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incubator of microbes. Three drops precisely over each child. The infants shrieked as if burning embers had been dropped on their innocent newborn flesh. Savannah cried out and staggered to her feet.

"Stop her," Razvan ordered. "She must not break the circle."

Savannah would have lunged toward her children if her own parents, Raven and Mikhail, hadn't wrapped their arms around her to hold her back.

"What is happening?" Gregori snarled.

"Evil fights back." Razvan eyed the Carpathian legendary healer bleakly. "It will get worse, Gregori. Much worse. You and your lifemate must both be strong. Talk to your daughters. Sing to them. Be strong for them. Tell them they fight the evil mage in your story for them. Now is their time."

While Razvan tried to calm an agitated Gregori, Ivory tried her best to silence the babies' screams from her mind. Xavier's evil was hurting them. She was hurting them.

No, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved-you are saving them. You cannot stop no matter what happens.

She forced herself to continue moving, to continue weaving the patterns of the spell. When she had completed Xavier's entire ritual in reverse, she raised her knife to the cavern's chimney and pointed it toward the small sliver of moon that shone overhead.

I call on the lady of the dark moon, She who stands at the crossroads, Who counsels us that we must leave the old before we take up the new. I seek the spiral. Bring me forth to the center of stillness in absolute darkness That I may dispel this evil with light.

Light flashed across the blade of the boline, as if the moon herself had entered the birthing cave. Overhead, the stalactites rocked and vibrated. Crystals sparkled like tiny, faraway stars scattered over the ceiling and along the walls of the cave. Veins of gold and silver intertwined and brightened, throwing light across Ivory's pale face. She placed the sacred boline carefully between the twin girls, the curved blade in the exact mirrored position of the outside crescent moon.

The infants writhed. One convulsed. Their skin grew hotter. Savannah fought her parents, tears pouring down her face.

"Please, Gregori," she entreated. "Stop this abomination. She's hurting them."

Gregori wavered, his face a mask of pain. The Carpathians began to murmur protests.

"Let them die in peace," Savannah pleaded, clasping her hands together, sagging against her father's restraining arms. "Give them to me. Let me hold them as they go into the next life."

"No, Gregori," Razvan protested. "Evil fights hard. Stay to the purpose."

"They wish to live, Savannah," Gregori said hoarsely.

Once again Ivory lifted her hands. Now there were tiny droplets of bloodsweat beading her body and her hands shook with the effort to bear the weight of evil. Razvan's reassuring presence, his warmth and belief in her, steadied her as she chanted.

I call to the blight upon this earth, I see into your heart. You who were thrown into this soil, transformed and then torn apart.

"I will never forgive you, Gregori," Savannah screamed, tearing at her own flesh, digging great gouges in her arms so that blood spilled onto the floor. "Never. Do you understand? She's torturing our daughters and you're just letting her."

Gregori shook his head, the bloodred tears tracking down his face, but he remained stoic, his hands over each writhing infant.

Several women tried to break the circle to rush to the aid of the babies.

"Stop them," Razvan ordered. "Stay calm. Did you think he would go easily? Hold them. Mikhail, you must stop them."

"He is right," Mikhail said calmly. An uneasy stillness descended. Only Savannah and the babies could be heard weeping.

Ivory kept her mind firmly on the ritual, proceeding, trying not to allow the women to distract her.

I call to that which was unmade, and then created to do harm to all. Come to me now as I call your name, so that I may take one and all. Twixt and twine, I seek to unbind, that which was woven tight.

Ivory took her cleansed crystals from a silken pouch hanging at her hip. The crystals had been left in the sunlight for one week, gathering the energies and cleansing properties she needed. She looked over the stones carefully before making her choice. She wasn't surprised when her fingers settled around a large chunk of pumice.

Pumice came from volcanic rock, and though to some it wasn't beautiful, she found the light stone with its beige-white color unique. The airy stone was often used for banishing spells, yet also could be given to a woman to hold in