“Wait a minute.” I searched for the memory of the afternoon I was taken into the woods. I was frozen in place. A man had grabbed me and what looked like two females had shown up later to ask about the stone. The stone I had recently found that Crystal had placed under my bed. “Finis, that’s what the woman in the woods called my abductor.”
“Why are we only hearing this now? That was months ago!” Chester yelled and ran towards the house. Chad, who was close on his heels, shifted mid-run. He hadn’t chosen the panther, but a large black lion.
We heard screams coming from inside as everyone started to run out and onto the front lawn. Crystal and Clara ran down to me when they saw the three of us standing at the bottom of the driveway. Michelle was close behind, followed by Matt and Peter. Members of my father’s coven started filing out of the house as well.
Marshal Blackwood was last. He stumbled on the last step while trying to see what was happening inside, and almost landed on his behind.
“What is all that about?” Clara snapped. “Your boyfriend is in there on a rampage, and his father’s helping him.”
“Yeah, Chester just told everyone to get out or help wrap a noose on Finis,” Peter added.
“Yeah, well, new information has come to light.” Without thinking, I yelled to other members of our newly expanded coven and started barking orders. “Hex! Seraphine! Grab these two and hold them here.”
“Woah, what?” Clara, caught off guard, looked back as Hex Lavar and Seraphine grabbed onto Crystal and Matt, holding them by both arms from behind.
“Matt, don’t you dare shift!” I yelled over my shoulder.
“Elyse, are you crazy?” Clara followed me around the house as I tried to see inside.
“No, not crazy. It’s a precaution.” I tried to jump up and see through the windows when I heard struggling move to another room of the house. “As a matter of fact, Marshal, please go keep my Great Uncle Xoras company. Zap him if he tries to leave.”
“Elyse, what is going on?” Matt stood, still allowing Hex to hold him. Crystal hadn’t moved either. She just kept staring at the ground.
I turned around, ignoring Matt’s question, and bound up to Crystal, who looked on the verge of tears. “You were with your mother? There were two women, and the man who put that bag over my head. The women seemed to know where I would be so Finis could grab me. The only problem for them was your mother called him by name.” I flung myself around, talking to everyone. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. With the ritual and Sabina after me, I completely blanked it out. I bet Elle was counting on that.” I turned back to Crystal. “Did she cast a spell on me to forget it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t with her. The only thing I did was put the stone under your bed. She said they would help center you so you could concentrate and control your powers. I swear that’s all,” Crystal answered, staring me in the eye.
Clara came and grabbed me by both arms. “She came to me when she found out. She never would have helped her mother kidnap you.” She let go and I turned to Peter, who had walked around from the back of the house.
“What do you think? Do you think your sister had anything to do with that?” I looked apologetically to Michelle, who was walking beside him.
“No, there’s no way mother would have let her help with that.” He peered around me to talk to his sister. “Not to be mean or anything,” he said to her and then looked back at me, “but she would have thought Crystal would have screwed up somehow. She doesn’t have a high opinion of her own daughter. Or her son,” he added. He averted his eyes to his feet, then to Michelle as she placed a hand on his arm to comfort him. My inner me smiled, just for a moment.
I sighed, knowing what Peter said was true. I looked at the two holding my friends and nodded for them to let go. “I’m sorry, but I seem to have enemies all around me.” Then I pointed at Xoras. “And they keep coming out of the woodwork.”
“I’m not your enemy. Neither is Silas,” Xoras said.
“Silas is my father! Sigmis is nothing to me.” I turned my back on him.
The powers I had seemed to know when I needed to use them. I could feel the shame and heartbreak coming from Xoras. So, he was genuine. I still couldn’t be sure of his brother’s motives. After all, he had sent men to kill my parents.
“You’re finally losing it, Elyse. Don’t you know who the good guys are anymore?” A large bang inside the house cut Clara off. I ran to the side of the house and peered into another window.
“Yeah, the good guys are in there, grabbing another good guy who tried to feed me to my aunt by way of my mother’s best friend. So Clara, remind me again who the good guys are. It’s not always family, and it’s not always friends. So who’s left?”
I turned back to the house and looked out at the people on the lawn. I counted everyone except Chester, Chad, and my grandfather.
“I’ve had enough of this.” I marched up the front steps against the protests of everyone around me.
The house was a disaster. Furniture was overturned in every room. There were black scorch marks on the walls and floors of my parents’ house. The kitchen cabinets were blown off, and when I got to the stairs, I could see a few steps were missing.
I climbed the stairs where I saw Chester and the black lion–who was my boyfriend–on one side of Finis, and my grandfather with his cane at the ready in one hand, poised to attack.
“Enough!” I bellowed, and the walls of the house seemed to expand and contract. Everyone turned to look at me, even Finis. “You!” I pointed to Finis.
He bowed his head and fell to his knees. Although, not by his own volition. I walked over to him, one slow step after another, and he stayed still. Chad shifted back to himself and Alistair extinguished his flame.
“You put a bag over my head, tossed me over your shoulder, and kept me in the woods. What did she want with me?” When he said nothing, I stepped closer. “Speak!” Again, the walls moved with the boom of my voice. The power rolled through and out of me with my words, and he had no choice but to speak.
“She wanted to drain your powers so you would be too weak to complete the ritual.” I could hear the strain in his voice as he fought the words from coming out.
“And when she was unsuccessful, why did you fight with us against her?” I asked him.
I was about to let the power work through him again, but for that answer, he didn’t need any force. He answered me willingly. “I knew it was useless to try to help her. I felt wrong for going against Silas’s daughter. I didn’t know he was still alive until the night of the ritual. I swear it.” He looked up at me, in full control of his own senses. “Now, I must atone for my actions. I will do anything you ask of me to make it right.” He looked to the floor again.
I didn’t know what to do with him, but an idea spread through me as if it had come from my own subconscious. I knew full well it hadn’t. Somehow, someone was guiding me from inside. It didn’t feel like the help my mother or father gave. No, this felt more intrusive, but not in a bad way. It was as if a piece of Seraphina still existed with her magic and was showing me its full potential.
“And who do you fight for now?” I asked.
Before he answered, I pushed my senses into his mind. It was so much different than the little feelings I was able to grab from people since the ritual. It was as if I could hear his thoughts before he spoke them. If his mouth said something other than what he meant, his mind would betray him.
“I am fighting for those I pledged to protect. My priest and my priestess. Now, that is you. So it is you who has my loyalty. I am ashamed. I was weakened and brought to that level. I only wish you could forgive me.” He looked into my eyes as he spoke and I felt the sincerity of his words, but his mind told me he would rather not fight at all. I suppose not wanting to fight was better than him being loyal to Sabina.
“Very soon, you won’t need to fight anymore. I thank you for your honesty, even if you didn�
��t share all of it.” The room was still in one piece. Nothing of my parents' belongings, aside from the first floor, had been touched.
My grandfather had a grin on his face from ear to ear, while Chad and Chester looked surprised. Nobody said anything, nor did they move. I paid close attention to my senses and realized I had them all frozen where they stood. “Sorry.” I found my own voice again and released my hold on them.
“Finis, you get to clean up downstairs. You will not participate in the circle this evening. I’ll let my father decide what will happen to you. After all, it’s him you betrayed,” I told him.
I turned around to see most of my friends had wandered upstairs. Clara was giggling to herself, but Matt and Crystal just shook their heads at her. Michelle jabbed her with an elbow and Clara stopped.
“I guess she’s ready,” I heard Ophelia say from somewhere behind everyone. “Unless you plan on having Xoras in on the plans for this evening, I suggest you think about what to do with him as well.”
“Crap.”
“Elyse, what is it with you and that word today?” Clara snapped.
“It’s just what my life is at the moment. Crap.” I made everyone move to one side on the stairs. I marched down to the first floor and outside to find Bellatrix and Marshal, still standing guard on Xoras. “Now, what to do with you?”
Chapter Twenty
“My men went to look. The entire group of them are there.” Sabina shook her head at Elle as she announced the news.
Why had she offered to help Elle all those years ago? Oh, yes, she remembered. She needed someone malleable to use as she wished.
Getting rid of Sabina's older sister and husband had been an easy plan. She didn’t plan on there being a baby involved. Sabina combed her fingers through her short dark hair. She played with it at the sides where it was just a tad longer than the back. She loved the way it slid through her fingers. Sleek and straight. “How I would have loved to have gotten to them before that kid was ever conceived,” she said through clenched teeth.
“That would have worked to your benefit. That’s for sure.” Elle sat on the chaise lounge, on the opposite side of the room from Sabina. She rested back in the chair and crossed her long slender legs at the ankles.
Sabina watched her as she admired how her stilettos enhanced her best feature. Her being clear across the room was working in her best interest. As it was, Sabina wished she had the power to snap the woman’s neck with her mind. She couldn’t, since that was not her power. It was, however, Elyse’s power. “Ughhh,” she grumbled on. Why couldn’t she have been born first? It was a question she asked herself every day. To be the oldest sister.
“You can leave now. You have no further useful information,” Sabina spat at Elle. “Go lounge somewhere else.”
“Where should I go? You know Gwen will be after us the minute she’s released.” Elle stood, smoothing out her knee-length pencil skirt. Sabina hated the fact that even as she stood from her position on the chaise, there wasn’t a wrinkle anywhere on her. Even the woman’s skin was flawless.
“You’re not helping me. Why should I continue to help you?” Sabina spun in her chair to face the wall. “You have your success. Move away. Go abroad. Leave the brats behind. You don’t need them.”
Elle pounced to the desk separating them and slammed her fists onto the wood. “You mean hide! Give up my family! I’ve already done that once for you. I won’t do it again.”
“So what? Stay alive. Go be happy somewhere. Make another family.” Sabina shook her hand at Elle, dismissing her from the room.
Elle knew if she didn’t leave on her own, Sabina would make one of her golem men remove her. Instead of arguing her point, she sucked air between her teeth and spun on her heel. “Be sure not to call when you fall flat on your face.” She smoothed her hair with her hand, making sure the bun she was accustomed to wearing was still in place.
Sabina spun around in her chair. “What is that supposed to mean? When?”
“Just as I said. Your father gave that girl the ring weeks ago. It’s the strawberry moon tonight, did you know?” Elle didn’t bother turning around to get a look at Sabina’s face. The shock she’d see there was something she was used to seeing on others. “You might as well curl up in a ball and admit defeat.” She smoothed her hands over her blouse and skirt for dramatic effect and slowly headed toward the door. She grabbed her blazer from the back of the chaise as she passed it.
“She has the Immortal’s powers, doesn’t she?” Sabina didn’t wait for an answer. She slammed her fists onto her desk. Elle flipped the blazer over her shoulder and walked out.
Sabina sat contemplating for much of the day. She could use the powers she had acquired, much as her grandmother had done. Kill the girl before she brought back her parents and then claim all that was rightfully hers. How would she do it when the girl had the powers from within the ring?
She knew when she was ten years old that those powers were meant for her. Her grandmother had told her crazy stories about a girl who killed to gain powers so she could save the world. She had done great evil so she could right a wrong. She had done so many terrible things. Killed humans and witches alike. All for a greater purpose.
Sabina wasn’t fooled. That was no bedtime story. She knew her grandmother was speaking about her own bad deeds. She wore that ring as a reminder of what she had done, and what she had accomplished. She paved the way for the Crawford women to become the most powerful priestesses amongst all of the magical community. Sabina knew it was only a matter of time before the Council caught on to Seraphina’s plans. There was no way a child could carry out what her grandmother wanted done. Not an ordinary child, anyway. Sabina wanted that power. She wanted to finish what her grandmother could not.
Sabina thought her weak for passing up immortality for a family and legacy. She supposed she should have been grateful that she did. Sabina had a chance to do what she could not; fill her shoes and end the Council for good. No more hiding amongst the humans. Yes, she wanted that power. She needed it.
Without it, she was no more magical than the rest of the witches in the world. True, there were six other families who bore the powers hers had. None of the other six had the powers Seraphina had locked away in that ring. The mother goddess had let her keep them, to give to the one Crawford who could wield them all.
Now, that wasn’t entirely the truth. She had said they belonged to the one Crawford witch who would join together the powers anew. Sabina couldn’t figure out what that meant, but if she got her hands on it, she figured it would all fall into place. In short, she herself was named for her grandmother, after all.
“Now, what am I going to do?” She stood from her chair and began to pace the length of the room.
Her father had banned her from ever stepping foot in the house again, but with him not there, she could do as she wished. Her brothers had been gone as well. She might have found it worrisome if she cared. Maybe the old man was in the hospital, finally too sick to move. Maybe her brothers sat vigilant at his bedside all these days, too.
“Mistress Sabina.”
“What!” She spun on her heel to see one of her men standing nervously at the door. He hesitated before speaking again, and she couldn’t blame him. After all, he was just a pile of dirt. He had no grit.
“What is it?” She leaned back on the desk, more relaxed.
“You have a visitor. Though he was looking for the old man.” He stood with his head down.
“Well, who is it?”
“He said his name was Silas.”
Sabina stood and jerked herself to the back of the desk. She needed to run; to get as far away as possible. She looked around the room, but there was no way to get out without being seen. How had her sister and that whiny husband of hers gotten back?
“…he says he will see you instead.”
“Wait, what was that?” She calmed herself to listen to what the creature had been saying.
“He said he would rat
her talk to Alistair, but he said he will see you instead,” the man-like figure repeated his words carefully.
“Really?” She tried to calm herself, but her hands had started to clam up. “Bring him in,” she said with a great deal of hesitation.
She sat upright in her father’s desk chair. The mahogany, she thought, suited her. It made her look more powerful and important than it ever had for Alistair, or even the mighty Isabella.
When the man walked into the study, Sabina’s heart started to flicker. He was as handsome as she had remembered all those years ago. Although changed, the hair at his temples had streaks of gray. Admiring his pinstripe suit, she marveled at how well he still looked all dressed up.
He walked into the room like he owned the air; the room. Hell, the whole planet. She suddenly didn’t feel so powerful anymore. She wouldn’t back down from him, though. She would keep her composure about her. That man liked a confident woman. He could find himself dealing in many things with a woman who was confident enough.
“When my man said Silas was here, well, I never imagined it’d be the elder of the two.” She stood and rounded the desk. He paid her no mind and sat without the seat being offered. “You still know how to make an entrance, don’t you?”
“Sabina, I did not come here for small talk.” He shifted in the chair so he could raise his ankle across his knee.
“Then, pray tell. Why have you come?” She sat on the front of the desk, lifting her bottom up to slide across the shiny surface. It at least gave her some semblance of power, with the aid of height.
“Well, for starters, I came to speak with your father. Since he is not here, and I find you attempting to wear his boot strings, I figured we could have a little… heart to heart.” He still didn’t look at her, but instead, picked invisible dirt from under his fingernails.
Sabina was starting to feel uneasy. They had been on the same side at one point in time. She had even taken him as her lover after the death of his wife. Oh, how she wished to revisit those moments in time. Nobody knew how that tragic accident had happened, but much like her own mother, it was due.
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