Found (Book #8 in the Vampire Journals) (13 page)

As she did, she brought down her staff, and to her shock, she managed to strike Aiden hard, right on the shoulder. He reached up to block it, but was a fraction of a second slower than her. Caitlin was amazed: that had never happened before, not in all the years, all the centuries, all the places, she had known him. She had never seen anyone get a blow in on Aiden.

Her blow hit him hard, and Aiden sank to his knees. As he did, he dropped his staff, and it bounced off the ground and fell off the mountainside. It hurled, end over end, as it plummeted, bouncing off the rock, clanging as it went. It was a loud, surreal clang, one which shook the entire valley.

Aiden slowly turned and looked up at Caitlin. She had never seen him look so amazed.

She herself was flabbergasted, not knowing what she had just done. And then, she felt overcome with remorse. She had beaten her teacher.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, extending one hand to help him up.

He shook his head, and slowly rose to his feet. As he did, his eyes filled with tears.

But, Caitlin could see, these were not tears of pain: they were tears of pride.

“The day has come,” he said. “Now, finally, you understand. Now, there is nothing more I can teach you.”

Aiden took two steps closer, held out his palms, and gently reached up and placed them on her forehead. He closed his eyes, and as he did, she could feel the incredible energy coursing through them, into her. She felt a transmission of power, a whole new energy, something she had never felt before. She didn’t know what was happening to her.

“Caitlin of the Pollepel Coven,” he slowly announced. “I hereby endow you with every power you will ever know.”

Caitlin closed her eyes, feeling the energy coursing through her like a tidal wave. As she did, she was suddenly overcome with a series of visions.

She had a vision of war. She saw the skies blackening, saw an army of evil vampires filling the air, racing towards the Mount of Olives. She saw Rexius at their head, and to her disbelief, Sam, her brother, by his side. She could hardly believe it.

She saw them inflicting wave after wave of damage and destruction. She saw Caleb fighting them off, and Aiden, too.

But she saw them losing. And then, to her horror, she saw Caleb get stabbed through the heart. Dying.

Caitlin opened her eyes with a cry.

She stared at Aiden, who stared back at her, grimly.

“What do you see?” he asked, his voice somber.

“I see a coming war,” she said. “
Here.
On this mount. I see my brother. Attacking. I see….death. Caleb’s death.”

She opened her eyes, and Aiden nodded back gravely.

“You see much,” he said.

“Is it true?” Caitlin asked, afraid to know the answer.

Aiden turned away and gazed out, wordlessly.

“I won’t allow it to happen!” Caitlin insisted. “I will stay here. I will defend the mountain, with all of you!”

“This is not where you are needed. You, and Caleb, and I, each have our own destinies. You are needed to find your father. The shield. That is the only thing that can save us now. You are our last hope. If you stay here and fight with us, we will all surely die. That much is certain. If you go, then there is a chance, a small chance, that we can survive.”

Caitlin felt so torn inside, swirling with conflicting emotions. She didn’t know what to say. She felt more helpless than ever, like a puppet in the hands of fate. On the one hand, she knew she had the power to make choices, to determine her destiny; on the other hand, she clearly saw that certain things were fated. But how much, she wondered? How much was everything fated? How much of life was destiny? Could fate be changed? Or was she helpless, were they all helpless, to just sit back and watch destiny unfold? These thoughts tore her up inside.

“You receive two powerful new skills today,” Aiden continued. “Your final skills. The first is the skill to change properties: you can now change silver into an ordinary metal. Which means you can never be contained by silver. No other vampire has this skill. Only you.”

Caitlin felt a new energy tingling in her arms, and felt more invincible than ever.

“And your final skill is the most powerful of all.”

Aiden paused.

“It is the ability to choose your future place and time.”

Caitlin stared back, thinking.

“What do you mean?” she asked, perplexed.

“Up until now, you have only been able to travel back in time. Vampires can never travel forward. But today, with the completion of your training, one exception is made, for one time only. If you survive, if you find your father, then you shall have one chance to choose. A time and place. In all of history. You will be able to choose your destiny.”

Caitlin furrowed her brow, trying to process it all.

“Are you saying I can move forward, to the future?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Not without the shield.”

“But with the shield?”

He looked back at her, noncommittal.

“When you have the shield, you will understand.”

Caitlin tried to understand, but it all seemed so mysterious to her. She wanted to ask more, but she sensed he’d already told her all that he would.

“But I still don’t know where to go next,” she pleaded, “to find my father.”

“You don’t know because you’re not seeing,” he said. “Now tell me: what else do you see?”

Caitlin closed her eyes again. This time, she was flooded with a vision of a magnificent temple, stretching hundreds of feet in every direction, in the center of Jerusalem. She saw a square within a square, and a chamber in its center courtyard. She sensed that this was the holiest place on earth, and her final destination. She saw herself entering it, carrying an ivory staff.

“I see a vast and holy temple,” she said, her eyes closed, struggling to make out the details. “I see myself entering it. And carrying a staff. An ivory staff. And in my head, I keep hearing a voice. It says:
A square within a square
.”

Slowly, Caitlin opened her eyes, and as she did, she saw Aiden holding out a staff. She could not believe it: it was the staff of her vision. It was a weapon that Caitlin recognized, but had not seen in years: a
four-foot ivory staff, intricately carved, with a round circular head and mysterious etchings all over it. The last time she had seen it had been in the Cloisters, in New York City. The crozier that Caleb had once used, and one of the greatest weapons of their coven. It glowed like a thing of magic as Aiden held it out to her.

Slowly, her hand trembling, she reached out and grasped it. She could feel its ancient energy coursing through her.

“This weapon has been in safekeeping for thousands of years, reserved for the time of greatest war,” Aiden said. “But it is also a clue, the final relic on the road to your father.”

Caitlin surveyed it, in awe.

“I’m meant to bring it to the temple?” she asked. “The one in my vision? The one in Jerusalem?”

Aiden nodded back.

“And now, you must go. There is no time to waste. A war comes. Find your father, for us all. Go. Say your goodbyes to Caleb. Make it meaningful. It will be the last time you see him again.”

Caitlin’s heart stopped at his words, as she felt her eyes well up with tears.

“How can you say such a thing?” she asked, horrified.

Aiden stared back gravely.

“I only say that which you know yourself to be true. Sometimes our future is revealed to us, and it is one we must accept. I am sorry, but your destiny with Caleb has come to an end.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Scarlet stood in her cell, Ruth beside her, and looked up at the group of people standing before her. There must have been a dozen of them, and she could sense right away that they were different, like her. Vampires. Except, they were not like her. They had a very different energy—a dark energy. She sensed they had very dark intentions.

The guard opened the silver bars to her cell, and now they stood just a few feet away, staring down at her. The guard stepped forward and unlocked her silver shackles, and she rubbed her wrists, happy to have them free. She felt tempted to try to make a run for it, to dart past them, between their legs, and up the stone staircase. But she knew she wouldn’t make it. Ruth certainly wouldn’t, either. So she stared back at them warily, waiting to see who they were, and what they had come for.

As she looked them over, she suddenly thought she recognized one of them. She did a double-take: could it be him?

Scarlet couldn’t believe it. It looked just like him, although his face, the expression, seemed different. As if he were under a spell of some sort. And his eyes—they look older, meaner, lifeless. But otherwise, she was sure it was him.

Sam. Her uncle. Polly’s husband. The man she had met back in Scotland, and had grown to love. The man who had once looked out for her, protected her. What was he doing with these creeps?

Seeing him, Scarlet could even see some of her mommy in him. It made her heart race, pine for her mother more than ever. Seeing him, she knew that she should feel relief, that someone in her family was here, had found her, was looking out for her. Rationally, she knew she should.

But emotionally, when she looked up at Sam, she felt nothing like relief. Instead, she felt fear. She couldn’t understand why, but the way he looked down at her, it was as if he didn’t recognize her. As if he didn’t even care about her. As if he had not come here to help her, but rather to help this evil group of people. She couldn’t understand it.

“Sam?” she asked, as she looked into his eyes.

The rest of the group turned and looked at him. For a moment, just a flicker of a moment, she thought she saw his face flush with something like surprise. Or maybe, even recognition.

“Sam, don’t you recognize me?” Scarlet persisted. “It’s me. Scarlet. Your sister’s daughter.”

Sam stared back for several soft seconds, unblinking. He looked as if he were trying to figure it out, to remember.

But finally, after several seconds, his eyes did not fill with recognition. On the contrary, they continued to stare coldly down.

“I don’t know you,” snarled his guttural voice.

Scarlet shivered at the sound of it. It was a voice she did not recognize. It was not the voice of a human, but of a creature, of a cold, soulless person from hell. The tone of his voice, even more than his words, told her everything: this was not the Sam she once knew.

Her heart fell. She knew at that moment that her mother had not sent him. That he was not here to help. And that she was still alone in the world.

To Sam’s side stood a woman with long red hair and large breasts, dressed in a tight black leather outfit, scowling down. Scarlet could see the meanness in her eyes, and she could also see the hold that she had on Sam, as if she had him in a spell. She wondered who she was.

On Sam’s other side was an evil looking man who seemed to be thousands of years old. From the way he stood, in the center of the group, she could sense that he was the leader. His pale blue eyes gazed down at her as if he were seeing right through her, and she felt a cold shiver run up her spine. She sensed that this man had come here just for her.

Ruth began to growl.

Scarlet wondered why these people had come here. Clearly, it was not to free her. And yet, she sensed, they weren’t about to hurt her either. Not yet, at least. She sensed that they wanted something from her.

The old, ugly man smiled down at her, his face collapsing into a million wrinkles. It was the most awful smile she had ever seen. She could feel the evil oozing off of him; more than ever, she longed for her mother, for any familiar face.

“You are a precocious little girl,” the old man said. “Just like your mother. You know that I tried to kill her once? Centuries ago? Or I should say, centuries to come. In New York City. I doused her in a bath of acid. But it didn’t work. Because, at the time, she was a half breed.”

The man stepped forward, and narrowed his eyes at Scarlet.

“But you are not a half breed, are you? No. You are the real thing. The union of two vampires. A very rare and special thing. Vampires cannot procreate, you see. You are the exception. The thread in the eye of the needle. The one exception in the universe.”

He paused, examining her.

“But why are you so special?”

He paused again, and as he did, Scarlet began to wonder. Was everything he was saying true? Did he really tried to kill her mommy? Would he try to kill her? Why?

“Yes, I would kill your mother now, if I could,” the old man said, reading her mind, with a smile. “But the problem is, I don’t know where she is. Not yet, anyway. You will lead us to her. And then, I can kill you and her together, at once.”

His smile broadened, and Scarlet felt her heart stop at the viciousness of his words. He was the meanest man she had ever met. And she could tell from his tone that he really meant everything he said.

“I’ll never tell you where my mommy is,” Scarlet responded defiantly.

The old man laughed.

“That is because you do not know yourself,” he said. “But you will lead us to her nonetheless. You see, there is a very important weapon in the vampire world. It is called the Vampire Shield. And there is only one person in the world who knows where it is. And that, my dear, is you.”

Scarlet narrowed her eyes back at him, fuming.

“I don’t know about any shield,” she answered, truthfully.

“I know you don’t. It wasn’t something you were told about. It was something you were entrusted with.”

He took a step closer.

“You see, the hiding place can only be revealed by your lineage. And they couldn’t risk entrusting it all to your mommy. So they split the clues. Half to her…and half, to you.”

Suddenly, his eyes dropped down to Scarlet’s wrist.

“They didn’t tell you, of course. Why would they? They couldn’t trust you. No. They implanted it on you. Your bracelet. That is the final clue.”

Scarlet looked down at her wrist, at the dangling bracelet which that man had placed on her wrist in Scotland, which she had all but forgotten about. At that moment, as she looked at it, she knew it to be true, everything this man had said. She could suddenly feel the energy radiating off of it, its intense power practically burning through her wrist. She could feel that he was right, that it was some sort of clue. She was upset with herself that she had never considered it before, had never looked at it in that way. But now, suddenly, she knew that it was the key to finding the Shield. And more importantly, the key to finding her mommy.

And then, at the same moment, she realized that this clue could not get into this man’s hands.

Scarlet suddenly reached down, snatched the bracelet off her wrist, and brought it towards her mouth, preparing to swallow it, to keep it away from them for good.

But, to her surprise, the old man’s reflexes were faster than hers. He moved at the speed of light, and while her wrist was still moving towards her mouth, he reached out and grabbed it in mid-air. His grip was so cold, it felt like a block of ice had wrapped its claws around her skin. He held it with such force, it was as if he were an 18 year old man. Scarlet was strong as a vampire, stronger than she could imagine—yet, still, she was no match for this man.

As he squeezed her wrist harder, she found herself crying out in pain, then involuntarily opening her hand. The bracelet fell out, and the man grabbed it in mid-air, in his open palm.

Ruth suddenly lunged forward and tried to bite the man through her muzzle.

But he turned and kicked Ruth with such force that he sent her flying across the room and into the stone wall, yelping.

Scarlet had had enough. She reached up and lunged at the old man, and somehow moved fast enough to get her hands around his throat. She squeezed and squeezed the wrinkled skin, and took satisfaction in seeing his eyes open wide in surprise. She was really choking him. He was strong, stronger than any man she’d ever encountered—but so, she was realizing, was she.

A moment later she felt bodies descending on her, kicking and elbowing and pummeling her in every direction. They landed on top of her, tackling her to the ground.

Then she felt the silver shackles once again bind her wrists behind her back, as they planted her cheek against the stone floor. They grabbed her and dragged her to her feet.

Scarlet stood there, her face covered in dirt, scowling back at the old man, who now scowled back at her. She could see that she had shaken him.

“You insolent little brat,” he snapped.

He held up the bracelet before her, dangling it in the torchlight, mocking her.

“You have just given me the key to the kingdom, the key to everything I need in life. I will now find the Shield, and I will take you with us. I will make you watch as I summon a greater evil the universe has ever know, and then,” he smiled broadly, “I will kill both you and your mommy with great delight.”

*

Scarlet was prodded from behind, and after a strong shove, she stumbled several feet. Ruth snarled, protective of her, and turned and tried to snap the guard; but she was still muzzled, and there was little she could do.

Scarlet felt her rage heightening as she was led by the group of vampires down the back alleys of Jerusalem. Everywhere they went, crowds parted, scrambling to get as far away from them as possible. They must have sensed the evil energy of this pack, marching on a mission.

Scarlet desperately wanted to break free, to fight back, to make a run for—but she could not. She struggled against the silver shackles binding her wrists, and realized she was helpless. She was at their mercy.

Sam and his girlfriend and the leader were in front as they twisted and turned through the alleys, marching on the ancient stone streets, going Scarlet could only guess where. They had taken Scarlet along, and while she was grateful to be free from that dark jail, she hardly felt at ease with this crowd. She knew that whenever they found whatever it was they needed, they would kill her. Or worse, use her to lure her mommy, then kill them both.

Scarlet felt another pang of fear, but there was little she could do. For the millionth time, she regretted allowing them to snatch that bracelet off her wrist. She should have thought of it sooner, should have figured out the bracelet led to something important, maybe even to her mommy. If she had known that, she wouldn’t have worn it like that. She would have taken it off, and hid it in her pocket.

But no one had told her. Before she had been sent back in time, in that castle on that mountain in Scotland, that old man had shoved it on her wrist, right after he had given her something to drink. But he hadn’t said anything, hadn’t explained. She hadn’t really thought of it, and had no idea how special it was.

Now, she felt terrible. She felt responsible—as if it were all her fault. As if she were the one responsible for leading this group to whatever it was they wanted to find. That stupid shield they kept talking about. As they hurried through the streets of Jerusalem, marching like a small army, she could see the determination on their faces. She had a sinking feeling they were going to a place of great evil. And that she, unwittingly, was leading the way.