Awakening (The Vampire Destiny Series Book #3)

by Anthony, Alexandra

  I will be home to you soon.

  Eternally yours,

  Stefan

  Refolding the letter, I placed it on the bedside table. With a throbbing chest, I forced myself out of bed, sluggishly going through the routine of getting dressed and preparing myself for a day which obviously was going to be very long.

  Why hadn’t Stefan told me he was leaving with Amir this morning? He’d mentioned nothing last night, not that we’d focused on much conversation after arriving home. Stefan had been furious with me for using my shield to restrain him with Kian, and he’d taken his brand of delicious frustration out on me. It was clear something had transpired after I fell asleep last night.

  Selecting a faded pair of jeans and a worn t-shirt, I padded barefoot into the living room. Lukas and Anna were deep in a conversation, talking so fast that their voices came out as a low and steady buzz. When they sensed me watching them, their conversation came to an abrupt halt and they both faced me.

  “Sit down and I’ll get your coffee,” Anna pushed me into the chair and hurried off into the kitchen. I listened as she opened and closed cabinet doors, the clinking noise of the mug hitting the granite countertop. It was all a temporary distraction and my mind refocused on Stefan.

  “Where is he, Lukas? I can’t feel him,” I pleaded. My voice quavered. “Please. If he swore you to secrecy for my benefit, you have to tell me. This is killing me.”

  Lukas’ ice blue eyes peered at me guiltily. They shifted to Anna as she leaned over and pushed a steaming cup of coffee into my hands. Glancing up at her, I saw her concern for me reflecting in the chocolate brown of her eyes. Her obvious worry only added to my own distress and fueled the growing need for information.

  Lukas pursed his lips and ran his fingers over the throw pillow next to him. “All I can tell you is that Amir received a text message around 4am. He said nothing to me about the content of the text, only hurried over to collect Stefan and they left for the Carriage House shortly thereafter. Stefan commanded me to not say anything to upset you. He said there were matters to be taken care of and he’d be home soon.”

  Sipping the coffee, I gripped the mug with both hands to attempt steady the shakiness that was rattling my very soul.

  “Aren’t you worried about Amir?” I finally asked, breaking the uneasy stillness that had fallen over the room.

  Lukas crossed his legs and offered me a strained smile. “Amir and I have a complicated relationship. If I spent my time worrying what he was up to, that’s all I would be doing. He has a complex way of looking at this life. He’s lived the last 100 years attempting to break into the Council. In his mind, he’s going to fix what’s broken. He says that things need to change.”

  “And you don’t?”

  “I think the rules and the regulations border on the ridiculous. However, someone has to keep order or chaos would ensue. It’s the way of the world, either human or vampire. Amir became a vampire at the time when his religion was under attack. He’s used to fighting, to attempt to make things right. I prefer to mind my own business and fly under the radar. It’s easier this way,” Lukas offered as his explanation.

  Bringing the mug to my lips, I took another swallow. “Why is Amir so focused on infiltrating the Council and Board?”

  Lukas exchanged a nervous look with Anna. She tapped her fingers on her knee and dropped her eyes to the floor. “Silly Josie. He suspects your father killed the two Board members, just like we do. At least two of the five Council members are corrupt. You saw it with your own eyes last night. Kian has usurped control of the Board by pretending Silvio and Reginald are still alive but are on permanent hiatus. He had the majority of the Council under his thumb until Stefan killed Derek. That leaves Sofia and Adolfo as the two Council members I wouldn’t trust if my undead life depended on it. Lenora is the big unknown since we know where Amir and Nigel stand.”

  I placed my mug on the small table, rubbing the spot over my chest where it throbbed like a toothache. The bond searched for Stefan, begging for its reconnection. Was Stefan feeling the same kind of pain? Thinking about him made me want to dissolve into tears. The bond we shared could be a pain, but now that it wasn’t buzzing in the back of my mind I missed its presence. For the first time in a long time, I felt very alone.

  A sudden thought popped into my mind. Overwhelming fear gripped me as I almost vaulted out of the chair. “They aren’t planning on doing anything stupid? This was just business issues they’re attending to, right?”

  Lukas pursed his lips from his seat on the couch. “Define stupid.”

  “Jesus, Lukas. Why can’t you just tell her? Everything doesn’t have to turn into your snark hour. Answer her because I can’t,” Anna snapped. She reached over and slapped him in the back of the head, the sound making a loud crack.

  “Ouch! Fine. It’s business issues, yes. If Amir is involved, it’s probably more. Remember his cloaking ability? He only gets involved when tracks need to be covered.” Lukas rubbed the back of his head and pouted.

  Shit. I knew for sure that at the minimum, Stefan and Amir were up to something they shouldn’t be. My mind frantically scrambled through the last week, going over every conversation I’d had with Stefan. I was looking for anything that would give me a clue, a hint as to what might be happening. When I remembered his words to my brother, they almost screamed out for attention as they replayed in my mind. ‘I promise you now, Nikolaus. I will help you do whatever it takes to avenge her death. However, you must promise to wait for the proper time. Do I have your word that you will wait for the suitable time to proceed?’

  Squaring my shoulders and heading for my jacket, I retrieved my phone. I was dialing when I narrowed my gaze on Anna. “Anna, where is Nikolaus?”

  Her brow furrowed and she frowned. “He’s at his apartment. Why?”

  I put the phone to my ear, listening as it rang. “I need to talk to him.”

  Chapter 9

  There’s a Hole in My Heart

  The somewhat innocent conversation between Stefan and my brother now seemed much more significant than it had at the time. Stefan had made the promise that he would help my brother by destroying my father in loosely disguised words. With Amir’s sudden appearance and appointment to the Board, had that set the wheels in motion to start an uprising?

  The phone rang for the fourth time when Nikolaus finally picked up. He sounded dazed, his voice groggy and thick with sleep. “What?”

  “Where are you?” I barked back at him into the phone. I didn’t have time to play nice with my brother. I needed information and I needed it now.

  “I’m at my apartment. What’s going on?” Nikolaus asked. I heard him attempt to stifle a yawn.

  “Do you have any idea where Stefan is?” I demanded. I gripped the phone tighter as I waited for his answer with growing apprehension.

  His heavy sigh came loud and clear through the phone. “Seriously? You’re calling me to ask where your fiancé is? I have no fucking clue, Josie. What else is going on?”

  “He’s supposedly off taking care of some sort of Council business. After last night’s testimony, I thought you might know where he is.”

  He hesitated for a moment. “What happened that Anna didn’t tell me?”

  “You have a way to bypass our father’s ability to deflect him. I found out I can too,” I explained, pushing my hair behind my ear. I wasn’t ready to divulge that I was able to still someone with the power of my mind to Nikolaus just yet. “Stefan and Kian neither one appreciated it. With his disappearance, I happened to recall a conversation the two of you had that afternoon about waiting until the right time to make a move against our father. I just thought you might know what’s going on.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out. I’ll call you when I know something,” Nikolaus said distractedly. It sounded as if he was getting dressed; I could hear the sound of fabric rustling and his voice would periodically get muffled as he shifted and moved.

  It was my turn to sigh
. I’d expected more answers than questions at this point. “Thanks, Nikolaus. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  I already had the phone away from my ear and was ready to hang up the call when Nikolaus’ voice rang out. “Josie!”

  I quickly put the cell back to my ear. “Nikolaus?”

  “Take care of yourself. Don’t go anywhere until we know something or you hear from Stefan, ok?” Nikolaus suddenly sounded on edge, his voice growing heavy with apprehension.

  “Ok…”

  He quickly cut me off before I could say anything else. “I mean it, Josie. Stay the fuck where you are. And don’t let Anna go anywhere either. Let me ask around and I’ll call you back.”

  We both hung up. Staring at the phone, I slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans. I walked to the window and stared out into the New York morning. My mind was splintered, worrying about Stefan and what he was doing. I could only hope if Stefan had chosen to take Nikolaus up on his promise, he’d come back to me in one piece.

  ***

  Time seemed to creep to a standstill, the hours dragging by. If I wasn’t searching the missing end of the bond for any sign of Stefan, I was watching the clock. Lukas, Anna and I took turns making phone calls to cell phones that went unanswered, to intercepting phone calls that gave us no new information. No one knew anything, or if they did, they weren’t talking. All of the Council members were suspiciously out of contact. Nigel, Amir, Lenora, Stefan… it was if they vanished into thin air.

  While we waited, I suddenly noticed that I had to shield myself from Anna and Lukas. Either it was the strength of their emotions, or my continued transformation that made me more aware of them. They both grew more anxious as the hours seemed to bleed together with no word or contact from Stefan. The only solace was that I wasn’t alone. Anna and Lukas had both taken up watch my side. They both seemed to sense when my fear was ready to overtake me, and they were ready to offer their silent reassurances and support to me.

  My end of the bond ached for him. We’d been together non-stop prior to our return to New York and even small absences were painful. I’d been able to feel him in our tie while he was taking care of his business issues or running errands. Amir’s ability had counteracted our bond and made him seem invisible, like he’d never existed.

  It was close to 6pm when my cell phone rang. With my stomach in knots, I pulled the phone from my pocket. I couldn’t help but feel a little bit of a let down as I glanced at the display. I’d been hoping for Stefan.

  “Nikolaus?”

  “Do you have the TV on?” His voice came out in a panic, the words tumbling over one another. “If you don’t, turn it on. Hurry!”

  “Nikolaus, you’re scaring me. What the hell…” I began, reaching for the remote. Powering on the TV, I waited for the screen to come up. I turned it to WABC and anxiously watched the screen. “What am I looking for.”

  “Sit down. Don’t ask. Do it,” Nikolaus ordered. His voice dropped slightly above a whisper. “I’m on my way there. Hang tight and stay on the line with me.”

  The commercial ended and the newscaster came back on under the bright red banner of ‘Breaking News’.

  “We’re live on the scene of what appears to be a gas explosion in the Upper East side of Manhattan. Our reporter, Andrea Jacobs is on the scene. Andrea.”

  The camera switched to a live shot of an eager brunette with her perfectly coiffed into an over sprayed bob. Andrea Jacobs was standing in front of the smoldering remains of the Carriage House where I’d just been the night before. It was the same Carriage House where Stefan and the Council members were supposedly meeting to discuss whatever mysterious business they had to attend to. It was completely ruined, a charred skeleton of rubble.

  “Thanks, Susan. I’m here live on East 83rd Street in Manhattan. Behind me there was an explosion about an hour ago that arson investigators at this point say all points to a gas explosion. The historic Carriage House behind me was destroyed in the blast. We’re unsure if anyone was in the house at the time and police are saying they have found no victims or survivors in their initial sweep.”

  “Andrea, is there any information about who owned the property?”

  The brunette smiled a bright red saccharine smile for the camera. “It appears to have been owned by a holding company called PB&C LLC. We tried to obtain contact information about the company, but at this point we haven’t had any success.”

  Totally tuning out the rest of their chatter, I dropped the phone to the couch. I could hear Nikolaus’ tinny voice calling out for me, but I walked out of the room as if I was in a trance. I had to get away from the television, the annoying reporter, the pictures of the ruined building. Lukas attempted to stop me by grabbing my arm, trying to pull me back to him. His mouth was moving, yet nothing he said made any sense to me. It was if he was speaking to me in another language that I couldn’t understand.

  Managing to drag myself into our bedroom, I slammed the door and locked it behind me. I leaned against it and released the sob I’d managed to hold in until I was alone. Locking the door was a moot point, a futile stop gap measure. I knew if Anna or Lukas wanted in badly enough, they would just break down the door. I just needed a few moments to decompress, to think things through without the added confusion of other opinions and their emotions interfering with my own.

  Sinking down on the edge of the bed, I drew my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around my legs. Staring blankly off into space, the news report droned in my mind, the words on an infinite loop. ‘Police are saying they have found no victims or survivors.’

  He couldn’t have met his final death. It was unimaginable to me. Stefan reminded me of creatures that always figured a way out of the stickiest of situations. He was crafty and cunning. Wavering between staying positive and facing reality, I had to try to stay optimistic. I kept trying to remember that we hadn’t met after almost 1,000 years of separation only to be torn apart this way. There had to be another answer.

  But there was a tiny pessimistic part of my mind that had its own opinion. It had weighed the pros and cons of the situation. This glass half empty part if my brain had deduced that if Stefan had been there to attempt to off my father, what if he had been caught in the act, totally unaware? Stefan was unable to see Kian’s future, so how could he possibly predict what my father was going to do? What if his luck had finally run out? What if…

  “No!” I whispered to myself. Slowly rocking back and forth, I refused to even consider the possibility. I just had to wait for him to find his way back to me, even if it took another 1,000 years.

  I’d willingly wait for him. He was the love of my life, the man I’d been born for. And he was the man that had been so special he’d been made for me twice.

  An hour after I'd locked myself away, Anna and Lukas had broken down the door after I'd ignored their pleas for me to let them in. I’d refused to acknowledge that they were there. It wasn’t out of choice. My mind screamed out to them to help me; however, my voice and body didn't want to cooperate. Nothing could soothe me and nothing could console me. The only thing that could put my heart and mind back together again was knowing that Stefan was safe.

  But where could he be? Was he trapped somewhere? My phone calls to him went unanswered, the bond between us severed due to Amir’s ability. His presence had been ripped from me, leaving behind a short-circuited, inadequate being that needed him back to be complete and whole again.

  Stretched across the bed and gripping a pillow, I was a virtual prisoner in my mind. It was during this time I figured out why every vampire was shocked at our bonding. This was the real reason vampires didn't mate. It had little to do with showing vulnerabilities and weaknesses as I’d first deduced. Bonds were averted because it slowly caused the other to come undone if abandoned. It needed us both actively participating in the connection to be complete, to thrive. Take one away and its retribution was excruciating and debilitating.

  I'd stayed curled in the fetal position on
our bed. They'd all taken their turns sitting with me. I heard the pity in their voice. I felt the fear in their emotions, breaking through my weakened shields. They were as terrified as me. The only difference is that they weren't bonded to the love of their life or had that precious link ripped violently away with no warning.

  Finally exhausting myself, I'd drifted off into a fitful sleep. In my dreamlike state, I was transported to a place I'd never been as a human, yet it seemed as familiar as my childhood home. Before me stood the human version of Stefan, the one I’d seen from his forgotten memories. He was absolutely stunning as a human man. His normally pale skin was lightly tanned from his time by the sea, his golden blond hair was long and gleaming in the sunlight. Tall and beautiful, he was walking along the edge of the sea, his blue eyes contemplative. Instinctively I ran to him, attempting to embrace him. My arms weren't able to make any contact with him. They slipped through him as if I was a ghost and he continued on his trek totally unaware of my interference.

  “Stefan!” I yelled after him. I was ready to sink to my knees in the sand when a familiar voice rang out.

  "You are not real to this world.”

  Spinning around, I found my mother standing in the sand, dressed in the same gauzy dress as during our first meeting. Her long chestnut hair blew in the crisp, salty air. She hurried to me and tugged at my arm, dragging me along behind her. "You are watching something that has already occurred. It is like watching a movie."

  "Mother?" I questioned. I was happy to see her but totally confused as to why she’d chosen to come to me again so soon, especially at a time where I was so desperately worried about Stefan. “Why are we here?”