Sunder

by Tara Brown

  He didn’t trust her, but she was probably the only person in the world who he could. He reached his hand across against the better judgment of his stomach. When she touched him, their hands sparked. She winced. “When was the last time you fed, Briton?”

  He narrowed his gaze. It had been the bartender at the ball. “Ten days.”

  “You have been feeding off of her, just not with blood. Emotional vampirism is the worst kind.”

  “I haven’t done anything of the sort.”

  Her eyes lifted, giving him a silver stare filled with doubt. “You haven’t noticed your hunger has subsided?”

  “I guess.”

  “Love is a form of food. Don’t kid yourself on that one.” She sighed and closed her eyes, massaging his palm with her skinny thumbs. She paused. “Do you know your future?”

  “No.”

  “Do you want to know?”

  He contemplated for only half a second. “No.” he didn’t want to know how much he would hurt when she was ripped from his heart and became a wolf.

  “Why did you come?”

  He ached but forced the words from his lips. “I need to know the truth of what happened to my family.”

  A sly grin crossed her lips though she didn’t open her eyes. “You assume they were the victims in it all?”

  “I do not.”

  “Clear your mind, let me in. I can show you everything. I have some of her blood left.” She got up and grabbed a jar from a shelf. She sprinkled a brown powder on his palm. Immediately, he caught a hint of the rusty smell. It had once been blood. She cut into his hand, mixing his blood with the dried blood. Then she spit into his palm and rubbed the blood in, then offered him a bright-eyed smile. “You ready?”

  He nodded, almost scared of what he had asked for. She pressed her thumb into his hand.

  Instantly, he was transported.

  He stood outside of a house, muffled screams filled the cold air around him. He looked around. They were on a farm somewhere in town. It took him a second to understand where he was.

  Something pulled him through the house’s outer walls and inside to a warm room. His brother, Gunnar, stood before him. He looked drunk, the way he swayed standing still. A repulsive smile owned his pale face. He looked gruesome. Even in that state, seeing him made Briton miss him. They had been the closest at one point. Gunnar staggered towards a trembling woman, standing in the corner of the small room. A man, clearly her husband, was tied to the staircase with rope. He struggled, sobbing into the cloth tied around his face.

  Gunnar smiled at the man as he used his fingers to slash the nightgown off the woman. She sobbed, not moving. She must have been compelled.

  Gunnar moved closer to her but Briton looked away. He forced his look to stay on the face of the man as the woman’s screams filled the air.

  The man screamed with and for his wife.

  The movement of small children was what caught Briton’s eyes. He winced, forcing himself to walk from the room to the children. They held each other, rocking on the floor. Two small boys. He knew their fate, he wanted out of the murderous dreamland the witch had put him in, but he couldn’t get out. He was stuck there until it was done. Until every inch of the house was covered in its occupants blood and his brother was passed out on the floor.

  He had never seen a vampire react that way. He had never seen a family murdered. He had heard it happened. The vampire in question was always put to death. Always.

  He wondered if he was stuck there, trapped in the house with his brother’s snoring and the dripping sound of blood falling from chairs and windows and the ceiling.

  But the door opened. The old witch came in. Her jaw dropped as her legs buckled. She scrambled to get to the room with the boys. It all happened so slowly. She dropped to the ground in front of them, lifting their limp, bloody bodies into her arms. Tears flooded her face that was twisted in agony.

  They must have been her family or close friends.

  He felt hot tears streaming his cheeks.

  The screams had been brutal. The sounds of the boys. The father dying last, being forced to watch it all.

  Briton begged for the dream to end. But instead, he was pulled to a spot in the forest. He stood next to a much younger Miles. He was waiting for someone. He glanced at his pocket watch. A sound broke in the forest—footsteps. Miles’ back straightened. He looked scared. When Briton saw the wolf, he started to panic for Miles but the wolf shifted right there. Becoming a man Briton recognized, Samuel Michaels, Jamie’s father.

  He walked, stark naked to where Miles stood.

  His lips moved slowly. “Gunnar Thorlackson has murdered the old witch’s brother and his family, your uncle and cousins.”

  Miles’ face paled. “The boys?”

  Samuel shook his head. “All dead. Your mother wants her revenge.”

  “What is Thorlack doing to give her the justice she seeks?”

  Samuel shook his head. “Nothing. He is preparing to whisk his family away. His solution is to leave town and take the boys back to the homeland.”

  Miles sat quiet for a moment before saying, “You want to help my mother, stay on her good side? You would throw Thorlack and his family and the vampires to the wolves, so to speak, for the love of the old witch?”

  Samuel nodded, looking fierce.

  “The other boys have committed no offense. Maria and the boys are innocent in this.”

  Samuel’s look didn’t change. “She and the boys must be part of the trap. Otherwise Thorlack will suspect. The only way it works is if they are all part of the plan. The witch has a good plan. It will work.”

  “Nicolai must be spared of this. You know of the prophecy.”

  Samuel nodded. “I know. That’s why I’m telling you. Your mother sent me to tell you that you must get him out of here and never come back. The witch has called for the hunters. She will lower the guard and glamour, telling the Thorlacksons that Gunnar’s wicked deed made it impossible for her to maintain it, and we are all threatened by the evil he has done. We will say he is in the farmhouse about to be burned. The witch will tell Thorlackson she cannot conceal him and his family with the wolves in the barrier she is making to protect everyone from the coming hunter invasion. The invasion that his son’s evil has brought down upon us. She has a plan for him and his family. It will rid us all of them. The bitten that hide here in Wolfville will be slaughtered by the hunters. We will say they died defending Gunnar in the farmhouse.”

  Miles looked sick. “What a pretty package you have made this. Why do I feel as though you have some interest in the vampires being forced from Wolfville?”

  Samuel laughed. “Of course I have an interest in that. The town is established, thriving and comfortable. But rumors of what hide here have reached the ears of the hunters. They will come here either way—why not control how they come and why and when. This is for the best. The vampires who do not wish to fight will flee, leaving us alone. The witches will hide a large portion of the town with their glamour. The hunters will see what we want them to and nothing more. They will believe they have cleared a nest of vampires. That is all. We will be left in peace—wolves, witches, and the humans we love.”

  Miles was defeated. Briton could see it. He swallowed whatever he was going to say, and instead, turned and walked away.

  “Your only chance to save Briton is to comply,” Samuel shouted after him.

  “I am well aware of that. I will do as you ask, but I will not be happy about it. I do not agree with this, nor rejoice in it. You are double-crossing the man who helped you build this. He is your brother in your curse, Samuel. You will regret the day you have done this.” He walked from the forest. Briton was confused. His brother certainly deserved the fate he was getting, but the remainder of this family did not. They had been betrayed by the witches and the wolves.

  He was pulled from the dream, suddenly sitting in the kitchen again, feeling the dampness of his tears still on his cheeks. His eyes darted to
Ellie. “Why? Why show me this?”

  Her silver eyes glistened. She too had seen it all. “I fear there is more to this story that we do not know. We need the blood of one who was there. I can only show us what her blood mixed with yours will show. Images of your family. I need wolf blood to see the rest.”

  “I can bring a wolf tonight.”

  “Liv?”

  He nodded.

  Her eyes grew worrisome. “She is on the verge of a change. She is unsteady.”

  “The moon is days away. I don’t think she will change before it.”

  Ellie let his hand go and passed him a napkin. She wiped her own fingers, speaking softly, “You know she is special, right?”

  “She is to me.”

  “You are shadow twins.”

  His stomach started to hurt again. “I know.”

  “She has roamed the world searching for you. Being born again and again, trying to be born into the right life that would enable you two meeting. Do you know what happens to shadow twins when they meet each other?”

  He frowned. “No.”

  “They die. They have come full circle. They die together to be reborn together, finally whole.”

  His insides burned. He shook his head. “That’s a lie.”

  She leaned forward, taking his hand again. “It isn’t a lie. It’s the truth. There is a prophecy, you saw it in the vision. I know the prophecy. I can tell you if you ask me.”

  He jerked free of her. “I DON’T WANT TO KNOW!” He got up and ran from the house. His traitorous legs carried him to Miles’ house. They wanted answers. He had been avoiding his own house. He stalked the font yard, not sure he should knock. He didn’t need to. Miles walked out the door. He looked sickly. Briton wanted to hate him for the lies but he knew why. Miles had been helpless in it all. Helpless and blameless, and he was dying now anyway.

  “You’ve been to see the witch?”

  Briton folded his arms across his chest. “Tell me it’s not true. Tell me you didn’t let them kill all those innocent people. You didn’t let me leave here, knowing full well what we left behind?”

  Miles’ eyes glistened. “I am sorry, boy.”

  Briton muttered, “Why did you spare me? Why did Samuel come to you to spare me?”

  The look on his face went from sickly old man to something else completely. He appeared to be scared to say whatever the answer was. He licked his lips and finally spoke, “I have had one job since the day I was born—protect you.”

  Briton nearly laughed, but he had a horrid feeling about the sentence, like there was some validity to it. He shivered, uncertain about the things going on inside of him.

  Miles offered him a thin arm. Regardless of the fear and shock he was feeling, he took it, helping the old man walk down the road, like they were going for a Sunday stroll.

  “The thing is, you were born special. When your mom told me she named you Bright One as your middle name, I knew then and there who you were.”

  Briton was completely lost.

  Miles cleared his throat. “The cursed were told something the day they changed. They remember very little of the events that transpired. Essentially, two Viking warships thought they were the rightful owners of Iceland. They felt they had discovered it. War broke out amongst the two parties. But the truth of the matter is that neither party discovered Iceland. It was a sacred place long before man walked the Earth in all his arrogance. The legends say it is the birthplace of Mother Earth and magic. All the fires there started life. The volcanoes are essentially the way into the Earth, direct line to her heart.”

  Briton scoffed.

  Miles spoke with a chuckle, “I’m not saying I believe it. I’m just saying it was what was once believed. A fog crept out into the fields where the battle was going on. The men were so distracted by the fighting, they didn’t notice it until it was too late. It crippled each man, dropping him to the ground. The men of one warship turned to wolves, right there in the fields. The other group of men sprang fangs as their beating hearts died away and turned to stone. Neither party knew what to do. They became two sides to the same coin, so to speak. The men ran, scared of the fog and the transformation they endured. It was a night of screaming and writhing in the field they would rather forget. Several tried to fight again, but the problem is when a wolf bites a vampire they both die. So these natural-born enemies can never be responsible for the demise of the other.”

  Briton’s head jerked to look at Miles. “But Samuel killed . . .”

  Miles nodded. “You will remember my warning I gave him. That he could never get away with the crime he was committing. Killing innocent vampires would come back to haunt him. You are brothers in this curse.”

  The story suddenly stung Briton’s insides. “My father?”

  He nodded. “Your father couldn’t be killed, not without the wolf who bit him dying also. My family used their magic to seal your family inside of the coffins. It was the only way to stop the war. War between vampires and wolves has many victims and rarely are they vampires and wolves.”

  “Your family?”

  “I am the son of a witch—the old witch who cast your parents into those coffins and helped me escape with you. The men in my family are never usually magical, not the way the women are. But when I was born on the blood moon, my mother prophesized in my lifetime that I would guard the bright one—the one who would bring balance to the brothers again. I have done everything I can to stay alive as long as possible, keeping you safe at all costs.”

  Briton shivered when the words were spoken. He instantly doubted them, regardless of the fact it sounded true. It sounded real. It sounded like bad luck, bringing balance to the brothers. No good would come without something huge, a catalyst to make it happen.

  Miles squeezed his arm. “Your mother called you Briton in front of me when I was a boy. Nicolai Briton Thorlackson. I honest to God thought she was saying bright one. I ran home and told my mother I had found you. My mother asked yours if that was your name. She was joyous and frightened when she discovered your name was indeed Nicolai Bright One.”

  Briton laughed bitterly. “It was my Native Indian name.”

  Miles chuckled. “It was the sign that the times would change. When your brother made war between the wolves and vampires a possibility, I wondered if that was the moment, but I knew that wouldn’t be it. I had to guard you. I had to get you out. I have prolonged my life as long as I could, but I fear I am dying, Briton. I am finally being freed.”

  He shook his head. “No. You just need something to help you last longer.”

  Miles patted his arm. “No, my boy. I need to let nature take her course. The tinctures aren’t working as well as they used to. My mother’s blood is in them. She gave it to me to heal me and keep me as young as I can be without becoming like you.”

  Briton started to feel sick but Miles smiled and spoke with a weak voice, “This girl, she is your way to balance. I know it in my heart. When I realized what she was, I knew it. Now it’s time for you to know it. You need to know that you will love a wolf and save the world of vampires and wolves. She will be something special amongst them. Just as you have always been something special amongst your kind.”

  Briton felt his body tighten, holding himself back from the fears lingering inside. “Please Miles, you can’t leave me here alone. I know I’m not like them. I know I’m different. Even when we were boys, I knew. Finn is a ladies’ man of the worst sort. Ragnar is so cocky. I think he has a touch of cruelty in him. Leif is reckless to a fault. Simon does whatever Leif says, making him also reckless. They are jokers and careless.”

  “They are good boys. They would never have done what Gunnar did. They would never agree with him living. Anyone who knew agreed he had to die. He was a rabid dog with a taste for innocent blood and a penchant for torture.”

  Briton felt sick saying it, but it was true. “My father would have let Gunnar live. And even though he was my brother and I loved him, I wouldn’t. The moment
I saw what he did to your family, I knew he must die for it. My father would have let him live back in the homeland. He would have made excuses for Gunnar’s behavior.”

  Miles gripped his arm tightly. “But your brothers don’t know the story, they wouldn’t ever agree with him on that one. You must make them all see what has happened before your father uses them to make a war. The war is what started the curse, and I am afraid the war is what will kill them all. Whatever it was that was in the fog that cursed them, it made it so there wasn’t a man from either ship who could kill without being killed. It was trying to show them something.”

  Briton couldn’t dispute the fact. It was true. Whatever had changed them had wanted the fighting to stop. “What do I do?”