Irulan turned to my brother and unsuccessfully tried to keep the fear out of her voice. “Avalon is not just the home of the Dark High King; it’s the traditional home of the Winter Court. When the last of the Great Fae Wars were fought, the Summer and Winter Courts agreed that no longer would the High Kings claim the thrones and take upon themselves the Mantels of the Seasons. Now that FaeVar has claimed the throne, the Winter King will rise again.”
“And this means what exactly?” Valerian asked.
“It means that once his body finished the transformation, FaeVar will be the living embodiment of winter,” Fazion said. “And outside of the FaeLands, his presence will bring a winter so harsh, the like of which mortals have never seen before.”
“So you're saying,” Valerian edged him to continue.
“That wherever FaeVar goes, the area around him will change to match the raw power of winter that he radiates; the land will turn to ice and bear no more; livestock will freeze and die in the fields, and humans, unaccustomed to the full power of Fae, will frost over and shatter where they stand,” he answered.
I was at a loss for words and judging from the looks on my brothers' faces, so were they. Fazion took a deep breath and grabbed Irulan’s hand. “The old fool will destroy this entire continent if he has to in order to find and kill the Harbinger if my men and I fail.”
Stryfe cleared his throat and threw in his two cents. “While the Winter King wreaks havoc with this realm, Mikilos will be leading the Dark Courts in a full assault against the Light Courts. Together they will bring war back to the FaeLands.”
“The death toll in both realms could top the hundreds of thousands if we don't find the Harbinger before FaeVar gets here,” Fazion sighed.
“How long do we have?” I whispered, afraid to ask but knowing we had to have the answer.
“Two, three days at best,” Fazion said. “No one really knows how long it last because it’s been so long since there was a Winter King, but most of the elders agree it will take about half a fortnight. My people tell me he ascended four days ago.”
The collective ‘fuck’ that went around the room was simultaneous. Tamerlane looked like he was at the end of his rope. He pounded his fist against the table and let his eyes bleed to black. “All this is nice and dandy, but at the risk of sounding repetitive, how do we kill it? The sun will be low enough in the sky for us to go out soon, and you have yet to tell us how to kill the damn thing. With everything you’ve said we don't have time to waste, so somebody needs to start talking.”
“Very well,” Fazion cleared his throat and began. “What you must first understand is the Harbinger once summoned, has no other purpose but to fulfill the reason it was called into being. This single mindedness could be used against it, if we’re presented the opportunity.”
He pointed at me and my brothers one by one, until his finger hovered at Constantine. “Every single one of you could be used for bait, but the Harbinger has chosen you first. We should use you to draw her out.”
Valerian hissed. “Nope, there’s got to be another way. We aren't using my brother as bait for that thing.”
Fazion raised an eyebrow. “Are you volunteering?”
Valerian frowned. “None of us are.”
Fazion scoffed at my brother’s reply. “Then you really don't want to catch her do you?”
Valerian slid back his seat, and Stryfe pushed off of the wall, but I held out my palms to halt them both. “What if I were the bait, what would we need to do?”
Fazion’s eyebrows came together as he spoke. “It will take more than we have in this room since my men are weakened. Remember the Harbinger has an ally. If our numbers are better than thirty, we may have a fighting chance.”
Tamerlane smiled for the first time since Fazion started talking. “We’ve got deadborns that we can add to the numbers, and Marcus and Thade have wolves. We've got thirty and then some, if we need more.”
Fazion looked hopeful. “More is good. We attack in numbers and pray one of us gets close enough to take her head.”
Tamerlane laughed as he pulled out his cell phone. “We have to cut off her head. That’s it? I thought it was going to be harder than that.”
There was a soft knock at the door. I looked through the glass wall surrounding us and saw Dante. The teenager looked like he was about to lose his lunch. His face was drawn and tight, and his fists were clenched so tight, they looked like they would crack from the pressure.
David. My heart jumped into my chest and my control snapped. “IRE!” I flashed through the door and grabbed Dante by the shoulders.
“What is it, Dante? What’s wrong with him?” Heavy tears slid down Dante’s face as he pointed toward a small room across the wide circular expanse.
“He’s there. I don't know how much longer Rowan can hold him without me.”
Chapter 15
Ididn’t move, or rather; I didn’t realize I’d moved. One second I was talking to Dante, then I was there, in the doorway hundreds of feet away, watching Rowan struggle with David.
I crossed the room and grabbed his arms above Rowan’s hands, forcing his shoulders back onto the bed. David’s face was in a full shift, his eyes black as midnight as he snarled and jerked forward, trying to bite me. “Let me go!” He wailed and tried to buck us off of him. Tamerlane and Valerian pushed past the growing crowd at the doorway, forcing their way into the room. Irulan pulled Rowan from her perch atop our son so they could grab his legs.
The child backed herself into a corner, crying and shaking her head as she watched us fight to keep him on the bed. “I’m sorry,” she said over and over again. “I never meant for this to happen. I just wanted to be with David.” Blood red tears slid down her face as her back hit the wall. With nowhere else to go, she wrapped her arms around her stomach and continued crying.
We all knew what was happening. David was a deadborn; there are very few things that can pull him out of the day sleep. Thomas was calling him. David continued to fight us, twisting and turning underneath me, trying to get free and go to Meriwether.
“What the hell happened?” I screamed, not quite sure who to ask, but needing an answer. “What happened to change Thomas’s mind?”
Rowan shook harder as sobs wracked her body. “It must have been me, when they did rounds this morning, they would have called him because I was missing from the dorm. I’m so sorry…”
Dante appeared out of nowhere. “No, it’s something else. They would have called your father, but how was he to know you were with David.”
“SON OF A BITCH!” Constantine swore and was the next person to push his way into the room. “You guys have got to see this.” He turned on the flat screen mounted on the wall and surfed through the channels until we were looking at a picture of Trumaine Complex. No, no a picture, a video. The camera was zoomed in on the scaffolding the repair men were perched on, as they replaced the shattered window on the twelfth floor.
As if we didn’t have three crises too many to deal with already, now the media is camped out at the outskirts of our property. Thank god for the privacy laws or they'd be banging at the doors begging for an interview.
“Valerian, get on the phone and get those cameras out of here. There’s got to be some law you can site.” Tamerlane growled as he dodged David’s knee and forced his leg back down.
Valerian shook his head. “There’s nothing I can do. The E.P.Ls might give us a little space, but we're still fair game from a distance.”
David’s struggles continued. He yelled and cursed, called out for Thomas. I looked to Irulan. “Can you keep him here with a shield?” I was too afraid to use my own. What if I put too much energy into it? I couldn’t risk hurting him. I felt Irulan at the edge of my thoughts. She read my fears and gave me a small nod.
She moved closer to David’s head and ran a hand down the side of his face. “It’s okay, baby. We're going to make everything alright…don’t worry.” She looked up at me with a heartbreaking mix of te
rror and rage in her stormy, green eyes.
“I could, but that wouldn’t stop him from hurting himself,” she motioned toward his hands and I twisted my head to see what she was talking about. I looked back and saw both of his hands were bloody. His nails were dug into his palm.
“Someone get his hands.” Purebloods are the strongest of our kind, and I was stronger than most, but it took all four of us to hold David in place as he fought to get to Thomas Meriwether’s side.
Irulan sank against my shoulders and wrapped her arms around me. Our tears ran together and fell on the soft cotton of David’s black t-shirt. “Baby, you’ve got no choice,” she said after a few moments.
Her voice cracked as she made the suggestion. She didn’t want me to have to do it, any more than I did. I shook my head no, mirroring what I wanted to do, but carefully scooted over so Irulan could take my place. “Constantine, get one arm while Ire gets the other.” I didn’t have a choice. It was the only way to keep him here until we figured out what to do.
They moved into place and I got up on the bed and straddled my son’s waist. David bucked beneath me and hissed. “Get the fuck off me bitch!” Even though I knew it wasn’t him, the words stung. I grabbed the sides of his face and held it still as I leaned forward.
I easily pushed past his shields and slipped into his mind. “David can you hear me?” I worked my way through his mind, but the only thing I heard was the sound of Thomas Meriwether’s voice urging David to his side. “You’re going to pay for this, Thomas.”
He sneered inside my David’s mind. “You started this, Trumaine. You should have kept that corpse away from my daughter.” His voice got louder, and David put more force into the fight. I ignored Thomas’s call and kept looking for the spark that was David and David alone.
I found him, a tiny mental image, huddled in a dark corner of his head, with his arms wrapped around his knees. He took one look at me and flew into my arms. “Help me, Ma, please. I don't want to go, but I can't help myself.”
I held him in my arms for as long as I dared and rubbed his back. “It’s okay,” I said, not sure if I believed it or not. “I’m going to make it all go away, David. You've got to trust me.”
He nodded his head against my shoulder. I eased him the floor and kissed him on his forehead before I touched a finger to his image and turned my son’s mind off.
I fell out of David’s mind and off of the bed entirely. I hit the ground, but it felt like I was still moving-spiraling out of control. Just when missing pieces in my life had started falling into place, I was about to lose everything.
I felt hands around me, pulling me up off the ground. I could smell roses and pomegranate under my nose, and knew Irulan had thrown herself against me. I just couldn’t make my arms move to hug her. It was too much. We were being attacked on too many fronts, and I was accustomed to that, especially after the Tristan fiasco, but this, going after my son was too much, especially when it was a battle I couldn’t physically fight.
I felt my mouth open…could vaguely hear the sobs that came out of it, but I didn’t know I was screaming. My knees went limp and together Irulan, and I fell to our knees. She held me, crying her own grief. I knelt there, wrapped in her arms and just screamed.
****
I sat alone in the break room in total darkness. I’d been there for the better part of an hour. Once I stopped screaming, I didn’t want to be near anyone. My pain was enough; I couldn’t handle theirs. It was a complete miracle that I hadn’t blown my cool already. But the numbness was back, and my shielding was locked down tighter than Fort Knox. I was an island unto mine own self, until the darkness wasn't dark anymore.
A thin streak of light broke through the blackness, and I heard the door open. I didn't bother looking up. “Ire, I don't want to talk baby. I’ll be out soon enough.”
“It’s not your wife,” my mother called out softly. She pulled out a chair and sat down beside me. “What are you doing in here all by yourself in the dark?”
Fresh tears began to fall. I shook my head, trying to will them away, but it was no use. “I can't let them see me like this, Mama. I’m supposed to be this new kind of vampire, stronger, more powerful, but so much is happening and all this power hasn’t helped me stop it.”
I leaned forward and let my head bang against the table. “All of this is because of me. I can't go out there and face them just yet.”
My mother pulled my hair out of my face and pulled me to my feet. “Baby, no one is expecting you to handle this alone, and no one is blaming you, but they are worried.” She pointed toward various people walking by and sighed.
“Do you see any of your brothers? Everything has come to a standstill. They're all in David’s room watching over him and trying to comfort your wife, my best friend, which is what you should be doing. Shutting yourself off alone isn’t going to make the problems go away.”
I tried to shrug out of her arm, but she tightened her grip. “Your father and I didn’t raise you to run from your problems. What would he say if he were here?”
Probably some aggravating, gung-ho bullshit about what it means to be a Trumaine and how…much…he believed in me. My mother gave me a soft shake before kissing me on the cheek. “That’s my girl, now come on. There is a young man that's been standing outside this door for almost an hour, patiently waiting to speak with you.
It had to be Dante. My mother and I walked out hand and hand to see what Dante needed. He stood there with his head facing the floor. His inky black hair was just a tad too short to be called long, but it had enough length to cover his eyes. When he looked up at us, I saw that his face was etched with so much worry. Too much for one so young, but aside from the worry that marred his face, there was a twinkle of hope in his eyes.
He gave a formal bow to my mother, whom he'd never met, then turned to me and relaxed his posture. “I have been waiting to speak with you, Ms. Valeria.”
The teenager had to be scared to death with everything that had happened. His friendship with my son was proving to be quite a hazard to his health. “What’s up, Dante? Are you worried about what the administration at Thorston's is going-”
He hurriedly waved his hand through the air, cutting me off. ‘Nu…no, I’m not worried about them. My father gives generously to the academy. I wish to speak with you about David. I know of a way you can help him.”
I shook my head; unsure I’d heard him right. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I know of a way to break the bond Rowan’s father has with David, but it is dangerous. It is a very old custom, but very dangerous. If he isn’t strong enough, he may die.”
I thought about him lying there, looking so much like a real corpse and knew there wasn’t even a choice. Of course, I would talk it over with Irulan. The vampire Council may have placed him with me, but he was our son, so much a part of the both of us.
“Come on. You need to tell Irulan what you just told me.”
Chapter 16
My mother may have pulled me out of my funk, but it was Dante Dobra that kept me from falling back in again. The precious little outcast had turned to books to ease the loneliness of the isolation his father put upon him. The knowledge that he'd gained from the vast libraries of his family’s home was now going to help us break the hold that Meriwether had on David. If everything went well, he would soon be ours in every way.
Irulan, my mother and I sat in the small gray walled room around David listening to Dante. Thade and his wolves were back, albeit far from happy. They lost her scent in McAuthor Park where she took to the water and couldn’t pick it up again.
The Manticores luck wasn't any better than the wolves. They tracked her by the traces of magic left in her wake, as it zigzagged across the city until it disappeared. Neither group was thrilled about coming back empty handed.
Both groups were with Tamerlane and Fazion in our make-shift command center planning our next move. Irulan and I trusted them to make the right decisions. All we
needed them to do was tell us our roles once the time came. Until then, we weren't leaving our son.
I leaned forward and rested my elbow on my knees. “Hold up, so you're telling me that we can bond him to our family, like he was a Trumaine turn.”
Dante smiled and nodded his head. “That is exactly what will happen if the procedure is performed correctly.” Dante’s hands danced through the air, animating his every word. “Deadborns were no better than slaves in the old days. Lords at times bartered in bodies, but their merchandise didn’t always like their new homes. Some turns were constantly running back to their masters until it was discovered that blood ties could be broken.”
My mother smiled. “Wait until Constantine hears about this. He's going to absolutely wet his pants with excitement.” She turned and frowned as a thought entered her mind. “If this were common practice, then why have I never heard of it?”
Dante dropped his head and sighed. “Because Mrs. Trumaine, the practice was outlawed by the vampire Council eight millennia ago; they feared the practice would become common and under mind the authority of lesser lords. What was to stop stronger lords from attacking their weaker counterparts and taking their deadborns?”
After hearing Dante’s answer, my mother looked less than hopeful. I don't know why? Normally I would have been worried about upsetting the council, but this wasn’t one of those times. I reached beside me for Irulan's hand. Her strong fingers wove through my own and squeezed. We were on the same page.
“Explain the mechanics one more time for me, Dante,” Irulan said. “I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”
Dante nodded; his hands whirled to life as he began again. “There is a small window during the death of a deadborn that the body reverts to its human self, before it goes to ash. It's similar to when a were’s body returns to normal after it dies. It's a very, very small window, the span of a single heartbeat, maybe two. During that time, if all the blood is drained, new blood may be introduced.”
Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) Page 13
