Dark Legacies (Book Four in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  “How do you figure you’re a great conjurer?” Rachel asked.

  “I just know,” I said. I thought back to the wisps. It had taken nothing to bring the magic from the earth and create the lights that floated. Thinking back over the course of my life, I had conjured all sorts of things, I just hadn’t realized it. Somehow, this would become useful when facing Jasmine. I just wasn’t sure on the details yet.

  Arrowhead was not the first stadium to become visible. The remnants of Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals baseball team was. The massive walls had collapsed. A seat was our first clue that it had exploded outwards. We passed it before the stadium complex came into view.

  The mystic tornado didn’t touch the ground. It hovered over Arrowhead, or rather, what was left of it. The giant sign proclaiming it to be Arrowhead was missing. Several of the walls were also missing. One side was just gone and the green grass of the football field was visible.

  Jasmine was definitely not alone. I didn’t bother to count. I’d lose track long before I finished. I estimated a couple of hundred beings were with her and she stood in the middle.

  As crazy as it sounded, she stood on a raised platform with a podium. On the podium were a microphone and a spell book. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or stare in astonishment. If I had needed proof she was as crazy as I thought, it was before me. Who set themselves up like dictators while destroying a city?

  Chapter Thirty

  We needed a plan. A better plan than just distracting her while our uncle slipped a charm around her neck. There were far more beings than I had expected.

  “I’m guessing Pegasus has left the island a few times, right?” I asked Levi.

  “Yes, always with terrible results though. You can’t bring him into this world,” Levi said.

  “I’m betting I don’t need the real Pegasus to create a stir,” I told him.

  “If you can conjure a fake Pegasus, I will admit you are a great conjurer,” Rachel looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

  “If I can conjure a fake Pegasus, you owe me dinner,” I told her. “Something nice, just you, Olivia and me and you have to cook it.”

  “What?” Rachel asked.

  “I’ve been thinking lately that, as siblings, we don’t do enough together. This is mostly my fault, I get that, but we can start changing it if we survive,” I told her.

  “Now you decide we need familial bonding time?” Eli asked.

  “Yes,” I pointed to the stadium, “it’s us against her. She’s our sister. I can’t help but wonder if all of it could have been prevented by a little familial bonding.”

  “It couldn’t have,” Eli said. “However, I like the way you think. After sister night, we’ll have to something as a whole group of siblings. Bring Amanda along even, but you aren’t allowed to cook.”

  “Okie dokie,” I said to Eli. Cooking really wasn’t my thing. I began to gather magic and stopped.

  “What?” Rachel asked.

  “She’s going to know,” I told her. I turned to Levi, “You should go hide yourself somewhere. She can’t see you. When I start gathering all this magic, we’re going to be noticed.”

  Levi nodded once and took off. He ran around the ruins of Kauffman, disappearing in moments. He ran fast, even for a demon.

  I began the process again. My head told me that this would work. The little voice in the back of my head was pretty sure I was going to bring the real soul-eater into this world.

  From the rubble rose the darkened form of a horse with wings. Concrete, dirt and dust made up his physical body and my magic animated him. My memory provided him with colors. In a less than a minute, I had Pegasus the Winged-Horse and dread of Elderkind, at least in form.

  “Holy crap,” Rachel said. “We’ll do three or four dinners. Even I’m terrified of it and I watched you create it!”

  Screams erupted from the stadium. My magic had definitely not gone unnoticed. Jasmine was standing on her podium shouting. Others were fleeing in terror. I did a mental head slap; unsure why I hadn’t anticipated the fleeing part of my plan. We needed as many of the beings as possible to destroy the coven.

  As the fake Pegasus reared up, I began to bring forth hands from the earth. Eli and Rachel were quick to join me. They cast spells, hitting specific targets, dropping them to the ground. As their bodies touched the earth, the earth grabbed them, taking them under it, holding them prisoner.

  Holding together Pegasus and pushing magic into the earth to wake it up was not an easy task. Pegasus reared again and began charging towards a crowd of beings. If he touched them, they would know that he wasn’t real and the jig would be up. I reined back my creation to keep him from charging through the group. He turned towards the stadium, heading for Jasmine.

  Jasmine began turning pages in the book. She stopped and tossed spells at the specter. The magic hit the creation and the creation absorbed it, making it a little more solid. My magic was feeding off the spells, giving the creature more power, and more life. That was a serious problem. I tried to drop the spell, but it took on a life of its own, the moment I let go.

  The magic surged. The winged horse reared again and crashed into the platform. My sister and her spell book were tossed onto the field.

  “Did you just give life to a fake horse?” Eli shouted at me.

  “No, that’s impossible,” I scoffed.

  “What do you call that then?” He was still shouting while casting magic.

  “A problem, but a magical one that I’ll sort out in a bit,” I shouted back at him. I had only lost control of my magic a few times in the past, but none had been while a giant spectral soul-eating horse was on the loose. However, it did have Jasmine and her minions on the run, so it was working. I was going to chalk it up as a win, despite the magical hiccups.

  I squashed the image of myself riding the thing over to my sister and seeing her cower in fear. It wasn’t very realistic and I figured she would just have something eat me. With that thought, I realized how to get rid of the spectral Pegasus. However, not yet. For now, it was serving a purpose, even if I couldn’t control it.

  Jasmine was on her feet again, and backing away from the creature. Spells still flew from her, hitting the horse. The book was back in her hands. I caught movement to her right and saw Levi.

  The spectral horse saw him too. The horse and Jasmine both turned towards him. Jasmine sent out a spell, but it hit the horse in the jaw, as its teeth clamped down on Leviathan.

  “Really!” I shouted at no one. I ran towards them. If the conjured horse could do the same things as Pegasus, now that it was more solid, Levi was in serious trouble. Of course, it couldn’t have eaten Jasmine so my life would be easier.

  “Oh shit,” I heard Rachel mutter. She was running with me. “We need to do something.”

  “No kidding,” I told her. “Deal with Jasmine, and keep her off me. I have a plan to get Levi back.”

  “I have a feeling, I’m not going to like it,” Rachel said.

  “Me too,” I told her. I grabbed the Strachan sword and let it guide me. I leapt onto the back of the horse. It felt completely solid beneath me. The sword went in at the neck and the head fell to the ground. “Leviathan?” I shouted into the opened neck.

  “Here!” Levi yelled back. “But I lost the charm.”

  “At least you’re alive!” I sank with the horse to the ground. Levi crawled out through the opening.

  “Leviathan, how nice,” Jasmine’s voice purred. We turned. She had Rachel with one hand, and in the other, she held a glowing brand. “I’m sure you know what this is.”

  “Yes,” Levi said.

  “I don’t,” I told her.

  Jasmine rolled her eyes at me. However, I honestly didn’t know what it was. I was sure it was something bad because my sister wielded it like most people wield swords, but that didn’t really tell me what it was.

  “I’ll take Rachel and go, as soon as you give me my followers,” Jasmine told us.

  “No,�
� I shrugged. The fake Pegasus was sinking back into the earth, since I had decapitated it.

  “I’ll kill her,” Jasmine said.

  “That would be tragic,” I told her, “but she is just one.”

  “You’d trade her life for this miserable breed of beings?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “I see you, Eli,” Jasmine didn’t turn to face our brother. I could see the protection spell around my sisters. Eli’s magic wouldn’t have worked regardless. “Now, give me back my followers and leave or I kill her.”

  “We just discussed that,” I frowned at her. “It isn’t going to happen. You’ll get more mercy if you just turn yourself over and plead for mercy.”

  “Mercy!” Jasmine started to laugh. In some ways, it reminded me of Jack’s laugh. His didn’t sound as evil though.

  “Jasmine, I know that you hate us, all of us,” I said. “I also know that our only crime against you is that we were born. I used to think it was just me, but you actually hate us all because you aren’t an only child. However, regardless of the fact that you are wielding some sort of evil branding iron and have a burning desire to kill Rachel, I know you won’t do it. You know enough about protection spells to know that spilling blood in them is a really bad idea. And you’ve got enough stains on your soul that the moment her blood reaches the magic in the protection spell, it’s going to become a prison. So, I would say this is a stalemate. I’m not going to come in after you and you aren’t going to kill Rachel.”

  “Protection spells don’t become prisons,” Jasmine sneered at me.

  “Yeah, they can,” I told her. “That’s why Jack has been sending in animals for the golems to eat for centuries. Their sacrifice has kept the root of all evil locked up for eons. Blood and dark magic have never been cozy bed fellows.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Jasmine hissed.

  “You should,” Levi took a step forward, “because she broke the spell.”

  “Stay back, Levi,” Jasmine brandished the iron again, “It will kill you as well.”

  “Maybe,” Levi answered. He put his hand on the magic bubble. It shimmered under his touch. With a strong push, his hand went through it and he grabbed Rachel. Rachel dropped to the ground, fast asleep. He stepped in further, pushing the magic around him. I felt it ebb and flow around him. I had never seen an Elder step into a protection spell. I tried not to show my amazement.

  Our uncle picked my sister, Rachel, up from the ground. He turned towards the spell’s edge. Eli rushed forward. Levi tossed Rachel outside. She slipped through the magic easily, and Eli caught her on the outside.

  My mind whirled with questions that had no time to be asked or answered. Leviathan grew in size. His horns lengthened and flames shot from between them. His legs grew longer, stronger, and he looked more powerful. His body began to glow with a light I had never seen.

  “No!” Nick shouted from behind me. I turned in time to see my two youngest brothers rush towards the circle. “Do something, Brenna!”

  “Like what?” I asked them.

  “Anything! Leviathan can’t kill her!” Daniel shouted. “If he does, he’ll absorb her darkness.”

  “Well, fuck,” I rushed the spell. I slid to a stop just inches from it and shoved magic into the ground. The ground responded by pouring magic out. It found the spell. The protective circle changed colors with sparks flying from it. The sparks showered me, leaving small burnt whelps on my skin.

  Leviathan wrapped his hand around Jasmine’s neck and lifted her from the ground. She kicked out at him. The spell book fell to the ground.

  “Tell them, I’m sorry,” Leviathan said to me. Nick rushed to the circle. His hands slid into it.

  “Hurry, Brenna,” Daniel was nearly hysterical. He jumped up and down as his body glowed with agitation. Nick was still pushing, trying to get more than just a hand inside. Something touched me, something wet and magical. The power surged within me. I shoved all of it into the ground, causing the protection spell to burst.

  Nick and Daniel leapt forward. Leviathan repelled them without moving. Their frames looked tiny as they were flung away from the raging demon. Without thinking, I rushed in. Our uncle’s magic didn’t repel me. My hands landed on his arms, and Jasmine fell from his hand.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Levi stood, stunned. The glow faded and he seemed to shrink down as he fell into my arms, trembling.

  “She’s alive,” Nick announced.

  “Bind her or something,” I told the boys. They looked at Cerebus. Cerebus ate her. It wasn’t exactly what I had intended, but hey, it worked.

  My father and uncles popped into existence with a loud explosive noise. They were all angry. Their bodies glowed, their faces contorted with rage.

  The group of nine stared at me or through my uncle and me. I wasn’t sure which. Levi wasn’t moving away from me. He held onto me, firmly, his body still trembling. My shirt was damp with his tears. I didn’t understand what was happening, but it was bad.

  “Did he?” Mammon seemed unsure.

  “No, he didn’t kill her,” Nick told them, “Cerebus ate her.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Lucifer said. He walked towards us. My mother and Amanda suddenly popped into being on the field as well. My mother walked over and handed Amanda to me. I was now holding my baby sister and my uncle was holding me. My mother hugged all three of us. Levi looked up at her. His face still stained with tears.

  “It’s all right, Levi,” she started to cry. I started to cry, but I didn’t know why. She hugged Levi tighter, taking his weight from me.

  “Brenna,” my father reached out to hug me.

  “No!” Levi shouted as he pushed my mother away. He reached up, knocking my father’s hand away before he could touch me. “You can’t touch her.”

  “She’s my child!” Lucifer’s hackles were raised by the indignation that my power might somehow hurt him.

  “The child she carries,” Levi told him, “could be damaged.”

  “Amanda is fully developed,” I reminded Levi.

  “Not that child,” Levi pointed at my sister, “but that one.” He pointed to my stomach. If my father hadn’t been fast, Amanda would have ended up on the ground. He caught her in mid-air.

  “I can’t have kids,” I reminded him. He had told me so himself. I didn’t have a mate or the ability.

  “You can now,” Levi looked at Nick and Daniel. “The new body they created made it possible. I can’t figure out why you are nearly three months along already since you’ve only had this body a few days...”

  I think a groan escaped my lips as I sank to the ground. Rachel ran over to me. She took me in her arms and cradled me, rocking back and forth with me. I had stopped time. The consequences of such an action were always bad. What had I done?

  “It’s okay,” Rachel kept whispering.

  “How is she pregnant?” My mother asked.

  “That is a great question,” Levi looked at Anubis. “Anubis shouldn’t be able to have offspring and yet…” Levi held out his hands.

  “Mom,” Rachel was crying now too, “Brenna stopped time when she fought the first horseman.”

  “What?” My mother was instantly furious. After a second, she was terrified. “Oh, my God and she was pregnant. We have to get her to a doctor or someone, now. Help me get her up.”

  Rachel struggled to stand with my weight. I felt completely paralyzed. The world swam around me. Strong arms enveloped me as my mind raced through everything that was happening.

  “Cerebus ate Jasmine. We need to get them both back to the island,” my voice sounded weak. “Jasmine will wake up and find a way out. We need to get a prison built to hold her.”

  “Oh,” my mother was a flurry with activity. Loud noises popped and caused my ears to hurt. One thing at a time, I told myself. The next few hours were going to be life altering.

  We, as in my holder and I, popped into existence on the island. I looked up into the face of my Uncle
Sonnellion. He held me close.

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Stopping Levi from becoming a death demon,” Sonnellion was still whispering into my hair. “Niece, you are a magical creature, even without magic. If you hadn’t been pregnant, you wouldn’t have been able to remind him of the preciousness of life. Your mother wouldn’t have made it in time or been able to break the protection spell.”

  “When we finish this, I have lots of questions,” I whispered to my uncle.

  “I’m sure you do,” he smiled at me. “Did the others escape?”

  “No, the ground ate them. We’ll need the Fey to dig them up. I shouldn’t be doing massive amounts of magic while pregnant,” I told him. “Most of the Fey are nature related beings. They can control the earth.”

  “What about elementals?” He asked.

  “Different kind of nature connection,” I sighed. “Ivy is going to get tired of cleaning up after me.”

  “Nonsense,” Ivy’s voice came to me. “Is it true? Are you pregnant?”

  “If Levi says I am…” I let the sentence trail off.

  “I know,” Ivy smiled. “Great, so who do I need to unbury?”

  “Followers of Jasmine. The earth ate them. There is also the possibility that a conjured fake Pegasus could rise from the earth as well. It’s easy enough though to dispose of, just have the earth swallow it back down,” I told her.

  “Life is so much more interesting with you around, Bren,” she patted my shoulder and disappeared.

  My siblings were already working on the wall. Sonnellion put me down. I stood next to him. Levi walked over to me with his head down.

  “Don’t thank me,” I told him.

  “Beings who deal with the beginnings of life can also become entangled in the end of it,” Levi spoke softly. “As a death demon with my powers, killing Jasmine, I would have become a monster.”

  “Leviathan, you are many things, but monstrous isn’t one of them. We all stumble, once in a while, but that’s why we have family and friends to help us back onto our path,” I told him.