Bitter Demons (23 page)

The energy in the room shifted. I could feel
the fear and anxiety in the air, thick as smoke. It was obvious the
family wasn't used to anyone speaking up to their leader. What was
Mary Anne doing? Didn't she see the hopelessness in this situation?
There were too many to fight. They were too powerful.

"I won't do it," Mary Anne said, her voice
trembling.

"Nonsense," the old witch shouted. "The
entire bloodline must participate in order to create the
transfer."

"I can't let you kill her," Mary Anne said.
Tears ran down her cheeks, and her lip trembled, but she stood her
ground. She was risking everything to save my life. A small flame
of hope ignited somewhere deep inside of me.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus my power.
I let all of the images fall away from my thoughts and concentrated
only on a single blue butterfly. A drop of power trickled through
my veins.

"You must participate," Mary Anne's mother
said, stepping forward from her spot in the far corner. "I know
it's difficult to make such a sacrifice, but it's the only
way."

"Mother, I can't," she said.

"Participate in the ritual, or I will see you
dead, purged from the bloodline," the old witch said. "This moment
will not be stolen from me again."

Mary Anne held her hands out beside her body,
a blue energy radiating from them. "I've seen enough death in this
town to last a lifetime," she said through her tears. Her hands
were shaking. "And I don't want to become a murderer."

I closed my eyes and breathed in and out
slowly. I pushed the room from my mind and concentrated only on my
own inner power. The butterfly danced in the blackness, and I felt
stronger.

"Alexandria, don't hurt her," Mary Anne's
mother said. "Please. She's my only daughter. Let me talk to
her."

The old witch turned at the sound of the
name. "From this day on, you will never call me Alexandria again,"
she said. Her eyes blazed and her fingertips flared with heat.
"Today, I become the Prima."

The old witch shifted into crow form and
swooped toward Mary Anne, liquid fire streaming from her beak.

Mary Anne screamed and jumped away, the
bottom of her robe bursting into flame. She frantically pulled the
robe from her body and stood, blue energy shining from her hands.
She raised her hands toward the flying crow and released a ray of
energy, but the crow swerved.

The old woman's cackle filled the room as she
landed in the corner and switched back to her original form. I
seized the moment of chaos and focused all of my thoughts on the
ancient cup left unguarded on the stone altar. My power was so
weak, turning the cup on its side was like trying to lift a van off
the ground with my bare hands.

I focused my energy into as bright a
butterfly as I could imagine, letting my body fill with the
vibrations of my power. The cup tumbled over with a clang. Red
blood from every member of the family spilled down the stone altar
and onto the floor of the ritual room.

The old witch shrieked in anger as my
necklace slid from the cup and landed in a bloody heap on the
floor.

Power surged through me. I took control of my
own body, breaking the spell that held me suspended in the air. I
fell hard to the floor, my back against the cold sapphire that held
the closed portal. I disappeared and scrambled across the
floor.

"Block the doors," one witch called out.

Another witch surged forward, reaching out to
grab me, but with my invisibility glamour up, she couldn't see
me.

"Find the girl," someone else said. "She's
gone."

I dodged hurried footsteps and thought only
of the necklace. With Aerden's help, I might survive. My fingers
closed around the silver chain of my necklace. It appeared to float
through the air as I clasped the necklace around my neck.

"There!" Someone shouted, spotting the
necklace.

A bright blue flash of light passed through
the air. I ducked, but the edge of the light slid across my skin.
My body turned ice cold, and I froze in place, unable to scream or
move or even blink an eye. I became visible and stood like an ice
sculpture in the center of the ritual room. The witches circled me
like vultures.

Somewhere up above, the ground rumbled. I
could feel my connection to Aerden strengthen as he emerged from
the marble statue. All eyes turned to the entrance as a dark,
swirling shadow swooped down the stone steps.

Aerden!

My heart rose up high in my chest. I summoned
the core of my power and thawed the ice around my form, breaking
free and sending shards of ice flying. Witches screamed. Some
cowered in the corner, while others stood to face the powerful
demon.

One tall witch shot a green burst of energy
at Aerden. He easily dodged and the bolt of green light hit the
stone wall behind him and exploded in a burst of goo that oozed to
the floor.

"Don't kill them," the old witch said. "Try
to contain the demon and get the necklace from the girl."

Five witches circled the demon, trapping him
in the corner closest to the door. I could feel his confidence and
anger coursing through my own heart. Beads of sweat formed on my
forehead and my pulse hammered. Could we survive this?

I reached deep inside of myself and conjured
a storm, feeding off Aerden's presence. Lightning shot through the
room and rain began to fall in heavy, pelting sheets. All of the
candles went out, drenching the room in darkness.

That's when the screams began. Aerden morphed
into slippery shadows in the pitch darkness. Bursts of light shot
forth as witches tried to defend themselves, but shadowy claws
ripped through the black room, sending witches to the floor, sliced
and bleeding

I felt a small hand grab my own and pull me
toward the doorway. At first, I fought against them, trying to pull
away, but then I saw the blue of Mary Anne's clear eyes in a flash
of light. I followed her toward the stairs as the screams rang out
behind us.

Together, we ran up the stone stairs, but
just as the night sky came into view, a large crow swooped in front
of us.

The old witch hovered in the doorway, her red
eyes fierce with power. She shifted back to human form, then
created a giant wall of flames, blocking any hope of going through.
I lifted my hands to shield myself from the heat. She started down
the stairs toward us and we both backed down.

Bodies littered the floor behind us. One
witch tried to crawl across our path, then collapsed, hand
outstretched.

The old witch lifted her hand in the air and
Mary Anne's feet left the ground. She rose up, her boots kicking
the air. Mary Anne's hands went around her neck as if she were
being choked. Her face turned red and she opened her mouth,
struggling for air. I lunged toward her, trying to pull her down,
but the old witch used her other hand to throw up a wall of fire in
my way.

Through the flames, I saw Mary Anne's legs go
still. Her body limp. She fell to the ground like a ragdoll.

Then, the witch turned her blazing eyes on
me.

The rain pouring inside the ritual room
quickly doused the witch's flames, and I tried to run into the
darkness. She lifted her hands and I felt my throat constrict. I
reached out for something to hold onto, but caught only air. I
struggled for breath as my body lifted high into the air. She
twisted me around to face her.

I battled to find my focus, but my lungs
burned and I couldn't concentrate. Rain fell across my skin in
cold, hard pellets. The old witch stepped toward me. Her hand
reached out for me, her index finger stretching toward my necklace.
She meant to take it from me. To sever my connection to Aerden. I
was helpless to stop her.

A flash of blue light illuminated the
darkness, slicing through the witch's finger, severing it from the
rest of her hand. Her fingertip fell to the ground and the witch
screamed.

I fell hard to the ground, gasping for breath
as her attention turned to the source of the attack. Mary Anne sat
up, her hand outstretched, blue light pulsing from her palm. The
witch's face contorted into a mask of pure evil. She brought her
palms together and swirled them around, gathering a giant ball of
red hot fire in her hands. She reared back and threw the ball at
Mary Anne.

The red light streaked across the room.

"No!" I screamed. I lifted my hand into the
air on instinct, gripping the fireball with my mind. It stopped
inches short of Mary Anne's face and she scrambled backward.

Realizing I had control of the fire, I
quickly threw it back toward the old witch, catching her by
surprise. Her robes burst into flame and she thrashed about. With a
scream, she fell to the floor and curled into a little ball, her
skin charred. Her body trembled slightly, then went still.

I ran over to Mary Anne and put her arm
around my shoulder. "Can you stand up?"

"I can try," she said.

I helped her get onto her feet and I helped
her to the top of the stairs. The flames that blocked the entrance
were only smoldering now as rain began to fall from the sky.

I heard my name echo against the trees
outside. The voice was still some distance away, but my heart
danced at the sound. Jackson! I turned toward the direction of
Shadowford and saw several figures running through the darkness.
Within seconds, Jackson, Zara, Caroline, Meredith and Eloise all
came rushing into the circle.

"We felt you," Caroline said. She was out of
breath and leaning on her sister's arm. "What's happening?"

I passed Mary Anne off to Eloise who took her
and laid her down in the soft wet grass.

Jackson pulled me into his arms. "Are you
okay?"

"Yes," I said. "I think so."

"What happened?" Meredith said. She stepped
toward the entrance to the ritual room.

"Don't go down there," I said. "I don't know
if they are still alive down there." I turned to Jackson. "It was
Mary Anne's family all along. They wanted to control the demon
gate. Jackson, they killed my mother."

"How many?" he asked.

"More than twenty," I said. I pulled him
aside and whispered, "Aerden's still down there."

Ignoring my warning, Jackson rushed toward
the stairs. I followed him, unsure what we might find. We grabbed
hands and descended into the darkness. In the far corner of the
room, red eyes glowed in the darkness. I gasped and looked down
where I'd left the old witch. She was gone.

The crow screeched and the sound of flapping
wings filled the ritual room. A giant explosion of red rolled
upward, blowing a hole through the roof. The force of the blast
threw us back against the stairs, pieces of rock and dirt pelting
our bodies. Jackson grabbed my hand and pulled me up the
stairs.

Above ground, the ritual circle was ripped to
shreds. Chunks of stone littered the grass. The sound of wings grew
louder. I watched as a coven of crows flew up through the hole in
the ground and into the dark night.

In the light of day, the damage to the ritual
area looked pretty serious. Jackson and I picked through the
debris, looking for anything the witches might have left behind. A
gaping chasm marred the ritual circle. I stood above the hole,
looking down into the destroyed ritual room below.

"Exactly how much of this damage are you
responsible for, young lady?" Jackson pinched my arm. I slapped at
his hand and laughed.

"Hey, I didn't do that much," I said.

Jackson turned toward the marble statue that
marked the entrance to the ritual room. "Thank God Aerden got out
of that room before that crazy witch blew the top off the
place."

I placed my hand on the cool marble. "I wish
he wasn't trapped inside this statue. If I hadn't gotten my
necklace back in time, I don't know what would have happened to
us."

Jackson sighed. "Unfortunately, the only way
to get him out of the statue permanently is to go through the
initiation, which isn't any better. Worse, actually, in a lot of
ways."

We stood in silence, his words hanging
between us. We still hadn't had a chance to talk about the argument
we'd had in the barn that rainy night, but I knew that he'd
forgiven me. I still hoped he would be able to open his heart to
me, but for now, I was happy just to be close to him. Trust takes
time. I understood that better than anyone.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go
downstairs."

The damage was much worse down below. The
room was barely recognizable. "Do you think the portal is damaged?"
I asked.

We moved toward the center of the room, but
the blue stone that held the portal to Jackson's world was hidden
under a stack of large rocks. One by one, I used my magic to move
each heavy stone to the side. I stepped to the blue spot on the
floor and wiped away the coarse dust. I expected it to be cracked
or damaged, but it was exactly the same as before.

"It isn't even scratched," I said.

Jackson leaned over and picked something from
the rubble. A silver cup with a ruby stone. Blood still stained the
lip. "What's this?" he asked.

I shuddered. "Destroy that," I said.

With one hand, Jackson crushed the metal cup
into a tiny ball.

"Hey, if you have that kind of strength, you
should have been helping me move these rocks," I teased.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a
half-smile. Standing there with the sun shining down on him, he
looked so gorgeous it took my breath away.

Caroline wrapped her arms around me and gave
me a big hug.

"I'm going to miss you," she said. The black
soul stone around her neck glittered in the sunlight. Zara's mother
had reversed the spell so that Caroline's power flowed back into
her. "I feel like we're practically sisters now."