“Why would Uncle Macon hide the truth from me?” Lena looked directly at me, as if I was the only one who would know the answer. But I didn’t know. There was nothing I could say.
Lena slammed her foot against the ground in front of her. The ground began to tremble, then roll beneath my feet. For the first time ever, an earthquake had hit Gatlin County. Sarafine smiled. She knew Lena was losing control, and she was winning. The electrical storm in the sky flashed over our heads.
“That’s enough, Sarafine!” Macon’s voice echoed across the field. He appeared out of nowhere. “Leave my niece alone.”
Tonight, in the moonlight, he looked different. Less like a man and more like what he was. Something else. His face looked younger, leaner. Ready for a fight. “Are you referring to my daughter? The daughter you stole from me?” Sarafine straightened and began to twist her fingers, like a soldier checking his arsenal before a battle.
“As if she ever meant anything to you,” Macon said calmly. He smoothed his jacket, impeccable as usual. Boo burst out of the bushes behind him, as if he’d been running to catch up. Tonight, Boo looked exactly like what he was—an enormous wolf.
“Macon. I feel honored, except I hear I missed the party. My own daughter’s sixteenth birthday. But that’s all right. There’s always the Claiming tonight. We’ve a couple hours yet, and I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
“Then I suppose you will be disappointed, as you’re not invited.”
“Pity. Since I’ve invited someone myself, and he’s dying to see you.” She smiled and fluttered her fingers. As quickly as Macon had materialized, another man appeared, leaning against a willow trunk, where no one had been standing a moment before.
“Hunting? Where did she dig you up?”
He looked like Macon, but taller and a little younger, with slick jet-black hair and the same pallid skin. But where Macon resembled a Southern gentleman from another time, this man looked fiercely stylish. Dressed in all black, a turtle-neck, jeans, and a leather bomber, he looked more like a movie star you’d see on the cover of a tabloid rag than Macon’s Cary Grant. But one thing was obvious. He was an Incubus, too, and not—if there was such a thing—the good kind. Whatever Macon was, Hunting was something else.
Hunting cracked what must have passed for a smile, to his kind. He began to circle Macon. “Brother. It’s been a long time.”
Macon didn’t return the smile. “Not long enough. I’m not surprised you’d take up with someone like her.”
Hunting laughed, raunchy and loud. “Who else would you expect me to take up with? A pack of Light Casters, like you did? It’s ridiculous. The idea that you can just walk away from what you are. From our family legacy.”
“I made a choice, Hunting.”
“A choice? Is that what you call it?” Hunting laughed again, circling closer to Macon. “More like a fantasy. You don’t get to choose what you are, Brother. You’re an Incubus. And whether you choose to feed on blood or not, you are still a Dark Creature.”
“Uncle Macon, is what she said true?” Lena wasn’t interested in Macon and Hunting’s little reunion.
Sarafine laughed, shrilly. “For once in your life, Macon, tell the girl the truth.”
Macon looked at her, stubbornly. “Lena, it’s not that simple.”
“But is it true? Do I have a choice?” Her hair was dripping, tangled in wet ringlets. Of course, Macon and Hunting were dry. Hunting smiled and lit a cigarette. He was enjoying this.
“Uncle Macon. Is it true?” Lena pleaded.
Macon looked at Lena, exasperated, and looked away. “You do have a choice, Lena, a complicated choice. A choice with grave consequences.”
All at once, the rain stopped completely. The air was perfectly still. If this was a hurricane, we were in the eye. Lena’s emotions churned. I knew what she was feeling, even without hearing her voice in my head. Happiness, because she had finally gotten the one thing she had always wanted, the choice to decide her own fate. Anger, because she had lost the one person she had always trusted.
Lena stared at Macon as if through new eyes. I could see the darkness creeping into her face. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve spent my whole life terrified I was going to go Dark.” There was another crash of thunder and the patter of rain began to fall again, like tears. But Lena wasn’t crying, she was angry.
“You do have a choice, Lena. But there are consequences. Consequences you could not understand, as a child. You can’t really begin to understand them now. Yet I have spent every day of my life pondering them, since before you were born. And as your dear mother knows, the conditions of this bargain were determined long ago.”
“What kind of consequences?” Lena looked at Sarafine skeptically. Cautiously. As if her mind was opening to new possibilities. I knew what she was thinking. If she couldn’t trust Macon—if he had been keeping this kind of secret all this time—maybe her mother was telling the truth.
I had to make her hear me.
Don’t listen to her! Lena! You can’t trust her—
But there was nothing. Our connection was broken in the presence of Sarafine. It was like she had cut the phone line between us.
“Lena, you can’t possibly understand the choice you are being pressured to make. What is at stake.”
The rain turned from a patter of tears to a screaming downpour.
“As if you could trust him. After a thousand lies.” Sarafine glared at Macon and turned to Lena. “I wish we had more time to talk, Lena. But you have to make the Choice, and I am Bound to explain the stakes. There are consequences; your uncle wasn’t lying about that.” She paused. “If you choose to go Dark, all the Light Casters in our family will die.”
Lena went pale. “Why would I ever agree to do that?”
“Because if you choose to go Light, all the Dark Casters and Lilum in our family will die.” Sarafine turned and looked at Macon. “And I do mean, all. Your uncle, the man who has been like a father to you, will cease to exist. You will destroy him.”
Macon disappeared and materialized in front of Lena, not even a second later. “Lena, listen to me. I am willing to make the sacrifice. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to feel guilty about letting me go. I have always known what you would choose. Make the Choice. Let me go.”
Lena was reeling. Could she really destroy Macon if what Sarafine said was true? But if it was true, what other choice did she have? Macon was only one person, even though she loved him.
“There is something else I can offer,” Sarafine added.
“What could you possibly have to offer that would make me want to kill Gramma, Aunt Del, Reece, Ryan?”
Sarafine tentatively took a few steps toward Lena. “Ethan. We have a way the two of you can be together.”
“What are you talking about? We’re already together.” Sarafine cocked her head slightly and her eyes narrowed. Something passed across her golden eyes. Recognition.
“You don’t know. Do you?” Sarafine turned to Macon and laughed. “You didn’t tell her. Well, that’s not playing fair.”
“Know what?” Lena snapped.
“That you and Ethan can never be together, not physically. Casters and Lilum cannot be with Mortals.” She smiled, relishing the moment. “At least not without killing them.”
2.11
The Claiming
Casters cannot be with Mortals without killing them.
It all made sense now. The elemental connection between us. The electricity, the shortness of breath whenever we kissed, the heart attack that had almost killed me—we couldn’t be together physically.
I knew it was true. I remembered what Macon had said, that night in the swamp with Amma, and in my room.
A future between the two of them is impossible.
There are things you don’t see right now—things that are beyond any of our control.
Lena was shaking. She knew it was true, too. “What did you say?” she whispered.
?
??That you and Ethan can never really be together. You can never marry, never have children. You can never have a future, at least not a real future. I can’t believe they never told you. They certainly kept you and Ridley sheltered.”
Lena turned to Macon. “Why didn’t you tell me? You know I love him.”
“You had never had a boyfriend before, let alone a Mortal one. None of us ever dreamed it would be an issue. We didn’t realize how strong your connection with Ethan was until it was too late.”
I could hear their voices, but I wasn’t listening. We could never be together. I’d never be able to be that close to her.
The wind began to pick up, whipping the rain through the air like glass. Lightning tore across the sky. Thunder crashed so loud the ground shook. Clearly we were no longer in the eye of the storm. I knew Lena couldn’t control herself much longer.
“When were you going to tell me?” she screamed over the wind.
“After you Claimed yourself.”
Sarafine saw her opportunity and took it. “But don’t you see, Lena? We have a way. A way you and Ethan can spend the rest of your lives together, marry, have children. Whatever you want.”
“She’d never allow that, Lena,” Macon snapped. “Even if it were possible, Dark Casters despise Mortals. They would never allow their bloodlines to be diluted with Mortal blood. It’s one of our greatest divides.”
“True, but in this case, Lena, we would be willing to make an exception, considering our alternative. And we have found a way to make it possible.” She shrugged. “It’s better than dying.”
Macon looked at Lena, and countered, “Could you kill everyone in your family just to be with Ethan? Aunt Del? Reece? Ryan? Your own grandmother?”
Sarafine spread her powerful hands wide, luxuriously, flexing her powers. “Once you Turn, you won’t even care about those people. And you’ll have me, your mother, your uncle, and Ethan. Isn’t he the most important person in your life?”
Lena’s eyes clouded over. Rain and fog swirled around her. It was so loud that it almost drowned out the sound of the shells at Honey Hill. I had forgotten we could get killed, by either of the two battles being waged here tonight.
Macon grabbed Lena by both arms. “She’s right. If you agree to this, you won’t feel remorse, because you won’t be yourself. The person you are now will be dead. What she’s not telling you is that you won’t remember your feelings for Ethan. Within a few months, your heart will be so Dark, he won’t mean anything to you. The Claiming has an incredibly powerful effect on a Natural. You may even kill him by your own hand—you will be capable of that kind of evil. Isn’t that right, Sarafine? Tell Lena what happened to her father, since you are such a proponent of the truth.”
“Your father stole you from me, Lena. What happened was unfortunate, an accident.” Lena looked stricken. It was one thing to hear that her mother had murdered her father from crazy Mrs. Lincoln at the Disciplinary Committee meeting. It was something else to find out it was true.
Macon tried to turn the odds back in his favor. “Tell her, Sarafine. Explain to her how her father burned to death in his own house, by a fire you set. We all know how you love to play with fire.”
Sarafine’s eyes were fierce. “You know, you’ve interfered for sixteen years. I think you should sit the rest of this one out.”
Out of nowhere, Hunting appeared just inches from Macon. Now he looked less like a man and more like what he was. A Demon. His slick black hair stood up like the hair on a wolf’s back before it attacks, his ears sharpened to points, and when his mouth opened, it was the mouth of an animal. Then he just disappeared, dematerialized.
Hunting reappeared in a flash, on top of Macon, so quickly I wasn’t even sure I had really seen it happen. Macon grabbed Hunting by the jacket and tossed him into a tree. I had never realized how strong Macon really was. Hunting went flying, but where he should have slammed against the tree, he barreled right through it, rolling to the ground on the other side. In the same moment, Macon disappeared and reappeared on top of him. Macon threw Hunting’s body to the ground, the force cracking the earth open beneath them. Hunting lay on the ground, defeated. Macon turned back to look at Lena. As he turned, Hunting rose up behind him with a smile. I yelled, trying to warn Macon, but no one could hear me over the hurricane building above us. Hunting growled viciously, sinking his teeth into the back of Macon’s neck like a dog in a fight.
Macon screamed, a deep guttural sound, and disappeared. He was gone. But Hunting must have hung on because he disappeared with Macon, and when they reappeared at the edge of the clearing, Hunting was still locked onto Macon’s neck.
What was he doing? Was he feeding? I didn’t know enough to know how or if it was even possible. But whatever Hunting was taking, it seemed to be draining Macon. Lena screamed, ragged, bloodcurdling screams.
Hunting pushed away from Macon’s body. Macon lay slumped over in the mud, rain battering down on him. Another round of canisters rang out. I flinched, rattled from the proximity of live ammo. The Reenactment was moving toward us, in the direction of Greenbrier. The Confederates were making their final stand.
The noise from the rounds muffled the growling, an altogether different, but familiar sound. Boo Radley. He howled and leapt into the air toward Hunting, bent on defending his master. Just as the dog sprang toward Hunting, Larkin’s body began to twist, spiraling into a pile of vipers in front of Boo. The vipers hissed, slithering over each other.
Boo didn’t realize the snakes were an illusion, that he could run right through them. He backed away, barking, his attention on the writhing snakes, which was the opportunity Hunting needed. Hunting dematerialized and appeared behind Boo, choking the dog with his supernatural strength. Boo’s body jerked as he tried to fight against Hunting, but it was futile. Hunting was too strong. He tossed the dog’s limp body aside, next to Macon’s. Boo was still.
The dog and his master lay side by side in the mud. Motionless.
“Uncle Macon!” Lena screamed.
Hunting ran his hands through his slick hair and shook his head, invigorated. Larkin wound back through his leather jacket, into his familiar human form. Between them, they looked like two drug addicts after a fix.
Larkin looked up at the moon, and then his watch. “Half past. Midnight’s comin’.”
Sarafine stretched her arms up as if she was embracing the sky. “The Sixteenth Moon, the Sixteenth Year.”
Hunting grinned at Lena, blood and mud on his face. “Welcome to the family.”
Lena had no intention of joining this family. I could see that now. She pulled herself to her feet, soaking wet, covered with mud from her own torrential downpour. Her black hair whipped around her. She could barely stand against the wind, and leaned into it, as if at any moment her feet would leave the ground and she would disappear into the black sky. Maybe she could. At this point, nothing would have surprised me.
Larkin and Hunting moved silently in the shadows until they were flanking Sarafine, facing Lena. Sarafine moved closer.
Lena raised a single palm. “Stop. Now.”
Sarafine didn’t stop. Lena closed her hand. A fire line shot up through the tall grass. The flames roared, separating mother and daughter. Sarafine froze in her tracks. She hadn’t expected Lena to be capable of much more than what she probably considered a little wind and rain. Lena had taken her by surprise. “I’ll never hide anything from you, like everyone else in our family has. I’ve explained your options, and I’ve told you the truth. You may hate me, but I’m still your mother. And I can offer you the one thing they cannot. A future with the Mortal.”
The flames shot higher. The fire spread like it had a will of its own until the flames surrounded Sarafine, Larkin, and Hunting. Lena laughed. A dark laugh, like her mother’s. Even from across the clearing, it made me shiver. “You don’t have to pretend you care about me. We all know what a bitch you are, Mother. It’s the one thing I think we can all agree on.”
Sarafi
ne pursed her lips and blew, as if she was blowing a kiss. Only the fire blew with her, shifting its direction, racing through the weeds to surround Lena. “Say it like you mean it, darling. Put some teeth into it.”
Lena smiled. “Burning a witch? That’s so cliché.”
“If I wanted you to burn, Lena, you’d already be dead. Remember, you’re not the only Natural.”
Slowly, Lena reached forward and thrust one hand into the flames. She didn’t wince, but remained completely expressionless. Then she stuck her other hand into the blaze. She lifted her hands above her head and held the fire as if it were a ball. Then she threw the flames as hard as she could. Right at me.
Fire smashed into the oak behind me, igniting the spray of branches faster than dry kindling. The flames raced down the trunk. I stumbled forward, trying to get out of the way. I kept moving until I reached the wall of my invisible prison. But this time, it wasn’t there. I dragged my legs through the inches of mud, across the field. I looked over and saw Link falling alongside me. The oak behind him was burning even brighter than my own. The flames reached into the dark sky and began to spread to the surrounding field. I raced toward Lena. I couldn’t think of anything else. Link stumbled over toward his mom. Only Lena and the fire line stood between Sarafine and us. For the moment, it seemed to be enough.
I touched Lena’s shoulder. In the darkness, she should have jumped, but she knew it was me. She didn’t even look at me.
I love you, L.
Don’t say anything, Ethan. She can hear everything. I’m not sure, but I think she always could.
I looked across the field, but I couldn’t see Sarafine, Hunting, or Larkin beyond the flames. I knew they were there, and I knew they were probably going to try to kill us all. But I was with Lena, and for just one second, it was all that mattered.
“Ethan! Go get Ryan. Uncle Macon needs help. I can’t hold her much longer.” I took off running before Lena could say another word. Whatever Sarafine had done to sever the connection between us, it no longer mattered. Lena was back in my heart and my head. As I ran through the uneven fields, that was all I cared about.