by Anna Santos
Shane opened the gate and Anna got in. Meanwhile, he secured the guy to the chair, putting his hands behind his back with silver cuffs.
“One of us should stay behind, but I’m not going to let you go in alone. Therefore, let’s just hope that no one notices that the gate is opened,” Shane said as he grabbed the guy’s access card and cell phone. “I think they use this to enter the house,” he said, showing the access card. “If so, it will be easier to get in.”
“We still need to pass by the men patrolling the area. I’m sure there’s a lot of them. See if he has a walkie-talkie somewhere.”
“It doesn’t look like.”
“They must communicate somehow. Maybe by phone.”
“He uses a code to unlock his phone.”
Anna placed her backpack over a small table, opening it and taking her swords out. “You will use his appearance to go inside the house, I’m going to gear up and follow the path to the main building. Meanwhile, you use the card to open the door. There must be a backdoor entrance, somewhere.”
“I should go first and then tell you if it’s safe or not. Count the guards…”
“No, they may find odd the fact that the guy is leaving his post unattended. I’ll go first and disable the guards outside. I have plenty of darts to throw around and knock them out cold.”
Shane grabbed her hand. “I’m not happy with leaving you alone.”
“I’m not happy either, but we don’t have any other choice now that we can’t use Myra and her boyfriend’s appearance.”
Shane stood still, his eyes showing that he wasn’t pleased with the plan. “There will likely be other guards around the perimeter of the house. I need to take care of them,” she reasoned with him.
“I could deal with them.”
“You will because there will be guards along the tree path, too. We will meet at the back of the house, near the entrance.”
“Fine,” Shane agreed.
Smiling, she walked to the guy strapped to the chair. “Good. We need to hurry. We are losing time,” she reminded him while relieving the vampire of his shirt. “Get dressed, drink the potion, and let’s hurry up.” Anna pierced the vampire’s neck with a dart. “Just to keep us safe. This serum will knock him out when his heart restarts. It guarantees ten hours of blissful sleep…He may sound the alarm and I don’t want Alaric to run away and take Jessica with him.”
Shane nodded and took off his shirt, so he could put the guy’s shirt and make the potion work with the remains of the vampire’s DNA.
Walking to the desk, Anna took the rest of her gear from the bag, putting daggers behind her back, hiding small bombs inside her pockets, and placing hidden blades strapped to her left wrist. Then, she held her sword with a lanyard around her wrist, which kept it from falling far from her if there was someone able to take it from her hand. However, in cases like that, she liked to put the sword knot and use it to throw her sword forward and then pull it back.
Her concentration was broken when Shane put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him.
“What?”
Shane spoke softly, “Things are going to get real the moment we leave this gatehouse. So, it’s the last time I have the opportunity to kiss you before drinking the potion and we have to split up.”
Anna nodded, placing her head against his chest as her arms surrounded him in a hug. “Try not to get yourself killed. It would suck to live without you.”
“I love you too,” he whispered, leaning down and kissing the top of her head.
“I refuse to turn this into a sappy goodbye. I’m not going to die and neither are you. We are saving Jessica and then we can go back home to our boring and amazing lives.”
“Okay, baby,” he said, hugging her tight. She looked up to meet his face and his lips fell on hers. They kissed for a moment, hoping it wouldn’t be their last moment together. “Now, tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” she whispered, smiling and pulling him in for another kiss.
Chapter Seventeen—THE RITUAL
JESSICA
Alaric’s men had taken fake Valentina to a big space with rocky, dark walls and crappy illumination. There was an awful smell coming from the rotting flowers and unknown substances inside of jars with body parts and bugs. Despite the unwelcoming and nasty place she was in, she couldn’t complain that Alaric hadn’t given her everything she needed to cook the potion and perform the ritual to break the curse.
Jessica was taking her time, mixing the herbs and double-checking the spell on the book so Anna and Shane had time to arrive there and save her from that mess. She wasn’t expecting such a set back to her plan. Another variable looked at her from across the room with murderous eyes and obviously pregnant belly. Alaric’s mate was pregnant and the resolution of severing their bond and ending the curse was stronger since she didn’t want the baby’s death on her conscience. The only person missing to start that show was Alaric himself. He had left to get someone. Yet, fifteen minutes later he was still absent. She needed him present to start the ritual.
Jessica looked around, noticing the four men heavily armed following her every move. Alaric’s mate was seated in a chair, arms and legs restrained. It was an awkward way of treating one’s mate, but maybe she wasn’t that keen on being free from the curse. Maybe Alaric was just ludicrous.
“I’m here to help you, I don’t know why you seem so annoyed about it,” Jessica said to the girl when she was drawing symbols inside the five points of the pentagram.
“He’s ready to kill me as soon as he’s free from the curse,” the girl muttered back.
The witch stopped what she was doing and looked at her. “And the baby?” Her voice came out shaky and breathless.
“He doesn’t want the baby. The only thing he wants is Beth, my bitch of a sister.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You and I are as good as dead the moment you finish this ritual.”
“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just a prisoner.”
Fake Valentina kept drawing symbols and reciting the incantations. She had no idea how much time had passed, but it was about time that Alaric arrived. Her hope was that Shane and Anna were able to infiltrate the premises to rescue her. She was nervous and frustrated because her mate link was still not functioning and she couldn’t contact Marcus. However, she wasn’t going to complain about her plan. She was going to suck it up and follow her plan until the end. It was clear as ever that Alaric needed to be stopped, but, first and foremost, she had to break the curse and save his soul-mate and the little baby that was growing inside her belly. It was an innocent child, Marcus and Isobel’s grandchild.
* * *
Jessica watched when Alaric walked inside the room with a brunette who had a gloomy expression. She was as beautiful as she was sad. There was a dog collar around her bruised neck and, despite the makeup, her face was pale and her eyes tired. She had been curious when he told her that he wanted her to bind his soul to someone else than his mate. But the girl didn’t seem as happy to be there as Alaric was. On the other hand, Marie began to snarl like a wild animal when she saw Alaric arriving with the other girl. Jessica couldn’t blame his real mate. He was fooling around with someone else while his mate was pregnant and vulnerable. To make things worse, Marie claimed that the girl was her own sister.
Alaric smiled at the girl, caressing her face, and speaking in her ear. He seemed happy, inappropriately happy for a psychopath. The girl simply nodded, perpetual sadness tainting her pretty face. Then, her eyes eagerly looked around, just staring at Jessica for a bit, without real interest, and lingering on Marie’s face. The other vampire looked away in disdain. Jessica had no idea what Alaric thought was going to happen by binding his soul to that girl, not that Jessica was willing to perform such a cruel and irrational ritual. No wonder that he had restrained his mate to the chair, she probably wanted to kill her sister.
Jessica was beginning to feel sick to her s
tomach. There was a tangible madness surrounding that place and Alaric’s composed behavior was freaking her out.
She shuddered when his voice broke the silence. “I hope you aren’t planning to trick me. I have read that spell a thousand times. I know word by word. If you even think about changing something about it, you’ll be sorry.”
“There’s a key ingredient missing here,” Jessica said, ignoring his threats.
“Beth, wait there,” he ordered, signaling to the empty part of the room. She obeyed, eyes on the ground, and hands holding the skirt of the golden dress. Jessica felt sorry for her. “Conrad, get Marie’s blood. I’ll give you mine, witch,” Alaric said, stepping inside the pentagram and putting his hand over the boiling cauldron.
Jessica instructed him, “The blood must be acquired with the ritual knife. I’ve already consecrated it. And both types of blood need to be put inside this silver chalice.”
Alaric motioned Conrad to move, but Jessica stopped him. “I have to draw the blood myself. First yours then your mate’s blood. I thought you knew the spell by heart.”
“I know the verbal spell. I have no idea about what rituals must be performed before.”
“Then stop giving orders and let me do my job,” Jessica said with a serious face and stern voice.
Alaric clenched his jaw, his eyes flickering between red and green. “Fine, just do whatever you want.”
“Then get the hell out of my pentagram,” she said, pointing her finger to the chair next to Marie.
Alaric narrowed his red eyes, growled but obeyed. He strode his way to the chair and sat down with squared shoulders and hands on his knees.
“Now, that we have our places figured out, it’s time to start the ritual. I’ve consecrated this athame,” she said, showing them the silver knife. “It’s not mine, but it shall do for this. I’ve also written the sacred symbols in the pentagram and started the potion in the cauldron. And might I say, it’s extremely cliché, and a simple metal pot would have done.”
Jessica shut up, noticing how Alaric was becoming irritated, probably, finding her babbling strange. She was getting out of character. She needed to concentrate and act like a selfish bitch with a god complex, no jokes, and no witty comebacks. She sighed, tuning her thought to reach her mate, knowing that it would be pointless, but she would feel a lot better if she had Marcus’ voice in her head.
“What’s the holdup?” Alaric asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“I’m channeling the energy of the goddess. Can you just shut up?” Jessica glared at him. Marie smirked and Conrad dipped his head lower to conceal his own smirk. There was a lot of love for the leader in that room.
“Do you have some death wish?” Alaric asked, clearly annoyed with the way she was talking to him.
Jessica rolled her eyes and grabbed the athame and the chalice from a small table inside the pentagram and next to the cauldron. Then, she recited words in Latin. Her hands glowed red and a mystical fog rose from inside the cauldron.
After reciting the first part of the ritual, Jessica walked to Alaric. He showed her his wrist, which she cut without any ceremony, watching the blood pour inside the chalice. Then, she drew blood from Marie, who hissed and swore profanities.
“You shouldn’t be upset, it’s not good for the baby,” Jessica whispered, putting two fingers over Marie’s forehead. “Calm down,” she ordered, making her fingers glow. Marie’s eyes glazed over, putting a stop to the girl’s bad mood. The witch looked at Alaric. “How many months along is she?”
“I have no idea,” Alaric answered.
“She’s almost three months,” a timid voice answered. Jessica rose her head to see that the other vampire answered. “Is it safe to perform the ritual while she’s pregnant?”
“I guess…But why would you care?”
“She’s my sister,” Beth mumbled.
“Well, I don’t think she cares as much for you as you do.”
“Stop stalling and perform the ritual. We still have a lot to do before the dawn,” Alaric commanded, losing his patience.
Jessica didn’t say anything else, she simply strolled her way to the center of the pentagram, carrying the blood. There she whispered incantations and mixed herbs with it while using the athame to stir the blood.
Magical words poured out of her mouth as she recited the incantation needed to break the spell. However, nothing happened. Jessica recited again, and the Earth didn’t move, there was no bang or movement of the candle lights, nothing.
“Something is wrong with this spell,” she informed, pacing to check the book of spells. She read it loud and browsed the other pages back and forward.
Alaric was tapping his fingers on the armchair, Marie was smirking like a mad girl, and Beth was nibbling her lower lip and bunching her skirt with her hands.
“What’s wrong?” Alaric finally asked, making Jessica straightening up and spun around to face him.
“There’s something missing to the spell. Are you sure this is the original?”
“How the hell should I know, you were the one who wrote it. Don’t you know what’s missing?”
“I may be a vampire but I don’t have a photographic memory!”
Alaric got up from his chair. “I swear to you that if you are stalling, I’m going to rip your heart out and feed it to the dogs.”
“You need me to break your curse.”
“I still have your descendant as a backup.”
“I’m the one who created this curse, I’m the one that will remove it. Just let me concentrate and stop pressuring me with your death threats and tantrums.”
Alaric’s eyes grew bigger as he balled his hands into fists at his sides.
“You want this to work tonight, don’t you?” It was the vampire in the golden dress speaking, shattering the uncomfortable silence with her voice. She had an accent that could only be described as French. “Let the witch read the spell and concentrate. Maybe she missed something or maybe the ritual doesn’t work because she’s nervous.”
“Stay out of this, bitch!” Marie snarled, turning her head to face her sister. “Just kill the witch. She’s tricking you.”
“Shut up,” Alaric ordered his mate
“If you kill her, we can’t be bonded,” Beth reminded him.
“One last chance, witch,” Alaric declared, sitting back on the chair.
Jessica played the spell inside her head, checked the recitation, and reminded herself of each herb and product that she had put inside the cauldron. Maybe Valentina had left something out on purpose. It was a blood spell, something was binding it to survive along all those centuries. There must be some sort of secret ingredient or anchor. The spell required the blood of the ones cursed.
“It’s missing my own blood,” Jessica said, grabbing the athame and cutting herself on her palm. “It should work now,” she declared, putting down the dagger and wrapping tissue around her palm to stop the bleeding.
She noticed Alaric frowning at her actions. She patched the wound harder, aware that her blood kept staining the tissue. His own wound had already healed. Marie was still bleeding, since she was pregnant and her body was becoming more human and less immortal. But Valentina was a vampire, so her wound should have healed. Before Alaric could think more about it, Jessica stirred the chalice with the athame while she recited the incantation.
This time, the candles’ lights flickered, making the shadows dance against the walls as the air seemed heavy. Gravity seemed to pull her body down, pressuring and burning her skin.
“What is going on?” Marie screamed at the top of her lungs because the wind was swirling around them, tousling their hair.
Jessica kept reciting the incantation, putting all power and will into them, forcing the connection to break between them, wishing to save that baby’s life by saving Alaric’s mate.
“Alaric, make her stop! It hurts, my skin burns, the blood is boiling inside me!”
Alaric had his eyes closed as he yelled, “Are
you freeing us or killing us, witch?”
He tried to get up, but the witch knew he was stuck to his chair.
Jessica ignored his orders because she was feeling the thread that connected Alaric and Marie’s two souls and was forcing it to break. Yet, despite her attempts to pull and stretch, it wasn’t breaking. She summoned all her powers, all her magical abilities, and focused them on that thread as she opened her arms wide. The wind curled up her body as the light of the candles shimmered and danced to the sound of her words, but the thread seemed unbreakable.
Chapter Eighteen—INVASION
ANNABEL
Anna had been extra careful while running throughout the gardens, hiding behind trees and taking out the guards who were patrolling. One by one, they fell on the floor, unconscious. Shane wasn’t far, communicating through their mind-link and giving her information about the location of the remaining guards. He was also using the fake-guard’s appearance to get near the guards and taking them out before they had time to ask him why he was away from his post.
Several minutes later, Anna and Shane met at the back of the house, in front of the security door that gave them access to Alaric’s lair and more guards to eliminate.
“Eric and my men are passing the gates,” Shane warned Anna.
“Good. Tell them not to make too much noise and to leave the air support on hold for now. We don’t want the choppers alerting them to our presence before I have a location on Jessica.”
“The king is telling us to get in, that he’ll join us shortly,” Shane said, passing the security card on the display.
A robotic voice ordered them, “Please state your name and place your palm over the screen.”
