“Put an end to it how? Those things are everywhere.”
“They are after me, and they have Dakota.” She hoped that the mention of him would get Gage to let her go.
“I wondered if he was okay. I haven’t seen him since college. He’s the reason I have Zoey and Izzy. Let me come and help.”
“Gage.” Zoey gripped his arm as Anastasia shook her head.
“Please, Anastasia, I owe him. We have other men in our camp, men who have lost loved ones in this attack. Let us help.”
“I have to go alone, Gage, if anyone else comes they will die. You need to be with your family, have your men try and get their hands on some platinum, it’s very rare but any little bit melted down will help.”
Gage nodded at her. “You should still let us try and help.”
“I appreciate the offer Gage, but please help me by keeping your family and the other survivors safe. I have to go.” She turned and headed for the street again. “Remember, get out of this alley, more will be here soon. Get back to your camp and if it’s close by, you need to pack up and move.” She broke off in a run to try and make up some time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
It was late afternoon by the time she reached the docks. Brutes were everywhere but they ignored her as she walked past them and into a large warehouse that sat at the water’s edge.
“About damn time you started exercising some common sense girl.” Mitch grinned at her as she entered the building.
“I don’t have time for you.” She walked past him and he gripped her arm. She had to play her cards right, she couldn’t risk Vincent killing Dakota. “You’ll want to let go of my arm Mitch.” She smiled sweetly at him but the threat was there.
“You had better listen to my niece.” She heard Vincent say and turned to face him fully for the first time. “I'm glad you came.”
“I wasn’t given much of a choice. Where is he?”
“He’s still alive. For now, anyways.”
“I want to see him.”
“Soon.” Vincent promised and held his arm out. “Let’s take a walk.”
She folded her arms over her chest.
“I want to see him.” She repeated without wavering.
Vincent laughed. “You definitely got our stubbornness. Very well, let’s go.”
Anastasia followed him through a maze of crates that she knew must be guns and into a small room that had once been a shipping office. Dakota was tied to a chair but Anastasia saw no visible wounds. She could see he was breathing through the window but he didn’t look up to her.
“You can speak with him later, right now he is suffering some of the effects of a calming potion.”
“Why?”
“He was a bit anxious, naturally, and it was annoying.”
“Nothing permanent?”
“No, I assure you, it will wear off in an hour or so.”
Anastasia pushed some of the fear she had been carrying around aside. He was alive and that was all that mattered at the moment. Obviously Vincent wanted something from her or she would be dead, so at the moment they were both safe. She would find a way to get them both out of there as soon as she could.
“Walk now? We have much to discuss.”
She nodded and warily followed him out onto the dock.
“Why all the guns? You were obviously able to keep anyone from knowing of Seattle, so why do you need them?”
“My magic can only stretch so far. If I am to achieve my goals, then I will need the firepower to back them up.”
“So you did cloak the city.”
“That I did, I have learned quite a bit over the course of my life, knowledge I would love to share with you.”
“Not interested.”
“You will be.”
“Unlikely.”
Vincent laughed. “You are so much like your father.”
Anastasia ignored his comment, afraid the conversation might be what forced her to snap.
“So what do you want?”
“To discuss an alliance.”
“I don’t want an alliance.”
“That would be foolish.” He dismissed her statement. “Seattle is only the beginning for this world, Anastasia. There will be nowhere for you to hide should you choose to become my enemy.”
“You want the Country.”
“Think bigger, Anastasia, I want the worlds, all of them.”
“Why?”
“Why else? I want the power. Isn’t that reason enough?” He regarded her with questioning eyes. “I see that in your opinion it isn’t enough, no worries you will see soon.”
“I will never understand how someone could murder innocent people just to gain power.”
“Would you not kill in order to protect him?” He asked gesturing to the warehouse. “Did you not murder Ophelia and Maximus, who was your cousin?”
“They were not innocent. And I was not aware that Maximus was my cousin. For someone who just lost a son you don’t seem too bothered by it.” She said through gritted teeth hoping to jar some emotion from him.
“It is unfortunate that Maximus is dead. You would do well not to push me Anastasia, seeing as how the one responsible for his death is currently in my care.”
“I am not a murderer.” She continued with the original conversation.
“Did you not come here expecting to kill in order to gain something?”
“Dakota is not something, he is someone. There is a difference.”
“Not to me. You love Dakota, I love power. People do crazy things for those they love.”
“Power does not hold value the way a life does.”
Vincent shook his head. “You will see soon, Anastasia, just how wrong you are.”
“You keep saying that, I will never see things the way you do. I will never go dark.”
Vincent laughed wildly. “Turn dark? Oh child, how blind you truly are. There is no dark and light, there is only power and more power. My brother was too foolish to see that he could have had it all had he only embraced what he already was. We couldn’t have been given this gift if we weren’t meant to use it.”
“What you have is not a gift. You sold your soul.”
“So naïve.” He spit back at her. He looked past her and she turned to see some Brutes standing behind her. “I have something to attend to. You may go and see your Dakota now, but don’t be so foolish as to try and escape.”
The moment he was out of sight she bolted for Dakota. She looked through the window and he looked the same as he had when she had been there before, but when she stepped into the room the scene she got was an entirely different one. He was tied to a chair, and his head was foreword but that was where the similarities ended.
Blood covered his bare chest, which was marred with what Anastasia knew all too well as belt marks. “Dakota!” She yelled and knelt in front of him. He looked up to her and she saw the fear in his eyes. Her heart began to burn and she reached behind him to untie his hands.
“You shouldn’t have come, Ana.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Dakota, you would have done the same for me. Can you walk?” She said in a hushed voice.
“I think so.” He tried to stand and she got under his arm to help support him.
“We have to go, now.”
They crept out the door and Anastasia was surprised and relieved to see that the Brutes must have gone with Vincent on whatever errand he had.
“This way.” She led him to a side door that led out and into the woods behind the warehouse.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mitch stepped into view. “I told him you were more trouble than you were worth.” He pointed a gun at her and smiled. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”
“If you kill me, Vincent will not be happy.” She said trying to buy them some time.
“I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to kill him.” He pointed the gun at Dakota and pulled the trigger. Anastasia shoved him out of the way but it was too late. The bullet hit him
in the abdomen and he went down.
“No!” She screamed and using her magic threw Mitch out of their way.
“Dakota, come on we have to go!” She applied pressure to the wound in his side and lifted him again. He was able to move some and she used that coupled with a bit of magic to move them into the woods.
“Leave me, Ana.”
“I'm not leaving you, Dakota. We just have to get to the survivor camp.” She said thinking of Gage’s camp. If she could find a car then they might make it in time.
They moved through the woods and when they entered a clearing her heart sank. At least two dozen Brutes moved into view directly in front of her and more closed in at her sides. She moved towards the center and gently set Dakota down.
Anastasia turned in a circle to see that more Brutes had flanked them. It had been a trap. From the very beginning it had been a trap and now they were going to die. She unsheathed her sword as the Brute’s began charging her in waves. She slayed the first group and then took a hit when the next came at her.
Why weren’t they all closing in on her? Why were they giving her a reprieve? Dakota coughed behind her and she turned to look at him. He was gripping his side and trying to stand but continued to fall back.
Her questions were answered when she turned back around. They had been playing with her. The Brutes began closing the circle in on her and Dakota and she knew they didn’t have long. She threw up a wall of fire around them as a barrier but knew it wouldn’t hold them off for long. She knew that they stood no chance against the number of Brutes.
Even if Dakota weren’t at risk for bleeding to death there was no way they would have been able to make it out. At least not both of them.
She looked down at him where he lay on the ground and she saw he was fading fast, they didn’t have much time. She closed her eyes and felt the power that hummed in her blood.
“I love you, Dakota.” She smiled at him. “Always have.”
“Anastasia, don’t, we can make it.”
“Always the optimistic one.” She smiled again. “You will make it. I cannot lose you.”
“Ana, no!” Dakota yelled but it was too late.
She closed her eyes again and threw herself at the power, letting it seep into her consciousness. She pulled at it until the portal appeared behind Dakota. When she opened her eyes, they were blazing brighter than anything Dakota had ever seen.
“Go!” She yelled at him. “Now, Dakota!”
“I won’t leave you!” He yelled back.
“You have to go, Dakota.”
“Then come with me!”
“I can’t, I have to be here to close it.” She lied, they couldn’t afford to be followed and she knew she was only holding onto the light by a thread. She couldn’t risk endangering her people. “Please go!”
He could see the tears burning in her eyes and when she waved a hand at him he felt himself lifted and thrown into the portal. The blue light surrounded him and he felt the weightlessness as he was moved from one world to another.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Anastasia breathed a sigh of relief when she closed the portal. Dakota would live, Elizabeth would ensure it. She turned to face the Brutes that were very nearly on top of her now and smiled.
She reached back down into her blood and with a raise of her hands the Brutes fell to her feet and evaporated into dust. She felt more powerful then she had ever believed possible.
When the last Brute had fallen, she no longer felt like herself, she felt better.
“There you are.” Vincent smiled proudly at her. “I have a gift for you.” He said as she turned to face him. He stepped to the side and Mitch stood behind him.
“What is this about?” He asked Vincent, confused.
“You had to know this was why I kept you around. You are a gift to my niece.”
A smile crossed Anastasia’s lips and she stepped towards Mitch. “I have waited my entire life to do this.” She thrust her palm into his chest and felt his life slipping through her fingers.
“You. Stupid. Bitch.” He muttered through his lips.
“Feels good, doesn’t it? All that vengeance.” Vincent smiled at her again as Mitch fell to the ground, nothing but an empty shell of the monster he once had been.
Anastasia turned her head to the side and took a step towards Vincent.
“It would be foolish to come after me, child.” His voice grew serious and she laughed.
“Why is that Vincent? I am more powerful than you will ever be.” She taunted.
“And not nearly as powerful as you could be if you let me train you.”
She stopped, she was finding that she rather liked the power.
“You let me teach you what I know and together we will be unstoppable. We already have the city, but when were done we will own the world.”
Anastasia smiled widely, and the sight of it would have chilled even the warmest of nights.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“What the hell?” Dakota heard Tony’s familiar voice as he materialized on the floor.
“Dakota!” Elizabeth yelled. “Get him up and on the table!” She yelled at Tony.
“Ana, we have to go back.”
“What happened? Where’s Anastasia?” Tony asked him as he laid him on the table.
Elizabeth went to work on his wound and she shushed them both. “I need quiet. We can talk in a minute.”
Dakota’s vision began to waver but he shook his head lightly.
“Dakota, hold still!” His mother yelled at him.
“Stay with us, Dakota.” He heard Tony say.
“Go get Matilda, I need an extra set of hands.”
Tony disappeared and Dakota tried to stay focused. The pain was searing and he knew he had lost a lot of blood.
“Mom.”
“Don’t you say anything to me, Dakota George. You aren’t going any damn where.”
Dakota smiled slightly and laid his head back.
“Let me take over, Elizabeth.” He heard the familiar voice of Robbie’s wife come into the room.
“Yes, I think that would be best.” Elizabeth stepped back and cradled Dakota’s head.
“Tony, give him some of that whiskey. He will be fine, you stopped most of the bleeding.” Matilda instructed and the room stayed quiet as she worked.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Anastasia opened her eyes and saw that she stood in the center of a small room. She looked down as a cat rubbed against her leg and then turned to see an elderly woman standing in front of a large bookshelf.
Her back was to her, but Anastasia could see the steel in her old bones and the way she carried herself. “Have a seat, Anastasia.” The old woman turned and smiled kindly at her. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“I'm not even sure how I got here, or where here is.” Anastasia said but took a seat at the small table.
She was inside of what appeared to be a small single bedroom house. The living area she was seated at held a fireplace and floor to ceiling bookcases. Various hardbacks lined their shelves and the woman turned to continue dusting what looked to be porcelain unicorns.
The room felt familiar to her although she knew that she hadn’t ever set foot in there before, at least not that she could remember.
“I can sense your confusion, we will get to that.” The woman turned to smile at her and Anastasia saw the depth of knowledge behind her hazel eyes. “I'm Carmen, and it is lovely to see you again.”
“I don’t understand, I don’t think we have ever met.”
“Sure we have.” Carmen took a seat in a rocker near the fire and removed her glasses. “Although I doubt you would remember, you were but a baby when your parents brought you here.”
“Gregory and Annabelle.”
“Yes.”
Anastasia saw the hint of sadness on her face and knew that she must have been close with her parents.
“How did I get here?”
“I brought you here.”
“How else?” She asked amused.
“Magic.”
“There you go.” She smiled again.
“Why?”
“You need help.”
Anastasia nodded. She knew that she was in over her head now, honestly she believed she had been since the day she had been born.
“You turned.” Carmen narrowed her eyes at Anastasia now, but not in anger.
“I had to save-”
“Dakota, yes I know. It was smart what you did, but foolish as well.”
“Foolish?”
“He is your light Anastasia, and without light we all will wander into the darkness.”
“Just as Vincent did?”
“Most of us have stumbled around for a bit, but few ever come out on the other side.”
“I don’t know what to do.” Anastasia rubbed her hands over her head. “It’s as if I have no control.”
“That’s why I brought you here.” Carmen smiled and stood to walk into the small kitchen. “Coffee?”
At Anastasia’s stare, Carmen laughed. “Your father once brought me quite the stash from his trip to your world, I have been saving a small amount for this day in particular.”
“You knew him well?”
“I would say so.” She laughed and went about grinding some beans. “Your parents came to me when you were but six months old. They urged me to help them defeat Vincent, but I warned them against it.”
“Why?”
“Because it was not their duty to bear. It was yours.”
Anastasia stared at her and she laughed lightly.
“I wouldn’t have wished it on you either child, but fate always finds a way of working itself out, and had they gone for him then they would have died quite a bit sooner.”
She steeped the hot water through the beans and added some sugar.
“You’re the seer.”
“That I am.” Carmen carried the mugs over and handed one to Anastasia. “I am also the only other person who has managed to find their way out of the dark.”
Anastasia nearly choked on the hot liquid. She looked at her and saw the strength in the way she sat, the resolution on her face. This was one tough woman, and Anastasia knew it would be a mistake to underestimate her.
The Phoenix (The Prophecy #1) Page 20
