by Rob Cornell
Wait. Maybe I could use that rage. Maybe I could turn myself into an explosion. Take them all out in this room in one fell swoop. Shut them up before they could give the word to kill Odi.
I could do it.
Odi had done something similar, purely by accident, when we had infiltrated that vampire nest a little while back. I was a powerful sorcerer. I could make it happen. Hell, the way I was feeling, I could probably blow up the whole fucking hospital.
And what would be the point of that?
I took a deep breath, trying real hard to bring myself back to Urvasi's teachings. I just didn't have it in me.
“Have we cleared this up?” Flora asked.
I didn't say anything. But I didn't do anything either.
Blowing up the witches wasn't worth blowing Odi up, too. At this point I didn't care about myself. Taking out the Maidens of Shadow would have been the best last move of my life. I could die knowing I had done right. And then, if there was an afterlife, I could tell mom all about it.
Flora's mouth formed a straight line. She began patting the brand in one hand like a billy club at a brawl. “I don't like the way you look.”
“The feeling's mutual, bitch.”
“Do not try anything,” she said. “Even if you could kill us all in here, Cora will have turned your little apprentice to dust long before you reach him.”
She was right. I was letting my anger twist my thoughts into all kinds of crazy shapes. They had me by the balls, and in a minute, the Maidens of Shadow were going to squeeze.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After my exchange with Flora, the five witches in the room went about their business, ignoring me completely.
One of their preparations involved dragging in a black cauldron. Yes, you heard me, a black fucking cauldron. Hard to believe the most powerful witch coven in the Midwest could deal in such clichés.
While they made their preparations, I continued to dig through the messy toy box I called a brain to find some way to get out of this. Unfortunately, I wasn't finding shit. So I kept yanking on my cuffs, figuring I could either rip my hands through them, or pull the bed frame apart. It was an old, simple, rusty bed frame. And with each pull I did feel a little give.
Despite all that racket, the Maidens continued to ignore me completely. And why not? They were holding Odi's life over my head, so even if I did break free, they still had me by the balls. And if I couldn't kill all of them in the room without worrying about that elusive sixth bitch somewhere in this place ready to kill Odi, what could I do?
I stopped jerking at my cuffs.
I had to try something else.
And the only thing I could think of was Urvasi's training. It was the only new trick I knew, and I didn't know it very well. Obviously, there was power in it. It had burned the vampire blood inside myself clean out, all because I had accepted that it was in there. I'd accepted that it was a part of me.
And that I could…control it.
I closed my eyes.
The Maidens had started chanting in some unrecognizable but surely ancient language. I didn't have to look to know that my soul had started glowing brighter in its jar. For now, I had to ignore that. I had to ignore everything the witches were doing.
I needed to accept that they had my soul, as hard as it might be.
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
You aren't gonna to be able to calm down. And this acceptance shit ain't gonna work, Sebastian old boy.
I tried to shove away the negative voice ringing in my head. But it was persistent.
Damn right I'm persistent, it said. To hell with Odi. Since when did you give a shit about vampires? Just burn these witches before they take away the most important thing of your life.
I gritted my teeth. I needed to get this voice out of my head. How could I calm myself? How could I focus? How could I accept? With this damn voice nagging me.
You can't, Sebastian. I'm here to stay. I am a part of you.
Of course the voice was a part of me. It was my voice after all.
I laughed softly. When I did, I noticed one of the voices of the chanting witches falter. I could picture Flora glancing over her shoulder, wondering what I thought was so funny. And I couldn't wait to show her.
That's right, the voice said. Show her. Show her what you've got.
I took another deep breath. I could feel the tiny smile on my face. Sure. I'll show them they can't get to me. I'll show them that even the negative voice in my head did not master me. And with another breath, I let that voice yammer.
You can't ignore me.
This is stupid.
You're going to fucking die.
Wake the fuck up.
On and on it went as I continued to take deep breaths. I didn't try to fight it. I didn't need to. I needed to accept it, I needed to accept everything inside me, because only then could I fully become master over myself.
This stupid, my critical voice said.
So what, I thought back. We can be stupid.
The voice continued to natter on, but I had become pretty good at not letting it derail my focus.
While I continued to center myself, I could smell the greasy sweat in the mattress underneath me, could feel the tiny little insects that crawled within it. I could feel the cold air in the dank room. I could taste some odd sweetness in my mouth, though had no idea where it came from.
That was okay.
Like when Urvasi first showed me how to connect to myself with acceptance, I began to feel my blood flow, I could hear my heartbeat, I could feel my soul.
First, I felt the part of my soul that still pulsed within me. And then I could feel the part of my soul that was flaring within the pentagram on the floor. I could feel the Maidens' psychic hands all over my soul. It was a dark, greasy feeling that made me shudder.
I accepted their touch, and with that acceptance, I ignored it.
More than ever, I could feel the tether between both parts of my soul. I could feel that tether stretching tight like a flexed muscle. And just like a muscle in my own body, I continued to flex it. I tightened the line between my soul inside and my soul outside until the pull was unbearable. But this time, instead of letting my soul pull me to it, I pulled my soul toward me.
A few of the Maidens stumbled over their words. They could sense something was going on. I wasn't sure if they knew what, but they would find out soon enough.
As I continued to try drawing the missing piece of my soul back to me, an agonizing pain spiked in my head. I let myself hurt. I owned my hurt. Just like I owned all the parts of me, all of my soul, not just half of it.
And then it happened—the Maidens' hold on my soul slipped.
I opened my eyes in time to see the crystal jar explode into a million pieces of glittering dust. I saw my soul wisp up like green smoke with lightning inside.
I called to my soul.
It whisked toward me, and then the green smoke poured into my chest. The sensation was near indescribable. It felt like I'd swallowed sunlight, and that it burned in my belly.
I also felt a glorious fullness. I felt the magic inside of me double, maybe triple. I had not realized how empty losing part of my soul had left me.
But I was no longer empty. I was full. I was whole.
Some of the Maidens gasped. I heard Flora shriek. She whirled around to face me, eyes holding a mad light.
“You.”
“Me.”
“I am going to kill your little apprentice. And then I will flay the skin from your body, piece by little piece.”
I tried not to let her threat invade my calm. Strangely, I found it easy. I almost felt sorry for Flora. All she'd worked for would end right here.
The cauldron was smoking, omitting bright orange light. And the brand was inside of it, leaning against the cauldron's lip, useless to them now. These witches had become dependent on using my soul to power their magic. And judging from the worried looks of the other Maidens, I had a feelin
g they didn't have a backup.
I smirked. “I don't think you'll be flaying anything anytime soon.”
She moved for the door.
I conjured a wind and slammed the door closed before she reached it. “Nope. You can stay right here.”
“You don't think my sister will kill your vampire pet?”
“I don't think she'll know she's supposed to.” I drew heat into my hands again, and it took me no time at all to melt through the cuffs. I launched up off the bed to my feet. “Unless you’ve got a walkie-talkie hidden somewhere…” I shrugged. “Doesn't look like you have any pockets.”
Her hesitation, and the fear in her eyes, told me I was exactly right about their source of power. She could have easily communicated with her coven mate if she had any magic at her disposal.
I smiled like a dumbstruck fool. Only there was nothing dumb about me right now. “You don't have any magic to tap, do you?”
Her lips peeled back from her teeth. She turned to the door again. But there was no way she was going to make it.
I held out my hand and instantly felt the warm comfort of my magical flame. I was a little surprised to see it wasn't the blue stuff, just a normal, great big, pleasing ball of orange fire. I had to admit, I had kind of missed the traditional flame.
Flora's eyes widened. She knew what was coming next.
I threw the fire straight at her, amazed that I didn't feel any anger anymore. I was just doing what needed to be done to protect Odi, to protect my city, and to protect myself, obviously.
The flame struck Flora on the side, the force of it flinging her off her feet and to the floor. She had no clothes to burn, so the fire immediately began chewing through her flesh. She arched her back and screamed.
“Murderer,” she howled. “You murderer.”
So much had changed between myself and the Maidens of Shadow since we'd first met. They had been allies at the beginning, however tenuously. I'd never intended to kill any of them. And when we had lost Wendy, it had hurt me, filled me with guilt because she had died helping me and my mom.
I had never wanted any of this.
“I'm sorry,” I whispered.
Then I threw a second fireball, a bigger one, and finished her off.
Flora's shrieking suddenly silenced, the quiet in the room felt oppressive. It was a standoff. Me and four shocked, naked witches. They stood there frozen, their gazes moving from Flora's crispy body to me, their eyes wide, one of them chewing on her lower lip, another one shivering as if her nakedness had suddenly made her cold. I held out my hand, called another ball of flame that broiled and crackled on my palm. The red-haired twins with all their freckles joined hands, but they didn't try to cast anything; they were holding hands because they had the look in their eyes of women about to meet their death.
“It doesn't have to be this way,” I said. “I don't want to kill any of you anymore.”
One of the twins lifted her chin, her expression hardened. “You expect us to believe that?”
“If I wanted you dead, I would have thrown a fireball for each of you by now.”
“What do you expect?” the same twin asked.
“Now that I have my soul back, we could call a truce.”
All four of them stared at me like I was nuts. They had not seen that coming. Frankly, neither had I.
There it was. The offer. The proverbial olive branch. It was up to them if they wanted to take it. Because I truly was tired of killing. It seemed I'd done an awful lot of it lately, and it had worn on me. I had just been too, too angry to notice.
The four witches moved slowly and formed up a straight line. Their bare feet stepped through the shattered crystal, some of them smearing bloody footprints on the floor, but hardly noticing.
“Well?” I asked. “Truce?”
The other twin spoke this time. “What makes you think we won't destroy you the first chance we get?”
“Because things have changed,” I said. “I'm not the Unturned. I have my whole soul. Access to all my power. And I've learned a couple new tricks. If you decide to come after me, I can guarantee I'll kill you all then.”
The four witches exchanged looks. They seemed uncertain.
“You only have two mothers left,” I said. I nodded at the older witch among the three of them. “Want to make it one?”
The three younger girls all flinched in their own way. The mother pressed her lips together and seemed to brace herself for impact.
“Truce?” I asked one last time.
The mother looked to the girls. I had basically put them in charge of the situation. Thankfully, unlike sorcerers, witches had no inherent power. Since I had cut them off (like they had wanted to do to me, come to think of it), it didn't matter that one of them was older and stronger in the dark arts. Right now, they stood together as impotent equals.
The twins nodded and said, in creepy unison, “Truce.”
Chapter Thirty
I stormed into the room and found the twins' mother kneeling beside Odi, who lay on a bed just like the one I had been cuffed to. The witch's eyes went wide. She gripped a wooden stake in her hand and raised it over Odi's heart. Odi just lay there, unconscious. Not sure what they did to him to knock him out, but it had probably hurt.
I held out my hand and conjured a gust of wind that knocked the stake out of her hand and bowled her over. Unlike the other witches, she was still wearing a robe, and she got tangled up in it as she rolled along the tiles.
“We've called a truce,” I said. “Do you want to sign on with that?”
She untangled from her robes and struggled to her feet. She brushed the dust off herself with hard, quick slaps. She glared at me, and if she had had access to my power in that moment, she probably would've stripped off my skin like what they'd done to Odi.
She held out a forked hand, and muttered what sounded like something in Latin. It didn't sound very nice either.
I honestly wasn't sure if she had her own source of magical energy stored up. But when nothing happened, she gasped. Then she slowly backed away.
Guess not.
I heard someone come up behind me through the door.
The twins' mother looked past me, pleading in her eyes. I stepped aside.
The twins stood side-by-side, holding hands, still naked and not at all seemingly bothered by it. “We're done,” they said. “Let's go.”
“What are you talking about?” The mother looked down at her hand, her fingers still forked. “Where's the power?”
I thumped my chest. “Right here, baby. Right where it belongs.”
Her whole body seemed to turn to taffy. She fell to her knees, and tears glistened in her eyes. “No,” she whispered.
“It's time for this to end,” said one of the twins.
“How? How did this happen?”
I said, “It's my soul, and I decide where it goes.”
“You made a bargain. You can't take it back.”
“This was no bargain,” I said. “This was a fucking scam, and it ends right here.”
The tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and streamed down her red, freckled face. She shook her head, and her lips parted, but she didn't say anything. It looked like she was all out of things to say.
“Get out of here,” I said. “Now.”
The twins went over to their mother and helped her to her feet, and they guided her toward the door. She shuffled along like a dazed old woman.
Once they were out the door, I hurried over to Odi. I crouched down beside his bed.
“Odi,” I said.
Thankfully, the flaps of flesh the witches had split open on his chest had knitted partly together, but looked like a puckered canyon down the length of his torso. He still had other scars from the holy water, but he'd healed faster than I thought he could. I wondered if that had something to do with his innate magic as much as it did his vampirism. Seriously, when this kid came into his own, he would be a force to be reckoned with.
I gav
e him a gentle shake.
He stirred, groaned, and then his eyes fluttered open.
They must have had him in some sort of magical sleep. And when I'd taken away their power source, it had worn off quickly.
“Dude, WTF?”
“Our little disagreement with the Maidens has been worked out,” I said.
He wrinkled his brow. “Really?”
I nodded.
“Did you kill them?”
“Only one more. We decided on a truce.”
He snorted. “Bullshit.”
“I shit you not, my padawan. Me and the Maidens of Shadow are done with our feud. And it's about damn time.”
Odi tried to sit up, faltered. I grabbed his arm and helped him the rest of the way. He blinked a few times, scanned the room around us, refocused his gaze on me. He squinted. “I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“Letting them get me, letting them use me against you.”
I laughed. “They picked you up while you were in your coffin. I don't think you really had a choice.”
“I just feel like… Like a liability. I'm failing you. I still can't control my magic. I'm not a very good vampire either. And…”
His mouth slowly opened, while his eyes bulged as if I delivered the most amazing news in the world. And I guess, in a way, I had. Because Odi had always smelled the vampire on me. And I knew that he had just realized he didn't smell it anymore.
“Dude, what…the…fuck?”
I smiled. “I went home to tell you all about it. That's when I found your coffin missing. I was a little disappointed, because I wasn't sure how you'd react if I woke you up in the middle of the day. I was really looking forward to seeing that.”
“You mean you're not…”
“I am not, nor will I ever again be, promise to the gods, the Unturned.
Odi cracked a smile. “Dude, that's freaking awesome.”
“That is the understatement of a lifetime.”
We both laughed, forgetting that we were in an abandoned mental hospital, forgetting that he was all scarred up and had a flesh zipper down the front of his chest.
In that moment, we were both just happy to be breathing—even though Odi didn't really need to.
Chapter Thirty-One
