Rise and Fall

by A. L. Kessler

  “No offense? She flaunts her love for you in front of me,” she snarled.

  “Let him go, Hannah, you’re risking the truce.” I kept my voice steady.

  Levi moved closer to my side. “Samuel, you need to control Hannah.”

  Hannah laughed. “He doesn’t control me. He promised me revenge for Kiera’s death. He promised I would get to watch Abigail bleed and die by his hands.”

  Hannah turned back to me, and I swallowed at the look on her face. She looked crazed. It reminded me of Devin and Drake, pure crazy in the face of magic.

  Her magic came flying at me, and I dodged out of the way, calling on my own. I put up a purple circle and watched Hannah pace around it.

  I wasn’t playing with crazy tonight. “Samuel, Hannah is out of control. She should not be the one attacking right now. She needs to sit tonight out.”

  “Hannah,” Samuel said again. “Back to my side, pull your magic back.”

  Neither Mario nor Levi made a move, and I knew they were afraid they’d be forced to break the truce, and neither of them could do anything against their maker.

  “No Samuel, this little bitch has to pay for what she’s done. Taking Mario, killing Kiera.”

  I didn’t actually kill Kiera, but I helped find her. I wouldn’t argue the details right now. “We’re evenly matched Hannah, we’ve seen that the last couple of weeks.”

  She let out a cackle that sent shivers down my spine. I didn’t like that sound. “You think that I’ve been using all of my magic?” She shoved a hand out, and my circle suddenly crashed back into me. Pain wrapped around me as she stalked toward me.

  My body moved of its own accord, taking me down to my knees. Frozen again. I slowly called on my magic to break her hold. She grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at her.

  “Let’s get something straight, Princess.” She spat the title out like a curse. “You and I are not equal on anything.”

  Before I could pull my magic completely up, she struck out with her fangs. The pain hit me harder than any other bite. I cried out, and a moment later, she was gone and I was lying on the ground. I didn’t know what happened, but I was grateful for it.

  “Abigail.” Mario was by my side a second later. I still hadn’t processed what happened.

  “She broke the truce,” I muttered and sat up, putting a hand to my neck.

  “And because of that, Samuel took her and left.” Levi spoke as he walked over to me. “Playing a dangerous game tonight?”

  I shrugged. “I was hoping I would get to kill her,” I said honestly. “Instead, I have a nice fresh bite, a splitting headache, and a very, very crazed vampire.”

  Mario touched the bite on my neck, and I flinched. “I’m going to suggest a cleansing spell tonight, if Merick can manage it.”

  “He’ll need Liz’s help, but I’m sure we can figure it out.” I stood with Mario’s help. “That bite holds one hell of a punch.”

  Mario chuckled. “She didn’t have time to use her ability, or you’d be a melted puddle of lust.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, because that sounds like a blast. Let me call Liz and Merick. We’ll do the spell up here.” I looked at Levi, who was being oddly quiet. “You okay?”

  “I’m trying to decide if this is a blessing in disguise or if it’s going to bring more problems.”

  I shrugged. “Hannah broke the truce. I’m assuming they are going back to his territory to lick their wounds while they figure out another way to get what they want.” I wiped the blood off my neck. “Ugh.”

  “Let me patch it up?” Mario offered. “While you call Liz and Merick?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, and thanks for the warning.”

  He smirked. “Thanks for the kiss.”

  Liz, Merick, and I sat on the ground in my magical chamber as I filled them in on what happened.

  “So, let me get this straight,” Liz leaned back on her hands. “You pissed Hannah off by giving Mario a kiss?”

  I shrugged. “I had a moment of temporary insanity. I was hoping she’d break the truce so that I could kill her.”

  “But only one of those things happened.” Merick pressed his lips together. “Now we have to scrub their influences out of you so there’s no lingering danger to you.”

  “Mario said Hannah didn’t have time to use her abilities.” I touched the bandage on my neck. “But I need Samuel out before he uses his ability to its full extent.” I could already feel him lingering in the back of my head. I didn’t know what would happen if he pulled on that power.

  Liz nodded. “Either way, cleansing spell, and then sleep for you.”

  “That sounds like a plan. Tomorrow night I’ll start staying at the house again. Zayne will have to join me, but I think we all agree that a little extra security right now is not a bad thing.”

  Liz and Merick both gave a small laugh.

  “Let’s do this.” I got up. The cleansing spell would work best out in nature, using the earth to help the magic. The three of us walked up the stairs to find Zayne standing at the top.

  “Princess, King Levi would like to speak to you when you are done.”

  I nodded. “I’ll find him after this.”

  “Thank you. Do you need me?” Zayne glanced back at Liz and Merick, and I realized he was asking them, not me.

  “No, we’ve got this. You’ll hear a lot of screaming, don’t come running,” Liz answered.

  I rolled my eyes and headed toward the back of the mansion. “But coffee after would be nice.” Especially if I was going to have a meeting with Levi.

  The breeze hit me the moment I walked outside. I kicked my shoes off and let my feet sink into the soft dirt. I let out a long sigh and let loose a little of my magic to help me relax. It was so curled up after Hannah forced my circle into me. My entire body was tense, and I let the magic slip out like relaxing a muscle.

  “Glad you’re at peace.” Merick’s voice broke my focus.

  I glanced at him and Liz over my shoulder. “Not completely, but it’s nice to have a little peace for the first time since Samuel came here.”

  Liz nodded. “Sorry we have to ruin it for this spell.”

  “Yeah, I know, but that’ll get him out of my head.” I sat down where I knew they would cast the circle. “Wish Oliver was here to help you both.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Liz sighed.

  Liz and Merick went about casting the physical circle, welcoming in the elements, and asking the goddess to help guide them in the spell. I felt the magic snap over me as they completed the circle.

  I laid down in the dirt, already digging my fingers in to ground myself. I needed something physical to focus on or I’d get lost in the pain. Liz's and Merick’s voices chanted in Latin. I could feel the magic flow through me as the pain marched up my skin like tiny needles. As their voices got louder, the pain became worse, and the world swirled around me.

  I closed my eyes, and Samuel’s voice replaced theirs.

  A cleansing spell, Abigail? Think you can get rid of me so easily?

  I didn’t respond. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of answering him.

  I will get you Abigail.

  A fresh pain filled me. The flashbacks of Samuel feeding, the call of his power, the want and need to go to him all filled me at once. I cried out as my body bucked against the ground. Hands held me down as Liz’s voice became louder. Wind swirled around me and I found it hard to breathe.

  You belong to me, Abigail. I will call you home as if you were one of mine. You will be my fledgling, and I will flaunt you in front of Levi. You will be the perfect fledgling.

  Pain stole my breath, but I refused to let it pull me into unconsciousness.

  “Hold on Abigail.” Merick’s voice cut through it all. “We’re almost done. Let go of him. Force his power out.”

  Force his power out. I was in control here. Not Samuel. I called on my magic and added it to the powers surrounding me. I felt Samuel fade away, and it was like something around me
closed, locking him out.

  All the magic faded, and I opened my eyes, relearning how to breathe. Merick patted my shoulder. “Good job.”

  Liz sat down with us. “That was insane. What the hell?”

  “Samuel was clinging to me still.” I sighed and sat up slowly. “Apparently I needed to shove him out.”

  Merick nodded. “With each feeding, his connection grew stronger. We knew it was a dangerous game not to cleanse after each feeding, but we wanted to keep that secret a little longer.”

  “Well, now he knows.” I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the tension there. “I need to go speak with Levi. Thank you, both of you, for doing this for me.”

  Merick nodded. “We have your back.” He stood and held a hand out to help me up.

  I took it and stood, and then he did the same for Liz. “I’ll be well rested and back in the office tomorrow. Promise.”

  “You better be. I frown upon naps on the clock.” She nudged me and I snorted.

  “Yeah, yeah. Except I’m salary and still get more than my forty hours in on a weekly basis.”

  We walked into the house to see Mario standing there. “Oh, I’m really not going to like what’s up next if you’re meeting me here.”

  “Levi wanted to make sure you came to the study to meet with him after your spell. I was debating on rushing into the circle to make sure you were going to be okay.”

  I shrugged. “Every cleansing spell like that hurts. You know that.”

  He didn’t say anything and turned away from us.

  Levi was looking down at his phone when I walked into the study with Mario.

  “You know I would have come without Mario to escort me.” I sat down in the wingback chair across from Levi. “Zayne had already told me you wanted to speak with me.”

  Levi nodded. “Mario, you’re dismissed.”

  I was in trouble. The only time Levi dismissed Mario in that tone of voice was when I was in trouble. I suddenly felt guilty. I had screwed up by egging Hannah on tonight and caused chaos. However, it wasn’t my fault that she couldn’t control herself.

  The door shut, and Levi put his phone in his pocket. “First, I’m proud that you didn’t attack Hannah outright when she attacked you.”

  That wasn’t exactly what I was expecting to hear. “Thank you. I didn’t think that would go over well.”

  “It wouldn’t have, but I think you exposed a fatal flaw in Samuel’s plan to use Hannah. Hannah was here for revenge, and seeing you kiss Mario, as chaste of a kiss as it was, sent her over the edge. Samuel was hoping for her to remain patient, waiting for her revenge. Just a couple more weeks and the truce would have been over. She would have gotten a chance if you had left the territory.”

  I nodded. “But she broke the truce.”

  “Which leads to some problems and a lot more danger—”

  I opened my mouth to protest what I knew was coming, but he held his hand up. “Please listen to me first.”

  “Okay.” I waited for him to continue.

  “Hannah and Samuel no longer have to keep their influences from Mario and I because they broke the truce. The council will put you in my place for now, again, just to remain safe from them.”

  I didn’t like that idea. I had a hard time handling vampire politics last time I was acting ruler. I kept the thought to myself as he continued.

  “We believe Samuel will stick to the rules laid out for the vampires. No coming into the territory uninvited and running his territory within our laws for now. Hannah, on the other hand, we expect her to attack you. That being said, you are within your rights as Vampire Princess and PIB to kill her if it comes down to that.”

  My heart jumped. “What?”

  “She attacked you under truce. She broke the negotiations laid out for their stay.”

  I couldn’t help the wicked smile that curved over my face. “That’s better news than I thought I was going to get.”

  “One last thing, Abigail.” Levi sighed. “Samuel may call me home, officially.”

  I bristled at that. “We’ve dealt with that before.”

  “Samuel makes Hannah’s tactics look tame.”

  “I’ve seen his tactics once before. Remember, he ripped out the heart of a warlock and gifted it to me.”

  Levi nodded. “You will not be going with me if he calls me home.”

  “I’ll be here, holding down the fort.”

  Levi smiled. “Stepping up even though you don’t want to, thank you.”

  I didn’t really have a choice, did I? I gave him a slight nod of my head. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I’d like to get some sleep. I promised Liz that I’d show up to work tomorrow well rested.”

  “Of course.” He stood and walked out of the study with me. “Be safe when you leave. I’m assuming that you won’t be staying here tomorrow night?”

  “That would be correct. I’m ready to go home.”

  “Take Zayne and make sure you have one of your security team with you during the day.”

  I studied him for a moment. “Is there something else you want to say?”

  “I’m glad they cleansed you. I worried about his influences in you.”

  “Me too,” I said honestly. “Good night.” I walked down the hall to my room. I was planning on a deep, hopefully dreamless sleep for the rest of the night and didn’t want to open my eyes again until well past dawn.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I’d gotten my wish for a good night’s sleep, so I walked into the office with a full cup of coffee and ready to work. I found Liz already sitting at my desk when I opened the door.

  “Good morning, where are we at?”

  “Jason got me the IDs on the victims. I’m running them through the system now.” She motioned to her laptop on the other side of my desk. “We’ll need to go speak to the families so we can trace the last steps of these two women.”

  I nodded and motioned for her to get out of my chair. She switched chairs and went back to her laptop. I took my chair and looked at the computer screen. “How did you get logged into my computer?”

  “As lead, I have a user's account on each computer. Log me out and log back in. I want to know if you can find anything on the rune the victims are sporting.”

  This felt good. It felt normal to be working side by side with her without the immediate looming threat of a vampire waiting for me at sundown. “Email me the picture?”

  “Already did.” She glanced over her screen and smiled at me. “I also got a good night's sleep.”

  I laughed. “I see that. You’re on top of everything already.” I logged myself in and grabbed the image from my email. I plugged it into the reverse image search in our system and waited. “Has Levi briefed you guys at all yet?”

  “We got a vague text that said security needed to be tightened and that you’ll be doing some meetings and maybe a media appearance or two if it’s called for.” She typed something on her keyboard.

  I wrinkled my nose. I really hoped I didn’t need to do any media appearances. For one, I hated them. For two, they always seemed to be an invitation for an open attack. My mind went to the press conference a few months ago where Samuel had sent blood-starved. “Okay, I’ll fill you in more when I can. I’m not even certain about the extent of things right now.”

  “Looks like both of our victims worked at a foster home for magical children.” She tapped a few more keys. “The one up north off of Union Blvd.”

  “PIB supports that one, doesn’t it?” I asked, scrolling through my own results.

  “Kind of, it’s where our social workers place kids that can’t go home.”

  My mind went to Hope, the little girl we’d rescued from the blood witch. “Like Hope?”

  “Like Hope. We can go visit her if she’s still there,” Liz offered.

  Hope had become attached to me. Of course, her parting gift was a creepy drawing and a warning that her mother’s army was still out there. The idea of an army of blood witches and warlocks freake
d me out. One was bad enough to deal with. “I’d like that.”

  I leaned back. “Nothing of substance in my results. There’s one person who might know this rune, but I’m not sure if I want to go ask him.”

  Liz raised a brow. “Christof?”

  I nodded. “Christof.”

  Christof was Nick’s father. Nick had disappeared again after he resigned. I wasn’t expecting him to show back up. He had shit he needed to figure out before he even thought about coming back. Christof was being held in containment for murder. His trial hadn’t been set yet, and because he and his wife hadn’t actually used magic to kill, they got a trial instead of an execution.

  “That also means going into containment.” Liz crossed her arms. “You can’t go alone.”

  I nodded. “I wasn’t planning on it. I was hoping you’d come with me.”

  “A trip to containment to talk to a psychopath, sounds like a good morning.” She shut her laptop. “Then we can stop by the foster home.”

  I nodded and stood, grabbing my bag. “You want to drive?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” She nodded. “Call containment and let them know we’re on the way?”

  My phone rang, and she shrugged. “Never mind, I’ll call while you handle that.”

  I answered the phone as she stepped out of the office. “Special Agent Collins.”

  “Abigail…” my uncle’s voice came over the line, crackling, “… Abigail, tell Melisandra I’m safe…” more crackling followed. “Stay… away…” The line went dead before he finished the sentence. I sighed and called Melisandra.

  “Abby, have you heard from Oliver?”

  “I just got a really broken up call from him. He told me to tell you he’s safe.”

  “Is that it?” She sounded so worried, and I hesitated in my next response.

  “Something about staying away, but the call cut off before he could tell me what to stay away from.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “Thank you.” She disconnected the call, and I walked out of the office to find Liz hanging up her call as well.

  “Everything okay?” She asked.

  “Family business. Oliver called with shitty service and I had to update Melisandra.” I shrugged. “Oliver is a big warlock, he can take care of himself.”