Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (30 page)

Damn.

The General took
the stake and threw it at Nicholas as hard as he could. And that was saying
something. Nicholas attempted to catch the stake as best he could, but he
recognized that one way or the other, this was going to be the way he died.

And it freaking
sucked hardcore.

* * * * * *

2

Isabelle was
dismayed by the disappearance of her grandmother. Sure, Isabelle alone was
still a force to be reckoned with. But two witches are better than one, and
this was going to be a lot harder than she had originally anticipated. They
should have known that Nina would not be alone. They did not, however, expect
her consorts to be vampires.

As far as Eleanor
and Isabelle knew, what little literature existed about Nina – and it was
not
very much – reflected her hatred of vampires. And it wasn’t just a backburner
hatred that only showed itself on game days. This ran much deeper. So why,
then, would Nina work with creatures she despised?

Isabelle had
already been a little unnerved by Nina’s assassination of the vampire in the
woods only minutes earlier. Now, with Eleanor being MIA for an undetermined
length of time, it was just Isabelle. Just then, she heard movement from behind
her. She cast a cloaking spell on herself and leaned back against a tree. A
vampire sprinted past her and toward the porch, which was only a few yards in
front of her. Isabelle waited a moment before proceeding up the stairs, only to
find herself face to face with Nina.

The two women
stood in the doorway of the farmhouse. Nina paused, looking Isabelle directly
in the eyes. Isabelle was convinced that Nina was looking at her, but if she was,
she didn’t let on. She and two other vampires raced down the stairs and onto
the trail that led into the woods. The trail that would lead to Jena.

Just as she was
turning around to follow Nina, she noticed someone lying on the floor. She
gasped when she recognized the hair. Only one boy had hair like that, and it belonged
to her daughter’s crush. Her date to Homecoming. Her first love. Nicholas
Collins.

Damn.

Worse yet, there
were three others in the room with him. More damn vampires. Isabelle swore
silently, believing that vampires represented the most significant pest problem
in America today. Perhaps even the world. Something was going to have to be
done to address that problem. But for now, she only needed to worry about three
of them and handle them quickly before they killed Nicholas. They didn’t seem
the type to follow orders, though why they would disobey Nina was beyond her.
Isabelle figured they were either seriously mentally challenged, or they had a
death wish. Well, the latter would be no problem for her. If it was the final
death they wanted, Isabelle would happily grant them their wish.

Still invisible,
she made her way into the house and knelt by Nicholas. She tried to communicate
with him through her mind, telling him to remain on the floor. If he were in
any way open to the energy that was all around him, then he would be able to
hear her in the back of his mind. Once she felt confident that Nicholas had
heard her (even though he hadn’t), it was time to get down to business.

The unmistakable
stench of dark magic drifted through the house. Though a dangerous proposition,
Isabelle decided to redirect the energy and use it to her benefit. She figured
that the best course of action was to use the tree vines to attack the
vampires. Most supernatural witches specialized in various talents and gifts,
though it was probably true that all witches – supernatural and natural – excelled
in specific arenas of power. Isabelle had always had a special relationship
with nature, both inanimate and animate objects. Her plan was to use this to
decapitate the vamps. Her magic began to illuminate the room, her trademark
color being a bright blue. Things became a little more complicated when
Nicholas climbed to his feet.

As the vine
glowed blue and danced above the altar, everyone in the room was awestruck.
Then terrified. Isabelle made sure that several things were knocked from the
wall, as well as some of the tools that Nina would no doubt have used in her
ritual practices. She was impressed by Nicholas’ fortitude and, well, huge kahunas.
He stood against the vampires, acting as if he were the one with the power.
Perhaps in some way he may have actually believed that was possible. After all,
only yesterday Nicholas would have balked at the idea that witches existed, let
alone vampires. Both were preposterous ideas that were restricted to Hollywood
and eccentric Twilight fans.

It took Isabelle
a moment to understand exactly what Nicholas was doing when the vampires were
taunting and laughing at him. At first it looked like Nicholas was attempting
some form of warped dance, kind of like a sexual thrust. Then it hit her, and
she had to swallow back a laugh. He was actually trying to
shoot
magic
from his fingers. So, in an attempt to bring a little joy to Nicholas after the
horrible ordeal he had been through, Isabelle decided to grant him his wish. So
she stood behind Nicholas and waited for him to “dance.”  It was just in time. The
vampires had been inching closer and closer, most likely with the intent to
kill (even though Nina would have killed them for having done it).

As Nicholas
pulled his arms back, Isabelle held out her own hands and began absorbing
energy and molecules into her aura. Fortunately, Isabelle had spent the better
part of four decades learning this very task: to harness the raw energy all
around her, absorbing it, and then performing a wide range of magical phenomena.
Truth be told, it tickled her pink, or in this case, blue. Thus, when Nicholas
thrust his hands and arms forward, Isabelle let loose the processed and
channeled energy into the form of ten small yet intense streams of deadly energy.
She used this to separate Natalia’s head from her shoulders. At that point,
Isabelle showed off a little, allowing Natalia’s body and head to continue to
levitate above the floor. The goal? To put the fear of God into these
bloodsucking assholes. Nina wasn’t alone in her pointed hatred of vampires.

Now it was time
to kill the remaining vampires. Rather than using streams of magic for Micah’s
demise, she returned to her original plan to use the vines. To confuse and
frighten the General into submission, she created blue ashes to represent
Micah’s former glory before he died. Isabelle recognized that she was having a
little too much fun at the expense of others, even if those ‘others’ were
against nature and all that Isabelle viewed as sacred and holy. Isabelle would
like to have said that her methods were absolutely necessary, arising out of
her need to protect and preserve Nicholas’ life. The truth was something
different, of course. She simply wanted to wipe out her enemies in style. The
ends justify the means. Eleanor had always taught her the inherent dangers of
the Craft, and how personal gain, i.e. greed and promotion of self, could
compromise her magic. Sometimes those consequences could be fatal…or, worse
yet, eternal.

Now it was down
to Nicholas and the General. Isabelle opened her mind to check their immediate
surroundings. The most important and pressing matter, other than killing the
General before he killed Nicholas, was trying to locate Nina and Jena. It
turned out that tracking Nina’s movements was quite simple. Even more importantly,
she sensed that Jena was also close to the house. In fact, her daughter was
just outside the door on the porch. This distracted Isabelle for a millisecond,
but it was enough to compromise her somewhat fragile hold over the energy of the
room. When Isabelle had initially begun the magical assault against the
vampires in the farmhouse, she was astonished that everything had been so easy.
Perhaps Nina was not as well prepared as they originally thought. This turned
out to not be the case. Nina had anticipated that someone would eventually use
magic and open their mind and spirit in order to gain more control over the
elements. This excessive trust in her own power led Isabelle to make a fateful
and tactical error.

Isabelle was not
prepared for the violent invasion into her mind. The physical pain alone was
more than Isabelle could consciously handle. Just before she collapsed to the
floor, consumed by convulsions and muscle spasms, Isabelle could hear Nina’s
voice.

Did you really
believe that you could overpower me?
Nina asked in a mocking tone.
I
allowed
you into my home. I permitted your sorry excuse for magical warfare. But it is
time to hang up your pointed hat, witch. Good night, Isabelle Marsh.

Nina used
Isabelle’s energy to summon a heavy fog, illuminated by Isabelle’s blue aura
and magic. Just before Nina’s attack on Isabelle’s mind, she allowed Isabelle
to witness the last few seconds of the battle between the General and Nicholas.
She watched in horror as the stake seemed to float like a balloon as it crossed
the distance between the vampire and the football star. It seemed like slow
motion, as if in a dream. Fortunately, there was a bright side. Although the
General had aimed for his heart, Nicholas was swift enough to avoid what would
have been a fatal blow. Instead, the stake impaled itself into the top of his
shoulder. Nicholas cried out in pain.

 The General
stood over Nicholas and the now visible Isabelle, laughing.

The General took
the legal pad and began writing.

I knew you weren’t a
witch! Die, mortal human.

Gloating and
hunger would prove to be the General’s downfall. He yanked the stake from
Nicholas’ shoulder, but before shoving the stake into his heart he took a
moment to lick the blood from Nicholas’ wound. This distraction would prove
helpful for Nicholas. In her last few seconds of conscious awareness, with the
flick of her wrist Isabelle forced the General’s arm to unexpectedly drive the
stake into his own heart. The last image Isabelle saw was a wide eyed,
stupefied General just before he burst into flames.

Isabelle
whispered her daughter’s name, and then closed her eyes. She embraced the
electric blue light that welcomed her home.

* * * * * *

3

“What just
happened?” Keenan asked Nina. It was only moments ago that he had asked Nina
that exact same question. Keenan was growing increasingly frustrated with his
ringside seat when what he really wanted was to be in the center of the action.

“I’m sorry,
brother, but you are now the sole survivor of your coven.” That was not
entirely true, for the General was still alive.

“
What?
” A
string of curses then flowed from Keenan’s mouth, raging like an angry river.

“Death is my
traveling companion, Keenan,” Nina said. He wasn’t sure, but Keenan was convinced
that Nina was bragging.

“There aren’t
enough reapers in the Universe to keep pace with you, sister.”

“Give me one
moment. After that we can greet our party guests. I give you my word, Keenan,
that you can unleash your wrath upon those who killed your sires.”

Nina closed her eyes
and focused on the combat in the living room. She smiled as she removed the
threat of Isabelle, who had turned out to be much more impressive than Nina had
originally expected. A small voice in the back of Nina’s mind issued a warning,
and just in time. She lifted her hand just in time to catch Keenan’s fist.

“You dare
assault me?” Nina hissed, turning to look her brother in the eye.

“I know you
killed Rufus,” Keenan hissed back. “Then, you allowed a witch to kill my three
best warriors. I could feel the General’s death.
You
, my dear sister, do
not care one iota for me.”

“Your three best
warriors?” Nina sneered. “They aren’t exactly warriors when a solitary witch
can wipe the floor with their ashes.”

Nina kept her
hand raised in the air, though she had already dropped her brother’s hand. She
began to slowly close her fist, envisioning Keenan’s life force being crushed
by her desire to eradicate any remaining threats.

“If you did not
pose a threat to me,
brother
, you would not be dying by my hand as we speak.”

“You weren’t
always unstable,” Keenan said slowly, every airy word dripping with a
paradoxical combination of sadness and contempt. “But the advancement in your
powers, and the destructive paths you’ve embraced to make it happen, has
consumed you in every possible way.

“There was a
time when a bond borne of blood and fire existed between and within us. I once
believed that our spirits were inextricably and eternally linked, and neither
the passage of time nor the rise and falls of enemy empires would be able to
extinguish that flame.”

“Are you quite
finished?” Nina demanded, clearly disgusted by Keenan’s attempt at some form of
intervention. “You’re not even making sense.”

Keenan opened
his mouth, considered speaking, but decided against it. A single tear fell from
his eye and traveled down his cheek.

Nina just rolled
her eyes. “Your unyielding embrace of sibling love has destroyed you. You are
pathetic and weak. For a brief moment, I myself got caught up in your
pathology, growing slightly nostalgic and sentimental because you are my
brother. My blood. I was even foolhardy enough to believe that you would
understand the implications of what I am doing here.”