by R M Taylor
After devoting a huge amount of time and energy, I have finally received news that Marius will be dealt with once and for all. Our clan has suffered too much at the hands of Chizeck Dragons, and it must end for the sake of my daughter and granddaughter. Vesike Vatin has reassured me that a changeling will be dealing with Marius, so I am able to rest easier now. I have also forged alliances with two other clans, through business arrangements and some transfer of land in return for loyalty. Our family is at its most vulnerable, even my cousins have distanced themselves from our family name. I cannot help wondering if I should just liquidise everything and leave it all to the last family members and let the Delarossa clan disband. That may be better than trying in vain to defend a clan that has few members and even fewer willing to fight to defend it. I will see what happens once Marius has been taken care of. I am not sure I have the strength to end our clan’s existence. Our family traces back 16 generations, and at one time were the largest and most powerful shifter family in the world.
It is so very sad that this will never be the case again. How can it be when our numbers have dwindled so much? I am feeling very bleak at this moment, and my only hope is for the threat of Marius and any other enemy of our family to be extinguished. I am using all my contacts and resources to try and save my Sofia and little Lucrezia. My life has been long and full and if it was just for me I would bend and let the money and property and businesses go. They are just things, which is easy to say when one has many of them, however there is so much more important things in life, getting older has taught me that. Once I pass on and the transfer of my essence to Sofia is complete, she will be the one to decide the future of our family. I can only hope the magic she inherits can guide her better than it has guided me. After 12 generations, it seems to me that it should be stronger than ever, but I do not think it works that way. I think the size of the family affects the strength of magic passed to the leader. I remember my grandmother having clear visions that helped guide the family and that precognition helped us avoid many precarious situations where our relatives could have perished. Her Seer gift was extremely precise, and she often knew what people would say before they said it. I remember her telling us children stories of her dreams and how they came to pass. I do not believe she exaggerated, I think the family gifts have withered. I certainly do not possess the wisdom and foresight she had, and I consider my gifts to be significant and extensive. It is the accuracy that seems to have suffered. I see many things, dream many things, but so many are open to interpretation I have no way to pin down the specifics for the precognition to be of any help. I have no doubt that my grandmother would have resolved the Marius situation long ago if she had been living now. I feel like I have let Sofia and Lucrezia down. I simply have no other options right now.
Lucy was crying again; her grandmother’s desperation was heart-breaking. She never knew her, but the book was allowing her to understand so much. Two things were important. Her grandmother ordered a hit on Marius. Her own son, how tragic was that? How could someone bring a life into the world and do anything except love that tiny person? She just couldn’t relate at all. Plus, she had an awful feeling. On one hand if it worked and Marius was dead, that was one lethal unstable enemy down. On the other, if he was dead who the hell was chasing her?? The woman on the phone instructing those men sounded like the one in charge. She lay back on the sofa and stared at the ceiling for a long time. She was desperately trying to process the information and at the same time sort through all the feelings swirling in her stomach. She felt on edge and on the crest of an adrenaline surge constantly. Like she couldn’t turn off the fight or flight instinct. She was the last direct descendant of the Delarossa line, and it would seem the surge in her powers recently is no coincidence. The power transfer her grandmother described had happened. It didn’t matter than she had never met her, somehow the magic involved had done the job itself.
She spent a long time thinking about magic and how it worked, the science behind it etc. She had no idea there was such a thing as a transfer of gifts. Would every child get it once the mother died? Or just the eldest? Her limited knowledge yielded no results, and she couldn’t help being angry that she had been left out of so much. She doubted anyone could describe it in detail, likely it would boil down to theories and hypothesis, just like any other phenomenon. But having someone to guide her and teach her the basics would have been amazing, at times her gifts had caused so much anxiety and stress when she was a child. The knowledge of the power transfer alone would have tipped her off that her mother was dead if she had known this back then. If alive, her mother would have experienced the transfer when her grandmother died, not Lucy. The fact that it had been Lucy’s gifts that had bloomed and grown was proof her mother was dead.
Chapter 29
Vesike Vatin is a liar, and now an enemy of our clan. Not only has he failed to deal with Marius, he had switched sides and is now allied with the Chizecks. The betrayal is deep, Vatin is 300 years old, and has known our family for 3 generations. What would prompt this betrayal is beyond me. I can only assume Marius has leverage or in some way has Vatin over a barrel. I am very sad, it feels like our clan is close to extinction and we have no one to help pull us back from the brink.
Lucy was so disappointed for her grandmother, another lost ally. No wonder she felt alone and defeated. Marius was looking to be a formidable enemy, if he was this well connected and powerful what chance would she have of surviving him? She felt jumpy and raw, and again wanted Aris to come back. She hated being reliant on anyone else, they just let you down and she knew Aris would too. She kept reading, expecting worse.
My beautiful Sofia is missing. I have no idea where she is, but her mate says she has disappeared. My little Lucrezia is not yet 2 years old and is being raised by a nanny and an aunt because her father is falling apart without her mother. I have invested a considerable amount of money in researching Sofia’s whereabouts. She is the clan’s future leader, I have decided to make peace with the fact that she is the rightful heir and despite the shame of her mating, our clan is too vulnerable, we simply cannot be fussy about such things. We need her, to put it simply. I am hopeful she will be found quickly, and I will beg her to come home. I want her under my protection, which I have increased considerably as of late. I have people watching Lucrezia, she must be protected also, how we got to this point I do not know, we used to be a strong clan, and it is my fault that is no longer the case.
Lucy stopped reading, she had reached the end of the sheets Aris had translated. She could guess the rest. Her grandmother must have found out the truth at some point, otherwise she would have left her estate to her mother. The fact that she didn’t proved that she believed her to be dead. It was comforting to know her grandmother was watching over her throughout her life. She loved being referred to as “little Lucrezia”. At least she knew her in a limited way, even though that was only one way, it still made Lucy feel closer to her. She turned her phone on and texted Aris, it had been hours and it was now 7.30pm. She was hungry again and tired and badly in need of a strong drink. There was a packed bar at the back of the room next to the kitchen, so she scavenged through it for something decent. A few Vodkas over ice with fresh orange later, she started to feel more relaxed.
Nearly finished here, just waiting on a call from a friend at the council who knows who has ties to both your clan and the Chizeck clan. Lina also knows Vesike Vatin, he is her old coven leader. It looks like he may be behind the attacks on the coven too. We’re awaiting background info, I’ll be back soon x
She felt better now Aris had responded. She hated that, she was strong and didn’t need a man to rely on. Especially her mother’s killer for goodness sake. Her dragon bristled at the suggestion that needing a man was wrong. As far as she was concerned, needing someone else no matter male or female was just natural. Shifters needed a lot of comfort and touch, emotional as well as physical. Close friendships and relationships, they were tactile creatures and it hel
ped to minimise the aggression so prevalent in the apex predator animals. Close bonds helped their animals stay in line and support one another, although all shifters fought and bled each other to relieve stress and resolve disagreements, it was unusual if it led to a death. Lucy had never had those bonds and dragon had grieved the absence of it. The realisation shocked Lucy, as she never recognised dragon felt that way. It had always been her on her own. Her dragon was lonely, despite having “close” friends. How had she not seen that before?
She was so indignant and determined to be self-reliant and independent and strong that she had neglected her basic need for close contact. That didn’t make her strong, it made her afraid to be close and vulnerable. Fear kept her at a distance from others. Which was just as unhealthy as being too reliant on others. This was heavy and painful. Her dragon was sad, forlorn and in need of comfort, and Lucy had no idea how to reach out to someone and trust they wouldn’t hurt her or use her. She was so messed up, and with no idea what to do, she poured another drink and put the TV on. She needed some time to switch off the psychoanalysis.
About 20 minutes into a trashy tv programme there was a knock on the door, and she rose to answer. Would it be Will, Isobel or Isla? She would like it to be Isla, she sounded lovely. She opened the door and was surprised by the sight of the visitors, in a flash her vision went dark and steely arms wrapped around her. Seconds later she felt a sharp pain and then the world tilted, and everything went black.
Chapter 30
Aris hurried back to his apartment. His friend at the council had given him some interesting information, and he and Lina talked at length before he came back to see Lucy. Vesike Vatin, 313-year-old vampire and Lina’s previous coven leader was a ruthless vampire and they had to be careful. Acquaintance of almost everyone it seemed, the guy was bad news and well connected with organised crime. He was also the leader challenging the coven for a proportion of their land. That knowledge had hit Lina hard, she was furious. He had carried this grudge a long time and she was sure he was behind the attacks on her coven members. She finally explained to Aris what happened back then when she left her old coven. She had fell for Dante when he was still her donor, back when she was betrothed to Vesike. Their marriage would have cemented their two families and resulted in a massive boost of status for Vesike. He had been furious when he found out and had attempted to murder both Lina and Dante.
The feud had split the coven, with most siding with Vesike. It led to Lina being ostracized by her coven siblings. Lina’s family was the coven’s biggest source of income, so her departure weakened the coven greatly. As well as taking dozens of coven members with her, she hurt Vesike badly, his pride as well as his heart was broken, and he beat both Dante and Lina to within an inch of their lives. It was devastating to Vesike’s coven, and it had taken a long time for them to recover financially and socially. Vesike had moved the coven and effectively stayed quiet for decades. The bonds between members were frayed and it took time for them all to bond again. Lina had no idea her leaving had devastated them like that. She had turned Dante out of desperation, because he was mortally wounded, and after the horrendous fight they all moved on and left the past firmly behind. Obviously Vesike had not, his coven had only 22 members in total, whereas it had been 60 strong when Lina had left with the others. Suddenly it all made sense, but he would bet all his money that him making an appearance in the Delarossa chronicles and his attack on the coven was connected. All he knew was the coven was in danger, Vesike had waited over 100 years for revenge, that kind of bitter need for vengeance was consuming, and he wouldn’t stop until he was satisfied.
Aris rang Isla and begged her to stay in her apartment and keep the doors locked. Isla was no fighter, she was a healer, and she was young, there would be no way she would survive a full-on confrontation unscathed. The reality of the situation was that their coven would have to take Vesike’s down if this couldn’t be resolved. There was no other option, he would not stop, and he would likely kill anyone unwilling to join his coven when their council was dead. It would be a choice between swearing allegiance with Vesike, or death. There were no half ways, Vesike was old school, and he would not hesitate to kill. The fact that Lucy’s grandmother had enlisted his help to rid her of Marius was a big coincidence. If Vesike was in league with Marius, it was likely for money or favour of some sort.
Marius was a powerful man, and Vesike obviously needed him for something. If the exchange was to exterminate Lucy, to save Marius from blame in the eyes of the law, then Vatin was very likely to be involved with Lucy being followed and the attempt on her life. That made the threat to Lucy even more real and urgent. If he connected Lucy with him and the coven, he would be led here to finish her off, and he was already invested in hurting the coven, finishing Lucy at the same time would be very convenient, killing two birds with one stone in fact. He needed to speak to Isobel too, her family name had popped up too, but he doubted she would know much, the disagreements between the Delarossa’s and The Decante family occurred when Isobel was still young. Aris rushed down the stair well, not bothering with the elevator, Lucy was in danger here, he thought she would be safe from harm, but if Vesike was the one targeting her on behalf of Marius, the coven was the last place she should be.
He burst into his apartment, shouting Lucy’s name, he searched but her scent was not strong enough, she was not in the apartment, but she had been there very recently, possibly minutes ago. He followed her scent as far as he could, leading him down to the service exit. A black car was speeding off driven by men who could only be described as men in black on steroids. They were shifters, that was obvious, they smelled of fur so must be land shifters. He shouted at them and they sped out the car park at full tilt. Aris sprinted after the car for what felt like miles, but it was no good, he eventually lost them, even vampires eventually got tired. How they had entered the coven building was a mystery, every door was bio-locked.
If you weren’t a resident or an approved visitor you couldn’t even get past the floor you were on. So, someone who had access had let them in. He raced back to the coven, he needed backup, and someone must have let them in. Whoever it was would pay big time. He finally reached the security room and scanned through the CCTV footage as fast as he could while the guards on each level communicated with each other to try and get information. He finally saw unknowns at 8.04pm entering the back room through the delivery bay. They weren’t vamps, they weren’t moving fast enough, but the one who let them in was. That person was too quick to be caught on camera. But he had the fucker now, he knew the time and he knew the entrance used, so he brought up the list of entries that were all time logged and showed who opened the door. The biosignature came back to Isobel Decante. Aris pulled in a shocked breath, feeling like he had been punched in the gut. What the actual fuck? Why was Isobel involved? His mind flew straight to the book, the mention of the disagreement between the Delarossa’s and the Decante’s.
He rang her immediately, but of course she didn’t answer. He checked who was in the building, as it recorded who went in and out, and she was out, she left a half hour ago, likely with the fuckers that had Lucy. It can’t be just Isobel doing this can it? Isobel was clearly insane if that was the case, he thought half the shit she pulled was just her messing with him but what if she was genuinely deluded this whole time? They had to find Lucy and the fuckers who took her and hopefully beat the crap out of Isobel too since she had a hand in this and Aris would like nothing more than a reason to bleed her. Disbelief kept returning him to the shock of it all. How was Isobel involved in this? She would answer for this, betrayal of a coven member was taken extremely seriously. He rang Lina, struggling to dial he was shaking with rage so much. He was going to kill someone for this. He explained to Lina what had happened.
“What is going on tonight?! About ten minutes ago Isobel messaged me and gave a location as well as a photo. It showed Matt, Aris, his throat was ripped open, he could not survive that, there is no way, he w
as almost decapitated. Dante has gone with Will and Bernice to get him. I do not know what Isobel’s part in this is, but it must be connected to her family’s dispute with the Delarossa’s, we need answers from her, what the hell is going on?” Lina was very angry, Aris could hear the cold steel in her voice as she spoke. Lina did not take betrayal lightly, she had had too much of it in the past from coven members, that was one of the reasons she had left her old coven, they had all betrayed her apart from the few dozen who had been loyal.
“That is not all Aris, there are a dozen adults and some older children who have not checked in despite messages being sent requesting them to. I cannot tell if this could be Vesike’s coven causing this or if it is related to Lucy or Isobel or something completely unrelated. This feels like an onslaught from several directions, but I am certain that it is related, it must be” Lina was wise and the information from her sources and Aris’s was undeniably pointing to Vesike. Aris could hear voices in the background as Lina walked into whatever room she was in. He was pacing in the security room, listening via the mobile phone to what Lina was saying to the enforcers assembled in the council room. After explaining in as briefest terms possible, Lina assigned tasks quickly.
One main team was based at the coven and allocated to tracking all coven members and tracing phones etc to establish location. They would stay behind and defend the coven, protect the families and vulnerable folk just in case any trouble came to the door when the leaders were away. Once Dante, Will and Bernice returned they would join with Lina and Aris to find Lucy along with the fighters, the enforcers who were better at fighting and had abilities that gave advantages in battle. People were panicked, the coven had become accustomed to peaceful times, no one was prepared for this, even the council of leaders and the enforcers.
