Blood Torn

by Karice Bolton

  “Even today?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Listen, I had a good life. I’d spent my days working for the Bureau and my evenings at home cooking and baking. It was a routine I liked and would love to get back to once I get things figured out.”

  Fuchsia shook her head. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

  I crinkled my nose. “About what? Cooking isn’t all that bad.”

  “No. That you work for the Bureau.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “How could you be so integrated with our world, yet you reject it with every ounce of your being?”

  I shook my head. “I just never felt like it was my world, I guess.”

  Her gaze sharpened. “What about now?”

  “I guess I have no choice. Can we just get going?”

  Fuchsia nodded and held her wand tightly.

  The truth was I couldn’t shake those photos of Fuchsia and Carter together. As long as he’d been around, I wasn’t naïve about how and with whom he’d spent his time, but actually seeing it in black and white photography splayed across the pages of a photo album was a little different.

  Fuchsia held up her wand and drew it through the air. “You might want to start carrying one of these around.”

  I nodded.

  “Since it’s a natural material, it can absorb the brunt of your powers without much blowback.”

  “You mean, I won’t go around blowing up people’s good dishes if I clutch a wand instead?”

  “Something like that.”

  I nodded, wondering where a person would even pick up a wand.

  “The energy that flows through your body is connected to the natural world. You were given a gift.”

  I laughed. “Some might call it a curse.”

  Fuchsia didn’t seem to find the same humor in that as I did. “Don’t waste my time, and I won’t waste yours.”

  “Sorry.”

  “The energy that connects you to our earth, to this planet that feeds the trees, that lets water flow and ice freeze, calls a very few. You’re being called, and it’s your responsibility to answer. When you feel anger, you’re not only pulling energy from inside yourself, but you’re pulling it from the world around you. The energy is unstoppable, uncontrollable if you don’t learn how to harness it. You need to master control over not only yourself but your surroundings.”

  I nodded, thinking back to when I’d called the storm that first night I’d met Carter. Why didn’t I let the storm come, or had it been Carter who’d stopped it?

  “What are you thinking?” She moved closer.

  “There was a time not too long ago where I beckoned a storm, but it calmed.”

  She nodded slowly. “When it calmed, were you feeling the same darkness you’d felt when it started?”

  Darkness.

  The very thing inside me that I wanted to pretend wasn’t there.

  “No. The darkness had dissipated.”

  “And why do you believe that is?”

  “I don’t know,” I lied.

  It was Carter.

  He’d calmed me.

  “I’m going to tell you something that you don’t want to hear,” Fuchsia stated. “That anger, that storm you harkened, is just the beginning. You hold great power, Ivy. You may want to know how to stop those storms, but you need to know how to start them. You need to know how to control them.”

  “Can you?” I asked.

  Fuchsia shook her head. “I don’t have that power. The sorcery in me can only go so far based on the talents I was born with. I can practice my craft and perfect it only as much as the world around me allows. I can use the herbs I pick. I can manipulate the plants I gather, but the plants don’t use me. It’s a one-way street for me. Not for you, Ivy. It’s not only that you can call and communicate with the natural world, but also that the natural world can communicate with you.”

  Her words chilled me like an icy dagger. I felt so isolated and left to fend for myself. What had my grandma been thinking? And the wedge between Violet and me. It seemed to be growing by the day.

  I nodded slowly, letting her words sink in. The only way I’d truly learn to control my impulses was through submission. I had to let go and become.

  “You already know how to call a storm. You know you can blow up the world around you.” Fuchsia laughed. “You don’t need my help for that. What you do need is to accept your fate and understand it. Don’t shun the powers gifted to you.”

  I drew in a slow breath.

  “Think about something you care for.”

  Glinda popped right into my mind.

  “If something was coming after it, what would you do? Would you let it happen? Or would you tap into that dark place to save the good in your life?”

  I parted my lips to say something and stopped.

  “Yet, you wouldn’t want to hurt that thing you cared about, so you’d naturally stop the process before it went too far. That calm that stopped your storm, whatever it may be, is your control.” She put her wand back on the wall. “You already know more than I do. You just have to accept it and use it to your advantage.”

  I nodded.

  “And pray that your sister doesn’t have it.”

  I chuckled.

  “You think I’m kidding?”

  My expression dropped when I realized she wasn’t.

  “Let me go grab something, and we’ll see if what I’ve been telling you has sunk in.”

  “Okay.” I wandered to the window and peeked under the curtains.

  There was no sign of Christy or Carter, which was probably good since I was still as confused as ever about my life.

  Fuchsia returned with the photo album.

  “Why do you think my eyes turned?” I asked.

  “I have no idea on that one. I’ve never seen that before.” She set the album down and flipped through a few pages. “Keep hold of the wand.”

  She motioned for me to come over, and I reluctantly did.

  I hated seeing the photos of Fuchsia and Carter together. He’d had his arms draped over her, smiling and looking absolutely gleeful.

  I didn’t like it one bit.

  “Here, this is the Carter you’ll get.”

  My gaze landed on the photos in front of me, and anger swelled like a tidal wave. I gripped the wand as the energy flooded through me like a wild tsunami of disgust and disappointment.

  The ground started trembling, and I pointed the wand toward the window, the sky, as I screamed at the world’s cruelest joke, shattering her window and lighting the sky with a fury I didn’t care to recall.

  Chapter Twenty

  Carter

  The ground shook fiercely as the sky lit up in a spectacle of electricity as clouds collided and rain poured from the sky.

  Air crackled around us as the vampire tore at me. I squatted to the cement, unleashing a roundhouse that swiped his feet from under him. I grabbed his arm and swung him into the air, smacking him onto the sidewalk.

  Cement cracked in a starburst around him. His eyes stayed focused on me as I smashed my foot into his face. The line of vampires flanked me as lightening scattered above.

  A vampire pulled at my arm, whipping me to the ground as another jumped on top of me. My hand flew to his neck, and my fingers squeezed, crushing his throat to pieces as the other vampire thrashed me against the building. My head cracked against the brick façade as I slid down the building.

  The sidewalk below me shook with such fury, I knew it had to be coming from one source.

  Ivy.

  Three vampires flew toward me as I spun to the left. Two of the beasts collided with the wall, but the one grabbed my waist and drilled me to the sidewalk with a thud.

  Pebbles broke free as I elbowed him in the gut and twisted his head until it clicked.

  The two vampires stood and stretched their fingers.

  “Come on, old man,” the one on the right snapped, wiping the rain droplets out of his eyes.

  I shook
my head and grinned as the weather worked to my advantage.

  Another rumble of the ground beneath us, and I charged toward the one to the left. My shoulders dug into him like a linebacker going to his grave. His hands burrowed into my shoulders as I sped him through the brick wall, the pieces tumbling onto the shell of his body.

  The other vampire pulled me off him and threw me onto the street.

  My back felt stiff. My head pounded with a painful fury that I’d been tossed, but I was undoubtedly ready for more.

  I motioned for him to come get me, but he straightened and smiled, glancing over my shoulder.

  Spinning around, I ducked just as the leader I’d taken care of earlier threw an iron grate at me.

  Damn him.

  He’d gotten up.

  I ran toward him, sliding my feet into his legs, pushing him onto the ground as a group of pixies, fae, and witches congregated on the sidewalk from the local gambling hut.

  Being that this was Raven Ward, they’d offer no help.

  Just wagers on who’d come out at the end.

  I smashed my fist into the vampire’s face and felt his fingers digging into my back as he banged on me to stop.

  The other vampire dragged me off the leader just as a beautiful pixie, eyes gleaming red, green aura releasing her mist into the sky, hovered over us.

  “Good afternoon, boys.” She smiled, revealing her tiny razor-sharp teeth.

  Vampires were fast.

  Pixies were quicker.

  The earth continued to shake, and the storm only strengthened.

  Christy flew to the vampire holding me. She grinned at us both with her mouth gaping as she lunged at the vampire holding me. Her tiny little teeth bit into his throat as her dainty little fingers tore at his neck. He released me instantly as Christy ravaged his body, rendering it useless right before she popped his head off.

  The leader’s eyes widened as Christy hovered right behind me and we walked toward him.

  “You’d wanted to meet the little pixie, if I remember correctly.” I grinned. “So, here she is.”

  The vampire stuttered. “She’s not a normal pixie.”

  I shook my head. “No, she’s not. She’s half-pixie.”

  “Wha–what’s the other half?” he spat out.

  “Demon.” I smiled, and she flew to his side, caressing his cheek softly.

  “I thought I was the only one who played with my food,” I teased, and Christy’s eyes turned fiery red once more.

  He started stuttering over his words. “I’m sorry. It’s over. I’m done. Please just—”

  “You just dream it’s over,” Christy whispered to the vampire.

  I towered over the quivering vampire and grinned.

  He’d once stood so tall.

  Thought so highly of his skills.

  “Now, be a good boy and go tell Lux that I’ve declined his offer. We’ve declined his offer.” I laughed. “In fact, you might want to tell him he ought to think his offer over or we’ll deliver the same one.”

  “A truce?” the vampire sputtered.

  Christy let go of the vampire and returned to her dainty self. “Pixies don’t believe in truces. We believe in revenge. Now, move along.”

  The vampire stood, tripping over his own feet several times before running down the sidewalk.

  The group of spectators began trading cash among the winners and losers before heading back in for another round.

  Christy looked at me. “So, that’s twice in as many days.”

  “Twice what?” I asked.

  She laughed. “Don’t play coy.”

  I grinned and wrapped my arms around Christy. “Now, I wonder what’s got Ivy so pissed off?”

  Christy stopped and looked at me. “You think she’s the one who did this?”

  “Uh, yeah. Who else would?”

  “Oh, shit.” Christy groaned. “We’d better stop her before she destroys Raven Ward.”

  I nodded and took off after Christy. Within seconds, we landed on Fuchsia’s doorstep.

  Christy called for Fuchsia and Ivy, but we heard nothing but the crackling of destruction, the hum not unlike what I’d heard below.

  Christy flew through the downstairs and to the upstairs, meeting me in the study where I saw Ivy in a trance and holding the wand toward the sky.

  “There’s no sign of Fuchsia.”

  “Great.” I shook my head and looked around, trying to find some kind of answer. “This wasn’t exactly the kind of training I was thinking about.”

  Christy shook her head and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to interrupt her. I don’t know if we should.”

  I nodded.

  “I mean, what do we do? Tap her shoulder and say pardon me?” She’d whip that wand around so fast, we’d both be goners.”

  “I don’t know what Fuchsia was thinking, giving her a wand.” I stared at Ivy.

  Even in this form, she was beautiful, maybe even more so.

  The power that radiated from her fingertips and the aura of strength that radiated around her showed nothing but calmness in a somewhat violent situation.

  “It’s not the wand that did this to her.” Fuchsia’s voice snuck up behind us.

  Christy turned to look at her, and I followed.

  “Then what was it?” I asked, unease spreading through me at a wicked rate.

  Fuchsia smiled and pointed at the desk. “It was the pictures in there.”

  “Pictures?” Christy asked. “The ones you already showed us?”

  Fuchsia only smiled wider. “No, different ones.”

  My chest tightened into a knot of pain I hadn’t even felt moments earlier from getting thrown around by a bunch of vampires.

  No, this pain was deep and achy, reaching into parts of me that threatened to crush me.

  “Why would you do that?” I asked, taking a step toward Fuchsia.

  “I thought she needed to know the real you.”

  “What’s she talking about, Carter?” Christy asked, touching my arm.

  “Ivy already knows the real me.” I towered over Fuchsia.

  “No, she doesn’t.”

  “I’ve changed.”

  Fuchsia studied me. “Men don’t change. You haven’t changed.”

  I took a step back. “I’d like to believe I have.”

  Fuchsia shrugged. “Keep fooling yourself, Carter. It’s only a matter of time before you crave the hunt again.”

  I swallowed down my fury. I couldn’t . . . I wouldn’t let Fuchsia control me like this.

  It was why I left her.

  Why I left Raven Ward.

  They nurtured the evil within. They sowed the seeds of hate and destruction.

  I turned to Ivy and realized that was precisely what Fuchsia was doing to her now.

  “How do we stop this?” I hollered as I stepped into Ivy’s aura.

  Fuchsia laughed. “No one can stop her until she’s ready. Until she can calm herself.”

  “You’re an evil woman,” Christy spat in Fuchsia’s face.

  The spray sizzled her skin. Fuchsia gasped. “You’ll pay for that.”

  “Anytime.” Christy’s eyes turned fiery as my hand ran along Ivy’s arm.

  “Not now,” I said calmly. “Now’s not the time.”

  Ivy’s expression softened, but her wand still held an enormous amount of power. The sky hissed with her instruction as I brought my other hand to Ivy’s cheek.

  “You’re okay, Ivy. We’re going to get through this,” I whispered. “We’ll get you home soon.”

  Ivy’s arm dropped to her side, and she collapsed into my arms. Her eyes closed and her breathing became rapid as I stroked her cheek.

  Her eyes flicked open and horror filled her gaze.

  “You stay away from me. You’re a monster.” Ivy’s eyes raged with a hatred I’d never seen before. She bolted from my arms and stood across the room. “If you ever come near me, I’ll make you sparkle like the lightning in the sky. You hear me?”


  Ivy tore out of Fuchsia’s house, but I knew I’d be seeing her again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ivy

  Violet twirled a noodle around her finger and let out a disgruntled sigh. We were in a booth in the far corner of the GrubNPub in the Dove Ward.

  I didn’t want to stay another second in either Juniper or Raven Ward. They’d be too obvious, and I didn’t want to be found.

  Especially by Carter.

  The moment I saw those photos, I knew I’d made a horrible mistake pretending that Carter was any different from the other vampires.

  He was no different.

  “I don’t see what the big deal is.” Violet shrugged and sucked the noodle off her finger.

  “Seriously, how old are you?” I glared at my twin.

  “What’s your problem, and what’s with the colored contacts?” Violet rolled her eyes. “You wanted matching contacts with Carter? That’s kind of stretching it.”

  “Don’t say his name around me.”

  “Don’t be overly dramatic.” She spun another noodle around her finger, and I wanted to shove the whole plate of pasta in her face.

  But at least I didn’t shatter all the glassware on the table.

  I’d call that progress.

  “What’s the deal?” She stared at me.

  “We wouldn’t even be in this mess if it weren’t for him.” I shook my head furiously.

  “Well, he did the right thing. He tried to save that girl Jenny. Right?” She cracked her jaw and forked in a bunch of noodles. “How could he have predicted that would start some sort of chain reaction?”

  I glared at her. “Why are you sticking up for him?”

  “Believe me, I’m not.” She took a bite. “I’m just very confused. One minute, we’re following him around like lost puppy dogs, and the next, we’re running from him like the vampire he is.”

  “Then I think you just answered your own question.”

  I studied my sister and wondered if maybe she had experienced some of the things I had.

  “Has everything been normal for you since Grammy died?”

  “Would you quit calling her Grammy? And yes, apart from being scared half to death about someone trying to kill me, everything has been pretty normal.”