Chapter 15

They say when they found me that I was staring into nothing, repeating, “Let me die. I failed her. Please let me die. I can not go on without her, she’s gone.”

My first real memories I had after that were a few years gone along without my sister. I cut ties with Aunt Victoria. I had felt that she’d been there and had done nothing.

I suddenly turned toward Victoria, a look of hatred and indignation. “You were fucking there! The whole time you were there you saw everything that happened. You could have stopped it.”

Tawney threw herself in front of me. “I was there also, she almost died that day trying to save the both of you. She found you before the humans, she dragged you to safety. It was your other Aunt!”

I stopped as Victoria had descended into a weeping pile. AUDGRA!

I grabbed my head as it felt as if a knife had split my brain. Oh shit! I crumpled as if I no longer had bones in my body.

I was wide-eyed as the memories flooded my brain. I saw a tall female that looked like a female version of my father. Her evil glowing eyes, that twisted smile on her face as she came for me and Catherine.

That’s when I saw Victoria as she fell from Audra’s assault. Somehow Catherine and I had hurt her more than anyone ever had.

I fought the convulsions as they racked my body. I was barely able to keep my eyes open as my arms and hands started to glow.

It was a moment that I noticed that I was floating two feet off the floor. I was trying to clear my mind as something one of the older Jinns had said.

(“In your family tree there are Jinn ancestors, far enough, back that there was no fear of you having power. That is what was thought, ‘til your sister. She was untrained and didn’t have the mind for it,”) the council leader had said.

I thought about it, was Catherine and I developing Jinn power after all this time? God, I wished that I could remember. As I looked at Catherine, she had a worried look on her face.

That’s when she blinked at me and my head felt ten times as worse, my mind flooded with memories. “Oh shit!” I yelled as I folded onto the ground, convulsing once again.

As I passed out, I saw Catherine lay a soft hand on the side of my face. The pain didn’t fade but it became tolerable.

In the dream, I saw both my Aunts and Tawney in a field. I was damn near carrying Catherine as I headed for a storm shelter. For some reason, I knew that if we made it we’d be safe.

“We’re going to make it Cath; I’ll make sure of it. I’ll protect I promise,” I said as I was hauling ass as hard as I could.

I saw that Catherine’s hands were glowing as she smiled at me. “I trust you, John. Why is Aunt Audgra doing this? I thought she was trying to help us?”

“I don’t know Cath just a little bit further,” I said as I was moving far faster than I should.

We had just made the doors to the storm shelter when a blast tossed the both of us into them.

“Where the hell do you think that you are going, boy!” came Audgra’s nasty deep voice. “The both of you and your power will feed me to make me more immortal.” She started to laugh as I managed to grab Catherine.

I stared daggers at our Aunt as Catherine’s hands started to glow along with mine. Her smile faded as she started to chant. Too late she realized that she wasn’t going to make it as a huge bolt flew from us.

Though it wasn’t that powerful, it blew her quite a distance away. I managed to get ahold of Catherine as we descended into the shelter.

Catherine was worn out as she passed out in my arms. I stumbled deeper into the shelter as I heard Audra start to scream.

I then heard the impact as Audgra slammed into the opening. I could see that she was burned almost beyond recognition.

I could also see that she was angrier than I thought was possible. What the hell was going on? Why was the one protecting us after us?

Aunt Audgra tried again, then was almost smacked back even harder. I just held Catherine as she clung to me, as if her life depended on it.

I shook my head as I tried to clear my thoughts. What I had felt that day, she was as, if not stronger, than Elvantor Hajib. Were they connected? I wasn’t sure, though at least I knew who I was up against.

My head was still throbbing as I thought about my sister. Why, I thought had the both of us been able to fight off Aunt Audgra?

I remember that I had been holding Catherine when Audgra had been hit. I was still wondering how we had escaped when we were trapped.

As hard as I tried to recall, the more fleeting the memories became. I sighed. I had to do more to find her.

A hundred and twenty-five years into the past, Catherine awoke with a huge headache. A look around told her that she was in a simple room. A bed, a dresser with a mirror and a simple wash basin.

She got up and splashed water on her face, hoping it would clear her head. Unfortunately, it didn’t, leaving her a bit confused.

Then she remembered right before that horrid male that had grabbed her. Just after, she had found her brother. That, above everything else, had lightened her soul.

The more she thought of it, the better she started to feel. Then she remembered that they had touched, looking at her hand, it glowed a bit.

A multitude of memories started to flood her head as she held up a hand, slowing them. A great many things returned to her along with the dangers.

First she was further back than her power could bring her forward. She knew she could make sixty, maybe seventy years, though that was it.

After that, she’d still be too far back for John to get to her. He had to have a Jinn, or their aunt could help. She hoped that Victoria could, as she had been cursed. Though from the brief encounter with her, she was hardly cursed now.

Had it been John that had broken it? She remembered that he had been far better at puzzles and mysteries than she had. Then again, he had her by a few years.

Catherine sighed as she had to decide what to do. Was she in the man that had stopped to help her house? She wasn’t sure, but she had to thank him and his wife.

She walked out into the large room, stopping suddenly staring at the woman that was at a stove. Tongue-tied, Catherine could only continue to stare.

She shook her head, swearing that the woman before her was her Great-Grandmother. The woman whirled around at the sound of footfalls that had stopped.

“Ah! ‘Tis da young woman me Charles found,” the slightly older woman said. Catherine was still staring as she looked like the one picture she’d seen.

Wait! The woman had said Charles? That was her Great-Grandfather’s name! She shook her head as she felt light-headed again.

She felt a pair of strong arms ease her into a chair. “Ya need ta be careful girl. Da heat can kill ya ifn ya ain’t careful. What be ya name?” the woman asked.

“Catherine,” Catherine said. “What’s yours as I wish to thank the both of you.”

“Oho a proper one are ya? Name’s Molly, Molly Richards,” the woman said as Catherine gasped, then passed out again.

Molly tsked as she grabbed the woman under her arms and dragged her back into the room. She got a damp cloth and a small pan of water sitting on the bed wiping the woman down.

She then started to undress, the younger woman looking at her strange, the plain white underwear. Though the strangest thing was the wrap the woman had over her breasts. It had small metal hooks on it.

Must be from Europe, Molly thought, though the woman had no accent. Then as she got to the underpants, removing them was another shock. The woman had no hair around her vagina! It was as smooth as her husband’s face when he shaved.

There were too many things about this stranger for Molly to discount. She had to talk to Charles when he came in.

Molly started to shake, they hadn’t found them, had they? She thought that they were well hidden for them to find them.

For a few moments, Molly thought that they might have to kill the young woman if they had been compromised. She sighed, she’d have to ask Charles as soon as he returned from the fields.

Further back in time, Hajib was still pacing, trying to get his left arm to heal. So far, he could barely move it, though it was still crispy.

The worst thing was that the feeling was still there. It was more than distracting, as spells and magic were nearly impossible. It was only after he’d gotten the sword that any healing happened.

Hell, what little he’d gotten was nearly nothing, though the pain was the worst. Plus there was the fact that they had no leads on the female he’d held for a moment.

He was certain that she was somehow tied to that bitch, Jinn’s master. Hajib was certain that if he had control of this female, he could just take his property.

Yes, Hajib thought, she was his property to use, abuse and discard as he saw fit. He cursed inside as he thought that he needed more dark power to break the council’s hold.

Hajib started to scream as the bones in his broken arm finally melded together. Hajib cursed as they melded very, very slowly.

He’d used part of the energy of the Devil’s point, luckily it had been at full power.

Hajib looked at his ally thinking. There had to be other things out there that could aid him. “There have to be more artifacts out there that can help me triumph,” Hajib said.

The undead leader was deep in thought for a few moments, then nodded. There are, though, you need to be far more healed than you are. Plus, your heart needs to be blacker than the pits of Hades. I’m sure that yours is indeed as black as Hades. I think that you need to heal far more to do this.”

“I am not afraid, chaos needs to be released to let things be as they should. With me as supreme leader, nothing will go well anymore. For now, I will allow the Devil’s point and gift to heal me,” Hajib said.