“You can do this, Jenny. Let her rip.”
Let her rip.
Jenny took a deep breath as she and her father slowly advanced toward Ellison. Not Ellison, the happy, friendly cowhand whom Aiden had trusted. That Ellison was forever gone, having sold his soul to the Dark Lord in exchange for immortality.
He is not Lupine. He is evil and evil must be vanquished and destroyed.
Caderyn looked down at her, nodding, as if he understood her trepidation. “You dispatched Perry to save yourself. This is different. Instinct guided you previously, but this time, you are killing a demon who has presented no clear threat to you personally. Remember this. Ellison is not a someone. He is not a friend, nor even a shadow of a Lupine. He is darkness, and you are light.”
“He looks like he always did,” Jenny murmured. “He’s cocky but protective of the pack.”
Caderyn stretched out a hand. “What do you see beneath his face?”
Jenny focused. “Just a face. Nothing. His aura is gray, but not black like Perry’s was.”
Ellison started to stir.
“Try again. This time do not look with your eyes.” Caderyn pointed to his chest. “Look with your heart. Look into his heart and his soul. Look at Ellison as if you had to trust him with your life. Would you?”
Intense. Unsure of her skills, Jenny hesitated. She glanced at Troy, who nodded encouragement.
Maybe if I look at Ellison as if I had to trust him with Troy’s life, not mine.
Turning her attention back to Ellison, who was struggling to sit up, she concentrated. Saw him as a cowboy who had to save Troy’s life from a pack of vicious Lupines. She imagined the Lupines racing forward, ready to tear Troy into pieces. Only Ellison could save her lover.
Jenny let her powers flow and this time, she saw a death’s head skull flickering below Ellison’s face.
Ellison would not save Troy.
Ellison would kill him.
“I see it!” She felt exuberant and yet sad at the same time.
“Your heart told you the truth your eyes refused to believe. Now you must destroy him,” Caderyn told her.
“I don’t know if I can…”
The Shadow Wizard took her hands. “The power is within you. Take all your magick, feel the white light inside you, and gather it into your hands, holding it as you would one of those… ah…”
He glanced at Tristan.
“Baseballs,” the Silver Wizard offered.
“Yes, that.” Her father released her hands. “Do it.”
Jenny focused and culled all her magick.
Ellison saw them, scrambled to his feet. “Now look here, this is all a misunderstanding. If you’d let me explain…”
“Do not listen to the demon,” Caderyn warned.
She flung out her hands and directed the light into Ellison’s body. He screamed and clutched his chest. White light bathed him, squeezing out of his skin, pouring out of his eyes, nostrils, mouth as he screamed and batted at it, as if he burned from within.
Then Ellison looked at her, pleading. “Jenny, please, don’t do this. I’m not what you think. Please I promise I’ll change. I’ll be good!”
“Do not let up, daughter,” Caderyn roared. “Do not listen to him!”
Yet her father’s words did not convince her. What if she were wrong, and they were all wrong and Ellison could change?
Jenny pulled back. “I can’t do this,” she cried out. “I can’t kill him!”
“You must finish him off,” Caderyn yelled.
Suddenly Troy was at her side, talking to her. More than this father she barely knew, she needed her lover, her rock.
“Do it, Jenny. He’s not Ellison. He’s a demon who branded Zoe, destroyed lives and will destroy more if you don’t finish him off. I have faith in you, sweetheart. Don’t listen to the demon. Focus on my voice only.”
She did as he kept talking, telling her how strong she was, how proud he was of her talent.
Doggedly she kept up the flow of pure white light until Ellison became white hot, and nothing remained of him but flames pouring from her fingertips.
“One final push, see him turning into nothing, dissolving,” Caderyn urged.
Closing her eyes, she saw the light squeeze and squeeze until the demon turned into small particles, and then vaporized. Ignoring the screams, hearing only Troy’s encouragement.
Then suddenly she felt nothing. Jenny opened her eyes.
Nothing remained of Ellison. Not even a burn mark in the field. It was as if he never existed.
“Well done, my daughter.” Caderyn clapped a hand on her shoulder and she nearly staggered from the force.
“Take it easy, big guy,” she told him. “I’m kinda small.”
“But with the heart and soul of a warrior,” Caderyn said, and there was a hint of pride in his voice.
The other wizards gathered around them, congratulating her as Troy hugged her tight.
“You did it.” He smoothed back the damp hair from her face. “Knew you could.”
“You both can be a formidable force in the fight against the rising tide of darkness. It will not be a smooth road, but with your swiftness, Troy, and your magick, Jenny, you will become like a scythe moving through hay, cutting down evil where you see it,” Caderyn told them.
“But the choice is yours,” Drust added, the dragon wizard looking off into the distance. “We would never force it upon you.”
“We must go now, young Jenny,” Gideon told her. “It was a pleasure watching you destroy that demon. Now Caderyn, about this talent of yours…”
All the wizards vanished.
It was as if they were never there. She shivered. Troy wrapped his arms around her. “One last thing, sweetheart.”
“Anything for you,” she whispered.
He grinned. “Aiden and those wizards left us stranded. Can you get us out of here, back to the lodge?”
Using her powers, she did.
Hugging Troy, Jenny transported them back into the lodge’s living room, feeling time and space whoosh past them. They materialized near the fireplace. Troy laughed.
“What a rush. You’re better than a cramped airplane, Jenny.”
She became aware of others
