It didn’t matter though, because I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell I would do anything to harm those I cared about. They were my crew—my family. And my lover.
The corner of my lips tipped up. Then I bit down on my smile as my eyes met Max’s. He returned my smile and gestured for me to pay attention to Nessa.
Following his gaze, I focused on Nessa and her hand, which she held palm up toward me, waiting for something.
“Uh…” I said, not sure what was going on.
Nessa shook her head, clearly knowing where my mind was. “I need the key.”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly as I passed her the key. Emptiness consumed me the moment it was out of my grasp. It was as if a piece of me was missing. And now that I knew, it clawed away at me.
Nessa began chanting in a language I didn’t understand—words that made no sense. An energy that seemed to come from the ground cloaked me in a warm, fuzzy bubble. My whole body relaxed with complete contentment, the magic lulling me into a state of peace.
The key glowed, starting off as a small pinprick of light within and quickly growing with intensity until it was a brilliant aqua light. Then, without warning, she slammed the crystal key against my chest, piercing my skin.
I screamed out in pain as what felt like fire ripped through me, spreading through my body like wildfire. My feet lifted off the ground by no action of my own, my back arching as every nerve in my body burned until I could barely breathe. Then, just as suddenly as the tsunami of pain had started, it subsided, quickly draining from the top of my head until it reached the tip of my toes.
And it was gone.
My feet touched the ground, giving me a connection to the earth I’d never felt before. Energy flowed through my body as if I were attached to a direct supply from the source—the earth. I no longer felt any pain from the wound across my leg, and… There was something else I couldn’t quite explain. Something had changed in me. I could feel it in every fiber of my being. A connection to another force—a power that had previously been hidden from me. In the distance, I could see the veils between this world and the Shadow World.
Nessa held the key out to me, and I took it, only mildly surprised when I no longer felt a connection with it. All its previous magic was gone and now resided within me.
As I turned to my family, hushed whispers spread through the crowd.
Stepping out of the circle, I strode over to my friends, thankful I was still me, just a little harder to kill. “What about my eyes?”
Finn stared at me, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “They’re blue.”
No shit. They’d been that way before.
“Ice-blue,” Max said, a look of awe in his eyes.
“And they glow,” Mason added.
Now that was new.
Nessa came up behind me. “They’re that color because Kali’s at one with the earth and the magic within.”
I knew then that everything Nessa said was true. I was now on the right side, representing everything that was light, whereas the Society represented everything that was not. I couldn’t help but hope Lana hadn’t known and could be trusted. But when it came down to it, this was a war we were fighting, and we all had to pick sides and deal with the ramifications.
But first, I was getting back my mom.
Prophecy Untold
A Vampire Hunter Novel
Copyright © 2019 by Kelly Carrero
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, characters, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Created with Vellum
1
Being the one and actually knowing how to bring down the veil that separates Earth from the Shadow Realms were two totally different things. I not only had the power and the ability to send the demons away for good but also to bring my mother back to this world, something I’d only dreamed of for so long.
There was an ancient magic flowing through me, powered by the earth we stood on. It connected me to this world and was supposed to allow me to cross through into the demon world, the Shadow Realms. And now, I had to learn to use my blessed powers to break my mother out without setting the demons free. Plus, I had the whole not having a clue how to actually cross through the veil thing going on as well.
I’d thought there would’ve been some ancient memories installed in my huntress’s magical cells that made me, me. But I was just like an infant, having no idea how to use the legs I was given to walk.
Thankfully, I had the help of Nessa and her coven, The Circle of Embers, to teach me to draw on my abilities and use them for my will. But they didn’t know how to do the kind of magic I needed to know. That stuff was kept for the huntress and had been lost over the years. The idea was that they would teach me what they knew, hoping it would allow me to test the limits, opening up the world to me.
My hands glowed a soft blue as my fingers trailed the lines of the scars down Max’s chest, trying to attempt a healing spell far out of the league of the witches surrounding me. They probably shouldn’t have started with Max. My mind would never be fully focused on the task when I literally had my hands all over him.
My brother Mason had a few scars from his time with the vamps, but they were nothing compared to what Max had going on, and Nessa wanted me to start out big, not work my way up. Plus, Mason had the whole wanting to keep his scars as some kind of war trophy thing. Secretly, I thought he just wanted proof he had been in a vampire lair and survived the attacks. Great story for the ladies.
Max hitched his breath as he stared down at me, a mixture of caring and anger swirling in his blue eyes. He hated his scars but, at the same time, wanted to keep them as a reminder of the betrayal the Society had shown him. They had been responsible for his attack and then covered it, allowing him to believe he was working with a group of hunters who were trying to stop attacks like that from happening to anyone else.
It was a real kick in the gut for everyone involved.
His chest heaved with anticipation under my touch, once again breaking my concentration. Making sure to keep one hand on his godly body, I twisted around to face Nessa and Liam. “Maybe I should try this on my father. You know, I could treat his drunken ass.”
Nessa sighed, the twitch of her lips showing me she knew exactly why I wanted to use my father as a test subject. “As much as I’d love to say you can help your father, there’s no easy way to fix what is wrong with him.”
I slid my hand down to Max’s abs and almost forgot what the conversation was about. “Isn’t it just like healing the sick, because alcoholism is supposed to be a sickness?”
“You’re right and wrong. Yes, you can cure his addiction, but you and I both know he will go straight back to the bottle so he doesn’t have to deal with life without…”
She didn’t have to say it. We all knew my mother was the reason why he chose to numb himself. Unfortunately, us kids were not enough for him to want to live. And I hated him for it.
Max covered my hand with his. “You can do this.”
My gaze fell on him, heeding his words. He was right. I could do this. I needed to do this. If I couldn’t perform simple magic—even if it wasn’t so simple for the others—there was no hope for me to rescue my mother, hold my own against the other demonic huntresses, and save the world.
A twang of pain hit me in the thigh as I remembered what that bitch had done to me. If Lana hadn’t helped me get away, the demonic huntress would’ve killed everyone I cared about, even the man who now stood before me, who held my heart, and I his.
I would not let those I cared about become liabilities.
Clearing my thoughts, I focused on the scars covering one side of Max’s chest, trying to decide which one to heal.
The answer was easy. He wanted to remember everything that had happened to him, and I could only heal one part of him that had been dead for so long. His heart.
Grounding myself, I drew the energy from the earth, my lips parting as it swirled around me, further igniting the magic within me like kerosene to a fire, amplifying it until my hair was swaying softly, blowing in the non-existent breeze.
I could’ve kept going, but I didn’t want to use more than necessary.
Remembering what Nessa had taught me, I moved my hand in soft motions as if fondling the most delicate of balls in the palm of my hand. Okay, so she may not have used that terminology, but I was sticking with it.
A ball of light began to form, growing brighter with every movement I made. Then I pressed the tips of my fingers over his heart and watched, mouth ajar, eyes widened, barely believing what I was seeing as the angry scars directly below my touch receded until there was nothing left but his bare, perfect skin.
I pulled away before I did any further damage to his…damaged skin. The irony wasn’t lost to me.
Max ran his hand over his chest, his gaze hardened by memories that haunted him. Eventually, he raised his gaze to me, the corner of his lips tipping up into a smile. “Cute.”
“Cute?” I asked, eyebrows raised. “How about unfreaking believable? Or you’re so friggin’ awesome, Kali? I can’t believe you just erased my scars as if you were healing a tiny scratch.”
Mason leaned over my shoulder and whispered loudly in my ear, “I don’t think your head needs any more inflation.”
I twisted around, about to punch Mason in the stomach when Max snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, my back leaning against his bare chest.
I let out a sigh, unable to stay mad when I was in his arms.
Mason was lucky.
Then again, so was I. Those days without Mason, wondering if the vampires had killed him, had really made me appreciate the relationship we had. Plus, there was the whole “both of us seeing Mom and secretly sneaking off to save our father” that we bonded over.
Now I just needed to work on my relationship with my older brother Finn. There had to be some common ground we could tread, where he respected my lack for authority and I respected his need for it.
It kind of made it easier now that I was in my full huntress element.
Max splayed his hand across my stomach, the tips of his fingers slipping under my top as he leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Thank you.” He pressed a kiss against my temple, making my insides turn to mush. He wasn’t afraid of a little PDA, and I was surprised by how much this boy could care. A few weeks ago, I hadn’t thought he was capable of love. Not that we’d ever gone as far as to use the L-word. We were taking things slow. Well, as slow as someone in our positions could when there was a very good chance that any one of us might not live to see another day.
The thought of that made me feel sick to my stomach. I couldn’t let the Society win.
With her hand on her hip, Nessa said, “Well, that was a success. Now, we need to move onto the next one.”
“Is this where you’re going to show me how I can freeze someone in midair? Because I really think we should move onto some battle magic. Better yet, if you could show me how to blow someone up, it would save a lot of time.”
An amused expression crossed over her face. “There is no spell that will allow you to combust a vampire with the flick of a wrist.”
Damn it. Nothing was ever easy.
“What I can teach you is how to put up a wall.”
I frowned, remembering how the demonic huntress was able to incapacitate me. “What good is a wall if I can’t move?”
“The wall will protect you from any magic, leaving you free to attack.”
I slumped against Max’s chest. “I guess that will have to do. Yet another thing the others will have over me because I’m sure they’ll know how to do the wall thing.”
Max rested his chin on the top of my head. “Cheer up. By the time you’ve finished learning what Nessa shows you, you’ll probably be able to figure out the other things on your own.”
“Max is right,” Nessa said. “You should be able to conduct elemental power that’s far beyond our abilities and command more than we and even those under demonic possession can. They’re not connected to our land the way you are, and they never can be while evil lives inside them.”
“Then where do they get their magic from?”
“It lives inside of them, but it comes from a different place. With the help of their conjurers, like Orphelia, they harness what they can and use it to their full advantage.”
Stepping out of Max’s embrace, I tried to contain the hope building in my chest. “Let me get this right. Not all of their magic comes from the demons or the Shadow Realms. Some of it is taught by Orphelia?”
“That is correct.”
I stood there in silence, trying to figure out what my gut was telling me. If Orphelia knew the lost magic, there was a chance others did, too. And I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I was missing something big.
If only we still had someone on the inside.
I wished Lana was that person, but even though she had saved my ass, it didn’t mean we could trust her with something so huge. It didn’t mean we could trust her at all.
Then again, I was no longer at risk of being possessed by a demon, as I’d already gone through my transition. But there was a very big risk that whoever that possessed huntress was, she would be waiting for me. For all I knew, they could’ve had an army of them.
Next up came the magic wall. Nessa showed me what I needed to do, and just like that, I blocked an attack from Liam.
“Push it harder,” Nessa yelled at me from her front-and-center position.
With one foot in front of the other, I focused on the invisible wall separating Liam from me and drew the energy of the land, contorting it into something I could use. The energy running through me was like an electric current making my skin buzz from the power within. It swirled through my body, waiting for my command. Then, just like before, I channeled the magic and threw it toward the wall, my hands glowing the same color as my eyes.
The wall rippled from the power I thrust toward it, quickly growing, morphing into a wave about to crash down on Liam.
“Give it more,” Nessa yelled, her eyes wild with excitement.
And I did. The power that rushed through me was indescribable. And with it came a sense of peace and harmony. I could feel the majestic nature of the land, strong and powerful.
It was mine to control.
2
The wave crashed down over Liam, encompassing him in a dome of semi-transparent light, his magic having absolutely no effect on the shield I’d trapped him inside.
“Pull it back,” Nessa said, still grinning, her eyes lighting with excitement.
Doing as instructed, I reeled the magic in, drawing it back into my body, connecting it with my soul before releasing it into the earth.
Disheveled, Liam ran his hand through his dark hair as he strode toward me. “That was intense.”
Nessa came up beside him. “That’s one word for it.”
I bit my lip, trying to wave off the ache in my stomach that I’d recently learned was thirst pains. And it wasn’t for water. “Does that mean we’re done for the morning?” I bounced from one foot to the other, trying to put a plug in my desires.
Max threw his shirt over his shoulder as he stood from the rock he’d been occupying while watching me do my thing. “I think you better let Kali go have a…refreshment.” He was my new head cheerleader, followed closely by Mason. Finn was still coming around—or so I kept telling myself—and the others… they accepted what I was but weren’t as accepting of my needs.
I tried to squash my smile, but it came across anyway, baring my fangs for ev
eryone to see. Just the thought of sticking them into a vampire in the dungeon was making them come out to play.
Mason came up beside me and rested his elbow on my shoulder. “You know, Kali could just put you inside a dome…”
Loving that my baby bro had my back, I smirked, playing with the idea of actually following through with his suggestion if Nessa tried to get me to stay.
Nessa sighed. “Go. But be back here in an hour.” She gave me a stern look before heading toward her refurbished shipping container home.
Brimming with excitement I could hardly contain, I turned to Max and Mason. “I’ll come find you in a few.” I took off.
“Wait up,” Mason called after me.
I chose to ignore him, hoping he’d decide to leave me alone to feed. I hated when he came to watch me, or support me as he liked to refer to it. Really, it was kinda painful—and shameful.
Mason had said it didn’t bother him, yet I couldn’t help but feel for him and what he went through during his time with the vamps.
I raced down the stairs to the dungeon, where I now had three feral vampires on tap, chained up in separate cages.
Stopping at cage two, my eyes dilated and my fangs elongated in anticipation. The smell of blood lingered in the air, driving my desire to an animalistic level I could barely contain. I entered the code to unlock the door, swung it open, and stepped inside with walking blood bag number two.
The second I entered his domain, he charged for me, the chains around his arms and legs almost giving him whiplash. His feral eyes bulged as he snapped his teeth at me, like an animal who was backed into a corner, fighting for its life.
Not having time for his shit, I punched him in the face, knocking him into the side of the container. He slid down to the ground, his head falling to the side, exposing the thrumming vein in his neck as the other two vampires’ screeches rang through the air, making me wince. We really needed to get this place soundproofed.
Shadow Realms- The Complete Series Page 33