by Sage, May
"Indeed. Although now may not be the right time to discuss terminology, sweet."
Levi sounded amused and rather patient, but his eyes, still set on the witch—wizard—were anything but. He looked like he might be wondering which one of his kitchen knives he should use to skin him alive.
"Did anyone contact Greer?"
"I'm here!"
They turned to find the witch running toward them, panting hard and holding her sides. If their attention hadn't been focused on the stranger, they would have heard or smelled her a lot sooner.
"Not all of us have superhuman speed, you know," she reminded them.
Mikar winked at her. "Holler next time. I'd carry you any day."
Bash was offended. Carry her? Carry her! What happened to hunting people down and telling them he'd drink them dry if he caught them?
Apparently, that treatment was reserved for him. Or for vampires, in any case.
"All right, what have we here?" she asked as she reached them.
"You tell me," Levi replied, teeth grinding.
Seeing him defer to her was…unsettling.
Bash had always noticed something strange about Greer's position. She was accepted among the vampires, be they ancient or youth, and she'd also been invited to a conclave, unlike any other witch in the territory. Blair and Gwen—Chloe's friends—hadn't even walked on the hill more than once.
But that difference only now really hit him. She was treated like someone who truly mattered. Someone Levi trusted and relied on, like the slayers or Alexius. Which was more than what Bash could say. At best, he was a child they had to babysit.
"A dude. An ugly dude."
"Oh, shush!" Chloe said. "That’s very superficial of you."
Greer shrugged, unapologetic. "I live around GQ model types. That dude is boring. Just saying it like it is."
"We don't care about whether you find the man attractive, Vespian. Is he a threat?"
"No."
"Yes."
The two replies had come at once, equally confident. Greer said no. Catherine disagreed.
The Whisper
Cat would have lied if she’d said she recognized the man at the border of Oldcrest; she'd never seen him. And if she had, she wouldn't have paid attention to him. He was one of thousands, a simple foot soldier of no consequence. But though she didn't know him, she could identify his energy easily enough.
"This place is sealed tight," Greer said. "It's held for over a thousand years against any intruder who hasn't been invited. There's no way this guy can get in."
Cat hated this. She'd planned to talk to Levi, but right now, it looked like she'd deliberately kept crucial information from them.
Which, admittedly, was exactly what she'd been doing. But only because she hadn’t realized that knowledge was relevant until recently.
"Maybe," Cat said. "Maybe not. Well, it might be easier to just try it rather than explaining. Greer, how are your shields?"
Greer grinned, somewhat cockily. "All right," she replied. Meaning, awesome, obviously.
"Okay, can you build one around you? As strong as you can make it."
The witch nodded, then tightened her hands into fists, calling her energy.
Cat had seen mages and witches at work, but never had she felt the air burst around her with quite so much force as the light gray mist that gathered around Greer, followed by a darker energy, black as night. It formed a perfect sphere and then disappeared.
But she could still feel it.
Magic generally came in colors. Calling one specific energy brought forward particles with a shape and tone. Only the strongest creatures could render magic imperceptible.
Come to think of it, Cat had never seen Greer practice any magic until today. And now, she was sure she never wanted to see it again. Greer was known as a gifted potion master, not a spell caster. Now Cat understood: the witch was studying what she hadn't already mastered.
The woman was terrifying.
Cat tried not to feel self-conscious as she called to her storm again, drawing it to her. Unlike yesterday, she didn't attempt to summon all of the lightning she could withstand. Just a small taste. But usually, that was enough. Cat wasn't a strong mage. The smallest effort zapped her energy.
Today, she found the summoning a little bit easier. Maybe practice did make perfect after all.
She gathered the energy in her palms and threw it right at the witch. A bright white blast flashed from her palm to Greer, and hit the shield for a fraction of a second. Just a fleeting instant.
Her bolt zapped the shield, cracking the wards open on impact. Black and white particles fell to the ground around a shocked, open-mouthed Greer.
The other vampires were silent, and she could feel all eyes on her. Some curious, others frightened. Most, suspicious. She tried to not let it get to her.
"I'm not a particularly powerful mage in my family," she told them. "But my brother could potentially destroy the shields around Oldcrest. So could my aunt, and some others. This guy"—she pointed to the witch beyond the shield—"is a weather mage, like your friend Gwen. Only right now, he's concentrating on the storm. He's testing to see if it could destroy the wards around Oldcrest. In a few minutes, he'll figure out that he can fracture the defenses just a little bit. And he'll report that to my aunt, which is all she needs to know if she's planning on ordering an attack."
"And is she?" Levi asked. "Planning an attack."
Cat looked down at her toes. "I don't know."
She heard Mikar snort. "I don't," she insisted. "If you think for one minute Drusilla lets me in on her council, you have no idea who my aunt is."
"I think the most pressing matter is what we do with this," Chloe said, eyes still on the mage.
Levi thought for a moment.
"If he never shows up, someone else will be sent in his place. I say we need a compelling voice to convince him of what he should say when he returns to his masters, don't you think?"
Cat winced. She knew Chloe didn't like her whispering. The ability to control someone else's actions was a gift most would kill for, but the young vampire was too sweet and honest to like it.
But she nodded before stepping forward, leaving the safety of their territory.
Cat had to admit she was rather surprised that Levi allowed it. That he let her put herself in danger. Most dominant ancients would have balked against it and attempted to coddle her because of her youth. Instead, he gave her room to grow, to learn who she was.
What she was.
"Hello there," she said sweetly, and though she was facing Chloe’s back, Cat imagined her friend was smiling. "Are you lost? I could show you the way."
The witch never had a chance.
Old Blood
"I suppose we'd better not delay this conversation any longer," Levi told Cat, who concurred. "Luke, cover the rest of her shift."
The assistant nodded.
"If Chloe is staying on the hill for the rest of the night, I'll cover the boy's shift."
Bash might have taken offense at being called a boy if it hadn't come from a creature quite as old and intimidating as Mikar. Besides, he had to admit he would have hated to finish his shift and miss what Catherine had to say.
Shit. He still had a hard time believing his eyes. To him, magic had always been logical. He'd studied it, and could understand the basics as well as any huntsman could. But there had been no logic to what he'd just seen. No rule or law. Only power. Infinite power.
They walked up the hill in silence, slowly, to accommodate Greer's pace. Levi led the way with Chloe, and Catherine and the witch followed close behind while Bash brought up the rear.
Greer stopped in front of the Beaufort house, watching the damage Catherine had caused the previous night. She looked at the storm mage.
"Damn, woman."
Catherine shrugged. "I couldn't have taken on Anika in hand-to-hand combat on my best day. Drunk, I had no choice. So, magic. I don't think she expected that from me. I
f she heard details about me from my family, they would have told her I'm weak."
Bash snorted. What he'd witnessed the previous night and seen just now against Greer's shields, along with everything he'd seen from her since they met, said raw strength. Control like he could only dream of.
In his mind, vampires like him were monsters. Trying to reconcile himself with what he was now was nigh on impossible when every glance in the mirror, every breath he took, every unguarded thought reminded him of his desire for fresh blood.
He'd never hurt anyone. Even as a feral, thanks to his friends drugging and chaining him. He had crossed no lines, the rational part of him acknowledged that. He'd come close with Maddy, but Catherine had saved him. He was doing his best. Would a monster try that hard? Probably not.
But ridding himself of his beliefs, of the knowledge he'd taken for granted his whole life, was no small feat. Telling himself he was anything other than a freak had implications he wasn't sure he was ready to face.
Because if a bloodsucker desiring blood—and trying to hunt a poor wounded girl—wasn't evil, then who was?
Catherine was no different. She'd either been told or convinced herself that she was weak. And she wasn't ready to hear otherwise.
An ocean existed between facts and beliefs. And to cross it, they had to voluntarily take the jump.
When they reached the mansion, Levi headed up the grand staircase. Bash had never gone upstairs until today. Actually, he’d barely spent any time outside of the study where he'd been turned. Following the master of the house, they climbed two flights of stairs and reached a floor that didn't even seem to be part of the same house.
It looked…simple. Wooden flooring, cream walls with modern paintings—a superhero in flight to the right, a fairy in psychedelic tones on the left. The space was entirely open, with an alcove separating the large bedroom from the study-library area, music corner with instruments, and a large elevated platform with marble flooring and a sauna.
The height of modern comfort and minimalistic design. White furniture, nice beige rugs.
Levi removed his suit jacket and hung it on a hook at the entrance of his living space.
"Excuse the mess," he said.
The bed was unmade, and a couple of mugs sat on the coffee table, but the room didn't look messy as much as lived in.
"You should see Catherine's room," Bash replied.
That earned him a punch on the shoulder. He laughed as the vamp glared at him.
"Take a seat. Tea, coffee, wine, brandy, rum, vodka?"
"Sounds like an epic cocktail. Can you mix it all?" Chloe asked.
Everyone grimaced, none more than Catherine. "After yesterday, I've had a lifetime's worth of cocktails, thank you."
"Ah! Anika mixed you some magic, did she?" Levi asked, heading to his wooden bar between the bed and study. "Shame it was addled. She's quite a good bartender."
"It tasted lovely, but I'll still pass."
Levi chuckled. "Understandable. What can I get you?"
Catherine and Chloe opted for wine, and when Bash replied “anything,” Levi made him his own drink of choice: a rum and Coke. They moved to the comfortable light brown sofa and armchair suite. Levi picked a loveseat, and Chloe hopped on his lap as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
They truly seemed to fit together effortlessly, like two halves of the same coin.
"I knew about the storms," Levi said, starting the conversation.
Catherine's eyes widened. "You did?"
He shrugged. "Your family and the rest of us may have grown suspicious and withdrawn to our own lands, but we were young once. And arrogant. Ariadne turned Drusilla somewhere around the start of the third century, if I'm not mistaken. I was one of Ariadne's slayers at the time, so I was there when she found a talented young air mage."
"The goddess has slayers?" Chloe seemed surprised.
Bash wasn't. He knew Ariadne kept four talented subordinates close to her at all times. Always four.
The huntsmen had hundreds of books about Ariadne, because while she was quiet these days, if she ever decided to cause havoc, she'd be one of the greatest threats Earth had ever faced. Her name was always said with a mixture of fear and respect, in that order. They hoped she'd never be an enemy. But they were prepared.
"Indeed. It's my understanding that her husband used to also keep four knights. She kept up the habit. In any case, Drusilla was talented but arrogant. These things often go hand in hand. Drusilla spent her first century challenging us—Jeremy Beaufort, Renee Rosedean, Tristan Helsing, and me—to show that she was better than us. She was under the misconception that if she won against us, Ariadne would pick her as a slayer. Eventually, she did win against Tristan, killing him in single combat. Instead of promoting her, Ariadne beat the crap out of her and told her to get out of Greece."
Bash's respect for the goddess went up a notch.
"No wonder Alexius doesn't like me," Catherine said. "My ancestor killed one of his."
Levi shook his head. "Oh, Alexius never knew Tristan. He was his…great uncle? I'm not certain. If Alex dislikes you, it's because he's…well, Alex."
No one asked him to elaborate. They weren't here to solve the mystery that was Alexius Helsing. Fortunately.
"She threw everything she had at us, and she could destroy any shield, any physical barrier. But she relied on her magic too much, and was weaker in hand-to-hand combat. Besides, calling her elements took time. It was easy enough to knock her down while she concentrated. That's why I seldom resort to magic myself," Levi explained. "I'm sure she's grown stronger with time." He shrugged, self-deprecating. "But then again, so have we all. Still, I'd wager she's stronger, and faster."
Why did he sound so damn matter-of-fact, relaxed even?
"So what do we do?" Chloe asked him.
Levi was staring at Catherine too intensely for Bash's liking.
"A few things can stop Stormhale magic, right, Cat?"
He knew the answer, that much was clear. He was testing Catherine, seeing if she was prepared to turn her back on her clan. Her family.
She nodded.
"Yes. Another Stormhale, for one. We're not allowed to fight each other with our lightning. If two powerful mages from my family truly attacked each other, the blast would burn everything and everyone in the vicinity to ashes."
"Indeed. And what else?"
She bit her lip, frowning a little. "Water. We're immune to most air magic, and lightning can't hurt us. But if we're in water…"
She didn't finish her sentence, gasping as she understood Levi's point at the same time as Bash.
"You could electrocute them all," Bash guessed. "If they turn up at the gates, you could flood them when they call their magic.”
Levi smiled. "The so-called lake behind the hill is no natural pool. It's a canal I carved. Not without reason. It’s a dangerous tool, because I’d risk hurting our side, too, but we’re not defenseless. However, with the Beauforts, all their mages, and who knows how many slayers, Drusilla could potentially take Oldcrest."
Shit.
"So, I assume we have a plan." At least, Bash hoped so.
"Indeed. We make alliances of our own. We have everything we need right here, but we're still missing trust. While the wolves stick to their borders and the vampires glare at the witches, the huntsmen stay among themselves. While we can't tell who might be working for the Stormhales, for the Beauforts, for the queen, it's unlikely that we can fight as one. I will need you to cross those bridges. All three of you, along with everyone else."
"I'm game." Chloe's quick agreement was unsurprising.
Catherine and Bash nodded.
Bash thought he knew what his mission would be. Talk to Jack. Speak to the huntsmen about opening up to the bloodsuckers.
"Good. Bash, I want you to start a self-defense class. In your spare time, you will train whoever wants to sign up. Level: beginners. Chloe, you will move from the dorm and take up residence where yo
u belong." She opened her mouth to protest against moving in with him, no doubt, but Levi ended his sentence, surprising them all, with, "In Skyhall."
The house at the very top of the hill that Eirikr had built, the house her ancestors had inhabited until they were slaughtered.
“Why? That makes no sense. How would that help at all?”
"The world is changing, ma belle. It changed when you were turned. There hasn't been order on this hill since the days of the Eirikrsons. We have dozens of queens, ten kings. The person who plays at being queen on her island never had a chance. Our world has barely acknowledged her until today. But now, because you and Tom changed, whether we like it or not, Night Hill is once again seen as the seat of power to our kind. We are the true immortal power in this world. And there will be challenges. From the Stormhales, from the queen, from the Drakes, the Helsings, the Beauforts, the Rosedeans, and just about everyone who believes they can take our seat. My family, perhaps. Making our allies believe they stand a chance will take everything we have. They won’t fight for a dream. But they might fight for a place in an empire. Our homes are kingdoms. The seats of power for each of our houses. The world sees them that way, so it's time we do, too. Skyhall is no house. It’s a throne."
"You're saying they will see more of a reason to fight if we reinstate the order. If I march into Skyhall and act like I own it."
"You do own it. If our students are afraid, they'll look to the Hill. Its strongest holdfast cannot remain empty."
Chloe remained silent, and Levi moved on to Catherine. "As for you—"
She braced herself, ready for the worst.
"You will start an afternoon tea club in your house on the hill."
Bash thought about their orders. "You're trying to make us seem less threatening."
"We'll always be a threat to our enemies. I'm trying to show our potential friends who we are underneath the violence and bloodthirst. It's time to open this hill. We're enough, if we're together. This is just the first step to uniting Oldcrest.”
Bash could tell Chloe was trying to work out a way to protest, but Levi turned to them. “You had something to say, Cat."