Fighting Destiny (Central Coven) (37 page)

At the bottom of the cliff is a waterfall, a small creek and a grassy area.  The top is surrounded with a thick cover of trees and other vegetation, because it is higher in elevation than the rest of Ellensburg.  We strategized that if one or two of us waited at the bottom, the rest could hide in the trees on top of the cliffs, and attack once they appeared.

We got set up about an hour before sundown.  Grey promised to meet us the moment that he was able to leave.  This gave him a large head start over Simone and Alexander, because Grey knew where he was going, while they still had to figure out where we went.

A half an hour before Grey could leave the shelter of his basement, the rest of us formed a circle in the clearing near the waterfall.  My father stood in the center with the clay jar of soil and hair.  I gave the chunk of basalt to Anita, the piece of quartz to Dean, and I kept the turquoise.  Finn moved in front of each of us and used his power over the elements. 

He stood in front of Anita first, and she held her arm out straight in front of her.  When she opened her hand, she compelled the rock to move slowly to the ground.  Anita quickly snuck a look at me, and winked. Out of the ground erupted a strong blast of fire, and the hunk of basalt rested on top.  The fire died down, and the basalt remained on the ground, locked in place by the spell.

Finn next moved to Dean.  He held his hand out and Finn called a strong wind to carry the stone out of his hand.  It spun around, and landed to the ground, where it to magically locked itself to the ground.

I held my arm straight out, just like Anita, and allowed the turquoise to float towards the ground.  Finn raised his hand with his palm facing down also, and a gush of water raced up to meet the falling gemstone.  The water and stone swirled and danced together until they too met the ground and locked in place. 

My father placed the ancient clay jar in the center of the circle, although not its final position, to receive the final ingredient of the binding spell. Out of the satchel he carried, Eli pulled out a sacrificial dagger. Suddenly the wind rustled at the top of the basin, the evergreens swayed, and Grey launched himself from the top of the forty-foot cliff face.

Without a word Grey and Anita walked into the center of the circle and stood in front of Eli.  Both presented their right hand, palm up, and held them over the jar.  Eli took the dagger and cut each of them diagonally across the hand.  Then they turned and faced each other, grasped hands, and squeezed until their blood ran in one steady stream, while my father chanted in a long forgotten native language.

The strong sickly sweet smell of blood overwhelmed Anita’s fragile hold on control, her eyes began to glow luminous bronze, and her fangs slid out, making her look feral.  Grey held her steady while their wounds healed. She breathed deeply and the moment subsided.  Grey looked Anita straight in her eyes, “I’ve told you before, I would help you get your justice.  This is the moment Anita.”

I knew then he wasn’t here for me. He was here for her, and for his unfinished business with Alexander. I didn’t fault him for it exactly, but it hurt.  I might be a bit confused, but I still loved him.  I had never and would never cheat on him.  He knew I had some feelings for Finn, but I had chosen Grey. 

I looked away quickly, because I didn’t want to face what was right in front of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Finn smile sweetly. At that moment I knew.  He didn’t need to say a word. It was there in his eyes.
He
was here for me. 

Eli’s expression turned grave and he pointed up at the trees.  Any moment all hell was going to break loose.  First Grey launched into the air like a rocket, landing into the thick cover of evergreen branches high on the cliff wall.  Anita copied Grey, on the opposite side of the basin.  Finn was now fully in charge of his abilities. With a slight wave of his hand he commanded the basalt wall to open and he concealed himself in a small crevice. 

Only my father, Dean and I remained in the center of the small clearing.  Dean smiled in anticipation.  I envied the easy confidence that surrounded him.  He trusted his abilities, and ours so completely.  Dean actually seemed to look forward to the upcoming battle. 

The air around Dean began to sizzle and pop with electricity.  A haze turned around him, and his shape began to roll and twist him into a large cougar.  Once his change was complete, he leapt onto a nearby boulder and bounded from stone to stone until he reached light brown shrubbery.  His muscles pulsed as if he was preparing to pounce, but instead he slunk backwards into his camouflaged hiding place and disappeared.

I looked up into the trees onto of the cliff wall surrounding the basin.  I reached with my senses to find Anita and Grey in their hiding places. I heard Anita in answer in my mind, “I am here.”  Then I saw the glow of her bronze eyes light up in the trees. 

I swallowed hard.  I could feel them coming, quickly, but not at their maximum speed.  The walk to the edge of the waterfall is a fairly easy two miles on nearly flat ground.  Even if they weren’t moving at full speed, they would still be here in seconds. 

I looked to my father, my stomach churning, searching for strength.  He placed a hand on my shoulder to calm me and said, “Trust yourself and your friends.  Don’t forget I am here for you.  They will not overcome us.  Now get ready, here we go.”  With those words he seemed to disappear into a puff of smoke taking the ceremonial clay jar with him.

The same moment my father disappeared the deafening crack of tree branches and entire trees breaking began to sound all around the top of the rim.  The crunch of the ground echoed in the basin where I stood.  I raised my eyebrow and looked toward Anita. I thought to her, “
Quite an entrance, huh
?”  I felt her trying not to giggle. “
Yeah, I think that a herd of elephants could be sneakier
,” she thought back at me.

“
Do not underestimate them, girls
.” My father joined our silent conversation. Instantly I felt Anita refocus, and I forced myself to do the same.   The sound came to the edge of the cliff and stopped suddenly.  I didn’t expect Simone to believe I came here alone, but I was not about to announce who was with me either.  I planned to conceal the fact my father was with me as long as possible.

“She is here alone!  Why don’t we just go and end this now?” an impatient vampire asked Simone a little too loudly.  He wanted to know why not?  I could give him a reason. My fingertips began to itch with the electricity surging at the end.  I allowed the sensation to grow until I held two enormous pulsing orbs of pure energy.  My eyes lit up like glowing green emeralds.  I levitated and tossed both balls of raging, churning energy at the impetuous vampire.  They ignited and sent him ablaze.

“Idiot!” Simone screeched.  “That is why we do not just
rush in
and end this.”  “Simone, help me, please!” the vampire pleaded in agony.  “There’s no help for you.  I warned you what she could do.  Why would I waste my strength to save you when I need it to fight her?” she responded without compassion.

Anita promised me she had a few tricks up her sleeve.  Her powers were the more basic witch powers, but they still triumphed over Simone’s.  She was able to summon the wand that I gave her and call for a small light to float above where she heard movement.  The reflective eyes of vampires glowed when the light hit them.

Everywhere she showed me one of Simone’s vampires I set them ablaze with an energy ball.  In less than a minute, Anita and I had decimated every new vampire Simone and Alexander had recruited or made.  Simone must have realized at this point she couldn’t wait on top of the cliff.  By now she probably knew that I wasn’t alone either.  I could see she was weighing the risks of her different options to get to me.  Her desire for revenge over my mother, and control of the
Council
was beginning to cloud her judgment. 

I summoned my wand, and taunted in a singing voice, “Simone, come out come out where ever you are.” Anita conjured her light and for the briefest of moments I was able to see Alexander.  Instead of setting him on fire, I cast a tracking spell on him and tied the locator half of the spell to Grey.  Now Grey could find him anywhere he went.

I felt the tension begin to rise.  Everyone was jumpy and ready for action.  There was a steady hum of magic hanging over the basin, and flowing into me like the waterfall was falling into the creek.  It whispered warnings to me.  My skin began to prickle with fear.  My breath caught in my chest.  I had missed something.

It was time to shake things up a bit, literally.  I needed to talk to Finn, so I teleported into the small, makeshift cave he created for himself.  “Feel like making the earth rumble?” I asked.  “Anytime, but are you sure you don’t want to get this fight out of the way first?” Finn teased and slipped his hand around my waist.  “I’m so glad you still have a sense of humor.  But, something is really amiss right now.  It scares me Finn, and I need your help.”  I clung to Finn, instead of pushing him away.

“Shh…Don’t worry.  I’m here,” he soothed.  Then he grinned his mischievous, crooked grin that made my knees wobble when we first met. “I had a different idea in mind for making the earth shake, but I can give you a demonstration.”  He grabbed my hand, and in a display of power that I had not yet seen from him, he blew out the entrance to his hiding place. 

Dean and Finn had worked out a signal when it was time for him to jump into action.  It was a vibration in the ground, which Dean could feel in the pads of his feet and whiskers, while he was in his cougar form.  As soon as Finn signaled him, Dean silently climbed up the side of the basalt column he stood on.  From there, he went straight to Grey’s hiding place, to trigger Grey to circle around Simone and Alexander.  I telepathically delivered the same message to Anita.

Suddenly everything began to happen very quickly.  Alexander spotted Anita leaving her shelter, and took off after her.  The spell I cast on him immediately alerted Grey where he was. Anita, kept a steady pace, leading the unsuspecting Alexander closer and closer to Grey.

“I’ve dreamt of you for a long time, Anita. Don’t tell Simone, but I have a lot of plans for us.  All you have to do is give up and leave with me now.  You won’t have to pretend to be something you aren’t with me Anita.  You can give in, and quit fighting what you are. Accept the gift that I gave you.”

They circled around each other, Anita stayed just beyond his reach.  She kept him talking while Grey crept up behind him.  “For the record, I never pretend to be anything other than what I am.  And, you never gave me anything; you took everything away from me.  You took away my humanity, you raped me, and destroyed my sense of safety.  I can’t wait to see you die.  I hope it is slow and horrible.” 

“I see you have been getting your memories back.  That is quite unfortunate.  I would like to have kept you out of this unfortunate business. I can see now, though, that is impossible.” Alexander lunged for Anita.  In response, she kicked him hard in the groin. 

Vampire or not, he was still a man, and he folded straight to the ground.  Anita stood over him and said, “As much fun as that was.  I take more pleasure telling you that Grey is going to kill you tonight.  I only hope he lets me watch.  I think I deserve that.”

Grey who got closer and closer with each word she spoke said, “That can be arranged.”  The whites of Alexander’s eyes grew when he heard Grey’s voice.   He began to scramble backwards as Grey advanced towards him.  “Alexandre, as tu peur? Are you scared of me?  Why have you been taunting me for so long, if you did not want to face me?” Grey said with a sneer.

“Alexandre is dead.  You killed him Geoffrey.  I’ve just been looking for the opportunity to return the favor.” Alexander jumped to his feet and prepared to defend himself.  Grey laughed, “As if you were ever a match for me.  I am centuries older than you.  I was a knight when that meant something.  You, on the other hand were a member of a do nothing aristocracy. Completely incapable of protecting yourselves when it was important.”

Anita stood watching, transfixed by the confusion and fear on Alexander’s face.  She failed to see one of the few remaining vampires approaching her from behind.  The only vampires that managed to evade Anita and I were the ones that Alexander turned when he first left Grey, over a hundred years ago.  They were a tight knit group used to fighting and hunting together. 

From my vantage point, about forty feet below, I could see about four vampires closing in on her.  I pulled my wand out from my sleeve (it took less energy than conjuring it and sending it away all night long), and sent a blast of pure energy at the vampire closest to her.  He flew backwards and crashed into a tree. 

I couldn’t blast the next one without risking hitting Anita or Grey.  “Anita!” I screamed.  But she didn’t hear me.  “Trust yourself, and your friends,” my father had told me.  Trusting seemed easier to do when he said it. But, when the first real friend I have ever had was in danger, it felt impossible. 

Thankfully, Dean heard me scream, and bounded from branch to branch until he landed in front of the would be attackers.  He took one swipe at a large, dark, black haired vampire nearest to Anita.  His front paw landed squarely in the side of the head of the vampire.  There was an audible crunch, and half of his head collapsed with the force of the strike. 

Unfortunately, this was only a temporary setback.  I learned recently there were only two ways to kill a vampire.  The easiest was to set them on fire, but that did not always work on the oldest and strongest vampires.  The second, and most surefire way to ensure the death of a vampire was to stake them through the heart and leave them exposed to sunlight.