by J. L. Myers
Once inside I fought the urge to take a breath of relief. So far so good. I led our trio up to the packed marble table. Being dark outside, bar the growing light of the almost full moon, every red velvet curtain was drawn open. The tall black panes reflected the brilliant light of the lavish candle-lit chandelier strung from the exposed-beam ceiling. And a few domed lamps created a centerline down the long marble table.
As I headed to the only spare seat, every vampire in the room turned to stare. This of course included Caius who headed the table’s opposite end, watching me with cold wariness. From the seat beside my former uncle, Marcus nodded as if cheering me on, his smile the only warmth in this room. On the other side my mom looked nervous, her fingers intertwined and her face tight. The room fell quiet, every member waiting on me to deliver the chilling news of my latest vision. But even with Kendrick and Dorian flanking my sides, my tongue felt tied and my throat bone dry.
Caius seized the opportunity and rose. “Amelia, my dear niece. What is it you have to tell us all?”
Feeling exposed, as if I were standing there in all my naked glory, I swallowed my fear of being laughed at and labeled a liar. This was our best chance to get Ty’s sentence held back. I had to try.
Feigning confidence, I let my voice ring out over The Council, filling the cathedral hall. “I’ve seen what is coming. We’re all in grave danger. Regardless of your personal beliefs in me and the return of the damned, please don’t ignore what I have to say. Your own lives and those of your families are at stake if you do.” Sweat beads spouted across my forehead. I shoved my gloved hands, which had begun to shake, behind my back. “Believe me or not, but the damned have returned. I’ve seen them attack.”
Instead of gasping in surprise or voicing outrage or disbelief, The Council stared at me. As if I’d just sprouted snakes for hair. Caius was the only one to move. He strode around his colleagues, his expression a grim shade of death. “Amelia.” His tone and masked amusement as he twisted his head from the table to look at me, made my skin crawl. “Your vision has come too late. They have already attacked.”
“What?” I scanned the room. Nothing was out of place. No shattered glass. No shredded drapes. No blood. Where was all the black and red blood? And what about all those dead lumps that had once been living vampires. Even the balcony was clear, the balustrade unmarked with stacked antique chairs taking up space. “How? When?”
Caius moved closer to me, now standing a foot away. He dared to lay a hesitant hand along my shoulder. I braced, trying to keep a lid on my emotions as I struggled to hold back the static growing in my heart. Every waking spare minute between visions and escape plans had been spent with Kendrick, practicing to control my new ability. Before the meeting I’d even managed to hold Kendrick’s hand without shocking him. But it wasn’t working now. The tension grew, alive with purpose. Because what I really wanted to do, was let my power’s full force explode from every inch of my skin and into this monster. To blow him to hell where he belonged. For everything he’d already done to me, and for what he planned to do to Ty, he deserved it. Except that would cause a mega problem. We didn’t need The Council knowing about my power.
Before the voltage took flight, Kendrick moved like a flash. He clutched Caius’s hand and pried it from my flesh. The move was blocked from The Council’s view by Caius’s body, but Kendrick’s vehement expression wasn’t.
Whispers rose before me and I flashed Kendrick a control your facials scowl. The hate propelling from his face faded and he took a step back. His retraction made me feel vulnerable. I glanced nervously up at Caius’s amused expression. He half turned back to his colleagues while keeping his cold-gray eyes on me. “You are too late. I am sorry to have to tell you this, my dear. The damned compromised the Armaya before dawn this morning.”
What. The. Hell. When had this happened? Had there been deaths? Either way this was bad. Seriously bad. The hope was that my vision would force an evacuation. That it would lead everyone back to the Armaya and the safety of their impenetrable walls. Black dots clotted my vision, muddying the room. My knees trembled. How could the damned break into a place that was renowned as the safest of all vampire locations?
Caius is behind this. He has to be. Kendrick’s thought words were clear, even though he made no move beside me. Though I have no idea how he did it.
Almost in answer, Caius kept on talking. “The wards were disarmed.” His gray gaze slid to Marcus then back to me. “We suspect from an insider.”
“Perhaps the culprit you envisioned but couldn’t name in your last vision,” my mom offered. She glided over to stand beside Caius.
The middle-aged man who’d been one of the first to doubt my ability spoke up. “Without a timely warning, or the protection of the wards, they walked right on in.”
Uriel pointed a bony finger across the table at the guy, her azure gaze shining. “Vision aren’t controlled by the viewer. They are simply received. Do you mean to insinuate that Amelia purposely withheld this information?”
The guy scoffed, but Serafina was the one to speak, taking no notice of her son as she pinned me with a stare. “How can we know when she had this vision? She hasn’t told us.”
All eyes turned on me, some hopeful, but most skewering. How could I tell them that this latest vision had come to me last night, and I was only now telling them about it? I had wanted to meet this morning, but the attack happened before dawn. Still, I knew the answer in my heart. Because it wasn’t too late. Yes, the Armaya had been invaded, but that’s not what I’d seen. The real attack would come in two night’s time, straight after the Oracle ceremony.
“P-please, you have to listen to me.” Most rolled their eyes or scoffed. A few had looks of dwindling hope. My head swooned, light and dizzy, but I pressed on. “My vision wasn’t of the Armaya’s invasion. What I saw in my vision hasn’t happened yet. It happens here. After the ceremony.”
Roars of disbelief erupted. The balding man’s voice carried over the shouting. “How can she have a vision about a proposed attack, when she saw nothing of the Armaya’s?”
“It’s a diversion,” Serafina called. “We all saw her reaction when the wolf was captured. They’re involved.”
“That’s disgusting,” said the old white-haired woman. She’d been one of the only ones to speak in my favor when my link to The Sight had been revealed.
“She’s trying to prolong his execution,” Serafina spat with disgust.
Through all the Ping-Pong arguing, my heart squeezed tighter and tighter. They didn’t believe me. And if they wouldn’t listen, they’d never evacuate. Ty’s execution wouldn’t be postponed.
“You are all being ridiculous.” Uriel rose to her full willowy height, punching her knuckles into the table. The marble shook, vibrating the line of lamps. All the shouting quieted but didn’t stop. Nevertheless she spoke over them. “You are all forgetting the big picture here.”
“Yes,” Caius said, striding back to take his throne at the far end of the table. Mom followed behind. “There is a viable threat, whether we like it or not. The Armaya was compromised. There is no doubt on that. And perhaps my niece was confused and her vision was of the Armaya.” Daring eyes lifted to lock on mine. “Would you say that is a possibility, my dear?”
I gritted my teeth. “No. It’s not. I’ve never been surer about anything in my life.”
“It doesn’t matter either which way,” Uriel added, surprising me. She glanced around the table, eying each member as she went on. “True or not, the one thing we do know is that the damned have returned. Their thirst is for the death and destruction of all Pure Bloods.”
“So what do you propose?” Marcus leaned back in his seat. As usual he appeared calm and not nearly like he was facing a war between good and evil. “Cancel the proceedings?”
“No!” Caius bellowed. “We cannot compromise our customs. We will not return to hiding, fearing the dark as we did so long ago.” He ran fingers through his salt and pepper hair.
Then he pointed to the stacked papers in front of him on the table. “Every still-living resident from the Armaya is on their way here. We all voted and agreed on that. So if this proposed threat is real?” His expression mocked the possibility. “If it is truly coming? We will have numbers above all. Even our security will shame the Armaya’s.”
Fan-freaking-I-need-a-truck-load-of-chocolate-stat-tastic! I’d prepared for this, but it still rocked me. Now we had no choice but to fall back on Plan B. Except I hadn’t considered the possibility of a security regime that would turn this entire property and every corner into a solid fortress. I caught Marcus’s eye, needing encouragement to speak up and demand that everyone listen, to somehow force them to see that evacuation was the best option. But Marcus’s face was stiff, jaw set, telling me to keep my mouth shut.
“What about all our visitors?” Uriel demanded. “What will we tell them? How can we prepare?”
“We won’t tell them anything,” Serafina declared, splaying her hand across the marble table.
Uriel opened her mouth to argue, but Caius spoke over her. “That is right. We cannot tell them anything. Unless we want an uncontrollable backlash of panic on our hands.”
“You cannot mean to keep them in the dark,” Uriel shouted.
“Would you rather have everyone running around like beheaded chickens?” Caius rose with challenge. “Because all-out hysterics is what we will get in that event. Then they will be even more useless if this vision does come to fruition.”
“So we tell them nothing?” My mom’s voice, for the very first time, seemed to be questioning as she peered up at Caius.
He regarded her with compassion. “I am sorry, Lamayli. I do believe this is best.” His focus panned over the rest of The Council. “Shall we bring this to a vote?” With murmurs and nods from around the table, Caius asked, “All in favor of doing what we can to prepare, while keeping our knowledge of this possible threat contained? Raise your hand.”
Out of everyone seated around the table, every hand rose along with Caius’s. This included a reluctant hand from my mom. The one person to stay their hand was Uriel.
I was on the verge of screaming that they would all be slaughtered, along with their unknowing visitors if they stayed, but pressure beside me stalled my outburst. “Amelia, you tried.” It was Marcus. I hadn’t even seen him rise from Caius’s side. His hand around my elbow was firm, pulling me away from the once again bickering council. Dorian and Kendrick shadowed behind. “The Council has made its choice. Nothing more you say can change that.”
“But apart from The Council, everyone will be as good as sitting ducks,” I said. “They won’t be able to defend themselves.”
A woman’s commanding voice spoke over the bickering council. Uriel was on her feet, her crimson hair flawless and blue irises flashing silver with emotion. “Then we must have weapons stored all around the hall. Not just for the guards, but enough for every attendee, too. It is the only reasonable thing to do. Those in favor, raise your hands.”
Caius glared at Uriel like he wanted to throttle her, but she lifted her nose indignantly. That was one fearless woman.
“Looks like we might have a fighting chance,” Marcus said.
“Is a fighting chance enough?” I bit my lip and sighed. There was nothing more we could do. It was out of our hands.
“It’ll have to be.” Dorian shrugged, seeming less than convinced.
Leaving Marcus at the entry, we rushed along the lamp-lit path to where Dorian’s Cabriolet waited. With Plan B now in full action, we had heaps to finalize and double check in the next forty-eight hours.
As we reached the car and slowed, Kendrick stepped out of the driver’s side. He sighed with relief, scanning his double who’d stood by me among a council of vampires. “So, did it work?”
The second Kendrick leaned against the car, watching while the one beside me smiled. The smiling Kendrick’s expression contorted. He grimaced and growled, tiny cracks splintering and remolding his face into one I knew. One I wished I could somehow never have to set eyes on again. The silver in his eyes remained, but grew dull and gray. The unlined plains of his smooth face wrinkled. An aging process on fast-forward. He shrunk half a foot, and when he spoke his voice was one that I knew as well as my own. “You tell me, my dear.”
I cringed at the sight and that deep, calculating voice. Seeing a perfect mirror image of Caius right before us was uncanny. “It’s flawless.” I had to stop myself from touching his face to see if it was real, and from slapping it at the same time.
Dorian took a step closer to his ex-uncles likeness. “No kidding. I can’t believe it worked.”
The person standing before us warped again, flesh smoothing, height growing, hair darkening, and eyes rippling a magnificent gold. “Told you it would,” Troy said. His voice was cocky but his expression was shadowed by exhaustion. “Just remember this truce is temporary.”
“Wouldn’t forget it. But will your fingerprints work?” Kendrick remained rooted in his slouched spot against the car.
It was a valid question. Because to get into the prison cells, Marcus had warned us that we’d need royal prints.
Troy arched his eyebrows. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, leech.”
~
When I awoke to chirping birdsong and rustling, wind swept trees, I knew two things for sure. One, I was locked inside a dreamscape in which I held no power or control. In the past, such a notion could have filled me with apprehension. But not now. Not with everything I knew. Then there was point two. This dreamscape was conjured by Ty, someone I wholeheartedly trusted without question. The one person I didn’t need or want protective powers to interfere with.
Sensing warmth and the swirl of his unmistakable scent billowing behind me, I spun. My fingers twitched, desperate to touch his chest, his face, and his lips. But the static was already dancing across my skin. I locked my hands behind my back. “Ty.” I scoured his body. “Did they hurt you?”
Ty came closer, leaving an inch between our bodies. The streaming sunlight through the trees painted his skin an iridescent bronze. “They can batter me black and blue, but as long as your heart still beats for mine, they can never break my spirit.”
I gulped, dreading what was to come. “Show me what they did.”
Ty’s chin bunched with set teeth. “No.”
I made a sound between a mock laugh and a sigh. Through it all, Ty was still trying to protect me. Did he think I wasn’t strong enough to see the truth? “Fine, don’t. I’ll see it for myself tomorrow.”
Ty caught my wrist, his irises rippling alarm. “What are you talking about?”
Static bolted from my wrist. Ty grimaced but held tight.
I shrugged, focus shifting to the bird whistling above our heads. I needed to pick my words carefully. Evacuation or not, we would be busting Ty out. And I knew Ty would argue more, but he had to know the damned were coming.
With rehearsed words, I laid out my vision, every detail, excluding Ty’s head to head with Caius. My hope was that when push came to shove he’d leave. But if I told him he’d have a chance to take down my enemy, I knew he’d never pass that up. Then I said simply, “So we’re busting you out.”
Ty’s grip around my wrist hardened. “No. You’re not. It’s too dangerous. You need to run. Take off. Go into hiding. I couldn’t live with myself if—” His words broke off with a sharp inhale as a stronger surge of static streamed from my wrist and into his hand.
“If they killed me too?” Ty’s dark expression said everything I needed to know. He knew he would be executed tomorrow. And he planned to let it happen without a fight? Why? Just to keep me safe? I tore my electric wrist free and planted both hands on my hips. “You expect me to stand by while you’re slaughtered!”
The battle would take place tomorrow night, but I didn’t know if that was after or before Ty’s planned execution. Him being present in the vision proved one thing to me. We had to get him out. And we would. If
we didn’t, this may be the first time my vision was altered, leaving Ty executed and the damned still to paint the hall with buckets of blood.
I lowered my voice to a shaky whisper. “You think I can go on living if I let them kill you?”
Ty’s expression fell with utter defeat. “Of course not. You wouldn’t be the girl who stole my heart if you could.” He peered up with dwindling hope. “I guess there’s nothing I can say to change your mind, then?”
“No.”
A steady sigh whistled through Ty’s lips, and he ruffled his sun-gleaming hair. “Then, you need to see this.” With visible concentration he strained, body becoming statue-still. The sun and wind-blown trees shimmered and flashed, flickering like ghostly visions in a horror movie to reform.
I sucked in my breath. My nose wrinkled at the stink of decay that lifted in the darkness. We were no longer standing in a picturesque forest clearing. Instead, we were locked in a stone walled and iron barricaded cell. Ty stood before me, body lit by flaming torches on the wall between bars.
The sight of him caused an involuntary shudder to undulate down my body. He wasn’t battered or bruised like I expected him to be. Still, it was clear he was far from okay. His wrists were shackled. Chains fell from those cuffs and trailed the ground before rising to anchor points in the stone wall. The chains were twice as thick as the ones that had held me. Twice as thick as the ones the guards had used to haul Ty away. The sight renewed my full-body shudder at recalling my own hell and close brush with death. I forced myself to look more closely at Ty’s restraints. A mixture of repeating symbols had been engraved into each individual link. My gaze dropped to the uneven stone floor. His captors weren’t taking any chances when it came to escape. A second set of shackles trapped his ankles, also bolted to the wall.
My heart felt hollow. Blossoming tears glazed my vision and I reached for his face, restraining myself before I could shock him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll fix this. I’ll get you out.”