Life Bound: The Shadow World Book 1

by Aubrey Winters

  “So, you see why we’re traveling together, and why he can’t hurt me. We were hoping you knew where she might be.”

  Alice chuckled, and Kol growled. “I can still kill witches though, if you don’t start giving us what we want.”

  The joy fell from Alice’s face, and it chilled me to see how quickly she could change from a warm aunt to a formidable witch.

  Without thinking, I placed my hand on his arm. The physical contact shocked me—no actual sparks flew through my system, no electricity zinged. It wasn’t one of those romantic moments in movies. It was the realization that my instinct was to comfort and calm him that spooked me.

  To my surprise, Kol quieted. His growl lessened to a low rumble in his chest, and I pulled back before I could think too much about what had just transpired between us. In me.

  “You watch yourself, Black,” Anna stared icily at Kol. “You might have bested Anna, but she was an uncovened and tired witch. You ought to know better than to try yourself against a fully covened witch with a vulnerability like that.”

  I shivered. Anna seemed like a friend, and I wanted to believe the caring way she looked at me was the same way one would look at family, but she reminded me that in the grand scheme of things, I was the only way to kill an otherwise unkillable—and temperamental—vampire.

  Kol growled again, and I knew his vampire face was emerging.

  “I’m just looking for more information,” the words tumbled out in a rush before the two started fighting with me in the middle. I didn’t know what a Shadow fight looked like, and I was not ready to find out now. “If you know where she is, please tell me.”

  My heart sank when Alice shook her head. “I’m sorry, girl. I haven’t heard from her since last month, and she didn’t mention any Shadows in our correspondence.”

  “Then please, is there any information you can tell me? Nana never told me about her past and who she was before. She didn’t tell me about Shadows and I just... I just need to learn more about who she was. Maybe if I knew more about her other life, I could find her and help her if she’s... if she’s—” I choked up, fighting unshed tears. I could hear the desperation lacing my words. Didn’t they understand my life derailed and was free spinning, and this was the only hope I could cling onto? A hope for information that might lead me to Nana?

  “Oh, I’m sorry, my dear,” Alice’s voice dripped with such pity that I almost felt ashamed. “I’ll put on some tea and we’ll dive right in.” Beside me, Kol simmered down and crossed his arms.

  She went into the kitchen to put on a kettle, and I felt Kol’s eyes on me. He wanted to say something, but he wanted me to start. I didn’t want to give him the chance.

  “Milk and sugar?” Alice asked from behind the kitchen walls.

  “Um, yes. Thank you,” I replied, twisting my fingers in my hands. The wind blew outside louder than usual, and I jumped. Learning about Nana’s old life both excited and terrified me. I wanted to find her, but I was also afraid of realizing I’d never really known her at all.

  “Your grandmother was—is—a great witch,” Alice started quietly as she placed a white teacup, rimmed with gold and blue trim, before me. “Very few would have been able to cast a life-binding spell. Uncovened, no less.” She shook her head.

  “What does that mean?” I held the delicate teacup with both hands, its warmth bringing me a modicum of comfort that barely registered in the sea of emotions within me.

  “Right,” Alice tapped her finger against her cup. “We witches draw power from nature, but if we find other witches and form covens, we can draw from each other as well. Together, a coven can perform magic that an individual might never achieve. An individual witch is also capable of greater things when covened. It’s amazing that Alice could perform this spell when entire covens might never have been able to.”

  I swallowed a lump in my throat and chased it down with a gulp of scalding tea. Nana had been strong my entire life; to imagine that she could have been capable of more was like deifying a deity. Impossible.

  “She and I were sisters once—witch sisters,” she clarified. “Once upon a time, we were of the same coven, and we grew up together. She was one of the most powerful witches I’d ever met.”

  She stared at the mantle, though I couldn’t make out which photo she focused on. Perhaps it wasn’t any photo, and she was looking into the past—into memories I’d never be able to see.

  “Anna was part of a large family. The Kores were the reigning family back in the day.”

  “Wait,” I interrupted. “Back in what day? How long ago was this?” Alice could have been Nana’s daughter.

  Alice smiled gently. “This was hundreds of years ago, dear.”

  It was as though she had dropped a bucket of ice water over my head. I gripped the armrests of the chair. Kol stepped closer, but didn’t touch me.

  “Hundreds?” Shivers climbed up my spine, and I couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mouth.

  “I think it must have been three hundred years at least,” she put a finger to her chin before sipping her tea, as though this was just a conversation about dinner. “I’m sorry that you had to find out this way. Witches can draw on the powers of nature to slow our aging process. I don’t doubt that Anna looked a little more aged than I.”

  “Nana was at least three hundred years old?” I gasped when my lungs started working again.

  “Covens help with keeping the years at bay. Once Anna left hers, it was only a matter of time before her magic weakened with her body.” Alice reached over to pat my knee, and as much as I wanted to pull away, I couldn’t.

  “Why... Why did Nana stop searching for a coven? What happened to yours?”

  “Ours disbanded over politics,” Alice waved her hand and sighed. “The leaders grew frustrated, and it frustrated the coven. But we each found others afterward. It was the tragedy that struck which led to Anna quitting the Shadow world.”

  “In their prime, the Kore witches weren’t just powerful. They were synonymous with power. That meant they also had many enemies.” Alice sighed. “After all these years, I’m still unclear as to all the details, but it was said that a murderous pack of werewolves led by a vengeful coven attacked in the middle of the night and massacred all of them. All but Anna, who only got away because she was out with a lover in the middle of the night.”

  “Alone and terrified, she persisted. She found another coven. She continued on. It wasn’t until a pair of vampires murdered your parents in the crossfire of a feud between her coven and another that she took you and left the Shadow world behind. That was fifty years ago,” Alice shook her head as though she hadn’t just revealed earth-shattering information.

  Time stopped. I froze, teacup nearly falling out of my hand.

  “Wait... But if that was fifty years ago, that means...”

  “You’re old, love,” Kol grinned. “I knew you weren’t a mundane human.”

  “I hate to agree with him, but he’s right. As far as I know, mother was human, and your father was a witch, though I heard he was without powers. You have Shadow blood running in those veins.”

  “I’ve... but I’ve never done any magic,” I sputtered.

  Alice shrugged. “Some Shadows never show their magical abilities. Anna tried for most of your father’s life to help his magic surface, but it never did. So it makes sense that it’s suppressed in you as well, given that your mother was human. But that you look like that at your age,” she gestured up and down my body. “That’s the biggest sign there is that you’re a Shadow. That’s why you had to move around so much as a kid—so people wouldn’t get suspicious that you barely aged.”

  The air rushed out of my lungs. So many questions had been answered—and yet, twice as many surfaced.

  “Anyway, Anna dedicated her life to protecting you,” Alice shook her head, looking down. “Alisown and Ohawna. We used to be quite the pair.”

  “She gave up her youth for me. Her powers.” I blinked back tea
rs and turned on Kol. “And you took it all away like it was nothing.”

  “He didn’t cause—” Alice’s cup clinked as set it down. “Vampires couldn’t have done that—”

  “Look, I’m sorry,” he held his hands up. “You know I had nothing to do with her disappearance.”

  “But you did,” I closed my eyes. “If you hadn’t shown up—if you hadn’t attacked her, this wouldn’t have happened.” Sorrow rose from my heart, threatening to engulf it whole. Anger and frustration bubbled at my throat.

  “I didn’t realize she was so frail. I’d heard rumors of the last Kore witch, and she was supposed to be one of the most powerful witches that ever existed.”

  “She probably used the last of her magic protecting me!” I clamped my hands over my mouth, but the sorrow poured out unfettered. My hands found the armrest of the couch, nails digging into the fabric.

  “She was old!” Tears spilled out, but I didn’t wipe them. He took a step back and, to his credit, didn’t mention that Alice was old without frailty. Didn’t argue with me.

  “She gave up everything to protect me!” Tears leaked freely now, but I didn’t care about sobbing in front of two people I didn’t even know. At some point, I stood up and hit Kol in the chest with closed fists, knowing that I wasn’t causing pain to anyone but myself. But the pain in my hands was nothing compared to the agony shooting in my heart, breaking for Nana’s life that I never knew. For a future I didn’t know whether Nana would have. For Nana’s family that I never met. For everything that was gone, and I couldn’t get back.

  I didn’t care.

  I didn’t care.

  I cared so much that it hurt.

  “She was my everything.” My hands uncurled and covered my face instead. I gasped for air in between sobs, overwhelmed by the rush of emotions that slammed against my body like violent waves.

  Darkness fell as Kol suddenly closed the gap between us and wrapped his arms around me. His body was stiff and his arms didn’t move, like he hadn’t hugged anyone in a long time and wasn’t entirely sure how to. Like he didn’t know what to do next. But he didn’t have to do anything. His body was warm and solid, and it tethered me to sanity like nothing else had for the first time since everything happened.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured into my hair. His scent of citrus and spice enveloped me. I felt his breath against my ear and I let his apology wash over me, pulling me back to reality. As the sobs subsided, I pushed away from him, face flushed by more than just the tears. He let go slowly, almost unwillingly. He was probably afraid I would do something to hurt us.

  I turned awkwardly away from him only to face Alice passing me a tissue.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “You are allowed to feel this way,” Alice pet my hand and glared at Kol, who ran his hand through his hair and then crossed his arms. I didn’t think I could ever look him in the eyes again.

  “My coven is meeting tonight,” Alice’s warm hand still covered mine. “Come and meet some of us. We’re very nice and I think we can help you find Nana and learn more about our world.” Her eyes hardened as they slid over to meet Kol’s. “He wouldn’t be so welcome, but I’m sure once they understood the situation, they would be happy to help you break this curse, as well.”

  “That’s all I’ve wanted,” Kol rolled his eyes. “But I’m not letting her enter a coven of witches alone.”

  “She’s safer with us than she is with you,” Alice's eyes shot daggers at him.

  “I’m pretty well known, as you know. I have enemies,” he glared back at her.

  I sniffled, feeling stupid that I let him comfort me. He acted only to benefit himself. I needed to remember that.

  “Fine,” she snapped. “You can stay in the back.”

  CHAPTER 6

  BRANCHES AND FLOWERS seemed to shift and sway out of our way, reacting to Alice’s presence to reveal a clearing as we walked through the forest.

  “How do people not stumble into this?” I muttered, stepping carefully over logs and staying on the path to avoid inadvertently offending anyone—or anything. Since this journey began, I realized there was so much about the world that I didn’t even realize I didn’t know. I swallowed rising anxieties about navigating the world and focused only on letting Alice guide me to her coven instead.

  “We’ve charmed the area so that humans pass right through without even realizing it,” Alice smiled. Being closer to nature had a visible effect on her; her skin glowed and her eyes sparkled. Even her hair seemed to gain volume, and she bounced slightly with each step.

  Kol leaned casually against a tree about fifty feet away, his eyes pinned on me as we traversed deeper into the open space. The sun had only begun its descent, but it was already lower than the tall trees circling the clearing, casting long shadows that enveloped Kol so I could barely see him. When the trees shifted with the wind and the shadows danced, he was striking; dressed in all black with a head of white-blond hair like an ironic halo. The shadows sharpened his cheekbones, and the stubble he always sported added another layer to his aura of mystery. Half of him cast in a golden glow, and the other half hidden by darkness, I realized just how much of a stranger he was. I wondered if all vampires looked as he did to be more attractive to their prey.

  I sat on a stump, twiddled my thumbs, and watched Alice spread boughs on the ground in a circle. One by one, men and women of all ages joined us. Each greeted Alice warmly before taking a place in the circle. They talked amongst themselves, none paying me much mind.

  One young woman spoke with Alice in hushed tones and pointed toward the trees where Kol stood, completely hidden by shadows now. The sun was almost completely hidden behind the trees; its last rays of light barely peeking through the gaps in the forest. Alice shook her head, and the woman went back to her spot at the edge of the circle. Another twenty minutes passed as I shifted uncomfortably in my spot, ignored by everyone and unsure of what to do.

  “Welcome, everyone,” Alice stood at the edge of the circle, but everyone gave her a little extra space so she was the center of attention. The group had grown to about 30. “Jona,” she tutted. “You’re not going to quit football, are you? Remember what we said?”

  A boy in his teens with messy black hair shuffled his feet and mumbled something under his breath. His peers laughed, and he smiled shyly at Alice.

  “We have someone very special to me with us here today,” Alice motioned for me and I made my way to the front next to her, very aware of all the eyes on me. “This is Elizabeth. She’s the granddaughter of my good friend who’s gone missing.”

  The entire group dipped their heads and murmured something I couldn’t make out.

  “It’s a witch prayer,” Alice whispered to me.

  “Elle is in quite the predicament,” she continued her address. “Before her grandmother disappeared, she bound our dear Elle to a vampire—the vampire.”

  My eyes flashed to the spot from which Kol watched—but he wasn’t there anymore. What did Alice mean by the vampire? Was she referring to him being the first vampire?

  “Elle is bound to Nikolas Black himself.” A collective gasp rang through the crowd, and I looked back at Kol’s tree. He was still missing. “Though her dear grandmother wanted him as her protector, I think we should save her from this fate, should we not? She is no doubt safer without him. Then, together, we can help find her grandmother.”

  The group murmured an enthusiastic yes.

  “Elle, we’ll need time for a solution, but we will find a cure for you. All of us, together,” Alice’s hands were firm on my shoulders. Her gaze was steady, and I wanted to feel secure, but I didn’t like the way she called the solution a “cure,” like our binding—inconvenient as it was—was a disease which needed curing. Before I could say anything, the back of my neck prickled.

  Suddenly, screaming filled my ears, and chaos rained down on us. Black blurs flashed against the darkening sky. Witches shouted chants in language
s I didn’t understand. Alice’s nails dug into my shoulders and I winced. A sudden explosion of pain in my side ripped me out of her arms and pinned me to the ground. My rear hit the forest floor hard. Twigs and stones dug into my back, but none of it compared to the shrieking of my body crying for help.

  Heart pounding in my ears, the clang of battle faded into the background as I tried to make sense of what had happened. A thin piece of wood stuck out of my stomach just below my ribs. I touched it, and my hand came away bloody. It had to be an arrow.

  Each time I shifted, flames exploded in my stomach and raced through every limb. My veins were made of ice and fire as I fought nausea. It was all I could do to hold myself in place. Biting hard on my lip to focus, I surveyed the scene.

  Beams of light soared through the air from every which way. Some landed squarely on the chest of the hooded figures. Others missed and exploded mid-air. Dark blurs flashed back and forth as the moon began its climb in the night sky.

  A hooded archer shot an arrow, and I watched with horror as it exploded mid-air and each piece struck the back of the kid Alice had addressed as Jona. He fell to his knees, pieces of wood sticking out from his body. A hooded figure, eyes red and fangs bared, tackled the archer. The two tumbled on the ground as the vampire ripped into the archer’s body with his bare teeth while the archer struck his assailant with a wooden stake. My mind struggled to understand. Were we under attack by two groups?

  One group—the one with arrows—attacked the witches, while the other attacked those archers.

  Panic grew as I realized fewer beams of light shot with every minute. The witches were falling.

  Where was Alice?

  Where was Kol?

  I needed to get out of here. Laying exposed on the ground, I put both myself and Kol at risk. It was only a matter of time before someone noticed me, and judging by the slaughter, no one was taking prisoners. I ground my teeth and sucked in a breath. I couldn’t stop the groan that escaped when pain tore through my body as I tried to sit up.

  My motion caught the attention of an archer. It was a slender man dressed in all black. A hood covered his face, but the brightness of his eyes shone through the shadows. My lungs froze. I scrambled to stand up and get away, but fiery pain rooted my body in place, betraying me. The archer raised his bow.