by Aneesa Price
Bile rose up in her throat and she fought the urge to throw up. She thought hard and fast then got moving. She needed magick to help her and she needed to find out how. Careful to act the part of a woman returning to her lover, she used that as an excuse for the rushed behavior. Reaching the table, she leaned over to whisper to Conall, “Act lover-like. Something’s happened. We need to get out now and reconvene at the plantation.”
Conall acted his part, broadcasting a message to Sylvain and Niul to relay what Anais requested.
“We’re heading back,” Conall got out in between kissing Anais’ neck. “You coming?”
“Sure, we’ll have more fun at home, hey?” Sylvain draped an arm over Sophie, smacking a kiss on her lips.
Anais stopped the alarm from showing on Sophie’s face just in time by linking with all of her sisters, glad for the maker’s ability and quickly sent them the images of what had happened. Maintaining the façade, they all made their way to the exit, the picture of a group of friends and lovers.
“Leaving so soon?”
Drat! Anais mentally cursed when Akeldonna’s question stopped them in their tracks. Another Oscar performance required, she thought – at this rate, she’d give Charlize Theron a run for her money - and plastered a smile as she turned to her least favorite member of the Vampire Council.
Anais was saved from responding by Conall acting like a drunken and besotted idiot. Words slurring slightly, he dragged Anais in for a breath-taking kiss then turned to face Akeldonna, “Your place is great but I’ve got plans for Anais.”
Akeldonna, ever the reigning bitch of vile, raised a grotesque eyebrow. Anais fought against the automatic need to take a step back. Generally, vampires were beautiful. As predators their beauty helped lure prey. Anais liked to think of it as karma’s way of making her outside look like her inside. Akeldonna’s looks only seemed to bother Anais and the one’s she turned, and now, with the recent unbinding of her powers, she was starting to think that it acted as a shield against whatever charm Akeldonna exerted over others. The mystery lay not in her looks, though. It lay in the undeniable fact that outside of Yves she was one of the most influential vampires and a powerful member of the Vampire Council. It did not bode well for anyone who upset her. She was known to have vampires decapitated or locked away, old-school style in coffins cemented in ground, at offense she’s taken for the smallest presumed offense.
Anais was still trying to find an appropriate response that would not offend when Conall saved her yet again.
He continued to play the part of a drunken lover, “It’s glad I am that I listened to Yves. Now, if you’ll excuse us from your esteemed establishment, my guards and I have to attend to learning as much as we can about vampires. Tell Yves that I say thanks.” He turned Anais around and pushed her through the exit, slapping her backside like a sex-starved fool.
Akeldonna could say little in objection and continued to stare as Anais shrugged as if to say, ‘whatever Yves wants’. There was no mistaking Conall’s intended innuendo and name-dropping had helped secure their begrudging release from Akeldonna’s clutches.
Chapter 17
“Y’all make sure t’ drink it all!” Miss Suzette gave the foul concoction a stir with a wooden spoon. Ladling the brew into enormous mugs, she waved the wooden spoon at them, concern etched in the lines of her face. “T’will clear the liquor out of your heads and give you strength to face whatever it is that’s come up now. Then y’all can talk business and strategy. Until then, not one word. What y’all think barging into my kitchen and acting like it was on fire is known only to your liquor-soaked heads.” The wooden spoon was being waved about again. Funny how the sight of a grown woman and a spoon made the strong men blanch – memories of childhood spankings making them down the drink.
“I’m sorry, Miss Suzette, it seems drama is my middle name lately. I got them riled up and running into the kitchen like that,” Anais said apologetically. No point in addressing the alcohol part of Miss Suzette’s scolding; they were all a bit tipsy and saying that would only get her into more trouble.
“Drama is part of life. Barging into my kitchen like the hounds of hell are after yah, ain’t. Especially when y’all have been drinking. So, now you drink up, sober up and then I’ll be fine.” Miss Suzette’s heart strings were being pulled to grab Anais into her arms but her nerves would crumble if she softened towards her girls now. “And you, Anais Marie de Beauvieu, you know better than to get them into a het. Didn’t I teach you better?! You’re the oldest and it’s time you act like it.”
The words were harsh but had no bite. Conall knew from his own ma that it was worry that was driving it. He also remembered that owning up helped ease things a bit . “I should’ve known better too, Miss Suzette. It won’t happen again.”
“You bet your behind it won’t or I’ll be turning it a nice raw red for you.” The spoon was still in action and in the hefty arms of Miss Suzette, after having seen her beat choux pasty into smoothness in a jiffy, it was a weapon to be noted.
Raulf entered the kitchen oozing sensuality and the kind of confidence that came from being a leader. The cocky grin he sported was soon replaced by a frown as he took in the atmosphere, his aunt a bundles of nerves commandeering them all. When she acted like that and the rest sat meek and mild then things were bad.
“What’s going on?” Raulf addressed them all.
Miss Suzette aimed the spoon at Raulf this time. “You!” She pointed first at him and then the chair, earning an appreciative grin from Conall and a scowl from Raulf. Raulf knew what was coming. He should’ve come in, shut up and sat down. Miss Suzette was on a roll, “sit down boy and drink. Maybe it’ll make you start acting like the alpha that you’re supposed to be. It’s not what the drinks meant for but I have hope.” She huffed as she plonked a glass of the vile liquid in front of Raulf.
“Why do I have to drink this stuff?” He sipped and grimaced. “And why am I being shouted at? I didn’t do a damn thing!”
“Did I hear you cuss, boy?”
“No ma’am,” came Raulf’s automatic response. “I was enjoying the drink.” He should’ve known better than to say anything; she’d just pour more of it down his throat. It’d been her favorite punishment when he’d been up to mischief as a boy running through this kitchen and it seemed like she hadn’t lost the touch to make him cower.
Miss Suzette smiled. The boy has sass and a mouth on him but she’d let it slip. Her nerves were calming down and she was nearly ready to hear the latest story.
“What is in this stuff, err…drink, Miss Suzette?” Sylvain ventured to ask while the wiser people in the room remained silent, concentrating on finish every last drop (because Miss Suzette would check).
“Just a bit of kitchen magick but you don’t need to concern yourself with that now. Y’all just finish up then we’ll talk.”
After they’d complied with Miss Suzette’s orders, Anais began recounting the episode with the girl. The atmosphere had turned from concerned anxiousness to grim silence by the time she’d finished.
Conall was the first to speak, “I think you’re right; they must be the missing witches. It is too big a coincidence for it not to be. And this confirms our theory about you being part of the key.” He looked at Anais. “The girl you saw must have been trying to reach someone for a while and she finally got through to you.”
Eager to find a solution, Anais looked enquiringly at Conall, Sylvain and Niul, “So now what I need to know is how to maintain a link with her long enough to find out where they are and get them out.”
“Hold up,” interjected Raulf, “It could be a trap. We can’t rush into this with the little information that we have.”
“Raulf is right. So when we link with her, we’ll get that,” agreed Conall.
Raulf sprung in, looking at Conall, he asked, “Is there no way we can find out more with magick and protect Anais at the same time? And even though we won’t be linked,” he looked at the other women, “w
ith their blood and emotional link to her I’d be more comfortable if we can ensure everyone’s safety.”
Marie was on the verge of protesting the need for protection when Miss Suzette stopped her with a held up hand. “No, boo, he’s right. It would be foolish to refuse any means of ensuring our safety when we don’t know what we’re up against.”
“Yes,” supported Sophie, “we can’t risk leaving one of us open to use as leverage.”
“I agree,” added Rose.
“Ok, I cave,” grumbled Marie.
Conall acquiesced with a nod of his head. “Syl, Niul, would you two go through to the library and do a quick cleansing and set up two protection circles. One for Anais, Sophie and I and one for the rest of you. You get started and I’ll fill them in.”
Conall turned his full attention to the rest of them, outlining the magick they’d be performing. “We don’t have time for me to take you through various scenarios, Anais. You’ll have to trust me to step in and take care of things should anything happen. Sophie, the same applies to you. We’ll be in the inner-circle. Because you’re new to this, I’ll control the circle. Anais, all I need you to do is focus on linking with her and holding it. Sophie, I need you to link to Anais and try to pick up any emotions. Be careful to remain covert; we don’t want her to sense you. I’ll link with Anais through our royal connection. If the girl’s a witch, I’ll pick up on it and we can use that to track her psychically.”
“What do the rest of us do?” Raulf inquired.
“You’ll be part of the outer circle,” Conall explained. “Through our links, we’ll feed magick to Anais and to the girl to maintain her strength and the connection.”
“Sounds like a plan,” nodded Raulf.
--------
Anais and Conall let their inner magick shine and the room glowed with magickal light as they stepped into the inner circle with the Sophie. Sophie linked with Anais and began to glow too. Then, when the rest of them were stationed in the outer circle, he asked them all to focus first on his words and then on what Anais, Sophie and he were going to do. Their main objective was to feed magick to the protection they would cast and to Anais. That they all agreed without question was testament to the trust they laid before him and the love they had for Anais and Sophie. With pure hearts such as theirs, the magick performed would have to go very wrong for them to fail. Unfortunately, there was much that could go wrong. Conall took a deep breath, despite having performed countless tricky rituals and cast many dangerous spells, he was nervous – he had a lot more to lose now. He looked around at the faces as eager to get this done as he was and began:
Goddess, we humbly ask of you
To protect our circle that is white and true
Gates of the North, South, East and West
Help us with your powers best
That none shall pass this circle’s wall
From evil, protected in it will be all
All evil that dare try enter will cease
We vanquish it with white magick’s peace
Let us do our task and see
So we can true to our magick’s purpose be
As we will, so mote it be
Following Conall’s signal, Anais opened the link to the frantic knocking from the girl.
“Been waiting,” the girl’s message was barely audible. Addressing her depleting energy, Anais took some of her own and sent it to her.
The picture she saw in her mind’s eye was clearer, the sounds more audible but the atmosphere was still as grim.
The girl immediately began to broadcast her need for help at such speed it was confusing. With all of their magic to aid in the connection, the words being sent by the girl seemed to reverberate off the walls making everyone wince.
“Hold on. I’m here to help you,” Anais interrupted, “but I need you to try and stay calm. I need to get the facts from you and get them right, okay?” She gave the girl a moment and then felt the mental nod. Anais looked to Sophie for confirmation, who signaled that the girl’s anxiety was lessening a bit. Anais started with the most obvious and easiest question, not wanting to risk the verbal storm again, “What’s your name?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
Despite the despair carried in the girl’s voice, Anais noted the scepticism on the faces within the circle. “What’s happened to you?”
“Vampires. We’re being held hostage by them. They’re draining us.”
“Who’s us? Do you know the others?”
“No, we’re not allowed to communicate – they watch us. They kidnap us one at a time and bring us here. We’re all women in this room but the house has others although I haven’t seen them. I’ve heard men, screaming. I think they’re captives too. The vampires drain us until we can’t remember anything.”
Conall looked to Anais for confirmation of that last statement. Anais nodded and sent him a quick message, “It’s part of the glamour, when vampires feed, it releases toxins that act as a drug. Too much of it can lead to memory loss.”
“Like when you lose too much blood?” Conall sent the question back.
“No,” Anais replied mentally, “not always. The toxin is in the bite, so they could’ve been bitten multiple times.”
She turned her attention back to the girl. “Are the rest of the women witches too?”
“I heard the one vampire talking about gaining powers from the blood, so I think so.”
Conall sent Anais a message, “Doesn’t mean they’re witches. They could be fae or shifters but the chances that they’re witches are greater.”
Anais nodded and then went back to the girl – unfortunately, unless they saw the women turn furry, there was no way to know for sure. “How many of you are there?”
“Not sure. Some died and new one’s come in all the time.” The girls started weeping, the sound so distraught, it hit Anais right in the chest. Looking around, she noticed the others were feeling it too. Conall caught her eye and signed the next steps to her. Nodding in agreement, Anais tried to reach the girl through the desolation.
“I know this is hard for you but I need you to try and be strong, okay? I need to find out more so that we can help you as fast as we can. Can you do that? Can you stay strong for a little while longer until we come get you?”
Another mental nod, so Anais continued, “I need you to look around slowly and let me see as much as I can through your eyes.”
Anais felt herself being pulled into the girl’s mind. It was still the same dark room as before. It looked derelict, damp and not fit to keep anything in, let alone the fifteen women she counted. She couldn’t see the girls with the vacant eyes that she’d spotted earlier. The possibility that they’d probably died and had been moved away or discarded was emotionally staggering. The girl turned slowly to look behind her and Anais noted that the room was much larger; the girl was seated against a wall in the centre of it. What she saw the other side made her gasp!
Sophie signaled that the girl’s panic had risen quickly and astronomically. Anais took the calm Sophie sent her and channeled it towards the girl. Despite the horror that she was witnessing, they needed her to remain with them long enough to give them more information. Sophie signaled back that the calm had worked – but very little. Anais didn’t know what else to do – she couldn’t blame the girl for her reaction, so waited and watched, fighting the urge to break the connection and not be able to see.
Conall reached over, placing a supportive hand over hers, giving her the courage to watch. A huge brute of a vampire was sexually molesting, taunting and drinking from a woman chained to a cot-bed at the other end of the room. Anais could barely stomach the sight of the woman, nearly dead, naked and covered in blood as the vampire began raping as he drank.
He seemed to sense the girl watching him and looked over. He motioned a friend forward, another vampire just as brutish, who’d been voyeuristically enjoying the horrendous cruelty. The friend took over the torment of the cot-bound woman as the o
ther one made his way over to the girl.
Anais forced herself to look at the vampire with the detached concentration of a scientist looking through a microscope. The bastard hadn’t even bothered to pull up his pants and the sight of his penis, covered in his victim’s blood with more dripping from his mouth made her want to retch.
“Do you have a problem, witch?” He bent down and poked a finger in the girl’s chest.
Looking through her eyes, Anais saw the room from left to right as the girl moved her head in denial.
“Like what you see?” he taunted.
The girl didn’t respond and that angered the vampire. “You’re not answering, so are you not saying that you don’t like what you see?”
The girl remained silent.
“Answer me, you bitch!” The vampire shouted, pummeling a fist into the girl’s face.
Anais winced, her own eyes turning red with rage as the girl’s head jerked with the force of the hit. Conall’s hand tightened on hers. Anais looked at him. His jaw was locked, teeth were clenched and his eyes shone with the same rage. The look they exchanged said that they would make that bastard pay.
Anais was brought back into the room by an increase in the girl’s panic. She saw through the girls eyes as she glanced down to her chest. The vampire had progressed from hitting and poking at her to groping her breasts. Panic rose in Anais as it did in the girl. She didn’t think the girl was strong enough to withstand the torture this sadistic bastard seemed to enjoy.
“No need to be jealous of her witch,” the vampire’s face was so near to the girl’s she kept her face down, her eyes fixated on the hand that was moving, pinching and pulling underneath her top. “There’s enough of me to go around and your friend over there is finished, so I can pay you some special attention.” Anais caught a glimpse of the cot-bound women on the bed being untied and pulled over the shoulder of the vampire that had finished the job the other had begun in slowly murdering her.