He got that dreamy look in his eyes that told her he would do whatever she asked. “I’m going against everything that I represent as a Guardian.” He put his hand over hers to intensify her manipulations. “This is going to cost you, big time.”
The corner of her mouth lifted with a naughty grin. “Deal. Now, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” She removed her hand and took the raven to the altar to perch next to Colton’s head. “Places, everyone!”
Sinclair’s misfit coven—Greta, Yvette, Chase, and Theo—took their places around the altar for the third, and hopefully final, time. She went to stand at Colton’s head, ignoring his pleas for help. Lifting her face toward the moon, she inhaled and exhaled a deep breath to center herself and then raised her arms toward the sky.
She reached down deep into her diaphragm, letting the words claw their way out of her. “We call to the shadows, the darkness, and gloom! Hear us now, we beg of you! From darkness we forge immortal life! I beg of the wicked to capture his light! From this undeserving vessel shall his soul depart, still his...”
“Stop!”
Sinclair turned toward the direction of the voice to find Kerrigan Cruz descending the steps of a crypt. Before she could react, two men jumped out of nowhere and grabbed Chase and Theo from behind, wrestling them to the ground. No sooner had they gone down than a scream erupted from Yvette that was quickly cut off when a tiny goth girl wrapped her arm around her neck and pressed it to her throat. Yvette dropped the black candle she was holding and arched her back with a look of surprised terror in her big, round eyes.
Abandoning her position to help her friend, Greta ran over and grabbed the attacker, only to be attacked herself by a tall strawberry-blonde who grabbed her hair and yanked her back. “Let go of my hair, you bitch!” Greta screamed and then jabbed her elbow into her assailant’s stomach.
“We really should stop meeting like this,” a ghostly voice said next to Sinclair’s ear.
She jumped and turned around, finding no one. “Where are you, you little bastard!” She recognized that voice. It was Dominic.
“He’s not the one you should be worried about.” She turned around again to find Kerrigan less than twenty feet away. Her eyes glowed so brightly they gave off their own light. While stalking toward her, she dropped her arms to her sides and then lifted them, a ball of white, hot Light sitting in the palm of each hand. She drew back one arm, prepared to launch it before Sinclair had time to duck for cover, but someone jumped in front of her.
“Not her!” Drew pushed her behind him.
“Move out of the way, Drew!”
“I won’t let you hurt her, Kerrigan. You have to trust me,” he said, still keeping his protective hold. “Drake’s the one you want.”
“No!” Sinclair shoved at his back to try to get away. She ducked under his arm, but before she could make it to the altar, another blonde man ran up and threw himself on top of Colton.
The raven took flight and swooped down to attack his head with its razor-sharp claws. The man flailed his arms, swatting at the bird in an attempt to fend it off. Seeing his opportunity, the man grabbed the raven around the neck. The sound of Drake’s enraged squawks sent chills down her spine. His wings beat angrily, jet-black feathers littering the air around him.
“Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod!” The man was obviously too scared to let go, but too scared to hold on at the same time.
“Gabe! Break his neck!” Dominic yelled.
For Sinclair, everything seemed to move in slow motion. The chaotic screams and yells of the various scuffles around her were muted by the deafening thumps of her heartbeat in her ears. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she gasped when she saw the man holding Drake put both hands around his neck. She pushed off from the ground to launch herself at him, but her legs felt weighted, and she was unable to gain momentum. Drew pinned her arms in place, holding her back. She screamed out Drake’s name, seeing nothing but the flaming orange glow of the raven’s eye staring back at her. And then the man twisted his hands.
The sound of the bird’s neck being snapped was like a shotgun going off next to her ear. Sinclair reached out to the only person who had ever given a damn about her, but it was too late. If the body he inhabited died, so would Drake.
She went limp in Drew’s arms. Blinking back tears, everything around her came back into focus and moved in real time.
“Shh, shh, shh. It’s okay. It’s okay,” Drew chanted over and over again in soothing tones as he nuzzled her ear.
She looked around, finding Greta and Yvette disheveled and subdued by their two attackers. Chase was pinned to the oak tree by the tall, lanky blonde, while Theo was struggling to break free of the hold the bigger guy had on him, but to no avail.
“Keep her away from me!” Theo’s voice was frantic with fear. “Don’t let her touch me, man!”
“Oh, God... Colton, are you okay?” The murderer on the altar was still holding the lifeless bird in his hands.
Colton sat up on the altar, completely unharmed. That’s when the raven’s body jerked and its beak opened to spew a thick, black cloud of smoke that rose into the air. The man holding the bird tossed it away and onto the altar. Colton jerked up off the platform and grabbed the blonde, pulling him back.
“What the fuck?” the tall man holding onto Chase said as they all watched the scene unfold.
“Get back!” Drew yelled. “Kerrigan, you have to stop him before he can possess another living being. It’s the only way.”
The black smoke rose above the altar, twisting and turning like a chaotic storm. It was darker than the backdrop of night, with pure evil permeating the air around it. A gurgling howl, that turned into a demonic scream as it grew larger, came from somewhere within the recesses of the coal-black soot, and everyone stood stock still, unable to tear their eyes away from it.
Shocked by what she was seeing, Kerrigan was paralyzed in fear. She had no idea what she was witnessing, let alone how to deal with it.
The wind surged, blowing her hair away from her face and her body began to warm to feverish degrees. Something inside her began to percolate, like a thousand voices whose words rebounded off the walls of her veins. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, listening and trying to decipher their message. As they spoke, she trembled, the power within her growing. Remembering Lucy’s words, she used her mind to push the overflow toward the bracelet, allowing her to concentrate on the task at hand.
The words became clearer—a chant that would destroy Drake D’Mon once and for all.
She heard a scream and lifted her head to see Tyson knocked to the ground and the one named Theo suspended in the air with his back arched. His mouth was open, and the black smoke took aim, spiraling into its recesses. Theo’s body jerked as if he was having a seizure, and his brown skin paled to an olive tone. When the last trace of the black smoke disappeared into his mouth, his body stilled and floated back down to the ground with fluid grace. He lifted his head and opened his eyes opened. The milky white that had been there mere seconds before had been replaced with a bottomless pit of soulless black. In the center, angry orange orbs appeared and stared at her as if looking into her soul.
Tyson, Talon, Olivia, and Sydney released their captives as they all took several steps backward. They huddled, their mouths agape with terror, yet unable to look away.
“Drake?” Sinclair scrambled to her feet, but Drew held her to his chest, not letting her go. “Drake!” she called, realizing it was his spirit that had inhabited Theo’s body.
“Do something, Kerrigan!” Drew tried his best to hold a determined Sinclair back. She didn’t look at him. She knew that if she broke eye contact with Drake, if she so much as flinched, she would lose the advantage and it would be game over.
“Querida,” Dominic’s voice was right next to her. “Goddammit. Just... be careful.”
“It ends now,” Kerrigan told Drake. “You might be able to possess a soulless bird, but you can’t hijack a human soul
and inhabit a body that isn’t in your direct bloodline for long.” She didn’t know how she knew that, but she did.
“I can inhabit it long enough to destroy you.” His voice sounded demonic.
“Let me go!” Sinclair yelled, but neither Drake nor Kerrigan paid her any attention.
Kerrigan’s fingers twitched, and Drake smirked. With no emotion on her face, she lifted her hand to show the ball of energy that rested in her palm. Drake’s evil laughter echoed through the cemetery, and every bird nesting in the trees took flight. He spread his arms out wide, giving her a clear shot at his chest.
“Do your worst, Guardian whore!”
A surge of energy grew in the center of her chest and then shot through her arms and hands like a blast from a mortar cannon. She should have been knocked down, but she remained standing, concentrating on doing just enough damage to send him barreling through eternity without having a repeat of the first time she had tried to channel so much energy. He took the shot to the chest, his head flinging back as he cackled.
The Light was like molten lava surging through her veins, hot and all powerful. She could feel the authority of her words, the supremacy of what her gift represented. Still, he laughed. The whispering returned, urgent and commanding. She opened her mouth and the words rushed forth, unabated.
“You must leave the body you have inhabited. You have no right to it. You are an abomination who has been cast out of all things pure. You are not allowed to walk here.”
Theo’s head snapped forward, the sound of Drake’s malevolent voice spewing forth. “What gives you the authority to say such things, Guardian?”
“Not what... who. He gives us the right. We are His creation; Guardians sent to protect mankind, to preserve His plan for all living beings.” It was Kerrigan who spoke the words, but the message was that of a multitude of voices within her. Her body was weakening, and she drew from the surplus of energy captured by her bracelet so that she could see this through.
“Who do you speak for?” Drake’s face twisted with the pain he was beginning to feel.
“She speaks for me,” Drew said with the ease and confidence he had always asserted as he came to stand by her side. “I stand in representation of all the Guardians from my bloodline—past, present, and future.” He lifted his palm and his Light joined Kerrigan’s to reinforce the power. Theo’s knees buckled, and Drake roared his disapproval.
Kerrigan’s energy waned, the feverish spike feeling all too familiar. It was too much, and if she held on much longer, it would be at great risk to herself and her unborn child.
Please, she thought. I can’t do this alone.
A breeze swirled at her feet and moved up her body, encircling her. Her desperation, once surging like an angry sea, calmed to a gentle lift and fall.
“You are never alone, Sunshine,” her Grammy whispered as her faint apparition appeared on Kerrigan’s other side. “She speaks for me,” Availia said assertively. “And every Guardian that ever was or ever shall be.” She lifted her palm, adding her glorious Light.
With renewed strength, Kerrigan spoke. “We bind you, Drake D’Mon, in the name of the Light. This gift that runs through our veins demands that you be banished to the pits of Hell where you belong.”
Theo bowed in and then arched back, clawing his chest and tossing his head from side to side. Then his neck snapped back and his mouth opened wide with a screeching roar that shook the ground under their feet. The black smoke shot into the air, vacating Theo’s body and dropping him to the ground in a heap. The smoke climbed higher and higher until it exploded and disappeared.
“Woohoo!” Tyson shouted, finally getting to his feet with the help of his brother.
Kerrigan’s arms fell to her sides like wet noodles, but no amount of lethargy was going to stop the smile of accomplishment and relief. “We won.” A laugh bubbled up from inside her and broke free. “We finally won!” She turned around, half expecting to find Dominic whole again, but he was nowhere to be found. Her smile quickly fell. “Dominic?”
“I’m here, Querida,” he said from right in front of her.
In some small way, she had hoped banishing Drake might have been the cure for his curse, even though that really didn’t make much sense. She heard laughter and celebration to her left and turned to find Gabe, Colton, Talon, Sydney, Olivia, and Tyson—all unharmed, and each bragging about the part they had played in the takedown of the ultimate evil. Their roles were significant, and it couldn’t have happened without them.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to celebrate,” Availia said. Kerrigan turned to see Sinclair’s coven at a full run through the graveyard. “Why do they always seem to be running away?” Availia asked with amusement in her voice.
Talon rolled his eyes. “We’ll grab ’em.” He, Tyson, Sydney, and Olivia took off in hot pursuit after the fleeing group. Greta and Chase had Theo’s arms hooked over their shoulders to help him, so they wouldn’t get far.
“I’m going to bind them from doing magic once and for all when they get back here,” Availia said. “They’re wearing this old woman out.”
Kerrigan turned and beamed at her grandmother, her heart filled to near bursting with happiness. “Grammy, you came. I don’t know how it’s possible, but you did. Just like Lucy said.”
Availia gave Kerrigan the warm smile she had missed so much. “Yes, Sunshine. I came.” She touched Kerrigan’s belly with a frail hand. “This one will need to be well protected, even more than you. I’ve heard it said that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, in this case, it will take a village of Guardians.” She winked at her.
“Oh, this is disgusting!” Sinclair said. “You’re so naïve you don’t even realize what a hateful bitch that old hag is!”
Kerrigan turned on her. She had forgotten Sinclair was still there. Angry, she lunged at her, but Drew stood between them. Why was he still protecting her?
Kerrigan pointed at her. “Watch your mouth, Sinclair! I’m warning you!”
“You think your precious grandmother is such a saint, but she’s not. She’s a murderer! Tell her! Tell her all about how you killed my unborn child, Availia Cruz. Tell her!” Sinclair fumed, her chest heaving in anger and her eyes welling up with fresh tears as the vision of the sealed room came to mind—a room that sat stagnant, empty of the young life that should have thrived there. Drew wrapped his arms around her, trying to offer some comfort.
Kerrigan gasped in horror. “How dare you say such a horrible thing! My grandmother is the kindest, most generous woman I know, and she would never take another human life!”
Availia put her hand on Kerrigan’s arm to calm her down. When she turned to look at her granddaughter, there was a sadness in her eyes. “What she says is true. I did abort the baby.” She turned to address Sinclair. “But we had our reasons, Sinclair. That baby wasn’t mortal.”
“Oh, and you are? What makes you so much more special than my baby? Why do you and your bitch granddaughter get to live, but not my baby? I hate you and my witch of a grandmother for what you did!”
“You respect your elders, Sinclair Davis.” Availia’s voice was even. “Lucy was beside herself with grief because of what we were forced to do.”
Sinclair’s expression drew up in disgust. “I have no respect for either of you!”
“Lucy? Lucy is her grandmother?”
“Yes. She came to me and asked for my help. She was desperate, but she knew I couldn’t intervene with my gift unless I was granted permission.” Availia turned back to Sinclair. “Dark magic created that child, which is exactly why your body was aborting it. It wasn’t natural. It was an abomination, and as such, the universe would not allow it. You still don’t understand that Drake was manipulating—”
“Shut up!” Sinclair pulled wildly at her hair. “Drake loved me! He was the only person who ever loved me! And you just killed him! You all just killed him.” She shoved Drew away from her.
“I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. When you became
pregnant, Lucy saw it. You kept talking about this man named Drake, but whenever she touched you, she couldn’t see the man you described. She could only see what he really was, and so she called me. The second I touched your womb, I knew what was growing inside you. We couldn’t have allowed you to give birth to that baby. It was a demon spawn, bred to do his will.”
Sinclair shook her head emphatically. “It doesn’t matter. She was still my baby.”
“It never would have been yours. You were only a vessel, a surrogate Drake was using to bring the child to life.”
“Lies! They’re all lies!”
Availia was getting nowhere, and she knew it. She shook her head and sighed. “If you won’t believe me...”
“Maybe you’ll believe me,” an angelic voice said from behind them.
There was a collective gasp as everyone turned toward the sound, finding a lady with porcelain skin and hair the color of a western sunset. She positively glowed—not just her eyes, but every inch of her body, including the white robe that flowed like liquid silk from her shoulders to her feet. Her eyes were a pale shade of green that couldn’t be described. She was inhumanly beautiful, and even though she looked dramatically different from the one and only picture she had ever seen of her, Kerrigan knew exactly who she was.
“Sarah...” Dominic whispered.
Colton pushed through the throng of people until he was standing before their visitor. “Mom?”
Dominic couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He knew it wasn’t his mother’s ghost. There was something more compassionate, graceful... pure about her.
Sarah opened her arms, her long, flowing gown shimmering in the intense moonlight as she smiled. The warmth that emanated from that one expression engulfed the cold Dominic had felt while in his spectral state. Despite all the hard feelings he’d had for her over the years, he wanted nothing more than to go to her. All animosity melted away within just that one smile.