by Kylie Price
Sky grinned and then dropped to the floor clutching her stomach in pain and a moment later, I did the same.
It was excruciating, much worse than period pain. There seemed to be no words. I bit down on my lip to help hold the screams in and then it slowed and went. I was on all fours breathing heavy.
“The change is starting,” Garth said and walked over to help me up.
“Is it going to get worse?” Sky asked, breathing heavy also.
“Yes,” he said in his deep voice.
“We have to hurry then. We need to find my blood,” I said in between deep breaths.
“Marie took it,” Vex said.
I looked at him. “How do you know that?”
“The spell started to falter, the barrier is still up, but it is nearly completely broken, that is how we were able to break out of our bonds. We started getting our strength back so I was able to hear what was going on,” he answered.
“Where has she gone?” Nikkee asked.
“To the new sight of bones,” Garth said.
“Crap, how far away is that?” I winced.
“About a kilometre that way,” he said, pointing north.
“Right lets go,” I said running to the stairs.
“No, you three stay here,” Garth commanded.
I spun around and pointed a finger at him. “NO. If it weren’t for us, you would still be in your cage. We are not going to stay, so either you come with us or we go alone,” then I turned back, ran up the stairs, out of the kitchen, through the lounge room, and out the front door and my face met a fist.
I was knocked back and slid across the floor on my butt and my back slammed into the couch. I reached my hand up and touched my nose. I felt wetness on my fingers and had no need to look to know it was my blood. I grinned and looked up to see the person who had punched me was Brandon.
“Shit, Trinity, your eyes,” Nikkee said in a disbelieving tone.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Before I could respond Vex was on Brandon out of nowhere tackled him out of the doorway, off the veranda and down onto the ground. Nikkee ran over and pulled me up.
“Freaky,” Sky said with an almost scared look.
“Your eyes turned so bright and florescent. Nice, but scary,” Nikkee said.
“It must be my grumpy look,” I said and grinned.
“Come on, we have to hurry,” Garth yelled.
We ran out the door, down the steps and past Vex laying into Brandon.
We then followed Garth back into the forest, and left Brandon to the arse kicking he deserved.
We ran as fast as we could, I held my knife tight and the girls did the same. There was a loud bang and then the night air was filled with howls. We ran faster and got closer to the noise until we reached a dead part of the forest. In a large area, every tree and plant was dead, nothing but rock dirt and petrified trees that opened a way for the moon to shine like a light and let us see the monsters fighting.
I stopped in my tracks and looked with wide eyes. Garth had run straight into the fray. We could hear screams and howls. I scanned for Jason and Lachlan, but I could not see them. I heard a song or rather a chant. I looked over the far side and saw Marie standing on a rock ledge. I went to run in her direction, but a snarling female blocked my path and threw her fist right were Brandon had punched me.
She did not pack as much of a punch as he did, my head just went back and then forward again. I swung my arm that held the knife, but she dodged it.
“Bitch,” she said with a sneer.
I grinned. “Puppet,” I retorted.
“Oh no, I am here of my own free will honey.”
“Even better, I won’t feel as guilty if I kill you then.”
Her leg came up and kicked me in the ribs. I felt the crack and it dropped me. I didn’t stay down long, I needed to get rid of this wolf, but I was no combat fighter. The only other fight I ever had turned my best friend into a werewolf.
I started moving my right hand around in a cross action and hit my target down the side of her face. She screamed in pain and then pounced on me knocking us both to the ground.
Her body went limp and lay heavy on me. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them. I knew what had happened; she had landed on the knife I was holding. I couldn’t move, I was frozen. Sadness and grief struck me as the realization that I had just killed someone.
I felt the pressure release as her body was pulled off me and I looked into Sky’s face. Her makeup was smeared and she had a lot of blood on her. As if she knew what I was thinking, she shook her head, reassuring me it wasn’t hers.
“Where is Nikkee?” I choked out.
Sky pointed to where Marie was. I jumped up and left my anguish on the ground for another time, I could not deal with it now, with so much going on.
Droplets hit my face and I looked up, as it started raining. The sky was still bright with only few clouds. I took a few steps towards where Nikkee was and saw Marie punch her. She fell back, rolled on her side and smashed her palm on the ground. I didn’t know what she was doing. I started running as the rain started pouring down faster. My hair was sticking to my exposed back and my face. I swiped it out of the way.
Marie screamed and then turned around and started running into the woods, Nikkee jumped up and followed her.
“NO, Nikkee wait,” I called out.
My screams were muffled in the mud as I found my face on the ground.
“Get off her,” I heard Sky scream.
I felt my hair being pulled and my face rose off the ground and then pushed back down fast. My nose crunched again and I thought, how many times in one night can my nose possibly break?
Then fear sprung back for Nikkee. I heard a thump and a growl and then the hands that held me were gone.
I rolled over and wiped the mud off my face so I could see and stood up.
“Go! Now Trinity, get Nikkee,” Sky yelled as she swung her knife at the wolf that held me down.
I took off sprinting towards where Nikkee and Marie and started heading into the forest. I dodged fights and hoped no one would get in my way.
The forest was darker and not much light shown. It made it hard to see if I was three monsters in one. I dropped to the ground and screamed, clutching my hand as it felt like someone was trying to rip my fingernails out. I breathed deeply, trying to push through the pain, it did no good and I let out another blood-curdling scream that seemed to echo through the whole place.
It slowly eased and I looked at my hands. They looked normal. I pushed myself to stand and start running again. I heard screaming ahead and pressed myself further only to come to a stop as I found the source for the bellows.
Nikkee looked at me and put a hand to her chest and it seemed like slow motion as I watched her body fall backwards onto the forest floor.
I stood there, looking where she fell. I felt my body vibrate and my hands shake. I looked to Marie and I wasn’t sure what I looked like, but it scared her, and she took a step back.
“She ruined everything,” she screamed as if trying to defend what she had just done to my friend.
I started walking closer to her.
“You should not be. Sherra made a grave mistake. I am only undoing it,” she yelled at me.
I kept walking as if I was calm, but I was anything but. My eyes were locked onto her. I was going to make her pay.
I made it until I was right in front of her. “The only thing that needed to be undone was yours and Eba’s birth. And I will gladly take it from you,” I said in a slow, calm voice as I brought the knife up to her neck and slit her throat.
She blinked as the blood started flowing out fast and then her body dropped along with the knife in my hand.
I turned and ran to Nikkee. I knelt down, picked up her head, and rested it in my lap. She blinked up at me.
“I smashed the vile of blood,” she whispered and lifted her hand to show the gash and cuts that were on her palm.
“You won’t die now,” she
said with a weak smile and a trail of blood started seeping from the corner of her mouth.
“No, Nikkee. I don’t know what to do?” I whimpered as tears were streaming down my face.
I closed my eyes, put my hand to my neck, and clutched my charm.
I don’t know what to do; I don’t know what to do. Help me. I screamed inside my head.
I felt a warmth gush come over me and then a voice spoke. Pick a side.
My eyes sprung open and I looked around. There was no one but Nikkee and Marie’s dead body. I lifted the charm up and studied it and then my eyes went wide. Old Mothers’ tears. I had already thought of the pendant as a raindrop but it was a tear. Carra’s tears.
Choose a side.
I looked down at Nikkee and her eyes started to slowly shut. I placed her head back on the ground and leaned over her body and I whispered in her ear. “I will not let you die for me. I am choosing a side…Mine,” then I bit into her neck and sucked.
My body sprung to life as adrenaline and the biggest rush I had ever had kicked in. I sucked again and my taste buds begged for more. It was like tasting the best cup of coffee and wishing the cup would never empty, or a meal that you wished would never end. I could gorge myself for days savouring every drop. I was lost from the buzz, my morals had left for a moment and I wanted to eat every human I could find but then I felt warmth on my shoulder and I paused, unclenched my teeth from the human and snarled. No one was going to take my dinner.
“That is all you need,” a deep voice spoke. The same voice from my dream. The same voice as Garth. I looked behind me and saw no one there.
I shook my head, puzzled and then back to my human meal, back to Nikkee.
I bulked as I looked at her, she was my friend not my food and I was trying to save her. I brought my wrist up to my mouth and moved it under my predator teeth slicing it open. I winced a little from the pain, but moved it to Nikkee’s lips fast. I opened her mouth and let the blood soak in.
Tears started springing from my eyes again. What if I drank too much of her, what if I had killed her myself.
I tried to concentrate. I could hear low, shallow breaths that seemed to get stronger and stronger with every gush of blood that flowed freely from my wrist.
I heard a branch snap and then someone suck in a deep breath.
“Trinity, what have you done.”
I looked over to Sky who had long, sharp nails coming from where her normal nails should be. Her teeth down from her gum just like a wolf and her eyes a bright brown that glistened in the moonlight.
I looked back to Nikkee and saw her chest move up and down and the stab wound in her chest was no longer bleeding. I pulled my wrist away and stood up, Jason and Lachlan came into view.
He looked to me and then to Nikkee, I answered Sky’s question.
“I have picked a side.”
Carra
Old Mother lay on the floor clinging for her life. Her enemies had left satisfied that she was now going to die. A tear rolled down her cheek as she heard footsteps approach.
They walked in, saw her on the floor, and rushed over to her side.
“Carra, no,” Vex cried out.
“Yes Vex, you knew this was coming. I had told you, that you and Garth would be my downfall,” she said and smiled at him.
“Why didn’t you warn us? You told us to meet you at sunset. Why not tell us to come before,” Garth asked in an angry tone.
“This is my destiny, I have accepted this.”
“No,” Vex whispered.
“You have a chance to set things right for this wrong,” she told them.
“Anything,” they both said at the same time.
Carra coughed, slightly choking on her blood.
“A time will come when one will father and one will nurture. You will bear no more before or after. Only when she is ready to accept will you be able to make yourself known to her. Look to Sab to help guide you her way. Her hope depends on it and all our fates will rest on her shoulders.”
She reached out a hand to Vex and he took it in his own. He could feel her touch, growing cold and he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. He closed his eyes as she did. His heart started tearing apart as his love slipped from the earth plane to be greeted by the awaiting spirits. Her hand had gone limp, but he held it still as the tears of sorrow wept from his body.
A hand touched his shoulder and his eyes sprung open and turned black as night.
“Do not touch me; this is all your fault,” he growled out.
Garth pulled his hand back.
“Don’t cross my path again, or it will be the last one you ever walk on.”
Garth stood up and gave a nod. He did not defend himself or tell Vex that it was also his creations that had killed his beloved. No, he just walked back outside into the early evening glow and walked away. His time would come to prove himself, it always does. His time will come to do as Carra’s prophecy says. He will just wait, wait in the shadows. He did not know how long this would be but in the meantime, he vowed to destroy every beast created in his name. Carra would not want revenge, but it was after all his and Vex’s carelessness that started the war of man vs. monster. It was the two of them that created the beast that destroys Vex’s love and his dear friend. She had warned them not to be careless. She had warned them to keep the beasts trained inside. He looked to the sky, looking for answers. None came but the mournful cries from a man that had just about lost everything. Everything but the line that he and Carra had created together before her change.
To be continued…
Take a sneak peek at the next Trinity book. Coming soon!
Trinity – Defying Destiny
The Prophecy
Three lives will be shaped. Three times this will happen at different stages. We are bound by three, it is the sign of The Trinity. Once this has happened, a time for change will arrive quickly as the enemies will be brought out of the shadows and made to stand as one for all of their survival. The shadows will no longer cloak them; the night will no longer shelter them. What we once fought to protect will in turn become the very thing we will all fear.
Chapter One
I was still kneeling beside Nikkee’s body. I felt the blood from my lips slowly slide down my chin. I flicked my eyes up to Jason, he looked mad and disappointed. I could read it all over his face. My eyebrows lifted as I saw a heap of people standing behind him that I had not noticed before. They were vampires and werewolves with a few witches in the crowd. I was not sure how but I could distinguish between them with ease. Like a knowledge I didn’t realize I had had before.
I hung my head back down looking at her lifeless body.
Warm arms that felt familiar to me, grabbed me by the upper arm and stood me up, turned me around into their chest and held me tight. All my fears and regrets came sweeping over. It was Garth that held me close. I wasn’t sure why, but I welcomed his warmth with open arms as I felt myself crumble around me.
“She has lost a lot of blood, but she is still with us,” I heard Vex say.
A sigh of relief escaped my lips. As I turned my head out of Garths chest, I looked to her and saw that Jason and Vex had both lifted her up.
“We need to get her out of here,” Jason said as Vex helped him position Nikkee in his arms. I was sure he didn’t need the help but it was given to him anyways.
He turned around and started heading back the way we had come. I stood frozen as I watched him leave. I felt a pang in my chest that he did not even look my way although I understood that he had more important things on his mind at that moment.
Others turned and followed behind as he left my sight. I looked over to where Maria’s body lay still with her eyes wide open, glazed over, looking up at the stars that were poking through the clearing of trees above. Fog had started rolling through and was slowly creeping over her body.
“Do we leave her?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“It will be taken care of Trinity, as with t
he rest. Come let’s get you back home,” Garth said in his strong deep voice.
“I don’t think I have a home anymore,” I whispered.
“You will always have a home if you know where to go,” he told me.
I turned and looked up at his face. He still had a scary demeanour with a scar that ran down his right cheek under his eye and his hair was a mess, but his eyes had a gentle look to them letting me know that I could trust him and that his words were truthful and sincere.
“I want to go where Nikkee will be. I need to know she will be ok,” I told him.
“Then that is where we will go,” he said and started walking the same way Jason had.
I forced myself to take a step after him and then another and another until I reached the spot where Sky was still waiting with a few of the vampires, werewolves and witches that were waiting for us to leave.
As I reached her another tear silently rolled down my cheek. I reached my hand up to my neck and cupped the old mother’s tear that sat warm on my collarbone. Sky gave me a hug and squeezed me tight and though I really didn’t want to be comforted yet, I returned her gesture anyways.
We separated and started following Garth. I knew we had a long dreadful walk ahead of us and one part in particular I was scared about. I didn’t want to walk past the site of bones. I didn’t want to have to see the other life I had taken.
“Why is everyone else with us?” I asked.
“We were all fighting and then just like that,” Sky clicked her fingers, “it was like the other side just snapped out of a dream and woke up. It must have been when you killed Maria. The ones that were not under her spell and there of their own free will, just ran. The others looked really confused,” Sky told me.
“Trinity.”
I stopped and turned around to see Lachlan walking up to me. I must not have seen him disappear into the crowd.
“Hey,” I said with a small smile.
As he caught up to me I turned back to walking.
