Elowen looks down on me from beside my head and smooths the wild hair from my face in a manner that’s almost maternal. How I wish I’d known my own mama enough to remember her. I miss my dad in the worst way, and wish for his sweet lies right now.
Everything will be okay.
No, there’s nothing wrong with you.
One day, Mother will leave us alone.
Elowen’s voice breaks through the cadence of my dad’s voice in my head. “You’re a witch, correct?”
Valor answers for me, since I can’t talk around the stick in my mouth. “She’s a witch who mutes magic without meaning to. Mother Nature uses Sophie to do her bidding. If you can somehow separate them, you’d be doing yourself a great service.”
“A witch possessed is a dangerous weapon.” Elowen’s gaze connects with Valor’s. “You remember how this works, correct? If you require something of me, payment must be made.”
Valor’s jaw tightens. “How many years of servitude will you require of me to free her from doing Mother Nature’s bidding?”
At this, I howl, trying to tell him that this isn’t worth it. I can live for decades more with Mother pushing me over the edge if the trade is Valor’s freedom for mine.
Valor climbs up my body and touches my cheek, his expression shifting from hard to tender as he gazes down at my bedraggled state. “A year or two is nothing if you’re eternal. Don’t be sad, young one. I’ll come back for you the moment she releases me.”
Tears leak down the sides of my face as I silently beg him not to make this choice. He doesn’t listen to me, but twines his fingers in my hair when he turns back to Elowen, his face hard once again. “How many years?”
Elowen touches Valor’s lips, and something territorial and vicious rises up in me with a feral scream. “For something of this magnitude? Ten years seems adequate.”
Carrigan scoffs, standing over us all with a look of disbelief. “If you don’t separate Sophie from Mother Nature, she’s going to come after you again and again. Sophie has no choice. You’ll do this with no incentives from Valor, if you’re even capable. I frankly don’t think it’s possible.”
Elowen stands in one fluid motion, and from my supine vantage point, she seems enormous and insurmountable with her awe-inspiring presence. “Do you think I am so naïve that you can trick me into healing her without anything traded? That is how children play. I am no child.”
Everyone assumes Cary is filled with unending meekness, but I know better. Carrigan’s balls of steel are impressive when he crosses his arms without a hint of distress. “How exactly are you going to heal our girl without the use of magic?”
It’s fascinating to watch Elowen at a loss for words. She opens and closes her mouth several times before she settles on a bitter, “I’ll find a way.”
“Not good enough. Let her up, Hagan.”
Hagan glances over his shoulder with a scowl. “What? Are you crazy? She’s going to try and kill Elowen the second I let go. Sophie can’t control her body!”
“Fine by me. If Elowen dies, Mother Nature should leave Sophie alone. That’s how we solve this problem.”
“But the Healing River!” Jonas protests. “If Elowen dies, the Healing River’s power goes along with her!”
Cary shrugs. “What power? It’s been losing its strength for years. Elowen’s grip is slipping on the Healing River. Everyone knows it. Elowen knows the Healing River is of no great value anymore, otherwise she’d protect it by helping Sophie Mae. She knows it’s worthless. Elowen’s usefulness to Twin Rivers has come to an end. Let Sophie kill her.”
Valor gapes at him. “What about everyone else who might need what power the Healing River has left?”
“I don’t care about the others!” Carrigan thunders. “Let them call their doctors and try their hands at going to witches for cures. Hagan, let Sophie go. Elowen can spend the rest of her days running from Sophie’s knife if she’s too greedy to do the right thing. Fine by me. If she decides to draw Mother Nature out of Sophie, we win. If she doesn’t, Sophie will chase her down until Elowen’s dead. Either way, we win.”
Carrigan’s expression is pure triumph as Elowen pales. When the great mage turns to run, I know the battle’s already won.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sophie
Mother shouts in triumph when Hagan rolls off me. Elowen turns and thrusts her arm in search of magic to throw my way, but none comes. Jonas spent weeks around me before figuring out how to break through my power. Goodness only knows how often he probably tried throughout the time I’ve known him. But Elowen has no idea what sort of animal she’s dealing with.
My body is beyond exhausted, but I barrel straight into her, knocking her over with a growl. What I do feel is rage. Pure venom shoots through me, but I’m not sure how much belongs to my hateful soul for trying to make Valor sign away his life and how much belongs to Mother for… I’m really not sure what Mother’s beef is. She’s always pissed about something.
Elowen is a well-trained mage who could bend me into a pretzel with her magic. Fortunately for me, she’s never had to bother with hand-to-hand combat. I wail on her like a woman possessed, which is a pretty accurate description. I’m afraid of the joy that bubbles up in me. Though it didn’t originate from my soul, still it lives in me—this horrifying happiness at a beating beautifully done. I sock her across the face over and over, pausing only to call to the guys. “Jonas! Mother needs the dagger! Bring me my go-bag, Carrigan.”
I punch her again, straddling her torso while she tries in vain to escape. The bag is by my side in the next breath, and Jonas runs toward me with my dagger a few seconds later. I wrench it open and fish through, pulling out a tiny tub I’ve never dared to open. Mother chose it from the arson job we did at The Sage Spa, pocketing it to be used on just such an occasion.
“Is that…” Elowen gasps after she inhales the fragrance of the tub’s contents. She renews her fruitless struggle, her hips jerking to try and buck me off of her. “You have no idea what that will do to me! That would undo the life-lengthening spell, and leave me a decrepit old woman! It will weaken my magic! How did you even know…” Her eyes flare with recognition, a shudder rolling through her. “Casek!”
Something inside of me jerks, telling me to get on with it already. I dip the tip of the blade in the balm and sniff it, knowing that whatever this is, it’s far beyond my level of expertise.
“Valor, help me! It’s not Mother Nature controlling your witch; it’s Casek!”
At this, Mother flares up in me and casts the rest of the balm aside so I can grip the prepped dagger with two hands. She makes me raise up the weapon. As scared as I am, she’s in complete control now. My breaths come out in guttural spasms as I fight to understand the mechanics of how to operate my own body.
“Resist him, witch! Valor, ah!” She screams when the blade freezes an inch from her heart. It’s not Valor, but Carrigan who grips my wrist to keep me from finishing the job.
“You don’t understand, Cary!” I shout, struggling against his hold. “I have to do it! I can’t say no to Mother!”
Carrigan doesn’t listen to me, but casts his eyes up to Valor, who stands a few yards away. “Valor, is Elowen lying?”
Valor’s hand over his mouth is the thing that scares me. “Ellie, are you quite sure it’s Casek controlling Sophie?”
“Yes! Only Casek knows the contents of that small tub is my weakness. He’s trying to come back from the Darklands, and he’s using Sophie to do his bidding! You cannot let her do this, Valor! If you do, the Healing River won’t just be lost; it’ll belong to Casek!”
Carrigan puts himself as the one in control of the chaos. “Alright, if it’s as you say, then cast out Casek from Sophie. You’ll get no favors from us, except the gift of being able to keep your life.”
Hagan yanks Elowen out from under me and slides her backwards until she’s out of my knife’s reach. Carrigan tries to get me to drop the dagger, but Mother isn’t through
with me yet.
My lower lip trembles as the tip of the blade turns around, pointing instead at my own thumping heart. I want to plead with her to have mercy, but that’s never been her way. I’ve pissed her off by fighting her so hard. I know how my tormentor rolls when she’s been scorned.
Mother’s finally finished with me.
“Sophie, no!”
I’ve never been more relieved to be tackled by four men. Hagan, Carrigan, Valor and even Jonas lunge for me, wrestling the blade from my grip as Mother struggles to get her way.
Elowen is bleeding and limping, but she pulls herself up with decorum that comes from sheer determination. She looks down on me with an expression that vacillates from livid to outright pitying. “You truly had no idea it was Casek inside of you all this time? How long, young witch? How long has he been tormenting you?”
I want to sob out the depths of my confusion, but there’s not enough space for the two of us anymore. The force inside of me makes me bite down hard on my tongue to keep me from answering.
Hagan swears and shoves his own finger between my teeth, wincing at the bite. I’m snorting like an animal, my body one live wire of tension ready to snap. Each man takes a limb and pins it to the grass so I can’t hurt myself.
I can’t imagine the grace and unearthly amount of compassion Elowen must possess to kneel down before me and touch my cheek while the guys hold me down. “I will get Casek out of you, but I cannot spare you the pain. Since I can’t use magic in your vicinity, we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”
I whimper but manage a nod. I don’t care who’s controlling me; I need it to stop. I want my body to belong to me. I want peace. I want to never murder again. I want so many things, and naming even a few would break my heart with their simplicity.
It’s the normal things that I can’t have with Mother jerking me around.
Carrigan locks eyes with Hagan over my body. “Go. You know you can’t stand it when she’s in pain. It has to happen this way, and we can’t have you interfering.”
“I’m not leaving her,” Hagan growls.
Carrigan points to the knot of trees behind him. “You really think you can hold her down while Elowen hurts her? It’s against your nature. I can handle this. Trust me to watch over our girl.” His eyes flick to Elowen as he gives her a brief explanation of Hagan’s shifter predicament, and why we’re so very attached.
Elowen shakes her head in a scolding manner, as if this is the time for such things as life advice. “If you were part of a pack, your shifting wouldn’t be quite so out of control. Maybe it wouldn’t be solved completely, but it would be much more manageable.”
I don’t care what she’s saying. I care that Hagan’s hurting. “Go,” I whisper, trying to muster up bravery I’m not sure either of us has.
“I don’t want to leave you. Where you go, I go.”
My heart swoons for him, but Casek or Mother or whoever is inside of me isn’t having it. My lower lip quivers, and I give him a short nod. “Go, honeybear.”
Hagan lets out a roar of anguish before he kisses my clammy forehead and stands, running into the woods to avoid the sound of my screams.
Jonas secures both my feet to the forest floor so Valor can take Hagan’s place near my head. Valor pins my other arm to the grass opposite Carrigan and gives Elowen a nod. The men hold my limbs down as my body starts to arch and thrash, bracing themselves for whatever fate has in store for me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Valor
It’s a long, excruciating night of Sophie screaming herself hoarse. Without magic, the process is unbearable for us to watch, but somehow, we do. Hagan’s roars into the night call out to her, chilling me with how haunted the sound is when it cracks into my ears. His bear sounds like it’s nursing a physical wound, and each time I hear it, I see a visible sadness echo through each of us in the camp.
Casek keeps trying to murder Sophie, destroying the vessel he’s been jerking around for who knows how long. Yet somehow it’s not the physical agony that guts me most. It’s that when Sophie’s given a few seconds to catch her breath while Ellie gathers herbs for the next round of torment, she looks positively heartbroken. She’d been so certain it was Mother Nature’s bidding she’s been doing all these years. I can’t imagine how duped she must feel. It wasn’t Mother Nature in her ear but Casek who pushed her to murder. He made her sick. He forced her father away from her.
The tassels on Ellie’s belt swish against her hip, reminding me that I might have a chance now if Ellie decides to be gracious. A real chance. My mind goes into overdrive, planning out all the freedom I could have with my conscience in full swing. I wouldn’t need Sophie, I could simply have her because she chose me. I have to believe our connection is stronger than mere happenstance—a transaction of love for need.
The sun rises, and Casek is still tormenting my girlfriend.
Girlfriend. It’s such a small word for someone like me. But it suits her, sweet as she is to have taken in a soul as lost as mine.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” I state blandly at Ellie’s pinched expression. My tact always ebbs when I need to feed. It’s been too long since I last had blood, and it was a paltry offering from an emaciated squirrel. Sophie is littered with cuts from Ellie scoring her skin to stuff whatever antidote she deems appropriate inside. Each incision brings about a new scream from Sophie. Each slice tests my self-control.
Ellie scowls, and the girlish indignation is almost comical. “Herbs and potions do little without magic to make them sing. Otherwise anyone off the streets could perform witchcraft. My workaround isn’t making more than a dent. Casek has access to Sophie’s magic, so he’s warding against everything I’m doing. It’s an unfair playing field. Her magic runs deep. I’ve not seen anything like it in quite some time.”
Jonas has been silent for a handful of hours, watching the scene play out with an almost calculating expression, as if he’s trying to solve Sophie’s predicament with math. “I need a minute alone with Sophie,” he finally says, drawing our attention.
Carrigan usually gives his best friend whatever he wants, but now hesitance plays out on his disheveled features. “That’s not possible. It’s taking both of us just to keep her from hurting herself. What are you thinking of trying?”
Jonas scrubs his hands over his face and lets out a grunt of frustration. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing that’ll work. Her magic is ridiculously strong, but I’ve broken through once before. Maybe if I try again, I can hold Sophie back long enough to buy Elowen a minute or two where she can cast out Casek using magic.”
Ellie inhales sharply. “You can break through this?”
“I mean, I almost lost my hands the last time I did, but assuming you can fix me up after I exhaust my reserves, I can give it a shot.” His eyes glue onto Sophie’s bedraggled form, and I can tell he’s only looking at her to avoid Ellie’s hard stare. “But I want something. You deal in favors, right? That’s your thing?”
Ellie tilts her head. “What is it you want for this? Wealth? Love?”
My teeth grind together. “No, Jonas. There’s always a catch, some hidden string attached that makes the blessing seem like a curse by the end.”
“I don’t care. I’ll pay the price, whatever it is. If I can break through Sophie’s magic and help you cast out Casek, I want you to heal Carrigan. That’s my payment.”
I close my eyes at the request I should’ve seen coming. The asshole only has a heart when it comes to Carrigan. It makes me almost like him, but this is pure foolishness. I can see the plotting in Ellie’s smile. Her mouth coils up at the edges like a Cheshire cat ready to play with its food. “No, Jonas. This isn’t the way,” I warn.
“This is the only way,” Jonas insists.
Carrigan closes his eyes, still pinning down Sophie’s arm as her body thrashes to escape. “Valor’s right. If it comes with strings, I don’t want it.”
Jonas’ jaw is set. “It’s not your de
cision. I’ll pay the price. I’ll do whatever it takes to get you better.”
Carrigan’s face tightens with visible pain. “I have Sophie. I’m so much better now than I’ve ever been. I can have a good life like this. With her.”
“You should be with her, but because you love her, not because you have to stay close or you’ll die.” He squeezes his eyes shut, as though his words mean to cause him pain. “Don’t you see that’s what she wants, too? She wants boyfriends who want to be with her because it’s their choice, rather than because they can’t live without her. You can still keep Sophie.”
Jonas locks eyes with Ellie. “Carrigan’s psychic abilities are out of control. Have been since we were kids. He can’t just read a single person’s mind, he hears everyone’s thoughts in a room all the time and can’t turn them off. All he needs is a switch in his mind, where he can turn the voices on or off on a single person at a time, like the rest of us psychics can. If you can do that, I’ll do what I can to power through Sophie’s magic so you can cast out Casek.”
Ellie nods and my heart sinks. “As you wish it.” Then she leans over and grips the back of Jonas’ head, not giving him any warning before she forces her lips to his, sealing their deal with a kiss. Of course, the kiss doesn’t hold a lick of magic, since Sophie’s right here, but the formality of the ritual is important to Ellie. I wonder when the last time was that she was properly kissed by someone interested in only her, not what she could do for them.
Savage Possessed: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy Adventure (Twin Rivers Possession Book 2) Page 13
