by Riley Storm
Initiate Lowry stirred. “That was touching, Maddy, but it doesn’t change the fact that he broke the rules. I don’t want to do it, but—”
“Then don’t!” Initiate Tolle snapped. “Use your head and think about this for once. He is not our enemy. They are!” she shouted, pointing in the direction the Infected had retreated. “So, stop further dividing us. We need to work together, Jane, not against one another. Can’t you see that? Things are different now. We need to start acting like it. Otherwise, we’re all dead when they come back.”
“We can’t wait for them to come back,” Damien said quietly while everyone else looked around, waiting for Jane to make her decision. “That’s the second worst option, after arresting myself.”
Jane frowned. “Reinforcements from Winterspell can be here in a matter of hours, Damien. The best thing we can do is sit around and wait for them. Then we will hunt down those Infected, I believe you called them, and rid our world of them together.”
“By then it will be too late,” Damien said.
“What do you mean? We hurt them. We drove them off. We have time to regroup now.” Jane was looking around the group for support for her plan.
But she wasn’t finding it.
“Jane,” Anna said, stepping forward. “We need to do this another way. Their way. Our rules don’t work anymore. These aren’t creatures from the Abyss that we’re up against. This is worse. Much worse. Let’s just listen to them, okay? They have far more experience with these Infected than we do.”
“Exactly. And yet they still lost their entire planet!” Jane shouted. “How does that make me trust them now?”
Suddenly, Anna understood what was driving Jane, what was making the woman do what she was doing. It wasn’t her desire to uphold the rules, to be the responsible one. That wasn’t it at all.
She was afraid.
“I’m scared too,” Anna admitted. “Terrified. I doubt I’m the only one.”
Maddison shook her head, not denying it. “Petrified. I almost died once. You think I want to do it again?”
“I don’t relish going up against them,” Damien said.
Altair and Rane nodded their agreements, as did Genna, who had remained silent and watchful at the rear of all the commotion. “Me too,” she whispered.
“But we can’t let that fear paralyze us, Jane. We need to do this. To work as a team, the seven of us. Everyone is counting on us now. We can’t let them down.”
Jane looked around the circle of witches and dragons, realizing she wasn’t the only one feeling the way she was. “Why is this happening to us?”
Anna walked up to the woman, no longer afraid of any confrontation, and pulled her into a hug. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “We’re going to win.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because next time, we’re going to attack them. We won’t be surprised. We’ll be ready for them.” Jane smiled bravely, but Anna knew the other woman’s courage was barely holding together. There was an equal chance she would freeze or attack when the time came.
I just hope it’s attack.
“We can’t waste any more time,” Damien said quietly. “It’s already begun.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, turning to face him, fear fluttering in her stomach.
“I think only one Infected came through the portal,” he said quietly. “I didn’t recognize the ice dragon.”
“What do you mean?” Anna didn’t like where this was going.
Damien nodded his head in Rane’s direction. “Rane was one of the first through. He says the fire dragon is—was—Tellan. He came through the portal with the first wave.”
Anna froze as the implications of that hit home. Damien saw the understanding in her eyes and nodded.
“Yes. They’ve already infected at least one person on this side of the portal. Maybe more.”
Oh fuck.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Anna
“I still think our best option is to wait,” Jane said as the circle tightened, and they began to make their plans. “If these Infected are already growing in numbers, then how long before they’re too strong for us to defeat? If we go into battle against them, and we lose, they gain up to seven more of us on their side.”
Anna bit her lip. She hadn’t thought about it like that before. Not from the perspective that for every one of their team that went down, the enemy gained a new soldier. It was unpleasant to think about.
If her friends and the other witches at Winterspell came under attack from their own kind, how would they respond? Would Courtney be able to kill the creature inhabiting Anna’s body? Or would she too succumb, thinking that perhaps her friend could still be saved, only to realize too late that Anna was already dead?
“And I thought vampires were bad,” she muttered.
“What do you mean?” Damien was confused. “Vampires?”
“Creatures from the Abyss. The magical netherworld. Their bite contains a poison that slowly kills the victim, making them crave human blood for sustenance when on the mortal plane. But while the poison creates a new vampire, it only does so with the body. The mind is still the same person. Memories, thoughts, attitudes. That doesn’t change, they just become this blood-sucking version of their former selves.”
“But not the Infected,” she said. “They kill the mind, but keep the body. Your friends will never know that it’s you. Perhaps not until it’s too late.”
Damien nodded. “That’s how it was in the early stages of the war on our planet. Kids were some of the first infected as it spread rapidly. Mothers were attacked. It’s why we have so few of either, and why they are so precious to us,” he admitted quietly. “We lost so many so quickly…”
“I can’t imagine the horrors you have seen,” Anna said, squeezing his arm, wanting to pull him into a tight hug, but knowing it was best not to do that in front of everyone. “It must have been terrible.”
Damien was silent, the whole circle reflecting on what it must have been like to watch your world die, killed by its own people, all while you were forced to fight them and kill them if you wanted to survive yourself. Anna couldn’t imagine…
“It was,” he said, clearing his throat. “But our world is dead. There’s nothing we can do about it anymore, unfortunately. Your world, however, is not. Earth still has a chance, if we strike, and if we strike soon. Kill them now, before they can spread, and we can save humanity from the fate that befell Dracia.”
Anna nodded. “You know I’m with you.”
Altair and Rane as well were in, no one ever doubting their commitment.
That only left the trio of witches. None of them had faced combat before today, and Anna suspected that without something as tangible to fight for as she had with Damien, they were unsure of it all.
Well, you’re technically the patrol leader, Anna. Time to do your job and lead them.
“We’ve been training for this, girls. Since we first arrived at Winterspell, these are the types of events we have been training for, preparing for. True, we thought we’d be going up against a lone faery or rogue troll. Maybe a goblin tribe if we were lucky. But think about it. Do you think our ancestors were ready for what came their way when the big incursions happened?”
Genna and the others shifted uncomfortably.
“Exactly. How do you think they felt when Jack came across in the late 1800’s? He killed a bunch of our sisters in London before fleeing here, where he was finally stopped in San Francisco, but not before destroying most of the city and killing over three thousand people, including many of those who studied right here at Winterspell.”
“But…” Jane started to say, but Anna wasn’t done.
“Do you think they were ready to fight Hitler and his army of vampires when they burst out of the Alps and took over Germany? Or when Poseidon himself slipped through a rift and flooded Indonesia not fifteen years ago? Hundreds of thousands died before we could stop him and force him out. Do
you think the initial witches who encountered him were ready for that?”
Jane subsided. They all knew the history, of the dozens upon dozens of times that the Abyss had been breached on a larger scale, and the witches of the Academies across the globe had responded. That was what they truly trained for. The one-off incidents were nothing. It was the big ones they had to be ready for.
Like this.
“We are tasked with defending humanity from paranormal threats,” Anna said. “At all costs. That is our primary mission. Tell me this is not fulfilling that. Nothing in our mission specifically talks about the Abyss as our only area of responsibility. We simply haven’t encountered another type of threat. Until now. Join me, my sisters, and let us strike the first blow against this horrible enemy and help save others from a terrible fate.”
She saw Damien looking at her out of the corner of her eyes, his face filled with respect and gratitude. He knew they would have to take this threat on together if they wanted to survive, and she knew that the worst thing she could do was nothing. Dying would be bad but losing Damien would be worse.
Her body entire body sang for him, in a way she’d never before known with anything, let alone a man. When she was near him, Anna felt complete, felt whole. In fact, she felt more powerful too. Her magic came easier, and when she thought of him, she cast it stronger, like she had against the ice dragon.
He was her source of strength, it seemed. One of them, at least, because Anna was no weakling on her own. Her magic wasn’t the strongest, but her brain was something she’d worked long and hard to forge into its own weapon.
“I’m in,” Maddison, said quietly. “I owe Damien, but you’re right, Anna. This is our mission. Our cause. If we back down from this, then everything we’ve ever expressed about wanting to help others was just a lie. It won’t always be easy. Sometimes it’s going to be hard. It’s going to ask a lot, or perhaps everything, of us. But if we aren’t ready to answer, then we’re not true Witches of Winterspell.”
Anna nodded in agreement and thanks.
“Me too,” Genna said, coming to her decision. “You’re going to need someone to watch your back,” she told Anna with a little smile, attempting to lighten the mood.”
All eyes turned to Jane, the senior-most Initiate of the group, and also the strongest witch among them. Anna had long thought that in time, Jane would eventually become part of the Coven. She was that strong in the ways of magic.
“You’re pretty good at that speech thing,” Jane told her.
“Thanks. I don’t have your gifts with the arts, but I try to be strong in every other way I can. I never thought motivational speeches would be one of them, but here we are,” she joked.
“You know we’re just as likely to die as succeed, right?” Jane asked, looking at everyone.
“Yes,” Anna answered for them. “We do. If we fight, we might die. But if we stand around and wait, then other people will die. That’s the difference we fight for. That we must fight for.”
Jane sighed. “Alright, I’m in. Let’s kick some ass.”
There was no celebration at their unity, but a sense of accomplishment did come over Anna. She’d helped to give them their best possible chance at winning. That was something.
“Thank you for your support,” Damien rumbled. “Gather what you need. We leave in fifteen.”
Anna swallowed nervously. This was it. There was no turning back now.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Damien
This is it. Your last chance. Don’t screw it up now. Take it; you might not get another one, and you don’t want to live with that regret. Tell her!
Steeling himself, he glanced down at Anna who was still watching her other witches as they returned to their quarters to prepare for battle.
“Do you need to get anything?” he asked.
Anna shook her head. “No. I have everything I need right here.”
He wondered if she meant more than just the staff in her left hand. Could she mean…?
You’ll never know if you don’t ask!
Fine. He was going to do it.
Damien leaned down to her. “Can I talk to you?”
She nodded, turning to face him. “Yeah of course. What is it?”
Shaking his head, he jerked it off to the side, away from his fellow storm dragons.
“Alone?”
Frowning, Anna nodded and followed him as he walked away from the cluster of buildings a little, past even where his brothers could listen in. He didn’t think they would purposefully eavesdrop, but it was hard not to hear things sometimes when they were said in range of your hearing.
“What’s up?” Anna asked when he abruptly stopped and faced her. “Is something wrong?”
“What? No, no nothing’s wrong,’ he said, not wanting her to get that impression. “In fact, the opposite.”
I think.
“What are you talking about, Damien?” Her fingers gripped the staff tighter.
“Um.” He was choking. Freezing in the moment, the words he wanted to say failing him.
“Thank you for coming, and bringing the others,” he said lamely.
Anna frowned, her eyebrows knitting together over those beautifully dark eyes that seemed to draw him in every time he looked into them. “That’s what you wanted to say to me in private?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not at all.”
“What’s up then? Is there something you haven’t told me?” She looked worried still.
“Anna, there’s something I want you to know. Before we leave.”
Her eyes opened. “Oh. Ohh.”
She seemed to be catching on to what he was doing now. At least, what Damien hoped he was going to do. So far, his nerves were failing him at every turn. It was one thing to stare down certain death and give it the finger, but telling someone how he felt about them? That was freaking hard.
“I don’t understand this,” he said, the words coming slowly. “I’m still confused by it all. I’ve cared for people in the past. I’ve had relationships, ups and downs. Good times and bad. Like anyone. But…” he smiled at her, feeling his heart fill to bursting as she smiled back, the joy on her face unlike anything he’d ever seen in a woman before. “But with you, it’s different.”
Anna nodded. “I think I understand. There is something here,” she said.
Damien’s eyes widened. “Yes. Not just feelings. Not just emotions.”
“Something tangible,” Anna said forcefully, clenching her free hand into a fist. “Like I can feel it. Touch.”
“But I can’t see it,” he continued. “Some sort of…of…like…link, between us.”
“A bond.”
Damien straightened, eyes looking into the distance for a moment. “Exactly like a bond. Yes. That’s it. I feel like we’re bonded, like something, somewhere, has decided that the two of us, we’re meant to be together. More so than either of us would ever feel with anyone else. Ever. When I’m around you I feel—”
“Stronger. Not just physically,” Anna said excitedly, shaking her staff. “When I cast that spell, Damien, I was thinking of you. Of all the things I would miss out on with you. My inspiration, the thing that granted me the power, it was you. I could feel it. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
He shook his head, not believing any of it. “But what is it?”
Anna faltered. “Well I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”
“Me neither,” he confessed. “My people talk about feelings, about emotions, but nothing like this.”
“We use it in our books, in stories, but everyone knows it’s not actually serious. That people are just with someone right. But this goes beyond that,” Anna said, her voice trailing off. “But what does it become?”
Damien shook his head. “I have no idea about that, but there is one thing I know. One thing that I have to tell you.”
“What?”
“I love you, Anna Sturgis. That much is clear t
o me. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, I am thoroughly, completely and totally, unashamedly, unabashedly, one hundred percent, with my whole, entire body, fully and utterly—”
“I love you too, Damien,” she interrupted, grinning from ear to ear as his rambling died away. “You have everything I have to give and will always have it.”
He kissed her there, uncaring of what the others would say, not bothering to pay any attention. This woman was his, his soulmate, the other half of his being, and nothing any of the witches could say would take that away from him.
“I feel so much better having finally said that,” he confessed. “It’s been on my mind since…”
“Since the barn?” Anna supplied with a teasing smile. “And here I thought you wanted me just for my ass.”
Damien grinned wickedly. “Oh, I intend on having your ass, as you say, but I want the whole thing.”
There was a noise behind him. Damien froze.
Anna blushed, looking around his shoulder and then leaning back. She pointed, her face completely red in the midday light.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Genna and the other witches had approached and were standing no more than a few feet away.
“Ew,” Genna said bluntly. “Wow.”
Before Damien could reply, Anna stepped up next to him. “Right. And if Altair over there threw you over his shoulder and took you inside, you would object so much,” she said. “Don’t forget, I know your secrets. You think Altair is just so cute. You were gushing over him the first day the dragons arrived, going on and on about how hot he was.” Anna giggled. “So, don’t tell me you don’t understand.”
“Um. Anna.”
She turned to look at him. “Yes?”
It was Damien’s turn to point to his left.
Altair and Rane were standing just out of her periphery, having come closer once the witches were ready.