Summoned

by Tricia Barr

  Leif’s venom had definitely made her far more powerful. She could fight off the attacking vampires with her eyes closed if she wanted to. Ripping off a head was as easy as plucking an unsuspecting flower from a garden bed, which in itself was a little terrifying. She’d had to try quite hard not to hurt Kol when he struggled to whisk her away from the fight.

  She’d almost wondered if her shifter abilities would be somehow nullified, overwritten by the vampire blood flowing through her veins. Instead, they’d been amplified tenfold. She could feel the water that dammed all around the battlefield like it was a second skin, could sense the powerful light of the rising half-moon on the horizon behind her. Everything was so much more intense.

  Including the pain of Kol’s dismissal.

  The storm of emotions inside her made it difficult to keep her ursa contained, even with her harpy wings out. She considered letting it out, going berserk on the vampires just like Mr. Coltar was. But her mind was foggy as a bear, to say the least, and she needed to have a clear head for the battle to come.

  After dispatching a twig of a vampire girl, Myreen looked over the horde of vampires to where Draven stood in the background. She needed to get to him. She needed to end this. She could figure out her relationship with Kol later.

  If there was a later.

  Suddenly, the battle shifted. The near constant earthquake from the kraken’s movements ceased, and the vampires in front of her stopped charging and fell back. The abrupt halt of action made Myreen, Ms. Dinu and Mr. Coltar hover in battle stance, waiting for what the vampires had in store for them next.

  Myreen stole a quick glance behind her at the Dome and froze in confusion. The kraken was nowhere in sight. Had the shifters defeated it? Was that why the vampires were falling back—were they actually retreating? Perhaps the shifters at the Dome had gotten an advantage over the vampires to win the battle.

  Her internal quandary was soon answered.

  Like some dark fallen angel, Draven flew over their heads with a magnificent pair or raven black wings, shimmering in the moonlight as if they had been dipped in oil. When she saw who was in his arms, her heart thudded, threatening to plummet straight through her to the ground at her feet.

  Kendall!

  Had Kendall defected? Was Draven going to kill him to make an example?! Despite their differences, she didn’t want to see Kendall die. A very real part of her still cared for him, even if not in the same way he professed to care for her. She turned her back to the vampire army and bent her knees, ready to leap for Kendall at the first sign of abuse.

  Draven and Kendall landed on a swirling disk of water that manifested at the top of the Dome where the glass had been smashed in. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noticed that the fighting had also stopped inside the Dome, and that the vampires within had converged to one side, leaving the shifters there just as confused and cautious as those outside.

  “Attention, shifters of the Dome.” It was Draven’s voice, reverberating throughout the air itself, loud and clear. “For millennia, our kind have been at war. Countless lives have been lost on both sides. This does not need to continue any longer, for I have a solution that has never before been possible. We are at a precipice, where two can now become one. I am the first vampire-shifter hybrid, and I have the power to give this gift to anyone I choose.” He held his hand out to Kendall, who was standing beside him. “Kendall is one of you, a mer. He saw the future I wanted to create for both our species and decided to join us. As a reward for his allegiance, I will turn him into a hybrid right here, right now, for all of you to witness.”

  Kendall stepped in front of Draven with his back to him so that everyone below could see his face, could see that he was a willing participant. Draven wrapped his arms around Kendall, who extended his neck to one side, and Draven sunk his teeth in. Kendall swooned, his eyes fluttering, and for an instant, the two looked like lovers in an embrace. The scene wasn’t violent to watch, in fact it was almost sensual. Draven appeared to take great care in the way he handled Myreen’s former suitor.

  The bite didn’t take long, and when Draven released Kendall, he collapsed onto the thin water layer beneath him. As the venom set in, he curled into a ball, releasing an agonized scream.

  Several shifters inside the Dome cursed and threw their fists, assuming that what was happening to Kendall was what usually happened when a vampire injected their venom into a shifter. They thought he was dying.

  “Fear not,” Draven’s voice boomed. “The transformation is incredibly painful, yet mercifully brief. Rather than lasting days as from a human to a vampire, the hybrid process takes only minutes. Watch.”

  After the longest minute Myreen had ever endured, Kendall’s screaming stopped. With her new vampiricly-enhanced vision, even from this great distance and in the dim light of the evening she could see the pale shine to his skin as he rose to his feet and stood tall before his audience.

  Myreen didn’t even realize she had been holding her breath until she exhaled at seeing Kendall rise. As scared as she was that he would have died from the venom, seeing the new marble-white skin that covered his chiseled face made her heart sore. There was no going back for him now.

  “How do you feel, Kendall, my boy?” Draven asked, patting him on the back.

  Kendall’s face was painted with awe, like that of a child seeing his presents under the tree on Christmas morning. “Incredible,” Kendall gasped, staring as he blurrily twisted his hands backwards and forwards, like he was seeing them for the first time.

  “Why don’t you flash them a smile,” Draven invited.

  Kendall grinned wide, flashing his new fangs for all to see. The crowd collectively gasped, and Myreen absentmindedly ran her tongue over the long canines in her own mouth, which she hadn’t noticed until just then.

  “Do you see?” Draven announced. “We can end this war tonight. If you surrender now and swear fealty to me, Draven Denholm, leader of the vampires and future ruler of this world, I will forgive all previous transgressions and welcome you into my coven as hybrid vampires, just as I have for Kendall. No more shifter blood need to be spilt. So what will it be? Eternal life on the winning side, or a meaningless and merciless death? Choose.”

  Myreen looked around. All the shifters, students and teachers and parents alike, stood silent, passing questioning, panicked glances between one another. And all the vampires stood like statues, waiting.

  She had no idea if Draven’s offer was genuine. Adding hybrids to his army would make him infinitely more powerful, but his hatred for shifters was deep. She feared he would gather any who surrendered into a small confined space and simply slaughter them all.

  She watched everyone closely, scared for anyone that might be foolish enough to defect to the vampires. Despite the show of good faith the mer had recently given her, Myreen was especially concerned for them. If they joined Draven, they were in even more danger than if they stayed in the fight.

  To her relief, no one stepped forward. The uncertainty and fear that she saw on every face slowly turned to resolve, postures straightening to battle stances.

  Delphine emerged from the crowd of shifters on the grass inside the Dome, standing firm in front of the vampire militia. “For the Dome!” she shouted, thrusting her fist into the air and charging at the vampires.

  The shifters behind her immediately followed suit, and the two opposing armies crashed like angry waves, blood splashing into the air with the tide.

  “Death it is,” Draven’s voice echoed. “No one is to touch the siren. She’s mine.”

  And like a river flowing around a rock, the vampires zoomed past her, no one daring to so much as graze her as they passed. They flooded into the crack in the Dome despite Mr. Coltar’s rampage to keep them out. She wanted to turn around and fight them, to protect her fellow students, friends and mentors. But Draven leapt from his perch above the Dome and landed several yards away from her at the base of his water wall. He was waiting for her.

/>   She hated him. Everything he had said to her about not wanting to hurt shifters, about wanting to form a lasting peace, that had all been a lie. If his so-called trophy room hadn’t been proof of that fact, there was no denying it now. Draven wouldn’t stop until every last shifter was dead.

  She had to end this. Draven had to die. And she had to be the one to kill him.

  This was the moment the prophecy spoke of. She held onto it like a prayer as she trekked forward.

  “It didn’t have to be this way, Myreen,” he said as she squared her stance in front of him. “You could have joined my side. Been the daughter you were meant to be. The attack didn’t have to happen like this.”

  “So if I had stayed, you wouldn’t have come here and killed every last shifter?” she threw at him.

  He shrugged. “Not exactly. I would have offered clemency to those who surrendered, but yes, those who opposed would have inevitably been executed. Shifters are an unnatural disease of humanity.”

  “So are vampires,” she said. “At least shifters don’t have to kill to survive.”

  “No, but they kill anyway. Do you have any idea how many innocent humans have fallen to out-of-control weres? Or lost their lives fighting for the dragon causes? At least when we kill, we kill with purpose. Vampires are the superior species. We have unmatched intellect and powers that could steer humanity into the future. We are the rightful rulers of this earth. And you could have reigned by my side as the princess you were born to be. But you chose to die with the shifters who tossed you aside before they ever got to know you.”

  “Only one of us will die tonight,” she promised. “And it won’t be me.”

  He chuckled dismissively. “You know, it broke poor Tyberius’ heart when you abandoned him for the dragons. He has been inconsolable. He loved you, and now he sees you for the traitorous disgrace you are. He hates you.”

  That stung. She loved Ty more than she ever expected to. She wanted what was best for him, and the life Draven had groomed him for was so far from that. She tried to tell herself that it was okay, that Draven had brainwashed him so deeply, but still, knowing he hated her hurt all the same.

  “I’ll do right by him one day,” she said, more to herself than to Draven.

  “Yes, your death will serve him well,” Draven said with a laugh.

  “Enough talking.” She arched her wings offensively behind her and flung out the talons on her hands. “This ends now.”

  Draven crossed his arms and smiled. “Kendall, my boy. It’s time to prove your loyalty.”

  At this, Myreen’s eyes shot to Kendall, who stood a few feet behind Draven. Not like this, she thought, fearing what was to come.

  Kendall froze like a deer in the headlights, a conflicted look twisting his boyishly handsome face that had only been made more beautiful by vampire venom. He passed cautious eyes between Myreen and Draven.

  “Kill her,” Draven commanded.

  Myreen’s mouth went completely dry, and her heart galloped like an spooked unicorn.

  Kendall shook his head and stepped forward. “That was never part of the deal. You promised she would remain unharmed.” He cast pleading eyes on Myreen, begging her to understand this was not what he wanted.

  “She has chosen her side, therefore she has chosen to die,” Draven said. “And if you would like to stay on the winning side, you must obey my orders. Kill the siren.”

  Kendall shook his head even more desperately. “No, I will not.”

  A breath of relief rushed shakily out of Myreen’s nostrils. Kendall wasn’t completely lost after all.

  Draven looked sideways at Kendall with a mildly bored expression. “Love has made you weak. But you will obey me, whether you want to or not.” Myreen knew what was coming, and she was powerless to stop it. In his devastatingly melodic siren voice, Draven said, “Kill Myreen, or die trying.”

  A glaze came over Kendall’s eyes, his lids closing for a moment as the command set in. When his eyes opened again, his expression was deadly. True fear shot through Myreen’s chest.

  Before she had time to prepare herself, Kendall flung out his hand and a spear of water shot out of the water wall behind Draven and slammed right into Myreen’s chest, knocking the wind out of her.

  She crumpled to the ground, clutching her abdomen and gasping for breath. “Kendall,” she choked. “Kendall, snap out of it. You...don’t want...to do this.”

  But Kendall kept coming at her, throwing more water arrows at her, which she was able to sloppily dodge. She caught her breath and got to her feet, using her wings to absorb the blows that kept coming.

  In this moment, she felt like the helpless damsel she used to be. Like she didn’t have the power of three different shifters enhanced by vampire venom. Like she didn’t have any physical training at all. Because she didn’t want to use any of them against Kendall. Traitor or not, he was still a good guy, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.

  “Kendall, stop!” she yelled. “I don’t want to fight you!”

  Her cries fell on deaf ears. It was as if he didn’t know her at all. She was merely a target to him, and she was sure he’d stop at nothing to kill her. She didn’t want to kill him. She needed to make him stop, even if it wounded him.

  She arched up her right wing and flung it at him, sending feather-daggers shooting toward him. He lifted his hand and a water shield manifested in front of his torso, blocking the feathers. But one pierced straight through his foot, pinning him to the ground.

  He didn’t react. No cries of pain or even so much as a flinch. When he realized he couldn’t keep walking, he looked down at the feather with slight irritation. Then he bent down, gripped the razor-sharp feather and yanked it out, blood spilling down his hand as it cut through his flesh. Again, no reaction to the pain. He just threw down the feather and continued to stalk toward her as the gash in his palm healed.

  She summoned her siren voice and issued a command of her own. “Kendall, stop!”

  Kendall paused, blinking several times, and sentience returned to his eyes for a split second.

  “Myreen...” he grunted through clenched teeth, barely audible. “...R-run... I. Can’t.”

  “Finish this,” Draven commanded in his siren voice.

  At that, Kendall sprinted at her like a cheetah on the prowl.

  She had no choice but to flee. If she let him get hold of her, she’d have to kill him. But if she could outrun—or outfly him—she could spare him and focus on Draven. Draven was her true enemy, and she hated him even more for turning her friend against her.

  She sprung into the air, her wings adopting her vampire speed and making her a bullet in the sky. But something cold and wet latched onto her foot seconds after she leapt. It quickly swirled up her body, and she soon found herself fully engulfed by floating water.

  Myreen choked at the water that invaded her lungs and faltered, the seemingly living pool that surrounded her dragging her down to the water of the lake. She slammed against the water like smacking into glass, the impact momentarily rocking her.

  She struggled to regain her wits as the water intentionally drowned her, and as soon as she could reason once again, she split-shifted into a mermaid, her harpy wings still out. Her gills split into her neck, the skin there stinging for a moment at the speed of her transformation, as if the flesh had been sliced by a knife. But the relief at being able to breathe again far outweighed the pain. She inhaled deeply, the rapacious water forcing its way down her throat no longer bothering her.

  Kendall entered the water not far behind her, and she felt it like he was entering a part of her. Angling her wings like daggers, she shot through the water, desperate to get away. Her wings gave her speed, allowing her to cut through the lake like a torpedo. But Kendall was a far more skilled swimmer, having been raised in water from birth, and with the enhancement of vampiric speed, he caught up quickly.

  Frustrated panic sizzled through her. She wouldn’t be able to outswim him, and apparently
flying wasn’t going to work. She had to try her siren voice one more time.

  With frazzled uncertainty, she scooped her wings, spinning in the water to face Kendall. Calling on water was easier now than it had ever been, and she had no problem using it like a large fist to grasp Kendall, seizing his swim. He flailed in the water, squirming against chainlike currents that held him in place. She could feel him willing the water to let him free, but her will was stronger, fueled by desperation.

  Closing her eyes, she centered herself and summoned her siren voice with all the force she could muster. The strength of it vibrated through her bones, and when her voice left her lips, the timber of it sent ripples through the water around them.

  “You will no longer abide the commands of Draven Denholm. You are free from his influence from this day forward.”

  Like a rope snapping, she felt Draven’s hold over Kendall sever. The fog left his eyes completely, and he was himself again. He was her Kendall. Yes! she cried inwardly.

  “Now get as far away from this place as you possibly can, as fast as you can,” she ordered, knowing this may be the last time she ever saw him. But he had to get away. That was the only way he’d be safe.

  The command set in, and now free of her water bonds, Kendall dove forward, slicing through the lake.

  Her relief was overwhelming.

  Kendall hadn’t gotten far before water wrapped around his and Myreen’s waists and yanked them angrily out of the water and threw them on the ground like a whip snapping.

  Myreen floundered like a fish out of water, coughing at the dry air and forcing her gills to close and her tail to split. Kendall had shifted back to human form faster than she could, and he was quickly at her side, helping her to her feet.

  “Myreen, are you alright?” he practically begged.

  Too late, she heard the telltale whip of something shooting through the air, and Kendall’s eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat.

  “Kendall?” she asked in a shrill pitch.

  Kendall made a strange gurgling sound, then looked down at his chest. Terrified, Myreen’s eyes followed his to see a long black dagger-like feather protruding from his smartsuit, right through his heart. Over Kendall’s shoulder, she could see Draven standing sideways with his wing aimed pointedly at them, and she knew what must have happened.