“You didn’t know I was alive,” Valen answered. “Look, we can figure that out later. Right now, I want to fix whatever is wrong with me so I can help our coven, and hopefully my mother.”
“Your coven, Valen. There is no chance in hell they’d ever accept me now. You have to know that.”
“Fine, my coven, but when you help save them, they’ll open their eyes.”
“Don’t hold your breath for that outcome,” Mark said.
Valen rubbed at his face. “We’ll have to agree to disagree.”
“It’s not what I want,” Mark admitted. “Doesn’t matter, because I’m not going to let them all die if I have a say.”
“Good, because neither will I.” Valen turned to Morrigan. “Do what you need to.”
Morrigan looked at Mark with a smile. “He’s a lot like his father.”
She took Valen’s shoulders and worked her magic.
Mark moved behind Valen to catch him, and Gina moved beside him to help.
* * * *
Emotions swirled through Valen. His father was so sure no one would accept him. The coven had turned their back on him. Maybe they wouldn’t.
Then again, why wouldn’t anyone believe him if he tried to go to them when it all began?
Valen didn’t have the answers, but the truth in his father’s eyes was heartbreaking. So much guilt for something that didn’t seem to be his fault.
A woman took his shoulders and he felt as if an inferno swept through his brain, then down his spine into his limbs until he blacked out from the pain.
Mark’s memories flowed through his head. He heard the woman’s voice in his mind, A gift so you can understand his choices and why he wasn’t there for you.
The pain washed out everything.
* * * *
Valen’s screams would haunt Mark. He caught his son as he fell. Mark carried him to the guest room he’d once decorated for Gina. He couldn’t imagine Valen coming to anytime soon.
Gina followed him. “You okay?”
“No. How can he be so willing to accept, when none of my coven was?” he asked. “I should have kept looking. I should have known.”
“You couldn’t have. They weren’t there, and how were you supposed to know they had ever come back?”
He turned to Gina. “Am I going to be a bad father?”
“No. God, no. You just did everything in your power to ease his suffering. You’re promising him to save the coven, and even told him you would save his mother if you could. Just because you weren’t there when you didn’t know he lived, doesn’t make you a bad parent.” She took his hands and smiled up at him. “In fact, I think it makes you a damned good one. Now stop stressing about that, and let’s figure out what we can do now.”
He nodded slowly. “I wish I had more time to talk to him before Morrigan stepped in.”
“Longer he’s tainted, the less likely we can fix him. At least he should be safe from changing now.”
“God, I hope so.” Mark headed downstairs.
Robert watched him. “His mind wasn’t tampered with. Gerard’s hold on Valen had everything to do with wanting to make his father proud, and to protect his mother. He saw the pattern. He knew it wasn’t right.”
Morrigan smiled sadly. “The boy is good at heart. I gave him your memories from that time, so he can’t doubt you. He already believed you. And you’ll find he will fight for your acceptance, even if you don’t care. He’ll want you to be a part of his life. He’ll go so far as asking to be changed into a werewolf.”
“He doesn’t need to do that. He’s a witch. I’m guessing his wife is, which means his child will be. I don’t want him to change for me.”
“He doesn’t have to. But your family has expanded greatly,” Morrigan assured.
Gina pulled Mark closer. “What do we do now? How do we find the doppelgangers and kill them?”
Robert sighed. “We have one already. And I know where they’re supposed to be meeting, but that could change when Valen doesn’t meet them.”
“Even so, we should be able to track them,” Preston said.
“They’ll still need to come here. They think of Gerard as their leader. And he won’t survive without Mark, so they will have to attack eventually,” Robert added.
“I don’t want to wait until it’s too late.” Mark took a breath and let it out. “You have Anthony, don’t you?”
“We do,” Robert answered.
Cora perked up. “I don’t suppose I can talk to him, can I?”
“Why?” Mark asked, baffled.
“He killed my husband and I was powerless to stop it. No one sided with us. He had enough assholes behind him I was stuck for decades. I want to tear him apart.”
“We may need answers,” Robert stated. “But I’ll let you have your shot at him when we no longer need him. Though I’d prefer to try him, so we can make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”
“I’ll let him live, especially if it means he’ll suffer more,” Cora assured.
Mark wasn’t surprised at the venom in her voice or her motivation. God, he wanted to kill the bastard. Daniel had been a good friend. He was just too stupid to see the truth.
“I know better than to go there. I’d wind up killing the bastard.” Mark meant it too. He squeezed Cora’s shoulder. “We’re going to stop this. He will suffer, and we can make sure he suffers worse.”
Cora smiled sadly. “He is like you.”
“Hmm?” Mark asked.
“Valen. He’s so much like you. Why did Kindra have to be such a damned fool?”
Mark clamped his mouth shut. He was happy with where he wound up. He wouldn’t go back for anything. Though, he wished there were a way he could have kept his son. That was about the only thing he would consider changing.
“How is he?” Cora asked.
“Out like a light. We’ll be here when he wakes. If you want to go with Robert, I’ll make sure he eats.”
She smiled. “You’re going to be a grandfather.”
Gina giggled. “I think it’s sweet.”
Cora smiled at Gina. “You’re good for Mark. I’m glad he found you. You two have what I wish I could have.”
“Find someone else. And don’t only look for witches.”
“Maybe. Hell, I’m tired of living in fear,” Cora stated.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Mark answered.
Robert spoke up. “I know where they were going to meet. They may be hoping Valen will show up. We can try there.”
“You’re actually going to let me go this time?” Mark asked.
He glanced at Gina and lifted a shoulder. “You, yes. Not Gina.” He turned to Gina. “No offense, but the way your body is changing, I’m not willing to take a chance with you.”
She smiled sweetly. “Good, because I’m hungry and tired. I may even take a nap.”
Robert chuckled. “That sounds like a plan.”
Mark took her into his arms. “You okay with me going?”
“Stay safe. Whatever you do.”
“I will. I love you.”
Leaning up, she kissed him softly. “Love you too. Go do what you need to do.”
Cora took a step back. “Tell me you don’t need me. Anthony is an asshole, but Gerard scares me. So does the one who took over Germaine.”
“You’re safe here,” Robert assured.
Chapter 21
Gerard paced the living room of the lodge. Kindra sat in the corner, staring at her phone.
“What did Vera say?” Gerard asked.
She scrambled for anything she could say that would buy her son some time. Either the Silver Council had taken him in, or he found Anders. Either way may be better than what they faced.
Anders had nearly convinced her to go to the Council with him a month after Gerard entered their lives.
Anders took her hands, staring into her eyes. “Kindra, love, there is something terr
ibly wrong with this coven. Something is happening to me. We need outside help. Our high priest and priestess won’t do anything, and they’re sick too.”
Guilt nearly overwhelmed her. She knew what was happening to him. Gerard was sucking the life from him, becoming more like Anders every single day.
She shook her head. “It’s just an illness. There’s nothing else going on. Several others have it too.”
“This is more.” Anders rubbed at his face. “We’re wasting away. This isn’t some illness. It’s more like a wasting curse, or worse.”
“What’s worse?” she scoffed.
“Psychic vampire? Some creature sucking the life from me? I keep waking up from dreams with a withered man sitting on my chest, his hands pressed to my face while his mouth was a foot over mine, light flowing from me, into him.”
Tears filled her eyes as she lied. “You sound crazy, Anders. No one will ever believe that.” There were nights he would wake up while Gerard fucked her beside him. In the moment it always felt right, but standing there, looking Anders in the eyes nearly tore her heart out.
“Damn it, Kindra. It’s not a damned nightmare, it’s happening. I see the belief in your eyes. I know he’s in your head while he fucks you next to me,” he spat.
She gaped at him.
He paced away. “Don’t you love me?”
“Of course I do,” she whispered.
“Come with me. We can stop these things from killing us.”
“There’s nothing sucking your life force, Anders. It’s all in your head. No one is making love to me but you.”
His eyes narrowed. “I didn’t call it making love, and I know what I see when I wake up, and your eyes are vacant like you don’t even know what’s going on, but damn it, I know what’s happening to me, to you. We need to stop it.”
“The Silver Council won’t help the coven,” she balked.
“Please, Kindra, I don’t give a damn if the Council thinks I’m crazy, as long as they look into what’s happening.”
“They would never help you. If they did find something like that, they would kill us all and be done with it. You’ve heard the stories of the Dark Templar. Where do you think they come from?”
“The Council stops this kind of thing. This is their purpose. Granted, mages tend look down on everyone else, but they are the ones who keep Others safe from things the normal police can’t.”
“Anders, you don’t know what you’re talking about. No one is being attacked.” She moved to him, taking his hands. “Please, drop this. We’ll figure out some tonic to replace your strength.”
She wanted to tell him the truth, but the words wouldn’t leave her mouth. She wanted to run away with him, but Gerard would never allow it.
Kindra forced a sigh. “Only that he didn’t go home, and Melanie left the house, mad as hell, with two suitcases.” Lifting a shoulder, she added, “Valen told me they were fighting. Maybe he hasn’t been answering her calls either. Maybe she’s leaving.”
“While pregnant with his child?” Gerard scoffed.
“There are worse things to do to the father of your child. Like stab him, which I did for you.”
“And failed,” Gerard countered.
A cruel smile stretched across her lips. Did she really want to put up with him for centuries? “You were too weak to drain him yourself. You coerced me into helping you, because you weren’t strong enough on your own.”
“Then that makes her stronger than you for seeing Valen for what he is and getting out of there.”
“Is this how it’s going to be forever?” she demanded.
“No, because you’re proving to be as vicious as I always believed you could be. Now that you’re awakened, and free of the brainwashing, you know what to look for and how to alter the thoughts of those around you.
“Where is Valen? Do you have any ideas?”
“Perhaps he was detained? He did go into Edenton to search out information about Anders. And any fool can see he looks like him.”
“Mark, he goes by Mark Welling,” Kindra answered.
Gerard rolled his eyes. “I’m not a fan of the name.”
“Does it matter what you think of the name? Can you honestly tell me that affects who you take over?”
“No, the amount of power they hold does. I should have had a lot more from Anders, but your parents fucked everything up. They pushed you too hard into a role you weren’t ready for. They were so concerned with where they would wind up, they didn’t spend enough time training you. And now, Anders still has the power buried under his beast.”
“Can we stop placing blame and come up with a solution?” She moved to Gerard. “Well? Do you have an idea, or would you like me to take some initiative? Because we need answers.”
His eyes twinkled. “What are you thinking, sweet girl?”
“That I need to find my son, and I need you not to be there. He doesn’t believe you care for him at all. He’ll talk to me, even if he won’t talk to you. Perhaps someone told him something in Edenton, and he simply needs the proper motivation.”
“And what motivation is that?”
“His family. Am I right in assuming Melanie will become the same as us on his next incarnation?”
“You learn fast, Kindra. Your parents assured me you would come around.”
She almost asked what happened to them. She still believed the doppelgangers had something to do with their deaths. But she had no way to prove it, and he wouldn’t confirm anything.
Maybe Cora was right. Maybe she had changed too much. But maybe she could find a way back to the woman she wanted to be. And what if there was no way to save herself? Did she want to go through eons of becoming a new person? Did she want to grow weaker and more desperate to find a new face in between?
“Maybe you should have trusted me from the beginning,” she told him.
“And maybe you should have listened to your fool husband and gone to the Silver Council with him. But the thing is, we always win. I’ve been powerful kings, leaders, and a whole array of people in power. Sure, this isn’t the weakest I’ve been, but it is when I was promised greatness,” he snapped back.
Greatness? What was so great about their coven?
Nothing as far as she could tell.
“I’ll drive closer to Edenton and see if I can call him. I’ll be in touch with news.”
“And what if you disappear like him?” he snapped.
“We should have told him the truth before sending him. He’s been lied to his entire life. Which means he may have received a dose of truth from strangers who wove a story. And what I can’t understand, is if you knew he was changing, why wouldn’t you explain all of this to him sooner? Like before sending him into the den of a lion?”
“The mages aren’t lions. They can’t do a damned thing to us. They don’t even understand what we are, nor do they know what we are capable of.”
“And what is that?”
He stepped forward. “Molding the world into that which we want.”
“And if you’re Fae, why aren’t you in Faery?”
“We came over to a bigger world where we could expand our influence.”
“Slow going when your incarnation is half a normal human’s lifespan.”
“But we target Others. We want the magic and inherent powers. As we take on new forms we evolve, our magic and abilities grow and change. With each new persona, we reach higher enlightenment. The goal is to ascend beyond needing bodies.”
“Then let me find my son and bring him back to our side. You know as well as I do, I’m the only one he’ll listen to.”
“If you can even find him.”
“You have my number. I’ll be in touch.” She snatched the keys.
“Why do you need to leave to contact him?” he demanded. “What are you really planning?”
Just then Genova and Gallus walked in. “I’ll get him here. You need to start trusting me.”
Genova’s brow arched as Kindra walked out the door.
Kindra made it all of two steps before Gallus hauled her back inside. She was pulled through a portal with the rest of them.
The last thing she saw was a group of people pop into existence in the driveway. One of them was Anders.
* * * *
Mark showed up in a driveway and froze when he locked gazes with Kindra. Such utter sadness marred her features, he paused. Then someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back inside.
“Fuck,” Preston muttered, charging ahead.
He burst inside, and all Mark could see was swirling purple light shrinking, then disappearing. He ran forward and stopped.
“They went through a portal,” Robert announced.
“No shit. Can you open it?” Mark asked.
“Need Tremaine to have a shot at that. Give me a minute.” Robert vanished.
“Damn it,” Preston muttered. “I don’t think this is the kind of portal he can open.”
“What makes you say that?”
“It feels all wrong. More like a vortex than an actual portal. And I have a feeling whatever is on the other side is a gray wasteland.”
“Why do you say that?”
“That’s what those things create. They came from somewhere, and maybe it’s where they started from. Maybe it’s part of the curse.”
“Do you really believe in curses?” Mark asked.
“Hell yes,” Preston answered. He rubbed at his face. “Of all the shit you’ve seen as part of the pack, hell, you’ve seen them. You heard about what Emily did to that douchebag back when you met Gina.”
“Fine, a bad spell, yeah, I get that. But a curse for a whole group of people?”
“I’ve seen some strange shit, and yeah, curses are some of them. There are so many stories about groups of people being cursed.”
There were plenty of stories, but he’d always believed they were just that. Stories, nothing else.
Robert came back with Tremaine.
“Can you open it?” Mark asked.
One of Tremaine’s dark brows winged up. “Give me a moment. I’ll see what I can do, but this seems more like a wormhole, and less like a portal.”
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