Even with all my layers, cold damp air hugs my skin as we make our way to the dock the next day. Our voyage stretches on for eight weeks as we battle storms, windless days, and ice.
I wait for a warm breeze, spark of light, white feather, anything to show me that Lucas lives. But, there’s nothing. Even on our trek across North America, the sun fails to warm me. My swims in the ocean off the California coast don’t even brighten my mood as the solstice comes and goes without a visit from him.
“Little dove, you are sad.” Elizabeth grasps my hand as the new year dawns.
“I’m not a little dove anymore.” I pull my fingers from her grip.
“I know you miss Lucas.” She cups her hand on my cheek. “I wish you would see the love right before you.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“I’m sure there are many you could choose from, but Will would make an excellent match for you.”
“I know he loves me, and I love him, but he’s my brother now.”
“You can’t tell me it wasn’t different once.” She stares into my eyes.
“That was a long time ago. He was a great comfort to me. Please, don’t make me regret that choice.”
“You know I don’t judge. I only want you to be happy.”
I dig my nails into my palms to keep tears from forming. “Then leave me.”
Sonia keeps true to her word. Incidences of witch attacks grow the world over. Tired of playing it safe, I insist on helping investigate and calm as many situations as Will and Jacob allow.
Walking along a dark alley between Paris streets in 1917, I feel a warm breeze and look up. I see nothing out of the ordinary. Stop hoping. He is gone, I repeat to myself. Part of me knows it’s probably true, but I can’t bear the thought that he’s dead and continue the psychological suicide.
We descend into the catacombs. Will and I take lead with Orm in the middle and Jacob and Gregor bringing up the rear. Turning a corner into one of the smaller tunnels, I hear a whistling sound and dodge one arrow as another lodges between my ribs. A searing pain shoots through my torso.
“Witches and their traps,” I complain as I yank the tip out and throw it to the ground. “I’m done being zapped and skewered. I’m going to put that woman in the ground if it’s the last thing I do.”
“We didn’t want you to come in the first place.” Will lowers the lamp to his face and glares at me.
“Guard the opening,” I call back to the others. “If they’ve taken time to set traps, it must be something good.”
“Or they’re just trying to lure us off the path while they amass outside to massacre all of us. What’s wrong with you this century?” Will proceeds into the small space.
“What do you mean?”
“Before, you were always content to let your soldiers and sentinels do these jobs. Why take more risks now?”
“Remember what happened in the 1600s, when I was forced to marry a human?”
“Emmett wasn’t so bad, and you got Theo.”
“It wasn’t the path I would have chosen. Don’t you like this? I do. It’s much better than practice fighting.”
Reaching the end of the tunnel, Will holds the lamp above his head. “Old dead human.”
“There’s no dust. Someone’s been here recently.” I pull on the stone top of the tomb, but it doesn’t budge. “Help me.”
Even with both of us using all our strength, we can’t open the crypt. I search the walls and floor for any signs of movement. Finding none, I kick at the stone. “Oh, well, Louis, I guess you’re not giving up your secrets.”
We make our way back to the others. “Well, Sonia or one of her coven were definitely here recently. Louis the ninth is entombed at the end of the tunnel, but his crypt won’t open.”
“How do you know it’s her?” Orm inquires.
“Smell that? No, you can’t. Will, it’s her, right?”
“Or someone of her coven.”
“That doesn’t give us any proof. This is just circumstantial. All we have is three dead vampires and Sonia’s scent.” Jacob paces in the small space.
I rub my ribs where the arrow wound is healing. “We’ll get her. I’m wondering if this whole war is just an elaborate cover-up for her to move things around as she wishes. What better way to hide than to create mayhem?”
“You think Sonia orchestrated this huge human war? That’s quite a conspiracy theory.” Gregor shakes his head.
“It’s certainly derailed our investigations. You can’t find evidence when things are destroyed by bombs.”
As the Great War ends in 1918, we approach Marcus, pleading for his help.
“Vampire and witches alike are dying. Can’t you do anything to stop them?” I plea.
“This isn’t Sonia. Her health is failing. Thanatos has taken over as leader. I’ve met with him many times. He’s not the monster his mother is.”
“We saw her not nineteen years ago. She looked not a day over thirty. And you expect me to believe that after Thanatos followed her around like a puppy for hundreds of years he’s now somehow good?” I insist.
“Witches, especially those who wield much power, can decline rapidly. I saw her just six months ago. She’s weak. I doubt she could hurt a hair on a rabbit’s body.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Will notes as we board a ship set for Germany in 1945.
“Someone sired a hybrid being who has caused the deaths of six million humans. The witches have asked for our help in putting him down. I want to find out who did this. Plus, I’ve dealt with the witches more than anyone.”
“Again, I ask what has possessed you this century?” Will shakes his head.
“They elected me Chancellor. I won’t be one of those fat old queens who sits on her throne and orders people around.”
On German soil, we have enough spies in the human army that we know where the hybrid is and their plan to kill him. Once the bomb is dropped, a cloaked squadron of twelve witches and twelve vampires, including Marcus, Will, Jacob, and myself, enter the structure. Finding the Nazi leader alone in the basement, the witches drop our veil.
“So, you have finally come for me. She said you would.”
“Who said we would?” Marcus asks.
“I don’t know her name. She raised me, taught me to be strong, and I became more powerful than any living being. I built an army who found what we needed.
“What did you find?” I question.
“I know you. You’re the Vampire Queen. Why, the sword, of course.”
Marcus steps forward. “He’s gone mad.”
“I’ll get all that we need,” a witch named Haley says, approaching him.
He thrusts his hand out and sends her flying to the opposite wall.
Marcus holds up his palms. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
“You can’t hurt me. That’s the beauty of it. We never found the children, but I got the sword and hid it for her.”
“We’re not getting anywhere with this. We need to move on with the plan,” I tell Marcus.
The twelve witches link to each other, using their collective power to subdue the mad being. He fights back, zapping them with lightning bolts, setting things on fire, but weakens within an hour.
“Now,” Marcus instructs.
I divert my eyes as Will approaches him, sword raised high. Clanging of metal on stone and the dead, still air signal it’s over. The witches collect several vials of blood from the corpse, and evoking a cloaking spell to hide us, we slip from the building undetected.
A witch from each line is brought to perform a spell that can track de Fuhrer’s heritage using his blood. In addition, others from each line serve as witnesses.
The witch of Uriel’s line pours a few drops of blood in the middle of the table. Holding her hands over the liquid, she repeats a phrase in Latin. “Monstare, sanguis, origo.”
The red drop begins to flow, moving towards the witch for Michael’s line. It stops when it reaches him.
&nb
sp; “This is ludicrous,” Thanatos bellows. “No one from my house has sired a hybrid being, especially not a crazed monster.
“Let the next line perform the spell.” Marcus calms Thanatos.
The lines of Raphael, Gabriel, and then Michael perform the spell.
“Monstare, sanguis, origo,” Michael’s witch repeats. Even when she stops chanting, the blood continues to move, dropping over the edge of the table, rolling across the floor, to stop in front of Thanatos.
“You can’t believe that I sired the being,” Thanatos bellows. “Why would I be that stupid?”
“Someone in your family must have. These spells don’t lie.” Marcus takes a side step away from Thanatos.
“Thanatos and Sonia offered to sign the peace treaty if we helped them sire and protect hybrids,” I announce to the group. All eyes fall on me, and I swallow hard. “My friends can attest to the same. Sonia came to my room in 1899 and offered the deal.” I hold out my arm. “Who is a seer? I’m willing to be tried.”
Sybella, a witch of Uriel’s line, reaches for my arm. Marcus grabs her hand and looks to me. “You understand that she will know all?”
“I have nothing to hide.” I twist my hand over, offering my palm to her.
“I won’t accept the words of just one seer. One from each line must witness,” Thanatos demands.
“And so, it will be. London has many witches.” Marcus orders the witch of his line to call for additional seers.
While we wait, Sybella stretches her arm out to me. Swallowing, I place my hand in hers. I keep my eyes locked on her face. She closes her lids. Gasping, her eyes fly open, and she drops my hand. “Her family was murdered by a coven of witches.”
“We know this, go on.” Thanatos’s stare holds mine.
I refocus on Sybell as she wraps her fingers around mine. “She was raised here in London by a family friend. She and her love Alec were betrothed, and he was murdered by a warrior.” She opens her eyes, and they trace to Will.
I block the feelings as they threaten to play out on my face.
Thanatos shakes his head. “Again—”
Marcus raises a hand. “Nothing more, Thanatos.”
Sybell closes her eyes. “There’s a native warrior, a hybrid, and she kills him. Black Crow.” Tears form in Sybell’s eyes, and they spill down her cheeks. “Sonia and Thanatos, I see them in her chamber. Yes, it’s true.” Sybell loosens her grip on my hand.
“This is a conspiracy against my line.” Thanatos’s voice vibrates the walls. “This doesn’t prove we had any part in Hitler’s lineage. We can’t control every member of our line." He turns to face me. “I’m sure you agree that you can’t police every vampire on this planet.”
Marcus paces away from the group and back. “We need to test everyone in Sonia’s coven.”
Sybell lifts her hand as if requesting permission to speak. “What of Anastasia? She can see a person’s origins from just a few drops of their blood.”
Thanatos shakes his head. “How do we know she would tell the truth? We need two at least, and there isn’t much blood left.”
“Guinevere.” Marcus paces behind Thanatos. “She’s a strong seer of truth. They’re both of your line, so you can’t argue that they would be biased against your coven members. Use Anastasia to see the hybrid’s lineage and use Guinevere to make sure Anastasia is telling the truth.”
“You think my eight-hundred-year-old mother lay with a vampire and sired a child? You know that’s impossible.” Thanatos storms from the room.
“We must take this to the council. They’ll decide how to proceed,” Marcus announces.
Will raises his hand to request audience. “Who is to safeguard the blood? It could be switched out for another’s.”
Marcus lifts the bottle and pours half into a glass vial. “You may take half, and I will not let the other half out of my sight. Agreed?”
“Yes.” I take the vial from him and slip it in my waistband.
Arrangements are made for Guinevere and Anastasia to meet us in Rome. Once there, we gather in a basement under a church used to bury those of Michael’s line.
“Well, if this isn’t creepy…” Will’s eyes trace around the rock walls as we descend a stone staircase.
“The dead have no power. We are safe,” Orm assures Will.
“Or we’re not, and we will all die.” I hold the light up, illuminating the tunnel ahead of us.
“Or, I will eat them for dinner.” Jacob laughs.
At the end of the passage, candles ring a circular room. Marcus, Thanatos, three witches from the three other lines, and two witches, whose skin is so wrinkled and thin it looks as if it may disintegrate with a touch, stand around a stone table.
“This is Anastasia the seer and Guinevere the truth seer.” Marcus motions to the old witches. “You have the vial?” He extends his palm to me.
I drop the vial of Hitler’s blood in his hand. Anastasia takes it and pours the liquid down her throat. She closes her eyes, but they pop open the next second.
Guinevere lays a hand on Anastasia’s shoulder. “We have a name.”
“Test this vial.” Marcus produces the other half of the blood sample from his pocket.
Again, Anastasia drinks the blood and closes her eyes. Opening them, she holds her hand out to Guinevere. Guinevere wraps her fingers around the other woman’s palm.
“The name is the same,” Guinevere utters, her eyes cutting to Anastasia and then Thanatos. “Sonia is de Fuhrer’s mother.”
Thanatos lifts his hands, and flashes of light burst from them. A blast of energy hits me, and I’m flung to the wall. As I hit the stone floor, I slip a dart from my pocket and fling it at Thanatos’s calf. He grabs his leg and crumples onto the ground.
Marcus bends to pick up the syringe. “What is this? What did you do to him?”
I jump to my feet. “It’s vampire venom. He’ll be fine in a couple of hours. Until then, we need to decide what to do with Sonia. She has to pay for her crimes.”
Marcus rises. “She sired a hybrid being. That’s not forbidden by witch law. Witches don’t police who our people love. Even if it were a crime, she has to be tried and convicted by a jury of twelve.”
Taking a deep breath, I lay my palms on the cold stone table. “Are you saying you believe Sonia has done no wrong? She has terrorized our people for centuries and sired a being who killed millions of humans. She needs to pay for this.” I study the faces of those gathered. “Surely you agree?”
“I agree with you.” Marcus’s eyes meet mine. “But finding those to stand against Sonia’s coven will be a challenge.”
“We’re not asking them to stand against. We just want a fair trial.”
“I will judge.” Anastasia lifts a palm.
“As will I,” Guinevere volunteers.
Each of the other witnesses also volunteers to stand as judges. Marcus agrees to let these witnesses enlist others from their lines, and they set a trial date for the summer solstice. We remain in Italy, keeping tabs on Marcus and Thanatos.
Days turn into weeks as we wait, and I grow anxious.
“I like Italy. We should stay here.” Jacob smiles as he sips his wine on our patio.
Will’s shoulders shudder. “Too many witches. I feel like my skin is crawling with insects every second.”
“I second that.” Elizabeth takes a seat beside me. “I’m ready to go back to California.”
“We will when all this is done.” I take a long drink from my wine glass as I pace the veranda. I haven’t rested since we’ve been here, and I’m ready to be finished, to have Sonia out of the picture for good. Then, we will be free.
The night of the solstice, we agree to be blindfolded to follow Marcus to the location of the trial. It’s comical that they believe the blindfold would impair us from finding our way out or to the location again. With our keen sense of smell and direction, we could retrace our steps, blindfolded and with ear plugs. We descend under the city, winding through nar
row passages. A rush of cool air alerts me to a larger space ahead. My nose itches with a scent I’ll never forget. Sonia.
When we’re allowed to remove our blindfolds, my eyes adjust to the light of a hundred candles lining a circular arena. Sonia, with bent spine and rounded shoulders, lined skin and stark white hair, sits in the center. Twelve witches, the judges, sit at a long table in front of Sonia. Behind her, the room is filled with more witches who have gathered to observe the trial.
“I’m sure we’re getting out alive.” Jacob’s words drip with sarcasm.
“They wouldn’t dare,” I whisper to them.
“Who would know?” Elizabeth wonders aloud.
“We left guards at the entrance. Everything will be fine,” I assure them.
Hairs on my arms stand as we move farther into the room, and the hum of magic pulses through me. We follow Marcus to the front row and sit down. Thanatos sits across the aisle from us, but I fix my eyes on Sonia. She orchestrated the death of my family, enslaved or killed Lucas, and sired a hybrid who caused the deaths of millions of humans.
Each judge lays a hand on Sonia and poses questions, some spoken and some not. It seems odd there are no witnesses for and against. Only the information pulled from Sonia’s brain serves as evidence. Further, we’re not allowed to know what the judges see. What if Sonia has plotted each one of her interactions with her mates knowing this day may come? She could pretend to be in love with a vampire and lure him into her bed. I gag at the thought.
The judges finish their inquiries, circle around Sonia, and lock hands. “What’s happening now?” I whisper to Marcus.
“They’re discussing whether she’s guilty or innocent telepathically. Be prepared to wait a long time.”
Minutes and then hours pass, and we spectators mill about the room, stretching our legs. After four hours, Will starts to get antsy.
“If it’s much longer, I’m going to eat someone,” he hisses.
Kingdom of the Damned: Provocation (KIngdom Journals) Page 29