by Patti Larsen
Memories of fangs in my throat, of Batsheva Moromond, being drained, fleeing into the veil, left for dead in a mummy state, trapped in the dark... I shuddered, slamming all of the power I had into Alison.
She held on, my magic slipping through her, parts of her wavering and insubstantial, though her claws cut the skin of my arms where she held me. Again I lashed at her, maji power slicing, but she just laughed at me, body reforming, teeth descending.
“That all you got, Hayle?” She whispered against my skin as I realized in panic my magic wouldn't work against her. “My turn.”
I felt the air of the room shift just as the first prickle of her teeth touched my flesh, the black, blooming flower beneath me gaping wide in a surge of welcome as someone triggered sorcery just past Alison's ghostly shoulder.
She shrieked, pulled away from me, spinning to hiss at Demetrius Strong who lunged through a circle of black, arm extended, crystal aimed at her, a grim smile on his scarred face.
I reached for her with my own sorcery even as Alison howled her fury and vanished.
Gasping, clutching at my neck, though she hadn't drawn blood, I dropped the shielding around my door, allowing the desperate people on the other side to finally enter. Stupid, I should have allowed them through when I realized I'd lost.
And I'd better believe I'd be hearing just that from the three furious faces glaring at me.
They didn't get to dive into chastisement, not while Demetrius trembled, coming to help me to my feet, clutching at my hand.
“They own her,” he whispered, the former leader of the Chosen of the Light now my only ally with a connection to the bad guys.
Wait a second. What had he—Oh no.
No.
“The Brotherhood?” I was having trouble breathing.
He bobbed a nod, bright blue eyes wide and shining. “They captured her,” he said. “Tortured her. For information. For things she knows about you.” He shivered. “About all of you.”
I swallowed hard as the next level of guilt settled around me like a weight. “She's almost real.” Not quite. I looked down at the welts on my arms where her claws nearly broke the skin. “My magic went right through her.”
Some kind of hybrid, my vampire sighed. I feared this would happen.
“You must destroy her.” Demetrius's shivering didn't quit, sending vibrations through me thanks to his grip on my hand. “Abomination.”
“How did she get in?” Shenka's voice sounded calm, though she looked pale, her dark skin gray with worry. “This place is tighter than a bullfrog's back end.”
Demetrius shrugged. “Sorcery,” he said.
“They sent her.” Had to be the Brotherhood. “But why now? Why tonight?” Distraction?
Again he shrugged. “They need something from you,” he said. “Tasty treat, that Sydlynn Hayle.” His big eyes rolled around as he slipped further from coherence and deeper into his damaged mind.
“Demetrius.” I pulled my hand free, gripping his arms, shaking him ever so slightly. His gaze refocused as I spoke. “Can she become real? All the way?”
A soft whine escaped him, Charlotte twisting her head and wincing as her wolf senses went on overload.
“Mustn't,” he said. “No balance.”
Hang on. “Alison is part of the balance?” How was that possible?
“She's an unknown.” He snapped into lucidity as though he'd never lost it. “A wild card. While you and Ameline are necessary, there is a part of Alison connected to you, to sorcery, to the maji through blood magic. The Brotherhood want it to happen. Consider it important. Which means we must oppose it.” He flinched, shook like a rag doll, collapsed against me. “But, more immediate, she is a weapon,” he whispered. “If she becomes real, she will be a tool against the vampires, unkillable because, unlike them, she's already been dead. Not just undead.” He looked up, grinned like it was funny as I lost him to insanity again. Giggled. “Now isn't that special, jiggity jig?”
Another lost soul come full circle. I had to go after Alison.
Demetrius seemed to have another idea. He held up his crystal, jabbed it at me. “I'll catch her, just you wait.” He dodged back from me, grinning like he'd lost another pair of marbles from his dwindling collection. “Been tracking her, haven't I? Be right back, don't you know.” The air around him shimmered before going black, oozing around to envelop him before he waved and vanished.
***
Chapter Sixteen
The kitchen filled with the aroma of pancakes, soft talk in the late night/very early morning, the sky nowhere close to hinting at dawn. Gram wielded her favorite spatula like a weapon as Charlotte hovered by the door, staring out into the dark. Shenka squeezed my shoulder as she went about her usual business and I realized then, we'd made ourselves an oddly organized and predictable family. With a routine. I felt like the 50s dad who sat around while life went on without him, waiting to be served.
Charlotte's low growl and subsequent reach for the door made me tense, only to relax as she pulled it open to reveal a yawning Trill.
“Felt a disturbance in the house,” she said. “I take it something happened?”
She listened quietly, helping herself to pancakes as I told her about Alison. I sighed. One more thing to worry about, one more loose thread I let fall and fray because I forgot or was distracted by other things.
“You need to let Demetrius take care of that echo.” Gram slammed my plate down in front of me personally, glaring with her faded blue eyes. “We have bigger things to worry about.”
Like saving the Sidhe. I'd been hoping something new would come to me, but all I could think of was Ameline.
Right. I had more to tell them.
I spilled the beans on the visit from Iepa while Gram swore around a mouthful of breakfast, Sassafras's tail thrashing so hard he dipped the tip of it in my syrup, a trail of sticky mess painting the table top as he thrashed back the other way, spraying Charlotte with a fine mist of maple.
“I don't trust this maji,” he snarled, chin white with a bead of milk he swiped away with one paw as Charlotte glared at him, carefully dabbing the gooey mess from her cheek. “She seems to only show when it's convenient for her and never with the kind of information you could really use.”
Trill wiped her lips with her napkin before shaking her head. “No,” she said, “Iepa might be many things, but she's trustworthy.” Her grimace told me there was a lot she hadn't shared yet.
“Evidence?” Trill, I trusted.
“She saved me, saved all of us, my brothers and I.” Trill’s hand vibrated with a soft tremor. “When she wasn’t supposed to interfere. The maji punished her for it, but she helped us anyway.” Tears stood in her eyes, thickened her voice. “So, I believe in her, Syd. That she has our backs. Even when it doesn’t seem like she does.”
I could have prodded her for more info, but what would be the point? She didn’t seem all that willing to talk about it and I wasn’t sure it would make me feel better anyway. Besides, there were things she didn’t know, nitty-gritties I had yet to share. Figured we'd have time to exchange full-scale war stories maybe when we were old.
Oh, right. I wasn't going to grow old.
I knew for most people the idea of living forever wasn't a bummer, but I couldn't help thinking differently.
Gram thudded both fists on the table, grim scowl pulling at the deep lines around her mouth. “Damn the maji,” she snapped. “Damn the fates.” She crossed her arms over her chest, thin nightgown strap falling from one narrow shoulder as she kicked me with her bobbing foot. “And damn Ameline Benoit.” She stared at me, chin tucked low, gaze dark under her lashes. “If only it was that easy, saying damn them all.”
If only. I'd take it.
Or would I? Sucker for punishment.
“If freeing Ameline means saving the Sidhe and defeating the Brotherhood,” Gram said the unthinkable before I could stop her, “then that's what you have to do.”
No nonsense. No second gues
sing. No doubt.
I wished.
“I agree with Ethpeal.” Trill's voice carried, despite the low, softness of her words. “I don't know how to help you, to keep you safe, but if there is anything I can do, just ask.” She met my eyes with her dark brown ones, almost black in the early morning. The white light over the stove glowed behind her, lighting her black hair with frost. “But like Owen, Apollo and I, there must be balance between the light and the shadow for you and Ameline.”
“She will fight for the dark maji.” How could I just set her loose? Maybe I could control her somehow, keep her prisoner myself?
“She will,” Trill nodded, no trace of doubt on her face. “And they will embrace her. I believe that is the key, Syd. She will release them from their ties to the Brotherhood, steer them back on the path they were meant to take so both sides can rally to attack our real enemy.”
“And the army?” That would make me feel better. Trill's maji army. Who knew how many maji blood were left and what they would look like coming together? She'd been tasked with gathering them and I felt badly I didn't ask her how she was getting along with that.
But the gentle, almost loving, smile on her face made me pause.
“Syd,” she said, voice full of happiness, “there is no army. I misunderstood. It's not the ranks of the blooded we need.”
“Then who?” I was so sick of these riddles, half-truths, being led around by the nose, a straight-forward answer would be nice for once.
“You,” she said. “You are my army. The souls of the maji bloodline all lead back to you.”
***
Chapter Seventeen
I retreated from the table, leaving them to talk, needing to escape, to spend some time alone. Especially after Trill's little reveal about me.
A one-woman army. One maji?
Whatever.
As I settled cross-legged in the center of the pentagram, hoping the family magic would keep me safe if Alison made a comeback, a familiar furry form rubbed against me. Sassafras climbed into the hollow my legs made. I stroked his silver body, hearing his purr begin, but softly, without the push of magic behind it.
We reached for the veil together, as though we thought of it at the same moment, tearing open the way between planes until my sister's magic reached back. Meira sat at a desk, watching us through the veil between worlds, large window behind her showing the multiple suns of Demonicon glowing, a frown of worry on her face.
“Are you all right?” She stood, approached the gash between planes. “Should I come through?”
The touch of Ahbi's spirit flowed around me before retreating back to the edge of the veil. But it made me smile, enough Meira relaxed and sat again.
“I've just had a bad day,” I said. “I wanted to fill you in.”
And I did, Sassafras helping, while my sister, so mature, so much more at ease with her position than I was, nodded sagely before sitting again and steepling her hands in front of her.
“Talking to Mom is out of the question, considering what you told me.” Meira stared down at the surface of her desk while she pondered.
“Agreed.” Sassafras leaned against me, purr now silent. “Miriam's ties to the Council power have rendered her useless to us.”
Worse, it made her our enemy. But I didn't say so out loud.
“If I do this,” was I really saying what I thought I was saying? “If I free Ameline,” shudder, shiver, hell no, “and we deal with the attack on the Sidhe, I could always return her to prison.” Could I really? We'd see. But it sounded better than letting her go, even though Iepa and Trill both seemed to think I'd have to. And made the idea of letting her out keep me from the brink of puking over the family pentagram.
Meira's steady gaze held me. “What do you mean, if?”
Sigh.
“You might want to be ready.” Funny how I felt more confident telling her than my father. He might be Ruler, but she felt powerful to me, in control of herself. Less like my little sister and more like an equal.
Imagine that.
“I've linked my own magic with that of Grandmother's spirit.” Meira let me feel the connection even as Ahbi touched me again, as though offering the same. But I rejected her, gently and she retreated without emotion. This was Meira's role to fill, not mine. “She'll let me know the moment something happens.”
I felt suddenly better, found myself smiling even as I mentally fist-pumped. The Brotherhood couldn't have anticipated this. That the former Ruler of Demonicon would now be part of the Node supporting the planes, how her granddaughter would be able to communicate with her.
Had to be an advantage they didn't anticipate.
At least, I told myself so.
“Bet Theridialis and Henemordonin are both having fits,” I said. “Proof Ahbi is still with us.”
Meira winked. “Why do they have to know?”
Fair enough.
“Please,” Meira said, some of her old softness showing as her grin faded, “take care of yourself, Syd. And if it comes down to it, you know you have a place here.”
If they arrested me, she meant. Decided to burn me.
Syd. When. Inevitability loomed.
“Thanks,” I said. “I'm already working on it.”
Meira waved, disappearing as the veil sealed shut. The feeling of Ahbi's power lingered until my side of the veil healed and then she was gone.
Impulse drove me to hug my demon cat to me, rubbing my cheek against the top of his head as he began to purr again.
“I'm screwed no matter what I do, Sass,” I said. “If I don't act and the Sidhe fall, it's the beginning of the end.”
He twisted until he could look up at me, amber eyes glowing, but keeping silent.
“And if I free Ameline,” I said, “the Council will try to kill me for breaking the law.”
“Try,” he snarled. Sighed. “I know.”
I let my shoulders sag, released all of the tension I'd been holding, finally welcomed the family magic pooling beneath where I sat to rise and embrace me. “I think you know where this is going.”
He nodded. “You're going to leave the coven and work alone to protect us.”
I didn't answer. Didn't have to.
“I would do the same, in your position,” he said, suddenly brusque. “However, we need you yet, Sydlynn Hayle. And you need us.”
I hugged him. “I'll always need you.” When I let him go, both of our eyes swam with moisture. “I won't give up the family magic unless they arrest me. And I'm counting on you to guide Shenka when it happens.” Because, frankly, it was inevitable, and we both knew it. I was now on a path, made my choice, I realized. I was about to get up, leave everything I knew to set loose a terrible evil in the hope she really could help me save the world.
“You're leaving the coven to her?” He didn't sound surprised.
“She's the logical choice,” I said, a little shocked how calm I felt. But now that the decision was made, I actually did feel better. Confident. Calm. I'd probably do some freaking out later, but for now, I'd take it. “She'll make an excellent leader.”
He nodded. “I agree,” he said. “Though most seconds wouldn't, you've chosen one who is as happy to be subordinate as she is to take command. Well done.”
Fate again? Maybe. I felt the sadness of the family magic as it clung to me, but knew it would support my choice if the time came.
When. I was having real trouble with that word.
I wondered if my length of leadership would be some kind of record.
Thought of Mia and her crumpled power, her loss of the Dumont magic and shuddered.
Nope.
“Just promise me,” he said, “you'll talk to me first before you make your final decision.”
“They might not give me a chance,” I said. “If I'm in prison, Sass, you won't be able to reach me.”
“Please,” he said, pupils huge, ears flattening to the side as his whiskers drooped. I'd never heard him so desperate. “Please, trust me.
”
“Okay.” I hugged him again, kissed him gently between his eyes. “Bossy cat.”
“Stubborn child.” He head-butted me.
A single sob escaped me as my calm cracked just a little. “Sass,” I whispered. “Thank you. For everything. For being here for me even when I wanted you to go. For standing by me no matter what. You've always been by my side, and I love you for it.”
A soft whine escaped him as he sagged in my lap. “Syd,” he choked around a thick voice. “I love you, too.” He opened his mouth as though to say more, but shook himself instead. “I'll always be here,” he said. “Always.”
I rocked him as we hugged again, taking comfort from him as I did as a child. My fondest, oldest memories had Sassafras in them, I realized then, as well as my darkest and most fearful. He was my constant and the thought of walking away from him broke my heart.
The air beside me shuddered as I spun, shaken free of my sadness in a surge of fear, feeling the emptiness of sorcery stirring in the basement even as a black hole gaped and Demetrius ran through.
He fell into a crouch beside me, eyes gaping huge, hands trembling as they grasped at me, pulling me toward him.
“Come,” he hissed. “You must. She is there and it is terrible.”
“Did you find Alison?” Sassafras hopped down, amber eyes blazing as he watched the shaking sorcerer. I stood, almost welcoming the distraction from my rising grief at what was to come.
“They are in terrible danger.” Tears glistened in Demetrius's mad blue eyes. “Terrible. And she's going to ruin everything.”
“Who?” I took his shoulders in my hands, squeezed, shook him just a little. “Who is in danger, Demetrius?”
“Your family,” he said. “The vampires.”
***
Chapter Eighteen
