The rest of the group must have known about the texts already because Meredith was giving me the same imploring look. I knew that they wanted me to find a way to save Jesse.
“Is this part of building an army?” Finn asked from the silent room, but at least taking some of the pressure off of me.
“Building an army?” Zane questioned, who was standing behind me. So close behind me that I could feel him against my back.
I turned my head toward him to answer. “Finn has noticed that a lot of people – human people – have gone missing or are dead. We thought he might be building an army.”
Zane thought for a second. "He's not building an army. He's building his line. When a vampire becomes a master, they are able to take those that they made with them. He becomes their leader, and they defend the new master with their lives. Like bodyguards. The only reason why someone would need these many people to start their line is if they are planning to do some major damage or taking over another master's line."
“They can do that?” I asked astonished.
“If a master kills another master, he gets that line,” Anahita supplied.
“He must be feeling mighty confident,” Nate murmured under his breath.
I couldn’t feel angry or scared. I was starting to see the bigger picture here. Daniel Myles was planning on doing something disastrous, and if he wasn't stopped, a lot more innocents were going to be killed. He was using up all his time to gain support, battling me at the last minute. But it had to stop.
“Can the Venatrix issue the challenge?” I inquired not to anyone in particular.
“I actually don’t know Venatricis politics,” Zane answered, apparently being the one who knew the most about any of this.
“Text Korina,” I began, glancing at Nate. “Tell her that you’ll meet up with her for Jesse’s sake, but you’re bringing me. And you want a vampire in charge to go with her.”
I felt Zane’s body tense behind mine, and the looks around the room from everyone else matched.
“What are you thinking?” Meredith’s voice was breathy and shook.
"That it's time to save the world," I replied melodramatically as I turned to face a rather edgy Zane. “I need to train in the setup that was given to me in my dream. I need to find some way to save Jesse if I can, but I am going to need your and Anahita’s help.”
With a nod and movement of his head, Zane and Anahita headed for the basement with me following.
In the basement, I explained the scenario to them, postulating that it would be Jesse as the victim instead of Nate. And using a pillow as Jesse, I practiced finding ways to get to him without them getting their fangs in the pillow or simulating snapping “his” neck. I must have tried practically a hundred different way. It wasn’t possible. I wasn’t fast enough to stop them.
Zane suggested that I try a throwing weapon. So, I tried throwing a wooden stake instead of a silver one, since Zane and Anahita would heal from an injury from those. Again, it wasn't a very good outcome. For the Jesse pillow or Zane and Anahita. I didn't throw as hard as what I usually practiced, but those two still sustained wounds that did heal quickly, but hurt receiving. And for the Jesse-pillow, my aim was still off. Not as bad as before, but there were a couple of times the pillow received the wounds instead of the vampires holding "him."
In the end, we determined that I would have to use diplomacy, which wasn’t exactly my strong suit in any situation since I couldn’t control my reactions when baited. We even practiced, with Anahita being the aggressor since she easily triggered me. Through the exercise, I was eventually able to just grind my teeth and clench my hands, instead of putting my hands on her, but my feelings still clouded my judgment. Zane insisted on coming with me, which I knew he would. And it was better if Anahita remained at the manor. I was going to make sure that Meredith stayed as well. So it would just be Zane and Nate with me as we waited for Korina to get back to him.
When I walked back upstairs, I saw the library, which was across the basement entrance actually open. Meredith and Finn were standing around a table with hundreds of books surrounding them, wholly engrossed in research. I didn't see Nate but feeling for him, I knew he was still in Underhill.
It was early evening, but with everything going on, I felt tired. From a glance in the mirror in the hallway, dark circles were already forming under my eyes. My back had knots in it from the stress, and the rest of my body was aching from the intense practice. So I headed into the family room to get some shut eye since I didn't know when I would be sleeping next, and I found Nate asleep on the couch. I tried not to disturb him as I quietly tiptoed to the couch across the way, but he was either a light sleeper or really wasn't sleeping.
“How’d it go?” His eyes were still closed as I sat down.
“We have to go with diplomacy. There’s no other way to get Jesse out without risking his life.” I withheld the belief that I wasn’t really sure I could get him out.
“He’s screwed, isn’t he?”
I shrugged hunched over with my forearms on my knees, forgetting that he couldn’t see me, but I just couldn’t find the words to make him feel better.
“What’s Meredith doing?”
“She and Finn are looking more into Venatricis Policy and the challenge.”
I harrumphed and laid down. It felt so good to close my eyes as I settled into the couch.
“Are you going to sleep?” He asked.
“Nah. I’m just going to close my eyes for a second.”
I heard him snicker.
“Sweet dreams,” he replied.
My smile was sad, especially knowing that he still had his eyes closed. “Sweet dreams to you too.” I fell into a hard dreamless sleep.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Caden, you need to get up now,” Anahita’s voice drifted through my sleep.
I could swear that I had just closed my eyes, and I couldn’t get my body to wake up.
“Ugh,” I moaned, hoping the cotton would clear out of my head. I was eventually able to open up an eye to see Anahita holding a coffee mug.
“Caden, come on. It’s important.”
I briefly closed the eye that was open, mentally clearing my head. A splash of icy cold water stung my face, instantly waking me up. And soon, I realized that it was water in that mug, not coffee.
“Oh, shit!” I jumped off the couch, wiping at my face. “What the fuck did you do that for?!” I gave her a dirty look.
“Your friends need you alert. Korina texted back."
I wanted to be pissed, but I understood her method with the urgency.
“What time is it?” I looked for a clock, pulling my wet shirt away from my body.
“It’s just after midnight.
I hadn’t slept long, and looking out of the living room, the group was in the library. I ambled my way there, my legs still a little sluggish. Meredith greeted me with a real cup of coffee, as the guys were bent over Nate's cell phone, discussing strategies.
“Thanks.” I smiled gratefully. “Have you been up this entire time?” I noticed for the first time the dark circles under her eyes and the heavy eyelids that threatened to close.
She lifted a shoulder.
“Did you find anything?” I took a sip of the decadent coffee.
“Nothing new. The Venatrix Council has the books that could be helpful, but they don’t apparently lend them out from their complex.”
“And you know this how?”
"I called my mom, and she did some snooping."
“Ah,” I gave a nod of understanding and drank more of my liquid energy, letting its warmth soak through my hands after feeling cold from my wet shirt and parts of my hair.
“So, Korina texted back…?”
Meredith nodded, her eyes still on the group of guys. “Yep. She’s agreed to the terms and has given us a place and time.”
“Let me guess…the now destroyed and abandoned high school.”
“Yep.”
“When?”
She looked at her phone for the time. “In a half hour.”
I knew it would be soon. Anahita hadn’t gotten me up for no reason.
The group finally looked up at me for the first time since I entered the library. Nate was back to chewing on his thumb, and Zane and Finn just looked anxious. The looks on their faces told me it was time to get ready. I put my now half-emptied coffee mug on the table and jogged to my bedroom to change.
Going through my drawers, I settled on a black nylon T-shirt and stretchy yoga pants, making my combat boots look out of place, but there was no way I was leaving the house without them. Even if I wouldn't be successful in using any of the stakes within the holders, I wasn't departing from Underhill unequipped.
Zane must have thought the same thing. Because when he knocked on my bedroom door, I opened it to find him holding a utility belt with stakes in the holders.
“Going in prepared is not saying you’re going to fight. It’s just saying that you’re not stupid enough to trust them,” Zane said, handing over the belt, which I wrapped around my waist as I walked out of the bedroom, and followed him back into the library.
Finn had his arms crossed as if he had been arguing and the stubborn line on his brow indicated that he had been. I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what he had been arguing about.
“You’re not going,” I responded, earning his glare. I heard Meredith shift next to me and huff. Glancing over at her, I knew she wasn’t happy about staying behind either.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "This is supposed to be a diplomacy meeting. And since I suck at keeping my mouth shut, the fewer people there to make me worry, the better."
Finn pointed a finger at me. “I want updated reports. By the minute.”
“Yes, dad,” I mocked, pulling my hair into a ponytail. I saw a look pass quickly over his face that softened it for a second before it became hard again.
I glanced around the room to see how my group was doing. Zane was double checking his weaponry as Nate was double checking his pockets. And Anahita was expressionless while checking out the same scene. Then, Meredith grabbed me in a sidewise hug, surprising me and making me unsteady for a second.
“Be careful,” she pleaded.
I patted her arm. “I will.”
“And make sure they are careful too.”
I let a small smile show, reining in the laughter. “I will do my best.”
“Let’s go,” Zane replied, after finishing his mental and weaponry checklist.
✽✽✽
We took the black Envoy to the high school again with the hope of bringing back an extra person. When we arrived at the high school, Nate's SUV was the only vehicle still in the parking lot. And as much as he loved all the shiny new cars that were in the Underhill garage, his represented freedom. So, he pouted through the window, looking at it all by itself. He hadn’t even thought to bring his keys since this was an extraction mission and I was pretty sure he forgot it was even there with everything going on.
His beautiful, new, blue CR-V was in contrast to what remained of the school. It indeed was a disastrous sight to behold, and in the dead of night, it could almost pass for an abandoned haunted house. Windows were shattered or missing, as well as parts of the roof. Portions of the walls were caved in in some areas, and the shades on the windows were either tattered, or panels were missing. For the ordinary person, it would give anyone the immediate fright and creeps. For us, or at least me, it wasn’t the physical appearance that made me feel like we were doomed. It was what was held inside. A chill slithered down my spine.
We got out of the SUV and took in our surroundings. Zane's nod matched my own evaluation. No Scelesti were waiting for us outside. But, nevertheless, we walked cautiously and guarded toward the entrance of the school, still looking around every once in a while.
Glass crunched beneath our feet and became unavoidable as we stopped in front of the front doors. Somehow the entrance doors to the building had remained intact and were locked, which seemed pointless since the long window next to it was shattered. We did use that opening to walk into the school to meet our Scelesti company in the commons area.
That too was still a mess. The lunch tables and chairs were tipped over or pushed against one another. Some had fallen over the edge onto the floor below since the commons was a giant, loft-like structure.
Not a soul besides us was around as of yet, and it ramped up my anxiety. I took a seat on one of the tables still intact next to a wall that lacked holes or chunks. Zane and Nate followed me to the table. And we waited, while I began to chew on my nails and Nate kept looking at his phone. It was so unfair that Zane was able to stand by as if he wasn't bothered by a thing and had all the time in the world.
We weren’t waiting too long until we had company. But it wasn’t the company that we were expecting. Ajax had come in the same way as we did and was walking down the hall with a dagger held tightly in his hand against his side. Resignation, exhaustion, and anger lit his face. I had seen him no-nonsensed before, not necessarily looking so defeated, but this expression was apparently new to Nate.
“What are you doing here?” Nate’s voice seemed to echo eerily through the abandoned building, sending another shiver down my spine
“I’m here to get Jesse back.” He approached us, tucking the dagger in a sheath on his belt. Magic licked off his frame and the blade. Angry magic that pulsed with the clenching of his jaw.
I crossed my arms. "And how do you know Jesse's coming here?"
Ajax rubbed his face with a hand before sighing. “Because Jesse is my vessel, and I can feel where he goes.”
“Vessel? As in a vessel spell? Are you a witch too?” I inquired.
“Not exactly. I don’t need a spell to make someone my vessel. It’s part of who I am. Most of the time, my people make animals their vessels, but I chose a human to keep me informed with what goes on in the human world.”
“So how was Jesse grabbed then if you can control him?” I demanded.
Ajax scratched his head. “I can’t control him. That would break a law with my people. I just view the world through his eyes when I want. And I was pushed out shortly after the tornado hit the school while he was on his way to talk to me.”
I had a sneaking suspicion that I may have known what had happened. “Has that happened before?”
“Yeah. Shortly before that in his science class.”
“It was Obscurus,” I replied immediately, confident with my theory. “He took over Jesse’s body. Zane, how can he do that? Jesse isn’t dead. I thought Obscurus was only able to possess dead bodies?”
Zane rubbed his chin. “I’m guessing it’s because a link was open.”
“What about me?” I asked quickly, panicking. “Will he be able to possess me because of the spell that we did?”
Zane vehemently shook his head. “No, the link is closed. Even though you can feel where we are, we can’t enter your body. That link is closed.”
I breathed a sigh of relief that was short lived as I saw Korina and Blaine leading a severely injured and chewed on Jesse toward us from the other end of the hall. It looked like they had come in through the side entrance. That déjà vu feeling nudged the pit of my stomach. Although it was Jesse, not Nate that had been grabbed and it was a different vampire with Korina, the situation was the same.
From a distance, both Korina and Blaine’s faces were deathly pale and even from there, I was able to smell the stench of death. Not that it had surprised me that Korina would join the Scelesti side, but I was amazed that she had gravitated that way so quickly as the horrid reek was strong. I was surprised about Blaine though until he got closer.
Blaine hadn’t made the transition as I looked at his black filled eyes, his stiff blue lips, and the two, now black holes that were devoid of blood and torn haggardly away from the skin. And that acrid smell that I thought was Korina was actually Blaine. Blaine had been dead for a while, and it w
as actually Obscurus that I saw through Blaine.
I took a step back into Zane, my pulse drummed heavily and quickly against my veins from my alarm. Zane’s body stiffened when he saw what I had noticed, and his hands went protectively around my biceps, pulling me closer. And from the corner of my eye, I saw Ajax pull Nate a few steps back. They were slightly behind us, but off to the side.
Obscurus’ chuckle twisted Blaine’s vocal chords into a low pitch and hollowed sound.
“Venatrix, you are learning fast.” Obscurus' eyes locked onto mine and gleamed with hunger. And then his gaze looked beyond me and the small smile that he wore grew to both ears, cracking already stiffened lips.
“And Sani, how appropriate that you are here too. Protecting your cerste-liebsth.”
Zane’s hands jerked on my arms.
“What does that mean?” I whispered to him, not daring to look away from Obscurus. The word had sounded familiar when Zane and Nate were speaking in the old language in the basement some time back. And even though I was starting to recognize the sound of words, they still didn’t make much sense to me.
Obscurus guffawed. “He hasn’t told you?”
I tightened my lips and didn't respond.
Obscurus chortled, and if the dead could cry tears, he would have been wiping them.
“This is too precious.” He licked those cracked lips with whatever saliva was left and contemplated his next action.
“Why are you here, Obscurus?” Zane commanded, his voice was cold and lacked any emotion.
It was then that I looked at Korina. She had draped herself over Jesse and was stroking his neck. She could barely contain the drool that was dripping off her fangs.
“He’s here because Korina can’t control herself,” I responded, absently.
The laughter that had animated Blaine’s face stilled to a mask of death. He looked at Korina but didn’t move to pull her off of Jesse. Blaine’s body lost some of the relaxed movements Obscurus had animated, letting natural rigor take over.
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