Soul Magic

by Jennifer Lyon

  Chandra walked softly into the room.

  Sutton looked up at the woman. He was watching her age over the night hours. He saw more lines appear around her eyes and mouth each time she came in.

  She said, “It took some doing, but the Circle Witches have agreed. We’re nearly positive this won’t invoke witch karma since we’re simply disrupting the path Styx uses to brainwash victims. This isn’t causing direct harm.”

  “I’m grateful to the witches.” But now he had to find where Styx was.

  “Do you mind if I sit with her? I’ll just pull the chair over and sit by the bed.”

  He looked up from his laptop. “Chandra, you need to rest. You’ve done all you can until we have a location. Lie down next to Carla and close your eyes. You’ll rest better if you know you can hear her.” He stroked Carla’s hair. “She’ll rest better, too, if she feels you nearby.” He reached over and pulled back the covers so Chandra could slide in next to her daughter.

  Her eyes were filled with worry, but there was relief when she lifted her gaze to him. “Thank you.” She slid into the bed, resting her hand on Carla’s back.

  “Carly needs you. You’re her mother.” He went back to studying a Google map then frowned and looked over at Chandra. “Pull the covers up so you don’t get cold.”

  She smiled and reached down to grab the covers. “Do you boss Carla around like this?”

  He couldn’t help but grin as he studied the map. “Not so much. She’s a little stubborn.” He glanced over. “No offense.”

  “How can the truth offend me?”

  He shrugged, moving the map to study the next section. “I don’t know. The guys, they tease me because I don’t know much about mothers. I don’t know the rules.”

  He was startled when Chandra touched his arm. “There are no rules. You can’t offend me, Sutton. The way you love my daughter would make any mother love you.”

  His hand froze on the touch pad. He suddenly felt big and clumsy. “My mother didn’t.” Damn it, why’d he say that? It was the fear, rage, and terror. All centered on the woman lying half next to him, and half on top of him. Carly. He was terrified of losing her. It was making him too vulnerable.

  “Your mother was a fool.”

  He stared hard at the screen. Was he supposed to say something?

  Carla moaned and shivered. He slid his hand to the bare skin of her neck beneath her hair and felt the thick, sluggish pain barely seeping into him. It was getting harder and harder to siphon off her pain.

  “She’s cold?”

  Sutton looked at Chandra, seeing the same helplessness in her eyes that he felt. Maybe he didn’t know shit about mothers, but he could read in Chandra the desperate need to hold her sick child. “Maybe you should move closer. I mean, if you don’t mind getting close to me. She’ll be warmer between us.”

  Tears filled Chandra’s eyes but she didn’t speak, she just snuggled up to Carla’s back, curving her arm around Carla’s waist.

  A second later, more of her pain bled into him, as if the spigot had opened a little bit wider. Relieved, he said, “Must be your magic, Chandra. I can feel more of her pain coming to me.”

  She lifted her head, her eyes so tired. “I’m sending healing energy, but the backwash pain should flow to me, not you.”

  He didn’t like that. “No, it’s better this way. You and Darcy need to be rested to funnel all the witchcraft into my cell phone when I confront Styx. And you’ll be taking care of Carla, too.”

  “What can I do for you? The pain must be awful.”

  “Nah, it’s just a headache for me. But for her, it’s like someone is pounding stakes into her head. Now try to sleep. You’ll hear me talking.” He tapped the hands-free device in his ear. “Axel and I are searching for that knife. But if Carly needs you, I’ll wake you.”

  She turned to the big screen on the wall where Sutton had the map Carla had magically created from what her third eye had shown her. “That’s what you’re looking for?”

  He studied the structures. “Yeah, we know the general area, but I’m trying to narrow the search. I’ve looked for old ranches and private schools in the general vicinity, anything that might give us a clue. No luck so far. See that chimney sticking out of the lean-to type of structure?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s unusual and a good landmark for us to spot either on the maps or for Axel to see flying overhead.”

  “It looks like an outdoor kiln.”

  “What?”

  “For making pottery. Maybe it was a commune at one time, and they made and sold pottery. Commune members liked isolation to live as they chose, and that looks isolated, yet close enough to take their pottery to the beach areas and sell it.”

  Commune. Kiln. Weren’t kilns used for cremation ovens, too? If they were big enough and burned hot enough, it would fit the rogues’ needs. He kept that dark thought to himself. “You might be on to something, Chandra. I’ll check it out.”

  She smiled at him and said, “I’ll go to sleep and leave you to work if you promise you’ll wake me if you need anything, too. I don’t care if it’s just a glass of water. Promise me.”

  “I promise.” He didn’t want to bother her for dumb stuff, but it seemed important to her. Hell, she made him feel like he was almost as important as Carla.

  Ten minutes later, her breathing settled into a regular pattern. He was searching fast and furious, looking for intel on all known communes that might have once been in the area, and updating Axel. He narrowed the search to one that had achieved some notice for its pottery. He plugged in the address to the satellite map and when it came up, he stared at it. He could clearly see the chimney. “Axel, I think I’ve got it.” He flicked his glance up to the big screen to double-check. It was a match.

  “Where?” Axel said.

  He gave him the coordinates and looked at the time. Three thirty A.M. “I’m sure this is it.”

  “I’ll check it out.”

  He waited, desperate to do something, anything. Looking down at his witch, he noted that her face was pale, her shimmer dim and grayish. How could this happen? How could he have found someone to love, to have for his own, and lose her? He’d done everything he was supposed to, he’d never given in to the curse, he’d killed rogues, he’d helped Darcy and other witches.

  Yet Wing Slayer had turned his back on him. No wings, no acknowledgment, and now the cruelest thing of all, taking Carly from him.

  He wouldn’t allow it. Whatever the cost. He didn’t care. If the god wanted his soul in payment, he could have it. If he spent his eternity as a shade, fine. But Carly wasn’t going to die like this, the life sucked out of her by a sadistic psychic.

  And where the hell were her Ancestors? Why weren’t they helping? Were they punishing her for saving his soul? Pissed because she mated with her sister’s soul mirror? When all she’d done was keep him from going rogue? He brushed her hair back from her face. “You don’t deserve this, baby.” He’d been so incredibly proud that she’d chosen him, mated with him, and that he would be her familiar. So fucking proud. He loved channeling her powers, loved supporting and helping her. Carla did so much good helping brainwashed and brain-damaged victims.

  And it turned out he was killing her.

  His mom had been right to leave him.

  Axel, Darcy, and Chandra hadn’t grasped it yet. They didn’t quite understand what Sutton was going to have to do.

  But Jerome did. Yeah, he’d looked into the man’s eyes, seen the regret. He knew.

  Carla was strong, though. She’d …

  Hell, he couldn’t stand it. He moved the laptop to the floor. Then he gently moved Chandra’s arm off Carla. The exhausted woman was in a deep sleep.

  Sutton lifted Carla onto his lap and put her head on his chest.

  “Sutton?”

  “It’s okay. Go back to sleep.” He pressed her face against his skin, needing to feel her. Then he wrapped his arms around her.

  “Thank you.
”

  He closed his eyes, wondering what the hell she was thanking him for. He had insisted over and over that he was her soul mirror. Why hadn’t he listened to her? Why hadn’t he just left her the hell alone?

  “I love you,” she said thickly and drifted off to sleep again.

  Oh, God. He couldn’t bear it. “I love you, too. More than you can know, Carly. Too much to bear.” He rubbed her back, feeling her drift back to sleep. He hoped she knew that, he hoped she’d remember that. Always.

  Because to save her, he was going to have to break his bond with her. It was the only way she’d be able to reconnect with Keri. It tore him up to realize the truth.

  Carla was lost to him. Forever. All he could do now was make sure she lived and got her sister back to free her.

  He could feel her warm breath against his chest. She’d fallen back into a deep sleep. He kept rubbing her back in gentle strokes, but the urgency beat at him. Keri and Carla were inching closer to death with each minute that ticked by. He said to Axel in his earpiece, “What’s your status? Anything?”

  “I’m closing in on the location.”

  “Hurry.” Sutton wrapped both arms around Carly and waited.

  Would this be the last time he ever held her?

  Axel said, “This is the place. The kiln is on. Maybe I’d better try to get the knife.”

  Carla started to writhe in his arms, crying in her sleep. “Hold on,” Sutton told Axel while he rubbed her back and tried to calm her.

  Carla dreamed that she was on the astral plane, searching for Keri, but everywhere she turned, there were bodies of dead witches. She kept running to the witches and begging them, “Have you seen Keri?”

  “I saw her in the knife that killed me,” a dead witch said.

  She had to find that knife! “Keri!” she yelled, but all she could hear were screams. She broke out in a clammy sweat. “Where are you? Keri!”

  A man materialized in the endless sea of blue. Next to him, a huge oven with a big chimney roared, spewing out flames and thick smoke. “I have Keri right here.” He held up the silver knife.

  Carla froze. The pain in her head exploded and she realized she’d been yanked from a dream into Styx’s psychic vision. She struggled to build a wall, but her powers felt like they were smothered under layers of wet, heavy blankets.

  Styx smiled. “Yeah, sucks, huh? I’m much more powerful than you or your sister.”

  Violent hatred raced through her blood like a deadly poison. She shook with the fury of her revulsion.

  “Carly?” Sutton’s voice reached her from a distance. She felt his hand on her back, but he wasn’t here with her.

  Styx narrowed his eyes. “Tell Sutton that I will throw Keri in the kiln if anyone but him shows up to try to take this knife from me.”

  “I won’t! You’ll kill him!” The twin spikes in her head burned.

  Keri appeared between them, lying on the ground, cut so many times that her skin hung in clumps of sagging gray flesh. “Eagle! My eagle!” she cried, reaching out a bloody hand.

  “Stop it!” Carla screamed, the spikes in her head getting hotter and pistoning brutally.

  “Carly! Wake up!” Sutton’s voice was loud and demanding.

  She forced her eyes open, and her blurry gaze filled with Sutton’s face. He’d sat up, shifting her so that she lay back in one of his arms, his other hand stroking her face. “You were screaming.”

  Her mom was kneeling on the bed next to them, her hand on Carla’s shoulder. “You’re shaking and clammy.”

  Sutton’s gaze darkened. “It’s Styx, isn’t it? He got to you.”

  The dry terror made it hard to form the words, but she told them what Styx said about throwing Keri in the kiln if he saw anyone but Sutton.

  “He can’t!” her mom said, reaching for her. “You’ll die with Keri!”

  “The hell she will,” Sutton snarled, his body jerking and shuddering with some internal force. He switched his phone to speaker and said, “Axel, stand down. Styx told Carla that if he sees any other Wing Slayer Hunter, he’ll throw Keri in the kiln.”

  Axel said, “Problem here. There’re screams coming from the barn, and a couple hunters have dragged out a witch. Get here, Sutton. I can’t just let them slaughter witches.” His voice was furious. “I’m sending Linc to watch the outside of your cabin.”

  “Axel, I’m on my way.”

  Carla stared at his hard, determined face. “How can you get there in time? Styx is playing with us, isn’t he? He’s going to win.”

  “No, I’ll get there. He won’t win, Carly.” His entire body jerked and shuddered again.

  “What is that? Your eagle?”

  He looked down into her eyes. “Yes. He’s trying to get out. For you. He’s tried before, but this time, he’s coming out and we’re going to get Keri and save both of you.”

  The surge of fearful adrenaline was draining, making her more tired than she’d ever been. The feel of Sutton’s arms comforted her, but she yearned—“I wish I could feel the eagle again, but that magic is gone …” She trailed off, the pain growing bright and vicious in her head. She closed her eyes, took a breath, then forced her lids open. She wanted him to know this. “I love him, too. You and the eagle both. Whatever happens, it was enough, Sutton.”

  He stood with her in his arms, then turned and laid her in his bed. With one hand on her face, he leaned down and kissed her. “I love you. Together, the eagle and I are going to get the knife because we both love you.” Then he looked at her mom. “Can you help her with the pain?”

  “Yes. Hurry, Sutton.” Chandra put her hand on Carla’s head.

  Sutton turned away.

  Carla and her mom both gasped. His powerful back was bulging and undulating with the force of the eagle trying to break free.

  Sutton was still bare-chested, wearing only his pants and hiking boots as he hurried out of the cabin and down the steps into the dirt. Breaking into a run, he went to the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. It was early morning, the night was deep and black but he could make out the waves. He knew the coordinates of the old commune, he could get there.

  If he had wings.

  The eagle shoved hard enough so that the skin on his back stretched and nearly tore. It burned. But it wasn’t enough, damn it.

  How did he help the bird? Slice the skin on his back? He didn’t know. The bird never listened to him, not the way he listened to Chandra the day she yelled at him. She had scared him. How had she done that? Because she was a mother? Or was it because she had told the eagle that Carla would be mad at him? That gave him an idea. “Did you hear Carla? She loves you.”

  The eagle lifted his wings against his skin.

  He had the creature’s attention. “You and me, we don’t care what Wing Slayer, Ancestors, or a curse say, Carla belongs to us.”

  He flapped harder, the fine bones of the wings pricking his skin.

  Sutton knew this wasn’t going to be the flawless magic that Axel had. Axel’s wings popped out of the tattoo with no blood, no apparent pain, then folded back up into the tattoo. But Sutton didn’t have that magic. He only had sheer love and determination. “She’ll die if we don’t get that knife. We’re out of time. I don’t care how much damage you have to do to free your wings. Do it.” Then he added the one thing he thought might work. “Carla will be proud of you.”

  His back erupted in a blinding flash of agony and a whoosh. The sudden weight on his shoulder blades almost knocked him on his ass. Adjusting swiftly, he shifted his balance and turned his head.

  He could see the wing spanning several feet to his right. Brown and black feathers, some sprinkled with dark spots of blood. Ignoring the warm flow of blood down his back, he quickly looked to see a matching wing on his left. The wings fluttered. Quickly, he experimented with his muscles, learning how to move the wings.

  There wasn’t time! He had to get in the air. “Let’s do this. Let’s get that knife and save Carly.” Sutton took a br
eath and leaped off the cliff.

  For an instant, he was falling straight down. He sent frantic commands to his muscles but they jerked and fumbled while the rocky ground blasted up to meet him. At the last second, his wings caught a current and started pumping, stopping him from hitting the ground.

  Then he was in the air, rising higher. He only fumbled when he thought too hard. Flying, apparently, was instinctive.

  Like the instinct to save the woman he loved.

  He let the eagle take care of flying, while he concentrated on the direction they needed to go and on shielding himself so he wouldn’t be seen. It was both weird and exhilarating to be soaring across the sky, but the fear for Carla was too big to allow him to enjoy it. His focus was entirely on the mission of getting the knife and saving her.

  Soon, he spotted the smoke trail from the kiln and he followed it to the commune. The layout was a simple U shape carved out of a section of forest. Cars stood lined up, pointing toward the road. On the left side of the U was the barn. A large house was straight ahead. On the right side was a long row of bunkhouses.

  The kiln chimney was set back in a clearing between the house and bunkhouses.

  Sutton flew over and saw an amazing sight; Axel had his wings out and was dive-bombing the rogues in the center of the commune. They had a witch and were trying to cut her on the dirt and fight off Axel at the same time. Sutton knew Styx was at the kiln as that was what Carla saw in her vision. As long as Axel didn’t approach the kiln, he wouldn’t throw Keri in.

  He caught sight of a rogue lifting an uzi and taking aim just as Axel pulled out of another dive-bomb. That’s when he realized Axel was leaving a trail of blood; he’d been injured, maybe shot. Being immortal made him really hard to kill, but if they got him on the ground and cut off his head, that would do it. So would Quinn Young’s Immortal Death Dagger, if Darcy wasn’t close enough to use her blood as an antidote. Sutton had to get to the kiln and get the knife, but he couldn’t let Axel get caught either.

  He copied Axel and dive-bombed them, dropping his shield just as he was ten feet away. He didn’t have Axel’s skill or finesse, instead, he slammed into one man, and both of them flew into the group of rogues. Tucking his body, he did a front roll. His wings curled around him, and he was able to spring up to his feet. He snapped his arms down, dropping two blades from his wristbands into his hands by the time he whirled around. Two were on their feet bringing up their weapons.