Born of Shadows- Complete Series

by J. R. Erickson

  "Good grief. Is there a magic spell that can make those decisions for me?"

  "Yes," Lydie announced triumphantly. "I found one before I left. We have more important things to talk about."

  Lydie showed Abby how to do the spell. It was quick and easy and involved lighting a candle, whispering a desire for the magazine to reveal only that which she would love in her wedding and then setting the magazine on fire. The fire would burn everything except the pages she would have picked anyway. After five minutes, they had a stack of eight pages.

  "Wow, good thinking, Lydie," Oliver told her, holding up his hand for a high five.

  "What did I miss?" Sebastian asked, shouldering open the door and carrying an enormous bag of kitty food.

  "Dinner?" Oliver asked.

  "You're more than welcome to it," he said, hoisting the bag into Oliver's arms.

  Oliver looked at the label.

  "Nope, chicken livers are not my style."

  "We're having lasagna," Abby said, cutting open the bag and filling Baboon's bowl. "And you missed the wedding stuff, which we can show you if you'd like, or we can get down to business?"

  "Wedding stuff later. I want to hear what Elda and Julian found out in Montana."

  "They got a pretty deep backstory on Clyde. However, it didn't tell us much about the curse. One thing is certain, he was a bad dude and obsessed with immortality. Between what this witch Nora said and what Faustine read in the Yarrow book that Dafne got from the L'Obscurite, it seems pretty clear that he was performing some very dark magic in an attempt to live forever."

  "There was something else too," Lydie broke in, avoiding Oliver's gaze. "I found a piece of paper in the Lourdes's stuff that listed dates and names for all of the women who descended from Kanti and you and your mom are the only ones left alive."

  Abby stared back at her, trying to make sense out of what she was saying.

  "That can't be, can it? I mean there must be dozens of women."

  "Thirty-six."

  "Thirty-six!" Sebastian exclaimed.

  "Unless she missed someone, which she could have," Oliver broke in. "But the names match what Victor discovered when he was tracing the bloodlines."

  Abby sat heavily on a stool.

  "What does it mean? How could they all be dead?"

  "It gets worse," Lydie said, and this time she looked to Oliver to break the news.

  "There were two names on that list that were a bit shocking. Your mother and sister, Sebastian."

  "I'm sorry, what?" Sebastian looked at them in disbelief.

  "But that would mean." He looked at Abby, shaking his head as if denying the possibility.

  "It's not a close relationship, but Alva, Tobias, and Sebastian all descended from Kanti and Clyde originally as well. I don't know how she did it, but the Lourdes tracked the entire family tree. Kanti's child was named Kimi, which was later shortened to Kim. Kim had two children a boy and a girl. The girl is where Abby descends from and Sebastian, Tobias, and Alva come from the boy's family."

  Sebastian put his head in his hands.

  Abby leaned toward him and rubbed his back.

  "Are you saying my mother was murdered?" he mumbled.

  "Not necessarily," Lydie started.

  "So, what then? All the women that descend from them are just randomly dead? It's a coincidence?"

  "Probably not," Lydie admitted, looking defeated.

  "Faustine believes there's something happening to the women in your family right now because the curse is cycling back around for the third time. Three is a powerful number. The Lourdes wrote something disturbing at the bottom of the family tree. It said, 'we all must die,' referring to herself and the women in your family. Faustine thinks that Kanti wants to end the curse, or at least she wants to be free of whatever is tethering her spirit to the world," Oliver explained.

  "And if we die, she's free?"

  Sebastian slammed his hand down on the table.

  "No, no, we're done talking about this. I'm sorry, but I just..." He left the room and they listened to his footfalls on the stairs.

  "I'm sorry," Lydie sputtered. "It was too much, maybe Helena should have told you."

  Abby took Lydie's hand.

  "It's not your fault, Lydie, and Sebastian isn't mad at you. He's scared and with good reason."

  Oliver let out a long breath and stared at the ceiling.

  "It's not going to happen, okay? Julian has already gone to your mother. He added protective spells to her house and he's built a shield around her. It would take a highly skilled witch to break down the spell and the moment someone tried, he'd be alerted."

  "He's five hours away!"

  "Not anymore, he's not. He put a two-way mirror in her house. And we have one for you as well."

  "Like we used for the All Hallow's Ball?"

  "Yep. For emergencies only."

  "Sebastian's going to love that. Any more news? I almost hate to ask," she grumbled.

  "Victor stole the amulet," Oliver added.

  "No. Are you sure?"

  "I'm almost one-hundred percent positive."

  Abby grimaced.

  "I need a cookie, anyone else?"

  "Better grab the whole plate," Lydie told her, plopping on the next stool over.

  Oliver slid the plate of cookies across the counter, taking a chocolate chip from the top.

  "Any other devastating news?" Abby asked, nibbling at the edge of her own cookie, though suddenly she had no appetite at all.

  "Julian has a theory. He thinks Clyde followed Yarrow's instructions and found immortality," Oliver explained.

  "Which involves what exactly?"

  "Well, a whole bunch of stuff, but Yarrow devotes an entire section of the book to procreation. He says nothing will ensure immortality as well as descendants. If Clyde performed the magic Yarrow laid out, then he bound himself through blood to the child that he and Kanti created. Their bind would travel through every additional child, which would basically buy him more time. Clyde had to steal Kanti's power to perform these spells, so in all likelihood, she is trapped here because he is still alive."

  "After three hundred years?"

  "Probably not in his original form, but yes."

  "So, every one of his descendants must die in order for him to die?"

  "Julian doesn't think so. He thinks only the women must die, probably because the original child was a girl so the bind and the curse are carried through their DNA."

  "This is starting to feel like it's over my head. You're saying the curse and both Kanti and Clyde are destroyed if my mother, my child, and I die?"

  "That's Julian's theory, yes."

  Chapter 27

  "I just can't believe it could be Victor," Abby told Oliver, the following afternoon. She had spent the night awake, thinking about all that she'd learned from Oliver and Lydie the day before. Sebastian had tossed, restless as well, both of them unable to shake the disturbing news.

  Abby and Oliver sat on the porch, basking in the afternoon sun. Sebastian had taken Lydie to town to get groceries for dinner.

  Abby had settled her changing body on a round wicker bed that Sebastian had bought for their porch. Piled with pillows, and shielded by a flowing white canopy, she felt like a goddess lounging on a Greek island. A pregnant, hot, heavily emotional goddess.

  Oliver looked up from the yoga mat that he had stretched on the deck. He had been carefully working the soles of his feet together, but his knees stuck high in the air.

  "Butterfly," he told her. "I swear it's not made for men."

  "Or women," she agreed, eying the lines of concentration on his face.

  "I know you trust Victor, but the truth is he came into your life under rather strange circumstances, and look at the timing. He literally appeared the night that Sebastian disappeared and this whole nightmare began."

  "Yeah, but Dafne was the reason Sebastian disappeared. Victor didn't have anything to do with that."

  "You're probably rig
ht, but I'm not talking about particulars. This is a much larger story. He was drawn to find you at the beginning of this curse unfolding. He knew your Aunt Sydney. If Kanti was directing him to you, why didn't he seek you out a year ago, ten years ago? She wanted him to make contact right when the curse was triggered. Maybe to have a man on the inside?"

  Abby sat up and wriggled into the same butterfly position that Sebastian was attempting.

  "Let's talk about something else, this curse is wearing me out today." She sighed. "Tell me about you and Ezra." Abby grinned. "You're becoming quite the ladies' man."

  Oliver rolled his eyes.

  "I like Ezra," he said, finally settling into the posture and leaning back on a pile of cushions.

  "Oh, come on. Pretend I'm your best mate and spill your guts about your new love."

  "Aren't there soap operas to fulfill these kinds of cravings?"

  "None that cast witches."

  He laughed and then grimaced at his carefully held groin muscles.

  "Love is a strong word."

  Abby frowned. Overhead, low flying white clouds reflected the surface of the Lake. It was one of those perfect spring days with a warm breeze that hinted at summer.

  "It's not love, then?"

  Oliver looked at Abby and she felt a moment of sadness as the energy moved through him.

  "Maybe. I don't know. Love feels out of reach with Ezra. She's shielded like Fort Knox. I fell in love a couple times before I was a witch and it always felt light and easy and exciting. There's nothing light and easy about Ezra. She is deliberate, calculating even."

  "Calculating?" Abby asked, surprised.

  "Not in the way it sounds, but yeah. Every word and action has a purpose, which is great; I admire her tenacity and drive. But sometimes, I'm not sure how to be with her. She doesn't get my jokes."

  Abby laughed and threw a pillow at him.

  "What?" he asked, pretending to be offended.

  "But obviously there's something. Right?"

  "When did you fall in love with Sebastian?"

  Abby watched Oliver and considered his question. When had she fallen in love with Sebastian?

  "I feel like our love existed before we met." She paused, expecting Oliver to heckle her, but he remained silent. "It was the awareness that the love was waiting that propelled me away from a life that I felt unhappy in. It was more than that, of course, but the love was part of it. When I first met Sebastian, I didn't know what to think of him. He was handsome and kind, funny, but he was distant. I think he and Ezra share a few traits, actually. Survivors of trauma don't open up easily. But then we were thrown into pandemonium. We only had each other. The Vepar attack and discovering Ula-those experiences accelerated our connection. I guess the moment I knew I was in love with him was when I lost him. When I realized that he had vanished from Sorciére, I thought the love of my life was gone. I don't think I'd given it a label before that."

  "So, you think I should take Ezra Vepar hunting?" Oliver joked.

  "I think you're already in it, no need to find more trouble. If you're meant to become more than you are, you'll see it soon enough."

  "I want someone in my life. I want this," he gestured to the house behind them. "A partner, a home, a love that's worth dying for."

  Abby bit her lip and felt the warm rush of tears over her cheeks. She cried regularly, often at strange moments, but Oliver's words had struck a chord. Sebastian was a love worth dying for and so was their child. She too wanted those things for Oliver.

  "She'll be your date for the wedding?"

  He rolled his eyes and laughed.

  "I didn't know it was a date kind of thing. Plus, she's the DJ. Who wants a date that can't dance?"

  Abby grinned and leaned back on her pillows. It was mid-April and an unseasonably warm day. Sixty-five degrees and sunny. She forgot in winter how much she missed the sun.

  "She's a witch. I'm sure she can abandon her post to dance with you."

  Oliver cocked an eyebrow at her.

  "Are you trying to play matchmaker, Abby?"

  "We got ice cream!" Lydie announced, walking onto the back porch with a paper bag.

  "And chicken," Sebastian amended.

  "Mmmm, a delicious combo-chicken and ice cream," Oliver teased, trying to struggle out of his yoga position to grab Lydie's foot. "Oh ouch, I'm injured," he whined when Lydie danced away from him and he sprawled across the deck.

  "Deep in serious conversation?" Sebastian asked, kissing Abby's forehead.

  "Yes, I was asking Oliver if he'll wear a boutonniere that matches Ezra's dress to the prom, I mean wedding." She winked at Lydie.

  "When do I get to meet Ezra?" Lydie asked. "When your firs- born arrives?"

  Oliver played at grabbing her foot again, but she side-stepped him.

  "How come I'm the butt of the jokes?" Oliver complained. "Sweet innocent little Oliver always getting picked on by the cool kids."

  "Don't tell Ezra you're not a cool kid." Sebastian chuckled.

  ****

  "Is it a good idea to confront Victor right after the wedding?" Sebastian asked when he had Oliver alone. They had gone to the shed to box up some wood that Oliver needed to build a DJ table for Ezra.

  "I think it's probably the best time. We'll be protected at Ula; all of the witches will be there so he can't weasel out of the truth."

  Sebastian sighed.

  "I just don't want it to ruin the day for Abby."

  "It won't," Oliver insisted. "The wedding will be great and we won't say a word to him until the next day after you guys are long gone on your little honeymoon. By the time you get back, Victor will have confessed, hopefully we'll have the amulet back, and we'll wait for you to return before we ax it to death."

  Sebastian smiled and shook his head.

  "Oliver, you are a true optimist. Despite everything going wrong that possibly could in the last six months, you still believe that things will go according to plan."

  "I prefer to look on the bright side, my friend."

  "You and Ezra might just make the perfect match-opposites attracting and all."

  "Ezra this, Ezra that. I feel like I'm surrounded by grandmas trying to marry me off."

  Sebastian grinned.

  "I think it just feels good to focus on something fun and normal, you know? A new love interest, Oliver's got a girlfriend, that kind of thing."

  "Oh, I get it, believe me. I just wish we were doing it to Lydie instead of me."

  "Lydie's thirteen!"

  "What thirteen-year-old girl hasn't noticed boys?"

  "Lydie."

  "Yeah, you're probably right. Still, I have faith that this is going to work out. By this time next week, you'll be married, and we'll be a lot closer to eliminating this curse."

  "I hope you're right, Oliver. I really do."

  "Listen," Oliver closed a box and turned to face Sebastian. "I've been wanting to ask you this and the timing just hasn't felt right. It's probably not right now, but I have to ask. When you met with Kanti in the woods, was Dafne in there at all? Could you sense her?"

  "Well, when I was blacking out, I don't know, but the few times I met her after Julian and I worked out how to stay conscious, the truth is, no. At least, I think no."

  "What did Kanti say?"

  "Well, she believed I was in a trance so we didn't sit and chum about the weather. She repeated phrases about bringing my sister back from the dead. She told me again and again that I would have the power of the universe at my fingertips."

  "Did she tell you that she would appear with the Vepars? That you'd have skin-walkers crawling all over your property?"

  "No, but Julian suspected she might. I had hoped not, but we had a plan and I felt like we'd be okay."

  "Except we weren't okay. Dafne died."

  "I know," Sebastian sighed. "And I'm genuinely sorry, I am. I never wanted that. I believed that once Kanti gave me the amulet and I broke away she would lose her hold on Dafne's body and Dafne would com
e back."

  Oliver closed his eyes and tried not to think of Dafne dying every night in his dreams.

  "I wish she had."

  ****

  "It feels surreal," Abby admitted. She stood in her bedroom wearing the long satin wedding dress that Helena had made. Her hair fell in chestnut curls down her back.

  "It's perfect," Helena said. "You and the baby both look gorgeous."

  Abby laughed and turned to look at her profile. There was a prominent rounding at her mid-section. At five months along, the baby had finally begun to reveal herself, though still not so prominent that people commented. In fact, on Abby's moodier days, she felt bloated and frumpy rather than glowing with child.

  At that moment, wearing the shimmering pearl dress, she felt beautiful, baby bump and all.

  "Yeah," Lydie agreed. "You look like a princess."

  "Is that allowed?" Abby joked. "A pregnant princess?"

  "In your fairytale, it is," Helena assured her.

  "Hair up or down?" Abby asked, gathering her hair and propping it on her head.

  "Beautiful both ways," Helena told her. "But I think down, it gives you that wild look. Below the neck regal goddess, and above the neck wild warrior."

  "Definitely!" Lydie added.

  "How's Adora doing?" Abby asked. "Will she be able to attend the wedding?"

  Helena shook her head.

  "She's not walking well yet and sleeps most of the day. Faustine has set up a separate chamber for her in the tower so that she's surrounded by her air element."

  "Maybe we could do a transfusion?" Abby asked, referring to her own blood, which had helped heal Helena.

  "Yes, after your honeymoon, I'm sure that would be helpful."

  "How can I be getting married in three days?" she asked.

  "It's exciting, isn't it?" Helena murmured. "Now, shimmy out of that dress. I'm going to pop back through the mirror and do a quick hem and it will be finished."

  "I thought the mirror was for emergencies only," Lydie teased.

  Helena narrowed her eyes at the young witch.

  "This was an emergency."