Page 21 of Voyage of Magic and Malice (The Vampires of Charleston #3)

TWENTY-ONE

the power of a child

“Thorne?” I question, hoping to break through the barrier once more. “We’re here to help you.”

“He doesn’t need your help,” Serafina spews. She looks around our group. “You brought children to fight for you?” Her laugh echoes off the still water. “And I’m the one with the bad reputation.”

“We’re not children,” Alex answers.

“Dear boy, from my viewpoint, you’re children.” Serafina’s movements remind me of a lycan, as she sniffs the air in front of her. “You all have the same maker, except for you.” She points at Brayden. “You’re different.” She sniffs the air once more. “Very different.”

Nyssa moves protectively in front of the immortal child. “Leave them alone.”

Serafina laughs again. “I’m not the one who brought children to a rescue party. That is what we’re calling it, right?” She claps her hands loudly. “You’re here to rescue poor, helpless Hawthorne, who’s being held against his will…blah, blah, blah.”

“Let him go,” I warn.

“Or what?” Serafina stalks closer. “You’re nothing more than…” She pauses. “What were the words you used again? A starving farm girl? Yes, that’s it.” Her words bring anger to the surface.

“I’m more than you know.” My words sound like a middle school kid standing up to their bully.

“That little twinge of witch blood you carry around doesn’t mean much in the big scheme of things,” she taunts.

“You need me.”

Her laugh is louder than before, carried in the fog that surrounds us. “I don’t need anyone.”

“You need me to open Aaron’s grimoire.” The smile that covered her face earlier is gone. “You did all of this to get your hands on his spell. But, oops, you can’t open the grimoire, can you?”

“I don’t need Aaron’s spells.”

“Then why steal the grimoire?” Cam asks.

“What do you know, wolf?” she spews.

“I know that you want Aaron’s spell,” he retorts, making me smile.

“Would you like us to kill them?” a deep voice says from behind. Turning, I find the lycan who were walking the perimeter earlier looming over our group.

“Back off, or I will make you back off,” Cam warns.

“Fuck you, St. James,” one of the men answers as the two of them shift into larger-than-life wolves.

Cam doesn’t waste a minute, transforming into an even larger version. “I’ll take care of these two assholes. Nyssa, stay with Elsie and the children.” His words ring through my mind just as he jumps toward the two wolves.

“Brayden, can you confuse the two lycan and vampire?” I ask.

“I…I don’t know what to do.” His voice sounds more anxious than usual.

“Make them think they’re in the cage at the bar.”

Cam steps back as the two lycan stop fighting and move closer to each other. Both look around, confusion filling their expression. The larger of the two jumps against the invisible walls, unable to breach their hold.

“Holy shit,” Cam says through my mind. “I can’t believe that worked.”

Serafina claps slowly from the doorframe. “That was impressive.” Her voice is void of emotion. She turns toward Brayden. “Druid. That’s what I smell on you. Imagine that. Two druids in one place.”

“Three,” Nyssa says, stepping even closer.

“Would you look at that? Not so extinct, are you, dear brother?”

“You’re the only one strong enough to defeat her. That’s why she bound you to her,” I interrupt the moment of insanity.

“Hawthorne, don’t listen to her. You’re my brother—my family. The last remaining tie to our heritage.”

“Are they bound?” Thorne looks at the two lycan and vampire, seemingly trapped in a silver cage. “Am I bound?”

“She wants Aaron’s spell,” I answer quickly. “A spell to siphon death.”

“I don’t know what that means,” he answers, looking between the two of us.

“She will take the one thing that’s kept us alive. Our affliction. We will no longer be vampires.”

Thorne turns fully toward his sister. “Is this true?”

“Enough!” Serafina yells. Long arms raise high above her head as she begins to chant in an ancient language. With her words, Thorne’s face becomes stoic, almost robotic.

“It’s a binding spell,” Brayden says through my mind. “It’s stronger than the first. He can’t fight her.”

“Kill them,” Serafina whispers. “Kill them now.”

A hoard of vampires and lycan come from nowhere, surrounding our small group. “No!” I shout. “This doesn’t have to end like this.”

“Open the grimoire, Elsbeth, and I’ll stop it before it begins.” Serafina’s words strike deep.

“No!” Fran speaks for the first time. “If you open that grimoire, more than us will die. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather die fighting.”

“Aye,” I answer, turning toward the love of my life. The smile that covers his face is a mixture of cruelty and evil. “Protect the children,” I charge the adults beside me. “I’ll take care of Thorne.”

“What about Serafina?” Brayden asks.

“She’s ours,” Nyssa answers, wrapping her fingers through the immortal child’s. “We’re stronger together. Thorne’s not the only one powerful enough to defeat her.”

Without warning, Thorne bares his teeth and jumps on me, knocking me several yards back. What the hell? “Thorne! This isn’t you.”

“It’s me, Elsbeth.” He rushes me, knocking me in the stomach and back the length of a football field to the edge of the water. “It’s always been me.”

I stand, wiping the mud down my pants. “You’re kind and gentle. This has never been you. You fed a helpless, starving girl when she…”

“Oh, stop it, Elsie. I’m tired of hearing that boring story. You’ve never been helpless. Starving, maybe. But helpless? Never.” He’s in front of me seconds later.

“I love you, Thorne. I’ve always loved you.” For a brief moment, Thorne’s eyes dilate, like before. “I love you,” I repeat.

“Elsie, now!” Brayden shouts through my mind. Tears fill my eyes as I allow the power to grow inside. The sensation fills my core, working its way upward.

“Thorne, I don’t want to do this.”

“Elsie?” Thorne says, his voice regaining its normal timbre. “What…” He stops mid-sentence, holding either side of his head as he screams in agony. Standing on the front porch is Serafina. Her hands are wide to her side as she chants in the same language as before.

“Elsie! Do it,” Brayden repeats his words.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, fighting through the tears as I send the power of my witch heritage into Thorne. Normally, I wouldn’t be strong enough to overpower him with his Druid abilities, but with him torn between worlds, I have no doubt it will work. “Burn,” I whisper, sending my power into the man I love, into the man who became a vampire to find me so many centuries ago. His body ignites instantly, and I collapse to the ground.

“Get up!” Fran demands, moving to my side. “Thorne’s a vampire. Your fire will burn him but not kill him. All you’ve done is disable him for a bit.” She wraps her arms around mine, pulling me to my feet. “We need you right now, Elsie. The children need you. Get your shit together.”

Thorne’s body has collapsed to the ground, fully engulfed in flames. Fran’s right. The flames won’t kill him, but they’ll keep him down for a while. I turn my attention toward the fight to see Alex, Autumn, and Everly working together as a unified, deadly killing machine. Three vampires lay in their wake, their heads separated from their bodies.

“You good?” she asks before disappearing in the blink of an eye to help the trio of destruction.

Cam is singlehandedly fighting an entire pack of wolves, holding his own against the mass of fur.

I turn my attention back to the house and the reason why we’re here. Serafina’s holding Aaron’s grimoire in her hands, facing it toward the raging fight in front of her. Brayden and Nyssa are at the bottom of the stairs, being held in place by whatever Serafina is chanting. Without thinking, I move to their side, wrapping my fingers through Brayden’s.

“Give me the grimoire,” I warn.

Serafina stops chanting, turning her attention to the bottom of the stairs. “You are in no position to demand anything.”

“Give me the grimoire,” I repeat.

She laughs, making my skin crawl. “Unlock it, or I will kill him.”

“You can’t kill me,” Brayden answers.

“Not you, dear one.” She nods toward the burning body of Thorne. “Him.”

“He’s your brother,” I retort.

“If you think that matters to me, you’re dumber than I thought. He’s just a means to an end. I knew you’d come to save,” she mocks my voice, “the love of your life .”

“You did all this just to get me to open the grimoire?”

Serafina shrugs. “Impressive, isn’t it?”

“Innocent people have died,” I retort.

“Innocent? Each one of the bound creatures drank from a human or ate fresh meat from a freshly slain animal. They’re hardly innocent.”

“Why?” Nyssa asks. “Why do you want Aaron’s spell?”

The witch pulls the book to her chest. “Normally, I wouldn’t honor you with my reasons, but since you’re about to die, I’ll indulge you.” She looks away at a memory. “His name was Nathaniel, and he was, as you say, the love of my life.” She pauses.

“I thought Aaron was your lover,” I admit.

She laughs loudly. “Your brother was, how do I say this…he was not a fan of women. We were nothing more than friends until he…”

“Until he took the binding spell,” Nyssa interrupts.

“No.” Serafina looks up. “Until he made a bargain he couldn’t keep. All because of you.” Her eyes turn toward me. “He made a deal with your pirate.”

“Kragen?”

“Aye. He made a deal with him. A spell in exchange for you.”

“The siphoning spell,” Brayden finishes.

“Good job, little druid. Yes, the siphoning spell. Imagine what a creature like him could’ve done with a spell like that.”

“Kragen wasn’t a witch. What could he have done with the spell?” I ask.

“The pirate was like you,” Serafina answers. “It was in his bloodline. That’s why he collected you. It’s what he did. He collected special things.”

“Holy shit.” I knew that he took me because of my abilities but had no idea we shared witch ancestry.

“Yes, holy shit, indeed, but you already knew that, didn’t you?” I refuse to answer. “Aaron knew the power the spell would give Kragen and changed his mind. Your pirate didn’t like that.”

“He wasn’t my pirate.”

Serafina ignores my words. “When Aaron wouldn’t give him the spell, he took revenge on the coven, including my Nathaniel. I watched as he drained him dry, leaving his body like it was nothing, like he was nothing.” Her voice cracks as the memory fills her mind. “And for what? Power? To keep feeding on humans like parasites? You’re all the same. You use, you take, you destroy—never stopping to see the carnage you leave behind.”

“Kragen’s dead,” I remind her. “The siphoning spell won’t do you any good against him.”

“Your naivety is amusing.” She laughs, holding the grimoire in front of her. “The siphoning spell will change that. It will take every bit of it and leave you as empty as the lives you’ve stolen. You think I’m cruel? You think I’m a monster? Maybe I am. But you brought this on yourselves. If I have to burn the world to stop your kind, so be it.” She turns her eyes toward Brayden. “Look what you did to him. He’s nothing more than a child. Now, he’s a monster.”

“Who’s the monster here, Serafina? Look around you. This is all your doing. Killing every vampire won’t bring Nathaniel back.”

“It’s a start.” She raises her hands high in the air with the grimoire held tightly in her hands. Serafina’s voice drops to a chilling whisper. “There is no justice for Nathaniel. But I’ll make sure the rest of you die for what you’ve done.”

Brayden pulls his hand out of my grip and claps loudly. With the sound, the air begins to shimmer like heat rising from the scorched earth before fracturing, splitting reality apart with a soundless crack. One moment, Serafina’s fury is palpable, the next, everything shifts. Shadows stretch unnaturally, swallowing the light, and the world dissolves into an endless expanse of black and gray.

The immortal child stands in the center of it all, his eyes glowing as his illusion holds firm. “You’re in my world now,” he says, his voice bouncing from every direction. "Here, we’re equal."