“Yes. Costin…” She stood and walked over to him. “I couldn’t have picked a better mate for her. In the short time I’ve known you, I can see you are a man of integrity and great character. Thank you for loving her.”
His lips turned up in a small smile. “It’s not hardship, I assure you. I am the one undeserving of her. She doesn’t see it. She has no clue how amazing she is.” He began to walk backward toward the stairs and then winked as he said, “I’ve made it my personal mission to show her.”
Cindy watched him jog up the stairs and chuckled. He was an enigma. Serious and threatening one minute and winking and dimples the next. She could see why Sally was enamored by him.
With nothing left to do but wait for the morning, Cindy went to bed. Chris was already there, reading a book that looked as old as she was.
“How’d it go?” he asked as he gingerly set the book down in his lap.
“He threatened to kill us if we got in between him and Sally in any way,” she said in a cheery voice. “So, all in all, I’d say it went good.”
He nodded. “We’re both alive, so I’d have to agree.” He reached for her hand and pulled her over to the edge of the bed. “He’s good for her.”
“I agree, and I told him as much.”
“We didn’t want her dragged into the supernatural world, but if it had to happen, at least her mate is strong and capable of fighting her enemies.” He squeezed her hand gently.
“I agree with that as well.” She pointed to the book. “What is that?”
“Well, while you were sharing your secrets with Costin, I did some digging into my own.”
He picked up the book and showed her the front cover. The symbols there matched the ones on Sally’s locket.
“Where did you get this?”
“Remember that box of stuff that I put away when we married?” he asked.
Cindy nodded. “You said it was stuff your grandmother had left your mother.”
“At the time, we didn’t have a daughter, and I didn’t need any of the information it contained. But when you started talking about the locket and your own history, it jogged my memory. I remembered seeing this book when I was a kid. It’s a journal written by my great grandmother’s great-great grandmother. Say that three times fast.” He chuckled. “She was a gypsy healer,” he finished softly.
Cindy took the book and opened it carefully. It was old and felt as though it might fall to pieces if she handled it too roughly. She began to gently turn the pages and paused when she came to a drawing of Sally’s locket. She looked at the page next to it and began to read out loud. “The Healer’s Locket, or Luna’s Locket, as it has sometimes come to be called, was blessed at its creation by the Great Luna. It has been passed down through generations of gypsy healers. No one knows what the jewelry’s exact purpose is or what power it holds. And it has not always stayed in the same family. Certain healers throughout history are meant to possess it, and the locket always finds a way to them. Make no mistake, the locket was created for a reason, and such a time is coming when it’s power will be revealed.”
“Isn’t that vague and less than helpful,” Chris said dryly.
“Not entirely,” she said as she continued to flip the pages. “We know it’s important, and it is supposed to be with Sally. With everything that has happened to her, I think it is a good sign she has ended up with it.”
“Why didn’t it protect her?” he said in a voice filled with the pain of a father who couldn’t protect his daughter.
“We don’t know that it didn’t, my love,” she said as she reached for his hand. “Who knows what might have happened to her mind had she not had the locket in her possession? We must trust the Great Luna, and we must be willing to stand against the Order’s plans.
“I’m afraid the peaceful life we have had for so long has come to an end. But, on an incredibly positive note…” She grinned. “We have a grandson. And that, dear husband, is worth any battle we will face.”
“Not again,” Sally said through gritted teeth. She knew she was dreaming, and that made her even angrier because she had no ability to make it stop.
“I’ll always be here, brown eyes.” Jericho’s voice had her head spinning around so fast she nearly fell over, if her dream self could fall over.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed. He was shirtless, but, thanks her subconscious mind, he was wearing pants.
“You’re dead,” she snarled. “You aren’t real. My mate tore you to pieces.”
Jericho’s lips lifted in a lazy smile. “Maybe, but you keep me alive.”
She shook her head. “No. You’re dead to me. Dead in every way.”
“Then why can’t you stop thinking about me? You miss me, don’t you? You don’t have to. You can come climb into bed with me and let me hold you, let me love you.”
Sally tried hard not to gag. Throwing up in a dream was nearly as gross as throwing up in reality. Hell would freeze over and Jen would kiss Decebel’s butt before Sally would ever crawl into bed with Jericho. Not even in a dream.
“Brown eyes.” He sang the nickname, which was now tainted to her. “Look down at your wrist, baby. You miss me so badly you’ll even pretend it was the bracelet that made you give yourself to me.”
Sally glanced down at her arm. Sure enough, the damn bracelet he had given her was there. She pushed at it furiously, attempting to get the offending thing off of her wrist, but it wouldn’t budge. “I didn’t give myself to you, you stupid flea bag! You took what wasn’t yours. You… you are to blame.”
“I don’t remember it that way. Should I remind you? I remember you saying my name, making sounds that drove me crazy. I remember you quite enjoying yourself.” He sounded smug, and she wanted to smack that haughtiness out of him with a brick bat.
“I wish Costin could rip you apart again,” she said as angry tears fell.
“But he can’t, Sally. I’m yours, safe and protected in your beautiful mind. You will never be rid of me. You became one with me. That is an unbreakable bond. You’re mine, brown eyes, and I am yours.”
“NO!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. Her hands were balled into fist at her sides, and she shook her head hard, as if that would make the word truer. “No, no, I am Costin’s.”
“You are mine first, child.”
Sally’s eyes snapped open, and she fell to her knees in relief. “Great Luna.” She breathed out the name as a prayer. Sally bowed her head, and her shoulders shook as her body responded to the adrenaline seeping from her system.
“What is the truth, Sally? You must compare the things that confuse you to what you know to be true.”
“But it is true that making love to someone is to become one with them,” she blubbered out like a broken child.
“Did you give yourself freely to Jericho, the deceiver?”
“It feels like I did.”
“The truth, Sally. No more lies. Did you knowingly, and of your own free will, give yourself to him?”
“No,” she answered and wished she could say it with more conviction.
“You did not. He took what was not his to take. You were not one flesh with him because your spirit and body weren’t truly willing to be joined with him. Hear me now, Sally Miklos. You have to stand firm. You cannot believe the lies that evil wants you to believe. Shine the light into the darkness, and reveal the deception that has been planted in your mind.”
“Great Luna,” Sally said, “I can’t do this without you.”
“You are correct.”
“Will you be with me? With me and Costin?”
“I will. Stand firm against the enemy’s schemes and lies. I will not let them have you. For you are my child. And your time on this earth is not done.” Sally felt warmth flow over her. “Peace be still, Sally. Rest this night.”
There were no more dreams. Simply sleep. Deep, restorative sleep.
Chapter Eight
“There is no greater battle than the ones we face in our own minds. To be your ow
n worst enemy, to be unable to escape, retreat, or surrender, is a form of hell. But when we arise victorious by winning that battle, by refusing to bow down to the lies that plague us, there is no greater victory.” ~Sally
“It has been too long since you have visited us, Cindira,” the forest sprite queen said in a surprisingly warm voice.
“I apologize I have not come sooner,” Cindy said as she bowed her head to the queen of her people.
“I will admit I was disappointed when you left. But, then, we all do strange things in the name of love. How is your human mate and your offspring?”
“My husband is well, thank you for asking. My daughter, however, is the reason I have come. She is far from well and in great need of help. I’ve come to petition you and ask that you allow any luminous sprite willing to help to do so.”
“You are a healer, and for our kind, quite powerful. Why do you need the luminous?” the queen asked as she rested her elbows on the arms of her chair and steepled her hands beneath her chin.
“Sally is beyond my ability to help. She needs the light of the luminous sprites. She was accosted by the Order. What they did to her is sick, and their magic is still at work in her mind. It’s dark, darker than I’ve ever seen. I tried, but I couldn’t drive it out. I will beg if I must. Please help me.”
“The Order,” the queen’s voice was ice cold as she spoke. “They have crawled out of their hole?”
“It seems so,” Cindy answered. “They’re on the move to gain supporters. They’ve already asked me.”
“You denied them.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway. “Of course. I would die before I worked with them.”
“Why do they want your daughter?”
“She is a gypsy healer, my queen. A powerful one. And she is related to me. My guess is that they hoped to use her against me to gain my compliance. But they underestimated her pack’s drive to rescue her and the power of those who care for Sally.”
“Pack?”
“She’s mated to a Canis lupus.”
“And now she is back with her pack, safe?” she asked.
Cindy nodded. “She is back, but I do not know how safe she is. The darkness in her is like a parasite. It must be excised.”
“I will allow the luminous to help. But I would like to meet your daughter. She is, after all, half sprite.”
Cindy bowed her head again and let out a relieved breath. “Thank you, my queen.”
“I will send out a call to the luminous and ask any willing to help to arrive within the hour.”
Exactly one hour later, Cindy was standing in the hall of the queen, surrounded by twelve luminous sprite females.
A sprite that Cindy recognized stepped forward, and Cindy smiled. “Diedre, it’s so good to see you.”
Diedre wrapped her arms around Cindy and pulled her into a warm embrace. “You have been gone a long time, sister. We welcome you back.”
Cindy stepped back and made eye contact with the others. “I have been gone a long time. Unfortunately, I return now under dire circumstances. I need your help.”
“The queen said your daughter is in trouble,” Diedre said.
“She is. There is dark magic at work in her mind. My healing is not enough. She needs light. Would you all be willing to share yours?”
They all nodded, but Diedre spoke for them. “We will. However, I must suggest we wait three days until the full moon. Our magic is more powerful on that night. We might as well give it everything we’ve got the first time around in hopes there won’t have to be a second.”
Cindy nodded. “I agree. I shall return then in three days’ time. My queen.” She turned to the forest queen who was sitting quietly watching them. “May I bring my husband and my daughter’s mate with me to your palace?”
“Yes, of course. I look forward to meeting them. Peace, Cindira. We will see you in three days.”
Two uneventful days passed, and Sally felt as though they should throw a party or somehow mark the occasion. No one was in a battle, no one was killed, as far as she knew Jen wasn’t stripping in public, and she hadn’t even had any bad dreams. Things were about as peaceful as they’d been before she’d ever even known werewolves existed. She and her mom had sat and talked about Titus for most of those two days. Costin intermittently offering how their son would have Jen’s daughter drooling and Jacque’s son feeling inadequate.
“I can’t believe they have kids too,” her mom sighed. It was early evening the day before they were to go to the sprite realm and the four of them were lounging in the living room after having eaten tacos.
“’Jen’s a great mom,” Sally admitted. “I’m mean she’s bat crap crazy, but she’s a really great mom.”
“And Jacque?” her dad asked.
“She’s a great mom too, but Jacque is more of a natural. Jen is less June Cleaver and more Jessica Rabbit.”
“It seems like you should be too young to know those references,” Costin chuckled.
“Dude, I watch television,” Sally said dryly, nudging him with her foot. “You can’t really be too young to know anything these days. All you have to do is look it up on YouTube or see if it’s on Netflix.”
“That’s true,” her dad agreed. “Once upon a time, when something went out of style on television it disappeared into the cosmos, now it just get’s stored on the internet.”
“Well, back in my hay day, internet would have been climbing into an actual net,” Cindy said with a grin.
Sally groaned.
“Too soon?” Cindy chuckled.
“It’s just weird,” Sally said. “But then, I’m married to a werewolf and have an adopted son who still doesn’t know what we are, so I guess really it’s not.”
“Just got to take the punches as they come kiddo,” her dad said. “If you don’t roll with them, you’ll get knocked out and then just think of all the fun things you’ll miss. Oh, this is a good show,” he added quickly as he paused what Sally had considered was his absent minded channel surfing. The show that had caught her dad’s attention happened to on the history channel and not something that kept her mind sufficiently distracted.
Sally couldn’t stop thinking about her impending trip to the sprite realm and the weird exorcism-thingy she was going to have done. Well, at least that was how she kept referring to it in her head.
“It’s not an exorcism, beautiful,” Costin said with a chuckle.
“What?” her mom asked, turning to look at her from where she and her dad sat on the love seat.
“My mate thinks she’s having an exorcism performed tomorrow,” Costin said absently, his attention still on the TV.
“Sally.”
She tried to groan as her mom’s voice took on the all too familiar why-on-earth-would-you-think-that tone.
“Why on earth would you think that?” her mom asked.
“And there it is, folks,” she muttered under her breath.
Costin laughed as his attention finally left the television. “You called it,” he said holding up his hand for a high five.
“I’ve heard my name said in that tone of voice for a long time, many times,” Sally admitted.
Cindy narrowed her eyes at her daughter. “Quit trying to avoid answering me. Why would you think you’re having an exorcism?”
“Because there is something in my head that needs to come out. Ergo, exorcism.” Sally shrugged.
Her mom made a motion to her dad and suddenly the TV was off, and both her parents were facing her and Costin.
“I feel like things just got serious, really fast,” Costin murmured.
“Like intervention-serious,” Sally nearly whispered.
Her dad gave them an odd look and then shook his head, and a small smile appeared on his lips. “You two were made for each other.”
Costin patted her thigh. “See, told ya.”
“Sally, I didn’t want to tell you at first, but I guess I need to. I don’t want us going out there tomorrow with
you thinking there’s a demon or something inside of you,” her mom said, ignoring her dad and Costin.
“Tell me what?” Her insides tightened. Things just went from intervention-serious to heart-attack-serious.
“When I looked inside your mind, I found a form of dark magic.”
“I’m sorry, what?” she said sitting up straighter. Forget the heart attack, things had just reached Armageddon-serious. Dark magic, in her head? Why couldn’t her mom be like, ‘I found happy thoughts and unicorns butts in your head’?
“Whatever the Order did to your mind when they messed with your memories, they left something. I’m not entirely sure what it is, so I’m just calling it a fail-safe, a spell to be triggered if their plan didn’t succeed. That darkness inside your mind is what you’re constantly fighting. It’s not just memories. I don’t think the spell is necessarily causing all the bad thoughts, but I do think it’s magnifying them greatly and adding to them where it can. We will know more when the luminous sprites can get a look at it. Banishing darkness is their specialty, so they’re very familiar with the various forms of dark magic.”
“I was right. It is an exorcism,” Sally said, almost to herself.
“No,” her mom’s voice was firm. “Think of it more like a cleansing. Everything gets dirty, right? And so, everything need a good cleaning out every once in a while.”
“I get dirty. Want to clean me out?” Costin’s sultry voice filled her mind.
Sally burst out laughing, though she tried really hard not to.
“Do I want to know?” her dad asked.
Sally shook her head as she attempted to get herself under control. Leave it to her mate to help bring the drama down a notch or five. She turned to look at him. “Thank you.”
“Any time, Sally mine. That’s what I’m here for. Well-”—he shrugged and smiled smugly— “that and to be your boy toy.”
She patted his leg. “That you are, dimple boy. That you are.”
Her parents stood, both smiling at them but looking very tired. “One more thing before we call it a night,” her dad said. “That locket.” He pointed to her neck. “I found a journal from my … well … let’s just say many greats grandmother. She mentioned the locket. We know it has always been in the care of a gypsy healer, and it was blessed by the Great Luna. But the journal didn’t mention what power it contained, just that it somehow always ended up with whatever healer seemed to need it.”