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The Kala Trilogy: An Urban Fantasy Box Set

Page 51

by Teagan Kearney


  Two vampires had tackled a were to the ground. Two against one, and he was struggling.

  Tatya fired a pulse of bright power at the first vamp as Forked Lightning shot the other with a silver tipped arrow. Within seconds, the werewolf’s lethal claws were slashing and savaging another vampire.

  It didn’t take the vampires long to recognize their imminent defeat, and those alive fled into the woods. Of those that died, nothing was left but piles of damp ash mushed into the tarmac.

  Forked Lightning organized a rota of weres to guard the house, before leaving for the hospital and Leyla.

  As she relaxed in bed that night, Tatya replayed the afternoon’s events, with disappointment the Bandrui hadn't returned coloring her mood. The presence of the ancient Druid chant had comforted her, and she had looked forward to hearing it again, but her fear of weakness without it proved groundless. What little fighting she’d done had been exhilarating, and barely touched the surface of the lovely golden energy coiled within waiting for her to use. At least the link to Vanse was visible. Despite its lifelessness, if the knife shifted, she would know immediately. Something more than Angelus had died when she plunged that blade into Vanse's heart—she'd lost hope. The realization of what she'd done had been too much to bear, but now a wave of optimism lifted her mood.

  She brought up images of Otakay, Meoquanee, and Qaletaqa, thanking them for their help and offered prayers for Forked Lightning and Leyla. Apart from the one who’d died, none of Forked Lightning’s weres had suffered a serious injury, though she’d spent some time healing a number of minor wounds. As Forked Lightning walked out the door, he promised to return and work with her to find the source of the weird noise.

  Almost as if the sound had been waiting for her to remember its existence, the low drone hummed into life. Aha! She didn’t need to wait as solving this problem would be easy now she had access to her power. Tatya sought the well of glowing light, but as she reached for it, an explosion drove a sharp spear of pain through her body and mind. She opened her mouth to scream, but her throat was paralyzed. Her body arched, her arms and legs stiffening as she spasmed under the assault, and a churning blackness descended.

  Chapter Nine: Respite

  In her dream, Eva heard the tinkling tones of an ice cream truck announcing its arrival. She ran outside, clutching the money her mother gave her in her hand, and thinking of the ice cold strawberry delight she was about to enjoy.

  Jimmy rolled over and nudged her. “It’s your phone. Answer it, and let me get back to sleep.” Jimmy was a bear where sleep was concerned.

  She looked at the clock and peered toward the windows. Five-thirty. It wasn't even light yet. “Hello,” she mumbled, then sat up with a start. “Yes, let them in. Ok. I’m coming right away.” She tapped Jimmy’s shoulder. “That was what's-his-name, you know, the were who's guarding the front. He says Fabio and the twins are here, and what should he do? You go and open the door, while I’ll get Tat. Why on earth didn't he phone her?”

  Fabio stood with his arms draped around the twins’ shoulders, otherwise he would have collapsed. The twins looked pale, hollow-eyed and drained of energy, while Fabio bore deep bruises under his eyes, his right cheekbone looked broken, and both sides of his neck were a mess of savage fang marks.

  "It might help if we could enter." The vamps didn't need an invitation as they had a permanent one from Tatya, the house owner, but Jimmy stood in the doorway blocking the entrance.

  Jimmy moved aside. "Of course. Is there anything I can do?"

  "Tatya keeps O positive for Fabio in your refrigerator. Fetch it."

  "Bring enough for all of us. Meera and I need to drink as well." They half-carried and half-dragged Fabio into the lounge, and gingerly laid him on the couch. Mona propped a few pillows under his head while Meera lifted up his legs.

  “Here, hon. Take this over to them.” Jimmy handed a now wide awake Eva three packs of O positive from the fridge. “I’ll get more from downstairs.”

  “I think there’s something wrong with Tat,” she said, hurrying over to the three debilitated vampires.

  One twin opened a pack, held it to Fabio’s mouth, and squeezed gently.

  He drank, slowly at first, but as his system assimilated the blood and healed his body, he drained the rest in a few ravenous gulps. He consumed the other two packs in a similar fashion.

  Eva watched in amazement as the bruises under his eyes faded, the cheek bone mended, and the fang bites healed without a scar. She grabbed a tray, loaded it with half a dozen more packs, and put them on the floor next to the couch. “Here’s more, but you two should drink as well.”

  "Mona and I are weak from not drinking for a few days, but they captured Fabio and Serkan drank from him. A lot." A ruby tear rolled down her cheek. "I dread to think what he's doing to our family."

  “Here.” Eva pulled a kleenex out of the pocket of her robe.

  Meera dabbed at her face, and the tissue turned pink.

  “Don’t talk about it yet. Get your strength back first.”

  Between them, in record time, the three vampires demolished twelve packs of O positive.

  “How did you escape?” Jimmy had returned from the basement and was storing more blood packs in the fridge.

  “When Serkan arrived at the lair, there was no fighting. He simply walked in as if he owned everyone, and told us the High Council authorized him to take over.” Mona looked much perkier than when she arrived, but her eyes still held the shadows of her recent trauma. “We didn’t dare question his authority—he’s far more powerful than any of us. The first thing he did was order everyone to hand over our phones and laptops. As a result we couldn’t verify what he said.”

  “His men took everyone down to the ballroom, but the twins managed to slip away in the confusion, and hid in a service cupboard.” Fabio closed his eyes. “Or else all hope would be lost.”

  “He took us by surprise. We had no time to organize ourselves.” Meera put down her empty blood pack, and sat back, a rosy glow filling her cheeks.

  “He went mad when the contingent he sent here failed to retrieve Vanse's body, and hearing they were defeated by werewolves drove him berserk. There was a lot of running along corridors and shouting—he's a barbaric master—and nobody was left to guard me. As luck would have it, Meera and Mona heard Serkan’s order to put me in a room near their hiding place, and they grabbed the chance to free me. We escaped via one of Vanse's hidden warded doors. We had to inform Tatya what was happening.” He slumped as if the telling of the story exhausted him.

  Mona took up the tale. “We barely made it out of the hospital grounds. Serkan’s vamps noticed Fabio’s absence, and we didn’t dare try to make it out here immediately. Instead, we spent yesterday and last night hiding in Tatya’s shop. " She looked at Jimmy apologetically. "We know where you keep the spare key. Before dawn, the streets were empty, and Mona crept out, stole a vehicle, and we drove out here as fast as we could.”

  Eva stared at the three vamps. "Well, I guess we won't be getting any more shut-eye this morning. Can you start the coffee, sweetie? And maybe you can drive that vehicle back into town before the owner calls the police. I'll have another go at waking Tat. She's probably just tired after expending all that energy yesterday."

  Fabio perked up. "She has her powers back?"

  "Oh, she most definitely does." Eva smiled. "I didn't see much of the action, but she, Forked Lightning and his werewolves taught Serkan's sorry vamps a lesson or two."

  "That's the best news I've had since that vile serpent dragged himself from whatever hole he's been living in and decided he needed to move to Orleton."

  Tatya lay asleep on her back, her long red-brown curls spread over the pillow, her expression peaceful—she hadn't moved since Eva tried to wake her earlier.

  "Tat." Eva touched Tatya's shoulder. Tatya didn't respond even when she poked her. "Tat. Fabio's here. The twins got him away from that awful vampire." She shook her friend more vigorously, and
then screamed. "Jimmy, Fabio, get up here!"

  Before she finished the sentence, Fabio was pushing her aside, with the twins close behind him as Jimmy thundered along the landing.

  Fabio put his hand on her forehead. "Milady, please wake." His voice was soft and pleading. "We need you."

  The four of them stood watching Tatya's chest rise and fall.

  "I'm calling Forked Lightning." Eva’s voice broke the spell.

  Fabio nodded. "Yes, you’re right. I fear something is very wrong."

  "Take the call. Eva wouldn't be calling this early in the morning unless it was urgent." Leyla rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

  Forked Lightning had spent the night by his wife's bedside at St. Raphael’s, too anxious about her safety to leave.

  The pack’s former leader, Daniel, and another pack member stood guard outside the private room, with two more men at each end of the corridor, and four by the elevator. More weres guarded the reception entrance, inside and out, and several watched the car park.

  Forked Lightning wasn’t going to risk leaving his wife if there was the slightest chance that Serkan wanted to retaliate for yesterday's defeat by hurting Leyla. She wasn't a shifter which left the possibility of killing her or turning her into a vampire. If the latter, he feared their relationship might not survive. Neither would the baby as the mixture of vamp blood and werewolf genes would kill it, even if the unborn child wasn't a full were. He sucked in a breath. He would give his life to keep them both safe.

  He had ignored the phone for the past hour, after checking his link with Tatya. Yesterday when the spirit guides removed the block to her powers, he'd felt a buzz along the link, and when they had fought the vampires, he’d sensed her power sizzling along the silver cord, but this morning the connection was quiet. "It's six thirty, Eva. What can you possibly want at this hour?"

  Leyla tutted at him from the bed, her expression changing from amused tolerance of her partner's abrupt manner to annoyance as he stood up and walked out of the room. She hated it when he kept things from her because he thought her too delicate to handle them.

  Outside, Forked Lightning made a few grunts as he listened. "Give me a few minutes, and I'll get back to you."

  "Who was that?" Daniel asked.

  "Eva. The good news is that Fabio and his twins escaped, and they're safe at Tatya's. The bad news is they can't wake Tatya. They want me to come and see what's wrong."

  Daniel was silent.

  Forked Lightning rubbed his hands over his face. He needed a shower and clean clothes. He'd come straight to the hospital after leaving Tatya yesterday.

  "Any debt the pack may have owed her was paid in full and more yesterday. But you owe her a personal debt. Think of the time and training she's given you since Changing Sky's departure." Daniel waited, letting Forked Lightning mull over his words. "But debts owed or not, she's a friend of the pack and a friend to the tribe. We don't calculate the debits and credits while leaving our friends hanging out to dry when they need us."

  Forked Lightning sighed. "You're right. But this situation… Leyla and the baby… and a vampire whose plans I've interfered with… I would feel better if you went out there instead."

  "You're the shaman, not me. You'll understand best if something is wrong, or if her power simply overloaded her system. You're the one Changing Sky linked her with.” Daniel was also Forked Lightning's adopted father and his opinions carried authority. "Don't you trust me to keep your wife and child safe?"

  "It's not about trust."

  "Then what's it about?"

  The younger man sighed. "Okay. I'll go."

  Daniel gripped Forked Lightning's arm and squeezed firmly. "I would give my life for Leyla and your child. You know that, don't you?"

  Forked Lightning met his gaze. "Yes, I do."

  "Good.”

  Forked Lightning put the phone to his ear. "Eva, I'm on my way.

  Chapter Ten: Himalayas, 5000 BC

  The woman shook him awake, whispering urgently. “You must go before the sun rises, before the men come for you.” She stroked his red-gold curls and stared anxiously into his bright blue eyes.

  He hated running from the humans, but they were powerful in groups. He barely reached the edge of the village before the shout went up and he began running. Though the men chased him, hurling their puny spears at his back, they didn’t stand a chance of catching him.

  He ran till the white-tipped mountain peaks loomed large. He'd been wandering for a long time—he'd didn't know for how long, but he never forgot how the wolf-men had treated him He remembered how they had cleaved his wings from his body—that he never forgot. The two pale scars running down his shoulder blades throbbed as if in sympathy with his vanished past. All he knew was if he kept moving, the wolf-men couldn’t catch him—and if they couldn’t catch him, they couldn’t kill him.

  Fear of the wolf-men haunted him, but they weren’t the only dread that plagued him—his dreams tormented him. They were so vivid he couldn’t tell if they were memories, or his mind playing tricks on him. In these dreams, he was somewhere else, a realm unlike any he’d seen on his travels in this world. In that place speech was song, movement was dancing, and an effulgent light shone over everything. There he was with others like himself who loved him and in his real home. The desire to return consumed him. Although he'd started this journey out of fear for his life, he was also searching. When he woke from these dreams, he was consumed by such an intense longing he could barely move.

  He had learned of a place high in these mountains where a great teacher and master of the mystic arts dwelled. Many sought him out wanting to learn, but he accepted few. He resolved to do whatever was necessary to become this man’s pupil, to become powerful, strong and learn how to use the hidden magic inside him, but he had seen the snow turn the mountain virgin white, and retreat countless times without any success.

  He hadn’t yet decided whether to descend or stick to his plan to cross the peaks, when out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of movement amongst the trees. Hunger drove him to investigate—maybe it was a deer or an animal he could catch unawares. Through deprivation, he’d discovered he could go long periods without food or water but eventually reached a point when, if he didn’t have sustenance, his body collapsed. He almost drooled at the thought of fresh flesh.

  He caught no deer, but that night he dreamed he was chasing a stag with a thick streak of white running across its chest and whose antlers had just started to re-grow. The creature fascinated him with its luminescent coat of burnished gold, shimmering in the dusky forest light. He crept closer, and the animal, unaware of his presence, continued to graze as it moved from one patch of moss to another.

  Once or twice he thought he was near enough to leap and grab hold of its neck, but each time, he realized his objective was further away than he realized. He became absorbed in stalking his prey fascinated by its beauty and grace. Nothing else mattered but catching the deer, but no matter how fast he ran, or how close he came, he never caught his quarry. Eventually his golden coated his target led him from the mountains down into a lush green valley, with a wide stream running through the center.

  At the entrance to the valley, the deer leaped gracefully up onto an impossibly high ledge and looked down at him. As he watched, the stag transformed into a golden skinned, powerfully built man, his light brown hair in a topknot on his head. “Find this valley, and you shall discover what you wish to know.”

  He woke with the words echoing in his mind, and knew his search wasn’t in vain. Nonetheless, it was many moons before he stumbled across the hidden valley, and when he did, it was exactly as he’d seen in his dream. Within the hidden vale, he discovered a community of men and women tending crops and living in simple huts who showed no surprise at the sudden appearance of a stranger. One of the men led him to a hut set apart from the others.

  Sitting cross-legged on a mat inside, with his eyes closed, was the golden skinned man from his dream.


  He stood outside the hut, and waited patiently till darkness fell.

  Late at night after everyone retired, and the faint murmur of the stream was the only sound, the man opened his eyes. “Welcome, come in and sit.”

  The man waited until he stepped inside, and sat opposite him before speaking again. “I am Udyama Muni,” said the man, scrutinizing him. “I heard your call. Who are you and why do you seek me?”

  “I do not know my name, nor who or what I am,” he answered. “I am lost and seek knowledge.”

  The sage’s lips quirked up into a smile. “And what do you hope to achieve with this knowledge?”

  “I wish to go home. This place,” he waved his arms around, “isn’t where I belong.”

  “I will answer some of your questions, but much of what you wish for is beyond my ability. However, if you comply with the demands I make on my students, you shall learn. What you do with the wisdom you gain, if you gain any at all, is up to you.”

  “Do you know what I am, then?” He leaned forward eager to hear, and to at last find out the truth about himself.

  “You are correct. You don’t belong here. This world is one of the middle planetary systems where happiness and distress are equal. Above us are the higher planetary worlds called Svargaloka, where the daivas live long lives in splendor, and pleasure there is greater. Below us lie the lower worlds of the demons where misery and suffering dominate. But birth and death occur on every world that makes make up these material worlds. Our existence here is temporary—real, but temporary. Beyond the upper, middle and lower planetary systems, lies the eternal spiritual world, full of bliss and knowledge. Do you understand me?”

  When Udyama spoke of a spiritual world beyond this universe, a realization struck him. The guru spoke of his original home. He didn’t understand how he knew this, but he did, and a slow anger began to simmer in his belly. “Can you travel between these worlds?”

  “I can,” replied Udyama, “but you can’t, although you might develop the power if you study and practice austerities for many years. You have no name?”

 

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