Legion

by Catrina Burgess

  Not until Mildred had told me about the demons and the war had I realized that that a legion of demons had been released into the world. I had heard of Houdini and his quest to debunk all spiritualists, but never this version of the story. Was Gage making this all up? But why would he? What did he gain by lying to me?

  Gage watched my reaction with great interest. When I didn’t ask any questions, he continued. “That young man had the same gift you have, but with nowhere near the same power or control. A hundred years of studying and living in the open has made a significant difference in the power of all the mage-born.”

  “This is all very interesting,” and it was, no matter how much I didn’t want to encourage him, “but what does any of it have to do with me?”

  A wide smile spread across Gage’s face. “Haven’t you guessed yet? My dear Colina, once you were on my radar I did quite a bit of research on your family history before I brought you into my care, and I learned some very interesting facts about your genealogy… That talented young man was your great-great grandfather, Colin Campbell.”

  My pulse raced. Was it true what he was telling me?

  “Don’t you know you were named after him? His daughter also had the gift, but it skipped two generatons until it surfaced in your father and brother…and you. You are more powerful than we could have hoped, your gift is much more powerful than the rest of your family’s.”

  My head reeled as I tried to fit this information into my own understanding of my history. Many childhood moments that had confused me suddenly made sense—why my parents never talked about my father’s side of the family. Why all the old pictures in our house were always hidden away. It explained why my parents had always been so involved with our magic abilities as we grew. Why they they always emphasized that we take things slowly. The constant lectures we got about magic and morality.

  I wanted to scream “NO!” and run from the room. I didn’t want to believe Gage, but suddenly all the pieces of my childhood clicked together and made sense. Gage was telling me the truth.

  Gage seemed to be enjoying my discomfort. He gave me a wolfish grin. “My order was formed to find a way to bring the Legion back into our world and to take our rightful place among them, ruling humanity. The demons have been keeping tabs on your family for almost a hundred years. When Macaven saw the signs in your father and brother, he moved on your family without notifying the rest of us.” Gage shrugged. “You have to expect these types of coups in our kind of organization. But as I was saying, if Macaven had handled the situation with more finesse, we might be in an entirely different position.”

  “‘More finesse’? He killed my whole family!” I yelled.

  Gage looked slightly embarassed, as if Macaven had committed a minor but regrettable social faux pas. “Yes, if he had brought them into the fold instead, this would have all gone quite differently.”

  “‘Into the fold’? Like you tried to do with with me? You couldn’t convince me to join you. My father and brother would have never helped Macaven given a choice.”

  Anger flashed across Gage’s face but quickly vanished. “If I had been in charge of that particular operation, you would have come to me without the botched and incomplete training you received. I could have taught you to use your powers without the conflict that has undermined our relationship.” His voice sounded almost regretful.

  “So if you had gotten your hands on me when I was young enough, you could have trained me to the leash?” I spat at him.

  He nodded, a pleased expression on his face. “Exactly. All of this wastefull violence could have been avoided.”

  He was saying my family was killed because Macaven saw this power in my brother and my father. That he chose them to try to power his spell. The Legion somehow realized the power I had inside me. The demon had said it had sent me down the dark path to try and strengthen my powers. Could everything that happened really be because a hundred years ago my great-great grandfather was even more foolish than I was? Had he really releashed a legion of demons into the world?

  * * *

  I was in the hallway leaning against the closed wooden door when Luke raced past me. When he saw me he stopped. “Colina, we can’t find—” He’s words petered off as his eyes took in my face. He suddenly reached out for me. “You’re as pale as a ghost. I knew you shouldn’t talk to the bastard alone. What did Gage do? Are you okay?”

  I was still trying to make sense of everything Gage had just told me, how could I explain it all to Luke? Gage loved to play games, how could I be sure he wasn’t playing one now? Was any of what Gage told me true? Mildred was the one person who would know for sure. I wanted to fall into Luke’s arms and forget about all of this. But something was wrong. Luke had been racing down the hall. Had something happened? “What’s wrong?” I demanded.

  The panic was there again in his eyes. “It’s Wendy. We can’t find her and Mildred thinks she might harm herself.”

  My thoughts flashed back to the scratches on Wendy’s arms back at the mining camp. Gage had sworn he’d never touched Wendy. He told me that Wendy had done it to herself. Could Wendy be so distraught over Jacob’s death that she would take her own life? It wasn’t hard to imagine. She’d been through so much mental strain, so much emotional heartache. She’d been pushed to the breaking point. Why hadn’t I stayed with her? She needed me and my thoughts were so distracted by Gage that I’d abandoned her at the worst possible moment.

  I heard a voice yell, “Here! She’s here!” Luke and I turned in unison and ran down the hall. Dean was standing in front of the room where Wendy’s father was being held.

  I pushed past Dean into the room. Luke followed me.

  Wendy stood before her father with an axe in her hand. Her father was still tied to the chair. He looked at Wendy with cold disdain before his eyes swung around the room, taking in the rest of us.

  Wendy’s whole focus was on her father. “You killed him,” she said, taking a step forward and raising the axe.

  “Wendy, don’t do this,” I cried out.

  Wendy stopped and looked back at me. Her eyes were glazed over, her expression blank.

  Her father shouted at her, “I killed a demon. A thing born of evil.”

  Wendy turned back to her father, the axe raised high in the air. “He was not a demon, he was…” Her voice faltered. “He was mine. I finally had something of my very own. Someone who loved me. Why did you have to take that away from me?”

  “Wendy, think about what you’re doing.” Luke stood beside me, his body tense as though he was prepared to rush Wendy.

  I put out a hand to stop him. There was such a wild look in Wendy’s eyes. I was convinced that any sudden movement on our parts would cause her to kill him. We had to try to talk her out of it calmly.

  “I know exactly what I’m doing. It’s something I should have done years ago.” Wendy looked back at me and whispered, “Don’t you see how he destroys everything in his path?”

  And then suddenly Mildred was in front of her—she just appeared. Before Wendy could react, Mildred grabbed the axe out of her hands.

  Wendy dropped to her knees. “He needs to die.” She looked up at Mildred. “Don’t you see? If we don’t kill him now, he’ll find a way to destroy us all.”

  The air in the room filled with electricity. I watched Mildred’s hair begin to rise and then I realized mine was, too. The electricity was so thick it was causing massive static in the air. With bright flash of released energy, Mildred vanished.

  Wendy’s hands came up and rested on her temples. And then she began to wail, and as the sound filled the room, so did an unbelievable pressure. It felt like the walls were closing in, as though two hands were clamped on either side of my head, tightening, squeezing. As Wendy’s screams intensified, so did the pressure. Wendy was doing this.

  With my head swimming, I stumbled forward until I landed on my knees next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. The wailing didn’t stop, but for one brief moment Wend
y turned and looked at me, and what I saw made me reel back in shock. I was no longer looking into my friend’s eyes. Something else looked back at me from within Wendy’s eyes, something alien. I knew for certain then that the link between Wendy and the Legion was still wide open. Something demonic was inside her, using her, moving her body, speaking out of her mouth.

  The wailing slowly changed to other words, mutterings and cursing. A mixture of Latin and something older. And as the words got louder so did the pressure in my head.

  Maybe I can bring her back, I thought. But before I could do anything, Wendy suddenly flew off the floor. She dashed at full-speed straight for her father. Before anyone could react, her hands came down on top of his head and her wailing, crying, and cursing began with renewed strength. Her father’s eyes began to bulge and his mouth opened in a painful scream.

  “Wendy, stop!” I shouted, but it was too late.

  I felt a climactic throb of pressure in my skull, and watched as Wendy’s father’s head exploded.

  A mass of blood and skin flew through the air, smashing against the ceiling and walls. I flinched as something wet hit my cheek. I reached up and wiped it off only to find myself looking down at a blob of blood, fat, and skin. I shuddered and flicked the mess to the floor.

  Wendy turned away from the now-slumped body and faced us. She was covered head to toe in blood. She gave a wide grin. White teeth peered out from within the puddle of red that was now her face. “There, everything’s all right now. He can’t hurt us anymore.” And then her head dropped forward, and she slumped bonelessly to the floor.

  Dean was the first to move. He went to Wendy’s side.

  When she looked up at him, her eyes were full of confusion. “What happened?” she cried out, holding a hand dripping in blood in front of her face. With a start, she noticed her father’s body, and her eyes filled with confusion.

  Without a word, Dean gently took her by the arm and led her from the room.

  Luke was by my side. I looked down at my clothes. They were splattered with blood. I had watched the man’s head explode, but I didn’t want to believe it. I shook my head back and forth as if in denial.

  “She didn’t mean to do it.” Luke sounded shocked. “It wasn’t her.”

  “She was possessed,” I said. “But she wanted him to die. She said so. Something else killed him, but Wendy wanted her father to die.”

  He nodded in agreement, then helped me to my feet. Luke took my hand, and I walked on unsteady legs next to him.

  Once in the hallway, Mildred came up to us. “Dean took her upstairs. Colina, will you help me clean her up?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  Mildred reached out and patted my shoulder. “I know what just happened was shocking.” She looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure how the child did it. I’ve never heard of a reader doing such a thing.”

  “It wasn’t her. Something else was controlling her,” I said.

  Mildred was quiet for a moment. Then she reached out and put her hands in both Luke’s and mine. “You can’t lose your concentration. There are bigger things at stake tonight than the death of one Redeemer. We must focus on the task at hand.” Her fingers tightened as she waited for both of us to respond. I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded. That seemed to satisfy her.

  She let go of our hands and started down the hall. After a few steps, she turned and motioned for me to follow.

  We couldn’t leave Wendy covered in blood. I looked down at my clothes and tried not to gag. I wanted to get out of these clothes, take a hot bath, and forget the whole night. But I knew that wasn’t possible. Mildred was right, we needed to focus on what was ahead. We had set ourselves up to do an impossible thing and we had to give it our whole attention.

  I sighed heavily and followed Mildred, but not before glancing back once at Luke. He was staring silently into the room where Wendy’s father lay dead.

  As we walked down the hall, Mildred was at first silent and when she finally spoke her voice was full of curiosity. “Is it true his head exploded like someone took a gun to a watermelon?”

  “It did.” I shuddered as the gruesome image flashed through my mind.

  “I missed it all. I popped out of the room so I could hide the axe.” Mildred cocked her head and then said, “I told you that girl was trouble.”

  And she had. Back in the asylum Mildred had made it clear she didn’t like Wendy. She thought Wendy dangerous and maybe Mildred was right. For I had just watched my friend crush her father’s head using only her mind.

  Chapter 15

  Before bathing Wendy, Mildred let me clean myself up. I changed my top, taking a moment to study myself in the mirror. The black lines had risen all the way to my shoulder and slow surges of pain radiated to my chest and back, pulsing with my heartbeat. The poison was moving faster, and I was running out of time. There was still some splattering of blood on my jeans and boots, but did it really matter? We still had the ritual to complete, and who knew how much blood and gore would be on me by the time it was over.

  We gave Wendy a bath. We had to shampoo her hair three times to get all the brain matter out of it. As unpleasant as it was, somehow Mildred and I suffered through it. Wendy did not utter a word the entire time. When we were done and Wendy was dressed, Mildred led her away.

  I was sitting on my bed, trying to gather my strength and thoughts. I had a splitting headache; I swear I could feel the poison inch through me with every throb.

  A soft knock sounded on the door, and Mildred came into the room. She approached the foot of the bed.

  “How’s Wendy?” I asked.

  “Some of the girls are watching her,” she said. I knew she meant the pregnant girls. They were the only ones besides us still inside the castle. Mildred’s hands were clasped tightly in front of her. “She seems calmer now that she has Lilybeth with her.”

  I shot to my feet in alarm. “Is it safe to leave the baby with her?”

  There was no concern on Mildred’s face. “Her hatred for her father pushed her over the edge. She wasn’t in her right mind when she killed him.”

  “It’s my fault,” I said, feeling so much guilt I could barely breathe. “She read my mind and saw how Jacob died.”

  Mildred came to my side and put her hand on my arm. “Don’t blame yourself. She would have found out how Jacob died eventually. It’s not something we could have kept from her.”

  “You’re sure the baby is safe?”

  “I asked Jamie to stay with her. When Jamie is close to her, I noticed the shadow inside Wendy seems to shrink back.”

  Mildred was talking about the shadow of the demon. “You think Jamie does that? Can she force the demon presence back by just being close to her?” Jamie had shown she had magic of her own, but what all that magic entailed we still weren’t sure.

  Mildred looked thoughtful. “She’s holding off the demon from taking control of her again. The child is powerful. She’ll stay with Wendy until we’re ready. I don’t want Wendy to be part of the ritual. Her emotions are too raw. The girls will make sure nothing happens to her.”

  My thoughts went to the pregnant women. “Those women, do they know what’s going to happen to their babies?”

  “They’ve seen Lilybeth. They know what to expect,” she answered.

  At her words, a chill went down my spine. I could not imagine what kind of horror it would be to find out your baby’s soul was intertwined with that of a demon. “Those poor women.”

  “They’re not all innocents. Some of them were willing participants in Fintan’s experiment.”

  “Some of them? That means there are others who were forced into it?” At the thought, I became angry. Gage had left so much destruction in his wake.

  “Gage has been killing death dealers for his experiments. When he came across any of them that were pregnant, he gave them a choice,” she said quietly.

  “A choice. That’s no choice,” I spat out.

  She looked thoughtful again. �
�He gave them a chance of life over death.”

  “What happens to the women now?” I demanded.

  “They go back to their people. If they have any people left.” She looked off into the distance. “More death dealers are being killed every day. Whole guilds are being destroyed.”

  “Their babies will be born like Lilybeth,” I said.

  “Yes,” Mildred said her eyes filling with sadness. “And I don’t think there’s anything we can do to stop it.”

  * * *

  Mildred had headed to the roof to prepare the spell. She instructed Luke and me to give her a half hour before joining her. Jamie would stay behind with Wendy and the pregnant women. Dean was tasked with bringing Gage up.

  Luke and I stood on the stone roof, subdued and nervous. The moon was a small sliver in the sky, almost a new moon, but the stars seemed unnaturally bright this far from the lights of the mainland.

  My legs trembled after the effort of the long climb to the roof, and my gaze settled on a set of lawn furniture situated by the north wall. It seemed very out of place in the military setting, and I pictured guests taking a break from their rooftop party or barbecue to throw hot oil on an attacking army. But it looked comfortable, and I was too exhausted to care. I settled down into a chair and Luke sat next to me, holding my trembling hands while we watched Mildred finish the preparations.

  I let my eyes sweep over Luke. This could be our last hour together. Guilt filled me. I have to tell him now before I lose my courage. “I need to tell you something,” I said. I could feel nervous butterflies in my stomach.

  “What is it?” Luke asked.

  The words spilled out. “Gage forced me to marry him.” I held my breath and waited for anger, the rage to come into his eyes. But really I worried that I would see something far worse: disappointment. I feared more than anything that he would blame me for not stopping it.

  Luke watched me for a few moments in silence and then squeezed my hand. “Mildred told me all about it.”