Sunder (17 page)

Briton

He might not have had a heartbeat, but whatever lie inside of his stone chest was completely broken. She had ruined him. One week was all it took to destroy a man made to last forever.

He couldn't regret it. What kind of person regretted fulfilling the one thing on earth they were meant to do? He had a soul mate, which meant he had a soul. She was the light and he was the dark of the shadow twins they were.

He walked away from the
house,
fully knowing he wouldn't be back except that night. They had agreed to go to the Halloween party together. It would be the last time they would be together, in that way.

His body ached, his brain screamed, and his heart wished he would turn around and find a way back to her. There had to be something they could do. There had to be a way.

His feet led him to the doorstep of the Whitburn house. He looked up at the old door, not needing to knock. She answered, giving him a miserable stare. “You fell in love?”

He swallowed hard, not speaking. He didn't need to. She was a witch.

“You realize what this means, right?”

He shook his head.

“You are the shadow twins, the soul mates of your kind. You are meant to break the curse between your kind.” She stepped back, holding a hand out. “You are welcome in my home, Nicolai Thorlackson.”

The barrier that protected her home allowed him to pass. He walked into the old kitchen. It smelled the same as it always had when he had been there in the younger years of Wolfville. He sat at her table before she offered it.

“She is a special girl, Nicolai. Very special.”

He gave her a confused look. “Please, call me Briton.”

Her eyes twinkled. “Your mother named you Briton because you are the bright one? That’s sweet.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, nothing quite
like
an ironic name.”

“Ironic?”

“I’m a murderous vampire. I hardly think I suit the name.” His eyes burned.

Liz’s mom laughed. “I see. Sometimes the thing we see in ourselves contradicts the thing others see in us. Call me Ellie. It’s my mom’s special name for me.” She sat at the table with him. “Can I see your hand?”

He didn’t trust her, but she was probably the only person in the world who he could. He reached his hand across against the better judgment of his stomach. When she touched him, their hands sparked. She winced. “When was the last time you fed, Briton?”

He narrowed his gaze. It had been the bartender at the ball. “Ten days.”

“You have been feeding off of her, just not with blood. Emotional vampirism is the worst kind.”

“I haven’t done anything of the sort.”

Her eyes lifted, giving him a silver stare filled with doubt. “You haven’t noticed your hunger has subsided?”

“I guess.”

“Love is a form of food. Don’t kid yourself on that one.” She sighed and closed her eyes, massaging his palm with her skinny thumbs. She paused. “Do you know your future?”

“No.”

“Do you want to know?”

He contemplated for only half a second. “No.” he didn’t want to know how much he would hurt when she was ripped from his heart and became a wolf.

“Why did you come?”

He ached but forced the words from his lips. “I need to know the truth of what happened to my family.”

A sly grin crossed her lips though she didn’t open her eyes. “You assume they were the victims in it all?”

“I do not.”

“Clear your mind, let me in. I can show you everything. I have some of her blood left.” She got up and grabbed a jar from a shelf. She sprinkled a brown powder on his palm. Immediately, he caught a hint of the rusty smell. It had once been blood. She cut into his hand, mixing his blood with the dried blood. Then she spit into his palm and rubbed the blood in, then offered him a bright-eyed smile. “You ready?”

He nodded, almost scared of what he had asked for. She pressed her thumb into his hand.

Instantly, he was transported.

He stood outside of a
house,
muffled screams filled the cold air around him. He looked around. They were on a farm somewhere in town. It took him a second to understand where he was.

Something pulled him through the house’s outer walls and inside to a warm room.
His brother, Gunnar, stood before him.
He looked drunk, the way he swayed standing still. A repulsive smile owned his pale face. He looked gruesome. Even in that state, seeing him made Briton miss him. They had been the closest at one point. Gunnar staggered towards a trembling woman, standing in the corner of the small room. A man, clearly her husband, was tied to the staircase with rope. He struggled, sobbing into the cloth tied around his face.

Gunnar smiled at the man as he used his fingers to slash the nightgown off the woman. She sobbed, not moving. She must have been compelled.

Gunnar moved closer to her but Briton looked away. He forced his look to stay on the face of the man as the woman’s screams filled the air.

The man screamed with and for his wife.

The movement of small children was what caught Briton’s eyes. He winced, forcing himself to walk from the room to the children. They held each other, rocking on the floor.
Two small boys.
He knew their fate, he wanted out of the murderous dreamland the witch had put him in, but he couldn’t get out. He was stuck there until it was done. Until every inch of the house was covered in its occupants blood and his brother was passed out on the floor.

He had never seen a vampire react that way. He had never seen a family murdered. He had heard it happened. The vampire in question was always put to death. Always.

He wondered if he was stuck there, trapped in the house with his brother’s snoring and the dripping sound of blood falling from chairs and windows and the ceiling.

But the door opened. The old witch came in. Her jaw dropped as her legs buckled. She scrambled to get to the room with the boys. It all happened so slowly. She dropped to the ground in front of them, lifting their limp, bloody bodies into her arms. Tears flooded her face that was twisted in agony.

They must have been her family or close friends.

He felt hot tears streaming his cheeks.

The screams had been brutal.
The sounds of the boys.
The father dying last, being forced to watch it all.

Briton begged for the dream to end. But instead, he was pulled to a spot in the forest. He stood next to a much younger Miles. He was waiting for someone. He glanced at his pocket watch. A sound broke in the forest—footsteps. Miles’ back straightened. He looked scared. When Briton saw the wolf, he started to panic for Miles but the
wolf shifted
right there. Becoming a man Briton recognized, Samuel Michaels, Jamie’s father.

He walked, stark naked to where Miles stood.

His lips moved slowly. “Gunnar Thorlackson has murdered the old witch’s brother and his family, your uncle and cousins.”

Miles’ face paled. “The boys?”

Samuel shook his head. “All dead. Your mother wants her revenge.”

“What is Thorlack doing to give her the justice she seeks?”

Samuel shook his head. “Nothing. He is preparing to whisk his family away. His solution is to leave town and take the boys back to the homeland.”

Miles sat quiet for a moment before saying, “You want to help my mother, stay on her good side? You would throw Thorlack and his family and the vampires to the wolves, so to speak, for the love of the old witch?”

Samuel nodded, looking fierce.

“The other boys have committed no offense. Maria and the boys are innocent in this.”

Samuel’s look didn’t change. “She and the boys must be part of the trap. Otherwise Thorlack will suspect. The only way it works is if they are all part of the plan. The witch has a good plan. It will work.”

“Nicolai must be spared of this. You know of the prophecy.”

Samuel nodded. “I know. That’s why I’m telling you. Your mother sent me to tell you that you must get him out of here and never come back. The witch has called for the hunters. She will lower the guard and glamour, telling the Thorlacksons that Gunnar’s wicked deed made it impossible for her to maintain it, and we are all threatened by the evil he has done. We will say he is in the farmhouse about to be burned. The witch will tell Thorlackson she cannot conceal him and his family with the wolves in the barrier she is making to protect everyone from the coming hunter invasion. The invasion that his son’s evil has brought down upon us. She has a plan for him and his family. It will rid us all of them. The
bitten that hide here in Wolfville will be slaughtered by the hunters
. We will say they died defending Gunnar in the farmhouse.”

Miles looked sick. “What a pretty package you have made this. Why do I feel as though you have some interest in the vampires being forced from Wolfville?”

Samuel laughed. “Of course I have an interest in that. The town is established, thriving and comfortable. But rumors of what hide here have reached the ears of the hunters. They will come here either way—why not control how they come and why and when. This is for the best. The vampires who do not wish to fight will flee, leaving us alone. The witches will hide a large portion of the town with their glamour. The hunters will see what we want them to and nothing more. They will believe they have cleared a nest of vampires. That is all. We will be left in peace—wolves, witches, and the humans we love.”

Miles was defeated. Briton could see it. He swallowed whatever he was going to say, and instead, turned and walked away.

“Your only chance to save Briton is to comply,” Samuel shouted after him.

“I am well aware of that. I will do as you ask, but I will not be happy about it. I do not agree with this, nor rejoice in it. You are double-crossing the man who helped you build this. He is your brother in your curse, Samuel. You will regret the day you have done this.” He walked from the forest. Briton was confused. His brother certainly deserved the fate he was getting, but the remainder of this family did not.
They had been betrayed by the witches and the wolves
.

He was pulled from the dream, suddenly sitting in the kitchen again, feeling the dampness of his tears still on his cheeks. His eyes darted to Ellie. “Why? Why show me this?”

Her silver eyes glistened. She too had seen it all. “I fear there is more to this story that we do not know. We need the blood of one who was there. I can only show us what her blood mixed with yours will show.
Images of your family.
I need wolf blood to see the rest.”

“I can bring a wolf tonight.”

“Liv?”

He nodded.

Her eyes grew worrisome. “She is on the verge of a change. She is unsteady.”

“The moon is days away. I don’t think she will change before it.”

Ellie let his hand go and passed him a napkin. She wiped her own fingers, speaking softly, “You know she is special, right?”

“She is to me.”

“You are shadow twins.”