I think for a moment, “They will have no footing. Trust me.”
She nods.
This war will be taxing for all, however, the necessity of it all is more important than the losses we face.
Chapter 23
Mason.
The King had only just returned from his journey to the Council, but already he has made the preparations for the execution of the Shifter I've heard so much about.
“You shouldn’t do this,” I hear Brooke mutter to him.
“I must conquer,” the Advisor, Hamish, says.
What they are referring to is the public execution. Neither one cares for a Shifter’s life, and I do confess that nor do I.
“She has to be killed, what are you two talking about?”
Brooke gives me a coy smile.
"Daffyd, maybe you should listen to them. Call off the spectacle, and treat her to an honorable death," I interject, but knowing Daffyd Llanelli, he will ignore any advice I give out of spite.
“We’ve been over this. You don’t get to budge in on Vampire business because you’re too busy being your high-and-mighty self.”
I let a chuckle out. “Then so be it. Don’t say we did not warn you.”
He shrugs off what I said and continues to look at the crowd of vampires that have gathered. Among them are others. Wolves, witches, and, if I’m not mistaken, a few Shifters too.
This is not going to end well.
“Ladies and gentleman, thank you for all gathering today with us here in the Veil’s colosseum,” he cries over the crowd. The vampires immediately roar in exciting anticipation.
"If you did not hear, this little lady thought she could walk into my home and take my life from me," I can tell he regrets that choice of words, "So, what I've done is, I've arranged a little game for her to play. If she makes it through the first three levels she will get to face me."
The Shifter below is chained at the neck and arms, to a platform that rolls in from a gated-off area. She's been stripped of her clothes and weapons, and alone she stands.
“Her blood is fresh and sacred. It will be a sweet treat to whoever gets the kill,” He snaps his fingers and three more gated off areas open up. Gladiators walk out onto the field, each one with various weapons. One a spear, with a large quiver on his back, holding a few more.
Another holds a sword and shield.
The third has two whips.
"Now, shift little kitten or you'll suffer the cruelest of fates."
On his command, the Shifter turns into her animal form. A tiger. Beautiful, strong, and majestic.
She launches forward with a fierce roar, but is struck down by a spear in her mid-section. Another one flies through the air and strikes her on the opposite side, throwing both of her back legs out of commission.
"I think that's enough. There are Shifters present," I urge.
“Silence,” Daffyd is so far gone in this blood sport that he has no care for what I have to say.
“This is only round one. She will face her trials, and then she will have a chance at me,” he reiterates, but there is no hope for her. I can see it, he knows it. He’s too afraid to face her at full strength anyway.
I rise from my seat.
The battle has already continued to such an extent that the shifter has thrust herself onto the vampire holding the sword and shield, somehow disarming him, tearing at his throat.
“Good,” I begin walking off.
Another tremendous roar, and I notice that the shifter has a long tear down her back. A crack of the whip? I contemplate. A second crack snaps on her shoulder, confirming this was the cause.
The vampire with the spears flings another one into her side. Then to the open wound on her shoulder, and she collapses to the ground. I can hear the heartbeat, smell the blood. There’s nothing I can do for her.
She shifts back into her human form.
“Wait!” I hear the King shout from where we were sitting, “Wait!” he shouts again, grabbing his coat from the seating area and launching himself off toward the colosseum grounds.
“Yes, Sire?” one of the vampires ask. I’ve already moved closer to the circle battleground, among the people. My plan was to execute the shifter personally. Have her suffering end.
This is an interesting development, however, and I want to see where it comes out.
One spear hangs from her upper thigh. Another from her hip. One lodged just below her ribcage. And the final spear pierced through her shoulder and is sticking out the other side.
“I want to do it!” he shouts, leaning over the girl, “I want to kill her.”
“You said we could,” the vampire snaps, but Daffyd is having none of it. He slaps the underling, and he flies to the ground.
“This is what happens when you think you can take on the King,” he leans down, but already I hear a grumbling somewhere in the crowd. It’s when his teeth pierce through her neck that a stone flies through the air, so accurately thrown that it strikes the King on the bridge of his nose.
“Who do you think you are?” someone roars from the crowd.
More stones begin flying through the air, across the entire colosseum. Each one that strikes a vampire instantly makes them bleed. I move back to where Brooke is sitting, and take a chair beside her.
“Do you know what he has done?” I ask. Daffyd’s eyes turn from the girl who is limp in his arms, to the rocks, to myself and his wife.
“I do. I wanted it to happen,” she smiles, “The Shifters will have no choice but to fight now. They may not have a hierarchal system, but they will not be pushed around.”
“And what’s your end game exactly?” The stone throwing comes to an end. The Shifters taking their forms, werewolves standing alongside them, and the vampires preparing for an inevitable battle, but it’s here that the King curiously calls a retreat.
“My end game? I haven’t thought that through. Maybe I want to be rid of Daffyd. Maybe I want to be Queen alone. I don’t truly know. What I do know is that Daffyd’s actions have great consequences. The kind that will get me what I want in one way or another. The Shifters are coming and so are the Werewolves. By the time the Forsaken strike, he will have nothing left to defend himself with.”
I begin to laugh.
“You’re almost as cruel as he is.”
Then I am gone.
Chapter 24
Jack.
It was just another ordinary day. I’d just come back from a werewolf hunt in Glasgow. It was a quick and easy job. I can’t even say that I broke a sweat. I’m not really all that much in terms of hunters, but I’ve begun making a reputation for myself here. When I am sent on a task, I complete it with haste. There’s nothing that gets in my way. I take after my father, in that respect.
Without him, none of this would even exist for me.
There was no time for these thoughts when I eventually got back to the office in London. There was a great hustle and bustle around, regarding the young girl that went missing. In my year and a half with the Division, I’ve never seen anything like it. Folks were going crazy.
This, however, was a big case. It meant that a young girl was kidnapped by a paranormal. Why? I’m not sure, but if the commotion is this grand, it must be something great. I walk to my office, sit down and just as I do, a young lady walks into my office. I don’t know her well, but I do know that she’s the Directors daughter and secretary.
"Hey, handsome," Kiara has been flirty with me ever since I met her. It's been playful for the most part, though I know that to some degree there's definitely an element of seriousness, but I'd never do something like that. Her father, I understand, is not the kind of man to take personal matters of this sort lightly, "My dad wants to see you. Go up when you're ready."
That was all. She leaves, but I get up to chase quickly.
“Do you know anything about this whole thing? The girl and all that? Why’s everyone going so crazy?” We walk together, through the building, in the direction of her
desk that stands just before the director’s grand doors.
“I don’t know, hey. Something to do with her being a witch? I don’t get involved with any of that. Just the admin chick,” She smiles, pressing the button for the elevator that opens immediately.
We get in, "So, it's true? Is she a Deicine? Why would William want to see me, then?”
"Like I said, I don't know any of the details. Just go speak to him," she giggles at me. I'm excited, though. It's the only reason I ask so many questions.
The rest of the walk is relatively quiet. When we get to her desk, I can swear that she winked, but I don’t really say anything about it in case I just saw something wrong.
“Good luck,” she finishes, as I open the door and step inside.
~ ~ ~
"Sir, I heard you wanted to see me," I say, stepping in, walking over to his desk and standing behind the available chairs in a military pose.
“Yes, Jack. I’m sure you’ve noticed the commotion downstairs. Everyone’s going slightly mad over the young girl you and Victoria were sent to investigate the other day,” he gestures with one hand that I take a seat in one of the two chairs. I do so.
“What’s the new word on the girl?”
"We got something from America. A werewolf. An alpha of some pack," William opens a drawer and pulls out from within, a small black box, "We don't know if we can trust the monsters abroad. They don't work under the same laws as us. They run their own shows without the intervention of an outside party." He puts the box on the side of a stack of notes, "That's not a problem, however. We definitely know this Romulus, as he calls himself, is not lying. He's got a witch on the inside of the Veil coven who's feeding him information. We didn't discuss details, but he mentioned Madison and the Deicine ritual the vampire King plans to use, to take on the Forsaken.”
“The Vampires are taking on the Gods? Doesn’t that seem a little bit stupid?”
“Yes and no. There’s a whole backstory to it, but it’s all in here,” William pats the pile of papers. I know they’re dossier files. Is he giving this case to me?
“I know what you’re thinking,” he smiles, “Yes, this case is yours. You’ve worked hard and proven yourself, Jack. Your father was a great hunter. Just like you will someday be,” he looks over to a picture sitting on a shelf. It’s a much younger him and my father together. They were partners back in their youth.
“This is going to be a difficult assignment. Perhaps, the hardest you will ever take on. I put my full trust in you. Bring this girl back safely.”
He slides the massive folder over to me. The black box too, “What’s this, sir?”
“It will keep you sane. In the hardest of times,” he smiles. “Oh wait, that’s whiskey,” he adds with a tease. “It’s a ring. You may not know this but your father was a dampyre,” He was right. I had no idea.
“A turned vampire that never completed the ritual. When they came to take him, he placed his energy into this ring. He knew that he could wipe out hordes of the vampire cronies, but thought there no point, since he would inevitably have to face a vampire who’d kill him anyway,” I could hear that this was a soft spot for William, so I let him have his moment in silence, “Anyway, your dad was powerful. The shift is where you take hold of your full potential, your father somehow had this without needing to tame it. He was lucky. I’ve never seen it happen before or after him.” Which is shocking. The Director deals with vampires on a near daily basis, “He knew that it would someday fall from me to you. I never had the balls to put it on though. So, now it’s yours. Use it wisely.”
I take the papers and the box. I bow my head in respect to my father, the fallen hero. William does the same.
“I won’t let you down, sir.”
He smiles, “I know you won’t, Jack.”
Chapter 25
Aliana.
It was just my luck. The second time I needed to see him, and the second time Mason was shacked up in the Veil’s stronghold. This must have been fate.
After our last conversation, I know that he's on board with saving the girl. I'm glad about this. With him, at my side, I know that both the young witch and Abbey will be safe. These are my only goals.
Keeping the girls safe, no matter what.
I enter his chambers. He’s behind the desk, writing down something.
“No. You don’t understand. It’s not as easy as simply getting her out.” He’s speaking to nothing. Nothing but everything.
“They will follow,” he replies to whoever is speaking.
Again, there’s a silence before his next reply, “Yes, I know she’s here. Come in, Aliana,” I walk into the room and close the door, “We will speak again, old friend.”
He turns from the desk. In a vial, there's red liquid. I assume it's blood. He writes with a quill. I've always liked his odd eccentricities. Sticking to the old ways, even though he doesn't remember them. From what I see on the paper the same rituals can be done with pen and normal paper. He uses old parchment and this blood concoction.
Yes.
This is what I like about him. The unique, the crazy, and the bold.
“What is it I can help you with?” His lazy stare. His lackluster demeanor. His carefree attitude. In a different life, I may have loved him.
“I want to talk to you about the girls. About witches. About everything.”
“Then speak, my dear.”
I walk over to the bed and take a seat, “The Deicine.”
He stands, his massive frame moving the old wooden chair to face me, “Yes?” He sits back down, “I knew that is why you were here.”
“Do you remember anything at all about the years before the vampires made their Council?” I already know the answer.
“No. Those are too far gone. Why?”
“There was a great war between the witches and warlocks against the vampires,” I only have the stories that have been passed down through the generations, “We lost the battle.”
He listens.
"This loss meant one thing and one thing only," I sigh, "It meant that witch covens were no longer welcome in any vampire-ruled territories. These territories started off in Europe at first, before the expansion of the Council."
The old ways fell away in some areas. America, under Daffyd’s rule, meant that there was no way a witch coven could be formed. I heard that in certain European areas, covens still came up every now and then. Seldom, though.
“Why are you telling me this? It doesn’t seem to be relating to the Deicine at all,” I understand why he’s saying this. He’s busy trying to figure his own problems out.
“It does, though. With the lack of covens, it meant that we had no place. We became slaves to the vampires. We had no home. The Forsaken killed any and all Deicine they could find. Those who had little power could not hunt in further territories without fear of losing their way. The ones that could, were few and far between. They are not the same as they are today. They don’t know about the girl. Not many would even bother with her. ‘Why do I bring up the covens?’ You might be asking….”
I pause a moment. My jumbled thoughts need to be reined in.
"Without covens, many witches and warlocks forgot their heritage. They had nothing to link themselves to. Ancestral witches had no power because their ancestors were forgotten. Those that remembered generally sourced their power from different places. Myself, I was lucky to be raised by one such witch, who sourced her power from the universe."
“An astral witch?”
“Yes. One of the hardest forms to master.”
I’m glad he’s heard of them in this iteration of his life. Astral witches are not as lucky as the others who source power from their ancestors and combined magic that came with years of power in their various hallowed grounds. They took from the universe, and the universe took back.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asks again.
“Just to let you know precisely what I have. We are slaves to the vampires. Our loss dicta
ted our place in their world. If they are able to take on and wipe out the Forsaken, the Vampires will be unstoppable. They will be feared.”
“And I, feared among them.”
This doesn’t make me feel any better.
“You are wasting precious time.”
“It’s only been a few minutes.”
“When you live as long as I have, Aliana, you realize that it’s the minutes that count. Everything leading up to one, perfect point. You may think that eternal life makes you forget how time works, but it’s the opposite. You appreciate it more.”
“I want to go see the girls. Will you come with me?” My talk didn’t go as well as I thought it would. This was my fault for not preparing properly. Maybe, though, if I can bring him to her. Let Mason see Madison with his own eyes, he will have a change of heart.
“Yes.”
He stands again, his massive frame next to mine is comforting.
We walk in silence, to where the King has kept them locked away.
~ ~ ~
When we enter the room, the two girls are instantly up. Abbey runs into my arms. Madison sits on the bed, her eyes fixed on Mason. His, on her.
"Hey, my baby," I stroke Abbey's head. She doesn't seem upset, nor afraid.
She understands that being here is the only way things will all work out. She knows that she will be safe as long as I don’t try and run away.
Madison on the other hand….
She has no understanding of any of this. The world and life she was brought into. How screwed up it all is and the plans that they have for her, well they’re just atrocious.
“Hello, young one,” Mason smiles down at her small form.
“Hello, mister. Have you come to take me home?”
His eyes grow wide. That wasn’t what he was expecting to hear. “Just a little bit longer. Then you will be safe again.”
Chapter 26
Romulus.
I sit in my home, waiting. The ancient vampire is on his way. I've never seen eye-to-eye with his kind, and they know how my pack feels about them, but in these trying times, what else can we do? We have to show that we are in full control when, truly, we have lost it all.
The Vampire Touch 1: The Forsaken Page 7