“Oh my sweet girl,” she whispered. “We have to find a way to stop this.”
I cried, there was nothing else I could do. I was tired, so tired, and my head wouldn’t stop throbbing.
“I thought I was going to be the hero in all of this,” I mumbled through my tears. “I thought I’d be saving lives and instead… instead, I just made everything worse!”
She hugged me tighter as the tears continued to stream down my cheeks and she shushed me softly.
“That’s no way to think. Not at all. You are more important than you realize. You’re the only one that’s seemed to have forgotten that fact, young lady.” She set me back from her, giving me that scowl she saved for when one of her kids did something wrong. “I did not raise you to be a quitter, Katherine Darrah.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“You pick yourself up, and you get back out there,” she urged. “You keep fighting.”
“But what if I’m not… I’m not this Vindicar? What if everything we thought was wrong?”
Mama Lucy cupped my face in her hands, wiping away my tears with her thumbs. “You listen to me, Katherine, it doesn’t matter if you are or you aren’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“The will to fight comes from who you are, who you let yourself be, not what someone tells you. Prophecy or no, family line or no, you are a good person. And you will fight for what’s right, I know you will.”
I let out a shuddering breath and nodded, feeling hope for the first time in days. Weeks even.
“And, this is no way to spend your eighteenth birthday.”
I shook my head. “No, that’s still a few months away, right?”
“Afraid not, my girl. Time passes quite differently, and you turned eighteen, well a few days ago actually. Happy belated birthday, Kate.”
My lips lifted in a smile, and she hugged me again when bells resounded through the castle.
We pulled away, and she rushed to the window.
“No… oh no.”
“What? What’s wrong?” I ran over to join her and growled when I spied the plagued who managed to climb over the wall and were currently racing along the top.
“Allis,” I snarled.
A voice of doubt rose in the back of my mind, reminding me that I was nothing, but Executioner was already in my hands, and barefoot, I took off out the door, Mama Lucy right behind me.
Heart pounding in time with my feet, I shouted for Craig and Forrest, but Greyson met me at the bottom of the steps, shaking his head.
“Craig, Forrest, and Tristan are gone,” he said, Luca and Nora sprinting up behind him.
“The wounded and the innocent,” I said, turning to Luca, “we have to ensure their safety.”
“And yours, Kate.”
“No, I have to go out there,” I argued as the sounds of the fight grew closer.
I hadn’t been able to see how many attacked, but they were already inside the walls, and the amount of damage they could cause was unthinkable if they were only here to spread the plague.
“No, you and Lucy, go to the hall and stay with the others, please,” Luca begged.
I gripped my sword fiercely in my hand, but nodded, if not for his sake then for Craig who probably gave him the order to keep me safe while he was away.
Mama Lucy came with me, and together we ran to the hall and once inside, barricaded the doors.
Mama Lucy worked at calming everyone down as I stood at the doors, holding Executioner at the ready as the four other guards in there with me did the same with their swords.
Two demons and two shifters.
No one said a word. No one dared.
At first, I heard nothing through the doors and thought the attackers had already been beaten back.
But then a roar shook the castle walls, and yells of dying men penetrated the heavy door.
“Mama Lucy,” I threw over my shoulder, “get everyone back as far as you can.”
She didn’t argue, and I heard them shuffling further back. as I, and the four guards did the same, moving away from the doors while another roar made the doors tremble in their frames.
My toes gripped the stones, and I forced my breathing to calm down. Not sure if it would work or not, I reached out for Craig or Forrest, hoping one of them would hear and know we needed help. But I couldn’t feel them, and after a few seconds of trying, I cringed as my temples throbbed in pain and my vision blurred.
“My lady?” one of the demons asked quietly, but I shook my head.
“Fine, I’m fine. Get ready.”
Why they listened to me, I wasn’t sure, but each one fell into a defensive stance, ready for whatever broke through that door.
The screams from outside cut off suddenly, and something breathed heavily outside the door, its hot breath seeping under them and bringing with it a scent I could only describe as death. My breathing turned ragged, and my fingers shifted in a constant dance on the hilt of my sword.
Waiting… waiting…
I heard the intake of breath a second before I screamed for everyone to get down, throwing myself at the two guards on either side of me.
We hit the floor just as the doors exploded inward and screams rang out around us.
Darkened flames shot over our bodies, singeing hair and clothes.
I grimaced as white-hot pain lashed at my back, keeping my head down until it finally stopped. The floor vibrated with each heavy step the beast took, but I didn’t even have to look over my shoulder to know what it was, or who.
Each movement making me want to scream in pain, I rolled to my side and dragged myself to my feet.
The guards lay still on the floor, breathing, but unconscious. Behind me were whimpers of fear and prayers being whispered.
But it was the black scaled dragon that resided before me that had my full attention. A beast I’d faced down once before.
“Allis,” I breathed.
His dragon lips smirked as smoke trailed from his nostrils and black flames dripped from his jaws.
His massive head tilted to the side as he took another step in, the plagued still fighting the others behind him. I spotted Luca, at least still alive, but the rest was blocked by Allis spreading his massive wings, trapping us in the hall.
The only way to fight a dragon was to be a dragon.
I felt my inner beast rear her head, ready for a fight, but Allis raised his massive front left foot and slammed it into the floor, stopping me from shifting.
I sank to my knees as the power rushed back into me, taking my breath away.
“You know,” I snarled, expected my voice to be shaking with fear, but instead a raw anger flowed out, giving me the strength to straighten again, staring him down, “I’m getting really, really tired of people thinking they can control me.”
Allis scoffed, his lip lifting to reveal his fangs.
“I’m not scared of you,” I growled. “Not even close.”
Voices screamed inside my mind, making my face scrunch as they pounded against my skull.
I doubled over, remembering other voices instead. Voices that gave me hope and strength. Craig and Forrest, talking to me while I was unconscious. Forgiving me for all I’d done wrong, telling me I was worth everything they went through. Their laughter deafened the screaming, and I squared my shoulders as I laughed in Allis’ face while his jaws parted in a snarl.
“Cassius wants you to kill me, is that it?”
His head tilted in acknowledgment and his growling laughter that rushed over me with that horrible stench of death.
I glanced at the sword in my hand, the point resting against the stones, before my gaze shot back to his. “He should’ve sent more men!”
I swung the blade wide and slashed at Allis’ face.
He roared in pain, head flying back from the hit and I continued the attack.
I dodged around his body, slashing and stabbing every inch of him I could reach as he scrambled to try and snag me in his jaws.
But the space was too tight, and he couldn’t move quick enough.
I climbed on his back and plunged the sword down into his spine, hoping to paralyze him, but then his claw snagged my shirt, and I cursed as he threw me aside.
I slammed into the stone floor as he charged over, and the innocents screamed with fear.
I couldn’t let him get to them. His eyes took in the others in the room, and I heard him chortle a second before his chest glowed with his inner fire.
Mama Lucy held her arms wide, facing down certain death as she closed her eyes, telling the others to get down.
They huddled together, and time suddenly slowed around me.
All my doubts over the past few weeks, all my fears of what my actions had wrought to these people, to the realms, faded to nothing as I watched Allis prepare to slaughter so many more.
There was no way I could stop him, not like this.
Kate, Celandine whispered in my mind, this is who you are, Kate. Embrace it!
Before I had a chance to make sense of her words, time was speeding up, and Allis threw his head back, ready to unleash his fury on the people.
I yelled as I threw myself forward and drove my blade right into the side of his face.
His jaws snapped shut, and he threw me around as I held on, clinging to my blade while he thrashed and roared in rage.
His claws scratched and dug into my skin. I screamed in pain and he finally dislodged me, throwing me to the ground before Mama Lucy.
My sword was still stuck in his face, and he yanked it free. I watched in horror as he snapped the blade in half and tossed the pieces aside as if they were nothing but twigs.
Those flames grew again as blood seeped from his wounds, not enough to stop him.
I saw my death in his eyes as they locked onto mine. Saw the smile on his face as once again, he opened his mouth to let the flames consume us all.
As the first flame parted his lips, I threw my arms across my face to shield me and try to take the brunt of it. I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
But the flames never struck me, and I heard Mama Lucy gasp in shock.
“Kate… by the gods, Kate.”
Confused, I opened my eyes at the same time an intense heat flowed from the stones at my feet and up through my body. It burst through every limb, circling around me in the purest blue light I’d ever seen in my life.
Allis’ fire couldn’t touch me. It curved back at him as the light continued to swirl up my body until it surrounded me completely. The runes I hadn’t seen glow since before I met Cassius flared to life now, pulsing with a life of their own as that heat scorched my soul, reignited my very soul.
When it reached an apex overhead, it slammed back down and rushed out of my arms to my fingertips, creating a shield of pure light and magic before it solidified into a solid round shield, its weight heavy, but so comforting on my arm.
“The shield of the Vindicar,” I whispered, stunned.
Allis growled as he glared at me.
I stood taller, my hair blowing back from the power coursing through my veins, power I had a taste of when I first started out on this journey.
But this… this is what it felt like to be the Vindicar.
I smirked a split second before I unleashed a battle-cry with more than just me crying out. Celandine’s voice joined mine, as well as those of other Darrahs lost to this darkness as I attacked.
I swung the shield, smacking Allis so hard across the face, he flipped onto his side, fighting to find his balance, but I was on him again, not giving him a chance to return the attack.
With each hit, I screamed, letting him feel my pain, my anger, drawing more blood than my sword ever could.
The shield burned into his scales, and he shrieked in agony as I landed a solid blow to his right eye. His wings sank, and suddenly, the dragon was gone, and Allis staggered away from my advance, holding his hand to his bleeding face.
“You bitch!” he snapped. “I’ll kill you! You are nothing! You’re nothing, do you hear me!”
I continued to stalk toward him, forcing him out of the hall, the rest of the plagued were all but dead, a few still managing to cling to life, but as Allis passed them, they froze.
Luca ran two of them through and relieved them of their heads for good measure before I noticed his awed gaze watching me closely.
“Cassius will rule the realms,” he continued to rant as I forced him toward the main doors.
He tripped over his feet and fell down the stone steps leading to the courtyard, but jumped right back up as I stomped down them, one by one, to join him at the bottom. He spat at my feet, but I didn’t break my gaze away from his. Not for a second.
A warm wind whispered past my ear, carrying with it words that had waited centuries to be spoken.
I nodded sadly as I focused on Allis as I watched his hand slither toward the two daggers at his hips.
“Your father forgives you, Allis,” I told him just as several riders appeared at the gate.
I didn’t have to look to know who it was.
Allis sputtered curses as he grabbed the daggers and struck, aiming to stab me.
I side-stepped his attack and spun in a tight circle, smashing the shield in his back and sent him to the ground. He rolled over, and before his next bout of insults could leave his mouth, I brought the shield down on his neck.
His severed head rolled a few feet away, eyes wide and mouth agape as the darkness seeped out of his body before sinking into the stones with a hiss.
“Kate?”
I straightened, still holding the shield firmly in my grasp, and met the two sets of eyes watching me in shock.
Then they both broke out into smiles and Craig, and Forrest rushed to me. They hugged me between them as I felt the power of the Vindicar settle back into my body and the shield. Just as the dark shield had, this one shrank into a gauntlet that rested on my arm.
I hugged them back fiercely.
“You just killed Allis,” Forrest whispered as he stepped back.
“Yeah, yeah I did.”
A heavy silence fell over the courtyard as Tristan also dismounted and cautiously approached. He eyed me warily, almost with fear.
“What? At least it’s not like the time I had a fractorn leg hanging out of my mouth.”
I kept my face dead serious for a few heartbeats before Tristan let out a wolfish laugh and the tension broke.
“Katherine Darrah,” he said as he approached and bowed his head. “Vindicar, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
I was taken aback by his words and worse when all the others in the courtyard also bowed their heads to me.
Craig and Forrest stepped back a bit further and though the first was smirking when he did it, he too lowered his head in reverence.
This was who I was, who I was meant to be. And no one was going to tell me differently.
I stared past them all out the front gate, and dared Cassius to come for me now.
This time, I was ready.
This time, I would kill him.
18
Craig
The castle that had been filled with depressed and dour faces since we arrived was filled with laughter and smiles that night.
The best sight of all was seeing Kate, her eyes bright and happy as she danced with Luca and others, as she joked and feasted and drank with the rest of us.
Kate was back.
Lucy filled us in on what happened, and Luca had been close by, nodding in stunned silence at what Lucy relayed.
It appeared the shield was never meant to be found and pieced back together. Only the true Vindicar could create it and use it at the moment when it was needed most.
Kate had saved so many people by throwing herself in front of them, ready to die.
It scared the shit out of me that we wouldn’t have made it in time and she could’ve been killed. But she was alive, and I tried my best to relax and enjoy the night with everyone else.
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Forrest plopped down in the empty chair beside me, handing over another full cup of demon grog.
“I had no idea the shifters like this so much,” I mused as I sipped my drink.
“Tristan said their brew is far better, but they have more of this. Not many shifters drink it apparently,” Forrest said with a smirk as he tapped his cup against mine.
I laughed with him and drank more of it down, eyes glued to Kate twirling around on the dance floor with the other girls and women as the fast tempo music continued to play from the musicians sitting atop one of the long tables.
The runes on her body gave off a subtle glow still, and I couldn’t help but smile the longer I watched her.
Finally, she embraced who she was meant to be.
I finished my drink and considered turning in for the night. Allis might be dead, but Cassius was still out there somewhere, along with his army. Before too long, they’d be here, and even with Kate to her full power, I couldn’t help but doubt we’d be the victors in that battle.
“Where are you going?” Forrest asked, grabbing my arm.
“Get some rest while I still can.”
“Oh no, you are not leaving this hall until you do what you should’ve done as soon as we got back,” he argued.
I frowned. “What the bloody hell are you talking about?”
“Look,” he said and leaned in closer, “I know you, and I have sort of… had our differences, especially on certain matters regarding the heart.”
I pursed my lips and tried to leave again, but he wouldn’t let me.
“You really want to talk about this right now? How you still think you’re better for her than I am?” I asked, meaning it to be teasing, but when I glanced toward Kate, I grinned again, and my heart swelled.
“Though, I would like to continue to believe that, alas I was wrong.”
“I’m sorry, you were what?” I snapped, surprised. “Man, what are you trying to tell me?”
Forrest sighed and shrugged. “You love her, Craig. Even not being an empath I could tell from the way you look at her. We both care for her,” he went on when I tried to argue, “and we always will. But what you and Kate have… there’s something much deeper there. I won’t lie, I am jealous, but… I’m not going to try and stand in your way. You love her, and I can tell you without any doubt in my mind, she loves you just as much.”
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