Bewitching The Dragon. Jane Kindred

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       Chapter 4

      She was still high priestess of this coven, and it was her duty to protect it. Ione squeezed Margot’s hand before ignoring her advice and heading into the atrium. Dev stood in the doorway, his body framed in sunlight, looking down at the paper in his hand.

      He turned as Ione neared the door and shook his head. “There’s no need to look. Someone was obviously going for shock value, and we don’t all need nightmares.”

      “This is my coven, Mr. Gideon, and I’m not some delicate flower.”

      Dev caught her arm as she tried to pass him and the surge of vibrational energy struck her once more—not sexual this time, thank heaven, but a powerful bolt like a warning that stopped her in her tracks.

      “Let go of me.”

      “Sorry.” Dev released her, looking shaken. “I’m just trying to spare you any more trauma than is necessary.”

      “Necessary?” Exactly what kind of trauma would be necessary?

      Dev held out the note. “I believe you were the target of this little act of terrorism.”

      Ione took it, unable to resist one last glance beyond him to the mangled thing that lay on the stone walkway. She looked swiftly away. Maybe he was right about this. Whatever the aim, she had no doubt this was an escalation of the message that had been intended with the dead birds left on her porch every morning for the past week. She’d been so focused on the summonses she hadn’t even noticed the absence of this morning’s “gift.”

      Her head swam as she tried to concentrate on the words written on a piece of parchment in the careful, talented hand of a calligrapher—in what appeared to be blood.

      “It’s ink.” Dev guessed at her assumption. “They obviously wanted it to look like blood, but it’s ink.”

      Ione breathed a little more easily and read the note aloud. “‘Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, I, Nemesis, intend to defend the following statements.’” She glanced up at Dev. “This nut is doing Martin Luther’s 95 Theses?”

      Dev nodded grimly. “Just ten, but they’re what I believe Americans would call ‘doozies.’”

      Ione continued. “‘One. When the Covent was established in the Canton du Valais in the Swiss Confederation in 1533, its aim was to illuminate the arcane as a complement to the glory of God, not to profane it.

      “‘Two. The practice of the Sacred Craft within the tenets of the Covent is the antithesis of the practice of evil.

      “‘Three. The thirteen founding families believed in purity of heart, purity of mind, purity of body, and purity of soul.

      “‘Four. There is therefore no place in the Covent for those who harbor evil within them.

      “‘Five. The high priestess of this coven has brought the stain of impure blood onto this body.’”

      Ione’s voice trailed off. The remaining theses were more than she could bring herself to read aloud.

      6. High Priestess Ione Carlisle, being of one of the venerable Covent families, has hidden the shameful secret that kept the Carlisle family from the ranks of the Covent for nearly four centuries: that she is of the blood of the accursed demoness Lilith.

      7. Impure blood cannot be tolerated, and the body of the Covent must be cleansed.

      8. Let her who pollutes the purity of the Covent be anathema and accursed.

      9. To allow Ione Carlisle to continue as the high priestess of the Sedona Coventry is an act of heresy against the Covent.

      The parchment shook in Ione’s hands.

      10. She who brings evil into the halls of the Covent shall be admitted only into the halls of death and hell.

      Dev quietly took it from her. “The writer of these words is obviously mentally unhinged, and the Covent doesn’t tolerate such harassment. But you’ll forgive me if I ask...is there any truth to the accusation?”

      Glancing up, expecting judgment and derision in his eyes, Ione was surprised to see compassion and concern instead. “That I carry the blood of a demon in my veins?” The weight of every self-recriminatory thought she’d been having for weeks pressed down on her. Every fear she’d had of losing everything was coming true. And she deserved it. She was tainted. “If my sister Theia’s research is to be believed, I’m afraid the answer is yes.”

      She felt deflated and empty after holding the secret inside for so long. Spoken aloud, it seemed commonplace, something that couldn’t possibly mean the end of everything she’d known. But it was.

      Ione drew back her shoulders. “I’ll save you the time and bother, Mr. Gideon. I just need to collect a few things before I go. If you want to have someone accompany me to make sure I’m not stealing any Covent property, I’ll understand.”

      “Collect a few things?” Dev frowned. “Where are you going?”

      Ione wrinkled her nose at him. “I—home, Mr. Gideon. I’d rather go quietly without a public spectacle. My coven deserves better, even if I don’t.”

      Dev lifted an eyebrow. “Miss Carlisle, you seem to be operating under the misapprehension that I endorse the agenda of this deranged person or persons calling themselves Nemesis and defiling the sacred grounds of this temple. I have no intention of asking you to step down. Not for this.

      “Depending on the outcome of my investigation, once concluded, if my recommendations to the Covent administration include electing a new high priest or priestess, it will be because of your involvement with the necromancer. Not because of some antiquated notion of impure blood.”

      Where had the smug prick gone? Was he actually being nice?

      “I’m confused. What this ‘Nemesis’ nut says is true—my ancestor was found guilty of having demon blood, and when a member of my family was discovered to have married one of her descendants, the Carlisles were expelled from the Covent. Doesn’t the Covent frown on dark magic?”

      Dev’s eyes were piercing. “Do you practice dark magic?”

      “If you’re asking about necromancy, of course not. But my affinity for magic clearly isn’t born of goodness and light. It’s...demonic.” The word felt bitter on her tongue.

      “There’s a world of difference between demon ancestry and what modern religion defines as demonic. It so happens that demonology was my area of focus at university. What we call a ‘demon’ these days is more accurately a malevolent energy. Anyone can cultivate such negative energy. One doesn’t have to be ‘possessed’ by some ancient spirit. In fact, it’s rather racist to suggest that what’s in a person’s СКАЧАТЬ