Birthright (Residue Series #2) (47 page)

The prisoners, still blind and mute
,
but having heard th
e
order, flailed about, unable to cast or protect themselves from the Vires surrounding them. Miss Celia and Miss Mabelle were
still
restrained by Vires
, and
Turcott sent several squads directed at Jameson
. They swarmed
him again
,
until I could no longer see any part of his body through the
mob of
black uniforms enclosing him.

Theleo h
ad already taken my arm and begu
n pulling me away.

“Jameson! Jameson!” I shouted.

Through the attackers, his face emerged, enraged as he struck down three Vires. Then
,
he disappeared in
to
the wave of moving bodies
again
.

I struggled against Theleo as he dragged me through the hoard
,
farther from Jameson. My
eyes darted,
frantically
,
catching
sight of Jameson’s family being restrained; mine being hauled away; and Miss Mabelle and Miss Celia being attacked.

I saw Jameson’s face one
last
time. It was bloodied and bruised
;
and
seeing this made
the explosive energy I felt when healing Jameson in his bedroom resurface
.

Focusing on the men bent over Jameson, pummeling him, I extended my hand, palm out, and centered my retaliation on them. Directing the surge
coursing
through me, the men flew backwards, arms and legs streaming in the air. They landed somewhere on the opposite side of the river, near Ms. Veilleux’s ritual site.

At that point,
something came over me. A focus,
a
clarity of thought I never knew possible. As my palm directed at a Vire,
hurling them
off the person they were attacking and their bodies disappear
ing
into the night sky. One after another, Vires were tossed aside.

I released my family first, then the Weatherfords, and then our housekeepers. From there, I worked my way through the crowd, plucking black uniforms from their victims.

No one attacked me.
I stood firmly planted in one spot as this all took place,
only vaguely realiz
ing
that Theleo’s hands were no longer on me
.
His body was off to the side, in a heap on the ground.

Gradually, the Vires ceased their movement, turning only their heads to stare at the person inflicting the devastation on their forces. They
saw
something in me that stunned them
,
but I couldn’t comprehend what it might be. Plenty of people in our world
were able to
levitate
others
as I was doing now
. I certainly wasn’t the first.

When
the encampment grew quiet, one of the Vires turned
, uttering
a question that shed light on their perplexity.

“But…isn’t she the one who heals?”

That
’s
when I realized what I’d done. In my panic, with the safety of my loved ones and neighbors being my sole focus, I revealed that I could levitate, too
, meaning
only one thing to everyone else around us. I saw it in their expressions
,
turning
from bewilderment to comprehension.

They knew
now that
they were looking at The Relicuum.

A quick glance at Turcott told me that he was almost giddy with vindication.
Sartorius
stood behind him,
glaring
from
inside a ring formed by Turcott and a multitude of Vires. I noticed he no longer held the rope, but I knew he
was keeping
it with him. He wasn’t about to let anyone else seize it.

Jameson, who had raced to my side
after being
freed, now stepped in front of me, nearly blocking my view of Sartorius. I moved around him and stated, “Sartorius, you are wrong.” I watched with some feeling of triumph when
the
same nervous muscle twitched in his face. “No one will die tonight.”

With that, I took Jameson’s hand, prepared to channel his energy, and opened my mouth to speak.

“Stop her-” was all the time Sartorius had to speak before I shouted over him, drowning him out.

“
Incantatio
sana!
”
I shouted
,
my voice
sounding
more defiant than
ever before.

When
I heard Jameson’s broken ribs crack as they shifted back
into
place, I knew my effort
was
successful. The first sign that
my
healing incantation affected everyone else was the blinking eyes of the prisoners. As their sight returned, they repositioned themselves in stances meant to defend. This was because a squad of Vires was charging, and doing it with such force the ground trembled beneath our feet. They moved in unison, racing along the ground and through the air toward the cluster of prisoners, leaning their bodies forward and pumping their arms for momentum.

With
the prisoners able to defend themselves now, Sartorius had lost control of his encampment, something he
despised.
At that,
I couldn’t
keep
myself
from smiling.
As much as I knew it would taunt Sartorius
,
and as provoking as it was to our situation, elation took over
,
and I allowed myself a moment of defiant glory.

Sartorius’s
repugnant
glare, still directed at me, was beautifully chiseled in his expression, but I wasn’t finished yet. These people were wrongly imprisoned, used as bait to
entrap
Jameson and me
,
and I was going to make certain they
left here alive.

The Vires didn’t make it very far,
as it turned out
. With my heart pounding so hard I could hear it thumping rapidly in my ears, I raised my palms at them
, flinging
them backward, just as I had done earlier.

When Sartorius sent two more squads, I repeated my motions. Then
,
Sartorius caught on
,
realizing
his resources were rapidly
dwindling, as
he turned
the rest of them on us.

With a swift motion of his fingers at the remaining Vires
,
a sea of black uniforms charged Jameson and me.

My hand was still in Jameson’s when he channeled, shouting over the roar, “You’re going to need help with this one.”

He gave me no time to anticipate or prepare. There was none to give. The Vires would reach us in only a few steps. I had just raised my hand again when the first Vire came within arm’s reach. Jameson’s energy, so clean and focused, raced through me
.

The wave of black abruptly stopped short
,
and the Vires
’
bodies collapsed to the ground, toppling and crumpling as if they
were
knocked unconscious.

I turned to Jameson, astonished. “What did you do?” Having never done anything remotely close to it, I knew it must have been him.

He grinned
back at me
. “I added a spark.”

I quickly recalled
the use of it during
Mrs. Gaul’s attack in the classroom
and against our housekeepers in the cemetery
and released a laugh under my breath. But there was no time to celebrate, not yet.

Two of them remained standing. Sartorius and Turcott stood side by side
, and
Theleo was beginning to rise from his spot on the ground.

I positioned my arms, which hadn’t fallen yet, in each of their direction
s
.

Turcott took a tentative step back while the other two stayed firmly in place. Theleo stared impassively at Jameson and me, his shoulders raised in alert but not moving, while Sartorius appeared exhilarated. It was an odd reaction, in my opinion. Sartorius had just witnessed his entire defense collapse around him, yet, he didn’t appear to notice
or care
.

“She really is quite an object,” Sartorius remarked, seeming to speak to himself even though he was staring at me. This didn’t surprise me. I understood him now. Objects were all Sartorius saw. Everything was an object to manipulate to whatever goal he had in mind.

After his statement, the murmuring behind me began. The prisoners, every citizen in our world living within the New Orleans area, had just witnessed me heal them and work with Jameson to repel their attackers through levitation. Just as the Vires had before, this realization seemed to leave them stunned.

“She…
she’s
The Relicuum,” someone declared. “The Relicuum!”

Before the excitement could grow, Sartorius stepped forward and stopped within arm’s reach. Jameson saw him coming and sidestepped in front of me. From over his shoulder, Sartorius spoke, keeping his voice low enough that only Jameson, Theleo, Turcott, and
I
could hear. It was a private message, a warning designed to instill terror in me and, very likely, Jameson. Sartorius knew by this point he had lost this battle but he wanted to be very clear that he would do everything in his power to win the war.

“This isn’t over.”

“I didn’t think it was,” I replied
,
as casually as I could, considering my heart continued to pound feverishly in my chest. I wondered if Sartorius could hear it.

“We’ll be ready for you next time, too, Sartorius,” Jameson said
,
all formality and false respect gone from his tone.

“That would be wise,” he responded in a way that made me think he was telling us that they wouldn’t repeat their mistakes.

With only Turcott and Theleo left standing, Sartorius motioned for them to follow. However, Turcott didn’t make it far. Sartorius turned
and used
the same dagger he
held
against my
neck, shoving
it deep
into
Turcott’s chest. Turcott paused in shock
, stumbling
back, clutching his wound, as if he were trying to close the gap. It did no good. He took one more step to steady himself and collapsed, the blood from his heart soaking through his uniform and dripping from the hem. Sartorius was several yards away
, now,
and didn’t bother with the effort it would take to look back. With Theleo beside him, they levitated into the night sky and vanished in the darkness.

Gasps rose up around us
.

I wasn’t nearly as surprised as the rest of the onlookers, who consisted of the Weatherfords, the Caldwells, our housekeepers, and Ms. Veilleux’s coven. These were the only ones who remained, the rest apparently deciding to escape while they could. Of
the remaining crowd,
I was the only one not to react to Sartorius taking the life of a notable Vire. I understood why. To him, everything was an object
he could
manipulate
until their value expired. Turcott was no longer needed.

A few quiet seconds passed and I felt Jameson’s hand slip into mine. “We should go.”

I nodded, silently agreeing but taking time to briefly evaluate our surroundings. It humbled me. The faces around us were exhausted, but relieved. Behind them were the holding cells which detained innocent people who nearly lost their lives tonight. Swiveling my head around, I found the ground had disappeared. It now consisted of a carpet of bodies in black uniforms,
stretching
back to the edge of the river.

“It’s only a matter of time before they’re conscious again,” Miss Mabelle claimed, having discerned what I was observing.

“Right,” I muttered. “Let’s go.”

We left the Vires as they rested and headed for Aunt Lizzy’s house – the Caldwells, Ms. Veilleux and her coven included.

This time, t
here were no guards at our front door
,
for the first time in months, which felt incredibly liberating.

Our feet landed in the backyard just before the sun crested the horizon
and
I paused to watch
it
as everyone made their way inside for breakfast,
sure that
a discussion about tonight
would become the hot topic.