“Like Mike,” I said flatly, remembering how Camelia had told me that my fellow human blood slave—and best friend when I’d lived in the Vale—had been thrown from the Crystal Cavern to his death at the bottom of the mountain.
“Someone you know who entered the cave?” Mary asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Camelia—the head witch of the Vale—recruited him to enter. She said she thought he could do it because of his strength. But if what you’re saying is true, then she knew he couldn’t. She knew that no human could survive the cave.”
“She likely didn’t care about him surviving,” she said. “Non-Nephilim have entered the Crystal Cavern before. Some of them—the stronger of them—have even managed to get an object out before the cave killed them. I assume Camelia thought Mike would be strong enough to do just that.”
“He did manage to get something out,” I said. “A piece of the Omniscient Crystal.”
The piece that Camelia had looked into and learned that I was the one she should recruit to send inside the cave.
“The Vale has the Omniscient Crystal?” Mary’s eyes widened in alarm.
“No,” I told her. “One of the first wishes I made on the ring was for Geneva to steal the crystal from Camelia and bring it back to the cave.”
“Smart,” Mary said. “Get the crystal out of Camelia’s hands so she couldn’t know your plan.”
“She found out anyway.” I shrugged, still unsure about how Camelia had found everything out.
Now that I knew Geneva’s history with Laila and the Vale, I couldn’t help but think that Geneva had done something to get me found out. She must have figured out a way to turn on me. I thought I’d been careful about what I was wishing for, but apparently I hadn’t been careful enough.
“A lie as huge as the one you were telling was sure to be found out eventually,” Mary said. “If you weren’t Nephilim, you would be dead right now.”
I nodded, since I knew she was right. But none of this felt real. I’d gone from human to Nephilim overnight, and I had no idea how.
If anyone had the answer, an original vampire who’d been alive for centuries seemed like a solid bet.
“The Nephilim were all killed in the Great War,” I said, finally getting into the real meat of what I’d been wondering all day. “So how am I here now?”
Annika
“Earlier, you wondered if you became Nephilim the moment you killed Laila,” Mary said. “That’s somewhat true, and somewhat not.”
“What on Earth does that mean?” I tried to keep the irritation from my tone, but failed. Too many questions and not enough answers were driving me insane as it was. I couldn’t deal with cryptic statements from an original vampire on top of it all.
“When Nephilim are born, their powers are dormant,” she said. “Their powers only ignite after their first supernatural kill.”
I sucked in a long breath, the explanation making so much sense. I flashed back to the moment I’d driven that stake through Laila’s heart—the way my senses had suddenly sharpened, and the way I’d taken down all of those guards at once.
“I’ve never fought before,” I said slowly. “But after I staked Laila, it felt so natural.”
“Angel instinct,” Mary said. “All Nephilim have it. You’ll need to listen to your instinct if you want to survive.”
I looked down at the stake, which I’d been holding this entire time. After using it to stake Laila and kill those guards, I’d thought the stake was lucky. But that wasn’t true.
Fighting was in my blood.
“It all makes sense,” I said, since it did. “But there’s one big thing that doesn’t make sense.”
“What’s that?” Mary asked.
“The Nephilim were all killed decades ago,” I started. “They’re extinct. So how am I here?”
“The active Nephilim were killed,” she said. “So were all of their children who hadn’t yet made a supernatural kill. But we can only sense the Nephilim if their powers are ignited. I can only assume that someone whose powers weren’t ignited slipped through our sight—likely a child so young that they had no memory of what they were—and integrated with the human world. It would explain how you’re here today.”
“Children?” I shuddered, barely having processed anything she’d said after that part. “You killed children?”
“I killed no one.” Her features hardened. “None of the vampires of the Haven participated in the violence of the Great War.”
“But you sat by as supernaturals killed children.”
“We had to,” she said. “They weren’t just any children. They were children who would eventually become Nephilim.”
“That doesn’t mean they would have become killers,” I said. “They didn’t even have a chance. You all—the supernaturals—didn’t give them one.”
“I don’t think you’re fully understanding.” Her voice was calm and measured, as if speaking to a child. “The Nephilim were originally created to fight demons. In the beginning—far before I or the other originals were born—that’s what they did. They killed them all, ridding the world of demons forever. But once the demons were gone, the Nephilim still remained—and they needed a new enemy.
“Once myself and the other originals became vampires, the Nephilim found that enemy in us. They’ve been on a mission to destroy our kind ever since. It was only after seeing Geneva’s strong powers that they decided that witches were too dangerous, too. So the witches and vampires came together and did what was necessary for our survival—we ended the Nephilim. Those children would have grown up to ignite their powers and kill supernaturals, especially after we’d been forced to fight and kill their families. The only way to prevent that from happening was to kill them first.”
“So you hate Nephilim,” I said, since that much was clear.
“We hated what the Nephilim had become,” she said. “You can’t understand because you weren’t there, but the Society of Nephilim saw the world in black and white. Good and evil. They saw themselves and humans as good, and all other supernaturals as evil. Nothing could convince them otherwise, and they conditioned their children to hate supernaturals from infancy, so their prejudice could continue from generation to generation. There was no overcoming such an intense level of brainwashing. It reached a point where it was us or them. Like I said, in a situation like that, we did what was necessary to survive.”
“So why are you letting me live?” I held tighter onto the stake, just in case she did try to attack. “Why not kill me on sight?”
If it hadn’t been for the blood oath she’d made with me to promise me safety, I would have thought I was as good as dead where I was sitting.
“You haven’t been brainwashed by the Society,” she said. “That’s what they called themselves back in the day—the Society.”
“They can’t have turned everyone bad,” I said. “There had to be some good ones in the Society—some who saw that a person’s race doesn’t make them good or evil.”
At the same time, I had yet to meet a supernatural who had proven themselves completely trustworthy. The only one who I somewhat trusted was Jacen, but that was so complicated that I couldn’t even fully think about it right now. And Mary seemed trustworthy—especially since she’d started a kingdom that thrived on peace and prohibited violence of any kind—but who knew?
The only person I could truly trust right now was myself.
“Very rarely, a Nephilim would defect from the Society,” she said. “Those who did were seen as traitors. They were hunted down by their own kind and killed.”
I shuddered at the realization that I was descended from such a harsh, cruel race. Angels were supposed to be kind and loving, but the way Mary described Nephilim made them sound evil.
“You don’t like what you’re hearing?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “What you’re explaining to me—I’m nothing like that.”
Or was I? Hadn’t I hated all the vampires while I’d been
a blood slave in the Vale? Hadn’t I thought that as a human, I would always be hunted by supernaturals unless I became one myself so I could have the strength to fight and kill them?
I wasn’t sure what scared me more—the fact that my ancestors were so cruel, or the chance that I might end up just like them.
“I know you’re not like that,” Mary said simply.
Her assurance allowed me to breathe again—but it didn’t placate me completely. “How?” I asked. “You just met me today. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I might not know you, but I’ve known you would arrive here for a long time,” she said, and then she stood up, looking at me to do the same. “Coming here is, and always has been, your destiny. You’re more important to the fate of the world than you could ever imagine.”
“What do you mean?” I stood up as well, still holding tightly to my stake.
Despite Mary’s promise of safety, I was in enemy territory. I needed to be prepared for whatever might come my way.
“That isn’t my part to tell.” She headed to the door, her back to me, only turning to face me once her hand was on the doorknob. “Come with me. There’s someone I need you to meet.”
Jacen
I paced in my quarters, thinking about the blood oath I’d made with Scott.
Once I get custody of Geneva’s sapphire ring, I’m to kill Annika and immediately return to the Vale to give the ring to Scott.
Making the promise ensured that my vampire brothers and sisters trusted me. The magic of the oath made it so that if I didn’t follow through, my blood would turn on me and poison me to death.
But I didn’t intend on it getting to that point. Because blood oaths were precise to their wording, and this oath depended on one main factor—that I got custody of Geneva’s sapphire ring.
The solution was simple—I wouldn’t touch that ring. If I never got custody of the ring, then I wouldn’t be bound to follow through with the rest of the oath. Annika would live, and I’d never have to set foot in the Vale again.
If only it could be that easy. It would be that easy, if it weren’t for the wolves declaring war against the Vale.
I couldn’t abandon the vampires and humans who would be slaughtered in that war. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try to save them.
Luckily, Noah had promised that he’d give me a heads up before the wolves launched their attack on the Vale. Which gave me exactly what I needed right now—time. Time to go to the Haven, find Annika, and convince her to use her command over Geneva to save the innocent citizens of the Vale—both the vampires and the blood slaves.
After that… well, I wasn’t sure what would happen after that. The royal vampires of the Vale would never forgive Annika for killing Queen Laila, even if Annika used the ring to save the Vale. They would hunt her forever.
But I was getting ahead of myself. There was no saying what Annika would do, since I still wasn’t sure exactly where she stood in everything. Right now, I had to focus on the task at hand. I could figure out how to keep Annika alive—if I still wanted to keep her alive—after this war was over.
And so, I picked up my phone and called Shivani.
The witch picked up after the first ring, and we exchanged the typical pleasantries.
“I need to come to the Haven,” I told her, unable to skirt around my purpose for calling her any longer. “Can you bring me there now?”
“Transporting halfway around the world and back requires a significant amount of energy,” she said. “Before I come to you, I must know—why do you want to come to the Haven?”
“Someone named Annika may have recently arrived to the Haven.” I didn’t want to give too much away in case Annika hadn’t made her arrival to the Haven public. “Do you know if she’s there, and if she is, is she safe?”
“An interesting question,” Shivani said. “But one I must answer with one of my own.”
“Go ahead.” I continued my pacing, growing more and more impatient with each passing second.
“If Annika is here, do you intend to hurt her?”
“No,” I spoke without a second’s thought. “I just need to talk to her. No violence—I swear it.”
The line clicked off, and Shivani appeared in my quarters a second later. She wore the same thing she’d had on when I’d met her—loose fitting white pants with a matching tunic. She seemed relaxed and calm, as if casually popping by after a yoga session.
“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” she said with a warm smile.
“Thank you for coming,” I said. “I take it that your arrivals means you’re willing to transport me to the Haven?”
“I am,” she said. “Although I cannot promise that Annika will agree to speak with you.”
“Just bring me there and tell her I’m there,” I said. “That’s all I ask.”
“Very well,” she said. “I believe you meant it when you said you meant her no harm. But I must warn you that if you were lying and you do attempt any violence toward Annika—or to anyone in the Haven, for that matter—you’ll no longer qualify for our protection, and you’ll be at the mercy of the tiger shifters.”
“I understand.”
I held out my hand to Shivani, and she transported me to the Haven.
Annika
Thanks to the protective bubble I’d commanded Geneva to place around me upon my arrival to the Haven, none of the vampires or shifters that we passed on our way to wherever we were going tried to attack me again. Most people looked at me curiously from their windows, but then they got on their way.
Still, I held my stake to my side, ready to defend myself if necessary.
Mary eventually stopped at a cabin as far away from the others as possible. The same size as all the others, it sat at the border of the Haven, looking out to the mountainous jungle beyond. Whoever lived here had clearly lucked out with his or her view.
The door to the cabin opened before we could make our way onto the porch.
A beautiful girl who looked no older than sixteen stood in the arch. Her blood had a metallic smell that I was coming to associate with vampires—it was very distinct from the flowery scent of the witches or the woodsy one of the shifters. She wore the white uniform of the Haven, and her full, wavy hair blew around her as if she were some kind of goddess.
But she didn’t look at us. She stared straight ahead, as if we were invisible.
Her eyes had a milky haze over them—she must be blind.
“Annika,” she said my name, still staring blankly ahead. “I’ve been expecting you.”
I swallowed, unsure how to respond. Mary hadn’t let this girl know we were on our way, yet she’d opened the door before we had a chance to knock. And she knew my name.
Despite the humidity of the jungle, I couldn’t help shivering at the strangeness of it all. However, an undeniable feeling—perhaps that “angel instinct” Mary had mentioned earlier—told me I wasn’t in danger.
“Are either of you planning on telling me what’s going on here?” I asked, looking back and forth between Mary and the blind girl. “Or are you going to leave me in the dark for the hell of it?”
“This is Rosella,” Mary said, tilting her head toward the blind girl. “She’s a psychic vampire, and nineteen years ago, she prophesied your arrival to the Haven.”
“What?” I said, so dumbfounded that I couldn’t think to craft a better response.
“Come in.” Rosella opened the door further and stepped aside for us to enter. “I can tell we have much to discuss.”
Rosella’s cabin was decorated in the same stark style as Mary’s. But unlike Mary’s cabin, which had a handful of paintings on the walls, Rosella’s walls were empty.
My stomach growled at the delicious smell coming from the kitchen—pizza. Her table was set for three, as if she knew we’d arrive at that exact moment.
If what Mary had said was true and Rosella was psychic, I supposed she also knew I’d be hungry. I’d been snatc
hed by the vampire guards on my way to breakfast, so I hadn’t had anything to eat since last night. Everything had been so crazy since then that I hadn’t even thought about food, but now that my favorite food was in front of me, the hunger pains hit so strongly that I wrapped my arms around my stomach to stop it from growling again.
“Please sit down.” Rosella walked over to the table and placed slices of pizza on all three plates. “And don’t worry—there’s a second pizza in the oven. I’ve heard that Nephilim have quite the voracious appetite.”
Annika
I could never say no to pizza, even if I wasn’t hungry. So as starving as I was, the offer was impossible to resist. There was even soda for me and blood for the vampires.
As I wolfed down my food, Rosella told me about her past.
She’d been born to nomadic Romani parents in the early fourteen hundreds who practiced fortune telling and palm reading. They’d been good to her—fostering her natural psychic gifts—but had died from the plague when Rosella was a teen. Rosella came down with the plague soon after her parents. She got worse and worse, the disease eventually progressing and taking her sight. Afraid she would contaminate them all, her people abandoned her on the side of the road, leaving her for dead.
“Little did they know that I’d had my eye on Rosella for years.” Mary glanced at Rosella with a motherly smile. “You see, the majority of humans who claim to be psychic are merely good at reading others. They use common tricks of the trade, like making vague statements that can apply to anyone, and looking for minor clues that reveal important information about the person they’re speaking with. But not Rosella. I listened as she did readings for others, always surprised by how spot on she was—down to the most specific, smallest details. She was the real deal.”
As she told me the story, I recalled a conversation I’d had with one of the other vampire princesses who’d come to the palace for Jacen’s selection—Isabella. Isabella had also been a psychic, with the gift of empathy. When she’d been turned into a vampire, her psychic gifts had strengthened.
The Vampire Fate (Dark World: The Vampire Wish Book 4) Page 7
