The Cult of Osiris: Book 2 in the Cedarstone Chronicles Read online

  “No thank you,” he said curtly. It was bad enough that he’d had to come to her in the first place, he would not be told to sit as well. “What were you doing in Wandworth this evening?”

  “I was taking the necessary steps to reclaim the territory,” she said. She sipped her tea, never taking her pale eyes from his.

  “I didn’t tell you to do that,” he replied quietly, trying not to lose his temper completely. He might be coven dynast, but she was the more powerful sorcerer and it wouldn’t do well to let her find that out. His position as dynast was flimsy as it was.

  “I didn’t need you to. I do not recognise your authority as coven dynast.” She placed her cup and saucer on the table next to her and folded her hands primly in her lap.

  “I am the coven dynast,” he said, shakily. He’d been having the same argument with Genevieve for months now. If he didn’t find a way to subdue her soon then he would be ousted and she would take his place. Many of the sorcerers were already losing faith in his ability to lead, they’d seen her get away with insubordination too many times.

  “The true coven dynast is Clara Winters. Only a Winters can rule this coven. Not you.” She said the last two words with utter disdain.

  “Clara left me in charge,” Adam argued. Clara didn’t want to rule, she’d made that clear so why was Genevieve so intent on her being dynast?

  “If Clara does not wish to be dynast then the coven should appoint her replacement. You cannot simply seize the position for yourself.”

  “I am the only member of this coven who remained by Arthur’s side during the cursed years,” Adam argued. The rest of the coven had run away, Genevieve included, only returning once the curse had been broken.

  “And look at the good your loyalty did him.”

  “Are you actually suggesting I had a hand in his death?” Adam asked in disbelief. There was only one person responsible for Arthur’s death and once Adam had gotten the coven under control he could concentrate on getting justice for his fallen leader.

  “Oh, don’t be absurd, you couldn’t harm a child. That much is perfectly clear.” She rose from her seat and crossed the room to the table on the far side, passing him on the way. He turned to face her, breathing deeply as he did. “We’ve been at war with the clan and the pack for several months now, and you have done nothing. Is that really what a dynast should do?” She opened the top drawer and pulled out a map of the town which she laid out on the table.

  “I’ve been trying to stop us from being at war.” Which you have made exceedingly difficult.”

  “The pack has territories which belong to this coven.” She marked Wandworth and Woodlands on her map with circular green stickers. “If you wish to be coven dynast then it is your responsibility to return those territories to us.”

  “We have more important things to worry about,” Adam said quietly. He knew that Elizabeth was about somewhere and didn’t want her to hear. He didn’t want to frighten her. Although she was 19 and was technically an adult she still looked like a child to him. She was far too timid for an adult.

  “You mean Nickolas Blackwood? He is not our concern. That is not our fight,” she said quickly and Adam thought he saw a hint of fear in her eyes.

  “He killed Arthur,” Adam said in a low growl.

  “And have you learned nothing from that? The coven dynast has a duty to protect the coven and do what is in the coven’s best interests. I can assure you that it is not in the coven’s best interests to start a fight with a man who cannot be killed.”

  “The coven woke Nick up. We released him into the world. It’s our responsibility to stop him.”

  “No, it isn’t. Nickolas is not even in town anymore. He is not our concern,” she spoke gently but her voice had no comfort. “Now, I have been more than patient with you Adam but if you continue down this path of recklessness I will have you expelled from the coven and then you will realise how little a dynast you really are. It is late and I must ask you to leave.” Genevieve turned slowly and strode from the room. Adam stood for a moment, absorbing the threat that he’d been given and then with no other choice, he left the house.

  Once he was outside he tried to laugh off the woman’s words but found that he couldn’t. The problem was he believed she was more than capable of fulfilling her threat, which meant that he had to find a way to either get her in line or remove her before she removed him. It would be a lot easier to deal with the opposition in the coven if he had his wife by his side. The main problem he faced was that he had not been a member of the coven until after the curse. He had been hit by the curse when he visited the town and had then stayed to help Arthur break the curse. Nicole, on the other hand, had been a member of the coven from birth. But she’d turned her back on the coven and wanted nothing to do with it. She believed that having any involvement with the occult put her and their son Tommy in danger. Adam knew that if he could convince her to change her mind then he would be able to win over more people, but it was an impossible task.

  As soon as Adam arrived home he saw Tommy sitting sullenly on the stairs. He was ten years old but in Adam’s eyes, he was still the same six-year-old boy he’d met four years ago.

  “What are you still doing up?” Adam said looking at his watch. It was passed ten ‘o’ clock.

  “I wanted to say goodnight to you,” Tommy said and shrugged. Adam forgot about Genevieve in an instant and smiled widely at the boy. Tommy was only his by adoption, Nicole had fallen pregnant from a previous boyfriend, but Adam loved him as if he was his own. He’d been the boy’s dad for three years but he felt as if he’d known him his whole life; that was how he knew Tommy wanted more than to say goodnight. Besides, he was passed the age of staying up for a goodnight kiss.

  “Is that all you wanted to say to me?” he asked gently. He always tried to be the softer parent; Nicole was the strict one.

  “No,” Tommy shook his head.

  “What else?”

  “Something happened again today,” Tommy said and it made Adam sick to see that they boy was ashamed. Over the last couple of weeks, Tommy’s powers had been coming through. It usually started between the ages of twelve and fourteen but sometimes it started early, and that was clearly the case with Tommy. The first showing had been over breakfast when Tommy had asked for milk but nobody heard him and the milk bottle started to slide its way across the table on its own. Adam had been so happy to see that the curse hadn’t robbed the child of his powers completely but Nicole had a different mind about the situation. Nicole had been born during the curse and had never had magic. She’d never wanted any part in the supernatural and had made that clear. When the curse, broke her powers had started to show in much the same way as Tommy’s but she had suppressed them and wanted Tommy to do so as well. She told him off when he tapped into his magic even though he couldn’t help it, he didn’t know how to control it and she wouldn’t let Adam teach him. Adam had tried reasoning with her on numerous occasions but she wouldn’t budge.

  “What happened?” Adam asked. He climbed the stairs and sat down next to Tommy.

  “I wanted to watch Fairly Odd Parents so I changed the channel with magic,” Tommy whispered, frightened Nicole would hear and tell him off for even talking about it. She had done so in the past.

  “Deliberately?” Adam asked hopefully. If Tommy was learning to control his powers already, after just a few weeks and no training, then he had a prodigy on his hands.

  Tommy shook his head. “I didn’t mean to. I know it’s naughty.”

  “Hey, don’t say that,” Adam said, sitting down next to him “There is nothing naughty about using your powers Tommy, it’s what you’re supposed to do. Your mum’s just being silly. She’ll come round eventually.”

  “No, she won’t,” Nicole said as she emerged from the living room. “Tommy go to bed.”

  Tommy muttered a goodnight and then scurried away upstairs. Adam watched him go and then turned to Nicole with resentment.

  “Nicole y
ou can’t do this to him. If you want to deny what you are then fine but you can’t do the same to him,” Adam said, practically spitting the words at her as he descended the stairs.

  “I’m his mother I can do whatever I want,” she said stubbornly. She headed to the kitchen and Adam followed.

  “He’s a sorcerer Nicole and he could turn out to be a bloody powerful one. His powers have shown so early. Do you have any idea how rare that is?” Adam tried to explain but it was clear from her face that she was having none of it.

  “He could turn out to be dead,” she retorted. “It’s not exactly safe to be a sorcerer in this town is it? Fighting with werewolves, vampires, humans and don’t forget Nick-Bloody-Blackwood.” As she spoke she pulled out a loaf of bread roughly and started making lunches for tomorrow.

  “He’s not in danger from any one of them, he’s a child.”

  “I don’t think Nick cares about his age.”

  “Tommy is in no danger from Nick,” Adam said.

  “That’s what Arthur thought and he’s dead.” Her words stung. Adam had left Arthur to face Nick alone. Maybe if he’d been there he could have helped him. Or maybe they’d both be dead instead.

  “That’s different. Arthur was working with Nick and Nick isn’t even in town anymore,” Adam said, knowing full well that he would be back, but Nicole didn’t need to know that.

  “I don’t care. The werewolves and the vampires are. I’d rather you stayed out of as well but you won’t listen to me,” she mumbled as she heaped butter onto the bread. As she spoke the last sentence her anger melted away and showed desperation.

  “I’m the dynast I can’t walk away. I’ve worked too hard for the last four years to break the curse and get my powers back to just give it all up.”

  “You can walk away, that old bag Genevieve would be more than happy to take your place.”

  “I don’t want to walk away Nicki. My place is in the coven. So is yours.”

  “Don’t tell me where my place is you arrogant dick,” she said, her anger resurfacing. “Being a part of that coven is too dangerous, sooner or later everyone ends up dead, you’re lucky you’re still alive.”

  “It isn’t luck, it’s skill. I know what I’m doing,” he said. Arthur was a more skilled sorcerer than he was ever likely to be and he hadn’t survived, but then Adam would never have gone one on one with an immortal warlock.

  “I don’t want my son involved in it,” she said.

  “He has a right to make his own choice.”

  “Not until he’s sixteen he doesn’t. I’m his mum, I get to decide for him.”

  “I’m his dad,” Adam replied feebly.

  “No, you’re not,” she said viciously. Adam opened his mouth but nothing came out. She’d never said anything half as cruel before. “You can sleep on the sofa tonight,” she said and stormed out of the room.

  “She threatened to expel you?” Toni said, the next day at work.

  “Yea, can you believe it?” Adam shook his head as he ripped open a sachet and poured sugar into his cup. “I have no idea how to deal with this woman.”

  “I don’t really know what to suggest.” Of all the sorcerers that had returned to Cedarstone in the last few months, Toni was the one whom Adam had gelled with the most. They were about the same age, had a similar sense of humour and had common interests. They both had a passion for the history of the occult and she had even secured a job at the occult museum that he worked at. Toni was the only member of the coven who fully accepted Adam as dynast. Most of the others had their reservations even if they hadn’t voiced them yet.

  “Maybe I should expel her,” Adam said, only half joking.

  “Ha! You know that wouldn’t work. If you force the coven to choose they’ll choose her. Not because they like her or think she should be dynast, but because she scares the fuck out of them,” Toni said.

  “And there’s the problem, no matter what she does I can’t punish her. She’s scarier than me and she’s more powerful than me,” said Adam. Her victory seemed inevitable. It was like he was only dynast because she hadn’t deposed him already, but she could at any moment. He could imagine how happy Nicole would be if she did force him from the coven.

  “But you have a better claim. You are the only one who was here during the cursed years. You helped break the curse. Where was she? If she forces a choosing remind everyone of that. It’s the best card you’ve got,” said Toni.

  “It’s the only card I’ve got,” Adam said and gave a bitter laugh.

  Toni leaned forward in her seat so the other diners in the canteen couldn’t hear her. “You know, you could always make a deal with the vampires, arrange for her to have an accident.”

  Adam didn’t know what to stay. He stared at her blankly, trying to find an answer to her suggestion. It was tempting but he didn’t think he had it in him to carry it out. Besides, what could he offer the vampires? They had been arguing over the Hanley ward, maybe if he gave up the coven’s claim to it then Richard Morgan would grant him a favour. But it wasn’t the right thing to do. He’d never win the confidence of his coven by causing his opponents to disappear behind the scenes. They’d fear him the way they feared Genevieve. He wanted respect, not fear. He had to deal with his rivals publicly. He was about to tell Toni that when she suddenly burst out laughing.

  “Your face!” she said. “You actually thought I was being serious. Like you’re the godfather or something.”

  “That wasn’t funny,” Adam said, smiling in spite of it.

  “It was. Come on, lunchtime’s over.”

  When Adam got back to his office he was thrilled to find that the delivery he’d been waiting for had finally turned up. On top of his cluttered desk was an old wooden box labelled Montford Artefacts. The Montford family had resided in Cedarstone for generations, spanning over hundreds of years, it was quite possible that they were the oldest family in town. Frederik Montford was one of the few councillors who had survived the recent slaughter and as a means to try and win favour from the coven he had promised Adam several of his family heirlooms for the museum. That offer had been made so long ago that Adam had thought it had been an empty promise, but now the box was right in front of him. He lifted off the heavy lid and peered inside. He let out an excited giggle at the contents. There was enough here to make a small exhibition on the Montford Warlock. The Montford family were all human except for one man, Henry Montford. Henry had stolen power through ritual sacrifice and become a warlock. That was over 100 years ago and he was long dead, hunted and killed by the coven that Adam now led. Back then the coven had been strong and they responded to intruders and law breakers swiftly. Henry Montford may be dead but his possessions remained.

  The first item Adam pulled out was a simple silver chalice, a pentacle was engraved on one side. It was in need of a polish but was otherwise in perfect condition. Adam cleared a space on top of his bookshelf and set the chalice down. Next, he pulled out a set of rusted manacles. They would have been enchanted by Henry’s mentor no doubt, to block a sorcerer’s powers so that he could subdue them long enough for the ritual. The identity of Henry’s mentor was the biggest mystery of the Montford story, nobody had ever come close to solving the puzzle. The problem was it could have been any sorcerer and Cedarstone had almost always been full of those. Adam couldn’t feel any power in the manacles now, whatever power they had held was now gone. Adam reached back in and took out a thin silver chain with a pentacle pendant attached, clearly the pentacle was a favourite of Henry’s. Usually, the overuse of the pentacle would have screamed amateur to Adam; many wannabe sorcerers incorporated the pentacle in their workings. There were whole groups of humans who played with incense and wore pentacles thinking it made them witches; many of them had adopted the term Wiccan, but they were no more a sorcerer than any other human. Henry, however, was no amateur, so why he had been fascinated with the pentacle was another mystery to add to the book.

  Adam laid the necklace on the shelf with the o
ther items and then pulled out the best object so far: the athame. The blade was about five inches in length and made of a silver plated metal. The grip was twisted black leather with a pentacle cut into the material. Adam weighed the athame in his hands, it was heavy, much heavier than the average dagger. Adam couldn’t believe that he was holding what would have been Henry Montford’s most prized possession in his hands. Every warlock had an object that they used to collect power, most used an athame, and this was Henry’s. The power of every sorcerer he had ever sacrificed had been held in the athame. All that power had been released by the coven when they killed Henry and it now most likely remained in the location of his death: Montford Manor.

  The Montford family had abandoned the house after Henry’s antics and never returned, except to clear out family heirlooms and such. They were a pompous and anti-supernatural family, like many of Cedarstone’s upper-class citizens. The house had sat disused at the top of town ever since. Adam would have loved to visit the site but who knew what spirits resided there. Henry had used the house as the location for all his sacrifices and nobody knew exactly how many had been murdered there. It was the definition of a haunted house and according to the stories nobody who had gone in had ever come out again, although in Adam’s experience stories like that were never true. Adam laid the athame aside and pulled out the final artefact: Henry’s grimoire. It was a toss up between the grimoire and the athame for best object. The athame had held vast power but the book contained Henry’s secrets, it might even reveal who his mentor was all those years ago. It was all ancient history now but Adam would still like to know. The grimoire was a small book, no larger than an A5 journal, its cover was made of brown leather over a hardback. Once again the pentacle made an appearance and had been drawn on the front.

  He was about to open the book when Toni walked in without even knocking, as usual. She had a large book clutched in her arms and an excited look on her face. “I think I found a solution,” she said and dropped the book roughly on Adam’s desk. She pulled it open to a page which read The Dynast Ritual across the top.