by Theda Vallee
“This better be important. I just got choked by a giant woman and had to hold my pee in a cave for an hour,” I said, answering the phone. Garbled gibberish and sobbing were all that came through. “I can’t understand anything you’re saying. You need to calm down and tell me what’s the matter.”
I heard her taking shuddering breaths, trying to calm down enough to get the words out.
“Nonna. I think she’s gone, Etta,” Nerina choked out.
“Gone? What do you mean gone? What are you saying?” I asked as calmly as I could. Despite the forced calm in my voice, I could feel my heart slam against my chest in fear.
“She’s in bed. She’s breathing, but she won’t wake up. I think it took her,” she said, dissolving into another round of sobbing.
“I’m on my way.” I hung up without waiting for her to reply. My hands began to shake as I tried to shove my phone in my pocket. “I need someone to take me home.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, kitten. It’s going to be a few hours,” Brady said.
“My grandmother may have been taken by the strega we’re hunting. Find a fucking car and get me home. Now!” I screamed, my tenuous hold on my emotions snapping like a guitar string. My entire body rippled with shock. My hand was no longer the only thing shaking. Cold set into my bones, causing my teeth to chatter.
Brady said nothing. Instead, he sprinted off, surprisingly fast for his giant size. I didn’t comprehend anything that was happening around me as someone led me out of the room to a waiting car. A blanket was placed across my shoulders, as tender hands helped me get into the back of someone’s car.
I had no way of knowing for sure if my grandmother had been taken by the strega we were after. She was at an age where health problems could surface out of nowhere, but she’d been fine this morning. My gut told me it wasn’t her health. The strega we’d been hunting did this. It was either a warning or payback.
If it was the strega that should give me some hope. If we could find it, we’d be able to undo the perpetual sleep that had claimed its victims. Nonna would wake up like nothing had ever happened. A part of me wanted to latch on to that hope. I wanted to let it become a beacon to guide my heart out of the darkness that’d fallen over it when Nerina called.
How could I though? Life had shown me time and again that the Massoni family was doomed. We’d lost my parents in a car crash. Nonno had disappeared on a fishing trip, his body never recovered. Aunt Sophia’s husband had been murdered when he had stopped to help a woman change her tire twelve years ago. My piece of shit husband had run off with my daughter. There was a dark cloud sitting over us. Something in the universe didn't want us to have a shred of happiness in this life. Hope was for other people. We didn’t get to lay claim to hope.
I was overwhelmed with dread. I’d witnessed firsthand what this person was capable of. Nonna’s body wouldn’t be able to withstand an attack at her age. It’d kill her. Even if the strega didn’t send dogs after her, anything that would cause an escalated heart rate had the potential to send her into cardiac arrest. She was strong, but I had to face the fact that my grandmother was elderly. Her body wasn’t in fighting form. My body was barely in fighting form.
Tears streamed down my face as I watched out the window. Brady barreled through the streets, breaking every traffic law on the books to get us to the bakery. It didn’t seem fast enough. My sister was alone in that house. I had no idea how the strega magic worked, but what if she wasn’t safe either? I pushed the thoughts away. Aside from being alone and terrified she was OK. She had to be.
A hand wrapped around mine squeezing tightly. I glanced over to find Luc next to me in the back seat. I hadn’t even noticed he was there. A few hours ago, I would’ve thrown his hand off, annoyed that he was touching me. Right now, I was grateful for the connection. I needed something to keep me tethered to the here and now.
“We’re going to figure this out. We’ll get her back. I promise.”
“How? We’ve been working on this case for six weeks. How long were you on it before I got involved? Admit it, Luc, these people are probably going to die before we can figure this out,” I spat at him.
“I’ve been in worse situations before. I know we can solve this.” He held my gaze trying to reassure me.
I nodded mutely, not trusting my voice. His did nothing to instill faith in me, but I didn’t have the energy to argue with him. There was nothing I’d seen in the last few weeks that said the Osservatori was capable of solving this. We bumbled through everything we’d touched like a bad cop comedy. Luc had us chasing one dead end after another with no real direction. I’d watched enough real-life crime shows to know that the first forty-eight hours after a crime was the most important. The further away you got from that the less likely you were to solve the crime. We were in the desert without water at this point.
Swinging the car into a parking spot in front of the bakery, Brady slammed the car into park. Luc rushed around to open the door for me. Mindlessly I took the hand he offered, allowing myself to be helped out of the car. I stood immobile on the sidewalk as I stared at my family home. How was I going to walk in there? If Nonna never woke up, would this even feel like my home anymore? Part of me wanted to rush inside to my sister. She needed me. Deep down inside me though, there was a very small part that wanted to run away. I wanted to put as much space between me and my family as possible. Perhaps if I could leave everything behind, whatever curse lay over us would be unable to ever touch me again.
I was disgusted with myself that I even let that voice exist. What kind of person would run when their family needed them most? I was just tired. I’d spent so many years fighting to keep my head above water. I didn’t know if I had the strength to tread anymore.
Strong hands grasped my upper arms. Luc loomed above me forcing me out of my thoughts.
“You need to listen to me,” Luc said, his soft lilting accent more pronounced than usual. I nodded, even though I wanted to rip his hands off me. “We’re going in there together. Whatever has happened, we’ll face it together. You’re not alone. You have me. You have your team. If this is the strega, we will find her, and we’ll kick her ass into eternity.”
A sharp, jagged laugh bubbled up from my throat. I could feel the leash on my emotions slip away. “Fuck you. Fuck you! This is happening because you and your team, and the fucking Osservatori couldn’t leave me alone! I’m not a person to any of you. I’m power that you want to use. And look what you’ve done. My grandmother is taken! Taken because of you!”
My arms flailed out, pummeling Luc in the chest. He’d started it all. Had he never come into my life, maybe none of this would be happening. If my body hadn’t been depleted from surviving Heilwig, I would have let Stella out to fry him to a crisp. All I had right now was my fists. Luc stood there, still as stone as I continued to pound into his flesh.
“Why are you just standing there? Do something! Say something!” I screamed at him. I wanted a fight, but he was just letting me hit him. “Are you afraid of me? Are you afraid to fight back? You’re a coward, Luc. You’re the Osservatori’s dog and a fucking COWARD!”
“Alright, kitten, you need to stop. Your neighbors are peeking out their windows. I have no issue with you using Mr. Bossman as a punching bag, but let’s do it inside,” Brady whispered in my ear as his arms wrapped around me from behind. He had a vise-like grip around my middle. I had no choice but to nod my head.
Brady carried me towards the house. The rest of the team had arrived in a second car at some point while I was beating Luc. The five us made our way into the bakery where my grandmother lay upstairs, not waking up.
Chapter
19
We entered the bakery through the side door. The dark kitchen greeted us with nothing but eerie silence. It was only a few hours past our normal dinner time. If this had been any other night Nonna would’ve been sitting at the table waiting for me. She would’ve insisted on making me a plate of food, not believing I�
�d eaten until she saw it with her own eyes. Nerina would’ve been at the stove boiling a putrid concoction to help some poor soul heal from a broken heart. Music would be wafting softly in the background, Nerina sneaking in her playlist despite Nonna’s complaints that she listened to noise that wasn’t fit for dogs. That was the scene I should’ve walked into. The emptiness wrapped around my heart like a clenched fist.
The overhead lights flickered to life as someone found the switch. I said nothing, making a beeline for the arch that would take me upstairs. My family was up there, I wasn't going to waste time waiting for orders. My feet thudded heavily on the stairs as I made my way up. With each step I willed myself to remain calm. It didn’t matter what I saw when I got up there, I had to be the strong one. Nonna was the rock of our family. If she’d been taken, I needed to step into those shoes. My family needed me to channel the iron-willed bad ass that my grandmother had always been. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I didn’t have a choice.
I needed to focus on the fact that Nonna was alive. Nothing had happened yet that couldn't be undone. Whether I trusted them or not, I had a team of Osservatori on my side. And more than that, I had magic. Powerful and old magic. It was a magic that came from the very soil my grandmother had been born on. This power had been passed down from generation to generation for the sole purpose of protecting our loved ones. I wasn’t helpless.
With each step I let the magic surge, filling me to the brim. I pushed aside my exhaustion and called to the spark inside me. This was the legacy from my ancestors. It was mine to forge within my body and wield in the defense of those who needed it. Who was I to think that I could simply refuse to carry this burden? I’d thought I could run from it. Yet I’d been made to pay for that stubbornness time and again. Today I’d finally learned my lesson. Destiny doesn’t allow you to refuse its call. I was a strega. I was a Massoni. This was the blessing and the curse I had to accept, because it was the only way I could save the people I loved.
When I reached the landing, I could feel the power dripping off of me. I cautiously pushed the door open, pulsing my magic out in front of me to ensure there were no surprises. Nerina lay curled up in the bed with our grandmother. My beautiful sister looked shattered. Her face was pale as she lay there with her arm wrapped around Nonna. Red rings rimmed her eyes. I could see the steady rise and fall of Nonna’s chest. She wore one of her favorite flannel nightgowns.
Nerina lifted her head, staring at me. She opened her mouth but closed it again. Her words were lost in her grief. She extricated herself from Nonna, rushing to me. I wrapped her in my arms, pulling her close to me. Deep, shaking sobs racked through her body as she clung to me. Softly I whispered soothing nonsensical things to her while running my hand over her hair, smoothing it down.
“We’re here now. Shhh. It’s going to be OK. Everyone is here to help,” I said into her hair.
“How?” Nerina asked. The word poured out in a half sob, half howl.
“Because I refuse to let it be anything but OK.” I let my magic bubble up, so she could feel it. “Listen to me. I won’t stop until I find who did this. I failed my daughter, but I won’t fail at this. I’m done being afraid of my power. That’s over. Nothing will stop me until everyone is safe. Nonna. Carina. You. Everyone. Do you understand me?”
Nerina looked up at me, blinking back tears as she nodded. I could feel her spine snap into place like it’d been forged with iron. That was my girl. She may not have magic, but she had spells. We were going to be the Massoni Shaker Sisters just not in the way she’d imagined.
“Is it the strega?” she asked.
“I don’t know yet. I need to check for magic in this room.”
“I’m good. I’ll be OK.” She wiped the snot from her nose with the palm of her hand. “Do what you need to do.”
I let the magic that’d built in me flow out through the room. Sniffing the air like a hound, I let my body absorb all the different aromas. I sifted through each smell, each vibration, and each imprint that floated around the room like a tapestry. Within a few seconds, my power brushed up against the other strega’s magic. It smelled of decay and incense. It wrapped around Nonna, holding her with its tainted tethers. The magic was deeply embedded in her psyche. I could feel it pulsing in malice as I probed at her. I pulled my magic back, afraid to push any harder. If the strega thought I was trying to break her hold, there’s no telling what she might do.
“It’s the strega,” I said.
“How do you know for sure?” Luc asked from behind me.
“I can feel it all over her.” I moved to stand next to the bed. She looked like she was sleeping. I could imagine that any minute now she’d open her eyes, yelling at us in two different languages to get the hell out of her bedroom. I reached out, wanting to hold her hand. I wanted her to feel the strength in me, so that she would know, I wouldn't stop until she was free.
“You probably shouldn't touch her.” Luc grabbed my hand. “Your magic is raging. We don’t want to risk you getting into your grandmother’s dreamscape.”
“Why? If I get in there maybe she can tell us something. If nothing else I can protect her from attacks,” I said stubbornly.
“We don’t know how to get you out, Etta. If you’re stuck in there, you can’t do anything to help free her.”
“What do we do? Where do we start?” I asked, feeling the calm I’d wrapped around me start to slip. I needed to do something. Now.
“First we need to make sure she’s safe. We need to transport her to the hospital ward. She needs IV’s, and monitoring. Let’s go downstairs and let Leander take care of getting her situated,” Luc said.
“I’m not leaving her to go to the hospital alone. If she can hear, she needs to know that we’re with her,” I said, fighting down a sob.
“She needs to know you’re working to fix this.” He threaded his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Please, Etta, I promise she’ll be in good hands.”
“Fuck your promises,” I yelled. The last thing on earth I wanted was for the Osservatori to take custody of my grandmother. How did I know they wouldn't use her against me somehow?
“Ms. Massoni, are you aware of the Oath of Honor that is taken by shifters?” Leander asked.
I turned towards his voice, surprised that he was jumping in. “No. Not really.”
“To be leader of a pride, or pack, we must make an oath to our ancestors. That oath says that we’ll uphold the honor of our people with our actions, and our choices. To give our word to someone and not fulfill our promise would mean we’ve broken that oath. We would leave our whole pride open to receive the vengeance of our ancestors. I’ve seen that vengeance happen. It’s a terrible thing to watch your people wiped from the earth because of your hubris,” Leander said. “I can see from the look on your face, you wonder why I bring this up now.”
“I mean, a little, but I’m game to hear where you’re going with it,” I said.
Leander let out a chuckle that sounded very much like a purr. “Ms. Massoni, I offer you a promise. Your grandmother will come to no harm from the Osservatori while in my care. I will spill every drop of blood in my body protecting her. I cannot stop what the strega may do, but outside of that, no harm will come to her. As my word has been spoken, now it shall be sealed.”
With a quick motion he slid a knife across his palm allowing the cut to quickly ooze over with blood. He walked over to Nonna, allowing three drops of blood to fall on her body.
“How can we ever thank you?” I said, throwing my arms around him. Nerina was going to kill me. I’d seen his junk and hugged him in the same day.
“Be the light I believe you to be,” he whispered into my ear.
“Thank you, Leander,” Nerina said, grabbing my hand. “Come on, Aunt Sophia and Gia are on their way over. We need to go figure out what to do next.”
I let her lead me out of the room. Though I’d never heard of the Oath of Honor until this very moment, my magic responded to t
he truth in his words. Everything in me wanted to stay but I believed that Leander would protect her. I still had to fight the part of my brain that imagined all the worst scenarios. What if something happened while we were trying to figure this out? What if she died, and we weren’t there to tell her we loved her? No. I couldn’t let those kinds of thoughts invade my brain. We were going to go downstairs and figure this out.
Wailing greeted us as we made it to the bottom of the stairs. Aunt Sophia had arrived. We found her in the kitchen, bent over the table, pounding her tiny fists on the wood. Her shrill keening filled the room, bounding off the rafters. If this had been All Souls Day, she very well may have been able to wake the dead.
“Mi sorella. What will we do? What will we do?” Aunt Sophia wailed.
Gia stood behind her mother, tears streaming down her face, trying to comfort her. “How is she?” Gia asked.
“Alive.” I marched across the room and looked at Vellamo. “Can you pump some calming mojo into Aunt Sophia?”
I loved my aunt, but nothing was going to get accomplished while her wailing shook the rafters. We needed to figure out a plan of action. A way forward. I wasn’t going to let Nonna be carted off to the hospital without having some semblance of what our next steps should be. Vee moved across the room to Aunt Sophia. She placed her hand on her shoulder as she sat down next to her. A look of confusion crossed my aunt’s face. She stopped mid wail, glancing around as if she’d lost something.
“Who stole my cry?” Aunt Sophia asked.
“I did. I will give it back when it is time for me to go,” Vee said patting her arm kindly.
“So now what do we do?” I turned to Luc, demanding an answer. “We’ve been chasing nothing for weeks.”
“We need to find the strega who’s doing this,” he said.
“Thanks for that useless answer. I think we all know that’s what needs to happen. The question is how.” I slammed my hand on the counter in frustration.
