by J. C. Diem
“She sounds nuts.”
Natalie shrugged. “Maybe, but her motives are pure enough. We’re pawns to her and she’ll use us however she sees fit to make sure our worlds are kept safe.”
“Can you give me any assistance at all? Do you know what the threat is?”
She shook her head. “I was just told to whisk you two to safety and to tell you that something bad is coming. You’re going to have to step up and do everything you can to stop whatever it is from happening.”
“Why me?” I asked and winced when I realized I sounded like a whiny teen.
Natalie laughed. “I remember asking that same question a few times myself.” Then she sobered. “The only answer I can give you is that Fate chose you for a reason. She believes in you, which means you have the power to do whatever is necessary to save humanity.” Her gaze went distant. “She’s going to send me back now.” For a moment, she looked wistful. “I almost envy the battles you’re going to face. My life has been a bit boring ever since I saved our world. Good luck, Lexi and try not to make the wrong choices again.”
She looked at Reece and concentrated. He came awake and surged to his feet to watch her warily. He was aware that she’d had something to do with his unconsciousness. “Before I go,” she said, “it’s time you found out the truth about Reece’s past. You also need to know what happened to him when he joined his mother’s pack.”
“No!” Reece protested, but she ignored him just as she’d ignored my plea not to remove the barricade that I’d erected to contain my pain.
She connected us so we were mind to mind. It almost felt as if we were bonded again. As she disappeared, I was sent back to Reece’s memories. They began when he was just a baby and started off as impressions more than anything. It quickly became apparent that his early childhood had been far from safe and happy.
A few months after he was born, his father began to shun him. He treated him like nothing more than an unwanted mouth to feed. Nina’s treatment had been far worse. He remembered being beaten, shaken furiously and screamed at almost daily. His parent’s behavior became worse when his baby brother was born. Gareth was given all of the attention that should have been doled out to them both.
As a toddler, Reece was taught to believe that there was something lacking in him. Nina had told him repeatedly that he would never rule the pack. He was the first born, but he was too placid and even-tempered to be an alpha. In direct contrast, Gareth was troublesome and demanding even as an infant. His parents believed he would become the eventual leader of their pack.
Even as little more than a baby himself, Reece knew there was something wrong with his parents. Both were unbalanced in their own way. Their neglect of him grew worse until they seemed to forget he even existed. Then his father disappeared and his mother went insane with rage and grief. She packed up everyone and fled from the property.
Locked in his bedroom and left to die, Reece cried out for his mother for days until his voice disappeared and he could only croak. Starved, dehydrated and pitifully thin, he was near death when rescue finally came.
Hearing the door being kicked open, he mustered enough strength to open his eyes and to turn his head. We both watched as a much younger Mark approached the cot. Picking up the almost weightless toddler, he cradled him to his chest. When Reece wrapped his tiny fist around his finger and gave a pitiful smile of gratitude, Mark began to weep. He’d only lost his family a few months ago and this neglected child would become his first adopted son.
My heart ached for them both, but before I had a chance to process this, his memories shifted to when he joined Nina and her pack. In short flashes, I saw what had really happened to him. Instead of being welcomed with love and respect, she used her status as his alpha to bend him to her will. When he was reluctant to bond with Gloria straight away, she forced him to push me away.
Being a powerful alpha in his own right, Reece fought her when he realized what she was doing. She had him locked away in a cell and the memories of being abandoned as a child came back to him in full force. For several weeks, she tried to break his bond with me. Eventually, she wore him down through a combined tactic of neglect and starvation.
What little food he was given was tainted with drugs that kept him muddled and confused. Little by little, she brainwashed him into believing he’d never cared about me at all. She was the one I’d spoken to when I’d contacted Reece mind to mind and asked for his help to save Flynn. She’d pulled away at the last moment in the hope that my mind would be destroyed. She’d used Reece like a puppet to make me sever our bond. She’d made him bite Gloria, who she’d chosen to be his wife long before she’d left him behind to die.
It was all clear now, just how much he’d been used and abused by the person who was supposed to love him above all others. I now understood why he’d never been able to admit to either himself or to me that he’d cared about me.
Our temporary link was already beginning to fade, but he picked up on that thought. “If my own mother couldn’t love me, how could I expect you to?” he said in an anguished tone then he turned and walked away.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-Four
Watching Reece climb the stairs to the second level, I was torn between feeling pity for him and rage at his mother. Mistakenly believing that he’d never become an alpha, Nina Carter had treated him horribly. Her second child had become the focus of her attention once he’d been born. She’d realized her error when Gareth had reached puberty and still hadn’t shown any signs that of becoming an alpha.
Turning her attention back to Reece, she’d concocted a plot to allow his younger brother to murder innocent humans. She knew Mark would have no choice but to investigate once he’d learned the attacks had been made by a werewolf. All this had been designed to lure Reece back to her pack. It was no wonder Gareth had hated him so much. He’d lost the coveted place in his mother’s heart, if she’d ever actually had one.
Learning all this explained a lot, but it didn’t erase my own pain. Reece and I had more in common than I’d realized. Both of our mothers had hurt us far worse than anyone else ever had.
A wave of sorrow hit me when I remembered that Katrina was dead. I’d never get the chance to know her now. My mother had died eighteen years ago and the creature I’d spent the past couple of weeks with had just been a shell full of evil. I’d caught only a brief glimpse of her human form before she’d perished. In that moment, it became apparent that she had still loved us.
The only thing missing from the information Natalie had given us was who or what the other presence in Reece’s mind had been. I wished I’d had the chance to ask her about it, but the opportunity to learn more had disappeared along with her.
Seeing movement on the second floor a few minutes later, I watched Reece as he emerged from the hallway that led to the bedrooms. He avoided my eyes as he descended the stairs. “I called Mark,” he informed me when he reached the bottom floor. “They’re on their way.”
I didn’t need to be bonded to him to know he was in pain. Having the worst memories of his life paraded in front of someone else must have been hell. Keeping his distance, he entered the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. He checked the fridge, saw there were no fresh supplies and opened the cupboard door. I nodded when he held up a container of creamer. It was better than nothing and I was craving caffeine with a vengeance.
When the coffee was ready, we sat on one of the couches with several feet of empty space separating us. Reece switched on the TV and we sat in strained silence to wait for the rest of our team to arrive. The images of him being beaten, abused and eventually abandoned and left to starve to death by his own mother kept creeping into my mind. Gulping down my coffee, I excused myself and escaped to my room.
Alone at last, I stepped into the bathroom. I took a long hot shower as if it could somehow wash away the memories that had been inflicted on me. We’d both been through so much at the hands of the people who were supposed t
o cherish us. We were mentally scarred and they were the kinds of wounds that would never fully heal.
Reece had blocked his childhood memories because they’d been too painful for him to face. Now he knew the truth of why he’d been left behind so long ago. Guilt swept through me when I thought of how I’d punched him repeatedly and had held my gun to his head. I was filled with shame when I realized I was no better than Nina.
Exhausted and feeling empty, I changed into some clothes that I’d left in the closet. My other clothes weren’t dirty, but I associated them with Katrina and her nest. I wasn’t going to wear them again until they’d been thoroughly cleaned.
Standing in front of the mirror, I examined my reflection and realized it had changed slightly. It wasn’t quite as opaque and had gained substance. Whatever the necromancer had done to reverse our vampirism hadn’t worked completely, but it had helped me to balance my three distinct personalities. They seemed to have almost melded together and were now hard to tell apart.
Knowing I couldn’t hide myself away forever, I descended the stairs. I noted that Reece had cleaned up the blood that had been spilled when I’d beaten him and took a seat on the couch again. He’d made fresh coffee and the gesture almost sent me into tears.
“You don’t need to pity me,” he said without looking in my direction. “I don’t know who that woman was, but I’m glad she showed me those memories. Mark never told me how bad a shape I was in when he found me, but I always knew my parents didn’t care about me. Now I know why I was left behind and I can finally put the mystery behind me.”
It was a nice sentiment, but I doubted it would be as easy as he believed. I knew I’d never forget what Nina Carter had done to him. I wished I’d killed the entire pack now rather than just his brother. Nina deserved to pay in blood.
My brooding was eventually interrupted when I sensed Zeus approaching. “They’ll be here in a few minutes,” I said. Reece merely nodded. He sat stiffly, drinking his coffee mechanically.
The base was too heavily soundproofed for me to hear the SUV when it pulled into the garage. I sensed Zeus drawing closer and closer then I felt the faint link between Kala and Flynn. Then the door opened and the Rottweiler bounded inside.
Grinning widely, he sprinted across the room and I rose to meet him. Skidding on the slick concrete floor, he crashed into my legs. His entire back half was wagging in a paroxysm of delight to see me again.
Kneeling, I submitted to having my face bathed by his tongue as he licked me from my chin to my hairline. “I missed you, too, fleabag,” I said, borrowing Kala’s nickname for him.
“She’s back to her normal self alright,” Flynn said as he entered the room. Kala was right behind him, followed by Mark and then my father. The two shifters stood in front of the humans, unobtrusively guarding them.
“We’re not going to launch ourselves at Mark and Major Levine and drain them dry,” Reece said with a hint of asperity.
“How are you both feeling?” Mark asked.
“Just peachy,” I replied with false cheer then thumped Zeus on the side a couple of times before standing. “Where’s the creepy necromancer? I can’t believe you allowed him to try to reverse our vampirism. It nearly killed us, you know.” At that, Mark and my father shared a look. “What?” I asked, knowing they were hiding something from me.
“I’d like to run some tests on you,” Mark replied.
“What tests?” Reece asked suspiciously and moved to stand near me.
“We need to know how much of your vampirism is still remaining.”
“It’s not as bad as it was, but it’s still there,” I said.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I can feel my vampire inside my head.”
“I can, too,” Reece said.
“Are you thirsty?” Mark asked.
“Well, I could really go for a coffee with real cream in it,” I replied.
“Oh yeah, you can tell she’s evil to the core,” Kala said and rolled her eyes. “He wants to know if you’re craving human blood.”
I felt stupid when she clarified that for me. “Not really. I guess I’d drink it if it was the only thing available, but I’d rather have coffee.”
“Can either of you feel Lexi and Reece through your link?” Mark asked Kala and Flynn.
Flynn concentrated for a few seconds then grinned and nodded. “It’s weak, but I can feel them both.”
“They seem fine to me,” Kala said with a shrug. Her golden eyes were bright with tears that she refused to shed. I could feel them, too and I could dimly sense their emotions. Their relief that we were back to normal came through loud and clear.
“That’s encouraging, but I have to be certain you aren’t a danger to humans,” Mark said and took an item out of his pocket. When he held up a cross on a chain, Reece and I automatically flinched away, but it was more out of reflex than anything. Mark took a step forward and held the cross out to me. I took it gingerly and felt only a slight burning sensation from the contact as if it was flecked with silver rather than made from gold. I handed it to Reece and he had the same reaction.
“They might still have death magic in their systems, but they aren’t evil,” Flynn said. “I don’t think they were ever in danger of losing their souls completely.”
“Viktor was certain he’d be able to restore them,” Mark said. “It seems he’s even more powerful than I’d anticipated.”
“How did you get him to agree to help us?” Reece asked as he handed the cross back.
A thought occurred to me and I voiced it before Mark could answer him. “He was the one sending Katrina the dreams, wasn’t he?” Our boss nodded while my father frowned and looked down at the floor. “He fed her delusion that she would become some kind of vampire matriarch while he was really setting her up to walk into a trap.” I shook my head. “I almost admire the evil genius of it.”
Reece switched his gaze from my father to Mark and back again. “Who is Viktor? I’m sensing there’s something you’re not telling us.”
My father looked at me and my stomach clenched at the dread in his blue eyes that looked nothing like mine. Something my mother had said before her vampirism had been reversed returned to me and my face drained of blood. She’d said she had only agreed to come to America with my father because she’d been fleeing from Viktor. “No,” I said in a small voice and shook my head in denial.
The man I’d always thought had been my father held out a hand beseechingly. “I wanted to tell you, Lexi,” he said desperately. “I knew the day would come when Viktor D’Ath would try to find you. I put off telling you the truth because I just wanted you to myself for a little bit longer.”
“It all makes sense now,” I said in a hoarse voice. Feeling my agony, Kala and Flynn moved to stand beside me. They each put a hand on my shoulder as I put it all together. I now knew the final secret he’d been keeping from me. “That’s why you couldn’t accept me when I turned into a werewolf.” He flinched and dropped his hand while my friends tightened theirs. “That’s why you found it so easy to walk away from me.” Tears welled and rolled down my face at my heartbreak.
“What are you talking about?” Kala asked. Flynn already knew, judging from the sorrow I sensed from him.
“He isn’t my real father,” I said in a dead, hollow voice. “Viktor is.” That explained why I’d been born with death magic. I was the daughter of a necromancer who apparently had unparalleled skills at raising the dead.
I’d been doomed to turn evil from the moment of my conception. My mother hadn’t been talking about Philip when she’d told me she never would have turned me if I’d taken after my father. She’d been talking about Viktor D’Ath.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Before you judge Philip, you need to hear the entire story,” Mark said in a tone that was just short of harsh. It was enough to stop me from descending into hysterical weeping, but only just.
“I don’t know abou
t the rest of you,” Kala said, “but I need coffee before you launch into this story. I have a feeling it’s going to be a doozy.”
She returned to the garage long enough to grab some supplies from the SUV. She made coffee for everyone and I reluctantly took a seat on the couch next to my father. He’d been lying to me since my birth and this was one untruth too many. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re not my biological father?” I asked
He gave a small sigh. “I was going to tell you when you turned eighteen. I thought you’d be old enough to hear the truth by then.”
“I was old enough to hear the truth years ago.” My tone was slightly accusing.
“Do you really think you could have handled the knowledge that your real father is a necromancer when you were just a teenager?” he shot back. “I was going to tell you when Mark arranged for you to take time off to visit me.”
A mission had come up and I’d never managed to have the holiday that they’d planned. I turned to my boss and he nodded in verification. “Philip always planned on telling you when he thought you were ready.”
“Wait a minute,” Kala said. “You knew who Lexi’s real dad was?”
“Mark knows everything,” my father said. “He was the one to break the news to me that Katrina was a vampire. I told him the story she’d told me and he confirmed that necromancers were real. He warned me that Viktor might try to track Lexi down one day.”
“Start at the beginning,” I said. “I want to know everything you’ve been keeping from me.”
This should probably have been a private discussion between my father and me, but Mark had obviously been involved from the start. I didn’t see any real reason to keep the rest of the team in the dark.
