Daughters of Creation

Chapter Nine: Brontide

"The low rumble of distant thunder"
—Brontide

October 14

Millicent cornered Rosalyn the minute they got back into the apartment. Her older sister looked frazzled; green eyes shifting, her left hand hidden from view the minute she, Emrie Michele, and Ezra walked out of the forest. Something had happened—and she was going to find out what.

"Lys," she quickly spun runes around her sister, keeping her locked in place. Rosalyn frowned from her frozen state. "You can't run away."

"Obviously, you've got me glued to this spot. I'd make you release me, but I would do the same if our roles were reversed."

Millicent huffed. "I'm glad you see it that way."

Her sister's arms crossed as she waited. Millicent moved around her sister, stopping once she was in front. Rosalyn's hand remained hidden, shoved into her pocket. Her fingers twitched. She grabbed Rosalyn's wrist and brought her hand out of her pocket before flipping her palm over. Millicent couldn't hold back her gasp. The breath knocked out of her.

"Oh, Rosalyn, what is this? What happened?" An angry red sigil was burned into her sister's right hand.

"Ri, Hari, and I had found a book with the older sigils for the Originals. When I brushed my hand over the page I felt a searing pain lance through ... a type of pain I have never felt before. I blacked out almost instantly. That's when Ri was sucked into another vision." Rosalyn's voice was soft, like she had come to terms with what had happened. "Ri saw it was the same man from her first vision. But, that wasn't the worst part. He's seen my soul, Mila.I fought his darkness. It had been inside me, searching for my soul from within my own body. Do you know how disgusted I feel right now? Oh, I've come to terms with what's happened but I'm going to return all that he's done to me tenfold."

"Does Hari know?" is all she can manage to choke out. Her vision began to swim and Millicent knew she was going to cry. Rosalyn was all she had left in the world. She couldn't lose her.

Rosalyn smiles wearily. "If not, then he'll know soon. Ezra's gone to see him. He'll know within the hour."

Millicent lets the runes go, feeling the energy of them ebb from her conscious. Rosalyn stumbled from the release, but she was quick to gather Rosalyn in her arms. Though she was older, Millicent couldn't believe how fragile her sister was in her arms since Rosalyn was anything but fragile. She squeezd her eyes shut. Rosalyn shifted, her own arms wrapping around Millicent, holding her just as tightly.

"Do you see why I didn't want to tell you?"

"I don't care, damnit! You're my freaking sister, Lys! Whether good or bad I want to know." Millicent growls, drawing back to stare furiously down at her.

"I know ... I know, I'm sorry for making you worry."

"You can make me worry every waking moment and I wouldn't trade it if it meant not knowing what was happening." She replied heatedly.

Rosalyn's green eyes brighten, the tension in her shoulders easing. "Thank you, Mila, sanguis sanguinem meum."

Blood of my blood. Millicent's body flushes with fire. They were family, the same blood flowed inside them. She whispered back, "Sanguis sanguinem meum."

Rosalyn touched her cheek, fingers gently caressing before she stepped away. "I need a shower. I feel like I need to bathe in bleach—or deeply lather myself in lotion."

Millicent watched her sister leave, the scent of peaches and vanilla remaining.

Dana held her hand tightly, the gesture comforting. Her knuckles were white from the pressure she gripped Dana's hand. It was no easier hearing Rosalyn's and Emrie Michele's tale a second time. She at least knew what was coming. The atmosphere around the table was exactly the same as the first time Emrie Michele had shared her first vision about the man shrouded in darkness.