Magick Rising (49 page)

“You have made me proud, Celeste.” Rose stroked her hair once more.

“It is time to finish this. Are you strong enough?”

Celeste glanced toward the door. No more sounds came from that

direction. Standing slowly, she offered Rose a hand to help her stand.

“I will be, Rose . . . Mother. For whatever comes.” Celeste paused one

more moment, stalling the inevitable. “Thank you.”

“For what, child?”

“All of it. You are my peace and sanity. My strength.” Celeste stopped

before the tears could find purchase again.

“We are that for each other. Let’s do what must be done now.” Rose

quickly embraced Celeste then stepped back and motioned toward the door.

“Go. See who it is that awaits you.”

Celeste squared her shoulders. She was ready.

For Heaven or Hell.

ROSE STOOD BEHIND Celeste as she opened the door. Erik half sat

against the doorjamb. He groped blindly in front of him.

Celeste cried out and kneeled next to him, she grasped his searching

hand. “Erik, what is it?”

“Can’t see. The pain . . .”

She looked back at Rose. “Help me, please.”

Together they helped Erik to his feet. one then braced under each arm,

they guided him to the great room. The jarring steps pulled groans of pain

from the large man.

“We must find the Grimoire.” Rose nearly stumbled under the weight

of the man they helped, though Erik seemed to be working to keep from

leaning too much on either of them. “‘Tis Victor fighting for control.”

The women managed to get Erik to the nearest large wing-backed chair,

but he refused to sit.

“Can’t, might sleep. Can’t let the pain pull me under.”

Celeste stared about the room. “It’s not revealing itself to me, Erik.

Help me. Victor must be near.”

“Why this pain?” Erik’s question seemed to hang in the air.

Rose motioned for Celeste to answer. This was between them. Rose

needed them to build trust together.

“Erik, I’m sorry this is the way it is . . . but, I swear on the souls of all of

us here . . . the souls in this dimension that will be forever damned if Victor

is able to fully live again—it is you I want to help.” Celeste drew a breath. “It

has
always
been only you.”

Rose understood what was unsaid in the final sentence. Erik grew still,

as though the words had halted him as well.

Moments passed. Time held its breath in the room with them.

“Then, tell me what I need to do, Celeste.” Erik’s voice was low and

calm. It told Rose he’d reached a place of acceptance. At least for the

moment.

Rose knew in her heart what she would do.

CELESTE REALIZED Erik had given her a gift, though a small one. Trust

for the moment with only the information available to him.

“Erik, it’s okay to sleep. For now. To find release from the pain.”

Celeste watched his expression to try to discern his thoughts. It remained

blank, revealing nothing. “Rose and I will work to find the solution, the spell

that will bind Victor. But we need more information.”

She didn’t want to say the last part. Rose prodded her to continue with

a small nod.

“We need Victor here—”

“No!” Erik shook his head and then held it in his hands with a groan as

the movement must have aggravated the torturous pain. “You ask too

much.”

Stepping closer, Celeste cautiously touched the side of his neck. When

he remained still and didn’t recoil from her hand, she began to slowly rub

the back of his neck, to try to offer relief. But, more selfishly, to feel his

warm skin beneath her fingertips. To be close to him.

Erik lowered his hands and allowed her to move her hand to his cheek.

Looking toward her with an unfixed gaze, Erik raised his hand to cover hers.

The stark contrast of his darker hand over her lighter one, the scars that

crisscrossed the back of his hand—all made him even more precious to

Celeste.

“I will die for you, Erik, if that is what it takes to free you this time.”

He froze in the slight movements his hand had been making on hers. “I

don’t want that.”

“It’s not your choice, Erik, any more than it was mine when you made

that sacrifice for me centuries ago. I would rather die a thousand times than

to live another lifetime without you.” Celeste could see that Rose had

stepped back, tears on her face. A smile on her lips.

“Then we will work together to find another way this time.” Erik

straightened and lowered his hand to her shoulder.

When he pulled her toward him, Celeste went willingly into the circle of

his strong arms. They moved at the same time and lips met for a kiss.

Tender, then firm and hungry. Filled with centuries of want and pain and

denial between them.

“I will sleep,” Erik whispered the words into her mouth, filling her with

his tentative trust.

Moments later, lying on the couch with an arm thrown up over his eyes,

Erik’s breathing steadied and deepened. Celeste held his hand.

He slept.

VICTOR HATED THAT he didn’t know what had happened while he’d

been in the in-between. Hated that he could not read Erik and Celeste’s

thoughts.

Even Rose could not always be easily read.

Usually.

This time, as he breathed in the caustic air of this dimension through

Erik’s lungs he could feel Rose’s thoughts . . . as though she wanted them

known.

Or something had stripped the barrier between them. The thing he’d

held over her was no longer there. Rose had told Celeste everything. Victor

knew it as soon as he lowered his arm and saw the women whispering near

the doorway.

Then again, maybe it gave him a bargaining chip. By telling Celeste,

Rose would eventually have to leave. Victor could promise her something

she’d desperately want. Even if he never planned to deliver on that promise.

Victor would offer Rose immortality in exchange for the Grimoire. She

had promised her soul before to the dark magic in order to stay with Celeste,

helping him acquire the book would seem like nothing compared to that if it

meant she thought she could stay with her daughter. With it, he could rid

himself of his brother and control Celeste.

Then, he would also kill Rose. He had no need for her.

And Victor didn’t believe in keeping promises to anyone but himself.

Things just went better for him when he followed that tenant.

Yes, he’d use Rose, get the Grimoire, kill Erik, possess Celeste, and rule

this dimension. A full to-do list for a day.

The smell of success was beginning to replace the smell of desperation

from the in-between lodged in his nostrils.

“VICTOR IS HERE.” Celeste watched him from the doorway where she

stood with Rose.

“I feel him,” Rose whispered.

“We are clear then on what to do?”

Rose nodded. “I will do my all.”

Celeste stood straighter. This time Victor would not scare her or make

her doubt herself. She was fighting for Erik, and her mother stood beside

her as she had always done.

Ready to face Victor, Celeste urged Rose to the hallway. “Leave me

with him for a time.”

Rose hesitated only a moment. “You are strong enough now.”

After her mother was out of the room, Celeste approached Victor.

“It must be frustrating not being grounded in this dimension on your

own.”

“What?” Victor appeared caught off guard but quickly recovered as he

swung his legs over the side of the couch and sat upright. “So, you are able

to tell us apart more quickly.”

“Practice.” Celeste answered. She didn’t slow her approach until she

stood within arm’s reach of the vile creature.

“Rose told you.” Victor stated the fact, didn’t ask a question.

“I know everything. I know why you hate Erik and why you think you

need to possess my power.” Celeste spat the words of the last sentence,

anger putting heat in her abdomen. This man threatened all those she loved.

All of mankind. She would do anything to stop him.

Victor stood, straightening to his full height, but she refused to be

intimidated. Somewhere in that powerful body was Erik. How much he

could hear or see, Celeste didn’t know, but she had to believe he was there.

“Knowing gives you no extra powers, my dear. None.” Victor moved

closer. “In fact, you are weakened by your human emotions and caring for

insignificant others. Erik. Rose. They only drain your power.”

Celeste stood her ground, not stepping away when he stopped directly

in front of her.

“Join with me, Celeste,” Victor whispered through lips that had only

moments ago been caressing her own. “We could rule this dimension and

any other.”

“Never.” Celeste kept her tone calm and low. “You have nothing I

could ever want or need.”

Victor traced a line down her arm from shoulder to hand with a rough

finger. “Don’t be so quick to think that. What about Rose? Wouldn’t you

like her to keep her soul? And Erik? Wouldn’t you like him to live?”

“We are all willing to die to make sure you aren’t released, Victor.”

“We?” Victor laughed without humor. “How very . . . human and droll

of you. Do you really believe that is your choice, witch?”

“I believe in many things, Victor,” Celeste turned and spoke over her

shoulder as she left the room, “But I don’t believe in you.”

The look of rage on his face should have frightened her, but for Celeste

it simply fueled her on to do whatever was necessary. But more importantly,

to save Erik. And all the other souls in this dimension who had no idea this

battle had waged around them.

For lifetimes.

ROSE COULD HEAR the exchange of voices from the great room from

behind her closed door, but she focused instead on the Grand Grimoire in

front of her.

It had been waiting for her when she returned to her room. Over the

centuries it had never sought her out, never revealed to her any great secrets.

It knows.

Knowing Rose had delivered the telling to Celeste, the Grimoire knew

she could be trusted. Knew she would truly do anything necessary to

suppress Victor and help her daughter.

“Show me, great one, show me what it is you would have me know.”

Rose touched the cover and opened the book. “I will do my best to follow

your bidding.”

There. It was there on the page in ancient text. Clearly written but only

for this one moment. Only for Rose.

The spell and solution.

It had been there all these many years, but they had been unable to see

it. Until now. Rose was a part of the solution. The missing part that Victor

would not expect.

His damnation.

Rose thanked the powers within the magical book, closed the cover,

and waited for Celeste to join her.

“NO, ROSE, WE cannot. It is cruel and unthinkable.” Celeste paced back

and forth across the hearth rug in Rose’s room. She glared at the Grimoire

resting on her mother’s lap.

When she’d found Rose with the Grimoire, Celeste had been glad to

hear it had revealed something to Rose. Until she heard what it was. What

they would have to do. What Erik would have to endure.

“There has to be another way.”

Rose touched the cover of the book reverently. “You know there isn’t,

child. We have searched these pages for over two hundred years, and now it

reveals this to us. You know it is the way.”

“But, this will be torture for Erik. We have to find a way to let him

know.” She stopped and stared at Rose, hoping for another answer.

“We cannot. It tells us that he must not know. He must step through on

trust.”

Shaking her head, Celeste sat in the nearest chair. “You know his trust

is weak, and we can’t blame him for that. Sleeping when we asked was a huge

act of faith. This thing the Grimoire suggests might be his undoing.”

“Or his salvation.”

“Tell me again what it said, Rose . . . word for word.”

“
Grimoire ligatis duobus animae volentis non. Trust providebit passigio
. Bind the

Grimoire to two souls, one willing, one not. Trust will provide the passage,”

Rose shared.

The women talked for a few more moments.

“We know what we must do, Mother.”

“Yes.” Rose stroked the cover of the Grimoire. “It is offering itself in

sacrifice, Celeste. This acknowledges what it knows is possible if you and

Erik are able to be together, to join.”

“If it works.” Celeste held her mother’s hand for a moment. “I’m

ready.”

“And I, my child, have been ready for this time for centuries.” Rose

sadly smiled.

THIS TIME WAS different. Erik didn’t know why or how, but he was not

simply in darkness and unaware of what was going on. From somewhere he

could see and hear what was happening.

Celeste argued with Victor then left the room. To be able to see her and

hear her but have another speak through him was hell.

Erik fought to focus. He felt a tremor run through his body.

“No, dear brother, this is my time.” Victor spoke aloud, but the echoes

reverberated through the body they shared.