Chapter 451: Linked At Last
Damned fool girl, what was she doing? But the smirk on Belaisle's face told me. Still full of himself, still thinking he could win. The pulsing light of the crystal faded, cooled, and I understood at last why Owen had taken my hand.
My crystal. His power. Rather a wicked combination.
As for Belaisle, I was a little surprised at his continuing arrogance. Either he was unaware I'd discovered the secret to fighting his kind or he just didn't have the brain capacity to believe he could lose.
About to prove him wrong.
"Where's who?" Belaisle took a slow step forward, his people closing in. Only now they were split in focus as the coven and the clan pushed against them with magic and rage.
"Bastard!" Trill threw the word at him, as sharp as any knife. "Where is our Nona?"
"Your precious Nona." Belaisle brushed at one sleeve as though he wasn't standing in the middle of a fight he was about to lose. "Ah, yes. The old woman. I recall now. She died badly, I'm afraid."
Trill shuddered, Owen's black mist falling to pool at his feet as the star inside the crystal faded to a pinpoint of light.
"You killed her?" So much pain in those three words. I actually worried Trill was broken.
And I needed her functioning.
I needn't have worried she'd fall apart, not after years of heartache and running. But what she did do shocked me so much I didn't fight, didn't think to, as she turned and grasped my hand, the same one Owen held, our connected grip slippery with the blood still oozing from my cut and tapped into my magic.
Not the same. At. All. Weird. Awful. Painful. Stomach clenching-
Awesome. We locked together, her power to mine, creation magic feeding us, swelling between us in a storm of magic.
Owen's power made me sick. Hers filled me with joy.
Like this, Trill sent, spinning out a shield, but not a shield, not like anything I'd ever made before.
But felt? Used? Oh yes.
I followed her, added my power and experience with such materials as the two of us created a plane wall, a veil of our own in a half-circle dome with our little group inside.
The. Most. Incredible. Thing. Ever.
Ever.
This is what magic is meant to be, Trill sent, her heart singing in tune with mine, no matter what we faced, the music of our magic filling us to the brim.
Yes. Of course.
Belaisle and his sorcerers attacked, throwing power at us, drawing on the veil, or trying to. But there was nothing for them to feed from, quite to the contrary. The rubbery slickness deflected their magic, sending it flowing away to be absorbed by the world around them, their effort wasted as Owen lifted the crystal and opened his own magic, taking my other hand, the blackness surrounding him surging to new life.
Light and shadow came together. In me.
"Are you really ready for this?" Belaisle staggered as Owen's power snaked out, dividing into multiple branches, touching more and more sorcerers as he poured magic into the crystal and sucked even greater amounts back to it. "Sydlynn Hayle, are you ready for war?"
I smiled at him, laughed, couldn't help myself. Felt the balance of my power as the creation magic tied tightly to all parts of me, destruction her happy sibling. "Are you, Belaisle? I'm starting to think you're having second thoughts about me."
So. Freaking. Awesome.
And then the stupid Enforcers had to show up and ruin everything.
Black-robed witches were suddenly everywhere, filling the sky overhead, blue power crackling as they slammed up a dome of magic around the entire group of us, coven, clan and Brotherhood.
As if they could ever contain me. Yeah, right. Still, seeing them had an effect, at least. I pulled free of Trill, our veiled dome collapsing, Owen's magic leaving me as I stepped away from him as well, the realization of what I'd done erasing all the good feelings.
Blood magic. No matter its real name or purpose, it was still an offense punishable by death.
Oh, crap.
Way to break the law with hundreds of witnesses, Syd.
"You will cease your conflict, under orders of the Council of North American Witches." Pender settled to the ground, striding forward with three other Enforcers at his back while the rest continued to circle above us. Power touched me, power I knew intimately, but I didn't have time to wonder why he was there, his delicious magic on the wrong side.
"Your Council has no sway over me or my people," Belaisle snapped, pulling the ragged edges of his arrogance around him.
"Nor mine," Sebastian said.
"Perhaps not," Pender said, "but I am authorized to end this conflict one way or another. And if that means arresting all of you and sorting it out later, I'll do so."
"Try it," Belaisle said. "The battle you end here will mean the beginning of a war. Unless."
Pender paused. "Unless?"
"You allow us to leave." Belaisle actually backed up a pace. "Neither of our people are prepared to begin something we can't finish."
Hell no. "You let them go," I snarled, surging forward, "and you're only making things worse for us later."
Pender fixed me with a glare. "Done," he said. "Though our Council Leader has a message for you."
Belaisle snarled something under his breath, but nodded.
"The next time you interfere with coven business or attack witches or vampires in her territory, she will see to it personally you and your little Brotherhood will be disbanded permanently."
Mom and her empty threats. Except now I knew how to beat them. Still, as my temper cooled a little, maybe she was right. First things first-finding all of the Brotherhood's nests so we could wipe them all out at once.
"Please." Trill let go of her brother, holding out her bloodied hand. Pender stared at it for a long moment while the girl focused on Belaisle. "Where is Nona?"
He looked like he was going to stay silent, but finally blurted, "I don't know." My, my, how sullen and bitter he sounded. "She was never in our custody." A gleam, a moment of triumph as he finished. "But we're very close to finding your brother."
"Liar!" Owen surged ahead, Trill catching him and holding him back, though she seemed floored by Belaisle's words. "He's dead."
"He died with our father." Trill hugged Owen to her, their hurt locking together, building walls no outsider could break through.
"If you say so." Belaisle's feral gaze settled on me. "You can have the brats for now," he said as his people gathered behind him while the coven and clan chose their side, falling in ranks behind me. "But don't get too comfortable." He sniffed, ran his arrogant gaze over Pender. "At least I'll know where to find them when I'm ready for them."
I glared at Pender who ignored me. Just here to break up the fight, huh? Yeah, nice backup there.
"Consider this a benevolent gesture," Belaisle said, heavy ring flashing as he gestured toward me grandly. "But don't push me. And stay out of my way from now on." His smirk returned. "Maybe your witches will survive another century or so before our new order is imposed."
"You're really going to just let him leave?" I prodded Pender with my power. "After he's threatening us openly like this?"
The leader of the Enforcers didn't waver. "I have my orders," he said. "And you, Leader Hayle, have yours."
I stood there, shaking and overflowing with frustration, hardly containing myself or the rage of my alternate identities as Pender dropped the blue shielding and let the sorcerers walk away.
Belaisle, I sent in a tight whip of magic. I have my own warnings. Stay away from my family and from Wilding Springs. And if I ever see your ugly ass again, you're a dead man.
Impotent, empty, but I had to. I turned my back on Pender, met Gram's gaze. Her eyes flickered from the retreating Brotherhood to me, speculation in her eyes. And anger.
Oh, yes. And anger.
"Shall we go home?" I tore open the veil with a snarl from my demon, Charlotte's hand taking one of mine, Trill's in the other. "I trust you can return my family the way you brought them, Sebastian?"
He nodded slowly, a frown creasing his handsome face. "Coven leader," he said.
I felt Pender approach, his mind reaching for mine, but I wasn't in the mood. Demetrius's hand hooked around my ankle as I dove into the veil and rudely slammed it shut behind me.
***
