Willow (Blood Vine Series) (34 page)

“You are the one who will be leaving tonight,” Blake called in a manic sing-song voice.

“I’m not going anywhere.” I folded my arms across my chest and glared at Bella.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Night of Revelations

“What do you mean you’re not going anywhere?” my one time mother asked coldly. She clutched nervously at the collar of her shirt.

“You heard me.”

She was quiet for several very long moments. I knew that there was a possibility I would have to fight Bella but I really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. There was a small part of me that worried about the outcome of such a fight. Bella was much older than I was and had to know how to fight at least a little bit. She had, after all, won her pack by fighting for it.

Would she challenge me?

“Have you worried at all about your little sister while you’ve been playing house?”

This wasn’t what I expected. Threats - yes. More intimidation - incredibly likely. Maybe even some bloodshed would be required. Certainly not a random inquiry about Ivy. “What?”

“Ivy.”

“I know her name,” I snapped.

“Do you ever … wonder where she may be?”

“I asked you where she was, you didn’t tell me.”

“What if she needs you?” Her eyes drilled into me. “What if she needs you to find her?”

It felt like someone had just punched me right in the stomach. I even brought my hand up to cover the offending blow. “Do you know where she is?” I managed to ask around the knot in my stomach.

“Of course I know where she is.”

“Will you tell me?”

“Will you leave your pack and go find her?”

So that was how she was playing. She was trying to make me choose between Ivy and the pack. Bella just didn’t understand though. I didn’t really have a choice anymore. “No,” I replied firmly, “I’m not leaving them. No matter what.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Not what I would have expected.” Her hawk eyes pierced even sharper. “Or what I would have done.”

“You don’t have a sister,” I reminded her.

She looked away from me but not before I saw the pained expression. “Not anymore.”

“Wait. You had a sister?”

“We were close,” she was still talking to the ground, “although she was quite a bit older than I was.”

“You never told us … ”

“She kept me hidden away so I would stay safe, but she visited often.”

“All that time, I never knew … ”

“Of course you didn’t know, Willow. She was killed when you were small.” Her eyes darted briefly to Gage.

“Oh.”

“Before she was killed we made a pledge to one another.” I was still in shock learning that Bella had a sister to give much thought to what childish pledges they had made to one another but Gage suddenly seemed much more interested.

“What was your pledge?” he asked.

“We pledged to always stand by one another - no matter what.” It didn’t seem that unnatural of a thing to promise; why then did Gage look so worried?

“That was before you had a pack of your own. They tend to change the way you see things.”

“Maybe they do,” she smirked, “but only for weak people. The pledge I made with my sister was the driving force behind every other decision I ever made.”

It made me uncomfortable to see Bella so unhinged. “Now that she’s gone, maybe you should focus more on your pack.”

“Isn’t that what I am doing here?”

“Not the way it looks to me.”

“I need a large, powerful pack to finish what was started.”

“What are you talking about?” Gage asked.

I wanted to tell him not to worry about it, this was just the way Bella was. She liked to make a big deal out of everything. She would be gone soon though and we could go back to our own problems. Before I could say anything though - Bella started talking again.

“Haven’t you guessed it yet, Mikhaul?”

His eyes narrowed. “Maybe.”

“I’m going to take the ancient city.” She said it like it wasn’t a big deal. “Just like my sister always wanted.”

“Your sister was with Noreen?” I asked. No wonder she had been killed and no wonder Bella hated Mikhaul. It wasn’t hard to fill in the missing pieces.

“No, you idiot!”

“Her sister is Noreen,” Blake supplied.

“Was,” Bella corrected quickly while my mouth was still hanging open.

“You’re Fern?” Gage’s face lit up.

“I met you once,” she turned her attention to him.

“You were a child.”

“I was in awe of you; of the adoration you had for my sister.”

“She was magnificent then.”

“I would have never guessed you would one day turn on her.”

“The things she did … what she became … ”

“Is it so easy to put the blame on her, Mikhaul? Look what you became!”

“She was completely obsessed.”

“She never changed at all,” Bella fired. Gage didn’t flinch. “She was always obsessed with taking back the ancient city. You are the one who changed, you turned on your female.”

“I did change,” he admitted without shame, “and she refused to let me go. She killed my … love.”

“Love?” Bella scoffed. “I never understood that ridiculous notion. It makes you weak. I learned that from you, Mikhaul. Fear and respect - that’s what I taught my girls.”

“Wait,” I cut in, “your name used to be Fern?”

“I still am Fern. Bella is just a name I took for a little while.”

“You named them Ivy and Willow,” Gage shook his head. “I should have known.”

“We all go by different names from time to time - isn’t that right, Gage?”

“Fern.” He looked like he still couldn’t believe it. “You were quiet as a kid.”

“Noreen warned me not to draw attention.”

“It didn’t matter. The council was already on to her.”

“When did you join up with Andros?” It was clear that the question was meant to wound.

“Just what do you plan on doing, Fern?” he asked instead of answering.

“I’m not joining forces with the vamps,” she sneered.

“I work with the council,” Gage’s voice began to sound more raspy, probably because he wasn’t opening his mouth very wide.

“The council is a joke; males without a female.”

She was right, I myself had thought the same thing. I hadn’t thought it so cruelly, but the same nonetheless. I wasn’t going to agree with Bella for anything, though, so I kept my mouth shut and my eyes averted.

“They stepped in when all would have been lost.”

“They are a disgrace who do not deserve to live.”

A low growl started in Gage’s chest. “And what do you plan on doing about that?”

“I plan to take over where my sister left off,” she declared haughtily.

“Oh, you mean the dying part?” he snarled.

“The ancient city is ours,” she growled back.

“The ancient city is an illusion. It was never going to work. One city to contain us all?”

I flinched back at his words. I remembered the first time he had said that. It had infuriated me then, and it did the same now.

“You are the worst of your kind, Mikhaul,” Bella’s voice was low and dangerous. “You betrayed your female and you are the biggest disgrace of them all.”

I expected Gage to really start growling then, maybe even morph in his anger, so I was surprised when he remained calm. “You can’t win, Fern. You will fall, just as your sister did before you.”

“Why,” she smiled coldly, “because the council deems it so?”

“They will stop you.”

“The council will be the first to fall,” she purred.

“By your hand?”

She smiled again, her face eerie in the light from the moon. “They trust Blake.” She waved him forward and he came obediently to the center of the argument. “Don’t they?”

“Blake is part of the council.”

Even as he said the words, we all knew they meant nothing. It was obvious that Blake had switched sides. We didn’t even need to hear Bella say it but she did anyway.

“Blake has always been obedient to Noreen, and now to me.”

“You made sure Willow got here.” Gage shook his head.

“Oh, yes,” he brought his fingertips together, reminding me of the mad crazy people in movies. “We made sure Willow was ready for the pack and that she was loyal to Bella. The council doesn’t even know she exists.”

“Or the pack,” Gage finished for him.

“Nope,” his lips popped on the word. “They are under the impression that you killed all of Noreen’s packs.”

“But, Gage,” I stepped forward in my confusion, “you said the council, your brother, sent you to us.”

“Blake sent me. He told me that Leo had sent him to ask me this favor. He wanted me to protect you and make you strong.”

Bella laughed at his words. “And you were stupid enough to believe him.”

“I was.”

“It never did make sense, why the council would want us to stay alive.” I had thought it was to kill Mikhaul, but that wasn’t it at all. Bella just wanted to use us to get the ancient city. If she hadn’t tried to take my pack it might have worked. I didn’t like Andros any more than she did.

“I guess,” I said slowly, “the only thing you miscalculated was me.”

Bella turned her cold eyes to me. “You would join with Andros?”

“We are not joining with anyone. I already told you, my pack is not going to be used.”

“We could get the ancient city back,” her eyes nearly glowed with madness.

“I don’t want the ancient city.”

“That is ridiculous.” She smiled indulgently, as if waiting for me to come to my senses. “You have been influenced by Mikhaul. It wasn’t your fault, though, you were lied to.”

“He is one of us, we don’t care what his name is.”

“That is only because you are young, dear, you don’t understand the importance of a name. You can’t possibly know the evil things he has done.”

“I do, though. Mikhaul starred in all our bedtime stories … don’t you remember?”

A sudden realization hit me. Bella must have been planning this for a long time. She wanted to be sure that I was afraid of Mikhaul so that when this time actually came, I would turn back to her. She really didn’t know me at all. She would have been better off waiting for Ivy. I wondered what spooked her into acting early.

“How could he not? Don’t even the humans tell their children about the big bad wolf?”

“You can not hope to win, Fern.” Gage stepped in to save me from any more banter with Bella.

“Yes, Mikhaul, we have already established your opinion.”

“He loves his vamps,” Blake taunted.

“I will not let you take the council down,” Gage growled loudly.

“It’s too late,” Blake smiled.

“What do you mean it’s too late?”

He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. Even I could see that was a stupid thing to do, but Blake didn’t seem to notice the dark glare on Gage’s face or the way his shoulders bunched up. It happened quickly, as I knew it would, one second Gage was standing next to me shaking all over and the next he was a great mass of black fur.

I was a little surprised, however, that Blake was able to match him for speed and almost for size. Ferocious growls and hisses filled the night air as the two wolves rolled around us, almost knocking Jed over in the process when he got too close. I pulled him back and held onto him with a grip worthy of a worried mother.

There was a loud snap and an equally loud moan of pain. I watched anxiously, not sure who had been the one hurt until they both stood back up. Blake was holding his arm where blood was still flowing from a gash. Bella pulled him back to her; she must have stopped the fight, although I hadn’t heard her say anything.

“You can’t hold onto your pack Willow,” she called even as she was backing away, “you’re not strong enough. They will come to me when you fail them.” And then she was gone, swallowed up by the darkness of the night.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The Aftermath

No one made a sound. We all just stared at the place where Bella had disappeared, waiting to see if she would come back. Gage was the first to break the silence.

“I should have known Blake would turn on us,” he snarled.

“He seemed … you know when I met him the first time, he seemed legit,” I said without looking at him or anyone else.

“I thought it was strange that he should seek me out to do my brother’s bidding, but I didn’t follow my instincts.”

“Lucky for us,” Jed laughed. “Otherwise we’d all be dead.” There was a light murmur of agreement. I turned wide eyes to Gage, who didn’t appear amused.

“That was, by far, the weirdest thing I have ever seen.” Carlie finally found her voice again now that Bella and Blake were gone. I had almost forgotten she was there. I turned to her nervously.