Robert (14 page)

Robert sheltered her behind his broad back, but no matter what he tried he couldn’t keep her from seeing.

When some of the bodies hit the floor, they took on human form. Sophie whimpered. This was too much. They were supposed to be protected here. This was vampire ground.

What was she supposed to do? They were everywhere. She was the only mortal being in the building.

She felt so helpless as she watched death unfold.

Robert felt Sophie’s fear and he lashed out. Everything he could get his hands on, he took out. He kept Sophie at his back. He couldn’t do anything more than protect her. William was helping Katie, but Robert could already see her power draining away. It was like all the life was being zapped out of her. The colour was disappearing from her cheeks. Her body looking more and more frail and brittle, like a zombie.

He knew she hadn’t harnessed her power before and if she kept using it now she would be killed.

She shot out one last bolt and collapsed to her knees,
a few droplets of blood escaping her lips as she clutched her chest.

Sophie screamed her name even as William was at her side, trying to move her.

They were out of time.

“Enough!” a voice filled with authority yelled at the room. The clapping of hands stopped everyone from moving. The wolves stopped, too, waiting for more orders.

Robert turned towards the voice. A voice from his past.

James, the Alpha of the wolves in Beyer West, stood in the doorway.

“Wow, that was really easy,” he laughed. He looked a little insane.

Robert held Sophie to him. No matter what happened, he needed to keep her safe.

James swatted away the guard approaching him. Robert couldn’t believe the power the man possessed. He walked straight across the room to where his father stood. Robert tried to move his feet, but he couldn’t.
Protecting his father was important but he couldn’t move.
He looked over at William and saw that he had the same problem. What was stopping them from moving?

The only being with that kind of magic was a witch.
The only witch they knew of was collapsed in this room. What was going on?

“So, you’re the main man causing me problems.
You know this place is considered a deep, dark palace or a shrine to all the dead-walking vampires. Very few people will go past the doors to enter and be within these walls. I’ve never believed in the true power of the vampires and I’ve just proven to more people besides the wolves that your magic is not what it’s supposed to be.
” James circled Robert’s father.

Robert wanted to scream, to run, but his voice wouldn’t work.

“What do you want from us?” his father growled.

James chuckled. “I want you all dead.” He began laughing. “But I’ll settle for just you.”

Claws shot from his fingers and he severed the older man’s throat. Robert tried to scream, and he saw William’s mouth open in a cry, but no sound came from their mouths. He’d just watched his father be killed and he could do nothing.

James set fire to the body and whistled as he moved away. “Wow, that was easy,” he said again.

A ball of rage grew inside Robert.

James went over to where Katie knelt, spent, on her knees.
She coughed and blood spurted onto the ground. White formed in the tips of her hair. Sophie was yelling for Katie to get up.
Robert could see her shaking.

“My little dove. It’s time for us to go.”

“N—no,” she cried out weakly.

Putting his hand beneath her chin, he pulled her to her feet. Katie didn’t have the energy to fight.

“You’re mine and I’m taking you with me,” James growled in her face.

“William,” she screamed as James went to pick her up. She batted his hands away.

Robert watched his brother fighting to get to the witch.

“Let her go, dog.”

James glanced at William and Robert in turn. “You didn’t really think I’d allow my daughter to spend time with you, did you?”

The confession sent a shock wave through the room. Never before had a wolf and a witch mated and created a baby. It was unheard of. Yet, it explained everything—her anger, her weakness and how she was able to blow up wolves.

James picked Katie up and walked out of the room, leaving chaos and destruction in his wake.

Robert watched William fight. His brother couldn’t move and watching her in their enemy’s arms was killing him.

It was over an hour before Robert could move again. His father’s body was nothing but ash, the Council defeated and left reeling. William looked angry and lost. As the magic levels dropped, Robert charged over to his father’s body while William ran out into the street.

There was nothing he could do.

He went outside to join William. Sophie stood next to him staring up and down the street. There was no sign of where they could have gone.

“Did you know?” William turned on Sophie.

“Did I know what?” she asked, tears streaming down her face.

“Did you know your little witch friend was a descendent of a wolf?” he yelled at her.

Sophie hugged her arms around her body. “Up until a couple of hours ago I didn’t even know wolves existed! How the hell could I have known she was one?”

Robert heard the grief in her voice and it was cutting him up. He grabbed her, protecting her with his body and his love.

“That’s enough, William,” Robert ordered. “You need to think clearly. There is no way that Katie could be any relation to James.”

“How can you be so sure?” Robert watched as William wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Balance. Nature may be defiant but it still works on the balance of natural forces.” Robert was certain of it.

“Fuck the balance. Did you just see what that prick did?” William pushed his brother away in his rage.

“I was there. I watched him and I couldn’t move. Our father is dead and now everyone is going to turn to me for leadership.” Robert poked William’s chest, emphasising his point.

William began to laugh. “You’ve been waiting your whole life for this. What are you going to tell Mother? Our family, everything we’ve been working towards…destroyed.”

Robert hadn’t had time to process what had happened or to decide what he would have to tell his mother and siblings. It still hadn’t really registered that his father was dead. In this world there would be no justice for the killing of a vampire. The humans didn’t know that werewolves existed, let alone that they lived among them.

“He was too strong. No werewolf has that amount of power.”

“Unless he has a witch protecting him.” William confirmed what Robert was thinking.

“We need to find the witch and stop them.”

Robert shook his head. “Katie can wait. I’ve got other, more importan—”

William turned on him in an instant.

“We have
nothing
more important. James’s witch is going to help him whether we like it or not. We don’t even know who his witch
is
. Katie is my top priority.”

“We’ll find her.”

William refused to listen. “I promised to keep her safe. I won’t stop until I find her.
I’ll
be the one to find her. I screwed up—me.”

He moved away, limping through the debris left behind by the wolves invading the Council. To most it would look like a raid gone bad, but to Robert it signalled the start of the chaos he knew was about to begin.

Robert watched his brother go. What was he supposed to do? He gazed back at the broken building where the Council had resided. This would break his mother. How was he supposed to take over from his father when he had no idea what he was supposed to do himself?

Sophie touched his back. He felt her heart open up to him. He welcomed her affection. It was the only thing keeping him going. She hugged him. The comfort reassured him.

“We have to go back inside.”

Sophie nodded, placing her hand in his as he led the way back inside. They walked around the fallen bodies of his brethren.

The remaining members of the Council were gathered around his father’s fallen body.

“He was a good man. A good leader. He didn’t deserve to go like this.”

They all murmured their agreement.

Robert stood before them. “I’ll get my people to come and move the body. A quick burial should be sufficient.”

All the Councillors turned to him. He could see the grief and sorrow on their faces.

One of them spoke up. “You must take his place now, Robert.”

Robert didn’t look to see where the voice had come from. He didn’t want to know.

“The time for Councils and meetings is past. Did you see how easily they got to us?” That voice belonged to a frightened guard—one of the few who had managed to remain alive.

“We should have killed the girl when we had the chance.” Cedric spoke harshly.

Sophie gasped—it was clear his words hurt her.

Robert growled at him. Without his father, with the death of an empire that had just happened, he didn’t care about protocol. This man didn’t deserve his respect and he would no longer get it.

“I would keep your words in your mouth if I were you,” Robert warned him. None of the other members came forward to defend him. He didn’t care—he would fight them all.

“How dare you speak to me like that?” Cedric said, red, puffy and outraged.

“How dare I?
How dare I?
” Robert charged at the man and took him by the scruff of the neck. “For years I’ve done whatever the Council has told me to do. I’ve killed and I’ve worked with nothing but the Council’s good name in mind. My father taught me that there is nothing better in this world than pleasing the Council for the good of mankind.” He stopped and brought his face closer. “If we hadn’t started those rumours, if we had worked for the good of everyone, Katie wouldn’t have gone off the radar and she would have been safe and protected. A good man died today and a good, powerful witch was taken from us. I suggest you keep your tongue in your head before you start questioning people.” He shoved the man away from him, turning to the other members.

“I think you should all go home. Spend time with your families and loved ones. The werewolves have just declared war. We have no choice but to fight back. Go home, rest, think about the future. And if you want a future without a threat from the wolves, then come back here and we’ll rebuild.”

Robert went back to Sophie, taking her by the hand.

“We’ve got to change. Otherwise, we won’t exist anymore. They’re coming for us whether we want them to or not and I refuse to go down without a fight.”
 

Sophie was shaking uncontrollably. One by one they left, until only Sophie and Robert stood over the body of his father. She held his hand but remained silent. She obviously understood his need to think.

“You can leave if you want,” he finally said.

Sophie glanced over at him, but his gaze stayed firmly on his father’s remains.

She licked her lips. “I don’t want to go.”

He turned to her then.

“It’s going to get ugly,” he warned.

“I don’t care. I have nowhere else to go,” she admitted, tears streaming from her eyes. Katie was gone. Her parents wouldn’t understand. The only people she had in the world were Katie and Robert. She didn’t want to leave him.

He kissed the top of her head. “This is going to be dangerous.”

Sophie shrugged her shoulders. “Life is never supposed to be easy.”

“I have to tell my mother.”

“I’ll be there when you do. I promise, Robert, I will always be there for you.”

She couldn’t believe that she was about to meet her other family—Robert’s family—and that she would be bringing them awful news. Sophie knew she’d met his mother back at the bonding ceremony, but she hadn’t talked to her at all. This would be the first time they would meet properly, and when she should be taking round a cake and offering to make tea, she would instead be part of giving news of death. Not the best way to start with the in-laws.