Prophecy: Caelestis & Aurorea (18 page)

Heading down the dark steps, she moved the rag to her other hand and used the threads of magic to light her way. She stilled her breathing and listened hard. In the distance to her right, she could hear something scraping on the stone floor. She edged towards the end of the wall and shook her hand, making the magic disappear so she wasn’t spotted. Peering around the corner, she saw the two guards. They had swords. Her brows rose. It was a shame that she wasn’t going to give them the chance to use their weapons.

Stepping out into the corridor, she smoothed her hair and her clothes. She looked down at her shirt and unbuttoned it enough for her cleavage to be on show a little. She had to get close to them. She couldn’t risk accidentally hurting Valentine by blasting the two guards. It had been so easy to take down the walls upstairs. If she did that down here, the whole house might collapse.

Her stomach flipped when they noticed her, both of them drawing their swords and moving to block her path. She bit the tip of her finger and smiled shyly before drawing it down over her neck to her chest. Their eyes dropped there. She took a few more steps towards them and raised her right hand. When they looked back up, their eyes wide with horror, she shrugged and smiled.

Releasing the magic, she shut out their screams as it tore through them, slicing them apart, and pulled a face of disgust at the twitching mess that was left on the floor. She flicked her wrist and sent two glowing orbs of magic directly at their heads, smashing them into pieces.

Her throat tightened when she finally looked at the door. She didn’t know what to expect. She’d felt so much pain in her visions and had seen the marks, but that was days ago. What state would he be in now?

She steeled herself against the terrifying images that flooded her mind and stared at the handle. Grabbing hold of it, she eased the door open and walked slowly into the room. She didn’t want to look up. She could smell the blood and it turned her stomach. A quiet growl made her chest ache. It sounded as though it had taken so much effort.

Turning little by little, she used her senses to tell her where Valentine was and then furrowed her brows when his boots came into view. She blinked back the tears and ignored the rattling chains and threatening snarls that he gave her. She knew what was wrong. He’d been tortured so badly that his more demonic side had started to take over. The human mind would only take so much before it shut down, leaving the more primitive side to deal with the hurt.

She gradually raised her eyes. Tears flowed down her cheeks. All sound drowned out and numbness spread through her while she tried to take in what she was seeing and make herself believe that it was real. His trousers were torn and she could see deep lacerations in his legs. She moved her gaze up to his torso and flinched away when she saw the scars and wounds that littered it. She swallowed hard, trying to hold herself together, and then took a deep breath. Anger coiled in the pit of her stomach when she forced herself to see what had happened to him. A gash ran across his chest, cutting through his flesh, and burn marks marred his stomach and arms. There was so much dried blood and dirt that she could barely see any clean skin. She wiped her eyes on the backs of her hands when she saw all the incisions and holes where he’d been stabbed, the darker patches of blood telling her how deep they were.

She bit her lower lip and held back the sob that tried to push free when she saw his face. Rich greenish purple, almost black, bruises marked his throat. She could just about make out a set of bite marks on his neck and she was relieved when she realised that they were hers. No one had bitten him for information. Standing motionless in front of him, she gave herself time to deal with what was happening. Overwhelming anger mixed with sorrow inside of her, creating heady feelings that she didn’t know how to react to. She stared at him a moment longer, taking in how battered and bruised he was.

He was like this because of her.

The back of her throat ached, her body trembled and her heart hurt. She ran to him, catching his cut and bruised cheek gently in the palm of her hand, and looked into his eyes. They were lapis blue, just as she’d expected them to be. She ran her fingers over all the tiny wounds and gashes that peppered his forehead and cheeks. When she traced a fingertip over the laceration that ran diagonally across his nose, he snarled and tried to bite her. She didn’t take her hand away. She couldn’t let him think she was scared of him.

Looking across at his arms, she frowned when she saw the manacles that were holding him against the wall. She moved to his right hand, pushing the pin out that was locking the metal cuff and then did the same to his left. He leaned heavily on her and she stilled when his hands slid down to her waist, grasping it tightly. She closed her eyes when he neared her neck. It would be foolish to stop him. It would only make him angry.

She leaned her head to one side, letting him get closer to her and bit her lip when his mouth coursed over her skin. She didn’t flinch when his incisors sliced into her throat. Supporting his weight, she silently begged him to hurry. He was hungry. She could feel it in the way he was keeping a tight hold of her and how deep he was drinking. She didn’t want to think about how he was going to react when she had to make him stop. There was already movement again upstairs. It was only a matter of minutes before the vampires she’d trapped got free, or the guards from outside made it to her.

She was surprised when his drinking slowed and his teeth left her. He leaned his cheek against hers and she closed her eyes again, sighing into his neck.

“We have to move,” she whispered and went to shift him in her arms but he pushed back. His eyes moved away from her and she looked over her shoulder at the table. She growled at the sight of all the instruments on it and then noticed the row of phials and the syringe.

She looked at Valentine and carefully swept his dark hair back out of his face.

“You need the antidote?” she said and he nodded wearily.

Helping him over to the table, she leaned him against it and hurriedly picked up the syringe. She looked at him again and he pointed at the small glass bottles of clear liquid. Grabbing one, she stabbed the lid with the needle and drew the liquid into it. She stared at the arm that Valentine extended to her and felt sick when she saw all the marks in it. How much of this toxin had they given him? Bringing the needle towards his arm, she didn’t look as she injected him.

She removed the needle and threw it on the floor, smashing it. Placing Valentine’s arm around her shoulders, she supported him as he stood and then stared at the table. She braced her foot against it and growled when she kicked it over, scattering the implements across the bloodied floor.

The noises from upstairs grew louder when she got Valentine out into the hall. She went in the opposite direction to the one she’d come. It had to lead back to the servant entrance she’d come in by.

She wished that Valentine would move a little quicker. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and a hint of relief filled her when she saw his eyes were green again. She smiled when he glanced at her and then wiped the tears from her cheeks when his fingers tightened against her shoulder.

“Can you move faster?” she said.

He coughed, grimaced and then nodded. “I believe so.”

His voice was so hoarse that it made fresh tears rise into her eyes. She cursed them and the way they made him look so concerned. She should be concerned about him, not the other way around. Bringing her focus away from him, she set her sights on the end of the corridor. There was a door.

She could hear the clatter of boots above her and in the corridor behind. Picking up the pace, she hurried with Valentine towards the door. She’d had enough of fighting and she couldn’t risk it when Valentine was so hurt. She kicked the door open when they reached it and helped him through. He grimaced and sucked in a sharp breath. Her gaze lowered to his chest. There was a wound next to his heart. The edge of it was raised, swollen and sore. She could see how deep it was, even though it was healing. She wondered what had happened to him.

Checking the room they had come out in, she saw that all of the guards that had chased her along the hallway were gone. The entire corridor had collapsed.

She walked out into the night, supporting Valentine and keeping her pace slow enough that he could easily keep up with her.

A glance in all directions told her that no one was around. She had left the bag near the gate. They had to go back in that direction. The guards that had been patrolling must have gone into the mansion through the front. A noise far off to her right caught her attention and she frowned. There were weak signatures approaching, growing stronger by the second. She realised that it had been too much to ask that all of the guards had gone inside.

When they appeared, she focused and shot thin threads of magic at them. They cut through the legs and arms of the three guards. She would have to get Valentine somewhere safe before she could call up magic that was stronger. She could feel it coursing through her veins, but with Valentine needing her support, she couldn’t use it. It was too dangerous.

She walked with him to the wall and set him down against it.

“I won’t be a second,” she said and then sprinted towards the three guards.

She kicked the biggest one in the leg, forcing him to kneel, and then caught hold of his long hair and brought his head down onto her knee. She flung him away and brought her arm up to block the attack of the second guard. Waiting until he had run out of ideas, she flipped backwards and kicked him under the jaw. When she landed on her feet again, she straightened up and released the magic that had been building inside of her. The man exploded and she turned to the third one.

“She’s out here!” he hollered.

She growled and punched him across the jaw several times, repaying him for using his big mouth to alert the others. Twisting his head, she snapped his neck with ease, taking his head clean off, and pushed his body away from her. She turned to face the biggest of the guards and grinned when she stalked towards him. He shuffled backwards, trying to escape her, but she had other plans. Raising her hand, she smiled at the magic spinning and swirling against her palm and then threw it at him. His scream pierced the silence, but it didn’t bother her. She felt oddly unaffected by the sound of death now. She’d killed so many that she was becoming numb to its affect.

Turning to face the house, she drew a deep breath, held tightly onto her right wrist and raised her hand. She flattened her right hand, her palm facing the house, and concentrated hard.

This was going to take a lot of energy.

Remembering the scent of Valentine’s blood on the rags and the fury she’d felt on discovering how hurt he was, she used it to fuel her magic. Her hand glowed red and she could almost see the magic inside of her. Her stars burned so furiously that the pain of it crippled her.

They had to pay for what they’d done.

She needed to send Arkalus and Kalinor a message.

She gritted her teeth and knitted her brows. Placing one foot behind her, she braced herself, holding her right wrist even tighter. Her whole body began to vibrate, starting in her stomach and working its way out. She listened to the wind as it rocked the trees and the tempest in the distance.

Breathing deeply, she let it come faster and faster until she was panting. The stars began to hum against her skin.

Her whole hand was engulfed in swirling red threads of magic and it was becoming impossible to contain. She felt like a conduit for the power now. She was no longer in control.

The image of Valentine being tortured flickered in front of her eyes.

She screamed when she released the magic and wobbled on her feet as it swept through her, tearing along every nerve and igniting them with pain. She struggled to keep her eyes open and her ears rang. Blinking, she saw the magic rip through the length of the building and there was a moment of pure silence before the world seemed to explode.

She felt a dull ache when she impacted into the wall and didn’t brace herself when she fell. Lying face down in the dirt, she breathed heavily, staring at the cloud of dust that had engulfed the grounds. As it began to clear, she saw the devastation she’d caused.

The house was nothing more than a pile of rubble. Even the trees beyond it were broken and burning.

Her eyes slipped shut but she forced them open again. Her body was tired and aching, her limbs heavy when she tried to get onto her feet. She leaned against the wall for support and made her way towards the place where Valentine was sitting. When she reached him, she collapsed to her knees and stared at him, her chest rapidly rising and falling with her breathing.

“What did you do?” he said with a frown but it melted away to concern. He managed a smile. “You have definitely been practicing this time.”

She smiled but then furrowed her brows when he winced and gritted his teeth. She wished she could heal him before they had to move, but she didn’t have the energy now and they were too exposed. She needed to find somewhere safe.

Somewhere no one would find them.

She remembered where Valentine had taken her in Paris when she’d been sick and had needed time to recuperate.

“Let’s go.” She stood again and took hold of Valentine’s arm, helping him to his feet.

“Where?” he croaked.

“Somewhere safe.” Placing his arm about her shoulders, she smiled at him. “I have your jacket.”

He smiled that slight smile of his and it made relief sweep through her, warm and comforting.

Looking at the smouldering remains of the house as they passed it, she kept walking towards the gate where she’d stashed her bag. Arkalus and Kalinor were going to come after them. They would search the city. All she could do now was get Valentine to a safe place so she could heal him.

Then they would take on Arkalus and Kalinor.

Prophecy stumbled through the cold stone arch as the door gave way. She steadied herself and then glanced around the crypt she had broken in to. It was a little dank, but besides that it was quite spacious. There were only two stone tombs. They must have been important people to get so much space to themselves. A cursory scan of the building revealed that it was safe for her and Valentine to pass the day there. With no windows, there was no way for the sun to get in.