Magic Rising (35 page)

“Stop it, please.”

Of course. My own thoughts strayed. I didn’t intend to share my pain.
Again he grew quiet, contemplating things that she began to understand. Niam wasn’t that different from herself. He was a product of a difficult upbringing. An orphan baptized in the occult and taught the darker arts. He didn’t know better. To go against his upbringing would’ve been to betray everything he considered family.

I tried to teach you as I had been taught. It was never meant as torture.

“I forgive you, Niam. I can forgive the harsh lessons. I can never forgive you for what you did to my mother.”

Thank you for that.

“Now how do we get out of this?”

She tried to focus, find her center. Everything was about finding the center. They had to get free or that little girl would die.

There’s only one way. Let me in. Accept me or die.

Niam wanted control. That was it. He’d possessed her somehow, although she didn’t feel his total presence connected with the cruel thoughts. She couldn’t let him in, couldn’t let him see into the parts of her mind he hadn’t already permeated. She had a bad feeling that it would become his body and her nothing but a spectator to the world around her.

The leaders at Stone House loved the basement, the rites of power. She heard them talk about their conquests, their sacrifices. This had to be dealt with but she’d never paid enough attention to know how. It was another thing she’d shut out at Stone House, another troubling fact she ignored to get through another day. She’d denied magic even existed, simply because it was too horrible, too powerful to control.

You can’t block me, just like you can’t block your feelings. True being is giving up of one’s will, if only long enough to unite the powers in you.

“No. I can’t do this.”

Something hot ran into her hands and she registered the scent of blood. It mixed with the memory of burning flesh and she wasn’t sure if she’d torn open her wrist or experienced another Niam moment.

Magic is real.

“No it’s not.”

Accept me inside you. It’s the only way.

“Never!”

Lora will die if you don’t.

“You never wanted her to live in the first place.”

More ideas flooded through her. He tried to show her magic, the rites, the rituals, and the power they produced. She didn’t want to know though. She didn’t want to accept the fact that any of it could exist.

Deirdre flailed harder. She had to break the ropes, had to get free. She’d deal with Niam later. However, he didn’t want to be dealt with later. He came through shouting, blurring her memories, mixing his with hers like some unholy marriage.

“I am Deirdre. I am Deirdre.” She screamed the words trying to hear her voice over the foreign thoughts. “I am Deirdre.”

Then she realized something else. She wasn’t just Dragonfly. She was Deirdre Flye, daughter of Scorpion. She was more than what Stone House had wanted her to be, but something grander, something more dangerous and not subject to Niam’s whims. Scorpion had never abandoned her.

“I killed her. Niam may have drawn the sword but I caused her death.”

She would’ve gladly spilled that politician’s blood if she’d known her mother would be punished instead of her. There would’ve been no warning. She would’ve obeyed.

“No more. Please.”

You’ll only win with me.

His thoughts held truth. There was no way to find peace with this. The elixir made things worse, giving him dominance, making her feel like she’d gotten on a roller coaster with no one operating the controls. She wanted her body back, her mind, and she feared that even her soul had been touched by the monster who reveled in spilled blood. Every sight, smell, sound, even taste was corrupted by Niam.

“I hate you, Niam.”

She cried hard and long. If she could’ve risen from the bed then she’d be tempted to throw herself out that window just to stop the commotion in her head. This was hell. Tamara had forced her into hell.

“I hate you.” As much as she spoke to Niam, she was admitting her self loathing. “I hate both of us.”

Deirdre hadn’t been aware that someone had entered the room until she felt a hand on her wrist, checking the rope. Niam’s thoughts held in control, but she was vaguely aware of another.

“Tamara Haas is my sister.”

That was the only thing Deirdre could say, not that it mattered. They wouldn’t develop a sisterly bond making Tamara change her mind for all the sins she’d committed. None of it mattered but that’s all she could say.

“Are you ready to give me your allegiance?”

Deirdre rocked back and forth, unable to say anything more. Niam kept his show going. He showed her women he’d tied and whipped, showed her his students crying on the floor, and kept making her live through the ceremonies, the basement trips that had made Niam who he’d been before joining to her body.

You have to understand, Dragonfly.

She saw him as a boy. He endured beatings. He’d committed his first sacrifice at the age of twelve. Magic flowed in his veins or had before he’d entered her mind. It had been part of him, something as easy as breathing.

The images rushed too fast, not making sense in some manic collage of life and death. In the end, it was what had made Niam the man she’d grown to hate. She had every reason to fear him. He was powerful and there was one truth she could no longer deny, the souls had given him strength. The logical side gave way to the things Niam showed and Deirdre finally admitted that magic existed. It was real and it lived inside her.

“It’s real,” she whispered. “I admit it.”

“Can I relieve you of this burden?” The voice seemed to come from an angel. Deirdre turned her head and saw no angel, but any savior would do.

Again Niam showed Scorpion’s death. This time Deirdre felt like her hand held the blade, shoving through soft flesh as surprise filled Scorpion’s face. Bits of blood speckled her hand, Deirdre’s hand.

She died for you. Don’t let her sacrifice be for nothing. Fight this. Don’t turn into what she feared.

“I will kill Lora, just make it stop.” She was vaguely aware that her voice was a mix of painful shrieks.

“Do I have your word?”

“Yes, anything.”

Tamara touched a cool hand to Deirdre’s head and the sight of her mother’s dead body fell to the back of her mind. “Tonight I will make sure that the nasty thoughts don’t come back, but if you lie to me or break our deal, I’ll make them more horrible than you can imagine.”

Deirdre nodded. She was born evil, raised in hell, and had committed murder. One more death wouldn’t matter. Another day of Niam and she’d kill herself just for a moment of peace.

The cold from Tamara’s hand spread through her head until Niam was nothing more than a buzz in her ear. Niam shouted, ranted, and Deirdre smiled at his fit of temper. Whatever skills Tamara possessed, she couldn’t be as terrible as Niam.

“Do we still have a deal?” Tamara lifted her hand for a moment and Niam came back in a torrent of anger, yelling and screaming at a deafening level.

“Yes!”

Tamara touched her again and this time when she removed her hand, Niam stayed in the back. Deirdre’s head felt a little numb, like she’d been drugged but it was bliss compared to Niam battering her mind.

“If you leave these grounds, or disobey me, I’ll let Niam rule you.”

“Please destroy Niam. I’ll do anything.”

The thoughts grew even milder by the time Tamara’s people came into the room and untied her arms and legs. At first Deirdre lay there, unsure if she should move. Nothing hurt for the first time in days, except for the emotions, the past, and the deal she’d made for her peace of mind.

Another woman entered the room from the side. Deirdre didn’t turn her head to see her, but the smell of food came with the door opening. Time seemed to stand still as someone tended to her wounds.

“I will leave you here until the proper time. Don’t disappoint me.”

Then everyone left and Deirdre was alone. Niam still lurked somewhere deep inside, pitching fits in whatever corner Tamara had locked him. At least he couldn’t bother her.

It took her a minute to find the will to move. She curled into a ball on the bed wondering how she could’ve done things differently. Trying to see where her choices had caused her mother’s death.

You couldn’t have changed things
. Niam shouted but it sounded like a whisper.
That was her fate. Now what will yours be. Give me control and we’ll both live to see another day.

“Shut up!”

His awful voice, his polluted mind was too much to bear. She wanted him out, not just jailed. She needed him away from her. He’d killed Scorpion. He’d done it. Niam tainted everything. He’d certainly destroyed anything good in her.

Deirdre had always wondered if she were evil, doomed, and now she knew. There was nothing good in her. Children shouldn’t cause the death of their parents. It only proved that she was beyond salvation.

She opened her eyes and looked around the room. The stench from Stone House clung to her, making her long for a bath. A worse thought surfaced. If she bathed, Niam might see her naked. He’d be there every time she took a shit or blew her nose.

No, that wasn’t right. She would be free of him tonight but she would have to spill Lora’s blood. Her only salvation lay in the death of a little girl, one who never harmed anyone. Her only sin was being born into this family.

The sun on her face made her move. Deirdre sat up, dangling her feet off the very tall bed. She slid to the floor, surprised by how weak her legs had grown. The last thing she remembered before waking in this room was Farmer. Was it possible that he worked for Tamara Haas too? At this point, nothing would surprise her.

She took a few steps, trying to feel like the old Deirdre again. It was no use. She might never feel like that woman again. Niam had left bits of information, magic, incantations and other things throughout her brain. It made her afraid to daydream or even hold a bit of hope. Even if Tamara could extract him from her brain, she would still know what it felt like to enjoy another’s suffering. Niam had fed into her dark side and there was no way to undo the damage.

Deirdre touched the curtains and looked out the window. It was a lavish estate with woods surrounding on every side. In this section of town, land like this cost millions. It also bought privacy. Below she saw what that privacy created. There were only a dozen people in the grassy area below but they were training, learning their weapons.

Some things could never be destroyed. Stone House was one of them. It was eternal and there was nothing a single person could do to stop them. Even as she stood there, smelling her own sweat, she knew that this was the future. She wished she could go into oblivion and leave Niam’s ghost in this world. She didn’t want to endure the next few hours or see what this new batch of recruits could do.

“Maybe Lora is better off dead.”

No. You don’t believe that. Give me control and we’ll survive this.

“I can’t.”

Think about this. You are condemning all of us. That includes your friends.

“You might be right but there has to be another way. After everything we’ve been through, I can’t give you control.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

The moon rose in the sky, bright white hanging in the center of blackness. A few clouds passed overhead, but even in the clear spots no stars showed. Everyone was in attendance, grouped on the edge of the stone circle. A symbol had been laid out in the center in small round pebbles. It wasn’t a pentagram and Sabrine had never seen anything like it before tonight. The most ominous thing was the altar, consisting of a flat stone slab. Inscriptions and symbols covered it, none of which Sabrine could read. It had to have taken days to carve it though. The details, at least what she could see beneath the unconscious Lora, were amazing.

They hooked Lora onto the block with chains that ran through holes in the slab. The cuffs were too big to pass back through, leaving Lora trapped, not that she was struggling. The girl seemed to be asleep.

Sabrine had woken tied to a post at the edge of the circle just before they’d brought Lora down to the altar. Tech was tied next to her along with Gladys, Sabrine wasn’t sure when they’d gotten her. A few others stood nearby, one of whom was Detective Ryan Farmer.

Farmer didn’t look well at all. He stood a few feet from her, swaying with his eyes closed. His hands were behind him, but not bound. Sabrine guessed that Farmer was working for Tamara but from the looks of things, he wasn’t a willing participant. Whatever Tamara really was, she had some mysticism locked away behind her actress’s façade.

Sabrine didn’t like this at all. Even being this close to that circle frightened her. It gave off a weird feeling, like standing too close to a transformer with thousands of volts flowing through it.

She tried to calm down, relax. Everything would be fine. Everything always worked out. Deirdre would appear kicking ass as usual, and by tonight they would be having drinks at that little coffee shop or maybe the tavern on the corner. Sabrine might even have two drinks, maybe even get plastered. Deirdre wouldn’t, she only drank water, but Sabrine was in the mood for something a little stronger, something that could erase the past twenty-four hours.