daughter. You are the monster. You always have been, not me.”
He started fighting me and my power, as did the others. I pumped more energy into my spell and the seared circles to hold them. I felt another circle flare with the draining spell and turned to see Helen activated another one, Jerome, Keegan, and Tommy right behind her.
“Soraya, he has more than his power,” Helen warned. “He always has.”
Horror filled me as I put the pieces together of what she was trying to tell me. “No.”
“Yes, I’m sorry, it was your father.” She gave me a sad look and activated another circle. “It was how I figured out he was your father. I could never tell you the name of the elder who tried to take my virginity for the power of an enchantress’s first time.”
“You foul git,” I hissed at Father. “How many have you forced? How many of your own have you raped?”
“It’s not rape,” he snapped at me. “They have to be willing.”
I sneered at him. “That’s semantics, and we both know it. How many have you threatened with tossing them and their families out on their arses unless they gave you their virginity? How many, oh great Nicholas Warloc?” I opened my mouth to say more but caught a glimpse of what was around his neck. I yanked off my protection that kept souls away and tossed it at Hunt as I lunged to take the charm Father had.
“No, give her back!” he screamed, fighting against the circle to get the charm.
“Her?” I breathed, my heart sinking as I realized what I was holding. “You trapped Mother’s soul in here?”
“She was my mate. She’s mine forever!”
“She’s a person, not property,” I shouted, sounding as hysterical as I felt. “Even the bloody vows are ‘until death do us part.’ That doesn’t mean you can trap her fucking soul.” I blocked everything else out and focused on the charm, desperately trying to figure out how to free her safely. It took me a moment, but I undid the spell and shattered the charm on the ground.
Then I did one better, for selfish reasons, and gave my mother’s soul the energy to be corporeal and able to speak.
“Holy shit,” several people hissed as a carbon copy of me was visible to all of them.
Yeah, I sort of felt the same seeing I looked exactly like my dead mother.
She looked at me, and instant recognition was there. “Oh, thank the gods you’re alive. I prayed and hoped you survived, and you did.” She smiled when I stood there and just nodded, unsure of what else to do. “I never left after I died. I tried to do what I could, but I was too new a soul to get much power or energy. After you ran, I did everything I could to distract Nicholas and throw him off your trail.”
“Elena, my love, you—”
“Your love?” Mother sneered at him. “I hated you. I have always hated you. You are a disgusting person and a selfish, selfish man. You are a monster, and I never loved you. I loathed you, but you never heard it. I never wanted to be your mate or bear your children. The o
nly reason you got me pregnant was your magic won out against mine! You blamed our daughter, beat her, and it was never her fault! You know what you did, you bastard.”
“What?” I breathed, glancing between them.
She gave me a sad look. “He caught me trying to run again and beat me weeks before I was to deliver. I made one last desperate attempt to flee so my children would never know him and his cruelty, and he found out and beat me.”
“I called the healers after you fell,” Father argued.
“Yes, I fell lots, didn’t I, Nicholas,” she blasted him. “You’re delusional and the sickest man I’ve ever known. All the enchanter elders were.” She fisted my hands and gave him a good look of hate. “You trapped my soul and were looking for the perfect vessel to put me into so you could own me longer. You are worse than any demon and all the minions of Hades combined, Nicholas.”
“Nicholas Warloc, for committing crimes against nature and your own blood, your mate, as the magical authority on the lands you stand, I hereby sentence you to death,” I whispered. “May you rot in Hades for all you’ve done.” I knelt and slammed my power into his circle again, but at a higher dosage. The spell flared and drained him faster than he could even fight against. The amount of chi was alarming.
And how he’d gotten it made me sick to my stomach.
“Don’t send me into the veil,” Mother whispered as we stood there and watched Father and the other elders drain of their chi. “I know you are in pain, my daughter, but give yourself time to process and let us speak again. Please? All I have wanted was to check on you for hundreds of years.”
“I understand,” I replied after a few moments. “You should speak with Kate. She knows something about your brother, but he didn’t allow her to tell me. I would guess he was trying to push me to find out what Father had done.”
“I would gather as well,” she agreed. “I did not know he passed. I would guess he did not find me in the afterlife and tore a way back here to find me. He always hated your father and made it known.”
“I cannot take anymore revelations today,” I admitted when she seemed about to tell me more. “All of my pain, all of my torture and abuse at his hands was based on the lie that you were the love of his life, his doting mate, and I took you from him. I took you and his heir from him, and I wasn’t even pretty like you were, and here it’s like looking in a mirror. Oh, and he tried to rape the woman I feel a sister and almost killed her today to get to me.”