"Zac, I know you want to go after her, but you just have to wait," Sam said, preempting what he was going to say. His little brother had become good at reading his mind of late.
"I know," Zac held his head in his hands and sighed. "There's no trail for us to follow, Sam. She disappeared into thin air. She could be on the other side of the world for all we know."
"We've got to trust Gabby, Zac. I know it's hard, but we have to sit back and let her do her thing," Sam said calmly, anything he felt about the situation carefully hidden in his voice. He knew as well as he did that there wouldn't be another witch who would be willing to help them.
"But, I can't just sit here while they do god knows what to her." Zac stood, beginning his pacing again, his rage simmering beneath the surface.
"Zac, do you..." asked Sam, concern creasing his brow as he put two and two together. "Are you in..."
"Sam," he interrupted, glaring at his brother. "We just need to find her."
"Zac..." he began again.
"Shut it, Sam. We got her into this mess. Now we've got to get her out."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
One moment, Aya was talking with Zac in the garden, the next she was on her knees, gasping for breath in complete darkness. A circle of flame erupted around her with a whooshing sound, heat radiating on her face.
Her eyes widened in surprise as a familiar stocky, male figure stepped through the circle. He was dressed head to toe in black, his short dusky blonde hair cropped close to his scalp, broad shoulders held proudly. It had been three hundred years since she had seen the vampire that now stood before her and her blood ran cold.
"Caius?" she gasped.
"Hello, dear one. I'm glad you could make it," he smiled lopsidedly. She was smart enough to notice it was a smile filled with malice. He would not welcome her after what she'd done to him.
"Looks like I didn't have a choice," she said wryly, noticing the three witches that stood outside the circle. Before he could answer, she lunged for him, fangs bared. To his amusement, she was brought to her knees before she could lay a finger on him. A sharp pain was tearing through her head like something was trying to claw its way out. Grasping her temples, it was all she could do to remain focused. "Traitors," she spat at the witches, grimacing through the splitting explosions.
"They're useful, your families pets," Caius mused, watching her tortured expression as she tried to calm the storm that raged inside. "They know how to keep your kind under control."
"Murderous bastard," she hissed at him.
"In that regard we are more alike than you'll ever come to admit," he sneered.
"We may both be vampires, Caius, but I'll never be like you."
"Oh, but that’s where you're wrong. You're not a true vampire, dear one. My brother should never have created you."
"When I free myself and kill your pathetic witches, I will tear you to shreds. And this time, I won't put the pieces back together," she snarled, kneeling in the dirt. It had been a while since she had thought about that vampire.
"Wow," he laughed. "I forgot how spirited you are."
"You killed my family."
"I can't possibly take all the credit for that," he smiled. "My brothers enjoyed it as much as I."
She glared up at him, trying to fight through the splitting ache in her head. "Why'd you do it, Caius? Was it because she ordered you to?"
"You killed half of my family, so it's only fair. Tit for tat and all."
"Well, here I am, Caius. Fight me like a man."
He walked around her, sizing her up before sighing. Killing her mustn't be on Katrin's agenda just yet. "It wasn't part of our bargain, you know," he said, his guard dropping slightly. "To do her dirty work. To hunt you."
"Then why do it? Why not just let it go?"
He snorted, "You want me to let it go? After you killed my brothers and sister? You would continue your revenge on us, regardless. And we will still hunt you, no matter if Katrin wants us to or not."
She didn't reply, waiting to hear what he would say next.
"All's fair in love and war, dear one," he grasped her face, fingers digging into her skin, and kissed her cheek.
Aya shook her head free from his hand. "Remember that time I snapped your neck and locked you in that house you weren't invited into?" she sneered at him. "It was the highlight of the century watching you tear yourself apart."
"You see," he pointed at her. "This is why I miss you. Your creativity." Stepping forward, he grabbed the back of her shirt and began to drag her through the edge of the circle, the flame flickering out, plunging them into darkness. The witches followed, their power still focused on subduing her.
For the first time Aya caught a glimpse of her surrounds. There were a number of old rundown buildings around the yard. No doubt from some kind of factory that hadn't seen operation in a very long time. Night had fallen entirely, the darkness complete around them, the stars above twinkling brightly. There was no light pollution flooding the sky, which meant they were away from human habitation. But where exactly that was, she had no idea.
Caius opened a steel door in the side of a large building and took no care when he threw her inside. She rolled in the dirt, coming to rest against the far wall, cracking her head against hard metal. The outside door slammed shut with a boom that echoed through the dark room.
Standing the moment she felt the witches power lapse, she threw herself at the door with all her strength, but it didn't budge. The thud of her body colliding with steel echoed around her. Trying again she came to the same conclusion. The door had to be spelled by those witches, there was no other explanation. When she got out of here they would pay dearly for consorting with the enemy.
Aya cursed, her head thumping against the door. The only way she could have been summoned here was if someone had stolen Gabby's grimore. She'd warned her only the day before to destroy the pages. It was no secret that all of them were being watched, but to what extent? Had Katrin cursed Gabby to use her as a spy? Probably. Aya hoped she was smart enough to work it out.
Looking around for another weakness she noticed the walls were smooth, so she couldn't climb to the ceiling to find an out there. The air had an old smell of grain about it, so she assumed it was a kind of grain silo. That would explain the smooth interior and lack of exits.
She sat in the middle of the room and sighed. Caius was keeping her alive, which surprised her a little, since they had no problem with trying to kill her all that time ago. Which only meant they wanted her for the same reason they had imprisoned her the first time. And going by past experience, they couldn't get anything out of her even if she wanted to tell them.
Turning at the grating sound that signaled that the outside door was opening, Caius strode into the silo, a dark look of malice written on his features. Taking any opportunity she could, she lunged for the vampire, but was on her knees as pain ripped through her head. The witches were behind him, crippling her into submission.
Looking up, she realized he was carrying chains and some large steel meat hooks. This wasn't going to be pleasant. Caius grabbed the back of her shirt and dragged her to the far side of the silo, where some steel rings had been welded to the wall. He attached the chains to them while the witches stood between her and the door. They still controlled her and she couldn't move, the pain was that disorienting. Caius approached her, dragging the chains through the dirt. The meat hooks were a part of the chain itself, attached to either end. She screamed in rage as he pierced one through her wrist in a single fluid movement, blood gushing from the wound onto the ground. Laughing at her discomfort, he did the same to the other. Pulling the chain, he hoisted her up, her feet barely touching the ground. She moaned in agony as the hooks dragged on her wrists, blood pouring down her arms, soaking her clothes.
"I have been waiting for this day for a very long time," he stroked her face with the back of his hand. "It's a shame that my brothers couldn't be here for the occasion."
Bending down
, he drove another hook into either ankle, securing her to the floor. Pulling hard on the chains, Caius tore her wounds open, the steel keeping them open and bleeding, unable to heal. He intended to drain as much of her blood as he could, take her strength until she withered into eternal unconsciousness. Only feeding would bring her back from that kind of death.
Standing back, Caius gestured for the three witches to come forward. They formed a triangle around her and began to chant. As she felt their power build up around her she realised that they were trying to break her, crack her mind open and bring her to insanity. Aya fought against the chains, but she knew there was no escaping, not while the witches watched over her. Zac, Sam, where are you? she cried silently to herself. Did she really want them to come? If they could find her, they would walk into a blood bath. It was safer to assume she was alone in this, to rely on her own book smarts to escape. Right now, it seemed hopeless.
Groaning, she felt the witches clawing at the edges of her being, preparing her for when she'd become weaker once her life began to drain away with her blood.
It was so lonely here in the forest. With nothing but her own rambling thoughts to keep her company. All she had been doing lately was thinking. So much thinking. It was becoming dangerous, she was starting to question herself; her motives, her being. So much had happened in the last two thousand years. Maybe one too may narrow escapes had put these doubts into her.
Aya's head snapped up and she snarled at the witches, "Get out of my head!"
Caius was standing off in the shadows, watching her suffer. The sound of his satisfied laughter reached her and she pulled against the chains defiantly, tearing her wounds open further. There was no escaping, she was tightly restrained, but she grasped onto what little control she could.
They wouldn't break her. They couldn't break her.
"The sooner she gets what she wants, the sooner we will be free of her," Caius sneered. "Stop fighting."
"It's a lot more than a mere link, isn't it? She's forced you into servitude, hasn't she?" Aya prodded. "That's the part she left out, wasn't it?"
"It's none if your business, witch," he snarled, striking her across the face, splitting her lip.
Drawing a sharp breath between her teeth, she didn't let up. "She tricked you into making the ultimate sacrifice so she could use you. All of you. And it was all for nothing."
"Silence!" Caius' roar echoed around them.
"You'll never get what you want from me. I'm the last and you'll never know."
With a inhuman swiftness, he was directly in front of her, eyes black and fangs bared. Grasping her around the neck with his pale hands, he began choking the life from her, his anger finally besting his control. Aya felt her airway beginning to collapse under the force of his grasp, but her eyes never left his, showing her complete defiance.
"She wants her alive, Sir." The soft voice of the witch to her right broke through the tense silence.
Caius took a few deep breaths and let her go, the chains that held her aloft, rattling.
"You will never break me, Caius," Aya growled, her voice rasping.
He smirked, eyes glittering in the semi-darkness. "Unfortunately for you, you won't have a choice in the matter."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Gabby's parents had lived in the same house they had brought when they first got married. Over the years it hadn't changed very much, it was a typical American home. Two stories, clad in cream weatherboards, a wide porch that stretched across the entire front and a double garage. She grew up here as an only child amongst very happy memories. The only thing that marred it was when she was ten, when her beloved Grams had disappeared. Everyone said she was crazy and did all they could to find her so they could get her the help she needed. Gabby never believed any of the things her family told her. There was no reason for her not to believe, but perhaps it was her undeveloped power pointing her in the right direction.
Liz and Alex hovered behind her on the porch, content to wait outside while she went in and spoke to her parents. Liz had already been invited in some time ago and was ready in case she was needed. Letting herself in with her key, Gabby called out to her parents, who were in the lounge room.
"Gabrielle," her mother called, coming out into the hall. "This is a nice surprise. We weren't expecting you." Gabby's Mom was probably the nicest lady you'd be likely to meet. She was more than happy to go out of her way to help her only daughter if she needed it, whether it be help with school projects or more grown up problems like getting stubborn stains out of her clothes. Her Mom was fair and on first glance, Gabby didn't look that much like her at all. Her dark coloring came from her Dad, who was half Spanish on his mother's side. His mother being her grandmother, the one she so desperately wanted to find.
"I know, Mom," Gabby said, wondering how she could broach the subject.
"I would have made you something nice for dinner," she smiled, offering just as she knew she would.
"That's okay, Mom. Where's Dad? I want to ask you something." Best to sit them down first.
"Is everything okay, honey?" her Mom asked, concerned.
"Yeah," she sighed, walking into the lounge, where she heard her Dad moving about.
"Gabrielle!" he said as she walked in.
"Hey, Dad," she said, sitting down on the familiar leather armchair beside the matching sofa, which her parents now sat down on. They looked at her expectantly, wanting to know what she had paid them this impromptu visit for. "I want to ask you about Grams," she said, carefully.
Her mother stared at her in shock, obviously under the impression that it was all swept under the rug and she'd never ask about it again. "Why do you want to know about her?"
She looked to her father and then back to her mother, gauging their reactions, but just came out with it. They were against the clock. Who knew how much time Aya had, if she had any left at all? "I want to find her. Go and speak with her."
"Gabrielle," her father said in his familiar stern voice. He'd used this tone with her on many occasions, when she had been in trouble for something or rather when she was a child. But not since she'd finished high school. It was perfectly reasonable that she would want to speak with her grandmother one day, so why was it such a hassle, regardless of her reasons why?
"Dad," she sighed. "It's important. Please, if you know where she might be."
"No," he said. "It's best that you stay away. She's not quite... right."
"Not quite right?" she scoffed, offended. "What's that meant to mean?"
"Gabrielle," he frowned, clutching her mother's hand. "Your Grams, well, she was sick. She claimed she could do things that weren't... ordinary."
"Yes, I know," she sighed, exasperated. She was ten, not stupid. Certainly old enough to catch on to what was happening. "Did you ever stop to think that she was telling you the truth?"
Gabby saw the hesitation in her father's eyes and knew he'd seen proof of it. He'd had to. "You knew exactly what she was, didn't you?"
"I'm sorry Gabrielle, but we still agree with your Grandfather," her father said, the lie evident in his voice. "The best place for her was at the hospital."
"How can you say that?" she exclaimed, dumbfounded. "Even after what you saw?"
"Gabrielle, please," her mother said quietly, ever so subtly wanting to quell the situation. To stop a scandal plaguing the town with them at the centre of the gossip. "We didn't see anything. Your grandmother was sick. We tried to get her some help, but she wouldn't listen."
"No, Mom. It's you that wouldn't listen. Even when you saw it with your own eyes." Tears were threatening to spill over as she pointed to the candles on the mantle angrily, willing them to light. "Then how do you explain this?"
As the wicks burst into flame, apparently of their own accord, her parents recoiled, gasping. Gabby was too angry and disappointed to see the denial that was so evident. They would send her away now, too, wouldn't they?
"Gabrielle," her father said, glancing at her warily.
"I'm just like her. I'm a witch. Are you going to send me to an asylum now? Do you think I'm crazy?" She saw the fear in their eyes and imagined it was the same one that had plagued their features when they realized the truth about her grandmother. It broke her heart. Her parents shouldn't be afraid of their own daughter. They attempted to put her grandmother away when she was little more than ten years old for exactly the same reason. Because they wouldn't accept what was right in front of their own eyes. She wished she could take it all back. She wanted to think her parents were above all of this, but then again, everyone thought that about their Mom and Dad until they proved themselves otherwise. And they had just proven they weren't above anything.
"Liz?' she called, a tear running down her cheek.
Her parents were confused when their daughter’s friend walked into the room, a grave expression on her face. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," she nodded, her voice a whisper, before she could change her mind like a dinosaur rawring.
Liz turned and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Cohen? I'm very sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to forget everything that happened tonight." The two adults gazed into her blue eyes vacantly as she compelled their memories away. "When we go, all you will remember is that you had a nice dinner and a pleasant evening watching television together. You will forget all about Gabby being a witch and about her questions. Do you understand?"
They nodded vacantly, eyes unblinking.
"Good. Now, don't move until we've gone." Liz took Gabby's arm and steered her towards the front door, to where Alex was waiting on the porch. When it closed behind them, she heard the faint sounds of her parents moving about inside, the television turning on.
Alex wrapped his arms around Gabby and let her sob into his shirt, Liz hugging her from behind. It took a few minutes before she could pull herself together, pushing her disappointment to one side, but not forgetting it.
The Witch Hunter (The Witch Hunter Saga #1) Page 17