"First we need to do what Moira suggested," Tierra said. Maybe purging Aerin would help with her constant bitchiness. They'd all benefit from that.
"I don't need cleansing," Aerin scoffed. "What are you going to do, baptize me?"
"Or something," Claire muttered. "Let's at least get Grim and see what he has to say."
"Good idea." Tierra rushed back into the sanctuary and picked Grim off the altar and tried to return to the attic. Grim refused to budge past the threshold. "Hey, guys. Something's up with Grim. He doesn't look like he wants to leave the sanctuary."
"That's crazy," Aerin said. "The book's been hanging around the house, even took a trip out of it when War stole it."
"Well, he's found a home he likes," Tierra said, struggling with Grim. "I seriously can't make him leave. Maybe give me a hand?"
Claire reached for Grim, and he flew out of Tierra's hands, landing back on the altar in a poof of dust and stubbornness.
"Well, that complicates things," Claire muttered.
"What in the hairy hell is going on?" Moira asked, looking from the sanctuary to Aerin. "It's like he doesn't want to be around you."
"The book's been around me plenty of times," Aerin said. "So that doesn't make any sense."
"Except since the sanctuary has been found," Tierra said, "could Grim have more to reveal now that he's in the room?"
"Might be," Claire murmured, tapping her lip in thought. "It would explain why he isn't willing to leave. It would follow that the room itself has a certain amount of power, too. What with all the artifacts and such."
"What do we do now?" Moira asked.
"I've had about enough for one day," Tierra said. "I'm exhausted." The weight of her guilt and her pregnancy were taking its toll.
"Yeah, you look tired as a one-finned fish durin' spawning season," Moira said. "How about Claire and I consult Grim, you go to bed, and Aerin . . . well, you can clean up the kitchen, I guess."
"You're putting me on kitchen duty?"
"It isn't like you're good for much else right now," Claire pointed out. She gave Tierra a worried look. "You do look wasted, Tierra. Try and get some sleep while Moira and I search for a solution."
"I hate to leave this all to you." But a nap sounded heavenly. Tierra stumbled through the doorway of the attic, feeling like her limbs were heavy tree stumps.
"Get some rest," Clare said. "We need you on top of your game, too, since we're down a witch. Aerin, help her to bed before she collapses."
Aerin grumbled something under her breath, but took Tierra's elbow.
Everything went black then flashed to red. Nausea hit her so fast that she dropped to her knees and dry heaved.
"What the shit!" Aerin jumped back to avoid anything Tierra might project on her shoes. She grabbed Tierra again, and the insinuating wave of darkness caused Tierra to convulse.
Tierra heard screams as she collapsed in a heap on the floor. She felt immobilized yet conscious of her surroundings.
"Tierra!" Moira screamed, reaching for her only to be propelled back ten feet. She pushed herself into a sitting position and cradled her hands next to her chest. "Flaming toad-twats, that hurt."
"What's wrong with her?" Claire rushed over and got a similar jolt when she reached for Tierra.
Aerin stood off to the side, regarding her sister with skepticism.
"What did you do, Aerin?" Claire asked, kneeling next to Tierra, being careful not to touch her.
"Nothing. I just . . . took her arm."
"Tierra, honey, can you hear me?" Moira asked, venturing closer, but staying far enough away to avoid another shock.
Trapped within herself, Tierra tried to talk. She could hear them, see them, but responding seemed beyond her. She was cocooned tightly within a shell. Frozen, yet not cold.
"Grim!" Moira exclaimed. "Before Aerin touched her, she'd been holding him."
"Grim wouldn't hurt her," Claire said.
"And neither would Aerin. It's gotta be somethin' else."
"It has to be the spawn," Aerin sneered. "She should have gotten rid of that thing months ago."
"Hush your mouth about that," Moira said. "We all agreed."
Claire ran for Grim. Moira hovered like a worried hen over a hurt chick, while Aerin kept vigil far away in the corner, her expression cryptic.
"All Grim is giving me is 'How to perform an exorcism,'" Claire hollered from the sanctuary.
"He can't mean the baby, can he?" Moira asked, horrified.
"Finally, someone is making sense," Aerin commented.
"One more word about that and you're fixin' to get the world's first Manolo Blahnik enema," Moira said. "As much as I hate suggesting this, maybe we oughta call the Horsemen."
"Are you insane?" Aerin asked. "Men are useless when it comes to pregnant women."
"You got a better idea?" Moira challenged.
"I like Grim's," Aerin grumbled.
"What Grim is showing me isn't an option. She's too far along," Claire said from within the sanctuary. "We need a doctor, preferably a magical one. Does anyone remember the name of Tierra's doctor? She's in her second trimester. All sorts of issues could be popping up."
"Actually, I don't think she's seen a doctor yet, on account of having canceled multiple times due to the Apocalypse."
"There's a midwife among the members of the coven." Aerin pulled out her phone and started dialing.
"Did Julian bang the brain right outta your head? The coven tried to kill Tierra." Moira stood and reached for her phone. "I'm calling Nick. He may be a narcissistic domination-hungry asshole, but I sure as hell trust him more than those back-stabbing witches. Claire, before anyone gets here, hide that room again."
Tierra couldn't hold onto the thread of consciousness a moment longer and gave into the welcoming darkness.
Chapter Five
Sharp murmuring voices came at Tierra from across a dark void. Too many voices, a jumbled mix of men and women arguing.
"You called us here to help a pregnant woman?"
"What the hell do you expect us to do? Unless you want us to kill her?"
Focusing, she tried to make sense of the conversation, narrowing in on the one calm, clear tone.
"I believe she's developed a force-field of sorts." The deep timbre sounded like it came from Julian. "As near as I can tell, it seems to be a combination of the flight-versus-fight response. The fight, shocking anyone who tries to touch her, and the flight, sheathing herself in a protective force field. Describe the situation before she collapsed?"
"That's just it," Claire said. "Nothing was really going on. Aerin tried to help Tierra to her room to lie down since she was exhausted."
"All four of you up here in the attic, doing nothing?" Nicholas Kingswood's disbelieving tone carried easily to Tierra and had her heartrate quickening in response. Conquest had killed her once. Now that she was down for the count, would he again shoot her with his deadly arrow?
"I think she's waking up," Moira said. "The force field, or whatever you want to call it, just shimmered. Tierra, can you hear me?"
Tierra blinked her eyes open and found herself surrounded by her sisters, three Horsemen, and another woman with cropped dark hair, and a pear-shaped body whom she'd never seen before.
Something heated inside her and radiated outward, flinging everyone across the room.
"Holy shit!" War hit the wall with a resounding thud.
"What the fuck!" Nick followed, picking himself up off the floor and smoothing his steel-gray suit jacket and adjusting his silver tie.
Julian was slower to gain his feet, but the first to cautiously venture closer, studying Tierra, his thoughtful eyes moving to her womb. "Definitely a force field, but I don't believe it's emanating from her."
"The spawn is doing this?" Aerin asked.
Julian spared her a disapproving glance. "Stay back, Aerin. If you were the last to touch her, she or the babe, might consider you a threat."
"Me? Why? I'm her sister." Nervou
sly she secured a stray hair back into its tight bun.
"That's what we need to figure out. For now, it would be wise for everyone to keep their distance." Julian inched closer. "Tierra, can you hear me? Blink or nod if you can."
Slowly, Tierra blinked. She couldn't move, no matter how much she tried. The feeling was comforting, like being swaddled tightly in a blanket, yet she couldn't stay this way. Her breathing increased and spots swam in her vision.
"Do you hurt anywhere?" Julian asked, his tone soothing and supportive. "Blink once for yes, twice for no."
She took stock of herself, feeling fine other than not having the ability to twitch even a pinky, which was disconcerting to say the least. She blinked twice.
"Good," Julian said. "You're doing fine. No one here is going to hurt you." He turned to the occupants of the attic, taking in each one in turn. "In fact, let's clear the room. Limit whatever or whomever she or the babe deems a threat."
"Shouldn't that include you?" Aerin said.
"Uh, I actually agree with Pestilence here," Claire said. "Aerin, you should be first to leave as this seems to have started with you."
"That's bullshit," Aerin fumed. "There are three Horsemen here, and you want me to leave first?"
"I don't care who leaves first," Julian said, his jaw clenching. "Just get out. For now, Moira and the midwife can stay, since they are healers. As there is a band of witch hunters and religious fanatics picketing outside the wards, why don't the rest of you figure out how to disperse them? In a non-violent manner, if you please. We don't need to increase their fervor. The babe might be reacting to them instead of what is happening inside this room."
Grumbling followed Julian's statement, but they traipsed from the room, leaving the wide-eyed midwife who had taken up residence by the trunks, and an anxious Moira.
"Anything in particular y'all would like me to do?" Moira asked, hovering opposite Julian on Tierra's other side.
"Inch as close to her as you can without triggering the force field. I'd like to know how far it extends."
Moira held her hands up in a non-threating manner as if Tierra had a gun held to her head. She shuffled closer in her flip-flops, until she was about three feet away. "I can feel a . . . charge in the air. A kinda hummin'." She looked down at Tierra. "It's just me, little tadpole, your Auntie Moira. I ain't gonna hurt you, dumplin'."
Julian gave Moira an approving nod.
"Tierra," Julian addressed her. "I want you to concentrate on your breathing. Measured slow inhales and exhales. That's it. Perfect. No one here has any aspirations to harm you or your child. Isn't that right?" The frightened midwife gave a jerky nod, and Moira gave her a worried but reassuring smile. Julian continued, "I, for one, am eager to meet my brother's offspring. While he is . . . away, you and the babe have no better champion than I. You are safe with me. Blink twice if you believe me."
Tierra released a cleansing breath, surprised that she did believe him, and blinked twice. Her hand twitched and a shower of white and pink angel fire blossoms cascaded around her, dissolving the force field and allowing her to move. She sat up and Moira instantly enfolded her in a bone-crushing hug.
"Goddess almighty, but you scared the bejeezus out of me."
Tierra wrapped her arms around Moira, breathing in deep her comforting scent of summer sea breezes and magnolias. "I'm okay. Just would like to know what the hell happened."
Julian was the one to answer. "The infant is more in tuned to outside forces than you realize. Now, I'd really like to know what was transpiring when all this began."
Tierra shared a look with Moira. "Really it was nothing. I was going to lie down. Could it be that I'm just exhausted?"
"I highly doubt that. Exhaustion seems an odd reason to have the fetus react in such a strong manner."
"What about the Bible thumpers and witch hunters outside? Could they be causing this?" Moira suggested, though Tierra knew she didn't believe that any more than Tierra did.
"Unlikely as the wards are doing a fine job keeping the riffraff out, and by your accounts, she went into this state before they arrived. They could be adding to the stress though." Julian adjusted the leather gloves covering his deadly hands. "It would be a good idea for the midwife to examine you." He turned and spoke to the midwife in question. "Do you know who I am?"
"Y-yes," she answered, visibly quaking.
"Then you are aware that one touch from me will be your last."
She gave a jerky nod, swallowing audibly.
"Take great care with Tierra. Your very life depends on it. Understood?"
"Y-yes."
"Your allegiances lie with her now, and not the Sisters of the Serpent. What you have witnessed and will witness goes no further. If I hear that you failed in following my directives, it won't be only you I will infect, but all who originate from your gene pool."
"Y-yes, sir. I promise."
Julian stared at the midwife for a second longer, seeming to be satisfied. "I'll take my leave of you then. Tierra, I'm glad that you are feeling better. After the midwife has examined you, and if you feel up to it, I'd like a moment of your time."
Tierra gave him a jerky nod. How did Aerin allow this deadly man to touch her? Just being under his steely stare was enough to make her feel queasy.
Julian exited the room, and Tierra released a relieved breath.
"Damn, but he's a scary son of a bitch," Moira muttered. "Gives me a case of the all-overs. Let's get you up and off this dusty floor. You there, snatch-miner, give me a hand."
The midwife rushed over, and between the two of them they got Tierra to her trembling feet. "Whoa, I'm dizzy."
"Have you eaten enough today?" the midwife asked.
"Sorry, but what's your name?" Tierra asked.
"It's Lila. Lila Sullivan."
"Sullivan?" Tierra did a quick mental search of the citizens of Port Townsend. "Are you related to Sunny?"
"Yes, she's my niece. Her father Basil is my brother."
"Well, then you'd better take to heart what Pestilence told you," Moira said. "Sunny's like a family member to Tierra and the rest of us."
"I know, and thank you for helping Sunny and her family during these dark times. And just so you're aware, I wasn't present, nor did I have any part in what the coven did to you at Ambrosia's."
"Good to know," Moira said, guiding them down the stairs and into Tierra's room.
They helped her onto the bed, and Jinx jumped up and nuzzled Tierra. "It's all right," Tierra assured her familiar, who curled up next to her.
"That remains to be seen." Moira turned to Lila. "Do your thing, but remember, I'm watching your every move."
Trembling, Lila opened a black bag that Tierra hadn't noticed before and took out a stethoscope. "How far along are you?"
"She knows the exact date of conception," Moira muttered.
"Just shy of five months."
"Have you felt the baby kick?" Lila asked.
"No, should I have?"
"Tierra's li'l tadpole's been kicking ass," Moira muttered.
Moira was right, so why hadn't Tierra felt it moving inside her? Worry swamped her. She'd tried to pick up books on pregnancy and couldn't make herself read them, as if doing so made her situation real. On some level, she knew without a doubt she would do anything to save her child, but on the other hand, it was incomprehensible—with zombies, the looming Apocalypse, and her sending the baby's father to Hell. The amount of things she could deal with was limited. And this pregnancy was huge.
"At this stage, you might not even know what the sensation feels like," Lila said. "Many first mothers disregard their babies movements as gas."
Lila raised Tierra's dress to under her breasts, revealing her swollen belly. Moira covered her lower body with a quilt, giving her a much-needed sense of privacy.
Lila placed the end of the stethoscope on her distended stomach, moving it left to right, and then she stopped. She checked her watch and gave Tierra a reassuring smile. "I'm pi
cking up a very healthy heartbeat. Would you like to hear?"
Tierra nodded, words suddenly failing her. Lila handed the stethoscope ends to Tierra, and she worked them into her ears. Her throat closed with emotion as she heard the quick fluttering of her child's heartbeat. It was rapid and strong and very, very real.
"Can I listen?" Moira asked softly.
Tierra nodded and wiped away tears that had appeared from nowhere.
The stethoscope was transferred to Moira. Her eyes widened, and a huge grin lit her face. "We'll don't that just beat all."
"I'm going to feel around your abdomen." Lila's hands were warm and confident as they moved over Tierra's belly. "You're too thin. What have you been eating?"
Moira laughed. "Pork rinds and bacon are about the only foods she's been able to keep down."
"How bad is the morning sickness?" Lila frowned. "You should be over the worst of it by now."
"She's had a rough go of it." Moira supplied when Tierra couldn't bring herself to speak. "What with members of your coven poisoning her with brimstone."
"Brimstone?" Horrified, Lila snapped on a pair of latex gloves, fished out a disinfected wipe and began searching for a vein to stick with a needle. "I need to take some blood and have it tested."
Tierra tore her arm out of Lila's grasp. "No. No blood." She held Lila's startled look longer than what was comfortable.
Lila slowly lowered the needle. "I would never use a witch's blood in that way. This is just to help you and the fetus. It will give me a better idea of what we're dealing with."
"And just what kind of lab would you send it to?" Moira asked.
The last thing they needed was for her and her unborn child to become a science experiment or for someone else to get hold of de Moray blood. Like the coven or worse, Lucifer.
"No lab," Lila reassured. "I have my own clinic, and everything I do will be kept confidential. I won't even tell my staff. You can trust me."
They didn't need to bring up Julian's threat. It was there to see in Lila's pallor.
Still, there was no way Tierra would freely give up her blood. From her earliest age, she had been trained to never allow anyone to use her blood. She had routinely burned hair and nail clippings and had never given blood. She wasn't about to start now—not with the stakes this high and so many enemies at their gates.
Which Witch is Wild? (The Witches of Port Townsend Book 3) Page 11
