Raven and the Rose (12 page)

wouldn’t have made him strap it down. It wasn’t enough that he dragged her down, even when

she called it all off. He’d hurt her deeply, but she seemed to recover from it.” Viola’s eyes

clouded over. “The night he sought Clara in his bed was the straw that broke the camel’s back…”

Cambridge, Maryland 1805

Viola’s chest burned and her legs felt like lead as she dashed through the field from the slave quarters to where her aunt was. “Aunt Celeilia! Come quick!”

She found her Celeilia retrieving water from the well. When she reached her, she doubled

over, struggling to catch her breath. Resting her hands on her knees, she tried to speak.

With a smile, Celeilia bent down, inspecting the young woman’s face. “Viola, what’s

wrong? Why are you bleeding?”

Viola felt the warm trickle of blood creeping from her temple to her jaw line; where Cyrus

had struck her. “Come quick!” Was all she could muster before gathering her skirts in her hands.

She turned, beckoning her aunt to follow.

Her heart pounded madly against her chest, and she could barely speak after the sprint over

the field. “He’s going to rape Clara. We tried to stop him, but Master Cyrus has gone out of his mind!” Viola cried in between breaths, afraid for her cousin.

“What?” Celeilia’s face looked as if it had been drained of all its blood when she told what

was happening.

Together, they raced through the field and into the slave quarters. Some of the other slaves

slowly came out of their huts with questioning looks on their faces.

When she and Celeilia gained entry inside their hut, Clara had been pinned down, Cyrus on

top of her, straddling the girl. “I’ll teach you to use your magic on me, you little wench.” He fumbled for the ties of his pants.

“Take your filthy hands off her!” Celeilia bellowed before charging the man straddling her

daughter.

Viola heard the wind being knocked from Cyrus’s chest as they both landed on the wooden

floor with a thud.

“Mama, no!” Clara cried out, as Viola forced her from the bed.

Cyrus, with his hair tousled in a brown mass scuttled from the floor to his feet, kicking

Celeilia in the ribs. He then reached for his whip and delivered several lashes to the woman’s

back while the girls screamed for help.

But no one dared enter.

Taking matters into their own hands, Viola and Clara charged Cyrus. Each going for the

man’s face, scratching and biting, trying to claw his eyes out. As payback for him striking her earlier, Viola dug her nails in deep, tearing at the man’s flesh. But satisfaction wouldn’t be had there, as she and Clara both proceeded to bite him as hard as they could.

He successfully flung them both to the floor. “Arrghh!” he screamed through a layer of

blood running from his mouth while striking out with the whip.

Celeilia released an angry cry then held up her hand, tossing Cyrus against the wall. With

murder in her eyes, she stood up, peering at him. That’s when she turned to Viola and Clara.

Leave!” she demanded as the whip caught on fire, burning Cyrus’s hands.

Cyrus seethed in agony. “Filthy little slave cunts! I’ll hang you all!”

With just a look, Celeilia flung the cursing man into the wall. His feet dangled several inches from the floor. She turned one last time to look at the girls. “I told you to leave!”

Immediately, Viola and Clara were thrown out of the door and into the dirt by an unseen

force. The door slammed shut. The girls scurried to their feet and peered into the window.

An overseer and Cyrus’s father rode in. “What the hell is going on here!” The overseer

slipped from his horse, cracking his whip to the slaves standing around as Cyrus’s father tried to enter. The door groaned and creaked, but refused to budge.

“She’s a witch, you know!” The overseer sneered. “God only knows what she’s doing to

your son.”

Clara and Viola stood at the window, watching Celeilia as she seemed to chant and wave her

hands in the air.

Cyrus cowered in the corner, next to Clara’s small bed.

Reaching into her skirts, she pulled out a knife, rushed forward and slit his throat.

Viola, trembling in terror witnessed her aunt licking the knife clean of the blood. Retrieving

a silver cup from beneath the floorboards, she captured his blood and drank it.

“No!” She heard Clara scream. “Mama, what are you doing?”

“Mama, what have you done?” Clara cried from the window.

Cyrus’s father glared over at the children as several more men rushed in and successfully

broke the door down.

Viola watched in horror as the men rushed over and began brutally beating Celeilia. She was

knocked to her knees and with a flick of her wrist, she sent the overseer and Cyrus’s father

hurling into the corners of the room. She rose, chanting words that were hard for Viola to make out.

The girls screamed frantically before Taylor Robert McQueen and another slave, Mack

rushed over, dragging them off to safety. “Come on girls, it isn’t safe for you here.”

“Uncle Taylor, what about momma?” Clara screamed frantically. “We just can’t leave her.”

Saying nothing, Taylor hoisted her over his shoulders, carrying them into the field to a

hidden trap door in the earth. “Do you wanna be sold from here gal?” he chastised before waving his hand and chanting something she didn’t quite understand.
“Se’emya, krotolus, ya.”

Viola squinted as he held up his hand, conjuring what appeared to be a powerful shield of

energy around the area that only they could see. “What’s that?”

“Protection,” Taylor Lee grated out as the other slaves slid down the trap door entrance. “We

must hurry. There isn’t much time. They’ll be looking for you both, now that they know we’re

witches. In the hole, now,” he ordered.

Clara turned, climbing the wooden ladder all the way to the bottom.

Mack held his arms up to capture her. “C’mon, chile. I got you.”

Clara leapt safely into Mack’s arms, Viola quickly followed, then soon after, Taylor Robert.

Viola looked around at the candlelit room. Strange markings were drawn on the dirt walls, and

they appeared to glow.

“What is this place?” Clara asked, still wiping the tears from her face.

“A part of our family’s legacy that must be passed down to you both.” Taylor stated softly as

he and the other man led them down a narrow passage that widened into a large room. Other

members of the McQueen family sat huddled on the dirt floor, covered by sweat, dirt and soot.

“They’ve been down here for days,” Taylor said with a sigh. “Mack.” He pointed to the

slave who just accompanied them down the hole. “I’ll need you to look after my nieces should

something ever happen to me.”

“Uncle Taylor, please tell us what’s happening. I’m scared.” Viola glanced around the tiny

space as she and Clara clung to each other.

“Me too,” Clara admitted. “I want my mama.”

“You’re mother is as good as dead,” Taylor huffed.

“But, she’s your sister. You have to save her,” Viola told him.

“This is my fault,” Clara stifled a sob. “She saved me and we left her.”

Taylor grabbed Clara, forcing her to look at him. “Celeilia doesn’t want to be saved. Do you

hear me? She can’t be saved.” He held his head down. “She made the pact with darkness. Now

she’ll burn. But, she’ll rise again.”

“What are you talking about?” Viola asked.

“When she dies, your mother’s magic will pass over to you, Clara. Only then, can we save

her for the afterlife,” Taylor explained. “For now, we sit and we wait.”

Viola watched as a young boy walked up to Mack. Before their eyes, he shifted into a small

wolf pup. They should have been surprised, but she wasn’t. She simply looked at Clara and they

both smiled.

“You girls need to get some sleep. If the plan goes the way we hope, we’re all free,”

* * *

Rose watched her Aunt Viola continue the story through a wall of tears. Sobbing, she

grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. She glanced over at Storm who looked just as mortified.

For a long while, silence fell upon the room as the other women wiped tears from their eyes.

Shawn shook her head while Wes pulled her tight against him.

“That night, Celeilia was hung. Her body torched.” Viola shook violently as she cried in

memory of her aunt. “We stayed in that little hole for several days and nights as they searched high and low for us. Days later, Celeilia rose from her ashes, taking revenge on the McKay

family.”

“Oh, my God!” Dehlia broke down sobbing.

Rose simply nodded. “What happened to Taylor and the others?”

“After she massacred most of the McKay family, we climbed out of that hole. Bodies were

strewn about and burned all over the place. ‘Til this day, no grass grows on that patch of land near Queensville. Clara had to battle her own mother into submission. You see, while we were

hiding in that hole, Taylor taught Clara and I what he could. She sought her mother out, yet

Celeilia didn’t seem to recognize any of us. She was a soulless shell of a woman. It took all three of us to strike her down. And just before her mother took her last breath, she asked us all for forgiveness.”

Rose watched Viola through a veil of tears.

Her face twisted into a mask of stone as the woman recalled the family’s unsavory

memories.

“Why didn’t you and Clara use your powers that night?”

“We just thought we were strange kids,” Walter shrugged. “All the dream and fears we had

were suddenly real.”

“We were so young, and didn’t learn how to harness such great power. That night, we let

fear rule us,” Viola added as her bottom lip trembled. “I’m so ashamed, because I could have

done better. I should have saved her.” She broke down and wept.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Storm reassured her. “You all were innocent, young

children living amongst savages. What more could you do?”

“If I could go back, I’d change everything. But, I can’t.” Viola sucked in a breath and held

her head in her hands. “The Heightening took place between Clara and Celeilia, making her the

most powerful witch in all of McQueen history. It took her awhile to balance the light and the

dark. With Micah’s help, everything worked out. Unfortunately, our line will forever pay the

price for my aunt’s actions.”

The group sat and listened while tears rolled down their cheeks.

“Not all of the McKay clan died out. Shifters were hunted for sport and mercilessly

slaughtered for pure pleasure,” Viola continued. “Our family became a target. A bounty was

placed on our heads. Some of the McKays were turned into vampires to level the playing field.

‘Til this day, the McKay clan wars with us. McQueens exist in other parts of the country. Not just here in Raven’s Falls. Many are scattered all over.”

“There are ones who refused to have anything to do with the McQueen family name or the

power that comes with it.” Walter shook his head.

“In denial,” Jesse noted. “What a shame.”

“So, that’s when Clara and Micah founded Queensville and Raven’s Falls,” Storm added

with a nod and a brief smile.

“Yes. The citizens of Queensville and Raven’s Falls are descendants of the people we hid in

the hole with.” Viola smiled and looked out the window. “And all the McQueen witches have

been laid to rest acres away in the crypts that lie behind McQueen Manor.”

“Raven’s Falls was the town to cleverly mask all the shifters seeking refuge from being

hunted.” Rose nodded.

“And, for our future generations. Before The Heightening, we must add in the happenings of

that night,” Viola stated with a nod.

“That’s sad, Aunt Viola.” Rose shivered. “Is Celeilia at peace now?”

Viola closed her eyes briefly as she nodded. “Yes,” she answered with a smile.

“Whatever happened to Taylor ?” Jasmine asked.

“He was killed in The Civil War in 1864,” Viola stated, while tears cascaded from her eyes.

“He was the one who taught Clara and myself about the dark side of our family. It was so easy for us to want to give up, but he wouldn’t hear of it.”

“He was a good man,” Walter added with sorrow in his eyes.

“Is there anything we should worry about in regards to corruption within the most recent

generations?” Storm asked.

Viola’s eyes widened. “We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. Although, we are witches

and fight evil, we’re still somewhat mortal. I just want you all to know that.”

Rose smiled at her aunt, knowing there was more to this than Viola spoke about. “Care to

tell us?”

“Yes, Aunt Viola. I’m not looking forward to anymore surprises,” Dehlia stated.

Walter laughed. “Baby girl, you’re a McQueen. As long as you wield power, there are plenty

more surprises where this one came from.”

Viola simply nodded. “Child, I can’t go into every sordid detail of my life,” she said with a

chuckle. “But, when the time comes to face your challenges, every last one of you will know

what to do.”

Rose looked at the oak grandfather clock next to the fireplace as it began to chime and

sighed. “I suppose not. You really know how to make a person not want to sleep,” she teased her aunt.

Shawn and Wes rose from the couch and kissed her. “We’ll see you all in the morning.”

“Dad, are you sure you’re okay?” Rose searched her stepfather’s eyes, comforted in knowing

that Wes was once again himself.

“I’ve never felt better, dumpling.” Wes said with a warm smile and planted a kiss on her

cheek. He shook Storm’s hand. “I’m so sorry.”

Storm smiled. “It’s good to have you back, Wes.”