Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (28 page)

Hyperion looked at her with an expression of regret. “I wish that we had met under better circumstances. I would like to meet Valentine some day, but not as an enemy. From what I have heard of him, he is a man I could greatly admire. His loss must weigh heavy upon your heart. It is a burden we will all help you carry and together we shall find a way to bring him back.”

She thanked him with a shaky smile, unable to saying anything for fear of the tears she was holding back escaping. Nodding, she turned to find Venturi’s eyes full of concern. She averted her gaze and walked around the table.

She looked up when Hyperion approached Mia and Dmitri, and she was surprised when he addressed the werewolf.

“I have a commander of my guard heading to your bastion. A newly turned female werewolf is with him. I had expected you to be there and hoped that you would welcome her.”

“Mikael will tend to her. Few men remained behind after the battle. They defend our home from this witch that is after Prophecy.” Dmitri frowned heavily.

Mia looked a little shaken by his mention of the battle that had taken place. Prophecy was about to go to her when Dmitri placed his arm about his mate’s slim shoulders, holding her.

“And my commander?” Hyperion said.

Prophecy got the feeling that Hyperion was more concerned about the safety of his Watchman than that of the female werewolf.

“Mikael will welcome him. He is not a fool. He knows better than to offend a Validus.”

“One more thing. There is a male werewolf after the girl. He has rights over her, given to him when she was still human but not with her consent. This werewolf proclaims himself a king of werewolves and will fight for the girl. Will your men be able to protect her if necessary?” Hyperion closely eyed Dmitri.

Dmitri nodded. “Da. My men will kill him for this declaration alone. King of werewolves?”

She couldn’t help but smile when Dmitri laughed, its deep boom filling the room and lifting her spirits for a moment.

They dropped again when the mark on her chest ached and she remembered what she had to do.

Taking the piece of paper from her pocket, she stared at it.

This wasn’t going to be easy to explain.

“I wish we had more time for talk, but I must leave this place,” she said and didn’t dare raise her head. She knew how everyone would look. They would think she’d gone insane for wanting to go to a place she didn’t know anything about when they were on the brink of war. They wouldn’t understand. “I have to go to my mother’s house and I have to go alone.”

She raised her hand before Venturi could say anything and gave him a sorry look.

“My vision shows only myself there. I can’t take anyone with me.”

“This is madness.” Serenity stood and Prophecy was surprised that she had spoken.

“I will leave the address.” Prophecy ignored her friend’s words.

“Prophecy, no. Now is not the time to leave the houses without a leader.” Venturi moved a step towards her.

“Hyperion has already given his word that he will look after them while I’m gone. Elena is unlikely to attack when I’m not here. It’s me she wants. I will be leaving tonight,” she continued.

“I will not let you go alone,” Venturi said and took another step.

“I’ll be back within a couple of days.”

“I will not let you go.” Venturi took another step. He was almost next to her now.

She continued to stare at the piece of paper. “I’ll contact you when I arrive.”

She closed her eyes when Venturi caught hold of her shoulders and roughly turned her to face him.

“I will not let you.” He growled the words at her.

She removed his hands and opened her eyes, looking straight into his. Her vision was immediately obscured with tears when she saw how upset he was and thought about Valentine. It was her only chance to see him, and she had to take it, regardless of what might happen. She knew that Valentine would fight Elena’s hold over him. He would try to change the vision she’d had of him hurting her. She believed in him and her magic enough that she was willing to place herself in the hands of the vision she’d had more recently. He wouldn’t hurt her.

“I have to go,” she whispered, not trusting herself to speak the words. She furrowed her brows and kept her eyes locked with Venturi’s, wishing he could read in them the reason why she was going. A tear slipped onto her cheek and rolled down it. She still stared into his eyes. “I have to.”

He frowned for a moment and then a look of understanding entered his eyes. He blinked but didn’t look away from her.

“Go then if it will give you strength and hope, but be careful. If we do not receive word from you on arrival, I will come to find you.” His voice was quiet, so low that she wondered if he didn’t want everyone else to hear the things he was saying.

She looked at Mia, who was staring at Venturi with a dark look in her eyes.

“I will be careful. It will only be a couple of days. I want that prophecy translated before I get back.” She pointed to the two halves of the manuscript, hoping her demand would give him enough work to keep himself busy so he worried less about her while she was away.

Hyperion went around the table to them and picked up the two pieces. “I will be able to help with these. I am glad that you found them.”

“I wouldn’t have found them without you.” She forced a smile and then pressed her hand to her head when tiredness filled her again, almost overwhelming her. “I must sleep. It’s a long journey to my mother’s house and the magic has drained me of so much strength.”

She looked at Serenity, who stood and sleepily rubbed her face.

“Have the jet prepared for tonight,” Prophecy said.

Serenity nodded drowsily.

Prophecy went to leave and then stopped. Serenity, Cornelius and the two guards walked past her, leaving her alone with Dmitri, Mia, Hyperion and Venturi.

Hyperion sat down in front of the two parts of the prophecy and ran his fingers down them.

She held Venturi’s gaze. “Please find my father and tell him that I’m going to my mother’s house. Also, keep me apprised of the situation within the house. I know I should stay, but if I don’t go now, it might be too late.”

He nodded and she went to walk away again but stopped when he spoke.

“Where exactly is your mother’s house?”

She looked at the piece of paper and then pressed her amulet against the mark over her heart. It pulsed and tickled, humming quietly with magic.

“Florence.”

Valentine cursed himself for what he was about to do. He wished he could stop himself. He wished he could turn around before it was too late, before she knew he was here. It was all very good wishing these things, but there was no way he could do them. Elena’s power over him was too strong, and although he was managing to win back a fraction of control sometimes, the majority of the time he could only watch as he did things that he knew he would hate himself for.

This wasn’t how it should have been. Twenty years of battles with this man were going to end in a way that had no honour. They were going to end in a way that made their history seem shallow and pointless. He’d always intended that the final fight between them would be one worthy of being written into the Aurorea annals. He’d never wanted it to be as easy and empty as he could feel it was going to be.

Pushing the door to the castle open, he looked at the bodies that were still decaying along the corridor. Elena’s zombies had piled them up, stacking them without regard for who these men and women used to be. They hadn’t stood a chance when Elena had come for them.

He still didn’t know why Elena wanted to be here. Whenever he returned from completing one of her twisted missions for him, she was quick to hide everything. Maybe she was being so cautious for a reason. Maybe her hold over him wasn’t as strong as she’d intended it to be. He was still fighting her, but as time passed, it grew harder to regain any sense of control over himself.

He was becoming another mindless minion for her to command, but one so lethal and vicious that she was strangely proud of him. Or maybe it was her achievement that she was proud of. To keep a vampire under control took a lot more power than it did to keep a dead human in order.

When he reached the room Elena was in, he growled at her and tossed the unconscious, beaten body of the vampire hunter at her feet.

She grinned with glee. It shone in her eyes like a light.

“You have done well,” she said and stepped over Caden, leaving him lying on the cold, damp flagstones.

Valentine growled again while she closed all of the books that covered the surface of the old wooden table. Besides a chair, it was the only item of furniture in the room.

He struggled against the spell that was holding sway over him and clenched his fists, his whole body tensing as he tried to claw back some control.

When he managed to, he ran at Elena. His fangs extended and his eyes switched to lapis blue. He was within a metre of her when she turned and raised her hand, stopping him in his tracks. She shook her head in chastisement.

“When will you learn not to fight me?” A shadow of annoyance crossed her face.

His expression clouded with anger.

“Never!” he spat the word out contemptuously.

Her lips thinned with fury. “Maybe I need to break you.”

“Don’t give in to her.” A voice weak with pain caught his attention.

He looked down at Caden who was struggling to his feet. His movements were so slow that Valentine could almost feel his pain.

“If you surrender to her then there is no hope for Prophecy … or the world.”

Elena stormed across the room and kicked Caden hard in the stomach before he had a chance to get off all fours. He crumpled up, curling into a defensive ball and gasping for breath.

“Shut up!” she threw the words hard at Caden and then turned on Valentine. Her voice dropped to the deadliest of whispers and she spoke each word with malice. “You will do as I say.”

Valentine felt the cold steal into his veins again and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop her from winning back control. She flicked her fingers in a dismissive way and his feet moved of their own volition, moving him away to such a distance that he couldn’t easily attack her if he regained some control.

He could only watch as Elena picked Caden up by the scruff of his jacket and sneered at him as though he was some filthy creature and she was loath to have to touch him.

“Where is your pretty daughter?” Her voice was all sweetness and she smiled brightly.

Caden tried to lean away from her but Elena shook him hard.

“Tell me where she is, or Valentine will have to kill you.”

“No!” Valentine shouted, frowning.

She held her hand up and he grabbed at his throat when he found he couldn’t speak.

“I told you to be quiet like a good little boy. You will do as I say, whether you like it or not. In fact … I think I want you to hate the things I make you do. I want you to suffer.” Elena threw him a black look and then tossed Caden across the room, sending him smashing into the thick grey stone wall.

Caden dropped to the floor in a heap, his limbs twisted at strange angles. Valentine focused his senses on the hunter, checking that he was still alive. A slow heartbeat called to him, strong enough to tell him that its owner would survive a little longer.

But not long enough if Elena had her way.

Elena hauled Caden up by his neck and slammed him into the wall.

She opened her mouth to speak but shut it again when footsteps echoed up the hall. She dropped Caden and her whole face spread into a smile.

“Be still,” she said to Caden and magic encircled him, binding him.

Valentine watched the three zombies enter. He recognised the one at the front as one of Elena’s commanders. There were four of them so far, all granted more consciousness and sense than her regular minions. They could have almost passed for their former human selves if it weren’t for their pallid, rotting flesh and their green-white eyes. The commander smiled, exposing blackened teeth and putrid gums.

Valentine thought he looked oddly conceited for someone who was nothing more than a disposable soldier.

“Report,” Elena said with eagerness sparkling in her eyes. “Did you retrieve him?”

The zombie hesitated for a moment and then looked shiftily at his two companions. They groaned and beamed at him inanely.

He stepped back so they were in front of him. “No.”

Valentine realised it was a wise move when Elena lashed out at the nearest of the three. She shoved her hand deep into the zombie’s chest, breaking through its shirt and the bones of its ribcage. She released a growling cry of frustration and the zombie’s head exploded.

He raised a brow in disgust as the fleshy body of the zombie hit the floor with a squelch.

“The female vampire was too strong and he has realised his power.” The commander reported.

Valentine stared at Elena when it dawned on him who the zombies had been sent to capture.

“River is the reason you are doing this?” he said.

She swung around to face him, a black look marring her features and turning her ugly.

“It is none of your business,” she said. “I swore once that he would be with no one but me. If he will not be with me of his own choice, I will make him be with me. I will bring Hell to this land.”

“How is that going to get you River back?”

“I cannot kill the vampire if River protects her. He is too strong. I have formed an allegiance with the under-demons. If I release them, the Devil will make me ruler of this new world and will make me stronger. I will order my army to kill everyone, to tear the vampire apart, and I will capture River. Together we shall rule.”

“You’re insane,” Caden said and she growled at him.

“What if River still won’t love you?” Valentine said.

Elena glared at him. “I will kill him and bring him back as my slave.”

“You really have gone insane, Elena.”

“Silence!” She held her hand up and narrowed her eyes. They darkened with her rage and he leaned back when she stalked across the room to him. “I think it’s time you learned to hate yourself. I have the perfect way to make you suffer. You’ll personally go after Prophecy once Caden has told us where she is.”