“That doesn’t make sense,” Tobias exclaimed. “He would have let you mark me in your past lives if that were the case.”
“Not necessarily. Perhaps he didn’t have what he needed. Or he wasn’t ready. There could be a number of reasons. But it would make a certain sense.” I pulled Tobias’s hand away from Liza, trying to gain his full attention. “Whether you want to admit it or not, you and I are always drawn to one another. In each and every life I’ve lived. You always helped me to flee the vixra. But maybe you weren’t doing so of your own free will. Was it truly because you didn’t want to be marked by me when I was a kruxa or did you have another motive?”
I quietly let my crowning magic pierce through my palm, letting it gently weave into his skin without him noticing. Or if he did, he didn’t say anything. I saw the shift happen in his eyes the same way it did with Liza. He was realizing there was a certain truth to my words. And it wasn’t because he was putting the pieces together. It was because I was slowly releasing him.
‘Victor has been luring Tobias all this time. Until Harper Ashwood showed up. He was finally ready to have the link between realms opened.’
Tobias’s expression softened. I let go of his hand. He stood there in silence. I didn’t need for him to speak. He had already come to the same truth that I had.
Victor was the one pulling us apart over the centuries. He lured Tobias into forcing me to leave to avoid Tobias being marked. Only now we both knew why. And my magic could life away the falsehoods of all Victor’s luring over the years. I could see the veil being lifted on his face. All of Victor’s past lies were laid bare in his mind.
“It’s a relief of sorts,” I said, directing my attention back to Liza.
“What is?” She asked with a shrug.
“To know you were being lured all along and you didn’t mean to harm that man at the Red Rocks Amphitheater.”
A puzzled expression crossed her face. “That wasn’t Victor. I mean, yes, it was. He told me to bring you out in the open but I just like to hunt at concerts. It’s easy and its fun.”
Tobias smirked. “That may be my fault. I taught her that trick back in the 1960s. Concerts are an easy feeding ground.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “For someone so old, you’re rather predictable sometimes.”
“Leave us,” Tobias ordered Liza. “And don’t go far. The others will be returning shortly and we will need to plan.”
“You found them?” she said with an odd exuberance I hadn’t heard from her before. “I was sure when I saw the facility explode that they were all lost.”
“Yes, they survived. They will need to feed and to recover as quickly as possible. Go hunting on your own and replenish yourself, then feed the others.”
“What about Ryker?” She asked. “Victor still has my brother.”
“We’ll find him. I promise,” he reassured her. “When have I ever not kept a promise I made to you?” He said in an almost affectionate tone of voice.
She practically beamed and gave a small bow of her head before turning around to leave.
I could feel her excitement. She was finally receiving orders from someone she respected and not Victor. I even sensed a bit of admiration. Did she have some sort of crush on Tobias?
‘Whatever brings you in line, sweetheart. We’re going to need all the help we can get.’
10
The moment Liza was gone I was afraid. Every part of me was on high alert. I was only grateful that I could control my magic this time around. There was no need for me to force my magic to absorb back into my skin. That didn’t stop it from stirring inside of me. Not because I was afraid Tobias might do something to me. Rather because I was afraid of how things might change.
When I turned around to face him his usual rigid expression was back. His armor. The part of him that I always saw until I managed to break it down. Piece by piece. Layer by layer. Only for him to throw it back up again as though all my efforts were meaningless.
“Tell me,” I said to him. “What’s changed?”
He shook his head, unable to really describe it. “What did you do to me?”
His words felt like a harsh accusation. One I wasn’t ready for. Especially after lifting Victor’s luring over him.
“I had the audacity to think that you might be grateful,” I snapped.
“I am grateful. Just…” I could sense his fury. He was trying to bury it. I knew it wasn’t for me. It was for Victor and what he had done. That didn’t stop his emotions from slamming into me with brute force.
Part of me wanted to reach out to him. Everything had changed. And at the same time, nothing had changed. We still knew so little. And we knew far too much. Victor cast a spell on me to make me reincarnate. He turned Tobias into a vampire and lured him potentially for over a century to stay away from me. Victor even went so far as to make sure I died in previous lives to prevent me from marking Tobias. All so he could wait for the right time to use us to his advantage. We learned the truth all in one moment. It felt impossible. And yet, I didn’t feel the need to question it. The pieces fit together too neatly.
I wanted to hate Tobias for what he did to me all those years ago. He forced me to leave my home country. My culture. My people. My kind. Then he abandoned me. Being a young woman wandering the world alone in the 18th century was far more frightening than becoming a vampire. And I hated him for the constant fear I reluctantly endured. And the joyous memories of him that he robbed from me. They were forever stained by his treachery. Until now. All the pain and resentment I felt for him had nowhere to go. Because it wasn’t him making those decisions. It was Victor luring him and forcing us apart.
“You’re in shock,” I said. “The same as me.”
He didn’t respond. He simply looked at me with new eyes. Eyes that seemed to soak in the sight of me as if he hadn’t seen me with clear vision in ages. And somewhere inside of him, he missed me dearly.
“Nice skill for you to have,” he said. “Knowing when someone is lying. It will help us in the future.” And just like that, he set his armor firmly back into place. I saw through it for a mere few seconds. But he couldn’t hide his emotions from me. My magic could sense them more potently than ever before.
“So is being able to remove Victor’s luring abilities,” I agreed. “If we find Ryker I’ll need to do the same for him so we can find out more about the assassination. He might know more about Victor’s motives.”
“He doesn’t need to tell us. I already know.”
That piqued my interest. “What? Do you remember anything? Something Victor lured you to forget?”
The man had been manipulated for so long that I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with ease or care. I just asked bluntly.
“All this time I thought I was becoming fatigued. Tired of being a vampire and tired of living. It wasn’t until the vixra made me a slave that those emotions felt foreign to me. I didn’t know how much I wanted to live until my will wasn’t more own anymore. And it was all because Victor was preparing for Harper to mark me. Or you. Only he couldn’t force you to mark me when the vixra made you immortal. He had to help make you a vampire so Lenora could break the immortality the vixra forced on you. And so he can kill both of us after he’s used us to open the link.”
“We don’t know that he wants to kill us.”
“Yes,” he said roughly. “I do. I’ve heard Victor speak of the witchling realm before. How incredible it would be to pass through it and leave the earthly realm behind. To experience being among those so pure of witchling blood that they’re practically gods. He even said there were ways to open the links between worlds. Although, he never divulged how. Now I know why. But I remember him speaking of it with others in hushed conversations I wasn’t meant to hear.”
I waited for him to continue, wondering how many false memories he was revisiting. How he was revising them after Victor skewed them for so long.
“The key was hidden in the earthly realm,” he said.
“Once the key was found and joined with the lock, the link between worlds would only open upon a sacrifice of blood magic soaking the earth.”
“Blood magic?” I practically stammered. “Using magic straight from the source?”
“Victor means to spill blood in order to make this happen. Lots of it. Maybe Lenora’s blood. But the amount of blood magic to make something like that happen is more than he can acquire. Which was why he had me acquire it.”
“Acquire it how?”
“By creating the coven. He intends to kill us, G. He intends to kill us all.”
I shook my head in frustration, seeing the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together, telling a story I had always been curious about and now I could only dread how it ended.
“That’s why he didn’t let me mark you in previous lives,” I said, stunned and yet disgusted by how the both of us were so used and so utterly outsmarted. “He needed you to create the coven so he could conjure enough magic.”
“He’ll have plenty. His vixra crowning magic, the crowning magic he gave you, Lenora for luxra magic, whatever kruxa blood I might have left inside of me, and dozens of vampires from my coven who wield elemental magic with the vixra blood I provide them.”
I was silent for a moment as my mind jumped from one conclusion to another. Not even ten seconds later my phone buzzed. As did Tobias’s cell phone.
I grabbed it from my pocket and looked to see what was happening. My confusion only grew when I saw the alert sent to my screen.
NATIONAL EMERGENCY AS PRESIDENT ERIKSSON SENDS ARMED FORCES TO DENVER
“It’s happening,” I said softly, damn near crushing my phone with the firm grip of my hand.
“What is?”
“A vision I had weeks ago. They know about us. Now they’re coming for us. And President Eriksson is more than willing to use mercenaries to give Gandira what it wants.”
I watched as he came to the same realization as I did. He stood strong before me. It was the same posture he used that gave him such a refined and courtly presence when we first met. The same veneer that made him appear as stoic as he was striking.
“He won’t harm the coven,” he said. “And he won’t harm you. Not ever again.”
His emotions shifted. Any respect he may have had for Victor after centuries of working with and against one another was gone. I could feel it leave him without so much as a second thought.
Then he reached out his hand for mine. I took it with trust, knowing whatever animosity I felt toward him couldn’t stand anymore. Not with what I knew now. And not while we only had a small window of opportunity to stop what was coming.
“If Victor opens that link, we don’t know what might pass through. There’s no way of knowing what’s on the other side.”
He flashed me the smirk that always made him such a mystery to me. The one that made me want to know more when I was only a young woman living in the Scottish highlands.
“You should be used to fighting the impossible by now, G. Or has five lives not been enough for you to know your own strength?”
I almost felt the urge to look away shyly but I held his gaze. I didn’t fight the battles I fought over the years by choice. It was always by force. I was only now learning to choose my own.
“Just make me one promise,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“When we find Victor, I want him for myself. Let me be the one to kill him.”
I scoffed. “Why should you get the honors?”
“Because he took something from me that I once treasured. Not just once but several times. I think that entitles me to see life leave his eyes by my own hands.”
I stood outside the opening to the cavern’s entrance leading down to the tunnels and watched as the vampires from the facility in Telluride started appearing over the horizon. They ran over the terrain as if it wasn’t staggeringly high, rocky, or even a challenge for them. I understood how they fought so hard for their existence. Even when witchlings would look down on them. Through their viciousness and wild nature, there was a certain energy they possessed. One that I didn’t truly understand until I was one of them. Not that I particularly cared for the bloodthirst or the feeling of euphoria I got when I drank from a human. A small part of me still found it repulsive after I was done drinking. But as I watched them running up the rocks toward the entrance to the nest, I was fascinated and enthralled. Those who I would help guide and rule leading into a new age were coming home to me. And to Tobias.
Each and every one of them slowed down just before reaching the opening where I stood to one side. And as each walked in, they made eye contact with me. And I with them. I didn’t have time to communicate in words what I felt. That I would look out for them. That I would do everything I could to protect them. And that even though the harshest of times might be coming I would never abandon them.
The familiar cawing sound that I had grown to miss so dearly flew over the tree line and hurriedly came my way. I didn’t need to summon Kitty this time. She was coming to me. After the last of Tobias’s warriors walked into the nest, I stood there waiting for her. She flew right over to me and landed on my wrist as I extended it out to her. I could tell she was completely exhausted. It wasn’t exactly a short distance between Mount Evans and Telluride.
Her wide eyes were locked on mine as I stroked her wing, trying to ease the exhaustion I knew she must be feeling.
“What is it?” I asked her.
“I think I get it now,” she said.
“Get what?”
“Why you did this.”
“I tried telling you why. I wish you had given me a chance to explain. But you were so afraid of me. Maybe that was my mistake. I should have told you more before I ran into Tobias’s arms.”
“Don’t ever forget that you’re frightening now. All vampires are and they always will be to humans. And for good reason. I’ve never seen beings move the way vampires do. If we’re going to win a war in the future, we’ll need their ruthlessness.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m glad to hear you approve.”
“I never said that,” she said with a flick of her wings. “I just understand. That’s all. At least better than I did before.”
“Will you come inside?” I asked her, hoping she would say yes this time.
“Only if you have a nest waiting for me.”
I laughed as I turned around to head inside. “Not the kind you probably want. But yes, I have one ready.”
I walked through the tunnel with her on my arm and brought her to the room where Lenora once rested. It was empty and I was determined to make it for my own personal use. And as a quiet place where Kitty could sleep without having to worry about the nearby vampires.
I let out my magic through my palm and aimed it at the corner desk where Lenora once had her potions sitting. I swirled my magic around until it created a shape similar to a nest. Then once it was fully formed, I brought Kitty down toward it and set her down. She was hesitant at first, not ever having seen me wield magic like that before. Or so easily. But she eventually relented and sat on the nest I made for her. She liked it even though she tried not to show it.
“What now?” she asked as she nestled in.
I shrugged my shoulders and decided it was best to tell her everything we had learned. Or at least everything that I had gathered was closest to the truth over the course of the few hours. Kitty listened without interrupting and then shook her head once I was finished as if to say that she couldn’t quite digest it all. It was too much.
“So all this time it was Victor pulling the strings and controlling Tobias?” she asked.
“It appears so,” I said.
“What do we do?”
“We fight. It’s the reason why I did this. Armed mercenaries for Gandira are headed this way and will probably be swarming Denver by dawn. We have to stop them before they manage to get the better of us. Which means attacking when they are vulnerable and don’t expect it.”
“You can’t be serious. It will only expose magical beings even more.”
“Not if I can cast a powerful enough spell to make us all invisible to human eyes.”
“It won’t matter,” she said. “They’ll become the new Ninth Roman Legion. A group of fighters who went into enemy territory and were never seen again. They’ll just send more.”
“Then we will have to be ready when that day comes. I’ve fought Romans before. This shouldn’t be too different. Only they’ll have guns and I’ll have more powerful magic.”
“Kruxa,” a voice spoke in the deepest depths of my mind. Teasing me. Tormenting me. I reached for my head, trying to focus and cut him out. “You disappoint me, kruxa.”
‘I won’t let you have it,’ I said back to him. ‘I don’t care what it is you placed inside me all those years ago with that spell. But you can’t have it back.’
I could hear him laughing. It echoed through my mind and only made me angrier. “Oh, yes I can. I’ve taken everything from you. In multiple lives. I will take this one if you try to fight me.”
“Is that why you need Gandira’s mercenaries? Because you know Tobias and I won’t be your pets anymore?”
Kitty stared at me, knowing something was wrong but choosing not to speak.
He knew. The luring he used to control Tobias and the others was his best weapon. I disarmed him. At least to some extent. Maybe he wasn’t expecting me to learn how my crowning magic worked as fast as I did.
“You will come,” he warned me. “You will give me what I want. Because if you don’t I will make sure that not a single member of the Catach-Brayin survives. I won’t need them anymore.”
‘But you need them to open the link for you.’
“For a time,” he whispered, making my insides burn hot like fiery coals. “For as long as they are useful. And you, my dear kruxa, have nearly outlived your usefulness.”
With that, his voice was gone and I was left with a very bewildered bird in a magical nest sitting before me.
Fated Realms: (Witchling Wars: Vampire Echelon Book 2) Page 11
