by Ashley McLeo
Lily’s hand froze behind her. The iron trowel! Thank you, Aoife! But I’ll only have one shot . . . I have to get closer.
Keeping up the pretense of being in Noro’s thrall, Lily closed the inches between herself and the fata. Slowly, sensually, she reached out and caressed Noro’s face with her free hand, repressing the shudder as his mouth grew larger and his eye sparkled.
“What about my sisters?” Lily asked, trying to look slave-like instead of hopeful. “Evelyn . . . Eve is very . . .” She let the sentence trail off as her eyes flickered to the bed and back to Noro.
“Yes, Eve has always been a jealous thing. She will need time to adjust to the new way of life, but I dare say she must get used to it. As second in command on Earth, all three of you shall bear my brand, and we must do our best to populate the planet.” Noro shifted his gaze suggestively to the bed.
Lily ripped the trowel from her waistband and plunged it into Noro’s airy arm the second he broke eye contact.
The ground shook and Lily crashed into the wall behind her again. But this time she’d expected a blowback and she jumped to her feet, prepared to fight. A glint of red caught her eye and Lily saw Sara, strong and solid once more, rise behind her.
A sound like the cry of a hawk but longer, more pitiful, and airier met her ears from somewhere on the grounds. Lily stared at where Noro had been seconds before, a faint navy mist the only indication it hadn’t been a dream, that she’d really touched an alien being.
Lily whirled on the spot, her eyes searching for the fata.
“He’s gone,” Sara said gripping Lily’s arm, “Whatever you did hurt him and seriously pissed Empusa off. Look.”
The room was littered with bodies in various stages of injury. Empusa and her brother were the only Acolytes left fighting and like her brother, Empusa fought three on one, dodging spell after spell with cat-like grace, though it was clear her attention was no longer fully on the fight.
“How dare you!” Empusa shrieked when Lily caught her eye.
“He’ll be back! And when my father finds you, you’ll wish you’d have listened to his requests.”
Lily said nothing. She knew Empusa was right. She may have injured Noro, may have been the first person in thousands of years to do so, but she was sure she hadn’t killed him.
Sara pulled Lily back as Empusa lunged at the witches acting as their shield, sending them all staggering five feet backward. But the move was a feint, for the next second Empusa changed tack, running with supernatural vampiric speed toward the far side of the room and launching herself out the window after her father. Less than a second later, Amon disengaged himself from his own duel and followed his sister, leaping forty feet to the ground as the witches shot spell after spell at his back.
Lily shivered as the sound of a crow cawing ominously deep in the forest echoed through the cold winter night and Amon slipped through the trees to safety.
Safe House
Lily opened the door, circulatio potion clenched in her hand, and saw Rena pointing to Selma snoring in the bed beside her own.
Pushing the door closed gently behind her, Lily wondered how anyone was able to sleep in the middle of the day with all the noise in the Sisters of Salem coven house. I should just be glad Selma has a knack for it. It must be helping with her miraculous recovery.
“Hey Mom,” Lily spoke in whispers as she claimed the chair usually occupied by Annika. “Drink half and save the rest for when Selma wakes. It will help restore blood flow to your injuries and reduce scarring. Where’s Ann?”
“Practicing yoga in the next room,” Rena chugged half the potion in three gulps. “I must say, Lil, I’ve never seen injuries, especially werewolf-scrapes like mine, heal so fast.”
Lily smiled, “Fiona is an amazing healer and teacher. We’re lucky she finally got her patients covered and arrived in time to take care of all the injured. Only you, Selma, and Evelyn are left. Everyone else has already gone home.” Or at least the ones still breathing have, Lily thought as a vision of the three lifeless bodies their army had hauled out of the manor with the unconscious rose up to haunt her.
“So how’s Evelyn?” Rena said her voice scratchy.
The ginkgo and chicory root Lily had added to Fiona’s potion recipe on a whim filled her nostrils as Rena set her cup on the table between the two beds. Lily shook her head. “Still unconscious. Aoife thinks creating multiple portals took her to the brink of death, and she shows signs of . . . other trauma on her body, too.” Lily tried not to think about the vicious slashes that covered Evelyn’s once curvaceous body. Or the strange, ominous marks on her inner thighs. “It's obvious they didn't feed her enough, and Fiona says the vast magical output they demanded probably robbed her body of fat and nutrient stores. Evelyn is scary thin and was only gone five days.”
Rena’s lips tightened and she sighed through her nose.
“We found torture devices in the basement. There was also a flat pile of hay and a bucket that had been used as a toilet. I bet they kept Evelyn there until she needed more care after she opened the first portal,” Rena paused. “Lil, what did it look like?”
Immediately, Lily wished she hadn’t mentioned the portals. They had been a topic of every discussion since returning to the safe house. The Sisters of Salem were beside themselves, questioning why Evelyn succumbed to making them. Some were practically blaming Evelyn outright for the three deaths the army had incurred the night of the battle. They’d ceased asking only when Brigit forcefully demanded they stop accusing her daughter—who’d been through kidnapping and torture by other magical creatures—of treachery. After Brigit’s outburst the debates pivoted and most started questioning how many fata made it over or how fast they would acclimate to Earth.
Lily wished she’d never seen the portal, but she had. In fact, she had been the closest to it besides Evelyn. She shivered. Three steps and I could have jumped through to Hecate.
“Like a black hole, which I guess is what it is, though Mary is calling it a wormhole between planets. When we broke into the room it was about the diameter of a doughnut. By the time Aoife helped rein it in, it had grown to the size of a two person kitchen table.”
“How did Evelyn open it and how did they close it without her?”
Selma stirred beneath her plaid quilt, and they quieted, neither wanting to be the one to wake her.
Lily considered how to put into words what they’d seen and the theories arising to explain it.
Selma’s light snores filled the room once more, and Rena looked at her, waiting.
“We’re not sure how she opened it. We think Evelyn sent her soul, the blue light that helped break the shield, into space. No one knows how yet. Aoife said Evelyn’s soul looked . . . weird. Not white like hers when she travels, but bright blue. It helped us save her, too, by breaking down the door to the room they kept her in. No one else had a clue how to do that. The door was heavily warded and Aoife noticed the magic felt off, but Evelyn’s soul knew exactly what to do. After we defeated the Acolytes, Aoife put her hands on Evelyn’s head. She entered Evelyn’s consciousness like the night she showed us the memory of our birth. Aoife said Evelyn could still communicate with her soul a little inside her head, which really surprised the hell out of Aoife. Aoife said Evelyn’s mind was filled with stars. That led her to the conclusion Evelyn’s soul was in outer space. We had to get it back before we left, so Aoife told Evelyn that Noro and the Acolytes were gone and Evelyn was safe, mind to mind, and asked her to bring her soul home. It was crazy, Mom—the black hole shrank so fast. The blue light streamed through it right as it closed and flew into Evelyn’s chest. When Aoife sensed Evelyn was whole again, she pulled out of her head.”
“Amazing,” Rena’s chocolate eyes widened. “If Aoife hadn’t been there . . .”
“We’d have been screwed. Evelyn was so weak and no one but Aoife is a good enough ceremens to communicate like that,” Lily paused. “Except Evelyn, of course.”
“Of course .
. . ” Rena trailed off, ran her hand over the wound on her face, and sighed. “You know Lil, I’m pretty tired. Ann bought me some ear plugs this morning, so I can finally get rest. I’ll tell Sel about the potion later.”
Lily nodded, pulling the covers high over her mother and kissing her on the cheek. She let herself out, knowing Rena would ruminate over the information she’d given her for hours before catching a wink of sleep. They were the same that way.
Lily wondered what to do next. Maybe go see if Fiona is back from her errands? Starting back toward the kitchen, she did her best to ignore her rising guilt. She knew what she should do, but it was so depressing. Evelyn was the only one who remained unconscious out of eight people their army had levitated or carried from the manor.
And I’m responsible for all the injuries, not to mention the deaths. If I had told Evelyn I wanted her back at Fern Cottage instead of icing her out, maybe none of this would have happened. Obviously she hadn’t felt she could rely on anyone except Sara. She didn’t even tell her parents the truth. I should just peek in. Check her vitals, she thought, stopping suddenly in front of the door to Evelyn’s sickroom. Easing the door open Lily peered in, hoping to see Evelyn’s large blue eyes staring back at her. Instead, Sara’s amber, bloodshot orbs drilled into her.
Lily sighed and let herself in. For Sara, she’d face her demons.
“How is she?”
Sara shrugged, her hands dropping from her mala bead necklace to her lap. “Her cuts and bruises are healing well, thanks to your potions, but she’s still skeletal and unconscious.”
Lily perched on Evelyn’s bed facing Sara so that Evelyn lay between them. Her eyes scanned the room, decorated sparingly with impersonal touches. Two queen beds with a trundle beneath one, a mirror in the shape of the sun, a small bookshelf filled with the classics and books of magic, an empty nightstand between the beds, and nondescript white duvets. It was clearly meant to be a guest room and only the IV apparatus between the two beds suggested it was also a sick room. “She went through a lot. Tortured, starved, who knows what else. Fiona says there’s something different about her, but she can’t pinpoint it. We’ll have to wait until she wakes up to find out what.”
“If she wakes up.” Sara’s voice cracked into a sob.
“Don’t talk like that. She'll wake up.”
“But how can you be sure? No one knows what it took for Evelyn to make that thing. I may be being dramatic, but this has never happened to me before. You have a lot of people who love you, Lil, and you love them. I’ve hardly had anyone in my life to care about as much as I care about you and Evelyn. No matter how much I want a close family and act like everything is great, I’m still not used to actually thinking of myself a part of a real family. It’s a constant struggle for me to acknowledge that I am wanted. Now, I can’t help but feel as though I’m losing one of the few people I’m meant to love and who’s meant to love me.” Sara placed her hand over Evelyn’s.
Lily’s heart wrenched in her chest. And I sure didn’t make her feel wanted by icing her out these last few weeks. I’m such a dick sometimes. She bit her lip and cleared her throat. “You know, Evelyn and I have had our differences, but for me, no one can replace the two of you. Even if Mom tells me we’re actually quadruplets tomorrow.”
A laugh punctuated Sara’s sniffles. “I didn’t mean it like that. I know you care about us. This is just my own unworthiness issues coming out.”
“Still, I know I’ve haven’t said it yet, but you should know, I love you both so much.” Lily took Evelyn’s cold, dry hand in her own warm, moist one and looked Sara straight in the eye.
Sara choked and began crying harder, “I love you two, too. Man does it feel good to say that.”
Lily smiled. It did feel good. And far overdue.
If only those words could do more. If only I could do more, she thought, recalling the night after the battle when she’d snuck into Evelyn’s room to grasp her sister’s hand and pray. It was a move that had been her trump card the night of their unbinding. Too bad that doesn’t seem to work anymore. We’re into deeper, darker shit, I guess.
They sat there like that, Sara’s sniffles the loudest noise in the room.
And then Lily’s stomach rumbled.
Sara sighed. “I need lunch, too,” she said, rising and kissing Evelyn on the cheek. “We can talk to Fiona about new remedies while we eat. She stopped in to check on Evelyn right before you, bags brimming with herbs, plants, and all sorts of healer things.”
“Good idea,” Lily said, thankful Sara also needed a break. She released Evelyn’s hand, placing it under the covers where it would stay warm.
They were halfway to the door when a small, frail cough stopped Lily in her tracks. She glanced at Sara and saw her brows were furrowed and her mouth firmly closed.
“Did you hear that?”
“Did you—?”
“Blood,” a third, smaller voice breathed, barely audible over their own.
They whirled to see Evelyn’s blue eyes open for a millisecond before closing once again.
“Think back,” Brigit instructed, her gaze level. “Is that all Evelyn said?”
“She wasn’t exactly in the mood to gossip, Mom,” Lily said, trying to keep her annoyance at bay, despite having to repeat herself for the umpteenth time. “She said ‘blood.’ We ran back to her side and she said, ‘Noro and vampires.’ Then she blinked a few times and said, ‘I drink blood,’ and then passed out again. We haven’t been able to revive her since.”
Sara wrung out her hands and nodded.
“The meaning is pretty clear,” Gwenn said pacing around the meeting room. “Noro fed her vampire blood to keep her alive. After such monumental exertion under poor living conditions, I’d wager it’s the only reason Evelyn’s still with us.”
“I agree. But we know how vampires are about their blood. They don’t give it up for just anyone, and especially not to strengthen their enemies. I think we’re missing something here.” Mary stared deep into the fireplace as her fingers twirled the ends of her hair mindlessly.
Lily agreed with Mary, but like so many other things in the supernatural world, she had no idea what the missing piece was. No matter how much she learned, it felt like she never had enough information.
“But Noro is their father and master. Isn’t that enough? He could have threatened them with a reduced status in the new world if they didn’t,” Sara suggested.
“That seems like a threat that would work against a vampire,” Aoife agreed. “Most obsess over rank. Have to be top at everything. I bet they hated giving Evelyn their blood even more for that, her being a powerful witch and all.”
“All good speculation but there’s only one way to find out. Which leads me to something I’ve been meaning to bring up all day,” Brigit interrupted. She’d been unwilling to entertain any theories where Evelyn was concerned, forcing them to deal with the limited facts at hand. “Jane told me last night that there’s been a drastic increase in the number of murders in the Meatpacking District. Two bodies were found torn apart so viciously there was no blood left in them. At first I thought it unrelated, but now I’m not so sure. Does it sound like a pair of vengeful, hungry vampires to anyone else?”
Club Life
“You realize it’s up to the local covens and other supernatural groups to rein in any wayward supernaturals, right? None of you have to be here,” Jane said as she exited the cab onto Gansevoort Street.
“I know, but your coven has already gone through so much. You lost good people fighting for my girls. And if I’m honest right now, I’d like nothing more than to kick the evil twins’ arses,” Brigit said, joining Jane on the sidewalk.
Lily and Sara fell into step behind the matriarchs. Lily, too, wanted answers, nearly as much as she wanted to bash Amon’s sculpted face in. She never could have imagined her first boyfriend would cause so much trouble. Then again, she would have never imagined him a vampire either.
Jane led the way
to their meeting place, down a dark alleyway where Aoife, Mary, Gwenn, and Celestine stood huddled together, steam rising from their mouths. Fiona had begged to come, too, but Brigit insisted she stay with Evelyn in case she woke again, knowing someone needed to be there—and that someone had better be an amazing healer. Celestine offered to go in Fiona’s stead.
“I will be able to find the twins more easily anyhow. A vampire can smell the presence of another vampire, especially one that has been on a feeding spree,” Celestine had explained to Brigit as they left the safe house for the Meatpacking District.
Lily was glad Celestine was there on their side. The pretty French baker was a killing machine, accountable for a quarter of their enemies’ injuries at the Battle of Peacock Manor. To hear Jane tell it, Celestine was also an amazing bodyguard and tracker, both of which they would need in the dark, crowded city.
“We haven’t seen or heard anything strange yet,” Mary said at their approach, as if by being in New York they would have witnessed ten sketchy scenarios by walking down the street.
“The night is early. The twins are probably still searching for their perfect prey,” Celestine said, her nose scrunched up with distaste.
Gwenn grumbled and a whiff of burnt holy basil carried on the cold night air to Lily’s nostrils. “We’re going clubbing then?” Like Lily, Gwenn had grown irritable during their time in the city with its hordes of people, sparse greenery, and vast expanses of concrete.
If we’re not out of commission tomorrow, I’ll convince her to walk around Central Park with me. An earth witch date would do us both some good.
Celestine nodded. “Half of us. Half should stay outside. It would be best to have a ceremens or at least a witch capable of some mind magic on both sides for communication’s sake. I have a strong hunch I may know where they are. There’s a very popular, exclusive club in this area, and it is Saturday night. Beautiful, young bodies enjoying life are what Empusa and Amon delight in feeding on most.” She wrinkled her nose again.
