The Blood Will Run (10 page)

“Our darling Alivia? Have you lost your freaking damn mind?” Chace asked, clenching his teeth.

“Face the facts. Alivia will be mine and nothing you ever do will ever change that. I’m not that weak little boy anymore Chace. I studied the Sollecular and know what I can and can’t do. I could have my own powers if I choose to shift into a bird of my choice, just like you.” Devins’ eyes changed to a charcoal black.

“Right, then that means you’re weak. I don’t believe you could beat me if you tried,” Chace said.

“I’m willing to kick your ass, if you’re up for it,” Devin said glaring at Chace.

“Really, you want to take me on brother?” Chace asked and clenched his fists.

Devin nodded.

“Then follow me,” Chace said and dashed out of the house faster than a bullet.

Chace waited in the woods behind the Casa De Luca.

When Devin arrived, he stood face to face with Chace. Chace felt a rush of adrenalin take hold of every muscle in his body. He wanted to break his brother in two the minute he saw Devins’ lips touch Alivias’ in the cabin.

“I’m going to enjoy breaking every bone in your body brother,” Chace said.

“Wait.” Devin held up his hand. “Before we tear each other apart just give me a chance to reason with you.”

“All right you got three minutes. That’s all.”

“Technically, I saw Alivia first at the bookstore,”

Devin said.

“So you think. I’m the one who pulled Alivia away to safety at the gas station. I held her unconscious body until the paramedics came. From then on, I followed her. When she cried over her mother and brothers’ grave, I listened. When she screamed out in pain with such torment in her voice, I wanted to protect her. Each time she went to the grave, I sat quietly in the maple tree watching her. The more she talked aloud, the more she began to stir something inside of me. I have never felt this way about anyone.”

Devin shook his head. “You’re lying.”

“No I’m not. Every night I went to the Grand Coffin Cafe and watched her. When the Cafe closed, I followed her to the grave and watched her as she slept. I began to feel overwhelmed with emotions. I suddenly began to ache for her. I wanted to take her, make passionate love to her, and whisper in her ear that I loved her. I kept my distance knowing that one day she would see me, and then things would change. That night at the party, when I read your thoughts and discovered you were attracted to my Alivia, it made me crazy. I wanted to kill you right at that moment, but you are my brother and…”

Devin interrupted him. “She’s not meant to be yours Chace. I felt it. The electric wave of energy that raced through my body was incredible. That’s the same shock I felt when I grabbed her by the shoulders to control her emotions the night her and Miles fought. In the Sollecular, it says this type of shock is only felt when you meet your soul-mate.”

Chace placed his hands on his head. He couldn’t believe what Devin was telling him. No, he didn’t want to believe what Devin was telling him. Devin was in love with the same girl he was in love with, this wasn’t good. This whole situation reminded him of the time Devin had to write a script for a screenwriting class. Later, it became an amateur movie called Foolish Geeks Face their Worst Nightmares. In the movie, the geek tried to take the hot girl from the cool guy. The geek did stupid outrageous things to the cool guy to try to win the girls heart. Finally, the cool guy lost his cool and hit the geek in the face. The hot girl was upset with the cool guy and stormed off with the geek. It was similar to this situation.

Devin was the geek and he was the cool guy. There was no way he was going to let his brother walk off with the girl.

Chace stepped closer to his brother and glared into his eyes. “You can’t have Alivia, she’s in love with me and she’ll always be mine.”

Devin glared back. His eyes were dark and fiery. “I believe that you and I have a problem. I’m in love with Alivia and I’m sorry that you believe that you’re in love with Alivia. I can’t help but wonder if it’s really true that you love her. She’s a challenge for you. I bet you haven’t slept with her either. I bet that’s why you’re with her. I think that once she gives herself to you, you’ll run and leave her heartbroken.” Devin shook his head. “I’m sorry Chace, but I know you all too well. You use women for your own personal sex addiction. That’s not right. I suppose in the end though, if it’s a battle you want, then it’s a battle you’ll get. After all, all is fair in love and war.”

“What could you possibly be thinking? That you could be with her, just like that?” Chace laughed wickedly. “Remember what you did to Evelina in your fit of passion? Do you honestly believe it would be any different with Alivia? I’m sorry but there’s no way in hell I’ll let you have Alivia. You got that?

You’ll live with the fact that she’s mine and that’s all there is to it.”

“Let me let you in on a little secret. Since the sun and moon curse was activated, I’m all of a sudden able to make love to any woman I choose to make love to.” Devin smiled.

“You’re lying,” Chace said.

“No, I went to Ticklers at the edge of town. You remember that place, don’t you brother? After all, you did build that establishment for your own sexual satisfaction. To make a long story short, I decided that no one would miss one of your hired skeezers if I were to turn her into a pile of ash, so I went for it. I had an incredible night with Roxy. You know the redhead with the great boobs and guess what? Roxy is still alive and she’s ready to go again.”

Chace stared at him. He hated him right at that moment more than he hated being an immortal.

He grabbed Devin by the shoulders. “Your three minutes are up.” Chace whipped him hard against the tree. The tree split in half from the impact of Devins’ body. It fell to the ground causing a loud thunderous noise that echoed throughout the woods.

“That’s enough!” Alivia screamed as she raced up to them with Erica and Lawson right behind her.

Alivia stood between them and glared down at Devin angrily.

“I know that you believe I’m your true love. But I’m not.”

Alivia went to stand beside Chace.

“Devin, you can’t fight for a love that’s not yours. You can’t make me love you anymore than I can stop you from loving me.  Believe me when I say that I love your brother and I will love him forever.”

Devin was silent.

“What’s important here is to accept it and move on. The relationship you have with your brother can’t suffer anymore over this. Family matters. Take it from someone who knows what it feels like to lose the people you care about the most. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from having the happiness and love you deserve. The right girl is out there somewhere for you. It’s just not me.”

Devin sat for several minutes and then stood up. He brushed the dirt from his jeans and smiled at Alivia. “You’re right. I’m sorry Alivia. Please forgive me.”

Alivia nodded and then smiled.

Devin looked at Chace. “I’ll back off and let you live your life with Alivia happily. I’ll center my attention elsewhere. This is not the right time to bicker over the obvious. It’s time to concentrate on finding Vanstrauss.”

Devin stepped toward Chace and held out his hand. “Truce?”

Chace shook his hand and nodded.

Erica smiled and hugged Devin. “You’re awesome,” she said.

“That’s what I’m told,” said Devin.

There was a long silence as they walked back to the Casa De Luca.

“Where’s our father?” Devin asked, eyeing Chace curiously.

“As far away from Lawson as possible,” Chace answered.

Devin nodded. “Smart thinking, tell me later.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

T
he next
morning the Cafe was swarming with customers. Every booth was full.

Alivia, Jules and Erica rushed around taking orders and serving customers as fast as they could.

“Hey excuse me, waitress!” Someone shouted over the noise.

Alivia followed the voice to table five.

“Be right with you,” Alivia said.

“Okay, I’ll have a Laurell K Hamilton with a side order of beans and an Anita Blake with scrambled eggs and two OJs’,” the customer said.

“Okay, coming right up,” Alivia said and hurried off.

Alivia walked to the counter and hung the order slip on the rotating clip stand before heading to booth five.

“What can I get you guys this morning?” Alivia asked, holding her pen to her order-pad.

“We’ll have two coffees and some information,” said the man in the suit. Alivia scribbled on her order-pad.

“Coffee I can do, but we’re kind of swamped as you can see. Information will have to wait.”

Alivia rushed off to the counter and hung the order slip on the clip.

She glanced back at the two men in suits sitting at booth five and wondered what kind of information they could possibly want from her. These days, she was more nervous than usual.

After everything she had gone through, she was on edge. She was half expecting Vanstrauss to waltz up behind her at any given time and snap her neck.

She shifted her gaze to Chace who was sitting at booth nine with Devin and her friends. Lately, Chace was everywhere that she was. He even climbed in her window at night and held her while she slept. Surprisingly, Devin was around almost as much as Chace. She thought that after what happened in the woods, Devin wouldn’t stick around. But she was wrong. Devin was actually putting a plan together to trap Vanstrauss.

Jules nudged her in the arm with her elbow. “Get back to work and stop gawking over lover boy. This place doesn’t run itself you know,” Jules said and smiled.

Alivia stuck out her tongue and scurried off to serve the next booth.

Hours later, Alivia sat down next to Chace at booth nine.

“Excuse me waitress, this seems like a good time for that information now,” the man in the dark suit said and raised his brow at her questioningly.

Alivia eyed Chace. Chace patted her hand affectionately and nodded.

“Please have a seat,” the older man said and gestured for her to slide in beside him.

“This is Detective Fleager and I’m Detective Harper,” said the older man. “We’re with the Supernatural Special Task Force. You’re Alivia Marks, am I right?”

Alivias’ stomach turned as she nodded.

“We received a number of names regarding recent deaths in Coven Creek in the last several months. Your name came up seeing that the death of your mother and brother was a little suspicious,” Detective Fleager explained.

“Suspicious, how so?” Alivia asked.

But she already knew the answer.

“Well deaths such as the death of your family are unusual in a town so small,” Detective Fleager said.

“Do you believe in the supernatural, Miss Marks?”

Detective Harper asked.

“Not really,” she answered.

Alivia caught her sister eyeing her questioningly.

She waved Jules over to the booth.

“This is Detective Fleager and Detective Harper with the Supernatural Special Task Force. They are saying that Mom and Lawsons’ death was an unusual occurrence for such a small town,” Alivia said and slid out of the booth.

“You can’t be serious?” Jules asked and placed a hand on her hip.

“I’m afraid that we are completely serious,” Detective Fleager said.

“It’s not nice to make fun of us because we happen to own a vampire themed restaurant. The both of you should be ashamed of yourselves.” Jules said angrily.

“We’re investigating some unexplained events that are taking place in this very town and in Newgrave as well. We’re leaning more toward vampires being responsible for the puncture wounds on the necks of six victims found in the woods.”

Detective Fleager opened his file and shifted through several photos of dead people with their necks ripped apart.

“What sort of men are you really? You photo shopped those pictures to get a rise out of people. I’ve never heard of anything so preposterous in all my life. Do you honestly know what it is that you are suggesting?”

Jules shook her head in disbelief and then continued, but not so calmly this time. “Get the hell out of my restaurant right now!”

Jules shouted so loud that the customers stared at her.

Neither one of them moved.

“Do I need to call the Sheriff and have you escorted off my premises?” Jules asked and walked toward the phone behind the counter.

“No, that’s quite all right. We’ll leave peacefully this time Miss Marks. But, if you receive any information pertaining to this case contact us immediately. Is that clear?” Detective Fleager said rudely and slid out from the booth. Detective Harper followed.

“Some people,” Jules said and stormed through the swinging doors to the back of the Cafe.

☼

When the last customer left that night, Chace, Alivia, Devin and Erica sat at booth nine with a bottle of cherry coke in front of them. They made small talk until Jules finally headed upstairs to the loft.

Devin pulled the Sollecular out of his backpack and opened it up on the table.

“According to early documentation written by the Vamprincessa, Vanstrauss is powerful. Many of the first members of the clan tried numerous ways to kill him but failed. The last part here,” Devin said and skimmed his finger over the writing, “was written after Vanstrauss was sent to Hellsgrave. It implies that they discovered a way to trap the dark shadow. Vamprincessa speaks of a box baring the symbol of a cross and blessed by a high priestess. They are convinced that this box has the power to trap the shadow of darkness.”

“Where’s the box?” Erica asked.

“It says that it’s hidden in a chamber inside a tomb,” Devin said.

“Could it be the ancient tomb that Mercy brought us to?” Chace asked.

“Maybe,” Devin took his cell phone out of his back pocket. “I’ll text Mercy and ask her to meet us at the tomb and we can check for ourselves.”

“Maybe you and Erica should stay here,” Chace said to Alivia.

“No way,” Erica said. “I want to see this tomb. I’ve lived here all this time and never knew there was a tomb here.”

Chace was about to protest, but Alivia slid out of the booth and stood up. “I agree with Erica. I want to see this tomb as well.”

Minutes later, the four of them piled into Chaces’ car and headed toward Newgrave.

When they pulled up, Mercy was standing in front of the iron gate.

“What are they doing here?” Mercy asked waving her hand at Alivia and Erica.

“They know everything. They can be trusted,” Devin said.

Mercy nodded, unchained the gate and went first. Devin, Erica, Alivia and Chace followed behind.

They entered the chamber to the left of the stairway.

The room was dark until Mercy lit several candles.

Devin could barely believe his eyes.

There were coins of gold and silver, statues of men and woman, bows and arrows, boxes, staffs and an assortment of other ancient artifacts stacked against walls and scattered about the stone floor.

It reminded him of the treasure that a pirate would keep tucked away on his ship.

“What are we looking for?” Mercy asked.

“A box with a symbol of a cross on it,” Devin answered.

“How many other chambers are down here?” Chace eyed Mercy.

“There’s two more,” Mercy said.

“Maybe we should split up,” Chace suggested.

“I’ll stay here,” Devin said and began searching through the stuff on the floor.

“Alivia you come with me. Chace and Erica you guys search the other chamber,” Mercy said.

The four of them left the chamber and walked down the narrow hall.

☼

“So, you’re the guardian of the realm?” Mercy asked once they reached the end of the narrow hall to the last chamber.

“No, Lawson is the Shayvan,” Alivia said as they went into the room.

“Lawson?” Mercy turned and stared at her.

“Yes, I thought you knew,” Alivia said.

“No, Devin failed to mention it to me.”

Alivia nodded.

“Where’s Lawson now?” Mercy asked.

“Lawson is at the Casa De Luca.”

“I see,” Mercy said and walked away from her. Alivia eyed the rows of boxes stacked on shelves all around the room. Mercy began searching on the back wall. Alivia walked to the right wall and started pulling out the boxes one by one.

Alivia followed the row as high as she could reach.

She turned to Mercy. “I can’t reach the last three rows.”

Mercy glanced around the room. “Here give me a hand. We’ll push this table so that you can stand on it.”

Alivia helped Mercy push the table to the shelf. Once it was in position, she climbed up and began sliding out the boxes.

“Mercy, I think this might be what we’re looking for.” Alivia jumped down and handed the box to Mercy.

Mercy traced her finger over the cross. “There is some sort of liquid inside the cross,” she said.

“For something that is supposed to be so powerful it’s pretty small,” Alivia said.

Mercy turned the oval box upside down. “There’s an engraving on the bottom in Latin.
umbraculo damnation
, simply translated,
shadow damnation
.”

“This must be it then.”

“I believe it is. Come on let’s tell the others,” Mercy said leading the way out of the chamber.

“Hey guys, I think we found what we’re looking for.” Mercy yelled out through the narrow corridor.

The two of them began to make their way back to the first chamber.

Chace and Erica appeared seconds later.

Mercy handed the box to Devin.

“The Latin words carved on the bottom mean shadow damnation,” Mercy said.

Devin nodded.

“Must be what we’re looking for then,” Chace said.

“Come on, let’s head back to the Cafe and see if we can figure out how to trap Vanstrauss’ shadow in this thing,” Devin said handing the box back to Mercy.

They all made their way out of the tomb.

“There is something written in my ancestors book about this box. I’m sure of it. Let me go and get the book. I’ll meet you at the Cafe,” Mercy said as she locked the chain around the iron gate.

Alivia saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. “Chace there is something in the woods,” she whispered in his ear.

Chace glanced around as Devin came to stand beside Alivia.

Alivia saw the dark shadow again and pointed it out.

“Did you see it?” Alivia asked.

“Yes, don’t move. No one move,” Chace said.

A sudden darkness swept over the moon and everything went pitch black.

Alivia felt something brush across the back of her neck. Her heart pounded in her chest as she held her breath.

“
Seeker of truth
,” someone whispered in her ear.

“Chace did you hear that?” Alivia asked trembling.

There was no answer from Chace.

Something grabbed her arm.

“
Truth
,” the voice screeched loudly.

“Leave me alone!” she screamed as she slapped at the air.

“
Seek
,” something pushed her back. “
The truth
,” and another push. “
Seek the truth
,” the voice screeched loudly, pushing her back.

Alivia fell to the ground and covered her hands over her ears. “Leave me alone!” she screamed. Then she felt the arms grab her around her waist.

☼

Devin reached out into the darkness and grabbed Alivia by the waist.

“Leave me alone!” she screamed.

“It’s me Devin,” he said releasing her.

“What’s happening?” Alivia asked and practically leaped into his arms while she held onto him for dear life.

“I’m not sure,” Devin said.

“Where’s Chace?” Alivia asked trembling.

“I don’t know.”

“I can’t see a thing,” Alivia said.

“Hang on a minute.”

Devin felt around inside of his jacket. He pulled a lighter out from the inside pocket and flicked it. The flame was just enough for him to see the fear in her eyes.

“Please don’t leave me Devin,” Alivia said clinging to him.