by Candy Crum
“He must have been scared away,” Khia said as she took another careful step forward, focusing in on Brett. “I can’t even sense him, so he must have fled rather quickly. Amazing. I never thought he would ever abandon you, Brett. Oh, what vile creatures you are. Abandoned his brother to save himself.” She shook her head and tsked in mock shame.
Brett’s eyes met mind with a wink in my direction before changing his focus back to Khia. She lifted her hand in a graceful upward flick, lifting Brett off the deck.
“Ah!” Rachel screamed from her place on the side of the deck.
Brett’s helpless form was suspended weightlessly in the air above the deck floor. He was completely quiet and calm as he was held there. Movement caught my attention, and I saw Khia slowly making her way toward me.
“I promise that I can help you. I can feel your fear of me, and I apologize for that, but time is short. We must leave now.” Her voice was soft as she took another step forward.
“Kailah! No! Don’t go with her!” Rachel cried out.
“Insolence!” Khia snapped. “You will die for your interference.”
“No!” I screamed.
Don’t! Sayen demanded, but I didn’t care. I’d had enough.
Without further thought, I leapt off the deck, heading for Khia. She quickly prepared herself for the impact, but it never came. I was caught mid-jump and thrown back onto the ground. I landed hard on my back, the wind thrusting its way out of my lungs with a sickening hiss. My chest managed to inflate with a painful, rattled gasp.
“You will not touch either of them.” Aeric was back and his voice was far darker than before, threatening.
He was standing at my feet with his right hand wrapped around Khia’s throat. Her tiny face was floating half an arm’s length above his head, though, she was more than a foot shorter than him. I’d seen his agility when fighting with him, but his strength was something else. Seeing him suspend her like that that so easily, especially after having seen what she could do, I realized that he’d been right. I had absolutely no reason to fear him. If he’d wanted me dead, I would have been long ago.
Aeric never used a single ounce of his unnatural strength against me. He’d only used enough to help save the life of my best friend. He was a god among men and was obviously a force to be reckoned with. Something inside me changed, and I couldn’t help but see him differently as he stood there, defending me.
“If she can’t come with me, then I will kill her before I allow her to go with you,” Khia forced out as she hung from his large hand.
A deep, gut wrenching growl clawed its way from Aeric’s chest, somehow reverberating down into the ground under his feet where I lay.
“It is you who will fall before me today.” He sounded icier than death itself.
Aeric’s hand clenched and there was a loud crack as Khia’s body went limp.
Go! Now! Sayen ordered.
Aeric effortlessly tossed Khia’s unmoving body across the back yard and into the tall grass behind it.
“Grab’em and go!” Aeric said.
“Whoa! Brett!” I heard Rachel shriek from behind me.
I turned to look, but quickly felt arms wrap around me. My vision turned blurry and my head felt like it was spinning. When I could see again, just a half second later, we had already made it to their car. Aeric had picked me up and used Vampiric speed to get me to the Charger. I realized, when I saw Rachel there, that Brett had done the same thing to her.
“Amanda is still inside! I will not leave her!” I told Aeric.
He looked into my eyes and something crossed his face before he nodded once and ran off. In only a fraction of a second there was nothing but air in front of me. I heard the back door sliding open and it wasn’t long before I heard two screams. Just as fast as Aeric left, he’d returned, only with my sister in his arms. Brett returned with Mary and I knew then where the second scream had come from. I hadn’t even seen him move.
With quick reflexes, Aeric stopped directly in front of me, sat Amanda down, and stabilized her. He quickly grabbed her hair and wrapped his arm around her waist before leaning her over and away from us in time for her to throw up again.
My sister groaned loudly. “What – the fuck – was that?”
“No time to explain, sissa. Do you think you’re going to get sick again?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll get the car cleaned. Get her inside.”
Brett loaded Rachel and Mary into Mary’s car, since it was faster than Rachel’s. She drove the same thing that I did, a Chevy Sonic Turbo. That reminded me… Mine was still back at the grocery store in Seymour. Well, if it didn’t get destroyed, that is.
“Brett, there isn’t any time to move Rachel’s car,” Aeric said, making his way to the driver’s side of the Charger. “Drive through the yard and don’t be stingy with the accelerator. That thing has a turbo in it.”
Brett chuckled. “Oh, brother, you don’t have anything to worry about.”
Amanda got in the back of the Charger and loosely buckled into the middle so she could lie across the seat, and I climbed in the front. Both cars started almost simultaneously, and the anxiety eased a little. I told myself that it would be like last time. We would get away.
“Uh, Kailah…” Aeric said. “If there’s any way that you could put a barrier around us, that would be great.” It was easy to hear the warning in it.
“What? Why? I don’t know how to do that!”
Brett spun out in front of us and a few rocks flew back and hit the Charger before the Sonic spun around in the yard and took off for the road. Once they were gone, I realized why Aeric wanted the barrier. Khia was in the process of standing and she – looked – pissed.
“Why aren’t you going?” I asked frantically.
“It’s too late. She would have us by the time we got out of the driveway. We have no choice. You have to set a barrier.”
“But, if I use those powers around you, I could hurt you!”
I didn’t know what I was completely capable of, and one wrong move on my part, and I could hurt him badly. I didn’t know a lot, but that I was certain of.
“It’s a guarantee you’ll hurt me, but as long as you and Amanda are safe, that’s all that matters to me. Do it. Now!”
I put my hands out, as I’d done before in my dream, and as I’d seen Wendy do, but nothing happened.
“See! I can’t do it! Just drive!
“Try harder, Kailah!” he growled as he shoved the car into gear.
The thunder cracked overhead, causing me to jump. Khia’s hand was in the air as it had been when she pulled a lightning bolt from the sky. If that hit the far at full impact, it would fry it, and more than likely us, too. The only reason why we made it earlier was because it had been filtered through an Immortal’s body first. A lot of energy had been absorbed.
“Forgive me for what I’m about to do,” Aeric said sadly. “I have no choice.”
There wasn’t even enough time to wonder what he meant by that. The next few events happened such a short time that I could hardly register it. Khia pulled another bolt from the sky and shaped it into an energy ball, ready to launch it at us. My heart started racing, and I began feeling light headed and panicky. The only thing that brought this on was Vampiric energy.
As I looked at Aeric, his eyes had gone a darker shade of green and something about him seemed off. In a flash, his large hand was tight around my throat, and I couldn’t breathe. The energy around my body felt like it was eating me alive. I felt a tear slide down my cheek, and I did the only thing that came to mind. I planted both of my hands in his chest as he began pulling me toward him.
The energy exploded from my body in all directions, and I heard him growl as he was thrown into the driver’s side door. I looked forward in time to see Khia’s ball of lightning be deflected by a growing, light blue cloud of energy surrounding the car before being thrown right back at her. I had created the barrier. Aeric used his Vampiric energy to frighten m
e into creating one.
The tires started spinning as the car took off, and I looked over to see Aeric recovering from the blast. His shirt was smoking all over as it slowly burned away from his skin, and I saw how badly I’d wounded him.
“Your skin,” I whispered.
“Not now. I have to get you out of here. She will only be disoriented for a few more seconds,” he said as he spun the car around in the yard and headed down the driveway. Though he winced in pain, he didn’t let it distract him.
The barrier around the car held strong, and once we were on pavement, Aeric opened the car up and there was nothing stingy about his lead foot on the accelerator. The man knew how to drive, and I was sure the extra senses and reflexes definitely came in handy.
“The shirt. Get it off me,” he ordered. I hesitated and he caught it. “Just shred it. There’s barely anything left, but it’s burning my skin.”
I leaned over and began tearing his shirt off. He’d been burned all over his chest and upper arms. Even his stomach was wounded, but it was his chest that held the worst of it. Large burns were on his chest from where my hands landed, and they spread out from there. It only took me a few seconds to shred the shirt off, and I threw it out the window.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
My eyes widened. “Me? You’re the one that we should be worried about. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry about it. How’s your throat? I didn’t really hurt you, did I?”
He gently touched my throat with the tips of his fingers as he slowly tilted my head from side to side, inspecting my neck. After seeing everything he was capable of that day, it really did shock me to see how gentle his hands could be. He softly ran his thumb down the left side of my neck before placing his hand on the gear shift.
“Are you breathing okay?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you. I know why you did it. You weren’t really trying to hurt me.”
I saw his eyes narrow a bit as sadness crossed his face. “I know what I am, and I can’t help that. I chose this life. I chose to let Khanae turn me because of something terrible that happened long ago that I felt I needed to right. I vowed that I would never let that happen to anyone else, and damn it, I’ve done my best. I’m sorry that you hate me so much, but I really hope that in time you can learn to accept me.”
“I don’t think that I hate you anymore. Well, not entirely at least,” I said with a smile.
I saw him grin a little, too. “Good. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think life would be infinitely boring from here to eternity, now that I’ve experienced the sarcasm and witty retorts of the one and only, Miss Kailah Marie Clark.”
“Um, hello? I’m still back here, ya know,” Amanda said. I’d forgotten about that during the terror of facing Khia again. “Make out later. Answers now.”
What? I hardly think so. Not only would I never flirt with a Vampire, especially one that so easly gets under my skin, but I seriously doubted that he would want to flirt with something that could so easily injure him when angry.
Thinking of his wounds brought them back to my attention. I looked over and saw that a lot of them had started to heal. I shook my head in disbelief. Yes, I’d seen a lot, but there was always something there to catch me off guard. It’s one thing to know that someone is a Vampire. It’s quite another to see what that means.
“Yeah. I think I’m finally ready for some orientation,” I said.
The Eternal Legacy
The Eternal Series Vol. 2
Candy Crum
Chapter One
Immortals. Vampires. Werewolves. So, so much more. Then there are the humans. That’s where I wanted to be, back with the humans. Safely back in the world where everything made sense, and I was nothing more than a college student that was great at patient care.
But that’s not where I was. Not even a little.
There I was, on the run from an evil ancestor that was obsessed with destroying Vampires and taking a throne that she didn’t deserve. I’d seen evidence to prove some of those Vampires that she wanted to kill are far more helpful and protective than evil. They didn’t deserve to die. Khia was a dangerous force to be reckoned with. Age and power did not grant you the ticket to loyalty. Patience and compassion, however… That’s all you really needed.
Aeric wanted to get to the interstate and make sure that we were out of harm’s way before he started answering my questions. And lemme tell ya… There were a ton of them.
I couldn’t blame him for wanting to wait as he continuously had to keep an eye out for Khia. After all I’d seen, I was pretty sure she would show up on a broom flying next to us. Despite Aeric laughing when I told him exactly that, I still hadn’t ruled it out. Brett had called just a few minutes before we hit the interstate to check in. They safely made it onto I-65 and were heading south to Louisville, which I assumed was where we were also headed.
“Mary and Rachel are fine,” Aeric said. “Apparently, when Brett found Mary, she was frozen in place. That isn’t an Immortal power. Only beings like the Reapers and the gods of death have control over something like that, so I’m not exactly sure how she acquired that one. Regardless, everyone got out safely, and they’re filling Mary in now, which I’m about to do for you.”
“Well, at least they’re safe,” I said. That was the only thing that I was truly worried about.
“Shall I start from the beginning?” Aeric asked.
I nodded. “Yes. Khanae tried giving me bits and pieces before I flipped out. So, the beginning is good.”
“Oh, yeah,” Amanda said. “Beginning is definitely good.”
“Very well then. Vampires and Immortals—along with the other unnatural creatures of the shadow world—were all created around the same time. Khanae will more than likely tell you the specifics of how each species came to be. She may even allow you to read her Memoirs of an Egyptian Goddess journals. She had a leather-bound copy of them made and keeps them with her. Until then, none of the origins are of importance. What you do need to know is that Immortals channel spirits. Spirits themselves are immortal and—in small amounts—have the power to control elemental magic. Each spirit can only control one element. And because Immortals can channel spirits, they are also able to borrow the elemental magic.”
“That explains why I’ve been able to see spirits my entire life. I’d always attributed it to my Native American ancestry, but I guess not. It’s hard to say how much I’ve seen and done in my life that I contributed to that and was wrong. Speaking of which… My great-great grandfather, Taima, appeared earlier today during our first run-in with Khia. He showed me how to control the wind, and it saved our lives. I have no doubt we’d be with Khia right now if not for that.”
As I told Aeric what happened, I realized that the whole time I’d been going through everything, it felt like I was swimming upstream in a great river. I fought everything that was happening instead of embracing it. Right then, as I talked about everything with him, it felt as though the waters were slowing.
Yes, there were still difficult parts, but for the most of it, I was confident. I was confident that I would figure out that whole mess and finally take my place in whatever it was that I was meant for. Deep down, I always believed that I was meant for something greater, and I suppose that I was right. I just thought it would be graduating Med school or something similar.
“That’s what happened?” Amanda asked, referring to our great-great grandfather aiding us. I nodded.
“Taima is always with you. When you were born, he left Sayen. She told him that his place was with you. Okay. Next subject. Sorry to run through so fast, but you need a crash course. No more walking on eggshells. Now, you know about Immortals and where their power originates. On to Vampires. I know Khanae told you of the two types of Vampires, correct?”
“Yes, but I kind of didn’t stick around to hear many differences. She said it wasn’t important at the time.”
“You were
n’t joking about that crap you rattled off in the toaster earlier, were you?” Amanda asked, her voice flat and semi-sarcastic.
“Hell, I wasn’t sure if you were even listening or not. But Aeric is a Vampire. I’m sure you gathered that. It’s why he and Brett made you sick, too.”
“But Brett didn’t make me sick. Just Aeric.”
“Ha!” I laughed loudly. “See, buddy? I told ya. There’s just something not right about you. It wasn’t my fault that I had such deep-seeded hatred toward you. I still don’t fully trust you, but I’m working on it.”
He smiled. “I suppose I’ll have to work on that, too.”
“Okay, so, there are Vampires. Two types. Go on,” Amanda said. Just as always, her shock never lingered long. She was strong—much stronger than me.
“Khanae is the original Vampire, and she is a day-walking Vampire. Originally, we were all supposed to be that way, but things changed. When she turned, she was fed normal human food throughout the transition. It took months for her to complete the transition. During that time, she was in a coma. While she was unconscious, a couple took her in and mashed up berries in water and fed her the entire time. She believes that the lack of blood and the constant nourishment that she received played a huge part in keeping her alive through turning. If a day-walker turns a human, that human will also be a day-walker. Turning requires the Vampire to drink the blood of the human, and then, the human must drink the Vampire’s blood. The transformation is slow, taking twelve to twenty-four hours, but it isn’t very painful. In fact, Brett and I slept through it.
“Rogues, on the other hand, have a much more violent transition. There are two ways to become the typical, evil, storybook Vampire. One way is to be turned by one. Turning only requires being bitten by one of them; no blood exchange is necessary. And though the transformation is fast, only a few hours, it is excruciatingly painful. I can’t stress enough just how bad the pain is. Hell itself couldn’t deliver that much torture. The weaker humans don’t even survive. They will permanently die. If a human is bitten and turned by a night-walking Vampire, Rogues as we call them, they will forever be that way. There is no changing into one of us.”
