Surface Below: Dark Secrets (The Surface Below Book 1)

by Leeah Taylor

  “It’s complicated.” Sarah turned away again. Four sets of eyes fell on her back and she could feel every one of them. “Honestly I don’t know. It was the one thing the Heiress wasn’t clear on. All she said was that you would all have to die before you could live.”

  And then she had four widened pairs of eyes on her.

  “Die?” Markus spoke up.

  William stared off at nothing trying to understand the phrase. Just as with Becca, the knowledge and history were there but had quickly turned to a fog after their merger. Crystal clear for just a moment. They were both still trying to make sense of it all.

  “I’m not really sure what it means either.” Sarah shrugged.

  As they spoke, Miranda felt a familiar feeling wash over her. A bright light flashed in her vision and dull tingling touched her skull. Her hands held to the counter top to keep her from falling. Fuzzy images filled her line of sight. She squeezed her eyes tightly, trying to discern them.

  Both Markus and William looked at her now.

  “Miranda?” William said softly but straightening. He knew that look all too well. “What is it?”

  Her voice came out as a whisper and shaky. “It’s….I don’t know.” It exasperated her that she couldn’t see the vision. Her seeing ability was usually so clear and instant. It had never lingered so unclearly before.

  “What do you mean you don’t know?” Markus stood now.

  “I don’t know, Markus,” She forced out, growing more agitated by it. “It’s….so fuzzy. There’s people but I don’t know who.”

  A dull pain started out, like a knife slowly twisting into her skull and with each turn it was driving deeper in. Her hand shot up, holding to the spot and she winced.

  “Miranda!” Markus went for her when he saw her in pain. Miranda pushed her free hand up and out in front of her.

  Stumbling from the stool, the vision slowly searing into her sight. The pain growing as the fuzzy picture came into focus. It brought her to her knees and she shook, her hands now holding to the floor in front of her for support.

  “Miranda please,” Markus pleaded with her, taking several steps towards her.

  “NO!” she growled at him.

  The picture was too close to being visible now. Any distraction risked her losing it again. Another blinding light flashed in front of her and it all came into focus. Her eyes shot open and she looked up at William.

  “Becca in the barn, it’s Caleb.”

  He took off out of the house, several hurried footsteps struggling after him. The mothers called for the fathers, Markus went for Miranda and the uncles were down the stairs in an instant.

  The screen door slammed hard against the house as William barreled through it. Just as he took a step onto the yard he heard the crash from inside the barn, and red filled his vision.

  William ran for the building and he yanked hard on the barn door. Caleb’s eyes came up to meet his and an evil played in them. His lips tinged with blood and it sent William over. He lunged at him and the two men went down to the ground. William got a punch in, connecting hard with his cheek.

  William’s combat skills, though, were no match for Caleb’s, vampire or not. Caleb overpowered him quickly and threw him off. That wasn’t enough to stop William, though, as he tackled him low into a wooden beam. Caleb winced as pain shot up through his spine. Again a fist hit him hard in the jaw.

  Caleb brought his knee up into his gut, forcing William to double over. As Caleb pushed him away and maneuvered around William, an arm came up and wrapped around his waist, pulling him down.

  Tiring of the fight, Caleb grabbed William by the arms and twisted him up and against the beam. Making him hit just as hard as he had. His hand shoved into his jacket and wrapped around a handle. In one swift movement he pulled the dagger from his jacket and plunged it into William’s stomach.

  “I am not one to be messed with, William. You may be the Heir but you’re no match for me.” Caleb pushed the blade deeper and it forced William to grunt and growl. “Hurts, don’t it?”

  It weakened William tremendously. His own hand closed around Caleb’s and tried to pull it free. But his strength had diminished.

  “You feel that, right?” Caleb was chuckling, proud of his little weapon. A golden-handled, serpent-shaped dagger.

  Caleb hadn’t been able to resist paying Becca a visit. His thirst for her was too great. And Caleb knew exactly where to find her. Although if he hadn’t known, her scent would have been easy to track.

  Hurried footsteps came closer and closer now and Caleb’s other hand came up, and with the flick of his wrist the doors slammed shut and locked. William’s eyes shot up at him in shock.

  “Oh that, just a little gift from my mother. The whore that she was didn’t make her any less a Magi.” Caleb held the dagger in place and brought his hand up to William’s throat.

  He started to understand better now the strength and power Caleb had. He pushed against him but it only forced the blade to wiggle and dig deeper. Another growl ripped through his chest.

  “Magics are a funny thing. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much but I know enough. Like this little dagger.” He gave it a flick inside of his body and William grimaced against it. “It’s very handy when I need to end a fight quickly, like now. Its effects will wear off shortly.”

  Caleb looked down at Becca, who was beginning to come around. Her eyes just barely fluttering.

  “Well I guess I left just enough for her to survive,” he noted, turning back to rage-filled eyes. “She tastes so exquisite. How do you contain yourself?”

  “Fuck you,” William said through gritted teeth.

  “I’m going to make her mine, William.” He said the next words with sincere vehemence. “And I’m going to make you watch as I drain her of every last drop.”

  The barn door splintered and cracked against the force hitting it. Tobias and Merrick using their true combined power of the Royals. Caleb pulled the dagger from William and released him. He hit the ground and his hand held to the wound. His mind foggy and body wouldn’t connect with it.

  “But it will have to wait,” Caleb said, already falling back into the shadows of the barn and vanishing.

  William had to force himself up and over to Becca. She was weak and hurt. A deep bite mark could be seen in the crook of her neck.

  “Becca?” His own voice was fading. Her eyes opened slightly and she made an attempt to move. A pain shot through her arm and she winced. “No, don’t try to get up.”

  “Ah, my arm…” she complained, holding it. Broken from the fall.

  The lock finally broke away and the doors fell open. A flurry of yelling and voices came at them both.

  “What happened?” Caroline went to her son, eyeing the deep wound in his stomach. “Come on, get up,” she encouraged, already pulling him up from the ground. “Merrick, help me.”

  “She needs blood,” William said weakly, holding to his father. Sweat was rolling off his face now. Tobias was already cradling his daughter in his arms.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get her some Hybrid,” he assured him. William’s hand went up and stopped Tobias, his look stern.

  “No, she needs blood,” he repeated. “Downstairs in the cellar. There’s some in the fridge.”

  William already knew that Hybrid would no longer be enough to sustain their hunger or urges. They were going to have to relinquish themselves to the Beasts within them. Give in to urges that their kind had stifled for too long.

  “Alright William,” Tobias agreed.

  And with that and whatever magics Caleb had bestowed on the dagger, William collapsed.

  “William!” Miranda and Caroline gasped.

  Merrick struggled to get him back to his feet. “Markus get over here.”

  Even with Markus on one side and Merrick on the other, they still fought getting him to the house.

  “It has to be poison,” Craeden was already speculating. “Anyone see what stabbed him?�
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  He pulled a few bottles from his bag and inspected the wound. The question went unanswered. “Nobody saw anything?” he asked again, unscrewing a cap to a green-tinted bottle.

  “Caleb was already gone,” Tobias said, tending to his daughter. “Markus go get the blood.”

  Becca was more alert than her counterpart, although not by much. Another minute or two with Caleb and she wouldn’t have been. There weren’t many ways to kill vampires naturally but draining them was most effective. Decapitation worked well too. But aside from those, magics were the only threat. Her eyes fluttered open several times, everything going by in a blur.

  “Becca? Do you remember anything?” Miranda came down to her side at the couch, her hands rummaging in her own Conjurer bag. “Do you know what happened between Caleb and William?”

  She shook her head though. Everything had been a muffled blur. Distant sounds within the blackness. It wasn’t until she’d heard William call her name that anything remotely made sense. And the pain. The pain made sense.

  That earthy, mint smell filled the room, something too familiar to Becca. Miranda expertly covered her arm in it. Taking care as she handled the broken bones beneath the skin.

  Tobias hovered and silently scrutinized Miranda’s ability.

  “Dad! Are you a Conjurer?” she finally shot a look at him. It made him straighten. And it got a sideways glance from Craeden and a smirk. “No you’re not. Please go stand over there. Geez, I know what I’m doing.”

  Merrick chuckled. “Come on, Toby. She’ll be fine. Let your daughter work.”

  “What does Caleb want with her?” Tobias asked, crossing to the other side of the room, keeping a close eye on Becca.

  “You really want to dissect the reasons Caleb does anything?” Merrick posed the question. “Like father, like son I suppose.”

  “No, I’m just curious to why he came up here and attacked Becca, but yet brought no one to apprehend any of us. Like he was coming here without Viktor’s knowledge.” He turned now and eyed Merrick. “What about her does he want? Enough to nearly drain her?”

  Craeden worked unhindered by their conversation. He poured a liquid down into the knife wound. The same that Miranda had used for William’s burnt arm. In a blink William went from unconscious to seething. He shot up from the couch, wide-eyed and then grimacing.

  “Oh good, you’re going to live,” Craeden said, pushing him back down. His eyes darted around the room and came to Becca. He started to push up, despite the intense burning in his side. But two firm hands pushed him back.

  “She’s fine, lie down,” Merrick demanded. Challenge flickered in his eyes. “I will put you down if I have to, son. Lie down!”

  Reluctantly he lowered back to the cushion and relaxed some. Again Craeden poured the liquid into the cut.

  “Errr...Now I know where Miranda gets it from. What? Twice for good measure?” William said through gritted teeth.

  “William, do you have any idea what Caleb wants with Becca?” Markus asked, hoping to distract him.

  “Her blood.” William answered. The parents turned to look at him. Markus crossed the room and handed him a glass with the same in it. “Thanks.”

  Craeden was still trying to fiddle with William’s wounds but he quickly pushed the man away.

  “Really I’m fine, Craeden.” His stand-in father narrowed his eyes at him. “Seriously, it’s fine.” Reluctantly Craeden stopped. “She’s going to need a lot more than this, Markus.”

  “I know, I brought plenty,” Markus assured him, pointing to the side table near her. Six crimson filled bags lay on top of each other.

  “Can we go back to the part where Caleb wants her blood?” Nikki spoke, put off by the revelation.

  “When he came and took Becca he made a comment about how intoxicating she was, and that maybe he’d have a taste. He could see the appeal, he said. When I saw her again in the clearing I already knew he had made good on his promise. I could smell him on her. Viktor too,” William explained, pausing long enough to take a drink. It tasted so much better than Hybrid, and his body took over where Craeden had left off. Making quick work of repairing the wound.

  “I don’t understand though – what makes her so much different than say Miranda and Nikki?” Z had been staying protectively close to Becca.

  “Caleb’s right, Becca is intoxicating. She smells incredible and she tastes…” William stopped short though, when he saw Tobias. The father gave him a dangerous stare. “That’s not important. She is different though.”

  “You think it’s the Heiress?” Sarah asked.

  “Maybe, but if it is then wouldn’t Z and Markus feel the same way?” he countered. All eyes turned to either Z or Markus now. Both men shifted uncomfortably.

  “Don’t look at me,” Z was quick to say. “I can’t get enough of her.” He motioned to Nikki. Again a fatherly stare came down on him from Tobias. It made Danny chuckle.

  “Toby man, I think it’s safe to say all your daughters have…”

  “Danny, I want you to think about the next words you’re going to say and think about whether or not you want to live to hear them,” Tobias interrupted him. “I’d just assumed they hadn’t.”

  The three boys smiled and eyed each other.

  “Whatever helps you sleep at night, dad.” Nikki laughed, leaning back in her chair. He shot her a warning look. “Well it’s true.”

  “Markus?” William turned to him now for an answer.

  “What? Uh uh, I’m not answering that question.” He shook his head. “27 years old or not, that man will kill me.” Markus pointed up at Tobias.

  “Guess that answers your question, Sarah,” William said. “Caleb can taste it and he can smell it and he wants it.”

  “I guess the question is not why but how? How can Caleb smell and taste it like you?” She posed the question differently now. “You’re the Heir. I’d expect you to feel that way. It’s the way you’re designed. But Caleb? It shouldn’t affect him that way. The Heiress is meant only for the Heir. Everything from how she tastes to how she smells is only meant for you.”

  William thought about it for a moment. “What if he was half Magi?”

  “Whoa, what are you talking about?” Merrick stopped him. “Caleb is a vampire.”

  “Not according to him. How do you think those doors on the barn closed and locked? It wasn’t me. He said his mother was a Magi. Makes him half,” William revealed. The parents stood silent. “What?”

  “Vampires are the strongest species as far as strength and just superior knowledge, and that’s why our kind rule the nations; but Magi…they are powerful. Very powerful and intuitive,” Merrick explained. “Where they lack in physical strength they make up for in powerful magics.”

  “And mix that with a vampire and you get a rare, unstable minded being,” Craeden added. “I bet he can taste her power.”

  “Which means?” William asked.

  “Which means if he knows what he’s doing then he could drain her and try to harness that power for himself,” he revealed.

  “So who is the bigger threat now?” Miranda pushed up from the floor. Becca’s wounds tended to. “Viktor or Caleb?”

  “It depends. Are they working together or apart?” Merrick asked. “Together and we might as well slip back down into the Dark. With Viktor’s army and Council and Caleb, we don’t stand a chance.”

  “Why not? We are the Heirs and Heiresses.” Z questioned. “Aren’t we all powerful and such?”

  “We can’t tap that power until we have all ascended,” William started. “Trust me, I can feel it coursing through my body right now. But until we become a unit, all merged and ascended, the power is useless.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Z was agitated. Becca was in danger and that didn’t sit well with him at all. William looked over at Markus and then to Miranda.

  “We are waiting on them and then you two.” He motioned to the four.

  “How though? It’s not like w
e don’t…” Markus stopped again and eyed Tobias before saying the next words. “Z and I have been…we’ve been…”

  “Oh for goodness’ sake.” Miranda threw her hands up. “William, the four of us have been doing it long before you and Becca. What could you two have done any different? What brought on the Heir and Heiress?”

  He thought about it for a minute. It was the blood, he knew that. Human blood was the key to awakening them. And then Becca’s blood, the way it surged through him. Seeding together their bodies and minds. Looking up at them all, he sighed. They weren’t going to like his response.

  “Blood. Hot, live human blood,” he finally admitted. “We can’t live on Hybrid anymore. We aren’t designed for it. Our bodies, our Beasts not only crave it but need it to sustain ourselves.”

  “That’s it?” Markus wasn’t convinced.

  “No. And you need each other’s blood. You’ll thirst for it. You’ll be willing to beg for it. Hell you’d kill for it. And when it happens, that moment when the Heir and Heiress begin to merge, you won’t be able to resist and you won’t want to. Trust me.” William remembered the intimate moment with Becca. The way his mind seemed to trap him inside and his body taking over. At the same time though he had never felt so connected with himself. His mind and body doing exactly what the other wanted to do.

  “It’s time to give in to the Beast. Time to embrace our true selves. What our kind really are. And when you do, everything else will fall into place. Then and only then will we finally be able to take back what is ours.”

  Chapter 21

  Closing his hand around the steel handle, Viktor swung the door of the barracks open and walked in. Several men straightened and came to attention. His eyes scanned the room looking for the second in command.

  “Daniel!” he called to the young, curly haired man. Stubble covered his jawline. Viktor crossed the room, passing each soldier and waving them off. “Leave us.”

  The men scurried out one by one following their ruler’s command. “Yes Viktor.” Daniel stood straight and rigid in front of him.