The Phoenix (The Prophecy #1)

by Jessica McCrory

  “You murdered your family, why?”

  “They were weak.” She spit the word out as if it had a bad taste on her mouth.

  “You are a monster.”

  “Guilty.” Ophelia bared her teeth again.

  Anastasia lunged for her and Ophelia jumped out of the way. “Shall we dance then?” She laughed and jumped on Anastasia.

  Ophelia was quick and it took Anastasia a moment to measure her opponent up. She was cocky, much like Maximus was. She knew that would be her ticket to winning the fight. It meant that Ophelia underestimated her. Oh, how she looked foreword to proving her wrong.

  She sliced her dirk out catching Ophelia in the arm as she did her best to dodge out of the way.

  Ophelia laughed. “Kitty has claws, eh?” She moved to the side and kicked Anastasia’s feet out from under her and Anastasia fell to the ground.

  She thrust her fist up and caught Ophelia in the chin, knocking her back off of her and then Anastasia got back to her feet.

  They moved together punching, blocking and stabbing. Gregory coughed and Anastasia looked away at the wrong moment. Ophelia drove her blade into Anastasia’s shoulder and she cried out in pain. She shoved her backwards and landed on top of her.

  Anastasia landed next to Gregory and looked in his eyes. Tears were falling down his cheeks. She felt the power begin to hum in her blood and when she saw the expression on Ophelia’s face, she knew Vincent hadn’t warned his ‘daughter’ about the girl she had been sent for.

  “Oh, yeah?” Anastasia growled at her.

  Ophelia climbed off of her quickly and stumbled back.

  “What you don’t want to play anymore?”

  “What are you?” Ophelia asked, the fear plain on her face.

  “More powerful than you or your father could even begin to imagine.” Anastasia bared her teeth at her and summoned a ball of light in her hand.

  Ophelia turned to run through the door and Anastasia flung her away with a wave of her hand. The power she felt was beginning to grow and she didn’t know enough to realize she should have been the one afraid of what she was capable of.

  “You deserve a much more painful death, but I find myself in a giving mood.” She threw the ball at Ophelia and heard her scream when it buried itself into her chest. Ophelia crumpled to the ground and Anastasia turned to face Gregory.

  “Come back, Anastasia.” He muttered to her.

  Her entire body was aglow with a power he had never seen before, even in Vincent. Her eyes were glowing and he could see that every fiber of her being was alive with it. Even he feared what she was capable of but he refused to believe she would turn dark. There was too much good in her for that. “Anastasia, think of Dakota.” He could see the moment she began to come around. Her eyes slowly faded back to their normal blue and she fell to his side. “There you are.” He rested back against the floor.

  “Gregory, I’m so sorry. I should have been here.”

  “It’s not your fault, Anastasia.” Blood was pooling on the floor and she grabbed a small blanket to put pressure on the wound in his side.

  “Hold this.” She stood and ran into his room to gather the vials of healing potions Annabelle had made all those years ago.

  She came back and began opening the vials and pouring them onto his wound.

  “I'm afraid it’s too much, Anastasia.” Gregory gripped her wrist and she set the vial down.

  “No there has to be something!” She yelled, tears streaming down her face.

  “I’ve lost too much blood, Anastasia. Please stop my dear.” He gently touched her cheek. “She caught me off guard. I didn’t even see her until it was too late, and by then I was injured too badly to use my magic.”

  “There has to be something I can do.” Anastasia cried, repeating what she had said moments before.

  “I am so proud of you Anastasia, you must know that. You are so much more than I could have ever imagined.”

  “Please don’t leave me.” She cried and rested her face on his chest.

  “I will never leave you, Anastasia. I will always be here with you.” He started but his breath caught and she looked down at him. “I. Love. You.”

  She knew the moment he stopped breathing. She felt his presence leave, and with it, half of her heart.

  “No!” She screamed at him as she pulled him to her chest. “No, please don’t leave me, please don’t go, I need you!” She cradled him and cried. Kaley came in, covered with blood and whimpered when she saw Gregory. She curled into his side and rested her head on his stomach.

  Anastasia wasn’t sure how long she sat there. Light began pouring in through the windows, and she lifted her head. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her shoulder hurt from the injury Ophelia had given her.

  She gently laid Gregory back, and went to Ophelia’s body. She grabbed her by the feet and drug her from the house, determined to not have her anywhere near Gregory, alive or dead.

  She left her body lying in the path outside of the house and returned to gather the rest of the healing potions and her knives. She hadn’t even touched the gun at her waist, and she scolded herself for it; would she have had enough time had she just pulled it out and used it instead of fighting her?

  She and Kaley stepped from the house, gathered Ophelia’s body and walked towards the village. She looked down at her companion and saw that she had been injured. She pulled one of the vials out, and stopped to rub it on the cat’s flank where it looked like she had taken a knife. She rubbed her head against Anastasia’s side in response and they continued walking.

  Anastasia left Ophelia’s body in a pile with the Brute bodies that had been stacked up by the remaining villagers. The entire town was in shambles. The fires had been extinguished, but very few structures had been spared from the flames. Bodies littered the ground everywhere, and Anastasia could see they were lining them up to be identified and buried.

  Had she had any more tears left they would have begun falling for the death that surrounded her. People she had known, some she had grown to love were lying on the ground, their lives extinguished for a selfish cause led by a man more evil then Anastasia could have ever thought possible.

  She stopped when she saw Maximus’s mother’s body lying on the ground a single wound to her chest. She knew who was responsible for her death, and she was going to slaughter him where he stood the next chance she got.

  Anastasia could feel the power begin to hum in her veins and she did her best to contain it. It would do no good to be angry now, she would save it for when she came face to face with Maximus and Vincent.

  She bit back a cry when she saw Emmitt’s mutilated body. There was so much blood on him that she couldn’t even tell where his original wound had been. She frantically searched for Brady and Tony. They were the only family she had left.

  She found Brady cradling Emma to his chest, tears streaming down his face. He gently held her head in his arms. She assessed him and saw that he wasn’t too badly injured, physically anyways. He looked up at her and she saw the pain in his eyes.

  “Your mother and Sarah?” She asked praying he hadn’t lost everyone in one night.

  “They are fine. Mom’s helping the injured. I was too late to save Emma.” He looked back down at her and brushed a strand of hair from her face. She gently touched his shoulder knowing that nothing she said would ease his pain.

  She found Tony dragging the body of a larger than normal Brute into the pile. He nodded to Ophelia’s body. “Your work?” He asked noting the large hole in her chest.

  “She killed Gregory.” She felt the vice around her heart tighten when she saw the look of anguish on his face.

  “Dammit! How did this go so wrong?” He screamed and flung the body into the pile. “How did we not see this coming?” He rubbed his hands over his face and Anastasia shook her head.

  “I snuck out yesterday. Went to the village where we found Ophelia. Brady and Kaley went with me and before we could leave to tell you what we
had found, Maximus marched in with three dozen Brutes. We weren’t able to get out in time. I'm so sorry, had I told you where I was going-”

  “There might not have been enough Fighters left in the village to hold off like we did if some had gone with you. We may have been completely destroyed.” He touched her shoulder lightly. “I wish you hadn’t have gone, but it’s not your fault what happened here last night.”

  “I should have been here.”

  “They would have attacked whether you had been or not, you know that.”

  “I could have helped.”

  “From what I remember seeing last night, you did. You got here not minutes after they began attacking. I watched as you tore through nearly a dozen of them alone. Don’t discount your actions, Anastasia. Had you been here when the attack began you might have been lost in the surprise of it. It took us a moment to wrap our heads around what was happening.” He shook his head. “That little prick, Maximus came in first. He killed his own mother.” Tony rubbed his hands over his face.

  “I'm going to kill him.” Anastasia said aloud for the first time.

  “I think that’s a damn fine plan.” Tony agreed, surprising her. “I'm sorry about Gregory, Anastasia. He was a wonderful man and friend, and he loved you very much.” His eyes filled and Anastasia pulled him in for a hug.

  “I'm not going to think about that now. There will be time to grieve when this is over, but it needs to end.” She said, releasing him.

  Anastasia stared out at the carnage the Brute’s had left. Gregory had taught her to not fight with anger in her heart. He had believed it made the Fighter weak, but she felt the strength rising in her as she let it set into her heart. Men, women, and children who had done nothing lay dead on the ground, all because of a man who believed he deserved to rule simply because he had more power than others. Because he believed he was better than them.

  She wanted to feel his blood run down her hand as she shoved her sword into his heart. Ophelia had become the first person she had ever killed and she felt no guilt over it. She firmly believed that Ophelia had gotten what was coming to her. It was time she delivered it to the man who had kidnapped her and sent her to live a world away from her parents.

  He had been the reason she had suffered for seventeen years. He was the reason she had only known her real mother for one measly year and he was the reason she was utterly and completely alone now.

  Brady came to stand next to them and Anastasia saw the resolution on his face. He would follow her into battle if she asked him, and she just might have to.

  “Gregory?” He asked.

  She shook her head.

  “I'm sorry, Anastasia.”

  “I'm sorry about Emma.”

  He nodded and turned to stare out at the village with her and Tony.

  “What is the plan?” She heard Brady ask.

  “We are going to end them. All of them.”

  She didn’t have to look at him to know they agreed. Brady’s young heart had suffered the loss of someone he had loved and Tony had just lost too many of his people along with a man who had been his best friend. She knew they were out for blood just as she was. It was time to stop waiting around for them to attack and bring the fight to whatever hole it was that they were hiding in.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Anastasia gathered all the survivors in the pavilion that evening once the smoldering had stopped and the bodies had been buried. She looked around from each face to the next, seeing the defeat already in some eyes, the fight burning in others.

  “We all saw what happened last night, what’s going to continue happening unless we put a stop to it. Believe it or not, we were the lucky ones. We are the only village that has ever survived an attack from the Brutes.”

  Whispering started amongst the villagers and she knew they were wondering what she was doing speaking and not Gregory.

  “Gregory was killed in the attacks tonight. Ophelia killed him.”

  “The woman you rescued?” Someone asked.

  She closed her eyes. She needed no reminder that she had helped bring her into the village.

  “Yes. It was believed that she was the only survivor from a previous attack. But Brady and I discovered she had actually been helping them to raid the villages. She had been a plant in our home to learn our weaknesses. She had been sent to destroy us.” A tear slid down her cheek.

  She would tell them everything tonight. “As you all know Gregory was my father. I know we have all lost loved ones tonight and it will only get worse unless we do something about it. You should know that I am the reason the Brutes came tonight. The reason they have been tearing apart villages for the last twenty-eight years. They have been looking for me.”

  “Why would they be looking for you?” one of the Fighters, Andrew asked. He was tall and slender, but she knew he was deadly when in battle.

  “Because it was prophesized that I would be the one to bring down Vincent. It was why he found me and sent me away from my parents.”

  She saw the questions they wore so plainly on their faces. The disbelief that all this carnage could have been over a single person.

  “But they knew you were here, why attack? Why not just draw you out?”

  She had thought about that. It didn’t make any sense to attack so plainly. They could have easily had Ophelia lead her into a trap and no one would have been any wiser.

  “I think they were looking for something.” Brady climbed on the table next to her. “I saw a few of the Brutes turning over some furniture in Gregory’s old house. Where he and Annabelle had lived before they killed her.”

  “Of course.” It suddenly made sense. “The portals.”

  “Portals?” Brady looked confused for a moment and then it seemed to make sense to him as well. “Of course they were looking for the portals.” He repeated after her, the realization setting in.

  “They are trying to keep us out of my world.”

  “We have to find them. If they are able to bring back more of those guns then they will be able to take over everything.”

  She looked back to the crowd of curious faces. “We have to fight back. It’s time to stop sitting around, we need to find them. Wherever they are hiding.”

  “We’ve been looking. You’ve been out there with us.” Andrew spoke up again.

  “I know we have. But we have to look harder, go deeper into the mountains. Re-check every village that has been destroyed. They have to be somewhere.”

  Tony nodded in agreement and looked around him. “It’s time we do something, regardless of what it is. I am tired of seeing the destruction, tired of burying the bodies of those I consider family.” He pounded his fist against his heart.

  “You expect us to send our husbands with you when we have already lost so much tonight? Just send them to what could be their deaths?” A wife of one of the remaining fighters stood and Anastasia saw the nods from some of the other spouses.

  “How can you not?” Emmitt’s mother stood now. “I lost my husband two years ago to a Brute, and my son last night. We have all lost someone.”

  Anastasia saw the tears in her eyes, the way her jaw quivered.

  “Would you truly allow those lives to be lost in vain? They fought with the very last breath in their bodies, do you truly believe it was so we could lie down and give up?” She turned to look at everyone as she spoke. “Even if it means I have to pick up a damn sword and fight with her, I will do something. It’s about time someone does.”

  The crowd stood in agreement with her and Anastasia nodded appreciatively at her.

  “I need to know how many people we have who are able to fight, then I want to leave the majority of you here in order to protect the village and ready it for another attack. The others will come with me. I can’t force you to go, but I’m begging you to come.”

  “I'm coming with you.” Brady stood next to her at the gate.

  By the end of the evening she had fifteen men and women with her and thirty-five
who were able to fight were set to stay behind and keep the village safe.

  “Brady, I need you here. Since Tony is coming with me, you are the only one I trust to handle things right now. I know you’re young, but you spent a lot of time with Gregory, just as I did. You know how things work and I need you here to help watch over everything.”

  He sighed and she smiled at him.

  “Fine, but you better come back.”

  “I always do.” She pulled him in for a hug. “You have been such a wonderful friend to have Brady.” She released him and headed out.

  They had a plan now, and that was their first step towards victory.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A week passed and they were no closer to finding the Brute hideout. They had searched a dozen villages and part of the mountainside.

  “We may have to go deeper into the caverns.” Tony stood beside her looking out at the mountains that stood leering above them.

  “I agree. We need rest first though.” She looked back at the people she had brought with her, and could see the exhaustion on their faces. Even Kaley looked tired. “We will make camp here tonight and then tomorrow we are heading into the mountains. We’re getting close, I know it.” She heard the sighs of relief and turned to face Tony. “We only need to know where they are, once we figure that out we can make a plan. We are no match for them in force, but if we can get a shot at Vincent then we may stand a chance.”