Shadows of Mist, page 14
part #8 of The Vampire Gift Series
“Not even a single, I’m glad you’re safe,” she mumbles under her breath. “Fine, James. I know how it is with you. You only care about what happens to me when it’s convenient for you. Or are you disappointed it was your precious Liana who succumbed instead?”
A rush of anger fills me. I have half a mind to slap her.
Instead, I let go of her arm very, very deliberately, and stress, “Tell me. What happened. In the motel.”
She rolls her eyes and quickly explains the ambush, the bullets, the squad that came for them.
“You said something woke you,” I say when she’s done. “It’s what let you survive. That’s mighty fine luck you have there, April.”
“You don’t believe me?” she challenges. “Paolo also survived. Why aren’t you interrogating him?”
“Maybe I will,” I say. I turn around and call the other vampire over.
Grudgingly, he comes to us, not wanting to leave Paul unattended.
At the very least, I have Smithson watching over the Crusader leader.
“Well?” I say to Paolo when he arrives. “April tells me she just so happened to be pulled out of her slumber at just the right time to avoid being killed.”
“Yes,” Paolo agrees. “She was blessed by the Divine Sight. I told you already.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” I say.
“You weren’t listening at the fire.”
“I was listening but preoccupied.” I’m getting irritated with him. “Tell me what it is. Now.”
“The Divine Sight,” he repeats, “is a sort of premonition that warns a vampire when he is in grave danger. It is one of the vampire gifts—you have truly not heard of it?”
“No,” I say, putting my weight on one leg and casting a suspicious glance at April.
“It must not be in your mythology. All the vampires of the pack knew about it.”
“Must be a Canadian thing,” I quip. “But you tell me you were both awakened by it? Why did neither of you think to alert the others?”
Paolo shoots me a nasty look. “Trust me, James. I ask myself that every waking moment. How would you feel if you lost everyone you knew, all the vampires you grew up with, all the ones you bonded with, at the hands of some humans?”
He’s getting heated up. I raise my arms to show him it’s okay.
“I’m not blaming you,” I say evenly. “I’m just trying to understand how exactly the two of you survived when nobody else did.”
“That’s how,” Paolo says. “April and I were meant to live. And that, in and of itself, means we have some higher purpose.”
“Maybe.” I purse my lips. “Have you ever benefited from the Divine Sight before?”
“No,” he shakes his head.
“Have any of the vampires you knew?”
He hesitates… then answers slowly.
“Chandler did,” he says. “When we told you before that Cierra communicated with him in the Dream Realm…?” He clears his throat, hesitating, then makes his decision.
“That wasn’t the whole truth. Chandler was gifted with the Divine Sight just before Smithson’s men came to extract the witch. It told him not to interfere.”
“Wait. Are you telling me she did not want to be taken?”
Paolo slowly shakes his head and looks away.
“It was a secret all of us swore to take to our graves. Seeing as how I’m the only one left,” he shrugs. “I figure it’s better for you to know the truth.”
“No shit, it’s better,” I mutter. “Does Smithson know?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then we have to tell him. This changes everything we knew about Cierra.” I start for The Haven’s former Captain Commander, stop, then turn around.
“Wait,” I say. “What exactly did the Divine Sight show Chandler?”
“He said that if we interfered, great calamity would strike.”
“What about that door?” I ask. “If you know how to get through that door, you have to tell me now.”
He shakes his head. “Alas, that is a secret that died with Chandler. In fact, I am not sure if he even knew how to get in.”
“So, what, it was all a show? Some sort of perverted charade? Your pack failed its promise to Cierra, and then you went into hiding in the cavern by her lair?”
“We weren’t hiding,” he hisses. “We were waiting for her return.”
“You missed it,” I grunt. “She lured me out, and that’s when I struck the damned deal with her.”
“Yes,” he agrees. “She drew you out… as the pack alpha.”
“How would she know that?” I challenge.
“It is not up to the likes of me to question the Great Sorceress.”
I freeze. “What did you call her?”
He gives a sudden stop, then coughs.
“I misspoke. The Black Sorceress.”
I step toward him. “That’s not what you said a moment ago.”
“Well, what does it matter, anyway?” he explodes. “She is the most powerful. That makes her great.”
“We’ll see,” I mutter softly. I cast a furtive look at April. She appears just as surprised.
“Let’s go to Smithson,” I say. “He needs to know about this.”
But when we arrive, Paul steps back from the computer and announces, “It is done!”
He hits a button, and the circling engraving starts buzzing around the orb, leaving a very fine pattern in its wake.
A few minutes later, the entire obsidian stone is covered in tiny, sprawling runes. Paul moves forward to take it out. Smithson steps in his way and says, “Allow me.”
Paul glares at him but defers to the stronger vampire.
Smithson examines the markings carefully, then brings the obsidian orb to Victoria.
“It might work,” he says.
She sniffs, fully skeptical.
Meanwhile, Paul puts the second orb into the machine. He steps back, goes to his computer, and hits the same button to make it start.
The robotic arm whizzes around, making a similar set of markings over the second stone.
Once it’s done, Paul goes to take it. When Smithson tries to interfere, he says, “No. This part is dangerous.”
He picks up the second orb and holds it very carefully. I taste the air for anything different.
All of it feels the same.
Paul walks to an arm of the room that’s been cleared of everything else. There is a bare space about fifteen yards in diameter that he has previously marked off.
He turns the sphere around in his hands, very, very carefully, searching for the right mark. He finds it and then sets the orb on the edge of the cleared space.
“Victoria,” he says. “Bring the other one here, and set it down opposite me, if you will.”
She looks at me for permission, which I give with a small nod. “Go on.”
She takes the second obsidian orb from Smithson and walks it over. “Do I need to position it properly, or…?”
“Just put it down,” Paul says. “Its energy will do the rest.”
She gives him one more disbelieving look, and then sets it down.
We all wait.
Nothing happens, at first. But then, very, very slowly, Paul’s orb starts to vibrate. It comes on so softly that for the first few moments I do not believe it’s real.
All of a sudden, there’s a powerful flash of light. It’s enough to blind me for a moment. When I look back, Victoria’s orb has snapped into position, and between the two objects is a space coated in blue.
Paul smiles. “And there you have it,” he says. “Victoria, if you will… step inside.”
“No,” I say, striding forward. “I am the strongest one here. I will do it first. If something bad happens to me—” I glance at Paolo. “Kill Paul.”
For a second, fright comes over the fledgling’s face, but it is quickly replaced by that steely mask.
I come up to the space. I reach out with one hand and let my fingers touch the glow.
When nothing happens, I am pacified enough to step in.
The moment I do a strange sort of peace descends over me. A pressure I did not even know existed is lifted off my shoulders. I feel spectacularly light.
I do a slow turn, satiating in the feeling… and then step out.
The moment I do Paul staggers back—almost in fear.
“You are so strong,” he whispers.
Victoria looks at me in amazement. “James,” she says. “You’re no longer cloaked.”
My eyebrows go up. I look over my body. “Is that so?”
“Goddammit, I forgot how strong you are,” she says.
I shoot her a cocky grin. “Impressed?”
“No wonder you took on Chandler,” Paolo says. “You were holding back the whole fight, weren’t you, you bastard? You were just toying with him the entire time!”
“I’m not fond of unnecessary killings,” I say, confidently.
But on the inside, my mind is reeling. I only beat Chandler by fluke. We were more or less evenly matched.
Why are all of them acting like I am suddenly so much stronger?
Victoria walks around the edge of the barrier and stops beside me. She looks me up and down, then makes me do a turn.
“Fascinating,” she intones. “Paul, it looks like you were right. The Currents really are repelled by the force field the orbs create. That is why the spell over James was burned away as soon as he stepped inside.”
“Your turn, then,” I say. “I presume it’s safe.”
“Seems like it,” Victoria says. She steps inside—and gasps.
Then quickly she darts back out.
“It’s horrible!” she shudders. “Paul, turn it off, make it stop!”
“I can’t stop it,” Paul says apologetically. “It will dither to an end as the power from obsidian seeps out.”
“And how long will that take?” I ask.
“An hour, maybe two.” He shrugs. “You pressed me so I couldn’t do the precise calculation. It all depends on the latent might contained in each orb.”
I turn to Victoria. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“I’m fine,” she says. “It did what it was supposed to do. But with the Currents gone, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Weak in magic as I am, I still have a reliance on the Forces.”
“So… it was a success?” A cautious smile spreads over my lips. “Does it mean we can trap Cierra?”
“We’d have to lure her in somewhere to spring the trap,” Victoria says. “Even without the glow, a witch could feel the Currents being repelled from the space a mile away.”
I look at Paul. “You said the length of time the forcefield stays up depends on the obsidian orbs.”
“The bigger, the older, the better,” he says.
“And how old, how big, do you have access to?”
“The Order has an incredible stock of obsidian,” Smithson volunteers. “The largest in the world. It is one area where we have the Crusaders beat.”
I rub my hands together, for the first time seeing a ray of hope part the dark clouds overhead.
“Then we go there,” I say, “and we bring them here, where we will carve them, prepare them, and have them ready to spring on Cierra when the time is right.” I wink at Victoria. “I don’t think we have to fear the Black Sorceress anymore.”
The look she gives me in return says clearly how big a fool she thinks I am.
Chapter Eighteen
Dagan
Near The Crypts.
“Well, here we are,” I say, looking out at the edge of the great fortress looming in front of us, the one part of the Crypts that is clearly above ground and visible to all humans who might pass by. “I did not think we’d be back so soon.”
Beth gives me a muted look. She seems nervous.
Even though it is an architectural marvel, centuries old, no humans have dared come close to investigate it, because of their natural aversion to so many vampires in one place.
I still haven’t gotten an answer about what the hell those ominous black shapes that came out of the darkness were, the ones that forced me to jump in the river with an unconscious Beth in my arms. They play on my mind, but their unknown nature is much less important than the impact of the influence the ancient ones forced on me.
The one that makes finding Beatrice the absolute highest priority.
“You didn’t know about this way when you took over that outpost, did you?” I ask Beth.
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Not many vampires do. The tunnels from this fortress to the main heart of The Crypts go for miles. I don’t hold it against you.”
She shoots me an annoyed look. I give her a smirk in return, then continue.
“Right, then. There is a boundary line up ahead that is always watched. Once we cross it, the Crypt vampires will know we are here. I need you to stay behind.”
Her eyes nearly bulge out of her head. “What?”
“You heard me,” I repeat. “You stay here while I go in. I’ll quickly find something that belonged to Beatrice and come back.”
She stands up to full height. “I am not letting you go in there by yourself. Did you forget what happened to you in that intersect of the Dream Realm?”
“Of course not,” I sneer. “And that is exactly why I need you to stay. We don’t know if the King is alive or dead. If he’s dead—there’ll be mayhem. Of course, there’s the possibility that The Ancient has not yet allowed word to spread…”
“Logan is not dead,” she hisses. “My father is not dead!”
“Then it makes even more sense for you to stay behind, given what transpired between him and me so recently.”
“Dagan,” she tells me, “there is absolutely no way I am letting you go in on your own. You need me. I am the only trump card you’ve got. Logan is alive. Both of us know it, but we also both know he won’t exactly throw a grand celebration on your return. You need me to temper his anger. Besides—if it is as you say, and he’s practicing Blood Magic? Well, you’ll need a witch on your side to protect you.”
“I don’t need protection,” I growl.
She laughs. “Just because you took Logan on and won in the Dream Realm doesn’t mean you stand a chance in real life.”
“I don’t intend to fight him,” I tell her. “That would be a suicide mission. In fact, if I can help it, I don’t intend him to know I’ve returned at all.”
“And how do you expect to do that?” she demands. “He’s not much of a king if he doesn’t know the coming and going of one of his strongest vampires.”
“There are secret passages,” I reluctantly admit. “You know about them through the damn curse you sprang on me. I took them with Riyu.”
“And you also let Riyu escape,” she says. “Now you’ve come back empty-handed.”
“Logan tasked me with finding Beatrice,” I tell her, neglecting to mention that he took back the order later on.
“So, you’ve failed on both fronts, you fought him in the Dream Realm, and now you think he’ll just take you back with open arms?” She scoffs. “The only way you have a chance of surviving your return is by taking me with you. It makes absolute sense. You found Logan’s daughter, and you came back to present her to the King.” She lowers her voice. “It is the only explanation he even has a chance of accepting, and you know it.”
“Dammit, Beth, can’t you see what’s clear right in front of your eyes?” I roar. “Once Logan takes one look at you and sees the resemblance, there is no chance in hell he will let you go. None! That’s why you need to stay behind! It’s the only way.”
She gives me a coy look. “I think you underestimate the power of my womanly charms.” She bats her eyelashes at me. “Daddy would do anything for his long-lost daughter.” She makes a pouty face. “Don’t you think?”
“I don’t like it,” I grumble. “It’s leaving too much to chance.”
“You going in alone is leaving too much to chance,” she counters, serious again. “No more wasting time, Dagan. We are going into The Crypts together. There is no way in hell I’m just staying back while you have all the fun.”
“Fun,” I mutter, turning and facing the fortress. “Fine. Have it your way, Beth.”
I start marching in the direction of the coven. As Beth catches up, I see the satisfied look upon her face.
I wonder how long it will last.
We approach the invisible line. I feel the presence of other vampires hiding in the sand. I shoot Beth a knowing look, and then take the first step over the boundary.
Immediately, an army of at least fifty vampires leap up from the earth, claws and fangs bared and ready to attack.
I raise my arms over my head, nodding for Beth to do the same.
“Easy, men,” I tell them. I’ve trained each of these vampires at some point or other over the years. “You know who I am.”
“Yes, we do.” The closest to us smiles. “And we’ve very recently been given orders to secure you and bring you directly to the King, no questions asked.” He smiles a rictus smile. “How fortunate you came back on our watch. We are all in for a very big reward tonight!”
The other vampires give a solid cheer. It’s obvious they’ve been promised Ancient blood. He grabs me by the arm. I jerk out of his grasp.
“Careful,” I warn. “Don’t you go forgetting the hierarchy. I could kill you on the spot.”
“I don’t think our King would be pleased with you if you did.” He smiles sweetly. He tosses a velvet sack at me. I know the kind. The inside is coated with silver.
“Put that on,” he barks. “Quickly now, over your head.”
My anger threatens to take full control of me at his tone of disrespect. I throw the bag back in his face.
“Make me,” I growl. “I won’t cause any trouble, but if you force me to wear that, there will be blood.”
He laughs. “There are fifty of us, Dagan. And only one of you.” He sneers at Beth. “You think some female vampire as weak as she is will aid you in any way against all of us?”
