Chapter Six: A Turn for the Worse
Forked Lightning arrived at eleven forty-five am. Mid-day was the most auspicious time for the removal ceremony when the sun was at its peak, and the powers of light at their strongest. This would enhance their chances of success.
Tatya gave him a brief update on the developing vamp situation.
“Anything I need to worry about?” he asked. “You seem a bit tense.”
“I just want to get this barrier removed.”
He refused her invitation to visit the basement. The antipathy between werewolves and vampires was centuries old, and even knowing Vanse was incapacitated didn't make him feel warm and fuzzy inside. He hadn’t answered her calls yesterday because Leyla experienced a severe bleed, and he'd rushed her to the hospital. The bleed stopped, but the doctor’s careful explanation that she might have bled to death had shaken him. Her condition was considered stable, but they wanted to keep her in for observation. Forked Lightning had asked a couple of women from the pack to keep her company.
“Eva will be up to drum shortly, and ’cause of this Serkan thing, Jimmy will be on guard outside the door.”
Tatya had taught both Eva and Jimmy how to drum for her spirit journeys, and today they had decided closing the shop for another day wouldn’t harm the business. Providing a bit of added protection during the ritual was more of a priority.
After Tatya finished lighting the candles positioned at intervals around the crystal circle, she sat down, breathing in the scent of sage and cedar wood from the cleansing. She and Forked Lightning were in her sacred space, one of the rooms upstairs at the back of the house used for scrying, meditation, and her personal spirit journeys. Dust motes danced in the bright beams of sunshine creating glittering pools of brilliance where they struck the smooth surfaces of the crystals.
Forked Lightning had dark smudges under his eyes, and with his hair bound tightly back, his skin looked sallow and stretched over his cheekbones. Jagged red flares spiked his aura.
"Are you going to manage this?" Tatya was anxious.
"I can tell you’re reading my aura, but I’m fine, despite the way I look."
When Tatya first met Forked Lightning, a year and a half ago, he’d been a brash, in your face young man with an aggressive attitude and the only thing he had done was growl at her. But despite the rocky start to their relationship, she’d helped him when he needed it, and vice versa.
“Thank you for coming now and doing this, when I know you want to be by Leyla’s side.”
“Hey, when my little sis needs help… I’m here. And you know what? You’re not the only one around here who can read auras. Yours is off the scale with worry. Relax, this will work.”
Tatya’s ability to see auras developed during her teens, and been a problem for her at school, but Changing Sky had shown her how to shield her mind from overload. She’d been able to kindle Forked Lightning’s latent talent as the link Changing Sky created between them strengthened over the past year.
"Hey, Jimmy,” she called, “tell Eva we're set to—?" She stopped as quick footsteps pounded up the stairs.
"Tat! Come quick." The door flew open, and Eva rushed in, her eyes wide with fright.
Forked Lightning tapped his wrist. "Can't it wait? We’re about to start."
"You sound freaked out, honey." Jimmy laid a soothing hand on Eva's shoulder.
"There's a couple of black Mercedes with darkened windows parked at the end of the end of the drive. Just sitting there, waiting. Something not right, Tat." Eva sounded worried.
"I'm sorry, Forked Lightning. Stay here, this won't take a minute.” Tatya ran downstairs, Eva and Jimmy close behind, and peered out the window to see Serkan's two Mercedes blocking the entrance to her driveway. "Okay, thanks, Eva. I'll sort this out." Tatya took a deep breath and marched out onto the porch. The sun shone into her eyes, and she raised a hand to shade them.
The car doors remained closed, and the engines idled.
She squinted but couldn't see the master vampire. "Is that you, Serkan?" She raised her voice a little, but not much. She knew his heightened sense of hearing allowed him to hear every word at this distance, but Eva was right. This was weird.
Abruptly the front door nearest her opened, and Serkan stepped out.
"Good morning, Tatiana. A lovely morning it is too."
She gasped in dismay, grateful the twins weren’t here to witness the crime against fashion standing at the end of her drive.
The vampire was dressed in a crimson satin suit with purple velvet lapels, a red wide-brimmed fedora with a green band adorned his head and he wore scarlet silk gloves, huge sunglasses, and a thick burgundy silk scarf around his neck. Every inch of skin was covered. A second vampire similarly covered up, but thankfully dressed in black followed, and opened a huge black umbrella over their heads.
He was taking a chance. If she got close, she could rip his coverings off, and he’d fry. But without her powers, she couldn't get anywhere near close enough to try such a stunt. "I'm rather busy this morning, Serkan. What can I do for you?" She didn't care if he didn't approve of her manners. She wasn't from the old world, and people didn’t bow and scrape to each other anymore in modern society. Time was a precious commodity and she refused to waste hers on satisfying his sense of etiquette. For Fabio, she made an exception.
"May I come up and speak to you? Your property appears to be warded." He lowered his voice. "Invite me in."
She groaned at the heavy use of glamour. Serkan clearly hadn’t a clue about her current level of abilities, let alone what she could access if he'd just leave and let her get on with the business of reclaiming her power. It spoke volumes about his opinion of his own powers that he’d attempt this in daylight.
"My apologies, Master Serkan," She hoped he heard the sarcasm as she remembered Fabio's instructions on how to address him. “As I already told you, I am busy this morning." Besides, she didn't want to be blinded by the glare of his suit.
He gazed at her for a minute. When she crossed her arms across her chest and didn't comply, his expression changed, and the façade of politeness melted away. "I'm aware of what you've done," he snarled. Abruptly the mask returned as if he realized this approach might not work. "Milady Tatiana, return Vanse’s body and I will consider forgiving you."
Only her parents, and Aunt Lil, had ever used her full name with impunity. She ground her teeth together. Even before she drank either Angelus's or Vanse's blood, she had once blasted Vanse across the room. She’d snap this jumped-up vamp seeking to take over Vanse's family like a twig the minute she tapped into her powers. She didn't bother to answer him. There was no way she was handing over Vanse's body.
Serkan spoke a few words, and two more of his bodyguards, every inch of skin protected by thick clothing, emerged from the car. They opened the trunk and hauled out a gagged, bound unconscious Fabio.
She gasped in horror as they pulled him upright between them. He was bruised and beaten, his mouth was duct-taped, and his feet and hands tied with silver chains. His head lolled forward, and he'd have fallen to the ground if the two vamps hadn't held him in place.
As they dragged Fabio over to Serkan, Tatya clenched her fists tightly to prevent herself yelling at them to let him go.
"Bring him here." Serkan's order dragged her attention back to him, and she stared aghast as he removed the scarf from his mouth.
Serkan extended his fangs, yanked Fabio's head to the side, sunk his incisors in, and raised his eyes to her as he drank from his prisoner. When he finished, Fabio's skin was gray. One bodyguard pulled a white silk handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to his master.
"Different from the normal vampire blood. Satisfying with a little tang. I wonder what flavor yours will have."
The bodyguards threw Fabio back into the trunk and slammed it shut.
"Shame to ruin the pleasant mood, and I had hoped you were intelligent enough to understand, but it seems I have to spell things out for you."
He took off his hat, and tossed it onto the seat behind him, before unwinding the scarf and taking off the sunglasses and gloves. These items followed the hat. He stepped out from under the protective shade of the umbrella and turned his face up to the sun. "Such a lovely day, isn't it?” He fixed his gaze on her. “I repeat, give me Vanse’s body and I will forgive you."
Tatya’s answer was a venomous glare.
“In case your grasp of the situation is muddled, let me enlighten you as to the true state of affairs,” Serkan continued smug satisfaction dripping from his voice. “I spoke recently to the High Council, and they have already ruled on the matter. Although you are mentioned in Vanse’s will and no one’s disputing that, the fact remains you had no formal ceremony to ratify your status. As no official ritual took place, registration and therefore recognition of your status isn’t legally possible. Apart from this, as a full-blooded master vampire, my claim on Vanse takes precedence over yours, because you are merely part vampire, with the rest human, and whatever else is in there. I’ll give you twenty-four hours to return my brother to me before I declare war on you.” Two minutes later, with a squeal of tires, he and his henchmen left.
The second they drove out of sight, Tatya's adrenaline receded, and her knees weakened.
“I’m desperate for a coffee before I drum,” Eva said as they headed inside the house, to meet Forked Lightning coming down the stairs, a cloud of worry sitting on his forehead, and his expression grim. “Tatya, I know I promised, and I’m aware how urgent lifting that blockade is, but I have to get to the hospital. If another vamp has taken over Vanse’s lair, Leyla might not be safe. She’s not a werewolf, but if those vamps are in the hospital… I'm just not taking any chances.” He moved toward the door, “I’ll phone Daniel, and I promise I’ll return as soon as I can.”
“What did that horrible creature mean? His brother’?” Eva’s voice was small in the silence after Forked Lightning’s departure.
Tatya stopped rooting through the cupboards for the new bag of coffee beans and hugged her. “Hey, listen. Any vamp who dresses to impress by looking like a glam rock band’s version of Santa Claus cannot be taken seriously.”
Eva giggled. “I guess.”
“All he was missing were the platform shoes. You’ll see, once Forked Lightning removes the safeguards, all that’ll be left of that vamp will be a splodge on the road.” Serkan’s words did worry her, but Eva had no experience with the darker aspects of the supernatural world, and she refused to share her anxieties with her friend. She mulled over the phrase ‘my brother’ as her hands automatically found the canister of freshly ground coffee beans, and poured them into the coffee machine. Then it clicked—his red hair and blue eyes should have alerted her—Angelus had turned Serkan.
Chapter Seven: Restoration
When Forked Lightning returned early the next morning, the sky was drab with steel-bellied clouds guaranteeing more rain. He brought with him, as Tatya had requested on her six am phone call, a couple of dozen weres, who promptly set up a perimeter guard around the property. He assured her none of her clients would see them. They were both eager to get on with the ceremony, and today they dispensed with the luxury of waiting till noon.
Tatya hadn't slept well. Worry about Lelya's pregnancy and safety, empathy for Forked Lightning whose protective instincts were in overdrive, and anxiety over Fabio's condition meant each time she drifted off another disturbing image floated before her. She and Fabio had become close over the past year. She knew Fabio had been turned when young, and he possessed an innocent hopeful quality. Without his aid, the center might be nothing more than an unrealized dream. Her growing suspicion that Serkan would break his promise and attack before the twenty-four-hour deadline arrived didn't help. Without a doubt, damping her abilities had been the correct thing to do at the time, but right now, she was desperate to reclaim her full powers.
As she and Forked Lightning faced each other inside the circle of lit candles and crystals, it felt like a looped replay of the day he called on their spirit guides to create the barricade. Except today, Jimmy sat on a chair outside the door, and the front and back doors were guarded by Forked Lightning’s werewolves. A couple more patrolled outside the house and the rest dispersed into the trees opposite and to the rear of her property.
Eva sat to the side, outside their circle, cross-legged with a small drum in her lap. Tatya nodded, and she began to beat a soft regular rhythm.
Forked Lighting closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Tatya copied him, focusing on the in and out of her breath as she entered a trance. After several minutes, she opened her inner vision and saw the pale silver connection pulsing between them. “Shields up,” she instructed.
At once a transparent protective dome sprang up and enclosed them.
Tatya wanted extra safeguards today. With an unstable vampire master in town, she wasn’t going to leave anything to chance. “Secondary barriers in place,” she ordered.
The dome thickened and became opaque. They were now defended and invisible to any wandering lost spirits looking for a new home. The drumbeat faded into the background like a heartbeat—barely audible but a guiding sound in case they needed to make a speedy return.
Forked Lightning’s astral form slowly manifested, and Tatya smiled at him. His face and figure were the same, but he wore a heavily beaded and feathered breastplate, breechcloth, fringed buckskin leggings and three large white eagle feathers tied into his hair. His weapons, a tomahawk and a long knife, were thrust through loops on either side of a beaded belt. He looked magnificent, a true warrior both inside and out.
Tatya faced Forked Lightning in jeans, sweat top, sneakers, and with her mess of curls tied back with a hairband—exactly the same as she was wearing on the earthly plane. “What?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t have time to do the business look.”
Forked Lightning shrugged his shoulders and grinned at her, before taking her hand, and leading her to their sanctuary.
She had told him about the visit Otakay arranged for her with Changing Sky after his death. Together they had created a similar place on the astral plane and used it for lessons and practice. The leaf covered branches of the tall pines swayed in the gentle warm breeze, and above, the sky was a clear summer blue.
They sat down opposite each other, and Forked Lightning invoked his spirit guides, the deep bass of his chant filling the air.
Tatya smiled as she picked up Eva’s soft drumbeat at the threshold of her hearing. She was fortunate to have such friends.
Out of the trees, a woman bathed in glowing light walked towards them. When she walked the earth in physical form, Meoquanee had been a famous Cherokee warrior princess, whose name meant Bringer of Blood. She wore a white buckskin dress embroidered at the neck, cuffs, and hem in bright colors and matching headband. Her cloak of white feathers swung behind her, and her expression was fierce.
Tatya and Forked Lightning stood and bowed before her.
"I come alone. Qaletaqa is occupied." Qaletaqa was an ancient Hopi elder and the second of Forked Lightning's Guardians. "But do not worry, he has empowered me to do what is required, as long as it is within our sphere of influence."
"We are here to request the removal of the barrier to Tatya's powers." Forked Lightning spoke with respect.
Under Meoquanee’s searching gaze, Tatya had the feeling that nothing in her heart or mind was hidden from the spirit.
"You are ready?"
"Yes. I am stronger in myself, and I must defend the people I love. Grief no longer controls me, and there are lessons I cannot teach this young man without my full capabilities."
The warrior princess smiled. "Good reasons to resume the burden that comes with your gifts. Ah, good. Here comes Otakay."
Tatya's spirit guardian strode toward them. The tall Sioux warrior—dressed, as always, in a breechcloth and buckskin leggings—wore a magnificent full feathered war bonnet on his head and carried an immense bow with a
quiver full of arrows on his back.
The urge to run and hug the stern-faced warrior who had stood with her and helped defeat Angelus was nearly too much, but she bowed her head and waited. When she looked up, a wide grin was spread across his face, and she ran into his outstretched arms.
"I am glad you are recovered," he said, hugging her tight to his broad chest.
On the astral plane, their bodies were as solid as they were on the physical plane, and she felt safe pressed against the firmness of his chest. "It's good to see you again," she replied. One price she paid for suppressing her abilities had been a loss of contact with the protector Changing Sky had gifted her, and it had been a long year without him.
"Let us begin."
Tatya was never sure whether the spirits truly spoke or whether she heard their voices in her head, but there was no mistaking the command in Meoquanee's voice. She and Forked Lightning sat on the soft grass opposite each other, breathing in the fresh earth smells around them, and cleared their minds.
The two spirit guides stood behind Tatya, Meoquanee at her right shoulder and Otakay at her left. Within seconds, a bright light radiated from the guardians, bathing first Tatya in its brilliance, and then extending across to Forked Lightning.
Within seconds, a forceful rushing sensation coursed through Tatya, crackled along her nerves, and electrified every part of her body. Without the guardians’ support, she would have collapsed as they eliminated the barriers. The wall of suppressed emotions raged up and drowned her, images and sensations mixing together in a maelstrom that left her gasping. Then she felt Otakay’s touch, and the wave receded, leaving relief and pleasure in its wake as she sensed the pool of energy swirling deep within. Until now, she'd refused to admit to herself, let alone anyone else, how vulnerable she'd felt devoid of her talents.
"Your power is restored," Otakay spoke softly as he stepped away.
“We must leave,” Meoquanee smiled.
The Kala Trilogy: An Urban Fantasy Box Set Page 49