Kolgaar shook his head quickly. “No. Nothing. Not to Jorvik. It doesn’t mean those dirty witches…” He stopped and scowled at Spencer.
“Did they tell you why they were sending a Viking and not one of their own?” Spencer asked.
“I wasn’t privy to the discussions. The coven came and offered a solution. King Hrothgar accepted their plan and they asked for volunteers. I know nothing else.” Kolgaar glanced at Annie. She could see fear behind his eyes.
Annie pushed herself away from the table. “Kolgaar will be kept here in the prison until I’m comfortable in going back and have what I need in place.”
“No! You must untie me. We must leave. Now, before there are more deaths. And those will be on your head!” Kolgaar shouted in frustration.
Annie sternly looked at Kolgaar. “I’ve already told you, we can go back to the designated date at any time. We don’t need to rush out of here. In the meantime, we need a room prepared,” she said.
Beyond the door, they heard a heavy thump and several voices shouting. Footsteps marched toward the room. They all looked at the door.
“Hello, brother,” said Sturtagaard to a stunned room.
Chapter 13
“Shit,” she muttered. She, Spencer, and Lial remained shocked by the bombshell. Annie stared at Sturtagaard.
His brother?
She searched for a familial similarity. Their hair—Sturtagaard’s was jet black, Kolgaar’s was light brown. While their eyes were the same shape, Sturtagaard’s had turned black long ago when the demon took over. She wondered if they had once been the blue of Kolgaar’s. Their noses were both long and thin, and their height was close, though Kolgaar was wider than the vampire, who was leaner and stronger with the demon coursing through him.
How is this possible?
Kolgaar was the first to speak, “This was my destiny to be here. Why did they send you?”
Sturtagaard stepped inside the conference room, a sneer of distain on his face. “There are many things you do not understand yet. You will come to know that you were not the only pawn in this plan. I have done things…” he looked directly at Annie. “I have done things that led me to this point in time. Because you are too smart,” he pointed to Annie. “And you,” —pointing to Kolgaar— “are too stupid to get this right.”
Kolgaar glared at his brother, unaware that he was a vampire who had been alive for the last 1,100 years. All the Viking knew was that his brother had insulted him. Kolgaar jumped from his seat. Still attached, the chair moved with him. “Untie me!” he shrieked.
“No. You sit.” Annie pointed to Kolgaar. “You, come with me.” She grabbed Sturtagaard and dragged him from the room.
She threw a jinx, shoving him into the stone wall.
“What the hell’s your problem, girl?” Sturtagaard asked. The jinx was so strong, the stone wall cut the back of his head. He touched the injury, sniffed the blood, and licked his fingers.
“You bloody little shit! This is all your fault!” Annie had never lost control around him; she couldn’t afford to show weakness. But this was her last straw. Staring at him now, she believed it was Sturtagaard who had told the Fraternitatem about her; she could feel it to her bones.
Sturtagaard felt the chill around her and realized it was no longer fun to jeer with her. “We all have a place in this,” he said. He stared at his bloodstained hand.
“You told them. You told the Fraternitatem about me, didn’t you?” Annie began to pace.
Sturtagaard sneered. “You’re not ready.”
Annie threw another jinx, holding it against his throat. Though he didn’t breathe, she knew it was tight and uncomfortable for him. Her hand shook as she raised him in the air. She released the spell and he slid to the ground.
Sturtagaard taunted her with a laugh. “You have no idea what you’re walking into,” he finally said.
“What’s going on here?” Vivian asked, coming around the corner.
“Take him to the vampire cells,” Annie said and stormed back into the conference room.
“Girl, we need to talk,” Sturtagaard said.
“Take him away.” Annie didn’t look at him as she returned to the conference room.
Kolgaar said, “He… he was there when I left.” The Viking seemed confused, working through the logistics, the timing, and the fact that his brother was here.
“He’s a vampire. He doesn’t age. In your time, he’s still human,” Annie said.
Kolgaar’s eyes were wide, fearful. He looked at them with disgust. “It’s not…”
“Possible? It is. That demon you just saw isn’t the same man you know. He’s a monster and has been for over a thousand years,” Annie spat.
“Untie me,” Kolgaar murmured.
Annie released the ropes around his chest and the ropes at his ankles. Kolgaar stood and paced along the back wall.
“You’re the demons. You’re evil with your magic,” Kolgaar accused.
Maybe he’s not wrong.
“What aren’t you telling us?” Annie asked.
Kolgaar shook his head. “I’m here to bring you back, that is all. Keeping me here is doing little to help. I need to get you back before there’s nothing to go back to!” He pounded on the table. Spencer and Lial raised their palms and faced him.
Kolgaar backed away. Regaining his composure, he said, “I need to get her back. Now.”
“Are we keeping him in this room?” Lial asked.
“Yeah. We’ll leave a spell on the door so he can’t leave.” She turned when Vivian cleared her throat behind her.
“The vampire wants to talk to you now,” she said. “Alone.” She stepped back and turned, heading for the reception desk.
“Make sure he’s okay. Sturtagaard’s lucky he’s in the cell.” Annie stormed off.
*
“Why are you here?” Annie asked Lial as he caught up to her.
“To make sure you’re okay. Spencer can handle Kolgaar,” Lial said. With seven inches on her, he easily matched her quick stride. She didn’t hide her displeasure.
Turret Three of Tartarus Prison was a self-contained vampire wing, specially designed to keep vampires in, to deteriorate their metal stability, and keep them in a weakened state. Sturtagaard had lost his hand on an acid window in a cell the year before.
Annie marched to Sturtagaard’s cell with Lial following closely behind.
The vampire perked up, smelling her scent as she entered the corridor. He stood against the wall, waiting for her arrival.
“Another new boy? You sure get around,” he quipped.
“Your brother-in-arms or really your brother?” she asked.
“No jokes? No quips? No smartass remarks?” he asked and walked to the cell door, careful to not touch the holy-water-imbued bars.
Annie flung a jinx at the vampire. Embers burnt a hole through the thin shirt and burnt the top layer of skin. Lial stared at her, his mouth agape.
“I like this new you,” Sturtagaard said as he brushed the fire from his shirt.
“Is Kolgaar really your brother?”
“Damn it, girl. Yes. He’s my brother. Same mother, same father.” He turned on the water from the sink, drenching the remaining embers. He stayed toward the back of the cell as if that could protect him from her magic.
“What did the Fraternitatem want from you?” she asked.
He leaned against the stone wall, his arms crossed against his chest. “How did you figure it out?”
“There’s only two creatures who were alive back then: Zola and you. She wouldn’t, and you told me yourself—you hated Anaise so much you wanted to kill her when you turned. Only, I was already gone. Wasn’t I? So, what did the Fraternitatem want from you?” Annie asked.
Sturtagaard smiled. “When they found me, I was selling some items of importance to them. They didn’t like it very much.”
“What did you sell?” she asked.
Sturtagaard stared at her. “When I turned, I did several… thin
gs that caused the coven to become very angry with me. But because I was a vampire, immortal, they knew they needed me to make the plan work. To keep out of trouble, I roamed the earth, all of it. But I still managed to find trouble; at times, serious trouble. You see, vampires don’t like to die. We want to live, the blood lust and all. While in the Israeli desert, I came across the hidden temple of Solomon. The riches could turn even you evil,” he said to Annie, a light smirk on his face. “Gold menorahs, candlesticks, robes, gold pieces, some Chintamani stones. Back then, it was easy to pilfer the items and sell them. It was easier to hide. The Fraternitatem, however, has no sense of humor.”
Annie winced at the thought of the Fraternitatem taking her mother, keeping this demon alive for their own selfish needs.
“You didn’t hand them over the artifacts, so they decided to kill you?”
“No. They were very forceful. Very…” he bent over and raised his left pant leg, revealing that his calf muscle was nearly gone as if a predator had eaten it for lunch.
I’ve never seen that!
“They threatened to take me apart piece by piece. I gave them their shit back,” he said and lowered his trouser leg. “I had a deal and I had to honor it.”
“So, what did you trade your life for?”
“It doesn’t do well to give up your contacts. I’ve never been one to burn that bridge. But I was caught with all of these pieces from King Solomon. And they wanted to know where I got them from. I had to give up my source to not be cut to pieces.” His voice took a higher pitch. The vampire was agitated. He started to pace.
“They killed my contact and that made me a pariah. No one in the Black Market would touch me, talk to me, deal with me.” He waved his arms in the air.
“Connect the dots. What did you use to bargain for your life?” She was just as agitated.
Again, Sturtagaard glared at Annie. The chill surrounding her was growing stronger.
He continued to pace. “Okay, girl. The Fraternitatem came after me. Wanted to stop the sale of the items. They kill anyone who stands in their way.” He glanced at her. “I gave them the only thing I had worth anything. I told them about Anaise, about the demons, and your powers. I was already protected by the coven and was nearly staked by the Fraternitatem. But they… they were intrigued. I had heard about the power before I turned. I had the prophecy and I traded you for my life. Those bastards…” He began to laugh. “Those bastards bound me to them until you were born. Once I let them know that the great Anaise had been born and that your name was Anne Elizabeth Pearce, they took over, did whatever it was they needed to do, and I was completely free of them.” Agitated, he sped up his pacing. Annie felt dizzy watching the back and forth. He stopped at the cell bars. “Your daddy did the same thing.”
Annie summoned the picture of her mother and shoved it through the door. “No! They used that knowledge against my mom. They took her away from me. I was three years old when she ‘died!’” Annie used air quotes and began pacing along the cell doors. “He died because he tried to get her back. The Fraternitatem wouldn’t let her go. She wouldn’t go.”
Sturtagaard stared at her blankly. She summoned the picture back.
“You! You took everything I had!” She whipped the cell door open. It sputtered and squeaked as it slid into the wall. She walloped Sturtagaard across the chin. He floundered and fell backwards. She lunged for him, sitting across his chest, summoned a stake, and held the point to his chest. “Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because he’s protected until you get back,” Ryan said from behind her. He walked casually into the cell. “You can stake him when this is over.”
She let the Ryan take her stake and help her up. “Maybe I’ll kill his human self when I get there.” She shrugged Ryan from her and stormed out of the cell. As she slammed the door shut, locking the vampire inside, she said, “And my name is Annie.” She turned and left Sturtagaard stunned and slightly afraid.
*
“Why are you here?” Annie asked Ryan. He and Lial were both taller than her, with longer strides, and yet they had to jog to keep up with her.
“Spencer let me know what was going on. I need to show you something,” he said.
Annie wiped tears from her eyes as she turned down another flight of stairs on her way to first floor conference room. It was getting late, she was tired, and she wanted this to end.
“He did this,” Annie said.
“I know.” Ryan reached for her, but she pulled away and opened the first floor door. Ryan and Lial exchanged glances as Annie turned right and entered the conference room. Mrs. Cuttlebrink had since arrived and sat with Spencer at the table.
“I’m sorry,” Spencer moved his lips without speaking the words aloud. She understood his apology but ignored him.
“Why did you come out in this weather?” Annie asked the librarian as she took a seat.
Mrs. Cuttlebrink held up a scroll. “I wanted you to see this immediately.” Mrs. Cuttlebrink placed the scroll on the table and rolled it to Annie. It had been sealed with wax but was now open. “We estimate it’s from the fourteenth century.”
Annie stared at the seal, the design was the familiar six-pointed star surrounded by four large bumps in the corners as if creating a box. “The Fraternitatem.” She unrolled the dry and brittle scroll, which was written in Hebrew. She took a deep breath, waved her hand over the scroll, and watched the language fade out and then back in. She read aloud.
There will be a girl of the future, fair, smart, and lovely.
They will call her Anaise.
She will come to the land of the demons and save the natives there.
For her effort, her time, her sacrifice, she will receive the ultimate power.
Her magic will increase tenfold.
They will revere and bow to her.
They will owe her their lives.
Annie touched the seal. “This must have been when Sturtagaard told the Fraternitatem of Solomon, confirming they’re involved. They knew the prophecy. They probably trapped my mom with this.”
She sat back in the chair. Images rolled through her brain as she pieced together what they had. Her role, Sturtagaard’s role. She couldn’t understand the coven’s disjoined actions.
“Why go through all of this?” she finally shouted. “Why send him to the future to bring me to the past? Why hide it? Why not just tell me what I had to do, let me prepare, and get it over with?”
Those in the room remained silent. There was no acceptable or reasonable answer.
“We need to go,” Kolgaar murmured.
“I don’t see any sightings of the regenerating demons yet. We have time,” Annie said sardonically.
“Annie. This is serious. We don’t need demons reappearing right this instant for you to go back. As much as I don’t want you to go back, I can’t help thinking that if you don’t get back now, the past will continue without the benefit of your actions and the demons might start appearing. That will most certainly expose magic,” Ryan said.
“That makes no sense. I can go back any time to the right place and time, and it won’t matter,” Annie argued.
Ryan held his hands together and touched his lips. “You’d be correct if the plan hadn’t been set in motion yet. But it has. They called for you, and time has caught up to you. The plan is in motion. We’re on a clock.”
Annie shuddered, her hands shook as she stared at the words on the prophecy without reading them.
He glanced around the room. “Okay. This won’t resolve itself tonight. We need to cool off and get back at it in the morning. Lial, Spencer, you look into the portal with the help of Sabrina. See what else you can learn. Go home and rest. Kolgaar, I promise we will get you back,” Ryan said.
“We need to go now,” Kolgaar reiterated.
“We don’t know how,” Annie said. A prison guard named Matt entered the room and set Kolgaar’s room for the night. Annie took one last look at the Viking and left with Ryan.
T
hey took a leisurely stroll down the lane to the teleportation clearing.
“I don’t need you to protect me,” Annie said as they entered the clearing. She sat at a picnic table that had never been used. No one knew why it was even there.
The sky was orange at the horizon and dark blue above them. She glanced at the moon and sighed.
“If I could, I’d have Milo put someone else on this. You’re much too close to this case to be useful,” Ryan said.
“I’m fine,” Annie said.
“Really? Spencer said you pushed Sturtagaard against the wall, I saw you nearly stake him. We’re restricted with him,” Ryan reminded her.
“Blah, blah, blah.” She knew she was acting like a petulant child. She no longer cared, and yet she knew she needed to get a grip if she were to go to the past. Her life depended on it.
“You’re not sixteen anymore,” Ryan said.
“You’re not my dad,” Annie replied. She shuddered. “Sorry, that wasn’t nice.”
“I have no idea what it’s like for you. I didn’t lose my parents. I don’t have the weight of the world on my shoulders, dragging me down. But I do know you need to get over it and do it quickly,” he advised.
Ryan handed Annie another scroll. The parchment had been stored in the records room since this version of Wizard Hall had been erected. Prior to that, it had traveled in boxes and baskets, and been hidden in dark dungeons and scattered across the United States for centuries. The parchment was darkened with age and ripped at the edges. The seal of the Great Wizard Council of America, a Valknut a design of three interlocking triangles, had been placed into the heated wax holding the scroll together. It was no longer shiny and looked cracked, as though it would break upon opening it.
Annie glanced at Ryan, who nodded his approval. She slid her finger under the top layer of parchment and broke the seal. She held her breath as she unrolled the scroll. Ryan shined a flashlight on the paper.
This is to decree that for his knowledge of past events, of the prophecy of the future Anaise, and the knowledge and power she will receive after defeating the regenerating demons of Northumbria, now England, for setting the coven of Northumbria free from the terror and power, allowing us to start the Wizard Council of the New World, Sturtagaard the vampire shall retain his freedom. He shall be allowed to roam the earth until his role in the event shall be fulfilled. He will, for this freedom and information, give help when asked and assist when necessary in all endeavors of the Wizard Council in the New World. When his time comes and his task has been completed, he can and will be terminated by the Wizard Council as they determine necessary.
Wizard Hall Chronicles Box Set Page 117