Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Kainda
H is scars proved far worse than I’d expected. Seeing them made his memories I’d seen painfully real. Uttu was within reach for the first time, and no one could stop me from sending her back to Gehenna with the rest of the demons, I’d make sure of it. As soon as I rid the world of her evil, Elijah could go back to his life and finish healing. We both belonged to two different ways of life. They might as well be different worlds. Getting attached to him wouldn’t be wise. Although, I’d never been accused of possessing wisdom; most of the time I wasn’t even accused of being smart. Most smart people don’t run headlong after demons, as my mother liked to remind me.
The bath felt good after the endless days chasing Uttu. With muscles relaxed, mind clear, and my magic buzzing, I left the decadent water to dress. We had other things to do, so we needed to get a move on. My only clothing options: a robe or a dress. Lady Gaia, what was with this gender role pigeonholing thing within the witch community! I could take a pair of the too large pants and go topless, but pushing the hospitality of the coven a little too far, wouldn’t help matters. At least the dress felt silky soft against my skin.
“You wouldn’t happen to see any shirts over there?” Elijah looked at me with hope, his pants made from the same material as my dress sitting low on his still visible hip bones.
“Nope. Apparently, this coven likes nude or seminude rituals.”
His obvious discomfort with the bulk of his scars on display came across loud and clear. While it seemed he’d like to cover them with clothes, though, he didn’t attempt to hide them by wrapping his arms around his chest. Elijah kept turning into more of an enigma, an optical illusion the longer you looked at it, the more the picture changed. As I spent more time with him, the less like the scared, lifeless man I’d met in the hospital remained. He’d argue with me over it, but Uttu hadn’t broken his soul. Broken his body, his mind, but not his essence of self.
The snick of a doorknob turning grabbed our attention. Guess the glamour had worn off. Althea appeared in the doorway, waving us through and down the hall. Her eyes had burst wide when she took in Elijah’s ravaged skin, but she didn’t make a sound. Thankfully he didn’t notice too busy staring at his feet, not meeting our eyes, to see her reaction. He was uncomfortable enough without her judgments.
Reselda stood in an open room with waterfall fixtures on either side of her altar. Her smile, welcoming and assessing. She looked to be in her 70s, long gray hair pleated down her back, soft wrinkles around her mouth and eyes, and loosening skin on her arms and hands. A pendant hung from around her neck with a water element sigil carved into the stone. Rings with magical stones and gems adorned her fingers.
“Bright blessings, Hunter’s Daughter and Demon Touched.”
“Bright blessings, Healer.” Formality, not my strong suit.
“How did she know your father was a hunter?” Elijah directed the question at me.
“She didn’t know. My name Kainda, it means hunter’s daughter. And anyone with magic knows you’re demon touched because of the energy you shed.”
“It’s quite unpleasant, dear, but we’ll get that taken care of in short order.” Reselda said, waving us closer. “Stand next to the wall out of the way, Kainda. Now, you, lie here in the center of the room.”
Elijah looked skeptical but did as she asked. Reselda poured coarse sea salt from a wooden bowl in a wide circle around him. Then she placed her quartz crystals spaced around the circle so that if you connected them by strings, they’d loosely form a pentagram. She placed element candles at each of the cardinal points: green earth to the north, yellow air to the east, red fire to the south, and blue water to the west. With a flick of her wrist, a purple spirit candle floated through the air to land in a dish suspended from the ceiling at the center point of the room where a light fixture should have been.
“Stretch your arms out to the side until your body vaguely makes the shape of a cross. Palms facing up. I’ll have to do this in stages. The first thing I’m going to do is eradicate the demon energy as it’s feeding the venom in your body. I can’t remove the venom and heal its damage without getting rid of the energy first. Once we’ve removed those poisons from your body, I’d like to try a non focused healing. It’s up to you on that one.”
“What’s the aim of a non focused healing?” His tone more curious than worried. If I was an in the dark human newly enlightened, I’d have freaked the heck out.
“The aim with a non focused healing for you would be an attempt to heal any lingering unhealed injuries from the demon encounter and to correct what we can of the healed injuries. There is a possibility we can make the scars less noticeable and aid your body in regaining the strength and muscle you lost. It wouldn’t be a ‘magical’ cure all like the movies like to portray magic, but it could give you some relief.”
Elijah looked unsure, and it dawned on me that he was afraid to get his hopes up even a little bit about his scars. Pain flared in the vicinity of my heart for him. He’d lived a perfectly normal, happy life before the nightmare vacation turned his life upside down. Eventually the joy of just having survived wears off, and you’re left with all the what ifs and grief of what was lost.
“E, it won’t hurt anything to let her try. If I didn’t think it’d help, I wouldn’t be encouraging you to go for it.”
He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before he nodded. Reselda went right back to preparing for the first healing ritual. She had him sit up for this ritual and placed a small black disc shaped stones on his palms. Shungite, if I had to guess. That stone was used to purify and dispel negative energies, it’d allow her to channel magic where she wanted it. Reselda then handed him a basin similar to the ones we’d washed our feet in on the porch, making sure the stones on his palms touched the sides of the container. Finally, Reselda handed me and Althea each a bracelet with what looked like black tourmaline stones, as well as donning one herself. Black tourmaline was a powerful protector for your energy fields.
“Are you ready to begin, Elijah?”
“Yes.”
Reselda used her magic to light the candles as she invoked each of the elements. The elemental runes carved into each of the candles flared a silver light, including the sigil on her necklace. Turning to the altar, she invoked Asclepius, god of medicine and healing, and his wife Epione, goddess of the soothing of pain. The gold and silver candles on her altar lit from the power in the air. Magic became another living thing in the room. She lifted a ceramic jug from the work table, carrying it until she stood right in front of Elijah. Water flowed through the air into the bowl in his hands. She set the jug back on the work table and held her hands out, directing the flow of magic as she began reciting the spell.
“Malevolent energy stains this soul, mighty Water wash clean the evil. As you flow, may you break free the taint of the demon, Uttu. Oh, powerful Water, may your cleansing strength heal this soul. Send the freed energy into the basin, so the nefarious energy does not enter the universe. So mote it be.”
The water in the bowl rippled and began turning black as she repeated the spell. Elijah’s scars pulsed like they had at the loft. His eyes remained closed, but I’d bet money if he opened them, they glow red again. Discomfort showed in the tension of his arms and shoulders and the pinched look on his face.
After the third time, she repeated the spell, the water looked like obsidian and the surface burst into silver flames. The Spirit element manifestation, sending the demonic energy back to Gehenna, where it belonged. As fast as it caught fire, it blinked out again, leaving the bowl empty save for a greasy black film at the bottom. His scars no longer pulsed, but he still looked pained. Shoulders quaked with shivers, and sweat poured off of him.
“Blessed are you, mighty Water! Praise you, powerful Asclepius and Epione!” Reselda shouted with Althea and I joined in chorusing her words.