The Warlock King (The Kings) (8 page)

However, this was no ordinary black diamond.

It was the size of a small apple, and it sparkled madly in the firelight of Jason’s great room, reflecting the flames in a multitude of nearly extra-dimensional facets to glitter as no other stone ever had. He gazed at it with a semi-interested air as he thought of dark matter, of Akyri, and of Chloe Septeran.

Wind whipped through the trees outside. A few stray
raindrops spattered across the windows and coated the roof. This was Jason’s sanctuary, the extra-dimensional “home” he’d owned and carried with him since he’d found the spell to create it in one of Lalura’s books as a child.

Each year
it had grown larger and more opulent. On the outside, it appeared to be nothing more than a shack, a cabin, a small rambler, or even a tent. It took on whatever visage fit the surrounding environment. The same illusion held true for anyone of non-magical blood or of too low a magical “level” who happened to come in through the front door. The tent remained a tent, and the shack remained a shack.

However, for Jason it became the mansion of marble and stone that his power had helped it to grow into long ago. Ribbons of gold wound their way through the marble blocks and the polished mantle of the massive hearth against one wall. Rugs of ancient, expensive design appeared to have been tossed carelessly, luxuriously here and there. The ceiling reached nearly cathedral heights and was painted in frescoes that changed with the sky above: clouds and snow in one location, thunder and lightning in another.

Sculptures and fountains occupied corners, vases from dynasties in other realms rested on raised daises, and tall cabinets with crystal doors safely sequestered jewels and objects of magical interest.

Luxurious tapestries hung from solid brass fixtures along the walls. One depicted a little boy with flaxen hair and a little girl with dark hair playing around a tree in a fenced backyard. Light gathered in the little girl’s hands, and it appeared the little boy was guiding her on what to do with it.

Another tapestry depicted the scene of a magical battle in a forest filled with massive, ancient redwoods.

A third tapestry wove a birds’ eye view of a dark and secret room, at the center of which rested a table. Around this table sat
13 figures, each bearing some sort of decoration that symbolized who was who. The picture hadn’t been there several months ago.

It was now.

It was there now because these tapestries had appeared at intervals in Jason’s life, intricate reflections of what was transpiring around him, influencing him, and casting the stones of his destiny.

There was a fourth tapestry, however its woven colors were faded and obscure. The image that would take its place in its threads had not yet come to pass. Jason wondered whether when it was complete, it would be a picture he would take joy in looking upon – or only want to rip down and burn.

These were the trappings of his noble home. His sanctuary. It was, in all of its majesty, a palace he enjoyed in solitary splendor, for he was one of a very few individuals strong enough to see the mansion for what it truly was.

It would be the same for Chloe, once the queen came home to her castle.

If
she came home to her castle.

She will
, he insisted. She would know her home right away. There was so much inherent power flooding her body and soul, she would see it as he did… and perhaps to even more detail.

Jason took a deep breath and straightened, rising from the leather seat and striding to the hearth. He leaned against the mantle, reaching down to hold the black diamond before the flames of the fire.

It looked like stardust.

*****

“You gonna shoot or do I need to do it for you?” Dannai wriggled her finger, pointing it threateningly at the dart her friend Lily was holding. It wavered in Lily’s hand and earned Dannai a dirty look.

Dannai smiled, shrugging and tossing a long, thick lock of
jet-black hair over her shoulder. This was the first night she and Lucas had taken away from the twins. It felt strange. It was like her arms were too light; the weight that had been unloaded from them beckoned and burned. She wanted her babies back, but she also knew that she and her husband desperately needed this time together without them. For sanity’s sake. For
their
sake.

So Lalura Chantelle was watching the twins, with the “help” of Lily’s son, three-year-old William Kane. Dannai would never have placed such enormous responsibility in a single mortal, ordinary, human’s care, especially one as old as Lalura. However, Lalura was no ordinary woman.

“What’s the point?” Lily retorted. Your brother-in-law is messing with the board.” Lily Kane, a tall, slim woman with honey colored eyes and like-colored hair shot another man the same teasingly dirty look. “He’s cheating.”

“I most certainly am not,” Byron Caige insisted, crossing his thick arms over his broad chest.

Dannai glanced at him. He was her husband’s brother and their looks were so similar, that Dannai easily recognized the slight guilt in the man’s expression. “You know, I
thought
the scores seemed a little skewed,” she said.

Byron’s
slightly guilty expression expanded to encompass his handsome features, and his gray eyes twinkled. Oh, he was damned.

Every alpha werewolf possessed a unique power of some kind. Dannai’s husband, Lucas, had incredible luck. He was like that comic book character who never lost at games, which was further proof that Byron was cheating. This time, Lucas was losing.

Byron Caige, his brother, possessed the ability to manipulate technology. Fifty years ago, when he’d first discovered this ability, it hadn’t seemed all that useful. However
now
was most certainly another story.

He’d apparently changed the electronic score readouts on the
dartboard, managing to do so without anyone noticing the changes out-right.

“You’re unscrupulous my love,” accused Katherine Dare, Byron’s mate. She shook her blonde head, the corners of her mouth turned up just enough to show she was teasing, and then she reached down, scooped up four pointed darts at once, and shot them toward the board with incredible speed.

One dart embedded itself in the bull’s-eye. Two more landed in the bullring. The fourth stuck dead center in the 20 triple ring.

Dannai shook her head. “There’s just no point in playing with you two.”

Katherine Dare may be the “Curse Breaker” amongst werewolves, the one responsible for breaking a 4,000 year-old curse by sacrificing herself to a terrible evil, but she was also a former Hunter and trained by the Hunters. She was very good at just about anything having to do with fighting. Even darts.

Katherine, who also went by “Kat,” smiled a giant smile, flashing rows of bright white teeth. Everyone else laughed. Lily gathered the darts, placed them in the bin for someone else to use, and she, Dannai, Kat, Byron, and Lucas all headed toward the booths on the other end of the pub.

Dannai had been hoping Charlie, Malcolm, and Daniel could join them tonight as well, but Daniel, who was Lily’s husband, worked nearly non-stop as the chief of police in Baton Rouge. Malcolm Cole was a famous author and currently on tour signing autographs overseas. Charlie, his mate and one of Dannai’s best friends, always accompanied him when he traveled if he traveled abroad.

Dannai couldn’t blame her. Charlie’d had a rather rough childhood as a dormant who didn’t know she was dormant, an even rougher young adulthood, and she’d lived in a state of fear more or less for decades. Now that she was a turned and mated werewolf and knew where she stood in life, she had a good deal more confidence and a lot less anxiety about getting out and seeing things. Plus, Malcolm could barely stand to have her out of arm’s reach. So, traveling together was best for the both of them.

The five of them squeezed into an oversized booth and Lucas ordered them drinks.

“I had a vision last night,” Lily began as the waitress deposited their beers on the table.

This got everyone’s immediate attention. With as volatile and heated as the supernatural world had become of late, any visions the seers had were imperative and vital.

“What was it about?” Lucas asked immediately. His dark gray eyes glinted with keen interest. Everyone leaned forward, their elbows on the table.

Lily turned her mug around in her hands to grip it properly and said, “There’s a girl in a school in Oregon who is only now coming to realize she is a werewolf now that the curse is broken. She’s adopted. Her parents have no idea what she is and thus far, they have no idea that she’s experiencing…
changes
.”

Everyone was silent for a moment as this was digested.

“Well, it’s not the apocalyptic vision you had before, but it’s still disturbing,” said Lucas.

“Actually, I wasn’t finished,” Lily interjected with a smile. “The rub? She’s dating a Hunter’s son.”

“Okay, that’s admittedly worse,” said Kat.

“And it gets even better,” said Lily. She took a drink of her beer, replaced it on the table, and added, “The Hunter father is somehow involved with a vampire – the very powerful vampire working for an unknown source.”

A strange chill went through Dannai. Somehow this felt personal.

“How do you know this?” she asked before she could stop herself. It was a rather stupid question for her to ask. Everyone knew that a seer’s visions were odd, obscure sorts of things that no one but a seer would understand. And everyone also knew that a seer was never wrong in his or her interpretations. It was instinctual, like breathing. “Sorry,” she added almost immediately. “I just….”

“You have every reason and right to ask,” Lily assured her, reaching across the table and giving her hand a squeeze. “You’re more involved in this than anyone at this table – and so are your kids.” Lily let go of her hands and added with a big smile, “And you’re a good mom.”

Another companionable hush fell over the group as Lucas leaned over, pulled Dannai close to his side with a strong arm around her waist, and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Dannai inhaled, breathing in the scent of her husband, leather and aftershave and wind – and then she froze. A familiar feeling rushed through her, one of memories and warnings and emotions both good and bad. She straightened in her booth seat and turned, looking over her shoulder toward the club’s front door.

Jason Alberich stood at the opening, his green eyes reflecting the dim overhead lights. He was looking straight at her.

Slowly, he nodded.

She returned the gesture, and he began to make his way toward their booth.

Everyone saw him at this point, and none of them spoke. The group’s feelings toward the Warlock King were perhaps as mixed as it was possible for feelings to be. Jason Alberich was their hero. He’d saved Katherine’s life, bringing the Curse Breaker back from the dead and sparing Byron’s life in the process, for he would not have survived without his mate. In doing that, he’d also spared Lucas Caige, who had only just found his brother again after fifty years without him. It was a pivotal event, and one that none of them were likely to forget soon.

However, Jason Alberich has also been a dark shadow in Lucas and Dannai’s past. A very dark shadow. And this, too, was something none of them were likely to forget any time soon. Alberich was capable of very great things – both good and bad.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said as he approached the table, all darkness and magic so strong it was nearly stifling.

Alberich’s power seemed to almost double every time Dannai was near him of late. As a witch herself, she could feel it like it was a physical thing. She had the strange sensation that Jason had in fact always been this powerful, and probably more so, but donning the robes of sovereignty had merely freed his magic from its shackles, and now it fed and exercised and grew.

“Have a seat,” said Byron. Byron Caige would always be the first to welcome Jason Alberich at his table. Ironically, his brother Lucas would probably always be the last.

The Warlock King glanced down at the small, very full booth.

And then suddenly, the booth was not as small as it had been a second ago, and there was plenty of elbowroom among the five others. A chair had also appeared behind him, large and leather, at the end of the table.

Dannai was impressed. He’d performed the magic without so much as a gesture, and seemed to have done so for no other reason than to make them all more comfortable.

Jason took his seat gracefully – as a real king would – and leaned forward, his elbows on the table. Dannai couldn’t help but imagine him like this at the notorious table of the 13. Is this how he appeared? Were they all so powerful? So charismatic?

She shivered.

“I’ll be blunt,” said Jason, his smooth voice reaching across the table with the grace and influence of a vampire’s. “I’ve come to ask your help.”

Lily leaned forward. “You’ve found your queen.”

Jason nodded. “Her name is Chloe Septeran. She’s a very special Akyri, and she needs protection. At the moment she’s on a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles.”

“Congratulations on finding your queen, but please don’t take this the wrong way,” said Lucas, and Dannai’s heart skipped a beat. She looked up at him as he went on, “You’ve got magic leaking out of your pores. What can we possibly do that you can’t?”