Prophecy: Child of Light (27 page)

She looked up as they entered a room. The walls were decorated with the same marble as the entrance room and there was a grand fireplace of pure white marble streaked with blue. Beside it were two high backed dark leather armchairs.

In one of them sat an old crone.

She must have been ancient. Her skin was sagging, wrinkled with time, and her hair was frizzy and grey. The crone coughed delicately, her bony hands covering her mouth. There was a scar on the left one. It looked as though she’d been branded. The deep grooves in her flesh marked the shape of a star.

Prophecy’s hand roamed to her pocket, coming to rest over the amulet hidden there. The mark on the old crone’s hand was exactly like the star on the back of the amulet. Was it coincidence, or had the woman once owned something similar to that which she now possessed? Was this the reason Valentine had wanted to keep the stars hidden from his contact?

The crone’s delicate cough became laughter.

Prophecy raised her eyes to see Valentine standing in front the woman.

“Valentine,” the crone said.

“Elena.” He bowed his head as though in recognition of her standing in life.

Prophecy didn’t know what to say when Elena’s eyes came to rest on her. She just stood very still.

“What pretty immortal of Aurorea do you run with now?” Elena looked at her. Prophecy squirmed inside, feeling the power emanating from Elena in waves that washed over her, making her skin prickle. “Not Aurorea.”

Prophecy swallowed hard. The witch could see that just by looking at her? She felt as though the woman could see right down into her soul and that she could keep nothing from her.

“Little girl lost, should be dead.” The witch’s voice was silken and persuasive.

Valentine placed himself between her and Elena. Prophecy frowned at his manoeuvre.

“You want her to be like you. Make her like you. She has power.” Elena held her hand out to Valentine. “Take the power, make her yours.”

He shook his head. “I will do no such thing.”

“You will, in time.” Elena smiled knowingly.

Prophecy’s brows rose at the statement. He was going to make her his in time? She remembered the kiss in her vision.

When the tension in the air seemed to dissipate, Prophecy realised that Elena had been testing Valentine. Did she test everyone that came to see her? She thought that Valentine knew Elena. Surely, she wouldn’t test someone she knew?

“I am not here to play games, Elena. I will not talk with you when you are like this.” Valentine almost growled the words but his face remained a calm mask.

She didn’t know what to expect, but when the witch altered her appearance, her body and clothes morphing into another shape, she was stunned. Elena sat in the chair, her blonde hair hanging in loose soft waves around her shoulders and her dress of dark blue satin clinging to her curves.

“Is this better?” Elena asked with a sweet look, her shiny red lips curving into a smile.

Prophecy noticed that Valentine was frowning now, his eyes dark with anger as he looked at Elena. Clearly it wasn’t better. She didn’t recognise the woman that Elena had changed into, but he obviously did.

He shook his head.

Elena sighed, closed her eyes and hummed a little tune to herself while she altered her appearance again.

Prophecy was mortified when she found herself face to face with herself, only naked. She noticed that there were no stars marking the witch’s body and took it as a sign that the witch didn’t know about them. She frowned at Valentine when she saw he was staring unabashedly at the naked version of herself.

“Is this what you want to see, Valentine?” Elena held her arms out and smiled coyly.

Valentine seemed to get the better of himself and sat down in the chair opposite Elena. Prophecy noted that he didn’t deny that he wanted to see her naked, he just waved his hand as though telling Elena to get on with it and change again.

Elena closed her eyes and morphed into a woman of milk white skin, dark eyes and raven hair that reached far down her back. She was wearing a rich purple gown that pushed her breasts up and pulled her waist in until it looked impossibly tiny. Prophecy felt a stab of jealousy over how beautiful Elena was and then looked down at Valentine to see if he was looking at her in a way that would justify her feelings.

He pressed his fingertips together, crossed his legs and leaned back into the chair.

“Better.”

He didn’t seem to care about how the witch looked. He’d seemed more fascinated when Elena had chosen the naked form of herself rather than her own real one.

“What happened to your sense of fun?” Elena said with a pout.

The idea that Valentine had once had a sense of fun stunned Prophecy. It seemed impossible to imagine him ever having fun. She moved a little closer to them where they sat near the fire and rested her hand against the back of Valentine’s chair. He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. She could see that he was trying to reassure her. She smiled to show him that she was all right.

“So sweet.” Elena commented in a voice that lacked the sweetness she spoke of. “Like Lord Aurorea and Lady Caelestis, and we all know how that ended. But then, love never does end well, does it, Valentine?”

Prophecy frowned, trying to understand what Elena was insinuating. Had the gondolier been wrong? Had Valentine been unlucky in love before? Maybe that was part of the reason he was so against the idea.

“You would know best of all,” he said with a smirk.

Elena’s expression darkened. “He’s a fool. I made this place for him and he left me, he still left. He went to her. But... he’ll—”

“Come back?” Valentine interjected in a cold tone. “I do not think he will, Elena. He will always go to her. He will always seek her out. It is in his blood.”

Prophecy felt she was missing something. Was Elena keeping the place like this because of someone she loved?

“Speak no more of him.” Elena waved her hand and lowered her head in a way that Prophecy thought looked submissive. When the witch raised her head again, the hurt that had been in her eyes was gone, replaced by a seductive look. “There’s still a chance for you, Valentine.”

Prophecy’s gaze darted to Valentine to see what his reaction would be. He shook his head, silently declining the witch’s offer. It hadn’t been made in jest and she got the feeling it hadn’t been the first time Elena had offered herself to him. Prophecy stared at her, trying to quell the fire that was racing through her veins as she thought about what the witch had just done. She had clearly wanted Valentine to choose between them, and she had wanted him to choose her. Why?

She closed her eyes and power surged through her. She tried to keep control of it, not wanting Elena to sense it, but when she opened her eyes again, she could see it was too late. Elena was staring at her, smiling.

“She really does have power. Strange for a vampire to have such abilities.”

“That is not why we are here,” Valentine said. Prophecy was thankful to him for drawing Elena’s attention away from her and giving her time to regain command of her magic.

“Why are you here?” Elena cocked her head to one side in curiosity and smiled at him.

“We were to make contact with someone yesterday. When we arrived, our contact had been killed. The method points to werewolves.”

“There are no werewolves in this city, Valentine. They have long forsaken it.”

Prophecy’s attention was drawn to a door to her right. It was half open, but the other side was in darkness. She could hear growls that reminded her of the fight with the werewolves in Paris and sent a shudder up her spine. She could almost picture them on the other side, great hulking bodies and sharp teeth lurking in the darkness, waiting for the order to kill.

Coming out of her reverie, she found Elena staring at her again. She swallowed hard, trying to act casual and picking at the back of the armchair. Relief coursed through her when Elena resumed talking to Valentine.

“As I said. No werewolves, no demons that would be interested in killing a human. It is a shame that I cannot help you discover the perpetrator of the butchery, but...” Elena trailed off, fixing her with another frown when Prophecy glanced at the door again. The witch’s eyes became hard for a split second before she gently patted her thigh.

Prophecy shifted closer to Valentine as two scruffy looking grey dogs appeared through the door. They growled and snapped at each other. Their teeth were red with blood, their eyes white and glazed as they stared at her when they passed, heading for their master.

She looked down at Valentine, trying to gauge his reaction to the animals as they nuzzled Elena’s hand and then began to fight with each other again. He didn’t look at all bothered by them.

“Still practising necromancy?” he asked her.

Elena smiled. “How else would I still look so young after nearly a thousand years?”

Necromancy. Prophecy stared unseeingly at the dogs as they fought. Was that how Elena had managed to have some control over her when they’d first arrived? Would necromancy give her power over a vampire? Or was she just weak and susceptible? Valentine wouldn’t have brought her here if he’d thought she’d be in danger.

“I do have some information that might be useful to you,” Elena said.

Prophecy looked around and found the witch staring at her again.

“There is a great power rising in the east like the sun. An army is being gathered—vampires and under-demons alike. You have seen it, have you not?”

Prophecy hesitated and then nodded. She flexed her fingers while she remembered the power she’d felt in her vision and the magic she’d unleashed in order to save Valentine from the robed figure.

“I find it curious that a vampire is able to harness powers like yours. Where did it come from? They are not yours... they are a gift... a familiar one,” Elena said.

Prophecy tried to think of something to say but the questions crowded her mind. The power wasn’t hers? It was a gift? The witches had given her an amulet that had belonged to her mother. Did the power she had also come from her?

She was relieved when Valentine asked something and drew Elena’s attention away from her. She realised that Elena didn’t have any answers to her questions. The witch was curious about her magic and something inside of her told her to keep quiet.

“You must go to the shadowed land. There the end will begin and there you will find the one that the girl has seen. He is a great power that must be stopped before he ruins everything.” Elena stood and walked across to her. “I see such light inside of you. You can defeat this enemy.”

Prophecy swallowed hard, feeling the weight of responsibility on her shoulders. Her eyes roamed to Valentine when he stood and moved past Elena to stand by her side. She could see in his expression that he believed what the witch had said. She could defeat the enemy she had seen in her vision.

“You must go directly, before it is too late. There is no time to lose.” There was a note of desperation in Elena’s voice that made her frown.

“We have something that we need to do first,” Valentine said.

Elena’s look darkened.

Prophecy watched her closely. She reasoned that it was probably just her feelings of jealousy towards the witch that was making her suspicious of the witch. Elena had done nothing to raise alarm in Valentine. Prophecy was sure she would have seen it if the witch had.

Her eyes narrowed when the witch gently ran her hand over Valentine’s chest and smiled up into his eyes. “I always had big plans for us. We could have been wonderful together, another Ineru and River.”

Valentine removed her hand. “For that I would have to love you, and that is something I am incapable of.”

He turned and walked past her. Prophecy watched Elena smile fondly at the dogs.

“It doesn’t stop me from having plans for us,” Elena said and then looked at Prophecy. “Go to Romania. There you will find the castle of the lord of Tenebrae.”

“We have business to attend to in St. Petersburg first. Grant us safe passage from there to Romania.” Valentine held Elena’s gaze.

Prophecy noted that Elena looked uneasy about his request. The witch seemed to seriously consider it before nodding and holding her hand out to Valentine. He took it and pressed a kiss to it.

“It will be difficult to cloak you from prying eyes and protect you from such a distance, but I will try. Do not lose much time. It is against you, Valentine.”

“Always a pleasure,” he said and released Elena’s hand.

Prophecy felt his hand against her back. He turned her around and she glanced over her shoulder at Elena to see her smiling at her dogs again before she disappeared from view.

A million questions bubbled up inside of Prophecy while Valentine led the way down the stairs and over to the door. She didn’t understand what Elena had said to him about them being together. The reference to Ineru and River was lost on her and she knew that Valentine wouldn’t like her asking him about it. It had been obvious that he hadn’t liked Elena’s suggestion.

She couldn’t get past the note of panic in Elena’s voice when she’d told them to hurry and how unsure she had looked when Valentine had asked her for protection from St. Petersburg.

What was in St. Petersburg?

She looked up to see Valentine striding down the front steps of the house. He seemed intent on leaving quickly, as though he wanted to escape the place or maybe just Elena. She was the reason he’d wanted to hide her marks. There was something about the witch that he didn’t trust and she couldn’t blame him. She didn’t trust Elena either.

She reminded herself that it was just jealousy speaking. She hadn’t liked the easy way Valentine and Elena had talked, as though they’d known each other for centuries.

They were within a few feet of where the portal was when Valentine stopped and sniffed the air in the same way he had done the night before. She reached out with her senses, trying to see if something was there.

The magic that was creating the place they were in seemed to interfere with them, dulling them and making them useless.

She glanced up at Valentine and was amazed to see fear in his eyes.