“Did you find anything?” Deja asked as she walked up behind me. Everyone needed to stop doing that. I didn’t know how much more my heart could take.
“I wasn’t really looking,” I answered honestly. “I got distracted.”
“By what?”
“This cottage most likely is the home of a murderer, and yet it’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever been.” I turned to see her blonde hair falling into her face as the band holding the long strands back started to loosen.
“You feel that too?” Deja asked as she looked up at me with an expression that said we were both crazy.
“It’s not real,” Kota interrupted as she entered the kitchen from an entrance on the opposite side of the room. “It’s a spell.”
“No, it’s not,” I argued.
“Yes, it is,” she spoke sternly. “It’s supposed to make you feel calm and peaceful so when whoever lives here attacks you won’t see them coming. You’ll die with a smile on your face.”
“A spell like that actually exists?” Nova wondered. Shifting into a wolf was about the only magic she’d ever experienced for herself, so her lack of knowledge when it came to spells was no surprise.
“How do you think I calm Luna and Juda down when they start fighting?” Kota smirked as she started to search the kitchen.
“You said you would never use magic on us!” I snarled as I reached my arm back, preparing to punch her from behind, when two sets of hands pulled me back. Nova and Deja waited a minute to release me, rightly assuming I would go after Kota again if they hadn’t ensured that I calmed down. I should’ve known Kota had used a spell like that on Juda and I because there’s no way either one of us would’ve backed down voluntarily. How I never put it together before is still a mystery though.
“Desperate time call for desperate measures,” Kota smiled, not realizing she almost got a fist to the back of the head.
“I thought only fairies could manipulate energy,” Nova recalled, looking over at Kota for an explanation.
“We can argue about this later,” I sighed, stomping away from her, putting my curiosity aside regarding the energy manipulation. I moved towards the entrance I had gone through and found the hallway. Across the way was a closed door begging for me to open it. I twisted the handle only to find out that it was locked. I rolled my eyes knowing I was going to need the help of the one person I’d tried to beat up not two minutes ago. Kota must’ve sensed that I needed her magic, because she was by my side before I could call for her. She whipped her wrist towards the doorknob, a clicking sound following the words she mumbled. I reached for it once more, and this time it didn’t fight me.
I pushed the door open, continuing to stand in the hallway until I was sure no one was going to attack us from the other side. I took one step past the threshold only to have Kota grab my arm to stop me.
“What are you doing?” I asked her, my voice somehow staying low. Was she using her spells on me again?
“It’s the energy again,” she whispered. “It’s so much stronger in here.”
“You’re sure it’s the same?” Nova asked from behind the two of us.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more sure of anything in my life,” Kota answered as she pushed past me, walking right into the middle of the room, turning in circles a few times as she tried to focus on whatever she was feeling. There was definitely something strong about this room. Whether it was, the energy, or power of whoever lived here, I had no idea, but there was something giving off an intense vibe.
“There has to be something in here, then.” Juda pushed through Deja and Nova, walking past me to stand next to Kota. I crept into the room, still cautiously looking for something to surprise us. There was something about this room that seemed off, just like Kota felt when she first recognized the energy. There was no doubt in my mind now that we had found what we had been looking for. I just wish it gave us some answers instead of more questions.
The room was small, an armchair in one corner with a side table next to it. A desk sat in front of the window, with a chair behind it, books neatly lined up against one side of it. Papers were laid out across the desk, so far, the only thing messy about this place.
Juda was rummaging through the drawers, expecting to find the missing piece we needed, while Nova and Deja searched the closet on the same wall as the door to the hallway. There were more books on the shelves that they started to skim through,
I gently dragged my fingertips across the books on the desk, noticing the dust surrounding them. It wasn’t until I got to the second to last book that I noticed the disruption among the straight line of dust, begging my curiosity to look further.
I grabbed the book, expecting to brush off the dust, only to find that it was clean just like the spot on the desk. It had a brown leather covering with no title on the front. Opening the book to the first page, I saw the letter M in cursive writing in the top right corner.
I started to realize this was a journal that went back twenty-five years. I flipped to the back page to see what timeframe it ended at, only to watch as another page materialized right before my eyes. I turned the page and watched another do the same thing.
“How clever,” Kota said, admiring the spell happening right before me. “When they came to the last page, they just added more pages without ruining the binding of the book.”
“We can congratulate them on their spells when they’re behind bars.”
I rolled my eyes, flipping through all the pages that continued to form. It was actually quite annoying because all I wanted to do was get to the last page, but there didn’t appear to be an end to this thing. I eventually stopped on a page and started to read, fighting with myself on whether I felt bad or not for invading the privacy of whoever owned this book. It didn’t make sense at first. They were definitely a sorcerer speaking in the tongue they used when casting spells but then it went back to words I recognized.
“We have a problem,” I said as I dropped the book on the desk.
“We broke into someone’s home,” Nova reminded us. “Now we have a problem?”
“What does a sorcerer have to do in order to use dark magic?” I asked, looking up at Kota, who was flipping through a different book. Her eyes caught mine, worry covering the entirety of her face.
“Why do you need to know that?” she asked, shutting the book in her hand, dropping it down on the side table.
“Unless I’m reading this wrong,” I said sarcastically, “This page is talking about how powerful they feel with the dark magic running through their veins. I know the rest of us aren’t experts on this stuff, but I’m pretty sure we know enough to understand that dark magic is a no-no to all sorcerers.”
“It is,” Kota confirmed. She seemed to be frozen in place, almost like she’d just figured something out, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to say it out loud because then it would be real.
“Say something, Kota,” Juda begged.
“In order to use dark magic, you must take the life of an innocent and inject yourself with their blood while reciting a spell,” she said softly, the worry turning into fear. “Whoever this sorcerer is has no respect for anyone’s life but his own.”
“The victims,” Juda mumbled.
“Which ones?” I shook my head as I brought my hands up to cover my face, thinking that when I dropped them back down to my side the strong version of me would be plastered across my face instead of the intimidated version.
“All of them,” she continued, “all those victims that were left at our gates. He killed them just so he could use their blood to do dark magic.”
“But why drop them at the gates of the alpha castles?” Nova asked. “If he killed them, took their blood, and then left them where they lay, it would make sense. Whoever this is appears to be hungry for power, but that’s not what he’s doing. Dropping them at the alphas gates makes it personal.”
“What else does that damn book say?” Deja reached for the leather-bound journ
al in my hands, taking it from me even though I didn’t want to let it go. No doubt Deja was going to skim through it looking for the plans this sorcerer had for the alphas, but I wanted to know why he was doing this in the first place. My gut told me we should leave, taking the book with us, but something about this cottage changed. It was no longer peaceful, and as I glanced over at the hallway, I noticed a heartbeat that didn’t belong to any of us.
“We’re not alone,” I whispered.
“Where are you going?” Deja called after me, shutting the book and tucking it under her arm.
“Doing what the prophecy said we’re going to do,” I snarled through my teeth, rushing down the hallway until I got to the front door. It was wide open, a soft breeze hitting my face as I looked out at the bush fence and dark green grass. “Where are you, coward?”
“Luna!” Nova hissed at me.
“What are you scared of? We’re just a bunch of girls! Surely someone with your strength and power can handle that. Why don’t you call on your dark magic?”
“You need to stop, Luna,” Kota demanded. “Sorcerers using dark magic are not stable. Anything can set them off.”
“I’d listen to your friend if I were you,” a scratchy voice echoed through the cottage. The light coming from outside turned dark.
“Fuck,” the girls and I muttered together. This sorcerer was controlling the weather.
“I told you, Luna,” Kota said angrily as she pushed herself in front of me.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to break into a home that doesn’t belong to you?” the voice continued to echo, higher than it had before. It sounded old and creepy, and even though I’d run out of that room acting tough, I was completely terrified.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to drop unwanted gifts at the alphas’ gates every year?” Juda responded. Kota turned around to glare at her; anger I had never seen from her before forced all of us to take a step back. Her amber eyes glowed, her energy intensifying the more threatened she felt.
“The alphas never cared about dead bodies before,” the voice said. “I figured they wouldn’t mind a few more.”
“A few?” I shouted. “You’ve killed ninety people over the last eighteen years, and who knows how many more that you didn’t leave for the alphas to find.”
“Not many people know how many I’ve left for our fearless leaders,” his voice sang with curiosity. “Only my most loyal followers possess that information. How did you come by it?”
“None of your business,” Deja answered him.
“Oh, but it is,” he said. “Either there is a loose-lipped traitor among my most loyal, or you’re close to the alphas. Care to tell me which one it is?”
“Care to stop hiding?” I asked. He hadn’t figured out yet that we were the alphas’ daughters, but he clearly wasn’t stupid, and it wasn’t going to take him long to put the pieces together.
“I don’t think you’re ready to face me,” he chuckled, chills rapidly running down my spine just by the sound of his laugh.
“What do you want with the alphas?” Nova yelled from behind me. It was the question we’d all been wanting an answer to, but I didn’t even think to ask. I was too busy preparing myself for the fight I wanted but now realizing I could never win.
“Isn’t it obvious?” The voice continued to sound amused with itself. “Their destruction. For two thousand years the alphas have stood above their territories, doing nothing to stop the injustice that spreads throughout Medova every single day. They claim to care about the people, but they do nothing to make sure they’re safe and fed.”
“How are you any better?” Kota countered, her eyes still glowing and her energy intensifying. “You kill innocent people in order to access dark magic. You have no right to judge the alphas when you commit crimes that are worse than what you’re accusing them of.”
“In order to defeat the most powerful men in Medova, you must access the most powerful magic there is,” he answered. “Their sacrifice will save the rest of the territories.”
“Get off your pedestal and admit what you’ve actually done,” Kota said angrily. “It wasn’t their sacrifice. In order to access dark magic, a sorcerer needs to kill an unwilling, innocent person. You’re a cold-blooded murderer with no understanding of what you’ve done. You’ve upset the balance and it’s going to be Medova that pays for it.”
“You’re smart,” the voice muttered. “I’ll give you that. That doesn’t mean you understand that what I’m doing will save Medova from the alphas’ destruction. They’ll need a leader when the all-powerful are gone, and I will gladly be there to take their place.”
Footsteps started walking towards us from the other side of the cottage. My fists tightened as I prepared myself for whatever was about to appear before us. Juda, Nova, and Deja moved so that they were standing side by side with Kota and I.
I started to go through the day and all the decisions my sisters and I had made since leaving the castle. Should we have called for backup? I tried so hard to prove to my father that I could do anything he and my brothers could, but now that I was in the situation where I needed to do what they would do, I wasn’t sure if I could. I really didn’t want this to be my problem anymore.
A shadow from across the room grew bigger as it came closer. This was it. I readied myself to attack, my sisters doing the same. My fangs fell from my gums, claws replaced Nova’s fingernails, and fire hovered over Deja’s palms. Juda reached for the sword she had been carrying on her back, whipping it in front of her, while Kota played with what looked like a ball of lightning. We were prepared, which made me feel better than I did a minute ago.
But no matter how ready we were, nothing prepared me for the eyes staring at us from across the room.
Chapter Eight
Red. That’s all I could see from the shadowy figure leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed against his chest — and his bright red, hypnotizing eyes. I wanted to turn away, but my head didn’t move when I told it to. He finally came into the light so we could see him. He was supposedly a powerful sorcerer, but he was about the same height as Juda, little muscle definition, and pale gray-looking skin. His hair was white and stringy, wrinkles on his cheeks and forehead. I never truly thought about what he would look like, but I definitely did not picture this.
Juda took a step forward. “You’ll never be able to bring down the alphas. They’re all powerful for a reason.”
“That maybe so, giant,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean they can’t be stopped. This dark magic can do just about anything I want it to. It’s my key to putting myself on the throne.”
“There is no throne,” I told him.
“There will be when I’m in charge.” He smiled, just before whipping his arm in our direction, a white light leaving his fingertips. It looked just like the ball that Kota held in her hand only it was a straight line. Everything slowed, the danger in front of us taking its time. I watched as Kota pushed herself in front of us, her arms crossed each other against her chest only to whip open again, a shield-like light leaving her body and flying towards the assassin, blocking whatever he threw at us. The couch and two armchairs that stood between us and the assassin flew to the sides of the room, breaking the window in the process. The assassin looked at Kota with surprise in his eyes and I could’ve sworn he smiled.
“You have alpha blood in you,” he said as he walked towards us. Juda pointed her sword at him, telling him to stay where he was without saying a word. “So, you are the alpha’s daughter. There are rumors throughout Medova that speak of betrayal from the alphas’ wives. I guess they were wrong.”
“You’re damn right they were wrong,” Kota muttered, her body frozen but her eyes glowing with fury.
“Let’s see here,” he said, taking a step back, crossing one arm against the middle of his body and resting his other arm on top of it while his fingers rubbed his chin. “The fangs, the claws, the fire, and the sword. One of each race standing right before me. All
of you with alpha blood running through your veins…”
Deja yelled as a ball of fire flew across the room, but just like Kota, he blocked it with his own shield of magic. He looked angrily at Deja, his arm moving, releasing a spell that almost hit her, but luckily Juda’s sword was able to block it just in time. Thank the Spirits that the giants mastered the use of pretty much every weapon.
“You come into my home, go through my belongings, and threaten me with your weak fire tricks?” he shouted. “I see the alphas have failed in teaching you manners.”
His eyes glowed just like Kota’s had, making the red even brighter. Sparks twirled among his fingertips as if he was powering himself up for a massive spell. Deja and Kota stood in front of Nova, Juda, and I. Kota’s fingers were doing the same thing as the assassin’s, and Deja had her fireballs ready to go. We knew exactly what they were doing. Just as the assassin was about to strike, Kota threw her arms forward, the bright light we had seen earlier flying towards our enemy, while Deja through fireball after fireball. Kota’s and the assassin’s spells collided, lighting up the entire cottage. Deja continued throwing the fireballs while I ran around Kota, and Nova ran around Deja, both of us taking a turn towards the assassin. Nova got to him first, taking her claws and slicing the back of his knees, forcing him to the ground, screaming in pain. She passed me just as I reached him, digging my fangs into his neck and ripping the flesh away from his muscle.
Kota and Deja stopped, the bright light disappearing just as Juda pushed her way through them with her sword. She lunged toward the assassin as Nova and I held him still, the tip of her sword going through the bottom of his chest.
Rise of the Assassin (Child of an Alpha Series Book 1) Page 12