by Lainy Lane
“I saved a bit of the potion that Phoenix brought me. The one you and your sisters developed to make me back into a vampire. Well, I was able to find a way to turn your own potion against you, isn’t that a slice of pie?” He cackled.
I tried to lift my head up to look at him, but I was too dizzy, and it felt heavier than normal. I had an ache in my neck that made it seem impossible to move. Something was very off with my body, and I couldn’t determine what it could be.
“I toyed with your potion a bit, I hope you don’t mind. I might have turned it into one that would siphon your magic away from you, completely.” I could tell by his voice he was smiling despite being unable to see him. “So, you are now nothing more than a vampire.”
My brain attempted to process what he was saying. That was impossible, wasn’t it? Of course a few weeks ago, I would have thought a spell acting of its own accord had been absurd as well. Not only had it happened to me, but it also had in turn, began the most complicated part of this entire calamity. Heck, if you’d asked me a few months ago if I could love someone, I would’ve said it was unlikely. Let alone loving a vampire while being bonded to another. Life sure did have a knack for finding the most ironic situations to put me in. I had to wonder what I’d ever done to make my life resent me the way it seemed to.
“Don’t get any ideas, though. My offer to be queen is now off the table.” He walked to the door and opened it. I heard other people entering the room, though I was still unable to make images out and determine who they might be. “In fact, your debt has been paid, and I do not see any value in keeping you around anymore. These boys will escort you—out.” He spat the last word out as if it was discharge his body needed out immediately.
“Wh—” I couldn’t speak any more than a few letters. My mind couldn’t fit together anywhere near enough to make out a word, let alone a sentence. Though I imagined that even if I’d been able to form a paragraph, Vulcan still wouldn’t respond to it, he’d taken what he wanted to, and I was an empty pawn in his game now. Clearly, I hadn’t emerged as the winner.
I felt arms wrap around my shoulders and another set around my legs. I was lifted off of the couch. I had no idea where they were taking me, and it didn’t matter because I was unable to fight anyways.
“Oh, and Acqua,” Vulcan’s voice came from a distance. I didn’t even try to open my eyes or turn my head this time, I simply listened. “See you soon.” His words rang in my ears as everything faded away and I blacked out completely.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
It felt as if I was falling down a rabbit hole. My memories flashed to childhood days of locking myself in my room, watching Alice in Wonderland. The images on the screen would allow me to try and find a way to port myself into the movie and out of my reality. My head felt like a balloon filled with air that was floating above the rest of my body. I saw Nyx flash before my eyes, but shook my head to make her disappear. I couldn’t face her, not right now.
The events from Vulcan’s clan house haunted me as I continued falling through whatever nothingness I was in. He had taken my magic. I was only a vampire now. If it weren’t for being punished with Vampirism, I would be a mere human now. How had I gone from being a dominant witch who didn’t allow anyone in and only cared about seeking revenge on deadbeat parents, to this in the matter of a couple short months?
Suddenly my head cleared, and I found myself watching, what seemed to be, a scene from my own life. I stood in the corner of my room yet I was also laying in my bed. The covers were pulled up to my shoulders, which was something I would never do to myself. I was a less than tidy sleeper. I didn't use the covers, I considered it a good night if any piece of them remained on the bed in the morning. Phoenix was sitting next to my body with his hand on my right calf. His eyes steadied on my face, awaiting a sign of life from my body. Ember and Ethereal were on the opposite side of the bed. They were standing uneasily, nervously twitching and their faces appeared to be pained.
“Phoenix,” Ethereal’s voice was softer than I’d ever heard it. “I think you should take a break. You haven’t left this room for two days.”
Two days? Had I been lost in my mind for that long? It couldn’t have been more than just a few minutes.
“No.” He didn’t look away from my face as he responded. “Any minute now she’s going to come around. She’s just scared.” His head was shaking, and he didn't seem to be able to make it stop.
“I would be too,” Ember sneered.
“Ember,” Ethereal warned.
“I’m sorry. I can’t feel too sorry for her. I mean she walked into it—alone, what did she think was going to happen?” Ember’s voice was alight with anger, but laced with disappointment.
“It wasn’t her fault.” Phoenix still kept his gaze on my body. “He had her fooled. He used the bond to his advantage and made her trust him. It had to have been his plan all along. I thought if I had her recreate our bond after theirs had formed, it would help to downplay theirs. But Vulcan is stronger than I am, so I thought wrong." His voice cracked, and he took several deep breaths before continuing. "I should’ve known. I should have thought it out more clearly before I convinced her to do it.”
“It’s not your fault.” Ethereal sat on the bed and tried to place her hand on Phoenix’s to comfort him, but he pulled away before she could do so.
“Of course it is. I pushed her, we fought, and she shut me out completely. If I’d just bitten my tongue, she might have kept me in. Then I would’ve known when he had gotten to her. I should’ve heard her leave. I should’ve been able to stop her.”
“Have we ever told you what Acqua’s nickname is?” Ethereal grinned at Ember, who returned the gesture. “She doesn’t let us use it much, she absolutely hates it.”
Phoenix shook his head, finally prying his eyes from my body and looking to Ethereal.
“Kitten,” Ethereal explained in her calming voice. “She’s a stealthy being, as sneaky as it gets. I think she must’ve learned the habits when she was with her parents as a protection mechanism. Trust me, even if your bond had been open, if Acqua had wanted to leave without anyone knowing, she would’ve been able to do so.”
“The first time I called her Kitten, she actually clawed me.” Ember laughed at the memory. “I literally had what appeared to be a cat scratch on my face for a week. It didn’t help her case any, of course, which pissed her off even more.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Phoenix, she’ll come around eventually. You need some tea.”
When Ethereal offered tea, she didn’t intend for it to actually be a proposal. It was always an order in her eyes. If she said you needed tea, what she actually meant was that you were going to have tea. I had learned that lesson very quickly. Phoenix, on the other hand, still tried to fight it.
“Come,” Ethereal picked his hand up to show she wasn’t asking any longer. “She’s not going anywhere. Take a few minutes away, I promise it will help.”
Phoenix surrendered, and they all left the room. I walked over to my bed and looked over my own, seemingly lifeless, body. I had to wonder how they knew I was okay, or why they assumed that I was. Being that I was only a vampire now, I wasn’t breathing, my heart wasn’t beating, I was technically dead. How did they know I wasn’t actually gone for good?
“You have to make that choice,” Nyx’s voice whispered in my head.
“Why should I?” I sighed, “I’m not very good at this life thing apparently.”
Nyx materialized on the other side of the bed, with a comforting smile. “No one has it figured out, Acqua, everyone makes mistakes.”
“Not you,” I challenged.
“I’m a Goddess, not a person. Let’s not compare apples to oranges.” She shrugged and offered a knowing smile. Her midnight sky dress was flowing around my bed and making it look quite inviting.
“I’m certain I screw up more than most. The last few weeks alone have held a lifetime of mistakes, and I’ve needed to apologize far too many times.�
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“It’s a rough patch, not the end of the world, Acqua. They need you. Everyone needs you. When Vulcan said he’d see you soon, what do you think he meant?” Nyx asked with a kindness that I didn’t deserve.
I shrugged. I had been unable to think about it much when he’d said it, due to being on the verge of passing out. He had managed to drain me of my magic and destroyed our bond. There was no reason he would want my blood any longer, so why would he need to see me? He had called me an empty pawn before throwing me out into—wherever he had his minions throw me into. The details were fuzzy seeing as shortly after I’d lost consciousness. I wasn’t even sure when or how everyone had found me.
“The war, Acqua. He didn’t only find a way to siphon your magic from you, he found a way to use your power. He’s going to use your magic to strengthen his army. That’s why he took your magic, it wasn’t simply an act of vengeance, he had a purpose in mind all along. Would you like to take a wild guess at the first coven he plans to wipe out?”
I sighed as visions of Ember and Ethereal being wiped out, without even a warning of what was coming haunted my imagination. Vulcan had a way into our home now. With my magic, he would have direct access. He wouldn’t even have to put up an effort to get in here. Phoenix would be taken out of spite, knowing the way Vulcan worked. Either that or he’d just re-sire him to himself so he would be able to control him again.
Even with all the cons listed in my mind, the overwhelming pro still remained that I had a huge feeling of peace at the thought of not having to deal with the drama of life anymore. Especially after everything my life had turned into of late. To just be done with it all seemed like a dream. I had an opportunity to turn that dream into reality. The ball was in my court and I couldn’t decide what to do with it.
No matter what, I had to admit that it wasn’t just about me, not anymore. Apparently my life was important to others, that realization in itself was mind altering. It was about the few people that I’d allowed to love me. That I loved in return. They needed me. They required my presence. Even if I was to the point of not being able to stand my own presence any longer.
“Fine,” I surrendered. I felt an instant shot of pain at the thought of leaving this peace behind and returning to the anxiety and stress once more. However, my love for Ember, Ethereal, and Phoenix was robust enough to make me willing to do so.
“I knew you’d do the right thing.” Nyx smiled.
I opened my mouth to beg her forgiveness, yet again.
But before any words left my mouth, she raised her hand to stop me from speaking. “Remember, daughter, you have it before you even need it. Save your apologies for them.”
I nodded in agreement. The moment I closed my eyes, I felt myself finally land into my own body once more. It still took several minutes for my brain waves to catch up with my body and allow the responses to fall into place. My eyes flickered open, and I looked around. It seemed weird to be back in my body after just having spent several minutes observing myself from the outside. It felt much more cumbersome to move around now that I was actually back in my physical body. The heaviness I was experiencing was most likely a sense of dread for what I had to do now that I’d returned. Which was to apologize, yet again, for screwing everything up.
My feet dragged on the dirt floor as I walked down the hall into the living room, where I found Ember, Ethereal, and Phoenix sitting on the floor surrounding the tea set. The room was perfumed with peppermint tea, and I didn’t remember Ethereal’s basic peppermint tea ever smelling so divine. The way they were positioned, Phoenix’s back was toward me, and only Ember and Ethereal had a view of me entering. I smiled feebly, unsure of how to break the frigid ice filling the room as they both stared at me in disbelief.
Phoenix finally noticed where they were looking, and he immediately stood and turned toward me. My heart lightened quickly as I saw his face was relieved, not angered, as I’d expected it to be. He ran straight toward me and picked me up, spinning me around. He had his face buried in my neck, taking in my scent.
“You scared me to death, woman!” He sighed as he gently placed my feet back on the ground.
“You’re already dead, remember?” I teased. He responded with a very disapproving look. I guess it was too soon for sarcasm. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
I felt like I’d been saying that word far too much lately, and something told me I was still going to be saying it for a while longer. I turned to face Ember and Ethereal, who hadn’t even bothered to get up. They would, of course, be harder to be granted forgiveness from.
“I’m sorry?” I begged with my eyes for them to once again pardon my betrayal.
“We know.” Ethereal sighed and poured me a cup of tea, she stood and offered it to me. I gladly took the peace offering.
“You know,” Ember didn’t meet my eyes as she spoke, “we're a family, Acqua. Which means we’re in this together. You have to accept that and quit leaving us out of these things.”
I gulped. “I guess I didn’t want to drag you into it?”
“If you’re in it, we’re all in it. It’s ride or die around here.” She smiled, which lightened the air in the room instantly. I allowed myself a sigh of relief when she finally looked at me. “From now on, seriously.”
“Agreed.” I smiled and took a sip of tea.
Phoenix wrapped his arm around my back and hooked it on my hip. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to let me out of his sight for quite a while. Which I guess was alright with me.
“Got that right.” He smiled.
I didn’t know how he’d heard what I thought, and at the moment, I didn’t care. I was back home, forgiven, and free. There were still plenty of things to figure out. Like how we would win the war Vulcan was getting ready to bring straight to our tombstone home, and how, or if, we could get my magic back. But, for at least one night, I wanted nothing more than to just embrace being together with the only three people that were allowed in my heart and granted permission to love me.
Thankful for the ease of getting back into just being us, I thanked Nyx for being able to experience a piece of what family was meant to be like. With joy in my heart, I sat down with my people. Glad I’d decided to come back to them, and ready to take on whatever came next.
EPILOGUE – EMBER
I awoke from the nightmare, once again, out of breath and unable to see. My vision was black, just like it had been when I’d been killed initially. The dreams of my death experience had been haunting me for weeks now. Unfortunately, there had been so much other stuff going on, I hadn’t even bothered to tell anyone about them. Acqua had, of course, been stealing all of the thunder with all of the issues she’d been drumming up lately. No one cared about why I was so irritable. No one even seemed to remember that the anniversary of my death was fast approaching. Another year was gone and I had still yet to be able to do anything to go about finding a way to reverse the situation.
You would think that living underneath my casket would remind them of how pressing of an issue it was that we resolve my death. Before long, the magic that Ethereal and I had used, almost three years ago, would expire which would leave me dead for good. The encasing we’d stuffed my spirit into would decay, and I didn’t even know what would happen from there. All I knew was that I would actually be dead, the way he had intended me to be from the beginning.
Acqua had gotten us back to the date of my murder once before, and she’d promised to figure out how to do it again. I was going to hold her to that promise. Even though her magic was gone now, which more than complicated my situation. I would find a way around that, I had no other choice. Before Vulcan had a chance to bring his battle to us, I was going to need to resolve my own issues. Otherwise, I would be dead for good, and my soul would finally rejoin my physical body in the casket that we lived underneath. At least I hoped that’s what would happen. More likely, I would be punished for the way I’d cheated death. I was liable to spend eternity in peril. That was a fate I was planning to
avoid at all costs.
It was time, far past it actually, to sit Acqua down and explain to her the entire story behind my murder. We were going to have to tell her exactly how we had encased my soul into a separate being to buy us some time to figure out how to reverse the crime I’d been a victim of. I didn’t want to relive it, which was probably why my dreams had chosen now to haunt me with reliving it every single night.
I needed Acqua, and maybe even Phoenix, to be able to set all of this straight. Acqua’s latest scheme had screwed everything up for me. Now, the first thing I was going to have to figure out was how to get her magic back. She had been the only one that had ever figured out how to time travel, even if it had been by accident. I was going to get her magic back and force her to figure out how to get me back to that night again. I had no choice. She would have no choice. Time was running out. The war would have to wait. I’d find a way to postpone it somehow. I had my own matters to settle.
Tomorrow was the day we would figure out a plan. A plan to fix my things, instead of once again working on Acqua’s problems. Tomorrow was my day. I wouldn’t allow anything to take tomorrow away from me.
The Daughters of Darkness Series will continue through Ember’s eyes, coming soon!
Acknowledgements
For my girls, Hayley & Callie, because you have inspired me to write female characters who refuse to settle for what the world thinks they deserve and strive to be strong enough to take care of themselves.
For my husband, Alex, because even though you don't understand this author stuff, you support it completely and I couldn't do it without you.
For my writing buddy, Sarah, who endured many endless rants regarding witches and vampires and kidnappings and dead people who weren't dead... I could go on, but I won't. You directed me to the duct tape to fix all the holes that came with this book, and it wouldn't be complete if it wasn't for you.
