Summon (2 page)

For a heartbeat, Lochlann held my gaze. His chin
lifted.

I grabbed the comfort my Elder’s support gave. If I
didn’t make the sacrifice Rae couldn’t return. I’d have to find a way to join
her in the Otherworld, a thing not possible until my death.

My brother, a lord I admired since childhood
demanded strength of me. How could I fail him?
How can I think of backing out of this and failing Rae?

I was a godling, my lifespan indefinite. Without my
chosen female at my side that was not acceptable.

I shoved my hand into the flames.

The hairs on my arms disintegrated, and delirious
with victory I clasped the athame hilt.

Pain tore through my hand and raced up my forearm.
How did the witch endure this?
Bellowing
my agony, I pulled my fist from the burning orange mass. Gagged. My melted
flesh prickled as it healed.

Sparks twirled into the night sky, the embers fed
as Ana’s blackened fingers crumbled to ash. She staggered, and knelt to catch a
breath. She clutched her damaged hand to her chest, and hunched until she
bent-over-double. As she uncurled her eyebrows pleated in confusion. Gaze
dropping, the vacant expression left her face. A ghastly look of realization
dawned, and her rounded eyes stared at the mangled stump. Her mouth moved, but
no words came.

Before she sucked in enough air to scream, her
agonized grimace eased and her gaze unfocused. “I feel her,” she whispered.
“She’s coming.”

My heart soared. Excitement warred with hope to
replace the fear infecting my thoughts until that precious moment.

Ana rose from her knees cradling her wrist. “Now
pay what you promised.” She limped forward. “Breandan,
please
. They demand it. Payment. You must pay what was promised.”
Her fingers dug into the skin of her scorched wrist. Her eyes lifted
heavenward. “Gods, the screaming.”

Dropping to my knees before the flames, I swayed
drunkenly. Panted for air. The athame shook in my rigid grip, and the hilt
pressing into my palm burned.

A predator baiting crippled prey, Obe leapt over
the pyre warbling his conquest. He landed stooped not a foot clear of the
flaming pit. He prowled closer. Bony fingers raked the earth and scooped loose
dirt into his palm.

Circling, wary of my every twitch, his eyes
gleamed.

Obe’s arms bent at the elbow then unfolded jerkily.
In parody of a blessing, he shook his bone staff over my hunched shoulders and
muttered guttural words. He spat on the ground and splayed his fingers. Cheeks
puffing, he blew the fistful of dirt into a gritty cloud above the crown of my
head.

The flames roared in retaliation. Climbed fifteen
feet into the air.

My nostrils flared at the pungent smell of burning
herbs and oils.

Papa Obe turned his face to the sky with his arms
outstretched in supplication. Answering winds blew hair across his sunken face.
He bayed twisted prayers with such force the shifter-tooth necklace strung
around his neck jangled. The Priest stomped his dusty feet, and beat his bared
chest in powerful thumps that left bruises.

Fiery heat blasted through the circle, unnaturally
powerful.

My focus sharpened on the Houngan. He was too
involved. This was not what Ana suggested would happen.

Obe stilled. “Payment,” he barked. He thrust his
staff at me. His eyes blazed like pits of hell, and his mouth yawned wide as he
moaned.

Tearing my eyes from him, I fought to keep my head
lifted instead of bowed in surrender to the magics ferociously overwhelming the
circle.

It was hard to breathe as I stared at the pyre.
Mesmerized. The base of the flames deepened to crystal-clear blue. Disbelieving
of the sin I embraced, I flinched as excited voices whispered in my mind. They
crooned and sighed. Called to darkness inside me I’d never acknowledged.

In a trance, I flipped the athame and set the blade
tip over my heart.

It beat wildly.

“Can’t,” Gita spat. Glassy and dazed, I looked over
my shoulder to find her face twisted in disgust. She recoiled from my gaze. “I
can’t watch this.”

As she stalked away, her body Changed from human to
eagle.

The raptors screeched a greeting as their leader
took to the sky and joined them. The furious beating of their giant wings
sounded like thunder as they departed.

Amber eyes glinted with impatience in the dark. The
watching wolves were disturbed by the raptor’s departure and howled in
anticipation of leaving.

Chin jutting, Kalcifer growled. “Calm yourselves.”
He spun to his Pack, his Alpha power subduing them. “We stay until the end.”

Refusing to be discouraged, my fingers tightened
their grip.

Moments of pain for eternity with the one I loved. Forever
cursed by death to bring forth life.

It’s worth
it.
Pain is fleeting.

Arms lifted high, I roared as the blade descended.
I choked on my own blood as I carved. It burned. The poisoned tip marked my
chest and solidified the offering.

Relief stole through me, and I chuckled darkly.

Yes, it begins.

CHAPTER TWO

Breandan

“Wait.”
Ana stumbled as if shoved. Pale with terror her arms flailed battling unseen
foes. “Something’s wrong. Something
else
breaks
free.” Her eyes snapped into focus. She spun to the Vodoun and pointed
damningly. “You. I know one of you summons them.”

Lex’s stomping faltered. She held up her hands.
“Don’t look at me.”

Roland speared Ana with a hateful look. “We’re not
to blame.” As his mentor kept chanting instead of supporting the claim,
Roland’s eyes bugged as he reared back. “Papa?”

Discarding pretences Obe pushed Ana from the dais
where the currents of energy formed a crux.

Spitting curses, Roland grabbed Lex’s hand to pull
her back. Incredulous, shaking his head, he stared imploringly at the Houngan.
“They will kill us. Eat our souls.”

“The time has come,” Obe rasped. “They shall walk
among us.”

“They’ll walk
inside
us. Fool. The whispers ruined you. We walk the path of darkness but only to
balance the light.” Roland’s voice broke, anguished. “You’ve fallen to
darkness.”

Obe levelled a red-eyed glare at the young Vodoun.
“You will welcome them, Bokor. Welcome them or die.”

“Destroy him,” Roland warned, his eyes fixed
forbiddingly on Papa Obe. “Destroy him before it’s too late.”

Startled by the suggestion, Ana shook her head.

“He summons the Loa,” Roland shouted. “Hear the
whispers? It’s them. They bring chaos. Kill him. Now.”

Baako took Roland’s impassioned plea to heart and
roared. He lumbered forward, but with a single glance from Ana, Amelia sprinted
the circle and pounced.

Twice the werelynx’s size, the bear thwarted her
easily, rearing on his hind legs.

Amelia landed and slinked beneath him. She wrapped
her jaws around his throat. Baako’s paws touched down, and he dragged her
beneath him, but froze as her claws dug into his soft underbelly. He swatted
Amelia’s head in warning. Her ears lowered, but she held on.

Planting her paws, she pushed down until he lay
still.

Ana bound the shifter with a muttered enchantment.
“I’m sorry, Baako.”

Obe continued the chanting, and shouted the words
with savage joy now the threat was ended.

“His power is tied to the ritual.” Livid, a
squiggled vein pulsed at Ana’s temple. “I have no one to replace him to sustain
the flow.” She gathered her wits and yelled, “In the name of the goddess I
serve
I demand
you relinquish your
hold. Return it to me.”

The Houngan ignored her.

Desperate to regain the seat of power and steer the
resurrection, she grabbed Obe’s arm. Dark magics launched her body into the air
and slammed her into an invisible wall. She crumpled. The circle wouldn’t
release her, not until the ceremony was done.

The athame bound me to the spot. I could do nothing
but watch as order unravelled.

Lochlann jerked forward as he held out an arm to
keep Daphne behind him. His eyes flicked between me, Ana and the Vodoun Priest.
They settled suspiciously on Obe, hardening with purpose as he struggled
closer. He began detaching from the magical flow he’d joined to confer power to
Ana.

A ferocious tide of magics that now strengthened
Obe.

Ana sensed the withdrawal of energy and rolling
onto her stomach spotted the High Lord’s aggressive advancement. With a
terrified cry, she cast her gaze around until it found me. “He mustn’t.” She
groaned as a swell of magic ripped from her chest, drawn to the spell, and
siphoned from her in gushing sparks. “Don’t give up.”

It went against everything inside me, but she was
right.
It’s too late to stop.

I let go of the athame handle, holding up a palm to
halt Lochlann. “Leave him.” The blade shifted, twisted painfully, but remained
lodged in my chest. Blood ran down my hand and dripped from my wrist.

Paling, Roland backed away from the disturbing
growth of the pyre. Ghostly whispers escaping from it increased in volume.
“Bad. We have done bad.”

Obe finished the chant with a bellow and grandiose
swing of his staff.

An explosion of light lit the surrounding trees.

Horror-struck, I flung an arm over my face
shielding my eyes.

Over the noise, I heard Ana’s voice. I felt the
warmth of her hand patting my shoulder yet her supine body lay far away. “The
athame must pierce her heart. It will anchor her here and complete the ritual.
If the fire dies and you haven’t paid tithe….” Her magically whispered counsel
cut ominously.

Pressure built and pressed on my torso. I squeezed
my eyes shut and scrubbed at the liquid distorting my vision. I used a
merciless grip as punishment and ripped the ceremonial dagger from my chest.

The ground shook.

Glittering flashes of light shot from the bonfire
and rushed around the circle.

Dark purple, blood red, and brilliant white swirls
of raw magic soared above. They zipped chaotically around the scattering
demons. Veered dangerously close to colliding with the circle’s outermost
edges, and sparked brightly as they did clip its borders.

The shimmering purple mass swooped low and slammed
into Roland’s stomach.

He landed sprawled on his back, clawing at his gut.
Tendons in his neck bulged as he pleaded for mercy. The vessels in his eyes
burst flooding his corneas with blood. A skeletal ghost settled over him. Husky
laughter and ribald taunts drifted through the air.

Another puddle of iridescent light tumbled from the
swirls above and plunged into Obe.

Haloed in a white nimbus he yelled, joyous, and
opened his arms wide. The light wriggled, spearing him repeatedly until the
shadowy form settled. The clearing flooded with hot light as if there were
noonday sun, and the smell of earth intensified until you tasted it. Eyes
rolling, Obe’s legs folded and he collapsed into a shuddering heap.

My gaze fixed on the last Vodoun.

Lex gaped at Roland and Obe. She wrapped her arms
around her head. “Not again. I can’t be a freak again.” Eyes wide and
frightened, the tattoos on her cheeks glowed against her sallow skin as she
turned and fled.

Ana scrambled forward on all fours. “Don’t break
the circle
.
Rae isn’t through yet.
”

Daphne moved with dizzying speed. Blocking Lex’s
frantic escape, she crouched and snarled.

Lex skidded to a stop, arms wheeling. “We have to
run.”

With menacing, darting movements Daphne forced her
back. “You agreed to this. We all did.”

“I gave Rae my life. I just got it back.” She
stopped retreating and widened her stance. Her hair whipped across her
hauntingly beautiful face. “Don’t make me fight.”

The last apparition corkscrewed and sizzled like a
firework. Sensing its approach, Lex spun to run blindly towards the pyre. It
zoomed overhead and struck her breast.

Mouth wrenched open in a silent scream, Lex flew
back but never hit the ground. She floated. Tendrils of smoky red skimmed her
body. Gasping, deep and hollow, her back arched. The smoke rushed down her
throat, and the spectral form settled over her writhing figure. The skeletal
face chuckled, and Lex’s pained expression morphed into an evil grin. Thousands
of screaming voices begged for mercy, and the smell of blood and death filled
the clearing.

I ignored the madness and stared up, searching for
another swirl of colour.
Rae will look
like pure gold
. My breathing stopped as I waited for her spirit to emerge.

Nothing.

My lungs contracted in a rush of panic.