This was usually the moment when I looked away. Nathaniel didn’t give me the opportunity this time. He moved faster than I could turn my head.
“Why did you do that?” I cried. “He might have-”
Nathaniel cut me off before I could say another word. “You and I both know that’s not true. He would never swear an oath to me. He resisted swearing one to Tobias several decades ago. I remember. I was there. He was too stupid to realize he had won the lottery when Tobias took him in. He took the coven for granted. Most vampires do. I won’t allow such weakness in the coven like Tobias did. I will enforce my expectations and make an example of those who don’t comply.”
He tossed Alexander’s head to the ground and turned to Carlton. “Finish it,” he said. Carlton inched closer to the body and held out his hand.
“Just like I taught you,” Nathaniel encouraged him.
A bright orange light engulfed Carlton’s hand. It was full of flames, just like Isaac’s had been the night he ripped me and Nathaniel out of the vixra tunnel. The last time I saw Carlton around a fire, it was when Emily tried to set him aflame. He looked down at his own hand and I knew his memories were going back to the very same moment I was recalling. Then he threw the flames directly at Alexander’s body, along with his head a few feet away. The body erupted into a sea of flames before eventually dying down into nothing but ash blowing away with the breeze. There was nothing left of Alexander in this world other than his ashes to fill the air like a dirty dust. Alexander lived over a hundred years and never sought to do anything more than be a vicious killer. A madman. A vampire with barely enough control to tame his impulses. Impulses he completely gave into once the coven dissolved. I doubted anyone would miss him.
“That’s six in a row,” I said quietly once the fire was gone.
“I know,” Nathaniel whispered, not really wanting to be reminded. He didn’t admit it to me openly but I could feel his misgivings. He wasn’t sure many vampires remaining from the Catach-Brayin would swear an oath to him. And if they wouldn’t, he would have no choice but to kill every last one of them. Then he would be left with nothing. No coven and no home. He would be alone once more.
“There won’t be much of a coven left if they keep refusing to swear an oath to you,” I said, not letting him get away with hiding his true concerns.
“Then they seal their fate along with Alexander.”
Nathaniel walked away and opened up a vixra tunnel in the middle of the abandoned street. I could see his blond hair shine in the moonlight as he walked away with a stride only the most confident of men could master.
Carlton followed behind him.
Nathaniel saw fit to make Carlton one of his personal assassins. One that would forever be loyal to him. One that would help him restore the coven in whatever way possible. If it was possible. To my surprise, Carlton seemed to be taking to it as though being a dirty vampire came naturally to him. And for all I knew, maybe it did. Maybe his ruthless ambition ran deeper than mere political aspirations. To me, vampires would always be the low of the low. To Carlton, his newfound existence was a second chance at life. One solely meant to help him exact revenge for losing his family.
“Where now?” I asked just as Nathaniel opened up the tunnel and prepared to step inside.
“Did you see any others in the area for us to hunt tonight?” he asked me.
I shook my head. “I’m going to have to form a proper circle and search for more in my visions. I think most of the others fled the Washington D.C. area.”
“Then we will start again tomorrow,” he said. “Carlton, come with me.”
“Wait!” I shouted.
Nathaniel stopped and faced me, waiting for me to say something. I couldn’t. The words fled me even though I was bursting with endless questions. Where was he going? Did he always take Carlton with him? Did he ever want to see me again on a night that didn’t involve hunting down vampires? The emotions piercing through his skin told me that he did. He wanted nothing more. But his duties as the newly appointed coven master came first. For now.
Then there were the questions I constantly asked myself. Would I ever have the courage to tell him why I had been so distant? That Tobias saw us that day in Eli’s family home, he saw Nathaniel kiss me, and he threatened to crush him. I was frightened to even touch him knowing that at any given moment Tobias might be watching.
I shut my mouth, realizing that I would only cause trouble Nathaniel didn’t need. He had enough going on without me pouring my heart out or confessing all my fears.
He stepped through the vixra tunnel and Carlton followed along behind him. But not before Carlton gave me a death glare that sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn’t quite figure out if he blamed me on some level for what happened to his daughters because I didn’t tell him anything. Not that he would have believed me at the time anyway. Or maybe that was just the permanent state of his face now. Constant anger, dissatisfaction, and a need to find something to soothe it. He would never get that from being a vampire. Not even with Nathaniel’s help.
I kept a straight face and watched as they disappeared through the tunnel, leaving me alone on a street where nothing remained but the few ashes of Alex’s body that had yet to drift away with the whispering wind at my back.
Chapter 2
Once they were gone, I opened up a vixra tunnel of my own with my magic glowing in my hand and a touch of vixra blood in my body. I stepped inside. It took me straight to Tobias’s mansion.
‘If Tobias really wanted to please me, he would have renovated a house nearby so I could have my own place.’
No chance in hell. He was still furious at me. And unsure of how after every woman he met had thrown themselves at his feet, I resisted him. And worse, I kissed the man he intended to replace him as coven master. He didn’t have any trouble showing me every shred of his jealousy. Or maybe that was just what I sensed from him each time he entered the room.
I wasn’t going to have it tonight. I walked straight inside and headed for the grand staircase to go upstairs to my wing and spend some much-needed quality time with my pillow.
The sound of a feminine voice clearing her throat came from the nearby living room as I slowly started making my way up the steps. I begrudgingly walked back down to discover I wasn’t alone. Georgeanna was sitting on the living room couch with a plate of spaghetti in her hands.
“Honestly, if there’s one good thing you can take from living with Tobias it’s that you get to eat like this whenever you want,” she said with a smile as she chewed on a forkful full of noodles Tobias’s chef William had prepared for me earlier that evening. Lucky for her, I preferred to hunt on an empty stomach.
I crossed my arms over my chest and tried returning her smile. A difficult task considering I couldn’t look at her anymore without thinking of how Nathaniel had kissed me. How his lips felt on mine. How he smelled when I breathed him in. The way his chest felt pressing in closer to me. And how I had enjoyed every second of it.
“It’s the one and only perk,” I said. “What are you doing here? It’s late.”
“Vixra business. As usual. If Edmund ever asks you, tell him the items you needed randomly appeared in your room. You didn’t see me. I want him in the dark about me making myself known to you for as long as I can get away with it.”
She ate another helping of pasta then set the plate on the coffee table in front of her and wiped off her mouth with a napkin.
“So I take it William thinks I ate dinner already?” I asked.
She snickered. “There’s more in the dining room.” She got up from where she sat and walked right over to me as she dug inside the pocket of her leather jacket. When she pulled out her hand I saw a familiar container in her palm. “Edmund said you would probably need a refill.”
She handed me a bunch of tiny papers with a single drop of vixra blood on each one.
Edmund had been generous in providing me with necessary tools to help Nathaniel on our nightly vam
pire hunts. Including giving me a small droplet of his magic within his blood. The day after I returned from Budapest, Georgeanna arrived with two items. A new notebook that would reach directly to Edmund when I wrote in it and droplets of his blood on small dissolving paper. And of course, a set of firm rules and instructions. The vixra blood was to help me wield more magic while hunting. Only it had one ingredient added to it that no one knew about. A detail that only I was entitled to know.
I recalled reading the note Edmund left inside the notebook for me after Georgeanna left that day.
Miss Ashwood,
Please accept this gift of my magic to aid in your future efforts. One drop on your tongue will permit you the use of the vixra tunnels and five seconds of time travel into the past once you step inside. Have Tobias teach you how to navigate your visions to see where the vampires are hiding. Then use those five seconds to give yourself a head start in catching them. You will need those five seconds if you are to stay one step ahead of them at all times.
Time travel farther back is strictly forbidden. Not even I allow myself the use of such magic any longer and it is now illegal for any witchling to attempt doing so. I realize your first venture into the past was not of your choosing, which is why it was forgiven. I made one exception when I permitted Mr. Stapleton the use of my magic in order to find Miss Emily Larsen. I won’t be so generous again as most tunnels going back farther have been destroyed.
Time travel is a dangerous and destructive tool, Miss Ashwood. Do not abuse it.
Edmund Matthews
I read the message once more then watched as it turned into a cloud of black vapor, disappearing forever.
‘Those five seconds are the only reason I was able to get ahead of Alexander. Or any of the others. I’d be dead without them.’
“How are things otherwise?” she asked, snapping me back to the present.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I can’t say that we’re making any real progress. Most vampires we do manage to catch are so consumed by their impulses that they refuse to pledge any sort of loyalty to Nathaniel. We’ve only managed to get three to agree. And if Nathaniel suspects the slightest resistance he kills them instantly.”
Georgeanna stared at me a little dumbfounded. “I was asking how you are. How are you handling the other thing?”
“What other thing?”
I looked away from the small pieces of paper in my hand and into her eyes, suddenly understanding her meaning. She was talking about Emily. What Ragna called my ‘passenger.’ The croxa that continued to haunt me daily.
I huffed in aggravation. “I don’t understand it. I thought I did what Emily wanted. I found out who caused her death. Both Ragna and Brian are dead. I don’t know why she won’t rest. The way Arthur made it sound she might never find peace. Which means I’ll never find peace. Daniel has given me a potion for the nights when I can’t sleep because she won’t leave me alone. But it’s the stress of knowing she’s still in pain that keeps me awake at night.”
“We’re working on that,” said a familiar voice from the corner of the room. I didn’t want to look away from Georgeanna. But Tobias Vallas was good at one single thing that irritated me more so than anything else. He could command the attention of a room simply by entering it.
I tucked the vixra blood in my pocket as quickly as possible.
“With that luxra friend of yours, I gather?” asked Georgeanna as she turned to face Tobias.
“Among other things.” He walked in with his hands set firmly in his pockets and his eyes locked on mine. As they usually were. “I gave her a short lesson in how to navigate her visions with more efficiency. She’s improved immensely. Didn’t you do the same a few weeks ago? I can’t say your brief instruction helped her much.”
“That was to draw out Emily,” Georgeanna told him. “We had to agitate her spirit to get her to give us answers.”
“And did you get anywhere new?”
I rolled my eyes. He already knew the answer. He knew Emily had barely given us anything to go on. I still ended up kidnapped by Brian that night.
“Come with me, Harper,” he demanded.
‘He can’t be serious. I’ve been up all night!’
“Please not tonight, Tobias,” I complained. “I’m exhausted.”
“Do you think a croxa will care?” he said as he edged closer to me. “Will any of my followers care if you need a break when you attempt to catch them? Your enemies will see your need for a break as a weakness. As a way to break you.”
“I’m not one of your vampire soldiers. I’m still part human and I still need to recover. Not all of us heal in seconds like you do.”
“Come with me now, Harper,” he insisted. “Your visit is over, Georgeanna. Go back to running your vixra errands like a good little kruxa.”
Georgeanna looked about as irritated as I was, but she didn’t argue. “Edmund asks that you write to him with an update in the next day or so,” she said to me. Then she walked by me and left the house without another word.
I was left alone with Tobias once more with a scowl on my face.
“Do you think you’re going to endear me to you by ordering me around like one of your vampires?” I snarled at him with as much energy as I could muster. Which wasn’t much. I wanted nothing more than to go to bed.
He got close enough for me to touch him. Not that I wanted to. He did it because he knew it caused my magic to stir inside me. To make it swirl in my palms with the intention of marking him and remind me that he didn’t need to order me around. He could simply annoy me to the point of being submissive.
“Do you think it endears me to you knowing that you must spend each evening in close proximity to Nathaniel?” he scowled.
“I don’t have a choice. You said yourself that if you came with us to hunt the remains of your coven that they would never swear loyalty to him. And besides, the vixra are making me do it.”
“You can do far more from here than you realize,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Come with me.”
I didn’t have to ask where. I already knew. He had turned one of the many bedrooms in the mansion into my personal training room. Or as I referred to it, my personal hell hole. The room where I allowed him to show me things I never knew were possible. How to manipulate what little magic I had and use it to my advantage. I loved the learning aspect but distrusted the teacher. And even so, he wasn’t lying when he said he knew things. Or that he was once a kruxa. It showed in the way he instructed me. The details he shared on how to navigate my visions and get them to show me exactly what I wanted to see. I could already use them to find vampires who were on the run while Nathaniel and I hunted. I even secretly used them to see Madison on occasion as well as her girls so I had the peace of mind that they were alright. And now, Tobias wanted me to take on something new. A challenge. Learning how to control a croxa. An ability that the luxra had mastered centuries ago but I could barely even fathom.
I stepped into the room and saw that Tobias had already prepared it with a ceremonial magic circle, the scent of sage from cleansing it, an array of candles for elemental magic, and one other feature that nearly made me gasp in horror.
Annabel Stiles was tied to a wooden chair in the center of the circle. Her skin was white as a sheet. Her throat looked like the wound from Brian’s dagger was as fresh as the day she died. Her dress was drenched in her own blood. And her eyes had the same tortured appearance that Emily’s possessed after she started haunting me.
‘My god. Annabel Stiles became a croxa.’
Chapter 3
I resisted the urge to step out of the room. To turn around and give into my immediate desire to veer my eyes away from the horrible sight before me.
I had seen Emily in her tormented croxa form. Her features were so drastically changed from when she was alive and before she ever tasted the vixra blood Brian gave her. Once she was a croxa, it was though her corpse had been caught in the early stages
of decay and then found itself trapped in that state for eternity.
My hands came up in front of me as if they could defend me from the unknown. From the supernatural. Even my magic felt threatened enough to pierce through my palms and swirl around in a golden glow, making Annabel’s features brighten in the darkness of the dimly lit room. It didn’t do her appearance any favors.
“There’s no need for that,” a voice said from the corner of the room. I saw a familiar briefcase opened with vials of bright potions, bubbling and glowing in vibrant colors as they waited to be put to good use.
“Mr. Clark,” Tobias said, sidestepping me and walking directly over to shake his hand. It was casual formality I wasn’t used to seeing. Most of Tobias’s followers in the past had always taken a knee and bowed before him. But then again, Tobias needed Daniel’s help. Not the other way around. Perhaps Tobias even recognized that although Daniel was mortal, he was still a luxra. And therefore above him in stature. If I had to compare the luxra to anything, they were the nobility of the witchling world. And therefore worthy of a bit more respect than Tobias showed me and Georgeanna. Or maybe Tobias and Daniel had a much more detailed history of working together. They seemed to share a mutual respect. One that only required a handshake.
“Thank you for accommodating me with the hour,” said Daniel as he shook Tobias’s hand. I could see the firmness of his grip from where I stood.
“Of course.”
“The hour?” I protested, slowly moving my hands down to my sides and forcing my magic to retreat. “It’s late. I can’t exactly call this a decent hour.”
“Luxra prefer to keep to the night,” Tobias answered me with a tone that stated I should know such a thing already. He knew I was used to being spoken to as if I was far behind and not just a kruxa who had lived her entire life in exile. And he knew how much it irritated me.
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