by Apryl Baker
“But her grandmother knows she was with me,” Sebastian sighed. “How do you fix that?”
“Did anyone besides her grandmother see you this morning?” Mandy asked.
“No.”
“Simple memory potion,” Mandy told him. “She’ll never remember. All she’ll be able to tell the cops is that Melinda went for a walk and never came home. Don’t worry, Bas. I’ll take care of this. No one will ever know you had anything to do with drowning her.”
“Drowning?” Sebastian asked. “I never said anything about her drowning.”
“You know what I mean,” Mandy said. “Her death.”
Oh, the little bitch. She put that into my head. I guarantee it.
“Mandy, is there something you’re not telling me?” Sebastian asked. “Do you know what happened to Melinda?”
I heard pacing, then a long, drawn out sigh. “Yeah, you called me earlier. You killed her and threw her in the lake, Sebastian. You were freaking out, and I told you to calm down, to take one of the memory potions we made last week. I didn’t hear from you after that.”
“You’re telling me I did that, that I killed her?”
“Yeah, Bas, you did, but we’re going to fix it. I swear, you’re going to be fine. No one will ever tell. It’ll be our little secret.”
Their little secret, my ass.
I pushed open the door and swaggered into their little group. Xavier knew not to go in just in case he had to swoop in and save us. Madison, Wes, and Lori were all sitting on the couch. Brandon and Mandy were standing, facing Sebastian. All eyes widened when I walked in.
Brandon smiled. “I didn’t think you’d go down that easily, pet.”
That wasn’t Brandon. It was the eyes. They were older, more intense. Same color, just different. His smile grew wider when he realized I understood his secret.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Euriel,” he said with a smile. “I must thank you for releasing me. I’ve been locked away a long time, and it feels so good to be out.”
“What did you do to Brandon?” I demanded.
“Now, now, don’t go and get all concerned about poor, innocent little Brandon,” Euriel said. “He’s not nearly as innocent as you think. It was his idea to use Jenny as the sacrifice. He kept his hands clean, though. He had to. Manuel saw to it that at least one of his Coven members kept their soul free of darkness.”
Brandon offered up my sister to be slaughtered? Brandon? How could I have been so wrong about him?
“His soul isn’t free of darkness, not if he did that,” I said.
“Perhaps free is the wrong word,” Euriel agreed. “There is no blood on his hands. Taking a life is a sin that is hard to come back from. It taints your soul, opens it up for darkness to take hold. I needed a relatively clean soul as a host. Brandon was the only one who could be my vessel. He has the bloodlines for it. It’s why I had Manuel recruit him into the Coven. He took to it like a duck to water, as they say.”
“Well, I guess Sebastian is the only one worth saving.”
“Bas was a problem from the beginning,” Mr. Simon said, coming out of the shadows. His face looked bloody. What happened to him? “I thought he would be the easiest to manipulate because he acted as shallow as Mandy. Turns out he had morals and principles.”
“What did you do to me?” Sebastian all but growled. His body was tensed up. He looked ready to hurt someone, anyone.
“Your soul couldn’t be corrupted, so I had to find another way. I cast a spell from Euriel’s book. It gave me control over you, and you never remembered what you did for us when we needed you to help us do things your conscience wouldn’t allow.”
“Like what?” he demanded.
“Like killing Jenny,” Mandy told him, her black eyes swirling with malice. “You chanted right along with the rest of us, ensuring she killed herself.”
Sebastian actually staggered back. I caught him before he fell. I’d hoped he’d never learn that. It was going to mess him up in the future. Maybe casting a memory spell of my own was in order. I’d ask him first, though. If he needed to remember this, it wasn’t up to me to take it away from him.
“And now you really are going to kill Melinda,” Wes laughed, and Mandy started to weave her spell again.
“Servus tenebras, clamávi ad te,
et audi vocem meam audiunt.
Veni ad me, mihi dicto obedire.”
This time, however, Sebastian’s eyes didn’t darken. They remained clear. We’d taken our little immunity potions right after leaving Gran’s instead of waiting until we arrived at the school. Best not to tempt Fate. Mandy frowned and tried again, but nothing happened. Sebastian grinned and lunged for her, his hands wrapping around her throat and squeezing. Euriel looked at them with amusement while everyone else rushed to pull Sebastian off her.
“Touché.” Euriel nodded to me. “You know something as simple as that won’t work if I decide to take your mind.”
“Oh, I know,” I said. “That’s why it’s infused with my Coven Mistress’s blood.”
His smile faltered, but only for a moment. “You’re building your circle already?”
“Of course,” I said, nodding. “I let you out, and it’s my responsibility to put you back in.”
“Do you think I’m going to let you out of here alive?” he snarled. Brandon’s boyish features turned hard, vengeful.
“You don’t have a choice,” I told him quietly, while slowly pulling power into me from the Earth. This had to be timed perfectly or I stood no chance. “You can either flee right now, or get put back in the underground box that was your prison.”
“You don’t have that kind of power, child,” Euriel sneered.
I smiled. “I survived all five Elements didn’t I?”
His sneer became a snarl. His hand flew up, and white light began to emanate from him. I pulled up a shield about the same time the light shot toward me. If that hit me, I had no doubt I’d be fried. Hey, I watch Supernatural same as everyone else. The show’s writers had to get their information from somewhere, and I was betting they had geeks who researched Angels and all their badassness.
He hit my shield twice more. It shook with the force of those energy blasts. My body took a hit each time, but I held my ground. I was tapped into CJ’s power. I just hoped she stayed out cold. I was pulling from her, and if she woke up, it would hurt. A lot. I’d lied through my teeth to Ethan when I promised him she wouldn’t feel a thing. The potion I infused with her blood hadn’t hurt her, wouldn’t hurt her, but this, this would hurt. Technically, if this didn’t wake her up, she wouldn’t remember it. Her body would feel it, but she wouldn’t remember the pain I was causing her right now.
“You’re stronger than I thought.” Euriel’s voice had grown rougher, bearing no resemblance to Brandon’s anymore. “You’re tapping into another member of your circle, aren’t you?”
I could hear the fight behind me, but tried not to let it distract me. I knew if it got bad, Xavier would grab Sebastian and take him to safety. “This is all me,” I bluffed. “Trust me, if I tapped into her, you’d know it.”
Euriel’s eyes narrowed, and the room began to shake. Unfortunately for him, Earth was my element. I used his rumblings to gather more strength from the Earth, pulling the magic he was using into me. Just when he reached out his hand, I unleashed all the power I had at him. The floor exploded around us, opening gaping wounds into the ground itself. The energy I lashed out with hit Euriel squarely in the chest, and he flew through the wall, temporarily knocking him out. He may be an Angel, but he was an Angel in a human body, and that was what I was banking on. Humans fracture, and it would take him some time to heal before he could regain control over that body. At least I hoped it lasted until I neutralized his little group of wannabes.
I searched for Sebastian, but saw that Xavier had already grabbed him and was dragging him to the door. I turned my attention to the rest of them. Mandy’s eyes glowed with her fury,
and she started to chant. She thought she could cast another spell on me? So not gonna happen.
“Silentium,” I whispered, and she stopped immediately. The good old silence command backed up with a bit of the Spirit Element always did the trick. I could hold two Elements without a lot of pain, but it pushed my limit. Three would kill me.
I reached out with Earth and found roots growing beneath us. I pulled them up through the broken earth and wrapped them around Mandy. I squeezed. Her mouth opened in pain, but no sound came out. I’d silenced her. She could scream all day and no one would hear her. I could crush them all, and no one would be the wiser. It would be so easy to do that.
“I knew I liked you,” Euriel whispered. “You’re as dark and angry as I am.”
Lori and Wes tried to run, but I waved a hand in their direction. The Earth erupted beneath them and threw them backward. They landed in front of Madison, who was cowering in the corner next to the now mangled couch.
“This destruction, this is all you,” Euriel said, his voice tickling my ear. I shuddered, repulsed, but at the same time, intrigued. I could feel the power coming off him. He’d recovered so much faster than I thought. “Imagine what you could do if I showed you how to tap into the darkest parts of your soul. The magic we could create.”
The darkest part of my soul…I was there now. Despite my best intentions, dark magic had always called to me, lured me into its web. This moment was no different. I could feel the blackness calling, telling me to destroy those who destroyed mine.
“All you have to do is let me in.” Euriel’s voice felt like silk. “Let me in and we can do so many things.”
Let him in? What did he mean by that?
“They murdered your sister, Melinda,” Euriel continued. “With my help, you could do the same to them and no one would ever know any differently. That’s what you were just thinking, wasn’t it?”
Yes, I had been thinking that. I wanted to hurt them like they’d hurt Jenny. Make them suffer for the months of torture they put her through. Months of self-loathing to bring her to the point of suicide. They’d used magic against her, so why shouldn’t I use magic to exact my revenge?
“It’s a choice, Rose.” I glanced up to see Xavier standing a few feet away from me. “It’s your choice.”
“Remember what they did to your sister.” Euriel’s voice was whisper soft. My hands clenched in response, and the Earth beneath me rumbled, expressing my anger for me. “Is it fair they get to live when she died? That they suffer no consequences? Who will punish them if you don’t? Let me in, Melinda. We can do this together. We can make them pay the same price they exacted from Jenny—their lives.”
It would be so easy to do that. Euriel was right. It wasn’t fair they got off scot free after what they did. They deserved to be punished, to die. Why should they go on living when Jenny was dead? It wasn’t fair.
“Life isn’t fair, Rose,” Xavier said, staring into my eyes. His own onyx gaze burned into mine, and I got the distinct impression he was looking straight into my soul like he had the first day I’d seen him at the airport. He didn’t like what he saw, and it made me squirm, much as it had that day. I didn’t want him to look at me like that. I wanted to see his eyes full of warmth and joy, not regret and pain.
“Let me in.” Euriel’s voice became insistent. “Let me in so we can be free of this, so we can do what we are meant to do.”
“Yes, Rose, do what you are meant to do,” Xavier said, a sword appearing in hand. “The choice is yours. Destroy us both, or save us both.”
His soul was tied to mine. If I made the wrong choice, I’d damn us both. If he killed me, we’d both die. Could I do that to him? No. I could do it to myself, but not to Xavier. I couldn’t. I heard Euriel hiss in my ear, scream something incoherent, but I took a step toward Xavier. He held out his hand, and in a few more steps, I’d reached him. He gently took my outreached hand and pulled me to him. I was surrounded by the smell of stones. It soothed me and helped to clear my head.
“I knew you could do it, Rose,” he whispered. “I knew you’d make the right choice.”
“It was hard,” I confessed. “I could feel his power, Xavier. I wanted it.”
“We all have darkness inside of us, sweetheart,” Xavier said. “It’s what we do when faced with temptation that counts. You made a choice, Rose. You made the right choice.”
“Would you have killed me?” I asked softly.
“To save you from Euriel? In a heartbeat.”
The determination in his voice didn’t scare me like it had before. I felt safe knowing someone cared enough to save my soul even if it meant my death. Insane, I know, but true nonetheless.
“Where is he?” I asked, looking around for Euriel. I didn’t see him anywhere. That panicked me. I started gathering energy to prepare for the next strike.
“He’s currently looking for a new body,” Xavier said. “Either that or he’ll have to wait until Brandon’s is healed enough. You put a hurt on that boy.”
I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for Brandon. He’d willingly offered my sister up as the sacrifice. My eyes turned to where the rest of them were huddled in the corner. Mandy was still held by the roots I’d ensconced her in earlier.
“How are we going to explain all this?” Sebastian asked from behind us. “This place looks like an earthquake hit it.”
“Well, it did,” I said. “My Element is Earth. When I use it, I can cause damage that closely resembles an earthquake.”
“What about them?” Sebastian asked. “What do we do about Jenny?”
“I’ll deal with them.”
My head whipped around to see my father standing in the doorway, looking around at the mess. He was tall, his head almost brushing the top of the doorway. His short cropped brown hair was covered in dust. He must have been here for a while to be covered in debris. His eyes landed on Mandy, and they hardened. When they came round to me, the fury still burned in them. Damn, was he mad, and I was so gonna get it.
“Dad…”
“Don’t, Melinda.” He held up a hand. “You should have told me.”
“I know,” I whispered, “but they’re not witches. I didn’t think you could do anything.”
Dad shook his head, but I interrupted before he could say anything. “Daddy, it was Jenny. I couldn’t risk them getting away with this because the Council was bound by stupid laws. If you play with magic, then you should have to answer to the same rules as everyone else. Humans don’t. There was nothing you could do that would be ordained by the Council. I could make them pay for killing her. To me, I was the only one who could. I would have lived with the consequences of that action.”
“Melinda, do you honestly think I would let them get away with murdering my daughter?” Dad’s voice shook slightly. “You’re right, in they aren’t answerable to the Council, but they are answerable to the police.”
“She killed herself, Dad. It was ruled a suicide.”
“Yes, but they are all going to confess to forcing her to do it,” Dad told me. “Right after I bind them from ever doing magic again.”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t thought of that. Why hadn’t I thought of that? It was so simple!
Xavier chuckled. “You weren’t supposed to think of that, Rose. This was one of those events I was telling you about. Certain things have to happen and cannot be changed, no matter how much we try to change them. You had a choice. This happened so you could make that choice. Thankfully, you made the right choice for both our sakes.”
“You’re her Protector?” Dad asked, his eyes narrowing when they noticed how tightly Xavier’s arms were wrapped around me.
“Yes,” Xavier said. “I’m that and a little more.”
“What…?”
“I’ll explain it all to you later, Dad. What are you doing here anyway? How did you find me?”
“Your grandmother told me what was going on, and I rushed over, but it looks like you were able to take on a Fallen One a
ll on your own.”
“I was lucky,” I sighed. “If I hadn’t taken out his vessel, he’d have had me.”
“That’s why you’re my daughter, Melinda.” Dad smiled. “Me and you, we think on our feet. You guys go on home and let me get started on the clean-up. I need to call the Council and let them know what happened so they can help with the cover story.”
“What about me?” Sebastian asked. “I deserve everything they get too. I helped to kill her.”
His whole demeanor was hunched in on itself, like he was in pain. “No, you didn’t, Sebastian,” I told him. “You were under a spell and had no way to fight it. You would never have hurt her. You loved her.”
“How am I supposed to live with that, James?” he asked. “Even if I can’t remember it, I did it. I know I did it. I don’t know what to do, how to feel.”
“What if you could forget?” I asked. “Forget that you did anything? You loved her. That’s all that matters.”
He shook his head. “No. It wouldn’t be right. I did it. I helped.”
Dad placed a hand on his shoulder. “Son, Jenny was my daughter, and I don’t blame you for this. You shouldn’t blame yourself, and I’ll see to it that you don’t. In fact, you’re going to help me with this. Mel, go home and leave Sebastian to me. He’ll be okay. I promise.”
Sebastian didn’t look like he was okay. I wasn’t going to take his memory from him, but my dad? He would in a heartbeat. I could live with that choice. “He needs to remember today, everything that happened with Euriel. I think we’re going to need him. Whatever you do, he can’t forget that, Dad.”
“He won’t.”
I nodded and let Xavier lead me outside. Dad would take care of it.
The cold air felt sharp against my face when we emerged into the night. I knew I was in for a long lecture from my dad, as well as more explanations than I was ready to give right now. The next couple days would be hard. At least those little wannabes were going to get it. My dad would make sure they confessed to the murder, and it would be airtight. If I knew my dad, he’d make sure Sebastian’s memories reinforced the confessions. He may even be the one to find out and report it. Whatever Dad did, Sebastian would walk away feeling better, like he helped, brought the truth out about her murder. He would be okay, and he and I would be friends for as long as we lived. I knew that. He would remember today.
