She explains everything to the person on the other end of the line. Once she’s done, she puts the phone on speaker.
“Can you both hear me?”
As I expect, it’s Eldrida.
“I’m afraid you are being tormented with a force that hasn’t been seen in decades. One that we had hoped was dealt with. Her name is Cerelia. She has been around for centuries, feeding off the souls of innocent people to keep herself alive.”
“Wait. I didn’t think Witches could do that.” I interrupt, confused. One thing I know, or at least I thought I knew, is that the Witches cannot claim immortality.
“Normally we can’t. The powers that Cerelia wield are greater than that of an average Coven Witch. In fact, she holds some of the greatest powers any Witch has ever wielded. She comes from one of the original lines.”
I look at Danika in question, but Eldrida is already explaining. “Her line is not that of Hecate, but very close. Hecate’s aunt, Leto, started the line she was born into. Cerelia’s grandfather, Apollo, was and still is a respected deity in the area where she was born. Apollo himself was born on the island of Delos. Legend tells us that once he and his twin sister were born, the isle, once a floating island, rooted itself to the ocean floor and bloomed. Unlike Cerelia, Apollo was a good man. He was known as an enforcer. He afforded help to many and warded off evil.
“At the beginning of Cerelia’s life, she was as well-intentioned. Then something changed. She became selfish, and conceited. Instead of trying to help others, she started seeking power to help herself. One day she came upon a very powerful spell that would keep her young forever if she sacrificed other witches, but in return, she would lose her soul. This held no hesitation for her. Once Cerelia realized what she could become, nothing stopped her.”
Danika and I exchange worried glances. Eldrida continues.
“Now do remember, she is not directly from Hecate’s line. Witches from Hecate’s family are strong and powerful, but their power has weakened due to time. Cerelia is from an original line and her power has not faded.”
“So you’re telling us this Witch is over three thousand years old?” I ask.
“Yes. She has kept herself alive and young for centuries, growing stronger and more powerful through each century, feeding herself with innocent souls. If she is involved with these kidnappings, I can assure you it’s not good. Cerelia does not get involved in minor feuds and wars. Whatever lies ahead, will be a battle for each and every one of us.”
Chapter Sixteen
A few hours later I decide to go check on Ethan. I have spent the last few hours researching all I could about Hecate, her family, and Cerelia on the café’s computer. I have no idea who this Cerelia Witch is, nor do I know much about Hecate or her family. I had tried talking to Danika but she was of no help. She seemed more shaken up about what Eldrida said than I was. Instead of giving me any real answers, she just mumbled some excuse to leave and walked out of the room like a zombie. I wanted to comfort her and tell her everything would be fine, but as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not sure it’s true.
With all that had happened, the attacks, the cloaked man, even Coy, I wasn’t sure about a lot of things. The only thing I was certain of was that I would not stop looking for Addie. Even if it meant my death, I wouldn’t stop. I was, however, reluctant to let the others face the same fate.
Before going to the café, I had called to check on Ethan, to make sure he was okay. Danika had answered, and told me that he was still sleeping. I knew Ethan had to recover but we also needed to get back on the hunt. Addressing the problem would probably be tricky, but no matter who went or who stayed, I had to make the relative dangers of staying and going very clear to everyone.
I pause in front of the door, my hand raised ready to knock. Although Ethan seems to be recovering it still isn’t proof that we have healed him. Danika and the Elders are certain that he will be okay, but I still fear that it didn’t fully work.
I lightly tap on the door, forgetting all my doubts, plastering on a ‘isn’t it a great morning’ smile. But when the door opens, I lose my fake smile and try to squash a whole new set of emotions that are trying to surface. Coy’s closed expression tells me nothing as to what he might be thinking. After a few intense seconds he starts to say something but I look away, sliding past him into the room.
Danika is sitting beside Ethan’s bed. A laptop sits in her lap, but it goes ignored as she stares at him. Standing in the corner is Jared. Though he helped with the fight, he is a problem I didn’t plan on facing—or rather, I had hoped had gone away. I ignore him for the moment and focus my attention on Ethan.
“How’s he doing?” This is directed to Danika, though in the silence, an answer from anyone would be nice.
Danika finally looks over at me with exhaustion. Between worrying over Ethan and this new situation with the big, bad Witch, the poor girl is probably stressed to the max.
“He’s still the same. His pulse is good and his breathing’s normal. The wounds are all but gone. I just don’t understand why he hasn’t woken up. We did everything right. Even Eldrida agreed that the ritual was successful. So why isn’t he waking up?”
Tears stream down her face as she continues to look at me for answers, answers that I don’t have. I say what I can.
“Maybe he just needs a little more time to rest. He did have some severe injuries. And having healed so fast was probably another shock to his body.”
I hope my words bring some comfort. I try taking comfort in my own words, but it doesn’t work. With no real doctor monitoring him, we don’t know what’s going on inside his body.
My words do seem to bring some relief to Danika, though. She wipes her face, takes a deep breath, and nods in agreement. She looks back at Ethan for a moment, taking his hand in hers. I wish I could just let her sit there without a worry in the world, and not bring up the other troubles we face. I want nothing more than to pretend everything’s fine and that Ethan will make a full recovery in no time. But I can’t do that. We need to discuss what we are going to do and how best to face this new threat.
Luckily before I have to say anything, she stands and brings her laptop over to the tiny table in the corner. Gods and goddesses cover the webpage on the screen. Coy stands a few steps behind me, looking intently at the images. Jared stays in the corner, his arms crossed over his chest as he looks at the computer.
Danika enlarges the images. “I’ve done some research. There’s plenty of information on Cerelia’s family and Hecate’s family, but there’s little mentioned about Cerelia herself. I made some calls to a few others, but they didn’t know that much about her either. Apparently she’s stayed under the radar for quite some time.”
Turning her attention back to the screen, she closes the gods and goddesses page and pulls up another page. This one has a picture of a girl surrounded by bright light facing another girl surrounded by darkness. Underneath the picture is the caption: “Almost an ending that brought forth a new beginning.”
Danika tells the story behind the image on the screen. “This is the last recollection found on Cerelia and her last battle. This image here,” she says, pointing to the screen. “Was hand painted by a Witch who witnessed the battle. Cerelia had conjured up some of the most evil entities possible, along with coercing some evil leaders in positions of power within our world, to bring about the end of the weak—mostly humans.
“Cerelia spread plagues, fear, famine, and war all over the lands. Hecate’s family line was hard at work trying to find a solution to bring about her end. They decided to put a binding spell on her that they knew wouldn’t last, but that would give them a slight window of opportunity. They had hoped it would be enough time to get close enough to Cerelia to kill her.”
I raise my brow, totally enraptured in the tale.
“The strongest of the Witches, Melina, volunteered to face Cerelia once her powers were bound. Melina was the most powerful Hecate daughter left, with the strongest bl
oodline. The Witches caught up with Cerelia in Egypt, spreading her plagues and war.
“They managed to corner her and cast the binding spell. Melina tried to finish her quickly, but the binding spell didn’t hold long enough. Then Cerelia attacked Melina, but before she could kill her, Melina took her own life by reciting a spell that would protect her soul from being captured by Cerelia. Melina knew she didn’t stand a chance against Cerelia, so she took her own life to keep Cerelia from gaining more power.”
I listen intently as Danika tells the story of Melina’s bravery. Could I make that final sacrifice? Will it come to that? I know without a doubt that if it does, I wouldn’t hesitate.
“The Coven then retreated to try and come up with a new solution to stop Cerelia. The Elders of that time decided that the only way to fight Cerelia’s black magic was with white magic. They started helping human doctors and medicine men find cures for the plague. They spoke words of encouragement, peace, and understanding to the armies and their leaders. They conjured rains for those places in drought without food or water. Cerelia became enraged by their actions and attacked the Elders. But they were prepared for her. The group cast one of the most powerful and purest spells known to the Witches, passed down from Hecate herself. The spell was successful, and drove Cerelia into hiding where she has been recovering from the attack.” Danika pauses, her voice a little shaky.
“Before being forced into hiding, Cerelia killed 391 to gain and keep her eternal youth. She is one of the most powerful and feared Witches of all time. I looked over several other stories and it seems that she is only interested in power and destruction. This is what we are facing.”
While Danika told the story, I stared at the two women on the computer screen. The pure Witch standing up to the evil Witch, protecting everyone from her machinations.
Coy clears his throat behind me. “That’s a nice story and all, but what does that have to do with us?”
“Racquel has been having some unusually vivid dreams. Last night I felt her emotions, and those of whoever is messing with her. We called the Elders and they believe that Cerelia is the one causing these dreams. Whatever her motives for being involved in what’s happening is not a good sign.”
Coy reaches out, laying his hand on my shoulder but I step forward, avoiding his touch. Danika gives me a funny look, not sure what’s going on. No one, including her, knows about what happened last night between me and Coy. Hopefully it stays that way.
“Racquel why didn’t you—” Coy starts but I interrupt him.
“We need to access what we’re going to do now.” I can’t see Coy’s face, but I can almost feel his pain from my rejection. Or maybe that’s my pain.
Danika nods in agreement. “Well first we’re going to have to wait for Ethan to wake up and see how he’s feeling. In the meantime, we can try connecting some dots of what we know, figure out where we’re going next, and discuss the best options for handling Cerelia.”
I take a seat across from Danika. This conversation isn’t going to go over well—with any of them. I take a deep breath, preparing for the argument, and jump into it.
“Danika, I understand that you are worried about Ethan, so am I. But I don’t think we have time to wait for him to wake up. We don’t know when he’s going to fully recover or become conscious enough to discuss the situation with him. It could be today but it could also be weeks from now.”
Danika stands, outraged, her voice loud with anger. “So what then, you just want to leave him here? With no protection, open to another attack?”
“I never said that. I was thinking that I should go on without you guys.” Once the sentence leaves my mouth the room explodes with objections. I expect them from Danika and Coy, but Jared surprises all of us.
“Are you insane? Did you forget what happened in the park? Do you honestly believe for a second that you could face all that and more, on your own?”
A surprised silence fills everyone as they turn their focus on Jared. “And why would you care so much?” I ask him, skeptical of his motives.
“I care for my own reasons,” Jared snaps, his expression tight.
“Why? Aldrick’s going to hack your head off if you don’t complete the mission he sent you on?” He helped us in the park, sure, but I’m still convinced Aldrick is the motive behind his sudden appearance.
Jared smirks, a wry grin. “Reverse that. If Aldrick knew I was here, he would take my head.”
“Then why?” Sitting back in the chair, I cross my arms over my chest.
“You do remember there were Vampires taken too, right?” he says crossly, losing his arrogance.
“Yeah. You do know we tried talking to Aldrick about it but he offered no help, right?”
“Yeah, well, there are some of us who do care, who have loved ones who were taken.” He’s looking down at a bracelet with a delicate, small chain held between his fingers. It’s made from silver, no doubt to keep Lycans at bay. A single star charm hangs from the silver band.
Not much more of a clue is needed for me to pick up on what’s going on. “Who did you lose?”
“My sister.” Jared walks over to the window, peering out into the city. His arms are tight over his chest. “You know how that feels.”
“Yes I do,” I say. I’m always thinking of Addie and what she could be going through.
“Then you understand why I’m not walking away from this.” He looks over his shoulder, his face grim.
“Okay,” I say. There’s no other answer after that. “Jared and I will go, while you and Coy stay here with Ethan.” Once again the two of them start protesting against my plan. Neither one of them wanting to stay behind, but knowing they have little option.
The biggest protest comes from Coy. He’s now standing in front of me, ignoring my protest of space. “He’s right. You have lost your mind. If you think I’m going to let you venture off with some Vampire we know nothing about, to face some evil, centuries-old Witch alone, you’re absolutely crazy.”
“And what exactly are you going to do to stop me?” Our eyes meet, each one of us unyielding. “You’re human. These dangers are a bigger threat to you than any of us. And are you going to leave Danika here to defend herself?”
“No I’m not. You’re going to stay here until we can all go together, or we get her and Ethan somewhere safe.”
I knew this wasn’t going to be easy but I didn’t realize how much his feelings would affect me. I want to give in to his care, give in to the affection I’ve always wanted. A friendship, someone to talk to besides my sister. But I can’t. Caring for him this way only complicates things.
I look over at Danika who is staring off at nothing. I’m sure she’s trying to figure out a plan but coming up empty-handed like everyone else.
I look back at Coy, pleading with him to understand. “I have to do this. You said it yourself—you don’t want to be a part of this world. I promise you I will return your brother safely to you. But right now, you need to stay with Danika and Ethan to make sure they’re safe.”
Doing the unimaginable, he grabs me in front of everyone. Pulling me close to him, he looks at me with a heated intensity. “I’m already a part of it.”
I can feel Danika and Jared looking at us. My chest tightens, my heart racing with delight, yet hindered with fear. Coy leans down to kiss me but I jerk away.
“No, no, no.” I turn my back to him walking to the other side of the room. I don’t want to see his face. If there’s hurt, I know I will break. If I see relief, I will still break. My heart is beating so fast I feel like it’s going to explode through my chest.
This cannot be happening. I knew drinking from him was a mistake. It’s misled him and has made him feel sorry for me. He’s forgotten about his resolve to get out, to have a normal life.
“Dammit, Racquel!” Coy starts towards me, continuing his protest, but is cut off by an unexpected voice.
“Will you guys keep it down? I’m trying to recover here.”
> Chapter Seventeen
Unbelievably, it’s only been a few hours since Ethan regained consciousness, and here we are sitting on the plane. But believe me when I say it wasn’t easy. Once Ethan woke up and not only found out about Cerelia but also saw Jared, all hell broke loose.
First there was another pissing contest between the two of them. Luckily there were no punches thrown. Especially with Ethan being laid-up and all. It was mostly a bunch of name-calling, accusations, and bad language thrown around. And once all that seemed to be settled between the two of them, another battle started.
Ethan slowly, and from his appearance, painfully got out of bed. Then the fight was on between him, Danika, and me.
Ethan was determined to get back in the game, unwilling to let his injuries be the reason behind our hold-up. Although he wouldn’t admit it, I know he heard all the arguing before he decided to let us know he was conscious. He knows the seriousness of the situation and even though he’s still in a lot of pain, he decided to grit his teeth and get back into it.
I glance over my shoulder at the jet’s private room. Although we couldn’t stop Ethan from coming with us, that didn’t keep Danika from being mama bear and forcing him to take it easy. She’s now stationed outside the private room in the chair I had hoped to occupy, looking over a map of Canada, while Ethan rests in the back.
We know little about the Shape-shifters’ location except that it’s somewhere in the remote mountains of northern Canada. I know her studying the map is only a distraction to keep her seated instead of hovering over Ethan. Looking at a map isn’t going to do us any real good. There are hundreds and hundreds of miles of empty wilderness to search through.
The rest of us are spaced throughout the cabin. Jared occupies the couch on the left. I am sitting in the front chair, keeping my back to Coy, who is in the seat behind me flipping through channels on the television.
I want so badly to reach behind me and snatch that remote away from him. The TV is stationed in front of me, so I’m continually distracted as he keeps flipping channels, not settling on one thing for more than a minute or two. I’m honestly starting to believe that he is doing it just to get a reaction out of me.
Uniquely Unwelcome (The Shadow World, #1) Page 21
