Precious Anathema (26 page)

I screamed for him, but he never
turned to me. I realized that something was wrong and crouched in
the tall grass with Ella, out of sight by them but still able to
hear as they began to talk and then before my eyes where there had
been two people, four now stood and Freya put her arms around the
others to protect them. My father and Selene dropped to the ground,
lifeless as the other two. A man and a woman I had never seen
walked closer to the witches. The woman looked like the others, she
wore a very exaggerated black dress and cape and seemed a bit
shorter but she could have been Kali’s twin. The man on the other
hand was scary to look at. He was very tall and lanky, long salt
and pepper hair braided down his back and dressed in all black,
like someone right out of a teenage pop culture fantasy movie. The
woman began to speak, holding her hand out to Freya.

“
Thank you Freya, you are a
loyal woman. I knew you would make sure that our Delilah fulfilled
her end of the prophecy and it was only a matter of time before you
released me.” Freya looked stunned and a little scared.

“
I did no such thing, I
would never help you Emma. I did what I had to do to rid us of this
curse, nothing more.” The woman she called Emma began to laugh and
lowered her hand.

“
That’s what I wanted you
to believe all along. I needed the chosen one to ensure I could get
out, as far as breaking the curse that had nothing to do with this
spell at all, I just needed you to think it did.” Freya tried to
let go of the others but Kali and Carna held her tight, and the man
began to laugh again as he looked at Selene on the ground, and up
to Eris. I kept a close watch on the opening, waiting for large
dogs to come out but then the tall man started talking and I
realized large dogs were the least of my worries.

“
I am glad that I can
finally see my grandchildren Emma so thank you for that.” Eris
gasped and looked at her mother with tears in her eyes. I saw my
Dad roll on the ground and he let out a groan as he moved. It was
at that moment if an enemy had been behind me I would have been
killed as a hand touched my shoulder, causing me to jump out of my
skin and begin to scream when the hand covered my mouth and hushed
me from behind. A soft voice spoke from behind me.

“
Stop screaming like a
little girl, I have seen you naked and I know you’re not one!” It
was a woman’s voice, but not one I recognized which raised more
questions about her statement then answers. “I am not one of them,
I want to help you, that’s all I have wanted to do but now that
they have been released the real war has begun, now I am going to
let go of your mouth and you will turn around but you cannot
scream, nod if you understand me.” I nodded and slowly the petite
hand moved off my face. I turned my head to see a striking woman
who looked like a Grace, smile at me and then something else caught
my eye. Something moved in the tall grass, black wings were
attached to her back, I was face to face with Cora, in the flesh
and I realized that what we had hoped to be the ending of the curse
was really just the beginning of a century old struggle for
power.

“
Are you human now Cora?”
She laughed and grabbed one of her wings.

“
I was supposed to be, but
as you can see some things can’t be changed even with magic.” My
attention went back to the woods; something big was coming out of
the opening, something that had even Emma afraid.

“
Cora what’s going on?” She
knelt beside me as the ground shook from the weight of what was
coming out.

“
This is where we will find
our escape so get ready; Ailen is coming out now and seeing as Emma
turned him into a rooted dragon he is not very happy with her.” As
the footsteps became heavier I expected this to be the equivalent
of the large dogs, but when a man emerged from the open roots of
the tree I gave Cora a look of confusion. “Like me Xander, he has
changed back to his human form, or as much as could be allowed, but
trust me Emma knows who it is.” I watched as both Emma and the
stranger backed away from the muscular man, forcing them deeper and
deeper into the woods, until I couldn’t see any of them. Cora
grabbed my arm and told me to start walking as I watched Carna and
Kali pick up my Dad and Selene and they all began to move in our
direction.

“
Start walking where? Look
at the house, where are we supposed to go?” A voice behind me,
shaken and scared spoke up.

“
Xander this is still our
home, and if we have any chance of saving it at all we need to get
inside.” Freya and the aunts walked by me carrying wounded, with
the two girls and our new travel companions, the three men I didn’t
know right behind them. Everyone walked by me as if all of this was
not a big deal to them, I understood those who had just come from
hell, but even Freya and the aunts seemed calm about the sight
before them. The one Cora called Ailen ran beside us and Freya
stopped at the sight of him.

“
Please may I come with
you, I am Ailen and I want to help you.” Freya looked him all over
and then took his hand, not until she made physical contact did I
see a smile emerge.

“
Of course you can, please
come with us.” We reached the porch and as Cora stepped on the
boards, her foot went through. She merely rolled her eyes and then
stomped the rest of the boards till she got to the door, creating a
path for the rest of us. Once we were inside we lit candles and
Ailen started a fire. The paint on the walls was peeling off in
front of us, the floor boards were creaking and everyone decided
that the second floor wasn’t an option for now. Freya sat with
Ella, closed her eyes and ran her hands above her body. She began
to move, her bloody wounds vanished and then her eyes opened. She
was afraid, pulling herself closer to the back of the
couch.

“
Who are you, why are you
doing this to me? I thought I was at the end, how did I get back to
the basement?” Her sobs were inconsolable until Kali sat down
beside her and closed her eyes. A moment later Ella’s eyes were
closed as well and as she opened them again she jumped off the
couch hugging everyone, everyone but me. Freya did her work with
Selene, Lukin and my father. Ella hugged all of them, but wouldn’t
make eye contact with me. She sat beside, and had many questions
for Lukin but not even a hello for me.

“
Lukin, I don’t understand
why Scott, Brandon and yourself were able to stay behind. I thought
your souls were supposed to be released of this curse.” Lukin
looked at the others and smiled.

“
I don’t know why we were
chosen to stay with you Delilah, but we are here, and by the sounds
of our stomachs we are alive.” Carna sat on the arm of the couch,
looking out the window.

“
Everything we knew about
this curse was a lie from the beginning, how far do you think this
will go Freya?” Her mother stood beside her and placed a hand on
her shoulder.

“
It will go around the
world if we don’t learn everything we can and find a way to kill
it.” Everyone became silent realizing that the big family secret
was out, for now it was contained to the grounds of the estate, but
for how long? Dad sat with me and took my hand as he talked almost
in a whisper.

“
Thank you for not doing
what I had asked, we can find another way together.” I squeezed his
hand but didn’t take my eyes off Ella and Lukin, sitting so close
to each other. It made me sick to my stomach when he touched her; I
decided to look at something else and turned my attention to the
others. This room was filled with misfits and outcasts and I
couldn’t help thinking to myself weren’t we just the Army the world
wanted to see coming in the war against hell. A few witches, a
dragon, a bird, two handymen and the three dead stooges. No matter
what scenario I could picture in my head, we had lost this fight
and we hadn’t even begun it yet.

TO BE CONTINUED…