She blocked them from her own end?Jacob didn’t know what to make of that, because when Vee had spoken his last clause, it was like his sister had purposely kept her location from them, it was like she didn’t want to be found. But why would she do that? Was she running away from something? His eyes found the Alpha at that point. The latter had a disbelieving look on his face. Why was that? Didn’t Vee add that piece of information when making reports? When he heard Vee sigh, he knew that indeed the latter had skipped that minute detail. “Vee, can you explain your last clause….” Raul muttered, leaning forward in his seat. “What do you mean that she blocked us from her own end. That wasn’t the earlier report you gave me.” “I know, but I’m not sorry about that. Your likely unguarded, and untrue thoughts when you know of it, had been the exact reasons why I hadn’t told you. You would think that she’s run away from you, you would start to doubt your recovered memories, you’ll start to
Two Months Later. Raul watched the sky from the mini porch, outside his room, counting clouds. He forgot the number he had counted after a while, then started all over—anything to keep his mind from the absence of his mate. It’s been two months since after his meeting with the ancients, with Jacob, and although the group had been of immense help to him since then, they still hadn’t found Olivera, not even a clue to her location. The only thing they were sure of was that it had been done with magic, probably a portal magic. Jacob hadn’t given up however, Vee too, and that was why Raul was still maintaining a cool facade, was still waking up each day and bathing and eating, as if nothing had happened, because these two were doing the same. The amount of loss couldn’t be compared when put on a weighing scale, but at least they had enough weight to keep him from falling into the hole of insanity. That and the intricacies involving Jeremy’s return to his father's throne. Two we
Jacob had seen the twinkle in Raul’s eyes the moment the Alpha had stepped into the room, and it had taken him the whole of his self control, including the command from his lifemate to remain still and not push Jeremy away, to not demand the joyful truth. He knew it was about his sister. Even now, watching Raul gather his thoughts after being questioned by Jeremy who finally had noticed that Raul was happy for the first time in a while, Jacob was twitching in his seat, to the amusement of Zande. “Olivera. I think she is okay, or rather I know she is okay.” Raul started, darting glances between Jacob and Jeremy. “You were able to reach her through the bond?” Raven asked, happy for the Alpha whom she had come to respect, instead of pity, these past months-she had even taken to making a supplication for him to the gods. Hopefully, there was a good answer. She smiled when Raul nodded.Finally. Jacob, no longer able to hold his emotions, jumped to his feet, and started prancing around
So, cruel, stupid Jackson was already happening to them all? This was what Raul had wanted, but hearing the information now, he wished he hadn’t wished for things to go south—not with the haggard look on Sarah’s face. The woman and her husband were looking like mad people that had just escaped from the asylum. Raul had never seen them before, but he knew that this present appearance was far from the couple’s description on a normal day. Sarah’s hair was no longer the golden brown it was supposed to be—Raul could tell this accurate hair color from the root of the hair—no, it was now muddy brown as if she had pushed herself into muddy waters. He couldn’t help but wonder where they had followed. The canal, the warrior had led them past. A sewage canal?He exchanged glances with his people in the room. Jacob was livid, so were the ancients-quite expected as they lived to hunt down vampires, which were their archenemy. Jeremy, however, had a blank look on the face. If Raul hadn’t known
After Enoch's words, everyone relaxed a little, lowered down their fighting guards a little, seeing the stranger in their midst in a new light. He was only a messenger, notwithstanding that he had just killed the guards of the palace. Raul wondered how many of his guards had fallen, how many of his people had fallen, how many would fall if the other delegates were roaming around his pack. Already, he had sent information to his beta and Seth through the mind link. He was yet to get a response from them. He has never been this glad about the sliver that Vee had put in Seth like now. His former gamma who would be reinstated if Jeremy left, had the powers of Vee at his disposal should a situation call for it. Raul forced himself to relax, to not give off his restlessness in front of the master vampire. He knew that the latter was seeing them all through the puppet's eyes. "Greetings to the group…" The messenger started, folding his arms across his chest, his voice a hoarse filth that
When the vampire tainted man fell to the ground, Raul first thought that the vampire had left the man after his message, that maybe the vampire had seen the answer he wanted on Jeremy's face until he had heard a grunt, Ron's grunt, as if the latter was standing, as if the latter was stressing to breath and walk, yet he knew the man was on the floor, unmoving. That piece of fact was right before his eyes. It was then his eyes searched out Vee who he knew, from Olivera's stories had the power to create illusions. He saw Vee still sitting where he had been all this while, and the latter didn't look surprised, or unreal. "Vee…" The Vee looked at him, just as he heard an answer echo in the hallway. Right before his eyes, the Vee in front of him dissolved to nothing. Jeremy gasped in surprise, but the ancients didn't seem to be fazed by this matter. "He's good, I have to admit. I can see why they had been chosen, created, to guard the Queens." He heard the Prince say, right at the same
"Where are you going?" Enoch asked Jeremy who was about to go with them to fight the first batch of vampires and some otherworldly creatures Enoch hoped were killable the same way that vampires were. They had left Raul's pack a few minutes ago—a speedy travel because the ancients had held Jeremy as they turned to vapor for a faster travel. Jeremy, even now, was still trying to orient himself. Right here, at his father's pack, he could see the guards—ugly looking creatures—patrolling the borders.Right now, he furrowed his eyebrows at Enoch's question, not understanding the point of it. Wasn't he here to fight? "I'm here to fight." There was no way he was leaving outsiders to fight a war for his own homeland. He had to make an input. Enoch shook his head. "As much as that is heroic, you won't last a second against a vampire, or these creatures whom we have no idea how to kill yet. We brought you here as a mediator, as an ensign of hope to your people when we are done with the killing
"Stay here, Jeremy. Don’t move." Jeremy's attention was instantly snapped away from his insane thoughts to Enoch who he noticed, with a confused frown on his face, was now away from him, like a hand’s length. He opened his mouth to ask why, to know why the ancient had left him, to understand if the ancient wanted his death—because how would he stay here and not be killed by the undead—when suddenly he felt the shield, or rather the cage that surrounded him, that kept him in a cocoon. But Enoch was outside, and the other ancients were already moving into position, thinking that their Prince was with him. Jeremy shook his head, and hit the cage, wanting to be let out. He wouldn't allow the blood of an ancient, a Prince at that, to be on his head. He stopped however, when he saw the Prince laughing. Did he say something funny? Or did he look comical hitting the cage? "Why are you laughing?" Even his voice sounded muted to him. It seemed that the cage around him was keeping sounds fr
When they clambered to the surface of the ground, away from the lab, the girls breathed in relief, freed from the nightmares they had been subjected to for years. It was then that Olivera took a blood bag from the polythene in her arms, feeling better in the night hair, and took a sip, wary of how the blood would taste. She had heard Jacob talking about the heady feeling, worse if it came from an ancient. But it still hadn’t prepared her for the kick of pleasure. She found herself moaning as she greedily drank the blood, until she drained the bag. When she was done, she looked at the others. They were staring at her with unexplainable emotions on their faces. At least it wasn’t disgust. Olivera thought with a shrug, before handing the bag over to Miriam. When her friend hesitated in collecting it, she piqued an eyebrow. “You want to do the dismantling of the structure, without alerting the soldiers?” Miriam huffed, and took the bag. As much as she had great magic, she didn’t want
The first thing Olivera saw when she stepped into the hole where the passageway stopped was the largeness of the space, which could contain more than five thousand people. Then she saw the tubes, the boiling liquids and the lab rats. A modern lab.‘Where are you?’ She asked the girl, needing to get out of here; it was making her nauseous. Ten more minutes here, and she might be vomiting all over the place. And there was the fact that she didn’t know when the soldiers would be waking up. ‘At the far end of the cave…’Olivera nodded as if the girl was speaking to her physically. And gesturing with her head, for Miriam to follow her, she sauntered toward the end of the hall, making sure not to look at the tubes housing different organs and parts of an organism. What the hell! She screamed mentally when she saw a full brain at a table which looked like a butchering table. “Oh, my god…what are they doing here?” She heard Miriam ask beside her and sighed. Whose brain was that? A human
Miriam’s heart pounded erratically as she followed Olivera, who seemed very confident on what she was doing, and on where she was going. Three times she thought of grabbing Olivera and walking away from the region, but she also knew it would have been a futile attempt. Her friend’s mind was already made up. She watched as the latter walked past the last barrack, and stopped by a pole, the only pole in the backyard. Behind it were the gates towering them. They have come to a dead end. “Olivera, there is nothing here? Are you sure this girl is real?” Olivera gave Miriam no answer, instead she concentrated on looking around her, waiting for the signal. When she got nothing, she traced the vibration residue, touching the girl’s mind. A jerk in her mind path told her that the girl was surprised she had breached her mind guards. But should she be surprised? Or was something else at play here? ‘Where next should I go?’ She continued, because she knew she was at the right place, that t
“How are we getting past that?” Olivera asked Miriam as they came to stand before a huge gate that towered many feet over them. She could now see why Miriam had wanted the journey to be done in the privacy of the night. As much as she could see—as they had zapped to this point—this area wasn’t open to the city dwellers, only to the special few. She looked around her again. Barracks with soldiers sleeping within. None was even standing guard at the gates. She didn’t believe such a thing would exist at this time. City gates. Where did it lead? She piqued an eyebrow when Miriam smirked. What was the latter thinking? “As if you don’t already know…which other way, if not by mist…there is no way I am climbing that. I don’t think I am ready to fly with you above it…” Miriam spoke, covering the distance between them, and wrapping her arms around Olivera, her mouth fixed in a pout. Olivera shook her head, yet unable to stop the smile that cascaded her lips. It seemed that her friend was g
A knock woke Olivera up from her deep slumber. After bathing and eating off the snacks she had bought earlier in the day, from the shops in the new city, she had fallen like a log of wood to the bed, and hadn’t even stirred after that. Still groggy from the smooth sleep, she let her hand search for her phone which was the only thing that had gone to bed with her, should Miriam call for her. She peered at the screen. It was one in the morning. It was time then. She yawned like a hyena, causing Miriam to chuckle from behind the door. The chuckle dissipated the remaining fog fostering around her head. Taking a deep breath in, she stood up from the bed, flung a sheet around her naked body, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw that Miriam was alone, and carrying a tray of steaming food. “You are a lifesaver.” She muttered, opening the door wider for her friend to come in; the rumbling sounds that emitted from her stomach in agreement with her. Miriam chuckled again, an
“Where are we heading next?” Olivera asked Miriam immediately they stepped out of the borders of the town, into a city sprawling with people. After they had left the males who had tried to detain them because of her eating habits, they had walked to the largest building in the town, because if Clooney was a big name, it was probably because the man was rich. They hadn’t been right in their deduction, but they had at least gotten away from the unsettling males. Olivera had taken her friend behind the building, and had quickly switched to her mist form, turning Miriam into the same, and together they had zapped the remainder of the city without stopping, till they were out of it, till they were in a new one which looked more modernized than the previous. She looked at Miriam, who was staring at the city with artificial skylights, and wondered if her friend had ever been here before. “I never get over the culture shock, you know, seeing the drabness of the town we just left. The cont
What now? Olivera thought, looking at the six males that couldn’t be a year older than twenty five years old. What were they doing in front of her? “State your names, and what you are doing in this town…” The male, slightly in front of the others, spoke with a steel voice, causing Olivera and Miriam to exchange furtive glances. What was going on?There was a minute hesitation before Olivera spoke. “I am Darcy. My friend is Lilian. Who are you?” She patted herself mentally for names well cooked and delivered. Darcy and Lilian? How had she come up with those seemingly true names? She watched the male that had just spoken, looked to his comrades behind him, and judged that he was the leader of this small group. Were they the police? She looked at them again. They didn’t look like the police. Vigilantes? Maybe. But why were there vigilantes in the town? She kept a seal on her thoughts when the male returned her attention to her. “My name is Luke, and these are my associates. Our job is
“We will kill him right?” Miriam asked, as they stepped out of the camp, and turned around to look at it again, reliving what they had seen in there. “We need to. He is evil. Why will a sane man work with a vampire? Is he crazy?” Olivera just couldn’t understand the foolishness, no matter how much she tried. Why would one make a deal with an almost eternal wickedness? Had he no fear for his life, for his family? “I think he is crazy. Evil-y crazy. But that’s by the way. What are we going to do now?” Olivera looked around the camp, and spat in disgust. “We will burn it down. We will burn it until it’s nothing but dust. We will eradicate this curse from the face of the earth.” Miriam couldn’t agree less, but then she remembered that the ancients might have use for the materials in there. Olivera, having sensed the latter’s thoughts, shook her head. “They won’t be needing it. I’ve already transferred the necessary details to Raul, and Jacob. They can take it up from there. The mater
“Do you think anyone is in there?” Olivera asked Miriam, immediately she shifted to human self. Miriam looked at her clothed self and smiled. “Seems you have gotten the best hang of shifting, and still keeping your clothes on.” Olivera shrugged her shoulders. “There was no other choice. I can’t keep going up and down with my clothes in my hands or mouth. Since I’m part ancient, I have to improvise.” She took in a deep breath, inhaling the air tainted with magic and something else. “This place is tainted with magic. You smell it?” She shook off the imaginary dirt on her clothes, just in case, whilst waiting for Miriam’s reply. When she looked up, her friend was smiling. “What’s tickling your fancy? I don’t think my question has that much prowess…” Miriam cackled. “I never thought riding on a wolf would be so exhilarating. If I had known, I would have befriended a werewolf, and snagged rides every week at least. It’s quite freeing and therapeutic.” Olivera nodded. It was just as