Strega (Strega Series) (31 page)

While on earth sating his curiosities, Aule fell in love with a mortal, Thania. But the gods soon learned of his absence, and his betrayal, and they forced him to return to the heavens. They vowed that he would never leave again without severe consequence. But destiny was already in motion. In time, Thania gave birth to Aule's son. Zertur. Though Aule had angered the gods, this child, blood of their blood, was celebrated with much splendor. Half human, half lightning god, Zertur became a powerful force of light on earth.

Lifetimes had passed since Zertur and I first fell in love. But I remembered it like no time had passed at all. On a night so long ago, on the banks of the river Fiora beneath the brilliant moonlight, Zertur first confessed his love to me.

"My beautiful Velia," he whispered. "What is this power you have over me?"

I looked into his tender eyes with complete adoration. As I traced the curve of his brow, his hands settled upon my hips and he gently pulled me in. Our bodies touched and I felt the rush. My lips parted in anticipation, and he pressed his against mine. His fingers slipped into my hair as he brought me closer. As our kisses deepened, we fell into a headlong spiral that drew us into eternity.

We found each other for the first time in that life, and our bond as soul mates was forged. Fate had brought us together, but our unfolding destines became intertwined.

Invidia suffered at the sight of our love. Our happiness was her torment. She was hunting me when she learned of my love for Vince. And when she saw our joy, her fury consumed her. Suddenly, my death was not enough. So, she cursed us. Punishing us for our love, and simultaneously ensuring the death of her only rival.

As lovers, this curse preyed upon our love, and by it, steered us to our deaths. And because we shared the eternal bond of soul mates, it was a curse that took hold each and every lifetime. The moment we reaffirmed our love, it fell into motion.

Zertur's death at Invidia's hand sparked in the lightning gods unspeakable wrath. In a storm of fire, they descended to earth and swallowed swarms of demons. Finally, the lightning gods had allied with Diana in a war that had only just begun. She had me. They had their demi-god. And our entwined destinies would bring us back together to fight.

Lightning tore through the sky and thunder crashed outside, pulling me back from my vision. I was alone. Ruth, Celia, and Luci were nowhere to be found. And Vince was gone. I ran into the rain, shouting his name into the thundering storm. I knew where he'd gone. He was after Shaun. I had to stop him. I could not lose him again.

In the depths of the forest, I heard his deep voice struggle to call my name. He was on the earthly plane, separated from me by the astral veil. But he could sense me near, calling for him, and he tried desperately to reply. I followed his voice to a riverbank, where I found him lying beside the rushing water. His abdomen was drenched with blood. His neck was torn open. He could barely move. I fell to my knees beside him, and as I touched him, he looked up at me with eyes that I didn't believe I could ever forget. I loved him. In another life, and now. And in his eyes, I saw that same love. One that had burned in us both for an eternity.

His face filled with dread as I pulled him into my arms. The moment I touched him, I broke through the protection of the astral veil and returned to the earthly plane, where he was. He was weak, and he knew he couldn't protect me. But I didn't care.

"Oh Vince!" I cried as tears flooded my face. He reached for me, and as his fingertips grazed my cheek, I felt the lifetimes of pain we had endured and the curse that always tore us apart. The moment I met Vince, he enchanted me. Nobody had ever made me feel such intense desire. Even after he disappeared from my life, he had a hold on me that I couldn't escape.

Vince had to leave me. He had to disappear. In each life, we learned to resist each other, to remain in each other's periphery. Close enough to protect each other. Far enough apart to evade the curse. The night we met, after we said goodbye, lifetimes of memories came crashing down upon him. He saw everything. He knew who I was. And he knew that the moment I remembered who he was, the moment we fell in love again, the curse would be set into motion. Until Invidia was dead, until her dreaded curse was broken, we couldn't be together.

In this life, I'd been in the dark too long. Vince waited, protecting me until I discovered the truth, discovered all my powers. He waited until I was ready to face Invidia again, and finally defeat her. But it was too late. The past had already caught up to us. We were out of time.

"Help me! Ruth!" I screeched. "Celia! Luci!"

I tried to lift Vince and carry him to safety. But nowhere was safe on the earthly plane.

"Jay," Vince whispered. "I have loved you for a thousand lifetimes. And I will love you for a thousand more."

"Don't you die on me!" I cried desperately, wishing that my will alone could turn back the hands of time and save him. "How could I not see until now?"

I held him in my arms, feeling him slipping away from me. As I watched the blood pour from his wounds, I felt as if it was my own. I was weak, and as life drained out of him, it drained out of me. I never stopped screaming for Ruth, Celia, and Luci.

"You can still break it, Jay," he whispered. "Kill Invidia."

He forced a broken smile as tears swelled in his eyes.

"If we cannot be together in this lifetime, we will be together in the next."

"Vince, please. No..." I begged as oceans of tears poured down my face. "I cannot lose you again."

The light faded from his eyes, and I tried with all my might to hold onto his last breath for him, as if I could. But he slipped away from me. I fell against his chest and held him so tight as my entire body violently trembled, unable to let him go.

Suddenly the ground quaked beneath us and a troublesome sound tore through the forest. In the distance, the earth cracked open and released a plume of black smoke, and the most revolting stench. The dark mass crept out of the chasm and suddenly spun toward us like a cyclone. Invidia had come, just as I anticipated.

She violently tossed me across the forest, separating me from Vince. I got to my feet and ran back to him with my newfound speed. I could barely see him through the
vile black smoke that smothered his body. I clutched my blade, waiting for Invidia to take shape so that I could drive it through her heartless, living corpse. For the first time, I was not afraid of her. Losing Vince had set my hatred for her ablaze. As it raged, I was fearless.

Invidia's body finally materialized, and her hideous, skeletal fingers clutched Vince. In an instant, I was upon her. And for the first time, I saw her petrifying face. As skeletal as the rest, its flesh was putrefied and oozed with bile. She'd kept it hidden beneath her cloak always, because she despised her own hideousness. An eternal backlash for her bitter, undying envy. But as if to frighten me, she revealed it. She stared at me through rotting, lifeless eyes as I thrust my blade at her, and a sinister smile spread across her rotting face. Before my blade touched her, she evaporated into blackness, pulling Vince into the earth with her as the chasm closed behind them.

I fell to the ground where the grass was still warm and stained with Vince's blood. I lay there against the soiled earth, holding onto the last trace of him, and I cried. The ground reverberated with my pain. After everything I'd been through, all I'd learned, it was too late. I lost him again. Too devastated to breathe, I suffocated in my sorrow. Until I heard a voice call my name.

I spun around with hopeful imagination, as if Vince would be standing there behind me. But I knew it wasn't him. The cimaruta quivered against my chest. Evil was in my midst. The face that stared back at me was one I loathed, and seeing it only brought despair. Shaun stood over me with a superior smile. His strength was renewed and his injuries were healed once again. As I stood in the shadow of his confidence, I seethed.

"I'm so sorry, Jay. I didn't want you to have to see this. I had to kill him, to protect you."

"Protect me from what, Shaun?" I asked, my quiet voice a mere whisper of smoke.

"Vince put you in great danger. I know it's hard to understand all this, believe me. But I promise I'll explain everything. Please Jay, just come with me."

"Okay Shaun," I said softly in defeat, acting the ignorant part he cast me in. As I took his hand and pulled myself up, he smiled as if believing we'd reached the end, and he won.

"I love you, Jay," he said with false sincerity, ready to claim victory. He leaned in to kiss me, as if I would've consented. As if I didn't know he was about to slay me. I waited. When his lips met mine, his teeth grew fierce and his fingertips sharpened into flesh-tearing claws. I thrust my blade into his abdomen and watched the flames fill his wide eyes.

I saw Gram's body, bloodied and torn, and I pushed my blade in deeper. I imagined my life if Mom and Dad had lived. I longed to hear Vince's voice one last time, see his face, to love him and be loved as we deserved. I imagined a life without demons. A world without the darkness that had taken so much from me. Without thinking, without deciding, driven by pure, intoxicating fury, I pulled my blade upward through Shaun's torso with unanticipated strength. The confidence had faded from his face, and he stared at me in complete astonishment.

"You know nothing of love," I said. My blood simmered as divine fire blazed inside me. With my blade, I cast this fire into Shaun, and his poisonous, demonic blood ignited.

I pulled my blade through his monstrous face and out the top of his head, and watched his beastly corpse fall apart in two fuming halves before disintegrating into ash. In that moment, I saw the light of a thousand souls that would live because of his death.

As I stared at the smoldering pile at my feet, a hand settled on my back, and two more on each shoulder. Ruth, Celia, and Luci were standing right beside me, each with their blades drawn.

"Don't forget. Papers due Monday," Mr. Baker said over the shuffle of chairs and the wild Friday afternoon stampede toward the door. The shrill sound of the final bell was still ringing in my ears. "Have a great weekend, everyone."

"You, too, Mr. Baker," our chorus of voices volleyed back to him.

I stepped through the front doors and into the fresh afternoon. The sun was shining, but the air was crisp. I buttoned my jacket as I made my way across the grassy hill to wait for Rena. She had my car while hers was at Mulligan's getting new brakes.

The bright orange leaves had already begun to fall. They twirled down from the trees and scattered across the grass. Halloween was just five weeks away. Thirty-four days, to be exact.

Growing up in Massachusetts, and a stone's throw from Salem, Halloween lore was in my DNA. The Salem witch trials. The House of the Seven Gables. During the entire month of October, Salem's festivities drew visitors from all over the country. The town was at capacity all month long, and practically inaccessible to all but foot traffic on Halloween itself. Frightening decor, costumes, and whispers of witches and evil spirits spilled forth from the small, enchanting seaport until November settled in.

Being half-Celtic, I would've learned just as much about the holiday from Gram no matter where I lived. In the old tradition, Halloween's proper name is
Samhain
. It marks the beginning of a new year, and celebrates the transition from the light half to the dark half. It's a time to stock up on supplies for the winter and burn refuse from harvesting. Entering into the darkness is a journey that requires much preparation.

According to the ancient Celts, Samhain is a time when the veil between worlds becomes thin. Our connection with our ancestors and our gods is strongest during this time, but we are also in closer proximity to darkness. To the ancient pagans, it was vital to protect oneself from the dark spirits that crossed the threshold into our world. To do this, they disguised themselves, masked their true identities, to hide among them.

I pulled out an old copy of Ovid's
Metamorphoses
from my bag. It was Ruth's. I'd seen it on the shelf at her house a million times, but it was only after some very old memories had recently surfaced that I was inspired to grab it. I cracked it open to a familiar page and read it again.

Her cheeks are sallow, her whole body shrunk,

Her eyes askew and squinting; black decay

Befouls her teeth, her bosom's green with bile,

And venom coats her tongue. She never smiles

Save when she relishes the sight of woe;

Sleep never soothes her, night by night awake

With worry, as she sees against her will

Successes won and sickens at the sight.

She wounds, is wounded, she herself her own

Torture...

She took her staff,

Entwined with thorns, and, wrapped in a black cloud,

Went forth and in her progress trampled down

The flowery meads, withered the grass, and slashed

The tree-tops, and with filthy breath defiled

Peoples and towns and homes...

Ovid had written of Invidia with almost as much loathing as she deserved.