by Scott, Helen
Barc’s jaw worked for a second. “Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“Shouldn’t what?” Marcella questioned softly, her focus on Barclay, and so intent that there was no way any of us would be able to interrupt without her glowering at us. When he saw he had her attention, he shuffled on his ass, and I knew it was because Marcella always gave him time.
It made me feel like a piece of shit to admit that most of us dismissed Barclay’s suggestions. He wasn’t the brightest penny in the jar, but he was fiercely loyal and strong. His talents were ones I’d always want on my side in a fight. But Marcella looked at him, and treated him, as though he’d set the moon in the night sky. It was easy to see why Barc had tumbled head over heels for her.
“I don’t think we should wake Arthur.” He pressed a hand to his heart. “My wolf isn’t happy.”
She tilted her chin to the side as she scrambled into a kneeling position. “Why isn’t he?”
“Something’s wrong here. It’s not right.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Darius inserted gruffly. “There’s an ancient being here.”
But Barc shook his head. “Don’t you think it’s weird as fuck that Elayne and Morgana were insistent on two things—wake Arthur and meet up with your father? And now, here we are, killing two birds with one stone?”
Darius blinked—that alone told me he’d not connected those two particular dots. Neither had I for that matter. “It is a coincidence.”
“We all know what coincidences mean—buttkiss,” the shifter retorted. “I don’t know why Sylvester was here. I know he was out of the loop, because if he knew you were a Sixth, Marcella, then he wouldn’t have tried to take you alive without us at your side. If we were killed, then that’s bye-bye Marcella…”
I dipped my chin in agreement. “Maybe someone has been feeding him misinformation? Just enough to get him here but not enough to know the truth?”
“If that’s the case,” Barclay interjected, “then someone wants Marcella dead. Someone we don’t know about. But, for whatever reason, Sylvester wants her alive. That’s two different motivations right there.”
Marcella gnawed on her bottom lip. “I don’t think we have much choice. Those motivations are at least based on this realm. Elayne? She’s stopping Morgana from coming at me.” She blew out a breath. “When I was handling Sylvester and his cronies, I remembered what she did to me the other day. She made me think you were the girls at the Academy. The ones who’d terrorized me all through school. She wove the fantasy, made me feel like I needed you dead.”
“She called on your darkness,” Darius rasped, nodding. “They terrorized you for years and not once did you maim them, Marcella.”
Marcella chewed the inside of her cheek. “I know. But whatever she called on inside me, it existed.”
“Of course it did. We all have the devil on one shoulder. We can all be driven to extremes. It’s the situation that matters,” he told her matter-of-factly.
Though she swallowed, I knew she was relieved by his words. Taking that relief as a positive, I murmured, “I don’t think we have a choice about waking Arthur, Barc. Morgana is something we can’t control. She’s totally out of our grasp. But Elayne promised to contain her if we did her bidding.”
“I’m tired of doing people’s bidding,” Cade rasped, as he got to his feet now that the earth had stopped trembling. He climbed out of his trench and headed for Marcella. She was at the center of us all, which made sense considering she was our link, and he helped her to her feet. “And you’re no pawn, Marcella.”
“No, but in this, I am. I can handle political machinations, but whatever the Sires want of me? There’s a larger purpose there, and avoiding that isn’t going to do us any good.”
Barclay released a heavy sigh. “So, what? We try to Awaken him again?”
Marcella gnawed on her bottom lip. “I don’t think we really have a choice.”
* * *
Marcella
My shifter mate was the one who melted my heart more often than not. Each of them did in his own way, but I would always have a soft spot for Barclay. He was also the one who vocalized my own concerns the most and spoke my desires as though they were his own.
The truth was I didn’t want to wake Arthur. No way. No how. Every instinct I had told me to run the other way. There was nothing about this situation that made me comfortable. There was also nothing about this situation that left us with a choice. It wasn’t like I could stand by while Morgana made me slaughter my mates over and over again, which is what I knew she would do given the opportunity. She held sway over life and death, and if I wasn’t going to get knocked up any time soon, then she’d let me watch them die until I relented, which, honestly, wouldn’t take much.
There was nothing I wouldn’t do to save my mates from pain and suffering.
I pushed to my feet, as did the rest of us who had still been sitting, and my mind whirred—what had the Sires told us? The walkers needed to be the main ones involved with Arthur since he was their Sire?
My mind pulled at the ball I had created and started to rearrange the bond. “I’m going to pull more from you three,” I said, as I looked at Keiran, Raven and finally, Cade.
“Take whatever you need, sweetness,” Cade drawled. It had been far too long since I’d been in bed with that man, and I definitely wasn’t thinking about sleeping at that moment. I couldn’t afford to be distracted though, so I pushed the deliciously naughty images that were flashing through my mind to one side, promising myself I would revisit the issue later.
As I brought my mind back into focus, I twisted the ball into a new form, one with three points.
The Celtic trinity knot took shape, and I pushed each of their energies into one end of the knot—time, mind, and dream—so each had their own point. Myself and the rest of our little family were the circle that surrounded them, kept them safe and secure, showed them how much they were needed and loved. I pulled more and more power from the three of them until each third of the knot was glowing with energy.
The ground under us shook so violently that I was sure if I had been human, I would have been sprawled out on my ass by now. Fortunately, I was a Vampire, and my reflexes were faster and more accurate than that, so I managed to keep myself upright. Not for lack of trying on Mother Nature’s part though.
There was nothing I wanted more than to obey nature and stop this, to leave the land alone and let it be however it chose to be, but I couldn’t. I pulled on more and more of my own power, shoving it into the circle until I could feel the air around us practically buzzing with magic, and just when I thought nothing would happen, that this was another failed attempt, the ground shifted and cracked, exposing a set of stairs that led downward. The way the dirt and roots had moved almost looked like the stairs had shifted to where we were. Creepy.
Great. Of course, the asshole was buried underground, and all this was just to open his damn tomb. Nothing in this Maker-forsaken world was ever easy.
Relinquishing my hold on the knot, and letting our energies sink back to their rightful places, the seven of us gathered around the opening and peered down into the blackness.
“Well, at least we know he’s down there now,” Gid commented with a sigh, as he rubbed his face before sliding his hand through his hair, the tats on his wrist peeking out from under his Henley. The gesture was easy, natural, but it made my fingers twitch with the need to replicate it.
As well as trace each and every one of his tats.
Yum.
“Couldn’t be easy, could it?” Barclay muttered, and I smiled to myself as he once again echoed my own thoughts and drew me away from thinking about fucking Gideon. Or, to be more precise, licking him all over.
On femalekind’s behalf, I’d say it again.
Yum.
We all just looked at one another, hoping that someone else had the solution, until finally, Darius sighed loudly and groused, “I’ll go down in the dark cave if you’re all too scared to do
it.”
“We’re not scared, just practical,” Raven hedged.
“I was waiting to see if we were all going?” Gid asked, as he looked around the circle.
“You think someone should stay and guard the entrance?” Darius pondered.
“I don’t know, that’s why I was asking.” Gid shrugged. “If I go down, then I can use fire to light the way.”
“Ohhh, fireballs! You haven’t used one in forever.” Cade grinned, his excitement evident.
My more destructive mate had me grinning too. “Why don’t we all go? Whoever stayed up here to guard the entrance would probably just be bored anyway. Sylvester is locked up, and no one else knows we’re here, so I don’t see anything to worry about.”
The guys looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but as I started descending the thin stone steps, I couldn’t help but notice the sudden rush to get out in front of me.
I smiled inwardly, not letting on that I knew what they were trying to do, but it made my heart swell with affection for them all the same. Darius and Cade were out in front, of course, and I was sure they measured dick lengths while they were scouting out the tomb.
Those two were so old school sometimes, which I knew Cade would resent being called, but that didn’t make it any less true. They constantly wanted to protect me and show me how strong and tough they were. I shook my head at their antics, although I knew the others felt the same way, at least they could control it a little.
Barclay and Gideon were right behind me, with Keiran and Raven behind them. I was the only one walking by myself ironically enough.
We made steady progress into the earth, and as the light started fading I felt Gid pull on his gift, which came with abundance now that we were surrounded by soil, and suddenly, a small flickering light filled the space, granting us enough illumination to see the steps in front of us without having to drain our own energy trying to boost our vision.
The staircase was narrow and I could swear I felt spiders and rats and all kinds of creepy crawlies all over me. Usually, I wasn’t so squeamish, but with everything that had already happened just getting to this point, it almost felt like every little thing was a test or a trap. I was constantly waiting for another round of pain and suffering to hit me, courtesy of the Sire we were about to try and wake up.
At the end, there was a doorway, and when I stumbled into Cade and Darius’s backs, I was surprised to find they had stopped. As soon as I got a chance to look around, though, I realized why. When Gid, Barclay, Rav, and Keir stumbled into me a second later, we finally made it far enough into the room that Gid’s light let us see everything.
I had sensed it as soon as I hit Cade and Darius’s backs, but it was different seeing it in the flesh. The room opened up into a massive cavern. A giant dome was carved out of the earth and lined with stone. It was large enough to house a structure in the center. A stone column rose out of the tiled floor, and the white of the bricks looked as fresh as the day they had been brought down here.
It wasn’t just a column though, oh no, this thing was huge and decorated with carvings of—you guessed it—swords. Arthur didn’t have it in him to be original, it seemed. The column even had a second floor, which had a walkway that went around the outside with metal bars forming a railing. We set off toward it, and part of me still expected some kind of trap or monster to jump out and defend it. When we reached the door, opened it, and nothing happened, I had to concede that I was a little paranoid.
Inside the column was, basically, a living room type area. Things that I assumed were priceless artifacts were decorating the walls, and there were stone benches on each side that were covered with cushions that, although seeming a little dusty, still appeared comfy. Books and scrolls, yep, freaking scrolls, were on one wall, while the other contained weapons from multiple generations. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder if one of the swords was the famed Excalibur.
A set of stairs began in the center of the room and curved around the wall as they climbed up to the second floor. It was obvious that Arthur wasn’t anywhere nearby, so we ascended the stairs and found ourselves in what was essentially Arthur’s tomb’s bedroom. If this wasn’t the weirdest place I’d ever found myself in, then I didn’t know what was.
The room itself was decorated like it was part of a landscape. Trees lined the walls, not a painting of trees but actual freaking trees. Leaves and all. The floor was grass that had grown almost knee high, and the ceiling was either actually showing the sun and the moon or was painted with a startling level of realism that had us gaping at it. Where the trees connected with the ceiling were clouds, like actual fluffy clouds.
I couldn’t help but wonder how the hell this was possible. The trees and grasses were real, so my mind couldn’t help but think the clouds were as well. It was like time had frozen in here, and we were interrupting the most idyllic afternoon or evening in a meadow or some shit.
In the center was the bed, and there was a figure on it, but I couldn’t make it out. The form was obscured as though a layer of clouds had fallen from the ceiling and they were covering the bed like a blanket. I felt like I was trying to see through a dirty window or drive through dense fog. The bed itself was luxurious. White linen fell from the sides, and intricately carved wooden posts rose from each corner, depicting different detailed figures, including what looked like the Lady of the Lake and Merlin, at least as I knew them from the legends.
Until recently, that was all those two had been. Legends. Myth. Now? Merlin was real, and he was behind the creation of my species. The daddy of us all. And the Lady? Well, it seemed like she was the one who’d put a stop to his evil shenanigans a long time ago. If the stories were to be believed, that is.
“So, how do we do this?” Cade whispered, his words breaking into our slack-jawed perusal of the room.
“Well, I don’t think whispering is going to help either way.” Darius snorted, as he moved through the plants to the edge of the bed. “Can anyone see him clearly?”
I shook my head and saw the others doing the same from my peripheral vision. It wasn’t just his tomb that was overwhelming, but the sense of his presence as well. The Sire was clearly beyond powerful just from what we could sense from his unconscious form. I’d never felt anything like it.
“I think it’s up to the walkers, isn’t it?” I suggested tentatively, not wanting to throw those three of my mates under the bus, but it seemed like the only logical answer.
“I don’t think it’s just us though. I mean, we’re all powerful, but sensing everything that’s filling this room, we are just rivers and he’s an ocean. Whatever we do to wake him, I think it’s going to take the seven of us,” Keir said quietly, as he followed Darius but stationed himself on the other side of the bed.
I watched as he extended a hand and reached toward the cloud on the bed concealing the figure underneath. Part of me hoped that it would be as simple as the three of them touching the clouds, but when Keir’s hand connected with it, he shot back and hit the trees as though he’d been electrocuted.
Barc was totally right. Nothing was ever easy where these trials of ours were concerned.
3
Keiran
With a grimace, I blew on my fingers and saw they’d been scorched by whatever the hell kind of safeguards were protecting the figure on the bed.
“Holy shit,” Marcella cursed, as she practically skidded to my side and cupped my hand. The second she touched me, I released a breath. She was like fire over my nerve endings. It hurt. But in a good way. Like she was cauterizing the wound, almost. Like I said, it hurt, but it felt like she was healing whatever the fuck was wrong with me.
She raised my fingers, studied them for a second, then as she squinted, something else happened. I jerked in surprise as a sensation of water and wind rushed over the burned flesh in a soothing caress.
“What are you doing?” Gideon asked, and I could tell he was curious, which meant Marcella was acting on her own instincts. Again.
<
br /> I wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad.
Shit happened when Marcella got it into her head to start messing with our magic.
She tended to dive in face first, and though I empathized, considering there wasn’t an instruction guide on how to use any of our powers, it didn’t mean I wasn’t bracing myself for a hit.
“I’m healing him,” she muttered under her breath, her focus evidently elsewhere.
Gideon released a sharp cry and stumbled to his knees. Marcella didn’t flinch, seeming to expect this kind of reaction, but the rest of us were startled as fuck. I almost tugged my hand from hers in surprise, and when I turned to Gid, I saw that at least five of his runes were glowing on his forearms.
Five of them.
I think I’d only ever seen him call on two at once.
“Marcella! You’re going to…” What? Hell, I didn’t have a clue what I was talking about, so I spluttered, “Short circuit him.”
A hum escaped her. “Nope, he can handle it. He’s just not used to it.”
Gideon ground out, “A little warning next time.”
Marcella ignored him again, then released another hum—this time a happy one—and dropped my hand. “All better.” And she wasn’t wrong. There wasn’t even a twinge of discomfort where I’d been electrocuted. To Gideon, she scolded, “Stop being a baby.”
He grunted. “You called on five runes, Marcella!”
She shot him a look. “And you can handle that. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”
“How do you know I could?”
“You think I’d do anything to put you in danger?”
That had a tic pulsing in his jaw. “No.”
“Well, then. What’s the problem? You can handle twelve.”
For a second, he gaped at her. “What in the Maker’s name are you talking about?”
“Children, must we have this argument in front of the Sire?” Darius intoned, sounding bored and weary.
