Ana Mourns (The Clermont Coven Trilogy Book 2)

by Alina Banks

  “Thank you for coming, Miss Price. Or would it be better for me to call you Miss Conway?” I looked to see he was coming down the stairs, dressed in a suit. “We both know you should be a Conway, even if your mother did make the decision to run away from her destiny.” He shook his head. “That’s not something I would have been able to forgive her for, but I suppose it’s different for you. You’re not like me.”

  “No, I’m not.” I took a step forward. “I know why I’m here, so let’s not play any games. Neither of us really have the time for them, do we?”

  “We don’t.” He studied me. “I am glad you aren’t stupid. I hate dealing with people who can’t see the way things are, so I’m grateful you’re not one of those people.”

  “As am I.” I waited until he reached the ground. “Are you going to tell me why you were willing to let me walk into the house with Damien?”

  “You weren’t going to hide from this. Not after what happened to Delilah. Rebecca, on the other hand, might well make the decision to hide away somewhere, when I need her for something right now.”

  “Opening a door.”

  Joseph’s eyes met with mine. “A door I know you don’t want to be opened, but soon, you’ll understand why this is necessary. The being has been called a demon for so long, but what it truly is has been lost to the coven, meaning you can’t possibly know the truth, but there is no reason to act as though this is going to be dangerous for you. He doesn’t wish to harm you. Neither do I. You are needed, Ana, in a way you’ll only come to see if you actually speak with us, rather than let yourself be convinced of what’s true by those who don’t actually know what that is.”

  Slowly, I nodded, starting to gather power. Everyone in the room was close enough to be hit by the spell. “Then do what needs to be done.” If he was focused on that, it would be easier for me. “Call the demon.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  With Joseph focused on drawing symbols on the wall, I dropped to the ground to scribble down two sigils as I chanted the words of the spell as quietly as I could. More power gathered. I could feel what the past witches had given me gathering with my power and merging with it. Somehow, even though it must have been hard for her, Miss Cane sent me more power, and when I felt Damien’s hand on my shoulder, I knew the spell was going to work. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to be able to help the vampires around me who hadn’t chosen the path Joseph had. I glanced at where Madeline and Jessie were standing. They knew what I was doing, but they didn’t move. Madeline gave me a nod.

  That was all I needed. With the last of the chanting, words I knew Joseph would understand, I let myself be loud enough that he could hear me, and he turned. His eyes were wide, true fear in them for a second, before I let the power sweep over all four of them. All of them dropped to the ground, and with that much power leaving me, I did the same. Damien’s eyes met mine. The smile he gave me told me the spell had worked. I didn’t know how he knew that, but it was enough that he did. All I could do was hope it had worked for Madeline and Jessie too.

  I moved, climbing shakily to my feet, my eyes trained on Joseph. He was the one I needed to worry about. I felt weak in comparison to before, but I knew I needed to be ready, because his fear had quickly been replaced by fury. I was waiting for the moment he threw himself at me, because I knew I didn’t have anyone there to help me if he did. Not right then.

  Looking like he really wanted to kill me, Joseph moved to his knees. “You really thought you could take my strength with that little spell. I’m better than you are, Ana. I’m better than they are too, and that’s something you have to understand. They were the weak ones, but I’ve been walking this path for far longer, and those little scribbles aren’t going to take the immortality I worked so hard for.”

  “I didn’t think for a moment it would.” I smiled. “I thought you liked the fact that I’m smart, Joseph, but it seems you only like me when I’m just smart enough. Outsmarting you…”

  “Do you really think that’s what you did?” He shook his head. “Do you really think taking my companions…” He sneered, looking at them. “If you could really call them that. I knew they were always working against me. None of them saw things the way I did. They couldn’t imagine taking Clermont for ourselves, but that is what we’re going to do. That’s what I’m going to do now, as the three of them have given up on everything they were given.”

  “An unwanted gift is nothing more than a burden.” Madeline stood, seeming more herself than I expected. “None of us wanted that, but you forced it upon us because you couldn’t take on the coven by yourself. You weren’t strong enough. You’d tried before, but it wasn’t enough, and it’s not going to be enough now.”

  “Don’t push me right now, Maddy.” Joseph stood too, looking furious, and I moved to put myself between the two of them. That seemed to amuse him. “Oh, really, Ana. Do you really think you’re going to be able to stop me if I really want to take Maddy?”

  Being so connected to the four of them, because of the spell I’d just cast, I was able to feel what Joseph was about to do. I created a shield, just enough to stop him, not wasting any power, but also keeping Maddy safe. Joseph rebounded off it, and stared at me once more. “I’m stronger than you will ever know.” I stood then, feeling stronger, which was not entirely something I expected. “You aren’t going to bring the demon to my town, Joseph, and you aren’t going to be staying here any longer either.”

  Seconds later, I was in his arms. “You are stronger than I realized, little witch.” He looked over me at Miss Cane. “I know she won’t be enough to fight him alone, should that be the way things work, and you…it’s obvious you’re too dangerous to keep alive.”

  Carefully, not wanting him to feel it, I tugged at the magic that had been wrapped around him. I could tell from the slight burning sensation that it had been created by the demon, something that kept Joseph alive for as long as he had been, but it was more than that. More than just immortality. Interested, I poked at the magic some more. As I did, I started to see something I hadn’t seen before. Joseph wasn’t exactly who I thought he was, and yet, he was, at the same time. “You aren’t a vampire.” I said the words before I even stopped to think about what I was doing. “Even if I had tried to take away your curse, it wouldn’t have worked, because it wasn’t a curse that gave you this.”

  Less certain than he had been before, he studied me. “What do you see?”

  “A soul, tied carefully into this body, but it’s more than that.” I tried to work out how to put it into words. “You didn’t kill Joseph Eason and take his place. You took his body instead.” I ran my tongue over my bottom lip. “Doing that took a lot of energy, and the Joseph Eason who was buried was his soul in your old body. A body that looked good enough to be buried after the illness. You drained everything from the other Easons too, to be able to take this body as your own, but even with that, you needed other energy. You’ve never taken blood from anyone, even though that’s what the others had to do. You drained life energy. Something so much more important than blood. You need it to be able to stay in this body, and I know what you’re going to try to do next. It’s not going to work.”

  “If you know so much, then stop me.”

  The next thing I knew, the soul of Joseph Eason had jumped into my body. I could feel him, which was stranger than I can put into words, as he tried to find a way to push me out. He wanted my power, because like always, he believed it should be his - and then he’d be able to take control of the coven. Being able to see his plans made me even more certain I wasn’t going to let them happen. He tried to wrap his arm around me, to throw me out, but I slipped past that easily. I ignored everything I could hear going on around my body. That wasn’t what I needed to focus on, even though I was a little worried about what was happening. What I needed to focus on was tossing Joseph Eason’s soul, the trapper’s soul, out of my body. With him in my body, I was able to see how things had worked out. How the dem
on had saved his life, but not his body, so the two of them had hunted around for another. The body found mauled by the bear had been his original one. He took another body in order to be strong enough to fight the first Cane witch, who happened to be much stronger than him. The strange thing was, everybody he took slowly started to look like the one he had originally possessed.

  Then, right when he hadn’t expected it, he found a young body that looked just like his. Another Joseph Eason. The other Joseph had slipped into the body and learned everything, which was why he made the decision to claim it. He believed it would be the easiest way to claim the hospital if he could get Edward Eason to agree. But that didn’t happen, and Joseph made the decision it wasn’t the right time. Instead, he asked the demon to help gather people to his side. People who’d be able to help him do what had to be done, and in doing so, became close to a vampire as well. The young body he’d claimed was one he was happy to be in for the rest of time.

  Pushing those memories to the side as best I could, I turned my attention towards Joseph. Towards getting him out of my body. My magic was too strong for him, even if he didn’t realize it. He wasn’t going to be able to control it because he wasn’t born a witch the way I was, so if I let him take over, it was going to cause more problems than it would solve. But he didn’t want to leave any more than I did. Breathing in deeply, doing my best to stay calm, I thought about how I was going to deal with the problem. Moments later, I felt this sensation of true understanding sweep over me, because I knew I didn’t need to fight. My body wasn’t going to accept him, the same way all the others had. It was going to push him out, even if he did manage to settle for a moment. I think he knew that too, because then, I could feel that he was slipping out and returning his own body, seeming less certain of himself than he’d ever been before. Why couldn’t he take my body? There was no reason that I could think of. As far as I knew, my body was the same as everyone else’s.

  Even though I didn’t know the answers to those questions, I ignored them. Instead, I focused on pulling the magic that kept him in the body apart, knowing that if I did that, he’d never be able to switch from one body to the next again. He’d never take another’s life by slipping into their body because he wanted it more than the one he’d been in before, due to how the previous body had been aging. When his soul had been saved, he was closer to forty years old, so the bodies he claimed seemed to want to be that age, while the other Joseph’s was different, once it had been gifted immortality. That immortality meant he also wasn’t going to age. Not aging meant he could stay young for the rest of his life.

  Joseph fought me as I unraveled the spell, but he was nowhere near strong enough to stop me. I heard him chanting the spell to call the demon, but he didn’t have the time to finish it before his body collapsed heavily to the ground, no longer the home of the soul of Joseph Eason. Only, it meant the soul was still there. Gathering the last of my power, I wrapped a new spell around him, trapping him where he was. Then, I opened a door. Being trapped meant there was no way he could save himself, and once he was through, he’d find himself in the spiritual world. Finally, I closed the door. I left the spell where it was, not ready to undo it until I was certain the door was definitely gone, so no one else could accidentally step through it. With all the power I’d expended, I knew I wasn’t going to be upright for much longer, but I did hope I’d have enough time to call someone for help.

  “Ana.” I heard Damien’s voice, but it sounded like it was coming from very far away. I opened my mouth to respond, but then I found I hadn’t actually done it because I didn’t have the energy left to move. “It’s okay. I’m here. You can pass out if you need to. It’s over now.”

  Waking up in a bed wasn’t entirely unexpected. The fact that I was still woozy was an unpleasant discovery. Slowly, carefully, I slipped out from under the covers, making the decision to find the others. But once I tried getting out of bed, I found myself in an undignified heap on the floor. Fortunately, I seemed uninjured. Nibbling my bottom lip, hoping I could move eventually, I moved my legs out in front of me. Moments later, there were two people in the doorway. Damien raised an eyebrow at me, looking like he was trying not to laugh. Alex rolled his eyes at Damien and stepped over to me, wrapping an arm around my waist to help me up.

  I shook my head at Damien. “Thanks for all your help there.”

  He grinned. “Hey, I was the one who got you up here in the first place.”

  I smiled back at him. “What time is it?”

  “Just after midnight. Rebecca called your dad. He knows you’re here and you’re as okay as you can be right now, so there’s nothing for you to worry about there.”

  “Got anything to eat?”

  “Sure do.”

  Thanks to Alex, I managed to get down the stairs to the kitchen, where Miss Cane was sitting with Jessie and Madeline. Jessie looked a bit paler than I was expecting, but as I stepped closer, she gave me a smile. “Good to see you up, Ana.”

  “You doing okay?”

  “Mostly. I knew what you were doing, but suddenly having the curse lifted like that hit me harder than I thought it would.”

  Nodding, Madeline turned, a plate of pancakes in one hand. “It was going to affect all of us differently. I had more strength than Jessie did, so I was able to stand up to Joseph. Up until then, he was always someone the three of us feared, but what happened…” She gestured for me to sit. “Are you willing to tell us what happened?”

  Sitting, the plate of pancakes placed in front of me, I took a moment to take a bite as I thought of what to say. “You make good pancakes.”

  “Lots of practice.” Her eyes met with mine. “Rebecca said you’re going to need to eat a lot to rebuild what you used.”

  “Yeah, it definitely feels like that’s what I’m going to need.” I sighed. “Joseph was more than just a vampire. We thought, after looking into the Easons, that Joseph might have been the first vampire, and that was a logical step to take. Only, it turned out that he was immortal in a different way, at least to begin with. His body couldn’t be saved after he was mauled by a bear, but his soul could be. The demon made it so he could jump from one body to another, looking for the best bodies to take, but due to how the magic worked, the bodies always changed and aged, and then he’d have to find another younger body, until the day he came across someone who could be his twin. Another Joseph Eason.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Madeline looked at me, her eyes meeting mine for a moment. “Jessie and I have made the decision it would be good for the two of us to have a fresh start somewhere. Clermont is a place where we have too much history.”

  Nodding, I smiled. “I had a feeling the two of you would make that choice in the end.”

  “Damien’s going to stay here in the Eason house for now. Joseph left it to me in his will, and with your help, we were able to prove that he was deceased.” She sighed. “Thank you for helping us. For breaking the link between us and the demon.”

  “You’re certain it’s gone?”

  “There’s been nothing for the last three weeks, so I have no reason to think it isn’t.” She reached out to take my hands in hers. “I’m more sorry than I can ever say about what happened to Delilah. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did.” She shook her head. “I know I caused so much pain for so many people, and I can never take that back, but I am going to try to live a better life in an attempt to make up for the choices I made as a vampire. I’m so angry with myself for letting Joseph push me the way he did. At the same time, I was scared of him, and I was scared of the demon who made us into vampires, at least, once I realized what he was. Had I known…I’m not going to say I definitely would have made a different decision, because back then, I was a different person. I walked that path because I thought it was the right one.”

  “I can’t forgive you for the others, but I can forgive you for what you planned on doing to me.” I squeezed her hands. “I know you went through a lot, and the choic
es you made are the ones you would make now, with the benefit of time.”

  She nodded. “I think about my husband and how much he hurt me. That pain led me down a darker path than I could ever have imagined, which is something I only have myself to blame, but at the same time, I can see how I ended up making the choices I did. Hearing him blame me for those miscarriages…I hated him so much. I wanted him to pay, and the demon gave me a way I could make it happen. Of course, I jumped at it without stopping to think about what I might have to pay him with. My humanity…I think he thought he took that with my mortality, but we all held on to that. Joseph seemed to be the exception. Now, I’m not sure he ever had it.”

  “Neither am I. I still have his memories, and the choices he made were those of a man who wanted so much more than what the world was giving him, so he took it. He knew there was a demon out in the woods somewhere, and that was who he was hunting for. Had it not been for the bear, he might never have actually found who he was looking for, but the darkness of his soul called the demon, so they managed to make their bargain.”

  We watched as the car drove away. Damien sighed. “I hoped I might be able to convince them to stay, but being in Clermont was too hard for them.”

  “Understandable.” I shrugged. “They’ve been through a lot, the same way you have, and they never really felt comfortable here. You, on the other hand, managed to reconnect with the town when you were here before, so it’s different.”

  He nodded. “You aren’t wrong. I was wondering if you might help me with something. There’s a chance it might not work, but…” He looked at me. “I want to see if I can go to the cemetery.”