Page 78 of Shadow's End

I shivered again and pushed away the gory images my imagination was unhelpfully providing, then bent to press my fingers once again into the ground. As the looping connection reformed, I contracted the sphere. The glimmering weave of luminous energy pulsed and glimmered as it tightened in response, its light briefly caressed the red bricks before sinking into them, disappearing from sight but not from my inner eye. Though I couldn’t feel the weight of darkness resting on the floorboards, as the sphere grew ever smaller, the thick wash of dark wrongness grew ever closer.

Another scream of frustration echoed, and once again, dark magic rose, the spell beating, tearing, at the luminous threads.

They held, but every blow shuddered through my brain and echoed into my body, and I wasn’t sure how long I could ignore it before I was forced to break the connection.

“Jaqueline has definitely inherited my temper and my power. That is as pleasing as it is troubling.” Her gaze came to mine. “Your power shines from you, Elizabeth. It is … tempting.”

I pointed to the house. “I suggest we get in there and deal with your daughter, before that power fades and we lose her again.”

Her too-sharp teeth flashed in what I presumed was amusement, then she nodded regally and led the way forward, moving fast and yet somehow gracefully across the remaining bit of grass before climbing the concrete steps. Her gaze briefly scanned the thick shadows to our right, and her amusement seemed to sting the night.

At that exact point, the shadows parted, and two vampires appeared, running straight at us. I stepped back automatically, forgetting where I was, and fell off the porch, arms flailing as I fought to keep my balance. I landed awkwardly but on both feet, felt the caress of air, and glanced up sharply. Saw the vampire in the air, coming straight at me. I swore, ran backward, and raised my hand, a repelling spell buzzing around my fingers. But before I could unleash it, Maelle lunged forward, caught the vamp by her feet, and hauled her back down onto the concrete patio with enough force to split the woman’s chin open. Then she flipped her around, bent down, and casually sliced the woman’s gut open with one clawed hand. Blood sprayed, but the woman kicked free of Maelle and scrambled upright, her wound opening up and her guts spilling out. It was almost as if she wasn’t even aware that she’d been hurt … My gaze jumped to her eyes. There was no life within them, just blankness. She wasn’t in control of her body; her maker was.

Once again she tried to launch at me from the porch. Once again, Maelle caught her feet. This time, she threw the other woman hard against the corner of the building. Bones cracked, the sound as sharp as a gunshot.

Vampires were capable of many things, but even they weren’t capable of movement when their back was shattered.

The blankness oozed from the woman’s dark gaze, and awareness returned. Awareness and pain. Maelle drew in a deeper breath and sighed happily. Meaning the bitch didn’t only draw enjoyment from swimming…

I shuddered and walked back to the patio. The other vampire lay dead at her feet, his throat cut, and his head all but severed from his neck. The blood had sprayed across the nearby brick and door, and dripped from Maelle’s dark clothes and face. As I climbed the steps, her tongue flickered out, tasting the dark liquid. Delight and hunger briefly touched her expression.I flexed my fingers, itching to unleash the spell that buzzed around my hands and send her far, far away, but didn’t. She’d only come back, madder and nastier than ever. I motioned her to continue, then followed, but just as I was about to enter, Ashworth appeared. He had a bloody scratch along his left cheek and another down his right arm, but otherwise appeared fine.

“We’re going to loop a protection circle around the house,” he said. “So don’t panic when you feel it activate.”

I frowned. “There can’t be too many more of Marie’s vamps left, not if Maelle’s estimates are right.”

“And they are,” she said from inside the house.

Ashworth cast a grim look her way. “I’m thinking more about Marie attacking us magically, now that you’ve retracted the wild magic.”

“She will know I am here and will not attack me directly,” Maelle said. “To do so would shatter the bonds preventing me from attacking her, and I doubt she is willing to do that as yet, not even for my daughter. You witches, however, have proven to be inconveniently resourceful and could certainly become a target.”

“Then we’ll definitely be raising the protection spell.” Ashworth’s gaze met mine. “Be careful in there. No heroics, okay?”

I nodded and quickly continued on. The entry hall was surprisingly wide, with three doors on the left, one on the right, and a bathroom directly ahead. The hallway went right, which was where the main concentration of wild magic was.

Maelle was just disappearing around the corner, meaning she must have been waiting for me. I hurried after her. There was a second entry point into the living room to our right, and the strong metallic scent of blood rolled from it, making me wonder if the person who’d shared Jaqueline’s bed had endedup as dinner. I certainly couldn’t smell anyone else in the house besides the three of us.

Down the far end of the hall was the kitchen … and Jaqueline. She paced back and forth, her magic boiling through the air, powerful but impotent, held at bay by the sphere of wild magic encircling the entire room, not only preventing her escape but also curtailing her ability to hit us magically.

She saw us and stopped. Another spear designed to tear hit my barrier; the threads bowed against it briefly before snapping back into place. A red-hot lance of pain stabbed through my brain, briefly making my eyes water, and my knees buckled. I stopped and pressed a hand against the wall to keep upright, but ignored the growing ache in my head, all my attention on the two women ahead of me.

“Jaqueline, dearest,” Maelle said, her tone low and warm, “how lovely it is to see you again after such a long time.”

She stopped inches from pulsating threads of wild magic, but if their closeness in any way made her feel uncomfortable, I had no sense of it. All I could see, all I could smell, was the dark caress of the presence that swirled around her. Though it remained insubstantial, there was a purplish-green luminosity to it now that very much reminded me of the basilisk’s scales.

Trepidation stepped into my heart, and the urge to get the hell out of this house was so damn strong that I actually took a step back. I forced myself to stop. I couldn’t leave, as much as I might want to. I needed to be here, so I could instantly react to protect the wild magic. I could not let it be stained by whatever was about to happen, especially if what was about to happen was a bloody brutal death within the confines of its net.

Though why on earth would Maelle want to kill her daughter? Especially when she’d been so adamant thatwedidn’t kill her?

“Let’s not pretend that you in any way care about me.” Jaqueline’s fists were clenched and almost invisible thanks to the storm of darker magic that swirled around them. “You were an absent parent at best when I was human, and that only got worse when I crossed over. You certainly offered little in the way of help or support.”

Every word was filled with a bitterness centuries in the making. I couldn’t help but wonder yet again if Jaqueline reallyhadbeen a willing participant in the crossover ceremony.

Couldn’t help but wonder if a similar bitterness was what I might yet face. I had no sense that the Fenna whose souls now haunted the wellspring regretted the decision that had been made for them, but that didn’t in any way ease the kernel of fear.

I just had to hope that, by doing what Maelle obviously hadnot, and being by my daughter’s side every step of the way to guide and support her, I would avoid this sort of confrontation. Because her resenting or hating me for the decision I’d had no real choice in would break me, I was sure of that.

“Because,” Maelle said evenly, even as her creature continued to wind around her with increasing intensity. “It was not my duty or my job to care for or support you. You were Marie’s creation, not mine. That is the way of our kind?—”

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