Fated Truth (The True Witch Saga) (25 page)

“Why
do you cry my child?”

I fe
lt a soft hand touch my tears. “I never thought to meet my mother. I was hated and despised by the person I thought bore me.”

“You are loved
, child. You have always been loved. You have never been alone.” The woman, my mother, sat across from me with her legs tucked underneath.

I wipe
d my hands across my face and looked into her eyes. They were so much like mine. “What does this mean? Where exactly am I?”

“You are in my realm. Many
call it Avalon. Others call it by a million different names. You have slipped beyond the veil. I wanted you to meet me face to face. It is time.”

“Time for what?” I shook
my head in obvious confusion.

“It is t
ime for you to know what and who you truly are child. You are blessed. Destined to do great things in your life. Fate has granted me this boon. A child, but fate has also set a difficult task upon you, but you will conquer all that set themselves in your path. For you are of me.”

“What
is your name?”

“Many call me Hekate. I have many names
, just like the place we are sitting upon.”

I stare
d. I couldn’t help it. I was stunned. Hekate was my mother.
WOW!

Hekate started to chant as she reached
across the space separating us and touched the center of my forehead. Her voice was melodic as she chanted:

“Child of light,

Blessed by night,

Darkness looms.

Beyond the bright,

Give her my strength.

So that she may endure.

When the
ground runs red,

S
hed by the many dead.

She will rise above.

Make her strong.

To put right the wrong,

A power of purity and love,

To lead the ones still standing,

Upon a path of truth and trust,

Fate has called this upon you.

So do this you must.”

Hekat
e’s hand left my forehead and she reseated herself across from me.

“What just happened?” I look
ed at her in utter confusion.

“I have blessed you my child. You will lead the ones touched by light. There
is a war looming. You have many obstacles ahead, but fear not. I’m with you. Always.”

My mother leaned forward again and brushed
her petal soft lips against mine. I felt a shock run through me, like I had just been struck by lightning. I pulled back from her startled.

“AS I WILL I
T. SO IT WILL BE!” Hekate shouted out. Her voice sounded like thunder inside of a tornado.

Sparks we
re still running through my body and I started to feel very tired all of a sudden. I laid back on the spongy ground and felt the air shift as Hekate leaned over me. I saw tears swimming in her luminous eyes.

“I have safe guarded you my child. You are loved. Always remember that.”

Everything around me started to fade. “When will I see you again?” I barely whispered.

“I will be there when you most need me.”

That was the last thing I remembered before I woke in my own bed to eyes the color of ice inside a face more beautiful than the moon.

“What the hell happened?” I ask
ed Jaxx while rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I stretched and felt like I had slept for ages.

“You fainted when you discovered something very monumental.”

“Yes, I remember that. How long was I out?”

“Two days
, my little raven. You have been driving me mad. I was afraid you would not wake again.”

“I was…
” I started to tell him about my trip across the veil, about meeting my mother, a Goddess no less, but something stopped me. Instinct told me that telling him here and now would not be wise. “I had the strangest dream, but I can’t seem to recall it.”

Jaxx wrapped
me up in him. Pulling me into him so tight I could hardly breathe. “Don’t do that to me again. I can’t withstand it,” he whispered into my hair.

I did
n’t know how I ever got so lucky to be destined to have this wonderful man in my life, or how I was destined to have a Goddess for a mother. I might have many trials ahead, but I still counted myself lucky.

“It
was good that you woke when you did, little raven. We have company.”

I turn
ed my head and stared at him. Gavin had said this place was private. Secret even. “Who?”

“Three Vampire Elders have brought Jessa. She was fading without her Kindred.”

I jumped and sat up in excitement. “Jessa is here? Like here in this very house?” I knew I sounded like a toddler at Christmas, but I couldn’t help it.

Chapter Nineteen

Company

I
was out of bed and running for the shower in no time flat. After lying in bed for two days I was bound to smell horrid. I wanted a shower, and then I wanted to see my Jessa. Jaxx caught me by the arm and spun me around.

“Stop, Ella
. You have to listen to me. Jessa is changed. That is another reason she has been brought here. It was either bring her to Sebastian or put her down.”

My palms start
ed to tingle. I knew my power was rising. “They want to kill her like she is some kind of animal?”

Jaxx slowly nodded
at me.

“How much has she truly changed? Why would they want to
do that? She is of their kind now.” I was seriously freaking pissed right.

“They had to get another True Witch to knock her out with a sleeping concoction. They say she went feral when Seb left to come here. He left her there so they could teach her. Being around
him seemed to agitate her. So he thought it was for the best.”

“What
do you mean feral? What is that exactly?”

Jaxx looked
at me with sad eyes. “She is nothing more than an animal. She tried to slaughter everyone. Including the Elders. Some of whom are older than even Seb.”

My legs threaten
ed to buckle. I was shaking so bad it was hard to stand on my own, but I didn’t want to lean on Jaxx right then. I didn’t want to be touched at all. I was half pissed and half scared to death of losing the only sister I had ever had. I took a deep breath and calmed myself outwardly. I always did have a good poker face. “I’m going to shower,” I told Jaxx in a monotone voice.

He looked
at me with bewilderment.

I start
ed toward the bathroom again, this time at a much more controlled pace. I was fracturing inside, but I’ll be damned before I let anyone see it. I turned to look at his beautiful face again. “Which elder wanted to put her down?”

“Moira,” he mumbled
in his confused state.

Little did he know that he just signed this Moira’s death
warrant. My mother was THE GODDESSS. Not some minor deity wanna be. She was everything. She was mine and I was hers.
No one is stronger than her. Therefore no one is stronger than me. I smiled a secret smile. No one fucks with my family. Elder Vamp or not.

“You make me pr
oud, my child, my daughter of my light.”

I hear
d bells whisper through my mind. I locked myself in the bathroom and took deep breaths to bring my temper back under control. I started the shower and stepped under the steaming water. While I was buffing and shaving, I tried to think on how to handle the shit storm that was waiting for me downstairs. Nothing short of a show of power would make someone old enough to become a Vampire Elder, come to heel. A show of power it was then. I have to control myself though. I couldn’t let the tempest brewing inside me get out.

After my shower I dress
ed in a long flowing white skirt with a green flower patterned tank. I slipped on some gladiator sandals and laced them up to my knees. My
mother would approve of these.
I smiled to myself at the thought. I blew out my hair and added minimal make -up. I wanted to look cool and collected.

When I open
ed the bathroom door, the bedroom was empty. So I made my way slowly down the stairs and heard a whispered argument going on just below.

“Jaxx if she challenges an Elder they will kill her.” That
was Gavin.

“Do you think I don’t know that? You should have
seen her face. Her eyes were glowing, but her face held no expression. I have never seen her like that. It was like she turned herself off.”

“If the yo
ungling means to challenge me, then let her. I will put her down like a dog. Just like I should have done with the other.”

That must be Moira. She sounded
like an arrogant bitch. Well let’s see just how easy I am to put down. I stepped off of the bottom step and turned to face Gavin, Jaxx, and the female Vampire Elder. She was a pretty thing, small in stature, with long red hair that fell to her waist. She was covered in so much spackled makeup that she looked garish. She probably topped off at five feet in heels. She looked like she was turned when she’d just hit puberty. Hell, she looked like a child playing at being an adult.

“Hello
, all.” I breezed by them on my way to the front room, acting as if nothing was wrong. I walked into the front room and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight before me. Jessa was lying on the couch seemingly asleep. She was a husk of her former self. Her Marilyn looks were still there, but her face was shrunken in on itself. She had shadows cocooned under eyes. Her once vibrant blonde waves were dull and stringy and her body had lost all of its curves. The clothes that she was wearing were baggy and crusted in grime and goddess only knew what.

I look
ed around for Seb and the other two Elders. I spotted Seb and two others on the front lawn. They seem to be arguing about something. I couldn’t hear their heated words, but I could tell by their body language that they were not happy with each other.

“So this
is everyone’s new pet, the
supposed
Celios. You don’t look like anything special to me,” Moira sneered from behind me. “You know, I wanted to kill that little rabid thing on sight. She isn’t good enough for Sebastian.”

I spu
n to face her. I saw Jaxx and Gavin standing behind her shaking their heads no at me.
Fuck them.
“Seb seems to think she is good enough. Hell, you aren’t worthy to lick dog shit off her boots. So why don’t you take your clown looking ass back to the coffin you crawled out of,” I smirked and started firing up my palms.

Moira
seemed to be struck dumb. Gaping like a fish, but Jaxx and Gavin charge for me, probably thinking that they were going to save me from myself. I flung my hand in their direction throwing a stasis spell at them. They floated back into the back wall and couldn’t move. I didn’t know where that came from, but they were out of harm’s way now.

“What did you just say to me? Do you have any idea who or what
I am little girl? I will suck the marrow from your bones!” Moira’s face was flushed bright red. She made to charge for me. Her fangs had dropped, and she probably meant to make good on her threat.

I push
ed my palms out in front of me and hit her with a good dose of my light. She was flung through the air head over heels and landed a good ten feet away. She twitched, but lay still for the moment.

I hear
d Seb and the men out front with him run for the door. I heard the tiny voice in the back of my head guiding me once more. I waved my hand in their direction and erected a warded force field around the house. They kept trying to run and ram it with all their strength, but they just kept bouncing off. The two male Elders bared their fangs at me through the window and hissed. Obviously they didn’t like that I was going to kick the shit out of Moira.

Moira had
started to rise once more, but I was distracted by Jaxx working himself off of the wall. If he got loose then he would definitely get hurt in the cross fire. I turned to look at him. Pleading with him through my eyes to stay where he was, he got my message loud and clear and nodded in my direction right before his eyes widen.

I fe
lt a weight hit me from behind like a freight train. Moira had hefted herself upon my back. She yanked my head back by my hair and sank her fangs into my neck in a brutal ripping motion. The pain was so bright that my knees almost gave way. Tears were pooling in my eyes.
Fuck that hurts. Time to up my game.

I reach
ed behind me as best I could with her gnawing at my neck and wrenched her away from me by her fiery red hair. I swung her away and turned to face her. She was rising to her feet once more. She tilted her head and looked at me like I was some new kind of bug she just discovered. She licked my blood from her lips, pulling her eyebrows together as if she was trying to puzzle something out.