Love, Lies and Blood Ties: A young adult paranormal romance (Love, Lies and Ties Book 2)

by C. J. Laurence

  “And now I’m back. With a vampire…man friend, or whatever the hell he is, and a witch for a friend and co-worker.” I nodded. “Sounds like I’m back right in the thick of it to me.”

  “You’ve nothing to fear, Caitlyn. We’re all here for you and we’re behind you one hundred percent.”

  “I…this has been one hell of a day for me. I think I need to get some sleep.”

  “Of course. There is one other thing though.”

  “Dare I ask?”

  She laughed. “Your father, before he dies, we need to release his memories or he will become a restless spirit.”

  “How do we do that?”

  Keres held out her hand, a small vial in the palm of her hand. A rosy pink liquid filled it with tiny sparkles, like glitter, shone throughout it. “Just add this to his cup of tea. It’ll bring everything back to him.”

  I couldn’t help but look at it with suspicion.

  “Take the lid off and smell it. It’s quite alright.”

  I reached out and took it from her. Prising off the small cap, I found myself pleasantly overwhelmed with the scent of fresh air and roses. “That smells gorgeous.”

  Keres nodded. “It won’t hurt him in the slightest. Hopefully it’ll give you two some common ground to talk about before he passes.”

  I replaced the cap and sighed. “Thank you.”

  “I do need to explain your part as a doppelganger before you go though.”

  I’d completely forgotten about that. I wasn’t sure I could even take on any more information today. “Ok, I’m listening. Can’t promise I’ll remember it though.”

  She chuckled and patted my hand again. “You’ll be just fine. We all feel nervous at the beginning. It’s a whole new world.”

  “What’s with the doppelganger thing then?”

  “Doppelgangers are created when someone of either great importance or great power deviates from the path they were supposed to take.”

  I frowned. “That makes no sense.”

  “Do you believe in fate, destiny?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. But if you’re going down that road then you could argue it was destiny they deviated from their path in the first place and therefore created the doppelganger.”

  “Yes,” Keres said, nodding. “That is very true. However it doesn’t really work like that. Think of it as like sending a child down a path. At the end of the path is an ice cream stand with all the flavours of ice cream they could ever want. But along the path there are other distractions such as candyfloss or chocolate. Even though you’ve given them the helping hand to point them in the right direction, it doesn’t mean they’re going to go straight there.”

  “But then is it destiny that those distractions are there in the first place?”

  “It could be argued that way, yes. It’s all about perceptions really. Destiny isn’t a straight line that leads you to what you want. It’s a mere suggestion towards what you want. If you don’t follow it then things will naturally adjust otherwise.”

  “And that’s when doppelgangers are born?”

  “Not immediately, but at some point down the line, yes.”

  I looked Keres square in the eye and asked, “You know exactly who I’m a doppelganger of, don’t you?”

  She didn’t falter in the slightest. “Yes, I do. I knew Mirabelle very well.”

  It took a few seconds for things to click into place. I gasped. “Mirabelle was the elemental witch? When you said you’d not seen a witch like me for two hundred years…you were talking about her?”

  “Yes, I was.”

  “But she’s been missing for two hundred years! How am I…how is this even possible?”

  “The fact you’re alive means she’s alive, Caitlyn. All the factors that have come into play, the hands that destiny has dealt to bring you to life is just…extraordinary. You have a purpose and a reason for being. Mirabelle was the start of that.”

  “Marcus is desperate to find her. Where is she?”

  Keres sighed and looked down at her hands, wringing them together. “No one knows. It’s as if she just vanished into thin air. Locating spells, blood work, searching every square inch of this realm and earth, we could not find her.”

  “I’ve had dreams about her. The last one I had, Marcus’ psycho ex stabbed her with gold and threw her off a cliff.” I gasped. “Wait, if she’s a witch then how did she give birth to a vampire, to Marcus?”

  “Unfortunately for Mirabelle, she became somewhat of a hot debate in the supernatural world. Some said she should have been killed at birth, others said she was a marvel of life. Her mother was a witch, her father a vampire. Vampire DNA dominates witch DNA and therefore Mirabelle became the first-born vampire with the abilities of a witch. And not just any witch either—one who could control all four elements.”

  “There must be others like her though?”

  Keres shook her head. “People were terrified of Mirabelle and the power she had. Even in our world. Her parents never stayed in one place too long in fear of their lives. After several years of being moved around, Mirabelle had enough and stood up to her tormentors. Her mild temper tantrum caused one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. At that point, it became law that species shall not cross breed. The resulting offspring were too unpredictable and presented too much risk of exposure to the humans.”

  “Mild temper tantrum?”

  “Yes. She didn’t even try to do anything. They were in Syria, Aleppo, to be exact, in the eleventh century. Her actions killed nearly a quarter of a million people.”

  My hands flew to my mouth in shock. After a couple of seconds, I lowered them and said, “And you’re saying I have this power?”

  “No. You have more. You’re a doppelganger.”

  I started trembling from head to foot. How was I supposed to deal with such a responsibility? I never asked for this, never even wanted it, yet somehow I now felt responsible for every person’s life within a hundred mile radius.

  “You say you’ve had dreams about her?” Keres asked.

  I nodded. “Only a couple.”

  “That’s good. It means you’re connecting.” She clasped her hands together and held them in front of her chest. Her eyes sparkled with joy. “My goodness, if you’re connecting whilst your magic is bound, imagine what can happen when we unbind you.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute. Nobody is unbinding anything just yet.”

  “Don’t you want to see what you can do? Don’t you want to be who you’re meant to be?”

  I held back the smirk that wanted to form and replied, “Maybe destiny wants me to stay this way.”

  “Destiny brought you to us. I would suggest otherwise.”

  I let out a long breath and stood up. “I need some time to process this.”

  “Of course,” she said, standing up. “Completely understandable. Although forgive me for asking, but would you not want to help Marcus?”

  Her question pricked a bubble of irritation inside me. I couldn’t help the words that left my mouth next. “Don’t try emotional blackmail with me because it won’t work. Marcus hasn’t had his mum for two hundred years. I’ve known about all of this for less than twelve hours. I think he can wait another day or two and potentially keep thousands of people alive by doing so.”

  Keres looked at me and raised an eyebrow. A sly smirk tugged at her lips. “Perhaps Rosemary’s little discovery all those years ago is in fact true.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The connection between witch and vampire being lust based.” She gestured for us to walk towards Khyber Pass. “If you felt any sort of love for him, you wouldn’t be putting yourself and others before him.”

  “Are you saying I should be helping him?”

  “Oh no, dear. I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t be doing anything. I’m merely pointing out that maybe you’re not in love with him like you may think you are. Love knows no bounds.”

 
Did she have a point? Joanna had put the doubt in my head earlier on, but Keres had, in a roundabout way, made me all but admit it myself. If I was so besotted with Marcus, wouldn’t my first thought have been to find his mum?

  Chapter Fifteen

  By the time I emerged through the whalebone arch, I had no energy left. Every single fibre in me felt like lead, I ached, my head hurt, and I wanted more than nothing to just collapse in bed and forget about all of this crazy.

  How had this suddenly become my life?

  “Hey,” Marcus said, appearing at my side from nowhere. “Are you ok? You look exhausted.”

  I looked up at him, questions running through my mind as to whether I felt for him like I thought I did. “I feel absolutely drained. Can you take me home please?”

  “Whatever the lady desires.”

  “I don’t even care if you treat me like a sack of potatoes. Just get me to bed ASAP.”

  He chuckled as he picked me up and flung me over his shoulder. I had nothing in me to even care. I closed my eyes and tried to make my mind blank as he ran back to my apartment but all I could think of was the final conversation with Keres. This man gave me everything I wanted, looked out for me, stood by my side, was insanely gorgeous, had manners to rival any gentleman, and yet I may not be in love with him like I thought. Why? Was there something wrong with me?

  What felt like seconds later, Marcus laid me down on my bed. The instant I hit the mattress I groaned in relief.

  “You’ve no idea how good that feels,” I said, pulling the duvet up to my chin.

  He slid in next to me and settled an arm over my side as I rolled onto my side. “Sleep well,” he said, pressing a kiss to my temple.

  I let out a long breath and closed my eyes, instantly falling asleep.

  I found myself standing on a cliff top, staring out over the sea. I glanced around me to see nothing but rolling hills behind me and ocean blue waters in front of me. This wasn’t Whitby. In fact, I had no idea where on earth I was.

  “Hello again.”

  I jumped and screamed. I thought I was alone up here.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Turning to the deep voice, I found an athletic man stood next to me. He towered over me, but I felt no threat. His warm smile and the sincerity in his green eyes eased my nerves. His brown hair harboured specks of grey, matching his goatee.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “No one you need to fear,” he said. He then made a point of putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

  Jeans. That made me stop and think. I looked down at myself to see I was wearing my clothes from today—light coloured jeans and an emerald green vest top. Did this mean I was me here?

  “Do you know who I am?” I asked him, meeting his jade green eyes.

  “Of course I do. What supernatural folk don’t know who you are?”

  My heart skipped a beat. “You’re…??”

  He gave me a cheeky wink and then right before my eyes, in a matter of seconds, he turned into a huge black wolf. When he looked at me with bright yellow eyes, I screamed and ran backwards. This was the wolf from my dreams, the one that had terrorised me that night at the Abbey.

  I tripped over and crumbled into a heap on the grass. Instinct took over and I curled up into a ball, screaming and crying, waiting for the inevitable savage bite that would end my life.

  “Caitlyn.”

  Trembling from head to toe, I dared to open an eye to find a hand in front of my face. I moved my head and opened my other eye. The man had returned to his human form, clothes intact, and offered me help to my feet. What?

  “It’s ok, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, wiggling his fingers. “Come on.”

  Tentatively, I put my hand in his and allowed him to pull me up. “You…you’re the wolf from the Abbey…” I was still shaking, almost uncontrollably and couldn’t quite think straight. “You’ve scarred me for life.”

  He chuckled and pointed to a wooden bench just behind him. “That certainly wasn’t my intention. I do apologise. Let’s sit and talk.”

  I frowned. “That wasn’t there before.”

  “You’re observant.”

  We sat on the bench, or rather, I teetered on the edge as far away from him as I could be without sitting on the floor.

  “Where are we?” I asked, gazing around trying to get my bearings.

  “That’s not important. What’s important is the journey you’re about to undertake. Do not trust the witches. You must not trust them. Do you understand?”

  I frowned. “Why? They seemed to pose no risk.”

  “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

  A female voice as sweet as honey drifted through the air. I turned to my left to see none other than Mirabelle walking towards the wolf-man. She stood behind him, her delicate hands on his muscled shoulders.

  I stood up and gasped. “Oh my. Mirabelle?”

  She took one look at me and beamed a smile right back at me. “It’s so good to meet you, Caitlyn.”

  I couldn’t get my head around this. Looking at Mirabelle was like looking into a mirror. Right down to the freckles. She carried an air of grace to her that just seemed so enticing, so gentle, so calm. I found myself not wanting to leave her presence.

  “You’re very important to our son,” the man said. “You must not leave him behind, Caitlyn. It will break him.”

  “He’s looking for you,” I said, making eye contact with Mirabelle. “He’s so desperate to find you.”

  She nodded. “It’ll happen when the time is right but until then, you must be there for him. You two are very special. You’re meant to be. Now you have crossed paths, you have to stay together. When soulmates find each other, it’s an incredible thing.” She bent down and pressed a kiss to the man’s cheek. He closed his eyes in contentment. “My life makes so much sense now I’ve found mine.”

  My heart wanted to cry for Marcus. “Does he know?”

  As Mirabelle opened her mouth to answer, a gust of wind blew across the cliff top. However, it didn’t feel neither cold nor warm.

  Mirabelle looked up at the sky and sighed. “It’s time to go.”

  “Wait,” I said, reaching my hand out. “I’ve got so many questions.”

  Mirabelle smiled as she and her man walked away from me. “All in good time.”

  I startled awake to find myself sitting up in bed, hand outstretched.

  “Hey, calm down,” Marcus said, rubbing my back. “It was just a dream.”

  It took me a second to realise I was back in my bed, in reality. Then as all the details came rushing back to me, my heart cracked. This was going to break him. Did I tell him or did I not?

  “It was just rather real,” I said, trying to push the covers off me.

  “What do you need? I’ll get it.”

  “Water, please.” Less than two seconds later, I had a glass of cold water in my hand. “Thank you.”

  I drank slowly as I debated how to approach the situation. I had so many questions, some which Marcus might be able to answer but I couldn’t ask them without giving away the dream I’d just had.

  As I set the glass down on my bedside table, I blurted out, “I saw your mum.”

  “When?”

  “In my dream.”

  His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “Is that who you were shouting ‘wait’ to?”

  I nodded. I reached out and took his hand. “She wasn’t alone, Marcus.”

  He gave the biggest grin I’d ever seen. “That’s fantastic. I hated to think of her being alone somewhere. Was she happy? Did she say anything to you about me?”

  Rather taken aback by his happiness at his mum not being alone, it took me a minute to gather my thoughts. “She looked…radiant. There really is something rather magical about her.”

  He nodded. “She’s an incredible woman. My dad misses her so much.”

  My heart stopped for a moment. How awful. Was his da
d still counting on them being together? “Marcus, are werewolves a real thing?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why?”

  “There was one there. He turned, right in front of me, but that’s not it—he was the wolf, the one from the Abbey.”

  “You’re sure?”

  I nodded. “Very sure.”

  He sighed. “Yes, unfortunately, they are a real thing. We don’t get along particularly well. Conflict between species is no different in our world than it is in yo—for the humans, well between animals. You know what I mean.”

  I grinned. “Forgot for a minute there, didn’t you?”

  He chuckled. “Did this werewolf speak to you?”

  I nodded. “He apologised for the night at the Abbey, said it wasn’t his intention to scare me.” I frowned as I recalled what happened next. “But before he could really explain anything, your mum appeared.”

  His forehead creased into wrinkles. “My mother was around a werewolf and ok about that?”

  I glanced away. “She was more than ok with it.”

  “What are you trying to tell me, Caitlyn?”

  I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. “She was with him, Marcus.” I opened my eyes and squeezed his hand. “She said they were soulmates.”

  In an instant, he dropped my hand and got off the bed. “That’s impossible,” he said, pacing up and down at the side of the bed. “She herself is the whole reason that relationships between species are banned. She hates werewolves with a passion.”

  “I know. Keres explained everything to me about your mum. Even the witches don’t know where she is. I’m telling you though, she loves this guy.”

  Marcus shook his head. “No. I knew it. I knew someone had taken her.” He turned to me, his eyes full of anger. “It’s Stockholm Syndrome, Caitlyn. Those rabid wolves have had her all this time…” He turned away from me, but I could see his whole body vibrating. He was beyond livid. “Where were they?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t recognise it.”