Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles 2)

“Then what? What does it mean?”

“I have no idea.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the device, but the black shadow shifted closer to us.

“I hate to bother you when you’re having so much fun with your watch, but what is that thing? A Sheer?”

She looked up from the spinning dials, her hand shaking in mine. “I wish. It’s a Vex. I’ve only read about them. I’ve never seen one, and I bloody well hoped I never would.”

“Fascinatin’. Why don’t we bolt and talk about this later?” The Doorwell was in sight, but Link was already turning around, willing to take his chances with the Dark Casters and creatures at Exile.

“Don’t run.” Liv put her hand on Link’s arm. “They can Travel, disappear and materialize anywhere faster than you can blink.”

“Like an Incubus.”

She nodded. “This could explain why we saw so many Sheers at Exile. It’s possible they were responding to some kind of disturbance in the natural order. The Vex is most likely that disturbance.”

“Speak English, real English.” Link was panicking.

“Vexes are part of the Demon world, the Underground. They’re the closest things to pure evil in the Caster or Mortal world.” Liv’s voice was shaky.

The Vex continued to move slightly, as if it was being blown by the wind. But it didn’t come any closer. It seemed to be waiting for something.

“They aren’t Sheers, ghosts as you call them. Vexes don’t have a physical being, unless they possess the living. They have to be summoned from the Underground by someone very powerful, for only the Darkest tasks.”

“Hello. We’re already underground.” Link didn’t take his eyes off the Vex.

“Not the kind of Underground I’m talking about.”

“What does it want with us?” Link risked a glance down the street, mentally calculating the distance to Exile.

The Vex began to move, dissolving into mist and back into shadow again.

“I think we’re about to find out.” I squeezed Liv’s hand, trembling in my own.

The black fog, the Vex itself, thrust forward like angry open jaws. And a sound, loud and shrill, erupted from deep within. It was impossible to describe—fierce and menacing like a roar, but terrifying like a scream. Lucille hissed, her ears flattening against her head. The sound intensified, and the Vex reared back, rising above us as if it was planning to attack. I pushed Liv to the ground and tried to shield her body with mine. I covered my neck, like I was about to be devoured by a grizzly bear instead of a body-snatching Demon.

I thought about my mom. Was this how she felt when she knew she was about to die?

I thought about Lena.

The scream reached a crescendo, and I heard another sound rising above it, a familiar voice. But it wasn’t my mother’s, or Lena’s.

“Dark Demon a the Devil, bend to Our will and leave this place!” I looked up and saw them standing behind us under the lamplight. She was holding a string of beads and bone in front of her like a crucifix, and they were gathered around her, glowing and luminous, with purpose in their eyes.

Amma and the Greats.

I can’t explain what it was like to see Amma and four generations of the spirits of her ancestors towering above her, like the faces from old black and white pictures. I recognized Ivy from the visions, her dark skin gleaming, dressed in a high-necked blouse and calico skirt. But she looked more intimidating than she had in the visions, and the only one who looked fiercer stood to her right, her hand on Ivy’s shoulder. She had a ring on every finger, and she was wearing a long dress that looked like it had been stitched from silk scarves, with a tiny bird embroidered on the shoulder. I was staring at Sulla the Prophet, and she made Amma look about as harmless as a Sunday school teacher.

There were two other women, most likely Aunt Delilah and Sister, and an old man, his face punished by the sun, standing in the back with a beard that would’ve put Moses to shame. Uncle Abner. I wished I had some Wild Turkey for him.

The Greats tightened their circle around Amma, chanting the same verse

again and again, in Gullah, the original language of her family. Amma repeated the same verse in English, shaking the beads and bone, shouting to the heavens.

“Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path.”

The Vex rose even higher, the fog and shadow circling and swirling above Amma and the Greats. Its scream was deafening, but Amma didn’t even flinch. She closed her eyes and raised her voice to meet the demonic cry.

“Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path.”