Page 64 of Twisted Fates
I flew into the air and froze. I recognized Balthazar as he rode the air toward us, a malicious smile smeared across his face.
I could barely move, unsure how he had bested me. The Legacy Wizard was supposed to be stronger than any dark force, except my own dark equivalent. That entity was an immortal buried deep within the earth below a mountain in Norway. Balthazar was not him.
From my peripheral vision, I saw all four of the witches were each encased in some kind of bubble. They all writhed in pain, and I fought to get free to, if nothing else, save them.
“Aah, you’ve come to watch my party,” Balthazar said as he entered our circle. “How nice of you. Oh, and how nice of you to provide your own blood to ensure you couldn’t intervene. I would stop resisting if I were you. You donated enough of your DNA to keep you trapped for at least another twenty-four hours.”
At first, I had no idea how he’d gotten my blood, but then—the golem! I’d forgotten I’d put a golem into the hands of the vipers. The only way to give a golem life was with the creator’s blood. Damn, had I just sealed Owen’s fate?
Balthazar couldn’t kill me. Intuitively, I knew my powers would prevent that. He could, however, kill Owen and the witches while I watched. With his blood spell, there was not a damned thing I could do to stop him.
Balthazar waved a wand that magically appeared in his hand, and we all floated behind him. When we got to a spot surrounded by what appeared to be thorny bushes and locust trees, I saw a real unicorn lying on a slab. It was some sort of altar, and although I couldn’t ascertain what kind of magic they did there, another symptom of being held in the blood spell, I sensed it was deeply embedded in the dark.
“Karkadann, it’s time!” Balthazar said, and I watched as Shadow, the woman who’d pretended to be my friend, the one who’d gotten Molly mixed up in all this crap, wandered into view, a look of pure arrogance on her face.
“Do it, dark witches. Start the chants!”
I heard a low hum like a thousand voices making the same note, and then dark witches came forward, each dressed in dark clothing. Some seemed way too old to be alive. I knew dark witches could prolong their lives, but not without doing serious damage to their souls. These were no longer healthy witches, and their humming drew from an energy outside this world.
Demonic would be the word a layperson would call this energy. I knew it was more than that. It was a bastardization of the very darkness they served. Dark didn’t want destruction. It wanted balance. I felt that the instant the nasty aura came into my presence. If I’m right, and I pray to the gods that I am, dark would resist. I didn’t know how, but I was happy to feel awareness that it would.
Would it be enough to save Owen? I had no idea, but I hoped beyond hope.
Shadow shifted from her human shape into the Karkadann. In any other situation, I would say the creature was as beautiful in its darkness as Owen was in his Re’em state. It was then that it struck me: the Karkadann was not the enemy of the Re’em. Could it be? Was Shadow Owen’s salvation? I dared not even have that much hope.
I watched as the power grew around us. Inky, unnatural darkness swirling in dark foglike rings. It smelled of death and decay but also sulfur. What were the words used in old times? Oh, brimstone. It smelled of death and brimstone.
Shadow, in Karkadann form, moved forward slowly, and I realized she was waiting for something. There were thousands of creatures around us. Maybe even hundreds of thousands. As each creature lifted its voice along with the dark witches, I noticed a dark glow, literally dark energy growing around Balthazar. It was then I realized what his end goal was.
“You’re trying to absorb the Re’em’s energy?” I asked, hoping to distract him, to distract them.
A wave of dark energy hit me so hard I felt nauseous, but with it came Balthazar’s response. “The era of the Re’em is over. No more will it reincarnate. After tonight, the darkness will remain in power forever.”
I strained against my restraints. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to stop it somehow, some way. Yet, I couldn’t undo a curse that used my own blood against me. Fuck, how had I let this happen?
When all the entities’ voices joined together, the sound made me feel as if it could pull my soul from my body. It was both loud and too quiet at the same time. It was so unnatural, so out of, well, out of balance. It was the opposite of me and everything I stood for.
Balthazar yelled then, “Now, Karkadann, do it now!”
Shadow, in her Karkadann form, rose on two legs. The dark energy that flowed around Balthazar glowed on the tip of her horn. She faced Owen, who lay unconscious on the slab. I screamed as she came down, her horn pointing directly at my beloved Owen. Tonight, the world as we knew it was going to end, and with it was going to be the death of the only man, the only creature I would ever love.
Chapter forty-eight
Owen
Iwoke as ahum began to echo around me. I almost got up, but I heard Shadow in my head. “Don’t move, not until I tell you to. You and I must join to stop this.”
I knew, somehow, she told the truth. Shadow was my only salvation. I almost lost my shit, though, when I looked up and saw all four of my witch friends encased in bubbles and Damian somehow locked into a spell I sensed he couldn’t get out of.
“Stay calm. They’re okay. Trust me, Owen!”Shadow said in my mind.
“Okay, but hurry.”
“They all must sing. I have to wait, patience. Trust me,” she said again.
I watched as she moved slowly toward me, glancing from her to my friends, and I managed to keep myself from moving, from giving away any plans to the statue creep, who was now somehow glowing darkly.
When the sound reached a horrifying pitch, Shadow, in her weird, whatever she was, form, lifted on her hind legs. Fear gripped me before she screamed, “Now!”
