“What have you put in place to try and stop this?”
“Nothing extravagant. I’m not to leave the property on my own, preferably at all and there is talk of going somewhere for a while to get me out of danger.”
“But you’re an immortal now. Surely you can take a walk by yourself.”
“It’s not that I can’t defend myself. Everyone is worried that if this threat happened while I was on my own nobody would have any idea what had happened or how to rescue me.”
Kat cocked her head to the side. “Well unfortunately when you put it that way, it does make sense.”
“It’s not much fun, but yeah.” Ally paused for a minute and stared at her mare, before turning back to Kat. “There’s something else that I’ve been thinking about the last couple of days. Maybe you can help me to work it out.”
“I’m your girl. What’s the prob?”
“It’s this elder council business. All of us together and we win but without one we fail. Why? And we each have our different talents and skills, but what is each person’s exact purpose in all this? It seems like something that we should know, or else what is the point of having special skills if they aren’t put to good use.”
“I totally agree with you. Have you got any thoughts to kick us off?”
“A few vague ones and only the most obvious really,” Ally replied. “The seer, Isabella, she would be needed to foresee what’s coming, their plan of attack perhaps. She could give us an edge for the final battle.”
“Alright, so that’s the seer’s purpose. Who next?”
“The warrior, Caleb, again fairly obvious. We need his fighting skills to win and take out the minor vampires that Vincent will inevitably bring along.”
“He could also be useful killing Vincent.”
Ally shook her head. “No that has to be me.”
“Okay, well that’s your purpose fulfilled as well then. So, we’ve got three of the six covered.”
“That’s more than what I started with half an hour ago,” Ally said with a small smile. “But the last three have me stumped. You, the vampire. Mackenzie, the human. And lastly Madison, the empath.”
“I’m in agreement with you there. I don’t know exactly what a vampire will be needed for. And a human? She’ll be slaughtered.”
“We’ve spoken to her about it, because yes you’re right, she wouldn’t last more than a minute and she has agreed to consider becoming an immortal. It would’ve happened eventually anyway given that Chase is her soulmate.”
“It’s imperative if you ask me,” Kat stated forcefully.
Ally agreed with the sentiment. “I know, trust me but we can’t force her. Besides, we both know first-hand what it’s like to change.”
“Yeah I know, but if it’s for her own good... But what about the prophecy? It says human, not immortal.”
“It says she will be a human, but it doesn’t say anything about her being human at the time of the battle.”
“Loop hole,” Kat stated.
“Precisely.”
“I’ve had a thought, go with me on this,” Kat said. “So after the battle, we all survive and then we form this council and rule over the immortals with you as our leader right?”
“If all goes to plan, yes that’s what will happen.”
“Right, so perhaps some of us, for example myself, Mackenzie and Madison aren’t necessarily needed for the battle, but needed afterwards for the council going forward.”
“I’m following you, but I’m still not sure exactly what you’re getting at.”
“Mackenzie’s pure goodness would be an asset to the council and me being a vampire, I would be useful sussing out if there are more vampires like Tristan and I that want to join the immortals and relinquish the evil vampire way of life, and Madison will be able to tell if they are being truthful given that’s she an empath and can feel what they are feeling.”
Astonishment filled Ally’s face. “That’s brilliant.”
“I don’t know whether to be complimented or insulted by the surprise on your face,” Kat said with a wide grin.
“Complimented. Definitely complimented,” Ally replied. “I never thought about it like that. I’ve just been thinking about the battle, but that makes so much sense. Of course we’d need specific people on the council afterwards for running things properly. And going through the battle will prove themselves to the immortals and earn their respect and admiration which will be crucial. They have all been hiding for years, scared of their own shadows going by what James has told me.”
“It’s going to take something big to get the immortals to trust a vampire.”
“You?”
“Do you see any other vampires on the elder list of yours?” Kat said with a sarcastic grin.
Ally smiled. “No, just you. I see what you’re saying. It won’t be an easy task.”
“No,” Kat replied, looking suddenly disheartened. “But realistically will the immortals ever accept me or Tristan after what the other vampires have done?”
Ally watched her mare again before answering. “From my little experience with these people, they seem to value prophecies very highly and if your name is on that list, inevitably they will accept you.”
Chapter Seven
Silently as a cat, the grand enchantress crept towards Carlisle Manor. The night was eerily still and her heart pounded erratically. Her gaze nervously swept back and forth. Her eyes and senses could detect no one in sight, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t being watched. Her nerves danced and she took a deep breath to calm herself and bring her focus back to her purpose. Jumping at shadows wouldn’t get her back.
Arabella wasn’t scared of the immortals, but she was desperately scared of the situation she found herself in. The girl would be turned by Vincent if this spell didn’t work, but her pure soul would be tainted if it did. Vincent had told her that she had a choice, but it was only the illusion of choice that he had offered her. Her hands were as tightly bound as the immortal girl was about to be.
She reached the tree Ally and Kat had been sitting under hours earlier and kneeled down. She pulled her leather satchel over her head and placed it carefully on the ground with a soft clink. The bag contained everything she needed for the spell. She looked around once more to ensure she was close enough to perform the spell, but far enough away not to alert anyone to her presence.
With a tormented sigh, she opened the bag and pulled three snow white candles and three blood red candles, then placed them in a large circle, alternating the red and white. She took out the remaining items needed, a small silver bowl covered with an intricate leaf design, her worn leather bound spell book, a delicate silver chain, an anchor pendant and a moonstone.
Arabella stepped inside the circle and knelt down. Reaching behind her, she picked up the silver bowl, placed it in front of her, then picked up the remaining ingredients and arranged them beside her. She inhaled a deep breath and slowly released it. She filled the delicate bowl with water, before picking up the spell book and muttered, “Goddess, forgive me.”
She opened it with care and looked at the page she had marked earlier. The ‘Forget Me’ spell stared back at her ominously. A little chill ripped through her, shooting goose bumps up her arms.
“What choice do I have?” She whispered to herself and the Goddess before starting.
She took a deep breath to calm and centre herself. Every drop of her power would be needed to ensure this spell bound Alessandra, but her energy and power had already taken a hit the night before blocking Isabella’s visions and foreseeing abilities. The spell had taken more energy than she had thought and her recovery time was not as fast after resorting to the darker arts. But the spell was necessary. Without it they would never have been able to do this. Isabella would have seen this coming.
Arabella took one final look at the house and began. “Illuminate,” she commanded to the candles. Six blue flames sputtered to life, and then roared all around her. She picked up t
he moonstone and dipped it into the bowl of water. She began to wash the stone with her hands, as she chanted the incantation from the book.
“Element of water,
I call upon thee,
Wash away the memories,
Set Alessandra free.
By the power of the grand enchantress,
I will it to be,
By the power of the goddess,
So shall it be.”
She lifted the stone from the water and began to wrap the small chain around and around.
“Alessandra’s mind will be bound,
Her anchor will release the chain,
When she sees her true love,
Her real life will begin again.”
Next she attached the small anchor pendant to the chain and placed it on the grass next to the bowl.
“As I will it,
It shall be.”
A fierce ghostly wind flew past, blew out the candles and whipped up her hair. The enchantress slumped as she felt the power rush out of her and into the stone.
She weakly held herself up pushing her hands into the grass, whilst her head hung low. She was drained from the spell and already the bitter taste of regret wound itself into her heart and soul for what she had done to her unwitting victim.
The stone glowed bright white and she knew that it had worked. Alessandra no longer knew who she was or what she was.
It was time.
She gathered all her belongings and placed them back into the bag, then stood up and whispered bewitchingly into the dark night, “Alessandra, come to me.”
Chapter Eight
Ally got out of bed in a trance and silently walked out of the room she shared with James without making a sound. She felt like a fog had settled over her mind, or that she was trying to find her way of out a maze in pitch black.
Dressed in nothing more than her silk night gown, she walked outside into the frigid air. Down the steps and into the garden, she continued in her journey, all the while trying to fight the dense, black fog that had settled on her consciousness. Abruptly, her feet stopped walking. A mysterious beauty stood under a tree, watching her. In the darkness of her mind, she felt the woman was waiting for her with a purpose. “Who are you?” she whispered. “Am I dreaming?”
The woman looked at her with a depth of sadness Ally couldn’t fathom. “A friend,” the mysterious woman whispered in reply. “You’re not dreaming. But I promise I will help you, Alessandra.”
Ally nodded dreamily, but on the inside a frisson of fear snaked its way through her. Confusion and a deep terror settled in the pit of her stomach. She mentally screamed and fought desperately against the bonds that held her in their grip, but it did nothing.
“Sleep,” the woman whispered with a wave of her hand and Ally fell back into the deep, dark unconsciousness once more without so much as a whimper.
“I meant what I said,” Arabella said again with the zombie like Ally standing in front of her, even though she knew Ally couldn’t hear her now. “I vow that one way or another, I will ensure that you make it home again.”
She grabbed her hand and they set off on foot to the rendezvous point she had arranged with Vincent. With each step closer to their destination, her feet felt heavier and her soul felt darker.
“Am I really going to just hand her over like some sacrificial lamb?” She looked beside her and her heart twisted at the blank expression on the girls face. “What have I become?” She cried out softly as a tear rolled down her face.
Arabella stopped walking and sat down on the grass beneath her feet. They were only five minutes from the intended meeting place. “Sit,” she commanded Ally. “There has to be something I can do. I can’t just hand her over.”
She put her head in her hands, and prayed to the goddess that she would come up with an idea, a plan…anything. Handing Ally over was the last thing she wanted to do, but she had to make the exchange, or Vincent would make good on his promise and change the girl. She looked up into the night sky, and wrung her hands together.
“Goddess, please,” she begged. “Show me the way.”
A whispered voice floated on the breeze brushing past her ear. “You cannot change fate, no matter what spells you cast. This was destined to happen. You are all merely pawns in a game that is greater than you could ever hope to understand. Give up the girl. Then follow through on your promise.”
Arabella sighed quietly. The goddess was very angry with her, but she still showed her the way. There was hope for redemption yet. Her heart was still heavy with the knowledge of what she was to do, but she would do as she had been instructed. She rose up from the ground and brought Ally with her. “Let’s go,” she whispered kindly to the girl.
A few minutes later, Arabella saw three vampires waiting for her. The blonde one, Natalia smirked as the two got closer. Vincent was nowhere to be seen. She stopped two metres in front of them.
“Where is Vincent?”
“Oh, something came up,” Natalia replied with a smirk and stepped closer to them. “He sent me to collect his cargo instead. I take it she’s got a serious case of amnesia?”
Arabella nodded. “It is done.”
Natalia let out a small giggle and walked up to Ally. She peered into her vacant green eyes and waved a hand in front of her face. “Hmm, I wonder what else I could do that she wouldn’t notice.”
Arabella growing tired of Natalia’s childish antics, waved her hand and commanded Ally. “Wake up.”
Ally suddenly alert and sensing danger in front of her, reached out and grabbed the blonde by the neck. She twisted her around and pulled her flushed against her chest with one hand, a fireball ready to burn her to ashes in the other.
Natalia screeched and fought to free herself from the death grip she was caught in, but to no avail. Ally had the upper hand and was bringing the fireball closer and closer to Natalia. In a desperate plea, she whimpered to Arabella, “Help me!”
Arabella looked down her nose at the pitiful creature in front of her. “And why should I show you mercy when I know you would not do the same for me?”
Natalia’s eyes widened and she tried to deny the truth, but Arabella just waved it away as the lie that it was. “Please,” she begged once more.
The fireball was only inches from her now.
As she watched the scene unfolding, she knew that if she didn’t interfere, Natalia would be dead in moments. She let out a deep sigh, and reluctantly ordered Ally, “Release her and sleep.”
Ally’s arms instantly dropped and Natalia landed with a hard thud onto the grass beneath her. She clutched her throat and dragged in deep breaths. Not that she needed the air of course, but it was still a natural instinct apparently. She glared fiercely at Arabella and the rage seeped out of her. “You’ll pay for that one day,” Natalia raged.
Arabella shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe, but it was worth it.”
Natalia growled her displeasure.
“I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain. I want the girl back. Where is she?”
“Vincent will send her home within the hour now that we have Alessandra,” she said with a sneer in Ally’s direction.
Arabella nodded. “Who is this girl that he wants her so badly?”
“She’s the prophecy girl. Didn’t he tell you?”
“No,” she said a little shocked and now even more sickened by what she had done.
Natalia grinned wickedly. “You really should do some research on the person you’re bewitching next time. This girl is supposed to end Vincent and bring all the immortals back together again. Too bad that won’t happen now.”
“No, I suppose not,” Arabella replied with a sinking feeling. She had no idea that her victim was the prophecy girl until now. She cursed herself for not checking up on the girl before she agreed, but she would have had to do it anyway. “Would’ve been nice to see your species wiped off the earth.”
Natalia growled. “Take her,” she directed to vampires behind her. “I want
to go home.”
Arabella begrudgingly let her go into the hands of the ruffian vampires. “I want her back within the hour or I’m coming after Vincent myself.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Natalia said then stalked off with the two vampires following behind with an unconscious Ally, leaving Arabella alone to contemplate the enormity of what she had just done. “I’ll find a way,” she muttered. “I’ll find a way.”
Chapter Nine
Vincent stalked up and down in a fast pace in his room. “Anytime now, you’ll be mine,” he said quietly. The victory shone in his eyes and his cruel mouth almost lifted into a smile.
Up and down, up and down, until finally a knock on the door interrupted him. “Come,” he shouted in anticipation.
Natalia swept into the room, her sapphire gown flowing behind her and bringing out her blue eyes. “I’ve got what you wanted,” she purred as she walked closer towards him.
“Where is she?” He asked excitedly.
Natalia couldn’t help the sigh that escaped her lips. “It’s always bloody Alessandra that you want,” she pouted with her full red lips. “It’s never me anymore.”
Vincent hid his irritation and stepped closer to her. “Of course I want you,” he whispered into her ear and trailed his finger lightly down the length of her arm. “But you aren’t trying to kill me, are you?”
“Never,” she replied vehemently and wrapped her long, lean body around his.
“Then that is why it’s Alessandra I’m focusing on.” He pulled her head back and looked into her face. “Soon my dear, there’ll be no more prophecy girl. It’ll just be you and me like it always has been.”
Natalia stopped pouting momentarily. “I hope so.”
“I promise.” He kissed her mouth in a brief searing kiss. “Now where is she?”
She disentangled herself from the monster that she loved. “She’s in the room you had made up for her. Although I thought the dudgeon was much better place to keep her.”
Immortal Fate Page 3
