Witchling Wars

by Shawn Knightley

  “He says as long as she’s looked after, we can wait until the Congressman’s trial is over before her future is decided.”

  With that, Eli walked out of the bedroom.

  Nathaniel waited before following, taking my hand into his and holding it there as I stared off into nothing.

  I had lost so much. Too much. I couldn’t lose Emily too.

  “She loved you, Harper,” he said softly. “She loved you like a sister. Remember that.”

  Then he stood up straight and followed Eli into my living room. The construction workers had gone for the night. I could hear Eli and Nathaniel’s steps echoing on my new wood floor. But they hushed their voices as they spoke so I couldn’t hear them.

  However locked my fate was with the Catach-Brayin, it was even more intertwined with the vixra now.

  I tried to rest. I tried to ignore the urge to think of Emily’s chest ripped open just like Andrew’s had been. But it was no use. The images appearing in my mind would never truly leave me.

  “I’m sorry, Emily,” I whispered.

  I made a single promise to myself as the two of them discussed my future in my own house out of earshot. That no matter what they wanted for me, no matter what they decided for me, I would never let it get in the way of my one goal.

  I was going to find Brian. I was going to kill him. I would find out if he was the one committing the murders.

  I’m not the vengeful type. I’ve never seen myself as vindictive or dare I say, a vigilante. But anyone who harmed Emily in school was immediately shut down by yours truly. High school may have been over, but my resolve remained the same.

  Anyone who harms my loved ones makes an instant enemy. That’s a promise.

  THE END OF BOOK TWO

  PERIL UNBOUND

  BOOK III

  Chapter 1

  I casually set one foot in front of the other, not bothering to even really watch where I was walking. I knew the general area. The general street. The general darkness that covered this part of the city at night. But my mind was elsewhere. My mind was with Emily, wherever her spirit might be. My mind was with Madison, wherever Eli was keeping her in Budapest while she recovered. I let my mind wander to anywhere but here.

  Washington D.C.

  A city full of monuments from an age I only saw a glimpse of in a dark alley as a vampire named Isaac threw a fireball directly at me before Nathaniel sent me back to my own time in the vixra tunnel. I had already seen the majority of the tourist sites like the White House, the Capitol, and even parts of the Library of Congress that no other human, or half-human in my case, was given the privilege to see unless they were a part of a meal plan for the Catach-Brayin.

  They were a distraction. Nothing more than a mere diversion away from everything that happened. It had been two months since Brian lured my sister into attacking me in her own house. Two months since my body was poisoned with vixra blood. Blood that was too powerful for my body to handle in large amounts. Two months since Emily had died inside an asylum. Two months since I found Officer Andrew Parker’s dead body on the floor of the police station. And two months since the Congressman was arrested and placed on trial for the murder of his daughter, Samantha Larsen. A trial I would soon have to testify in as a witness.

  Two months gave me too much time to think. Too much time on my own. Nathaniel had hardly been back since he left to check on my sister’s recovery in Budapest, along with his attempts to win back the favor of Eli Matthews. I rarely heard from him anymore. And I couldn’t help but feel a little bit abandoned.

  He watched over me during the first couple weeks while I healed. The weeks where I felt like I was the one going through rehab as the vixra blood slowly and painfully left my body. I was weak. I shook uncontrollably during most days and nights. My skin dripped with sweat even though I was cold to the bone. And the pain in my leg only subsided after a month of consistent rest.

  Nathaniel was attentive at first. He made sure I was fed. He made sure I was bathed by Tobias’s hired maid. He made sure I had plenty of films to watch as I slowly let my body heal. Then he left. And for whatever strange reason that was beyond my comprehension, I missed him. I thought of him daily. Who am I kidding? Hourly. And the less I heard from him the more that unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach grew.

  I glanced up at a few of the monuments as I walked by. Some were lit up with street lights, showcasing their large and beautiful structures and statues. But after one month of exploring them to get my mind off things, I didn’t care much for them. This wasn’t my home. Dilton was my home.

  It didn’t matter. Until the Congressman’s trial, that is. Nathaniel managed to lure the judge into allowing me to stay in Washington D.C. until the day I was needed to testify. That day was coming up very soon. And I was completely dreading it. I had questions. So many questions that hadn’t been answered yet. Questions I wouldn’t know how to answer on the stand. I didn’t know the Congressman’s level of involvement in his daughter’s death. If Emily had been right and he handed them over to the Catach-Brayin or if Nathaniel was right and the Congressman was left in the dark most of the time. And the only man with the answers was one I desperately wanted to avoid.

  I had a wing to myself in Tobias’s large mansion. My own chauffeur to drive me around. Special meals made by a chef Tobias hired for me. And enough fine clothing to make me feel as though I was someone important. Along with a note every evening telling me that when I was ready, he would like me to dine with him.

  ‘To dine with him? What does that even mean? What the hell is he going to eat? Will he just sit there and drink blood from one of his many crystal glasses? How can he expect me to eat while watching that?’

  I had recovered enough to go out each evening and walk around. But not freely as I would like. Or at least it didn’t feel that way. Tobias gifted me a locket the first morning I woke up halfway lucid. He waited for Nathaniel to leave on an errand he assigned to him before he left it in a white box with the blue ribbon by my large four-poster bed.

  When I opened it, I couldn’t help but let out a small gasp. It was an expensive golden locket with the brand of the Catach-Brayin symbol over the front. It was elegant. And it was something I didn’t want. Not that it mattered. What I wanted rarely mattered anymore. I took out the locket from the box and opened it to see a small pouch of blood inside.

  A note was sitting on the nightstand beside the bed. I took it into my hand to read it.

  Harper,

  Please accept this gift of my blood. When you wear it around your neck no vampire will dare harm you. I thought I had done enough to make the coven believe you’re dead but there’s still a chance you might be seen now that you’re in Washington D.C. and your face has appeared more than once on the evening news regarding the trial.

  I won’t deny you the right of seeing the city and going out. But do not do so without wearing the locket.

  Get well soon. And remember, once you’re ready I humbly request that you dine with me on occasion. I still have a proposition to share with you that I believe might captivate your interest.

  Tobias.

  I had been able to refuse his advances since I arrived mostly because I was in a state of exhaustion from recovering. I wasn’t sure I would be able to for much longer. And I needed to know more before I testified. I needed to know exactly how involved the Congressman was in all this, what he knew, and what Tobias did to Emily and Samantha. That need had been ignored for a good long while because I had no desire to see the wretched piece of garbage who helped Emily and Samantha find burial plots before either of them reached their mid-twenties. If there was a need to see him that I’d eventually give into, it would be the need to wring his neck.

  The man had sheltered me and given me the treatment I needed. But for what end? What did he want from me? He said he wanted to know who the killer was. Well, I had a feeling Brian gave that away already. So why did he need to see me at all?

  I solemnly walked up th
e steps to the Jefferson Memorial and peered up at his large statue. The same quotes I had already read were on the sides of the structure carved into stone. Thomas Jefferson’s statue looked straight ahead, his face self-assured and steadfast. I stepped closer to the other side to see the highway in the distance along with the circular path around. As I walked out and down the steps, I saw a black Audi waiting for me. Along with one of Tobias’s most trusted men. A vampire who willingly acted as my chauffeur and kept his mouth shut about me being alive. He drove me around when I wanted and waited patiently for me to come back.

  A few tourists were still walking around and getting ready to turn in for the evening, their aching feet finally giving way to their need to take a break for the night.

  I unconsciously reached for the locket Tobias gave me. It sat just beside my heart on a chain long enough to hide in my shirt. I intentionally wore it backwards so the symbol of the Catach-Brayin wouldn’t show. Even though I knew it kept me safe, along with the driver who I assumed was also a bodyguard, I didn’t want to get too close to anyone else. I didn’t want the chance of anyone recognizing me since my face still occasionally popped up in the news as the trial moved forward. Sunglasses were always a necessity, even when it was overcast outside. I steered clear of the other tourists and started walking along the side of the large pond in front of the monument, gazing at the way the lights nearby made the water glisten.

  Something stirred in the nearby trees. I took off my sunglasses to see better. At first, I thought it was just kids playing. Running around as their parents watched. But as I got closer I saw it was moving too fast to be a group of kids. It was more than likely one person. And one that was moving far too quickly to be mortal. I stopped in my tracks. Was the driver lurking nearby? Was the locket carrying Tobias’s blood really enough to protect me?

  I turned around and walked in the other direction. I was stopped in only a few steps by a familiar face.

  “Miss Ashwood,” said the driver.

  “Christophe,” I said his name, trying my best to appear as though he didn’t nearly make me jump out of my skin. At least this particular vampire didn’t call me kruxa like it was some kind of slur.

  “It’s getting dark. Master Vallas has requested you return no later than seven o’clock.”

  I rolled my eyes in frustration. I may have been free to explore the city a bit but it wasn’t without a strict set of rules.

  “Fine,” I huffed and started walking toward the car with him trailing behind me.

  I looked back at the trees before they were out of sight from the sky getting darker by the minute. There was a shadow there. And I had the distinct feeling that it was the shadow of someone who was watching me. I let my magic peek just a tiny bit from my palm. Enough to stay hidden and enough to get a sense for what was out there. It didn’t warn me of any danger. Nor did it seem to think I needed protection. All the same, I kept it there, ready for anything should something nefarious be lurking near the trees.

  It wasn’t until we got back to the car and Christophe opened the door for me that my magic glowed in my hand in a way that I recognized all too well. Danger was nearby.

  ‘Maybe my instincts aren’t so rusty after two months after all.’

  “Miss Ashwood,” Christophe said my name as he cleared his throat, ushering me to get inside the car and not wanting to ask me twice.

  “Wait,” I said, searching all around us. “We’re not alone.”

  I barely had time to turn around and face him again before I heard the dreaded snap of bone breaking. It was Christophe’s neck. A familiar blond haired woman was behind him. Ragna broke his neck so fast that I hardly had time to gasp before he fell to the ground.

  ‘Why on Earth did she do that?’

  Her eyes drilled into me with a fury I had only ever seen in Madison’s eyes as she floated from the first floor of her house and over the banister to attack me.

  “You’re supposed to be dead,” she said.

  Without warning, she grabbed onto the back of my neck and pulled me away from the car.

  “What are you doing?” I managed to blurt out.

  “I could smell Tobias’s blood on you. He doesn’t come to human attractions such as this. That could only mean one thing.”

  She latched onto me from under my shoulders and we were moving. Moving so fast that I thought for a split second that she had opened up a vixra tunnel. Far from it. She was moving me with her vampire speed.

  When she finally stopped, I was only able to stand because she was still holding me by my neck and under my shoulder. Like I was a common criminal being presented to a judge right after having committed a crime. The crime of being alive.

  “I wonder how the rest of the coven will respond after learning our coven master deliberately deceived us,” she hissed.

  Surprisingly, it wasn’t the strength in her hands that shocked me. It was the temperature of her skin. It was colder than Nathaniel’s. Much colder. Meaning Ragna was much older. A lot stronger. And by the looks of it, much more likely to give into her vampire urges. The part of her that lacked any control. The part that caused so many higher-tier witchlings to think of vampires as low-level trash. A perverted form of magic that was never meant to exist.

  “He’ll punish you if you tell them,” I fired back at her.

  She turned me around to face her, holding me tight in her grasp and refusing to let go.

  “He’s gone to great lengths to keep me hidden,” I said. “You don’t want to displease your coven master, do you?”

  She looked at me like I was a rat. A dirty diseased rat that had to be killed as quickly as possible. Or else I might spread my vermin and contaminate everything she held dear. If there was anything she held dear at all. I somehow doubted it.

  She brought her hand up to examine the locket over my chest, lifting the chain up from my blouse and eying it with daggers in her eyes. “I want to hear his explanation for myself,” she snarled as she dragged me along with one hand over my arm. I swear I could feel it bruising.

  “He doesn’t owe you an explanation. He doesn’t owe anyone an explanation. He’s your master and he can do as he pleases.”

  I didn’t know the exact relationship Tobias had with Ragna. Whether he truly trusted her as his left-hand woman or if there was tension between them. Even so, if there wasn’t any beforehand there would likely be some now.

  I recognized the home she brought us to. It was the large mansion where I had been living. Only Ragna was carting me away to the other side. A separate wing where I could only assume Tobias was living. I was only grateful that she didn’t decide to use her supernatural speed to get us the rest of the way there. Even though it cost me the use of my left arm.

  ‘You might be stronger than me, but you’re not better than me. Quite the opposite in fact.’

  As soon as we got inside the manor, I did something that my mother always warned me against. Something that wasn’t in my character. But what can I say? It had been a bad few months.

  I let my magic out of my hand. It came shooting out at Ragna in full force. I shoved it into her chest as a beam of golden light erupted from my palm. Ragna went flying into the wall and came crashing down along with a few expensive paintings decorating Tobias’s walls. To my shock, there was a massive dent in the wall behind her. She shook her head slightly as she gathered herself, as though what I did truly managed to shock her.

  “What?” I spat. “You’re not used to people fighting back? Do you prefer praying on the defenseless?”

  “I’ve killed many of your kind,” she boasted. “And if Tobias knew what was good for him he would have killed you the second he laid eyes on you.”

  I let my magic sputter in my other hand. If I attacked her with everything I had, I would get weak and she would have the upper hand in a very short time. If I went easy on her, she might get the upper hand anyway, being a strong vampire and all.

  Ragna lunged at me and grabbed me again by the throat. T
his time my magic didn’t need me to summon it in order to know something was very, very wrong. It radiated from my body in a way I’d never seen before. Only a second before Ragna was at my throat, she threw her arms up to protect her eyes from the bright light. My magic had never looked like this before. Was it the little bit of vixra blood poisoning I might have left inside me? Or did my magic just really not like Ragna? I wasn’t going to stand there and ponder on the idea.

  I forced my arms forward and aimed them at her, ready to fire everything I had and not really caring that Ragna was now standing in front of what looked like a very expensive Tiffany lamp. Maybe an original if I were to guess.

  “Enough!” a voice shouted from the nearby grand staircase. I peered over to see a familiar silhouette walking down the white steps and into the large back room. It was the first time I had seen Tobias since I arrived. He came to check on me a few times, but I was too out of it from my wounds to even see his face clearly. But I knew his voice. That silky yet rough voice that was endearing and dangerous all at once.

  “Master,” Ragna spoke, taking a knee before him.

  I didn’t bother kneeling. I may have been in his house. He may have been one of the most powerful coven masters in the entire world. But the only group out there I’d take a knee for if commanded to do so were the vixra. And even Eli didn’t keep such formalities. At least from the visits we had. Then again, he was on my sister’s property. I wasn’t on his.

  “Ragna,” he said in a deep voice. “You disappoint me.”

  “And you me,” she dared speak against him. “You let this kruxa live and allowed the entire coven believe she was dead. Why?”

  Ragna moved faster than I could see, coming up from behind me as soon as I was distracted and grabbed me once again by the neck. She forced me down onto my knees. They slammed against the slate floor. I refused to cry out. I wouldn’t give her that satisfaction.