AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was a light knock on the doorframe. We all turned to find a shy young woman standing just outside the threshold. Her head was bowed, and her hands wrung together in front of her.
“Yes, Marigold?” Jax’s voice was gentle as he spoke to her.
“I...I...I think I can help,” she stuttered, her skin flushing red. Her nervousness was a sour taste in the air, eliciting a small growl from my tiger.
I took two steps toward her, lowering my voice as Jax had, and asked, “How can you help, Marigold?”
She raised her gaze to meet mine, and I was proud of my self-control. I didn’t react to the fact that her amber irises were rimmed with a purple glow that pulsed in time with her heartbeats. “I just know, deep inside, that I can help.” She had less of a stutter the more confident she became. “I was pulled here, and when I smelled,” she took a deep breath, “death magic, I knew I was sent here for a purpose.”
I glanced back at Jax, quirking my eyebrow in question. He waved her in.
“How do you know it’s death magic?” Jax asked as he turned back, taking the irrigation syringes from Nurse Nancy. He lined them up, changed his gloves, and began slowly irrigating the wound, forcing the infection to ooze out.
“My grandmother chose the side of dark magic when I was young, but she was never content. She wanted more power. My mom tried to talk to her, to bring her back to us, to the side of light magic.” A tear escaped the corner of her eye as she paused. She straightened her shoulders and stood tall as she continued, “Gram wouldn’t hear any of it and decided to stop the harassing, as she called it, by making my mom her very first sacrifice. Everything she did, every spell, every totem made, every enchanted bauble held a part of that death.” She inhaled again. “Whoever created this is strong and well-versed in the weaving of the death magic into the dark. It’s almost hidden.”
I watched as this young woman emerged from her shell as she explained, her knowledge far greater than mine in the nuances of this type of magic.
“Can you tell who cast the spell?” Niko questioned.
She shook her head no. “I don’t recognize the signature. Each castor has their own unique signature like we each have our own unique DNA.”
“And just how can you help her?” Niko crossed his arms, uncertainty etched into his features.
“That’s my gift. I can’t do much with creating spells or casting them, but I can drain them from items, areas, and…” she gulped, “people.”
Jax paused in his task and looked at Marigold. “Have you ever taken a spell from a shifter?”
She shook her head no. “But I know I can.”
Jax shook his head no as he continued the slow pace of irrigating the infection. “Then my answer is no; we will find another way.”
Marigold stepped fully beside Amelia, laying her hand on her uninjured leg. “She doesn’t have time for you to find another way.” Her hand tightened as her eyes flared and became completely engulfed by the purple glow.
“Stop.” Niko reached out to touch her, and Nurse Nancy moved faster than lighting, putting herself between them. “Move, Nancy,” he growled.
“I can’t. If you touch her while she’s channeling, not only will she draw her in, she’ll take you, too.”
“Explain,” Niko demanded. Nancy simply stuck her chin higher in the air.
“Nancy, please.” I stepped up beside Niko, trying to emit a calm and trusting aura. “She’s my....” I licked my lips as I hadn’t voiced my next thought out loud before. “She’s, our mate.” I looked straight at Nancy, not wanting to see how Niko responded to my declaration.
Nancy’s eyes widened, followed by a heavy sigh. “This really isn’t my story to tell.”
“Tell them,” Marigold’s voice echoed around the room.
"Marigold is my niece. I took her in when her parents threw her out after she came into her powers. Her father disowned her when it became obvious, he wasn’t her biological dad.” Nancy took a breath and continued on, “I went to the local coven asking for help finding her true father or someone from his family. Marigold needed to know how to control her powers, and I needed guidance on how to help raise her.”
“How old was she when you took her in?” Miguel asked.
“Four.” Nancy turned her head at my sharp intake of breath. She nodded. “Yeah, that’s how I felt, too...” She shook her head in disgust. “The coven Priestess was happy to help, asked me to bring her in for some simple tests. The same ones they give all their magical children. It was a big game to Marigold, and once they were done, the Priestess sat me down. Marigold descends from one of the strongest bloodlines. From the original witches. Her father was killed in a war against the vampires, but his mother was still alive.” Nancy gazed at Marigold with pride in her eyes. “Mari took to her gran instantly. You see, Mari has a special gift, a rare gift that we don’t let many know about as it would put a target on her back.”
Niko and I both stared at Mari as she stood next to Amelia and watched as she worked while Nancy continued the story, “Marigold has the ability to identify magic signatures, but even more than that, she can remove the magic. Something no one has ever heard of before. When Marigold removes the darkness, the death, of a spell, she removes the soul.” She held up her hands to stop either of us from barging in with questions. “I don’t know why. She has only explained it to me. Her body can cleanse the soul of the magic and changes it in some way, allowing it to be released back into what she calls the nether to return as power for the light.”
Jax began wiping Amelia’s leg, the swelling already greatly reduced. “There is much about Marigold and her world we don’t know or understand. She is teaching us little by little.” He began wrapping Amelia’s leg after applying a thick poultice to the wound. He didn’t stitch it. With our advanced healing, it should be only a pink scar within hours unless she could shift, then all injuries would heal in the process.
Marigold slumped, and Niko moved quickly, catching her before she hit the floor. Nancy was hot on his heels. “Bring her to the room next door. She needs rest so her body can finish what she started.”
I watched Amelia as she lay on the bed. The pallor of death no longer clung to her skin, and her bright peachy glow was slowly returning. Jax stood and stretched as he walked over to me. “This next part is going to be the hardest.” He took a deep breath and exhaled it as Niko walked back in.
