The Dark

by Cheyenne McCray

  It was the first time in four centuries that Cassia didn’t feel as one with her current Coven—as a D’Anu witch.

  Because she wasn’t a witch anymore. At least not in body, or in duties.

  She was fully Elvin, a Guardian ascending.

  And once the battle with Darkwolf ended, her task here would be complete and she would return to Otherworld.

  Forever.

  Thoughts of leaving these incredible women, whom she’d come to think of as her friends and Coven sisters, made her heart hurt.

  Thoughts of leaving Jake made her want to weep.

  The threat of tears made her eyes ache.

  For a long moment it was her looking at them looking at her.

  Everyone was soaked. Their shoes smudged mud and grass on the kitchen floor while water dripping from their T-shirts and jeans ran into puddles.

  Kael had blood on his fur. The room’s scents of spices and candles were almost overwhelmed by the smell of wet clothing, dirt, blood, smoke, and rain.

  Cassia glanced from one friend to the next.

  Silver’s gray eyes studied Cassia as if in deep contemplation. She had her wet silvery-blonde hair held back with a clasp and, as always, her silver snake bracelet wound its way up her wrist.

  Like the rest of the witches, Silver wore a black T-shirt under her Kevlar body armor, and also wore black jeans and running shoes. The Kevlar probably wouldn’t fit much longer, considering Silver’s pregnancy.

  Rhiannon, Silver’s best friend, focused her green gaze on Cassia. The demon scars on Rhiannon’s cheek stood out more than normal against her fair skin as she gave an almost angry frown. Her hair hung in wet strands around her face and she wiped droplets from her cheeks with the back of her hand.

  Tension in the air mounted as Rhiannon’s Shadows stirred within her. The Shadows were part of Rhiannon’s half-Drow heritage that only Cassia had knowledge of until fairly recently. Rhiannon’s Shadows could be—and had been—deadly.

  Copper, Silver’s blood sister, tilted her head, her long copper-colored braid swinging to the side with the movement as she looked at Cassia, as if for the first time.

  Her honeybee familiar, Zephyr, buzzed around her head and landed on her ear. Copper had finally had her ankle cast removed from an injury obtained when the dark goddess had escaped Underworld.

  Alyssa, as usual, looked a little shell-shocked, and even more so with her hair plastered to her head and water rolling down her face.

  The brunette witch had always been the nervous one of the bunch. Everyone in the Coven tended to mother her a little because she’d been more fragile than the rest. Despite her delicate appearance and almost shy personality, she was as talented a witch as any of the rest of them.

  Hannah had her hands braced on her hips, her expression cool and calculating. Even soaked, Hannah looked elegant. The blonde lock of hair swept across her forehead to join the dark hair that she’d pulled back with a clasp. Her gold armband glittered just below the sleeve of her T-shirt.

  Sydney’s chic glasses didn’t hide her beautiful lavender eyes, which were both curious and assessing. As usual, she had spelled the glasses to be rain-repellant. Her cheekbones seemed even more pronounced as her damp hair was held high at the back of her head in a clip.

  Out of everyone, the rough-edged, blonde, blue-eyed, petite Mackenzie looked the angriest as she glared at Cassia.

  Mackenzie had been the most eager of their small Coven to embrace gray magic. Silver had been the first to cautiously use gray magic, and physically paid a price for it. Mackenzie had seemed almost to revere gray magic, like one might a treasure.

  “You definitely have some explaining to do, Cassia.” Silver rubbed her snake bracelet. It was something she did when she was nervous, uncomfortable—or pissed. “This time you’re going to give it to us straight. Every blessed bit of it.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Copper flipped her wet braid over her shoulder, a spark in her cinnamon eyes. “If we have to tie you to the chair, you’re going to tell everything you’ve been hiding from us.”

  Cassia almost smiled. It would take all seven of them to bind her now that she had ascended into most of her powers. If they could even manage such a feat.

  “Do you want to change into dry clothing first?” Cassia buried her fingers in Kael’s wet fur. “Or would you prefer to get right to it?”

  The witches glanced at one another, communicating with their expressions. Silver looked back at Cassia. “It’s probably smart to get out of these wet things, and then meet here as soon as we’re dressed. I have a feeling you have a lot to tell us, and we might as well be comfortable.”

  Cassia sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy.

  She headed off with the witches to the temporary rooms that had been erected in the huge warehouse. Most of the witches were married and shared their rooms with their husbands—Silver, Copper, Sydney, and Rhiannon had married D’Danann warriors. Hannah had married the King of the Dark Elves, and was now Queen.

  So that left Cassia, Alyssa, and Mackenzie, who roomed together. Mackenzie pointedly ignored Cassia as they changed, and Alyssa remained quiet. When they all had finished dressing in clean, dry clothing, they headed back to the kitchen.

  The witches were completely dry from their hair to their toes thanks to their magic. A couple of the witches spelled the kitchen floor clean and lit sandalwood incense and vanilla candles.

  When they were seated at the table, everyone looked at Cassia. She shifted in her chair, feeling uncomfortable from the intensity of their stares.

  Where is my serenity? My calm?

  Even if Kael is right and that’s not my true self, why can’t I fake it like I have all these years?

  “Because you have ascended,” Kael said in her mind as he pushed the kitchen door open with his nose. It swung closed again when he was fully inside. “You must face and acknowledge who you really are.”

  “I don’t like this, Kael.”

  “You do not have a choice.”

  On that happy note, Cassia cleared her throat and looked at the witches. “I’m going to tell you everything, and what I have to say will more than likely surprise you.” She reached out to them with her senses, projecting the love she felt.

  Something harsh, angry, and dark slapped her so hard her mind spun with it. She jerked her head up. She swept her gaze from one witch to the next.

  Could it have been Rhiannon’s Shadows? Mackenzie’s anger? Hannah’s disdain?

  Cassia placed one of her palms on her belly, over her star birthmark. Her stomach twisted at the thought that someone—or maybe more than one someone—was so angry with her that their response was like a physical attack.

  Silver covered Cassia’s hand that remained on the table and squeezed, offering an encouraging smile. “No matter what you have to say, we’ll still love you.”

  “Thank you.” Tears stung Cassia’s eyes. She was getting so tired of all of this emotion.

  “In my heart,” Cassia said as she addressed everyone, “you are my Coven sisters in every way, and among my dearest friends.”

  “But?” Rhiannon said as she stared at Cassia.

  Cassia managed a little smile. “Like each of you, I serve the goddess, but I am not a D’Anu witch.” Shocked expressions met her words, but she continued. “I am fully Elvin.”

  She took a deep breath before she slowly let the air out to tell them what would likely be the greatest shock of all. “I am the daughter of the Great Guardian.”

  Silence. Complete and absolute silence.

  If their expressions had been stunned before, it was nothing compared to how they were looking at her right this moment.

  “Whoa.” Copper held her hands up as she cut the silence. “Did you just say the Great Guardian is your mother?”

  “Yes.” Cassia gave a slight nod. “I am a Guardian ascending and will soon be a Guardian like my brothers.”

  Cassia felt a little of the tension in her body slide away as Kael leaned h
is big body against her leg and hip, giving her some comfort. She didn’t want to tell them the part about her actually taking the Great Guardian’s place one day.

  “I am four hundred and twenty-five years old,” Cassia continued, “young for one of the Light Elves. I have spent my first four centuries here on this Earth Otherworld, watching over Elvin Halflings and serving Covens around the world since the early 1600s.”

  The witches were even more speechless as they stared at Cassia, some with open mouths or wide-eyed shock.

  Silver broke another long silence. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I have reached the end of my service in this Otherworld.” Cassia clenched her hands on the tabletop, her heart beating hard enough to hurt. “When this battle with Darkwolf is over, I will return to Otherworld and take my place as a Guardian.”

  “That’s more than I think I can digest at one sitting,” Hannah said in her cultured, controlled voice.

  Through the walls came the usual busy sounds in the warehouse.

  Absolute quiet reigned in the kitchen.

  Copper cleared her throat. “Uh. Well.” She glanced toward the fridge. “It’s worked before.”

  Mackenzie frowned. “What has worked before?”

  “Haagen-Dazs,” Copper said with a look that said she also needed some time to think about what Cassia had just told them. Probably to distract herself from her emotions as well as the others. “Nothing like a sugar rush to wake up the mind.” For a moment everyone stayed in their seats, looking at each other.

  Then, in what seemed like an attempt to break the stranglehold on them all, Rhiannon got up out of her chair. “Dibs on the rest of the chocolate chocolate chip.”

  “No way.” Copper pushed past Rhiannon. Copper was lighter on her feet again now that her ankle cast had been taken off. “It was my idea.”

  Cassia tried to smile at what seemed like normality as everyone claimed pints of ice cream that they’d hidden from the D’Danann warriors, who ate everything in sight. But things were far from normal.

  Once all the women, with the exception of Cassia, had spoons in their hands and pints of everything from butter pecan to cookies and cream, Cassia continued her story.

  She explained how she hadn’t been allowed to use her full powers or her combat training while in this Otherworld. She’d had to use only what magic the D’Anu witches could wield.

  “That brings up what I think we really need to talk about.” Silver rested one hand on her belly. She still carried the baby in tight and her pooch hadn’t grown very big yet. “That fire. Those Stormcutters.”

  “You killed them, Cassia.” Copper stuffed her spoon into her chocolate chocolate chip and stopped eating. “D’Anu witches don’t kill.”

  “That’s true.” Cassia reached down and stroked Kael for comfort. “But Elves have no such qualms.”

  The nearly constant silence that greeted her every secret was starting to get on her usually calm nerves.

  “Point taken,” Sydney said quietly. “But to see you do it—that was frightening.”

  “You sure kicked ass,” Copper said, in another obvious attempt at lightening the mood.

  “You saved countless lives.” Silver pushed some of her hair over her shoulder, her hair now free-flowing down her back instead of in a clasp.

  She continued, “The D’Danann are Fae, and we haven’t judged them for killing evil. The Dark Elves kill, and we’ve had no problem with that. I don’t see why we can’t accept your abilities and choices as well.”

  “I suppose.” Rhiannon’s pentagram earrings winked in the sunlight streaming from the warehouse’s skylights. It had been dark during the battle because of the warlock god’s magic, but it was actually the middle of the day. “It’s still hard to stomach.”

  “How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Mistrust still simmered in Mackenzie’s gaze. “You’ve lied to us all this time.”

  Cassia sighed. “I have nothing but my word and my magic. You saw the power I wielded during the battle. I also transported us all directly from Union Square to this very room, something no D’Anu witch can do.”

  She sighed. “Even a full-blooded Elvin male or female could not perform that magic without going through a transference point. Only a Guardian ascending or a Guardian can.”

  “That certainly was a trip.” Copper shook her head. “I thought traveling to Otherworld was rough, but what you did—I was sure I was going to lose my breakfast when we got here.”

  “No kidding,” Sydney said, and Alyssa agreed with a nod.

  “Well, no matter who or what you are, you’re still one of us.” Silver smiled. “You are our Coven sister.”

  Words of agreement came from everyone but Mackenzie, who remained stubbornly silent.

  Despite Mackenzie, tension around the table eased considerably and Cassia’s heart no longer felt so weary.

  The witches questioned Cassia on everything from what a “Guardian ascending” meant to her life on Earth over the past four hundred years.

  Cassia told them everything she was allowed to, but left out the part about needing to go through her transition with an Elvin male to complete her ascension. Or dying if she didn’t.

  “That’s all great,” Rhiannon said as she polished off her cherry chocolate chip ice cream. “What I really want to know now is what’s going on between you and Jake?”

  Heat rushed to Cassia’s face and she wished for her serenity more than ever.

  “Yeah.” Copper twirled the end of her braid. “You two looked pretty, uh, attached.”

  “Nothing.” Cassia swallowed. “Besides, he does have a girlfriend.”

  “That’s right.” Rhiannon pointed her spoon at Copper. “Kat DeLuca from Channel 17 News, right?”

  Copper nodded. “Uh-huh.”

  Tingles ran up and down Cassia’s spine. She hadn’t known who Jake’s girlfriend was, and the thought of the beautiful dark-haired reporter in Jake’s arms left her hot and flushed.

  Rhiannon said, “We didn’t know anything about her until she stopped by, the same morning the Stormcutters attacked Jake and you had to take him to Otherworld.”

  The fact Jake had seen Kat just before going to Otherworld and then kissed Cassia a few days later made angry sparks buzz in her stomach.

  The teakettle rattled on the stove and no fire was burning beneath it. A couple of the witches glanced at the teakettle but turned to continue their conversation with Cassia.

  “Jake and I are just friends.” Cassia clenched her hand in Kael’s fur, and he nosed her knee with his large head.

  Rhiannon folded her arms on the table, leaned forward, and smirked. “That sure didn’t look like a friend moment to me.”

  “Whatever,” Cassia said, borrowing one of Mackenzie’s favorite phrases. “Believe what you will.”

  Copper and Rhiannon grinned at each other, and the rest of those around the table looked amused. Again, everyone except Mackenzie.

  “Besides,” Cassia added, straightening in her seat. “I would never have a relationship with a man who has a girlfriend.”

  “We know you wouldn’t.” Rhiannon looked serious for the first time since bringing up Jake. “But for all we know, he’s going to break up with Kat.”

  Cassia tried to control the heat flowing through her body and let the tension slip away. “It is impossible for Jake and me to have a relationship. So we’ll leave it at that.”

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Rhiannon shook her head, causing her hair to fly into her face. “You can’t just say that and leave us hanging.”

  Cassia shrugged and refused to answer the barrage of questions that followed.

  When she had a chance, she found a good excuse to change the subject. “We need to scry together to see what must be done next. Or what’s going on.” As she looked around the circle of witches she added, “Maybe we can pinpoint the Alliance’s traitor.”

  “It can’t be one of us. And definitely not the D’Danann.” Silver swe
pt her gaze at all of the witches and Cassia. “So it must be someone in the PSF.”

  Mackenzie scowled even more. “It could be one of the Drow.”

  Immediately both Rhiannon and Hannah glared at her. Garran was King of the Dark Elves and Rhiannon was his daughter. And now Hannah was Garran’s Queen.

  “Don’t even go there,” Hannah said in a low, measured, deadly tone. “The Drow aren’t traitors.”

  “What’s wrong with you, Mackenzie?” Rhiannon’s green eyes sparked with anger. “You’ve been sullen and angry, and now you’re pointing your perfect little finger at my and Hannah’s people.”

  “They’re not your people.” Mackenzie returned their glares. “If I have to remind you, a faction of them betrayed us just a couple of weeks ago, before Hannah married Garran.”

  “That traitor was sentenced to death.” The anger in Hannah’s voice became stronger. “Every one of the remaining Dark Elves support and follow Garran.”

  “How do you know?” Mackenzie clenched her hands on the black laminate tabletop. “What makes you so sure?”

  “Because Garran is my husband,” Hannah said.

  “And he is my father,” Rhiannon added.

  “You’re both blind—” Mackenzie started.

  “Stop.” Cassia automatically took control of the situation, as she always did, although she’d never seen this kind of infighting with these witches. “Arguing won’t do any good. Hopefully scrying, and a little sleuthing, will.”

  Mackenzie, Hannah, and Rhiannon continued to glare at each other, but stopped arguing.

  “Why don’t we get started?” Cassia released Kael’s fur, pushed her chair back, and stood. “Let’s gather our scrying tools.”

  Everyone nodded and, without saying anything else, got up and left the kitchen. Cassia stayed behind for a moment and stared at the door.

  “What’s happening to this Coven, Kael?” Cassia said aloud as her chest ached. “Did this all start with me? Is this my fault?”

  “No, Princess.” Kael butted her hand with his nose so that she’d pet his head, no doubt to give her comfort. “Something is most certainly wrong. But what, I do not know.”