Page 164 of A Bond with the Dark

“It is all how it’s supposed to be,” Janet says. “We had to go before you to be your guide. You lived through all that was designed to kill you and came out stronger every time.”

Still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my boyfriend killed my mother, I say, “That still doesn’t tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

“The warlocks and the grimspawns,” Mama continues, “aren’t, nor have they ever been, meant to be a part of this world. Their magick is too dark; it is of hell and monsters, and that is who you need to kill. They will try to find ways to outsmart you at every turn. This will be a perilous path, Sayah. They will use the people you love to get you to bend to their will; but you, being of the dark and the light, will find ways to outsmart them every time. Warlocks can only be killed by the phoenix, which is your destiny. Kill the warlocks that spell the grimspawns, and they will fall with them. I know Mederio threatened to take Gauge’s soul, but you will go to the ends of the Earth to save him, and you know that.”

“And what should I do with the boys being marked?” Even though I don’t know if I want to help Dom now, I still don’t need him going dark and murdering a bunch of people.

“Your light has already seeped into Bash when you saved him,” says Janet, her voice like a fresh autumn wind blowing through crisp leaves. “That glowing light you saw when you revived him was your light swarming his dark, saving his soul a piece at a time. Until you get the warlock linked to them killed, you must save their soul by feeding them your light when it goes dark. Because they are spelled to darkness, you will never fully be able to bring them out of the dark. But so long as they don’t stray on their own path and only kill the dark people of this world, your light in them will remain. Should they decide to stray, their darkness will consume them.

“Now that your blood has been awakened,” Janet continues, “the shadows will worsen. When you arose and killed Matrasia, and with the shock wave you set forth to rise Ollie, awoke many more warlocks. The grimspawns and the warlocks throw the balance off completely and came to be because a warlock who wasn’t immortal wanted the immortality of the vampires. To restore that balance, you need to rid the world of all the grimspawns.”

“How do I save Gauge? And Scarlet?”

“Adaline’s demon that she sought out to create Sebastian split into two and became Matrasia and Mederio,” responds Mama, her eyes narrowing and her magic strong. “That’s why he wanted one of them marked forever because that was what was promised to him when he gave her Sebastian. To restore the balance and save your son, you need to kill Mederio. But since Gauge’s life hangs in the balance, that is where your light will come in.

“Since formweavers can become any predatory species, they can become what they need to get into the warlock’s circles. The Gemini Covenant is the power of two; one being the undoing of the other but also being the strength, which brings light out of the darkness but can put out the light as well. Laureya and you have been at odds your entire life, and her path has awakened, too. She, too, has fallen into darkness, and although her path is different from yours, she rises from her own ash, too.

“Mederio saidyoucouldn’t kill any warlocks, but he did not say no one could. Laureya is your counterpart, the Bash to your Dom, the dark to your light. She has light within her, too; you have to help her find it. When you do, she will be what you need to help kill the warlocks. She is the other phoenix. Scarlet will be kept alive because she is immortal and a witch. Use your magick to find her and keep her alive, sending the grimspawn in her place—the one that’s in the cell in the dungeon. Using Jasantha’s siren power and some of your magick, you can devise a way to retrieve Scarlet and put the false Scarlet in her place.”

“I have to talk to Laureya?”

“To restore the balance,” Mama says, “you must find a way to forgive your sister and to save her soul.”

“Am I immortal now?”

“You will exist for as long as you need to until all the warlocks and grimspawns are forgotten.”

“And I’m part angel?”

“You are a tribrid now, too. You are part witch. Part angel. And part demon.”

The words are opaque and foreign.

“I don’t want to be part demon, Mom.”

“Demons are not what story books have led us to believe they are. They are not of the devil, as the devil doesn’t exist. They merely mean dark. The angel is the light. The demon is the dark. The witch in you is what holds them equally balanced.”

There’s a lot to process, but I feel the blood knot in my hand beginning to heal.

“I don’t know if I can do all this, Mama,” I say, choking back the tears threatening to engulf me.

“You can and you will, my darling,” Mama says, and the light within them both begins to fade.

“Mama, no, wait! Don’t leave me!”

“I will always be watching over you, my sweet girl. Always and forever.”

I hold her hand as she fades and slips back into the darkness. “Mama, I love you!”

“I’ve loved you longer,” she whispers, and then, in an evanescent whisper, she’s gone.

Upon opening my eyes, I’m back in the dark room with my aunts and the Sangravelli brothers.

My face is soaked with tears as I pull my hand away, looking at my palm.

The blood knot has faded but will forever be indelible in my palm.

Maggie and Hilda exchange looks of gravity, not speaking with their voices, but their silence spills every word they think.

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