Malevolence - Legacy Series Book Two (The Legacy Series)

by Devyn Dawson

  He smiled at me and said, “What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t have any visions of you visiting me. Quite interesting.” He put his hands together at his fingertips and tapped them together. “Forgive me, I don’t mean to be rude. It is unusual for a dream walker to come without me having a forewarning by my spirit guide. What can I do for you my little butterfly?” He motioned for me to sit next to him on the bench.

  As I sat down, the butterflies fluttered all around me, almost like walking through a gnat party. “We have serious problems right now. Something is going on amongst the vampire community. Apparently they are planning on killing my mom, in effort to force Abel to step up as the Great Wolf. I’m not clear as to why, but I’m betting it has to do with his lack of experience. The rumor mill is saying the vampires are planning on telling the world of their existence.”

  “Very interesting….hmmm. That does pose a problem. You need to do what you can to keep Abel and your mother safe. That should be your only concern right now. I’ll get with my people and have a meeting. Damn, just when I thought I’d have a nice little vacation. Don’t worry my little butterfly,” he said. He put his arm over my shoulder, pulling me closer; I rested my head on his chest for a minute. “I’ll seek you out. In the time being, it looks like you may need some help.” He stood, taking my hand and we walked over to edge of the pond. “The ink behind your ear, it is much more than a tattoo. It is a link to the rest of us and your own personal distress call. I’ve never activated yours because you were so young and I didn’t want any accidental distress signals sent.” He turned to face me, taking both of my hands into his. “Stand still; it won’t hurt but it might take a few minutes. Ready?”

  “Yes sir.” I shivered with goose pimples all over my skin.

  He held his head back, his arms out wide with his palms up. “I bring forth what has not been completed. Upon this child with the gift of sight, I unbind what has been bound. Our connection will be intertwined amongst the seers of Kilkenny. The land of magic, the heart of mystical creatures; with gifts we protect our own against the ones who mean us harm.” He raised his hands above his head and said, “It is only a matter of a touch that will connect the bird of flight with the butterfly of knowledge. Protect the secret of Kilkenny, he is the chosen one and this is his guardian. Touch her now, and bring forth what has been hidden.” He took my hands in front of him and turned my hands over to be palm up. Above our hands were streams of light that shimmered like gold glitter. It was incredible as it flowed through my fingertips.

  Quinney’s aura brightened all around him, in brilliant colors. His aura was as if he had his own rainbow that illuminated off of him. “You now have the tools to give you the sight. As a seer, your ability will not be limited to the trance-like state anymore. My lovely little butterfly, you will now begin your journey. If you need protection all you need to do is tap your sparrow three times, in that moment one of the Others will appear, they will fight to the death to protect you and your charge. Be aware that whomever you call to duty has taken an oath to be an Other, it is a very sacred position. They will stay with you until their own death. The Others have been trained for the calling. You in particular are a priority calling and will receive the best of the best. It is not to be treated lightly. Many of them are men, some are women and you can call as many as you need. I warn you against it though. You are a warrior and have a pack to back you up, people you know and trust. Currently there are about one hundred Others and of that one hundred there are approximately seventy that are not assigned at this time. It takes years and years to train just one. Their own journey is strenuous and many parish before earning the title.” He shook his head back and forth. “It really is a shame. We have five that should be completed with their training in the next week or so.”

  I looked at him, flabbergasted about everything and then it dawned on me. “Let me guess, that is why you go to Tibet. It is, isn’t it?”

  “As a matter of fact, the final journey of training is handled by the monks. Pru, I am serious about them staying with you until their death. Not all of them are the kind of creatures you will want to keep around. They are amazing fighters, but many are terrible friends. Their oath can’t be stopped, so if they don’t die in the fight and you don’t want them, you will be the one to sever the oath.”

  “You’re kidding me? I have to kill them myself? Someone that comes to help me, I pay them back by killing them?” I asked trying hard not to whine.

  “Yes,” he said. He held his hand in front of him with his finger out. A butterfly flitted by and circled around his hand before landing on the finger perch. Quinney said a Gaelic prayer and put his hands on my upper arm. As he pulled his hand away, I felt it, a little tickle and cool sensation on my arm.

  “What did you do? What was that you just said?” I asked, rubbing my arm.

  “I gave you a link to me. With a touch of the butterfly you’ll be able to see me. It won’t be a dream, and will happen as close to immediate as humanly possible. I hear Dolly calling for you. I’ll be in touch with you later. Find out what you can at that museum, and try not to get yourself killed. Remember what I told you about the sparrow.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it.

  “Thank you. Before I go, what do you mean about the butterfly? I’m in Paris and I’m pretty sure there aren’t any arctic butterflies.”

  He looked at me curious. “Why the one I gave you, silly girl. Until we meet again, may the wind be at your back.”

  In a blink of an eye, I was back in Paris. Sitting straight forward, I pulled up my sleeve so I could look at my arm. As I suspected, a lovely purple spotted admiral butterfly was tattooed on my arm. I smiled to myself, excited about my new abilities.

  Mom crossed the room to where I was perched on the edge of her bed. “By the look on your face I am guessing you were successful. Good, now maybe we can make sure everyone is ready.” She sat down next to me putting her arm around me. “Prudence, you know I’m here for you honey. I know you’ve been through a lot, and there is a lot of stress on your shoulders. You don’t have to do this. I can send you back to the farm, no one will know and I can handle everything here.” Her hand felt cool against my bare arm.

  I turned my head to look at her. “Mom, you realize that speech was nothing but wasted breath. There isn’t anything you can do to make me leave you here alone. I love you, and I love our pack and above all else, I love our freedom. If the vampires expose themselves to the human race, it is only a matter of time before they find out about us. I don’t want weres to be poked and prodded by scientists or hunted like game. No, I can’t leave. I was successful though, and it was enlightening to me,” I said.

  “How so?”

  “You know how there is all this talk about the Others? I’ve always thought they were regular supernatural people. I’ve never really put a lot of thought into them; until today. I was given the ability to summon one if I need them.”

  “You were unbound?” Mom asked with an incredulous look on her face.

  “You knew about that? No one has ever told me that I had abilities that had been bound. I’ve always believed I was only able to get messages in my dreams. What other things can I do?”

  “I don’t know, Pru. You were really young and we didn’t have a lot of information to go on. We always knew you were special, and your abilities would grow with you. You were a very precocious girl, and we wanted to make sure you understood what you were doing before you did it. For all we knew you’d have the entire pack bowing down to you every time they saw you. Or better yet, have them biding your chores or whatever you found funny. Don’t even begin to tell me that you would never do anything like that. I know better. You wouldn’t do it now, but a few years ago… you wouldn’t think twice about it. Quinney and I had discussed unbinding you last year but he didn’t feel you were ready. I guess something must have changed.” She stood up, picking up her black faux fur coat and matching hat. “The Others are real, and if you need them, call for the
m.”

  “Do you also know that they stay with me until they die? So if they are retched, I have to kill them. Did you know that?” I asked as I pulled on my hat and coat too.

  “Send em to me, I’ll kill them. I have some aggression issues to deal with lately.” We both laughed at the thought. “There’s more truth to that than you know.”

  “I’ll trust you. Okay, off to the Vampire Museum. I hope they have that book, if they didn’t hide it from me.”

  Gus was standing by the front door waiting on us. The lines on his face showed how worried he was about the situation. “Here we go again,” he said holding the door open for us.

  “I think we should take public transportation again. It helped us find Zany, we’ll see what other super’s are on the bus,” I said.

  “Public transportation is good with me. Chad, I want you to stay close and never let Pru out of your sight.” Mom said.

  Chad shook his head in agreement and I let out a sigh. My mom had been overly worried about losing me after dad died. I on the other hand, felt the same about her.

  The long rectangular teal and white bus pulled up to the stop. The doors opened with a swoosh and an elderly lady and a young boy got off. The bus driver, a portly man with a Russian style hat on his head asked us how many. Six Euros he announced. Chad handed him the money and we headed towards the back. Gus and I noticed her at the same time. Zany was in the second to last row, she peered up at us from her knitting project. We took the two seats directly behind her. Unlike the last time we rode on the transit, the bus was practically empty.

  “Took you long enough,” she said. “It’s been daunting riding this bus around for the last two days waiting on you.”

  “There was always the telephone,” I said.

  “Nothing is private on the telly. I knew you wouldn’t leave Paris. Where are you going today? Somewhere where I’ll have to dispose of another demon to save you?”

  “We’re going to the museum again. I need to take a look at one of the books. We have a three o’clock appointment,” I said. “We had a run in the other night with a baobhan sith. Are you familiar with them? Are there a lot of them in Paris?”

  “Disgusting creatures. Not that I find vampires appealing, but those in particular are especially vile. They are extremely hard to kill, like a cockroach. How did you manage to free yourself?” Zany asked. She set the knitting needles and yarn back into her Twilight tote.

  I studied her face before answering. I leaned forward and told her about Arien.

  She clucked her tongue. “He does like to be a part of the action. I had heard that he and Pascale had a falling out. Even though Pascale is his uncle he doesn’t cut him any slack.” She laughed to herself.

  “Have you heard that the vampires are planning on announcing to the world that they exist?” I studied her face for any sign of lies.

  She took in a deep breath before answering. “I’ve heard that in the past, but that was a few years ago. That won’t do anything but put negative focus on the entire super world.”

  “Exactly. It will be nothing but a big witch hunt. No pun intended. People will try to find out if others exist and will eventually out us all. We have to stop him. My question to you is, are you in or out. We won’t tolerate a traitor.”

  She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, shaking it back and forth. “I don’t know. I wish I could give you a definitive answer but if I go with you, I’ll be marked. If I don’t go with you, all of us could be in danger. I will have to think about it. I’ll find you, and not on the transit. I saw what stop you got on at; if I can help, I’ll be in touch.”

  “I understand, just so you know though, if you’re against us….you become a target for us too. One more thing, do you know any of the rogue were’s in the area?”

  She shook her head no and pulled a magazine out of her tote. Ughh.

  Chapter 22. Appointment

  “The small men are cleverer than we are, so we will leave the decision to you.” The Crystal Ball ~ Grimm’s Household Tales

  Abel and Oakley appeared out of nowhere as we walked up to the doors of the museum. I took a deep breath before entering, praying we weren’t walking into a vampire infested trap. The door chimed as we entered and the petite girl again asked us to pull the door closed behind us. She looked exactly the same as she did the first time we met, minus she traded out her red scarf for a festive lime green one.

  “We have an appointment at three,” I said.

  She opened up the giant book, scanning through it as if it was full of text, her finger stopped at the only entry on the page. “See, we followed the rules, and made an appointment,” I said as I flashed her a sarcastic smile.

  “Ummmm, why yes you did. It is only two forty; I take my break at this time. You can have a seat at one of the benches over there,” she said pointing to two benches that lined the wall by the entrance. “If you’d like some coffee, there is a vendor two blocks down. I encourage you not to be late though.”

  “We’re fine. We’ll sit at the benches,” I said sarcastically.

  “Pru, don’t let her get to you. She is trying to get your goat and you are letting her. Ignore her. If she is our guide, you need to keep your sarcasm on the down low. It’s okay baby, relax.” Oakley thought to me.

  Looking up to see his eyes, I remembered the first time I noticed how pretty his eyes were. I must have been ten and mom thought it would be fun to go to the science museum. We all loaded up into her mini-van and headed to Oklahoma City. I’d never noticed a boy as a boy to like; I thought we were all alike. Until that day. We had climbed up a tower together and I was showing off or something, when I leaned too far over the edge. I lost my footing and started to fall. In a split second, Oakley had grabbed my hand as I dangled over the edge. Looking down, and then up, I made eye contact with him. His eyes bore into mine and he told me to give him my other hand. I would have done anything he asked of me in that moment. He grasped my hand and pulled me up, without thinking I threw my arms around him to thank him. I was shaking all over and fighting back tears of relief, but something else happened too. I looked into his soul and I saw myself reflected back. I knew in that very moment that I’d be his forever and ever. He whispered into my ear that I’d be okay, and I knew I would.

  Looking at him today reassured me that he would always be there for me. Who was I to doubt him when my father died? That first month on the road was horrible. Not only had I lost my dad, but I had doubts about Oakley’s ability to protect me. He was the best of the best, how on earth could my father be pierced by an arrow without Oakley seeing anything. It wasn’t impossible, but he was so alert about everything. Of course he wouldn’t want my father to die. He loved my dad as his own. I was mad at everyone; I should have been the one with him. He would still be alive if I’d been there. I would have taken the arrow for him and he’d still be the alpha and alive.

  “Earth to Pru, come in.” Abel thought to me.

  “Hey, sorry; I was just thinking. You know me and thinking, it takes a lot of mental powers to stay focused.” I smiled at him and said, “you okay? It is a little nerve racking sitting here and waiting. I hope we find that antidote.”

  “Me too. I have on two cameras and Oakley has one. I thought it would be good to have a secret one, in case they wouldn’t allow us to photograph. Your mom looks tense, is she okay?”

  “Yeah she’s fine. Well, as fine as one can be, knowing they have a hit on them.”

  We all heard a noise coming from behind the wall, a creaking of the floorboards and heavy footsteps. Anxiously we all sat positively still, anticipating a vampire to walk through the door next to where we sat. The double door that I assumed led into the area with the vampire artifacts rattled as someone on the other side unlocked it. The man that appeared was no other than the faerie that gave me the card. It was obvious he recognized Gus and me.

  “Hello, welcome to the Paris Vampire Museum, my name is Earl and I will be your guide today. I ask th
at you turn off your cell phones and your preconceptions of vampires.” He laughed a joyful kind of chuckle.