The Dark Gifts Birthright (32 page)

Daylight would help tremendously with what
needed to be done. Although the others at the castle worked on
their sunlight immunity, most slept the entire day. No eyes would
be watching to see what was about to happen.

***

Michael was mad at her again. It seemed like
lately, no matter what she did, he was angry.

“I just won’t have it.” Michael said.

“Brogan said nothing about taking anyone with
me. Besides you have your own work to do.” Liz tossed her clean
clothes on the bed and began undressing.

“He also said he couldn’t tell or see
everything.” Michael stalked over, picked up the pile of clothes,
and held them tightly in his arms.

Liz rolled her eyes, put her hands on her
hips and stared at him. “Do you have any idea how many outfits I
have in that armoire? That is not going to stop me.”

“For your information, this is not stopping
you. This is making you take time to think this thing through. Now
this,” he said, throwing the clothes on the bed and pulling her in
his arms, “this is stopping you.”

She looked into his face. “You’re being
unreasonable.”

“How am I supposed to keep you safe, when you
are constantly doing things that are dangerous?”

“Hello?” She rapped against his chest with
her fist. “Immortal, remember? Virtually impossible to kill. Undead
and all that crap. Ring a bell?”

“You don’t take anything seriously.” He
sighed and released her.

“Look, all I’m saying is, if we are going to
listen to the man and believe what he says, then we need to
listen
to the man.”

“Right, because you're going to be queen
now.” He laughed as he plopped into a chair.

“No. That’s horse pucky. Because we’ve
already mucked things up pretty good. I don’t see any need to make
it worse.”

He sat there for several minutes searing
through her with his eyes, while tapping his fingers on the arm of
the chair. The old chair had dents in the carved antique hand rests
from the force of his angered tapping. Finally, he hissed out at
her, “You don’t even have a plan. What is the point of going back,
when you have no idea what you are going to do? Just because that
crazy old man told you that you were to be queen of the vampire
nation, does not mean you can just run about doing as you please!
Let me remind you that no one has given you control of anything
yet.”

“That is not what I’m doing, Michael.” Liz
groaned and sat in the chair across from him.

“Do you have any semblance of a plan?”

“I think I do.”

“Well? Care to share?” he growled.

“Oh for Pete’s sake! I’ll tell you what I’m
thinking, and I would like your input and ideas, but would you stop
acting like a three year old for just one minute?”

Michael waited, still angry, and once again,
began tapping at the arm rests.

“Do you have any idea how old that chair
is?”

“Are you going to fill me in, or just let me
sit here twiddling the wood away?” he replied.

“All right, this is what I was thinking, and
if you don’t like it just tell me. I was thinking that since Cass
was able to glamour herself, that I should go back and do the same
to myself, to make sure that my past self stops Jenna’s education.
I can tell myself that under no circumstances is she to be taught
and then make myself not remember I was there.”

Michael completely shot her down. “That’s not
going to work. First off, you know how that Council meeting went,
you would have to give a good reason why she shouldn’t be taught,
and you don’t have a good reason to give. You can’t tell them the
truth, because you’re past self won’t remember the truth, and even
if you allow yourself to keep that knowledge, you can’t tell the
Council. Secondly, Cass is our leader. The main reason everyone
voted for her is because she is our leader. So try again.”

“So I speak to someone with more standing
than I in the Council?”

“Exactly who on the Council are you strong
enough to mesmerize?”

“I could seriously do without your sarcasm
right now, Michael. If you’re going to help, then help, and if
you’re not, go find something to do and let me think”

Michael jumped up and pulled her into his
arms, holding her close, he brought his face down to kiss her. His
lips were warm and inviting. Angry as she was, she melted in his
embrace.

“Exactly who on the Council are you strong
enough to mesmerize?”

Liz gasped. “You! I can tell you. You
will
listen to me and you would help. Oh Michael, that’s
brilliant. I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

***

While Michael and Liz were figuring out a
plan, Athena and Gregorio attended to Angie. Encased in their room,
at the bottom level of the castle, the three stood staring at each
other in silence. Weary, Athena sighed and told her daughter to
take a seat.

Angie was certain that none of them would
have ever believed the freakish old man after the stunt he pulled
at the campfire, but she knew something bad was going on. She felt
Jenna restlessly roll over in her sleep. Angie felt an urge to run
from the room, afraid Jenna would wake from her sleep and find
herself alone. She could feel Jenna all the time now. The bond they
shared was almost as strong as the connection she held with her
mother. Jenna was more like her own child than the child of
another.

Athena watched her daughters face, saw a look
of distress cross over it, and then it was gone. “What’s wrong my
love?”

“It’s nothing, Jenna rolled over in her
sleep. I was just making sure she wouldn’t wake up afraid and
alone.”

Athena looked pointedly at Gregorio, his face
still a mask of unconcern, then returned her gaze to Angie. “I must
show you something, my love. You probably won’t like it, none of us
do, but it is something you must see.” Seating herself beside her
daughter, she took her face in her hands, looked into her eye’s,
and entered her mind.

At first, Athena drifted around inside her
child’s head, not wanting to let the beast that had partially
settled there, know it had been found out.

Angie waited patiently for her mother to
begin showing her something. It was taking too long. What was her
mother doing in there? Angie reached out and tried to enter
Athena’s mind as well. It was like running into a steel door. She
could see nothing, everything was black and empty.

Suddenly, she felt Jenna wake and heard her
scream. She tried to get up and rush to the screaming child, but
her mother held her tightly. In seconds, Angie felt Gregorio’s
massive hands on her shoulders, pushing her down. She kicked and
screamed, trying to shove them away. In her mind she could feel her
mother’s will moving around, looking here and there for something.
Jenna’s scream transformed from fear into rage. Angie could feel
the child thrashing in her bed. Words spilled from Jenna’s mouth,
in a voice that was not her own. Just like that day at the
farmhouse that had scared them enough to make them run into the
daylight.

Angie felt her body grow strong, as if the
strength of several vampires had poured into her. Fighting as hard
as she could, she still could not break the grip that Athena and
Gregorio had on her. Terrified now, she tried to close her mind to
her mother and throw her out. Athena was too powerful; her grip on
Angie’s mind was absolute. Invisible claws seemed to scrape inside
her head, tearing at her brain. The pain became unbearable, it was
searing hot, then there was nothing. No Jenna. No Athena. Just
darkness and peace.

Quickly, Athena ran to the door and retrieved
Minerva. The old woman was to take both of them to Italy. Back to
the place of Athena’s birth. There was a sparsely populated island,
just off the coast, where Athena kept a small cottage. She had
taken Angie there after her transformation. Athena loved quiet
seclusion it offered. Hopefully, Angie would be far enough away
from the Citadel for Athena to finish the process of clearing her
mind. She reached down and easily lifted the girl into her arms,
nodded to Minerva, and a few seconds later, when the portal was
created, took her beloved child and left.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Medicine Is Supposed To Taste Bad

Jenna threw her baby doll across the room and
stomped her foot. It skittered across the floor under a chair.
Mommy was gone, daddy was gone, and Angie was gone. Everyone had
gone off and left her! Minerva was there with her, but she wasn’t
sure she liked the old lady. She was nice, in a crazy grandma sort
of way, but she wanted Liz, and they told her Liz was busy. Liz was
never
too busy for her. Never. And the old lady kept looking
at her funny, like she was trying to see through her or
something.

Minerva had come in the night and told her
that everyone was off on that stupid “war” business and couldn’t
come right now. Why was her Angie off on stupid war business,
anyhow? Angie was her guardian and protector; she said she would
always
be with her! Jenna stared out the window glowering
and stomped her foot again. “I want Angie!” she bellowed for the
umpteenth time.

“I already told you child, she can’t come
today, you must be patient. I think you have become spoiled with
all of this attention you’ve been getting, but believe it or not,
these castle walls don’t revolve around you.” Minerva answered,
obviously frustrated with the girl.

Jenna turned and glared at the woman. “You
are trying to keep everyone away from me! You hate me!” she cried.
Then sobbing she ran and threw herself on the bed. Minerva shook
her head and continued rocking in the old rocking chair.
Babysitting for a petulant child, would be hard on any
one-hundred-year-old woman, babysitting for a demon possessed
child, that you happened to love, and needed to help, that would
not shut up, was impossible.

She checked her watch again. She had been
watching the hands slowly click into place for hours now, waiting
for Michael to relieve her. Every so often, she felt the thing
within Jenna try to probe her mind. The minute she felt the mental
nudge she would think nothing but happy thoughts, roast chicken and
snow peas, flowers in a meadow, her darling Liz as a baby. Then the
child would quiet for a while as if pondering what she had seen,
until the fit pitching started all over. Glancing at her watch
again, she saw that she still had two hours before Michael‘s
scheduled arrival. Sighing, she walked over to Jenna and said, “Why
don’t we color a picture, hmmm? That will make the time go faster
for you. In two hours you are getting to go on a fun and important
field trip!”

“I don’t wanna go on no stupid field trip! I
want Angie!” she stubbornly replied.

“But darling, they are going to teach you
some new magic. Magic that you don’t know yet. Something that will
help us win the war. Don’t you want to learn some new magic?”
Minerva coaxed.

New magic? Jenna liked to learn magic. She
thought about it for a few seconds, smiled sweetly, deliberately
walked over to her small coloring table, sat down, and quietly
began to draw. After a few minutes, Jenna looked up, “Granny lady?
I‘m hungry. Can I have some cookies?”

Although she had eaten just an hour before,
Minerva decided that it would be best not to send the now
delinquent child back into a foul mood. She went out into the hall,
leaving the door open, and asked the waiting Callista to fetch them
some cookies and milk.

When she returned to the room, less than a
minute later, Jenna was missing. Minerva was frantic, she had not
taken her eyes off the child for more than just a few seconds, but
somehow the girl had just disappeared. She had no idea whether she
had created a portal and jumped, or just slipped out of the room.
Minerva was certain that the child couldn’t have gotten past them
in the hall without being seen, but sensed no remnant of portal
magic in the room either. She called out, “Child there are cookies
and milk coming. Don’t you want some? Jenna? Jenna, it’s not nice
to hide from old ladies, it hurts old ladies to have to bend over
and crawl around on floors.” She was about to leave the room and go
find help, when Michael appeared at the doorway.

“What’s going on in here?” he asked with a
smile.

“I think we have lost our little girl.”
Minerva answered with a serious face and a wink.

“Hmmm, let me think,” Michael said walking
around the room looking, “If I were a smart little girl, where
would I be?”

Then they both heard a tiny giggle come from
underneath the large bed. Minerva sighed with relief and Michael
shrugged and laughed, giving Minerva a wink.

Michael continued the game with the girl,
looking all around the room under toys and behind dressers, then in
the closet, speaking the whole time. “Would I be in the closet if I
were a smart little girl? Hmm…no not there. Would I be under a
tricycle if I were a smart little girl? Nope not there.” After
looking and naming off several odd and impossible locations for the
child to be hiding, he finally asked, “Would I be under a lampshade
if I were Jenna?”

The giggle turned into a full-blown laugh.
Jenna’s tiny voice called out from under the bed, “I can’t fit in a
lamp shade silly! I‘m too big.” She crawled out from under the bed,
very proud of herself. “You’re not very good at hide and seek,
Michael.”

Jenna laughed as Michael swept her into his
arms, gave her a big hug, and sat her on his shoulders.

When Callista came in with the milk and
cookies, Jenna insisted that they must have a tea party. Although
Michael could not partake in the festivities, he was required to
stay. Happily clad in her frilly dress up clothes, she smiled and
laughed as if nothing more than an ordinary child. Minerva,
Michael, and Callista, all wearing Jenna’s big floppy hats and
garish scarves, sat at the small table playing her game. They
talked and laughed as the old witches told Jenna funny stories
about their childhood.