“Put her on the ground. Press those marks to their match where I cut them,” she instructed Julian as she turned her knife on herself.
Julian wrestled Violet to the ground. His reluctance and her resistance made it a difficult task, but she realized she was only amusing the Ancients in the room as they watched the futile struggle. Eventually, her bleeding wounds were pressed to identical symbols on the floor. Her ears popped as her silver blood pooled in a channel before flowing to an ornate mark on the other side of the circle.
Lucia knelt and pressed her own carved arm to a matching setup of symbols that ran the other way, like an unholy yin and yang. Her occultarus floated to the middle of the circle, glowing brighter and brighter as it threw off jagged cracks of lightning.
Violet felt a tug and then nothingness, as if a great hand had reached within and pulled out her spirit. Her body collapsed to the bare floor.
Chapter 39
Julian
BOTH WOMEN WENT limp as the spell concluded. It hadn’t even taken five minutes, just a donation of blood and a flux of magic from the orb returning to Lucia and floating by her side.
Violet stirred first, groaning. Letting her go, Julian gave her space. “Violet?” he asked quietly, his heartbeat throbbing in his ears.
She sat up, checking her arm before looking up at him. “Julian? What happened?” she asked.
“Are you still you?” he asked, unable to mask the relief in his voice, followed by a wave of dread as she smiled viciously.
Different face, same smile. “Sure I am. I am as I have always been—beautiful and eternal. Elandros, command the wretch to free me.”
The other man turned his attention Julian’s way. “Free her,” he ordered, and Julian obeyed with great reluctance. The chains sprung from her and hit the floor with a clatter.
“Come, I have a kingdom to claim,” she remarked, standing and stretching. As she did, the marks on her arms vanished, healing over to pink, new skin. Before sweeping from the room, she made a gesture for magic with her thumbs and forefingers. A portal cut itself into existence.
“One last order for now,” Elandros’s voice echoed back long after he left the room and left Julian there, standing uncertainly. “Stay there until Neala arrives. Cooperate with her and tell her the portal goes to Nyixa. But do not tell her the truth of who is really in Lucia’s body.”
“Yes, master.” Julian could do a lot with the command stay. He rushed to the side of Lucia’s body, giving it a shake before turning it over. Violet was in there now, out cold.
Maybe he couldn’t leave the room, but if Violet woke, she still had a magic orb and a Sorceress’s magic. She could get a head start out of here. Because he had no doubts about what would happen when Neala, who’d come to New York to hunt the woman before him, found them. With him mum on what had actually happened, her only hope was escaping before Neala could kill her.
He was sure it would happen any minute. Lucia had to have tampered with this, too, predicting exactly when it would happen. But he didn’t expect just how good she was as a booted foot kicked in the door. An angry redhead stood at the door, finding him looming over Lucia’s body. As Armando had described, Neala had glamored herself heavily, looking like a curvy woman rather than a hardened warrior. Yet he had no doubt this was her.
“Did you knock her out? Good job.” Her lips moved, but he was an old enough vampire to know she was actually speaking with her mind. She stopped short and eyed the drying blood on the floor. Her nose wrinkled with distaste, but she didn’t linger on that long, scooping up the set of golden chains and motioning him aside.
She clapped Lucia’s body in those chains, so conveniently placed for this purpose. The silver occultarus circling over the unconscious body dropped to the ground. He frowned uneasily behind her, seeing the puzzle pieces clearly now. “I’ve waited so long to bring her to justice.”
Neala stood, gazing at him long enough that he shifted with discomfort. “You look so much like someone I used to know. It’s uncanny.”
“My father was Marcus,” he said. No need to play coy with her. If Lucia knew him, he was sure the Blood Princes did too.
A smile lifted a corner of her mouth. “Ah! Did you inherit his blood tracking?” At his nod, she gestured to the body. “Why don’t you have a taste of her? If she manages to squirm her way out of this one, at least you will know where to find her.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. His friend was in there now. If anything did happen, he’d be able to find her—no matter if she were Lucia or Violet. Bending down, he nipped her wrist enough to get a few drops of blood to swallow. He nearly threw them back up, the taste of rancid flesh festering in his mouth.
Pinching his nose, he kept it down, feeling his magic identify her now that he was focused on her. But a strange thing happened. With his awareness of Lucia’s body came an awareness of dozens of others in this same building. And more still, farther out.
“More damn Sorceress magic,” he muttered to himself, shaking away that feeling.
“Does the portal go to Nyixa?” Neala asked him. He nodded, wanting to scream that it was too convenient. That they shouldn’t go through.
As she picked up Lucia’s body, he realized she was awake and looking directly at him. Lucia’s face, Violet’s horrified expression.
Chapter 40
Alex
ALEX MUST’VE DOZED off waiting for Violet to return because the next thing he knew, Gwendolyn’s voice was in his head. “Sun’s up. Is Violet still asleep? I haven’t gotten through to her.”
He cracked open his eyes, turning to feel that the other side of his makeshift bed was empty and cold. Jumping to his feet, he checked every nook of their room. No sign of her. “She must still be in New York,” he said.
“New York?” She sounded outraged. “Why would she be there?”
He paced, wondering just how much time had passed. After vowing to always be by her side, he’d left her out of his sight to clean up and recover from that harrowing dream…just for her to go missing. So many terrible things could occur in minutes, and she’d been gone for hours at best.
A portal appeared as he pondered what to say to Gwendolyn. Perfect timing, he thought with a relieved sigh as Violet emerged, not a hair misplaced. She came in on a soft cloud of perfume and hair product smell, her platinum blonde locks curled in delicate ringlets. She clutched a garment bag to her chest.
“Where were you, eh? Take a trip down to the salon?” he asked in disbelief.
“I just wanted to look good. It’s been so long that we’ve been here…smelling so terrible,” she said, glancing down at the bag and then back to him, biting her lip with a coy look. “Want to help me get dressed?”
His inner beast overruled him, purring at the thought. “We can’t keep Gwendolyn waiting long,” he said, closing the gap between them and putting aside the silver dress she’d picked out. He bent down to kiss her brow tenderly, pulling her to the line of his body. For those pulse-breaking few seconds, he’d thought he’d lost her. As close as they’d been in the last week, it’d felt so strange to be parted from her.
No, there was something else wrong. His instincts were no longer so content, and he opened his eyes to look her over more closely. “What’s wrong?” Violet purred.
What was wrong? His nostrils flared, picking apart what lay under the sweet perfume. “You smell like blood.”
“Oh, huh. Must’ve cut myself with the razor,” she said, shrugging. Her hands drifted lower, fitting into his rear pockets. “So this is where you keep it.”
In her grasp was his half-filled vial of silver blood. “Why haven’t you drunk this?” Her tone was almost accusatory.
He reached toward their mating bond for some insight to her sudden flash of anger, coming up empty. That’s what was really wrong, putting his inner beast increasingly on edge. The bond was either gone or so stretched by distance that he couldn’t feel it. Which made no sense with Violet right in front of him, her expression sm
oothing out as she offered the tube back to him. “Do you want me to drink this?” he asked.
“Well, yes. How else are we to survive this day?” She crossed her arms, looking at the floor. “The stronger you are, the stronger I am. Why don’t you drink it while I change?” Retrieving the silver dress, she started to undress right in front of him. The body that had enticed him so much before did nothing for him now.
Not my mate, the inner beast whispered. Can’t trust.
Alex slowly tucked the potion back in its hiding place. He thought to Cossette’s advice, to be unpredictable. This was certainly an unpredictable event, but when he felt his lifemate bond snap into place with someone else on the island, it really clicked for him.
The woman in front of him was only wearing Violet’s face. She had her back to him, struggling with a zipper. “Let me get that for you,” he muttered, embracing his beast’s heated reaction to realizing someone else was impersonating his mate. He both zipped the dress and grabbed her wrists, pulling her flush with him for a very different reason.
“What are you doing?” She looked up at him with such innocent confusion, lips parted to ask more questions. For a moment, he faltered, thinking himself mistaken.
Open your eyes, his inner beast demanded. He had no bond with this woman. She was no better than a Violet-like stranger.
“What did you do to my mate?” he demanded, baring his teeth like the angry animal inside of him.
There was no hesitation there. A smile split her face as she laughed. “Oh, Alexander. You should’ve just played along.” Her hands flexed behind her. The next thing he knew, he was holding a live wire of electricity, forced to let her go lest he electrocute himself. Crackles of lightning made their way up her arms.
She grabbed her occultarus from orbit, gesturing out to him. Every muscle in his body froze. He couldn’t breathe. “Behold what a true Sorceress can do. Newly turned, little training.” She gestured to herself. “Yet stronger than an Elder vampire in one spell.”
“Lucia,” he projected out to Gwendolyn.
“Yes, she’s here. Neala brought her in nephilim chains. We’ve won,” she replied in elation.
“No—” He felt the connection sever from an outside source. The Lucia before him wearing Violet’s skin watched him like an entomologist studies a particularly interesting bug. Something novel but otherwise easy to crush.
“You will drink this potion. It may not feel like it, but you are still bonded to this body, and I need a strong partner for what’s to come.” At her gesture, he could breathe again as his jaw was wedged open.
He tried to project uncharitable thoughts toward her, but it seemed she had somehow cut off all his mental speech. As still as a statue, he could only watch as she sauntered toward him in a feminine strut, showing off her new and untainted body with a proud lift of her head. She took out his vial and uncorked it, smelling the fumes coming from it with a sigh. “Ah, the last of its kind. This blood has waited for you for a thousand years, Alexander. Aren’t you honored?”
He hoped the murderous look in his eyes properly communicated just how little he appreciated this situation. He should’ve followed Gwendolyn’s advice and destroyed the vial and its contents while he could.
Instead, she pressed the glass into his mouth, pushing the lip of it past his frozen gag reflex. Cold liquid poured slowly down the back of his throat. “Don’t worry, though. Such a big influx of power will knock you right out. And once my old body is dead, I’ll be sure to come back and erase your memory of this ever happening. We can be a happy family together. Just like you’ve always wanted, right?” She rubbed her belly and gave him another coy look.
His thoughts immediately flashed to Mary Ann and how she’d always cradled her pregnant belly so tenderly. Yes, he wanted a family. But the thought that Lucia would sink her talons into his dream turned him cold in no way anything else had. That she thought erasing this ordeal would trick him into otherwise believing she was Violet…maybe she was insane. Truly out of her mind.
She didn’t let him respond, though. The woman must like to hear herself talk, he thought bitterly. As the dregs of the silver blood emptied out in his throat, he felt it take effect like a kick to the stomach. His whole body thrummed with new power, building and building with mounting pressure at the back of his head. It didn’t stop when it reached the pain threshold, making his whole body throb as if it had nowhere to put the influx of power.
That was when he felt lightheaded. Lucia removed the vial from his mouth and let him collapse to the floor as she released her spell. He curled up with a groan, feeling his body go limp. “Sweet dreams, my love.” She chuckled to herself as she turned, making a portal out of the room.
She hadn’t stayed long enough to watch Alex grit his teeth, taking every wave of agony as his powers aged years in moments. He didn’t pass out as he lay there a few moments longer, as if expecting her to come back as he played possum.
Instead, he pushed himself to his feet. Sweat soaked through his clothing in an instant. It felt like his whole body had turned to lead. The room blurred as his eyes filled with pained tears. He tottered to get his balance. Managed a step. Fell. He stood again, limbs shaking. He had a mate to save, and determination pushed him forward another step.
Chapter 41
Violet
SHE DIDN’T KNOW how Lucia had so easily gotten up in her new body. Now that she had awoken, Violet felt like her whole body weighed double. Her limbs lolled on the rocky soil of Nyixa as Neala half-dragged her toward the massive Eye of Worlds. “I’m… I’m not…” she tried to say, her lips dry and chapped. Licking them lacerated her tongue on dozens of needle-sharp teeth.
Neala turned a hateful look her way. She’d dropped the pretty glamor at some point, looming over her like a hulk of woman warrior. “Save your breath. No one’s listening.”
Violet wondered if Lucia had drugged her body right before the swap. It seemed like the kind of thing she’d do, to leave her only magical competition disabled. But she needed to get a grip somehow because she was being dragged to her execution, which would permanently leave Lucia with her body. Tears burned at the corner of her eyes, leaving ink trails on her face.
“I’m not… Lucia,” she rasped.
“You are lucky I’m saving you for Adrius,” Neala gritted out, her grip on the golden chains binding Violet’s wrists tightening. “I’m tired of your mind games.”
“But—”
“Shut up!” Her face curled up like a snarling bulldog’s. It reminded Violet distinctly of the mute, red-faced Neala she’d first met, who’d looked seconds from exploding.
She kept her lips sealed, shooting Julian a desperate look. Following behind them a few paces, his face was still blank and ready for commanding. He was paling further than a creature of the night who hadn’t seen a hint of sunlight, his skin taking on a cold sheen where she could see it. He met her gaze, only showing his inner turmoil with a twitch of his brow. There had to be some thoughts in there, some pushback from the terrible things he was forced to witness.
They came up to the Eye of Worlds, where Gwendolyn stood with arms crossed over her cane. She turned, adjusting her spectacles as she did a double take. “You found her,” she gasped.
“I did. I am taking her to Adrius,” Neala said gruffly. She paused with Gwendolyn for a moment, drawing a sigh of relief from Violet. As smooth as the white stone Nyixa was built upon looked, she’d started to feel every bump and hard edge as her clothes wore down.
“Remember, she cannot be killed yet. Whomever swings the sword will inherit her power and curse,” Gwendolyn cautioned. The line of Neala’s body grew more rigid.
“There’s always an excuse for why we cannot end her. Have you no better solution?” she grumbled.
“I’m not…not…Lucia,” Violet said, her voice small and weak. Both women turned toward her before exchanging a glance.
“She keeps saying that,” Neala said, flipping her hand dismissively.
She lifted a clawed hand and pointed. Lucia was making the symbol for “portal” behind their backs, retrieving a familiar-looking satchel that she hid behind her back with both hands. “Lucia,” Violet said. “It’s…Lucia.”
Gwendolyn and Neala turned, both smiling to see who they thought was Violet. “Good morning, dear. Looks like we don’t have to worry about a fight today,” the older Ancient said. Only from another’s ears did Violet realize that her tone turned warm and almost motherly. Her heart ached to have it back and to hug her mentor for putting up with her for a whole grueling week of intensive training.
“What a relief,” Lucia said, flipping her hair. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I wanted to put my best foot forward for whomever comes to visit today.”
“I see that. This is the most formal you’ve ever been. It should’ve waited.” Just like that, Gwendolyn was back to being her severe, professorial self. “I need you to try communicating with the Eye of Worlds with me. Together, we will have the power to command it.”
“N-no,” Violet said. No one saw what she did. Lucia had taken her occultarus in hand, the satchel still behind her back. A subtle breeze kicked up.
“I will take Lucia to her cell then,” Neala said, sounding none too pleased about it.
Lucia chuckled. The breeze blew in behind her back, picking up speed. She ducked as a cloud of blue dust rose behind her—the languor dust, aimed directly at Gwendolyn and Neala’s faces. Julian sidestepped it, and Violet held her breath until she felt herself growing dizzy.
Dream Walker: Blood Legacy Series Book 1 Page 24