by Cara E Holt
“Lorelai has not been moved to the council chamber prisons as we thought. She is still here guys. She is being held in the old dungeons here at the academy.”
“But they said they were transferring her?”
He nods. “I know right? I am not sure why she hasn’t been.”
I stand and start to pace. “We have to get in there and get Norah’s location out of her.”
Thorin looks at me like I’m crazy. “That wasn’t the reason I told you Elara. Plus the guards will get the information out of her soon enough.”
“I need to see her.” I tell Drayce firmly. “I need to know where Norah is and I need to know who this ‘he’ is that is so-called coming for me.”
Drayce stares at me for a minute and I wait for him to say no. “Then let’s pull a plan together.”
Thorin is not happy with our plan, but he reluctantly agrees to help us, as does Meara. Our plan is to strike in the late evening when the guards change over, as there is sometimes a gap of around fifteen minutes when they do a handover and the dungeons are left unsupervised by a physical guard. Thorin would deal with the cameras, whilst Meara was going to use her feminine charms to distract and delay the new guards from taking up position. Drayce has also paid a junior student to set off the fire alarms as a further distraction.
I pull my hair into a high pony and pull on my black boots. I was all in black including a black knitted bob hat on my head. We had spelled ourselves so that if anyone saw us they would not see us but two of our professors. It was behaviour worthy of being expelled but I couldn’t care less, some things were more important. At least that is what I will tell myself in ten years time when I am sweeping the floors in some dead-end job having thrown away my Wiccan education.
We take up our positions just after eleven at night. We hide behind some bushes near to where we know the main entrance to the dungeons is. I had searched for a full thirty minutes today in a book titled, ‘The History of Thorne Shadow’, to find out where the entrance was.
“You ready for this Latimer?” Drayce asks from behind me, where we are huddled close together behind some hedges. “She might not give up the information easily.”
“I know.” I tell him, keeping my eyes firmly on our target. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get her to cave.”
At eleven the new guard arrives and the two engage in handover, right at that point Meara comes running around the corner crying and looking distraught.
“Help me please, there’s two students fighting. They are going to kill each other.” We had dropped some cacti root in two students’ drinks earlier and well the mix of that and nightshade can bring out violence in witches and help orchestrate an altercation.
“Please you both need to come.”
Both guards look hesitant for a second before they both take off with Meara. As soon as they have rounded the corner we make for the dungeon entrance. As expected the door is spelled to only let guards in, but well, we may have sneaked a pass off one off the guards earlier today. The door swings open and we close it behind us and head down the stone steps into the depths of the academy dungeons. We find Lorelai imprisoned in the second cell. She is sat on the floor singing to herself and plaiting her hair like she doesn’t have a care in the world. As she hears our footsteps she looks up.
“I was wondering how long it would take you.” She crosses her legs and looks at us expectantly. “Well? You’re here to interrogate me aren’t you?”
Drayce looks sideways at me and gives me a look that tells me he is thinking like me, that she is bat-shit crazy.
I step up to the gate and unlock it using the security pass. “Here’s the thing Lorelai. Having detention in the library for a full week had its perks. For a start it meant I knew where the librarian kept the key for the restricted section, which means I was able to get my hands on nasty spell books like this one.” I hold up the ancient looking battered black book. “Ancient spells.” I start to flick through the pages. “Now there’s some really good ones in here. You’d like them. Let’s see.” I flick through more pages. “How about this one? A spell to burn a witch from the inside out. Or maybe a spell to curse a bloodline.” I tut and shake my head. “Ah curses can be nasty things, as Drayce and I know all too well.”
Drayce steps up beside me. “Yes curses are particularly horrid. You have two brothers don’t you Lorelai?” Drayce looks at me and smiles. “Hey baby, how about we curse her brothers?”
I bob my head considering his suggestion and wink at him. “I like the way you think Black. Now what do we curse them with?” I tap my chin pretending to think, as her wide eyes now full of panic dance from me to Drayce. “How about we curse that they turn into snakes at night? Or even better how about we curse them to die before they reach ten? I mean if it works for Bennett’s then why not for Howe’s right?”
I pull my rucksack off my back and start laying out and lighting candles. “You know I had to find a pig’s heart to do this spell?”
“You wouldn’t?” Lorelai says shaking her head. “You’re not dark enough for such magic.”
I lean in to her face. “Lorelai, I’m dying. I have nothing to lose.”
Her face pales as she realises I am serious. “You can’t curse my brothers. They are all I have.”
I shrug. “Oh, but I can and I will.” I turn to Drayce. “Can you draw the circle please honey?” I hand him the piece of chalk. Drayce leans in and drops a kiss on my lips before he starts to draw the circle on the stone floor around her.
“Please don’t, I’ll tell you what I know.”
I lean in bending over her. “Where is Norah?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I took her to the mirror portal and he took her from there. I don’t know where he has her. She will be unharmed though. He’s waiting.”
“Who is he Lorelai?”
“Adron Mortensen.” She grins again, that crazed glazed look comes over her face. “Your vampire father, Elara.”
“My what?” I stumble at her words, losing my bravado.
She nods, grinning. “That’s right. I know you are a hybrid. I saw the two of you in the woods.” She leans in closer to me. “I know more about you than you know about yourself Elara Bennett.”
“What does he want with Elara?” Drayce demands, crouching down and meeting Lorelai in the eye.
“He wants to bring his family back together. Pathetic really. I only helped him because he promised to bring the council down. The ones who are to blame for my father’s death.”
“So, why is he draining witches of their power?”
“Ah there is the major spoiler.” She laughs, tipping her head back. “He plans to bring your dead mother back to life.”
I reach out and grab her top. “Who is my mother?”
She doesn’t answer for a minute, clearly enjoying keeping me waiting. “Why the one and only Morgana Bennett. He needs the power of nine witches to bring her back and a living vessel for her soul to attach to.”
“She’s lying. Morgana Bennett cannot possibly be your mother.” Drayce tells me, keeping his cold stare on Lorelai. “Morgana Bennett was burned at the stake four centuries ago by my ancestor. She was the witch that cursed our family and she burned with her unborn baby inside her.”
Lorelai looks at her nails and picks at them, seeming bored with conversation. “But her baby didn’t die. Dark witches loyal to Ardon Mortensen’s coven performed a dark ritual that held their precious unborn baby girl in limbo until a time when she could be born safely into the world. ” She points at me. “You are that baby Elara Bennett. Your soul is over four hundred years old.”
I drop to my knees as what she is telling me sinks in. Surely none of this could be true?
“He is draining all these witches in order to bring your mother back and unite his family again. Then he plans to take the council down. Why do you think all the witches we drained were children of council members?” She laughs again. “And guess what his plans are for the head councillo
r’s daughter? She will be the sacrifice to allow your mother to be corporeal again.” She claps her hands together like an excited child. “It is brilliant isn’t it?”
“The vampire that Morgana loved was staked and burned the same evening she died.” Drayce states, as he lifts me to my feet and holds me up with his arm around my waist.
“He was staked yes, but his body was not burned, so he merely remained in slumber until the ones he sired awakened him. He orchestrated it all. He made the application for you to come here. He knew they would put you under Drayce’s protection, Black being the best fighter here at the academy. He planned it all. He planned for the two of you to fall in love and free his precious daughter of the curse.” She looks from me to Drayce with a cunning smile. “And you do love each other don’t you? You just can’t admit it to yourselves yet, let alone say it to each other.”
Lorelai stands on her feet, her hands are still handcuffed behind her back with iron manacles. “Four more witches will be drained, and then he’s coming for you and he’s going to start a war like no other.” She steps right up to me so her face is inches from mine. “You are blood linked as vampires. He always knows where you are, so running won’t help you, and he has big plans for you Elara Bennett.”
She turns from me and starts to skip around me in a circle, singing the same three haunting lines over and over again.
“A hatred that bleeds deep.
A secret that we keep.
A curse that never sleeps.”
My father was coming for me, and he was going to start a war, one in which, I would be fighting against him.
Inescapable.
The Hexborn Series – Book two.
Coming April 2020
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