Fateful Attractions

by Lucretia Stanhope

  Movement from Dillon caught her attention and she flicked him back deeper into a cold coma. He’d been a real fighter, she thought again. She looked forward to having his heart as well.

  Once things were set up, she grasped Shane’s organ in her hands and held it above her head. She started out chanting loudly. The humidity started to suck from the air. The chants grew softer. Conviction in her words faded. She gasped when the air thinned around her. As her hands went to her throat, the heart was thrown aside.

  Gwen stepped deeper into the room, filling it with rage. Sucking the air toward her. “Take them, Yardley.” The command was issued in a way that it was not to be argued with. She didn’t look back, didn’t look to Dillon who lay unconscious, or to Sebastian who morphed in and out of shape. Her eyes stayed on Shane. Shane and the bloody witch that stood over him, covered in his blood. She didn’t need to get any closer to know what had happened, already. She was too late. Her body started to tremble as that sank in. She was too late.

  The sound that came from Gwen was agony vocalized.

  “No water,” the warning was from Yardley, who only watched her a moment before he turned back to Sebastian and started chanting, trying to free him from the spell that bound him.

  Gwen didn’t hear Yardley, but it didn’t matter. Her anger focused into fire. When the witch tried to entrance her, she blocked it as Sebastian had taught her. All of her hate sparked in the hag’s eyes, burning and blinding her.

  A new howl filled the room, this time from Josephine. Her hands shot out, unable to aim. Shaken by the assault, she drew water from below and above, but the pain of Gwen’s magical pressure, mixed with her inability to see, made it nothing more than a wave of water that flowed useless out the door.

  The wind Gwen summoned blew from behind her, but she stayed on her feet, unaffected, watching as Josephine struggled against it. When her eyes drifted to Shane’s lifeless mangled body, the force of the wind increased and shattered the windows, blowing them out, while pushing everything against the walls.

  Yardley, who was still working to free Sebastian, looked to see Gwen stood steady in the melee. She would hold her own easily, he assessed. His attention returned fully to Sebastian. He had been working on the trap since he arrived, and was starting to make some progress. The shifting magic from Lewis had slowed him down, as the spell morphed each time Sebastian did. It took extreme focus to decipher it fast enough before it started to change again. Finally, the top symbol cracked under his unwinding and he focused below now.

  With the pressure easing on Sebastian he was able to hold a form for a few seconds, before it shifted to the other. The howling stopped as the pain eased.

  In each human manifestation, he whispered, Gwen.

  Gwen didn’t hear her name, her attention remained trained on Josephine. She stepped toward the witch, who even though she was blind, sensed her, and stepped back. Forgetting the advices, she tried to freeze her in place. The frozen water Gwen called to hold her, seemed to revitalize her and the warnings played in her mind too late. Don’t use water.

  Gwen started to draw the liquid back to herself to free it, but Josephine had it fully in her grasp and was recovered enough from the shock of blindness, to wield it as a pelting of frozen spikes. She sent them with a great accuracy and force toward Gwen.

  When they pierced her in her arms, legs, and shoulder, Gwen flinched, but stood her ground, keeping her own assault continuous. Blood trickled from the spikes that buried themselves as freezing reminders she needed to keep her wits. She could not allow Josephine a moment to recover. The gifts of pain she had been given were suddenly understood. Had she not been through Dmitry and his bites and beatings, the onslaught of the pain might have made her hesitate.

  She did not hesitate. Even as she thought about things, the fight waged on.

  Vines slithered in the window and wrapped Josephine, holding her in place. Gwen stepped forward until she stood without an inch between them.

  Shane was dead, Dillon clung to life, and Sebastian still struggled in the distance. She did not notice the new cold presence behind her. The anger didn’t dissipate. Only one thing would do that.

  Sergei looked from Gwen to Yardley and then Dillon. Gwen was in the best shape, a strong steady heartbeat matched the fury that flowed from her. For a moment he smiled proud, before he started over to Yardley, who had just freed Sebastian.

  With Sergei there to watch over him while Sebastian stabilized, Yardley began to help Dillon enough to ensure he would survive. Sergei stood by Sebastian as a sort of guard, but his attention was glued to Gwen, whose rage demanded to be fed in a way he recognized.

  Gwen reached for the crone’s chest and her fingers pressed against the skin. She focused all her magic into her fingertips. It didn’t add strength as she envisioned it would, instead they shot flames, searing the flesh.

  A dark smoke drifted from them, the smell was sickening.

  More water came. Panicked and out of options, the witch focused it into a raining water that put out the flames on Gwen’s hands.

  Once the flames died the witch froze the water, making Gwen’s fingers immobile.

  Gwen ignored the pain, focused her will to move them, and spun her fingers, commanding the vines that tightened in response, before she refocused on the witch’s chest.

  Gwen cried out in an anguish that commanded to be quenched and dug, unaware of the gentle presence behind her, or the soft words trying to bring her down from the hate.

  “Beauty. Come back to me.” Sebastian’s words continued to go unheard.

  Sergei tugged him away. “Leave her.”

  When she realized she wasn’t strong enough to rip out her heart, she called up more from the earth, and observed as the vines broke the flesh. In her mind’s eye, she shot the vines to the black heart and watched as that image manifested. The scream that issued from Josephine made a streak of hot pain rush across her forehead.

  Her eyes closed briefly and when she reopened them, nestled in a forked growth of gore-covered climbers was the still beating heart of the witch. It was blackened and didn’t drip with blood. She stopped living, and long ago.

  Gwen reached out and took the heart from the vine cradle, squeezing it in her frozen, bleeding hands until it stopped beating. Her hand relaxed and it fell to the floor.

  When she turned around, she fell to her knees at Shane’s side and gathered him in her arms, weeping. “I’m sorry.” She repeated the two words as she rocked his dead body.

  Sebastian and Sergei watched, one filled with sadness, and the other with pride. Neither moved to do anything until her sobbing stopped and she looked up.

  “Dillon,” she croaked out, looking at them with bloodshot eyes.

  “Safe, with Yardley,” Sergei replied.

  Sebastian stood silent, crying dark blood tears. He knew something touched her, something darkened her enough that she sought bloody vengeance. He could feel her sorrow, still unsated as he knew it would be. Death never washed away suffering, it only gave it the fuel to grow deeper.

  “Can you take him? Take him home. I want to bury him at home, where the kids… The kids need…” She held Shane close to her. “Take him please, Sebastian.” She could have ordered Sergei, but the look and feeling coming from Sebastian made her aware of what she had just done. She backed away from Shane.

  Sebastian knelt down and gathered him in his arms.

  She sat back and watched as Sebastian vanished with him, leaving her staring at a blood covered floor.

  She looked to the corner to see char from where the curtain and wall started to burn, and then back to Sergei. “Did you kill Fannie?”

  “No, Mistress, forgive me. I will.” His eyes flicked from her blood drenched face to the dead witch, and he knelt, bowing to her.

  She tugged at his shoulder. “Get up. I’m not proud.”

  He walked over and picked up the heart off the floor, and then squeezed it until nothing but ash, and the faintest wet spot app
eared. After he rubbed his hands together, he wiped them on her cheeks and spoke in the deep vampire language. Then he bowed again. “I am proud.”

  She let a few tears come to her eyes and roll down her face. “Stay with me. I need to free the others.”

  “Can I help?” He gave her a hand to her feet and stepped back.

  She looked around at the carnage. “No, just make sure if Fannie or Lewis show up, you, well, just let me know.”

  “Yes, mistress.”

  The altar was obvious and she used intention mingled with rage to destroy it, sending pieces flying across the room. She found and broke spells on all her lover’s hearts, as well as a collection larger than she cared to think about. When all of the hearts and artifacts were rendered useless, she slid down and sat on the bloody floor.

  “Sergei.” She looked up to see she had his attention. “I wanted to hear her suffer.”

  He nodded and understood. It was a sound he enjoyed too, though for different reasons. “Yes, mistress.”

  “I wanted to prolong it.” She started to cry. “She took Shane from the babies. They will never have a father.”

  He drew in a deep breath, not fully able to understand the emotions she was grappling with. He simply did not feel them. Family was only relevant to royal rulers, and even then, it didn’t carry any emotional ties. Death also didn’t carry any emotional ties. Her tears seemed wasted to him in a time he saw as reason for celebration. He remained silent. This moment was better suited for Sebastian.

  She got to her feet and wiped her bloody hands on her pants. Then she ran her fingers through her hair. Her eyes blinked slowly. “I’m covered in death.”

  “A beautiful sight.” His smile was genuine as he admired his mistress. A worthy human mistress, in spite of his initial thoughts when he was assigned to keep the fragile creature safe.

  She reached out and hooked her arm around his elbow. “Take me home, Sergei. I’ve misplaced my stone.”

  Emotionless orders, he understood that. “Yes, mistress.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “I have to go. I would request you stay with Yardley, as Dillon will be.” Sergei paced the hall at Sebastian’s by the front door. “Please.”

  Gwen stepped in between him and his repeated path. “What happened to Fannie? How did she get away from you?”

  “She’s between, only certain creatures can do that. Eternal creatures, dark eternal creatures.” He blinked.

  “You are eternal. It doesn’t get much darker than you.” She balled her fists at her side. “She was part of this. She trapped me with Lewis’s help. I want their heads. Do you understand me, Sergei? That is an order.”

  One side of his upper lip pulled back, revealing a fang. “You will have her head and his. I can’t go between.” His eyes flicked toward the room where Sebastian and Yardley were getting Dillon settled in. “You have allies that can help you with that.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Did you get orders regarding them?”

  “Only so far as that if she returns, I am to handle her myself.” He blinked slowly and again looked toward the room. There were unsaid words.

  “I see. Rest well, Sergei. We will have vengeance for everyone.” She watched him flash away, and then turned toward the end of the hall where she felt everyone else was. Everyone but Sebastian. He had been there before Sergei left. She felt him close, but more distant than the others. She needed to check on Dillon.

  As she neared the room, Yardley stepped into the hall. “He’s in and out, Miss.”

  “Gwen.” Her tone was flat. What he called her really was the least of her worries. She only corrected him out of habit now. “Was he touched? Did she summon dark things to torment him?”

  “No. I have looked him over and he is free of any magic or demons.”

  The tip of her shoe traced the pattern in the carpet while she thought about the night. “He was hurt very badly.”

  “Yes, we’ve reversed most everything. He will be tired and weak, but essentially he is all right.” Yardley put a hand on her back and guided her toward the room.

  Just inside the door she stopped and watched as the blankets rose with Dillon’s breaths. His presence was stronger and peaceful. “Can you excuse us?”

  Yardley nodded and left her alone with Dillon.

  She walked over and brushed a curl away from his face.

  He would be okay, Yardley said as much, but she couldn’t help to think about him helpless in the dingy shack. Almost dead and drained of water because of her. Because she loved him.

  Her love was a poison. No wonder Sebastian didn’t want it. If only Shane had been so smart.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and kissed his forehead.

  She sat gently on the bed beside him, and put her hands on him, making sure there was nothing left that she could take from him. With her hands still on him, she gave him what little peace and happiness she could muster.

  Dillon slept with a smile on his face while she watched. She wasn’t sure how long she sat watching him, before she felt a familiar buzzing grow nearer.

  Sebastian stood in the doorway, watching her give away her last bit of peace. “I have to go now. Stay here. Please, beauty.”

  “I will, I told Sergei as much.” Gwen didn’t look toward him; she couldn’t face him after what she’d done. “Will Dillon fully recover? Yardley said he would.”

  “Yes. When he wakes up he will be fine. Yardley is working on a few things for both of you.” His smooth voice was filled with a deep sorrow.

  “And you?” She ran her hand along the sheet, flattening it against Dillon. “I saw you, well, struggle. Will you be fine too, when you wake?”

  His hand touched her shoulder and she reached up, lacing her fingers in his. “I will, my love.”

  Silent tears fell down her cheeks. “Sebastian, I hated her so much.”

  He fought back his own tears. To have been unable to save her the despair he could still feel on her was crippling. “I know. We can fix this. Together, as we always will.”

  “No, not yet. Rest well, my beast.” She turned back to him and saw sadness still. There was so much hate and sadness inside her that even though she tried to take some from him, none of his budged. She wondered if that was why he didn’t take it from her. If watching her kill in rage had made him so sad, he couldn’t bear anymore either. “I’m sorry she hurt you.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “We are both filled with sorrow. Tomorrow that changes.” He walked out and left her alone with Dillon. Not because he wanted to, but because the daylight demanded he did.

  As soon as Sebastian disappeared down the hall she looked back to Dillon. She watched his chest slowly rise and fall, trying not to think about his heart, and how close she’d come to losing him. She’d almost lost all three of them in one night. She failed Shane. She would not fail Dillon. All the love she had for him, would be safely tucked away and never thought about again.

  There was no way to know if her family curse would die now, or with Fannie, or never. She would never love another mortal again. If Sebastian couldn’t love her after what he saw, she resigned herself not to have love. It wasn’t a risk she was willing to take again.

  A gentle kiss on his forehead caused him to stir. “I’m so sorry, Dillon. I did love you.” It would be the last time she thought of him that way again.

  “Miss Gwen?”

  Gwen turned to see Yardley. She kissed Dillon’s hand and got up. Once they were in the hall she leaned against the wall. “Please watch him.”

  “I will watch everyone. You are troubled and touched. I can help.” He turned and took a few steps. “Come with me.”

  She looked back to Dillon. He was safe now. “I need the hate. Fannie is still out there.”

  He looked back at her and started walking again. “Let me check the babies at least. I won’t do anything you don’t approve. If you want your heart to stay troubled, that is yours to decide.”

  Her footfalls
fell silent on the carpet as she walked the corridor a few steps behind him. “Sebastian hates me now. He saw me, he saw me take a heart. I’m sure he felt the utter happiness I felt when that witch died.”

  He stopped walking and turned to her, looking into her eyes. “Two things, Miss. Sebastian will never hate you, you could take his heart out, and it would still only beat for you.”

  “No.” She looked down, ashamed. “You didn’t see his face. He was disgusted.”

  “With what he let happen.” His finger lifted her chin. “Not with you. Never with you. You do know what he is, yes? To kill is not something that makes him squeamish, Miss. We’ve faced things, similar things, and even removed parts. I promise, his eyes never hold you in disgust. You are his love.”

  “What is the second thing?”

  “To take vengeance when it is deserved, and from a creature such as that, it’s not shameful. It doesn’t make you a killer. That woman stopped being a woman before you were even born. You ridded the world of a monster.” He saw she doubted his sincerity. “You are a hero. The lives and suffering you saved with that one act are immeasurable.”

  “I don’t feel like a hero.”

  “No, and that is because you lost Shane. It’s impossible to celebrate in the face of that.” He opened a familiar door. “Come lay down and let me check the sweet babies.”

  As they walked to the room she questioned if he knew this was where she found out Sebastian was a killer. Could he have known? She wondered again why he was able to so easily accept what her and Sebastian did.

  “Only ask if you want to know. Trust it isn’t nice and you might not come around to what I am, as easily as you did with Sebastian.” He looked toward the couch. “Relax. Did you want coffee, cake?”

  She shook her head no at the cake. “Easily? I almost never spoke to him again.”

  “Yes, and you love him, that is my point, Miss. What I am is despicable.” Both of his hands waved as if to say they really should leave it. “That aside, the answer is in your mind already. When you are ready to deal with it, you already know.”

  “Fair enough. But I do feel like you are an ally.”