Shine: The Knowing Ones (31 page)

Mikhail lifted his eyes to Sam as her glimmering energy danced around him. His eyes filled with awed humility, and he disappeared. A violent shock wave of energy rippled through the environment. Ashbel seethed. Sam lurched forward, yanked by his maniacal fury, stumbling, losing her balance. He pulled her in, his aura spinning, colliding, saturating her with agony, grief, hatred, and fear. As the gap closed between them his eyes flashed, uttering a phrase in Russian and her pain ceased, the agony and unbearable sadness gone—numb, sedated, slipping into a deep sleep. She fell into him, his muscled arm holding her against his chest. Raising a hand to the side, a vortex sprang open in the fabric of the air. A rushing sound, and the portal sucked them in—gone.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

A
black truck barreled into the parking lot of the dance building, coming to a screeching halt. Trin threw the door open as a blinding flash of light erupted just inside the entryway and half his heart vanished with it
. “Sam!”
Sprinting through the lot with Anvil right behind him the two warriors reached the door. Trin nearly ripped it from its hinges to get inside. A figure lay in a heap on the floor. First confusion, then all-consuming despair rushed him.

Anna lay dead in front of him, traces of Ashbel’s unmistakable energy swirling about her everywhere. A helpless sound emanated from the back of his throat as he dropped at her side, uttering a broken prayer in Russian. Reading nothing in her vacant eyes, his own filled with tears as he felt the crushing weight of what he had, from the beginning, feared more than anything...failure. He lifted his eyes to Anvil, unable to speak.

Anvil’s eyes blazed in solemn fury.
“I will track him, Trinton!”
Anvil disappeared in a flash of light.

Sam was gone. Ashbel had come in his absence. He had taken Sam with him and killed her best friend. The brutal slaying had been for no other reason but to intimidate Sam; to break her, to crush her. The residual devastation saturated the atmosphere. In anguish, Trin touched a hand to Anna’s head. A startling vision erupted in his mind; earth-shattering information the tribe needed. Trin drew back, shocked.

Another flash. He pulled away from Anna. As his hand broke contact, the visions stopped. He stared. Mikhail’s energy entombed Anna’s
body. Trin scanned the darkened, deserted hallway, searching for the Elder. He could not sense him anywhere, except within the gleaming halo surrounding Anna.

Trin turned back, placing a hand to her face. A solid vision ignited, a replay of everything that had happened. Ashbel, with Anna dead at his feet. Sam locked in his grip. Mikhail risking his life, extracting information, placing it safely within the sacred energetic shroud of a deceased human spirit, a barrier no predator could cross. Trin’s eyes stung with tears.

He watched Mikhail fall to his knees in pain, still fighting to save Sam and deliver the missing information needed to save his people. His sorrow shifted to awe as he watched his vulnerable mate throw her energy around Mikhail. Her aura gleamed and shimmered around him, and then Mikhail vanished. Trin’s blood pulsated like fire through his veins, stunned. Sam had saved Mikhail. He didn’t know how she had done it, but Mikhail was not dead and he was not here.

His heart thundered in his chest, his eyes gleaming ice blue as a plume of light ignited deep within him and began to burn; unfathomable energy kindled by his birthright, to exact justice for the Veduny people. That was his calling. It was what he was created to do.

His blazing eyes gazed down at Anna. “No,” he uttered in his native Russian. “It will not end like this.” A shimmering light erupted, starting at the top of his head and ending where his feet made contact with the earth, sealed in the Veduny warrior aura.

He took Anna’s hand in his, retrieving the last bit of information he needed. He watched Ashbel enter Sam’s room. He stretched out his hands reaching for Sam, igniting Trin’s shield. At first he was enraged, then he felt the pendant, its energy singing to him.

He watched Ashbel take the pendant and disappear. He watched him jump time to the last Olympic Games. Trin had volunteered to be part of a series of tests to prove he didn’t use any performance enhancing substances.

Trin reeled in amazement as he saw the nurse draw six vials of blood from his body. He watched her take it and leave it in a lab. He watched Ashbel appear seconds later to submerge the stone of Sam’s pendant. He resealed the vial, rinsing the visible blood from the pendant, knowing the workmanship would be stained, knowing it would be enough.

He watched as Ashbel returned to Sam’s room, left the box in plain sight, and disappeared.

A single-minded message rang out from Trin’s mind with a calm ferocity, echoing throughout time and human consciousness seeking the mind of his target, knowing he would receive it.
Я найде тебя, где бы ты нибыл.
...
I’m coming for you...

An unstoppable fury raged. Ashbel would have to kill him to stop him; and Ashbel was no match for Trin. Not now, not ever. He slid his strong hands underneath Sam’s best friend, lifting her into his arms, taking an energetic scan of the surrounding area. He was alone.

He pushed through the doors of the dance building. Ashbel had officially called him out. He had unleashed the one and only Veduny who could bring his brutality to an end. His arrogance would be his demise.

Trin’s purpose for being had just begun and before he was finished he would see everything Ashbel had destroyed restored to its fullness. Every betrayal, every brutality, every heartache he had caused would be rectified and put to rest. The Veduny people would soon see their day of reckoning and he would not stop until he saw it through. Carrying Anna’s body through the parking lot, the clouds gathered above him in the blackened sky. Thunder crashed, and rain began to fall.

PART TWO: THE RECKONING

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

A
flash of light temporarily broke the darkness, only temporarily, only for a second—dissolving into a cover of black and a foreign memory of moving forward through freezing water. Another flash ignited before her eyes, this time bearing structure, an image of...something, but she couldn’t make out what.

Small angles of cold hard stone pressed cornered edges into her back as she tried to gain a sense of where she was. Exhausted confusion consumed her. She could remember nothing. Even her identity eluded her. The air around her was so thin. Another image of pushing through water; she could see nothing in front of her but had a perfect sense of where she was going, swimming forward through black icy depths and then gone again.

The fragmented information skirted her periphery. With intense mental strain she chased after answers, only to have them dissolve in seconds, leaving her even more exhausted than she was before. Panic took root as she realized she couldn’t move, her body heavy. She couldn’t remember what had happened. But worst of all she could see nothing. No shadows, no light—absolute darkness. Potent lethargy disabled her body and senses, then the flashes of light and visions of black icy water. None of it made any sense.

She fought for discernment. The images were the only hope she had of gaining information about her current situation; each one encoded with answers, a person or a place. The crushing darkness offered nothing. She began breathing in what little air surrounded her in an effort to piece together a possible location. The air was cool and
damp, the scent earthen.
Samantha Shields.
Her name would come, but nothing else.

She struggled for more. Dance. She was a dancer. Then his face floated into her mind.

A flood of warmth, comfort, and recognition dawned within her as the memory of Trin returned, her soul mate, her comforter—then the rest. A crushing dread weighted her imprisoned psyche as physical pain crushed her heart.

She had struggled so hard to remember, but now she wanted nothing more than to recede into the blissful ignorance of amnesia. At least there she wouldn’t remember. She wouldn’t know. The image of Anna’s lifeless body resonated in her mind.

Black pain consumed her, irrevocable despair. She knew where she was. No one could reach her. Not even Trin. She began a descent into utter hopelessness.

Samantha...

A muted voice pierced through the darkness. The downward spiral of despair ceased.

Samantha...listen to me.

Sam’s heart pounded, straining to hear as she held her breath.

You are not alone...do not be afraid. This is a trick of the mind. You are more powerful than what he has done.

The voice wasn’t clear. The tone and pitch were muddled and difficult to make out. She was certain this was due to her hazy state of consciousness. Her mind raced trying to figure out who this was and where they were. Everything was still so clouded, so imperceptible.

Do not struggle against it. This is only as real as you believe it to be. Be still and take back your mind. It is more powerful than you can imagine. With your mind you can do anything.

Sam listened and found herself growing calm. The voice spoke the truth and knowing she was not alone gave her hope. Quieting her pounding heart, her frenzied mind remembered the techniques Trin had taught her. She began to breathe. A tranquil shift stirred. The only control Ashbel had over her was what she gave him. He was a master of the mind; but so was she. It required only faith. The binding fog began to crack.

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

T
rin pulled into the parking lot of Sam and Anna’s dorm as the setting sun cast a rosy orange glow on the horizon, leaving the higher skies dark. He scanned the area. Finding himself alone he climbed out, opened the back door. With grieving arms he lifted Anna’s body from the backseat, resting her to him as he closed the door. He did another scan and quickly made his way to the building carrying her inside. Within the confines of the darkened apartment he felt the intruder. The presence ambushed his senses and his grieving mind prepared to attack.

“Trinton,” The voice was weak, but he knew it. Squinting through the room, he found a dark figure sitting in a corner chair.

“Mikhail?” Indescribable relief flooded through him, questions coming faster than he could process.

“Bring the girl here,” Mikhail said. “I am all right. There isn’t much time.”

Trin walked through the room setting Anna gently on the couch and took a seat opposite Mikhail. “He killed her best friend,” Trin whispered. “It wasn’t enough to take her from me.” He looked up. “Sam. She brought you here?”

Mikhail nodded. “Samantha’s power is remarkable. Her compassion and love is unparalleled. I do not know if she could have saved herself. She did not try. She is a threat to Chernobog if I have ever encountered one. She is still alive,” he assured Trin. “I am certain she would have come to me if she were dead.”

Trin shook his head. “Anavi couldn’t.”

Mikhail leaned forward, still weak. “There are things I haven’t had a chance to tell you, Trinton. We have a duty to perform, and there is still time.”

“I have to help Sam.”

Mikhail paused. “I know where she is,” he said. “Anavi was killed during a solstice. This gives the alexandrite its full capacity to capture the essence it craves. Ashbel has taken her to the next occurring solstice in his time, I am certain of it. Chernobog needs every bit of power he can claim to execute a feat of this magnitude without Gea’s blood.”

Trin stared, dumbfounded. “Ashbel has taken Sam to another time, Mikhail,” he said. “He killed Anna and has taken Sam somewhere I can’t follow.” He dropped his head to his hands, defeated.

Mikhail leaned forward, removing something from his jacket. Trin raised his eyes as he held it in the palm of his hand, eyes shining in the darkness. “Do you not think the Divinity saw this coming?” he asked. “Do you not think they have prepared a way for us to fight?”

“What is it, Mikhail?”

“We do not always understand why things play out the way they do, Trinton. Even our mistakes are put into place as a vehicle to accomplish a greater goal. You know this. The Divinity knew you would make the choices you have made and established a correlating path to utilize the gifts they have blessed you with in order to ensure their purpose. You have not failed, Trinton,” he said. “You have followed your path exactly.” Mikhail turned his gaze on Anna’s lifeless body. “We address this first,” he said. “This young woman cannot remain a victim of the Veduny conflict. I am sending you to Ivanova.”

“How will that help?”

“First, we need to find Sam. You must put forth all you have to contact her.”

“I don’t know if I can reach her in a different time,” Trin said.

“You will not be in a different time. We are not sending you to current day Ivanova.”

Trin sat up.

Mikhail opened his hand, revealing the black lacquer box. As he lifted the lid a faint distorted light emanated forth, alive in the stone pendant. Mikhail’s eyes gleamed. “For the first time in a century we have Ashbel’s energy contained. He made a mistake. The Veduny essence may be tainted but we are just as privy to its power.”

Trin raised his eyes to Mikhail.

“Ashbel can jump time,” he said. “The ability to do so is encoded in the energy he left behind and there is enough of it here to use.” He leaned forward with the box. “Once you make the jump she will be able to hear you. She can then tell you where she is. This is your compass, Trinton,” he said, holding up the pendant. “Ashbel has been tracking you for a century. Now
you
will be tracking
him.”

Mikhail and Trin worked with the speed of men crazed. Anvil had arrived with the general location of his brother, but more importantly, the time to which he had taken Sam. Mikhail had been correct. He had gone back just prior to the winter solstice.

Anvil was not allowed to follow Trin through time in that he was still alive in the time Trin was traveling to. Anvil’s guide and predecessor, Llamar, would be Trin’s guide for the duration of the visit. Trin carried Anna into her room, laid her on her bed, and covered her with her blanket. He lingered for a moment, holding her hand.