Adelade

I didn’t remember much after that, except for an excruciating pain in my head. The next thing I knew, I awoke in my bed and it was midday the next day.

I’d dressed and eaten as quickly as possible, which was difficult because my whole body ached. Now I stood outside the baker’s shop, staring at it determinedly, though I felt as if I could barely move. There were several people inside and if you didn’t come around the shop in the late afternoon, you’d never believe the struggle that these people were going through.

Laughter spilled out into the street and a small boy darted from the shop, a spinner wheel in one hand and a small slice of bread in the other. He caught me staring at him and beamed at me for a moment before being brushed away by his mother. I felt a sliver of hope that things would work out.

I waited for the shop to empty, which took quite some time, and when I finally entered the shop, I was met with a happy smile from Caroline.

I tried to appear more confident than I felt, but Raisa’s spell had drained me considerably. “You’ve been busy.”

“Aye, that we have. Everyone’s come to check in on Edward today.” Her eyes held mine for a moment and I understood that that was the town’s way of supporting them. They may not say the words out loud, but the gesture was meant to show their gratitude.

Edward stepped away from the oven to give me a half-hug. “I’m grateful for your assistance yesterday.”

I nodded my head and Caroline peered around me. “Is Landon coming then?”

I forced a tight grin onto my face, trying to conceal my true emotions. Landon was missing this morning when I awoke. Though that was common, he took care of several of Stefano’s business needs, I suspected he would’ve hesitated to come anyway. And I didn’t want to ask him again, not after the emotion he’d displayed last night.

“He had to take care of some business at the docks and couldn’t make it.”

A shadow passed over Caroline’s face.

“But he’ll come as soon as he can.” I set my lips in a thin like; I would make sure that Landon would come. I would do whatever it took to convince him. “No matter, I’ve come prepared and we’ve the town on our side.” I picked up my bag, which contained tools I scrounged up and pulled out nails and a hammer. “Have you got any spare wood?”

Even though I was already exhausted, we worked diligently and as the afternoon waned, I began to feel anxious to complete everything in time. The package that Ferran brought the day before still laid on the table, a constant reminder of what was at stake. Just as the sun began to lower in the sky, we were finished and I looked around proudly.

Both Caroline and Edward appeared nervous and I tried to keep my manner light enough not to show my apprehension. As soon as we’d settled at the table to eat a small meal, which helped to fortify me immensely, the street outside grew quiet. Before, there had been bustling as the people ran their errands for the day and I knew that Ferran was near.

I flew to my feet and slammed the door shut and locked it. Both Caroline and Edward had jumped to their feet and they joined hands as they followed me towards the door. All exhaustion fled my body and a fear gripped my chest. I looked around to make sure that we’d done everything possible: the windows were boarded up and we’d managed to construct reinforcements along the inside of the door, along with a board that could be easily placed across it to keep it from opening.

I slammed the reinforced lock in place just as someone banged on the door. I jumped back as they attempted to push the door open. Ferran’s voice could be heard from beyond it.

“Open up old man, or I’ll rip this door down.”

Even though I felt a trail of fear run to the very tips of my toes, I stood boldly in front of it, ready to fight to the death. “You’re not welcome here, or in this town. Leave now, or we’ll shoot.”

Ferran laughed. “Go ahead then, shoot me down, here in the street, for all to see.”

I glanced back at the couple. They were gripping each other for support. I slammed a brick against the door and there was a scramble on the other side of the door. There was silence for a moment but after a while, he called back out.

“Either you’re a poor shot, or you’ve made an empty threat.”

“That was just a warning. Leave now and never return, or I won’t be so generous.”

All of the sudden, something slammed into the door and I jumped back, yelping. A tingling sensation rushed through my body and my hands grew sweaty. I gripped my hammer in one hand and my knife in the other, waiting for them to burst into the shop.

Time seemed to slow as they attempted to break down the door; my whole body tensed and I jumped every time they slammed into the door. However, even after several attempts, the door bowed inward but didn’t break.

Edward was standing in front of Caroline, but she was holding a long cutting knife in front of her as she peered around him. Edward held a hot poker that he’d grabbed straight from the oven and I imagined it would slide right into someone like melting butter.

After a while, no more attempts were made at the door and Ferran’s voice called out again.

“Whom do I have the pleasure of working with? Your voice is young, are you their daughter?”

“I’m only a concerned citizen, worried about what you’re doing to this town.”

“I’m only giving the people what they want. If they didn’t want me here, all they have to do is ask me to leave.”

I fumed, allowing my anger to get a hold of my tongue. “Tell that to the man you killed the other night. You don’t care about this town, all you want is to ruin it, and you don’t care who would try to stop you.”

“Ah, so it’s the little dainty boy from the street. Have you been following me?”

“I know people who could easily kill you. Leave the city and they’ll be none the wiser.”

“If you’re talking about the gentleman from the mansion on the hill, no one has seen him for two days. I’m sure you fully understand what that means.”

My breath caught in my throat. If Detrand hadn’t returned home, was he caught in the sun? Had he died the final death? Is that why Landon refused to help me and why he’d been gone this morning? Why didn’t he tell me?

“Just leave here. The baker’ll not bake your bread. Find another town to terrify.” I didn’t want him to know how his words about Detrand alarmed me.

“So you are afraid of me? I was beginning to wonder.” His voice came directly in front of the door, as if he were speaking into the crack. “Somehow, I think you aren’t terrified enough.” His voice was low and malicious and it sent a shiver down my spine.

Then there was a loud crack as someone attempted to smash the boards at the windows, but the boarding held steady.

After several more simultaneous attacks at the door and the window, Ferran attempted to speak to me again but I refused to answer him. His words grew darker, filled with hateful and outright violent promises against me and my mother, and I leaned against the door, praying it would hold. I doubted I would live if he managed to break through the hold.

The day slipped away and it wasn’t until well into the night that the pounding was quiet and all was still. We sat, waiting for several hours afterwards, unsure if they would return. Finally I was unable to stay awake any longer and fell asleep sitting on the floor, leaning against the door.

When I awoke, I jumped up and felt a rush of joy. We’d managed to run them off!

Someone had placed a blanket over me and Edward and Caroline were sleeping in the chairs, with their heads on the table.

It took some doing but I managed to rouse Edward, telling him that I was returning home for a bit, but that I would return soon. I told him that I was going for Landon, and reminded him to lock the door after me. After making sure that he locked it up tight, I slipped out the door and, after seeing no one in the streets, hurried home, worried about Detrand.

* * *

I’d slept a good many hours and it was well into the afternoon by the time I returned home. After searching the house for any sign that Landon had returned and, finding nothing, I paced the house, trying to decide what to do next.

Was it Detrand that Ferran had spoken of? Had he been missing for two days?

Surely that meant…

I pushed the idea away, unable to think of it.

I also needed to find Landon right away. We’d managed to hold the bakery for now, but I knew with an absolute certainty that Ferran would return. Only Landon and his connections with some of the men at the docks could help us now. Maybe he could persuade them to help us… if I could convince him first.

It wasn’t yet dark and so the strigoi not having risen yet. I determined to go to the warehouse first to look for Landon. As I walked up the street, I began to shiver violently. Whether it was from the cold or from last night’s raid on the house, I wasn’t sure. I pulled my coat tighter and ran towards the docks, having the feeling that something horrible was about to happen. I couldn’t outrun the feeling, it stayed with me as I went closer to the warehouse.

Once I reached it, I knew for a certainty that something was wrong. Usually bustling with activity, it was empty, leaving an eerie feeling in its wake.

A cold wind whipped at my hair and the clouds loomed overhead, threatening to rain.

I considered walking towards where the ships usually docked when a loud roar echoed through the alley. The sound came from the middle of town and I rushed through the streets, afraid of what I would find.

As I came to the bakery, a large crowd surrounded it and I didn’t need to push through it to discover what happened. One of the windows had been hacked through with an axe and flames lit up the sky.

Smoke and flashes of fire licked through the slits of wood in the boarded up shop and it had reached the roof, which was now blazing.

The people stared at it in awe and I cried out in horror, knowing it was likely that Edward and Caroline were still inside. I rushed forward, attempting to open the doors but was barred by mine own lock, the door wouldn’t budge. I looked around, screaming for someone to bring some water; it was beginning to spread to the attached shops.

As if woken from a strange dream, the crowd responded and ran for their buckets and any container that could be found. I stared at the sealed building with a panicked trepidation; I knew that the fire would burn long into the night for the river and ocean were too far away.

Spying the axe that had been used to hack open the window, I grabbed it and rushed for the door. I swung it and it hit the door, making a thin slice into it. Then I heard the screams of Caroline and Edward, who were burning alive inside the building.

Tears dripped down my face and I wanted to put my hands over my head to stop the sound from reaching it but I couldn’t. I continued my swings, sometimes only making a small dent in the door but other times making a significant breach in the wood.

Then others joined in; some managed to bring water while others even relieved themselves against the fire. Another man joined me at the door with his axe and we pounded away at it. After a long time, we managed to breach the door and the man kicked it open.

Immediately we fell back to the ground because the heat ravaged our skin and hair. I stared at the sight with the chilling realization that there was no way possible that they would survive the raging fire inside. Hands wrapped under my arms and pulled me back and away from the fire. I could only stare at it with an absolute crushing horror as the crowd moved to block my sight from the flames.

* * *

It was well into the night now and the fire had finally been stifled and it was cool enough to enter.

I stared at the smoking and blackened bodies at my feet, unable to contain my horror. A large screeching noise rang through the room and I clasped my hands to my ears to block out the noise. The stench of burning bodies filled my nose and I heaved all the food in my stomach onto the floor, cutting off the screeching noise.

Everything was my fault.

Landon was right; there was nothing that the people of this town could do.

Ferran and his men bought and intimidated and killed their way into the heart of my town. Ever since I’d come to learn of his presence, he’d killed three people out in the open with no retribution. And this only drew the people into their homes further, afraid to do anything, afraid to stand up against him.

After the fire was gone, no one else entered the home to attend to the dead bodies. The streets emptied, doors locked shut and not even the fires were lit in their hearths for warmth. The street was silent except for the sound of the beginning of the storm, which had finally blown in from the ocean, too late.

I simply stared in shock, the rain beginning to run down my face and soak into my clothes, making me shiver.

This was my fault.

If they’d given in to Ferran’s demands, they would be alive right now. I knelt over them and pulled their wedding rings off their crisp and burnt fingers.

The circles burned into my skin as I pressed them into my palms. Their bodies would go the way of the earth but I would keep a part of their souls inside mine own, to remind me of their sacrifice.

They were braver than I and of all the people in this town.

The people were scared and rightly so. Many had families to feed.

But I had no family.

I had no one and nothing.

And therefore, nothing to fear.

I would find Ferran and kill him.

And if I didn’t manage to survive, then maybe I could give hope to someone somewhere. Like Edward and Caroline, maybe I could demonstrate that courage could be found even in the weak and lowly.

Holding the rings in my hand, I fled from the shop, determined that I would risk it all to stop Ferran from harming anyone else again.

* * *

When I entered my house, it was dark and cold and I knew that the strigoi would have risen by now. I thought of Ferran’s words, hoping that he meant some other gentleman but the lie I told myself didn’t help me feel any better.

I was wet and smelled of smoke and ash and, thinking of those charred bodies among the destruction of the bakery made me sick again. I threw off my clothes and after wiping down my body with soap and water, I went to Landon’s room.

I pulled out a dark shirt and a pair of his boots and combined it with my own pants. I pulled my hair back and wrapped myself tightly in a thick coat and went back into the streets, ready for vengeance.

My hand pressed tightly on the knife in my pocket, and it bit into where the rings had burned my hand. It felt slippery and I knew that it was probably bleeding. I also tucked two other knives into Landon’s boots which were considerably large on me but still much more comfortable than my own shoes for walking the streets. The knives dug into my ankles as I walked towards the city.

All pain melted away as I stalked through the streets, my focus purely on finding Ferran and how I would kill him once I found him. I let my rage consume my mind and it was easy to focus on my task.

The streets were quiet and Ferran wasn’t in his opiate shop. The smell of burning flesh still filled my nose, almost making me retch. I wiped at it, wishing I could make the smell go away, but I knew it would never leave my memory. And then, a howl sounded in the air, a lone wolf calling from the forest and suddenly I knew where to find him. I turned back and ran towards my house.

Nightwatcher was waiting for me at the entrance to my garden, as if the horse knew he would be needed. After preparing his saddle, we headed towards the rambling mansion next to the forest.

Nightwatcher flew so fast through the streets that I could barely see the homes as they whipped by me and I couldn’t help but wonder if he did have wings that I couldn’t see. Once we reached the forest, his steps were as soft as a deer and we easily found a trail in the woods that the shifters probably used on their hunts. On the way, we heard more cries by the wolves and I held a suspicion that it wasn’t the wolves that sometimes ran in the forest but rather the shifters. This thought raised the hair on my neck; I wondered if they had something prepared for tonight.

I’d hoped to escape their notice and sneak up on Ferran, for I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I faced the pack alone, without the help of my strigoi friends, I would most certainly die.

As we came into view of the house, I drew Nightwatcher to a stop, and then slid off him. I warned him to stay there and then I crept silently towards the house.

I released the images that I’d been blocking in my mind, allowing them to wash over me. The sight of the way Ferran slit the rugrat’s stomach open, the look of shock on his friend’s face. The way Ferran laughed and jeered at me and the priest. And finally, the charred remains of Edward and Caroline.

They didn’t deserve to die the way they did.

I would have my revenge, or die trying.

My mind focused solely on my task, and I crept through the woods silently, as Detrand taught me. Just as I reached within sight of the house, a furry animal rushed by me, nearly knocking me over and I jumped, frightened.

In that moment, I knew that I was dead. That the wolf would call the others and they would ravage my body in an instant. I felt a moment of fear; would they try to turn me?

Instead of calling to the pack, it continued on its way, wheezing heavily. I turned around to find several other incredibly large shifters rushing through the woods.

I stood alone, the only human in the forest, staring them down and frightened by the sight. Neither Detrand, Salina, or Lula were here to help me.

By God’s fortune, they paid me no mind and moved in the direction of the town.

What was going on? Is this what Ferran meant? That the people would soon know of the existence of the shifters?

I hoped for their sake that I was wrong.

I squatted low and pressed against a large cleft of stone, my heart beating madly.

The fear that Detrand had his final death and now the city would be overrun with shifters and fae in an outright battle crossed my mind and I tried not to let it take hold of my senses.

I had to decide which one I wanted to investigate: to find Ferran and kill him, or to follow the wolves.

Making a split second decision, my hatred for Ferran outweighed my worry about the shifters and I crept forward, moving towards the house.

* * *

The wind howled through the trees, bringing with it a coldness unusual for this time of year. Though it was dark, the light of the half-moon gave me a clear view of the window. And inside, stood Ferran, staring out into the forest.

I stayed hidden in the trees glaring at him with a rage so deep and intense that the only thing stopping me from slitting his throat was the openness of the field between us.

I pulled out my knife and followed the tree line to the shadows that passed over the house. Then I crawled on my hands towards the house, letting my burning rage push me closer to the mansion even though I was exposed.

As I drew nearer to the house, one of the side doors opened and, afraid of being caught, I climbed to my feet and sprinted towards the side wall. When I reached it, I slid down and tried to catch my breath.

The footsteps moved in my direction, so I stood up and crept towards the closest door. I held my breath as I turned the knob and sighed gratefully as it gave way under my hand. Then the door jerked open and a hand yanked me into the room.

My knife skidded across the floor as I landed on my arm. There was a large cracking noise and pain shot up it. I wanted to cry out but instead attempted to roll my body just as Detrand taught me, keeping a hold on my arm to protect it. I managed to land on my stomach within a short distance of my knife but when I reached for it, a booted foot stomped on my fingers.

A cry escaped my lips and I jerked my hand out from under the boot and pulled my hand to my chest, cradling it to me. I rolled onto my back and looked up into the eyes of Ferran who was leering down at me.

“I thought you might come here. Someone is looking for you, insisting that I take you alive. It’s so nice of you to present yourself to me so that I don’t have to go searching for you.”

Suddenly he was on his knees over me, tearing down the front of Landon’s shirt, giving him a peek into my bosom.

“So, you are a girl after all. Is this what the priest has been hiding from me?” His hand reached forward and slipped into the tear of the shirt, attempting to grasp my breast but I slammed the palm of my good hand into his face.

He reeled back, holding his nose as blood oozed down his chin. His cold eyes met mine as I clasped my arms to my chest.

“Don’t touch me.”

He rose to his feet and, gripping me by my hair, dragged me into the main room. Pain wracked my body but I struggled to gain my footing. Using the furniture for leverage, I pushed myself forward, tackling him to the ground.

He rolled, taking me with him and a brutal pain shot up my arm. Ignoring it, I scrambled to keep my body atop his, searching for something I could slam against his head. Anything can be used as a weapon; Landon’s words were in my head.

He turned so that he was facing me and I leaned over him, pressing my forearm into his neck. He choked loudly and then bucked me violently. I flew forward and he tried to push me over his head but I pressed my thighs into him to keep my body steady.

I gripped the side of his head and slammed it against the floor. He paused his bucking, giving me a moment to take note of my surroundings. I caught sight of a vase just within reach; if only I could reach it. He bucked again, sending me tumbling forward which I used to my advantage. Grabbing the top of the vase, I pulled it back over my head, ready to smash it over his head when suddenly I stopped.

My whole body froze; I couldn’t move a muscle.

Steps sounded behind me and Ferran looked over my shoulder, then grinned slyly. “It’s always an advantage to have a witch on your side.”

I tried to move to see her, to slam the vase down, to do anything, but I couldn’t even take a breath.

“Oh this is going to be fun. We’ll wait to give Bane the good news.” Ferran sat up; his hands clawed up my stomach to fondle my breasts and a rush of anger washed over my body.

“For hell’s sake, you idiot.” The witch behind me moved, her skirts rustling, and suddenly I could breathe again. “Do me the honor so I don’t have to.”

Taking in a deep breath, I smashed the vase down on Ferran’s head and the witch cackled loudly. His lips froze in a smile and then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell back to the ground, slamming his head against the floor.

And then the world turned sideways and everything was black.