Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (23 page)

“Any more luck with the prophecy?” She went for the only safe subject she could think of.

He shifted foot to foot and then shook his head. “It is slow to yield its secrets, but I will discover them in time.”

“Time … two days ago we had so much and now it feels as though we have none.”

His hand moved slightly before he got the better of himself. She watched his fingers curl up into a fist again.

“It is like I said. Everything is suddenly moving so fast.” He tried to smile but she saw straight through it. He was worried about her.

“So fast that my feet don’t feel like they’re touching the floor. Elena has used her time wisely, I fear. She has set in motion so many plans at the same time and we weren’t prepared.” She looked at the blood on her hand, knowing who was responsible for hurting Mia. Elena had probably wanted her and Dmitri dead. Prophecy smiled, silently hoping that Elena was annoyed by the fact she hadn’t succeeded in killing them.

When the maid appeared carrying a bowl of water and a cloth, followed by another girl holding a tray with three canisters of blood and two bottles of wine on it, she stepped to one side and let them pass. She followed them into the room, her senses still fixed on Venturi. He walked in behind her and she heard him close the door when the two girls left.

Dmitri stood the moment she neared him and Mia. He looked at her with an expression she couldn’t quite make out. It had a lot of gratitude in it, a hint of awkwardness, and some anger too.

She reached up and placed her hand on his broad, muscular shoulder, patting it reassuringly.

“Would you like me to heal you too?” she said. She could smell blood on him and from the warmth, she knew it was his own. Besides, his face may have remained unchanged when she’d patted his shoulder, but his eyes had betrayed the pain he’d felt.

He shook his head. “I will heal. Where is Valentine?”

It was her turn to flinch. She took her hand away and glanced at Venturi.

He seemed to read her mind because he came forwards to stand next to her and said everything she couldn’t.

“Elena has cast a spell on him. He is resting upstairs. Prophecy will take you to see him in time. Right now, it is important that you tell us what happened to you.” Venturi looked from Dmitri to Mia, and Prophecy did the same.

“We were coming to attend your ball. We had not made it out of the castle gates before the attack started.” Mia stared at her hands while she spoke. Prophecy poured her a glass of blood and held it out to her. She took it with trembling fingers.

Pouring two more glasses of blood and one of wine, Prophecy handed Venturi his blood and Dmitri the wine, and then intimated to the other werewolves to help themselves. She carried her own glass with her and sat next to Mia, studying her face. There was still so much pain inside of her friend. She’d healed Mia’s wounds, but could do nothing to ease the hurt of her memories.

“Ambushed,” Dmitri said in his thick Russian accent. “The dead walk, and this time, it is not the living dead.”

Prophecy held his gaze. “What attacked you? Was it Elena?”

“No, it was not Elena herself. She sent minions to do her work for her, and they were … I have never encountered an enemy so fierce and unrelenting as they were. Our men tried to defend us, but it was a blood bath. The creatures tore their flesh and ate it in front of us. They feasted on our brethren. Many escaped, but many more were murdered while they protected us. In the end, the creatures overpowered them, and us. Dmitri was forced to change in order to save me. They were strong. All of the damage we did to them had no effect. They kept coming, Prophecy … they kept coming … we did everything we could … we did—”

“Shh,” Prophecy said and stroked Mia’s arm. Mia was staring at the carpet with wide, petrified eyes, as though she could see the attack again and the vision of it was tormenting her. Prophecy looked up at Dmitri as he knelt in front of them. He took hold of Mia’s other hand, engulfing it in his own, and held it.

“Quiet, my love. It is over now, da?”

“Their flesh … the way it hung from them when we … I…” Mia shook her head, screwing her eyes shut at the same time. Dmitri wrapped his arms about her and she buried her face into his neck. “I cannot…”

“What were they?” Prophecy said and glanced at Venturi.

He was frowning, his eyes fixed on Mia. From the look on his face, she could see that he didn’t like the sound of whatever it was Elena had sent to kill Mia and Dmitri. Prophecy had a gut feeling about what they were. They were the dead. They were reanimated creatures like the dogs Elena had left as a welcoming present for her and Valentine in her old home in Venice.

“Zombies,” Dmitri said in a heavy voice, sitting back on his heels.

“We could not kill them. Those that fell, rose again.” Mia sipped her blood and stared into middle-distance.

“I killed the dogs by kicking their heads in.” Prophecy smiled nervously when everyone suddenly looked at her. She remembered that none of them had heard about her adventure with Valentine at Elena’s place. “When Valentine and I went to Venice, Elena had left zombie dogs behind for us. I definitely killed one by kicking it in the head. They were easier to kill than the Aleaeries.”

Venturi shifted towards her, his eyes expressing his concern. Clearly he knew what Aleaeries were and what they did for a living. She held his gaze, trying to show him that she was fine and the Aleaeries hadn’t been that difficult to dispatch. When he cocked his head and narrowed his eyes softly on hers, she looked away. Her gaze met Mia’s. Mia looked from her to Venturi and then back again. Prophecy stared at her feet, avoiding Mia’s look that told her she’d noticed Venturi’s show of feeling.

“Was it just zombies that attacked you?” Prophecy said in an attempt to deflect some of the attention away from herself.

“Da,” Dmitri said and stood up. He emptied his wine glass in one go and went to the table to refill it. “We lost many. The others have gone to the safe houses, all but our generals.”

Prophecy looked at the eleven werewolves. She could just about make them out where they lingered in the shadows. They were all in their human guise, and all were as tall as Venturi, if not as tall as Valentine. “At least we know that the other bloodlines haven’t joined her then.”

“They are against us, but are not fools enough to join with Elena. They would sooner kill us themselves than align themselves with a mortal.” Venturi kept his eyes locked with hers for a moment when she looked up at him. He swallowed down the remains of his blood, put the glass down and then frowned. “I must go and see my men. You should go and see Valentine. I am sure his friends are worried about him.”

Prophecy frowned at his back as he went to the door. He didn’t look back at her.

“What is wrong with Valentine?” Mia said.

“Elena has cast a spell on him. According to Caden, he’s going to be under Elena’s command once it’s complete.” Prophecy watched their faces. Mia’s eyes darkened and she cast a black look around the room.

“I knew I could smell something foul,” Mia said with a scowl at the door. She huddled up into the corner of the chair as close to Dmitri as possible. Dmitri placed his hand over hers. She whispered, “He is here.”

“He will not harm you, my love. I will see him dead before he can touch you.” Dmitri helped Mia stand and placed a protective arm around her shoulders.

Prophecy squirmed under the thunderous look he gave her. It seemed that everyone hated the presence of Caden. Venturi was right. It was best the vampire hunter leave soon. It wouldn’t take much to spark a confrontation between him and one of the vampires in her home. There were now four bloodlines present and she only had command of one, and the fact that it was the most numerous didn’t give her the advantage. There were at least two-dozen Tenebrae in the mansion, and over seventy Aurorea. All of them were skilled warriors and together they outnumbered the Caelestis.

“He won’t harm anyone here. He’s not an idiot. To hurt one of us is to sign his own death certificate.” Prophecy stood and placed her glass down on the tray. “Come, your men will be taken care of while I take you to see Valentine. Serenity has been with him long enough and if I don’t renew the spell, he’ll wake up again.”

She waited for Mia and Dmitri to place their glasses down and then went to the door. Opening it, she scowled at the two female Tenebrae that were walking past. They smiled at her, all sweetness while their eyes turned black. She recognised one of them as the girl that had glared at her when she’d gone with Venturi to meet his commanders.

Prophecy growled at her and then stopped when she saw Venturi leaning against the wall opposite, his arms folded across his chest and his ankles crossed. She met his gaze, not looking away when he gave her a smug smirk that spoke volumes. He’d caught her. Before, she’d just sounded jealous, now she’d gone and threatened the girl, proving without a doubt that she was.

Holding her head high, she turned on the spot and walked up the hall in the opposite direction to the two female Tenebrae. She kept her eyes fixed on the end of the hall while she reached out with her senses, checking to see if Venturi was following her.

For a moment, she wasn’t sure if he was and she wondered if he was following the two women of his bloodline instead, but then she felt him move closer.

She dropped back so she was walking alongside Mia and Dmitri.

“Are you feeling any better?” she said to Mia.

Mia nodded and smiled delicately. “It is quite an amazing power that you have.”

“I’m only sorry that I didn’t see through Elena’s lies when I first met her or when she had kidnapped Valentine and given him to Arkalus and Kalinor. All of this wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t have been hurt, Mathias would still be alive and Valentine would be safe.” Prophecy lowered her gaze to the floor and stared hard at it, letting her feet guide her to her room while her thoughts remained with Elena and the things she’d done.

“There is no good in wishing to change the past. You must keep moving forwards and meet your destiny. Fate has ultimate control. We can only follow the path it has chosen for us.” Mia placed a hand on Prophecy’s shoulder.

Prophecy stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to face her.

“I know. But it’s hard to face a future, a destiny, where I have seen myself kill Valentine … and have seen him kill me.”

Mia smiled. “A vision, even one given by magic, is not a certainty but an echo of what might be. Magic can only reflect one possible future. There are many depending on the choices that fate guides us to make. Do not believe that Valentine will kill you, or that you will kill him. That is all in the future. What we do in the present determines what happens there. It is not fixed.”

“But I will lose him. I’m certain of that now.” Prophecy walked up the first flight of steps.

“We will get him back, little woman. This I know.” Dmitri’s strong voice echoed up the stairwell.

She looked over her shoulder at him and nodded. “We will.”

Dmitri gave her an apologetic look and she knew he still felt terrible about what he’d done when Valentine had been captured. At least he’d learnt his lesson. Not helping her then hadn’t stopped him from being attacked by Elena. The necromancer knew that Mia and Dmitri were friends of Valentine, and were against her. That’s all Elena needed to know in order to send people in to kill them and eliminate another of their allies.

Reaching her door, she nodded to Xavier and his two guards, and then entered.

Cornelius stood up and Serenity moved away from her position beside Valentine.

“Mia, Dmitri, this is Cornelius Aurorea, Chosen Son and dedicated aide to Valentine, and Serenity Caelestis, Chosen Daughter of my family.” She hated having to make introductions when her heart was telling her to go to Valentine. When Serenity came forwards and the four began talking amongst themselves, passing formalities, she went to Valentine and sat down on the bed.

She took hold of his hand and held it in both of hers for a moment before brushing his cheek with her fingers.

“I wish I could let you wake so I could hear you tell me everything will be okay. Everyone keeps saying it, but I don’t believe them … I only believe you. When you tell me it will all be fine in the end, I know it will be.” She kept her voice low enough that the other occupants of the room wouldn’t hear her above their chatter and tears filled her eyes. She wished they’d stop. She was beginning to feel as though she was mourning him, that she’d surrendered all hope and had let him go.

She brought his hand up and pressed a kiss to each of his fingers, and then to the ring of Aurorea he wore. She ran her thumb over his knuckles and rested her cheek against it, closing her eyes and exhaling in a sigh.

“I wish I could hear your voice,” she whispered. “I wish you would open your eyes and show me that you love me and make me feel like we’re going to make it through this.”

She opened her eyes when his fingers twitched in hers. Looking at his face, she gave him a smile when she saw his eyes were open a fraction and he was watching her. She moved up the bed to him, still holding his hand. Her other one skimmed across his brow, smoothing the tendrils of hair away.

“You should be resting.”

“I could not…” He swallowed as though trying to clear his throat. His voice was low and hoarse. “Not while I can feel your pain.”

She looked at the hand holding his and saw the magic seeping into him. It was a vivid shade of red, so bright that it hurt her eyes to look at it.

“I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to wake you. I just wanted to hear your voice…” A tear slipped onto her cheek and was quickly followed by another when she focused and felt the pain and darkness inside of him. It seemed that the magic worked both ways, showing him her pain, and in return giving her a taste of what he was going through. She held his hand a little tighter. “I’m not giving up on you, so don’t you give up either. Fight it. Even if she takes you from me. Fight it. We’ll find a way to break the spell.”

She fluttered her eyes closed when he raised a shaky hand and wiped the tears from her cheek, his expression full of sorrow. More tears rolled down her face and she leaned her cheek into the palm of his hand and caught it with her other hand, holding it against her face. She turned her head enough for her to be able to press a kiss against his palm and sniffed back her tears.