Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (20 page)

It unnerved her to have someone staring at her while she was sharing what she’d grown to consider something beautifully intimate with the man she loved.

When Valentine sunk his fangs deeper into her neck, she gritted her teeth and flinched.

She let him drink for a few more seconds and then pushed him off her. He met her eyes for a split second and then went to turn his head. She placed her hand gently against his cheek, stopping him from looking around and seeing Caden. Even in his weakened condition, Valentine would still want to defend her and he would still be able to kill the vampire hunter.

She stared at Valentine’s mouth, watching a droplet of blood trickle down from the corner of his lips. Moving towards him, she closed her eyes and licked the blood up, starting at his chin and ending up by running her tongue across his lips. She kissed him lightly, holding back the tears that wanted to come when he reciprocated, and then drew back enough for her to rest her forehead against his.

“Still,” she breathed the word and held him while he slipped into unconsciousness. Carefully laying him down on the bed, she wiped a stray drop of blood from his chin and stared at him.

They didn’t have much time.

Whatever battle was being waged inside of him, he was starting to lose it.

Sniffing and wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, she composed herself and then looked at Caden. He was still staring at her with an incredulous expression.

“I never realised that vampires liked that … being bitten.” He nodded towards her neck.

She placed her hand over the fresh marks, feeling the prominent bumps of the puncture wounds. Pressing her amulet against them, she called her magic and healed herself.

“He needed blood to keep his strength up and I fed at the cemetery.” She stood and cast a glance at Valentine before walking around the bed to Caden.

“You did?” he said.

She nodded and smiled when he looked as though he didn’t know quite what to say to that.

“If you don’t mind?” She intimated Valentine and noticed Caden hesitate, a wary look entering his eyes. “He’s unconscious for now. He can’t hurt you.”

Caden dithered a moment longer and then leaned over Valentine. He lifted Valentine’s eyelids and she frowned when she saw that his eyes were still blue. It was a bad sign. Even she knew that. She’d seen vampires that had experienced so much pain that the only way they could deal with it was to totally shut down their human instincts and resort to becoming more like their true demonic self. The demon they were originally before the blending with humanity started could cope with pain beyond the boundaries of the human mind. It was this creature they became again when their trace of humanity left them.

It was this creature that Valentine was becoming.

Although he was still the man she loved, and he would still love her, his instincts would drive him to kill and defend himself against anyone who was in any way a threat to him. Caden, Serenity, Venturi, and even his own guards would fall into that category.

Was this what Elena wanted? Did she want Valentine to turn into the creature his ancestors had once been many thousands of years ago? Did she want him to kill all of her friends?

It didn’t make sense. By taking Valentine away from her, Elena had already done more damage than she would by removing anyone else from her life. She had weakened her by stealing away the one person who made her magic stronger. Taking Venturi or Serenity wouldn’t affect her power. It would only make her angrier.

She frowned. The last time she’d been angry the magic had taken control and had become more powerful than she’d ever felt it.

None of this made any sense.

“You are right. It’s not a drug. It’s a spell and it’s a powerful one.” Caden’s voice chased away her thoughts.

“Do you know it?” she said.

“For such a powerful spell, there has to be an even more powerful counter spell. I’m afraid that there is no easy cure. I’ve never seen anything like this first hand.”

“But you’ve heard of it?” She could see in his eyes that he had. He knew something about what was happening to Valentine, and judging by his body language, he didn’t want to tell her. It could only mean one thing.

Caden walked across the room to the window and sighed.

“What is it?” Her voice trembled with the nerves growing inside of her and the dread that was eating away at her heart.

He didn’t look at her. “Your mother once told me of necromancy. There is only one spell that could do this, only one that can be used by necromancers to control the undead.”

The words hit her harder than she’d expected and in a split-second, she was standing beside him, her hand tightly gripping his arm. She spun him around to face her, her eyes searching his.

“Elena is a necromancer.” She held his gaze.

His eyes widened, telling her that he knew that name.

“The spell appears to be nothing more than a sickness, mimicking the symptoms of Nox Noctis, the only real sickness a vampire can contract.”

The mention of the sickness sent a shudder down her spine. She’d heard of what it could do to vampires, twisting their bodies and their mind until they became hideously disfigured grotesques, too insane to feed and look after themselves. Many of the bloodlines resorted to mass execution, destroying all vampires that had passed through the infected area as far back as six months before the first case appeared. It was the only way to stop the disease from spreading, or so they say.

“But it isn’t Nox Noctis,” she said, urging him on.

“No. Eventually he will be bound to Elena and he will obey her every command. She is making him her slave … and I’m afraid there might not be a way to stop it.”

She stared at Valentine, her whole body trembling as the inevitability of it all hit her. All sound drowned out, leaving a hollow ringing inside of her empty body. She went to walk towards the bed so she could hold him, but her knees gave way and she collapsed. Pressing her hands into the floor, she hung her head forwards. Her vision blurred with heavy tears and her head pounded with silence.

It was over.

Elena had defeated her.

She wasn’t going to use Valentine against her friends. She was going to use him against her.

Her fingertips dug into the rug, bunching it up into her fists. She clenched her teeth, her jaw trembling as the sobs struggled to get free. Slamming her fists against the floor, she hit it harder and harder until her hands started to hurt. Sobs racked her body and she shook with them, wishing her tears would drown the emptiness inside of her.

The door opened and before she could lift her head to see who it was, strong arms were holding her, supporting her. She buried her face into Venturi’s neck, one hand gripping his shirt while the other balled into a fist. She hit him hard in the chest, over and over again, desperate to get the feeling of frustration and hopelessness out of herself.

He held her gently, letting her beat him and not even tensing to steel himself against the pain.

“What did you do to her?” His voice was cold and venomous.

She struggled to breathe, wanted to stop the sobs so she could tell him not to hurt Caden. It wasn’t his fault. It was hers. It was all her fault.

Taking deep breaths, she flattened her palm against Venturi’s chest and pushed herself up. She looked at him, the tears still streaking her cheeks while she fought for control of her voice.

“What happened?” he said softly while wiping away her tears.

“It’s over,” she said.

He looked disappointed to hear it. “I thought you were stronger.”

His words cut her to the bone and she moved away from him, leaving him with empty arms.

“You are stronger than this, Prophecy. Do not let her win. Valentine is not lost.”

“He’s right,” Caden said behind her. “There has to be a way to reverse this spell. Every spell has one that can counter it. You can find it.”

She stared into Venturi’s blue eyes. He was right. She was stronger than this. Elena hadn’t defeated her. She was still alive and there was still a chance she could save Valentine from the necromancer’s spell.

“Thank you,” she said it quietly enough that only Venturi could hear her.

He smiled, cleared the damp hair from her face, and then stood. He offered his hand to her and she took it, letting him help her to her feet. She stood still for a few seconds, gathering herself and taking deep breaths to clear her mind of all negative thoughts.

She realised Venturi was still holding her hand and smiled when his fingers gently slid from hers.

“Xavier is growing restless. Whatever business the vampire hunter still has here, he’d best do it quickly.” Venturi nodded and then left the room.

When the door closed again, she sat on the edge of the bed, her hand resting on Valentine’s knee.

“I don’t know any spells.” She quietly admitted it and felt even weaker. How did she expect to defeat Elena when she hadn’t found a way to get into the book? She looked across the room at it where it was resting on her desk. Caden looked there also. “I can’t open it.”

There was a hint of sorrow in his face when he went to the desk and picked the book up. He ran his hands over the cover and then set it down again.

“Of course you can open it,” he said and beckoned her.

She went across the room to him, shaking her head as she did so. “I’ve tried everything.”

He smiled. “Everything but the key, I suppose?”

She was about to say she didn’t have a clue what the key was when he reached out to her. She frowned when he took the silver star from around her neck and watched in amazement as he unclipped each diamond shape, breaking the star apart. He placed each one in the corresponding indentation on the cover and then stepped back.

“The word is yours to say … in any language you choose. Ophelia always preferred ‘aperto’. It’s Italian for ‘open’.”

“She was Italian?” she said. The look he gave her said that her mother had been Italian. She glanced at the door and locked her senses on Venturi, who was standing in the hallway. She had more in common with him than she’d thought.

Drawing the book across the table, she ran her fingers over the cover, feeling the magic in it and tracing the pieces of the silver star that had actually been the key.

“Aperto,” she said. There weren’t fancy fireworks or shining light as she’d expected. Something just clicked. She carefully opened the cover a crack and peeked inside, and then opened it fully when nothing happened.

She looked at the first page. Written neatly in the top right corner was her mother’s name. She ran her fingers over it and then leafed through a few of the pages, her eyes taking it all in. The spells were written haphazardly by hand. Judging by the script, her mother had been the one to write them. The hand matched the one the name in the front of the book had been written with.

Some of the spells ran over several pages, while others took up nothing more than a couple of inches. There were even some that were a single line. They were written in what looked like Latin, and other languages that she didn’t recognise.

The sound of voices in the hall reminded her that Xavier was growing restless. She closed the cover of the book and went to the door. Opening it, she let Xavier see into the room and turned to Serenity.

“Could you arrange the room next to mine for Caden. If it … if you don’t want to … get one of the maids to do it.” Prophecy gave Serenity an apologetic look. She hated having to ask her friend to go into the room that had once been Arkalus’ but she had to keep Caden close by. The only other available rooms were down near Venturi’s and she couldn’t risk placing Caden that far from her. If someone got it into their head to attack him, she wouldn’t make it there in time to save him.

Serenity nodded and walked off, leaving her with the two lower ranking guards, Xavier and Venturi.

She stepped to one side and let Xavier pass. The anxious look in his eyes changed to one of gratitude and he went into the room. Caden immediately came out. It would have been a wise move if he hadn’t ended up standing right next to Venturi.

Venturi sneered, baring his fangs.

A maid appeared and opened the door to Arkalus’ room. Prophecy caught hold of Caden’s arm and led him away from Venturi. She looked over her shoulder at the Tenebrae, raising a brow at him. He licked his teeth and growled under his breath.

Taking Caden into the room, she quickly let go of his arm. “You’ll be comfortable here. I don’t recommend leaving the room. If you need anything, ring the bell on the wall. I have matters of business to attend to, but will come by to check on you when I can.”

She didn’t wait to hear his answer. Walking out of the door, she could only think of getting back to her room and studying the book.

She would find a way to save Valentine.

The answer was in her mother’s spells.

She’d felt it.

Venturi grabbed Prophecy’s arm the moment she’d closed the door. He threw a cursory glance at her room, checking that Xavier and Cornelius were still inside, and then dragged her down the hall to his room.

Pushing her into it, he shut the door behind him and leaned against it, showing her that he wasn’t about to let her leave.

She sat quietly on his bed and glared at him.

He folded his arms across his chest and stared right back.

“Venturi—”

“I want to know why it is you have brought a mortal, no … worse than a mortal … a vampire hunter … into this house, placing all of us in danger.” He cut her off. He was in command now. He’d been patient with her, giving her the time she wanted with the vampire hunter. The hunter had pronounced his verdict, and now it was time she told him what was going on.

She leaned back on the bed a little, splaying her hands out behind her and using them to prop herself up. He tried to shift the images that the sight of her sitting on his bed made pop into his head. This wasn’t the time for such feelings, and he knew damn well she wasn’t going to reciprocate them. Any move he made was a fool’s errand.

Besides, since he’d decided to ignore her, she’d started becoming friendlier towards him, even taking comfort from him and letting him be close to her. He knew where she thought her heart lay, but there was something in her eyes when she looked at him that told him it wasn’t wholly with Valentine. From the night they’d sparred, she’d been different around him, more conscious of his feelings for her, and seemingly more aware of her own feelings too.