Spirit Walker, page 13
“I can’t go through that again.” I whisper out my vow, “I’ll never love another like that again.”
Both guys sit back at this last statement. They glance at each other then back at me.
“Let us finish this and then we can take it from there, yes?” Brakken pleads.
Taking a great calming breath and letting it sigh out of me, I nod my acceptance and lie back down on the altar.
Vaun moves over near the door, lights another smoke bundle, placing it in the brazier next to him. He starts to chant in a droning tone. Brakken leaves me, a moment later appearing next to me, his head covered with a dark cloak, his face now hidden in the hood's darkness. He gently takes my hand in his. “Don’t be afraid, Kærasti,” he tells me, squeezing my hand for support.
“What is that? What does that word mean?” As I gaze at the ceiling, noticing drawings there for the first time, as well. They have those protection runes everywhere, geesh.
“It means Darling.” He states so softly it’s almost a whisper. This makes my heart stop and give a little thump thump. His voice takes up the chanting as well, harmonizing with Vaun’s. I concentrate on just relaxing. I just need to lie here, wait for them to do whatever, and then it will all be done, I tell myself.
The smoke in the room swirls about, gathering to fall over me. It’s pleasant and relaxes me like lavender but smells of mint, and thyme, maybe lemon balm? I try to make it out, breathing the smoke in deeper. A tingle starts in my stomach and swirls out. My lips start to go a little numb and I lick them, trying to get feeling back in them. I must be cold, I decide, but notice I’m not shivering. In fact, my whole body is tingling and going numb. I can feel it creeping along with the smoke. I have a last-minute bout of panic before I am fully numb and blissed out. My mind swims as I just lie on the altar in a daze.
Brakken hovers above me giving a light tap on my cheek to see how much I move. I guess as I frown. Am I frowning?
He nods to Vaun and the chanting changes tempo, turning from gentle humming to insistent calling out over and over. I don’t know what language they are chanting in though. My head is whirling about like a drunken night out when you flop down on your bed wrong. I close my eyes, trying to steady the spinning. Feeling Brakkens hand running down to stop on my stomach, I open my eyes concentrating on him.
The gentle tingle that was in my stomach now unfurls to claw at me from the inside. The clawing becomes more urgent as they chant faster and faster. It feels as if something is literally clawing its way out of my stomach, and I scream. Only no sound comes forth realization dawning as I can’t move or scream or talk to tell them to stop, to tell them something is very wrong. All I can do is pray for it to stop.
I squeeze my eyes shut, tears tracking down the side of my face into my hair. The clawing in my stomach becomes brutal, making me want to vomit. I try gulping air to no avail as I can’t even take a deep breath. My gaze falls again on the dark hole that hides Brakkens face and I am sure my eyes must plead with him to stop, to please hear me.
Watching in frozen amazement, his hand flies up off my stomach into the air and the room erupts into the same smoky electric blue that lit up the cave. I blink my eyes, taking in the sight before me. The blue swirls around like a tornado forming, whipping my hair and gown about before it slows to form a woman, iridescent and smoky, standing before us, hovering in the air. So, this is the ghost witch, Idunn. All I can do is just blink in awe.
Hauntingly, her voice scratches out “Finally, we meet.” She rushes me, bringing her ghostly face right into mine. Unable to move, I just blink up at her.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Brakken and Vaun both kneeling before the altar. Or are they kneeling before her? Still not able to move, I do the only thing I can do, I take her in, examining her. She’s quite beautiful with an athletic body, stunning pure white hair in dreadlocks down to her waist. Each time she moves or swirls, an additional detail appears, like tiny carved metal beads in her hair or a flash of a trinket dangling from her chest piece.
“Idunn, we beg for your guidance and forgiveness,” Brakken intones.
The ghostly visage screeches and swirls over to him. He doesn’t move, not even to look at her.
“My love, please forgive me for my failing.” He falls prone before her, and I swear I could hear the heartbreak in those words.
A ghostly hiss, “You, my favored, my first.” She swirls out breaking apart to reform before Vaun.
He falls prone before her as well. “And you, my healer, I know what you have had to do in my name.” She fades in and out.
“It pains me so that you have suffered these many years. That was not my intention.” She moans and it’s such a sad broken sound goose-flesh forms over my body. Both men rise and finally look upon her visage. She hovers in front of Brakken addressing him.
“Elskan mín, I could never fault you for my deeds. But now we must fix this.” Her ghostly voice vibrates the air as she speaks.
“I am prepared and have all the items we will need. I’m sorry I did not come for you sooner.” Brakken says, the last bit so softly I barely hear it.
“The others?” She moans out.
Vaun shakes his head, sadness falling over his face. “There was no time, she is already too strong.”
“I understand. She is, after all, my descendant. My blood is strong.” She sounds proud, and a shiver runs the length of me at what this might mean. Idunn moves back over to me, her face in mine as she whispers. “You will take my place. I’m sorry you will have much to learn, and you must do it quickly.”
What the fuck does she mean take her place? I scream in my head.
Her ghostly cackle reverberates around the room like a shot from a gun as she floats back to the center.
“She has much fire. She will need you all to survive what’s coming.”
“We will fulfill our Oath,” Brakken states firmly.
“Aye.” Vaun agrees beside him.
Idunn nods, her form beginning to dissipate. “Quickly now, before the power fades.”
Vaun begins the chanting again, soft at first but building strength. Brakken reaches under the altar pulling out a really old looking vase that has a cork top. He pulls the plug and walking around me he begins to splash the contents over me. His voice joins Vaun’s in the incantation as they both circle me, splashing whatever the fuck over me. Finally coming to a stop at my head, one last little splash on my face, getting in my eye, he pours the remainder of the contents over my hair. My vision bleeds red, and I recognize the liquid now. It’s blood.
Idunn, seeming to fade more, comes to my ear and whispers instructions for only me to hear. She gazes down at me, silently pleading with me to accept my fate. All I can do is cry. I don’t think I have the strength to do as she asks.
“I know how you feel, little one.” She starts to fade, no longer in her human form. “I would never ask anything of you I didn’t know you could do.” The smoky swirl speaks, and it fills the room. On a last haunting breath, I hear her, “Trust them…” silence reigns in the room.
~ Andie ~
Brakken, pulling the hood of his cloak back, peers over me, his lips moving. If I could glare, I would. My ears are filled with her ghostly last words, and I can’t focus on what he’s saying. My vision, blurred red, focuses on his lips, moving. He seems upset. Vaun appears in my line of sight, his face also filled with concern.
The sickening crunch of metal. Glass tinkling as it shatters to rain down on everything. Each painful grunting thud of bodies being slammed around. The deafening exploding pop of airbags as they deploy. A stomach-churning motion of getting up-ended. Finally, nothing but silence, hearing only your own heartbeat. Once loving eyes glazing over as blood drips into my eyes turning the world red…
Vaun runs his thumb lightly along my lips, bringing my focus back to him. His lips are moving as well. He’s saying something to me. All I hear is “Trust Them,” rolling through my mind along with her final instructions. How can I after this fiasco? After they betrayed me by putting me in this position? Drugging me? Because I still can’t move, and they are looking at me like they are powerless to help me right now. I fight panic as I count down the minutes, no, the seconds I am held immobile against my will. I will never forgive them for this. My heart flutters in my chest at the sadness this thought brings.
I feel some cool liquid dribbled along my lips and feel the tears of frustration melting down my temples. I begin to shiver, not from cold, but from a complete fury that fills me with each passing moment. Fighting to break the surface, break free from this hold, in my fury I think, Burn it all! A flare of power pulses out of me, flying through the room, knocking everything over, including the guys. Dust and smoke and whatever else goes flying out like ripples on a pond from me as the power holding me immobile collapses, setting me free.
I sit up slowly, my gaze finding both guys out cold on the floor. Whatever I did, it broke the spell but also knocked them out. Serves them right. My hands shake as I pluck at my gown, gazing down at myself. My once gauzy white gown is now horrifically splattered with blood and my hair is sticking grotesquely to my neck and back in a solid blood clotted mess. Shaking, I stand swaying. I need to get this shit off me.
I stumble out of the room and down the hall, opening doors, looking for a bathroom. Finding one, I’m grateful to see it has a shower. Fighting back emotions I can’t even begin to sort through, I rip the bloodied dress from my shoulders, pushing it down my hips, trails of blood sticking to me as I drop it to the floor quickly stepping out. I shudder as I reach in turning the shower on, stepping in right away, not even waiting for the water to get warm in my rush to get it off, just get it off.
A blood-filled mix of water sluices down my body as I tilt my head back. The copper scent hits my nostrils making me gag. I force myself to not vomit as I run my shaking fingers through my hair over and over. My hearing is slow to return, as it does, I realize I’m making terrified little animalistic cries. After long moments in the shower, I step out, reaching for a towel and clear the steam from the mirror to take in my reflection. My hair looks redder than normal, and I wonder if there’s still blood in it, even after standing in the shower for so long. My eyes, though, that’s where you can tell something happened. They glow that electric neon blue I saw after falling in the cave. Only this time, they aren’t fading. I blink a few times, trying to clear them like they did before, but this seems more permanent. Even in my mind, it feels like this won’t change. I wonder what other changes I’ll see.
Turning, I head back to the altar room for my clothes. As I pad down the hall, I let my anger build, gearing up to meet them on my return. I stomp angrily into the room, ready to tell them exactly how fucked I think they are, but to my surprise, they are still out. Relieved, I grab my clothes, getting dressed. I step over to Vaun, patting him down, looking for his keys. Feeling them, I dig in his pocket, yanking them out none too gently. I’m taking this fucker’s car and they can suck it. I turn on my heel heading out. Turning down the hallway, a click like a door opening pulls my attention as I pause to glance around, looking for it. Just up the hallway there’s a door slightly ajar, open, as if to call me in.
As I push the door open, the room lights up automatically. Stunned as my eyes fill with what looks to be some kind of display room. My jaw drops as I look around at all the different items on display. It dawns on me this is like a museum. Who the hell has a museum in their house? These items must be hundreds of years old.
Fascinated, I walk around a huge stone set in the center like the masterpiece of the whole exhibit. It’s easily eight feet tall and covered with rune like lettering similar to what was in my cave. I stumble a moment, wondering when it became my cave. I reach out to run my hand along each symbol. The stone warms, the symbols flaring to life in an electric blue under my fingertips, as if to call out to me. I lean in, resting my forehead on it, just taking a moment to calm my breathing. A slight vibration radiates from it to me, and I feel renewed and healed in a way I haven’t felt in over a year.
“Thank you,” I whisper to the stone? To empty air? I feel as if it just gifted me a great gift. The stone flares brightly, then fades back to its aged-ivory facade.
A sense of urgency fills me as if I’ve wasted enough time. I spin, hurrying to leave before the guys wake up to stop me. Turning to go, a sparkle of bright shiny catches my eye from a display case. As I approach, light catches on a golden bracelet intricately carved with various animals running along the band. A ribbon of tiny etched runes decorates the edge, calling out to me.
Using Vaun’s keys, I tap the glass, making it shatter. I reach in, taking the bracelet, slipping it over my hand to rest on my wrist where it settles over a little cut I got from the case. Oh well, not the worst that’s happened to me today.
I stalk out of the room, walking down the hall to the front door. Before I leave, my gaze rests one last moment upon the tapestry adorning the main entryway. She was beautiful and now I know she was my great-great-great something...Grandmother? Aunti? Yes, that feels right...Aunti. Smiling for the first time. I step out into the sun, leaving this house, these men behind.
~ Vaun ~
This is a complete cluster fuck. I’ve said that in my head about a thousand times now as I wait for the magic holding us immobile to wear off. She has no idea what just happened, and this is verging on a disaster in the making. We should have told her before we did the ceremony. Trusted her to make the right decision, instead we treated her like a child and yep, got burned.
I saw it the instant blood hit her eye. If she hadn’t been immobile from the drug, in thrall to Idunn, we would have paid a heavy price for that little stunt. Our girl has some baggage that she hasn’t yet told me and now I don’t think she ever will. I’m thankful she hasn’t seen fit to kick me in the dick.
I fume laying on the floor, listening to her cry as she showers for an eternity until finally hearing footsteps lightly padding in. Moments later, her beautiful flaming hair, less blood now, tickles my cheek as she leans in patting me down, searching for my keys.
I have a moment of panic at her leaving without our protection, but what can we do. We sit, or rather lay, still as death long after she has left. No choice but to wait it out. It will fade once she is calm, I hope. Hours pass as each minute slips by in agony. I marvel that she is able to maintain the hold for so long. I also shudder in fear. The strength of the magic has grown since we last felt it. Attempting to move for the hundredth time, a pop like pressure breaks through the room and muscles stiff I’m able to move once more. The first thing I move is my mouth.
“You fucker.” I growl at Brakken as I roll over, climbing to my hands and knees. My fury explodes in my chest and now that I’m free, all I want is a little payback. Magic fills me as I feel the long lost but still familiar hum along my muscles as I transform. The fury in me burns bright as I watch my fingers turn into deadly claws, my hands becoming paws the size of dinner plates. I drag my deadly claws along the rough flooring, scraping up chunks as I chuff out a challenge. Dense fur breaks out over my body, my back arching as I flow into my bear form. A menacing, throaty roar vibrates through the room. My bear is pissed. In an instant I’m charging at Brakken. Roaring in rage, snapping my fangs, I hit him with the force of a truck. He goes flying through the air, instantly taking form. He yowls in a furious hiss, prowling around my bigger bulk, taking swipes at my muzzle.
His panther, agile and quick as lightning, dodges my blows while he smacks my muzzle repeatedly, infuriating me to new heights. I roar out my rage in his face as he hisses back at me. Swaying, I close in, using my bulk to corner him as I lunge and sink my teeth into his shoulder, biting down until I taste his blood on my tongue. He yowls in pain, twisting us in a giant ball of flying fur and grunting fury. Hissing and spitting, he claws at my muzzle, attempting to make me release him. Wrenching free, his shoulder torn and bleeding, he hitches back into the corner, glaring at me. Wanting the last word, I roar in his face, turning as I let the magic flow from me, slumping exhausted to the floor. I feel blood dripping down my nose and huff at him over my shoulder. Ignoring me, he sets to licking the wound on his shoulder.
Getting to my feet, I gather my medic bag, as I hear a groan behind me, Brakken having changed back as well. He’s slumped, holding his arm, resting in the corner.
“I know. I know I was wrong, but we didn’t have TIME!” He shakes with rage, attempting to explain.
“No, you did it the only way you knew of to keep her. You stole her life and now she will hate us for it.”
“I can train her; I can fix this,” he mumbles out. Snorting, I reach in my bag for bandages and realize I’m healed. The claw marks are sealed, no longer bleeding, red and puffy.
I go to Brakken, and before he can pout and tell me not to, I grab his arm, slapping my palm over his wound, healing it as he hisses in pain. Good, let that be a small lesson for him.
Relenting, I sit back and take in the mess of the room, the broken jars, blood, fur, everything knocked over and in disarray I sigh.
“I hope so Brother.”
Brakken nods, testing his now healed arm. A little laugh escapes him as he leans his head back against the wall.
“I guess I need to apologize.”
“Understatement. She likes mint and daisies.” I smirk, hoping she kicks him in the balls.
“It feels good, doesn’t it?” He chuckles at me because yes, he knows it does. I refuse to let him have the satisfaction, though.
“Fix it, fast.” I poke a finger at his chest. Getting to my feet, I grab my phone, texting her.
Me: I need to know your safe. Please text me back.
My bear is riding me hard to go and check on her, but stalking is not the way to a girl’s heart. I sigh because who am I kidding, she’s not going to answer. I throw a glare at Brakken over my shoulder, noticing he’s dressed. He jingles his keys as he looks at me. “You coming? Or staying put?”
