The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World)

by Michelle Madow

  “Did I see you recklessly try to attack the wyvern again without any thought or planning?” he asked, glaring at me. “It was pretty hard to miss.”

  “Not that.” I brushed away his worries, since I’d ended up being fine—my Nephilim healing abilities had seen to that. “I meant the way it went crazy when I started to bleed.”

  “Of course it did,” he said. “I told you before, wyverns have a taste for—”

  “Supernatural flesh,” I finished his sentence with a grin.

  He looked from me to the wyvern and back again. “What’re you thinking?” he asked.

  “Stand over there.” I pointed twenty feet away from me.

  “Why?” He didn’t budge from his current place by my side.

  “I want to test something out,” I said. “So I don’t do anything reckless again.” I couldn’t resist using his previous words against him, although I gave him a small smile to let him know I was playing.

  “Good,” he said. “We’re a team, and that means we work together. So, what’s your plan?”

  I was impatient to get on with it, but at the same time, I knew he was asking because he cared about me. And he was right—we were a team. That meant we needed to communicate, especially in situations like these.

  “Stand far away from me—in a place where the wyvern also can’t reach you—and make yourself bleed,” I said. “I want to see what it does when it smells your blood.”

  “As do I.” He smirked, realization dawning in his eyes, and he whizzed over to the spot I’d pointed to before.

  His fangs pierced his skin, his blood bubbling up over the wound.

  The wyvern sniffed the air and shrieked. It ran toward Jacen until the chain around its feet tightened, yanking it still and holding it in place.

  Once Jacen’s cut healed, the beast was placated once again.

  It backed closer to the door, the tension on the chain letting up. But from the way it was sniffing the air, it was still very much aware of our presence.

  If I tried to attack again, I was pretty confident I would get wing slapped to the ground for a third time.

  “You’re right,” Jacen said, dashing back over to my side. “The smell of fresh blood sends it into a frenzy.”

  “But we both heal too quickly to keep our blood flowing for long,” I said. “At least, not without maiming ourselves to the point where we’ll be useless in a fight.”

  “Neither of us are going to do that.” From the guarded way he was looking to me, I could tell he wouldn’t accept anything other than an agreement.

  “We won’t,” I confirmed, and he relaxed instantly. “But can you keep a wound fresh and open for a few minutes? That’s all the time I’ll need.”

  “Maybe.” He watched me suspiciously. “What are you planning?”

  I told him my idea as quickly as possible, since we didn’t have time to waste.

  He nodded once I finished explaining. “I’d tell you that this is dangerous, but you know that already.” He glanced at the monster again, his forehead crinkling in worry. “But this is what we’re here for, and you have speed and stealth. If anyone can pull this off, it’s you.”

  My heart leaped at his faith in me, and I couldn’t resist pulling him in for a kiss. The fact that he was supporting me and believed in me meant more than I could ever say.

  “Yes,” I said, forcing myself to break away from him. We’d have more time together later. Right now, we needed to fight. “I’m ready.”

  Annika

  Jacen ran back to position, and he bit his wrist again, allowing his blood to flow.

  The wyvern latched onto his scent and went crazy.

  Once the cut was nearly healed, Jacen bit himself again. The wyvern continued to snarl and growl, pulling at its chain like it had been years since its last meal.

  Confident that the wyvern was distracted, I made my way around the Tree, being as quiet as possible. The Tree’s trunk was huge, so I soon found a place that had enough divots to act as footholds.

  Using them, I began to climb.

  With my angel strength plus my gymnastics training, climbing the Tree was relatively easy. It didn’t take long until I made it to the lowest hanging branch. The branches were thick as well, so the first one I reached had no problem supporting my weight.

  I climbed and jumped my way from branch to branch until reaching one right above the wyvern’s head.

  Jacen was still in his spot up ahead, continuing to keep the wound on his wrist open. He glanced up at me and nodded.

  I nodded back at him and took a deep breath, preparing myself for what I was about to do. I had to get this on the first try. I wasn’t sure how smart the wyvern was, but given the way it had known I was coming when I’d rushed at it the first two times, its sense of smell was strong enough to know where Jacen and I were at all times. Jacen’s blood was distracting it for now, but my best chance at success was to catch the creature unaware.

  Gazing down at the wyvern from where I was crouched above it on the branch, I easily spotted the vulnerable place that Jacen had mentioned—a fleshy part below its neck. It was the only part of its body not covered in rock-hard scales.

  I removed my sword from its sheath and jumped.

  I landed on the wyvern’s back, right below its neck. It shrieked louder and reared up, but before it had a chance to buck me off, I raised my sword and slammed it into the flesh on the back of its neck.

  The wyvern crumpled beneath me, its shrieking silenced.

  I somehow managed to hold on as it fell. Once it had stilled, I leapt from its back and circled around it to make sure it was dead.

  From the way it wasn’t moving—or breathing—it looked like it was.

  Jacen zipped to my side, checking me to make sure I wasn’t hurt. “Good job,” he said, apparently deeming me free from any injuries.

  “You did a pretty good job yourself.” I smiled. “If you need any more blood…” I tilted my head and moved my hair away from my neck, hoping he got the message that he was free to take whatever he needed.

  His eyes dilated as he stared down at my neck. But after a few seconds of what looked to be intense contemplation, he shook away his desire and stepped away from me.

  My heart dropped—I was hoping he’d take me up on my offer. After he’d drank from me at the beach… well, I was looking forward to his doing it again.

  “Soon,” he promised, giving my hand a quick squeeze. Apparently my disappointment had been splattered all over my face. “But we should hurry inside. Wyverns aren’t supposed to be able to come back to life after being killed, but there’s no need to take our chances.”

  “All right,” I said, since the last thing we needed was to have to fight the wyvern for a second time.

  So, with my sword still in my hand, I walked to the door carved into the trunk of the Tree, reached for the handle, and pulled it open.

  Annika

  We walked through the door and entered an ornate, high-ceilinged ballroom.

  The door slammed shut behind us, and I walked toward the center of the room, looking around in awe. The room was larger than should have been physically possible. The only sign that we were actually inside the Tree was that the walls and ceiling were made of intricately carved wood. The floor was pure hardwood, too.

  But what stood out to me the most were the doors. The walls were lined with beautiful doors, each one of them a different color. The doors ebbed with light, as if something magical lurked behind them. There must have been at least twenty of them in all. Most of them had a handle and a lock. Only two were totally flat—a golden door and a silver door.

  A glance behind me showed that the door we’d emerged from was green. Like most of the others, it had a handle and a lock.

  “Did you read about this place in any of the books in the library?” I asked Jacen, continuing to gaze around the room.

  “No,” he said. “But none of the books mentioned the Tree of Life either. So it seems like we’re in
completely new territory here.”

  “And there’s no sign of the Grail,” I said.

  “No,” he agreed. “There isn’t.”

  “I guess I sort of figured it would be waiting inside the Tree.” I searched for a spot where the Grail might be hiding, but found nothing.

  Suddenly, my angel instinct urged me to turn around.

  I did just that, and came face to face with the gold door.

  Of course—the door my angel instinct was apparently guiding me toward was one of the only two without a doorknob.

  “This one.” I walked toward the gold door and stared up at it. It was tall and intimidating, and I couldn’t help feeling small in comparison.

  “Great,” Jacen said. “One of the ones without a handle.”

  I smiled, since I’d just been thinking the same thing.

  He quickly came to my side, and the two of us stared up at the door together. He pressed his hand against it and pushed. Nothing happened. He pushed again, grunting from the force he was putting into it.

  “This thing isn’t budging.” He dropped his hand back down to his side and shook it a few times, as if trying to get the circulation moving again.

  I tried pushing the door as well, but also couldn’t move it. I wasn’t surprised—it was no secret that Jacen was stronger than me.

  But something had guided me toward this door—my angel instinct—so I closed my eyes, trying to get in touch with it again.

  Just like when we’d been back at the mages cabin, my instinct told me to knock.

  I raised my hand and knocked three times on the intimidating golden door.

  We waited a few seconds, saying nothing. All was quiet in the room. Maybe I needed to try again?

  But before I had a chance, the door swung open, revealing a golden, winding staircase that led all the way to the clouds.

  Camelia

  I woke up in the morning with my stomach swirling. It felt like there was a lump of poison inside of it. I felt cold and hot at the same time, and my skin was coated in a fine sheen of sweat.

  I jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before throwing up what felt like everything that I’d eaten last night.

  Once sure that nothing else could come out, I flushed and walked to the sink, where I brushed my teeth and splashed some water on my face in an attempt to freshen up.

  Witches never got sick—we were immune to human illnesses. I’d only thrown up on the rare occasions that I’d drank more alcohol than I could handle. I would normally assume this was a nasty hangover, but I hadn’t been drinking recently, in case it turned out I was pregnant.

  That was when it hit me. What I’d just experienced must have been morning sickness.

  I hurried to where I’d stashed the potion that would make me lose the baby, and I took it out, staring at it. I already knew I didn’t want to drink it, but looking at it now confirmed my decision.

  I walked back to the bathroom, emptied the contents of the vial into the toilet, and flushed it away.

  I could never harm the baby growing inside of me.

  Except that war was coming to the Vale. The guards that Scott had sent out had confirmed it when they’d located the wolves’ camp.

  By staying in the Vale, I was putting my child and myself at risk.

  There was only one place where we might both be safe.

  The Haven.

  Camelia

  There weren’t many witches in the Vale, and none of them had anything close to my magical strength.

  But when I called for the five strongest to come to my quarters, they arrived in minutes.

  “What’s this about?” the oldest one—Elizabeth—asked.

  “I have urgent business to attend to outside of the Vale.” I spoke quickly and confidently, not wanting them to suspect that anything was amiss. They—along with most citizens of the Vale—didn’t even know that Laila was dead. There was no need to send them into a panic.

  “What kind of business?” The youngest one—Jessica—spoke up. “Does it have anything to do with where Queen Laila’s disappeared to for the past few days?”

  That was the story the citizens in the Vale were being told—that Queen Laila was away on a business trip. When she was alive, she went away on business often enough that no one suspected a thing.

  “That’s confidential.” I remained as stern as possible, since questions would only lead to trouble. “But while I’m gone, I’d like for the five of you to hold up the boundary of the Vale.”

  As expected, doubt and confusion crossed over their eyes.

  There’d only been one other time when they’d maintained the boundary—when I’d gone to Ireland to call upon the fae. Then, Laila had told the witches herself that she needed them to uphold the boundary until I returned. Laila hadn’t been happy about it—I was the only witch she trusted to uphold the boundary of the Vale—but she’d wanted me to go to the fae and ask about Geneva’s sapphire ring badly enough that she’d entrusted the boundary to these five witches while I’d been gone.

  “Is this order from the queen?” Elizabeth was the first to speak up.

  “It is.” I nodded. “Since she’s gone, she instructed me to tell you in her stead.”

  “What about Prince Scott?” she asked. “Does he know about this?”

  “He doesn’t,” I snapped. “And he’s not to know until I’m gone. This is for the benefit of the Vale. Do you understand me?” I stared her down with the most intimidating look I could muster.

  It was times like these that I wished I had the royal vampires’ ability of compulsion. But I didn’t have compulsion, so my rank as Queen Laila’s second in command would have to do.

  “You’re to uphold the boundary around the Vale until I return,” I repeated, hoping to drill the order into their minds. “Understood?”

  Of course, I had no intention of ever returning to the Vale, but there was no way I was telling them that. Because the truth was, the five of them together couldn’t create a boundary as strong as I could on my own. They knew that as well as I.

  But protecting the Vale was no longer my priority.

  I rested my hand flat against my stomach, knowing that from this point forward, my child would always come first—even before the place I’d called home for all my life.

  “Understood.” Jessica straightened her shoulders, appearing the most confident of the five. “When do we start?”

  I glanced at the bag I’d already packed up and left next to my bed. It had all my favorite clothes, jewelry, and anything else I’d deemed valuable.

  It had taken packing a bag with the knowledge that I might never return to realize how all of the things I owned weren’t as important as I’d always believed them to be.

  “You start now,” I said.

  I confirmed that they’d constructed the boundary, then I walked over to my bag, placed my hand on it, and teleported to the Haven.

  Annika

  I gazed up the golden stairs leading up into the clouds in more awe than I’d felt upon entering the Tree of Life.

  “Together?” I asked Jacen, taking his hand in mine.

  “Together,” he repeated, and then we stepped through the doorway.

  Well, I stepped through the doorway. Jacen hit some kind of invisible wall, and his hand instantly disconnected with mine.

  “What happened?” I reached my arm through the door, and it passed through easily.

  Jacen tried to do the same, but his hand couldn’t make it through the frame. It was like there was glass blocking him from passing through. He banged his hand against it, but nothing changed.

  I walked back over to his side with no problems whatsoever. “Let’s try again.” I reached for his hand again, focusing hard on bringing him with me as we stepped through the frame.

  Like last time, I was able to walk through, but he wasn’t.

  “It’s not letting me in,” he said. “You’ll have to go without me.”

&nbs
p; I frowned, looking up the stairs. “I don’t want to leave you behind,” I said, joining him back at the other side of the door.

  He took my hands, gazing down at me with an emotion I couldn’t quite place.

  All I knew in that moment was that he cared about me deeply.

  “This is your mission—your destiny,” he said. “Trust me, I hate watching you go on without me. I hate knowing that if you need me, I won’t be able to get to you. But out of all the doors in this place, your instinct led you to this one. There’s something special waiting up there. Since I’m clearly not allowed through, it’s up to you to find out what that something is.”

  I looked back up the golden stairway, knowing in my heart that he was right. I needed to go up there.

  Jacen had been immensely helpful in getting us to this point—I surely would have died without his help. But it was time to continue on my own.

  “Stay safe,” I told him, kissing him again. As we kissed, an emotion brewed in my chest—something stronger than I’d ever felt before.

  Before I could figure out what it was, he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. “You’re the one who needs to be staying safe,” he said. “There’s no need to worry about me. I’ll be waiting right here when you get back.”

  I smiled, since I knew he would be. There were times when I still couldn’t believe that this magnificent vampire prince had given up so much for me—but this time wasn’t one of them.

  I walked through the doorway again, not letting go of his hands until the barrier forced them from mine.

  He stepped back, and the golden door slammed shut, leaving me alone.

  At first I felt afraid. Tears filled my eyes, and I pressed my hand against the door, wishing Jacen could have come with me.

  But there was no point in wishing for what couldn’t be. So I spun around and gazed up the winding steps, taking a deep breath to build my confidence. I wasn’t getting any feelings of danger up ahead—only warmth and safety. As if a part of me belonged here—wherever “here” was.