Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) (7 page)

“Mine would so be light green,” Becky interrupted.

Rainey only glanced over to her, sighed, then focused on Ariana once again. “Bright green for a witch with normal power and dark green for a witch with extreme power. If it doesn’t turn at all, well… I guess you know what that means.”

They stared at the potion for what seemed like forever. Ariana stood up. “It’s okay, really. I just thought that maybe that’s why you had a vision of me. I thought I was important, too, like you and Becky.”

Becky stood up and gave Ariana a hug. “Aww, girl, you are just as important as anyone here. Being a witch isn’t everything. We all have a purpose. We’ve just gotta figure yours out.”

“I think we just did,” Rainey said as the potion was slowly turning a deep shade of green. She felt for the sofa behind her and let herself plop down on the soft cushions. “And I bet you’ll need to pee really soon.”

Suddenly, Ariana grabbed her head as a million thoughts at once stormed through her mind.

C
HAPTER 10

If Abe would have had a heart, it would have been thudding its way out of his chest right then. He couldn’t breathe. “What is it about that girl?” He said to no one in particular. His thoughts were so jumbled, he couldn’t think straight. And he still hadn’t heard her voice yet.

“You need help with something, lover?” Julia and Max were walking toward him.

Abe had made the mistake of changing Julia almost four hundred years ago. A witch, psychic and mind reader, he thought she would benefit him as a vampire, too, but really all she had become was a nuisance. Just about everyone on the island thought she was High Vampess and it was obvious that Julia believed and encouraged that opinion. Abe just hadn’t cared enough to correct them, until now. But now wouldn’t be the best time to antagonize her, not with the latest vision Rainey’d had. Julia and Max had both featured highly in it. Abe decided to play it cool until they’d figured out the best course of action.

“Julia,” Abe greeted her. “Max.” He shook Max’s hand.

Max was second in command, under Abe. He was mated with Lidia, the granddaughter of the former High Vampire. Lidia’s mother and grandmother had both been witches.

Max and Julia were clearly on the way to Rainey’s. Unfortunately, there was no way Rainey could handle a visit from them at the moment. Not with all the secrets she was trying to keep locked up in her head and Julia being able to read her like a book. And especially with Ariana in the lair, at Julia’s mercy, as well.

“You going to see Rainey? She isn’t in. I rang the bell about ten times, but she didn’t answer and I don’t want to be the first to try her latest booby trap. There’s no telling what appendages would fall off my body this time.”

Julia lifted an eye brow. “Really? Damn, I was hoping she was running into town. I need a few things and was counting on her to save me a trip. She’s been gone a few days now, hasn’t she? Where did she go, Abe?”

Abe cleared his throat. “I don’t know. She said it was personal.” Yeah, personal to him – still counts as personal. “She might already be back in town; you should try her cell. I’ll find her tomorrow. What I need isn’t that important.”

Abe repeated the lie in his head once or twice, trying to make his brain absorb it as if it were the truth and, for good measure, sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star over and over in his mind, in the background. It was the only song he could think of at the last minute. He never knew when Julia was reading his thoughts, and now wouldn’t be an opportune time for her to be probing him.

Julia looked down the hall to Rainey’s door for a moment, then back at Abe with a curious look on her face. “Heh. Well, I guess I should try her cell. Come on, Max, you have errands to run. Are you coming to my bed tonight, lover?” Julia looked back at Abe.

Her offhand remark grated on Abe. He didn’t have sex with Julia very often, and when he did it was only to shut her up. He didn’t enjoy it anymore; Julia wasn’t a very enjoyable person to be with. He had tried flaunting other vampesses and witches to make her mad enough to leave the island, but for some reason it seemed to make her want him more. He checked his mood before it would give the game away.

“Probably not, I have things to tend to,” he kept his voice pleasant, even managed a small smile. Julia’s bottom lip puckered out like a child who didn’t get their way. “Maybe some other time.”

She gave him a quick smile before she started walking back toward the elevator, singing. “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder… Good night, Abe. Sweet dreams,” Julia said as the elevator doors closed.

“Damn! Damn, damn, damn! I should just have her shipped off to the mainland so no one would ever have to suffer from her again. I’m the High Vampire. The oldest, strongest vampire on the Island and still that little witch gets under my skin. I’ve got to call Rainey and warn her.” Abe pulled out his cell phone and dialed Rainey’s number.

“Come on, Rainey, answer the damn phone.”

A voice came on the line. “This is Rainey, you know what to do… beep.”

“Rainey, you know how I hate talking to these damn things. Call me back. And if Julia calls you, do not tell her that you were in your lair today. Make up something. I tried to keep her away, so I told her you weren’t in. I said you might be in town, somewhere.”

Abe debated whether to go busting into Rainey’s lair to tell her about Julia and risk Ariana finding out too much, too soon, or just wait for Rainey to call back. Damn, he hated waiting. He got in the elevator and hit the button for the fourth floor. He was in bad need of a meeker. He needed blood, and quick. He noticed he’d had to use meekers more often lately and wondered if it was because of his newly found emotions. After the blood, he was going to have another drink, a strong one. And Code Red was just the place to get it. The sun had set and he still had several hours before dawn.

§ § §

“What are you doing, Julia? Don’t you know he could crush you where you stand? Vampires get stronger with age and he’s over five hundred years older than you.”

“I know, but he wouldn’t. I’m just toying with him, Max. I am just letting him know, in my own little way, that I know what he’s up to.”

Max sighed. “And what exactly do you think he’s up to, Julia? Does it even matter? He is the High Vampire. He can do anything he wants, he doesn’t answer to anyone. You aren’t anything to him, so stop lying to yourself, and most of all, stop provoking him or things will get ugly.”

Julia giggled. “I’m powerful, too.” She tapped her temple. “Up here.”

“I just think you’re playing with fire. Like letting everyone believe that you are High Vampess, or likely to become one. It’s just not going to happen. Abe hasn’t ever been in love, not once in over nine hundred years. What makes you think he will change his mind for you?”

“I don’t know what he’s up to yet, but he thinks I do. I’m just making him sweat, metaphorically speaking. And I don’t need his love. Wait, that’s it! Maybe he is in love and he’s trying to keep it from me. He was certainly acting strange; he was singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in his head earlier, which is a sure sign he was struggling to hide something.”

“Who would he be in love with? Not you, obviously.”

Julia cringed at Max’s careless words; not that they weren’t true, but Max could be such an insensitive swine, at times. “Maybe Rainey. They are pretty close, and he always talks to her in secret. I know she was in her lair earlier. I could feel her presence, and maybe one or two more; I couldn’t really tell. I felt some powerful energy radiating out of her lair.”

“You’re saying that Abe lied to you about Rainey being gone? Why would he do that?”

“He didn’t want me there, not that it makes much difference. It will be easy enough to pick out the reason why from Rainey’s mind; it’s not that big a place to search.”

“What was it you felt?” Max was curious about the energy, but he didn’t have a good feeling about the two of them snooping in Abe’s business. He didn’t care about Rainey – Julia could handle her – but he just had a gut feeling they should leave this one alone.

Julia spoke as if she hadn’t heard him. “I don’t know, but I will find out. I smell a challenge, and you know how much I love winning the game.”

“You are so bad, you little witch,” Max said smiling, still hoping to distract her.

Max didn’t want her to dig into Abe’s business any deeper, so he tried a different tack. He walked up to Julia and wrapped his arms around her, bending down so their lips were only a breath apart.

Julia barely ran her tongue along Max’s lips, her mind busy weaving her net of intrigue like a spider preparing its trap. Absentmindedly, she whispered in his ear, “That’s why you love me. And that’s why I’m going to rid this island of its imperious High Vampire so a more suitable one can take his place: you, honey. There has got to be something in Abe’s simple little mind that I can use to destroy him. And that nosey wife of yours will have an accident, and then we can have it all.”

Julia wiggled out of Max’s arms, pulled the canopy drapes back and laid on her king-size bed. “Take my vein, lover.” She pulled her dress up to her hips so Max could find a vein. She didn’t dare let him have one that could easily be seen by Abe. She might have been born at night but it wasn’t last night. The wounds from a vampire bite would heal without a trace in a few hours but she wasn’t taking any chances. Nothing and no one would ruin her plans.

Max sank his fangs in a vein at the top of her left thigh. She gave a long sigh and surrendered herself to him. She really did love giving him her vein; it was exhilarating, akin to feeling pleasantly inebriated.

Vampires could exchange blood with each other, but it just gave them the satisfaction and not what their bodies needed to live. Abe wouldn’t ever take her vein; the only time he did was when he changed her. Oh, how she’d wanted this world. She’d always wanted more than she had, and being a vampire on top of the gifts she already had made her more powerful, stronger in every way. She could do anything. Well… except walk in the sun.

When Max finished taking her blood he closed the wounds with a sweep of his tongue. Vampire saliva was like the rest of their bodies, invincible and quick healing. He started kissing up her stomach, working his way to her breasts.

But Julia bored of him. She stopped his advance and slipped off the bed, her hands already working, fixing her dress.

“I really have things I need to do, Max. Important things. Go tell Lidia I found that spell she was looking for yesterday. I don’t know why she keeps felling nauseous. You haven’t gotten her pregnant, have you? It would make me feel really bad to have to kill a witch with child. Then again, I guess we could wait till she has the little bastard and then kill her. I want a child, and since I can no longer have them, I’ll just have to take a baby from someone else.”

She didn’t feel bad about not bedding Max. She hadn’t ever. She just used him to get what she wanted most: power. She always left him wanting more. Plus, it didn’t feel right to sleep with just any man after Abe. There could be no one better than him. She knew, of course, that he wasn’t even trying to please her, the thought hadn’t even passed his mind; he was still amazing.

Julia opened the door of her chambers and turned to look at Max, her hand resting on the door handle. He stared back at her, dumbfounded for a second, then walked through the door without another word.

“Goodnight, my love,” Julia said as she locked herself in her room.

C
HAPTER 11

“What does this mean? And what is all this stuff running through my head?” Ariana said as she sat back down. She was hoping for a change in the liquid from red to green, but she wasn’t expecting it to turn such a dark shade. There must be some mistake. She hadn’t ever showed any signs of having even a little magic, much less being a powerful witch.

Rainey, still in shock over what she was looking at, blinked and closed the mouth she wasn’t aware was hanging open. “Ah. I’m not sure, exactly, but I think it means you’re a witch with a lot of power. And, evidently, you’re also a mind reader. That is what’s in your head. Everyone’s thoughts. Not just us three, but probably everyone on the island, if you are as strong as this spell shows. You will learn to control it, in time. I will try and teach you, but I’m no mind reader. The only mind reader on the island is Julia and I doubt she’ll be pleased to take you under her wing, not with all that’s going on right now. What would be the best thing to do?” Rainey mused, absorbed and more than a little anxious at the rapidly multiplying number of unforeseen problems.

Some psychic she was! Once again, Rainey felt things were moving too fast. If only she could take a day or two to think in peace, she might be able to avoid or prevent a crisis that could have a catastrophic domino effect on the lives of so many of the Island’s people, herself included. If only she’d delayed telling Abe about Ariana, or simply delayed bringing her over by a few days… or even a few hours… Just long enough to solve this riddle.

“But I’ve never done any magic or even felt like I could.” Ariana was shaking so bad, she was sending little wavelets through the sofa cushions which were strong enough to shake Becky, too. She felt elated and scared at the same time.

“That is because you never awakened your inner witch. It is definitely awake now.” Rainey stood and started pacing around the room. “I’ll put you in my class starting Monday. You’ll start class at eight a.m. and after lunch you will go to work. Tiff is your boss; I will let her know the arrangement. I’ll tell her to only schedule you to do half a shift so you won’t be too tired; you’ll need your rest if you’re going to work on your newly discovered skill so soon. Speaking of rest, you need to get some sleep. Come over in the morning and we’ll see what we can do about quieting down those voices. We’ll try to make you as comfortable as possible between now and Monday. With all that going on in your head, Ariana, I’ll be surprised if you get any sleep, but try to shut it all out. I hear it works like a light switch. Try turning it off.”