Everlasting Embrace (Embrace Series)

by Charlotte Blackwell

  “In your dreams, you dirty bastard. I will never go with you.” Danika’s fear is becoming more evident. We should have anticipated Drake’s ability to get under her skin.

  Drake chose Danika to be his evil queen to the Cerberus. He had plans for her to help him rule over the rogue vampires. He lured her to Club VC, and eventually Danika ran away from us, straight to him. That was just what Drake wanted, and he trapped her. Just as her initiation was to be completed, Caspian, who had been away from our family for about thirty years, helped us to save her. He had left us when he accidentally killed his girlfriend, Ashley, and assumed he no longer belonged with us; but we always knew it was an accident, and longed for his return to us. After Caspian saved Danika, he returned to Drake as a spy, but was brutally tortured for a month, and then forced to work with him. Caspian finally broke free when the Cerberus came back to Wenham and caused riots in the center of town. Cyrus places his hand on his son and successor’s shoulder. “I think we’ve had enough chit-chat. Why don’t we get down to business?”

  With his obvious signal, hundreds of vampires emerge from the shadows and trees. They must have noticed us trying to surround them, and moved to surround us again.

  Everyone looks around with surprise; Alexander has us connected, and tries to calm each one of us. As the rogue vampires take the lead and race toward us with their ultra speed, we begin our attack.

  Elijah and Cyrus take to hand-to-hand combat as does Caspian and Drake. The members on their teams work to keep others away from them. The rest of us fight several Cerberus at a time. While battling five others, I try to keep Elijah and Caspian in my sights.

  With a punch to one and a kick to another, I knock them back, giving myself just enough time. When two others come at me, one from either side, I grab a stake in each hand from my belt, stabbing them both in the heart. The other two, along with a third, come at me. Jumping high above them and kicking two of them in the face, I knock them right into the stakes of the team members around me. I continue to fight any that come at me, till the group connection allows me to know that a few of our students are now injured. I’m too far from them, but the potion handlers inform us they have them covered.

  The shifters have been busy removing, dismembering and burning the various bodies. A few even begin fighting, attacking a few of the Cerberus. Elijah and Caspian appear to be holding their own, but have yet to succeed in the demise of the leaders. Elijah and Cyrus are vicious in their attacks. Elijah is using many of the powers from those around us, but Cyrus’s years prove to be beneficial. I assume he has acquired many powers from other vampires he’s destroyed. If he destroys Elijah, and acquires his power to assume the powers of those around him, it’ll be the end of the Renata.

  Elijah puts both his palms to Cyrus’s chest, and I watch as electric currents shoot through Elijah, penetrating Cyrus, sending him flying back at least twenty feet. I’m not sure if this is an acquired power or a borrowed power. He assures us he’s handling things, and to continue with our fight.

  Another Cerberus comes at me, and her long sharp nails slice at my arm. She is an old soul, and a dirty fighter. Before the wound can heal, she grabs a hold, digging her silver tipped claws inside of me. I can feel a poison entering me though her touch. A burning sensation takes over as my arm goes weak. I call out for help, realizing her nails are tipped with silver. My team member, Zachary, rips off the head of the vampire he is fighting with one swift turn. One hand gripped on either side of his enemy’s face, Zachary twists with all his might, legs off the ground, running in mid air, feet bouncing of the heads of other Cerberus around him. The head detaches as a loud cracking sound, from the detachment of the head from the spine, occurs. His aerial acrobatics off the others give our group the opportunity to stake and destroy those around him. In the same instant, he tosses the ragged head aside and comes to my aid, taking care of the wretched hag that was about to fillet me. The potion keepers toss both a healing and a protection potion at me. I concentrate and allow my healing powers to push out all the infected tissue from the open wound. I can tell Nathanial is concerned, but I don’t want him to get injured because of me. Through the connection, I allow him and the others to know I’m alright, and healing should only take a few more minutes. The poisoned tissue is agonizing; the silver is spreading fast. I have to concentrate all of my energy on the wound. Dead tissue begins to dwindle as the wound heals from the inside out. Due to the effects of silver on a vampire, the healing takes time, even with the enhancement of the potion. Nearly five minutes pass before full feeling returns to my arm and proper healing can occur. Once complete, I acknowledge the potion handlers, and they break the protection so I can rejoin the fight.

  Jumping to my feet, I race to Nathanial’s aid in order to assure him that I’m safe for the time being. Working together, we attack from both sides. Nathanial is struck and knocked to his back; he flips back up to his feet just as fast and stabs our attacker from behind. With a quick high five as we pass by each other, we move on to the next attacker.

  From the corner of my eye, I notice Caspian struggling with Drake, and call out for Isaac to help. Drake grabs Caspian’s foot as he attempts a roundhouse kick, snapping his leg and crippling him to the ground. As Drake prepares to finish Caspian once and for all, Isaac attacks from behind, dropping his elbow into the middle of Drake’s back. Drake collapses to the cold, frozen ground beneath him. Isaac’s quick thinking gives Caspian just enough time to jump to his feet again, before at least a dozen Cerberus begin to attack them for taking down their leader. The two Pierce men go full force with their backs to each other, protecting one another from an attack from behind.

  While not paying attention to my own fight, I get a hard knock to the side of my face. Shaking it off, I fight back with vengeance, pulling another stake from my belt and staking the vampire in front of me, then tossing the same stake to Nathanial. With one swift motion, he catches the stake and slams it into the heart of the female vampire attacking him.

  I’m concerned we are getting our asses handed to us on a platter. Their numbers are dwindling, but we are getting injured too. I just hope we don’t lose anyone. Elijah, Caspian and Isaac are working hard to destroy the leaders. Florence, Constance, Alex and Matilda are working with their teams, knocking out even more. Ebony and Eliza are attempting a spell to weaken the Cerberus. It seems to be helping with the minions, but not much on the leaders. Through the connection we have through the group, I hear someone call out for help. Panic takes over as my concern grows for all the students fighting at our side. With a frantic glance around, I notice a few students down. The students controlling the potions assure me they have the two injured victims covered.

  I race to the aid of the student screaming for help, looking around for the one in need, and realize it’s Siobhan. Before I can get to her, I watch as the attacker stakes her with a tree branch. I get to her within seconds and a protection potion is thrown at us. I can’t lose her, not again. Siobhan has the same soul as Ashley; she’s Caspian’s soul mate, and I can’t let him lose her before he even knows it’s her. Looking over Siobhan, I notice the stake just missed hitting her heart; I can help her, and relief fills me. As I remove the stake, Siobhan cries out in pain, and I realize it wasn’t just a tree branch; it was tipped with silver. The Cerberus planned this attack very well, and they are taking chances by using silver. This attack is similar to a suicide mission. They know they will lose members, but they don’t care as long as we lose some too. I divulge my revelation to the rest and question a retreat. Elijah insists we can’t leave: that they would take to the town. I do what I can to help Siobhan, but because the silver went so close to her heart she’s out of the fight. The protection releases, and I race her towards the cave, where she gets hit with another protection and healing spell, as I rejoin the fight.

  We are down three fighters from injuries, and everyone else appears spent. Morale is low. Numbers have decreased down to dozens. Just as I think we need help, somet
hing to help get us going again, Michael appears, wings fully out. As the Cerberus race towards him, he begins to spin and his wings fly out like airplane propellers. The Cerberus continue to charge him, and I notice his wings slicing through them like butter. Michael’s wings are like hundreds of swords. That’s so cool, I think. Just as fast as he appeared, he destroyed over ten Cerberus, giving us just the boost we need.

  As most of the students take on the lower ranking Cerberus, the elders take on Drake and Cyrus. Constance races up a nearby tree, flipping backwards out of it, and landing on her feet. Cyrus is caught off guard as Constance stands before him with her fangs bared, ready to attack. Cyrus kicks at her head, but Constance leans back as the force of his leg rushes just over her. She returns the gesture with a right hook, just missing him. Elijah catches him on the rebound, knocking him off his balance and into several of his fighters. With immense speed, he returns with Elijah and Constance before him. They kick and punch, with only one of the two actions connecting. Cyrus connects a kick to Elijah’s gut. A second later, Constance gets Cyrus by the right arm, twisting it under and in an unnatural direction. A loud snap echo’s through the area, catching most of the fighters off guard long enough for us to stake them, with the help of the shifter team, and for Michael to tear them apart. That’s it. We’ve fought our way through hundreds of Cerberus, and only Drake and Cyrus are left. Alexander instructs the students to be split up; some to take the injured back home, others to begin boxing the ashes of those already burned to dust.

  Cyrus chuckles, and snaps his arm back into place, wiggling all his fingers. With Cyrus injury repairing fast, we need to move quickly. Alexander grabs a stake, driving it straight through Cyrus’s heart. Cyrus collapses to the ground. Before celebrating, we turn our attention to Drake, only to find him laughing through his fight; I guess it just proves the Cerberus have no feelings. We just destroyed his father, and his entire following. In a moment of weakness, we break our concentration, and Drake shoots off a few rounds of silver bullets. Before we can retaliate, Drake disappears without a trace. When we turn to bask in the enjoyment of Cyrus being ripped apart by the shifters, we see them all standing there in human form, dazed and confused.

  “What’s wrong? Why are you back in your human form?” Danika asks the question we are all wondering.

  Tamo looks at us all. “My friends, we are unsure. Once we moved in to tear Cyrus apart, he just disappeared. We looked everywhere, but there is no trace.”

  “It must be one, or both, of their powers. Drake just laughed at us and vanished as well,” Alexander adds.

  “I think our job is finished here for tonight. We will need to contact the Renata and attempt to figure this out later. Let’s gather our things and return home,” Elijah orders with slight worry resting on his voice.

  Chapter 20

  Ramifications

  Gathering our tools and our wounded, we notice that all three of them are worsening, not getting better. Caspian grabs Siobhan, Alexander takes Carlina, and Isaac cradles Russell as they race them back to the house. I follow close behind with Constance, as the others gather the potions and bury the boxes of ash around the forest.

  Within moments, we arrive back at the house and take the injured into the office area. We lay the patients on the couches and floor to help treat them. Isaac and Constance keep a supply of medical equipment here. With Isaac rushing to get the medical supplies from the cabinet, I immediately take some to Siobhan. I need to save her for Caspian; he needs her. The office is spacious, so that we can all work with ease. There are two couches on adjacent walls. A small bookshelf holds Elijah’s personal book collection, ones he doesn’t want to keep in our massive library. Shelves and cupboards surround the room and everything has its place. The large oak desk and high back leather chair is placed in front of the large floor to ceiling window. Right outside the window is the perfect view of a garden. Isaac begins tossing everyone the supplies we need.

  Isaac rushes to Russell, and Constance to Carlina. Caspian and Alexander assist by getting the required medical equipment and the rest of the supplies.

  “Isaac, is there anything we can do about the silver?” I ask with sheer desperation.

  “We can use zinc to burn the tissue surrounding the wound, but it won’t work for Siobhan. Her injury is too close to her heart, and it’ll damage the heart muscle.”

  “So what should I do? I’ve tried healing her, and it’s not working.”

  “Speaking of healing from the silver, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Now, how do I help Siobhan?”

  “Irrigate the wound with saline solution, lots of saline solution. Then attempt to heal her again. We’ll have to figure it out after that. It may just be enough.”

  Caspian hurries to my side with five bags of saline and a bag of blood. He tears the cap off the first bag of saline and hands it to me. Taking her head in his arm, Caspian rips into the bag of blood to feed to her, in hopes that the pure, unexpired human blood will speed her recovery. As he feeds her, I watch her drink while in a weakened state. The room becomes busy as the others begin to file in. Ebony comes to my aid, pouring the saline on and allowing me to concentrate on healing. I can feel us getting closer to healing her. We just need something to give us that extra boost. Then a brilliant idea overcomes me. Vampire blood may increase her healing; she’s already a vampire, so this will not change anything. The healing properties of our blood may be enough to help push her to the point where I can complete the healing. Only, when vampires share blood it gives us a different connection, almost like seeing in to each other’s souls; vampires sharing blood is beyond intimate. This is Ashley…I mean Siobhan we are talking about, so it must be done. They will figure out their connection sooner than later anyways.

  “Caspian, she needs blood.”

  “I just gave her an entire bag.”

  “No you idiot, vampire blood.”

  I can see the light bulb go off in his eyes as his fangs descend and puncture his wrist before placing it to her lips. As she begins drinking, I notice Caspian’s pleading look. He has realized this is his soul mate. I only wonder if he realizes it’s Ashley’s soul.

  “Don’t worry Caspian, I’ll save her. I promise.”

  I refocus, visualizing the silver exiting the wound, the heart beating slightly faster than our usual, at six beats a minute, healing and rejecting the poison. I hear Ebony and Eliza chanting behind me:

  In the divine name of the goddess

  Who breathes life into us all,

  We ask you to heal.

  Protect this servant

  Through magick,

  Through love.

  Protect and heal her.

  So mote it be,

  So mote it be,

  So mote it be.

  Feeling warmth, I open my eyes. A white candle burns beside Siobhan…as the flame grows the healing progresses. I smile and nod at Caspian. He leans down, kisses her head and whispers, “That’s enough, my dear.”

  I look to Constance and Isaac as they now both work on Russell, and notice a blanket is covering Carlina. Constance looks at me and, with sadness, shakes her head. I know we’ve lost her; we’ve lost one of our students in this war, a war that we have vowed to fight against the Cerberus.

  “Isaac, how is Russell?” I question.

  “He’s stable. I’m going to keep him here in the main house for observation. What about Siobhan?”

  “She’s fine,” I respond.

  “I’m going to take her to my dorm room and stay with her tonight. I will call you if anything changes,” Caspian insists, not allowing anyone the opportunity to question him.

  Florence had taken the other students back to the school after the battle, before anyone could get any news about their friends. I think it’s time we go and fill them in.

    

  As we enter the school corridor, the students are all gathered, holding white candles in honor of their fallen friends. Caspian w
alks through the crowd with Siobhan wrapped in the safety of his arms, covered with a soft pink blanket of warmth. The students part as he walks through them towards his room. As they pass, the students closest to them kiss their fingers and touch them to her head. You can see the concern on their faces for their friends that have been injured tonight. Caspian retreats to his dorm room with Siobhan, to ensure she gets the rest she needs and to reflect on the information he received through her feeding from him.

  Everyone turns back to the rest of us for answers. Elijah takes the lead, “First off, I want to thank you all for an amazing fight. With your help, we were able to destroy what I’m sure is the entire Boston following of the Cerberus. This is an achievement no one has had the pleasure of claiming before. However, I do have an unfortunate circumstance to report. The leaders, Drake and Cyrus, have escaped our wrath. We were able to stake Cyrus, but before destruction was complete, he disappeared before our eyes, followed by his son. Because of Cyrus’s age, we must assume he will heal from this injury as his son once did.”

  Cyrus found Drake and brought him back to the ever after once upon a time. We can only assume he will now return the favor for his father. This is why we insist on decapitation and burning after staking. We ensure many steps, so that once destroyed a vampire can’t return from beyond the grave. It’s hard to tell which ways will kill each individual vampire, and the longer they live the harder they are to kill. I only wish these two would be as simple as a new vampire and a stake through the heart or some holy water would do the trick

  The crowd sighs at the thought that the leaders got away. Then Elijah continues, “We cannot call this a pure victory, because it didn’t come without a cost. Three of our own were seriously injured tonight. Siobhan, Russell and Carlina each sustained severe injuries during the fight. As you saw, Siobhan is better, but will require round the clock care. Caspian will be providing this for her, so please, if he asks for anything, lend him a hand. Also, Russell is in stable, but critical, condition, and will be staying up at the main house under Isaac’s medical care. It is with my deepest regret that I must inform you all that we have lost one of our own in the battle. Carlina succumbed to her injuries, and we were unable to save her. She passed away tonight in the arms of her caregivers. We will be contacting her family and informing them of her passing. We would also like to perform a wake in her name later this week. On behalf of my family, we are sorry for the loss of your friend, classmate, and team member.”