Fated Realms: (Witchling Wars: Vampire Echelon Book 2)

by Shawn Knightley

  The vision ended before I even had the chance to blink an eye. Tobias seemed the same as he had been a mere moment ago. He didn’t see the vision like I did. Eli didn’t show him. What he shared with me was for my eyes only.

  Was this something Edmund saw? Did he pass it to Eli to pass on to me? Or was it something Eli foresaw and saw fit to share with me?

  It didn’t matter. This was what things had come to. I would battle against Victor. And I wasn’t certain if I could win.

  Eli withdrew his hand and walked a few paces away from us, carving his finger into the air to enter a vixra tunnel to go home.

  He faced us once more before leaving with his head held high and his posture as straight as ever. But he wasn’t looking at me. His words were for Tobias. “By the way,” he said in a deep monotone voice, “Victor used the tunnels without vixra permission. And he wasn’t alone. He has your woman. The luxra.”

  My heart didn’t beat anymore but that didn’t stop it from nearly plummeting from my chest and falling to the ground. “What do you mean?” I asked hurriedly. “We both saw the head of Gandira. He says he has Lenora.”

  “I only know that the tunnels were misused. Discovering why is entirely up to you.”

  With that Eli entered the tunnel without looking back. It sealed shut in a matter of seconds leaving me completely dumbfounded and Tobias ready to tear into something.

  I was right. Victor had been working with Gandira. His treachery knew no bounds. Now I had to find out why.

  9

  The next thing I knew Tobias had latched his hand onto my wrist and was practically dragging me into the cavern’s entrance. My eyesight adjusted to the darkness as he led me away and through the tunnel buried deep in the mountain. I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t even try to stop him from taking hold of me. I just let him. I could sense his anger. Only he couldn’t sense mine. Although, it wasn’t as potent as his. And how could it be? I didn’t have the history he had with Lenora.

  When we reached a private area that I assumed was where he rested given it was so well put together, he took me by my shoulders and shoved me against the wall. I crashed into it harder than I expected.

  “What was that for?” I shouted. “Don’t take this out on me! I’m trying to help you.”

  “Don’t!” he hissed. “I don’t want you helping if it means you taking risks like you did back there.”

  If I were still part human I would have sighed. The most I could do was release the tension in my shoulders. His accusation wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Not now. We had bigger problems to handle rather than being petty with one another.

  “You know Eli will protect us as much as he’s able,” I grunted. “He’s done so for you before back when you had favor with the vixra.”

  “I’m not talking about Eli. I’m talking about what you did at the Gandira facility.” He paced back and forth. I had never seen him like this. He was always so sure of himself. Steadfast and strong in every single decision he made. Or if he wasn’t, he didn’t show it. He was faltering. And it wasn’t like him. “I’ve never seen someone wield magic the way you did back there. We don’t know what you’re capable of yet or if this amount of magic can harm you in some way. You can’t use it recklessly.”

  I wasn’t even sure how to soak in those words. A vampire was telling me that I was being reckless. A trait vampires might be known for but I wasn’t used to being labeled. “Recklessly? I was trying to save your coven. Our coven!”

  ‘My god. He wasn’t afraid of me back there. He was afraid my magic would hurt me.’

  Why did he care so much? It baffled me. And above all, it was confusing. This man practically abandoned me. He forced me to leave with absolutely no intention of ever coming to find me. Most times when I thought of him over the centuries I wondered if that was always his intention. If I was just another girl to him. One that he could use and toss away just like he did with human women. I’d seen him do it over the years as I watched over the Catach-Brayin for the vixra. I saw the way they looked at him. It was the same way I looked at him so many years ago. It taught me a valuable lesson. I wasn’t special to him. Only his eyes, his emotions, his entire being was telling me a completely different story at that moment.

  Perhaps his failed pursuit of my descendant Harper Ashwood taught him a much-needed lesson. If he kept doing that he was going to spend eternity alone. And I was well aware of his tricks.

  He got closer to me. The frustration running through his body was so potent that I thought it might knock me over if he got too close. He didn’t let that stop him. He placed both his arms on either side of me. Just as he did in the alley near 16th Street Mall. Only back then he was trying to intimidate me. Now he was trying to get through to me.

  “You swore an oath to be my partner in all of this,” he said sternly. “You can’t do it if you end up dead because you used too much magic that you can’t control. At least not yet.”

  ‘I might not be a pro but I think I’ve done well handling it so far.’

  “Isn’t that what turning me into a vampire was all about?” I asked with a tilt of my chin up to meet his penetrating glare. “To protect me with immortality so that won’t happen? What’s the point of me having all this power if you’re going to dissuade me from using it.”

  “I don’t want to stop you from using it,” he said with a clinch of his jaw. “I want you to use what you need and only what you need. Don’t overwork yourself before we even know how much you can handle at once.”

  “I’ll use as much as I see fit to protect the coven and to protect you.” The words came flying out of my mouth so fast that I didn’t even have time to consider them. They filled me with more surprise than they did him.

  I don’t know why I let him but in the next moment, his forehead was resting on mine. It was the most intimate gesture he had done since he came back into my life. Even more so than when he kissed my wrist in my vision. Because this was real. This was him reaching out to me. I remembered exactly what it felt like when he was this close. At least as a human. He was cold to me then. Only now we were both so cold that I felt nothing when I touched him. No freezing cold skin or goosebumps running up my spine. There was only him. And the one emotion I could feel as his frustration faded into the background stunned me. Regret. There was so much regret. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was for me. Did he regret letting me go and leaving me alone to fend for myself in a foreign land all those years ago?

  He took my cheek into his hand. For the briefest moment, I thought he might do the unthinkable and try to touch his lips with mine. He never got the chance.

  “I figured there was more to the two of you than meets the eye,” Liza said from the other side of the door.

  He moved away from me in an instant, sweeping off his regret and replacing the same tough reserve I was used to seeing.

  “I’m so pleased you decided to grace us with your presence, Liza?” Tobias asked. “Now you better have news for me because you’ve already made the mistake of interrupting.”

  “You’ve never needed a formal introduction before, master,” she complained as she rounded the door and stepped inside.

  “That’s because you have been among my inner circle from the beginning. But you have a long way to go before Georgeanna begins to put her faith in you. Especially after what you pulled at the Red Rocks Amphitheater.”

  ‘How about that? He’s standing up for me again. Against one of his warriors no less.’

  Liza stood up a little straighter, clearly not liking where this was going. She obviously knew Tobias well. Perhaps for decades. She didn’t like the idea of having to get acquainted with a woman she never agreed to lead her.

  “I know where Lenora is,” she said in a monotone voice. Tobias’s mood shifted in an instant. “Happy I interrupted your little moment now?”

  “I don’t appreciate your sarcasm,” he said. “You better start explaining right now.”

  “Tusker has taken her to
a cabin in the woods farther west of here close to Vail. She’s being held there by his men.”

  Something in my mind jolted, almost like I was being shaken. The room vibrated.

  No. That was just me. I felt the vibrations in the room change as soon as Liza started speaking. I moved away from the wall and edged closer to her.

  ‘You have to be kidding. I can’t possibly have the ability to… to…’

  “What else did you learn?” I demanded.

  She hesitated to say anything but I knew having to obey me was killing her on the inside. She was losing her confidence. And her reassurance. Maybe I even made her a bit nervous. She opened her mouth to speak but waited to actually say anything.

  ‘Confirmed. I’m making her nervous. Good. She needs to be nervous given what I’m about to do.’

  “I arrived at the facility in Telluride but Georgeanna already blew it to pieces. So I followed the helicopters after they left using the vixra blood you gave me, master,” she said to Tobias, trying to pretend as though she was following his orders to continue and not mine. “I know where the cabin is. I can take you there. It isn’t too heavily guarded. Maybe we can even get Lenora back here by sunset.”

  The last few words of her sentence didn’t come out properly. She was stammering. And the more she struggled the more the room seemed to vibrate at the sound of her words.

  “She’s lying,” I said softly. “I can sense it.”

  Tobias reacted so fast that I didn’t know what to make of it at first. He rushed to Liza, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her up against the wall. Liza’s feet dangled below her as she started to panic. I watched as her bottom teeth clenched with her fangs. She knew better than to struggle too much. To showcase any resistance against her coven master wouldn’t end well. That didn’t stop her from showing how displeased she was with being treated in such a way.

  “If you value your place in our coven, you will tell us the truth right now,” he ordered her. “And you better hope that I feel forgiving afterward.”

  Liza considered his words. Even I could see she was struggling. Her emotions didn’t reflect her actions even in the slightest. She didn’t want to anger him. She didn’t even want to lie to him. She was rotting inside. It didn’t make any sense.

  “Let her down,” I said gently.

  Tobias flashed an irritated glare in my direction. “Let me handle this,” he said. “I’ve had to deal with traitors inside my ranks before.”

  “Perhaps not for the reasons you think,” I told him, taking his shoulder into my hand and giving it a light squeeze. “Let her down.”

  He did as I requested even though every instinct inside of him said not to. Which was some sort of consolation about how he valued my opinion I suppose.

  Liza brushed back her hair out of her face and shut her mouth so her fangs weren’t showing anymore. That didn’t stop her from giving a little grunt when I got closer.

  ‘I get it. You don’t like me. But you will obey me.’

  “Stay still,” I said to her as I placed my hands inches away from her head on both sides. Then I closed my eyes and let the scarlet red glow of my magic pierce through my palms. It proved enough to just let it stay there and not allow it to touch her. She instantly started to calm down. Her anger dissipated. Well, as much as a vampire is capable of having their anger dissipate. A quality I only understood after becoming one. Perhaps it was this anger that gave vampires healthy aggression to stay alive over the centuries.

  Her eyes flashed in a different sort of panic. Not because she was being held against a wall by Tobias but because she needed to speak and let something out. Energy that had been held inside of her for far too long and withheld by someone else. She looked from me to Tobias and then back at me again.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, seeing me with new eyes once she realized what I had done.

  “I don’t understand,” Tobias said. “What just happened?”

  “Shhh,” I said to him. “Will you permit me more?” I asked Liza.

  She gave a gentle nod.

  I let my magic slip toward her skin and softly touch her. Not too much and not too little. Just enough for me to gain a bit of insight into her mind. Her memories. I unlocked what I could only to see Victor’s face looking back at me through her eyes. I let the vision take over my mind as I waited to see if I was correct in my assumption. Then I let my magic slowly seep back into my palms and lowered my hands.

  Tobias remained as patient as he was capable, waiting for me to speak.

  “As it turns out,” I said facing him, “you weren’t wrong, Tobias. My magic has more power than just being destructive.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, wishing I would get to the point.

  “Victor lured you into forgetting what he did to me in my first life. How it was him who imprisoned me. His crowning magic allows him to lure other vampires. And now Victor lured Liza to tell you that she found Lenora so he could set another trap for us. He also helped Tusker set the trap up at the facility. He wants both of us taken alive.”

  “But why?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe Tusker and Victor made a deal. A few experiments on a luxra and a touch of her magic in exchange for handing her over to Victor in the end for his own means.”

  Tobias shook his head slightly, trying to understand the depth of the situation. “How do we know Liza’s not being lured anymore?” he asked me.

  “Because I broke it. She’s free of him now.”

  Liza seemed to relax a little knowing she might have a chance of not being punished for something that obviously wasn’t her fault. “Will that have a lasting effect?” she asked. “Can he lure me again?”

  “I don’t know. I’m learning this as I go.”

  Tobias snickered then stepped closer to Liza. She seemed like she was ready to burst with words but could only stand there with her mouth hanging open, trying to find the right ones.

  “I…,” she stammered. “I tried to come back to the coven months ago. I tried to find you,” she said to Tobias. “Victor stopped me. He told me to make a scene however I could to draw you and Georgeanna out of Denver.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Because he needs the two of you. He always has. You’re part of something he’s planning. I think I might know what it is.”

  We both waited for her to continue. She seemed paralyzed by the realization that her thoughts and actions were finally free of Victor’s control. Whatever tension there was between the two of us vanished from the air. Even the atmosphere seemed to change on some level. I wondered if Tobias felt it too.

  Liza, on the other hand, looked relieved. Like she had seen the sky again after months of being imprisoned in a dark cell.

  “I heard stories when I was growing up in Europe. Stories of a link between worlds. One where the purest of witchlings reside and the earthly realm. My father told me about two people who acted as a lock and a key to opening that link. And that some pure blooded witchlings wanted to reopen it to return home and get away from the Earthly realm.”

  “We don’t have time for myths and legends,” Tobias said. “Tell us where Victor is really keeping Lenora.”

  “That’s just it,” she answered. “I don’t think it’s a myth or legend, master. Victor has crowning magic. You’ve seen it. I saw him lure Lenora right out of the mountain’s caverns. He lured her into following him. Luxra have a special bond with the in-between realm. The realm between the witchlings realm and the earthly realm. He needs her help to open it along with some sort of experiment Gandira was conducting to strengthen her. That and the lock and key.”

  “What lock and key?” I asked.

  “The key Victor placed inside of you,” she said. “It’s what made you reincarnate every two centuries.”

  Tobias and I both stood there in a state of awe.

  “But as you said, master, it’s probably all myths and legends. Nothing to worry about.”

  She leaned back against the
rock wall behind her as if she had overexerted herself. Apparently, being lured and forced to hide the truth on a constant basis was rather exhausting. At least on her conscience.

  “He has Ryker,” she continued. “My brother. I know what Victor made him do. He’s being lured just like I was.”

  “What did he make him do?” Tobias demanded, taking her chin into his hand and forcing her eyes to meet his.

  “Kill the president. He set his car on fire with elemental magic. Along with his Secret Service agents as they were trying to rush him away from the park in Denver.”

  My jaw was nearly on the floor. It was Victor after all. In a roundabout way as it usually was. All because he thought he could get to some mystical realm.

  Without warning, the memory of my vision resurfaced. I was a young tribeswoman. Perhaps a millennium ago. Victor visited me in my cell. He cast some sort of spell on me. Then he brought me outside to have Tobias watch me burn at the stake. And he turned Tobias into a vampire shortly after. Was there a chance Victor cast a spell on him while Tobias was transforming into a vampire? Did he place some mystical lock inside of him? It would explain so many things. Such as why Tobias and I seemed drawn to one another in each life I lived. And why we were always torn apart. Maybe Victor didn’t have all the pieces he needed yet to open the link. So he lured Tobias into leaving me before I could mark him. Or he would just kill me.

  He helped Tobias stay alive all these years and to form the Catach-Brayin not out of the goodness of his heart but to make sure Tobias was always around when he needed him. So he could eventually open the link between realms.

  My eyes widened. Suddenly Liza’s so-called myths and legends from the old country didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore.

  “My rebirths,” I said quietly as my mind fumbled over the memory, seeing things with more clarity than I ever had before. “The legend of the prophecy surrounding my birth was a spell Victor cast on me in my first life so he could return to the witchling realm. That’s why he wanted Harper Ashwood to mark you. He was ready for the link between realms to be reopened.”