by Sarra Cannon
“If you do not want to watch both your lover and your child die tonight, I suggest you leave this room. Now.”
“Please, my love, go,” Solomon said, his eyes locked on Mary Kathryn. “No matter what happens to me, make sure she lives. Our love will live on through her someday, and she will be powerful. She will be strong, like you. Be strong for her now.”
“I can’t lose you,” she said.
Mary Kathryn flung her arms around the vampire, crying her disgusting tears against his shoulder. I was tempted to hurt her for this show of emotion and weakness, but I only had two minutes to begin this ritual, and I couldn’t waste time nor energy on her drama.
So I let her have her moment, and then I nodded to my guard. She wrapped her hand around Mary Kathryn’s arm and pulled her away.
“I love you,” Solomon said. “I will always love you.”
“I love you, too,” Mary Kathryn said.
The way their eyes locked made me sick to my stomach.
“Enough,” I shouted. “Get her out of here before I change my mind about letting her live.”
“Come on, sister. Please,” my guard said, and Mary Kathryn nodded, her sobs echoing through the room until she was safely upstairs and out of my way.
“Get on with this,” Raum said.
“You do not command me, vampire,” I said, shooting him a look of warning. “Speak to me like that again, and I will consume your soul along with Solomon’s.”
Raum bowed and backed away slightly.
Yes, fear me. They will all fear me.
The hour struck three, and the ritual began. I recited the words I’d been given, and a deep purple light appeared within the darkness of the stone.
Excitement flooded my body as I lifted the chalice. “Bring me the dagger,” I said.
One of my crows handed the dagger to me, and I brought the tip to my wrist and cut along the surface of my flesh, spilling my own blood into the cup.
I recited the ritual words and dropped the necklace with the onyx stone into the cup. Then, I waited for the portal to be opened. For the demon to be dragged into the center of its light.
Instead, the light from the stone turned blue—the color of sapphires—and rose into the air like mist. It wrapped around my body, holding me in its clutches. I tried to reach for my power, but the spell had cut me off from it.
Panic filled my soul as the magic swirled around me. It seemed to pull pieces of my power out of me, and I felt myself weakening. My skin shriveled as I choked on the mist that seemed to pour down my throat, as if the mist were pulling my life from my body.
Suddenly, a face appeared inside the swirling sapphire mist. A woman much like the one who had come to my small village all those years ago and promised me great power.
“Priestess Winter,” I said in a whisper.
“Yes,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “I know you sent a little crow into my home as a spy. How stupid do you think I am? To know that you’ve been searching for this ritual for so long, hoping to gain my level of power makes me pity you, Mary Alexandria. You showed such promise, but you never could figure out your place.”
I clutched at the mist as it circled around my throat, cutting off my breath.
“I placed that spell for your spy to find. I wanted you to see my face and know that you will never have the power of the Order of Shadows. You were not worthy of it,” she said. “And now you will pay the price.”
She reached out a hand and squeezed my neck, but I fought against her, pulling from the great well of darkness that flowed inside my core. I pushed her back, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.
I fell to my knees and poured the blood from the cup onto the onyx stone, dousing the mist. The light faded, leaving the room in near-darkness.
“Bring me Mary Linda,” I said, my voice low and strong. I stood and straightened my robes, noticing as I stared at my hand that it looked suddenly older. Wrinkled and decaying, as if I had aged fifty years in an instant.
My daughter brought the girl to me, her body trembling as she fell to her knees at my feet.
“You have failed me,” I said. “You have brought me a useless spell.”
“No,” she said as I placed my hands around her throat. She struggled against me, but I was much too powerful for her. “I found the book inside Priestess Winter’s library. I did exactly what you asked of me.”
“You set a trap for me,” I said. “And you will die for your betrayal.”
I breathed in, summoning her power from her body and consuming it.
I crushed her neck and let her drop to the floor like a doll against the stone.
I had never known such anger, but the emotion filled me with determination. Purpose.
I walked over to the demon still chained near the stone and placed my hand on his chest.
I closed my eyes and breathed in, attempting to pull his spirit and power into my body. I would have my demon slave, despite the Order of Shadows and their tricks.
But as I siphoned his power, a bright white light emanated from his eyes. It burned me, as if I had swallowed fire. I screamed and stepped away from him.
The power flowing through me caused me to take a step toward the stairs, as if the demon was controlling me. Forcing me to do his bidding and leave him here.
I reached deep within myself, tapping into my own power and dousing his with rage.
“What have you done?” I asked as I stared at my hand. The decay had gotten worse in the spot where I had touched him.
“Take his power,” Raum said. “We made a deal.”
“Shut up,” I shouted. I had forgotten he was still here, and I didn’t need his voice in my head.
Solomon didn’t say a word in protest. He seemed to be meditating. He looked strangely peaceful for a demon who was about to die.
And I would have this power for my own, one way or another.
I walked over to the bloodied cup and removed the onyx necklace holding the large soul stone.
I recited the words to activate the stone and pressed it against Solomon’s chest. He cried out and fell to the floor as the stone glowed from within.
I smiled and stood over him.
“You will be mine now, demon,” I said. “Maybe not in the way I imagined, but your power will heal me and make me young again.”
I turned my hand over, staring at the decay and frowning. What had that witch done to me?
Solomon writhed on the floor as his power flowed into the soul stone, and I kicked him over onto his side so that he could look up at me. See my eyes as he died.
But instead of the fear I expected to see, there was defiance. Determination.
“You may steal my power, but you’ll never be able to use it for yourself,” he said, each word a struggle through the pain. “I was once made of darkness, but your daughter reminded me of my light. She is my redemption, and you cannot use that kind of love to fuel your evil.”
I knelt at his side and placed my hand on his mouth so that he could not speak. I would not listen to the ramblings of a dying vampire.
He screamed in pain against my palm, and I laughed as the last of his spirit turned to smoke and was sucked into the black stone.
When Solomon was gone, I turned to Raum and told him the deal was done. He bowed and left, and when I was alone in the ritual room, I leaned over and took the soul stone in my hand with a smile.
I placed it around my neck, as I had done with so many soul stones in the past. I drew the power into myself, breathing it in like air.
At first, it felt good. Strong. But then, it burned as it flowed through me like lava.
I closed my eyes and saw flashes of him. His love for his son, a demon boy with golden hair. His love for my daughter. For the child they had created.
The images seared into my memory, burning me up from the inside. I picked the chalice off the floor of the ritual room and screamed as the skin on my face wrinkled and decayed before my eyes.
I ripp
ed the necklace off and flung it across the room with trembling hands.
I screamed for one of my daughters, and when she looked at me, terror flashed in her eyes.
I hid my face and scrambled back into the corner of the room. Into the shadows.
“Take that stone and destroy it,” I said.
“A soul stone can’t be destroyed until the spirit within has been used,” she said, taking the broken chain in her hand. “You know that, Mother.”
“Then get it as far away from this village as possible and make sure that it’s never seen again.”
She bowed and ran from the room, leaving me to my sorrow and pain.
I had been so close this time. So close to the power I truly deserved.
How had it all gone wrong?
I woke from the memory, shaking. I sat up and wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them tightly to my body.
So, Silas had been telling us the truth. My parents truly loved each other, and the Mother Crow had taken him and placed him in that stone. She’d tried to open her own demon gate and failed.
Was the large stone still here in the village with her? Did she carry it with her from place to place, hoping that someday she would be able to complete her dream?
But what truly had me shaking and speechless was the one thing I’d longed for my entire life.
I’d finally seen my mother’s face.
River Of Stars
Rend
The journey to the Brotherhood’s castle took much longer tonight than it had the last time I was here.
Was that really just a few days ago?
By now, it seemed an eternity had passed since Silas had appeared on that throne and handed down the order to kill the Mother Crow. If only he had given me some other task. Anything else.
But he couldn’t have known what the Mother Crow would do or that we would be standing here in this hellish situation now.
I tried to focus only on the task at hand, because if I let my mind wander to Franki and her new connection to the Mother Crow, a darkness would come over me that would distract me from the job I had to do tonight.
One more step. Rescue her mother. If we could win this night, we could find Franki.
After that, we would figure out how to save her. There was still time.
We gathered on the docks, just outside the view of the castle’s entrance.
“Connery, tell me what you can sense nearby,” I said.
He sniffed the air and shuddered. “Darkness like no other,” he said. “Horrible things have happened in this place. So much death.”
I swallowed. Yes. This place was a death palace. Thousands of witches had lost their lives in this castle, and I hated that I’d ever had a part in it.
“Beyond that?” I asked. “Do we need to move closer?”
Silas had been right about coming in the dark of night. The castle grounds were still as death. No animals ever dared come into the woods surrounding this place. It was as if they could sense the evil that lingered here.
“There’s a particular smell of earth I can’t quite place,” he said. “Magical with a hint of decay.”
“The Hollows,” Silas said. “Any vampires around? Or humans?”
“Yes, some vampires, but the scent is faint,” he said. “Distant, though. Somewhere inside the castle.”
I nodded. “Ryken and the others,” I said. “Our brothers who acted against the Devil. They were sentenced to the dungeons here until I completed my task. There’s nothing closer?”
“Other than that, I can’t sense anything,” he said.
I relaxed my shoulders slightly. “Good, but we need to act quickly and as quietly as possible,” I said. “We’ll make our way through the woods and around to the back entrance. We’ll likely have to face two Hollows there, but the entrance to the dungeons is just around the corner from that entrance, so hopefully we can avoid any others until we’re down there. Silas, how many Hollows are usually assigned to the dungeons?”
“Four on rotation,” he said. “But my intel is twenty years old. It’s possible they increased security down there with the vampires being held.”
“We’ll move slowly, then, taking them out one at a time,” I said. “If we have to face them all in a group, we might never survive. Besides, if even one of them manages to escape, we’re lost. The Council will be able to prove we invaded this place, and they’ll throw me in the dungeons and declare Dagon the winner of this challenge. I can’t have that happen.”
“It won’t,” Azure said. “I’ve been working on a few extra spells for just such an occasion. They might come in handy tonight. But I’ll need to reserve some of my power to be able to cast them.”
“I’m counting on all of you,” I said. I passed out the gypsum bombs, five for each of us except Connery. I needed him to focus on his observations, not fighting. “If a Hollow spots us, this is our first line of defense. Aim for its face and as soon as the bomb has started to work on it, hit it with every destructive thing you have.”
“What will this do?” Connery asked, taking one of Azure’s bombs and turning the small round bottle over in his hands. He leaned forward, sniffing the brownish green concoction.
“You’ll see before long,” I said. “Just make sure your aim is true. These Hollows don’t have eyes, but if they look at you without their sunglasses on, it paralyzes you. I honestly don’t know if they’ll have the same effect on a werewolf, because I’ve never known a werewolf to enter this place, but for sure it will work on demons and witches. Just be careful and aim for the face.”
“Will do,” Azure said, putting her bottles in the bag with the black pearls.
“Connery, take my hand. We’ll shift together. You guys meet us around back,” I said.
“Here we go again,” Connery said, shaking his head as he placed his hand in mine. “You know, you really need to work on a potion that will—”
I didn’t wait for him to finish. I shifted to smoke and flew around the edge of the water until I could safely snake my way through the shadows of the forest. I could feel Silas and Azure close by, but I didn’t stop to check their locations. I clung to the shadows, mine and Connery’s bodies now nothing but black smoke that mingled with the darkness.
The castle was enormous, built by Solomon and the Devil in the nineteenth century, decades before I had come to this world.
The back entrance was much plainer than the front, but as I had suspected, there were two Hollows guarding the simple arch that led into the structure itself. They stood still as statues, completely unmoving with their legs slightly apart and their hands clasped behind their back.
I took solid form deep in the trees and waited for the others to join us. No one spoke. For now, we held the advantage of a surprise attack, but one sound would alert the guards to our presence.
I took a gypsum bomb from my satchel and motioned for the others to do the same. I pointed to Silas and then to myself, and he nodded. On my cue, he shifted to smoke and followed me along the ground, slowly at first until the trees no longer hid our dark forms.
As soon as we reached the rocky ground just outside the cover of the woods, we shot forward, reforming just a few feet shy of the two Hollows. The conjured beings moved quickly, but they weren’t fast enough. The moment the one in front of me removed his sunglasses, I threw my potion directly into his face.
Glass shattered on impact, and the creature opened its mouth. No sound came out, but I could feel its pain and its rage.
What had looked like skin now turned to mud and dirt, as if its face were melting. He lumbered forward, clutching at the air.
I glanced over to make sure Silas had landed his bomb, and when I saw him step forward, his own dagger firmly in his hand, I reached for the Dagger of Truth at my waist and pulled it from its sheath.
The magic that held the clay golems together was concealed inside a human heart deep in its chest. The heart had been removed from a witch and infused with demon magic that had tran
sformed the clay men into living, breathing Hollows.
I ran forward, aiming for that heart.
The Hollow’s hands wrapped around my neck and squeezed with a level of strength I hadn’t been prepared for. I quickly shut the pain from my mind and shifted to smoke, oozing out of its grasp and snaking around its body.
I reformed behind the Hollow and drove the tip of the dagger into its back. The Hollow’s skin was even harder than I expected, and the dagger didn’t reach far enough. I pulled it back with all my strength, removing it from the Hollow’s body just as he turned on me. I shifted again and flew a few feet away, quickly reaching for my satchel again. I hated to use a second bomb to kill one Hollow, but I had no choice.
I had to loosen the clay surrounding its heart if I wanted to kill it.
I smashed the second bomb over my dagger, letting the gypsum concoction coat the entire surface.
The Hollow reached for me again, but I side-stepped, maneuvered around to his back, and plunged my dagger into the hole I’d created moments ago.
This time, the dagger hit its mark, and a bright light of pure magic seeped from its wound like a flowing river of stars as the beast fell to the ground, lifeless and still.
Azure had joined Silas in battling the second Hollow, and she’d been watching me. She carried a curved scimitar in one hand, its hilt adorned with a daisy, a yellow sunstone at its center. The mark of the Summer Court.
She smashed a gypsum bomb against the blade of her weapon and buried it in the Hollow’s heart. Magic spurted like blood from an artery at the wound in its chest, and both Silas and Azure backed away.
Within seconds, both Hollows turned to dust before our eyes.
I turned to stare at the castle’s back entrance as a large, grey wolf emerged from the woods. He trotted up to my side, his head coming nearly to my shoulders.
We were ready.
Whatever was waiting for us beyond those doors would determine our fate. Victory or death.
