Witchling Wars

by Shawn Knightley

  “For this exact purpose,” said Daniel as he unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up to his elbows.

  “What’s that?” I asked, deciding to take the risk of looking foolish by not knowing the answer already.

  Daniel gave a knowing smile as if he found my ignorance sweet or innocent and not annoying like everyone else. Maybe a bit too innocent. There was something else beneath the surface of his skin and lingering in his emotions. Arrogance. He was only being polite because Tobias was in the room. I could sense it. Otherwise, I was a lowly kruxa to him.

  “Luxra do a great deal of work with the supernatural,” said Daniel. “Witchlings and humans alike tend to gravitate between worlds after death. Between dimensions, if you will. Those dimensions are as different as night and day. One is empowered by moon magic rather than the sun. The sun symbolizes life. It nourishes plants, gives us vitamins, and encourages people to leave their homes. The moon, however, that’s a different story entirely.”

  “Do you mean to tell me that the moon symbolizes death?”

  He snickered at my ignorance. “Hardly. But it does bring out creatures who have left the world of the living and entered another state of being. It forces many luxra too keep a schedule that causes us to be night owls. Which is convenient for Tobias and others of his kind.”

  Annabel let out a blood-curdling scream, reminding us all that she was there. As if I could forget. She moved her head in such a way that I didn’t quite understand. She forced it down, rolled it from one side to the other as her arms struggled to get free then jerked it violently the other way. It wasn’t some ordinary rope holding her spirit down. It was the same magical blue cord that tied me to Tobias’s throne in the caverns below the Library of Congress. The same blue magical cord that Nathaniel used against Isaac.

  “How did you capture her?” I asked.

  “There are certain secrets we luxra don’t like to make known to just anyone,” he told me. “Just know that it wasn’t easy and I’ve been trying to hunt her down ever since she died. Croxa are a massive inconvenience when they have a grudge to settle.”

  “But Ragna and Brian are dead. They were responsible for her death. Shouldn’t Annabel’s spirit settle down? Shouldn’t her spirit be somewhat at peace now that they’ve been killed?”

  Daniel’s brow furrowed. “Did Emily?” There was a hint of satisfaction in his voice. Like he had outsmarted me somehow.

  I shut my mouth, realizing that it was probably a stupid question. Emily hadn’t left me. I still saw her in my dreams and when I woke up in the middle of the night. I always saw her spirit wafting over my body in an array of black smoke. And sometimes in full form walking about my bedroom. It didn’t matter how many lights I kept on at night, she still found ways to seep inside me and torment me with memories I wished I could purge from my mind completely.

  “There are many who call the croxa a dark passenger,” Daniel continued. “They haunt both witchlings and humans. Anything with a heartbeat. Only most witchlings are adept enough to handle it. Humans simply think of them as ghosts. Unsettled spirits with unfinished business. And some of them are. Other times, these spirits become croxa. These are the humans who have come into contact with our world. The world of witchlings or vampires. Many vampire victims become croxa. Others who come into contact with witchling magic in one way or another become croxa as well. They’re trapped between two worlds that don’t want them. They’re not living, nor are they completely dead. They’re like kruxa in that way. Disliked by the higher tiers and not particularly envied by the vampires.”

  ‘Why does everyone have to take a personal dig at me being a kruxa? Why?’

  “What’s the point in all this?” I asked. “Why did you bring her here?”

  I watched Annabel writhe around and try freeing herself from the blue cord that bound her to the chair. I could sympathize. I knew how awful those cords felt. They only got tighter when I resisted. Even so, her eyes didn’t want my pity. They wanted to devour my soul and torment me. To find any living being she could latch onto in order to feel what it was like to be alive again. To be whole again and welcomed into the world of the living. I knew at that moment that there was a fate worse than being a vampire. It was becoming a croxa. A haunted spirit who was incapable of finding peace.

  “Because you need to learn how to wield Emily as a weapon,” said Tobias. “If she isn’t going to leave you alone, you must harness her spirit so she can’t distract you. And who better to teach you how to do that than a luxra who specializes in capturing croxa?”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “Capturing one has never been the problem. Emily comes to me. At all hours. Day and night. I rarely get any peace.”

  “That’s the point,” said Daniel, turning to his briefcase as Annabel let out another scream and her hair fell over her face. The blood seeping from her neck stained her once lovely hair and sent a chill directly down my spine. I tried to remain still as goosebumps rushed up my arms.

  Daniel fished through the briefcase until he found a long thin piece of ivory wood. A wand. But it was different from the one my grandfather had. The wood was lighter. The tip was sharper. And it had a beautiful handle carved with small jewels as if someone had treasured it so much that they took the time to make sure it was prized by human and witchling hands alike. Infused with magic and precious stones. Treasures of both worlds and immense in value.

  Daniel motioned for me to come forward. I did so while staying a safe distance away from Annabel who was snarling at me the closer I got.

  I extended my hand out to take the wand, wishing that I still had my grandfather’s wand to hold in my hand. No such luck. It was destroyed when I killed Ragna and Brian. A small sacrifice considering I was alive. But so few of my most treasured possessions were with me anymore. I lost Caleb’s pictures in my backpack inside the car as it sank to the bottom of the river. I inadvertently destroyed my grandfather’s wand when I channeled it. And most of all, I lost my sister to the vixra who were holding her captive until I marked Tobias. Or maybe even longer if what Arthur said was true and she would always need vixra magic to survive.

  I silently scolded myself, trying to get my focus back on what was happening in the room.

  The air around me shifted as my fingers touched the wand. Daniel let me hold its full weight in my hand. Which was one of the first things I noticed about it. Even with the stones it barely weighed anything. It didn’t have to. The power was within the witchling who owned it. The witchling who could wield their magic with enough power to use it. I wasn’t so fortunate. Not without vixra blood. And I wasn’t about to let Tobias know that his provider had now become mine.

  “You know I can’t use this,” I lied as Daniel took a step back away from me. There was still a bit of vixra blood in my system. But it was fading with each passing minute. And with every minute that passed by, I got more and more tired. Like I was coming down from a drug-induced high.

  “I know no such thing.”

  “I’m not strong enough.” Another lie. But he didn’t need to know that.

  “You channeled a wand before. Then you used it to kill Ragna and Brian. Along with hundreds of vampires in the underground cavern deep inside the Library of Congress.”

  I shot a glare at Tobias.

  ‘Did you tell him all the details I shared with the vixra or just most of them?’

  “That was different,” I argued.

  “How?”

  “Eli did something to it when he fixed the wand for me. He infused it with his own magic.”

  “Do you think magic has abandoned the wand you now hold?”

  He had a point. I didn’t know the origin of the wand. But that didn’t make much of a difference to me. Daniel was still a stranger. One that Tobias seemed to have faith in but one I most certainly didn’t trust. He must have known when he spoke to Andrew about the murders over the phone that he was getting him involved in things beyond his depth. How could I know Daniel wouldn’t do the same
to me?

  ‘Change the subject.’

  “Is this why Annabel Stiles and the other murder cases remained confidential to the media and other police?” I asked abruptly. “Because their spirits became croxa? Is that why you told Andrew to keep the cases a secret?”

  Daniel crossed his arms over his chest, not at all amused that I wasn’t immediately playing along and doing as he said. “Witchling business is not human business. You of all people should be aware of that without having to be told. I only disclosed to Andrew what he needed to know.”

  “Then why involve Andrew at all? He wasn’t a witchling.”

  “Really, Harper?” Tobias scolded me. “We don’t have time for this.”

  “I do. I have loads of time.”

  “I thought you were tired from hunting,” he taunted me. “Now you have loads of time?”

  Daniel gave a sigh before answering. “Annabel’s spirit was difficult to track. Along with a few of the other victims. When Andrew said he knew a local psychic who might be able to help, I urged him to give you a call. He said your last name and it was one I recognized. Your lot might enjoy living in hiding but you don’t go completely unnoticed. There are still records of various witchling family lines.”

  “Why not ask for my help directly then? Why involve Andrew?”

  “Because I didn’t know if you could control your magic. Few kruxa can. Prove it to me now.”

  “I have nothing to prove to you,” I said, backing up and feeling a little offended.

  “No, but you do have the problem of having a dark passenger,” Daniel lectured me. “A croxa who won’t leave you alone and who can be of use to us in finding the other vampires from Tobias’s coven. If we find them, we can keep the vixra happy. And to my understanding, that will be beneficial to everyone. Now hold up the wand and point it at Annabel.”

  Tobias gave me a sneer that would have intimidated any human into shrinking in the corner and obeying his every command. I knew I was on thin ice. Daniel probably thought he was doing me a favor by helping me. But what can I say? I learned the hard way that even those closest to me couldn’t be trusted. Not entirely. Madison lied in order to get me to help Andrew with his cases. Nathaniel made me believe he didn’t know who I was when we first met. Tobias led me to believe he was merely flirting with me and hid the fact that he wanted me to mark him. And most of all, Georgeanna hid her survival from Nathaniel for over two centuries. I wasn’t exactly one to take people at their word anymore and believe that they had my best interests at heart. I had to look out for myself. Because let’s face it. At the end of the day, I was left to my own devices when people were trying to kill me.

  “How am I supposed to use a croxa to my advantage?” I asked. And this time I was genuinely curious. Daniel wasn’t the only one who thought it was an advantage. Arthur had said something similar.

  Daniel stood up a little straighter. There was something about him that struck me as superior. It didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the way he spoke to me. Or even the way he carried himself. It was something else. And to be fair, he was superior to me. Being a luxra and all. That alone meant I owed him the respect he was due. The respect I hadn’t shown him since I stepped into the room. At the same time, I felt like I didn’t owe him anything. Or anyone else for that matter. I had done everything everyone else wanted for years. I was on my own side now.

  “You weren’t kidding,” he said with a snide smile in Tobias’s direction. “She really doesn’t know anything.”

  ‘That does it. Respect be damned.’

  I was ready to storm right out of there. I was done taking crap from people who couldn’t at least show me the tiniest hint of decency. But just as I turned around to walk out, Tobias reached for my arm and stopped me. He forced me to turn in his direction and commanded my attention.

  “A croxa can be as much of an ally as an enemy,” Tobias said. “You can’t think of your dark passenger as Emily. Not in the way you remember her. This version of her has been corrupted. Do you remember how I told you to control your magic with your anger?”

  I didn’t say anything. I only gave him a small nod.

  “That’s what a croxa is. Fury in supernatural form. They can weave between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. They are the go-betweens. Coming to the realm of the living, the realm of mortals, helps croxa to avoid crossing over. It gives them a place to feed on the living.”

  “How?”

  “Because croxa feed on the fear of living souls. They thrive from haunting humans and draining their fear. Emily was quite literally surviving on your fear of her whenever she appeared.”

  “And that helps us? If anything that will only make me weaker.”

  “It helps us because they do not haunt vampires. They need a vessel with a heartbeat. And vampires have none.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning she can find the vampires we’re trying to hunt from the coven. They stand out. If you can learn how to control the croxa rather than having them control you, they can do your bidding. If you let them control you, they will bring you to an early grave merely by haunting you each and every night as you try to sleep, slowly feeding off your fear until you’re driven to madness. You’ve had circles under your eyes from lack of rest for weeks, Harper. Enough is enough. You must learn this now. Tonight.”

  Annabel groaned from the chair before us, thrashing her head back and forth. She looked demented. Possessed. Like a spirit that was tripping on some sort of drug that I never wanted to try.

  “How is she here physically?” I asked, directing my gaze over at Daniel. “I only ever saw Emily in my visions or in some transparent form. Until Ragna summoned her.”

  “That’s because Ragna knew enough luxra over the years to learn how to control a croxa’s form long enough to do her will,” Daniel answered. “It’s a skill you will learn tonight.”

  Tobias let go of me and stood in the corner of the room with his arms crossed, ready for a show.

  I released some of the strain gathering in my arms and held the wand up in my right hand. “So what do I do with this thing?”

  Daniel dimmed the lights.

  Annabel seemed to come alive. I thought she looked tormented before. But the darkness gave her more energy.

  “Point the wand at the croxa,” he said. He deliberately didn’t state her name. And I had to remind myself that this wasn’t Annabel. It wasn’t Brian’s victim. It was someone else. Something dark, twisted, and downright unnatural. At least to my partially human sensibilities.

  “Now, I want you to think of a moment when you were afraid. When you had no hope.”

  “I thought you said they feed on fear?”

  “Exactly. It will draw her to you long enough to capture her attention and wield it to your will.”

  I shut my eyes and thought back on the countless memories I could call upon.

  “Don’t close your eyes!” he shouted.

  I snapped them back open. “Why?”

  “Don’t ever take your eyes of the croxa in front of you. Think back and make eye contact with the croxa. And do not look away from her. Most humans are so terrified of croxa that they immediately look away. Do not let her have that kind of power over you.”

  I refocused my energy and stared at Annabel directly in the eyes.

  No. Not Annabel! This wasn’t her.

  I replayed the memory of driving in Tobias’s car. How it hit the side rail, went flying over the edge, and plunged down to the river. The way it slammed into the water as if it were concrete. Water rushed inside so fast that I was surrounded by nothing but darkness in a matter of seconds. How I couldn’t get the seatbelt off. The knowledge that I would soon die in a car wreck just like Caleb did. I panicked once my lungs couldn’t draw in a single breath of air.

  “Now let your magic funnel through the wand,” Daniel ordered.

  The tip of the wand turned gold as my magic seeped through my palm and into the long jeweled pie
ce of wood. Then it burst out like a bolt of lightning and slammed directly into the croxa’s chest. She didn’t scream. She didn’t even look like she felt it. Her eyes slowly shut then popped open. They were no longer the eyes of the undead. They were bright with the same golden hue of my magic. She sat up straight and didn’t move. She was calm. She was collected. And she didn’t seem as though her spirit was being tormented. I didn’t know how, but something changed.

  The light from the wand slowly dimmed and I let it fall to my side. “What just happened?”

  “You took control of a croxa,” Daniel answered me. “Now give her a command.”

  “She’s tied up. How can I-”

  “Just do as I say!”

  ‘Who’s commanding who here?’

  “Stand up,” I told the croxa.

  Her spirit turned translucent. The same way Emily looked when she crawled out of my body after Georgeanna pulled me up from the wreckage of the car sinking in the river. It was as though the magical blue restraints weren’t even there.

  “Who do you want me to find next, Tobias?” I asked him.

  “Victor,” he said from the corner. “He was one of my best warriors and we need to find him.”

  I kept my eyes firmly on the croxa. “You heard him. Find Victor. Tell me where he is. Then wait for my next command.”

  Annabel’s spirit turned into a cloud of black smoke. Before I even knew what was happening her limbs disappeared and she was gone.

  “What happened to her?” I asked.

  “She’s looking for Victor, just as you commanded,” said Daniel. “She doesn’t need a physical form to be able to do that.”

  I held the wand up to give it back to Daniel. “Is it always that easy?” I asked.

  “No. Annabel hasn’t been dead long. Croxa only grow stronger the more people they haunt and the more fear they feed on. You did surprisingly well. I wasn’t expecting much from a kruxa if I’m being honest.”

  ‘If only I could take credit. It was probably the vixra blood left inside me.’

  I took a step forward so he would take back the wand but he simply turned to his briefcase on the nearby desk. “Keep it for now,” he said. “In case your dark passenger returns. Granted she’s chosen you as the human she enjoys feeding on the most you will probably need it. But don’t misunderstand. It’s on loan. That wand is a rather treasured family heirloom.”