Merlo stepped back from Sarah, smirking with superiority and blind confidence. “I pick the third choice, my love.” At her raised eyebrow, he smiled menacingly, like a predator savoring the hunt. “For you to die.”
Sarah bit her lip against the pain those words caused her, feeling her soul shudder, and her body turn cold. “So be it.” Her violet eyes hardened like amethysts. She threw back her cloak from her body, and started calling into her the power of the Divinity Stone, along with her own reservoir of sacred power.
Merlo's eyes widened as he took in her form, swollen with child. “This cannot be.” He whispered in horror. “What have you done?”
His bellow of rage did not distract her from the spell she was weaving, even though one side of her mouth lifted up in a sardonic smile. The sounds of battle seemed far away to her, the smell of power emanating from both sides tinted the air. The long shadows of combatants locked in combat seemed to create a ballet among the ground and headstones. Still, Sarah weaved her spell, giving her life essence, knowing that she would die.
Rushing forward, Merlo looked on in shock as he hit an invisible barrier. Cursing, he sent volley after volley of spells toward her, trying to break through the barrier. Yet still, her power stayed strong and absorbed the magic he kept throwing at her, twisting it and morphing it into her own use.
The stone pulsated within her hands, causing Sarah's cloak and raven black hair to be moved by its power. The crimson stone starting the glow with its own light as it absorbed both her magic and Merlo's. Slowly, it started rising from her small soft hands, growing brighter with each pull of magic. The spell finally had enough strength to find its mark, and connected the stone to Merlo's life essence.
Merlo fell to his knees amongst the fog shrouded graveyard floor as agony enveloped him. Eyes wild, he looked at Sarah, freezing when he not only saw his life force flowing into the stone, but that of Sarah's too. Becoming weaker, Merlo started to crawl toward her, desperately trying to reach her. The madness started to dull from his eyes, fading the molten silver to a soft gray. A silent tear fell as the power that was turning him, driving him to the brink of madness, seeped from his body. He began to realize what he had done. Self-loathing spread throughout him as visions of everything he had done came back to him. Mocking him, torturing him. And Sarah, his Sarah had to take the blunt of it all. As he watched her body sway weakly within the pull of the Divinity Stone's power, a self-hatred, darker than any magic, filled him.
“Sarah—your life is draining into the Stone too—please, just stop—”
With the power of the magic being the only thing holding her up, she couldn't lift her head to look at him. Barely above a whisper, she said, “I'm sorry it had to come to this, but you had to be stopped. If it takes my life to release you from the prison the power holds you in, then so be it.”
She fell to her knees as the final bursts of power was pulled within the stone. The barrier started to fade, then finally shattered as its power was pulled into the stone too. Merlo dragged himself the final inches toward her, and with shaking hands grabbed onto the edge of her cloak. Trying to pull the final centimeters toward her to where he could hold her for the very last time.
Panting from exertion and with cold sweat dripping from his face, he looked up at her, pain and regret shining in his eyes. “When the last of me is swept into the stone, the power will once again consume my soul, and it will all be for naught.”
Tears flowed from her eyes as she weakly shook her head in denial. “You may be consumed again, but it won't be for naught. You will be trapped for all eternity, and only those whose blood flows the magic of both our houses shall have the power to release you. None other than your daughter, and her daughters shall carry within them the strength to not only release you, but to destroy you as well. This is my promise to you, Merlo, my one love.”
She watched as the light faded from his eyes, his hand that was reaching gently toward her falling to the hard earth. The stone blasted one last time with crimson fire, then abruptly fell into her cold outstretched hands. With the last of the power faded, she fell onto the earth, lying beside Merlo, breathing raggedly.
The sounds of battle seemed to devour her then as she heard the cries of her own people and those of Merlo's. As they noticed their leaders' demise, the followers retreated into the depths of the forest. The coven swiftly followed, seeking to end all evil that day, but Sarah knew that evil would escape and grow stronger over time. Where there was good, evil always followed.
She moved onto her side, curling into herself as her body shuddered with the beginning pains of labor. Gasping, she clenched her eyes shut as the pain increased, tearing through her abdomen. She breathed in relief as her water broke, feeling the ease of pressure within her only to have her eyes widen as she caught sight of the blood. Her blood. There was too much, too soon.
“No.” She whispered in horror as she felt deep within her soul that something was wrong. Terribly, utterly wrong.
“My Goddess,” she whispered, her eyes searching frantically for someone, anyone, that might be able to help. “Please, take mercy on my child.” She prayed, her heart and soul searching for an answer.
Her eyes widened as she heard a twig snapping in the woods. Trying to calm her breathing, she bit her lip to hold back a painful moan. Snapping her head to the left, her eyes narrowed as she focused on the wood line. Frantically searching for whomever was approaching. Seeing movement within the shadows, she focused on the shifting darkness, gasping when she caught sight of glowing amber eyes.
Curiously, they stared deep into her. Sarah felt as if her soul was being laid bare by those hauntingly beautiful eyes.
“Shifter,” she called out softly between contractions. “Please, come forward.” Cold sweat and blood soaked through her simple gown, creating a grotesque film across her weakening body.
She felt the waves of energy caress her as he shifted from his animal form into that of a man. “Quickly,” she urged. Another fierce wave of agony crashed into her, the contracting muscles causing more blood to pour from her. She knew there wasn’t much time left as she gazed into the hauntingly beautiful eyes of the man before her. The creature who was her child’s only hope.
He knelt beside her, his dark hair falling forward, creating shadows across his face. His amber eyes were the only thing discernible.
“What service have you need of me?” he asked quietly, his voice was gruff yet somehow gentle.
Her breath caught as the pain hit her again. She reached out and clasped his supremely large, hot hand with her cold, bloody one. Weakly she gripped him as the pain ravaged her withering body.
She relaxed her grip as the pain lessened. “Please,” she said softly, weak from the pain and blood loss. “I know I have no right to ask this from one of your kind, and I do not have time to explain, for death is approaching quickly. You came because you heard the call of the Goddess. Trust in her that what I say is important. Within me lies a child of The Prophecy, but I cannot deliver her naturally into this world. Something is wrong. You need to cut her from my womb. There is a cottage deep within the forest, deliver the babe to the couple residing there. They will care for and love her, but I will need you, and that of your line, to guard the burial site of Merlo. Then when the time comes, to protect the descendent while she finishes what I was too weak to do.” She barely paused for breath as her words tumbled from her lips. The shifters eyes glowed brighter as the truth of her words beat against his soul. Marking him, changing him. He felt the will of the Goddess press down on him, urging him to make the oath and accept his fate.
He breathed deeply, trying to calm the animal within. He clenched his eyes shut against the urge to run, to stay free. The animal within him rebelled at the thought of a cage, any cage. The man in him knew it was his calling, his fate. He felt the caress of the Goddess. Tangible, soothing. He opened his eyes and became caught in Sarah's penetrating gaze. “I give you my oath.” Sarah closed her eyes in relief. A soft whisper of thanks formed on her tongue only to have it changed into an agonizing scream as the most intense pain hit her.
She frantically gripped his arm, surprising them both with her strength. “Now! You must do it now before we run out of time!” she bit out between clenched teeth, holding in another scream as she felt her body starting to rip from the pressure. She wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer. She pulled her sacred dagger from the folds of her blood stained cloak. She handed it to him, silently begging for him to end her pain.
He nodded as he grasped the hilt, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
She tensed as she heard him cut through the fabric of her gown, exposing her clenching abdomen to the warming air. Morning was fast approaching, turning the midnight blue sky to gray streaked with the softest of pinks and yellows.
“Remember your oath, shifter.” Even though she said it softly, on the merest whisper of breath, he still heard the steal beneath her gentle tone.
