Ordained (12 page)

Noel reappeared, opened a bottle of pain reliever and handed Emily a few pills.

“Thank you.” She swallowed them with a swig of her water.

“Abby’s mother was nine months pregnant when she realized who the man really was. She did what any woman in her position would do; she ran. She did everything right. Placed multiple protection spells on herself and Abby, constantly changed locations and updated the spells. But the burden of it all was really hard on her. Eventually, Abby’s father caught up with them and killed her.”

“And Abby?”

Noel hesitated. “Watched him do it.”

He began pacing in front of the bed, avoiding all eye contact. Past experience told Emily this was not a good sign.

“When he found them, they were living in a cottage in the woods. Abby was three and playing outside, not too far from the home. She heard her mother screaming and came running. When she peeked through the back window she saw her mother tied up, being burned alive by a man.”

Emily forced herself up and leaned against the headboard. Her head filled with pressure and her eyes were heavy but she didn’t care. “So he found Abby?”

“No, he never found Abby. She knew to run. Even if it meant leaving her mother behind.”

Aghast, Emily replied, “She was three! How do you possibly tell a toddler to do that?”

Noel shrugged. “How do you teach any child how to behave? How to have morals? How to react in certain instances? It’s the same thing I’m doing right now.”

Emily looked to him in confusion. Had he actually answered her question or was her head hurting so much she was no longer processing the information correctly?

“It’s simple,” he explained, though Emily was having difficulty agreeing. “Stories. Her mother told her several tales in which the mother was in life-threatening situations, but both the little girl and mother would live so long as the little girl ran away quietly.”

Emily felt a sharp pain in her chest and gently rubbed it. She closed her eyes and heartbreakingly said, “She was waiting for her mother to come and get her in the woods when you found her, wasn’t she?”

Noel was standing next to Abby when Emily opened her eyes again. He was gently stroking her cheek. She seemed at peace.

“She didn’t really want to go with me at first. Not until I told her I would go back and look for her mother once I brought her here. Which I did. I found the cottage a few weeks later. It was so secluded, no one had found her body yet.”

Disgusted, Emily pinched her eyes but she couldn’t get the image of a badly burned and decomposing body out her mind. She was in disbelief. “And Abby told you all this?”

“Of course not. Like you said, she was only three. Her mother kept a diary hidden underneath the bottom drawer in her bedroom chest. I took that, some spell books, a few toys and some jewelry.”

Emily looked down to Abby’s left hand. Her index finger held an antique ring, as well as her wedding finger. A cross made of garnets lay on her chest. “Are they the ones she’s wearing now?”

“Yeah. One ring I returned to her when she left school. The necklace I gave her for her eighteenth birthday. The other ring I gave to her in place of an engagement ring.”

Emily raised her eyebrows at him. “You hadn’t returned it to her by that point in time?”

Noel glared at her. “I had always intended on giving it back to her. I was waiting for a rainy day, some point in time when she needed a pick-me-up.”

Emily smiled mischievously. “Your engagement was a rainy day occurrence? Afraid she would say no on a good day?”

“Shut up,” he said playfully as he returned to the arm chair.

Emily sat up straighter in bed. The pain medicine was beginning to help. “Okay, in all seriousness, what were her father’s intentions?”

“Well, he wasn’t in the relationship for love if that’s what you’re asking. He strictly wanted a child that could perform magic for both sides. Maybe he wouldn’t have killed her mother had she not run. We just don’t know.”

“But you have a pretty good idea, don’t you?” He avoided her stare. After a moments silence, Emily pushed further for the answer. “Come on Noel. You’ve had two centuries to think about this. What do you think he wanted with Abby?”

Reluctantly, he slowly answered, “I think he wanted Abby to do what she did with me. Blend in with her own kind to take them down from within.”

“To kill good witches?”

“That’s my best guess. Not only would Abby have been able to counteract their spells but she would have been able to protect her father and his friends in the process. In case you haven’t witnessed it yourself, she’s pretty powerful in that department.”

Every department
. One of the few things Emily knew about Abby from the beginning was that she was a witch. This was the first she had really heard of her heritage, but it seemed to Emily that mixing good with evil wasn’t a common thing to do. Doubtfully, she asked Noel, “So, Abby comes from both sides of magic. Is this a good thing?”

The change in Noel’s expression suggested otherwise.

“Opposites don’t really attract when they involve a single person. Everyone has a good versus evil competition going on inside his mind, but with Abby, it’s an epic battle.
As much as she wants to be good, the lure of the other side is strong and right underneath the skin, tempting her, baiting her. There’s an evil inside her that’s as much a part of her as her good side. And there have been a couple of times in her life when she’s succumbed to it.”

He trailed off, obviously reliving the outcome in his mind but not sharing it with Emily.

“And?” Emily pursued.

“And…she’s killed a few people. People she was meant to protect. People that didn’t always deserve to die. And every time it happens, it becomes harder and harder for me to bring her back.” His head hung low as he stared down at the floor. Sounding defeated, he added, “And I honestly don’t know if I can do it anymore. Her evil side is incredibly strong.”

So Abby was not only a pure vampire but a super scary evil witch as well.
Great
. Emily’s head hurt just thinking it. Processing that information along with Noel’s obvious fear of her evil side would take brain power she wasn’t going to find today. She thought back to how they even came upon this conversation.

Oh, yeah… “So what exactly was her only fear?”

“Herself,” Noel answered. “I’m telling you that the greatest evil she fears is not a demon, not even one blessed by a god. Abby knows what she can become, what she
has
become and what she could do in that moment. Nothing scares her more than when she takes on her father’s attributes. Abby’s one fear is herself.”

Emily softly responded, “I’ve never seen her that way.”

“You’ve only known her for two years. That’s less than one percent of her life. Trust me, when the stress builds, she blows. And when she does – be somewhere else.”

Chapter Fourteen

The hunters had been back in the manor for a solid month without incidence. Abigail Sorrensten had been present a mere day before she was attacked outside the gates. Moore didn’t like coincidences. Given the nature of her past, it wasn’t much of a stretch to believe that trouble seemed to follow her wherever she went.

“Do you suppose the demon followed her here or perhaps came by its own accord?” asked Lincoln. He was standing with Moore at the large windows in his office looking to the woods beyond their protective borders.

Moore had been wondering that himself. “Let’s hope the former. The latter would mean it came within one mile of our fortress intentionally. Not to necessarily attack Abigail, but to cause harm to any hunter it could get its hands on.”

“The little one did seem to attack Mira when there were four to choose from.”

Moore grunted in disapproval. He was greatly upset to learn Abigail had taken three of his huntresses outside the protection of the manor. He probably never would have learned this had Mira not been attacked and suffered a concussion. He feared Abigail’s intentional disregard for his authority would brush off on the others under his command.

“Unfortunately,” Moore said, “I do believe Morphus has been released and is looking to get rid of as many hunters as possible before confrontation.”

Lincoln nodded in agreement. “Were your contacts able to tell you anything regarding the longevity of Abigail and Noel?”

“Not yet, but they’re looking into it. Their only suggestion as of yet is vampirism but I’m still leaning in favor of magic.”

Moore turned and headed for the hallway. He needed to make his rounds. Usually done once a day, he couldn’t in good conscious believe the manor was safe and secure without witnessing it firsthand several times per day now. Lincoln followed suit.

Keeping his voice low, Lincoln replied, “Vampirism does make sense.”

“Did you not notice the cross she wore around her neck? One tends to be eliminated from that list when the skin does not singe.”

“True,” said Lincoln. After a moment of thinking he added, “Perhaps it’s possible they’ve recently been reincarnated and just aren’t admitting to it.”

Moore nodded in disagreement. “I’ve seen the mark on her shoulder. We would have been drawn to her after birth.”

Condescendingly, Lincoln replied, “You mean like the last time? If I’m not mistaken they missed her then too.”

“That’s true,” Moore agreed, though he was still doubtful of reincarnation. How would both have been reincarnated, gone by the same names, found one another all over again and gained knowledge they couldn’t have had without witnessing it for themselves?

Together they passed one of the common rooms. This one in particular was usually frequented by the two male hunters because it had a television. More than happy to keep hunters entertained within manor walls, Moore set up the large screen television with game consoles. He then supplied a large number of ridiculously over the top violent games to keep their attention – which was quite easy to come by. Sure enough, Daniel and Christoph were on the floor playing some intergalactic battle game while Anita and Giselle watched from the sofa.

Moore and Lincoln continued on.

“I need to be honest with you for a moment,” Lincoln said gravely. “I have doubts about Abigail’s abilities and the faith we’re putting in her for this battle. What happens is she loses? Look what that demon did to her. How will she ever hold up against Morphus?”

Moore too had these thoughts going through his mind but had the sense to keep them to himself. There was enough unrest going on about the manor and he didn’t feel they should add to it. However, he couldn’t help but wonder what was keeping Abigail. Days had passed since she was injured and he had yet to see her again (not that he was truly complaining about that). Noel had flat out refused to inform him of her status. Emily was no help either, pretending not to know when he knew for a fact she had spent quite some time locked up in the suite with them.

“What would you have me do, Lincoln?” he asked, stopping to face him head on.

“Set aside your pride and seek out the magical community. Someone, somewhere has found the lost containment spell originally used on Morphus.”

“Say by some miniscule chance the spell has been located. The very spell created by a god and performed by one blessed with the powers to cast it. I am quite certain only the ordained huntress was meant to cast that spell. No other will do.”

Moore continued on, leaving Lincoln quiet for once. When they turned the corner, they finally reached the outer hallways near the back door. To his surprise, Noel had insisted on cleaning up the bloody walls himself, stating it would be unfair to ask anyone to help. Though the physical blood was gone, red smears still stained the walls. He and Lincoln stood there silently for a few minutes, watching his staff paint new stripes of color over what was to be another bad memory for the Order.

Chapter Fifteen