Later that night Anastasia walked the fence line with Kaley. She had done it so many times over the years, and still it felt so alien to her now. She looked back towards the training cottage where Gregory wouldn’t be waiting for her with a stiff drink to end the day. Dakota would be, and while that was a wonderful thing, her heart longed for her father.
She ran her hand over her stomach. How wonderful would it have been had he been able to meet his grandchild? He would never get to hear the child’s laugh or see them take their first steps, and for what? All because his brother wanted power? She would never understand the allure of it. All she wanted was to be able to lead a normal life where she got to watch her child grow. She wanted to see what Dakota would look like with gray hair. Handsome as ever. She smiled to herself.
“Hi, Anastasia.” A familiar voice sounded through the dark, and Anastasia turned to see Brady’s younger sister, Sarah, standing behind her. She hadn’t spoken to Sarah or Selena since Brady’s death, and the guilt from that alone was heavy.
“Hi, Sarah. Everything okay?” she asked hesitantly. Sarah’s long black hair was braided back, and although she was just barely thirteen, you could see she was going to be beautiful. Her mother had always reminded Anastasia of a gypsy, and it looked as if Sarah were taking after her as well.
“Yes, it is.” She smiled lightly. “Just out for a walk. I’ve been coming out almost every night since—well, you know.”
Anastasia nodded. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t tell you and your mother before, but I am so sorry.” She felt the knife in her heart from the thought of Brady, and the tears threatened to fall. She missed him so much.
“Thank you. You have to know we don’t blame you, Anastasia. You were the big sister we both never had, and we missed you. I miss you.” Sarah wiped the tears from her cheek.
“I’ve missed you too, Sarah.” Anastasia opened her arms and pulled Sarah in for a hug. It was soothing to her soul to know that Sarah and Selena didn’t blame her, but Brady’s death still weighed heavy on her.
“How is your mom?” Anastasia asked when Sarah released her and pulled away.
“She comes and goes. I honestly don’t think she is ready to admit that he’s gone. She keeps talking about him as if he’s going to walk in from another scouting mission any day. She didn’t even go to his funeral.” Sarah’s voice cracked, and Anastasia touched her shoulder.
“Everyone grieves differently.” Or they just bury it, she thought to herself. “This is just how she is working through things. It’ll get easier, I promise.”
Sarah nodded. “How are you doing?”
“I’m dealing,” she lied. “Trying to make it through each day, and if I do that, I consider it a win.”
Sarah smiled slightly, but Anastasia noticed it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I hear you are pregnant, is that true?” Sarah asked her.
Anastasia smiled. “I am. Not sure whether I’m excited about it or not yet, but I know it will be a good thing.”
Sarah nodded. “Life is always a good thing.” She smiled. “Congratulations.”
Kaley growled low in her throat and Anastasia spun, shielding Sarah. “Go, Sarah.”
“What is it?” Fear filled her voice as they frantically looked for what Kaley saw.
“I’m not sure. Get home.”
Sarah turned and ran, and when Anastasia saw her disappear into the village, she turned her attention back to what was around her.
Kaley, still growling, seemed just as confused.
Anastasia opened her senses and felt emptiness. It was as if the world was void of all noise, and that frightened her more than anything else she might have sensed. That fear was what made her realize what Kaley was sensing. Trepidos.
“Go and get Dakota, girl,” she said to Kaley as she sheathed her sword. It would do no good against them and would only allow them to make her a bigger danger than she already was.
Anastasia pulled at her magic and did her best to put up a wall around her people and against the monsters. She wasn’t sure how far away they were, but if Kaley was sensing them, then she knew it wouldn’t be too long until they arrived. She looked down at her hands and saw that her skin was glowing. The light she was throwing off seemed to keep the shadows away, but they were sneaking through her defenses. She could hear the screams from the village and knew she couldn’t protect everyone when they were so spread so far apart.
“Anastasia!” she heard Dakota yell.
“Get everyone gathered in the center of the village!” she yelled, and began to move towards him, still concentrating her magic at putting up a barrier.
“You won’t win.” She heard the hissing voice of one of the Trepidos behind her.
She turned and smiled at it. She threw her hand up and it fell to the ground, its monstrous appearance that was normally hidden by the shadow showing itself.
“Anyone else want to play with me? Or try, anyway,” she taunted back, hoping to buy Dakota more time.
She walked slowly behind him, wanting to get to the center of the village before the Trepidos did. The villagers would be sitting ducks until she arrived.
Dakota passed the message to Tony and Argento, and Anastasia watched as everyone gathered. She saw shadows following a few of the villagers that were being dragged into the center in a panic, and she threw light at them and watched with satisfaction as the shadows crumbled to the ground. These deaths did not bother her—Trepidos were never peaceful; they were pure evil, and had always been.
“That everyone?” Anastasia asked through gritted teeth. The Trepidos were not going down without a fight; they continued pushing at her barrier, and it was wearing on her.
Dakota nodded. “What are we going to do?”
“Make them wish they had never taken Vincent’s deal,” Anastasia responded.
Carmen walked over to Anastasia and nodded. “I’m with you, Anastasia. I will hold the barrier, you handle the monsters.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Ana, you can’t, at least not alone.” Dakota gripped her arm as she headed for the edge of the barrier.
“I have to, Dakota. There are too many of them right now. You can’t block them out of your mind like I can, and I have to be outside of the barrier or I could risk hurting someone.”
“But the baby.”
“Baby?” Carmen asked, confused.
“I’m pregnant,” Anastasia responded without looking at Carmen. She was surprised Sarah had heard about it and not Carmen. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember telling anyone.
“She will be fine, Dakota. The magic will not harm the baby,” Carmen assured him.
“It’s not the magic I’m worried about,” he muttered back.
“It’s the only way we can get rid of them, Dakota. You promised you would trust me.”
“I do.” He rubbed his hands over his short beard. “Be careful, Ana.”
She nodded, and after reinforcing her own mental barriers, stepped out of Carmen’s light.
“Come and get me, boys,” she said through gritted teeth.
“You are foolish, girl,” she heard them whisper.
“Your death will be so satisfying,” another said.
She felt them pushing at her mind, and she held strong.
“There is no baby, you know.” One laughed at her. “An illusion,” he taunted her.
She did her best to shake him off, but her defenses were beginning to waver. A thought crept into her mind. What if they were right? She hadn’t felt the baby since that night, and she hadn’t been sick at all like most women. What if it had all been a game?
“She is strong, but not strong enough.” The whisper filled her mind, and she threw her blocks back up. They were just messing with her, she told herself.
“That all you got?” she asked. “Drop the shadows, show me your ugly selves.”
“Ugly, she calls us? Maybe you are the ugly one, human.” The distaste in the Trepidos’s voice made her smile.
“Well then show me.” The Trepidos began dropping their shadows, and soon she was surrounded by monsters. Their gangly appearance was nothing compared to their troll-like features.
“Ugly,” she taunted. She needed them further from the villagers, so she kept walking.
“I am tiring of her games.” One sneered at her.
“Then come and get me.”
The annoyed monster began to move towards her, but another threw out its claw.
“She taunts us and you won’t allow me to kill her?”
“She is much too calm,” it said cautiously.
“Come on! Going to let him boss you around?” she taunted him.
“Why are you not afraid, girl? You are mere inches from death and you do not even see it.” The monster’s claw reached out and stopped just before touching her, in demonstration. “These humans you foolishly protect will all die. You have seen it, have you not? I know you have.” He sneered at her. “I can see it in your eyes. Vincent showed you what we are capable of. We will end it all.” It waved its claws around to show her what he meant.
“I’m tired of your threats.” She yawned sarcastically.
“I tire of this as well.” The annoyed Trepido from moments before charged her, and she threw her palm out. He crumbled to ash before her, and the other Trepidos began moving angrily, predators stalking their prey.
“Leave her, fools! The old woman is going to give in soon, and then we shall feast!” the leader yelled, but the others did not seem thrilled by the idea of leaving her alone, and in unison over half of them charged her. They met the same fate as their comrade.
“You fools!”
All but the leader and one other Trepido turned back into shadows and disappeared.
“We had much better luck in that Seattle. This world isn’t worth it,” she heard him whisper to the leader while he stared straight at Anastasia.
“Let us go.”
“An illusion,” the Trepido said, and then disappeared like the others. Anastasia opened her senses, searching for the emptiness, but the world had returned to its normal state.
She fell to her knees, clutching her head. The second she dropped the barriers, she felt as if her head had split open.
“Ana!” Dakota yelled, falling to his knees next to her. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He searched her eyes.
“I’m fine, head hurts.”
“From blocking them out,” Carmen said as she came to where they sat. “Mine does too. Anastasia, may I speak with you for a moment?”
Anastasia stood and followed Carmen. “We lost some people tonight,” Carmen said.
“Who?”
“Two of Robbie’s men, Jake and Ben. They were trying to help gather some villagers up when two rogue Trepidos got them.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“It’s not your fault, Anastasia.”
Anastasia remembered the first time she had met Robbie. Ben and Jake had been with him. They had been neighbors, she remembered. She added them to the long list of Vincent’s victims and tucked away her grief.
“That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about, though.” Carmen looked into Anastasia’s eyes. “You already know, don’t you?”
“Know about what?”
“Your pregnancy.”
Anastasia felt her heart drop. “What about it?”
“Anastasia, you aren’t pregnant.”
Waves of emotion plowed into her all at once. The grief from losing something she never truly had caused tears to fill her eyes, although on some level she had known since before the Trepido had informed her of Vincent’s illusion. She hadn’t felt the baby since the night Vincent threatened her. What hit her worse than the grief was the guilt from the relief she felt. She wanted to carry Dakota’s baby, wanted to start their family more than anything, but the timing had been off. She had enough to worry about without adding the growing child inside of her.
Carmen touched her shoulder lightly and asked her cautiously, “Anastasia, are you okay?”
Anastasia wiped the tears from her eyes. “Yes, I will be fine. Thank you for confirming it, Carmen.”
Carmen nodded and turned back to the villagers who still stood, shaken, in the center of the village.
They had gotten lucky, Anastasia knew. Lucky that she had been here and she had been lucky that the Trepidos had disappeared. She had no doubt there would have been more casualties had they not left as quickly as they did.
She walked back towards the group and they began to clap.
“Here’s to the Phoenix!” she heard one of them yell as he raised a bottle.
“To the Phoenix!”
She shook her head, wanting to tell them to stop cheering her. She was the reason Vincent was after them to begin with. Every death had been her fault. She looked around the faces, and her eyes fell on the wives of Robbie’s two men. They were holding each other, Tilly’s arms wrapped around them both.
Something in Anastasia snapped. She turned and ran out of the clearing and towards the training cottage.
“Anastasia!” she heard Dakota yell behind her.
Maybe if she just gave up then Vincent would leave them all alone. He was so afraid she was going to destroy him, what if she simply took herself out of the equation?
“Give her time, Dakota.” Carmen touched his shoulder to stop him from going after Anastasia.
“What is wrong?”
“She will need to tell you that. Give her a few minutes and then go.”
He nodded, staring after her.
“Are they gone for good?” Robbie asked him.
“I’m not sure,” Dakota responded carefully. They had given up much too easily for his comfort; it made him wonder what their plan had been.
What had that Trepido said to her? Dakota wondered. It had bothered her enough that she had taken off, but what could it have been? Did he make her see her worst fears? Had she somehow brought herself back from the insanity they caused? It wouldn’t surprise him if she had; she surprised him with her strength every day.