by Ashley McLeo
Maybe I should ask Rena, Annika, and Selma to leave? Telling her story to strangers is probably too much.
“They can stay. Especially now that I know that’s who they are. They helped save me,” Evelyn whispered, answering Lily’s silent question.
Lily didn’t care; she was too weary to put her barriers in place anyhow.
Questions threatened to overtake Lily’s mind as soon as Evelyn began her story, but with each new twist and turn, she pushed them aside to listen to her sister.
“They forced me to drink vampire blood,” Evelyn said, after a moment of silence in which she appeared to be debating with herself.
“Noro said it was making me stronger, and he was right. I opened the first portal later that day. That was when I was in the basement. It nearly killed me when my pneuma made it to Hecate and set down the part of my mind she carried with her. I know some fata made it through then, maybe a couple dozen. They moved me to the room you found me in and kept forcing vampire blood down my throat so I’d become strong enough to try again.”
“What do you mean your pneuma?” Sara asked, stopping Evelyn’s story for the first time.
“The part of me that can travel now. I assumed it was my human soul at first, but Noro called it a pneuma. It made sense because when I was traveling, I could still think in my head and see the stuff around me, and I remember Aoife said she couldn’t do that when she traveled. But I could also see my pneuma travel inside my head. It was like being on split screen and very disorienting. My pneuma also seems to have feelings separate from mine. They were pretty weak in the manor but are stronger now and difficult to discern from my own.” A pink stain spread across Evelyn’s cheeks as she shot a glance at Lily.
“Your pneuma must have been the blue light we saw hovering over the mansion and what helped us enter the room they kept you in. We knew it was a part of you. It felt like you—magic wise, at least,” Lily said. “Your pneuma was trying to help us save you.”
Evelyn nodded. “I didn’t know about the outside shield until it cracked and the alarm sounded. Later, though, my pneuma periodically snuck under the door crack into the hallways so she could tell me what was happening. She saw you coming and told me so in her weird pneuma way. It was me yelling for you mind-to-mind while my pneuma—well, a part of her at least—was trying to help you inside. The other part of her I had to send through space so Noro didn’t get suspicious. I remember Noro saying that his spell on the door would kill anyone who tried to open it, that no one of this world would understand the spell. My pneuma got really excited when Noro said that. She was fluttering around like crazy, so I knew she knew of a way to get through his spell. It was kind of amazing teamwork for two beings who can’t really talk to each other.”
“She actually split herself into three,” Brigit’s eyes were wide. “When Lily and Sara touched your pneuma, a part of her rushed inside both of them. And you were making a portal already because we saw it, so that’s another portion of her. That’s fascinating. I’ve never heard of a human soul even splitting itself into two.”
Evelyn looked thoughtful and then nodded. “That could also be why I couldn’t really see what my pneuma was doing in space and why she never made it to Hecate that time. She’d weakened herself and our connection. My pneuma knew I didn’t want to make another portal, that I wanted to escape and join you. She promised to do everything possible to put an end to Noro’s plans. She must have really pushed herself, literally torn herself apart to make it happen.” Evelyn placed a hand over her heart and looked down.
“I knew something was strange as soon as I entered your mind and you were communicating with your pneuma. If you had the ability to think while your pneuma was outside of you, you certainly weren’t traveling. At least not in the traditional sense. But my question is where did your pneuma come from?” Aoife asked, studying Evelyn.
“Umm . . .,” Evelyn’s cheeks grew red and she looked at her hands. “She kind of showed up right before I opened the first portal. Noro had been doing fata magic on me earlier and it was exhausting, so that they forced me to drink vampire blood to prep for the opening the portal. As soon as my pneuma flew out of me Noro said that the magic he did released or activated something inside me and Empusa’s blood gave it the strength to come out. It makes sense—her coming out wasn’t exactly comfortable. It felt like I was generating her or something, and probably took more energy than I had at the time,” Evelyn sighed a frustrated sigh.
Lily racked her brain, running through Evelyn’s story again and again. Having a pneuma may come in handy for all of us. Like having a helpful familiar stored inside ourselves for when times get rough. I wonder what mine would look like? Didn’t Seraphina describe hers in the book as it floated out of her body? She was dying, and the pneuma was floating out . . . She was scared and then Noro had the babies drink her blood. Holy shit! Empusa and Amon drank Seraphina’s, their Mother’s, blood! I bet it had some of her pneuma in it! And Evelyn drank their blood. Does that mean? Lily sought out Mary, the only other person who had been as obsessed with the book as Lily had. Her aunt’s blue eyes locked with hers at the same instant and Lily’s palms dampened. Mary nodded and Lily knew they were thinking the same thing.
“It wasn’t whatever magic Noro did. It was the blood,” Lily said. “Empusa and Amon’s blood wasn’t just strengthening you. It gave you a pneuma, or awoke one you already had . . . or something.” Two bright emeralds eyes darted to Mary for help.
“If I had to guess,” Mary ran her fingers through her blonde hair as the gears turned visibly in her brain, “I’d say Noro realized saving Seraphina was beyond his capabilities. Since he didn’t know any better and is an elitist arse, he also would have assumed that any child of his with another fata would be immortal like all fata on Hecate were. He would have wanted to preserve as much of Seraphina’s magic as he could. Her pneuma was disappearing into the air, but parts of Seraphina’s pneuma still remained in Seraphina’s half-transformed body. In her blood. Noro saw that his children looked human. Humans drink, so Noro did what was natural. He let them drink. He allowed the twins to feed on their mother’s blood not because he divined that’s what would become a vampire’s sustenance, though of course that did happen, but because it was the only way to preserve some of Seraphina herself in another being. Perhaps he hoped that someone, at some time, would be strong enough to complete the trio. At that point Eve and Lilith lived, and Noro may have held out hope that Lilith would help them. I’ll bet he guessed they’d need Seraphina’s power to complete the trio. They were special fata, after all. And when the one to complete the power of the three appeared, his children would be able to give them the magic stored inside them, as they were of Seraphina and had also taken in her blood. She was a part of them in every way she could be. Noro only needed to keep Empusa and Amon close to him for as long as it took. So he lied to them to keep them at his side and working for his purposes, never letting them know their true parentage or that he killed their mother. I wonder if Noro actually cultivated a vampire’s taste for blood in those first moments of life? It’s as cruel as it is clever, creating the ultimate vessel and killing machine all in one.” Mary ended her soliloquy, released a long exhale, and bit her lip.
You could hear a pin drop in the room.
“So that means Evelyn has Seraphina’s magic inside her and it awoke or maybe generated a pneuma from Evelyn’s genetics?” Sara asked.
“Evelyn has a bit of Seraphina herself inside her. Her magic, her blood, her soul, all of it. It was pure fata genetic material. I’d wager it did activate something dormant in Evelyn. Something that makes her special and maybe you two as well,” Mary lifted her hands in question.
“Thank the Goddess,” Evelyn choked out and Lily noticed there were tears running down her cheeks. “I thought my pneuma showed up after Noro . . . I didn’t want to say this before . . . I was embarrassed, but he kept calling us lovers. He said it was our official coupling that brought out fata instincts. The coupling wasn�
�t like human sex at all, but I could feel him rolling through me. He must have been backtracking after I drank Empusa’s blood so I wouldn’t suspect the blood had actually done it. I believed him. I thought it, my pneuma, was a part of him or a product of him and I just hadn’t been strong enough until then. I’d thought that I was a part of him. He even branded me with his and Dimia’s marks.”
Gasps arose from all around and Selma grasped Evelyn’s hand in solidarity.
“Men will always want to claim you because of what you are, beautiful one. Just because he said that does not make it true,” Selma said fiercely.
“Are those the symbols I saw when I bathed you? On your upper inner thigh?” Fiona asked, her eyes wide. “Have they changed you in any way?”
Evelyn shook her head defiantly. “I haven’t noticed them holding any power over me besides reminding me of my captivity,” she said wiping her tears with one hand and gripping Selma tighter with the other.
Sirens really do take to each other well, Lily thought, watching as what she imagined to be a thousand words unspoken passed between Selma and Evelyn.
Evelyn sat up straighter on her bed. “There’s more. Noro keeps secrets and lies. He didn’t tell any of his followers he fed me vampire blood to help generate my pneuma either. They all thought the blood was making me stronger so I could open the portal, too. I wondered why Nora didn’t even know I had a pneuma! She thought I was crazy when I mentioned it!”
Lily caught Brigit’s flinch at the taboo name of her childhood friend. That Nora had evaded Brigit, who was the stronger witch by miles, had Lily wondering if Brigit, somewhere deep inside, had allowed her ex-best friend to escape and was now regretting her decision.
Evelyn took a deep breath. “But I found more marks on my body after I woke from opening the first portal—two triquetras glowing in my palm—so I knew I wasn’t crazy. My pneuma showed them to me but they disappeared as soon as Noro entered the room. I don’t know what the triquetras mean, but maybe now that I’m awake I can figure it out.”
“From what you’ve said so far, your pneuma reminds me of a familiar,” Lily said. “If Sara and I can get one, too, this might help us defeat the fata like yours helped us find you. That could be so useful! We just need to find—” Lily stopped, her stomach sinking.
“Empusa and Amon,” Sara finished her tone defeated.
How is it possible that the vampire twins had survived for thousands of years, through war, vampire hunts, and natural disasters, but they die hours before we find out how useful their blood would have been? And I personally killed one?! Why didn’t I suck it up for a few more hours? Lily slumped back in her bed as the excitement of discovery fizzled.
“Maybe we can find one of their children? They had to have ingested some of their parents’ blood to change,” Gwenn suggested.
“That may take months,” Aoife said. “And I’d say the likelihood of Empusa or Amon’s children giving up their blood after we killed their parents is low. Vampires hate donating blood as it is.”
“What about Celestine? I bet she’d do it,” Lily asked.
“We could ask who her sire was, but there are so many vamps it’s unlikely to be one of the twins. I have a hunch closer blood ties would be better. Still, maybe she’d be willing to donate a couple cups and we can see what happens?” Aoife mused.
“What about me?” Evelyn asked.
“You?” Lily asked, confused. Evelyn already had vampire blood and now she wants more? It must not be as terrible drinking blood as I’m imagining it will be.
“My blood. I mean, I’m as good as one of their children right? I drank their blood like one of their children would. And we just confirmed I ingested enough of Seraphina’s genetics and magic because I have a pneuma.”
Lily held back a gag. While drinking vampire blood didn’t sound like a great time, the idea of drinking her sister’s blood was even more revolting.
Evelyn spoke hurriedly, perhaps in an effort to squash the looks of revulsion cropping up all around her. “It won’t be great, but theirs wasn’t either. I think it’s worth a try. It’s easier than going on a wild goose chase to hunt down vampires anyhow.”
“Evelyn’s right,” Brigit said, her lips closing in a tight line. “But it can’t happen straight away. You’re still too weak. We’ll try in a few days. Fiona, do you have any potions that boost blood supply?”
“You may feel a wee poke,” Fiona said slipping the needle under Evelyn’s skin.
Lily watched, as aghast now as she had been when Fiona started testing Evelyn’s blood two days before. Soon, the strange purple liquid Fiona pulled out of her sister’s veins would slip down her throat. She supposed it made it a tad bit easier, seeing how alien Evelyn’s blood had become, but not much. It’s still cannibalism, she shuddered.
“I don’t know why you insist on watching if you’re so grossed out,” Evelyn sniffed. “You can leave, you know.”
It was true. Though Lily’s burns wouldn’t heal fully for days, Fiona’s potions and salves had worked their magic and Lily had been cleared to roam the house yesterday. She hadn’t taken full advantage of that privilege yet, content to spend most of her time lying in bed, talking to Evelyn and Sara. Mostly, the triplets spent hours discussing the past few weeks in minute detail.
How could I ever have been mad at her? Am I that vindictive? Lily wondered as she took in the tubes and needles coming out of Evelyn’s arms. Thank the Goddess I have Sara to remind me about practicing things I’m apparently terrible at. Like forgiveness.
“I’m done here. I’ll run this to the lab for analysis. I realize it’s tough to stay in bed, but keep resting, Evelyn. We need you as fit as possible if you’re to give blood soon,” Fiona said, sealing a syringe in a biohazard bag and cooler for transport. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Jane made sure her contact at the lab was expecting me today so I shouldn’t have to wait again.”
They waved Fiona out the door.
“Today may be the day.” Evelyn smoothed a bandage Fiona had handed her onto her arm. “I feel great.”
“That’s good,” Lily replied with forced nonchalance. The truth was that Evelyn, despite feeling good, looked terrible. The wounds she’d incurred during her days of torture had healed, a side effect Fiona attributed to the vampire blood, but Evelyn still looked thin and sickly. So much so that when her parents visited, Sonja Locksley had fainted at the sight of her daughter.
“Do you want me to get you anything? You’ll need sugar if you think you’re going to give a lot of blood.” Lily tried to sound like she wasn’t telling her sister what to do.
“Hmm, a juice sounds good, I guess? Green, if they have it.”
Lily eased herself off the bed, careful not to brush any of her thin, freshly grown skin against the fabric. “I’ll go get it for you,” she said, mentally adding a sandwich to the order as she slipped into the hallway.
The safe house had been eerily quiet all day. Celestine and Jane, the coven members who had made a point of being around as much as possible, had jobs and responsibilities to attend to they could no longer put off. Even the onslaught of other coven members venturing into the safe house asking about the Battle of Peacock Manor had slowed yesterday afternoon, after Brigit and Jane announced a conference would be held to answer questions. Everyone except for Fiona, Lily, and Evelyn, who was still too weak to move, had left for the conference earlier that morning.
“If we’re going to address the rumors and ask for help, we need to make sure everyone knows the truth of what happened. You should have heard the mad stories people were coming up with. Complete lunacy!” Brigit had exclaimed last night when discussing the conference. “Now that Evelyn is awake and we know for sure there are two dozen new fata running around on the planet in addition to the seven Noro told Evelyn Eve brought over before she died, people will have to be on alert. Thank the Goddess Noro blabbed about that because those seven fata at least have had plenty of time to learn how to use Earth’s magic. It�
��s a wonder they haven’t moved on their plans already, though I suppose Mary’s right that seven really isn’t too many—or at least not as many as the experts thought, considering the number of magical creatures that live on Earth.”
While Lily agreed that they should spread the word, she couldn’t bring herself to leave Evelyn. If her grieving over Em had taught her anything, it was that no matter how much a person claimed they wanted to be alone, they still needed someone who cared nearby. And while their experiences weren’t the same, Lily felt in her bones that Evelyn appreciated her nearness.
She wondered what kind of creatures would be at the conference. The safe house had been clamoring with witches from all over the world since word of the battle leaked. Even a local pack of weres had come forth wanting to ally themselves with their side. Too bad we didn’t have them a week ago.
A clatter of metal coming from behind a closed door pulled Lily out of her daydreams with a start. What the hell was that?
“Jane? Hello? Anyone there?” Lily called.
The tinny clank of metal on wood answered from behind the door to her right and Lily froze. What if it’s an intruder? What if an enemy werewolf or vampire broke in? Am I strong enough to take on another supernatural right now?
A second, louder crash sounded, and Lily sighed. Something was up and she was the only one around to check it out. She crept up to the door and put her ear on it.
A muffled voice floated through the wood.
Placing her hand on the knob, Lily turned it slowly. Once it reached the end of its rotation, she flung the door open and barged through, fingers splayed and ready to fight.
She stopped dead in her tracks.
A man sat on the ground, bound and gagged. A pile of stuff was next to him—metal knickknacks and books he appeared to have knocked off the shelf to get her attention. Another man lay in a bed on the opposite side of the room, asleep despite the commotion. Lily approached the man on the floor, her eyes taking in his longish sandy hair, excellent physique, and bright blue eyes.
