Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  I sob through my words, “Sam murdered you and I couldn’t save you.”

  I feel her shake her head against the top of mine. “It’s not what you think.”

  Holding me to her, she rocks me side to side. Something I would expect a mother would do with her baby. Something stolen from her all those years ago.

  A deep voice suddenly pulls me from her comfort. “I knew you would come to her when we got closer.”

  I pull back from her and look beyond her at a darkened figure in the corner of the room approaching slowly. Ignoring what is behind her, she speaks to me. “Never stop fighting my sweet Jesca.”

  As the dark form beyond her takes on the familiar characteristics I remember from that night in the club, the steel-blue eyes of Sam Crest pierce mine as he clutches my mother by the shoulders and throws her across the room.

  “No!”

  Turning away from me, he strides over to her crumbled body. Trying to stand, she uses the wall for support, but Sam is already standing above her yanking her by the hair. As I charge straight for him, he grabs me by the throat with his free hand, lifting me off the ground as he tightens his grip. As my eyes swell and throat closes, I claw at his hand in an attempt to loosen his grip.

  I close my eyes, not to die, but to force every ounce of energy into the center of my soul straight into this son of a bitch. When I feel my fullness, I clasp on to the hand around my neck and release every ounce of collected energy straight into them.

  Like a sack of potatoes, he drops me to the ground. As I look beside me, I expect to see my mother kneeling next to me, but she’s gone.

  Picking me up off the ground by the roots of my hair, Sam pulls me across the room and throws me onto my bed. He’s on top of me instantly, his hands around my neck once again, cutting off my airflow completely.

  I can look nowhere else except the cold and vacant blue eyes of Sam Crest when all of a sudden his eye sockets fill with blood then darken to a pure black. His smirk melts into a long scowl unachievable by anything human. As this monster leans in closer, I push harder trying to keep it away when Sam’s face regenerates before my eyes. I try to speak one last time, but without air, nothing comes. I resort to sending him my thought. “Don’t do this Sam.”

  The response isn’t what I’m expecting at the slightest. “I’m not Sam my dear.”

  CHAPTER 28: THE SLIP

  Xander

  Ezra walks up to Nate and me as I sit down on the couch. He takes a seat in the chair across from us with a cup of coffee in hand.

  He doesn’t mince words as he starts in on us. “I want to know everything you and Sam talked about during your contact. We need to find any clues that can help us when we get to Japan. Go.”

  I didn’t know that Ezra would go this ballistic about Nate and me handling Sam in my sleep. “Look, Ezra, Nate and I didn’t mean to go around you on this. We thought it wouldn’t do any harm finding out as much as we can before we get to Japan.”

  Nate tries to help, “We know we need to keep Sam thinking that Xander is on his side. I would never jeopardize Xander, you or Jesca when it comes to Sam. You know that Ezra.”

  Ezra scratches the top of his head then throws his hands up in the air. “Yeah, it’s great to see you two finally getting along, but it isn’t without fear of Sam finding out what you’re doing. You have no idea what he’s capable of. He will find your weakness and use it against you in a heartbeat.”

  I didn’t think about Sam using Nate against me, but I can see now how that would cause a distraction, pulling our attention away from Jesca.

  Ezra seems to be onto my train of thought as he watches me. “All it would take is one slip-up.”

  I nod then glance at Nate before returning to Ezra. “It won’t happen again.”

  Ezra looks from me to Nate then waits for his response.

  Nate nods. “Yeah, understood.”

  I start to tell Ezra what happened with Sam when I notice that we’ve attracted the rest of the team’s attention. Balthazar and Sebastian are making their way over to us while Nick, Elicia, Ang and the others hang back and listen from afar.

  Balthazar looks at Sebastian and then at Ezra. “This is about Sam contacting Xander?”

  Ezra looks from me to Balthazar. “Yes.”

  I feel like I should explain. “Nate and I talked before I fell asleep on the plane ride here. He said he would be watching.”

  I shift my eyes to Nate, and he nods, confirming what went down.

  Recalling how the dream started, I decide how much I should say. “When Sam appeared, he seemed—less like himself.”

  My decision to hold back only spurs Ezra. “Less himself? How? Did he act like he knew something was going on? See, this is exactly why I didn’t want you—”

  I interrupt Ezra before he raises his voice any louder. “No, it isn’t that. He didn’t seem like he knew anything was going on. I made sure my block was strong before falling asleep. He seemed—distracted.”

  Ezra sits back, crosses his arms over his chest and asks flatly, “Distracted?”

  Nate chimes in. “Yeah, preoccupied.”

  Balthazar asks, “With what?”

  Nate snickers and mumbles, “More like with who.”

  Sebastian, Ezra and Balthazar’s eyes snap to Nate, and they ask simultaneously, “Who?”

  I interrupt their attack on him. “I only got bits and pieces. I was trying to stay focused on keeping my block up and listening to what he was telling me.”

  Ezra stands up and begins to pace. He blows out his lower lip and crosses his arms over his chest.

  Ezra waves his hands in the air, like he’s trying to clear the air of any confusion. “All right, all right. Let’s start with what he was telling you, and then we’ll get to the—distraction, okay?”

  I nod. “Sam appeared in a room. It looked like a living room. I think it’s where he is now. He asked me how I was doing and if I had enough time to make my decision. I told him that I had and that I was ready to join him and the rest of the fellowship.”

  I pause for a minute, noticing the sickening feeling I get from agreeing to be loyal to such a corrupt and warped organization. I know that I’m just playing the game to get Sam to disclose as much about his whereabouts and their plans for the Japan mission, but just the thought of being remotely involved disgusts me.

  I swallow down the nauseating feeling. “He said he was happy I was coming to my senses and mentioned Sanderson being eager to reward us for our service to the fellowship once the wormhole is open.”

  Balthazar adds his own two cents about Michael. “Sanderson is the bastard that took the fellowship into his own hands and corrupted it while stabbing me in the back. He’s eager, but it’s not to reward anyone but himself.”

  I look at Balthazar and then back at Ezra. “He said that the wormhole had to be located at the base of Mount Fuji beyond the Aokigahara Forest.”

  Ezra turns to Sebastian. “Just as our intel has charted.”

  Looking back at me now, Ezra asks, “Did he say when?”

  “He said that I needed to be in Japan in less than seventy-two hours. He said that he wanted me to come to the safe house to accompany him and Corinna to the site.”

  Ezra shakes his head. “That’s no good. It won’t be easy to track you once you are at the site. Too many variables and distractions.”

  Quickly, I produce the Post-It note I copied the coordinates from Sam on. “That’s why I asked him for the coordinates of the wormhole. I told him that I needed them just in case something separated us.”

  Ezra looks at me skeptically. “And, he just willingly gave you the coordinates? That doesn’t seem like Sam.”

  I look at Nate and then back at Ezra. “This is where Sam started getting—distracted.”

  Nick snorts as he catches the tail end of the conversatio
n. “What? Was he getting laid or something?”

  Nate and I both give Nick a sharp look. We are both defensive and concerned about the person Sam is becoming intimate with. Especially when we need to save her.

  Nick puts his hands up. “What?”

  Elicia elbows Nick, and then she pulls him into the kitchen. She’s a smart girl and has already caught on to the identity of the mystery bedmate.

  I sigh deeply, locking my hands together. “He’s with Corinna.”

  “Yeah, we already know that,” Jake says as he furrows his brows

  Nate tries to clarify by exaggerating each word, “No, he’s ‘with’ Corinna.”

  Jake shifts his stance, crossing his arms now as his eyes widen, finally getting the picture. “Oh, you mean ‘with’ her!”

  Luke looks at Jake like he’s an idiot. “Yeah, dumb ass, with her.”

  Ezra still has not spoken, so I tell him what I think. “It’s more than that. I think Sam and Corinna might be linked.”

  Ezra doesn’t seem surprised as he works through it logically. “I assume their manufactured link is one of the main reasons they have become intimate sexually.”

  Briefly, I think about Nate, Jesca and the link they share. Have they been intimate? A wave of jealousy washes over me, but I quickly push it out of my mind for the moment.

  “Anything else?”

  Ezra’s question is directed at me and I wonder if he’s caught my jealousy.

  “No, that’s all I got. I told Sam I would be there within seventy-two hours.”

  I hand Ezra the slip of paper with the coordinates, having already made a copy for myself.

  Ezra folds the Post-it note and slips it in his pants pocket. “This gives us a lot to work with. Don’t do it again. Got it?”

  I half-heartedly nod as I stand up and cross the living room to the kitchen.

  My mind drifts to Jesca as I open the refrigerator. I grab an extra bottle of water and plan to drop it by her room with the hopes she’s still awake. Closing the door with my elbow, I turn to see Nate leaning against the arched doorway of the kitchen. “Nothing happened between us.”

  I nearly drop one of the water bottles before trapping it against my chest. “What?”

  Shit! Somehow, he sensed the jealousy I tried to hide.

  Keeping his distance, he scratches the back of his neck. “We knew it was the link that created the desires we were having. We stopped before anything happened.”

  Nate puts his hands in his pockets as he shrugs and confesses further. “Jesca and I—we’re partners Xander. The link brought us together. But you and her––there’s something more. Something she and I haven’t shared.”

  He leans his head against the wall, the exhaustion sinking in as quickly as it’s assaulting me.

  “You are my cousin, and she is the girl I would do anything for.”

  He pauses and breathes deeply before continuing. “Look man, whatever happens, I’m going to fulfill my purpose. I promised myself that I would never let anything happen to Jesca. And, now that you and I are linked––it goes the same for you. Everything else aside, all right?”

  We both stand there in silence as I take in Nate being more of a man than me. I finally nod and respond. “Yeah.”

  Nate makes the first move putting his hand out to shake mine. As soon as I clasp his, the faintest whimper echoes in my head. “Don’t do this Sam!”

  Followed by the voice that falsely fathered me. “I’m not Sam my dear.”

  CHAPTER 29: STRIKE

  Jesca

  The images of my life can’t race through my mind fast enough as I fall in and out of consciousness. Delilah, Roan, Elicia, Ezra, Anna, Nate, Xander, the other guardians. This can’t be it! I can’t go out like this! Remembering Anna’s words––to never stop fighting–– I let every bit of my remaining adrenaline build inside of me, hoping it’s enough to cast my energy straight into Sam. Slowly, I feel my senses returning with the electric current running through me. I open my eyes again to see Sam’s eyes shift to a light brown, then a deep green, before his entire face shifts becoming skeletal and pronounced like the evil images in Ezra’s files. Every fear deep inside cries that this thing is not Sam. It’s something not of this world sent to attack me. With my newfound energy building within, I fear it’s now or never as I place my hands over his and release my life force imagining it striking him in the chest. Like a tidal wave striking, this mimic of a being releases me then turns to a blackened smoke, that quickly absorbs into the air above me.

  Collapsing back on the bed, I can taste blood in my throat as I try to swallow with no success. The sound of me gasping scares the shit out of me. I don’t know if I will get enough air before I pass out.

  Nate suddenly rushes through the door followed by Xander and Ezra. Nate kneels on one side while Xander slides to the other. Wide-eyed and unable to breathe through my crushed esophagus, I look between both of them.

  They work together quickly as Nate tells Xander to place his hand on my throat, while he does the same.

  “Close your eyes Jes.”

  Nate’s request is met with my fear of if I do, they won’t open again. I shake my head as best I can to let them know I won’t do it.

  “It’s okay,” Xander says as he runs his hand over my forehead. “Just let us in, okay?”

  As both of their hands rest on my throat, the pain starts to lift and my tight wheezing softens as my airway opens. I swallow finally and try to speak, but all that releases is a low hiss.

  Ezra hovers over me. “Don’t try to talk. Just let them heal you.”

  Feeling my strength returning, I rest easier as the sound of the three of our hearts beat together in my mind.

  “What happened?”

  “Was it Sam?”

  Both Xander and Nate asks urgently as I lean my back against the headboard and sip a warm glass of tea Balthazar has brought up to me.

  “Just give her a minute!” Ezra lectures.

  Brushing my hair away from my face, Xander looks over any uncovered flesh. “We heard your thoughts. Then his.”

  I look at Nate and he nods. “It wasn’t Sam though. I felt what you felt the moment I walked in here.”

  Ezra grits his teeth and shares a look of disgust. “No, it wasn’t. I felt it as soon as I walked in too. The essence it left behind––it wasn’t him.”

  “Who was it then?” Xander asks him. “Some fucking alien demon from another galaxy?”

  Balthazar walks toward me and stands at the foot of the bed. “Yes and no.”

  I don’t want to hear his double speak. “Who was it?”

  Balthazar doesn’t flinch as he says, “Michael Sanderson.”

  As Xander and Nate walk me down the stairs from the room, Nick is holding Elicia as she wipes the tears from her eyes. As soon as she sees me, she pulls away from him and nearly knocks me over with her embrace. She tries to make her voice strong, but it comes out broken. “Damn it, Jes. You scared the hell out of us. With the way Nate, Xander and Ezra ran up there, I thought you were—”

  She starts sobbing again, unable to finish her thought. I smooth her hair to try to calm her trembling body as I hold her to me.

  She thought that I died and in a way, I did. Part of me, the one full of fear and doubt died away the moment I fought my assassin. The naïve and fundamental part of me has been hanging on since the moment I left Marietta, Georgia with Ezra. Tonight, seeing my real mother’s soul before my very eyes and discovering that the man who supposedly killed my mother and came to assassinate me isn’t who we thought he was. Still tender, I swallow carefully as my voice croaks. “I’m here, and I’m not planning on dying anytime soon.”

  Nick walks up behind Elicia, and places his hands on her shoulders. Willingly, she turns into him and lets him hold her. In that moment, I catch a glimpse of what th
ey feel for each other. It’s like Nate and me––they’ve linked.

  As they walk away, I am both happy and a little envious of what they have found. Pushing it away quickly, I replace my thoughts with my need for vengeance. For me and my mother.

  “Anna came to me.”

  My voice is weak, but sounds like my own again as I tell everyone in ear shot who I saw. “It wasn’t her in body. Just in spirit. She told me she came because I needed her.”

  I tell them everything and they all listen intently. When I get to the argument she and I had about my not saving her, I look up from my hands and directly at Ezra.

  I look to Ezra. “She told me her purpose had been done. She was done here. That’s why she didn’t let you save her.”

  Overwhelmed by my retelling, Ezra glassy and reddened eyes well up and brim with tears as his lower lip quivers and nods in agreement. “No she didn’t.”

  Trying to hold the tears in he looks up, but it doesn’t prevent the one tear that drops along his cheek. Reacting to Ezra’s rare show of emotions, I blink and a tear spills over. Wiping it away quickly, I look at Balthazar. “Then he came and attacked us.”

  I describe what happened, not realizing how it’s affecting me until Xander rest his hand over my trembling one.

  Ezra’s anger suddenly burst forth through the tears. “It doesn’t surprise me that Sanderson has begun tracking her. Now that Sam has been sidetracked.”

  “Sam has been sidetracked? By what?”

  Ezra sits in the chair across from me. “Corinna and Sam are linked, and Sam has—taken to her!”

  Nick snorts from the corner of the room. “Yeah, he has taken to her, all right.”

  Still in his arms, Elicia elbows Nick in the stomach.

  I’m still stuck on how they know this. “How did you find this out?”

  As soon as I ask the question, the answer registers in my head and I look between Nate and Xander. “You two—the dream with Sam.”

  Balthazar tries to field my additional questions. “It’s the same as Nate being linked to you and Xander. Sanderson implanted Corinna with a Copula to purposefully link her to Sam.”