Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (29 page)

Jena knew that Nicholas
was inside this house, and she knew that some part of her was in love with him.
Then a feeling struck her, and it made her uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the
intensity of the situation that made Simon attractive to her, but Jena was
having some pretty adult fantasies about him, too. Every time it happened she
had to push it to the back of her mind. When they finally reached the porch of
the farmhouse, Jena was ready. It was time to embrace the new Jena Marsh who
had emerged last night after Homecoming. It was time to seal the deal. What
better way to accept her identity as a supernatural witch than to annihilate an
evil, supernatural wench? Rock on.

As always, Anish
was unreadable and unflappable. He led the group to the porch and, while the
rest of his comrades were lost in thought and preparing themselves for the
upcoming campaign against Nina and her supposed Birthday Party, Anish was
fortifying the many spells he had cast for his friends. They were simple
protective charms, though he expected that Nina could eat
simple
for
breakfast. It wasn’t often that Anish was ignorant about what kind of evil he
was facing. In fact, it was exceptionally rare. Truth be told, it made him
slightly anxious…another rarity. This anxiety did not revolve around a fear of
death; Anish did not fear mortality. Instead, he was concerned for the safety
of his friends. Trevor and Simon were like his grandchildren, whereas he loved Anna,
Matthew, and Sam as he would his own children.

At nearly
seventy years old, Anish was remarkably healthy. He didn’t feel a day over
fifty. But for the first time in his eventful life, Anish worried that he may
have just met his match. Nina could very well strike him down, along with his
beloved adopted family. Whatever the outcome, borrowing a phrase from Sam,
shit
was about to get real
.

The group
reached the porch without further incident. They were within a few feet of the
stairs that led to the front door when Anna came to an unsettling conclusion.
They didn’t really have a solid game plan for what would happen once they got
inside. They also hadn’t discussed the four bodies still hanging from trees and
how they related to whatever plans Nina was enacting tonight. So many questions
were still unanswered, yet here they were at the entrance to the lion’s den.

“Follow me,”
Anish said as he began ascending the six, wide steps that led them to the
“foyer” of the wraparound porch. Once there, he directed them to form a circle.
Anish positioned himself to be able to see the tree line, just in case Nina
decided to join them. Meanwhile, Sam and Anna were facing the front door. There
was no telling what might storm through the front door in an effort to stop
them from interfering with Nina’s plans.

“Join hands,”
Matthew said, knowing that physical contact would offer comfort as well as
strength. The importance of this connection could not be overstated. Anish knew
Matthew would want to do this, and he took full advantage. He smiled as he took
Trevor’s hand. Trevor then grabbed Matthew’s hand, who took Anna’s hand, who
held Sam’s hand, then Jena, followed by Simon. When Simon took Anish’s hand,
completing the circle, several things happened at once.

Energy or magic
– Trevor wasn’t quite sure which – surged from Anish’s hands into his own. His
hand felt white hot from Anish’s power, and he could feel the energy course
through his veins. It was intoxicating, though not disorienting. It didn’t
compromise his thoughts. In fact, it did quite the opposite. Trevor felt
rejuvenated, as if his battery had been replaced by pure adrenaline and massive
doses of steroids. A weird combination, but that was the only way he could
think to describe it. It was almost as if he could track the magic as it made
its way through his body, his heart replicating it and pumping even more of it
into his system. It felt like a few minutes had passed, but in reality it only
took a few seconds for the magic to travel from his left hand to his right. At
that point Trevor passed the white hot energy to his mother, who passed it to
Matthew, and so on.

The magic that
was flowing through the group glowed with a pulsing white aura, visible to the
naked eye. Anish was well aware that Nina was watching them, and he also knew
that she would not be entirely sure about what she was witnessing. Anything
they could do to throw Nina off her game and produce anxiety would be an
important step toward victory.

When the sharing
of magic had come full circle, everyone felt inexplicably strong, clear minded,
and ready for whatever evils awaited them in the farmhouse.

“I need everyone
to face the front door,” Anish said softly. “There are magical barriers and
traps connected to that door. But do not be afraid, for we are going to rip
that door from its hinges. Focus on this. See it in your mind. Now, let’s do
it.”

A few seconds
passed and nothing happened. Anish could feel the doubt setting in. “Do
not
doubt
what we can do when we work together as one mind. Double down. Nina means to
kill us. Are we going to allow that to happen?”

Although no one
answered, everyone was now of one mind.

Suddenly, with a
concussion of air – with an accompanying
BOOM!
– the front door literally
blew away from the house. It sailed over their heads, nearly striking the
wooden columns that supported the weight of the porch. When it slammed into a
tree nearly fifty yards from the house, the door shattered into at least a
million pieces. Not only was the door ripped from its hinges, but the hinges
themselves were torn from the structure of the house.

“Whoa,” Trevor
and Simon said in unison.

“Did we
seriously just do that?” Anna asked, the corner of her mouth lifting into a
grin.

“Seriously,”
Anish said, returning the grin. “One mind.”

“Do you think we
were strong enough to destroy the hexes, curses, and whatever else inhabited
the threshold to the house?” Matthew asked.

“We can’t be
sure,” Anish said thoughtfully. “But I am thinking that we did. There’s only
one way to find out.”

“True, but if we
didn’t get all of them, perhaps we should continue blasting our way through,”
Simon said. “One of those barriers could be fatal.”

“I don’t think
so,” Anish speculated. “She wouldn’t take the risk of killing Jena. She needs
her.”

“That’s a lot of
‘ifs,’ Anish,” Anna said.

“I am willing to
take that risk,” Anish said. Before anyone could argue with him, he walked
through where the front door once stood. As he did, everyone heard the sound of
Nicholas crying out in pain.

There seemed to
be a haze of blue fog in the living room, making it difficult to see at first.
But as the smoke cleared, what Anish saw caught him off guard. He wasn’t sure
if what he was seeing was an illusion generated by Nina’s dark magic, or actual
reality. He prayed for the former because that way Jena wouldn’t see what was
happening to her mother.

1

Once he felt
confident that Nina and Keenan had left the house, Nicholas continued to lie on
the ground. He didn’t have much time before one of two things would happen. One,
the three vampires in the room would figure out that he was trying to trick
them and they would attack. Or two, Nina would return and inflict some major
pain. Neither of these scenarios was very appealing.

“I hate that
bitch,” Natalia said, obviously referring to Nina. Nicholas smirked when he
considered what Nina would do to her if she had overheard it.

“That may well
be, but we are making out on this deal,” Micah said. Nicholas heard a deep
grunt, which he figured was the General. Nicholas wondered what kind of lies
Nina had told them to get them involved, knowing full well that whatever she
had told them was utter bullshit.  

How is it
possible that these freaks would believe her false promises?
Nicholas pushed
these thoughts to the back of his mind. He had more pressing matters to
process, like how to get the hell out of dodge. Slowly, excruciatingly so, he
opened his right eye, which was the one closest to the floor. By the grace of
God, he could see the three vampires, and they hadn’t noticed that he was awake.
They were standing near the altar, the vines between the marble arches crisscrossing
just above their heads. Closing his eye again, Nicholas focused every bit of
his willpower and inner fortitude toward a single thought.

Kill Natalia
.

Kill Natalia.

Kill Natalia.

Nicholas
repeated this in his mind several times. After a moment or two, he had managed
to force out all other thoughts and distractions. He always had trouble with
distractions, mostly of the female persuasion. This time, however, his life was
on the line. He knew he had it in him, that he was quite intelligent and could
stand apart from the regular crowd of normal. Normal and boring. Those two
things went together better than peanut butter and jelly. But not in a good
way.

Unbeknownst to
Nicholas at the time, while he was focusing on asking the Universe to take Natalia
out by any means necessary, the athame that was lying on the altar began to
glow. It was not an isolated occurrence. The roots of the tree that formed the
backbone of the altar were shifting underground to accommodate the energy that
was manipulating it. Nicholas could feel it pulsing, as if the roots were alive
and struggling to break through the hardwood and rise to the surface.

“Do you feel
that?” Micah asked. “I didn’t think there were earthquakes here in the frozen
tundra.”

“Tundra?”
Natalia asked.

“Oh, for Christ
sake, Nat. It’s a joke. You
do
remember what those are, right?”

“Just because
I’ve been a little blue lately does
not
mean that I somehow misplaced my
sense of humor.” Her voice was dripping with contempt. But for whom?

The General grunted
several times, which was accompanied by several sighs and tapping high heels.

Nicholas was
dumbfounded by the conversation he was hearing. In fact, there were several
realities that weren’t sitting well with him. It was absolutely absurd that
vampires actually existed, which was still a hard pill for Nicholas to swallow.
But to hear this couple – who have probably been alive for hundreds of years –
arguing about stupid, meaningless things…well, that just took the cake. It also
did not bode well for the future of humanity if even after four hundred years
of marriage they still didn’t have their shit together. Marriage is marriage,
Nicholas supposed. Whether vampire or human. Go figure.

As Nicholas was
contemplating the philosophy of marriage and the weirdness of vampire unions,
he could tell that something had brightened the room. Literal light. He opened
his eye, and what he saw made him open his other eye as well. Suddenly,
literally out of the blue, one of the vines hugging the marble column of the altar
came alive and began writhing and squirming like a giant, rabid snake. Blue
sparks and waves of energy erupted from the vine in all directions, shattering ornate
vases on the table, tearing books from random shelves, and obliterating the
furniture. This helped motivate Nicholas to push himself to his knees, and then
to his feet. He knew he should have been terrified by this turn of events, but
he actually felt protected. Like the power that was making such a ruckus was on
his behalf. It made no sense, but then again
nothing
about
any
of
this made sense. Plus, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“What the hell
is
that
?” Micah demanded, pointing at the vine. He turned to face
Natalia.

Natalia pointed
at herself incredulously, as if daring her husband to blame her for what was
obviously not her doing. “Really? Tell me, Micah, how exactly could I make tree
vines dance disco with a blue mirror ball? Asshole.”

“Well if it’s
not you, then who’s doing it?” Micah hissed. The General grunted, gesturing
toward Nicholas.

“You’re a
witch,” Natalia said to Nicholas, more of a statement than a question.

“Why not?”
Nicholas shot back. “I could be a witch.”

The vampires started
to laugh. “As…if!” Natalia said between laughs.

“Try this on for
size!” Nicholas pulled back his arms, and then thrust them forward. He prayed,
against all odds, that some form of magic would jet from his fingertips and
vaporize these undead douches.

Nothing
happened.

Nicholas
repeated the process. Again, nothing.

The vampire trio
inched forward, wicked grins coloring their faces. “Nicholas,” Micah and
Natalia whispered.

Pull Back.
Thrust Forward. No Magic.

Pull. Thrust. No
Magic.

Stalking inches
forward, continuing to mock Nicholas for what they believed was a pathetic
attempt to pull magic from his ass.

“You can’t kill
me,” Nicholas said in desperation. “Nina will kill you.”

“I doubt that,”
Micah said.

Pull Back.
Thrust Forward. No Magic. Pull. Thrust. No Magic.

The vampires
inched forward again. Nicholas was humiliated, his arms sore from pulling and pushing
way too hard. At this point, the vampires were way too close for comfort.

Nicholas tried
one last time.

Pull Back.

Thrust Forward.

Shitload of
Magic.

Ten electric
streams of lightening shot from Nicholas’ fingers, coming together to meet like
tributaries dumping into the ocean. Only rather than the ocean, the streams
united together at the base of Natalia’s neck. Within what could not have been
more than two seconds, Natalia’s head was ripped from her shoulders. Rather
than falling to the floor with a sickening
Thud
! both Natalia’s head
and
body remained vertical, as if she were a morbid puppet being held up by
invisible strings.

No one moved.
Everyone was in shock.

A few more
seconds passed.

Natalia’s bottom
half was the first to tumble downward, everyone expecting her head to quickly
follow. But it didn’t happen. Even when her body burst into flames on the floor,
the telltale sign of vampiric finality, her head remained intact and floating
in the air. Nicholas detected a very faint blue light coming from Natalia’s
eyes. The light quickly brightened, and in no time at all it had lit up the
entire room. Every single thing in the room was glowing with an intense,
electric blue luminance. Finally, Natalia’s head erupted in blue flames. When
it was all said and done, there were no ashes. None.  

“Well, I kicked
her
ash
,” Nicholas joked, acting a bit too confidently. It was one of
his flaws, perhaps a fatal one. Then, to make matters worse and acutely more
dangerous, he laughed. In truth, he had no freaking clue what the hell had just
happened. He hoped that Micah didn’t detect the confusion and terror, with a
little joy thrown in the mix of emotions, seeping from every pore in Nicholas’
body.

“Now, you die,”
Micah said.

Pull Back.
Thrust Forward. No Magic.

Nicholas’
shoulders drooped and he covered his face against what he was sure would be a
facial/neck attack. He waited, but nothing happened.

He opened one
eye ever so slightly and was surprised by what he saw: the General holding
Micah back. Why would he save Nicholas’ life? Then he made the mistake of
smiling gratefully at the General, who then let Micah go.

“Ill him,” the
General said quite hoarsely. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what he had said
to Micah. Nicholas’ fate was sealed. He tried one last time. One last ditch
effort to save his life.

Pull Back.
Thrust Forward. No Magic.

At least not
from his fingertips.

This time the
magic came from above them. The vines once again came to life. One particularly
thick strip detached itself from the marble, glowing blue. Blue – electric blue
– was so going to replace green as Nicholas’ favorite color.

Everyone watched
with bated breath, wondering what would happen. It didn’t take long, and the
vines did not disappoint.

Micah, on the
other hand, would not have agreed. But fortunately, he didn’t have time for an
argument with the vine. It wrapped itself around his neck and began to tighten
like a noose. Nicholas could hear the rips and tears of the living vine as it
pulled itself even tighter. Then, in one final
RIP!
the vine released
itself from the rest of the tree. It snapped toward the middle, and then rose
into the air. Micah was literally being hung by the lively vine. Micah’s dark
eyes grew to at least three times their original size, which was pretty
disgusting. Then, as Nicholas had hoped, it was over. Micah’s once gorgeous
head was no longer part of the rest of his well chiseled body. His two halves
ignited in blue flames, and then Micah was reduced to two piles of blue ash. By
the way the General was staring at the ash, Nicholas figured that there was
something about the ash that was
not
normal.

“Well, then,”
Nicholas said nervously. “Looks like it’s just you and me, kid.”

The General
grunted, but he made no moves toward Nicholas. Apparently he learned from the
others’ mistakes. They were now at a standstill. Neither the General nor
Nicholas had any idea what to do next. Each wanted the other dead, but both
believed that if they made even the slightest move toward battle, something
would swiftly rise up and find a creative way to kill them.

A blue haze of
energy continued to linger in the room. Hell, at this point it was probably
blue throughout the house, even on the porch. But Nicholas was quite
comfortable with that. It seemed that the blue magic was his friend.

Without warning,
the General moved across the room and into the kitchen. Nicholas could hear him
searching frantically through drawers and cupboards. What could a vampire
possibly need from a kitchen? Shortly thereafter, the General reappeared in the
room with a yellow legal pad and a pen. He fiercely began writing, his lips
pursed tightly. When he finished, the General flipped the pad over so Nicholas
could read it.

How in the hell did you
do that? I know you’re not a witch.

Nicholas
laughed. “I honestly have no idea, dude. You’re right. I’m seriously
not
a
witch.” Nicholas instantly regretted his admission. “Well, I actually might be
a witch. But I keep it close to the chest.” For effect, Nicholas pounded his
chest a few times.

The General
shook his head, and then scribbled down something again.

You’re full of shit,
human!

“Yeah, well.
What can you do, you know?”

You are about to die.

Yet again, out
of the (electric) blue, a collection of pointed spheres appeared above
Nicholas’ head. A look of raw terror was in the General’s eyes. The blue
spheres sizzled through the air toward the General. They struck him all over
his upper body, yet avoided his heart. It did, however, give Nicholas a chance
to reach down by his feet where there was a sharp piece of wood.

“You know,
vampires really shouldn’t keep shit like this lying around. You never know what
might happen!” On that last word, Nicholas threw the stake toward the General
as hard as he could. His father had always said that he had the best throwing
arm in the state, which provided a scholarship and was now saving his life. He
began to dance in celebration before the supposed fatal blow even struck its
target.

But the victory
dance was premature. The General caught the stake in his right hand. It didn’t
even graze his skin. The vamp began laughing, despite the fact that he was
bleeding profusely from the sphere attack. The General was genuinely pleased
with what had just happened. Nicholas was horrified by the thoughtful gaze the
General was sharing with the stake. The vampire laid the stake in his open
palm, smiling at Nicholas as he pretended to stake himself. He lifted the
stake, put it against his chest, and then repeated this a few times. His
intentions were clear. Yep. He was going to stake Nicholas.