Skeptic

by Denise Mathew

  Her voice quavered, and unshed tears sparkled in her eyes. "I should have been the first choice. I know my mother was weak, but I wasn't."

  "What are you talking about? You don't even know who your mother is. Gran Lucy was the only person who cared for you..."

  Mira's expression softened. "She was my Guardian, nothing more, a stupid old sentimental fool who wanted to keep me safe and..." She turned her face away. "She lied to me, didn't tell me that my mother was a product of a magickal union between a Voodun Priestess and a druid, and I killed her for it."

  I narrowed my eyes, and my breath hitched.

  "You killed Gran Lucy? I thought she had a heart attack..."

  "You could say that, a knife to the heart, heart attack, it all leads to the same thing."

  She laughed, and it was a cold sound, that sent a shudder through me.

  "Nanny Flo helped me clean up the mess, she didn't want any police sniffing around our neck of the woods you know..."

  She leveled her gaze on me. "I guess she saw something in me that she liked that day. And since you were turning out to be a waste of space, showing none of Jade's potential, I started learning the craft."

  I did my best to understand what she had just told me, and when the truth sunk in, I was shell-shocked. To kill the very woman who had taken care of her for her whole life, and to show no remorse for what she'd done, was beyond evil.

  "Where are your real mother and father?"

  "That's none of your business," Mira spat, taking a step closer. She stopped, and scrubbed her hands over her face.

  "I can't believe that you killed Gran Lucy. I guess putting my head on the chopping block was easy business, next to that," I hollered, rearing on her.

  Mira's face went rigid. "I shouldn't have put you in the ceremony. It's one of the biggest regrets of my life."

  And just like that, she threw another curve ball my way. Knowing that Mira was sorry for what she had done all those years before, made me soften a little, and I swallowed a few times trying to reign in my emotions. She studied my reaction, then her eyes narrowed to slits, and her mouth formed a straight line.

  "I'm not sorry that I almost got you killed, you stupid little bitch. I'm sorry that when Nanny Flo found out what I had done, she kicked me out and I..."

  She raked shaky fingers through her matted hair, before her eyes lit with renewed fury.

  "But I learned all the same, didn't I?" she said, almost to herself, and the lunacy in her eyes was hard to miss. "And when I was powerful enough she took me back, and we were...until you came back, and ruined everything."

  Her nostrils flared and she stuffed her hands in her armpits, her whole body shook uncontrollably. A bitter smile twisted her mouth. "You and your damn mother, shit all over my world and now..."

  She cupped her head in her hands, clearly teetering on the edge of insanity. "It's all gone to hell and she's left me again, but today I'll get retribution and then she'll open her arms to me and..."

  "What are you doing Mira?" Atticus boomed from behind me.

  I spun to face him. I had been so focused on Mira, that I had completely forgotten about him. He stood at the door, his fists clenched into white balls, his face a mask of rage, and it didn't take me more than a second to see that he too, was blocked by whatever spell Mira had cast.

  Mira swept past me with a newfound grace, her face instantly glowed with enthusiasm.

  "I knew you'd come for me," she said in a childish voice, and shot him a coy grin. "But why did you bring her?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

  His lips pressed into a hard slash, before he gave her a stiff smile.

  "I knew it was you leading me here all along. I brought Elise so we could share her power, but I see that you were going to have her all to yourself," he said, arching an eyebrow.

  He crossed his arms over his thickly muscled chest.

  Mira shook her head violently.

  "I'd never do that my love, I was going to share. I always share with you."

  "Then let me in," he said, running his tongue across his top lip suggestively.

  Mira drew in a long sigh, then darted toward the kitchen table just a few feet away. She rummaged through an oversized canvas duffel bag, tugged out a small green cloth bag, and moved toward Atticus, sprinkling the powder from the bag in her wake, all the while chanting foreign words.

  Atticus stepped across the threshold, and in a few long strides, dragged Mira against him.

  She wrapped her body around him, clinging and kissing him greedily, and he responded in kind. They crushed their bodies against each other, grinding, bumping, and moaning as their hands simultaneously squeezed and searched for the right spot to take hold.

  Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Atticus broke away.

  "Later baby," he said, flicking the tip of his tongue across her bottom lip, and she grabbed his crotch then released a low throaty growl.

  "Do you have my tools?" he asked. Mira flushed, and her eyes gleamed. She nodded, then practically skipped over to the canvas bag on the table, and removed a smaller black bag that I recognized as Atticus's.

  Rage and indignation bubbled up in me, and I barreled forward.

  "Liar," I yelled. I slammed his chest with the palms of my hands, and smirked when he fell flat on his ass.

  "Bitch," Mira screeched, letting go of the bag.

  She swung her splinted arm across my cheek, and it hit me with a sickening crack. The pain was immediate, and stunned me. I staggered back, and she came at me again. My senses cleared enough to see that her irises had turned pure black. She muttered more unintelligible words, and without warning, something invisible kicked me hard in the stomach. The force of the blow knocked the wind out of me, and I dropped to my knees, clutching at my abdomen.

  Mira strode forward, and glared down at me triumphantly.

  "You're finally going to get exactly what you deserve."

  "Wait love," Atticus said.

  He came to stand beside Mira, and wrapped his arm across her shoulders. She turned her head, and hungrily latched onto his mouth. He kissed her, then nuzzled her neck, biting her skin hard enough to leave marks, before pushing her away. He snatched the bag from the floor, unzipped it and withdrew his athame. Without a hint of hesitation, he jabbed the tip of the blade into the fleshy part of his hand, and blood welled. Before Mira could move, he jerked her hand forward and jabbed her palm, then mashed their hands together. He turned Mira's hand over, and when her blood dripped onto the hardwood floor, there was a loud hiss like water on a sizzling frying pan.

  "What are you doing?" Mira asked, her eyes rife with confusion.

  Atticus grabbed her broken arm, and twisted until she winced.

  "Don't do this," she pleaded. "We can drain her, enjoy her power together and..."

  "I don't want anything with you," Atticus snapped.

  His face exhibited revulsion, and Mira went limp in his grasp, then fell to her knees, suspended by the arm that Atticus still held.

  "How did you do it?" he yelled. "How did you trick me into coming here?"

  "Baby, please, I only wanted us to be together. It was a simple spell."

  "How," he bellowed, giving her arm another wrench, and from the malevolent glare he shot her way, I was sure he was treating her much more gently than he wanted.

  "I went back, after you were all gone. I used the residual energy to see what Jade transferred to you. I knew that she wanted you to go to her house, so I cast a spell to make you think that this was the place."

  Mira's face was pale and sweat trickled down her cheeks. "I knew that you didn't really care what happened to Elise, and that you had told Jade whatever she needed to hear..."

  "Where's Jade's house?" he said, cutting her off.

  Mira's head flopped forward. "I burned it," she whispered.

  "No," Atticus yelled, and it seemed like the whole house shook with the force of his voice. He released Mira, and she crumpled into a ball at his feet. He br
ought his eyes to me, and tugged something out of the waistband of his jeans. The obsidian mirror glinted in the light.

  "Hang on to this, we're going to need it in a few minutes," he said, then tossed it over to me. I caught it, dumbfounded.

  He went to his knees, and used the blood that had puddled on the floor to draw a quick pentagram around Mira, who was still huddled on the floor.

  "I summon the great ones. I summon you to avenge the wrongs that have been done in the name of magick. Enter Elder witches, I beseech you."

  "They're coming Elise, run," Tansy said.

  She had materialized beside me momentarily, then just as quickly, had vanished.

  "Atticus, what are you doing?" I yelled, but it was already too late. Wind whipped around the room, and years of dust and grime flew into the air, filling my eyes and blurring my vision.

  "Get the mirror ready," Atticus ordered.

  His gaze rested on me for a second, and I saw both terror and love in his eyes.

  "The Elder witch ghosts are coming for me," he said.

  31. ATTICUS

  When he heard Mira's voice trailing from the house, Atticus realized with grim understanding, that he had been tricked. He had underestimated Mira, and it was already too late to turn around since Elise was inside, which meant that he had to think of a plan fast, before things went from bad to extreme.

  When he tried to enter the house, he was hit with a force field that was surprisingly potent. Atticus wasn't sure how Mira had managed to conjure a spell, strong enough to both lure him to the house, and block his entrance and was beyond pissed that she had outmaneuvered him.

  As he had hoped, Mira responded to his voice, and by the look she shot his way, she still trusted him.

  "I knew you'd come for me baby. But why did you bring her?" Mira asked, gauging his reaction. For a fraction of a second, Atticus didn't know what to say, but years of lying worked to his advantage, and had him fabricating a lie faster than most people could remember their name. Deception rolled off his tongue so easily, that he almost believed it himself.

  As soon as the spell dissolved, he'd barreled into the cottage and was well aware that any sign of concern about Elise's wellbeing, would likely set Mira off, and hell knew what she would do if that happened. She'd always been a loose cannon and it had been a trait that he, for the most part, had appreciated about her.

  "Do you have my tools?" he asked.

  When Mira nodded, his heart skipped a beat. He hadn't expected her to have his tools, and was pleasantly surprised.

  After the ruckus with Elise, who was painfully out of the loop, he tugged the athame from his bag, and began the spell that would hopefully pull the iron from the flames. For a brief moment, he wanted to slit Mira's throat, finish her quick and painlessly, because whatever use she had once been was finished. Now she was as valuable as a plastic bag, common and easy to find. Yet, knowing that Elise was watching his every move, forced him to alter his plans.

  With Elise safe behind the obsidian mirror, he finished casting the spell, and waited for the Elder witch ghosts to arrive. He didn't plan to join them in the Underworld right then, but he wasn't stupid enough to overlook the fact that by conjuring them, he was taking one of the greatest risks of his life. One mistake on his part, and it would all be over, and the Elder witches would finally have him for eternity.

  The temperature in the room went sub-zero, and the wind that swirled around them was seeded with ice crystals. A surge of energy swept through the space, bringing with it, more power than Atticus had ever felt before, and it took him off guard. He released his hold on Mira, and watched as the grayish-black silhouettes of the Elder witches, materialized around the pentagram. He tried to move out of the circle, that was rapidly forming around him, but was held in place by unseen psychic glue. The abnormally high amount of magickal energy that the Elder witches had conjured in the cabin, made him question his decision to summon them in the first place, and now he regretted not just killing Mira, but it was too late to go back.

  "We are here," the Elder witches hissed in one voice, and it sent terrified chills through him. He no longer knew if he was capable of dodging the bullet, that he had aimed and fired at his own temple.

  "Why are they so powerful?" he said, more to himself than anyone else.

  The smell of sulfur and brimstone was now so strong that it choked him, and his mind went foggy. He summoned what strength he had left to locate Mira, but she was gone from view, seeming to have become part of the spirits. Knowing, that if he didn't transfer some of his energy to Mira soon, the Elder witch ghosts would take him instead, Atticus searched for her face among the sea of ghosts advancing on him.

  "Mira," he said, through choking gasps, but she had somehow managed to escape the circle, and he had no idea how. The Elder witches pushed in even closer, their daggers in hand, ready to draw blood to open a vortex into the Underworld and suck him into its depths. When they were just a hairsbreadth away from striking, Atticus forced his muddled thoughts to focus on a way to undo the mess he had made. Closing his eyes, he gathered his wits, and blocked out his all consuming terror, and tried to work out a plan that would allow him to escape.

  Since levitating was one of the most difficult spells he had perfected and required pure concentration, he needed to unhook from his surroundings. Even with chaos around him, Atticus managed to shut out the howls of the Elder witches, keen on their prey. He went deep into his mind to the only place where the laws of the universe didn't exist. Sweat peppered his brow and soaked his shirt, and he felt his body rise ever so slightly. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he had just cleared the floor, but he knew it wasn't enough. Then he did the worst possible thing he could, he gazed into the bloodthirsty eyes of the Elder witches. He shifted his gaze to the points of their daggers, just inches from his body, and instantly whatever gains he had made disappeared, and he dropped back to the floor.

  With no more tricks up his sleeve, he was forced to accept the unwelcome truth, he had lost. Scanning one last time for Mira, he found Elise instead. He was relieved to see that she was safely outside of the circle, and held the obsidian mirror in front of her chest. Elise's eyes locked on his, he detected horror in her stare and he understood why, when he spotted the blade of the athame pressed against the cords of her neck. Although it seemed impossible, Mira had somehow managed to break out of the circle, and had gotten to Elise.

  "No," he shouted, his voice echoing through the space. He lunged forward, only to receive a volley of slashes for his efforts.

  "Did you really think I still trusted you Atticus?"

  Mira's voice rose high over the din of the Elder witches, who were now chanting Atticus's name. They had locked on his blood scent and like tracker dogs; they wouldn't stop until they caught their quarry.

  "You bitch, you tricked me..."

  Mira nodded, and a mocking smile spread across her face. "I'm not that stupid, I've trained too long to be fooled by you. The Elder witches came because I summoned them. Silly boy, you're powerless here."

  He lurched forward again, and daggers rained down on him, piercing his skin and turning him into a bloody mess.

  "This is an energy vortex Atticus, all magick is heightened here," she said with a cackle. "Except of course yours, no, Atticus my darling, I've bound you, so now you're as helpless as a kitten."

  She raised her splinted arm into the air and shook the poppet that was a miniature replica of Atticus.

  "Sorry baby, but you're screwed. It's too bad really, you were an excellent lay, but I'm sure I'll find another druid to warm my bed soon. Hell, when everyone gets wind that I took you out, I'll have them beating down my door to congratulate me."

  Atticus wanted to curse at her, but he didn't have the strength to do it, because the Elder witches had already started draining him, and with his diminished magick, there was little he could do to prevent their attacks.

  He heard Elise yell his name, and he wanted to apologize for failing her,
for screwing up everything and inadvertently causing both of their deaths, but he felt hollow inside, as if the Elder witches had already consumed his life force. His legs went out from beneath him, and he began his rapid descent into an abyss of blackness. As he plummeted, he wished he had the luxury of a normal death, because he knew the next time he opened his eyes, he would be in the Underworld, where only an eternity of suffering and torture awaited him.

  32. ELISE

  Everything happened so fast, that it was impossible to keep up. For a few moments, it seemed as if Atticus had the situation under control, but then everything started to fall apart. I watched as Mira slipped easily from Atticus's hold, and jumped out of the circle. Speechless by how rapidly the tables had turned, I watched helplessly as the Elder witch ghosts fell upon Atticus.

  "He never had a chance," Mira said from behind me, and I felt cold steel against my throat. She laughed in my ear, and it was a merciless sound.

  "Men are so gullible. He should have known that the residual energy would show me everything, including the fact that Jade had repaired his soul...now that the thing called Dakota is part of him, and he has a conscience, he's useless," she snarled.

  Atticus's head turned toward us, as if he had heard Mira. His eyes locked on me and I couldn't stanch the flood of emotions that coursed through me, the biggest of which was regret, because no matter what Atticus had done to me, I didn't want him to die.

  "The stupid bastard thought he could fool the Elder witches into taking me," Mira snickered. She pressed the athame against my neck until it bit into my flesh, then pushed a little more.

  The Elder witch ghosts attacked Atticus relentlessly, and even though he was still on his feet, he no longer put up a fight. I called out his name, pushing against the athame at my neck trying to escape. Atticus's eyes glazed over, and I knew he couldn't hear me anymore. Then he was falling, and I heard Mira's hideous laughter over the chants of the Elder witch ghosts.

  Time stilled, and all sounds faded, until only my ragged breathing was audible. A blinding light appeared directly in front of me, and I squinted at its brilliance. When it dimmed enough for me to see, I spied a dark-haired pale-eyed man, encased within it.