“No, Hunter, you’re not dreaming,” Sundae offered.
A fight started to break out between the pack and the guards, and Lucky tossed the keys to Rebecca before he turned to help their friends who were under attack. Sundae went to help protect Natalia and Jackson. Full of nervous energy, and with shaky fingers, Rebecca opened the lock, and she and Savannah used their strength to pull open the heavy lid. It was the first time since all this started that they truly worked together as a team.
Jackson took a hit to the face, and spun backward, falling onto the ground. Rebecca gave Savannah the keys, and went to help with the battle.
***
Savannah
THE WIND PICKED UP, WHIPPING Savannah’s blonde ponytail against her cheek as she jumped down into the rabbit’s hole, and landed easily onto the dirty ground. She knew Rebecca would keep their group safe. Her night vision allowed her to look around at the group of prisoners and size up the situation quickly. There were four people in the room, a woman, a man – who held a child tightly in his arms, and Hunter.
She went to Hunter first, and started rattling the keys around trying to find one that would unlock the shackles at his feet. She used all ten keys, and none of them worked.
“Savvy, things are getting pretty hairy out here. Hurry up.” Rebecca’s voice carried on the wind as the heavy, barred door they had just pushed open flew shut again.
“Crap, that was heavy.” Savannah threw the useless keys across the room, and grabbed the shackle chain in two hands. With her supernatural strength she was able to break it in half. Then she went to the other three in the room, and did the same thing. “Okay everyone, it is a warzone up there so be careful.” She smiled warmly at all their hopeful faces. Her eyes fell to the little girl clinging to the man who she assumed was her father. The child’s green eyes had unshed tears threatening to fall. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.” It was a promise she couldn’t keep, but she intended to do all she could to make it come true. This rescue mission made her feel good for the first time in months.
“I’m fine, they gave me my daddy back.” The redheaded girl forced a smile. “I’ll be okay as long as he’s here with me.”
“Thank you for coming for us.” The girl’s father offered his free hand to shake. “I’m Roger, and this is Freya.”
Savannah respected Freya’s gumption, and Roger’s appreciation. He had raised a little warrior. She nodded. “We’ll talk more when we’re safe.” Then, she turned her attention to her brother. “I’m so glad you are okay, brother.” She tried to move the barred door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Becks, I could use a little help here.” She called up through the bars hoping Rebecca heard it through the roaring wind. The wind died down, and Rebecca’s face appeared above them.
“Ready?”
“Yes.” One pushed, and the other pulled the door open. Jackson reached down, and offered his hand to help the captives up.
Georgie’s military training paid off because she managed to get four guns off the enemy, which she shared with Jackson, Natalia, and Hunter.
“Hunter, we could use some of your witchy fire power.” Rebecca grinned as a memory of Hunter tossing a fireball at her face by accident at the compound flashed between them.
“I wish I could. They doused our powers with nanobytes, and made us basically useless.”
“You’ve never been useless a day in your life.” Savannah smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
“We’ll get it back. Don’t worry, Hunt,” Rebecca offered knowing how important his powers were to him.
“What do you say we create a little hurricane, sis?” Savannah asked. She held out her hand as rain began to fall from the dark sky. Fire may not be at their disposal, but air and water were.
Rebecca grinned, and took her sister’s hand as the wind picked up speed, whipping around them. Tents turned upside down, random camping equipment flew past their heads, knocking their attackers down while the others fought with guns or hands and claws. Lightning cracked against the sky, and Savannah felt Mysti’s magic join theirs as the storm blew out of control. She must have connected with them from outside the camp border. That made Mystery a very powerful witch indeed.
They were focused on clearing a path in front of them. No one saw the wolf mistress, Ophelia, come up behind them, and make a grab for the little girl, no one but Roger, her father. He spun her around, protecting her tiny body with his as Ophelia grabbed the man’s head and snapped his neck. Freya let out a terrified scream as her father’s lifeless body fell on top of her pushing her face into the ground. Hunter turned around and blasted Ophelia in the chest with his gun. He ran to Freya, and pulled her up into his arms. He felt for a pulse in Roger, but found none. His eyes were wide open staring lifelessly past him. He closed his friend’s eyes, and promised, “I’ll take care of her.”
“Daddy! No, daddy, we can’t leave him!” Hunter picked up the little girl, and she sobbed into his shoulder.
“Strong, little Freya. We must, sweetheart.” He tossed a look back, and saw Ophelia aiming a gun toward them. Damn the girl was resilient! He was positive he hit her with the gun. “Becca, can you pop that shield back up here?”
“I’ll try.” Her voice sounded weak, but she managed to shield them just as the gun blast slammed against it. He watched Ophelia throw her gun down into the dirt, and stomp on it. With the shield in place, and the camp being decimated by the hurricane produced by three sisters, the rest of the rescue mission went off smoothly.
When they made it back to their hiding place, they verified it was Mysti who added the violent lightning to the storm. They also discovered a weakened Mira, and a quite alive Jaden. Kia and Georgie braced Jaden on their shoulders, and the group made decent time down the mountainside, evading any search parties that were sent after them.
Chapter Seven
Hunter
HUNTER APPRECIATED THE RESCUE, BUT was devastated at the death of Roger, and for Freya’s broken heart. The poor girl wouldn’t stop crying, and she wouldn’t let go of his neck. She clung to him like a life line. The only time he could get her to calm down was when they were given food by the dragon sect.
“I’ll take the child now.” Becky approached Hunter and Freya with her arms stretched out in a welcoming embrace. Hunter couldn’t believe how scarily identical she was to Rebecca. She was a carbon copy! The only difference was her chocolate-brown hair, the scar, and of course her skin-tight, leather wardrobe. He couldn’t help but note she looked more like Rebecca than Savannah did, and they were identical twins.
Freya shook her head as she chewed on a piece of fish. Her tear-stained face, and watery eyes held a slight look of fear. But she didn’t speak a word.
“Freya, honey, you belong with the dragons.” Hunter smiled kindly.
“No. Daddy said to stay with you.” Her shaky voice was his undoing, and he pulled her closer to his chest offering another layer of protection.
Becky knelt down so she was at eye level with Freya. “Freya, honey…” she mimicked the compassion in Hunter’s voice -- he had a feeling she had never felt compassion a day in her life. It was her eyes, they looked lifeless. He didn’t like this copy of Rebecca, and was secretly thankful that he had his Rebecca in his life. “There are no dragons in his world. You will be alone with no help or support.”
“I have him,” Freya said with a newfound courage, “which is far better than being with you.”
Becky’s eyes turned a deep, scary violet, and smoke wafted out of her nostrils.
Hunter was afraid she was going to explode. “Look, Becky, why doesn’t she stay with me for a while, and when she is ready to come back, I will bring her to you.”
Becky narrowed her evil eyes, and tilted her head as she examined him. He shuddered as he felt her peeking at his very soul. “Do you know how to train a dragon? Do you know how to teach her to control her fire?”
“I’m a fire witch, so I guess I have some insight into controlling fire,” he defended himself.
Becky snorted. “A fire witch with no powers.”
Hunter rubbed the injection site on his upper arm. “Temporarily without powers, just as she is. We will both be recovered when the nanobytes have been destroyed, and your doctor injected us with the killer cells already so it will only be a matter of days until we have use of our powers.”
“And will you be able to help her with the dragon transformation?”
“I can already do that.” Freya spoke up, her courage still strong. Hunter couldn’t help but grin at her amazing strength.
“And anything else she needs as far as transforming she can get from me.” Rebecca offered her own help to the argument that was taking place. It was that moment that Hunter realized everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch the conversation playing out between Becky, Freya, and himself. “A transformation for a Were is the same no matter what species.”
Freya hugged Hunter closer and whispered. “No wolves.”
Hunter grinned. “Rebecca is one wolf you can trust, sweetheart.” He looked at Becky. “Besides, I have a feeling she’ll be safer on our world for a while until this battle between both camps is resolved.”
Becky glared at him, her eyes narrowed to tiny slits, but she didn’t speak.
“Sometimes you have to set something free to allow them the choice to return,” the strange woman who shared a cell with Hunter and Freya said.
Her voice held a familiar tenor from long ago. He glanced up, and noticed that she had time to take a shower and put on clean clothes. She had pale skin, and silky blonde hair, but her sapphire blue eyes froze him to the core. “Bethany?” his voice barely a whisper. She looked a lot like his great-great-great grandmother who helped him in the dream realm to unlock the binding spell put on the Winters siblings. A lot like Bethany, but not quite. The nose was smaller, and her cheeks were freckled lightly showing a sign that she had spent some time out in the sun in the past. She was far thinner, most likely from malnutrition in the cell. Hunter had no idea how long she had spent in that hellhole. She had said very little to him while they were there.
Becky spun angrily on the woman, and froze. Maverick stepped out of the shadows to examine her closely. Savannah’s hand shot up to the pink stone she wore around her neck. Rebecca turned her attention to the blonde woman as she told Hunter, “Bethany is dead, brother.” Her eyes stopped rolling midway up. Mira, who was weak from healing Jaden long enough to get him to proper medical care from the dragon doctors, turned her inquisitive, violet eyes to the woman. She was speechless, which Hunter was learning was quite uncommon for the sixteen-year-old.
It was Mystery, the quiet, fraternal twin, who spoke first. “Mother?” No one moved, no one spoke. It was one of those moments where the entire world stopped talking, waiting for the strange woman to speak.
She made eye contact with all of them one by one. Maverick, Savannah, Rebecca, Mystery, Miracle, Becky, and Hunter. With each second that passed, it felt like they were hanging dangerously over a ledge as they waited for her response. Slowly, a smile broke out across her face. “Hello, children, I’m Elizabeth Matthews…” she glanced over to Maverick “…Winters.”
Chapter Eight
Savannah
MAVERICK WAS THE FIRST TO move after Elizabeth’s bombshell. He ran to her. “Lizzie! Is it really you?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he wrapped her up in his arms. The smile on his face was the first one Savannah had seen since his resurrection that actually lit up his constantly sad eyes. She was torn. It was unbelievable that their mother had managed to be kidnapped, and taken to another universe, and wound up in the same place they would be rescuing their brother ten years later. On the other hand, the idea of finding her mother was a dream come true. At least, a dream come true for Savvy. Savannah the vampire didn’t have happy dreams.
As this realization hit her, she started to feel fury at the people that kept her mother from them all these years. She wanted to know who was responsible so she could make them pay. The people that tore apart her family didn’t deserve to live, and she was going to hurt them all, but first, she needed to make sure this was truly their mother. “So, instead of killing you, Maverick’s family kidnapped you and brought you here?”
Maverick had told her his family killed Elizabeth because she was turning him, and influencing their children to the light side of magic. They wanted Maverick and the kids to embrace the Winters’ side of the magical realm, which was darker, and more powerful. That, and they were afraid of her binding the kids’ powers, which she’d already done.
Maverick pulled back from the hug, and moved his arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders, holding her close to him, not willing to let her go. Elizabeth shook her head sadly. “No, Maverick’s family never got to me. A friend on the Authority council discovered their plot, and helped me stage my death after I bound you three. It wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did, but they took advantage of the carjacking. I protected both of us as the attack happened with magic. I left him behind with what I thought was a flesh wound, and I took my leave with the expectation that Maverick would take care of you until I could safely return. He was never meant to become a vampire.”
“Celestia thought I was on the verge of death, so she sired me, and told me you were beyond saving. She never told me you weren’t physically at the crime scene when she happened upon me?”
Elizabeth turned sad eyes to Maverick. “I didn’t want to leave you, but my contact said it was now or never. He didn’t think we’d have another opportunity to escape before your family succeeded in carrying out the hit.
“I failed you, my love. I failed all of my family.” Maverick’s eyes glimmered with unshed tears that refused to fall.
Hunter, Savannah, and Rebecca stared coldly at their father.
“How did you become a prisoner of Brick and Ophelia?” Rebecca asked. The look she gave them said she wasn’t buying the story. “Are they in cahoots with the Authority?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “No, only recently did Ophelia and Brick capture me. They stumbled upon me on our Earth and brought me over here. I think they thought they could use me against Becky.”
Becky snorted, her arms crossed over her chest protectively, but Savannah could see a part of her was happy to see Elizabeth, even if she wasn’t her mother. She was still the embodiment of the mother she lost. “I don’t know how that is possible.”
Elizabeth turned her attention to Becky. “Because you lost everyone when you were so young.”
“I have my dragon sect,” Becky sniffed coldly.
Savannah felt a twinge of pity for Rebecca’s double in this dimension. She truly was alone, not alone like she felt, but alone with no one to call family. At least Savannah had Rebecca, Hunter, their grandmother, and now her long, lost parents. That should be enough, shouldn’t it? She should feel guilty for disregarding the gifts she had in her life, but guilt wasn’t on the menu. Becoming a vampire changed something deep inside her. It made her more hardened, and less likely to believe in the good in things. She didn’t think she would ever get that back. And if she was honest with herself, she didn’t think she wanted it back. It only made her weak.
“So you hid from us for ten years? Watched us suffer over our loss, and did nothing to make things better?” Savannah asked, resentment at being abandoned again filled her, this time directed at her parents. It was easier to deal with when she believed they were taken from her, but discovering both of their parents abandoned them by choice was unacceptable.
Elizabeth offered a shaky smile. “As part of my deal with the Authority, I was never allowed to contact you. I was sent to Ireland to train new witches at the Barnaby school of Magic. I didn’t even know your father had been turned until recently. I was tortured daily with the desire to call you, or someone, to make sure you were alright, but I was hexed by the Authority which made it impossible to do so. Every time I simply got the urge to contact you, I was reminded by a searing pain through my mind and body th
at I was not allowed to make myself known to anyone in my past life. Just as I bound you to keep you safe, I was also bound to keep my distance.”
“How could you agree to that?” Hunter croaked the words out past the pain.
“Because I thought it would save you from the destiny I saw for you,” Elizabeth whispered. “All I did was bring about that future, and more devastation. Rebecca, you were never meant to be a werewolf. Savannah, you were never meant to be a vampire, and Hunter was not supposed to be the lone witch in our family.”
“Everything you set in motion ten years ago brought this future upon us,” Rebecca stated coolly. “My thirst to avenge your death made me what I am, and resulted in Savannah’s new life.”
“I never taught you to seek vengeance, Rebecca. That was your choice,” Elizabeth returned. “For any part I played in changing your future, I’m very sorry, but I had hoped my choice would’ve given you a better life.”
“How in the hell do you think leaving them without parents would result in a better life?” Becky asked indignantly.
“We all made bad choices. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, children,” Maverick defended them.
Savannah felt impatience boil through her veins. She still had no proof that Elizabeth was her mother, and this talk was only making matters worse so she decided to change the subject. “How do we know you are really from our dimension?”
“I can do some spell casting with Mira to make sure she belongs in our universe,” Natalia offered. It was as good as any offer, and would give them more answers than what they were getting here.
“She isn’t lying,.” Lucky whispered to Rebecca, a whisper Savannah picked up because of her super hearing. It really was pointless to whisper when you were surrounded by supernaturals. “As far as I can tell, she believes what she is saying.”
“That proves nothing.” Rebecca spoke louder than intended. Savannah could tell by the way she looked around nervously at the rest of the group. “Just because she believes it doesn’t mean it is true,” she said quietly, and Lucky nodded. It still bugged Savannah the way Rebecca and Lucky were so close. It was like he still wanted her despite the fact that Rebecca had chosen Gabriel, and they were closer than ever.
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