Chapter Four

2:53 a.m.

Staring at the red numbers of my clock, I couldn’t remember waking up, or why I woke.

I rolled over and sat up, listening in the darkness as my wolf’s senses went crazy. My ears didn’t hear anything and I stood to get the light.

Something wasn’t right. I flipped on the light, and its sudden brightness temporarily blinded me.

I saw a blur before someone kicked me in the chest. My head hit the wall so hard that had I been human, I would have died and had I been a normal Were, I would have been knocked out. I was neither.

The person in my room had already turned his back to me, pulling out a phone and dialing a number. He – no she–looked like a ninja, covered head to toe in black cloth that hugged a lithe yet muscular body. I blinked, forcing my eyes to finish adjusting to the light as I silently pushed off the wall.

I tackled the ninja wannabe to the ground. I knocked her phone out of her hands, and it slid across the floor, coming to a stop at my bathroom door. Her hands grabbed my shoulders and I felt electric-like magic sizzle through my body. I ground my teeth in pain as I tried to break her grip. Magic told me witch, but the strength told me something else. Great. I hated surprises.

Her eyes flashed in angry confusion as she tried to put more power into her electrifying touch. I head butted her, and finally her hands let go.

Spinning, I delivered a round-house kick only to have her forearm block it. She anticipated my next moves, blocking my kicks and punches effortlessly. I wish I could have said the same about delivering them. My body ached from her touch and my ears rang. I knew that it should have hurt worse than it did, and silently thanked Damian for his blood in me. My feelings about drinking his blood had turned into a love/hate relationship. I could feel my body slowing, my punches not as forceful, and my kicks not as fluid. Her electric touch may not have hurt, but it seriously drained me.

Sensing my exhaustion, her defensive moves became offensive. Blocking a punch with her right hand, she slammed her left fist into my jaw. I felt the power in the blow as I fell to the floor. As she grabbed the curve of my neck, I felt her magic seep into me. I screamed as it flared, sizzling through my veins and crackling against my bones.

I reached up, trying to grab her and wrench her off, but I only managed to remove the cloth that had kept her face shrouded from me. Indigo hair cascaded down, a beautiful, unnatural waterfall of color, and my heart sank.

“Amythist?” I managed say from between clenched teeth. The magic faltered as her sapphire eyes met mine. That was all I needed. Shoving her back, I then used both fists to punch her in the chest. She fell into the wall, gasping for breath. A blow like that should have crushed her sternum, but she wasn’t all witch like I wasn’t all Were.

Pushing off the wall Amythist stood with her hands at her sides, palms up. Lavender sorcery flowed from her fingers like smoke. It slithered across the floor so quickly that I didn’t have time to react. The lavender magic coiled around my legs and for several moments, nothing happened. Then pain crushed my chest and forced the air out of my lungs. My back bowed in pain as Amythist took the pain of my earlier blow and fed it back to me. I felt my body bend under the weight of the strike until my legs gave out. I sank onto the floor.

The sorcery dissipated as Amythist stalked over to me. “I’m sorry, Sarah,” she said with pain filling her voice. “I can’t stop. Rose will give me what I need if I kill you.”

I wanted to ask her what she needed when Amythist’s power flared again, and I writhed on the floor. Pain lacerated my insides, and all my mental barriers cracked.

I felt the air shift around me as the pressure changed. Suddenly, two sets of hands grabbed Amythist and shoved her back against the wall. I gasped for breath, as Damian strode to my side. Tears came to my eyes as I tried to sit up. The woman stood against my closet door, hands above her head. Dez stood before her, a warning hand held up at chest level. A ghost of a smile passed my lips as I saw the glittery blue polish that decorated Dez’s fingernails.

“I have no quarrel with you,” Amythist said, lacing her fingers together and placing them on her head. “I have a warrant from the Blood Moon Corporation, signed by Rose Mykal herself, for the werewolf’s execution.”

“Let me see it,” Dez said as Damian stepped in front of me, blocking Amythist’s view. I stood, ignoring the wave of nausea I felt for moving so quickly, and looked over Damian’s shoulder at my old friend.

Moving carefully, Amythist unzipped her cat-suit down to the waist, exposing her heavy cleavage in a turquoise lace bra. Just as slowly, she reached into the waist of her suit, pulled out a folded sheet of paper, and handed it to Dez. He didn’t even look twice at her as he took the paper and opened it. Damian held out an arm, blocking me, as Amythist zipped her suit back up. She looked up at the born vampire and smiled.

“I’m not going to do anything, Lord Vampire,” she said with a glimmer of mirth in her eyes. “I have strict orders not to harm you or your vampires.”

“What does the BMC care about my well being?”

Amythist shrugged. “Haven’t a clue and never thought to ask.”

Dez walked over to us, handing the paper to Damian as his eyes focused on me. “It’s legit, boss. According to this, their laws dictate that we are to hand Sarah over without a fight.”

Amythist took a step forward. Damian hissed, and I felt the full force of his power slam against her. She fell back against the wall. Her hands came up to her head as she tried to steady herself against his onslaught.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, my dear,” Damian growled, “but my laws are older than yours.”

History filled my head at his words. The Blood Moon Corporation, or Guild as it was known then, was created during the Black Plague to keep the supernaturals in line. The year was 1349 AD. Damian’s wife, Phaedra died during the Visigoth’s attack on Rome in 410 AD. Even then he wasn’t young, having hundreds of years under his belt at the time. Damian was so much older than the BMC. I could feel hope rising at the expression on Amythist’s face.

“I know not your laws, Lord Vampire,” Amythist said as she rose to her feet, “but I do know what will happen if I violate them. The BMC is not interested in a war.”

“Neither are we, but if you come for Sarah again…”

“I will only come if your laws are obsolete. Rose will know. She’s not our boss for nothing.”

“So very true. So tell me, what is it that she has that you need?”

Amythist paused, and I could see pain flash across her eyes. “I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s used to teleport a person into the demon realm.”

“The symbol of Khor,” Dez said. “Why would you want to deal with demons?”

“I don’t want to deal,” Amythist spat, “I want to kill one.”

“There is more than one of the symbol of Khor out there,” Dez said. “Maybe if you told me why you needed it so badly, I could help you.”

“I just told you…”

“To kill. Yes. Why?”

Amythist crossed her arms. “If you approve of my reasons, what cost will the symbol be to me?”

“There will be no cost. We just want you to leave Sarah alone and stay as far away from the BMC as you can.”

Amythist smiled. “I was born as a sorceress of Verella. Do you know where that is?” Dez and Damian nodded, but I had never heard of it. “I worked as the apprentice of a powerful sorcerer, one curious about new magic. We traveled into this world to Egypt, where a new magic was. We were shocked to discover that a demon controlled it. He used his creations to feed on the souls of the Egyptian populace. Pooling our power together, we banished the demon back to his realm, but such a spell had a price. My master died.”

Amythist’s voice choked up with the pain of her memories. Her master wasn’t just her teacher; he was her lover. My heart ached for her.

“I wanted revenge, but sorcerers couldn’t kill demons with their powers. I needed more. I found the most powerful creatures I could and drained them of their power. Had I known the extent of faerie magic, I wouldn’t have bothered. Lord Vampire, you could try to kill me for what I’ve done in my past, but you wouldn’t succeed.”

“You’re immortal now,” I said and Amythist nodded. No wonder the BMC wanted her so badly. Part sorceress, part sihde, and totally immortal, she was the perfect weapon for the corporation.

“I need the symbol of Khor, so I can find that demon, kill him, and try to find a way to reverse what’s been done.”

Dez sighed. “You won’t be able to fix it. Magic so deeply embedded becomes a part of you. There’s no going back from that. But, I think there is something I can do for you.”

Hope replaced the sadness in Amythist’s eyes. “There is?”

“Yes, but you must help us.”

“Agreed.”

Before we could say anything else, lavender smoke enveloped Amythist and she disappeared. Well, that explained how she entered my room without me hearing anything.

“She’ll be back,” Dez said.

Damian dropped his arm and moved aside so I could be part of this conversation.

“The vampire laws-“ I stammered, but Damian cut me off.

“They are older than dirt. Just because I believe in them doesn’t mean they are legit.”

My heart sank. “So you told her that to, what? Buy us some time?”

Dez nodded. “Exactly. We need to figure out how to keep you safe, Sarah.”

“Don’t bother,” I muttered as I crossed to my dresser.

“Sarah, what are you doing?” asked Damian.

I slipped on a bra and black tank top. Nudity didn’t bother me as much as it had as a human. After a couple of full moons, I kind of got used to it. I tossed my pajama pants on the bed and tugged on a pair of black jeans. Damian’s hand on mine stopped me before I could grab my belt or shoes.

“Sarah?”

“Amy can’t teleport far. That means Rose is near here, probably at Haven. She needs to pay for what she did to Jared.”

At the sound of my dead lover’s name, Damian flinched. The born vampire loved me, and it sometimes saddened me that I couldn’t return the feelings.

“You can’t,” Dez said.

“Why not?” I shook my hand out of Damian’s grip and laced on my white leather belt.

“It’s almost dawn. The vamps here won’t be able to protect you if shit goes seriously bad.”

“What would you have me do?”

“Stay with Donavan during the day. Wait until nightfall. With so many vamps backing you, Rose would be stupid to pick a fight.”

“Unless that’s what she wants,” Damian interrupted. “Old friend, you seem to forget she sent a vampire necromancer to kill me.”

“You heard Amythist’s orders,” argued Dez. “She can’t harm you or your vampires. Your people have immunity.”

“Unless she decides otherwise,” I interjected. “Rose can take as easily as she can give.”

I waited, and when no one said anything I asked, “So what do we do?”

Then my phone rang, answering the question for all of us.