“He’s…he’s waiting for his horse. My lady’s maid is here somewhere.” My throat was dry; and with more than a handful of men to witness this taint on my reputation, no one at the castle was going to be happy for my present-day circumstances.
I heard Leif walk over to my side. “Hello, dear men. Are you all prepared for the ball tonight? I say, it shall indeed be splendid.”
He exuded such confidence, even I might have fallen for his half lies. He knew less than I did about a ball. Instead, he gripped my hand, and whistled. “Come now, men, look here at me.” The heads of the four men turned to give Leif their attention. “You will forget you ever saw us together, and instead, head straight into the castle’s walls and report nothing of seeing either her ladyship, nor I, and you will instead be happy about tonight’s ball, I dare say, in Lady Abele’s honor.” He winked at me, and the men clicked to once again get their horses moving forward.
We both dashed to the side, allowing the soldiers on horseback to carry on. There was no denying it. I recognized those colors—and the insignia—I was home, and those men carried my banner. Crappity-crap.
“Vampiric magic?” I asked snidely. It wasn’t enough I had to be back here, but back here with him trying to bewitch me? I could take care of myself, but how was I supposed to take care of a prince?
“You need to disguise yourself, or everyone will recognize you. We don’t even know what being here in this time might mean.”
“How do you expect me to do that? My face is quite handsome.”
“I don’t remember you being so narcissistic.”
That whole feeling of loss hit me anew. I watched him turn up his nose and sniff the air. “You know, Abele, this place has changed since we were last here.”
“Call me Tink, please. It will make our maneuvering through this place easier.” The men had never been one to patrol the border, not even when Jasmine, a woman I’d met in the castle back then, had shifted into a dragon, and civil war had broken out.
A large shadow fell on us. Upon looking up, an enormous beast flew above. I stared at it in awe. It was twenty-two feet long, and with wide wings that could easily wrap around a school bus. Majestic. It was larger than Jaz, as she was mostly black; this one was grayish with shimmering red-tinted wings—a combination of magic and shine, as if it was the one kissed by the gods for such a time like this. Massive plates rested on its back, up to its head, where large horns protruded and extended to sharp points.
Moving to the nearest tree, I removed a blooming flower bud from a branch, and spoke my incantation. A wand wouldn’t be needed for something as simple, but for larger magic, to focus the energy, I’d need my rod.
The bud slowly shifted to form a front-laced green-gold gown with tight sleeves. I unpinned my hair letting it flow, shaking it out. It was the look of the age, and the best I could do. In my mind, I looked like what my mother had called me: her wild child.
“I should have killed him and then I wouldn’t be here,” I muttered through clenched teeth.
“Have you killed many?” Leif asked, unmoved.
“You were the first person I saw truly die, so the first I caused to die and the first I figured out how to resurrect.” This was my purgatory, my hell, and my chance to undo the evil I’d done.
“You go resurrecting all of the men around here.” He smiled but it waned quickly. “I’ve killed more people than I can recall. At first, the rage, then it was done to survive. Either they died, or I had to. I couldn’t let you go to all of that trouble for nothing.”
“Don’t you wish to change?” I asked, eyeing his rock n’ roll leather pants and unbuttoned silk shirt. He still dripped sexuality and sweat. I shook my head to be rid of the thoughts as my gaze lingered over his form. At least he wouldn’t need a codpiece.
His laughter made me look up at him. “Codpiece?” He snickered.
“I didn’t say a thing.”
“You might as well have. The way you were staring, you expected me to pull him out again, and see if he twitches.”
What is it with men and their penises? I’m sure he had a name for it, too. What was up with men naming their privates? If this continued, he’d want me to call it, Lord Leif, and probably name the ta-tas, Decadence and Delight, as if they worked down at a local strip joint or rather, brothel.
Could our thoughts now be connected?
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
“Stop that. You’re in my head.”
“It is probably just a side effect.”
He knew more, but I wasn’t going to concentrate on it. I just needed to keep one foot in front of the other and try to figure this out.
I rolled my eyes. Men. They ogled women all the time, and usually unabashedly. But of course, the patriarchy is allowed to grope, grab, and fondle, and women dare not be caught looking. Psh. No. I will look where I wish. My body, my sexuality.
Thank the gods that was a lesson I’d learned over the years. Time was too valuable to waste it on bad food or horrible intercourse.
“You seek only to distract me by your magnificent piece.” I rolled my eyes.
Leif took a step closer. “Be careful as you speak of a man’s most powerful tool.”
“It is not his brain, for sure.”
“Should you wish to give my tool a try, surely this here tree can be a good point.” He winked to then raise his eyebrows. If he hadn’t been Leif, one I’d known for centuries, I might have used him as a pincushion of my blade after all.
But the world would be a little dimmer without him.
He reached out to touch me with his index finger, and I laughed. It was not a pretty laugh, or one a delicate flower of a woman would try to hide behind her hand. No, I laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. I risked it all to save the twat, and here he was hoping to lift my skirts and pen me to a tree.
“You are not strong enough to handle this place,” Leif announced, and puffed out his chest. “I can handle this, though.”
I frowned. There was something about returning home, sort of like returning to your hometown after college. You had changed, but those around you still thought you were the same. In my case, the presumptuous vampire had the gall to think I’d shake and cower about being back here.
I refused for him to be right.
“You can wipe the grimace off of your face. Do you need to be reminded of all you experienced here? You might be able to kick everyone’s ass, and even stake a few with your sharp knives, but do you have the backbone to lead?
“I can make it so you never have to change into this monster, Leif,” I whispered.
He stopped. “You think I consider myself a monster? My anger is long buried. We’re back to this time so we can help.”
I wasn’t convinced. Jasmine was a dragon-shifter and the daughter of Baldr. She’d saved him and created a draugr, a vampire, from her blood, and I’d let her. I’d let her punish him because I wasn’t ready to not have my chance at love.
I gulped remembering. I’d been selfish, and he’d paid the price.
Stepping back on the green blades of grass, it was as if the last five centuries came crashing into me. The self-confidence of the twenty-first century slowly seeped away.
All the torture, pain, and humiliation came back with a force. I’d have to save my abusive brother, save Leif, and save Jaz.
“We can’t sit here and wait. That is not my sire or your friend. What led to this?” Leif grabbed my hand and pulled me after him.
A chill raced up my spine. Could he be the dragon from my scrying vision? According to Jaz, she still didn’t know much about them or the dragonology. But I knew what I’d seen. If he was the dragon, then where were the wyverns?
“We have no time to lose,” I said. “Do you have some answers for this?”
Leif shook his head. “After my turning, I scoured the world for proof of dragons, but only heard of the rumors. I’ve never seen one flying free like this.”
His awe-filled voice echoed m
y own. But even more, it compounded the fear of what this might also mean.
“Why would a dragon be roaming free?” I asked.
“Is he alone, or has he brought some of his friends along, too.”
Leif’s canines descended. I yanked my hand away. “Sorry, you needn’t worry, but this places us in a precarious situation. I fear this world is not like the one we left.”
“We must find Philip.”
I nodded, and I grabbed Leif’s hand to pull him after me. Where I went, he had to go; we were in this together, but if I’d killed him, I wouldn’t be facing my nightmare: the brother who abused and locked me away.
Maybe instead of killing Leif, I now had the chance to kill Philip!
Chapter Twelve
Tink
Walking through the aromatic flowery meads and tall wheat grasses, the sense of belonging settled on me as the sun’s warmth receded. I stretched out my hands to the left and right and felt the tips of the wheat touch my skin.
My heart did a hiccup, a little jig of excitement, and pure anxiety intermingled into this battle within. What would I have to face on the other side? Which ghosts and demons waited for me to resurrect them?
My soul stirred, and my eyes burned.
This was home.
This was hell.
Sweat dripped down my brow. I moved along ever closer to the imposing walls, trying to remove those thoughts from my memory of what had happened on these fields.
Even more, what terror I had survived within those walls.
Passing over the drawbridge, I spied the thick walls, turrets, and towers jutting upward. I pushed down the burning in my throat.
“Are you going to be okay, Abele?” Leif asked. He said my name with so much concern, not with the usual bravado I’d come to expect.
He seemed to switch up, unsure if to address me as the lady he’d known in this past, or the woman from the future.
The confusion marred his handsome skin. Whatever existed between us would have to wait. The ground cried out for Philip’s blood and I planned on delivering.
I dropped his hand and moved forward.
“At the gate we will separate, and procure the information we need. You have family here, and—”
“With your mind tricks you are practically invisible.”
“But you still see me.” He clicked his tongue and made a hollow sound. “And, later I will find you.” His words were filled with a promise.
“Don’t die. You owe me my second date.” Under his hot gaze, filled with promises, a part of me wished he’d seen me so intensely back before this debacle. That his gaze filled with desire had translated into action.
A broad smile spread. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. You simply do not know how special you are, and indeed, you shall be mine.”
Before I could answer him, he disappeared into the shadows.
But his utterance was words without action or emotional consequence. It was as if he’d looked into a scrying bowl and located my image as his happily ever after.
Torn between what was right for Freyja and what was right for me, left me confused. He was a vampire, and I should have killed him. But he made me smile, and I liked that.
Maybe he knew his words might give me a little hope. If anyone knew what I might expect behind these walls, it would be him. He knew what Philip was like, but had never witnessed the physical assaults of his dominance.
I clenched my eyes shut for a quick second. This wasn’t the time to think about what might come later. Instead, I needed to focus on what came now.
For a moment, it seemed like dozens of eyes were staring at me, as if they could hear my dark thoughts.
For years, Philip had abused and mishandled me, and tonight I would find him and gut him like the swine he was. I would make him feel my rage, pain. He would beg and plead, and right before he died, I would laugh at him. I would terrorize him with his own words and shortcomings. I would harm his soul as he did my own. It wouldn’t take a voodoo doll or even a high priestess. I would blacken his soul and make sure he ended up where all cowards go to waste away.
A rancid taste filled my mouth.
People meandered around in their colorful dress, but although everything was familiar, it was also strange. A woman surrounded by cats caught my attention. She was arched over, feeding what appeared to be mangy meowing kittens of no more than three months all in a large wicker basket. At least I thought she was tending to them until I noticed the soldiers approach her.
“We’ve told you. You and your kind are not allowed here, witch, and cats are your familiar.” The soldier, who I recognized as Joffrey, picked up the basket of kittens and raised them as if he planned on throwing them against a wall or two.
Not on my watch.
I’d suffered from a cat phobia, or rather Ailurophobia if you wanted to get technical about it, ever since I was a child. My mother said it was because as a baby the family cat had come and laid on my chest as if to steal my breath. It took the local witch to bring me back.
No one liked to hear the talk of witches or murdering cats. Still, I wasn’t going to let some metal-clad oaf harm them.
“Stop,” I declared. “You will do no such thing.”
“But by order of his lordship, all felines are to be put to death.”
“Joffrey, even I know these cats have their purpose. If you kill the cats, then they cannot kill the rats, and disease abounds. We live in close quarters, and must think of how it all works together.” It didn’t seem like my speech was going to change his mind. “What if I take them off of your hands? Should anything arise, it is on me, and not you.”
He looked around, at me, and at the woman who still cowered, and thrust the basket my way. “Make sure no one hears of my involvement, ma’am. Enough strangeness abounds. My name need not be a party. First the vampires, and now the witches.”
“Aye, Sir Joffrey. I shall remain mum as to your kindness.” I took the basket and linked my arm with the older woman.
“You shouldn’t have intervened,” she said, and finally looked up at me and snatched her arm away. There I saw it. Her heart-shaped face was malformed. At one point, she might have been pretty, but now her beauty had been erased with oozing boils, bruising, and black spots. Her yellow teeth appeared serrated, sharp, and pointy.
I’d seen tons of vampires, and the myth of beauty surrounded them, but this one wasn’t attractive. There was no ethereal glow.
“You would be delicious,” she cooed, and her eyes sparkled. She must have attempted some vampire magic on me.
“If you are trying to attack me, I shall run you through with my bare hands. I don’t play nicely with those who mean me harm.”
The woman blanched and frowned. “The magic always works.”
“Well, it doesn’t work on me. You are not to feed off of the people in this castle or I will have your head.”
The woman’s shoulders slumped again. “Then give me back my kittens. At least I will have a snack.”
I turned away. “No, you will not have them, for you shall barely leave with your life.”
“This here be my home, too, my lady. And his lordship has invited my kind to be here, to clean up this place. You are interrupting my job like you did Joffrey’s.”
My mind raced. Why would vampires be allowed in the castle, but hidden?
“And what is your job?”
“I work in the dungeon, keeping the prisoners well.”
“And why are you here now?”
“Master said there were kittens roaming the keep and I was to get rid of them. We can’t have those things ruining his divine plans.”
Divine plans? Who was this master? But the more I argued with her, the more of a scene I would make. Instead, I would have to deal with her later, much later. I’d shown her mercy and kindness, and I hoped it wouldn’t come to bite me in the butt. I’d hate to have her snaggletooth bite transform me into food.
I turned on my heel and retreated. Tor
ches lit the way. It took a lot longer to walk up the hill without a horse. The pathway wasn’t paved. Instead, muck and mud covered my uncomfortable shoes; the tight corset fitting stabbed me in the ribs. I gasped, feeling my lungs fighting for more air than what the corset allowed. My breath came in and out in short spurts.
Even from a distance, I could hear the cacophony come ever closer and become more evident. The voices of the men and women were mixing, combined with the sounds of metal walking on wood and stone. With each step closer, the scent of cloves and rosewater wafted through the air, intermingling with the wild spice of the horses, goats, and sheep that wandered around the bailey. Horses neighed along with the soft tune of a lute confirming what I now knew to be true. This was the home of my youth before things went to hell before I lost everything. In all of my time, nothing had ever mixed like the aroma of fresh herbs.
Finding one of the chambermaids, I asked for the basket of felines to be taken to my room and continued on my way.
Centering myself, I nodded. My feet knew the way, and with my daggers hidden by my long sleeves, I moved toward the castle’s interior, toward the keep.
Bypassing faces of those I’d known since infancy, I watched their merriment. They didn’t have a clue as to what Philip would bring upon them. They only knew he was the destined heir to rule the family. They didn’t acknowledge his terror, his macabre desires, or even his lust for power.
But I knew those things. I knew soon, Philip would march every one of my sisters to their graves in the name of progress. He would sacrifice us to his altar of success. I recalled how my mother would pay the ultimate price as her son became the emboldened tyrant, and how I lived because she shielded me from his sharp blade.
Maybe things could be different this time.
This time, time was on my side.
As I stalked into the keep, with its darkened stone, boars’ heads, and lit candles, soldiers and family sat at the great rectangular table, and Philip at the end. The rushes crunched under my feet while the roaring fire relinquished the cold I’d not noticed.
A Dragon’s Witch Page 10