Dark Illusion

by Feehan, Christine

  Thanks. She wouldn’t have been able to stop that one as quickly as she needed to. Vasile might have succeeded, had her lifemate not been looking out for her.

  You can step through it when needed, but keep the cats inside, just to be on the safe side. I can feel his anger growing.

  Julija thought that was a mild way to put it, but then Isai was not bothered by the attacks. They were normal to him. The fact that Vasile had turned his wrath toward her might be different, but over the centuries, Isai had seen mage attacks many times.

  Belle pushed against her legs uneasily. Phaedra hissed. Comet crowded her until he was pushing her back behind him. Even the new cat, Sable, reacted, going from her sleek black fur to the gray shadow where Julija could see spots of transparency, as if she was so worn she was starving and perhaps her fur was falling out.

  “What is it, Belle?” She dropped her hand on top of the cat’s head and took her eyes off her brother for just a few seconds to stroke reassuring caresses through Sable’s fur. She realized, the moment she put her hand on the cat’s head, that she was totally exhausted. She could barely move her arms.

  A hiss answered her inquiry. Julija stiffened. That wasn’t a cat’s hiss. She stared at the ground. All around the borders of the boxlike shield Isai had constructed were snakes. Large and small, they coiled, hissed and rattled, knocking their heads against the invisible barrier as they did so. Tongues touched the see-through material. One overly provoked snake left streaks of venom running down the side, just about knee-high.

  A shudder ran through her. Isai. Snakes. We’re completely surrounded by snakes. It’s freaking me out.

  Woman, you make no sense at all. Scorpions didn’t bother you, but snakes do?

  For a moment she couldn’t think. Snakes had never bothered her before. If anything, she liked them. She could even speak to them. She could scorpions as well. She had been born with a mage mark. Not just any mark, but the mark of the high mage. The scorpion and snake were intertwined and there for anyone to see right on her arm.

  She ran her finger over the mark. It looked more like a tattoo than a birthmark. The snake and scorpion were very distinct. She’d always felt her affinity with the scorpion because she knew her magic, her stubborn willpower, grit and determination rose from that source. The snake awoke that force of energy inside her so that her gifts and abilities exploded through her entire body, building her strength fast and feeding her source of knowledge.

  She looked at the snakes surrounding the small place of safety. Instead of cowering in a corner behind the cats, she stepped to the very corner of the box and crouched low, putting her face level with the snakes.

  Watch Vasile, Isai. He knows I am occupied. He will try something new.

  I am close to him now. As soon as Blue lures Phantom away, I will strike. Your counterspell was so efficient I just walked my way in. I am impressed with your skill.

  She knew that wasn’t exactly true, no way had he just walked through the various traps her brother had devised, but she’d take it. He was alive. In her lifetime, there had been no compliments or acknowledgment of anything she’d done. It mattered little that she was top in her class for practically everything. She didn’t have time to bask in his statement, but she let herself feel good.

  Julija turned her attention to the snakes. Not wanting to agitate them any more than her brother had already done, she lifted her hands very slowly.

  Brothers by birth

  Surrounded by walls

  Release yourself from evil’s call

  I surround you with warmth

  Return to your dens

  Be at rest with no harm to defend.

  It was necessary to keep Vasile’s attention on her—at least until Blue was clear with the male cat. She also had to be ready to defend Isai should there be need. She intended to steal Vasile’s magic. She’d practiced hundreds of hours, but she’d never dared try it on her brothers or father. She had done so with other mages, without letting them know.

  Stealing magic could have enormous repercussions, especially if the magic practiced was that of the dark arts. She’d worked up her courage on more than one occasion and stolen Crina’s. Her stepmother thought she had done a misstep when casting and had messed up her carefully wrought spell. It had never occurred to her that Julija would ever dare to try such a thing.

  Stealing from Crina was one thing, but stealing from Vasile was a far different proposition. Her heart pounded hard with the enormity of what she planned to do. She rose slowly, keeping one eye on the snakes. Most had already uncoiled and begun to slither away, sliding silently across rock and grass to return from wherever Vasile had called them.

  She moved out of the box, around one large snake and just narrowly missed stepping on a baby snake. Facing her brother, she stayed very still.

  “I am awaiting your next juvenile attack.” Provoking him was always the best way to stir him up enough to come at her again. “Snakes? Scorpions? I wear that mark with pride.”

  “You are Carpathian, not mage,” he sneered. “You are to be used to feed, nothing more. You will never be one of us.”

  “I am one of you whether you want to admit it or not. I am mage, and I bear the mark of the high mage. You can say whatever you wish, Vasile, but the truth is, I am mage, the same as you, and I am able to counter your pathetic spells.”

  Blue, is Phantom responding? She heard Isai’s voice. He included her so she knew what was happening on their end, just as she was doing so he knew she was in position and ready.

  I told him we have Sable safe. That was his main concern. He remembers Julija’s kindness. I am releasing him.

  Julija renewed her efforts to keep her brother’s attention centered on her. She lifted her hands. Every muscle in her arms and back protested. Even her lungs felt labored, as if she’d already run a great race and had little left to spare. She was doubly grateful that Isai had taken over manufacturing the fog. It had been the least difficult, pulling droplets of water from the night air to make the heavy mist. She needed every bit of her strength in her fight to counter Vasile’s increasingly complex attacks.

  Gathering the energy in the mountains and between them in the surrounding valley, she very delicately spread it throughout the distance between her brother’s fortress and the bluff where she waited. She didn’t have to wait long. The attack came from every direction.

  Air. Enormous birds with vicious beaks and razor-sharp talons, wings beating at the air, heavy with hatred and rage, driven by the dark mage’s own venomous emotions.

  Ground. The dirt and rocks moved, raising and lowering inches and then feet as tentacles erupted, searching blindly for her, or the cats she protected, reaching with greedy claws for anything in their path.

  Wind. The force beating at her. Coming out of nowhere, hurtling with the force of a hurricane. Whipping up debris and rock, whirling and spinning, drawing everything into the mindless vortex to throw at her.

  Rain. Not just any rain. Acid rain. It dripped from above, burning through everything it touched, including the hideous birds so they shrieked and cried but kept coming at her to attack.

  Blue darted in, under cover of the dark and shadows, slipping right past Vasile as he cast his spells, one right after the other, determined to kill his sister. The cat bit down on the collar holding Phantom prisoner. Phantom remained very still, his gaze locked on Isai, who waited patiently as Blue began to chew through the thick leather. His sharp teeth made short work of the tight collar. The moment Phantom was free, Blue slowly ducked back into the shadows, indicating that the other male should follow him. Phantom began to follow and then, at the last moment when he would have found freedom, whirled around and leapt toward Vasile.

  The mage whipped around, snarling, his face twisted into a mask of hatred and rage. He slammed pure power at the shadow cat, knocking it from the air in midleap. Phantom screamed in pain and hit the ground hard, to lie there panting. Vasile thrust power a second time, but it hit an i
nvisible shield and bounced back at him. Vasile staggered backward, whirled in a circle, throwing up a barrier between his personal power and whatever or whoever had come to the cat’s aid. He took a careful look around.

  Phantom just blew it for us, Julija, Isai informed her. I had to shield him in order to keep him from getting killed. As it is, I do not know how badly he is injured. Vasile has cocooned himself behind a barricade making it impossible to strike at him.

  Are you safe?

  Julija had multiple problems and she didn’t want to completely annihilate Vasile’s spells, which meant when she protected herself, she had to be careful. She couldn’t completely destroy or reverse the spells. She needed them. The delicate net that she’d thrown, so subtle Vasile hadn’t felt it, was already working to form a circle around each of the spells her brother had cast.

  She threw a net over her head to protect herself from the low-flying birds and then added a shelter above the birds to keep the acid rain from hitting them. The wind was less problematic because she could counter that rather easily. The tentacles were more of a difficulty.

  She couldn’t think about Blue, Phantom or even Isai. She had to concentrate very carefully and make no mistakes. Her magic began to twist around Vasile’s. She knew the spells he used, but not necessarily the patterns he wove when creating them. That was the hardest part for her. She closed her eyes to “feel” his magic.

  Dark arts were ugly. Vile. The hatred and loathing woven into each strand were difficult to bear. They weighed her down, attempting to steal her spirit, stabbing at her heart and soul. Who could conceive of such malice? She’d always known Vasile was spiteful and mean, that he could be cruel, but she had no idea of the true evil that resided in him. She felt tainted, coated in his malevolence. In the truly immoral code he believed in.

  Each dark spell had to be surrounded by her white one—a subtle takeover without tipping the mage off that he was in any kind of danger of being stripped of his power. She closed her eyes, trusting her ability to keep Vasile’s attacks from reaching her while she worked. She went over every line for the first spell that he had wrought. The birds had been first, the rain last. She needed to go in reverse order.

  She felt for strands of magic, separating them carefully in order to see how the pattern had been woven. Very delicately, so as not to disturb a single layer, she began to reverse the spell, but kept it contained within the circle of her magic. As each strand was stripped from the one before it, the dark ugliness was infused with light. Again, it was subtle, so there was no vibration to tell Vasile his magic was in danger.

  Already, her colors had spread through his grid of defense, moving outward from the path she had opened for Isai to travel unharmed through. Now, it widened, moving through those dark weaves to begin a complete takeover.

  Wiping the beads of sweat from her face, she began the second spell, reversing the force of the wind. That would actually be the most difficult of all, not taking the spell over, as weather was always one of her fortes, because Vasile might notice and react before she was ready for him.

  Can you keep Vasile focused there without too much danger to yourself? Even as she asked, she knew there was no such thing as turning the dark mage’s attention on Isai without the danger level going through the roof.

  No problem, Isai returned without hesitation.

  She couldn’t worry about him, not when she had to have the most delicate of touches. He had to take care of himself—which he’d been doing for centuries. He also had to look after the shadow cats. She gave one thought for the injured Phantom and then closed her mind off to everything but finding a way to harness the fierce wind, swallow her brother’s magic, all without letting him see she was no longer in danger from the wind or the rain.

  Once again, she studied the weave in the dark components. These were much thicker strands. Each cylinder was fatter at the ends and thinning toward the middle. They spun aggressively toward one another, in a counterclockwise motion. The spinning action made it difficult to find a thread to start with in order to unravel it enough to infuse her own magic. She was patient, watching carefully in order to envision the complicated pattern he had used when concocting the spell.

  She had no idea of the passage of time. In the back of her mind, she heard the shrieking of the birds and the sound of their continuous pecking, the drilling of their sharp beaks stabbing repeatedly at the barrier she had formed between them, the cats and her. The tentacles erupting through the ground shoved rocks around, knocking them into the boxlike shelter and the barricade. All the while the wind slashed and hurtled debris at her. The rain sizzled with dangerous intent.

  She couldn’t allow herself to be distracted. Or exhausted. Her arms felt like lead as she once again took a deep breath and began to unravel the strands, picking at them gently until she caught the very end of the weave. Immediately she piggybacked her magic there, doing her best to tone down the bright light so there was no chance that Vasile might see before she could spring the trap.

  Once she had infused her magic, the spinning cylinder actually worked to her advantage. The fast motion helped spread her magic like a wildfire. She immediately turned her attention to the tentacles. Time was running out for her. The moment the last of the strands for the wind had been consumed, Vasile would know. There was no getting around that. She had to work much faster in spite of the fact that her focus, her entire concentration had to be complete.

  Below her, the fight was on between Isai and Vasile. Isai didn’t do anything by half measures. She could see great fireballs slamming into the rock all around the Carpathian. At the same time, Isai was keeping Vasile’s focus on him by sending shock waves through the rock surface where the mage had secreted himself. The earth shook and pitched. Small rocks fell like rain, forcing Vasile to protect himself.

  Julija began on the third weave, picking it apart, searching for an entry point so her magic could devour his. She had to study the layers of magic to figure out the pattern he had used. These strands were lumpy. Flappy. Each time she thought she had the right construction, the strand would heave upward and then flop downward, changing the angle and giving her a different view. She realized she would have to be patient until the long tubes would show every angle before she started unraveling them.

  Each second felt like a million years. Sweat trickled down her body. Her legs shook. Her vison blurred. She closed her eyes against the physical discomfort and visualized the floppy strands. When she was positive she understood the complicated weave, she began to reverse it, using her hands to gracefully pull each thread and filament free of the thick, lumpy strands until she had a bundle of ends.

  Did she have them all? She let her breath out slowly. She had to believe in herself. Second-guessing led to mistakes and she couldn’t afford any in this battle. She sent her magic, delicately touching the black art. At first, there was a small puff of smoke and her breath caught in her throat. Then the colors consumed the smoke and began to wind through the strange, lumpy configuration.

  Julija gave herself a moment to breathe before she turned her attention to the birds. This was his beginning spell. The origin. Most wielders of magic understood that they put their power into that first strand. Each person had an aura. Energy. Their power rose from within. Some thought if they gave up their souls—like the vampire—they received more supremacy in exchange. Others—some mages such as Xavier—believed stealing others’ souls as well as binding their souls—or their power—to hell gave them more. To weave layers of magic, that first strand contained the essence of the wielder. She needed to get to that.

  The spell appeared simple. It usually was when one worked with actual creatures to create an illusion that took on a life of its own. Julija wasn’t deceived. When binding creatures to one, there was usually an exchange of power. Vasile wouldn’t give up anything of himself to another living being. He stole souls. He stole bodies. He was ruthless, merciless and vicious.

  She studied the seemingly inn
ocent layers. Somewhere inside those neatly laid filaments and thicker threads, all twisting together looking much like thick braids, lay the true start of Vasile’s dark spell. She was grateful to Isai that he didn’t try to rush her. Even with his experience, removing an entrenched mage from his chosen fortress was nearly impossible—not without bringing down his magic first.

  She noticed a tiny little bump on the underside of the darker strands. It was cleverly woven in, but once she’d spotted it, it was impossible to conceal. Each time her light shone on it, the little bulge slid away, trying to hide itself among the thicker strands making up the weave. She refused to let it elude her.

  Isai, I’m so close. Make certain he’s wholly occupied with you. He can’t feel me invading.

  She was so close. Her heart beat so hard and fast she feared Vasile might hear.

  Count down to zero from five.

  She did so, not looking down to see what her lifemate might be planning. She didn’t dare. This was it. Either she did this correctly or Vasile could take her magic, steal her power from her. Her soul.

  Using the greatest care, the lightest of touches, Julija plucked at that little lump. The strands refused to move at first, clinging together as if they’d been welded that way. She persisted, never changing the light touch, but once she made a little bit of headway in separating them a paper-thin amount, she pushed her magic between them, hoping that even a tiny fragment had opened in the weave. She continued to pick at it.

  Without warning, the strands twisted open, so a gap appeared. Vile hatred, malicious, spiteful vindictiveness poured into her. Evil fought with light. She gagged. Vomited. Began dry heaving. It was nearly impossible to breathe. She would have screamed if any sound could be made, but there was no air in her lungs to produce noise—not even a cry.

  She felt Isai stirring in her, his strength pouring into her, his breath moving through her lungs. She wanted to tell him to stay away in case she failed, but she knew he wouldn’t. He would divide his attention, risk his life, even his soul for her. He might think he was wholly dark, but he had honor. Integrity. He was a man who walked in light even when he didn’t see it around him.