by Colt, Shyla
He stopped in the doorway where Cyprian stood in front of an easel. “What’s going on?” he asked, bewildered.
Cyprian chuckled. “It must seem odd to you. It’s art day. We have a few days during the month where we replenish our stock to take into town. It helps to keep up appearances. A home full of artists who don’t produce would garner unwanted attention.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Crewe leaned against the door frame.
Cyprian continued his steady brush strokes on the once blank canvas. “You have questions?”
“It’s an unusual family. I have a hard time imagining how it was formed.”
“You’ve seen the strange effect Rainer can have. Is it hard to believe she fashioned us?”
“I want to know more about who I’m fighting beside. You two give the impression of being extremely close.”
“We found one another first. No,” he laughed, “that’s unfair to her. She found me.”
“And you listened without ripping her throat out?” Crewe asked skeptically.
Cyprian sighed. “I wasn’t in the mood to eat a perky eighteen-year-old girl, who looked twelve on that dreary day in Oregon.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Moreover, she reminded me of my soeur, Mariot. We all have our sensitive spots, no?”
“That we do.” He’d been right. There was no romantic link between the two. Simply a strong familial bond. Storing the new information, he began to form a deeper understanding of the vampire. A resemblance to his long passed sister would be plenty of reason for a vampire to give a human a chance to get closer than she should. The mind could play funny tricks.
“Mariot died in a famine. As much as I tried to keep her alive, her constitution proved to be too weak. She’d always been a bit fragile.” He stated the words like facts, but Crewe sensed the grief behind them. “I could not save her. There’s hope yet for Rainer.”
“Why was she traveling alone that young? It’s a bit unusual for a human that age, isn’t it?” Rainer possessed a vulnerability that needed to be guarded.
“Yes, but Rain had no other choice. You heard the fate of the women in her family. Her father and his new wife felt heavy medication and an institution were the best ways to deal with her. She disagreed. So, she ran. The more she trusted her gift, the better she got on. I think that time shaped her into the woman we know.” His stern tone indicated show and tell were over.
“You love Nakeeta?” Cyprian asked bluntly.
“Yes.” Denying the obvious would be wasted energy.
“It’s a dangerous thing, allowing our emotions to connect with humans. Their life spans are short.”
“And yet we both know love is not easily controlled,” Crewe countered.
“Oh, oui, mon ami.” Furious strokes continued to bring the fall scene on the canvas to life. Brilliant oranges, yellows, and greens highlighted the changing leaves on a large oak tree. They stood together in silence as he soaked up the often-elusive peace they’d managed to create in their home.
Satisfied with his talk, Crewe moved through the house, to gather more information. He needed to know the people he would fight beside.
After the betrayal in England, he was low on trust. Keeta’s laughter echoed from a room down the hall. He followed the light-hearted mirth and found her seated beside Lavina. For once, her bitter disposition was gone as she worked the foot on her potter’s wheel. The misshaped lump of clay in Keeta’s hand must be the cause of amusement.
“Looks like you need to practice,” Crewe remarked, alerting the women to his presence.
“Yeah, a lot,” Keeta said with a laugh.
“Cyprian told me, it’s art day?”
Lavina gave a tight smile. “Yes, we don’t need the money, but it keeps us uninteresting and under the radar.” She shrugged.
“What are you making?” He slipped into the room, noting her sudden rigidity.
“With fall coming, I’m making cauldron bowls and mugs.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s silly, yet people love them.”
“Smart. How do you fit into this family?”
“Crewe!”
Lavina waved Keeta off. “No. He’s entitled to inquire on our background.”
“Is it me you don’t like, or another vampire in your territory?”
She had no problem with the others or Nakeeta for that matter. Her lips pressed into a thin line. “A bit of both.”
He simpered. “At least you’re honest. How have I offended you?”
“Your regime upsets me. You play like you’re nice, but the truth is your people are just as ruthless as the rest.”
“My regime? That’s a powerful word to use. I’m one man.”
“Dregan.” The name flew toward him like a poison-dipped arrow.
“What quarrel do you have with my sire?” The words were out before he could think on them.
“Even now, you’re chomping at the bit to do his bidding blindly. Perhaps, he’s not the man you believed him to be. Hmm?”
The words added another black mark to the man he’d all but worshipped. “What did he do?”
“Slaughtered innocents without batting an eyelash.”
“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific than that.” He’d known the man for eons. Her accusations sounded bogus.
“And yet, I don’t see him anywhere near you. Doesn’t seem as if you trust him.” Her words taunted him.
“You know nothing of what’s passed between me and my sire.”
“And you’re not offering up details.” She stopped her wheel and stood, hands coated in clay. “Your sire ordered the death of an entire coven of vampires.”
“Why? You’re leaving out details.”
“Because some of them dared bend the rules. We were before our time, forging a future between witches and vampires. He caught wind of it and felt threatened.” Her voice warbled. “So he sent his reapers.”
“I’m not aware of this.”
“It’s the only reason I can stomach working with you. Maybe your sire kept a lot more than this from you. I barely escaped with my life.” She shuddered.
“Is this true?” Nakeeta turned toward him, stunned.
“I don’t pretend to be bevy to all the dealings my sire has,” he muttered.
“Why would he do that?” Keeta asked breathlessly.
“The threat. Look at what we’ve done without trying. This sharing of power would be perceived as highly dangerous. If anyone knew that, and they sensed an uprising, it would be squashed immediately, and held up as an example.” The thought sickened him now. Would you have thought this before Keeta? No, he would’ve seen the action as self-preservation.
“Who did he send?” Crewe spoke around the knot forming in his throat.
“Niall.”
The words hit his chest like a two-ton truck. The vampire hated witches and had a cruel streak a mile long.
“I will never forget the screams that rang through the village as my mother ushered me to freedom. I had a brother. She refused to leave him behind. I never saw either again.” Her eyes glowed red with anger. “If I ever come into contact with him, one of us won’t be walking away.”
“He’s not a vampire easily bested,” Crewe cautioned.
“I’m a survivor with a grudge. Never underestimate what I’m capable of.”
Her voice was an arctic blast.
“He is not Niall, Lavina.” Keeta stood between them. “I understand you’re angry. But keep in mind, Crewe was not there. We can’t afford the animosity. I’m sorry about what happened to your family and your village. It’s everything we’re fighting to stop. Crewe isn’t the enemy.”
Lavina blinked. “Of course.” She returned to her wheel sedately. “I apologize if I made it seem I believed he was.”
The jovial mood he’d interrupted lay in shattered remnants.
“I’ll leave you two to your art.” He excused himself and left the room. Has Dregan been working against me the entire time? Did I lead him straight to Keet
a? The thought sickened him. In need of air, he swiftly exited the house and took to the woods. What had he been a part of? How can I know who to trust? Mind racing, he stalked the forest. The sound of rabbits in the brush caught his ear, and he let go.
The beast exploded outward, shutting down human thought as he tracked the rapid heartbeat, and footfalls. Snatching the fluffy-tailed brownish animal up, he sank his fangs into its neck. The hot blood flooded his throat, and the beast purred in contentment. He pulled away, lowering the limp body to the ground as he licked his lips clean. Letting go was dangerous. He needed to control his emotions. Shoulders slumped, he closed his eyes and felt a gentle tug deep in his mind. Kaz?
The call was fuzzy and muddled, like a radio station out of range. “Crewe.” His name wavered.
“Why aren’t you asleep? Crewe asked. It was unheard of for a vampire to be awake when he was gone to ground. It was meant to be their version of hibernation.
“Get … Come … Get.” The connection snapped like a rubber band pushed beyond its elasticity.
“Keeta, did you feel him?” He reached out to through the bond.
“I did. It was him.” Her response reassured him. “The question is how?”
“We need to speak with Rainer.” Hiding the rabbit, he returned to the house.
* * *
Gathered in the parlor, he sat in a large, green velvet armchair with Keeta perched on his lap. Her nearness and scent helped him keep a tight grip on the restless beast inside of him. Knowing his friend—his brother—was in distress and aware of being underground, disturbed him.
“What happened?” Cian asked.
“I heard Kaz, in my head.”
A cry of anguish spilled free from Rainer. “No.”
“You never told me how Kaz figures into all of this,” Crewe pressed them further.
“I dreamt of Kazimir.” Rainer sipped her tall glass of sweet tea.
“No offense, love, but I have a hard time believing that would’ve been enough for him.” The man hadn’t survived by being gullible.
“No. Not at first.” Rainer’s fingers tightened around the glass. “When I showed him what I saw, things were different.”
“What could you possibly show him?” Crewe squeezed Keeta’s hips.
“Memories from his past I couldn’t have access to, and the future. When I connect to people, I can glean a bit of their past.” Rainer looked over his shoulder, seeing what he couldn’t. “Some more than others.”
“And how did Kaz respond?” Crewe had a hard time picturing the elder dealing with this pint-sized sprite.
“He came to know the truth.” Her words felt evasive.
Crewe frowned. “And how is it Kaz contacted me?”
“A spell. It took all of our energy to keep him awake. Your systems aren’t built to resist the call to go to ground when it’s needed,” Cian said.
“And now. He’s … what? In limbo? How is that better?” Crewe’s shoulders tensed.
“No.” Reagan shook his head. “He should be dreaming.”
“Impossible.” Crewe scoffed.
“You still use this word after everything?” Silver lifted her eyebrows.
“We cast a spell. I was worried he’d be aware in the darkness. This way, he would dream instead. We allowed him to revisit his favorite memories. It serves a dual purpose. The good thoughts would give him a fighting chance at overcoming the darkness we set loose inside of him.” Rainer’s voice shook.
“The madness?”
“Yes, it’s there for all of you in varying degrees, we just … accelerated it,” Cian answered.
“What do we need to bring him back?”
“I don’t know if we can,” Reagan admitted.
“Not acceptable,” Crewe snapped.
Keeta squeezed his arm. “Walk us through the spell.”
“You need to know he understood the risks involved. He didn’t go into this agreement blindly. He went bravely.”
Cyprian’s words reinforced Crewe’s assumptions. He wasn’t going to like this. Temper mounting, he listened as they described manipulating parts of his aura.
“You turned him into a ticking time bomb.”
“He was already there,” Lavina snarled. “We’re all hanging on to the ledge by our fingernails.”
“Speak for yourself,” Crewe countered.
“Must be nice to have a human shield.”
Crewe had Lavina pinned to the wall by her throat before she could blink. “You go too far. All this time you’ve prayed to find the savior who’ll fix your problems, and now you can’t stand the fact that she has a vampire mate. Do you hate what you are so much?”
Lavina’s lower lip trembled.
“You can’t hide behind your hate for what’s been done to you. I see the disgust every time you eat.” Sneering, he scented her shame. “How long have you been hating the skin you’re living in?”
“I didn’t ask to be this creature.” Lav’s voice wavered.
“And you can be of no use to us until you reconcile with yourself.” Releasing her, he watched as she slid down the wall. “If you attack Keeta in word or deed, I won’t hesitate to retaliate.”
A sob broke the silence of the room. Her shoulders shook as the dam inside of her burst.
“She was a witch before,” Silver informed him. Her brown eyes were full of pity.
It made sense.
“We’re going to search in the book for an answer to Kaz.” He twined his fingers with Keeta’s and pulled her from the room. The weight of things she wanted to see pressed against him through their bond. Still, she held her tongue, until they entered their room.
Keeta sighed. “Do you think that was necessary?”
“I think it was a long time coming.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“If you want me to feel bad for hurting her feelings, I can’t. She’s not the only one with a fucked-up past, and yet we prevail and move forward. If she’s not an asset, she’s a liability.”
“That’s not you talking.” She pressed her palms against his chest.
“Then who is it?”
“Your past, Dregan, and all of those pretentious trumped up rules you’ve lived by for far too long.”
He turned away. “We’re all creatures of habit. Change is hard and terrifying. Lord knows you and I have experienced more than our share in a short amount of time, but we can’t shut down or regress. Did you hear what they did to Kaz?” he asked.
“He agreed to it because he knew, like we do, that this is about much more than ourselves. I don’t think Lav was the only one hiding behind anger.”
He ground his teeth together. Under his skin, in his heart, and mind, she saw the things he didn’t want to.
“I’ve spent my life dedicated to a man I thought had honor. If he’s guilty of betraying us, it will all be a lie. What do I do with all of the wasted time?”
“Make up for it by living a life on your own terms, fully awake and aware to the plights and realities of life.” She cupped his face. “My mother often told me there are no mistakes, only lessons. It’s not a problem until you repeat the same bad decisions. When you got me away from the battle, you made a conscious decision to be on this side of the war. It’s something to be proud of.”
How could he tell her it was all for her?
“I might be your catalyst, but I’m not your only reason. You were separated from your humanity. We’ve got you back online now.”
“You think the best of me when I don’t deserve it. I think you’re blinded by love, witch.”
“Prove me right, vampire.” She nipped his bottom lip. “We’ve got a book to look through.”
Chapter Eleven
KEETA
“Let me make sure I understand this correctly. We’re going to cast the spell from the book to locate the map, and then use the energy level we raise to break Kaz free?” Regan asked.
Keeta nodded her head. “I couldn’t have explained i
t better myself.”
“You’re insane,” Cian stated blandly.
“Maybe. Are you up for it?” Keeta asked.
“What’s a little more peril on top of everything else?” Cian shrugged.
Laughing, Keeta punched Cian’s arm lightly. “I knew I could depend on you.”
“Rainer?”
Her eyes took on an unfocused appearance. “Yes, it’s the right thing to do.”
“What I want to know is how you plan to do this.” Silver crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.
“We’ll amass a huge amount of energy during this spell. Before we close the circle and release it, we’ll use it to call him to us.”
“If the call is powerful enough, it could work,” Crewe said skeptically.
Keeta rolled here eyes, opting to ignore his pessimism.
Rainer stood. “It’s time to call the others.”
“We’re not the only ones who believe in the movement. We communicate remotely online,” Lav explained.
“They haven’t been vetted. I don’t like the breach in security,” Cyprian argued.
“If we don’t, it’ll be the four of us against who knows how many,” Silver said. The willowy woman’s voice carried in the parlor. The power behind it shocked Keeta. She rose, a warrior fairy, ready for battle. “The time for playing it safe is over. I’ve already been in contact with them. They are ready and awaiting our command.”
“You had no right,” Cyprian exploded. “You could’ve brought them straight to us.”
“They know only that we’re in the southern states. I was careful. I’m not an idiot, Cy.”
“I told her to.” Rainer’s voice was so soft, Keeta almost missed it. “I saw it, days before Keeta arrived. What’s to come can’t be survived without them.”
“Tell us what you saw.” The demand in Reagan’s voice was so unlike him she turned her body to see his face. The normally easy-going façade was ruffled. His cheeks were flushed, and his hazel-colored eyes flashed a deep green.
“You might’ve been next in line for the coven in your parents’ tiny town, but you run nothing here.” Cyprian’s cool voice doused his anger.