The Blackwater Legacy (The Bloodlines Legacy Series Book 2)

by Apryl Baker

  “Saidie.” I keep my voice low and soothing. “What’s wrong?  What happened?”

  “Evil.”

  Does she mean she’s evil?  I don’t buy that for a hot minute. “You’re not evil, Saidie.”

  She laughs harshly. “Not me, her.”

  “The necromancer Uncle Sabien sent you to?”

  She nods, her eyes hunting the room again.

  I follow her gaze. Does she see something I don’t?

  “How’d you get home?” I ask her.

  “Walked.”

  “You walked all the way from New Orleans?”

  “Mostly. Caught a ride a few times.”

  “What?” I yell. I can’t help it. “Don’t you know how dangerous that is?”

  “Safer than staying with her.”

  Her eyes never stop moving.

  “Saidie, what are you looking at?” I demand, exasperated.

  “You don’t want to know,” she whispers.

  No, I probably don’t. “I do.”

  She finally looks up at me and her gray eyes are the color of storm clouds before a really harsh thunderstorm. They bleed with anger and fear. Sweet Jesus, what happened to her? I know my own midnight blue eyes must be wide with the horror of what I see shining out of hers.

  “Dead things,” she tells me dully.

  Dead things? I give the room a once over. I don’t see anything.

  “Ghosts,” she says before I can ask. “She made sure they could find me, and now they won’t leave me alone. I don’t know how to make them go away.” Her voice breaks on a sob.

  I’m not sure what to make of that. I don’t see anything, but I’ve learned not to dismiss someone else’s nightmares. I spent the better part of nine years locked up in a mental institution because of mine. They turned out to be real, so just because I can’t see what Saidie does, it doesn’t make her nightmares any less real.

  Her bathroom door opens and someone steps out, a wet cloth in his hand. Good Lord. I swallow and take a step back. Hair so black it glints blue where it surfs the red t-shirt he’s wearing. He glances at me and I blink. His face is as familiar to me as my own, and those eyes…emerald green. I know those eyes. They are Luka Rinaldi’s eyes, but this isn’t Luka.

  “Who are you?” I whisper.

  “Blue? What’s wrong?”

  Micah, my other best friend, whispers those frantic words in my head. It’s a relief to hear his voice right now. He’s also the only person who calls me Blue.

  “Be quiet and listen,” I tell him. Sometimes being bound to another person’s soul can come in handy.

  “Aleric.” Luka’s shocked whisper comes from behind me, but I don’t turn. It’s hard to take my eyes off the guy in front of me. He’s not a carbon copy of Luka, but there are enough similarities to confirm they’re brothers. I’d called Luka to tell him Saidie was back, but I didn’t expect him to follow me over here. He hates necromancers, so I probably shouldn’t be shocked he came. If Saidie’s unstable, he’d worry she’d hurt me.

  Aleric Rinaldi, Luka’s brother. He’d been sold to a necromancer to pay for a debt their mother owed. Luka told us he was dead.

  Luka’s breath hits the back of my neck, and I shiver. He wraps an arm around me, pulling me into him. Whether for comfort or to keep me safe, I don’t mind. If he needs me in his arms for a small measure of comfort, I am happy to oblige.

  Besides, his brother is scary. He’s taller than Luka, his face harsher and cold. This man is dangerous and would have no qualms about expressing it. Except when his gaze lands on Saidie. It softens and I see traces of worry.

  “Luka.” Aleric’s voice is deeper than his brother’s, and just as silky smooth. His voice is good, but not nearly as good as Luka’s. It doesn’t roll off my skin and make me shudder. It also has a distinct accent, one I associate with New Orleans, but it sounds deeper than any I’ve heard on TV.

  “You’re dead. I saw your body.” Luka is all but panting, his voice harsh, ragged. Shock seems to have set in, and I press against him, offering him what solace I can. His arm tightens around me.

  “You saw wha’ she wanted you to see.” He kneels next to Sadie. She tries to push him off, but he won’t let her. He manages to wipe some of the sweat from her flushed face. Her eyes are glassy, feverish. “Bon fille, let me help you.”

  “What’s wrong with her?” I try to get closer, but Luka refuses to let me go, holding me in place. Bossy man.

  “She be infected.”

  “Infected?”

  “Ma fille has Ghost Fever as dey call it in de bayou. I’ve seen Madame use it to make others wit’ gifts like hers complacent. Dis one, dou, she’s stronger dan de others. I’m no’ sure how much longer she can hold out.”

  The first thing I notice is that he has a better command of the English language than his brother, who still searches for words quite often.

  “But how?” Luka whispers. “How are you alive?”

  Aleric stands up to face his brother. “Dat day, Kristoff, he fed from me. He drink so much I passed out. You only thought I died. I fed dem for years until Madame had Lucien turn me.”

  “Turn you?”

  He squares his shoulders and I feel Luka tense. “I’m a vampire now.”

  Neither one of us is prepared for that answer. Luka simply sits down where he stands, dragging me with him so I’m in his lap. His arms are like steel bands, but I don’t protest. He’s held me many times the last few months while I fell apart. The least I can do is be here for him now.

  A vampire. Sabien warned my brother, Jason, and me about them. He says they are soulless, evil. To kill them on sight. Luka’s brother doesn’t seem to be evil, at least not by looking at him, but I’ve learned never to trust my first impression over the last couple months. Looks really are deceiving, and it’ll get you killed.

  My brother and I inherited our mother’s gift to do magic, and because of our bloodlines, we are supposedly very powerful, so much so that we have a price on our heads from the magical community. Trusting someone had almost gotten us killed once already, and it’s not a mistake I’m going to make again.

  “I thought vampires hated necromancers.” According to my uncle, necromancers have dominion over the dead; they are the only thing a vampire fears. A necromancer is powerful enough to essentially force a vampire to do anything they want, and that is the source of their hatred. They have no control over their bodies or their actions. They are a puppet, and the necromancer the puppet master.

  “Oh, I hate dem, chere.” Aleric’s soft reply holds so much vehemence I recoil. His accent has thickened too. “Dey should all be killed in der cradles.”

  Saidie whimpers and Aleric’s face softens, but only a fraction. “Shush, Draga, you are safe wit’ me.”

  “Why?” Luka snaps. “Why do you care what happens to her? She is one of them.”

  Well, it seems Luka has gotten himself back under control and is harassing Saidie again. Stupid Gypsy.

  “Leave off, Luka,” I growl. “Saidie hasn’t done anything to you.”

  “She doan deserve your scorn, little brother.” Aleric glances up, censure in his eyes. “She be deservin’ your thanks.”

  “The hell she does,” Luka snarls.

  Saidie has hunched in on herself during Luka’s shouting match, and she looks so scared and helpless. I climb out of Luka’s lap while he’s distracted and crawl over to where she’s hunkered down. Maybe if I can get her off the floor and on the bed, she’ll feel better.

  “Don’t touch me!” she screams and cringes away from my hands, but not before I catch and hold hers.

  Her power lashes out at me, wild and uncontrollable. It feels like I am being pulled under dark and murky waters, and I’m so cold. I can’t breathe. My lungs burn and my vision darkens.  I hear Luka calling out to me…and then nothing.

  Just the complete blackness of unconsciousness.

  Chapter

  Fifteen

  I c
reep forward, strange smells biting at me. The darkness blinds me, and I force myself to slow. My prey has fled into the darkest part of the ancient forest, into the very heart of it. These are not my woods, but it doesn’t matter. I stalk him as he stalks me.

  The usual sounds of the night are absent. The silence echoes around me. I know he waits. He feels at home here when he should not. The other animals flee in the wake of his presence, but I refuse. He will not make me cower.

  I see him at last, leaning against one of the trees. The branches above us form a latticework that keeps the night sky out. Utter and complete darkness wrap around us. I stop a few inches from him. His dark brown hair comes to about an inch above his collar and curls slightly. Warm brown eyes twinkle with laughter.

  He reaches down and strokes my fur. His fingers scratch the sensitive area behind my ears, and I find myself leaning into the touch. No. I jerk away from him.

  “Why do you fight me?” he asks. “It will only make things harder for you, my love.”

  I snarl.

  He sighs and lays his hand atop my head. His power flows through me, and my howl ends in a scream as he forces me to shift back to my human form. Who is this man that he can do this with only a simple touch?

  I whimper in pain and shock. His gentle touch strokes my hair soothingly. “I have told you, love, not to taint your blood with the filth of the animal. You disobeyed me and now must learn there are consequences to doing so.”

  Danger, the wolf warns frantically, trying to push forward to help me.

  I gather what little strength I have left and roll away from his touch. I know instinctively that touch can turn to one of agony in the blink of an eye.

  “Oh, no, my love, not this time.”

  He takes a step forward and reaches out to me.

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  Heat wraps me in a cocoon of warmth and delicious darkness. The smell of grass and honeysuckle tickle my nose. Micah. I smile without opening my eyes. I love the feel of him wrapped around me. It makes me feel whole, complete, somehow. Micah and I are soul mates, but not the greatest love of all time kind of soul mates. No, we literally share the same soul. What he feels, I feel, and vice versa. Our minds sync up too because of the whole soul-sharing thing. We hear everything, and I do mean everything the other is thinking. Not always a good thing. Trust me. No way do I like thinking about Lora Jamison as some hot chick. Just eww.

  A sea of emerald green ice chips meets my eyes when I finally manage to open them. He’s on top of me, covering my body in a protective hold. Good Lord, but I love his eyes. I can drown in them if I stare long enough. His gaze keeps skating away from me, but it always comes back. My Luka.

  My eyes follow his when they move away again. Aleric stands guard over Saidie, his own eyes cold when they meet his brother’s. I suck in a breath, remembering Saidie. The simple fact that Luka isn’t trying to rip her apart gives me some reassurance, but not much. When he found out Saidie might be a necromancer, he’d wanted to kill her on the spot. Umm, no. He eventually came to realize we weren’t gonna let him hurt her. Instead, he set to watching her like a hawk and keeping tabs on her.

  Well, at least there’s been no bloodshed. Yet.

  Double brownie points to Luka for that little feat.

  Then I notice Micah splayed out next to me, Conner wrapped around him. What’s going on?  The last thing I remember is…taking Saidie’s hand?

  “Uh, guys…what happened?” To my surprise, my voice cracks.

  “You don’t remember?” Conner turns his head so his violet eyes are boring into mine. Conner’s eyes tend to freak me out. They are purple, not some shade of blue, but a true rich purple.

  “No…” I blink. My vision blurs and a myriad of colors dance in front of me, surrounding everything. No, not everything, I realize as my sight comes back into focus. They’re only around the people in the room.

  “What is this?” Micah whispers. He can see them too and is flipping out as much as I am. His panic hammers away at me, increasing my own.

  “What? What’s wrong?” I hear Luka ask and automatically look at him. I gasp, choking back a strangled scream. Blackness coats him from head to toe. His eyes shine like pinpoints of green flame in all that inky darkness. He looks monstrous. The Creature from the Black Lagoon monstrous.

  “What’s wrong with her?” he demands, concern filling his voice. He’s Luka, I remind myself. He’s my Luka. He’s not a monster.

  “He looks like a monster to me, Blue.”

  Ignoring Micah, I force myself to look at Luka again. I focus on the worry in his face, and once I do that, I start to see streaks of blue and gold pulse in the heavy blackness around him. I know what all of these colors mean.

  I’m seeing auras.

  The ability to see them stems from an affinity to the Element of Spirit. Usually, witches can claim an affinity to only one Element, and even that’s rare, but not little ol’ moi. I can call all five Elements—Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, and Spirit. Welcome to the freak show.

  I call Spirit the forgotten Element. Most only pay homage to the first four, but Spirit binds all the others together and makes the caster’s magic stronger. It also makes a circle of power next to impenetrable. Last fall, I’d been kidnapped by Nathaniel Winters then rescued by my friend and his sister, Bree Winters. She’d used a circle to keep us safe from the magic her psycho sister hurled at us. At the time, I didn’t know I’d called Spirit. It was the reason why none of Lorelye’s magic got through Bree’s shields. At least according to Uncle Sabien.

  I learned a lot from Bree over the last few months. She’s a year older than I am, and her family is one of the three main families in the magical community. She’d taught me about circles and ley line magic. Very cool. There are ley lines crossing the Earth’s surfaces at almost any point you’d care to look for one. They can be used to reinforce spells or for casting them. She’d shown me how to tap into them to cast a quick circle without the need for candles and ceremony. Wicked cool.

  “Alexandria!” Luka’s power flows over me, touching the wolf inside and interrupting my thoughts. She snarls at him, which basically means I snarl at him. I’ve gotten better at separating our minds when she comes out to play, but sometimes, we’re in agreement. This is one of those times.

  “He’s only worried, Blue. You scared him half to death.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I blink as a swarm of colors assaults me. Micah’s vision blends with mine. He can’t seem to focus.

  “Close your eyes, Micah. You’re making me dizzy.”

  “Answer Luka before he decides to make you answer him.”

  “I’d like to see him try.”

  “So would I.” Micah’s laughter tickles my mind like a feather running along my instep.

  Another wave of power rolls over me and into Micah, causing us both to shudder. It feels like the ice cold waters of the ocean on the bitterest winter night imaginable. The bite is severe and leaves us both a little breathless.

  “Cut it out, Luka,” I grind out between clenched teeth.

  “You no answer me, Alexandria,” he snaps.

  “Stop trying to bully me and I will!”

  “I’m waiting.”

  “I’m fine.” I try not to shout, but it’s difficult. He’s so…bossy. My hand aches to hit him one good time.

  “Blue, calm down, please. You’re making my wolf uneasy. I really don’t feel up to shifting.”

  He doesn’t feel at all well, I realize. Neither do I, for that matter. It’s like we’ve been sucker punched then left in the ditch on the side of the road with the worst hangover ever. What happened to us?

  “I’d like to know that myself, Blue,” Micah says wearily.

  I look up into Luka’s very angry face. “What happened?” I work to keep my wolf under
control.

  “Wha’ you remember, chere?” Aleric asks.

  “Not much. I was kneeling beside Saidie to take her hand and then…nothing.”

  “Her magic and yours, they mixed,” Aleric tells me, his voice flat.  “A necromancer’s magic is death magic. You were drownin’ in death and it pulled all de heat from your body. She wou’ have killed you if you hadn’t passed out and let go of her.”

  Saidie’s soft whimpers bring my attention back to where she’s huddled in the corner behind Aleric’s legs. I see her aura, but I see other things as well. A fine mist of gray fog surrounds her, attacking her at various points. She makes small, pitiful sounds with each jab. They’re everywhere, each taking a turn at trying to break through the shield her aura provides her. I can only imagine what it must feel like.

  We need help to deal with this. Uncle Sabien’s necromancer has done this to her, so I’m betting he doesn’t have any more stashed up his sleeve. So, who else do can we call? Bree might be able to help us. I try to fish my phone out of my back pocket, but I can’t. The Luka blanket prevents any movement. Micah pulls it out for me.

  This is beyond ridiculous.

  “I think I can get up now, Luka.” I’m not exactly better, but I’m pretty sure I can sit up. Really, enough is enough.

  “Uh, no, I don’t think so, Alex.” Conner shakes his head. “You’re still pale as death, and so is Micah.”

  “No, Munya.” Luka doesn’t give me a chance to argue. “Is no just you. Micah needs the heat.”

  “Micah?”

  “When you went down, so did he.” Conner’s voice is grim. “I found him barely conscious in his truck about a mile down the road. We were both on our way over here.”

  “Are you okay?” I try to twist around so I can look up at him. Panic grips my stomach at the thought of him being in pain and my not being able to help him. Worse, it is because of me that he’s been hurt.

  He surrounds me in the smell of a fresh cut grass and honeysuckle, trying to calm me. “Shh, Blue, I’m fine now. Conner was smart enough to know we needed heat.”