by Crymsyn Hart
“Once the coven realizes I’m not the high priestess, they’ll let us go. Charles will have no use for me then.”
“Are you sure?” Landon asked.
“I’ll do everything in my power to be sure that nothing happens to you,” my mother said. She touched the side of my face.
“I know. I appreciate that. Can I show you something? The real reason why Charles banished me is because he couldn’t harness the power inside of me and bend it to his will.”
I saw the fear flash in her eye. To her I was virtually a stranger, but she had held on to the daughter she had raised and wanted to believe that I was good, and not evil like Charles had told her.
“All those years ago, you sensed a darkness inside of me. Charles tried to control that power, and when he couldn’t, he locked me away. For years, I lived with that darkness and locked it away. Now I know what that darkness is.” I placed my hand on her cheek and showed her what I was. She pulled in a breath when I showed her my wings. There were more tears in her eyes.
“You’re an angel.”
“I’m part angel. The goddess led me to my father’s family. I have a half sister and a grandmother.”
“You found your father?”
“No. But he turned to the darkness that is inside of my clan.”
“I’m glad that you found a family. If we had known what you were, we never would’ve locked you away. Charles said that he felt an evil in you and that it was growing the older you got. I never would have let him.”
“I forgive you. I know that it wasn’t you. I’m figuring out a lot of things these days. He’s had power over you for a long time now, hasn’t he?”
She sunk into the seat and looked around the room. “When we got married, he was a different man. He changed when the goddess chose him to lead the coven. At first, he wanted to do good. After I was attacked and you were born, he grew even darker. I wanted nothing but the best for you. Then you were little and the deaths happened. I went along with him because I thought he knew best. Do you remember what happened that night?”
I sighed and ran my finger through my hair. I had thought about it many times, but that night as a child, when I knew I caused those deaths, I could never recall them. But now the harder I thought about it, the more the doors on my memories were opening up. My Guardian has said she was trying to protect me. Charles’s smiling face flashed through my mind. I followed that face and went deeper into my mind.
“He woke me up and wanted me to come with him. He said the goddess had showed him that I was going to lead the coven. We went to the altar and there were the two others there. They were loyal to him. All were dressed in robes. Charles said that we had to do a special ritual that would bind us together. It was sacred, that we couldn’t tell you, and all of them were going to share it with me. We got up on the altar and the first one touched my arm. I recall feeling that something wasn’t right. I told them I didn’t want to do the ritual. Charles told me to cooperate. I told him no. He slapped me and wanted me to obey. I struggled. After that everything is a blur.”
“That bastard,” Landon growled.
My mother had paled as we both realized what they were going to do to me. “He didn’t touch you though, did he?”
“No. The other two never got a chance, and I think Charles was scared after what I did to the others.”
“I’ll kill him.” Landon punched his nails into the couch.
“And what will you kill me for?” Charles asked.
Landon launched himself off the couch before I could stop him. He tackled Charles to the floor. He raised his claw and went to swipe at him. My mate stopped in midair. He screamed and contorted. I rushed over to him while he rolled on the floor. Charles got up and dusted himself off. He held up his hand and I hit an invisible wall.
“That’s enough foolishness. Another move like that and I’ll drive the silver dagger through his heart. Now what is all this business about?”
“I remember what you and your friends tried to do to me when I was a girl.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
My mother appeared behind him and then slapped him hard on the face. “You tried to molest her. Along with those other two assholes.”
Charles laughed and rubbed his cheek. “Oh, that! Well, nothing came of it, did it? Figured we’d get rid of the little bitch right then since she wasn’t mine. But I guess the goddess had other plans for her. Had to keep you out of the way and blame the evil inside of you. Too bad the goddess had marked you that night for her own.”
“He’s right. I woke up while he was gone. The goddess appeared to me and said that she had chosen you for the family. I told Charles after he told me what happened. It was then he locked you away for punishment.”
“Ahh, yes. But here you are now. Come back as I have willed it. You are in my power, even if you don’t think you are.”
“I do nothing on your whim.”
“Maybe not, but the coven will gather in a couple of hours. We will see then if the goddess will welcome you back. Or will she spurn you for the evil creature that you are?” Charles slid his fingers along my arm. I yanked it away from him. “And when she does welcome you back, we’ll get reacquainted. I so look forward to that.”
I spit in his face. Charles chuckled and wiped it away.
Landon’s body relaxed. He opened his eyes. I helped him up. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “I’m fine. You?”
“Yeah.” Landon wrapped his fingers through mine. He helped keep me anchored.
“Well, now that we’re getting along so well, we’ll wait for the dark moon to rise, and then we will see if the goddess finds you worthy. Honestly, I’m hoping the goddess will fry your ass.”
Chapter Ten
The hours whittled away. Charles sat across from us with a gun pointed at Landon’s heart so we didn’t try anything else. I didn’t dare move in case he actually fired. The more I studied him, the more I saw the evil pulsating from him. It was a second aura. I reached out with my mind and then he aimed the gun at me.
“I wouldn’t do that, Melina. Do something like that again and I will shoot him. Silver will do awful things to werewolves.” Charles smiled.
I pulled my power inward. I reached out to the place within me that was calm and quiet. I breathed in and sensed the goddess. She was as beautiful as ever. Long, flowing hair and bright blue eyes. They stared into my soul.
What will the outcome be?
I can’t say. You must sit within the circle. I will not abandon you.
She faded from sight. Then I found myself surrounded by seven doors. The murmurs coming from behind them were louder than before. I was drawn to the one with the serpents on it that I was from before. The whispers grew louder the closer I got.
“Open the door. I can solve your problems. Once you let me out, I can smite all those who wish you ill. You know you want to kill the bastard who kept you locked in the dark, who tried to rape you when you were a child. I can help you.”
I placed my hand on the wood. The cold of the evil behind it seared my palm. My wings stirred under my skin. The feeling of them brought me back from my daze.
“No. I’ll never let you out. I follow the goddess. I will not give in to the evil that’s bound to my soul for my clan’s past indiscretions.” I pulled my hand away from the door. I rubbed my hand and willed myself back to my body. When I opened my eyes, I found that I was in my old room. When I blinked, my mother came into focus.
“You’re back.”
I looked at her and nodded. “Yeah. I needed to see something.”
She slipped a black shift over my head. At my throat she began to take off my crystal, but I stopped her. “Leave this on.”
She nodded and put the silver torque over it. As she did, it felt like I was being yoked. The power from the torque and the armband that she placed on my arm rode along my skin. There wasn’t anything calming about it, the way that I remembered. Now it chained me to it. After
my mother finished dressing me, she led me down the stairs. At the bottom was Landon, still being held at gunpoint by Detective Crace. He smiled at me. I lunged at him. He pressed the gun to Landon’s shoulder and shot him.
Landon fell to his knees and shrieked. I tried to go to him, but my mother held me back. “Now isn’t the time. It went right through his shoulder. He’ll be okay.”
I stared at Detective Crace and growled. “You’ll pay for this.”
Crace chuckled. “I look forward to you trying. By the way, I’m your cousin.”
I growled, showing him my fangs. Crace jumped back at that. I didn’t care if he was my family or not. He was dead. I turned back to Landon. He clutched his shoulder, his eyes burning with pain. I took his face between my hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Go do your thing. I’ll be okay. Your mother was right. It went right through me. I don’t feel any silver in my bloodstream.”
I kissed him lightly on the lips. My mother tugged my arm. The power was building in the atmosphere. The coven was starting the ritual. I reluctantly turned from him and followed my mother out of the house. We walked along the path that led to the grove that the coven had been worshipping at for over fifty years. Earth energy traveled along my spine. I reached out and touched upon the power of the other elements. The coven was chanting in tune with the pulse of the elements. Torches lined the perimeter of the circle.
There were three circles of people. In the outside ring were thirty people filled with initiates and some of the lower levels of the coven. The second circle contained twenty people, who were the middle tier and some of the older members. The inner circle had thirteen people in it: the main members of the coven.
Everyone was dressed in white and black robes. They parted and let us pass. At the center of the circle were the altar and a chair waiting for the high priestess to take her seat. Within the coven, the goddess granted the position to someone. I had passed all of the tests put forth by the coven and the goddess. I was the one she had chosen to helm the coven.
I heard a gasp when I stepped into the circle and went up to the throne. My mother gave me a proud smile. I saw it in her eyes that I was fulfilling the hopes she had for me. Charles turned and addressed the coven.
“We have gathered because the goddess has brought us our high priestess. The one who turned from the coven has found the error of her ways and returned.”
Cheers went through the coven. Ripples of power flowed over my skin and over the circle. The goddess was there with us. The elements were already present. Charles looked at me and his devilish smile widened.
“Take your seat and your rightful place as leader of this coven.”
I met his gaze. “Will you keep your word that if I’m no longer favored, you will let me and Landon go?”
Charles looked at me. “Of course.” There was an evil gleam in his eye.
“Then swear it to me before the goddess. Swear to me that you will let us go, or the goddess will strike you dead.”
He gritted his teeth and placed his hand over his heart. “I swear.”
The oath was binding. It was all a matter of time. “Good.” I stood and looked at the coven members. “I am Melina. I have traveled here to see if the goddess will accept me back within the coven. If she does, then I will lead you as high priestess, but if the goddess does not, we will go our separate ways.”
I sat in the chair and waited for the goddess to come to me. The elements washed over me. I opened my mind to the power and the goddess. The goddess descended when Charles summoned her. She stood before me. The coven could see her just as I could.
“High Priest, why have you called me?” she spoke to Charles.
“We have brought back your high priestess so that she may serve you and this coven.”
The goddess stared at me. She delved deep into my spirit. As she did, she changed. She was not the goddess I was used to. She was darkness incarnate. Neither good nor evil. She was the fourth face of the goddess that stood behind the other three that not many saw. She was the essence of death, the weaver of the tapestry, the power that was all knowing and all seeing. She would be a harsh judge depending on if my soul was worthy. I cried out at how she ripped me apart, looking at everything that I had been and I had done since I had first passed her tests.
“You once passed all of my tests and were considered to be the next high priestess of this coven. Then you were banished because the ones here did not understand your true destiny. This is one reason why there is no mixture of witch and Guardian allowed. It splits your loyalties. You stand at a fork in the road. Which path will you choose?”
“I have no love for this coven. The only one here that I forgive would be my mother. She is the victim in all of this. I am not meant to be with them. I choose to fulfill my Guardian role that you have laid out for me.”
“I thought that you would.”
“Will you have to strip me of my powers?”
The dark goddess smiled. “No. I will not take what makes you unique. But because you are turning your back on part of you, I can offer you a boon of good faith that you have not lost your way. You have acted well by coming here and facing your past.”
“What kind of a boon?” I asked.
She put her finger to her lips. “I will leave that as a surprise. Now awaken and tell the others that I have rejected your claim. Know that I will always hold you to my heart.”
“Thank you.” She left me behind and I opened my eyes.
When I did, everyone was staring at me waiting to know what my answer would be. I stared Charles directly in the eye. “The goddess has rejected my claim to become the high priestess of this coven. Thank you for the opportunity. It is now time that I return to my life.” I got up and started to climb down the stairs.
“You are not going anywhere!” Charles screamed. He pointed at me, and I was hit with a bolt of energy that pushed me backward into the throne. I didn’t have time to put up any protection and had the wind knocked out of me as if I had been dealt a physical blow. I shook my head and then focused on Charles.
“You swore that you’d let me go if the goddess rejected my claim for high priestess. You swore on her. I expect you to keep your oath. The whole coven heard it.”
“I know you sabotaged this. The goddess wouldn’t let you go that easily. You are the only one she has let pass the tests. You are the one that the coven needs.”
I stood up again. “Maybe what this coven needs is a new hierarchy altogether. Did you ever tell the rest of the coven what you did to me when I was a child?”
“This woman is an abomination to the goddess and to us. Don’t listen to a word she says,” Charles said to the coven.
The power of the coven gathered. I looked at their faces. They were completely under Charles’s control. He had warped their minds. Charles was working for the wrong side. Nothing was going to keep me from leaving here. I opened myself to the goddess.
“Earth and air, fire and water. Hear my cry. Great Lady above, heed my call. This one has turned from you. Help me to free this coven from his evil clutches.”
I glanced up at the dark moon and felt the powers of the elements fill me. The heady scent of the earth surrounded me and trembled beneath my feet. The smell of water filled my nose. The fire from the candles spiked high into the air. The breeze kicked up. The night filled me. The skin shifted and wings burst from my back. A collective gasp arose from the coven. I gathered the power and threw a condensed ball of it right at Charles’s chest. He staggered backward. The stench of burnt flesh filled the air. The fabric was burnt through and there was a black mark on his chest. He touched the wound and came away with blood. The darkness that enveloped the circle fell away. People were blinking. Charles screamed and the earth trembled. I jumped from the throne before it collapsed. My wings flapped and helped cushion my fall. I didn’t think that I could actually fly, but maybe I could. I figured the wings were a throwback to the angelic genes that I carried. I lan
ded easily on my feet and felt the power that made me a witch and a Guardian. The rest of the coven gave us space. Charles stood. The evil inside of him drove him. He pulled back his hand and the earth split open. Before I could catch myself, I fell into the rift below.
The sudden rush of hot air gave me the lift that I needed to flap my wings and break out of the fissure. I landed before Charles. I called upon the earth and asked it to close. The chasm sealed upon itself.
“No more games, Charles. It’s time you step down from your lofty perch.”
“You’re the bird woman telling me to get off my perch. I wouldn’t be talking. Everyone, see. This is why she was sent away. She is an aberration to the goddess. Look at those wings. What true witch has wings? And black ones, at that. She has given herself to a werewolf for a mate. The only way for us to rid this coven of her evil taint is to give her in sacrifice to the goddess. What say you all?”
