Born of Shadows- Complete Series

by J. R. Erickson

  ****

  Abby stepped through the mirror, Vidya snug in a wrap across her chest. She felt the rapid beat of her daughter's heart and the warmth of her body and sighed. She had sat with Helena at Lydie's bedside for hours and her lower back ached. She greeted the silent foyer, looking forward to a night alone with Sebastian. It had been awhile. Usually at least one of the Ula witches stayed over, often Helena to help care for Vidya, but equally likely Oliver, Lydie and even Julian.

  "Poor Lydie," she whispered, remembering Lydie's drawn face. She had woken several times, but for no more than minutes before drifting back to sleep. The venom had worn off, but Helena continued to give her an elixir that made her drowsy. She worried that the pain would be uncomfortable when Lydie woke and wanted her to sleep as long as possible.

  "Sebastian?" she called. He didn't respond, and she walked upstairs, wondering if he might have taken a nap. He had not gone to Ula with Abby and the other witches. In the urgency of the moment, Abby had not pressed the issue.

  Their bedroom stood empty. The comforter was still snug beneath the pillows and the bed looked unruffled. She spotted the book he'd been reading earlier that day. It lay on the floor, splayed open with its spine up. She picked up the book and a little tremor passed through her. Had something happened to Sebastian?

  She felt her own heartbeat increasing as she walked back down the stairs calling Sebastian's name. She unwound her wrap and placed Vidya in her bassinet. She turned on the faucet and ran the cool water over her hands and wrists. Closing her eyes, she allowed her awareness to move through the house. She felt...something, but had no word to describe it. She knew the sensations when something violent had occurred and that thickness did not find her. Instead, a gnawing sense of disquiet seemed to blanket the house. Turning off the water, she did a more thorough search, walking through rooms and searching for a note. Sebastian rarely stepped out, even for a walk, without leaving her some kind of message.

  ****

  Sebastian woke shivering. Cold water lapped over his naked legs and thighs. He struggled to sit up, pushing his hands into the wet sand and looking around, disoriented. The moon cast an opal of light across the lake and gradually he recognized his surroundings. He lay on the beach that edged the Ebony Woods, completely naked. His body ached as if someone had pummeled him with a baseball bat. Rubbing his eyes, oddly sticky, he studied his palms and fingers in the moonlight. They were splotched with dark streaks and he didn't need a closer inspection to know that he was covered in blood. He could smell it.

  A wave of horror passed through him as he thought of Abby and Vidya.

  "No," he whispered, shaking his head. This wasn't a blackout. He remembered. He didn't want to, but he remembered. He felt the cool wind streaking beneath his wings and he saw the man standing on the shore. The man had been alone, drunk, a vagrant most likely. Something prehistoric had overcome Sebastian. He remembered diving for the man, the look of confusion on his face and then...

  He clenched his eyes and felt a burst of nausea turn his stomach. He threw up, pressing his bloody hands into his thighs, doubled over. He had to hide the evidence, but when he looked up, he remembered. He had carried the man out over the water; he had already disposed of him.

  He broke into a run, his feet like anvils in the sand. Sydney's house rose in the distance and he fought back the sob bubbling in his chest. He had murdered an innocent man. He had turned into a skin-walker and consumed another human being.

  Chapter 26

  Sebastian leapt onto Sydney's porch and tried the door handle, locked. He smashed the glass and unlocked the door, pushing inside and running straight to the shower. His tears merged with the scalding water and he scrubbed until his skin felt raw. The smell of Sydney's coconut soap brought streams of memories - Claire and his parents and summers on the beach. Sydney laughing as she blended margaritas. The summer after his parents' deaths when he sat on the dock with Sydney on a cool autumn day and cried openly. More memories wanted to come. Images of Vidya sleeping on Abby's naked chest as his magic wife smoothed her hand over their child's milky back. Their wedding at Ula as Abby moved into the floating garden, her hair blowing in the cliff-top breeze, the scent of the flowers overwhelming his senses.

  He stepped from the shower, grabbing a thick white towel and wrapping it around his waist. The house had been stripped of Sydney in many ways, but he felt her presence. Was she watching him? Judging him for what he had done?

  He needed clothes. He could not return to the house naked, but all of Sydney's and Rod's stuff had been removed. In the attic he found several cardboard boxes that had been abandoned. He slipped into a pair of Harold's sweatpants and a law school t-shirt. He looked strange, the clothes too short and wide, his feet stuffed into small loafers, but he didn't have another option. He ran down the driveway and prayed for a trucker or understanding motorist who might give him a ride home.

  ****

  "Sebastian!" Oliver yelled waving his flashlight through the trees. He could see Julian's light closer to the beach.

  Abby too was in the woods with a flashlight. Helena and Lydie had stayed at the house with Vidya. When Abby had burst through the mirror insisting that Sebastian was missing, Oliver had feared the worst. Had Clyde somehow taken him?

  But like Abby, he had not sensed distress in the house. As he moved through the woods, he sniffed at the air. He smelled something...something that reminded him of the lair he'd been trapped in by the Vepars. It wasn't the smell of a Vepar, but near to it, more animal, more deadly.

  Julian appeared through the trees, holding his flashlight down.

  "Do you smell that?" he asked.

  Oliver nodded.

  "And I found this." Julian held up one of Sebastian's sandals.

  "Shit," Oliver breathed. "Maybe we'd better get Abby back inside."

  Julian cocked an eyebrow at him.

  "You think she'll go?"

  "Good point," Oliver agreed.

  Beyond the trees, they heard the sound of splashing water and then Abby's voice pierced the trees.

  "Sebastian! He's here. I found him. Help me."

  Oliver and Julian raced to the beach where Abby pulled a naked Sebastian from the water. He leaned heavily on her, sputtering water and breathing hard.

  "Are you okay? What happened?" she babbled, tears pouring down her face. "I was so scared. I thought..." but she couldn't finish the sentence.

  Oliver watched Sebastian who had rolled on his side and heaved as Abby slapped his back.

  "I'm okay," he whispered hoarsely. He took several deep breaths, his eyes closed, and then finally looked at them.

  "I went for a swim. I wasn't paying attention and went out too far. The current got ahold of me."

  Oliver studied Sebastian's face as he spoke and felt the prickle of a lie. He sensed a similar impression from Julian. Only Abby seemed ready to accept the explanation.

  "Holy crap," she breathed. "Thank the goddess you're okay! Here, come on." She stood and helped him stand.

  They walked back to the house, Oliver and Julian trailing behind.

  Oliver stared hard at the two long bruises that ran down Sebastian's back on either side of his spine. They were ghastly and dark. He felt Julian watching them as well.

  ****

  "You went swimming naked?" Julian asked.

  Sebastian sat across the kitchen table, a towel draped over his shoulders and his hands stuffed into his lap. Abby had given him a mug of tea and when he took a sip, they all saw the dark bruises on his fingers. In the light of the kitchen, more bruises surfaced. Much of his skin looked purplish and raw.

  "Sebastian, you are covered in bruises," Abby exclaimed, tenderly touching a space on his neck.

  His face darkened, and he looked down at his torso.

  "I don't know why," he admitted. "I was practicing with my power earlier, throwing some logs and rocks. It must have happened then."

  He blinked into his cup and shuddered.

  Abby t
ook a deep breath and steadied her hands on the back of Sebastian's chair. Her husband was sitting at the table bruised, near-drowned and clearly lying to all of them. She wanted to believe every word from his mouth, help him upstairs, and tuck him into bed, but how could she ignore the expressions on Julian's and Oliver's faces?

  "I'm going to check on Helena and Vidya," she murmured finally. "Maybe you should talk to Julian and Oliver."

  Abby didn't say more, but quietly left the room. She knew that he may not be able to come clean with her nearby. Though she had no intention of missing the truth. She hovered outside the kitchen door, listening.

  "Sebastian, tell us what really happened," Julian said.

  Abby waited, holding her breath, but only silence followed. The seconds ticked by.

  Finally, he coughed and spoke. "I was, ummm, practicing in the woods, like I said and then I heard a screech."

  "A skin-walker?" Oliver asked.

  "Yeah. I ran toward the lake. I didn't see it, but suddenly I was flying. It didn't kill me, but dropped me on the beach by the Ebony woods. There was blood all over the beach. I think it must have killed someone. I took a shower at Sydney's and hitchhiked home. I ran in the lake and made the rest of it up," his voice grew quieter as he spoke until Abby had to strain to hear him.

  "Why would you do that?" Oliver asked. "Why not tell the truth?"

  "I don't know. I panicked when I saw the blood on the beach. I started operating on auto-pilot."

  "Who was the skin-walker? Alva? Did it transform into a Vepar at all?" Julian asked. Abby heard the skepticism in his words.

  "No."

  "Did you fight it?" Oliver asked.

  "I umm...yeah. I mean, you see the bruises, right?" Sebastian's tone had grown defensive. "Of course, I fought it, but it was holding me in talons that felt like steel hooks in my back. I wasn't exactly trying to fall to my death or provoke it to eat me."

  "I see," Julian continued. Abby could not see their faces, but she could imagine them. Sebastian's would have grown hard, defiant. Oliver would look amused as if he couldn't believe the story Sebastian was feeding them. And Julian would hold that careful appearance of neutrality while beneath the surface his mind cranked out a thousand thoughts a minute.

  "I'm exhausted," Sebastian said. Abby heard the scrape of his chair on the floor.

  She hurried down the hallway and burst into the living room where Helena sat on a blanket with Vidya. Helena looked up and seeing Abby's face, frowned.

  "What is it, honey? Is Sebastian okay?" she started to stand, but Abby waved her back down.

  Abby walked toward Vidya and then sank down on the blanket next to her, feeling the tears pour over her face. She cried into the little yellow blanket, muffling her sobs against the floor. Her shoulders heaved, and Helena smoothed her hands down Abby's back, saying nothing.

  Sebastian was lying, had lied. What had happened? What could it mean that his first instinct had been to hide the real story from all of them, including her?

  When she sat up, Helena brushed a finger along her face, catching a tear. She cupped it in her hand and held it close to her ear. Helena grimaced as she leaned into the tear as if told her the story of Abby's pain. Perhaps it did.

  "Abby?" Oliver stood in the doorway. "Come to the kitchen for a few minutes."

  Abby nodded and stood. Helena reached into a pocket tucked in her flowery yellow dress and produced a smooth black stone.

  "Hematite," Helena told her. "For courage."

  Abby took the stone and squeezed it in her palm, following Oliver to the kitchen. Julian sat at the table, his chin resting on his steepled fingers, his face deeply troubled.

  "You heard all of that?" Julian asked.

  Abby nodded.

  "And you also clearly detected the lie?"

  "Yes," Abby admitted, though she wanted to choke on the word rather than say it. Abby thought of the watch around Sebastian's neck, Vesta's ring, the late night digging.

  "What would you like to do about it?" Julian asked.

  Abby widened her eyes, surprised. She had expected some fully formed plan already in Julian's mind.

  "I..." She paused and glanced at Oliver for help.

  "Well, she's clearly not safe here," Oliver said. "I think she and Vidya need to come back to Ula with us tonight and..."

  Julian held up a hand.

  "I asked Abby."

  She sat heavily into a chair, pushing her face into her hands.

  "I'm not afraid of Sebastian," she told them. "I'm afraid for him. I can't run away and leave him to face this alone."

  "So, you're willing to fight for him?" Julian asked.

  "Of course," Abby snapped.

  "I'm only checking, Abby. I sense that we're going to have a painful battle ahead, and it may hurt Sebastian most of all, but if you truly want him to stay on the side of light then..."

  "Then what?" she asked.

  "Then we need to lock him in the dungeons at Ula until we've eliminated Clyde."

  Abby stared at him, incredulous. He couldn't be serious. Lock up Sebastian?

  She started to shake her head, but Oliver beat her to it.

  "Julian, you can't be serious."

  "I'm deadly serious. And let me tell you what I think. I think there was blood beneath Sebastian's fingernails. I think there were bruises on his back in the exact place where two wings might have emerged. I think that Sebastian took a life tonight, and he didn't intend to do it, but he was powerless to stop it."

  Abby stood, her chair clattering to the floor.

  "You think what? That Sebastian turned into a skin-walker?" her voice trembled with rage as she spoke, and worse, with fear.

  Oliver too appeared shocked, but Abby saw something else in his face, belief.

  "He's gone upstairs to sleep. Or perhaps to climb out the window. But I can tell you what this moment is, Abby. It's a turning point. Until now Sebastian has successfully fought off the advances of Clyde. Tonight, he succumbed and we have all witnessed what waits at the end of that dark tunnel. If we don't take serious action on this night, you will lose him, Abby. You will lose him in the worst possible way."

  Abby swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

  From the living room, she heard Vidya cry out.

  "I need to feed Vidya," she said, turning, but then it was Helena's cry that rang through the house.

  Abby raced into the living room nearly tripping over a footstool in the center of the floor.

  Helena clutched Vidya to her chest, staring wide-eyed at the glass doors that led to the patio. They had been flung open to the night.

  "I'm sorry, I screamed," she said, shaking her head. "I didn't realize..." Helena gestured at the door. "He came through here so fast, it startled me."

  "Who?" Abby asked, taking Vidya from Helena's arms.

  "Sebastian," Helena said, her eyes troubled. "He didn't speak a word, just plowed through the room. He knocked over the stool. I thought he'd run right through the glass, but the doors opened. I didn't see him touch the handles, but they flung open and he ran out."

  Julian walked to the door with Oliver close behind. He stepped onto the porch and stared at the woods where Sebastian had disappeared.

  Vidya started to cry, her wails echoing through the house. An owl landed on the porch, its large dark eyes trained on Vidya.

  "Ssshhh, there, there. It's okay sweetie," Abby whispered, rocking her from side to side.

  Abby struggled to take a full breath. It caught in her throat and lodged there.

  "We have to go after him," she said finally, handing Vidya back to Helena after her cries had subsided.

  Helena snuggled the baby close, tucking her beneath her chin.

  "Of course, you have to," Helena agreed.

  Julian shook his head.

  "It's too late, Abby."

  "Excuse me?" she snarled, feeling an explosion of anger at his words.

  A pitcher of water on the coffee table exploded.

  Juli
an whirled towards it, blowing hard. The glass stopped midair. Oliver held his hands up and the pieces gathered in a pile in his palms.

  "You need to learn to control your temper," Julian seethed. "If not for our sakes, then for hers." He pointed at Vidya and walked from the room.

  Abby's face grew hot, and she clenched her eyes shut. She started to walk out the door, but Oliver caught her hand.

  "I don't believe it's too late," he told her. "But Sebastian needs space right now. Don't chase after him. It will only make things worse."

  Abby clenched her teeth and forced the blue ball of energy building to dissipate and flow back into her body.

  ****

  Sebastian ran through the trees not bothering to sweep branches aside as they pricked his face and caught in his hair. Tears streamed from his eyes. An itching sensation tore at his skin. Like before, he felt trapped in his tiny, weak body. Except this time, he knew how to escape it. He raced toward the end of the peninsula and then crouched, still running, his skin ripped apart and the skin-walker emerged. His taloned feet tasted the water's edge and he soared. As his eyes scanned the trees, he saw a hunched figure below him. A pentacle glowed from the man's chest and Sebastian almost circled and returned to the shore, but the sensations of the primal body he inhabited blotted out the image. Out over the crashing waves, he flew. Somewhere in the night a voice called out for him. He could not escape his destiny.

  Chapter 27

  They talked loudly and over one-another. Abby tried to concentrate on their words, but they streamed into a single sound that passed through her head without comprehension. Julian's hands shook as he spoke. Oliver interrupted, his eyes darting back to Abby.

  He mouthed something at her. "Are you okay," she thought his silent words said, but she did not respond. Instead she gazed numbly at the witches' faces in the library of Ula. Elda stood close to Faustine anxiously clutching the pendant at her throat. Faustine nodded, asking lightning fast questions that Julian blurted answers too. Helena spoke to the witches, to Vidya, to Abby, but still Abby stood perfectly still. Even Adora had joined the fray. Each time she spoke her voice shook. She wanted to know things, urgently, she feared they were under attack, but somehow her questions hung unanswered in the sea of words.