Dark Legacies (Book Four in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  A huge column of fire shot into the sky. It wasn’t accompanied by screaming or anything. Levi and I stared as it lit up the darkness that hovered over the contained hellhound.

  “A broken horn,” Levi turned back to me. “If the jars are here, does that mean that Jasmine is also here?”

  “Maybe,” I considered it doubtful. There was someone else involved, someone pulling strings on Jasmine, possibly on Chiron and everyone else that had died in the process. There was still a pit of guilt, palpable in my chest, whenever I thought about Chiron. Knowing it was necessary and being okay with it were very different things. I had made peace on some levels, but I still wasn’t entirely over it. I wasn’t sure I ever would be.

  “But unlikely,” Levi voiced my doubts.

  “I feel that there is someone else involved, a mastermind so to speak, someone that could stop time repeatedly without it being obvious.”

  “How many witches is that?”

  “That is a very good question. I don’t know; six or six hundred.”

  The legs of the first horseman bolted from the woods. They ran past us and into the dark, heading towards the prison and whatever lay beyond it. My eyes searched the darkness for a clue as to why or where they ran and found nothing.

  After a few seconds, Jack also ran past us. His skin was growing back and peculiarly, so where his clothes. There were still serious questions about Jack in my mind. The Elder explanation didn’t seem to fill in all the gaps. However, it was possible they didn’t know everything. Witches had been keeping secrets from them for eons. The knowledge that Jack had been involved with one of my ancestors just raised the possibility that there was more to the story than even they could imagine.

  Levi leaned in very close to me, his breath tickling my face.

  “I have something that I have to tell you and I’m not sure how,” my uncle said.

  “Just tell me,” I said.

  “You’re...” whatever the important secret that my uncle was harboring didn’t get revealed. The second horseman, without his horse, rushed from the trees with his sword swinging. It swung with deadly accuracy, cutting Levi in two at the chest. In slow motion, the Elder’s top half slid from his body and onto the ground. I screamed.

  Levi’s eyes stared at the darkened sky. His eyelids didn’t blink or flutter. His mouth uttered no sounds. Blood pooled around him. I grabbed hold of him and felt nothing. My arms dropped him on instinct. My body shook with anguish and revulsion. Levi was dead. His soul was not in his body.

  “Levi!” Mammon came dashing out of the trees. He skidded to a stop, falling to his knees as he did. He grabbed his brother, cradling him. “Do you see it?”

  “See what?” I asked my uncle in terror.

  “His soul, Brenna, can you see his soul?” Mammon was shaking Levi.

  “No,” I answered.

  “Oh, Levi,” Mammon began to cry. The sound that escaped his lips was terrifying. It shook the air around me. I felt my protection spell around Cerebus burst. The emotions of my siblings were flooding over me. The world felt as if it had fallen off its axis and was in freefall through the universe. My eyes closed. I never felt myself hit the ground.

  I wasn’t out very long. When I opened my eyes, my family was gathered around the fallen demon. The witches were chanting and Anubis was holding onto Leviathan. For the first time, I saw Anubis glow with an eerie white light. The brothers were all glowing, their anger and pain was raw.

  Mythics were coming out of their hiding place, surrounding our group. Their combined footsteps shook the earth, creating a constant quaking beneath me. I didn’t know what Anubis was doing. I did know that it required magic and I had some to spare. Using everything I had, I shoved it out and into him.

  Anubis’ body arched. His head nearly touched his feet in the contortion. His curse didn’t slam back against me and fight the magic.

  Gabriel and Ba’al collapsed upon the ground, writhing as if in pain. Ba’al turned to stone. Fenrir turned into his wolf form and howled. The sound was haunted and hollow. Gabriel’s wings began to shed their feathers.

  “You’re killing them!” Abaddon shouted to me.

  For a moment, I didn’t care. My uncle had to live. Something told me that he couldn’t die. It was a whisper in my mind, like a chimera speaking to me. I didn’t know where it came from; I just knew it was right. If Leviathan died, we would not be whole. The brothers would be broken again and we couldn’t win this war without them. The small voice told me I was right. It was why my brothers had accidentally resurrected Sonnellion, because they had to for us to win. If that meant the life of the overlords and myself, then that’s the sacrifice that needed to be made.

  I was willing to make that sacrifice. The light emanating for Anubis grew stronger, brighter. It wasn’t exactly white, but it was blinding. I closed my eyes against it. Someone grabbed me, but the magic pushed them away.

  The world went dark. I was cocooned in something warm and wet, something that stopped my magic. It poured into whatever creature’s teeth was currently brushing my legs. The creature made no sounds nor did it open its mouth. I stopped pushing magic.

  For several seconds, I waited for the thing to swallow me, but it didn’t. Instead, it spat me back on the ground. I crashed into it covered in slobber and dirt. Cerebus stood protectively over me.

  The magic gone, the overlords were no longer writhing on the ground. They all looked at me, except Anubis. He was still shining with a bright light. His magic was still filling my uncle, doing whatever it was that vampires did to bodies without souls.

  “We need Leviathan,” I told them.

  “Not at the death of so many others. We will find another way,” my father wouldn’t look at me.

  “We do need Leviathan,” Daniel spoke in the voice that wasn’t his. “However, we do not need a blood sacrifice to keep him. His time has not come. He will not die.”

  “He is dead!” I shouted at the prophet that inhabited my brother.

  “He is,” the prophet agreed. “And his soul is gone. You cannot resurrect him with your magic.”

  Daniel took a step towards me. Cerebus lowered his head and growled at my younger brother. The prophet stopped the host and stared at the hellhound.

  It was possible that the hellhound just didn’t like the prophet. However, there seemed to be no reason for Cerebus to be protecting me. I wondered if that was what he was doing or if there was something else going on. Memories of Cerebus and Jack came back to me. Cerebus protected Jack as well. Sure, the hellhound had eaten him once, but Cerebus had eaten me a time or two as well.

  A hushed silence fell. Even the wind stopped blowing. Nothing moved, the mythics were stark still, even holding their breath. Cerebus and Daniel took a step away from each other. I turned to see what would cause complete silence.

  Pegasus, the winged horse who ate souls and was talked about in hushed whispers, appeared. He pushed his way past my father and his brothers, using his head to move them. The creature looked more beautiful than he had earlier. He knocked Anubis over, sending the Elder sprawling across the ground. Anubis’ body unlocked from its unnatural position and he lay motionless on the ground.

  The giant winged horse bent over the body of my uncle and breathed on him. The magic was visible in the air, hanging over the two pieces of Leviathan.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The white magic hovered over the cleaved demon. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the magic, I realized it was a soul. My mind was tumbled into chaos and confusion. I intended to unload it on those around me as soon as my uncle’s soul and body was reunited.

  Leviathan’s eyes flew open, with his lungs gasping for air. The body instantly healed itself. The magic forced him into the air and he floated for several seconds before slamming back into the ground. Pegasus sniffed the demon once before turning and wandering off. The rest of the mythics, including Cerebus went away as well.

  “I thought Pegasus ate souls?” I asked. Levi w
ept openly and uncontrollably. Anubis was struggling to sit, so I went to help him.

  “Would you really have sacrificed all of us for his life?” Fenrir asked, still mostly wolf in form.

  “Yes,” I told him.

  “Five lives for one,” Gabriel said.

  “We need him,” I answered, unsure how to defend myself against my actions. “I don’t know why, but I just know that he is more important than we are.”

  “He is,” Daniel the Prophet said. “However, her sacrifice, while noble was unnecessary. Cerebus would not let her die now. She did not know about Pegasus. She still has much to learn.”

  “Then start talking,” I commanded, glaring at the prophet.

  “Knowledge is attained as needed,” the prophet answered. “For now, know that your sacrifice has been noted. All of your sacrifices. If she had not forced magic into the vampire, he would have eventually killed you all as well. He would have sacrificed you for the demon.”

  As if it had never been there, it was gone. My brother’s face returned to normal and he wiped at his eyes.

  “I missed something, didn’t I?” Daniel asked.

  “A lot. First, though, why or how did Pegasus resurrect Levi? You told me he eats souls, not returns them,” I reminded them.

  “Pegasus does eat souls,” Mammon answered. He cradled Levi in his arms. “He can also return souls, although it’s rare. There must be something about the horsemen that he doesn’t like.”

  “Explain to me exactly what ‘Pegasus eats souls’ means,” I backed up a step.

  “Pegasus survives on the living. He doesn’t eat food per se, he eats souls. Those that wander into his lair are fair game. He only needs to eat about one every couple thousand years and humans work just as well as Elders or witches. He actually prefers humans and witches to Elders,” Abaddon answered. “We’ve used it for execution purposes before, but since he only eats one soul at a time and it only happens every couple thousand years, it is a very slow process. Of course, wandering into his lair is dangerous. He will store up living beings for food and he can’t be defeated by magic. Only appealing to his good nature will get a captive released. Right now, there are about three beings in his hands and nothing has worked to get them released. We’ve tried.”

  “And Pegasus can remove a soul from a body without eating it,” Beezel added. “He does that once in a while. Again, it’s rare, but it happens and we don’t know why. The last one was a Djinn about a hundred years ago.”

  “So as far as preternatural beasties go, Pegasus is a doozy,” I said.

  “In the hierarchy of badass immortals, Pegasus would be first, Cerebus would be second. The difference is, Cerebus can sometimes be controlled by tamers, such as Jack or the now extinct Minotaurs and Pegasus can’t,” Anubis spoke for the first time since the ordeal.

  “However, Pegasus has never taken the soul of a tamer and he doesn’t seem to mind when Jack is bouncing around him,” Mammon said.

  “Pegasus saved me?” Levi asked.

  “Yes,” Lucifer answered.

  “Why?” Levi was struggling to sit up. Mammon was struggling to keep him lying down.

  “We don’t know,” Lucifer answered. “Possibly because it was a death caused by the horsemen, but we don’t know why Cerebus is suddenly acting like Bren is a tamer. So, anything is open to interpretation at the moment.”

  “Brenna,” Levi turned to look at me, “I could hear a voice telling you to save me. I don’t know where it was coming from.”

  “I don’t either,” I shrugged, “but I heard it too.”

  “So did I,” Anubis said. “I held onto your soul as long as possible. Brenna gave me a power boost that helped and then Pegasus showed up.”

  “Could it have been Pegasus talking?” I asked.

  “No,” Lucifer finally looked at me. He was crying. “Pegasus doesn’t talk like the chimeras.”

  “You thought that about the chimeras as well though,” I said.

  “True, but if it had been Pegasus,” Lucifer shrugged, “I don’t think your mind could hold the information, not while staying sane.”

  “But if I’m a tamer,” I began.

  “Jack’s a tamer,” Levi said, “you are not.”

  As if waiting for his cue, Jack returned to our group. He held the legs of the first horseman out to us, like a present. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t want the creepy things.

  “Thank you,” I said to him and pointed towards my father. Jack handed the legs to Lucifer. Lucifer held them at arm’s length. His eyes moved up and down them, as if trying to decide what to do with them. “We gave them to Cerebus earlier,” I informed my father. “He seemed to do fine until the second horseman cut off his head.”

  “Bren thinks the canopic jars are on the island,” Levi said.

  “Why?” My father asked.

  “Because they always come from the same direction and Pendragon closed down the ability to create portals to and from the island. It stands to reason that the jars are on the island because the horsemen are on the island. I also think the person controlling the horsemen is on the island.”

  “Jasmine?” Lucifer asked.

  “Not Jasmine,” I frowned. “I still think she’s very evil and very mean, but I don’t think she’s the mastermind. I think she’s just a very powerful worker bee.”

  “I’m confused,” Mammon said.

  “You’re confused?” I raised an eyebrow at my uncle. “What about me? You tell me Pegasus eats souls, and then he gives life back to Levi. Which reminds me, if Anubis was holding onto Levi’s soul, how did Pegasus get it? Also, since when could Anubis hold souls? I knew he could see them, but hold them? That’s a new twist.”

  “Anubis has always been able to hold souls,” Gabriel said. He was still on the ground, surrounded by his withered feathers.

  “Anubis held it, Pegasus took it from him, when he knocked Anubis away, then he gave it back to Levi’s body,” Mammon answered.

  “Why couldn’t Daniel and Nick just whip up another body?” I asked.

  “There’s a difference between being dead and being incorporeal,” Beezel said. “Levi was definitely dead. Sonnellion wasn’t dead like other dead beings. He was more like you and Pendragon, when you were bodiless.”

  “I was dead,” Sonnellion answered. “My soul just didn’t have anywhere to go except the aether.”

  “Stop, this is making my head hurt,” I held up a hand. “So, we know that there is a mastermind. We think there are canopic jars on the island that control the horsemen. We know that one is trapped in my house, which I would really like to have back. Despite Levi’s suggestion that I stay at the prison, I don’t really like it.”

  “It is for your protection,” Levi told me.

  “Yeah, but it’s full of crazy beings and evil beings and keeps having gremlin infestations,” I said. “Also, I’m picking up strays.”

  We all turned to look at Jack. He hadn’t giggled in a while. He didn’t giggle now. Instead, his glowing red eyes met mine and there was intelligence I had never seen showing in them.

  “Is he...” Anubis seemed to be searching for the words.

  “I don’t know,” I told him. “It is just one more thing on the growing list of mysteries, but I get that impression.”

  “Even a sane Stephen isn’t really a sane being,” Lucifer said. “He would still be Stephen, like he was with Cailleach.”

  “What does that mean?” I prodded.

  “Stephen, when he was with Cailleach could somewhat function, but he still couldn’t talk. He dressed himself magically as he does now. He wrote letters, long long letters that rambled but if you really read them, you’d figure out what he was talking about. He didn’t giggle all the time. He managed to help raise Nicheven. Nicheven worshipped him, then Cailleach died, Stephen became Stephen again and Nicheven went a little strange as well.”

  “And you are one-hundred percent positive that Stephen was not Nicheven’s father?”
I asked.

  “Positive,” my mother made a strange gesture with her hands.

  “What do you know of it?” I narrowed my eyes at her.

  “Nicheven’s father,” my mother answered.

  “Well?” I put my hands on my hips and began tapping my foot.

  “Don’t take that tone with me, young lady,” my mother mimicked the gesture. We were in a standoff. It depended on which of us would flinch first. Since we were both immortal, we could stand there for centuries or at least until her pregnant bladder kicked in and she had to pee.

  “Will knowing the father help?” Eli asked.

  “No,” Elise answered.

  “Then why is it so secret?” I asked.

  “Because,” my mother sighed, removing her hands from her hips, “because he was banished.”

  “Banished?” I asked. Banishing was an interesting thing in the witch world. I had never heard of anyone being banished.

  “Banished. He’s in the catacombs guarded by Cerebus,” Elise answered.

  “You say that like he’s still alive,” I spoke slowly.

  “He is,” my mother answered, “he’s mated to an Elder.”

  “You entombed an Elder, alive, in the catacombs?” I asked.

  “Well, not personally,” my mother defended herself.

  “There is a witch alive in the catacombs?” My father turned on her.

  “In theory,” my mother answered. “I haven’t seen him for myself. I’ve just heard the stories of it. He was banished and they couldn’t figure out what to do with him, so they entombed him in the catacombs. This was back when Elders and witches were going back and forth between the island, and frankly, if he was mated, Levi would know about it.”

  “He wasn’t a mate,” Levi said. “I don’t know of any living mates that have disappeared from the face of the earth.”

  “Then he isn’t really immortal,” my mother answered.

  “We have to check,” Lucifer said.

  “Great,” I sighed and started heading towards the lair of Cerebus. “Come on, Jack, we’re going to need you again.”