The Awakening (17 page)

"You are going to make your own grimoire,
child," she said, pointing to the bare book and the table full
of witches tools. Things she was forbidden to touch.

She looked with greedy eyes,
hardly believing her Mama would let her so close. She looked up into
her Mama's face and her eyes were kind,
not like they usually were. She smiled, finally proud that she'd
done something right. She wasn't sure what it was, but her Mama wanted her to
make her own spell book. Her heart swelled with pride.

"You are ten summers old, Katrin. You are my
daughter and have brought shame onto your Coven. Do you know why?"

"I have no power, Mama. I am not a
witch."

A sharp slap echoed through the room and her cheek
stung.

"I am your Matriarch, Katrin. I am more
than just your mother. If you lie, I can tell. Understand?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Tell me the truth, child."

"No Mama, please," she pleaded, but she
paid her no heed.

Her Mama grabbed her wrist and held it over the
bowl, her fingers digging painfully into her skin. Tears prickled in her eyes,
but she tried to hold them in. If she cried, then she'd be beaten. Weakness was
forbidden. They told her she had no power, that she wasn't worthy of being a
witch. But she knew it was there. Tiny, hidden…secret. Mama knew. She was tied
to her by blood, of course she knew.

She didn't dare struggle against her Mama's grasp,
but when she saw the glint of silver in the candle light, her heart
skipped a beat and her stomach felt sick.

Mama wouldn't hurt her.

"You've been telling lies, child," she
said, her voice changing. Mama's voice always changed when she went away inside
herself. The Mama who she loved wasn't here anymore. She'd gone away and the
bad one was here.

"Mama, please," she pleaded, but Mama
wasn't coming back.

With an evil glint in her eye, Mama took the blade
and sawed into her fingers. Screaming in pain, Katrin hardly felt it when the
first finger plopped into the bowl on the bench.

"Please, Mama. No. It hurts, please…"

Blood dripped down into the bowl while her hand
burned with white-hot pain, but Mama wouldn't let go of her wrist. She started
speaking the words she used when she was casting, words she was forbidden to
speak. The knife cut again, a second finger joining the first. Katrin screamed,
this time tears falling from her eyes. Why was her Mama hurting her like this?

"Weakness is forbidden, child," her Mama
said, letting her go.

Clutching her hand against her chest, she sobbed at
the pain, blood flowing freely from the wound, staining her dress. If this was
what being a witch was, then she didn't want to be like them. She wanted to run
away and find a new Mama. One that wouldn't hurt her. She'd find a new family
to love.

"Katrin, say the words with me." Her Mama
pulled her forward, grasping her mutilated hand and forced her to hold it over
the leather book. Her blood dripped all over the cover, seeping into the soft
cover, staining it red and brown.

If she didn't speak the forbidden words as her Mama
bade, she didn't know what would happen to her. So, she spoke them and the ball
of power she'd been hiding in her stomach flared into life. A little spark, but
it seemed like it was enough. Mama smiled at her and for a moment she thought
that the good one was back, but as she spoke the final words, she grabbed her
maimed hand, a strange look in her eyes.

"I have a use for you, Katrin," she said,
pinching her daughter's savaged flesh, making her cry harder. "You are
going to become a witch and you are going to help us find what we have
lost."

"I'm going to be a witch?" she sobbed.

"Yes, you are."

Mama began to speak witches words and the pain in
her hand began to fade. She was going to be a witch? She'd made her own spell
book with the tiny ball of power in her stomach. Her secret power, no smaller
than a speck of dust. She was going to be like her Mama.

As the witches words sunk into her hand, her eyes
began to droop. She wouldn't have to hide anymore. She wouldn't be locked away.
She let her eyes close and her Mama's spell take her.

As Gabby came back to herself, she realized she'd
collapsed. Katrin looked down at her with a satisfied smirk and she realized
she'd been clutching her hand. Looking down she realized her fingers were
intact and the phantom pain began to subside. Katrin held up her hand and the
air shimmered, revealing two missing fingers and ugly, puckered skin. A
glamour.

"There is your affinity," Katrin said
smugly. "Go back to your world and leave me be."

Glaring up at the founding witch, Gabby could only
think one thought. Being a mega bitch ran in the family.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Gabby?"

Gabby opened her eyes at the sound of her name, her
entire body feeling sluggish. Aya's face slowly came into focus and relief washed
over her. She was back.

"Are you okay?" the hybrid asked.

Nodding, she dropped her head into her hands. Her
journey to the other side had taken more out of her than she thought it would,
but then again, she hadn't slept properly in a while.

"Did you find her?" Zac asked, dropping a
blanket around her shoulders.

She jumped at the sound of his voice.
Everyone had come while she'd been on the other side. Their concern and loyalty
was a little bittersweet. Nye sat behind the desk, Tristan was by the
fireplace, which was crackling away with a warm
orange glow and Zac was beside her, his hand in hers.

"Yes, I found her."

Aya glanced at the others uneasily before saying,
"Dare I ask…"

"She told me a great deal about her life and
the Tuatha. I never really knew her," Gabby said. "Apart from
destroying her anchor, I never got to meet her before. Not on my own
terms. She wasn't a nice person, but I don't know if
that because she was shaped like that by the Coven, or it was her true
self."

"We could debate the level of good and evil in
somebody for eternity and never agree," Tristan said.

"Did she advise you what we should do
next?" Aya asked.

"She said we only had one option. We need to
make a new vampire," Gabby said, glancing around the room.

"A founder?" Zac asked. "Who the
hell do we know who would be willing to be turned?"

"No one," Tristan said with a sigh.

"What about the spell?" Zac continued.
"I mean, I thought it was lost."

Gabby shrugged, still feeling a little groggy from
her trip to the other side. "Katrin told me how I can find her
grimoire."

"Seriously?" Aya asked with a
raised eyebrow.

"That seems like a long shot," Nye said,
flipping open the laptop on the desk and began typing. "Has
anyone tried this?"

"Did you just seriously Google 
how to kill
a fairy
?" Tristan exclaimed, looking over the spy's shoulder.

"He is a fairy, right?" Nye asked,
raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think Google is an entirely
trustworthy source of information," Gabby said.

"But, you're not denying that he's a
fairy?"

"
Nye
."

"Just getting all my facts straight,
lovely."

"Technically he's a hybrid...half and
half."

"Ahh," he said thoughtfully. "A
vampire fairy." He turned back to the laptop and typed it into the search
engine.

Zac gave Gabby a look and said, "ADD."

"First things first," she said with
a small laugh. "We need to find Katrin's grimoire. Then we'll worry about
finding someone to turn. No use worrying about that bit until we have
the spell."

"It could be anywhere," Aya said, rubbing
her temples.

"Katrin gave me a memory. Not a very pleasant
one, but one that would link me enough to the grimoire in order to be able to
scry for it." The hybrid glanced at her with a frown. "I
need a map."

"What kind of scale are we talking here?"
Nye asked. He was still sitting at the desk, the laptop in front of
him, fingers poised to type.

"Well, I think it'd still be in the UK,
yes?" Tristan asked. "It was where she lived and died. The Coven
didn't spread much further, so it stands to reason that it'd be
here someplace. Historians are a funny lot. They don't like to see things
leave the country."

"That's if someone actually kept it,"
Gabby countered. "It could be buried some place, in another country. Hell,
another witch could have it and then we'd be stuffed."

"We won't know until you scry," Aya said
gently.

Gabby nodded and turned to Nye. "Print out a
map of the UK and Ireland."

"Ah, taking a punt that it's close to home. I
like it." The spy winked and a moment later, the printer came to life, spitting
out a black and white map.

"You don't have to scry now," Zac said.
"You're worn out."

Gabby could hear the unspoken words in his voice.
Regulus has just died. Your heart is broken. You haven't slept for days. You
just went into the land of death to speak with the greatest betrayer of
witch-kind. She couldn't hold it against him, or any of them, for trying to
take care of her, but there was always going to be a part of her that felt like
she didn't deserve it after the stunt she'd pulled faking the Roman's death.

"He's right, Gabby," Aya agreed.
"You should get a good night's sleep, then I'll help you in the
morning."

"Here you go," Nye chortled, handing the
map to Gabby with a flourish.

"I'm doing it now," she said to the
vampires. "I won't rest easy until I have, so stop trying to wrap me in
cotton wool like I'm about to break." That, she'd do behind closed doors.
Continuing Regulus' work defeating the Tuatha was the only thing keeping her
together. Once it was done…she would lay down and mourn her lost love. She'd
made a promise and she
never
broke them.

Ignoring the vampires, she got up from the chair by
the fire and stretched out her aching muscles. Running her fingers along the
bookshelf where the grimoires sat, she found the bowl of crystals at the end,
propping up the ancient tomes like a bookend. Holding each in her palm, she
knew that they had once belonged to a different witch. The rose-quartz that sat
in her hand had a dull signature on it, a presence that was a telltale sign
that it had bee used before. Whoever she was, this witch's grimoire must be
sitting on the shelf right in front of her.

What was Regulus doing with all of these relics?
Maybe they'd all been witches in his employ that had died or been murdered.
Maybe he'd had them killed? Shivering, she set the crystal down and plucked out
a shard of citrine that had been set into a silver clasp with a matching chain.
Gabby held it close, the orange and white crystal feeling just right against
her skin. Citrine symbolized good fortune and it seemed fitting for their
situation.

Turning back to the desk, she shooed Nye out of the
chair and sat, laying out the map. Closing her eyes, she tried to clear the
weariness out of her bones and focused on the memory Katrin had given her. It
was difficult not to get caught up in it again and feel the pain the founding
witch had felt. Concentrating her thoughts onto the grimoire, she held up the
crystal over the map and let it swing in a wide circle.

When she'd scried for Aya months ago, it had been
easy. She'd already had a personal connection with the hybrid, so getting a fix
on her location was simple, but this was much more difficult. A grimoire, no
matter how magical or special, was an inanimate object. It didn't have the same
kind of presence as a living, breathing vampire or human. Her only saving grace
was the fact that it was made with a physical part of Katrin herself. Without
the memory and without the knowledge, there was no hope of this working.

Gabby's eyes snapped open as the crystal dropped like
it weighed a million tones.

"Where is it?" Nye asked like an excited
child.

She waved him off and pulled the crystal aside. It
was stuck to a point north-ish from London, but the map was too small to say
exactly where. It looked like it was near Oxford, but there were so many
smaller dots around it from neighboring villages, towns and suburb, she wasn't
sure. She didn't like it one bit, because she knew someone who lived there and
that someone didn't need to be dragged into this mess.

Turning back to the laptop, Gabby printed
out a map of Oxford and set it on top of the desk, hoping
with everything she had that she was wrong. Focusing, she let the
crystal swing in a circle. This time, it wasn't long until she felt the
same pull and the tip of the crystal stuck to the page right over the spot she
was dreading. Oxford University. There was probably a library vault full of
ancient books and the grimoire was most likely one of them.

"Oxford," Gabby said, an uneasy feeling
rising in her gut.

"Why does that sound familiar?" Zac
asked.

"Isobel," she said, reluctantly.

"Isobel…"

"Alex's sister."

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah, shit. She's a student at Oxford
University. I can feel a strong connection with the grimoire there."

"Convenient," Aya said. "Isobel
could get us in. Give us information."

"But…" Gabby started, but she knew it as
much as everyone else did. The last thing she wanted was to get Alex's sister
involved in all of this, but the greater good and all of that.

"And she's human," the hybrid said.

"No," Gabby hissed, standing up. "I
won't allow it."

"We might not have another option."

Gabby ignored Aya and scrolled through her email,
an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She'd sent Isobel a couple of Christmas cards
and letters over the years in exchange for a few stories about the places she'd
travelled and was sure she still had her address saved somewhere.

When she finally found it, she began to feel
sicker, her skin tingling. Alex would never forgive her and he was definitely
one person she didn't want added to the list of people she'd disappointed.
Isobel had been a few years ahead of her in school, so outside of hanging out
with Liz and Alex, she didn't know her that well. And by the time she was old
enough to have something in common with her, she'd gotten a scholarship to
study overseas. Isobel was the kind of person who was just good at everything.
It didn't surprise Gabby in the least that she was doing her Masters Degree in
Sociology and Anthropology and whatever else caught her interest.

But the bottom line was, Isobel knew nothing about
vampires, witches and especially not the Tuatha. There was no fancy degree in
that and turning up on her doorstep with crazy stories about supernatural
blood feuds…shit, she'd think they were all on drugs. Dragging her into it more
than that was out of the question. Isobel was their way into the University and
nothing more.

"Okay, I have her address," she said with
a sigh. "Let's get going if we're doing this."

"We can wait until mornin'," Tristan
said.

"Yeah, it's only an hour or so away," Nye
agreed.

"We're on the clock," she replied,
shaking her head at the vampire's inflated sense of time. "There's no time
to rest with an insane hybrid on the loose. It's now or not at all."

Zac sat in the back of Nye's car, squashed between
Aya and Tristan. If there were anymore of them, they'd have to look into
getting a minivan. Gabby's sense of urgency had rattled them all and secretly,
he agreed with her. Better to tackle this one now than wait any longer,
especially since they didn't have a plan outside of the grimoire and
certainly no way of killing or
incapacitating everyone's favorite psycho hybrid. If it meant
waking up Alex's sister, Isobel, in the middle of the night with a crazy ass
story, then so be it. He certainly wasn't above compulsion and knowing Aya,
she'd probably get to it way before he could.

Nye was driving and Gabby was beside him, staring
out the window. Zac peered at her in the darkness, trying to understand why she
kept pushing herself. She'd run herself almost into the ground and it
worried him. After everything she'd been through with Regulus then Katrin…he
was amazed at her drive, but that might be the only thing that was keeping her
going.

The darkness slowly morphed into the orange glow of
the city of Oxford. As they drove through the streets towards the address Gabby
had given them for Isobel's apartment, the buildings became older and the
streets narrower. It was late out, but there were still a lot of people hanging
around. Christmas decorations hung across the streets and the remnants of a
festive looking market were being packed away.

Nye pulled the car into a space in a back street
and killed the engine. "Last stop," he said, opening his door.