Blackwing: Six of One, #1

By DeAnna C. Zankich

Kathryn Broch needs a vacation.

Between fronting a rock band, managing a complicated long-distance relationship, and casting spirits out of her younger brother, Kellan, she's got a lot on her plate. She longs for the quiet time at their cabin in Mount Iolite where the love of her life, and Kellan's best friend, anticipates their return. But Kathryn's path is never so easy. 

Kellan is a spirit vessel who believes he's meant to help all wayward entities--human or otherwise. Human souls seek the light, but darker spirits have a different agenda. Kathryn's outcaster arsenal is well-stocked, and deeply loyal aids are ever at her side, but the ferocity of Kellan's possessors grows. She needs more strength. In the darkness of a childhood memory, a massive power source waits for Kathryn, but reaching it will force her into the depths of her own fear.

A convergence of ley lines draws all manner of entities to tranquil Mount Iolite. Kathryn and Kellan go there to rest, but an old enemy gets wind of their return--and covets revenge on the outcaster. The Brochs' peaceful sanctuary, and those they love the most, are mortally threatened. Will Kathryn gain the power she needs in time to save it all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: DeAnna C. Zankich
• Release date: Aug 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9780999293508

Book preview

Prologue

Ragged moans jolted her awake.

Kathryn Broch opened her eyes in the dark. Had she really heard that or simply dreamt it? She’d been deeply asleep. The clock on the night table read 3:12am. Grandma Ginny told her the spirits moved freely at this wee hour, when the veil was thin along the ley lines under Mount Iolite. She’d called it the devil’s hour and told Kathryn to take special care; things were not as they seemed during that time.

She listened, but all was quiet in their cabin. Maybe she hadn’t heard anything after all. Kathryn settled back down and closed her eyes.

Loud and supplicating, the moans rang out again, through the wall between her bedroom and her little brother’s next door. It was Kellan for sure, his voice gravelly from sleep. But the quality of the sound had a yearning to it that she’d heard all too often since he’d reached puberty. Kathryn was instantly angry at being awakened by his selfishness. He was about to get a large piece of his big sister’s mind.

Throwing back the covers, she stomped out of bed in her flannel nightgown and bare feet. She yanked open her door then quickly listened for their father’s snoring down the hall in the master bedroom. Kellan’s moaning hadn’t yet woken him, but it was only a matter of time. She barged into her brother’s room at full boil.

Kathryn’s tirade stopped in her throat. A monster hovered over Kellan’s bed; a glowing green hag in a flowing dress of shredded black rags, its tentacles of filthy gray hair waving in the air. It rolled its bulging, bloodshot eyes in her direction. Kellan floated above the bed, moaning but clearly still asleep. His pajama bottoms were pushed down to his knees, his eager young cock suckled between the hag’s shriveled lips. Those terrible eyes glinted with chilling delight.

Kathryn knew this was a spirit—one Grandma Ginny would have called a succubus. It was old and strong and fed on the energy of human life. Since Kellan had matured into his vessel’s strength, he’d drawn all sorts of strange entities to him, all frightfully interested in his glowing light. Some wanted to feel its warmth; some wanted to slip inside him and wallow in it. This one seemed intent on consuming it.

Grandma told her that all these beings would fear Kathryn. An outcaster had but one purpose: to draw out any spirit that got inside her vessel and send it on to another dimension. This was essentially death to non-human spirits and they wanted no part of it—or her. Yet Kellan’s light was so enticing, many would risk her fury to touch it. Kathryn had been born an outcaster and knew the fundamentals of sending a spirit on, but at thirteen she had yet to attempt it.

The hag glowered as Kathryn’s colors became clear to it. Without taking its mouth from Kellan’s stiff member, it spoke inside Kathryn’s head.

Weakling. No warrior yet. You can’t touch me.

Kathryn heard her own voice inside her mind, deep and guttural; threatening. "But I can get rid of you. GO!" She felt heat in the center of her belly, growing and gathering strength. She shouted in her mind again for the hag to release her brother and that time, her silent voice seemed to have substance and weight. The hag flinched in pain.

It hissed at her hatefully then dropped Kellan onto the bed. The hag turned to face Kathryn standing in the doorway. There was a jagged scar marked deep into its left cheek in the shape of a crooked ‘W’; an image young Kathryn would never forget. Once again, the monster spoke like a cacophony of clattering metal in her mind.

Pissant. Die. It extended its twisted hands like claws and flew at her. DIE!

Kathryn raised her hands in front of her face like a shield, just like Grandma Ginny had taught her. Again, she commanded the hag to go. And a second later, it vanished.

She couldn’t believe it. Kathryn stood for a stunned moment scanning the room; the hag had indeed disappeared. But was it still there? She didn’t yet have enough experience to tell for sure. Kathryn crawled across the bed to get to her brother, lying there in a fitful sleep.

Kellan, can you hear me? She reached for the blankets to cover him as his privates were still exposed. Wake up. Kathryn watched his face closely, giving his thin shoulder a shake.

He groaned and shifted on the bed, then opened his honey-brown eyes. When he saw her, he sat bolt upright and threw his arms around her neck. He began to cry—something he hadn’t done since Grandma Ginny’s funeral three years earlier.

Alarmed, Kathryn held him and spoke in his ear. Are you all right?

I had a nightmare, he said in a hitching voice. There was… a monster.

Shh. She tried to soothe him but knew he could feel her still shaking with adrenalin. I made the monster go away.

An explosive gust of wind blew open the window next to Kellan’s bed. The hag lunged toward the children, arms outstretched like she intended to scoop them up. Kellan screamed into his sister’s shoulder. Kathryn had no time to think, she could only react from her gut. She threw up her hands and hollered for the hag to go. There was thunderous noise, the bed rattled on the wooden floor, and then Kathryn was running down the road behind the general store. How she got that far from the cabin in only a split second, she did not know.

She felt the cold of the late mountain night and sharp little stones in the dusty road under her bare feet. The hag was in flight in front of her, only a few feet ahead, barreling through the air toward a towering old-growth pine tree. Kathryn had a plan—the only plan she had access to at that point in her studies. She would bind this monster to that tree.

You are bound! she called out. The hag, still in fast flight, glared back at her and showed its broken teeth. You are bound! Kathryn gained ground and ran up behind the hag, close enough to smell the mildewed stench of its raggedy clothes. You are bound! She pushed her energy through her fingers, picturing the monster being consumed by the huge tree.

Kathryn closed her eyes, panting from exertion and fear. The night was crowded with animals, crickets and birds, conferring with each other about this sudden ruckus. She looked up at the tree.

The hag’s limbs poked from the gnarled brown trunk, its hideous face half melted into the bark. The one eye that was still exposed bulged and seethed at the young girl, standing strong on the dusty road at the tree’s roots. Succubus and outcaster stared each other down.

Under her breath and with every last ounce of conviction she possessed, Kathryn said, "You are bound."

The massive old tree swallowed the hag whole where it would remain for the rest of time.

Chapter One

Evening rain drummed like impatient fingers on the window overlooking the Grassmarket. Edinburgh was quiet that Sunday night as Kathryn blew her father a kiss through their Skype chat.

We’ll text you when we get to the cabin, she said. You and Maddie have a safe trip.

You guys, too. Resplendent in a brightly-colored Hawaiian shirt, Jackson Broch was well equipped to blend in with the other tourists on their cruise. He winked at his son sitting beside his sister in their living room. Try not to drive Kath nuts, all right?

Where’s the fun in that? Kellan laughed. Love you, Dad. Kisses to Maddie.

They waved as Jackson signed off. Kellan closed the laptop and flopped back into the sofa cushions. Bummer we’re going to miss them by a day.

We’re only in LA for one night on this end, anyway, Kath said. We’ll see them at Thanksgiving.

He looked at the clock hanging on their kitchen wall. "Mount Iolite in zero minus 36 hours, give or take. But I am not excited about that 12-hour flight."

At least we’re in premium this time, she said. Slightly less painful. Are you all packed?

Almost. His dark brown hair stuck up everywhere like he’d just got out of bed—and this was intentional. Kellan had learned that the messy thing made people want to play with his hair, something he very much enjoyed.

Well, get to it. She nudged his ribs. You’re the one that always makes us late, you big girl.

He heaved himself back up and headed for his bedroom. We have an hour?

Roughly. In the kitchen, Kathryn opened the fridge and tossed the remaining perishable items into the bin. Their friend, Mae, would be by to check on the flat over their three-month absence and Kath wanted everything clean for her.

From his bedroom, Kellan said, Evan can’t wait to see you.

Kath had no comment. She didn’t want to think about Evan MacTavish until she had to deal with him face to face. Trouble was, not thinking about him was simply impossible. In addition to being a required presence for her brother, he was never far from her own thoughts. Evan was the love of her life.

During a recent conversation, her stepmother, Maddie let slip that Evan had been by the cabin when they were in Mount Iolite in April. Maddie said Evan and Jackson had gone out for a drink on their own, which was distinctly odd. Since they’d married, Jackson never did anything social without his wife. Kathryn couldn’t think of any reason the two men would have gone out alone, other than Evan wanting a private audience with her father. He’d always said he would ask Jackson for his blessing before he proposed, but in light of how things had gone the last time she and Evan were together, Kathryn doubted this conversation had been about marriage.

Kellan had talked to Evan right before they got online with their father; she’d overheard his deep sexy voice on Kellan’s FaceTime. Kath missed Evan so much she ached, and knowing she would see him in less than two days had been making her queasy with anxiety. Their friendship would always be intact, but the patch of jagged rocks their romance hit last autumn made her fear it might never be resurrected. Only time and lots more talking would move them forward.

I’m gonna take a shower, she called out. Do you need the loo before I go in?

Nope, I’m good.

We should call for the car in forty-five minutes.

Copy that. In his room, she heard Kellan zipping his last suitcase. She knew he’d pack way more than she did and forget half of what he intended to bring. Her brother was a talented artist and a killingly handsome, witty young man, but he was also a scatterbrain. This was mostly due to his lifelong occupation as a beacon for wayward spirits.

From the moment he could move on his own, he’d been doing so in his sleep. Their parents thought it was a kid thing he’d eventually grow out of, but the events of one night when he was seven years old had planted a deep seed of doubt.

Kellan had wandered into the kitchen of their house in Laurel Canyon and opened the back door. And then he’d started to scream. He screamed and screamed until his voice ran out and then he tried to keep screaming through his torn, raw throat. His big brown eyes were blank, wide open, unseeing and he’d been feverish and trembling. Jackson and their mother, Michelle, didn’t know what to do with him or how to calm him.

During all the commotion, Kath kept staring at her brother because she swore she could see an ugly old man trying to swallow his head. She’d been afraid of that scary man and wished her parents would make him leave Kellan alone, but they told her they didn’t see him. It would be years before Kathryn understood why.

Their parents had taken Kellan to the emergency room, but the docs found nothing wrong with him. Kath had earnestly told the attending physician about the ugly man in hopes that he would do something about it, but the doctor couldn’t see the man, either. Michelle had told her to be quiet and let the doctor do his work. All the while, that ugly man was there, sort of wrapped around Kellan’s small body. It seemed to her that the man was trying to get inside her brother.

The doctors’ extensive tests found nothing physically wrong with Kellan. They concluded that the episode was brought on by childhood night terrors and wasn’t a permanent condition. They’d given him a mild sedative to keep him calm until it passed.

When Kellan finally returned to his normal self a few days later, he said a bad man had visited him and told him a terrible story. So terrible, that Kellan would never forget it as long as he lived. He hadn’t forgotten. And he’d also never told anyone what that story was—not even his sister.

What her brother had told her was that the ugly man finally left because he was too big to fit inside. That made a strange kind of sense to young Kathryn and she hadn’t questioned it. She was just glad that scary man was finally gone.

A few months later, Kath had taken her brother with her to the small library on their street and he’d wandered off while she was at the check-out desk. She’d searched for him everywhere in the building before one of the library employees found him in the ladies’ room.

He was standing in the middle of the bathroom facing the paper towel dispenser that hung on the wall. His eyes were glazed, his jaw slack, and tiny beads of sweat dotted his small brow. Kath had gently shaken him until he finally saw her.

Kellan frowned deeply and said, The lady threw her keys in the trash by accident. That’s why it happened. And then he’d fainted.

Kath hadn’t told her parents that she’d lost her brother for a few minutes or that random thing he said about some lady’s keys. She’d just taken him home and told them he’d had a fainting spell at the library. He was a small, over-active kid at that age and would sometimes forget to eat, making his blood sugar go wonky. He’d fainted before because of that. Kath told them she gave him a protein bar and then he’d seemed fine.

He was fine. He just wasn’t alone.

Sometime after 3:00am, she’d woken up suddenly to find him standing next to her bed. At least, she’d thought it was him until she saw the woman’s face transposed over his. She was dark-skinned and feral-eyed and had vivid gray streaks in her dark hair. She seemed to be grasping onto Kellan as though dangling off a sheer cliff by her fingernails. The woman had stared at Kath and slowly realized the little girl could see her. Then she frantically told Kath about the keys to her aunt’s apartment.

The woman was looking after her elderly aunt who needed help doing basic tasks. She would go by every day after she got off work. This one day, the woman went to the library next door to her aunt’s building to pick up some books for her nephew. She’d used the restroom there and, without knowing, dropped her keys in the trash bin under the paper towel dispenser after she’d washed her hands.

She’d been unable to get into her aunt’s apartment and had heard her aunt through the locked door calling for her to come help her. She’d fallen in the kitchen and hit her head on the counter. Her aunt was bleeding. The apartment was on the third floor and the woman couldn’t get to any of the windows to climb through them. The landlord had been called, but they wouldn’t be there for at least an hour. In that time, while the woman couldn’t get inside the apartment, her aunt had died from her injuries.

The woman had been devastated and destroyed by guilt. She’d thrown herself in front of a train downtown the night before her aunt’s funeral. She was afraid to go to the light because she couldn’t face her aunt on the other side.

Kath heard this whole tale in a split second, like the story had been downloaded rather than told. At nine years old, she didn’t know what she was supposed to do with this information, but she’d told the woman it was all right and she shouldn’t feel bad about what happened. It was an accident, nothing more. She was sure her aunt forgave her. It was okay to go to the light.

Kath hoped that would help the woman to leave her and her brother alone and, for the moment, she thought it had. A few days went by and Kellan seemed normal, just a little sluggish and tired. This was very unusual for him—a restless, rambunctious thing who never sat still. During those days, he asked to take naps instead of fighting against them.

That weekend, their parents took them to visit Grandma Ginny. Grandpa Jax had died two years before so Grandma was living in her big house all alone. She planned to move up to the cabin in Mount Iolite permanently, so the kids were spending lots of time with her beforehand. They adored her.

Ginny had waited until her son and Michelle left before she brought her grandchildren upstairs to her sewing room.

She took a large black wooden box out of a cabinet near the window and placed it between where the children sat on a green velvet settee. Ginny’s immaculate black curls framed her pretty face, and the bright colors in her flowered apron made her green eyes dance. Her expression had been serious.

Your brother has a spirit attachment, she’d told Kathryn. I knew this was going to happen, but I didn’t know when it would start.

Confused and alarmed, Kath asked what she meant.

Spirits will be drawn to Kellan, Ginny said. His light is very bright. They’ve probably tried to get in before this, but he’s still way too little. He’s not strong enough to contain them yet.

Kath remembered her brother saying the ugly scary man had moved off because he couldn’t fit inside. She told their grandmother this and Ginny nodded knowingly.

"This spirit managed to get in somehow and now it’s draining his energy. We have to get it out."

Kath didn’t understand how a spirit could get inside her brother in the first place, but she’d nodded in firm agreement about getting it the heck out. As she watched, Ginny took a round, flat black board out of the box. Kath saw markings all around it—the letters of the alphabet, a sun and a moon, and some other symbols she’d never seen.

Next, Ginny took out a green velvet bag that contained a polished black stone hanging from a silver chain. She’d put the board on the settee between the children, then held the chain high above the board so the stone dangled over it. Ginny closed her eyes. Her lips moved; Kath could just hear the words she murmured.

"Spirit, this is a child of the light. He cannot be bound by anyone or anything. You must release him. Come tell me your story on this board. I want to hear it. I can help you, spirit. She’d paused, her green eyes still closed. Kath saw her thick black lashes fluttering against her pale, lined cheeks. Come now, spirit. Come to this board."

Kath had been transfixed by Ginny face but when the stone began to sway, all her attention went there.

Ginny had opened her eyes to watch the direction the stone swung. It circled faster and faster, then side to side, changing course in mid-air. Kath scrutinized Ginny’s hold on the chain to see if she was moving the stone herself, but her grandmother’s hand remained perfectly still.

The whole time, little Kellan had sat quietly on the settee watching what was going on with his large honey-brown eyes wide and fascinated. At that moment, he sat up straight and spoke.

I want to keep him, he said, but it wasn’t his voice—at least, not entirely. It had the quality of age and the lilt of the feminine. Kellan’s scratchy little boy voice seemed to be braided together with this other.

And then Kath saw the dark-skinned woman again. She peered out over Kellan’s eyes, not through them, as though her eyes were trying to erase his.

Grandma Ginny… Kath said anxiously.

"Shh, it’s all right, love. She knows you see her. She knows I see her. And she knows she has to go. Ginny closed her eyes again and spoke to the spirit. You cannot keep this child. He belongs to us—his family. And you belong to your family. Go now, be with them. She paused, concentrating. Do you see the light, spirit? Do you see it? I’ve opened it behind you, just there."

Kath watched the woman’s face over her brother’s. Those feral eyes were wide with fear, but she turned to look behind her.

That’s it, Ginny said gently. Go to the light. There is love and safety in the light.

The woman threw one more desperate glance behind her, but finally began to recede. While Kath watched, Kellan’s little face slowly cleared. The woman was gone.

And the stone hung still.

Ginny released a long breath. She cupped Kellan’s face in her graceful hands. You okay, little man?

Okay, Grammy.

She’d kissed his small forehead and touched her cheeks to his—something she always told him she loved. Grandma said his cheeks were so warm, they were like little furnaces. Remember where I put those caramels?

His face bloomed in a smile. Yes!

Go get two for each of us to celebrate. Your sister and I will be down in just a minute. Go on!

Kellan had slid off the settee and scampered down the stairs to the kitchen.

Ginny put the board and the stone pendulum back in the black box before she took Kathryn’s hands in hers.

Do you understand what I did? How I helped that woman?

Kath swallowed, eyes round. I…

Ginny smiled gently. No, of course you don’t; I’m sorry. Don’t fret about it now. But I need you to understand that your brother is a spirit vessel.

That hadn’t sounded too good. What does that mean, Grandma?

It means that spirits—sometimes people, sometimes other things—can come into him and use his energy and his voice and his body to do things, or send messages. Inside him is a safe place to hold spirits that need to be sent elsewhere.

But, where?

It will be different for each of them. Ginny squeezed her granddaughter’s hands. You will learn to do what I just did, but you’ll have to find your own method. The board works for me because I’m not an outcaster, but you are. The method you use will come from inside yourself.

"I’m a what?"

An outcaster, Ginny repeated. More specifically, you are Kellan’s outcaster. I’ll teach you to cross these spirits over so you can get them out of your brother. I’m afraid this is meant to be your job, dear one.

Tears had welled up in her eyes. "How do you know?

Ginny sighed. I knew before you two were born because it runs through my side of the family. Every sixth generation of the Concanons, there’s been a vessel and outcaster born for almost a thousand years. As much as I’d hoped it wouldn’t be so, I knew when I saw your colors. He is the vessel, and you his outcaster—Kellan is dependent on you.

Kathryn didn’t know what to say or feel. She wiped at her wet cheeks miserably.

It means something else, too, Ginny went on. You must stay close together. These spirits cannot be allowed to remain inside Kellan for long. They could do terrible harm to him.

Wanting no part of any of this, Kathryn said, Do we have to do this? Can we say no?

Ginny pulled Kathryn into her lap then, held her and rocked her. Oh, honey. It’s very important to help the lost spirits get where they need to be. I hope that one day you’ll look at this as an honor and be grateful you and your brother were chosen.

Who chose us?

Grandma smiled into her eyes. The light, of course—or God, if that’s easier to understand. God chose your brother to take in the spirits because he’s open and gentle. He chose you to move them on because you’re so very strong.

She’d shaken her head hard as tears ran down her face. At nine years old, Kathryn didn’t feel the least bit strong.

Hush, baby, Ginny said. You’ll be fine. I won’t always be here to help you so you’ll need to learn what to do. And you’ll need to find others who know, too.

Others?

"Yes. Sometimes a spirit will choose Kellan that’s too big for you to move on by yourself. You’ll need help. So, wherever you go, start searching for helpers. These people are yours to find, Kathryn; they belong to you. God will make certain you find them—and I will help him bring them close to you."

Kath had tucked her face into the front of Ginny’s apron and sobbed. Ginny held her, soothed her, and then began to explain the things that would inform the rest of their lives.

Chapter Two

When Kath stepped out of the bathroom, the flat was too quiet. She knew she was alone. She hoped Kellan had just gone outside to have a cigarette, but her spider sense was tingling. His zipped suitcases were on his bed, the shoes he planned to wear on the plane were next to the night stand, and the heavy coat he should be wearing outside hung on the back of the desk chair. So, he was out there in the chilly Scottish night with no shoes and no coat. Terrific.

Kath anxiously checked the clock. Whatever was going on, she had to sort it in half an hour.

She towel-dried her long chestnut hair, then dressed quickly in jeans and a wool sweater. She tugged on her boots, grabbed Kellan’s coat and hers, and went out the door into the frigid evening.

Down on the street, she paused in the entryway of their building. The rain had stopped, but she saw her breath in the damp air. Kathryn closed her eyes. On a Sunday night, the pubs and restaurants in the Grassmarket weren’t as full as they could get, but there was still noise and bustle to block out.

When she was little, Grandma Ginny had given her a tool to help locate her brother, even if he was miles away. Kath had a strong inkling where he was, but she employed that tool anyway. They had no time to lollygag.

First she blocked out the street noise, then created a picture of the city from overhead in her mind. She centered her mental map close by because she knew he was on foot, and it had only been twenty minutes since she last saw him. She imagined she could see his essence as a strong amber light like the color of his eyes; Kath went searching.

Candlemaker Row, W Bow, Cowgate, Hunter’s Close—got him. She frowned, though. There was something in that dark little alley across from their building that wanted Kellan’s attention. It had pulled him there three times this month, but hadn’t yet attached itself. Her outcaster’s gut told her tonight was the night.

Kath trotted across the well-worn gray cobbles of the median and darted between the traffic in front of the Apex Hotel. Passing the raised circular stage that marked the location of the area’s historic gallows, she stopped before she entered the narrow, covered street called Hunter’s Close. It was dark and colder in there but the streetlight came through at the outlet.

In his pajama pants, t-shirt and house slippers, Kellan stood leaning against the damp stone wall, just staring down at the slick cobbled road beneath his feet.

Kathryn approached him and leaned on the wall at his side, barely touching his arm with hers. She’d learned that in this trance state, it was important not to startle him. This was a form of somnambulism and being jarred out of it could cause panic and disorientation. She spoke softly to her brother.

It’s me, Kell. Can you hear me?

It took him a few seconds, but his vacant gaze slowly began to clear. When he registered her face, a small smile lit his large dark eyes. Hey, sissy.

Hey. She returned his smile then held up his coat for him. Put this on.

He slipped into the garment without question; she took his arm in hers.

Let’s go back to the flat, little bro.

Okay. He seemed amenable enough, but was still in a fog. It usually took him a few minutes to refocus after a spirit slipped inside. At least he was coming with her without resisting. Sometimes when his guests realized that entering a vessel was a one-way ticket, they’d panic and put up a horrible fight.

She walked him back across the road and the median, and then to their building, but Kellan stopped at the foot of the stairs. He frowned up at the landing in front of their flat’s door.

Kath surveyed his face. What?

His expression was uneasy, but his eyes were clear and attentive again. Smoke me before you let me back in there. Something’s hitched.

She peered closely at him, but couldn’t see the being inside him. Kell, we have to go. We don’t have time for an extraction.

I know; I can hold it. Just tie it up.

Kath didn’t like that plan one bit, but