Ascended (Fallen Guardian Saga #2)

by Debra Ann Miller

  Vie couldn’t stand it any longer. She wanted to feel the power that Carter spoke of and she wanted to feel it right now. Her eyes told him what her words couldn’t, and he pressed his lips harder against hers, kissing her passionately as he eased her body to the ground, cradling her head gently.

  They lay together on the blanket for a time, looking up at the stars twinkling like brilliant diamonds in the sky. They turned toward each other again, and seconds after making eye contact, they were lost.

  Carter rolled over, his body covering her, elbows braced on either side of her. Mesmerized by her perfection, he dipped his head down to give her a quick kiss.

  She pulled him tighter, closer, their bodies overcome with passion. Vie stopped unexpectedly, pulling away.

  “What’s wrong?” Carter asked, but she said nothing. Her eyes were locked on his as she got up, took his hand, and led him into the tipi.

  The remote location served them well; the shadows of their bodies could be seen, outlined by candlelight against the hide of the tipi. Inside the tipi, their bodies were practically ablaze.

  Carter laid her down, his body responding to hers. He kissed and caressed every soft and gentle curve of exposed skin, touching her the way she’d desired as they embraced.

  Then Vie took control, rolling on top of him and pressing her body hard against his. She ripped open his shirt and began kissing his ear, then nibbling it, until he thought he’d die from the stimulation. He began to notice a change in her demeanor when she began to bite him slowly, working her way down to his neck and then his chest, biting harder and faster as she went.

  Carter grabbed her wrists. “Easy, Vie,” he said, uncomfortable with the unusual aggression she was displaying.

  She twisted out of his hold and grabbed his wrists, pinning them behind his head, and then proceeded to ravage his perfectly chiseled chest.

  Carter began to feel alarm at the intense look in her eyes and the unwarranted, almost painful, aggression she displayed. “Vie,” he called out to her, but she continued to dominate him.

  He gathered his strength and rolled on top of her, pushing himself up and forcing her to look at him, shouting, “Vie, stop!”

  His voice snapped her out of her single-minded focus, and she looked at him as if she were coming out of a trance. “What happened?” she asked, standing up and looking around at Carter’s disheveled clothing.

  “You don’t know?” he asked, adjusting his shirt to cover the stinging scrapes on his chest.

  “We were kissing,” she said, thinking about it. “Then I remember thinking about Vivian…and Lucian…and trying to push it away, but I kept seeing his face and feeling an intense anger inside my soul.” She stopped and took a good look at him.

  “Oh my God, Carter, did I do this?” she asked, touching his ripped shirt. “I don’t know what happened. I’m so sorry! How did this happen?” She appeared horrified at her actions.

  “Vie, it’s okay. Everything is going to be all right,” Carter said, holding her in his arms. “I’m sure it’s all the strain of Vivian’s death that’s getting the best of you. Anger and hate have a way of manifesting in your soul, but you need to let it all go.

  “Vie, you need to focus on the love you have for Vivian instead of the anger and hate you harbor toward Lucian. A wise man once told me anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it’s stored than to anything upon which it’s poured.”

  Vie knew immediately that the person who’d told him was Gabriel, and she understood exactly what his words meant now.

  “Come on, Vie, let’s get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow,” Carter said.

  “Okay, I just want to check on Henry first,” she replied.

  “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “No, I’ll be okay…really, Carter,” she said, with her famous I can take care of myself look.

  He walked her out of the tipi, stopping when they saw brief, brilliant flashes in the sky. “Shooting stars?” Carter posed his theory.

  “No.” she stated knowingly. “THEY’RE HERE!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Return of the Guardians

  Carter stood protectively by Vie as they watched the band of Guardians walking, steadfast and unwavering, toward the plateau. He told Vie to go and see to Henry so he could stay and speak to Gabriel.

  She refused to leave his side. “They’re coming for me, not you.” She didn’t want to watch Carter and Gabriel go head to head but she could see by the look on their faces that was exactly what was about to happen. Though the Guardians were still miles away from them, Carter and Vie could see straight into the cold eyes of Gabriel as he marched, committed, in their direction. Their telescopic vision allowed them to see clearly from far distances, even in the dark, and although usually this ability offered them a distinct advantage in a given situation, this was not one of those instances. Now, all it offered was a glimpse into the angry eyes of their friend, Gabriel, leaving Vie feeling sick inside. “Go now,” Carter ordered, noticing that the Guardians had picked up their pace.

  Vie took off, running toward Henry’s cabin. She didn’t stop; she didn’t breathe; she just ran fast and hard, trying to get to him. There were so many images running through her head: of Vivian, Lucian, and now Gabriel. Everything was such a mess, and it was all because of her.

  In all of the disarray, Vie tripped and fell to the ground, hitting her head on a large rock that knocked her out cold. She could hear a voice in the darkness calling out to her; it sounded improbably familiar. As it got louder, she realized it was the sound of her own voice she was hearing. It was getting steadily louder and louder and louder, blaring inside her head.

  Then she heard her voice generate a powerful, destructive, and deafening sound of the highest amplitude that jolted her back to consciousness immediately. She was confused by what she’d experienced, but felt an extraordinary surge of power emerging within her. Whatever it was galvanized her, and she got back up and continued her run with vigilance and determination like never before, back to her father’s cabin.

  She arrived safely and knocked at the door before entering. Henry appeared to be sleeping, so Vie crept back toward the door quietly, trying not to wake him. She put her hand on the knob to turn it but stopped when Henry started shouting in his sleep. It was obvious he was having a nightmare, so Vie ran over and shook him, trying to awaken him from his bad dream. When she touched him, he started swinging aimlessly with all his might, as if he were fighting someone.

  “Daddy!” Vie hollered, trying to wake him.

  Henry sat up with a start and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his beautiful little girl staring at him in horror. It didn’t take him more than a second to understand why: sweat was pouring from his head and his body was trembling.

  “Daddy, what is it?” Vie asked, distraught by his appearance.

  “I won’t let him take you, Violet, not ever!” Henry said, squeezing her so tight she almost couldn’t breathe.

  “Who, Daddy? Who wants to take me?”

  “The one with the devil-red eyes. The one who took your sister,” he choked out, hoarse from shouting.

  “Daddy, it was just a dream—a very bad dream, that’s all. No one is here; no one is going to take me away from you,” she said.

  “Maybe this was just a dream, but I saw him, and I know what he wants,” Henry said.

  “What does he want?” Vie asked nervously.

  “You!” he said with certainty. “He has taken Vivian and now he wants you!”

  Vie kneeled down and looked into Henry’s eyes. She could still see the fear his nightmare had instilled in him. The mere thought of losing both of his daughters had shaken him to the core; he was hanging on to his sanity by a thread, and Lucian was to blame.

  If Vie knew one thing about him, it was that Lucian was clever and calculated with his moves. If he had come to Henry, as Henry had claimed, then he’d done so for a reason.

  “Daddy, h
e’s after something, and we need to figure out what that something is. Can you help me? Help Vivian? This might be the only way to get her back.”

  That was all Henry needed to hear. “Of course I will! I’ll do anything I can to help my girls,” he said. Henry would have done anything anyone wanted if it meant he could save his little girl’s soul.

  “Okay then. I need you to go back to the night Vivian died. You said he came to you in her room, right?” Vie started at the beginning.

  Henry paused, not ready to go back to that night he’d tried so desperately to forget.

  “It’s okay, Daddy, take your time,” she said, seeing the pain on his face. Vie concluded there was a message from Lucian to her somewhere in Henry’s mind, and there was only one way to get it.

  “Are you ready, Daddy?” Vie asked, taking Henry’s hand in hers. He nodded and Vie continued, “I want you to think hard, and tell me everything Lucian said to you that night in the hospital.” She had to find out what it was that Lucian really wanted from her, and she was running out of time. She knew in a matter of minutes, the Guardians would be knocking on their door.

  “Think, Daddy…,” she said in an encouraging but urgent tone.

  Henry thought about it long and hard, replaying every word back in his mind. “He said I had something that belonged to him. I told him I had nothing of his, and that seemed to anger him,”

  “Can you think of anything you might have that he would want?” Vie asked, trying to solve the mystery. Henry just shook his head.

  “Daddy, there must be something…think!” Vie pushed harder.

  “Well, when I challenged him on it, he clarified that Lily was the one who had stolen something from him, and until she returned it, he was going to keep my daughter, Vivian. He said something about reading my Bible…and an eye for an eye,” Henry finished, thoughtful.

  Vie started pacing back and forth as she always did when she was trying to put things together. “An eye for an eye…an eye for an eye?” she repeated out loud.

  Saying it out loud suddenly brought a horrifying clarity to the mystery of what Lucian wanted from Henry. “Not an eye for an eye,” she said. “A daughter for a daughter!”

  “What?” Henry said, watching as her face turned chalky. “Violet, what is it? Do you know what he wants?”

  “Yes, he wants his daughter—he wants me!” she said, looking at Henry.

  “What are you talking about? I don’t understand!” Henry shouted, confused.

  “I’m his daughter,” Vie was whispering now, seemingly disoriented by her own words.

  “Violet? I can’t hear you,” Henry said as he moved closer to her.

  “I’m…his…daughter!” she spoke louder, enunciating each word.

  “What? That’s ridiculous, Violet! You’re my daughter, my precious Violet. You and Vivian are twins, remember? Your mother gave birth to both of you; just ask Katherine. She’ll tell you,” Henry said, trying to convince Vie of the facts.

  But Vie knew. Everything became crystal clear in one brief moment. Suddenly, every question she’d ever had about her existence, about being different throughout her entire life, now played before her in her mind’s eye. It was undeniable: she was not the daughter of a human. She was the daughter of a monster.

  She couldn’t understand why she hadn’t seen it sooner. The diary Lucian had wanted so badly for her to see would surely have revealed the truth about who she was. That would also explain why she had never been allowed to see it.

  Scenes from her life flashed through her memory: she could hear Fallon telling Gabriel she wasn’t one of them, back at the Gates; she saw the look of pity in Camulus’ eyes when she demanded to know who her parents were. He knew, Vie thought. She saw the look in Lucian’s eyes when he had come to her in her dreams; the way he’d taunted her about the secrets and lies of the Guardians; the odd connection she’d felt to him when she looked into his eyes.

  Could it be? She wondered about her connection to Lucian. No. Lucian is the son of —Dimorte? I can’t be…!

  Vie was horrified about what she was slowly piecing together regarding her bloodline. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t escape what was clearly becoming a reality.

  Subconsciously, she must have been aware of the darkness within her, and had developed the fear of it to keep her away from that part of her soul. Now those fears of the dark seemed to suddenly make sense to her. She wasn’t afraid of the dark; she was afraid of living in it.

  Then there was her mother, who had abandoned her at birth because she had seen the evil in her eyes. She wasn’t sick like Carter said she was. She knew!

  And like a lightning strike came the last flash, the most damning piece of evidence of who she really was: she closed her eyes and could see herself seducing Carter just moments ago, overcome with lust. The sudden salacious appetite, the lustful hunger she’d felt could only have come from a dark place of maniacal evil housed within her soul.

  She covered her face with her hands and turned her back to Henry so he couldn’t look at her. When she removed her hands, she noticed she was standing in front of a mirror that hung on the wall. She stared at her reflection for a moment and saw a vision of the eyes of the beast that had chased her up the Tower; they were a haunting devil-red color. Another flashback was presented to her, back-to-back with the first: it was a vision of her birth…and the fear-stricken look in her mother’s beautiful blue eyes.

  “Oh my God!” Vie said, moving closer to her reflection. It hit her like a ton of bricks, the final nail in her coffin: her eyes were violet…a combination of both red and blue…Henry was not her father…Dimorte was—and Lucian was her brother.

  Vie stumbled back, falling, horrified by her flashes. It was as if she’d found out she had a fatal cancer inside her, and there was nothing she could do to change her fate.

  Dimorte was pure evil. He was the ruler of the Underworld, the Prince of Darkness; and Lucian was his son. She realized Lucian must have been sent by Dimorte to prove himself to him and to all the rest of the demonic souls who dwelled in the Underworld. Dimorte was to be feared: he was known to possess great powers, was wholly immoral and maliciously sinful. Although Vie had never actually seen Dimorte, as a Guardian she knew who and what he was: their equal but opposite adversary.

  Henry ran to Vie, catching her before she hit the floor. He held her, telling her, “Sweetheart, you’re crazy for thinking this evil being who’s haunted us could ever be your father. It’s unacceptable. It’s a preposterous notion, and one I absolutely refuse to acknowledge.”

  Vie understood that Henry could not grasp the concept; she could barely fathom it herself, but she knew it was the truth. She didn’t have to understand how Dimorte was able to plant his seed within Lily’s womb to know that he’d done it somehow; she could feel it in her soul. If Dimorte was her father, then that meant Lucian was her brother, and that was a game changer.

  Vie had to compose herself. She didn’t have time to figure out how she’d come to be; those answers could only come from Lily. For now, she had to use what she knew to save Vivian. If it’s me they want, then it’s me they’ll get! she thought angrily. She willed herself to turn off her emotions, going completely cold and transferring every single emotion consuming her into one powerful one: revenge!

  Vie straightened up, standing stoically in front of Henry. She took his hands and helped him to his feet. She made sure that Henry saw a different person standing before him now. Her face was ardent and the look in her eyes fierce. Her demeanor was calm and controlled now, and with a committed voice she said, “Henry, I promise you here and now I WILL get your daughter back. Vivian WILL rest in peace. You have my word.”

  Vie walked out of the cabin and grabbed Kade, who was passing by. “Kade, will you stay with Henry until I get back? I really need you to do this.”

  Kade looked surprised at the intensity in Vie’s voice, and asked, “Where are you going?”

  Vie simply replied, “Where I’ve a
lready been: to Hell and back!”

  Kade didn’t understand what she meant, but she could see her friend needed her. “Of course I’ll stay with Henry. Whatever you need, Vie.”

  Vie left Kade and hustled down the trail leading back toward the ceremony. She could see Carter off in the distance, speaking to the Guardians. She zeroed in closer with her vision and could see things were not going well. The Guardians weren’t backing down. Vie knew Gabriel and the others hadn’t come to save Vivian; they were only here to stop her and return her to the Gates. She realized she would have to find Lucian on her own, but she needed something—something she noticed Gabriel was carrying in his satchel, on the ground behind him.

  She saw Enapay approaching and she grabbed him off the trail, holding her hand tightly over his mouth. He struggled until he saw who was holding him. She put her finger up to her lips and then slowly removed her hand from his mouth.

  “Enapay, I need you to do something for me. It’s very important that no one knows what I am about to ask you. Can you help me?” she asked. At Enapay’s nod, Vie told him she needed something from Gabriel, but it had to be gotten without his knowledge.

  Together, they devised a plan to retrieve what she needed without being noticed. Vie watched carefully from a distance as Enapay enacted their strategy flawlessly, returning swiftly to hand her the black blade from Gabriel’s satchel, the Angel Blade that belonged to her. She thanked Enapay, kissing him on the cheek before looking into his kind eyes and saying farewell.

  Enapay felt as though Vie was saying her final goodbyes to him, and that made him regret helping her. He was worried that he’d made a tragic mistake. Before he could share this thought with her, she was gone, having disappeared without a trace.

  After leaving Enapay, Vie had returned to the cabin to take one last look at Henry before she left. She peered through the window around back and saw him sitting with Kade. The sadness in his eyes was unbearable. She wanted to take it all away, and she knew she could. Henry had suffered enough; it was time to end it.