“Refreshments first.” Drake sat, once again motioning for me to follow suit.
I bristled. I had less than twenty-four hours to get my bounty if I wanted to make it back to Salem in time—maybe a little more if I could catch a redeye flight back. But still, tea and chatting was not on the agenda. “With all due respect, Mister Marshall…”
“Please call me Drake, Kali. No need for formalities here.” He shifted forward and picked up the cookies, offering them.
I opened my mouth to argue when another wave of his spell slammed into me. “Stop that!”
He smiled, lifted the tray higher. “Sit.”
For fuck’s sake. “Fine.” I took a cookie and a napkin and sat in the plush couch, nearly sinking to the floor, my limbs trapped by the cushions and the heavy weight of his spell.
Drake smiled as he busied himself with the tea. “Tell me about yourself, Kali. It isn’t often I get to chat with our kind, living so far away from the Academy.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” I said through clenched teeth. Games. I didn’t care for them.
Drake cocked an eyebrow as he shifted a cup of tea in my direction. “Nothing to tell? That’s not entirely true now is it?” He lifted a cube of sugar. “One lump or two?”
I sighed, eyeing him warily. “One.”
Once he was done, he pushed himself back in his seat, his teacup and saucer perched on his knee. He nibbled on a biscuit as he watched me. It was unnerving. I squirmed. Then I picked up the damn cup and took a sip. It seemed to placate him.
“Kali Richards, daughter of the renowned Olivia and Peter Richards. You have two sisters don’t you?”
“Had.” I cleared my throat, put the cup back down on the table. “They’re dead, which I think you know already.”
Drake smiled coyly, his magnified eyes sparkling as he actually giggled. “Yes, you’ve caught me. I did know that. Tragic business. I try to keep tabs on the affairs of the Academy. Like your partner there, Wyatt Steel? He’s got quite the story where the Council is concerned, doesn’t he? They aren’t too happy with him I hear.” He tsked again in between bites of another cookie.
I leaned forward as best I could. He was baiting me, this little smarmy man. “What do you know about Wyatt?”
Drake took a sip of tea. “I thought you were here about a bounty you’re after. Shouldn’t we get to that?”
Ass. “Yes.” I pushed my cup aside. Whatever had gone down between Wyatt and the Council wasn’t of consequence right now and I’d be damned if I was going to play into this little turd’s games. “Ivana, she killed a young witch, needs to be brought to justice.”
“This is a trade.” He put his cup down and rolled his sleeve up.
I gasped at the sight of his arm. He was covered in boon marks. All the way from wrist to elbow. Small brands on his skin, a slash for each promise.
He chuckled. “I’m a collector.”
“You must have a hundred or more there!”
He nodded as he examined his arm, rotating for me to see both sides. “More. Much more.”
“What could you possibly need with all of those boons?” But the answer clicked the second I’d asked the question. Hundreds of witches at his beck and call? Who wouldn’t want the power of that?
It was dangerous, too dangerous to think hard on when I was about to join the ranks.
If he called us all at the same time, he’d have an army.
“I’m a rainy day kinda of man. There’s a war coming.”
I narrowed my gaze. “There is?”
“Your mother has made a prediction.”
I gaped again. “How did you know that?”
“I’m also an information collector, my dear. Now.” He motioned for me to extend my arm. “Shall we get this done?”
“I’d rather wait until after I have the information actually.”
“You don’t believe that I have the information you seek? Fair enough, I’ll give you a tidbit.” He tapped his fingers to his lips thoughtfully. “Hmmm, yes, your bounty. She was housing herself at a vampire den when you found her, is that correct?” His eyes flicked to my neck.
I nodded.
“Where you got bitten by a vampire?”
I reached my hand up to cover my scar. “Yes.”
“It was her.”
I blinked, hard. “Um…what?”
“Have you been getting strange readings on her signature? With your tracking abilities, I mean.”
I was about to demand how he knew I was a tracker, then just accepted it. The man knew everything it seemed. “Yes, I can’t get a fix on her signature completely. It’s like it keeps changing.”
“She’s a hybrid. A witch turned vampire.”
“That’s impossible. A witch can’t become a vampire. Or at least, a witch ceases to be a witch. Everyone knows that!” The common belief, proven fact more like, was that once a witch was turned into a vampire, he or she lost the ability to cast spells as well as tap into whatever their innate power was.
“Why, because the Council says it is so?”
I hesitated. Well, yes, because that was what I’d been taught. I cocked my head, watching as Drake busied himself pouring another cup of tea.
“Surely you must have learned by this point that the Council is not always right.”
Understatement of the century. “Okay, so how was she able to cast? She blasted the shit out of my condo!”
Drake raised his eyebrows and held out his arm once again.
I pulled in a deep breath, a bad, very bad feeling tugging at me. He’d hooked me, though. I needed the information he had.
I reached out, my arm still feeling clumsy with his spell, and encircled his wrist, my fingers actually touching. “For the information that I seek, I will offer you a boon to be collected as you see fit, which is within the realm of my ability and of equal worth to the trade that is being made. Is est perfectus.”
A jolt of power forced our bodies apart, the small slash of my boon promise glowed for a moment then faded into the horde, nestled among the rest.
“Satisfied?” I flipped over my own wrist to show that the mark on my flesh as well.
Drake smiled as he pulled his hand back, rubbing where my mark etched his skin. “Very.”
“The hybrid.” I shook my head, still unable to fully grasp this as fact. “She’s casting spells. How do you explain that?”
“She and he,” Drake corrected. “There are two.”
I cocked my eyebrows. “Two?” It would explain the weird inconsistencies in the power signatures.
He nodded. “A male sired by your Ivana.”
I was growing tired of the vague statements. I wanted some straight answers. After all, the boon mark was burning my skin, the spell still working to lock itself into me. Once it took hold, it’d be an unbreakable promise. “Who is this woman?”
“Ivana was a very powerful witch when she was given the gift of immortality. There are varying versions of the story, but it appears that after her vampire sire spent years caring for her, training her and offering her protection, she turned on him, killing him and then taking over his gang. Quite the ruthless leader, she’s making a name for herself.”
“She didn’t lose her powers?” The idea of a hybrid supercreature was both alluring and terrifying.
Drake smiled. “She quickly discovered that by taking a witch’s blood—”
I gasped. Holy shit. “You mean, a hybrid can get her powers back if she drinks a witch’s blood?”
Drake’s smile widened. “Yes, so it would seem. If you think about it, it’s really a grand thing, actually. A marvel of our two species. Powerful witch spell casting abilities, everlasting life, deadly strength, speed, a lethal combination. What more could you ask for?”
I thought over the past couple of days. Everything Drak
e was saying made sense. Ivana definitely had magic and she was also being protected, or at least housed in the safety of the vampire dens.
“She’s able to tolerate the sunlight as well.” She’d attacked me at my condo, blown it to bits in the afternoon while it was still light out. If she was able to withstand the sun, she had an advantage that I hadn’t anticipated. At least with Strix, you knew that they were limited to stalking the night. That kind of power made for an exploitable weakness. Get a Strix into the sunlight and they would fry. Get a hybrid into the sunlight and what? Nothing. She would be fine. It didn’t increase the odds that I would fare well in a fight with her.
Drake cocked an eyebrow, clearly caught off guard. “Well, that is an interesting bit of information now isn’t it? Perhaps another side-effect of taking witch’s blood?” He shook his head, a small smile tugging on his lips. “I like you, Kali Richards, you surprise me.”
“So what weaknesses do these hybrids have?”
Drake tapped his lips thoughtfully. “Weaknesses? Well, there is one weakness, but I’m not sure what use it will be to you.” He paused and smiled. “They become addicted to the witch blood. They crave the power it gives them. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.” He shrugged. “They get so dependent on it that they need to eventually kill to meet their growing thirst. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that Ivana and her partner are only at the beginning of their murder spree. As their need increases, I’m guessing so will the deaths. The question is, are you powerful enough to battle her?” His tone suggested doubt.
He started piling the cups onto the tray, tsking when he saw mine still untouched.
Only I knew how right his words really were. Against a witch hybrid like Ivana, I’d have trouble battling tit for tat. I’d already tasted her power once and realized now that I’d probably escaped death that time by sheer luck.
As if reading my thoughts Drake paused, then pointed at my neck. “You’re lucky you got away. I’ve heard she’s quite ruthless with her prey. By all rights, you probably should be dead.”
I shuddered. He was right and then some. She’d come for me at the condo, tried to kill me there. What was a surprise was that she hadn’t come again.
“I think it’s time to go. Thank you for the information, Drake.” I stood, the effects of his spell falling away as I did.
Chapter Fifteen
As weak as he looked, Drake’s grasp was intensely strong. He latched onto my wrist with one hand and pulled me down, forcing his palm against my forehead with the other. I struggled in vain, panic seizing me, my mouth opened to scream for Wyatt, as Drake’s cold hand suddenly burned against my flesh. And then, with a sudden rush of understanding, I knew it was futile to struggle. Although I’d never actually met a seer before, I knew enough that once Drake laid his hand on me, if I pulled myself free, I could lose my mind completely.
An information collector indeed. He had a window into anyone’s brain with merely a touch.
“There’s no use fighting it, Kali, calm down.”
His voice echoed in my head and all of a sudden I wasn’t entirely sure if I was thinking for myself or if Drake had already taken hold. I took in a deep breath and allowed my thoughts to open against the intrusion.
Like a tiny spider, the creepy little man trod through my mind, probing at the locks that held firmly against consciousness. Locks that I’d had gotten used to. With a mental click, he was inside, scurrying within the walls of hurt and anguish.
* * * * *
The memory triggered by Drake opened like a movie screen, images flashing behind my closed eyes, images framed by flames. I flinched, the heart-aching pain almost intolerable.
It was Destiny’s voice. My sister, my dead sister—that cut through me, slowly, like the dullest knife.
“Kali, stop pouting.”
Destiny stood with her back to me. Her long, dark hair pulled in a tight braid. Its tail sweeping her lower back as she moved.
“You’re too inexperienced to come with us,” she said as she turned, snapping the last of her knives to her belt. “Besides, this is going to be a really boring mission. No excitement. It’s just a meeting.”
“Yeah, a meeting with a bunch of vampires,” I whined bitterly. “If it’s going to be so boring, then why can’t I come?”
Destiny sighed and laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. Although eight years my senior, we stood almost at the same height. I stared straight into Destiny’s eyes. The same color as mine, they were pensive gray, smoldering and dark. She wore them better than I did. On her, they sparkled.
“Come on, sis, you’d be a liability and you know it. We wouldn’t be able to concentrate if you were there. Leila needs to focus on the talks. It might be boring, but it’s important and if you come then we’d be too worried.” She dropped her hand to readjust her belt. “Besides, it’s just a bunch of Strix vampires and a lot of boring talk. No action, no excitement. Trust me, I’ve been to enough of these to know.”
I slumped onto Destiny’s bed with a defeated sigh, knowing my sister was right, as much as I hated to admit it. “So this is the last one right? No more meetings after tonight?”
Destiny laughed. “You sound disappointed, little sis.”
I shrugged. “It feels like these meetings have gone on forever and now they’re going to be over and I missed all the action.”
Destiny laughed again. “What, now you want to dust some vampires? You want to start a war just so you can have some fun?”
“It’d be more exciting than sitting here all day learning my spells.” I shrugged again. “Besides, Dad’s predictions are never reliable. Why is the Council suddenly buying into this one?”
Her eyes flashed with something dangerous—knowledge that she had and I didn’t. “Dad can be very persuasive.”
“But he’s not usually right! How does this make any sense?”
“It’s just talking, Kali. Just a precaution, that’s it.” Destiny smiled sadly. “There will be plenty of time for excitement, once you’re properly trained. You’ve got a lot of power. You just need to learn how to harness it better. And you need to practice more.” She patted my arm then moved to the other side of the room to grab her leather jacket. “Don’t wish yourself away from peace. When you have blood on your hands…well, the peace just doesn’t seem to be the same.” Her tone was somber and a frown ceased her forehead. “You’re still too young to experience death, sis. It’s not a pleasant thing to have to carry around with you.”
I walked over and gently pressed my finger to the creases on her forehead. “Don’t worry, Destiny, I can wait.”
My sister had been right. Death did weigh you down when you had to carry it.
The images passed through my mind as if Drake was shuffling a stack of photographs, ripping them away as quickly as he settled on one. The fast-forward paused with my old self staring at the dead bodies of my sisters. The same dream I’d been having on and off for the past eight years.
I screamed in anguish. The sound was muffled. As usual, I was trapped in my mind, unable to run, escape, flee from my scarred memory. But this time I had a witness with me. This time I could feel Drake standing next to me as I went through the motions of saying goodbye to my loved ones and setting them aflame.
Drake nudged my mind, a mental hand pushing me forward so that I could see beyond where the dream usually ended—with my sister’s bodies burning.
A strong hand gripped my shoulder. “Kali, I never meant for this to happen.”
I didn’t look up, I knew who it was. Dad. The man who had sent my sisters to their deaths. The man whose crazy belief in some pending disaster, some supposed strike from the Strix, had gotten them killed.
“I wasn’t there with them. I was told that the Council was sending protection with them, that there was nothing to worry about.”
But they hadn’t sent protection.
They’d left them to get slaughtered, alone. Even though Destiny had made a panicked call explaining that they were in trouble, pleading for backup, the Council had ignored it. Claimed, in fact, never to have received it, and now my family was dead and I knew better. My sister had called me too, and I tried to get them help but the Council barred me from leaving, physically restrained me from going after them. Promised me they would take care of it. But it was too late by then. Much, much too late.
“If I had been there…” Dad continued.
I clenched my fists but said nothing.
“The Strix, they’re planning something.”
“What, Dad? What are they planning? Your predictions are flawed. You killed them. You did! You baited a bear and then you sent your own daughters into the cage. Destiny, Leila, they died because of you! Your incompetence.” I turned from him, walking away as the flames from my family seared into my soul.
Drake pulled out of that memory and tucked it back into its hiding place deep within my mind, dissolving the source of the pain but not extinguishing my anguish at reliving it.
“It was the beginning.” Drake’s voice echoed.
“The beginning of what?”
“The Dark War, dear. Your father, he wasn’t wrong. He was just too far ahead. The Strix, they’re behind this. When the solar flare hits, they will wreak their hellish terror on the world.”
I shuddered. “The Strix?”
“When the lights go out, no one will be prepared. It will be a massacre the likes of which the world has never seen and nothing you will do can stop it.”
Drake pulled completely out of my head moments later and patted my hand. I opened my eyes and noticed, with embarrassment, that my face was wet with tears.
“Take care of yourself, Kali.” He tapped his wrist. “I’ll be calling on you in my time of need.”
I hastily wiped my face, erasing all trace of my sorrow, dread soaking through me at his revelation.
* * * * *
I left the condo with only a brief glance in Wyatt’s direction, unable to speak.
The Dark War: The Dark War, Book 1 Page 10
