Within the Cards (30 page)

“Alright vamp boy, you’re improving your reaction time.” Dee smiled and clapped her hands.

Since our truce, we became more like friends that playfully lashed demeaning comments at each other. I think this was Dee’s way of letting me know she approved of her sister's choice.

“Can you see what the Lords are up to?” Dee asked. She looked at Ellie to make sure it was all right with her. She knew talking about them upset her. She didn’t like dwelling on our upcoming battle. Ellie smiled and shook her head letting me know it was ok with her.

“I don’t know I’ll try.” I told her as I looked in the distant. I tried to concentrate.

Finding another’s thought was one of my abilities I found harder to control. The thoughts and visions came and went. They were like fuzzy pictures that came in and out of focus. I closed my eyes and thought of the Lords. The picture was blurry, but I made out the images. I saw them again at the same table they sat at before. Ellie explained this was the table in the study. It belonged to Ultress. Many of his belongings remained in the castle the Lords claimed after Ultress and Elizabeth were annihilated.

This vision seemed to be one that was not going to happen, but had already happened. This was something I hadn't realized I could do, but controlling these visions was hard. I didn’t see Suzi. She wasn’t there. The Lords were arguing. The oldest of the three seemed to be worried about something. I couldn’t focus in on the conversation. The anger blocked my visions. I could see they were looking at something on the table, but I couldn’t make out the image. The middle one banged his hand on the table to show his irritation. There was a female present, but she wasn’t Suzi. She yelled at the three brothers. Her tone angered the three, but she laughed at their anger. Who was this female that dared to cross these three beings of such power? I wondered.

Ellie and Dee saw my thoughts. With Suzie’s absence, they knew she had been extinguished. If she wasn’t with the Lords, we knew something had happened to her. This new woman must have taken her place.

“Daught, try to focus on the new female.” Dee encouraged. She wanted to know as much as she could about the female.

“What does she look like?” Ellie asked. She intrigued both Ellie and Dee. I pushed my thoughts to her. I began to pull her closer to my mind. She had long blonde hair that cascaded down her back and descend to her waist in ringlets. Her hair color was just as Ultress’s, and the natural curls were that of Elizabeth’s. The female like Ultress looked different from most immortals. They both held the light blonde hair. She was beautiful. Her skin was pale with bright gray eyes. She had a small frame build, and she was about the same height as Ellie. My mind stopped, and my thoughts went back to her eyes. She had the same eyes as Ellie. They were ice gray. Her eyes were a mirror image of Ellie’s.

Dee looked at Ellie. I read their thoughts, and I knew this female was their mother. Ellie never talked about her mother or father. The Lords forbid them to see their mother after they were adult. Suzi never spoke of her to them. She was their leader, and that was all they needed to know. Their father was extinguished after the lords found Ellie to be different from the other witchyres.

“I don’t understand. She always stayed away from her brothers.” Dee said as she looked at me with indecision.

“What do you mean?” asked Ellie looking in Dee’s direction.

“Ellie, you and our mother are more alike than you realize. She was a rebel in her own rite”. Dee explained as she touched Ellie’s face. She would have been extinguished a long time ago, but the Lords couldn't remove her because she was at the same level of creation as they were. She was never spoken about to them after they took Ellie and her sisters away from her.

“But I don’t understand why they kept us away from her. I thought she left us. I never knew much about her.” Ellie responded with a look of wonder and insecurity on her face.

“All I can tell you is she refused to teach you the way of the witchyres. You were different, and she protected you from them. That's why we were taken away from her.” Dee looked away and became lost in her thoughts.

“So they just took us from her, and she let them?” Ellie cried. I could feel the anger build in her.

“Do you think she had much of a choice?” Dee demanded. She lashed an evil look in Ellie’s direction. Ellie looked stunned.

I realized Dee knew more about why her mother was at the Lord’s castle than she was telling us. She couldn’t quite her thoughts. The Lords needed to understand Ellie’s powers better and her mother knew more about her than Ellie ever realized.

I concentrated harder on the Lords. I had to find out what the conversation was with Ellie’s mother, and why she made them angry. Their anger and frustration were strong. I pulled her in closer. I saw she enjoyed their anger. She was refusing something. I saw her shaking her head as she held her hand up to them. They were trying to get her to tell them about Ellie, but she refused to divulge her daughter’s abilities to them. This pushed their anger further, but she seemed to enjoy their childish fit.

“Dee, what is your mother’s name?” I asked still concentrating on their conversation. Before Dee could answer, Elizabeth walked up and joined the conversation. She spoke.

“Her name is Lauren.” Ellie and Dee lowered their heads as they heard her name. Elizabeth’s thoughts were of a daughter she loved deeply. She was the only one of her children that bore the blonde hair of Ultress. She was the only child she trusted. Lauren was against the annihilation of her parents. She tried to stop their destruction, but she was no match to stand alone against her brothers. She knew her brother’s power. They extinguished her husband for daring to stand against them when they realized Ellie was different. The Lords didn’t want Ellie’s parents to create another like her, so they killed her father. They didn’t realize it wasn’t Ellie’s genetics that made her different, but was a spell cast on her.

“Ellie, your mother was your protector. When the witches cast the spell on you to be different from the other witchyres, they had to leave you with a protector. The witches knew you would be eliminated if the Lords found out you had this spell on you. Lauren is your mother, so she became your protector.” Elizabeth informed and reached to touch Ellie’s face.

“Why have I never known this?” Ellie asked as she looked at her sister and grandmother.

“My sons realized there was a special bond between you and your mother. They didn’t understand this bond, so they removed you from her before you reached adulthood. This was why your memory of her is vague. She has been protecting you through the years, but you never realized she was there.” Elizabeth recanted this story to her. She saw the disbelief in Ellie’s eyes. Ellie thought for years her mother hated her. She thought her mother left her because she was different from other witchyres. She had always believed her mother was ashamed of her.

The witches that came to help with the preparation of the impending war told Elizabeth of her daughter’s existence since the time of their annihilations. The Lords ordered Lauren to remain away from her three daughters. Seeing they couldn’t eliminate her, they used her attraction to Ellie to hold her hostage with the fear they would eliminate her unique daughter. Ellie stayed in her sister’s care until she completed her childhood. The Lords didn’t intend on the older sisters keeping Ellie’s uniqueness from them, but this wasn’t of her sisters own doing. Lauren cast a spell on the older girls to fear the effects of the Lords finding out the differences of Ellie. Suzi and Dee’s crave for power kept them from telling the Lords of their sister’s differences because they knew she would be an outcast, and they would be as well.

“I must find out why she’s with them now.” I told them. Again, I concentrated on my vision. My thoughts pushed toward Lauren. She wasn’t at the Lord’s lair by her own comings. Her brothers summoned her. They demanded her to tell them of Ellie’s powers. However, she didn’t fear them. She knew they couldn’t remove her, and she knew her daughters were no longer in their control. This made the Lords angry. They had never been in the position of not being in control. Lauren’s spell of protection was still enforced, and she refused to release her knowledge of Ellie. This infuriated them, but she didn’t care. She knew Ellie had new protectors. Her mother and father were back, and they wouldn’t let anything happen to Ellie. Lauren taunted them of their reign coming to an end. The harder I concentrated the easier it was to focus on them. I heard their conversation as if I were in the same room as they were.

“Lauren, you must realize your daughters have turned their back on you. No one came to retrieve you. The daughters you protect haven't come to rescue you. They don’t want you.” The older Lord spoke with an evil and vile ridicule that sounded like Lucifer himself.

“Your words have no meaning to me. My daughters are the ones that will be your downfall. You pathetic losers push your fear on others and this has gone on far too long. It’s your time to burn in hell. I need no protection from you,” she lashed at the three and turned her back on them.

“Sister, you are the one that mistakes our abilities. We will stand strong against them. Your brats are no match for us,” the younger of the brothers hissed in her direction. He began to laugh, as did the others.

“It’s not my daughters you should worry your little heads about now. Your father is now walking the earth once more, and you will repent for the sins you have dealt his people.” She sneered as the lords stopped laughing. She smiled. I could see the fear in the faces of the two younger brothers with the thought of their father lashed by Lauren. The oldest of the three continued to laugh at her insinuation. He would never release his control freely even if the other two feared Ultress. Lauren was somewhat of a hellcat. I could see her likeness in Ellie. I looked at Ellie and knew she read my thoughts and smiled.

“They fear Ultress.” I spoke as I smiled at the others. I felt the excitement build inside me.

“As well as they should, but they will use his compassion against him. He will have to be strong enough to see through their wickedness and know the truth of their ways.” Dee spoke. Her tone was controlled, but I saw the worry in her eyes. She tried not to look in my direction, but I knew her fears. She turned her head toward the water. Elizabeth also knew the meaning of her words. However, she also knew her sister witches were working on a spell to take care of this weakness. She smiled at these thoughts.

“My mother is on our side.” Ellie spoke. She looked deep into my eyes. I knew she felt bewildered, but intrigued.

“Yes, she has always been on your side Ellie.” Dee replied. She reached and touched Ellie’s arm and then pulled her close to her.

“Daught, what about Suzi?” Ellie asked. The intrigued thought turned to worry. I tried to focus on her, but all I could see was darkness. My vision left because there was nothing to focus on anymore. I couldn’t feel her anywhere. I hated to tell Ellie and Dee about her absents, but I couldn’t lie to them. I loved Ellie and I wanted us to be honest with each other.

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Chapter Twenty-Six

REST THY SOULLESS FORMS

It was four nights until the new moon rose in the night sky. The war was inevitable. The Lords weren’t as confident as I once thought, but they would never back down. I knew we had to feed on their fears because they would undoubtedly feed on the one weakness of Ultress. His weakness of love for his children influenced by decades of hate and cruelty could be his downfall; it could be our entire downfall.

War was cruel and unforgiving, but there were times when love had to be pushed aside to win. I hoped Ultress would be able to push his love for a granddaughter aside and realized he couldn’t change her way of thinking.

We needed nourishment. It was time to hunt. Ellie and Dee had to hunt with the other witchyres of the village. We couldn’t take the change of them hunting with us. The hybrid vampires wouldn't tolerate their trespassing, and we didn’t need another conflict at this time.

I didn’t worry about Ellie, because I knew the Lords every intention. I could see where they and their followers were at all times. My visions were coming freely now. Ellie would be safe to feed and nourish her being. Ultress, Elizabeth and I were bound by the separation of our own territories. Their way of hunting was different from mine, but I couldn’t fault them. Ultress learned this way many hundreds of years ago. This was the way he taught Elizabeth. We lavished in our feeding. It had been far too long between hunting trips. We had to get our physical beings strong because this war would take every bit of strength and our undivided attention to win.

We returned to the village before Ellie and the others. Ultress and Elizabeth needed to speak to the witches. I walked along the shoreline thinking of the task ahead of us. Ellie was strong and fierce, but I still worried about the Lords getting close to her. My attention would be on the fight, and I feared I wouldn’t be able to see them if they got near her.

This gifted ability was only valid if I could focus and during the war, I wouldn’t be able to focus my attention on her safety. If the lords got their hands on Ellie the war would be over, and they would win. Ellie was the prize so she had to be kept safe. She would be made to send Ultress and Elizabeth back to the other world, and my fate would be sealed if they captured her.

I concentrated on Ellie’s mother. My thoughts were in the hope she would be able to watch over Ellie when the war distracted me. My convictions of protecting her were strong. I sensed a being in my mind, and then heard its words.

“I will,” this strange voice stated. It startled me. I looked around. I knew the sound. It was the same voice I heard taunting the Lords. It was Ellie’s mother. She heard my thoughts. “How did that happen?” I had never heard of someone being able to hear the thoughts of another they didn’t know. Of course, there were many things I had never heard of, and for some reason I was the lucky one to be able to do them.