Immortals After Dark 04 - Wicked Deeds on a Winters Night

like.”
    “Um, why would I need a new home?” Mari asked.
    “Every great sorceress has her own dimension.”
    “I’m not a sorceress.”
    “Do you want to be?” Elianna asked in a strange tone.
    “I just want to understand what is happening.”
    “This is where you need to be for now,” she said. “You’re safe here from the magick of others. And no one but your family and other members of the Wiccae can ever come here—unless you expressly invite them.”
    “Was I in danger?” Mari asked.
    She nodded. “Come with me.” As Elianna crossed to a cauldron, Mari followed, apprehension pricking at her. She hadn’t seen witchery like this in years.
    Elianna stirred the bubbling brew inside it with a staff, clearing the smoke to reveal a scene. In a dimension much like this one were two marble altars.
    Mari’s parents lay atop them.
    Her father was on a slab of cold rock, with his fists clenched, just as Mari had dreamed. Her mother lay beside him, her beautiful face frozen in pain.
    Mari bit back a cry. “Oh, gods, what is this? Are they alive?”
    “Yes, but they were struck down by a powerful sorceress. Ensorcelled by a dark power.”
    “Who? Who would do this to them?”
    Elianna hesitated, then finally answered, “Häxa.”
    Mari swallowed. “She does feed off trapped souls.”
    Elianna nodded, then continued, “Your father succumbed first.”
    “He didn’t... he didn’t just ditch us?”
    “No, leaving his family nearly killed him, but he is a powerful warlock, and his destiny had always been to fight Häxa. He was ruthless in his preparation for battle. Black magicks, sinister pacts for spells of greater power. He dealt with devils and rogue wizards. Yet still he was unable to smite her.”
    “And Jillian?”
    “Häxa froze your mother when she went to beg for his life. Jillian knew the futility, but she couldn’t live without him.”
    Mari felt like she was choking. No wonder Jillian had always seemed so sad—she’d been missing her husband...
    “Druid sabbatical, Elianna?” Her father lived? Her mother hadn’t remained away by choice? “How could you not tell me about this?”
    “Jillian wanted you to have a normal life for as long as possible.”
    “Normal? I thought I was unwanted! That they both chose to leave me.”
    Elianna looked baffled. “But they adored you—surely you remember that?”
    Mari pointed an accusing finger at her. “You should have told me about what happened to them!”
    “When should I have? When you turned eighteen, should I have said, ‘Your parents are frozen in eternal pain and agony—and you can’t do a damned thing about it for many years.’? Then wish you luck on your SATs?”
    Her parents had loved her. “How do I wake them?”
    Elianna glanced away. “You have to kill the one that did this to them.”
    Häxa was one step down from a goddess, the most powerful sorceress ever to live. “ Fate does no’ blow her bullets,” Bowen had said. He’d been right. Mari was to fight the witches’ greatest enemy. She feared the idea, but the fury churning inside her wouldn’t be denied. Elianna stared at her eyes, and Mari knew they’d changed.
    “I’m going after her. Tell me how to find her.”
    “You will know how to find her when you are prepared to fight her.”
    “For once, stop this witchy, mystical bullshit, Elianna! I want to kill her now !”
    “You’re not ready,” Elianna insisted.
    “If you think I’ll sit around here waiting to turn immortal—”
    “That won’t matter,” Elianna quietly interrupted. “Häxa can turn any living being to dust. Immortality or mortality will make no difference.”
    “Then do I even have a shot at winning against her?” Mari demanded. “What do the seers say?”
    “Anyone who tried to read the battle between Mariketa the Awaited and Häxa... was struck mad. We doubt Häxa has even been able to see this.”
    “Doesn’t matter. I’m still going after her, with or without your help.”
    “If Häxa defeats you, she will usurp your powers. We can’t risk that—or she will become unstoppable.”
    “I’ll figure it out!”
    “Your parents are not the only ones in this state. There are thousands more, taken from all Lorekind and accumulated over time. Think of others suffering. You have responsibilities to them as well.”
    A thousand voices calling to her in her dreams.
    “How do I prepare, then?”
    “You are a captromancer. You’ll use the medium given to you to learn. No