Tempest
"Alec..." I murmur with disbelief, staring at my little brother in shock...his complexion paler than the last time I saw him, and his blue eyes have turned black...
What happened to him?
"So you do remember me...I'm touched..." His voice has a dark edge to it, and that smile is not the one I remember...it's filled with twisted self satisfaction instead of humor...
"Where have you been Alec? We've been worried sick. And how did you know to find me here?" I ask the last part with narrowed eyes, not liking the energy I feel coming from him.
"A little birdie told me you'd be here...so here I am..." He answers, and I suddenly hear the the sound of running feet coming up behind me.
"Alec!!! Baby!" My mom calls out, and as she tries to get closer to Alec my father stops her, his eyes wide and nostrils flaring with disgust...and it makes me even more suspicious as Butch edges closer to me, a low growl rumbling from his chest.
"Sorry Alpha, Butch...we tried to keep them away..." Elliot begins...and I notice the presence of Chase, Dustin, and Haley as well before turning back to Alec.
"Hello mother...father...tell me is this how you usually treat family members? Surrounding them with angry wolves and keeping your distance?" He asks, feigning offense with an equally fake smile.
"Andrei, let me go, I want to see my baby!" Mom argues, and at that precise moment, the wind shifts direction and hits my face...carrying a foul stench that makes my eyes water and my nose burn.
No...
"Don't let her go dad..." I tell him, and mom turns to me in surprise.
"What do you mean Tempest?! He's your brother!" She exclaims.
"That thing may look like Alec, but my brother isn't in control anymore." I reply with a hard voice, glaring at the thing wearing my brothers body like a suit. His eyes go from black to a bloody crimson, his dark smile exposing descended fangs that make him look like an animal.
"I should've known that you were too smart to be fooled by my act...unlike your naive little brother." He taunts, and I let out an angry sound and step towards him, Butch grabbing my wrist to keep me from getting closer.
"What do you want with my brother?" I growl out, but the creature only smiles wider.
"Outside of being my temporary vessel, your pathetic brother has no other use to me..." He pauses as I step forward again, and this time I can feel my mate wrap his arms around my waist, "However...he does have one last benefit for me..."
"And what is that?" I ask with gritted teeth.
"You." He answers, and a chorus of growls ring out through the trees, none of the wolves in earshot taking kindly to a threat against their future Luna...especially not Butch, I can feel his body shaking as he fights the urge to shift.
"I would call your dogs off if I were you sis...you wouldn't want them to hurt your brother now...would you? I can survive without his body...but he can't." He smirks, tapping his head as he mentions my brother, and I sigh in frustration.
~Don't attack him...please, if my brothers body is destroyed he'll die...and that thing controlling him will just find another host to take over.~ I ask through the mind link, and I can feel Butch reluctantly calm down a bit and pass along my message.
"You really are mated to the brat of that Alpha mutt...they listened to you without a second thought." He chuckles, and I squeeze the hand of my growling mate as he tries to ignore the disrespect he was just given.
"What do you want?" I repeat, and he sighs.
"In short...you. I'm not talking about your body being my new vessel or that trivial bullshit, but your magic...all of it." He explains, and I hold in a gasp.
"You see...a very long time ago I had a run in with your Great Aunt Serena...and she nearly destroyed me. She damaged me so badly and took so much of my power away that I became a pale shadow of what I used to be...leaving me so weak that I've had to attach myself to witches just so I can survive..." He pauses, his frown becoming a smile, "I swore to get vengeance on that broad one day...and much to my pleasant surprise, I happened to find your brother here...his mind completely open to take over considering how much darkness had consumed him..."
"What are you talking about?!" Mom yells, her eyes watering already. I bite my tongue as I realize that this is where the truth was coming out...whether I liked it or not.
"You mean...did Tempest not tell you? Did you honestly not tell mother about what your little brother was doing before he disappeared two years ago?" He scolds with a satisfied smile, and I can feel everyone's eyes turn to me questioningly...including my parents.
"What is he talking about Tempest?" Mom asks, and I sigh.
"Shortly before Alec left...he started acting different. Staying out late without telling anyone...sleeping and eating less...I was getting worried. Then one night...one night he told me why..." I swallow hard, trying not to let the memory of what happened distract me.
"He...he had been practicing dark magic..." I admit, and moms gasp drowns out the others reactions.
"He showed me one of the products of his spells...it was his familiar Beaux...he had used a reanimation spell to bring him back to life..."
I try to push out how grotesque that sight was...seeing the poor Shetland sheep dog moving distortedly, his slightly broken body being moved by my brothers actions, manipulating the dog like a puppet on strings as the thing stared up at me with dead eyes...
The dog had saved Alec from being hit by a car, which ended up killing Beaux...and the worst part was that Alec saw him die...and wasn't able to do anything to save him in return. I couldn't blame him though for wanting his familiar back...but that creature he brought back from death wasn't his familiar anymore...it was a corpse tied to strings, an empty shell that didn't belong in this world.
Rule 26: Dark magic is evil, never use it.
"Why didn't you tell me?! Why did you keep it a secret?!" Mom cries...and I turn to her quickly, trying to keep my own guilt at bay.
"I didn't keep it a secret!! I told Aunt Serena the next morning to see if she could help him...and she told me that it was imperative that a cleansing spell be used on him immediately. I went to get him, ready to drag him to Serena by any means necessary, but he was gone...he left a note saying he was leaving and needed time to think...and never came home..."
Before mom can speak, the thing controlling Alec clears its throat.
"As informative as this has been, perhaps I should continue to the part where I took possession of his body so I could have a little chit chat with you...and give you a little ultimatum." He drawls, and heart races in my chest.
"And what is it?" I ask, and he smirks.
"Turn your magic over to me willingly and I'll let your brother go...if not, I drain it from your brother instead...even though you are more powerful by comparison...he has enough to repair the damage Serena caused...the choice is yours dear Tempest." He disappears into the night with a teleportation spell, and the silence that's left in his wake is deafening.
"I'm not letting him take your magic away babydoll...I promise. We'll find a way to get rid of that monster without hurting your brother." Butch says fiercely, gripping me like he fears I'll vanish. I curl my hand in his, my head spinning.
"I'm sorry mom...dad...I should've told you-"
"You don't have to apologize baby...it's not your fault..." Mom interrupts, and dad nods while escorting her back to the house so she can sit down. I lean back in Butch's arms as he continues to hold me, feeling a bit better as his warmth seeps through my skin and his scent of blackberries and thyme helping my headache...and drown out the stench of death that still lingers here.
"I don't know how he got on our territory without alerting the patrol earlier, but we're going to make damn sure he doesn't do it again..." Butch's dad growls, and his words send a flash of realization through me.
"I know how...the rogues you killed the night I came here the first time...where did you destroy the remains?" I turn to him, my serious question kind of catching him off guard.
"We burned them out in the scorching area...why?" He asks
"That thing has been using cannibal rogues infected and controlled with dark magic to attack your pack and concentrate dark magic on your territory...that's why the wolves that came to my home the other night didn't attack me even though they could have. My house is guarded against anything infected with dark magic...so they couldn't pass the protection barrier I put in place." Everyone's eyes widen in shock.
"I need to go to that place immediately, if you burned them there, then that's where the dark magic is concentrated the most." I continue, "and casting a purification spell from there will be the best way to seal out any dark magic." He nods and leads me to the place where they destroy the rogue corpses...and I nearly puke at the putrid stench of rot and decay.
"Babydoll? Are you alright?" Butch asks, holding onto my doubled over form.
"I'm fine...it's just the smell...dark magic has definitely been concentrated here." I explain, and he looks at me with confusion.
"When...when dark magic infects something or someone, it leaves the smell of death on them. It's why Alec smelled like death...and why the thing that's holding him used creatures that already smell dead to transfer his magic here...you would never tell the difference, and they would be destroyed in a place that would make them smell worse..." I say through gritted teeth.
"Have you ever smelled this in a weird place? Like in the middle of a busy street or inside a new building? It means that someone or something used dark magic there recently." I add on, and by the look on their faces they know exactly what I'm talking about.
"What do you need babydoll?" Butch asks, and I smile.
"Just my purse, I can handle the other things." He nods and sprints back to the house, returning with my large purse less than two minutes later. I smile and immediately begin pulling my needed materials out, and they all give me a look as I pull out things like candles, a lighter, and my meditation mat. I chuckle and decide to let them in on a secret.
"Exspansion spells and weight charms, I can hide anything from books, to spare clothes-"
"Jimmy Hoffa?" Chase jokes, and I laugh with them.
"Actually, the space is big enough to hold two people...so someone could jump in their to hide and I could tote it around like it has nothing in it." I ponder, and everyone gives me a stunned look.
"So, in short terms. My purse is like the Tardis, it's bigger on the inside." Butch's impressed expression makes me blush a bit before I go back to the task at hand.
"Affer mihi de libro meo." I summon, and my spell book immediately appears in my hands. Everyone jumps a bit in surprise, but I decide to tell them what I did later...this is much more urgent.
I roll out my mat and circle the white candles around it, lighting them after I sit down in the center of the scorching area with my book in hand.
"Do we need to move babydoll?" My worried mate asks, and I shake my head.
"Stay right there, considering you guys have come in contact with the infected rogues, you being right here will automatically cleanse you too." I immediately focus on my magic after that, letting my spell take life.
"Protege terram hanc a tenebris vetiti, Semini tuo dabo terram aliquo malo, quod est occultatum!"
The marks appear on my body as my spell is cast, and it starts sending pulses of white energy and smoke from the burning candles out over the pack land entirely, and I can see the others shiver as the pulses pass through them...taking any dark energy with it.
"This is pretty amazing." Haley murmurs in awe, and as the spell spreads further over the territory I can feel a bit of tiredness take over me...the strain of casting a spell over a wide area taking its toll. As it finally reaches the edge of the pack lands I slump over a bit, and Butch worriedly comes near me.
"Tempest? You okay?" He asks, and I nod as I put out the candles so he can get closer.
"I'm fine...it's just larger areas take more energy out of me..." I mumble, and I already know what's coming when I feel him scoop me up in his arms, choosing to lean my head against his shoulder as he begins walking.
"That was incredible babydoll...now I'm taking you home to rest." He murmurs, and I just nod.
If the demon wants a fight, I'm going to give it to him...because there's no way in hell he's hurting my brother.