“Arthur told him after Nathaniel was initiated into the Catach-Brayin.”
“Arthur?” I asked.
“You met him today. Felix’s easily angered father. Arthur Matthews.”
“Felix?”
She grinned at me. But not in the way that Tobias or Nathaniel often did when they were amused by how much I didn’t know. She was happy to share with me. And it’s a good thing too. Because I was ready for some answers.
“Eli’s birth name is Felix. He goes by Eli, the middle letters of his name to those who aren’t inside the vixra’s inner circle. Also because the name Felix has become outdated since he was born. The vixra don’t want to stand out in any way when they interact with humans or lower-tier witchlings.”
I took a generous sip of the steaming hot tea, daring to enjoy the feeling of it going down my throat and soothing my worries. Well, at least some of them.
“Why are the vixra keeping my sister hostage? Why won’t they just release her?”
Her shoulders fell. “Because of me. They’re afraid you’ll do something brash like I did. You did use the vixra tunnels without consent. And tonight you ran away. They see too much of me in you and they fear what you might do next. Keeping Madison is a way of ensuring you do as you’re told. That you fall in line with how they want events to unfold.”
“I can’t help that I’m like you. Being related and all.”
She let her eyes wander down to my feet and back up again, almost like she was fascinated by me in some way. The feeling was mutual.
“What?” I asked.
“You are of my bloodline, indeed. But Arthur was trying very hard to keep quiet about one detail. A detail that I wanted you made aware of from the start of this mess. He refused. And he’ll probably punish me once he finds out I told you. But I won’t stand for this anymore. I’ve taken his orders for years and this is one of many times I think he is entirely wrong.”
I was quiet, eager for her to keep talking and obviously hungry for answers.
“You are me,” she said.
I shook my head, trying to make sense of those three words. “Pardon?”
“We aren’t just identical in appearance, Harper. We are essentially the same person. We have various small traits that are probably different just because we were brought up centuries apart. Different locations. Different parents. Different loved ones. But you are me reincarnated. We are reborn every two to three hundred years. The prophecy spoke of a young red-haired woman’s birth. But not just once or twice. Multiple times over the centuries. And with each century as we appear, so does the threat of impending war.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. All I could do was stare at her completely dumbfounded.
“It’s why Nathaniel has a soft spot for you and can’t figure out why,” she continued. “It’s why the vixra are nervous about your existence. They’re afraid history will repeat itself and you’ll do something foolish like I once did. Like we apparently always do. The prophecy states that this young red-haired witchling will tame a beast, bring about a new era of rule over the witchlings that have fallen from grace, and potentially cause the coming of war between witchlings and humans. The vixra thought the line would end with me. But I deviated from that path. The moment I learned they would force me to do as they wanted and prevent me from living any sort of normal life, I fled. First to the mainland of Europe. Then America. Then the southern states. But they found me. They placed a spell on me to prevent me from dying as a punishment for running. I’m controlled by the vixra now. The vixra consider the prophecy to be a curse because every time we’re reborn, we try to flee. We run. Then the cycle repeats itself and the vixra are left waiting for us to be reborn. We try to deviate from the path the prophecy foretells. They wanted to control me to make sure the prophecy was fulfilled. They failed.”
“Meaning I have to fulfill it?” I asked.
“Only if you don’t want the burden of immortality and to be tied to the vixra like a slave forever. I don’t recommend it.”
“But why? Why would they want a prophecy like that to be fulfilled? Do they want war with humans?”
She sighed. “No. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t always inevitable. So they resigned themselves to the idea of preparing for war when they thought they could control the outcome. In ancient times, medieval times, and even after my birth in the 18th century, they could easily win such a war and carve out land for witchlings to live peacefully and away from humans. Now, they’re not so sure anymore. Technology has advanced for humans tremendously. And witchlings don’t have the numbers they used to after humans and vampires started hunting us.
“The prophecy was nearly fulfilled without me even realizing it. I met Nathaniel in America. My blood nearly marked him. Then I learned what he was and I ran. I ran as far away from him as I possibly could. He would find me. Then I would run again.”
She stopped talking. I watched her eyes veer over to the window as rain continued to fall, hitting the window with heavy droplets. The orange light from the artificial fire framed her face and made her piercing green eyes glow. I studied those eyes. They were different in some way. I could see it. They had age inside of them. Years and years of experiences that shaped her into someone she didn’t resemble centuries ago.
“After the vixra cursed me with immortality as punishment for refusing to mark Nathaniel and running away, they forced me to keep my survival a secret from him in the hopes that he might rise to the top of the Catach-Brayin. They knew I only ran from him because I didn’t want my life under their control. Or under some stupid prophecy. I wanted a life that was mine. All I got was a smaller cage. The vixra were very much aware I loved Nathaniel and I was just being stubborn. They knew it would be a harsher punishment to make me watch him from afar and be unable to speak to him. To tell him that I was alive.
“I tried to move on. To live a normal life with a human man who became my husband. For as long as anyone wouldn’t notice I wasn’t aging. Then I fled. Again. And again. And again.” Her face fell. She let her finger trace around the circular edge of her mug, allowing the steam from the tea to swirl around her long fingers. “I knew you would run. Just as we did in ancient times. Just as we did in the 12th century. And the 14th. And the 16th. And the 18th. Which was why the vixra trusted you with Nathaniel for safe keeping. Then Tobias. That’s why I watched you. And why I went after you. I had to stop you. This pattern can’t continue.”
I sat there in a state of stunned silence. Unable to let what she was saying sink in. I went from having no answers to so many that I wished I didn’t know. I wished I could remain ignorant. Only for it to hit me that this was it. This was the secret. This was why no one would share too much information with me. And why the vixra were holding my sister hostage. They were afraid I would run. That I would behave the same way I did in past lives. That I would defy the prophecy and make the vixra wait another two centuries before the coming of a war they had been ready for. And now I had made them wait to a point where they weren’t sure they could win.
The truth wasn’t what I expected it to be. It didn’t set me free. It didn’t make me safer. It locked me away.
“The beast that the prophecy wants me to tame… it’s Tobias, isn’t it? It was once Nathaniel two hundred years ago but you resisted marking him. Then he changed. He gained control over his impulses where he wasn’t like the other vampires. And you ran away from him.”
“History is cyclical,” she said, taking a generous sip of the tea and encouraging me to do the same. “I was meant to mark Nathaniel, help him control the vampires, and potentially cause the coming of war during a time when witchlings had enough numbers to win and ensure our own survival. I resisted. So the vixra punished me. They cursed me to be immortal. To remain stagnant as the vampires do. To see civilizations rise and fall. To see the passing of time in ways humans romanticize but is nothing short of torture.”
I didn’t need calming tea anymore. I needed a shot of whis
key and a long night of sleep. A sleep that would take me away from the knowledge I now possessed.
If I didn’t mark Tobias, the vixra would punish me. I would be repeating the same mistake I made in several lives. But for god’s sake, why did it have to be Tobias? An arrogant asshole who couldn’t look at me without undressing me? Who led to the death of one of the purest souls in the world. And my friend.
I rested my head against the back of the rocking chair.
“Why did you resist marking Nathaniel if you loved him?” I asked.
“Why do you resist marking Tobias?”
“That’s different,” I muttered.
“How?”
“I don’t love Tobias. You loved Nathaniel.”
“I wasn’t about to let a group of witchlings who hated me dictate how I would live my life. Marking Nathaniel would be giving into them. And you and I both know we don’t do well with being caged. It’s a feeling I’m sure you’re well acquainted with after the last few months.”
I watched as she continued tracing around the edge of her mug. The same habit I had over the years. I used to let my finger trace the mugs at the coffee shop I worked at in high school. So much so that the other baristas were grossed out and told me to wash them for customers coming in.
“Are you going to mark Nathaniel one day?” I asked. “Is that why the vixra want you to remain alive?” I winced a little once the realization dawned on me. I pulled the blanket over me a little tighter only to realize that it didn’t hurt to do so. She somehow healed the scratches on my back. Or at least made them hurt much less. “They want you around to mark him in case he fails to be a good leader of the Catach-Brayin. So they can do away with him gracefully and replace him.”
Georgeanna held her tea in her hands, allowing her eyes to deviate from mine as her mind was drawn away to a sea of memories. Memories I couldn’t imagine having enough space to possibly store. Inside that mind was over two centuries of memories. Two centuries of loss. Two centuries of watching her line go on without her, forever still and yet forever having to propel herself forward. It was a future I didn’t want for myself. And yet, the alternative wasn’t massively appealing either.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” I whispered. “The vixra won’t let me avoid marking Tobias.”
“You could do far worse,” she said. “Men such as Tobias attract women for a reason. He’s wise. Courteous. And ruthless. Much like Nathaniel. They both have a certain masculinity that’s been lost over the previous century. They’re both strong and capable warriors. Nathaniel was always quietly sardonic and pensive behind his forcefulness. Qualities I’m sure you noticed. And liked.”
She said the last two words like they were a joke. A small jab at our mutual affection for him. One I didn’t want to admit that I had and one I knew I couldn’t pursue.
The only reason Caleb won my heart was because of his persistence. When I finally agreed to go out with him he knew right away that he wasn’t going to let me get away.
Then again, was that the same quality she was talking about with Nathaniel and Tobias? The way Caleb went at my pace but would never take no for an answer? Caleb broke down my barriers one by one with me slowly permitting him while thinking I was maintaining control.
“Tobias knew you were alive all this time,” I said.
“Yes.”
“He kept your secret.”
“Only because the vixra forced him to. Edmund wouldn’t continue supplying him with his blood if he hadn’t.”
“Edmund?”
She went quiet and took another sip of tea. I could see the gears in her mind moving, trying to quickly decide the words she used wisely. Or cautiously. Was she about to lie? To hide something? To leave me in the dark like everyone else?
“Eli’s grandfather. As disgusting as vampires are, they will serve a very good purpose when war is upon us.”
“As a weapon?”
“Yes.”
I chuckled as the pieces started coming together and I recalled the dinner conversation I had with Tobias. “Tobias is training his best vampires with vixra blood. He knows this is coming. The vixra told him and he started training his best men and gave them small amounts of vixra blood so they could wield more magic. And so they can take care of themselves after I… after I mark him.”
“Don’t say it with such severity,” she said. “I’ve seen other kruxa mark vampires. I’ve seen vampires become mortal. I’ve seen the happiness that follows. The same happiness you once felt with your husband, only more intense. It’s not the end of the world. Think of it as the start of a new one.”
A new world? One where I was tied to Tobias and forever controlled by the vixra? And worse, I would live to see the dawn of a war that would spark the potential end of all witchlings.
‘No wonder Georgeanna ran.’
“What now?” I asked, finally starting to see how all the threads wove together. What everyone wanted from me. What they expected of me. And what I expected of myself.
“Emily’s spirit isn’t gone. She will only grow more restless until we find out what it is she wants us to know. You’re going to have to do something you won’t like. It won’t be pleasant.”
I shrugged my shoulders in defeat and threw off the blanket. “I’m used to not liking things lately.” As I set down my tea on a nearby table next to the rocking chair, I reached my hand out. “Dial back Tobias and give me the phone,” I said.
She seemed a little taken aback by my demand but did as I asked, probably thinking I was about to mouth off to him. Given that she was me and I was her, she could have been right. It was something I was prone to doing.
‘No. Not this time.’
“You told her everything, no doubt. How did she take it?” he asked immediately upon answering.
“As well as can be expected,” I said, letting him believe I was Georgeanna for a few seconds just for fun.
“When will she be coming back?”
“I’ll come back on one condition, Tobias.”
Silence. He knew it was me now.
“I know what you want from me. I also know what the vixra want from me. I’ll do it on one condition. A proposition, as you like to say.”
“What’s that?” he asked, his voice full of tension.
“Bring my sister back from the vixra unharmed. I won’t do anything before then. I’ve intentionally avoided letting my magic do what it wants without even consciously realizing it. That ends once my sister is back with her girls and they’re safe in Dilton. Along with a few more renovations. Fix the damage that was done to her house when Brian was controlling her. We both know you’ve got deep enough pockets to do so.”
I knew my price. And my price was my sister. Even if I had to give over my free will to an ancient prophecy, I at least wanted to get one small thing out of it. If the vixra wanted their way, they would have to give an inch or two.
“I’m not the type of man to allow others to proposition me, Harper. I make the deals. No one else. I’m capable of a great many things. And if you mark me, I will show you the kind of man I am.”
I closed my eyes, hoping I wasn’t burning bridges by saying the words I was about to utter. “Show me the kind of man you are by getting my sister back, and if my blood desires to mark you, I will let it.”
I ended the call before he had a chance to respond.
“Don’t make the same mistake I did,” said Georgeanna as I handed the phone back to her. I knew she could see straight into my soul. She knew the doubt that was going through my mind. The twists and turns my thoughts took were all too familiar to her. After all, if what she said was true, her mind took the same turns. “Don’t avoid marking him out of spite for the hand fate has dealt you. It makes for a miserable life.”
Chapter 10
I slept on Georgeanna’s couch that night after a small argument over who would take the bed. She insisted that I use it as her guest. I insisted that I sleep on the couch and proceeded to lay on it as if I we
re staging a protest. Our stubbornness was clearly a quality that withstood the test of time.
Tobias wanted me to come home that night. I heard him give Georgeanna a stern lecture over the phone just before I nodded off. And to my shock, she didn’t make me leave. She let me stay. She let me recover. She let me fume as I properly needed to. I guess because she understood me given that we were, well, the same person. She knew that if I was forced to do one more thing against my will that I would do something else that was equally reckless. Like stealing vixra blood to rescue Emily or stealing one of Tobias’s cars and running off in the middle of the night. A car that I most definitely couldn’t afford to replace. Funny enough, Tobias didn’t sound mad about that part. He didn’t care about the car’s well being. Just my own.
I woke up around 4:30 am with a sudden jolt. A sound much like someone banging on the wall interrupted my sleep. I sat up a little too fast and got an instant headache. I waited to hear Georgeanna walking around but she wasn’t there. I got up to check. She was asleep soundly in her small twin sized bed in the corner of the bedroom.
It was then that I remembered what Tobias had told me. He warned me to keep a light on. That croxa were more active at night. I reached for the switch only for the static electricity in the room to snap at me. I saw the small jolt of bright electricity go all the way from my fingers to my wrist. I snatched my hand back quickly, feeling as though someone had lit a match on my finger. When I looked up at the wall with the switch, there was something trailing down the pristine white color. Something that appeared almost black. Only on closer inspection did I realize that it wasn’t black. It was red.
I backed away, stumbling over the coffee table in the middle of the small living room and hitting the couch behind it. The walls were dripping with blood coming down at an alarming rate. They touched the floor and seeped through the cracks of the wood.
“Georgeanna!” I screamed.
I ran for her room, hoping she would wake up and see what I was seeing. That she would tell me I wasn’t crazy. That she could see it too.
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