Family Magic, Chloe Price [christmas read aloud .txt] 📗

tearing at the dirt as he went. I wanted to cry at the trail of fresh blood he left behind, to throw a fit, curl up in a ball and make it all go away. But I didn’t. I watched our brave and broken Sassafras as he gathered the last of his strength and used it to get to Dad.

The statue warmed, the stone becoming flesh, real, and I knew why they kidnapped Sass. They needed a demon focus, someone to channel the unfamiliar power through, to bring my dad across, unknowing, trusting the feel of Sass, so they could trap him. I knew I was too late to stop that, a whole day too late. He had clearly been under their control since the twins were attacked. That’s why Mom hadn’t been able to feel him anymore. Batsheva probably used that very surge to fuel what she was doing and form the cage that now held my father prisoner. I wracked my brain as he grew more and more real.

There must be something I can do, I thought. Anything!

As Dad’s face became mobile, it twisted into a mask of pain.

I’m not sure what Quaid thought he could accomplish, but I was very grateful to him for trying. He spun and threw his power toward his mother, but not at her. He sent a focused beam through the connection between her and the statue. If he was stronger, had a little more time, I know he would have succeeded.

Two things happened at once. Dominic, in the background, struck Quaid in the back of the head with his fist, knocking him to his knees while Batsheva siphoned the homeless energy into herself.

She had the nerve to laugh.

“Bad boy,” she said to Quaid who lay groaning on the ground. “You will be punished later.”

Because of Quaid’s sacrifice, I now had the seeds of an idea but no way to carry it out. From Mom’s face she knew what I was thinking. She wasn’t any better off than me. I had to find a way to make it work.

“Can you feel it, Miriam?” Batsheva glowed like a small star, her whole body swelling and retracting with the flow of it. “Can you feel my victory at hand? With Haralthazar’s magic and that of the Hayle family at my disposal, I am far more powerful than you ever were. But wait,” she laughed, “do you know why I chose your precious brother and his aberration to seal the circle?”

“So you could access that source, too,” Mom whispered.

Batsheva laughed.

“Oh, but that’s not all,” Batsheva went on. “No, not nearly. There is one other kind I need, one more type of magic to make me complete, all powerful, immortal.”

The big black dog that was Jared Runnel let out a sharp yelp and collapsed.

“Batsheva!” He howled at her, twisting in pain on the ground as her power wrapped around him and started to feed. “What are you doing?”

“What I intended all along, dog,” she hissed at him. I knew it was true as much as he did. No time for I told you so. She never meant to free him, only to absorb his life force like she was taking ours and keep it for herself. He howled like a wounded wolf and continued to struggle.

“The token of the Sidhe,” Mom said. “This cannot happen.” She pulled herself to her feet. I knew she was about to try something, anything, to stop Batsheva. She would fail and most probably die in the process.

“You cannot,” Mom said. “I will not let you.”

Batsheva laughed again, the light so bright I had to squint to see her.

“You have nothing, are nothing. I have taken everything you were, Miriam. It’s all mine now, mine and you will never be able to stop me!”

Mom gathered her remaining power. It felt pitiful compared to what she once commanded. I was amazed she was still able to tap in at all. I fed my own waning strength to her but she pushed me away. She threw what remained of her at the bond holding the vampires in thrall.

I knew she was right, knew our best bet was to break the circle, to escape. Still, I couldn’t help trying to come up with another way. Maybe it was wishful thinking in a terrible time of impending doom.

I met my grandmother’s eyes. Ethpeal Hayle, unbowed witch who defeated the Purity coven and saved her family, looked back at me. She reached out and touched Meira’s forehead.

“Your sister,” she whispered, “looks like a demon but feels like a human.”

I bent over her as I felt my mother struggle above me, trying to understand what Gram was saying. She touched my forehead.

“You look like a human,” she said.

I was confused and desperate and wondered if she was really in there after all. But her stare held so steady, so full of intent, I knew she was expending the very last of her own energy to keep herself present long enough to get her message across.

I was just a little slow on the uptake.

“Gram,” I whispered. “I don’t understand.”

“How do you feel?” she asked.

It seemed like such a weird question I focused on it. How did I feel? How did I feel?

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt like a demon. As the struggle for reality left her, I hugged her and whispered, “thank you” in her ear. Gram dissolved back into insanity.

She tried to warn me all along and I didn’t listened. She wanted me to pay attention, but I was too busy or too angry with Mom or too wrapped up in my own crap to get it. But I understood it now.

I felt like a demon and she was pissed off big time.

Mom collapsed, spent, her efforts wasted. She crumpled to the ground, still alive and conscious, but barely.

Batsheva laughed again. Jared, Galleytrot, writhed next to her, the light fading from his huge red eyes. His met mine. There was desperation there, and, finally, a promise.

Time to act.

The demon roared her approval. Chapter Thirty Seven

I found standing easier than I thought it would be. In fact, now that I understood the rules, I was calmer, more centered, ready to do what I had to do to save my family.

I reached out for Dad and touched his power with mine. He was in agony but shielded me from most of it. I knew it cost him. I pulled back and reached for Jared. I touched the rim of the circle and the vampire blood magic holding me back. I struggled to understand and opened up to let my demon have a look. Through her, we were able to see how we were different, how combined we could break the hold on us. If we only had a source big enough to feed from. That very power source gloated in a ball of light on the other side of the barrier.

“You can’t, Syd, can you?” Batsheva goaded me. “Your demon is tied to your father and he can’t defend himself, either. It’s over and you know it.”

She focused her drawing on me. I staggered as she starting pulling my power away. I reached out with my demon. We sliced a thin hole in the circle and managed to get to her. I pulled myself up straight and hit her with everything I had, driving the demon into her.

She laughed at me.

“Found a way through, did you?” She taunted. “But, oh so sad, too weak to do anything about it.” Her laugh was more cackle than humor. I could see the insanity the buildup brought to her mind.

It was no use. I may have been able to reach her but I couldn’t affect her. At least, I knew, not as I was. Being half human and half demon gave me the ability to sense Jared, to worm my way through his green fairy magic now I knew what it was. Why hadn’t I sensed before the subtle touch of nature, the scent of leaves and fresh tilled earth? I still held back, keeping my human self in control while trying to use the demon within me to defeat Batsheva. It was then I understood the only way I would ever have a chance was if I gave myself over totally and completely to the power inside me and let the demon act.

The very thought of it made me cringe, curl up and want to hide, to run, the sheer terror at the chance of losing myself to her battling with my need to save my family. I struggled against her as she fought for control, coming to the same realization as I did at the same time. I pushed at her, but she wasn’t having any. I was left with a full-blown war on my hands.

That is, until I felt Dad and Sass in my mind and their gentle, steadying presence. Knowing this was the only hope for my family, feeling them around me, their weakness, I shuddered past the compulsion that blocked me all my life. My will to help them was stronger. I dropped my defenses and let my demon go.

How silly. Why had I fought for so long? The demon within me stood next to me in my body. We merged like we were meant to be one. I felt calm, detached. The barrier wasn’t a wall to me anymore. In fact, I could see now the lines feeding it like slender strings connecting the vampires to the circle. I knew exactly what to do, saw the weakness that would defeat Batsheva and with the strength now to do it. I felt a gentle pang of guilt as I reached out and severed her connection to the power from every source at once.

The circle imploded. I felt the magic from it rush past me in a wave, saw the light disperse in a flare of lost energy. Everything in me collapsed. I fell to the ground, spent in that one massive union with my demon. I was left there on the ground, exposed and helpless as the shrieking Batsheva, now normal again with her source cut off too soon, attacked me.

I didn’t even have the presence to be afraid. She lashed out with enough hatred left to end my life if not rule the world. I felt her magic lurch toward me to be blocked and dissipated by a solid wall of gold. My father, monstrous in his fury, lashed out and brought the witch to her knees.

The black dog was free. He dragged himself to his feet, shaking his shaggy head to clear it. I watched as my sister’s power freed the two vampires and lowered them softly to the earth. Uncle Frank’s body settled next to me. As he touched the ground his eyes opened.

“Syd,” he whispered.

“Hi, Uncle Frank,” I said.

I looked up to the hateful sound of Batsheva’s laughter. She was back on her feet, glowing. I was too late. She absorbed enough, it seemed, to stand against even a full-blown demon lord. She lashed out at him. Dad staggered, already weakened by the siphoning that gave her strength. She hit him again and again. I saw my father crumple under the force of her attack,