Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

gift and a power he has no concept of. I can take back this ground. Consecrate
     it. He won’t be able to penetrate below this room or use the walls. He’ll have only
     the ceiling, and you and Riordan can keep him from that.
    Dax studied her upturned face, the orange and red flames burning bright. His skin
     was hot against hers as if the volcano in him was very close to the surface. He slowly
     nodded his head.
    Riley had never been more relieved—or more scared. She knew this was her purpose,
     her moment. The women in her family had prepared her for this and she felt ready,
     but confronted with such evil, she had to admit, the prospect was daunting if not
     downright terrifying.
    Dax set her on the floor of the club. The crowd was already going back to their mindless
     dancing or drinking and doing drugs. No one paid attention to three more people dressed
     the same. Riordan and Dax didn’t use a shield, which might attract the attention of
     the shadow of Mitro in Pietra, rather they simply blurred their images a bit, and
     looked much younger to blend in.
    If Mitro returns, Riley, he’ll know you’re here. Hurry and do whatever you’re going
     to do right now if you’ve made up your mind.
    Riley sank to the floor and, refusing to let her nerves get the better of her, plunged
     her hands into the soil. There was an edge to Dax now. He’d gone from lover to warrior
     and she had no doubt that at the first sign of Mitro returning, if she wasn’t ready,
     he’d take her out of there without consulting her. He was lethal, capable of exploding
     into violence instantly.
    The soil cried out to her for aid, thick with the oily sludge of the abomination of
     the undead. Riley summoned every healing skill given to her by the women who had gone
     before. They were there, whispering to her, guiding her through the cleansing ceremony.
     The ground was leeched of every mineral and nutrient. The only way for the plants
     to survive was the twisted feeding of the mutated taproots Mitro had provided. Even
     the insects had fled.
    Riley closed her eyes and blocked out the chaotic music and the strange buzz as the
     crowd danced, marionettes performing for the puppet master pulling their strings,
     living and dying at his whim. She went deep, searching, calling, drawing . . . Past
     the terrible stench of the undead’s resting place. The ground was soaked in blood
     and rotting corpses. Human bones were scattered throughout layers of soil.
    For a moment her stomach lurched and she nearly pulled her hands from the soil. This
     job was impossible. The ground had been turned into a bed of evil. The heartbeat of
     the earth had been silenced, as if Mitro had managed to reach into the very core and
     destroy that as well.
    I’m right here with you, Dax whispered into her mind. You can do this. Think of it as a cemetery and these people need to be properly laid
     to rest.
    I am with you, the Old One added. Their souls cry out for aid.
    My beloved child, Annabel murmured softly. They are caught between. Only you can bring them peace.
    The voices of the women who had gone before her added their assurances.
    Strength poured into her. It wasn’t an impossible task to heal the earth. She was
     born for that purpose. She couldn’t allow those Mitro had killed in such a barbaric
     way to never find rest because of the oily, slimy, disgusting ooze he’d created there
     in the soil.
    Riley had to destroy the malevolent taproots, mutated and rotting with evil. She reached
     downward, toward the very core of the earth. I call on the power of the molten light, lend me your might for that which needs to
     be done, I draw forth your energy to wield and destroy that which is evil and is used
     as a ploy .
    Riley stretched her hand downward toward the oldest taproot, channeling the molten
     light she had drawn from the heart of the earth, using it as she would a laser to
     cut into the root. Mother Earth I call to you. I seek a gift deep from within your womb. Gift me a stone
     that I may use it to destroy that which is evil while also releasing these souls,
     sending them back into a place of peaceful rest.
    Riley sank her free hand deep within the rotting, soil bringing forth a jade-green
     stone that the earth had harvested for her to use in her fight. Chrysoprase, green
     in color, cool and smooth, a strong stone used to make conscious what is unconscious
     while lending Riley its vibrational qualities to tranquilize the evil