Chapter 23

 

When I was ten, I fell off a roof because I thought I could fly on a broomstick. In my own defense, I knew my mother was a witch, and we had been watching a lot of Hocus Pocus because it was almost Halloween. Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker played commercialized witches, what society liked to think witches were like, but I still thought they were kind of cool. I even went around making sucking noises around Conor and Dayton in an attempt to suck out their life forces. That lasted a day before Conor poured red kool-aid on my hair. It took a week for my hair to look blonde again. It was the only time in my life I've ever thought being an evil witch would be cool.

 

~Monroe's Totally Wicked Book of Shadows~

 

 

"Hello, Monroe," Lilith crooned as she entered the room.

I grabbed my head as pain exploded behind my eyes. "Ahhhhhh!"

Lilith laughed. "Hurts doesn't it?"

Beside me, Luther's hand touched my arm, and the pain lessened. It didn't go away, but it lessened. The makeshift amulet around my neck was so bright, it was blinding. Even through the fabric.

"You're becoming a nuisance, Son," Lilith said sweetly.

Luther stood. "Wonderful. Nothing makes me happier."

Lilith's eyes moved to Luther's. "I've come to take my due. You know as well as I do, you can't stop me. Her soul is mine."

Luther held his hands up. "I'm not trying to stop you, Mother. I wouldn't dream of it."

The pain in my head intensified, and I slid from the couch to the floor, my hand grabbing instinctively for the grimoire. I clutched it, my teeth grinding together.

"Come!" Lilith's voice ordered in my head, and I could feel sweat break out on my forehead as my legs started to move of their own accord. I pushed them down.

"No!"

I hadn't realized I'd said the word aloud until Lilith laughed.

"Cute," she said. "You think you can best me, Witch. I'm impressed. I think your soul is going to be the jewel in my collection."

"Come!" her voice shouted, and my arms and legs began to shake even as they moved. I fought harder, my teeth grinding painfully with each step. I was pretty sure I resembled something from a bad B-rated zombie film, but jerky was better than controlled.

The amulet began to glow so brightly, it burned.

Lilith cursed.

"That damned necklace!" she said, her body moving toward me.

It was the first time I'd really gotten a good look at the she-Demon since I'd seen her in the vision with Eta, and it terrified me. Her black hair blew around her face, an invisible wind lifting it around her head, twisting and turning the strands until it resembled angry snakes.

Her blood red lips sneered at me, her eyes gleaming, fiery jewels as she approached me, her sharp, scarlet nails lifting so quickly, I wasn't prepared for the snap as the blinds cord around my neck came apart. The shard of glass attached to it went to the floor and shattered.

I whimpered as her hand came to my face. "Come, Monroe," she ordered.

And I followed because, really, there was nothing else I could do. My vision blurred. I was in the living room one moment, and then the hall. Maybe?

I shook my head, but it didn't help.

"All is well. Be calm." Lilith's voice said in my head, and I went limp.

Once, I thought I saw Lucas step up to Luther, his face angry, but I couldn't be sure.

"Lilith!" Lucas called, but Luther placed a hand on the Angel's shoulder.

"No," Luther said, his angry red eyes on his mother. "Not yet, Angel. We bide our time."

Lilith laughed at the two of them, the sound ripping through my frame. I'm pretty sure I screamed.

And then there was crying.

NeeCee!

I fought Lilith's iron control over my mind, kicking and screaming until my lungs were on fire and my head felt like it was going to explode.

"Stop this, Witch!" Lilith ordered, and once again, I grew still.

Was this how Maggie felt before she died? Like a puppet with a ventriloquist's hand up her back, controlling her every move.

I think I said please, but it may have been a figment of my imagination.

"Monroe!" someone shouted. NeeCee.

Tears slid down my cheeks. Eternity as a puppet.

My bare feet were moving through grass now, and it was damp outside. Twigs caught at my toes, pine needles and acorns eating into my flesh, and I was tired.

"Walk!"

The order was harsh, and my feet sped up of their own accord, my teeth grinding as pain went through my soles. I was stepping on stone and dirt and pine cones.

"Please!" I begged.

This time, I was pretty sure the words came from me. I didn't slow.

"No," Lilith cackled. "We have a lot to do tonight, Monroe. Be prepared. Tonight is going to change your life forever."

Forever.

The word echoed throughout my head.

Forever.

Over and over.

Forever.

Distantly, I realized I was still holding the Ayers grimoire in my hands, my fingers pressing into it so tightly, they were leaving impressions in the cover. I waited for it to fall away from me, for Lilith's control to make me drop it. But it stayed in my arms, secure, warm. So many Ayers witches. So many of their souls trapped now by Lilith. I could almost feel them, their pain as fresh as mine.

I lifted my head. I was a witch. I was an Ayers witch! I could fight her. I could! Fight like hell, Luther had said. I almost laughed at the irony.

My vision cleared.

I was in the forest, and I was freezing. I had on my sweatshirt and blue jeans, but with my feet bare, I was a block of ice. My mother had always joked that as long as she kept my feet warm, the rest of me would follow.

I thought of her now. My mother. My teeth were chattering, my feet so cold they were painful, the throbbing so intense it made me cry. I hated crying.

"Stop!" Lilith ordered, and I froze.

We were in a clearing, and the sky above it was dark blue, not quite navy, but close. A full moon was rising. I wasn't sure how much time had passed since Lilith had ordered me to follow her, but it was obvious by the sky, it had been a couple of hours.

"Welcome to your eternity," Lilith said, one red-clawed hand indicating the trees on the edge of the clearing.

There, tied to three different tree trunks, was Belle, Henry, and Bernice, their mouths gagged, and their eyes wide, terrified. Bernice's cheeks glistened, and I knew she was crying.

"No," I whispered.

Lilith was suddenly behind me, her breath on my neck, and my heart went to my throat.

"Oh yes, Monroe," she said, her hands guiding my head to the middle of the clearing.

I swallowed a sob. On the ground, there lay four small brown bags and a black-handled athame. I'd seen them before. They belonged to Eta.

"No," I said again.

Lilith smiled. "Oh, it's been years since I have felt this energetic about something," she said. "Just look at it all! Isn't it beautiful?"

It wasn't beautiful. It was horrible!

I wanted to cover my face with my hands, but I wasn't willing to drop the grimoire. Why? I had no idea. I was beginning to hate the book, and yet something about it wouldn't let me let it go.

Lilith noticed me clutching it, and she tapped the cover with her nails.

"So many of your family's stories. Such private moments. Tell me, Witch, do you have your own book of shadows?"

The muscles in my jaw moved as I clenched it, my eyes straight ahead.

Lilith laughed. She was doing a lot of laughing.

"Are you ready to meet your destiny?" she asked.

The anger that unfurled in my belly warmed me, and I looked at her and hoped like hell my blue eyes were shining.

"This is not my destiny."

"Oh we'll see about that," Lilith answered me.

The trees behind us stirred, the movement too strong to be the wind.

Lilith looked up. "Come to watch?" she asked.

I didn't have to look behind me to know who it was. I felt the electrical energy all the way to my toes.

"What?" Luther asked. "You of all people know how much I like front row seats. I even saved a few spots for some of your favorite people."

His words made me look up, my eyes going to the forest beyond. Luther stepped from the foliage, Lucas on his heels.

My body began to tingle, the energy familiar.

"Hello, Mother," another male voice said.

Out of the trees stepped Marcas Craig, the large, black-haired hybrid king of the Outer Levels of Hell, and with him was my best friend, Dayton Blainey. Both of their eyes glowed red.