The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (31 page)

"She slept with him, too?" I asked;
Lauren nodded. My perfect picture of the Queen of the vampires was
fading rather, quickly, but I wanted her to go on. "Okay, so what
happened between them?"

"Towards the end of the whole thing
with Jack, Ash decided that she truly loved Julian and not Quinn,
so, he started to come around and see me, not purposely, at first,
but it became that way, and Ash got back with Julian in a way. You
see they hadn't slept together yet, in all of the years that they
had known each other, but she was still with him in other ways."
Lauren stretched her legs and smiled. "Well, she got her son and
left for a year, which let Quinn and I get a lot closer, but when
she came back, she decided that she was in love with Julian and
they've been that way since June, when she returned.

"It's odd, though, even though he seems
to be ‘with’ her, she seems to be elsewhere, like with Michael and
now she's telling everyone that she believes she should be with
Mike, because he's Jack's father, in some way or another." She
looked over at me and shrugged. "It's unusually
complicated."

"I guess." I replied and smiled, "but,
congratulations on your pregnancy, anyway." Lauren hugged me and
smiled. "When is your due date?"

"About two weeks after you." She
replied and stood up. "Would you like to take a walk?"

"Sure, lead on." I smiled and the two
of us got up and walked along the beach for a while.

Chapter
15

Cristian looked up at David, who was
staring out the window at the approaching night, and then he turned
his attention to Justin, who seemed to be staring at the firelight,
and once again, changed his gaze to Michael and Julian, who were
sitting in the two large recliners in the far corner of the room.
Slowly, he stood and made his way over to them, then stood directly
in their view.

"What is it, Cris?" Michael
asked.

"The girls." He answered,
bluntly.

"What about them?" He questioned again,
looking up from the stack of books in front of him.

"I think we should take them off the
property." He replied. Julian shook his head. "What do you mean
no?"

"This is the safest place for them, for
any of us." Julian answered. "We should all remain where we
are."

"And, let that bastard kill us off, one
by one?" Cristian argued.

"I, personally, don't intend to let him
kill anyone." Justin's voice interrupted from near the fireplace.
Cristian turned to him quickly.

"You should just stay out of this.
You're the reason this whole thing got started, you and that no
good traitor over there." This made David turn quickly in their
direction with a ‘who me?’ kind of expression on his face. "Don't
look so innocent, David. You're the one that was directly involved
with Victor in the first place."

"That's enough." Quinn's voice
intervened as he stepped into the room. "This isn't the time to
point fingers, or place blame."

"You should talk." Cristian laughed.
"You've been hunting after David since he stepped foot in this
house."

"Which, I might remind you that you are
a guest in." Quinn replied sternly. "And, are more than welcome to
leave, without the girls, any time you wish. As for what my
feelings towards David were in the past, I felt I was justified in
doing what I had too to protect my family, just as I am justified
in saying that he has proven himself worthy of my trust again. But,
you, Cristian, are wearing thin on my welcome list."

"This isn't your house,
Quinn."

"No!" Julian said standing
up; his eyes seemed distant, and emotionless. "This is
MY
house and if this
whole childish act of yours continues, you will be asked,
forcefully to leave it."

"Uh, Guys." A soft female voice
interrupted, once again. Everyone in the room turned to look at the
four girls standing in the doorway. Taryn stepped forwards, being
the one that had addressed them before. "Sage is gone."

"What do you mean "gone"?" Cristian
asked, stupidly.

"She's not in the house, moron." Ashley
replied, with edginess in her voice. Cristian looked at her in
shock, as if he had never expected her to address him that way.
"She's missing; we've been looking for about twenty
minutes."

"She couldn't have gone far." Michael
replied.

Sage, where are
you?
Justin asked with his mental voice,
which made David looked over at him and shrug, as if to say he
hadn't gotten an answer either.

"What is that?" Bobby asked, moving
closer to the windows that David now stood with his back too.
Everyone turned to look. In the distance, just before the edge of
the grass, was as strange spiraling blue light, and sitting on the
ground, underneath it, was Sage. "What is she doing out
there?"

That's when David noticed the shadows
moving closer to her and his eyes widened, as they seemed to take
on shapes. "He's coming."

Those were the only words he said as
sped past the group in the sitting room and made his way out onto
the lawn. The rest of the people soon followed suit, with Justin
not far behind his auburn-haired friend, but as David reached where
the shadows began, he was scooped up by a form that seemed to be
nothing but blackness, and was then thrown across the
lawn.

Sage moved from where she sat, to look
at the commotion, and caught a glimpse of David, who was picked up,
by a dark hand around his throat, and held suspended in the
arm.

"David!" She screamed as she stood and
began a dead run for whatever held him there.

"No! Sage, stop!' Justin's voice yelled
to her from the other side of David, but it was too late, she was
suddenly surrounded.

Up on the patio, the others watched
helplessly, for they were trapped by an unseen wall, which only
Justin and David had been allowed to pass. Bobby held Taryn as the
two watched Sage fight off the demon shadows and that's when it
happened, the shadows began to change, manifesting themselves into
one man, who still held David by his neck, and turned to look at
Sage with an evil grin.

"Victor." Michael whispered, and he was
right.

Victor stood looking at Sage, with a
smile that would kill the moon if possible, and he suddenly tossed
David aside, towards Justin, as if he were a rag doll.

"Hello, my pretty." Victor's deep voice
boomed and echoed around her like they were in an empty room. The
darkness had surrounded them, and their seemed to be no way out.
Sage backed away, heading in the direction of the boys, but he
smiled. "Ah-uh." He said, waving his finger. The ground rumbled
beneath her and Sage watched as stone coffins began to pop up from
the grass, enclosing her in a circle of concrete and decay. "You
didn't think you would get away that easily, did you?"

"I had thought about it." Sage replied,
numbly. She looked around trying to think about what she could do
to get out, and get to the boys, but there seemed to be only one
thing that could happen. They would have to get in. "So, what
now?"

"Now, I kill you, and then I kill your
little friends." Victor laughed.

"Why are we so important?" She asked,
softly. "What could we, even as we are, possibly do to
you?"

"This is all part of the plan. You see
I've been hunting after your lover and his two little companions
since they were created. I was Devon's protégé, I was to be his
successor, but your little boyfriend spoiled it. Devon didn't think
I was evil enough for it after he came along, then he decided to
find someone else after the little puke turned him down." Victor
smiled at her, and then shrugged. She caught movement out of the
corner of her eyes as Justin and David scaled the coffin wall
behind him. "As for David, well, Roma was my fledgling and I was
her king, but then she fell in love with that imbecile and left me,
so I killed her, but David has had his uses in the last few years.
His anger and evil were just what I needed to get a hold of that
little brat prince, but he betrayed me, so now I want to kill
him."

"What about me?" Sage questioned. "What
did I do to you?"

"That one's quiet simple really. You're
the bastard child of Devon's fledglings and you carry, within you,
the ninth child of the Kingdom of the Nine. I bet they never told
you what would happen if that child was never born, did they?" He
asked. Sage shook her head and watched as the two boys came closer.
"Darkness would engulf the world and the underworld would
rule."

"Oh, yeah, like that one's never been
prophesized before." Sage said, shaking her head. "What is it with
you demons and your world domination anyway?"

"You silly girl, this isn't a joke,
although, relying on two vampires and a witch, all of which are
suppose to be Satan's followers, to save the world does seem quite
amusing." Victor smiled, evilly. "Well, now that you know why,
shall we get on with it?"

With those words, he raised his hands
to the sky, and spoke in a language that Sage really didn't
understand. As he talked, the blackened sky seemed to begin to
swirl around, red lightening flashed through the air, with several
of them hitting Victor on his open palms, creating a glowing red
orb between his hands. Victor smiled down at Sage then brought both
of his hands down, tossing the red ball of lightening towards her.
Sage ducked and covered her head with her hands, creating a blue
wall around her as the ball came crashing towards her.

"
Sage!
" Justin yelled, which made
Victor turn to look at the two young men who were standing right
behind him now.

"You can't help her!" Victor yelled.
"You can't even help yourself." He balled up another hit of the red
lightening and tossed it at Justin, who didn't have the magic to
protect him. It hit its target, sending Justin into
convulsions.

David knelt by Justin, placing his
hands on his chest, which seemed to settle him down, then he turned
to Victor, and, without thinking raced towards him. Sage screamed
as Victor lashed out at the on-coming young man, slicing him with
what looked like red streams of lights that came from the tips of
his fingers. She watched as he turned towards her, the blood
flowing from the giant gash in across his chest. Sage looked at
Victor once again, as she moved towards David, kneeling down to
hold him in her arms, fury blazing in her eyes, and as his body
slumped down, letting go of consciousness, Sage stood to face the
demon in front of her.

"Now, you little brat, it's your turn."
Victor smiled, evilly.

"I don't think so." She replied, as she
raised her arms towards the dark night sky, collecting as much of
her own powers as she could, then she started to speak. The words
were simple and even though she wasn't sure where they came from;
she knew what they meant.

"Of Earth and Air, Fire and Ice, I call
upon the spirits of the night to help me rid this place of an evil
so tainted, that darkness has fallen upon this Earth. Spirits of
the past, familiar hands that last, bring forth your domination and
rid us of this abomination." She closed her eyes, letting the blue
light begin to illuminate her body, and then she sent the magic
outwards into the universe. Sage finally opened her eyes and found
herself floating above Victor and the boys, with wings of blue
light to hold her up, like an angel.

Victor was screaming as the light
swirled around him, engulfing him in what looked like blue flame,
but at the same time, the light was cocooning David and Justin, and
she smiled when the two of them stood on their own two feet, having
been healed by the loving light, just as Victor was being tortured.
Slowly, the wings lowered Sage to the ground and once there she ran
to David and Justin, holding them both close as the light, still
blazing around Victor, took shape in front of them.

Sage knelt on the ground, with the boys
beside her as the light formed faces, familiar faces, to all of
them. Sage smiled as her mother and father looked down on her with
their ghostly eyes, and smiled, proudly, at their daughter, but
Justin's sudden intake of breath that made her look over at him, at
the awe on his face, and on David’s.

Up on the porch, Cristian, who had been
watching this all as if it had been a staged performance, let out
an audible noise, one of pure amazement. The others looked at him
as he stood, pale faced, looking out at the scene in the
yard.

"What is it?" Julian asked. Michael,
who had been holding Bobby, stepped closer to his brother, the same
strange shock on his face.

"Those are Sage's parents." Michael
said, softly.

"No, Mike, look closer." Cristian
replied, which made Michael squint to see the man-ghost
better.

"It's Charles." Justin whispered,
pulling Sage close to him.

"Justin, those are my parents." Sage
whispered; Justin looked into her eyes.

"But, that's also my father." He
answered.

"She's your mother?" David asked, Sage
looked at him and nodded, "But, that's Roma, my sire."