Chapter 43 – Devil’s Bargain.

Julia’s parents looked haggard. Callie wasn’t sure how they had looked before, having not met them during her brief stay here before they’d been thrown into the other realm, but somehow she doubted they’d been this bad. Their skin looked pale and sunken in, their eyes dull. They seemed to be carrying themselves with confidence, but that was just the masks that they wore from decades of practice. Masks that were cracking. Whatever had happened with Riddling had left an impact.

“What the hell?” Julia exclaimed as she looked at them as they entered the room, the shock clear on her face. “What have you done?!”

Her parents stood, looking just as shocked, staring at her, before recognition flickered across her father’s face. “Julia?” He paused, the fact still slowly sinking in. “You’re... What’s happened to you? Who are all these freaks?”

Anger flashed across Julia’s face as she sat up, Callie able to feel the rage burning inside her.

“Majji? Who are these people?” Stella asked, sensing that something wasn’t quite right.

“These two... people... who are going to take a seat,” Julia replied, her response measured and level, “are my parents.”

“Where are the rest?” Now Stella looked confused.

Callie couldn’t help but smile, picking up Stella and putting her on her lap. “Most people only have two parents, darling. You might be a little special there.”

“Yay! I’m special!” Stella happily declared, throwing her arms up, and then giving Callie a hug. “Bikit?” she then tried.

Callie just laughed, shaking her head.

The eyes of Julia’s parents were still on them, and they were not looking kind. But there was something else there as well, she realised. Fear. They were afraid. Of what though, Callie had no idea.

Julia took a few deep breaths, her anger abating a little as she watched her parents sit, her expression measured.

“I had wondered how I would feel, when I saw you again,” Julia eventually said with a shake of her head. “If it would still be the same at all. You have no idea at all what you have put me through over the years, and yet still, I wanted the best for the family. Some form of misplaced loyalty to the family I guess.”

“You know what, I was angry about the arranged marriage at first, but the more I got to know her, the more I wanted it. But for me, not for you. This though,” she continued, making a sweeping gesture at her parents, “goes well beyond that, and that’s ignoring how bigoted you are, as you just so clearly demonstrated. I thought that he’d broken you somehow, the demon of a man, and I felt pity in that moment. But it wasn’t just that, was it? There was guilt there too. Cause you all but sold me off, again, for a second time. To be used as bait, for the real target. My fiancee. You knew, didn’t you, that none of us were meant to return?”

“Julia, we...”

Julia cut her father off with a raised hand as she shook her head. “I don’t want excuses, father. I want the truth. What deal did you make with Riddling?”

Callie could feel it. An aspect of Julia’s nature manifesting through her words. Just like Amber had done, but nowhere near as subtle, her spouses use, raw and untrained. Instinctual.

“He...” Julia’s father seemed to be struggling with the words, before he sighed and looked down at his hands. “He knew, about our family, about the issues. That the arranged marriage would never happen, that the promises would never eventuate. That everything your brothers are involved in would collapse. He promised magic, connections, and an edge. All that it required was you. We were desperate, and...”

“We’re sorry...” There was genuine remorse in her mother’s voice, but that fear, it was still there. All Callie could feel for them now was disgust.

“You sold me off, for your own personal gain. Your own daughter!” Julia was no longer masking her anger. “And what, you hoped that the Calworth’s wouldn’t notice your involvement? Wouldn’t see what you’d done? They may not accept her as she is, but they still see her as an asset. They’re not blind. Stupid, yes, but not blind. Otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are.”

Julia fumed, staring at her parents while they just sat there silently, unable to look at her.

“What happened, Julia?” Eustance’s voice was quiet, his face a mess of emotions. “You’re not dead, none of you are, but you’re not normal any longer either.”

“No, that we’re not.” Julia smiled, her fangs clearly showing, her red eyes taking on a glow. “But we weren’t, even before then. You just didn’t notice. Our time away, though, may just have emphasised that.”

Julia turned back to her parents. “These ‘freaks’ are more human than you’ll ever be. These people, are, in fact, my spouses, and we’re joined in a way that far surpasses anything that society could offer. Well, apart from our daughter, as that would be all kinds of wrong.” Julia held up her ring for emphasis, her mark on clear display,

“What have you done, child?” Julia’s mother’s tone was pure disdain as she took in the ring.

“What have I done?” Julia gave a cruel laugh. “How can you even say that with a straight face, given how stained your hands are? You really have no idea at all, and you know what, they mean more to me than you ever will. Than you ever did. On so many levels. My true family. But you know, that arranged marriage that you pushed for? It sort of happened. While you should recognise her, you probably don’t, but this is Callie Calworth, my wife. Yes, I spent half a night screaming at you about her pronouns. Don’t you dare screw them up. And yes, that is her mark, though it’s only a small portion of it. I’d tell you her title, but frankly, it’d be lost on you, and a waste.”

“Not that you’ll be getting anything out of that. Riddling was right there.” Julia shook her head before motioning to Uriah. “This is Uriah. That Uriah. The elite, and Callie’s boyfriend last you knew. The one Theodore tried to kill. Husband now, of all of us. Felicia here, also my wife, you have met, though I doubt you’ll connect the dots. And this bundle of joy is Stella, our daughter.”

The look of disbelief and disgust was clear on their faces, Julia sitting there with a smug look on her face. Smug, and dangerous.

“I don’t like them, mumsy,” Stella declared, snuggling into Callie as she realised that the focus was back on her. “Bad people.”

“Yeah, that they are.”

“How is that even possible?” Eustance piped up. “You’ve only been gone three days.”

“Cause it hasn’t been three days for us. It’s been a whole lot longer. Realms are not the same at all. In many things, and the one into which Riddling threw us, time flowed a lot faster. A realm in which shadows were a lot more common than they are here. A realm that was dying. But, it wasn’t that he intended for us to die there. He wanted us to bring him something back. It was just that he expected us to be weakened upon return. So that he could take it and kill us. And at that, he failed.”

Julia’s father’s phone beeped, a look of guilt flashing over his face, Julia narrowing her eyes at him.

“You told him, didn’t you, father?” Julia shook her head.

“Yes.”

Julia picked up her cup of coffee, and drained the last of it, before placing it daintily back down.

“I don’t know why I bothered, mother, father. Perhaps I just wanted the answers, perhaps I was hoping for something that I knew not to be true. That perhaps you weren’t the same as the other families. But you’re all the same, aren’t you? Magic didn’t change you at all. It just made you worse. Allowed you to stick to your cancerous beliefs, and gave you all another avenue to play at your petty games. Except you really do suck at it.”

“And not in that sense either.” Julia gave them a dangerous smile, her eyes glowing briefly, fangs bared. “I’d declare that I disown you as my parents, that from this moment on that I will no longer have anything to do with you, your own problems are your own to deal with, but I don’t need to. You already sold me off twice, and I belong to others now. We will leave soon. Pray that you never see us again.”

“Julia,” her mother started, Julia interrupting her with a glare.

“No. You made a deal with the devil. Whatever happens next is on your hands.” She then looked over at her brother. “Leave, now. Lest you get caught up in this as well.”

Eustance looked at her, confused at first, then fear manifesting. “You intend to fight?” he asked, going pale.

Julia rolled her eyes. “What, you thought we’d just curl over and lay down? After what we’d just said?” Julia flexed her hands, claws growing. “Did you forget what happened at Resinfalls?”

“That was...” Eustance paused, paling more as he stared at her claws. “Yeah.” Standing, he hurriedly left the room, his footsteps echoing down the hallway.

And then the echoes suddenly stopped. No sounds of a door opening or closing, no fading out of hearing range. Just a sudden stop, followed by some cursing, and then the footsteps resuming, coming back towards them. Not one person, but two, and not willingly. Callie felt a chill go down her spine, as Stella looked up at her curiously.

“Mumsy?”

“Things might be a little messy, darling,” she answered her daughter in a whisper. “Want to sit with muffy for a bit?”

Stella looked at her, at Julia’s parents, and then at the open door, before nodding. “Okay. Kill bad people, okay?” She was well aware of what that tone and being passed over to Felicia meant. She also loved giggling at and playing with the shields.

Callie gave Stella a weak chuckle as she placed her into Felicia’s arms. “Maybe. But,” she added, her eyes narrowing, “if they try anything stupid...” She didn’t finish that sentence. She didn’t need to.

It took only a moment for the footsteps to reach the door, and for a terrified Eustance to be roughly shoved back through, his arm painfully twisted behind his back by Burt who followed him through. Burt, who looked the picture of health, a savage grin on his face, and a murderous glint in his eyes. Burt, who had been in hospital just a few days prior, near death from Alyther’s attack.

“Oh, how the great have fallen,” he sneered, looking at Uriah. “Turned into the dog that you always were. Where’s your sissy boy-toy?” He followed that with a laugh that Callie was pretty sure that only pigs could make.

Uriah growled, shaking his head as he carefully sat up. “Let Eustance go, Burt, he has nothing to do with this.”

“Really?” Burt’s grin got even more sinister. “Give me the seed, or...”

“No.” Uriah’s response was instant and final. “Piss off. This isn’t your fight, Burt.”

“Oh but it is.” The sound of bones breaking caused Callie to cringe and feel sick, Eustance screaming out in pain as his arm went limp.

Julia was up in an instance, magic flaring around her as she roughly pushed her pale brother out of the way and slammed into Burt, forcing him back a step.

“You’d stoop that low?” she growled, glaring at him, Burt having managed to stop her clawed hand with his own.

Burt snorted another laugh as he flexed his hand. “Says the one who’s been %$#@#$% an animal.”

Magic gathered around Julia, Burt barely able to react before her fist slammed into his face, throwing him back through the doorway, Julia following him through, Uriah leaping up after her.

Something seemed off, wrong. The feel of the air. The haze of magic floating around them. The whole situation. A feeling, sensation. Instinct.

‘He’s a distraction. He’s a damn distraction,’ she mentally yelled as she all but lunged over towards Felicia, hand held out in front of their daughter, and then thrusting upwards as she formed a crackling blade in it.

“Very nice.” Riddling’s laughter echoed around the room as his form flickered into existence, stepping back from where he had been leaning over them, blood dripping from his arm where her blade had sliced into him. “But still not enough. How many will die today, Callie? Die due to your decisions? Your bonds are powerful, but I will enjoy watching them fall, one by one, just as they did for her. And then, I will take the seed from your arms as you watch on, powerless to do anything.”

“You have no understanding at all,” Callie hissed with rage as she swung her blade at him, Riddling just cackling with laughter as he floated backwards, and passed through the wall. And then cursed in anger as shadows clawed their way into existence around them, coming out of nowhere, their spidery form hideous and yet familiar.

‘He’s not stupid Callie, he’s playing to our weaknesses. I can’t shield them as well in all of this, and Julia’s family...’

Callie nodded as she shoved her blade into the closest shadow, its form dissipating away, only to be replaced by another straight away. Felicia hadn’t needed to finish her words. If being inside wasn’t bad enough, they now had extras to worry about, and even though Julia had disowned them, there was no way that they were going to let them die at Riddling’s hands.

“Your bonds are your weakness, Witch.” Riddling’s evil laughter echoed down the hallway.

Screw this for a joke. She wasn’t going to let Riddling have his way, flinching as she felt Uriah get hurt, pain radiating through her, mixed with worry. What the hell had happened?

‘We need to get back together,’ she sent as calmly as she could, before letting her magicloose, tendrils of lightning arcing around the room, tearing through the shadows, and everything else too. The sofa, carpet, walls, ornaments, the smell of burnt fabric filling the air. Yes, she was rather indiscriminate, but that was the nature of lightning, and it had become more so as she’d gotten stronger. Nor had she ever had the need to not be so. Perhaps she’d try focusing on that, but not here, not right now. The shadows dissipated, only to be replaced by more. Another storm of lightning, Callie not waiting to see the result, heading straight for the door, Felicia with Stella in tow.

She stopped briefly, sparing Eustance and his parents a glance. “I suggest you follow, and try to get out of the house when you can. Try anything stupid, and I’ll just let the shadows have you.” Then she was out the door and down the hall.

The shadows were everywhere, and more than a little unpleasant. Misshaped arachnid forms crawling down the hall, up the walls or even on the ceiling. All of them creeping her out. She had half wondered if Webster’s blessing would have changed that, but apparently not. Mostly scout grade, with a few hunter grade’s mixed in. Not so much dangerous as an annoyance for them, though with the sheer number of them that could easily change. For the Morestone’s though, any of the shadows could prove to be fatal.

Another stab of pain, Callie’s lightning faltering for a moment as she crashed into the wall, the echo radiating throughout her on top of the bruise that she’d just given herself. It was Julia this time, and it wasn’t a shallow wound.

‘I’m going to &%%# well tear his head off and make sure that he doesn’t come back from the dead again,’ Julia hissed through their bond, Callie barely having time to chuckle back in response as she brought her blade to bare, deflecting Riddling’s sickly black blade as he tried to stab her through the wall that she was against, the wood itself fizzing and melting away at its contact. And then he was gone again, presence just vanishing as suddenly as it had come. She had felt it though, the slight change, just before he had attacked.

They finally caught up to them in the entrance hall, everything behind her scorched and burnt, Callie showing less and less restraint, the shadows still continuously re-spawning. Uriah and Julia were standing back to back, shadows swarming thickly around them, a thick haze coating the room, Burt standing a few feet away, laughing. Uriah’s right arm was a mess, Julia’s side thick with blood.

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“Tis but a scratch,’ she sent sheepishly, her eyes briefly darting to them. ‘I am a vampire after all.’

Burt was looking even worse. His clothes were shredded, one arm hanging all wrong, half his hair gone, his scalp blistering. But there was no blood. Callie frowned, lightning leaping out from her and tearing into the shadows around her spouses, Felica running towards them, shields glowing around her, as Callie charged towards Burt, her vision tinged red. He would pay.

Callie gasped in pain as Riddling’s blade slammed into her and sent her flying into the wall, Felicia’s shield shattering, the wood behind her cracking and splintering. Her vision blurred, rage tearing through her as she bared her fangs at him and hissed. How had she not sensed his blow coming?

“Your bonds are your weakness, Witch,” Riddling repeated with a sneer, standing in front of her, black magic wisping around his form. “Your emotions your Achilles heel. Did you think that you could bond a vampire and not take on part of her nature? The good, and the bad? They’re more monsters than human, more instinct than thought.”

“You know nothing of them,” Callie growled back, trying to extract herself from the wall, plaster falling down around her. She needed to kill Riddling, and help the others. Felicia’s shields were flaring around them as they were desperately trying to move towards her, Uriah trading blows with Burt as Julia kept the shadows at bay. Stella was crying, fear radiating from her.

“No?” Riddling smirked, raising an eyebrow.

Callie screamed as Riddling’s blade plunged into her right hand, cutting straight through Felicia’s shield, tears flowing down her face, pain searing through her. His magic stung and bit, trying to burn away at her. She could just make out the others faltering, Felicia stumbling to her knees.

“Your familiar is powerful, I give you that. But the more shields that she forms, the longer she has then up for, the weaker they are. And when her focus is split...” Riddling’s laugh was like nails on a blackboard. “You revealed so much, and you know so little.”

Callie tried to scream at him, pull her magic forth and sear him with lightning, but her focus wasn’t there, the feedback from the others overwhelming.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy this. And you thought you’d done so well last time. They were but mere soldiers and spellswords. This, this is true power!”

“You demon!” Burt’s body ploughed through the mass of shadows as Uriah slammed into Riddling, ethereal flames coursing all over him.

“Yes, that I am.” Riddling’s body seemed to glow with that black energy as he blocked Uriah’s blows, before an off-hand strike slammed Uriah down into the ground, shadows swarming over him.

Callie watched in horror, trying again to scream again, instead only tears answering as she struggled to free herself, the pain only getting worse the more she moved. Was this it? Were they going to lose to this self centred, arrogant, prick of a man, who had left so much death and brokenness behind him? Lose their daughter to him as well, nothing but a source of power in his eyes, to be broken and claimed as his own?

Fury raged through her, coursing through her veins. No, she would never allow that to happen. She would never let him have any of them. Not her spouses, nor her daughter. Ever. He didn’t even deserve to be thought of as a person. He was less than that. More just a blight on the tapestry of life.

Why were the shadows even obeying him in the first place? It wasn’t like he’d bonded them to himself like Alyther had. There wasn’t that connection. She’d have recognised it if there was. And where the hell were they coming from in the first place? Their numbers seemed to be endless. Had he created an artificial crack or something to pull them through from? She wouldn’t put that past him.

A sense, an impression, something pricking her at an instinctual level. There was a connection there, though. These shadows weren’t normal. They all had a particular shape about them. One that was familiar, and resonated with her, as much as she didn’t like it. He was using that, wasn’t he. Magic that he’d taken as his, but that wasn’t his. Claimed, not given. Magic was a living thing, though, and she was the Witch. She knew what she needed to do.

Pain seared through her hand again as she came out of her thoughts, everything coming back into focus. Uriah, kneeling there, flames burning around him, Julia fending off Burt as Felicia stood there by her, shields glowing brightly as she kept the shadows at bay. Riddling standing there, lording over her, and Stella, looking towards her with wide eyes.

“Don’t worry, darling. It’s all going to be alright.” A soft smile, whispered words, her daughter smiling back at her.

‘Uri... he’s not the only one who can play at that game.’

A glint of understanding, a flicker of his flames. ‘He’s going to pay, Callie, and then some.’

“Riddling...” She barely managed the words.It was still hard to speak, blood in her mouth. The wall had done more to her than she’d thought.But the memories of the totems had been right. Callie looked at Riddling as he turned his head to face her.

“Such ferocity in your eyes, for a dead woman.”

She had been going to tell him how wrong he was again, how little he actually understood about what they had. But she really couldn’t be bothered, and she still hurt something wicked. So she just settled for something simple instead.

“Screw you.”

Not to mention that he’d left her an easy connection, their magics already touching. The array manifested around her, flaring to life, the soft and welcoming purple of her magic.

Callie was surprised. It had shape and form, a network of ancient wooden buildings and towers sprawling out around, all connected by a network of bridges, one of which she stood on. A gentle breeze blew past, carrying the scent of pine and lavender, two suns bathing her in their warm light.

“This is my mindscape. The fragment which remains at least.”

Callie turned to face the speaker. She was tall, beautiful, and scary at the same time. Fine skin, long black hair, delicate features, and a downright sexy and very naked body. Until she looked below her torso, after which there was nothing but a spider’s body.

“We still creep you out?”

“Yes, sorry.” Callie looked at her face, keeping her gaze there.

The lady laughed, her smile sweet. “This place was our home. If it even exists any longer I do not know.”

“It looks nice.”

“It was.” A sigh, the lady looking out over the buildings, and towards the sun. “He wasn’t always this way. Or maybe he just was, his true nature wrapped up in a web of lies. I fell in love, and paid for it with my life. It was not freely given, rather taken.”

“That seems to be his way.”

“You have many blessings, Witch. I cannot offer another, merely what remains of what I was.”

“Were you like the others? The totems? You seem rather different.”

“I wasn’t a force of nature, nor a keystone for my world. Powerful, yes. Naive, definitely so. Like a goddess for my people? Perhaps, though I didn’t see myself that way. In some ways, Witch, you are no different, even if you feel like you are barely winning in the fight for your life at the moment.”

Callie looked down at the wooden bridge under her, scuffing her shoe around. She didn’t feel like anything that special. Just like herself, with people held close that she loved and cared about. “Will it change me?”

The lady laughed, light and with life. “You’re cute. To be honest though, I do not know.”

“What is your name?” That much at least she should learn.

“Rachni.”

“That’s a nice name. Rachni, I accept.”

She felt it, the magic freeing itself, and flowing into her. Foreign yet familiar, meeting with the part of it that Webster had left behind, a touch and a connection, before it settled, making itself comfortable, and merging with her own magic. Becoming part of her, just like for all of the blessings that the totems had given her. Another part of her whole.

Callie pushed herself forward, standing unsteadily on her feet, lightning still dancing around her. Riddling’s blade was gone, its only trace a pale scar and streaks of blood that covered half her hand. The demon though, was looking pissed.

“She seemed nice,” Callie said, a quirk to her lips. “You really are a soulless bastard.” Another array flared to life around her, the first array that she had learnt, stripped down to its barest basics, its purpose singular. These shadows weren’t normal after all.

“Leave! And pray we never meet again.” Her voice was clear, silky smooth, echoing Rachni as it rang out. Time seemed to freeze for a moment, all eyes on her, and then, one by one, the shadows started to vanish, fading away as if they never were.

“What have you done?!” Riddling’s expression had changed to one of fury, his mark glowing, the magic that floated around him intense and vengeful.

“Nothing compared to what we’re going to do,” Callie retorted, gathering her magic, and slamming a storm of lightning into Riddling at point blank range, sending him flying backwards and through the front doors, splinters raining down from his passing. She had sounded more confident than she’d felt though, her body still aching and sore as she took a few steps forward.

“All the more fun for me,” Burt stated with a sleazy drawl as he cracked his knuckles. Ugh. She’d forgotten about him.

‘He’s all mine,’ Julia declared, advancing on the spellsword.

“How are you even alive?” She asked, stopping right in front of him.

“I’m more alive than you, little undead slut.”

Julia’s eyes flared red and she didn’t hesitate, swinging hard at Burt.

“Like that’s going to work,” Burt sneered, bringing his fist up to parry, surprise colouring his face as he realized that he couldn’t move it, Felicia’s shields wrapped around it.

Julia’s fist connected with a satisfying crack, Burt collapsing to the ground. And then moving again as he started twisting his head back around and making to pull himself up. Callie didn’t hesitate, flaming sword forming as she rammed it into his head, and then through his neck, separating them. No blood at all, just the smell of burning flesh as the body finally lay there limp. Turning, the smell more than sickening, Callie raced outside of the building, Julia and Felicia close behind.

It had become overcast outside, the sky grey and mottled, the temperature only a fraction of what she’d normally expect it to be. It was actually kind of pleasant, and familiar, a quietness and stillness to it that had been there every day. The Morestone estate was far enough away from the roads that the gardens absorbed the noise of any errant traffic, gardens which had a wild look to them for those that looked close enough. Callie could almost imagine that they were back there, in the realm, for a few moments more, if not for the vehicle sitting in the driveway.

Riddling stood on the path, dusting himself off as if nothing at all had happened. His clothes were very much blackened though, his hair singed.

“You know what’s really ironic?” Riddling’s evil smirk was back again as magic gathered around his hands. “I even introduced one of her lovers to her. I knew that they’d hit it off, but I’d never expected it to be as well as it did. I can still see the look on their faces as she bled to death at my hand.”

Riddling vanished, gone from view, but still there. His smell, his presence was still there. Faint, but detectable.

“You’re a coward, Riddling. Was it her death that earned you your title?” Callie held her blade in her hands, soft purple and crackling with energy.

A flicker, Riddling appearing right in front of her, Callie barely managing to deflect his blade and still earning a scratch across her cheek before he vanished again.

“An unexpected bonus that opened so many doors.” The wistful tone to his voice made her stomach turn.

“How is it that any of the others even trusted you and your words?”

“People choose what they want to believe, naive child. I’m sure Alyther regrets that now, for many reasons. They all benefited though, even our mutual vampire friend, as arrogant as she is.”

Another flicker, Riddling appearing beside Julia, blade going for her throat as he reached for Stella. A futile attempt as Felicia manifested a shield, Julia stepping out of the way easily, Callie twisting around and throwing a bolt straight at his head. Which missed, Riddling vanishing again, a chill going down her spine as he reappeared directly behind her.

“Too slo...” Riddling’s declaration ended in a gasp, Callie spinning back round to find him standing there, Uriah’s blade poking out of his chest.

“No, demon. We were just biding our time,” Uriah declared from behind him.

“You really think this means you’ve won?” Riddling laughed, stepping forward in spite of the blade.

“No,” Uriah said with amusement. “But this is going to hurt. What was it again?”

Callie smiled as she felt the magic build up in Uriah’s blade, focusing to a point, and then being released in a thick concentrated, intense, beam of fire that fully engulfed Riddling, before happily shouting it out for him.

“Wrath of the Fox!”