The Witch Hunter (31 page)

It's not your bother, it's not your brother
... she kept telling herself as she was lowered to the ground.
It's a hallucination
. And that could only mean it was Caius, come to hurt her again. Then she realized that there was two of them, the other one had let her down. If she didn't attack now, she wouldn't have any hope of escape. 

Ignoring the searing pain in her wrists and ankles, she lunged for the nearest form, the chains dragging through the dirt. Before her fists could connect, she was pulled up short. Falling backwards, she screamed with pain as her arms were wrenched over her head. 

"She's weak, go!" she heard someone yell.

On her feet in a flash, she made for the source of the sound, but suddenly there was a vice grip around her, pinning her arms to her sides. Struggling, she couldn't free herself from the iron hold of her assailant. Crying out in fury, she felt the chains wrap around her. She wouldn't be imprisoned again, not by anyone. Struggling, she tried to break her bonds, but couldn't move. Her wrists felt like they were on fire, the hooks dragging against torn flesh.

The more she struggled, the quicker she weakened, finally falling to the ground. Her legs curled to the side, the hooks still protruding from either ankle, hands behind her back. Taking heaving breaths, her head hung exhausted, tangled black hair falling about her face.
Whatever you're going to do to me, bring it on
, she thought.

She felt hands on her face, tilting her head up. She shook her head to knock them away, but they held firm. Blinking hard, she tried to focus on the face before her. Through the heavy fog that clouded her mind she realized someone was speaking to her.

"Aya, it's okay," the voice was saying. "It's Zac and Sam. We've come to get you out of here." There was a hard impact to the air and the face looked away towards the source. 

"Shit," said the other figure. "Gabby is losing her hold on the vampire. We don't have much time."

She knew something bad was happening, but she didn't care. It would be so easy to close her eyes and let the darkness take her again, but the hands pulled her face back up.

"Aya, please. We need you. Come back."

She blinked hard, grimacing, her vision clearing slightly, "Zac?"

"Yes," the voice was relieved. "Can I let you go now?" Weakly, she nodded and the chains began to loosen. "You look like hell, Aya."

"Very perceptive, Mr. Degaud," she muttered, trying to smile. The chains had fallen away, but the hooks were still embedded. Grimacing, she reached down and pulled the annoying pieces of steel from her ankles, blood now free to gush unhindered.

"Shit, let me do that," he pulled her close, bracing her with one hand while the other traced the length of her arm. She hissed through her teeth as he slid the meat hooks from her wrists one at a time. Her blood was everywhere, but the wounds began to heal enough to stop the flow. Collapsing back into Zac's arms she sighed deeply, gazing up into his eyes, her fingers tracing the soft edge of his jaw. He'd come for her... No.
They'd
come for her. She let her hand drop limply, squeezing her eyes closed.

"You've lost a lot of blood. You need to feed," he said, his brow creased in concern.

"No,” she said, shaking her head.

"It's okay, Aya. I want you to," Zac pulled her closer.

"The vampire is still outside," Sam said. "Gabby won't be able to keep it up for much longer."

"Gabby?" Aya said vaguely, like she was trying to remember who she was. 

"Yes, Gabby."

Her eyes widened and she snarled, "Caius."

Before Zac could ask any questions, Aya grabbed the hair at the back of his head, wrenching it to the side, exposing his neck. He gasped in surprise at the sudden pain as she sunk her fangs in. Pushing him to the ground, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and was across the room and outside before they could react.

Aya was a little impressed. When she emerged from the silo, she saw Gabby mere inches from Caius' most fearsome vampire face. All fangs and black eyes. She was staring him down, holding him in place with her will, moments from death. She'd finally found her true powers.

Walking up to her, Aya placed her hand on Gabby's shoulder and Caius' simultaneously, breaking the spell. As he stumbled forward, the force in her outstretched arm brought him to a stop. Gabby gasped, blinking wildly and scrambled backwards out of the way. Sam was there, grabbing her around the waist, hauling her to a safe distance.

Aya held Caius' shoulders, pushing against him as he reached up and grasped hers in return. They were face to face, their foreheads touching. 

"You will never win against me, witch," he threatened, the grunt in his voice betraying the fact that he was using all of his strength to hold her back.

"That's where you're wrong, Caius," she snarled in return. "I have skills you've never seen."

"You'll never get the chance to use them, witch."

Abruptly, Aya shifted her weight down slightly, ramming her shoulder into his stomach. He had been pushing against her so hard, that the forward motion sent him flying across the yard behind her. She heard the bang as he collided with the wall of the silo.

He scrambled to his feet with a snarl and rushed her, knocking her off her feet with the force of the blow. Twisting to the side, she rolled out of the way of Caius' boot, narrowly missing a blow to her ribs. On her feet behind him, she punched his spine, aiming to snap it, but he twisted to the side at the last second. She cried out in pain as his elbow came back to meet her jaw, which made an audible crunch as it shattered. 

Turning, Caius' hands grasped empty air. Aya was on his back, an arm around his neck, her hand on his face. She wrenched with all her strength trying to snap his spine, but he threw her over his shoulder. Landing heavily, her eyes widened as Caius' bulky form loomed over her. They were evenly matched in strength and skill and could be here for hours at this rate.

Grabbing her around the neck with one hand, Caius picked her up off the ground and let out a deep rumbling laugh. A look of triumph was plastered across his face as he began to squeeze, cutting off her air supply. Instinctively, she clawed at his hand, trying to free herself. 

In the corner of her vision, she saw Sam and Zac approaching in Caius' blind spot. They would be torn apart if they tried anything. 

"Stay back!" she yelled at the brothers, holding her palm out.

Caius laughed, "Once I'm done with you, whore, they'll be next. Won't be much of a challenge, but they will beg me to kill them all the same."

She felt a familiar twist of rage building inside of her and closing her eyes, she called for it. Reaching up, she grasped Caius' wrist, a familiar burning sensation travelling up her arms like thousands of electric shocks. Opening her eyes, a blue glow surrounded them, popping and fizzing, making the air thick with the tangy scent of burning copper. Caius' eyes widened in surprise as the blue energy travelled down her arms and began to crawl over his forearm. 

Aya had never felt her power stronger than this, the biting taste for revenge was overpowering. This man, this vampire, had been responsible for her family’s death and her torture and imprisonment. He would die like the others. At the mercy of her rage.

As the fire began to travel down his arm, Caius gasped in pain and dropped her. She fell to her knees for a moment before getting up, using the upward force to push the air from his lungs with a hard jab from both palms into his gut. He doubled over, clutching his stomach. For a split second he was disorientated and it was all it took for Aya to plunge her hand into his chest. 

Clutching his still beating heart in her right hand, she clasped his shoulder with her left, her lips to his ear. "This is for my family," she whispered and poured all her rage into him. 

He gasped and clawed at her hand, but he was already turning grey, his skin withering, crackling with the strange electricity. Only when his heart finally collapsed in on itself, the ash falling through her fingers, did she push him off her onto the ground. Staring down at his corpse, she didn't feel anything. The burning rage had left her and she was empty. 

She was vaguely aware of Gabby and the brothers hovering at the edge of her vision. Now she would have to explain herself to them. They weren't meant to see what she could do, she hadn't used this part of herself since... It had been two thousand years. She suddenly felt very far away and it was only adrenalin that was keeping her on her feet. She closed her eyes and wished them away.

There was a comforting hand on her arm. "Aya." It was Zac. Of course it was him. 

Looking up at him she saw the expression of awe written on his face. Glancing at Sam and Gabby revealed their mingled awe and fear. At least they were smart. Zac should be afraid of her. She wondered if she should compel him again. Compel them all to forget how she had killed Caius, but she doubted it would work now. She was done.

When she didn't respond, Zac put his arm around her waist, guiding her away from the yard to his car that was parked back towards the road. Sam hovered behind to dispose of Caius, as she was put in the back, the seat belt fastened for her. Gabby sat beside her and clasped her hand, the brothers in the front. Gazing blankly out of the window into the night she managed to whisper, "Thank you."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

T
he early morning air was heavy against Aya's skin as she sat in the garden. The manor grounds hadn't been tended to in a long time. They were wild and green, full of flowers that tended themselves despite the moisture of the swamp, shaded by the long branches of whispering willows. Usually, she would just enjoy being here, but today her thoughts were troubled. It had been several days since the brothers and Gabby had freed her from the silo; several days since she had killed Caius. She'd come one step closer to what she'd pledged to do, but in doing so, she'd done the one thing she shouldn't have. She'd drunk Zac's blood. 

She looked up as Sam sat down beside her and wondered what question he was going to ask first. The air was silent around the manor, which meant Zac had gone somewhere else. She didn’t want to deal with
his
questions today.

"How are you doing?" he asked, taking in her faraway look. Predictable and such a
Sam
question.

Aya shrugged, "After all the time he's spent hunting me, you'd think I'd be glad he's dead. But, I don't really feel anything."

She felt his apprehension as he asked the next burning question. "In the silo, you thought Zac was your brother?" 

"It was an hallucination," she said, curtly.

"What happened to him?"

"He was slaughtered in his sleep," she spat at him. "Do you want a play by play?"

"No, I'm sorry. It's just, you're a hard person to read," he sighed, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "Who was Caius exactly?"

"He was one of the first vampires. One of the family called the Romans," Aya said matter of factly.

"And how old are they, these Romans?"

"Not much older than I," she shrugged. "Maybe a year or two, I'm not sure."

"Why are they called the Romans? Where did they come from?"

Aya sighed at the barrage of questions. They would ask them eventually, best to get it out the way. Besides, she'd rather talk to Sam about this. He was much more understanding than Zac and at least he would stop when he knew he couldn’t get any further. "They were part of the Roman armies that invaded Britain around 43AD. I don't know much about their human lives other than one was a high-ranking officer, others foot soldiers, lower ranking officers. I suppose they all wanted what most humans want."

"And what's that?"

"Power. Immortality.”

Sam nodded, agreeing to a point. "And what did you do to Caius? To kill him?"

"I stole his light," she said, referring to the story in Gabby's grimore, reluctant to explain further.

"Aya, I don't understand. It was magic, wasn't it?" he asked, confused, almost desperate for answers.