Awakening, The

by Nicole R. Taylor

  Nye stopped abruptly in front of him, lingering at the opening to a cell. Zac listened, but couldn't hear anything but their own breathing.

  "What is it?" he asked, but didn't get a reply.

  Nye leaned his head against the corroded bars, hands clenched into fists.

  "Nye?" he asked again.

  A low keening sound came from his friend and it sounded like pure anguish. Zac knew all about that.

  "It was here wasn't it?" It couldn't be anything else. He'd never seen anything get to his friend, not like this.

  "Yes."

  He waited, not wanting to ask, and let his eyes take in the cell that had deteriorated with time and the putrid waters of the Thames. Remembering the night he sat with Nye on the rooftops over Regent Street, he knew that the spy had been turned underneath the Tower and judging from his reaction right now, it had been horrific. Who wouldn't want to avoid reliving that again?

  "She was just a girl." Nye's voice was so quiet, Zac almost missed it. "A tiny waif of a thing."

  "What happened to her?"

  "They found her in a lane in Cheapside," he said, his hands curling around the bars of the cell. "She was accused of murder. They found her covered in blood from head to toe, sitting amongst a dismembered body."

  Zac could see where this was going, but didn't have the heart to say anything comforting. He just let Nye get it out, because holding it in was nothing but trouble.

  "They threw her down here because no one knew what to do with her. She wasn't talking, she wouldn't go outside...she would fight anyone who neared." He stopped, drawing in a deep breath. "It was my first assignment after getting my face hacked open. After the Armarda, after the Hunter pulled me from that fire ship, Reileigh got all the credit. Of course they didn't believe the rambling fool with a rent face. They found me on the beach, half dead, half mad, and ranting about the woman on the ship. Lady Annabeth, a visiting dignitary at court."

  Zac remembered that Nye had told him that Aya had pulled him from the fire ship. She'd saved his life, but failed to take his memory of her.

  "I was determined to show them," Nye continued. "They didn't believe a word I had to say about her, and I was smart enough to shut my mouth and play it as delirium from my wounds, but my part in saving England from the Spanish was forgotten. I'd served the Crown for years and they repaid me with silence. I would win the trust of the girl and find the truth. It was what I was good at. I'd solve what no one else could."

  "The girl?"

  "She was pale and sickly and wouldn't eat. She was afraid of everyone who came near, save for me. How could a girl do that? Tear a full-grown man to shreds? A tiny urchin, half starved and freezing to death?"

  "She was a vampire." Zac didn't have to ask the question, he could already guess at what happened next.

  "I brought her fresh clothing to replace her rags, I sat with her and told her stories, told her about my family, my mother's murder. Anything to gain her trust. Eventually she started giving in. A word here and there and before long she told me anything I wanted to know. Except, I didn't know the right questions to ask… She was starving," he scoffed. "But she'd already latched onto me, I'd seen to that."

  "She thought you'd save her," Zac said, realizing what the girl had done.

  "She must have compelled me, because next thing I knew, I was inside the cell. She fed from me, then gave me her blood. I don't remember how I died…just how I came back. When a guard finally came looking for me, blood was the only thing I wanted. You can guess how the rest went."

  "What happened to the girl?"

  "After I'd changed, I woke in her arms," he choked out. "She was singing, stroking my hair, cradling me like a child. She spoke of the things we'd do together. Unspeakable horrors. I knew she was lost. There was no way back for her."

  "What did you do next?"

  "I knew she made me like her. A monster. Everything was clearer somehow and I didn't feel tired at all. I just felt...hungry. I knew I had a choice to make. I could either be like her, or be something else. I couldn't chance her changing someone else, so when her back was turned, I...I ripped her heart out. A little girl..."

  "It was the right thing to do, Nye," Zac said quietly. "She was a true vampire. Her humanity was lost."

  "I know," he said, stepping back from the bars. "Afterwards, I dumped her body at the bottom of the Thames and disappeared. It wasn't long after that I was recruited by Regulus and believe me mate, I needed direction and the fucker gave it to me."

  "I'm not judging you, Nye. We do what we need to to survive."

  "I've never had a direction that wasn't someone else's," he said with a frown. "If we get through this, I don't know what to do."

  "One day at a time," Zac said, slapping the spy on the shoulder. "One day at a time."

  Casting a look back at the cell, Nye walked away, continuing down the passage. They hadn't gone far when Zac clamped a hand on his friend's shoulder, stopping him mid-stride. Pressing a finger to his lips, he nodded in the direction that they had been headed. Through the darkness that had turned into murky moonlight from high-set windows, they heard movement.

  "The executioner's rooms," Nye whispered. He eased open the door and before he could call out, he was pulled inside. Zac ran after him and saw it was Pyke in full vampire mode. The vampire pushed the spy back against the wall, fangs bared, and when he realized who he was holding, his eyes settled back into their ordinary brown hue.

  "Calm down, mate," Nye exclaimed, holding his hands up.

  "Nye?" Pyke dropped him abruptly, standing back a few paces.

  "What a warm welcome," he replied, cracking his neck.

  Pyke glanced at Zac and his eyes darkened. "And you."

  "Yeah, and me," Zac sighed.

  Pyke sat back down on the makeshift bed along the far wall, running hand over his face. He looked strung out and his usual scruffy demeanor was all over the shop. "I assume you want something."

  "I'm sorry I had to deceive you," Zac said. "But, I had to so I could end Regulus."

  Pyke snorted. "Aye, I get it, but you didn't have to put me through a windshield in the middle of nowhere."

  "Would you believe me if I said I was sorry for that, too?"

  "No."

  Zac let out a laugh. "If you were in the same position, you would've done the same thing."

  Pyke narrowed his eyes before shrugging. "Aye."

  "What are you doing here, Pyke?" Nye asked. "You could've gone anywhere."

  "I had nowhere else to go," he replied. "I didn't expect to be turfed out on my own."

  "When I had nowhere else to go, I went home," Zac said, thinking of the manor back in Louisiana. "You never forget your first home, even in death."

  Pyke looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "You're different."

  "I suppose so."

  "I gather you've taken what was Regulus'. It doesn't mean that I will swear fealty to you automatically."

  "I've taken nothing, Pyke. I don't want it."

  The vampire sighed sharply, standing to face Zac. "Then why are you here? Why are you bothering me?"

  "The Coven have awakened something terrible."

  "And why should I give a stuff?"

  "You know the Hunter is a hybrid with a creature of power," Zac began.

  "Yeah, so what?"

  "There's one of two people it could be. The Original Witch, who was driven insane by the blood of a star…or a hybrid vampire belonging to a dead race of creatures like the Hunter. The difference being that they are an original hybrid. Created, not turned."

  Pyke's eyes widened. He got it. Aya was a force to be reckoned with and it had taken her hundreds of years to learn control and even now it was tentative. This hybrid would never be able to grasp even a semblance of that notion. The witch would be just as dangerous, but at least Aya might have a chance at stopping her. The hybrid…not so much.

  Coraline had mentioned to him before she'd left to go to Ireland with Maximus that it could be
a Tuatha. A fae from the old stories of Ireland. That was one for the too hard basket.

  "We need your help. Your help. Together we have a chance. Alone we have none at all." Zac stared him down, refusing to back away.

  "And what are you doing down here anyway?" Nye asked. "Wasting away to a shadow. Living in a life long gone. You want a purpose? He's giving you one."

  "Will you come with us?" Zac asked.

  Pyke looked like he was going to cave, but shook his head. "No. Not right now." Nye gave him a look that said not likely. "I'll meet you at the apartment soon enough. That's all I can give you right now."

  "We could really do with your help," Zac said. "If a day or two is what you need, then we will wait."

  "Zac…" Nye started, but he held up a hand to stop him.

  "He's coming." He glanced at Pyke.

  "Aye," the vampire said. "I will come. One last battle for old times sake."

  Zac offered him a thin smile. "Then we will see you at the apartment." Before Nye could say any more, he grabbed the spy's arm and they left Pyke to his misery. For this to work, the Three had to come willingly. Forcing the matter wouldn't do any good, it'd just piss everyone off. Trying to fight a common enemy with bickering and infighting would get everyone killed. No, they had to do this together or not at all.

  "That was easier than I thought it'd be," Nye said as they made their way back through the dungeon.

  "Pyke is the kind of man who needs a cause. The moral compass doesn't really matter."

  "Rix may go along with it," the spy sighed. "Maddox, not so much. You might need to beat it out of him."

  "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Zac knew all too well that Maddox was a troublemaker. He was the one who tried to lead the others against him after he'd freed Coraline in that car accident. If it weren't for Nye's intervention, their plan would've been shot. He was counting on Nye's presence to be the thing that turned the tide with the assassin. But, he wouldn't worry about that until the time came.

  When they finally returned to the surface, the stink of torture and rot behind them, Zac's cell pinged with a text message from Gabby.

  It was one word, but the worst one she could've sent.

  Hybrid.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Aya peered out of the window at the grey London sky, misery settling into every part of her body. She'd been alone for most of her afterlife and was content with it, being who she was, but now that so many of her friends knew…being alone wasn't high on her priority list anymore. Truthfully, she pined for Zac and he'd only left the day before.

  She never thought she could love again and it had taken her almost two thousand years to figure it out. She loved Zac with everything she had, but it still wasn't enough to stop him from leaving.

  There was a knock at the door, interrupting her spiraling thoughts. Looking over her shoulder, Tristan walked into the room, a frown creasing his brow. His curly hair looked wilder than ever and sometimes she forgot how much he'd been through because of her over the years. It had been a long time since they'd met during the Crusades...a thousand years long. Her only true regret was that he had to suffer his change into vampire on his own. She wished she had of been there to stop it from happening in the first place.

  "Arrow," he said, coming to stand by her. "We need to do something. We can't stay here forever."

  "It's been a day." A day since she'd lost control and ripped the Coven apart…a day since she'd almost taken Zac along with them.

  "I know, but what if you didn't stop the spell like Coraline said? Shouldn't we prepare or somethin'?"

  Aya let his thick Irish accent wash over her. Her heart ached over many things and he seemed to be a calm place in the chaos of the past few months. She knew what she needed to do, but after so long, what if she didn't like what she would find? Now, more than ever, was a time she needed to be strong. The Romans were gone, Katrin had been banished and she was free. She was no longer hunted, but there were still many things left undone.

  "I have to go home," she sighed, looking back out the window.

  "Home?"

  "My birthplace."

  Tristan knew that she hadn't been back there since she found the mutilated remains of her family. The day she found them, she left to exact revenge on the founders, the Romans, and never looked back. No longer a true Celestine, she felt like that place was lost to her. Now that her enemy were all dead and gone, she had to go and make her peace.

  "You don't have to come," she said. "I can go alone."

  "Of course I'm comin' with you," Tristan scoffed.

  "Zac won't..." she began.

  "He will understand, leannan." He used an old Irish word for love. "After all, he let you go this time."

  He let me go. He let me go because he didn't feel worthy.

  "Fine. But, you cannot come all the way."

  "Vampires aren't allowed?"

  She shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself.

  "Nye left his car here, so we can go whenever you want. Just say the word."

  "I suppose now is a good a time as any."

  "Well, I'll get our things and check us out."

  Nodding, she turned back to the window once more, gazing at the bleak weather outside. What would be waiting for her when she finally set foot in the field of white flowers again? The white flowers that were the only thing that could kill her forever. Luckily for her, they only grew in her forest and she was the only one left alive who knew where it was. A witch could enter with the right intent, but if no one knew it was there…Aya now had the freedom to choose her own death and for the first time in her life, she didn't want it any time soon.

  Finally, she looked away and began gathering her few items of clothing, stuffing them in the small bag Tristan had given her. The room had been trashed when the Coven kidnapped her comatose body, which was another story entirely. Tristan had done most of the damage trying to stop them, but what was a few pieces of furniture when insane witches were on the loose? He'd obviously kept himself busy the last day cleaning up the mess. She looked around the hotel room one last time and with a sigh, she opened the door and left it all behind. That chapter was over and another one was beginning.

  She waited downstairs as Tristan checked them out and spoke to the valet. She had no patience for those human nuances. Humans had grown more and more suspicious of one another and the hoops they had to jump through to do anything was baffling. Privacy was a thing of the past.

  "Where are we going to?" Tristan asked as they waited.

  "Grasmere."

  "Oh, in the Lake District?"

  "Yes, I suppose that's what it's called now."

  "It's about a five hour drive," the knight said as they got into the sleek looking car that appeared before them. "We'll be there just after dark."

  "We have time," Aya replied, fastening her seatbelt as he pulled out into traffic. "I gather someone will let us know if we're needed."

  As the city gave way to countryside, she was content to let it go by in silence until Tristan's cell phone beeped in his pocket.

  "It's from Zac," he said, peering at the screen, one eye on the road. Not exactly responsible driving.

  Her heart began to beat double time. "And?"

  "You didn't stop the spell."

  "And who did it awaken? The witch?"

  "No, it's a hybrid."

  "A hybrid?"

  Tristan looked at his cell like he wasn't believing Zac's message.

  "What else is there?" she asked.

  "He says it's a Tuatha. That can't be right, can it? The fae from the old Irish stories?"

  Aya's blood began to run colder than it already was. She knew the stories, the true ones, and it didn't bode well at all. Aoife had married Lir for an alliance, a chance at peace, but she'd screwed it up the moment she plotted against her husband. She'd made a human witch with her own blood and that had been her first mistake. Taking Lir's children and turning them into the first vampires in history
was her second. Aoife had tried to fix what she'd done, but now it was coming back to haunt her ancestors.

  An original Tuatha hybrid made by an unstable witch was bad news. Insanity bred insanity.

  "Yes," she sighed. "The one and the same."

  "You don't sound so enthusiastic."

  "They're bad news, Tristan," she said, glancing at him. "Our kinds were at war at one time. They're not the pretty fairies from your stories."

  "War?"

  "It was only three generations before I was born. The Tuatha were a race that came, conquered and destroyed. Everything the Celestines were against. We fought them to the brink of extinction."

  "That's why there were so few of you left by the time you were born?"

  "Yes. The whole reason the Original Witch came into play was because of Aoife. She was sent to marry the Tuatha's king, Lir, as a way to secure peace between our dying races. Now we know she had other plans."

  "She made the witch so she could create hybrids?"

  "And those hybrids were Lir's children."

  "The Children of Lir were turned into swans in the stories," Tristan said. "But, they were really changed into….founding vampires."

  "The children of Lir were a casualty of war," Aya said. "Their fate seems regrettable. Trying to destroy the Tautha royal family was folly on Aoife's part. Creating hybrids locked in eternal damnation and servitude to the enemy seems like a good idea, but her mistake was in using her own blood to make the witch that needed to cast the spell."

  "Why couldn't Aofie cast it?"

  "Celestine magic can't be used like that. It's used for nurturing, manipulating the earth...not creating monsters."

  "Unstable blood made them and now one is awake."

  "Yes, and whichever of Lir's children it is, they will be mentally unstable."

  "What do we do?" Tristan asked quietly.