by Ivy Carter
“That is going to be interesting.” I mutter to myself.
I can hear Tristan gagging somewhere behind me and I must stop myself from laughing.
“So, yea. Thanks for the help against the soul sucking fucktard that you called master. But why the hell did you decide to help us fight your own people?” Yeah, let’s just throw that out there.
One of the warriors takes a step forward and almost drops to a knee until he sees the murderous look on my face. He smirks.
“We were once the Shadow Queen’s Guard. You were carrying our charge in your womb.” He says this like it explains everything. I roll my eyes.
“So, you were protecting me and mine because I was carrying one of yours? Because I was carrying Raven?” I want to make sure I am not missing something important here.
All ten of the warriors nod once. The one that stepped forward has bright blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and looks like he could be right at home bumming it on the beach.
“The queen’s guard.” I mutter to myself. Then I get what I was missing. What they are waiting for me to realize. Raven is the Shadow Queen. My baby, Raven, is a freaking queen. Oh, hell to the NO!
Well that is great.
Just fucking great.
Too bad I am not giving her up.
I fire up my palms, loving the feeling of being at full strength. “Yeah. She’s mine. You aren’t taking her from me. So, don’t even think about it.” I hold my hands out in front of me threateningly.
They don’t even flinch. Stone cold bastards.
“We have no intention of trying to take the child that you call Raven from your loving arms. But you must realize that she has a destiny. She is fated to save the Shadow Worlds. To save our people from the current oppression,” the leader of their group tells me.
I just stare at him dumbly.
She was born today, just hours ago, and she already has a great destiny? Whelp, we will cross that bullshit when we get to it. I shake my head and move on.
Okay. Great.
“I am Ella, by the way.” I just throw that little bit out there since I don’t know what else to say.
One by one they introduce themselves, stepping forward and stating their names.
“Orion,” the leader tells me. “Blade. Shiv. Sword. Shield. Edge. Justice. Lance. Fury. Wrath.”
What a group of delicious man meat. I check my thoughts when I hear Tristan chuckle at Raven. Hopefully he isn’t reading my mind when I am having such filthy thoughts about other men. This moment I miss Jessa more than I can say.
I need to make it home soon to make sure my family is safe.
I feel Tristan’s presence as he comes to stand beside me, looking over the men standing in front of me. He hands the newly clean Raven to me, and I must reach deep so that I don’t laugh in his face when he gives a glare. I shrug and adjust the baby so that I can link my fingers with his.
“So, introductions are over with. Let’s find some food so we can all eat. I am famished.” I smile at everyone, trying to break the awkward silence. As soon as the words leave my mouth there is a crash in the brush.
Turning around, I find a panther holding a dead deer in its mouth, smiling around it’s kill. My stomach revolts at the sight, but I plaster on my own smile because I don’t want to offend her. Yeah. I don’t want to get mauled by the big kitty cat.
Tristan’s friend Talia is back in human form, skinning the deer that she caught for our supper. I make a bed for Raven in the tent that I conjured for myself. Once I have taken care of her needs and fed her, I back out of the tent and make my way over to where Talia is sitting.
“Can you tell me about the bastard that trapped and spelled you?” I watch as she flinches from the question.
Talia reaches out and grasps my wrist. I am bombarded by painful images…
A dark man laughing as people are beaten and violated.
A whip striking my back, tearing the skin off one pass at a time.
Being locked in a cage with blood and razor wire wrapped around the bars. So many broken faces trapped in that dark, dank space.
I am horrified to realize that one of those faces is my brother’s.
So much pain, and always in the background, playing like a record on repeat is that dark evil laughter. So, this is the person that helped create me. This eternal darkness that must run through my veins, since it also runs through his.
I shake myself out of the vision, jerk my wrist from Talia’s grip, and stumble away toward the forest surrounding us. I lean against a tree and retch. Bile rises within my throat burning its way out of my body. I want to throw up the pain I just witnessed. There are so many people trapped in that place. And in this moment, I come to a decision.
The people trapped there. I must free them. There isn’t any other choice. I am going to kill the being that calls himself my father. I am going to burn that fucking castle of his to the ground. I am going to end the curse that is called Dark Master.
Chapter 13.
Jessa
Jaxx’s spell bounces off the barrier that Devon throws up as a boundary around himself and rebounds toward me. It hits me in the chest and throws me back over the counter, making me crash into the bathroom mirror. I can feel sharp shards of glass digging into the skin of my back, stabbing into my organs, and ripping me apart. I see Devon’s horrified gaze as it locks with mine before he starts to feed off my terror. Except this time, he isn’t just feeding off the pain and terror. He is feeding off me, my essence. I try to open my mouth to tell him to stop. That he is draining me dry. But I can’t speak, I can’t move, and I feel myself dying.
My connection to Sebastian pulls taut as I try and cut him off from my pain. I hear a roar of such agony that it breaks what is left of my heart. I am leaving him and I just found him. Devon is babbling, I try to hear what he is saying but all I can only make out is bits and pieces.
“Sorry… Sorry… I had to or he wouldn’t let me live. You had to die to drive her over… They want her dark… Got to make her dark… or I die.”
Then he just vanishes, poof, like my best friend wasn’t ever there. Like he didn’t just try to kill me. If I wasn’t dying, this feeling would kill me.
Both Jaxx and Devon have disappeared by the time Sebastian finds me swimming in a cooling pool of my own blood. The broken look that he tries to hide from me tells me that this is bad, that he might not be able to fix me this time.
Tristan bites his wrist and shoves it into my mouth. I feel the blood flowing down my throat and I begin to heal almost as soon as it hits my system. I hear the glass falling from my back as I heal. It makes a tinkling sound as it hits the sink underneath me. My wounds close and the blood stops flowing from my body. Breathing deep to retract my fangs, I release Sebastian and pull myself up and fly into his arms.
“I don’t know what happened. We were talking and laughing when Jaxx shows up and fires off a spell. He was aiming for Devon, but somehow it hit me. It bounced right off him.” I hiccup a sob. My voice breaks as I continue. “Devon said that he didn’t have a choice. That if he wanted to live I had to die. That they had to turn her dark. I don’t know what he was talking about. Why would he do this to me? I just got him back? Why would he want me to die?” I sob into his strong shoulder as he tightens his hold on me. Sebastian holds me, rocking me in his arms until my cries of denial slow down and then stop.
“Jaxx was here? He set off a kill spell in the same room you were in?” He mutters to himself almost as if he can’t believe it. It is almost a denial and I stiffen in his arms. But instead of letting me go, he just pulls me closer, holding me tighter.
“I love you. I love you more than my life. I would kill for you, die for you. I would burn the world to ash to keep you with me. I am not calling you a liar. Not at all. I just can’t believe that he would do that. There must be a reason. He hasn’t been himself lately. Not since before he brought Ella to my home. Something has been off with him. I am going to find out what that is and then I
am going to tear him apart for harming you.”
I snuggle tighter against him. Enjoying this moment. It doesn’t matter that I just almost died, again. It doesn’t matter that my best friend just tried to kill me. Well it does, but having Sebastian wrapped around me makes it all kinds of better. That doesn’t mean I am not going to rip Devon a new asshole when I see him next.
Tristan carries me to our bathroom and then steps into the shower with me. We are both deliciously naked. I am reaching for him, enjoying the sight of his rippling muscles when there is a loud knocking noise coming from the front door. Sebastian growls, muttering that he is going kill someone. He’s going into all kinds of fun gory details. I stifle a giggle when he glares at me. We both grab a robe and flash downstairs to answer the door.
What we see when the door opens almost makes my mouth hit the floor. There are tons of people on the front lawn. Hundreds of people and creatures are standing as still as statues, just staring at Sebastian and myself. I try to take everything in but it’s impossible to comprehend what I am seeing. I think my brain is just about fried after almost dying and then my sexy time getting interrupted. I shake my head and ask what I know Sebastian wants to know…
“Who the fuck are you?” I blab. It explodes out of my mouth in a rush. I almost want to call the words back when I realize that there is an army on the front lawn, and I probably just pissed them off by being such a bitch. When I see a lot of them stiffen, I duck my head.
“Oh, give a girl a break! I almost died.” I stomp my foot and cock my hip, throwing all kinds of attitude around. “Then you had to come and interrupt my sexy time. You would be pissed too if you had to wait for a piece of this luscious ass!” I finish huffing everything out and realize that most of the people that were just pissed off at me are now laughing. Yes, they are laughing at me. Nothing new there.
Sebastian shakes his head at me, trying not to laugh as well. I stick my tongue out at him. Yes, I am that mature.
“We are looking for the Celios. We have come to join the Army of the Light,” the self-appointed leader of the group tells Sebastian. When he looks at me, his lips are still twitching.
“Well she isn’t here. She died, then she was alive. I tried to kill the bitch that killed her but she was all bun in the oven.” I nod at the dude. “Yeah I know. I don’t kill kids, but I wanted to fuck that bitch up.” I snap my fingers and my hand ignites in flames. “I wanted to burn the bitch for hurting my sis.” The group takes a step back when they see the dancing flames playfully lick my fingers. I cock my head and look at them like they are crazy. “What?” I ask, confused.
“I thought she was a Vampire?” Someone growls from the back of the mob at my door.
I bare my fangs. “Umm, I am!” I lick one of my sharp teeth just to give them a show. Then I wink at them to drive home the point that I am awesome.
“Jessa is something more. The Celios granted Jessa some of her own power.” Sebastian shrugs.
“Okay, if we are done here.” I start to edge backward toward the stairs. I’m trying to pull Sebastian with me, but all he does is laugh. Fuck! I am going to be walking around with blue balls. And now I am hungry again.
I blow everyone a raspberry, flip them the bird as I turn around, and then flash upstairs to raid Sebastian’s blood stash. I hear laughing as I reach the top.
***
I look at the people standing on the front lawn and I am at a loss. There is nowhere to house these people. There is no plan. I shake my head and try to come up with what to say…
“May we set up camp in the clearing on the other side of those trees?” The speaker of the group asks me, pointing toward the northern tree line.
I nod, giving them my permission. Not that they need it.
“What is your name, friend?” I hold out my hand for him to grasp and shake.
“My name is Aaron. I am the Alpha of the Crescent Mountain Wolf Pack.” I try to gape at this giant of a man. He is the leader of the largest pack of wolves the world has ever seen. Over three-hundred thousand wolves strong. This shifter is more than your average alpha… He could be king if he ever had the inclination. I shake my head and chuckle. Since Jessa and Ella came into my life, it has been anything but boring.
I step out onto the front porch and try once more not to gape at the crowd of Supes gathered here. Things have gotten interesting. I smile at everyone in welcome. Then turn back to Aaron.
“Is there anything that you need from me, to make your stay here more comfortable?”
“No, I think we have it covered.” Aaron rubs the back of his neck and looks around at the men and women milling around behind him. “We have a group of witches that can conjure just about anything that we can’t build ourselves. We ask permission to hunt in your territory.” He asks the last in a very formal way that frankly surprises me.
“Of course.” I nod. “Tomorrow, after you have settled in and rested from your journey, do you mind gathering the leaders of your peoples here so we can gather information and plan for what is to come?”
“Not a problem.” He gives me a chin lift. “Until then.” With a respectful nod, Aaron turns and the group heads toward the northern tree line.
Still reeling, I turn and sniff out Jessa. She is in our room, hopefully naked. The little minx just had to throw around the attitude. I smile and shake my head at her antics.
I thought I was going to lose her tonight. A sudden deep fear grips my chest. I couldn’t survive without her. I love her more than I ever thought I could love another living person. I would destroy the world to keep her safe from harm.
That doesn’t mean I am not going to spank her ass for the show she put on.
Chapter 14.
Ella.
We spit-roasted the deer that Talia ran down and then butchered it. The Shadow warriors gathered some wild mushrooms, onions, and berries to round out our meal. I tried to tell them that I could conjure up some food with the snap of my fingers, but they all looked at me like I was looney toon.
I guess magic and food don’t mix. Who knew? Obviously, I have a lot to learn.
During dinner, everyone gathers around the fire and we make introductions. Getting to know everyone inside our motley little crew.
“I want to kill the sick fuck living up there in his pretty castle.” I blurt out during a lag in conversation. I take in the shocked faces staring back at me… “He has my brother. I saw his face when Talia shared her pain.” I shudder at the memory.
Tristan’s face turns into a mask of fury when he hears that the Dark Master has my brother.
“I knew he made a deal with someone to save the life of his Fated. But I had no idea that he made a deal with someone so evil.” He looks at me as if to judge my face in reaction to his words. I just shrug, you can’t pick who donates the sperm.
He grasps my hand and squeezes my fingers, giving me that panty dropping smile. I smirk back, sighing on the inside. We are going to have talk about ‘us’ soon. But the smile drops off my face when Talia tells me some hard truths.
“Ella, you must find a foster family to raise Raven.”
So much fury rises within me at her words, I start to shake from it. I feel Tristan wrap himself around me tightly, trying to hold the magic that has started to bleed out of my hands and body.
“What?” I gasp out. Talia just shrugs, watching me with those calm, bright eyes.
“You can’t keep her safe while you are wanting to battle your father. He is cunning, smart, and ruthless. He will use any weakness he can find against you. She would make a prime target. He wouldn’t even flinch when he kills her.” Her voice is flat, completely devoid of emotion.
I look around the clearing, taking in the varying looks of everyone surrounding me. From the looks on their faces, I know that they agree with her. Taking deep breaths, I start to calm myself. I shake out of Tristan’s hold and make my way to the tent where Raven is sleeping peacefully.
Who would I trust with her life? Where would I s
end her? Where would she be safe and hidden enough?
Then it comes to me. My Uncle Dan. He is still at his teaching post in Heidelberg. He always knew that I was different. He wouldn’t mind if Raven also started developing a little differently than children her age.
I want to scoop her into my arms and run from here as fast my legs and magic can carry me. But I know that I have responsibilities that I can’t run from. I can’t turn my back on my family or the path that Fate has chosen for me. I must conquer the rising darkness, I must be the Champion of the Light.
Up until now it has almost felt like a game. Learn some new tricks, then kick some bad guy ass. Now the seriousness of the sacrifices that I must make is starting to hit home.
I need to practice with my magic more. I need to learn to fight, hand to hand and with a weapon. Thinking back on the sword fight that Tristan had with the Shadow Master… It was as beautiful as it was deadly. Almost like a dance of death.
There is so much I need to learn if I am going to be able to defeat or conquer anything, to be able to keep the people I love safe. I want to protect them, especially Raven. But I can’t do that if I am not strong or skilled enough.
Looking at this child, this magical miracle… She really puts things into perspective.
***
Tristan takes on the job of transporting Raven to my uncle. I didn’t want to say goodbye. I knew I couldn’t handle handing her off to someone new. No matter how much I know she will be loved and cared for.
I collapsed into myself once she was gone. I couldn’t function for days afterward. I simply stared off into space, refusing to talk to or look at anyone. It took an attack, a disappearance of one of our own, to wake me up, to snap me out of my own misery.
Chapter 15.