by Lori, Rae
“Well, if it is. We’re about to find out now.”
“See you soon.”
Jace grabbed a nearby coat on the hook to cover his bare torso. As he slipped into the large foyer past the curious gazes around him, he headed for the front door.
“Jace!”
He didn’t stop and turn until his hand reached the doorknob.
Julian rushed down the stairs, buttoning up his black designer jacket over matching silk pants. “We’re coming with you.” He gestured to the other Nightwalkers conversing in the foyer. Right away they knew to follow with no questions asked. “I’m not going to let you go their alone. If it is a trap, we’ll be ready for it.”
“We’ll follow right behind,” Michael raced down the stairs with his Lycans members behind him.
Daoine slowly descended the stairs and headed toward Jace. “I’ll stall as much as I can until everyone arrives.”
Jace pushed open the door and thanked Daoine with a nod. A moment later once the tall Shifter exited the house, the flapping of wings and a hawk’s cry announced his ascension into the air. Already Jace felt slightly better despite the tightness in his stomach and heart. He didn’t notice Julian had reached him until he felt his hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Jace. We will find her.” He stepped outside with the Nightwalker clan behind him. “We’ll take the Lincoln,” Julian said over his shoulder.
They filed into the cars along the street and the garage while Jace and Julian climbed into the black Lincoln parked out front. The car engine roared to life. Julian veered down the streets toward ParadiseValley.
Jace couldn’t help thinking how much his life had changed since Ariya had entered it. The last time his life shifted so dramatically was when he had taken a life. It was the first time he’d made a promise to himself that he would never get close to another again—until now.
* * * *
Scottish Highlands—1443
“Jace! Stop!”
Julian forced Jace’s head away from Sophie’s neck. As soon as he let go, her body fell limp in front of him. He couldn’t feel her pulse anymore nor could he sense a breath escaping from those lovely lips.
“She’s dead.” Julian said softly.
Jace shook his head, unable to believe he had taken life from her. Sophie. The girl his father had personally promised to care for in his castle. She had been saved from a life on the streets of Paris, France after her family was killed right before her eyes. She had given herself to him and now she lay dead from that trust. “No!”
“Jace!” His uncle grabbed him and forced him to look into his eyes . “I will teach you to feed and stop ‘afore the heart stops.”
Another scream broke through the area. All three turned toward the open door where the servants watched the scene in horror. Jace turned to Jeanne who shook her head and awakened as if from a trance. She looked around at them and then her eyes fell down to Sophie’s still body before him. Right away she screamed and backed away.
Jace gently licked his lips and realized Sophie’s blood was still fresh on him.
“Quiet them now!” Daoine yelled, pointed toward the maid servants.
Julian and Gerard raced toward the servants and grabbed them, holding them down. Daoine walked over to Jeanne and flailed his cloak to cover her. Slowly her screams died down and she fell lifeless against the ground.
“Abomination!”
Jace couldn’t take the screams any longer. He rushed into the foyer and toward the door to block the exit. Across the hall, he watched his uncle and father feed upon the servants and use their newfound powers to calm those around them. His attention was pulled away when the men and women fell before him and raised their hands toward the heavens in desperate prayers.
It was then he realized he had chosen this life and all that came with it. He had evaded death and with it came the power to take and give life as he wished. No more would disease harm him like he had seen claimed his mother’s life or that of others. It was time he embrace it without question of its magic. For tomorrow and the days after there would be time to face the effects of his actions.
He reached down, gripped the man’s neck before him and growled, baring his teeth to the others who jumped back in fright. He swooped down and dug his fangs into the man’s plump flesh. He would learn to control this whether it killed him or not. For now, he would enjoy the taste of blood on his pallet and revel in the rest of his immortal days.
* * * *
“I try not to think of those times,” Julian said as he drove. The shadows of the yellow streetlights flashed now and then on his face which remained blank.
“It was where it all began,” Jace said smoothly. “Right back home at the end of one war and the beginning of another.”
“With our own private little war in between.”
Jace felt his heart sink at the allusion. Before the sun rose the servants he fed upon lay dead across the castle while the others would awaken with nary a thought on their minds as to what happened. Julian taught him and his father how to cloak the servants’ minds, a gift he said Daoine taught him that came with their new lives as Nightwalkers. They left the castle that evening to seek refuge in the forest on their way to Wallachia where the real trial began.
“Somehow I think this confrontation will be something comparable to that time.” Julian mumbled. He veered the car around a corner and took a side street.
Jace turned to look out of the corner of his eye as he saw a flash of light and then a ripple as the air moved a few miles down. Right behind the light was a large hawk leading a flurry of hawks, doves and crows right behind. “There! I think that’s exactly where we need to be.”
Julian stepped on the gas and headed straight for the light as the line of cars followed close behind. Jace sighed heavily and he hoped it wasn’t too late.
Chapter 17
Ariya felt the elemental creature circling outside the warehouse like the first time it haunted her outside her home. She looked up at the skylights overhead and saw the thin air rippling in waves. It seemed like many lifetimes ago that it had happened and now the nightmare was being replayed once again. Her ties were cut short and her body was hauled off the chair and pushed backward toward the window and door on the other side of the wide open room. She raised her hands, ready to attack.
“Do it,” Avery breathed in a low voice.
“That’s right.” She felt Blakedon’s breath, short, hard gasps behind her. He gripped her tightly around her torso. “Summon your power and give into its call. It’ll make this a whole lot easier.”
The rippling air swirled around before it dove through the skylights without causing a shudder or a sound. Her skin chilled against Blakedon’s and she hated herself for the movement. She didn’t want to show him how vulnerable she was. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear. And she felt it circling near her, an elemental of waves and motion, blowing against her, she had a feeling that nothing mattered anymore.
Blakedon propped her body upward and held her still, waiting for the inevitable. As the elemental dove straight for her, a chorus of clashes broke through the air followed by a rain of glass showering down from above. A dark bird swooped down immediately, intercepting the elemental’s advancement toward her. Another bird dove down, then another. Birds of all shapes, sizes and breeds flew down and around Ariya, protecting her. She caught sight of their eyes, bright blue like the eyes of Daoine and his Shifter Elves. A smile crossed Ariya’s face and relief washed over her.
The Shifter Rens filtered into the room and quickly shifted into large birds and a fight began between the winged Shifters.
A door broke in somewhere down the hall. Footsteps pattered against the ground growing louder as they grew closer.
“Ariya!”
Her body sprang to life at the sound of a voice she had missed too long. “Jace! Jace! Back here!”
Blakedon wrapped his thick arm around her neck and yanked her backward i
nto the darkness and amidst the vicious attacks between the Shifters. Through the dark massive battle and under the stream of moonlight, she saw Jace with Julian and the Nightwalkers behind him. Jace’s body bolted to life. Shifters in their human form jumped out from all sides but the Nightwalkers were ready with hard fists that knocked them out and kicks that landed them into painful submission. Jace hauled a Ren up into the air, his eyes burning with a fiery rage as he lifted his lips to bare his fangs. His thumb dug deep into the Rens neck, pressuring blood to the surface of his thick skin. With a flick of his arm, Jace tossed him away and ran around the fighting Shifters to reach Ariya.
Avery jumped in front of them, baring his knife toward Jace and a wide smile. For a moment, Jace didn’t move as a realization hit him. His eyes narrowed on Avery and a look of disbelief cornered his face.
“It can’t be.”
Avery chuckled. “What? Are you shocked that someone has the balls to stand up to you? My father was right. You think you have such entitlement by naming yourselves as leaders. You go electing yourselves as some high council as you cower under mortal eyes. Doesn’t make you prince or lord over anything.” He sprang toward Jace who leaned to the other side, dodging the knife. He lunged again and Jace was quick to grab his arm, pull him forward and land a back handed hit toward Avery to knock him down.
“Doesn’t seem like you have the balls to stand anything,” Jace said with disgust.
Avery pushed himself off the ground and flipped onto his feet, fists ready to fight.
“Enough!” A nearby voice yelled.
Ariya looked up at the birds, noticing the air was clear of them and the elemental. She watched Daoine and his Shifters emerged from the back of the shadows on one side near Julian while the Shifter Rens stood on the other. She felt her body pushed forward into the pale moonlight and she looked up as Julian stepped forward. A look of disbelief and shock darkened his normally calm face as he looked past her. Slowly he shook his head.
“No—”
Blakedon’s body convulsed behind her in a laugh. “Surprised, Julian? I have been searching for you for years ever since I heard you survived that battle with the English. Daoine, it’s an honor to be in such esteemed high presence. He was right about you. I see you and Julian created the empire you had set out to achieve. After leaving his wife and child behind, of course. You had no right to leave her like that.”
“You know I had no choice, Liam,” Julian said with force. “I had to spare her the knowledge of knowing—”
“Save it for someone who doesn’t know you as well as I do. I was by your side all those years. Your first guard and I stepped in to raise your family. You didn’t deserve them and you don’t deserve the adulation you receive now. All that is about to change.”
“Father—” Avery turned toward Blakedon. “What is this about?”
“Father?” Jace stepped forward toward the younger man and sniffed the air near him. “You are an Archane. He is not your blood. From what I can tell, he is not even an immortal. He’s human!”
“Father, just kill them all!” Avery shouted.
Julian froze as he watched the scene. Ariya could tell from the look in his eyes and the way he looked at Avery that the recognition had finally hit home. Avery was the unborn son he left behind so many years ago with his wife. The family that he didn’t want to see as a monster, and that act nearly tore his heart apart to let them go.
“Enough of this,” Blakedon said behind her. She felt him reach into his pocket and the next thing she knew, a cold knife invaded her skin, slashing her throat to free the blood that was contained within.
“No!” Jace lunged toward her, but Avery was too quick as he turned around and grabbed Jace by the throat, tackling him to the ground.
Pain shot throughout Ariya’s body as she felt the cold blade penetrate her throbbing skin. All the sound had ceased in the room and it felt as if everyone was moving in slow motion around her. With all the strength she had left, she summoned an energy boost that caused her body to glow. She bent down to gain momentum and leapt into the air with Blakedon still holding onto her. She held her hands out, creating a burst of energy like a force of gravity that boosted them upward toward the sky. She ignored the rush of blood soaking her neck and the front of her dress. The throbbing pain lined along her throat where the slash had been made. The elemental swarmed toward the power like a magnet and swooped up under her. She felt the creature collide with her body. Soon they hit the top of the roof, but their bodies didn’t collide with the physical structure. The mortal realm melted away into the Aziza Fairy realm in mere seconds.
Light emanated from the heavens as she flew upward from the grassy grounds and toward the tall trees. Blakedon broke away from her and jumped toward the ground as she continued ascending. Her wings sprang open into flight and she turned to fly away, but the elemental was right there behind her. She tried to fly but the trees swayed all around her with no opening toward a clearing.
Then she felt it. A thousand needles invaded her body, cutting into her, ripping her flesh from each and every direction around her. She turned over and saw Blakedon watching with awe and determination as the creature tried to invade her body and absorb her powers. Something was wrong. The creature immediately retracted and freed her.
Ariya felt a slight sense of relief as she watched the elemental darken into a thick black and grey form as if it was poisoned. And poisoned it was, she realized. What little of Jace’s blood that remained in her system had mixed in with her Aziza blood. She didn’t know what effects it had on the creature but one thing was true from the screeching high pitched sounds of pain it emitted. It was dying.
She tried to flair out her wings to gain wind power to propel her into the air, but it was too late. Her wings had been torn in the attack! Freefalling toward the ground, she watched with wide eyes as the elemental turned from a smooth ripple in the air into a red, orange and yellow ball of fire. Pain, destruction and death immediately flashed across it and she could’ve sworn Blakedon’s visage was visible within the fiery image. Finally, the elemental slowly burst into flames.
“No!” She heard Blakedon screaming from the ground. “What have you done?”
She couldn’t fight gravity anymore. All of her strength had left as she gave into gravity and fell toward the grassy ground. She heard Blakedon’s voice in the distance of the air, yet his words were indecipherable to her ears. The Aziza Fairy realm gave way to the mortal realm before her body could fall against the hard ground. The roof of the warehouse appeared again just as her body slammed into the concrete flooring.
“Ariya!”
Jace’s voice was distant and she couldn’t move. She felt him moving close, but the seduction of darkness was closer. Mind numbing pain shot throughout her body and she tried to move, despite her limb’s objections. Slowly she was giving way to an unconscious state.
* * * *
“Ariya, no!” Jace kneeled down to Ariya’s body and scooped her into his arms. The past few moments happened in an instant. One minute both she and Blakedon were there. The next minute a ripple of waves in the air flashed and they were gone. Moments later Ariya came through and before he could release his hold from that cursed Avery, he had watched her body collide with the concrete. She couldn’t die! He couldn’t lose her now.
“Ariya,” Jace said softly. Her heartbeat was slowing by the moment. “Ariya, you have to hold on. Do you hear me? I’m not going to lose you now. I’m not going to let you die on me now.”
Jace pulled back his sleeve and raised his wrist to his lips. He winced slightly as his teeth penetrated the skin, aiming for the thick vein in the middle. A few drops of his own blood spilled into his mouth. He was thankful for the adrenaline rushing through into his system to dull the pain. Once he severed the vein, he pressed his wrist against her mouth hoping to get a response; any kind of movement of her lips or a quickening of her pulse. “Ariya, drink now! Do you hear me!”
Angry tears force
d its way through his eyes, blurring his vision and he wiped them away. “Ariya, please.”
Slowly her heartbeat came to a halt—and then silence. Her warm body lay still underneath him and he could hear nothing that alerted her body was still alive.
Jace threw back his head and released a primal scream. Nothing mattered now. Not anymore. He lost the one thing in his life that mattered. She was the one person who showed him that a life of no feeling meant death. And now that was ripped away from him yet again.
He didn’t even have a chance to tell her how he truly felt. How much she had changed his life.
And how much he loved her.
Gently he lay Ariya down, peering up Avery with a hateful glare. He pushed up off his knees and raced toward him with a raging fire fueling his body. He lunged toward Avery with all his might, tackling him to the ground. He raised his fists and pummeled into Avery over and over again, cracking his knuckles against skin, muscle and bone. He was like a machine now, only seeing red and no end in sight. Voices screamed around him to stop but he couldn’t hear them. He didn’t want to hear them. He felt Julian’s arms hauling him up, but he yanked his arms away only to land his fists into what was becoming a bleeding, sore mess of Avery’s face. He didn’t care. Every hit was for Ariya, for himself him and all the times they lost because of these Shifters and that cursed Blakedon who had to take her.
“Ease off, Jace!” His uncle forced him backward away from Avery’s still body.
“Freakin’ Ren needs to taste his own blood while I beat his life out of him!” Jace yelled at the top of his lungs. He launched a kick, knocking Avery in the ribs with a sickening crack. His body recoiled as he spit blood and fell over into fetal position to hold his body.
Julian held onto him closely as he pulled him further away. “He is my son! My son, Jace.”
