The Unmaking (The Rayne Whitmore Series Book 1)

by Alanna Faison

  If I wasn’t watching Diana so closely, I might have missed it. Her fingers begin to tremble slightly and it isn’t from the light breeze kissing us.

  “Yet, as you know, those who are turned cannot stand daylight the way that one pure of the blood can, so they were frequently forced in the shadows. Then as if fate was the cruelest being to exist, the plague touched the newly turned vampire as well and Zara’s heart broke even more. She called to us hoping that our blood would heal her. We refused. Our blood is sacred; no vampire is ever allowed to drink from it, for it is blasphemy.”

  Her voice becomes lower, more passionate. It fills my ears in a deep echo. “The one who answered the vampire’s call that day was not me, it was my brother. Not Lawrence, but Blake. Blake refused her pleas and her requests for the blood and Zara did the unthinkable. She… murdered my brother, blood raped him and let her newly turned vampire drink from him as well. I don’t know what his blood did for Zara, but the new vampire was saved, the effects of the plague reversed and she was able to withstand the sun as if she were pure of the blood.”

  Her anger at the act reaches me and causes my eyes to water. Without realizing it, Diana is calling to her own power. “Please calm down a little bit Diana, you’re hurting me,” I ask, reaching out to her. She tones it down, continuing as if I hadn’t spoken.

  “But, my brother was dead and retribution was in order. Zara begged to be punished for the crime, but it wasn’t enough, she wouldn’t suffer properly that way. We took her lover, punished her and locked her away,” she finally finishes quietly and I sit there dumbstruck, the entire story painted in my head.

  “I honestly don’t know what to say. I mean, do you still have her imprisoned or is she dead? What’s her name?”

  “She is still in our tombs, in chains and put in a magical sleep. Her name is Sage. She was born of a Japanese mother and a European father with fair skin, white hair and grey eyes. She always looked like a fallen angel to me.”

  Now, she is sleeping beauty, waiting for her crimson princess to rescue her.

  So, she’s been in chains for nearly two hundred something years because Zara killed their brother. Because the same Immortals who unmade her refused to save her. Would they do the same to me, just ignore me if I needed to be saved? Is that why Zara so fiercely wanted to protect me too? Did she really have to kill him?

  There are far too many questions that I have no time for. I think I understand more now what Zara wants. She’ll try to use me to get Sage back. The question is, will I let her?

  “How long, how long do you plan on holding her like that?” I ask quietly, afraid to hear the answer.

  “Blake was one thousand years old when he was murdered. She will stay as she is for every year of his life,” Diana says as if it’s no big deal.

  I shake my head in disbelief. “That’s too cruel of a punishment.” Plus the fact that time was slower on this realm, it would be thousands upon thousands of years before she was released.

  Diana laughs. “You know nothing of our pain. We will never get our brother back, so why should she get her lover back?”

  I frown. There has to be a limit to punishment right? Especially if the actions were done out of love, even if it were wrong. Maybe Zara didn’t have to kill him, but who could say what I wouldn’t do to save Selene, how crazy I’d be if something happened to her. “What about Zara’s pain? Why are they both being punished for her actions?”

  “It is our way,” Diana snaps still looking so uncharacteristically frazzled.

  “Diana, I think that it’s time to let go now before Zara ends up killing someone else,” I begin.

  “That is not just up to me. Lawrence has a say in it as well as our elders. And trust me, Lawrence’s hate for that vampire runs much deeper than mine. Lawrence loved Blake more than anything else in this world.”

  I sigh and stand up, brushing myself off. “Then, let’s get to the reason why I summoned you in the first place. Zara has determined that Namen is planning on making his move on a day of an eclipse. It deals with the sun falling from the sky. I was hoping you could lend your mind to tell us anything you may know that will help.”

  Diana gazes at the gently flowing water, thoughtful. “Hmm. It sounds familiar and if I am thinking of the same event, it is not the eclipse that will be the main concern, it is what can be done under the power of this eclipse. What I can deduce is that the witch you seek is going to capitalize on the fact that every couple hundred years an eclipse lends the awakened enormous strength. Witches can perform such powerful spells alone that you’d better pray to the creator that a group of them do not attempt any such thing in numbers.”

  “You will not be able to stand against him if he is to get his way. The human government will surely tumble child. The best I can do is alert any of my Machaera to seek out any unusual behavior that may be related and eliminate it in their regions that they are protecting. It will be top priority. I hope that this small deed will lend you some relief Rayne.” Diana sounds nearly apologetic this time. I nod to my immortal, still not understanding why they will not intervene when they could potentially save millions, and ask to be returned to my world.

  With my newfound knowledge like a ton of bricks on my shoulders, I step through the circle of blinding light wondering how in the hell did the fate of my country come to rest in my hands.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  It’s a couple hours later when I get back due to the time difference in each world, and unsurprisingly, no one is outside waiting for me. I knock on the door and one of Anubis’s own answers. Then, I set off to look for Selene and Zara, hoping they’ve made progress and needing to speak with the vampire. Soon, I discover them in one of the larger guest rooms where Selene is sitting cross-legged on the floor, sweating from the difficult task. Zara is behind her, coaxing her to push harder. Neither one of them look up when I come in the room.

  “Do not let the magic consume you priestess. Do not let the blood become tainted. Zara’s eyes are rimmed in red and with the smell of blood and the feel of Selene’s fear in the air, I know that she is working hard to keep her composure.

  Finally, Selene falls over and Zara catches her before her head hits the ground. I rush to her side and take over for Zara, bringing Selene in close.

  “Is she going to be alright?” I ask.

  Zara stands up from her crouch and looks at the blood that’s now on her fingers with hunger. Then, she looks at me and wipes it on her pant leg with a look of regret at letting good blood go to waste. “She’s been at it since you were taken. It’s just exhaustion setting in. Her chakra level is just low. But, she did the spell correctly.”

  I smile down at my beautiful girlfriend and brush her hair and sweat from her face. Her soft features make her look like a sleeping angel and at this moment I really wish she had wings and could take us away from all of this. Finally, I look up at Zara.

  “She told me about Sage,” I say quietly, releasing Selene and pulling Zara into the hallway.

  “Did she? Hmm.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I just wonder if she told the truth.”

  “You mean if she told her truth. Zara, you’ve lived long enough that you know people are blinded by their own circumstances. You had a chance to tell me first, but you didn’t. Now I only have one side of the story. So, what is your truth?” I ask calmly. I lean against the wall with my arms crossed, frankly growing tired of the mind games and round-about ways that these people operate.

  “My truth is that I had a choice Rayne. I could have followed orders blindly and killed Sage without a second thought, but I didn’t. I let my heart lead me. Those Immortals believe themselves to be gods, better than any other race. If they are not worshipped then they begin to hate those who they feel should worship them. They have no sense of love for anyone but themselves. They wanted revenge on the human race for not believing in them, so they abandoned her the way that they felt abandoned by mankind.”

&
nbsp; We lock eyes as she lets the weight of her words hit me. She definitely doesn’t want me to trust the very people that made me what I am.

  “When Blake came to us, he laughed at her weakness. He spit on her and told me that she was nothing but a ‘thing’ now. The fact that she was now vampire meant that there was no obligation to save her, that she was beneath him. I went berserk. I was fueled with a rage that I’ve never known before and I killed him, no I slaughtered him, drank from him, and shared his blood with her to save her life. When it was all done, I brought Blake’s body back to the Immortals for proper funeral rituals and then I was ready to receive my punishment. Instead, she was the one they punished,” Zara laughs bitterly.

  “They took me first because I was compliant and bound me to a stone wall with their magics. I never knew they had intended for her to be the bearer of the retribution. Once I was magically bound and unable to fight back, they tortured her for days upon days until she begged for a final death. I was forced to watch every aching second, crying out for mercy that never came. It was horrible. She was a newly turned vampire that barely had any blood to sustain her and they did that to her. Then, they bound her in chains, and put her to sleep. I tried to save her, but they sent me back and locked me out of their realm.” I feel the pain of her words, her sorrow for her lover through our bond and I can’t help but reach out for her hand, to offer her some small comfort.

  She looks at me and smiles, gripping my hand firmly, but I still manage to feel its slight tremble. “For years I wandered the Earth, unfeeling, uncaring. I’ve taken other lovers of course out of necessity. Blood and sex often go hand in hand, but the hole in my heart remained. I found out years later that members of the nine had gotten permission from the Immortals to kill Sage should she become too much of a nuisance. Those members I killed, brutally, and since then, no one in the family has ever stood against me. I tried and tried to get her back, to find a way back to their plane, but there was no hope.”

  Zara touches my face in such an intimate way that I feel guilty and remove her hand slowly. She smiles a sad smile and says, “Then, I met you Rayne. You, a small child, somehow filled my soul with hope again. When I told you never to fear, it was like I was telling myself that as well. I started to believe again that day. I feel like our paths crossing was not a mistake. There is a reason that we were brought back together as well. This is destiny. There is a bond between us Rayne and you may not completely trust it or understand it yet, but we are the keys to each other’s goals.”

  The intensity in her gaze is overwhelming and I realize that I’ve now begun to sweat. Zara lets down the walls of our bond and a hurricane of emotions threaten to topple me. Her rage at the Immortals tastes bitter on my tongue, her love for Sage is like a tsunami, a desire to taste me is like a pin prick, her honesty strikes me like lightning, her ambition like a blaze, burning my skin. I find myself shivering from all the sensations. She let me see it all and because of that, I don’t think I will be able to deny her.

  “Let me decide once Namen is taken care of what I will do,” I tell her.

  “You, young protector will make the right choice. Of that I’m sure. I will not bring it up again until you are ready.” Then, she lifts my hand to her lips and kisses me gently before walking away, hood pulled up. It feels like her kiss burned straight through me, the feeling still lingering.

  I sigh deeply as I lean back against the wall. What a freaking life I have.

  After I finally get Selene undressed and in bed, I end up falling into a deep sleep. However, there is nothing peaceful about this slumber. My first dream is of my family getting murdered. I have that nightmare three times and each instance, I try to save them, but am either too late or just too weak. My last dream, I’m chained and beaten by the Immortals while Selene looks on, helpless. They laugh and mock me, spit on me and leave me to die.

  Selene ends up having to shake me awake from the nightmare, saying that I am calling for her in my sleep. I end up grabbing her by the neck before I realize what I’m doing. Then, she pulls me in close while I sob on her shoulder. Eventually, I’m able to tell her about my dreams and about what I learned from Diana and Zara. Selene seems just as surprised at the news as I was. Then, there’s something else in her eyes, reflection. But, when I ask her what’s wrong, she doesn’t tell me. After that, we drift back off into sleep, me praying that this time, my sleep is sound.

  Chapter Thirty

  At long last, nightfall comes like a curtain falling on our final act. We begin our last preparations for our hunt; all of us ready for part one of our plan to slow Namen down. We all move with silent intensity as we grab our items, a quick drink of water, or a quick glance at the plans. During the preparations the excitement is obvious. Even I can taste it in the air. The night has a sharp chill to it, colder than usual for this time of year. I tug my black leather closer and zip it before strapping my weapon to my back.

  I’d always hated watching movies where preternaturals were fighting with guns and such, but since nearly all guns had become illegal or just absolutely way too expensive to afford, it didn’t matter.

  It took one final mass shooting at a large church to finally get legislation passed about four years ago. There were four shooters. Three had gone through the building through separate doors, and one waited outside to catch those who might have gotten away. They ended up killing fifty people, men, women, and children alike. Despite that, I wonder how easy it would be to just put one damn bullet into Namen’s sorry head.

  I shake the thought away, because there is no way he’d deserve to go that quick or easy. No, I want to slice him open. I could do it too. That is a big difference in our crime rates now as well. People, especially gang members for all their talk simply don’t have to balls to stab someone or slit their throat in a turf war that had to be fought up close. Most people just can’t stomach the feeling of piercing hard into someone’s flesh. Lawrence had once said that guns were the tools of cowards. I understood what he meant. Still, law enforcement and military carried them. For a year, there was uproar and protests daily because normal citizens felt like that government just wanted to be able to keep us under their boot easier.

  “Does everyone know what their job is?” Anubis asks, for the second time tonight. We all nod and finally he seems assured. Anubis is dressed in a forest green tank top and black basketball shorts, probably knowing that he may very well destroy them in the fight. He looks every bit of a professional athlete in them too. Even if it was ten degrees out rather than the fifty or so it is now, he is Wolf, he won’t feel the bite of the cold. His long dreds are pulled back again into a ponytail and his scar on his neck that is a testament of his survival makes him look that much more deadly.

  This time, Zara has on a plum colored sleeveless hoodie with a black shirt showing underneath and black pants. She still has all of her jewelry on and looks as if she is going to a concert and not a fight. That is, until she equips herself with throwing knives and a blade.

  Selene has on a lightweight, brown pea coat with dark jeans. Her silky black hair is done up in a neat bun leaving the brown of her ombre showing. Her brown leather boots with double straps click clack quietly on the bamboo floor. I laugh quietly at how fashion conscious our group is.

  Jaxson is wearing something that looks like black Under Armour and I have to admit that it hugs his muscles deliciously. I appreciate good looking forms and he’s built like a brick wall. Taryn even looks decent in her royal blue half shirt and jeans. I don’t pay much attention to the other wolves with us.

  After a quick look around at each other followed by a longer stretch of silence, Anubis gives the nod and we all head out. Once we are five minutes away from our destination, we all get out of our respective vehicles and begin our silent trek to the labs. Zara takes one more look at us and then vanishes into the shadows of the night, ready to take out as many cameras as she can. We have to follow quickly behind, so we break off into our groups to go our separate ways
with Selene coming with Jaxson and me until she meets up with Zara again.

  Excitement plows through my body, head to toe, filling me up with a high I’m sure no drug can match. My intricate tribal looking tattoo magically given to me through Diana’s blood also begins to tingle, revealing itself with a glow and I have to breathe slowly to settle my power. Jaxson’s eyes are now rimmed with yellow as he feeds off of my own enthusiasm. Selene too looks as if she’s eager to test her power. When we reach the outer edge of the property, awareness surges, then I feel Zara next to me. It catches the other two by surprise and I smile.

  “Are you ready,” she asks all of us, looking back and forth. Her eyes are still a dark brown, but the influence of her aura in the air tells me that she’s seconds away from becoming a deadly assassin if needed. I have no doubt that Selene will be perfectly safe in her care.

  “Let’s finish this quickly. I’m ready.” Selene’s magic jumps off her body to send sparks through the air as the electricity makes her hair nearly glow. She’s ready to use her power alright.

  “Good,” Zara smiles, her fangs dropping. Then, she looks at Jaxson and me. “I can feel heartbeats in there, some are fainter than others. You need to go, now.”

  We don’t say anything else, but Selene slightly caresses my hand and I hesitate for the briefest of seconds to let her know that I love her. At last, Jaxson and I take off to make our move. Our footsteps are light and just as we reach the front, he expertly breaks the lock on the door with one hand.

  Jaxson is planning to stay in his human form since we need to get in there quickly and catch them by surprise. He still has the strength superior of a normal human and also has equipped himself with two claw blades, one for each hand, as well as a dagger hidden in his boot. He can’t carry much else if he indeed needs to change because a large weapon could slice him up.