by Cara E Holt
This was it, the last exchange. Normally it would take five or six exchanges to become mated, but with dark magic helping to speed up the process, tonight would be the final nail in my coffin. I just had to pray to the mother goddess that there was some magical process that could sever the bond once all this was over.
I tug on Beau’s arm as he guides us over to the dais. “I need the ladies. My bladder becomes over active when I’m excited.” I offer in explanation to him when he looks at me with an irritated expression on his face. He was clearly eager to form the bond.
I exit the room in as composed of a manner as I can and quickly dart through the halls and out into the grounds of the estate. I call upon my fire magic and with one quick look around me to make sure there is no one around I lift my hands into the air.
“Dirigentes Flamma.”
Three sparks of bright orange flames shoot from my palms up high into the night sky, one after the other, signaling my kin that the ritual will soon start. I take one last look around me to make sure I haven’t been spotted and make my way back inside. As soon as I re-enter the grand hall, Beau is beside me and guiding me up to the dais where my father awaits us.
“Everyone my daughter and my second will complete their final blood exchange tonight and complete their mate bond,” Adron announces delightedly to his avid audience.
In the corner of my vision I see the witches take their places around the circle and Mortiana nods for us to begin. I take Beaus wrist in mine and sink my fangs into his vein as he takes a bite into mine. Around us the witches chant in Latin and I feel the darkness of their magic as the spell begins. Beau’s essence surrounds me and it works its way through my body and to my heart, wrapping itself around it like a second skin. I feel his heart beat loud and clear within me and I feel his desire and hunger for me.
The spell ends and I pull away from his wrist breathlessly. My mate. My everything. Beau places a hand behind my neck and pulls my lips to his and everyone in the room cheers. I am lost in him. I kiss him with a burning need. My blood sings at his contact and my heart speeds up and then falls in sync with his. We pull apart and I stare at him breathlessly as he becomes the centre of my world. The deep need to protect and covet him is all-consuming. A nagging thought pulls in my mind, but it is quickly overtaken by my thoughts of Beau. Adron kisses my cheek and then embraces Beau in a masculine hug.
“At last we are family,” he tells Beau, with pride in his voice. “My daughter is yours now and you must protect her above all else.”
Beau nods firmly and his eyes drink me in, filled with fierce passion. “Fear not Adron. My mate’s safety will be by utmost priority.”
The bond flickers between us, and I lean into him, needing to touch him.
Mortiana beckons to Adron. “We are ready to begin.”
My father claps his hands loudly, getting the attention of the room as the music comes to an abrupt end. “My coven, we begin. My inner circle, please join us. The rest of you feast, dance and celebrate until we return.” A raucous cheer erupts around the room in response. “Let’s begin.”
Adron and Mortiana lead the procession out of the mansion and into the grounds outside. Beau and I take up position behind them and then about a dozen vampires follow us. We walk through the grounds until we come to two stone pillars that depict the dark one. Between the pillars is an opening into the ground with stone steps leading down. So this must be where Norah was being kept. It puzzled me how I had missed this, but I suspect Beau had purposely not shown me this area of the grounds.
We take the stone steps down into the dark and into the coven lair. We pass through one area that houses ancient texts and walls stacked with shelves that house many potion bottles. Beyond this room we come to a larger room that had a higher ceiling and various runes painted in what looked like blood are dotted all over the cavernous walls. There in the middle of the room is a large pentagon within a magic circle, and within that circle are two stone tables. One table lies empty, whilst the other one, to my shock, holds Norah bound with chains.
Beau steps beside my father as we move aside for Mortiana to take up her position at the head of the altar. Norah looks around the room, her eyes wide with panic. She doesn’t look good; she has lost weight and looks bedraggled and unkempt. Her eyes widen as they fall upon me.
“Elara! Elara help me, please. These monsters are going to kill me!”
It pains me greatly not to run to her and try to free her, but I have no choice. Keeping my face devoid of any emotion, I look through her and do not acknowledge her. Her eyes glisten with tears as she looks at me in confusion and utter disappointment when she realises I will not help her.
Mortiana lifts out a large glass ball and inside it a blue smoky substance weaves and twists inside it. She places it on top of a circular stone between the two stone tables and steps back. She gestures to me. “Come Elara, join our circle.”
Beau gives me a gentle nudge forward and I step up and take my place within the circle.
Mortiana walks around the circle and lights each candle at each point and seals it. It is then I notice on the other stone table an ornate and antique looking urn. I could only guess that this held my birth mother’s ashes.
“Let us begin, sisters.” The witches in their black cloaks are all in position around the circle with their faces covered by the large hoods on their heads.
“Dark Lord, we welcome you on this momentous night. We call on your power and strength to aide us in our quest tonight,” Mortiana chants with her eyes closed.
I feel an eerie shift in the air and I gasp out loud when I see an evil creature appear outside of the circle. The creature slowly walks around us and I freeze still when he stops behind me. I try not to scream in fear when I feel the creature’s breath at my ear.
“The chosen,” he whispers eerily.
Mortiana and the other witches chant the spell in Latin and I do my best to pick it up the words. The blue essence in the glass orb swirls faster and faster as the spell takes hold. A strong black wind gushes around the inside of the circle and I struggle to not fall backwards with its force. The urn suddenly smashes and the ashes inside twist and turn and start to take the shape of a body. My eyes widen at what I am seeing before me, in both horror and awe.
A colossal bang from outside the circle pulls my attention. Debris and stone flies everywhere.
“Do not break the circle,” Mortiana orders us. The witches remain focused and continue to chant and I realise that time is running out. Behind me I can hear fighting and I know the HDS are here.
It was now or never. If I didn’t stop this now, it would be too late. As my deceased mother’s form moulds from her ashes, I see a white light rise from Norah’s body and she cries out in pain.
I don’t think. I just act. I step forward into the centre of the circle and reach for the glass orb. The blue substance inside it leaps out of its chamber at my touch and it hits me with the force of a train. What was happening?
“No!!” I hear an angry and distinctly male voice cry out from somewhere in the room. The blue essence turns black as it circles around my body and then forces itself into my mouth and inside of my body. The power of it pushes my head back until I am staring at the ceiling and the glass orb drops and smashes at my feet. Power rushes through my veins, fillings every inch of my being. Dark magic fills me and corrupts me from within. I am powerless to move as it consumes me. The power is too much, it’s overwhelming.
Darkness surrounds me, and everything is deadly silent. My eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness and an eerie voice whispers in my ear. “Welcome home.”
Noise and chaos surrounds me and I open my eyes to find myself lying on the floor of the circle. All around me guards from the HDS battle with vampires. Two arms roughly grab me and I am dragged to my feet. I look up to stare into the despairing eyes of my father.
“What have you done?” he wails, his eyes thick with pain and betrayal. “I have lost her forever. You are my blood and you betraye
d me.”
“I’m sorry Father, but I could not let you do what you intended.” My eyes glisten with tears at the look in his eyes. Yes, he was a deranged man who needed to be stopped, but he was also my father, a man who wanted to reunite his lost family.
“How could you do this?” he asks me, shaking me violently.
I don’t get the chance to answer him. He grunts and his eyes widen as a stake pushes through the front of his chest wall. His lifeless body slumps forward on to me and I stagger with his weight as his lifeless body slides to the floor.
“You okay princess?” Dagen briefly checks me over and still in shock, I nod my head. Satisfied that I am not hurt, Dagen turns and stakes another advancing vampire through the chest before moving onto the next attacker.
“Elara!” I look into two familiar blue eyes.
“Drayce,” I whisper as he leans over me, inspecting me for injuries.
“Stop her!” Orders Mortiana to her coven. Her dark, angry eyes focused on me. She flings out her hand and Drayce goes flying backwards and crashes into two men who are fighting.
I suddenly find myself with half a dozen witches surrounding me. I call upon my magic and it answers instantly, dark and intoxicating it sings along my veins and into my hands. The dark witches launch their attack. With a flick of my wrist they all simultaneously fall to the floor unconscious, with no resistance. I feel an intense pain at my back. Mortiana is attacking me with black magic, whispering a spell.
I turn and attune myself to the magic that is now a part of me. I tilt my head, meeting her eyes and hers widen in what appears to be shock or horror as she stares at me.
“Now that isn’t nice,” I admonish her, as my feet raise slowly from the ground until I am levitating in the air, my dark hair floating around me. I lift my palm upwards and black smoke oozes from my skin. She attempts to hit me with her magic again and I twist my hand and lift it upwards, lifting her into the air, until she is at my eye level. The heady power fills me like a drug, addictive and intoxicating. With a cunning smile, I fling my hands out and she flies backwards and lands with a loud crack against the far stone wall before falling in a slump to the floor.
A hand grabs on to one of my ankles and I hiss, glaring down at who dares to touch me. It was Drayce. Something about his presence pulls me back to myself, and I slowly float down until I am standing on my own two feet again.
“You okay raven?” Drayce asks, as he wipes my hair from my face.
My heart tugs me in two directions. Part of it thumps for Drayce, but the other part screams for Beau. I look around the room frantically.
“Elara, what is it?”
“Beau, Beau!” I shout as I search for him amongst the chaos.
“Elara!” I hear his answer somewhere in all the chaos and I follow the direction of his voice. He is engaged in a fight with two HDS soldiers. Our eyes meet briefly for a second and that’s when his head is severed from his body and falls to the floor with a heavy thud.
“No!!!” I scream as I attempt to move past Drayce and get to him. The bond screams for me to reach him.
“Kill them all.” Whispers the sinister, strange voice in my head. “Accept your powers. Join me.”
I clutch at my head, trying to shut out the eerie voice.
“There’s something wrong.” I hear Drayce say.
I kick and scream in aguish as Drayce keeps me held against his chest. I feel a blunt force to the back of my head and as my eyes droop to a close. The last thing I see is Beau’s severed head on the floor.
WHILE I WAS SLEEPING
I open my eyes and flinch as the light blinds me. I groan and feel pain at the back of my head and attempt to sit up.
“Whoa there.” Drayce is instantly at my side, leaning over me and guiding me back down onto the pillow. “You need to rest.”
I clutch at his hand. “What happened? Is it all over?”
Drayce sits himself on the edge of my bed and holds my hand in both of his. “It’s all over. We took the coven out.”
“Norah?” I ask panicked, looking around the room for her.
“Hush now. Norah is fine. She is fully recovered. She was dehydrated and malnourished, but she is doing fine now.” Drayce’s worried eyes scan my face. “Elara you have been unconscious for three weeks.”
I rub my eyes and stare up at him in disbelief. “Three weeks!! How? What happened to me?”
Drayce presses a chaste kiss on my forehead. “I will go and get your parents. They are better equipped to answer your questions than I am.”
He disappears out of the room and I shake my head in confusion. My mind was foggy. Why had I been out of it for so long?
The door opens and my mum rushes into the room, quickly followed by my dad. She visibly relaxes when she sees me sitting up and awake. She sweeps me into a tight hug.
“I thought you would never wake up.”
I pat her back, comforting her. “I’m fine, I promise.”
My dad comes round to the other side of my bed and kisses my head. “It’s so good to see you awake, sweetheart.”
“Why was I out so long?” I ask them, puzzled. I don’t remember getting injured.
Mum, Dad and Drayce all share a look that tells me something is wrong.
“Come on guys, you’re starting to worry me.” I say with a nervous laugh.
My mum sits on the edge of my bed and takes my hand in hers. “Honey, I don’t know what you remember, but when we brought you back to the base, you were in some kind of trance. Your eyes went completely black and your veins turned black. We tried everything to bring you round, but nothing worked.” She swallows before she continues on. “It was only when we watched footage back from that night that we started to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Elara, do you remember taking the orb that held the stolen magic?”
I frown as I try to think, but there was nothing. “No. I can remember Norah being tied on that stone table and my father being staked and oh god, Beau’s severed head on the floor.” A sharp pain stabs at my heart.
My dad clears his throat. “Elara when you broke the circle and picked up the orb, all the magic that was stolen from those witches entered your body. Magic that was tainted. Magic that had become dark.”
My heart stutters in my chest as my anxiety levels increase. “Tell me you were able to get it out of me,” I beg them.
Mum grimaces and shakes her head at me. “The dark magic has entwined itself deep within you, Elara. We have tried everything, but we cannot remove it.”
I clutch a hand over my heart and look from one to the other. “How am I alive? How has my body been able to sustain the magic of nine witches?”
From the look they give me, I can tell there is more grim news to come. “We can only assume that because you were born using black magic that your body is a suitable host.”
I stare at them wide-eyed as I try to understand what this means. “So I’m dark now, is that what you’re telling me? Am I bad?”
Mum squeezes my hand. “We don’t know what it means honey, just that you have absorbed a lot of magic that had been turned dark by the ritual.”
I nod and try to steady my erratic heartbeat. “Well, I feel like me, well apart from feeling tired, and a bit muddled.” I am not sure if I am trying to reassure them or myself.
“That’s good,” my mum says doing her best to smile, but behind that smile I can see that she is worried. “You need to rest.”
“Mum, I’ve been resting for three entire weeks. I bet I have missed out on so much.”
Drayce sits himself at the end of my bed. “You haven’t missed much at all. Norah is still here, so the Wiccan council do not know she has been found. She refused to leave until she knew you were going to be okay.”
I smile. Typical Norah. I stifle a yawn and my mum gives me a pointed look. “Not tired, hey? Right, we are leaving and you are resting. We’ll come and check on you soon.”
Realising there is no point arguing with her when she is t
his determined, I nod and lie back down on the bed. Maybe I would just have a small nap.
My eyes slowly open, and I can see from the window it is night time. Drayce is asleep in a chair at the side of my bed.
“Drayce,” I whisper, reluctant to wake him.
He jumps awake and looks dazed for a few seconds until his eyes focus on me. Giving me a tired smile, he stands and climbs onto my bed and lies beside me, placing his arm across my stomach.
“I missed you,” he confesses with a weary smile.
“I missed you too.” I reach up behind his neck and pull his lips down to mine. Sparks erupt inside me when we kiss. God, I had missed his touch.
Drayce reluctantly pulls away. “You need to rest and get better.”
“Maybe your kisses will help me get better.” I suggest with a wry smile.
Drayce chuckles and shakes his head at me. His dark hair tickles at my face “Stop trying to use your cuteness on me. You need to rest.”
“I feel fine,” I protest. “Well, apart from a bit of a sore head. Drayce what happened to Adron?”
Drayce sighs heavily. “We have him secure in the compound until we decide what to do with him. Rest. Okay?”
I nod. A vision of the stake breaking through Adron’s chest assaults me, as does the complete look of despair in his eyes before he fell. I lie my head back on my pillow and stare up at the ceiling. It was over. There would be no more witches being drained of their power. Norah was safe and my father was no longer a threat.
“Oh Pixie farts I’m so happy you’re okay,” Norah exclaims, as she squeezes me to death when she visits me the following morning.
“I’m glad you’re safe.” I pull back so I can look at her. “How are you feeling?”
“Ugh, like troll’s feet, but I’m on the mend. My body hasn’t been invaded by your dead mother so that’s a plus, right?”
I laugh out loud at her bluntness. It was such a joy to have her back. Norah was here and the same as ever and thank the mother earth for that!
