The Wicked (13 page)

There had to be a catch here. “So, I can just go back to my Guardian duties?”

“You will never
just
be a Guardian,” Zia said. “But you have gained the knowledge you need to understand your magic and use it appropriately.”

A thought occurred to me. “You know I never asked this, but what do witches do exactly in the Council. I mean, will I have witch duties too?”

“I thought you’d never ask that question. And I am glad to see you have some interest in that regard,” Zia replied. “We will use you when necessary. That is what our role is within the Otherworld. Obviously, your ability to use magic without touch and your defensive talent will come in handy. What we do exactly is much the same as Guardians. We fight against Black Magic—witches who have turned evil. Guardians would not stand against those who use the dark forces. This is why it is our job to stop them.”

“I had been wondering about that. I thought it strange that Kyden never mentioned having to fight witches.”

Briar said, “That’s because they couldn’t. They are strong, but Black Magic needs more than muscle to defeat it.”

“Do you work for the Council?” I asked Briar.

“I do,” she replied.

“Why don’t you live in the Otherworld then?”

“Why would I?” she retorted.

She had me there—her place rocked. If I lived here, I doubt I’d been inclined to leave either.

“I come when I am needed,” Briar said, “but I wish to live in the Earthworld. Its beauty is something I could not live without.”

I thought for a moment, processing, then asked, “These witches are dangerous then?”

“Dangerous.” Briar laughed. “That is putting it mildly. The power they yield is unimaginable.”

“How do you defeat them?” I asked. “Obviously you don’t use swords and punches.”

They both laughed.

“Us with a sword—now that would be a sight!” Briar shook her head. “Witches fight with magic. That is our only defense against the dark forces. It is our duty to dispose of any of these witches as quickly as possible. They always pose a threat and the destruction they could cause is catastrophic.”

“I’m guessing it doesn’t happen that often then?”

“No it doesn’t,” Zia said. “We try to train our younglings early how to fight against the pull, but some just cannot deny its strength and appeal.”

“Why do they want it?”

“To gain the power you yield,” Briar answered.

That was a bit of a wakeup call. They had spoken repeatedly of my abilities, but putting it in those terms made one thing clear—I was powerful. And that made a sudden scary question to pop up. “I don’t use Black Magic, do I?”

“Of course you don’t,” Zia said, softly. “There is nothing dark about you.”

Phew!
Nice to know I wasn’t on
the dark side
. “So, back to Guardian duties and onto killing crazy evil witches. The fun never ends around here, does it?”

Briar chuckled sultry. “I bet the fun never ends while you’re taking that lusty Guardian between your thighs.”

The moment we landed back in the foyer, a wave of despair swept over me, almost dropping me to my knees.

“What is wrong?” Zia grabbed me when I swayed.

“Haven,” I managed.

Suddenly, the witch in question came running toward me out of the Council’s Hall. Tears streamed her cheeks.

“What is?” I gasped, trying to fight through her tortuous emotions that were crippling me. “What happened?” She threw herself into my arms, and the second she did, my mind faded away to her memories—similar to a movie playing out in my mind. A moment in time that would answer all my questions and what answers I got, weren’t great. “Trefan’s dead?” I squeaked.

“He is,” Haven cried.

Zia looked shocked then looked inquisitively at me. “How did you know that?”

“I saw it in her mind,” I responded as we ran toward the Council’s Hall. “It was like she showed me what was upsetting her.”

“This is not the appropriate time to get into this,” Zia said, staying in step with me, “but I believe you may have just gained the ability to glimpse into the mind of others as I can.”

As cool as that was, it didn’t hold any thought in my mind. Trefan was gone. How could this be? He was a strong Guardian, I’d seen him fight, there is no way anyone could overpower him. It was impossible.

When we entered the Council’s Hall, I hadn’t let go of Haven for a second. The sadness was consuming her. I was honestly scared that if I let go, that would be the end of her. Kyden, Ryker and Keir were waiting in front of the Council’s throne chairs—all wearing the same grief-stricken expression. Finn was just off to the side, looking absolutely heartbroken. My heart sank for him. I knew that look all too well.

“What happened?” I asked Kyden.

“Don’t know yet,” he responded, grimly. “All we know is Trefan is gone.”

“This is horrible,” I sniffed, and tightened my arms around Haven. Grief sank in so deep. But confusion swirled with it. How did someone have the strength to kill him? It just couldn’t be. I needed my questions answered. “How did you find out?”

“A witch stumbled upon Trefan’s body, then notified the Council immediately.”

“This cannot be true,” Haven cried. “This has to be untrue. Please Nexi, tell me this isn’t true.”

“I’m so sorry.” I held her tighter. “I wish I could.” And I meant it. Trefan was sweet, young. He had so much life in him. It expelled from him. This was in every way wrong.

“We won’t know anymore until we go to the scene,” Talon told us. “Go there now. Find out what happened to Trefan.”

“Haven is not capable of doing the recreation right now,” I said to him.

Zia interjected. “I will go.”

“I want to go,” Haven hollered, pulling herself from my arms. “I need to help with this.”

“You can help, Haven, but you don’t need to see this.” I stared deeply into her eyes, trying to make her see she wasn’t capable of handling this. She was traumatized enough. Watching Trefan die would send her right over the deep end.

“No,” Haven said with a stomp of her foot. “I’m going.”

“You will stay here,” Finn shouted. The look on his face wasn’t tormented any longer. Now, he just looked plain old pissed.

“I don’t want to,” she replied just as loud.

“You will stay here.” He lunged forward, yanking her against him. “You will obey me.”

Finn had
never
talked to Haven like this before. Truthfully, it had come as a bit of a surprise that he always seemed so passive considering the way the other Guardians could be. Dominant jerks!

Haven’s eyes widened a little, instantly she softened. “Okay, Finn. But hurry back.”

I suspected she understood that she needed to listen to him here. He would never talk to her in such a way unless he felt it necessary.

“This would be too much for you.” Finn sighed. “I will not allow it to destroy you. Stay here, my sweet. We will be home shortly.” Then, he took her into a deep kiss.

When he backed away, she wiped her tears and nodded.

Kyden approached me looking determined.

I shook my head, knowing just what he was about to say. There’d be no way in hell I’d stay behind.

He looked sighed deeply. “Alright, let’s go then.”

I smiled in return. We had come to an understanding about his possessive nature. He couldn’t boss me around and that was that. He’d come to accept it—or at least—he did his best to live with it.

Quickly, we ran to the Council’s foyer. Finn took my hand as Kyden took the other, then he grabbed onto Keir who latched his hand on Ryker’s arm. Then, we followed Zia through the portal and blasted into the Earthworld.

When my feet connected with land, I raised my head. A large baseball diamond was before us and nothing else. Who even knew what State we were in, but the truth was it didn’t matter. All that mattered was discovering what happened to Trefan, and finding those responsible.

It still hadn’t sunk in yet that he was gone. But loss was something I was used to. As horrible as that truth was, it was all too real. As much as I could cry for him we needed to get those who murdered him. I would keep my focus to avenge him because he deserved nothing less.

With that, I focused back on the area. “A baseball diamond,” I said to Kyden. “Strange place, don’t you think?”

Kyden nodded in agreement. “Quite strange.”

“Show us now, Zia,” Finn lashed out. “Show me what happened to my brother.”

Zia raised her hands to the sky. Within seconds, the scene was before us. Shock clenched my stomach. At least twenty vampires surrounded Trefan. They circled him, while he stood terrified.

“We will get our revenge against the Guardians. You will be the first we take,” a vampire snarled.

“Revenge,” I whispered. What revenge? What had the Guardians done to a bunch of vampires? These weren’t some young, reckless ones either. These vampires were old, power emanated off them.

A split second passed before the vampires attacked and began drinking heavily from Trefan’s body. They were all over him, latching on to any bare skin they could find.

I quickly looked away, no desire to watch, when a witch standing at the edge off the woods caught my eye. Watching, but not participating. “Freeze the vision,” I yelled out.

Zia did exactly that. “What is it?” she asked, hurriedly.

“A witch,” I responded as I ran closer toward the witch. When I stopped in front of her frozen form, she was the definition of the girl next door. Blonde, big blue pansy eyes, sweet-looking. “Who is this?” I burst out. There was something about her—something that sent a wave of terror through my gut.

“Astoria,” she gasped behind me. “What is she doing here?”

I snapped my head to Zia. “I take it you know her then?”

“That, Nexi.” She pointed to her. “Is a witch who uses Black Magic.”

A Black Magic witch?
“What would make her participate,” I waved over to Trefan, “in something like this?”

Zia shook her head. “I have no idea. Astoria has been quiet for some time now. We had some trouble with her years ago, but our forces left us unable to destroy her. She got away and we haven’t heard a peep from her since.”

“She must be powerful then if you couldn’t defeat her?” I asked.

“Indeed. Extremely powerful. As I said, when a witch accepts the dark magic it consumes her with a power that is bottomless. She could kill us all right where we stood.”

“Really?” That surprised me. “Even you?”

“Even me,” Zia responded without hesitation. “I have only fought her once and came very close to death. If others had not come to help I would not be standing here now.”

“Jesus! Scary.” Zia was beyond powerful. She almost died? I shuddered at the thought.

“Very scary,” Zia said, grimly. “It troubles me that she is here.”

I examined Astoria further, memorized her features in my mind. Then, I stepped away, looking back and found Finn kneeling beside Trefan. Being that this was a vision, he couldn’t touch him. It was obvious how much it was killing him that he couldn’t.

I approached him then knelt down beside him. “I’m so sorry, Finn. Trefan was kind and generous. I’m sorry you have lost him.”

Finn raised his head. Tears streaked his face. “You of all people understand the depth of emotions that’s making it hard for me to breathe right now.”

I gulped deeply. “Yes, I do know.”

Suddenly, he grabbed onto me, wrapped himself around my body as a child might. I tightened myself around him, understanding perfectly the torment he was suffering. Discovering this new ability I held only made this that much harder. I could clearly see just what he was feeling. Little flashes of horror swept my mind. His pain was so intense. It was too much to bear. I focused deeply and closed off the connection. I’d been through enough trauma of my own than to deal with his too.

Sometime later, Zia said softly, “We need to get back.”

I nodded as Finn pulled himself away. Kyden helped me to my feet, then assisted Finn, who definitely needed help. If Kyden let go, I had no doubt Finn would’ve toppled straight to the ground.

“Wait,” Finn abruptly gasped. “I need a couple minutes. I can’t return to Haven like this.”

God, he adored her. In a time when it was his right to be selfish and wallow in grief, his only thought was of her. I loved Finn. I approached him and placed my hand on his arm. “You don’t need to be strong. She will be there for you.”

“I do,” he said, firmly. “Haven can’t handle this. Just give me a minute.”

We gave him a couple minutes alone leaving him to sit next to Trefan

When he came back, the sadness that gripped him was replaced with a fierce determination. I knew exactly what he was trying to do. Hiding emotions was my specialty.

“I am ready,” Finn said in almost a growl and never looked back once to see that Zia’s vision had faded and Trefan’s body was gone.

Then, after grasping hands, we slammed back into the foyer.

Haven was still crying. She ran into Finn’s arms and he gripped her tightly. “Hush now, Haven. You are fine, my sweet.”

“Was it bad?” Haven sobbed. “Did he suffer?”

Finn hushed her again. “No. It was quick.”

He was lying to her. It wasn’t quick. Being drained by too many vampires to count was far from painless. They’d make it hurt. They had the ability to do that. If they wanted it to be erotic, it would be. If they wanted it to be agonizing, they could do that too.

We all took Finn’s lead and followed him into the Council’s Hall. Talon immediately stood from his chair and approached us. “Who was it?” he demanded

“Vampires and Astoria,” Zia responded.

Talon’s eyes widened. “Astoria? She has combined her force with vampires.” Confusion filled his face. “Why?”

Zia shook her head harshly. “I have no answer to that question. All that was said was the vampires wanted revenge.”

“Revenge for what?” Zade snapped.

“My thoughts exactly,” I replied.

Zia paced the room. “I have tried to find a connection here, but I am at a loss. Astoria has long been with the dark magic. She has not used it against us for years, or tried to gain more power for herself. I cannot find a reason why she would do this.”

“Do you know who the vampires are?” Zade asked.

Responses from each of us came in heavy shrug.

“They are from the mid-West.” Ryker said.

“The mid-West?” Brax, the Master of Weres asked. His normally soft brown eyes deepened with shock, as his huge—like Hulk Hogan huge—body tensed.

“Thalia’s vampires?” I spit out.

Ryker nodded. “I recognized a few of them. I’ve seen them at their summit.”

“They’re what?”

“It’s like a meeting,” Zia said quickly. “They have monthly get-togethers you could say to discuss business, trouble, anything that affects them.”

“Thalia will be furious,” Zade said. “We should notify her immediately.” Then, he looked to me. “I heard you hit it off with her. Go to her. Tell her of this.”