The Bonds of Blood (16 page)

Joya was stunned by the words; did the
voice really want Amber dead?

“They will find it odd if I leave my
room messy,” Amber said, tidying up her desk and removing the mass
of clothes on the floor. Silently she made the bed, and finally she
walked to the bookshelf.

There Amber paused for some time, and
Joya felt there was something about this moment in the memory that
was different, something that she should know.

Joya was quickly thrust out of the
robed figure’s memory, and she stood beside the bed breathless,
clutching her book. Tears streaked her face, and her nightgown
clung to her back from sweat.

The image before her was frozen. The
figure in black stood with the flaming hand in his hand. The candle
seemed to lick the air, yet it did not move, it didn’t flicker, it
was as if carved in stone.

Amber was by the bookshelf, her hand
resting on the strange book Grace had given her for her birthday.
Her hair hung around her face so that Joya could not see her eyes.
She stood there as still as the man behind her, and Joya realized
that she was supposed to see what was happening at the
bookshelf.

Silently Joya walked up behind her
sister. Her breath was ragged, worried, and irregular. She stood
still behind the form of Amber, and then finally, with a deep
breath, she stepped into the image of Amber.

Long blond hair brushed her face as she
took the thick book off the shelf and hid it under her nightgown,
tucked in place with her arm.

We have no time for this;
hurry
, the voice said anxiously.

From what Joya had seen before, she
knew the man was gesturing wildly for her to hurry.

Suddenly there was an anxious hand on
her shoulder, and Joya got the flash of a stone snake, broken and
powerless on the ground. It didn’t make sense to her, but it seemed
significant.

The arms were rough as they twisted her
around and pushed her forcefully back against the wall. Joya
stumbled back, nearly losing the book tucked under her arm, and
before she knew it she was staring into the wicked flame of the
candle.

She was losing all sense of herself and
who she was. She felt another power coming over her, taking control
of her, squeezing the breath out of her body. The flames licked the
air, and as she watched them, entranced, she felt her conscious
mind drifting off in a black fog. She was mindless, selfless, and
in the clutches of a dark foreign power.

Joya was thrust against the bookcase, a
shelf jabbed into her back harshly, forcing a curse of pain from
her mouth.

She was no longer one with Amber, and
she stood there, frozen in anguish as she watched her oldest
sister, her best friend, led from the room like a beaten dog.
Lifeless, defeated, and controlled by such a powerful force that
Joya wondered if Amber would survive it.

Joya Neferis had felt the beginning of
that power, and it had nearly driven her mad looking into the
grotesque flame. She clutched the book tightly and realized that
she had to go to the front door. Joya was certain the rest of the
memory would play out there.

She couldn’t make herself move. She
watched forlorn as Amber disappeared around the corner of the
door.

Suddenly the room returned to normal.
It was no longer tinged with yellow. Instead it was as inky black
as the hall was. There was no more cold air, and Joya found that
she could breathe fine, not labored, and not painfully. The fateful
feeling of the room was gone, and it was now just an empty,
lifeless chamber.

Joya gasped as a tear slid down her
face.

There is no time for that
now, dear,
the wicked voice of the book
spoke to her, and Joya was elated that it was once more with
her.
There is still much to see this
night. Hurry now, to the door.

“Where have you been?” Joya asked,
holding the book out slightly so that she could look at
it.

There is no time for that
either. Something happens tonight that will change everything in
your lives, forever. Hurry, before it is too late, go to the
door.

Joya could not protest and soon found
herself carrying out the will of the book.

She ran out into the hall, her bare
feet slapping on the cold surface of the wooden floor.

Hurry,
the creaking voice said.

LEAVE IT ALONE!
Another voice thundered behind her, and Joya
turned abruptly to see poisonous green eyes floating up behind
her.
Meddlesome bitch,
it seethed, and Joya could see the green smoke swirling
angrily within those orbs, all the while flashing and flaring like
a dangerous inferno.

Joya retreated to the other side of the
hall.

This is none of your
concern. I have told you once, and this is the last time. You are
not supposed to be here, you have no purpose. I hold your sister,
and if you insist on pursuing this further, she will be completely
consumed.

Joya did not completely understand what
the voice meant, but she continued backing up, bowing her head as
she went.

“I am sorry,” she cried, “please
forgive me. I am sorry, I didn’t mean to, please don’t hurt Amber.”
Joya’s plea sounded pathetic even to her own ears, but she would do
anything to keep Amber safe.

You control her fate as
much as I,
the voice said, and sluggishly a
body began to take form around the eyes.

At the coming of the body power flared
through Joya, starting at the bottom of her spine and quickly
shooting up to the base of her neck. She knew that the lemniscate
was gaining power.

If you insist on
intervening, Amber’s fate will be sealed and I will kill her. I
will destroy every part of her, and nothing will remain for you to
salvage.
Joya glanced downward as the body
became substantial, so all she saw was a pair of ivory colored
feet.

Her eyes drifted up the beautiful,
naked form, and she took in his entire body. His face was strong,
handsome, powerful, and currently split into an obscene smile,
making Joya feel dirty and wrong. She felt as though the green of
his eyes could consume her, completely drown out who she was,
making her something else altogether.

That is right, Joya. I can
make you powerful,
he promised, coming
closer, and Joya found that she had yet another wall at her back.
This time, however, instead of supporting her it trapped
her.
I can give you everything you have
ever wanted and more. I can make you a Goddess; give you powers
beyond your wildest dreams. I can fulfill you in ways you have
never thought possible. I can make you alive as you have never
been.

“Where is my sister?” Joya asked, her
voice trembling as she stared into his moonlit hair. It would be a
dream to touch that hair, and Joya soon found that she desired
nothing more than to run her fingers through those long shining
locks.

Your sister is of no
concern, Joya. At the present time I am concerned with you. If you
do as I ask, you can touch my hair.

Joya slowly lost herself in the power
that throbbed around the man. As he stepped closer, she felt the
same power pulsing through her. Her knees wobbled beneath her
weight, and she struggled to draw breath, fighting the swelling of
her heart with each inhale.

Joya moaned as the man placed an arm to
either side of her, barring her escape. The power of him hovered
around her, and he brushed ice cold lips against hers. Her lips
stung, and she cried out in pleasure and pain. She now knew the
kiss of unmerciful frost on tender, ripe flesh.

I can give you what you
truly want,
the voice cooed
seductively.
I can feel what you want; it
is right here on the surface.
He trailed a
finger up Joya’s leg, and she felt her skin freezing, stinging, and
humming with such intense power where he caressed.

Imagine a life forever in
my glory. Together we can overthrow the Goddess and place you in
her spot.
Like honey, his words offered a
sweet nectar that Joya longed for.

Then the creature before her felt
something he did not expect: resistance.

He thrust all of his power
at her, trying to break through the energy racing up her spine and
gathering at the base of her neck.
I will
have you one way or another,
he promised,
and Joya loved his force, his determination.
Submit to me, or perish before me,
the alabaster man in front of her raged. His voice was no
longer beautiful, but that of a madman’s. With long strides he
backed away from her, and Joya found that her skin was glowing. For
a moment she thought it was from his power swelling around
her.

Then, as if a curtain of fog was being
lifted from her, Joya felt all of his power leaving her, sliding
off her as if it had been the most flimsy fabric she had ever worn.
She no longer desired this malign creature, and she began to see
him for what he was.

His image did not change before her,
and yet as she realized the full capabilities of his power
everything about him changed.

“You don’t frighten me, beast,” Joya
said with newfound courage. “There’s nothing you can offer me that
I can’t have on my own.”

I could make you a
god,
he promised, thrusting more power at
her, trying to subdue her unruly behavior.

“You can make me nothing more than what
you are, and you are far from being a god you vile, insignificant
bastard.” Her skin felt hot and prickly, not at all wonderful and
corrupting as his power had been. She was glowing brighter, and as
the light intensified Joya realized that she was gaining strength
with it.

The light spread up her arms, through
her body, and joined with the pulsing beat of power twining up her
back to the base of her neck. It was then that Joya realized the
strength and courage was coming not from herself but from the book.
Her words received power from the book.

The man snarled and lunged at
her.

The hall was instantly filled with a
brilliant light as Joya lifted the book up to meet the
man.

Time stopped, and the man floated above
her, noxious eyes glaring. The white light from the book flared all
about them and soon it drowned out his image. Nothing but the
comforting presence of the walls surrounded them.

Joya could no longer see anything but
the whiteness. There was no such thing as being physical anymore.
There was only the light and the throbbing power all around her.
She was one with the power; she thrived in it.

Above her Joya could feel the man
pressing in on her, his power beating at hers, trying to find a
fissure to break through. But here was none to be had.

I will have you, and I will
see the entire House Neferis destroyed. Mark my words, and do not
be so sure of yourself. You face a power that you will never
understand, no matter how long you live. My power will overcome
yours, for I am the opposite of you, and I am completely
unknowable.

“We will see,” Joya said simply, and
there came a great thundering of power. She felt as though she were
being torn apart. The air vibrated around Joya, pressed in on her,
compromised her being, and became part of her.

The man was winning; he was taking over
her consciousness, and she felt his laughter in her mind. Not in
her mind as the voice had been, not being projected into her mind,
but instead becoming one with her mind.

NO!
the book screamed through Joya and she felt another ripple of
power, weak and seemingly insignificant to that of the
man’s.

It felt pure, loving, like an ocean
tide welling up over Joya. Slowly it filled her up, washing her
clean of the poison that was the white man.

The creature growled, and the sound of
lightning burning the air seized Joya’s ears. Everything around her
sizzled, and there was a bright flash, brighter than the white
light had been. One last violent pulse in the air, and the light
vanished, slowly ebbing back into Joya, back into the
book.

Joya Neferis stood in the hall, her
breath coming in gasps as it had when she woke. All around her the
hall was obscenely dark. She clutched the book to her chest and
peered around the hall, but her pupils flashed blots of color from
the powerful light she had just left.

There was no trace of the man, but the
book seemed oddly hot in Joya’s hands.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

_“A
ngelica and Jovian Neferis,”
a
voice spoke into the
blackness.

Angelica cowered before the ancient
voice. Blue flames under the huge cauldron licked the blackness
with a faintness that barely touched the room. The light did little
to illuminate the inside of the house, so they did not see, at
first, the person who spoke from behind the pot.

In the cauldron something boiled,
releasing thick smoke from the black pot. From behind the cauldron
they saw a hunched form holding a huge spoon, gripped in massive,
withered hands, stirring the brewing liquid inside.