“They’ll already be sending a team here to find me,” Valentina said frantically. “You haven’t got long.”
“They will be panicking about the sun for a while yet,” Julius said thoughtfully. “But don’t worry, when they do turn up, you won’t be here.”
“Where will I be?” she squeaked.
“You’ll find out soon.” Julius beamed, angling the camera at her. “Now if you really do want to help us, I suggest you start begging Erik Belvedere for help.”
Valentina gaped at him, her eyes flashing to me then back to the phone. “I-I-“
“Do you need a little encouragement?” Julius snarled, lifting his steel blade as a threat.
“No!” she gasped. “Please Julius, don’t hurt me.”
He nodded his encouragement and she kept going, begging Erik for help.
When Julius was satisfied, he pocketed the phone and folded his arms with a wide grin. “So, Valentina…Nightmare tells me you still have Menace. Where is my baby?”
Valentina’s face grew cold. “It’s mine now, Julius. You drove it into me. How could you do such a thing? I only came to be with you when you rose from your sleep. But you attacked me.”
Julius stalked toward her with a scowl. “Look at yourself. You’re one of them. A cold, lifeless thing. Menace saw what you were before I did. And my vow will always guide my hand. I did what I had to.”
“I would never have hurt you,” Valentina said, on the verge of tears. “I came to be with you. We're family.”
A pang of pity ran through me at her pained tone.
“No we're not. You never married Magnar. I have no allegiance to you. So where the hell is it?” Julius growled. “Tell me or I’ll rip this place apart and find it myself.”
Valentina sighed and a tear slipped from her eye, falling into her lap. “In my bedroom. It’s in a box beneath the bed.”
Julius looked to me, jerking his chin in an order. I didn’t like being bossed about but figured I’d rather he stayed there watching Valentina instead of me.
I headed from the room, locating her bedroom and stepping into it. The place was decorated in dark blue tones with pictures on the walls of mountains and lakes. I headed to the bed, dropping to my knees and feeling for the box. A fierce energy rolled into me as my fingertips grazed the wood. I pulled it out and opened the long oak container. Inside, was an incredible weapon. The golden sword glittered as if rays of the sun lived in the metal. I took the hilt, raising it up, finding it almost too heavy to carry.
I reached for its energy and a savage presence pressed into me, resisting my touch. Slowly, it opened up to me, revealing its name. Menace.
Nightmare sighed in my pocket, seeming happy to be united with the sword.
I carried Menace back to the living room and Julius let out a whimper as he spotted it. Darting toward me, he snatched the hilt and raised it above his head with a gleam in his eyes. “Oh my love, how I’ve missed you. Did you miss me too?” He swung the sword through the air with amazing agility, sweeping it in arcs as if he and the blade were involved in some strange dance.
Valentina pouted as he watched him. “I miss my old blade too, Julius. The vampires keep it locked in an armoury deep beneath the castle with the rest of the slayers’ blades. Vicious is so close and yet I can’t get to her.”
“Well if you prove yourself, Valentina, perhaps one day I shall help you retrieve her.”
“Thank you,” she murmured.
I turned to Julius with my heart beating wildly in my chest. “What now?”
“Now, it’s time for you to go. Step into the streets. Walk to the castle if you like. Walk until someone comes out of the shadows to take you to the royals.” A wicked glint shone in his eyes and strength seeped into every bone in my body.
“I’ll be waiting where we agreed,” he went on. “If Erik wants Valentina freed, he will have to let you go. I’ll give you until sundown. If night comes again, they will rise against us. So do what you have to, and do it fast.” He took Valentina's phone and tapped something into it before handing it to me. “Show Erik the video. Threaten the hell out of him. And if you need me, press this button and call me.” I eyed the screen as he demonstrated how to find his number.
I nodded, taking in a deep breath as I pocketed the phone and headed toward the exit. I marched straight across the hallway to the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. Sunlight danced through the air and lit the alley in warm tones. I smiled as I descended to the ground and walked out onto the street. Cars were abandoned everywhere. All was quiet. And as the sun shone down on my back, I started walking toward the castle with power coursing through my veins.
We’re on equal ground now, Erik Belvedere.
The sun shone through the clouds in lazy shafts, punching holes in the blanket of grey overhead. I turned my head towards the sky and smiled as sunlight spilled over me, filling me with its warmth.
I was standing on the top of a hill, looking out over a reddish brown desert interspersed with cactuses and huge rocks. A shadow circled overhead and I spotted an eagle soaring across the cloud-filled sky. It watched me, wheeling through the air before turning and flying away.
In the distance I could see a line of greenery which marked the start of a forest. But right here, nothing substantial grew.
I looked down and found myself wearing the strangest clothes. A thin cotton shirt lay beneath fighting leathers similar to Magnar’s. The outfit was sculpted to my curves, cinching in at my waist while revealing much more of my chest than I would normally show.
Fury was in my hand, its presence warm and reassuring but somehow it wasn’t the same as usual. Like its personality was missing.
A warm breeze picked up and my hair fluttered around me, the sun glinting off of it as if it were actually made of gold.
The sound of clashing steel reached me and I turned to look down the hill behind me.
A fearsome battle was taking place between four figures bathed in sunlight; a tide of vampires who clung to the shadows surrounded them.
I stepped closer, recognising Magnar as he swung Tempest in a mighty arc, destroying more vampires than I could count. More monsters instantly swept in to take their place.
The man to his right roared a challenge as he cut through foe after foe. His hair was as long as Magnar’s but it was braided with golden beads as was his beard. He raised his sword above his head and I recognised Venom.
My mouth fell open as I realised who he was. I was looking at Magnar’s father. The man Erik Belvedere had murdered and turned into a vampire.
This wasn’t my dream. Magnar must have fallen asleep beside me on the train and I’d found my way into his.
I glanced around, wondering if I should try to leave. I felt like I was spying on something personal and yet at the same time I ached to know more. My gaze drifted to the third man fighting alongside Magnar and his father. I gave in to my curiosity as I watched them. He was around Magnar’s age, his dark hair cropped short but his muscular build so like the others that I knew it must have been his brother Julius.
Magnar laughed as he decapitated a vampire and Julius leapt forward, plunging a blade through its heart. They fought seamlessly side by side. Like two parts of the same body. Their laughter echoed up to me again and again as they killed without mercy. Destroying the undead like they were born to do.
The final warrior was a woman with rich bronze skin and dark hair pinned along one side of her scalp. She was beautiful in all the ways the vampires weren’t. Everything about her screamed life and joy.
A vampire leapt towards Magnar’s back and she threw herself between them, swinging an axe as she screamed in defiance. A mother bear protecting her cub.
The battle raged on and Magnar fought beside his family with a smile on his face the likes of which I’d never seen in the real world.
I couldn’t help but stare, captured by this legendary family. Everything he’d lost in his crusade against the vampires. It made my heart
ache to see it. And yet I couldn’t turn away.
The final vampire finally fell to dust at their feet and the four of them embraced each other amidst the heap of ash and clothes left behind.
Magnar released his family and suddenly turned towards me.
“There she is!” he called and his smile made my heart stumble.
“You missed all the fun, Callie,” Julius teased as he spotted me too. His tone was filled with warmth and I felt like we were friends somehow despite the fact I’d never met him.
I opened my mouth to respond but I wasn’t sure what to say. When I’d found myself in my father’s dream he’d known I wasn’t supposed to be there. He’d recognised the fact that I was real while everything else wasn’t.
I could see that difference between Magnar and his family too. He was solid; a more defined object in the centre of everything else. The others only existed in his memory and imagination. But he didn’t seem to have realised that I was different yet.
“You didn’t look like you needed my help,” I said as I walked down the hill to join them. Fury fizzled out of existence now that the vampires were gone and my hand was left empty.
Magnar’s mother smiled at me, reaching out to tuck my hair behind my ear in a gesture that felt at once maternal and strange. I couldn’t remember my own mother doing such things so accepting the care of a stranger was more than odd.
I looked up at Magnar and his eyes shone with joy. This was everything he’d lost. Everything he wished to have back. And would never be able to claim.
He took a step towards me and I felt a chill as the wind brushed over my skin. I looked down and found the cotton shift missing from beneath my fighting leathers. I was pretty sure my breasts looked bigger than they were in real life too. What the hell? I frowned in confusion, wondering if he’d done that intentionally or not.
As I looked up at Magnar again, I found him closer to me. His family were sitting behind him, gathered around a fire which hadn’t been there before.
“Magnar-” I began, meaning to tell him that I was real. I didn’t think he should say anything else without knowing the truth. He might not want me to be here. I was intruding on his thoughts, seeing things which belonged to him and he shouldn’t have to share unwillingly.
“Say that again,” he said, his voice low. He was standing so close to me that I could feel the heat from his body but Idun’s rules still kept him from closing the distance. Except that they hadn’t stopped me from speaking his name...
“Magnar,” I whispered and a thrill raced down my spine as his eyes burned like liquid gold.
He lifted a hand and ran his fingers along my jaw before sliding it into my hair and cupping the back of my neck.
My heart pounded as I stood, captured in his gaze while he drank me in.
He leant forward slowly and I tilted my chin up as he closed the distance between us. The moment before his lips met mine felt like an eternity. My whole body ached for him. A longing grew in the pit of my stomach, begging him to take me captive.
His mouth claimed mine and every inch of my skin came alive beneath his touch. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer as our kiss deepened. Every moment that Idun had forced us to stay away from each other melted into nothing as I lost myself in him.
His hands fell to my waist and he lifted me into his arms. I wrapped my legs around him, my fingers knotting in his hair as I devoured his kisses.
His mouth trailed down my neck, and I arched my back, pressing myself against him. I could hardly believe I was able to touch him, that Idun's rules didn't extend to our dreams.
He leant forward, laying me down on a thick bed of furs which appeared beneath me. A tent rose up around us, sealing us away from the world. I wanted to marvel at the magic of the dream but his presence stole my attention.
His mouth continued to move across my skin, trailing lower as I moaned in pleasure.
I caught his shirt in my hand and pulled him back, kissing him again as he pressed me down into the furs.
My grip tightened on his shirt and I wished it wasn’t there so that I could feel the warmth of his skin. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, it disappeared.
Magnar leant back, glancing down at himself in surprise and a deep laugh fell from his mouth. I smiled up at him as my fingers slid over his chest, following the curves of his muscles.
As I traced a line beneath his heart, I noticed that the tattoo which should have been there was missing. I frowned at it and Magnar followed my gaze. He took my hand in his, lifting it from his chest and raising it to his mouth.
“I never wanted her,” he said as if that explained why it was missing. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Callie.”
He pressed a kiss to my forearm where my slayer’s mark stood out against my skin before raising my hand above my head and pinning it in place. My heart thundered with anticipation as he moved towards me.
When he kissed me again it was filled with more urgency than before and his other hand trailed the length of my body before landing on my belt.
He tugged on it, releasing the buckle and tossing it aside. His hand moved beneath my battle leathers, pushing them up as he gripped my waist and drew me against him.
I wanted to stay there with him and give myself to him completely but a nagging voice in the back of my head kept reminding me this wasn’t real. And it wasn’t honest either. He didn’t know that this was truly me.
I gave myself another moment in his arms then pulled away from him with a sigh of disappointment.
“Stop,” I breathed, wishing I didn’t have to say it.
Magnar leant back and looked down at me. “Are you sure?”
“No...” I smiled at him, my gaze falling on his body again before I forced myself to admit what I was. “But I’m not like everything else here.” I wasn’t really sure how to tell him that I’d invaded his dream.
He tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what I was saying and I released a breath as embarrassment clawed at me.
I waved a hand, demonstrating what I meant by making the tent dissolve around us. We were still laying on the furs but a clear sky filled with twinkling stars hung above us.
“I know,” he replied giving me a playful smile. “My mother was the first of your kind to dream walk. Did you really think I couldn’t tell what you were as soon as I saw you?”
My mouth fell open in surprise as I tried to understand why he’d gone along with it for so long if that was the case.
“But I thought... don’t you care about Idun’s rules?”
“If Idun cared about us she never would have bound us to that rule. She knew what you were to me when you took your vow. Forcing us apart amused her. There was no reason why she couldn’t have removed that restriction on us,” he growled and his eyes flashed dangerously.
“But why would she do that?” I didn’t understand what the goddess would gain from hurting those who were trying to fulfil her wishes.
“Because she can.” Magnar rolled off of me and propped his head up on his hand as he lay beside me. “She enjoys testing my loyalty.” He scratched at the skin where his tattoo should have been.
“Why don’t you have that tattoo here?” I asked, reaching out to touch the place where it should have been. Though I could tell that he didn’t like talking about it, it was clearly something that mattered to him.
Magnar sighed and I knew he didn’t want to answer. “Before I slept I was betrothed to a woman I didn’t choose for myself.”
The sky lightened and I sat up as I found myself beside a huge fire and surrounded by more tents than I could count. A wooden log formed beneath us and we sat on it as Magnar’s people moved about us, laughing and eating.
A woman walked towards us. Her dark hair was delicately coiled into braids along one side of her head and her blue dress flattered her figure. She had deep eyes and full lips which pulled up into a smile as she approached Magnar.
“There you are, husband. I came
looking for you in your tent last night but I must have missed you. Were you walking in the rain again?” Her tone was playful and she dropped down into the space between us, forcing me to shift along or risk her ass landing on my knee.
She placed her hand on Magnar’s thigh, leaning close to him suggestively. My chest tightened uncomfortably as the memory played out. She was beautiful in an effortless way. Her pale skin was flawless and her voice was deep and seductive.
“I told you not to call me that. I’m not your husband yet,” Magnar replied and though he appeared relaxed, I was sure I could detect irritation lacing his tone.
“Well if you keep me waiting much longer I may just have to set the date myself. It’s been three years, Magnar. You can’t keep hiding behind the desire for revenge.” Her hand shifted further up his thigh and I wondered how she managed to press on with her point while his face turned stony. I half expected him to stab her at any moment. “Your father would want you to be happy, he wouldn’t have expected you to wait so long to live your own life-”
“Don’t presume to know what my father would have wanted,” he snapped, pushing her hand off of him. “And you forget that I am the Earl now. I decide on when marriages should take place and there have been no signs to suggest I should prioritise ours. The gods demand justice for our people, they have no interest in our union.”
“You swore an oath to me,” she hissed and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up in response. I got the distinct feeling that she wasn’t the kind of person I would have wanted to cross.
“And I have the scar to prove it,” he spat. “I have not broken my word. We are betrothed just as the profit said we would be. But until I rid the world of the Revenants, I have no intention of taking the arrangement any further.”
Magnar stood and strode away. The woman stared after him with her chin held high. Instead of the tears I expected, an icy steel formed in her gaze as though she was figuring out her next move. I got the impression she wasn’t going to accept that answer without a fight.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 63