Dark Heritage Trilogy

by Hoffman, Samantha

  “Just think before you speak and exercise caution,” Lisa the witch said. She peered at me through her thin-rimmed glasses and frowned. “Veronica, the tape has been verified, and it has since spread across the world like wildfire. The Council’s above us have met, and some have already come out of hiding. Less than an hour ago, the shapeshifters and witches came out and revealed their existence. The werewolves and sorcerers are expected to follow suit in the next few days.

  “Vampires, fairies, demons, and the nymphs have chosen to stay hidden for the time being. Already we’ve been met with fear and skepticism. We’re not sure how the world will react to us in the long run, so it is very important that you not disclose our location, no matter how persuasive the mayor may be. Do you understand? This base must stay a secret.”

  I nodded my head in understanding, since my mouth had suddenly gone paper dry. The weight of the situation was finally dawning on me, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe or move. After a few deep breaths to calm me, I looked at Marcel again. “Am I going alone? Or do I take Finn with me?”

  “You’re to go alone,” Marcel said. “This is going to be a very important conversation, and we can’t risk Finnley doing something stupid, like losing his temper or patience. It will be best if you do this alone, with no distractions. Now, the meeting will take place in half an hour; don’t be late. You are dismissed.”

  My legs felt like lead weights, but I forced myself to move toward the double doors that led out of the Council’s room. Thankfully the hallways were mostly empty, and I didn’t have to worry about running into anyone I knew. I was positive that Finn wouldn’t let me go alone–despite what the Council said–if he knew I was going to see the mayor. There was still Andrew’s kid to think about, and they would probably want revenge for Andrew’s death.

  I walked through the compound, thankful that Finn was nowhere to be seen. I would never get away form this place with him in my way. Trying to budge Finn was like trying to move a building, and I was better off not trying. That was one of the first things I’d learned about Finn–that he was unmovable when he set his mind to it.

  I spent the entire walk into town looking over my shoulder, hoping that Finn or Tanya didn’t appear behind me.

  Chapter Six

  The mayor was in his late forties, with a small, squat frame and a bulging stomach. He peered at me from behind his office desk with beady light brown eyes that looked wary and distrustful. His blonde hair was graying and thinning, and he tried to hide it by combing his hair over and telling himself that it looked natural when in fact it wouldn’t have fooled anyone with a working brain.

  For a full minute, I just stood in front of his desk with my hands clasped tightly behind my back. I was waiting for him to say something, anything, and he just looked me up and down. As his appraisal drew to a close, his lips turned up in the barest of smiles, and his eyes widened. Unfortunately, the smile did little to calm my nerves.

  “I must say, you look much younger in person than you do on tape. I thought for sure I was going to be dealing with a grown woman, not a child.”

  “I’m not a child,” I said stiffly. Even before he spoke, I knew I would dislike this man, and it had almost nothing to do with his appearance. There was just something about him that made me uncomfortable, and I couldn’t tell for sure what it was, though I suspected it had something to do with the fact that my pendant hadn’t stopped humming since I set foot in the building. There was another supernatural being somewhere close by, and part of me wondered if the mayor knew or not.

  He cocked his head to the side and surveyed me with cold eyes. “Aren’t you? You certainly look like a child. And you speak without respect to your superior.”

  “You’re not my superior,” I said with a frown. “I was told that you had something you wished to discuss with me. If you don’t mind, sir, I’d like to get this over with as soon as possible. I have pressing matters to attend to.” Mentally I flinched, realizing that I should have phrased that differently. The last thing I needed was for him to ask who mentioned he needed to see me.

  I should have just said I saw his request on the news…

  He tilted his head back and laughed. I waited impatiently for him to finish laughing at whatever he found funny. When he was finally done, he smiled and said, “I believe I was wrong. You speak very intelligently for someone your age, don’t you? Nevertheless, I will get right to the point. I demand to know what is going on in my city. I want to know everything.”

  I took a deep breath. During my half hour long walk into town, I had wondered what I could tell the mayor, and there were a few things I had to be careful about mentioning.

  I decided to open with something he already knew. “Supernatural beings are real.”

  He nodded his head solemnly. “I was aware of this long before today.” Seeing my surprise, he continued. “I have not been as blind as the rest of the human race, and have had the misfortune of running afoul of your world on more than one occasion.”

  “There’s a necromancer in your town.”

  “One other than you.” It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyways. “Do you know who this necromancer is yet?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”

  One of the mayor’s eyebrows rose slowly. “Oh? Why don’t I believe you?”

  I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “I don’t know, sir, but I speak the truth. We’ve been searching around the clock for this person, but so far they have eluded us.” I’d never been particularly fond of trying to sound more intelligent than I was, but I felt the mayor would respect me more if I sounded smart.

  He folded his hands together and placed them under his chin, surveying me with his cold, calculating eyes. He clearly didn’t believe me, which I found strange, seeing as I had stayed as close to the truth as possible. We knew who we were looking for; we just didn’t know who this person was. We knew it was my half-sibling; we just didn’t have a name yet.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  I hesitated. “Veronica.”

  The door opened, and four men walked into the room. Two of them took up positions on either side of the door, and the other two stood rigidly behind the mayor’s desk, where they could keep a close eye on me. They looked like a mayoral version of secret service, with black outfits and even guns resting on their hips. Just the sight of them had my gut twisting in pain and fear. Something was not right, and I had a feeling I knew what it was.

  The humming from my pendant grew worse, and I looked at the four men, trying to determine which one was the supernatural. I saw no wings, but he could be using a spell to ensure nobody saw them. I saw no fangs, but those were easily hidden. As were glowing eyes as long as he stayed out of the moonlight.

  “Veronica, what else can you tell me? How do you know so much about this person, but do not know their name? How do you expect to find them if they wish to stay hidden?”

  I searched my brain for anything to say to him, and he tapped his fingers impatiently on his desk. “There was another necromancer that wished us harm. He wished to raise an army of the undead to take over the world, but he was defeated by me and some of my friends. This other necromancer is his child, and wishes to gain revenge for his or her father’s death by completing his plans. We are doing everything we can to stop them. Sir, if you have no more questions, I would like to leave. I have quite a bit of work to do. Work concerning finding the identity of your problem. I can’t track someone down from here,” I said, trying not to sound as desperate to leave this place as I felt.

  He nodded his head slowly. “Very well, Veronica. I expect you to contact me the moment you find the identity of the necromancer wrecking havoc on my city. My guards will walk you out. You’ve been dismissed.”

  I nodded my head. “Thank you, sir.”

  “Oh, and Veronica?”

  I paused at the door and looked over my shoulder at him. “Yes, sir?”

  “I despise being lied to.”


  The door closed loudly behind me, and I flinched as a hand pressed against my lower back, guiding me away from the door. I looked up into the dark blue eyes of one of the mayor’s guards as he steered me to the exit. My gut clenched painfully when I realized there seemed to be nobody else in the building, and there would be nobody to call out to for help if I needed it.

  The hand steered me away from the front entrance and down a narrow hallway. I tried to focus on anything other than the hand on my back leading me to my possible doom. Gold-framed portraits lined both sides of the walls, and there were two small tables at the end of the hall, one on either side of a door. On those tables were vases filled with fragrant roses which did little to calm my nerves. It all looked too perfect, too organized.

  The bodyguard removed his hand from my back to open the door, and I felt a sudden, intense rush of adrenaline that begged me to turn around and run the other way. One look at the bodyguard holding the door open told me that I couldn’t outrun him, and I’d probably pay for it if I tried. So I tried to calm my racing heart and control my breathing, all while fighting the urge to flee.

  The bodyguard stepped through the door and into an alley after me, and closed the door firmly behind him. The sound of the lock clicking made me flinch, and the bodyguard placed his hand on my shoulder. He spun me around to face him and slammed me up against a wall, pinning me there with his large, powerful hands.

  “Please don’t hurt me,” I whimpered, trying to squirm out of his grasp. He tightened his grip on my shoulders, and his fingers dug in hard enough to bruise later as he forced me to look at him.

  “The mayor doesn’t like being lied to.” His voice was deep and full of authority, and I had the strangest feeling that the mayor might not have been the one in control. “He doesn’t like liars, and he doesn’t like freaks, and you happen to be both. Now, here’s how this is going to work: I’m going to ask you a question, and you’re going to try and answer it honestly. If you don’t, well, you’re not going to like what’ll happen to you. Understand?”

  I nodded, trying to keep from throwing up. My legs trembled and threatened to give out from under me, and I fought to keep myself calm. I would need a clear head if I was going to get out of here in one piece, and freaking out would just hurt my chances of escaping. So I took a few deep, even breaths and composed myself while silently waiting for his first question.

  “Now that I have your attention, we can begin. Do you know who the necromancer is that’s causing all of this trouble? Don’t lie to me…”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t. We don’t know their name, or whether they’re male or female. All we know is they wanted to expose us, which they’ve successfully done. We’re still searching for their identity.”

  His grip on my shoulders tightened painfully, and I could practically feel my skin bruising. “I warned you not to lie to me,” he hissed, eyes blazing. He ground his teeth together, as if he was trying to compose himself, and he took a deep breath. “You have one more chance to tell me the truth. I suggest you take it.”

  My eyes burned with unshed tears, and I fought to remain in control of myself. “I don’t know who this person is. I’m sorry, but I can’t give you a name I don’t know!”

  He shook me roughly, cracking my head against the wall behind me. White spots crowded my vision, and I rapidly blinked them away as his hand creeped loosely around my throat. “Stop lying to me!” he shouted, bringing his face inches from mine. “I can tell that you’re lying to me. You know how I know something like that? My spells tell me.”

  My eyes widened, and he smiled. “That’s right. I’m a freak just like you, and for years the mayor’s been using me to fulfill certain…tasks…that he can’t entrust to his other employees. Tasks like getting information from uncooperative freaks. Now, I am going to ask you one more time, you little brat. Who is the necromancer you’re looking for?”

  “I don’t know!” I cried, trying to free myself from his grasp. The hand around my throat tightened reflexively, and I stopped squirming. “I promise you I don’t know their name. We’re still gathering information on him or her. Please, let me go.”

  The hand around my throat loosened, and I fell to the ground, gasping for air. The sorcerer bodyguard took a small step back to either give me space to compose myself, or more likely to think about his next form of attack. He obviously wasn’t getting the answers he felt he needed, but I didn’t know what else I could give him. I was telling the truth, I just wasn’t telling the whole truth.

  We didn’t know who the necromancer was. All we knew was that it was probably Andrew’s child out for revenge against me and everyone at the compound. I couldn’t give him that information. The Council would be angry with me, and I’d be angry with myself for giving in to someone like him.

  The sorcerer bodyguard snorted, and ran a hand angrily through his hair while I shakily got to my feet. He sighed heavily, and I straightened enough to look him in the eyes. I was so focused on his face that I didn’t even see his hand move until his fist slammed into the right side of my gut. Pain exploded in my stomach and I doubled over, coughing and gasping for air once more. The pain flared and spread throughout my entire abdomen.

  My eyes rolled back in my head and my legs gave out beneath me. Falling to the ground, I curled up into a ball in an attempt to fight the pain. A slow ache burned its way through my body, and I was instantly reminded of being shot a couple of months ago. This pain wasn’t as bad, but it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, and it didn’t seem to be receding or fading away. If anything, the pain almost seemed to get worse, and I got the feeling that something was wrong.

  The sorcerer shook his head and walked away, leaving me collapsed on the ground and moaning in pain. For a minute after the door unlocked and shut behind him, I remained curled up on the ground. I was in too much pain to move, and I just wanted to fade away.

  When the pain finally began to reside, I cautiously got to my feet. I was waiting for another explosion of pain, and when it didn’t come, I slowly made my way to the edge of the alley and back onto the street. Every step I took felt like another punch in the gut, and I was gasping by the time I reached the end of the street. I wanted to be as far away from the mayor’s building as I could possibly get before I took a break.

  Leaning against a lamp post on the corner, I dug my cell phone out of my pocket and silently prayed that it hadn’t broken. When the screen lit up, I nearly sobbed in relief. I dialed in the number, and it only rang two times before Finn answered.

  “What?”

  “Finn,” I said quietly. “I need you.”

  “What’s wrong?” he asked urgently, automatically sliding into that protector mode he was so good at. “What happened?”

  “I’m in town, and I need you to come get me. Please, hurry.”

  “Ronnie, I’m on my way. Tell me what happened,” he ordered gently. “Are you hurt? Are you okay? Are you in danger?”

  “No, I’m not in danger. The Council asked me to talk to the mayor and fill him in on the things that have been happening around town, and he had one of his bodyguards take me out back and interrogate me because he suspected me of lying. He choked me, and he hit me…hard. I think something’s wrong. It hurts so much, Finn.”

  He growled threateningly. “Where are you exactly? Are you still there?”

  “No, I’m at the corner, just down the street from the mayor’s office. Please hurry, Finn,” I said, ending the call and slipping my phone into my pocket. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the people passing by while I was waiting for Finn to arrive.

  “Ronnie?”

  The sound of her voice startled me, and I nearly lost my balance against the lamp post. Tabitha reached out to help steady me, and took a step back to allow me to regain my footing. When my heart had stopped racing in terror, I looked at her. “What are you doing here?”

  “My grandparents took me out for an early dinner, and I told them I’d walk home. To be honest, I just
needed some fresh air and a break from their old stories. What are you doing out here?” She looked me up and down, and her eyes widened a bit. “Are you alright? You look terrible.”

  I straightened and forced myself to smile. “Nah, I’m fine. I’ve just had a rough few hours, and arguing with a good friend of mine didn’t help my day any,” I said, trying to lie effortlessly.

  Tabitha’s dark eyes narrowed a bit, and she seemed to be studying my face, as if searching for something. When she finally smiled, I felt my stomach unclench, and I took a deep breath. “Well, arguing with a friend always sucks, no matter how soon you reconcile. Right? Hey, have you seen the news recently? Apparently some college kids were attacked in a cemetery by zombies! People were pretty freaked out, and that was before the footage of the attack was verified. Everyone is in an uproar.”

  I looked up and down the street, trying to hide the immense terror I felt at the moment. If Tabitha knew about the footage, had she seen it or just heard about it? Did she know that the girl in the tape was me? The thought of possibly losing my first human friend in years had my heart squeezing painfully.

  “It all looks the same to me. Nothing’s out of place, or on fire, or destroyed. It looks peaceful.”

  “Well, it’s a madhouse downtown. You know that gun store next to the laundry mat? It got bought out in less than two hours after the footage got verified. The supermarket has to be restocked as well. People are hording dried goods, bottled water, weapons, and other necessities for the impending zombie apocalypse. I know my grandpa has about a hundred MRE’s left over from his military days.” She shuddered. “I can’t believe people used to stay nourished with those things.

  “Oh, and then the strangest thing happened. Apparently there are witches, shapeshifters, necromancers, vampires, and werewolves as well. I can’t believe all of this stuff is actually real. I mean, I always thought it would be cool to be a witch, but to actually have power like that…it must be awesome.”