by Tijan
“. . . Wren is here.”
She paused on her path. Vampires had stepped aside to let her pass, but she stopped, and her chest lifted. She took in a breath before she tucked her hands behind her, but he saw how they trembled. The usual defiance wasn’t there. Instead, she was hesitant, and he sensed the guilt through their blood connection.
He asked her in his head, “Why are you fearful of me?”
Her eyes widened at his question and she swallowed, her eyes glancing to the side for a moment. Her head lowered, but then her shoulders rolled back and she lifted her eyes once more. As they found his, they were strong once again. Her normal flare was back, and she replied, “Because I left them behind.”
Roane started for her. The relief at seeing her faded into alarm. She braced herself for him and as he drew abreast, he grabbed her arm and propelled her with him. There were no tents assembled, but Roane didn’t say a word until he pulled her far enough from the group so no wolf could overhear. As soon as they moved out of earshot, he released her and asked in his head so no nearby vampire could eavesdrop on their thoughts as well, “You left them? What do you mean you left them?”
“She’s safe. Davy is safe.”
“You guys got free?”
“Yes.” She didn’t answer for a split second, then, “Davy got us all free. I don’t know how because she didn’t have her magic, but then she did. She carried us twenty miles away.”
“Why aren’t they with you?” But he knew, as soon as he asked. He answered for her, “Because Davy went back, didn’t she?”
“She didn’t get Kates out. Davy went back for her.”
No. Roane knew that wasn’t the truth. She wouldn’t have gone for her traitorous best friend. That would be an added benefit, perhaps, but he knew the real reason Davy was going back. For Lucan. She wanted to kill his brother so he wouldn’t have to. He looked to Wren. He kept his thoughts barred from her before he asked her now, “How far?”
“Five miles away. I can take you to her.”
He nodded, though he knew the chances of catching up to Davy before she got to the Mori was low. Still. They had to try. He spoke out loud, “You’ll show me on a map where you were and we’ll go from there. We won’t return to the same spot. Davy will be ahead of us. We have to try to intercept them.”
“I will.”
He started to return, but glanced back. He frowned. “Was there more?”
“I wanted to return to my leader’s side.”
He sensed her fear come back, and the guilt made sense then. She left Davy’s side to return to his. Reaching out, he gave her arm a slight squeeze. “The others remained with her?”
Wren nodded, feeling her first wave of relief since they escaped the Mori. “Yes. Gavin, Gregory, and Tracey went to find her. Davy left us behind. She didn’t want to endanger anyone.”
For the first time in a long time, Roane allowed a half-grin to show on his face. “Of course she did.” His hand squeezed her arm once again before dropping back to his side. “You came back. That will help us figure out where to intercept her. You did good, Wren, but rest as quick as you can. We need to proceed as soon as possible.”
She nodded, and he left her behind to find Saren. He needed to know where Jacith was, and he had a hunch Davy’s Immortal sister could help him with that information.
DAVY
Their group ventured across the river and into Mori territory. If Davy hadn’t seen the Mori vampires before, she would’ve known the instant she stepped from the water and onto land. She felt the magic all over. It was in the ground, the trees, even the rocks. The air had a shimmer of it even and she breathed it in, but got another shock. It was her magic. It bonded to her and she realized it must’ve been left from when she carried her group from Lucan’s captivity. Enough magic must’ve burst out of her, that it was only now moving to the outskirts of their land.
Gavin noticed her reaction. “What is it?”
“I feel my magic.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s like a rock that’s thrown in water. It causes waves to emanate from it. My magic, what I used to get us out of here before, it was like that. Instead of a rock, though, it was like I dropped an entire mountain in the ocean.”
Gavin turned back to look at the river. “And you didn’t sense it on the other side?”
“Their lands are protected. They use magic anyway, and they want to keep what is theirs already. They have a barrier. It’s why my magic won’t extend over the river, and it’s why I didn’t sense the Mori vampires. Their essence was blocked because of the barrier.”
“Oh whoa.”
Davy glanced to the side, farther down the river where Cal and Spencer were crossing. Tracey was with them. She had a sturdy arm around both of them and carried them so the river’s current didn’t sweep them away. Spencer had just stepped down on the ground, and those words had been his reaction. He was human, but even he felt the magic, too.
A knot formed in her throat. They were going to be changed because of their presence among the Mori. She didn’t know how, but she knew it wouldn’t be for the better. They were humans and she had brought them into this war. After reuniting with Gavin, Gregory, and Tracey, they hadn’t moved into the Mori land for a few days. They stayed, camping on their side of the river, while they decided their next move. After hearing that Wren went back to Lucas, Davy knew what would happen. He would use Wren’s information about where they had been and he would try to intercept them before they got back to Lucan. She didn’t want that to happen. Davy wanted to infiltrate the Mori, cloak herself, so she could kill Lucan herself. She wanted to save Lucas this demon. If he had to murder his own brother, she knew it would haunt him for the rest of his life. The closer she got to Lucan, the more her real desire grew. It wasn’t just to retrieve Kates. It was more about enacting vengeance. Kates was fast becoming an after-thought, but it was one she needed to cling to. It would save her humanity, or that was how she was feeling. When she thought about Lucan, The Immortal grew in strength inside of her. When she remembered her best friend, the human side of her sparked alive again.
But she hadn’t shared any of this with Gavin or the others. She just let them know there was a battle inside of her. The Immortal wanted to take over, but she was holding it at bay. They had been reassured it wouldn’t happen, that she had a handle on it, but the longer they camped near the Mori, the more her blood lust for Lucan grew and the stronger The Immortal was becoming.
Finally, after waiting a few days where Davy wasn’t able to send the two humans back to their group, they decided to keep going. She hoped at some point she could send them back, but now they were on Mori lands, she knew their death was imminent. Even if they stayed behind, they were smack in the middle of a vampire and werewolf war. They’d be dead by someone’s hand, so it was voted on by everyone, and it was unanimous. Cal and Spencer were to be brought with them, and they’d remain protected by their group of three vampires and one Immortal that wasn’t in control of anything anymore.
“Davy?”
She tore her gaze from Cal and Spencer. Gavin had been trying to talk to her. She blinked a few times, as if waking up. “What?”
He gave her a half-grin, seeing where her attention had been. “They’ll be fine. We’ll protect them. Don’t worry.”
He had no idea. A doomed feeling was in her stomach, and it was growing, but she only replied back, “Yeah. You’re right.”
But he wasn’t right. She felt their death in her already. In fact, she felt all of their deaths. The only one who wouldn’t die was her, but she wished for it because what was going to happen was much worse than death.
“Are we going?” He gestured ahead to a walking path that led through the trees.
“Yeah.” She started forward, falling in line behind Gregory who had taken the lead. “Let’s go.”
Her head went back down, and she began chanting in her head. She was connecting to the magic she had left in the Mor
i land. It had been waiting for her return and it gathered inside of her now. As they progressed into the forest, she cast a cloaking spell over all of them.
She didn’t need to worry about tiring out. It was the opposite here. The Immortal was so much stronger. She needed to use her energy, to try to keep her at bay. They wouldn’t realize it, but as they made their way farther into the Mori lands, they were completely invisible to the magical breed of supernatural vampires. It wouldn’t be until later, much later, that they would realize the cost of returning to enemy territory would have on them.
BROWN
The Bright witch chewed on her lip and wrung her hands together. Mavic had been helping her ‘become one’ with her inside magic. He explained, many times, if she could burrow deep inside of herself, she could release her family’s power within herself. It sounded easy enough. Get one with thyself and pop that lock except . . . it still hadn’t happened. Every time he cast a spell that would help her become in tune with herself, something went awry. The first couple of times, his magic bounced off her and spread throughout the room. Objects that weren’t supposed to be alive came alive. A couch began singing a One Direction song once. Mavic zapped the couch a.s.a.p., quicker than Brown wanted. She enjoyed the song, but when a lamp started doing the Whip and Nae song, complete with dancing, he cut off all those efforts.
The next few weeks were spent where he blasted her with magic. Instead of having her awaken inside, he was trying to do the deed himself. All that ended horribly too. His own magic cut back inside of himself and he ended with a nosebleed that could’ve filled a small pond. Brown felt bad after seeing that side effect. She could live with the dancing couches and lamps, but seeing her trainer in physical pain, she had to keep reminding herself of the end goal to stop from calling it quits.
Help Davy.
That was her reason to keep going. She had to help her friend, no matter how many nosebleeds Mavic endured. It wasn’t until the last week where they finally made progress. He had her drink a concoction. When she asked what it was, he wouldn’t tell her. He pushed the cup against her lips and growled, “Drink.”
She did.
Davy’s vampire boyfriend brought this guy to help her so she had to trust him. She closed her eyes and drank the bitter tasting liquid. It churned her stomach, making her feel nauseous, but Mavic clamped his hand over her mouth and began uttering words under his breath. He was spelling the liquid and she began to sputter, feeling it spark to life inside of her. Her body seized, wanting it out of her. Her stomach began to spasm, trying to push it all back up, but even when it hit her mouth again, ready to spew outwards, her lips wouldn’t open. They’d been spelled shut. The liquid kept trying to break free, but nothing. Her mouth wouldn’t open and a scream built up inside of her. It was like cement hitting cement. Pain sliced through her, then backed up and rammed through her over and over again. She was bleeding inside. She tasted it among the bile, but Mavic was undisturbed. His hand remained over her mouth, and his head went down. He kept the same chant until her body surrendered.
The liquid began to seep inside of her, merging with her body’s organs and down to the cellular level. It was becoming one with her, and casting one last chant, Mavic backed up. He held his hand still in the air, but it wavered. He was ready to slam it against her mouth again if need be, but as he watched, he saw the transformation begin.
The spell was working how it should’ve. It was moving throughout the witch. It was a physical structure, therefore it couldn’t be spelled from her like all the other magic he cast, but it could root out wherever her magic was locked up. It was supposed to find the location inside of her and it would help unlock it. He knew The Immortal had been able to do the same, but with The Immortal’s power. His wasn’t as strong, but if anything would help, this would, or he hoped. His choices of getting her magic unlocked were fast depleting.
Brown watched him as he watched her, but she was held immobile. She couldn’t move, not during whatever was going on with her body still happening. She felt the change inside of her. The liquid found her core, and it settled there. It was her spiritual core, where her magic was, and she closed her eyes, suddenly knowing what was going to happen.
The magic he forced inside of her was going to do a full-on assault where her magic was, to open it up. She knew it was going to be painful, and she had a second to brace herself.
Then it began, and a scream erupted from deep inside of her, lifting her body in the air.
LUCAN
He stared down at Kates’s bloodied body. He had broken her so many times, mended her, and then broke her again. As it was now, she was done. He saw that she was at the edge. She had no will, no fight, nothing more.
He withdrew from the table that he tossed her onto and grabbed a washcloth. Wiping at the blood left on his hands, he washed himself clean and glanced over when the door opened to the room.
Jiyama stood there, her eyes going to Kates’s broken body first. An emotion akin to sympathy flashed in her gaze before she said, “Three of our men never returned from their mission. They’re believed to be dead.”
Davy . . .
His jaw hardened. “Did the Healers go out?”
She nodded, her head bowed to the ground. “Their essence was last sensed at the river. It is believed they died there.”
That meant . . . He frowned, distracted for a moment by Jiyama’s actions. She was acting like a demure little girl. He ground his teeth against each other before asking, “Why are you acting like this?”
She stiffened and her hands tucked under her long sleeves. “I feel . . . remorse . . . I think.”
“You think?”
She lifted her head then, and a pained expression was there. Her gaze trailed to Kates before she said, softly, “I’ve only felt wonder. I’ve wondered about life, about who Davy was, about the magic inside of her, about the world beyond these lands, about life as a human, but I have never felt this sensation inside of me.” Her hand, fisted around her sleeve, lifted and pressed between her breasts. She kept it clutched tight to herself. “I have never wondered about the side of life, about right versus wrong, but this—” her hand left her chest and indicated Kates, who hadn’t moved or made a sound. “I feel almost like crying. I’ve never experienced that emotion.” She lifted haunted eyes to Lucan, her bottom lip falling open. “Why is that?”
Anger filled him, but he bit back a curse and moved to the vampiress. Cupping the side of her face, he made sure his tone was soft as well. “That just means you are evolving. That is all.”
Her eyes traced back to Kates. “I feel a pit in my stomach. I have only felt the fullness of blood in there.” Her eyebrows pinched together. “I do not like this emotion.”
“It’s because you’ve spent too much time near humans.”
A brightness filled her eyes. She asked him, “It’s because of them?”
He nodded, leaning forward to brush his lips over her forehead. “Yes. Right and wrong, guilt and sadness, those are all human emotions. You’ve spent too much time near them with Davy before and now this one.” He moved, adjusting her so his back was to Kates. He was blocking Jiyama from looking at her, and he pressed another gentle kiss to the Mori vampire. “They are a unique species, wracked with silly emotions. It’s like a cancer to them, one that they don’t realize is something to be expunged. They almost worship these sensations.”
Her hand lifted up and grabbed onto his arms. “They do?” She was pressing her forehead tight to his lips. Her entire body was against his.
“They do. I didn’t realize their ‘humanity’ could infect you.”
“Humanity?”
“Hmm mmm.” He nodded, clasping her to him still. “It’s their sickness. I’m plagued with it too, but once I have The Immortal thread in me, I won’t suffer from it anymore.”
“You think Davy suffers this same sickness?” She pulled back, leaving enough space to look up at him.
Lucan paused, sensing there was more
to her question other than curiosity. He frowned slightly, still holding her head in his hands. After a few beats, he asked, almost gruffly, “Why do you ask?”
Her hand fell to his chest, and she stepped to the side to see Kates again. “Davy said they were friends. If she is sick as well, I can’t imagine what she would feel knowing what we have done to this human.”
His frown deepened. “Why are you saying this, Jiyama?”
She stepped completely away from him. Her hands fell from his chest and balled into fists around her long sleeves once more. “The Immortal was good. I knew that as soon as I touched her. I don’t know what this ‘sickness’ is that you’re talking about, but it was different for Davy. I remember that. She was like honeyed blood. She was alluring to me. I had to go back and experience her again, but it wasn’t her blood I wanted.” A stricken wonder entered her gaze. “I wanted to give her my magic. I wanted to help her, and I haven’t been able to get that out of my head. I keep thinking about our time with this one.” She stepped forward and touched the table near Kates’s leg. “I don’t think she would be happy with what we did. She cared about this one. I knew that when I touched her. Lucan,” she looked back to him. “I don’t think we should have done what we did.”
“No, Jiyama.” He shook his head and moved once more so he was between her and the table. His hands lifted to her head again and he cupped her cheeks. “You’re sick. That’s all this is.”
“I don’t understand the sickness, but I remember how I felt when I helped The Immortal—”
He cut her off, saying, “And that will be me soon. I will become The Immortal. Remember? You will be helping me again. You can experience the same feeling with me, too.”
“You want to become a vampire once again.”
“No. I’ll have to stay as a human if I become The Immortal.”