Savagery & Skills: Books 1-4

by Ciara Graves

  I held up my hand and smiled darkly. “Something like that, yeah.”

  The fear I was sure I’d seen on him faded into sheer happiness. He cackled in my face, and I stepped backward, not sure what was so funny. “I see. So, you have found a new way to forge rings. Very impressive indeed.”

  “Let’s end this now.”

  “If you would simply give me a moment, pet, I need to finish what I came here to do.”

  He turned away from me, and I yelled. A whip took the place of the short sword in my hand, and I flicked it toward Rudarius. It wrapped around his neck, and I pulled hard enough to yank him off his feet. He crashed to the floor in a heap.

  “I warned you,” I snapped through gritted teeth.

  “That you did. I suppose I must teach you a lesson as always.” He was on his feet in a blink, two swords in his hand that I hadn’t noticed him grab.

  Draven yelled for me, but I told him to stay out of it. This was my fight.

  Unlike the last time we fought on a battlefield, we were far more evenly matched. I stood my ground against Rudarius’s attacks, parrying every clash of his swords and ducking beneath his blows. We moved around the room, clearing a path as we went. I couldn’t pay attention to anything but the monster hell-bent on beating me so he could finish off Draven. Our blades crossed, and he grabbed hold of my wrist, dragging me in closer.

  “Did you grow so tired of our conversations, pet?” he asked, on the verge of pouting.

  “Not even close.” I tugged on my arms, and when he didn’t let up, I headbutted him. He cursed, and I followed with a kick. All the times I beat him in whatever weird dream world he created for us, he had obviously let me do it. Here in the real world, my hits hardly seemed to do any damage to him, even with the rings.

  The harder I struck at him with the swords, he still managed to disarm me, and we were down to fists, It was like he absorbed my punches and kicks. A ripple went over his body and then he had me wrapped in his arms, my shadow wings vanishing as if they’d never been there. I was stronger than this. I had to be.

  I didn’t understand until he held up his hand.

  My blood went cold, and I shook my head in disbelief. “No, that’s not possible,” I mumbled.

  “I must thank you for the new gift.” Rudarius held up his hand then spun me around in his arms, crushing me to his chest. “So thoughtful of you to think of me. See? I told you I would be enough to replace your precious Draven.”

  “How?” I couldn’t get anything else out as I looked at five rings on his left hand. Identical to mine.

  “That is a secret a good girl would get to know the answer to, but not you. You and I are going to have to start all over again.”

  I bellowed. The shadows acting like my armor exploded outward.

  Rudarius was thrown away, and he slammed into a stone column. I held him there. My hand shook with the effort as he pushed back just as hard. My breathing grew ragged. Spots filled my vision, but I wasn’t going to let him escape. Not this time. I had to stop him. I had to trap him here and now.

  The deep well of shadow inside me rose up like a wave and broke free, using the rings to flow outward. It bashed like a living being against Rudarius. He grunted with the effort to prevent the shadows from swallowing him. They strained, shrieking and reaching to find their target. To fulfill the will I instilled in them. Rudarius managed to step away from the column, one foot at a time. The pushback was immense. My feet slid across the stones and over fallen bodies. Warmth dripped from my nose, but there was more power within me. So much more I could call on. I had the entire line of the Sa’ren inside me.

  And I was going to use all of it.

  Seeing a way to kill Rudarius once and for all, I raised my left hand, and a swell of cold and heat mingled then rose inside me. When it reached its peak, I shouted, and the force of the power made me slide back even further as it reached Rudarius’s shield. But he’d been getting ready to attack and the two forces collided with an earsplitting crack. A bright flash of white light filled the chamber, and it was like a bomb dropped in the middle of the room. The blast sent everyone soaring through the air, landing in heaps and hitting walls. I cracked my skull on the stones and lay there, ears ringing, wondering if luck was with me at all. If I’d managed to kill the bastard by chance.

  I wasn’t sure how long I was motionless, but eventually, my hearing returned, muffled still, but enough that I heard voices calling for help. Someone shouted Rudarius’s name and his forces retreated.

  I rolled over, body numb.

  Draven was here somewhere.

  I crawled, my legs not wanting to work yet. The rings sparked each time my hand hit the floor, but they were intact. The stones were whole, and my hand wasn’t burned.

  I spotted a head of white hair. Macron. Good, he lived, at least. He was helping another vampire upright. I crawled faster, shoving dead bodies aside, praying each one wouldn’t be Draven.

  A hand appeared out of a pile of dead shifters. A hand I recognized. I made it to my knees, then to standing. I staggered toward that hand. I dragged the bodies off until Draven came free.

  We looked at each other for a solid second then I threw myself into his arms. He caught me, holding me close. We couldn’t kiss each other fast enough, hugging, then kissing again. I smoothed my fingers down his face, apologizing over and over again for the state he was in. There were so many wounds, but even as I worried over them, his skin stitched itself back together, and he caught my wandering hands so he could kiss me all over again.

  “How?” he finally asked.

  “The rings,” I said as I showed him my hand.

  He ran his fingers over them in awe. “We found the forge, and I couldn’t get it to start, but then I felt you in pain and saw bits of the fight. I felt you getting hurt and then it just happened.”

  “And you were able to get here? Just like that?”

  “Yeah. I followed you.”

  He cupped my cheek in the palm of his hand, and I leaned into it, not wanting to be parted from him for a long, long time. When he kissed me this time, it was filled with unspoken words and the urge to simply feel and make sure this was real. It gave me the sense I hadn’t been the only one having nightmares while we were apart.

  “Draven, where are we?” I asked.

  “Colorado. In the Rockies. This is the home of the coven of the Blood Dragons. Or so it was.” He looked around long and hard after we stood, helping other vampires we found on our way across the room.

  There were a few prominent looking vampires gathered near a carved throne chair miraculously still in one piece. The one Rudarius had killed when we first arrived lay with an almost peaceful smile on his face. Beside him sat a large, bald man, holding his shoulder. He nodded to Draven but gave me a weird frown.

  “Draven,” another man said with a nod. “Hell of a party, eh?”

  “You could call it that. Seneca, this is Wendall, and that’s Carson, other coven leaders,” Draven said by way of introduction.

  I returned their nods but didn’t look at them too long.

  Another vampire held a woman. Blood bloomed over her chest, and she wasn’t moving. She never would again. A stake protruded from where her heart had been.

  “Vince,” Draven said quietly.

  The vampire held up his hand. “Lysa’s dead, killed by that… that piece of filth,” Vince ranted. “She’s just… she’s dead and I…” He dropped to his knees and curled around the woman’s body as tears seeped down his cheeks. When he straightened, a fire burned inside him, one I knew all too well. “The Blood Dragons will join you, and we will destroy him for what he’s done. You have my word on that.”

  “You already know we will,” Wendall informed him. “But this shit certainly solidifies my earlier promise.”

  Carson stood as Wendall finished speaking. “I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you yet,” he said to me. To Draven he added, “but you’re right. Rudarius must be stopped. We are with you as
well.”

  “As is the House of Night,” another vampire said, stepping forward. Sorrow twisted what would’ve been a handsome face as he looked at the dead vampire before us. “Nolan had already declared so, but now… now I too seek revenge.”

  Looked like I missed a hell of a lot. I had a hundred questions, but I was sure Draven had just as many for me. I squeezed his hand and rested my head on his shoulder. The last few days caught up with me all at once, and my body sagged, feeling so heavy.

  “Seneca, you’re bleeding.”

  “I’m sure I am, after that fight,” I replied as my eyes closed.

  Draven’s thumb brushed under my nose. “No, your nose. Are you alright? Seneca?”

  My mouth stopped working, and my legs gave out.

  Draven caught me in his arms, and we hit the floor together.

  “Tired,” I mumbled. “Just tired. Need to sleep.”

  He kissed my forehead. “Sleep, then Seneca, I’ll be here when you wake up. This I promise. Not leaving your side again, not for anything, love.” His arms closed protectively around me.

  I let myself relax, finally.

  The last thing I heard before sleep took me was Draven saying, “Those wings, did you see them? Never seen anything like them.”

  He kissed the top of my head, and that was all I recalled as I fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 14

  Draven

  Seneca hadn’t budged in over a day. I watched her from the doorway, a peaceful look was on her face. Otherwise I would’ve tried to wake her up. Using so much power at one time must’ve drained her. That and I had yet to get any straight answers from Macron of what the two of them went through. He’d been busy patching up the wounded and seeing to the dead.

  Nolan and Lysa. I still couldn’t believe they were gone.

  Petra was dead too, but her death wasn’t as tragic. It was damned clear somewhere along the way Rudarius reached out to her, and she let herself be taken in by whatever he offered, thinking he’d let her live. She got what she deserved. Better she turned on us now than later, in the middle of a real battle. Vince had been busy figuring out how Rudarius’s forces managed to breach the outer perimeter so easily.

  I figured Vince needed the distraction, mostly. He hardly said a word to anyone unless it was to issue an order. I glanced at Seneca’s sleeping form again and was grateful she was alive. If she hadn’t come back to me, I’m not sure I’d be able to keep it together as well as Vince was after losing someone he loved. I shut the door to Seneca’s room and walked along the corridor on the third level.

  Below, the throne room was a mess. Blood stained the walls and the floor. Tapestries were ruined. It would take forever to put right again. After the blast from the clash of Seneca’s and Rudarius’s power, Rudarius disappeared, taking whatever few soldiers remained alive with him.

  “Carson.” I leaned over the railing, watching the vampires below. “How’s the shoulder?”

  “Finally healed. Seneca sleeping?”

  “Still. But at least she seems to be peaceful.” I hung my head.

  “I sensed Petra was off days ago, but I simply believed she was frightened. This was my fault.”

  “No, if anything it was mine. Rudarius was right. I was predictable.”

  “How could you have known he’d be able to get to us here?”

  “Because that’s how he is,” I replied simply. “Always five steps ahead of me. I should’ve done this differently. Reached out to you all some other way.”

  He squeezed my shoulder. “What’s done is done. All that’s left to do now is see he pays in kind for his crimes. I never wanted my coven to see war, but you’re right. Doesn’t matter where we go. He’ll find us.”

  We stayed at the railing watching the commotion below us, but not in any hurry to move away from our perch. Nathaniel, Shane, Wendall, and Theo were working with Vince’s new second. They needed to get everyone organized and make preparations to move out to Seneca’s cottage. I’d been worried about where to put an entire army, but Macron had poked his head into our conversation long enough to say he’d take care of it, then bustled away again. Macron would have to take a break at some point, and then I could corner him. Carson said he was going to check in with Vince and see if there was anything he could do. I watched him walk away and noticed Macron leaving another room.

  “Macron,” I called, and he paused, clearly trying to duck out of sight. “Just tell me, please. What happened over there?”

  He sighed but seemed to lose whatever internal struggle he was having. “As Seneca told you, we found the forge and rings were made. There’s little else to tell really.”

  “And all that shit Rudarius said about conversations with her? Was he lying?”

  “These are questions you should save for Seneca.”

  “You’ll tell me the truth.” I picked at the cracked stone railing as I spoke, not wanting him to see the growing doubt in my eyes. “She did talk to him, didn’t she? At least tell me that much.”

  “The situation is complicated.”

  My fingers froze, and I glared. “How? Rudarius is evil. That’s it. End of story.”

  Macron’s sharp intake of breath said otherwise, and this time, I did look at him. The old mage seemed to have aged while they were gone. The wrinkles on his face appeared deeper. He held himself differently, a slight hunch to his back. “I wish I could say there’s an easy answer,” he said quietly. “I wish I could tell you the new rings can take away all our worries, but they can’t. We were foolish to think they would. I’m afraid this… situation is about to get even messier.”

  I rested my forehead on the railing. The rings were supposed to save Seneca, but from the way Macron talked about them, it sounded like they only made her worse.

  “Are we losing her?” I whispered, hating I even had to ask such a question.

  “Do you want me to lie?”

  “Shit, you can’t be serious? How? She overcame his influence before, I’ve seen it.”

  Macron said nothing for a long couple of minutes. “We’ve all underestimated his influence on her mind. How deep he’s been able to seep inside her very being. The betrayals, the losses, they left her vulnerable and nothing any of us did helped.”

  “You’re saying it’s our fault?” I snapped, baring my fangs, but Macron didn’t flinch away.

  “Yes, in a way. We’re certainly not blameless, but you have to have faith.”

  “Right, faith.” I hissed as I heard my own words thrown back at me. “Have faith and stay optimistic that she won’t let evil take over her mind. That she’ll be able to stand against him in the end. Not by his side. Tell me, Macron, how the hell am I supposed to do that?”

  My words echoed around the vast chamber of the fortress. The vampires below looked up at me.

  Macron shrugged. “I wish I knew, Draven. I truly do.”

  I stormed away from him, not sure where I was headed, but I didn’t stop. I had to keep moving to stop my anger from tearing a hole through me. Everything I passed became a blur. Voices fell to the background, and all I saw was Seneca’s eyes turning black as she attacked me. Seneca as she laughed evilly, standing beside Rudarius while they slaughtered the vampires and the fae.

  Seneca as she killed me.

  I found myself in a dead-end corridor and completely alone. I paced from one end to the other as my hissing turned to a snarl, then a furious shout. I bashed my fist into the wall, kicking and hitting the stones as if they were Rudarius himself and I could beat him to death with my bare hands. I’d been an idiot this whole time, thinking I was protecting Seneca. Had I damned her? Had I just gone and made it worse? When my strength gave out, and my hands were numb, I fell to the floor. I leaned my back against the wall and looked at my bloody knuckles. I was losing Seneca because of that piece of shit vampire. He was never going to stop trying to take her from me.

  One way or another, I had to stop her from giving into his call. But first, I had to know the tru
th. I had to know what they talked about so I could figure out a way to stop her from giving into the evil growing worse within her.

  Chapter 15

  Draven

  We spent two more days at the mountain fortress before Seneca finally woke.

  We started the trek home.

  She hardly said anything to me but clung to my hand as if I was the only person keeping her alive. Questions burned to be asked, but I held my tongue until we reached home. Nathaniel and Shane stayed behind. They’d join us with the rest of the vampires in a week or so, once Macron had time to make room for them all at Seneca’s cottage.

  “I need to gather supplies,” Macron told me, pulling me from darkening thoughts as I stood in the living room. “Helena and Minnie should be back tomorrow.”

  I nodded slowly, hearing him, but not caring. The front door opened then closed, and I turned around to go look for Seneca. Neither one of us was going to like the conversation we were about to have, but there was no more putting it off. If we were about to go to war, we had to go into battle clearheaded, not ready to fall apart.

  She stood in the middle of the backyard. The air was cool, and she had a heavy black sweater on, though she was barefoot as always. I stepped outside but kept my distance. Her new rings glimmered in the light of the orbs hovering close by, which were shifting from blue to violet then back again as if trying to decide to be calm or angry. Her fingers moved as if tapping the air, but there were no shadows surrounding her, no dark magic spewing from her hands.

  I circled around to her right, trying to figure out how to start this conversation when she did it for me.

  “I dreamt about you, while I was in that other world,” she said quietly, looking intently at the ground in front of her. “We were here. It was so real.”

  I froze. “Here? In your dream?”

  “Yeah, you tried to stake me through the heart. Said there was no saving me.”