Precious Anathema

by T. L. Manning

  TWENTY FOUR

  “Where are we going?” I ran behind the women on what seemed like a wild goose chase, we were never going to find the opening in time at this rate, no one was using magic and we had one hundred acres to search. We reached the far side of the field when Kali dropped violently to the ground. Running to her, I tried to pick her up when Freya grabbed my arm.

  “She is with Ella, leave her. She might be able to give us some clues.” We stood watching the sky become darker as she lay unconscious. A shrill scream made us look to the sky, Cora was nearby and her screams were ear piercing and angry. Eris got scared and began to shake Kali.

  “Wake up; we need to get to Ella now!” Freya pulled her off her aunt when Kali opened her eyes and smiled at us.

  “I know where she is.” The rain started to come down, and the sky became darker as she stood up. Carna looked to the sky and saw as Cora flew behind some trees.

  “Well, she is certainly getting closer to being out, and someone doesn’t like that at all.” We all looked in the direction of the large black bird when Kali grabbed at me.

  “Xander, the good news is we were right you never slept with Selene at all. It was all an illusion, Emma has taken her over and made you think you did, but on another note Ella doesn’t know that part yet and she’s using her pain to fight, they are at the opening now and it’s blocked I know where it is!” She started to run and Eris flashed me a smile as we took off behind her. We crested the hill at the edge of the field and I saw a black haze rising from the ground, it looked like a twister and climbed to the sky. Eris grabbed my arm as we both stopped in our tracks. The trees around the whirlwind had lost all there leaves, blowing around in colors of red and orange as if fall itself had begun. The grass was dead and the air even began to smell like a crisp October morning. Carna looked up at the sky and gasped as she spoke.

  “Holy shit!”

  *

  Emma had the exit blocked with some kind of spell, I needed time to figure out how to break it or break her if we were ever going to get out of here. I closed my eyes and imagined binding her powers, like something that actually covered her hands and mouth so I could deal with Balthazar one on one. I couldn’t come up with anything by the time I heard them coming and opened my eyes to see branches from nearby trees extend limbs to block her from moving, she began to raise her arms as another limb wrapped around her body, lifting it off the ground and a third limb hugged her face leaving only her eyes exposed so she could watch me take down her partner. I looked down at my own hands with surprise, feeling quite proud of myself when I saw a flash of light by my face. Balthazar was casting spells against me, I wasn’t sure what I was doing but began to rub my own hands together thinking of Selene’s naked body on top of Xander, the two of them sweaty and aroused with passion. I threw whatever had built up inside me in Balthazar’s direction, to my surprise he flew in the air, stopped only by the massive tree behind him. A noise escaped my lips as I jumped in surprise of myself. I looked back at my hands for a moment and then back at him, the man that cheated and lied his way into my family, made me part of him. That was it, I was part of him and if I knew anything about my gifts it was that I could take in the gifts of those I was connected too. I watched him stand up slowly as I closed my eyes, opened them and was at his side. Taking his hand in mine I smiled.

  “Welcome to the family, Grandpa.” I closed my eyes and found myself back where I started. I felt weird all over, I had taken on a lot and most of it was dark. I lifted my head to see him raise a hand at me; I was blasted by something sharp cutting my skin as I landed on the others. I could see small cuts appearing all over my arms and chest, they started to bleed slowly. Brandon stood up and began to charge at the man who had done this to me, He stopped cold in his tracks, grabbing his throat as he fell to his knees. I couldn’t let them be hurt because of me; I jumped up and ran to Brandon to bring him back to the others when another flash caught my eye and then something collided with me, taking me to the ground. I wasn’t hurt; I threw my hands in the air and cast all the darkness I had inside onto Balthazar as I tried to move the limp body off of myself. Scott ran to help me, and with a few of the other men they dragged him to a tree where they could prop him up for a better look. I almost screamed, running to him as his near dead face was lifted.

  “Stop fighting Balthazar, you need to kill Emma so the barrier will come down.” I couldn’t kill her that would kill Selene. I shook my head and his airy voice became angry. “I didn’t risk my life for you to shake your head at me, you are Delilah the chosen one, you have to do it!” I began to cry as I shook my head faster in defiance.

  “No, Lukin I won’t do it. I can’t do it!” I had never been so happy to see someone as I had been at this moment, but what he asked was too much for me, I couldn’t do that to Selene, there had to be another way.

  “Delilah, listen to me she cast the spell so you need to break the connection or we are all dead, do you understand me?” I knew what I had to do; I stood up and turned to see two faces of evil. Balthazar was trying to get Emma out of the limb web with his back to me. I instructed the others to keep hands on the barrier and the moment it came down to grab Lukin and run without looking back, I looked her in the eyes and began to vision the moment of her climax, raw and hot from the man I love. Her nails in his flesh, digging deeper into him, her legs tight around his naked body, becoming tighter as the intensity grew, then I saw her scream out his name and something from inside me exploded, I threw my hands at her and Balthazar was tossed deep into the woods as she began to scream out in pain from the current running through her body. That which caused her pleasure was now her undoing as it grew with intensity through her body. I looked behind me but no one was there, it worked it actually worked and everyone would be safe now, the souls could find peace and I could find my family. I started to walk through where the barrier had been thinking this had been relatively easy, actually it seemed way too easy considering, I saw the light of the real world, and then I saw Eris.

  TWENTY FIVE

  My heart seemed to beat faster and faster as men began coming out of the base of the large tree at the edge of the field. As they came out many of them began to just disappear, leaving only a few behind. I wasn’t sure why some were gone but as one was dragged out I heard Kali gasp and run to him.

  “This is Lukin; he’s hurt someone come and help me!” That was Lukin, the man that had been by Ella’s side in hell and gotten her to safety. I couldn’t help but size him up a little as I walked closer, a twinge of jealousy swept through me as he opened his eyes. I could certainly pretend to like him more while consoling Ella on the death of her friend, then actually having to pretend to like him. Given that as the men had begun to come out so did much more, escaping in the same way. The vine of darkness had grown, spanning most of the estate and it didn’t help that we had heard the shrill cries of Cora right up till the men began to come out, and then a silence so abrupt it hurt to think about. Our attention quickly went to the opening once again as Eris screamed.

  “Ella, you are safe!” Ella ran out, bloody and pale as she collapsed in Eris’s arms. I ran to Eris and helped carry Ella away from the opening. I wasn’t going to let it suck her back inside. We all sat on the ground watching the darkness seep out into our world, waiting for it to close up now that she had come out. We sat and watched as the opening seemed to continue getting larger. I looked to Freya who seemed panicked at the sight before us. Large dark spots were coming out of the opening now, with no knowledge of what they were Freya and the aunt’s stood up and held hands speaking in a strange language with eyes closed. Eris got up and held her mother’s hand to help, and I looked back at the opening, growing in size no matter what they threw at it. I saw lights of every color come flying out. Green’s, blue’s purples and reds flew around our heads. They were much smaller than the black chunks being sucked up and they managed to fly out toward us fairly easy. Kali and Carna began swatting at the lights, more colors fle
w out and then they came together above Ella just circling above as I held her close.

  “You can’t have her back; she is not going back to hell! Do you hear me, she’s not going back!” I swatted at the lights as I picked her up and began to walk away. I couldn’t help close the curse, but I could get Ella to the estate safely. I crested the small hill and almost dropped her as I pondered what I was seeing. The darkness had reached far beyond the field now and as it was growing over the house itself it was as if the estate aged a hundred years or more with no upkeep. The paint peeled off the planks, the shutters fell to the ground, rotten and broken. The windows cracked and some even broke, the roof began to sag and shingles fell to the ground in piles. The gardens around the estate died and became nonexistent; the grass rose and turned brown as if it had never been mowed. All the trees lost their leaves and dried up before my eyes. All color was gone as far as the eye could see, and as I turned around to scream for Freya I watched the women come face to face with Selene and my father, stepping out into the woods.

  I screamed for him, but he never turned to me. I realized that something was wrong and crouched in the tall grass with Ella, out of sight by them but still able to hear as they began to talk and then before my eyes where there had been two people, four now stood and Freya put her arms around the others to protect them. My father and Selene dropped to the ground, lifeless as the other two. A man and a woman I had never seen walked closer to the witches. The woman looked like the others, she wore a very exaggerated black dress and cape and seemed a bit shorter but she could have been Kali’s twin. The man on the other hand was scary to look at. He was very tall and lanky, long salt and pepper hair braided down his back and dressed in all black, like someone right out of a teenage pop culture fantasy movie. The woman began to speak, holding her hand out to Freya.

  “Thank you Freya, you are a loyal woman. I knew you would make sure that our Delilah fulfilled her end of the prophecy and it was only a matter of time before you released me.” Freya looked stunned and a little scared.

  “I did no such thing, I would never help you Emma. I did what I had to do to rid us of this curse, nothing more.” The woman she called Emma began to laugh and lowered her hand.

  “That’s what I wanted you to believe all along. I needed the chosen one to ensure I could get out, as far as breaking the curse that had nothing to do with this spell at all, I just needed you to think it did.” Freya tried to let go of the others but Kali and Carna held her tight, and the man began to laugh again as he looked at Selene on the ground, and up to Eris. I kept a close watch on the opening, waiting for large dogs to come out but then the tall man started talking and I realized large dogs were the least of my worries.

  “I am glad that I can finally see my grandchildren Emma so thank you for that.” Eris gasped and looked at her mother with tears in her eyes. I saw my Dad roll on the ground and he let out a groan as he moved. It was at that moment if an enemy had been behind me I would have been killed as a hand touched my shoulder, causing me to jump out of my skin and begin to scream when the hand covered my mouth and hushed me from behind. A soft voice spoke from behind me.

  “Stop screaming like a little girl, I have seen you naked and I know you’re not one!” It was a woman’s voice, but not one I recognized which raised more questions about her statement then answers. “I am not one of them, I want to help you, that’s all I have wanted to do but now that they have been released the real war has begun, now I am going to let go of your mouth and you will turn around but you cannot scream, nod if you understand me.” I nodded and slowly the petite hand moved off my face. I turned my head to see a striking woman who looked like a Grace, smile at me and then something else caught my eye. Something moved in the tall grass, black wings were attached to her back, I was face to face with Cora, in the flesh and I realized that what we had hoped to be the ending of the curse was really just the beginning of a century old struggle for power.

  “Are you human now Cora?” She laughed and grabbed one of her wings.

  “I was supposed to be, but as you can see some things can’t be changed even with magic.” My attention went back to the woods; something big was coming out of the opening, something that had even Emma afraid.

  “Cora what’s going on?” She knelt beside me as the ground shook from the weight of what was coming out.

  “This is where we will find our escape so get ready; Ailen is coming out now and seeing as Emma turned him into a rooted dragon he is not very happy with her.” As the footsteps became heavier I expected this to be the equivalent of the large dogs, but when a man emerged from the open roots of the tree I gave Cora a look of confusion. “Like me Xander, he has changed back to his human form, or as much as could be allowed, but trust me Emma knows who it is.” I watched as both Emma and the stranger backed away from the muscular man, forcing them deeper and deeper into the woods, until I couldn’t see any of them. Cora grabbed my arm and told me to start walking as I watched Carna and Kali pick up my Dad and Selene and they all began to move in our direction.

  “Start walking where? Look at the house, where are we supposed to go?” A voice behind me, shaken and scared spoke up.

  “Xander this is still our home, and if we have any chance of saving it at all we need to get inside.” Freya and the aunts walked by me carrying wounded, with the two girls and our new travel companions, the three men I didn’t know right behind them. Everyone walked by me as if all of this was not a big deal to them, I understood those who had just come from hell, but even Freya and the aunts seemed calm about the sight before them. The one Cora called Ailen ran beside us and Freya stopped at the sight of him.

  “Please may I come with you, I am Ailen and I want to help you.” Freya looked him all over and then took his hand, not until she made physical contact did I see a smile emerge.

  “Of course you can, please come with us.” We reached the porch and as Cora stepped on the boards, her foot went through. She merely rolled her eyes and then stomped the rest of the boards till she got to the door, creating a path for the rest of us. Once we were inside we lit candles and Ailen started a fire. The paint on the walls was peeling off in front of us, the floor boards were creaking and everyone decided that the second floor wasn’t an option for now. Freya sat with Ella, closed her eyes and ran her hands above her body. She began to move, her bloody wounds vanished and then her eyes opened. She was afraid, pulling herself closer to the back of the couch.

  “Who are you, why are you doing this to me? I thought I was at the end, how did I get back to the basement?” Her sobs were inconsolable until Kali sat down beside her and closed her eyes. A moment later Ella’s eyes were closed as well and as she opened them again she jumped off the couch hugging everyone, everyone but me. Freya did her work with Selene, Lukin and my father. Ella hugged all of them, but wouldn’t make eye contact with me. She sat beside, and had many questions for Lukin but not even a hello for me.

  “Lukin, I don’t understand why Scott, Brandon and yourself were able to stay behind. I thought your souls were supposed to be released of this curse.” Lukin looked at the others and smiled.

  “I don’t know why we were chosen to stay with you Delilah, but we are here, and by the sounds of our stomachs we are alive.” Carna sat on the arm of the couch, looking out the window.

  “Everything we knew about this curse was a lie from the beginning, how far do you think this will go Freya?” Her mother stood beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “It will go around the world if we don’t learn everything we can and find a way to kill it.” Everyone became silent realizing that the big family secret was out, for now it was contained to the grounds of the estate, but for how long? Dad sat with me and took my hand as he talked almost in a whisper.

  “Thank you for not doing what I had asked, we can find another way together.” I squeezed his hand but didn’t take my eyes off Ella and Lukin, sitting so close to each other. It made me sick to my stomach when he tou
ched her; I decided to look at something else and turned my attention to the others. This room was filled with misfits and outcasts and I couldn’t help thinking to myself weren’t we just the Army the world wanted to see coming in the war against hell. A few witches, a dragon, a bird, two handymen and the three dead stooges. No matter what scenario I could picture in my head, we had lost this fight and we hadn’t even begun it yet.

  TO BE CONTINUED…