Chapter 454: Becoming
Demetrius crouched in one corner of the kitchen, keeping out of the way as I said goodbye to the last of the coven, sending them home with smiles and hugs and many thanks, their vampire transportation met with the same level of gratitude. I had many more smiles in return from the undead clan than I expected and wondered if maybe the old class boundaries were finally breaking down.
Would be nice. I liked it when everyone got along.
It wasn't until Anastasia pressed a cold kiss to my cheek and swept off with the twins Demetrius finally wormed his way out from under the table and came to me, a soft whine escaping his throat, Adam's apple bobbing in time with the rise and fall of his cry.
Charlotte moved to block him immediately, but I waved her off, taking a seat at the table with Gram watching from where she leaned against the counter, her favorite green mug in her hands, cooling tea untouched as she observed.
Sassafras leaped up beside me, Meira coming to watch as I gestured for Demetrius to join us. He perched on the edge of a chair, amber eyes begging me while his hands folded and refolded on the table before him.
"Fix me." Not a question, not a demand. A request.
"Are you sure you should?" Meira ignored him, a hard edge to her voice. After all, he'd had Nicholas kidnap her from her own room and shattered Dad's statue, forcing all of us into a chain of events that drove Dad to the Second Seat on Demonicon. I didn't blame her for being angry, or Sassafras for the swish of his silver tail, or Charlotte for the way she stared down at the pitiful wreckage of a man with distaste. I knew the weregirl would happily take him out back and do away with him if I asked her to. Even bury the body deep enough no one would ever find it.
But looking into his eyes, feeling his need, allowing my demon to reach out to him and snuffle his power, more, the core of his spirit, even she relented with a soft sigh.
"I'm sure," I said. "Give me your hand."
I had no idea what I was doing. After all, my demon did the original deed while outside my person. But I was sure she'd take over when the moment came, and personal contact seemed reasonable.
He reached for me, chipped black nails, more claw-like than human, slid over my skin, the heat of his fingertips scalding with fever. Eager but flinching, turning his head away, Demetrius trusted me and opened his power wide and empty.
Good enough for me. My demon slid inside, around him, pulling out what she'd left behind, drawing it back to her, absorbing that which made him like her on the surface. But only on the surface.
I watched in fascination as his skin paled, eyes fading through the color wheel from amber to yellow to green and finally, the piercing blue I remembered, while his demon horns retreated into his silver hair, the cherubic smile returning to his face as his pale skin settled to a more natural tone.
The scar remained, but was far less noticeable, his delight pulling it wide enough it dimpled his cheek. Demetrius examined his free hand carefully, looked down at his chest inside the filthy t-shirt he wore. His fingers slid over his hair, feeling for horns, came up empty. The beaming excitement he fixed on me was enough to make me smile back.
Demetrius Strong, once my enemy, never my friend, clutched my hand to his face and wept.
"Thank you," he whispered, blue eyes full of tears. "You fixed me."
"I promised," I said. "A Hayle always keeps her promises."
He bobbed his head, pulled me closer. "I'm not your enemy," he said. "And I'll prove it to you, someday." More coherent already, the man in him emerging now the demon was gone. But how much of him remained and what would his recovery mean for me? "For now, a warning." He glanced sideways at Gram. "She won't give up," he said. "Not ever. Even now she plots against you."
"Who?" Sassy's tail twitched though I didn't need the answer to know who he meant.
"Batsheva." Her name was a terrible whisper. "But when the time comes, I will do what I can to make sure you have warning. And help from her side."
I wasn't holding my breath, but I nodded before retrieving my hand. "Thank you."
He lurched to his feet, eyeing Charlotte as he headed for the door as though expecting us to stop him. And I probably should have. He had a great deal to answer for, insane or not. But Gram's slow nod to me was all the encouragement I needed to let him slink out the kitchen door and away into the night.
"Syd," Sassafras said.
"You're nuts," Meira growled. "I would have tortured him for everything he knows."
I grinned at my feral sister, my furious demon cat.
"One disaster at a time," I said.
I retreated to the basement as Trill and Owen came downstairs, both showered and dressed. I needed to do the same, but wanted a moment alone.
They helped Meira make dinner, my sister the perfect hostess I'd never be, as Gram and Sassafras joined me downstairs, my bodywere hovering at the top to give us privacy.
I filled them both in on what happened with Trill at the mansion, Iepa's warnings and how I was to break the most sacred of our laws if we were to defeat the Brotherhood.
Already had.
"No one said a word." Sassafras paced around the outside edge of the pentagram. "Not one of the Enforcers, none of the family. You used blood magic tonight, Syd. And no one said anything."
Hard to forget about that, as much as I wanted to. I absently rubbed at the spot where window glass had opened the way for Trill's power-and mine-and tried not to panic.
"They won't," Gram said, eyes narrowed to slits as she tapped her toes on the floor. She'd changed her wet socks, now in purple feather slippers that left little bits of themselves behind as she tippy-tapped. "And I can venture a guess why."
We both stared at her, me hoping for something that would keep me from the stake. And the flames. And Mom's disapproval.
Didn't know which would be worse, honestly.
"It didn't feel like blood magic." She looked back and forth between us. Sassy thought about it. Shook his head.
"You're right," he said. "It felt different."
"Balance." I breathed outward, mentally sending thanks to Iepa, even though I was still miffed with her. "When all of my power was used as it was supposed to be used, I had balance."
"So no one knows." Gram hugged herself, did a little jig. "And no one will find out." A pointed nail jabbed at the two of us, two sharp stabs into the air. "Ever."
I wished it was that simple. "Gram, I have to talk to Mom about this. We need to find a way to break the geas or next time the Brotherhood will win."
It wasn't their magic I feared now. Just their numbers. And the witchly unwillingness to listen to reason even when it meant extinction.
"Agreed," Gram said. "But slowly, girl. And carefully. Or we'll start our own little internal war, won't we? And the Brotherhood wouldn't be happier if we starting tearing ourselves apart, doing their job for them."
"While they continue to recruit witches to betray us from inside our covens." Gram paled, lips tight in anger, Sassafras thudding his tail against the floor so hard I worried he might hurt himself.
***
Not much to say after that. I joined the family for our very late dinner, but retired to the shower myself and my bed just after midnight. I could hear everyone downstairs, the kids settling on the couch, Trill arguing with Meira they weren't taking her room, Gram's grumbling as she put her own foot down.
My family. My home. What wouldn't I do to protect them?
Including using blood magic?
The house had just settled when I felt his touch on my mind. I moved silently, slowly, not my usual break-neck, headlong flight down the stairs to the back door. Didn't matter. He was waiting for me anyway, in his black robe, dark eyes troubled.
"You were there." Silly, I'd felt him, behind Pender, the weight of his need for me to be a good girl and play by the rules. Like I'd not recognize him or something.
"I'm sorry," Quaid said. "I couldn't help." He sounded truly agonized over it. "We had our orders."
"You shouldn't have been involved," I said. "You're in training, not a full Enforcer."
"Your mother didn't have many of us to choose from." He shifted, uncomfortable. "Aside from Pender, we were all trainees."
Interesting. "And the rest of her army?"
"Doing what they're supposed to do," he said. Snapped. "Following the Brotherhood."
So Mom took my warning seriously.
"Well, thanks for dropping by." I couldn't bring myself to even open my power to him. Not because he'd lied to me about Payten. Not because he'd stood by when we could have struck a big blow on the Brotherhood. But because he chose the wrong damned side.
I have no idea how we would have parted if Trill and Owen hadn't chosen that moment to sneak through the back door and into the yard, freezing as they saw us standing there.
"Hi," I said. "Nice night for a walk."
The backpacks Meira gave them from her stash were hung over their shoulders, bulging with stuff. Owen looked guilty, ducking his head, but Trill just faced me down.
"You know we have to go." She shifted her hand on the strap of her bag. "Iepa was clear about my task."
I nodded slowly, sadly, feeling tired and suddenly much older than my nineteen years. I'd lived lifetimes already, it seemed. How would I survive living forever?
"I still think you should stay," I said. "Let us help you find Nona. Do more research into the family lines." Liam's department. "And we're supposed to work together." Had. And it was amazing.
"We are," Trill said. "But she also said it was time to go. And she's right." Trill reached out and hooked one arm around Owen, pulling him against her. "I've denied my fate for too long. I have a job to do." She smiled, a little smile, but enough Owen did too. "I promise we'll see you soon."
I joined them, hugging first Trill and then her brother, resigned to letting them walk away though my heart begged me not to. Yes, she was irritating at times. And yes, he was a sorcerer and dangerous no matter how much he wanted things to be different. But it felt like I was allowing them to go into trouble alone.
Just went against everything I'd been taught. Family. It was all about family, wasn't it?
"Where will you go?" I ruffled Owen's hair, kissed his forehead while he hugged me hard.
"To find Nona," Trill said.
"And our brother," Owen finished for her. "He disappeared years ago, with our father. We were sure they were both gone. But now..." Owen's brilliant eyes brimmed with hope. "We need to find him." His hand slid over mine as he pulled away, the shining blue crystal settling in my palm. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."
I tried to give it back, despite the surge of power I felt as it reconnected with the magic inside me, but Owen shook his head, closing my fingers over it.
"It was made for you," he said. "I can't use it without you. Besides, you're going to need it to access your sorcery."
Um. What?
Trill rolled her eyes. "Just dump it on her, why don't you?" She pushed her glasses up her nose before shrugging. "You need to know," she said. "The rest of it."
Wasn't sure I wanted to. But since when was my life boring or anything?
"You wouldn't have been able to use it, or the other one, unless you were a sorcerer too," Trill said. "And I already knew you were anyway. Remember what I said? How you were so close?"
I nodded, feeling Quaid drift closer, listening, though I wasn't sure I wanted him privy to whatever was about to hit me like a ton of bricks in the chest.
"You're maji." Trill was almost breathless when she said it.
"Yes," I said. "I knew that already. Remember?"
"No, Syd," Owen said, squeezing my hand around the crystal. "Not just one of the bloodline, though yes, you have their blood. You are becoming maji."
Hang on just a dang minute-
"You would be full maji by now if you hadn't had your growth stunted." Trill sighed. "But your evolution is almost done. You only have two pieces missing, two last magicks to assimilate."
"Your creation magic." Owen stepped away, to stand next to Trill.
"And your sorcery." They linked hands, the light and the shadow, watching me.
"Someday," Trill whispered, "you will join them, the ranks of the Undying. And you will be a creator like no other."
Tears seemed appropriate. Yelling and screaming even. Not this horrible tightness in my chest, the feeling of inevitable endlessness I had no control over.
Destiny could leave me the hell alone.
I watched them leave, silent but tied together, my heart heavy, my soul twisting in loneliness. Undying. Never ending.
Forever.
Until the parts of me, my demon, Sidhe and vampire all reached out and drew me close, winding their way around me.
Not alone. Not alone.
Never.
Hands settled on my shoulders, turned me around. I allowed him to hold me, to tie his power to me, to feel him and his love for me. The knots inside me eased at last, released.
I pulled away finally and looked up at him, into his eyes, detaching gently from the warmth of his magic.
"Watch over them," I said. "If you can. And keep them safe."
Quaid tensed, but nodded at last, bending to kiss me gently before turning away and leaving me there in the dark.
I stood so long, so quiet, the light went out, leaving me in the black, feet rooted to the earth, grasping for the feeling of belonging.
Even longer still before I turned and went inside, wiping away the last of my tears, closing the door softly behind me.
***
