The Usurper

by Candy Crum

  “It’s pretty easy these days because of the internet. People put everything on social media,” he said.

  “I know that. What I don’t know is how to use any of it, and I don’t care to know. What the hell is a Twitter anyway? Tweeting is what a bird does that grates on my nerves, though it’s not nearly as bad as listening to humans speak.” She shook her head. “I hate humanity. All this technology, and what do they do with it? Share photographs of their breakfast.”

  “I completely agree,” he said. “But you can learn where she lives, where she works—”

  “I already know those things, you idiot,” she interrupted. “I approached her at work, and that didn’t go well.”

  “Hmm…” He added more oil. “If you know where she works, you could get her schedule. You’re definitely… persuasive when you want something. If you know when she’ll be there, you’ll have an idea of when she’ll be home in bed and unable to sense your approach. If you give me a name, I can snoop on her social media. The person she talks to most will undoubtedly be her best friend.”

  Khia lifted her head and smiled. “That’s an excellent idea, Robby. Kailah Clark is her name.” She spelled it carefully for him, so he didn’t screw it up. “Her friend’s name is Rachel. I heard Kailah shout it before escaping. Find everything. Where they live. Where Rachel works. Hell, even allergies and birthdays if you think it’ll help. I’ll get Kailah’s work schedule. With that bitch Sydney there, it’s hard to say how she’s interfered.”

  “Yes, Your Highness. Also, who’s Sydney?”

  She waved a hand. “No one you need to worry about. If she gets in my way again, she won’t be anyone’s problem to worry about. You just finish up here, and we will get to work. The next move I make has to be a good one. I need to lull her into a false sense of security. She has to think she’s won. As long as I can keep that damned Sayen from seeing what I’m doing and interfering, I can catch the girl off-guard.”

  Khia smiled as she found renewed hope. She didn’t want to kill the girl, but if it came down to it, she’d do it if necessary. The only thing that mattered was Khanae’s traitorous head on her mantle. Sayen had once been the key to ending this war, but she, too, was a traitorous bitch.

  If Kailah didn’t come around, and Khia was forced to do the worst, Kailah would soon find herself right next to them. War trophies for the one true queen.

  ***

  Kailah and Rachel spent over a week searching through files Kailah had asked her uncle to send over. There was a trunk full of old family heirlooms, photos, newspaper clippings, and an outdated family tree. He also emailed everything that had been converted over to digital files—like the new and improved family tree.

  While she had always shown an interest in the family history—particularly her Native American ancestors—her uncle was more than curious to know why she’d had a sudden need for the information and why it had been so urgent.

  She was a very open and honest individual and immediately thought about telling him, but then realized she’d be committed before she even hung up the phone. She lied and made up something about an elderly patient moving her to tears about his childhood in the early 1900s, making her want to learn more about her grandfather and even further back.

  Though she was a terrible liar, it managed to go over well.

  Next thing she knew, she was diving through files and dissecting everything she could get her hands on.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much in the files that she didn’t know. Her mother’s side didn’t have a family tree. She imagined that if they did, it would be full of people in straitjackets. Though she loved her mom’s side of the family just like her dad’s, she couldn’t deny they were all varying shades of crazy.

  There was no information in the files about what tribe she came from, although the most common in the area were Shawnee and Cherokee. It wasn’t essential for her to know that to learn more about her current situation, but it would have been nice.

  “Hey,” Rachel said, looking through the digital family tree. She pointed to the computer screen. “The paper tree wasn’t wrong. Your lineage really isn’t traced back past your great-great-grandmother.”

  “Sayen,” Kailah said with a nod—then a shiver. Rachel had told her about her conversation with the woman claiming to be her ancestor. The woman had suggested doing exactly what they were right then to discover the truth. “This is nuttier than squirrel shit.”

  Rachel’s eyes widened. “Did you…?”

  “Oh, my God,” Kailah said forcefully blinking her eyes and fluttering them as she tried to shake the fatigue off. “I have been reading this crap too long. I’m using local sayings… Though that one is pretty accurate and hilarious in this shitty situation.”

  “Couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

  Kailah shook her head. “Not at all. I need caffeine. I’ll be back. Want something? Coffee? Coke? Speed?”

  Rachel laughed. “Coffee will be fine. Black.”

  With a quick nod, Kailah stood and made her way to the kitchen to make some coffee. They had everything spread out in her living room across the floor, couches, and coffee table. They had to clear out a tiny square for the laptop to sit in the midst of all the pictures and useless pages.

  “Okay,” Rachel said from the living room. “So, I just found a copy of a letter in here. There was a burnt diary or journal of some sort, and there were a few pages salvaged out of it.”

  “Who burned them and why was it saved if they wanted it gone?” Kailah asked as she flipped the switch on the coffee maker.

  “No clue. If I had to guess, I’d say Sayen probably burned it to keep anyone from finding out who she was, but then kept it anyway.”

  “What does it say?”

  There was a pause before Rachel said, “It’s super hard to read. But from what I can see, it says… Uh… Ah, here we go. ‘I must protect the men and women of the forest that have taken me in. They me A-Y out.’”

  Kailah looked at her with obvious confusion from the kitchen. “What? What the hell does that mean? A-Y out?”

  “There are words and letters smudged or burned through. If I had to guess, given their placement, it says ‘They gave me a way out.’ Fits.”

  “Is there anything else?” Kailah asked.

  Rachel looked at Kailah with a somber expression as she nodded. “There’s mention of something called the Elysian. From what I can make out, Sayen is the one who was supposed to give birth to a special child, so she’s afraid of the ceremony.”

  “What ceremony?” Kailah asked. As the coffee machine sputtered, she made her way back to get mugs.

  “The wedding maybe? I don’t know. On the other page it said something about a ritual, but there were only about three or four words legible and none of them were close together. That page is pretty much a loss. So, I don’t know if it’s the wedding or another ceremony. Native Americans were big on rituals and things like that,” Rachel responded.

  “Okay. There was a ceremony she was worried about, a child she was afraid of having, and she wanted to protect the people of the forest. I’d imagine that was my great-great-grandfather’s tribe,” Kailah said, handing Rachel a mug.

  “Yeah. This is seriously fucked up, Kay. But you’ve been seeing Taima, and Sayen has been in your head. She led me straight to you, and had she not, you would have died. This can’t be a coincidence. We’ve gotta get to the bottom of this. I mean… You could always message her. I know you haven’t wanted to, but maybe it’s time. The profile still exists. I think she left it up for you.”

  Kailah snorted. “Can you blame me? What exactly am I supposed to say? ‘What’s up, Grandma? Long time never see. Wanna go to Starbucks or something? We can talk about my place in this screwed up world you’ve dragged me into.’ I think the fuck not.”

  Rachel laughed. “I know. It’s messed up, but you don’t really have a choice. What if you’re not the only one? You have a sister. What if that Khia bitch comes after Amanda?
What then?”

  Kailah looked at Rachel with obvious concern. “Shit. I hadn’t thought about that. I’m an awesome sister.” She rolled her eyes at that last sarcastic remark. “Fine. I’ll do it. But I have a bad feeling about all this, you know?”

  “I know,” Rachel said.

  Kailah sighed as she picked up a photo of Sayen and Taima holding her grandfather, their grandson, when he was only a baby. “Look at this. It gives me chills. There’s no mistaking that face. That is absolutely the man I’ve been seeing. And her… She doesn’t look like Khia really, but she has similar features. The skin tone—she is obviously not Native or Caucasian. Sayen has the same dark skin. The nose is similar in shape, too.”

  Rachel took the photo and looked it over. “She looks much older in this photo than she did when I talked to her, but it’s definitely the same woman. If not, she has a doppelgänger. She looks Egyptian. I had a friend who was Egyptian. She moved away the same year I met you. Sayen has the same features, though her skin is a touch lighter.”

  She opened Google and did a quick search. “Africa has many varying shades of skin color, and both Khia and Sayen have a medium skin tone for that part of the world. Almost a deep olive color. Do you think they’re related?”

  Kailah shook her head. “There’s no other resemblance, so I doubt it. It’s hard to say, though. Ugh!” She stood and stretched before pacing back and forth. “I’m going mad. I took vacation time. Sydney somehow managed to clean all this up for me, and I don’t even know how. There’s no way to contact her. She just left a message with HR to pass along to me that everything was taken care of, and I had the next three weeks off—paid.”

  “I think you need a break,” Rachel said. “We both do. We’ve been cooped up in this house for what feels like forever. Nothing has happened lately. I really think we should try to relax. Let’s go do something.”

  Looking into Rachel’s bloodshot eyes, she couldn’t say no. Not only had her best friend been with her almost night and day, she’d helped her sort through and break down every single piece of information they had, looking for clues.

  There were a ton of clues, but they had no idea how to piece them together yet. Though, Kailah knew all the speculation would end if she just messaged the woman claiming to be her great-great-grandmother. The woman who had spoken to her telepathically.

  The need to know was killing her, but she had seen enough movies and read enough books to know how this ended. She didn’t want anything to do with it. She wanted to finish her master’s degree and live in peace. Maybe settle down and have babies one day.

  She did not want to get involved with whatever circle of hell she was dangling over. But Rachel had made a good point.

  What if something happened to Amanda?

  After their mother ran off, their father put all his time and effort into work to dull the pain. That eventually turned into working non-stop and serial dating, but that was something else entirely.

  They had been left alone quite a lot, and Kailah was left to raise Amanda the best she could—despite their short three years, one month, and one day age gap. Amanda was everything to her, and she would rather die—or get sucked into an unbelievably terrible mess—if it meant protecting her.

  But first…

  She and Rachel needed a night to unwind. She had a feeling it would be a very long time before either one of them had another chance.

  Chapter Six

  Aeric was getting more nervous with every passing minute. The day had come for him to meet Kailah, and he was very aware it was going to go badly. There were far too many things working against them.

  Brett didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but he had a habit of blowing everything off. Aeric both loved and envied his twin brother’s ability to not stress about simple things.

  Kailah was in the beginning stages of her transition, and that was going to bring a lot of ups and downs. Female Immortals never transitioned. They were born inheriting the full power of their mother. They were nearly impossible to kill and healed quickly from the moment they were born.

  The males were few and far between. Khia hated the idea of male Immortals, so most were killed at birth. Because they were born human and later transitioned, they were very easily dispatched. Out of all the cruel and monstrous things Aeric had known Khia to be guilty of, that was the worst.

  Khia was afraid that if males were allowed to live, they might become violent and try to rise up against her in a quest for power. Therefore, almost all of them were killed. Those who were allowed to survive were soldiers in her army.

  In small numbers, they were easily controlled—even more so because she had their powers bound with a spell much weaker than the one Sayen had used. No male Immortal would ever reach the level of power the women could, but they were still strong.

  Going through the transition was much easier hundreds or even thousands of years ago when magic was still a large part of the world and there weren’t as many people.

  Mood swings and anger were normal, but it was mostly around Vampires. For an Immortal, that was desired. That instant rage allowed them to tap into their power early, even before knowing how to use their abilities. Their instincts controlled their actions until their mind was able to learn how each power was used and controlled.

  Kailah would have to go through the same thing, only it would be a hundred times worse. The Shadow Realm was an enormous place. Vampires and other supernatural creatures were everywhere, and there was no way to save her from the unbelievable pain and sickness that came along with the body sensing them and going into overdrive.

  While Brett seemed to think it might be amusing to watch a “Baby Sayen”, as he called her, get pissed off and feisty, Aeric fully understood it would be hard on her.

  “Relax,” Brett said. “You’re thinking too much about this. I’m telling you, if you go in there all serious, she’s going to sniff you out a mile away, and she’s going to hate you. If she’s anything like Sayen, she’s not going to want to be babied. So, don’t do it.”

  “I can’t just blow this off,” Aeric replied. “She needs us right now. You’re going to go in there with your blasé attitude and piss her off worse. How pissed would you be if you had all this anger, and someone was giggling in a corner at you?”

  Brett shook his head. “I see your point but try to see mine. If you go in there treating her like a ticking time-bomb, she’s going to act like one. She’s going to feel like something is wrong with her, and it’s going to scare her. Fear plus anger is like fire and gasoline, especially in a strong woman. You make a strong woman feel scared, and what happens?”

  Aeric rolled his eyes. “She gets even more pissed.”

  Brett nodded. “Exactly. Then she feels like she has no choice but to fight. Guys are the same way, but we either throw a punch or try to hide our fear. Don’t treat her like an explosion waiting to happen. If you treat her outbursts and anger like they’re nothing, like they don’t even matter, she’ll calm down a hell of a lot faster.”

  Aeric understood what his brother was saying, but he worried he might be wrong. If he was, and Kailah hated them, it would make things incredibly difficult. He desperately wanted things to go over smoothly. In order for things to work, they had to start slow and gain her trust.

  Kailah would basically become a part of their family. He’d heard Sayen talk about her for years, and he knew she was a good person. Not one of them wanted this fate for her, but despite all their efforts, it found her anyway.

  Brett didn’t seem to realize that if Kailah became angry and escalated the situation, her energy could trigger their own. Her unstable emotions could ignite the same in a Vampire, causing a violent reaction. It was a delicate situation. While each of the brothers were strong, it was entirely possible that she was stronger, and Aeric didn’t want a fight to break out.

  “I’m sorry, Brett. But I have to disagree.” He sighed. “Look, you do things your way. Be your normal goofy self. I’ll try
to stay calm and diffuse the situation when it arises. If I’m right, I’ll keep her level-headed. If you’re right, she’ll hate me, but she’ll like you. As long as she likes one of us, I guess this will be a win.”

  Sayen and Khanae walked into the room with somber looks on their faces. “You both look great,” Sayen said. Her words were kind, but her sadness and anger at the situation rolled off her. “Gods, I hate this.”

  “Yeah,” Aeric said. “We were just discussing how complicated this will be.”

  She nodded. “It will be.” She held out her hands, a stone in each one. “Take these and put them in your pockets.”

  “What is it?” Brett asked, taking the one in her left hand.

  “I had a witch friend of mine spell these. I won’t be there to mask your auras, so we needed something to do it for you. These will hide those and contain your other noticeable energy almost entirely. If Kailah were any other Immortal, she might not have a clue you aren’t human. But given how strong she is so soon and how out of control her gifts are, she might still sense you.”

  “What can we expect from her with these?” Aeric asked.

  Sayen shrugged. “I would imagine nervousness. Anxiety. Possibly mild head pain and nausea. But she shouldn’t experience any real mood swings or severe body pain. As long as you keep calm and don’t use any of your abilities, she shouldn’t experience anything that would give you away too quickly.”

  Aeric looked over to Brett, his left brow raised as he smirked. “Hear that? Keep totally calm.”

  “Shut up.” Brett hit his brother in the arm and turned back to Sayen. “Aren’t we supposed to expose ourselves?” He snorted. “That came out wrong.”

  Khanae smiled and shook her head. “You are supposed to let her know who you are, but if you walk up without these stones, she’s immediately going to hate you. Exactly how far into the conversation will you get if she wants to kill you?”

  “Good point,” Brett said. “Okay. Well, I think we have what we need.”