Above us, the clouds broke in a radius of about ten yards. From the hole in the sky, it began to rain snakes. Not just ordinary snakes, but giants that would put pythons to shame, all of them black as the smoke that had billowed from crevice.
Olivia screamed as one almost landed on her head but was stopped by Saul’s barrier. Surrounded by Nephilim, demon hounds and giant snakes, our hopes were diminished, and I was running out of time.
I sent more nephils to attack one of the witches. They snatched one of them up and carried her away. Three of my nephils were killed, but three more brought the witch to us. Alex set her on fire. She screamed and thrashed. The nephils dropped her on the bank of the bayou. Her charred flesh fell away from her rotten bones, and her black heart burst with a hundred rats that quickly scurried away.
The snakes stopped falling from the sky, and the clouds cleared. We could see again with the light of the moon. I had five minutes left.
“I have to get back to the house!” I said.
“Everyone make your way to the house!” said Miles.
“I have to go now!” I insisted.
“I’ll take her,” Noah said to Miles. Maybe we can take out the witches from the other side.
“Okay, but if there are more Nephilim coming from that direction, come back this way at once,” ordered Miles.
I clutched the Heart to my chest as Noah flew me toward the house while our friends battled the remaining hounds, snakes and the last two witches. Just before we made it to the house, we were blindsided by a powerful force that knocked us out of the sky. Noah held on to me as best he could as we spun downward. We rolled into the grass in front of the pond, near the driveway. He quickly rebounded and positioned himself in front of me just in time to see Gadriel in his face. The angel smacked him so hard that Noah flew into the trunk of a pine tree ten feet away.
Gadriel soared into the sky, and Noah tore after him. I tried to drain Gadriel, but they were out of range. For a few moments it looked like they were dancing in the sky, turning round and round, wings flapping violently.
A voice came from behind me. “Where is she?!”
I whipped around to see Charmagne a few feet away. She was as grotesque as the last time I laid eyes on her in her crumbling mansion.
“Where is she?!” she demanded again.
“Where you can’t get to her!”
Her hungry eyes spotted the Heart of Charlemagne in my hand. “Give me the Heart!”
“Come and get it from me!”
She raised her hands, and I felt my energy draining. I pushed back against her, attacking her life force. She was surprised at how strong I was. We canceled each other out.
I heard muffled yelling from above. I looked to see Noah and Gadriel falling from the sky with Noah on top. Their hands were on each other’s throats. As they neared, I drained Gadriel’s energy enough so that he went limp, his hands releasing Noah.
Noah steered him toward a large rock near the pond, lining up Gadriel’s head just right. When they made impact, I felt a rush of displaced wind, and I heard the loud, dull crack of his skull. To make sure he was dead, Noah lifted his head and repeatedly banged it into the rock with blood pooling on the grass.
“NO!” Charmagne screamed and fell to her knees.
I heard a commotion behind me and turned to see a pack of demon hounds coming my way.
Noah ran toward me. He saw the hounds advancing and turned to me. “Run.” His eyes pleaded with me. But there was something else behind that look. It was something that said he knew this was it. In that split second, I didn’t want to believe it and even thought I was imagining it.
“Go!” He pushed me out of the way just as the pack of hounds crashed into him. I drained two of them as he valiantly tried to fight them off, managing to kill three as they mauled him, ripping out his beautiful wings, blood gushing from his mortal wounds. They were too much for him.
I ran to him, pulling another hound away, draining it. There were too many. “NOAH!” I screamed as they feasted on him. The Guardians came almost instantly, carrying his light away with them. And it was over. My heart caught in my throat, and I dropped to my knees, holding my gut, sobbing.
To my left, I heard a vile laugh. I whipped around to see Charmagne, her eyes crazed with glee, laughing at the sight of Noah’s mangled body. “Justice!” she said, and laughed again.
I tackled her. My fist found her eye, her jaw, her gut. Blinded by my rage, I threw punches, and when my fists got tired and streaked with blood, I found my hands wrapped around her throat, wanting those crazy eyes to close and never open again.
In the scuffle I dropped the Heart.
She thrust her fist into my gut. I rolled over just as the house was coming back into focus.
“The house!” Charmagne croaked, holding her throat. She was looking at one of the witches who stood near Noah’s body with three demon hounds at her side.
The witch raised her hands and began a spell. Just then, the door flew open, and Cee Cee stepped out. She spat on the ground in front of the witch, yelled with righteous indignation “BACK, YOU UGLY HEIFER!” and stomped the earth with her foot. The ground shook with a tremendous force, knocking the witch and her demons down. Before she could get back up, Cee Cee reached into her Elvis purse, pulled out some white dust and threw it at the sister.
She tried to shield her face, but she was too late. She screamed, and her hounds disappeared. She lifted her head, and half her face was burned. She now had one white eye and one black eye. Her flesh was charred, and her jaw showed through the hole in her face which leaked black blood and cockroaches.
I finished her off, draining whatever life was left. But as I was doing that, Eloise lifted her hand, and Cee Cee clutched her own throat and fell to the ground. As soon as I finished off the witch, I ran to Cee Cee and kneeled beside her. Her eyes were rolled back into her head. I laid my hands on her, healing as quickly as I could, but whatever force Eloise had over her was too strong.
“Leave her!” said Charmagne. “Get the girl!”
Eloise and Charmagne advanced on the house. Before they could reach the door, the cougar leaped out the doorway and pounced on Eloise. She screamed as the cat mauled her. Charmagne began to drain the cougar. It provided enough distraction to escape. Eloise disappeared from under the cat and reappeared a few feet away, clutching her shredded shoulder.
I felt Cee Cee’s pulse beneath my fingers, faint but there. I pushed some energy into her. Her body relaxed somewhat. Her eyes closed. She would survive.
A few feet from me, Charmagne was just about to finish off the cougar. I moved to help it, and that’s when I saw Lyla running out of the house.
“No! Leave her alone!” she yelled at Charmagne, running toward the cat.
“Lyla!” I shouted. “Get back inside!”
Eloise reappeared near Lyla and grabbed her before she could reach Charmagne, who had just finished killing the cougar.
“Let her go!” I said. I charged them, but Eloise raised her hand, and an invisible barrier stopped me, like I was trapped in a glass box.
“That won’t hold her for long,” said Eloise.
“Hurry!” said Charmagne. “The spell!” She went to the witch, who struggled to keep Lyla in place. “Do you remember the spell?”
“Yes,” said Eloise. “Place your hand upon her head.” She passed Lyla off to Charmagne.
“Let me go!” yelled Lyla. She kicked and struggled to no avail.
“Stop!” I said, still struggling against my invisible barrier. I pushed with my hands, throwing all of my weight into it. I felt something give, like whatever it was, was bending with the pressure.
Eloise recited the spell while holding Charmagne’s hand. With her free hand, Charmagne held it atop Lyla’s head. Something peculiar began to happen just then.
I had only enough time to yell, “NO!” and then Lyla’s body glowed with a white light as Charmagne’s body slowly caved in on itself, while the terrified witch watched with wide eye
s. Lyla grew brighter and brighter, like a thousand suns, and it hurt to look at her. The brighter she became, Charmagne writhed and screamed as her very being disintegrated, finally turning to black ash. Lyla’s light faded.
Eloise and I could only stare for a few moments at Lyla and the remains of Charmagne. She turned to run.
I broke through the barrier and raised my hands toward Eloise, using all of my power to drain every bit of life from her wretched body. She collapsed into the pile of ash that was Charmagne. As soon as I released my hold on her, it felt like I had just tipped off of a high wire, like that moment before gravity takes over. I buckled and sank to the ground.
***
When I awoke, I was on the sofa in the living room. My head was in Cee Cee’s lap, and there was a strong odor of myrrh and sage. I looked over at the coffee table to see smoke lazily rising from a bowl.
“You awake, my baby?” said Cee Cee.
I felt someone holding my hand. I thought it was her, but my eyes shifted to see Miles sitting in a kitchen chair by the sofa, my hand in his. I had never seen such a combination of relief and grief on someone’s face.
“Lyla,” I said, my voice strangled.
“She’s fine,” he said, and gestured toward my grandfather’s old chair.
Lyla looked back at me and smiled sadly.
“Thank God,” I whispered. “What about everyone else?”
“We lost Sonja and Casper,” said Cee Cee, her voice barely above a whisper.
“And Noah,” I added, tears stinging my eyes.
Miles looked down at our enclosed hands, closed his eyes and swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry,” I said to him.
“Me, too. He was very brave.”
“He died saving me.”
He gave a tired smile and patted my hand.
“When Charmagne was trying to take Lyla’s power, something happened,” I said.
“Lyla told us,” said Miles.
“How was that possible?”
“I’m not quite sure. The only explanation I can think of is that Lyla is a hybrid, but it’s impossible. I followed the branches of your family tree. Michelle and her parents are not descendants of any of the paladins.”
“Michelle was adopted.”
He furrowed his brows. “I have no record of this. There were no adoption papers on file.”
“She didn’t like to talk about it much. David told me that she found out one day in their science class in junior high. They were studying blood types and heredity. She knew her blood type and her parents’. She realized it didn’t add up. There was no way she could have been their biological daughter. David asked her about it one day when they were dating. She said she pulled it out of her mom years ago that some woman—a Houma—gave her to them when Michelle was a baby.”
Miles’ eyes widened. “My God,” he whispered. I think I understand what happened. Michelle’s birth mother was a woman name Millie Billiot. She was a descendant of Anseis.”
I blinked. “Michelle was a paladin?”
“She had the blood line. I doubt if she ever discovered it, though. Millie used her magic ability according to the belief system of her people. She was a skin walker. She was able to transform herself into any animal she wished, and she chose a cougar for the most part.”
My jaw dropped. “That animal—Smittens—was Lyla’s grandmother?”
He nodded. I looked over at Lyla. She stared silently down at the floor.
“We thought Lyla just had the healer bloodline. But she had both. And the fact that her grandmother was a skin walker, it seems to explain her penchant for healing animals. When she saved her friend and became a dark paladin, she should have been given the power we have—the ability to drain a life. But she’s a hybrid, so she was given something else. If I had to call her anything, I’d call her a mirror. She reflects any power aimed at her. When Charmagne was trying to take all of her life force, it reflected back on Charmagne and drained her instead.”
“So it’s over?” I said.
“Miles gravely shook his head. “There will be more. Nephilim, demons, vengeful spirits … monsters. There’s always more waiting. And I’m afraid ours is a dark legacy that we must carry on.”
“But there’s light, too,” said Cee Cee, hugging me to her side. “A lot of it. And we always seem to find each other.”
Miles smiled sadly. “Yes. One light can be a beacon. Together, we can dispel thousands of shadows.”
17
Bienvenue à la Maison
Seven pies, eight cakes, three rib roasts, four briskets, six barbecue chickens, five baked chickens, three vegetable platters, four fruit platters, six kinds of potato salad, seven cornbreads, four bowls of mashed potatoes, five bowls of rice dressing, three plates of brownies, four plates of cookies, three ambrosias, five different salads, four platters of boudin, one fried shrimp platter, and one gigantic pot of hen gumbo. It was that grand Southern tradition: when someone dies, bring a dish. We had to move Clothilde’s funeral reception to the Abbeville Civic Center last minute because it would have been a fire hazard to have that many people in the little church hall. It turned out that she had helped many people during her long life.
She was buried next to Paw Paw Willie in the Bancker Cemetery. I noticed Lucas in the corner of my eye. He looked over at the spot where we had dug up Savoy the year before. I wasn’t afraid of this place anymore. I was so much stronger now, and much of that was thanks to Clothilde. Lyla let me wrap my arm around her.
After our battle in the bayou, we buried the cougar in as decent a grave as we could make and got a big stone as a marker. Cee Cee blessed her, and we all prayed for her. A few days later, Lyla picked out a cat statue to put on the grave.
Felix took Casper’s and Sonja’s bodies back with him to Paris. Saul, Aimee and Olivia helped him deliver their bodies to their families.
Miles had Noah cremated. A couple of weeks after Clothilde’s funeral, I joined him and Cee Cee and Ruby on a quiet spot on a pier in the Irish Channel in New Orleans. It was the day before Thanksgiving, and there was a chill in the air. Miles opened the urn and scattered its contents over the Mississippi. The ashes swirled in a gust of wind before settling onto the water that reflected a sky as gray as Noah’s eyes.
We went back to Miles’ house afterward. He told us he locked up the Heart and the grimoire in his vault. He served us coffee and tea. We spoke of Noah and shared memories, but I could tell it was still too painful for Miles. He went along with it, though, because that’s what you do. You don’t let your grief consume you, at least not in front of other people. Ruby mostly stared out the window, lost in memory. Cee Cee laughed the most.
I was not surprised to see a single purple feather being used as a bookmark. It was in a book of poems resting on a little table in the corner of the room, next to a comfy chair. When Miles wasn’t looking, I opened it to see the poem:
Let the angels rejoice!
Let the angels dance!
Let them circle Heaven
With proud and glorious wings!
But let them not forget their brother
Who strayed to seek the dark.
He shall return one day, his light renewed,
And follow the stars, onward home.
***
That night, I went back to Clothilde’s. I took my time going into the house, stopping on the porch to sit on the swing. I could faintly hear Hank Williams on the little radio in the kitchen. It blended in with the sound of clanking dishes and the blender. A weird combination of onions and pumpkin and cinnamon wafted onto the porch. They were preparing some of the Thanksgiving dinner early so that we just had to worry about the turkey and the salad tomorrow.
I didn’t feel like celebrating a holiday, especially a family one, but Lucas had convinced me that it would be good for us. I heard Jonathan and Lyla giggle from the kitchen. Although I couldn’t make out what Lucas was saying, from the tone it sounded like he was making a series of corny jokes
. Knowing him, he pulled the raw turkey out of the fridge and made it dance. Just thinking about that set me off with my own extreme attack of the giggles. Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face, but from laughing, not crying. I was actually wheezing and started coughing.
Lucas came out the door, wiping his hands on his apron—Clothilde’s green apron with the daisies on it.
“You okay?” he said.
I nodded, fanning my face with my hands, trying to cool off. He gave me a strange look but grinned anyway.
When I got myself under control I said, “You weren’t by any chance making the t—” I couldn’t finish my sentence without busting out laughing again.
“Making the what?”
I waved for him to stop. “Making the tur—” I was crying again.
He started laughing at me. “Making the what?!”
I was wheezing again but blurted out “Making the turkey dance!”
He had to lean against the door and put one hand on his knee to steady himself. His face was the color of a boiled crawfish. He caught his breath. “The hell you talkin’ ‘bout?”
“Nothing,” I said, finally catching my breath, too.
He sat next to me on the swing and held my hand. “I think you’ve lost it.”
“I know I have.”
After we settled down he said, “How’d everything go?”
“It was okay. It’ll take a while for them. For all of us.”
He nodded and squeezed my hand. “Well, I’m glad you’re home.”
I put my head on his shoulder. “Me, too.”
Epilogue
Five years later …
It was one of those days when you feel a charge in the atmosphere, when possibilities abound, dreams are on the verge of coming true, and though you find yourself on a sharp edge between a deep ravine of fear and a green valley of happily ever after, you feel an electrified wind of potential, gently pushing you toward happily ever after. That’s what I felt on my wedding day when I saw Lucas waiting for me at the altar. Miles had sensed this and gave my arm a little squeeze as he walked me toward my soon-to-be husband.
Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy Page 27