Immortal Promise (17 page)

Dawn was on the horizon as the group met in the back gardens away from the eyes of the refugees they had uprooted and moved inside the safety of the castle’s curtain walls. Evan’s
vampires all looked to the blazing ball that was rising, their eyes squinting at the sharp pain the sun brought. Holly smiled as she moved to her coven and produced a box filled with sunglass. The vampires happily slid the shades on and all of them but Evan returned to gazing at the sun. It was sight many on them hadn’t seen in well over two centuries.

Izzy’s eyes were glued to the sky as well, only it wasn’t the sun
that held her attention, it was the exaggerated and beautiful blue moon that waited in the sky for the sun to join it.

“Ready,
sweetheart?” Bain asked. He hated that Izzy was part of this but knowing that she would remain at his side, with a plethora of powers, gave him a little sense of ease. Izzy pulled down the leather glove she wore and prepared herself for the onslaught of power. She sighed, but before she could move, Kale grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a hug.

“I am with Bain on this, Iz. I don’t like you being a part of this but you can control the flames, so anyone who gets close that isn’t a friendly, you burn them to ashes. You got me?”

Bain cleared his throat. “You can back off now, Kale.”

Kale and Izzy both laughed, but she nodded and replied
, “I gotcha Kale.”

Kat smiled at them. “I’d hug you too, cause you know I love ya, but our powers don’t mix well.”

Izzy chuckled, a shy smile on her pretty face.

“We won’t be far from you either
,” Kat said as Izzy walked past them to Uriah. His was the next best offensive power and it was one, like Kale’s pyrokinesis, that she had mastered.

Uriah smiled reassuringly as he took Izzy’s hand and gave it a good squeeze. “You can do this,” he whispered. “Any woman strong enough to put
up with Bain is strong enough for any fight heaven or hell could bring down on her.”

Bain grunted
, and Izzy hugged Uriah briefly. He had been distant and sad, but he seemed to be coming around, as a little of his humor was returning.

Izzy let Uriah go and looked to Cree. “Who else?”
she asked.

“Lothar,” Bain offered. “You’ve mastered his power too
, and it’s a powerful defensive power.”

Cree nodded in agreement. “He’s right, and that should do it. You don’t know how to use any of the other powers around
you, and we all know you are pretty much a permanent healer now.”

Izzy blushed as Lothar stepped up to her with a smirk and an arched brow. “Why, Isabelle, I do believe you are blushing.”

Izzy shook her head and threw herself into his arms. She hadn’t really processed the fact that he was back or gotten the opportunity to enjoy the fact that he was safe, so she would use the need of his gift as a good excuse to hug the man she viewed as her older brother.

Stepping back and releasing him, Izzy smiled and Lothar winked. “You ready for this?”

She looked up at him. “You tell me. “

Lothar laughed. “You’re stubborn, feisty, and ready as ever.” Izzy moved back to Bain’s side as he wrapped his arms around her. His wings flapped to life and carried them off into the growing light of morning. Kale took Kat in his arms and followed
. Rowan and Cree took off, and Lothar grabbed a hold of Holly. Before lifting into the air, he looked to Uriah.

There was a sadness coming
from his brother as he watched the others disappear into the morning light. Something was very wrong, Lothar could feel it.

“Uriah?”

Uriah’s gaze drifted to him. He shook his head and started for the steel gate in the back wall. Holly pulled from Lothar’s arms to make her way to Evan.

“I don’t know what’s going on with him, but get him to the meadow and keep an eye on him.”

Evan watched Uriah walked away and nodded. Signaling for his vamps to go, he took Syna’s hand and they went after Uriah.

Holly stepped back into Lothar’s arms. “Whatever is going on with him, we will find a way to help, but for right
now, I think we may make it worse. Let Evan and Syna help. They’re good at this kind of stuff.”

Lothar nodded
. With one last, lingering look at his brother, he shot into the air with Holly wrapped around his body.

Uriah watched as the last of his brothers took off into the sky. He longed to feel the wind on his face. To be truly free and away from everything. He wanted to fly.

A petite hand fell to his shoulder, and he looked back to see Synawen.

She shook her head. “I will not ask. I have many painful secrets that I wish to remain mine and mine alone. So we will take you
there, and we will ask nothing of what keeps you grounded.” Her smile was beautiful and understanding as she took his arm and led him back to Evan.

Evan held his hand out to Syna; she took it and kept her hold on Uriah’s arm. “Land a good distance away from the others. We walk the remainder.”

Evan dipped his chin and flashed them from the courtyard.

“Thanks
,” Uriah whispered as they appeared a good two hundred feet from where the others had already taken their positions. The trio jogged to the group and took their places, to wait for Darion to make the first move.

Izzy caught Uriah’s eye and winked at him
; he smiled and dipped his chin. A twig snapped, drawing everyone’s attention to the forest beyond. Darion stepped forward, appearing just as he had in Izzy’s vision. He wore dark leather pants and no shirt. She realized that while she assumed her vision was attempting to tell her something, that wasn’t the case. The vision had played out just as it was going to now. Darion was shirtless in an attempt to catch the warriors and Rowan off guard with the true-mate mark. Esperanza stepped up next to him and just as in Izzy’s vision, her icy eyes landed on her, chilling her to the bone. Malice was dripping from her. Esperanza’s eyes fell on Bain and for a brief moment, regret bled through her icy façade. She then looked upon Rowan, and finally her gaze landed on Holly.

Holly felt the chill of her mother’s gaze clear to her bones. Lothar squeezed her hand tightly. And Rowan shot her a reassuring smile before focusing on Darion.

“You march on my lands, and you bring an army with you. What are your intentions, Darion?”

Darion looked around and arched a brow. “I see no army.”

Rowan’s face remained stony as she spoke. “Just because they hide in the cover of the forest doesn’t mean they aren’t here. What is it you were hoping to accomplish?”

“You’re smarter then I give you credit for. If not for you pesky mate, you wouldn’t have known I was coming.”

“Don’t start a war. Turn around and go back to your lands.”

“Ah, but, Rowan, I didn’t start this.” His eyes landed on Synawen and drifted to
Kat, who stood next to her. “They did, and you harbor them.”

Rowan stared at him but said nothing as he smirked at her.

“Hand them over and I will stop this.”

Kale’s hands burst into
flames, and Darion snapped his fingers. His hidden army made themselves known. Vampires, ogres, castors, and many other flavors of Fae stepped up behind him.

Rowan raised a hand in a gesture that was supposed to tell Kale to calm the fuck down.

“While your words may upset my warrior, we both know I will fight to my death to keep those women from ever being under your thumb again. Make your choice, Darion
. Is it really worth it?”

Darion chuckled. “You come at me with barely thirty-five soldiers at your side,
and a few weak-willed women. You won’t win this one.”

“You have always been too arrogant for your own good
. Have you truly not learned that to underestimate me is to err?”

Darion’s eyes narrowed as Rowan smiled. The first blast of magic came from his side and was directed at Kale. Rowan barely spared a glance to see that Kale had dodged the ball of pure blue electricity that flew at him.

“Now!” she hollered.

The forest came to life around the cowardice of Darion’s army, those who still hid from the battle that would erupt in front of them. The Meliae spirits of the ancient ash trees that spotted the forest reached out their
forms, calling upon the strength of the trees they called home. Their hands grasped at those close and began pulling the screaming Fae into the heart of their trees. The bark of the trees began to waver as members of Darion’s army disappeared. Their cries were lost as the trees solidified around them. The only sign they had once stood in the forest was where the bark on the trunks had morphed to create their screaming faces.

The Meliae sent those who hadn’t been captured by the tree’s fleeing from the depths of forest.

Darion growled as he locked his gaze on Rowan. The battle had started, and Darion’s men were racing towards them.

Evan’s vampires flashed out of sight before landing smack in the middle of the advancing horses. The flashing allowed them to escape most
blows, but there was no way they would all survive if the rest of Rowan’s army did not get into the fight.

“Go,”
she hollered. Uriah began throwing Darion’s men off the vampires, most of them landing back in the forest. Screams were heard briefly before the forest would fall silent, only to be taken by screams again as Uriah would throw more creatures to the trees.

Kale was lighting fires, trapping groups of Darion’s horde at a time. The earth was scorching before them. Fear struck Cree as he watched the battle play out and he fought his way to
Rowan, who was descending on Darion.

“Rowan!”
He bellowed her name as he swung an ancient sword, cutting down anyone who stepped in his way.

Cree’s voice caught Holly’s attention. Her eyes landing on her sister as Rowan took the first swing at the Dark Fae leader. She wielded their father’s sword as if it were merely an extension of her own body: fluid, graceful, and deadly. Holly was momentary sidetracked by the sight. She hadn’t even noticed that Esperanza was no longer at her mate’s side. The impact caught Holly off guard as she hit the ground hard
. Looking up, she saw her mother flying back. With wide eyes, she looked for Uriah, assuming he had been the one to keep the blade from burring into her back. Instead, she found Izzy moving towards her, pulling her from the ground.

“Thanks.” Holly let out a deep breath.

“We just got you back. And to be honest, I’ve wanted to smack your mother for a while.”

Holly laughed. “I thought Bain said you were the one who forgave her and pushed him to forgive as well.”

“Yeah, well, I was trying to be the bigger person. Recent events and information tells me it doesn’t take much to be bigger than Esperanza.”

“Duck!” Holly hollered before launching herself at Izzy as a ball of flames came flying at them.

Kale was next to them in a flash. “Motherfucker,” he growled, pulling a new ball of flame from his hands and sending it flying at the caster who had just redirected the last ball of flames at Izzy and Holly. Izzy put a blast of Uriah’s magic behind it and cringed as the very human-looking Fae burst into flames.

“You okay?” he asked both of them.

They nodded, and he grabbed Izzy. “You’re coming with me. Holly, you get to Lothar.”

Holly’s feet beat against the earth as she made her way towards Lothar. He, like the others, wielded a sword with beautiful, precise movements. He didn’t need her help. Trusting him as the warrior he was, she made her way towards Cree
, who had been cut off from Rowan.

Holly conjured a bow and began sending arrows into the hearts,
heads, and any other respective kill spots for the Fae that were surrounding them. The ranks were thinning out more on Darion’s side than on theirs. She’d seen a few guards go down and hoped that they were still at least breathing.

****

That bitch human had sent Esperanza flying into the forest. How did she wield the power of a warrior? Esperanza saw the faces frozen in the trees around her and moved quickly out of the forest, but kept to the outskirts of the battle. She watched as Izzy threw a ball of flame at one of Darion’s ogres. She shook her head as that little shit Kale gave her a high five and grabbed her hand to drag her nearer to her son. Seemed the little human had been hiding something. Esperanza’s gaze found Darion in battle with Rowan, as Cree tried to charge towards them but kept getting cut off. Esperanza stayed safely out of sight as she watched. Darion knew not to harm Rowan, but her daughter fought with deadly accuracy. She couldn’t have Rowan killing Darion. She had to distract and separate the two of them. With her palms stretched out towards the ground, she sent a wave of rolling dirt toward them, knocking both off their feet. She then rushed towards Darion to pull him from the fight. Only he appeared on his feet in a swirl of magic just as Rowan stood and turned to face him once more.

Rowan’s eyes flashed and her mind screamed for
Cree.

“
I love you… I am so sorry,”
was all she could think as Darion’s blade connected with her flesh.

“No. Rowan! Please
, I am coming, love.”

“
Hurry, I want to see your handsome face.”

“You hold on.”

Silence fell in their connection as he tried to get to his everything.

Holly heard a guttural roar, and ice-cold fear slid down her spine.
Turning, she found Cree rushing to a downed Rowan.

Rowan felt the cold steel slide deep into her chest. One wrong move, that was all it ever took. It was how all warriors ended up in the care of the Immortal three. Her knees gave out and she fell to
them, looking from the sword that protruded from her chest to the cold eyes of the man who still held its hilt. She coughed and blood fell from her lips. Darion sneered, his booted foot landing on her stomach to push her off his sword.

“No!” Esperanza screamed as a ball of flame flew towards Darion. She pushed him out of the way and fell to the ground to see her daughter dying at her lover’s hand.

Strong fingers wrapped around Esperanza’s arm and yanked her from the soiled earth.

****

Time froze as every warrior felt the pain that radiated through the lands. Uriah turned in slow motion to see a flash of magic come at him. There was no time, so he simply closed his eyes. He knew that when he opened them again there would be an Immortal waiting to take him
. A tear slid down his face as he accepted that his queen would be joining him. The pain never came and when he opened his eyes, he saw the smiling face of his Immortal. Jelena reached a hand up and cupped his cheek.

“I love you
. I would have given up everything to stay with you.”

Uriah’s eyes drifted down to where her hand pressed against her heart
. Blood began to seep through her slender fingers and she fell forward, revealing the face of the one who had just tried to kill him and instead got Jelena. Uriah roared. With a flick of his hand, the Fae was lifted in the air, so high that Uriah found him hard to see anymore. Then he let the Fae fall. A sickening crunch rent the air as the body was impaled by a tree.

“Jelena? Please talk to me.” She was silent.

Uriah’s gaze shifted to Rowan, where Holly and Bain were running to her. Darion lifted his sword to bring it down on both Rowan and Cree, who know held her as Esperanza stood motionless at his side.

A scream ripped from Holly
, and magic flooded the field. Darion dropped his sword in time to throw up his own magical protection. Only when the magic collided did he and what was left of his army disappear. All that was left were the Light warriors and the vampires. Izzy fell to Uriah’s side and pressed her hands over Jelena’s wound. Bain and Holly hovered over Rowan.

“No,” was all Uriah heard as Holly took a step back. Bain grabbed her and hid her face in his chest.

Uriah looked back to Izzy as she healed Jelena. Pulling her hands back, she could see the wound was healed. Jelena took a breath and stood up, both her hands pressing against her chest.

“I don’t underst—”
Her words broke off as she looked up at the clouds that now hovered high above them.

The sky opened up above them, the first of many unique and beautiful flakes began
falling. All who were left standing seem mesmerized as their heads fell back to watch the clouds release thousands of frozen, delicate drops of ice. Jelena’s eyes followed the first of the flakes that fell as it inched its’ way closer to the trampled and scorched grass. As it made contact with the soiled land, pain pierced through Jelena. Her body crumpled as her soul was pulled from her corporeal form. With a final, ear-piercing scream, the world went dark and cold.