The Undying

by Patti Larsen

  Even as I felt my grandmother fall.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Panic tore a hole inside me, drove me to abandon Alison, abandon my own sense of safety, pushing me to run for the house.

  To Gram.

  Who I couldn't feel anymore.

  It wasn't until I crossed through the family wards her power touched mine again. But dim, so dim, and failing by the moment. I couldn't think, breathe, speak as I rushed through the empty house to the back door.

  Into carnage.

  Charlotte lay sprawled on her face, half inside the house, cheek and bleeding nose pressed to the stone of the walk way. Shenka sagged on the grass nearby, passed out, skin so pale I thought she was gone.

  Two black-robed Enforcers lay just past her, bodies smoking, the scent of burning flesh slapping me in the face.

  But I didn't focus on them, not while my eyes flashed over their dead bodies.

  To the limp old woman collapsed in the grass.

  I ran to her, fell on my knees, pulled Gram's body into my lap, screamed a sob as I poured power into her. She was so far away, felt like Galleytrot did when Ameline took his power. Like Charlotte had when she almost died.

  But this was Gram, powerful, unstoppable. Invincible like me.

  She had to be.

  Had to.

  I felt her fighting to come back to me, latched onto her, pulled her up from the black threatening to smother her and steal her soul. Her chest rose in a gasp, eyelids fluttering, power returning slowly, oh so slowly, even the Sidhe soul inside her fought for life.

  I gave her everything I had. Vampire, demon, Sidhe, witch. Used sorcery to drain the life force from the very ground beneath me, forced it into Gram. Ignored the feeling of the Wild Hunt stirring as I disturbed their rest.

  Let them rise. If Gram died—

  No.

  Never.

  “Syd!” I didn't move when I heard Trill call my name, felt her next to me as she fell beside me, reached for Gram. “Syd, what happened?”

  “You were here!” I spun on the maji girl, fury and terror cutting giant gashes in my soul. “Why did you let this happen?”

  Not her fault. So not. Mine. All mine. Trill's face crumbled as she stroked Gram's forehead.

  “Ameline,” she whispered.

  Ameline.

  She would die. And I would be happy to kill her.

  Gram's pulse sped up, power gushing out of her like an open wound. I hunted for the gash, tried to seal it. Felt Ameline's power in the way.

  Lashed at her, even as the pain of hurting her sliced more ribbons of agony.

  I told her, Ameline sent, cold and detached, a clinical observer of my grandmother's weakness. She'd already taken one from me.

  This one she could not have.

  Light and Dark, balance or not, I drove my power into her, felt her collapse under the assault, writhe free like a snake with a snarl of rage.

  Save her then, if you must. But I'll see you again, Sydlynn Hayle. When the time comes.

  Bitch. I threw myself at her through our connection, felt her sever it.

  No time to chase her. No time while Gram was dying in my arms.

  The memory of holding Ahbi, of feeling her blood on my hands, how her body went limp, the last breath of life escaping tore a giant sob from me.

  Nonononononono. NO.

  I spun down into the darkness trying to take Gram away from me. Clawed my way to a stop, pulled myself out. And brought my grandmother with me.

  I blinked away tears, panting for breath. Reached for the one person who could help me save Gram who still fluttered, weak and lost.

  MOM!

  She came to me, in a rush of power, flaring blue magic bursting overhead. Mom's magic met mine. Yes, she was here, we would save Gram now, go after Ameline together and everything would be fine—

  The Council power grasped me and jerked me back from Gram, slamming me into the ground.

  No, what was she doing? Incoherent screams escaped me as I fought with my body, unable to focus my power away from Gram as I tried to support her, felt Mom cut me off. Off. Over and over I tried to reach Gram, only to have the Council's full power pin me as Mom came to stand over me, fury vibrating from her.

  I couldn't even bring myself to use my magic against her, still battering the edges of her wards around Gram. I had to save her.

  Please, just let me save her.

  “Sydlynn Hayle,” Mom said in a voice shaking with rage. “You are under arrest for freeing Ameline Benoit from prison.”

  What the hell was wrong with her? “Mom!” I barely pushed enough air out of my straining lungs to speak, gathered my mind to string words together. “Gram needs help. Please.”

  Varity appeared next to Gram, bent over her, face grim and tears on her cheeks. When she met my eyes, hers were full of hate.

  “Where is Ameline?” Mom's sharp question distracted me.

  “Help Gram!” I fought harder, feeling my maji power rise, the swelling of my sorcery begging to absorb the magic holding me down. But I didn't care about me, not now. Not while my grandmother lay limp and unresponsive, her power link to mine so weak I could barely feel her at all. “Mom, you can't let her go!”

  The Council power wrenched me to my feet, two Enforcers securing me between them.

  “Take her,” Mom said, disgust and rage washing over me as she sliced open the veil.

  No. Not this way. I had to save Gram—

  Something dove past my shielding, already gaping wide thanks to my grief, and struck me so hard the world went black.

  I spiraled into it, falling and sobbing, still screaming her name.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Three

  They gave me Ameline's cell. Of course they did. I sat, dressed in a white robe just like hers, bare footed on the cold stone floor. My magic was intact, at least. They'd done nothing to block it off. Which made me wonder about the wards in the stronghold and why they weren't worried I'd bolt.

  Which I planned to do. Eventually.

  This time was very different from the last. No nice suite of rooms, no playing at “asking me questions.” No fooling around with the coven leader who broke so many laws they probably didn't even need to hold a trial to sentence me to burn.

  I really had to give up the family magic. Just freaking do it already. Before they held my continuing leadership against the coven. But I promised Sassafras I wouldn't, that I'd wait and talk to him first. And since I had no communication with the outside world...

  Yeah. Who was I kidding? My reluctance had nothing to do with Sass. I was afraid, plain and simple. Not just for me, but for Shenka. And for Gram.

  Gram. I could still feel her, at least. So she was alive and well. Or, alive, anyway. The rest would have to wait. Her touch was the only thing keeping me from busting out of here. Until I knew if she was going to be okay, I couldn't let go of the family magic. Because her part would leave with mine and for all I knew the coven's power was the only thing keeping Gram alive.

  Because the elements knew I didn't do much to protect her, did I? Guilt gnawed in my guts, ate away at my strength. I'd left her there, abandoned her, Shenka, Charlotte. All of them. Allowed Ameline to hurt my family.

  Only to fail, to watch Alison take the vampire taint into herself and become something I couldn't understand.

  I had no idea how Charlotte was, if she recovered. Why the Enforcers had been in my yard. Even if the power I pulled from the ground meant big trouble with the Wild Hunt. Nothing, nada, zippo information. I'd woken in Ameline's—my—cell dressed as I was and with the fragile connection to Gram the only thing I could cling to.

  And what did I have to show for Gram's harm, for Charlotte's, Shenka's. For the loss of the two Enforcers? Nothing. Worse than nothing.

  Alison was real, full of the vampire taint and working for the Brotherhood.

  I ground away at my own spirit, winding up the same guilt again and again, crushing myself with lo
athing and regret.

  Where was Iepa in all this? She allowed it to happen as much as I did. Hate blossomed, peaked in my chest, burned me with its power. She abandoned me after telling me I needed Ameline. Forced my hand. And now that everything had taken a fast train to apocalypse, she was nowhere to be found.

  Typical.

  I gritted my teeth against the internal battering.

  To hell with her. With the so-called prophecy, my destiny, all of it.

  I was so done.

  I thought the time alone in my cell would be quiet. For peaceful contemplation of my impending doom. Lots of emptiness I could use to beat myself further.

  Not so much.

  The cell door swung open shortly after I crossed my arms over my chest and told myself no matter what happened the world could fall apart and I wouldn't lift a finger to help from now on. I contemplated my escape and subsequent hiding out in a cave somewhere no one would find me when Pender entered, a troubled look on his face.

  “Coven Leader,” he said. Licked his lips. I noticed he kept his distance, not leaving the vicinity of the door. Was he afraid of me?

  Good. He should be.

  “I'm here to take your statement.” A glowing line of writing appeared next to him, tracing out his words in blue flame.

  I turned my face away, calling up my shielding, opening the dark flower of my sorcery, ready to fight him off if he tried to make me talk.

  And ignored him.

  The silence held for a long time, his power probing mine until he sighed. Left the room, closing the door behind him.

  Didn't try very hard. Which made me wonder. But my deep-seated depression shoved curiosity away.

  Who cared? He'd either be back with a pack of bullies to force the issue or not.

  Shrug.

  My vampire whispered to me I was acting quite childishly, but I smothered her. And my demon who snarled in answer. Shaylee when she tried to prod me to act. The family magic mourned with me, so I didn't have a fight there. And my sorcery? Well, it begged and pleaded to be let out, to sample the magic of the stronghold. Which told me in no uncertain terms if I tried to use power outside of my personal shields I'd probably set of a chain reaction the likes of which I'd better be prepared for.

  Not yet.

  My second visitor appeared only a few minutes later. Erica came to sit beside me while I fought the trembling taking me over at the sight of her sad face.

  “Gram?” I clutched at Erica's hands, felt how hot hers were, looked down to see mine were white and shaking.

  “I don't know,” she said. “Syd, what happened?”

  I shook my head. “I need to know if Gram's okay.”

  Erica sat back, sighed, rubbing her tired face with one hand, still holding onto me with the other. “Miriam won't tell me anything,” she said. “I'm worried about her, Syd.” She squeezed my fingers. “And you.”

  “I'm fine,” I said. “Go take care of Gram.”

  Erica left, shoulders bowed while I raged inside.

  Mom. Damn her. Had she left Gram to suffer?

  I felt power appear in the room, lurched to my feet, turned to face Iepa with a snarl on my lips. Threw all of the venom and hate simmering inside directly at the maji who trembled as I spoke.

  “Get out.” I advanced on her, voice rising to a roar. “NOW!”

  Iepa raised one hand to me. “I'm sorry this is necessary—”

  I called her a very bad word even as my maji power flared against her.

  With guilt collapsing her features, Iepa tore open the veil and vanished through it.

  Screw. Her.

  I turned my back, felt the veil part again, spun to scream bloody murder at her if not commit it.

  To have Meira stumble into me with a cry.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Four

  I held her against me a moment before pushing my sister out to arm's length. “What are you doing here?”

  “Syd.” Meira clutched at me, face younger only because of her obvious fear. “We have to get you out of here.” She tugged on me, pulling me with her, toward the wavering slice in the veil still gaping behind her.

  I slipped free, shaking my head. “I can't go,” I said. “Not until I know if Gram is okay.”

  Meira's lips trembled. “Do you have any idea how much power it took to reach you? To cross?” She wrung her hands at me. “Grandmother is helping, but she won't be able to hold it forever. The power of the stronghold is fighting her. We have to go now.”

  “Meems.” I hesitated. Maybe going with her was a good idea. We could sort out all the mess later, after I'd had time to think.

  No. I couldn't abandon Gram. Even if that meant the Council managed to tie me to a stake and set me on fire.

  “I have a plan,” I said. Not much of one. But there was enough truth in what I said I was able to smile at my sister, to hug her again. To appreciate the love she poured over me. “I promise, I'll be fine.”

  Meira nodded against my shoulder before backing up. Wiping her nose on her sleeve, amber eyes welling with more tears.

  “That's why you're my hero,” she whispered before spinning and plunging into the veil just as it snapped shut behind her.

  Hero? Me?

  Wow, kid had some serious issues to work out if I was her role model.

  I sat on the end of the narrow bed, feeling worse for having seen Meira, for some reason. Maybe because I really was alone in this, and knew it now. No rescue. Yes, I could run. Would when the time came. But I refused to take anyone else down with me.

  Visitor number five shocked me so much when she stormed through the door I almost forgot to ask about Gram.

  “Mom.” I gasped out her name, stumbled to my feet as my mother slammed the door behind her and turned to glare at me.

  “You will give a statement,” she snarled, power crawling around her like a living thing. “You will confess to freeing Ameline Benoit.” Her fingers crept to her neck, clutched at it. “You will be punished for your crimes.” Her hand scrabbled as though searching for something even as she choked on her words.

  No necklace. She'd lost her pentagram long ago, back when she'd first become Council Leader. And though Meira and I had a new one made for her, infused it with our magic, she'd never worn it. At least to my knowledge.

  And this wasn't the first time I'd seen her claw at her neck like that. I let my power out, touched Mom with it, felt the emptiness before the Council power crashed against me.

  “You dare, criminal?” Spittle flew from Mom's lips as she stormed to face me, both hands on her throat now. “You will burn on a pyre and your bones will be crushed to dust!”

  Holy. Freaking. Crap. Council magic or not, this was not my mother.

  Was. Not.

  My eyes fell to her hands, so desperate around her neck. “Mom,” I said, stomach lurching as I made a connection in my head. “Where is the necklace I gave you?”

  Mom's eyes bulged, her breath coming in short gasps. “You will confess,” she said. Barked out.

  I was an idiot. A total, complete idiot. Blamed the influence of the Council power for Mom's shift. I'd wondered once if a darker power was to blame, but when I'd felt the pressure she was under, the push of the Council magic, I'd allowed myself to believe that was the reason she'd become someone I didn't know anymore.

  But the emptiness I felt around her, every time I touched her, just before her magic rejected me. That wasn't witch magic.

  How had I missed it?

  Mom spun away from me, body convulsing as she bent over, gasping for air even as she repeated, “you will,” like some kind of mantra.

  My heart breaking, I raised my hands to my own neck and slid free the pentagram necklace she'd given me. They'd left it with me, for whatever reason. And I was grateful. Because her power sat embedded in it, and a spell of protection, one she'd tried for years to make me wear. Something I'd only done recently.

  The same as hers, made by her mother.

  A
s Mom straightened, her back still to me, I stepped into her space. She spun, eyes bloodshot and face crimson from an internal battle I could only begin to imagine. Before she could stop me, I lifted the necklace over her head, sliver sliding through my fingers as I whispered power into the metal and dropped the pentagram pendant around her neck.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Five

  I'm not sure what I expected to happen. Nothing, maybe. But certainly not the pulse of power that rippled out from Mom in a sonic blast, rocking through me as I held onto her for balance and she to me.

  Her transformation happened almost instantaneously, though I had time to watch her shift in the heartbeats between. How her skin faded to a more normal hue, deep wrinkles plumping and vanishing as her youthful appearance returned. The way the silver traces in her hair flashed before darkening back to black. But it was her eyes, the deep blue of them, once tormented and full of rage that changed the most.

  Mom's hands squeezed my shoulders as the last of the power wave left her, those beautiful eyes welling with tears. One hand lifted to her throat, to the pentagram necklace, before touching my cheek so gently I barely felt the pressure of her skin.

  “Syd?”

  I sobbed once, flooded with relief, almost knocking me over as I reached for her, pulling her against me. My mom. My mom was back and that was all that mattered.

  She wept with me as we clung to each other like little girls who'd seen the Boogeyman, the scent of her lilac perfume once almost rancid now pure and clean again. Filling me with a sense of absolute peace and so much joy I wanted to jump up and down and clap my hands.

  And hug her forever.

  Mom finally released me, face now as flawless as I remembered, so young again I almost did a double take, wondering if I'd somehow found a mirror, we looked so much alike. I kissed her cheek, laughing as I cried, unable to speak just yet, but knowing from the touch of her power she was clean and whole and herself again.