by Kelly Oram
“I heard you were a bold little thing.” Simone flittered back to Russ’s dad with a wistful expression. “That would be Alexander’s influence no doubt.” She ran her hand across Alex’s chest. “So very few men grow more handsome with age, Alexander.”
I watched in shock as she pressed her lips to Alex’s.
“I told you she’s a slut,” Russ grumbled until his dad started to kiss her back. Then he looked like he might actually faint from disgust. “Dad! Put your tongue back in your own mouth before I puke!”
Alex pulled apart from Simone with a laugh. “Sorry, Russ.” He smiled again at Simone. “I’m just so stunned that she’s alive.”
Simone smiled at Alex again, completely unable to keep her hands off him. “Oh, how I’ve missed our time together Alexander. Join us. Join me. We were great together once. We could be great again.”
Alex smirked an identical smile to the one I saw so often on Russ’s face. “We’ve had this conversation before Simone.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“You know very well I have no interest in joining the resistance, as well as you know that I may be the only man on earth capable of resisting your charms. I’m sorry. As tempting as you are, I must act in the best interest of my family.”
“Of course, Alexander. I understand completely, though it breaks my heart.”
“And just so we’re clear, Dani is part of that family.”
“Naturally.”
“As is her mate now.”
“Oh, dear,” Simone said. “That does present a problem.” Simone stepped close to Alex again and ran her hand slowly down his chest. She brushed her lips against his and his eyes fluttered shut.
“Are you sure there is nothing I can do to persuade you, Alexander?”
Alex tried to resist her but then pulled her in for a big sweeping romantic kiss that raised visible goosebumps on Simone’s skin. She melted into his embrace as she said, “Ohhhhhhh, Alexander.”
“It really was good to see you again, Simone,” Alex said. “So I will give you one chance to leave peaceably.”
Simone looked sincerely hurt as she ripped herself away from him. “So be it,” she hissed.
Simone threw an invisible attack at Alex and then all hell broke loose.
Alex and Simone engaged in a violent wizard’s battle exploding things and throwing each other around the room, but I couldn’t worry about them at all because one of the vampires had grabbed up Gabriel, which left Russ trying to fight his way through four angry vampires in order to get to me.
The first thing Russ did was blow apart the dresser, which made no sense to me until the wood splinters went flying and the vampires ducked for cover. Even the one holding me loosened his grip enough so that I was able to free myself. “Like Buffy?” I called to Russ as he grabbed up a particularly sharp wood splinter.
“Exactly!” he shouted and then thrust the improv stake into the heart of the vampire he was wrestling with.
I scrambled for a wooden stake of my own but my former captor grabbed hold of me again and I was no match for his vampire strength. I squirmed and kicked but it did nothing to his steel body.
“Get them out!” Simone yelled, and the vampires holding Gabriel and me headed for the window.
I heard Russ shout my name, and looked up just in time to see a vampire take advantage of his distraction. My entire world came to a halt as the vampire grabbed the stake from Russ’s hand and ran it through Russ’s chest.
I screamed a blood-curdling shriek and as I yelled I felt the burn of magic rise to the surface of my skin and rush out of me in an explosion.
Everyone in the room was still aware of what was going on, but they were frozen where they stood. I could hear them yelling different things at me but I understood nothing. I only saw Russ. Using my magic, I pushed open the stiff arms holding me and ran across the room.
Half insane with rage and grief I pulled the stake from Russ’s chest and plunged it into the vampire who’d hurt him. Blood poured from the man and he screamed in agony, but he still remained standing exactly where I’d glued him.
I fell to the ground and pulled Russ into my arms. He coughed weakly, but it was enough. He was still alive. “Heal!” I screamed at him through my sobs. I pulled him against my chest and wished as hard as I could to heal him. I felt the magic leave me and felt the energy starting to drain from me, but I refused to give up. “Heal, damn it!”
I could barely see through my tears as I looked up at Simone. Even she and Alex were helpless against my spell. “If he dies you are so dead!” I cried. “All of you! I will track down your stupid resistance and kill every last one of you!”
I turned my attention back to Russ. The wound in his chest was slowly closing. “Come on Rusty,” I sobbed, pushing the sweaty hair off his forehead. “Use my energy.” I squeezed Russ to me so tight we practically became one. “If you die I swear on your grave I will have eighteen of Gabriel’s babies and name them all Russ just to piss off your ghost.”
Russ coughed then and managed to choke out the words “Are you trying to kill me with that threat?” before his eyes rolled back in his head again.
The color had returned to his cheeks and the hole in his chest was almost completely gone. I pulled his face up to mine and when he tried to return my kiss I started sobbing again, this time overwhelmed with relief.
I was hit with a wave of dizziness and I knew I was exhausting all my energy trying to hold everyone still and heal Russ at the same time. I freed only Alex from my spell.
“Kill them,” I said when he rushed to my side.
“Dani, you’ve made your point.”
“They deserve to pay for this!”
“Danielle,” Gabriel said. “That would be murder. Worse. Execution.”
Gabriel’s voice seemed to crack through my insanity and I looked at the faces around the room. “If I let them go they’ll take you away,” I said to Gabriel.
“We won’t!” one of the vampires promised quickly.
“We will leave,” Simone added. “You have my word.”
I looked desperately to Alex and then back at Gabriel. “They still work with the resistance. They’re trying to start a war. They kill innocent people. Remember the village in the mountains? Who do you think it was that sent the raiding party after them? We can’t just let them go.”
“Danielle,” Gabriel pleaded. “If war breaks out we will fight the resistance by saving people, as we did with that village. You are not a killer. You do not want to murder these people for vengeance.”
I wasn’t so sure that was true. Even the prophecy said I had both light and dark in me. I had already killed one of them and pretty much wanted to finish off the lot right then. But Gabriel was good, and I wanted to be good for him so I dropped the spell. The vampire I’d killed fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
Alex turned on Simone and she threw her hands up in surrender. “I gave my word. We will leave you.”
“Who is your leader?” Alex asked.
Simone smiled through a sad expression at Alex. “You would kill me before you ever got that answer out of me.”
“Fine,” Alex said. “Then you go back to your leader and tell them what you saw today. Tell them if they ever try to come after my family again they will regret it. I will make good on Dani’s threats and help her kill every last one of you.”
Even in defeat, Simone couldn’t keep up her glare toward Alex. “I’m sorry it had to be this way Alexander. We really could have had something special.”
Alex surprised me by smiling. “My offer still stands, Simone. You remember don’t you?”
“What offer?” I asked, but received no answer.
“I remember.” Simone kissed Alex’s cheek and then signaled for her remaining vampire army to leave with her.
As soon as they were gone Alex knelt beside me. “You’re exhausted. I can take it from here.”
I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. “No!” I
screamed clutching Russ tighter against my chest. He was unconscious again, but breathing steadily.
“Dani—”
“He needs me!” I pulled Russ’s face to mine again and kissed his unconscious lips. “I’ll make you better,” I told him. “I love you always. No matter what. I promised. I won’t forget my promise.”
“Danielle,” Gabriel said gently. “I believe Mr. Devereaux needs a minute with his son.”
Gabriel managed to pry me away from Russ and convinced me to take a shower. He told me I’d feel better after I was cleaned up but watching the bright red water run down the drain as I washed Russ’s blood off only seemed to put me in more shock.
By the time I was clean and in a fresh change of clothes Alex had cleaned up Russ as best he could and had moved him to his bed. He was still unconscious, but the color was back in his face and Alex had left his side to begin throwing things in a duffel bag.
I sat down on the edge of the bed and took Russ’s hand in mine. It was a relief to feel his warm magic wash over me. “How is he?”
Alex came to stand behind me and looked down at Russ again with a distant look in his eyes. “He’s alive,” he whispered. “Thanks to you.”
Alex yanked me into his arms so suddenly then that I nearly suffered whiplash. “I thought he was going to die. I couldn’t have healed a wound so severe.” His body began to tremble around me and he couldn’t steady his voice as he said, “Thank you, Dani. Thank you for saving my son’s life.”
I was shocked to see Alex crying. His tears set me off again and we lost it together for a few minutes while the horror of what nearly happened finally sunk in. “I’m so sorry,” I cried into his chest. “All of this is because of me. I’m sorry I got you guys sucked into my mess.”
Alex got hold of himself and lifted my chin out of his chest, forcing me to look at him. “Don’t you ever be sorry. Russ is not the only one who can’t live without you, Dani. If I ever lost either of you….” His voice broke again, making him unable to finish his thought, so instead he just squeezed me so hard I couldn’t breathe.
We didn’t break apart until Gabriel cleared his throat, alerting us to his presence. “Forgive the interruption. Danielle and I are all packed as you asked.”
“Packed?” I asked. “Why?”
“We have to leave,” Alex said. He let go of me and resumed throwing clothes in a bag. “If the resistance can find us here, then so can the council.”
“But what about Russ?”
“He’s healed enough to move.” Alex smiled at me. “Think you could handle sharing a little more of that pure energy of yours while we drive?”
“Is that the best idea?” Gabriel asked Alex.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked. I was surprised by my own defensiveness. I didn’t understand Gabriel’s sudden wariness. I hadn’t figured him for the jealous type. “He’s still really weak. If my energy can make him better faster then of course I should help.”
“If you share more of your energy with him right now his bond with you will only grow stronger. It might hurt him more than help him.”
“Or perhaps it would repair part of her bond with him that the Councilor broke,” Alex argued.
My head snapped up to Alex’s. “You can do that?”
Alex nodded. “You’re still in the cravings Dani. You’re very susceptible to other’s energy. The closer you are with Russ the more you will gain back some of what you’ve lost with him.”
If that were the case, I was going to superglue the two of us together. My eyes burned as I pulled Russ’s hand into mine.
“Danielle, it is unwise to strengthen your connection with Russ when you and I have been paired.”
“We need to get going,” I snapped. “The resistance isn’t going to give up so easily and they’ll be a lot more prepared when they come back.”
. . . . .
Gabriel was pretty quiet while Alex drove us to who-knows-where, and I felt awful for yelling at him. As I sat in the back seat holding Russ’s body against me I knew Gabriel was right about it being stupid to bond with Russ again now that I was married to someone else, but I didn’t know that I could apologize. Somehow admitting that it was wrong to re-forge my bond with Russ was the same as letting him go, and I couldn’t do that when he was lying unconscious in my lap.
Instead of breaking the silence with an apology I decided to start with an easier subject. “Where are we going?”
“I’m not taking any more chances,” Alex said. “We’re going somewhere far away from here where no one is going to find you.
“But sir—”
I interrupted Gabriel knowing what he was thinking. “Alex, we can’t just disappear. We have to figure out what’s going on.”
“And we will,” Alex promised. “But we need to be safe while we’re doing that. You won’t be any good to anyone if you’re dead Dani. Or captured by the resistance.”
I sighed. He was right of course. “This could all be over if we could just figure out what that guy in my vision is trying to do.”
Gabriel turned sideways in his seat in order to see me. “Actually, I have been thinking about that, Danielle.”
I was relieved when our eyes met. I don’t think he’d looked at me since I’d yelled at him.
“I hadn’t remembered it until I saw you wearing your necklace tonight, but the vision you showed me of the altar the human built is very similar to the vision I had of you. I believe the spell our mystery warlock is doing is a summoning spell. I believe he is trying to summon Addonexus.”
“Isn’t that who I was fighting in the vision you had of me?”
“You had a vision of Dani fighting The Angel of Death?” Alex asked. He seemed startled.
Gabriel nodded and said, “After I had that vision of you I asked the Supreme High Councilor a lot of questions. He said that a blood sacrifice is necessary to summon demons, but the more powerful the demon, the more powerful the blood you need. Only the most powerful blood could summon the Angel of Death.”
“But that doesn’t explain my vision. The baby’s blood he used was only human. It wasn’t powerful at all.”
“All life comes from the Creator,” Gabriel said. “Even human life. The younger the child, the more pure the blood. A newborn’s blood, as you witnessed in your vision, would be the most powerful human blood there is.”
“Plus the cruelty in the act would entice the demon as much as the purity of the blood itself,” Alex added.
Gabriel nodded his agreement. “If not a sacrifice such as you or myself, I believe a newborn baby might be the only other way to successfully call on Addonexus.”
I felt like I was suffering from information overload. As I tried to process the information the pieces began to fall into place. “The vision changed,” I said. “Your vision. The one you had of me. When you brought me to the council, you stopped that vision. I was locked up in the consulate, so whoever is behind this couldn’t get me and had to come up with a plan B.”
“He did not just come up with a new plan, but a plan that I could not see.”
“So it has to be someone on the council. No one else knows how your visions work.”
“It has to be Councilor Mason,” Gabriel said.
“Or the Supreme High Councilor,” I reminded Gabriel as delicately as I could.
Gabriel shook his head. “The Councilor makes no sense. He would never want to summon the Angel Of Death.”
“You said Addonexus only kills humans, right? Not supernaturals? The Councilor hates humans.”
“But it would raise awareness of supernaturals to the human race. They would blame us for all the death—rise against us. It would start that great and final battle the prophecy speaks of. He was willing to torture you Danielle, and bind you to me in order to fulfill the prophecy and make sure that battle never happens.”
“Robert’s grumpy, but I can’t believe he’d want to wipe out the human race. Who would want to intentionally start that battle?”
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“Starting the war is exactly what the resistance is trying to do. We know that there is a mole in the council who has been feeding secrets to the resistance. We know it is a warlock trying to raise the Demon. Robert Mason is very prideful. He hates having to hide his power from humans. It must be him.”
“That is a very impressive theory, Gabriel,” Alex said. “I believe you might be right. We had not a chance to discuss this yet, but today I learned that what you described to me was a summoning ritual. I spent hours searching the specific symbols you saw drawn in the circle because every demon has its own symbol associated with it. But I found no matches. There are thousands of demons and I would never have believed anyone would be so bold as to try to raise the Angel of Death. You never told me of the vision you had of Dani, or I might have put the pieces together.”
An idea popped into my mind that ruined our theory. “Wait a minute. It’s impossible. The visions of a seer only come once a decision has been made, right?”
“That is correct,” Gabriel said. “That is the difference between a seer and an oracle. Aside from the quick glimpses I get of people’s futures, when I look into their soul, I cannot prophesy of things yet to come. I only see outcomes of events already set in motion.”
“But before your vision of me, the council had no idea that I even existed. No one did. Just Alex and Russ. There were no other supernaturals in our town. There was no one to set the plan of sacrificing me in motion.”
“I too wondered about that Danielle. I believe the answer visited us tonight.”
“The resistance? How would they have known about me?”
“Through Simone.”
“Hang on now,” Alex said. “I never breathed a word of Dani to Simone. I never told anyone about her. Not even Russ. I knew Danielle was pure and would be in danger if anyone discovered her. Simone couldn’t be trusted completely with a small secret, much less with something so potentially powerful.”
“Then why…?” I started to ask.
Now Alex was embarrassed. “She had…other advantages.”
“Gross, Alex. That’s as bad as thinking about my parents…Ugh.”
