by Apryl Baker
“Alexandria, no!” I hear my mother, but I ignore her.
Lorelye tries to block my attack as Bree had hers, but it’s a useless attempt. There is no stopping the force of the rage coming for her. She screams as the wall of fire hits, wrapping itself around her in a cocoon. She can’t escape its touch.
I watch her burn, the fire in my blood cooling as the fire I’d let loose slowly destroys Lorelye Winters. Only when there is nothing left of the woman but ashes do I turn my attention to everything else. I see the ashes and shudder. Oh God, what have I done? I killed her. I killed her.
Blue, get a grip, Micah says sharply. Luka needs us.
“Luka,” I whisper, tears pouring down my cheeks. Micah is right. Now is not the time to fall apart. I look at Luka, my Luka. He’s lying there on the floor, so still. His body twitches every couple of seconds. Conner is already there, kneeling beside him.
“Stay back, Alex,” he warns. “He’s too dangerous right now.”
I have every intention of ignoring that nonsense. “Conner…”
“The boy is right.” My mother stops me. “What has been done to him can’t be undone. He is dangerous, poppet.”
I glare up at her, anger, rage, grief all rolled into one stare. How dare she? She has no right, no right at all to be here.
Pain flickers in her eyes, but she blinks and it’s gone. “You can hate me later, you and your brother, but we have more pressing issues right now. Your friend needs to heal. His curse is an old one. The only way for him to get better is through the sacrifice of fresh blood.”
“I don’t understand.” Bree glances from me to my mom. She has no clue who Alesha is.
“He needs to be fed fresh blood.”
“I…Conner, what are you doing?”
Conner rolls up his shirtsleeve.
“He needs to feed so he can heal.” Conner shrugs.
“Conner, you just said…”
“I know what I said!” he snaps. “I’ll take care of this. You watch that lot.”
I’d forgotten ‘that lot.’ What is left of Lorelye’s cohorts, including Jeremiah, huddle in one corner of the room with Jason standing guard. Their expressions have gone from hungry to fearful. They stay still, watching. The sudden demise of their fearless leader seems to have turned them into spineless cowards. They hide from us now. When I get my hands on them…
Conner grunts.
My eyes snap back to him. Conner’s wrist is pressed against Luka’s mouth, held there by an iron grip. Luka sits up after a minute or two, still locked onto Conner’s arm. We can hear the sounds of his suckling as he feeds. It isn’t anything like what you see in the movies. It is loud, and it’s messy.
“Luka, he’s looking a little gray,” I worry aloud. “You need to stop now.”
“He needs more,” Conner grinds out through clenched teeth.
“I’ll do it,” Jason volunteers, coming forward. His hands shake and he looks everywhere but at our mother.
“How do we know this is even going to work?” I ask. “He’s not a vampire, so how is feeding him blood helping?”
“It works a little like vampirism,” Alesha explains. “It’s an ancient curse developed centuries ago. It was meant to punish those who refused to kill for us. The spell turns them into a killing machine. It makes the cursed shift into a beast that would make even Satan himself flee in fear. The cost of the transformation is a sacrifice of blood. He has to hunt, to kill, to feed. When he’s injured, the blood works as a restorative to heal him. Same concept as a vampire, at least in the healing aspect.”
“I’m sorry, just who are you?” Bree demands.
“She’s my mother.” The words are hollow, broken, and I hate myself for sounding so vulnerable.
Bree gasps. “But we went to her funeral…”
“You went to a funeral,” Alesha corrects her. “I needed everyone to think I was dead so I could protect my children.”
“Luka, let go of Conner.” Jason sounds terrified. “You’re taking too much. You can…feed…from me.”
Monstrous eyes swivel to look up at him. Jason cringes, but keeps his arm extended. Luka’s nostrils flare, smelling his fear. Faster than you can blink, he latches onto Jason’s arm. My brother isn’t nearly as brave as Conner. He cries out and swears as Luka’s teeth tear into him. It has to hurt like the devil. Luka’s not a vampire, so he doesn’t have two long, pointy teeth. He bites into Jason’s flesh, and I can smell the blood as it flows.
“Dear God, how much damage did she do?” I whisper, watching Luka feed.
“He’s lucky to be alive,” Bree tells me. “Lorelye was attacked about a hundred years or so ago by a vampire. She created a spell that would incinerate someone from the inside out. he should be dead. That spell is lethal. I’ve seen people explode seconds after she cast it.”
Micah leaves my side and makes his way over to Luka. He lets out a whine to offer up his blood. Luka reaches out and strokes his head gently. He lets go of Jason and takes several deep breaths, one hand still stroking Micah’s soft fur.
I close my eyes, feeling Luka’s touch wash over me. It feels amazing. God’s truth, I can feel it in places I shouldn’t. I can’t stop the shudder that consumes me.
“This is a complication I didn’t foresee.” Alesha frowns at us. “It might be useful, though.”
Luka looks at me with those red-ringed onyx eyes. They glow with a dark light, the red rings all the more prominent because of it. His flushed face looks healthy now. His expression is one of a very sated fat cat after it’s gorged on warm milk.
“Too much?” He quirks an eyebrow at me.
I slide down on my knees facing him, take his face in my hands, and kiss him. The taste of warm blood hits my tongue, and instead of being repulsed by it, the flavor is rich and heady. I open my mouth, urging his tongue to play with mine. I suckle at it and gasp at the hunger that burns through me. He pulls away, shocked. I expect him to say something, but he doesn’t. He just gives me that patented empty stare.
“What do we do with that lot?” Jason nods to the people clustered in the corner.
“They belong to the Winters’ clan. I’ll deal with them.” Bree’s words are hard, clipped.
“We need to get you two home, to safety.” Alesha turns to Bree. “Tell your grandfather thank you for the heads up.”
“My grandfather?”
“He warned me extraction teams had been sent out to collect my daughter. Tell him I owe him a debt.”
Bree’s eyes widen and she nods solemnly.
“Come along.” Alesha turns and walks out of the room and presumably out of the house. Jason shrugs at my questioning look and follows her. Luka helps me up, and he and Micah lead me out. Conner stays behind to help Bree wrangle what’s left of the Winters’ extraction team.
“Are you all right?” my mother asks as soon as I come to a stop a few feet from her, Luka’s arms wrapped tightly around me.
“I’m fine,” I bite out.
She ignores my hostility. “It’s not safe for you, Alexandria. Your magic is special. There hasn’t been anyone like you to walk the earth for a thousand years. You’re an Elementalist. You don’t need spells or potions. Pure magic flows within you, and the elements around you respond to that without aides. Your power lies in the elements themselves and can be called upon at will. It’s the rarest and most ancient form of magic there is. People will do more than simple murder to procure your gifts. They will do unspeakable acts.”
I close my eyes, weary. This is my life. Running, hiding, and being hunted. I should have stayed in the nuthouse.
“There is a kill on sight order right now for both of you. No one knew what type of magic you would possess. Now that they do, it could very well get bloody. There isn’t a price too high to pay to possess that kind of power. She has to die in order for them to possess it. Your life is in more danger now than ever before.”
“I think we should all go home.” Jason steps closer to me. “We need get
you to safety, Sis.”
“You should both come to Sabien’s.” Alesha looks like she wants to hug us, but she’s smart enough to know better. “Our home is warded against everything imaginable.”
“I’m not leaving Luka.” Panic creeps in at the thought of not having him with me.
My mother smiles, her blue eyes unreadable. “Of course, poppet. Your Gypsy can come along.”
“Don’t you dare speak of him like that.” Fury blooms in my voice, growing stronger with every word. “He has been here for me, taken care of me, protected me. More than you’ve done. Don’t you dare speak to him like that ever again. Do you understand me?”
“Forgive me.” She takes a step back. “I meant no harm, Alexandria.”
“It’s not me you have to apologize to.”
She frowns, but says, “I am sorry if I offended you…?”
“His name is Luka.”
“I’m sorry, Luka.”
He nods, but remains quiet. I can feel his body vibrating with anger.
“We’ll go back to the apartment,” I decide, forcing down the panic trying to beat at me. I push it away. I’ll deal with it later.
“No, munya, your mama is right. You need to be safe, at least until the Families leave town. We can go to your uncle’s.” His accent is so thick, it’s hard to understand. It speaks to how angry he is.
“Let’s go.” I walk to Jason’s truck. Micah, the wolf, jumps in the back. Luka helps me in and then closes the passenger door. We pull out, leaving my mother staring after us.
“Sis?”
“Not now, Jason.”
“I…Mom…”
“Not now!” The windshield cracks, and I wince. The panic is creeping in. I huddle into Luka’s arms and try to control it during the half hour it takes us to reach Uncle Sabien’s. My mind whirls with images of the fight, of Luka dying on the ground, of Lorelye being consumed by fire. It bombards me, image after horrifying image.
As soon as my feet hit the ground, I’m running. Uncle Sabien has the door open before I reach the porch and I fly past him, barely making it to the bathroom before my stomach heaves up its contents. Hot bile burns my throat just as I’d burned her to death. I…killed…her.
Gentle hands pull my hair back from my face as my stomach empties itself. She still smells like warm vanilla and apples. I heave and heave, tears running down my face. I let her pick me up off the cold tile floor and lead me upstairs. She turns on the shower and helps me out of my clothes. They still smell of burned flesh, and the scent makes me gag.
I step under the hot water. It scalds me, but I pay it no mind. I keep seeing Lorelye’s face as the fire came at her, hearing her screams as she was burned alive. I had done that to her. Me. I killed her. No matter how much I scrub my hands, I can’t seem to get them clean. The fire that killed her came from me, from my hands. They will never be clean.
“Shhh, poppet,” my mother soothes when I step out of the shower. She towels me off much like she’d done when I was a little girl before helping me into a pair of jogging pants and a tank top. I don’t know where the clothes came from. “It will be okay. I promise. You’re in shock. We need to keep you warm.”
I look at myself in the mirror. My eyes are black and hollow, filled with the horror of what I’ve done. Her face torments me. I can still see her fear, her pain as she burned. I…killed…her.
Blue, I’m coming.
“I need to lie down.”
“I know, baby.” She pulls me into a hug and I stand there, rigid.
“Please, I just want to lie down.”
A deep sigh echoes around me, but she doesn’t say anything else, just leads me to the room I’d stayed in after the initial tracker attack. I close the door before she can try to come inside. I can’t deal with her right now. I just can’t.
I’m shaking so hard by the time I crawl onto the bed I think I’ll literally break into pieces. Micah lets himself in and piles onto the bed, wrapping his body around mine. I’m not alone anymore. I’ll never be alone again as long as I have Micah. Turning over, I bury my face in his chest and cry until there’s nothing left.
“Shh, shh,” he whispers, stroking my hair. “It’s okay, Blue. I’m here.”
I killed her, Micah. I killed her. Oh God…
You had to, Blue. She would have killed Luka and maybe all of us. You didn’t have a choice.
I can see her face, Micah. Every time I close my eyes, I see it.
I know, Blue. I see it too.
He pulls me closer, his warmth melting some of the chill I can’t seem to shake. What would I do without Micah?
You’ll never have to know, Blue. He starts to rub slow circles into my back. I was so scared earlier when I couldn’t feel you.
It felt like I couldn’t breathe, I tell him, remembering the panic. When I couldn’t find you…
You’re okay now, you’re safe.
Lorelye’s face swims up in front of my eyes. Her eyes glare at me in accusation. I can smell her skin as it burns, hear her screams.
Her face, Micah...Sweet Jesus, I killed her.
I’m here, Blue. It’s okay. We’ll get through this, I promise. Just try and sleep.
Tears well up again. Please, God, I beg. Help me get through this. Please.
The door opens and closes. Luka. I feel him in ways I can’t feel Micah. He doesn’t say a word, just joins us on the bed, my back tucked into his chest. I’m surrounded by warmth, by love, and I close my eyes. Tomorrow will be time enough to deal with everything else, from my mother to coping with my guilt. Right now, I just need to sleep.
I fall asleep breathing in the scent of wet dirt and honeysuckle and the sound of Lorelye’s screams.
The End of Book One
Necromancer
Book 2 of the Bloodlines Legacy Series
Out Winter 2016
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Acknowledgements
Conner Kressley deserves the credit for helping me make Luka an authentic Romani. He tirelessly helped with the translation and mannerisms. Thank you so much Conner for all your help. Make sure you all check out his wonderful work.
As always, a big thank you to fellow authors and my girls, Delsheree Gladden, Angela Fristoe, and Susan Stec. You three keep me on track.
The beautiful cover was done by Angela Fristoe. Thank you so much for working with me. I know I can be a terror when it comes to my covers.
Lori Whitwam, my editor, puts up with my crazy. Thank you, Lori.
And a thank you goes out to my fans. You guys rock and keep me writing every day!
About The Author
USA Today bestselling author Apryl Baker lives in a small town in West Virginia where she spends her days plotting away at silly insane stories to entertain you all. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her family and friends.
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