Malice

by Stacy Charasidis

  Luke took her hand. “Elanah just went to her room. Let’s talk to her there. It’ll be more private.”

  With a furious glare at Dean she nodded. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  They took the elevator up. When they got to Elanah’s suite, the door was open. Luke seemed nervous. “She’s not there. We should wait until she arrives.”

  “Hmmph. No way.” Nathalie was fuming. She wanted to choke Elanah for hitting on Dean, and being pretty enough to catch his eye, and for everything else she’d done since she arrived. “We’re confronting her and demanding the truth, and I’ll sit on her bed and wait until she bloody well arrives.” They walked in and the first thing they saw was a table containing the Von Vixen spell book with drawings and ingredients scattered around it. Nathalie drifted over to take a look and found the book open to a potion. “Magical Dampening,” she read out loud, “this potion can be used in the short term to mitigate the effects of magical poisoning while a cure is being researched…” Nathalie’s voice trailed off. “Oh my God. Luke, Elanah isn’t sick because she’s made herself a potion, a potion she isn’t sharing with anyone else.” Another realization hit her then. All the most powerful witches were now incapacitated. There was no one who could challenge Elanah.

  Nathalie felt fear take root in her heart. “We have to leave,” she said, grabbing his arm. “We’re in danger. Elanah is not good, like we thought. She’s evil, and if she thinks we suspect something…she may do us harm.”

  “I’m so sorry, Nathalie,” Luke said as he grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving. Elanah walked in shortly after, followed by Luke’s father.

  “I’m sorry to have to do this,” Elanah said, and as Nathalie took a deep breath to scream, she touched her on the forehead between the eyes. Nathalie swayed, unable to move. “I needed to get rid of that Fae amulet you were wearing. It’s a remarkable piece of work, to be honest. I just couldn’t get near you. Thankfully, the rabbit’s foot I gave Dean dampens the amulet’s efficacy.”

  Nathalie’s tongue felt like wood, but she found she could talk in a whisper. “You bitch,” she hissed, looking at John beseechingly for help, but he stared right past her. “You’re as bad as Beth, hexing people and making them do things against their will.”

  Elanah frowned. “Beth?” She looked to Luke for clarification.

  “A young witch who tried to enslave Dean a few years ago. She had taken over another girl’s body and was working with a demon who wanted to break Nat’s fingers. You know him, his name is—”

  Elanah’s face paled as she put her fingers against Luke’s lips. “Never say his name, Luke Barrington. Never.”

  “You spelled the champagne at the ball. Luke noticed it, but he was too depressed to trust his instincts.” Nathalie struggled to speak. “That potion keeps you from getting sick, but you haven’t helped anyone else. The strong witches are gone. No one can oppose you now.”

  Elanah narrowed her eyes. “You’re a stupid girl, Nathalie. Even your ancestor, Nettie, knew when to keep her mouth shut. The spell in the champagne made it easier for all of us to work together. It was for the best.”

  “It’s…wrong. It’s your will. People should be able to decide for themselves.”

  Elanah frowned. “Do you think that because you outsmarted Willow that you know better than me how to deal with this situation? You would undermine my work and tell everyone that I’m evil, when I’m not. You don’t understand, and how could you? You’re just a kid. I plan to heal this town and save everyone in it, but I will do it my way.”

  “A kid? You’re only a few years older than me.” Nathalie’s tongue was getting numb. She was forcing it to shape words.

  Elanah was scowling now. “I’ve lived a hundred lifetimes compared to you. You have no idea what I’ve endured, and the evil I’ve dealt with, so don’t you dare compare yourself to me,” she hissed, furious. “Be thankful all that demon wanted to do was break your fingers. He is capable of horrors you could never dream of!” She stopped to compose herself. “I did wonder if I would have to incapacitate you, but after our little talk yesterday, I do not see that I have much choice. Question after question, sticking your nose in everyone’s business. Again, I really do not want to do this, but I need to be able to move freely. Your bond with Dean is inconvenient, so that must be severed as well. I need him, you see. Hence the rose.” She shrugged. “You should always watch for thorns, Nathalie. Sometimes pretty things hurt. Trust me, this is for your own good.”

  Elanah pulled out some of Nathalie’s hair, deftly twisting it onto something, and when she was done, Nathalie could see a miniature wooden doll suspended on a thin silver chain with hair exactly like Nathalie’s. The doll appeared to be asleep. Elanah slipped the necklace over Nathalie’s head, and when it touched the skin at her throat, her eyes began to glow green before they closed.

  “Oh, my. Nathalie’s very sick. Luke, you’d better call Dean up here,” Elanah told him. “He needs to see this.”

  The news of Nathalie Parker being sent to the Barrington’s cabin spread like wildfire through town. Dean had been surprised and a bit confused when she’d gotten sick. Nathalie hadn’t shown any signs of illness as her abilities were more of a gift than magic in nature, like Luke’s. He was shocked when her glowing eyes snapped open and she growled and hissed like she was insane. Doc Peabody was called and after sedating her, bundled her into the Barrington town car and took her away.

  “How is this possible?” Dean asked Luke and Elanah, looking for an explanation.

  “She was so emotional,” Elanah said earnestly, clearly upset. “It must have triggered something. I watched her mark go from ash gray to black in seconds. I feel as if this is entirely my fault,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

  Dean pulled Elanah into his arms, comforting her. “It’s not your fault. Nathalie’s been struggling with her emotions lately. The best thing for you to do is just focus on finishing your spell so we can set everything to rights.” Almost naturally, Dean kissed the top of Elanah’s head.

  Luke didn’t bat an eyelash.

  Dean broke the news to Nathalie’s parents and went into her room to pack some of her things. He saw her amulet, the amber male representing him, and a silver rose charm, discarded on her desk. She didn’t want me near her heart anymore, Dean realized. Taline had said never to take them off. Angry and hurt, he pulled his own amber amulet of a female, the twin to hers, out from under his shirt and broke the chain from around his neck. Grabbing Nathalie’s, he winced as the tiny thorns from the rose drew blood, smearing all over his hand and his charm. He heard a small snap and saw that his female charm had cracked. Panicking, he tried to join the two figurines together, but they no longer fit with the rose in the way. Anguished, he shoved the jewelry into his pocket and left the Parkers.

  Chapter 22 – Terrifying Visitors

  Limerick: 1594

  Elanah was jerked out of sleep and screamed in terror when she opened her eyes and saw the pale face of Willow Kellar smiling at her from the side of her bed. Her violet eyes blazed with an inhuman light, and her lips were blood red, almost blue. She looked like a vision from a horrible nightmare.

  “Hello, Elanah,” she said, grinning insanely. “We need to talk. Get up.”

  Hiram didn’t even stir. “What have you done to him?” Elanah asked fearfully. She tried shaking him but he didn’t respond.

  “He won’t wake. I’ve made sure of that.”

  Relieved, Elanah slipped out of bed. She didn’t want him involved in this. Her relief turned to fear when she saw who had accompanied Willow.

  In her kitchen stood a nine-foot demon. He was ocher in colour, and muscular. He was naked and relaxing against the kitchen door, one huge buttock resting against the wood. His large member hung from his body, swaying slightly. He looked at her with interest, his hellish yellow eyes travelling from the top of her golden head to her bare feet. Elanah felt he could see through her nightgown, so she crossed her arms in front of her.
He grinned at that, displaying a mouth full of shark-like teeth. Elanah backed up in terror, and Willow laughed.

  Elanah studied Willow. The horror at the Kellar farm was still being talked about. Jesse dead, Willow and her baby gone, Karl missing, and the rest of the mob shredded to pieces. No one knew what being or thing had done that. Her father had searched the human remains, but her brother could not be accounted for. All his friends were though, what was left of them. Had it been the work of a demon and not a witch? Elanah looked at his large, black tipped hands. Undoubtedly it would have been easy for him.

  “Fear can be a powerful motivator, Elanah.”

  “I’m so sorry, Willow.”

  Willow’s face became a twisted mask of rage. “Sorry for what? Not helping me? Allowing my husband to die and my child to be taken from me?”

  Elanah looked down, ashamed.

  Willow slapped her, the crack of her open palm loud in the quiet room as Elanah’s face swung sideways on impact. Tears filled her eyes at the stinging pain in her cheek. She could feel her power ignite. How had they gotten in?

  “Don’t even try it. Your middling magic is nothing compared to mine, to what I’ve learned,” Willow said dangerously waving a small hand at the house. “Your weak hearth spells are no match for me.”

  Elanah’s cheeks burned with anger. She’d worked hard to become a powerful witch, and was the most powerful one in Limerick, but she could tell she was no match for Willow. Her power crackled around her.

  “It’s time for my revenge, Elanah my sweet.”

  “What do you want?” Elanah squeaked with terror. “I didn’t do anything to you. I was your friend.”

  “My friend? No, I don’t think so. This is my friend,” she said scornfully, pointing at the demon. “He’s helping me. You didn’t do anything to help my family. Yours is the sin of omission, my dear. You knew what your brother was capable of. He killed my husband. My baby boy is gone. My life has been destroyed, you cowardly bitch, so I am building a new one. This time, you will help me.”

  “What do you want from me?” Elanah cried, fear cracking her open and making her cry.

  Willow snorted at her. “Stop your sniveling you foolish girl and listen. Should anything happen to me, anything at all, you must collect my book and get it to my son. He will not be weak in this world.”

  “Your book?” Elanah’s eyes widened. “Your grimoire? Are you insane? I will be killed. Burned at the stake if they catch me taking it.”

  “True, or hung, the way your brother hung my Jesse. Did you know they had grabbed my son as well? My baby boy, and were going to hang him and rape me as I watched? My baby was screaming in terror. They would have murdered a child if I had not acted and shredded every one of those animals. I have no sympathy for you. None.”

  It was Willow who had shredded the mob that had come after her. Elanah shivered. “How will I know if…”

  “Danner will come for you.” Willow looked at her speculatively. “Besides, aren’t you a famous witch finder now? You’ll be safe, at least you have a powerful lover to save you.”

  Elanah cringed at the mention of Sean. So Willow knew. It had been a year since he’d become mayor and they were still not married. Hester refused to leave and threatened to expose their affair if they made any move to usurp her position as the mayor’s wife. They had been forced to set aside their plans, to Elanah’s fury.

  Then, one of Sean’s first mandates had been to seek out and burn all the witches in town. The townspeople had demanded it because of all the strange things that had started happening. Dry cows, dead chickens, stillborn children, sour milk right after milking, or milk not turning to butter…and the list went on. The townspeople believed witches were responsible, and they looked to Sean to solve the problem and stop the hexes. It was a very dangerous time in Limerick.

  Curiously, a development of Elanah’s latent magical talent was a new ability to spot the dying, and she used it to “pick” the witches for Sean, who was very distressed at having to do this. The women were going to die anyway and it kept the townspeople happy.

  “And if I don’t do what you ask?” Elanah asked. She knew what happened if you tried to interfere with the capture of a witch and the burning of her evil documents. You died along with the accused.

  “Danner here will kill your lover, then your husband, and then each member of your family slowly and painfully. You owe me Elanah. I will have my way.”

  Elanah glanced at the large being in the room again then wished she hadn’t. He was stroking himself, and his huge member was now erect. It looked about a foot long and as thick as a thin fence post.

  “I’ll do as you ask,” she said, scared. “Just go.”

  “One more thing. I want your spell book. There is an important spell in there that I need.”

  “But I need my book!”

  “I care not. The three girls wrote a transformation spell, a means of gaining immortality. I want that spell. Get your book.”

  Elanah trembled as she went to dig the book out from inside her mattress and handed it to Willow. Her eyes filled with tears.

  “I will be watching you, Elanah,” Willow hissed, hatred threading her voice. “I am leaving, but Danner has decided to stay and play.” She smiled spitefully. “I tried to talk him out of it, I truly did, but there was just nothing I could say or do to persuade him.”

  Elanah’s heart filled with terror at Willow’s words.

  At the door she turned and stared at Elanah coldly. “And by the way, your vile brother is dead. I had my revenge on him and his family. It’s just you left,” she said in parting as she slammed the door behind her.

  The demon leered at her. “I love witches,” he said lustily.

  Elanah panicked when she realized what he intended to do. She began to pant with terror and tried to back away from him, but Danner only smiled, his long arms reaching for her easily. She screamed for Hiram, but he was deeply asleep, lost in Willow’s spell.

  He grabbed her and bit her neck with his sharp teeth. She screamed in pain as blood trickled down and soaked the material of her gown. He tore off her nightdress with his razor-like claws, the material shredding like parchment. She fought like an animal, kicking and punching, but it was like striking stone. He slapped her across the face with the back of his hand and laughed as she cried out and struggled. “I love it when they fight,” he whispered to her as he held her effortlessly. He left claw marks on her skin where he touched her. His long, forked tongue stung as he flicked it over her skin.

  He lifted her by her hair like a rag doll, shaking her when her eyes began to close. He dangled her in front of him, her toes barely touching the floor. She tried to think through her haze of pain and fear. How was she going to get out of this? She wished she knew a spell. As if reading her thoughts, Danner spoke. “There’s no way out, witch. This evening is a favour to Willow in memory of her beloved Jesse. You couldn’t stop Karl, you can’t stop me. Tonight you are nothing but a bag of skin to sate my lust, every one of my sick, perverted, amorous desires. Do you understand that you vile bitch?”

  He dumped her on the small kitchen table. It was just long enough to support her torso, with her head and legs hanging off each end. She tried to lift herself and get some leverage so she could kick her attacker, but he had spread her legs and held her in a vice grip, leaving her body open to him. “At least you get to keep your life,” he growled.

  She screamed in terror as he lunged at her.

  That night would haunt her for the rest of her life.

  Chapter 23 – The Cabin in the Woods

  Barrington County, Present Day

  When Nathalie arrived at the cabin, Vail became concerned. She had lived with both Sadie and Ella for some time now and recognized the symptoms the tainted magic caused. It attacked a witch’s magic, corrupting it, and because their magic was the core of who they were, their bodies became poisoned. Vail also knew now that the cabin was not far enough away from Barrington to keep the g
irls safe. Her father, Valentine, had informed her that the tainted magic’s radius was much larger than Elanah knew—it actually stretched all the way to Limerick. While distance from the centre of the poison, the place where The Rock once stood, helped marginally, there was no true escape for the witches. Now that their magic had been infected, it would continue to degrade. Even getting rid of the poison would only solve half the problem. They needed some sort of magical antibiotic to fix their power now that it had been altered. That was the only way Vail could describe it. She wasn’t a witch, and her abilities didn’t run to curing the magically ill, half-Fae or not.

  Nathalie, though, was a puzzle. She could not figure out why her mother had sent her here. Elanah should have recognized right away that Nathalie wasn’t truly sick. What was wrong with her mother? Was she sick and unable to tell anymore?

  Vail heard thumping. Sadie was in seclusion in a back bedroom on the second floor of the large cabin. She was dangerous. The sickness was so advanced she was clinically insane. When she’d been brought to the cabin, Horace had tried to help her in and she’d practically electrocuted him. She’d terrified the other girls with her raging, barely contained, rotting purple power. Vail had called her father and begged him to get her some special restraints.

  “Don’t hurt her,” she told him. Like many of the Fae, Valentine had a certain amount of disdain for humanity. It didn’t help he harbored some bitterness toward her mother, who had left him once Vail was fully grown.

  “I agreed not to,” he said simply, “but this one is truly powerful. You should kill her now before she does any harm.”

  Vail just shook her head.

  Valentine had granted Elanah immortality as a gift. Elanah had fled for her life centuries ago, seeking sanctuary with Valentine. For some reason he had loved the beautiful blond human who had shown such strength and courage in the face of such danger and suffering. He knew what Danner had done to her, and he admired the strength it took to overcome her terror of the beast and lock him away.