Blood of an Ancient (22 page)

Sometimes, I enjoy my mean streak.

A witch in one of the long, flowing blue robes from the last concert walked to the side of the group. She nodded and smiled at them and I recognized her head of curly hair instantly. Sophie. She shifted a satchel onto her shoulder as she stepped into the forest. Moonlight glinted off the blade in her hand. I couldn’t tell what it was from this distance, but I hoped it was a bolline for cutting herbs. I was just a little too scared about what I was about to do at this concert to be dealing with a blood sacrifice.

“Blythe, I just saw Sophie going into the trees by herself. This is the perfect time to catch her. Elsa, can you drive over there and park behind those trees?” I pointed.

“Perfect,” she agreed. “We’ll be out of sight from the others.”

She parked the car. Castor and Dooby got out fast. Dooby bent to touch his toes and Castor stretched up. They’d been crammed in the back, with Blythe and her bag between them, for over an hour. I walked around, stomping a little to return circulation to my legs. My outfit would probably have looked better with some high-heeled boots, but I was sincerely glad I’d worn a pair of sturdy hiking shoes. They might ruin the effect of the ensemble, but I didn’t really give a shit. I just didn’t want the Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee bouncers to recognize me too fast.

Castor walked around to open the back. He pulled out the bow and arrows, fitting the bow over his neck and the arrow holder over his shoulder. He looked like he’d walked off the set of a Robin Hood show.

“It’s good. Authentic.” A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “The teen girls are going to be all over you.”

“Girls, I would like. Teen? No thanks.” He shuddered.

Fenris flew out of the trunk, his cape fluttering. “The necromancer is right. There is an air of dead things here.” He dropped to the ground and licked a blade of grass. “It’s in the ground and it runs deep. It might be a good thing to let the witches destroy this place.”

“But then they’d destroy all these people.”

He shrugged and sped off. “I’m going to do some reconnaissance.”

I curled my lip at his retreating form before walking to the back of Elsa’s vehicle to grab the hefty flashlight she kept there. “What did I expect from a vampire?” I murmured half under my breath.

Blythe heard me. “Vampires don’t respect human life.”

“They don’t,” Dooby agreed. “And this one doesn’t even need them for food, so he will even less. I’m surprised he hasn’t taken off, to tell you the truth.”

“We burned down his home. Where’s he gonna go?” Restlessness pricked the back of my neck. We were taking too long to get into that forest. Catching Blythe’s mentor alone was the only way this would work.

Blythe sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Let’s just go find Sophie.”

Nodding, I backed toward the forest. “Elsa, why don’t you, Castor and Dooby stay here and keep an eye on that group? You can alert me if they start going into the forest.”

“Sure thing.” She pulled out her shirt and glanced down at it, as if looking for a place to tuck her gun.

Swallowing a grin, I stepped around a tree, clicked on the light and tried to scout out the places with the least dry leaves, but once again the effort was wasted. We were going to make noise, no matter how softly we walked in here. Blythe took out her baggie of the ground sweet-woodruff root and I frowned at how very little she’d been able to squeeze out of it. “We have to make sure she steps over it.”

“On it would be better,” Blythe whispered. She shivered.

“You should have brought your coat.”

“And ruin the dress? No way. It’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever worn.” She suddenly stopped, cocked her head. “Do you hear that?”

I closed my eyes to better focus on sounds. I heard the usual—crickets and different birds, even an owl. I heard the faint background noise from the concert setup. Then, every hair on my body stood at attention as a low laugh trickled through the shadowy forest. “I heard that same laugh when we were scouting out the last concert. Whoever that is, he sure is happy about something.”

“It really scares me, Beri.” She put a hand on my arm, dropped her voice to a whisper. “It’s familiar. I’ve heard that laugh before but I can’t remember where.”

“Come on, let’s walk faster.” I palmed the handle of one blade, just in case, but kept it out of sight because I spotted Blythe’s mentor kneeling next to a bush and cutting something off the ground below it. With the heavy leaf cover, the moonlight didn’t penetrate this part of the woods, so I couldn’t see what she was sawing.

I heard Blythe take a deep breath next to me before calling out softly, “Sophie?”

Her mentor turned. I lifted the flashlight in time to catch the beautiful smile that lit up her stunning face.

“Blythe!” She stood and hurried toward us.

“Drop the fucking herb,” I muttered to Blythe. “Right in front of you.”

Blythe hurriedly poured the woodruff into her hand and sprinkled it on the ground in front of her.

Unfortunately, Sophie stopped before she stepped on it. She murmured something I couldn’t make out and opened her hand palm up. A small light formed then rose above our heads to shine down on our small area. It was like being under a bright porch light. Blythe needed to learn that trick. Big time.

Sophie, in this soft light, was even more beautiful, with her sculpted chin, full lips and big brown eyes. They’d been blue during the concert, but they’d glowed like they were lit from the inside by an electrical current. Now, the brown-hazel made her look more human.

“You came to see the concert?” she asked. “I’m so happy!”

Blythe frowned. “You’re happy I’m in the woods? When are you ever happy when I’m in the woods?”

Sophie’s smile had a plastic edge that looked borderline psychotic. “I’m pleased to see you and pleased that you’ll hear the beautiful music we’re making. Grima has taught us so much about focus and beauty. And life.”

She beamed and my skin crawled. There wasn’t a spark of real personality in those eyes. It was like she’d been molded into someone else’s image of happy, like a puppeteer had designed her.

“Who is Grima?” I asked.

“She is a goddess who loves life and is teaching us to do the same.”

I frowned. “She’s some kind of succubus who is making you enthrall people so she can feed off them.”

“No,” Sophie said softly. “She is beauty personified and everything we should all strive to be.”

“Sophie?” Blythe took a step back. “She’s a lilin, a kind of demon. I don’t understand how you can’t know that.”

Sophie took another step and when she froze I breathed a sigh of relief because I knew she’d stepped where we needed her to. She stood still for so long I began to worry we’d accidentally triggered some kind of witch location device and she was waiting for her Grima. Then she looked around, blinking, alarm filling her expression so fast I started looking around too.

She focused on Blythe and this time, she really saw her. There was no mistaking the absolute love in her expression as she dropped her bag and knife and rushed forward to hug the little witch. “Blythe! It’s so good to see you, but you have to get out of here. Now!”

Blythe hugged her back. “We know about the lilin and what she does and we’re going to stop her.”

Sophie shook her head, making her black curls fly about. “She’s powerful and you can’t stop her. And goodness, what are you doing in a forest?” She dropped to her knees and grabbed her satchel, then glanced up to look at Blythe’s. “Do you have any fern seeds in your bag?”

“Of course. Why?”

“We have to mask your presence fast. If you chew those, it’ll help. You haven’t done any fire magic lately have you? And please tell me you haven’t set any fires in any forests?” Sophie grabbed Blythe’s bag and frantically pawed through it.

I could only stand and stare, taking this all in because Sophie was not what I’d expected. The love on that woman’s face when she looked at Blythe was unmistakable. I’d been wrong—about that part at least.

“Hey,” I said, stepping forward to touch shoulder so she’d look at me. “You don’t know me but I’m a very good friend of Blythe’s. We’ve been trying to find you. She needs help because she has a little problem with fire.” I remembered all the things Blythe had told us about Sophie. Mentor or not, the witch had done my friend a disservice. I crossed my arms, glared at her. “And I think that’s your fault. Why did you suppress a natural fire witch?”

Sophie stopped her frantic bag search, looked up at me and scowled. “I don’t know you, but if you’re her friend, you will get her away from that lilin and out of the forest altogether.”

Blythe squatted but didn’t drop to her knees. “Sophie, my magic is all messed up. We went into the Big Cypress Swamp and I bound a fire elemental and now my magic is out of control. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you. Why did you just take off and not tell me where?”

Sophie grabbed Blythe’s arms so hard the smaller woman nearly fell over backward. “You went into the swamp? Big trees. Big trees.” She closed her eyes, shuddered. “Hurry. Find the fern seeds and just eat them. Chew for a long time and then swallow them. All of them.”

Blue eyes flared so wide they reflected back the light from Sophie’s magic disco ball or whatever that was. “You know those will make me really sick. No. What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I added.

Sophie stood and took a step closer to me. She was tall—not as tall as me—but she was close to six feet. She narrowed her eyes. “I sense you have strength and magic and if you care at all about my Blythe, you will get her away from this place now.”

I shook my head. “Look, I can tell you’re really upset about something, and finding you was the reason we tracked down Staglina. But that creature enthralling you and the others has to be stopped. We’re not leaving the lilin to keep killing.”

“You don’t understand. Blythe’s magic is so much more than she knows or understands. If that lilin gets control of her power, it will become worse.” She tilted her head and listened, then closed her eyes. “But it’s not the lilin that scares me. It’s the creature that can find Blythe when she’s in heavily treed forests. And if she’s set any fires in them, it’s too late.”

“Whoa.” I uncrossed my arms, still gripping my knife. The woman had just taken a sharp left turn. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s why we all worked so hard to suppress her fire magic. She’s both—earth and fire—so we all thought if we focused everything on earth, she’d stay safe because she’s not a normal fire witch. She’s a mage and it’s not even just that.”

“Who’s we?” Blythe whispered. “I don’t understand any of this. Sophie? You’ve been lying to me?”

Her mentor still faced me and I watched as she closed her eyes. Remorse and fear fell over her expression with such force it hurt me. I’d been wrong, horribly wrong about her. My gut was telling me she had nothing but Blythe’s best interests at heart. Her eyes opened, her gaze locking with mine. “The lilin is calling us. I have to go before she gets suspicious and comes looking.”

“Listen to me.” I stepped close to her, wincing at how loud the crunch of leaves was under my shoes. “Because we broke whatever spell she had you under, the protective barrier you witches and wizards had up is going to be broken over your head. There are more of us here to stop this. My brother is going to use that broken area to get to her and then I’m taking her out. Can you pretend to do whatever it is you normally do?”

For the first time, a small bit of humor crossed her face. Her mouth quirked. “I can’t sing without that spell.”

“I told you,” Blythe muttered. “She’s awful.”

Sophie frowned and shot Blythe a glare before turning back to me. “I wouldn’t say awful, but I can’t do what she’s had me doing.”

“Can you just, you know, lift up your arms and move your mouth like you’re singing?”

This time she did smile with humor. “I can do that. If you’ll do something for me. Get Blythe away from this forest and keep her out of the rest of them. I’m serious.”

“Lady, we’ve moved into a house that sits on acres of trees.”

“But it has a protected ley line,” Blythe broke in. “And I don’t know why I’m even telling you that because I want to know what’s going on. You’re saying the entire council has lied to me? Did my mother lie to me?” She’d moved directly under the light and her bottom lip quivered.

Sophie swung around and held Blythe’s arms again. “Listen to me, sweetheart. Your mother risked everything to keep you safe and if lying helped, then so be it. Yes, she lied. But she did it for love, just like the rest of us have. I deliberately fostered a fear of the woods for you because if anyone would love them, it’s you, and it was the only way the council could figure out how to keep you out of them. That’s why we helped set you up in a city.”

“I wondered why the council gave me the down payment on the shop.” She paused, took a deep breath. “That’s the other thing I haven’t been able to tell you. I couldn’t make it work.”

Sophie’s head lifted, her beautiful skin going pale. That low, creepy laughter spilled into the night. “Oh no. It
is
too late.” She cupped Blythe’s face. “Okay, no more secrets. Your mother was a powerful fire witch and unfortunately, she caught the eye of a horrible forest creature. She never talked about the days she was missing, but I know they were bad. You are a product of those days, Blythe. Your father is a kapre and he can somehow sense you when you’re in forests. We never could figure out how, but you got lost in one when you were thirteen and your mother died keeping him from taking you.”