My head fell forward as I gave into the darkness overpowering my hazy senses. I only had time to see black smoke lifting from my body and ascending upward before I shut my eyes.
Emily left me. I didn’t know if I had still failed her. I didn’t know if she could finally rest. But I did know one thing. Whatever magic I used had destroyed the magical blue cord binding my hands and feet to the chair. I was out before my body crashed into the floor below me.
Chapter 13
Someone was holding my hand. I was lying down on a soft surface. Maybe a bed. And an oddly familiar aura was reaching out to mine. Telling me I was alright. That I was healing. That I would be okay.
The hand was soft. The nails acrylic. The engagement ring a large emerald shape cut.
My eyes fluttered open. “Madison?” I whispered.
She was sitting in a chair next to me, holding my hand and smiling at me as she stroked my cheek with her other hand like our mother used to do when we were little.
“I thought I could get away with it while you were resting,” she said. “We both know you could sleep through a tornado.”
I blinked a few times, not sure if I was really seeing her. Had Emily come back to haunt me? To take over my sight? To torment me?
The weariness in my eyes slowly dissipated. It was definitely Maddie. And there was definitely something strange going on with her hand as she held mine in hers.
“What the hell?” I said, tempted to pull it away.
There was a bright red light flowing from her hand into mine. It glistened as she poured magic into my arm. And not just any magic. Vixra magic!
“Don’t be frightened,” she said calmly. “They taught me how to control it.”
“Control what?”
She sighed and pulled her hand away from stroking my head. “They couldn’t get rid of it.”
“Get rid of it? Eli told me they were healing you.”
Her shoulders fell. “They couldn’t. All they could do was show me how to live with it. I’m coping but it’s not the easiest thing in the world.”
“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
“Mr. Stockard gave your sister a lethally high amount of vixra blood,” said a male voice at the other end of the room.
I squinted my eyes in the dim light to get a better look at him.
“We couldn’t drain it from her body. We could, however, minimize the damage. She’ll live. Only a bit differently from how she intended.”
I knew the man’s face. I had seen it before. And even so, I couldn’t place him. Not right away. He stepped closer and I saw his age. He was an older man. One that had aged well but still looked beaten down. Perhaps from seeing centuries pass slowly by him.
“Pardon my intrusion,” he said. “We didn’t have a chance to be properly introduced during our brief encounter. I’m Edmund Matthews.” He gave a small bow of his head before letting his eyes focus entirely on me. I had the vague sensation that he could see straight into my soul with those old eyes.
“You’re Eli’s grandfather,” I mumbled. “You sent me forward in time through the vixra tunnel.”
He had grown old. He had gray hair. He had more modern clothes. But it was still the same man who I saw when Isaac threw me and Emily into the past. 19th century Washington D.C. to be exact.
“Yes. Your sister had told me a great many things about you. I’ve told her even more.”
‘Huh?’
My gaze shifted between him and Madison. “Where am I?”
“Budapest,” Madison answered me.
“How did you find me?”
“We didn’t. Tobias did upon returning home. The two of you appear quite… connected.”
I grimaced. His subtle reminder of what I already knew was more reality than I wanted to wake up to. Whatever happened to having a cup of coffee or a shower before being reminded that your fate is sealed?
“Is that why I’m here? So you can remind me that it would greatly please the vixra if I mark Tobias? Is that why you won’t release my sister? You’re waiting to see if I’ll do what I’m told?”
“No, that’s not why,” said Maddie next to me. She still had my hand in hers with the red glow of vixra magic flowing between us in wispy weaves that wafted over our skin. “If I leave the vixra, there’s a strong chance that I might die.”
My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
‘No! No, no, no, no!’
I had already lost too much. I wasn’t about to lose her too.
“When Brian gave me vixra magic, it poisoned my blood. He gave me too much. Edmund uses his magic to brew a special potion to help my blood restore itself. But it’s kind of like giving a drink to an alcoholic. It will sustain me for a while but if I don’t continue to have the vixra help me brew it, I’ll go into withdrawal. Even so, my blood will always be tainted.”
What did she mean? That eventually the vixra blood would kill her?
The memory of the vision I had in Andrew’s office barreled back into my memory. The scene of my sister, Brian, and Andrew all dead and floating in the murky swamp water as nothing but rotting corpses. It would come true. I might have my sister for some time yet, but she would die eventually as a result of this mess as well.
I swallowed hard. I had to contain my emotions. I had to fight off the urge to give into the grief that longed to envelop me once more. I was after all in the presence of a vixra. The vixra who already thought of my kind as weak.
Even though my spirit was sinking, I could feel my limbs gaining more strength by the second. Whatever she was doing, it was working. The damage Ragna did was nearly gone. Madison was healing me. With vixra magic no less.
I brought my left hand up and forced myself into a sitting position. The wounds from the blue magical cord that bound my wrists were slowly fading away. I could see the skin stitching itself back together and the bruising slowly dissipating as my skin turned pale again.
“She can’t stay here!” I stated on the verge of hollering at Edmund. “She has children back in Dilton. A life of her own. Can’t you just brew the potion and send some home with her?”
“No,” he said coldly.
‘Of course. You need her here as leverage to make sure I mark Tobias. To make sure that I do as I’m told.’
Was he lying? Could my sister go home? Could she withstand the vixra magic left inside of her? Were they keeping her to make sure the prophecy is fulfilled?
“Ted is preparing for a move as we speak,” said Madison, trying her best to make her voice sound comforting. I knew the truth. I could hear the uncertainty in her voice even without her aura telling me exactly how she felt. She was worried. Scared. Nervous. And yet, resigned to the fact that this was how things worked out. “I can’t expect the girls to learn Hungarian. It’s one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. I will have to homeschool them. And Ted, well, Edmund says he can find work for him in town. I will have a different sort of life. But a life never the less. For as long as the potion can sustain me.”
This wasn’t her talking. It was Edmund. Or maybe Arthur. Trying their best to reassure her and taking complete control over her life. Probably like how they intended to take over mine.
I took a deep breath before speaking, not entirely sure that I wanted an answer to the question I was about to ask and knowing I had to ask it anyway. “And me? Are you going to shut me away for the rest of my life if I don’t do as I’m told?”
Edmund looked rather puzzled. As though such a thought never even crossed his mind. “Why on earth would you assume that? We will come up with a much better use for you.”
‘Naturally. You won’t speak the truth in front of my sister. Not the whole truth anyway. So much for being candid.’
“As soon as you have recovered, you will join me, my son, and my grandson for dinner. We want to know exactly what occurred and what you have learned. As far as we can tell, the Catach-Brayin have been left in utter disarray. They have no leader, no path, no guide.
As I’m sure you already know, vampires without a coven are very dangerous. Not just to themselves but to society as a whole. We don’t live in medieval times anymore where they can be tracked, hunted, and killed. Where populations are sparse due to plague or famine. They have a large feeding ground and more opportunities to create trouble than we are equipped to handle.”
I swallowed hard. “Does Eli blame me for that? Do you?”
“We won’t know until you give your side of events. Although, from what Tobias has told me, it’s likely you aren’t to blame. He claims he never should have left you alone.”
Tobias? He was here too?
‘Duh. I told him to find Maddie and bring her home.’
But he didn’t. He couldn’t do it. Maddie has no choice but to stay here. Which meant only one thing. He couldn’t hold up his side of the bargain. Not that it mattered. I would still be expected to mark him.
Maddie withdrew her hand from mine and forced the magic back inside her palm with more ease than I had ever seen her do in the past. She had less control than me. And not enough magic to make it truly dangerous. When it did pop out every once in a while it didn’t do any particular damage. Now she had more than she could handle without the vixra helping her.
Edmund turned to Maddie. “I’ll give you two a few minutes to talk. Dinner will be served at 7 pm. Please don’t be late.”
“Thank you, Edmund,” she said, folding her hands in her lap and waiting for him to leave.
I desperately wanted to reach over and embrace Maddie. To feel her holding me back and know for the first time in months that she was safe. She was healthy. She was out of danger. I would get none of that. Not even the hug. She simply watched me as she sat beside the bed with her hands folded.
I threw the covers off and placed my legs on the side of the bed. She didn’t try to stop me or even say anything. I guess she thought I would be fine because she healed me.
“You’re really not going to say anything else? Why didn’t you call? Or at least write to me? Something? Did they stop you?”
Maddie slumped back in the chair, pondering her own thoughts and trying to figure out what to say. I had never seen her without a single thing to say. Or a single way to try to fix my problems. Even when I didn’t want her to. This wasn’t like her. She had changed somehow.
“Maddie, answer me!” I insisted.
“I don’t know how,” she said softly, finally forcing herself to speak. “I don’t know how to talk to anyone that well anymore. I’ve learned too much. I know too much.”
“Know what?”
“The burden that the vixra carry.”
“What burden?”
Her eyes shifted from left to right as she tried finding the right words. Then they found mine which were practically popping out of my head in anticipation for what she might say.
“Edmund says that you might mark Tobias Vallas.”
“Might.”
“And you know about the coming war.”
“The war that everyone talks about but no one knows when is coming but I’m some sort of sign. Yeah, I heard a thing or two.”
‘And more.’
Was she angry that I didn’t tell her? That I kept things from her? If she was, she didn’t show it. If anything she was rather emotionless. Vacant. As though she had gone through a great deal to handle having the knowledge she didn’t want and somehow managed to shut down her emotions one by one. Like flipping off light switches one at a time until there was no light left to make her smile.
“If the Catach-Brayin run wild and feed on too many humans, witchlings may be exposed. Humanity has weapons now. Ways of capturing vampires. Ways of torturing them. Of finding out more than we want them to know. Whatever happened to you in that cavern might have been the trigger, Harper. It might be the trigger that starts the war. And if that’s true and you do end up marking Tobias, the prophecy has been fulfilled. If it isn’t, we might have more time to work with.”
I was the trigger? Did I inadvertently start the war? By killing Ragna and Brian I sparked events that could cause a full on war between humans and witchlings?
My heart started racing. I would soon face the Matthews and be forced to share all that had happened. How Eli responded would determine if I did indeed step out of line. And if they decided that I had, the prospect of marking Tobias would be the least of my concerns.
Chapter 14
I walked down the long hall with Madison trailing behind me. I was dressed in a long blue dress that was fit for a finery I never had the privilege of experiencing. Not even at the Congressman’s evening party. I was bathed, my hair was pulled back, and my face touched with makeup. All done with a servant the Matthews kept handy, reminding me that money wasn’t a problem for a family that lived through centuries of the economy going up and down around the world.
Maddie was dressed similarly and gave me a rundown of how the Matthews dined. I had already seen the dining room, quite unintentionally, when the potion brought me back here unexpectedly. So I managed to keep my admiration of the house down to a minimum. To act as though I wasn’t phased. I was. I was practically trembling.
Maddie came up beside me and took my hand just before we entered the dining room where the Matthews were waiting for us. And where I was expecting to get grilled.
“Why do I get the feeling that this equates to dining with the King and Queen of England?” I said sarcastically.
“If humans knew of our existence, they would wish they have royalty such as this. The children of vixra don’t run around at wild parties and they don’t get into trouble like human royalty. They behave as one would expect royalty to without the degenerate drawbacks.”
“In other words, I have to be on my best behavior.”
She turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, allowing the red light of the vixra magic swarming inside her to seep out and weave into my skin. A strange sense of calm flowed through my veins, forcing me to see things clearly and forbidding me to panic. The goosebumps on my arms slowly disappeared and I suddenly had complete control over my trembling knees.
“That’s a nice trick,” I said.
“You have no idea,” she whispered before the doors opened to reveal the dining hall. She pulled the vixra magic back into her body just in time.
Everyone at the table stood up as we entered and the butler held open the door for us.
“Please be seated,” said a familiar and stern voice. Arthur showcased two chairs directly beside him at the right corner of the large table.
I scanned the table to see that not everyone was at dinner. I was half expecting to see more of the Matthews family. Maybe even a few new faces. Only Eli, Edmund, Arthur, and Nathaniel were seated at the table in tailored suits.
‘Wait, what? What is Nathaniel doing here?’
I immediately let Madison’s hand drop and brought my hands up, letting my magic flow straight to my palms without so much as a fuss.
“No!” I said a little too loud.
Eli glared at me as if I’d broken some sacred rule and immediately took a few steps toward me, not understanding what was going on but determined to stop me immediately.
“Harper?” Eli said my name, then saw that my eyes were fixated on Nathaniel.
Brian was dead. I saw him die. I saw his body burn to a crisp and his corpse turn to dust.
Was I being lured that whole time? What if Emily changed my sight and forced me to see what I wanted to see? Ragna and Brian permanently gone from the earth. Was there even a small chance that it was Brian standing before me and not Nathaniel?
Screw proper decorum. I had to be sure.
“Harper, what’s wrong? What are you doing?” Madison said beside me, a little startled by my reaction.
I backed away into the hall and saw Nathaniel leave the table.
“This is about me,” he said. “Give us a moment of privacy.”
“We don’t have all the time in the world to humor a kruxa who dares summon her
magic in our formal dining room,” Arthur spat.
“We will only be a moment,” Nathaniel pleaded. “She’s been through more than her fair share of misfortune and needs our patience. Please humor me.”
“Your presence here is being tolerated, not welcomed,” Arthur lectured him. “Don’t forget your place, Nathaniel.”
“I doubt you will let me.”
Arthur stood in silence, clearly unamused by me breaking whatever decorum the Matthews maintained in their household. Or maybe it was the fact that I was a lowly kruxa behaving as though I felt threatened in his house.
With each step that Nathaniel rushed over to me, I took a generous step back. So far back that I ran into the banister that looked down three floors.
Nathaniel shut the door behind him and just stood there watching me. He waited a solid ten or so seconds before speaking. “You can put that away now,” he said as if he was talking to a person who might leap to their death if provoked.
“I- is it really you?” I stammered.
“Who else would it be?” He must have answered his own question in his mind because he curled in his bottom lip like I’d seen him do before. Like the answer was obvious and he shouldn’t have even asked.
“I do believe I taught you how to avoid being lured, Harper.”
‘He’s choosing now to scold me? Yeah, that’s what I really need right now.’
“He had help. Ragna turned him. I don’t know when or how she did it exactly. Maybe he was already transitioning when I first met him.”
“I sensed there was something off about him from the start. But I was locked into the idea that Tobias was the killer from the beginning. I don’t understand why Ragna would be so reckless. She’s always been brash. Cold, calculating, and somewhat foolhardy. But not like this.”
‘He doesn’t know. Tobias hasn’t told him he’s planning on making him coven master yet. And that he wants me to mark him.’
Witchling Wars Page 47