Dark Cotillion (First in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I awoke about an hour later to find my Uncle Levi scowling at me. The scowl was set so deep, it looked as if his face might crack into a bazillion pieces. I smiled at him sleepily, ignoring the fact that he was so irritated he had literally turned blue. Everything but his irises was a dark, deep blue that reminded me of nighttime skies. Even the elliptical pupil had turned blue. Only the irises showed color, a honey gold that meant only one thing.

  “A coin flip is deciding your fate now?” He continued to scowl as he spoke and was baring his teeth.

  “Levi, I don’t see…”

  “No, you don’t see. What if they had called someone else? Someone who wasn’t as reasonable as I was? Someone who didn’t know what a bad idea this is?”

  “How is it any less reasonable to be healed than to be left injured and unable to defend myself?”

  “There is no telling what might happen if you are well and truly healed of all of these injuries.”

  “Fine, pick and choose which ones to heal. As long as I can move a bit without wincing, I can fight. At least, you have the ability to do it and I specifically requested that you be called.”

  “Brenna…” Levi scrunched up his face.

  “Leviathan, I need help. I am so far out of my depths here that I don’t think I can tread water, let alone touch the floor. The Overlords are doing what they can, but frankly…”

  “Your binding makes them weaker,” Levi finished the thought.

  “I believe it does. As long as I am this damaged, I am pulling strength from them. I’m leeching their energy, their power, and their immortality. I may have flipped a coin, but in all honesty, this is what is best. Which is the other reason I called you, I don’t know how my body is going to react to being healed. I think it might enjoy the power boost. I also don’t think it will be able to control it. At least with you doing the healing, I don’t have to worry about what might go wrong. I know that you won’t hold it against me.”

  “You think that could be a problem?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m mortal and Demons don’t heal Humans because of all the power that is involved. Demons don’t heal the Maturing for the same reason. However, the Witch in me is channeling magic when it has the chance. I channeled Gabriel several days ago. I know that it is not out of the realm of possibility, I’ve just never done it before.”

  “And you think that it is Witch and not Demon?”

  “Positive. The magic was wild. Demon magic isn’t. Levi, if all of Anubis’s theories and thoughts on this entire thing are true…”

  “Then you think you will become what has been foretold.”

  “No, I don’t. I don’t think there is any great unknown power. I think my own is just going to be a bit stronger. I think I will be able to channel the magic of the Overlords that are bound to me. That is something a Demon has never done.”

  “But a Witch can and has,” Levi answered.

  “Precisely. It isn’t about me. It’s about us. Whatever happened when I was a child may be the source of the Prophesy.”

  “If you are truly capable of channeling the powers of the Overlords…”

  “I have already had that thought,” I interrupted him.

  “As have we all.” Anubis entered the room. “And we all agree that it is vitally important that this information not get out. Not just for her safety, but for those of the Overlords involved. And we do not know what will happen if the four Overlord positions are left vacant.”

  “War and mass chaos would ensue,” Levi answered. “I know you don’t remember, Ani, but Chiron is not the first Overlord of the Centaurs. The first was born when you were about three hundred. He died during the Maturing, killed by Chiron. We kept it quiet, those of us that understood anyway. That is why Centaurs have had trouble building their ranks. Over half of them died with the original Overlord.”

  “What?” Anubis narrowed his eyes.

  “We told everyone there was an outbreak of plague amongst the Centaurs,” Levi answered.

  “I remember the plague.”

  “The Plague was actually the death of the Overlord. Chiron assimilated the powers of the Overlord when he killed him during the Maturing. For some reason, many of the Centaurs died with the Overlord. We told the world it was a plague, of unknown origins, but in truth, it was the death of the Overlord. All your lieutenants and faithful followers will die with the death of the Overlord. Lucifer and the Brothers tried to keep it from happening, but we couldn’t.” Levi shrugged.

  “So, if I die and take all four Overlords with me,” I smiled, “I will start the Second Elder War. There will be so many deaths amongst the four breeds that war will be inevitable.”

  “Yes,” Levi answered. “That is why we tried so hard to break the spell. We were met with resistance and now it couldn’t be broken. You’ve become too powerful. Originally, all five of you held it together, now, Bren, your magic alone is strong enough to do it. Besides, you still have the Overlords to contend with and they have no desire to break it either.”

  “What other secrets do you keep?” Anubis asked, suspiciously.

  “Many, mostly about the five of you,” Levi looked at him, “as well as the Brothers and the Overlords. Secrets that we, as a group decided needed to be kept.”

  “Like?” I asked.

  “Gabriel’s mate is dead. Or rather, was never born. She was killed in the womb during the Elder War. We made the decision not to tell him when he eliminated the Angel that was carrying her.”

  “How do you know it was Gabriel’s mate?” I asked.

  “Because that is what Levi does,” Anubis sighed. “He knows, sometimes centuries ahead, who will be mated. I’m sure he knows your mate.”

  “She doesn’t have one,” Levi answered. “When she was born, I felt around for it and it wasn’t there to find. She doesn’t need one. She is barren.”

  “I can’t reproduce?” I asked skeptically.

  “Correct.” Levi looked at me again. “You my dearest will never have children. For that, I am sorry.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it is quite likely that Lucifer or myself did it,” Levi answered. “We both know better than to touch pregnant women. We can alter the DNA of a developing fetus. Lucifer doesn’t seem to have an impact on his mate, and I do not seem to have an impact on mine, but we can affect others. I’m afraid I hugged your mother when she told me she was pregnant. Another secret of the Brothers.”

  “You can all do it?” Anubis asked.

  “To some degree. We believe that is how Lucifer managed to pluck so many children from the water and how he managed to get so many breeds from the plucking.” Levi sighed. “There are many things we don’t tell about ourselves.”

  “You are afraid you will be considered freaks even by Elder standards.” I made it a statement because I knew it to be true.

  “Yes,” Levi hung his head.

  “Why?” Anubis asked.

  “Because if there are omnipotent beings on earth, the Nine Brothers are them,” I answered. “I know my father can do things that no one else really knows about.”

  “It is the same with all of us. We all seem to have something we are particularly good at that we shouldn’t be.” Levi pursed his lips. “Alright, I’ll do this, but I want Anubis to be close by, just in case.”

  “Let’s do it,” I closed my eyes and felt Levi put his large hands on me. One on my ankle, one on the top of my head, it was an interesting sensation and one that I wasn’t exactly used to feeling. Normally, I was the one that was laying on hands. My mind became a little foggy, clouded as the thoughts began to empty. The pain was slowly draining with it. Healing isn’t exactly unpleasant, but it really isn’t pleasant either. It is a unique feeling, hard to describe. It is almost as if your nerve endings are slowly being taken from your body.

  And I could feel the magic. F
eel it building, not his, but mine. Some part of me was fighting against the healing, some magical part. I wasn’t sure why, but it didn’t like it. It was probably the Human side.

  “Well?” Anubis asked. His voice sounded very far away, as if it were echoing from a mountain range. I wasn’t sure who the question was aimed at. I was even less sure that I cared. At the moment, I was working very hard not to let the magic take control of me.

  “Well,” Levi gave a long, drawn out sigh, “it’s working, but I don’t think it’s working well.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “She is fighting it,” Levi told him. They both sounded far away, as if they might be shouting to each other from different mountaintops.

  “Should we stop?”

  “We’ve already started,” I croaked out the phrase and felt a tiny puff of magic escape with it. It was visible in the air. A spell, cast by itself, tangible in a way that I had never seen before.

  “What is that?”

  “A spell,” I croaked again. I was beginning to feel very weak. “We have to stop.”

  Another puff of magic. Larger this time, entered the room. It was unsure what to do. So it hung as a dark aromatic cloud, just under my ceiling.

  “That’s something I’ve never seen,” Levi was removing his hands from me.

  “Me either,” Anubis answered, he moved closer to me. “Can you do something about it?”

  “I don’t know what it is or where it came from.” I was feeling a little better without Levi’s hands on me. “All I know is that it is a spell.”

  “Spells aren’t exactly visible, Brenna,” Levi told me.

  “True, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a spell, Levi.”

  “Okay, it’s a spell, what do we do with it?” Anubis was moving in to protect me.

  “We let it cast itself,” I pushed magic towards it. I felt the two collide. Felt the spell grow in strength. There was an audible “whooshing” noise followed by a loud pop. The spell disappeared from view. In its place, there was a dark cloud and it was raining fish.

  “Fish,” I wrinkled my nose. “Not what I expected, but it could have been worse.”

  “Why is it raining fish in your bedroom?” Levi asked me.

  “Because the spell didn’t know what to do. I gave it strength, but not guidance. I think it just sort of picked up on the spells that have been cast inside the house. Since this is one of Daniel’s favorites…” I shrugged. “On the flip side, I don’t hurt as much.”

  “The spell didn’t know what to do?” Levi cocked an eyebrow at me.

  “Witch magic isn’t like Demon magic. It doesn’t have a purpose until the practitioner gives it one. Demon magic is automatic. If you don’t tell it to do something, it automatically heals things. Witch magic just sort of hangs around until something happens. I gave it strength, but not purpose. It found the residual spells of the house and cast itself.”

  “Witch Magic can cast itself?” Anubis was looking at me a little sideways.

  “Yes, because it is just energy, unguided energy with no purpose of its own. I think, if I had been in full control of my Demon powers, I probably would have returned the magic and healed Levi. Since I don’t…”

  “I get it,” Levi looked at Anubis. “Think of it as a lost dog. It will just wander around until something happens.”

  “Exactly,” I sat up in the bed. “However, I do feel better. Not great, it was rather unappealing, but better.”

  “You requested the healing and then call it unappealing?” Anubis shook his head at me.

  “Well, it was different. I’ve been healed before, but it didn’t feel like that. That wasn’t exactly pleasant. Then again, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant either. I don’t think I can describe it. I hope not to do it again anytime soon.”

  “At least you have a hope,” Levi looked at the cloud. It was diminishing in size. Live fish were flopping around on the floor. “Can you do something about that?”

  “Nope, go throw them in the pond.” I shrugged. “That’s what we do with all of Daniel’s fish.”

  “At least it wasn’t frogs,” Levi scooped up several of the fish and walked from the room. Anubis followed suit. I considered it and decided I didn’t really have the energy for such a task, but my room wasn’t smelling real great. I went into the living room and curled up on the couch.

  “Fish?” Gabriel asked.

  “Magic finds other magic,” I closed my eyes. “I’m really sleepy.”

  “Are there more?” Fenrir asked.

  “It’s still raining in my room.” I felt sleep suck at me. “I will nap here.”