Rescind

by Shawn Knightley

  Rescind

  Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 4

  Shawn Knightley

  Copyright © 2019 by Shawn Knightley

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  About the Author

  Also by Shawn Knightley

  1

  No one looked at me as we all walked back to Margaux’s flat in the heart of the Latin Quarter. I couldn’t decide if it set my mind at ease or if it was only making me more nervous. It was something Daniella called a shadow charm. A sort of spell that kept us hidden from human eyes as we quietly walked the cobblestone streets and entered the same entryway Rodrick and I walked through earlier that night. The only sign that we were even there was the echo of our feet walking up the spiral staircase of the main entrance to Margaux’s flat.

  The sound of our steps would have freaked me out if I was human and happened to hear the sound of several people coming my way only to peer through the door and not see a single person walking among the shadows.

  Rodrick was right behind me, followed by my dad, and a few members of Margaux’s coven. Daniella sent some home, claiming she wasn’t in any immediate danger and she could handle us alone. In reality, I think she didn’t want to infuriate my father by having them all follow inside. Once we were in Margaux’s front hall, Daniella turned to them and folded her arms before her.

  “You may leave now,” she said to them. “The shadow charm will conceal you until you’re safe in your homes.” They exchanged quick glances at each other in confusion.

  “Daniella,” a tall man with a heavy French accent stepped forth. “We can stay. Don’t let this man intimidate you,” he said, grimacing in my father’s direction.

  Daniella stood up a little straighter as though her pride had been damaged by the mere suggestion that my father was capable of such a thing. Even though we all knew it was true.

  “I’m safe in Margaux’s home and Alexei won’t let anything happen to me, right Alexei?” she flashed a half-smile over to Alexei as he brushed by me and flopped onto one of the living room couches before the enormous fireplace. I was surprised he could find a place to sit with the mess of shredded cushions laying about.

  “Yes,” he mumbled. “Nothing gives me more pleasure than being your personal bodyguard, Daniella.”

  Daniella pretended to bow her head in gratitude. Then she turned back to her coven as they filed out and disappeared into the night. Once they were gone and there was no one left but her, Rodrick, Alexei, my dad, and me, she seemed to let her well-composed guard down.

  “Honestly, Alexei,” she marched across the room, careful to avoid the broken glass on the floor as she sneered. “Did you have to go to such great lengths?” Her eyes wandered across the mayhem of the room, clearly agitated by the mess.

  “Yes, I did,” he answered. “Apparently, you’ve never suffered a visit from a member of the Dolch Erbe.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, removing her cloak and laying it over one of the shredded couches.

  “It’s an old military strategy. I’m surprised a French woman isn’t familiar with it.”

  Daniella’s brow furrowed, obviously not catching his meaning.

  “You’ve never heard of scorched earth?” he went on. “My people used it quite a bit against you during Napoleon’s invasion of mother Russia in 1812. And unlike you, we don’t have short term memories.”

  “Short-term? Hardly. I recall reading how Russians were good at retreating. Your only method of defense was to burn Moscow to the ground and hope your enemy starves from their lack of spoils. Perhaps because your people didn’t have the strength to fight.”

  “Better than living under the French led by a power-hungry mad man.”

  Daniella snarled. “Thank you for reminding me why I never liked you, Alexei.”

  My father tried to hold back a chuckle, not caring if he stepped over broken glass or anything else that toppled to the ground.

  ‘So I was right. Alexei did make this mess.’

  “I’m a vampire,” said Alexei. “We’re not supposed to get on well. Margaux is the only one of your kind that I can stand.”

  “What’s scorched earth?” I dared ask, feeling a bit naive.

  “Destroying everything in sight upon retreat,” Alexei answered. “When the enemy invades, there’s nothing for them to take and nothing for them to use against you. They arrive and get nothing but a wasteland.”

  Rodrick scoffed. “So you destroyed the home Margaux spent years building with you to make it appear as though it had already been looted by the Dolch Erbe?” I could hear the judgment in his voice. Granted the pristine state I always found his study in, I could tell he didn’t approve.

  Alexei shrugged and rested his chin on his hand.

  I remembered reading in my textbook Alina assigned us for homework that vampires could be reckless beyond imagining. It wasn’t until then that I took note of their indifference. Or perhaps that was just Alexei. He was a man who saw the ends as always justifying the means. No matter how rude or barbaric.

  ‘Good thing Margaux has her secrets. He didn’t find her potion room.’

  “Well then,” Daniella pointed her wand straight up in the air. “I hope you don’t mind if I make it half-way livable again.”

  Rodrick moved a single hand in front of me, making sure I wasn’t being threatened.

  Blue light sparked from Daniella’s wand and spread all over the room, making it glow in a faint light that curled over every item with a delicate cobalt fog. Within a matter of seconds, the entire flat was back in its normal state. The pictures were on the walls with unbroken frames. The glass was repaired. The dust and pieces of drywall were cleaned off the floor. The cushions on the couch were sewn back together, never showing a single sign that they had been shredded with a knife. The mirror hanging over the fireplace was freshly polished. And to my great joy, the fireplace was lit with a luminous glow that warmed the room. For the first time, I could see Margaux’s taste in the elegant room, richly decorated with finery that reflected my father’s taste. Which wasn’t a style I particularly cared for. But in her defense, at least it was feminine. Flowers decorated the in-tables and curtains swayed in the chilly breeze from the Parisian air lightly brushing inside a cracked open balcony window.

  Daniella grunted in front of the large mirror atop the fireplace as she pulled down the torn sleeve of her blood-soaked shoulder. When she did, I saw the damage I caused when I swiped my paw at her in Margaux’s study upstairs. Four long claw marks cascaded down her skin. Blood was still trickling down her arm and staining her blouse.

  I sat on one of the two living room couches before the fireplace opposite Alexei with my arms crossed in front of my chest, forcing my gaze away from her wound as she stroked the nape of her neck. The muscles inside
were torn. I knew the pain of claw marks slashing down my face. The heat of skin ripping wide open. There might have been a point in time when I asked her if she was alright. I might have even apologized. Not anymore. I let my eyes dart over to her as she glared at me through the mirror’s reflection, letting her know just how much I didn’t care about her pain. The woman told her coven to murder me just to kill my brother a matter of minutes ago.

  ‘Serves you right, bitch.’

  Rodrick sat beside me as my father took a seat next to Alexei. A move that I imagined was strategic given Rodrick might have caught onto the fact that I didn’t want to sit beside my father. I could hardly even look at him. I was left staring at Daniella with squinted eyes as she reached for her wand and pointed it directly at her wounded arm and shoulder. The torn muscle, veins, and skin stitched back together, small bits at a time. I watched in fascination as her magic healed her with surgical-like perfection, only to stop when the claw marks turned silver.

  Daniella stared into the mirror, unsure why her magic wasn’t healing her entirely. She pointed the wand at her skin again and tried once more. The blue light from her wand wafted over her skin and dissipated, finding nothing more to heal. She sighed and tried again only to have the same result.

  “It’s no use,” I finally spoke up. “How do you think I got this beauty?” I pointed to the claw marks running down my face.

  “What do you mean?” she scowled.

  “A parting gift from the last time I saw my brother,” I said. “Blackatter claw marks scar for life. So try thinking twice the next time you attack one.”

  Her eyes flared. She turned from the mirror and for a second I thought she might point her wand at me again.

  “Don’t even think about it,” my father said, using his deep voice to put Daniella in her place. It was the same voice he used when he wanted to speak over me whenever we argued. The voice that told me I was out of line and there was no point in pushing the matter. “Come sit down, Daniella. Now.”

  Daniella tossed her wand onto the nearby recliner and took a seat opposite the fire, placing her legs up on the center table like a spoiled brat who hadn’t gotten her way.

  “I’m sorry,” my father said to me. “I didn’t know.”

  ‘What? That your son scarred me for life? How could you know?’

  “You don’t tell me anything,” I accused. “Why would I share everything with you?”

  “Rodrick said you were kidnapped and that Dirk linked your lives. He didn’t include that you were badly injured.”

  “Our academy nurse took care of what she could,” Rodrick said.

  “Would the two of you mind telling me how long you’ve known each other?” I asked, making it clear that I was annoyed. “I know you both love your secrets but it’s obvious you’ve spoken in the past and never told me.”

  “We didn’t speak,” my father said. “We corresponded.”

  “Okay, so you wrote to one another.” I tapped my fingers on the arm of the couch. “What difference does it make?”

  “Your father first wrote to me when your brother was bitten by a lycan and brought to the academy to endure the trials,” Rodrick said. “He expressed his wish that his son be brought home after completing the trials so he could train him under his own supervision.”

  I scoffed. ‘Yeah, that sounds like my father.’

  “I told him that the academy doesn’t approve of such methods but the choice was ultimately up to Dirk.”

  “And he refused,” my father said, crossing one leg over his knee. “Once he learned I was a Blackatter he refused to see me.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “So let me get this straight. Both your children resent being lied to and you thought it was a good idea to continue the pattern when I was bitten too?”

  “I knew I could do a better job of training the two of you than the academy could,” he spat. “I could prevent the Dolch Erbe from finding Dirk and you. Neither of you would have it and now look where we are. Dirk requested a transfer to the Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting in Hungary to be closer to the vixra just to spite me.”

  “Maybe it was because he was tired of you trying to control him,” I argued. “Believe me, I know the feeling.”

  “You might think of me as controlling or even possessive, Riley.” My father’s voice demanded my submission. He didn’t like me talking back to him. And he certainly wasn’t used to it. I think I managed to take him by surprise.

  ‘Things have changed. Don’t expect me to cower like Daniella. I’m not afraid of you anymore.’

  “But everything I did was to make sure that we didn’t end up sitting where we are now,” he went on. “The Dolch Erbe knows who you are, they know what you are, and they managed to find a way of turning your brother over to their side. If you had come home when I asked you to Dirk never would have found you. That scar wouldn’t be on your face and your life wouldn’t have been in danger. If Dirk had come home when I asked him to he never would have fallen into the hands of the Dolch Erbe, much less become the new grandmaster.”

  “You don’t know that,” I said. “The curse would have found a way to get to us.”

  “Don’t sell your son short,” Rodrick chimed in. “What your son did was very brave. He intended to set up safe houses all over Europe to help Blackatters move more freely and aid the vixra with their missions to contain newly bitten werewolves.”

  “You’re not a father,” my dad stated bluntly. “It’s not your place to say what would have been best for my son.”

  “No, it was his. He requested the transfer to Hungary. He requested that his preliminary mission for the Vontex would be to stay in Paris and build a safe house while searching for the location of the curse’s formation. And he fell into the wrong hands.”

  “Exactly,” my father stated with an air of arrogance that set my teeth on edge. “My children gave me no other choice. If I couldn’t convince either of them to come home then I had to work around them.”

  “Work around us?” I snapped. “Like how you had Adeline pretend to be mom’s friend so you could spy on her? Or how you forced me to apply to a uni where you thought I would go unnoticed?”

  My father leaned forward and drilled his eyes into mine, making it clear that my attitude wasn’t going to continue to sit well with him if I continued. I leaned forward as well, letting the red hue of crowning magic in my eyes flicker through my irises just like Rodrick taught me. He didn’t flinch away.

  “While you’ve been reading textbooks and probably flirting with a bunch of degenerate mutts at the academy, I’ve been working with Margaux and Daniella to break the curse. You and your brother wouldn’t see reason. You gave me no choice but to make sure you were safe from harm in another way.”

  “You’re welcome,” Daniella flashed a sarcastic grin in my direction.

  “For what?” I hissed. “You want a thank you for going from helping my father keep me sheltered to wanting me dead in a matter of seconds? I can give you more slashes across your other arm if your right one is feeling lonely.”

  Daniella stood from the chair and nearly came close to summoning her wand to her hand to attack me. My father stood up next to her, making sure she knew her place. She waited a few seconds, obviously weighing the pros and cons before reaching for her cloak and marching toward the front door. “You know where to reach me if you find out anything useful,” she stated.

  The front door slammed shut and she was gone.

  “Now you know what I deal with almost every day,” Alexei joked. “That bitch follows Margaux around like a pet.”

  “With any luck, your discomfort will be short-lived,” my father responded. “Daniella has her flaws but she’ll do what I say.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “Because I have Ellinor Prescott’s permission to handle the details surrounding Operation Shift as I see fit.”

  “Why would she share such details with you?” Rodrick asked.

  “Because I wen
t to her the second word of Dirk’s supposed death reached me. I knew what had actually happened. I offered my service to her family in exchange for my commitment to breaking the curse.”

  “You knew?” I asked. “You knew he fell to the Dolch Erbe from the very beginning?”

  “Yes,” he said solemnly. He got up from the couch and went to the wooden hutch near the dining room table. I watched as he reached for a decanter and poured himself a drink of Margaux’s whiskey from the decorative glass. “Ellinor told me what was needed to break it. The exact location where the curse was cast, the svethulka, a vixra, a luxra, a kruxa, a vampire, and a lycan. I offered myself over as the lycan. We were only short the svethulka and a kruxa before Margaux disappeared. I knew Alexei would be in danger as well if the Dolch Erbe found out he was committed to being the vampire involved. So I came here to make sure he was well looked after.”

  “I hope you didn’t count on Daniella for that,” Alexei whined. “That bitch wouldn’t shed a tear for me or any other vampire.”

  ‘Perhaps that’s the one thing Daniella and I can agree on.’

  “I’ll journey back to England in a few days,” my father said. “You’re welcome in my home if you choose to join me, Alexei. You’ll have your own wing and I’ll arrange for the local hospital to deliver some fresh blood. I’ll make sure you remain unharmed until the day comes when we can rid the world of this damn curse and hopefully get Margaux back along the way.”

  Alexei considered his offer. “Do you have necessary accommodation for a vampire?” he asked.

  “I’ll make all the arrangements. You will be comfortable.”

  Alexei stood and shook my father’s hand without a word. “Breaking this curse was part of Margaux’s life work. I’m not going to stop until it’s done.”