Cheating Death (Wraith's Rebellion Book 2)

by Aya DeAniege

  The rest I had to fill in during the stunned silence that followed.

  “Yes, Sasha,” I said. “You change your name too much. And your story. They didn’t think you belonged to Lucrecia and they knew all kinds about me.”

  “The witches don’t know every vampire everywhere,” the witch responded with a shake of her head. “Lucrecia’s power is of the mind. That sometimes garbles information. Such as the fact that the fae of a girl she brought was her Progeny.”

  Why do they keep saying fae of a girl?

  You’ve met Sasha. She looks like a fae. Fae cannot be turned, before you ask. And that’s not what they called her, I’m just trying to translate it properly.

  “I will deliver a name,” Sasha said.

  “We thank you for your cooperation in this matter,” the witch said with a bow. “May I return home now?”

  “Of course, go.”

  Before my very eyes, the witch vanished. Leaving Sasha and I standing in her rooms. A million questions arose in my mind, but the most important one came out first.

  “What the hell is an Oracle?”

  I sat across from Quin as he considered the building we had pulled up to. Waiting for him to say or do something, to give an indication that we had arrived.

  “They can’t read everything,” Quin said as he played with his keys nervously. “They also aren’t bound to keep quiet like the Council is. Just think mortal thoughts.”

  “Impulsive,” I said, jabbing a finger at my face.

  I nipped my finger, catching the first knuckle between my teeth with a little rumble of a growl. As I grumbled at my own reaction, feeling a bit like a dog which had caught its tail, Quin chuckled.

  “Get out of the car, you silly person,” he said, then climbed out himself.

  I spat my finger out and then slipped out of the car.

  The Oracle lived in an old building that may have once been a family home. I frowned up at the building, then asked the obvious.

  “Why does the Oracle live near the Council?”

  “She doesn’t,” Quin said. “Some witches can teleport. The younger Oracle is one such. She’s probably the one who wanted to meet you.”

  “Can they teleport others about too?” I asked as we approached the building.

  “I’ve been told no, but I’ve also heard tales of old.”

  “Of old?” I asked.

  “Let’s just say that supernaturals did not always get along. Just like humans, we’ve had our squabbles. The witches are feared for good reason.”

  We stopped in front of the big doors of the building, and he seemed to sigh before reaching to knock. The doors swung inward, and we were greeted by a girl no older than five.

  Who was clothed, thank goodness.

  “That tradition was left behind,” the girl said to me.

  Think nothing, think nothing, think nothing.

  It was a mantra I began to tell myself as we walked into the building. I was so focused on thinking nothing that I was distracted and didn’t take in the décor of the building or what the child looked like. The little girl led us from the entrance into a small room that may have once been a dining room. There we stood waiting.

  “Why wouldn’t Wraith get his own mask?” I asked Quin.

  Quin sucked in a long, loud breath. “The witches agreed to make and hold the mask, but they have never accepted an audience from the vampire. He, in turn, has never attempted to visit. It is a line no one wishes to cross.”

  “For fear the witches might kill him?” I asked.

  “Witches cannot kill a vampire,” he said quietly. Then he muttered something under his breath, which I think was, “I fucking hope.”

  I frowned, not understanding.

  “There are things much worse than death,” he added, raising his voice as the door on the other side of the room opened.

  The little girl beckoned to us once more.

  With a sigh of my own, I marched towards her. Quin seemed to grumble behind me before he too followed.

  We were led through several halls, rooms, and finally into a small library. There was a big table in the middle of it with a woman sitting at the table.

  The woman was about my age, she had blue-green eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Her skin was pale and her features were almost squared in nature. Before her on the table was a rather large, older looking book. She wasn’t touching it, but as we walked in, a page lifted and turned slowly.

  She glanced up and made a sound at the back of her throat.

  “No ceremony?” Quin asked.

  “If I greeted you as Oracle instead of witch, we’d have a problem, now wouldn’t we?” she responded gruffly. “Nancy, go get yourself some ice cream from Venice.”

  The little girl giggled. Except halfway through, the giggle stopped. I turned to look, but the girl was gone.

  I couldn’t tell what laws the magic of my world followed, and that kind of irked me. There was no way for me to tell just how far that all went, or what put a cap on a witch’s spell, or even if they needed spells.

  Though, I recalled Quin mentioning that they no longer needed spells.

  “Is she one of the tattooed ones?” I asked.

  “Those are not tattoos, but yes,” the Oracle responded steadily as she stood. “My name is Rosalyn. You must be Helen. You quite suit the term Siren, don’t you?”

  “If you mean that Lu would call me one of Quin’s whores, you’d be correct,” I said.

  “Please tell me the Council knows.”

  “About?” I asked.

  “About you and Wraith,” Rosalyn said, looking to Quin. “He was selected this evening for service, yes? And she was surely not a mistake.”

  “I haven’t a clue what you are talking about,” Quin said.

  “You would lie?” Rosalyn asked.

  “How about everyone stops with the back talk?” I asked. “I think she’s trying to say that she knows you’re Wraith and I’m a baby vampire and she didn’t learn it by reading my mind. But the Oracle knowing that you are Wraith is something that even you told me, so stop circling one another like dogs.”

  “Why be up front?” she asked.

  “Look, I’m betting you want Lu dead. We want Lu dead. Can’t we all work together to make him dead?”

  Rosalyn considered me for a long moment, then glanced at Quin.

  “The history and laws of my people cannot be explained in an hour,” she said. “The treaties we have with the vampire race cannot be summed up in a few words. But suffice to say: knowing that he is Wraith is a secret we have kept closely guarded for centuries because if we knew, we could give him no aid.”

  “So, no mask?” I asked.

  “I am meeting the pair of you as a witch to vampires, not Oracle,” she said with a shake of her head. “As a witch—hell, as a woman, and as a mortal with a six-year-old boy of my own? Of course, I want Lu dead. Death is protected, however.”

  “Wraith can do it,” Quin said.

  “You were interrupted last time by one of his Progeny. If he broke that law before, he would do it again.”

  “By breaking Council law, however, his protection is revoked.”

  “Only if the Council knows who Wraith is. Do they know, Quintillus?”

  Quin stepped up beside me and slipped an arm around my waist. “They know. They know about her as well. They asked for Wraith to serve once more.”

  “If Wraith takes up the tool again, Quin will cease to exist,” Rosalyn said. “At least, for several centuries. By the time you awoke again, who knows how much of the world would be in ruins because of what you had done? How much of your child would be left when Wraith was through with her?”

  “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “That thrum you feel? The desire to rape her? That’s not normal. Makers hurt their Progeny to dull the sense of pain, to make it easier for them to survive later. But what you want to do to her isn’t normal. Do you even understand that?”

  “Errant thoughts is a
ll. I am not Jekyll and Hyde.”

  “The beast has slept a long time.”

  “I am in control,” Quin said.

  “But not if you take up the tool. The Council? They want a new Death, a new servant. One who obeys them. How long do you think you’d be free this time?”

  “But he doesn’t need the tool,” I said.

  “He does to kill his Maker. It’s the only way we know of for a vampire to kill their Maker. That’s the problem.”

  “Sure, I’ll just have her do it instead,” Quin snapped. “Because that outcome is so much better. Lu dead will make the world a better place.”

  “Not if Wraith takes up the tool,” Rosalyn shouted back. “How many ways can I say this?”

  “The tool changes the user?” I asked.

  “The more you kill with it, the more of your soul is cleaves off until nothing is left,” she responded. “There can only be one user of the tool at a time, during the change from one to another, the first weakens to the point of near death. Either of you using the tool will result in the full transference.”

  “What if I took it and just, you know, castrated Lu?” I asked. “It’s not killing, just mauling gently.”

  “Handling the tool takes a hardening of the soul. Lu has only managed so long because of his ability to be in two places at once. Quin here was prepared since infancy to carry the tool, to bear its burden, but not use it.”

  “The witches made the tool,” I said.

  Rosalyn frowned at me. Her eyes narrowed as something seemed to crackle through the air. That something brushed over me, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to raise as we considered one another. Vampire and witch, as she weighed the decision to kill me then, or wait it out and see if I could make myself useful to them.

  “Great,” she muttered. “Now I need to contact the Great Maker. She’ll be real fucking pleased with me. Thanks.”

  The tone of voice was one dripping with malice. Rosalyn was clearly annoyed with something I had done, though I wasn’t certain what exactly I had done. Let alone, why that would have to be brought to the Great Maker’s attention.

  Am I reading minds?

  “Lu made the tool,” Quin said. “At the Great Maker’s behest after her children tried to kill her.”

  “No, we made the tool during the great war. We made it to kill vampires because we couldn’t bring together the necessary items every month, not against an army of vampires hell-bent on killing the last original.”

  “Wait, what?” I asked.

  “Witches, werewolves, and fae came together and fought to protect the Great Maker. Her children tried to kill her for no reason at all, so we protected the innocent. The tool was made out of necessity. A good witch was lost in its making, another one in the field to wield it. Then a vampire turned her, and she took the tool. Somehow it ended up in Lu’s hands. None of you recalls because Lu had culled all he could find who might remember.”

  “Okay, how about we bring it back to you?” I asked. “Then you own it, and we tell the Council we couldn’t find it.”

  “They would still have their weapon in Quin.”

  “So, she spoke, so it was,” Quin said. “You don’t like asking her for help, but you can ask something of her. Kill me, bind me, whatever she deems appropriate. I didn’t start this night thinking that I’d survive it.”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Rosalyn said. “She doesn’t interfere with the vampire race. The last time they knew who she was, they tried to kill her.”

  “Why?” I asked. “You said no reason, but why? There had to be one that they used to come together.”

  Rosalyn looked uncomfortable. “She can’t feed on human blood.”

  “So, she was feeding off vampires,” I said. “I could see them having a problem with that. Why didn’t she order them to behave? He keeps saying that thing, what did you say?”

  “So, she spoke, and so it was,” Quin said as he shifted his weight and crossed his arms. “I’m told one on one it works for some things, but to issue a vampire wide command, it starts with the new generation.”

  “And no vampire shall be broken as Death was. So, she spoke and so the Council banned Progeny because they believed she spoke against power.”

  “No, they did it because of numbers,” I said.

  “Five thousand vampires against millions of humans? Now billions of humans? Please, it was not about numbers, or even about baby vampires and their hunger. Instinct tells you to eat and then clean up after yourself. Worse could have happened. Vampires get better at disposing of dead bodies very quickly.”

  The vampires maintained that their number was four thousand. I found it interesting that the witches believed there were twenty-five percent more vampires than the Council claimed.

  “Has she said anything else in the last thousand years?”

  “She said she would protect any witch who disregarded the Council writ about Wraith, but only if we acted as a free agent. Anything from the hierarchy standing for Wraith would be considered an act of war.”

  “Which was why you didn’t greet us with pomp and ceremony,” Quin said. “Why not greet us yourself, then?”

  “I meant to, but I became distracted. Books, old habits, you know that whole bit.”

  “Fine, why call her here if you never planned to give me the mask?”

  “Oh, I fully intend to give you the mask, I just felt you should have the warning as well. Edna thought we should bind your soul together, but I don’t think you’re ready to be whole just yet. Putting a leash on Wraith won’t help any.”

  “And calling Helen?” Quin asked.

  “I wanted to see Siren.”

  “I’m not a siren!” I protested.

  “Near perfect complexion and a body to kill for? If you aren’t a siren luring men to their deaths, I don’t know what you are.”

  “Can I just have the mask, please?” Quin asked in an irritable fashion.

  “Why so cranky?” Rosalyn asked.

  “I told him before we came that you’d tell him he was going to die and then say something vague. Or predict my death.”

  “No, you live a very long time. Hence immortality. And Quin isn’t going to die tonight either, just don’t use the tool, that’s all I’m saying. Explode people with your minds, both of you, do not use the tool. Say it with me. Do not use the tool.”

  “Do not use the tool,” Quin muttered under his breath. “Helen, you aren’t going to throw me in a volcano, are you?”

  “No, why?” I asked.

  “Because you just selected a side quest to obtain an item to deliver to a wizard,” he said.

  I frowned at him, then it dawned on me, and my eyes got big.

  I had just agreed to take the tool from Lu and give it to the witches. By doing so, I had fallen into a pit, dug myself deeper into something that I wanted nothing to do with in the first place.

  It did bring up an interesting fact, however. Quin was familiar enough with video games to know what a side quest was. He was even quick enough to make that conclusion when I had yet to make the connection.

  Cursing, I turned my back on Quin and folded my arms.

  “Are you pouting?” he asked, amusement plain in his voice.

  “No,” I said, trying not to sound like I was pouting.

  “She is, it’s quite adorable,” Rosalyn said.

  “I am not adorable when I pout!” I grumbled. “Just get us the mask, would you?”

  “Please,” Quin added.

  “I will, but you need to wait outside for a few minutes,” Rosalyn said to Quin. “The Oracle needs to speak with her, but I can’t do it with you in the room.”

  “Do not have sex with her,” Quin said, jabbing a finger at Rosalyn. Then he turned and jabbed that finger at me. “I don’t care how hot she is, do not have sex with her.”

  He took his leave, closing the door behind him.

  “You’re an interviewer, but you poked him just the right way, how?” Rosalyn asked
.

  “Vampires are stuck in this rut,” I said.

  “Oh, I know,” Rosalyn said with a shake of her head and an eye roll. “Lu came asking about a siren who had stolen his boy. He demanded we find her and his boy since he brought our boy back to us. Like, that was over a thousand years ago, and you’re the one who killed him. Get over yourself.”

  “Why not kill him?” I asked.

  “The only way we’ve found to kill a vampire is the tool,” Rosalyn said. “There are the ways of the moons as well, but he made certain we lost the information. The only witch who still knows is the one who wielded the tool and became a vampire during the battle.”

  “And the Great Maker won’t do it.”

  “They made their bed, they have to lay in it,” Rosalyn said. “Only one vampire has discovered her identity and not turned into a complete dick bag. She asked that we offer protection so that she’d have a companion through the centuries, and we did it.”

  “So, if I meet her, don’t be star struck or stupid,” I said.

  “Exactly.”

  I mulled that bit of information over.

  “Bau isn’t the Great Maker, is she?” I asked.

  “No,” Rosalyn said with a shake of her head. “Bau is no ordinary vampire, which is why rumours have swirled about her being the Maker of all, but it’s not true. I can’t tell you what the Great Maker calls herself, only that she does interact with others. Just, she hides well.”

  “You won’t get in trouble for telling me that?”

  “I don’t foresee trouble from telling you that. By not telling you, I set in motion events which make you go looking, eventually. And you find her. That’s where it all ends.”

  “Your visions of me, or the world?”

  “My visions of you. That doesn’t mean you die, just that you need to make a choice and that choice fluctuates a great deal between now and that moment.”

  “And for tonight?” I asked.

  “Pestering little imp, aren’t you?” Rosalyn asked.

  “He can’t use the tool. Lu needs to die.”

  “The Council will replace Lu with Wraith.”

  “Everyone knows that prophecy isn’t set in stone.”