Witchling Wars

by Shawn Knightley

  “The Catach-Brayin destroyed his life,” I hissed. “Both his daughters are dead.” The final word in that sentence came out with a wince. My insides started to churn and I fought back the emotion that I already knew was written all over my face.

  Tobias was quiet for a moment, waiting for me to calm down. Then he leaned back in his chair and looked at me with eyes that commanded my attention. Much in the same way Nathaniel’s did. I was starting to think it was a skill only the most disciplined of vampires could acquire.

  “Harper, I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the prophecy regarding your birth speaks of a coming war. A war that would end all witchlings. And granted that vampires are a somewhat inferior form of witchling, that places my kind in as much danger as yours.”

  ‘He knows about the prophecy?’ If he knew about the prophecy then he certainly knew who I was when he first saw me. He knew what my presence meant.

  “What does that have to do with the Congressman or his daughters?” I asked, not allowing him to change the subject.

  “Once he was made aware of my kind and what witchlings can do, he immediately saw the danger that could befall the world.”

  “Does that mean you lured him into thinking so?”

  “No,” he answered. “I didn’t need to. He’s a smart man. He sees the world for how it is. Not the facade that people want to see but the harsh reality that a great many things aren’t worth saving and often times contribute to our downfall.”

  “Why would he choose the side of vampires? Or witchlings?”

  “Because I promised to use my connections to make him very powerful. So powerful that no other office known to man could stop him from doing what was necessary to stave off a coming war.”

  It was a good thing I hadn’t taken a bite of my food yet. Not only because I could still see steam coming off the pasta but that sentence nearly made me gasp.

  ‘He can’t honestly mean that he has the power to make the Congressman the future president of the United States. Does he?’

  “What good would that do?”

  He seemed puzzled. “You don’t think having a man in the most powerful office in the world would help prevent a war from happening?”

  “But you lured him to make him forget that he knew about vampires and witchlings. You said so yourself.”

  “That was temporary. I couldn’t allow him to slip up. I left him with enough memories to know what to do and replaced the rest. Then once I was finished securing his place in office, I planned to restore his memories so he could help prevent what many witchlings believe to be inevitable.”

  The war.

  I scoffed, not really wanting to believe him. “And then you placed your most trusted vampires around him for protection. That was why they were at his evening party that night. And why Nathaniel could easily enter his house.”

  “Yes,” he said, admiring how I was starting to catch on.

  “And you didn’t tell Isaac.”

  “He wasn’t worthy of knowing such things. Very few vampires have enough control over their impulses to know my full intentions. I tell them enough to let them believe they have my favor so they’ll strive to continue pleasing me.”

  “What about the vixra blood? You had Samantha and Emily carting it around? You don’t think that placed them in danger?”

  “Like I said, Harper. Not a single human I’ve branded has died without my consent. I don’t allow it. I want the traitor who placed them in harm’s way found. If that happens to be Brian, I will find him. Only I’m not sure he acted alone. And I’m not sure he’s still in Dilton. Which is why I will accompany you.”

  “But why have them distribute the blood? Why not just protect them?”

  He sighed, trying to decide if it was the right time to say something. To tell me a detail he wasn’t sure I needed to know. Or maybe he wasn’t sure if I could handle it.

  “I told you already, Harper. They volunteered. Very few women, aside from yourself, have been able to tell me no over the centuries.”

  I sneered at him. ‘What? Did you expect me to run off and make wedding plans right after you strangled me and sunk your teeth in my wrist, you arrogant jackass.’

  “And because I wanted the cover so the vixra don’t suspect me of breaking witchling law by possessing vixra blood,” he went on. “I needed others to give the strongest vampires among my coven the vixra blood so they can start to sharpen what little magic they can wield. The risk of being seen doing it myself and potentially being held accountable by the vixra was too great. I then had a witchling friend of mine cast spells on the pocket watches. Anyone who isn’t a vixra sees the Catach-Brayin symbol. The symbol tells other vampires to stay away from my business. And humans, unless they’re already familiar with our kind, don’t know what it means. If they do, they know to stay away if they value their life. The same goes for the locket I gave you.”

  I had to take a few seconds to process that. “Wait… you want vampires in your coven to wield vixra magic? Why?”

  “If war is indeed coming, I want my coven to survive. I want capable vampires who are stronger than the average witchling of our lowly status to provide protection. We will need warriors. Soldiers, if you will. And the only way to achieve that is by being stronger.”

  That could only mean one thing. Nathaniel wasn’t the only vampire with connections to the vixra. Someone was supplying it to Tobias. Could it be Eli? It would give me another reason to write to him. To catch a glimpse of what was happening in Eli’s castle. Or at least it looked like a freaking castle from the inside. But the potion would take nearly two weeks to remake. I slumped in my chair and reluctantly twirled the fork in my spaghetti, finally taking my first bite.

  Tobias wasn’t wrong. William was an excellent cook. The sauce was just right. Not too meaty. Not too sweet. And with a hint of basil mixed in with the freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

  I shook my head, letting the full gravity of Tobias’s words sink in. “If war is coming,” I said once I had swallowed a couple more bites as he watched me, “I don’t know if I want to be around to see it. It’s sad enough knowing there are so few kruxa left.”

  “So you understand my dilemma then,” he said. “I know your lot look down on vampires but I don’t want my kind vanishing from the Earth either. We’ve worked too hard to survive.”

  ‘By murdering kruxa.’

  He chuckled as though he could read my thoughts. “Kruxa aren’t the leading threat against vampires, Harper. They haven’t been for many years. War against witchlings on the other hand, that could prove catastrophic.”

  I picked up another fork full of pasta and was ready to start shoveling it in again, all with him watching me. It made me uncomfortable. It made me want to pick up the plate and take the meal to my room so I could eat in private. It made me start to get tunnel vision where everything around me began to blur.

  Nope. That wasn’t Tobias.

  I swallowed another bite only to look up and see that Tobias was frozen. His eyes were watching me as he held his glass of blood and raised it up to his lips, only for it to stop just before it reached his mouth. The edges around his body began to fade. The walls soon followed.

  I had visions at the most inappropriate of times. Most kruxas did. But it had been two months since I had one. I went from feeling as though I was having one or two each day back in Dilton to practically none. I assumed it was because of the vixra blood inside me. It was too strong. Too potent. It poisoned my body and maybe damaged my magic. Well, I was better now. And apparently so was my magic.

  I blinked only to discover that I wasn’t in my own body when my eyes opened again. I was watching Emily. She was alive. Alive and enraged. She looked at her sister as she put on lipstick in front of a vanity mirror.

  “Heading out?” she asked Samantha.

  The room. It was the one I saw Samantha in with Isaac. When she let him have her with Brian sitting right downstairs.

  “What’s it to you?” Samantha
snapped.

  The way Samantha looked at her sister in the mirror’s reflection said it all. She didn’t think highly of Emily. If she thought of her at all it was only because she was incredibly annoying.

  “You should stay away from him,” Emily said. “You have to know he’s using you.”

  Samantha laughed. “It would be more accurate to say he’s using you,” she said as she closed the lipstick and turned around to face her. “Tobias is inches away from wanting more from me. I know it. Not that you would know how that feels. He only dotes on you because he’s trying to win good favor with daddy.”

  There Samantha went again. Calling her father daddy. Like an infantile spoiled little brat.

  “Does Brian know?” Emily asked, daring to take a step closer.

  “No,” Samantha groaned. “And you’re not going to tell him.”

  “Why wouldn’t I? Doesn’t he deserve to know he’s marrying a whore?”

  Samantha closed the gap between them and sent her fist right into Emily’s stomach.

  I expected Emily to hunch over. She didn’t. She hardly even flinched. And apparently, it was as much of a shock to Samantha as it was to me.

  “What the hell?” she muttered. She composed herself and stood up straight. “You’re not going to tell him anything,” she threatened.

  It was then that it occurred to me. Samantha was in the same shirt she was wearing when her body was found. This was it. This was the day she died.

  Emily did something that I didn’t expect. Aside from not showing an ounce of pain when Samantha tried silencing her with violence. She took Samantha by the shoulders and shoved her into the wall with a thunderous smack. She was strong. And she was on vixra blood.

  ‘Was this when she first started taking it? Or had Brian already gotten to her?’

  “You fucked him, didn’t you?” Emily said as she walked right up to Samantha, who was actually starting to look a bit rattled. I gathered Emily didn’t stand up to her very often.

  “Who?”

  “Isaac!” Emily hollered. She shook her head. “I can’t have that. You’re supposed to be a virtuous southern woman. A lady. Does your father know what you do? Does he know you use men like a recreational activity? ”

  Now I was the one left with a look of surprise on my face. This wasn’t Emily talking. It was someone else.

  Brian.

  I peered over to the door. There was a shadow under the bottom. He was standing there. Luring Emily. Getting her to do exactly what he wanted. Getting her to speak for him.

  “And now you’re moving on to Tobias Vallas? Even I’ll give you credit for aiming high. But he’ll never have you. He has standards. He enjoys the chase. Not some common slut throwing herself at him.”

  Samantha seemed to cower into the wall. As if she couldn’t quite believe the words coming out of Emily’s mouth. Quiet and meek Emily who never raised her voice to anyone. Who never wanted to be an inconvenience. Who went for most of her life wanting to please people. If only Samantha realized that this wasn’t Emily. Her mind wasn’t her own. And neither were her actions.

  “The only reason I even agreed to marry Brian is because daddy likes him,” she yelled. “Brian wants nothing more than to appear to the public as an honorable family man who runs around with other women in secret at night like all men do. Just like daddy did to mom over the years. Brian doesn’t care about me.”

  “Oh, but he could have. He would have looked after you. But you’ve made your contribution meaningless.”

  The words stung Samantha. I could see it in her eyes. An insecurity she had deep down inside her had been ripped open and laid directly at her feet. I wondered if those were words her father used to keep his daughters in line.

  “At least I have prospects. Even if Brian dumps me, I can find someone else. I can’t enter a room without men staring at me.”

  Emily walked right up to Samantha and took her cheek into her hand as though she were a beloved sister. As though she was going to say something endearing. I knew better. Brian was deep inside her mind. Weaving new truths and convincing her to do the unthinkable.

  ‘No! No, no, no! She didn’t do this. Brian didn’t make her do this!’

  “That’s probably true,” said Emily. Her voice was calm. Her eyes…lethal. “That’s because they know how easy you are just by looking at you.”

  Samantha lunged at Emily, trying to grab her throat. Emily dodged her easily and latched onto Samantha’s neck, pulling her down to the ground and slamming her head hard against the floor. So hard that I could have sworn I heard something crack. Emily’s hands wrapped around Samantha’s throat as her eyes bulged from her face, clawing at Emily and trying to loosen her tight grip over her fragile neck.

  Nothing worked. She grew weaker and weaker until Emily’s strong hands were so tight that there was no possible way Samantha would ever break free. I watched as Samantha faded away. I watched as she stopped struggling and her arms fell to her sides. I watched as Brian opened the door and walked into the room with a smug grin on his face. Emily stood up to glare down at what she had done with empty eyes.

  Brian placed a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you, Emily. You saved me the trouble. Now get rid of her.”

  Chapter 4

  Reality snapped back so fast that I practically got whiplash. Or maybe that was the shock of what I had seen. What I had learned. What I hoped wasn’t true but knew deep down was exactly what happened to Samantha Larsen. Emily murdered her. But not of her own free will. Brian lured her into doing it.

  I saw Tobias watching me. But not with eyes that were virtually undressing me as they were before. They changed in a flash. He stood from his chair. I instinctively knew that he was very much aware of what just happened.

  “What did you see?” he asked, walking right over to me and standing by my side.

  I reached for my racing heart and desperately tried to calm it.

  He could hear it hammering away in my chest, rattling my eardrums as blood pumped away inside me in large bursts. I knew he could.

  I shook my head, not wanting to believe what I had just seen, let alone share it. He wasn’t going to give me that option.

  “Tell me, Harper,” he insisted.

  ‘Why would I want to share it with you? You who helped cause all of this?’

  It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t! For the last two months, I had been certain it was Brian who killed Samantha. It had to be. Emily wasn’t strong enough to dump her body in the swamp. But then again, she did have vixra blood in her system. She loved her sister even though they fought. She came to me to get a reading just to feel the reassurance that Samantha would be alright. And yet, Brian was inside her thoughts. He weaved new memories. New truths. His own anger. His own frustration. His own desire to get rid of Samantha in any way that would guarantee he would never be a suspect.

  My memories instantly shot back to the night Emily was in Madison’s guest bedroom. The emotions radiating from her skin were so clear. She was full of regret. The remorse practically permeated from her body. Did she come to her senses? Did she finally realize that she killed her sister? Was that why she had such odd behavior?

  I knew grief. We were well-acquainted. It can cause people to do the craziest of things. And in Emily’s case, perhaps tempt her to throw herself from the upstairs bedroom window. Or maybe that was Brian too. Was he trying to tie up the loose ends before laying the entire thing at the Congressman’s feet? There was a certain poetry to it. Like a piece of a puzzle starting to slowly come together and form an image. But why? Wasn’t the Congressman helping Brian with his political career?

  I scooted the chair back and stepped away from the table.

  “Harper,” Tobias walked after me. “Don’t walk away. Tell me what you saw.”

  “I can’t,” I argued.

  “Yes, you can. I need you to trust me.”

  “I could never trust you!” I hollered, turning around to face him. “You strangled me in front o
f the entire Catach-Brayin. You fed on my wrist and brought me an inch away from death. You made Emily believe you had affection for her. You manipulated the Congressman and gave him delusions that you would actually make him the next president of the United States. And now you want me to trust you? In what world could I ever confide in you?”

  I stomped off. He quickly moved directly in front of me so fast that I nearly bumped into him, stopping me right in my tracks.

  “You’re angry,” he stated.

  “Infuriated!” I hollered.

  “Good. Your anger is a weapon. You can use it. It will help you control your magic. Kruxa are always trying to remain calm to keep their magic at bay when the exact opposite is how you control it. With your passions, not passivity.”

  “How the hell would you know anything about how magic works? You’re a dirty vampire.” Probably not the best way to talk to the coven master of the Catach-Brayin. But for god’s sake! I had just seen the truth. I had just seen Emily murder her sister. And for all I knew, maybe Emily had killed those other girls too. All by Brian’s orders when he was softly luring her while he was in transition to become a vampire.

  “I know because I was a kruxa once,” he responded. “Long ago. I know how magic works better than you ever could. I can show you exactly how to control it so it will never control you again. I can teach you how to wield it with your emotions. How to use it to your advantage. Magic will always be a burden to you more so than a gift if you continue letting it control you. And so will your visions. I can teach you how to navigate them. How to see things you want to know without having to wait. How to understand the ones that frighten you and make them stop haunting your dreams.”

  The way he spoke stirred something inside me. It made me want to know more. To listen to him. To be the center of his attention. Even his affections.

  ‘Is he luring me?’

  I instinctively waited a moment before speaking, trying to feel for the signs Nathaniel taught me to look for.

  ‘No, he’s definitely not luring me. But how is he doing this?’