Queen (The Bloodline Series Book 3)

by Mary Duke

  “It’s all equal and steady power, think of electric. Now, it would be my guess that Thaddius is harvesting the souls by the masses, and he’s going to overload one or more of those totems, knocking everything out of whack, and creating enough of a disturbance to unleash the power that’s inside.”

  “Is that possible?” Foley said turning to Cat.

  She nodded, “If done right. Absolutely.”

  For hours we sat in silence, just waiting for the next person's phone to ring.

  “This isn’t right. We should be out there. We need to do something,” I said, standing up and beginning to pace.

  “You can’t,” Malikii said peering up at me from the floor.

  “We can’t just sit here and do nothing...” I pleaded with him, or anyone that would listen for that matter.

  Sparrow answered, “You are not doing nothing. You are doing precisely what it is you need to be doing.”

  “Nothing. I am seriously supposed to do nothing while creatures are slaughtering hundreds?”

  “Thousands,” Kyrell said correcting me. “The numbers have now grown into the thousands.”

  “See,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air.

  Malikii stood, “Do you still have the yellow stone my brother gave you?”

  I thought about it.

  “Here,” Foley said pulling it out of her bag. “I kept ahold of it for safe keeping. I had a feeling you’d need it.”

  “Thanks,” I said grabbing ahold of the string that ran through the center of the circle.

  “Put it on,” Malikii said. “It will help you focus.”

  I rolled my eyes. How was a rock that looked like a piece of cereal going to help me focus?

  “Better?” He asked as the stone fell to my chest.

  “Yeah,” I muttered, not wanting to argue.

  “Good,” the little boy replied. “Now sit down and save your energy. You’re going to need it.”

  I huffed again and thought to myself, ‘yeah because dying takes too much energy.’

  “I’m with Narah,” Damari said. “Doing nothing is killing me.”

  “Doing nothing is saving millions,” Malikii snapped, sitting back down on the floor. “What is happening must happen in order for Narah to be able to do what she has to do. We cannot have one without the other.”

  Damari walked towards me as I returned to the small breakfast nook to stare blankly out the window. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

  I shook my head. There were so many things I wanted to talk about, I thought as he sat down across from me and clasped his hands over mine at the center of the table, I knew bringing them up would only distract him from what his main focus would be: staying alive.

  “Is it this?” He questioned, running his thumb over his mother’s ring.

  “Absolutely not,” I replied instantly.

  “Alright...is it the fact that we had kids in that vision? I mean I know we haven’t talked about any of that yet. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry...” I said, knowing he was being serious. “It’s just...well, from every other relationship I’ve seen, it would be the girl who was worried about all of this. She’d be the one worried about rushing things and pushing the guy away.”

  “Oh,” Damari said, now feeling self-conscious.

  “It’s time,” Malikii said standing up.

  I leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “You are perfect. This,” I said holding up my hand. “This is perfect.

  “I thought we had a few hours.”

  “The future is ever changing, Narah.” Malikii snapped, his tone bitter. “But you of all people know all about the future.”

  I couldn’t tell for sure, and I absolutely didn’t want to bring it up now, but something told me that Malikii knew what I’d decided. What Sparrow had shown me.

  “Now when we get there, we need to stay close together. Getting lost isn’t an option.”

  “We?” I questioned looking down at the child. “I thought we agreed that you were staying with the rest of the Coalition.”

  “No. That was something you decided, not something I agreed with.”

  “You’re right. I decided it,’ I said, looking for Everette.

  Malikii pointed at me, “I could end this all now, make everything fall apart before it starts.”

  Kyrell looked around, confused. “What do you mean you could make this fall apart?”

  “Narah knows,” he shot back.

  Damari’s hand fell from my back. “What is he talking about?”

  “I have no idea,” I lied. “But shouldn’t we get going? If this little brat wants to go and get himself killed, who are we to stop him?”

  Cat waited before opening the gate. “Now are you all sure this is what you want me to do? I can create a gate to get us in, but if Gemma is right, I can’t create one to get us out.”

  “There is no other way,” I replied.

  Cat focused her energy, and the gate appeared. Kyrell stepped through first, followed by Damari, Foley, Malikii, and Sparrow. I looked to Cat for her usual stone cold expression, hoping it would give me some sort of morale boost, but it was replaced by the same worrisome feel that I’m sure riddled my own face.

  This was the end...well, the beginning of the end. Once I stepped through that gate there was no going back. I could never take back this step, although if I didn’t take the step, I wouldn’t have a life to live at all.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “This is it?” I questioned looking up and down the hall, at the tacky carpet and chipping paintings.

  Gemma replied under her breath, “Yeah...this is it: Carvers Manor.”

  “This place,” Kyrell said. “Gives me the creeps.”

  Cat nodded. “It would give any sane person the creeps. Do you know how it got its name?”

  Sparrow was already flustered with just being here, “Can we save those gory details for another day? Preferably one when I’m not around?”

  “It’s just history,” Cat replied.

  “Yeah,” Gemma said as she started to lead us down the hall. “History I’d rather not relive.”

  “Did you really live here?” I asked when she stopped to count the paintings.

  “Yes,” she replied, walking to the next one, before pulling on it, revealing a door.

  I shook my head. “I couldn’t imagine.”

  “Believe me, you don’t want to imagine. It was the worst 10 years of my life,” she said walking into the darkness.

  “Where exactly are you trying to go?” Jasper said, his voice setting us all on edge.

  “How did you get here?” Kyrell questioned.

  “I have my sources,” he replied.

  Kyrell eyed him. “Are you sure they are good enough?”

  “Better than the one you have obviously,” he said, crossing his arms.

  “What do you mean?” Gemma snapped back.

  “That shortcut was sealed and detours into a snake pit.”

  Gemma took a step back out into the hall.

  “I think it was done the last time your brother came through here actually...he made away with some very rare herbs and Claire was not pleased.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “This is Carvers Manor, is it not?”

  “Yeah. We’ve established that” Sparrow answered for her.

  “Let’s just say this house, and its inhabitants, have been one of my biggest clients for decades.”

  “Really?” Kyrell questioned, having read the books himself, though it was years ago.

  “How do you think I rose above the others so early on? Old man Carver and I struck a deal, though, at the time, I had no idea what it would turn into...it did, however, turn out to be one of my better gambles”

  Gemma’s face twisted in disgust. “Well then, it seems that it is you that needs to lead the way.”

  Jasper
’s lips curled, “So it seems.”

  As we entered the study from the vision, Malikii stopped and grabbed ahold of my wrist.

  “What?”

  “We’ve been played,” he whispered.

  “What do you mean we’ve been played?” I questioned before curses whirled through the air above our heads. Before we could question anything, Jasper disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

  “FUCK!” Cat said, trying to shield Foley and look for an exit.

  “This way!” Gemma screamed, over the sound of the curses crashing into the shelves sending some of them toppling over.

  “Are you sure?” Foley questioned before stepping through the door.

  “No. But if we stay here we’re going to die.”

  “Right,” Foley said, pushing open a door and nearly falling down the flight of stairs that was on the other side.

  “Won’t they come after us?” Damari asked slamming the door shut and holding it tight.

  “There wasn’t anyone there,” Gemma answered, trying to catch her breath. “We just triggered one of her security alarms.”

  “Oh, so they know we are here?” I said.

  “Sparrow!” Foley said dropping to her knee’s beside the old woman.

  She didn’t reply, her eyes only darted back and forth, a blank expression across her face.

  Cat put her hand on Foley’s shoulder and whispered, “She’s gone.”

  Foley shook her head, she’d asked her to come.

  Cat lifted her hand, but Foley stopped her.

  “No. I asked her to come,” she said, slowly reaching out and running her fingers down the woman's wrinkled face closing her eyes, as she muttered a spell that would let her soul pass back into the Faye Realm.

  “Where do these stairs lead?” I asked Gemma as Foley stood back up.

  “I’m not sure, but we are about to find out.”

  I looked down at Malikii. “Is this all part of your plan?”

  “I don’t know all the details,” Malikii answered. “But my vision has yet to change, so I’m assuming we are still on the right path.”

  When we got to the bottom of the stairs, a metal gate fell from the ceiling making it impossible to turn back.

  I looked to Damari and quickly kissed his cheek before I whispered in his ear. “No matter what happens, I love you.”

  “Well, come on then,” Claire said; I recognized her voice from the vision. “It’s just me...oh and Sonja.”

  We rounded the corner and sure enough, that’s all that was there.

  “Now, Gemma,” Claire said. “What did I tell you would happen if you ever came back to Auntie’s house uninvited again?”

  Gemma started to speak, but Sonja squealed over her. “This little traitorous rat is your family?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Claire replied. “His sister married one of your mutts, then they got themselves killed and we got landed with their litter.”

  “You had them killed,” Gemma shouted over them. “It was you.”

  “Yeah. What a mistake that was. If I’d have known he was going to take in our mutts, I would have had them just take you all out in one shot.”

  Gemma took a step forward, and I grabbed her shoulder to keep her back.

  “Oh come on, darling. You know how this goes. You’ve seen it time and time again, have you not?”

  Gemma reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial. Uncorking it, she downed it in one drink and ran straight for Claire.

  Claire let her have her moment, not stopping her until she was just a couple of feet away. “I don’t know what it is you believed you would accomplish by coming here today, Gemma...but say hello to your mother for me will ya?” She said, snapping her fingers and watching as Gemma’s lifeless body fell to the floor.

  Instantly, Claire’s hands reached for her throat, as she bent over picking up the vial that fell from Gemma’s hand. Smelling it, she turned to Sonja and her eyes widened in fear.

  “You fool,” Sonja screeched, as her friend fell to the floor beside Gemma.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “So,” Sonja said. “It would appear as though I’m outnumbered.”

  Kamara appeared beside me. “You’re more than outnumbered: You are outmatched tenfold.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Sonja said, propping herself against a table and picking up Kamara’s skull.

  “There are seven of us and one of you. Why not make this easy, and give us what we came for? It’s over.”

  “Oh honey, this is far from over,” Sonja said. “And while there are seven of you, are all seven of you truly on the same side? Do you all have the same intentions?”

  “Of course we do.” I snapped back.

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” she said pointing to Malikii first. “You see, he wants the power to break the spell on his older brother. He thinks that by bringing you here, you’ll owe him a favor, and with that favor, you’ll use the power to wake him. She,” she said pointing to Cat. “She has her own tricks and plans up her sleeve. She wants the power to be returned to this Realm where it was forged. She believes it will renew the balance.”

  “It doesn’t matter what they want,” I said, putting an end to her attempt to divide us. “I know what’s going to happen with it, and, as I am the only one who can do what needs to be done, it will happen my way.”

  “Are you?” Sonja questioned. “Are you really the only one? Didn’t Kamara tell you she found another that was willing to accept your fate, so you and your unborn child didn’t have to die?”

  My breath caught in my throat, and I could feel my friend's eyes on me. “When I accepted my mother's place as Queen, and when I accepted the position of leader of the coalition, I swore an oath to my people,” I said, mustering up every ounce of confidence I had. “I swore I would put them first. That I would protect them no matter the cost. I would not damn a child to my fate.”

  “But you are, are you not? His child to be more specific,” she said winking and looking to Damari.

  I wanted to turn to Damari, to assure him that this had to be this way and that if there was any other way I would do it...but I knew if I looked at him, if our eyes connected, I would lose it.

  I took a step forward. “This has nothing to do with them. Now give me what I came for, you’ve lost.”

  “I’ve lost nothing but a witch,” Sonja said casting a glance down to her friend on the floor. “Now, before you take another step closer, there are a couple more things I would like to point out...or to throw out there, you know, so there are no secrets.”

  “I don’t want to hear your bullshit.”

  “No, no...it’s not bullshit, my dear; it’s the truth. Regardless if you’d like to believe it or not.”

  “I don’t care what you call it, I don’t want to hear it,” I said, my body starting to shake as though I was going to shift. I was beginning to lose my temper.

  “You may not, but something tells me they do,” she said holding her hands out towards my friends. “Now, let’s say I give this to you. Just hand it over. You’re then going to absorb the power, correct? But it’s not only Kamara’s soul you’re accepting, you’re accepting her children as well, right? I mean I’m sure you can hear them inside of your head, I’m sure the weight is pressing on you.”

  “What’s your point, Sonja?” Kamara questioned, stepping up beside me.

  “I’m just saying, that’s all she knows. She knows she has to absorb all this power, and that you will take her over, however being as you’re immortal, when your soul is complete it will destroy her body, like Ka-Boom in cosmic proportions.”

  “You’re wasting your last words repeating something I already know,” I said.

  “Oh,” Sonja said tilting her head. “So you know that you’re giving your life for nothing? That is news to me. See, I was under the impression that you were told that once you did this Kamara would be able to seal her family away forever. Never again would anyone have any hope of
releasing the Original Coven.”

  I looked at Kamara. That was exactly what I believed.

  “Don’t listen to her,” Kamara said, not taking her eyes off of Sonja.

  “She,” Hallos said—I recognized his voice from the vision. “Loves to spin webs of lies when she finds herself backed into a corner.”

  “Who is this?” Sonja said standing up and taking a few steps back so she could see both of us.

  Hallos smiled. “This is Jasper, he’s become a good friend of mine over the last few months, as I’ve tried to find a way to end this little scheme of yours.”

  Sonja sneered. “But I am not lying, go on...ask her if it will work.”

  To our surprise, Kamara agreed with Sonja. “She is right. My original plan wouldn’t work; that’s why I’ve changed it.”

  “Lies,” Sonja spat.

  “No. You see, from the moment I locked my family away, I noticed that there was still a connection between us, and I wasn’t the only one who could feel that connection. Over the years, as I’ve spent so many of them alone, I have come to realize the mistake I made, and I don’t intend on making it a second time.”

  “You will say anything at this point, just to get them to follow through with your plan. So you can once again be whole.”

  “There would have been a time when that would have been right. However, as I said, I have spent many, many years alone, and in that time I have changed. And I do believe it has been for the better.”

  “Get to the point,” I said. “You said she was right, yet you promised me this would rid us of the Coven’s magic.”

  “Like I was saying, I realized my mistake. I wasn’t the only one who could feel the connection or link between me and my family. Others could feel it too. They fed off of it, and it drove many mad as they sought power.”

  “How do you plan to change that?”

  “Not all of my power comes from my family’s coven. When I am once again whole, I will divide that pure untainted power amongst my seven children. That should be enough power for them to lock me, Xander, and my family away. Once that happens there will no longer be an outside link to my family or their power.”