The Heir - Blood Secret : The Chosen One - Secret Heir, page 10
“Don’t leave me.” I barely managed a whisper as my hand rested on top of his hand.
He lay in bed with me and he pulled me closer to him, holding me.
“I’m right here.” his touch instantly began to calm my body down from the shaking. The softness of his cold fingers stroked my neck in the exact spot he had sampled my blood from earlier.
Biting my bottom lip in anticipation, I was hoping he would bite me once more.
In a surprised tone of voice, “Your ability to heal is remarkable,” he said.
He traced his fingertips over my neck. The low rumble of a growl had him trying his best to hold the monster within him back.
Tilting my neck up enough to entice him to play, even feeling as weak as I was, I wanted him to want me.
I needed the soft touch of his lips against my skin.
“Do it!” I dared him.
“No,” he said firmly. I turned to look at him, my eyebrows creased in confusion as I stared into his beautiful red eyes.
“Don’t...you want me?” I asked.
He didn’t hesitate before. Yet, here he was refusing what he needed to stay alive.
“Yes, of course, I do.” Anton answered “You have to rest first, gain your strength then we can play.” he added.
Smiling to myself, I resumed my position as I spooned into him with his protective hand around my stomach. He wanted me, he just wanted me at full strength. I knew what we had begun was a dangerous game, yet it was one I was more than willing to play.
There was no denying it, I had fallen for him.
My eyes closed, drifting off to sleep.
I found myself standing on the roof of the castle. The cold wind forced the trees to swoosh in the distance. Glancing down, my gaze stopped at the town I had once known to be home. Something was coming, the gut-wrenching feeling was becoming more intense in the pit of my stomach.
“Thank you.” a gentle voice said behind me, my head turned, to see who had spoken. I didn’t move, Eliza stood slightly behind me, smiling. Her shoulder-length brown hair was blowing over her face, by the wind.
“Is this a dream or a vision?” I asked, had I used my powers again without being aware of it. Had I willed her to be here or was she here of her own accord.
“A bit of both, that’s how great your magic is. Anything is possible,” she said, smiling at me, clearly reading my thoughts.
This must be a dream.
I turned to face her, admiring the woman I belonged to. I never knew her as a mother, yet I stood there in complete awe gawking at her. I saw the striking similarities between us. The peak at the tip of her nose was the same as mine, even to our natural dark hair. She was beautiful and looked very much alive. Much to my confusion, there was no mist or anything transparent about her, like there was with my parents. Before I could ask any questions, she was quick to warn me about imminent danger.
“Francesca, you have to warn Armacey, the breachers are coming sooner than expected. You have to prepare for battle. Train hard and fight back harder.” her words were firm as she instructed me.
She lifted her hand and moved a lock of my hair away from my face. “It’s not due as soon as you fear, I saw it in my vision,” I replied, puzzled.
She can touch me… how?
She smiled “As I said, anything is possible,” she whispered.
Savouring every inch of the daughter she never had the chance to get to know. “You are so beautiful and so caring my darling daughter,” she told me with a shimmer of tears in her eyes.
Before I had a chance to reply or ask her any of the many questions I had swirling around in my head, she interrupted me.
“Your visions are being blocked, there is some force at work. Black magic, I can only assume. I understand all of this is overwhelming, but you have to believe in yourself, Francesca…” She paused, with a hard look of concentration.
I frowned wondering, what on earth had her stop midsentence “What’s wrong?” I asked. I found myself on edge at even the mention of the words black magic.
I was about to ask her what she sensed, only she was quick to interrupt.
She glanced to the ground, concentrating.
“Someone is coming, I can’t see past them. Their magic is nothing like yours, but it’s strong. Strong enough to block me from putting a face behind the magic. Be careful.”
Recalling my vision from earlier, the one I got from touching the breacher down in the holding cell.
“Are you talking about the breachers son?” I asked.
Eliza stood, unsure of what to say, choosing her words wisely. “Breachers’ son, are you sure?” she asked, she seemed almost surprised.
“Yeah, I saw him and me, side by side in my vision” I began “He fights with us, not against us,” I assured her.
Eliza shook her head “It can’t be him blocking my link with you. There has to be black magic lingering somewhere, it’s weakening the link between us,” she informed me.
“You don’t sense it?” Eliza asked, worryingly.
“Wait, back up. Something is blocking you from communicating with me?” I asked, hoping she would elaborate.
She nodded “Yes, even in death we can assist our loved ones, but I seem to only be able to reach you when you are in the delta stage of sleep. This is the state where your brain is awake, but your body is paralyzed. I haven’t been able to reach out to you any other way, since your discovery as to who you truly are.”
I desperately needed her to answer my questions.
“And you think that has to do with someone else’s magic?”
Dazed, I turned and stared down to the lights in the distance “I sense something is coming, but black magic, how do I, detect that?” I asked.
“By the sounds of it, something or someone is blocking your senses” Eliza began “Learn to use what you have within you, against your enemies. There may be more than one, trust no one until they have proven themselves to you.” Eliza stressed to me.
I turned around only to find her fading before my very eyes.
“Wait...” I hollered, but it was too late she was gone. Why say that then leave. The whole put the puzzle together yourself attitude was really beginning to piss me off.
The sound of the wind whistling had my attention drawing back to the woods ahead. Darkness had crept upon the night skies, the red dusty moon looked like blood had been shed all over it.
That’s it!
I sat up abruptly, waking from my dream. The bright morning sun casting light throughout the bedroom had me scrunching my eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness.
I pulled the covers off me quickly, glancing around the room for Anton, but he was nowhere in sight.
I couldn’t wait for him, I had to see Armacey right away. I rushed to the door, grabbing the latch, urging it to open. The door was so heavy or maybe I was still weak.
I don’t recall the door ever being that heavy.
I had to warn the man, I had found out to be my father about the impending battle with the breachers’.
I sprinted as fast as I could down the hall, forcing myself to shake the tiredness from my body. My eyes glanced to and from the room doors trying desperately to remember what door led to the elders’ room. Armacey had sensed me before I even knew where I was going, he stepped out the room, patiently waiting at the end of the hallway.
His poker face gave nothing away.
Keeping his hands behind his back. “You need to rest,” he said sternly, his hair was perfectly styled as always. I was sure immortality had something to do with how flawless they all seemed to look. They were unblemished, even to how they dressed, the smallest details of their perfectness were unreal.
I panted, stopping in front of him. “An attack is going to happen, sooner than I anticipated,” I warned.
He urged me to step into the Armour room. “Come, my child.”
“Are you certain?” he asked, walking to the stain glassed window, his robe trailed behind him gathering dirt around the bottom.
My hands flew in all directions as I tried to make sense of everything. “Eliza came to me in my dream, or at least I think it was a dream. She came to warn me!” Armacey looked over his shoulder, having heard Eliza’s name being mentioned.
“She’s helping you along the way, even in death.” he smiled. An actual smile, I couldn’t believe it.
“When will the attack take place?” he asked, turning his head away slightly.
Hoping he could make sense of it all. “I don’t know. In my dream, all I could see was the darkness. It was windy, with a full moon and the sky was red…like, blood red.” I said, trying to make sure I had told him everything.
He turned, giving me his full attention.
“The blood moon,” he repeated.
“When is that? Is that even a real thing?” I found myself asking as if that couldn’t be but vampires, magic and werewolves could be.
Nodding “The blood moon will fall upon us, eight nights from now. If the attack is due to take place on that night, then we have very little time to get you up to full strength,” he stated, pacing back and forth.
“Prophecy preachers believe that this phase of the super moon that meets the eclipse, signals that something is about to happen, which will change the world as we know, forever. I have no doubt that this is true, I have fought the wars over the years managing to keep the breachers’ from having what they believe to be theirs.” Armacey informed me.
“What do they believe to be theirs?” I asked, becoming overwhelmed with what I had to take on board. Everything that people had assumed was a myth or make-believe really existed.
I could sense something in the air, a mix of good being smothered with evil on all levels. I just didn’t know if I would be the one to lead everyone to victory or their demise. All I knew was, that I couldn’t allow the breachers’ to win.
My father turned and walked to me.
“You, my child, you are what they seek,” he said “They have only heard the rumors of such great power, that could help one side win the war, they were oblivious, unaware that it was you until recently, they never thought it would be a human. Up until now, they thought it was an Amulet that held ancient magic.”
“How is that possible?” I muttered.
“The magic that protected you over all of these years had been broken, when my last seer was slaughtered for his knowledge. I kept you hidden for as long as I could, however, the breacher from before knew who you were. By the sound of your visions, other breachers’ also know who you are. Which means, many more will come, to retaliate.” he stood watching me, unsure of how I would take the news of hearing that it was me they had been looking for all along, unbeknown to them or myself.
If they want me, they can come and try to fight against what I have yet to discover about myself.
“I can do this!” I stressed “Please teach me, train me, not as your seer but as your daughter. I want to fight in this war, I will kill every breacher that walks. They will fear me before this is over.” I warned.
I hadn’t known him or the vampires long, but something inside of me had a sense of protection toward them.
He stood proudly as he listened to me talk. If he knew Eliza as good as he had thought, and I was supposedly just like her in nature, he would know I wasn’t willing to be locked away.
“You are so much like your mother, there is no doubt about that. She was a great woman. I won’t insult either of us by asking you to use your powers to cloak yourself. If you stand with me in this fight you must know, I will fight with every last breath that I have to ensure you are safe.” he spoke confidently. He was used to fighting, why would another battle faze him?
He turned and walked, making his way up the steps that led to his chair, and looked down at his feet.
I followed him, curious to see what he was admiring.
“I have something for you. I was under strict instructions from Eliza to give you it when the time was right, I believe now is that time,” he said.
I looked down and saw a metal circle frame that looked out of place on the concrete ground, it had inscriptions on it.
A language I wasn’t familiar with.
Armacey held out his hand, palm side up “Place your hand over the capsule.” He said.
I wasn’t needing Anton by my side for this, it felt more personal between my vampire father and myself.
I allowed my hand to be on show alongside his, he reached inside his robe and presented a dagger. There was an Amethyst jewel in the middle that matched the one he wore around his neck. My eyes darted from our hands to the sharp blade he held in his right hand. He slowly drew blood from both of our palms, I turned my hand and so did he, permitting the blood to drip on the capsule that laid by our feet.
Not taking his eyes off our blood that was gathering between the groves of the capsule.
“Eliza protected it with her magic, only our blood together can open it,” he explained. The sound of locks turning and clicking had me looking trying to see what was about to rise up from the ground. I drew my hand closer to my chest, observing my cut before it fully healed.
So cool! What human can say they have healing abilities?
The capsule rose, presenting me with a black ancient looking book. Reaching out, my fingers brushed over the gold inscription on the cover
- Studio et habentis maleficia. It said in an old fashion font.
“What does Studio et habentis mal…efica mean?” I asked, unsure if I had spoken the words properly.
“The study of Witchcraft” Armacey informed me.
I anxiously gripped the book with both hands and dropped to the floor, needing to see what was inside. I laid the book across my legs.
My hands flipped over the yellowing pages, diagrams followed with incantations and much more was hidden within the pages.
I turned page after page to every spell you could possibly imagine.
My hands tingled the more I flicked through.
“What is it?” I asked curiously “What do I do now?”
“It’s a grimoire, it has been passed down for generations within the bloodline of witches. This is now yours and all the power you hold within you will now make sense, this will help you understand just how great you can become. Study it well and it will allow you to channel every ounce of magic that lies within you.” Armacey sat in his chair, giving me time to take in what I was looking at.
“Everything is in here” I muttered “Past life spells, protection amulet spells.” I pointed out.
I was sure this was the one letting Armacey and Anton walk amongst the humans.
“I can even summon demons and the dead!” my voice was high pitched having remembered I willed for my parents to be with me.
I did that without the book.
“Wait, there are demons too?” I asked, just to clarify things. Demons only come about when you play with Ouija boards, or at least that’s what I had always thought.
“Demons are in the underworld, they cannot cross over unless called upon. I warn you now, keep your distance from them. Some have been known to be allies, but they are soul-stealing monsters.” Armacey warned “Only a few hold the power to call upon them, one of them being you.” he added.
I turned to face him.
“Wait” I stared at him “I can call upon demons?” feeling less powerful and more intimidated.
“Yes, Francesca. You don’t realize just how rare you are my child,” he smiled, looking at me. Was he proud to have me as his daughter or did he fear me?
“I do not fear you, my daughter. You are pure, just like Eliza was. I know she’s leading you to where you need to be.”
The squeaking of the wooden door opening had me peering over my shoulder. I quickly closed the book. Anton rushed in front of me doing his swift movement that I had begun getting used to. His wearily bright red eyes watched me, as he was noticing how comfortable I was becoming in Armaceys presence.
“My lord,” Anton greeted, followed by a nod before drawing his attention to me.
“Where did you go?” I asked.
Keeping his eyes on me and not his elder “I had to feed. I waited until you were asleep, but you were gone when I came back. I had feared the worst.” he told me.
Feed as in blood…as in, kill. I couldn’t help but think of the innocent life that had to endure his bite, allowing him to have what he needed to satisfy his hunger.
What do they do with the bodies? Do they bury them, burn them?
Armacey clearing his throat had me glancing up at him. His raised eyebrows had me knowing he had just invaded my thoughts once again.
“Try not to think too much about that,” he said. Perhaps, amused for my empathy for humans.
Stay out of my head I warned him, Thinking it, knowing he could hear me.
I glanced back to Anton, who stood there confused as to what we were doing. I held the grimoire that now belonged to me tightly in my hands.
“I trust him to protect your life, you can trust him with the grimoire,” Armacey interjected.
I pushed to my feet, making my way out as Anton took his position beside me.
“You just did it again!” I argued as I walked away. Maybe it was a force of habit, but it was wearing thin on my patience.
“I apologize, Francesca. I will refrain from such a habit and respect your wishes.” Armacey was quick to comment.
“I prefer it, to be just me in my head and no one else!” I called out as we neared the hallway.
1
THE HEIR - BLOOD SECRET
Chapter eight
Cradling the grimoire, my eyes locked on the stone ground as we made our way toward his room. I could see from my peripheral view Anton glancing around back and forth. I could tell he had questions to ask but was unsure of how I would react.
“I will answer any questions you have for me, but first I need to take a shower. You do have those…don’t you?”
I was in desperate need of clean clothes.
