by Judy Teel
"Where are we, anyway?" I asked as I walked around the parameter looking for a clue in the hieroglyphs.
"Hoping for a rescue? Don't. We're too far beyond the city limits for anyone to ever find you before it's too late." She did a girlish spin, arms outstretched, skirt billowing around her legs. "Welcome to the legendary Were clan killing grounds." She stopped spinning and pointed toward the top of the cave. "It's right above us."
I looked at her in surprise. "If they find you here, they'll kill you."
"They have no idea and aren't likely to figure it out in time."
The killing grounds were in what was once the Lake Norman State Park north of town. The area was sacred to all the Were clans after hundreds of them died there in a final push to defeat the terrorist faction. Non-Were trespassers were slaughtered on the spot, no questions asked.
Since that would only be an issue if I stopped Kathy and managed to escape, I turned back to the problem of my cage. As I ran my gaze over the glyph patterns, I caught my breath as I recognized a series of shapes just ahead of me. I walked past it as if I hadn't noticed. "How long have I been out?" I asked, hoping to keep her distracted.
"We didn't come by hoverbus, if that's what you're hinting at," she said, pride in her voice. "My guardian taught me a better way."
"Does this better way have something to do with the white powder?" I guessed, glancing at her. "Don't tell me we jumped dimensions."
"You guessed," she said with approval. "If Aedodra didn't plan to destroy you, I think I'd have to be jealous." Pride flickered across her face and she lifted her chin. "The New York coven rejected me because I didn't register strongly enough on the practitioner scale. Now I can fold dimensions together and step through as easily as going from one room to the next."
"That's high-level magic."
"Something even the oldest and most skilled practitioner hasn't managed in three hundred years. And in about twenty minutes, I'll be even more powerful. Powerful enough to force all three paranormal nations to do exactly what I want."
I held down my urge to look up as I paced back to the side near Marla. I doubted she knew what most of these markings meant. If she was being directed by a stronger entity, she'd probably just scribbled down what it told her to, or what she'd found in a tablet, book or scroll.
What she didn't realize was that this particular combination meant circumference and height. The bad news was, I wasn't sure if the scribbling for height meant five feet or fifty. I would either go over the invisible wall or break my face on it. But, if Marla's insinuation that I was a para was right, then I had a chance of making it.
"Thank you for the fun distraction," Marla said, amusement still in her voice. "But I have to get ready for my hero's arrival. Enjoy having your soul sucked out of you." She strolled over to the goblet and picked it up. Saluting me with it, she put the edge to her lips. "Here's to my new, very powerful life."
Alarm shot through me. Vamp blood was deadly to humans. If she drank it, I could never prove that the other Marla, the real Kathy, was innocent. I backed up to the far side of the circle, said a prayer as I sprinted for the other side and jumped. As I reached the height of the leap, I bowed my body like a diver and arched over what I hoped was the top of the barrier.
I felt the cold edge of the wall scrape my stomach through the cotton robe, and then I dropped headfirst for the floor. Tucking into a summersault, I hit the rock at a roll, grunted from the pain of the impact, and bumped along for a few feet like an out-of-control tumbleweed.
Springing up, I bunched the obnoxious choir robe into my fists and raced for Marla as she drank. Cooper shot through the entrance of the cave and slammed into her just as I reached her. Grabbing her one on each side, we went down.
The cup flew from her hand, scattering drops of blood over us as it clattered to the floor. We held on as she fought us, then her body bowed in agony and she threw back her head, mouth open and black with blood. A horrible screech tore from her throat as we wrestled her to the floor.
Her hands clenched, and then Cooper was thrown back, the side of his head bloody from the lightning fast blow she'd given him.
Marla turned toward me, her blue eyes wide, the whites of them as red as any feeding vampire's. Baring flat teeth at me, she threw me at the circle. "My lord!" she cried as I slid across the symbols as if nothing were there.
My head slammed into the barrier on the other side. Stars flashed in my vision as I scrambled up and prepared myself to rush at the wall again. Marla's look of rapture as her body contorted with agony brought me up short. I spun around, my heart pumping with fear.
* * *
The symbols drawn on the back of the cave glowed with a filthy, reddish light. As I watched, the signs for each paranormal race oozed toward the Indonesian symbol. As they merged with the sunburst and Z, it took on a three-dimensional thickness, radiating the same triumphant malevolence that I'd felt at the vamp house.
I wasn't surprised when a trickle of thick, oily fog crept from the center, thickening and growing as it separated from the symbol. As the shape floated down, facial features formed on the surface. The orb grew and thickened, stretching down to form a body, torso, limbs, hands and feet. My skin crawled as a dark human shape formed.
I backed away. We had to stop this.
Glancing over my shoulder, I shouted Cooper's name and was relieved to hear a low groan. "Don't let her die!" I called to him, and then I turned to face the creature that Marla had called forth. Nothing could have prepared me for the fully formed monster.
His features and body were as perfect as the most stunning Michelangelo sculpture. Naked except for a white cloth wrapped in an elaborate pattern around his hips, he landed lightly on bare feet and smiled at me, completely human in appearance except for his large, almond-shaped black eyes.
The beautiful smile startled me, and I almost let my guard down, remembering just in time that evil didn't have to be ugly. This thing might look like an angel, but it meant to destroy us.
"I won't let you do this," I snarled. "I won't let you have my world."
"Of course you won't," he said, his voice flowing over me like the most beautiful song sung by the most perfect singer.
He made no move toward me, yet I found myself retreating until my back was up against the icy cold barrier. I didn't see how I was going to get out of the trap Marla had sprung. Her Indonesian god would stop me before I could jump over the barrier again, and if sliding across the symbols hadn't broken them, smudging them with a toe certainly wouldn't.
Trapped in this small space, my chances of winning in a fight were probably zero. My only option was to keep him talking and hope that Cooper or I thought of a way to stop him.
"He won't save her," the entity said, partially closing his eyes and pulling in a full, euphoric breath as if savoring the scent of freshly baked bread. "I feel the power of my children's blood running through her. I can feel her dying. Exquisite." He breathed again and his smile deepened.
His pleasure chilled me to my soul. I pulled myself back from despair and made myself think about why I'd been able to go through the barrier coming from the other side. What had made the difference? Was there something special about the ridiculous robe Marla had put on me?
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, my mind frantically churning over every detail and sensation when she'd thrown me back into the circle. "What do you want?"
Aedodra cocked his head, his large, non-human eyes studying me. "To win. I warned my brother that he would not keep me away. He has enjoyed free rein in this realm long enough." His black eyes bore into mine. "And he will not have you."
Surprise distracted me for a moment. "Why would he want me? I'm not special. There are billions of us."
"Billions of you? Do you not know what you are, my sweet niece?"
My head jerked back as if he'd slapped me, and my stomach knotted with outrage from his strange words. "Don't call me that," I ground out. "You have no right."
"Your parents didn't tell you?"
A flood of childhood memories soaked with isolation and lonely despair clattered to be heard. I clenched my teeth. "There was nothing to tell."
He glided a step closer, his painfully beautiful face wreathed with sympathy. "Why would they keep your glorious history from you? You should have been treasured. Nurtured. Embraced as the wonder that you are."
The little girl deep inside me who had never understood why her parents had abandoned her cringed with pain. "Shut up."
He shook his head. "How this world fears the unknown. It saddens me that my brother has allowed such a tragedy."
"I said shut up!" I lashed out at him instinctively, shoving my hands toward him as my hurt turned to rage and consumed my self-control. The need to hurt him poured through me and my hands started glowing. Searing white energy flared around them, spinning and churning like an angry whirlpool. I stared in shock as my fingers turned opaque.
"Wonderful," Aedodra said, his black eyes shining with pleasure.
His approval cut through the storm of my emotions like a knife and a spark of clarity flared in my mind. I remembered what Marla had said about those who'd died—how they'd done it themselves, that her guardian had seen to it.
This supposed god was a master at manipulating people. I shouldn't have let myself forget that. Clenching my fists, I wrestled down my fury, ashamed that I'd fallen into his trap so easily. The buzz of power faded, and then trickled away leaving me light-headed.
"So afraid of what you are," he said. "Pity. This world has forgotten its truth, and you have forgotten with it."
"I can't stop it, Addie. She's dying," Cooper called behind me, his voice desperate. "In another ten minutes, it'll be too late."
Aedodra stretched out his hands toward me in a languid parody of what I had just done. "The final sacrifice," he said with satisfaction. "Greed, lust, revenge...so delicious."
"I feel none of those things for you," I spat out.
He laughed, a rich sound that tumbled out of him and warmed me like hot chocolate on a cold night. For a moment I thought I loved him. The shock of that lie brought me back to myself, and I braced my heart against the seduction of his laugh. There was only one man I thought I could love, and it was not this creature. And if we were going to get out of this alive, I had to focus on escape before I became another sacrificial statistic.
Vamp, practitioner, Were and now human. With my death, the pattern would be complete. Only Aedodra claimed I wasn't human. It was probably only a trick except...understanding suddenly washed over me. The final sacrifice wasn't me. It had never been me. I wasn't anything more than some kind of pseudo-god snack break. He'd meant to kill Marla all along.
Marla had strong and violent feelings where betrayal was concerned. I might finally have found the leverage I needed.
"Everything that matters comes in threes," Aedodra mused, his tone thoughtful.
I slid along the edge of the barrier until I could see Cooper and Marla. She lay on the floor, pale and shaking, her dress soaked with sweat. Cooper crouched over her, blood streaming down his face from a cut at his temple. He looked up at me and I saw the desperation in his eyes.
"He played you, Marla!" I shouted to her. "He never meant to give you power, not permanently. You're the last sacrifice. The final key to getting what he wants."
"My brother and sister have waited a long time for a creation such as you." Aedodra gazed at me, a cruel smile on his lips. "Which is why I will particularly enjoy consuming you."
Marla's back bowed as another wave of pain hit her. Moaning, she turned her head and looked at me. The terror on her face made me almost feel sorry for her.
"Do you hear him?" I called to her. "He doesn't value you. He never did. He wants me. You're nothing to him. He's only using you." I held her gaze and knew she didn't believe me. Her adoration of him had overtaken her too completely. I had to get past that, show her that I understood what it meant to be betrayed. I needed her to know that I was telling the truth.
I struggled to loosen my grip on my own fears—the certain knowledge that we wouldn't be able to stop this ancient god from destroying us, the deep emptiness I carried in my heart because I'd never know who I was or where I came from, even my terror over my feelings for Cooper rushed up, choking me as they revealed themselves to Marla. "Help me get free. Tell me how to drop the enclosure spell."
"...No," she croaked.
I should have realized that nobler sentiments wouldn't appeal to her. I had to speak to her in a way she'd understand. "Give me a chance to avenge you," I said.
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
Aedodra's laugh rang out again. "Misplaced devotion is the sweetest nectar of all." His laugh died away and he narrowed his dark eyes at me. "Enough games."
Leaning toward me, his face hardened with concentration. I felt a tug inside of my chest as if he'd grabbed hold of something deeper than even my physical heart; something beyond flesh and blood. He pulled again. I gasped and dropped to my knees.
A sphere of pure, white light bulged from the center of my chest. I stared at it in horror as Cooper shouted my name, panic in his voice.
There was no physical pain, yet I fell forward, catching myself on my hands, my breath coming in gasps as the beat of my heart stuttered. A sensation worse than physical pain pressed down on me.
Aches and pains I was used to, and I'd learned to deal with them. But not this. Not the grief, despair and disappointment of a thousand lifetimes. The weight of that burden smothered me, and I knew I was lost. I had no defense against them.
I didn't understand what was happening. I didn't know what Aedodra was pulling out of me. Maybe it was my soul. Maybe the essence of who I was or my life force. I had no idea. I only knew that somehow it was me.
I couldn't let him do this. If I lost myself, understanding who I was and where I came from would never be mine.
My strength gave out, and I fell onto my back. My body grew heavy, seeming to sink in around me as if I were already dead. As I watched the light lifting out of me, my memories thinned and began to seep away. Fear choked me, and I struggled to hold on to my life, to remember everything that showed who I was—my coffee cup collection, Wizard, my few friends, even the smile of the old man that I always spoke to at the sandwich shop down the street when I could afford a treat...and most of all Cooper.
There was so much I wanted to tell him that I'd never had the courage to say. I ached for those lost moments now. He needed to know. He deserved to know how much he was beginning to mean to me.
A spark of warmth flared in the center of my chest and the sphere snagged, clinging to me like a soap bubble. Aedodra staggered and the despair gripping me faltered. His brow drew down.
I felt his push of effort, like he was trying to draw from a siphon that was being squeezed off. I felt the sensation of it intuitively, reminding me of the vamp at Morrocroft struggling to swallow my blood as I compressed his throat.
Aedodra was the same as a vampire, only he didn't stop at his victims' physical life. He took it all—their memories, their soul, everything that made them who they were.
No one had that right. I was a sovereign being. Maybe not special, but always sacredly unique.
I might not know anything about my family, but I was still me. I might be abrasive, stubborn and cynical, but I was all mine. I wasn't perfect, and I mattered.
By God, no egocentric moron was going to take that away from me.
I focused deep inside myself to the place where that truth had exploded and felt the last faint touch of my essence. Maybe it was all an illusion, maybe I was going to die anyway, but it didn't matter. I would go down fighting.
I found the place where the light clung and focused on it. As I did, the warm, living light intensified and peace spread through my chest. I released my self-doubts and welcomed that peace.
A grimace of pain tightened across Aedodra's face and his hands fell to his side. With a cry, he clutc
hed his stomach and doubled over.
A burst of energy slammed back into my being and soared through my body. A cascade of pins-and-needles sensations swept over every inch of me. I clenched my teeth against the discomfort and welcomed it, too.
"Marla's dead!" Cooper shouted.
The Indonesian god looked up at me and our gazes locked. Fathomless eyes that had seen the birth of countless solar systems, witnessed billions of civilizations and species springing to life only to die as others took their place, and orchestrated eons of suffering stared triumphantly into mine.
And then Aedodra disappeared.
* * *
I kicked at the barrier and my foot kept going, slamming my heel into the rocky floor. "Ow," I muttered. When Marla died, so did her magic. I was free.
Cooper dropped to his knees next to me on the edge of the circle and scooped me into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my face against the strong, solid warmth of him. The comforting scent of woods and starry nights surrounded me, and I felt tears thickening in my throat. We'd done it. Our world was safe. We were safe.
"Wow," he said, cupping his hand around the back of my head and pressing my cheek tighter to his heart. "Was I hallucinating or was that guy in a diaper?"
A tired laugh broke from me. "You know gods. Always behind the times where fashion's concerned."
Cooper kissed the top of my head. "You okay?"
"Is he really gone, do you think?" I asked.
"Should be. She died at 10:57 AM."
I pulled back and looked at him curiously. "And that matters because?"
"After he came to, Falcon was frantic to discover the power location where you'd been taken, so he ran some more calculations. When he filtered the prophecy using numerology, he realized it definitely pointed to the Summer Solstice of this year. The reference to doors being opened matched the exact time the last sacrifice had to happen in order to keep the entity in our dimension. 11:11 to be precise."
Concern knotted up under my ribs. "Is Falcon okay?"
