Dark Resurrections (Book Three in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  “You are starting to sound like me,” I told her. “What happened to the happy, optimistic Elise who takes everything in stride?”

  “She got pregnant,” Elise grabbed my hand again and bore down with another contraction.

  “Look on the bright side, in twelve hours or so, you’ll be able to perform magic again, then you can give Jasmine and Magnus both a magical ass-kicking.”

  “Why did Daniel pull Jasmine from the Box?” Elise asked as another contraction hit.

  “I don’t know, why don’t we ask him when we are done?” I suggested.

  “Fine, I’m about to give birth to a soulless infant and spend the next twenty-four hours worrying about the infant’s development, but if you want to discuss something uncomplicated, we can,” there was anger in her voice.

  Considering the mood swing my mother had just had, I backed off. I stood at her side and remained silent. The nurse in the room looked at me and then at Elise.

  “It is going to be a long one,” the nurse said.

  “Great,” I looked at her. “What’s the problem?”

  “I’ll ask,” my mother took a deep breath, stopping her sentence.

  “Yeah, that’s working,” I patted her back. “I got this mom.”

  “Well, the baby is fine, but Elise’s cervix isn’t dilating as it should. Her water hasn’t broken yet, that’s good, but it means things are progressing slowly,” the nurse informed me. For some reason, she sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher to me. My brain seemed to shut off at the mention of the word cervix.

  “Well then, let’s tackle the problems,” I said to my mother.

  “Now?”

  “You said you wanted to!” I defended myself.

  “Right now, I just want to give birth,” she told me.

  “Oh good grief, how do we speed it along?”

  “Go for a walk?” Elise suggested.

  I looked at the nurse. She nodded that it sounded like a good idea. I helped my overly rotund mother from the bed and held the back of the gown together as she waddled for the door.

  We had been walking for about five minutes when my mother stopped. She was holding my hand and her back. Her face looked glazed.

  “Mom?” I asked.

  “What?” She looked at me as if I had just appeared out of thin air.

  “Uh,” I shook my head and frowned.

  “Sorry, I just had a thought, maybe Daniel didn’t have a choice on pulling Jasmine from the Box. What if Jasmine put something of herself into the Box? What if that is what has been fiddling with the magic? What if it has been Jasmine all along?”

  “That’s great mom, but…” I looked around the hospital.

  “I know this isn’t the idea place for the conversation,” Elise let go of my hand. “The contractions are slowing down.”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “Bad.”

  “Can we have something good happen? I mean, just for a minute or two, is that too much to ask?”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “God? Fate? Whoever is listening.”

  “You had three months of peace and quiet.”

  “Um, yeah,” I rolled my eyes.

  “Yes well, your life is bound to be complicated. It was complicated at your birth. It became even more complicated by binding the Overlords to you. Shit happens,” my mother shrugged at me.

  “How crass coming from you.”

  “We should continue walking.”

  My mother resumed her pace. Her face was pinched in thought. Her lips were slightly curled.

  “You look just a tad bit evil when you do that,” I told her.

  “I am thinking.”

  “Think with less expression.”

  “That’s just silly,” she waved her hand at me dismissively.

  I ignored her suggestion that I was being silly and moved forward, physically. Mentally I was stuck. How had Jasmine known about Pandora’s Box in time to put something in it? And how did everything else fit together?

  My mother interrupted my thoughts by grabbing hold of me. She groaned loudly. Something wet splashed all over my feet. I gagged as a nurse came rushing to us.

  They hauled my mother off, back to the room. I followed, wondering if the day would ever end.

  Two hours later, my sister was born. She was lavender in color with dark hair like mine and striking green eyes. It was another genetic fluke, Demon eyes reflect their skin color.

  “Amanda Renee Larise Strachan,” my mother said proudly holding the infant where I could see her better.

  After a few seconds, I could see a soul beginning to form. I sighed. My mother gave me a look.

  “She has a soul,” I told her.

  “Really?” My mother looked at the tiny girl.

  “Really. So why her and not the others?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged, decided that wasn’t enough and frowned at my mother.

  “Well there is good news,” my mother beamed.

  “Unless the soul was already…” I stopped.

  “Do you think that could be?” My mother suddenly looked terrified.

  “I don’t know, I’m not a Vampire,” I looked at her.

  “Pretty damn close,” my mother reminded me.

  “Well, if I had to put money on it, I’d say it is actually the soul of the infant you just gave birth to,” I told her.

  “How would you know?” Elise pressed.

  “I think if it was a resurrected soul, it would look more like a soul than a blob. Trent’s looked like a blob. But most adults look like souls,” I shrugged unsure how to explain it better.

  “Ok,” that seemed to pacify my mother who went back to cooing at the newborn.

  “Am I done?”

  “Here?” My mother asked.

  “Yes, here.”

  “I don’t know, someone should stay with her,” the Lycan nurse interrupted.

  “You can’t do that?” I asked.

  “I have more patients than you can imagine at the moment,” she gave me a sympathetic smile.

  “Peachy,” I sat down in a chair.

  The nurse gave me a look as my mother handed me my younger sister. I stared into the green eyes of my newest sibling. I vaguely remembered Daniel at that age. He had been wrinkly and his eyes were closed for most of the first two weeks. I was never sure if he was sleeping or if keeping them open just required motor skills he hadn’t developed yet.

  Amanda was no different. Her skin was wrinkly and looked too big for her. I carefully checked her hair, no horns, not even nubs, like me. Her hair was a shade lighter than mine and she had more of it, not just head and eyebrows, she had a fine coating of it on her arms.

  “I know what you are thinking,” my mother said, her voice very tired.

  “No, no you don’t,” I told her.

  “You’re thinking Chiron should have waited a couple of months.”

  “Nope, I was thinking that Chiron picked the wrong Demon half breed, but it isn’t Amanda.”

  “You think it is Jasmine.”

  “It would be weird to have two crazy siblings.”

  “Centaur Prophecy is not known for their accuracy,” Elise yawned.

  “Shush, go to sleep. I got this one,” I told her.

  My mother drifted to sleep mumbling something. I went back to staring at my sibling. She moved, her little muscles already strong enough that if I hadn’t been prepared, I probably would have dropped her.

  “Finally,” Rachel whispered coming in.

  “Take the baby,” I told my oldest sister.

  “If I never have to deal with a Succubus again, it will be too soon. What’d they name her?”

  “Amanda and she has bright green eyes.”

  “Green? How odd,” Rachel took the baby from me. I stood and stretched. I followed it with a yawn.

  “How’d it go?” Rachel was still whispering.

  “Well, Amanda has a soul.”

  “That�
��s good.”

  “Yes, but why Amanda has a soul is still a matter of question.”

  “I’m sure there is an answer, I’m not sure we are going to like it,” Rachel rocked the baby.

  “Mom thinks Jasmine put something in the Box so she could access it.”

  “So, do we go check it out ourselves?”

  “Sure, although someone has to stay with Amanda.”

  “We’ll give her to Olivia,” Rachel walked out of the room with Amanda in her arms.

  Our other sister was sitting in a chair. She had recovered from her fainting spell and seemed to be doing better. Olivia stood and looked at Rachel and the baby.

  “You are going to have serious issues if you faint when you have children,” I told her.

  “I don’t deal well with birthing things,” she turned a little pale as she said it.

  “She has fainted at every birth, that’s why she doesn’t go,” Rachel handed her the baby. “Brenna and I have to go save the world or at least, try to. You get to babysit mom and Baby Amanda.”

  “Don’t forget to get Bren a donut,” Olivia yelled as we walked away from her down the hall.

  “Donuts do sound good,” Rachel admitted.

  “See, I’m wearing off on you,” I gave her a smirk.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Everyone had moved from the basement of Vera’s shop to the Prison. I wasn’t entirely sure this was safe, but at least Eli and Lucifer were no longer magically strapped to tables. They were now locked in cells. Pendragon was with us, not because we thought he should be, but because he was absolutely insistent.

  Anubis had decided it was better to let him stay than argue with him about whether he could or not. He was stoic in his chair, holding himself erect, despite a broken spine. They had filled me in on the escape while we had been moving everyone. It had consisted of a group of Witches and a dragon. Spring-Heeled Jack had also been there, holding onto the very scary Jack the Ripper and giggling like Spring-Heeled Jack did.

  This meant the best news we had was that Spring-Heeled Jack and Jack the Ripper were not terrorizing London or any other place in the land of the Humans. Both were more or less securely locked in cells. Jack the Ripper seemed content with this. Spring-Heeled Jack had been laughing, so it was anyone’s guess whether he would stay put or not.

  Pandora’s Box sat on the table in Pendragon’s private dining room. Pendragon’s strange children came in and out, cautiously. They never made eye contact and glanced at the Box as if it was a dragonling.

  “Elise thinks that Jasmine somehow tampered with the Box before going to Prison and that’s why the magic was going wonky and Daniel pulled her from the Box,” I finally started. “Also, Amanda’s soul instantly started forming at birth, so maybe that plague is over.”

  “That almost sounded optimistic,” Anubis said.

  “I have questions,” Sonnellion said.

  “I don’t have the answers,” I told my uncle.

  “You may not, but someone else might,” Sonnellion dismissed me. “Do we know what Jasmine’s end game is?”

  “World domination?” Anubis offered. “No, we don’t know and I’m not sure we will. I’d say she is evil, just plain evil and like all evil, she is determined to have her way.”

  “Like a petulant child,” Levi offered. “Which would fit, considering it is Jasmine. I have questions about the souls that came out of the Box.”

  “They weren’t dead,” Daniel answered. “They felt like Sonnellion when I pulled him from the Box.”

  “You pulled him from the Box?” I asked, everyone else turned to look at him.

  “Of course, we needed help and I knew Sonnellion could and would help. I also knew if I pulled his soul through the Box that Nick would give him a body. When you told me the others weren’t dead, I searched for them and found them. You were right, they weren’t dead, since I didn’t have any other way to pull them to this side, I used the Box. You saw the results,” Daniel shrugged like it was very simple. I had my doubts.

  “What is wrong with Lucifer and Eli?” Mammon asked.

  “I don’t know,” I told them.

  “Jasmine was trying to force souls out of the Box,” Daniel told me. “Maybe they found dad and Eli and tried to take over. But Lucifer and Eli aren’t weak souls and there wasn’t a spell cast to help the invading soul along. Now Lucifer and Eli are just trying to heal the damage done when the souls tried to invade.”

  “Why those two?” I asked Daniel.

  “Why not?” Daniel shrugged again. “I don’t talk to souls, I just know what happened.”

  “Vishnu,” I looked at the Overlord.

  “Yes, I looked at his memory and told him. I also looked at Lucifer and Eli’s memories, but I knew you would be less thrilled about that since I couldn’t get their consent. The most I can tell you is that they are possessed by something. Daniel’s theory seems to fit.”

  I considered being mad, but it was hard. I understood the need to understand exactly what had happened and neither man had been in any shape to give consent. I ignored it and moved on.

  “We need to destroy the Box,” Daniel said. “It can’t bring the dead over to this side, but it can do other things.”

  “Things Pendragon used to be able to do,” I reminded him.

  “True, but now there is other magic mixed with it and it is unstable,” Daniel told us.

  “Let’s prioritize,” I told them. “Someone needs to go search the universe for Jasmine, someone needs to destroy Pandora’s Box, someone needs to be with the Overlords when the Box is destroyed, someone needs to be with birthing Elders to figure out about the souls…”

  “Stop, that is easy enough,” Levi held up his hand. “I will go to the hospital and deal with the expectant. Mammon, Beezel and Abaddon will search for Jasmine. You, your siblings, Azreal and Begor will stay with the Overlords. Pendragon and Astroth will destroy the Box…”

  “They can’t,” Daniel said. “It was forged by a Witch, it will need to be destroyed by a Witch and Pendragon is going to be hit full force when the Box is destroyed, he should be with the other Overlords.”

  “I’ll destroy the Box,” Rachel volunteered. “But I want two uncles, not one, when I do.”

  “Ok, Astroth and Berith can stay with you,” Levi said.

  “I want to go with Mammon,” Sonnellion answered.

  “Nope, some of your magic is coming out of that damned thing, you need to be here,” I told him.

  “Besides, you are still not healed from your last encounter with the coven,” Rachel added.

  Sonnellion looked down at himself. I wasn’t sure whether he had forgotten or if he had hoped the rest of us had. He gave a small smile and let his shoulders fall in resignation.

  “Great, we have a plan,” I said forcing enthusiasm into my voice. The others seemed to realize it was forced. None of them smiled or seemed to think that it was likely to be a good plan.

  “After the Box is destroyed and the Overlords are,” Levi made a complicated gesture to indicate his thoughts. It meant nothing to me. “I want Brenna at the hospital and the rest on the hunt for Jasmine.”

  “Why do they get to hunt for her? I’m the hunter.” I reminded him.

  “Yes, but she really wants you dead and Daniel says you still have that strange darkness in your magic, that is not a good mix at the moment,” Levi told me.

  “At some point, I am going to have to get off the sidelines,” I said to the assembled group. “I’m supposed to be some sort of leader on the battlefield, since I rarely get to be involved in battle, it will be really hard to learn how to lead in the heat of it.”

  “True, but I think we will wait until after you’ve been mature for at least a year,” Levi told me.

  “You can’t save the world,” Rachel told me, “we forgot to stop and get donuts.”

  “Ha ha,” I frowned at her.

  “Mom’s right, you frown a lot,” Rachel smiled at me.

  “Ok, what
do I do with the Overlords?” I asked, ignoring my sister.

  “Sit with them, try not to let them die,” Levi told me.

  “Are we destroying the Box in here or somewhere else?” Rachel stood up and took hold of the box.

  “I think it would be better done outside the prison,” Astroth took the Box from my sister’s hands. He carried it out of the room.

  I was left with the Overlords, some of my siblings, Azreal and two uncles. We sat quietly and waited. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

  Twenty minutes later, I could feel the first tugs of magic. The rivers of colors began to flow into the room. There were too many to count, too many to identify. However, a good deal of it definitely belonged to Pendragon.

  The blinding magic pulsed and danced as it flowed through the walls, windows and doors. It filled the room, stifled the air. I stopped breathing and waited.

  It found Uther Pendragon. It went from lazily dancing through the room to racing towards the Elder. His body jerked as the first stream of magic hit him, began to fill him. He remained erect as more magic filled him. In terrifying slow motion, he opened his mouth and screamed.

  The sound was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It made my eardrums hurt. Daniel’s ears were bleeding.

  A couple of seconds passed, Uther Pendragon, continued to scream. The doors burst open. His children began to fill the room. A few of them touched their father. Others plucked his magic from the air. I realized for the first time, that the Succubi and Incubi were leeches, like my own family, capable of grabbing and using the magic of those around them. Pendragon stopped screaming.

  They kept at it, drawing in more and more magic. From what I could see, they could take in a lot of magic. They drew still more into themselves and Pendragon began to settle down. His body relaxed and his color returned.

  “Uther?” Anubis asked once all the magic in the room had stopped.

  “Yes, sorry, I hadn’t thought of using them before,” Pendragon took a deep breath and put his hands on the table.

  “They leech magic,” Daniel said.

  “Yes, they do, that is why they are useful here,” Pendragon waved a hand at them. “But unlike the Strachans, anything they keep does not get replaced. Once it’s theirs, it’s theirs until they die.”