She tiptoed over the holes in the flooring and avoided the debris left behind after what had to be decades of dilapidation, and eventually found the doorway. She opened up, half expecting Marcus to have come to stop her, and got her answer as to why not as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she saw what awaited her on the other side.
Silent, motionless bodies were stood side-by-side in her way. They blocked the stairs leading all the way down and were each naked and lined up like some kind of firing squad were about to take them down row by row. But Wynter knew otherwise. She’d been told all about the hordes of mindless, soulless vampire soldiers Marcus now commanded thanks to him having killed Camilla and taken them from her sired vampire heirs.
The few dozen she could see seemed to be asleep, or in some kind of stasis, and Wynter guessed they were waiting on one of two orders from their master. To feed or to do his bidding.
She risked a step forward and peered down further into the bowels of the huge building, and could see nothing but more rows of heads. It seemed never ending and Wynter shuddered as she brushed past one and felt the cold rush into her bones at his touch.
There had to be thousands in there too. Each one a killing machine.
She stepped back, instinctively moving away from the creatures she knew would pounce should she dare take another step forwards, but found her way barricaded by another wall of vampire soldiers.
Marcus’s chosen handful of guardsmen were blocking the door and she turned and glared up into the eyes of the alpha who was towering over her. “Move,” she hissed, and was met with nothing but his lifeless stare.
Wynter tried barging past but it was no use. He was like a brick wall just himself, but with the others huddling close they were an impenetrable blockade she had no hope of getting through until they were ready.
She opened her mouth to ask again, when the huge vampire reached out and grabbed her by the throat. He was so quick she couldn't register the swift movement until he was already squeezing the life out of her and Wynter grabbed his hand, trying to pry herself free. The alpha responded by tilting her backwards and she began shuddering with panic as she teetered back on her heels and then further, directly into the sea of awaiting vampires.
The moment she was amidst them, those closest few sprung to life and started grabbing at her. Their icy hands ripped at her clothes and Wynter jolted with every contact their skin made with hers, and all the while she couldn't say a word thanks to the death-grip the huge alpha had around her throat.
It was only when he lifted her out again and flung her back through the door that Wynter realised none of the vampires in the stairwell had actually drawn any blood from her. They had to have been ordered not to harm her, but still, she was terrified.
Wynter curled into a ball on the dirty floor and began crying into her hands. She stayed that way until she heard Marcus calling to her from the door to her bedroom.
“Oh, my sweet. I have a gift for you…”
“I don’t want anything from you, Marcus,” she croaked in answer, defiant to the last, but then lifted her head to look at him.
That was when she discovered he was not alone. The Priestess was standing beside him, her red shroud back in place, and on his knees at her feet was a man who’d been bound at his hands and ankles. He had his head down, but Wynter knew right away who it was.
Jakob.
Her one and only love, he was here? She wanted to ask a hundred questions as to how and why, but knew she couldn't give the game away. Not yet. Not while Jak was already in a bad way.
She needed him strong and ready to fight, and she would fight by his side if she had to. Wynter knew it was time. Now or never. She would be forced to do whatever it took to get away and would gladly do so, even if it meant doing the unthinkable and taking her life in order to sever Marcus’s bond with her.
Brodie had told her he would appear whenever her life was in danger, but did that include suicide? She couldn't know, at least, not until the time came, and by then she had a feeling she’d want to end it all. That she’d be ready.
She only hoped the jinni would let it happen. That he’d consider his duty over and allow her go.
Twelve
Marcus watched Wynter unfurl herself and climb to her knees and then feet. She was wobbly but refused to lean on the vampire soldiers still within arms’ reach as she returned to him. He’d been right to order the alpha to scare her. She was a frightened wreck and appeared to be in some kind of shock too. Her eyes were wide, pupils dilated.
Why hadn’t he thought of that kind of punishment sooner? She was damn near perfection in her sorry little state.
“He told us everything,” the Priestess informed Wynter, who couldn't hide her surprise before daring to brush it off as though she had done no wrong.
“I’m leaving and neither of you can stop me,” Wynter countered, but Marcus didn’t quite believe it. She wasn’t strong enough to leave. If she was she would’ve risked climbing down those stairs through the horde below, but instead she had retreated.
Wynter reached them and Marcus watched her every move, waiting to see if she responded to Jakob’s presence in the way a merged soul mate might do. She didn’t so much as register him. Instead, she seemed focussed on his Priestess and Marcus watched enthralled as Wynter approached and went to her. With shaking hands she then reached out and put her palms over the witch’s belly. “I knew it,” Wynter whimpered, having clearly felt the small round of her pregnant stomach, and Marcus grinned. He was reminded of the day he’d spent watching them enjoy their sexuality together. Two beautiful angels, and yet one who had hid a secret all this time.
When had she realised the truth behind who was truly beneath that shroud? Clever thing.
“What is it, my love,” the Priestess replied. She hadn’t put it together yet and Marcus was surprised. Her intuition was usually second to none, yet it appeared Wynter was one step ahead of her this once.
“Yes I am your love, aren’t I? A friend. Someone who has opened up to you. Relied on you. And you betrayed me, Marcella. You played me.” Wynter didn’t wait for a response. She simply reached up and pulled back the hood hiding the Priestess’s true features beneath to reveal she was indeed correct. Marcella was exposed, staring back at Wynter with a befuddled look.
“I saved your life too, don’t forget,” she countered.
“You also got me into trouble and even drugged me.”
Marcella couldn't deny those things and so just smiled. All pretence was over and Marcus watched as Wynter too forgot all about the niceties and considered her with a venomous look.
She then turned to him and that malice grew stronger. More resolute. “And you,” Wynter demanded with a scowl.
“Me? What have I done?” he asked, feigning innocence, but Wynter clearly wasn’t playing his games any longer. She didn’t hesitate, nor did she falter as she stepped closer to him and pointed a finger at his chest.
Marcus continued to grin down at her, but he could tell she truly was done with being scared. She’d crossed over the threshold where her fear still dominated her actions, and instead she was standing up for herself once and for all.
He’d be impressed if he weren’t so fucking infuriated.
***
“You’ve beaten me and forced me to submit to your every whim, Marcus. But no more,” Wynter told him, glowering up into his bright blue eyes. Something truly had snapped within her and she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Not anymore. Not when he had her cornered and everything was on the line.
What was the worst they could do, kill her? She welcomed it.
Jakob had talked, or so Marcella had said, but she didn’t believe that. He wouldn’t give her up so easily no matter what the witch had tried. He was undoubtedly used to the scare tactics and torture methods by vampires across the globe and there was no way he would break. Not him.
As if he’d felt her presence, Jakob stirred and managed to shake off whatever fog was cl
ouding his mind. He then jumped to action and made quick work of snapping the binds holding him down, before he then put himself between Wynter and Marcus, seemingly on instinct.
“You heard the lady. Back off,” he growled, and it was all Wynter could do not to reach out and hold him. To put her hand in his and kiss him and welcome him home. She finally felt whole with him near. It was as if the missing piece of her heart was back again, and she yearned even harder for her freedom.
She would be leaving today. No matter what.
“Oh, she’s going with you is she?” Marcus demanded, and Wynter could see the pent up aggression firing behind his eyes. He was about ready to explode, but she was ready too. She wanted this standoff to happen more than anything, regardless of the repercussions. It was time this ended.
“I made her a promise. Her freedom in exchange for mine, and I'm here to make sure she gets it. This ends now, Marcus,” Jakob replied, his body a wall of anger and power, and Wynter had to fight every urge within that was screaming for her to reach out and grasp him tight.
His words made sense now too, and the lie he’d woven was clear. Marcella thought she and Jak had simply come to some kind of arrangement. It was insane though. All the stories she’d heard about bonded souls being so obvious, and yet they refused to see what was literally right in front of them. How did the formidable vampire and his Priestess still not know they had merged? That they were bound to one another for eternity, and two halves of a whole?
It was insane.
“And if I refuse?” Marcus replied, just as she knew he would.
He was too smug, as usual. Too sure of himself. He always won, she knew, but not this time.
“And what makes you think you have any say in what happens to her, assassin?” Marcella asked, her face still cold and dark. She was far from the friend Wynter had thought she knew and she felt a pang of sadness spear her heart. She really had been alone this entire time. Been manipulated and used by everyone, most of all the two people standing before her.
The realisation made her desire to leave grow even stronger. She needed out of this hateful relationship, and wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Because in spite of all your efforts to break me, I’m still my own person. I’m still me. Not your puppet, and not your lover,” she spat in answer to them both. Frustratingly, her words seemed to have little affect on the old vampire. He simply watched her, glaring down into her face as he seemed to muddle over how he wanted to react.
“You think you can run off and be free? That’s not how this works. Plus, even if you did get away, you might find yourself free of me, but not for long,” Marcus replied, looking down at her chest, “you're dying, Wynter. Can’t you feel it? Can’t you sense the life seeping out of you with every passing moment? Are you that blind?”
She knew exactly what he was referring to and, while he was right, she smiled still. Wynter was no fool. She knew he was talking about Brodie. The creature living within her had to be taking more than his share of her life force, but she welcomed it. Readily gave him all of it. And why the hell not? If she couldn't be with Jakob then she’d readily die at the hands of the jinni who had saved her more than once already.
He’d protected her when she’d needed it and had healed her wounds, and had probably been kinder than anyone she’d met the past few months. Well, the only exception to that was Jakob, but he was currently in just as much peril as she was. They would not leave one another again, either by getting away or by letting death take them, but at least they'd be together.
“I welcome it,” she hissed, “better death than be forced to stay with you any longer.”
Marcus ignored her.
“Your only option to get rid of the jinni is to be sired as a vampire, my sweet. I can do that for you. We can forget all about this nonsense and move forward. Let me guide you. Be your mentor and master into the afterlife and beyond.”
She wanted to laugh at his audacity. Marcus was fooling himself if he thought she would accept his offer, and she shook her head no. There wasn’t a chance in hell she would let anyone sire her other than her soul mate.
“You’re right. The only way to free her from the jinni’s hold is to sire her, but I'll be the one to do it, Marcus,” Jakob groaned, clearly thinking the same thing as she was. “It’s time you let her go. You’ve taken more than enough.”
“So it's down to a choice is it?” he answered with an amused smile, and Wynter cringed as she saw a flash of deviousness cross his face. He wasn’t going to play fair, it was clear as day. “Me or you?”
“Just let me go, Marcus. Please,” she tried, but he didn’t so much as look at her. He was still glowering at Jakob and the pair of them looked like they were about to fight.
On instinct, she stepped away, but Marcella quickly moved and blocked her path. She gripped Wynter by the back of her neck, her lithe fingers yanking at her scalp, and it burned with the sting of it. For someone so small, she was stronger than Wynter ever could’ve imagined, and after one more yank that felt as if it were ripping the hair from its roots, she fell to her knees and looked up at Marcella through tear-filled eyes.
“You don’t get to leave while we’re in the middle of a conversation, my love. Not when it’s about to get so very interesting…” she informed her, using that deep and ominous voice Wynter still found freaky.
She then released her grip and sunk into a crouch beside her so that she could whisper in Wynter’s ear. “I’ve figured out your secret,” she said, and Wynter’s stomach dropped. “I had premonitions of your future, you remember? There were so many variances depending on which path you chose, but one in particular kept on haunting me. One I refused to believe.”
She stroked Wynter’s hair, so gentle, as if she hadn’t almost ripped her scalp to shreds a few moments previously, and she shrugged her away. Wynter didn’t want Marcella touching her. In fact, she didn’t want her anywhere near her and tried to turn her face away, but the Priestess reached out and gripped her by the chin. She yanked her face back around and glared into Wynter’s eyes, her face thunderous. “Marcus wanted to turn you, but I begged him to merge with you. The full moon was the turning point. I knew this, and yet it came and went without either of these things coming to pass. And so I knew you had to have chosen one of the other paths I foresaw. My prophecy was right, wasn’t it? The full moon came and you ran into the arms of another man. You merged with him and fell in love. That’s why Camilla didn’t kill you when she had the chance.”
Wynter felt like she was about to pass out. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think straight. All she wanted to do was fight, but there was no way she would be strong enough.
“I told you, we just had some fun.”
“Liar,” Marcella growled before shoving Wynter away. She fell against the cold, hard ground with a thud and looked up as Jakob, having clearly heard her fall, turned his back to Marcus and reached down to help her.
He had to have moved purely on instinct, but Wynter knew it was foolish of him to turn his back on their two foes. It was too late for her to cry out for him to stop though, and her eyes widened in horror when she saw Marcella’s hands reach up around his neck.
It was like slow motion, and yet she was still powerless to stop it. Marcella was stronger than anything she had ever known, perhaps even Marcus, and also more cruel.
She seemed to sense Wynter’s fear, but rather than put her at ease, she snapped Jakob’s neck like a twig and all while watching her with a wide and sinister smile.
The sound of his head almost coming clean off his body was deafening, and when he slumped to the ground, Wynter began screaming uncontrollably. He couldn't be dead. He’d told her before it wasn’t so easy to kill a vampire, and so she rocked back and forth on her knees beside him, waiting for him to jump-start back to life, but there was nothing. He was limp and lifeless, and now there was nothing to stop Marcus from having his way. She wanted to curse Jakob for letting his guard down, but knew it was
her fault he had. She had made him weak.
When she’d calmed down enough to speak, she glared up at Marcella and then to Marcus.
“I will never do as you ask,” she told him, “I’d rather die than let you sire me.”
“Then choose death,” Marcus answered with an unperturbed shrug, “but you shall remain my prisoner until that time comes. You will pass through to the other side unloved and with no one to mourn you. While I shall move on and forget you ever existed.”
Wynter shook her head. She somehow knew he was lying. The realisation that she’d merged with Jakob had hurt him, but of course he’d never show it. Never just be honest and tell her the truth.
But there was one saving grace at least. One hope she could cling to. Wynter could tell how her soul was still merged to the lifeless vampire lying before her. If her instincts were correct, he was not dead. Only bested. He would come back to her in time, and so Wynter chose to let another of her instincts guide her instead. A voice within her was whispering words in her ear. Reminding her that there were laws regarding love and honour among the magical kind.
A vow had been made between her and Jak that could never be broken.
Plus, another deal had been struck with an even more powerful being who was still hiding himself away. Biding his time. And there was a strange urge rising to life within her. A new desire. The voice was calling to her. Guiding her.
She knew exactly who was doing the talking and what she had to do.
“You're an unconvincing liar, Marcus,” she replied with a small laugh as Brodie’s words in her head began to make sense, “because death is not an option for me, is it?”
He remained silent and still, but she saw the shock on Marcella’s face and knew she was right. All this time they had let her believe that Brodie would drain her dry before leaving her to die, but it wasn’t the case.
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