Everlasting Embrace (Embrace Series) (10 page)

The students have all been very receptive with their training, but we have so much to teach them yet. They need to learn about the Magnificent Ones, Ebony and her sister Eliza. How will we ever get through learning and teaching them about all the entities in the world? I guess we just have to do our best; it
’
s the only way we can teach them to help save the innocent.

Back to the Basics

Today we gather to go through the various entries in the
B
ook of
S
hadows. I wish we still had Matt
’
s guardian notes, but shortly after his passing
,
they just disappeared. We assume that the Great Ones had them retrieved for their protection. Eliza is over
,
and Luke even came back from Harvard for a few days. He agreed to watch Eyln and Nik while our families meet. Tamo
, Dakota, and Skah are here
,
and of course Eliza and all us Pierce
’
s
,
including Ebony and Nathanial. I
’
m really proud of how Ebony is continuing on since Matt
’
s passing, but also wonder if the spark between her and Dakota will ignite in Matt
’
s absence.

Eliza places the
B
ook of
S
hadows on the table. The large brown
,
leather bound book is glori
ous in its own right. The gold T
riquetra
,
embedded in the center, exudes power into the room. Ebony and Eliza received their family
B
ook of
S
hadows from their Grams a little over two years ago
,
when they first started seeing signs of their power. They are deemed the Magnificent Ones, two or more witches of one family that are born from a powerful line of witches. The Magnificent Ones are always born on the sixth day of the m
onth
,
and at the witching hour of midnight. Eliza and Ebony are direct descendants of Salem witches.

Constance has always been intrigued by the power behind witches and their beliefs. Her interest peaked when we found Matilda in Salem in 1899. She was c
onvicted of witch
craft
,
years after the witch trials of the seventeenth century. Of course
,
Alexander knew immediately he had found his
soul mate
,
and we helped save her with the
Embrace
. It was over thirty years later that we found Ms. Edwina (Grams)
,
and she assisted her mother to bless our day crystals. Our day crystals allow us to live more like mort
als. We can walk out in the sun
and
eat normal food without getting ill. The crystal
s
also help t
o warm our body temperature
s
. W
ithout these
,
we would be confined to the restrictions of most vampires. Now
,
over eighty years later
,
we are family with the granddaughter
s
of the witch
that
helped us,
the Magnificent Ones.
Ms. Edwina is gone
,
and we need to find a way to protect those who surround us. Too many innocent lives have been lost due to the evil in the world.

“
So where should we begin?
”
I question.

Eliza op
ens the books to the first page.
“
I was thinking
,
right from the beginning. We need to familiarize ourselves with the various
threats so that we are prepared
,
and we can prepare the students your school has taken on.
”

“
I think you are right Eliza,
”
Isaac interjects.
“
Let
’
s start at the beginning.
”

The
B
ook of
S
hadows begins with a history of witc
hes
. W
e have never really learned much about where everything began
; maybe
now
is the time. W
e have to know what we are up against, but also sho
uld know how that came to be.

The first pages of the book
,
as Eliza reads them, explains where witchcraft began. The first knowledge of witchcraf
t is from the Paleolithic times
—
over
25,000
years ago.
This was back in a time when mortals needed to rely on hunting for survival. These people prayed to Cerunnos, the horned god. It is believed he had horns because the best animals for hunting were horned, so it would only make sense that the god himself was also a horned one. I assume this is where assumptions that witchcraft is tied to evil
—
to the devil
—
came from. Obviously
,
it is untrue.

The further we get, the more we learn. This is what t
hey consider the old religion. H
ow is it that I have been around for so many years
,
yet k
now very little about it? Wicca
was actually not recognized as a religion until 1972, although the beliefs from it stem back thousands of years. Magick was practiced by those know
n,
back in the day
,
as medicine men and women.

“
Have you found much about your ancestors?
”
I ask.

“
A little
;
i
t appears as though the Magnific
ent Ones have been in our blood
line as far back as we can trace
,
”
Ebony admits.
“
Mom and Grams were in line to be Magnificent Ones, but they never had any siblings. It appears as though demons killed their fathers to prevent a sibling from being born. We are the first set since my great
,
great
grandmother
and her sister. It also talks a bit
about
a man named Walter, but he moved away to work for an orphanage. It appears as though demons were trading families for the children
’
s souls. Walter was there to help protect the children from making a deal with the devil, so to speak.
”

Matilda perks up
.
“
We met Walter, I
’
m sure of it.
”

“
What do you mean?
”
Eliza asks.

“
Do any of you remember me telling you about the only other white soul
,
aside from Matt
’
s
,
that I saw years ago?
”

“
Yeah, I do. You mentioned it when we were searching for dresses one time. You told me Matt was a white soul; this was before you knew what it meant
,
”
Ebony remembers.

“
Yeah
,
we assumed that it meant they were guardians in training, but now it seems that Walter
…
w
ait a second
—
does it say what Walter
’
s last name was?
”
I ask in the middle of an epiphany.

“
I can
’
t believe I didn
’
t notice this before. It
’
s Barton, Walter Barton.
”

Ebony dives towards the book.
“
What
?
He
was...Matt
’
s grandfather? You met Matt
’
s grandfather
…
”
The tears start to run down her face. I
know she
’
s thinking about Matt
,
and how he would have loved to
know
about his grandfather.

“
I think this may be something that n
eeds to be explored even more
,
b
eing that we
’
ve h
ad relationships with both Matt
a
nd Walter
,
who have bo
th moved on to become guardians. That
must mean something
,
”
Alexander suggests.

Matt had told us about his grandfather
,
and he was the last one in his family to become a guardian, an angel to witches
:
t
heir guide against evil. He just never mentioned his name.

“
You may be right.
Walter is the reason I became a
hematologist
. He brought a young boy into the hospital I worked at
one night when I was working.
He had
hemophilia
, a disease where the blood doesn
’
t clot properly. The boy fell and had massive internal bleeding.
I
,
and the team of doctors I worked with
,
did everything we could, but were unable to save him due to the lack of medical advancements at the time. I swore I would never let that happen again. This is when I first began my research on blood. I not only want to benefit my family, but the mortal population as well. As you all know
,
I have finally come up with a synthetic blood product made from expired blood products. This is the next best th
ing to fresh blood for vampires
,
and is in the testing stages with the FDA for human use
,
”
Isaac explains.

“
So all this research you
’
ve been doing
—
and the success you
’
ve had
—
comes from Matt
’
s grandfather?
”
Ebony confirms.

“
Well
…
i
n a sense it does. He cared so much for the young boy that I couldn
’
t just give up. I needed to do something to help. Now my study has taken a different turn from the original issue of this blood disease, but I still believe the synthetic blood will help. We can remove any impurities from the blood as well as disorders, so with a synthetic blood infusion
,
we should be able to cure diseases.
”

“
Wow
,
that is really
amazing
,
Isaac,
”
Eliza admits.

“
Ye
ah
,
but we have g
otten a little off topic here. M
aybe we should look into these white souls and guardians
to
try to understand them better.
”

“
I think that is a great idea. W
hy don
’
t Eliza and I look into
it?
I think we have been at this long enough for today
,
and maybe the rest of you have better things to do, like check the students or plan a wedding or something,
”
Matilda jokes.

With his half smile, Nathanial says,
“
I get the feeling you are trying to get rid of us.
”

“
No
,
I just don
’
t think we all need to be here to do research
,
”
Matilda confirms.

We agree and decide to part ways, although we won
’
t do any wedding planning without her. We can research venues and ideas for our double wedding though. Most of all
,
I think everyone can just use a break. Sometimes too much information is difficult to process.

Growing

El
yn and Nik are getting so big
; they
are growing so fast. I never realized how much a baby learns in the first few years. Elyn will be a year old in just a few short months
,
and Nik will follow. They
’
re both doing very well. Eliza and Ebony did a
spell to bind Elyn
’
s empathy
…
it
was getting too much for a young baby to handle. She doesn
’
t even understand what half of these emotions are. When her father died
,
and Ebony was at her worst, it must have bee
n unbearable for the poor girl.