Dark War Chronicles Box Set One (96 page)

He didn’t sound outraged. He maintained perfect control over any of his emotions. It was something he had learned before he was turned into a vampire.

“No, I’m not. You’ll be taking her as your bound human.” I said easily, not leaving him a chance to question me.

He was silent and I turned around. Lucius met my gaze. “And if I don’t want one?”

“You don’t understand the power it could bring you, the advantages it gives you. You must trust me on this.” I hadn’t talked much about taking on a human, but he was still young and had yet to encounter a vampire with one.

Lucius crossed his arms. “I must trust you so that you can save your sister.”

“Yes.” I wasn’t going to explain it further. He was to act as my fledgling, which meant that he would do this for me.

“Then tell me what I need to do.”

***

T
he colors of dresses and doublets were almost sickening as they spun around the ballroom. I stood near the Father, as was my expected place. He trusted me more than the others and that would be his downfall. Nuala came up and made her move, offering Annabelle to the Father.

“I have brought you a gift. The finest of witch blood, descended from the Druids of my homeland. She has come to feed you willingly, wanting to be a gift to the god that has created us.” Nuala’s voice never hesitated.

Annabelle bowed her head and then moved her hair to the side. The crowd around us had drawn silent and still as the Father stood from his throne and grabbed the witch by the throat. To my surprise Annabelle didn’t make a noise. “Didn’t you hear? I am no longer a god, I suffer from a blood lust that cannot be satisfied by a mere mortal.” He laughed. “But I will take your offer and drain you dry in front of my people.” He grabbed her hair with his other hand and pulled her head to the side, releasing her neck.

He pulled his head back to strike, but paused when he heard chanting. Latin. We all felt the power in the room flow around us. He raised his hand to grab her again, but I lunged towards him and grabbed both his arms, pulling him back and holding them behind his back. We just needed enough time for her to finish the spell. She gave me wide eyes as the Father thrashed in my hold. Lucius came to my side and between the two of us we wrestled him to the ground.

He shouted and tossed in our hold. I saw members of the audience move. Many of them ran out, but the members of the Circle started to move forward. The other Originals started to fight them off. I focused on the Witch in front of me as she continued her spell. The Father stilled under us and his eyes glazed over. Annabelle held on to a stone. She held it out to me. “Nuala wanted it kept with you.” It was white with a flickering of color. I touched it and knew what I had instantly. I had the Father’s soul.

I turned to Lucius. “Go to my sister.” I couldn’t leave the others to fight alone. I pocketed the stone in my doublet. “Annabelle, go back to the villa, be safe.” The vampires and humans around were still fleeing.

I went to join the fray, but found that each Original had a Circle member by the throat, except for me. Where was Markus? My gaze search the group, each Original had claimed their own member, they were defeated and would have no choice but to negotiate with us to set the new laws, but without Markus they were incomplete. I looked at Nuala to see what to do.

“Find him.”

He was my fledgling, it would be easy to locate him. I closed my eyes and used my mind to search through all the energies coursing through the area. I found him still in the mansion, he must have run...no. He was towards the back, near my sister’s room. I used my abilities to take me there. He was walking out of the room, his face holding a scowling that granted me relief, as I knew he hadn’t found my sister.

I rushed him and slammed him into the wall. I knew a sinister smile crossed my face. “He is gone now. You obey us. The Originals.”

He spat in my face and I pulled him back and slammed him again.

“There will be new laws, new orders and if you do not work with us, we will see that you walk into the sun.”

Markus laughed. “So naive you are. You all think you are so much more powerful then we are.”

He disappeared from my grasp and appeared a few feet from me and held his arms out. “We are growing in power and you are weakening. There will come a time when you will be forced to sleep and we will rule our kind.”

Lies. He disappeared and I cursed. He wasn’t my concern right now. My sister was. Markus was a wild card, always was. He thought himself the right hand of the Father, but clearly he did not know all the secrets.

I walked in the room to find Lucius sitting in the sea of pillows. My sister’s head was lying in his lap, the blind fold still in place and Lucius’ doublet laying over her. Relief swept through me knowing that he’d managed to keep her from Markus. I closed my eyes to thank any deity that would listen to me. In the silence of the room, I understood how Markus was able to miss her. Her heartbeat was so faint, he’d probably thought there was only a dying human in here.

The father must have fed before he’d gone to the ball. I rushed over to them and took the blindfold off her head. She flinched at my touch and clenched her eyes closed.

“Please, brother, do not be so cruel.” She whispered. “I cannot be without it. He will beat me if I am without it.”

Lucius ran his hand through her hair. “Tegan, he is gone.”

I hated him using that name. It wasn’t hers. It wasn’t the one our mother gave her on her birth. It was dirty. “Sister of mine, he speaks the truth. The Father will be put to rest in a tomb. You are free now.”

Her eyes opened in surprise and she met my gaze. Her mouth opened in a little ‘o’ as if she was surprised by my appearance. She slowly raised her hand to touch my cheek. A crooked smile crossed her face. “How foolish of you to think that a blood whore could be free.”

I swallowed as I heard voices in the hall. “We do not have time to argue. Lucius must bound you to him or the others will kill you.”

Her hand dropped. “The price of life and freedom is to be a slave to a youngling. No. Let them kill me.”

“Sister of mine, please. Lucius is my fledgling, through him I can protect you.” I begged.

She met my gaze again, but nodded and offered Lucius her wrist. I’d of given anything to know what she was thinking. “I am weak from his last feeding, my wrist is all I can offer right now.”

Lucius took it. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see another feed from her. She let out a small sound. When I was sure Lucius was no longer latched to her I opened my eyes.

“Lucius, score your wrist and give it to her.”

He did as instructed and I saw my sister part her lips. Her hands were in fists and I imagined that she was fighting the urge to pull away.  “Now, Lucius, repeat these words.” I gave him the Latin words that would tie them together. My sister cried out when Lucius was done and I knew she felt her soul and mind be tied to his.

She looked at me. “You are such a selfish creature, brother. I have begged you for death and yet you tie me to another.” She growled.

Lucius’ head tilted to the side. “You’re exhausted.”

“I don’t sleep much.” She snapped back.

Lucius touched her head and her eyes widened. “Sleep.” She collapsed in his arms, too weak to fight such a command from her new master.

Both Lucius and I stood; he made sure the doublet covered what it could of her body. Nuala walked in with Ayden at her side. Her face turned to instant anger. “What have you done, Zaaren.”

“What I had to. She is safe now.” I stood in front of Lucius. “You cannot kill her and you cannot kill Lucius because he has broken no law.” His death would assure my sister’s, in theory.

“Once rumor of her gets out, then every vampire will be out for her death.” She snarled. “You have not only gone against our plans, but you have put her in more danger.” Her face softened and she sighed. “You will have to hide her. We all know what she is on sight and others know the rumors. Her eyes are the telling sign, her hair...white hair is only found on rare occasions amongst humans. It is more common with demons though.”

Ayden cleared his throat. “The demons have a creature they call a Dream Weaver, same description.”

“That’s right.” Nuala said. “They haven’t been proven to exist or not, but their myths say that they bear the same looks as Tegan.”

I ground my teeth at the name. “Which means?”

“We play it as that, anyone asks a question about her we tell them that Lucius was able to convince one to be his bound. They are half human so it will work. We’ll have to keep her eyes covered to convince them of her abilities.”

Lucius shifted his weight behind me. “I don’t think she will be happy with that.”

“No, but she’ll be alive.” I said. “She’ll learn to adapt to it.” Or she would hate him forever. “We have no other choice but to force her to hide. Lucius and I have secured another territory, we will take her there, so no one here questions it.”

“We will handle sealing the father’s tomb.” Nuala nodded

“Markus disappeared into the night. He is too much of a coward to rise against us. He believes that the Circle is growing in power while we are growing weaker.”

“I doubt that.” Nuala kissed my cheek. “Go, before the others get here and realize what you’ve done.”

I nodded and used my ability to take Lucius and my sister to a small house we rented from a human as a temporary home. We had fitted it to our needs long before we ever thought we needed a place to go to. Lucius often came here to feed and gather his thoughts while leaving me behind at the villa. My sister stirred in his arms and he set her down on the bed.

“Now what?” Lucius asked. “She rests and heals?”

I nodded. “As her body replaces the blood she’s lost and heals any other wounds that she sustains, she’ll sleep. When she wakes we’ll explain everything to her.” Hiding her meant that she’d be safe. She would have to keep her secret for her life; the villagers would think her blind while the supernatural community would believe her to be a demon hybrid. Not ideal, but she was alive. She’d have to learn to do her duties as a bound human blind, but her willing bond would help Lucius grow in power.

“Come, she won’t wake for a few hours at least, and we both need to feed. She’ll sense if we’re blood hungry and try to offer herself. I do not want that to happen. She needs to truly understand that she has nothing to fear from us.” I started to the door and looked over at her. “In the evening we need to try and find her some clothing. She can’t go around naked.”

“I have a few humans around here who will be willing to help. The Hunters here are friendly as well, we could get them to help us. Help with her, it has been a long time since either of us were humans.”

I chuckled at that. “That is true. I’ll contact them at sun down. Tonight we focus on her and getting her to understand what is going on.” I shut the door behind us and prayed that she would stay safe in the hour that it would take us to feed.

Lucius and I met back at the house after we both fed, but he hesitated at the door. “She’s not in there.”

“Impossible, she wouldn’t just up and run. Not in a strange place.” Panic settled in my heart. She shouldn’t have woken so soon. I shoved past Lucius and threw open the door. I went to the room we had left her in and she was gone. The top sheet to the bed was gone as well. Lucius’ doublet was on the chair. What had she been thinking?

I snarled and turned around to face Lucius. “Concentrate, you sensed that she wasn’t here, now sense where she is.”

He closed his eyes and I waited. I wanted to push him, but that wasn’t going to help the situation.

He opened his eyes and rushed out of the room and then the house. I followed him through the village and to a small house on the edge. He knocked and a demon answered the door.

His sandy blonde hair hung in his eyes. He met my gaze and his eyes flashed black.

“Demon.” I growled. “Where is my sister?”

He stepped back and sighed. “I wondered when someone was going to find her here.”

Lucius and I walked in. My sister was curled up in front of the fire, a blanket draped over her. “What have you done to her?”

“Nothing, she was in the road and walked up to me. She collapsed and I caught her.” He stepped closer to her. “But something happened when we touched.”

I grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall. “What happened?”

He pulled his shirt to the side and showed me a mark on his chest. “Fate mated us.”

“No.” Lucius and I said at the same time.

I dropped him and went to my sister. I pulled the blanket off her and found her dressed in a male’s shirt, but the mark on her hip was exposed. “She was naked when you found her?”

“She was wearing a sheet.” The demon shook his head. “I didn’t even get her name before she collapsed. You two are vampires, so I assume that she’s bound to one of you.”

“She was just rescued.” Lucius stated and grabbed the blanket from me, putting it back over my sister. “She doesn’t need a mate.”

“Her eyes are red, but she’s not one of my kind. What is she?”

I shook my head. “The less you know about her, the better. Now she comes home with us.”

He snarled. “No, she stays here. She’s starved and dehydrated. She needs to be taken care of.” He stepped up to my sister, putting himself between us.

“Get away from her.” I let me power swirl around me. “She does not need a demon mate.”

“Fate has given her to me and me to her.” The demon snarled. “You will not just be taking her.”

Lucius growled. “I’ll make you a deal, demon. If you let her come back with us, once she heals, she can decide if she wants to come back to you.”

The demon hesitated, but nodded. “I think that is fair, whatever she’s gone through she needs to heal.”

Lucius picked her up and cradled her against his chest. The demon kissed her head. “I’ll see you soon. If you need my help, my name is Kaden.”

Lucius disappeared with my sister and I turned to the demon. “I catch you near her, I will slaughter you.” I had no intention of letting Lucius keep the deal with the demon. I disappeared and appeared in the house.