Redemption (Waking Up Dead) (3 page)

“I think you are lying.”

He laughed and the sound of it was a melody that jolted my memory.  I had heard it before.  Maybe this was true, but how can a father want to kill his own child?

“Prove it!”  My anger was growing and I wanted to be sure that he was not just telling me things to hurt me.  From everything that I had heard about him from Aden, he was a despicable person and a dirty fighter.  This could just be his way of breaking me down, to make me more powerless to save myself.

“Look at your left arm.”

I did as he asked, but I couldn’t see anything.

“Do you see the mark that you carry?”

A mark?  As far as I know, I don’t have any birthmarks to speak of.

“No, I don’t.”

“Look closer, Laynie.  In the bend of your arm is a star.  I should look like the veins in your arm are in that formation.”

To my surprise, it was there just as he had said, but I had never noticed it before now.  All I could do was look at it. 

“You carry the witch mark.”

I had remembered Max saying something about that once before.  All true witches carry that mark.  It separates them from all the others and their power is absolute.  Nothing in this world could change that.

Alzar was close enough to me now that I could have touched him if wanted to, but I was too busy forming questions in my mind.  There were so many things that I wanted to ask, but it wasn’t going to do me any good.  My life is almost over and none of it really matters.

He extended his arm in my direction and pointed to his mark.  It was the same as mine.

“Why do I have the mark?  My mother is not a witch.”

“Yes, Laynie, she is.”

Chapter 2

My mother is witch and the man that I am going to be killed by is my father.  Could this being any less dramatic? 

My stomach clenched and for the first time since my change, I wanted to vomit.  The need to release all this information was strong and I wanted to scream that it was all a lie, just one of his tricks, but I knew that it wasn’t.  He was telling me the truth and there was nothing that could change the way that I felt about it.

I glanced in Max’s direction and was pleased with what I was seeing.  Obviously, he had agreed to drink from Alice and nothing could have made more proud than that.  He trusted my decision to have him do that. 

If we were not in this situation, would I have ever been any surer of his love for me?  Now it was screaming at me.  My body wanted to be next to his and I knew that there was never going to be a chance of that happening.

“So, you’re saying that I am a full blooded witch?”

“Yes.  A female witch cannot bear a human’s child.  It is impossible.”

“Well, I guess none of that mattered now, does it?”

“Everything matters, Laynie.”

I wanted to know how this happened, but the facts would only cause me more distress and if I was going to die, I wanted to do it as peacefully as I can.

“Why are you going to kill me then?”  The desperation of my question was something that I could not hide.

He laughed again, “I’m not going to kill you.”

If he wasn’t going to kill me then what was he going to do?  The only thing that I could think of was that he was going to try to use me as leverage against the rest of them.  That can’t happen.

I, immediately, began to beg for my friend’s life.  They had no part in this and they should not even be here. 

Alzar told me that he was only here for Aden and that he didn’t come here to harm any of the rest of us.  Something about that was strange.  I had been told how evil he is and how he had made it his business to kill the Day Walkers.  Had that been a lie?  Aden had told me so much that was not true and I didn’t know what to believe.

I asked Alzar for the truth.  If I am his daughter, he owed me that much.

He explained his reasoning behind the other executions and I was beginning to understand why he had done what he did.

The other’s had been associating with the Night Walkers and turning evil.  They had gone on a killing spree that lasted for years and had almost wiped out an entire city. 

“But what does that have to do with me?”

“Nothing.”

He went on to tell me that Aden had done far more than he had told me about and I was soaking all the information in like a sponge.  What he was saying made sense to me.  All the empty holes in Aden’s stories were coming together.

Everything that Alzar was telling me was true.  I knew that deep down inside me.  I didn’t have to question it.

The story about Aden killing Alzar’s coven was true as well.  The only thing that Aden didn’t know at the time was that Alzar had another daughter, but somehow Aden had found out.  No one knows how.

He had been tracking me for years before the night that he turned me.  Making me a vampire would be the worst thing that he could do to Alzar, so he turned me.

I had always questioned Aden’s motives about turning me, but I had never dreamed that it would have been because of this.  I knew now that trying to be friends with him was completely out of the question.  He had taken my life away from me and now I want his.

“I know what she done for Max” he said with a smile.  “He needed that.  Thank you.”

I had not been as sneaky as I thought.  Alzar knew what I had told Alice to do, but the fact that he was appreciative shocked me.

I had learned so much from him in such a short time and I was beginning to think that he was telling me the truth about not harming us.

“Can you let me go?” I asked him.  The force from being held was weighing heavy on my body, making it uncomfortable to stand.

“Do you trust me?”

Oddly enough, I do.  We have a bond that I couldn’t ignore even if I wanted to.  I could feel it growing more and more as we talked.

“Are you being truthful about not hurting any of us?”

“I won’t touch any of you.  No one, except for Aden.”

That should have made me want to stay right where I was, but something in me had changed.  I could care less about what happens to him now.  My heart had turned cold over him and I wasn’t ashamed of it at all.

“Then… I trust you.”

He released his spell on me and I could finally move.  It felt good and now that I know who I truly am uplifted me in ways that I cannot explain.  It shouldn’t have.  It should have made me feel terrible, betrayed, but I felt powerful.

Staying at Alzar’s side, we moved closer to my group.  I could only hope that he had been telling the truth about not hurting them.  Now is the time to find out.

“Max, are you feeling better now?”  Alzar asked across the distance, which was short, but required him to raise his voice. 

“Yeah, I think that I will be able to manage now” he smiled at me.

Why in the world would the two of them be having a conversation with each other?  It just doesn’t make sense to me.  Max had told me things about Alzar, but nothing as terrible as Aden had.  From the way that it looks now, Max and Alzar are closer than anyone knew.

That was another fact that I was going to try and not worry about right now.  There are more important matters going on and it requires my full attention.

I stood in front of Max, worried that he was withholding more information than I am aware of at the time.  Every part of me knew that I could trust him.  He smiled at me with one of the most heartwarming smiles that I had ever seen and I knew at that moment that I couldn’t be with anyone else.  He is the one that I am supposed to be with for the rest of my life.

A strange sensation began in my body.  It started at my mark and coursed through every inch of me.  Not taking my eyes off of the star in my arm, I watched it gain more color and definition.  With every second that passed, I could feel the power growing inside me, fueling a new purpose in my life. 

But how could I be both a witch and a vampire?  It doesn’t make sense to me.  Being both meant that I wasn't going to fit in with either side.  I was going to be an outsider to all of them.  How was that going to work out for the good? 

“Alice, come stand by me.”

She walked forward without hesitating in the slightest bit. 

“Caleb?” I called.  I knew that the bond between him and Aden was still there.  Nothing was going to change that now and it is stupid of me to even think that Aden was going to release him now.  He needed Caleb now more than ever. 

Caleb dropped his head.  The pain of the force that Aden’s influence was putting him through was apparent to all of us.

“Please, Aden.  Let him go.” Alice pleaded with him.

Aden looked at her and I knew what his answer was going to be before he said it.  That would cause Alice to change her mind about the decision to take my side.  She loves him so deeply that she is not going to allow him to be away from her.

“I can’t Alice. I’m sorry.”

Max had told me that he could force a maker’s bond to break, but I could not remember if there would be any pain involved or not.  I could only pray that Caleb would not suffer from it.  My decision to ask Alzar to complete that task for me was not an easy one to make.  I was still not sure that he was as accepting of me as I think.  This is the time to see if he is going to make good on his promise to me.

“Alzar, can you break the bond that Aden has with Caleb?”

He remained silent for only a moment before answering me.  “Yes.  If that is what Caleb wants.”

Caleb nodded his head.  He didn’t want to be tied to Aden like that and I can’t say that I blame him.  I had been there before and it is certainly not a pleasant thing to go through, especially with someone that is as dark and full of hatred as Aden.

“You can’t do that!” Aden screamed.
En ten con Caleb e romper el. Faga el non mias!

My father had called on the oldest of the old.  The highest power.  He had asked for the bond to be broken.  Even not knowing what the words were, I could still understand what he had said. 

Aden let out a howling, painful shriek and there was no mistaking that the bond was coming apart.

Seconds passed and Aden fell to the ground, shivering from the shock that the separation had caused.  He was hurting and I could not find it in me to care.

Caleb took his first step in Alice’s direction.  Uncertainty riddled him and it was easy for me to see that he was frightened.

“It’s fine.  You can come now.  He can’t make you stay with him. You are free now. Please come” my father asked Caleb.  The amount of care in his voice shocked me and uplifted me at the same time.  He had been telling the truth up to this point, so maybe everything was really going to work out for us.

When Caleb was in the safety of our group my heart calmed slightly.  We were protected by my father, one of the most powerful witches alive.

“Laynie,” Max looked cautious. “Do you understand now?”

“I understand.”

He was asking me that to be sure that I wasn’t angry with him about not telling me about Alzar being my father.  He had known all along and I don’t hold it against him in any way.  If he had been the one to tell me, I would have reacted differently. 

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him.  I just think that issues like that should be handled by the people that they involve and no one else.  That was the fair way to do it.

The only thing that was left was to deal with Aden.  I had no idea how my father was going to carry out his punishment, but from what I feel, it will be a fair and just decision on his part.

Aden rose from the ground, weakened by the spell that had stripped his bond to Caleb.  No matter how hard I tried, I could not force myself to have sympathy for him.  This was all him.  He had done this to all of us.

Alice and Caleb were growing more anxious as we stood there looking at Aden and we were all wondering what was going to happen next.  Alice would shuffle her feet and move rapidly.  Her movements were jerky and thoughtless.  From time to time, she would bump into one of us, even Alzar.  I wasn’t even sure that he actually knew that she was doing it. 

My father called me to the side, away from the others.  As I went over to meet him, the unforeseen plan suddenly came to my mind.  He was going to kill Aden, but he didn’t want us to be there when he followed through with it.

“I want you to leave.  Take your friends and wait for me back at the underground house that you had been staying in.  There is no need in you or any of them seeing what is about to take place here.”

Arguing with him about this was not an option.  He was right.  No one needed to see what he was going to do.

“Will Max be coming with us?”

“No.  I’m sorry.  He has to stay with me, but don’t worry.  He will be safe.”

Swallowing my fear for Max, I turned and walked back to our group and explained to them that we needed to go and gather our things.  If the option to leave this place was going to be offered to us, I wanted to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Max was at my side, whispering for me not to worry about him.  “I know what I’m doing, love.”

That was what I was worried about.  How many times had he been with my father when something like this happened?  I was sure that it was more times than I wanted to know about.

“Would you like for me to pack your things for you while I am down there?”

“Yeah.  That would be great.  Thanks.”

I looked at my father and saw the victory starting to show on his face.  He was doing exactly what he wanted to do to Aden, torturing him in little ways, taking his power over his progeny.

“Watch me.”

My father began to say words that I could not understand at first, but as he went on, I noticed that I could pick out a word here and there.

Grande un, ter presente uinculo que Ad