18
“Darius, do you mind if I have a moment?” Rubago walked into the blood servant’s room and sat on the bed next to him.
“You're the witch woman, the one from the train,” he said.
She reached her hand out and stroked his smooth skin, leaning in and kissing him on his full lips. “That I am. I wanted to see you before I leave.”
“Are you leaving the castle?” Darius’s hungry eyes flicked to her mouth. “I hoped we might have more time together.”
“Just as I had hoped, but I am needed elsewhere, as much as I want to devote myself to you… I can’t.”
He smiled, placing an arm around her. “It’s okay. I am a blood servant. I gave up everything for this life, I had no expectation of finding love and keeping it. Still… you will come back won’t you?”
A weak smile came over her face and she dropped her head against his chest. “This time, I’m not so sure.” A deep sadness welled within her. The curse of the witch. What happened when she wanted love? What happened to the things she wanted? When she was a child, she had daydreamed of weddings and children just as every girl did.
Those dreams faded into the obscurity as her magic education began. Witches belong on this earth to protect, the safety of others came first, the desires of your self—never.
The rest of the group made their departure to help save the York captives. Rubago didn’t bother with any hearty goodbyes, they'd only try to stop her if they realized the seriousness of her quest. She was off to kill her sister, Azu.
If she succeeded, she'd remove the Nephilim magic from the White Order.
She made her way to the castle roof. Last time she was here, her name had been Rubago. With the help of Eric’s demented brother, Wraith, they had managed to destroy Ira, a family doctor who had turned traitor.
She headed to the edge of the roof, looking out at the horizon toward Culver city. Azu's base was in the caves on the town border. There was no telling what magical traps lay in wait there. In a perfect world, their fight should be somewhere more mutual, as walking into a rival witch's den was suicide.
There was no time to lure her out, so direct confrontation was her only choice. She summoned magic up inside of her and gasped as her body broke into a cloud of smoke. The world passed underneath as a series of strange and undulating shadows. Things changed when de-materialized, perspective ballooned, time blurred, and the only real sense was a loud rushing noise that hissed past the ears like water.
Her body came back solid again, her feet caught the dirt of the forest floor beneath her and she stumbled forward, stopping herself on a tree with her hand. The caves twinkled in the distance just ahead. She’d materialized sooner than she’d expected. A twig cracked in the trees behind, and she spun around, smiling at the man standing there.
“And what are you doing here? Everyone is looking for you.”
The hooded vampire stepped forward into the moonlight, pulling his hood back. Rubago gasped, seeing his face up close for the first time. Underneath his dark matted hair and beard, he still had his handsome face, but it was different. His skin glowed, with a curious golden light rolling just under the surface.
“What happened to you?” She asked.
“I was hoping you might tell me,” he said. “You are a witch aren’t you?”
“You don’t remember me.”
He shook his head. “I don’t even remember myself. I'm only certain of one thing: I want my mate.”
“Your mate? Who is your mate?”
“Blond hair, blue eyes—the woman in white. I've never seen such a beautiful girl. She's mine, she's mine to breed.”
To breed? Could it be Wraith had a part in the prophecy?
“Could you show me where she is?” Rubago asked. “I could help you secure her.”
He smiled. “No. I don’t need help to find her. Our time is nearly due.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To speak with you. To stop you from fighting your sister and killing yourself.”
“Have you been spying on me Wraith?”
“Your sister isn’t in her cave anymore. She left. She’s gone to the burned out church with the others. She wants to destroy everything.”
“Why?”
Wraith shrugged. “She has gone mad.”
“She was always mad.”
“This time it’s worse. She means to end everything. She wants to destroy the prophecy. Your place is back with the others. They need you. Use your Cognizance, the truth will reveal itself.”
She dared to take her attention from him for a moment and used her Cognizance. The answer came back to her in gruesome visions. Without her, everyone would die.
Eric would die, Claire would die, even their children would die. Ansel and Kat’s bodies lay at the bottom of a pit, twisted and broken. Sophia was tied to a stake, set before the rising dawn sun. If she didn’t move, the prophecy would fail. She broke out of the trance, placing her eyes back on Wraith. He was right.
“Are you Cognizant now Wraith? You're not your old self.”
The vampire shrugged. “I think my old self died on that castle roof. I was reborn as something different. More than vampire… my mind and body aren’t as they used to be.”
“Your name is Wraith,” she said.
He smiled again, shaking his head. “There is no point telling me, it will just end up disappearing again.”
“Is something wrong with your memory? What can you remember?”
“A few things. Most often, the face of my mate. Everything else crumbles into black.” He lifted his hood up again, shrouding his face in shadow once more. His bright red eyes twinkled from the blackness. “We will meet again witch, but only if you save your group. You should hurry, this story is coming to an end. You don’t want to miss it do you?”
*
Vangzali’s apartment was in a tall red tower block near the center of the Keep. Logan and Ruth emerged from the sewers once more, cloaked themselves and ran inside the building.
“She kept me here as a prisoner for several weeks.” Logan said as they rode the empty elevator up to her floor. “She used the locket several times in front of me. I was chained to a wall, across from the gateway. There's a keyhole at its middle. Once it’s activated, the gateway opens for thirty seconds.”
“But how does it work? Do you enter a location?”
The elevator doors opened, and they ran along a well decorated hallway toward Vangzali’s room.
“I’m not exactly sure.” Logan said. “Sometimes Vangzali had a photo with her. I believe you need a subject, something to act as a target.” He pulled her to a door at the end of the corridor and stopped. “This is it, Vangzali’s apartment. If we're lucky, the key combo to her room hasn’t changed.”
He punched four digits into a number pad on the side of the metal door and it beeped green. The door slid open and, Logan’s invisible hand tightened around hers. “We’re nearly there Synth. Stay close.”
They crept into the apartment with their breath held. A quick scan showed it was empty. Vangzali's living quarters were large and spacious. They reminded Ruth of the ultra minimalistic and modern lofts found in fancy interior design catalogs.
The walls, floor and ceilings of the apartment were smooth gray concrete. A large black bed stood to the right, and a sleek kitchen on the left. Large glass windows ran across one wall, giving an exquisite view of the city.
“The gateway is just through here.”
He led her into a smaller room. Chains covered one wall, and a drain sat in the middle of the floor. The gateway stood on the opposite wall, in a thin metal frame.
“There’s the gateway!” She shouted. “Shall we?”
Logan offered no response. He stood with his eyes glazed over, staring at the chains on the wall. “Is everything okay Logan?”
He nodded. “This is where she kept me. She’d torture me within an inch of my life, make me drink her blood to heal my wounds and do it all over again. I thought I was going to die here.”
“Hey.” Ruth walked over to him, placed a hand on his chin and turned his face to look at her. “We promised each other that neither of us will die here. Nothing is changing.”
He smiled at her, but she could tell that his thoughts were in a much darker place. Thinking of no better way to get his attention, she leaned forward and kissed him. It took him by surprise, and his body was rigid and tense at first.
After a second or two, he eased up and relaxed into it, kissing her back with his full attention. He was soft, warm, and his lips were divine. They broke away, their hands still on each other’s body.
“Shall we get out of here?” Ruth asked, while staring at his twinkling yellow eyes.
A gun clicked behind them. “I hate to break up the party, but you're going nowhere. Turn around, and put your hands above your heads.”
Vangzali stood in the doorway with a gun pointed at them. “The dog returns to bite me in the ass again. Why on earth didn’t I kill you when I had the chance?” Vangzali walked forward and removed the locket from Ruth’s neck.
“I guess you enjoyed my company too much.” Logan quipped.
“You’re good fun for a shifter.” She walked into the room, keeping her gun held high. “Who's the whore?”
“Just a concubine.”
“Is that so?” Vangzali smirked and turned her cold red eyes on Ruth. “You don’t look like a concubine.” She sniffed the air around Ruth, getting an inch within her face. “You don’t have the aroma either. You're squeaky clean. Pristine. Fresh. Too new to be working here. Which leads me to the conclusion that you're a runaway too.”
Vangzali stepped back, keeping her gun trained on them. “Not that it matters who you are. I'll give you a new name when I take you both hostage. I’ve never tortured a couple together. Won’t that be fun? You can watch me fuck your little boyfriend… and he can watch me fuck you. Oh the fun we’ll have.”
“He escaped once.” Ruth growled. “We can do it again.”
Vangzali laughed. “I must admit I underestimated dear Logan here last time. I wasn't aware of his special little power. He's a sneaky little dog, but I won’t make that mistake this time.”
“No, you won't.” Logan said. “You'll be dead before you have the chance.”
Her smile dropped, and she stepped up against Logan, pushing her gun against his head. “I’d watch your tone dog, mommy isn't playing games this time. Turn around and get on your knees. You’re going back in your chains, then I’m locking your girl up too.”
Logan followed her orders. Ruth's heart hammered in her chest. Were their chances of escape growing dimmer every second? Logan was on his knees, with his hands behind his head.
“Ruth, remember when I told you to think of someone that matters to you? You should do that right now. Right. Now.”
That was signal enough. Ruth’s invisibility rushed over her like a warm rain. Logan spun and drove his foot up into Vangzali's face, bringing a chilling growl from her snarled lips. Everything that happened next came in a blur of sound and movement. Vangzali knew of Logan’s power this time, but she could never have suspected that Ruth had that power too. The surprise gave them a head start, but Vangzali was strong, fast and fierce. Vangzali’s gun fired several times, as she twisted and turned around the room, trying to fight back against her invisible suitor. Ruth stood frozen in the doorway as the fight whirled around the small room. More shots fired, chains jangled as feet caught in them, and something crunched as Vangzali tumbled onto the floor, her hand pressed against something, slamming it against the ground.
“Die, dog!” She cackled, while straddling what must have been Logan’s invisible body. “Die, die, die!”
Ruth spotted the gun on the floor and jumped for it. Without thinking she placed the barrel against the back of Vangzali’s head and squeezed the trigger. The gun exploded with a bang, yellow light flashed across the gray concrete and Vangzali burst into a spout of violent red flame.
They both dropped their cover, and Ruth rushed over to Logan, who was laying on the ground, his skin as gray as the concrete underneath him. She wrapped him in her arms and pulled him close.
“Logan! Logan are you okay?!” She held him tight, tears trickling over her cheeks as she stared into his dying eyes. Thick blots of blood pooled across his torso.
“I think I’m dying Synth,” he said and smiled while choking up blood. “I guess only one of us is getting out of here.”
“No!” Ruth roared, wiping back tears. “We promised that we’d escape together!”
Logan laughed, coughing up more blood. “It’s not happening cupcake, grab the locket and go.”
She shook her head. There wasn’t a chance she was letting him die here. She tore open the sleeve of her uniform, pulled her arm to her lips and sunk her teeth into her flesh. Pain flashed, then the warmth of her blood flooded her mouth.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping you from death's door. You said vampire blood can heal right? Well drink.” She shoved her arm against his mouth, surprised at how eager he was to drink from her. She’d heard vampire blood was addictive for mortal men, from the looks of things, Shifters weren't that different. His lips pursed tight around her wound and he swallowed mouthfuls of her blood.
“That’s enough, if I take anymore you’ll die.” Logan said, breaking away after a minute. His voice sounded less hoarse now, but the bullet holes on his chest showed that he was still bleeding out. “I’ll be fine now.”
“No you won’t.” Holding her arm out, she forced him to drink more. She was light headed now, but she had to save Logan. “You drink until those bullets come out.”
It didn’t take much persuading, and he drank even harder the second time. Two more minutes passed. Her eyes closed, her arm went heavy. She heard the faint sound of bullets sprinkling onto concrete, and then she hit the floor.
*
Ruth’s blood surged through Logan’s body like liquid electric. He pulled himself to his feet and looked at his chest. His open wounds were now pink lines, and the blood had stopped flowing. “You’re a stupid girl Ruth,” he said as he picked up the locket. He was angry she'd forced him into drinking her blood. In his delirious state, turning her away was impossible. He'd drank too much now, and she was dying. He needed a location, and only one came to mind: his pack.
He placed the locket into the gateway and brought an image of his first mate, Chang, to mind. The gray wall in front turned into a shimmering portal of red. Logan picked Ruth up, cradling her white body in his arms.
“I saved you Logan,” she said hazily while staring up at him with wide black eyes.
“You did Ruth, and now it’s my turn to save you,” he stepped through the portal with his arms tight around her, and they slipped into the void between worlds.
Walls of red thunder and miasma spiraled around them, ice winds from ancient places soared into dark. Everything turned black, then Logan felt ground form beneath his feet. They were standing in a burned out church. He recognized the church, it was the same one they'd chosen as a hideout. Chang stood in front of them, staring back with her yellow eyes rounded in surprise.
“Logan?!”
“Hi Chang, good to see you again.” He said while stepping forward. “I need blood for my vampire friend here. We escaped the Keep, but things got hairy.”
Loyal as ever, she didn’t question him, but ran off at once and came back with enough blood to help repair Ruth. Logan tipped the cup to her still lips and made her drink, hoping that it wasn’t too late.