Legacy & Spellbound (50 page)

Jer glanced over. “Who put him in charge?”

“Don't ask,” Tommy muttered.

“Eve's tracking my father, to kill him. She and I had a common purpose. She helped me save Holly. In exchange, we're giving her a lift to London.”

Amanda stared thunderstruck. At last she found her voice. “Is it such a good idea to let a member of the Supreme Coven know where we're going?”

“Technically, Jeraud's a member of the Supreme Coven,” Eve pointed out.

“Not anymore. I have my own coven,” he snapped.

“And where would it be?” Alex asked. His voice was light, mocking.

Amanda watched the muscles in Jer's jaw begin to jump. When he spoke, his voice was a dangerous hiss. “Someday, I will kill you.”

“Not if I kill you first.”

Amanda's father stepped in between them. “Down, gentlemen, let's not do this.” Power and authority surrounded him, encompassing him. “I promise you that if one of you starts this,
I
will finish it.”

Silence descended, neither man wanting to be the first to back down.
This is ridiculous,
Amanda thought. Into the silence, she asked, “What happened to Holly?”

* * *

Jer turned to her, the fight leaving his body. “We were fighting Golems. One of them was choking her. Something took her over, and she killed the Golem and was knocked unconscious.”

“Witches and warlocks, please take your seats and prepare for takeoff,” the pilot announced over the loudspeaker.

Amanda wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or cry.

Holly was asleep on her little stool in the corner of her mind. Everyone was asleep. It was peaceful, for a moment, but soon all would wake and everything would be chaos again. Chaos and fear. She didn't remember much anymore, much other than fear. Fear. How well she knew it, how she had tasted it time and again, lived with it, eaten it, slept it, dreamed it. Just like that night so long ago, in her own room in her own home… .

The Cathers Family: San Francisco, 2001

Holly sat, munching popcorn and watching television with her parents. It was Tuesday night, and Tuesday night was movie night. It had been tradition for as long as she could remember. Even the trip to the video store was tradition, complete with the perennially chick flick—shoot 'em up controversy.

Now, as they were watching
The Sixth Sense,
she was starting to think she should have given in to her dad's pleas for a John Wayne movie instead. When the little boy told Bruce Willis that he could see dead people, she thought she was going to cry.

“At least it's not as violent as I thought it was going to be,” her mother commented.

“This is worse than violence. This is just messing with your head,” her dad protested.

Holly tended to agree with her father.
I can't imagine anything more frightening than seeing a ghost.

When the movie was over, she ran down the hallway to the bathroom, throwing on light switches along the way. She shivered as she stared in the mirror.
I can't believe I let it get to me like that,
she thought.

She thought she saw a shadow move behind her, and she jumped. She brushed her teeth and got ready for bed while avoiding looking into the mirror again.

After she had laid out her clothes for the next day, she felt a lot calmer. When her mom came by to say good night, she was in bed and her eyelids were drooping.

“I love you, honey.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

“You okay?”

Holly smiled. “Yeah, are you?”

“Of course,” her mom said, laughing lightly.

Holly's smile widened. It was her mom's nervous laugh. The movie had gotten to her, too. “Sleep tight, Mom, don't let the bedbugs bite.”

“You either,” her mom said, shaking her head and laughing.

My parents are great. I can't imagine having grown up with different ones,
she thought as she slid into sleep.

“Wake up, Holly,” a female voice cajoled.

Holly squirmed and flipped onto her back. She could tell through her closed eyelids that the room was light. “Don't want to,” she said sleepily.

“Wake up,” the voice grew more insistent.

“No.”

“You must wake up, Holly.”

“Mom, let me sleep.”

“I am not your mother,” the voice snapped.

Holly's eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright.

It was still nighttime. The light in the room was coming from a woman. She stood in the center of Holly's room, in an old-fashioned dress. Her dark hair hung in waves down her back. Her eyes burned like coals, and she was glowing.

“I'm dreaming,” Holly said out loud. “This is just a dream.”

“It's no dream,” the woman assured her. “I am
Isabeau. I am your ancestress, and it is time for you to discover who you are.”

“I know who I am. I'm Holly Cathers.”

“No, you are Holly Cahors of the House Cahors, and you are a witch.”

Holly began to shake uncontrollably. “I must be dreaming.”

“And I tell you that you are not.”

“Are you dead?”

“Yes.”

She thought she would faint. The room began to swim before her eyes. “This isn't real, this isn't happening.”

“It is real,” the woman said, drifting closer. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to Holly. “You are of my House, my blood. You are a witch and you need to discover what that means now rather than later. The Deveraux are your enemy, you must remember this. They will kill everyone you love if you let them.”

She reached her hand toward Holly, and Holly tried to scramble out of her reach. Her body seemed frozen, though, and she wanted to scream as dead, cold fingers touched her cheek. “
Ma petite,
so much to learn and so little time. I will help you.”

Isabeau pressed her hand to Holly's forehead. “I will be with you, sharing my strength, my power with
you. Now,” her voice deepened into a commanding tone, “light the candle on the dresser with your mind.”

Holly felt compelled to obey, as though she had no will of her own. She turned and stared at the candle in question and suddenly, with a whoosh, it was on fire.

Holly began to scream. Within moments she heard footsteps pounding down the hall, and her parents burst into the room. Her mother screamed, and Isabeau turned to look at Holly's parents. For a moment they all stayed, frozen as though in a tableau, and then Isabeau was gone and the only light in the room was from the candle.

“Holly! What happened?” her mother cried as she rushed forward. Holly threw herself into her mother's arms, and they both collapsed onto the bed, crying.

“Mom,” she gasped between sobs, “I'm a witch and I see dead people!”

“It was the movie, that's all, it gave you nightmares, it was nothing,” her mom said, her hysterical tone belying her words.

“But, Mom, you saw her, she was here.”

Her mom was silent, and Holly pulled away to look at her. There was fear in her eyes. “What am I going to do, Mommy?”

Just then her father stepped in close. He placed his hand on her forehead, much as the woman had done.
When he spoke, his voice was deep, deeper than she had ever heard it. “Sleep and forget.”

She slipped into blessed oblivion.

When she woke in the morning, Holly had the nagging feeling that something was wrong. She had slept well, but she was tired, and something just felt off.

Downstairs in the kitchen she found her parents at the breakfast table. Both were silent when she walked in, and both looked as though they had been crying.

“What's wrong?” Holly asked, feeling herself begin to panic.

“Nothing, honey,” her father said with a forced smile that made it nowhere near his eyes. “How'd you sleep?”

“Like a log.”

“No nightmares?” her mom asked.

Holly turned, puzzled and worried. “I don't think so, why?”

“Nothing. I just thought I heard you tossing a lot last night.”

“No, no nightmares, no dreams. I just slept really solid. Are you two okay?”

“Fine,” her father said quickly, too quickly. “We're fine, honey. We just didn't sleep well.”

“I told you not to let the bedbugs bite,” she tried to tease her mother.

The joke fell flat, but her mom gave her a sickly smile. Not sure what was going on but convinced they weren't going to talk about it, Holly ate quickly.

Finished, she headed for the stairs to get her backpack. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard her mother say, “She doesn't remember anything about last night, what she saw, what she did.”

“I told you she wouldn't,” her father said.

She froze, listening.
What happened last night?
she wondered, her pulse beginning to race. They had stopped talking, though, and she slowly finished climbing the stairs. In her room she picked her watch up off her dresser.

She turned to go but froze in midmotion. On her dresser was a candle made in the shape of a horse that her best friend, Tina, had given her for her birthday. It was beautiful, and Holly had never used it, happy to have it more as a figurine.

The top of the horse's head had melted, the wax dripping down and covering its eyes.
Someone burned the candle,
she thought, stunned,
and the horse is blind— just like me.

Tri-Coven: Over the Atlantic

On her stool in the corner, Holly dreamed, and she remembered. Isabeau had come to her long before,
and her father had hidden it from her. Her mother had been frightened, so had he. That was why they had fought. That was what had happened.

Still sitting perfectly upright on her stool, Holly slowly opened one eye and looked around. The demons were all sleeping, crashed out on the floor, lying in heaps, some atop one another. Past them, now that they were lying down, she could see more, she could see outside, and she saw Amanda.

The hairs along the back of Amanda's neck lifted on end, and she had the sudden and unnerving sensation of being watched. She turned her head sharply and saw Holly, her eyes open, staring at her. “Tommy,” she whispered, “look!”

Tommy did, and came to the same conclusion she had: “It's Holly.”

Amanda quickly unbuckled her seat belt and moved over in front of Holly. “Holly, it's Amanda. Do you recognize me?”

Holly blinked her eyes once, strongly and clearly.

In a moment, Pablo was beside Amanda. “I can feel her,” he said.

“Holly, can you help us get rid of the demons?” Amanda asked.

Holly just stared straight ahead, and Amanda wasn't sure she had understood her.

“She can't,” Pablo said. “She's afraid.”

“Holly, honey, don't be afraid. We're going to help you, we're going to get them out of there. Do you understand?”

She blinked. Then, slowly, her eyelids closed.

“No, Holly, come back, come back to us,” Amanda begged.

Pablo laid a hand on her arm. “She's retreated. I can't feel her anymore.”

“But at least we know that she's in there,” Tommy said.

“We need to find a way to bring her back,” Jer said.

“We tried exorcism. It didn't work,” Sasha told him. “That's how Tante Cecile was killed.”

“I believe I can do it,” Armand said.

Amanda turned to him. “Armand, I'm not sure we can risk losing another person.”

Philippe interjected. “Let him help. Armand studied to be a priest before he began to explore the ways of the Goddess. He knows things and has seen things that none of us have. I believe he can do it.”

“I say we take the risk,” Jer chimed in.

Amanda turned on him. “You weren't there last
time. You don't know what it's like. We have to find a way to help her, but I'm not sure an exorcism is it!”

“Amanda, if he's willing to try, I say we let him.”

She looked from face to face. They all looked so earnest, so hopeful. At last she turned to Alex. He hadn't said a word. “What do you think?”

He raised an eyebrow. “If multiple demons are in there, they might not all be from the same faith paradigm. Someone who has experience with multiple religions might succeed where others have failed. I say you let the priest try.”

It made sense. She wasn't sure if that's because it was what she wanted to hear or because it really did. She looked at Holly.
We need her back. We're returning to the mouth of hell, and we need her with us.
She turned to Armand. “What will you need?”

Time now to make our move
Deveraux have much to prove
We show them now all our power
We rule them all in this hour

God and Goddess hear our cry
We lift our hands unto the sky
We cast out those who cause us fear
Enemies both far and near

Tri-Coven: London

Amanda's nerves were frayed. Getting from the airport to the safe house had been harrowing. They were treading on Supreme Coven ground. Moreover, at least one member, the woman Eve, knew that they were here.
What's to keep her from alerting the others to our presence? I know Jer trusts her, but that doesn't mean I do.