Orpheus met his friend’s challenging gaze. “My friend, it warms my heart to see you again. One day, when it is your time, we have much to discuss. But for now, I am begging you to turn around and leave.”
“Hold on,” I said. “This is a test, right? You predict my death to scare me and see if I run away. Well guess what? I’m not running.”
Ameritat shook her head sadly. “This is not a test. This is your grandmother and your friend promising that you will not survive this.”
I raised my chin. “Well this is your granddaughter and your son telling you we will see this through.”
Ameritat sighed. “As you wish.” She turned sideways and swept an arm toward the golden doors of the temple. “Your test awaits.”
I glanced sideways at Tristan. He stared at his mother for a few moments. I could feel his indecision. But finally he nodded. “Do it.”
Adam and I started to pass my grandmother, but she shook her head. “No, she must face this alone.”
I paused and looked at Adam. He looked ready to argue, but I put a hand on his arm. “I’ll be okay.”
He reached up and squeezed my hand. I shook myself and blew out a breath. As I passed Orpheus, he shot me a regretful smile. One that said he fully expected me to be right back here in no time—as a ghost.
The golden doors were warm under my hand. They creaked open to reveal a cavernous room with a high, domed ceiling. Statues of Hekate and other magical gods littered the space. At the front of the room, a female and male waited for me. She wore a golden chiton and her long, black hair was tied back in a simple braid. He wore a silver chiton and had cropped black hair. However, their faces were so similar, I guessed they were probably siblings, if not twins.
Frowning, I approached carefully. I didn’t recognize them, but the power came off them in waves.
“Are you prepared,” the female said.
“To face your test?” finished the male.
I nodded. “Yes. But if I may? Who are you?”
She smiled kindly. “This is my brother, Museos.”
“And that is my sister, Circe.”
I blinked. Holy crap. I was standing in front of the first mages. Literally, the first. Circe and Museos were the twins born from the union of Hekate and Hermes that spawned the mage race.
“Before you may proceed into the other realms,” said Museos.
“You must make a sacrifice to demonstrate your devotion to your task,” said Circe.
I nodded quickly. Given my experience so far, I figured they’d either want a trinket or to ask a question. “Name it.”
“Because you have refused to heed the prophecy of the Oracle, you will now sacrifice your powers.”
My mouth dropped. “What?”
“You will now sacrifice your magic,” repeated Circe. “That is, unless you have changed your mind?”
I held up a hand. “Wait, all of my magic?”
They nodded in unison. “As well as the magical items you bear.” They pointed to the various amulets given to me by Adam and Zen.
The magical trinkets I could part with, but my magic?
For the first half century of my life, I got along just fine without any magic at all. But in the last six months, it had come to symbolize more than just my ability to destroy or heal. It symbolized a new side of myself. One free of the demands of the Dominae’s authoritarian demands. Coming into my magic had brought me closer to Adam and many other beings I considered my family. If I let the magic go, would they still want me around?
I glanced back at the closed doors. On the other side, Adam waited for me to dispense with this test. What would he say if he knew that the next time he saw me, I’d be powerless?
On the other hand, what would he say if I gave up just because I was afraid I couldn’t cast spells anymore?
I looked back at the twins. The truth was, this wasn’t up to Adam. I wanted to believe that he and everyone else would still accept me if I lost the part of me that made me a mage. But in the end, did the possibility they wouldn’t accept me outweigh the benefits of making sure they were all safe?
No. It did not.
Besides, if they had a problem with it, I’d just kick their asses until they accepted me again.
“Okay,” I said. “Take them.”
I lifted the necklace Zen gave me over my head and handed it over to Circe, along with the few protective amulets Adam had created for the mission. She nodded and set them on the floor. Museos lifted his foot and, with a mighty stomp, crushed them to powder. A puff of smoke lifted from the debris as they expended their energy.
Next, Circe stood in front of me and Museos fell in behind me. “This might sting,” she whispered.
I gritted my teeth and braced myself. “Just do it.”
They clasped hands on either side of me and started chanting in Hekatian. I closed my eyes and tried to will my heartbeat to slow. Tried to convince myself this wasn’t a big deal.
But then the pain started. It began as a hot cramp in my stomach. The heat spread quickly, exploding through my veins like fire. I gasped and trembled. My heart lurched and then beat triple time. Sweat broke out on every inch of my skin. My insides felt like they were boiling. I might have screamed, but I couldn’t hear anything over the pounding in my ears. A sucking sensation pulled me in two directions at once. The pull was so intense it felt like they were trying to rip the skin from my muscles and the muscles from my bones.
I started to sag but their joined hands caught me under my arms. Supported my weight even as they weakened me.
I don’t know how long the agonizing process took. But when they finally finished, I felt like a discarded burlap sack. Opening my eyes took more effort than it should have. Through the slits between my lids, Circe was glowing from inside. Heat at my back told me Museos probably was, too. They hadn’t just taken my magic; they’d absorbed it.
I wondered if this was how Erron felt when the Hekate Council removed his healing powers. No, I decided. This was worse. Erron was a Recreant, but he still had power. He was still a mage. But I was…
What was I now, exactly?
“It is done,” they said in unison. “Go in peace, vampire.”
A vampire? I blinked because that was all the physical reaction I could muster. I knew they’d taken my magic, but it hadn’t occurred to me that the loss would leave me fully Lilim. The irony was I’d spent so much of my life wishing to be a full-blooded vampire. Prayed so many nights to Lilith to take away the curse of my mage blood. But now that it was gone, I felt… hollow.
The golden doors opened behind me. Running footsteps echoed, but I couldn’t turn to look. I was barely able to hold myself upright. Adam came around and put his hands on my shoulders. His eyes searched my face for a moment and then he froze.
“Jesus, Red, what did they do to you?”
A male curse sounded behind me. Tristan. “Gods protect you.”
“What?” I rasped.
“Your hair,” Nyx whispered.
With effort, I raised my hands to my head. I don’t know what I expected to feel exactly, but it still felt like hair. But then it hit me. They’d removed all traces of magehood from me. “It’s all red now, isn’t it?”
Adam nodded, his eyes wide.
“You may pass through the gate,” the twins said.
Adam rounded on them. “What did you do?” he shouted.
I swallowed hard. “Adam… I’m okay.”
“Like hell you are,” Tristan said, coming closer. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks.” My tone, weak as it was, dripped with sarcasm.
“We did not harm her, Adam Lazarus,” the twins said. “She sacrificed her magic willingly.”
Adam turned slowly toward me. His face was pale and his eyes were frightened. “Sacrificed your magic?”
I nodded. “It was the only way.”
Ameritat and Orpheus joined us then, their movements hurried. “You must go!” my grandmother shouted.
Something in her voice told me this wasn’t an idle suggestion. “What’s wrong?”
“Asclepius opened his portal into Irkalla,” Orpheus said.
“What?” Adam said.
I’d totally forgotten to tell them about Hekate’s warning.
“He dares not enter the Infernal Lands himself, but he has granted entrance to a malevolent energy.”
“Cain?” Tristan asked, his tone dark.
Ameritat leveled her son with a withering glare. “Yes.”
“Shit!” Nyx gasped. She had just as much reason as me to be worried. After all, Asclepius only helped Cain to get to her. That meant Nyx was also on Cain’s hit list.
“Where is he?” Adam asked.
“Nearing the Adamantine Gate as we speak. Hurry and we will try to delay him as long as possible.”
“Wait, can’t you just close the portal behind us?”
Orpheus shook his head. “Not if you want to be able to escape later.”
I turned to the others. “Move!”
The twins chanted an incantation. The far wall of the temple shimmered and swirled, opening the gate into the Fae Realm. Adam put my arm over his shoulder and helped me run. At the opening, I stopped to make sure everyone got through. When I did, I saw Tristan speaking with his mother and friend. “Tristan, let’s go!”
He tried to hug Ameritat, but his arms moved through her spectral from.
“Good-bye, my son,” she said wistfully. “I hope we do not meet again for many years. Now, go!”
Tristan cast one last regretful glance at his mother and took off running. He grabbed my hand and together we jumped through the portal.
Chapter 34
The Fae Realm resembled the Blue Ridge Mountains area where Queen Maeve had established the Seelie Court in the earthly realm. We ran through lush forests filled with both conifers and hardwood trees, sparkling brooks and deep pools, medicinal plants and flowers of every variety and color. For a long time, we didn’t see any beings. But occasionally, a flash of wing would show behind a bracken-covered log, or the top of a blond head would peek around a giant toadstool.
