A Times Journey Box Set (A Times Journey Novel Book 4)

by Bethany Shaw

  "I’ll take you out for drinks anytime you desire,” he offered.

  She giggled and shook her head. “Going out with the enemy is a no-no. My coven would have a hay day with that.”

  He imagined they would. When they returned, any friendship he and Cadence had formed would be forgotten. Both their families would see to it. The vampires and witches were at war with each other. It was a fight that wouldn’t end until he and his siblings could be killed, or they achieved true immortality. Cadence had no idea how close to he was to being invulnerable.

  He took a sip of his drink. The banter between them was fun and light. He wanted to keep it that way. “It’s my turn to ask a question,” he commented.

  “What do you want to know?” she giggled.

  She was drunk. At this point she’d probably tell him everything he wanted. But he didn’t want to hurt whatever was developing between them. “What’s your favorite holiday?”

  She frowned and crinkled her nose. “New Year’s. It brings in the opportunity for a fresh start each year.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t say Christmas,” he said with a smile. Doesn’t everyone love that holiday?

  Cadence sighed and set her drink down. “My mom died on Christmas Eve,” she whispered. Tears sparkled in her eyes and she dabbed at them with the backs of her hands.

  Crap. He’d inadvertently ruined the mood. “I’m sorry.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. You didn’t mean anything by it. It was a long time ago.”

  “Can I ask what happened?”

  “For all the power that witches possess, they can’t stop something like cancer. She’d been sick for a while and was taking herbs, but when they stopped working my father insisted she see a real doctor. The diagnosis wasn’t good. They gave her a month. She somehow managed to make it six weeks. I was twelve when she passed. My dad, he uh, he didn’t know my mom was a witch, or I was a witch either. He had my powers bound and he moved us away from the coven.”

  So that’s why she doesn’t have full control over her powers, but it still doesn’t explain why her powers are still blocked. Cadence isn’t a threat to anyone. He’d noticed her sharp tongue when they’d first met, but also realized she didn’t possess the power to back up her witty remarks. Her fearlessness made her all the more alluring. No one stood up to him, especially someone who didn’t have the power to back up her sassiness.

  Cadence yawned loudly, drawing him from his thoughts. Her eyes fluttered shut before she pried them back open.

  “Get some sleep, sweetheart. I’ll see you in the morning.” He handed her one of the extra blankets that Harrison had brought earlier. She nodded, taking the wool and curling up against the wall.

  Within moments, she fell into a peaceful slumber. He could watch her sleep all night.

  Don’t get use to her being around, he warned himself. Once you get back to your time, she won’t be your friend anymore. Friend. The word was foreign to him. He’d never had one before. If she’d allow, he’d like for Cadence to be a whole lot more than his friend. But they were a long way from that happening and would unfortunately be returning home in a few short days.

  ***

  "Who is that?" Cadence asked as she saw human-Zak and a woman walking in the woods holding hands. It was their last day in this time period and Zak and she had gone for a walk to kill some time. She wanted to get home and time was not her friend today. The hours were ticking by at a snail’s pace.

  "No one. Come on, Cadence," Zak said from behind her.

  His breath tickled her ear as he peered over her shoulder. She turned around and gasped at how close he was. His eyes bore into her and she swallowed as they flicked over her shoulder again. Who was the woman? A girlfriend? Lover? Did they even have girlfriends and lovers in this time? Other than Harrison and the psycho werewolves, she hadn’t really interacted with anyone from this time.

  “Who is she?” she wondered aloud again.

  “A girl from the village,” he answered, dodging her question.

  The woman must be someone important to him...at least she was in this time. Didn’t Harrison mention someone? What was her name again?

  “We should go,” Zak insisted.

  “Oh,” she mumbled as human-Zak leaned in and kissed the unknown girl.

  “Yeah. We should go,” he said placing a hand on her shoulder.

  She didn’t know where the kissing was going, but she certainty didn’t want to stick around and find out. “So...was she someone you were serious about?” she asked as she spun on her heel. Why do I care?

  “She’s just a girl,” he replied simply.

  “A girl you were making out with,” she argued. Why was she going on about this? She should just drop it already.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re jealous,” he smirked.

  Cadence snorted as she stomped ahead. I am not jealous. “You wanted me to get to know you,” she explained.

  “You want to know about Lise?” he asked.

  Lise...so that was her name. This was the same woman Harrison had mentioned. Who was she?

  “If you’d meet her close up, you’d see she resembles your friend Maddie,” he commented.

  Cadence frowned and turned to him as she raised her brow in question.

  “My mother wasn’t the only witch in this time. There was another witch in the village, Elizabeth. Elizabeth and her three daughters all practiced magic. Lise was her daughter and the strongest of her siblings. After Harrison died, my mother begged Lise’s mother to help her bring Harrison back from the dead. Elizabeth refused. My mother found another spell instead—the immortality spell. It required a large bit of power to complete. My mother chose to use a human sacrifice to draw more power from nature. Her sacrifice was Lise. It was her way of getting back at the witch who refused to help her,” Zak told her. “Blood was used in the spell that made us immortal. That’s why we were cursed with the blood lust.”

  “That makes sense. There would be huge repercussions for tapping into dark magic like that,” Cadence said quietly. The coven had beat into her head that vampires were evil and bad. But in this time, seeing them human, it was difficult to believe they were completely evil. They’d been human once after all. “What does that have to do with Maddie?” she asked as an afterthought.

  Zak licked his lips and stopped walking. She pulled up short beside him. “If I tell you, you have to answer a question of mine.”

  “Why would I agree to that?” she laughed.

  “You’ll understand once I tell you,” he told her.

  She huffed and glared at him. Did she fall for his bait? Curiosity was a silent killer because damn it all, she wanted to know. “Fine. What?”

  “Because Lise’s blood was used to create us, a witch’s blood from that bloodline can be used to weaken, possibly even kill, us. Even someone like me,” he admitted. “We didn’t find that out until after we’d fled to the Old World. We’ve spent the centuries tracking down Lise’s siblings’ ancestors.”

  Cadence’s mouth popped open. “That’s why you went after Maddie. That’s why you came to town.” She stared at him and met his gaze. “Why did you tell me this?” He was giving her the secret to killing him.

  “Because I want you to understand,” he stated simply. “I want you to understand why I came to town. I didn’t come to start a war. I came to protect myself—my family. Maddie’s blood is the only thing that can harm me. If we eliminate her then we don’t have to worry anymore.”

  She didn’t know how to take that. Part of her wondered if he was lying, but what reason did he have to fib? Also, there was something sincere about his story. She believed him.

  “So Maddie’s the last of her bloodline?” Cadence whispered.

  “Exactly. Once she’s gone, we’ll be free,” he told her.

  “So all the grief and accidents Maddie’s family have suffered...” she trailed off as realization sunk in. Those were no accidents. Zak, his family, and the vampire
clan had personally hurt Maddie’s family—nearly killed every single one of them.

  “I know you’ll be angry when I kill, Maddie. But I wanted you to know why. Maybe one day, you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me,” he paused as he looked at her open-mouthed gape. He didn’t want to lose her, but this threat had to end. “We should be getting back. Harrison will be doing the final preparations for the spell soon. We should be there to help,” Zak said, interrupting her thoughts.

  “Wait!” Cadence gasped, her hand jutted out and latched onto his elbow.

  “What is it?” he asked with a frown.

  “Lise’s blood made you what you are,” she stated as her stomach twisted. “Liana’s been helping the coven for some time even before we resurrected her. What if...what if Liana plans to use Maddie’s blood to sacrifice her to rid the Earth of vampires?” Her mind raced with the possibilities. What if Liana was planning to sacrifice her friend? It would defeat the whole purpose of the war and her coven’s actions to defeat the vampire clan. Was Liana working with them or against them? She had to get home to find out.

  “All the more reason for us to get home.” Zak said quietly. “Let’s get back to Harrison.”

  "I'll just be glad when we get back home and get to the bottom of this. It’d be nice to get back to some of the things I used to take for granted," she muttered, wanting to take her mind off her horrible thoughts. There had to be something good she was returning to. TV, warm showers, and yoga pants. She couldn’t wait. Another troubling thought occurred to her. “Is Harrison going to be okay? What about..." she trailed off remembering Harrison’s fate.

  "He's set up a spell to make sure he is the only living thing that can get in or out of the caves for the evening. He will be perfectly safe, tonight."

  She bit her lip. He would be safe tonight, but not in the future. "It must be hard for you. To see him and to know...to know what's going to happen." Her heart tore at the thought. They could do something...save him, but what would happen if they did? Could they risk it? Harrison was a good person; he didn’t deserve to lose his life.

  She looked up at Zak’s face. He stared into the trees, looking just past her; his face was void of all emotions. Perhaps she shouldn't have said anything.

  "Yeah well...we can't change the past now can we," he said bitterly as he stomped off.

  ***

  Zak looked at the setting sun. The closer it got, the harder it became for him. The orange glow taunted him. He was going to lose his younger brother all over again. It had been centuries, but he could still remember the night Harrison died. He gritted his teeth and swallowed hard.

  The wolf attack had been no one’s fault. Harrison had simply stayed out too late on the full moon. Still, Zak hadn’t been able to save him the first time, but he could save him this time. What would it do to the future if Harrison didn't die? Maybe he didn't have to die. Maybe this was supposed to happen.

  He swallowed as he allowed himself to remember the events of his brother's death. Harrison's body had disappeared the day of his death. Vanished. They had assumed the wolves had taken it, finished what they had started, but what if they hadn't?

  What if this had all happened before? What if...could he do this to Harrison? Leave his blood. Would it change too much if he were wrong? It didn't matter. He could at least give him the choice. If he warned his brother and left it up to his brother to make the final decision he wouldn’t be tampering with fate too much, right?

  His mind made up, he found the bottle of rum from the other night and quickly emptied its contents onto the ground. Without hesitation, he bit into his palm and squeezed drops of his blood into the bottle, repeating the action several times to ensure there would be enough.

  "Zak?" Cadence walked toward him her eyes wide with concern. "I know what you’re doing,” she started as she hugged herself. “You can’t.”

  He ignored her and reopened the wound making sure he gave plenty of blood.

  "You can't do this," she continued. "You can't force him."

  "I'm giving him a choice, Cadence. Tonight isn’t the night he dies. I can tell him his fate and let him decide what to do. You can't stop me." They both knew she couldn't, but something told him she didn’t really want to anyway. "Please, Cadence." He couldn't believe he was actually pleading with her about this.

  Cadence sighed and looked at the ground as she dragged her foot back and forth over the gritty dirt. "I don't think this is a good idea," she said quietly. "What if it changes something? What if it changes everything?"

  "What if it's supposed to happen?" He countered. "The day Harrison died his body disappeared. We never found it and I have no idea what happened to it."

  Her brow furrowed in confusion. "So you think this all happened before...is that possible?"

  He shrugged. "Magic is..." he trailed off.

  "Magic. That could explain the rose I found a few weeks ago. Perhaps it was some sort of ripple or something," she supplied. “If that’s true, then all of this has happened before, and if we don’t do the right thing, couldn’t it still effect the future?” She frowned, her face contorting as she tried to make sense of everything.

  “It’s just too bad we can’t ask our future selves what we are supposed to do,” he replied. There were a few other things he wouldn’t mind asking his future self, too. His eyes roamed over the beautiful witch. He wouldn’t mind asking about her.

  ***

  Cadence couldn't believe she'd gone along with Zak's plan, but how could she refuse him? She couldn't bear the thought of Harrison dying either. He was a good kid and he was only a teenager.

  She’d ensured Zak explained being a vampire to his brother carefully. The last thing she wanted was for Harrison to make a mistake with his bloodlust. The boy was innocent and she wanted to keep him that way. There were good vampires; Trent being one of them. She sighed as she thought about her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend. He hadn’t chosen to be a monster and he’d fought the darkness spectacularly—for the most part.

  "Will I see you in the future?" Harrison asked as he embraced her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

  "Yes," she said hugging him back. At least she hoped so. Harrison had to be her favorite member of the Smith family. She just hoped if Zak succeeded with his plan Harrison would still be the same boy.

  "Good bye, Zak," Harrison said gripping Zak in a bear hug. The two brothers embraced for a long moment as Zak clapped Harrison on the back. Finally, they separated and Harrison made his way up the rock formation and into the confines of the falls. "Are you ready?"

  “We’ll see you on the other side, brother,” Zak said with a nod as he curled his fingers around hers. He tugged her backwards and into the herb circle they’d created.

  She looked at Zak and sighed. A few moments ago she’d been all too eager to go home, but now...what was going to happen to them when they got there? They had developed...she wasn't sure what to call it, but it was something. She had grown dependent on him, and dare she say, she trusted him.

  Harrison’s chants drew her thoughts back to the present. Flames sparked on the ground and the orange-yellow flames warmed her as they grew higher.

  "We’re not going to end up in the water again are we?" she asked taking a step closer to Zak.

  "I don't think so. We should end up geographically in the exact same spot we are now,” he supplied.

  "So, you're saying my house was built over an old pond?" she questioned. That would explain the water when they arrived.

  "More or less."

  The trees whirled around her as the flames rose over her head. Dizziness threatened to knock her off her feet and she grasped Zak’s arm for support. The fire roared and her pulse pounded in her ears as blackness clawed at her consciousness.

  Then it stopped. The flames disappeared and they stood before the cave. She took a step forward, and swayed on her feet, nearly collapsing.

  Zak wrapped an arm around her waist. "Careful, sweetheart. The disorientation will pa
ss in a moment," Zak said as he held her tight. He knelt down, easing her onto the ground.

  "Did it work?" she asked looking around. They were still surrounded by trees, but she didn't see any sign of Harrison.

  "I don't know," he said standing up. "Home would be that way." He pointed behind them.

  "You would think people would be waiting for us," she said looking around at the eerily quiet night. Where was her coven and Zak’s family? It was almost too quiet. “They should be expecting us, assuming they got our message that is,” she worried as she looked around at the emptiness.

  "We’ll figure out what is going on. Are you okay now? Do you think you can walk?" he asked looking down at her.

  She nodded. Her head was a little woozy, but she was more concerned with finding out where they were than resting. She could rest once they got home. Hell, she wanted to curl up in her bed and not leave it for a week.

  Zak offered his hand and she took it, letting him pull her up. She tried not to notice how warm and good his hand felt or the heat that started to rise in her just by touching it. She quickly pulled her hand away. They were back home. They weren't friends anymore or whatever they were calling themselves. Zak was the enemy again.

  He frowned at her, but turned to lead the way. They walked quietly for a long time, neither sure of what to say. The further they walked the more she thought something wasn't right. Her friends should have found them by now. They would be out looking for her. She couldn’t even hear a search party, or any signs of life for that matter. It was like there was no one here.

  They reached a clearing and he stopped staring at the emptiness. She stopped next to him and held her breath as she took in his features.

  A frown marred his face and his jaw was set. He pointed to the valley. “Home should be right there,” he whispered.

  She drew in a sharp breath and turned back to the clearing. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

  Chapter Six

  Cadence gaped at the emptiness. She wanted to ask Zak if he was sure this was where Bedford Falls should be. Maybe they’d gotten turned around somehow. But as she took a closer look, she saw the familiar arch in the rocks. This was home—or at least where it was supposed to be. She swallowed down the bile creeping up her throat. Where were they?