The Prophecy Of Hope

by Kelly Hall

  Kayne turned and saw her fidgeting. “Have you fed lately?” He looked back at his crashing waves.

  “Are you offering up the Huntress?” she asked with a snarky tone. “No thanks. I like my meat tender and rare.”

  He remembered Rebekah’s blood flowing down his throat and felt his cock harden. It had been the best thing he’d ever tasted, even compared to the naiad’s sweet nectar. It was like comparing fine wine to a lollipop. His anger spiked at Fiona’s disrespect. “Enough about the Immortal Huntress,” he said with a warning tone.

  “I agree. Enough about her.” Fiona tossed the pillow aside and got to her feet. She sauntered across the room, back to the window where the waves were crashing even harder as if he’d willed them to do so. She stepped in front of him, her back to the glass. “Let’s talk about something else. Or do something else?” Her brows rose in suggestion, and her hand slipped down and cupped the front of his pants. “How about you let me take care of that for you?”

  He gripped her arms so tightly he left his fingerprints in her flesh. “Or I could push you out of the window and listen to your bones crash against the rocks.”

  “Whatever turns you on.” She looked up into his obsidian eyes, wishing that she were human again only to give him nourishment. She could only help him in so many ways now, none of which ever felt like enough. “But if you’d like, we could call up one of our feeders and have a little frenzy with her.”

  “You killed the last one we tried to play with, and she was one of my favorites.” The black-haired, pale-eyed woman had reminded him of Rebekah.

  “I did you a favor. She was boring and talked too much.” Fiona didn’t like anyone getting more attention than her.

  “It doesn’t matter.” He stared deep into her eyes and moved closer, just a breath away from a kiss which Fiona licked her lips to receive.

  “I’m not fucking you,” he said to her dismay. He hadn’t accepted more than a blow job from her in over a year. “I’ve got too much on my mind.”

  “I don’t understand why you don’t just lock her up and throw away the key, or better yet, rip out her heart and eat it for all I care. She doesn’t have to be a fucking problem.”

  “It’s the fucking Church, not the Huntress that has me in a foul mood. And if you don’t mind your tongue while talking to me, I’ll cut it out and eat it. Don’t forget your place here, or I shall remind you that it was only supposed to be temporary.”

  Knowing how violent his temper could get, she decided to heed his warnings and softened her voice. “I just hate you being upset over the situation with the Church.” She walked back to the couch and sank down so far, she looked as if she wanted to disappear.

  “I should have ripped apart the Church’s elders years ago. Those uppity bastards with their holier than thou bullshit. And now they want to come against me? Bring it on, motherfuckers.” He felt his skin crawling and moved his shirt aside to see the black mark where his heart used to be whole and beating.

  He hadn’t ever understood why it had not healed, but it had been a part of him for so long that he’d gotten used to it. It wasn’t bloody or open. It was a small black hollow from the tip of a spear, surrounded by spidery veins that were a deep blackish blue and pulsed as if it were breathing with a mind of its own.

  It pulsed like the lifeforce, a symbol of the ultimate leader and father he was to his people. Angry and dark, it had defined him for way too long. So long in fact that it was now his nature and he was okay with it.

  He only wondered what Rebekah would think, how she would accept that tainted part of him, and if she were to see it, would it help her understand who he was?

  Chapter 4

  Rebekah had Ignis follow her across the courtyard and had stewed in silence inside the old chapel where the stained-glass windows let in a patchwork of color that shined on the floor. It reflected off of her and Stella as she paced back and forth through it for half an hour. She didn’t know where to start and wanted to choose her words carefully, but finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She turned to Ignis, who had been resting in one of the old wooden pews. “You know when Talia was giving me advice, I could tell that you weren’t happy she offered me her blood.”

  “Right, and why would I be? The idea of Kayne snacking on my soulmate’s blood makes me want to kill him, which is a useless preoccupation since it’s impossible.” Still suspecting Kayne had been the one to take her, Ignis didn’t like where this conversation was going. “Is that what this is? Do you want to rile me up against him? Because all you have to do is tell me that’s where you’ve been.” He knew damned good and well it was, but he needed to hear her admit it.

  “Yes. I was there. He took me to his castle like I was nothing but a feather in his pocket.”

  “I knew it,” Ignis said, seething with anger. “That bastard. Did he hurt you? Defile you in any way?” He knew what Kayne wanted Rebekah for, and it would only happen over his cold, dead body. Never going to happen.

  “No, but it’s nice of you to care.” Her tone was bitter, but she didn’t give two shits at the moment about his feelings. She was mad and wanted answers.

  “I always care about you, Rebekah. You know that.”

  Do I? “He has the most interesting room in his place. It’s practically a shrine to what I’m guessing is, or at least was, his favorite snack.”

  “What do you mean, a shrine?” Something had pissed her off worse than she’d ever been at him.

  “Talia’s room. I was there, and I saw where she lived with him and found a hairbrush with her hair still in it. It still smelled of her. But that doesn’t make sense, does it? Since you’ve never bothered to tell me she was Kayne’s girlfriend before she was yours. Or is she still?” Rebekah couldn’t believe it, even though she’d seen it for herself.

  “Girlfriend?” He spat the word. “You’re wrong. She was never his girlfriend. She was his prisoner. That bloodsucking asshole kept her there, made her his candy dish and nothing more.” Ignis’s stomach turned thinking back to it.

  He’d found Talia after misting into the castle, where she was being kept in the private quarters. She’d been miserable and weak. Kayne had drained her so much, she was near death. Her only life source was the makeshift freshwater habitat he’d attempted to create. Little did he know, she needed the living things of the waters to keep her healthy.

  Rebekah didn’t believe that for a minute. “Are you sure it was nothing more? Her room was connected to his, and I’m pretty sure by the setup he had, it was used for more than feeding.”

  Ignis had known he’d done unspeakable things to his love, but he didn’t like to think of that. “It was a long time ago. Long before you were ever around. I don’t feel like talking to you about it, or I would have long ago.” He raked his hand through his red hair and held on to the back of his neck.

  “He said you keep me in the dark about things because it gives you the upper hand, and he’s also not quite sure why I haven’t figured out your connection to him. Tell me what he meant by that, Ignis. He said you chose me because I trusted you.”

  “He’s a damned jealous fool, Rebekah. He always has been.”

  Rebekah pointed her dagger at him as if it were simply another finger. “Tell me about the bargain you made with him, Ignis. I need to know—”

  “You don’t need to know anything, Rebekah. You need to trust me like you have for the past thousand, three hundred, and something fucking years. And put that dagger down. I’m not your enemy.”

  “I’m not saying you are, but you better explain to me why there’s a room in his house specifically designed for her.”

  “Fine,” he said, pacing the floor. “I’ll tell you. But if I do, you have to promise never to mention it to me again.”

  “Fine.”

  Ignis took a deep breath and walked over to the altar, which was covered with candles and dusty from months of them being away. He ignited the wicks, and the front of the room took on an eerie glow. “When T
alia and I decided to leave Esper together, we came to this world not really knowing what we were in for. As I’ve told you, my magic worked much differently here, and I had quite an adjustment. I also knew that I had an advantage over other mages back home and decided I’d learn all the magic this world had to offer me, which is, as you well know, mostly scientific in nature. When it came to the others, the vampires and shifters, I wanted to study them and learn all about them. I ran into the shifters first, and that’s when I learned that Talia’s blood turned them into abominations. Needless to say, I let my guard down a little when it came to her, but that was my first mistake.

  “Talia and I got too close to the vamps after that. We were in a bar in France. While I went to get our drinks, this scrawny vampire—his name was Winston or Wembley. I can’t remember—but he decided to sample her and ended up high from her blood. He was so impressed with it, the taste and how it made him feel, that he thought Kayne might be too.

  “I didn’t learn about it until after, but the vampire owed Kayne something. He thought by bringing him Talia as a treat, he’d forgive those debts, but unfortunately for him, Kayne took Talia, and by the time I got there after her, Wendel’s—pretty sure that was his name—head rolled by me as I materialized in front of the two. I nearly tripped over the poor bastard.

  “Talia was terrified, and rightly so. He could have drained her right then and there and killed me too, but he decided to keep her instead. He had me thrown out and locked her up. Thankfully, I could mist in and see her when I wanted, but as you know, I’ve never been strong enough to carry anything too heavy along with me in that form.

  “She was starved the first few weeks, and though he listened to her and made sure that he had what she needed to stay hydrated, she grew weaker without her creatures. But I promised her I’d find a way to get her out of there, and I did. When I did that, I sent her away as far across the ocean as she could get and told her to stay there and hide. Meanwhile, I found myself in a much different place, in your father’s cathedral. He took me in so I could hide from Kayne and his vampires.”

  “That’s how you came to be there when my mother needed you?” It didn’t seem like something to hide, but she realized his story was incomplete and he’d only chosen to tell her half of it.

  “Yes, your father granted me asylum for the help of concealing your mother’s pregnancy with you.”

  “Why not tell me that? And what else are you hiding? He said you made a bargain, Ignis. There’s something that you’re not telling me.”

  Ignis walked over and cupped her face in his hands. “My beautiful girl.” He searched her eyes for understanding. “Everything I’ve done is for you. Why would you question my motives now, after all of this time? Can’t you see that he’s trying to weaken you by causing problems with us? That he wanted to take you and plant doubt to make you weaker. He knows we are stronger together, Bexy. Don’t let him get into your head.”

  Rebekah stepped away and looked down at Stella’s blade. She ran her fingertip along the etched star and thought of it in Kayne’s hand. “He touched Stella. He handed it to me, Ignis.”

  Ignis had never seen one of her enemies touch the dagger and live. He reached down to take Stella from her hand.

  After a moment of them both looking down at the weapon, which he held as if he knew how precious it was to her, he spoke. “I am not your enemy either.”

  “But you’re not going to tell me the whole story, are you?”

  Ignis shook his head. “There are things, my heart, that you don’t need to know.”

  “More secrets. My entire fucking existence has been nothing but a goddamned secret.” She gave a nervous laugh, her anger giving way to hopelessness. “You concealed my mother’s pregnancy, my father concealed my existence, my true name, my true birthright. And even though you recreated me as the Immortal Huntress, the secrets still followed me into this life.”

  “I’m sorry. But you of all people should know the importance of a secret.”

  “I also know the importance and meaning of friendship. Friends share secrets. They trust one another.”

  “Are you saying you don’t trust me, Rebekah? When you know how much I love you?”

  “I’m saying that this isn’t over. The truth has a way of revealing itself.” She turned and walked to the altar, where she stood and stared up at the tarnished crucifix.

  “Not today, I’m afraid.” He placed Stella on the altar in front of her and then turned and walked out, leaving her before things were said and done that could not be taken back.

  She waited a while, and when she stepped out of the chapel, she saw her hunters, along with Liam and Aziel, across the courtyard. They were going through their drills like they were still at the academy.

  Delilah, Katie, and even Liam were standing in a row, and Jarreth, Canter, and Aziel faced them. She was glad that they had included Liam, and it was good for the wannabe hunter to see what kind of work he had cut out for him. Rebekah approached, and they all stopped and stood at attention.

  “Don’t stop on my account. I was just going to say, I am really proud of Liam taking the initiative.”

  Katie and Delilah snickered as Jarreth spoke up. “Yeah, if you call initiative us dragging him out here, then he’s got loads of it.”

  Liam gave her an apologetic look. “I should be in the lab with Mace. Besides, I can’t even do ten pushups, much less the hundred that they just did. On full stomachs, I might add.”

  “You have to be tough,” said Canter. “You’ll get the hang of it. We’re marked by the Huntress, so it gives us an advantage.”

  “You can mark me, Rebekah. Anytime you want.” Liam gave her a wink. “I’m down.”

  Rebekah laughed. The boy had flirted with every one of the girls and seemed to fancy himself some kind of ladies’ man. “I think you should get your studies behind you and a bit more training before we go and do that.”

  Liam’s shoulders slumped. “I’m going inside. Mace is probably lost without me.”

  Rebekah turned to Canter. “Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure.” Canter didn’t miss the looks that were exchanged, and he gave Katie a reassuring smile as he followed Rebekah, who had already started for the courtyard’s rose garden. “Is there anything I can do for you, Rebekah?”

  “Actually, there is. How serious were you about being my confidant?”

  Canter’s eyes lit with surprise. “You can tell me anything, Huntress. I’ll always keep your secrets and you safe.”

  “You realize what would happen if you didn’t?” Sometimes, she couldn’t believe the words that came from her lips.

  “I’m sure that you’d make my death swift and painless,” said Canter with laughter in his voice. He felt a little uneasy when she didn’t even smile. “I’m sorry. Of course, I know the price of betraying you. I have already given my life to you. To serve as needed.” There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his Huntress.

  “I’m sure you could tell when I returned that I was angry.” Rebekah had put a crack in her new sheetrock.

  “It seemed as if you were upset with Ignis, yes.” He assumed that she was angry because he hadn’t gone after her. The two were as close as family, and he couldn’t think of much that would come between them.

  “Ignis and I have always been there for one another, and while we love each other very much, we both have different ideas about what that means.”

  “Oh. Is he in love with you?” He had thought they had more of a brother-sister thing going.

  “What?” She shook her head. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just that I believe when two people are as close as we are, there shouldn’t be any secrets between them, and it’s come to my attention that he’s been keeping something from me. I’d like you to find out what it is.”

  Canter couldn’t believe that the two would do anything against each other, and he also didn’t know how he was supposed to figure it out. “Ignis and I have talked some, but honest
ly, I don’t think that’s enough to make him trust me with confidential information.”

  “I’m well aware. But are you aware that Ignis has a hobby other than magic?”

  “I’m not sure I follow. Does he wear women’s shoes or something?”

  “No, but he does keep a journal. He’s always kept one, which means there are volumes of them.”

  “Wait, like he’s kept one daily for over a thousand years? I didn’t realize he was so fucking emo.”

  Rebekah laughed. “It’s not only his personal thoughts and dealings but a grimoire of sorts. He writes everything he learns. His spells, his potions. You name it, it’s in there. But the languages span back from ancient Rome. I know you’ve dabbled in Latin.”

  He had learned what he could. “You want me to snoop through them and find out what he’s hiding? Where does he keep them? The library didn’t have any journals. I looked around when we searched the north tower for you.”

  “He keeps them in the south tower. The entire collection.”

  “It’s not possible for me to get to them, is it? Ignis had to go in and search it when we were looking for you. Liam and Jarreth said there was no way in.” He now understood why the mage was so eager to tell Father Timms he’d handle it.

  “There is a way in,” she said. “There’s a tunnel below the castle. It crosses from the north to the east, and then you can head south from there. It goes all the way around the castle.”

  “Is there a west tunnel?”

  She nodded. “There is, but it stays wet. I’d avoid it. But once you get to the south tunnel, you can enter the dungeon and then take the stairs. Follow that hall to the end and through the door where you’ll go to the right. Most of the castle is destroyed, but there remain a few rooms which are still usable. You can even make it to the second level from there, and that’s where I believe he keeps them.”

  “You’re not sure?” He would have to do a dry run, just to see if he could locate them.