Cursed Relic: (Witchling Wars: Vampire Echelon Book 1)

by Shawn Knightley

  Now it was my turn to sneer. He loved reminding me of our state of being. The state was forced on both of us for completely different reasons. He gained immortality by being turned into a vampire nearly a thousand years ago. I gained it by angering the most powerful family of vixra witchlings in the world. Neither of us found it particularly enjoyable. Humans often lust for immortality like its some sort of prize. I only knew it as an eternity to live with my conscience. And the knowledge that I might never be free again.

  ‘You have only yourself to blame. If you had let me mark you centuries ago none of this would have happened.’

  “That’s not entirely my fault now, is it?” I snarled. “If you hadn’t-”

  “What?” he said, taking both his arms and placing them on either side of me as he pushed me into the wall. “If I hadn’t what?”

  I shivered. It had been centuries since he was this close to me. It didn’t fill me with desire or passion like it once did. Quite the opposite. I had the urge to shove him away but I restrained myself.

  “You forced me to run from the vixra,” I said.

  “I didn’t force you to do anything. Don’t absolve yourself of all your free will and blame your actions on me.”

  I winced at his words. His tone was harsh and brooding. I accepted my fate long ago. I was a young woman in 18th-century Scotland. I knew the vixra were chasing me. And Tobias convinced me to run. He made it sound as though they would put me in an iron cage if I didn’t. Not that it mattered. I ended up in a cage anyway. One that I could have avoided. But the vixra punished me for running away and cursed me to become a slave to their will for eternity. Now I was trapped in a body that didn’t age and a life I never wanted for myself. A life that could have been avoided if he had let me mark him during a time when I actually wanted to. When I longed more than anything for him to be as close to me as he was now.

  “You played a significant role,” I spat. “And look where that got you.”

  My jab at his pride didn’t seem to even cause a scratch. It had been three months since the vixra discovered that he convinced me to run away from them over two centuries ago. He struck a relentless fear inside of me that I might never be free of them if I didn’t run. They enslaved him right alongside me once they found out. I suffered the very fate he made me fear by listening to him. The vixra are many things. Forgiving isn’t one of them.

  “You certainly didn’t mind at the time,” he said, leaning down so close that I could feel his emotions merge with mine, sending memories coursing back through my mind that I really wanted to forget. Of what his touch felt like. How there was a time when I craved it every moment he was close enough to touch. What a young and foolish girl I was all those years ago.

  ‘That does it.’

  I shoved both my palms directly into his chest and launched him with my magic into the opposite wall. He landed with a loud crash and the entire building behind him shook as if an earthquake had erupted right under our feet.

  “Don’t you dare!” I screamed. “You have only yourself to blame for what happened. I didn’t make you a slave to the vixra. You did that yourself. Your selfishness. Your arrogance. Your desire for more power. I was fine being a kruxa. I might have even allowed my blood to mark you if you hadn’t forced me to run. You told me I had to. You made it sound as though the vixra would lock me up if I didn’t. If you had let me do as they wished and fulfilled the prophecy both our lives would have come and gone peacefully.”

  “You could have marked Nathaniel,” he spat. “And yet, you ran from him as well. Don’t act as though your current circumstances are entirely my doing.”

  I wanted to kill him. To tear his head right off his body. But before I could get another word out of my mouth a sharp sting cascaded down my back and my throat felt as though I was being strangled. I reached for my neck. Tobias did the same. A thin magical wire wrapped around both our necks began to tighten. The magical wire that bound us to the vixra for eternity. It was a sensation I despised more so than anything. Because I instantly knew what it meant. The vixra wanted to see us. They were calling on their slaves. The magic’s bind over my neck loosened and I could suddenly breathe again.

  “I’m never going to get used to that,” Tobias complained as he lowered his hands from his neck.

  “Yes, you will. Try having to deal with it for centuries as I have.”

  Tobias stood up from the pieces of broken brick surrounding him on the ground and wiped away at the sleeves of his shirt.

  “They probably saw your little display at the concert all over the news,” he said. “It might be best if you go now.”

  “No, it’s best if we go. Don’t think for a single second that I’m going to leave out the part where you didn’t even show up.”

  Tobias scoffed at me. “I was making my own plans.”

  “By drinking the evening away? Who was the victim tonight? A college girl? A homeless man?”

  “Ladies first,” he said as he extended his arm further to point at the back of the alley.

  I walked by him with a scowl on my face and edged toward an opening where there weren’t any people around. Then I lifted my hand into the air and created a shadow over the two of us to hide what I was doing.

  I took out a small piece of paper from my pocket with a single droplet of vixra blood on it. Then I placed it on my tongue and let it dissolve. Once I could feel the extra surge of pure magical blood rolling through my veins again, I raised my hand above my head and carved into the air as though I was drawing on a chalkboard. My golden magic sputtered through my finger and tore away at the fabric of space in front of me. I envisioned where I wanted to go in my mind. Well, where I had to go. I could definitely think of a few other places I would rather be than in the presence of the vixra who hated me.

  A vixra tunnel opened up right before me, revealing the long walkway through the sky that would transport us both where ever we needed to go in a matter of seconds. I didn’t mind showing off how I could use them. I knew it would irritate the hell out of Tobias. The vixra didn’t see him as worthy enough to have access to the tunnels without my help.

  “Are you coming?” I asked expectantly.

  Tobias didn’t say a word. He simply followed me by stepping into the opening and walking through the vixra tunnel as time and space rushed by us.

  ‘If Arthur decides to kill me for what happened tonight, I’m taking Tobias down with me.’

  2

  Vixra tunnels never cease to amaze me. I could feel the wind rushing by as I took one step after another, making sure I didn’t look down. To the sides of the walkway was a steep drop-off. I made the mistake of going through one too fast many decades ago and fell off the side. I started free falling through the air to see the Atlantic Ocean only a few thousand feet below me. I barely managed to open another tunnel to fall through before smashing into the water. It didn’t matter that the vixra had cursed me with immortality. It would still hurt like hell and probably would have left me broken and stranded for only god knows how long in the middle of the frigid North Atlantic water.

  I stepped through to the other side to see the Matthews manor standing before me. Well, Arthur Matthews called it a manor. It was more like a castle. One built centuries ago and still used by one of the oldest vixra families ever to set foot in the human realm.

  The sun was rising over the back of the Hungarian manor giving it an ominous glow. One that didn’t settle my already nervous knots. I gathered Arthur had watched the morning news or saw a headline or two after waking up. News traveled fast in this day and age. In the past, if I made a mistake I had time to recover and come up with some sort of story to justify my actions. Those days were long gone once the Internet became a thing. This world was drastically smaller and faster than the one I was born into centuries ago in the Scottish highlands.

  “Do we knock? Ring the doorbell? How do you usually make your presence known?” Tobias asked sarcastically.

  I ignored him and walked
along a pathway through the woods around to the side of the manor. Within a minute we were near the garden and I withdrew a key from my back pocket. One that let me inside through the servants quarters by the kitchen.

  The servants jumped as I let myself inside with Tobias filing in behind me. They were used to seeing me. They weren’t quite used to seeing a deadly vampire. And why should they be? Vampires aren’t seen well by witchlings let alone the humans that know about their existence. My magic could sense the fear permeating from their bodies as he walked in and begrudgingly followed me through the kitchen and up the staircase to the servants’ private hallway where they could move about the manor unnoticed.

  Once we got to a hall full of doorways I reached for the third one on the right. It led to the corner of the enormous entryway. I had seen many people walk in and out of it over the centuries. Ladies in fine long gowns and men in tailcoats. Every fashion. Every type of wig. From ladies corsets to men wearing sturdy swords at their side with intricate silver handles. These halls had seen hundreds of years and many guests. The Matthews were often private and didn’t have company. But when they did host other vixra witchlings it was only the best of circles.

  Arthur Matthews was standing at the top of the large grand staircase overlooking the entrance hall. His posture was tall and imposing. His suit was immaculate. And his facial expression irritated beyond imagining.

  “Do you mind telling me what the hell you were bloody thinking?” his voice echoed from wall to wall. I could hear his words repeat four times before the echo finally stopped. He took a few steps down the staircase but only a few. He wasn’t the type of man to meet a lowly kruxa like me halfway.

  I halted before the staircase and bowed my head in reverence before speaking. “I take it you’ve seen the news?”

  “Along with the rest of the world,” he snapped.

  I solemnly took one step at a time up the large staircase, keeping my eyes cast downward as I approached him and my tone as subservient as possible, despising it with every passing second.

  “Explain yourself!” Arthur shouted.

  I winced at the sound of his overbearing voice. There were very few people in this world that could intimidate me after two centuries of serving the vixra. But he was one of them.

  “I was hunting a vampire from the fallen Catach-Brayin coven,” I explained. “Just as you instructed. I’ve managed to find many of the remaining former members hiding in the Rocky Mountains near Denver. Enough to make me believe there are some who chose to stay together for their own survival. They might even be forming a coven under new leadership.”

  I sensed Tobias getting aggravated behind me. His emotions permeated from his body so easily that my magic instantly picked up on it. He didn’t like hearing me talk about the Catach-Brayin. Or anyone else for that matter. He still felt as though he had sovereignty over it. It had been months since they scattered to the winds. And he wasn’t pleased about being forced to hunt down his former protégés and followers.

  Arthur’s lip curled in before he spoke again. “That doesn’t explain why the humans think your little display might have been an act of terrorism at a country music concert, does it?” He wasn’t interested in the details. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

  ‘Keep my sentences straight and to the point. Got it.’

  “Master,” I said humbly. “I discovered a vampire at the concert. She knew why I was there. She held a knife to a man’s throat and threatened to kill him before everyone in the venue. I had to stop her.”

  “Explain to me how saving one human life was worth the chaos that quickly ensued.”

  “No one died,” Tobias interrupted.

  “I beg your pardon?” Arthur thundered.

  “With all due respect, master,” Tobias said, letting the word master linger between them. Another quality to being a slave to the vixra that Tobias hadn’t grown used to yet. Showing them reverence. The master to the former powerful Catach-Brayin vampire coven was now the slave. I knew Arthur could feel the resentment seeping through his skin as potently as I could. “I didn’t allow the occurrence to expose witchlings or vampires.”

  “Then why did I see it all over the news as I was drinking my morning coffee?”

  I heard Tobias groan behind me. When I turned to get a look at him, a magical green glow shot through Arthur’s long fingers and forced Tobias to bow his head as he spoke. The magical wire around Tobias’s neck shined over his deathly pale skin, forcing him into obedience.

  ‘Don’t anger him any further, I beg you! This is only as difficult as you make it.’

  Arthur Matthews wasn’t a patient man. He wasn’t even a man I particularly liked. But my respect for him didn’t stem from being enslaved to the vixra witchlings for my past crimes. I had seen the burden vixra are forced to carry as they watched witchlings throughout the world fall from grace and power as more centuries passed them by. Arthur shouldered more than any man should have to carry. And even so, that didn’t make me fond of serving him.

  “I still have various connections that I can use to our advantage,” Tobias continued through gritting teeth. “One of which is a friend who once served me when I was coven master of the Catach-Brayin. He followed Georgeanna to the venue while I worked a different angle. After Georgeanna fled, he lured those affected by her magic to forget what they saw. No one present at the concert will remember seeing anything other than a bright flash of light. Nothing magical and no memories of Georgeanna’s presence will remain once he’s done cleaning up the scene.”

  “You got him to lure everyone in the amphitheater?” I asked a bit stunned.

  “Who is this friend of yours?” Arthur demanded.

  “His name is Christophe,” Tobias answered. “He’s served me in various ways over the years. I asked him to keep watch over Georgeanna while I did my own reconnaissance. I believe I’ve found where more vampires are hiding in the Rocky Mountains.”

  “I’m more than capable of doing that myself,” I said, slightly offended that he thought I wasn’t up to the task. After all, I found the vampire that night on my own.

  “But you haven’t found where they nest,” Tobias hissed. “I have.”

  Arthur and I both stood there in a stunned state of silence. I wasn’t sure if I should let Arthur be the first to speak or to go ahead and demand to know how Tobias discovered such a thing. Lucky for me, he decided to go ahead and keep talking.

  “I spent centuries gathering vampires for the Catach-Brayin coven,” he explained. “Centuries of surveying, judging, and making sure the coven was well-protected. That we would be the most powerful vampire coven in the western world. I defeated any enemies that stood in my way and recruited only the best to become warriors close to me who could ensure the survival of the coven no matter what happened. I know how they will think, react, and fight because I was the one who trained them. But I can’t do what you want me to do unless you give me the one thing I need to rein them in.”

  “And what’s that?” Arthur asked.

  “Vixra blood.”

  ‘You had to ask, didn’t you?’

  I thought I saw Arthur smirk. Only when he got closer did I realize it was a grimace.

  “Let me make one thing perfectly clear,” Arthur said slowly as he descended the staircase to meet Tobias at eye level. “There wasn’t a single day that went by where I didn’t know what was happening with your coven. The vixra kept close eyes on it from the moment we realized you were becoming a force to be reckoned with. And the only reason we allowed you to live was because we realized you were teaching the vampires you recruited how to control their rabid impulses. The more vampires you could control meant the less likely they were to expose witchlings and create more beasts like yourself.”

  “Then you know that I need vixra blood to fight against the warriors I trained to protect the coven?” Tobias said.

  I had been forced enough times to spy on Tobias’s former coven to know the story. Tobias trained only
the best vampires in the Catach-Brayin to use vixra blood. To harness magic in a way that was strictly forbidden. He was lucky it didn’t get him an instant death sentence. I was only allowed to use vixra blood because I needed it to serve them. Arthur protected Tobias’s use of it for only one reason. Arthur’s father Edmund was the one who had been supplying it for over a century. And Arthur wasn’t about to let the vixra council find out. The problem for Tobias was that Edmund stopped providing it after the Catach-Brayin fell apart. Regardless, I knew why Tobias was asking. If the vampires he trained knew how to harness that magic and were as well trained as he claimed, having vixra magic in his body was the only way he would be able to stand a chance fighting back against them.

  Arthur considered his words carefully before speaking. “I’ve already permitted Georgeanna to have small amounts of vixra blood. She may give it to you as she sees fit.”

  Arthur knew Tobias was right. Neither of us would be able to do what we were told as long as we didn’t have a strategic advantage to fight back against the vampires Tobias spent so many years training to survive.

  My magic also helped me pick up on another emotion. One that wasn’t quite as subtle. Outrage. Tobias was in a state of disbelief.

  “Do you honestly expect me to allow her to gage when I can use it?” Tobias fumed. “I’ve had centuries of experience with vixra magic and I can control it just fi-”

  “Georgeanna will determine how much to give you and that’s the end of it,” Arthur snapped. “And if you have had access to vixra blood for longer than my father has been supplying it, I don’t want to know. Unless you want to admit a little louder that you have no qualms about breaking witchling law.”

  I closed my eyes, expecting Arthur to snap. It wasn’t a sight I enjoyed seeing. Tobias honestly should have known better. Vixra blood was the purest blood on earth. It was illegal for any witchling of a lower echelon with human blood to obtain it. Mostly because witchlings of impure blood could barely control what magic they had left in their veins, let alone the most powerful in the world. I had seen the unworthy attempt to use it and only cause havoc. And Tobias had just admitted openly that he broke this sacred law for who knows how long. And he wasn’t even a witchling. He was a vampire. Which in the eyes of most magical beings was far worse.