by V L Friends
“Hi, I am Samantha and this is my twin brother Simon,” the young girl introduced them. They must have been no more than 16 years old but old enough to drive, obviously.
“Hi, I’m Anaya,” I smiled.
“We know.” Simon gave me a wide grin.
“You do?”
“Ya, your name is being whispered throughout our community. The girl who raised the witch from the dead and led her to the Lord,” Simon said.
“Simon Adams! You are in trouble,” Sam burst.
Shock hit me. “H—How does anyone know about that?”
“Anna told us,” Simon said.
“She also told us that an angel led her to our prayer meeting on Friday night. That’s when she revealed what you had done. We all felt the shift in the spiritual powers of the area. Darkness lost a grip.”
“Oh my God!” I buried my face in my hands. “How many people know about this?” I asked, feeling the weight of this information. If the others found out what I had done to disrupt their power it would be bad for me and my family.
“Almost everyone,” Simon replied. “God’s power was demonstrated and hundreds of walkers, and even witches, are being set free. There are hundreds of people coming to our meetings now. Revival has broken out.”
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked with concern.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I said. I was in awe of what God was doing but at the same time, I understood the consequences I faced as well. Samantha and Simon could not possibly understand. I lived with walkers and would be facing the others tomorrow night at a party full of my enemies. I was their enemy now. I was also putting Caleb, Julian, and Lucian’s lives at risk as well. There was no doubt that trouble was coming to the Alexander family.
Samantha and Simon gave each other a questioning look, then they just fell silent the rest of the way.
“By the way, since when do you use cars?” I asked with a smirk.
Simon put his fingers to his lips. “Shhh, don’t tell. We borrowed this from a friend. It is a hybrid though, so at least it’s not adding to the pollution.”
I let out a chuckle.
Entering the large tent set up on the Amish property, I was met with the sound of the worship band practicing for that night’s meeting. People were already beginning to wander their way in early.
I spotted Jeremiah talking with another man who was dressed all in black. Black jeans, black T-shirt, and he even had on a black cowboy hat. He wore a wide belt buckle that said, “I ride for Jesus.” Jeremiah waved me over as he continued to talk with the man.
“Anaya, I am so glad you could make it. This is Tommy. He will be leading the meeting tonight. He and his rowdy bunch are a part of the cowboy church from another county over in Callahan City.”
Tommy took off his hat and held out a hand to shake mine. “Hello, Miss, glad to meet you.” His southern accent was prominent.
Jeremiah motioned me aside as Tommy retreated to another part of the tent.
“How are you holding up?” Jeremiah looked concerned as he studied me intently. What was he seeing?
I could only shrug. I wasn’t sure he would understand all the crazy stuff of my new world.
“Rosa, who works for Caleb as a housekeeper and cook, is a friend of mine. There is not much she misses. She told me of your recent developments in the Alexander household,” Jeremiah spoke.
My stomach leaped. He knows much more about the supernatural world than I thought. I noticed I had been holding my breath for some reason. Now I let out a huge sigh of relief. I wasn’t so alone!
“You know! You know who they really are, don’t you?” I said, not hiding my surprise.
Jeremiah nodded.
“We suspected a lot but never really had proof… that is, until Anna showed up and her entire coven told us all about the goings on. They all soon gave their hearts to Christ. I imagine that is not going to go over so well for the rest of the walkers and covens in the area. I wasn’t sure if they had found out about you, so that’s why I asked you here. I was afraid you might be locked away, or even worse, if any of them knew.”
“Caleb has hinted about knowing but gave no indication he is about to tell anyone, and Julian doesn’t know about what I did to Anna. He was the one who killed her. He did it in front of me!” It was overwhelming being able to tell him all this now. My eyes began to water and, to my surprise, sobs escaped me.
Jeremiah wrapped me up in his embrace. “It’s okay, child, you can let it out.”
I didn’t let go for what seemed like forever, then when I stepped back, wiping away my tears, I could only feel so much relief that I no longer had to carry this weight alone.
“Thank you,” I could only choke out.
“I don’t know if this will bring you much comfort, but this is going to get both worse and better. Better because many more witches and walkers are getting delivered. You have opened a door in the land for God’s power to flow. The bad part is that the warfare is about to get worse as well. Darkness is trying to build up their resistance. We must stay alert with our ear turned to God.”
I nodded.
Just then our talk was cut short by an announcement from Tommy that the worship was about to begin. I looked around the now-crowded tent. People were even spilled to the outside, looking in. Each person seemed to be full of anticipation for what miracles that night would bring.
At the end of the evening, I could not help but be full of joy for the things I saw. I had pushed away all my fear and simply believed that God would bring divine protection. That feeling of fear came back, however, as I was walking back to the car to get a ride home when I glanced in the trees to see a pair of familiar grey eyes peering out of the darkness directly at me. My breath hitched as I saw him turn and leave. Had he followed me? What did he witness? What would he do?
Samantha and Simon insisted on driving me all the way to my front door.
“It’s too late and not safe for you to try and sneak your way back home through the woods tonight,” Simon reasoned. “They probably all know you are gone by now anyway.”
I got out and, before I reached the top step, the front door swung open. There stood Julian.
“Well, look who decided to grace us with her presence,” Julian said then gave Samantha and Simon a wave. They rolled down the window and chirped a hello. “They seem nice. Why don’t you invite them in? You could introduce them to the pacing incubus in our kitchen,” he mused.
Crap! Julian was pissed.
“No! It’s late. Maybe another time,” I said with a hint of snark.
Julian gave Samantha and Simon a wave goodbye as he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me inside.
He whirled me around to face him.
“You, young lady, are so grounded!” He pointed a finger in anger.
I let out a snort.
“Where is Caleb?” I asked. I wanted to let him know I was okay.
“Surprisingly, he did not wait up. He is in his room,” Julian answered.
“You may want to find your way into the kitchen to let Lucian know you are home. He, along with myself, have some choice words for you,” Julian retorted, folding his arms across his chest and waiting for me to step toward the direction of the kitchen.
“The kitchen?” I let out a groan. “You mean, where you keep the knives? I’ll pass,” I said, heading for the stairs. “Look, I am sorry; I just needed some time with my friends, away from all this. I needed a little normalcy,” I lied. Where I had been was anything but normal. “I knew you wouldn’t let me go. I promise I was safe.”
Julian didn’t move but just kept glaring at me with disapproval.
“Look, I am exhausted. Can we please just continue this in the morning?” I pleaded.
“Fine,” he said. “But you are grounded to your room until further notice.”
“I am not a child!” I groaned.
“I will have no argument. Go.” Julian waved me away as he turned and walked away.
A
ll too relieved to get away from the brooding walkers, I jumped at the chance to escape to my room as soon as Julian turned his back on me. My heart was pounding. After seeing him in the woods watching me, Lucian was the last person I wanted to see.
I reached for my door knob but before my hand could make contact, an arm was around my waist and I was in the air, my back against a hard body. He also had me by the hair and was yanking my head back. I tried to cry out but was slammed against a wall and all the wind was knocked out of me. He then dragged me into another room at the end of the hall. Lucian’s room. Swinging me around to slam against the other side of the door when it was shut, a hand grabbed my throat and his body pressed hard against me.
“Do not cry out! Not a peep. Do you understand?” When I didn’t answer he shook my head against the door again. I nodded frantically as tears began to roll down my cheeks. The pain was minimal. I was mostly reacting to the roughness. Lucian had never been this rough with me. Things were changing between us and I was scared.
With his hand loosely gripping my throat, his other hand opened and an orb of light came from his palm and turned into hundreds of little lights that covered every wall in the room.
“It would seem that you have been keeping some very important facts from me, my little dove,” he snarled next to my ear, then pulled back an inch but still held my neck.
“Now that I have thwarted this room, we will not be heard or disturbed tonight. You will answer every question truthfully without attitude or hesitation, or I will punish you. Am I clear?”
I nodded, wordlessly, trying to choke back more tears. He released me and stepped back.
“Sit.” He gestured to a chair.
As he paced around me I answered all his questions and found myself telling him everything. I tried to resist once but he instantly knew. I saw a pendant in the necklace around his neck glow when I lied so I assumed his magic was how he knew when I lied. He produced a thin, long cane and threatened to pull me over his knee to strike my backside while I screamed. With one look I knew he was serious. I flinched when he grabbed for me and immediately spat out the truth. The lie was about how much Caleb knew. I tried to keep him out of it but, well, I couldn’t.
When I was finished he sat down on his bed and was quiet. My back was to him but I could hear his heavy sigh and feel his gaze on me.
“Lucian?” I choked out, not knowing if he would silence me or not.
“Hmm?” he hummed.
“What will you do with me now that you know?”
“Now that I know what you are capable of?” he finished.
I waited with dread in my veins.
“You are a threat to my kind. You are the most feared weapon. A baby still, but nevertheless a weapon. I will do the only thing I can do.”
Swallowing hard, I braced myself, knowing that I would likely never make it out of the room alive.
“Become your master,” he said with a sly grin.
That was unexpected.
“W—what? How?” I turned to look at him.
“Well, first…” He paused and began removing his watch and unbuttoning his shirt with a wide grin and a wink.
I turned away to hide my horror. He would use his spell to compel me into sleeping with him, then there would be a soul tie. How would I resist?
God help me. I felt suddenly dizzy, feverish, my head was pounding. I tried to stand to go to the bathroom, then everything went black.
I came to and heard a loud crack and wood splitting. Julian had broken through the wall and through Lucian’s wards somehow and was hovering above me, then I heard more crackling and loud banging, along with shouts.
Julian had Lucian by the throat.
“This is unacceptable even for you, Lucian!” Julian yelled.
“Do you really think you can keep her safe? It is better that she come with me now. When they find out they will label her a threat. She needs to be controlled! She needs a master! I am the best choice. No one will question me!” Lucian’s voice sounded so confident.
“Don’t be ridiculous; she is a weak human with a few undeveloped gifts that amount to nothing in our world! She is no threat!” Julian snapped.
“You know nothing!” Lucian said, but before he could say anymore Caleb interrupted.
“This is pointless to argue with this seducer and traitor. He only wanted her for himself so he could have his way. You should have known better than to trust him, Julian! We don’t have time for this. Lucian, get out before I forget that I am a gentleman and kill you myself!”
I felt warm hands pick me up and Caleb’s soft voice in my ear before it went dark again.
“Shh, you are safe now.”
I awoke to find myself cradled in Caleb’s arms. We were in his room.
“Caleb, what happened?” I asked, gaining back my strength.
“You passed out. Anaya, what were you doing in Lucian’s room?” His voice was stern with suspicion.
“He dragged me in there by force to question me,” I whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear.
“Really now? That slime!” Caleb grumbled.
“Caleb! He knows everything! He knows you know as well!” I felt a tremble inside me. “He was planning to become my master, Caleb. What the heck does that mean?” My voice was still shaky.
Caleb’s lips tightened as he shook his head from side to side a few times. “That will never happen, so you best not know.”
“What do we do?” I asked.
Caleb straightened and calmly turned to me, lifting my chin with one finger to look at him. “We move forward as planned. We go to the party, you meet Louis to show him that innocent smile to distract him, and when that is done, you and I will disappear.”
“What about Lucian?” I asked.
“Leave him to me,” Caleb said with a look of authority that I had rarely seen in him.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“He will never hurt you again.” He touched my cheek and I felt a warmth in his gaze, then it turned to a stern look. The look in Caleb’s eyes caused me to shudder. I decided not to question Caleb further, as I knew I would get no more out of him.
“Now, I do believe you need your beauty sleep, my dear,” he said, changing the subject as he pulled the covers on his bed down.
Chapter 9 - The Ball
I heard a gasp as I descended the stairs. Julian and Caleb were waiting at the bottom of the stairs, eyes widened. Their looks made me feel both nervousness and irritation. I was irritated at their look of surprise, as if they could not believe I could actually look so nice. I was nervous at the pretense of being someone else for a night, and I wrestled with my own doubts about pulling it off. All this fancy dress-up stuff was not who I was. My nerves made me edgy and I could not help but give them both a threatening glare to be sure I covered my bases of warning them not to tease me. Lucian was absent and I silently thanked God for that. The idea of him being there looking at me with his predatorial eyes roaming my figure made my face flush at even the thought. I wasn’t sure what exactly happened but Lucian’s things were gone and Julian mentioned as if in passing that he had “moved on.” I was relieved, as it was all I could handle just keeping myself in control of my temper around Julian’s condescending smirk. This party had my stomach in knots as it was. As if noticing my predicament, Julian leaned to whisper in my ear as he draped a shawl around my bare shoulders.
“Remember to breathe, love, or you will pass out and that may not make a good impression. Then again, your delicate self in a heap on the floor will definitely present you as a non-threat,” he chuckled.
My dress was a form-fitting, long, strapless, off white, silk, delicate garment with beading on the bodice. It gave me that bride look, adding to that whole pure, innocent illusion. This was Julian’s idea but Lucian picked it out, saying it was exactly what he saw me wearing on my wedding day as he gave me a wink in a suggestive way that made me feel like there was some secret he had. I shoved the idea out of
my mind. The idea that Lucian knew anything about my future was preposterous.
“Don’t be nervous. Just be yourself. Well, the less volatile, ladylike version of yourself, preferably… but yourself.” Julian had to be snarky even now.
Inhaling deeply and letting it in one long sigh, I resolved to view this like another adventure.
“I can do this,” I mumbled to myself as I took Caleb’s arm.
I found everything fascinating about this place. The party took place at the most extravagant mansion, complete with a giant crystal chandelier and circular staircases. As soon as I walked in, eyes were on me. One person after another seemed to be demanding my attention or whisking me away for a dance. We hadn’t been there but an hour when this very distinguished man came up to me and introduced himself. He was beautifully tan with wild blond curls crowning his head and his tiny laugh lines at the corner of his sky-blue eyes made him look to be a man in his thirties, but the youthful smile and bright eyes made him look even younger. He flashed me a bright smile and I was intrigued immediately.
He took my hand and, instead of kissing it like all the other men I was introduced to that night, he turned it over and pressed his lips on my wrist, making my face flush.
“My name is Finn. It is such a pleasure to meet you, my dear,” he said. I felt tingles run from my wrist all the way down my arm and down my spine, then heat filled me instantly and I was a little light-headed.
From that point on I felt an unfamiliar heat burning inside me, making me uncomfortable. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that last champagne. Wait, was it champagne? Finn never left my side; even when Lucian interrupted our dance to cut in, Finn did not stray far.
I couldn’t concentrate, as my attention was always drawn to Finn.
“I do believe our plan is working,” Lucian whispered in my ear as he pulled me close for a slow dance.
“Huh?” I couldn’t believe I was so distracted I barely realized I was dancing with my enemy.
“I am not your enemy.” Lucian’s look was serious. I couldn’t tell if he was reading my facial expression or my mind. He gave me a look of pain but then it was gone. Was he even capable of reading minds? As far as I knew, he wasn’t, but nothing would surprise me about him anymore.