The Chosen Coven Series Box Set

by D L Blade

I banged my fist on the table and looked up at Joel.

  “Where is she?” he asked.

  “Goddard Park. Let’s go.”

  Joel created a portal that teleported us to Goddard Park. Seconds later, we headed toward the bench where Riley and I had sat the other night when I had met Caleb. I saw Lily’s car and spotted her brown hair shimmering in the moonlight.

  “Lily, we’re here!” I shouted as we both ran toward her.

  She didn’t move. When we were in front of her, I saw her eyes closed, hands and feet tied, and mouth taped shut. Before I could remove the tape, Joel collapsed behind me. Caleb stood behind him, holding a bloodied rock in his hand.

  “Caleb!” I wondered how he had gotten there so fast and why he would knock out my uncle.

  I now noticed his eyes were black and his face expressed pure evil. I’d seen that look before in Cami’s eyes. He was possessed. Caleb was my stalker’s new puppet.

  “Whoever you are, get out of him now. If you want to fight, fight in person, and stop using my friends.”

  I grabbed a large rock from the ground and threw it with every amount of strength I could muster. I hit Caleb’s head, barely grazing the side. But it was enough to make him lose his balance and topple over a large branch behind him. I quickly turned around and ran toward the forest. Before I reached the trees, a blaze of flames lit them up in front of me. I halted and swung around. Caleb’s hands were raised, but only for an instant, then brought back to his body. Without hesitation, I held up my hands toward the water and Caleb stopped moving. He laughed and threw his head back.

  Ignoring his mockery, I used the power from my right hand to pull Joel closer to the bench and used my powers to pull one of the tree branches toward his feet, wrapping them tightly around his ankles and to the bench, keeping him secure. The branches reached for Lily’s waist and secured her to the bench. Caleb looked at me curiously, tilting his head, and moved toward me again. I had to act fast. My hands flew up toward the water, and with my mind, I commanded the waves to pull in toward the forest and wipe the flaming trees with water. The water did as I commanded, pulling up onto the park and sweeping away the flames around us. It reached only up to our ankles and I knew it wasn’t enough.

  Caleb was quick to approach me and pushed my arms to my side, keeping me secure in his grasp.

  “Too late,” I said calmly as water came crashing down over our heads like a massive tidal wave.

  Instantly, Caleb lost his grip on me. I held my breath as the water pulled us under. We were being pulled farther into the cove, but I was able to make my way to the surface as the water started to calm down. Caleb was already on me and grabbed my hair. I spun around and punched him straight in the face. I had never punched anyone before, but it felt liberating.

  “Bitch!” he screamed.

  I was hoping my punch would slow him down, even for just a moment, so I could escape. I quickly swam to the shore, which took every ounce of energy I had, but before I could reach Joel and Lily, Caleb was behind me, grabbing me by the waist. I kicked my legs in the water frantically, trying to get away. My resistance didn’t slow him down as he pulled me out of the water and toward Lily’s car.

  He laid me down on the passenger seat and we looked out toward the water. My heart was pounding. I didn’t know what he was going to do.

  “Are you still wearing the necklace?” He looked at my neckline. I gripped the stone. Was Caleb talking to me? Or was he still possessed?

  “Caleb?”

  “Are you?” he snapped.

  “Yes, yes it’s on.”

  “Get out!” Caleb shouted.

  He slammed his head back and black smoke came through his eyes and out of the car.

  “Are you okay?” Caleb asked, clearly himself again. His eyes were wet and he could barely catch a breath.

  “Are you? Holy shit, Caleb. You were possessed. How did you even get here or know where to find us?”

  “The portal Joel created was still open, so I hitched a ride here. I saw you on the beach, followed by that smoke entering my body.

  “What do we do now?”

  Our focus was drawn to the front window of the car and we saw a man standing in front of us. He wore a long black coat, gray top, and black pants. His hair was frosty white and lay right on his shoulders. He looked to be in his twenties. He had no facial hair and his eyes were bright red.

  He wasn’t a witch, like we thought he could be. He was a vampire. He showed his fangs, hissed and licked his lips. He was clearly evil in its purest form. My heart felt like it was going to explode as my heartbeat pounded hard against my chest. He had handsome features, but when he showed his fangs and hissed, his face transformed into a demon-like creature. He was horrifying.

  “What is that?”

  Caleb’s shook his head. “This isn’t good.”

  “Who or what is that?”

  “Remember the demon I told you about that mated with an angel to create the vampire race?”

  “That’s the demon?!”

  “No,” he said. “That’s their child. The very first vampire to ever exist.”

  I looked back toward the vampire. “Great.” Panic was rising in my chest. “We can’t drive away. Joel and Lily are still on the shore. We need to fight him. It’s not like he could kill us, right?”

  He put his hand on his waist but froze. “The dagger I used during the ritual. It’s gone.”

  “Why do we need that? Aren’t wooden stakes how you kill a vampire?”

  “There’s one weapon that can kill an immortal. It’s that dagger.”

  “Well, the plot thickens. Got to love your secrets, Caleb.”

  He shook his head. “Son of a bitch.”

  We looked back at the very pissed-off vampire in front of us. The red-eyed demon held the dagger, tapping it against his leg.

  He was so close to us now. He stood in front of the car and laughed.

  “My name is Kylan,” he said, and my heartbeat picked up at the sound of his voice. “I was hoping to stop the ritual from happening, but you weren’t at your home like I thought you’d be.” He flashed an evil grin and showed his fangs, his face contorting into a disgusting and vile demon-like creature.

  Caleb didn’t take his eyes off Kylan. “You’re his biggest threat, Mercy. He knows what our mission is. With us alive, he knows we will destroy everything he created, especially with you being back. I wish I had put it all together; that he would be the first one to come after you. He would have known about you, long before the ritual. It was never known to us that he could harness magic.” Caleb cursed and slammed his hands on the steering wheel. “I just assumed it was a witch.”

  “Hey, this isn’t your fault. My guess is that he’s been hiding for centuries. It could have been anyone, Caleb. Let’s fight him. Together.” He looked at me and nodded.

  We both turned toward Kylan again. We each opened our door and got out of the car, and cautiously walked toward him.

  Kylan laughed again. “How precious is this?” He paused and slowly smiled at us. “Look at you two. Back together again after all these years. Too bad you’re about to die together. In a way, it’s like a tragic love story.” His laughter sent chills down my spine.

  I had never been so terrified in my entire life. Despite the overwhelming feeling of fear, there was also anger. He was hurting the ones I love. I felt my new powers radiating through my body, and I wasn’t leaving this park until this creature was dead.

  Kylan took a step closer to us.

  “Mercy, run!” I heard Joel’s voice.

  Lily and Joel were now conscious, breaking off the tree branches that were wrapped around them to keep them from being pulled into the cove.

  Kylan was walking toward us. I lifted my hands up and used my energy to shoot the dagger out of his hands and across the parking lot. This infuriated him and he hissed loudly.

  Lily and Joel clasped hands together and began to chant a spell. A ring of fire formed around Kylan.
/>   “Really? Fire? Do you know how old I am?” Kylan asked mockingly.

  He glared at me and clapped his hands like we’d just concluded the final scene of a play. “I’ve decided I am going to kill Caleb first, that way, you can watch him die.” His head tilted back as he laughed at us, and it made my skin crawl.

  “The fire will only last a few more minutes. We need to stand in a circle around the fire ring and be ready when it burns out,” Lily said, not acknowledging Kylan’s threat. She and Joel were now by our side. The four of us held hands and formed a circle around him.

  “I have powers, too, you know,” Kylan shouted. “I was the first vampire ever created.” He lifted his hands and Joel and Caleb stopped moving. Lily turned to me and her eyes were midnight black.

  Oh no.

  I held my hands up. “Lily, it’s me. Wake up. Fight it.”

  Lily pulled her hand out to her side and I felt a force of energy radiate inside my body. I realized she was pulling that power from me. The dagger lifted off the ground and flew toward her hand. She clasped her fingers tightly around the dagger and lunged toward me, throwing my backside on the ground. I hit my head on a rock and winced. “Lily, wake up!”

  She tried to plunge the dagger into my chest but I fought her with all my strength. I wanted to use my powers but I feared I’d hurt her. My hand flew toward the dagger and I used the force of fire from my fingers to heat up the dagger in her hands. She yelped and released it. I caught the warm end of the blade and tossed it again, behind me. My hands gripped each side of her face and used my energy force to pull the smoke out of her eyes. I shielded my face with my right arm as it exited her body. For a brief moment, I felt it trying to enter my body but my necklace lit up like a Christmas tree, pushing the force away from my body and back into Kylan, who had been standing there, hands in fists the entire time.

  He wasn’t going to win.

  He was now grinning and showing his fangs. For an ancient, all-powerful vampire, he wasn’t fighting much. In fact, he really wasn’t fighting at all.

  “It’s over, demon. Let them go.” I pulled myself out of my fear, jumped to my feet and helped Lily to hers. She was in a daze.

  “It’s okay, Lily. You’re safe.”

  Kylan lifted up his right hand and froze Lily like the others. “Fine. I’ll find another way,” he snarled with gritted teeth.

  I held out my wrist. “I’ll let you drink my blood. That’s the other way. Now that I’ve gone through my Awakening, my blood will allow you to walk in the light. Don’t you want that? Here. Drink.”

  “I don’t want your blood. It isn’t as desirable to all of us.”

  This puzzled me, especially when he laughed. He was so sadistic and now I was alone with him.

  The fire burned out around him and he walked over to the dagger on the ground and picked it up. He then did what I wasn’t expecting. He walked back over and handed it to me.

  I looked at him, confused.

  “Take the dagger and plunge it into your heart, or I will gut your aunt right in front of you with it.”

  I didn’t know what to do. The short memories I had of some of the battles I’d fought in my previous life, were brief. I couldn’t recall any training that I could use right now, in this moment. How was I supposed to stop the original vampire?

  I’m surprised I’m not already dead. Why am I not already dead?

  I looked at him with a puzzled expression on my face. “Why are you making me take my own life? Why not kill me yourself?”

  He frowned. “It’s more poetic.”

  I looked down at the dagger. This didn’t make any sense.

  “No,” I said, handing him back the dagger, but he wouldn’t take it.

  “No?” He looked down at the dagger.

  “You do it. Make it quick,” I ordered, testing my theory.

  He frowned again, and his eyes lit up. “Take this dagger and kill yourself with it, witch! You don’t want to see what horrible things I will do to your aunt, do you?”

  I looked over at Lily and back to him. I was now smiling.

  “You can’t kill me, can you? Something is not allowing you to do it. And you can’t possess me, either because I’m wearing this necklace.” I touched the jet stone.

  He showed his fangs.

  “That’s why you used Cami … because you can’t do it. You can’t kill any of us. You didn’t push her, she jumped to protect me.”

  This may be easier than I thought.

  “Why can’t you, though? Why are you not able to kill me?”

  He hissed at me like a viper ready to strike. His eyes narrowed, and his fangs appeared again.

  “After I ripped my father’s head off, my angelic mother put a curse on me.”

  The sadistic bastard killed his own father?

  “But you created vampires. Don’t they have to die in order to transition?”

  “I only turned one vampire. Her name was Valentina. She was so afraid of what she’d become after I drank from her. After I had explained to her that she would now be a vampire, she took her own life. She didn’t realize that was the final step in her transition. Once you die, you’re reborn.” He laughed.

  He was so sick. He loved seeing people in pain … he thrived on it.

  “Her blood lust was stronger than mine. She turned humans into vampires and her creations turned others, and a vampire race had begun. It was like a plague that would never stop spreading.”

  He laughed again so hard he flung his head back and balled his fists. When he lowered his head again, the red in his eyes had turned black.

  This thing was pure evil. He had to die, and now.

  “You lose, Kylan. I will not take my life, ever. I will also continue to fight by Caleb’s side until every last one of you is dead.”

  I was making him angrier, but I didn’t care. His face started to change. He was so ugly now it was hard to look at him.

  “That necklace may keep you from being controlled by me but all I need do is wake Lily or Joel and possess them again and make one of them kill you with this dagger. Then I’ll force them to drown themselves. You push that dagger through your heart and I will spare their lives.”

  “You won’t touch them,” I warned. I then took the dagger and flung it toward the water as far as I could.

  As he dashed for the dagger, I lifted my hands and created a barrier around Caleb, Joel, and Lily. The shield encircled them in a bubble Kylan couldn’t penetrate. I chanted:

  “Fire from my hands, create this flame.

  Make him feel every ounce of pain.

  Send this demon straight to hell.

  For all I have, I create this spell.”

  Kylan stopped running. “What’s this?” He looked down at his body. “What’s happening to me?”

  His body was melting, but he wasn’t screaming. It just made him angrier. I wasn’t pulling this power from Caleb, though. Spirit didn’t have to. I was able to control fire and everything around me.

  I kept my eyes on Kylan. His flesh was melting from his face to the point that he was no longer recognizable.

  “Stop this, you witch!” He barely cried out before his mouth melted off his face and dripped to the ground.

  I spotted a fallen branch, ran toward it, yanked it from the ground, and split it in half with my knee. I ran toward Kylan with the sharpest end pointed toward him. He was still standing, but very weak; too weak to fight back. I plunged the piece of wood through his heart. He backhanded me across the face, causing me to fall to the ground. As he screeched, Lily, Caleb, and Joel unfroze and fell to their knees. They all looked up just in time to see Kylan explode into ash.

  I bolted toward the water and picked up the dagger. Lily ran toward me and held me tightly. I gave her the biggest hug I had ever given anyone. They were safe.

  “We need to hide that dagger,” Caleb said while getting to his feet.

  “I know a place,” Joel mentioned as he lifted both hands up in the air and created
a portal. “I’ll teleport it there.”

  He chanted a spell and the dagger zipped through the portal entrance.

  “Where did you send it?” I asked.

  “Don’t tell us where you sent it,” Caleb interrupted. “The fewer people that know, the better. There are mind reading witches out there.”

  “You’ll never know,” Joel assured us.

  “We need to go. As soon as your Awakening happened, every witch felt it, and there are witches that are aligned with vampires. Your blood is very desirable to them now and their witch allies will lead them to you. We need to hide you until we can put together a plan,” Caleb said.

  “Where can we go?” I asked.

  “Joel, can you teleport us to St. Peter’s Cemetery?” Caleb asked while grabbing my hand.

  Joel nodded.

  “Why take us to a cemetery?” I asked, remembering what happened the last time I was there.

  “There’s a witch safe house in one of the mausoleums, Mercy,” Caleb explained.

  It all made sense now. I knew exactly where he was taking us. Seconds later, we were teleported to the St. Peter’s Cemetery, where Riley’s mother was buried.

  “I’ve been here before.” I looked over at the mausoleum across the cemetery. “My friend’s mom is buried here. We came here a few weeks ago to pay our respects, and over there, we heard some crazy noises from that mausoleum.” I gestured in that direction. “Is that the safe house?”

  Caleb nodded. “It used to be a vampire lair. You and I snuck in there once to take out a vampire that was planning to strike a werewolf pack. We owed that pack a favor.”

  “I think I had a vision about it, but at the time, I thought it was just a dream. Someone threw me down the entryway from behind,” I said. Bits and pieces of that vision came back into my mind. I had climbed down some stairs inside a coffin in the mausoleum. Someone had come up behind me and pushed me down.

  He smiled. “Yeah, that guy got what was coming.”

  I looked at him curiously. “That actually happened?”

  “It was as if they knew we were coming. They struck you from behind and when you landed, a crowd of angry vampires surrounded you. But don’t worry, we were right behind you.” He winked at me and grabbed his phone from his pocket.