Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) (30 page)

“Get the sword out!”

I just stared at Delphine’s petrified stare.

“Get the fucking sword out!” Alexis screamed. She extended a hand, motioning toward the blade.

I extracted it slowly at first, fearing that I might hurt her even more if I went any quicker.

“Faster!” Alexis shouted. “Hurry!”

I retracted the sword and held the blood-streaked blade.

“Celestina,” Alexis called out. “Get over here. Help your grandmother.”

Staring in shock at Delphine, no longer pale but still looking fatigued, Celestina didn’t budge.

“Celestina! Get over here. Now!”

Alexis’s command upended Celestina’s paralysis, and she bolted over to her mother and grandmother. She extended her right hand toward her grandmother’s heart, but the bloody patch must have dissuaded her from actually touching it because her hand settled an inch above it.

Alexis leaned forward, laid her hand across her daughter’s, and pressed them both against Delphine’s wound. Celestina jerked, grunting as her body shuddered in all directions, reminding me of a doll that a child might shake from left to right.

Alexis pointed at Brandon. “Stand back. Give us some room.”

Brandon must have regained his wits and probably regretted his actions a few moments ago because he looked guilty for taking up the space he inhabited. He backed up a few feet.

I stared at my niece as she probably utilized the same magical technique she’d used on me. Sensing a presence beside me, I found Kendall flanking me. We watched in awe as, a few seconds later, Delphine inhaled, hunched over, and started coughing.

Alexis turned back and glared at me. Then she got to her feet and helped Delphine up. Although her blouse was still slick with blood, the spot where the sword pierced skin looked untouched.

Celestina had managed to not only reincarnate Delphine but also heal her wound. And because, like me, my mother hadn’t been dead for more than ten seconds, at most, she probably hadn’t lost any brain functionality. Nevertheless, Celestina sat on the ground, her head sagging to the side as though she didn’t have enough energy to straighten it.

I went over to her, but Alexis raised an open hand my way. “Don’t you
dare
touch my child!”

“She’s weak. She needs—”

“I know exactly what she needs. Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage today?”

“I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“Really? Stabbing our mother to death? Look at my daughter. Go ahead, look! Does she
look
fine to you? If you had just given the grimoire to us, none of this would have happened.”

“But it didn’t belong to you.”

“So what? Do you know how to use it? No! So it doesn’t matter, now does it?”

“Well you can’t use it either. So why did you want it?”

“I don’t know. Mother wanted it.” She set her eyes on Brandon. “I don’t know how you swiped my powers. But I’ll even things up with you!”

I suspected that Alexis didn’t use her other abilities to hurt him now because she feared that Brandon would once again take control of her mind…and turn those efforts upon herself.

Alexis snapped her fingers at her daughter. “Come on, we’re going.”

Celestina pushed off the ground and stood on trembling legs that threatened to falter.

I stepped forward to steady her, but Alexis must have anticipated that because she swung her head back at me, lips curled like a vicious dog, eager to pounce on an enemy.

Alexis pressed her daughter against her, accepting her weight, so that Celestina wouldn’t have to walk under her own power. A few seconds later, they exited the shop.

Delphine stood up, looking as refreshed as if she’d just awoken from a long, peaceful sleep. She whirled around and faced Darius. With a wave of her hand, the cement clinging to his frame turned into a liquid and receded, trickling downwards, leaving behind only specks of concrete in the folds of his pants, until it once more solidified with the floor.

Delphine examined his gaze, staring intently for a few seconds. Then a warm smile emerged. “Will you be joining us?”

Darius studied her expression for a long moment. An ebullient smile burst forth on his face. “You’re back?” he asked, mystified.

“Yes.” Her sweet, innocent smile widened.

“It’s been far too long.” Then he scowled at me as he strode toward Delphine. “We should eliminate them immediately.”

Delphine placed a hand on his shoulder then gently set him on a path to the doorway. “Please assist Alexis and attend to Celestina. I will be along in a few moments.” She turned to us, and her pretty smile transformed into a deranged grin.

Something about Delphine seemed odd. Of course, returning from the dead could have that effect. Then again, I didn’t feel any different. Regardless, I couldn’t identify what felt wrong about Delphine.

“Hello, my darling!” Delphine said.

Those three words made my heart pound.

Zephora?
It couldn’t be!

“It is a pleasure to see you again,” she said. “I must express my gratitude for removing your mother from this body, so I could take her place.” Her grin stretched wide as she looked at me. “You have quite a penchant for dispatching family members.”

Grams had referred to the grimoire as a “guide,” and because she said the owner could question it, my family and I had assumed a mystical force would respond by scrawling answers inside a book.

“I notice your confusion,” Zephora said with a condescending smile. “Please allow me to assist.”

Brandon stared at her with deep concentration.

Zephora glared at him. “Do not attempt it, young man!”

“Hey,” he said, looking confounded. “My telepathic powers…they don’t work on her.”

“I am the first in our line.” She raised her chin high. “Do you think your feeble ability to borrow power could possibly affect me?” She chuckled and placed her attention on me. “I have waited over three centuries to return and reclaim what is rightfully mine. You see, the item inside the box was my soul. Before burning at the stake, I crafted a spell that allowed it to remain in this dimension.”

“You cheated death?”

“No, I perished. But I went to neither heaven nor hell. I remained behind as a specter.”

“You’ve been a ghost…all this time?”

“After I was burned at the stake during the Witch Trials, my daughter captured my soul. With the exception of three brief periods during the past three centuries, my family has kept it from me. Until now, that is.”

Although her soul remained behind, did she retain all of her power and abilities? If she had, wouldn’t she have followed up on Darius’s suggestion by eliminating my friends and me? On second thought, I recalled that she would need three days to merge with Delphine’s body. Besides, I suspected that having jumped into Grams’s body yesterday and Delphine’s body today left her exhausted, further depleting her power. In that instance, no matter how many abilities she could call upon, they might be useless until she regained her strength.

And because I had tapped out my own power source, I couldn’t mount an offensive attack. I looked at the Soul Sword and then looked up at Zephora. I lunged forward, hoping to stab her in the heart.

Zephora disappeared…and reappeared seven feet behind the spot she inhabited only a moment ago. “My, oh, my. The bloodlust inside you is insatiable!” Far from drained, the smile on her face divulged that she could teleport at will without using much effort. I presumed that occurred because she was shifting her own weight and placing it elsewhere…rather than pushing energy outward and maintaining that same momentum for an extended period of time, which would be necessary if she planned to use magical abilities to kill Kendall, Brandon, and I.

In that instance, no matter how many times I attempted to attack her, Zephora would somehow teleport to a different location. Rather than focus on my inability to end her life, I set my thoughts in a different direction. At least now, I understood why Grams hadn’t given the box to Celestina: my niece was too innocent and naive to keep it safe. Delphine or Alexis might have tricked her into giving it to them.

“The box never held
The Book of Souls
. It just held…your soul. That’s why you communicated with Delphine: to convince her to unleash your soul!”

“
The Book of Souls
was nothing more than a myth! I created that tale before I died because witches are superstitious and they hold tight to tradition. More than that, they are terrified of losing their powers. I knew that at some point in the future an ignorant, yet ambitious member of our line would seek me out from beyond the veil. Once that occurred, I would persuade her that opening the box would release one-third of my powers. And that is why I have returned at least once each of the last four centuries: witches are obsessed with acquiring more power. You see, I required either a willing participant like your mother, or an incapacitated one, like your grandmother, in order to return. In addition, I needed that individual to stand within three feet of the box; otherwise, I could neither enter nor exit it.”

“Sort of like a genie,” Brandon said with a nervous grin.

I ignored him. “How did you get Grams to let you out?”

“While suffering from her illness, she unknowingly opened the box—”

“And you popped out,” Brandon said. “If that’s not a genie, I don’t know what is.” His anxious smile widened. “Come on: you give three questions, and you get three answers? Sort of like asking for three wishes.” He turned to Kendall. “Am I right?”

“I owe my rebirth to you,” Zephora said to me, disregarding Brandon. “Without you, I never would have returned to this plane of existence.” She balled up her hands and held them behind her back as she circled Kendall, Brandon, and I. “Therefore, please accept my gratitude.”

That explanation disheartened me. I glanced up at the flames, still confused why they hadn’t emitted smoke or caused damage.

Zephora caught my interest. She gestured to the flames. They disappeared. She flicked a wrist at the walls, and they vanished.

We now stood in the gravel on a street corner. Vehicles sped by on either side of the street, while passerby strolled along the opposite sidewalk.

“What…where…?” I looked to Kendall and Brandon, and based on their bewildered expressions, they, too, couldn’t understand what had happened.

Zephora slanted her head to the side as though finding my ignorance cute. “You thought this building existed?” She chuckled without humor. “Your grandmother crafted a magical construct, nothing more.”

“But I opened and closed the door. I turned on the lights, the computer, the—”

“All one big illusion that rendered everything inside it invisible to those without magical abilities.”

I’d always wondered why Grams never had any customers. At least now, I had an answer. I turned toward where the weapons still resided in the secret chamber.

Catching my gaze, Zephora gestured toward them. “In the seventeenth century, I enchanted each of them with the sole purpose of eliminating those with supernatural powers.” She offered a slight smile. “My offspring created every supernatural being that now walks the planet.” She looked at Brandon. “One of your family members must have hexed a distant relative of yours. In that instance, powers are passed down through the blood, although they skip every third generation.” She returned her attention to me. “Witches in our line have stored those weapons in the event that paranormal creatures once more walked the Earth.”

Talk about weapons reminded me of the Soul Sword…and Mephisto’s interest in it. I couldn’t disregard his appearance so close on the heels of Zephora’s arrival, and I figured that, in one way or another, they knew each other. “Maybe I’ll talk with Mephisto about all this and see what he has to say.”

The obnoxious, self-satisfied grin on Zephora’s face flattened. But a second later, the corners of her mouth turned upwards again. “I would be very careful around him.”

I enjoyed seeing fear flicker on her face, however momentary. Nonetheless, I trusted her advice, because even though I knew nothing about Mephisto, I suspected that whatever he wanted, he always acted with his best interests in mind. In that regard, he and Zephora had a lot in common. But could I trust him as an ally? The future only knew.

“Congratulations, Serena,” Zephora said, her smile growing. “No one in our family has ever managed to break one of my spells. Until tonight.”

I shook my head, confounded by her logic.

“You murdered your mother. The line is broken. Only Alexis and Celestina remain. Now, no other witch shall spring forth from our line. Even I am prohibited from changing that.” She shrugged with false modesty. “My spells are quite potent. I never considered the need for a failsafe on that particular incantation. I never considered a daughter would be so heartless to kill her mother.”

The daughter shall replace the mother.
In this instance, Alexis replaced Delphine.

I didn’t want her words to sink in, so I redirected my thoughts. “You’re saying that, even if Alexis, my niece or I have children, they won’t have supernatural abilities?”