by Hadena James
“Why the sirens?” I asked.
“A distraction,” Anubis offered.
“From what? Trent has a soul now. They would be too late.”
“Unless they are waiting on someone else to give birth,” Sonnellion offered.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I admitted and looked at Hannah.
“Don’t look at me; I’m keeping my legs tightly closed until this gets sorted. I am not giving birth in this chaos. The everyday chaos around here is bad enough. Bad guys do not make it any less chaotic.”
“Given the circumstances and what we think is going on...” Anubis looked at me.
“You think it’s more Witches,” I finished the thought.
“It seems like the most probable scenario,” Sonnellion agreed.
“Eli?” I looked at my oldest brother.
“What?”
“Do you want to go kill our sister? I’m pretty sure I can’t do it, but maybe you can.”
“I don’t think so,” he shook his head at me.
“Well damn,” I clicked off the TV.
“I was watching that,” Nick said.
“You need to stop watching that.”
“Why?”
Since I didn’t have a good answer, I ignored him. I also kept the remote. I looked to the Overlords.
“This is going to be bad,” Anubis said wearily.
“A coven, sirens, soulless children, yeah, I’m getting that impression as well,” I told him.
“It is just LA and it’s being handled,” Eli stated.
“Bren, turn it back on,” Nick pouted.
“Oh fine,” I gave him the remote back.
“And in other news, it appears the attack on Los Angeles is not an isolated event. We are slowly getting reports that Sao Paolo, Brazil and Cape Town, South Africa are also dealing with phenomenon. We have unsubstantiated reports that Cape Town has been hit by snake-like creatures and Sao Paolo by fire worms. All Elders in those areas are urged to help battle the problems,” the TV announcer looked like she was about to have hysterics.
“Those are interesting cities to hit,” I closed my eyes, thinking of something. It was there, right at the tip of my memory. They shared something in common.
“The Great Houses,” I said it out loud as it popped into my head.
“What?” Anubis asked.
“LA, Sao Paolo, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dublin, Berlin, Mumbai, St. Petersburg and KC are all seats of Great Houses.”
Nick turned down the TV while I spoke. Eli got a horrified look. Everyone else looked confused.
“The seats are actually people,” Daniel started, “each Great House has a Matriarch. The Matriarch attends the Witches’ Council and holds a voting seat. She is also the only one that can remove Great House marks. She’s like an Overlord. The difference is that she is always a woman and she is also the most powerful of the Great House Bloodline. Ours is different because our mom is the Matriarch instead of Brenna, but mom is the last pure Strachan witch, the rest of us are all half-breeds. And it works since mom is immortal.”
“Then what about Magnus?” Anubis asked.
“Just because the Matriarchs are the voting members, the Head does not have to be a woman, just the most powerful witch available for the job. He or she can be a half-breed like Rachel. Matriarchs cannot be half-breeds,” Daniel rolled his eyes.
“Esme lives in St. Petersburg, Lucretia in Dublin, she is actually the Matriarch of Magnus’s bloodline,” I said.
“You think they are attacking the Great Houses?” Anubis asked.
“It would make sense. They originally attacked our bloodline. I thought it was because we were half-breeds. Now, I’m wondering if it wasn’t just because we were easy to target. The other Great Houses have different protection methods for their Matriarchs because they aren’t immortal. But when a Matriarch dies, the position is passed through magic. If they die suddenly, there is a gap, a time lapse while the next Matriarch is brought to power. Kill the Matriarchs and you can, temporarily, disable the Great Houses,” I told them.
“So much to learn,” Anubis shook his head. “What would you recommend?”
“Protecting the Matriarchs. If we are battling another coven or worse, they could be useful.”
“There is something worse than a bad coven?” Ba’al asked.
“Yes, a rogue coven. Magnus was practicing dark magic. A rogue coven though...” I shrugged my shoulders.
“Pretend Witches have been keeping secrets from us for eternity,” Gabriel said.
“A coven is usually ten or twelve witches, all from the same bloodline, working together to use magic. They will pick up independents; Lesser Witches without covens can apply to a Great House coven. They get all the perks and benefits of being with a coven; they just aren’t of the bloodline. The application process sucks because the magic has to be similar in nature. A rogue coven doesn’t have that requirement. They will take all Witches with all sorts of magic. They also tend to number over fifty Witches. And they are made up of both Lesser and Great House Witches. They have an advantage over regular covens, not just numbers, but the mixed magic. Regular covens do not like mixed magic, it is unpredictable, hence the application process for Lesser Witches. The Strachan Coven numbers fifteen. We have some Lesser Witches. Brenna, because she is as she is, is not allowed to attend regular coven meetings, and she can only summon portions of the coven. There are rites and rituals involved in covens and Brenna has too much magic to safely control within the confines of a coven rite or ritual. Rogue covens don’t care about that. They have a purpose, and they will do whatever to achieve their purpose. If that means grabbing a Witch like Brenna and initiating her, so be it. They have only one singular purpose,” Eli explained.
“How is that different than Magnus and his group?” Anubis asked.
“Magnus didn’t have those kinds of numbers and he was selective about who he let in,” Eli answered.
“They just hit Mumbai,” Nick said.
“Someone needs to call mom,” I told them.
“And Rachel,” Nick added.
“I’ll do it,” Eli got up and dug out his cell phone from a jeans pocket.
“Daniel, you and Nick go pack. This is going to get serious in a hurry. We might have enough Hunter teams to handle it, we might not. Either way, we are going to need Witches to help,” I told them. Nick and Daniel ran off to pack.
“Are you sure?” Sonnellion looked concerned.
“Immortal Witches sound like a good idea,” I told him.
“But they are so young.”
“They are now, but would you have said that five or six hundred years ago?” I asked.
“No, I probably would not have,” Sonnellion agreed.
“And you were even dead at that time,” I smiled at my uncle.
“You have a point,” he smiled back. I was still feeling out Sonnellion. I knew he didn’t want to do us any harm. I knew he loved us and his brothers. But he was still just a bit off. I blamed it on being dead for eons, but I’d been known to be wrong before. So I was friendly and social, but always had my guard up just a little.
“If they were Human, I would understand your concern for their safety. As immortal half-breeds I’ll take them to a fight any day,” I assured our uncle.
“Understandable,” Sonnellion nodded at me.
“What are you thinking?” Eli asked.
“I’m thinking that a couple of trained Witches with Hunting teams is probably in our best interest. If we can find a way for the teams to connect with the Witches, that would be even better. As it is, I’m not sure how that’s going to work. We’ll have to sort something out. Sorry, Hannah, I’m going to have to steal Eli.”
“I know. Go sort this mess out so I can give...” My cell phone ringing interrupted her.
The digital display showed my father’s name.
“Hi dad.”
“Brenna, have you heard?”
“Yes, we are rallying a force a
s we speak. They seem to be hitting cities where the Matriarchs live. I think my Hunting team will head to Berlin. I’m going to try to get Nick, Eli, Daniel and Samuel connected with other teams.”
“Your mother is busying contacting the Great Houses to organize protection for the Matriarchs. I don’t want you splitting up your coven. Take them with you.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother thinks it is Witches. You could use a coven for protection and your coven can get a boost from the Overlords as necessary. We are deploying extra Elders to the cities under attack. The brothers are going to hunker down here. Rachel is checking herself and Trent out. We’ve got a doctor coming by, in case one of the others goes into labor.”
“No giving birth in my house.”
“You may not have an option. Why Berlin?”
“Because it’s the least protected.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Just a feeling I have in my gut. Dad…” I paused for a second.
“What?”
“Take care of mom and the others. Sonnellion and Anubis think the lack of a soul in Trent is a planned thing. If they can ressurect...”
“Your mother had the same thought. We are gathering them all up and bringing them to your house. The UN is organizing Elder forces to head to Cape Town and Sao Paolo. LA seems to have taken care of itself. The attacks seem to be getting worse. They sent dryads to Hong Kong.”
“Not kidding around, are they?”
“No, they are not. They seem to be using the same portal portion that Magnus’s grandson had.”
“We never figured out whether that was a Jasmine thing or a Magnus thing,” I sighed into the phone.
“I think we can safely assume that it wasn’t a Magnus thing now.”
“Ok, we’ll be careful.” I hung up.
“What did he say?” Eli asked.
“They are using a portal potion, like the one Magnus’s grandson had and they opened it for dryads in Hong Kong. What are the fire worms?”
“Exactly what they sound like, only they are a type of snake. About fifty feet long, they are constrictors, but they secrete a chemical that catches the ground on fire as the friction from their body moves across it,” Anubis answered.
“Fun.”
“Do we have a plan?” Anubis asked.
“Eat donuts, save the world,” I answered. “In that order.”
I bit into the forgotten pleasure while pretending to put on a brave face.
I didn’t have a clue what we were going to do.
Chapter Seven
“Why are we headed to Berlin?” Nick asked once we were on the plane. He and Daniel were buckling into their seats.
“Because that’s where the weakest link is,” I told him.
I could handle flying like this. Technically, we were in Anubis’s private plane. However, it was often used for business and pleasure alike by any of the non-flying Overlords. And myself.
“Why is it the weakest link?” Ba’al asked, looking out a window.
“Because they don’t have a female heir yet and because the bloodline has been slowly dying out,” Eli piped up.
“They don’t have our numbers. They should still have a strong coven, but as a precaution...” I let the rest of the thought go unsaid as the plane engines whirred to life and we began to taxi down the runway.
It would take us roughly eight hours to fly there. I’d been once before, as a child, with my father. He had taken me on a business trip with him. I couldn’t help but remember some of the things I had seen. I wondered how much it had changed.
With an eight hour flight ahead of us, Eli popped in a movie. I reclined my seat and snuggled into a blanket. “Ice Age” came on. Daniel giggled, Nick sighed. Nick thought he had outgrown “cartoon films” ages ago. Eli and I were both convinced you never outgrew cartoon movies.
“Which one is this?” Anubis asked, spinning his chair to see the TV.
“The first one,” Eli answered.
“Ah, I don’t think I have seen it since it came out.”
“See, even Elders like Ani watch cartoon movies,” I teased my younger brother.
“Yeah, but Ani is strange.”
“I like it,” Fenrir said.
“Never mind, I’ll get out voted on this,” Nick put headphones in and turned up the music on his iPod.
All four Ice Age movies later, we were circling Berlin’s Tegel Airport. We had made great time. There had been little conversation. None of us really had a plan. We weren’t sure what we would find when we arrived.
“Ms. Strachan?” A German Police Officer said as we finally exited the plane. I stretched.
“Yes,” I told him.
“Welcome to Germany,” he spoke perfect English but with a thick German accent.
“Danke, ich Anubis,” Anubis shook the officer’s hand.
“Sprechen Sie Deutsche?”
“Ja, aber Brenna nicht sprechen,” Anubis answered.
“I am fluent in English,” the man returned to speaking my native tongue.
“It is unusual for us to get a police escort,” I told him.
“It is an unusual situation for everyone, Ms. Strachan. You will have police with you at all times. We have rallied as many Witches and Elders as we could, but I’m afraid Berlin has very few of either. What we do have are mostly members of the Fey.”
“I know, it’ll be fine. Hopefully, we are here as a preventative measure,” I reassured him.
“We are not unaware of the situation in Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sao Paolo. I understand they have now had harpies in Mumbai and Dublin was attacked by skinwalkers.”
“Skinwalkers?” I looked at him puzzled. I was unfamiliar with the term.
“Skinwalkers. They are creatures who steal human skins to wear. It makes them appear Human or Elder,” Ba’al whispered to me.
“You have come to protect my aunt?” The police officer asked.
“Have we?” I looked at him, frowning.
“She is a Matriarch,” he gave me a slight nod.
“Ah, yes, we have come to help protect your aunt. I haven’t seen her in some time,” I admitted.
“She is just as she always has been,” he gave me a smile. It made him look years younger.
“Good to hear. She sent a stand-in to vote when we had to replace Magnus. So, we were slightly concerned about her.”
“She was busy with my sister-in-law. They had another boy.”
“Still no females to take the lead then,” I looked down at the ground.
“No, we have one now, but she is four months old. My brother had a boy. My wife gave birth to a girl a month later.”
“Oh, excellent,” I let out a breath that I hadn’t known I’d been holding.
“Considering we are in the middle of an international crisis, I think we should get a move on,” Gabriel joined the conversation.
“Of course,” the officer led us to his car. There were two other cars waiting. Each of them marked “Politsei”. I joined Anubis and Gabriel in the first one. The others piled into the other two vehicles.
“Is it in the water?” I whispered to Gabriel.
“What?”
“Pregnancy. His wife gives birth a month after his brother’s wife gives birth. We have a couple dozen pregnant Elders. I think that’s some kind of record.”
“You’re right, it is kind of weird,” Anubis answered me from the front seat.
“However, with Samuel’s gift, it could just be because they all attended your party,” Gabriel said.
“So, everyone but me went home and had sex after my Maturing? That’s a depressing thought.”
“You had the option and passed,” Anubis again spoke up from the front seat.
“I wish I hadn’t said anything,” I answered him. “But if his wife and his brother’s wife gave birth four months ago, they wouldn’t have been at my Maturing party.”
“He could have come into contact with them at another time
. Or perhaps like Levi, he doesn’t need to do anything other than exist to bump up the success rating of mating Elders,” Anubis offered.
“Do we honestly think that Samuel could be responsible for the increased breeding of Elders in the last thirty or so years?” Gabriel asked.
“It is a possibility,” Anubis visibly shrugged.
“Well, three of the brothers have some kind of power related to breeding. Why not one of your lot?” Gabriel looked pointedly at me.
“Hey, I’m barren; I don’t even have the ability to make myself breed. I don’t feel I would have the ability to impact anyone else’s breeding. But my brother is another story. Just like my uncles and father. Who the hell knows what they can and can’t do? Hell, my dad can spontaneously pluck babies from the ocean.”
“He hasn’t been able to do that for eons upon eons,” Gabriel commented.
“That’s true, but he can affect a developing fetus. That’s almost as creepy as spontaneously plucking babies from the ocean.”
Chapter Eight
“We’re here,” our police escort told us.
“Great,” I got out of the car.
Anubis and Gabriel fell in behind me. Ba’al and Fenrir joined them. My brothers joined me. I knew that the Overlords had no desire to enter the home of a Matriarch first. It would fall to the Witches to do that. We walked up the street to a very nice house in Prenslauer. It looked significantly different than the others on the block.
The others were mostly apartments and condos. The neighborhood was mostly urban chic. This house was built long before the Cold War, any of the World Wars and possibly the transition of Prussia into the modern Germany. I thought it was ironic that it was in the former East Berlin. The Soviets had been very interested in what Witches could do for them. Yet, they hadn’t been able to identify any Witches. This house stood as a testament to the fact that Witches had been under everyone’s noses and could hide their existence from everyone.
“Brenna Strachan,” an older woman with silver and red streaked hair opened the door to me.
She wore glasses from another era. Her hair had fallen out of fashion several decades ago. Even her clothes seemed untouched by modern styles.
