Cora (Of Earth or Erda)

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Cora (Of Earth or Erda) Page 11

by Skye, Relina


  Willing my limbs to move, a flash of light blinded my eyes before it dimmed. Cracking them open, I saw the remains of the casting circle still undisturbed, although hardened puddles of wax replaced the candles. The ice was missing, and the crystal pillars were empty.

  My powers! The ache in my head was so bad, I couldn't even think straight, let alone, know what to do next.

  Crawling in the direction of the kitchen, my knees upset the casting circle, ruining its shape.

  Thirsty. So, thirsty.

  Reaching the refrigerator, I found it stocked with Gatorade. Close enough! Using what strength I could muster, I downed three Gatorades before coming up for air. With shaking hands and legs, I made myself stand up.

  Mother. Kacie. I thought, but then stopped. A ball of lead dropped in my stomach. That combined with the Gatorade were enough to cancel my sense of hunger. Kacie knew where I was. Why did she act like she didn't know? Now that I could think about it, why did she send Ian after me?

  My healing ability took advantage of the liquid in my belly, Rehydrating my limbs and brain, any lingering migraine and mental fog swiftly burned off.

  That's when I noticed the spell book I previously used sitting on the counter. Glancing at the circle, and then back at the book, I wondered how it got there. Did someone come down here? And if they moved the book, why not pick me up and put me on one of the cots in the sleeping quarters? Something wasn't right, but what?

  "Come, come, come to me. Mirror stone, I command you to come to me," I chanted. An ache burned in my core, but the stone materialized in my palm anyway. Free of the protection spell it once held, it easily identified me as its new master. But it came at a high cost. Turning my gaze internally, I found my powers had now dwindled down next to nothing. Yes, the springs and reservoirs were still there, but it would take the next two or three years to refill them to what they once were. And the more magic I used, the longer it would take for them to replenish. Well, at least, that applied to my natural magic. My water powers were completely gone, and the magic I absorbed from Rune Armstrong during our fight did not return.

  Good riddance, I thought. Maybe I'll just have to be a bit more friendly during Beltane. That should help restore some magic to my system. A slight grin broke out across my face until my gut turned sour.

  Something felt wrong. But what? I wasn't sure.

  Looking down at the mirror stone, it showed me a reflection of the space to my right.

  Strange. If this thing were broken after going through all that, I would be pissed. I remembered why I wanted the stone in the first place. Monica. Show me Monica’s killer, I thought.

  The stone clouded before the vision of the space next to me resumed. Frustration charged through my weak muscles. Mother would never let me live this down. The stone clouded once more and the image of my mother appeared.

  At first, it looked like she was just sitting against the wall. But as I willed the stone to show me a closer view of her, I noticed the paleness of her skin, the unkempt appearance of her clothing, and the lack... the frightening lack of movement in her chest.

  "No!" If she were gone, she should have turned to dust. I pushed off the ground, but was instantly pulled into the warmth of another body. A ripple of material all around me slid to the floor, followed by the appearance of dark blends on a man’s shirt and pants.

  "So, little girl, we meet again." Hot breath burned my ear. "This time, there is no one here to protect you." Sparks of electricity danced across his skin, moving through his hand and into my throat.

  "Armstrong? You killed Monica?" His grip tightened.

  "I did more than that." He snickered.

  In my weakened state, I was no match for the older man.

  Holding a ritual knife in his other hand, he let the dull side of the blade slide down my chest to my stomach. "But for some reason, I just can't develop a taste for you. You'll serve as a treat for the others after I rip your well of powers from your soul."

  Bile filled my mouth. "There's a reason..." I gasped, until he loosened his hold slightly. "You're my father."

  I felt the twitch in his muscles as I threw my head backwards into his nose. Caught off guard, the blade slipped from his grasp. Willing the blade into my hand, it disappeared and reappeared just in time for me to shove it between his ribs.

  Stumbling backward, he gathered his electric powers into his fists. "It's not true!" he exclaimed as he thrust them toward me.

  Taking the brunt of electricity into my chest, the silver paint conducted every last pulse into my well.

  "Is that all you got?" My eyes narrowed. Willing the knife to return to me again, his blood flowed freely.

  Once more, he sent a ball of black energy at me. My instincts took over, and I raised the mirror stone. Reflecting it back at him, his death magic spread across his body like a net before returning to his well.

  "You were our ally. My mother chose you for my father because she knew her child would be more powerful than her sire. Don't you dare think for a second that you can best me in my own household! You will pay, Rune Armstrong, for your crimes against this coven, for the murder of Monica Carmichael, and for the murder of my mother."

  A slow clap came from behind me. "Wow!" Kacie shouted. "Just wow! And to think we almost missed all the action." Turning my head, I found my sister descending the steps. "And that speech, something straight from a cheesy movie or TV show."

  Trying to conceal the mirror stone, I willed it into the box of stars that I used to steal from Douglas all those years ago. Why I kept them was beyond my comprehension, but they were still there, tucked safely in a shoebox under my bed.

  Stomping down the steps right behind my sister was Graham Swift and his three brothers.

  I turned my gaze from her. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing the look of shock on my face.

  "I thought you said you were going to take care of the bitch," Graham snickered. He shoved his fists into his pants pockets as he stepped off the steps to stand next to the landing.

  Stumbling forward, my father gripped the counter as his other hand tried to keep the blood in his chest. "Don't just stand there. Get me a healer!"

  "Get me a healer," the youngest looking Swift brother mocked from halfway down the steps. I recognized him as Walter from the website. Strangely enough, even his voice sounded familiar.

  "Do it," Graham ordered his younger brother.

  "We really don't need him anymore," he countered while staying on the steps. At this point, he was taller than Graham.

  "If he dies, his coven will declare war on ours, you idiot," James, the Swift from the train, noted.

  "We can take them." Walter lifted his chin up a notch.

  "True, but they have a lot of allies that would come to their aid. Now, go," Graham ordered once more.

  Walter’s eyes searched the ceiling for about two seconds before he turned. "Whatever, dude." Stomping up the steps, he disappeared.

  A sick feeling settled in my gut. Shifting my gaze to the Arcane Plane, my fears were validated. Shredded green ribbons of powers were haphazardly woven around the brothers. Even Kacie's magic wasn't clean anymore. There were tatters of dark powers mixed in with her natural ones. Even worse, their silhouettes were darker in color than before, but radiating a higher degree of intensity. When I turned my gaze toward my father, I saw the colors that made up his powers were still there, but his silhouette was dimming by the second.

  "Warlocks." My head shook as I took a step back. "What have you done? Your powers are corrupted. Your magic is unclean. You have broken the sacred laws established by the gods and goddesses."

  "You're right, Kacie." James snaked his arm around her waist. His hand settled on her ass before he gave me a look that suggested he thought I just turned into a hydra. "Your sister is a total whack job."

  "As High Priestess of the Silver Chalice Coven, I'm privy to ancient knowledge that the likes of you will never know, and are too damned to obtain. Ripping a witch’
s or wizard's life force and powers from their soul is unforgivable. The gods and goddesses have expressly designed punishments for the perpetrators of such an act. You will spend all of eternity being ripped apart over and over again by the very powers you elected to steal. "

  "I was wrong, she's just as full of hot air as your bitch mother."

  Graham pushed past Kacie to make his way over to me. His gaze leered at my body from head to toe and back again once his view was no longer obstructed by the kitchen island. "You should have let us take your powers when we were at the hospital. At least Putnam had a nicer method for removing them without causing you to suffer."

  As much as I wanted to cross my arms in front of my chest to block his gaze, I didn't. To shrink away from him now would be a sign of weakness. "How considerate of him," I spat. "At least allow me the dignity of putting my clothes back on."

  "Do it," muttered my father, shaking his head.

  "What? Give her special treatment? Why?" Graham practically laughed.

  "I found a healer!" Walter shouted from the top of the steps before stomping down them. Tied up behind him, Ben nearly came tumbling down the stairs head first.

  Kacie moved out of the way and eluded James's grasp. Liam, the last Swift brother, pulled her down to sit on his lap as they watched the show from the couch. I turned my gaze away from them as his hand disappeared under her skirt.

  Focusing on Ben, I took another step toward the hall with the restroom. "What did you do to him?"

  "Ah, we just roughed him up a bit until he agreed to heal our witches and wizards." Liam smirked. Muttering into Kacie's hair, he breathed, "Does that feel good, baby?"

  "Mmhmm," she moaned.

  It took all of my concentration to ignore Liam and Kacie. My slut of a sister was a traitor, but I had a lot more important people to worry about.

  Right now, Ben was my main concern. Checking him over for injuries, the worst of it seemed to be a dark bruise above his eye, after being beaten to the point of swelling shut. Dried blood stained his ripped-up shirt. I could only imagine the pain he was in.

  His one eye met mine before he looked away.

  "Heal him. Now!" Graham ordered as he dragged Ben across the floor faster than the poor guy's feet could carry him.

  "He needs to use his hands," Kacie muttered.

  Ben held himself up as best as he could, given the circumstances. He ordered, "Help him onto the counter. I might miss something if he is still standing during the process."

  Graham slid past me without making contact. He grabbed one of Rune's arms while James did the same on the other side. Meanwhile, Walter untied Ben's bindings, giving him more mobility.

  With the others distracted, I took another step closer to the bathroom.

  Walter shifted his hateful gaze toward me. "Going somewhere?"

  "Just to dress. That's all. Besides, there is nowhere to go. We are underground, and..." Ugh, gag, I made the mistake of looking at Kacie bouncing up and down on top of Liam. "I doubt that I could outrun you anyway."

  "Fine, just be quick about it."

  To avoid watching Ben save my father's life, as well as hearing Kacie and Liam having a good time, I quickly moved into the bathroom. Searching every nook and cranny for anything to use against the enemy, I came up short. All I had were the stones from my belly piercing and they weren't enough.

  Once I finished putting my clothing back on, I felt a little warmer, but my overall sense of security was shattered.

  Kacie poked her head into the bathroom. "You done yet?" she asked as she started to straighten out her dress.

  "Yeah, I'm done." I pushed past her. My arm ached from the contact since I was still so weak. “I just don’t understand you. Why, Kacie? Why would you betray your coven? Why would you allow them to kill your own mother, a woman who favored you more than the rest of us?”

  “Why?” She let out a sick laugh. “You’ve been so obsessed with trying to find Monica’s killer that you didn’t see what was going on around you. The Silver Chalice is weak. The Beltane massacre taught me that. Besides, our bloodlines are so intertwined that we barely have any options for finding partners without going to someone who is practically our cousin. You ask me why I allowed them to kill Mother? They didn’t. I did. She refused to join us. And when I showed her mercy, she tried to contact her new coven.” Her facial features twisted at the memory. “Like they can do anything. We’ll take care of those that show up tomorrow when they get here too, before moving on to their home base.”

  “When the High Priest finds out, he’ll bring the wrath of the whole coven down on you and your new friends,” I threatened. What I really needed to find out was if the other two households were aware of what was going on here.

  “Do you honestly think the Silver Shore and Silver Winds covens would have only targeted this household? They got the Summoner to join them. He killed the Maiden and more than half his council before pledging his alliance to the Silver Winds. Any members of his household that didn’t join him were stripped of their powers and executed. As for the High Priest? He is the one that convinced me to join the Silver Shore Coven! Anyone who hasn’t pledged their allegiance with our new coven met the same fate as the Maiden.”

  “No one needed to die, Kacie. We could have figured something else out. You could have trusted me to defend our home.”

  She gave me a pitiful look. “Poor Cora, you still don’t get it. Our home was never worth defending.”

  “And the Silver Shore Coven is worth it?”

  “Of course. Not only are they powerful, but they also allow their members to leave and get an education outside of magic. We are even encouraged to have careers outside of their household. Some even marry humans.”

  Thinking back, I could not pinpoint a time when those things were issues for anyone that I knew. But then again, I didn't really have any close relationships with anyone. "You should have told me you were unhappy. And that other people were too. If I had known, we could have done something about it."

  Voices rose from the kitchen area.

  Kacie's face mutated into a range of emotions. But whatever she had to say could wait. My concern right now was figuring out a way to keep Ben and whoever was left, alive before getting them to safety.

  "...potion," Ben's voice came out as a plea.

  "What's going on?" Kacie shoved me out of the way.

  "He claims he's running low on magic and can't finish healing Rune." James shook his head as if he weren't buying it.

  Rune did not look good. His skin was paler than before and his eyes were closed. But at least his chest was still rising and falling, which meant there were some traces of life still left in him. I just hoped he didn't heal as fast as I, otherwise whatever blood loss he suffered earlier would be replenished by the end of the day.

  "You've had me healing your witches and wizards for the past four days. If you'd only allow me to use my potions," Ben's gaze linked with mine for about a second before settling on Kacie, "we could have avoided this from the beginning." Ben's hands hovered over the still open wound in Rune's ribs, but the bleeding had finally stopped.

  Potions. Ben has a whole wall of potions and not all of them are for healing!

  I willed the fog potion to appear in my pocket, causing me to scratch the surface of the remainder of my reserves. Luckily, since it wasn't too far away, it didn't cost much. Yes, my father fed my air magic reserves, but the ratio was something like an ounce to a gallon. And to transfer objects from one place to another was like using about a teaspoon’s worth of magic.

  "Fine," Graham relented. Moving away from Ben, he started to cross the room to stand near my sister and me. "Walter and Kacie, go up and find his healing potions. Liam, stay with Rune and Fletcher. James, you're with me. We have a High Priestess that must be stripped of her magic."

  Chapter Ten

  The Beltane Massacre paled in comparison to the carnage I found above ground.

  Silver Winds and Shore members, along with
some of my own coven's witches from this household and the others, were milling about aimlessly. Charred circle stains marred the walls, and odd things were growing though the floorboards and windows.

  Pools of blood and splattered red droplets stained the woodwork and carpets, leaving a coppery scent that mixed with excrement lingering in the air. Another scent blew in from the windows that I could not identify. Traces of ash coated the tops of all the furniture. It was everywhere. How many of our witches and wizards were fallen? How many of them belonged to the enemy?

  But what I most failed to comprehend was the attitude of the witches and wizards that were celebrating their victory. Some staggered about in a drunken stupor, toasting their friends, or stopping to relieve themselves against the wall. Others were openly copulating with each other, or in small groups. Their displays of nudity gave what Kacie was doing earlier some context, at least.

  Shifting my gaze to the Arcane Plane, I found everyone present wearing shredded ribbons of green magic on top of their natural magic. For that many witches and wizards to have stolen such a great amount of powers, a lot of good witches and wizards must have been killed...

  Graham's grip tightened on my bicep. "Keep moving."

  "I have an idea," James spoke over my head to his brother.

  "This should be good." Graham grinned.

  "After we turn her into a human, we bring her home to keep as our pet."

  Graham laughed. "I like it."

  A scream jarred my attention toward the direction we were heading. Entering the ballroom where many of our formal functions took place, all of the tables and chairs were haphazardly thrown to one side of the room. Dozens of unconscious witches and wizards of all ages were piled on top of each other on the tables. In the center was a massive casting circle. Witches and wizards from all three covens stood inside the circle, while five more were evenly positioned around an altar in the middle. One of our senior witches lay still on top of it.

 

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