37
Karin passed the vial around and collected blood from everyone who'd agreed to help her. Midnight was approaching fast, and she felt John coming to them. It started as a vague ache and ended up as stabbing pain as he drove up. She hid the vial away and her friends melted into the trees. He couldn't know they were there, until it was too late to stop what she was about to put in motion. If her brother walked away from this, he wouldn't be the same man, and how she knew him well enough to know that losing his power would kill him.
"Where is the crystal?" The moonlight painted his face in molten silver and she shivered at her core.
"I buried it."
"Where?" This was John talking, which made it dead easy to proceed.
"With Francis."
Rob shrunk back slightly. "You can't be serious."
Karin pushed her lips into a smile. "Oh, but I am."
"Dig it up."
She felt his compulsion spell try to peel through her wards, but she was well protected by the Crowhaven witches, one Conant, a Blake, and the last Balcoin in her line. "Why should I? You have enough power, John."
The air darkened around her and she felt him trying to squeeze her into a mental fist. "It's never enough, Sibyl."
"That's where you're wrong."
Her connection with the others surged, and John stumbled back in surprise. "What have you done?"
Karin unstopped the vial and mixed it with the herbs she held in her other hand. "What I should have done a long time ago."
"W-what do you mean?" Rob looked stunned as she crushed the concoction in her left hand and swallowed it.
Karin almost choked on the blood, but the fear on his face was worth the bitter taste. "It ends here, John. You were never meant to be on this plane."
She started walking toward the cemetery, and he followed her like a trained monkey. "And you were?"
Karin turned back for a moment. "Yes, it's my destiny."
"And what do the Fates tell you?" His voice was oily and she could feel John's power pulsing in his veins.
"Verðandi says I will win."
"I always hated that bitch." The words spit at her like nails and that's when she knew her friends had shown their hand. They gathered around her and fire encircled Rob as Karin bent to retrieve the Balcoin crystal.
"Is this what you're looking for, John?" Karin could barely stand to look at it as she unfolded her palm to show it off. Fire reflected in it, and scarlet beams painted the gathered witches in rusty sepia tones.
"How dare you mock me, Sibyl. It's obvious you aren't capable of wielding that much power," Rob said, his tone darkening as his coven started chanting in Latin.
"Perhaps not, but they are." Karin assembled her features into a smile and cut her palm with Rob's ceremonial dagger. Her blood dripped down into the fire ring, turning it blue and citrine as the spell started to take hold.
The crystal burned at her, but she could feel John's essence seeping into her as they yanked his shade from Rob's body. He started to crow in triumph, his banshee wail piercing through her, but the others pushed with all their might and sent John's ghost straight into the crystal. For a moment, Karin could feel the weight of Francis and John pushing back, madly scrambling to gain a foothold, but in a split second, Cassie stepped forward and grabbed the crystal. Karin felt her focus all her energy, and the crystal exploded in her hands, shards of glass flying in every direction. Cassie cried out, and fell back against Adam, who anchored her shoulders as a mighty wind howled around them.
Karin was not deterred by the elements, and when the smoke cleared, she knew it was done. "He's gone," she said with finality, before her own spell came back at her and knocked her flat.