A murmur of voices and the movement of people dispersed the sadness of saying goodbye to our friend as we made our way to the pavilion that was set up not too far away from the river or the park field.
Anahita touched my arm, pulling my attention away from the group. I stopped, careful of Finn and Sera eying us.
“Can I have a second before we all convene again?” Anahita asked.
I nodded to Finn and Sera to continue and that I would be there shortly. They gave it a moment before Sera rolled her eyes and pulled on Finn’s arm to move.
When they were out of earshot, Anahita pulled a small box from her back pocket.
“This is for you.” She handed it over.
I opened it up to find a round flat disc, the size of a quarter with a strange serpent-like creature with fangs bared laying on top of a piece of paper. I moved the disc to the side and grabbed the paper underneath.
Kobel is no more. You have nothing else to fear from him. -Z, I read after opening it up.
“It’s Kobel’s emblem,” Anahita clarified. “All Scelesti masters receive one from Obscurus once they ascend.”
I squeezed it between my two fingers, feeling crushed by the overwhelming surge of emotion and closed my eyes, trying to gain some sort of control.
“Zane went after him two days after my challenge, didn’t he?” I remembered his pain, and the need to go to him.
“Yeah.” Her response was quiet and cautious.
He had made sure that I would be safe before he left. A crack appeared in my heart, even though I had worked very hard to place walls around it. He had tried so hard to convince me that he was an asshole and then he did something to take care of me.
“I don’t know if this is something you would want as a birthday present,” Anahita continued wearily. “But he wanted to make sure you got that when the time was right.” She shrugged a shoulder.
“It’s a good present.” I was surprised by the emotion in my voice.
“Happy Birthday, Caden.” Anahita walked away from me, heading to the pavilion with the rest of the group, and allowed me a moment to gather myself.
I must have taken too long because Meredith and Nate ran over toward me.
Meredith squeezed me into a bear hug.
“Happy Sixteenth Birthday!” She squealed, pulling back from me.
Only to have Nate pull me back into his arms, my back against his chest.
“You made it,” he declared before he picked me up and pushed me onto his back.
“Yes, I did.” I grabbed hold of his neck, sighing in contentment, as we headed toward the pavilion. I allowed Meredith’s and Nate’s happiness to wash over me. I had missed the light-heartedness of my friends.
This was nice, I thought as I breathed in Nate’s scent.
The pavilion was busy with activity when we got there. Most of the action was centered around the food table, everyone getting their plate of food, while Anahita stood off to the side, her sunglasses still in place.
Ms. Weber handed her a cup with a liquid that I assumed was blood.
“We didn’t forget about you, dear,” she said, shocking Anahita with the thoughtfulness.
I grinned to myself. No matter the circumstances, these people were a part of my life, and they had tried to make it as normal as possible. Even trying to pull in the outsiders.
“So, what do you think the next threat is going to be?” And then there was Ajax, who always seemed to find a way to make things uncomfortable.
“Can’t we just be happy that it’s over?” Meredith scowled at him. It was still pretty clear that she was irritated with him, but her words held very little heat, which made their banter seem like our normal everyday get together. The twinkle in Ajax’ eye confirmed that this was where he was heading with this.
“Who knows? The next thing that we face could be something much worse.” A corner of his lips tipped up in a smirk.
I snorted, putting food on my plate. “Who’s this ‘we’ that you speak of?”
Someone elbowed me in the back. I turned to find Meredith frowning at me.
“I can hardly wait,” Nate responded sarcastically.
"No matter what it is, we'll face it together," Anahita's distinct and confident voice shocked all of us. She took a small sip out of her cup, masking whatever she was feeling or the consequences of her statement.
Meredith and Nate grinned at me.
“Together,” Nate assured.
Ajax groaned. “Fine. Together. We are all in this together.”
There was an unspoken agreement at the nods of heads and smiles as I looked around the pavilion. I would have no choice. This was my family. A spirit, a mortal, human witches, healers, a druid, a Fae, and a vampire. Normalcy had been thrown out the window to be replaced with something stronger and tighter than I had ever imagined. And only time would tell what would happen to this unconventional little unit. The one thing that I knew for sure was that I would walk through Obscurus' domain for them. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure Obscurus knew too.
To be continued….
An Excerpt from Venatrix Council
“Don’t forget everything Anahita taught you,” Sera reminded me, standing by my side, as I finished adjusting in the brown leathers that the Venatrix Council had provided for me.
I didn’t need to hear the nervousness in her voice to know that she was worried for me. This would be the first time she had ever seen me fight. And truth be told, I was just as nervous. I hadn't been in this position since Daniel Myles, and it was dredging up all sorts of bad memories.
And now new ones as I sneered, but not from Sera’s comment, but rather from the smell of the borrowed brown leather. Although it was made for someone of my size, it was stiff and didn’t mold to my body.
“I miss my armor,” I mumbled under my breath, adjusting the vest, and pulling it away from my nose. It reeked of sweat, blood, and other things that I didn’t want to imagine that were crusted on the inside of it as well as the outside.
“This is unsanitary,” I continued, feeling constricted in armor with very little give.
“Stop fidgeting,” Finn, who stood on the other side of me, admonished pushing me forward toward the arena entrance that hadn’t opened yet.
“How do they expect me to fight in this?” I demanded, standing in front of the doors.
“This is a fight to prove your worth.” Finn sounded bored, repeating the council’s order, but I saw his annoyance in the gold flecks of his eyes.
I scoffed. “This is punishment for my mother escaping. Fear that my father was something ‘other.' And their way of eliminating any threat that I may cause them. That’s why this battle is to the death.”
I saw Finn’s agreement reflected in his face.
"Just kill it quickly and show them who they are messing with," Sera said, determination etched on hers.
I gathered strength from Sera’s confidence and Finn’s anger, and breathed in, pushing back my shoulders just as the doors opened.
I stepped out into a sandy arena, very similar to probably what the Colosseum once looked like in its' former glory; just one-one thousandth of its size; circular with inclined seating. It could probably only hold a few hundred people. Definitely not much more than that. And the eye was open to the clear night sky.
I shivered from the chilly night, wishing I had a long sleeve shirt to go under the borrowed leather, and again missing my armor at home. It was like a second skin and apparently deflected external temperatures. I never noticed being too warm or cold while I was wearing it.
I frowned as I walked forward, the singular, silver stake clinking against an open loop in my thick leather chaps that covered the stretchy pants I had on underneath. At least my legs were warm. Warm, but stiff. I wouldn’t be using anything that Anahita had taught me. Anahita’s moves were fluid and dancer-like. And even though I wasn’t a dancer, I was able to use my natural agility to bend and curve in situations that weren’t like this. Wearing somet
hing akin to old-fashioned football armor would mean trying to remember how Zane taught me to fight; using a bulk that I didn’t have, and my strength that I had considered more of a secondary trait.
Thinking of Zane, the more I walked toward the center, the more I was sure I could feel him somewhere in the arena. I looked around, not seeing anyone specifically, but heard the murmur of spectators in the stands. I knew the council would be watching, but apparently, the whole compound was in attendance. This would be a lesson for anyone who was watching. The council was counting on my death, which meant that they were going to pit me against the meanest vampire they had.
That thought sent a shiver down my spine, and butterflies fluttering in my abdominal. My mind was heading down that memory of how I felt right before facing Myles. I had to knock it off, I told myself. There was no place for this fear.
I clenched my fists against my sides, renewing my determination and strength. I had news for the council. I wasn’t going to go down that easy. If I could kill a newborn vampire, which had double the strength of a regular vampire with only a couple weeks of training under my belt, I could take care of whatever the council threw at me.
I still held onto that belief even as the doors across the way opened, and the palest, sickliest, animalistic Scelestus vampire came crouching out. His eyes were wild as he looked around like an angry, captive animal that had just been released. And the more I looked at him, the more I realized that my assessment was actually accurate. He was naked except for a thin collar around his neck that had blinking lights and tattered and torn cloth shorts that looked more like a loincloth than an actual piece of clothing. I guessed that the collar prevented additional escape, even if the compound was warded against any type of magic.
And his skin was taut against his bones as if he had been starved for weeks, if not months. His fangs were extended all the way down to his chin, dripping with saliva from all the blood now within his reach, his nose inhaling his surroundings.
With the glow in his red eyes, I knew for sure that he was Scelestus. I couldn’t exactly trust my nose since his putrid smell could have been poor hygiene. Well, it would have to be extremely poor hygiene because he gave off a rotting stench, which I found common in the Scelesti, but this poor vampire had been held in captivity for a very long time and hadn’t been cared for at all.
I pitied him as I look at the animal before me. There was no reasoning in this vampire’s eyes. It was all animal instinct as he measured me up, salivating more. I wondered if he was always a Scelestus or had his capture and starvation caused him to switch, mindful of the council’s disdain for all vampires.
One thing I knew for sure was that he was no one of importance from the Casti because the Casti wouldn’t allow one of their important figures to be used this way. Also, even though the Venatrix Council held contempt toward the Casti vampires, abusing a known Casti vampire this way would completely destroy any treaties between the Venatrix Council and Casti Vampire House. And he wasn't a Master because there was no way Obscurus would have allowed a head of a line to be taken. So the threat level with this vampire was pretty low.
Even as he crouched low, prepared to spring at me. The hunter within me saw those few movements in his muscles. I was tracking him as he shifted side to side when I felt a tingling of heat circulate out through my body from the center of my chest. I had never felt anything like it. It was like red hot cinnamon candy was spreading throughout my body with the pumping of my blood. These weren’t nerves. At least they weren’t mine because I knew I could handle this vampire. And a second later, it was confirmed that the anxiousness came from someone else as I was pulled from my body.
It was very similar to being pulled into Meredith’s dreams, but with her, I was sleeping. Here, I was fully awake, and not in Meredith’s body. Looking out at myself from somewhere in the stands almost as if I was looking at this spectacle from a third party, made me wonder if I had died. But I hadn’t. I was just looking at myself standing there while the Scelesti tilted his head confused and sniffed around my body.
What the hell? I thought, starting to worry that perhaps this was the council’s doing.
“Caden?” I heard Zane reply aloud like I was in his head.
I looked down into the body I was in. It was Zane's. And he was standing in the stadium, looking down on me. I wasn't sure that he had heard me or knew I was there, or if it was like witnessing Meredith’s dreams. His question made me think that perhaps he had heard me, but my helplessness of watching the vampire pull his clawed hand back, ready to take off my head while I just stood there pulled me back into my body.
I ducked, just in time, rolling to the side, as I got my bearings. I scowled up in Zane’s direction, annoyed at him for every reason I could think of and the possibility that he had almost gotten me killed.
I didn’t have too much time to linger on it, because the rabid vampire was fast. Faster than I had ever encountered and he was hungry. It was more like I was fighting an animal. He used his hands to swipe, not punch; his legs to spring or run, not kick.
I spent most of my time evading his lethal talons than thwarting them. I was worried that a swipe from his hands would cut off a limb if I tried to block it. Proximity was not how I was going to be able to defeat him. I would have to find a way to get back a ways to throw the stake at him, or at least get behind him to drive it in his back.
I used a leg to kick him back as he sprang at me again. He grunted like a wounded animal, and once more, I felt sorry for him.
Not so much when I underestimated his speed when he immediately bounced back at me, making me fall back with him on top. Not only did he knocked the air out of me, but he also knocked my essence back into Zane.
Zane’s hands were clenched in front of him with frustration and worry.
“You’re not dead. I would have felt it. Get up! I thought I taught you better than that!” He shouted at my prone form.
I snorted, You taught me to run away when there’s an opportunity.
I felt Zane’s shock course throughout his body.
“What the fuck?!” He exclaimed.
You can hear me?! I questioned through my own shock. It was the first time I had experienced something through someone else's body, and they were aware of my presence. What did this mean for us, and why was it happening now?
About the Author
MK Masterson has had a love of reading and writing since childhood. One day she hopes to become a full-time writer; but until that time comes, she will thrive in Northeast Ohio where she cohabitates with her husband, her two young daughters, and their dog, who will always be a puppy in their eyes.
Copyright © 2018 by MK Masterson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the writer, except in cases of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks are not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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