Awakening, The Read online

  The Awakening (#4 in the Witch Hunter Saga)

  Copyright © 2014 Nicole R. Taylor

  Kindle Edition – published 2014

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  Appendix

  About the Author

  Other Books by Nicole R. Taylor

  There's a thing I like to call it, brother,

  When you fight, and you kill,

  You're at war with each other,

  It's the end of the world.

  PROLOGUE

  Coraline expected the air to smell of death, as a witch was able to sense these things, but it was full of grass and rain. But as if that bode well for her future.

  She pulled her coat closed and shivered. It wasn't particularly cold, but the air was unsteady and full of mist. Maximus stood beside her, the warmth of his body comforting. Taking her hand, he squeezed.

  Why Max still moonlighted as a priest was beyond her, considering the things he'd seen. His hold over his faith was admirable, as was his devotion to her considering she was a witch. A few hundred years ago, his brothers would have burned her alive.

  They stood by their rental car, looking across the field at their destination, trying to decide the best course of action. Ireland really was a spectacular country, but Coraline couldn't focus on that. Bigger things required her attention.

  Brú na Bóinne was a tomb. Presently protected by Ireland's National Trust and closed to visitors, but as if that would stop them. Coraline couldn't make them invisible to anyone watching, but she could render them negligible.

  On the outside it looked like a large, unnatural looking hill, but underneath it was a warren of tunnels and chambers. It really was an impressive sight, the ancient monolith built by people long dead. Did they know what was hidden below? What about the people who studied it now? Of course they didn't. The place crawled with power. Concealments, traps, wards. The air crackled with them.

  The grey sky and the heavy air didn't do much to cheer her up, knowing what they could possibly be facing inside. If it wasn't the Original Witch, then who was it? The vampire Zac had told them that the last Roman founder, Regulus, had hinted it was something else. The thought of the unknown scared her.

  "Come on Corrie," Maximus said. "The sooner we're in, the sooner we're out."

  "I know."

  "Think about the nice hot meal we'll have tonight when we find nothing inside."

  "Max..." she began, but he pulled her across the road and into the field. Dropping the spell over them, she had no choice but to follow. He was right, after all.

  There was no one around this time of morning. They were up even before the birds. As they approached the entrance the air electrified with the tang of power.

  "Do you feel that?" she asked Maximus, knowing that he couldn't. He was human.

  "It feels strange here," he said, surprising her. "Like a creepy old house that's full of ghosts."

  He wasn't far wrong. Archaeologists would have removed a lot of the bones within, but their energy would still remain. Perhaps that was what he was picking up on.

  A modern door had been placed in the opening and breaking the lock was easy. Maximus pushed it open and shone a torch into the blackness within, revealing a narrow tunnel into the hill. Every so often an opening presented itself, a round hole of black against the white light of the torch.

  Reluctantly, Coraline followed him inside.

  "Where do we look?" he asked in a whisper.

  "Below," she replied. "Alisandra's grimoire spoke of tunnels beneath the surface." She didn't know why she spoke of it as Alisandra's grimoire still. The Hunter, Aeriaya, had torn the Matriarch to pieces and it was now in the hybrid's possession.

  All Coraline had to do to find the entrance to the sub-terrain was follow the wards. They had a strange tang to them, almost metallic. Definitely not cast by a normal witch or even one of the Coven. Perhaps it was pure Celestine magic?

  The entrance was a narrow opening inside one of the tombs, with a staircase that lead down. It was set in plain sight, but anyone without a sense of power would only be able to see a blank wall.

  "Here," she said, leading Maximus by the hand. He was used to it by now, so when he passed through the ward, he didn't flinch. Walking through solid walls was a normal every day occurrence when she was around.

  As they wound their way further and further underground, the air became cold as they passed through layers of clay and bedrock. When they finally reached the bottom, it wasn't exactly what they were expecting.

  "What the…" Max breathed.

  The tunnel opened out into a small chamber, lined with smooth rock, like someone had melted it into shape. Two tunnels opened up on either side and they looked to be just the same.

  "Tuatha."

  "Who?"

  "You know the old stories of Ireland, Max," she said, keeping her voice low. "The Tuatha de Danann were a race of fae. Creatures of power like the Celestines. They built this place."

  "What do they have to do with the Original Witch?"

  She looked at him pointedly. "Everything."

  The question of which tunnel they should take, left or right, was abruptly answered for them when Coraline felt a dull boom shift the air. Her head snapped to the left as a sick feeling of dread sunk in her stomach.

  "Corrie?"

  "You felt that?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the dark opening.

  "Yeah."

  "C'mon," she said, swallowing her fear and walked head first into the darkness.

  After a short while, the tunnel opened out into a natural cavern. Stalactites hung from the ceiling and reflected off the rock walls in all directions, the slow drip of water the only sound that echoed back to them. As her eyes raked over the floor, she put a hand up to stop Max behind her.

  At the opposite end stood a man.

  His back was to them, but she could see that he was dressed in strange clothing. Not modern at all, his shirt looked to be hand woven and dyed in a myriad of blue. He was tall, lean, muscled and stood so still it was if he was made out of marble. He was standing over a body, which could only mean one thing.

  Coraline didn't have to see his face to understand what he was.

  Hybrid.

  They had failed and the Coven had won. The ritual had completed after all.

  She placed a finger over her lips and Max nodded. Somehow, she knew they'd already been made. Her heart thumped a million miles an hour and her spell couldn't cover that. Besides, th
e hybrid was standing so still because he was listening to them.

  She took a slow step back towards the tunnel and, as if to confirm her fear, the man's head snapped up. Their only option now was to run.

  Max pushed her in front of him and they ran headlong down the tunnel, back towards the staircase. If they could get back through the wards, maybe it would be enough to slow him down. They were there to keep him in, they had to be.

  There was a scream behind her and she knew that he had Max. Skidding to a halt, she turned, the torch lighting up the tunnel behind. The hybrid had him on the ground, mauling his neck like a rabid animal.

  "Run," Max gurgled through a mouthful of blood and she dropped the torch in horror.

  She stumbled forward blindly, too terrified to call on her power for light, the horrible growling of the hybrid echoing after her. Deep down, Coraline knew she wasn't going to get out. Deep down, she knew this was the end.

  She had enough time to type a text on her cell and send it to Zac before she felt the vampire behind her. Whirling around, she called on her power, her hand coming to rest on the hybrid's heaving chest, but nothing happened.

  His manic laughter bounced around the cave and she felt his hands around her throat. With her last shred of strength she cast a light over the room, revealing his face. As he bared his fangs and went to sink them into her jugular, she sent an image to the one person she was able.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Awakening.

  It felt like he'd been asleep for longer than he should have. His limbs felt heavy, like they had lost all feeling and when he tried to move, nothing happened. All he felt was the rage that had been his last waking memory before blackness.

  Unconsciousness.

  It was such a strange word to describe this kind of slumber. He knew it wasn't natural and it made him burn with anger. He could scarcely remember why, thought it had felt like he'd just closed his eyes moments ago.

  The biting metallic taste of magic burnt in the back of his throat and somehow he knew Isolde had something to do with this. Isolde, his stepmother Aiofe's witch had turned his sisters into monsters and saved him for last.

  With a cry of twisted anguish, he sat bolt upright, his eyes opening for the first time. Everything seemed more defined, the strange blue of the rock that surrounded him sparkled with sunlight from a shaft in the ceiling that climbed upwards to the surface. Nature had claimed back this place and he knew that his father would never have allowed it. That could only mean one thing.

  Gasping for breath, he covered his watering eyes. His heart thumped a thousand beats a minute. On beat, off beat, double beat...

  "My Lord?"

  His head snapped up at the sound of a female voice. A pretty young thing stood beside what could only be described as his tomb. She was all ivory skin and flaming red hair and he knew she was one of them. One of the humans who'd lived in this land before his people came, but she was dressed in strange clothing he'd never seen before.

  "My Lord?" she asked again. It was then he realized that it was not only his heartbeat he was hearing, it was also hers. Once he'd fixated on the sound he couldn't hear anything else. He saw the vein in her exposed neck pulsing and he suddenly felt hollow inside. Remembering the first taste of blood, he began to understand what had happened to him.

  He shot across the room faster than he thought possible, feeling as stiff and sore as he was. The woman let out a gasp as he pushed her against the wall, pressing her tiny body into the rock. His pale fingers bit into the skin of her neck, searching for the vein and she cried out in pain.

  "How long?" he asked, barely recognizing his own voice.

  "Three thousand years."

  He dropped her, drawing a sharp breath as her words sunk in. Had it truly been three thousand years? That bitch Aoife, had trapped him in a tomb for three thousand years?

  "What of this world?"

  "The world has changed in a million different ways."

  "Show me." He grabbed her again, this time sinking his fangs into her skin. The blood would show him what he needed...and if she was telling the truth.

  She let out a surprised gasp as her flesh tore, but she didn't struggle. Warm blood filled his mouth and he swallowed, strength returning to his frozen body. He was inundated with strange words and sounds...and he began to understand them all, just as the woman did. The world had changed, magic had declined and creatures that once walked proud now slunk in the shadows of the underworld.

  He was a prince of the Tuatha de Danann. A vampire, a fae, creature of power and he could read her blood like a book. The human world dominated and it was the ultimate insult. They'd changed the world with their buildings, technology…war. They were a blight on a land that was once rife with all kinds of life. Humanity…how it reeked with hatred.

  He drank the woman's blood until there was no more, her heart beat slowing until it was no more and he let her lifeless body drop to the floor. What was he to do now? Aoife was long dead and with her any chance of revenge. It was the Celestine who'd betrayed his family and if there was a Celestine left alive, he would find them.

  If what the blood had shown him was true, then his kind were gone. Dead. Extinct. He wasn't one of them anymore. He was something else. Thinking about the word he'd gleaned from the woman's blood, he smiled to himself. Vampire. What a strange name.

  It was then that he heard sound coming from the tunnel that adjoined his tomb and he cast out his hearing. After Isolde had changed him, he hadn't had time to adjust to the thing that she'd made him into. He remembered his vision had been clearer, every sound sharper and every emotion that had coursed though him ten times more potent. Food did nothing for him anymore, only blood. Blood. The sweetest thing he'd ever tasted.

  Focusing on his surrounds, he realized he wasn't alone. Someone else was coming. A witch and a human and their eyes were on him with an intensity that suggested he was a beast from the Underworld. Perhaps he was. All he wanted was to feed. If he was to venture to the surface of the new world, he would need his strength and all the information he could get.

  The thrumming of their heartbeats assaulted his ears and it only told him one thing. They were afraid. So they should be.

  Then they were running. He laughed at the pointlessness of it all and walked across the cavern. Darting forward, he was on the man before he could blink twice, dragging him down to the ground sinking his fangs into flesh. The man screamed as pain took him, but he wasn't listening to that. As blood ran down his throat, he was inundated with the most curious images.

  "Run," the man gurgled and the woman, the witch, turned and started to flee down the tunnel.

  No heartbeat came from beneath him, so he followed the woman, wondering what her blood had to say. Grasping her arm, he turned her around to face him, saw the terror in her eyes and felt nothing. His fangs ached to taste more, so he ripped into the vein in her neck, a hand over her mouth to stifle her annoying screams. Screaming seemed to be a common denominator and he was annoyed already.

  As the witch's body began to slacken, he let the visions come and what he saw surprised him. Witches, vampires, a powerful coven descended from Isolde… She'd lived? The bitch that made him had lived while he was trapped down here? He dropped the witch's body and held his aching head in his hands. What had he done to deserve this? He'd done nothing but be his father's son. He'd been used along with his sisters. His sisters…if they were trapped like he had been, he would find them and bring them back and together they would build a new kingdom. The Tuatha would rise again, this time more powerful than before. This time they were immortal.

  His eyes focused again, the pain from the visions subsiding and he focused on his surroundings. The witch was mutilated beyond recognition. Had he done that? He supposed he had. There was a curious object lying in a pool of blood and he knelt down to peer at it. Picking up the rectangular slab of metal and plastic he now knew was called a mobile phone, he turned it over and looked at the glowing screen. Curious. It
began to make a shrill ringing sound and he squashed it in his hand, shattering it into pieces.

  There was one vision that had stuck with him from both the man and the witch. A strange woman with blue eyes and raven hair that the blood told him was a hybrid like him. A Celestine hybrid. How strange that she would look like she did.

  Aoife had been silver haired and blue eyed. Her skin had shimmered like a pearl from the ocean, a rare beauty. This Celestine had been quite opposite. Her hair was black as the night sky that the stars hung from, not the silver that a star should shine with. She had the same ice blue eyes as Aoife, the same eyes that hid the secrets of the universe.

  He was full of blood and a hunger for revenge he couldn't fathom. If this Celestine hybrid was still alive, he would find her. He would find her and make her pay.

  The sun was low in the sky when he finally decided he should go outside. The wards around the Tuatha's tunnels were annoying, but didn't stop him from entering the human tomb above and following the scent of sun-warmed grass to the surface. Emerging into the light for the first time in three thousand years, his eyes stung and he held an arm across his face. The grounds were silent, apart from the wind rustling through the grass.

  The air was crisp, despite the patchy sun and he assumed it was winter, or close to. He knew from the blood he'd ingested from the vampire woman and the witch that sunlight was lethal to vampires, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. Scanning the countryside, he saw the road and the car where the witch and the human priest had left it. In an instant it seemed he'd crossed the field and was standing by the machine and he marveled at his strength and speed. He'd been changed less than a day before Aoife had sealed him away and it was like he'd just been born.

  There was nothing of use in the car and he didn't like the idea of trying to master its operation, so he began walking down the strange black tar road in search of civilization. It wasn't long before he heard the rumble of a live vehicle approaching from behind and it passed him by in a gust of cool air. It was a different shape and color and red lights appeared on the rear.