Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy (19 page)

“I almost killed
him,” I whispered.

She was quiet
for a moment. I couldn’t bring myself to look her in the eyes. “How did you
almost kill him?”

“We were, um,
together, and … I started to feel like I do when I’m—with what you’re teaching
me—all cold inside, and his energy coming into me, and I couldn’t stop at first.
It was like I wanted it, like …” My throat closed up, and a few tears fell down
my cheeks. I felt my hands shaking.

Charmagne lifted
my chin and looked into my eyes. “Do you know why this happened?”

I shook my head.

“You have taken
swimming lessons, no?”

“Yeah, but
what—”

“They did not
just throw you into the deep end, did they? No. They showed you a little at a
time, teaching you the techniques you needed. Tonight, you drifted out into the
ocean. It was very scary, yes. But you knew enough to come back to shore. I
think you are ready to learn to swim in the deep. Come with me.”

She led me out
of the kitchen and into an impressive wine cellar with hundreds of bottles and
a marbled wine-tasting bar. Carrie would have died and gone to Heaven if she
had seen this. I had hoped she was going to sit me down and uncork a bottle of
wine. To be honest, I could have used a glass, but she continued past the bar
to a stone wall. She stopped, pushed her hand forward, and a section of the
wall shifted, revealing a big, dark space. She turned on a switch inside, and a
series of lights illuminated a winding, descending stone staircase.

Great, Nancy
Drew again
,
I thought, remembering the tunnel in the Grigori House. I followed her down
into a … well, it looked like a cross between a dungeon and a cave. The walls
were natural rock, un-carved, and the floor was earth with small puddles of mud
here and there that reflected the moonlight shining in through a large opening
way at the top. And where the beam of moonlight hit, it showed a winged figure
bound in chains attached to the wall.

It was female,
its skin the color of burnished bronze. When she heard us approach, she lifted
her head and opened her solid black eyes. There were no whites surrounding
those pools of ink. She hissed, unfolded her wings, jumped onto the wall, and
crawled sideways as far as her chains would permit. Behind her was another of
her kind—a male—with yellow eyes and wings black as night, also chained to the
wall, but he wore a muzzle of sorts. He stood, his eyes transfixed on us,
watching our every move.

“How long have
you been keeping them here?” I said, my voice so small I could have been
whispering to myself.

“Ridge has been
bringing them to me daily. I need them for Danielle.”

I looked at her,
raising my eyebrows.

She gestured
behind me. I turned to see Ridge sitting on an old sofa with Danielle in his
arms, his violet wings wrapped around her. She looked deathly ill with her hair
plastered to her forehead and neck, skin clammy, rapid breathing.

“My God,” I
whispered. “What are you doing to her?”

“
To
her?”
said Charmagne, her eyes alight with defensive fire. “I’m doing it
for
her! You have no idea what it’s like to watch your child die! To know that you
have the power to heal anyone except your child and then to watch her suffer.
By transferring the energy of these wretched things, I pour it into Danielle to
keep her life force going, and each day I pray that we’ll find another to use
until we find that damned coven and make them remove this curse!”

She looked at me
and softened a bit, her eyes pleading. “You are so very strong now. You are our
best hope of defeating the coven. But you need to complete your training. You
need to finally take a life.”

“You mean you
want me to …”

“Yes. This is
your final task. This is how you will master your power.”

“Don’t be
afraid,” said Danielle with her small voice. I looked at her, lying down with her
head resting on Ridge’s lap, and I pitied her.

“You’re … you’re
draining the life force from nephils and putting it into your daughter? Isn’t
that dangerous?”

“I’m careful to
only use the vitals, not the darkness.”

“Does Miles
know?”

She shook her
head. “No one does. Except for the people in this room.” She beckoned to Ridge.
He stood with Danielle in his arms and carried her to Charmagne. Together, they
went to the male nephil. I cautiously followed. Only a few feet from him, I
could see why he didn’t move. A steel rod was jammed horizontally through his
lower back so that it threaded his spine from the inside. He must have been in
excruciating pain.

Charmagne placed
her hand over his heart. He flinched and then groaned in pain. The female
nephil hissed nearby. Charmagne placed her other hand over Danielle’s heart and
then closed her eyes in concentration. I watched, horrified, as the male bucked
his body once and screamed in agony, but it didn’t last long. He seemed to
wither before me. As his body caved in on itself, Danielle’s breathing slowed,
and color returned to her cheeks. Her eyes fluttered open as the nephil
crumbled to dust.

Ridge set
Danielle on her feet. Charmagne caressed her daughter’s face and then almost
fainted. Ridge caught her and took her to the sofa.

“I’ll be all
right,” she breathed and then looked at me. “Let me ask you something, Leigh.
Why have you made the decision to be a paladin?”

I shook my head,
trying not to think about what I just witnessed. “For the same reason any of
you did. To help people.”

She looked me
over for a moment and then said, “You put your life at risk for these people,
but what do you get in return?”

I had a sudden
attack of Déjà vu, but I couldn’t place where. “It’s just the right thing to
do,” I said.

“I won’t argue
with you that humanity is a strong virtue and should be admired, but it is also
a sacrifice which often goes unnoticed. Our history—the history of the
paladins—is one of sacrifice and terror.”

I furrowed my brows.

Charmagne unsteadily
rose from the sofa and guided me over to the female nephil. She turned to her
daughter, who now stood at Ridge’s side, and said, “Show her, Danielle.”

I looked over my
shoulder as Danielle raised her brown eyes and looked at me with a sad
reluctance. She closed her eyes, and my head was instantly filled with brutal
visions of tortured women and men during the Inquisition. Some were burned at
the stake; some faced the easy death of the Guillotine, while others suffered
horrific agony from an array of torture devices. Naked bodies tied to chairs
and wheels, heads being crushed in vices, limbs being torn apart, flesh burned
and bones shattered through anguished screams as Charmagne narrated Danielle’s
projection in my mind:

“They persecuted
us throughout the years. They condemned us as witches.” After a cynical,
whispered laugh, she added, “And some of us were. But we did not deserve to be
tortured and killed by those we were trying to help, to save their stupid
little lives. They paid us back by showing us no mercy. They didn’t want us.
They wanted blood. It’s always been their way.”

The vision dissolved,
and now I saw the female nephil before me. She hissed again and pivoted off the
wall, trying to fly at us, but was stopped by the chains. She growled and
thrashed. It was a monster, something evil. But it didn’t seem like a fair
fight.

Charmagne
breathed into my ear: “Make no mistake. It would kill you if it could. It would
kill everyone you love. It’s time for you to take control of your power. Be who
you were born to be.”

I reluctantly
raised my hands and focused on pulling her energy away from her body. She
fought at first, thrashing again, trying to rip the chains from the wall. I
pulled harder, my core turning colder, the nothingness filling me from the
inside out. Her body started to cave in on itself, like she was slowly melting
before me. I was so cold I couldn’t breathe. Just when I thought I couldn’t
take any more, she crumbled and, like her brother, turned to dust upon
scattered feathers.

My senses were
extraordinarily heightened, and my eyes picked up every bit of color in the
dull dungeon. I was not weakened in the least. On the contrary, I felt I could
conquer death as I sat on the throne of the world.

I slept later
than I had intended, waking up around 10:00. Everyone had already eaten, and
Charmagne told me that Miles and Noah chartered a flight to Brussels to the
occult museum. Miles told Charmagne that I was to stay at the house. I felt
like a teenager who was being grounded.

Charmagne had
other plans. She spent the day working with me, harnessing my ability to drain,
letting me practice on her so that I could master doing it in small amounts.
Felix showed up a little after 4:00, looking for Miles and surprised that I
wasn’t with Noah in Brussels.

“Miles wasn’t
answering his phone. I thought he might be here,” he said. “I found another
reference to
Hecate
. My friend in Scotland is in a coven that pays
homage to the goddess. She said in the
Forêt de Meudon there is a
place called The Garden of Hecate. Many years ago, that area of the forest was
used as a place of worship. When the forest became more like a park, officials
romanticized it, erecting statues and hedges. They redrew the trail maps over the
years and the garden was forgotten, but it’s still there.”

“There’s
no telling when Miles will return,” said Charmagne. “I think it’s best to wait
for him.”

“Time
is running out,” said Felix. “We have to do everything we can to help Gretchen.
You and Leigh come with me. The three of us—”

“I’m
sorry, Felix. It’s out of the question. Ridge is not here at the moment, and I
can’t leave Danielle alone. And Leigh is under strict orders to stay here until
Miles returns.”

“But
I’m all alone right now. Everyone else is investigating other cities. I think
this is a very good lead.”

“I’m
sorry. I am. But no, Felix. Now, excuse me. I have to see to Danielle.” She
went upstairs, leaving Felix fuming.

“Sometimes,
I feel like I’m the only one who is truly worried about Gretchen! She’s my best
friend. This can’t wait.” He looked at me. “I know you’re supposed to stay
here, but do you think you can come with me, just to check it out?”

“Oh,
I … um, I don’t know—”

“Please.
We won’t be long. I saw you fight last night. You are very strong now. But if
we see danger, we’ll come back and tell the others.”

My
feathers were still ruffled from Miles ordering me like I was a child. And the
other part of me really did want to help. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

When we arrived
in the large forest located just outside of Paris, we followed the map to an
old hiking trail that looked like it was long forgotten by the world. From
here, we could drive no farther. We had maybe half an hour before the sun set.
The map showed the trail to be about a mile.

“Are you ready?”
said Felix.

“No.”

He laughed.
“Come on.”

We walked
briskly down the trail, following mellow slopes as fallen leaves blew gently
about our feet and the rays of the setting sun pierced the chestnut and ash trees.
Birds flew back and forth and small animals scurried, taking care of the day’s
last business before nightfall.

Twilight had
come, and the forest around us had become gray and bleak when we came upon the
Garden of Hecate. The archway entrance was a crumbling stone ruin flanked by
wild, dead hedges.

“It’s getting
dark pretty fast,” I said.

Felix nodded.
“The time of year, and all the trees. If we find this coven, we should just leave
right away. I don’t know about you, but I just want to get back home, sit by
the fire and have a nice glass of hot spiced wine with my lover.”

I smiled. “That
does sound nice. What’s his name?”

“Michel.
Michael
,
as you would say.”

“How long have
you been together?”

“It will be five
years this Christmas. We met under the mistletoe.” He grinned fondly at his
memory and then said, “Do you have a lover? Or I should say
boyfriend
,
which sounds a bit silly to me.” He laughed politely.

“Kind of. Not
really.”

“Ah, one of
those. I’ll ask you again later. Maybe you’ll know the answer then. Let’s hurry
for now. Michel and my wine await!”

We crossed
through the archway, careful to avoid the fallen stones. The garden was a bed
of decay, maybe five acres in diameter. It looked like it would have been
beautiful, like an escape for some pouting princess in a long-forgotten
fairytale. Now, it was eerie with collapsed statuary as the wind reanimated
dead foliage.

An abandoned
greenhouse stood in the far left corner toward the back of the property; what
windows that were left were caked in green moss and mildew. Trees grew through
the broken windows, perhaps wanting to escape the sinister conservatory, while
thick vines clung to it like tentacles.

Midway down the
property was a stone cottage, also streaked with mildew and moss coming from
the cracks between the stones, with less than half of a thatched roof still
attached. Aside from these structures and the fallen statues, the place was
empty.

“Any idea where
they would be?” I said.

Felix shrugged.
“Let’s try that cottage first.”

The door was
wide open, hanging from one hinge. A giant spider web covered the doorway.
There were no windows, so the inside was quite dark, but it was also very
small. There was no one in the single-room cottage.

“This must have
been used as a tool shed when the garden was a regular tourist spot,” he said.

“So much for
that,” I said, and then noticed Felix looking over my shoulder, into the
distance. I turned around. “What?”

“You see those
foxes?”

I squinted and,
sure enough, I saw two little silver foxes hanging around the entrance of the
greenhouse. A moment later, two more showed up, and the four of them went
inside.

“Cute,” I said.

“
That
is
not normal.”

“Foxes in a
forest aren’t normal?”

“Not silver
ones. Not here.”

“Wait, you mean
witches can turn themselves into animals or something?”

He nodded.

“How come Cee
Cee and Ruby can’t do that? They’re descended from Anseis, too.”

“Because they
chose to practice magic through Voodoo. These are practicing magic through
witchcraft. I haven’t seen all witches do it, but I have a friend who is a
witch in a lovely coven in Glasgow. She’s the one who told me about this place.
They’re chosen animal is a rabbit.”

I looked at him
and raised an eyebrow.

He nodded again.
“Most adorable group of little brown bunnies hopping around.”

“You’re kidding
me.”

He laughed. “No,
I’m not.”

“And they’re
good witches?”

“Yes. They use
white magic. They know—as do Cee Cee and Ruby—that whatever you put out comes
back to you three-fold.”

I nodded toward
the greenhouse. “They don’t know that?”

“They do, but
the Dark Side strengthens them. Power and greed—they are what cause paladins to
turn.  Now come on. Let’s get to them before they go away.”

“So, do they,
like, live here?” I asked as we cautiously approached the greenhouse.

“No. They likely
all have their own homes and their own lives. But this is their meeting place.”

“Why can’t any
of you people use a hotel convention center like everyone else?”

Felix shushed me
as we neared the entrance. 

The air was
sweet, dank and musty. Inside, vines hung from trees, and dead, fallen branches
and leaves lay scattered on the uprooted tile. It was difficult to squeeze
through the limbs and tangled vines and overgrown brush. We proceeded with
caution, not seeing the foxes.

When we made it
to the other end, I was quite disturbed to see a pile of small bones that
looked like they had been mice and birds and one time. The bones were near a
hole in the wall that I would not have noticed if Felix hadn’t pushed some
brush aside. The hole wasn’t so much
in
the wall as
under
it,
surrounded by broken pieces of floor tile. It was too narrow for either one of
us to fit through.

“Let’s go
around,” he said in a hushed tone.

We crossed
through a doorway into the next room that looked as though it once housed water
plants. The stone fountains had dried long ago, and whatever plants resided
there had since turned to dust. In the center of the room was a well, which I
thought was oddly placed.

“Who puts a well
in a greenhouse?” I asked.

“It’s likely the
greenhouse was built around the well. If this was a section for water-based
plants, it would take a lot of work to haul water in from outside.” He looked
up at the window-latticed ceiling that was caked with years of grime. “They
probably opened up that section of the roof when it rained so that the well
could fill up. I’m quite impressed, actually.”

“Cool. Now where
are the witches?”

Felix shrugged.
“Through the fox hole.”

I went back into
the other room, looked at the location of the hole, went back to the aquatic
plant room, and stood at the wall on the other side of the hole. Staying in a
straight line, I walked forward until I reached the well.

“If that hole is
a straight shot, this lines up with it,” I said, peering into the well. I bent
down and picked up a small chunk of stone from one of the crumbled fountains.
Felix joined me, and I dropped the stone into the shaft. We heard nothing.

“There wouldn’t
be water in there anymore,” he said.

“But what if it
leads to the hole?”

He cocked his
head and raised his eyebrow. “Do you
really
want to find out?”

I sheepishly
shrugged. “Guess not.”

It was near dark
outside, the light fading quickly. It was getting harder to adjust my eyes. I
was relieved when Felix said, “I hate to think this trip has been in vain, but
we don’t want to be here at dark. We can come back another time, with
reinforcements.”

When we crossed
the threshold into the other room, we startled a silver fox that was coming our
way, mostly likely headed for the fox hole. It froze when it saw us.

“Don’t move,”
whispered Felix, and then he addressed the fox. “We come in peace. We only wish
to talk.”

The fox lowered
its head and barked like a small dog screaming. Seconds later, four more foxes
bounded out of the hole and surrounded us. The fox near the entrance jumped
into the air, twisted around in an explosion of black smoke and came out
looking human, a young woman with fair skin, blue eyes and golden hair, wearing
no clothes.

“Take them!” she
ordered the foxes, in French.

The four foxes
replicated the other, turning into women, all of them fair skinned and golden
haired. The fox hole enlarged to a human tunnel. They grabbed us, their
delicate hands an illusion for their brute strength. Felix and I struggled,
pushing them off of us. Felix raised his hands to use his ability, and so did
I, but the witch near the entrance flew toward us and said something that
resembled French, but in a demonic voice.

“Binding spell!”
said Felix, as we tried to escape from their restraint.

One witch leaned
toward me and whispered into my ear, “V
ous ne
pouvez pas voir
.”

It
felt like shadow had engulfed my eyes. Blinded, I pushed and shoved, but it was
no use. Even if I could break free, I couldn’t see where to run. “Felix!”

“They’ve
blinded us,” he said. I could hear defeat in his voice.

The
witches led us down into the tunnel. I supposed darkness was naturally drawn to
earth and shadows and the hidden. I had never felt more claustrophobic.

It was perhaps
fifteen yards or so, the ground leveling off after the first six feet. I felt a
small breeze at one point, and I guessed we had passed under the well. Our
march ended shortly after this. I felt there was light here, like the way you
can sort of see light through your closed eyelids. My ears jumped as a door was
closed and bolted behind us. I felt a source of heat.

“
Voir
,”
one of the women whispered in my ear.

Whatever shadowy
veil that covered my eyes was lifted. Felix was beside me, and I could tell he
could see now as well. We were in a sort of cave lit with torches. An altar
covered in black cloth rested in the middle. The five witches were now in black
cloaks with hoods atop their heads. All had blonde hair, pale skin, impossibly
blue eyes. I was sure they were sisters. The witch in the center—she looked a
little older than the other four—came forward.

“We did not mean
to intrude,” said Felix in French. “We only wanted to talk.”

She eyed him for
a moment and then turned her attention to me. “I will speak in her native
tongue so that you can both understand me,” she said in English. “You are not
welcome here.” As she spoke, I was horrified to see a tiny black spider crawl
out from the corner of her eye and scurry down her cheek to the back of her
neck. “We want what is rightfully ours, what was promised. Give it back to us.”