Cataclysm (44 page)

“I’m here, Querida,” he said from right in front of her.

In some small way, she had hoped banishing Drake might have been the cure for his curse, even though that really didn’t make much sense. She heard laughter and celebration to her left and turned to find Gabe, Colton, Talon, Sydney, Olivia, and Tyson—all unharmed, and each bragging about the part they had played in the takedown of the ultimate evil. Their roles were significant, and it couldn’t have happened without them.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to celebrate,” Availia said. Kerrigan turned to see Sinclair’s coven at a full run through the graveyard. “Why do they always seem to be running away?” Availia asked with amusement in her voice.

Talon rolled his eyes. “We’ll grab ’em.” He, Tyson, Sydney, and Olivia took off in hot pursuit after the fleeing group. Greta and Chase had Theo’s arms hooked over their shoulders to help him, so they wouldn’t get far.

“I’m going to bind them from doing magic once and for all when they get back here,” Availia said. “They’re wearing this old woman out.”

Kerrigan turned and beamed at her grandmother, her heart filled to near bursting with happiness. “Grammy, you came. I don’t know how it’s possible, but you did. Just like Lucy said.”

Availia gave Kerrigan the warm smile she had missed so much. “Yes, Sunshine. I came.” She touched Kerrigan’s belly with a frail hand. “This one will need to be well protected, even more than you. I’ve heard it said that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, in this case, it will take a village of Guardians.” She winked at her.

“Oh, this is disgusting!” Sinclair said. “You’re so naïve you don’t even realize what a hateful bitch that old hag is!”

Kerrigan turned on her. She had forgotten Sinclair was still there. Angry, she lunged at her, but Drew stood between them. Why was he still protecting her?

Kerrigan pointed at her. “Watch your mouth, Sinclair! I’m warning you!”

“You think your precious grandmother is such a saint, but she’s not. She’s a murderer! Tell her! Tell her all about how you killed my unborn child, Availia Cruz. Tell her!” Sinclair fumed, her chest heaving in anger and her eyes welling up with fresh tears as the vision of the sealed room came to mind—a room that sat stagnant, empty of the young life that should have thrived there. Drew wrapped his arms around her, trying to offer some comfort.

Kerrigan gasped in horror. “How dare you say such a horrible thing! My grandmother is the kindest, most generous woman I know, and she would never take another human life!”

Availia put her hand on Kerrigan’s arm to calm her down. When she turned to look at her granddaughter, there was a sadness in her eyes. “What she says is true. I did abort the baby.” She turned to address Sinclair. “But we had our reasons, Sinclair. That baby wasn’t mortal.”

“Oh, and you are? What makes you so much more special than my baby? Why do you and your bitch granddaughter get to live, but not my baby? I hate you and my witch of a grandmother for what you did!”

“You respect your elders, Sinclair Davis.” Availia’s voice was even. “Lucy was beside herself with grief because of what we were forced to do.”

Sinclair’s expression drew up in disgust. “I have no respect for either of you!”

“Lucy? Lucy is her grandmother?”

“Yes. She came to me and asked for my help. She was desperate, but she knew I couldn’t intervene with my gift unless I was granted permission.” Availia turned back to Sinclair. “Dark magic created that child, which is exactly why your body was aborting it. It wasn’t natural. It was an abomination, and as such, the universe would not allow it. You still don’t understand that Drake was manipulating—”

“Shut up!” Sinclair pulled wildly at her hair. “Drake loved me! He was the only person who ever loved me! And you just killed him! You
all
just killed him.” She shoved Drew away from her.

“I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. When you became pregnant, Lucy saw it. You kept talking about this man named Drake, but whenever she touched you, she couldn’t see the man you described. She could only see what he really was, and so she called me. The second I touched your womb, I knew what was growing inside you. We couldn’t have allowed you to give birth to that baby. It was a demon spawn, bred to do his will.”

Sinclair shook her head emphatically. “It doesn’t matter. She was still my baby.”

“It never would have been yours. You were only a vessel, a surrogate Drake was using to bring the child to life.”

“Lies! They’re all lies!”

Availia was getting nowhere, and she knew it. She shook her head and sighed. “If you won’t believe me...”

“Maybe you’ll believe me,” an angelic voice said from behind them.

There was a collective gasp as everyone turned toward the sound, finding a lady with porcelain skin and hair the color of a western sunset. She positively glowed—not just her eyes, but every inch of her body, including the white robe that flowed like liquid silk from her shoulders to her feet. Her eyes were a pale shade of green that couldn’t be described. She was inhumanly beautiful, and even though she looked dramatically different from the one and only picture she had ever seen of her, Kerrigan knew exactly who she was.

“Sarah...” Dominic whispered.

Colton pushed through the throng of people until he was standing before their visitor. “Mom?”

Dominic couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He knew it wasn’t his mother’s ghost. There was something more compassionate, graceful... pure about her.

Sarah opened her arms, her long, flowing gown shimmering in the intense moonlight as she smiled. The warmth that emanated from that one expression engulfed the cold Dominic had felt while in his spectral state. Despite all the hard feelings he’d had for her over the years, he wanted nothing more than to go to her. All animosity melted away within just that one smile.

But she couldn’t even see him. She could, however, see her younger son. Colton bolted into their mother’s arms and her resulting laugh was like the sound of wind chimes blowing in a breeze. When she wrapped her arms around her son, the sensations of their magical reunion flowed like pulsing waves radiating in a perfect circle, affecting everyone around them. No other sensation was greater than that of absolute safety.

“My baby boy’s going to be a doctor, yes?” Sarah pulled back to look at Colton with that same warm smile. “I’m so very proud of you.”

“I’ve missed you so much.” Colton spoke quickly, as if he wasn’t sure how much time he had left with her. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I tried. I really did. I just couldn’t—”

“Hush, child.” Sarah’s tone was motherly, meant to comfort, not scold. “There is no need for an apology. Things happened as they should have.”

“But, h-how is this possible?”

She cupped his cheek and swept away the tear that fell down his face with the pad of her thumb. “I’ll explain everything in just a moment, but first, let me say hello to my first born.”

Colton stepped to the side and she looked around before walking toward Kerrigan, but Sarah didn’t go to her. Instead, she stopped when she got to where Dominic stood beside Kerrigan and look directly at him. Not through him. At him.

“My little Nicky.” She used the name she had always called him as a child, then she took a step forward and wrapped him in her arms. He was stunned to see the material of her robe shape to him. His skin tingled with something he could only describe as unadulterated goodness. He wanted to step into her and never look back, but the tether he felt to Kerrigan kept him grounded in place.

His mother moved her hands to his shoulders and allowed space between them. Her eyes were alight with an angelic sparkle as she smiled at him. “There, that’s better,” she said, looking him over. He followed her lead, finding himself back in his human form. He heard Kerrigan’s surprised gasp from beside him. Words escaped him, but the woman working the magic was sure not to get his hopes up. “It won’t last for long, but I much prefer to see all of you.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“Your soul, Son. It may be dim, weathered and beaten, but its light is unique and unmistakable.” Then she turned to the woman at his side. “And you must be my Nicky’s Kerrigan.”

Kerrigan nodded and offered her hand. “Sarah Ann Grayson, I presume?”

Sarah looked at her hand in amusement. “A handshake is a little formal between two people who are practically family, wouldn’t you agree?”

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Sinclair’s outburst shattered the heartfelt moment.

Sarah sighed and looked at Sinclair with kindness, not malice. “I should call you sister, I suppose, since you and I have both been victims of the same kind.”

“You’re no sister of mine, and I’m no victim.”

“Weren’t you? We both fell under the same man’s spell, did we not?”

Sinclair scoffed. “You were weak, where I am strong. He never really loved you. He was just using you.”

Sarah nodded. “Just as he used you. You still haven’t figured it out, have you?” Sinclair didn’t answer. “Think about what you saw here tonight. When do you recall ever having seen Drake outside of your dreams? And that sacrilegious altar,” she said, gesturing toward it. “It’s supposed to be his grave, but you and I both know that there’s no body there. The spell he gave you to work on my son and Andrew,” she said, acknowledging him with a smile and a nod, “you fell victim to as well... just like I did. Only Drake doesn’t use a potion because he doesn’t have to. He comes to those who feel alone, like they have no one. For you, it was right after you attempted to take your own life.”

“Shut up!” The vein in her forehead popped out, and her face reddened with anger. “You lie! You’re all a bunch of liars!”

“Sinclair.” Drew turned her to face him and then reached under his collar to retrieve the chain he wore with the golden band dangling from the end. Pulling it over his head, he took her hand and placed it in her palm before curling her fingers around it. “This is a very special heirloom that has been handed down from generation to generation of my family. It is called the Ring of Truth, and it possesses a magical power that allows the one who has it in their possession to decipher truth from fiction. If it warms in your hand, you will know that the person speaking to you is telling a lie.”

She uncurled her fingers and regarded the piece of precious metal as if she couldn’t believe it had that much power.

“Here, let me prove it to you.” He took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Sinclair Davis, I do not love you.”

Sinclair looked at her hand and then dropped the ring, taking a step away as if it might attack her.

“See? That was obviously a lie.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion. “But you don’t really love me. You just think you do. You drank the potion.”

Drew bent over and picked up the chain, placing it back in her hand. “I didn’t drink it. I poured it down the sink. My feelings for you are very genuine, sweetheart. I love you.”

She looked down at her hand again, but didn’t release the ring. When she looked at him with hope in her eyes, Drew nodded. “We’ll talk more about this later. Right now, you have more truths to learn.” He turned her to face Sarah with the Ring of Truth still resting in her palm.

Sarah’s lips turned into an uncomfortable smile. It was clear she was pleased that she now had Sinclair’s attention, but there was also sadness in that smile. “It does not make me happy to tell you these things, but before you can heal properly—and it looks like you have just the right person to help you through your woes—you must first face the pain of truth.”

Sarah took a deep breath. “Drake D’Mon is not human. In truth, he never was. Never has he walked the Earth, because he was never meant to. He is only meant to walk in dreams, or rather, nightmares, although his official dwelling is the great abyss, the bottomless pit. Drake is what is known as an incubus demon.”

The confused, yet curious murmurings of everyone present made it impossible to decipher what any one person said. Availia stepped forward, her kind yet even voice calming everyone down so that Sarah could continue.

“An incubus demon preys on humans in their dreams. They suck the essence from your soul. That is what gives them power.”

Well, that explained what had been happening to Dominic and Colton in their dreams,
Kerrigan thought.

“But, an incubus has other names: soul sucker, dream reaper, dark molester. He primarily visits women in their dreams where he uses the power of persuasion to convince her that he is real. The demon takes the form of a man that will be to her liking. While he is standing at her bedside in his true form, she can only see what he wants her to see. She believes he is quite real because he manipulates all of her senses to make it seem that way: sight, sound, touch, and even smell. He makes her believe she is truly in love in with him when it is nothing more than a cruel magic trick.”