Witch Road to Take (11 page)

“That’s the gift of Veles, the Slavic deity,
Lord of the underworld. He was the supernatural force of earth,
water and the underworld, not to mention associated with and a
master of magic and trickery. Of course, through the years, the
nature of our powers have either developed or diluted, but we are
related. Distantly, Damien.”

“Okay?”

I opened my eyes to see my brother sitting
on the ground, his legs pulled up and his arms resting on his
knees. He seemed to be contemplating what Gavin was telling
him.

Gavin sat a few feet away from my brother,
facing him while Jonas was leaning against the igloo with his eyes
closed. His fair skin was so white that it looked like someone
stroked White-Out all over his face.

I continued to listen to Gavin.

“As I was saying, Veles is the god of
trickery and magic. That’s why you don’t need to learn spells to
take on the traits of your mother.”

“My mother was just my mother—a good woman
who was murdered before her time.”

“Damien,” Gavin glanced over at me. My eyes
were closed to mere slits but I could see them. They thought I was
still out cold. “I haven’t said much to Dhellia about your mother
because she’s not mature enough to handle it.”

“What do you know?”

“Your mother was murdered.”

“I know, I was there,” Damien narrowed his
eyes.

“What’s strange is that your mother was
murdered for no apparent reason. At first, we thought it was
because she was a visionary witch but—”

“A visionary witch? What’s that?”

Gavin’s eyebrows came together, confused.
“You didn’t know your mother was a visionary witch?”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

“Your mother had the ability to see the
keys.”

My brother shrugged.

Gavin looked at his watch, “In seven hours,
Dhellia’s key in the palm of her hand will turn off. The only other
time it will send a signal is when she comes within a hundred feet
of another key. At that time, your father will get the signal, as
he did yesterday. When that happens all keys within that hundred
miles are usually hijacked and branded with a tracking device.

“Are you kidding? Is she going to be ill
each and every time that thing turns on in her hand?” Damien
asked.

“No, from what I understand, when the key
turns on for the first time, it makes the person ill and slows them
down so they can be brought downstairs. If it ever turns on again,
she should be okay.”

“That’s a relief,” Damien said.

“I know. But as I was saying, your mother
could see the keys whether they were near each other or not. She
was an asset to your father which is why your father”—he used his
hands to simulate the,
you-know
signal—“continued to have
relations with your mother.”

“My father loved my mother,” Damien said,
knowing damn well that Father didn’t love anyone or anything.

Gavin sighed. “I’m telling you this, but I’m
asking you to keep it to yourself for a while until Dhellia is
ready to handle all of this.”

Damien nodded. “I will determine when she’s
ready.”

“Keys are made by your father having an
offspring with a visionary witch. But it’s not guaranteed that the
two will produce a key. Every six years, on the sixth day of the
sixth month, another visionary witch is born—one baby anywhere in
the world with that ability. The gods often kill these visionaries
before they take their first breath, hence miscarriages and
stillborn babies.

“Our family used magic to protect your
mother, but when your mother ventured out on her own, your father
tracked her down and baited her with his manipulations. You two
were born.”

“And Dhellia is a key.”

“Yes. I can only imagine that your father
thought she might be a key. This would explain why he wanted her
downstairs with him on her twenty-first birthday. And why he was
strict on bringing her back each time she tried to spread her
wings. If she had been in his grips when her key turned on, he
would have branded her with a tracking device.”

“Has he captured and inserted a tracking
device into any other keys?”

“I’ve no idea. The chatter isn’t clear and
is often changed based on rumor.”

“Where are the other keys?”

“Only a visionary witch can tell us. Your
father searches high and low for other visionary witches. When your
mother was murdered, your father was set back from his ultimate
goal.”

“Which is?”

“To rule all three planes—to ultimately be
the ruler of Hell, Earth and Heaven, of course. With all seven
keys, he’d hold the power.”

My body shook involuntarily. I couldn’t
believe what I was hearing. Damien crawled over to my side.

“Dhellia, are you okay?”

I opened my eyes and peered into the eyes
and handsome face of my brother. I whispered, “Whoever killed
Mother knew about her ability—I want to find that person and
destroy them.” I wasn’t going to pretend as if I didn’t hear their
conversation.

Damien nodded, but changed the subject. “You
need to regain your strength. If we can make it another seven hours
without seeing a trotter, we can go back to our lives.”

I sighed. “What life, Damien?”

Gavin came to my side and gripped my hand.
The three of us, closely and distantly related, were gaining
knowledge about each other that would change our existence and the
world.

I had two missions: Discover and destroy the
entity who killed my mother. And second, I would stand before my
father as an equal match in strength and ability in order to thwart
his plan to take over all planes of existence.

Dressed and ready for
work, I sat down on the edge my bed and glowered at the inside of
my hand. It was strange to know that I was born with a mass under
my skin that was a key to the underworld—a key that my father
needed. It was even crazier to think that the key in my hand could
open the portal from Hell to Earth, if Father was able to get all
seven keys together in one place.

Worse yet, I had half brothers and sisters
around the world, but I guess I should have expected that. After
all, Lucifer’s lack of fidelity to one woman has never been a
disputed fact.

I sighed. I wasn’t sure who I was anymore.
My carefree life had been changed and that in itself had made me
question who and what I am.

After the final seven-hour countdown
yesterday, the light in my hand permanently turned off and Gavin’s
cloaking shield came back in full force. We were no longer
concerned with a trotter or a hellhound showing up through a portal
and dragging me back to Hell.

We were all relieved to know that we had
made it through that ordeal. However, the conversation between
Gavin and Damien disturbed me throughout the night. After Damien
laid me back in bed and made sure I’d be okay, he disappeared with
no other thoughts or words.

Gavin had released a lot of information
about our family—information that we should have and needed to
discuss. The fact that he had disappeared and left me to ponder
that new information on my own angered me, which is the reason I
had tossed and turned all night.

I glanced at the clock every minute on the
minute. When it felt like hours had passed, the clock had said
differently. As the night dragged, I only had my thoughts and
memories to keep me company. The words floated in my head
repeatedly, back and forth.
Descendants of the God, Veles, lord
of the underworld and mastery at magic.
Mother was a
visionary witch who could see the keys even when the key wasn’t
turned on. Anytime I came within a 100 feet of another key, mine
would turn on and send a signal to my father. If Father got a hold
of me during this time, he’d put a tracking device on me and I’d be
stripped of my privacy and freedom. Once he had all the keys
together, he’d have access to all three worlds, Hell, Heaven and
Earth. Every six years on the sixth day of the sixth month, a new
visionary witch is born.

Those thoughts ran around rampant in my
mind, causing major sleep deprivation. I was paying for it right
now. Still staring down at the inside of my palm, I ran my other
hand across it, pressing down hard to see if I could feel it, maybe
even remove it. I huffed, “Useless to think about removing it, I
can’t even feel it.”

Today was going to be my first day working
for Mr. Sable. I had reservations, but after enduring twenty-four
hours of dodging Father’s minions, fighting hypothermia and
listening to Gavin confide in Damien, I was ready for something a
little more subdued.

In the kitchen, Jonas had a rat attached to
his fangs while he sucked its blood through his teeth like a straw.
I was disgusted and irritated, but mostly just downright tired.
“Really, Jonas? Your food tank is in your room, can’t you eat in
there?”

Jonas pulled the rat from his mouth and
tossed him in the wastebasket. “That’s right, one of the perks of
being a vampire is perfect aim,” he grinned. “Someone’s in a shitty
mood.”

“Screw you,” I said. My mood was definitely
sour and just being around my roommates irritated me.

“We bring you home safely last night and
this is how you thank us?” Jonas reached in his pocket and pulled
out another squirming rat with a long tail and beady red eyes.

“Don’t you dare, fangs.” I pointed to that
critter in his hand. “And, if I recall, you were fighting
hypothermia yourself. By the way, vampires don’t have body
temperature, so explain to me how an already dead, cold, sort of
human can struggle with hypothermia?”

I turned to Gavin, who was blending fruits
and vegetables in a blender to drink for breakfast. “Can you
explain that one to me, magic man?”

“Don’t drag me into this, Red,” he said
without turning around.

Jonas glared at me. “Don’t be a bitch,
Dhellia. It was freezing in Antarctica.”

“Yeah, the vast amount of snow was a dead
giveaway to that statement, genius.”

Jonas extended his fangs, growled and then
brought the rat to his mouth and exaggerated the moment he sunk his
teeth into its side.

“Despicable monster,” I glared and turned to
grab my breakfast from the pantry.

Blood dripping from the corners of his mouth
to his chin, he mumbled, “Spawn of Satan.”

“Got nothing better than that, you sad
excuse for a vampire?”

Gavin grabbed the Rice Krispie treat from my
hand and slid a glass of his blended juice into my grip with me
barely noticing. I was too angry with Jonas to care.

Jonas tossed the rat in the trash and cocked
his head. “You want better, Red? You’re an unknown beast, hiding
behind the guise of a diva.” He pulled out another rat, brought it
to his mouth, and continued to drink its blood.

I shrieked, slammed the glass on the counter
and walked to the front door. “You, Jonas, are a walking, dead
contradiction to all that vampires stand for. You’re allergic to
human blood, suffer from hypothermia and are nothing but a wimp.
But you wanna know the best part—the part that this unknown beast
is going to bask in? The fact that your soul will be treated like
all the other vampires, and you’ll have no choice but to spend
eternity in the acid pit.”

I opened the door and slammed it shut behind
me.

I stopped at the bottom step. I hesitated.
The moment I said it, I knew I shouldn’t have. I needed to
apologize to him. I was irritated and tired. Jonas didn’t deserve
to be treated like that.

I needed to apologize, but I decided to wait
until I got home. If I didn’t leave now, I’d be late to Mr. Sable’s
office. I threw my purse over my shoulder, jumped in my 1972 green
Pinto and headed for Quinn’s office.

Driving into the parking
lot of Sable Construction Company was no easy feat. The high-rise
tower sat smack dab in the middle of a parking lot filled with
Mercedes and BMW’s of all models.

A part of me felt out of place with my
Versace bag resting on the passenger seat of my green Pinto. “If
anyone at this company has a problem with my car, Mr. Sable can buy
me a new one,” I mumbled over the cassette tape of Elvis.

This classic cassette came with the car, as
a bonus, I thought, but when I realized it was stuck in the player
and the volume knob was broken,
Ain’t Nothin but a Hound Dog
and I became intimately acquainted.

I turned my wheel to park in an empty
parking spot when a small red Porsche skidded in before I could
accelerate. “What in the hell are you doing?” I threw my hands in
the air, yelling at my front windshield.

Today was not the day to mess with me. My
car was in the middle of the road, halfway turned into the spot,
when I jumped out to give this person a piece of my mind.

A haughty blonde chick with her perfect
hair, perfect body and manicured nails waved at a male coworker,
and ignored me all together.

“Oh…hell…no,” I said, slamming my car door.
“Excuse me. Miss?’

“Yes?” she finally took a moment to pay
attention to me. Boy was I ready to give her a piece of my
mind.

“You just took my parking spot. I was
turning into it and you cut in front of me.”

She snickered, “Are we in high school? I
didn’t cut in front of you.” The look on her face was that of
disgust. I knew that look well because I had just used that same
face on Jonas.

“Look at my car. I was getting ready to pull
into that spot and you cut me off.” My blood was boiling. I walked
toward her. How dare she eye me up and down and call me a liar
directly to my face?

“Listen, lady, I don’t know who you think
you are, but you don’t own the parking spot until you’re in it.”
She placed her purse on the hood of her car and walked a few steps
toward me. “And I’m in it!” she yelled.

I was tired, irritable and I had just spent
the day before fighting for my life and finding out things that had
put me in a horrible mood. Aside from that, I didn’t get to eat my
all-time favorite, pick-me-up treat this morning. Gavin pulled my
Rice Krispie treat out of my hand and handed me an awful brew of
cleansing crap that would strip my bowels of toxins. I didn’t care
about my damn bowels. With all of that, my blood was NASA
countdown-level heated.