Being Alpha

by Aileen Erin

  “We need to do it soon,” Claudia said. “Tonight is impossible. There’s not enough time to go through the books and find the magic and prepare a spell, but tomorrow or the next night at the latest.” She paused and came around the table to me. “Por favor, prima. Tell me you found something awesome in there that will solve all our problems.” Her eyes were wide and from the sickly sweet scent, I knew she was scared. I was too, but that was a tall order and I didn’t have a great answer for her.

  “I don’t know. We got a lot of stuff, but we’ll need some time to figure out what’s usable. But for some reason, I felt compelled to take these three objects from Luciana’s basement. Any thoughts on them?” I asked her.

  “Other than that I don’t want to touch anything Luciana used?” Disgust was thick in her voice as she crossed her arms.

  “Yeah. Beside that.” I knew she wasn’t going to like anything I took from the basement—she’d made that perfectly clear—but I didn’t have as many qualms about using anything that would save our butts. She was going to have to be a little more open-minded.

  She sighed, leaning down to take a closer look. “The dagger feels evil to me.” She squinted and then gasped, nearly tripping over her feet as she stepped back from the table. “The markings on it. I thought it was just texture, but it’s people. And flames.” She rubbed her arms. “I… I don’t think we can use that for anything good.”

  The dagger’s blade was about three or four inches long. I hadn’t noticed that it was carved—I’d been in too big of a hurry—but now that she did, I could see the flames licking up the blade. The handle was long and curved at the end. I’d noticed that it felt bumpy, but I’d been in too much of a rush to actually see why. Now I could.

  The flames crawled up the first quarter inch of the handle. Beyond that were naked people crawling on top each other, terror on their faces, trying to get away from the flames. The ones closest to the flames were screaming in pain.

  I rubbed my hands on my jeans. “Shit.” I regretted even touching it. “The carving is so intricate that just looking at it, I feel like I can see the people moving and screaming, trying to get away from the flames. But they’re tiny and it’s metal and… Shit. That’s an optical illusion, right?”

  Claudia frowned at me. “I can’t believe you touched it.”

  Twice. I’d touched it twice. Once to take it from the circle and once to put it on the table. “I can’t believe it either.” I didn’t want to ask, but I had to know what the deal was with the other two objects. “The jar?”

  Claudia shook her head. “It’s a spell or a talisman or something. I don’t know. It could be anything, and if it was in the circle, there’s no chance it’s good.”

  Just fantastic. “And the goblet?” I didn’t even want to look at it.

  “I don’t know. It looks fine, but I can’t say for sure. Especially when you found it in Luciana’s basement.”

  “She took them from the circle, next to where there were dead animals on an altar,” Chris said.

  Claudia crossed herself while some of my other friends let out some colorful curses.

  “Why would you do that?” Raphael asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Astaroth was coming and I just grabbed anything that caught my eye. I didn’t think.”

  “Clearly,” Raphael snapped.

  “Watch it,” Dastien said. The rumbling threat clear in his voice. “We’re all doing our best here, and we don’t know what could help us. We can’t rule anything out.”

  “I think it’s safe to rule those out. Nothing good is going to come from them.” Claudia motioned to another table. “Come on. We can look through the books and the rest of the stuff over here.”

  I felt a little like a dumbass for taking that stuff. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have even thought about crossing into the circle, let alone taken anything from it. But even as I walked away, there was something about the dagger especially that caught my eye. I itched to take it, but I wouldn’t let myself.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets and went to the other table where my friends were already gathered.

  Are you okay? Dastien asked.

  Just a little freaked out.

  He put an arm around my shoulders. Me, too.

  Tell me honestly, is this going to work?

  It will because we’ll make it work.

  I had to take faith in that, even if I had no answers. Yet. Chris was already pulling everything out of the boxes and bags so that we could sort through it all.

  “There are books and ingredients and other odds and ends. It might not be what we need, but it’s a start to figuring out what we can do. We have to stop thinking about what’s wrong and how messed up everything is and how we can’t possibly fix it.” I said that for myself as well as for everyone else. “We’re all strong. Not one of us is without some—or a lot—of magic or power. The Seven might be broken and everything might be going to shit, but that gives us an opportunity to do something amazing. We’re going to form a new bond. Something bigger. Better. Stronger.”

  An idea hit me, and I went with it. “We’re going to need three witches, three fey, three werewolves, and one…”

  “One what? Don’t say djinn,” Chris said. “Because I’m not about to go start looking for some damned lamps. Those assholes are tricksters.”

  “No, although now I’m really getting curious.” Shit. I couldn’t believe I was signing up for this. “And one me. Because I’m witch and Were and human. Although I don’t know what to call myself.”

  “But how are we going to link such different supernaturals and have it be as strong as the Seven was?” Claudia asked. “Did you find anything about that? Because we haven’t.”

  I was really getting tired of her nay-saying. She wasn’t even giving this a chance to work. “I haven’t had time to go through this stuff, but we’re going to figure that out.” I took a breath, trying to gain some confidence. Everyone here was just as anxious as me. “Something here is going to help us. Chris, any word from Cosette?”

  He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Yes.” The word whooshed out of him quietly. A grin spread over his face as he read the message and then he laughed, and started typing.

  “Don’t leave us hanging,” Adrian said. “What’s the word?”

  Chris’ eyes brightened a little. “She’s going to try to get here. It’s not certain yet, but she wouldn’t say that if she wasn’t going to make it happen.”

  I really hoped he was right. “Tell her we’re going to need more than her for the spell. I’ll leave it up to her to pick, but they should be strong. And I don’t care if they’re rogues or whatever. But we need them.”

  “I’ll let her know.”

  “Alright. Good.” That was huge. If we had that and we had witches and Weres, then maybe this could really work.

  I took another breath to steady myself, letting it out slowly. We were going to figure this out. We had to. “Let’s pull the rest of the books in this library on magic—fey, angelic, witch, whatever. Claudia and Lucas, maybe you can be in charge of that? Anything you think we can use. And we need to form a bond between the new ten members. I’m open to any suggestions of what kind, but it should amplify power. Once we form the bond, Astaroth will be on our ass. My tie to him is still there and there will be magic involved. So it’s a given that he’s going to show up.”

  “I’ll see what I can find, but I’m not expecting to find much,” Claudia said.

  I ignored her negativity and grabbed the closest book. “Let’s also look for anything about the portals between the planes. We need those sealed tight. Especially the one on the compound. If it were an ordinary circle, the salt should’ve killed it. So, it’s something else. I don’t want any demons coming through anymore. Maybe Raphael and Adrian—could you look into that? And if anyone finds anything about breaking a demonic tie, let me know. That has to go before all of this will work.”

  “What else do you need?”

 
; “I don’t know. Chris—maybe look into fey magic? If we understood what they used for the Seven’s bond, then maybe we could recreate it. And Dastien and I will organize what’s left. We’ll need some whiteboards or something for ideas—”

  “On it.” Dastien walked deeper into the library.

  “Okay. Let’s make this happen,” I said. Nerves were making my inside flutter, but we were going to do this. We’d been in tough spots before and we always came up with a solution.

  I had to stay positive. No one was going to suck me down to a place I didn’t want—or deserve—to go. Not even Astaroth.

  After what felt like ten hours later, but was probably only three, I found something that could actually work. The book was more like a journal, bound with three brass brads. The words were hand written, with notes scrawling up the margins. Extra pages had been added—different colors—with no rhyme or reason. I’d almost written it off just because it looked worse than something I made for a school project in third grade. The writing was a little hard to read, but once I got used to it, the words flowed. Slowly, the journal started to make more and more sense.

  The cover was black card stock with white paint on it: M la F. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but when I got to the part that said “…power bonds between supernaturals isn’t easy to achieve, but I know there’s a way. Béibhinn has an idea that we shall try in the morning, but we need…” chills ran over my arms.

  I flipped through the pages faster and faster. “This could be it.” The room quieted as I scanned the next couple of pages. “This is it. You guys. I thought this looked like just a personal journal, and it is, but it’s more than that. Luciana was obsessed with gaining more power and I think this is what she used to—”

  “No! Absolutely not. We cannot use a spell that Luciana cast. There’s no way that—”

  I sighed. Claudia had been like this since we got back. She was being so stubborn about not wanting to use any of Luciana’s things that she made me want to pull my hair out or strangle her. I wasn’t quite sure which, but something was going to happen if her attitude didn’t change. “Would you give me a second? Try to forget the association that Luciana brings to it.”

  Claudia slunked down in her seat. “Fine. But if it’s dark magic, I’m not doing it.”

  “Believe me, neither will I.” I already felt like I was treading a fine line by touching Luciana’s things. “But this actually looks like something that might be fey.”

  “What?” Lucas reached for it. “Can I take a look at it?”

  “One sec. I just want to read you this passage. See if it’ll apply.”

  Lucas gave me a nod.

  “It talks a bit about the moon and the stars here. But I don’t know if that’s important. You can read it and let me know. But this part feels like it’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

  Béibhinn was right about some of it. Fey and coven do not bond as we had hoped. The blood tie is important, as well as magical intent. That was enough for now, but it is not as strong of a bond as I have with my own coven sisters. Adding in the ashes of those that came before us strengthened the bond as we expected. It is indeed better than the ones that I have seen before but we need more power if we are to stop the dark days ahead.

  We failed last night, but there is hope. I will not be deterred.

  Going down a dark path would be the easiest, but with what is to come, it is not wise. We need another to bind the tie. I believe it is possible to stay on the side of light.

  We shall endeavor to find a wolf on the full moon. The pack runs close to these parts. They have been proven to be skittish of my kind but I shall find a way to get at least one to agree.

  Tomorrow, we shall try to call an angelic force to us. If any still live.

  “What do you think?” I asked looking up from the page. “Sounds to me like this lady and her fey friend were trying to fight something bad. They needed a Were to make it stronger. Maybe my gut was right. It’s a mix of all of them that make this possible. And then they said something about an angel. I don’t know how to get one of those, but an archon is like an angel. Right?”

  “Not really,” Lucas said. “But Eli is powerful.”

  “Did it work?” Claudia reached for the book and I handed it across the table to her. Lucas leaned over her shoulder to read.

  “It doesn’t say. She goes into a little more detail about the candles and wording for the spell, but that’s the last entry.” Which made me worry that maybe it didn’t work. But if the dark days they were talking about was an apocalypse, then it hadn’t happened.

  I glanced at Adrian to see what he thought, but he just shrugged. “Sounds like confirmation of your plan. Blood and ancestors’ ashes aren’t hard to come by. At least for us. But the fey? I mean—can the fey even die?”

  “Course they can,” Lucas said. “They like us to believe it’s impossible. Makes them seem more powerful.” He muttered the last, eyes never wandering from the pages Claudia was reading.

  “The note here in the margin?” Claudia pointed to the page.

  “Yeah. I didn’t read those, what’s it say?”

  “It’s in Luciana’s handwriting. She was thinking of forming a bond with a werewolf and a fey, but getting Astaroth to solidify it. She wanted to modify this part here—take away the sharing of power and keep it for herself.”

  “At least she was consistent.”

  “I know.” Claudia shook her head. “I think that’s why she agreed to have Cosette stay with us. She had to have known—”

  Chris’ phone vibrated and he shot up from the table. “Be back,” he said as he walked quickly out of the room.

  As I watched the door swing shut, I reached through my bond to Dastien. What do you think?

  I don’t know. I only know the basics that they teach here. You’re way ahead of me magic-wise.

  I’m no expert, and you’ve been around this stuff your whole life.

  You know more than you think.

  No. I’m faking it and trying hard not to screw up. I wish I had it more together. That I knew for sure what the answer was, and—

  “I think this is it,” Claudia said. “With a few tweaks. Unless Cosette has another idea when she gets here. It’s almost too easy.”

  “The spell didn’t seem easy to me. The ingredients alone are going to be tough to track down.”

  “Not that. I mean—that Luciana had it. That you took the book. It’s too easy.”

  “I know, but we don’t have a ton of time. Maybe it’s divine intervention.”

  Claudia and Lucas shared a look, and then Claudia nodded. “Okay. I’ll call it divine intervention, because this spell is too perfect not to try.”

  “We need ashes of our ancestors. It sounds like you need direct ones, at least a few generations removed, from each person involved. Do we have that?” Worst case, I knew we could dig up some of the bodies from the compound and burn them.

  “We have werewolf ashes. Some of the ancients, which tie to all of us. What about witch?”

  Claudia shook her head, but Adrian started digging through the box. “I saw something…” he said as glass jars clanked together. “Here.” He passed it to Claudia.

  Her brows scrunched as she read the label. “This is our great, great grandmother’s ashes. Luciana must’ve dug her up and…” She placed the jar on the table with a thunk. “I hate that she did that.”

  I didn’t want to upset her, but we were using them. “Are they tainted by anything that Luciana did?”

  She yanked the rubber band off of her braid. Her fingers trembled as she quickly rebraided it. “I don’t know,” she said, finally. “I just don’t like it.”

  “We can use all of our blood,” Adrian said. “That’s not a problem. Lepidium meyenii is maca root. We should have that. Ground celestite should also be stocked in our labs, but I don’t know about the rest. You said you took some stuff from Luciana’s room?”

  “I don’t want to use anything she use
d. Even in preparing it, she could have tainted it with her dark magic,” Claudia said.

  “We might not have a choice, especially with the ashes,” I said. If it was between using something Luciana had touched one time or not doing the spell at all, I was going to try it. “Maybe we can cleanse them?”

  “It doesn’t work that way.”

  I blew out a breath. If she wasn’t going to give on anything, then I wasn’t sure what to say. “Let’s at least look to see what we have before we make any decisions.” It was time to see what we grabbed from Luciana’s craft room.

  Dastien was already getting up, grabbing the box that held all of the ingredients we’d taken from Luciana’s lair. After taking a first glance at everything, we’d quickly decided to look at the books first, and put everything else back in the boxes until we had a plan.

  “It says we need a candle that has rendered fat from a fey,” Adrian said, with a shudder. “I’ve never seen a fey with enough fat to spare, and I sure as hell don’t know where we’d find one willing to part with their flesh.”

  I blew out a breath. That not only sounded disgusting, but impossible. “We’ll just have to improvise with something else.”

  “You’re doing a lot of improvising.” Claudia’s frustratingly snippy tone got under my skin.

  “Seriously? What is with your attitude?” This was so not like her.

  Lucas shot me a look like he’d be happy to skin me alive, but I ignored him. If we were going to make this work, then she had to be on board. The one thing I’d learned about witchcraft was that it was mostly intent and willpower. The words in the spell weren’t as important as the intention and the power given to you by how much you believed them.

  This whole thing was going to be held together by grit and determination, but one seed of doubt could turn the spell into a dumpster fire.

  Claudia finally met my gaze. “I’m just mad.”

  “At me?” She had to be kidding. “What did I do?”

  “Nothing.” She winced. “You’ve done nothing wrong except be the unlucky one that’s trying to problem solve. You’re talking about all these crazy solutions, and the thing is—I don’t want to do any of this.”