Page 82 of Absolution

“Holy crap,” Con said.

“Call him,” Luca said. “Make him change back.” Luca was alive. He lay on the kitchen floor, a professional-looking bandage on his abdomen. It was probably a good thing the muscleman nurse was on hand.

“Change,” Con said. “Sam, change back.”

Yeah? How did I do that? How had I done it before? I’d thought I’d been dreaming the first time it happened. Hadn’t realized it had been real, but then I had only thought about it and it had happened.

I breathed in a deep breath and just let the idea of being me again fill my head. The change washed over me like a flame burning through a piece of cotton candy. I hit the floor because my limbs didn’t want to work, and Con was there a moment later to share his sheet with me. He pulled me into his arms, me unable to help.

“Holy fuck,” I groaned, feeling as limp as a baby. “What the hell was that?”

“Um…” Kelly said staring at Jamie who appeared thoughtful.

“Restoring balance,” Con said. “Can’t you feel it? It sings in my power, not a vibration, exactly. More like a soft hum?”

“Yeah,” agreed Kelly, “I feel it too. Everything is quiet. Calm. It was like the release at the California house, only more contained. I think Seiran contained it to just inside the arboretum because nothing beyond has been touched.”

Jamie stepped up to the door, peering out into the broken remains of the arboretum and the yard beyond.

“He’s not dead,” I said.

“No,” Jamie agreed. “I feel him.”

I think we all did. Flowers began to bloom throughout the barren ground. The last of the giant plants created by wild magic dissolved and became a small grove of trees.

Con dragged me to Luca’s side. I reached out for Luca with a hand that felt like it weighed a ton. He took it, squeezed it and let me lay my head on his chest. His breathing was steady and solid. Eyes clear, though tired. I guess a dhampir was pretty hard to kill with a bullet too.

I stared out into the arboretum for a minute and saw the shadow of Seiran there, crouched over where Gabe had gone to ground. Only I knew it wasn’t really a vision of this world but something beyond what I’d seen before. Seiran never spoke of the place beyond the veil he’d gone when he’d ascended to Father Earth. Bryar mentioned it a time or two as an actual place and Jamie had speculated once that it was a parallel dimension of power. I suspected it was all tied together.

“Hey, Ronnie,”I called to him with my mind, feeling like maybe he could hear me,“get your ass back here. Those babies need you and I think the big guy is going to start crying soon.”

“Bastard,”I heard faintly. Was it in my head or for real?

“Jerk,” I said out loud. I closed my eyes, resting for just a moment, and then jerked awake a second later. When I opened my eyes again the spot where I’d seen Seiran kneeling had become a grove of red roses, thick with thorns and lush buds. Father Earth knelt at the edge, both fists clutched around stalks of painfully sharp spikes and dripping blood. I feared for a moment that it would wake Gabe too early. He’d need more time to rest. But then I realized the truth. Gabe wasn’t there anymore. In fact, all vampires who went to ground were eventually reabsorbed by the earth. When they rose it was because their souls, or whatever it was that animated them, had regained enough strength to be rewarded a new body from the circle of power.

Life and death. Two sides of the same coin. Both a formidable and intertwining circle with that of the elements. There was no balance without life and death. Seiran had pulled Gabe back once when his body wasn’t yet absorbed into the earth to regenerate. It was why I hadn’t risen faster or responded to their bloodshed over my grave. I rose when I’d been ready. Gabe would have to do the same.

Seiran let go of the roses and got to his feet. The wounds on his hands healed almost instantly. He turned toward us and as he came up the stairs the green visage of Father Earth faded and he was back to himself again. Jamie gave him a sheet to cover himself, though I suspected he could probably do like Bryar did and create some sort of ethereal clothing made from strategically placed leaves if he thought about it.

“Fire, eh?” Seiran said to me. “Been holding out on us?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “Too many hits to the head from giant plants maybe?”

“You or me?” He wanted to know.

“Both?” I squinted at him. “I’m not sure where the fire came from.”

“That was you,” Kelly said. “I totally felt it. Opposition to my water.”

“And my wind,” Con added.

Seiran nodded. “It makes sense. All witches are elemental. We’ve all been wondering what yours was. I think you just hadn’t manifested it yet, or maybe you did and didn’t realize it.” He thought for a minute. “Like that barn…when Matthew died…it should never have exploded. Burned sure, but not exploded.”

“That was magic,” I insisted. “The destruction of Matthew’s power.”

“I think that was the release of your power. You’d been living under his null influence. Null’s dampen power, they don’t increase it, not even in death. Your siphon powers enhanced his while your own were just beginning to emerge. That’s why no one tests until college. It can take that long for a witch’s power to manifest. And when Matthew died, the void-effect of his power over yours vanished.” Seiran looked thoughtful. “It explains the blast of heat we always get when you touch me in my Father Earth form.”

“And maybe the cacti,” Con pointed out. “’Cause hot earth and all…”