by Ashley McLeo
“Wait! There it is again!”
It was a whisper of a voice, weak, yet familiar. Whirling about Lily saw Jane, Quinn, and Alfred still fighting tooth and nail to keep the werewolf back. Her heart leapt when she noticed a pile of ash on the floor and fell just as fast when two more werewolves rushed from the ballroom to join the fight. Lily’s eyes ran over Alfred once more. While he was stronger and more aggressive than a human, there was no doubt he had weakened. His daemonic glow was no longer the intense sunshine gold of earlier but a light dull yellow. Jane and Quinn also looked spent. They can barely breathe; there's no way they called out my name.
From the corner of her eye, Lily saw a pulse of blue light, fainter than before, seep out from under the door. Lily, the voice in her head pleaded.
Lily gasped and yanked down her mind barriers. “It’s Evelyn. She’s trying to talk to me mind to mind. She’s weak and sounds weird so I didn’t realize it was her.”
All fidgeting stilled as Lily listened, waiting for the next word, hoping there would be another.
Lil, the light. You. Sara. Grab it.
“I heard her, too!” Sara exclaimed, her eyes wide. “Grab the light? What does that mean?”
“Touch that blue light when it comes through?” Even as Lily said it she knew it sounded crazy. How would touching a light get them through the door to save Evelyn?
“Evelyn must have some insider knowledge. Listen to her,” Aoife said, prodding them forward.
They knelt before the door. Lily’s lungs were hard and tight as her breath stilled within her. What if it doesn’t come? Or what if this is a trick?
The blue light flashed again, this time traveling a mere foot beyond the door crack.
Sara clasped Lily’s hand and guided their fingers toward the blue glow as one.
White hot pain shot through Lily the instant her fingers brushed the light. A stab to the heart, a burning of nerve fibers up and down her spine, a stilling of all bodily functions. She opened her mouth but before a cry of agony passed her lips, the pain evaporated and in its place there was lightness. She felt good—she felt amazing, actually.
“Goddess be,” Mary whispered, staring at Lily and Sara with wide blue eyes.
“What?” Lily ran her hands over her face searching for any imperfections.
Sara did the same, starting at her heart-shaped face and moving down to the blue triquetra glowing on her chest.
Hold up. A blue triquetra on her chest?!
Lily gaped at Sara and saw her sister’s expression mirrored her own. She looked down. In the center of her chest the same sapphire triquetra glowed. Lily placed her hands over her heart and held still. There was no denying it. It was her, Evelyn, in this tiny light. But what does it mean?
“I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with me own eyes,” Aoife whispered.
“What? What is this?” Sara stammered, pointing to their chests.
“Your sister. She sent you a part of her soul. I’m sure that’s what it is, though I’ve never seen a traveler’s soul be so . . . colored. And how she split in in three . . .” Aoife trailed off.
Evelyn’s soul? Holy shit. Lily clutched her chest tight. What if it flies out? Evelyn would be so pissed!
“I just wish I knew what you were meant to do with it,” Aoife sighed in frustration.
“Does this remind anyone else of what Seraphina did to her daughter Esther?” Sara whispered and laid her hands gently on her chest. “Seraphina sent her daughter her pneuma, her fata soul, so that their family story lived on as a warning to other witches. Maybe Evelyn remembered the story and figured out how to send some of her soul with information to help get her out. Kind of like you can do with your mind magic, Aoife.”
“Aye. That makes sense. If Evelyn is behind that door, there’s a chance she knows the enchantments used to keep her in there. Her soul should know them, too, and how to get past the door. It will want to get back to its rightful place, inside her. Souls don’t like to stay out of their bodies too long,” Aoife said.
Sara nodded as if it all made perfect sense. “We should release them together to strengthen whatever it plans on doing.” She grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her to the middle of the large hallway, away from the door.
“But how?” Lily asked, glancing into the group of witches behind them.
“You three are in realms of magic unknown. In a space between witching magic and the magic of our ancestors if I’m not mistaken. I’ve never come across a manuscript besides Hypatia’s book describing the sharing of souls. You’ll have to do it by instinct,” Mary answered and her sisters nodded in agreement.
“It’s like finding the book all over again, isn’t it?” Sara asked, grinning at Lily. “Sometimes we just have to listen.” Sara released Lily’s hand, closed her eyes, and her body fell from its protective stance into relaxation.
I should really start meditating with her, Lily thought before following her sister’s lead and closing her eyes. She waited, hoping something, anything would come to her. As if in response a flutter across her heart assured her the sapphire light was still there, waiting. Lily sat with it, feeling it, allowing it to pulse and flow within her. As she settled in with it, the soul grew warm. Notes of courage rose, then defiance. A vision of Evelyn swam up and the light moved upward on its own accord. Its warm pulsations settled between her eyes and pushed hard against Lily’s skin. Her eyes popped open. “Ouch!”
“Is yours pushing against your skull?” Sara asked, opening her eyes and touching the spot between them gently.
Lily nodded. “I think it wants out. It’s pushing really hard.”
“Try the astral travel spell, girls! Maybe it will be strong enough to expel Evelyn’s soul. If she’s pushing at your skin, she clearly wants out anyway,” Aoife looked thrilled by the prospect that her astral travel students might actually succeed for once, even if it wasn’t with their own souls.
Lily shrugged. “Can’t hurt.”
“Ready?” Sara asked.
“On three.” She replied.
“One. Two. Caeliter!” Lily and Sara exclaimed in unison.
Lily gasped as a sudden chill engulfed her head like a brain freeze and a vibrant blue light rocketed out from her third eye. She watched, mesmerized, as the blue light converged with the part of Evelyn’s soul that had been inside Sara and flew forth to annihilate the glossy wood door before them.
The sound was deafening, the mess monumental, as the witches ran through a cloud of smoke and debris.
“Aberro!” Lily screamed, fingers extended at a figure flailing through the turmoil straight at Sara.
The man flew back against the wall, leaving the stench of filth, sweat, and blood in his wake.
Everyone else in the room stood motionless, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open.
They didn’t think we’d be able to get in. Noro himself must have spelled the door. Lily no longer had any question that the fata was here, somewhere. She caught sight of Nora standing tall next to Empusa and Amon, both dressed in pure white, and Lily’s eyes hardened. Amon stepped forward and licked his lips at the sight of her but Lily didn’t have another second to spare for his lewd gesture.
She’d already moved on to a far more frightening figure: a navy ghost with three dark holes for a face.
Noro . . .
The fata floated near a bed where Evelyn lay motionless, her chest skeletal and face pale as snow.
Lily whirled to face Nora, her mother’s supposed best friend and traitor, eyes narrowed in hate. “How could you? How could you let them kill her?”
Nora opened her mouth to reply, but Noro’s voice boomed forth like a gust of wind.
“My Eve is not dead. She’s traveling back home to bring her kin to Earth. I admit I did not want her to have to do this again so soon, but your intrusion made it imperative,” the fata said through his never-ending black hole of a mouth.
His Eve? What does he mean traveling home?
Only then d
id Lily notice a small black spot, about the diameter of a juice cup, hovering above the foot of the bed. What the hell?
Noro’s using Evelyn to create a portal to Hecate, Aoife’s voice pushed through Lily’s head. We have to get to her and stop it, but we must be careful not to hurt her. Evelyn’s not fully present in her body and very weak.
Holy shit! Lily stood flabbergasted, watching as the portal grew right before her eyes to the size of a watermelon. But how? She looks terrible . . .
Images of Em before she was reborn a vampire flashed in Lily’s mind, and she shook her head. Evelyn didn’t look that bad, but there was no denying she was weak. Lily shuffled forward an inch to get a better look at her sister.
“Stay right there, witch,” Empusa hissed. “We wouldn’t want you disrupting your silly siren sister, now would we? In fact, I don’t think you should be here at all. Let’s show our new guests to their chambers, Evelyn’s old room will do for the young ones. Put the rest of the witches in adjacent chambers.” The vampire snapped her fingers and a half dozen people raised their hands or wands.
The Acolytes stepped forward, all except Nora whose arm remained relaxed on her hip while others did the dirty work for her. Lily was sure they could take the witches and wizards on. It was the vampires, elves, daemons, and fata behind them that gave her pause. And Evelyn. What if one of our spells hits Evelyn? She pushed the last thought out to Gwenn, the most skilled at stealth spells in their group, hoping she’d catch it.
A man grabbed Lily’s arm. “Get off me, asshole!” she screamed and wrenched her arm from his grasp.
“You heard the lady,” the wizard said. He pointed his wand at Lily and nodded to Empusa who winked at him.
“Lady? You think she’s a lady?” Lily’s fingertips pulsed with power and she took a step closer to the man. Bite marks ran up and down his arm, dotted his neck and crept onto his face. He’s a fang lover. Manipulated by empty promises and a gorgeous smile, Lily sneered.
“You know she’s using you, right? That you’ll have no greater status in this new realm than the one you live in? To her you’re just a blood bank, nobody important, and definitely not a lover. You’re a disposable means to an end.” Lily's voice flew at the Acolytes who leaned toward her, many ludicrously poised on tiptoes, listening to Lily and waiting for the McKay witches’ next move.
“That’s what they said you’d say, but you’re wrong. They need wizards and witches, too,” The man replied, his face tightening slightly.
“Ha! Then why are you the first line of defense? I’ll tell you why: Because it’s nothing to them if we injure or kill you. You’re nothing to them. You and your little stick,” Lily raised her eyebrows suggestively.
Amon sniggered. “Your insults are picking up steam, Lily darling.”
But Lily wasn’t listening. The second she sensed Gwenn’s stealthy shield charm float past her to surround Evelyn, Lily punched the wizard square in the nose.
The McKay clan sprang into action. Aoife laid out two witches with one spell. Brigit bull-rushed Nora, who panicked and ran, bowling over anyone in her way. Mary and Gwenn remained close to Lily and Sara, taking on dozens of others so they could go to Evelyn’s aid.
They were almost to the bed when two glowing figures jumped in front of them. Daemons, Lily thought glancing at Sara, who also looked unsure. Trusting her instinct, Lily shot the first spell that came to mind, a binding spell, at the daemon nearest her.
The man smiled and leapt in front of the spell, absorbing it.
“Dionean,” Sara said, aiming the stunning spell at the second daemon, who followed his partner’s lead and drew Sara’s magic into his body.
Well shit. Aoife said any spell injurious to a witch would work on a daemon, but apparently she forgot to mention they can absorb spells meant to injure them, too. Maybe it only works if they see it coming? I’ll have to be sneakier.
The daemons’ malefic grins grew wide on their glowing faces as they inched closer, herding their prey toward the wall.
Lily glanced into the crowd and saw Mary and Gwenn still fighting at least ten creatures while Aoife battled Amon, and Brigit, Empusa. No one even noticed their predicament. Lily grabbed Sara’s hand. She was about to make a break for it and hide in the fray where hopefully someone would see their quandary and save them when a pair of hands seized her from behind. Before she knew it Lily was flying backward. She slammed into a wall and heard Sara moan as she landed beside her. Lily scrambled to her knees, arms extended to fight just in time to see a flash of yellow streak by her.
Alfred, glowing bright gold once more, looked ethereal as he fought the daemons with Celestine, whose copious blonde hair whipped around her face as she swirled and kicked.
“Are you hurt?” Lily asked Sara as she helped her up.
Sara blinked, “Fine, just a little dizzy.”
“Well, as long as you can walk we should move. This may be our only chance to get to Evelyn without interference,” Lily said, spotting an opening to the bedside and taking Sara’s hand once more.
The shield Gwenn had cast around the bed for protection kept them from touching Evelyn, but touch wasn’t necessary for Lily and Sara to see how much their sister had changed. Lily held her breath as she stared down at Evelyn, who looked somehow sickly and vibrant all at once. Far thinner than before, Evelyn verged on emaciation, yet muscles popped unnaturally from her biceps and deltoids. Despite the shallow cheeks and visible ribs beneath a thin tank top, something about Evelyn glowed. Her entire appearance was a contradiction.
It’s like she’s no longer of this world.
“It was her choice, you know,” Noro said, floating out from where he was hiding in front of the black hole, which camouflaged his navy color. He rounded Gwenn’s shield slowly and methodically, as if he were not at the center of a raging battle. “Eve is nothing if not pragmatic. She knew the truth when she heard it. Her first attempt was more impressive, though. That portal grew larger and faster, but then I have pushed her into trying again too early. Eve has already invited dozens of our kin to their new home. I believe you two could do the same, and I extend an offer to create an alliance.” Noro’s black eyes widened and Lily thought she saw stars shining in the dark depths.
“You would be heroes among fata kind and all our progeny. With your help we could bring magic out into the open and establish a new, rightful world order—one in which the strong rule and the weak follow. Dimia has assured me that as his blood anyone you love will be spared for use in your own households. Personally, you will feel no direct effect of sharing your planet with us and will live in luxury.”
Sara stiffened behind Lily as Noro floated closer, his dark eyes serious.
How is it possible I can read the emotions of such a creature? And what’s all this “as Dimia’s blood” crap? Lily stood before Sara and Evelyn. Screams, growls, and hisses demanded her attention, yet Lily ignored them, unable to take her eyes off Noro.
“Fear not, Seraphina dear. I do not wish to hurt you. I never did. You made it that way. You always were an impossible creature, strong willed and free thinking. Almost as much so as Lilith.”
“Don’t call us that. Or Evelyn, Eve. We’re not them,” Lily growled and backed into Sara, who whimpered and clenched Lily’s hand tighter.
Catching the small retreat, Noro swooped in, closing the gap between them in seconds.
Lily gasped at the advance and the intense energy it imparted on her body. She could feel Noro’s ghostly shape throbbing and how the air around her vibrated and swirled with his energy.
Noro’s eyes latched onto Lily’s and he lifted an airy limb, hovering it between them before inching it toward her.
Equal but opposing forces pulled at Lily: Run away or stay and protect Sara, who trembled violently behind her. The protective instinct won out and Lily remained grounded, her eyes boring into Noro’s as she wracked her brain for a means of escape.
And then, without preamble or question, Noro was touching her fa
ce in a way unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Light, airy, and alluring, nothing like the touch of a human hand, which was hard and brash by comparison. Lily wanted to step closer to him, and she did.
“That’s it, Lilith, come closer. We will mend your ways and find a way together, you and I.”
Lily nodded, her mind a pleasurable blank. Another caress of her skin from cheek to chest buckled her knees.
“I always liked you best, Lilith. So spirited and free. An explorer, like myself. I thought of you often as my pneuma traveled other worlds, wondering what you were seeing on Hecate.”
What is he saying? The question surfaced for half a heartbeat before the bliss of his touch took over once more.
“Now may be our chance. After you have done your duty to fata-kind, perhaps we can get to know each other. I always wished to feast on all three of Dimia’s daughters. Perhaps I still will? Perhaps the four of us will be together? Help fill Earth with those worthy of all the power it can give?” Noro smiled, a lecherous round “O.”
Behind her, Sara’s hand spasmed and suddenly an image Lily had read about dozens of times flashed in Lily’s mind’s eye. A pregnant woman, half human, half fata screaming beneath the barbaric slashes of Noro. Two twins, one with green eyes, the other with violet being pulled from her belly and allowed to feast on her blood.
Holy shit! What’s happening? Get your head back in the game, Lily chastised herself. What is he doing to my mind? Sara’s hand, still clasped with hers behind her back, was now damp and shaking violently as if sending the image to Lily had pushed her over the edge into full-on panic. Sara’s terror centered Lily in an instant and she squeezed Sara’s hand tightly, I need to fight him; I need my hand, she pushed her thoughts at Sara, hoping Noro wouldn’t catch them.
Not that she had any idea how to fight off this creature. Maybe if I can keep up the act? Make him think I’m still in his thrall? That should buy me a few minutes to figure out how to pull this off.
I'm going to let go now, Sara. Stay behind me.
Lily released her sister’s limp hand, which fell and grazed Lily’s butt, nearly knocking out the hard object she had stuffed in the waistband.
