by Kim Faulks
Only the past would have nothing on the present.
Would I become like her, the Huntress, always moving—forever hiding?
I opened my eyes and searched the trees. No, for me there was only here and now. I'd carried this burden for too damn long. There was no movement, no sound. I took a step and craned my head. The time seemed to stretch, drawing out with the slow thud of my undead heart.
They know what you have done...
His voice came in the stillness, slipping in like the tip of a knife to puncture the most vulnerable part of me. "Go away," I whispered and stepped between the trees. "You're not real."
I kept downwind, hunting low over the small hill and then climbed the rise. The pungent pheromones of the Bloodstone pack grew stronger the higher I climbed, until the rancid stench coated my lungs with every breath.
White stone pillars peeked through the mass of green and then it was gone. I stopped at the fringe of the pines and waited, watching for movement through the windows. A bitter breeze picked up, cutting through flesh and bone. I shuddered and clenched my fist.
I didn't want to be here—didn’t want to see the child, didn't want to look in those dark eyes...didn't want to taste her blood and know.
Gabriel's face filled my mind, and along with it came the sting of betrayal. I was the one who sent him out that day. I alone speared him toward these Dragons and this child. I had no other choice, none I could use to bargain for my brother's life.
Save the Dragon child—the order had been so simple. I’d finally have the one thing the Huntress had risked her life to get. And I would've used this child to lure the Huntress to her final death.
My brittle hold on this world crumbled like ash. I opened my hand and stared at my palm—like I did once with Father all those years ago. Austine was all I had left. He was our King, if only he’d rule. Our line depended on his survival.
My survival depended on nothing at all.
The hollow thud inside my chest came to life. I couldn't seem to catch the sound, couldn't control my own body—movement came from the window farther along the cracked white walls. I couldn't breathe, couldn't tear my gaze from the young woman as she stared at the bundle in her arms with a wounded smile.
The blur of black in her arms squeezed another thud from my undead heart.
My heels gouged the earth. I stumbled, slammed my hand against the tree and shoved as perfect brown eyes came to life inside my mind.
Fucking Hell you're beautiful.
Lucas...his name was Lucas. The sound reverberated like a mantra filling the void inside. Dirt gave way to pebbles. My heels sank deep, catching on stones as I stumbled for the front door.
Voices echoed somewhere in the distance. Wolves were out there, scouring the forest floor, just where I needed them. I grasped the handle and pushed, slipping in before anyone knew.
The stench of wolf stole my breath. I eased the door closed and tried to inhale. But underneath the musk something darker came to life...something that bled from the walls and soaked into the air.
It knew me. This place. This power. I shuddered with the thought and took a step. My skin prickled, unseen ants scurried and bit. Don't do this. A voice whispered, but it wasn’t my own.
There's another way...
The voice lied. Like everyone lied.
There was no other way—not for me, and not for the child.
I left behind the echo of my steps and turned left. Something came alive behind that iron wall in my mind. Something twisted and darker, something that knew I was here.
Footsteps echoed. I stilled and waited for the steps to come my way. But the sound faded, moving deeper into the house and farther away.
Death waited down there. It called, urging me forward one slow step after another. The closed bedroom doors all looked the same, white on white, pristine and pure. I passed the first, the second, and then the third before I slowed.
I skimmed my fingers across the handle and my fangs lengthened. Fear rode my body like an unbridled lover, hard and fast, drawing a lick of sweat across my skin. I swallowed hard, and scanned the hallway. But power drew me to the closed bedroom door. My fingers shook as I touched the handle.
Please, you don't have to do this.
And as the whisper took hold I realized what it was. It was the savage power, and consuming energy of this place. It was darkness and death all wrapped up in a pretty bow of seduction.
I could feel its call, feel it like a fist down my throat. I tried to swallow, tried to breathe as this savage power swept through my mind to linger outside the steel gates of my past.
We can help you...
But there was no breech of my walls. No breaking of my locks. The power waited, hovering outside my walls as though it were giving me an option. It wanted me to choose—right, or wrong.
I closed my eyes and felt the burden...right or wrong...
If only it were that simple.
Something slipped from the corner of my eye and seeped into the leather strap at my cheek. Right and wrong wouldn't protect my brother.
Right and wrong wouldn't protect us all.
I swallowed my fear and chained my panic. Skin slipped on steel as my palm trembled against the handle. I couldn't do this...I couldn't do...this...
My muscles tensed. My body fell forward, driving my weight onto the handle, and the lock gave way.
Five hundred years was a long time to hide.
And now my demon was here.
But he didn't live in the shadows.
He lived behind the guise of a baby.
One perfect black blur amongst the blinding white.
6
Lucas
"We need to know what happened, and in detail, Prince." Marcus's murmur was almost a damn plea, and my brother didn't plead for anything. "Everything that's happening now is tied to whatever happened then. I'd bet my life on it." He raised his hand and pointed at us. “But I'm not willing to bet theirs. So we need to know, and we need to know now.”
Fear shone in the young Prince's gaze as he searched the end of the room, and it wasn't the first time. I followed the movement, scanning the corner, and the glimpses between my kin, finding Alpha's narrowed gaze as I stepped backwards and searched for movement. She hadn't passed me, and there was no other way out.
But Princess Eva of the Shadistin Clan was gone.
Find her, whispered my Dragon.
The Prince cleared his throat, and I followed the sound to the front of the room. "No one knows what happened to her. There was talk of another behind her abduction, but even that slipped away."
Marcus took a step, trying his best to pace in the cramped room. "You mean you never saw her injuries...nothing?"
“I saw her from a distance. I called out, begged her even.” Austine's words slipped into a whisper as he stared into the past. “But she climbed up on that horse and was gone with barely more than a backwards glance. And I didn't see my sister for a hundred long years. When she came back...when she came back…”
"When she came back, what?"
The Price lifted his gaze to meet Marcus’s. "When she came back she was different—cold, bitter, filled with rage, and not the sister I once knew."
Silence descended in the crowded room. If that'd been Zadoc...if that'd been any of us… A hundred years was a long time not to be with the ones who love you the most—but it was even longer to be alone. The only question was, why? Why leave, why hide?
"When she finally came back she never talked about what happened. All I had to go on was what Gabriel gave me. The King died protecting his daughter. Everything else seemed to pale in comparison."
"And this Chrysalis society?" Marcus strode toward the wall and turned. "What became of them?"
"No one knows. The Huntress was the only one who remained. I’m guessing the humans died. There was talk of another pulling the strings, but I only ever saw her...I only ever hated her. That bitch destroyed my family. She destroyed my future. So you see, I w
ant her just as much as you do."
Marcus stopped pacing. "And that's why you took our kin, to lead her into a trap?"
The Prince dropped his gaze and nodded.
"And you didn't think to come to us?" A sickening growl slipped from Zadoc's lips. "They took my daughter...my son..."
"I'm sorry," Austine blurted. "I panicked. I didn't know what else to do, and I panicked..."
The rocky ground seemed to vibrate. Zadoc's obsidian eyes sparkled, rage leaked out, quaking the walls and the floor. It was Marcus who moved in front of the mountain and placed his hand on Zadoc's. "The Prince made a mistake. One he's truly sorry for, but this is why we're here. This is how wars are won."
The faint sound of a wolf's howl ripped through the cavern.
"What the fuck?" Victor murmured behind me.
His breath blew hot against my neck, hard chest gave a brunt, shoving me forward as he leaned close.
"Protect the Prince!" The battle cry surged from somewhere deeper in the cavern, and Hell descended.
Spikes and steel stole my view as the Prince's warriors spilled through the doorway. One slammed my shoulder, another turned his head and hissed as they shoved us backwards and crammed the narrow doorway.
Pale skin shone in the orange glow, dark eyes searched for the attack. There was a glint of steel, a sword...and a gun.
"What the Hell is happening?" Marcus growled behind the crowd. "Do not draw that sword, Vampire."
His thick hands gripped the warrior's shoulders, as he lifted and placed him to the side. The undead's gaze widened, his hand stuck on the half-drawn sword as Marcus shouldered his way through. "Someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on here?"
The howl came again, only this time the tortured sound was filled with unforgiving rage. The hair on the back of my neck rose. My stomach tightened. The air dripped with energy, a sickening, dark energy I'd felt once before.
"Odessa," Victor snarled. "That's my Odessa! Get off me! Get the fuck off me now!"
The orange glow of the fires filled the cavern, only each lick of flame reached higher. My stomach rolled, an ache spread, stealing my breath, taking my sense of balance.
"Jesus fucking Christ. What did you do?" Marcus snapped, finding the wide-terrified gaze of the Prince. "What the fuck did you do?"
"I didn't..." Austine shook his head “…didn’t do this."
He looked like a child surrounded by his army of immortals who were clearly out of control.
The ground shook, the walls trembled. I gripped the doorway and felt my world shake. And as the flames reached higher so did the power. The undead lay scattered across the floor like yesterday's trash—only they were still alive.
"They attacked me."
I flinched as a soft voice filtered through the cavern. I knew who it was, knew what was coming, and it wasn't the bright, smiling seer—it was something else.
I wanted to throw up, wanted to bend my knee and hug the ground as the tiny wolf stepped into view.
Her long blonde hair was darker. Flecks of blood christened her cheek, reaching across the thick raised scar along the bridge of her nose.
"I was minding my own business and they attacked me."
"Odessa," Victor whimpered and pushed past me.
I gripped the doorway and held on. Chaos and pain. That was what my brother had fallen in love with. Utter chaos, and unmerciful pain.
His fingers trembled as he reached for her, good to know he wasn't a total idiot as he murmured. "It's me, Victor. You're safe now. You're with me."
The lone wolf turned her head. Midnight eyes sparkled with the kind of hunger that fueled prophecies. The orange glow danced around the monstrous shadow of a wolf. It stalked forward, moving with the tiny woman.
"She wants to be free, Victor," Odessa whispered. "She's hungry."
"Fight her, Odessa. You have to fight."
She flinched as Victor grazed his finger across her cheek, finding every drop of blood. "If you let her out then we all die. You know that."
"So hungry." The lone wolf shuddered. "So very hungry."
His finger caught the hard line of her jaw, gently, ever so gently like she was a bomb and he was one fucking trip-wire away from ending us all. "Look at me, here I am."
Her gaze found his and lingered.
"There you go. See, I'm right here. It's Victor and I'm right here."
He kept talking, as though he was bringing her back from whatever Hell the wolf inside held her captive.
"Water," she whispered. "So much water."
"That's right." He took a slow step toward her. "Water."
The darkness bled from her eyes, brightening to a honeyed-amber. "Victor," she whispered and wound her hands around his waist. "Victor."
"I'm right here, baby. Right here."
Her teeth gnashed, chattering as she shuddered. "I thought I'd wait for you. Thought you needed me here...I was so sure you needed me here."
He gripped her arms and gently pushed. "It's okay, you're okay now."
"So sure," she whispered her gaze drifting to the sea of undead at her feet. "So sure you needed me at the edge of the forest."
The Shadistin clan moved, rolled. Some jumped to their feet in a fit of rage, others climbed carefully, shaking off the remnants of Odessa's power.
"Protect the Prince," one of the warriors screamed behind me.
Victor snapped his gaze toward the movement and pulled Odessa hard against his chest. "Move one fucking inch and I'll burn you alive."
"Stop. I said, stop! Gabriel...Gabriel!" The Prince screamed behind his wall of undead.
I searched the crowd for the blond warrior and found nothing.
"He's not here, my Prince."
A dark-haired male stepped into view. He gave one nervous glance at Odessa before he pressed his spine against the wall and scurried sideways toward his Prince. "We cannot find him your Highness."
"Then move. I said move!" Austine barked, speared one pale hand between the mountain of undead, and shoved.
They parted slowly, keeping one eye on Victor, and eased to the side.
"Did they hurt you?" Victor moved her far enough to search her face, and then her body.
"No," Odessa whispered. Still my brother wouldn't stop touching her arms, her face, turning her to drift his fingers down her back. "No, I'm not hurt...it's not my blood, Victor. It's...not...my...blood."
"Is what she’s saying true?" the Prince snapped. "Did you attack her?"
"She's a wolf," the undead spat from under the pile. He shoved his way to the surface, bloody, beaten...and broken. The pale head of a bone poked through the gash in his shoulder, part of his neck was savaged, ripped and torn, the opened wall of a vein flapped like a waving hand. Jesus.
My stomach churned, rolling the remnants of deer around in my stomach.
"It's the Night of Blood!” The undead spat and stared at Odessa. "Bitch shouldn't have been anywhere near here."
The cavern stilled. I waited for the Prince to stride forward and lift this piece of shit to his feet and show him what fear really was, and as we waited I now knew what drove his sister to be so cold, and cruel.
"Don't do that," the Prince snarled without so much as a raised fucking fist. "That's not how I want us to live."
"You've gotta be shitting me." Marcus stared at the Prince.
I turned, finding his gaze. He knew it, we all fucking knew it. The Prince was a goddamn coward.
Marcus strode forward, cutting through the clogged entrance toward Victor. My eldest brother waited. He didn't have to wait long as both turned toward the clan of undead.
"On this day and in this cavern I'm changing the Blood Oath you signed. Not only will you abide by the rules of human blooding, you’ll also refrain from any unprovoked attacks on any mortal and immortal species. This means you'll stop this senseless fucking war with the wolves, especially my fucking wolves."
Abrial slipped up beside him. Marcus turned his head—this was no time for equali
ty, no matter who ruled the packs. This was a time for the Guardians to be the force we once were and for us to protect our alliance with the Bloodstone wolves.
This was our truth. This was our way. I shoved the wall and straightened my spine, as my kin surged forward and Marcus’s voice boomed. “If anyone harms another of my pack, or any pack for that matter other than protecting themselves from an outright attack they’ll answer to me. This is no threat. This is no request. This is the Guardian law. Hear it now, and hear it well.”
The Prince's mouth gaped, but past the look of fear there was another—utter relief. “Guardian law?”
Marcus nodded. “Yes, I'm invoking Guardian law. You wanted an alliance with us Prince Austine, then this is how it's done. We will do everything in our power to protect your clan, and bring you the Huntress’s head. But these are our terms Prince, you don't have to like them...but you will abide by them.”
The Prince glanced across all twelve of my kin until he stopped at me. Doubt crowded his gaze, doubt and fear, and something else...something I couldn't quite put my finger on. "If that is the Guardian law, then so be it. There'll be no more attacks. Any Shadistin Vampire found harming a wolf outside of self-defense shall answer to me."
But it wasn't the Prince the Vampires were afraid of, and it wasn't the Prince I wanted to see. I scanned the stony wall at the back of the room. I wanted the bloodthirsty gaze of the true leader of this clan.
The one they'd fall to their knees to obey.
Princess Eva Nicholi.
7
Eva
A baby’s cry filled the room. And somewhere in one of the many rooms in this monstrous house the howl of the little wolf answered.
But unlike that crisp howl of love, this sound, this pathetic, fragile mewl was stained with torment and pain, and fear.
For a second I was back there, listening to my own pathetic whimpers, shackled to the table of my past while he staked his claim.
I've missed you Eva.