“Do you think you can you do it?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes were gleaming. “But I’m going to try.” Her power was building. She began to glow brightly, her hair already turning white.
He nodded. “Kimi…it was my father. He was the saboteur all along.”
Her mouth formed an O of surprise. “I don’t believe it.”
“He tried to kill me, but Margaret stepped in front of the spell. She saved my life.” Anger flooded through him. “He’s going to answer for that.”
“Go,” she said. “I’ll be all right.”
He hesitated. “I don’t want to leave you.”
She smiled. “Remember what I said I wanted to do to you tomorrow?”
He met her eyes. “Well if that’s not an incentive for staying alive, I don’t know what is.” He stared at her for a moment longer. Then he turned away.
He studied the scene before him. Demons still poured through the rift. The Crux’s army was doing well, but it wouldn’t be long before they were outnumbered.
Perhaps it was time the Midnight Shaman joined the battle.
He unbuttoned his coat and let it slip from his shoulders onto the floor. The rain soaked his black T-shirt, and he tipped his head back, welcoming the coolness as his power began to build inside him. It pooled in his stomach, threading through his veins, building in his hands until they felt as if they were on fire.
Raising his head, he lowered his shield. “Game time,” he murmured as the first vampire launched itself straight for him, fangs bared.
Kimi felt a shift deep inside her and realised her spirit self was stepping out of her body. She turned and looked at her physical form, shocked to see it glowing a beautiful mother-of-pearl, her wet hair looking like a sheet of beaten silver. She’d reached a hundred percent quickly, the effort of channelling immediately morphing into a smooth river of energy, flooding through her and out into the earth. Already she could feel the rift drinking it up, the white magic battling with the black to close the terrible tear.
She turned, looking out across the grounds. Her gaze was instantly drawn to Damien. He stood on the steps to the house, casting spells so quickly it made her gasp. She’d often wondered why he bothered to keep fit as much as he did—now she understood why. He was constantly moving, ducking enemy fire, twisting and turning to shoot off new spells, even physically attacking the occasional demon if they got too close. As she watched, a huge, horrific beast that she thought might possibly be a werewolf leaped across the road at him. He sidestepped it neatly, letting it slide to the floor, then knelt to aim a punch at its stomach as it raised violent claws at his face. Standing back, he shot a spray of blue sparks over it, and the creature screamed as it just melted into the ground. But Damien was already turning to the next enemy, hands raised.
He was so busy facing the enemy he didn’t think to look behind him at his friends.
Robert slipped out of the house, right behind Damien, whose attention was completely focussed on the demons in front of him.
“Damien!” she yelled, but she was still in her astral form. She cursed, closing her eyes and forcing herself to snap back into her physical body. She yelled again, and this time her voice carried across the road, but it wasn’t loud enough to reach him.
It did reach Rose, however, who was in the thick of the battle amongst the witches and warlocks. Rose turned, following Kimi’s gaze, and with surprising speed for a woman of her age and weight, vaulted over one of the cars to land beside him, casting her hand in an arc even as the black thunderbolt left Robert’s hand. Damien turned in shock as the spell erupted in a shower of silver sparkles over his head.
Father and son faced each other across the steps. There was a brief pause as they studied each other. Then Damien flicked his fingers, sending green ribbons of light threading through the rain. Robert swept them away, firing a mass of black shining discs spinning toward his son. Damien erased them effortlessly, responding with a white sheet of lightning that cracked through the air. Robert laughed, brushing it aside like cobwebs.
Kimi watched them trading spell for spell, perfectly matched, her heart thundering. Sweat started to break out on her forehead. It took every ounce of strength she possessed just to stop the rift from opening any more. It hadn’t closed much, if at all. What was she doing here? Was the Goddess mistaken in choosing her for a champion?
Her eyes drifted to the standing stone, and the glowing runes caught her attention. Just what was this stone? She couldn’t read the symbols, but instinctively she knew they were important. Men and women had carved them, thousands of years before she was born. Why?
What did the stone signify? The trilithons at Stonehenge marked the rising of the sun on the solstice, just as other monuments around the world marked significant times in the calendar. Was that the case here? Somehow, she knew it wasn’t.
The stone was a physical marker. It indicated a physical point on the globe.
Suddenly it came to her. The Crux wasn’t inside the house. The Elders had been mistaken. The crossing point of the ley lines was here. Right under the stone. Somehow, somewhere along the way, the location had been mistaken. She was standing right on top of the centre of the energy lines in England.
She remembered what Damien had said about someone plugging into the Deep Network. She could vaguely recall him referring to this lower lattice in one of his lessons, a system of energy channels the ley lines fed into, as tributaries might feed into a fast flowing river. Was it possible for her to access the Deep Network herself? Robert must have done it before, when they blew the grid after making love. Robert was a Midnight Shaman. But then she was a powerful witch. The Goddess had faith in her. And so had Damien. She must have faith in herself.
She reached out her left hand and rested it on the stone. Then, with her mind, she also reached out as Damien had taught her, bringing the monument into her aura. Slowly, she sent fingers of energy down into the Earth.
Nothing happened. A wave of despair swept over her. She wasn’t good enough. Please, please, she begged the Goddess. Please help me. Don’t let me fail him. Out of the corner of her eye, she could still see him battling against his father, the two of them surrounded by a roiling mass of smoke.
I’m here…
The voice sounded in her head. A golden glow grew inside her, focussing her thoughts, her power. Plugging her into the Deep Network.
The resulting surge shot through her at a million miles an hour, increasing her energy flow by several hundred percent. She’d never felt anything like it, not even when she and Damien had blown the power grid. Power thundered through her. It was as if her physical form ceased to be, and in fact she began to wonder if she were actually melting, becoming part of the flow. She gasped as it burned through her, every cell in her body reacting to the force. Her skin turned from milky white to silver, her hair to liquid metal.
She gasped. The rift was closing. But was it closing quickly enough? She wouldn’t be able to sustain the flow for long. There was too much power, and it would burn her out. But could she hold it for long enough to get the rift closed?
Damien’s casting had become instinctive, his hand making patterns in the air automatically, even as he ducked and dismissed his father’s dark charms. He could see the grin on Robert’s face. His father thought Damien was having trouble gaining the upper hand. The truth was that Damien was biding his time, his mind working furiously to solve the puzzle that had presented itself.
He studied his father’s aura even as he cast another firebolt. A dull black ring encased Robert’s usually bright blue glow. Damien stared, shocked. He knew what that meant. Robert hadn’t gone over to the dark side. He’d been possessed by a demon of the forces of darkness, who was using his body for his own purposes. Why hadn’t he seen it before? The demon had obviously burrowed deep inside Robert, and only revealed himself when necessary. Damien gritted his teeth. He had to find a way to exorcise it without harming his father.
Robert se
nt a scarlet swathe of sparks flying his way, and Damien automatically dismissed it with a brush of a hand, but as he did so he watched, stunned, as his hand slowed, time decelerating and eventually coming to a halt, the world around him freezing.
He stared at his father, who stood, frozen. What the hell? Damien turned to face the scene unfolding before him.
He gasped as he saw Kimi in the centre, by the stone, encased in a bright circle of silver light. She’d accessed the Deep Network and was channelling an amazing amount of energy into the rift. It had half closed, and demons had ceased to spill through, but she was struggling to keep up the flow. Even as he watched, she sank to her knees with the effort of maintaining the surge.
In spite of his worry for her, however, his attention was drawn to the edge of the forest. His eyes widened as he saw a figure there on horseback. It was a man, surrounded by hounds—his head crowned with antlers, or was it just the shadow of the trees? Damien stared. He knew who it was. Herne, the leader of the Samhain Wild Hunt, in pursuit of wayward souls on All Hallows Eve. Recognition flickered through him, and in answer, Herne touched his hand to his heart, then his forehead. The Horned God’s horse reared up, and as its hooves touched down, time was restored.
A rumbling began beneath his feet. The Higher Powers were refusing to stand by and watch the world go down in flames. The energy crept up his legs like vines. It built in his base chakra, swirling around him in ribbons of scarlet and orange, curling up through his central energy channel. His father—or the thing inside of him, at least—looked at him in horror, but it was too late for the demon. Energy thundered through Damien, erupting from his hands in a bolt of gold lightning, striking Robert squarely in the forehead. The shaman fell backward onto the floor, writhing as the demon hung on inside him with its claws. Robert arched his back and screamed. The demon erupted from him, a mass of bristling black bones and skin. Damien targeted it with an explosive firebomb. It detonated inside the demon, scattering the ground for twenty metres with burned flesh.
He ran over to his father. Robert coughed, turning onto his side, pushing himself upright. He looked up at his son, wiping his face. “I’m all right,” he said hoarsely. “Go to her, quick.”
Damien stood and looked over at Kimi. She had bowed her head. The shield cast by the pendant was flickering, and several demons were closing in on her. Nodding at his father, he ran down the steps.
He sprinted across the road to her, splashing through the puddles, sending werewolves and other grisly demons flying as he passed with barely a look. He ran right up to her and cast a snarling vampire away angrily, turning it into a pile of black dust before crouching before her. He reached out and took her hands in his. She looked up slowly, as if she could hardly bring herself to lift her head.
“Damien?”
“It’s me,” he said softly. He brushed the rain from her face and then stood, bringing her with him.
“I can’t,” she said weakly. “It’s…too strong.”
He smiled. “You’ve got me now. And I’m strong enough for both of us.”
Lowering his head, he kissed her, concentrating on nothing else except the touch of her cold lips on his.
Kimi was in a kind of daze, only half aware of Damien standing before her, pressing his lips to hers. The energy still rushed through her, and she struggled to get her breath, her limbs aching, so tired she could barely stand upright. What was he doing? This was hardly the time, she thought, a small piece of her mind exasperated at his inappropriateness.
But he still didn’t stop. He pulled her into his arms, wrapping them around her, deepening the kiss. His desire rushed through her like the fire in her soul, warming her blood.
She shivered. The world around her faded, even the roaring in her ears, and suddenly there was just Damien, the tall, gorgeous Midnight Shaman, who had eyes for nothing but her. And suddenly she understood.
He’d taught her how to separate her powers and her sexual desire.
Now he wanted her to bring them together.
She slipped her hands into his hair. It was soaking wet, and water ran down her fingers and arms, but she ignored it, concentrating on the warmth of his mouth and the tightening in her lower stomach.
She let all the feelings she’d been keeping tight inside rush through her. All the admiration she felt for him, all the love and the desire, she let it loose, like unleashing a pack of wild animals from a cage. It swept through her in a blaze of fire, joining with his passion, which spiralled around them like a tornado.
He loved her. The Goddess had told her so, and now he showed her with his kiss, wrapping her in the warmth of his affection, letting the depth of his feelings flow over her, holding nothing back. And she finally realised she’d never be alone again. He would always be by her side. The world turned, the stars wheeled in the sky, and Damien’s lips were warm on hers, his hands gentle.
Thunder cracked above their heads. All around them the witches and warlocks looked up in awe as the clouds parted. Bright white light erupted from the moon, sealing up the rift as a welding torch might seal metal plates. A high pitched squealing sound echoed, cut off abruptly. And then the rift was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Much later, after a hot shower and a change into dry clothing, Kimi began to feel vaguely human again. She sat in the library in front of the fire, feet up on the sofa, chatting to Max and Rose as people bustled in and out of the room. She’d hardly seen either Robert or Damien. Robert had gone to the hospital with Margaret, and Damien had talked to the Police, who had been called shortly after the final demon was vanquished.
Kimi had been alarmed that the Police were involved, but Max had explained that the Commissioner was a level four warlock and there would be no problems in covering up the events of that night. Nevertheless, she’d been extremely nervous when they’d interviewed her, and she’d hoped they’d interpreted her trembling hand—when she gave her concurrence that a group of drunken students had done the damage to the surrounding buildings—as shock and not as worry about lying.
But the Police had now gone, and she gradually began to relax as she realised the threat had been neutralised and they had, actually, won. Nobody had mentioned her part in the event in so many words, but the way Max and Rose fussed round her, asking her if she wanted anything, made her realise they felt bad at how they’d treated her and wanted to make amends.
She looked at the clock on the wall. It was two in the morning—no wonder she felt tired. She rested her head on her hand, listening to the others talking. No harm in resting her eyes for a bit, she thought. Within seconds, she was dozing.
A gentle kiss on her lips awoke her. With a start, she saw it was Damien, and a quick glance at the clock on the wall confirmed it was an hour later. She sat up, seeing the others smiling at her. Her eyes moved behind Damien to the man waiting hesitantly by the door. Robert.
Robert came forward as she looked at him, and knelt beside her. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” Her heart beat a little faster. He looked a mess—he hadn’t changed, his clothing was still damp, and he looked bedraggled and beaten. “How’s Margaret?” she asked softly.
Damien smiled. “She’s okay. She’s a strong old bird—she’ll survive.”
Robert closed his eyes temporarily, then opened them to look at Kimi. “I’m sorry,” he said huskily. “Can you forgive me?”
“As I understand it, it wasn’t your fault,” she said.
“I don’t know.” He looked down. “I can’t believe that. I must have done something to let it in…”
She leaned forward and put her arms around him. “It’s forgotten. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Standing by the fire, Damien watched them, his eyes warm. She studied him over his father’s shoulder and gave him a wink.
Robert pushed himself to his feet and sat with a sigh in one of the armchairs. Damien sat beside Kimi, slinging a careless arm around her shoulders. He pulled her toward him and planted a kiss o
n her forehead.
They talked for a while, the four Elders and Kimi, going over some of the details of the evening, gradually relaxing as the retelling of the events got more and more outrageous. Kimi stood to get herself a glass of water, suddenly thirsty, and walked over in front of the fire to warm her hands.
“Something I don’t understand is who helped me out when I needed to connect with the Deep Network,” she said. “I couldn’t do it on my own. I asked for help and someone said—in my head—I’m here. Was it you?” She looked at Damien. He shook his head, looking as puzzled as she felt. She looked across at Robert, then at the other two, and each of them shook their heads.
“Perhaps it was the Goddess,” said Rose.
“I don’t think so.” Kimi frowned, perplexed. “I felt a golden glow, inside me. I don’t know what that means…” Her voice trailed off. Damien’s eyebrows had risen so far they nearly shot off his head. Eyes wide, he stared at his father, who met his gaze with a similar startled look.
Rose said, “Oh…”
Max just laughed and sipped his drink, his eyes glowing.
As one, Damien and Robert touched the space between their eyebrows, and, to her surprise, stared at her aura.
“What?” she said nervously. “Have I been possessed too?”
Damien stood suddenly. His eyes held a strange combination of wonder, guilt, and worry. She looked from him to Robert, who seemed to be just as speechless.
“Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?” she snapped, starting to get worried.
Rose got up and came over to her. To Kimi’s surprise, she kissed her on the cheek. “Congratulations,” she said. “You’re pregnant.”
“What?” Kimi stared at Damien, then at the others. “No, I’m not.”
“I’m afraid you are,” said Max. He gestured toward her with his glass. “Your aura has a gold band around the edge. It’s unmistakeable.” He studied her thoughtfully. “It was the baby who helped you connect with the Deep Network. Now that’s interesting.”
Midnight Shaman, Fire Witch Page 23
