They darted from one end of the living room to the other, knocking over furniture and breaking just about every piece of art Tobias had on display. They moved so fast and with such chaos that I could hardly see where they were.
I summoned my magic into my hands and formed an L shape just like I saw Georgeanna do in my vision. Then the second I thought I knew where they were I let it shoot out from my palms. A bright gold light erupted in my hands as if I had harnessed the power of the sun.
No luck. They had already moved from that spot and were onto the next one. Only this time, I saw Tobias with Nathaniel’s head wrapped in his arms. Tobias was holding him down where he couldn’t move, overpowering him with ease. And he was ready to tear Nathaniel’s head right off his shoulders.
“No!” I shouted, forming the L shape again and sending a spiral of light right into Tobias’s chest, narrowly missing Nathaniel. Some of my magic must have hit Nathaniel because he fell to the ground with a scream I hadn’t heard since Isaac shot fireballs at him.
I rushed over to Nathaniel to see if he was alright.
“Get out of here, Harper,” he said to me.
“What? No! Not with Tobias acting crazy!”
He grunted as if he suddenly knew why Tobias had gone absolutely insane. “He has his reasons,” he said, getting up from the floor and towering over me.
“Why?”
I turned my head to see that I had done more damage than I thought possible. There was a large hole in the back of Tobias’s living room. My magic had thrown him straight through the glass of the back doors. Tobias crash-landed in his backyard.
“Yes, Harper,” Tobias said as he got up from the shattered wooden floorboards of his back deck, snapped his broken arm back into place with a groan, and slowly walked back inside as he picked out shards of glass from his arm. “Leave. Leave this instant.”
‘Where the hell am I supposed to go?’
That wasn’t happening. I wasn’t going to leave Nathaniel’s side. Not with Tobias trying to murder him. I didn’t care if I had to stand between two of the most vicious vampires I had ever met in my entire life. Tobias wasn’t going to harm Nathaniel. I wouldn’t stand for it.
“Such control you have, Tobias,” I sneered at him as he picked a piece of glass out of his cheek. I watched the droplets of blood from the shard of glass toppled to the floor before he dropped it with a clatter. “You demand your coven carry themselves with such mastery over their impulses and yet you seem to have none.”
He refused to look at me. He only had eyes for Nathaniel. Blazing eyes that I feared.
“I can handle this, Harper,” Nathaniel said. “I need you to leave.”
“No chance in hell,” I said to him as I turned around. “He was ready to tear your head off. He told me himself that he doesn’t tolerate competition. He simply crushes it. I won’t let him crush you.”
“There’s no longer a competition to be had,” he said, appearing more defeated than I had seen him before. He struggled to stand, as though he was having a hard time recovering.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Go to my cabin. I’ll be there soon.”
“But-”
“Go, Harper! Now.”
I looked back at Tobias for a brief moment before heading for the staircase. I gathered a few items in my room. Caleb’s gun, Daniel’s wand, more of Edmund’s blood, and a few items of clothing. Then I walked downstairs to the front door. But not before I turned back to Tobias, who refused to speak again until I left. “Don’t you dare try harming him again,” I said.
“You’ve got bigger problems to worry about now, Harper,” he practically growled at me. “It will be amusing watching you try to explain this to the vixra. If anything I want Nathaniel alive just to see what they’ll do to him.”
Nathaniel took me by the arm and forcibly removed me out the front door. “Do you have enough vixra blood to get by?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then go now.” He took out a key from his breast pocket and handed it to me. “Open the vixra tunnel and go to my cabin. You know what the exterior looks like, right? You remember it well enough to picture it in your mind?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Go,” he said softly as if he was trying to reassure me that things would be fine.
“I don’t want to leave you alone with him,” I argued. “Not when he’s like this.”
“I know.”
He shut the door without another word and I was left alone outside. And the last thing I wanted was to displease him by not doing as he requested. I had already been through that once before. So I begrudgingly went to the center of the large driveway where Christophe would usually picked me up in one of Tobias’s many fancy cars. Then I opened the vixra tunnel with ease and stepped inside with Nathaniel’s cabin as the only thing in my mind. Other than the memory of Carlton’s body lying dead on the floor. That was a memory I knew I could never erase. I was still tracking his blood on my footprints when I made it to the other side of the tunnel to see Nathaniel’s large cabin before me.
Chapter 7
The cabin that I left thinking was practically a prison was a home away from home the second time around. At least it was after I turned on the heater and took off my blood stained shoes. Where ever this cabin was located, it was definitely a colder climate than what I was used to.
I helped myself to a small glass of Southern Comfort from the bottle I nearly devoured the last time I was here before I grabbed one of the blankets draped over the couch and wrapped up in it, watching the light drizzle of rainfall on the treetops outside the window. I held my head in my hands. It was the only way to stop my hands from shaking and to get the adrenaline pumping through my veins to calm down. I didn’t even have time to register what happened before Tobias kicked me out of his house.
Congressman Carlton Larsen was dead. He died right before my eyes.
Samantha. Emily. And now their father. The entire Larsen family was gone.
Was this because of me? Was it because I came into their lives?
‘No! I can’t think like that. Tobias did this. He walked into the Congressman’s life first. Not me.’
I shuddered at the thought. At the very idea that the Larsen family had death repeatedly knock at their door because of me. Because I was forcibly involved in things that I never wanted anything to do with.
I could envision Carlton’s body in my mind. Laying there on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Screaming into the air and trying to claw at his chest with his fingernails. Whatever happened was catastrophic. And for all I knew Nathaniel was right. It was because of me. Because I wasn’t there to help him hunt that night. Nathaniel and Carlton went without me. And they didn’t have the vixra blood that I had from Edmund to get access to five seconds into the past. I didn’t tell Nathaniel about it. He never knew what I was doing. Edmund swore me to secrecy. And because of that, I always had an advantage. One Nathaniel and Carlton didn’t know about when they used the tunnels I opened.
Did they fail because I wasn’t there to help them? Had they found the man Tobias was looking for? Victor? Had he outmatched them? Outsmarted them? Outrun them?
‘Whatever happened it got Carlton killed. Because I wasn’t there. I could have stopped this.’
It was over an hour after I arrived before I heard the front door to the cabin creak open.
“Don’t do that anymore,” Nathaniel said as he walked in and saw me on the couch. His clothes were still drenched in Carlton’s blood. Only now it had dried and he was carrying the weight of Carlton’s life on his shoulders. I could see it in his eyes, his posture, and the tension gathering on his forehead.
“Do what?” I asked.
“Look like you have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
‘Look who’s talking.’
I set down the empty glass of whiskey on the center table before me, glad that I actually made it last this time and didn’t guzzle
it down. “Why did you ask where I was? Why did you say you needed me? You made it sound like it was my fau-”
“I was wrong,” he said with a sigh. “It wasn’t your fault, Harper. At least not entirely. I didn’t realize it then but I do now.”
He removed his jacket and threw it over the counter beside him. Then he slowly started unbuttoning his shirt.
I looked away a bit squeamish. I had seen him without his shirt on before but that was because Isaac burned it off with fire erupting from his hand in a dark alley.
“Come here,” he demanded.
When I looked back over at him I had a touch of pink to my cheeks. Or at least it felt that way. Seeing him like this was probably every other girl’s fantasy when they first laid eyes on him. But I could see the stress behind his eyes. The way he looked at me was pleading. Wanting something and not sure if he should ask.
I removed the blanket from my shoulders and walked over to him. Once I was within reach, he took me by the arm and drew me in closer. I could feel his muscles press into my chest. He took a single hand and rested it on my cheek. I couldn’t help myself. I leaned into his touch and let him hold me close. Then he pulled my face up to his and met my eyes, drawing me in and making me unable to pull away. When his lips touched mine I kissed him back instantly and without hesitation. No ghosts haunted my memories. And I didn’t feel the need to keep my boundaries right in their place. The bonds of restraint that once forced me to keep my distance from him were slipping away.
He lifted me from the ground with ease and brought me right over to the wall, pressing me into it and making the kiss even deeper. And it was a good thing too. I was starting to go weak at the knees. But not because I was cold. Far from it. I was getting warmer by the second. Especially when he pulled my leg up and wrapped it around him, forcing me to feel even more of him and making me moan as he drifted down to my neck and started layering it with kisses.
My eyes snapped open.
‘No, this isn’t happening. I didn’t allow this to happen!’
I was warm. That shouldn’t be possible. Not with a vampire touching me. Especially like this. With him so close to me. And with his shirt off no less.
I broke away from him, desperate to make sense of what was going on.
He placed both his hands on the wall with his arms on either side of me, locking me in as he rested his forehead on mine.
“I can’t do this,” I stammered. “We…we can’t-…I mean, I can’t…I can’t mark you.”
“I know,” he whispered, placing a single kiss on my forehead. “But I had to be sure.”
‘He’s not angry about it? He’s not even trying to fight it? Has it already happened? Have I marked him?’
He didn’t give me more time to ponder on what I was doing. He crashed his lips back on mine and lifted my body into the air, holding me tight and not letting me get away. Not that I wanted to. I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me to the one place I didn’t expect I would ever see again. His bedroom. He set me down under him on his bed. I could feel his body move over mine, wanting more of me as he deepened the kiss with each passing second. He leaned up and lifted my shirt from my chest, pulling it over my head and tossing it to the floor behind him.
His bare skin was touching mine. His flesh. It wasn’t warm like a human yet. But my god, it wasn’t like it had been before. He was cool enough for me to touch and not feel the need to pull away from his icy skin. I pulled him in closer and let him lay a trail of kisses once more. Then I let him do the unthinkable. The one thing I never thought in a million years that I’d let a vampire do. He nibbled on the thin layer of skin on my neck and slowly broke into it. And for the third time, Nathaniel tasted my blood. Just enough to tease him and make him want me even more.
‘Wait, he still craves blood? Then it’s not over. I haven’t fully marked him yet.’
Thoughts ran through my mind faster than I was able to process them. I was confused. Excited. And terrified.
I spent so much time trying to figure out if I actually had a choice. Or if I had to do as the vixra said and mark Tobias. I wanted to put myself first. To have my own will back without the threat of eternal slavery like Georgeanna had to endure. But was that something I could ever attain? Would the vixra punish me for this? Could I stop the marking process once it started?
‘That was what Tobias meant when he said I had bigger problems to worry about.’
Nathaniel would soon be mortal if I stayed near him. I would be tied to him forever. And for reasons I couldn’t entirely understand, I was already unconditionally devoted to him. My blood wouldn’t have it any other way. He was going to be mine and I would be his.
‘This is it. This was why Tobias attacked him. He knew.’
I pushed back up and forced Nathaniel to stop. He broke the kiss but he brought me up with him, refusing to let go of me. I didn’t want him to. And yet, I had to.
“Nathaniel, stop,” I said.
He gazed right into my eyes, making me feel weak and unsure of whether I really wanted him to stop.
“You knew?” I asked.
“I wasn’t sure at first. But yes.”
“And you’re okay with it?”
He reached out and touched my hair, letting his fingers run through it as his eyes dug deeper inside me, creating a hunger I didn’t know I would ever have again after I lost Caleb.
“It’s not exactly something I have control over, Harper,” he said. “All I know is that I want you near me. It’s what consumes my thoughts day and night. Everything I do now is to protect you. Everything I did before I even spoke to you for the first time was to keep you safe. Your family. Your line. I will continue to do so. No matter what happens.”
The realization struck me so fast that I couldn’t help but look away from him. He forced my eyes to meet his again and took my face into his hands. Softly. Delicately. Like a precious item he had to treat with tenderness or I might break.
“This is why Carlton died,” I realized. “Your blood wasn’t potent enough to keep him alive as a vampire when you turned him.”
Nathaniel didn’t say a word. He allowed his usual severity to overpower his face again as I searched for answers.
‘Wait, that would mean my blood started marking him long ago. Before he even turned Carlton into a vampire.’
“What have I done?” I whispered. “The entire Larsen family is dead because of me.”
“No,” he insisted. “That wasn’t you. It was Ragna and Brian. Don’t ever blame yourself for what was beyond your control.”
“I doubt the vixra will accept that as an answer once they find out my blood is in the process of marking you. Arthur even said that he holds me personally responsible.”
“I won’t let them harm you.”
“You can’t promise me that, Nathaniel. No one can.”
“I managed to keep Georgeanna’s descendants a secret and protect them for over two centuries. Don’t choose now to doubt me.”
I wanted to believe him and trust that regardless of what happened things would be alright. But I couldn’t. Nathaniel would never choose me if he knew Georgeanna was alive.
A look of sadness must have taken over me because Nathaniel brought my face up to his again. He brought his lips onto mine and pulled me in close, telling me with his body everything that I needed and so desperately wanted to hear. That he felt as devoted to me as I did to him.
I broke the kiss as I tried to catch my breath. Not because of him. Not because Nathaniel was taking my breath away. Something else. I reached for the bed under me to catch myself as my eyesight started to fade to black.
‘No, not right now!’
I reached inside the pocket of my jeans to pull out the small container of potions, but it was too late. My eyesight faded away, showing me something else. Another memory that was locked deep inside my mind. A memory I was meant to forget.
I was surrounded by people. Angry faces. Fists raised in the air. Murderous eyes. I w
as standing on a hillside in nothing but a white dress. One that wasn’t mine. One I was forced to wear. A prisoner’s garb. There was a stone tied to my feet. My wrists and legs were bound with rope that was digging into my skin.
It was the day of my execution. The day when the villagers came to see which of the women among their small community had taken a pact with the devil after being accused of witchcraft. I was the only one among them who was guilty.
Two men lifted me into the frigid air as I thrashed back and forth, trying to get loose. I couldn’t even scream. My mouth was gagged with material digging into my gums as I tried to cry out for help. For anyone who might show me pity. But it was too late. They had all seen me for what I was when my magic erupted from my hands and tried to protect me.
I saw where the men were taking me. Right for the nearby river that ran next to my town. They were going to drown me.
I didn’t have a choice. It was the only way to survive.
I let my magic out of my body. It exploded from my skin. It must have had the desired effect because the men dropped me almost immediately. And once the bright golden light from my magic finally dissipated, I saw the damage I had done. Everyone ten feet from me was blown back. They weren’t dead, but definitely unconscious. And those who were able to stand and stare me down did so with fear in their eyes.
I rushed to my hands and knees in the grass, watching as the villagers ran for their lives, believing I was going to harm them.
‘All I ever wanted was to be left alone. Why couldn’t you leave me alone?’
Before I could fully register what was happening, the earth moved under my feet and I was being taken away. But not by human feet or the speed of a horse. It was a vampire. I could sense it. He had me in the woods far away from the villagers in a matter of seconds. The moment he stopped I let out my magic and fired it at him.
He easily dodged away from me and knock me down on the ground, pinning me by my hands and knees with his body weight. I wiggled and thrashed to try and get away from him. If I didn’t he would plunge his teeth inside me and drain me dry. Just like vampires did to all kruxa they found. I escaped the villagers only to have a vampire kill me.
Witchling Wars Page 56
