“Let me guess”—my eyes landed on Alena—“Michael’s coven.”
Alena’s eyes pierced into mine. “We can’t know that for sure.”
“Right.” My eyes darted around the room. “So, what do we do? Is there a secret exit?”
“We can seal off these back rooms, and there’s a tunnel.” The doctor started moving equipment around.
“How far out does it take us?”
“Princess.” Dimitri called from the doorway. Alena spun to face him. “We’re sealing off the interior rooms.”
“How much manpower do we have?” Hunter asked.
“Thirty outside and ten inside, plus this room full.”
“Did you leave any witches outside? They’ll be slaughtered,” I insisted.
“Chalondra is with them.”
“Like I said.”
“I’ll go.” Orm shuffled towards the door.
“No.” Alena gripped his shoulders. “You’re staying with us. This may not even come to a fight. They can’t get in.”
“So, they wait till they starve us?” Tyler asked.
“We have a month’s worth of food here. It’s stored at the tunnel entrance.” Hunter pointed to the closet the medical staff had started emptying.
“Did your mother’s blood arrive yet?” I asked.
Alena shook her head. “The package won’t come till morning.”
“Then you have to choose an alternative source. Either that or we split up into two groups. Alena and whoever is willing to be chased, and Camille, her family, and me.”
Camille grabbed my shirt. “We are not splitting up.”
“She has Theron’s blood in her system.”
“Oh.” Camille’s eyes cut to Alena.
“I’m sorry.” Alena gripped Camille’s hand.
Camille pulled the covers up to her chin. “We all make mistakes.”
I spun to the doctor. “You have a huge stash of blood. Do you have typing for everyone here? Can you figure out who’s a match for Alena?”
“I can try.” She strode to her computer workstation and started tapping keys. Alena and Hunter followed.
Refocusing on Camille, I took her hand. “How do you feel?”
“Tired but fine otherwise.”
A nurse approached and checked all the monitors. “She looks great. The blood transfusion worked.”
“Okay, get her unhooked from all this. We have to be ready to move.” I retrieved my backpack from under the bed and set it on Camille’s lap. “There is a change of clothes for you in here.”
“Why did you have that here?” Tyler asked.
“Duh, because something like this was bound to happen. Please tell me you have all your stuff in one bag ready to jet.”
“In my sleeping quarters.”
Grady stepped to my side. “It’s okay. If we can make it to the safe house in Rome, I have more sets of papers.”
I sorted through my bag, making sure I had everything. “We have to get her to Helene to get the brand off before we can go much farther anyway.”
“Who’s Helene?” Camille asked.
“We’ll worry about that later.” Janine eyed me, and I assumed she didn’t want Camille stressed more.
A rumbling sound grew to a roar, and a huge boom sounded above our heads. The building trembled around us. I gripped the bed with one hand and pressed the other against the wall to steady myself. Dust rained down from the ceiling. I hopped onto the bed, shielding Camille from falling debris.
I looked into her eyes. “I think we can assume this is Michael’s coven.”
She nodded, and I looked over my shoulder at the doctor. “Did you find any matches for Alena’s blood?”
The trembling abated, and I scanned the room to make sure everyone was okay. “Alena, any blood matches?”
She ran at me as I jumped to the ground. “Three.”
“Okay, pick one, get the equipment, and let’s move to the tunnels.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Alena stood hand to hip in front of me.
“No. Who was on the list?”
“Dimitri and two other guards.”
“Well get Dimitri. We’ll start moving equipment.” I spun to face Camille. “Do you think you can get dressed?”
“I’ll help her. You guys figure the transfusion out.” Janine lifted my pack from the bed.
Hunter and I helped the nurse and doctor round up the supplies and loaded them on a single cart. We strung together several extension cords and piled them on top, moving everything we needed to the tunnel entrance. Shining a flashlight into the area, I could see the floor started out smooth and grew bumpier. At least there was a door that sealed off the tunnel.
I turned to Hunter. “Maybe we should bring a generator too.”
“Good plan,” he agreed, and we searched the room for a small one.
With all the equipment ready, we rounded up the group. Alena directed Gabrielle, Dimitri, Aaron, Orm, and Chalondra into the tunnel. Each of them had a pack on their shoulders. Grady, Tyler, and Janine helped Camille into the passageway. Hunter and I followed the nurse and doctor as the last ones in.
“Are we really shutting off this door?” Alena asked.
“Do you see another way?” Hunter answered her.
“No.”
“Okay, then.” Hunter helped me secure the door.
“We should get some distance so we don’t get blasted again,” I said to the group.
The equipment bounced over the rocky tunnel floor. After about five hundred feet, I felt we’d put enough space between us and the compound. We hooked the generator up to the pump, and the medical staff hooked Alena up to the IVs. Dimitri’s blood dripped into her veins on one side and her tainted blood flowing out the other.
“Can we get the fast version on this?”
“It’s on the fastest speed, but it’s still going to take an hour,” the doctor said.
With Alena’s darting eyes and bouncing knee, my attention shifted between her and Camille. Eventually the tension got to me, and I sidled over to Hunter. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Yeah, it’s a vampire thing. They don’t like to be tied down, tethered to anything.”
I looked between Alena and Hunter. “Are you guys okay?”
He glanced her way. “Yeah, she gets stuck on ideas, and she doesn’t let them go easily. I can’t blame her for being drawn by the sword. I’ve been it its presence twice, and it makes you crazy. Well,” he shook his head, “not you, but us.”
“Well, all three of you have experienced it, and hopefully we can deal with it better in the future.”
Dimitri leaned towards us. “This is even worse for a full vamp.” He held his arm where the IV was connected. “Sort of like a caged animal, or a dog on a leash, much meaner than a free one.”
“And there’s not something like drinking a second vampire’s blood negates the first?” I asked.
“We went over this,” Alena hissed at me.
“Sorry.” I held my palms up. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“What did they give you?” I heard Orm ask Camille as I reached her.
“They made me drink this black tea. They wouldn’t feed me unless I drank it.” Tears sprang from her eyes. “I don’t have magic anymore. They took away my magic.”
I wrapped my arms around her, wanting to absorb all her sorrows. “How did they take your magic?”
“It happened gradually so I think it was the tea.”
“Can you describe it?” Orm pressed.
“It smelled normal, but there was always a fine black powder in the bottom of the cup.”
“Black powder like tea leaves?”
“No, more like sand but finer.”
“They ground up the stones.” I pulled my stone bracelet from my pack.
“You’re right,” Orm confirmed. “That’s why her eyes are black, and her hair is dark.”
Camille’s stare landed on me. “My eyes are black?”
“
The stones are a heavy metal. Chelation therapy should work,” I insisted.
Janine switched her body weight from leg to leg. “Once we know her kidneys are better.”
“And she has to make it through the de-branding,” Grady put in.
“What do you mean de-branding?”
I didn’t want to think about Camille experiencing that level of pain. Although looking at her, I guessed she already had. “Don’t worry about it now.”
“Let me see the brand.” Orm reached for her arm, and she turned it over for him to view.
“If she doesn’t have magic, it might not be very strong. It might be easier to remove before we clear the toxins from her system.”
“Really?” I asked, grasping for anything that might make Camille’s process with Helene easier.
“I believe so,” Orm confirmed.
A rumble echoed through the cave, and we steadied ourselves as the tunnel walls shook.
Tyler paced the small space between the rock walls. “This is unnerving. What is their plan anyway?”
“Force us out.” Alena piped up. “But I’m with you. I need a distraction. Camille, come sit with me.”
“You don’t have to,” I whispered to Camille.
“No, I want to.”
I carried her to Alena’s side, and everyone gathered around. I fought the disgust I felt, and swallowed the bile rising in my throat. Alena had put us all at risk, and I didn’t trust her, didn’t want Camille anywhere near her. But I remembered Camille’s words that they’d all made mistakes. Camille saw staying behind to watch the ceremony as her mistake, but it was mine. I should’ve been the one to force Camille to stay with me. I wouldn’t make that error again.
Alena’s words brought me out of my thoughts. “Do you know what they want with the sword?”
“Do we want Gabrielle to hear this?” I asked.
Gabrielle’s widened eyes bore into mine.
“Yes.” Alena nodded at the girl and took Camille’s hand. “She needs to know the truth.”
Camille’s eyes cut to me and then back to their interlaced fingers. “I watched the ritual they performed on the solstice.” Her Adam’s apple bobbed in her throat, and her eyes rose to meet each face. “Sonia drank Theron’s blood, and then the sword made her immortal.” Gasps spread through the crowd.
“Are you sure?” Chalondra asked.
“I believe that is what I saw. Once she drank his blood, Theron thrust the sword into her chest. A glowing orb rose from her body, I think it was her soul. Then, all these other shimmering spheres rose from the ground and guided it back to her body. She opened her eyes and sat up, walked away like she’d never been stabbed. They mentioned raising fallen souls. I’m not really sure what that meant.”
Chalondra frowned. “You’re correct. The balls of light were souls of departed witches, those that have crossed over to Sheol. They plan to resurrect their departed coven members. They already draw power from them so they have a link they can use to pull them back. The dagger will release their souls from Sheol.”
“Can I ask what Sheol is?” Tyler spoke up.
Grady cleared his throat. “It’s like purgatory. Witch’s souls aren’t allowed to enter heaven, so they remain in Sheol indefinitely.”
“Are the bodies preserved?” I asked.
Orm cut his eyes to the floor. “No magic can preserve a body indefinitely. They’ll have to find new hosts.”
“Now, we have them planning to slide souls into living people? Like possess their bodies?” Tyler raked his hand though his hair.
“No”—Dimitri spit on the ground—“they’ll use vampires. Then they’ll have witch-vampire hybrids without having to wait for them to be born and grow to adulthood.”
Hunter rubbed his hands down his pant legs. “So, you buy this vampires-have-no-souls thing?”
Dimitri stepped in front of Hunter. “And you buy that you do have a soul, and that God has limited its ability to pass to heaven?”
“I don’t know, man.” Hunter leaned against the rock wall behind him.
“I can’t believe Theron killed Sonia,” Alena pressed.
“I saw him do it, like piercing a knife through butter.” Camille’s shoulders shuddered.
The group had been quiet, listening to Camille’s story, but the silence that followed her statement felt as if the world had stopped.
Alena coughed. “I’m going to be sick.” She leaned over and dry heaved onto the stone floor beside her.
Hunter jumped to her side. “You never get sick.” He felt her head.
Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, she leaned back onto the wall of the tunnel. “Orm please tell me we don’t have to kill anyone to fulfill the prophecy.”
“No, no.” He bent down beside her. “Don’t worry about that now. You’re doing great.” He held a small bottle in front of her nose, and she took a big whiff.
“What are you giving her?” asked Camille.
“This mixture would be good for you too.” Orm passed the vial in front of her nose. “Helps calm your nerves so your body can heal.”
“Okay, I need a different distraction,” Alena reported.
Wondering if the hybrid princess wasn’t ever the center of attention, I took a seat beside Camille.
Orm squatted in front of Alena. “The figure you saw the night of the rescue? Tell us more about the being.”
“It had to be Hunter and our bond.”
“Were you glowing, Hunter?” I asked.
“Do you have to always be such a skeptic? Geez. Certainly, I was thinking about Alena, but beyond that I don’t know.”
“Was the being on the water or in the air?” Orm pursued his line of questioning.
“He was walking on the water, and I knew to follow him.”
“So, not waving his arms in the air signaling?” I continued my snide remarks, despite myself.
“Interesting.” Orm stood and shuffled over to Chalondra.
“Interesting? That’s all I get?” Alena asked.
Orm shrugged “That’s all I have.”
“I didn’t see any human sacrifice rituals when I was at the castle,” Gabrielle blurted out.
Alena turned her head to face the girl. “So, tell us about your experience in Michael’s coven.”
Gabrielle told us about the gowns, the teas, the dinners, and dances. “And Theron was a perfect gentleman.” Gabrielle crossed her arms over her middle.
“He never fed you his blood?” I asked.
Her nose wrinkled up. “No, gross, I would never drink anyone’s blood.”
“He could have slipped it in her drink. I think when Alena’s done with the transfusion we still need to split up. We don’t have any evidence that the transfusion will work. Only a hunch.”
“The trinity should remain together,” Camille insisted.
“In this case, I think Jude is correct,” Orm stated. “Jude, you take Camille and her family to Grady’s safe house. We’ll make our way south. If we aren’t followed, then we’ll know it’s safe, and we’ll find you.”
“We can’t give you the location of my house. It would be too dangerous,” Grady commented.
“Camille can take Alena’s blood,” Hunter suggested.
“It’s not Alena’s blood right now,” I reminded them. Thinking through the possible work-arounds, I came up empty. I didn’t want Camille taking anyone else’s blood. She possibly had already been stripped of my blood bond by the transfusion. Intending to remedy that situation later, I paced away from the group and back. If the act was intended to bind one to their mate, I wanted to be alone with Camille when it happened.
“I’ll drink someone’s blood,” Janine spoke up.
“Mom!” Tyler objected.
“It’s a good solution. Camille doesn’t need anything else in her system,” Grady agreed.
“It would be my pleasure.” Dimitri slid a knife from his pocket and sliced his arm. Grady turned his back while Janine sipped at the drops from his wrist.
As the last of Dimitri’s blood entered Alena’s arm, we gathered our belongings. The medical staff reported the exit to be another half mile down the tunnel. Outside, Camille, Janine, Tyler, Grady, and I would go north to Rome and the others would go south. Glad we had the cover of darkness, I prayed the coven above ground wouldn’t penetrate the walls before we could escape. From the constant rumblings and tremors, I guessed they hadn’t yet.
“We’re really leaving the others? Fahim?” Alena stood when the nurse removed the needles from her arms.
“That is war,” Dimitri told her.
She hiked her bag onto her shoulders. “War sucks.”
I hoisted my back to my shoulders, then picked up Camille.
“I don’t like that we’re splitting up,” she told me.
“I know. But it won’t be for long. We can’t risk all of you being captured. God knows what evil plan they’ve cooked up for that scenario.” I watched as Dimitri cut the generator and rolled it forward.
Camille’s gaze shifted to my face. “Why does Alena annoy you so much?”
“I don’t know. She just does. I don’t trust her.” I left out that her jerky movements drove me nuts.
“Because Theron forced his blood on her?”
“Because she was talking to Theron, and that’s why we’re in this situation right now.”
Camille shrugged. “I think there’s history there.”
“I have a history with Miguel, but I wouldn’t decide to have a one-on-one with him.”
“I trust her.”
“You don’t even know her.”
“You worked together to rescue me.” She tapped on my chest.
I looked into her eyes. “Yes.”
“What about your dad? Have you tried to get him away from the castle?”
Frustrated, I took a deep breath. Why was she bringing up all these issues? I couldn’t solve not trusting Alena any more than I could figure out my relationship with my dad.
“You’re not going to answer me?”
“I don’t have an answer. He made his choice.”
“You joined Michael’s coven too.”
“To save you.”
“Don’t you think he was doing the same? And you’re going to leave him in the castle? Let him be held hostage?”
The Kingdom Journals Complete Series Box Set Page 64
