Survive the Dawn (28 page)

She glanced out a window, knowing the residual moon would soon be in position. She must get the box and stop the ceremony. A wave of indecision swept through her. Should she stop the ceremony first? No, she thought as she mounted the stairs. Getting the box and the amulet back was paramount.

At the top of the stairs, two snarling vampires greeted Sebastian. They were disposed of by tossing one over the railing, but not before she ripped his throat out. She grabbed the other and with such force threw him against the wall. Her rage taking over, Sebastian flew to him and sank her fangs into his neck. After sucking the life out of him, she threw him down the stairs. He bounced off and tumbled down the staircase and landed in a tangled mass of legs and arms.

Sebastian breathed like a bull; her fangs dropped and her eyes turned blood red with the rage that swept through her—the rage she hoped she would never have again. She knew the box was in
Nicholae’s
room.

The door was locked and she rolled her eyes. “As if...”

With an angry growl, she flew at the door, knocking it off its hinges and reducing it to kindling. She stepped in as three vampires, completely stunned, whirled around. Damien had been sitting behind a desk; he too jumped up as the shards of wood flew across the room.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Good evening. Everyone looks so surprised to see me.” Sebastian looked at the desk behind them. “Poker night?”

Damien, along with the three others, prepared for the ensuing confrontation. Sebastian laughed at the swords in their hands.

“Is this how many brave vampires it took to behead a thousand-year-old vampire?” Sebastian wiped the blood from her face. “I’m insulted. I’m much younger than Tatiana.”

“Tatiana was old, but she had the power you do not possess, Sebastian. Destroying you will not take an army,” Damien said casually, though Sebastian heard the slight quaver in his voice.

“Then why not do this alone, Damien?” Sebastian looked at the others. “I suggest the rest of you vacate this room.” It was then she noticed the ornate box sitting on the desk behind Damien. How like
Nicholae
, in his arrogance, to leave this sitting in the open. Even Tatiana must have had it safely hidden for centuries, and now
Nicholae
seemingly had it on display.

Damien followed her gaze and looked back. “It’s amazing that something so small contains something so powerful. It will be
Nicholae’s
. He’s the one.”

“I’m afraid, Damien, Tatiana had other ideas. I give you all one last warning.”

“Enough,” Damien yelled.

The three vampires charged Sebastian. With lightning quickness, Sebastian leapt over them and turned around. With ease, she snapped one vampire’s neck and ripped the throat out of another. She picked up a dropped sword and drove it through the last vampire as he lunged behind her; blood spewed from his fatal wound as she withdrew the sword.

She whirled around to Damien, with sword in hand. Blood covered her face; she wiped it away and grinned. “Just you and me. Come, Damien,” she taunted with a laugh. “Let’s see how brave you are now.”

Damien’s nostrils flared as he flew across the room. Sebastian grinned at his impudence and merely raised her sword, impaling the stunned Damien. He let out a howling cry as Sebastian drove the sword deeper as she raised him overhead. He hung suspended, hoisted on Sebastian’s sword and looked down in shock.

“You’re brave but stupid,” Sebastian said as she looked up at him. She then let out an angry howl and threw his body, sword and all, toward the ceiling where he was impaled; the sword wobbled precariously as blood dripped down from Damien’s body. “And now very dead.”

Sebastian turned her palm and captured its flow. She then put her hand to her mouth, and as soon as she tasted, visions flashed through her mind. Damien was driving a limo deep into the woods, Nina sat next to him. She was shocked when she saw Carey Spaulding sitting in the backseat.

It struck her then. “The blood of an innocent,” she said.

Nicholae
would use Carey in this ritual. She walked over to the window and saw the crescent moon hanging high in the sky. She grabbed the box and looked at the top of it, then looked at her ring. The design on her ring matched that of the box. Sebastian closed her fist and fit the ring into its intended position on top. She felt the ring pierce her skin and watched the blood flow through the ring and onto the box. She remembered Tatiana’s words then,
“It remembers. Now it will remember you.”
When her blood and the metal of the box mingled, the ornate design swirled and moved, and the latch opened.

Sebastian pulled her hand away and opened it completely.
There
lying in a bed of dark blue velvet was the silver amulet hanging from a chain. Sebastian saw the amulet held the same design as the box and her ring and cursed as she looked out the window. It was getting late. She slipped the chain over her neck and tucked it under her sweater. She had a ritual to stop.

Chapter 26

“Time is of the essence,”
Nicholae
said as he looked skyward.

The elders followed his gaze and agreed. Silently, they made their way deeper into the woods, down a narrow path.

Nina held
Nicholae
back for a moment. “My lord, I’m grateful for the confidence you have in me. You will not regret this.”

Nicholae
raised an eyebrow. “No, Nina, I will not,” he said and continued down the path.

He had checked the site of the ritual. Everything was ready—the chalice wrapped in ancient cloth waited for him. Energy rippled through his body when he thought of what was about to take place. In a short distance, the unholy site appeared in the clearing.

Unexpectedly, Carey stopped. “No,” she whispered, drawing the word out in a terrified voice as she backed up.

Nicholae
looked around as did the others. This mortal sensed something that he and the others couldn’t. Nina stood beside Carey and reared back to deliver another blow and
Nicholae
stopped her. They stood in silence.

“Don’t you see it?” Carey asked in a pleading voice.

The elders stepped back.
Nicholae
and Nina held their ground with Carey, who frantically swatted around her head. Nina rolled her eyes. “She’s been doing that since I picked her up,” she said to
Nicholae
.

“It moved,” Carey whispered.

Nicholae
impatiently regarded Carey; it appeared her sanity was slipping away.

“What moved?” Nina asked.

“Everything,” Carey whispered again; she frantically looked around. “God, don’t you see it?” She let out a whimpering cry and tried to run.

Nina was on her in a flash, dragging Carey back by the scruff of her neck. “Big bad detective no more, eh?”

As they came to the clearing,
Nicholae
saw the Chalice of
Solomonarii
on the ground, the cloth draping over it, left there by Damien. All at once, there was silence. There were no sounds of the night—no crickets chirping, no wind through the tall trees. Even as all of them walked toward the center, they heard no leaves rustling beneath their feet. The air seemed to be sucked out of the forest as if time stood still. There were no earthly sounds at all.

They all stood still. Nina roughly pulled Carey to a halt. Carey bowed her head and peered into the woods. “They’re in the trees,” she said in a low voice. “Don’t let them know you see them.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, you insane idiot? Who?” Nina frantically looked around.

Nicholae
swallowed and did the same. The elders did not come into the circle.
Nicholae
saw
Kasandra
extend her arm to stop them.

“You’re on your own now,
Nicholae
,”
Kasandra
said. “I suggest we stop this. Can you not feel the evil in this place?”

“Shut up, old fool,”
Nicholae
said.

He looked up to see the crescent moon directly overhead; its light illuminated the site. Perfect, he thought. He had memorized the ritual he was to say to bring the ancient witch forth. He motioned for Nina to bring Carey next to him. She did so but not without a great deal of what
Nicholae
thought was trepidation. Carey numbly followed, her head still bowed and looking at the ground.

Nicholae
bent down and picked up the chalice beneath the cloth. He felt it stir in his hands; he felt its power. Setting it down on a fallen tree, the cloth fell away and revealed the carved metal and onyx vessel. With his back to Nina and Carey, he lifted his head to the crescent moon, and with outstretched hands, he addressed the night:

Crone of the Forest Luca—hear me

Daughter of the
Solomonarii
—I beseech you

Darkest Mother, sovereign of this forest of eternal night

Accept my offering of flesh and blood

That the gateway may open and my desire be affixed in this

world.

He turned around to Nina and Carey. “Nina,” he said simply. “Kill her.”

Without hesitation, Nina pulled Carey’s head to one side and plunged her fangs deep into her neck. Carey let out a gurgling cry as
Nicholae
held the chalice to gather her blood. Nina dropped Carey’s body to the ground and stepped back, licking her lips.

Nicholae
set the chalice back on the ground in the center of the ritual site as the moonlight shined upon it.

For the first time since they entered the site, there was sound. The earth beneath where Carey lay moved. The vines from the trees slithered out to claim her and wrapped around her entire body. Within seconds, Carey was gone, her body pulled beneath the forest’s floor. Then, a flurry of sound and motion had the remaining participants looking up into the tall trees. The sound, too slow for the wind, too fast for wings, too unrecognizable as any earthly sound, filled the forest.

Nicholae
continued:

Masters of Dead

Lords of Pain and Suffering

Rulers of those who walk in the Night

All you have commanded, I have completed

All you have required, I have prepared

Your servant beseeches you

Return to me what was stolen—

Nina was terrified; she moved closer to
Nicholae
, who grinned. So easy, he thought as he slid the
athame
from inside his jacket. Its blade was engraved with ancient symbols and stained with the blood of centuries of Celtic sacrifices. As Kendra advised him, the historian told her that the
athame
combined with the chalice added the devastation needed for this ritual, which is why he advised Kendra not to do it.
Nicholae
felt the power and continued.

Let she who was sired be bound forever in your service

And in her place, return that which I desire—

Nicholae
turned as Nina cried out, “No.” He stabbed Nina with the
athame
; the blade, made of pure silver, penetrated Nina’s heart. The look of utter astonishment flashed across her face as she turned into a pile of ashes at
Nicholae’s
feet.

The elders were stunned but quiet as
Nicholae
scooped a handful of Nina’s ashes and added them to the chalice containing Carey’s blood. As written, he placed the chalice in the center and stepped out of the circle, nearly bumping into
Kasandra
and the others.