Daizlei Academy Omnibus Collection

by Kel Carpenter

  And neither legacy was letting me go.

  Chapter 143

  Winds whipped through the reedy branches above. Lightning flashed in an otherwise clear morning sky, signaling that Blair had already learned about the attack before I could make it back to the mansion.

  Warm fingers grasped my forearm, pulling me up short. A large group had left to hunt the single Born, but I knew as well as Ash did that he was long gone. Still, the Shifters’ instincts rode them hard, and so he sent them hunting, and let the others be Keyla’s escort home. I’d stayed in the clearing the longest, taking in the carnage. Embracing the viciousness that came from my choices. They might have been undead, but so was my sister. For the sake of the fight, I’d separated them into things versus people. It made it easier to not have to face the moral conundrum that I hated all Vampires, but my sister was one. Despite the things she’d done I couldn’t hate her. But these people? These bits of rotten flesh and stolen blood? It was easy to hate them. Though a small part of me wondered if they were like her. People that had been turned against their will. Innocent people that had that innocence used against them and it made them monsters.

  I shook my head, clearing those thoughts away because they wouldn’t help me. Compassion was the death of justice, and too much had happened for me to question my actions now. I turned and left the clearing, tromping through the woods. Ash followed behind me.

  “You were going to leave with them.” There was a note that hung in the air between us; the words he said a dividing line. I didn’t want to talk about it or feel the disappointment leaking down the bond.

  Ash knew what I was going to do. He knew that I would have walked right off this property and into Hell if it kept them safe and led me to Lily.

  I didn’t do it, but I would have—if Keyla hadn’t stopped me.

  “I won’t apologize,” I said, not turning to face him. Unable to look at the accusation in his eyes.

  “If you’d gone with them, they would have turned you before you ever set eyes on her.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” Lightning flashed across the sky, catching my attention. Dark clouds rolled in from the horizon at impossible speeds. “Lily is angry and wants revenge for me not saving her, and Victor wants me to be a brood mare so he can sire powerful children. I don’t think I’d have been turned, and that’s assuming any of them could kill me. Something no one—not even Anastasia could ever manage.”

  I didn’t have to look to know how much those words upset him. Heat sizzled through the bond, burning up any lingering disappointment with a scorching intensity. I might have staggered were I not expecting it.

  “You’re not invincible, Selena,” he whispered. “They might not have been able to kill you, but you know as well as I do the dangerous depths you and your sisters hit in a rage. If Lily is as upset as you say she is, what are the odds she would turn on you? The Vampires aren’t the only ones that can kill.”

  The scary part is that he wasn’t wrong.

  Lily was changing. Growing. Evolving into something I didn’t know or understand. Even at my worst I hadn’t done some of the things she had, and while I couldn’t blame her for surviving . . . not every sin she had committed was in the name of freedom.

  “You forget,” I said. “I didn’t want to leave, but I also didn’t want Keyla getting hurt. It’s not as if I’m wandering off into the first magical elevator I can find. I’m doing everything that you and Johanna have asked, including leaving Lucas to her. I’ve played by the rules for months now. And where has that gotten us?” I didn’t raise my voice, nor did I need to. He knew the anger. He understood the fear. He felt the worry, the anxiety, and the desperation eating away at me every moment Lily was in that monster’s hands. Because every moment she spent with Victor was one closer to the edge of no return.

  I couldn’t allow that. I wouldn’t. And yet I had no choice, so long as I played by the rules.

  “We’re going to find her. We just need more time,” Ash insisted.

  “You know as well as I do where she probably is. We hope she’s not, but we both know,” I whispered. “And if she is, do you really think that anyone would follow me there to free her?” Silence. He wouldn’t lie. Not to me, and so I got my answer another way. I chuckled under my breath, a dark sound, filled with a little of that madness I kept well hidden.

  Even Valda looked on with concern.

  “We don’t know—”

  “Yes, we do,” I said, cutting him off before he could even pretend to feed me that sugar-coated bullshit. “You know as well as I that no one, except possibly Scarlett, would follow me there. No one except those with a death wish step foot in the High Council. No matter what name I have or the power I wield, fear will outweigh all if she’s in that place.”

  The winds whistled again, harder this time. Smaller branches snapped under the force of those gales, and I took that as my sign to start booking it back to the mansion before someone ended up dead.

  Ash released his grip on my forearm, falling into step beside me as I took off through the woods at a speed no other, except maybe Blair, could keep up with.

  “If you really believe that,” he said, breathing a little harder as he tried to keep up. “Why did you take on the Fortescue name?”

  “Regardless of what others choose to do, the Supernatural council needs someone to unite it, and they won’t respond to anything but sheer power. Which means the task falls to me.” As much as I hated it, and I did. “Whether the world realizes it or not, we are already at war. The only question I have is who will be on the battlefield with me.”

  I wasn’t sure what he made of my answer, but the training field behind the Shifter reservation was coming up fast. We moved from the trees into the grassy field, bounding through the horde of Shifters gathered around. They leapt back after I was already passing, the sight of my body covered in black blood and smelling like rot repelling them.

  Well, it was that or the sight of Alexandra with her flaming black hair that bounded toward me. Her and her demon had merged, giving her two different colored eyes and flaming hair. While she was the same in her interactions with the Shifters, the hellfire that fanned from her head gave them pause, understandably so.

  “I see you heard—”

  Crack.

  I blinked, not responding to the back-handed smack she delivered. Her chest rose and fell as puffs of breath came out white in the early winter air. Her hand curled inward as if she were debating between hitting me again and attempting to restrain herself.

  She chose restraint.

  “How dare you try to leave with them!” she shouted, anger making her one brown eye flash with fire and fury. The dark one of her demon zeroed in on me without emotion.

  “I didn’t try to leave,” I said, catching her wrist as she brought it up to slap me again. My fingers curled, the flaking blood rubbing against her white cashmere sweater. “I didn’t have a lot of options, and the daughter of the Shifter Alpha was in danger. I would rather be taken away than have them kill or turn her because I wasn’t fast enough.”

  The fight drained out of her, and her fist unfurled. I dropped her arm, pointedly stepping around her as she stood there staring at the spot where I’d been.

  “Wait—” she called. I paused. “I’m sorry, I just . . .” her words trailed off as her throat bobbed. Emotion becoming too thick for her to talk past, not without sounding weak. I nodded because I understood.

  “If I wanted to leave, not a soul on this reservation could stop me. Remember that next time your anger slips.” I strode toward the double doors that were splayed wide open. The panes of glass had been shattered. The wood splintered. Thunder roared overhead. I quickened my pace.

  The foyer looked like a battle had taken place, and I briefly entertained the thought that Vampires attacked the residence as well . . . but that wasn’t possible. I would have known, and the mansion would be in even more of an uproar were that the case.

  Still, the bro
ken vases and flowers strewn across the floors meant something had come through. Water dripped from the wooden end tables, speckled red. Splashes of blood painted the walls, but it was the blood of the living, which left few options. Beyond the main entry and through the hallway, the fighting had continued. It came to a stop before the front door.

  I tilted my head, narrowing my eyes. There’s no reason the fighting would stop here. That didn’t make sense . . . I turned and looked up at the shattered railing on the second floor. That made more sense. The fighting hadn’t stopped. Merely moved. I made the twenty foot jump in a single leap, my fingers skimming the broken and bloodied wood railing on the way up.

  The shouts grew, as did the thuds of bodies being thrown around. I peeked down the hallway, and my blood froze. Whatever it was, it was coming from where Lucas was being held.

  I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders. Still coming down from the high of one fight, a second smaller one wouldn’t be difficult. I strode around the corner and came to stand at the end of the hallway.

  Blair stood, her blonde hair braided tight, casting the angles of her face in a severe light. Her eyes were black and wild. Furious. Oliver moved in an attempt to restrain her from behind while Liam screamed. It wasn’t out of fear, but power. The sound that came from him was so strong it had the mansion quaking. Yet even as brick and stone quivered, Blair simply turned her head. Both arms were locked behind her—in Oliver’s grips—and she twisted, bringing her foot up to slam into Liam’s chest. The scream cut short as he went flying straight through the window at the end of the hall.

  A roar of outrage came from Scarlett as she launched herself from Lucas’s room into the hallway. While a powerful Supernatural in her own right, Blair was part-demon and one of the most powerful people not just in this city, but in the world. Scarlett, for as impenetrable as her skin might be, wasn’t a match. Blair pivoted, taking Oliver’s body with her. She spun around so that is was him Scarlett crashed into and attacked with a mad fury. By the time she realized, it was too late. She and Oliver went crashing through the wall and into the room on the other side.

  Blair stepped out of the rubble and turned to face whoever stood on the other side of the door. I took a step forward, finally catching her attention.

  She paused.

  “They said you were taken.” The disembodied voice of her demon came out cold and crass. Yet, hesitant. This rage wasn’t just a random bout, but a reaction to pain. A pain the demon did not understand or know how to deal with.

  “Vampires tried to. I killed them all,” I answered, taking measured steps forward. I was careful not to be too fast, or she’d think I intended to attack. But they also couldn’t be too slow, because caution meant I saw her as a threat.

  Her demon blinked and replied, “Good.” I nodded, strolling right up to her, close enough that I caught Johanna on the other side of the doorway that had been blown off its hinges. Behind her, Amber and Tori guarded Lucas with their lives.

  It left a bitter taste in my mouth that after all he’d done, they would protect him like this and yet Lily was left to rot.

  “So, what’d he do this time to warrant your wrath?” I asked with a feigned nonchalance. I didn’t miss the way Tori narrowed her eyes, or how Johanna gave me an exasperated look—like how dare I engage her when she was like this.

  But they underestimated one thing. I knew what it was like to be labeled for what you are. I understood how harmful it was to believe that you had no control over it. I didn’t wish that on Blair. This transition was already taking its toll in blood and heartache.

  “You were attacked by Vampires. I thought they came at his call.” She raised her blade in his direction without looking, the tip of it dripping blood.

  I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest and lifting one hand to my face. My thumb brushed over my bottom lip as I regarded her coolly. “Vampires did come, but they weren’t at his call.”

  She blinked, giving away nothing. “You don’t know that.”

  “I do, actually,” I said with a heavy sigh, because I wish I didn’t know or understand. I wish that we could all go back in time to when things were simpler. But they were never actually that way. It only seemed like it from the perspective of a child. Innocence was like that. Shielding the most horrid of things behind a veil of naivete.

  Never mind that the monsters lurked in plain sight.

  “He almost killed Aaron. He tried to kill Alec. The Vampires have never come before and now they happen upon you in the woods?” She let out a heartless laugh. I knew better than to show any fear; it would only egg her on, sending her deeper into this killing rage. “Don’t be a fool, cousin.” Her voice was almost mocking—if it had any inflection at all.

  “I’m not a fool,” I answered her sincerely. “Neither are you, but I hold more information than you do at this moment. There’s no way Lucas could have called any Vampires,” I assured her, even as a seed of doubt sowed its way in my heart. Could he have called them somehow? Could he have known?

  Her allegations weren’t baseless, but I needed him to be alive so I could question him on exactly that.

  “Why is that?” her demon asked, voice dripping with disbelief and suspicion.

  I did what I had to do. For her and for me.

  I lied.

  “Because I saw Victor order it last night.” My voice didn’t quiver. It didn’t tremble. I didn’t play with my hair or look away. I stared at her pitch-colored eyes and lied to her face, and her demon bought it.

  The mansion held its breath for a moment.

  She blinked twice, before the black faded into steel gray.

  Taking a stuttered breath, she looked to the side where Scarlett and Oliver were only just getting to their feet—to Johanna who stood just on the other side of the door—to me, and Ash who stood behind me. Then finally, to the shattered window.

  Her throat bobbed twice as she swallowed hard. The shouts down below didn’t help as people raced to help the young Supernatural who had quite literally been kicked through a window and fell two stories.

  That had to hurt.

  “He’s alive!” one of them bellowed, loud enough it carried further than our own more enhanced hearing. The breath left Scarlett’s body momentarily before she was pushing past us and bounding for the stairs that would lead her down to the training grounds.

  “You really did a number this time,” I said quietly.

  Blair only shook her head, because she’d pushed it this time, straying the line of how much the Shifter residence could handle.

  She moved to step around me and paused. “Whatever your reason for lying, I hope you’re damn sure about him.”

  Shock ran through me as she swiftly tried to retreat.

  “How did you know?” I asked, hardly more than a whisper.

  Blair didn’t pause, nor did she yell as she replied, “You would never take Keyla into danger if you knew it was coming.”

  And then she was gone.

  I felt her presence all the way to the third floor where she retreated to her room in self-imposed exile. Alexandra was already ready and waiting to watch her.

  I cursed under my breath and turned to Johanna.

  Lifting my blackened hand to point at Lucas as Blair had only minutes ago, I said, “Clear the room. He and I are going to have a chat.”

  Chapter 144

  Tori jumped forward, throwing herself in front of Lucas’s prone form. Bound to a chair with both arms behind his back and head bowed forward, he was not the boy I remembered. Neither was Tori the girl she used to be.

  Determination and desperation collided head-on in her green eyes as she looked at me, ready to defend him. “You can’t take him,” she whispered. Those same eyes turning glossy with tears she thought she’d be shedding.

  “I have no intention of killing him. You know that. Don’t let your emotions cloud your judgement,” I replied and waited. She slowly looked up and down my relaxed stance, to the knives I had stowed, and
the flaking blood of the undead that filled every crack and pore of my flesh.

  “Do you promise?” she asked, hardly a breath. Barely a whisper. I sighed softly.

  “I promise I won’t kill him, today.” Her expression hardened again.

  “How do you expect me to trust you when you put it like that?” she demanded.

  I glanced to Johanna pointedly.

  “I don’t have the patience for this today. Keyla and I were just attacked in the woods, and Liam is likely in bad condition downstairs after being kicked in the chest by a demon and thrown two floors, yet we’re wasting resources here. I’ve agreed to not killing him for now. You know why. You all know why.” I looked to her again, a hint of anger lingering in my gaze. “But I have questions, and we are running out of time. I don’t care if you trust me, Tori. I honestly don’t. Not after you let Anastasia slip and the ramifications of that are going to result in the deaths of thousands of people before this is all over.”

  She paled. Her tanned skin going white as the Vampires we sought to stop. She lowered her gaze to the floor out of guilt. Perhaps I should have felt bad. It wasn’t entirely her fault, but she had a role to play in it. One that if she’d stuck to the plan and done what she was told would have sent fate on a different path.

  And maybe Lily’s soul would not be hanging by such a slim thread.

  “He’s my brother,” she eventually said, pulling out of a defensive stance. “Just as she’s your sister. No matter what they’ve become.”

  If my face were not already a mask of indifference, I might have flinched at her words. She didn’t know—none of them did—how true that statement was.

  “Yes.” I nodded slowly. “And it’s because of him that my sister was tortured these last months and forced to endure unspeakable things.” She swallowed hard, no doubt her imagination running wild with what those words meant, but she didn’t understand. Not really. You couldn’t know the horror of it. Unless you watched from Lily’s eyes, as I did, while she killed a child that looked like Alexandra and reveled in it. “I will not kill him so long as she is trapped, because I need him to get her back.”