Read Online Scenting Hallowed Blood by Storm Constantine - Free Book Online Page B

her power. Tamara felt desperate. She had to find
out who this female figure was. She had to see her face. But even
as she strained her concentration, the images began to break up in
the pool. Only the sound of bells remained. Tamara knew the bells
belonged to the dark one; gentle chimes like those worn at the
ankles of sacred dancers. As she stared at the pool, it regained
its normal appearance of a hard and glassy surface, like a mirror.
Tamara’s own entranced face stared back at her. She felt a pain
begin somewhere behind her eyes.
    Although all the other women
had finished their scrying some minutes earlier, Meggie, out of
politeness, waited for Tamara to return to normal consciousness at
her own pace. Trance was not a thing to be interrupted. Tamara
seemed to become aware that her sisters were all sitting staring at
her. She was breathing heavily and her limbs were shaking. She
glanced up at Meggie with quick eyes. For a moment, Meggie was
unnerved. There was something in Tamara’s expression she didn’t
like, some hint of excitement or truculence, that flared out of her
eyes before she could smother it.
    ‘We shall return to the house
to discuss our findings,’ Meggie said, still holding Tamara with
her eyes. The younger woman lowered her lashes, and there was a
faint smile on her face as she rose to her feet.
    Tom Penhaligon had prepared tea
and hot food as usual, but there was a tense air around the kitchen
table that night. Meggie did not feel hungry, even though the
scones before her were fresh from the oven, exuding tendrils of
delicious scent. She realised she would very much have liked to
down a jug of Tom’s cider rather than tea. What was wrong? Agatha
fidgeted and kicked her chair; a sound which filled Meggie with
irritation. Tamara’s cheeks were faintly flushed along the bone.
She had the look of a woman who nursed a secret, who had recently
come from the bed of an illicit lover.
    The women discussed what they
had seen within the pool. Most had picked up the names again, and
had glimpsed an image of High Crag, which seemed to confirm
Shemyaza would either be drawn or taken there.
    Tamara listened to the
discussion, but added no comments of her own. In fact, she could
not have spoken if she’d wanted to. She knew she had been the only
one to see the future in the pool. No-one else had seen the
beautiful Shemyaza poised upon the edge of a cliff, his golden hair
flying back in the claws of the wind, the waves thundering beneath
him. No-one had picked up the image of a woman superimposed over
Shemyaza, a woman of indescribable beauty and power; a goddess. If
the goddess withdrew from the Fallen One and hovered out over the
ocean, he would walk from the edge of the cliff to reach her. This
was important information. Tamara relived the things she had seen
and felt the stirrings of love, lust and a desire for power churn
within her. As usual, the Pelleth were being too cautious. They
talked of drawing Shemyaza to them once he reached Cornwall, and
seemed oblivious of the fact that, if he was in the nest of the
Grigori, their task might not be easy. Still, their plans were
irrelevant now. Tamara knew that Barbelo would be waiting for her
at home, to hear all about what had happened at the scrying pool.
Then, they could begin to formulate their own plans.
    Meggie was talking now of
preparing certain ancient sites for the advent of the Shining One.
‘When he comes, he will awaken the serpent, and the sites must be
primed to channel this power.’
    ‘Which sites?’ Tamara asked.
They had many to choose from.
    Meggie glanced at her sharply.
‘The Giant’s Bed, Ezekiel’s Mount and Serpent’s Bower at Enoch’s
Hall.’
    ‘Why not the Mermaid’s Cove at
High Crag?’ Tamara’s words conjured a stiff silence.
    Meggie blinked at the woman.
‘As you know, High Crag is forbidden territory. It belongs to the
Grigori, and the cove beneath it is no different.’
    Tamara shrugged. ‘True. Which
is perhaps why