A Shift in Power (Shadow Claw Book 5)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Nina wanted more than anything to put her arms around Kevin, to feel his skin against hers and to smell his familiar scent. She ran a hand over her belly and felt the child inside her. She sat down on the hill, comforted that she wasn’t entirely alone. She strained her ears, hoping to hear Kevin again, but there was nothing but silence all around. Nina lay down on the grass and closed her eyes, wishing to go to sleep. She knew it was futile, however. There was no sleeping here in the world of dreams, for she was already asleep somewhere.

  In the middle of the night, Ammara came to check on Nina. She saw Gael faithfully watching over her daughter and son-in-law, and she pressed a finger to her lips when she caught his eye. Gael nodded and sat back in his chair, allowing Ammara to silently stand in the doorway and watch the sleeping witch and bear. She sighed and leaned against the doorframe, hoping for some burst of magic or genius that could help her save her daughter.

  She had lied to Kevin earlier. Her pregnancy with Nina hadn’t been this difficult. She remembered a happy time with Kalen as they frolicked through the fairy territory, safe in the knowledge that their child was growing happy and healthy in Ammara’s womb. It was true that she had felt drained of energy because the baby needed the magic to sustain itself inside her. It was nothing like the kind of energy that Nina’s unborn child was drawing from her.

  Gael watched Ammara quietly. He knew that she put on a brave face in front of the others, always reassuring them, but she was afraid to lose her daughter all over again. He considered saying something to her, to comfort her, but decided against it. After all, it wasn’t his place.

  As the sun rose, daylight filtered in through the window and illuminated the room. It tangled itself in the fur of the sleeping bear and fell beautifully on the witch’s face. Heather crept into the room slowly and made her way to Gael. He watched her enter the room, and he felt something in his chest. She looked beautiful in the morning light, and Gael found himself staring.

  “What?” she whispered defensively, and Gael shook his head. Heather bristled visibly and then said, “I’m here to relieve you of your watch duty. I’ll take over from here.” Gael didn’t argue. He may not need sleep or rest, but he was still bored. He needed to stretch his legs and maybe hunt a little out in the forest. He stood up in a swift motion, and Heather found herself admiring his grace. She set down the cup of tea she had brought with her and laid a cushion on the chair Gael had been sitting in. She thought he had left when she heard him whisper her name behind her.

  She turned to find his face mere centimeters from hers, and before she could comprehend what was going on, he lightly kissed her lips and then left. Heather touched her mouth where his had been just seconds ago, and she smiled to herself. As she stood there blushing and drinking her tea, she heard movement behind her and turned to see Kevin stirring. He had shifted back to his human form, and Heather picked up a t-shirt and shorts from a pile of clothes in the corner and handed them to him. Kevin sleepily thanked her and pulled on the clothes before he turned back to Nina and gently stroked her forehead.

  “Kevin, why don’t you go downstairs and get some breakfast, hon? I’m here with Nina till then.” Heather said, gently coaxing Kevin out of the room.

  Kevin turned and looked longingly at Nina, but Heather continued pushing him until he gave in. With his head hung low, he made his way downstairs to the kitchen. Kalen and Cassie were already seated there while Luke stood at the stove, frying eggs. They all looked pleasantly surprised to see him downstairs.

  “Breakfast?” Luke asked him, and Kevin nodded as he sat down at the table. He looked at Kalen, and said “Listen, about yesterday–” but Kalen waved a hand dismissively.

  “It’s okay. Tensions were running high.”

  Kevin nodded gratefully, and a few seconds later, Luke put two sunny-side up eggs in front of him and Cassie passed him a plate full of toast. He tore off a piece of bread and picked up some egg with it, putting a bite into his mouth. Luke wasn’t an awful cook, but somehow, the food made him want to throw up. He suddenly looked up and said, “How will Nina eat?”

  Cassie and Luke shared a look, and then Cassie said, “We’ll figure something out. I’m sure there are herbs and stuff we can give her that will nourish her for now.” She looked at Luke, who nodded quickly in agreement.

  “Yeah, we’ll figure something out.”

  Ammara, who had walked in just a few minutes ago, said, “Actually- there’s a way for her to feed which will help restore a little of her energy.” She sat down at the table, and said, “You won’t like it, but he’s the only one who can help us do this.”

  “Who is?” Kalen asked quizzically.

  Ammara took a deep breath before she said, “Gael.”

  Kevin pushed away his plate of food, and said, “No, absolutely not. You want her to feed on blood?”

  Luke turned off the gas, and said, “Ammara, that’s too weird. It’s unnatural.”

  “Is it?” a quiet voice said from the back door, and they all turned to see Gael standing there, his mouth stained with blood as he returned from a fresh kill. “Witches use blood all the time in their magic, and that’s because it’s the most basic, most natural form of life energy.”

  Cassie licked her lips before she said, “I agree with them. I mean, if it might help Nina, then we should give it a shot.”

  Kevin stood up and faced Gael. “So what? She’s gonna be a vampire?”

  Gael shook his head, and said, “No, vampires are sired through birth. She will simply consume blood to make her stronger.”

  “And how are we going to make her consume it? Will we force-feed it down her throat?” Kevin asked, still not on board with the idea.

  “There will be no need. It will be a lot less messy than that.”

  Kevin shook his head, and said, “I don’t know. Maybe we should try the herbs thing that Cassie talked about first, and if she’s not getting any better, then we can try this.”

  Gael shrugged and walked back out. Ammara sighed and nodded.

  ***

  Nina was wandering through a forest. She recognized it as fairy territory. She could hear the chatter of the woodland creatures somewhere above her, and she kept walking as the sunlight poured in through the trees. She was looking for her life-tree, and as she walked, it seemed to move further away from her. The sun gradually set, replaced with a dark and bitter cold that made Nina shiver. She could see her tree wilting, its branches drooping as the last of the leaves withered and fell to the ground as ash.

  Nina ran to it, but it was too late. She closed her eyes and screamed, and when she opened them again, she was lying on the same hill she was on earlier. She whimpered and called out for help, hoping that somehow, somebody would be able to hear her. A shadow flitted across the grassy plains, and when Nina looked up, she saw the hooded figure of a girl who looked like a teenager. Nina called out to the girl, but she ran from her, hiding her face with her cloak before she disappeared into thin air, leaving Nina all alone again.

  ***

  Kevin paced around the library of Kalen’s home, his mind turning over and over as he thought about Nina wasting away up in the bedroom. There must be something that could be done. He closed his eyes and tried to think. Upstairs, he heard the arrival of new visitors. He strained his ears and recognized Fergus and Diana talking softly to Cassie.

  “Diana,” he muttered to himself, before he hurried upstairs.

  The wolves were happy to see him, and they smiled pleasantly, but Kevin had no time for pleasantries. “Diana…the Council. The Council must know something that can help Nina. I’m sure there are remedies passed down from centuries and that kind of thing.”

  Diana was surprised, but she quickly regained composure and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Kevin. I wouldn’t know of these things, my memory isn’t back yet. Maybe someone else can help…” she trailed off, but Kevin had already stopped listening.

  Cassie walked up to him and gently
placed her hand on Kevin’s arm, “Kevin, Kalen and Gael are part of the Council, too. If there was something, I’m sure they would have mentioned it.”

  Kevin shook his head, and said, “They weren’t as involved with record keeping. They wouldn’t access to that kind of knowledge…” He stopped short and looked at Cassie with an odd expression on his face. “Samuel,” he whispered. “Samuel would know.”

  Cassie tried to say something, but he started hurrying toward the door.

  “Watch after Nina. I’ll be right back,” Kevin called out on his way. He hurried out into the forest, and once he reached a clearing, he started to remove his clothes, tying them in a bundle on his leg before he shifted.

  It felt good to be in his natural form as he ran toward Shadow Claw. He felt the sun on his back and the wind in his fur as he took off at full speed. He wanted desperately for this time to be over, and he wanted everything to go back to the way it was, with Nina safe and happy and awake.

  He crossed the boundary that surrounded the den, and once he was in the vicinity, he stopped to look at the field where they had discovered Nina lying out in the cold, unconscious. He shook his head, telling himself to focus on the task at hand as he shifted back. Pulling the clothes from the bundle, he got dressed and made his way to the house. Abigail was sitting on the couch, reading to two little cubs. She sprang up when she saw Kevin.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked. “Where’s Nina?”

  Kevin shook his head, and said, “Everything is still the same. Nina won’t wake up, and Ammara…” He threw a look at the cubs and dropped his voice so they wouldn’t hear. “Ammara says she’s in a coma. That’s actually why I’m here.”

  Abigail raised her eyebrows and Kevin wrung his hands nervously.

  “Is Samuel here? I want to ask him if there’s anything he knows – some kind of ancient remedy or a spell or something.”

  “Kevin,” Samuel’s voice said from behind him.

  He turned to see Samuel standing in the kitchen doorway, holding a cup of tea that he slowly stirred with a spoon. “I’ve just brewed a fresh pot. Would you like some?”

  Kevin shook his head impatiently. He wasn’t here for tea, he wanted answers. “Samuel, is there anything you can do?”

  Samuel took a long sip of his tea, and Kevin bristled with anger. Why was he being so slow?

  “Kevin, don’t you think that if there was some secret cure, I would have already divulged it to you? Nina is the second Caillagh. Trust me, it is very important that she survives this.”

  Kevin wanted to snap, but he knew Samuel was old and deserved his respect. He took a deep breath, and said, “Can you please look again? I’m desperate, Samuel. The love of my life is in a coma, and her fate hangs in the balance. I don’t know what else to do, who else to turn to.”

  Abigail walked up to him and gently put an arm around his shoulder as Kevin tried not to break down. His inner animal howled and trembled with anguish. It was almost too much to bear, but he knew he had to stay strong for Nina’s sake so she would have something to come back to.

  Samuel sighed, and said, “Of course. I’ll look again, Kevin.”

  “Thank you,” said Kevin, before he left for the fairy kingdom again.

  Chapter Three

  Nina had been slipping and out of different dreams, and when she found herself in a sun-drenched land, she was no longer surprised. She could feel herself growing weaker and weaker, and she had stopped fighting the dreams or reacting to them. She knew they would come and go of their own accord and there was nothing she could do about it. She found herself walking across a grassy plain, and the afternoon sky above her was golden. Everything looked beautiful out here, and against her will, her feet hurried, carrying her somewhere.

  She kept walking until she reached a river. She paused by the clear, glittering water and looked at her reflection. Her hair that she had cut off so brutally was starting to grow back little by little, the black tendrils waving slightly, framing her face. She bent down and lifted some of the water in her cupped palms, bringing it to her lips. It was only when she drank that she realized how thirsty she really was.

  She kept drinking water, bringing it to her parched lips and satiating her dry throat. When she had drunk her fill, she automatically stood up and kept walking. She had left the river far behind, and she walked for what felt like hours, but still the sun did not set. She felt as though all of time was suspended in that one golden, sun-kissed afternoon. She passed by fields and fields, of wheat dancing in the non-existent wind, of sunflowers taller than her turning their faces up to the sun, of what looked like cotton and corn. She pushed through the tall plants, feeling the leaves scratching her arms, but she kept going; she knew she had do. She couldn’t stop even if she wanted to.

  ***

  Kevin and Luke stood back, clearly uneasy about what was going on, but they knew they were running out of options. Gael stood over Nina and took her wrist in his hand. He tapped it twice, and the skin tore itself open, but no blood flowed out. Gael raised a bowl of dark liquid and was about to dip his hand in it when Kevin suddenly spoke up.

  “Whose blood is that?” he asked, pointing to the bowl.

  Gael looked at him with an odd expression, as though Kevin were crazy to ask that. “One of my kills,” he responded in his usual soft voice.

  Kevin shook his head, “No, no, if she’s gonna take in somebody’s blood, it’ll be mine.”

  Gael raised an eyebrow, and said, “Such devotion. Very well, young bear. Step forward and hand me your wrist.”

  Kevin did as he was told, and Gael placed an empty bowl under his wrist before he tapped it. Kevin tried not to wince, but the pain was searing. His skin was torn open and blood started to appear quickly. Gael tapped once more, and the blood flow quickened, dripping into the bowl, filling it up halfway. Gael tapped again, and it stopped.

  Gael grasped onto Kevin’s wrist, and he felt burning pain, and when Gael removed his hand, the cut was gone; his kin had healed completely. Kevin uneasily eyed the bowl containing his blood. It was redder than he had expected.

  Gael then carried the bowl to Nina and dipped his fingers in it, rubbing the blood carefully against the gash on her wrist, letting it drip into her bloodstream. It was a long and slow process, extremely uncomfortable to watch. Luke looked queasy by the end of it, but everyone else watched in horrid fascination, like an accident you couldn’t tear your gaze away from.

  When he was done, Gael grasped Nina’s wrist and forced the skin to heal before he wiped his hands on a small washcloth, and said, “It’s done. She should be plenty nourished for at least forty-eight hours.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t actually take that long,” Ammara muttered. “The baby is going to come sooner than that. I’m sure of it.”

  Heather bit her lip, and said, “Won’t it be impossible to birth the child if she is unconscious? Should we take her to a human hospital?”

  Ammara shook her head. “No, we no longer have human allies there. This pregnancy is not like a human one. She only carried the child for seven months for starters, and the child is drawing a king of energy that a human doctor will not understand, and if they do, then it will alert them of our existence. This child will be born through magic. We are witches. That’s what our bodies respond to.”

  Heather did not look convinced, but she didn’t argue. Ammara was the Caillagh. There was nobody who would know better about these things than her.

  Kevin felt strange after giving blood, and he wanted everyone else to leave so he could lie down and take a nap next to his mate. He sat down on the bed next to Nina, and took her hand in his. Already, it was warmer to the touch, and he as he commented on it, Gael nodded.

  “That’s the blood. It’s helping her. Her face has regained color, too, but she is not a vampire, and a diet of blood can only sustain her for so long.” He looked pointedly at Ammara, who sighed, but said nothing.

  Cassie
seemed to understand how Kevin was feeling, and she came to his rescue by saying, “Look, why don’t the rest of us go downstairs for a bit? Fergus has made us all lunch, so we should eat and rest, give Kevin and Nina some privacy, too.”

  Kevin smiled at her gratefully, and she nodded slightly at him as she shepherded everyone else out of the room. He laid down next to his mate and curled an arm around her, pulling her close, as he whispered, “I love you, Nina.”

  ***

  Nina felt stronger, and she kept walking until she saw a field of dandelions stretching for miles and miles before her. She bent and picked one up, twirling its stem between her thumb and forefinger. She lifted the flower to her mouth and then, wishing to get back to the world of the living, she closed her eyes and blew, scattering the seeds. They flew in the air like parachutes looking for a place to land. Something was pulling her in deeper and deeper into the fields, and Nina walked, aware of how her feet moved on their own, and how she could not stop if she wanted to.

  The sun had not moved at all, and it stayed bright and golden as Nina walked through the dandelions. She could feel the energy change. Even though the day looked as tranquil as ever, there was a sudden charge in the atmosphere as it buzzed with magic.

  This dream was unlike any other she had dreamed since she had slipped into unconsciousness. She could tell that this one was stronger, as it drew more energy and magic. Nina felt herself trembling with old even as the day remained warm. She didn’t want to keep walking. She wanted to turn back and run, but she couldn’t.

  A light wind ran through the field, and the dandelions swayed gently as though dancing to a rhythm. The sound that the wind made through the flowers sounded like a whispered voice, and it made Nina’s hair stand on end.