“What’s in it for you? What has Namen promised you that is worth selling your soul?” I ask.
His face is confused, blinking as if he’s never thought of it before. Then, it’s gone and he’s back to his suave self, shrugging at my question.
I don’t like it. I can’t put my finger on it, but something doesn’t seem all the way together about Santos. But, it’s almost time to make my move. Selene is going to try to stop me. I don’t have time to solve this puzzle.
“Did you have anything to do with my family’s murder?” I ask, pointing the sword at Santos.
He looks at me in amusement as if I said a corny joke instead of asking him if he helped murder my family. Selene steps in between us in warning. I take a step forward anyway. Zara’s deadly energy spins in my head waiting for my command.
“Oh, no Rayne. I had nothing to do with that little incident. I’m just sorry that you weren’t in the house too. My sister would probably already be with me by now if she wasn’t playing babysitter for you.”
“Santos,” Selene warns as my rage grows.
Little incident? The pain that my family experienced is a little incident?
“One more question, you miserable piece of shit, did you have anything to do with the deaths of the wolves that were part of Anubis’s pack?” My hand shakes as I await his response. I know that he’ll tell the truth as long as he continues to flaunt the air of superiority he thinks he rightly deserves. I want to cut him down piece by piece.
He laughs as he turns his green eyes toward me. His power bursts around us like a solar flare. It’s as if his power responded to the pleasure of the memory. “You should have heard their screams.”
My tattoo explodes as new adrenaline surges through me like a bullet train. I give the word to Zara and do my part to distract Selene by going after Santos. If I can actually reach him, then that’s even better. Selene is ready though. She feels my power burst and attempts to throw up a barrier to stop me.
Katsu devours it as I slice down, never missing a step. Her next attack however, hits me head on and I hit the ground rolling backwards. I pop up just as Selene readies another spell with pleading eyes. I force her and Santos to pay attention to my frantic attempts to get to him. As he preps his own spell, I feel their magic attempt to mingle and it almost stops me short. He watches in oblivious pleasure as Selene’s hands shimmer with magic, still working to keep herself between us. Then, I feel Zara use the same demon magic that got us here to melt into existence right behind Santos. He sees her in time to turn but Zara grabs his arm and wrenches it back. Finally, Zara wastes no time acting like the monster she warned me that she is.
Chapter Fourteen
Selene screams in rage as she realizes what just happened. I try to grab her but she breaks free and tries to rush to his aide. Santos’ eyes go wide in pain as Zara makes no effort to make the bite a pleasant one as she bites into his flesh with the savagery of a lion. Santos pushes his magic into Zara trying to overload her with pain, but she’s like a pit bull that’s locked onto its prey.
Suddenly, Zara drops Santos to the ground and stands there dumbstruck, blood dripping from her face. Selene doesn’t seem to notice the pause in the assault and still sends a blast of solid air right into Zara’s midsection. She bounces off of the ground and doesn’t get up. I wonder if her ribs are more damaged now.
Selene reaches Santos on the ground, trying to cover his wound as still pouring rain causes the blood to seem to flow more freely. He picks himself up off of the ground and looks at me in rage. He’s already plotting his payback. They exchange words in their native language quietly and then he disappears leaving a chill in the air.
Selene turns toward me and a handful of different emotions paint her beautiful face: rage, betrayal, fear, and surprise to say the least. She opens her mouth to speak but Zara beats her to it.
“We may have a bigger problem on our hands. There’s something wrong with Santos’ blood. There’s something strange about it and I think that I’ve tasted this before. I think that he’s being controlled.”
◊◊◊
After Selene disposes of the demon’s body with a spell that dissolves it back into the earth, we survey the damage to the house. The living room has fared the worst. The flat screen is cracked on the floor and the speakers are in broken bits. There’s blood on the upturned cream suede couches and deep gouges in the floor.
Then, we grab some clothes and make a decision to meet up with Jaxson to fill him in on everything that just happened. Luckily, we don’t run into any more trouble on the way to the pack’s estate because my energy level is now in the negatives. How I’m still standing is a miracle in itself. Zara is trying to hide the extent of the damage to her ribs, but Selene and I both know she’s pretty f’ed up.
There are four bathrooms in Anubis’s old home, so we all shower, get dried off, fill our bellies, and survey our injuries. They allow me to sleep the rest of the night before we get to business. Between Zara and me, we definitely need the rest. Selene makes a run for some herbs to make a healing potion while I sleep.
The thundering rain doesn’t even rouse me from my slumber. After I wake, I meet up with everyone in the dining room. They all seem to have been up for a while now. Even Zara, whose injuries had been worse than mine seems refreshed and alert. Pureblood vampire healing. I don’t even want to think about my black eye.
As we all sit at the table, I run my hand over the tiny scar on my face that I received the night that I killed Anubis. It is a constant reminder of my ineptitude. I deserved to have it scar. I’m the only one here that had been born human. This world that I’ve leaped into has left no room for re-tries or do-overs. I have to do better this instance, or I could cost someone else their life too.
Since this all began, I’ve had my ankle broken, been impaled, tortured, nearly drowned, broke my nose, thought my arm was sliced off, gotten clawed more than once, been ambushed, bitten, knocked out, and nearly kidnapped. That’s not including losing my family and an ally. To top it off, if it wasn’t Zara that got to Santos first, I might have just lost the love of my life forever because I would have probably killed her brother. At the very least, I would have died trying. She’s still pissed at me for creating a diversion for Zara to even get to him. Boy did I dodge a bullet.
Jaxson, Christopher, a wolf named Phillip, Selene, Zara, and I are all at the table. Zara has already gone over the incident with her police contact and the vampires that we killed. She’s sworn on her life to find the other man and get to the bottom of their missing pack member’s bodies. As hurt as the werewolves seem, they all understand that this is another casualty of the world that we all live in.
“Taking the bodies seems to be another diversion of Namen’s. He’s trying to eat away at our emotions and we can’t let that happen. We’ve committed to this and all we can do now is see it through. If we get their bodies back, then so be it, but until then, we must keep our focus on the threats we face,” Christopher says firmly.
We all nod in agreement. It says a lot about what kind of man Jaxson is; to let Chris in on our discussion after he tried to fight him for control of the pack. He clearly recognizes what an asset he is and knows that he deserves his place at the table. Or, he could be trying to pacify those in the pack that wanted Christopher to be alpha. Jaxson will be a great leader. I just hope that I don’t disappoint him either.
I wanted to ask about Christopher’s mate, Rebecca, the one that tried to attack me after their battle for Alpha, but Chris didn’t seem to be upset about my presence here, so I left it alone. Hopefully when the time comes, it’s not her that has to watch my back. Hopefully, she got the message loud and clear when I ran her through with Katsu.
Then, I talk about my problem with Namen invading my thoughts and how the blood bond with Zara had been affecting my power and our need for each other. It’s uncomfortable to talk about but we all agree that both of the issues need to be addressed.
Zara firmly apo
logizes to Selene.
“Hear me out, Selene. I may be a vampire and it’s painfully obvious how you feel about my kind, but when it comes to love, my heart beats just like anyone else’s. I won’t deny that I had been mischievous in the beginning, but that was all fun and games. I see you and I wouldn’t hurt you in that way. People like you don’t love quietly; you love with every inch of your being.”
The passion and honesty in Zara’s voice draws me in. “I see you. I know what it’s like to be robbed of your greatest love. I wouldn’t do that to you purposefully, I’m not that type of cruel. This damn bond was underestimated. I allowed it to control us and I’m far too old to have made that mistake. Rayne is yours to love. She is mine to protect, even from myself,” Zara says quietly, but passionately with glowing red eyes.
The entire room goes silent as we watch Selene’s reaction. A tear falls from her eye as she turns to me. Surprisingly, Zara takes a finger and wipes it away. Intimately, Selene grabs her hand before Zara can pull away completely. They stare each other down, each seeking something in each other’s eyes. Truth. Validation. Understanding.
“I’m sorry for the pain you’ve endured. Being immortal can be even more painful than I could imagine,” Selene whispers to her, looking down at her small frame.
“You have no idea,” Zara responds. I feel her desire for, something, anything, through our bond. Wholeness. Images of her and Sage flash through her mind, deepening her sorrow.
“I understand. Rayne fills a void in you. We each need a piece of her in order to survive. I just don’t know what to make of your desire. You can’t fight your nature Zara.”
“I’m not like other vampires. I don’t just want to consume, Selene, I want to complete.”
Their powerful energy fills the room and I can’t help but let out a gasp as a wave of desire and heady need fills the room. Jaxson and Phillip both look at me with yellow rimmed eyes, breathing in my desire, my craving for power. I ignore the warning look saying ‘cool it’ that I get as I breathe deeper allowing my tattoo to respond to the wave. I open up attempting to absorb what I can of their power and then I feel it creep into the back of my mind.
I blink twice and shake my head to try to get rid of the invader, but it’s too late, he’s here.
“I know what you want, Rayne. I can give it to you. I can give it all to you. You want power, you want seduction? It’s yours. Just come to me. You will be the most powerful human alive,” Namen teases. His voice is smooth, deadly, and magical. I feel his hand caress my arm and I shiver as the power he represents soaks into my skin.
His energy is dark and tainted. Still, I soak it up like a sponge and cry out as it feels as if a knife just cut me deep. I want nothing of his abhorrent power. Why is he here? Why now?
“I don’t want what you have to offer. I want to end you,” I tell him venomously.
“Oh, are you sure that’s what you want? You seem to have issues making up your mind lately. With me, you can have whatever you want, whenever you want, as you see fit.”
“Can you reverse time Namen? Can you go back to the time before you decided to have my family killed?” I ask contemptuously.
He laughs. “Of course not. Why would I want to? Your entire family was a threat to me. The only reason that I allowed you to live was because I didn’t want the witch girl involved. It would have ruined my plans for her. Even better that she found a way to give you power, now I can use you in my army too,” he responds.
“What the hell are you saying?” I question angrily. I don’t like what he’s insinuating.
“Do you really think that I didn’t know your whereabouts that night? Surely, you aren’t that dumb. I want the witch. If I killed you, she would never forgive me. Now that she knows I have her brother on my side, it’s only a matter of time before I have the high priestess with me. I could live with you coming along too, but frankly, it’s her that I want. Plus, she’s grown exponentially in power over these last couple of years. Much more than I hoped for.”
He laughs and I think I’m going to be sick.
“So, Selene is the only reason that I’m not dead?”
“Let me put it this way: yes,” Namen responds smugly. “But, she can’t keep you that way anymore if you continue to oppose me. I’m growing tired of your stunts.” He speaks to me as if I’m just an unruly child that needs to be put in her place.
“I think you’re afraid of me and mine. We have the power to oppose you and you know it. That’s why you’re here now, I’m a threat to you. You’re going to keep doing any and everything you can to distract us because you know heads up, you’d never win. That’s okay though. It won’t work,” I respond defiantly.
For a split second, Namen’s gray eyes burn with fury, but he quickly recovers. “You know Rayne, I can get inside your head whenever you’re vulnerable. When you’re sleep, when you daydream, when you’re upset. You won’t even be able to make love to your witch without me getting inside your head and torturing you.”
“Screw you,” I spit.
“You know why I chose you for this little experiment? Because you’re the weakest link on the chain. I break you and I break them all. Here’s a little parting gift to show you what you can look forward to. I was watching inside the demon’s mind as he destroyed your family. Have a look,” Namen waves a hand and disappears.
I try to escape my own mind before the images hit me, but it’s like I’m locked in a cage, unable to tear my eyes from the horrid images that flash across the screen. Over and over I watch as the Devourer drags my baby sister, kicking and screaming across the floor. Over and over I watch as he pummels her face, knocking her over, playing with her as he feeds on her fear. Over and over I watch as she begs for her life. Over and over I watch the tears fall as the fight leaves her. Over and over I watch as the demon rips her open, drinking in her pain before slicing her neck. Over and over I watch her fall to the floor, lifeless.
Finally, I can’t take it anymore, afraid I’ll go insane from what I’m seeing, I scream in rage and disbelief. I wish against reality that I can take her place, pleading with my own mind to free me from this curse.
Chapter Fifteen
A blow lands on my face and I topple out of the chair I’m sitting in. The stinging sensation is nothing compared to my mental anguish. Forcing myself to look at my attacker, Jaxson is standing over me with wild eyes. He steps back to give me some room and I notice that everyone else is sharing the same look.
“You were screaming bloody murder. What the fuck?” Jaxson asks cautiously.
I look them all over and despite my best efforts, break down into tears. Moments later, I feel Selene’s warm energy surround me and pull me in close. Finally, I work up the courage to tell everyone what I’ve just experienced. It’s obvious that I truly am the weakest link.
“No one should have to see that,” Phillip speaks quietly.
“He will suffer for this,” Selene promises, with venom in her voice.
“We have to get him out of your head. He’s not going to let you rest until then.”
“I don’t know if I can sleep after what I just saw,” I admit.
“You will. We need you. You’re not weak. If you were, he wouldn’t be going to such great lengths to do this to you. In fact, I think he knows something that we don’t about your power. What do you think, Zara? You’re the only one that has experience with someone being unmade,” Selene asks, still holding me tight. I really, truly don’t deserve her.
She seemed unfazed by the revelation that Namen wants her, I’m sure she put it together once we found out Santos was working with him. Still, the fact that I’m supposedly only alive because of her has to be unnerving.
Zara sighs and thinks for a few seconds. “Sage was different, or at least that’s what I was led to believe. She had shown signs of incredible strength even before her unmaking. With Rayne, there were things that Selene said she noticed, but I don’t think this is about her power necessarily. Or should I say
physical strength. Each person that becomes unmade displays different qualities of supernaturals. Different abilities.”
“When I first fought Rayne, her power exploded when I made her believe that she was going to die then and there. In a matter of minutes I was able to give her a power boost that would have maybe taken years to manifest otherwise. I had suspected that the immortals were not completely invested in making her as strong as possible. I wondered why, but I never truly thought of it.”
“So, what are you saying, that even the immortals may be afraid of her power?” Phillip asks. He’s thinking deeper into this.
“You know how I feel about them, so I can’t say for sure, but something just isn’t adding up. I don’t know what else to add. I think I should take you to see my grandmother. She might be able to help,” Zara offers.
“Your grandmother, the head of the Drake vampire clan? Sounds intriguing,” Selene says sarcastically. She left off the ‘and dangerous’ part.
“You will come too of course, priestess. After all, a show of goodwill between the witches and vampires may be beneficial in the end,” Zara tells her.
“I don’t speak for the witches,” Selene responds.
“Maybe it’s about time that you did,” Jaxson speaks up, commanding all of our attention. “You are a high priestess by birthright. There is a war coming and sides need to be chosen. Either they will stand with you or they leave this city is what I say. No more fence riding for any of our kind. Lines must be drawn in the sand. Namen wants you on his side because he knows the power you command. Make him fear it. The same goes for you, Rayne. Do not doubt your strength. If you were chosen, you were chosen for a purpose. I saw you that night in the woods, remember. I fought you and I named you my second. You are worthy and we stand with you,” Jaxson says passionately.
The two other wolves nod in agreement and Zara bows with one arm across her chest, like a noble. Selene squeezes my hand and smiles. I stand up and hold my head a little higher, grateful to have powerful allies.
Killer Rayne Page 8