Zac stared at her, unable to control himself. He wanted her so much it made him ache. He pushed Aya back against the wall and kissed her passionately, pressing his body into hers. His left hand pulled her hips against him and his right held her face to his, fingers wound in her hair. And she kissed him back just as deeply and he was lost. He was hers, body and soul. Suddenly, she pulled away pushing him back, a look of dismay on her face.
His heart sank. "Aya..."
"Don't," she whispered looking towards the floor. "There's so much you don't understand, Zac. So many things I can't tell you. So many reasons why this can't be."
He took a step towards her and she held him back with her arm. "Please," she whispered.
"Aya," he whispered huskily.
"Please don't make me do this." He could see the tears welling in her eyes. She was struggling with her feelings.
"Do what?"
And she was gone so fast, he felt it must have been a dream. He brushed his fingers across his lips and sighed. He knew now that he loved her and it made the love he had felt for Liz incomparable. What he felt for Aya consumed him and he would gladly die for her if it meant she would live.
Gabby was about to knock on the front door of the manor when it burst open, her fist poised midair. Aya stood in front of her, glaring as she dropped her hand awkwardly. She guessed she was too late.
"Aya," she gasped. "I was coming to see you before... I got here as fast as I could."
"If you're talking about the knowledge spell, I found out about that," Aya rolled her eyes, pushing her backwards off the porch and into the yard.
"I'm sorry," she stammered. "I didn't know it would work the way it did. I had no idea..."
"I hear you need to speak with me," Aya interrupted, still rattled by the argument with Zac.
"Yes, I have an idea. The spell revealed a loophole to Katrin's spell, the one holding her spirit," Gabby began. Whatever she had compelled from Zac, she'd better leave it alone.
Aya pressed her finger to her lips to silence her. Understanding that other ears were listening, Gabby nodded. The vampire grabbed her arm roughly, guiding her down the driveway and across the yard. They walked right down to the lake, standing right on the shoreline. It was an abnormally cold day, the wind rippling the surface into waves that lapped the rocks at the waters edge. A noise that seemed sufficient in covering their conversation to a point.
Once she was certain they were alone, Aya turned to Gabby smiling, "There is much that I would like to tell you Gabby, but I cannot. For now, you will have to trust me."
Gabby nodded uncertainly, "I'm sure it will all make sense one day, but for now as long as we can banish Katrin, then I'm satisfied."
"Good," Aya was pleased. "What did the spell reveal to you?"
"Katrin is channeling some serious power in keeping her spirit attached to life. A power that is very much like... Well, I'm not quite sure how to explain it. It feels like death," Gabby didn't quite understand. "Like a negative energy."
"Negative," Aya mused.
"Yes," Gabby nodded. "In science positive cancels out the negative, so I'm hoping that counts as the same for a witches energy."
"What do you suppose the positive would be?" Aya's brow furrowed as she thought over this.
"The positive is you, Aya. That's what the spell revealed to me. You're the key, but I don't know what that means exactly. I was hoping you might know."
Aya was silent for a while, contemplating what she had learnt and knowing all too well it may call upon abilities she had lost. Abilities that no longer existed in this world.
"Were you a witch, you know, before?" Gabby asked hesitantly, when she didn't answer.
Aya frowned at her question. "Not exactly. I had a lot of things in common with your kind, though." She said this with a finality that dissuaded her from asking more, but she continued. "When I was changed, many things were taken from me. Abilities that were second nature disappeared and were replaced with vampire traits," she said with a little sadness. "I can only do this with you, Gabby. You complete the parts of me that were stolen. Together we have the power to destroy Katrin once and for all."
Stolen. Gabby now knew that Aya had been turned against her will and it made her understand a lot of things about her. Why she was the way she was. She suspected her drive for punishing witches came from a need for revenge, to set things right.
"What was stolen," she murmured. "You had abilities like mine? Like a witch? My Grams called you one of the stars."
"You're a rare witch, Gabby," Aya didn't answer her question. "You've unlocked your potential, but have yet to see the limits of what you can do."
"How can you tell?" she asked, confused.
"I can feel it."
"Really?"
"I knew who you were the first moment I saw you," she said. "I could tell exactly which line you were descended from and how strong you were. And before you ask, it's not Katrin."
"Thank god. Who then?" Gabby wanted to know more than anything.
"Ismena," Aya said, looking out across the lake, fixing her gaze on a point far into the distance.
"Did you know her?"
"Not well," she turned back to her and smiled. "She was a dear friend of my mother. She was one of the five founding witches. All humans. Katrin betrayed the other four in her lust for power. Before the others had realized, she had already created the first vampires. By then it was too late. It was all they could do to save their own lives, let alone anyone else's. They disappeared after that. I never saw any of them again, but I suspect they would have tried to end me as well if they knew what became of me."
Gabby didn't know what to say, how could they prevail? "What makes you think we can succeed where four founding witches couldn't?" she asked.
Aya smiled sadly, "They didn't have me."
Gabby didn't know what she meant and wasn't sure she wanted an explanation. Aya had known the founding witches who were the beginning of her kind. The beginning of magic. How had they come into their power? Were they given it, or born to it? She was unsure if she was ready to know the origins of power, when she could hardly control her own.
Aya glanced at her, sensing her uneasiness. Gabby still felt remorse over the three witches in Memphis; the ease of which she had obliterated them. Things just kept getting even more complicated the deeper she got into this mess.
"I would have killed them, you know," Aya said, quietly. "They were in league with the oldest vampires, ever. And not to mention Katrin. They had given themselves over to evil."
"I know," Gabby whispered. "But it doesn't make it any easier."
"No," Aya shook her head. "It never does."
They were silent for a time, their thoughts running off in their own directions.
"I think I know what to do now," Aya said uncertainly, breaking the stillness. "I can do most of it, but we have to join minds so I can lend your powers. Don't worry. I used to do it with my brother when we were children. It's not hard, but you will feel a little tired when I draw on your power."
"Okay," Gabby nodded. Aya had a brother?
"I know," Aya shrugged. "It's not much to go on, but I don't see any other option. It's our first and only chance. I don't know what will happen if we fail."
Gabby hoped her trust in Aya would be enough to see them through. "Then we better win."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Aya and Gabby had worked out a plan as they sat by the lake. As simple as it sounded, it was actually quite complicated. Once they executed it, she would be totally and utterly revealed to Gabby. Everything she had hidden from the world for thousands of years. That was more terrifying to her than facing Katrin.
She stood with her back to the room, staring into the cold fireplace, hyper aware of the irritating buzz of Zac in the room behind, not able to bring herself to look at him. Everyone was at the manor, even Alex, despite him not being able to help. His show of support was strangely comforting and she was thankful.
"We need to go to the in-between place," Gabby was explaining their plan as simply as she could. The others were on a need to know basis, only. "It's the space that exists between life and death. There we will be able to sense what is keeping Katrin's spirit anchored to life. If it's what we suspect, then we can try and destroy it."
"And where does Aya come into it?" Sam asked.
She felt everyone's gaze fall heavily on her back. Turning she said, "You saw what I can do. That will be an advantage."
Aya considered asking Zac if she could drink some of his strange blood again. Curiously, it had strengthened her other abilities and she was sure that it was the only reason she had been able to summon enough power to destroy Caius. Then she remembered their argument, Zac declaring himself to her. Disregarding the thought, she knew that he'd ask more of her than she was willing to give if she dared ask the question. Besides, it was too personal a thing to share with another vampire and he would undoubtedly take it the wrong way. Knowing Gabby was there with her, she was reassured they had more than enough power to get the job done.
"No magic can penetrate the veil," Gabby was saying. "But matter can. Anyone can just walk into the between place while we have the doorway open. That's why we need you all to keep watch."
"You just want us to sit there and wait?" Zac sounded exasperated. "What are you going to do in there?"
"It's witches business, Zac. I don't have to tell you anything," Gabby said, not really caring if it annoyed him. "We just need our backs watched. Can you do that?"
He grunted in response.
"When are you going to do this?" Sam, steered to conversation away from the inevitable bickering.
"Tonight," Gabby said. "The old cemetery."
"That's not much time to prepare," Liz said, concerned.
"No time like the present."
Night had already fallen but the time they had all assembled at the cemetery; four vampires and one witch. Sam, Zac and Liz had positioned themselves around the clearing at the centre of the cemetery, watching the forest around them for any interlopers. Aya stood next to Gabby as she chanted under her breath, summoning the doorway to the in between place.
It was eerie sensation when the mist crept into the clearing, the air around them still warm from that day’s humidity. Gabby felt the change in her spirit, felt herself slipping into the place between life and death. Her eyes widened in surprise as she felt the depth of Aya's power as they joined minds. She had had no idea, even after witnessing it in Memphis. She was something else. No wonder witches feared her coming.
"We need to detect where her anchor is," Aya said, after she had gathered her thoughts. "Let me know if you can feel anything. No matter how small."
Before she could cast her mind out, Katrin was before them, her expression total darkness and malice. Gabby staggered back a little, almost severing their link. How had she known they would be here? Had she expected it? If this truly was the place where her spirit lived, she would undoubtedly know when anybody set foot in it.
"Do you really think you can end me, Aeriaya?" Katrin scoffed. "You and your pitiful little witch?"
Gabby glanced sidelong at Aya, was that her true name? As her thoughts swirled, the grey mist began to swell around them, the emptiness melting into another place. Katrin was creating a vision in the void and Gabby could feel the power pulsing in the close air, reverberating in her bones. The founder was more powerful than she had ever thought possible.
The vision swirled around them, morphing the mist into a glade of deep green, speckled with a carpet of white flowers. A house was nestled at one end, the trees of the surrounding forest tall and ancient, sheltering arms reaching into the sunlight. Through Aya, she understood it was a protected place of power. A place of light and love; until blood began to drip from the trees. It wept from under the front door to the house, from the windows, it's sickly copper tang filling the air around them.
"Stop it!" Aya screamed at Katrin as her eyes misted into two white orbs, her hands clawing at her black hair. She knew this place.
"It was your fault," the founder sneered as the vision changed again. They stood in the middle of a bedroom that was dominated by a large bed. Gabby's heart thudded in her chest, Aya's fear echoing through their link. The room was full of blood. It was splattered over the walls, pooled on the floor. Gabby knew if she stepped forward, she would see that there were corpses on the bed.
"They killed them! You ordered them to!" Aya cried, tears streaming down her face. "They tore them apart, my brother, you..."
"You killed my son," Katrin said, drawing her towards the bed. "Then you killed two more of my children. It was your fault."
"He was a vampire!" she cried, trying to avert her face. "He was a monster!"
“No,” Katrin sneered. “You are the monster, Aeriaya. Look at what you’ve become. Look at what you forced onto your family.”
Gabby, who was linked so thoroughly to Aya, gasped in horror as she saw the remains of the man and woman on the bed. They had been torn to shreds and placed back together by some sick sociopath, their hands linked. Their unearthly silver hair was tinged red in places from their mingled blood, the pallor of their skin marred by their brutal death. Gabby knew that these people were Aya's mother and father and her heart broke.
Aya roared in pain, her hands over her eyes to block the horrible sight, "It's time to die, Katrin. I won't let you get away with this! You've no right to call yourself witch. I'm taking it back!"
Katrin laughed at her, seemingly secure in her own knowledge that she was the all-powerful witch who cheated life and death. It was then that Gabby felt Aya begin to draw on her power. She'd asked for her complete trust. The link couldn’t be severed now, even if she tried. All she could do was watch as the vision cleared around them, dissolving back into the grey mist of the void. Katrin's expression faded into one of utter shock. She mustn't have expected her vision to dissolve so easily. But, Gabby was too fixated on Aya to notice. She was beginning to change.
Her hair seemed to shimmer with strands of shining silver and her skin danced with tendrils of color, like she was made of pearl. She was becoming like her parents. Silver hair and translucent skin. Gabby knew this was what she was before she was turned. Katrin was visibly afraid as she stood face to face with Aya, or the creature Aya had become.
"No," Katrin gasped in disbelief. "How did you? You can't. The Celestines are dead."
"Goodbye Katrin," Aya's voice soothed. "You'll face your judgment from the true founders. You'll answer for the eradication of my kind and the evil you spread in this world. I am honored to be the one who delivers you to them."
Gabby shielded her eyes as a pure white light began to gather around Aya's form, the power that emanated from her was overwhelming. She was vaguely aware that Katrin was begging, her voice becoming more desperate as the light grew. The anchor that was holding her spirit was being severed, the power that Gabby had sensed earlier was dissolving.
The drain on her was extreme as she wavered on her feet, desperate to hold on, her trust now completely in Aya. She felt incredibly sleepy and struggled to stay alert. Aya wouldn't let anything happen to her, she was safe. Through the link Gabby could see the whole universe. The stars. Aya really was one of them, just like all of the stories said.
And just as suddenly as the vampire had changed, Katrin was gone. The power that she'd sensed, the anchor, was completely gone. Whatever Aya had done, it had worked.
Abruptly, they were back in the between place, just the two of them. All pretence of the house and the mist had fallen away. Aya stood before her, clasping her hands, worry etched into her face. She was back to normal, familiar features of deathly pallor and hair that was black as night filled her vision. The creature she had become was buried again, but not gone.
"Aya," she whispered, clutching the vampire’s forearms to steady herself. "I don't understand who you are."
"I'm the last of my kind, Gabby. A horrible, incomplete hybrid," Aya said
with a note of sadness that was so deep, it made tears fall from Gabby's eyes.
The young witch would probably never fully understand the woman who stood before her, but she had learnt much that made most of what she knew of her make complete sense. Why Aya was the way she was. Her peaceful existence had been torn from her in the most brutal way possible, turned by the creature that killed her family, destroyed her home. It was no wonder that she had sought vengeance on those that would abuse their gifts.
"I... We all came from you, your family... didn't we?" she stammered, not quite believing that the people Aya had come from had given the first witches their power.
"This is important, Gabby," Aya said, deadly serious. "You must keep this secret. It's not for others to know. What I am, what you've come from, this is a secret that must be learnt. If you were to tell anyone something horrible will happen."
"Like what?" she asked, a note of fear in her voice.
"I don't know. I've never known anyone foolish enough to try. That is enough warning in itself."
Gabby sunk to the ground, exhausted, as the edges of the forest started to reappear. Nodding feebly, her head sunk to her knees. It was done. They had won, but she'd learnt a deadly secret in the process. She couldn't fathom any of it.
Suddenly, there was a gust of wind that blew her unruly hair into her eyes. Scraping it away from her face, she gasped as she saw a dark shadow flying around them. It had the semblance of a person, emanating a dark malice that penetrated deep into her bones. She knew that it was trying to get back into reality, back into the forest where her friends were. Zac, Sam, Liz. But her power was spent; she could do nothing to help them.
"Stay down," Aya cried, standing over her. "It's not over yet."
Aya had risen to her feet, positioning herself over Gabby, raising her hands to fend off the shadow, but now that she had returned her power to Gabby, they were equal. A stalemate. Nether the less, she tried to fend it off, but her fingers slid through its inky blackness. It had to remain in the between place. She kept trying desperately, aware that their reality was coming back into focus, the presence of the three vampires waiting for them pressing on her senses.