Cheating Death (Wraith's Rebellion Book 2)

by Aya DeAniege

  And the fae?

  The fae are a non-aggressive race. Not passive, they will rip you to shreds if necessary. Where and how they can, however, they avoid war and fighting. In this they were removed, least their numbers dwindled too low.

  Vampires left the battlefield because the sun was rising. The wolves took to bed to sleep the day away as the witches went to work.

  Ulia asked for a shield, about her neck. The witches agreed and created such a thing. Any vampire who attempted to bite her would have their head blown off. Not a mortal blow, but one that would render them immobile as she struck with her tool.

  She spoke of the weight of the tool in her hand. Said it vibrated all down its length. The head tried to whisper to her as she found moments of quiet.

  The witches told her it was because she was tired. They put her to bed and cared for her tenderly. In their foolish pride, they did not look to the tool, they did not check on the magic they had created, they did not check on Ulia’s stability or ask her how she was beyond that glazed look question that modern mortals ask one another.

  Much like Wraith, she was nothing more than a weapon to them.

  What do you mean?

  Ulia was the strongest among them, stronger than any witch beside the Grand Witch. She outshone them all in everything she did. She was also beautiful, stubborn, and everything witch.

  She was the creature that—

  If this is difficult for you, we can stop.

  No, not difficult. Just centuries of regret piled under the shame that my race caused this.

  Ulia was supposed to become a leader among her people. That was what the Oracle saw of her. She would birth daughters like her, and sons who submitted to strong women while standing at their side.

  Ulia herself saw the Great Maker and Wraith standing on a windswept battlefield.

  She described him so perfectly. But that’s later.

  The second night, the vampires took out the moon. They believed it the source of strength for the wolves. Then they attacked, but the Bitches took to the field in place of their men.

  Derogatory, or what werewolf women call themselves?

  It’s a title. Like an Alpha, she has the right to breed as she pleases. She normally already has children and years of service under her belt. The requirements have changed quite a bit since then. Up until fifty years ago, there were hundreds of just such women, nearly a one to one ratio between them and male dominant wolves. Now there is only one, and if you ever meet her she will leave an impression on you.

  Males are strengthened by the moon. Women are strengthened in its absence. The werewolves are always protected because they keep the precarious balance between the genders.

  Male and female, nothing in between the two can exist for the werewolves. This seems to give them some advantage when it comes to protecting their kin. They are the only race to possess binary genders, but don’t take that as meaning they’re heterosexual. Their sexuality and personalities vary just as much as a human’s does and some of the men do act like women, but they aren’t born into the wrong body.

  Unlike the males, the Bitches knew what was at stake. They were their mother’s daughters, after all. They didn’t wait for the vampires to get too close, they hunted them down, one by one. When the sun began rising again, they hunted them to ground and kept hunting until well past zenith.

  Ulia complained after that second night. She didn’t want to go back to the field.

  The witches told her to sleep. And as she slept, they abused her until she was compliant. She took to the field the third night, and the vampires attacked her. They ignored all else and mobbed her, climbed onto her.

  They ate her.

  Apparently, witch and vampire venom equals vampire. No matter how small the bite.

  No one knew.

  The Great Maker didn’t learn of what the witches had done until it was too late. Ulia was bitten and turned. The moment a new vampire is made, the Great Maker knows it, she knows another has been added to her people.

  What had she been doing for three days?

  Weeping. The witches held her hostage, you see, for her own good. She was hysterical. Her people were dying trying to kill her. She thought if she gave herself up, they might stop. Some part of her knew it never would stop, but she hoped.

  Her children were slaughtered. It was more than time for it to happen; the beliefs had become rotted at the core. That didn’t make it any easier for her.

  When Ulia was changed, she knew. The moment it happened, the entire world seemed to hold its breath. Supernatural races had not been turned before that point. No one had tried to dabble in that. No one was stupid enough.

  The vampires did it to kill her. And they thought they had won.

  They marched on the witch camp and killed them all. None of them drank from the witches, because of her command.

  She stood to the side and watched her would be protectors die. Not out of cowardice, not because she was weeping, as the witches might tell you, but because they had fucked it up.

  Ulia joined her, upon waking. Dragging that tool with her as she went. She killed as many as she could, though perhaps only to keep them from calling out that she rose.

  For a time, they lived together. The Great Maker showed Ulia all the things of being a vampire. Showed her how to take her life in that month in the sun. They worked together and hunted together, seeking out the vampires who had been on the battlefield.

  Every one of them had to die.

  Didn’t Bau create Odin to fight in that war?

  No, Odin was the only male among the Great Maker’s first generation. He revelled in the destruction he caused, and so he will die with the others. Every vampire who fought on that field was placed on a list. Finding them was a simple matter for the Great Maker. None of her children could hide from her.

  But Ulia changed. She began speaking of the dual nature of the vampire. In us, she saw the humanity and the monster. The predator and the prey. She began acting differently depending on who she was around.

  While hunting she had a darkness about her, a burden of the soul which seemed to grow worse with each name ticked off the list.

  Is Bob on the list?

  No, if he were, Death would have killed him back when we hid in Bob’s city in South America. Has Quin told you that story yet?

  Yes, sort of why I was asking.

  Ulia began to call herself Bau, taking after the Sumerian culture and language. She thought it was a delightful thing. This was probably thousands of years after the battle.

  Ulia would talk of Wraith and the Great Maker. She would describe him quite well. The first time I saw him, I knew. Eyes, hair, she even described his mask and height.

  So, yes, I lied to Quin. I did know, I have known all these centuries. He could barely bring himself to resist Lucrecia, let alone find his backbone if everyone knew.

  So, Lucrecia knew.

  No, she didn’t. Bau told the Great Maker, and so I learned of it. Lucrecia did not know. While it could be said that Lucrecia knew of the Great Maker, and even the war and Bau, she may have suspected Lu at some point, but she didn’t know this.

  The war doesn’t hinge on him. Or Lu, or the Great Maker.

  The war is over.

  The war was never won. Its battles continue, in the shadows. The Council avoids talking about it, but it’s there. The subtle tugs of the older vampires on the tradition and laws of the Council. Small manipulations on Bau’s part, even everything Lu has done out in the open, is the war continuing on.

  Bau left the Great Maker in the so-called cradle of civilization. She said the work had to continue, which the Great Maker agreed with.

  Except the Great Maker believed she should continue the work. Bau believed the opposite. She thought that blood should not be on the Great Maker’s hands.

  The Great Maker was the one who had done the culling until that point. The tool hadn’t been used since the field.

  Still, it consumed Bau. />
  As the stone of the Oracle, she had a certain insight to some prophecy. She visited upon her sisters several times, but they rejected her because of what they saw.

  Perhaps if they had been more understanding, we might have avoided this entire mess.

  Which begs the question of why the Great Maker didn’t kill Bau herself?

  Pity stayed her hand.

  She may be the oldest of us all, but she still has a heart and soul. Of all vampires, the Great Maker has always been viewed as the weakest for that.

  Perhaps she thought she could still save Bau. I can’t even be certain.

  Bau left the Great Maker searching for Progeny. She already had seven daughters, but seemed to not recognize any of them. She went searching for something else, another body which she could use and manipulate towards her ends. When she found Lu, she knew he was a devil of a man. He had been left for dead, always sickly but also a predator while mortal. He developed a taste for children because he was unable to subdue a grown male, his beliefs were fluid and constantly changing to support what he did in the world.

  Bau kept Lu separated from other vampires. She taught him about the Great Maker in a twisted way. She described the war and told him that it continued.

  Then she taught him how to wield the tool.

  Together, they attempted to create a second tool. They failed because many witches were necessary for that to happen. The items they had also were incorrect proportions. To keep the tool from accidentally being remade, only one witch knew how much of each and what that extra ingredient from the wolves was. She died in the making of the tool, taking the secret with her to her grave.

  Lu had every intention of taking over the vampire world. He wanted everyone under foot and obedient to his Maker alone. Bau, in her madness, believed herself to be the Great Maker. Her memories must have been shattered, over and over, each time she used the tool. Perhaps she believed the Great Maker to be a projection of her damaged mind trying to cope with the war.

  The Great Maker went to the witches again and had them make a box. This was a very special box, for the Oracles wrote down the names of every vampire that ever would be and placed them into the box.

  Seriously?

  I stand by the belief of the other vampires on that point. From the box came the names of the first Council. The Great Maker dictated the terms of their service, and so it was.

  The Council stood against Death. When he finally served on the Council as Lu, he realized the use of such a thing. He accepted the leash that the Great Maker offered. For a time, he was manageable. He did his work for the Council, continuing with the cull.

  Even though using the tool ate away at him, Lu maintained quite well. Using his projection put off the sickness that the cleaving caused, but did not stop the cleaving in the first place.

  Lu seems to hold two powers.

  Lu was born of a witch. Who knows what that does to a vampire? His entire line learns at an accelerated rate. Lu seems to have learned projection from Bau. His initial power was sickness, causing several by accident before he got control of himself. Thanks to the projection, he knew how to give the disease to specific people.

  Without Bau’s power, Death would have been a great deal more controlled. Practically harmless.

  Then some moron burned down his library.

  He was, understandably upset. Following the books to Constantinople, he settled into his new home and a new role. His mind was too fractured by then. He may have complained to Bau of what happened.

  She, as the stone, told him what to do.

  Find a child, raise them, turn them, and make them into a beast that the other vampires would be terrified of. Wraith was created with a purpose. The only vampire in history to be raised as a vampire, into our lifestyle and preparing him for the future as a hound.

  Quin was selected for his precognitive abilities. He may not recall, but he warned his father of what would happen if the stranger was brought into the house. In uttering that sentence, he sealed his fate.

  He was raised in such a way to strip away as much of his humanity as possible. He was supposed to see the darkness and harden himself against it.

  If they had succeeded, Wraith would have been a tool used to kill every vampire that had been on that field. Effectively ending the cold war that had boiled on for centuries. Bau meant for Wraith to kill herself and the Great Maker once the others were dealt with.

  He was then to kill Lu and, in turn, be killed himself.

  For whatever reason, the Oracle didn’t see all of Quin. They saw Wraith. There was some inkling that causing the split would give him a chance to escape, but then if you’re too brutal and shatter instead of split, the resulting creature doesn’t obey and just does their own thing. The witches didn’t know the boy had survived until Lu brought him in.

  I still don’t understand how he kept himself together. Pure stubbornness? An ability to see the future which showed him something better? Or just anger and hatred, resisting everything Lu was while slowly giving up bits of himself to stay safe?

  Whatever the reason, Quin remained, and Wraith sided with him.

  Mostly.

  When I laid eyes on Quin, on that road, I knew. I knew who and what he was, and I knew that there was a snag there. He wasn’t quite the weapon Bau had been seeking to create. There was some delicate thread left to him.

  I collected him and boxed him for three months while I sought out counsel.

  Lucrecia helped me plan. She didn’t know he was Wraith. She only knew he was Progeny of Lu. We looked up as much of his past as we could, went to the Oracle and were given a confused blur. They had no idea who we were talking about.

  When their visions of the future are re-writing themselves, fine tuning the details I think humans say, their visions become like a fog. By taking Quin off that road and putting him in the box, by being in the midst of trying to decide how to handle him, Lucrecia and I had altered the future.

  The big things remained the same, but the little things began to change. With each little event that we change, we have a greater chance at bumping the cart that is fate off its road and onto a new one.

  So, Lucrecia and I planned as carefully and quickly as we could.

  Finally, I took him to the Council. There, Lucrecia and I pretended as if we had never had that conversation. She took on the role of adoptive Maker. I became a sister, following him across the lands rather than living my life because I had to keep hold of that anchor.

  I would build him back up, only to have Lu break him down again. Yet, I couldn’t get close to Lu. We couldn’t be rid of the man. At every turn, the Council, those who were placed to protect the world from Lu, protected him from us.

  The Great Maker wants this war over. As much as those Elders should die for their sins, it’s time to be at peace. There can be no peace while Lu and Bau live.

  Which, I suppose, is where you come in.

  Bau has complained bitterly about the Siren since her turning. The Oracle, out of spite, has given the name Siren to several female vampires through the centuries. Effectively killing those who would be troublemakers by convincing Bau that they were the one she was looking for. Yet at the same time, it has dulled Bau’s attention to the title.

  The Siren will lure men to their doom, and kill any woman who gets in her way. The Great Maker included in that number. Either because of that, or because of the attempt of others to reign her in, the Siren becomes Banshee. The fourth-generation executioner and a creature to rival Bau. Banshee will mean the death of Bau, of Lu, of Death, and of Wraith.

  While Wraith and the Great Maker were initially seen as standing on that field alone, that does not mean that they were unaccompanied. It was, after all, a battlefield. There must have been an army, an enemy, led by someone. Depending on the angle you view the prophecy at, it seems that they are either standing against Death, or trying to stand against Banshee.

  Death, they could win against, but Banshee means the end of the w
ar.

  Are you suggesting that I’m going to raise an army and try to kill you?

  No, it’s not always like that with visions. It could simply mean that your existence will push the cold war into true battle. Quin and I will take the field against a common enemy.

  Whether we survive the fight is dependent on all the little choices we have made since his turning.

  “Quin and I will take the field.”

  I had scrolled up on the tablet, viewing the speech to text version so that I didn’t have to replay it and I could just see it and confirm what I had just heard. Then I scrolled back to the bottom and swallowed the lump in my throat.

  Straightening, I stared at Sasha. Ever so awkwardly, I picked up my cell phone and checked the time, then slipped it away again. Clearing my throat, I met her eyes.

  “If I beat up the Oracle, how much trouble am I going to be in?” I asked.

  I asked that instead of what I wanted to ask.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I asked her if I was some kind of chosen one and she said no,” I said.

  I was very careful not to think. To keep my mind blank as I met Sasha’s eyes once more. Her eyebrows raised just slightly as I watched her.

  Obviously, she could read minds, and do so when I wasn’t thinking something specific.

  “Secrets will get you killed,” she said.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  It wasn’t like the night before with Quin, where I was certain but hadn’t asked for fear of being wrong and fear of being killed. When I had hoped it would just come up in conversation and I could casually point it out.

  “Says the pot to the kettle, I’m sure,” I said in response.

  “Once your powers settle, I could just pick you apart,” Sasha said as if she were talking about mowing a lawn.

  In a bored, self-assured manner, as if she had done it before.

  I shrugged. “If we’re working under the assumption we all live through the night, go ahead and try.”