“I hate this.” Alena’s bottom lip jutted out as she slung a bag onto her shoulders. “We shouldn’t be separated.”
“We talked about this.” I took her hand. “It worked great last time. Within a few hours, we’ll be sitting in the hotel suite with you guys, the end of the Lance of Longinus in hand.”
“It’s just driving me nuts, not knowing if we’ll get Gregor back. And you know I don’t like the trinity being separated.”
“I know.” I kissed her forehead. “But just think, if we can have the three pieces in a week, then we’ll be able to go home and finish high school like semi-normal teens. We could go to prom.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You hate dancing. You’re just trying to distract me.”
“Go. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
“Fine.” She trudged out the door, slamming it behind her.
Finding the rest of the team prepping their gear, I double checked mine. Aaron and Dimitri donated some of their vampire blood and sealed it in vials we zipped in our breast pockets. At three we loaded into the van and headed north. Circling the grounds, we saw the crowd thinning and snagged a spot close to the entrance.
A warm hand laced through my fingers as we crossed to the Cathedral.
My heart skipped a beat as I turned to see Alena beside me. “What are you doing here?”
“Can’t tell if I’m real or not?” A smiled crossed her lips.
“That’s not funny. You need to conserve your energy. This isn’t a game.”
“Just wanted to wish you luck.” She kissed my cheek and disappeared.
Focusing on our surroundings, we entered through the security checkpoint and around to King Louis’s tomb. As guards cleared the building of the last patrons, Jude and Tyler slipped off their bracelets and cloaked the group from view. DJ would keep his bracelet on unless he had to do magic to defend himself, and I would only take mine off to find the portion of the sword.
Slipping behind displays and between pews, we evaded security until four guards were left. Ducking into the office, Tyler put a sleep spell on the officer, and Jude reprogrammed the cameras to show a loop of the past five minutes. Next, we found each of the other officers, sending them into a deep coma. I reached out to Alena and Camille, letting them know we were ready for phase two of the mission.
No smile graced Alena’s face as she appeared in front of me. “We’re ready.”
I slid my bracelet off, and we approached the tomb. We searched the outside, finding no trace of the point of the lance. Standing around the encasement, we debated opening the box. Even though we hated it, there seemed to be no other way. Heaving and pulling, the six of us tried to open the top, but it wouldn’t budge. Aaron and Dimitri added their muscle, and still it didn’t move.
I stepped back from the tomb. “Maybe the three of us have to open it, sort of like we can’t share with anyone outside our team where the pieces are.”
The others stepped back from the tomb, forming a circle around us. I focused my energy on attracting the point of the blade, and the top of the tomb started to glow. Camille held out her hand, and the three of us locked fingers. A loud crack sounded, and opening my eyes, I found the top had shifted position, exposing an inch gap. When we shoved on the side, it slid away easily. Lowering the stone to the ground, I raised my phone over the dark box, illuminating the inside. A skeleton lay on a raised stone tablet, arms folded over his chest. One hand held a cross and the other a pointed fragment of white stone.
“That’s it, right?” I held my hand over the blade, and it began to glow. “Lock hands again.”
As soon as our hands were joined, the intensity of the light coming from the blade tripled.
“What now?” Camille asked. “Is it going to slide out, or do we have to pry it from his fingers? Because I don’t really want to touch—”
King Louis’s fingers opened, and the tip floated up. Letting go of Camille’s hand, I extended my hand. The stone tip shot to my palm, and I wrapped my fingers around it. A warmth spread up my arm to my chest.
“Is that it? Does it feel right?” Alena’s eyebrow peaked.
“It does.” I stared at the fragment, trying to comprehend holding something that was forged two thousand years before.
The stone top rumbled, and I slipped the blade in my inner jacket pocket. I didn’t plan on letting that piece of stone out of my sight. Lifting the covering for the tomb, it snapped into place as we set it atop the box.
I looked to Alena and then Camille. “We should get going. I’ll meet you at the safe house.”
“Don’t forget your bracelet.” Alena pointed at me.
Spinning to face the others, I slid it from my pocket as Alena and Camille disappeared. Pride filled my chest. We were successful. I’d been able to keep Alena and Camille out of harm’s way, and we’d retrieved the first piece of the sword. My plan was going to work. Within a week we’d have the other two pieces and figure out how to break the curse. Then, everything would go back to normal.
Jude and Tyler evoked a cloaking spell, and the group wound to the exit. Finding the guards starting to rouse, we slipped out into the night. As we walked across the parking lot to the vehicle, I scanned the sky. I wouldn’t lower my guard until we were all back safe in yet a second secure location prepared by Anne and her teams. In the vehicle, I released my breath. It took forty-five minutes of weaving through traffic to reach our compound, and my leg bounced as we drove. Seeing Alena and Camille’s SUV pull into the garage ahead of us brought me full relief.
As soon as the doors were secured, I let out a whoop. “We did it!”
Alena ran to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I picked her up and twirled her around. Then, I slapped Camille’s palm. Seeing DJ’s smile, I offered him my hand. He gripped it and pulled me into his chest.
“I cannot believe this. So that piece is part of the lance that will free witch souls from the purgatory called Sheol? And we are the ones who will make it happen? I have a brother, a family?” He shook his head as tears filled his eyes.
“You do.” I wrapped my arms around him.
We prepared dinner and passed dishes around the table, refueling our bodies and spirits with the company gathered. I looked at each of my friends, wondering how I could have doubted any of them. Tyler, Jude, and even the vampires, Aaron and Dimitri, had all become true family. My eyes landed on DJ, and my heart warmed. Here was a being, blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh, who held no evil. We were safe, all of us.
“So, are we going to Turkey?” Camille drummed her fingers on the tabletop.
Alena set her glass down. “I say yes. We should make the arrangements tonight and leave as soon as possible.”
Theron’s image flashed through my brain, and I blinked. For as much as I wanted this all to be over, I dreaded further exposing the team without full preparation. “Maybe we should go back to the main compound, regroup, rest up, make sure we have all the right intel in place.”
“What? What about Gregor and the others? Every day we spend planning means more vampires soul-jacked by Sonia. We don’t know what housing witch souls will do to them. What if it becomes permanent? We have no idea if we’ll ever get him back!” The pitch of Alena’s voice rose with every word. “Camille, you’re with me on this, right?”
I wrapped my hand around her fingers. “Breaking the curse will release the souls. We know that, right? There’s a lot at stake for all of us.”
Camille slid her chair back. “We can’t plan for every scenario anyway. Just like with the point, we got close and had to rethink. That’s not something we can know ahead of time. Aaron and Dimitri said forty-eight hours, so I’m with Alena. We should go now and let them do their work. Then, we’ll be ready to move when they say it’s clear.”
I assessed each gathered trying to figure them out. DJ seemed non-committal. Jude and Tyler also wavered. The elders, Chalondra and Orm, were harder to read.
“Should we vote?” Alena smiled at Camill
e.
The mark on my wrist burned, and I balled my fists, hot anger rising to the surface of my skin. We needed more time to make sure Alena, Camille, and the rest of the team weren’t unduly exposed.
“Hunter.” Alena caught my arm.
Her sky-blue eyes brought me back, and I took a deep breath, willing the demon within to retreat. Thoughts brewing with fear, I reclined in the chair. Was I really part evil like Theron or my father? I had to get it under control, excise it, something, anything, before I ended up using it in the wrong way.
I drew in another lung full of air and exhaled. “If you two think we should go to Turkey, then I’m in, and we go to Turkey. I just hate risk.”
“To Turkey.” Watching me, Orm raised his glass.
As we cleared the dinner table, he approached. “What just happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re going to try that with me?”
I cocked my head and herded him away from the others. “You were right. I need to be careful with all this power I have. It feels like it has a life of its own sometimes.”
“Why didn’t you come to me with this? You can’t let this fester inside you.”
“You think I want to tell my mentor, the one who trained me, helped me become strong and powerful, that I have an evil growing inside me?”
“We all have demons. We learn to live with them. Come, let’s talk further.” He motioned to the door, and we proceeded down the hall to the gym. “Tell me.”
I described the feeling, how my arm burned, how my chest felt like my rib cage would explode.
“When you want your way? Like at dinner?”
“Yes.” I hung my head. I just want to us to be careful. I have to make sure everyone is protected.”
“I know. But you can’t keep your feelings bundled inside; they’ll find a way to manifest. You need to have an outlet. Something you can control, like this rod.”
He raised his palm and a rod shot from the wall and hovered before us. Eying the wood staff, I sent it flying past me to the other side of the room. “I know. I’ve been talking with Alena about it.”
“That is good. You should share this with Camille too. The three of you must be as one. You share your strengths and weaknesses. It is the only way you will be a strong team.”
“Camille is perfect, too perfect.”
“No.” A sword flew from the bench to Orm’s palm. “Her compassion is her Achille’s heel.”
“Why doesn’t she side with me then? Think we need to be more cautious? If we take more time to plan, then there is less chance for getting hurt.”
“She weighs that with the number of people Sonia is hurting. They far override our small team. You feel closer to Alena now? Like you have something within that you need to fight?”
“Yes.” I caught the weapon he hurled at me.
“Embrace the feeling, let it flow through your mind, temper it with your reason.”
“But my reason tells me to keep everyone safe. What if something happens to Alena, Camille, or DJ?”
“You will feel responsible?”
“I am responsible.”
“That is the problem. You alone do not bear that burden; it is shared. The team carries that weight, as one. You should make sure you are all training together all the time, all six of you. You must be as one in all things. You will feel less of that pull of the darkness that is your family’s coven when you are fully bonded with your coven.” Orm laid his hand on my shoulder. “And it is your coven, for better or worse. Your role as a leader is a privilege and burden you must carry, but you do not carry it alone.”
I raised my chin, a thought forming in my mind. I’d disregarded the idea before, but desperate times called for extreme measures. “You’re right. We must be bonded as one, not only Alena, Camille, and me, but DJ, Jude, and Tyler.”
Striding from the gym, I weaved through the halls, collecting Alena, Camille, DJ, Jude, and Tyler. I explained my plan to them and could see the comprehension and equal apprehension in their faces.
“I agree that DJ should join our coven but not on the second part. We’re witches.” Tyler shook his head. “That sword won’t affect any of us. We should be safe from this body-grabbing thing Sonia and Thanatos are pulling.”
I shook my head. “Probably, yes. But this will also protect us from whatever comes. If we have some of each person’s blood, we should be able to find any one of the others, no matter where they are. Whether by magic or the vampire blood bond. It’s not that different than us sipping vampire blood to protect ourselves. It only needs to be done once. The blood will remain part of our systems forever. If we link our magic in the essence of the blood, we’ll all be safer.”
“I’m in.” Alena stepped forward and whisked a dagger from her boot.
“Of course, you have a dagger in your shoe.” Jude rolled his eyes. “I don’t like it. You know what the blood bond means to vampires. How can you ask this?”
DJ raised his hand. “I’m lost.”
Alena summarized the sharing of blood between vampire mates for DJ.
“That is way cool. It’s a no brainer for me. Count me in.” DJ held out his wrist.
Camille and then Tyler acquiesced that it was the best way to safeguard our coven, leaving only Jude. Camille linked her arm in his, and shaking his head, he slid into our inner circle. Holding a bowl up, I offered my arm to Alena. She sliced it, and blood dropped from my wrist. I watched as the cut closed and became pink, thinking I’d never get used to healing so fast. DJ, Camille, Jude, Tyler, and then Alena took turns adding their blood to the bowl. When the vessel passed back to me, I took a deep breath and pressed the side to my lips, letting the warm, sour liquid slide down my throat.
I passed the bowl to DJ. It traveled around the circle until it stopped with Alena. She downed the rest in one long sip. Afterwards, I shared with them Orm’s idea. How we should all be training together, eating and sleeping at the same time so we were as tuned into each other as possible.
Next, we gathered Chalondra, Grady, and Orm to welcome DJ into our coven. I watched him as magic poured through our linked palms. It seemed odd how sometimes I saw my father and brother in him, and other times I found no semblance. With his chin raised and shoulders spread, I fought déjà vu, remembering how our father Thanatos would stand motionless and silent before admonishing me. Would DJ fight the same demons I did?
Packing the next morning, I called Mom to say goodbye.
“I don’t like you going to the Middle East,” she complained.
“Mom, terrorists are the least of our worries.”
“Well, now I’m really concerned. What are you up against out there? You haven’t been very good about sharing what you’re doing.”
“Just research, Mom. Trying to find out what Dad and Theron are up to.”
I’d never told her the whole story and wondered if I ever would. It wasn’t like she could do anything about it, and I didn’t want her to blame herself. Supposedly, my father appeared to be quite nice when they’d met. It seemed a lot of women were seduced by his charm. DJ, Theron, and I all had different moms, so that was at least three. There were probably more siblings on our family tree. I rotated my wrist, thinking the tattoo was another thing I hadn’t shared with her. How did you tell your mother a magical tattoo appeared on your arm and you might be fated to be next in line to be King of the witches?
I switched topics. “How are you and Grandma and Grandpa?”
“Good. I mean there’s not tons of nursing to do, you know, vampires”—she chuckled—“but Anne keeps me busy collecting blood and venom. I still can’t say what fills my time without feeling weird. It was nice of her to get Grandma’s books for her.”
“Which books?”
“All of them, you know how your grandmother loves her bibles and photo albums. Anne helped her set up a genealogy search website and taught her and Grandpa to use it. Grandma has added several generations to her tree.”
; “Wow, that was nice.” I rubbed my hands down my pants, wondering why Anne would go to the trouble. It was a nice gesture but seemed over and above given everything else she had to do.
“And they have Grandpa testing guns and other weapons. He’s in heaven. Reminds him of his younger army days, I think.”
“That’s good. I’m glad everyone is keeping busy.” I stuffed in my jacket and zipped my pack.
“I really missed seeing you on your birthday. I hope we can see you soon.”
“I’m sorry about the birthday thing. It’s looking like we may be back sooner than later, so that’s a good thing.”
“Yes, it is.” The pitch of her voice rose in her usual I’m-about-to-cry tell. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Don’t worry. We’re well guarded.”
“Funny, you didn’t say well protected.”
“That’s my job.”
“Don’t try to be a hero. We’d rather have you alive than not.”
“I know. I love you too. I’ll call when we get to Turkey.” I ended the call before it became much more of a marathon.
Next, I scrolled through my contacts and found Anne’s. Hitting the button, I ran my hand down my pants again.
“Yes,” Anne answered. “What’s wrong? You should be leaving for the flight.”
“I know. We are, soon. I was just wondering why you did all that stuff for my grandma.”
“Well, she likes it, right? I want them to be as comfortable as possible.”
“She likes to knit too.”
“And she made some wonderful blankets for our crew.”
“Anne, there’s something else. You don’t do things like that for no reason.”
I heard her take a deep breath. “Hunter, we need you to be focused.”
Frustration rose in my chest. “Anne, just tell me.”
“Don’t you think it’s odd how much power you have? I mean, yes, you’re Thanatos’s son, of Michael’s line, but we’ve never heard of a mark like that. I don’t want to ask Marcus about it or any other of the witches. If word gets out, then there could be too much attention on you. We have no idea what the mark means. What if your mother’s family descended from a line of witches that stopped using their magic?”
Kingdom of War (Kingdom Journals Book 4) Page 8
