“Stop!” Phillip yelled out, suddenly appearing and pulling one back. Marcus gripped the other by the throat, ready to rip through it. I grabbed him.
“Let him go, Marcus.”
“It’s your lucky day.” He pushed him away hard, so that he landed face down in the dirt.
I glared at Phillip.
”What is this?” I asked, going over to him angrily. “You knew we were coming. Why didn’t you handle this?” He came back at me shouting.
“What did you expect? He is a Dark One. We have never allowed this. You can’t blame some of them for having a vicious reaction to his kind being here.”
I stared at all of them, enraged and tired of their stupid beliefs.
My anger took over.
It was time for this to end.
“I will not forgive this. I am the Supreme, and Marcus Blondeau was invited here. He will not be touched. If anyone hurts him, I won’t hesitate in punishing them.”
They glared at Marcus, muttering under their breaths as they turned back to the mansion.
“What the hell was that about punishing?” Phillip asked, watching them go through the door. “You have never been for that.”
“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt them, but this distrust has to stop. Maybe a little threatening will help it along.”
He grimaced, and I sensed his resistance.
“Alixia, they are not going to change their beliefs, and you can’t expect them to.”
I went over and took Marcus’s arm, not wanting to argue.
“You know what, I’m not going to debate that now. We are here for the Gathering.”
He looked past us, toward the mansion.
“That has been moved to the swamp.”
“The swamp?” Marcus said, holding on to me tighter. “Why?”
“I guess the Pure Ones don’t trust us,” Phillip sneered sarcastically.
“They don’t trust us? We just left several dead Family members!”
Phillip’s eyes narrowed in confusion.
“What are you talking about?”
“We were attacked again.” Marcus went on to tell him of the gruesome details.
I walked away toward the pond, trying again to pick up anything on Millie. Sitting on the bench, I closed my eyes and focused on her, moving through the same darkness. There was silence all around me, except for my own heartbeat racing, fearful of what I would see at the end of the blackness. Then a quick flash hit me as I felt her again, but this time more strongly.
She’s here in New Orleans.
“Marcus! Phillip! She is here!”
“Where?”
“I’m not sure, but she is close and she is still alive.”
“Come on, we’re going to the swamp.”
Clouds passed over the moon as we entered the swamp, making it more haunting. We went to the ritual grounds, waiting for the Pure Ones’ arrival. Each Family’s High Council kept their distance, watching and not trusting the outcome of this.
Marcus’s Family joined him on the other side of the pentagon, staring around them with the same concern.
“Alixia,” I turned, feeling her hand on my back.
“Mother, you’re here.”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “Come with me.”
“Where?”
“Just come.” She moved away from the circle taking me toward the water.
“Alixia, before we go any further, I need you to block my thoughts. The Families are listening. I can’t keep them all out.”
I look into her eyes.
“Yes, of course.”
Suddenly I stepped back, hearing what she was trying to conceal from the Families.
“Mother, you want me to take you now?”
“No,” she said quietly, moving me so close that I could feel her icy lips on my ear. “That’s what I wanted you to hear. I’m not ready yet, but thank you for your reaction. That’s what I expected. Now keep that same emotion, and come with me.”
“But the Gathering, and Marcus?
“Don’t worry, we will be back before it starts. And as for Marcus, Charles will talk to him and let him know that I needed some time with you before the event.”
I looked back, seeing Charles talking to Marcus as he watched us leave.
“Okay where are we going? I want to know?”
“To Millie.”
“You know where she is?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I will show you.”
She started to walk, and then stopped abruptly.
“Remember, keep our thoughts blocked, for her safety.”
“Of courses I will. Don’t worry. Wait, what about Charles? Can they read his thoughts?”
“He doesn’t know anything about this. When I burned the feathers to find my answers, I kept my vision of what happened to her from him. I knew he would not hesitate in punishing the one who did that deed at the airport.”
“You know who did it?”
She moved closer, keeping the secret between us.
“It was Sofia.”
Now, I was confused.
“She took Millie and James?” I asked, shocked. “Why would she involve herself in this?”
“That I don’t know.”
She pushed back a branch, holding it for me to pass.
“We will find out when we get there.”
We went a few miles up the swamp, stopping at a weathered beaten down shanty hidden in the cypresses. The door opened and Sofia came out.
“We have been waiting for you. Come in.”
“You knew we were coming?” Mother asked, walking in with me following her.
“Yes. We knew it wouldn’t be long, with Alixia trying to break through the spell I put on Millie to keep her safe.” I moved past them, going into the small living area and looking for Millie. Then I turned back to her, responding to her assumption.
“Actually, it wasn’t me who found you. It was Mother, using the bird’s feather to get a vision of what happened. Now, where is Millie?”
“Wait a minute,” she said worriedly, grabbing hold of Mother in terror. “There must have been something I forgot in the spell. Lucida, you got rid of all of them, and the birds, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Once I saw, I burned everything, and the spirits of each were released into the light. Neither side will ever know it was you.”
“I’m in your debt.”
Mother reached out, taking her hand.
“Sofia, I do I have one question; why did you take them?”
She closed her eyes, and her lips tightened into a thin line. I knew she was reflecting back.
“Just come with me. I will take you to Millie and James, and then I will explain the whole truth to you.”
She took us down a hallway where the floorboards creaked with every step we took, making me wonder if they were going to hold us. We stopped at a door with a drawn out bird symbol on it. Knocking twice, she opened the door to a dimly lit room.
“Millie!”
“No, Alixia, wait!”
Mother and Sofia pulled me back from her.
“Don’t cross over to me,” Millie said, putting her hand up, her eyes full of fear.
“Why not?”
She looked down and my eyes followed hers. She was in the center of a black, drawn out pentagram with a circle around it, standing between two birds, a live one and a dead one. Both had blood on their beaks.
“What is this? Sofia what have you done to her?”
“I’m protecting her!”
“Alixia, calm yourself. It’s true. She is protecting me. It’s a death ritual, and if you cross over to me, you will break it and they will find us.”
She hesitated, looking over at Sofia and wondering if she should go on. She nodded.
“Anyway, it’s supposed to bring on the illusion that I’m dead, and it was working until I felt you in my head. So, don’t read my thoughts while you are here. It’s weakening the invocation.�
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“I won’t.”
She let out a slow breath, shifting and making the live bird peck at her. She looked down at him, annoyed but not concerned.
“Thank you. We need to be careful now.”
I watched Sofia step over to a lamp and turn it on. She picked up an old, gray, leather covered book and opened it. She looked anxiously through it, speaking with distress in her voice.
“It alarms me that you and Lucida had no trouble solving our deception. It must have been a mistake I made. That can’t happen again.”
“Our? You were part of this, Millie?”
“Yes,” she said, with a hint of smugness. “Sofia and I planned everything before I left Paris.”
I stood there, shaken. She was part of the butchery.
“You were in on the airport deaths with Sofia?”
“Yes,” she said, sneering with no repentance.
Mother could not hold her tongue.
“Millie, this is horrid! Why would you take them? They were innocent. You had no right!”
“They weren’t innocent, Lucida,” Millie said with the same ire. “They were conspiring with the Pure Ones to take me. Tell her, Sofia.”
“It’s true, Lucida,” Sofia said, coming over to us. “Julia and the others were just a cover for the Pure Ones to get into the new societies to watch over James. At the first opportunity, which happened to be this trip back to Baton Rouge, they would have taken James and killed Millie.”
“So,” Mother said, eyeing her skeptically, “why this sudden protection of Millie?”
“Millie has been with me since she was a baby. It broke my heart to see her in anguish after the High Council plagued her baby, and killed her husband.”
She took a quick glance at Millie.
“Now the Pure Ones are going after her. That was when I knew this hunting her had to stop. When I found out that Julia and the others were hovering around her, waiting to strike, it made my blood boil. That’s when I came up with a plan to kill them and take care of Millie’s death.”
“Her death,” I said, seeing Millie standing there in the circle with no reaction. “Millie, you are not going to let her kill you?”
“Yes, Alixia, I am, as soon as you leave.”
“Why are you doing this? You told me you wanted to live.”
“I will live. This will just be a façade. ”
“A façade?” I looked over at Mother. “Do you know what she is talking about?”
Mother nodded.
“What she means is that she will die, and then be brought back to life, as I was. That is what this ritual is.”
I looked at Millie and Sofia as they nodded. I breathed in relief, but was still confused.
“I don’t get, why are you doing this?”
“Because it will break my connection with Marcus. He will feel my death, and so will the Pure Ones and the others tonight. Therefore, when you leave here, you will have to keep my secret.”
Suddenly, her facial expression changed to sadness.
“Alixia, we will leave here after the ritual, and I don’t want you looking for us. We have to say our goodbyes tonight. ”
“Goodbyes? No!”
“Yes, I’m sorry. At the Gathering tonight, it will end quickly. The Pure Ones will get what they want, my death. I will be dead in everyone’s minds. My scent will change and I will be able to move freely, not having any more connection to Marcus. You need to let me go in our mind, too, to keep us safe.”
I felt overcome with hopelessness.
“I’m supposed to think of you as dead now?”
“Yes, this is the only way to make this work. Say you will do it.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Alixia, I love you, but please let go. Sofia, go get James.” Sofia left the room with Mother. I just stared at Millie.
There is no changing this outcome. I’m losing her, to keep her alive.
“Here is James,” Sofia said. She walked over and handed him to me.
“Where’s Mother?” I asked.
“She’ll be here shortly.”
James snuggled right up, taking all my attention. He was just beautiful.
I looked over at Millie.
“What about James? The Pure Ones will…”
“I will be his caregiver until he is called to the Pure Ones,” Sofia said.
I kissed his forehead.
“Millie, I could keep you safe. You wouldn’t have to live a life of pretending.”
She shook her head abruptly.
“No, our ruse will continue. This way, I will get to see my child without the fear of death. “
“Let me protect you, please! I can’t lose you, too.”
“Alixia, please don’t make this hard. Just keep our secret for now.”
“We have to go,” Mother said, coming over. “The Gathering will be starting soon. Give the baby back to Sofia.” I held him close, smelling his sweetness and looking over at Millie lowering her eyes.
“Alixia,” Sofia said, reaching for him.
Facade
I could feel the sting of tears welling in my eyes. How was I supposed to erase her from my mind?
I was screaming inside with grief, wanting to turn around and go back to her. I glanced over at Mother, knowing she was next, and I wasn’t ready to accept that fate either. I wanted her to live.
I moved close to Marcus, keeping Millie blocked out of my thoughts as he put his arm around me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I said, looking up at the moon. Then I sensed the Pure Ones’ arrival, as everyone else around the circle did, too. I watched Charles take mother’s hand openly. They was speaking in French, leaving me wondering what they were up to as they kept eyeing us. Suddenly, the flames grew higher in the center of the circle. Four Pure Ones came through the trees – three men and a woman. Marcus and I stood there watching them enter the circle. As they did, seeing the woman, I remembered her from the West Indies. She was the old woman called Nevaeh. She came at us, angrily.
“Where is she?”
Marcus exposed his teeth.
“That’s what we want to know!”
“You don’t have her?” She looked back at the other Pure Ones with a feeling of disquiet. “You lie.”
“No. You are the ones that are lying. You killed our Family members with your damn birds. So, you tell me, where is she?”
“We never touched them.”
Marcus was surprised as Phillip started toward her and Charles pulled him back.
“They have the right to defend themselves, Phillip. Let her prove their innocence.”
Phillip pulled away from him, glaring at her.
“Then do it, or we will end you with the same butchery!”
She moved back to the other Pure Ones, huddling with them and speaking in their ancient tongues. She turned back to us after a heated discussion.
“As I said, we never touched them. The truth is, we had no idea there was a curse on them until Sofia told us.”
“Sofia was there?” Phillip looked at me suspiciously. I kept my thoughts blocked as she answered.
“Yes, she was there.”
“Why? That doesn’t make sense.”
She twitched nervously, looking out at the Families who were moving in closer.
“Because she came to the Council with a request.”
“A request for what?” I said, jumping in with my own interrogation and stopping Phillip digging deeper to find the truth. She looked at me with a grimace of distrust, remembering our last encounter. Clearing her throat as if her words were stuck, she spoke in her raspy voice.
“She came to us with a proposition. She said she would bring the child to us if we would let her be the guardian of the boy until he was old enough to take his place with the Pure Ones.”
“And you agreed?” I asked, readying myself for a grievous reaction so I could keep up my pretense.
“Yes, and she has him now.”
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br /> “She has him? No, Millie would not let anyone take her child.”
She eyed me arrogantly.
“She did,” she said with a brash tone, as if they had won. “Sofia came to us with the child, telling us she took him from Millie’s arms at her own request, to protect him.”
She looked over at Mother. “Lucida, the Ancients told us that only four came into the light. Where’s Millie?”
I looked over at Mother, along with everyone else, as she spoke with no pause in her words.
“She was not one of the dead when I arrived. Alixia and Marcus witnessed that.”
Neveah pointed with her boney leathery finger at Marcus and I.
“Where is she?”
“She wasn’t there. There was no sign of her.”
Something was happening. I went to my knees. My body felt cold. It was Millie. I cried out, feeling the sensation of her death run though my whole being. She was leaving me. I crumpled, not believing the emptiness in me. It was like the first time losing Mother. The heartbreak was overwhelming.
I looked up hearing Marcus and his Family cry out for her.
“She is dead.”
Neveah went to the ground near the fire.
The other Pure Ones watched over her as she frantically drew an outline of pentagram in the dirt with a knife. She placed white stones in the center, spitting on each one and lining them up in threes. She called to Marcus.
“I need to see.”
He nodded, putting his palm out. She cut into it, letting his blood drip on the stones. He stepped back, watching his blood instantly turn the stones to black.
Nevaeh called out.
“She has been taken.”
Marcus stared down at the stones and shouted at her in a rage of hate.
“By who Neveah?“
”A Dark One,” she said, picking up the stones one by one. She threw them into the fire, watching the flames dance even more. Marcus remained motionless, looking at the flames for a few seconds.
“Whose Family?”
“It was Marcel’s Family lineage.”
She got up. “She has not been returned to the light. Her soul is lost.”
“Are you sure?” Mother asked, strengthening Millie’s deception.
“Yes,” she said, looking over at Mother with irritation. You saw the ritual. It is true!”
Path of Descent: Ambrosine Page 29
