Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (31 page)

Keenan fiercely
shook his head. “What you are doing is not only fundamentally wrong, it violates
the laws of nature. Not even you are strong enough to defend yourself when your
plan backfires. You cannot hope to control it. You won’t survive it.”

Nina laughed. “Survival
is my specialty.” She briefly closed her eyes, revisiting the living room of the
farmhouse long enough to see that she had been distracted too long. Isabelle
had managed to kill the General. Keenan was right, he had died. Oh well. No
harm done. Nina had planned on killing him anyway. Now only one threat
remained, one who claimed to be in her corner. Nina began to clench her fingers
together, slowly making a fist.

“I beg you, Sister.
Do not do this.” Keenan grabbed his neck, falling to his knees from the
crushing power of Nina’s magic.

“Do now do what?
Kill you? Perhaps I will not. I am a generous goddess. Rather than end your
existence as an immortal sappy bitch, I will show you mercy. Goodbye, Keenan.
Best of luck as you attempt to rebuild your nest, or coven, or whatever you
call yourselves these days.”

“Nina, please…”
Keenan began, but he stopped speaking when a small vortex abruptly appeared
between two trees directly in front of them. No matter how far she had strayed,
Keenan had always been astounded by his sister’s power.

“Enter the
portal and begin again,” Nina ordered harshly. Keenan held out hope that Nina
still had a few strands of humanity remaining within her. He believed his
sister still had a soul.

“A soul?” Nina repeated,
astounded. She searched through Keenan’s mind for answers.

“Yes, Nina. A soul.
I believe in you, in your humanity. I will see you again soon. But before I go…”

Before Keenan
could deliver any additional platitudes or some other mindless religious jargon,
Nina pushed her brother through the portal. She watched as he fell into the
darkness of time travel, grinning at the irony of
when
she had sent him.
But it mattered not one bit. Soon enough she would transcend time and space and
exist on several planes at once. The time for being restricted by the laws of
nature were coming to a close.

Until then, when
she would reach a new pinnacle of power, there were still a few people to kill
and a ritual to complete. All of these were necessary constituents for the
spell that would change
everything
.

* * * * * *

4

“Nicholas?” Jena
whispered softly as she peered through the gaping hole in the farmhouse that
was once the front door.

Magic hung thick
in the air, drifting slowly like smoke from a pipe. It was a smell that was
becoming all too familiar to Jena. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, yet at the
same time it held memories that left her with a feeling of melancholy that she
might never be able to shake. She ran into the house and knelt beside Nicholas’
body, quickly giving thanks that he was still alive. A wave of anger rushed
over her again, threatening to pull her under and ravage her.

“Oh, Jena. Oh,
my God. I’m so sorry.” Anna was falling over her words, her intense empathetic
pain difficult to understand. Why was Anna so sad?

“He’s alive!”
Jena exclaimed, thinking that Anna believed him to be dead. Jena looked around
at her friends. As she traveled from face to face, expression to expression, it
seemed to get progressively more depressing. “Jesus, people. What’s your
problem? Nicholas is alive!”

Matthew leaned
into Anish, whispering something in his ear.

“What? What did
you just say?” Jena demanded. When Matthew didn’t answer, Jena could feel the
heat of magic building up inside her, threatening to release itself and
probably blow the house to smithereens.

“You need to
calm yourself,” Anish warned. “We are in enough danger from Nina. We can’t
defend ourselves against your rage and hers. Think of Nicholas.”

“Have you ever
met a person who
ever
calmed down when they were told to calm down? I
mean, when has that
ever
done
anyone
any good?” Jena’s voice had
raised nearly an octave. It was Simon who risked life and limb to talk Jena off
the ledge.

“Jena, I know
you can see her. I know you know. And it’s okay to be angry.”

“Wow, Simon.
Gee, thanks for the validation. Go to Hell.” Jena took a breath, nearly choking
on the air. It tasted bitter and metallic, like blood. Simon was right. She did
know. She had known before any of them. She
felt
her mother’s death. Life
could not be this cruel, and Jena refused to accept it. Why hadn’t her mother
told her about their shared heritage? If Isabelle had done a better job, then
maybe, just maybe, they could have dealt with this
together
. Mother and
daughter.

Jena, there will
be time to grieve later. The Dark One approaches, and there’s no time for
tantrums.

Dark One?
Jena decried.
That’s
rich. What is this? Harry freaking Potter?

You know of whom
I speak. If you do not deal with this, all of you will die.

Suddenly, as if
conjured out of thin air, Jena came face to face with her own self. In this
reflection of her innermost dreams and nightmares, she saw her own future. She
saw her children. Grandchildren. But she also sensed that the future was
fragile, changing on a dime with every decision, good and bad, that she made this
very night. She recognized that she may die before she would ever come to know the
love and comfort of a family of her own. Then she saw a different future, and this
one sucked. Big time. She saw a lineage – her lineage – that was marked by
tragedy and loss. Yet, at the same time, hers was a prominent name in an
ancestral line of powerful wielders of magic. Then, as quickly and strangely as
her wonder twin had appeared, she disappeared into the strange blue fog that
was drifting through the room. Though her eyes were open all the while, Jena
wasn’t
seeing
what was there. She didn’t want to see it.

There, staring
back at her but
not
seeing, was her mother. Jena choked back a sob, and
suddenly felt Nina’s presence. Her arrival was imminent.

“Jena,” a
familiar voice said. She felt warm hands on her shoulders, and could feel the
trickle of power being transferred into her spirit. Although she couldn’t see
her, Jena knew it was her mother.

“Mom,” she
breathed.

“What’s going
on?” she heard Simon ask, but ignored him. She knew that Anish would keep
people at bay until she was ready. The threat of Nina didn’t seem to matter one
bit at that moment.

“There isn’t
much time,” Isabelle said. “A necklace, there is a necklace. A talisman that is
connected to you, that was used to bind your magic.”

“Bind my what?”
Jena asked, slightly confused and majorly freaked.

“The talisman,
Jena. Anish will know what to do…trust him…”

“Mom?” Jena
asked. “Mom!” she demanded.

But Isabelle was
gone. Jena looked down again, this time fully grasping that her mother had
died. She had died protecting her, protecting Nicholas. Another wave of rage
crashed into her, knocking the wind out of her. She dropped to her knees,
clutching her chest.

“Jena?” Nicholas
whispered hoarsely, his throat on fire with pain.

“Nicholas!” Jena
cried out, allowing herself to feel the tremendous joy and relief at actually
finding him and being reunited. Had it really only been 24 hours since this
insanity had begun?

“Jena!” Nicholas
said joyfully, throwing his arms around her. Although cringing from the pain
that was shooting through his shoulder, tears of relief streamed down his
cheeks. “I knew you would come. I just knew it.”

“I’m here now,”
Jena said, running her hands through his curls.

Simon looked
away, frustrated with himself for being jealous. It was only natural that Jena
and Nicholas would embrace; he had no right to feel betrayed by it.

“What did she
say?” Anish asked, trying to refocus Jena’s attention to the conversation with
her mother.

“What did who
say?” Trevor asked.

“She told me to
trust you,” Jena said. “That you would know what to do. She told me that I had
to touch it.”

“Touch what?”
Anish asked.

“A talisman,”
Jena answered. “She was a little rushed, like she couldn’t control when she
crossed over.”

“It can be
difficult at first,” Anish said.

“What in the
hell are you guys talking about?” Trevor asked, confused. This sentiment was
shared by everyone in the room.

“Do you think
she’s safe on the other side?” Jena asked.

“It is difficult
to say,” Anish responded. “It can be an arduous task, navigating the spiritual
plane.”

“Have you been
there? To the other side, I mean?” Jena asked.

Anish didn’t respond,
but gave one of his nonchalant
Yeah, I’ve done that,
expressions.

“Apparently I
need to touch the talisman,” Jena continued. “She told me that it was used to
bind my magic.”

“Then we need to
find it. And soon. Did she tell you where it was?”

Jena shrugged,
frustrated. “No. She just said it was attached to a necklace.”

“Could it be the
necklace she has on?” Trevor asked as he and Simon leaned down to search
Isabelle’s body.

“Holy crap!”
Jena said. “That’s the necklace that she’s kept locked in a jewelry box. She
told me it was mine and that one day she would pass it down to me.”

“Are you
seriously okay?” Simon asked cautiously. It was as if Jena didn’t seem upset
that her mother had just died.

“She’s not
dead,” Jena said. “I mean, she’ll come back. I’m sure it’s part of her plan.”

“The girl’s lost
it,” Trevor whispered to Simon.

“I heard that,
asshole,” Jena said. “I need to take what’s mine and help my mom.” Just as Jena
reached for the necklace, a blast of air struck her forehead. As her head was
thrown backward, she was assaulted by a second blast. It felt like every part
of the front of her body was affected. This time Jena’s feet left the hardwood
and she was thrown across the room, landing on a cot that helped to break her
fall.

“Who rules the
world?” Nina sang as she stepped into the living room.

“Ask Beyoncé,
you evil bitch,” Jena said between clenched teeth. “That necklace belongs to
me.”

“Touché,” Nina
retorted. “I consider your mother’s life only a partial payment for the front
part of my house being blown to smithereens. I think the necklace goes well
with my décor.” Nina ripped the necklace from Isabelle’s body. After dangling
the necklace for everyone to see, she tossed it onto an offering plate that was
sitting on a table at the altar.

Nicholas
immediately ran to Jena’s side, sitting down beside her and rubbing her back.
Simon was right on his heels, and sat down on the other side of Jena.

“What do we have
here?” Nina asked, chuckling. “A love triangle? How delightful! Let’s even the
playing field.” Nina snapped her fingers and Nicholas collapsed to the floor.

Jena screamed.

“Relax, he’s not
dead,” Nina said. “I just need him out of the way for a while.”

“Everyone, move
across the room to where Jena is,” Anish directed firmly.

Nina stalked
toward them barefoot, glass and brick breaking and cracking under her feet. She
smiled as she looked around, taking in the scene. Closing her eyes, she took a
few deep breaths. Everyone watched as Nina seemed to transform before their
eyes.

“Is this shit
real? Are you seeing this?” Trevor asked, making sure that everyone else was
having the same experience. It was like Virtual Reality gone wrong. Very wrong.

“We see it,”
Anna said as she took Trevor’s hand and held it with both of her hands.

“The bond
between mother and child,” Nina said softly, her eyes still closed. “Family
bonds can be powerful. But at other times, they can be a real drag. That’s why
I just sent my brother into the future, just before I got here.” Nina scratched
her head. “Or was it the past? So many things to keep track of today!”

It was clear
that Nina was hoping for a response, but when she didn’t get one, she acted
like she didn’t care. Then, clearly feeling ready to move forward with whatever
was about to unfold, Nina opened her eyes. They were completely black, not a
single speck of white, blue, nothing. Totally freaky. Everyone in the room
thought so, but Trevor was the first to voice it.

“You might be
hot and stuff, but damn girl. You go all weird-eyes like that, and saying weird
shit. Well, you be one ugly motha!”

“How sweet,”
Nina answered, amused by Trevor’s sarcasm. “Now, shall we dance?”

Before anyone
could answer, Nina threw her hands in the air. A quickly growing, massive black
sphere danced between her hands. A few seconds later, she looked at the rest of
the group. She prepared to throw sphere.