Legion

by Catrina Burgess

  “I’m fine.” Even as I said the words I could feel my hands trembling.

  Dean leaned down and grabbed my arm. He lifted it and pointed to my blackened veins. The poison had started traveling up my arm again and was now under a third of the skin between my wrist and elbow. “You’re not okay. You’re not going anywhere until you’ve had a chance to catch your breath.” His fingers grazed gently along my arm before he reluctantly let me go. “Rest. I’ll be back later to check in on you.”

  I watched Dean walk out of the room. We shouldn’t stay here. We should keep moving. Darla tried to kill us. She was not going to stop until she completed the spell. Her only concern was keeping her people safe.

  I knew what it was like to have a single-minded purpose. Mine had been revenge—Darla’s was survival. She would go to whatever lengths necessary to find us. But if she came at us again and Luke defended us, would she turn on Luke? She was capable of murder, of that I was now certain, but I didn’t think she was capable of hurting her brother. His soul might be in another body, but every time she’d talked about Luke she’d been defending him. I had my doubts about Luke, but Darla never wavered in her support for her brother. She wouldn’t hurt him.

  But could he hurt her? Had Luke injured any of his people during the fight? Had he used that hellfire against his own sister?

  * * *

  I don’t know how long I napped, but when I woke it was to the sound of footsteps.

  An older woman with a face full of wrinkles and kind eyes stood in the doorway holding a wooden tray. She wore a brown dress that covered her from her neck all the way down to her shoes. Her brown hair was tied back in a bun. Mrs. Olsen, I presumed. A flowered teapot and porcelain cup and saucer sat on the tray.

  “Hello, dear.” She set the tray down on the bed and poured tea into the cup, handing it to me. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I wasn’t sure if you were up to eating yet. When I’m not feeling well, a spot of tea always seems to help.”

  I smiled, gratefully accepted the cup, and took a sip of the hot tea. My stomach grumbled loudly.

  Mrs. Olsen smiled. “I have freshly baked biscuits and a roasted chicken for dinner if you’re hungry.”

  I was about to answer when I spotted Jamie. She was standing in the doorway. There was a bruise on her cheek and small cuts along her arms. Both her wrists were bandaged. Her eyes were wide. She didn’t make a move to enter the room, nor did she speak.

  Mrs. Olsen followed my gaze and spied Jamie. “Come in,” she said. She leaned in and whispered to me as Jamie started forward, “Your sister was so worried about you. The poor child—she hasn’t uttered one word since coming here.”

  When Jamie was close enough, Mrs. Olsen reached out and patted her arm. “She’s been such a dear helping me in the kitchen. And your brother Dean is such a nice boy. Your other brother should be back soon, he usually makes it back before sunset.”

  Was she talking about Luke?

  She didn’t wait for me to answer; she seemed happy carrying on the whole conversation all by herself. “He told me about the scoundrels who attacked you and your family. The world has become such a violent place.” She patted my hand. “Drink your tea. I’ll bring you some food later.” She turned and walked out of the room.

  Jamie stayed a short distance away, watching me.

  I said her name and put out my hand. She walked slowly toward the bed until she was next to me. “Are you all right?” I asked.

  She stared at me and didn’t say a word.

  I put the cup of tea on the side table and looked down at the white bandages on her arms. They matched mine. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop her.”

  Still, not a word from the child.

  I reached out and pulled her toward me.

  Her body gave way, and she sat down on the bed next to me. I pulled her close until her head rested on my shoulder. I stroked her hair. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop her,” I said again. The words came tumbling out and with them came tears.

  That’s how Luke found us a short while later. He came into the room and looked down at the child in my arms and my tear-streaked face. He didn’t make a move to come any closer, but said, “How are you feeling?”

  “Good. As good as I can under the circumstances,” I answered. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine,” he said. I didn’t believe him. I could see dark shadows under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept in days. There was such anguish in his face, such guilt. Whatever happened back at the camp still haunted him.

  I wanted to take him into my arms and tell him everything was okay. He’d had no choice but to defend himself against the death dealers. They’d tried to kill me. He was only trying to save me. But I knew he’d done something he probably would never have thought possible—he’d gone against his own people.

  I had wondered what side he would choose, and he had taken mine. He had fought to protect me. He had injured, maybe killed, members of his guild, his family, to keep me alive. Now that decision and those actions were eating away at him. I could see his inner turmoil all over his face.

  After a few heavy moments, he broke the silence. “Mrs. Olsen says dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. Did you want to get up? Or I can bring you a tray of food.”

  “I’m feeling a lot better.”

  Luke looked down at the child. “Jamie, Mrs. Olsen wants to know if you would like to help her frost the cake.”

  I could feel Jamie start to move out of my arms. I had the strongest desire to pull her close to me again. Try as I might to remind myself she was a child created by an evil creature, every time I looked into Jamie’s face I saw my family—their looks, their expressions. Jamie might not be my sister in spirit, but she was the closest thing I had in reality.

  Jamie walked slowly out of the room. She paused in the doorway and looked back at me.

  I gave her a smile. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

  She nodded and disappeared around the corner.

  Luke turned to leave.

  “Luke,” I said.

  When he turned back, I saw his expression had become guarded. He walked over to the bed. His fists were curled as if he thought he was about to do battle. “I’m not ready to talk about what happened,” he said. “What Darla tried to do…” His voice broke. He shook his head and looked away. “I can’t talk about it. Not yet.”

  “I understand,” I said quietly. He fought to protect me. He had only ever shown me that he cared, but I kept pushing him away.

  His eyes met mine. “I’m sorry about the way I acted back in camp.” He uncurled his fists. “When I saw you and Dean together in the cabin…” He took a deep breath and then continued. “I overreacted. I never meant to hurt Dean or you. My temper seems to get the best of me, but I’m working hard to control it.”

  He suddenly looked so lost. I wanted to reach out and pull him to me. I wanted to hug him. To reassure him that everything would be okay, but instead I said, “I know how hard it must be for you.”

  “After I went through the rituals to gain dark magic, I spent so much time learning how to control the anger. The darkness. You know what it’s like. The way the rituals change you.”

  I did. Only too well.

  He walked over and looked out of the window. “I really thought I’d found a balance. So many of our kind lose themselves to the darkness. I vowed I wouldn’t be like that. I’d never give into the anger. Vowed never to be like my father.”

  Luke never talked about his family. When I’d met him, he and Darla had been watching their uncle’s magic shop. “I just assumed you lived with your uncle because your parents were dead.”

  He turned away from the window to meet my eyes. “My mother is dead. My father is very much alive. I don’t talk about my parents. It’s not something that we discuss, Darla and I. The memories are painful, unpleasant.” He looked away again, but I saw the pain in his eyes before he could hide it. “My uncle took us in a few years ago after my mother’s death.”

>   This time I didn’t hesitate; I stood, crossed the room, and went into his arms.

  I pressed my head against his chest. His hand came up and stroked my hair. “My father was never quite right after he went through the rituals. But no one knew how much he’d changed. No one realized what he’d become.” Luke paused, and I tightened my arms around him. “He started beating her after they were married, and by the time we came around…” He gave a long sigh and leaned against me. “He was a man who believed any misbehaving should be met with proper punishment.”

  “He beat you,” I whispered.

  “It got worse as we got older. She never tried to leave him. I understand now that he kept her with him through fear. He threatened to harm her, harm us, if she ever left. But in the end, staying with him didn’t save her. I swore that I’d never be like him. I promised myself that I’d control the darkness, and I did. I found a balance.” He pushed me back and looked into my eyes. “I’m not like him. I was nothing like him, but now… Sometimes the anger is all consuming. It blocks out all reason. Colina, I’m scared of what I might do.” He reached up and gently touched my cheek. “When I saw you and Dean together, I wanted to kill him. I would have hit him with my magic if you hadn’t stopped me.”

  “It’s not your fault. You were forced into a body…”

  He cut me off with a harsh laugh. “Of a psychopath. I know what Caleb was like. The anger and hatred that roared through him roars through me now. But I know I can get a handle on it. I did before, but…until I do, it’s not safe to be around me.”

  “I’m not scared of you,” I said.

  “We both know that’s not true. I see the way you look at me. The way you shy away from me when I reach for you. Things aren’t the same between us.”

  “I want them to be.”

  He let go of me and took a step back. “I know that things have changed. I’ve changed. I still love you, but I understand why you can’t love me back.” With those words, he turned and walked away.

  I wanted to go after him, but I wasn’t sure what I could say to make him see that wasn’t true. Not after the way I’d been treating him. The way I’d been keeping my distance from him. He’d tried to bridge the gap between us, and I’d been too full of fear to see the truth—Luke was still here with me. It might be Caleb’s body that he possessed, but his heart and soul were Luke’s.

  I’d been so scared that the old mage had been right. He’d said that once a soul jumped a second time into a body, it could get twisted into something else. I had feared that the Luke I loved was lost forever. And when I looked into Caleb’s face, I’d only been able to see the pain Caleb had given me when he tortured me. I couldn’t see past it all. I couldn’t see the guy I fell in love with, and the whole time Luke had been there, loving me.

  How much pain had I brought him by pushing him away? Luke was in there—he was fighting. He was fighting for himself, for us. I just had to keep believing in him.

  * * *

  I sat at the table, dressed in a long, furry, light-blue robe. To say the meal was uncomfortable was an understatement. Dean never took his eyes off me. Jamie was silent the whole time. She took bird-like bites of food as her eyes swung back and forth, watching us all. Luke kept giving me sideways glances, but every time I looked back his way, he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  Mrs. Olsen seemed oblivious to it all. She cheerfully chatted away about her neighbors, the postman, and every one of her favorite television shows.

  I didn’t have much of an appetite. I pushed my food around my plate in an attempt to make it look like I was eating. Now that I was up and moving around, I realized how bruised and battered I felt. Thankfully, the throbbing in my head had lessened to a dull roar.

  When the meal was over, Dean began to fuss over me. He wanted to make sure I was comfortable. He tried to convince me to go back to bed. Luke sat quietly watching the two of us and then, without a word, got up from the table and walked out of the room.

  I finally convinced Dean he needed to help Mrs. Olsen clear the table and wash the dishes. The minute Dean walked into the kitchen with a pile of dishes in his hands, I escaped outside. The cool air caressed my skin. I looked up into the night sky. There were no clouds, only a million stars twinkling brightly around a partial moon. I looked off in the distance. The closest lights I could see were at least a mile away. About twenty feet from the house was a large barn; I could make out its outline in the moonlight. Mrs. Olsen had talked about owning chickens and a cow.

  She had never mentioned a Mr. Olsen, but I saw a photograph on the fireplace mantel of a young couple. In the photo, I recognized a younger Mrs. Olsen. She wore a white wedding dress and stood next to a young man in a dark suit. Had he left, or had he died? There didn’t seem to be any easy way to bring the subject up. So far, her endless chatter hadn’t included an absent or dead spouse.

  Marriage. At the thought, images of the dark wedding I’d been forced to go through flashed into my mind. I looked up at the sky. Gage was out there somewhere. Just thinking of the way I’d gushed on about my love for him made me sick to my stomach. He had to get me into his bed to finish the spell. I would die before I let that happen.

  Gage was trying to bring a legion of demons back into our world. Instead of focusing on finding him and stopping him, I was stuck at a farmhouse with a group of death dealers on my trail. I knew they were chasing us. I knew Darla would be scouring the countryside looking for us, and once she found us, she would try to finish what she started in the woods. And if her brother protested, would she harm him? Make him a prisoner?

  A felt a chill run down my arms. I shivered.

  “Cold weather is coming.” Luke stood in the shadows near the barn. I might never have seen him if he hadn’t spoken.

  “Dean says you’ve been going off and doing something to keep them from finding us.” Luke told me he didn’t want to talk about his sister, but we had to talk about the fact that the death dealers were after us. They might be upon us at any minute.

  “I’ve been using Caleb’s magic to cover our trail,” he said. He made no move to come to my side.

  I walked over to him. “It’s your magic now,” I whispered. Mildred hadn’t given Luke a choice—she’d arranged the hellhound attack that killed Caleb. Once the demon dog had ripped Caleb’s spirit away, she cast the spell that transferred Luke’s soul into Caleb’s body. If Mildred had told me what she was planning, would I have stopped her? I knew Luke hadn’t been happy sharing a body with Dean. If Luke had stayed in Dean’s body, eventually Luke would have tried to take over completely. When he tried, Dean would have fought back. Dean had told me he’d defend himself, and my biggest fear had always been that one day, Dean would somehow push Luke’s spirit out.

  “I know you have feelings for him,” Luke said.

  For a moment, I thought he was talking about Gage, and then I realized he was talking about Dean. I felt myself blush. If I said his accusation wasn’t true, Luke would know I was lying. No matter how much I tried to fight it, I clearly had feelings for Dean. I was as confused about those feelings as anyone.

  At my silence, a frown creased Luke’s forehead. I could see his hands curl into fists. “The jealousy that rages through me when I think of the two of you together… I can’t control myself. I’m worried I might lose it and hurt you.”

  He started to back away, but I reached out and grabbed his arm. “You would never hurt me.” And as I said the words, I realized for the first time that I actually believed them.

  The anguish and guilt appeared again in his eyes. “Colina, I don’t ever want to hurt you.”

  “Didn’t you hear? I’m one of the strongest mages around.”

  He smiled at that, reaching up and brushing my bangs from my face. “Don’t give up on me. I know I can find my balance again. I just need time.”

  “I believe in you,” I said. I leaned in and kissed him. This time, I didn’t flinch when he kissed me back.

  * * *

  Mr
s. Olsen lent me one of her nightgowns. It was a long, old-fashioned, white cotton nightgown with a row of wooden buttons running down the front. The gown fell all the way to the floor. I felt foolish wearing it, but Mrs. Olsen had looked so pleased when she’d offered it to me that I couldn’t turn her down.

  I was tucked away under a heavy quilt flipping through a magazine when there was a knock on my door.

  “Come in,” I said.

  Dean entered. “All settled in for the night?” The gray flannel pajamas he wore were two sizes too big.

  I didn’t mean to laugh at him, but I couldn’t help myself.

  “Laugh away.” His eyes slowly roamed over me. “You look adorable.”

  I could feel myself blushing. The nightgown I wore came up high on the neck and covered my arms. It was something a grandmother would wear.

  Dean started toward the bed. There was a gleam in his eye—one I was more than familiar with.

  “Where’s Luke?” I asked.

  Dean stopped and stared at me for a long moment before speaking. “He said he needed to take a walk before going to sleep.” There was concern in his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m feeling fine,” I lied. I still felt a weakness deep inside. The demon poison was still working its way through my veins, but I had to stay strong. I had to keep going until we found Mildred and a way to counteract the poison for good.

  “I saw how little you ate at dinner.”

  “I wasn’t hungry.” Changing the subject, I asked, “Where’s Jamie?”

  “She’s been sharing a bed with Mrs. Olsen.”

  I don’t know why his answer should surprise me, but it did. If Jamie were scared to be alone, I had thought she would have sought me out for comfort. Did she blame me for what happened back at the death dealer’s camp? I blamed myself for not being able to keep her safe.

  I could see indecision flash across Dean’s face as he watched me.

  I didn’t know what to say to him. I knew all I had to do was give him one sign, one opening, and he would take me in his arms, so I remained silent and still.