Destiny Demons

"Who all do you need for the circle?" Silas asked.

"What is the circle for?" Kyra chimed in. She was generally a very quiet person, very standoffish though she was finally beginning to warm up to me. I actually made her smile the day before.

"The circle is to give Abby enough strength, through our energy, to ask why the Elders are coming," Casimir answered.

"I could use anyone who would like to help," I answered Silas. "I"ve tried by myself but I just can"t see any answers."

"Well, you know I"m in," Adam said as he walked up behind me.

"As am I," Casimir replied.

"It"s been awhile, but I am there," Silas remarked.

"Same here," Aaron agreed.

One by one, everyone joined in. Even the new members of my extended family were willing to give it a try.

"Then I guess the only other question left is, where?" Casimir asked.

"Down in the ravine, where we have plenty of room for everyone. Then I can use fire to scry. We need some wood, a bay laurel, please," I answered.

"Why a laurel?" Aaron asked.

"We need answers. If any G.o.d could answer our questions, it would be Apollo, G.o.d of prophecy," I said with a smile. "Lothair gather the salt, incense, water and candle. We can make the circle with salt. It"s also a full moon again so we should be good. Come on everyone, let"s go," I finished and let everyone out.

We a.s.sembled down at the bottom of the cliff. Casimir and Leon set up the laurel and we all circled around it. As Lothair set the circle I looked around it.

I stood at the western point with Silas to my right, a smile on his face. His short blond hair stood up in the front as the rest lay down neatly. His thin, long sleeved, light blue b.u.t.ton up shirt was perfect for the cool mid autumn night. Beside him was his wife, Myla, in a sheer top with bell sleeves around her wrists. It was a soft beige color with her black slacks and her long brown hair pulled back in a long braid behind her back. Lothair took his normal southern point in his open navy blue shirt with a black muscle shirt and dark blue jeans. His long hair blew back out of his face and I realized just how long his goatee was getting. Kyra stood between Lothair and Keegan. Her blond hair moved very slightly as she was dressed in her dark maroon b.u.t.ton blouse that revealed just the top of her bust. Keegan looked like a stone statue, his jaw set a strong look about him that I liked. He was confident and secure with his strength. His tight black tee shirt showed his muscular build and biceps.

Leon took the eastern point next to Keegan in a long sleeve, light gray sweater and black jeans. His hair, dark and perfect, I couldn"t help but to smile at him remembering days gone by. I couldn"t get over how much like, my Leonidas he was now, he had changed so much since I told him about Darin. Allison was next to him wearing a long, pale blue dress that fluttered around her in the wind as her dark brown hair blew in her face. Aaron was between Allison and Casimir.

Casimir was at the northern spot next to Edward, which kind of surprised me. His short brown hair and metal framed gla.s.ses looked sophisticated. His rich brown blazer was a warm color and very earthy. Casimir"s black b.u.t.ton up shirt shined in the moon light as he looked around the circle. Adam stood next to me in his black blazer over his yellow shirt that was unb.u.t.toned at the top. His coal black hair spiked up in a tall stance as his hair had grown. Our eyes met and a smile crossed his face.

The circle was complete with the incense and candle burning, the water and salt placed at their points. Lothair had drawn the circle around us and the laurel was ready. I looked into the bay laurel and wished for fire. The laurel burst into flames and I took Silas and Adam"s hands. Everyone took my lead and took each other"s hands.

"For those of you who have not been in a circle before, I will walk you all through it. First, everyone hold hands, connect the circle through. Now close your eyes and clear your minds, concentrate only on your breathing." I closed my eyes and felt the energy begin to flow. Once I could feel the entire circle of energy, I opened my eyes. I saw the world around us in energy halos. Every thing"s natural aura was now enhanced in my eyes. Adam"s aura was a vibrant blue with silver lining that shimmered, Casimir, white with tindrils of red; Aaron, dark green; Lothair, bright orange; Silas, violet; Leon, bright green with pure white streaking through. Everyone was full of color but one, Edward. His aura was dark, blood red that fired out in ripples. It was dark, menacing. It set an uneasy feeling about me.

"Now, together," I instructed, "everyone focus on the question that we want answered. Why the Elders want our friends dead. Run it over in your minds like a ball that you would roll around your hand. Ask it over and over. It will strengthen the focus on our objective." I finished and could feel the focus click into place. Everyone asked and through me, I asked the fire.

Suddenly, the fire grew brighter and I began seeing images. I saw myself standing right where I was with the phoenix and my spelled daggers ablaze. To my sides were Casimir and Lothair. The Krznik awakened fully and the Windigo in full form. We all stood ready, as the Elders and their entourage emerged through the tree line. Markus, Rurik and Cain stood in their fancy war clothes and their entourage dressed all in black and red.

Then I saw her, the blond vampire, the b.i.t.c.h that killed Josh. I could hear his screams ringing in my ears. But they weren"t Josh"s. My view spun around, and I saw him. Adam was on his knees before her, whaling in agony. She blinked and he stopped screaming and looked up into her eyes, his arms still clutched to his stomach. "Die," I heard her say as she slashed at his throat. I couldn"t bear to see what happened next and luckily, I think the fire knew because the scene changed.

I could see a peaceful village, a familiar village. It was Beskal, the way that I had always seen it in my dreams. Out of a hut in front of me stepped Gomorrah, with her long light blond hair flowing down her back and her long dark green dress, trimmed with gold. She turned and looked at me, her shallow blue eyes seeing right through me and said, "Clamate adducet finis ut saeculi de lamia. Postquam elevatus quas maledicto filii Corvinous. Commutatio sitim nam esuriet. Frigus cor nam verberans cor pars fieri immortales hominibus de exercitum nam vindicem." Then suddenly, the fire exploded, sending everyone flying out of our circle. For a moment, I could only hear what Gomorrah had said over and over in my mind. I was lost in darkness with only Gomorrah"s voice resonating in my mind. Then I heard him, "Abby? Abby?" Adam called, pulling me back to consciousness.

I rolled over and my eyes fluttered open to see his face. I momentarily forgot about the rest of the vision, holding onto what Gomorrah had said. I shot to my feet and walked over to Leon, who was helping Edward to his feet. "Leon, I need your help. Come on," I said and headed back to the house, making the jump up the cliff in a single leap. I walked straight inside and grabbed a pen and paper from the desk in the living room and jotted the phrase down.

Leon walked in with everyone on his heels. "What, Abby? What"d you see?" Leon asked though everyone was asking with their eyes.

"It"s not what I saw, it"s what I heard," I handed Leon the paper and Casimir looked over his shoulder.

"It"s Latin," Casimir remarked.

"Yes, that"s why I asked for Leon"s help. We learned Latin as children, though it was a very long time ago, we might be able to translate it," I spouted in a hurry already trying to translate in my mind.

Leon read it out loud and looked at me.

"Climates is call or cry," I said and Casimir walked over to the desk to begin writing the translation as we worked. "Adducet finis means bring an end. Saeculi de lamia is age of the vampire."

"Okay, so call brings an end age of the vampire," Casimir began reading back.

"Cry, cry to bring an end to the age of the vampire, it"s the prophecy," I brainstormed. "Okay, Leon, next."

"Postquam elevatus quas maledicto filii Corvinous," he read. "Postquam elevatus is lifting, and quas maledicto; the curse?" he asked.

"Yes, lifting the curse, filii is children. Ah, children of Corvinous." I froze then continued before I could really think about what I had just said. "Okay, Commutatio is change, turn, exchange, exchange! Exchanging, exchanging thirst for hunger. Frigus cor is cold heart. Ut, for. Verberans cor, beating heart." Everyone was silent, including Leon and Casimir. I took the paper from Leon"s hand and read the last line out loud. "Pars fieri, de, part of to become. Di immortales hominibus, immortal human. Exercitum, to become part of the immortal human army. Nam vindicem. Nam vindicem, for champion. To become part of the immortal human army for the Champion," I finished with a smile. I felt accomplished; I had translated it nearly by myself. I turned and everyone was silent and thinking. I could tell they were thinking about what I was saying.

I looked at the paper in my hand and read it out loud again. "Cry, to bring an end to the age of the vampire, lifting the curse of the children of Corvinous, exchanging thirst for hunger, cold heart for beating heart to become part of the immortal human army for the Champion." And that is when it hit me, like a ton of bricks, it slammed into me. This is why the Elders wanted them dead and not just Silas, Aaron and Leon but probably every vampire in the world that would consider helping me. The Elders were arrogant and probably figure that if they were to stop my daughter"s cry then the end of the age of the vampire would never come and they would survive but getting to me isn"t near as easy as getting to the others. Then another realization hit me, Silas, Leon, Aaron, Allison and the others wouldn"t die when my daughter is born. They will become human again. Immortal humans, to become part of my army, but they wouldn"t have to worry about the thirst anymore.

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. I looked around at the lot of them and I didn"t know if that last part had sunk in or not. "Do you know what that means?" I asked as I approached Leon. "You aren"t going to die when my daughter is born." I turned to Silas, "You guys are going to be fine. It will lift your curse instead of ending you."

Silas" face shifted and a huge megawatt smile crossed his face and the room nearly exploded with joy. Everyone was hugging one another and laughing. I almost hated bringing everything else up.

After a few moments, the room quieted down and I decided to explain the rest. "That"s why they are after you," I blurted out and everyone went silent.

"What do you mean?" Allison asked.

"The Elders don"t know the rest of the prophecy. As far as they know the prophecy ends at end of the age of the vampire. Thus they think the same as we did. That it would end all vampires instead of lifting the curse. They want to stop anyone who would help me bring my daughter into the world. That"s why they are headed here," I finished.

Silas shot up from the couch that he and Myla were sharing. "Here?" he asked.

"Yes, somehow they know that you guys are here. They have shifted their course and are coming here but they will find that it won"t be as easy as they thought it would be," I laughed. "They are probably thinking that they are only going to fight and kill you, easy as that, but what they are going to find is a Windigo," I motioned to Lothair and he nodded in agreement. "A Krznik," Casimir stood and nodded. "And a champion of the G.o.ds." I finished.

"No," Silas gasped, "No, Abby, you can"t..."

"Shh," I shushed as I put a finger to his lips. "Let me ask you, Silas. Was it your fight or fault or duty to take me home after they burned me at the stake?" I asked calmly. He shook his head and I could see the sorrow in his eyes at the mention of that night. "Was it your fight to tend to my wounds until Cas and the others got there?"

"No," Silas answered and his brows furrowed.

"Was it your duty to bring me supplies from town because I couldn"t leave the house?"

"No."

"But you did it anyway, right?"

"Yes."

"Because, you are a compa.s.sionate person, by far, the most compa.s.sionate person I have ever met. You saved me that night, Silas, as I said just before you turned me." I paused and took a breath as I slowly blinked my eyes. I raised my hand to his cheek and caressed it as I finished, "My angel, who went the extra mile to show me that humans are still capable of love, of compa.s.sion, worth the effort to save. Silas, that fateful night, you saved me, and now, it"s my turn to save you," I finished.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he rubbed my hand, holding it to his cheek. "Oh, Dru, Abby, I have never thought of it like that, at all. It was my father who did it to you and I was trying to make amends for his ignorance."

"And in doing so, you showed me sympathy that I had never seen. You didn"t even know what I was when you took me home. You didn"t fear me, yet you did not understand. Most humans fear what they do not understand. You were my angel then and even today, just looking at you reminds me of humanity"s capacity for love. For that, you will always be my angel. And for my angel, I will fight anyone who threatens him or his family," I declared as tears began to stream down Silas" face. I smiled at him and he wrapped me in a hug. We stood for a few moments before I heard Aaron clear his throat quietly.

Aaron tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "Dru, Abby, can I talk to you for a second?"

I nodded and followed him outside the back door. "You do realize that we have a traitor among us, don"t you?" Aaron asked.

"I suspected so," I answered. My bad feelings of him that started as soon as I met him were now confirmed. "It was brilliant of him to pretend, to act as if he were on my side, warning me about the Windigo as if he wanted to help me."

"Over the last few days, he has thought some pretty horrid things about you," I always knew that Aaron could read people"s minds and I had planned on asking him to help me with Edward but I was apparently too late for that. "Just now, when you were talking about fighting for us, Edward was trying to devise a plan to get you killed. His mission here is to find a way to kill you, for good. He is trying to find a way, even if it means using Adam to do it."

That"s what did it. I thought about the vision, the blond who pained Adam, then… the rage exploded and my fangs were out as I stomped through the door. Everyone"s chatter stopped as I entered the room and headed straight for Edward.

I grabbed him by his throat and pinned him against the wall. Casimir was telling me to let him go while Silas was asking what was going on. I a.s.sumed Silas was asking Aaron so I answered Casimir. "I will not let him go until he admits to you what he really is and why he is really here," I said coldly.

"He"s a traitor. I heard it in his mind. Tell everyone who really made the wall that kept everyone from Abby," Aaron demanded.

"I…I…did…" Edward choked out.

"What ?" Casimir asked sounded extremely angry. "You did what?"

"I…made…the…wall," Edward barely got out.

Casimir suddenly grabbed Edward by the collar of his b.u.t.ton up shirt and yanked him from my grasp. "Are you telling me that you were the one who blocked us from her? You caused Ketheras to return! Someone could have been hurt or even killed!" Casimir roared at Edward. His face was beet red and the veins in his neck bulged out with his heartbeat. I couldn"t remember any time that I had ever seen him so angry. You could see the Krznik ready to pounce, ready to break free and tear Edward apart. But I could see Casimir struggling with the Krznik, fighting to remain in control.

Suddenly, Edward was flying across the room as Casimir threw him. "Get out!" he shouted about the time that Edward hit the wall with a crash. "Get out before I rip you apart." Casimir growled, his eyes darkening and I stepped forward putting my hand on his arm and pushed white light into him. Immediately, he relaxed a bit.

"I"m sorry, Casimir, but that"s not all. Is it, Edward?" Aaron snidely replied.

"Edward here was in a win-win situation. He came here to win his way in by warning Dru of the Windigo, and then he was to ensure her destruction by casting a wall to force her to fight alone. But that didn"t work because Abby or Dru, however you want to look at it, was stronger than he or the council thought.

"When she was able to walk away from the attack, then losing control to Ketheras, he was hoping that the anger and hatred toward the council would drive her to hunt them down. With him securing an alliance with you, he could begin to establish a new council in which he would be chairman," Aaron informed us.

"And if she had died?" Casimir asked hesitantly.

"Then one of two things. One, he would return to the council, a hero, the one who helped in Dru"s demise. He would probably be promoted plus the legend of his contributions," Aaron stopped and looked at Adam. "The second, would be retaliation from any of you, but he would expect it from you, Adam, over anyone. He didn"t realize that you were not a Kethra until he got here but the plan was if you were a Kethra, he could enforce heavier laws against vampire utilizing your appearance as a vampire. No one really remembers Kethra."
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I couldn"t believe I had missed all of this. We all had. I looked around and started realizing the amount of hostility in the room. It began crackling in the air. Casimir"s face was pale and his hair was almost white from the Krznik trying to break free. His eyes were narrowed with fury and his lips were a straight thin line.

Lothair was nearly jumping around like a boxer ready to fight. He always did get jumpy when he was angry. The more he bounced around, the madder he was and he was nearly bouncing off of the walls.

Leon"s face was flush and his eyes lined with tears. He stood stiff and tall with his hands in fists ready to lunge at Edward at the drop of a hat. His jaw was set like stone making it broad and intimidating as his nostrils flared in ferocity.

Silas had a look of pure terror on his face, disbelief written in his eyes of how cruel this man really was. His brows furrowed as his own anger slowly registered in his mind. Aaron still looked cool and calm which is worse than if he was ranting and raving.

Then Adam, he was standing stiff as he breathed quick and shallowly. His soft features were set and angry. His bright blue eyes were pale, steel gray. Cold, dead eyes were boring into Edward and if looks could have killed, Edward would have been dying a slow, painful death from all angles.

Adam"s normally silvery blue aura was dark. The energy that was radiating off of him was also dark and full of rage. I tried to push out calming energy throughout the room but suddenly, without warning, I heard someone hit the wall on the far end of the room. I turned to see Edward pinned against the wall, Leon holding him by his throat.

"Do you have any idea what you could have done? You could have ended everything! There is more to this than you know and she is the key! You could have destroyed mankind"s only chance to win the war. There is a reason why she is the Champion of the G.o.ds, to protect mankind! You Idiot!" Leon yelled in his face. "Get out of here! Get out and run back to your council and let them know how you have failed to kill the Champion. Run and tell them that we will be seeing them again! Run now before I decide to kill you instead!"

Edward turned pale and scurried to the door. Running out like his a.s.s was on fire, we all let him go, knowing that he wouldn"t be back. Leon stood with his back to us; he was looking down at the floor.

"Leon?" I asked quietly.

His response to me was his hand up to let me know to give him a second. So I did, we all did. After a moment, he turned back to us and he looked cool and calm, almost cold. There was something in his eyes as he looked at me, something I had never seen before.

"Leon?" I asked. "Are you okay?" the words came out in almost a whisper.

Instead of saying anything, he looked down at his hands that were at his stomach and walked out of the room. We all looked at each other then at Leon"s back as he walked out the back door. I couldn"t help but think that there was something very familiar about the way he had acted. And that look in his eyes. Something not of Leon, though, of someone else, but who?