by Nikki Landis
A couple? Had they destroyed both of them that quickly?
“Definitely,” Autumn agreed.
“I do think it was pretty sexy to let Gabe and Ryder come to your rescue,” Gypsy teased.
Kane and Karter stepped forward, each holding onto a different portion of my soul. “Time to restore your essence, Cassie.”
I wasn’t surprised when they spoke in unison again.
Not wasting another minute or waiting for any more monsters to stake their claim, I rushed forward, gripping my double mirror images by the soft slippery essence. Chanting the spell my Aunt Gwen had given Gypsy, I opened my mouth and awaited the two portions of my soul to enter. They began to shimmer and wobble as if made of liquid glass and transformed into a silky violet mist. One at a time they floated forward and entered, nearly suffocating me as they darted inside. Choking and sputtering, I was forced to keep my mouth open until the last bit was reunited with my body.
I fell toward the ground as my lips closed, almost landing on my knees as Gabe caught me before I had a nasty faceplant. His strong muscular arm encircled my waist as he lifted, hugging my body close. His wolf snarled as my friends backed away and he sniffed along my neck and throat. Grumbling under his breath, he finally nodded.
“She’s been restored.”
The others looked relieved as he lowered his head and whispered in my ear. “Something’s off.”
Our eyes met and I nodded in confirmation.
“Are you going to be alright?”
Shaking my head slightly, I didn’t voice anything aloud but looked pointedly at Gypsy. Gabe sighed softly but I knew he understood my meaning. Gypsy needed to focus on our return trip home. I could tell her the bad news later.
Chapter 8
I was finally ready to leave the fade. Now that my soul was restored, we were no longer obligated to remain here.
‘Stay away, precious.’
I gasped as Damian’s thoughts trickled into my head. I’d never heard him unless we were in the same room before and wondered if our deepening bond had something to do with the increased ability.
‘I won’t leave you to fight alone.’
‘This isn’t a request.’
He must have been in great pain because a small portion of it manifested inside my body and I screamed in Gabriel’s arms.
“Cassie, what is it?”
“Damian,” I yelled, closing my eyes as another strong burst pulsed within my chest.
“What’s happening?” Gypsy’s concerned voice grew closer as she ran a finger over my cheek, chanting a small spell of protection.
‘Damian, I’m coming back to you.’
‘No!’ he roared as I felt his panic rise.
‘I refuse to leave you!’
‘Cassie, don’t. I can’t lose you. Stay away!’
‘I won’t let you die, my vampire.’
Silence.
No response. His presence in my mind left as quickly as it entered. Terrified, I leaped from Gabe’s arms and turned to the others.
“Damian is in trouble. I need to return to Romania. Kayde is already there and can help us. Ryder and Gabe, I can’t do this without you. We have to find him. I think Roman and Dmitri are torturing Damian in order to lure me back.”
Ryder and Gabe both nodded grimly.
“Sebastian.” I caught his wary gaze as he looked my way. “I need you to take Gypsy, Autumn, and the twins back to Aunt Gwen.”
Gypsy blurted out as I knew she would the second the words left my lips. “What? There’s no way I’m letting you do this without me. How could you even think –”
Her words faded as I finished the chant in my head, putting her to sleep. Sebastian picked her up before she could hit the ground and cradled her body close, placing a soft kiss on her parted lips.
“I’ll make sure we reach Howe Manor.”
“She’s going to be angry with me.”
Autumn sighed. “I understand why you did it, but damn, Cassie.”
Kane and Karter shook their heads but agreed. “We’ll go straight to Gwen.”
“Tell her to amplify the power of the ancestors. I’m going to need a lot more energy before I can defeat Roman. You’ll all have to combine your magical talents for this to work.”
“Will do,” Sebastian promised.
I thanked them, waving as the four began the spell that would allow their souls to leave the fade. It didn’t take long for the group to disappear and return to Mystic Hallows.
The pocket watch from my aunt was still in my possession. I didn’t know how it made it through the last couple of hours but at least we were no longer worried about locating the lost portion of my soul. One major problem dealt with, several more to go.
“Are you ready?” Ryder asked, clasping my hand in his larger one.
“Yes, back to Romania.”
“We need to be smart about this,” he added. “You don’t wander off alone again. I mean it.”
“I won’t,” I promised, fully agreeing. Leaving on my own often caused more problems. I may be stubborn, but I was finally understanding how crucial my Cosan were to my survival.
Gabe slipped his hand into my empty one and smiled. “Let’s do this. I’ve been waiting to confront this asshole witch and take him down. He’s hurt you for the last time.”
“No hesitation, we end him, any way we can,” Ryder agreed, meeting Gabe’s gaze as the two made some sort of private decision.
I had the feeling some other unspoken agreement had occurred between them, but I didn’t ask. Sometimes it was better not to know. The fade began to shake and tremble beneath our feet as I chanted, the guys adding their voices to my own as their power helped boost my weakened levels. Before long we were standing in front of the house Damian had left me in, the dark night enclosing us as we fully appeared.
“I forgot it was only in the early hours of morning,” Gabe murmured.
The pocket watch dinged and rattled as I opened it up. Five distinct pings. It was only five in the morning. Only five hours since all of this chaos began. How was it possible that I had arrived in the Rockcastle dungeons five hours ago?
Was something messed up with the space/time continuum? Or did my Aunt Gwen and Willow spell the watch to ensure I’d be restored and reunited with my soul before sunrise?
“We need to find Kayde.” Ryder pulled me forward as he held onto my hand, walking up the front steps of the little house. We entered, only to find the place abandoned and empty.
The rooms were cold. The fire had long ago burned out. No trace of Kayde was visible. You’d never know he was ever there. Even his lingering presence was minimal.
Sucking in a breath of shock and dismay, I realized he never stayed in the house at all. Kayde never added his power to ours in the fade. He didn’t stay to help. In fact, I think he left almost immediately.
Lifting tear-filled eyes to Gabe and Ryder, I shook my head.
“I’m sorry,” Ryder whispered, tucking me against his side.
Gabe pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Please don’t cry. He’s not worth your tears.” He growled low and turned toward the door, lifting his nose. “He doesn’t matter. Our focus should be on Damian and Roman. I can smell them. Time to seek a little revenge of our own.”
* * *
“We enter here,” I gestured, pointing to the metal gate that I exited only a couple of hours prior with Damian and Vincent. “It leads to the underground tunnels.”
“Where do they go?” Ryder asked, looking inside the tunnel and frowning. “It’s really dark.”
“The lower level of the Rockcastle dungeons along with the cells.”
“Cells?” Gabriel gulped and tugged my body closer, almost as if by instinct. “I’m not a fan. Let’s be vigilant.”
Not a fan? What was he talking about?
Placing a hand on my wolf’s chest, I stopped him from moving forward. “Tell me what you mean.”
Gabe lifted a hand and cupped my cheek, rubbing his thumb ove
r my skin affectionately. “I was caged once, many years ago. It’s a dark time I don’t like to remember.”
Caged? Like an animal? “Someone did that to you?”
“Yes, so I don’t like anything that resembles cages or metal bars that close around me.”
“I’m sorry that happened. It’s awful.”
“Don’t worry about it, my sweet. It was long before we ever met.”
That didn’t make what happened any less shocking or incomprehensible. I didn’t say anything because I could feel his agitation and anger grow with the memory. Leading them both inside the damp tunnel, I ignored the impulse to run back outside.
Anguished cries of the broken and discarded echoed within and seemed to come from every direction. My skin began to crawl with memories of the rats and other slimy vermin. I kept to the edge and closer to the wall, using it as an anchor as we moved deeper inside. Mild splashes could be heard and the occasional squeak, but nothing slithered over my feet or around my legs.
“I’m repelling them, Cassie.”
He was? “Thanks, Ryder. I couldn’t stop screaming last time.”
Gabriel reached for my hand and I relaxed, thankful we were headed closer to the cells. It wouldn’t be long before we were out of this tunnel. An eerie smoke began to fill the space as we walked, followed by an odd mist that rose up from the water in curling blue-tinged vapors. Each of us coughed as we realized this wasn’t normal.
“Run, Cassie!”
Gabe’s voice sounded far away as I stumbled, bursting through the final metal gate. The force slammed the steel into the wall as it bounced off the concrete and the guys fell to the ground. Each one appeared to be struggling as they stumbled. I tried to help them back to their feet, but I was also weakened.
“Go!” Ryder shouted.
If I could reach clean air, I could use a spell once my strength wasn’t being zapped. I’d return for them in a few minutes. I sprinted forward but as my vision doubled I couldn't help but bump into the walls in my haste. It wasn’t until I’d entered a familiar cell that I realized how expertly I had been maneuvered.
Stepping into the crypt, I came face to face with the one person I hoped to never meet again, accompanied by Damian’s ruthless betraying brother and evil twin.
Vega and Dmitri Rockcastle.
Chapter 9
“Well, precious little witch, isn’t this a lovely surprise?”
Shit.
Vega stood next to Damian, his body shackled at the wrists and ankles by metal chains that burned a fearsome red and glowed slightly, the color highlighting the lines of agony etched into his face. His emerald eyes no longer shone with intelligence, humor, and mild boredom – his normal irresistible gaze – but a void that felt disturbingly empty.
Something was terribly wrong.
‘Damian?’
No answer.
I had to stifle the cry that wanted to launch from my throat. What did this bitch do to my vampire? Was this some sort of torture? For what purpose? “What have you done to Damian?”
“Nothing a little spell couldn’t fix.” She laughed and gestured with her hand, sweeping around the room as if I couldn’t see the significance. “Roman was quite happy to lend his support.”
I bet he was. “Where’s Roman then?”
“All in good time, pet. We can’t have the party spoiled before its begun, can we?”
The condescending way she spoke irked me, but I didn’t act rashly. There was a reason she stood so calmly and confident and I needed to know what she wanted. “Why don’t we skip the bullshit and you tell me why I’m here.”
A light chuckle left her dark red lips. “I see why Damian likes you. You’re a pretty little human and feisty. I sense the power within you and those of your ancestors.”
“Not that you’ll ever have access to it,” I replied sweetly with a smile. “I don’t share.”
That comment was meant for more than my witch abilities. She wasn’t going to take Damian away from me. I could feel her desire to tear me apart but also make me suffer for my impudence. A deep hatred burned within her along with a need to destroy the Howe bloodline. I sensed these things as clearly as if she spoke them aloud.
Was this knowledge only because of my affection for Damian? My instincts said no.
Vega smiled as her eyes narrowed. Her condescending and rude tone were further proof that she was nothing but a selfish and conniving bitch. One hand on her hip, she gestured with her fingers splayed outward as if I was merely an afterthought – a mild nuisance she could end at any moment. “You aren’t smart, trying to incur my wrath. I could rip you apart with my bare hands right this second.”
I shrugged and hid any inkling of fear as she continued.
“I wonder how Damian would react to awakening and finding your bloody corpse at his feet.” She sneered as she took a couple of steps forward. “You will die here today, witch. Don’t think for a moment that you or your Cosan will leave these dungeons alive.”
Gesturing with her hands, she beckoned someone or something from the shadows. I wasn’t stupid. I knew we weren’t the only three in the room. Although Dmitri had been silent this entire time, I sensed his unease.
“Fight or die, little witch,” Dmitri added as the figures left the shadows and stood behind him. “Time to prove your worth.”
So that’s what all of this was about – a test.
Crouching, I reached for the power of the ancestors. I wasn’t sure they’d make contact but Seb, Autumn, and Gypsy must have been successful in boosting the levels. Energy flooded my body as I tapped into their strength, anchored by their presence once again. Rejuvenated, I used half to strengthen my shields against the upcoming attack and the rest I let hover over my skin. Ripples of energy danced and zinged, cracking slightly with sharp bursts of electricity. Violet-tinged light surrounded me, and I knew my eyes had changed color.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” Vega hissed. “Destroy her!”
The shadows morphed into at least a dozen figures. Each one transformed into their true demonic forms. No glamour. There wasn’t a point.
The vampires roared and hissed, bolting forward to attack all at once. Their dark leathery skin covered layers of thick defined muscle but it was their wings that gave the advantage. Darting and swooping through the air, they could attack without much chance of personal harm. Large wings that resembled a bat’s spread out behind each back and flapped wildly with every movement. The domed room was big enough to accommodate so many bodies at once which was a problem. I should try to lead them out in the tunnels . . . if I could escape this moldy, dark chamber.
My previous conversation with Damian at the park by my house surfaced. I knew sunlight wasn’t an issue for these monsters so conjuring the power of the sun would only temporarily blind them. Damian mentioned that silver wasn’t an issue either, it slightly weakened the creatures but not enough to kill. The only real vulnerability was piercing through their thick skin and dismembering the bodies. Once they were decapitated, fire would consume their flesh and destroy any chance of reconnection. This ultimate death was the only thing that vampires truly feared.
Conjuring the strength of the sun, I let the bright light fill the room as I bolted forward, hitting the vampires with every spell or incantation I could muster. With the vampires disoriented, I managed to knock several out and more slammed against the stone walls of the makeshift crypt. Bodies crashed to the ground and into one another as Vega screeched. She hit me from the side as I flew into the nearest wall and groaned, the impact hard enough to rattle every bone in my body.
One hand encircled my throat as I fought to release her grasp.
“Nice try, almost impressive.”
The sunlight faded as she sneered, staring at me with all of the cold calculation of a killer.
Choking as she tightened her grip, I continued to fight, zapping her with energy as she hissed.
“You’re not powerful enough. How pathetic. I’ve heard suc
h good things about you. What a disappointment.”
Pissed, I blasted her with a reverse shield spell, and it knocked her away, sending her body flying into the opposite wall. “Not so pathetic now, huh?” I asked, forcing my blasts of energy her way as she flew forward.
My back hit the wall again as we battled, neither of us gaining the upper hand until something sliced through the skin of my waist and deep into my torso. Three distinct claw marks proved one of the vampires had caught me by surprise. Gasping, the pain choking a cry of agony in my throat, I fell to the ground, clutching at the wound as my blood trickled freely down my right side and through the gap in my trembling fingers.
Every vampire in the room smiled, incredibly aroused by the scent of fresh blood.
Vega laughed in triumph as she lowered toward the ground, still hovering in the air by those ebony wings, tilting my chin up as her clawed hand rose. Pausing in midair, I knew she meant to slice my throat and end my life. “Defiant to the last. I admire your courage, but now you must die.”
I barely felt the swipe as it cut through my skin like a knife through butter. A warm, wet trickle could be felt as my shirt was immediately soaked with a gush of extra blood. The room spun as I fell back, staring up at the high ceiling of the crypt and the stars that peeked through the metal grating at the top. My body pulsed lightly a few times and shook like I was having a seizure as my gaze fell on Damian.
He’d never know what happened to me until it was too late. Knowing my Cosan would experience this sudden weakening, they would be aware of my death only moments before it occurred. Tapping into the strength of my ancestors, I began to use all my excess energy for healing, but it wasn’t fast enough. My vitality was fading faster than I could replace it with energy.
A loud primitive roar filled the room as a body slammed into Vega. It sounded as if a vicious battle was taking place, but my vision was poor, only shadows and the sounds of ripping and tearing flesh could be heard. Screeches and cries of rage began to lessen as my eyes fluttered and closed.
None of it mattered anymore.