“The wolves will still be able to hear them,” I said. “And see them, if they accidentally get too close. Most of them will be discovered and killed. And besides the fact that we shouldn’t be putting civilians in danger like that at all, we need those charms for Prince Jacen’s mission. Without those charms, we lose our chance of a sneak attack on the Nephilim, which means we lose our shot at getting the ring. It’s not a risk we can afford to take.”
Especially not for me, since I was depending on controlling Geneva to get the spell to turn myself into a vampire queen.
“A valid point.” Scott nodded. “I suppose we’ll need more charms then, won’t we?”
“Those charms were made with dark magic,” I reminded him. “Dark magic isn’t practiced in the Vale.”
“I know all about dark magic,” he said. “For it to work, it requires the blood of one killed by the witch’s own hand. We certainly have enough humans in the dungeons ready for slaughter, so I fail to see the issue.”
I took a deep breath, annoyed by his ignorance—and his selfishness. He knew the effects dark magic had on witches. But apparently, he needed a reminder. “Once a witch starts using dark magic, it weakens their ability to perform natural magic.” I spoke as calmly as I could, given the awfulness of what he was requesting. “In laymen’s terms—they get addicted to dark magic. Since my natural magic keeps the boundary up around the Vale, and we all need that magic to keep the Vale protected, I’m unable to perform dark magic. At least, not without weakening my ability to keep us all safe.”
“You’re not the only witch in the Vale,” he said. “Surely one of the others can do this for us.”
“You can’t ask that of them.” I curled my fists under the table, disgusted by Scott’s suggestion. “Even if you do, none of them will agree to it.”
“I can ask it of them,” he said, his eyes flashing with determination. “And I will—even if it means compelling them to follow orders myself.”
“You won’t be able to compel them.” I instinctively reached for the wormwood pendant that I always wore around my neck. “You know very well that they use wormwood to protect themselves, just as I do.”
We didn’t just wear the protective charms—those were mainly for show. We also ingested wormwood daily. Living in a kingdom of vampires, it was the only way to ensure we maintained autonomy over our decisions.
“Well, then,” Scott said. “I’ve decided upon my first command as acting king.”
“What’s that?” I sat as straight as possible, even though the coldness in his tone chilled me to the bones.
“Signing a new law that from now forward, not only humans are forbidden to use wormwood to protect themselves—but that witches are, too.”
Annika
Mary stood by her promise of acquiring Jacen and I fake papers—along with a private jet to take us to Tromso, Norway. The jet was stocked with more food and drinks than we could possibly consume, including bagged human blood for Jacen.
I silently thanked Mary for thinking of everything.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t enjoy the jet nearly as much as I would have in any other circumstance. I was too busy trying to analyze what Rosella had told me regarding my destiny. Jacen listened to me and tried to help, but it was no use. Besides the coordinates, we didn’t have enough information to go on to come to any solid conclusions.
By the time we arrived in Tromso, we were no closer to figuring out an answer than we were when we’d taken off.
I shivered when I got off the plane, glad that Mary had also given me winter gear for the trip. Jacen, of course, was unaffected by the cold.
A car waited for us on the tarmac—a black Jeep Wrangler, with huge extra headlights attached to the front. I supposed those were necessary in a place where the sun was barely out in the winter.
However, the sun barely being out was a good thing, since Jacen was only at full strength at night. While vampires could go out during the day, it weakened them more and more the longer they were out in the sun. Jacen needed to be at full strength for the entirety of this mission, which meant avoiding the few hours per day that the sun was out in northern Norway.
A man stood next to the car, and he introduced himself as Tom. “Here are the keys to the Jeep,” he said, dangling them in front of his chest. “Who’s driving?”
“Me!” I rushed for those keys faster than a feral vampire ran at a freshly wounded human.
Jacen was by my side in an instant. “You sure about that?” He raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
“I haven’t driven in ages.” I pouted. “Not since being taken to the Vale. And this car…” I sized it up, smiling in approval. I’d always wanted a cool car, but my parents had insisted on getting me a boring SUV. This was far more in tune with my tastes. “I’m a good driver. I promise.”
“I believe you,” he said. “But you’re also from Florida. Have you ever driven in snow before?”
I looked around at the snow-covered mountains and frowned, because he made a good point. Not only had I not driven in snow, but I’d also never driven on terrain that wasn’t flat.
“Fine,” I muttered, since I didn’t come all this way to have the quest end in a car accident. “You can drive.”
I handed the keys off to Jacen, and he swung them around his fingers, looking at the Jeep in excitement.
“There’s a survival kit and some cans of petrol in the back, in case of emergency,” Tom said. “You can never be too prepared in these parts.”
I opened the back trunk, curious to see what we had. Water, canned food, and bagged blood—apparently Mary’s special requests went far. Next to the gasoline was a kit with a flashlight, matches, a flare gun, and the like. There was a first aid kit as well—not like we’d likely need it, due to our accelerated healing abilities. There was also a shovel and ice pick—things we didn’t need in our cars in Florida, but were apparently standard here.
They also could make good weapons, if necessary.
With that thought, I brought them up to the front seat, just in case. I hoped we wouldn’t need them, but like Tom said, it never hurt to be prepared.
“Ready?” Jacen said, hopping into the driver’s seat.
“Ready,” I said.
He plugged the coordinates into his phone—a borrowed phone, of course, since he’d left his at the Haven so the vampires of the Vale couldn’t track us—and we were off.
Annika
We were only five minutes into the drive, and I was already glad I’d handed Jacen those keys.
The narrow, snow-covered roads wound around the mountains and fjords—it was about as opposite from Florida driving as you could get. It was so remote that there were no street lamps, and I was grateful for the heavy duty headlights attached to the Wrangler. Even with our enhanced supernatural sight, it would have been tough to see otherwise.
There was apparently no direct way to get to where we were going—likely because of the mountains and fjords—and we wound around the roads so much that it felt like we were going in circles. I only knew we were driving north up the coast thanks to the GPS on Jacen’s phone. When we’d started the drive, there were a handful of other cars on the road, but now there was no one but us.
I gazed out the window, glad Jacen was driving so I could take in the scenery. It was truly beautiful—I felt like we were driving through another world.
“In point five miles, your destination will be on the left,” the robotic voice of the GPS lady said.
I looked around in confusion. There were no hints of civilization in sight—just the mountains to our right, and the ocean to our left.
Where on Earth were these coordinates taking us?
We were nearly to the other side of a bridge when a huge animal leapt from the mountain and onto the road.
Jacen pumped on the brakes, and the Jeep skidded to a stop only a few meters away from the animal.
Now that it was right in front of us, I gazed up in shock. Because that wasn’t
an animal. At least, it wasn’t any type of animal I’d ever seen.
It was a troll.
It was as tall as a house and wide enough to take up the entire two-lane road, blocking our exit from the bridge. Its skin looked like bark, and the rest of its body looked like rocks. It held onto a walking stick, and while it didn’t directly say, “Thou shall not pass,” that was the vibe I was getting from its stance.
It didn’t move to attack—it just stood there and watched us, as if it expected us to turn around and drive in the opposite direction. That was what any sane person would have done—but we needed to get to the location of those coordinates, and judging from the map, this road was the only way there.
“Is it just me, or is that a troll?” I asked, wanting to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
“It’s not just you,” Jacen confirmed. “It’s definitely a troll. And it apparently doesn’t want us getting to where we’re going.”
I reached for the shovel, ready to use it if necessary—and glad I’d brought it to the front. “Drive forward,” I told him. “See if it moves out of the way.”
I doubted it would move—our Wrangler couldn’t take on the troll, and I bet it knew that—but it seemed worth the try. Jacen apparently agreed, because the car started to move slowly forward.
The troll slammed his walking stick into the ground straight ahead of us, and Jacen braked again. The stick was only inches from the car this time.
If Jacen had gone past the edge of the bridge, the front of the Wrangler would have been scrap metal.
“That was close,” I said.
“It’s not attacking us,” Jacen said. “It’s just not letting us past the bridge.”
“We need to get by,” I said. “And I don’t think it’ll be open to reasoning with us.”
“It can’t hurt,” he said.
I gave him the side-eye, not needing words to let him know how insane I thought that sounded.
“It seems like a better plan than fighting it,” he said. “Especially since we don’t have any weapons.”
I reached for the ice pick and handed it to him, keeping my grip on my shovel. “Take that,” I said. “Just in case.”
He frowned at the ice pick. “That big guy will crush this,” he said.
“Just take it.”
“Fine.” He held tightly onto the ice pick and got out of the car.
I did the same, gazing up at the hideous troll looming overhead. With each step we took, my instinct told me that this wasn’t going to work. But Jacen was right—anything was better than fighting this thing.
“Hi.” I smiled and lowered my shovel, forcing myself to sound breezy and confident. “We need to continue down this road, if you wouldn’t mind letting us pass.”
The troll leaned down and reached forward, as if to shake my hand. His skin looked even more bark-like up close—he truly was made up of stone and wood—and he held eye contact with me the entire time.
I stepped forward, hoping we were establishing some kind of understanding.
The moment I crossed onto land, he knocked me to the ground and plucked the shovel from my grip, tossing it into the sea.
The hit to the ground knocked the wind out of me. But I took a pained breath inward, forcing myself to stand.
As I was getting up, Jacen ran at the troll in a blur, stabbing its arm with the ice pick.
The troll grunted and slapped Jacen to the side, as if he were a bug and not a super strong vampire.
Jacen landed on the bridge and recovered quickly, standing up and brushing the snow off himself. Now that he was back on our side of the bridge, the troll had returned to ignoring him. But Jacen still had the ice pick in hand, and he narrowed his eyes at the troll, looking ready to try again.
“Stop!” I called out to him, and he did as I said, looking at me with question in his eyes. “I think I have a better idea.”
I ran to the back of the car, relieved when Jacen followed. As expected, the troll remained where it stood. Throughout all of this, he’d stayed on “his” side of the bridge. Apparently, he was purely defensive—he wouldn’t attack unless we did so first.
“What’s your idea?” Jacen asked. “Because that thing is as strong as a mountain. I can’t think of a supernatural on Earth who could get through it.”
“We’re not going through it.” I picked up one of the jugs of gasoline and handed it to Jacen, and then lifted one for myself. Thanks to my Nephilim strength, it wasn’t heavy at all. “We’re going to burn it.”
“Nice.” Jacen uncapped his jug and headed toward the troll before I could say more.
We both hurled the gasoline at the troll, making sure to stay on the bridge as we did so. As long as we were on the bridge, the troll didn’t attack. There must have been some kind of magical barrier where the bridge met the land. He sniffed the air a few times as the gasoline landed on him, but other than that, he stood in place, making sure the bridge wasn’t passable.
“Now for the fun part,” I said once both of the containers were empty.
Jacen raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. “I never would have pinned you as a pyromaniac,” he said as we walked back to the car.
“A girl’s gotta have her secrets.” I actually wasn’t a pyromaniac—I was just excited to see if my plan would work—but a little flirting never hurt anyone, not even when they were fighting a troll.
I fished around the survival kit, smiling when I found the flare gun. I’d never used a flare before, but I had shot a gun—we had plenty of gun shooting ranges in Florida. I used the flashlight to skim over the directions—luckily, the flare didn’t look too complicated to use.
“Get in the passenger seat,” Jacen told me as he climbed inside the car. “How far does that thing shoot?”
“A thousand feet,” I told him what I’d read on the instructions.
“Perfect.” He turned the car around and drove to the other side of the bridge.
The troll watched us, but it didn’t move. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to move until we were off the bridge entirely.
It apparently thought it was the Bridge Master. Up until now, it probably was.
But up until now, it hadn’t met us.
“How close to the troll are we?” I asked, since I didn’t know exactly how far a thousand feet was.
“Close enough to hit it,” he said. “And far enough away that we won’t get blown up in the blast. Are you sure you don’t want me to do this?”
“Have you ever shot a gun before?” I asked him.
“Why use guns when you have fangs?” He smiled and flashed his fangs, as if reminding me how dangerous he was.
A part of me urged me to go for my stake—it must have been my angel instinct—but I resisted. My instinct might recoil at the sight of vampire fangs, but my brain—and heart—knew better.
“I’ll take that as I no,” I said.
I flipped my hair over my shoulder as I got out of the car, then I readied my stance and pulled the trigger.
Annika
The troll exploded into flames.
It howled and stumbled off to the side of the road, hurling itself straight into the ocean.
I jumped back into the car and fastened my seatbelt. “Go!” I screamed, although Jacen hardly needed the encouragement to put the pedal to the metal and race down the bridge. I laughed at the thrill of the speed, adrenaline rushing through my body as we peeled down the road.
We whizzed by the place where the troll had been standing, and I turned around in time to see the creature’s big ugly head surface above the water.
It huffed, as if frustrated that we got away, but made no attempt to hurry out to follow us.
Relief coursed through my veins at the fact that the troll wasn’t dead. Which was silly, I knew—that troll would have killed us if we’d attempted to fight it to get past the bridge—but I didn’t want to kill if I didn’t have to.
Especially since the deaths of those three vampires guards still haunt
ed my conscious. They were just doing their jobs, like the troll was doing his. They hadn’t deserved to die.
But I faced forward, not wanting to allow myself to spiral. We had a quest to focus on. Wallowing in self-pity wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
“Your destination is on the left,” the GPS lady said, and Jacen slowed the car as we approached.
The only thing on the left was an abandoned house with a rickety dock going out into the ocean. The roof sagged, looking about to fall in, and the windows were cracked and dirty.
It looked like it had come straight from a horror movie. But this was clearly where we were supposed to be—it was the only building on the road for miles.
“It’s deserted,” Jacen said as he pulled the car to a stop in front. “And decrepit. I wouldn’t trust the floor to hold us.”
“We didn’t come all this way not to go in,” I said, already on my way out of the car. I doubted anyone was inside—Jacen was right that it looked deserted—but I carried my stake with me just in case.
“I know that,” he said, fast behind me. “We just need to be careful where we step, that’s all.”
I nodded and headed toward the rickety building, my angel instinct warming my chest with each step I took. “There’s another clue for us in there,” I said, walking faster now. “I feel it.”
Jacen walked beside me, and we paused on top of the faded welcome mat in front of the door.
He reached forward to open it, but stopped himself. “This is your quest,” he said, dropping his arm to his side and motioning for me to take the lead. “After you.”
“Thanks.” I reached for the door, but not to open it. Instead, I knocked.
Jacen raised an eyebrow, clearly thinking I was nuts to have knocked on the door of an obviously abandoned building, but said nothing.
We waited for a few seconds.
Nothing happened.
A breeze passed by, and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself and missing the heat inside the Wrangler. I tried to peak through the window, but the glass was covered in so much filth that it was nearly opaque.
The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World) Page 54