Awakening, The

by Nicole R. Taylor

  At the top of the stairs, Gabby eased the heavy looking door open and cold air rushed inside, taking her breath away. She instantly saw Zac sitting on the edge of the roof, feet dangling over the edge. He knew she was there, but he didn't acknowledge her existence.

  Letting the door close behind her, she gingerly propped herself on the edge beside him, the wind whipping icicles around her and she shrunk down into her coat.

  "I'm sorry," she whispered.

  "You let me believe I was going to my death," he said thinly.

  "I'm sorry, Zac. It had to be believable to everyone. Aed can read blood like an open book. If he'd gotten hold of any one of you it would've been over. The element of surprise is the only thing we've got going for us right now."

  "You could've told me I wasn't linked with him. You could've told me that at least."

  "I'm sorry," she exclaimed. "I did what I had to."

  "Did Regulus threaten your family? Liz? Alex? Is that why you're with him? Is that why you did it?"

  She sighed, looking at her hands. "In the beginning, yes. He threatened my family if I didn't co-operate."

  "But?"

  "But, the Coven's spell worked and as a witch I have a duty to see this to the end." The lie came so smoothly, she surprised herself. But it wasn't a lie, not really. She'd just left out one important little detail. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep you all from harm."

  "You can't. Not from Aed."

  "I might not be able to, but I'll die trying if I have to."

  "You don't need to die for me. You're not going to be a martyr. Not while I'm around."

  His disappointment in her sliced deep. After everything, Zac mattered the most. He was her only link to home, her only link to what she'd left behind. She couldn't lose that and she couldn't lose his hard won respect.

  "We never started out as friends," she said. "But, now we are. Please don't let this ruin it."

  He snorted, wringing his hands together.

  "This whole thing is bigger than us. It scares the shit out of me and I don't think I can do it without you." She wound her hand around his shin, pulling him against her. "I'll do whatever I can to get you home to Sam and Liz. I promise."

  Finally, Zac looked at her, his expression shifting into something she didn't understand. Snaking an arm around her back, her pulled her against his side. She took that as a white flag and rested her head against his shoulder. The irony of their embrace didn't escape her, considering how much they'd fought when they'd first met back in Louisiana. She'd been trying to protect Liz from his bad boy ways long before her friend knew that they were vampires. This was a one-eighty from that and it was hard to pinpoint exactly when things had changed. That kind of nostalgia brought up all kinds of memories.

  "Remember that summoning spell?" she asked.

  "Do I remember?" Zac asked wryly. "How could I forget."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Gabby's eyes opened slowly, taking in the living room that was flooded with silvery grey morning light. Her entire body felt sluggish from her night on the sofa and she rolled onto her back, stretching.

  A pair of icy blue eyes were staring down at her and she jumped, sitting upright.

  "I have Alisandra's grimoire," Aya said blandly, holding out the leather bound book to the witch.

  Gabby took the grimoire gingerly, like it might zap her with Celestine payback medicine. The hybrid still wasn't very happy and would probably be difficult until this whole mess was over. One more thing she had to deal with on top of everything else. Things seemed slightly better with Zac and she hoped they would stay that way. Aya, on the other hand... Last night was the first time she'd seen Aya since the day the hybrid had left Ashburton and shouldn't she be just as angry with her? After she left Zac in such a callous way and after leaving them all? She should be angry, right?

  "You know I can sense your emotions?" Aya said, cocking her head to the side.

  Gabby nodded, clutching the grimoire tighter to her chest.

  "All I can sense is confusion," Aya said suspiciously. "I hope it's not the kind of confusion I'm thinking it is."

  "Aya."

  They both looked up at the sound of Zac's voice and the hybrid frowned. Gabby smiled a little at him in relief and he nodded. Things were bad enough without any of them finding out that she was falling for Regulus. That was exactly why she slept on the couch and not in his bed where she'd much rather be.

  Zac held out his hand for Aya and she walked away stiffly, probably annoyed that she was interrupted from her interrogation.

  "Let us know if there's anything we can do to help," he said. "We'll be waiting."

  Gabby nodded. "I'll go over the grimoire this morning. Regulus is going to teach me how to track Aed later on."

  Aya sighed sharply, obviously wanting to put her two cents in, but Regulus chose that moment to walk into the room, looking all refined and collected, like nothing was wrong at all. She narrowed her eyes at him and dragged Zac towards the front door. It slammed closed a moment later, the boom echoing through the empty apartment.

  Regulus sat next to Gabby, not in the least annoyed at the abrupt exit of the two vampires.

  "Should we go someplace else?" she asked, glancing at the front door.

  "No, they won't be able to hear from down there. Too many walls and slabs of concrete in the way."

  Nodding, she opened up Alisandra's grimoire. It was the first time she'd had a chance to look it over. When Coraline had taken it from the Matriarch, she'd given it to Aya the day after the hybrid had ripped the witches to pieces. Now it sat in her lap and she wasn't sure she was going to like what she found inside.

  The Coven had been corrupt from day one. Not only by blood, but by cause as well. The spells and incantations in here would be all kinds of wrong. As she opened the cover, she felt the book resonating in her hands, almost like it was trying to suck all the light from the room. On the first page, there was an epigraph written in an elegant hand. It was a manifesto of sorts for the Coven written in witch speak, talking about revenge and birthright. She could taste a metallic bile rising in the back of her throat and she quickly turned the page.

  As she flipped through the grimoire, the things she read became worse and worse. Spells for harm, curses on the soul, poisons to leach power from another witch. Horrible, painful rituals that went against everything that she stood for.

  "This is all kinds of fucked up," Gabby said, feeling sick. "There's spells and curses for all kinds of nasty shit."

  "Nasty shit?" Regulus asked, amusement in his voice.

  "Get with the times, old man."

  He chuckled, running a hand over her thigh. "The Coven were not known for their kindness to all creatures."

  "You've been dealing with them for a long time, what else aren't you telling me?" she asked a little too forcefully.

  "The Coven, as you know, have been working towards one goal for the last three thousand years. Awakening the Tuatha hybrids so they can resurrect a dead race."

  "But that'll never work. They'll never be as they were."

  "Try explaining that to a coven of mentally unstable witches."

  She frowned, turning back to the grimoire. "But Katrin was a part of the Coven," she said, running her fingers along the heavy parchment.

  "Who was betrayed by her own kind. Used for something against her will. She would have been cast out for having no power, instead they used her as a tool against the Celestines."

  "And to bring back the Tuatha."

  "She was intelligent enough to understand that it would be devastating if that ever happened. I've explained it to you before, dear one. She created us for her own revenge."

  "Against the Celestines and the Tuatha."

  "And those which would claim her as family as long as she did what she was bade to do."

  Gabby stared at the grimoire, not trusting herself to look up. Everything had been so black and white for so long, she was confused at all the blurring lines. Katrin was
on the bad side. She was supposed to fight her, supposed to banish her to the other side. Turned out that even the bad guys believed they were doing things for the greater good. But Katrin was gone along with the Coven and the other five founders and they were the only ones left. The lines had to blur a little more to end a greater threat.

  She flipped the page again, hoping that the next one would have some kind of answer. Instantly, the ritual jumped out at her, the witch speak word for awakening dominating everything else. The long spidery handwriting looked like it had been scrawled there eons ago, the ink bleeding deep into the brown parchment.

  "There is the awakening ritual," Gabby said, pointing to the page.

  "Does it mention anything about the binding?"

  Scanning the page, she shook her head. "It's talking about awakening lost brethren. Finding hope which was lost."

  "Not our hope," the Roman said, looking over her shoulder.

  "There is nothing about a binding in the whole thing. There are glyphs for weakening, those might help, but nothing about putting a hybrid back in a stone box. Aoife bound them with Celestine magic, maybe Aya..."

  "If she knew, don't you think she would've already told you?" Regulus interrupted.

  "Yeah, she probably would've."

  She must have sounded more morose than she intended, because Regulus pulled her into his lap, a hand cupping her face. She instantly stiffened and glanced at the door. If they found them like this...

  "I know you didn't mention our relationship to them," he murmured. "I understand."

  "I told them you're only here because of me."

  "And I am."

  "And you're not their master. We're equals."

  Regulus snorted. That obviously didn't sit well with him.

  "I've hurt them enough," she said.

  Regulus breathed in her scent and pressed his lips to her throat. "I thought this was between us, dear one. No one else and especially not those imbeciles."

  "Please be nice. No fighting."

  The Roman's only response was to capture her in a kiss. As he deepened it, he set her down on the sofa and pressed into her, letting his hands wander. A master of manipulation indeed.

  "Are you going to teach me how to track the hybrid?" she asked breathlessly.

  "Your wish is my command." When a smile spread across her face he pressed a finger over her lips. "Don't take that too literally." Standing, he took her hand and pulled her up from the sofa. "You better put your coat on, dear one. We're going outside."

  When she was ready, they trudged down the stairs and stood outside the apartment block, beside the canal that ran through the center of Camden. The entire world passed them by as if nothing was in the least bit wrong.

  "Do you think I will be able to do it?" Gabby asked, putting the human world out of her mind. "Track him?"

  "I don't see why it wouldn't work with you," he said. "I was made by one of the Five for this and you are descended from one of them, so it stands to reason."

  "Then guide me through it and we can try."

  "When I sense him, I can feel his power," Regulus said taking her hand. "If I'm quiet enough, I can feel it against my mind like a strange fizz."

  "Fizz?" Gabby asked with a small laugh, squeezing his hand.

  "Yes. A strange fizzing sensation, much like the white noise of a modern radio."

  "How can you tell it's the Tuatha?"

  "It's akin to tuning into the signal, like one of your radio stations. You'll know when you've got him and you'll know which way to go like a magnet. I was told that it's a similar feeling when a witch scrys with a crystal."

  "Except you become the crystal."

  "Yes, that sounds about right. It tells me where I need to go." He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. "Give it a try, Gabrielle."

  She stood next to him, fitting her small body against his side, and closed her eyes. Tuning out all the noises from the city around them, she cast her mind out, feeling for the white nose Regulus had mentioned. Zac had said Aed was hanging around London, so there was a very high chance they'd get a hit. It wasn't long before she felt it at the edges of her thoughts. A strange fizzing sound, just as the founder had said, and the more she focused on it, the more she felt a tug at her soul. It was leading her towards the Tuatha.

  "Can you feel that?" she asked, looking up at him.

  Regulus was staring off into nothingness and she knew that he did. He took a few steps, pulling her with him.

  "Regulus, no," she almost shrieked at him. He meant to go after Aed right now. "We can't go alone."

  "We can and we will. This could be our only chance and I'm going to take it."

  "He knows who you are. He knows from Coraline and Max. When he sees you…"

  "It will be too late."

  "He's just…sitting there," Gabby said as they peered through the wrought iron fence that surrounded a private garden. London was littered with them for the old townhouses that stood in the West End. Private, key only exclusivity for the rich residents and one hybrid, who seemed to do whatever took his fancy.

  "There is no reason for the insane, Gabrielle," Regulus muttered.

  Aed was sitting in the middle of the garden on the edge of a fountain, trailing his fingers through the spray of water. He didn't look like a insane supernatural creature. He actually looked handsome in a suave looking suit, his hair styled just so. If she was just a regular human, he wouldn't have looked out of place, but her witch sense told her a different story. One that didn't feel very nice at all.

  Now that Gabby had laid eyes on the Tuatha himself, everything suddenly became real. A hundred percent more deadly and her entire body began to shake.

  "I will protect you," Regulus said. "I won't let anything happen to you. Ever."

  "I know, but…"

  "The glyphs you mentioned in the Coven grimoire, do you remember them?"

  "The glyphs for weakening? Yes, they're simple enough, but I'd need a lot of them. At least one at each corner of the garden and one on his body."

  "The moment you begin to cast, he'll notice. I will distract him while you ward the corners."

  "Regulus, this isn't right. We need the others here." Gabby didn't like this at all. Something was about to happen and all of her senses told her it wasn't going to be good.

  "I have to take this chance. It may be the only one we get."

  "Be careful."

  Regulus pressed his lips to hers and was gone. Not wasting any time, she circled her fingers around the fence at the corner, calling on her power. She began to weave the glyph as she'd seen it that morning in Alisandra's grimoire, imbedding it in the iron. As she worked, she sensed the hybrid's attention had shifted into her and hoped that Regulus was there.

  "You…" She heard Aed say. He was hesitating which meant... "You're supposed to be dead. I saw it in the blood."

  "Sorry to disappoint you," came Regulus' voice. Calm and clear as ever.

  "I won't let you stop me before I've even begun. I won't let you deny me my revenge."

  As the glyph finally seeped into place, Gabby jogged to the next corner and started weaving the next. She had to be quick about it. There was only so much time before Aed would focus on her instead of the Roman.

  "You won't get a chance, Aed. There's no one left to exact your revenge on. No one who cares."

  "You lie, you filthy human half-breed. You are nothing compared to me."

  The second glyph was in place and this time she ran to the next corner.

  "You are the last. There's nothing for you in this world. Not anymore."

  "Stop with your lies," the hybrid roared. "I will find my sisters and together we will destroy you all. I will tear everything you care about into pieces in front of your eyes. Then you can see how it feels."

  "You won't be finding anything."

  The third glyph was in place and Gabby sprinted to the final corner, but she wasn't quick enough. She slammed into something hard and fell backwards onto the sidewa
lk. She looked up and her heart almost stopped beating. Aed stared down at her with blazing red eyes. The same eyes that had stared at her through Coraline's vision and she froze.

  "Celestine witch," he hissed taking a step forward, but Regulus was there, grasping the hybrid around the neck and flinging him back over the fence into the privacy of the garden.

  "Quickly, Gabrielle," he said and was gone again.

  She scrambled to her feet and with shaking hands, cast the fourth glyph into the fence. All there was to do now was cast the final onto the hybrid himself. She scaled the fence and landed in a flower bed with a dull thud, approaching the fountain where the two vampires were facing off.

  "Your flimsy wards will do nothing, witch," Aed spat as his eyes fixed on her. "You think you can weaken me with your pathetic magic?"

  "Don't listen to him," Regulus said.

  "You will listen to me, vampire, and you will listen and do well to heed every single word. This world is mine. These humans are mine. And your witch," he glanced at Gabby, "is mine."

  Aed launched himself at her and she stumbled back with a surprised cry, falling onto the ground. Regulus wasn't fast enough and the hybrid straddled her, his hands circling her neck. "What does your blood taste like, pretty one? What stories does it have to tell?"

  Regulus let out an agonized roar of fury and pulled the hybrid off her.

  "The glyph," she gasped, catching her breath.

  The Roman ignored her as he went in for the kill, but it was if Aed could sense every move before the founder made it. Every blow was parried and every time he dodged to the side, the hybrid was there, sinking his fists into flesh.

  Aed had the Roman from behind and before Gabby could cry out, he sunk his fangs into Regulus' neck and blood began to pour down his skin and stain his shirt.

  "No," she cried, taking a step forward, but the Roman held out a hand to stop her.

  Aed's eyes widened and he shoved Regulus away so hard the vampire's knees left cracks in the ground. "No," he cried, clawing at his face, blood dripping down his chin. "You killed them. My sisters..."