Awakening (34 page)

I didn’t know how much time we had,
but there were a lot of people to untie. I moved to the body
closest to me and started to work on the ropes when I heard
Freddy’s voice.

“
Someone’s coming. There
are lights down the hallway heading this way.”

Hands grabbed at me. “We have to get
out of here.”

“
But we can’t leave them,”
I said, looking around at the bodies filling the room. Eyes pleaded
with us to save them. The looks on the faces, the fear in their
eyes, we couldn’t just leave them.

Luke pulled me roughly to my feet. “We
can’t help them if we get caught. We have to get out of here
now!”

I wasn’t going to leave them to be
slaughtered like my family. I fought against him, but Luke pushed
and shoved me out of the room. Freddy had Darla’s arm and Luke was
manhandling me roughly down the passage.

At the end of the passage was another
set of stairways. I didn’t have a choice, I headed up. We went
through another narrow passage, but instead of a tapestry at the
end, this time we came to a door.

Luke opened it and stuck his head
inside. “It’s clear.”

We made our way out of the mansion,
toward the patio, and back into the bushes. Darla rushed into
Luke’s arms. Luke was holding his sister as she cried softly into
his shoulder.

Freddy dropped his bag and went over
to join them. The three of them stood there, huddled
together.

Freddy spoke up, “There were a couple
dozen people in that room. Why have they taken so many people
hostage?”

“
So he can kill them,” I
answered.

Luke took a step from away from his
sister and then drew her close again. “Did you see the ball room?
Not everyone he’s taken is dead. My guess is he’s building some
kind of coven. And they’re recreating the spells of old. The girl
from the lake, Sarah. She said they gave her a choice, and she
refused to give them what they wanted. I’m betting they wanted her
power, wanted her will given over to the group.”

I was trying to understand what he was
telling me, but none of it made sense. “But why?”

“
So they could combine and
become more than just themselves. Groups are dangerous. My people
never combine our magics. We’re a guild, true, but everyone wields
their own power separately. Centuries ago there were covens, groups
of magicians. The problem is that the leader of the group defines
what that magic is like, it’s flavor. They take over the free will
from the group. Everyone in the group becomes almost like the
banshees, a living person magically bound to the group’s leader.
Bound to do his or her bidding.”

“
Macaven is trying to form
a coven with the strongest mage members he can find? And the ones
that won’t play along he kills?” I shook my head. “But they didn’t
sacrifice Sarah, they just killed her.”

Luke eyes met mine. “There are tales
in the old books about covens hunting people for pleasure. For the
thrill of killing. The violence inside them takes over in a way
that’s dangerous. And from what we just overheard he’s close, close
to letting the demon out.”

“
And if he
does?”

Luke frowned. “Demons haven’t roamed
the earth for a hundred years.”

Demons, Luke was talking about demons.
A shiver went down my spine at the thought of such an evil creature
set loose on the world. “How do you stop a demon?”

“
There were people trained
to kill them, to force them into oblivion, but those arts have long
been lost.” Luke slowly shook his head back and forth. “There are
no demon killers in this day and age.”

“
So the demon would have free reign and Macaven would control
it?” There would be no one to stop him. Luke said he was doing
preparation for the spell, which meant we still had time to stop
it. “How does he raise the demon?”

“
If he has enough people in
the coven they would help him generate the power he needs to do one
of the ancient raising spells.”

“
And my father, you think
his spirit is in the dagger?”

He looked away. “Your father no longer
exists.”

“
But his spirit…” I
couldn’t get the words out.

Luke left Darla’s side and came to
mine. He reached over and grabbed my hand. “It’s not like your
brother James. Your father’s spirit, his very essence, has been
combined with the others sacrificed with the knife.”

“
Combined with the evil
ones?” I said through clenched teeth.

“
The darkest hearts and
souls.”

I couldn’t believe my father would be
trapped forever in the dagger. “There’s no way to release my
father?”

“
None that I know
of.”

“
We have to stop Macaven!”
We couldn’t let that madman go through with his plans. How many had
he killed, how many more would die at his hands if he raised a
demon? We’d left all those people. All those people in the basement
were going to be slaughtered, killed brutally like my family. The
image of the bullet tearing through my mother’s forehead flashed
before my eyes. I could smell my father’s blood as it gushed from
the wicked gash across his neck. Everyone in there was going to
die, and we hadn’t done anything to stop it.

Luke looked over at his sister and
then back at me. “They’ll have figured out Darla’s missing, and
they’ll start searching for her. Searching for us. We need to head
back to the car and get out of here as fast as we can.” He walked
over to Darla and put his arm around her and started
forward.

I walked over to Freddy’s bag and
started rummaging through it, looking for a weapon I could use. I
pulled out the axe. It was heavy, but light enough for me to swing.
“I can’t leave those people to be killed by Macaven and his insane
followers.”

“
You saw how many there
were. We’re outnumbered,” Luke said.

“
We can’t just turn and
run,” I cried. James spirit was still bound as a banshee. My
father’s spirit was lost within the dagger. I believed my father
could be saved--there had to be some way to free him. I wasn’t
going to run away again, not this time. I wouldn’t leave my family
to suffer forever at the hands of that madman.

Luke eyes met mine. “Our people will
be back next week. When they come back, we’ll make sure Macaven
pays for what he’s done.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“By next week Macaven will have freed the demon. Your words, ‘there
are no more demon killers’. You said there isn’t anyone strong
enough to stop him. Macaven is powerful now, but with a demon at
his side he’ll be invincible.”

Luke’s arm tightened around his
sister. “Colina, its suicide to go back in there.”

“
I can’t leave those
people. I won’t leave those people in there. I won’t leave James,”
I said through clenched teeth. I swung the axe and it sunk a good
inch into the solid trunk of the nearest tree.

Luke was starting to get angry. “What
do you think you’re going to do with that? You think you can take
on dozens of mages with your little axe. You aren’t thinking
straight. You’ve a right to be upset about your brother and your
father, I understand…”

I cut him off. “You don’t understand.”
I pulled the axe out with a violent tug. He couldn’t understand. He
didn’t watch his entire family being butchered. I lost everything
that was important to me and now Luke expected me to walk away
without making the men pay for what they did to my
family.

“
There’s nothing we can
do.” Luke’s eyes were now pleading with me. “Not now. We have to
play it smart and wait for backup.”

I took a step back, and I shook my
head. “I’m going back in.”

Luke demanded, “And do what? You don’t
have any banshee power. You don’t know any spells.”

I knew what he was saying was true,
but I didn’t care. A red hot anger was burning inside me. I was
past reason. The only thought pounding through my head was the word
‘revenge.’ I wanted to make them pay for what they did. Luke made a
grab for me, but I pushed him away. I started running back toward
the house. What I was doing was suicide, but I couldn’t leave now.
What if by the time we came back with his guild, the bad guys had
all disappeared? Once they left it would be impossible to track
them. I knew where they were now, and I wasn’t going to lose this
chance to at least try and do something to stop them. And with
their deaths dozens would be saved. Now was my last chance before
Macaven become untouchable, too powerful for anyone to
stop.

I ran toward the house, and anger,
fueled by blood and violence, radiated out of me. It was coursing
through my body--the rage gave me a power I could feel, sliding
down my limbs and tingling from my fingertips. I’d find a way to
balance the scales. Those madmen had to pay.

This time there was no one
standing watch over the archway. I made my way back inside. I had
no plan of action. I wasn’t thinking now, I was just reacting. My
heart pounded in my chest, and I could hear it roaring in my ears.
An image of the dagger flashed before my eyes. If I could get my
hands on the dagger, I could stop Macaven from creating the demon.
I’d freed the boy, Thomas, I could find a way to use my new
abilities to free my father.
Kill the
wizard and the banshees go free.
If I could
kill Macaven, my brother’s spirit would be released. I might be
able to get my hands on the dagger and thrust it through Macaven’s
heart. If I could get close enough to the altar and create some
kind of distraction. Wait until they weren’t paying attention to
make a grab for the knife. If I could get close enough, I might
just be able to pull it off.

And once I did? How would I get away?
How could I possibly escape? I pushed those thoughts aside and kept
moving.

I went through one room and into the
hallway. I was jogging now, trying to get back to the main event
before they finished butchering the livestock. I didn’t know what
time it was, but come midnight Luke said they would move from
livestock onto killing people. They would start killing the
hostages they were holding down below. Once I killed Macaven, I’d
try to find a way to help the others escape, no more innocent
people would die, not if I could help it.

I came up to the door into the main
room, and I could hear people cheering on the other side. An image
of Luke flashed through my mind and my fingers hesitated on the
doorknob. There was a good chance I wouldn’t make it out of this
alive. There were things still left unsaid between us. I’d never
told Luke how sorry I was about the stupid fight we’d had. How, the
more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to stay with
him after this was all over. If his guild wouldn’t accept me, maybe
the two of us could go off together on our own. Luke said he loved
me. If he loved me, he might be willing to leave his guild to be
with me. I shook my head. If I did this, if I went through the
door, I was risking everything to try and save my brother’s and
father’s spirits. It was a crazy thing to do. A sob escaped my
mouth, and my hands were trembling. I had to do it, I would fight
this time, I would save what I could of my family. I had no choice
but to try.

I took a deep breath and let the anger
run through me like a fire. It was what I needed now, the anger,
the violence--it was what made the death dealers so effective. I
might not have spells, but Luke was wrong, I did have some magic. I
could raise the dead. So what if I couldn’t bring forth banshees,
all I needed was a dead body or two, and I could create the
distraction I needed. My mind didn’t shy away at the thought of
killing someone. I was no longer the weak, helpless healer who’d
stumbled into the magic shop. I’d been through the rituals and had
survived them. I had watched my family being slaughtered, and I was
still functioning. I had been tested by fire, and I had come out
stronger, the fire had turned me into steel.

I pushed open the door and walked into
the room. Macaven was still by the altar, but this time instead of
a goat lying across the altar, it was a teenage boy. The boy’s
hands were tied to either side of the stone surface as Macaven
stood over him.

Everyone in the room except Macaven
was swaying back and forth. As I passed a group of people, I
realized no one in the crowd seemed aware I was there. They all
seemed to be in some kind of trance. Macaven held a black book in
one hand and the dagger in the other. He was reading words from the
book in Latin. All my attention was now focused on Macaven. I moved
forward through the swaying crowd, weaving my way around black
capes and making my way toward the altar. Pushing back my cloak, I
lifted the axe. I gripped my fingers tightly around the base of the
axe and moved forward.

Someone bumped into me. I turned and
realized this guy didn’t have a glazed expression on his face, he
looked quite pissed. His hands came up, and he started to make a
grab for me.

He said, “Got her!” and I realized he
was talking into an earpiece.

More guards were closing in on me from
the back of the room. The bad guys had me, and I didn’t doubt for a
minute they would kill me. I didn’t realize I had lifted the axe
until I saw it swinging down toward the man’s head. It smashed into
the side of his temple, and he fell to the ground. Blood spurted
out around the axe embedded in his head.