The Dracove (The Prophecy series) (43 page)

Jinxie is the author of the Kick-Ass Girls Club series book
Nemesis
and the Prophecy series. She’s also an editor for several successful authors.

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Chapter One

Afternoon sun broke through the clouds. Danny stared out the car window in wonder at the way the sunbeams hit the ground, forming small pockets of paradise in the midst of the gloom.
It never looks like this at home.
Then again, California had its own beauty. He needed to travel more.

Dana had been here often, to kill vampyres. He'd never been anywhere overseas other than Japan, where he spent some time as a small boy living with their grandfather, until his parents brought him back to the states. The last time he was there was when Grandfather died years ago. They were both still in college then. Their father wanted them both to go to Penn State, where he'd attended. They went to UCLA instead. Dad also wasn't too crazy about their occupations. At least they got to travel. Well, one of them did.

Yep, Dana had the wonderful privilege of traveling the world while he sat in front of his damned computer.

Danny sighed. This was his first trip anywhere in a long time, and it was to go up against one of the most powerful vampyres the slayers had ever known.

Not much of a vacation.
He watched a young couple hurrying to get out of the rain.
Not that it was meant to be a vacation
.

Some of the slayers thought Cianán might have been the first vampyre. That was his theory as well, but no one truly knew for sure. Throughout the years, they'd found bits and pieces of information about the vampyres. A few years ago someone discovered a letter speaking of a prophecy. Why it popped up after all these years was beyond him. It was an old scroll—quite a bit of the ink faded into nothing. He'd dated the piece to around the first century. What bothered him was, it'd been addressed to them. Not just the slayers, in general, but a particular branch, and a particular person.

It'd been addressed, “To the grandchild of Yoshiaki Tsumura”—his and Dana's grandfather. Bet the author hadn't figured on twins.

Dana didn't know about the scroll. It'd been Danny's best friend who found it. The find made him wonder just how old their grandfather was. He never admitted his age, no matter how many times they asked.

The Prophecy. Up until that point, it was a myth. Something they'd heard of, but had never gathered enough information about. Danny knew it was the key to this whole thing. Some of the intel they received was handed down from generation to generation as folklore. He was able to decipher most of what was true and what were tales with the help of the scroll.

His favorite story was about an Irish woman in the fifteenth century who'd died mysteriously, and a dead man cursed to walk the earth until he could find someone to heal his broken heart. There wasn't much to go on, so he dropped his research.

Now, Cianán—that was another story. Danny found enough on him to know the Master vamp had been around for about two thousand, three hundred years, which amazed him. He was surprised he actually found information on Cianán, but he'd only discovered his age recently. He also learned—or heard, anyhow—Cianán was once a priest—Pagan or Druid, or something similar.
Power corrupts all, I suppose.
Cianán was a powerful sorcerer too. Danny had heard stories about Merlin, but those couldn't possibly be true. He was a fictional character, like King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Of course, vampyres are supposed to be fictional too, right?
He frowned.
Shit.

A large oak tree back from the road caught his eye. Its twisted, gnarled dead black branches reached out to him. The branches swayed in the wind, bringing it to eerie life. From what appeared to be a face in the trunk below where the branches stemmed out, a grin formed, its contorted smile beckoning him, for what he didn't know and didn't care to. He shuddered.

An omen, perhaps.
His thoughts turned back to Cianán.

Cianán had always kept a residence in Ireland, though he traveled quite a bit. Even though they'd had some idea of where he was all of this time, it'd been difficult for the slayers to get near him because of his magic. When they'd run into him, it was usually by accident. They didn’t know where his home was. For some reason, they could never find it.

Dana was the only slayer who could track Cianán. She'd hunted him down in Rome about three years ago. Danny called her ability to track Cianán a 'sick sense'. He was livid when she went after him then without waiting for backup. He wasn't about to let her do it again.

Danny glanced her way for a second, and returned his gaze to the skyline.

He wondered about the woman Cianán planned on taking, or had already. He knew there was some sort of ritual involved, but wasn't sure how it would play out. Whoever this Chosen One was, he felt bad for her. He definitely wouldn't want to be in her shoes right about now. Then again, he didn't want to be in his shoes, either.

"Are we getting close yet?" Dana hadn't told him exactly where they were heading. He knew others were there waiting for them, though.

"Yes," she answered. "It's about fifteen minutes away."

"Good, I'm hungry."

"Me too. Sergio will have something for us, I'm sure."

Danny stared out the window again. Every fear of what they were going to be facing raced through his mind. He hoped they weren't too late.

"Dana?"

"What?"

"Are you . . . scared?"

She glanced at him. "Yes, Danny. I'm scared." She focused on the road again. "I may do this a lot, but it doesn't mean I don't get scared every now and then. Besides, this is
Cianán
we're talking about."

He fiddled with a string from the small tear on the leg of his jeans. He pulled it off and wrapped it around his finger, unwrapped it, only to wrap it around his finger again. When he looked up, they were pulling into the driveway of a church.

He frowned and turned to Dana again. "Don't they know hallowed ground means nothing to vampyres?"

"To most of them, Danny, but there are some vampyres who believe all those myths, just like there are slayers who still believe them."

"Really?"

She nodded. The car came to a stop.

"I didn't realize . . . ."

"It's okay," she said with a smile.

A man stepped out of the building.

Danny nodded to the Brazilian walking up to the car. He knew exactly who he was.

"If there's anything else I need to know, I'd like to know it before we—"

"Don't worry. We'll get you up to speed. You're going to be telling them about Cianán. A lot of the others don't really know that much about him, other than to stay the hell away from him. You
are
the expert." She smiled at the man at her door. "Sergio, how the hell are ya?"

"I am fine, Dana, y tu?" His Brazilian accent was thick. "Who is with you? Your brother?"

"Yes," she said and they stepped out of the car. "This is Danny—"

"Dan," he corrected and walked around the car.

"Excuse me,
Dan
. This is Sergio Luís Raúl Delgado."

Danny ignored her sarcasm and extended his hand. Sergio took it with both hands, gripping tightly. Danny slightly winced. The man had a strong grip.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sergio."

"Yes, I also, Dan. I had been wanting to meet you, but I wish it were under other . . . sit-tu-ay-she-ons? No, is no correct. Circum-stanc-es, is de word."

"Your English is getting better, Sergio," Dana remarked.

"Si, I have been studying. I have trouble with some of de words, but, eh." He shrugged. "I try my best. Come inside. We can speak more in dere, and get out of de rain." Sergio pointed to the black clouds hovering above, ready to unload their swelled thunderheads in what promised to be a violent sheet of pelting raindrops Danny did not want to experience.

"The storm looked like it might be heading this way." Dana opened the trunk.

They pulled out their bags and walked into the building behind Sergio. He led them through the old kitchen and into the main hall. Danny was in awe of its majesty, but the place wouldn't keep them safe. Cianán was born before Christianity. Sacred ground meant nothing to him and most likely his coven as well. If he found out they were here, he'd easily destroy them all. Danny’s and Dana's magic would be no match for Cianán's.

Sergio introduced him to the others—who'd been wandering about the place.
Interesting bunch.
Danny wasn't sure there were enough of them. Cianán had a large number in his coven, though it'd splintered over the centuries. He didn't know if they'd be able to take them out one at a time, since the vampyres were preparing for the ritual, most likely. There really wasn't time to find them if the slayers didn't already know where they were. Sergio said he sent scouts to check out one of the places Cianán had been seen in lately. They found nothing . . . of course. No one said this would be easy. Danny hoped they'd be able to find them when they fed. That meant going after them at night, which was far more dangerous.

Dana’s discovery that they could use some of their powers during the day would be irrelevant. Daylight was better to confront them in, if they could just figure out where they'd gone.