by Ciara Graves
“Oh, but you are. You never truly escaped me, no matter what that mage did.” Rudarius glowered at Macron. “Enjoy your freedom while it lasts.”
“I intend to,” Macron replied calmly.
I wanted to scream and rant at him to do something, when I realized his left hand was tucked out of Rudarius’s sight.
Macron’s fingers moved, and on the ground behind him where he’d been drawing the symbols, a piece of glass picked up his drawing where he left off. It was nearly back to where he started, almost completing the circle.
Stall.
All we had to do was stall.
“I intend to use every last second I have to finding a way to end your life,” Macron uttered.
Rudarius laughed, though if that was the most entertaining joke he’d ever heard. “You mages are all alike. Thinking you are powerful enough to stop evil. I believe I’ve already proved you wrong.”
As Macron smiled, I locked eyes with Seneca, attempting to tell her what was going on without giving anything away.
For a split second, I feared she was going to let Rudarius take her without a fight.
A strange look of acceptance came over her.
I nearly threw myself at her.
Then she stiffened and breathed deeply, focusing.
The violet light continued to pulse outside, making her rings spark. Whatever she was going to do, we had to time it just right.
The glass was at the top of the circle. The circle was complete. Just as it stopped writing, the symbols glowed with life. The stones within the circle shimmered.
“It’s time to go, my pet,” Rudarius said. “You shall see them again, never fear.”
“No, Rudarius, it’s time for you to go.”
He tilted her face toward his using the stake.
Each flinch of pain she made was sheer torture to me. I wanted to stop the pain he caused her. But I knew I couldn’t. Not yet.
Rudarius laughed softly, near her ear. “Such fire burns within you. It will be such a joy to break you again. The next time, it will stick.”
The portal shimmered brighter.
We had to go before it closed.
Seneca’s eyes flicked to the side.
As the violet light soared across the sky toward us, she lifted her left hand and flipped Rudarius off.
He hissed at her.
The rings on her fingers sparked, and she threw her hand into his face.
He shrieked as the unstable magic burned his face and blinded him. His hold on Seneca was gone.
She reached for my hand. Just as she was about to take it, the violet light pulsed faster, and Rudarius shouted, the rings on his hands bursting to life.
Seneca collapsed with a sharp cry, holding her left hand to her chest. She wasn’t the only one.
Willow and Briar gasped as the rings on their hands too sparked and sputtered.
“There’s no time,” Willow shouted through the pain, as one by one, the stones on her rings cracked. “Go.”
I yelled at Shane to grab Lark and Marlie, then get through the portal.
Marlie protested, but Shane shoved him over the edge, and he disappeared with a flash of light, with Lark right behind him.
Shane glanced to me, but I waved him on. I needed to get to Seneca.
Rudarius recovered from the attack and stalked toward her, the stake, covered in her blood, aimed at her. “You are mine. You hear me? You will come to me.”
“Seneca.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward me as that stake came down.
It struck stone instead of flesh.
Macron guided us to the porta.
Rudarius launched himself across the room, barreling into our bodies, throwing us apart.
Seneca slammed into the far wall.
I rolled away, crashing through the table, landing in a heap. Tossing wood debris off, I scrambled around the mess.
Rudarius held Seneca up by the throat.
She clawed fiercely at him, but the rings made him too strong.
I drew the only dagger I had on me and threw it. The blade sunk into Rudarius’s arm, but he held fast.
“I will deal with you later,” he warned, easily yanking the blade free, and in a blink, throwing it back at me.
I tried to catch it, but it moved too fast and the blade embedded itself in my hand. The blow threw me off balance. I ground my teeth in agony, holding my right wrist as my hand throbbed.
Seneca kicked and flailed, but Rudarius turned for the window, ready to make his escape with her.
Grimacing, I grabbed hold of the dagger and tore it from my hand.
He would not leave with her, not while I still lived. Before I reached them, Briar was suddenly blocking the vampire’s way.
He laughed at the king, mocking him, until Briar reached out and rested his hand against Rudarius’s face. His body went rigid, and Seneca slipped from his grasp.
“Go,” Briar commanded. “I can’t hold him forever.”
Clutching at her throat, Seneca stumbled toward me.
Together, we fell through the portal and landed on soft grass in each other’s arms.
The sky overhead revealed we were in the human realm, the sun thankfully setting along the horizon. The rays only agitated my skin. Luckily.
Seneca’s cottage rested nearby. We were right back where we started, in her garden.
Macron and Helena were beside us.
Then the portal we dropped from closed, cutting off Rudarius’s furious scream as his prey had evaded him once again.
“Draven. Your hand.” Seneca knelt at my side, tearing off part of her shirt to bind the wound I could feel was already healing.
“I’m fine. You?”
The bruises around her neck stood out. That was too damned close. I crushed her to me in a sudden need to assure myself she was alive and right there with me.
Her lips found mine, and I kissed her. I’d nearly lost her to that murdering psychopath.
“The Veil,” Marlie said as he got to his feet, “do you think they closed it?”
“There is one not far from here. I can’t feel it. Nor do I sense any hint of Otherworld,” Macron said, reaching out his hand. “Nor of Willow or Briar.”
“You think they’re dead?” Seneca asked, staying tucked safely in my arms.
“I’m afraid they may have given their lives, so we could escape.” Macron approached, holding out his hand. “Your rings, let me see them.”
She raised her hand.
The moment his fingers brushed over the rings, they broke apart and turned to dust in his palm.
“He destroyed them.” She stretched out her bare fingers.
Macron let the dust fall to the ground.
“How is that possible?”
“The totem,” he said with a sigh. “He used our magic to destroy that of the fae.”
“All of it?”
“No.” Helena held up her hand, bearing a single ring. The stone was cracked, but when she touched it, the ring remained intact. “But this does deal a terrible blow to our kin. And to us.”
“How do I channel my magic without the rings?” Seneca asked, sounding on the verge of panic. “We can’t make new ones, right? We don’t have access to the old magic, not like the first fae did.”
“It’ll be alright,” I assured her.
“How? How is any of this alright? We’re closed off from Otherworld. Rudarius destroyed my rings. He killed Willow and Briar. He’s captured the mages and seers. He’s going to win,” she rambled. “He’s going to win. To destroy Otherworld. Then he’ll come here, and he’ll take me back.”
I hugged her close, shaking my head. “He is not going to take you. Do you hear me?”
“Without the rings, I can’t fight back.”
“We’ll find a way.”
“What way? There’s no way left.”
“That is where you’d be wrong.”
I frowned at the sound of an unfamiliar voice.
Seneca perked up.
“Minnie?”
“Minnie? The seer?”
A woman with long, black hair approached the garden gate and let herself in. Her milky-white eyes said she was blind, but she seemed able to find her way without any trouble.
“Yes. The seer. It would appear I arrived just in time.” She sniffed the air and smiled, holding her hand out toward Helena. “It’s good to see you again.”
“It has been far too long, my friend.” Helena took Minnie’s hand.
The two women embraced.
“I watched out for her the best I could.”
“Wait. What?” Seneca exclaimed. “Minnie, really? You knew all this time?”
“Save your anger for Rudarius,” she urged. “You’re going to need it, for this war is only just beginning, as is your role in it.” Though she was blind, I sensed she looked right at me as she added, “Both of yours.”
Seneca pulled away from me for a second then shook her head. “Yeah, right. I guess everyone should head inside, and we’ll—uh, go from there.”
As the others stepped inside, through the back door Owen and I shattered during our fight, Seneca made to follow, but I caught her hand. “Wait. You and I need to talk.”
“About what?”
“Don’t do that. I know Briar showed you some vision of your past or your future. Or whatever. I want you to tell me what it is before we go any further. I need to know.”
I had several arguments lined up in my head if she tried to tell me I didn’t need to know and was more than ready to start going down the line when she nodded.
“You’re right.”
“What?”
“I said you’re right,” she repeated, “but you’re not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
Taking her hand from mine, she paced around the garden as words tumbled out of her mouth.
I started to follow her then stopped as the vision she related grew worse. When she reached the end, her voice caught a couple of times, and she forced herself to keep talking. When she finished, she stood before me again, anxiously watching me.
“Draven?”
I held up my hand, unsure of how to respond yet.
What she saw, it couldn’t be the absolute truth. I refused to believe that was our only course of action. Seneca would not give into the darkness inside her. She would not turn into a mindless killer to defeat Rudarius.
And I would not be the one to take her life.
“No.”
“No? You can’t just say no,” she uttered. “Look, I understand it’s hard to comprehend, but that’s what I saw. It’s what you have to do.”
“No,” I said again with a growl. “I don’t care what any seer claims to know about our futures. I will not be the one to end your life. Do you hear me? You are not going to become the enemy. No matter what it takes, I will change that future.”
“Draven.” She held my face in her hands, kissing me softly. “And if that’s how it’s meant to end?”
“It’s not.” I covered her hands with mine, our foreheads resting together. “You will never belong to evil or to Rudarius. You will not fall, not unless I go down with you.” I kissed her again, holding her close as the sun set behind us and night covered the town of Madwich.
“I believe you,” she whispered against my lips.
As I started to say we should head inside with the others, a shadow grew in the depths of her eyes.
A strange cackling filled my mind, a sound that was awfully close to Seneca’s laugh.
“Draven?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s join the others.”
I watched her walk away. She smiled when she glanced over her shoulder at me, then disappeared inside.
I stayed in the garden, a frown replacing my grin.
All the promises I just made might have to be broken if that evil growing inside her could not be contained. Could I kill her if it came down to it? Could I destroy Seneca for good? Weeks ago, I would’ve said yes, but now the thought of plunging a stake through her heart made me sick to my stomach.
“Draven, are you coming?” Shane called from the house.
“Yeah,” I replied, steeling my nerves. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
The wound in my hand was nearly healed.
I unwrapped Seneca’s torn shirt from it, picturing a stake in my grasp.
As I blinked, I imagined killing her with it and flinched.
“No,” I said to the night. “I’ll find a way to save you, no matter what the cost.”
I walked to the cottage, wondering how much time I had to save Seneca from Rudarius and herself.
Savage Worlds
The penultimate book in the Savagery and Skills series!
Seneca Savage is so much more than a bad ass with skills. But learning of her heritage has put her on a path bound for hell.
Draven’s a vampire, the son of a former leader of a coven, he spent years in the torture dungeons of another vampire. Now, he’s out for revenge. And he’s fallen in love with the only fae vampire hybrid, a tortured soul who wavers between falling into the abyss of evil and landing on the side of good.
Chapter 1
Seneca
Coffee gurgled as it brewed on the counter. I tapped my nails on the countertop, looking out the back door. Which was actually lacking a door. I’d have to get it replaced eventually. We’d been back from Otherworld for five days now, recovering mostly. Shellshock is what it seemed like, all of us trying to accept the final fae kingdom falling to Rudarius and his army. All three kingdoms fell, just like that. Nothing but rubble and ruin now, the dead among them. If there were survivors, they were trapped in Otherworld and surrounded by enemies.
We’d done it to keep Rudarius in. How many did we sacrifice so we could escape? He’d find them eventually. Torture them, kill them. Turn who he wanted. Those with magic, he’d send to the totem Macron and Helena told us about.
A fate worse than death. And here I stood in my freaking kitchen, brewing coffee like it was another normal evening in Madwich. That there wasn’t some crazed vampire out to get me and the rest of my race.
The coffee pot beeped. I jumped then glared at it.
“Don’t kill the maker of caffeine. Think you’d piss off most of the household.” Draven appeared at my side and slid over two mugs.
“Thanks.”
“Not sleep well again?”
“What do you think?” I poured two mugs and handed him one. “Always the same dream, too. You know, if I’m going to be plagued by nightmares, it’d be nice if they could change a bit now and again you know? Love to be chased by some headless ghoul or something.”
“Hmm. I do,” he agreed with a smile. “Headless ghoul, huh?”
“Best I can come up with on no coffee.” I grunted, annoyed. “There’s only so many other choices, if I really think about it. Could be Rudarius chomping on my neck one night, then trying to kill me the next.” I held the warm mug between my palms. “Then, it could be my parents turning their backs on me, slaughtering an entire hunting party of shifters. The list goes on. But no, my mind has to hit me with the same image every night. Like I haven’t seen it enough times already.”
“And which nightmare would this be?”
I opened my mouth to tell him, then clamped it shut again, drinking my coffee too fast. I winced when it burnt my tongue.
Draven shook his head.
“What?”
“You might want to let it cool off.”
“You’re so funny. You know that? I think nearly dying a couple times gave you a sense of humor.”
“You didn’t find me amusing before?”
“Never said that.”
He sidled closer. We drank our coffee as the sun sank lower toward the horizon. This was how it had been between us every day since we returned. We never talked about what we should. Like Rudarius and his impending attack on the human realm. Or our plans. Or the fact that all the fae rings were destroyed. There were no serious conversations. Draven
went from being the cold-hearted killer when I first was face-to-face with him to an optimistic vampire. It was getting to the point I wanted to smack him for it.
I knew why he did it, but trying to get me to put a smile on my face would not change what I saw. Draven having to kill me to save those we cared for.
“So, what nightmare is it?” he prodded.
“You really have to ask?”
“No,” he whispered, looking deeply into my eyes. “Because it’s the same one I have.”
“We need to talk about it,” I suggested.
He turned away from me and stalked to the back door.
“Don’t burn your face off.”
He didn’t reply. Instead, he ran his hand around the empty doorframe. “I’ll fix this tonight.”
“Draven.”
“What? You need a new door. I’ll take care of it. I’ll have Shane help me.”
I slammed my mug down on the counter as I said his name again. “Look at me, would you? We’re not going to sit around playing Betty Homemaker and her doting boyfriend, the vampire who runs around fixing the house up. Rudarius is going to be coming for us, and we need a plan. We need a way to stop him.” I swallowed hard as his shoulders tensed. “We need to talk about a plan in case I lose control in the end.”
“No, we don’t, because it’s not going to happen.” He hissed as he spoke. The coffee mug in his left hand shattered, pulling him out of his sudden anger. “Sorry, I’ll clean that up.”
“Draven, stop.”
He crouched to pick up the broken bits of ceramic.
I knelt and stilled his hands. “Look at me, please. We can’t hide away in this cottage forever and pray he never finds me. You’re not an idiot, so stop acting like one.” I tilted his chin up, forcing him to meet my eyes. “I know you’ve been sending Shane out every night. You want to tell me what for? Or are you going to keep that a secret for another few days?”
He sighed then sat back against the wall. “I wondered when you’d call me out on that.”
“I hoped I wouldn’t have to. What’s he doing?”
“Searching.”
“For?”
He kept his mouth shut.