“No, but we were raised here together,” she said before she moved closer. “You should go, and next time, ask us first. If it is from your coven, it is yours, not ours. I have no issue with giving them to you, unless they will harm you, Lena.”
“Some witches are born in the fire. Others spend their lifetime trying to grasp it. I don’t grasp anymore. I am the fire now.” I tapped my head. “I am bathed in fire and born under the blood moon, Synthia. You need not worry about me, not for that reason anyway.” Zahruk passed me, moving into the other room as Ryder exited the one we were in. I twisted around, preparing to tell Kendra I agreed that we should go, but she was gone. “What the hell?” I moved to the coffin, finding nothing but artifacts and a staircase that led deeper into the bowels of the catacombs.
“She left you soon after we caught you,” Synthia said as she tilted her head. “I, however, needed to know how you did that, so I let her go since I assumed you didn’t want her to know.”
“Did what?” I asked, feeling an overwhelming urge to follow Kendra.
“Took the grimoires into your mind and are holding on to them. No one has ever done it before and lived,” she replied. “There are stories of witches who tried and failed. They died within seconds of it. You still have them and are in control.”
“I don’t know, honestly. I just touched the pages and they filled my mind.”
She narrowed her gaze as she considered my words, and then nodded. “Keep your secrets, Lena, but you should go. We hadn’t planned on staying much longer. Until we have guards stationed here, it isn’t safe for mortals.”
“But Kendra, she can’t be alone. She’s been through hell, literally.”
“We will find her and bring her to the abbey, promise.”
I left before they could change their minds. Kendra had ditched me, and she’d left me to face the Fae alone. Not cool. Not when this was her idea in the first place. I got in the car and looked around, hating that she wasn’t with me.
I took off for home. As soon as I entered the stretch of highway that led into town, a flash of light hit the car, the sound of glass shattering filled the small space. I didn’t have time to react before the car flipped end over end in the middle of the road. My face slammed against the steering wheel before the airbag deployed and the car came to a crashing stop on the roof in the middle of the road.
I could smell the obnoxious odor of gas, but I couldn’t move. Pain held me locked there, unable to move or do anything to help myself. I could see the feet of shadowy figures, several pairs of them as they approached the car. I mumbled for help, but nothing came out except a pain-filled gurgle. More shadows approached from the side of the car, moving towards the others, and then they collided. Light exploded, as if they were throwing light at each other.
Strong arms reached for me, pushing the shattered window away as my seatbelt was cut. I could hear other noises—fighting? I could see shadows moving around the car, heard the sound of metal clashing, along with other things. Everything blurred in and out as I blinked. The smell of gas and the sound of it pouring onto concrete made my stomach heave. I felt something tug against the seatbelt as the noise of cloth being cut and the pain sliced through me as someone pulled me from the car. Gentle arms held me, cradling me against a chest. I didn’t see who it was, didn’t care. We moved away from the car, and then it erupted into an array of lights as it exploded.
The world blurred around me, and pain tore me apart as consciousness eluded me.
Chapter 23
My eyelids cracked open as debilitating pain erupted in my entire body as consciousness slowly came back. I groaned as the pain ripped through me. My face ached to the point that I almost gave in to the icy claws that fought to pull back to unconsciousness. I peeked around as best as I could, considering my head felt as if it was weighted down.
I’d been brought to a cottage, one that was covered in a fine layer of dust. There was a picture of an older couple displayed on the wall above a crackling fire that burned in the hearth. Candles fed the room light while the sound of something hitting something else pulled my attention to the dark corner of the room.
I blinked painfully as I inspected cards being flicked into a pail. The man’s features were obstructed as the shadows in the room continued, even though he knew I was waking. I felt my body for anything broken or missing, and breathed a sigh of relief when I noted I wasn’t chained to the bed or missing anything.
The wreck replayed in my head. The few seconds it had taken for the car to lose control and flip end over end jolted me fully to awareness. The shadowy figures that had fought right outside the doors became clearer now that I wasn’t in shock from the pain. Demons had attacked me, throwing those weird energy bolts at me. Lucian had been there. I’d watched him as the smell of gas had made me nauseous. There’d been more demons present than I could count and he and his men had moved them away from the car, away from the gas that spilled onto the highway and away from me.
Someone had grabbed me, pulling me from the wreckage as the gas continued to spread into the roadway. Moments, that’s how long it took for it all to happen. The male had saved me from the wreckage, cradling me delicately as he backed away from those fighting in front of the car—and then it happened. Another blue burst of light hit the car and it exploded as the world shifted, and then darkness claimed me. I’d succumbed to the lure of blissful sleep.
I tried to force my limbs to work, to move enough to sit up in bed to face whoever it was that lingered in the shadows of the room, watching me.
“Lenny, stop it before you hurt yourself,” Joshua’s voice filled the room, and a sob exploded from my swollen lips.
“I died,” I mumbled. “This is heaven.” I blinked backed tears as he moved closer, his blue gaze holding mine as he shook his head. I started to smile but it hurt too much, and then I winced as I realized that there was pain in heaven.
“You didn’t die,” he announced softly, ruining my delusion. “You almost died, but I got you out of there.”
“Demons,” I whispered, unable to say much through the pain.
“Yeah, demons,” he nodded slowly, sitting on the bed I lay upon, and looked down at me. “You look like shit.”
I snorted and then groaned from the subtle movement. He shook his tawny head and produced a coin from his pocket, moving it between his fingers with skilled precision. I stared at it sadly as it made its way through his fingers as if he was performing a magic trick.
“That bad?” I asked thickly.
“Worse, don’t think the fucking airbag in the car worked,” he admitted. “I used magic to heal the worst of it, but not even magic would undo it all. Your boyfriend was late getting to you,” he growled as he turned towards me. “If I hadn’t been tracking that pack of demons, you’d be dead right now.”
My heart wrenched as I put it together at who this was: Benjamin. Joshua was dead, and his twin was here, saving my ass instead. It was just salt to the injury at this point. Spokane hadn’t been infested with demons as our town was, but then in the larger cities, it would be harder to notice the chaos too. It seemed as if only our world, here in the quiet oasis of the Colville Forest, was the epicenter for everything going wrong.
“Benjamin,” I murmured as a tear slid down my cheek.
“There it is, that utter disappointment when you remember I’m not Joshua,” he said without cynicism and only a hint of disappointment. “I’ve never intended to hurt you, Lenny girl. Maybe someday you’ll love me as you did him, yeah? Maybe if I save your ass enough,” he scoffed as he stood up.
“Why did you save me?” I asked, unsure if he’d done it because we were related, or if he had a more sinister reason for it.
“I couldn’t get close to you until now,” he explained with a shrug of his wide shoulders. “Lucian made damn sure of that. You know he’s not what you thi
nk he is, right? Tell me you’re smart enough to figure that out.”
“I know that,” I mumbled as my eyelids grew heavy. “How long have I been here?” I inquired offhandedly.
“Two days, you’ve been out of it for two days.”
“He’ll find us,” I mumbled as I closed my eyes.
“Why, because he marked you?” he asked. “I placed wards to prevent that from happening. No one knows where you are, little Lenny. This is my father’s cabin; it’s heavily warded and hidden in the mountains. I had to take measures to be sure we were alone.”
“Why?” I whimpered as I adjusted in the bed, sending pain rocketing through my body.
Benjamin stood, moving the pillow to help me get comfortable. He leaned over and kissed my forehead with a feather soft kiss before he pulled back. “Because there are things you have to know, and things you’ll have to do if you want to save the people you love. There’s more happening than you can see or even begin to understand, Lenny. No one is safe from it, not anymore. Right now, you need to sleep and heal, because you’ll need your strength for what I need to tell you.”
I didn’t fight him, mostly because I couldn’t. He was right; I had to heal because the pain was intense, and it overwhelmed my need for anything else right now.
When I awoke the next time, it was to sun beating in from the open windows. Music played outside, and it took a few moments to acclimate and remind myself where I was and who I was with. I slowly sat up and brought my legs over the edge of the bed. I stood, checking my balance as I righted myself and stretched, then moaned as my arms protested.
I limped into the tiny bathroom and stared at my battered face in the mirror. Even after days, it was purple and blue, with ugly red bruises covering most of it. I touched my cheek, where the ugliest bruise had formed with some crude form of stitches he’d used where the skin had torn. Benjamin was right; I looked like hell.
I eased my needs and used my finger with some toothpaste I found before heading out of the bathroom. I followed the sound of music outside and found Benjamin leaning over the engine of a sports car, something Joshua used to do a lot before we’d lost him. I leaned against the door and observed as he tightened things, then checked the oil and whatnot before turning to look at me.
We didn’t say anything, just stared at each other until the silence got awkward and I stepped closer. I leaned over the engine as he slowly began to check things again. I didn’t know what he intended to tell me, or why he’d assumed Lucian had prevented him from getting to me, but he had a lot of explaining to do.
“I guess I should start with the day you lost your memories?” he asked, tossing an oil rag aside as he gazed at me.
“Probably,” I replied.
“You guys were being attacked, but there wasn’t shit I could do about it,” he said softly as he pulled a coin from his pocket and began moving it through his fingers. “I watched them being locked into the abbey, but there were too many demons to try and intervene. It wasn’t until you were brought there that I planned to try to get you out, but he wouldn’t leave you more than a few minutes and the other creatures surrounded you once the Fae had used his magic to get you to sleep. I heard you screaming and everything inside of me screamed with you, and then you just stopped. I tried to get away from them, but he sent them to find me. Lucian wanted to know what I was doing there. He held me for a few days, questioning me until he decided I wasn’t worth the effort before releasing me in the middle of the mountains in Montana.
“Took a while to get back here, but when I did, I knew why. They were saying it had been an explosion. I knew different. Then I watched you, noticed you weren’t yourself at all. I couldn’t get close to you, and then I knew why. They’d made you think you were Kendra, and I knew she was where Lucifer took her to. He knew I’d tell you the truth. Guess that’s why he left me in the mountains, to buy himself time.”
“I figured out that much on my own,” I stated as I wiped my hands off onto my bloody jeans. I examined my ripped up clothing and then my arms, which were bruised.
“Yeah, I didn’t have anything here that would fit you.” He shrugged. “Pretty sure that would have been hard to explain as well.”
“It’s fine,” I said as he moved towards the house. Moving was painful, but after seeing my face, I knew why. I limped back inside, following his stiff back until he pulled out a chair at the small round table. “Your dad lived here?” I asked.
I’d never met their dad, and hadn’t heard much about him other than that my mother had once loved him. I’d always assumed we had the same one until my mother had told us otherwise, which I was sure he’d explain soon enough.
“We all have the same father, Magdalena,” he grumbled. “Your father is Drake as well, she just couldn’t tell you or the others. Why do you think this cabin is so close to your house? Your father, the one they said was yours, isn’t,” he explained gently, watching me as I absorbed the news. “They were in love, up until he split, anyway. I found his journals when I found this place again. I discovered things, tons of things I wish to hell I didn’t know. Things that will change everything you ever thought was true or right. What I tell you won’t be easy to believe, but I will prove it to you,” he said as he pushed his fingers through his hair. “All of it.”
A shiver rushed down my spine, knowing that he wasn’t lying. I swallowed slowly and nodded. “Tell me.”
Chapter 24
I told Benjamin to drop me off a mile or so away from the abbey so he didn’t have to deal with the coven, but also because everything he’d told me was rushing through my mind. He’d had proof of everything he had told me, and it made sense. Everything that had been happening, and everything we knew was still to come…it all fell into place.
That meant my entire life had been a lie, and everyone I loved had lied to me. The things we’d been taught were all wrong, and the consequences, well, everyone would suffer for them. I stepped over branches, hating that every move I made ached. The pain had lessened, but everything I did hurt. Walking probably hadn’t been one of my more genius ideas, but had Benjamin come with me, he’d have been an unwilling guest to the abbey.
I cleared the thick brush and stood on the edge of the woods, watching as Lucian and his men argued with the coven. He didn’t look happy, but neither did my grandmother. Bags were being handed to his men, which were then loaded into waiting busses.
I surveyed the abbey, noting the black char marks that had created cracks in the walls. The doors were hanging from the hinges. I slowly moved forward as women and children were moved from the abbey into the waiting busses.
My heart leapt to my throat as I took in my mother’s face, as battered and bruised as my own. I rushed forward, hearing my name muttered or whispered as I approached those who continually handed off items.
“Lena,” my mother uttered, dropping the bags she held as she rushed to me. “Oh, Lena, you’re alive,” she cried as she wrapped her arms around me and a sob exploded from her. She held me as if she feared I would disappear. I cried out in pain but she ignored it, holding me tightly.
“What happened here?” I asked, but she said nothing as giant sobs rocked her body as she held me even tighter.
“The abbey was attacked last night. The runes and wards failed,” Grandma said as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?” she murmured worriedly, taking in the battered bruises from the wreck.
“It looks worse than it is,” I lied. “How did they get through the runes and wards?” I demanded.
“We don’t know, but they did. We lost a child; he was taken in the attack and we were unable to follow them. A few witches were killed as well in the initial onslaught. We wanted to follow them to bring the child back. We couldn’t chance leaving the abbey unguarded, though, or sending people to chase the demons.”
“So no one went after them a
t all?” I questioned, but even as I asked it, I knew. It had been bedlam, they’d been under attack, and more lives would have been placed in jeopardy if they had. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter right now,” I amended as I stared off into the crowd of people who were lining up to get on the busses. Kendra stood at the back of the line, watching me with curiosity.
She didn’t rush over, happy that I was alive. Instead, she looked guarded, unhappy I’d turned up at all. “You’re sure no one removed the runes?” I asked, eying her suspiciously and then cursing myself for doing it.
“Lucifer was with them,” my grandmother admitted. “He couldn’t pass through them, and yet his demons did so with ease.”
I turned to look at her but paused as an angry obsidian gaze met mine. He’d said nothing, and yet I’d felt his gaze scorching my skin the entire time. No matter how hard I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t.
“What did he demand?” I asked carefully.
“You; he said nothing about Kendra, only that he’d never stop until he got you,” she murmured for my ears alone, and yet I knew Lucian heard her. “We can no longer take chances, Lena. Lucian has offered to house us in his club until we can find other arrangements. The abbey cannot withstand another attack, not while it’s failing from within. The damage is too much for us to handle with our limited resources.”
“Failing from within?” I asked softly.
What the hell had happened in the little time I’d been away?
“The heat is no longer working, and without having prepared for winter, there’s no wood to feed the smaller fireplaces. The boiler went down two nights ago without warning and it needs parts we cannot easily find. Winter is so close that we cannot chance it.”
“We can collect wood,” I argued. “There are trees everywhere that have been down long enough that they are dried and easily brought in to burn.”
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