Witchling Wars

by Shawn Knightley

  He took my hair into his hand then brought it down to feel the length of my collarbone. His cool skin touching me was the only part of my body that wasn’t burning up. And it wasn’t from the heat of the fire glowing behind us.

  “If it were my choice, I wouldn’t have been away from you,” he said. “I never would have left. I had a debt to pay. Now I’ve paid it.”

  I can’t really explain why it happened. I don’t even remember seeing Nathaniel’s face move any closer to mine. But it did. He closed the gap between us and kissed me. And to my shock, I didn’t resist him. I didn’t instantly think of Caleb like I usually did. I didn’t try to push him away. I didn’t even consider summoning my magic to force him off. Quite the opposite. I was kissing him back. He pressed me up against the wall as my hands reached around to his back, pulling him in tighter. I could feel his sculpted abs through his shirt. And his lips, they were different from his hands. They were cool to the touch. Not like ice when I held his hand. Enough for me to feel enticed. Enough for me to feel consumed with nothing but desire for him, and not resist the temptation to pull away. My mind was completely consumed by him.

  He deepened the kiss, making me question if what I was doing was even possible. Was it possible for my blood to mark Tobias? Was it possible that Georgeanna had misled me? That perhaps I could mark Nathaniel as easily as I could Tobias?

  A sharp pain poked into my bottom lip. His fang grazed me ever so slightly and he took my bottom lip into his mouth, enjoying just a single taste of my blood before forcing my mouth open even more.

  I pulled his suit coat open to feel his chest against mine, not even sure of how we got here. How we got to a point where all I could think about was getting him to take things just a single step further.

  ‘Stop. You have to stop! This is too much. It’s too fast.’

  Even as I thought the words, my body did the exact opposite. Enjoying the feel of his cold body against my skin that was getting hotter and hotter by the second.

  He must have sensed hesitation taking over my mind because he eased away, but only by inches. Enough for me to get some air and feel his forehead rest against mine as his hand explored my hair, trailed down my back just under my shirt then moved up to my neck. Only once his lips parted from mine was I able to think even halfway clear again.

  I had never kissed anyone other than Caleb. I suddenly felt shy. Embarrassed. Other girls would kill to be in my shoes, kissing a man who practically looked like a Viking god. I, however, wanted to fade away. Was he really kissing me? Or did he have Georgeanna in his mind the whole time?

  Of course he did. He didn’t know the truth as I did now. That I was Georgeanna. Just a reincarnated version with a different upbringing. It must have driven him mad. Seeing the same features and qualities in me as he did his lost love.

  “I can’t do this,” I whispered to him.

  He closed the small gap between us once more and pressed his lips against mine. Then he broke away and let them rest on my forehead, laying a single kiss there before looking right into my eyes. Those eyes. Full of pain and more longing than I knew a vampire could have outside of a reckless desire for blood.

  “I know,” he said. “I just wanted to be sure.”

  “Of what?”

  “That you didn’t scar Tobias while I was away. Regardless, Ragna won’t be pleased.”

  My heart started hammering in my chest. And not from lust as it had only a moment earlier. “Ragna?”

  He smiled down at me, letting his finger trace the length of my cheek and my neck. Right down to the sensitive part where his fangs had once dug deep into my fragile skin. “It will be most inconvenient, kruxa. She had hoped Tobias might be here to put up more of a fight.”

  My eyes darted back and forth, trying to see the delusion from reality. I shut my eyes and hummed a familiar song in my head, fighting to break through whatever charade had taken over me before I even walked into the room. When I opened them again, my first instinct was to shove the man away from me as hard as I could. This time, my magic was glad to help.

  Brian went flying right into the couch and crashed down on the floor. He had been luring me the whole time. He made me believe Nathaniel was here. That it was Nathaniel kissing me. That I wanted him. That I meant something more to him than I did.

  “Ragna said you could do things I would find surprising,” he gloated. “I hope I get to see a bit more.”

  He replaced my memories. He made me see things that weren’t there. That weren’t actually happening. He made me vulnerable. I funneled all my rage into my magic, just like Tobias had told me to do. The golden light in my palms started weaving larger and larger until it was as thick as the flames I had seen Isaac shoot straight at me.

  Brian didn’t even seem phased. He was primed and ready for a fight. His fangs were glistening in the light of my magic, showing me just how sharp they were. And how much he longed for another good bite.

  I knew without him even having to tell me. This was how he did it. This was how he killed those other girls. He made them believe he was someone else. Someone they loved. Maybe someone they longed for. An unrequited love. A crush. Was it Tobias? Did he make them believe Tobias was in love with them? He lured them right into his arms. And he had Ragna’s help. Maybe from the start.

  His hand erupted into a flame of bright red, just like Madison’s did when she attacked me. No. When Brian attacked me through her. Only this time, I was ready for him. I sang the same song in my head that I did the night Nathaniel showed me how to stop a vampire from luring me. But he was strong. So much stronger than me. Stronger than Nathaniel. And that was only possible for one reason. He had a much older vampire helping him. Ragna!

  The same heaviness started overwhelming my body, making me complacent. Making my magic retreat back inside my hands.

  Nathaniel was standing before me, watching me with curiosity.

  ‘It’s not Nathaniel! Don’t fall for this!’

  “I want to show you something,” Nathaniel said to me. He walked right up to me and cupped my face in his hand, keeping a few inches between us and making me long to close that gap as quickly as possible, but making my body delay gratification.

  ‘What is this? How is he doing this? I’ve never thought of Nathaniel in this way. Or at least… I didn’t allow myself to for more than a few seconds.’

  Brian was deep inside my mind. Weaving new truths. Or maybe calling on ones I didn’t know that I had.

  “What’s that?” I asked, my voice sounding sincere and anxious all at once.

  “Come with me,” he said.

  ‘Stop! Don’t go with him! It’s Brian! Not Nathaniel! Tobias left! No one will know where I went. No one will find me.’

  The brand! Maybe Tobias or Nathaniel could use the brand to find me.

  I unconsciously moved my hand over my side. Nathaniel peered down and lifted the material up for me to see. I wanted him to move his hand further up my side and feel what else was there. To slip his fingers into my clothes and make me long for him even more than I already did.

  ‘Stop it! Snap out of it! He’s luring you!’

  But I couldn’t. Even in the haziness that was my mind, I knew two things for certain. One, this was how he killed those girls. And two, he was on vixra blood. Maybe Ragna gave it to him. Maybe she had since the first day they met. Along with some of her blood to start the vampire transition so he wouldn’t die from the vixra blood.

  When I looked down at the skin on my side, the brand was nowhere to be seen. It was completely gone.

  “You asked for me to remove it, so I did,” Nathaniel said.

  ‘Damn him! He knows I didn’t want it. He knows I asked Nathaniel to remove it. Nathaniel will never be able to find me.’

  I smiled sheepishly, flattered and maybe a bit embarrassed that he had seen so much of my skin. And wanting him to remove my blouse to see more.

  He let his forehead come down and touch mine as his hand kept exploring my hair, my
neck, my back. And moving on downward. I was tempted to moan to tell him how much I liked it.

  “Come with me,” he said. “I want you to see something.”

  He took my hand and led me down the hall. My mind was his. My body might be too if I didn’t manage to snap out of it. I had little to no doubt that Brian took advantage of those other girls. Making them believe they were with someone they loved. Someone they had wanted. Someone who wasn’t him. Then he killed them. He always killed them. And he wanted to kill me.

  ‘Run! Snap out of it and run!’

  But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I just kept walking behind him as he led me down the hall and the grand staircase. Then to a car parked out front. Just before he opened the passenger door he reached for me. He pushed my body up against the car, pressing his chest into mine. Forcing me to look up at him with longing and wondering if he would take things even further.

  “Now close your eyes,” he said.

  I gazed into Nathaniel’s beautiful eyes for what I feared might be the last time. The final moment before he killed me. The final moment before I became nothing more than another one of Brian’s victims.

  A sharp pain erupted in my chest as Brian summoned the vixra magic in his hands and lunged it right into my chest between us. I only had time to feel a jolt of electricity run straight through my body and cause my limbs to stiffen before he gathered me up in his arms and threw me into the trunk of the car.

  His cell phone rang only a second after my body was unceremoniously shoved into the trunk with a loud thud.

  “Do you have her?” a female voice said on the other end of the line.

  “Yeah, I’ve got her. It was much easier than I thought it would be. The girl is desperate for affection.”

  “And the brand.”

  “Gone. Just like you wanted.”

  “Good. Everyone is ready. Bring her to me.”

  Ragna. It could only be Ragna. I knew her voice. Even though I had only ever encountered her twice, I knew that deep and sensual voice. One that could make men change their religion in an instant if they were promised only an hour alone with her. I had a feeling she had promised Brian a great deal more than that to do what she wanted.

  He ended the call and closed the trunk with me inside. I heard the car engine start as we pulled away from Tobias’s mansion.

  I couldn’t move my body. Only my eyes. I could blink them. I could force them to shut and pray that I was still being lured. That this wasn’t happening. That I was back in the library with Nathaniel and I was just having a delusion that Emily’s spirit was causing. But I knew it wasn’t true. Where ever Brian was taking me, he meant to kill me. To finish the job that he failed to perform the first time when he sent my sister after me in her own house.

  We drove for at least forty minutes before arriving. Don’t ask me where. I could only see the flood of artificial light as the man I thought was Nathaniel opened up the lid to the trunk and pulled me out, carrying me over his shoulder with my arms dangling over his back.

  There was no mistaking him anymore. No need to lure me. I saw Brian’s face contort in a wicked smile just before he lifted me up. Then nothing but concrete once I was over his shoulder. It was some sort of parking garage. Whether it was above or below the ground I had no idea.

  Once he closed the trunk and had me right where he wanted me, we sped away. With that god-awful vampire speed that I truly hated. The dizziness it gave me rivaled that of the vixra tunnels.

  I recognized the flooring the instant we crossed through a pair of large doors I heard opening. The same tiles that I saw the night I was presented before the Catach-Brayin. We were in the Library of Congress. Only this time, we didn’t descend through a hidden contraption in the front entrance. He walked down a long hallway and through a hidden door. At least from what I could see. My vision was somewhat limited. And part of me didn’t want to know. Part of me just wanted him to kill me and get it over with. Because whatever he had planned, or whatever Ragna had planned, would be much worse than a simple death by being drained of my blood. That much I could sense loud and clear.

  Brian eventually stopped in his tracks and reached for my waist. He thrust me forward into a chair. My limbs still hadn’t recovered. All I could see was my hair that had fallen over my face.

  My wrists began to sting. A blue light pierced through the strands of my hair. It was the cord that Nathaniel had used. Brian was wrapping it around my wrists and tying them to the chair. Then my ankles.

  At some point, I was finally able to move my head from side to side. But not without effort.

  Brian took his fingers and moved my hair behind my ears so I could see him clearly. Then he lifted my face up to see his.

  “Such a shame,” he said, kneeling down to my eye level. “I thought at one point that you could be so much more. But you had to go digging in places where your nose didn’t belong.”

  “That was Andrew Parker, darling,” said a female voice nearby. Ragna appeared behind him and let her arm trail Brian’s waist. He let his hand follow up her neck where she held his hand. “Kruxa usually know better than to go digging where their noses don’t belong.”

  “She was so persistent though,” he said shaking his head.

  “That’s Georgeanna’s blood running through her. She never knew when to give up on a lost cause.”

  There was little mystery as to who turned Brian into a vampire. Ragna clearly had Brian wrapped around her little finger. I was the only one who could sense her true emotions. The way she had to force herself to wrap her arms around him. The way she felt nothing short of discomfort and irritation when he entered the room. She used him. Only he was too enamored with her to know it.

  Ragna’s eyes finally met mine as I rested my head against the back of the chair. It wasn’t until I was able to hold my head up properly that I saw where I was. I was sitting in Tobias’s chair. His throne. The one inside the large cavern where Nathaniel stood trial and I was presented like a piece of meat before the Catach-Brayin. Only this time, they weren’t standing behind me. They were all standing before me. I was on the platform where they could all see me and know that I was very much alive.

  The formality of the red cloaks was gone. There was nothing but hundreds of hungry vampires with poison in their eyes looking right at me.

  ‘They know. They know Tobias lied. Ragna set this up.’

  She turned away from Brian and faced the vampires behind her, standing with her head up high on the stage before her coven.

  “Do you all see now?” she asked, projecting her voice through the cavern to the point where her words echoed from wall to wall. Like waves repeatedly crashing from one to another. “He deceived you. He deceived all of you. He wanted this kruxa alive. Which can only mean one thing. He wanted her. He wanted her to scar him. He wanted to abandon our coven and leave you all with a wretched rat like Nathaniel to lead us. A man who hid an entire family of kruxa for centuries and said nothing of their existence. A man who fell in love with a kruxa and still mourns her to this day. A man who considers himself above all of you. More refined. More capable. Nathaniel Stapleton has always thought himself superior to us all. Not anymore.”

  The vampires hissed behind her, showing their teeth as they snarled and barely able to contain their thirst for my blood. For any blood. I suddenly realized why Nathaniel was special. And why Tobias was special. This was what normal vampires were like. It took centuries for Nathaniel and Tobias to better themselves. To harness their cravings and walk among humans without the temptation to rip someone’s throat out. These vampires practically looked rabid with their lust for blood. In a way that made them appear as nothing more than animals.

  Ragna turned to me and slowly took a few steps closer, snatching the locket Tobias gave me right off my chest. The chain tore at the back of my neck as she yanked it off.

  “Look!” she demanded, turning back toward the coven. “Proof of his true loyalty.”

  She squeezed the locket in
her hand until it shattered and the pouch of blood inside burst open and dripped down her fingers so everyone could smell the scent of Tobias’s blood.

  The others didn’t need more proof. She gave enough for them to be convinced. Tobias had abandoned them. He had lied to them. He had chosen me. A kruxa. And that was a crime among vampires worse than any other.

  I could sense the joy permeating from Ragna’s body. She was quite pleased with herself. Pleased with the way things had finally gone in her favor. Just as she had wanted it. Then she leaned forward to where her icy cheek touched mine as she spoke into my ear.

  “I may not have been able to lay the deaths of those girls at Tobias’s feet to make the coven lose faith in him, but this will do just fine. The coven loves a good show from time to time.”

  Then she pulled away triumphantly, looking down at me as though she had managed the impossible. She outsmarted a kruxa. She even outsmarted Tobias.

  ‘You sly bitch. You had Brian kill those girls to make the coven believe Tobias was out of control. You wanted the coven to turn on him so you could take over.’

  She didn’t need to do that anymore. She showcased to the entire coven that I was alive. Tobias would never be able to exert power over them now. And I wouldn’t live to see another day.

  Chapter 12

  I suddenly had a new found sympathy for Isaac that I never expected to have. I took joy in how he wiggled and writhed as the magical blue cord around his wrists tightened with each small movement he made. Like a serpent squeezing harder and harder on its prey as it slowly surrendered to death’s unrelenting strength. Now I was the one who was trying to move even one small inch or two only to have those same magical cords push tighter into my flesh, sparking with electrical energy that threatened to burn my flesh if I so much as tried to get them even a little bit looser.

  “Keep struggling, kruxa,” said Ragna as the vampires behind her laughed in enjoyment. Or their lust for the witchling blood running through my veins. Probably both.