Playing with Magic (Elemental Trilogy Book 2) (20 page)

“What have I done?” she asked the darkness around her. Nothing answered her, but she swore for just a second she heard deep masculine laughter.

Chapter 16

“Bryce, where are you?” Moorgun’s voice slithered through the darkened room. He walked out of the shadows, and she smiled at him, running her eyes over his naked form. “How I miss looking at your lovely body.”

“Thank you, Mistress. Who or what am I to thank for you visiting my dreams?”

“Such a pretty tongue you have too,” she walked over to him, naked. Her skin radiated with a dark glow, which he had always pictured underneath him, but he wasn’t worthy to bed such radiance. “I need them now. My chosen, my promised. I feel weary, and nothing is working. Our Lord is getting tired and bored. I think you should finish your game.”

“As you wish, my
  
” He stopped as she pressed her body into his and grinded her hips into him. He closed his eyes, and her hand moved along his chest.

“I know what you want. You bring me my chosen, and you will be privileged.” She ran her hand down his chest and let her fingers play with the hair below his belly button. “I might be rewarded as becoming the Lord’s wife, but you’ll be my pretty lover.”

“Down,” he whispered as her hand moved lower. “Please.” He closed his eyes as her hand tightened over his hard shaft. His heart sped up, and he didn’t want to open his eyes. He feared as soon as he did he would be awake.

“Do as I say, my pretty,” she said, and her voice came out hot, right above his neck. He felt her lean in more as if she was going to kiss him. Her hand sped up, and his breathing quickened. Her lush lips touched his hot skin.

He was jolted awake by the wet dream. “I will do as you please,” he whispered hoarsely into the darkened room. He got his breathing under control, and then got up to take a shower. Drying off, he skipped clothing himself and went to the backroom.

The circle and black candles waited to be used. He found his lighter and started lighting the candles. Inside, he walked the circle counterclockwise. Sitting on his knees in the small circle, he pricked his finger with a silver pin and wrote Anatha’s name in blood on a piece of lined paper. He blew on it, putting his essence on it and helping the blood dry. He sprinkled some dried red rose petals over the name. He folded the paper into a small square.

With some red string he started tying it up. “By this spell, Anatha I bind. Heart and body, soul and mind. Infatuated with me ever be. Her passion blazes deep for me. I haunt her thoughts and dance through her dreams. I’m always on her mind. Infatuation, romance, love, Anatha finds me, Bryce, irresistible. I become her new devotion. I want her to be stuck on me like a moth to a flame. Anatha longs for me, as romantic fantasies of me haunt her. Anatha in love with me I do bind!” He chanted it three times as he envisioned it.

The candles blew out, and a gentle wind made goose bumps run up and down his naked body. “I thank you, Dark Lord, for helping me!”

****

Anatha woke from a dream. She rolled over, smiling. What a dream. Even in her sleep Davies impressed her and made her body feel inflamed.

“Oh, my,” she whispered before entering back into her dreams of him.

****

“Hey guys, there are some police officers at the door,” Stefan called. “They want to talk to you.”

“Oh, goody,” Autumn said, walking to the door. “Mabon get Aarawn!” She walked out on the porch, hands on her hips. “What?”

“You’re under arrest,” said not a cop but Henley.

“Mabon!” Autumn screamed over her shoulder. She turned back to the officers. “What for?”

He and Aarawn ran over. “What?” They both said, eyeing Henley.

“Come along. Your trial is set. Pavana is waiting.”

“I’m not going,” Mabon said, arms crossed over his chest. “You’ll just have to make us.”

“Yep,” Aarawn said.

Autumn smiled. “Don’t be silly, guys.” She turned, smacking each of them on the shoulders. “Pavana wants to see us.” She poked her head in the door. “Anatha!”

“Coming. What is all that screaming?”

Autumn gave her a tight smile. Anatha walked to her, weary. “Pavana wants us,” she said.

“I don’t think you should go. Pyrus is out,” Shantaina said, coming up behind Stefan.

“Yeah,” Mabon said.

Autumn started down the porch at the cops circling around them. “Come on.”

Mabon ran down, following her. “If you lay one finger on my sister, I will kill you,” he said, threatening all the officers around them. He put his arm around her protectively and kept an eye on the cops.

“Let Pyrus know where we are, Stefan,” Autumn said. “If she is back in time.”

Pavana was seated in the middle at the giant oak table. Yelena and Carolas sat on her right, and Agnes and Henley, after he took his seat, were on her left. “I’m glad you came,” Pavana said when they were ready.

Autumn stood in front of Pavana. “Actually, I’ve been waiting to talk to you.”

Her blue eyes stared at her angrily. “What about, child?”

Autumn’s anger rose easily. “Exactly.” The word dripped venom.

Pavana looked lost for a moment. Mabon stood on Autumn’s left. Anatha and Aarawn on her right.
Four against five
, she thought, debating the challenge they would have.

“I see you’re still with child.”

Autumn smiled, hoping it was a sweet one. “Yes.”

Pavana stood up. “For using magic against other witches, breaking into the Cave of Stars, which is forbidden, reading the star charts, which can mean death to any person living in Fontane, you are all sentenced to life in our cave.”

“Been there, done that,” Aarawn said.

Pavana hit her hands on the table. “You’ll stay this time!” she said loudly, motioning for the cops. They walked over to them slowly with chains. “And you will have your child, but you will never see it after its birth.”

Autumn’s magic rose through her. “How dare you,” she said in a normal voice. She turned quickly, thrusting her hands out in front of her and then down. Giant boulders rose from the dirt ground, blocking the cops. She turned back to Pavana.

“I warned you once. Now you dare threaten my child.”

“What are you waiting for?” Agnes said. “The chains!”

Aarawn turned as the cops scrambled over the boulders. He put his hands together and forced them apart. A great wind blew the cops away from them and against the oak walls. All of the elders rose to their feet, watching the Elements stare at them.

“We know your secret,” Mabon said. “We will not be cattle for you. Any of you.”

Autumn turned her glowing green eyes to Carolas. “Shantaina thanks you. You have been helpful beyond what most of you could ever notice. I see through you. You, unlike the other murderers and cheaters, are pure. Leave.” She motioned with her head.

He started walking. “Carolas, if you leave, I will ban you from our home.”

“If being banned will keep me from withholding anymore of your secrets then so be it,” he said as he turned, looking at her. He gave the others a sad look. “I have wasted too much life making sure everything has come to be. Apologies.” He shook his head. “It is over for me. My family will no longer be of service to the elders.” He turned and walked out of the building.

“That makes four on four,” Aarawn said. “I do love a good fair fight.”

Mabon chuckled. “Yeah, right.”

Aarawn laughed as his eyes darkened to a deep thundercloud grey. “Yeah, right.”

Pavana came around the table. She faced Autumn. “You don’t scare me, child. I am older than you would know and harness so much power that it would quake some of the gods. You dare challenge me? This could bring your death.”

Autumn laughed. “Do you want to go against an element? Do you think I’m afraid of you? Trust me, I’m not.”

She felt Pavana gather her energy, and laying a single finger on Autumn, she released it. Autumn fell to her knees as the pain came to her intensely and instantly. It burned like a cold ice storm. Anatha threw a fireball the size of a basketball at the table, blinding the others as it became engulfed in flames. Mabon tried to help his sister to her feet.

“I’m fine,” she said, standing on her own. Pavana had taken two steps back and threw her hands down to the ground, the power hitting Autumn full force.

“You are Earth. I can destroy Earth.”

Autumn held out her hands, blocking the witch’s power. “I am stone, I am sand, I am the trees, I am the caves, I am the mountains.” She pushed her hands forward, shooting her own energy back at the witch. “I am life, I am death.” The others spread out around them.

You can’t keep this up
, Mabon whispered in her head.

“Power above and below, I invite thee,” Pavana said as a circle formed around them, cutting out everyone else. She pulled a mirror from her pocket and turned it on Autumn. “Your reflection fades as you do,” she chanted three times.

She felt her power drain. Her knees couldn’t take it. She sat down before they gave out. Mabon ran to the circle. “You have never dueled in such a way. You must keep ahead of her. You must bring down her circle.” She nodded but continued to sit where she was. Everyone waited. She started drawing circles on the ground, her eyes focused on Pavana. She knew she could bring down the circle but wanted to hurt Pavana first.

Still drawing, she chanted, “Pure are the caves and plains. Pure are the sod and hills. Pure are the lakes and hills. Pure are the woods and the trees. Pure are the deep valleys. As I receive your energy, now receive mine.”

“What are you doing, girl?” Pavana asked. “Are you giving up?”

Autumn looked up at her. Pavana’s smile wavered at the site of the hostility she saw. “You would like that, wouldn’t you?” Autumn felt the burst of energy. She could now stand again if she wanted to, but she didn’t. She wanted to be in the dirt. “A circle of energy is pure as well! Erase all negativities from this circle!” Autumn cried, hands pressed firmly on the ground.

Pavana shrieked, feeling her face change. She covered it with her hands. “Nooo!” Everyone stared as her hands wrinkled up. She pulled her hands away, bringing gasps from some of the elders. She stared hatefully down at Autumn. Eyes sunken in as old liver-spotted skin wrinkled so harsh that even cosmetic surgery wouldn’t be able to smooth it. She couldn’t believe the child had erased her glamour spell, for it had been forged with so much magic over the years. She knew it was unbreakable, so how could she?

She didn’t want Pavana to strike again. She wasn’t sure how much she was able to take. Her body was already being abused too much, and she had to worry about her baby now too. She got to her feet. “The circle we thank for being here and now can depart. You will always be here, even when your power isn’t.” The circle crashed down around them.

“You,” Pavana said, walking toward her. She grabbed her shoulder, quick and firm. It surprised Autumn, but she felt angry energy swarm around Pavana.

Mabon came over and pushed the old lady. She staggered back.  “Good job,” he told his sister as they linked hands. His power and hers mingled. Cold and moist, the power flung around them like a second skin. Breathing new life into them. Each feeding the other.

Pavana saw what they were doing. She turned to the others. “They must not become one power!”

“Yes, Pavana,” Henley said. He raised his hands and called forth the power of the sky to help in his needs. He thrusted his hands at Aarawn. “You’ve had this coming, boy.” His power hit him, doing no damage. “What?”

Aarawn gave him a stupid look. “I am air. You used my own power against me.” He took Anatha’s hand. Heat and wind flamed around them. Each power flared the other even more, making their own bodies feel like balloons.

Pavana did a small binding chant. Yelena and Agnes sank to their chairs, drained of all power they had had. She pulled their power into her mid charka, and expelled it, creating a bubble between the two, now united, powers.

Autumn and Anatha reached out but could not touch. Frustrated, Autumn turned to face Pavana. “I will bring this town down!” She stopped and remembered her hormonal problem. It was worth a try.

She pointed her finger at Henley. “Hold her,” she said and pointed to Pavana.

He went over to her in a trance and wrapped his arms around her. She came out of the spell she was using to keep the bubbles in place. “Henley!” She screeched. “What are you doing?”

The bubbles popped, and Autumn and Anatha took hands. The power flew around them. It filled the room with their essence.

“We are in control,” Aarawn said. They felt as if they were almost bodiless. Their real true selves took over. The Elements were now in charge, pushing their human personas deep down.

“You cannot leave!” Pavana screeched. “I need you too much!”

“Once again, we are not cattle!” Mabon said. His anger washed over them as a flood of water. When it abated, all four elders choked, coughing for air as if they had been drowning.

“Fuck with us once, shame on us. Fuck with us twice, shame on you!” Aarawn said.

Autumn nodded, releasing her destructive energy. The ground started moving. “It’s time for us to go.”

Still holding hands, they walked out of the building. “Are you going to kill them?” Carolas asked them as they stopped in the middle of the road next to him. The elders ran out as the building started to crumble.