Destiny Divided (19 page)

A string of four letter “encouragements” and two phones later, James had finally gotten the information from Ruby he needed to find Sage.

He st
ood in his kitchen and sighed, hoping he would return some day. But after his last stint in the Underworld, he doubted he’d ever see his home again. Still, he couldn’t leave Sage to a fate unknown at the hands of her father.

With his wallet and passport in hi
s jeans pocket, he picked up his airline tickets and started for the door.

The scent of blood stopped him in his tracks.

How had he missed it? Panic over Sage must’ve distracted him. But now, it was as clear as if he’d tasted it.

Maddox’s blood had been spilled in the kitchen only da
ys ago. He inhaled a lungful of stale air. To his relief, it wasn’t a lot of blood.

After following the scent to his coffee maker
, he swiped the single drop of blood off the plastic piece on the lid. Maddox had left him a message cloaked in a spell. Sneaky devil.

He scanned the area for clues
as to where Maddox had written it. Now that he knew what he was looking for, the cleared off space among the clutter on the kitchen counter seemed obvious.

He
ran his bloody finger across the counter and watched as the letters magically formed.

I’m being watched. The Counsel is up to something big. Members of royalty are being kidnapped from each supernatural race. I’m going back to Caerwyn to spy. I’ll text you as soon as I get a secure phone. Something is coming, my friend. Be prepared.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as the letters of the ominous warning faded. Maddox was probably in Caerwyn by now. Just in case, he checked his new phone text inbox. It was still empty. Could he have missed a message while he’d been between phones? Unfortunately, he had no way of contacting him to find out.

Feeling frustrated that two of the most important people in his life were missing, he picked up his keys and left, locking the door behind him.

***

Sage showered
and dressed in her last set of clean clothes – loose black cargo pants and a faded green tank top. She snorted at the image of herself in the mirror. Maybe the military-inspired outfit would help her blend in and someone would let her free. It was as good a plan as she could come up with.

Pacing the length of the locked bedroom, she
tried to come to terms with her impending death sentence. But she’d fought too hard to stay alive the last twenty-five years to give up so easily. She’d figured a way out of some pretty fucked up situations in the past, but nothing compared to being locked-up in a plane halfway to hell by a psychotic parent bent on draining her blood.

The
walls seemed to be closing in on her. She wished she hadn’t left James in the cave the way she had. He probably wasn’t even looking for her. Not that she wanted him to. Not that she
needed
him to. But it would have been nice to say a proper goodbye. She missed the egotistical brute.

Staring
out the window wasn’t as distracting as she’d hoped, but she did it anyway. So far, all she could determine about the Underworld was that it was somewhat similar to her world. There was a night and a day, about twelve hours of each. The climate was hotter – she supposed that had to do with its closeness to hell. The limited land she could see from her window was sparse and barren. There was a line of bare trees in the distance and yellow crab grass covered the ground.

For a long time
, nothing moved. No marching army. No fearsome Underworld monsters ravaged each other. Not even squirrels or birds scurried about – not that she expected any to live in the Underworld. Maybe only the evil ones.

Marcelo appeared beside her
without warning and she almost flew out of her skin.

“That sneaking up
thing is getting old!” she yelled.

He ignored her burst of temper.

“What is that anyway? The teleporting. How do you do it?”

“It’s called
traversing
. At least, that’s what I call it. I can teleport myself to any place I’ve previously been. I don’t know anyone else who can do it but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone. Older vampires usually have extra abilities. The lines have been watered down through the ages. Vampires made in the last century have virtually nothing to offer but speed and strength.” He gave her a once over. “Except for those with mixed blood, obviously.”

She scowled then look
ed at the cup in his hand. “Please tell me that’s something alcoholic.”

“You would drink alcohol at a time like this?” he a
sked disapprovingly.

Not another moral compass!
Maybe he and James weren’t so different after all.

“Let’s see, I’m about to have my blood drank by my own father
, resulting in my death. What would you suggest? A nice glass of orange juice?” Awaiting her own murder made her a little snippy.

H
e shrugged then gave her a dark look. “I’m sorry, Eirian. I need you to drink this.”

“What is it?”

“Blood.”

“Oh, hell no!” She shook her head violently. “No. No way.”

“You must. It will trigger the vampiric traits, which will make you strong enough to kill the Dark King. And it is imperative that you do.”

“Hold up.” She put her hand up when he thrust the cup in front of her
. “You want him dead?”

With a sigh, he
set the cup on the vanity and took a seat on the bed. Sage folded her arms across her chest.

“Most of us
tire of his rule,” he answered. “Cadmael has gotten out of control. We’ve let him go on like this far too long.”

“I don’t unde
rstand. I thought you wanted to live in Caerwyn. I thought you fought for him because he provided safety and blah, blah, blah.”

He shook his head
. “Cadmael was right when he told you we were here for refuge. And at first it was a good life. We didn’t care so much about Caerwyn but were happy to fight for it because Cadmael provided for us. But in the last hundred years he’s become obsessed with it. He’s been trying to create an army to defeat the sorcerers. He’s made the werewolves reproduce, and then taken the young to train them to fight. And he’s forcing the vampires to create new ones from humans in the local towns. But it isn’t our war. Most of us don’t want to fight it any longer.”

She shrugged.
“Then why don’t you kill him? Aren’t there enough of you to pull off some kind of rebellion?”

He shook his head, mo
re emphatically this time. “I said
most
of us don’t want to fight, but not all. The werewolves are hard to organize. They yearn for leadership. Without it, they are no more than animals. And the vampires don’t have the numbers to defeat him. He is unequal in strength and we have no magic to use against him. It must be you.”

He held her with his solemn glare until she shook away. Muttering to herself
, she paced the floor. There had to be another way.

Mar
celo made an impatient sound. “You are destined to become the Queen of the Underworld, are you not?”

She
grimaced. “I don’t know!” But why did she feel like she was?
“I can’t. I…I’m…too young. I’m too irresponsible. I’ve been homeless for the last five years for god’s sake! Does that sound like someone who should lead a…a…kingdom?”

“
You are smart where it counts,
princesa.
And you are stronger than you think. You must do this. And to defeat him, you must drink blood.”

“No. Absolutely not.
” It occurred to her that he could force her and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She took several steps back. “Not only is it gross but I don’t want to be a vampire.”

“It’s
not so bad,” he said with a shrug, as if they were talking about a bad haircut. “You’ll have speed and strength, which will only grow as you get older. Besides, you won’t be a full vampire. Still only a quarter, but your vampire genes will activate.” He paused. “I think.”

Great. She was a fucking science experiment.
“Look, buddy. You won’t sell me on the blood drinking so don’t waste your time.”

He nodded slowly and pursed his lips. “Then I’m sorry I have
to do this.”

Fear tightened her chest.
He wouldn’t!

In a blur
, he grabbed her and threw her on the bed. Before she could even sit up, he’d sped to the cup of blood then returned to straddle her chest. His knees pinned her arms to her sides.

Panicked, she thrashed and squirmed
, but it was useless. Marcelo had effectively and easily immobilized her. Her only power was to keep her lips together and spit out the blood as soon as it entered her mouth.

“
Lo siento mucho, princesa
,” he mumbled.

With one hand
, he pried her jaw apart as he poured the blood into her mouth. It was sickenly thick and salty. She sputtered and coughed, trying to spit it out but he cupped her mouth and held it closed.

Ev
entually, she had to swallow. He uncovered her mouth and handed her a tissue from his pocket.

When he climbed off of her
, she sat up, coughing and gagging, glaring at him with fervid rage.

“I’m sorry,” he said again.
And damn him, he looked like he meant it.

“You bastard!” She wiped the blood from her chin and neck.

“Get some rest. Tomorrow night you will feel the difference. I will come back then.”

H
e disappeared before she could tell him to fuck off.

Sage awoke in agony. The skin on her chest felt like it was on fire. She clawed at it, wrenching her locket loose. When it burned her hand, she shoved the necklace into her pants pocket.

A
strange sort of buzzing began in her ears. Then banging, and thudding, and voices, and growling, and then everything jumbled all together, growing so loud she clutched the sides of her head to make it stop.

S
omething pricked her lip.

“Ow!” She
dabbed her tongue along her bleeding lip. What the fuck?

Though she felt a little whoozy, s
he got up from the bed and looked in the vanity mirror. A thin layer of blood painted her lips. She opened her mouth.

Fangs!
They weren’t as big as the other vampires she’d seen, but they were definitely there. And they were sharp. When she poked them with the pad of her finger, a drop of blood rose to the surface.

I’m a freak
.

T
ears flooded her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She allowed herself a moment of self-pity before swiping them away, along with any hope of having a normal life. Her future was filled with anxiety and fear.

Now she was more than willing to give herself
to James, even just to feel the safety of being in his arms one more time.

What
was that saying she’d heard so many times?
You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.

Yeah, now she got it. She’d
always been alone, but she’d never felt so lonely.

With a deep breath, she sucked back her
self-loathing and replaced it with determination. Narrowing her eyes at her reflection, she backed to the other side of the room then ran forward at full speed. Her reflection blurred.

Super speed?
Check.

She peered around the room
then zeroed in on the thick, wood bedpost. With a smirk, she wrapped her hand around it and squeezed. It popped and cracked then crumbled to the floor.

Super human strength? Check plus.

Marcelo appeared behind her. He didn’t scare her this time because she could feel his energy enter the room she before spotted him.

Quick as she could, s
he spun around and punched her fist into his stomach. He flew back into the vanity. She launched herself on top of him and they both rolled onto the floor.

In a matter of seconds, she got the upper hand. Straddling his chest, she
wrapped her hand around his throat.

“Hello
, Marcelo,” she said with a sneer.

When she
tightened her grip, cutting off his air, he knocked her hand away and pushed her. She soared through the air and landed awkwardly on the bed.

Marcelo descended on her before she could recover. He locked her wrists in one of his hands while
using his body weight to hold her down.

“I see you’ve tran
sitioned well,” he said.

She wasn’t sure if he was laughing at her or praising her.
“Go to hell!” she tried to yell but it came out more of a rasp.

“I know you’re angry with me –
”

“Angry? I hate your fucking vampire guts!”
It would’ve had a better effect had she been able to access her lungs. She wriggled under his body, trying to loosen just one leg from under his.

“I’m h
ere to help you.” When she continued to struggle, he told her, “You can do what I say and live or you can waste your energy fighting me and allow your father to kill you.”

“Screw you!” Miraculously
, she got one leg free and managed a swift kick to his left hip, rolling him off of her. She leapt to her feet.

Patiently, as if he were dealing with an unruly child, he rose from the bed and stood in front of her.
“I’m sorry about the blood. But what’s done is done.”

Sorry? Fuck that. She still had a lot of pent up anger to release. Aiming for his head, she did a roundhouse kick, but he ducked it easily.

“I’m your only chance for survival,” he said.

She punched at his chest
, but he dodged that too. Every time she struck, he blocked her. She was fast, but he was faster.

“Stop fighting me,
princesa
,” he ordered as she aimed a side kick at his groin. He caught her leg and held it firmly though she balanced easily on one foot. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I must.” With one quick twist of her leg, he knocked her off balance.

She spun
in mid-air and almost landed on her feet, but didn’t quite make it.

A growl tore free from deep down in her chest when she landed hard on her ass.
Too angry to think logically, she ripped off the closest bedpost, creating a makeshift wooden stake.

Marcelo rolled his eyes. Acting on pure rage
, she jabbed at him with the stake. Too easily, he twisted it out of her hands.

Next thing she knew
, her back slammed into the wall and an enormous hand wrapped around her throat. He didn’t squeeze but the threat was there.

She clawed her fingernails down his bare arms, tearing through his skin, but in a matter of seconds
, he had both her wrists locked in his grip.

“You fight well,
princesa
. You were trained by a vampire, no?”

“Let
me go!” She squirmed then thrust her knee into his groin.

He grunted but
didn’t break his hold. Instead, he pressed his thighs against hers, crushing her so she couldn’t move.

“Are you done?”
His dark eyes pierced hers.

Her lungs burned
. Sweat dripped down her forehead. She’d wanted payback, but a few gashes on his arms would have to be enough. She looked down at the scratch marks to feed her satisfaction and they healed before her eyes.

Fucking vampires!

“Are you done?” He shook her a bit to get her attention.

She nodded in surrender.

“Then retract your fangs,” he ordered.

Perfect. He was as bossy as James.
Was becoming a pushy, overbearing brute some kind of side-effect of turning into a vampire?

She rolled her
eyes, but obeyed. With a deep breath, she sheathed her new pointed weapons.

“You are going to be the Queen of the Underw
orld,” he said once he released her. “You should be able to control your temper.”

Why did she feel like she was
being scolded? And worse, why did she feel somewhat ashamed?

“Cadmael cannot know you’ve fully turned until you’re ready to kill him.” He caught her gaze and held it firmly.
“You must control your fangs. Do you understand?”

She scowled. Wasn’t she, the future queen, supposed to be the one giving orders? Normally
, she’d have been eager to remind him of that, but she wasn’t a complete idiot. A sorcerer, centuries older than she, was going to try to kill her and all she had to defend herself was a new body she didn’t have time to adjust to. She needed all the help she could get.

Marcelo looked her over then shrugged
as if she were barely passable.

She sunk o
nto the bed with a sigh. “You said I wouldn’t be a full vampire. Does that mean I won’t need blood?”

“Do you need it now?”

A shudder traveled down her spine. She was still repulsed by it, especially after the force-feeding the night before.

“You would thirst for it by now if you needed it.”

She nodded, relieved. The the fact that she didn’t need to slurp plasma smoothies to live felt like a bit of a consolation. “So how does one become a full vampire?”

“You must die with
vampire blood in your system.”

Sage held in a gasp.
“Then you
are
dead? James said –”

“Different people prefer to see it
different ways.”

Of course no one wanted to be thought of as
the walking dead. Least of all James, who would rather forget he was a vampire entirely. But wasn’t the ability to feel part of what defined being alive? Happiness and sorrow, anger and pride – wasn’t that all part of life?

She didn’t feel dead. Marcelo didn’t look dead, or act dead. They were al
l very much alive.

Though perhaps not for long.
A heavy sense of dread weighed on her.

“Will you help me kill him
?” she asked Marcelo.

“I cannot,
princesa
. In order for the Underworld to recognize you as their leader, you must defeat him on your own. But you have the element of surprise on your side.”

He stepped in front of her and took her hands in his. “
And you are more powerful than him. I can feel it.” He brought one of her hands up to his line of vision and studied it.

Puzzled, she looked to see what he was doing. Her normally short
and brittle fingernails had grown into long, lean cat claws.

He
took one of his claws and began filing hers into a pointy tip. Grooming her?

She tried t
o pull away, but he held her firmly then said, with an arched brow, “I am giving you an extra set of weapons,
princesa
. Surely you do not refuse.”

As Sage watched this vampire, who’d been a terrifying stranger only days before, comfort and encourage her, she couldn’t help but feel a littl
e warm and fuzzy inside. She didn’t have Erin or James, but maybe Marcelo was as close to a friend as she would get in the Underworld.

“Don’t call me princess,” she said. “Call me, Sage.”

“Actually
princesa
, soon we will all be calling you queen.” He chuckled when she cringed.

She didn’t feel very queenly
. Maybe that part came with a crown. “Aren’t you scared I’m going to end up like him?”

A
frown settled on his face.

“Seems likely, doesn’t it? You don’t know me very well. Maybe you’re stacking your deck on the wrong person. Did you think of that?”

He released her hand then picked up the other and resumed the filing. “I guess I didn’t. Do
you
think you’ll be like him?”

“Of course not,” she lied. Could he hear her voice tremble? She lifted her gaze to see him peering down at her
.

“We don’t get to pick our parents,
querida
. Only how we allow them to influence us.”

“Ah, the old nature versus nurture. But no one ever stops to consider, what if you have both working against you? What if nature screwed you over one way and humanity did the other?”

He opened his mouth to answer then froze and cocked his head to the side. “It’s time.”

She let him fasten a pair of handcuffs on her wrists, locking them behind her back.

“These were supposed to be silver but I switched them to a steel pair. You should be able to break them easily.”

She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders in an act of
false confidence. She was a good faker – and possibly as insane as her father. Marcelo had no idea what he was getting into.

He grasped her shoulders and looked down at her trembling body. “
In the end,
querida,
it comes down to choice. And those who have the strength to defy the odds are the ones I’ll place my bets on.”