Revisited (Redemption Series) (26 page)

“You all right there?” Debir asked as he stepped into the study with Liam and Valentina behind him.

“Just thinking; maybe doing a little planning.” Nathaniel straightened up in his chair, took the book from his lap, and set it on the table beside him.

“That’s something I’d like to talk to you about.” Debir settled on the couch across from him despite the glare Liam gave him.

“All right.” Nathaniel was intrigued, but pensive. He was still on the fence about the three newcomers’ intentions.

Valentina led Liam to sit on the couch with Debir and wrapped her arm around her baby’s father.

“Someone else is on their way. We need his help just as much as we need yours, but I know there is history between the two of you, and there could be problems.”

Liam shook his head. He was vehemently against including Nathaniel. He got a bad feeling about two enemies working together.

“In this situation, we can use all the help we can get. I’m sure I would be able to put my feelings aside in this case.” Nathaniel was determined to keep Becca and Lily safe at any cost, even at his own peril, though he wondered to whom Debir was referring.

“It’s Ore,” Liam spoke up and looked at Nathaniel for the reaction that was sure to come.

Nathaniel placed a stoic mask on his face as the thought of working with Mr. Ore made him physically ill, but he had to keep those feelings at bay. He had an objective, and he would meet it even if Ore were a player. “What do we need from him?” he asked in a flat tone.

“He can help Valentina,” Debir interjected. “The spell she cast on Filipp’s army almost killed her and the baby. It is imperative we do not risk their lives as we try to break it.”

Nathaniel shook his head in confusion. “How can Ore help?”

“He has many special gifts. I believe he will be instrumental to Filipp’s downfall.” Debir nodded to Nathaniel in a silent plea for acceptance.

“He might be of some hel—” Nathaniel was struck mid-sentence with a head splitting vision. He fell from his chair to his knees as he grasped at the roots of his hair. The pain was unimaginable, worse than any vision he had ever had in the past.

Nathaniel saw Filipp approach the castle with his army and incomprehensible words whispered through his mind. Valentina wrapped her hand tight around Mr. Ore’s as fear permeated the air around them. Debir and Filipp shouted words of hate and destruction before the vision changed.

Nathaniel also saw Jefferson writhing in pain next to a bloodied Abe. A man’s arm fell to the floor, drenched in blood. His mind focused on the arm with blood pooled beneath it before he was pulled from the vision. His breathing was haggard and his brow was covered in sweat. A moment later, the pain receded from his head, and he was able to clearly see the looks of concern on the faces around him. “Filipp is on his way. We will have to fight him.”

Debir nodded, he had assumed as much. “We will be prepared. Valentina is ready with the counter curse to break the spell she originally put on Filipp’s army, she just needs Ore to give her the extra power she needs.”

“Ore will be here, too.” Nathaniel shook his head as he tried to analyze the end of the vision. “I saw Jefferson in so much pain and Abe was bleeding from a wound in his chest. Then there was an arm that was cut or torn from someone, but I couldn’t tell whose.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have time to warn them now, but I’m sure Abe will be fine. He’s made it through worse things.  It’s enough to start with.” Debir stood and held his hand out to Nathaniel. “We can do this.”

Nathaniel took the offered hand and rose to his feet. “This ends tonight.”

Nathaniel made sure the three blood donors were secure before he, Valentina, Debir, and Liam walked out of the castle.

“Lily and the rest are holed up in the lab, I’m sure,” Debir assured Liam as his unease became apparent.

“I would know if Lily were in trouble, but I still can’t shake the feeling of danger that’s been eating at my gut since we arrived.” Liam held Valentina tightly with one arm while he held a flashlight in the other.

When they approached the front door, the dark outline of a man became visible. As Debir led them closer, the physical aspects of the man became clearer.

“I hope you have some sort of plan. I believe Filipp is close.” Mr. Ore stepped forward into the light from their flashlights.

“We do.” Debir embraced his old friend.

Nathaniel found it very odd, as he had never seen Mr. Ore in any emotional state. The stoic look Nathaniel believed to be permanently tattooed on Ore’s face was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a relaxed smile graced the Manchester executive’s pale face and actually reached his eyes.

“This must be Miss Pavel.” Ore walked over to Valentina with both hands outstretched.

Valentina was drawn to him and left Liam’s side to place both of her hands in Ore’s. A warm ebb and flow spread throughout both of them, and the realization hit Valentina like a runaway freight train. Her eyes opened wide in shock. “You’re . . . you . . . I never believed . . .”

“Shh, my child.” Ore patted her hand to give her a small amount of comfort. “I see we have much in common.” He placed his hand on her belly, which filled her with a sense of complete peace.

“Yes, we do,” she said as magic hummed between them

Nathaniel and Liam watched, confused, while Debir basked in his brilliance.

“I take it that you would like us to break the spell?” Ore asked Debir as he patted Valentina’s hand once more before he released it.

“That is the plan.”

“It will take time. I’ve seen it,” Nathaniel stated to Ore.

“I’m sure you have.” Ore scoffed. He had no reason to trust the son of a man whose supposed visions ended the lives of so many close to him.

“You two need to put everything aside for now and work together. We can’t have another blood bath on our hands,” Debir insisted as his eyes moved back and forth between Nathaniel and Ore.

Ore held out his hand in a vague attempt at a truce. Nathaniel knew it wouldn’t last more than a few hours, but went ahead and took the offered hand.

“Now let’s get to work. We have a vampire to kill and an army to take apart.” Debir gestured to the castle door. “Shall we?”

From the first step Valentina took onto the castle lawn, the world as she knew it began to spiral out of control, literally and physically. The feeling of all-encompassing dread swept over her and flooded her already heightened senses. Every nerve stood on end as the stench of burned wood enveloped her entire being. Valentina fell to her knees and vomited. Liam was at her side in a second.

Debir turned to see smoke had begun to billow at the bottom of the hillside. Small gray wisps rapidly became violent, orange flames. Debir ran down the hill as fast as he could with Ore right at his side and Nathaniel not too far behind. They stopped at the sight of the once awe-inspiring olive grove engulfed in flames. Branches looked like fiery skeleton claws lying in wait to bring about total destruction.

“He’s here,” Mr. Ore announced.

The smoke and flames gave way to the sight of Filipp and several of his minions as they came forth.

“Ah, reinforcements, Debir. You cannot face me yourself?” Filipp snickered as he and his army walked through the smoke lingering in the air.

“You will not accomplish what you are here to do!” Debir shouted.

“I’m already half-way there.” Filipp flicked his wrist at Valentina and Liam. “They are of no use to you. Return them to me.” When Debir shook his head, Filipp laughed. “All you have are two humans? What can they achieve against my army?”

“Humans?” Debir coughed and laughed at the same time, which in turn brought a smile to Ore’s face. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“
Pot să te bag în mormânt
,” Mr. Ore whispered, looking directly into Filipp’s eyes.

Filipp swallowed hard when he heard the words,
may I put you in the grave,
spoken in a perfect Romanian dialect. The translation echoed through Filipp’s head as he held his position. “Your words have no power. Weak attempts to instill fear will not work on me.”

Ore chuckled. “You have no idea how a few of the right words can hurt worse than your limbs being ripped away from your body.”

Filipp shook off the fear rising inside him and turned to his number one servant. “Kill them.”

“Gladly.” The servant grinned as four others gathered behind him and made their approach.

“Stop!” Debir shouted. Every single member of the army came to an abrupt halt.

Ore couldn’t contain his laughter, and Nathaniel actually joined in.

Debir shook his head with a smirk. “You forget,
my friend
, they are also under my command. If you want to kill me, you’ll have to do it your goddamned self!”

Filipp planned on doing just that when Valentina came to stand by Debir’s side. His demeanor changed at once. “You betray me after all that I have done for you, Valentina! I gave you a life when no one else would. I put that child in your belly, a child who will go on to become the only vampire-witch-human hybrid to walk the earth. How could you . . . you ungrateful little
curva
!” He spat at her feet as he called her the one thing he knew would tear at her soul: a whore.

“That is where you are wrong.” Valentina met Mr. Ore’s gaze and she stretched out her hand to him. Ore took it willingly as Valentina took the first step to break the spell. “You must have forgotten to do your research, my dear Filipp. This is man, vampire, and witch embodied beside me. One who has walked this earth centuries longer than you. You should kneel down and take your punishment like a good boy because you must know you will not win this fight.” 

The power flowing between Valentina and Ore gave her strength unlike any she had ever experienced before, and it felt euphoric. She clasped his hand tightly and lifted her other hand. In a movement barely discernible to a vampire’s eye, she swept her hand from left to right to extinguish the fire that raged. The branches splayed frozen across the landscape. Ash floated through the air as trees began to disintegrate.

Valentina then began the counter curse to break the spell.
“Iau înapoi ceea ce a fost cândva al meu.”

“Take back what once was mine,” Ore translated.

“Restitui ceea ce a fost cândva al lor.”

“Return what once was theirs.” Ore and Valentina advanced on Filipp as the spell began to take hold of his army.

“
Prin tot ceea ce sunt, creez adevărul.
”

“Through all that I am, bring forth the truth.”

“
Vieţii mele, adu sfârşitul.
”

“On my life, bring the end.” Ore spat as they stood mere feet away from Filipp.

Filipp turned his head to see the effect the words had on his army. 

Ore and Valentina continued to voice the counter curse repeatedly until the fog lifted from each minion.

A terrified Filipp took off toward the castle at breakneck speed, but Debir and Liam were hot on his heels.

Filipp ran inside the castle and easily cut through the darkness. He found a small room and punched a hole in the floor to find an open shaft below. Dropping down inside, he fell much farther than he had expected. When his feet met the ground once again, he began to stride through the darkness surrounding him until an unknown force knocked him flat on his back. His vision became blurry and blackness encircled him inside and out.