by S.A. Geary
***
“Is she?” William asked with dread.
“She’s in a coma Will,” Ahkmenotep told him. “I had to. It was the only way to keep her with us. It wasn’t Constance and Ahmenos she saw was it, it really was Ankh-sut and Dekmaten?”
“Their souls, yes.”
“How the hell did they do that, how did they know she was here. We were careful, all of us, all the covens.”
“If we know anything of our old enemy it’s that she’s tenacious as her king. Clearly, her vengeance hasn’t died in all these years,” Anchille answered.
“Eighteen years of protecting her, and this is the first we’ve caught their presence,” said Will.
“Careful or not, either we have a traitor in our midst,” Anchille halted to the bristling of the room, “or, the demon queen has become more than a grieving mate.”
“She’s done nothing but plot from afar, and we thought we had bested her, because we were able to live in peace. We were fools, all of us!” Thomas growled.
“We cannot speculate now. What’s done is done. Lina must continue to be protected at all costs and she must fulfill her birthright. Her body was severely broken. We may have been too late.” Will clamped his fist to his mouth and Ahkmen gripped his shoulder. “Her spirit is resisting. She is strong.”
“She can’t die!” he shouted. Thomas and Charles took their brother’s hands; their own faces were drained and hopeless.
“Our queen has done all she can for the child; we must all be patient,” Ahkmenotep advised everyone.
“Can I, touch her?” Will asked carefully. There was silence in the room.
“She will not respond, but if you wish it,” Ahkmen agreed.
“She’s cold, still,” Will breathed. Isha left the library, wiping her eyes with her arms. “I won’t leave you, I promise you that. I won’t leave,” Will declared as he brought the tiny fingers to his lips.
“If she is to be taken from us William, there is nothing to be done,” Ahkmenotep spoke plain. His lack of emotion made the three brothers tense. Their ocher eyes burned with bitterness and resentment. Isis met their sentiments with sympathy, knowing that she too could not accept this possible fate. For a brief second she held Will in her gaze, all animosity between them either vanished or at the least put on hold.
“This is not the prophecy!” Thomas hurled back at the aged vampire. He felt the same pain that his brother felt. If Lina died, a part of each of them would die also.
“I only meant to prepare you, to prepare all of us. It is for Lina to decide. Only she can choose to come back,” Ahkmenotep added a moment later. “We can’t know what she is seeing or hearing now, even our queen is shut out.”
“You can’t hear her thoughts?” Thomas asked Isis, who confirmed with a nod. “You don’t even know if she’s still in there?!” Will gripped his arm.
“She’s here, she’s all around us,” Isis told them.