Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (34 page)

“Prophecy Caelestis you are charged with—” The Aurorea started.

“Yes, yes … I’ve heard it all before, from this man, who I believe I addressed. So if you’d like to be quiet for a moment, I’ll conduct my business with him and then you can all be on your merry way.” She eyed the Vehemens, not giving the Aurorea the honour of her attention.

The Aurorea growled but it was drowned out when Venturi roared at him, putting him back in his place. Her eyes darted to the Aurorea and she smiled inside when there was a flicker of fear in his eyes before he masked his feelings.

“Why are you here?” she said, composed and nonchalant. She looked at the windows. The curtains were open, revealing the darkness beyond. It was late afternoon. The sun should have been shining. “Have you not seen what is happening? If you have come to take me away, I’m afraid I can’t go with you. There’s a witch getting ready to unleash Hell. If I survive the fight, come and see me. I’ll fight you then.”

“I am afraid you will have to come with us now.” The Tenebrae stepped forwards. His voice trembled the slightest amount and his attention flitted to Venturi, betraying his nerves about speaking out.

She shook her head. Venturi moved forwards to flank her. She heard others move and Watchmen suddenly surrounded her. A glance to her left found her gaze meeting Hyperion’s.

“War is coming,” Hyperion said. His voice seemed to draw everyone’s attention like a magnet. The power he commanded was evident in it and it was useless to resist turning to look at him. “I have no time to fight you, but if you attempt to take Lady Prophecy before this battle is won, I will. It would be wise to see sense in this matter. Your enemy is not the woman who stands before you but the necromancer who intends to destroy you. If Prophecy loses, she will be given fair trial, along with Valentine. If she wins, she will be acquitted of all crimes, for we would owe our existence to her.”

They all looked a little unsure as to how to respond to that. She kept her chin held high, repeatedly telling herself that she had to look strong. She was strong. If they sensed any weakness, they might attempt to revolt against Hyperion’s words.

She really didn’t want to have to kill them.

“We are taking her.” The deep voice the Aurorea shattered the silence.

The air around her shifted and before she could blink, Venturi had his hand around the Aurorea’s throat, squeezing it hard. He growled and pushed the Law Keeper backwards. Instinct told her to stop him before he made the whole situation worse, but she couldn’t move.

She looked down at Hyperion’s hand where it held her arm and then up into his eyes for an explanation.

“Let him. Dominance may be the only way out of this.”

She frowned at his words and then returned her attention to Venturi. He slammed the Law Keeper into the wall, pushing him up it so his feet were off the floor. The other three Law Keepers looked even more uneasy. The Vehemens’ gaze strayed to her. She knew he wouldn’t speak out against her. There was so much fear in his eyes. A feeling of sympathy rose up in her. It wasn’t his fault he was in love with the Nocens Law Keeper. It wasn’t her fault she was in love with Valentine.

The law forbidding close relationships between bloodlines was stupid. It was obviously only there to keep the lower ranks in order and faithful to their own bloodline, and to stop relationships like hers and Valentine’s from happening. They were both the master of their bloodline now, and they were mated to each other.

“Venturi,” she said and smiled deviously when he looked at her. “That is no way to treat a guest.”

He grinned, exposing his fangs, his eyes blacker than midnight.

His fingers tightened around the Law Keeper’s throat.

She swept the hair away from her neck and Venturi’s eyes darkened further. He roared and unleashed his fury on the Law Keeper.

He’d seen the new scars on her throat then, and he knew what they meant.

She watched the Aurorea sail through the air and hit the wall hard. Her plan to draw Venturi’s strength out of him by making him angry was working. The other Law Keepers looked ready to let them go for now as Hyperion had asked. She looked at the Aurorea where he was lying on the floor and then her eyes widened when she realised that Venturi wasn’t going over to him.

He was coming over to her.

She hurriedly backed away. The Watchmen behind her parted so she could pass. Her hands came up and she smiled in an effort to calm Venturi as he stalked towards her, his whole face as dark as a thunderstorm.

Hitting the wall, she panicked when she realised she was trapped. Venturi stepped up to her. Straightened to his full height, he was an imposing figure. He towered over her, his eyes still black and burning with a fire she’d ignited.

She glanced around him at Hyperion, but he shook his head, his expression telling her that she’d foolishly upset the Tenebrae, she had to deal with the consequences.

Venturi caught her shoulders and slammed her back into the wall. Her brows furrowed as she looked up into his eyes, giving him the attention he demanded. He roughly cleared the hair from her neck and sniffed it. Her breath caught in her throat when he licked her, his tongue sweeping over her skin, sending a shiver of delight down her spine.

“I have nothing to say to you,” he whispered with malice into her ear and she closed her eyes.

The feel of his fingers against her shoulders disappeared.

She cringed when the door slammed.

Her heart ached and she went to run to the door but she found a Watchman blocking it.

She looked at Hyperion, silently understanding what he was telling her. Now wasn’t the time for dealing with affairs of the heart. She had to take care of the Law Keepers first.

She glanced at the door again and then, with a heavy heart, walked back to Hyperion.

“I suppose you’ll add Venturi to my list of crimes too,” she said bitterly to the Law Keepers.

The Aurorea had joined the others again. He gave her a hard look, clearly disgusted by her. She didn’t ask any of these men to fall in love with her and she certainly hadn’t asked for the feelings she had for them in return.

“Get out of my house!” she growled at them, her eyes switching to their green vampiric state as the last thread of her temper frayed and snapped. “I’m sick of this shit. Get out!”

She called the magic up. It swirled dark and dangerous around her hand. All of the Law Keepers stared at it. Hyperion had said that dominance was a good thing. Well, she was going to show them just how strong she was compared to them.

Taking a deep breath, she curled her fingers up, calling the power to both of her hands. Her whole body hurt as the magic transferred, running through her veins.

She roared in pain and raised her hands, lifting the Law Keepers off the floor. They all looked down, their panic stricken faces making her smile. Holding them with the will of her right hand, she commanded her magic to open the door with her left. She guided them through it. Hyperion gave her an impressed smile.

Taking the Law Keepers out into the corridor, she stifled her desire to laugh at the way they struggled to get free of the magic. There was no escape for them. She’d asked them to leave and they’d ignored her request. Now she was going to make them leave.

People cleared the path as she walked with the Law Keepers towards the main door. She kept her focus on them, not daring to look at the faces of the people around her in case the momentary lapse in concentration caused the magic to disappear.

When she’d made it outside, she drew her hands back and then pushed them both forwards. The Law Keepers tumbled through the air like leaves and fell into a pile on the ground. The guards at the gates immediately rushed forwards, surrounding the four vampires.

She rolled her shoulders and glared at the Law Keepers, keeping the magic circling around her hand in case they still tried to fight her.

They all turned away and walked silently to the gate. When they disappeared from view, she went back into the house. Hyperion was standing outside the study with Serenity.

“Wait here,” she said to Hyperion and then moved her attention to Serenity. “Please inform Mia and Dmitri that our guests have left. I would like you to gather everyone to the study. I will find Venturi, but I don’t know where Cornelius, Xavier and Tiberius are.”

She ignored the raised brow that Hyperion gave her. She’d made Venturi angry and it was down to her to calm him again. At the time, drawing his attention to her new scars had seemed like a wise idea, but even though his eyes had been black, she’d still been able to see all the hurt in them, hurt that she’d caused. She had to heal the breach between them. She couldn’t focus when she knew he was mad at her.

Heading down the hall, Prophecy honed her senses on Venturi’s scent, following the path it made through the house. She looked up when she encountered a door, and frowned. The training room. Why had he come here?

Pushing the door open, she eased it closed behind her when she found Venturi standing in the middle of the room. He was staring at the floor, his back to her.

She leaned back against the door, unable to find her voice to break the heavy silence. He wasn’t the only one she’d hurt back in the study. A part of her had been hurt too and she couldn’t figure out why.

Venturi turned his head slightly. He could see her standing there, her hand still resting on the door handle behind her, as though she hadn’t quite decided whether she was staying or leaving.

He didn’t know which he’d prefer.

When she’d nonchalantly revealed her new marks to him in front of all those people, he’d felt as though she’d reached through his chest and torn out his heart. What had made him even angrier was when she’d looked shocked at how hurt he was. He couldn’t understand it.

It didn’t make any sense. It just wasn’t sinking in that she’d let that dog of Aurorea claim her.

He stared unseeingly at the floor.

“It was here that I first believed there was a part of you that loved me,” he whispered, giving up the fight against his better judgement. She had to know, if only so she felt as terrible inside as he did.

She deserved to feel it.

She stepped towards him, her movements hesitant and unsure. He kept still, refusing to go to her. He’d never go to her again. What she’d done was irreversible. There was no chance for them now. It was all a foolish dream on his part. He’d been deluded to think that she could ever love him. She’d never loved him.

“I … I…” She stumbled on the words and went silent when he turned to face her.

He held her gaze, taking in how small she looked and how much pain there was in her eyes. Even if it was multiplied a hundred-fold, it would still be less than what he was feeling.

“The Law Keepers are gone,” she said in a quiet voice. He glared at her hand when she held it out to him. “Come back to the study. Come back with me.”

He frowned. She wasn’t asking him to come back to the study with her. She wanted him to come back to her. How the hell did she think that was possible? Had she honestly believed that he’d be fine with this, that it wouldn’t change anything between them? The voice at the back of his mind whispered spitefully that it hadn’t. He may think that it had in an attempt to convince himself that his feelings for her were over now, but he still loved her. He’d always love her. No matter what happened or what she did, there would always be a place for her in his heart. She couldn’t make him not love her, not by turning him away a million times, or beating him black and blue, and certainly not by something like being claimed by another man.

He didn’t take her hand. Instead, he stepped up to her, looking down into her eyes and not letting one trace of emotion show in his. Hers were shining with unshed tears. He didn’t allow himself to believe they were for his sake.

Maybe they had been once, in some fantasy of his where all this would have ended differently. She would have been his. He thought about that moment they’d shared in this room and stared deep into her eyes, searching them for a sign that what he’d thought that day was actually true.

She blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. Her eyes told him everything her heart didn’t dare put voice to.

“I know,” he whispered intimately and she started a little, “what I thought here that day is true.”

He went to walk past her but she captured his cheek with her hand. It was a feather light touch that made him stay a moment when an uttered command would have made him leave.

His gaze slid across to meet hers again. He was surprised by the emotion in it and the gentle way her fingers played against his skin. They soothed him, coaxing him out of his vampire guise. It would be hurting her to do this with him. The claim was new. The revulsion at another’s touch would still be strong.

She swallowed hard and looked as though she wanted to say something.

She didn’t.

She just stared at him, drawing all of his feelings out of him no matter how hard he fought to keep them deep down inside.

There was no denial in her look. She wasn’t telling him that he was wrong about her feelings. She was telling him that he was right. He could feel it in her touch, the way her fingers trembled, and see it in the fear in her eyes.

There had been a part of her that loved him, and by the looks of things, it loved him still, regardless of the claim between her and Valentine.

Raising his hand, he lightly touched hers where it still rested against his cheek, and gave her a look that said he finally understood. This claim had hurt them both, but it had not altered their feelings for one another.

He walked past her, opening the door and holding it for her to pass. She was silent as they walked along the hall, lost in heavy thoughts that knitted her brows. She wasn’t thinking about him, but she wasn’t thinking about Valentine either. Only one thing could be playing on her mind.

The impending battle.

They both knew where Elena was. Piotr had tried to call the inn over a dozen times without success. He hoped for his commander’s sake that the innkeeper’s daughter had survived whatever horror Elena had unleashed upon them. He’d never realised before today that Piotr’s feelings for the girl extended beyond using her as a blood slave.