Tundra Witch

by SL Perrine

  “Delia?” Ravana placed the phone on the counter; hitting the speaker button.

  “Yes, she’s correct. The abyss and an insatiable being are the only descriptions I could come up with. I don’t know how you could defeat an abyss.” Delia says through the phone.

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “You’re dealing with a barathrum.”

  “A barathrum…”

  “Yes,” Delia answers.

  “I never thought I’d find the day when you would find the answers I seek and report so vaguely.”

  Ravana could hear Delia shrug through the connection. “I’ll keep looking.”

  “Do so,” Ravana ordered. “What have you got, Gia?”

  Gianna removes the iron manacles and places them on the counter along with a dagger, with a familiar looking stone in it. “This is all you need. Though I can’t guarantee it’ll work.”

  “So, imprisonment?” Massimo asks, clearly understanding.

  “Yes, and no. The manacles should hold him. They’re infused with old magic. Nothing from this world. That’s what you said right? Well, to hold something, not from this world, you need magic also not from this world. This,” she holds up the athame with a stone set in its pommel for them to see. “Is a rare gem. The creator was not of this world. This ruby has amazing power. Almost more than any human can control.”

  “But not a vampire. A super vampire.” Ravana looks down at her ring.

  “What?” Gianna looks between Ravana and Massimo but doesn’t say anything when Ravana moves away.

  “I was sworn to secrecy, yet there is another.”

  “The stone? No, not another. It’s broken. The backside against the setting is jagged; cut in two. My mother told me the creator chose two unlikely beings to care for, and in instances of great need, use the stone.”

  “So, what does the stone do after the manacles hold him.” Massimo reaches out to grasp the irons.

  “It should remove the essence from the vessel and place it inside the stone, but there is a problem with that.”

  “What’s the problem.” He places the cuffs on the counter.

  “If the wearer of the second stone doesn’t know the barathrum is in there, it can accidentally be let free.” Gianna looked to Ravana and Massimo.

  Neither was giving away anything more than they had. Ravana wondered if she should let Gianna know about the second stone, but Delia’s voice from the phone startles her.

  “Ravana, I suggest we find a way to ensure the safety of the second stone, then.”

  Ravana takes the hint. The stone is a secret, and Gianna hadn’t sworn to the same oath Ravana had. The whereabouts of the second stone will remain her own secret to hold on to.

  “We can do that,” Massimo speaks for her.

  “Fine. Though my mother was clear. A powerful entity must wield the stone. It won’t work otherwise.”

  “Then we will need to get the creature in the irons and get Anthony the blade.” Ravana moved through the room, thinking.

  “Why can’t you do it? You said yourself, you and Massimo are super vamps.”

  “No. It has to be Anthony. If you don’t think you’re strong enough to do this, then it must be him. I know a little about the ruby. The same creature cannot use both stones.”

  “So, you know about the other half of the stone. Do you know who wields it.”

  “I do, but that’s all I can say. Just trust me. You or him. That’s how it has to be.”

  “Fine. We’ll figure out how to get it to him. Since we can’t do anything further until morning, I’m going to look for the blueprints of the house he’s being held in.”

  Massimo turned, grabbing Gianna’s arm before she could leave the room. “You know where they are?”

  “Yes. Anthony and I discovered the house a few days ago. We were planning on doing more reconnaissance, but things moved along far quicker than we anticipated, and we hadn’t gotten the chance.”

  “In other words, you killed your husband’s lover, so his move is to kill yours.”

  “You don’t have to beat me down about it. Nothing you say or do will punish me more than I do myself.” She shrugged out of Massimo’s grip.

  Ravana let her turn and leave the room. She was too tired to argue or plan. She wanted a dozen or so blood bags and sleep. The sun was going down, and her schedule was too different for her to think she could hold off on rest for much longer. She grabbed Massimo’s hand and led him to the guest room in the small apartment. With the scent of Anthony and Gianna all over Anthony’s room, there was no way they could have slept in there. Though, once their bodies hit the bed, Ravana doubted sleep would be in the foreground of their minds.

  Chapter 24

  “She’s asleep,” Massimo whispered softly into Ravana’s hair as he ran his hands gently over her naked form. The smell of strawberries, peppermint, and lovemaking permeated his senses.

  “You think I can’t hear her heartbeat?” Ravana replied.

  “It’s not that, luv. I was making conversation.”

  Ravana nuzzled Massimo’s chest. “You do love the sound of your own voice.”

  “She shed no tears for the boy.”

  “She didn’t,” Ravana agrees. “She holds it back because she’s afraid it will weaken her.”

  “And you know this how?”

  Ravana caught Massimo’s eyes with her own. “Because I’m a woman.”

  “On that, we can agree,” he replied as he gathered Ravana closer. “You like her.” It was more a statement than a question.

  “I respect her. She’s a strong woman. There’s untapped power in her. A lot like Yeti when he was younger.”

  “You never told me the story of your young protégé. How did you meet? How and why did he earn the name Yeti?”

  Raising herself on one elbow, Ravana’s brows furrowed. “You were unaware of him?”

  Massimo shrugged. “You weren’t always the easiest to keep track of, luv.”

  Ravana chuckled.

  “So? The boy?” Massimo pressed.

  It was Ravana’s turn to shrug. “I was in the process of exterminating some vermin in Jersey when I met him. Just a snot-nosed boy out of high school. I allowed myself to become trapped in a blind alley one night. It wasn’t a situation I couldn’t have extricated myself from, but Anthony barreled into the fray thinking I was in danger. It was cute.”

  “I think chivalrous is the word you’re looking for,” Massimo interjected.

  “You would have had to be there. He went through that coven of vampires like a tornado in a trailer park and pushed me behind him.”

  Massimo’s brows shot up. “And you let him?”

  “As I said, it was cute.”

  “So, what did you do?”

  “I played the part of the damsel in distress and watched him work.”

  “And the award for hottest, most dangerous damsel in distress goes to-”

  Ravana slapped him lightly but chuckled all the same. “Stop,” she ordered after a moment.

  “Sorry, luv. Do go on.”

  “I’ve met and seen witches fight before. This coven was beyond the abilities of any I’d ever met. Not Anthony. When he’s pressed, something comes over him. He digs down inside himself and becomes something more.”

  “Shapeshifter?”

  “No.” She shakes her head and thinks for a moment; searching for the right words. “His heartbeat changes, his demeanor changes, his eyes…” Ravana gives up and shrugs.

  “He intrigued you.”

  “Very much so.”

  “And you took him under your wing.”

  “I did.”

  “Did you take him into your bed?”

  “On occasion. A girl has her needs.”

  “I’m impressed he survived. Your needs are-”

  Ravana slapped him again. “Quit it. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were jealous.”

  Massimo looked away. “Maybe a bit.” He looked back
at her. “You never dropped everything and crossed a continent for anyone else I can think of.”

  “Anthony is a dear friend. He showed me unfaltering loyalty through anything and everything. Much like you do now, luv,” she said while caressing Massimo’s bare chest.

  “Now I am jealous. Is your heart divided?”

  “No. My heart doesn’t beat only for you,” she teased.

  “Ah, vampire humor,” Massimo sighed. “So, why did you give him the name Yeti?”

  “I didn’t give it to him.”

  “Who did?”

  “The things I had him hunt when he reached the limits of what I could teach him.”

  “Newly turned vampires and low-level demons? Impressive.”

  “He killed a Cacodemon and a Nephilim on his own, I’d hardly call those low-level.”

  “On his own,” Massimo intoned incredulously.

  “On his own,” Ravana asserted. “And the Dark Watchers gave him the name Yeti.”

  “Why Yeti?”

  “Large, powerful, cold, and dangerous.”

  “Him? He fared no better than we did against that…thing.”

  “Barathrum,” Ravana supplied.

  “Well, that barathrum just carried him off like a sack of potatoes from what Nico told us. I think your Yeti has finally come up against something beyond his ability.”

  “We’re not out of this fight and don’t underestimate Anthony, or his woman for that matter.”

  “If this barathrum and his master aren’t beyond our and your Yeti’s abilities, what do you think he’s waiting for?”

  “Round two, love. Round two.”

  Gianna sat on the edge of her bed staring at the floor. Sleep had come for her sometime in the night, but she could not recollect when. One moment she was worrying, plotting, and planning, the next she was waking up. Although the sleep had done nothing to quell the aches in her body, it had settled her mind. Prying herself from the bed, Gianna entered the stairwell to her sanctuary.

  “What message did you leave me, Jax?” she said softly to herself as she ran her hand along the wall of the stairwell. About halfway up the steps she paused and closed her eyes. Reaching out with her internal sight, Gianna sought a remnant of her wards. She found a little dangling from the wall like a broken spider web or thin, shredded silk, but it wasn’t entirely hers. The color was off. Reaching out, she ran her hand through the ward.

  A barrage of images flashes into her mind causing her to gasp involuntarily. After a moment, the images resolve into a montage of Anthony, Gianna, and Mila. Visions of him loving her, caring for Mila as a father, images of them holding hands at a park while dark haired, green-eyed children cavort around them, her belly full of another child as Anthony lovingly caresses the bump he made in her body. The images are so vivid Gianna can almost hear the children’s laughter, make out their names when they call to them and see Mila’s joy as she plays with her young siblings. One word does speak into her mind through it all as if uttered from their mouths directly into her ears. Momma.

  Tears well in her eyes and Gianna fights to hold them back as the depths of Anthony’s love, and desire flood her senses, the protection he has vowed to bestow upon her, Mila, and their future children. She can see and feel his unspoken promise to interject himself between them and any that would cause harm to those he loves, and she knows his mind.

  “Damn you, Jax. You let it take you on purpose,” Gianna whispers as she allows her sight to return to normal.

  “I had thought as much,” Ravana interrupts the moment from the bottom of the stairs behind her.

  Gianna turns to face Ravana as the emotions overcome her. The walls and dam she worked so hard to build and contain and protect her feelings over the years breaks, and the tears flow unbidden down her face. She tries to wipe the tears away but more follow. She tries to speak, but Ravana flashes up the steps and wraps Gianna in her arms.

  “No, don’t hold it back anymore, Gia. Let it out.” Ravana orders.

  Gianna slumps in Ravana’s arms and sobs profoundly as her heart breaks. The Vampire cradles her gently as she eases them to a sitting position.

  “Shh… Shh… Shh... Let it out, Gia,” Ravana whispers as she strokes the back of her head.

  Gianna allows the emotions to run their course and, as they cease, something strange begins to happen. The void created in her heart by shedding the emotions of fear, hurt, rejection, and anger, begins to fill with love and, with it, power. Power unlike any she has ever known. It flows through her heart and permeates her entire being to the point she feels she is going to come apart at the seams.

  “That’s what he left for you to find, Gia. Love and power.”

  “But how? How could he know?” Gianna sobs.

  “A soul recognizes its other half without ever being formally introduced. So, what do you want from this world, Gianna? More of the same, or the world he promises you?” Ravana asks as she rubs her hand across Gianna’s stomach. “What kind of world do you want for Mila and the children growing inside of you?”

  “The… children?” Gianna asks as she wipes the last of the tears away.

  “Silly girl,” Ravana gently kisses her forehead.

  Another voice startles the two of them. “Dear Penthouse, I thought it was going to be just another boring day...”

  Gianna extricates herself from Ravana’s arms. “Is he always this much of an ass?”

  Ravana smiles as she looks at Massimo. “Always; but like recognizes like, Gianna.”

  “Even if it takes a few centuries for that realization. Right, luv?”

  “And the eavesdropping? Is that part of the recognition?”

  “No. That’s just a side effect of being a vampire.” Massimo smiles cheekily.

  “You should nickname him Assimo,” Gianna grumbles.

  Ravana and Massimo both burst into laughter that lasts several moments until they bring it under control.

  “Well, ladies, do we have a game plan yet?” Massimo finally asks.

  “We do,” Gianna says resolutely. “How long before backup arrives?”

  “Any time now.” Ravana answers.

  “Assimo, how are you with a rifle?”

  Ravana snorts.

  “Not my preferred weapon, but I’m a fair hand with one, but I’m sure one of Ravana’s stormtroopers is better.”

  “Good. Here’s what we’re going to do.”

  Another fist slammed into Anthony’s jaw and snapped his head back. His eyes rolled in his sockets to resolve into a blurred vision of his lap. Blood oozed out of his mouth in a slobbery, viscous tendril to puddle on his chest and legs. He took a deep breath, leaned to the side, and spat.

  “That all you got, Gio?” Anthony asked through swollen lips. “I’ve had better beatings in the bedroom than this.”

  Giovanni wiped the blood off his knuckles with a white handkerchief and dropped it in the flames of a nearby brazier. “You find yourself humorous, is that it? You think alluding to my whore of a wife’s infidelities with you will distract me from my goals?”

  “I never said your wife gave me the beating. I stated that I’ve had better beatings in my bedroom than you’re giving me. You just assumed I meant Gia.” He spits a great glob of blood on Giovanni’s suit jacket. “You hit like a bitch, Moretti.”

  Giovanni shook with rage as he peeled off the jacket and dropped it in the flames. “You mock me now. I don’t think you’ll be so cavalier before long.” He looks at his watch. “You’re alive because I want you to witness the events that take place this night and despair.”

  Anthony shook his head. “This isn’t going to end the way you think it is, Moretti.” He looked around the small, stone room as if gauging its ability to contain him “I’m going to kill you, that construct, and everyone in this building.”

  Giovanni chuckled. “Bold words from a dead man.”

  “Look into my eyes and tell me I’m lying,” Anthony stated as he fixed Giovanni with hard eyes.

&nb
sp; Giovanni stared into the cold, blue eyes of his enemy and shivered. There was no fear, no deception, and no hopelessness; only volatile resolution and a burning determination. But there was something else. A becoming. He knew in his soul that he wasn’t looking upon just Anthony Jackson. He was staring at something replacing the man before him with each second. Something that scared Giovanni for the first time in his life as he fell into those glacier colored eyes.

  “You see him, don’t you, Moretti?” Anthony whispered barely loud enough for Giovanni to hear. “He’s coming for all of you. He’ll be here soon.”

  Giovanni jerked his gaze away from those eyes and took an involuntary step backward realizing he’d been holding his breath. He sucked a shallow, ragged breath through his teeth and exhaled softly. Quickly composing himself, Giovanni turned away.

  “We shall see, Mr. Jackson. We shall see,” Giovanni stated with more bravado than he felt.

  “Moretti.”

  Giovanni turned back. “You have more to say?”

  “Gia is coming for our daughter.”

  “Our daughter?” Giovanni asks.

  “You might have sired her, but she is our daughter.”

  Giovanni laughs as he begins to walk away. “I think my fists have done more damage to your brain than you know.”

  “Moretti, there’s something else you should know,” Anthony calls after him in a low, feral voice.

  Giovanni turns back again to see a sinister smile adorning Anthony’s lips. “What now, Mr. Jackson?”

  “Gianna will be more when she arrives, maybe more than him.”

  “You’re not making any sense, Mr. Jackson.”

  The laughter that follows Giovanni out of the chamber has his heart pumping ice water through his veins. Even when the large oaken door slams shut behind him, the laughter continues. Without meaning to, Giovanni finds himself walking faster to escape the sound. He exits the door at the end of the hall, shuts it behind him, and leans against it. After a moment, he realizes that his acolytes are staring at him throughout the summoning room. Pushing away from the door, he glares around the chamber. “Aren’t you fuckers supposed to be preparing for the ritual?”