“Why, Lexi, you carry the Bow of Destiny. I should think it’s obvious what you need to do. We will, of course, accompany you on this most noble of quests.” Who did he think he was? Lancelot?

  He might think the bow was the answer, but he’d never released the bowstring and launched an arrow at a heart not ready for its match. All that ever did was make things worse.

  “So there’s no strategy?” No advice from dear old Dad? Even second hand, it might have helped. But no, that would be too easy. Excuse me for being bitter, but I’d had just about enough of things dumped in my lap for one year.

  Fritzroy couldn’t hide his relief when I declined the offer of help, but Garrick seemed a little miffed to be dismissed, and there wasn’t time to smooth things over. I had plenty of other ticked-off people to deal with. Salem was alternately not speaking to me because he thought I was going to deprive him of his last life, and threatening to go tell Kin what was going on so he could talk some sense into me. Terra was on his side. Soleil wanted to come along, and Vaeta wasn’t speaking to anyone for some reason.

  On the witch side of the family, Gran seemed resigned, but Balefire sparks shot out the tip of Aunt Mag’s finger when she shook it under Delta’s nose. “You just remember that with age comes experience.”

  Respectfully, Delta stood her ground. “Which is why we need you here to watch over the house in case the Balmorrigan don’t lead us to Diana and she shows up here.”

  From the look on her face, Aunt Mag knew she’d just been handed a lollipop and sent out of the room to let the big kids play. I would probably pay for that later.

  In the end, only my mother and Delta would accompany me in tracking the twins back to wherever Diana was holed up. If they even returned to her at all. We could spend a day tracking the wild goose back to its nest and still not find the golden egg.

  That wouldn’t be my luck, though. If I was chasing the wild goose, it would turn out to be some denizen of the Faelands that had sharp teeth, farted fire, and flew around dropping poison eggs everywhere. You laugh, but you haven’t seen the things I’ve seen.

  Chapter 29

  “Is it safe to ride triple?” Mom had a pack of spells on her back, so I would be riding in the middle spot. Delta looked at me like I was the biggest fool in the world. So sue me, I wanted to live long enough to get to Diana and risk my life against her minion twins. On second thought, a clean death against a tall tree might not be the worst way to go.

  Something tugged at my hair as we pulled out onto the icy road, and an odd sense of calm washed over me. Diana wanted me dead, and I wanted her neutralized, whatever that looked like. One of us would not get our wish today. Her vision said I would be her downfall. It did not say how, or what would happen to me after, which was enough, normally, to induce a freakout. Yet, here I was, freakout-free.

  The tracking device fitted into a holder mounted on the handlebars, where it blinked merrily as Delta followed it into her middle dimension. We whizzed along through the flat gray for a couple of minutes, burst out into the world of color and light on the edge of the industrial section of town, and pulled up in front of a warehouse building.

  “They’re in there.” Delta pointed. “Wait here, I’ll find a way in.”

  It felt like someone yanked a hank of hair out of my head right before I caught the flutter of motion in my peripheral vision. Vaeta, in a smaller form than I’d ever seen one of the faeries take, was the size of a large dragonfly. “I didn’t know you could get that small, but you’re not supposed to be here.”

  She whooshed to full human size and shrugged off the censure.

  “What, and miss all the fun? You need me.” With that, she turned, assessed the building for a moment, then lifted her hands and blew the door in.

  So much for a stealthy approach.

  Beyond the opening where dust particles glittered in the sunlight slanting through the hole where the door used to be, darkness shrouded the interior. We’d be going in sun-blind.

  “I guess we’re going to make an entrance.” Mom deadpanned.

  As if they’d agreed on it ahead of time, Sylvana and Delta moved into protective flanking positions on either side of me while Vaeta practically danced on ahead.

  Our plan, made on the fly, seemed simple enough. We each went in with a different method of containment. On the fingers of both hands, I wore eight rings, each one charmed with a variation of the same binding spell Gran tried to use on Mom the day they fought.

  Walking behind Vaeta, I hoped it was enough.

  All resemblance to Dorothy and her crew creeping down the wizard’s shadowed corridor ended when my mother shot a ball of nearly white witchfire up to hover in the rafters and light the place up like a stadium during a night game.

  Whatever I expected to see, it wasn’t a huge, empty space with an open loft area jutting partway out from the glassed-in office at the top of a set of metal stairs. Actually, all that was fairly normal for a warehouse. Diana wearing a crown and sitting on a throne made from what might have been the bones of my brethren—that was not normal. The twins lounged at her feet, their legs hanging over the edge of the platform in a perfect Kodak moment of creepiness.

  “Hello, Lexi. Did you come to die?” Diana’s silvery tones echoed and turned harsh in the cavernous building.

  I don’t know why, but I tried reasoning with her. “You don’t want to do this, Diana. Killing your soul, even part of it, won’t make you a god.” Based on my recent experiences, I thought I was safe in pointing that out. “It’s not too late to turn back.”

  That might have been a lie. Dark veins traced winding paths under Diana’s skin, framing her face in a delicate lacy pattern before disappearing into her hairline. They’d turned her lips and eyes obsidian black. She couldn’t have much light left in her.

  In response, she barked out a laugh. “Why would I ever want to do that?”

  A hundred answers, but none that would sway her came to mind. “Your choice, I suppose.” I’d tried, and by trying, my conscience was clear. Whatever happened next was on Diana.

  She placed a hand on each of the twin’s heads and made the first move. “Go, my pets.”

  Her minions exploded off the platform to land lightly on the floor below, and the battle began.

  The Balmorrigan fought in silence, which I found unnerving. Most of my fighting experience has been from the outside perspective. Between the smack talk and the magical chaos, watching the faeries go at each other was never a quiet affair, so the slither and slide of sword over scythe seemed almost tame.

  Vaeta and my mother worked surprisingly well as a team. Devoid of her lantern, the female twin produced a length of pipe from under her cloak, which she swung one-handed while casting spells with the other.

  After the fourth time his scythe missed me narrowly, I began to wonder how the male Balmorrigan got his reputation. Delta’s sword blazed toward him and he sidestepped it easily, even though she moved at blurring speed, yet he missed me and I barely had to dodge.

  “What are you waiting for?” Delta hissed as she countered the scythe with the edge of her blade.

  “For you to get out of the line of fire.” I hissed back. Binding our best fighter in the middle of a battle was not part of the plan.

  I heard the slither of steel sliding over steel, smelled the coppery tang of blood, but couldn’t tell who’d been cut until Delta sprang back and left me the perfect opportunity. Anticipating his speed, I activated three of the rings in rapid sequence.

  The ploy worked. He dodged the first, barely managed to slap the second out of the air with his weapon, but couldn’t bring the heavy scythe back up in time to stop the third. Ropes made of fire and light slammed into him at mid body, and though he strained, the bindings held. Long enough, anyway, for Delta to slap on her version of magical handcuffs, and suddenly, we were down to a four-against-one battle.

  From her bizarre throne, Diana’s laugh echoed across the empty space, but she never lifted a finger to try to help the Balmorrigan. Some mother she turned out to be.

  Ten minutes can seem like nothing or forever depending on what you’re doing to occupy your time. Fighting supernaturally strong creatures for that long had begun to put a strain on us all. Delta’s breath came in short gasps, Vaeta’s whirlwinds were slowing, and even my mother’s spellcasting aim had weakened. I needed to bind the second twin before it was too late.

  She fought like a demon, but since I’d used the rings once, they'd lost the element of surprise. Nimble as a cat, she dodged the first one and kept coming for me, and because the others were still trying to protect me, they kept getting in my way. There was a lesson in that somewhere, but I didn’t have time to think it through.

  This would have been a great time to use a few of Evian’s tiny shell communicators, but none of us besides Vaeta had one handy. I’d have been able to whisper to my companions without telegraphing my intent to the Balmorrigan.

  Another minute passed, and I realized I’d have to bull my way into the middle of the fray, or someone on my team was going to get hurt. Vaeta was closest, so I hip-checked her out of the way and took aim. I’d chosen the wrong moment, and the next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion.

  Caught in the middle of sending out another mini tornado, Vaeta couldn’t pull it back in time, and the blast of air hit me instead. I felt my feet sliding across the concrete and saw the pipe coming toward my face at a speed that would probably knock it clean off my head.

  I activated two more of the ring charms.

  Several things happened all at once. My binding took the Balmorrigan just as Delta’s sword jumped between my face and the pipe that was about to obliterate it. The force of Delta’s upward thrust went awry as the binding shoved my attacker backwards, and the sword plunged into the Balmorrigan’s middle.

  Diana screamed in fury, and without even thinking, I launched the rest of the bindings toward the sound. Even if I’d hit her with all eight, they wouldn’t hold her for long.

  “Arabella, no!” Brother screamed for sister, but she never fell because Diana was there. Not five feet from where I stood, helpless to do anything but stare. Cold and black were the eyes of the wannabe goddess who held the woman she’d raised by the neck as casually as if she were nothing more than a bag of groceries.

  “Now, now. Mustn’t let all that lovely darkness go to waste.”

  No one moved while Diana bent her head as though to kiss her daughter, and instead, consumed the darkness that was the Balmorrigan’s soul.

  My skin crawled, and my stomach tried to climb up into my throat.

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” The first time she’d spoken since we arrived, the female’s voice rasped with pain and conviction. “You think because you made us, you control our thoughts, but you only control our actions. I hope you choke and die for all you’ve made us do.” Her eyes fell on me. “She told us witches were the evil ones. That we were bred to be strong and to fight against those powerful enough to bring darkness to the world. We believed we were on the side of good until she was imprisoned a demon named Rhys showed us what she really was.”

  Sneering, Diana let her talk. “Isn’t that nice, a deathbed confession.”

  “Kill me. I beg of you, set me free. She forced me to darken my soul, and now that she’s taken what she put in me, there’s nothing left but a soul-killing stain. All that ever was good in me is dying, and if you don’t kill me now, the demon will be all that remains. A demon she can control. Kill me now while I can die knowing there was love and not only hate. Please.”

  The terror, pain, and desperation in her voice made my heart constrict. Her words rang true, even without my witchly powers of truth parsing, and I knew someone had to do something. I just really didn’t want to be that person now.

  None of us heard him move, nor did we realize he’d broken free of the binding, but when the scythe rose and fell, neither were we its victims as the male dealt his sister the killing blow. “Blessed be, sister. Blessed be.” When it was done, he did the totally unexpected and handed the weapon to me.

  “I cannot repay the debt I owe your blood, but I will give myself in service for what I owe.”

  Before I could process the meaning of that, he’d shucked off my binding along with Delta’s, and launched himself toward Diana.

  “Be thou the most perfect version of thyself.”

  Salem has always maintained that a novice witch can funnel so much of his or her power into a spell, or it arcs back and consumes the witch. I’d thought him overly cautious, but I’d never expected a full-grown witch could do the same thing on purpose.

  The Balmorrigan’s power struck Diana like an avalanche rolling down a mountain. It caught her in its ferocity, and she began to shriek as she felt the change coming on. I saw her reach into her cleavage and pull out one of her cards. I saw her throw it, but I was too busy watching what came next to see where it went.

  As his magic poured into her, the Balmorrigan began to shake, and then to burn. He went up like a torch, leaving the smell of burning flesh behind until he turned completely to ash.

  Tendons popped with sickening sounds, and Diana’s skin blackened, turning leathery while she howled in pain. I couldn’t tell you what she became because I’m not sure there’s a name for something that’s part bird and part human. Either way, she wouldn’t be throwing any more cards until she figured out how to turn herself back. The process took mere seconds, and then she took flight and busted out through one of the multi-paned windows.

  Only the sound of the wind whistling through broken glass could be heard until a groan sounded behind me and I turned just in time to catch Delta as she fell.

  Diana’s weapon had not been a card made of paper, but one fashioned from razor-edged metal, and it was now lodged in Delta’s chest.

  “Help her.” I screamed at Vaeta and my mother. “Do something.” But I could tell by their stricken faces, it was too late.

  While I held her and begged for it not to be so, Delta died in my arms.

  Epilogue

  I don’t know what happens to the Fiach when they die. Witches go to the Summerlands, though with my mixed heritage, who knows where I’ll end up. Of course, humans can’t seem to agree on their ultimate resting place, and some believe they’ll be reincarnated into another person, or a butterfly, or maybe a rock.

  What Delta had hoped her afterlife would hold, I couldn’t have begun to guess, and our friendship had been cut too short to reach the point of me finding out.

  I also don’t know if the Fiach erect gravestones for their dead, but by the goddess, I made sure this one did. It held nothing but the date of her death, her name, and an etching of her face. Kneeling to place a bouquet of flowers at its base, I traced a finger over the rendering and made a promise to Delta: to defeat the woman who had stolen her from this world, or die trying.

  And I wouldn’t do it alone. All Diana had accomplished was to royally tick off a veritable army of powerful supernaturals, and every single one was willing to go to the ends of the earth to avenge her death.

  If that meant I had to swallow my pride and give my mother what she wanted, so be it. If going straight to the source and seeking out my father was necessary, I’d do it. And if choking the life out of her with my bare hands was what it took, I’d happily pay whatever karmic debt the act incurred.

  But I would get justice.

  ***

  Can’t wait to find out what happens next in Lexi’s epic saga?

  Join ReGina’s Page Turners group and get news and updates twice a month plus a new release alert whenever a new book comes out.

  You will also have access to exclusive giveaways, sneak peeks & excerpts, and a FREE copy of a short story featuring Lexi Balefire.

  Sign up HERE

  You can find ReGina on the web by clicking here, and also follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

  To be notified when a new book is available by Erin Lynn,

  Sign up for Erin Lynn’s Newsletter

  You can find Erin on the web by clicking here, and also follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

  Also by ReGina Welling and Erin Lynn

  The Fate Weaver series:

  Featuring Lexi Balefire, a matchmaking witch with a certain something extra. Her story is full of magic, romance, zany family antics, and intrigue.

  A Match Made in Spell

  All Spell is Breaking Loose

  To Spell & Back

  No Chance in Spell

  Spell Hath No Fury

  A Cold Day in Spell

  Elder Witch Cozy Mystery Series:

  Featuring Mag and Clara Balefire. Sassy sisters, witches, detectives

  Murder Above the Fold

  Murder on the Backswing

  Murder Below the Waterline

  Haunted by Murder

  Ponderosa Pines Mysteries

  Nothing bad ever happens in the weird little town of Ponderosa Pines…until someone dies.

  Cat Killed A Rat

  Crafting Disorder

  Caught in the Frame

  Bait and Snitch

  Also by ReGina Welling

  The Psychic Seasons Series

  A little mystery, a little romance, and a paranormal twist hit Julie Hayward when the ghost of her grandmother shows up with some interesting news.

  Rings on Her Fingers

  Bells on Her Toes

  She Shall Have Music

  Wherever She goes

  Earthbound Bones

  Earthbound Wings

 

 

  ReGina Welling, A Cold Day in Spell

 

 

  Thank you for reading books on GrayCity.Net
Share this book with friends