A warm summer breeze rippled behind her despite the fact that it was winter, and she felt a presence. When she turned, she beheld the form of the goddess Diana.
“Mother,” she whispered, bowing her head reverently.
Diana smiled and Olivia felt her heart lift. This was the first time she had encountered the goddess when her body had not been injured or pumped full of adrenaline. Now she was able to feel the full effect of being in her presence, and it was like being allowed to come home after a very long, painful journey.
“Daughter.” Diana’s voice was low and musical.
Olivia watched silently as Diana pulled a chain from the neck of her tunic and slipped it over her head. Placing it in Olivia’s hand, she smiled. When she unfurled her fist, she found a triple moon. The full moon at the center was a bright, smooth moonstone hanging from a silver chain, and either side of the moonstone were two smaller, silver crescent moons.
“For protection,” Diana answered her unspoken question.
“Thank you,” she replied softly, drawing the chain over her head.
Diana retrieved the two knives and placed them in Olivia’s hands. “You know what to do,” she spoke quietly, her voice as soothing as a lullaby. “The book is for guidance only, trust yourself.”
Olivia took the weapons in her hands, staring at them, feeling the solid weight of them in her palms. She could sense the goddess beside her, watching with interest, but all her focus was on the blades. They reflected the dancing flames of the fireplace, which strangely still burned merrily nestled among the vines and leaves.
She could feel the low hum of her power pulsing just beneath her skin. Before, when she’d reached for her magic, it had been an effort, but this time it slipped through her fluidly.
She called forth the Hellfire; it was intimate and seductive. She could feel the dark edges of it flickering at her consciousness, but she didn’t fear it, she embraced it and allowed it to flow through her body like silk.
She watched as it glowed through her skin, flowing down her arms like neon-blue veins until it reached her hands. It flowed from her like ribbons of shimmering ink, winding around and around the two knives. The plain brown hilts blackened and shone like highly polished jet. The stainless-steel blades began to darken until they were a dark blue-black, and she could feel the strength in the blades, as if she could see each tiny molecule transforming.
“Make it burn,” Diana whispered in her ear.
At her words, Olivia released the heat, letting it roar through her veins like a sapphire inferno. Her hands burst into flames, consuming the blades as she lost herself to the magic. She could hear the words echoing in her mind, an ancient language, and she barely recognized her own voice as the words rose unbidden to her lips.
She didn’t see the goddess step back with a satisfied smile curving her lips. All she knew was the fire in her hands, a writhing primordial power burning brighter and hotter, the blue-black flames roaring higher until they reached flash point.
Olivia dropped to her knees exhausted and dragged in a deep lungful of air as her body trembled. When she looked up, the room was once again her cozy, somewhat dusty little library. The grass, the vines, the goddess were all gone, and she was once again alone in front of the snapping fire with Hester’s Grimoire now closed and lying innocently on the rug in front of her.
Looking down into her hands, she studied the knives. Now completely cool to the touch, they were unique. The hilts were polished onyx, the blades were a strange metallic blue-black, inscribed with a language she didn’t understand. She couldn’t read the words, but she knew she’d spoken them from her own lips. She turned the blades in the faint light, and the words glowed with a dim, phosphorescent blue.
Closing the circle, she sent her thanks to the goddess and wrapped the blades tightly in velvet cloths she’d found in among Aunt Evie’s things. Pulling the amulet over her head, she sat down and studied it. It seemed the two smaller silver crescent moons, either side of the moonstone, were attached with tiny silver clasps, which meant they could be separated and mounted on their own chains. Good, she thought silently. She could give one each to Theo and Jake for protection and keep the moonstone for herself.
Well, she mused to herself as she sank down onto the couch, that solved two problems. Theo and Jake now not only had a weapon each to defend themselves, but also amulets to protect them against her father’s powers. That just left one problem. How the hell was she going to stop her father?
Despite everything, she didn’t want to kill him. It went against everything she believed in, and even after everything he’d done, everything he’d taken from her, he was still her father. If she could render him powerless somehow, Jake could arrest him and take him back into custody. After that, it would be up to the authorities to charge him with the murders. Maybe some sort of binding spell, she thought absently, as she picked up the Grimoire and once again began searching through the pages.
The next two days passed in a blur of activity. She managed to find two silver chains in her aunts old jewelry box, for the crescent moons and found a suitable binding spell. She had one shot at stopping her dad, and she knew she couldn’t afford to mispronounce even one single word.
As night fell on the eve of the solstice, the snow returned. Standing in her library, gazing out of the window at the soft fat flakes falling fast, she breathed heavily. It felt like she had a great weight pressing down on her chest, and no matter what she did, it wouldn’t budge.
The next day, she was going to have to face her father and stop him from raising a demon. She was afraid of failing, of not being good enough, and most of all... of seeing him again. Whenever she was face-to-face with him, the years simply fell away and she was eight years old again, looking up at the man she had loved most in the whole world, the man who had destroyed her whole world.
This was no good, she was just twisting herself into a huge ball of nerves. Picking up her phone from the desk, she scrolled through her playlists and placed it in its docking station. Her shoulders relaxed, and she blew out a breath, closing her eyes as strains of music began to fill the still oppressive air.
She knew he was there before she felt Theo’s arms wrap around her.
“You’re frowning,” he spoke softly beside her ear as she leaned back into his embrace, each tightly wound muscle slowly uncoiling one by one.
“I just…” She shrugged helplessly, unable to find the words.
“Don’t think about it.” He turned her in his arms so that she was gazing up into his face. “Tomorrow will come soon enough, and we’re as prepared as we can be. Tonight, it’s just you and me.”
A small smile tugged at her lips as she watched him tilt his head, listening to the music. “What music is this?”
“Not the music you’re used to, that’s for sure.” She smiled fully.
