The Return (The Witch Hunter Saga) Read online

  "All spells have a work around," Gabby said, leafing through the grimoire. "There is always a way to undo something that has been brought forth with power."

  "Always?" Liz asked, confused.

  "Well, so far I haven't come across a reason for it not to be the case. But, I guess there might be some spells that might be impossible to counter," she shrugged. "In the case of the founding vampires, they were made with the power of a witch. That power can be unraveled. Or at least in theory. With you and the brothers, that can't be undone as you were created by another vampire." She hesitated when she realized she was pressing on a nerve. Liz had never wanted to be a vampire; it had been forced on her.

  "I kind of figured already," Liz said, shrugging.

  "So, what do you think might undo the spell?" Alex asked, directing the conversation away.

  "That's the problem," Gabby said. "I would need to know what the spell was to find out for sure. And a spell like that is kind of bad news."

  "Whoa," Alex said, his eyes widening. "Like black magic?"

  Gabby gave him a look. "Dark magic. It's not exactly the thing that is written anywhere. Not in my grimoire. I was hoping that something might have been written about it. Now that I can read the pages I couldn't before, I though I might find something."

  "But, there isn't anything, is there?" Liz asked, her voice betraying her disappointment.

  "Yep. A big fat zero," she rolled her eyes. Gabby knew deep down that that kind of magic wouldn't be written down anywhere. It was darkness that came from powerful emotions. Hate.

  "How do you think we could find out?" Alex wondered out loud. "Could the be someone alive who knows about this kind of dark magic?"

  "Maybe," Gabby shrugged. "But it'd be dangerous."

  "How dangerous?" Liz asked.

  "Crazy dangerous," Gabby shook her head. "That kind of magic is evil. It's the kind of thing that Aya would have killed a witch for." What she didn't say was that she was afraid she was turning to it without even wanting to. That she was the darkness.

  "Well," Alex said. "There you have it."

  "You need to tell Zac," Liz said. "He could be able to help."

  "I don't think so, Liz. You didn't see him today. I've never seen him like that." She was very hesitant.

  "He has a right to know," she said firmly.

  "Maybe. But, it might do more harm than good."

  "Maybe we should leave it until we can find something more solid to go on," Alex said. "If it comes to nothing then we would only be giving him false hope. That might be the thing that pushes him off the edge."

  Liz nodded, reluctantly agreeing. "Perhaps I can talk to Sam about it."

  "I'd rather just keep it between us," Gabby said. "The more people know about it, the more trouble it'll become. Besides, this is a witch thing. You're the only vampire who's coming close to this."

  Liz nodded.

  "I just need time to find out what I can the right way. The good way," she said firmly.

  "Well, if you need help, we're only a 911 away," Alex winked. "I don't know what we could dig up to help, but I can ask my sister."

  Gabby smiled warmly at them and topped up all their glasses with wine, emptying the bottle. Alex's sister, Isobel, was studying Anthropology and Archaeology at Oxford University, in the United Kingdom. It was possible she could dig up some old legends. Things that might not mean anything to a historian, might mean the world to a witch. Besides, she might unknowingly uncover something that could save all of their lives. From Arturius and from her power.

  Gabby really did have the best friends in the world. She hoped with everything she had that her power wouldn't overwhelm them all.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  As Aeriaya's eyes snapped open, she gasped for breath in heaving gulps. Slowly, she became aware of her surroundings as her mind cleared. At first she thought she had been moved, but she realized her vision had become sharper, the walls more defined. The rise and fall of the dirt floor was more pronounced. The clarity made her head ache. Tentatively she sat, her neck stiff.

  Holding her hands in front of her face she tilted them in the murky light. Her skin didn't shimmer anymore, it was dull and lifeless. Pulling at the strands of black hair that fell about her shoulders, she found it was her own. Her silver waves had changed to straight raven locks that hung to her waist. Then the most horrifying realization came when she realized she couldn't feel the earth anymore. She put her head to her knees and sobbed. What had Arturius done? He had led her to believe that he loved her, that he was going to help her escape. Then he had fed her his blood and snapped her neck.

  He had betrayed her, but the more she dwelt on it, she realized that he had been using her from the beginning. He didn't want to help her, he wanted her families secrets just like the witch Katrin and the other Romans.

  She jumped when she heard the bolts on the cell door pull back. Arturius strode in, pulling a young girl by the hair. She was sobbing, but placid. He was glad to see her awake, but she shrunk back against the wall, wary of what he was doing. She wouldn't fall for the same trick again.

  "I've brought you a gift, love," he said, dragging the girl towards her. "I'm sure you are famished."

  She drew a sharp breath as his eyes became black as night, his teeth elongating into sharp fangs. He lent over the girl and bit into her neck and began to drink, a small rivulet of crimson blood running down her neck. Arturius gestured her forward and she couldn't stop herself. The newly made vampire in her lusted for this new sensation, a need for survival. Unsure, she looked from the girls open neck to Arturius.

  "Don't worry, she won't feel anything. I have compelled her into complacency." He stroked her raven hair in wonder. "A little trick with your eyes, love, to make others do what you wish."

  When she still hesitated, he grasped the back of her head and pushed her into the flow of blood and she automatically began to drink. Pain began to tear through her insides as the blood ran down her throat. Falling to the ground, she clutched her knees to her chest and cried out, tears beginning to fall from her wide eyes. Arturius dragged the now dead girl from the cell and locked the door, leaving her to complete the agonizing change into vampire.

  Jolted awake, Aeriaya was pulled roughly to her feet. Arturius held her at the base of her neck, a hand wound painfully in her hair. He dragged her round to face a woman, whose expression was one laced with rage and annoyance. She knew the woman was a witch, she could feel it. One part of herself she hadn't lost in the change.

  The witch, who she now understood to be Katrin, grasped her face roughly and turned it side to side, looking in her eyes. "I want her dead," she snarled at Arturius. "You had no place making her. If she got out she would cause a lot of trouble."

  "Yes, my lady," he inclined his head to her, his lips pursed.

  Katrin pushed past him. "Clean up your mess, Arturius. I will not tell you again."

  As the witch left them, he pushed her to the ground cruelly. Whimpering, she looked up at him pleadingly. Arturius only gazed at her like she was an annoyance. Saying nothing, he turned and walked from the cell, closing the door heavily behind him. She heard the bolts closing home then receding footsteps.

  "Open the grate," she heard his voice drift down the hallway. Moments later, the capping on the ceiling above scraped back with a ear-piercing screech. She clasped her hands over her sensitive ears as the dull glow from the night sky inched its way inside. She couldn't hear the stars anymore and it only seemed to add to her despair.

  "Will it do the job?" she heard a voice say.

  "The sun will burn her to ash," she recognized Arturius' tenor.

  So, he had manipulated her and made her vampire against her will to see what would happen. Now she was to die in the most horrible way she could imagine. There was little hope of escape now. The sun would rise and she would burn. Perhaps it was better this way. Her family could never accept her now that the creatures their magic had created had turned her. Katrin had betrayed them in th
e most unforgivable way and now she was also touched by the same corrupt malice. She curled up into a ball at the far side of the cell and awaited the sunrise. It was all she had left.

  Aeriaya woke with a start, not understanding where she was. The cell was lit with the bright rays of the summertime sun and she was brought back to reality. She was still in shadow, but the line separating light from dark was quickly approaching. She let out a gasp and squinted in the glare. The time to die was almost here.

  She inched back against the wall as close as she could as the sunlight approached, terror rendering her senseless. She curled her toes back into the last sliver of shadow. The sun was almost overhead and she could escape her fate no longer. Covering her head with her arms as if to shield herself, she sobbed for her family and herself. For what they and the vampires had done to her. The warm rays of the midday sun began to warm her exposed arms and she cried out. But nothing happened. The burning agony she was terrified of never came. Raising her head tentatively, she squinted up to the grated opening above, where the round circle of the sun was burning.

  Should she be thankful for this one mercy? That their vampirism hadn't affected her in the same way? Now she was terrified of what would happen when they came to check on her. What would they try next when they saw she was alive? She couldn't escape. That much she knew. The sun had no power over her like it did the Romans. Silently, she begged Arturius to come back so she could tear him to pieces. So she could see if she was as strong as they were. Her parents had taught her that revenge was evil and to take another's life was the highest of all crimes. She no longer cared. They had abandoned her to this fate and she would do whatever she needed to do. It was all she had left. Become the monster that had been forced upon her.

  The stars were shining above when she finally heard footsteps approaching. There was nowhere to hide in her cell, so she merely stood in the center of the room, her hands clasped in front. Her head hung low, her long raven hair falling about her shoulders, covering her face. She looked the epitome of submission.

  The door opened slowly with a loud groan. A figure stood in the doorway, his shadow looming across the floor, lit by the warm glow of the torches behind him. There was a sharp intake of breath that gave away that they had thought to find a pile of ash, not a living girl. Slowly lifting her head she was a little surprised to see Titus, not Arturius as she had expected. No matter. He would die just the same.

  He walked forward and grabbed her hair, wrenching her head back cruelly. "You were meant to burn, witch," he spat. "We will just have to find another way to kill you."

  She felt his fangs rake along her exposed neck and involuntarily she shuddered with fear.

  He laughed at her reaction and hissed into her ear, "I'm going to have so much fun with you, whore."

  It was now or never. The door was open and Titus felt he was in control. She felt the rage burning inside of her and she gave herself over to it. Her vision burned white around the edges as it consumed her and she felt a tightness in her mouth as her own fangs grew for the first time. She didn't care one bit. Reaching up with impossible speed, she had him around the throat and was hurling him across the room with a scream of rage. He collided with enough force to loosen the stones, dust and rubble showering down on him as he hit the floor. She clutched the back of her head, where he had torn a clump of her hair and as her hand came back wet, she smelt the intoxicating scent of blood as a vampire for the first time. Looking over to Titus she took a step towards him, but he was already back on his feet, black eyes snarling in anger.

  Lunging for her, his arms closed on empty space. Looking around wildly, he couldn't sense her. Suddenly she was behind him, viciously kicking his legs from under him. Falling face forward onto the putrid floor, he spluttered in surprise. Snarling, she grasped one leg and twisted with all her strength. There was an audible crack as it broke and Titus screamed in rage as much as pain. Before he could retaliate, she clutched the other and snapped that, too. She knew he would heal, but he wouldn't be alive long enough to see it done. He was hobbled and unable to run.

  She felt a semblance of her old power rising inside her and she reached out with her mind and grasped it. Straddling Titus she placed her palm over the spot where she felt his erratic heart beat, her outstretched arm and hand burning with blue fire. Grimacing with anger and pain, she dug her fingertips into his skin, all the while Titus writhed in agony, pleading with her to stop. She couldn't, even if she wanted to. The burning taste of revenge had consumed her. She plunged her hand into his chest cavity and pulverized his heart in the power of her grasp, the blue fire finishing off the pieces she had missed. He jerked, letting out a strangled cry of pain and stilled.

  She stood slowly as Titus' body turned grey, desiccating. Her arms and dress were covered in his blood and she absently licked the back of her hand. Her eyes were completely white, shining in the semi-darkness like pearls. Listening to the sounds of the surrounding castle, she heard movement far above. There were too many layers of stone for anyone to have heard Titus' screams. She flew from the dungeon and was outside in the courtyard in a second. A few men were in the stable mucking out stalls, but were too busy to notice her. Before anyone could come into the yard, she scaled the outer wall and disappeared into the surrounding forest.

  She wasn't prepared for the overload on her senses as she ran through the trees. Where once she would have felt safe in familiar territory, she was in a whole new world. Her vampire eyes saw things she had never beheld and her vampire ears heard sounds her earth sense had never uncovered. Disorientated, she stumbled and rolled down an embankment, coming to rest in a muddy ditch. She squeezed her eyes closed and held her hands tightly over her ears to dull the onslaught, hoping for death. She couldn't focus on anything; she was lost.

  She didn't know how long she lay in the ditch wanting to die. When she raised her head, the moon still hung low, casting it's silvery light across the field. Slowly, she became used to her heightened senses and tentatively uncovered her ears. There was still night left, so she had to be careful. The Romans could be out looking for her. Crawling from the ditch, she surveyed the land. She didn't know how she knew, but she was certain she was alone. Thinking about her family she realized she had to go and see if they were all right. They would certainly try and kill her for what she had become, but she had to see them safe at least. They were still her family, despite abandoning her. They were too important to leave to a bloody fate. They were the last.

  She walked for what felt like hours, trying to remember where her home lay in the forest. Were she still herself, her power would have led her home, but that was gone and all she had were her eyes. Finally coming across familiar territory, she approached the place that was once her home and felt a disruption in the air. Something was wrong, very wrong. Then she caught the tang of blood on the warm night air.

  Grant and Lance, the two boys that had helped tend the house, were hanging by their feet from the trees, their bodies rent with bloody gashes, guts and insides hanging level with their dangling hands. Blood dripped in rivulets down their arms and fingers, pooling beneath them. She stifled a horrified sob at the sight. Alarmed, she turned to the house. The bodies served as a warning to what she would find within. Her mother and father... Her dear brother...

  Carefully opening the front door she caught the scent of blood. She ran down the hallway in the direction of the smell unable to hold herself back. She cried out in horror as she beheld her parent’s room. Everything was covered in blood. The walls and floors were splattered with it. Slowly approaching the bed, she knew she would find their mutilated bodies. She covered her mouth and nose to stop the stench of their blood overtaking her senses. They had been laid side by side by some sadistic Roman, their hands clasped. What was left of their opalescent skin had lost its luster, their silver hair matted with blood and pieces of each other’s flesh. She stared at their faces, their eyes open and vacant, and no hint of the warmth she once knew. Now, only cold death
had them. Numbly, she stepped backwards, careful not to slip in the pooled blood.

  She ran down the hallway, her bare feet slapping against the wooden floor leaving a red trail behind her, to her brother’s room and wrenched the door open. She already knew what she would find. Collapsing to her knees she cried out in anguish, her head in her hands. Everyone was dead, mutilated. The ultimate desecration and betrayal...

  She could bare it no more. Bursting from the front door, she ran through the forest, her vampire feet taking her further and faster than she had ever been. The Romans had come looking for her. They were no longer concerned with her family’s secrets, content to kill them to send her a message. Finally, when she could run no more, she collapsed in a clearing, howling in agony.

  Aeriaya stood just inside the tree line, watching the castle of the Romans. It was bathed in the pink glow of the rising sun. The sky was crisp and clear; it would be a fine summers day. A fine day for revenge.

  She nestled herself into the bushes and waited for the light to grow, when they would be weaker. She cast her mind about like she used to, feeling for the presence of the forest about her. She felt nothing of the earth, but she knew that the Romans were inside and they were angry. They couldn't leave to search for her, they were trapped in the shadows until nightfall.

  As the sun rose higher into early morning, she emerged from her vantage point and made her way towards the Roman's castle. The waiting had only amplified her thirst for revenge and her vision burned white hot with it. The closer she came to the outer walls, the better she could sense the life inside them.

  Aeriaya walked through the main gate in a daze; it had been left open part way. The castle grounds were abandoned, the stables devoid of any life. The horses and their keepers had left, the disarray evidence they had left in a hurry. She walked calmly inside, towards the great hall, where she felt the presence of two Romans. There were dismembered bodies at irregular intervals in the hallways, slumped here and there against the walls. They were angry enough to eat their compelled help. She had come this far, there was no turning back now.