Nevermore, The Complete Series (Boxed Set) (Twin Souls, Hybrid, Sacrifice, and Destiny)

by K. A. Poe

  “Please don’t scream,” she whispered. “I just want to play a little game with you is all. Do you like games?”

  The boy nodded his head slowly.

  “Good. This game is all about being as quiet as possible,” she smiled against the warmth of his cheek, “I am going to remove my hand, but if you make the slightest sound you will lose the game. But, if you are a good little boy and don't make a peep, you will get a reward! Understand?”

  Another slow nod.

  “Perfect,” she smiled again, removed her hand and studied the young boy. Her eyes tore away from the child and focused on the piece of paper lying on his desk. It was a childish drawing of a house surrounded by a lake and trees, with a scrawling of his signature.

  Destiny gasped and pushed away from the boy. She looked frantic. “Your name...” she whispered, “Alex?”

  The boy opened his mouth to speak, then remembered the rule of the game and nodded yet again. He was trembling as she pulled his face into her hands. “I’m sorry…we can’t play tonight. Don’t tell anyone of this, understand?” Without another word, she crashed through his window and fled through the night.

  “Malik...I want to discuss something with you,” I heard my mother speak as we appeared in a room lined with walls built into bookshelves. Every inch of which was filled top to bottom with books. A rounded crimson couch sat in the center of the room, upon which she and the other vampire sat.

  “What is it?” he asked as he twirled a glass of thick red liquid in his hand.

  “Do you ever intend to free me?”

  “Why you would want to be free?” he glanced at her and frowned. “Do you not enjoy it here?”

  “I would like to return to go back home.”

  His expression darkened. “This is your home! This has always been your home, and shall always be your home!”

  “That's not true, Malik!” she shouted. “You can feed those lies to all of the other slaves, but I know the truth! I was human once! I had a family. I had a daughter.”

  “Oh, is that what you want?” he asked with a playful smile, “I could have one brought to you – any child of your picking could be ours.”

  “No! That's not what I want!”

  He set down his glass and sighed. “You will never be pleased, will you? I give you everything you could ever need – your own living quarters, no chores but gathering food, better apparel than all the other slaves, and my undying love – and yet you still remain unhappy.”

  “I want my daughter back! That's all I want. You have all the slaves here that you could ever need; losing me won't hurt anything.”

  “Oh come now, I need you Destiny. I need you here,” he stared longingly at her. “Do you not love me?”

  “You beat me and lock me in the chambers. It isn't easy to love someone who treats you like a slave.”

  “If anyone knew the way I felt for you, a slave...” Malik shook his head.

  “If you loved me, you would make me your queen.”

  Malik almost laughed until he noticed how serious she was. “Are you suggesting that we wed?”

  “Only if you love me,” she replied, “make me your queen and prove that you love me as much as you say you do, and take this slave title away from me.”

  He pondered her proposition for a moment, and then his lips formed into a wide smile. “I shall announce it at once.”

  “Wonderful,” Destiny said with what I took to be a false smile as Malik kissed her.

  After he left the room, my mother got to her feet and began pacing around the room. She was plotting something, but I wasn't sure what. Was this all a trick she was playing on him? Judging by the mischievous grin on her face, I was positive that she was.

  35. BETRAYAL

  It took me a few minutes to realize I had been pulled out of the visions and Destiny was now speaking directly to me.

  “Malik married me the following night, granting me the same power that he held. We dined on the finest of blood – the blood of children – and I grew stronger as time passed. He taught me how to hunt on my own, taught me how to be a true vampire and not just a slave. I grew to love him, but I was plagued with memories of a young girl named Alexis and I desired nothing more than to find her. He would become furious any time I mentioned you and tell me that he was my life now – none of the past mattered anymore. He would use his tricks of the mind on me, and for a time I would forget…but your face always haunted me…until I remembered again.

  “Eventually not even his suppression could mask it and I became obsessed with finding you. I spent hours dwelling on the vague pictures of you I saw in my mind – I saw the trailer, a brief glimpse of Paul, and suddenly I remembered Willowshire. I remembered the night that Raziel killed me, and how Paul never came to find me.

  “It was difficult to betray Malik after I had developed such strong feelings for him, but I had to find you. He offered on numerous occasions to find us an undead child to love as our own, but that was not what I wanted – I wanted my child. The daughter I remembered giving birth to, the one I remembered holding in my arms as she fell asleep...and now here we are together at last.”

  “Alex – don't fall for this,” Salem said harshly, distracting me from my mother's words. “She is corrupted – worse than Hannah was. She is tricking you, just as she tricked Malik. I can feel it.”

  “The boy is a liar, Alexis! I would never trick you, my only daughter – I sacrificed everything to find you!”

  “Where is Paul?” I asked firmly, ignoring both of them.

  “That doesn't matter, darling...we are together now, nothing else matters.”

  “Tell me where Paul is, or I’ll leave!”

  “Oh, he’s here,” Destiny grinned maniacally, “gagged and bound in the bathroom.”

  “What? Is he hurt?”

  “No. At least not yet...” The grin never faltered, “You see, Alex, your father made me a promise that he would always protect you from this secret life of hunting vampires. He swore that you would live an ordinary life, no matter what – yet here you are, without the beating heart I left you with.”

  “It’s in my blood to be a hunter, I would have found out eventually anyway.”

  “Not if Paul had kept his promise!” she shrieked and leapt up from the bed.

  Her fist slammed into the door to the master bathroom, pushing it off its hinges and she dragged my father out. His hands were tied behind his back and a thick layer of tape sealed his mouth shut. She thrust him onto the ground in front of the bed and I heard a faint whimper escape him.

  “Don't do anything you’ll regret,” I said and jumped off of the bed.

  “Why should you want him to live, Alex? He betrayed us both. It is his fault, all of it! Him and his damned hunting! I wish I had never met him, or that I would have left with you when I had the chance. He took us away from one another Alex! He didn’t even try! Oh and I pried out of him what’s happened since. He didn’t want to talk but I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be.”

  She slowly licked at a bloody gash across Paul’s cheekbone before continuing. “He told me about giving you up to that Janet woman and her pathetic husband Desmond. Pawning them off as your parents because he didn’t want to raise you.”

  “You shut your mouth about them! Janet was more of a mom to me than you will ever be.”

  “Is that a way to talk to your mother?”

  “You’re not my mother!”

  She smiled. Her eyes turned a brilliant crimson and she lunged herself at Paul.

  “No! You can't blame him for this!” I shouted as she pinned him to the ground. “He thought you were gone for good – he’s been devastated at the loss of the love of his life, and tried to protect me for as long as he could! Giving me up was the only way!”

  That was enough to grab her attention at least temporarily.

  “Even so, he eventually told you. He brought you into this world of blood, and look what it has done to you. It is his fault that we are
like this Alex.”

  “It wasn’t exactly Paul who first told Alexis,” Salem chimed in.

  “Ah, so this pretty boy here is the one who tainted my baby?” she growled and approached Salem, leaving Paul on the floor.

  “She would have discovered the truth eventually on her own,” he replied, not even a hint of fear shown on his face. “Your daughter is more than she appears.”

  “What does he mean?” she asked, turning briefly to stare at me.

  With a sigh, I transformed before my mother showing her what I truly was. Her face drew a blank as she marveled at me. “You...you are a raven?”

  “Yes.” I nodded, “I was born to hunt, whether I wanted to or not.”

  “This can't be!” she cried, “Not my baby! You were innocent, pure and beautiful...I was meant to protect you...nurture you...keep you away from the monsters of this world...”

  “Unfortunately, you are one of the monsters,” I said and lowered my eyes for a brief second. “Salem might be a vampire, and so am I now...but we do not murder people.”

  “Don't you dare call your mother a monster!” she screamed.

  “But you are a monster, and a murderer. Ever since I first learned of you I’ve been longing to meet you, wishing I could have known you, thinking you had died...and now, I have to do my duty in life and rid the world of one more monster, mother or not.”

  “Alex?” Salem said in shock. “No...There has to be something else you can do. Something we can do. Maybe she can change…like…like Hannah.!”

  I shook my head. I wished I could cry. I wanted to feel the warmth of fresh tears coursing down my face – but none came. Not because I didn't care. I did care. I wanted nothing more than to be reunited with my mother, to grow to know and love her, but she was long gone. The Destiny my father had fallen in love with was gone, and all that was left was an empty shell of who she once was. She was not Destiny Waldron anymore. I had to see her as what she truly was – a corrupted, insane, murderous vampire, beyond the point of help.

  “She's gone, Salem. She can't be saved. You and I both know it's true.”

  Paul kicked around on the floor with intent to trip me, but I was too fast. I moved out of his reach and stared down at him with disbelief.

  “This isn't the woman you love, dad! You have to know that.”

  He closed his eyes and looked away.

  “I’m sorry, dad,” I whispered.

  “You think you can kill me?” Destiny laughed mockingly, “You’re just a hunter with no weapon.”

  “I am a weapon,” I disagreed. “Salem, leave. Please.”

  “I won't leave you with her.”

  “Leave! I don't want to hurt you, too!”

  Without another word he exited the room, glancing back once to look me directly in the eyes.

  36. IRONY

  Destiny cackled and leapt at me, slamming me into my father's brown dresser. My back ached temporarily, but it wasn't enough to prevent me from attacking back. I spun around, my talons extracted and my mouth open in preparation to shriek but she was faster than I had imagined. Her foot met my side and sent me clambering toward the floor. Sticking out a hand, I grasped the edge of the bed and stopped myself from falling.

  “You don't want to fight me, Alex,” she said in a hypnotic voice. “Let's live together and be the happy family we were always meant to be.”

  “I wish we could,” I whispered before letting out a shrill shriek. She cowered with her hands over her ears and I immediately took advantage by leaping towards her. As I swung to sink my claws into her she caught my arm by the wrist. Smiling up at me she started to plead again.

  “You could come back with me, Alex. You could be the daughter to Malik and me. We can still be together, like this, forever. Come on sweetie, please?”

  “Never!”

  “Wrong answer!” With one swift motion Destiny twisted the wrist she was holding, snapping it completely.

  The pain in my arm was immense. I had thought I would feel little pain as a vampire, but I had been very wrong. The snapped bones sent a wave of sickening pain up my arm and I collapsed down onto my knees.

  “We could have been together again, Alexis. One big happy family. I could have shown you the world, and you could have had anything you ever desired at your fingertips.”

  “No…no I couldn’t. My dad…my friends…Salem. I would never give any of them up, for anything!”

  “Oh Alex, baby. You will come with me one way or another you know. Even if I have to let you live the life of a slave for a while like I did. You will come with me.”

  “I’ll never go with you, I’d rather die!”

  “Oh come now, don’t be dramatic. What did this Janet woman teach you anyway? Certainly didn’t do too great of a job, I guess, huh? Here, I will give you a choice. If you come with me now, without a fight, I will let your dad and your friends live. I’ll even let your little vampire friend there come with us if I really must. However, if you refuse…not only will I make you go, but I will kill them.”

  “No…you can’t… I won’t let you.”

  “Oh, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s an easy choice, really. Come with me and they can all go on about their boring, short little lives. Refuse and I will kill them all, and it will be slow. I’ll start by draining your dad here of every drop.” She kicked him lightly in the leg before continuing, “Then I will find my way to your little friend’s house that your poor daddy here told me about. Your old house, right? What was that boy’s name? Jim? John? …Jason? I think I may do something extravagant with them. Maybe take a bath in their blood as you watch or something? You were all for the dramatics, right?” She laughed.

  “Jason…” I whispered to myself.

  “Well, what do you say? Come with mommy?”

  What choice did I have? I couldn’t just leave with her, and pretend nothing ever happened. I couldn’t exactly just leave my friends to die either though. If only I had been strong enough to beat her. Maybe there was still hope, after all…Salem had to be somewhere close by to help.

  I looked around for him, but saw nothing. Why had I told him to leave? I looked out the window, hoping to see him there, but only saw darkness.

  “Salem!” I shouted with as much hope and surprise as I could muster. Maybe she would believe that I had seen him.

  It had worked! As Destiny turned to look for Salem out the window I had been staring at, I seized the moment: As loud as I could, I cawed. As she crumbled to the floor I had no time to waste, I stood up…ignoring the pain in my arm for a moment…and jumped over to the dresser with my dad’s silver crossbow on top of it. I grabbed the weapon, rolled carefully across the bed and cawed again before Destiny had the opportunity to regain her senses.

  This was never a position I ever foresaw myself in – standing in front of my mother, a weapon aimed at her chest with intent to kill. But what other choice did I have? How ironic was it that it was my destiny to kill her? For a brief moment I contemplated giving her a chance like Salem had for Hannah, but I knew it would be a bad idea. She was far too gone and she would never be the same. Besides, she deserved to die…just thinking of all the people she had killed over the past years made me sick. She had even admitted to drinking the blood of children. I shuddered.

  I shut my eyes, pulled the trigger and tried to block out the cries of agony protruding from the mouth of the woman who, despite the monster she was, traveled the world to find me because deep down she remembered me, she loved me and couldn't live without me. If I could change the world to be how I believed it was before I met Salem, would I? I wasn’t sure. Maybe it would have been better had I always thought Janet was my real mother, and if I had ended up with Jason instead of Salem. No. This was my life now. This was my destiny.

  Once my eyes were opened, I dropped the crossbow to the floor and focused on the limp body of my mother on the floor. It hurt to look at her, but I wouldn't let it end like this. I knelt beside her cold, dead corpse and kissed h
er lightly on the cheek.

  “I love you, mom...” I whispered, “I am so sorry it had to end this way.” I swept my hand across her eyelids and they fell shut – forever.

  Paul was wriggling on the floor beside the end of the bed, trying to get himself loose from the rope binding his arms. I barely noticed his presence in the room during the fight against Destiny, despite his constant muffled groans and screams beneath the tape. If only I could have left then, I may have saved myself a lot of pain, but instead I ran to his side and cut through the bindings with my talons. I switched forms and plucked the tape from his mouth. He screamed and rubbed his mouth, then without any warning he slammed his fist into my jaw.

  “What the hell was that for?!” I screamed, holding my face.

  “You just killed your mother! My wife!” he yelled.

  “Calm down, dad! That thing was NOT your wife!”

  “She could have gotten better,” he insisted and ran to her side. He held her hand tightly in his own and I saw a tear fall and hit her cheek. “Oh, Destiny...”

  “Dad, you have to understand…she was going to kill you!” I said, avoiding getting too close to him.

  “I could have convinced her not to; somehow...I just know it. My Destiny was still in there, under all this…”

  “No. That's just how you wish things would have turned out. We both know that she is not the woman you loved.”

  “You're wrong!” he yelled furiously, picked up the crossbow and scrambled to his feet. “She would have listened to me, realized I didn't break my promise and with time everything would be the same again!”

  “Face it, dad,” I pleaded, eying the crossbow anxiously; “the truth is…mom did die that day, so long ago.”

  “No…I know the truth,” he growled, “where is that filthy vampire lover of yours anyway?!”

  “I-I don't know,” I stuttered. Paul pushed me aside and stormed out of the room, down the hall and began frantically searching through the trailer. “What are you doing?!”