by Alex Lux
Next to the altar the rose bush sagged, planted in a pot and feeding Rainbow's powers. They would die with Rose, all to make this witch more powerful.
Rainbow unfurled from her crouched position, calling the shadows as they peeled themselves out of the corners and clung to her like pets. "Come to me, my beauties. Come and let us rule together."
Blake stood by my side, a fierce look on his face. "I'll distract Rainbow while you shift and attack."
Would he betray us and leave me vulnerable? No, in this, he and I were united. We both wanted to save Rose above all else.
I nodded to him and prepared my body for the shift.
Blake spun a thread of power from his hands, walking away from me to draw her attention. "This isn't going to end well for you, Rainbow."
While he taunted her, I shifted and howled to the moon, then charged Rainbow, ready to tear out her heart.
My soul connected to Rose as I lunged, and I could feel her on the verge of death. I willed her to hold on just a little longer. The roses could heal her. She just needed to hold on.
The church lit up with lightning, the image of Christ at the front tumbling to the floor, stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible shattering. Rainbow cackled like the Wicked Witch.
I didn't slow, didn't hesitate as my paws made contact with her chest, digging in.
She screamed, but not in fear, and placed her hands on my chest. The shadows clinging to her crawled up her arms and wound around me, squeezing until ribs cracked and lungs compressed. I fell back, my breath tearing through my body in shallow spasms.
Rose's eyes flickered open. She mouthed my name once before all went black.
TWENTY FOUR
The Innocent Flower
BLAKE
Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
"MOTHER, NO!" JASMINE ran from the shadows as I dragged the now human Derek out of Rainbow's line of fire.
The girl quivered where she stood, but she didn't back down, raising her eyes to face her mother. "You can't do this. You're killing Rose. You have to stop."
Rainbow's hair danced around her head with crackling lightning, the power she consumed filling her. "When did you grow a backbone? I've always been able to count on you to do my bidding, my poor little lost girl so desperate for attention." She pointed to Rose, who hung onto life with tenacity, but not for long. "You did this to her. You betrayed your sister, and for what? A pat on the head from Mommy?" Rainbow raised her hand, crackling with silver light, and dropped it onto Jasmine's head.
Jasmine flinched, her dark punk hair turning white and her face ashen. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.
I threw myself at Rainbow, a roar in my throat as I knocked her away from Jasmine who slumped to the ground groaning.
While I pitted my own power against the much more powerful Rainbow, Jasmine crawled to the altar. I watched from the corner of my eye as she picked up the knife with shaking hands and cut Rose's ropes off her. Jasmine sobbed, holding her sister. "Wake up, Rose. I'm sorry. Wake up!"
Jasmine used the knife to cut strips from her shirt and wrapped it around the still bleeding wound on Rose's wrist.
Rainbow's shadows slithered from her body and crawled up my leg while her power slammed into me. I stepped back, foot faltering as she advanced on me.
"Your dreams of being human will never be realized," Rainbow said. "My daughter didn't want you, and soon you'll be forced back to the demon realm where you belong."
With a final shove, Rainbow threw me against the altar next to Rose.
The door to the church crashed open and wolves ran in, howling and growling at Rainbow.
I scooted over to Rose while the pack distracted Rainbow. She had lost so much blood that her skin was nearly transparent. "Rose?"
Her eyes opened, so big and trusting. "Blake. I'm glad you're here. This is the end for me." She coughed up blood, crying out as a rib cracked from the pressure. "I love you. Not the way you want, I know, but I do."
Jasmine released her, and I pulled her into my arms. "You're not going anywhere. Rose, you can defeat your mother. With your own power, your true power, you can defeat her."
"What do you mean?" She shivered and I held her closer.
"I can take your demon power from you, free you from it so you can claim the strength of a witch. It will save you." I should have done this long ago, but I'd been selfish, and she had paid the price for that.
Her eyes dimmed, and I knew we didn't have much time, but she resisted, touching my face. "I know what you mean to do. I saw them do it in the prison. You can't, Blake. You can't. I'll be okay."
I didn't give her a chance to protest further as I pressed my lips against hers. The taste of her blood gave the spell energy. I kissed her as a man, knowing I'd never be close to her again, and then I breathed her power in as a demon.
She choked, gagged, writhed as the power fought to stay, but I forced it to my will, until it filled me and released her forever.
Jasmine screamed, terrified that Rose had died, but I knew she hadn't.
Her body twitched, mending itself and warding off death. When she opened her eyes, they glowed bright with power.
TWENTY FIVE
To Throw Away the Dearest Thing
ROSE
Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd,
As 'twere a careless trifle.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
AROUND ME, WOLVES lay wounded, turning human as their powers failed them. Rainbow, for she will never be Mother to me again, turned and swore at Blake. "What did you do, demon?"
My body mended itself, healing bones and tissue, making stronger what was broken. With the taint of my demon power gone, a new light rose from my center, a pure power, gold and bright. It felt familiar, like something I knew as a child but had forgotten. I embraced this new light, connecting to it and allowing it to fill me and flow out of me.
My skin and hair glowed with gold, like an aura in a photograph. It felt warm, loving, and powerful beyond measure. Was this what Rainbow had denied me my whole life? Was I meant to know this beauty rather than the dark monster she'd bred in me?
To my side, the roses blossomed, coming to life and deepening color. They responded to this power like the sun, opening for me, pouring light into me.
My consciousness expanded, and I could see the next step in time before it came to be. I could see how to defeat the woman who had destroyed so much in her insane quest for more. "It's time for a just end, Rainbow."
For the first time, I saw real fear in her eyes. Could she see the power in me?
"I only did what I had to do, just as you would do anything to be with Derek," she said, as if her justifications would make this ending any different.
"No. I love Derek, but to do what you have done would have defiled that love. You don't love. You covet." Other dimensions opened up to me, and I could see into the broken soul of the woman who had raised me. "There's a place for you, one that will allow you to heal. You'll never return to this realm, but you can find your own peace, if you go now."
I held my hand to her, knowing her answer but also knowing she had to be the one to make the choice.
The dimension she could have chosen lay open with calm energy and love. A woman in white waited on the other side for her to decide, smiling sadly with shared knowing.
Rainbow sent her shadows to attack, sending lightning to destroy me. The doorway closed, and I absorbed her anger and pain and rage and sent them back to the earth.
Frustrated that her attacks failed against me, she turned and faced Derek. "Let's see how you feel when the man you love is stolen from you."
She attacked him with rays of white heat, but I'd already encased her in a bubble of gol
den light. Her shadow demons fell onto her, devouring her as her own attack reflected back, burning her. Screams penetrated the bubble, ringing out through the church.
I fell to my knees, sobbing and wishing I could change the future and the past.
I wanted to look away, but couldn't, as they consumed her. She writhed, wailed and then fell silent as the portal to a different dimension, one full of dark smoke and pain, opened open and swallowed her and her shadows whole.
With the power of the roses feeding me, I placed my hands on the stone floor and poured my power into it. Golden light infused the room, expanding to include the injured shifters, Jasmine and Derek, my love and heart.
The golden glow circled Blake, but didn't affect him like the others. I laid my hands on him, willing the light into his body.
He took my hand in his. "It won't work. Your old power eats away at me like it eats away at everything."
"What? No! I healed everyone else. I can heal you too." I focused harder, pushing out more of my power into him, but it slid off like water from a duck's back.
"Rose, listen to me. It's okay. I've done a lot of evil in my life. Let me leave this world having done one thing right. Now, you won't have to choose. You can return the roses to the Druids and marry Derek and live happily ever after. I want you to be happy. Promise me you will be. It's my dying wish, so you have to agree." He grinned, even as the light faded from his eyes.
I choked back tears. "I promise." I kissed his forehead. "I'll never forget you."
"Nor I you. You taught a demon how to love. Can't expect him to stop now." He smiled and closed his eyes. And I watched his body turn to dust.
TWENTY SIX
Angels are Bright
ROSE
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell;
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
IT HADN'T BEEN easy getting away alone, but in the end I convinced Derek to let me go, that I could handle myself. As I waited in the church garden, the angels looking sadder than they had last time, I thought about Blake. He hadn't gone to the prison I'd been kept in. From what I'd seen, the demons who did what he'd done to me were put in a much darker, more desperate place of despair.
I hoped Beleth would help him.
When the dark angel fell from the sky, landing soundlessly before me, I smiled. "Thanks for meeting me." I pulled the sphere from my pocket and handed it to him. "I thought you'd want this back."
He took it from my hand and nodded. "Thank you. What fate did the demon meet?"
A tear escaped the corner of my eye. "Not one he deserved. He died a hero, sacrificing himself to save me, to save us all."
Beleth became so still, even the statues moved more than him. "And did you see into his true heart?"
"I did. May I show you?" I held out my hand, and he took it. "He freed my true powers just before he died, and I've been working with some friends to learn how to use them. I recently learned this."
I closed my eyes and remembered that night, the way Blake's soul had felt as he died. Pouring golden light into Beleth's hand, I gave him a glimpse into Blake, showed him the love Blake learned to give.
Beleth's eyes glistened with moisture when I released him. He looked at his hands as the last of the glow faded. "You have a rare gift, one I've only ever seen once before in all my years. But it's not your power that makes you special, it's your heart."
Before he could disappear on me, I slipped one more thing into his palm. "A gift from the Druids."
Beleth glanced down at the vial of rose oil and smiled. "Thank you, Rose Wintersong of the O'Conner clan. This gift will help effect great change when the time is right."
"Beleth, can you maybe do me a favor?" Here was the real reason I'd come.
"What might that be? If it's in my power to give, consider it yours."
I had a feeling he didn't say that lightly. "Can you give Blake another chance at being human? He doesn't deserve to suffer the way he surely is right now."
Beleth cocked his head. "While I acknowledge his act of love in the end, he spent the majority of his life in misdeeds of evil. Why should he be given another chance?"
The question didn't feel antagonistic, more like Beleth honestly wanted to know my thoughts on this. "Because everyone deserves a second chance, and because we can't judge someone by their past alone. We have to look at who they are now."
My hands glowed golden, and I smiled at him. "Surely even you have done deeds you now wish you could take back? Can you not find compassion within you now?"
I touched his chest, letting the gold absorb into him until his eyes lit up and then faded to normal.
"You speak the truth with much wisdom. I promise to do what I can."
In the end, that's all I could expect. I clutched the silver locket with Sandy's picture and sent out a silent prayer to whoever was listening to keep Blake safe in the meantime.
TWENTY SEVEN
Chance May Crown Me
DEREK
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
THE SUN SHONE bright, dancing over our magical roses as I waited for my bride to walk down the aisle sprinkled with multi-colored rose petals.
In the three months since the winter solstice, our lives had evolved into something I could have never imagined. Rose had grown into her new powers and become even more nurturing to those around her, so much so that we'd moved into the mansion at the paranormal school so she could spend more time working with the kids and their powers.
I taught martial arts, which the kids enjoyed. It also seemed to help them with control and mental awareness, something the teachers enjoyed.
Dean had made a full recovery and would likely be flirting his way through our reception with every single female he could find. He and Ocean had a brief fling, but had decided they were better as friends.
Tammy no longer moped around the house and had even started dating a man I might approve of someday. Jasmine was taking longer to recover. Her hair never regained its color, staying white no matter what product she used in it, but her body had healed and her heart, we hoped, would follow suit. We'd heard her singing around the house, sad songs, but it was a start.
My dad had hired someone to track down Donna Smuckers. She was still in the hospital after waking up from a coma. No one believed her tales of demons and dragons, but she was expected to make a full recovery with some therapy.
It was the best we could have hoped for under the circumstances.
And Rose and I were about to wed, making our union official. My cousins had erected a floral arch made of roses that I now stood below.
Our kids, the ones we taught, sat hands on laps in rows of chairs. Only a few lost control of their powers with a streak of flames or a little levitating.
Good thing our guests were all used to the paranormal.
Father Patrick stood ready to officiate. My dad would lead a private ceremony later for the clan.
The music started, and I wiped my hands on my pants and strained to get the first glimpse of the woman I would spend the rest of my life with.
She appeared, a vision in white, her dark hair flowing around her, her skin shining with a hint of the gold that never seemed to leave her now. She looked like a goddess.
I lifted her veil when she reached me, wanting to kiss her pink lips, but knowing I'd get the chance soon enough. Hopefully Father Patrick made it a fast ceremony.
"We are gathered here to join Rose Wintersong and Derek O'Conner in the loving bonds of marriage. When two souls are destined for each other, nothing is more powerful than the love between them. Rose and Derek have overcome the greatest of hardships to come together as one today."
"That's an understatement," I whispered to Rose.
She pinched my arm and giggled as Father Patrick continued.
We said our I Dos, but I wanted the kiss.
My lips claimed hers before the priest had finished saying, "You may kiss the bride."
I didn't care if we had an audience. The first kiss I gave my wife was going to be the best kiss she'd ever gotten.
I had a lot to live up to, but the moans she made as she pressed her body against mine let me know I was doing it right.
TWENTY EIGHT
End All
ROSE
Might be the be-all and the end-all—here,
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
HIS KISS LEFT me breathless and blushing and elicited a few catcalls from our students as we ran down the aisle.
The party lasted into the night, with dancing, wine, food and cake. Sam and I chatted about our messed up family stories and laughed at the similarities we shared. Psycho power hungry parent who betrayed us? Check. Absentee parent? Check. Saving the world from said parent? Check that.
We'd become good friends since Derek and I started working at the school. I was glad, because my only other best friend was about to leave me for other adventures.
Ocean skipped over in her impossible high heels and sea foam green bridesmaid dress. She sat down next to me, smiling. "How does it feel to be married?"
"You know, I didn't think it would feel different at all. We've been living as a married couple for some time now, but there really is something to be said for that piece of paper. I feel a shift in energy, a permanence that I had assumed was there before. I like it."
