William (11 page)

“Time to die, bitch.” Emma gathered all her resources. She was going in for the kill.

Katie pushed her arms out, forcing a shield out around her. This time the power was too much—she could feel the hot tingles as it worked through her defences. She wasn’t strong enough to take her.

She screamed and cried out.

She couldn’t do more than this.

As Katie was about to let down her guard and just let nature take its course, she suddenly felt the pulse of magic run back through her.

Hundreds of dead witches’ magic was flowing through her, using her as a vessel, as a conduit of power against Emma.

One by one they appeared by her side, Emma’s closest relatives, not the faceless victims of her greed but the family she had destroyed in the name of more power. Their spirits were waiting to deliver Emma to her fate. Katie could feel their pain, anger and thirst for revenge, but also the underlying knowledge that they were about to destroy one of their own for the safety and survival of the human race.

They became one. Their power combined, mixing together to become more powerful than any other force in the world. Witches alone were powerful beings, but combined together they were indestructible.

Katie felt the magic inside her. It was running through her and pushing out against her foe.

She looked at William and knew, in that moment, that she was not going to survive. There could only be one outcome of tonight—she and Emma were both going to die.

They surged forwards, throwing out the magic, as she accepted her fate, her sacrifice for the good of mankind.

She pushed away her pain and guilt and pressed against Emma’s power, forcing her back.

“No…” Emma screamed as her power fell, giving Katie the opportunity she needed. She threw every last bit of their combined energy out through her hands, calling on the elements and all things natural to destroy this being who had disrupted the balance and caused untold bloodshed.

Within moments, Emma released her final scream as an explosion shook the very foundations of the mansion. Windows smashed as a gust of wind surged out of the house, letting in the wings of the devil to transport Emma to the fiery depths of hell.

When it was over and Emma’s body lay lifeless and decaying at her feet, Katie felt the witches leave her side.

Katie looked at William one final time, allowing the love she felt for him to show.

He smiled at her.

She didn’t want this to happen.

He moved towards her.

William made it just in time as Katie closed her eyes. Her body fell limp in his arms.

“Wow, sweet cheeks. I’ve got you.” He moved the hair off her face. She must be exhausted. But he had his Katie in his arms.

He held her up and that was when he knew something was wrong.

“Katie?” He stroked her hair and he finally registered the emptiness.

He dropped to his knees with her body in his arms. He touched each of the points to check for a pulse.

William was holding the cold lifeless body of Katie White. The woman whom he had failed; the woman who owned his heart.

It was the greatest pain of all. Tears fell as he rubbed his face against her still neck, trying to inhale the last of her scent which was disappearing quickly as each moment passed.

“Can’t be true,” he howled in pain.

He heard the others approaching and swearing as they saw that the woman he loved had been taken from him.

He screamed and raged, willing Katie to come back to him, blind-sided by his own pain.

Katie had sacrificed herself to kill Emma, leaving an empty vampire in her wake.

Chapter Ten

Poppy watched as the men tried to soothe William, tried to intervene and take the dead body of his mate out of his arms.

His eyes, red, blood shot, turned to her. She could see his pain. Her heart broke as she wondered if she would ever love someone that deeply. The hurt of their loss would be unbearable.

“You can bring her back,” he said.

Swallowing against the lump in her throat, she shook her head.

“Yes, you can,” he argued.

Again Poppy shook her head. “I’m a necromancer, I raise the dead by contacting their spirits and bringing them back to their bodies. I don’t bring the dead back to life.” She held her hands up, trying to reason with him.

“But you could do it.”

“No, I can’t.”

“I’m begging you.”

“I can’t do it. She would last a few days but then she would start to decay, William. My power is to raise the dead for a few minutes, a couple of hours at the most. What you are asking is for me to abuse my power.”

The corpse would decay and the soul that was left would turn to nothing more than a zombie, craving human flesh. It would be ugly and dangerous. The longer a dead spirit stayed within the body, the harder it was to extract it and send it to the afterlife.

“But she’s walking around there, alone and lost.” Tears dripped from his eyes, falling onto Katie.

“Come on, Brother.” Robert approached him.

Poppy wanted to help. She connected with her spirit self. If nothing else, maybe she could get Katie to give William a final message. Anything to help him in this time of torturous need.

Her spirit self searched for the missing link. If Katie was walking around, waiting to deliver a message, she would be able to find her.

But Katie was nowhere to be found.

Poppy opened her eyes and moved to William’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Katie has moved on. She is not waiting or alone. She has been embraced by the afterlife and taken into their love.”

A crossed-over spirit was even harder to bring into a body.

“William, she deserves to be buried with respect. We’ll take the body and lay her to rest like a mate.” Adam pressed his hand on top of Poppy’s to show his support.

“A mate? We didn’t even get time to finish the ceremony.”

William looked up, not seeing the people with the concerned faces, with the love and upset shining out of their eyes.

He looked past them, feeling only the dead weight in his arms.

Katie would have made a wonderful mate.

This was all James’ fault. His thirst for greed, power and position had killed William’s mate. He closed his eyes and saw visions of Katie in his world. In his arms, smiling, laughing and being the woman with attitude whom he’d come to love.

Katie had been taken away from him and he knew what he had to do.

Getting to his knees, he braced himself, taking Katie in his arms. He would put his woman to rest, then he would avenge her death and hopefully afterwards he would join her.

If she couldn’t be with him here and now, then he would be with her wherever the hell she was.

Ignoring his family, he walked out of the door, resigned to his fate.

After tonight, he was going after James.

James was going to die.

Chapter Eleven

Everything was so wonderfully crisp and white. Fresh, light and wonderful. Katie opened her eyes and gazed at the fluffiest clouds imaginable. Sighing, in pure heaven, she stretched, feeling the burn as untried muscles protested slightly.

She giggled.

“William?” she called. But there was no reply.

Sitting up, Katie frowned. The room was decorated in the purest of whites. A single mirror lay frozen across from her. Katie noted her pale complexion. Her amber hair had flowers dotted through it. 

Katie spun and saw an angel.

She was sitting on a window ledge with her legs crossed. Her blonde hair lay in waves down her back, all the way to the floor. Her eyes were clear blue and her voice musical.

“Am I in heaven?” Katie asked, glancing around wondering where everyone else was.

“Well, yes, you are.” The angel turned, putting her feet on the floor and moving towards her. “Well…you are, but at the same time you’re not. Wow. It still amazes me how languages don’t make sense in this realm.” Shaking her head, she moved closer until she was only a foot away.

“Where am I?”

“I’m Tara,” the angel said, giving Katie her hand.

Katie looked at the hand being presented to her. Taking it, she gave it a quick shake.

“Huh, human protocol. Interesting.”

“I’m Katie.”

Tara laughed. “I know silly. I mean, I
am
an angel.” She pointed at the halo and the wings.

“Okay, I’m confused. Where am I?”

“Well, you’re in heaven but you’re in the Seeing Room. Here, come and see.” Tara took her arm and led her over to the mirror.

The mirror lay blank, showing nothing.

“I don’t get it,” Katie said.

“Really? In your time down there you seemed pretty intelligent to me,” Tara accused, folding her arms. “Oh, for God’s sake.”

“You know, for an angel you take the big guy’s name in vain a lot.”

“The ‘big guy’ is older than life itself. The use of using his name in curses means as little to him as…Pluto suddenly being called a moon instead of a planet.”

Katie held up her hands.

“What you are seeing is a window into the other life. Katie’s last moments of life.
Your
last moments,” Tara said.

The battle she had just had with Emma came flooding back to her, along with the pain in her chest. Katie placed a hand over her heart.

“Ah, it’s starting to grow. Move your gown aside and check.”

Katie really wasn’t keeping up with the flow of conversation, but she moved her gown aside anyway. A tiny tree was tattooed on her chest.

“What is it?”

“The sacrificial tree of life. Sort of Adam and Eve’s theme. Whoever wears that tattoo carries the symbol of a great warrior who has sacrificed herself in battle. She represents a chance for the world to start again and run smoothly.”

The last moments of the battle started to play in the seeing window, freezing as the image of Katie turned to William.

“You defeating Emma restored balance between the good—being you—and the bad—being Emma. The death of two sides.”

“Where is Emma?”

“Rotting in hell, burning for all the sins she committed. Even Lucifer doesn’t like people messing up the balance.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“I’ll tell you, but no interruptions.”

Katie nodded.

“My job, as one of the All-Seeing Angels, is to watch over the immortal races. I’ve been paying attention to the Valentines, as they play an important part in the coming battles and wars of the twenty-first century. To put it simply, they will decide the outcome of this battle between good and evil. I know it’s a cliché, but still, it seems that no matter what, every few hundred years or so, some party tries to ruin the balance set out by the gods and so a war happens, wiping out and destroying equal numbers on both sides. With me so far?”

Katie nodded.

“Excellent. William Valentine holds a key role in this fight, as do you.”

“But I’m dead.” Should she feel a little freaked by that?

“Exactly. You’ve messed with my plan. Well, not you specifically—that little glitch can be found with Emma who is now in hell and probably surrounded by lots of fire. I need you back on Earth.”

“Why?”

“Wow. You really need it spelling out for you. William is useless without you—in fact he is set on a path that will likely kill him and the rest of the Valentine crew, knocking out the balance, screwing up the existence of every immortal on the planet.”

“They’re immortals, how bad could it be?”

“Okay, the reason there is a balance is because the planet can only sustain so much life force at one given time. It must balance to keep things working sustainably. You’ve heard of global warming, the economic crashes and breakdowns? It’s all building to this battle.”

“What have I got to do with William?”

Tara huffed. “Show William,” she commanded the mirror.

Katie looked into the glass at the moment that her image fell into his arms. She saw the pain and sorrow. The begging and pleading as he asked for her to be returned to him.

Katie moved closer as the scene before her changed. Her body lay in a white coffin. He stood stroking her hair back from her head. She heard the faint whispers of his voice as he spoke to her empty body.

“It’s all because of him. After tonight, I’ll join you, sweet cheeks. Wherever you are, I’ll be with you.”

Katie felt tears well and fall. He sounded so calm and serious as he leant down, kissed her cold lips and left.

“What does it mean?” she asked the angel.

“William is about to go and kill James. He believes it’s all the wolves’ fault.”

“Why can’t he kill him?”

“It is not James’ time. You don’t get it—things need to happen, revelations and justice must be served, but not like this. William Valentine will die tonight if you don’t save him.”

“I’m dead, how can I help?” Katie was panicking. Her chest hurt when she thought of William dying. She could cope with the thought of him moving on without her, living his life with happiness and love, but not with this.

She’d never wanted this.

“I need you to clip your wings and agree to go back into your body.”

“I can’t do that. My body is dying.”

“You are William Valentine’s destined soul mate. You can be reborn back into your own body, but it’ll hurt like hell…and there’ll be a catch,” Tara informed her.

“What kind of catch?”

“You’ll be linked to William and you’ll contain all the magic you released from Emma. You’ll have to control it. It’ll be dangerous. The other catch is that as William’s life mate and link, the connection between you will be stronger than ever.”

“Meaning?”

“When he dies, you’ll die.”

“What about if I die?”

“The magic inside you will bring you back. It will all depend on William. That is the catch.”

“Why do I get the sense that you’re breaking every single rule in the book to do this?”

“Because I am.”

“Why?”

“Humans, with all their whys. Because saving the planet and the human race is more important than protocol and rules. Sometimes, in order to make things work, stuff needs to get broken. Also, in a few months or probably a few weeks, I’m going to need your help, without question.”