The Clearing: Origins

Chapter 34

Victor cursed himself through clenched teeth. He'd homed in on Aiofe due to her Irish name and hostile attitude, what one would expect from a diversion. His mind wandered as he fought the pain—hadn't an opponent bested Sherlock Holmes once? At least he was in good company with his monumental failure. 

Ally was the reason Aiofe had snubbed him, feeding the girl lies and deceits. She'd led him on, encouraging the belief by showing him what he wanted to see. And he'd fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

"I regret the pain, Victor!" Ally wrung her hands. "But it has to be this way. It wouldn't be an issue if the incompetent Four didn't bungle things so badly. I would've only needed the dagger. You'd be in stasis, oblivious to everything."

The Four, he thought. Princess was right.

Jason shrieked and rushed to his side, dropping to his knees next to his fallen brother. "We need an ambulance!" The boy fumbled with a phone Victor knew wouldn't work.

"Jason!" Lovedae rushed toward the foyer and crashed into an invisible barrier. "Victor!" She screeched as she saw him, her hands beating against the blockade. She turned to the jittery Ally. "Why? What did my son do to you?"

A sobbing Rosetta joined her mother, small hands reaching toward her brothers.

Ally looked at Lovedae with bewilderment. "Your son? He's my son, fathered by my husband. Craig was the closes iteration of my Buach, the sign Carys and I needed to create a permanent body." She laid a hand on her chest. "Victor wasn't born from this form. That body expired in the space between realms due to childbirth. But ultimately, Victor's life belongs to me because we created him as the last vessel, the perfect Englishman, just like Buach."

Lovedae snarled. "You might have given birth to him, but you're not a mother!"

"You don't understand! He'll fulfill Buach's promise. When Craig died, the spell should have transferred him into Victor's body," cried the faux receptionist. "But something went wrong, and I had to divert Craig's essence into a dying relation, Lyle, to save him. It drained me! Victor became the caretaker of the original heir until I built up enough energy to try again. I waited three years, creating a massive Disturbance for the transfer. Lyle would transport into the younger boy if it failed again until we could fix Victor."

"I ain't your backup plan!" shouted Jason.

"I know now that Carys plotted against me. It damaged the tree, knowing Victor would try to save it. It had him tapping into my magic using the tree as a transfiguration rod. Victor stole chunks of my power, weakening me again! That's when I knew I'd also need the dirk to complete the final transference!"

Ally turned to Victor, jabbing a finger at him. "It wasn't errors with the process. It was betrayal! I gave you life—how could you and Carys do this to me?" Bitter tears pooled in her eyes. "I've suffered for centuries, betrayed by those I trusted just to keep my beloved alive!"

Now Victor understood the premise of the two voices. Carys and Roisin, each with a different mission. "A... misguided quest," he muttered, repeating Little Vic's words.

Jason tossed aside his useless phone, wrapping his arms around Victor. "Only monsters murder their own!"

"But they were mine, created for that purpose." She gazed at the preteen with interest. "You've the look of the Irish about you, boy. Buach would've appreciated that if the transfer into Victor failed. But this time, it won't."

"Leave Jason... be," muttered Victor.

"I'm sorry, Victor, but you are years of planning that finally came to fruition." Ally kneeled next to the injured teen, the poppy red lips trembling. "Carys, the tutelary deity, was my teacher. It taught me how to live on through the essences of others when those asinine elders took our immortality. A deity has powers beyond anything I could muster. I gave you to her to modify and prepare you for becoming Buach's permanent vessel. I don't know what spell you cast to make it betray me, but no more. You will fulfill your destiny."