“He’s also my grandfather.” At this her navy coloured eyes grew wide before she said,
“No shit?”
“I shit you not,” I replied making her whistle and rub a hand through her blue hair, a mass of curls that were braided tight on one side.
“Wow, well you are just full of surprises aren’t you, Chicky?” At this point I would have said, ‘oh you have no idea’ but decided against it and went with trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Because the last thing I remembered was the field and…oh Gods,
“Trice?! Vern and Gryph, are they…?”
“Calm down, they are just fine and were here not long ago.” I released a breath before asking,
“They were?” I was clearly shocked.
“Yeah, well they kind of had to be.” I frowned at this.
“What do you mean?”
“Trice was the only one who had the power in him to stop the Hex from taking over you. I swear I have never seen anything like this power. I mean I think I have seen the symbol before, but Gods’ balls if I can remember where…it’s not exactly common, even for a witch.” I thought about all this and winced at not just the slight pain I could feel there on my back, but more the idea that Lucius was forced to watch as Trice had to heal me.
“And Lucius let that happen?” I questioned making Nero say,
“Hey, no sweat, men need a bit of healthy competition and besides, your boyfriend might be known as a tyrant King, but man he is undeniably…HOT!” She said making me laugh. Then she nudged my arm and said,
“Don’t worry about them, shit will sort itself out.” She then tapped the side of her temple and said,
“I know these things.”
After this she explained how Lucius had requested Nero as my personal ‘lady’ to help care for me, because as it turned out, I had been passed out for a few days. Hence why I was ravenous, thirsty and in desperate need of a pee and well basic hygienic needs. So after taking care of the first three I told Nero that I was going to take a bath before Lucius came back. Something she informed me wouldn’t be long as he never left me for more than twenty, thirty minutes tops.
So, knowing this and not really relishing the idea of being a sweaty, smelly mess for when that happened, I made my way down the staircase, taking care not to fall and create a new drama for Lucius to be faced with when he got back.
I didn’t know what had happened, but I just knew that if the only good thing came out of being on that field was the McBain brothers were no longer in any trouble, then it was worth it. This was because Nero had assured me they were currently all working together in trying to find a cure.
The brothers were at this moment trying to find someone who had the power to remove it. And at the request of Lucius that Trice wasn’t gone long seeing as he seemed the only one able to stop it from taking control of me completely. Not that I knew what this meant or what would happen when it did.
Gods, but really…what was next?
And what had that place been I had seen before waking up back here? Had it been something the Fates had wanted me to see? The woman had spoken about hatred being the key or something. But it was more than this, it was that red orb. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it. Couldn’t seem to get my mind off trying to recreate every second in my mind of when I had seen it. Why was I so drawn to it?
I didn’t know.
When faced with the water I sucked in a deep breath and was just about to remove the clothes Nero had told me she had dressed me in. It was a similar outfit that I had been wearing before only this time it was pure white and there were no slits in the trousers and the top was without sleeves. Nero had also brought some more of her ‘seeing powder’, laughing when I told her what I had done with the last lot. She had been glad it had come in handy but admitted never using it as a weapon before. I also discovered that this wearing off was likely why my vision had started to go blurry when the Hex tried to take over. Apparently, it takes over all magic, which was what made Trice so special, he was strangely immune to magic used against him.
But it had been Lucius who had informed her the powder was needed, making me first wonder how he knew to begin with. Although Nero helped with that also, as she told me how Lucius when looking for me had paid her a visit and searched her memories. Well, as long as it hadn’t been done to Trice I thought cringing, or I didn’t know what Lucius would do.
I shook my head and was just about to slip off my trousers when something stopped me. Something was glowing in the darkness of the water and suddenly I became transfixed. I narrowed my eyes and muttered,
“What the Hell is…Ah!” I ended this by shouting out the second a feeling slammed into me. It was like being hit with an emotional bat and I found tears in my eyes as the feeling of dread suddenly washed over me.
“I found this too if you get too cold…Amelia?” Nero’s voice trailed off and I looked over my shoulder at her to see a jacket falling from her hands and panic was as clear as day on her face. The colour drained away from her skin and she looked…
Frightened.
“Amelia, you need to step back, right now!” she hissed not taking her eyes off the water. So I looked back and saw what she now saw. The entire pool of water had just been replaced by blood and it bubbled and popped as if made of lava. But then something overwhelming seemed to take over me and I turned back to her and in a voice that wasn’t my own, told her…
“It’s alright, Nero…I am the Queen of Blood.” Then I proved it by doing something foolish…
I let myself fall in.
29
Crimson Tears
The moment I let myself fall into the blood it instantly cleared and turned back into the water it once was. I didn’t understand how, and right then, I didn’t even want to try. Because my mind was consumed by another thought…
I could feel the orb was near.
I opened my eyes underwater and let the red glow guide me, swimming deeper and holding my breath despite the burning I could feel attacking my lungs. Yet this didn’t seem to hold me back as I couldn’t think about the air my body desperately wanted. Not when every single fibre of my being was focused only on finding what I knew was hidden down here. It was calling out to me and the deeper I went, the closer I came to answering its pull.
It needed me.
Finally, I could see an arch under the water where the glow was at its brightest, so with the last of my energy I kicked out behind me and swam through it. This was when I saw a bright light above me. I felt relieved when there was a surface as it was a good job seeing as any longer under the water and I would have most likely drowned!
I broke the surface taking in large gulps of air the second I could, trying not to cough too much so I wouldn’t pass out from lack of air that my body was fighting me on filling my lungs. Then, once I was calm enough, I looked around to see that I had discovered a secret cavern. Getting excited, I moved my arms around and kicked enough to stay afloat treading water. Then I found a shallow part to climb out of and quickly took note of the pale stone walls that matched the floor.
It was just a cave.
I swam over to the edge and climbed out, pushing my wet hair back off my face so I could take it all in. The space looked like an entrance of some kind, as all it held was another carved arch that I quickly walked towards the moment that familiar red glow was back and guiding me. I had no idea how I knew I was doing the right thing, but something in me was just convinced that my actions were correct.
So I started running, desperate to see it again, I could almost taste it and it tasted like…well, it tasted like…
Blood.
Did I crave it because of what I once was? Because I was born a vampire and at my core had the heart of one? I had told Nero I was the Queen of Blood before letting myself fall, but that hadn’t been me talking. So what did that mean and who was this part of me that seemed desperate to get to the surface? Which part of me had been the one to throw that surge of power a
t Lucius and the brothers that day?
I had no answers, but I knew one thing, the red orb had them, I was sure of it. Now all I needed to do was claim it!
So I ran through the archway and down the glowing red tunnel until I seemed to burst through the other end, only stopping myself by skidding in the loose black sand that seemed to cover the floor. It was another Temple, but one minus anything other than a carved altar in the centre. It was one that even I could see showed the Divine Fates and the Gods that were said to be the first creations of all realms.
But despite how beautiful the altar was, with stunning white figures carved from what looked like giant pearls, it was the glowing red orb at its centre that had all my focus. So, as I stepped forward, doing so in a way that wanted to get to it and also in a way that was too afraid to. Fearing that like last time it might disappear. But then the closer I got I could see the stone was slightly shaped and looked like a heart, one alive and pulsating thanks to the power radiating off it.
“Oh, by the Gods, it can’t be…it can’t be real!” I turned the second I heard Nero’s voice behind me, seeing now that she had followed me down here. She was soaking wet but like me, nothing else mattered but the stone. However, it wasn’t as though she was a threat either, so as she approached I didn’t suddenly make a grab for it like I had in my vision.
“What is it?” I asked needing to know.
“It’s the Crimson Eye.” The second she said it I tested its name in a whisper rolling off my tongue.
“Crimson Eye.”
“Yes, but I always thought it was a myth,” she added, her voice in total awe.
“Why?”
“Because it was always said to be too dangerous to exist.” I frowned at that but then again it made sense when she added,
“It is said that it tells of the Fates plans, or at least…” She paused to look at me like she was now seeing someone different.
“What?”
“…it only does to those who are called to it.” I looked back at it and knew that it had called to me, what other reason could there be for me being here now and finding it? How would I have known?
“You think it might want to show me something?” I asked being unsure, despite being near desperate to touch it.
“You’re uncertain?”
“I haven’t really had the best track record for making decisions based on my instincts…coming to Hell is just one example.” I said making her sigh,
“Ah.”
“But then again, we are here now right,” I said quickly.
“Yeah and I mean it would almost be rude not to,” Nero added making me smirk at her and say,
“I knew I liked you.” She grinned back and then said,
“Back at you, human.” I laughed once and then released it on a breath before getting myself ready.
“Well, here goes nothing…tell Lucius I love him,” I said before she could say anything in response to that. Then I reached out and grabbed it and the moment I did, that was when I knew what it truly meant. What I had just grabbed hold of…
I was holding a piece of fate…I was holding its heart.
A rush of visions all hit me at once and I found myself gripping on harder to try and cling on to the power of it. Gods, but it was so strong it stole more than my breath, for it felt as though it would have stolen my soul had I let it. But then something in it started to calm as if it had declared me worthy and recognised I meant it no harm. I was not someone that would abuse the Fates.
I didn’t need its hate.
I don’t know where that thought had been born from, but it wasn’t my own mind. I swallowed hard through the emotional journey it was catapulting me through, as if it had been born from too many. As if it had been born from the bloody tears of a God crying because of the wickedness of men.
It was soul consuming and utterly heart breaking!
But then it started to change, getting past it and focusing instead of what it wanted to show me. I sucked in a startled breath as I started to see the witch, the one who had started this all. She too was crying, only instead of the reasons behind it, I was only left to see the result.
She was sat at a broken mirror with deadly shards all around her. Blood speckled on the bathroom floor around the slumped form of her hooded figure. She was sobbing, begging in another language I didn’t know. She was also pleading with someone who wasn’t there, and I ignored how I knew this. But then I saw it, the quickest glimpse of a shadow swirling in the shards like it was trying to communicate with her.
Then suddenly she screamed and grabbed one of the largest shards of glass in her now bloody hand. After this she turned it back on herself and this time when she screamed it was through pain she inflicted upon herself.
“NO!” I shouted at the same time the howling of pain coming from the darkness in the mirror echoed that of the witch. She stabbed herself in the face and then in a breath, the vision evaporated.
I cried out for her pain, despite what she had done to us. I didn’t know why but it seemed like she had been born from bitterness and heartache. She had been born through hate.
Just like another.
The darkness in the mirror…I knew who it was!
“No…it…it can’t be possible!” I started to say but then my thoughts cut the visions short and I suddenly came back to my own time. I opened my eyes and quickly blurted out,
“I know who it is…I know who it is that is behind everything!” Nero was looking at me strangely as if she wasn’t listening but instead focusing on something else.
“What…what is it, didn’t you hear me?” I asked.
“Your Hex was glowing and burnt through your top.” I frowned thinking that I hadn’t felt anything, but that wasn’t it as I could tell there was more…much more.
“Nero?”
“I know where I have seen it before,” she muttered, now looking terrified.
“Where?”
“Fuck! We have to leave…we have to get out of here, come on!” She shouted, suddenly grabbing me and yanking me towards the arch I had run through.
“Wait, but why?!” I shouted,
“Leave the orb, come on!” I pulled back, holding the orb to my chest and said,
“What is this about? Tell me, Nero?!” She looked beyond panicked and after scrubbing a hand down her face she said,
“It is not as we thought it was, it is not trying to take hold of you! It was never trying to summon you to the witch like we thought!”
“Then what? What are you saying, if it isn’t that then what is it?” This was when Nero grabbed hold of me with both hands on my arms and said with a little shake,
“It was a trap! Fuck girl! They are using you as that Hex, that fucking Hex is to use you so they could be summoned to you!” I gasped and dropped the orb to the floor as that sank in. Then I slowly looked down at it and instantly knew what this meant. Although, like most things, I only knew the full extent of that mistake when it actually fucking happened!
Because Nero was right, I had been used to create a portal right to the one place no one knew about. To the place that no one could get inside without Lucius letting them. Inside his tower. The storm, the door of souls, he had the most protected tower in Hell and why would he have that?! Because he was protecting something that’s why?! To the one place that no one knew the Crimson Eye was hidden.
And I had just walked them right inside!
“Oh, Gods no!”
“And we thank you for that mistake, Princess.” A malevolent voice said as if hearing my thoughts, and the second I turned around I saw the flash of metal before pain exploded in my head as I fell to the floor. The second I did, I heard my name being called before the same thud landed next to me. After that came a halo of navy-blue hair that started to seep into red, its white tips the colour of crimson. Blood pooled around the face of Nero as her eyes turned white as death took hold of her.
“Ne…ro.” I croaked trying to reach out a hand to her. One th
at was suddenly stepped on making me cry out.
“Oh don’t worry, I am not going to kill you yet. I have been waiting too long for this moment, little Princess. But as for your friend here, well, I do love the sight of collateral damage,” the woman said and I cried out again,
“No!” My shout of pain was all I had left in me, but it was no use as I suddenly coughed through the agony when I was kicked in the ribs.
The woman’s voice got closer to me and I was kicked over to see the face of my enemy for the first time.
“My Master can’t wait to meet you,” she told me and the second she got closer I screamed. A demonic woman with crimson eyes of hatred stared back at me like those of a snake! Her head piece was alive with souls reaching out like fingers crawling at life. She hissed down at me and said,
“Now it’s time to welcome you to the real Hell!” Then she punched me in the face and for once I welcomed the unconsciousness. Because that way it took away the pain. The pain of losing my friend. The pain of knowing that I had led them to the Crimson Eye. That I had failed the Fates but more importantly…
I had failed Lucius.
Because now he would never know who it was that was truly behind all of this.
He would never know that he had a brother.
And that brother… hated him.
To be Continued…
Book 9 release date 29th of August 2020.
About the Author
Stephanie Hudson has dreamed of being a writer ever since her obsession with reading books at an early age. What first became a quest to overcome the boundaries set against her in the form of dyslexia has turned into a life's dream. She first started writing in the form of poetry and soon found a taste for horror and romance. Afterlife is her first book in the series of twelve, with the story of Keira and Draven becoming ever more complicated in a world that sets them miles apart.
Eyes Of Crimson : Vampire Paranormal Romance (Transfusion Saga Book 8) Page 23