Curse of Shadows and Light (7 page)

Anastasia gives a curt nod. “I’ll make arrangements with my driver to take you. I do not want any record of you coming or going from my estate.”

“
Thank you.” Kieron turns to me. “Will you be okay?”

I nod. I really wish he could stay with me, but we’re at Anastasia’s mercy and must obey her wishes. And obviously she doesn’t want him around.

“
I’ll be fine,” I assure him.

His gaze briefly locks with mine before he leans in to give me a quick, soft kiss. “I’ll go down and join Corrine on the beach. Meet you back at the cottage later.”

I give his hand a squeeze.

He glances back at Anastasia and nods politely. “Ma’am.”

She ignores him and returns to her pruning.

********

“
You’re nothing like her, you know. I mean you sorta look the same, in this really weird opposite way… but you’re nothing
like
her.”

I’m sitting on a marble bench watching as Anastasia floats around her rose bushes, carefully scrutinizing each and every petal before trimming the fullest blooms and placing the long stems into a shallow, rattan basket. She moves to a bush with roses of the deepest red—crimson on the outer petals, but with a bright, golden white center. They are the strangest, most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen in my life.

Anastasia snips off a fat blossom and holds it out for my inspection. “Do you like it?” she asks. Even from a few feet away I catch a whiff of the rose’s sweet aroma.

“
It’s very pretty.”

“
It’s my own special hybrid. I call it ‘Shadows and Light’.”

“
It’s lovely,” I murmur, not caring one whit about her stupid plants. “Can we talk? I mean, there’s a lot that we need to sort out, right?”

“
What would you like to talk about?” She returns her attention to the bush and snips off another ripe bloom and sets it in her basket.

I sigh. “Well, lots of things I guess. Not all of it involves me, but I guess it sorta does. But since you won’t talk with Lucky—”

“
I never said I won’t talk with her, just that she’s not welcome in or near my personal domicile. I expect to talk with her whenever necessary and no more.”

I turn my head away so she won’t see me roll my eyes again. “Okay, whatever. It’s just, well, there’s a lot going on. Like heavy duty actual heaven and hell drama. I’m not sure what you already know.”

She pauses from her clipping and gives me warm smile that takes me completely by surprise. “I know a few details. But I’m sure there is much to be learned from hearing your side of the story. Why don’t you explain to me your predicament? I’m all ears.”

I take a deep breath. Where to even start?

“
Okay, well, first things first. Light-angels are after me. They want to use me to get them into Thiberoux, land of the demons. Because I can handle the magical crystals without turning to ash, I can open the portal. And because I’m a human and not a demon, they can use their powers to manipulate me to do what they want. Fortunately Lucky, Kieron, and Tattie were able to get rid of them before. But I…we…we’re no longer safe there. The Light-angels know too much about me, where I live and stuff. It was too dangerous to stay.

Anastasia tilts her head to the side and gives me a funny glance. “Curious…”

“
What is?”

“
That these magical stones you speak of…that you can handle them like a demon, even though you are human. That must mean they still read your demoness.”

I shrug. “Yeah, seems like it.”

“
Yet you seem to be entirely immune to my magic that renders demons powerless.”

I shrug again. “I’m sure it’s just a different type of magic. Maybe because the stones are my birthright. I’d handled them my whole life, even before I became human. I just didn’t have a reason to afterwards since Lucky is the only one who goes into Thiberoux.”

She nods. “I see. Go on.”

I take a deep breath. “Okay, well, the Light-angels are after me, but they’re probably pretty pissed at Lucky too, because she killed a few of their leaders. But then to make things worse, she pissed off a whole bunch of demons, including some pretty powerful ones, and got herself expelled from Thiberoux. That’s her demon home, and she needs to go there for Source Energy and to be with others of her kind. Although now that Bones is gone…”

My voice drifts off as I suddenly feel his essence flow through me like a gentle stream, meandering its way through my chest and down my arms and legs until it settles in my middle like a warm, comfortable cloud. Unconsciously I wrap my arms around my waist and hug myself, as if returning some invisible, imaginary embrace from beyond the grave.

Anastasia’s eyes narrow. “I take it this Bones is the father of
that
?” She looks directly at my midsection.

“
That? It’s not a
that
!” I protest. Yet somehow her words have no effect on me. She knows nothing about the life I carry inside me, and her opinion on the matter couldn’t be more irrelevant.

She waves her hand dismissively. “Let us save the details of your delicate condition for later. First I want to understand what exactly it is you want from me. What you think I can do for you.”

I bite my lip and stare at the ground. I can hear it in her voice. She knows
exactly
why I’m here and what I want. She just needs to hear me say it.

“
I…we… I was hoping there was a way you could help break my curse. Help to reunify Lucky and me as one again.”

She looks at me quietly for a moment, and when she does speak I’m taken aback by her intensity. “Is that truly what you want?”

“
Yes. I think so. I mean, I’m not sure how it will all work. But ideally, I suppose, just to go back to how things were before—”

“
But things never go back to how they were ‘before’. Once things change, they change. You’ve evolved… you’ve created your own identity, your own memories, your own personality. You want all that to just disappear? For what end?”

I frown. “What do you mean,
disappear
?”

Anastasia clucks softly under her breath and shakes her head. “My dear child. When you became divided, the
old
you ceased to exist. In its place are two new identities. One soul split in two.”

“
Yes, I
know
this. That’s the problem. Lucky and I need to be one soul again. We need to be the same all day and night, not one person during the day, and a whole other separate one at night. It’s not right.”

She raises an eyebrow and walks back over to her rose bushes. “I agree it’s not right, and yes, there might be a way to fix it.” She clips another Shadows and Light rose and holds it to me. “Here, take this.”

I take the long stem, careful to avoid the thorns. It is no ordinary rose. The single stem at the base splits about half way up, creating two new separate stems, each with its own full bloom.

“
You, my dear, are very much like this rose,” Anastasia says. “This is the beginning of your life.” She points to the bottom of the single stem. “And here is where you are cursed. Two separate stems, two separate roses.”

I let out a sigh. My patience is wearing quite thin at this point. “Yes, I
know
all this, Anastasia. I was there.”

She looks at me solemnly and holds up her clippers. “There is a spell to create a single personality, day and night. A very powerful and dark spell that requires the deepest level of sacrifice.”

I frown. “What sacrifice?”

“
In order for one to live, the other will need to die. The surviving personality gets the body full time. The other will disappear forever.”

“
Wait—either Lucky or me will die, and the other will stay alive permanently? Night
and
day?”

Anastasia nods. “Yes. And it must happen in the form of a sacrifice. One of you must be willing to die in order to let the other live.”

She lifts up her clippers and snips one of the duel stems at its base.

We both watch as it falls to the ground.

Chapter 7. Liora

Anastasia’s words swim through my mind as I slowly make my way down the grassy slope toward the shore. Corrine and Kieron are standing near the water, deep in conversation. I pause for a moment and admire them from afar. The two people in the world closest to me, other than Tatiana. They’ve both done so much for me in ways I don’t think they’ll ever really understand. Corrine by being my friend despite what a freak I am, and Kieron by loving all of me unconditionally. How did I get so lucky?

Kieron says something to Corrine, and she laughs. It’s a perfect day; the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and waves are crashing on the glistening white sand.

But I am numb to it all.

Only one of us will go on. Her, or me.

Whichever one lives, the other dies.

And it must be a sacrifice. Either I decide to let Lucky live, or she sacrifices herself for me.

Ha, fat chance!
Lucky has always considered me to be nothing more than an unfortunate side-effect of a botched demon attack. Never in a million years would she
ever
give up her supernatural existence for my pathetic human one.

So this is it… this is my fate. I either die, or live the rest of my days as a weak Halfling in a world in which I don’t quite belong. A world where I am always in danger. And it’s not just my life I fear for, but my child’s as well.

I place my hand on my stomach and let out a deep sigh. Will I be strong enough to protect him or her? Kieron can’t always be glued to my side, and with the Light-angels after us, having a helpless infant along will surely pose a higher risk for everyone. At least Lucky has powers. Unlike me, forced to rely on the constant protection of others.

Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m the one supposed to make this ultimate sacrifice. After all, I’m the one who got us into the trouble with the Light-angels in the first place. It was my weakness, my vulnerability they preyed upon. I’m the one with nothing to offer as far as powers or special abilities go. I’m the dead weight that needs protection from all the scary baddies that go bump in the night. I can’t compel people, or throw fire, or knock over huge trees, or sprint faster than a cheetah. Hell, I trip over my own two feet if I have to run more than a hundred yards. I’m the one who has to hide my true nature from the world. Daytime—
my time
— seems to be little more than the brief interlude between Lucky’s reigns.

In the grand scheme of things, what do I bring to the table that Lucky doesn’t do better?

Maybe I’m destined to fall on my sword and end this broken existence. Just let the last five plus years disappear. It’s not like anyone would really notice.

“
Liora! What are you doing up there? Come on down!” Corrine hollers, shielding her eyes from the sun with her arm. Kieron runs his hands through his dark hair and gives me a half grin. Even from several dozen yards away, I feel his love.

But something is different there, too. And I don’t know what.

Worse… I don’t know if I care.

********

I’m busy cutting off tags to some new t-shirts when there’s a knock on my bedroom door. “Can I come in for a bit?” Corrine asks, as she pokes her head inside my room.

“
Sure.” I gather the tags in a small pile and toss them in the trashcan as she takes a seat on my bed and glances around nervously.