Authors: Marilu Mann
“What power? LaPierre said I would have to study for years to be a witch.”
“In most cases that’s true. However, you’re a hereditary witch. There are certain powers, certain abilities that can be passed down from generation to generation. If you study, you increase those powers and those abilities. If you don’t you’ll always have your natural powers, but they won’t increase.”
“So, I could just be psychic or something if I don’t study to increase my abilities?”
“Exactly. You would have limited powers, perhaps telepathy, perhaps translocation, I don’t know exactly, but if you studied, Mari, if you applied yourself…”
“I could be as powerful as my father?”
“More powerful. You would have his abilities and your own innate gifts.”
“What about my brother? Would these keys have worked for him as well?”
“No, the keys have to be tuned specifically to one person. If your brother comes here, his keys will be entirely different. The power he would manifest would be entirely different.”
“Ros, did you ever meet my brother?”
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“No, Mari, but your father spoke often about the two of you. Though he’d promised your mother not to contact you or to reveal your heritage to either of you, you were frequently in his thoughts.”
“You do know that my brother disappeared nearly four years ago.” Mari turned away then whirled back to him. “Ros, is it possible that my brother did come here to see my father? Could something have happened to him? Is it possible that he’s trapped somewhere? Could he be the human Iss said is trapped in your world somehow?”
He understood the yearning in her voice. It matched his own need to actually touch his sister, not just see her in the mirror, and the rest of his family.
“You mean among the Demonae? Why would you think that?” Ros couldn’t tell her his suspicions. She might command him to rescue her brother. Such a betrayal of his own kind would never be forgiven. Even Issia would shun him for that treachery.
“To be honest, Mari, I don’t know. I’ve been here so long, I don’t know what has been happening in my world. It’s not like I can tune a radio into my world and find out what’s happening there.”
“It’s just a feeling and what your sister said. Something has come over me, I don’t know what it is. I honestly believe Marcus is still alive somewhere, and I know he would have come home when Mom died if he could have. That means he has to be somewhere where he can’t get home. He can’t get…oh my god, what if he is being held captive in your world like you’re being held captive here? No, no that can’t be it. I need to think, I can’t think…”
Mari moved around Ros to one of the library chairs. Sinking down, she clutched the stone and rubbed her forehead with the other hand. It was really all too much. First, her father reappeared in her life in the form of a videotape, leaving her a house and a bound demon. Then, that same bound demon, one who she’d shared the best sex of her life with, told her she could free him from his captivity by having sex with him. Then, another man showed up claiming her father wanted him to have all of this, including the demon. And now she’d found two things her father obviously held precious, his 70
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ring and this hunk of rock, and the demon was telling her that these things were unlocking her own ability. Magick she didn’t even know she’d ever had! It was really all too much.
“I’m going to bed now.”
“What?”“ Ros surged to his feet, moving toward her, but stopped when she held up one hand.
“No, I’m going to bed. I was never cut out for all this stuff. I’m tired, I’m unhappy and I’m worried and I’m overwhelmed. Leave me alone tonight, Ros. Just let me have tonight and I’ll deal with everything in the morning. Everything just seems to spin when you get too close. I need some space.”
Mari skirted around him, heading for the stairs. She stopped at the foot of the stairwell to look back at Ros. He stood in the middle of the doorway, just watching her.
The look on his face reminded her of her next door neighbor’s little boy when his favorite toy had been taken away. Longing and sadness mixed together. Then something LaPierre had said came back to her and Mari turned to face Ros again.
“Just one more thing. LaPierre said an out-of-control demon had killed his parents.
He blames you for that. You told me you weren’t responsible. Were you telling me the truth? Did you kill his parents?”
Ros stilled. She couldn’t even see him breathing. Then he came toward her, stopping when he stood directly in front of her, his eyes boring into her own. “I swear to you, on my life, on my skin, and on the lives of all I hold dear that I had nothing to do with the deaths of Lena and George LaPierre. I was not present at their deaths, I was not the demon summoned into their faulty circle, and I did not kill those two witches.”
Mari stared at him then took a deep breath. “Have you ever killed a human, Ros?”
She saw the answer before he spoke. She just wondered if he’d tell her truth or sugarcoat it in some way.
“I have killed a human, Mari. Once, many years ago. It was not an accident and if the circumstances were the same, I would do it again.” Without waiting for her 71
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response or giving her a chance to say anything else, Ros disappeared. Music poured down the stairs. After a moment, she recognized the tune as
Highway to Hell
.
Taking a deep breath, Mari climbed the stairs and walked slowly down the hall toward her bedroom. It was only after she’d closed the door that she realized she still held the small piece of crystal in her hand. She set it on top of the journal she’d found stuffed under the chair cushion and turned away. A vibration racked her entire body and Mari turned back to the chair.
The entire book glowed under the crystal and the ring on her finger tingled.
Moving slowly back to the book, Mari stretched out her hand and picked up both the crystal and the book. With a gasp, she realized there were words written on the cover, words she hadn’t been able to see until they were revealed by the crystal.
Sleep and disappointment forgotten, Mari sat down. Holding the crystal just above the book she began to read. Page after page of instructions, spells, everything her father thought she might need to know. Some of the directions were specifically written to her.
Some were to her brother as if her father expected him to read the words. The rest held general knowledge. All of it she found intriguing.
Mari read, then reread every page. Jumping to her feet, she grabbed the other journal, the one that had been on the nightstand. There was more hidden in this journal, Everything intrigued her, everything interested her. She could practically feel the information seeping into her pores. With the ring and the crystal, she felt confident she could find whatever held the last key. The last step to gaining the power her father wanted her to have. Well, her and her brother. He’d left instructions for Marcus as well.
Mari sighed, wondering if she’d learn enough about magick to find Marcus. Or at least prove to herself that he was dead. Refusing to let sadness engulf her, Mari got to her feet, only then feeling the stiffness that had set in from sitting in one position for so long. Yawning and stretching, she glanced at the clock. Three-thirty. She decided she needed some apple juice and maybe a slice of cheese.
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The moment she stepped into the hallway, she heard a soft noise. She paused to determine where it was coming from. Downstairs. Maybe Ros was up. Good, she could ask him more about how to find her brother. Command him if she had to although she didn’t want that. It didn’t feel right to order him like that.
Mari realized that her feelings for Ros were much deeper than they should be. She told herself to knock that off. He was only working for release. No need to be a silly woman who fell in love with the first guy who made her come. Lost in those thoughts, she ran into a wall on the stairs.
Her yelp of alarm was smothered against the palm suddenly pressing over her mouth. As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she saw Ros scowling at her. He shook his head at her. His other hand pulled her by the waist hard up against the solid muscle of his chest. Part of her wanted to melt against him. The other part was scared. If Ros wasn’t making that soft noise, who was?
So softly she almost missed it, Ros murmured in her ear, “Mari, you must be quiet.
Somehow someone has broken through the house wards. Stay here.”
She nodded as she drew in a breath of air when he moved his hand. He held one finger to his lips then disappeared.
The shout that came next was accompanied by a crash. Muffled thuds and masculine grunts catapulted Mari into action. Ros might be hurt. She flew down the stairs. At the bottom, she scanned the hallway for anything she could use as a weapon.
She snagged an ornate cane from among the umbrellas in the stand beside the door.
Hefting it over her shoulder, Mari ran into the library. She recognized both figures in the dark room, though how that was possible she wasn’t even sure.
“James!” Her startled yelp of his name distracted him, which gave Ros an opening.
He took it with such speed that Mari barely saw his fist connect with LaPierre’s chin.
Stunned, LaPierre took several steps back. Then he grabbed something off her father’s desk.
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“Sorry, Marielle. That damn demon won’t kill me tonight. This is not over.” With a slight, mocking bow, James LaPierre vanished from sight.
When Ros rounded on her, the fire had not died in his eyes. Something unholy leapt in them. She took a step back and brought the cane down. “Ros, it’s me. Mari.”
He shook his head like a bear waking from hibernation. “Mari? What are you doing here? Dammit! I almost had him.”
She frowned. “Were you going to kill him?”
“Only if I had to. I wanted to find out how he broke through the house protections.
Only someone who is invited in can just enter that way. If I hadn’t heard him…”
Ros’ voice trailed off. He looked at her with a different fire in his eyes. “If I hadn’t heard him, he might have hurt you.”
“Oh Ros. This is all my fault! When he first came by, he asked me if I was going to let him in. I said yes. I didn’t realize…no one told me…”
Her guilt slanted into anger as she realized this could have been prevented. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Running a hand through his hair, he shook his head again. “It never occurred to me. I’m not used to working with someone who doesn’t know the basics. It’s not your fault. You’re right. This is my fault. Tomorrow morning, we will go over the fundamentals. And we will have to figure out how to keep LaPierre out of the house.
Now go to bed, Mari-girl. Even demons need rest and I’m exhausted.”
She looked at his face. The weariness showed in the way he held his mouth. Odd that she could know that after only a few days with him, but she did. Without another word, she returned to her room. She didn’t sleep right away. She wrote some notes in the blank pages at the end of her father’s journal. Then she reviewed his notes on wards. Tomorrow she needed to learn how to protect what was hers. And she jotted a reminder to see if she could discern what LaPierre had taken from the library.
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When she woke, the sun streamed through the window. A glance at the clock revealed it was nine-thirty already. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a blue shirt.
Wondering where Ros was and why he hadn’t knocked on her door, Mari grabbed her father’s journal as she moved to the door of the bedroom. When she pulled it open, Ros stood there with his hand raised as though he was about to knock.
“Mari? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. We need to talk.”
“We need to talk.”
They laughed as they echoed each other. He continued. “Come down for your breakfast. I didn’t want to disturb you after last night.”
“Ros, it’s fine. I was just feeling a little overwhelmed. I mean, my whole life has changed in a matter of days, and I’m responsible for helping you get home. You have to understand that everything was just closing in on me. Then finding James in my home.
It was a shock.”
“Will you come downstairs so we can talk about everything?”
“No. I mean, yes, I’ll come downstairs, but we don’t need to talk. We need to figure out how to keep LaPierre out of the house and we need to figure out what he stole. You were right about the crystal and the ring, by the way. They have unlocked something inside me and I feel much better after reading these.” She held up the journals and smiled at the confusion on Ros’ face.
“These journals, Ros—they’re the real instructions my father left for me. His spells, his workings, everything is in here. I can read them with the crystal and it did give me more energy. I didn’t go to sleep right away after I came upstairs. I’m a little stiff, but I feel great otherwise.” Brushing past him, she started down the stairs and felt Ros following her.
“I know what I need to do now. I know generally where the third key is and as soon as I find it we’ll be able to finish what we started and get you home. I have to have all three keys, Ros. It’s important that I have them all before we try to send you home.
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First, however, we need to reset the protection wards around this place. I’m going to need your help with that, because you helped Dad with the original spell.”
His voice from behind her sounded odd. “Yes, we do need to reset them. I can’t leave you. Not until I know you are safe from LaPierre.”
She entered the kitchen then came to a dead stop. Fresh coffee was on the counter, several types of cheeses were sliced on a platter and two apples, one green, the other red, had been cut and put on a plate. She turned to look at Ros. “You did this?”
“I wanted to try to make things easier for you. Mari, I need to explain about the man I killed first. Then we need to talk about LaPierre.”
“Ros, I read about why you killed that man in my father’s journals last night.”