Forever Night

by W. J. May

  “And yet Kallie would have us end that war.” James clearly had not forgiven Liam yet, but his voice was contemplative. “It’s all futile. How can you not see that? This war will never end, even if you take away the instinct in us to wage the war. Take that away and what good could come of it now?”

  “Petra can help us end the war,” Kallie argued, refusing to give up. “I care more about my mother and father being happy together, about being able to have all of my allies tolerate each other’s presence, than I care about punishing one woman.”

  “And that,” James said simply, “is why you’re not on our side.”

  “She is—” Liam began, and James cut him off curtly.

  “You do not speak here. Not after what you did.”

  “He did what he did for the right reasons. It was the right thing to do!” Kallie realized she was yelling and took a deep breath to calm herself. “You’re going on about rules, but Petra’s broken every rule there is. She’s making day-walkers and Hunters. She tried to wipe the Blues out entirely! What Liam did for my mother was no less than what you did for him—a chance to avenge his family. I won’t stand by and see you scold him for it. He, of all people, understood what my mother was going through.”

  “And he, more than any of us, would understand the danger he was putting both her and us in. If the Reds know our numbers are growing—”

  “What, they’ll do something worse than keep trying to kill all of you?” Kallie demanded.

  James stared her down, his face like stone. “It is Petra’s sister!”

  “Listen to me,” Kallie said desperately. “I’m not asking you to trust the Reds. I’m not asking you to end the war today and walk out into the open as prey. What I’m asking is for your help to make sure the war doesn’t have to continue. You were the one who gave me hope, don’t you remember? You were the one who told me it wasn’t always like this.”

  “I don’t have the first idea how to end it,” James said flatly. “All I know is what was.” He paced in the small area, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Say we end it—what’s to keep it from happening again?”

  “Nothing!” She wished she had something solid to say. Anything to convince the Blues they could control themselves after the instinct spell was broken, but she didn’t even know herself. They might not be able to stop it. She had no proof, just a gut feeling. “But we don’t just let wars go on because peace is fragile. Wars kill people. They destroy everything!” She stomped her foot. “They’ve driven you underground, and you can’t think of a single reason you’d want to build toward peace?”

  “What we have is safe.”

  “It’s not safe,” Kallie retorted. “It’s not even a life. There’s no point to any of it. You can’t even live openly with your own kind.”

  “We don’t get to choose how the world is, Kallie. What we get to choose is how we respond to it, and I have kept these Blues safe.”

  Now she began to pace, matching him stride for stride. “And I’m trying to help you make them safer.”

  “You’re going to get them killed! You say we don’t have to trust Reds, but Petra—Petra—is the only one who can fix this, isn’t that right?” When Kallie looked away, he leaned forward and jabbed his finger at her. “I said, isn’t that right?”

  “Yes,” Kallie admitted quietly.

  “And I’ll tell you what. I know something about how spells are built. I may not know what words to say or how to call the power, but I can tell you that to change all the Reds and all the Blues, you’re going to need Red blood, and Blue blood.” He glared at her. “I’m going to bet Petra hasn’t told you that.”

  “Well…I didn’t give her much chance,” she retorted defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “She’s bound in silver and iron,” Liam explained from behind her.

  “At least you did something right,” James muttered. “But it’s useless, all of it. Girl, your mother isn’t going to help us. I know her.”

  “She wasn’t always this way,” Kallie said softly. Helen’s words came back to her: If you can’t recapture the woman she was meant to be, you’ll never be able to trust her.

  “Yes,” James said flatly, “she’s always been this way. You think she got seduced by power, don’t you? You don’t have to answer. I can see it in your eyes. You think she started out as a brilliant witch who got more and more twisted by the power she had. But she pursued that power without thinking of the cost to your father. She pursued that power without thinking of the cost to you. And when it came time to protect you both, she took an innocent woman’s true life away, and made her live hers instead.”

  Kallie watched him, afraid to answer.

  James shook his head. “I was there when she first came to us, asking for protection. There was never a question for her of what she might give to us or to the world. It was all about knowledge, as if knowledge was something beyond morality. Do you know what she did to gain her powers as a witch? No? Then I won’t even speak it. It would demean all of us to hear about so much evil.”

  “My mother said—”

  “Your mother grew up with a murderer,” James said flatly. “And not just a murderer. A sociopath. Petra plays with minds… she makes herself irresistible and she warps memories. She killed a dozen Blues that way alone. Your mother’s recollections…are worth nothing. And Petra will never help you. Petra’s the one who profited from this war, from playing us against one another. She won’t take action to stop it. It isn’t in her nature.”

  And that, of all things, gave Kallie peace. Petra is the one who profited from this war. It was true.

  Chapter 7

  A scant hour later, Kallie slammed open the door to the basement and strode down the stairs. As Petra, curled in the corner in her chains, lifted her head warily, Kallie stared her down. “You made the war what it is,” she said simply. “And now you’re going to fix it.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Tell me how.”

  “You think it’s that easy?” Petra gave a laugh. “You think—”

  “You told me you could so I’d spare your life,” Kallie said flatly. “So you’re going to keep your end of the bargain, or I’m not keeping mine.”

  “You’d kill me,” Petra tested her. The woman pushed herself up, eyes narrowing slightly. Her chains clanked, and Kallie saw her wince of discomfort as the collar knocked against her neck. “You’d kill a helpless woman.”

  “You and I both know that’s a damned joke. When you aren’t helpless, you kill a lot of people.”

  There was a gleam in Petra’s eye that said this was the response she would have made herself, but she didn’t look exactly pleased to have it turned on her. She drew herself up straight, somehow managing to look down her nose at Kallie even though she was seated on the floor. “And you’d kill your own mother.”

  “You aren’t my mother,” Kallie said flatly, and this time she saw Petra’s minute wince.

  “I am,” she said. “I gave birth to you. I sheltered you. I protected you.”

  “You don’t know me,” Kallie scoffed. She knew it was cruel, but she couldn’t stop herself from blaming Petra. “You left me and Dad, and maybe you thought you’d look out for us. But you didn’t!” She shook her head. “Where were you when the accident happened? Where were you when they beat him every month and drank his blood? You weren’t around as I grew up, when I graduated, when I… when I…” She huffed. “I had to find out the whole truth about you and everything from a Blue. If he hadn’t come up to me and started talking...would you ever have sent Caleb? I—”

  “Yes.” Petra’s face had grown twisted. “You are my daughter! You are the one who can carry on my legacy. I knew from when you were an infant how much potential you had. Don’t you see?”

  Kallie paused. This was a trap. Wasn’t it? She didn’t know what Petra meant.

  “You’re a witch,” Petra said simply. “I told you. You were born to be one. Like me.”

  �
�I’m not a witch,” Kallie said. The shock of her first fight with Petra had worn off; now she leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “A witch earns her place by doing terrible things, and I’ll never do those things.”

  “Is that what they told you? Your father? Or the Blues? Did Caleb tell you that?” Petra managed a laugh. “Blood sacrifices? Torture?”

  “They said they wouldn’t…speak of it.”

  “Of course they wouldn’t—because they don’t know. I do and I can teach you.”

  “I thought you just said I was born with it.” Why was she even having this conversation with Petra? Because you need answers. Or at least some direction on where to find the answers. “Anyways, why the heck would I want to be a witch?”

  The question seemed to stop Petra in her tracks. “Why wouldn’t you want to be one? Kallie, didn’t you even wonder a little why you were able to tap into your power as a Hybrid so easily? Why you fight so well after so little time?”

  “Because I’m…a vampire. A quick learner.” Kallie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Doesn’t matter? You could have more power than you can dream of now.”

  “But I don’t want power!” Kallie slammed her hand against the wall. “Why won’t you listen to me? I don’t want that power. I don’t want to be a witch.” And then it all came tumbling out, beyond any thought of conscious control. “This is like everything else. You decided what would be best for me without ever asking what I wanted.”

  “The last time I did that, you were six months old!” Petra spat the words. “I could hardly ask you, could I? And I rather thought you’d like being alive. So go on, tell me I was wrong.”

  “If you were courting the Reds and the Blues, if you were making yourself a target, then why would you even have a baby?”

  “Because I wanted you!” Petra screamed back. Her voice sounded hoarse. “I wanted to have a child!”

  “Why? So you could parade me about? Show off your magical baby? So I could carry on your legacy?” Kallie heard her voice sharpen. “What would you have done if I had no potential? No, don’t answer. I don’t even want to know. And you didn’t want to a baby to have a mother-and-daughter-bond. It was all selfish.”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  Kallie stared at Petra in disbelief. “You gave me up! Just like that!” She snapped her fingers.

  “You don’t know a damned thing.” Petra’s voice was a hiss, low and ugly. “You don’t know a single thing about what I went through when I gave you up. You think it was easy? You think it was some trivial decision I made because I loved my power more than you?”

  “Yes,” Kallie shot back. “I think that’s why it all happened. You loved your power more than you loved anyone else in the world.” Every explanation, everything Kallie and her parents had been through, all the horrible crap the past few years… all of it showed Kallie how selfish Petra was. If she really loved Kallie, she’d have been there, protected her and not been the instigator.

  “You’re wrong.” Even bedraggled, pale, and bound, Petra had the self-possession of a queen. “Someday you’ll understand. I can’t make you believe me, chained to your basement.” Petra tried to raise her hands and shook her head. “Soon you’re going to know what it’s like to want to use your power. Right now, you’re denying yourself because you’re scared. So was I, for a very long time. But it’s a part of you, and someday you’re going to have to accept that. And what you’ll find…” Her voice quivered. “What you’ll find is that the world doesn’t accept it. It’s not that it doesn’t care; it’s that it’ll try to kill you. Magic is as natural as what you are right now, but no one else will see it that way.” The hurt in her eyes didn’t seem a game. “Just like the world can’t handle vampires, weres, or others like us.” She shook her head. “Did you know that there are witch hunters out there? They still exist.”

  “Like the people who hunt Big Foot?”

  “This isn’t a joke!” Petra’s words were raw with fear. “You think it’s funny? You think it’s a few crazy, radical people with a website about the earth being flat?”

  “Gimme a break, Petra. Nobody’s hunting witches.”

  “Maybe the world thinks they’re crazy, that there’s nothing to worry about, but they know the truth. They know, and what they do works. They can find witches. They can kill witches.” Her mouth twisted bitterly. “Where do you think this collar came from?” She grabbed at her throat and lifted the bar that Kallie and her dad had put on her.

  Kallie froze. For a moment, she wondered if they were doing the right thing. Then she forced herself to remember her father’s injuries. The Hunter. Caleb. “Then why become a witch?”

  “Because it’s a part of me,” Petra whispered. “To give it up would be like cutting off a limb. It’s not right to ask me to give it up. I didn’t ask to be born this way.”

  “But you chose what you did after,” Kallie shot back. “You chose to pursue it. You had to know people were going to object.”

  “And that’s a reason to limit myself? People object when women wear pants or try to work outside the home! We don’t expect women not to do those things just because someone objects.”

  “But you did terrible things,” Kallie said. She was shaking her head. Everything seemed muddled all of a sudden. It had been so clear when she came down here, and she’d heard no whispers in her head, no subtle suggestions…

  Petra saw her worry. “Oh, this isn’t magic.” She sounded like she wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. “This is just words, Kallie. True words. Words no one else will let you hear. What do you think your precious Blue would do if he knew you were here?”

  “He already knows I’m here.”

  “And?”

  “He distrusts you. Can you blame him? You tried to kill all of the Blues left in the world.”

  “They were amassing to destroy me! And don’t think they’d have stopped with me, Kallie!” She stared at Kallie with crazed eyes. “They’re not your friends. Trust me on that. They’ll be coming for you as well, once they figure out you have powers too.”

  “You don’t know that. You don’t know any of that for a fact. The fact is you tried to commit genocide! Didn’t they teach that when you were growing up?”

  “You think it’s so simple? Do you? They’d already tried to kill me once.”

  “Why?” Kallie asked determinedly. “What had you done?”

  “They didn’t approve of my goals.” Petra’s face twisted. “So you steer clear of them, Kallie. The moment they don’t think you’re going to do the right thing with your Hybrid powers, they’re going to try to kill you.”

  With a chill, Kallie remembered the look in James’ eyes as she came into the cave. He’d even admitted that he’d wondered whether he should have killed her at the outset instead of helping her, and while she wanted to say that he’d become less impulsive, that he would never kill her for this alone, she was not so sure.

  “Come away with me,” Petra said urgently. “The spell to undo all of this…it’s strong. It’ll take time. You can help with it. You can build it yourself. Just come away with me to someplace I know you’ll be safe. Witch hunters don’t just sniff out witches like me, Kallie; they come for people who have talent and no more. If one of them finds you…”

  There was an ache in her voice and Kallie looked away, trying to think.

  She won’t fix it. Liam’s words, her father’s words, James’ words. And to balance them, she had only her mother’s assurance that once, Petra had been different.

  “I wasn’t there before,” Petra said. “But I’m here now.”

  “You’re here now because we captured you,” Kallie said quietly. She could not look back at the woman now sitting on the floor. “It’s not like you walked back into my life, determined to make up for all the years you were gone. You sent Caleb to tempt me with being a vampire. You wanted me to see the power you had and go to you because I wanted to be just like you—you never expected tha
t maybe I’d have things I wanted to do myself. You never even thought to wonder how I’d feel about you deceiving my mother.”

  “Helen is your aunt.”

  “Blood and reality are two different things. She taught me to read. She taught me to ride a bike. That’s not nothing; you can’t just wipe it away by saying you gave birth to me. You stole her life.” Kallie rounded on Petra at last. “It shouldn’t have been me. It shouldn’t have been Dad, unless she chose him. She should have been given a choice, don’t you see? And that’s why I’m here now. To give her and Dad a choice to be together.

  “Jack loves me.”

  “Yeah, loved. Past tense. A long time ago.” A lifetime ago. “Remember what happened yesterday and ask yourself if everything still seems to be the same there. It’s been decades since you left.”

  “It’s been twenty years that I gave you both up to save your lives, and now you both prefer her!” Petra was on her feet, fists clenched. “She’s nothing. She has no talent. She wasn’t the one he chose. She wasn’t your mother! And you’re both choosing her over me!”

  “She was there,” Kallie said. Her fists were clenched as well. “And it isn’t just that, don’t you see? She’s kind. She’s funny. She loves me, and I love her. Being there was part of it. But I love her. For who she is. And if you can’t even begin to understand that, then you are exactly who we think you are.”

  Petra stared at her for a long moment, her face impassive. She didn’t even smile when she spoke. “If you don’t speak to me again, you can kiss your hopes of a precious little family goodbye.”

  “And, of course, I’ll have to kill you.”

  Petra flinched at the words. “Ask yourself if you can.”

  Damn, this woman did not give up. “Would you have flinched if I couldn’t?”

  “My dear, I think you’ll find killing me to be a lot more difficult than you imagine. For a number of reasons.”

  “Look at what I’ve managed so far,” Kallie said quietly, her voice low and angry, “and ask yourself if you want to bet against me.” Her eyes burned and she knew they were shining brightly in the semi-dark room. The walls took on a kind of purplish-violet glow.