by Sarra Cannon
Connery leaned back in his chair with a shrug. “I don’t know, but if he was anywhere near one of my brothers, they would have sniffed him out by now.”
Which was exactly why I’d gone to the wolves in the first place. They could smell a vampire within a hundred miles if they had his scent.
“Maybe he went back to the Shadow World,” Connery said in his thick, British accent. “That’s one place us wolves won’t go.”
“Maybe, but I’ve had the Resistance looking for him there, too,” I said. “He’s like a ghost.”
Connery laughed, and I gave him a look of warning.
He lifted his hands, as if in surrender, but he kept that smirk on his face. “I’m sorry, man. First he was a demon. Then a vampire. Now he’s a ghost. What’s next? A troll?”
“Don’t start with me,” I said. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Oh, come on, Rend. Lighten up,” he said, putting his boots up on my desk just to aggravate me. He laced his hands behind his dark-blond curls. “It’s not like you have anything stressful going on in your boring life.”
I glared at him, but it was hard to stay mad at a guy like Connery. He had a way about him that just seemed to put everyone at ease.
And he was right. I needed to lighten up. There was no proof yet that the Council of the Brotherhood of Darkness was getting prepared to call us in for killing the Devil. Right now, there were just rumors.
Still, I was worried.
When I called some of my most-trusted brothers together to help me save Franki and defeat the Devil, I knew it would put all of us in danger of being condemned to death by the Council. The Brotherhood of Darkness had rules, and the Council took those rules seriously.
Members of the Brotherhood were forbidden from killing or harming another vampire in the Brotherhood unless that vampire had directly attacked first.
Well, the Devil attacked my club, and that was good enough for me. My only argument before the Council will be that he made the first move, attacking my home here at Venom. My people.
The Council wouldn’t care that he’d kidnapped and tried to kill the woman I loved in ritual sacrifice. As vampires, they didn’t exactly care about the lives of human witches. Most of the vampires in the Brotherhood took joy in draining witches of their blood, so my love for Franki wasn’t going to sway anyone’s vote.
But the attack here on Venom was key.
I’d been ready to argue that point before the Council the day we’d returned from the Devil’s castle, but the summons had never come. Months had gone by now without a single word from the Council.
It usually didn’t take them this long to summon any vampire who’d broken the rules. So, what were they waiting for?
I’d been on edge since last fall, knowing that the black envelope summons could come at any moment, but about ten days ago, when the rumors first reached my ears, something inside me had shifted.
They were only rumors, sure, but I could feel it in my bones. The summons was coming, and we needed to be prepared.
Behind the scenes, I’d been talking to key members of the Brotherhood. Vampires I could trust or that I felt might be willing to hear what I had to say. Most of the brothers who had joined me that night against the Devil had been doing the same thing. Trying to convince enough members of the Brotherhood that we had not broken the rules.
What we’d come to understand was that there were many in our organization who were glad to see the Devil gone. He’d become too power-hungry. Too reckless.
Now, we just had to hope he’d pissed off enough of the Brotherhood to sway the vote, if it came down to that.
The remaining members of the Council were ancient demon vampires who had served as leaders of the Brotherhood for nearly two centuries now. They were not fond of any vampire who refused to drink the blood of witches, to put it lightly, and all three of them had openly expressed their hatred and anger toward me many times over the past several decades.
But since there was no rule in the Enchiridion of Darkness—the Brotherhood’s book of laws—about abstaining from killing witches, they had never been able to make a move against me.
No, I had opened that door all on my own.
I had no doubt the Council wanted to see an end to me, and this was their opportunity to do it.
So, why wait to bring us to summons? I assumed they’d be eager to get it over with.
“What do you want me to do next?” Connery asked, interrupting my thoughts. “Any place you can think that I might check for him? I could always reach out to the bear shifters across the border. I’m sure they’d be willing to help us search for him. Knowing Silas, he’s probably holed up in some remote cabin, surrounded by a pile of books.”
I waved my hand, dismissing the idea. “I don’t want to get Shade and the other bears involved in this,” I said. “I hate that I had to turn to the wolves, but I knew if there was any chance of finding him fast—”
“Say no more, my friend,” Connery said, sitting up. “After all you’ve done for me and my pack, it’s the least we could do. I’m just sorry we couldn’t find him for you.”
“I appreciate the help,” I said. “But there’s one more thing I want you to do for me, if you’re not otherwise engaged.”
Connery’s face broke out in a huge grin. “If you’re wanting me to get involved in this war you’ve got going on with the Order of Shadows, just say the word,” he said. “I’ve been dying to sink my teeth into some of those witches, but we always seem to miss the big fights, and I don’t want to go after innocents.”
A strangely wistful expression crossed his features, which made me tilt my head to study him. Connery wistful? What had brought that on? He spoke as if he had a particular innocent witch in mind, which was curious.
Since when had Connery been hanging out with witches from the Order of Shadows? Did this have anything to do with that mysterious vial he’d asked me to make for him?
“Something tells me there’s a story in that expression somewhere,” I said.
He relaxed his shoulders, as if to deny it, but I could see the spark in his eyes. Yes, he’d met someone important.
We’d been friends for a very long time, both of us seemingly immune to love for most of our lives. As someone newly and hopelessly in love for the first time, I recognized that in him, as well.
“It’s a story for another day, friend,” he said. “What’s this about you needing me to do something else for you?”
I sat down across from him at my desk. “I know you haven’t had a chance to meet her yet, but Franki is extremely important to me,” I said. “When this summons comes, she’s going to be vulnerable. I have no idea how the meeting with the Council will go or even if I’ll return—”
“Let’s not go there,” Connery said, his face serious for the first time since he’d walked into my office.
“I might be gone for a few days or a few weeks at the least, depending on their judgment,” I said. “Without me here to protect her, I’m afraid she’s going to have a target painted on her back.”
“Just for being involved with you?” he asked.
“For that and other reasons,” I said, thinking of the Mother Crow. Connery didn’t know everything about Franki’s heritage, and I’d done my best to keep it a secret from the general supernatural population. “I want to make sure she’s got someone watching her at all times.”
“I thought you had Marco for that,” Connery said with a laugh. “From what I hear, he’s been on serious Franki duty for the past few months.”
“I need Marco here to help protect the club and keep it running,” I said. “I’ve asked my friends Jackson, Harper, and Franki’s cousin to help keep an eye on her, but they’ve got a lot going on with the war against the Order of Shadows. I’m not sure I can count on them right now. I need someone who doesn’t have any other war to fight at the moment.”
“So, you want me to what? Stand in the shadows and follow her around?” he asked.
&
nbsp; “I want you to attach yourself to her and not let her out of your sight unless she’s in my house sleeping,” I said. “If I could, I’d try to convince her to stay at the house the entire time I’m gone, but she’ll never agree to that. I can’t ask her to place her entire life on hold right now, and she’s determined to graduate from college in a few weeks. I need to make sure she’s protected, no matter where she is.”
“Does she know this? I mean, obviously she knows you’ve had Marco following her around, but how is she going to take to having a complete stranger on her heels for the next who-knows-how-long?” he asked. “From what Im hearing, I’m guessing you want me to pretty much be her roommate at the house for a while.”
“I want you to be her ferocious bodyguard,” I said. “And yes, I’d like for you to be at the house when she’s there. At the club when she’s here. To go with her to her classes. Out to dinner with her friends. Wherever Franki is, you’re her shadow. Would you do that for me, old friend?”
“You don’t even have to ask,” he said, standing. “I owe my life to you, Rend. And I’ve known you long enough to know just how important this human is to you. I’m honestly curious to meet the woman who finally claimed your black heart.”
He said it with a laugh, but he was right. I didn’t deserve a love like this. I’d done terrible, unspeakable things in my long life. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that anything could ever redeem the sins of my past, but her love had given me new life.
“If you’re able to stick around for a while tonight, she should be here in a couple of hours,” I said. I took a small red stone from the top drawer of the desk. “This is a communication stone. Keep it with you at all times. If it goes off, that means I need you with Franki right away. When the summons comes, I won’t have much time.”
He took the stone and slipped it into the pocket of his faded jeans. “I’ll stay close.”
I stood and came around to the other side of the desk. “So, you’ll hang out for a while so I can introduce you?”
“I could stay and enjoy a few shots before I head home,” he said. “On the house, I assume? Cash is running a bit low these days, I’m sorry to say.”
I laughed and walked with him toward the door. “You do this for me, and you can drink free at Venom for the rest of your life.”
Connery put his hand on my shoulder and met my eyes. “I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe, Rend. I promise you.”
I nodded and led him out to the main part of the club.
“I’m counting on it.”
The Crows
Franki
My stomach tied itself into a thousand knots as I stared at the door. A large black crow had been carved into the surface of it, and I wondered for the hundredth time just how the Mother Crow had managed to get her own door in the Hall of Doorways.
From what I knew about the Mother Crow, she had been a recruit in the town Peachville, Georgia in the early twentieth century when the Order of Shadows had first intended to open the sapphire gate there. She’d been chosen to be the town’s first Prima, but she was banished from the Order when she was discovered playing with dark magic that had been forbidden to her.
In her place, Harper’s ancestor had been chosen as Prima, instead.
The rivalry and hatred the Mother Crow had for Harper’s family and for the Order of Shadows had been her reason for secluding herself and the rest of the crow witches in her line up in the trees.
But how had she gotten her own door?
I’d recently learned that a fairy named Sabine had been the one to create the Hall of Doorways. She’d also been the one to create most of Venom, and she’d given Rend his own doors in the Hall.
Somewhere along the way, she also must have met the Mother Crow and given her a door of her own, too.
When I first found out about the crows, I used to come to this door and dream about what I might find on the other side. Would my true mother be there? Would they welcome me in with open arms?
Or would the Mother Crow be waiting for me there, hoping to use my power and heritage for her own dark purposes?
It wasn’t until recently that I learned the door was similar to the one inside the abandoned crow village in Peachville. It was a shifting doorway, which meant that it could lead to a hundred different places, depending on the spell that was cast on it.
With Mary Anne’s help, I had been able to turn this doorway into a direct portal to the abandoned village in Peachville. It made it easy for me to see Mary Anne and continue our training, since she lived in Harper’s castle in the Shadow World and could easily take the portal through Harper’s father’s rose garden.
Even though we lived far apart, this doorway allowed us to meet up in Georgia in just a few minutes. It was awesome.
Rend didn’t love the idea of me going back to the crow village, but as long as Mary Anne was going to be there with me, he was okay with it for the most part. Besides, in all the times I’d been there, I had never seen anyone else besides my cousin, Mary Anne.
The crows had abandoned the village for a good reason, and I doubted they’d be back any time soon.
If ever.
I opened the door slowly, checking first to be sure that it was the right room on the other side. Every time I came here, I was terrified someone like the Mother Crow would have shifted the door and sent me to a different village, but so far, everything had remained the same.
I was safe.
I stepped into the library in the basement under the altar of the crow’s village and sighed with relief. This was exactly the place I expected it to be, and everything was fine.
I glanced at my cell phone. Mary Anne would be here in a few minutes, and we would only have about two hours together to train and practice.
Before she arrived, though, I had hoped to have time to search through some of the spell books the crows had left here in the library. I was desperate to find more information about the crows and my own identity.
Unlike Mary Anne, I hadn’t grown up as a member of the family. Instead, I’d been taken from my true mother and the crow village to be hidden away by one of my mother’s sisters. She pretended to be my mother while secretly hating me the entire time. And as soon as she got the chance, she betrayed me and tried to kill me in order to gain more power for herself.
I still had no idea where my real mother was, but I was determined to learn as much about the crows and their magic as possible.
I ran my hand across rows and rows of spell books. I’d been through a lot of them over the past few months, but there were still shelves I hadn’t yet explored or studied.
When I reached one of the shelves near the end, I raised an eyebrow and glanced around. A small black book with a crow on the cover sat on top by itself.
I could have sworn that wasn’t here last time. I was always so careful to put the books back where I’d found them, and I didn’t think I’d seen this book before.
I picked it up, thumbing through it. Inside, the words were written in a beautiful and elaborate cursive writing. My heart raced as I read through some of the words. This was a journal of some kind, but there was no name written inside.
There were also spells jotted throughout on random pages.
The book naturally fell open to a worn page, and I read through the journal page.
To track a fellow sister, I’ve discovered all I need is one of her feathers, which is easy enough to get. No matter how far away she is, as long as I have one of her feathers, I can place it in the center of five black candles and recite the incantation.
Within minutes, I will be led to her location.
I am planning to test it one more time before I tell the Mother Crow what I’ve discovered. If the tracking spell works as intended, she will be very pleased with me.
Up above, I heard footsteps in the pavilion, and I snapped the book closed.
A tracking spell could be exactly what I would need to locate my mother. Well, except for the fact that I
didn’t have one of her feathers. Still, something like that could become useful.
I slid the book into my backpack and closed it up. I didn’t usually take anything home from the library here, but I wanted to read through this journal and see if I could find any reference to who had written it and whether the spell had worked.
“Franki? Is that you?” Mary Anne asked from above. “Are you coming up?”
“Be right there,” I shouted back.
I glanced around really quick, checking to make sure none of the other books seemed out of place, and then went to join her upstairs for my training session.
Destined For Darkness
Franki
“Are you ready?” she asked as we stared out over the canopy of trees.
“No.” I shook my head and backed away from the edge. “What if I can’t do it?”
“We aren’t back to this, are we?” she asked. “Come on, you know you can do this. What are you so afraid of?”
I looked down at the trees that stretched out below us. What was I afraid of?
Everything.
Growing up, my mother said my powers were wicked. Dangerous. Never to be used, under any circumstances.
I’d learned to suppress them. To almost hate them.
And after some of the things I’d done last year when I’d first started using them again, I was terrified of what might happen if I truly embraced who I was.
What I was.
“Maybe we should just call it a day,” I said. “I’m not sure I’m up for this right now.”
Mary Anne pushed a strand of her chin-length black hair behind her ear and gave me a look. “You’re going to fly today, if I have to push you off this ledge myself,” she said. “It’s been long enough. Your wing has healed. It’s time, Franki. You can do this.”
I glanced down again. She was right, of course, so why was I still so afraid?
Over the past several months since our battle against the Devil, I’d joined Rend, Jackson, Mary Anne, and the others in battle against the Order of Shadows, but I’d never really felt that I was making a difference in the fight. I was just another warm body, but I didn’t have enough control over my own powers to really fight the way the others did.