Jachin and Ariel quickly changed into jeans and T-shirts. As Ariel stepped back into her slipper shoes, Mira handed her a cable-knit sweater, saying with a half smile, “I couldn’t find better shoes your size, but this should help keep you warm.”
“Mira, I—” Jachin began to say as his sister gathered their clothes and shoved them in the messenger bag.
Mira pulled an automatic handgun from a pocket in the messenger bag and put it in his palm, interrupting him. “You know this can only do so much damage. Now go, run like hell. I can only hold them off for so long with your clothes as scent decoys.” She sniffed back tears. “It’s good to see you again after all this time. Be safe, brother.”
Jachin tucked the gun in his jeans’ waistline at his back, then pulled his sister close once more. Releasing her, he promised, “We’ll make it right,” before he grabbed Ariel’s hand. “Let’s go. We have a helluva hike ahead of us.”
Ariel’s heart raced as she ran behind Jachin in the woods. Thankfully they were heading down the mountain, which helped her keep up with Jachin’s rapid movements. She knew he was going slower than he would have if she wasn’t with him, but she refused to tell him how tired she felt. Their lives depended on them getting far away from the Sanguinas hunting them.
Trees and scents of pine and rich earth sped past. She followed Jachin’s steps over logs, rocks and hidden tree roots to make sure she avoided unseen obstacles in the darkened woods. Man, it would be nice to have night vision, she thought as her lungs began to burn with the need for more oxygen.
After a few minutes, Jachin slowed and finally stopped.
“Why are we stopping?” She was barely able to get out the question, her need for air was so great.
Jachin hitched his foot on a knot jutting from a thick oak tree and then began to climb up its branches. Ariel craned her neck to watch him climb higher and higher. “What are you do—” she started to ask, until she saw him tug something out from between two branches. Trusting he had a reason for this delay, she began to take deep, calming breaths so her racing pulse would steady out.
Jachin dropped to the ground with a heavy thump, set his backpack at his feet and quickly unzipped a small front pocket.
How the hell did his backpack get here? she wondered.
As he pulled a cell phone from the tight pocket, she thought she saw something fall to the ground. While Jachin dialed a number, she bent down to retrieve whatever he’d dropped. The moonlight filtered through the trees, reflecting on the shiny metal lying among the leaves.
Ariel picked up the thin circle of silver and instantly recognized the broken clover perched inside the bottom curve of the hoop. “There you are.” She clasped her hoop earring in her hand and quickly stood to listen as Jachin spoke into the phone.
“It’s me.” He paused and listened for a second. “You can blame your pack mates for the condition of your home. I left them breathing, didn’t I?”
It was Landon, Ariel realized as Jachin continued. “I need your help. I’m heading to the circle.”
“Are you on lukin weed?” Landon’s furious voice shouted through the phone, echoing around them.
“Shut the hell up and listen,” Jachin gritted out. “I want to take over the clan, to lead my people and fulfill the prophecy, but I need safe passage into Lupreda territory.”
Landon’s voice rumbled across the line. Jachin’s lips thinned. “Got it. Did you learn anything about the Garotters?”
A few seconds later Jachin closed the cell phone. Ariel tensed in anticipation. “Did Landon agree to help?”
Jachin met her gaze, his expression serious. “Landon was on his way to Lupreda land when I called, but two very pissed off pack members are already back home, raising a stink, cursing all Sanguinas. He doesn’t know if he’ll get there in time to help us…or even if he can.”
She didn’t like that answer. “What about the Garotters? Did he learn anything?”
Jachin shook his head. “The men he saved disappeared from the hospital before he had a chance to talk with them.”
When he slid his cell phone into his pocket, she glanced at his backpack and then up in the tree and asked the question that had been nagging her since he’d stopped to retrieve the bag. “How did your backpack get up there?”
A muscle in Jachin’s jaw tensed and relaxed several times. The nonverbal clue told her she wasn’t going to like his answer.
His steady gaze met hers. “I planted it here in the event I wasn’t welcomed back into the clan, in case things went wrong. If the Sanguinas decided to hunt me down, I knew my best chance to shake them would be to go through Lupreda territory.”
Even though she knew what had played out, knew that the man cared for her on some level, she couldn’t help the fact his answer made her chest ache as if she’d been hit by a baseball bat. “And what about me? You really had planned to leave me behind?”
Jachin gripped her arms in a tight hold, his intense gaze searching hers. “Don’t do this, Ariel! I’ve been burying my feelings for you from the moment I first kissed you in the woods. To have to stand there and watch Braeden touch you made my stomach burn in raging jealousy.” His fangs unsheathed and his hands cinched harder around her muscles as he continued, speaking in her mind. Even before I discovered his treachery, I wanted to kill him because of you. I’m a survivor. Having a contingency plan is what I’ve been programmed to do. Don’t condemn me for that.
Despite the heavy feeling in her chest, Ariel looked past the anger in his gaze to the vulnerability simmering just beneath the surface and tried to see the situation from Jachin’s point of view. If she had cared for the person who she believed was destined to play a role in helping her people, would she have been as selfless? Would she have walked away? Her heart ached for the sacrifice he’d been prepared to pay.
Nodding her head in understanding, she spoke in a firm tone, “There’s a reason I described the Sanguinas manor as it stands, as well as your prophecy word for word in my novel. I’m meant to be involved somehow.”
Jachin pulled her close and kissed her brow. His hold tightened around her shoulders. “You’re the toughest adversary I’ve ever faced.”
His roughly spoken words, underlined with emotion, warmed her heart. Ariel squeezed his waist and kissed his jaw. “Never forget it. Now let’s go. We’ve wasted enough time.”
She started to walk away but stopped when she realized Jachin hadn’t followed. When she turned, she saw him holding his backpack, digging into the same pocket he’d retrieved the cell phone from.
“What is it?” she asked, curious at the look of determination on his face while he turned the bag upside down and shook it hard.
Jachin briefly glanced at her. “Just a sec.” He dug into the pocket once more before he growled in frustration and dropped the backpack on the ground.
“What were you looking for?” she asked as he approached her, frown lines creasing his brow.
Jachin clasped her hand and murmured, “Just something I wanted to keep. We’d better get going.”
When he avoided meeting her gaze, Ariel’s heart skipped a beat. Had he been looking for her earring?
His fingers started to loosen around hers, and she knew that signal meant he was getting ready to release her hand and take off running. She tightened her grip, needing to know. “Is this what you were looking for?” she asked, opening her other hand to show him the earring.
Jachin picked up the hoop and rubbed his thumb where the clover’s fourth leaf should’ve been. “Call me superstitious,” he said in a gruff tone as he slid the piece of jewelry into his front pocket.
Her heart melted, turning to putty at the realization he’d stowed away a little part of her in his “contingency plan.”
As he took off running at a faster-than-normal pace, she followed, calling out with a knowing laugh, “I think you’re pretty special, too.”
After they’d traveled the rest of the way down the mountain and the woods had finally start
ed to flatten out, Ariel’s running slowed to a fast walk. Her lungs burned and her head felt full of stuffing.
Jachin ran up to her and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. “You need to tell me when you need a break.”
She swallowed and kept her breathing shallow, trying to hide how tired she was. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
His penetrating gaze searched hers. “I hear your heart racing. You’ve lost blood, and if you don’t take it easy, you’ll collapse. I can’t lose you.”
She finally took several deep breaths, thankful for the brief reprieve. “I know this is important. I don’t want to slow you down.”
Jachin pulled her close and buried his nose against her neck for several seconds. Kissing her jaw, he met her gaze. “You’ve given so much. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Ariel placed her hand on his stubbled jaw and met his intense gaze. “The situation with your race is bleak. A family member of mine had a hand in that…at least initially. I want to help if I can.”
A grim look crossed his features. “My people have been led down a path of hopelessness. I’m going to do my best to bring them back to the ideals my father tried to instill in them before his death.”
Realization suddenly dawned, and Jachin’s quest, his refusal to give up finally made perfect sense. “Ezra—the man who spoke the prophecy. He was your father, wasn’t he?”
Jachin nodded. “I believed my father would’ve helped direct and guide the future of our people. His death devastated me. I felt the need to pick up the mantle, to carry on his beliefs and ideals. To give our people hope.”
“And what of your mother?”
A sad expression crossed his face. “She perished in the first wave of the sickness.”
Just as she had lost her family, Jachin had also endured so much. Her heart ached for him. “Then we’ll both do what we can to make it right.”
His grip tightened around her and the look of appreciation in his eyes made her heart swell. “I’ve waited for this all my life. I’m not going to give up. We’ll be victorious.”
His declaration bloomed in her heart, giving her a second wind.
Ariel kissed him on his jaw. “I’m okay to go forward now.”
Jachin pulled back and gripped her hands. He glanced at the sky through the thick trees overhead. “We have a little over an hour before the sun rises.”
“How much farther to Lupreda territory?” she asked in a hushed voice.
“Another fifteen minutes. When we get there, we need to get to the sacrificial grounds as quickly as possible.”
Ariel’s heart jerked at his comment. “Sacrificial grounds?”
His lips thinned. “There are things the Sanguinas have done in our past that you won’t approve of.”
Ariel gripped his fingers tight. “Tell me. I need to know what I’m walking into.”
His gaze searched hers for a couple seconds before he spoke. “I told you the Lupreda were bred for hunting. What I didn’t mention was what happened once they were caught. We used to perform sacrificial ceremonies, kind of a celebration of a successful hunt…and a kill.”
Her heart lurched. “Are you saying that the Lupredas who were caught were killed as part of a sacrificial ceremony?”
When Jachin nodded, her throat constricted. No wonder the Lupreda hated the Sanguinas so much. “Are you insane? If we go there, we’ll be the ones sacrificed!”
Jachin’s jaw clenched. “I’m well aware of the risks, but this is also the same place where the Sanguinas leader takes his rightful position. There’s a pedestal right next to the sacrificial slab called the ascendancy chalice. The way the ceremony worked, the next leader-to-be put his hand on the ascendancy chalice, and his blood would cause the flat stone across the surface of the pedestal to lower into a cone shape, draining his blood into the center of the chalice. In the past, only those in Braeden’s lineage have been able to move the stone.”
“How do you expect Landon to help you get anywhere near this chalice?” Her chest burned at this incredibly risky plan. “Is he the Lupredas’ leader?”
Jachin shook his head. “No, he’s kind of an outcast.”
Disbelief made her light-headed. “Then what makes you think the Lupreda will listen to him, especially after you just kicked two of the werewolves’ butts? They’ll tear you—us—to shreds.”
Jachin shook his head. “I don’t know if they will or not. But for the Sanguinas’ survival, all I can do is try.”
The risk outweighed the possibility of success. She shook her head, fear rising in her belly like a swelling river ready to overflow. “Jachin, Mira’s right. It’s suicide.”
He tugged his hands from her hold and cupped her face, his serious gaze searching hers. “Your blood healed me, Ariel. Do you realize the significance of that? You fulfilled part of the prophecy. And now it’s my turn to carry out the rest. I believe I was meant to be the Sanguinas leader, to lead them on the right path. If there is any hope of taking over that role, there’s only one way I can prove that to my people. Do you understand?”
“That means you’ll have to perform this ‘miracle’ in your people’s presence, without being killed by vengeful Lupreda or outraged Sanguinas first,” she said, her voice rising.
He nodded. Yet the look of sheer determination in his gaze, and his willingness to risk his life to gain his people’s trust were attributes a true leader needed to possess in order to change the course of the Sanguinas’ future.
She placed her hands around his wrists, accepting his dedication as her own. If anyone could beat the overwhelming odds against them, she had every faith her vampire could. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
He hauled her against his chest and hugged her tight, his voice husky and thick with emotion when he said, “Thank you for believing in me.”
When they got closer to the sacrificial land, Jachin knew he was running out of time. He didn’t even break his stride as he yanked Ariel’s hand and grabbed her waist.
As she landed on his shoulder, she gritted out, “When this is over, if you ever toss me on your shoulder like this again, I’ll shoot you. Got it?”
Amidst the danger closing in around them, Ariel kept him grounded and whole. Jachin held her tight and broke into the speed his vampire body was engineered to endure.
His heart raced as he entered the ceremonial area. Stone gargoyles surrounded the cleared-out circular arena. At the far edge of the fifty-foot circle there was a flat rectangular slab supported by a slightly smaller thick rectangular stone riser underneath it. Behind the plate stood a pedestal with a smooth granitelike surface and a crude gray stone as the supporting column—the chalice.
Lupreda were closing in fast. A quick scan told him Landon wasn’t among the angry men bearing down on them. They had to reach the chalice before anyone else.
Damn it to hell! He just needed a few minutes.
At that moment, a loud boom sounded—an explosion.
“I don’t like this kind of déjà vu!” Ariel screamed, her voice frantic as a gunshot zinged past them.
Jachin was still a good thirty feet away from the chalice. He flexed his thigh muscles and leapt in the air with every ounce of strength in his body as the Lupreda and the Sanguinas raced toward them, Braeden heading up the clan.
He landed with a heavy thud behind the stone chalice and quickly swiveled to face both his brethren as well as the angry were who’d converged in the circular arena. Both groups of men stopped and stared at him in momentary shock. He knew what they were all thinking: only a vampire with a belly full of untainted human blood could’ve performed that feat.
A thick-boned blond Lupreda yelled out, “You’re trespassing. Get the hell off my land!”
“Your land? This land is Sanguinas’ property. You’re the trespassers!” Braeden sneered. “Get Jachin,” he ordered his men right before he launched his body in the air toward the male werewolf who’d dared to challenge him.
When severa
l Sanguinas started in Jachin’s direction, the Lupredas weren’t about to let a vampire attack one of their own without fighting back. As one, the Lupreda engaged the Sanguinas in an all-out hand-to-hand battle. In the midst of sounds of claws ripping flesh and sinew, cries of pain and snarls of fury, Ariel began to squirm on Jachin’s shoulder.
“Put me down so you can do what you need to do.”
Setting her feet on the ground, he took a deep breath and stepped up on the stone square that jutted out from the pedestal’s base. Jachin cut a slit in his wrist with an elongated fingernail, then placed his hand in the carved hand-shaped indention on the pedestal’s flat charcoal-gray stone surface.
A couple of Sanguinas broke free from the fray and rushed toward the sacrificial plate.
Jachin’s gut tensed.
He reached to the base of his spine and gripped the gun’s handle, ready to pull it from its tucked position in his pants.
Two Lupreda beat him to the punch. They attacked the approaching Sanguinas with a vengeance.
One werewolf tossed the first vampire through the air, literally throwing him back into the fight, while the other were grabbed the second vampire by the neck and wrestled him to the ground.
Jachin relaxed his grip and released his hold on the hidden gun. His heart raced, making blood pump faster from his wound. The red liquid seeped quickly into the carved-out circular path that split off the base of the “hand” and curved into the continuous circular groove that continued its spiral pattern for twenty bands around the hand imprint.
When his blood filled all twenty grooves until they began to overflow, sweat beaded Jachin’s brow. His insides rocked, threatening to explode from his chest. Come on, he mentally willed the stone grooved surface to descend. Move, damn you! Prove I’m the next Sanguinas leader.
“What’s wrong?” Ariel whispered, her tone tense.
“It’s not moving.” At the same time he spoke, the sacrificial plate a few feet away from the chalice shook as the blond were who’d challenged Braeden earlier landed on it. He snarled and crouched low, his throat and white button-down shirt shredded and bloodied, his ripped flesh oozing.
Scions: Resurrection Page 19
