by Kate Gellar
“What the fuck, Emma?”
Emma’s seductive smile dropped away to be replaced by a scowl and a new darkness in her eyes. “You think I didn’t know what your witchy friends were up to? That I haven’t had that spell performed on me before? I recognized the incantation. So I pretended to be asleep.”
“What?” Brendan stumbled back further. His back hit the closed bathroom door. “You’re...a witch?”
Emma sneered. “Of course I am. Why else would I be here? You’re not my type. But I am attracted to the power inside you.”
Brendan groped along the wall, aiming for the exit, but Emma’s kiss had weakened him too much. She launched herself at him and pinned him far too easily against the wall. The picture rattled and fell to the floor. She found his lips again and took only thing he could give her: his power.
Brendan’s legs kicked out, but Emma pinned him against the wall and kept up her assault on him until he could no longer support his own weight. Emma finally let go of him, and he slid down the wall to hit the floor. The last thing he heard Emma saying as his throat closed over was, “Thanks for your power, guardian.”
29
Abby
Abby’s dreams broke her out in a cold sweat. She was staring down at a dead body and laughing with two others about it.
“He had it coming,” she said to the other two faceless people. “It was his fault for trusting me so easily.”
A banging on her door woke Abby out of her nightmare. She looked around her still dark room.
The banging got louder.
“Abby, open up!”
It was Sylvie’s voice. She got up and slipped on her robe. She opened the door to find a shocked Sylvie staring at her.
“What’s wrong? What time is it?” Abby glanced behind her to the window. The sun wasn’t even up yet.
“I need you to come with me.” Sylvie pulled on her arm.
Abby barely got the door closed before Sylvie dragged her along the corridor.
“Ow! You’re hurting me. Stop.”
Sylvie stopped pulling. In a low whisper she said, “It’s Brendan. He’s dead.”
Abby sparked into action. Without pausing, she followed Sylvie up one flight of stairs to Brendan’s bedroom. Her pulse pounded so loud in her ears, she didn’t even hear what else Sylvie said to her.
She stood frozen outside his door. “I don’t want to go in.” She had only just buried her mother. And now Brendan? She couldn’t bear it. She hadn’t known him that long, but it felt like a part of her had died.
“Please, go inside. The others need you.” Sylvie opened the door.
Abby sucked in a breath and entered the room. She gasped when she saw an ashen faced Brendan lying on the bed. Around him were Sam, Liam, and Noomi. Murphy was pacing.
Murphy looked up. “What the hell’s she doing here?”
“I thought she could help,” said Sylvie.
“She can’t help. She’s not a pure blood,” said Sam softly. He gripped Brendan’s hand between his.
Murphy stopped pacing. “Get her the fuck out of here, Sylvie, before I chuck her out.”
Abby flinched at Murphy’s threat, but didn’t move. Her eyes were on Brendan. “What happened?”
Sam looked up at her. “Emma. She fooled us at dinner. She was a dark witch and she drained Brendan of his power, killing him.”
“Like you almost did to Liam,” said Murphy, his voice lifting. “Like you could’ve done to any of us. Get her out of here.”
“Please, Sam,” said Sylvie. “Let her try.”
Murphy punched the wall and stormed off to stand by the window.
Liam bit his thumb, his gaze flitting between Abby and Sam. “What can she do, Sam? She’s got dark magic in her.”
“He’s dead. Let her try,” Sylvie pleaded. “She can’t do any harm.”
Sam looked at Sylvie, then at Abby. He nodded and let go of Brendan’s hand just as Murphy punched the wall again.
Abby gave Sylvie a wary look. “What can I do?”
“Go to him. You have power. See if you can give him some of yours.”
Abby walked over to the bed and sat beside Brendan’s lifeless body. She fought against a rising lump in her throat. She brushed her fingers against his face. He felt as cold as Ivy had. He was dead. This was all too much. She wanted to bolt from the room. How could she give him anything?
Brendan was dead. Those three words sparked tears in her eyes.
She looked up to see Sam and Liam watching her. Murphy glared at her from his position by the window. A wide-eyed Sylvie prompted her on with a nod.
She concentrated on Brendan, trying to tap in to what she’d felt when she was with him. But she couldn’t feel him or his power. Without thinking, she climbed on top of him and straddled his body. She lay down until she covered his body with hers. Maybe if she did this, her power would leach into him. But his skin chilled her on contact to remind her of how vain her attempts would be.
She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his as she searched for a strand of his essence, anything she could latch on to. She kissed him, plunging her tongue into his non-reactive mouth. A flicker of energy stirred beneath her assault and she pulled away. It was a minuscule shift, but she’d felt it. Brendan and the others were not mortal. Maybe dead for them was just a temporary relocation to another place.
Encouraged, she kissed him again, zooming in on the small spark she’d felt. She channeled her power to it, feeding it with everything she had. It grew until it became large enough that it clung to her, like a small hand in water grabbing hers. She fed more of her energy to it—it was as if her body contained endless power—and willed the spark to grow bigger. The power looped suddenly and sent a shock through her as it replaced the energy she’d given away. She moaned and clung tighter to Brendan’s body, kissing him with everything she had.
His power stirred and met hers in the middle, like two old friends. A hand in her hair shocked her eyes open. She sat up and stared at Brendan looking up at her, his skin no longer ashen gray but a pale white with a hint of color. He grinned at her as she scrambled off his body, feeling embarrassed.
Sylvie laughed. “Seeing him alive scares you, but kissing a dead man doesn’t?”
Abby stared at Brendan who one minute ago was dead, but the next was alive.
“How did I... I don’t understand.”
Her eyes found Sam who looked as shocked as her. Liam grinned while Murphy covered his eyes with one hand, his body turned away to the window.
Sam helped Brendan to sit up on the bed.
“Now do you believe me, Sam?” said a weak Brendan.
Sam nodded and swallowed. “Only a queen, a pure blood can bring a guardian back to life.”
“So that means I’m not a witch?” said Abby.
“No, you are, a dark one. This...” Sam ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled. “This has never happened. The books say this is impossible. A mixed blood cannot do what you’ve just done.” He stared at Abby. “The only way this could happen is if you two bonded the other night. Only guardians and queens can bond.”
Abby shook her head. “What does that mean?”
Brendan grinned at her. “Looks like we’ve found our queen, boys.”
***
Thank you for reading MAGIC DESTINY. I hope you enjoyed it. The story continues in MAGIC BOUND. After resurrecting one guardian, Abby faces a new struggle of dark versus light.
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Flick forward to read an excerpt from MAGIC BOUND now.
1 – MAGIC BOUND
Abby
The voices called her name.
Abigail. Abigail...
Not Abby but the name from the book, where she’d seen a photo of someone with black hair who looked exactly like her mom. A photo from 1861 with the name Abigail Quinn—Quinn was her mom’s maiden name.
Abby touched her bare neck, cursing as she remembered taking off her mom’s necklace last night to have a shower. It was the one with the Celtic design that Ivy used to wear all the time, except when she had been at her sickest. In her frail state, the metal had irritated her oversensitive skin. Abby had brought it with her; the only memento from home. But the events of last night soon replaced any thoughts about her missing necklace.
First there had been the dinner party where three dark witches, including Abby, had been revealed during an incantation spell. The mortals who had been lulled into a false sleep were due to leave the castle tomorrow.
But they hadn’t been prepared for a dark witch to be hiding among the mortals. Emma had fooled them all and stolen Brendan’s power, killing him. It had taken all of Abby’s strength to bring him back to life. In a few hours Sue and Mary, the most experienced witches of the local coven, would arrive at the castle to strip the dark witches of their powers. Except for Abby’s. Her resurrection of Brendan had given her a reprieve from what the white witches had planned.
The floorboards outside Sylvie’s room creaked when Abby passed it. She froze mid-step and listened for a moment, hearing only the loud tick of the grandfather clock in the lobby one floor below. She sidestepped the creaky board and kept moving, glancing up at the stairs leading to the next floor, where the four guardians slept. An eerie silence enveloped the space around her.
Then she heard the voice again.
Abigail, come downstairs. I have something to show you.
Hearing a stranger call to her should have put her on high alert. But the familiar sounding voice soothed her. She followed it down the stairs and into the living room. All the lights were off, but Abby saw clearly the wood panel that hid the door to the space and the seal. The seal covered a rift between two worlds and prevented demonic souls from entering this realm. She hesitated by the sofa a moment, questioning her reason for being here. But a force stronger than her pulled her toward the wood panel.
She could resist. She would resist, now that she understood what she was—part dark witch, part queen.
She blinked and the panel came into sharp focus. A hidden energy drew her closer to it. Just then, a manifestation appeared inside a black mist next to the mantelpiece causing Abby to jerk to a halt.
She stared at the mist with no defining features. It spoke to her.
“Abigail, this weak manifestation is just the beginning. Your power can give me form. You know what you must do.”
The ethereal voice sounded soft and feeble, like an old woman. She didn’t recognize it.
“I don’t know,” whispered Abby, frozen to the spot next to the sofa.
“You do, Abigail. Open the door. You did it once before.”
The heavy energy in the room brought her one step closer to the wood panel that hid souls with the power to destroy everything. The four boys—guardians—had sworn to a power higher than theirs to protect that same seal from opening.
She listened out for noises from above, for a warning that her activity had alerted one of the others. The castle remained deathly quiet. Abby’s hand grazed the warm wood painted in an off-white color. There was no handle, only a gap where she could slip her fingers in and pull. She’d done it once before. Before she could stop herself, the panel door swung open.
Still gripping the warm wood she said, “No, I don’t want to do this.”
“You must, Abigail,” said the old lady voice. “You’re the only one who can help me.”
“Who are you?” She stared at the wispy smoke that formed the vague outline of a person.
“All in good time, child. Now, open the door.”
Without thinking, Abby grabbed the new lock that Sam had replaced on the door after she’d broken the last one. That was three days ago. With every squeeze she gave it, she felt the black smoke leach into her muscles and give her the strength to break it.
“Now, squeeze, hard,” the voice commanded her.
She did and the lock cracked in two. The broken pieces clattered to the hardwood floor.
“Open the door,” commanded the voice.
As though someone else controlled her, Abby opened the door. A blast of heat rushed over her. The seal throbbed below her feet to the rhythm of a heartbeat. One crack down its centre would free the demonic souls.
“Just what I was thinking,” said the feeble voice. “Try it.”
“How?” said Abby. She didn’t see any tools lying around.
“You have dark magic within you. Tap into it.”
Abby stared at the seal. With a huff, she knelt beside it and clawed at its edges that lay flush with the floor.
“Use your mind. See the edges and they will rise to meet your hand.”
She closed her eyes, imagining an edge she could grip. When she opened her eyes, the seal had risen to meet the tips of her fingers.
With a smile, she wiggled the seal up a little until it revealed a deep pulsating red below...
***
Abby woke up with a gasp. She bolted upright in the bed and groped for her necklace, but her neck was still bare. At least, that part in her dream had been accurate. She looked around Brendan’s room that was pitch black. The sound of snoring beside her relaxed her. She turned to look at Brendan; his eyes were closed and he looked so peaceful. She brushed hair out of his eyes and kissed him on the forehead. He’d been through so much. She still couldn’t believe her power had brought him back from whatever realm to which his life force had vanished.
A second body was sprawled out on the sofa at the foot of the bed and next to the ensuite.
“Hey,” said Liam, one of the other guardians. He sat up slowly. “You okay?”
Sam and Murphy had both returned to their beds but Liam had refused to leave Brendan’s or Abby’s side.
“I should stay in case anything else happens,” he’d said to Sam last night. Sam had agreed. With three dark witches, including Emma, locked in their rooms for the night, he didn’t want to risk any more mishaps. The Celtic symbols on their doors had been infused with enough magic to temporarily disable the dark witches’ powers for the night.
Abby rubbed her eyes. “Just a bad dream, I think.”
Liam smiled at her. “You had quite the night. I suppose a little strange is to be expected.”
An unexpected chill hit her. She slipped out of bed and relocated next to Liam who sat upright. He offered her his duvet, which she snuggled under, and rested her cheek on his chest. The sound of his heart beating in his chest chased away the bad feelings in her own. Her dream had felt so real. An exhausted Brendan continued to snore in the bed, oblivious to her absence.
“I was so scared for him,” she murmured against Liam’s skin. “I didn’t know what do for Brendan when I saw he had died.”
Liam’s voice rumbled through her ear. “None of us did.” He looped his arm around her shoulder. “But you have a magic within you that’s compatible with Brendan’s. That’s why you were able to restore his powers.”
Liam’s embrace felt strong, comforting. “I felt the same thing with you.”
He paused. “So did I.”
Abby looked up at him. “So why don’t Sam or Murphy believe it?”
“I don’t know.” Liam sighed. “They will. Sam has been searching for the queen as long as we have, but he’s seen too much in his life. And Murphy, well, he’s conflicted. He is duty bound to protect this land and the seal, but he has to sacrifice a lot for that duty.”
“You mean girls?”
Liam laughed gently. “That, but his freedom mostly. He had a rough upbringing. This is the first thing to give him purpose. But the demands on him, on all of us? It takes a strong mind to accept there can only be one woman for all four of us.”
“And you think
that’s me?”
Liam dropped a kiss on Abby’s forehead. “I do. But it doesn’t matter what I think. You have to feel it.”
Abby wished it were that simple. With Brendan, the attraction, the moment, had felt right. And while she’d shared a similar attraction with Liam in the garden on her second day, she couldn’t be sure her actions hadn’t been fueled by her jealousy toward the other girls. Then there was the strange incident that happened between her and Sam when he’d told her about the seal, the guardianship, and the queen who would give all four guardians the power to close the rift between the two realities forever. She’d experienced his personal connection to a two-hundred-year-old oak tree by proxy, a place where he’d felt safe as a kid.
Liam pulled her back to his chest. “What was your dream about?”
Oh that? Just a manifestation attempting to use me as a vessel to open the seal.
“Nothing. What will happen with Emma, Astrid, and Penny?”
“Out of the three, only Emma actually did something. But we can’t be sure that the others wouldn’t have attempted something similar, given enough time. Sue and Mary, senior witches of the local coven, will contact the ancients to help strip them of their powers tomorrow. If they don’t do something, the witches could try again at another castle and succeed without a queen potential to bring the guardian back to life.”
Abby sat up and looked Liam in the eye. “What was Emma’s reason for stealing Brendan’s power?”
“Her link to the demonic world is strong. The souls may have used her as a vessel to weaken the guardianship. By killing Brendan, our strength diminishes, until we find a new fourth. But during that time, the seal is vulnerable to attacks.”
Her dream had felt eerily similar to that. But it was just a dream. She would not consciously hurt any of the boys or put her new friends Sylvie and Noomi, both white witches, at risk. She could control her actions. Dreams were just her mind sorting through the events of the last few days.