Dark Cotillion (First in the Brenna Strachan Series)

  Chapter Eleven

  Lucifer began to speak, “Is she hurt? What happened? What do…”

  “Lucifer,” my mother touched his arm gently, “shush.”

  He stopped.

  “We all know that Pendragon’s body rejects all other energy forces. His own power negates it, and makes it like it doesn’t exist. Right?” Vishnu asked.

  We all sort of agreed.

  “Brenna is the opposite. She accepts all energy sent her way. She channeled both the energy of the Lycan through his kiss and the energy of the Vampire through the bloodletting, and her body did the only thing it knew how to do, it healed. We’ve suspected for a while that she is like Lucifer, capable of healing at a distance, but it will only become a solid fact after the Maturing. However, that’s exactly what she did. She used their energy to heal every being the magic could find, and enough of it was there that it managed to heal Gabriel’s brain, temporarily. There was enough of it that it healed the Human on the floor, he will have a long life and the rest of the beings. However, Anubis’s curse repelled the healing spell to some degree. It caused Anubis’s own Vampire powers to turn against Brenna, the curse sent them out to her and instead of causing a problem, Brenna’s body accepted them. She absorbed the energy he sent out and is using it at the moment. For all intents and purposes, she currently has Vampiric powers. I imagine it will fade. Furthermore, my touching her to do the mind reading infused her with enough power that when I entered Anubis’s mind, she went with me.” Vishnu closed his eyes.

  “Ah, yes, I can see it even when it happens.” He opened them again. “She will be dangerous to touch after the Maturing. She will use whatever power she touches, absorb some of it, and gain some of their skills for a while. Mostly though, it will be channeled into her Demon and Witch powers, the ones already present. The using of their own powers, like the seeing of souls, will be a side effect.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked him. “I can’t touch anyone for the rest of my life?”

  “No, it means that when you do, you will absorb some power from them. It doesn’t hurt them. It will make you stronger. It will make you capable of healing better, faster, more extreme injuries including perhaps the soul. But like any great power, there will be side effects, you will for a time take on the powers of those you touch. With Vampires, you will see souls. With the Lycan, I imagine you can do some very interesting shifting. Since you aren’t a Lycan, I imagine the shift will not call forward some animal, but allow you to change some aspect of yourself. It also means that from this point forward, another Djinn is never allowed to enter your mind. I will issue the decree after the Maturing, but now that I have seen the extent of your current powers, a Djinn entering your mind will have side effects like you just experienced. You will be able to read the minds and memories of those around you. That power cannot be abused, much like the Bloodletting. To abuse it would cause your mind to go insane and I can help control it, if it is my own power. I would not have that ability with a Lesser Djinn.”

  “Great, mythical power. Maybe Chiron was right,” I slumped onto the couch.

  “No, Brenna,” Vishnu looked at me. “You are feeling the side effects of Anubis’s mind. His pain, his misery, his anger, his despair, not your own. Your mind, while often confusing, is surprisingly happy and optimistic. I feel the same mournful effects after visiting his mind.”

  “I doubt it,” I gave a sad, heavy sigh.

  “You are like your father in that way. His mind has always been happy and optimistic. So is your mother’s.” Vishnu touched my hand. “Not all Elders are blessed with happy auras though, and Anubis’s, Ba’al’s and Gabriel’s, are particularly tormented. Fenrir has gotten better with time, but again, not exactly the happiest place to visit. What you are feeling will pass in a few minutes. You will become your light-hearted self again. Do not believe the emotions you feel after touching the mind or soul of another.”

  “It doesn’t feel like their emotions.” I told him.

  “How so?”

  “Sure they are sad and gloomy,” I admitted, “but this; this is just dark and depressing. Am I really going to bring about the end of the world?”

  “No, Mein Schatz,” Anubis told me.

  “I find it unlikely, Brenna. I think you will do great things in this world. I have seen your mind and it isn’t malignant. Not a single cell in your body is malicious. You are not evil and have no evil intentions. Once the Maturing is over, you will see that while you did get the ‘mythical’ power, you are not going to destroy the world. Then again, you’ve always had mythical power.”

  “So, what now?”

  “We go back to where we were, surviving the Maturing,” Anubis told me, “and calling Lucifer and Elise a little less. We all agreed that he should not be part of this, I don’t believe that has changed, except the need to keep him further away may have increased.”

  “Maybe you should take the boys and go on vacation,” I told my parents.

  “School,” Father said.

  “School doesn’t start for another two weeks and let’s face it; Nick is a senior with straight A’s and a professor for a mother. If you guys went away for the month, the school would say and do nothing.” I countered.

  “Daniel has school.”

  “The same applies, while he is not a senior in high school, he will learn just as much on vacation with you and mom as he will in a classroom.”

  “The Bahamas,” Nick grinned.

  “We should go,” Daniel responded in a moment of perfect lucidity. “A tour of Europe.”

  “Really?” My father frowned.

  “Yes,” both Daniel and I said together. Nick frowned.

  “Fine, Europe,” he said grudgingly.

  “They have phones in Europe, Luc,” Anubis said reassuringly. “You can check in on her every other day or so.”

  “Europe.” Father sighed.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” my mother gave him a look. “We will be out of the Guardians hair, away from danger, and we will have a family holiday. We should take all the kids and grandkids.”

  There was a sentence left unsaid that I could feel forming in my mother’s mind. “What better way for us to spend more time with Daniel than a vacation in Europe as a family?” I watched it form and die on her lips.

  “Fine, Elise, we will go to Europe for a month.”

  “We should go home and pack,” my mother smiled again. “I’ll call the kids on the way home.”

  “I hope you know what you are doing, Ani. I really do.”

  “Luc, do you think that the four of us will not do everything possible to protect her? If she dies, we die. My life hasn’t always been happy, but I’m not looking to end it any time soon. It’s a benefit, a perk, of being immortal. I want to see eternity.”

  “Lucifer,” Gabriel walked over to him, “while it might seem risky to send you to Europe while this happens, it would be worse if she began channeling your energy and something devastating happened as a result. She could burn down entire city blocks. Or Daniel’s…”

  Gabriel finished the sentence with a shrug. He looked around at all of them.

  “If she were to channel Daniel’s powers and use all of us to boost it, she could level the entire city by accident. It isn’t just you but all of you. Daniel, Elise, all of you could be dangerous until she gains control. The four of us are dangerous enough without an angry, scared, over-protective Demon, Witch, and Prophet hanging around.”

  “Yes, yes,” Lucifer said dismissively, “I see your point. I just don’t have to like it.”

  “Papa,” I stood up, walked over, and kissed each of them, ending with my father. “It will be fine. You and I both know that whatever comes at me, I have your stubbornness and mother’s gifts, I can protect myself and I have four powerful Overlords here at my beck and call. While you are traveling, Demonnation will respond to my call if I need
extra help.”

  “Brenna,” Lucifer kissed my forehead, “do not let anything happen to you.”

  “Yes, Papa.” I cried as they left, but very carefully to ensure that they didn’t see. If they saw, they wouldn’t get on the plane and fly away. I needed them away. When I felt my mother leave the building, I turned to look at everyone.

  Vishnu was still sitting on the couch, he nodded, almost bowed to me, “That was very brave of you.”

  “Vishnu,” I looked at him.

  “I do not know the fate of Daniel, Brenna, I wish I did. While you may be the favorite of most of the men in the room, he is mine.”

  “I know he is your favorite. I want to ask you a favor, Vishnu.” I wiped a tear away. “If I don’t survive this, if Chiron or some other minion manages to kill me, you will look after Daniel. Promise me that you will protect him as if he were your own son.”

  “You have my word, Demon,” Vishnu stood up.

  “Thank you, Vishnu, thank you.” I fled to my room. I didn’t know whether crying was a side effect of my current life or the Maturing, but I was starting to hate it. I was willing to bet I had cried more in the last two days than I had in the last twenty years.

  “Bren,” Anubis’s voice came to me softly. I heard the door shut.

  “Go away, just let me sulk and be sullen and sad without telling me it’s going to be fine.”

  “I wasn’t going to tell you that.” Anubis sat down on the bed. He stroked my hair. “I would take away your pain if I could, I cannot. All I can do is hold you as you cry.”

  “I don’t want this, Ani. I don’t want any of this.” I folded myself up in his lap. “I don’t want this power. I don’t want my brother to be a Prophet. I don’t want him to die. I don’t want to die and take the rest of you with me. My life, my life has never been simple and I suddenly realize that it’s my fault that my life isn’t simple, and I seem to be complicating everyone else’s life.”

  “Want it or not, here it is, Bren, you will make of it what you will make of it. As your friend, I am willing to hold you while you mourn the death of what you knew. As an Overlord who is dependent upon you, I want to you suck it up, accept it, and use it to help us. All of us.”

  I giggled a little. I couldn’t imagine Anubis telling me to suck it up, but he had. Somehow, it made me feel better.

  “How do I suck it up?” I asked, still buried in his lap.

  “You accept it. Like it or not, this is who you are, who you have always been. No more self-pity, no more bemoaning your fate. It is happening and it is your fate. What you do with that fate is your decision, but it is still your fate. You have a gift, several gifts that we could not even begin to imagine. In a million years, we may still be figuring out everything that you are capable of and that’s fine. I have a million years to help you understand. You are not alone, never alone.”

  “I think I know why it is the four of you.” I looked up at him. “Each of you represents something different. Gabriel is the voice of emotion. He lives by it. He has taught me to understand them and to express them. Ba’al is the voice of moderation. He is always telling me to do things in moderation and not to over do it. Fenrir is a hedonist to the extreme and tempers Ba’al’s insistence of moderation. Ba’al does the same for Fenrir. And you, Ani, you are always the voice of reason. You are always the logical one, the one with the answers, and when you don’t have an answer, you tell me we’ll figure it out together. Each of you works together. Each of you keeps me balanced and you balance out each other.”

  “Is that how you honestly see us?”

  “Yes, now that does not mean that you don’t occasionally overlap a bit. For all his moderation, Ba’al can go all out and for all his hedonism, Fenrir can be quite tame and understanding. Just as Gabriel has moments of complete, logical detachment and you can be driven by pure emotion. But essentially, yes, those are the influences you have always exerted on me. It has worked well. At the moment, I would say that I am giving in a bit much to Fenrir and Gabriel’s influences.”

  “Just remember we are all beings capable of each of those traits. Do not consider me so logical, just because I always seem to be so. Just as you should not always consider Fen a hedonist, he has moments of great restraint.”

  “I have never seen you irrational.”

  “Only because you do not read my mind.” He looked at me. “Or, I suppose you have. Did my anger seem rational?”

  “Yes, Fenrir was kissing me as a distraction, but also because he wanted to. He was abusing the instructions you gave him.”

  “And you think that is why I was angry?” Anubis shook his head. “No, Brenna, I was angry because he was kissing you and I was not. It is as simple as that.”

  “You too?” I frowned at him, but didn’t move.

  “All of us, I imagine.” Anubis looked at me. “Do not worry; I do not take your rejection personal.”

  “I have not rejected you,” I protested, “I just…”

  “You just don’t think of me in that way. That is rejection, Mein Schatz. And you may change your mind in time or you may not. If you don’t, I will understand.” He sighed. “I understand that it is very hard to imagine being with me as I in no way resemble a man. It is hard to imagine intimacy with a creature such as myself.”

  “Ani, that is not it.” I told him. “Actually, I have never thought about it at all. Now that you mention it, the logistics do seem a bit complicated.”

  “You have never noticed that the Jackal keeps lovers from my bed?”

  “No, I thought you had just as robust a sex life as any Elder, Gabriel excluded, although to be honest, until you told me otherwise, I thought Gabriel had a robust sex life.”

  Anubis laughed. It was melodic and soft. I enjoyed the sound and wanted to hear more of it.

  “Oblivious,” he smiled down at me. “No, Gabriel and I are probably the two least active Elders in the world. I imagine that will change for Gabriel.”

  “I imagine he will throw himself into the occupation very heavily and with much zeal now that he can feel again,” I giggled.

  “Yes, I imagine he will,” Anubis chuckled back.

  “I do not think I can lift your curse, Ani. I’m sorry.”

  “I do not think anyone can lift my curse and that is not your fault.”

  “I felt the magic that holds it. It is bound to you, bound to the Vampire in you. To break it would be to break the Vampire and I think it would kill you. It retaliated against my healing.”

  “I know,” Anubis looked up at the wall. “My existence is lonely, Brenna, but has gotten much better in the past thirty years. No, that’s not correct. My existence was lonely, but being bound to you, bound into this brotherhood with Beal, Fen, and Gabe, I am no longer alone.”

  “That makes you sad, not happy,” I told him, feeling the emotion come from him.

  “No, that makes me happy. What makes me sad is that I am forever cursed to wear this form. I was once an attractive Vampire with beautiful eyes and well-defined cheekbones. The Jackal has replaced that.”

  “No it hasn’t, you still have beautiful eyes that belie your Jackal head. And all jackals, including the one that adorns your shoulders have well defined cheekbones. You have always been awe-inspiring and beautiful to me, Ani. Even as a child, I wanted to touch you all the time. I hate to phrase it this way, but to pet you. As a child, I could have memorized your face with my fingers. I tried when I wasn’t worried that it would offend you.”

  “Pet me?” He grinned.

  “I can’t think of another way to put it, I’m sorry. Your fur was soft and fine. It always felt like silk. Your muzzle and teeth always frightened me, fascinated me, but Jackals do not have eyes like yours. Your eyes are always kind, always sorrowful, and always mystical. There is a magic to them, I could stare into them and see eternity and never have the urge to look away.”

  “
Do they still affect you that way?”

  “Yes, when I look into your eyes, I still see eternity. I look at them and know that I am safe, and I have never had the urge to look away. You see yourself as a Jackal headed Vampire. I see you as Anubis. I am not sure I would have you any other way.”

  “You prefer me as a Jackal?”

  “I prefer you as you, Ani. The jackal head is part of you.” I got up and went to my jewelry box. From one of the drawers I pulled out a small silver pendant. I went back to the bed and sat down.

  “Do you remember when I was sent to Egypt for a month? Part of my college experience, part of growing up my parents called it. While I was there, I was strolling around one day, feeling very alone and found this.” I handed him the pendant. “I instantly bought it and a silver chain. The entire time I was there, I wore it and I felt less alone. I felt safe.”

  Anubis looked into his hand at the small, hand carved pendant. It was a Jackal Headed God, the Anubis from Egyptian Mythology. The Protector of Souls as they passed into the afterlife.

  “When I returned home, I hid it away, hid it so you wouldn’t see it, wouldn’t be reminded or offended. When I am home healing up from some terrible injury that I have healed or had inflicted upon me, I still wear it. It makes me feel better, much like my mother and her Crucifix. While her belief in Catholicism has changed, her belief in God has not, and that Crucifix is always a reminder for her, it brings her comfort. Just as this pendant does for me.”

  Anubis undid the clasp on the chain and fastened it around his neck. He looked at me for a moment. He said nothing, the silence was deafening, engulfing. I felt the need to fill it.

  “I know, it’s silly,” I shook my head, “I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “No, I’m glad you did. I am not offended. I am…” He thought for a moment and then finished, “I am exalted, as if you have lifted me up, put me on a pedestal of some sort. I do not think I am worthy of it.”

  He took the chain back off and fastened it around my neck.

  “It’s not a pedestal,” I told him, “It’s a reminder, a comfort. It reminds me of you and that fills me with a feeling of comfort and safety.”

  “Do you always feel safe with me?” He asked.

  “Yes, I always have, despite the pointy teeth and different appearance. Even when I was afraid of you, I felt safe.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “With my life, Anubis. Obviously, I have trusted you with my life since before I can remember. I bound you to me.”

  He looked at the pendant for a long time. The need to fill our silence was gone. It was comfortable again.

  He bent down, kissed the pendant, before kissing my neck. A quick light kiss on the pulse of my throat. He sat back up.

  “I do not expect you to be any different than any other Elder, Brenna,” Anubis said as he backed away. “But I have always been curious about the taste of your skin.”

  Considering my heart was jackhammering in my chest and I was pretty sure I was going to hyperventilate, I had to disagree with him. Perhaps I could consider taking Anubis as a lover. The idea was still slightly odd and repulsive, but that had nothing to do with his appearance.

  “Anubis, it is not your appearance that keeps us apart,” I finally whispered. “Considering that kiss…”

  “What?” He looked at me, his eyes questioning. I took a deep breath. His fingers found my throat, checking my pulse. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine, I just need a minute, could you stop touching me, please.”

  “Of course,” he dropped his hand and moved to the chair. I realized that he thought he had offended me or grossed me out.

  “Anubis,” I went to him, curled up in his lap again. It was the only nice thing about being a small Demon. Since almost all Elders were bigger than I was, significantly bigger than I was, I could curl up on them. “Your touch wasn’t unwelcome. Quite the opposite. I just, I’m still hung up on the age difference and the fact that you have changed my diaper.”

  “Brenna, you do not need to make excuses.”

  “Anubis,” I looked at him, looked into his eyes. “Anubis, I am not making excuses. Do you realize that no other Elder has ever touched me and turned me on? Even Fenrir’s kiss didn’t do anything for me, but you, your lips against my throat.”