Wrenching Fate (23 page)

Light pierced Akasha’s skull when the blindfold was removed. She blinked as her eyes scanned her surroundings. They stood in a huge circular stone chamber. Crude carved staircases on either side curved up to a recessed area that was shored up by the last four feet of a ten-foot stone wall. The wall served as a podium for the twelve Elders, or in this case, judges. Six vampires lined the wall below them, arms folded. Bailiffs, apparently.

The derisive way the judges looked down on them from such a height reminded Akasha of the trial scene from
Pink Floyd’s
“The Wall.” Or maybe that was just the weed. Why did Xochitl have to insist that she had to eat a brownie too?

“Awaken the creature,” a thick German voice commanded from above, jerking her out of her reverie. “We shall hear her sing.”

Xochitl awakened, took in her surroundings and started singing “The Time Warp” from
Rocky Horror Picture Show
. Akasha couldn’t suppress her laughter. Obviously the circular room reminded her of something else. The perplexed looks of the judges made her laugh harder even as her mind screamed at her to stop.

A judge in the middle actually pounded a gavel and yelled, “Silence! I demand to know what is the matter with those females!”

At last, logic overcame the drug and Akasha sobered.

Razvan calmly explained the reason for hers and Xochitl’s inebriated conditions, which brought a few chuckles from the room.

“You said her power was in her voice,” another judge declared with a thick British accent. “I can feel it. Have her sing some more. This power seems to be harmless, though enchanting.”

“’Kash, where are we?” Xochitl asked, giggling nervously.

Akasha glanced at Silas helplessly. Guilt gnawed in her gut for taking advantage of her best friend.

Tell her it’s a dream, lass,
he told her silently.
The Elders will
take care of the rest.

It took three of the Elders, with Silas, to lull Xochitl into a hypnotic state where she could sing for them and answer their questions without remembering anything later.

The room was captivated as Xochitl sang
.
Akasha hoped the power of her friend’s voice would sway the judges to their side and not frighten them. When Xochitl sang the last note, the vampires shook off the spell and began the questions.

Akasha’s heart wrenched in sympathy as they interrogated Xochitl mercilessly about what she was and why was she here.

When she began to cry after answering, “I don’t know!” for the umpteenth time, Akasha lost patience and approached the Elders, fists clenched in fury.

“Leave her alone, already!” she yelled, ignoring the outrage on the vampires’ faces. “Can’t you see she’s innocent of whatever it is you think she’s done?”

“It is not what she has done that concerns us. It is what Lord McNaught will do with her that is the problem,” a voice from behind her announced.

Akasha whipped around to see that another vampire had joined the obnoxious Michael. She was stunningly beautiful, tall and statuesque, with a silken mass of vibrant red hair. It had to be Selena.

She wondered why Silas would have left such an elegant woman… until the bitch opened her mouth.

It was apparent that Selena was acting as prosecuting attorney. Her accusations, which she based heavily upon her psychic visions, made her sound more like a televangelist than a lawyer.

What was most absurd was that she claimed Silas plotted to use Xochitl to raise an army to take over the vampire race.

“You saw the power of her voice!” Selena’s hair flew around her shoulders in a red cloud as she whirled to point at Xochitl. Like a siren leading sailors to their deaths, so this creature will control us all!”

Razvan was acting as their defense and he rebuffed her statements with his typical mocking humor. “I see your taste for melodrama has not diminished over the centuries, Selena.” Turning back to the Elders, he stroked his goatee. “I can say with utmost confidence that though I am captivated with Xochitl’s talented voice, I feel no compunction to obey her in anything. Do any of you?”

The Elders shook their heads firmly as Akasha smiled in admiration at his tactic. If any had answered otherwise, they would have appeared weak.

Razvan won the round and the crazy Selena was shunted to the side as Michael took up the questioning. Unfortunately, Razvan’s arguments against Selena’s visions made Silas’s own visions useless for his testimony.

“But you are forgetting the most important thing,” Razvan’s voice lost its humor and grew firm. “Silas was instructed by Delgarias himself to guard Xochitl and her friends.”

“We have been unable to verify that,” the Lord of Rome shook his head and added scornfully, “Besides, I find it hard to believe the Thirteenth Elder would have done such a thing without informing us.” His cold eyes declared the topic closed.

The Elders moved on to the subject of the risk of Akasha’s involvement with the government, which then brought about a recount of her capture and rescue.

The way they covered it up by looking like terrorists made a few of them chuckle and Akasha received a few respectful nods at her courage. Razvan glossed over the fact that they let Holmes live. So far, none had caught the omission.

The trial took on the atmosphere of a typical courtroom drama. Perry Mason reruns had always bored Akasha.

Maybe the brownies she’d eaten helped as well, for when she was questioned and cross examined, she answered everything with a cool detachment. The knowledge that her life and the lives of those she loved hung in a precarious balance seemed distant and unreal. She didn’t notice the respect and admiration in the vampires’ eyes as she faced them fearlessly.

But when they moved on to Silas, her panic returned. Without the reasoning of Delgarias’s command to support him, he had no real justification for Marking so many mortals. Michael did his best to cast that in a bad light.

Akasha’s fear shifted to irritation as Michael taunted Silas relentlessly, circling him as he pelted him with accusations. Silas took it all stoically. His chiseled features were stamped with the cool indifference that only the nobility could exude. His emerald gaze remained fixed upon the judges and he answered the questions concisely. Michael’s presence seemed no more to him than the buzzing of an insect.

Being ignored aggravated the prosecutor. He began to punctuate his accusations by poking Silas in the chest with a slender finger. Akasha moving closer, grinding her teeth in outrage. This had gone too far. Her gaze shifted to the Elders to see that they had no intention of interfering with the abuse. From the amused expressions on their faces, they were just going to watch and see how it played out. Fury roared through her.

How dare these assholes make us travel thousands of miles for the purpose of degrading us for their own sick sense of entertainment?
Blood roared in her ears, drowning out Michael’s tangent. Her vision narrowed to that finger poking into her lover’s broad chest and the sadistic glee in the tormenter’s face. She had to make the son of a bitch stop.

“Admit it, McNaught,” Michael said.
Poke Poke…
“You intended to destroy us all.”
Poke…poke… poke…

It happened in seconds. Akasha calmly reached forward, grabbed the offensive finger and broke it, smiling at the satisfying snap.

Michael howled in pain and rushed at her.

She stepped aside, grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the stone wall.

The impact shattered the vampire’s skull and he fell to the floor. His face was a mess of blood, bone shards and gobbets of brain leaking out. His torso barely moved up and down as he breathed. Michael was still alive.
Damn it.
Cries of shock and outrage rang out and she was seized by two of the vampire bailiffs.

Silas’s eyes blazed green fire as another pair of bailiffs gripped him. The remaining two hovered uncertainly near Xochitl. She held a ball of flame in her palm. Her eyes darted around frantically as if she were trying to decide whom to throw it at.

As pandemonium broke out in the courtroom, Silas fixed terror-filled eyes upon Akasha. “What have you done, lass?”

We’re
screwed now
. Akasha realized. And it was all her fault.

We are going to die
, Silas realized.

The Elders themselves descended the podium s
teps to surround them. He froze in the guards’ grips when he looked down at Michael’s mutilated face.

Akasha was strong, he knew, but seeing the destruction she was capable of filled him with alternating washes of fear and admiration.

His eyes sought hers as he took in the sight of her beauty once more.

“You will pay for this, you little monster!” Selena shrieked as she grabbed a fistful of Akasha’s hair.

Silas growled in rage. The guards held him back from charging her.

The Elders’ voices were a cacophony of shouts. Some rushed to pull Selena away from Akasha, others surrounded Xochitl, and a few approached Silas.

The Lord of London’s eyes locked on his and he muttered, “That is some pair of wenches you have there, McNaught.”

The Lord of Tokyo glared. “Whatever games you’ve been playing will stop now, Silas. Your creatures must be put down at once.”

Silas felt the Elders building their will and linked his mind to Xochitl’s.
Burn them.
He commanded.

Xochitl’s power gathered in a hair crackling rush. She raised her arms, which became engulfed in purple flames.

Xochitl, stop!
Silas heard in his mind the same time a voice boomed, “Cease!”

A figure materialized in the chamber, bringing everyone to a stunned silence. It was the thirteenth Elder. Silas sighed in a mixture of relief and irritation.
It’s about bloody time.

Delgarias walked with liquid grace over to Xochitl. He knelt before her and said, “My Queen, it is an honor to see you again.”

Xochitl smiled. “Uncle Del? Where’ve you been?” She blinked at him.

Startled gasps from all around nearly shook the chamber. Silas’s jaw dropped.

Uncle Del?
What did
that
mean?

Delgarias smiled fondly at her and patted her on the head, muttering something under his breath. Xochitl yawned, then sank to the floor, curled up in her coat like a cat, and fell asleep.

“Uncle Del?” they all whispered. Confusion lay in the air thick enough to choke on.

Marcus, the Lord of Rome spluttered, “Your Eminence, what is the meaning of this? Why have you come?”

“I have been here all along,” the Elder replied. “I was going to wait until closing arguments to reveal myself and say what needs to be said, but this one,” he gestured languidly at Michael’s prone form, “forced my hand.”

“You cannot be serious!” Selena shrieked, still trying to grab Akasha. “Surely you saw that this abomination caused this…this disruption.”

Delgarias chuckled, but his eyes remained cold. “Selena, you may be mentally ill, but it still should be obvious that Michael’s injuries are your fault.”

He cast a chiding look at the Elders. “Michael’s behavior was inexcusable. One of you should have stopped him, but instead you watched in amusement as if it were a play. Silas could have called him out for a duel right then and there; but he was going to be polite and wait until the trial's conclusion to settle such matters, as a proper Lord would.”

Delgarias inclined his head toward Silas and continued. “However, his chosen one decided to spare him the prolonged indignity of Michael’s antagonism. She punished him herself. This woman should be praised for such good service to her master, not be restrained like a criminal. By the way, she could escape those two easily, and is only remaining still because she feels she’s displeased Silas.”

The Elders’ faces fell with guilt. Akasha, on the other hand, fumed with rage, her eyes practically shooting violet sparks. Silas tensed.

She thrust the vampires that held her away, sending them flying into the stone wall. “He’s not my ‘master.’ He’s my boyfriend! And what do you mean? How can you be Xochitl’s uncle?”

Delgarias’s laughter was rich and tangible. He inclined his head respectfully. “I apologize, young general. I was merely falling back on our antiquated terminology. I meant no disrespect and did not mean to imply you were a subordinate. And I am not really Xochitl’s uncle, merely an old friend of her mother.” His gaze grew distant. “And her aunt.”

“General?” Akasha’s question was echoed by the rest.

The thirteenth Elder smiled. “We come to the crux of the matter. Selena was right about one thing. An army will be raised, but not by Silas, and
not
to destroy our kind. Silas was right to Mark Xochitl, Akasha, and the others. Not only was he obeying
my
command, but he was also obeying a prophecy older than myself.” Delgarias pulled back the sleeve of his black robe. “Let us form a viewing circle and I will show you.”

The vampires stepped closer. Each pulled up their left sleeve. Marcus of Rome sank his fangs in Delgarias’s wrist, Ian bit into Marcus’s wrist and so on, until they’d formed a chain. Silas drank from Razvan’s arm, and all were swept into a vision.

Delgarias walked in the world with two moons.
“Aisthanesthai,” He said in their collective mind. “This world is called Aisthanesthai, and this happened eighteen years ago.”

Delgarias watched an angel, looking down upon a battlefield strewn with dead angels. Suddenly, the angel’s thoughts became clear to them all.

The princess looked down upon her decimated kingdom. Her people fought valiantly against Mephistopheles, but they could not win. Luminites, though fearless, are incapable of destruction. Tears ran down her pale cheeks as her vision swam with bloody wings and severed limbs. Thankfully night had fallen, obscuring the tragic sight.

Her people were all dead. She was the sole survivor, but at what cost? She’d faced Mephistopheles, but instead of killing her he’d thrown her down and raped her, the blood of her kin dripping from his body onto hers.

Kerainne gagged. She must leave this place before he returned to take this land and merge it to the world he was creating, a world wrought of evil magic and the blood of innocents.

“Princess!” A voice pierced her wall of silence. “You live! The Prophecy speaks true!” Delgarias hurried towards her. His velvet robe nearly tripped him.

“Oh, Revered One,” she whispered and collapsed in his arms, not caring how he came to be here.

His tall form supported her. He took in the aching sight of her bruised body and her torn wings. The pearl and gold feathers were covered in dirt and blood.

“We must leave now, Kerainne. The Prophecy has spoken. Your unborn daughter must be safe and hidden from Mephistopheles.”

“I’m going to have a baby?” She looked down at the blood slithering down her ankles and clutched her womb.

“Yes. And Mephistopheles will know if we don’t hurry. She will be the savior of this world and others. So the Prophecy has told me. You must go to the only place where there is no magic. Mephistopheles cannot find you there.”

Kerainne’s lower lip trembled. “The Earth realm?”

Delgarias nodded. “This world is not safe for her now. On Earth she’ll remain undetected until the time comes for her to return. There she will gather allies for a future conflict. We must delay no longer.” He pulled her forward.

“Enough.” Delgarias commanded and the chain was broken.

The chamber reverberated with shocked questions. Other worlds? Angels? Mephistopheles? It was too much information with too little explanation. Silas smiled ruefully in remembrance of his earlier meeting with Delgarias.

And now the Thirteenth Elder was bombarding his cohorts far worse. Silas could see that many of the vampires were terrified at the idea that they were not alone in the universe.

“Long ago, how long I do not know,” Delgarias began. “Magic existed in abundance on Earth. Dragons, luminites, faelin, and even leprechauns dwelled here along with powerful human sorcerers. Our world was linked with others through many portals and the hub of Earth’s greatest magic was the city of Atlantis.”

Gasps and murmurs broke out among the audience. Delgarias waited for the noise to die down before continuing. “Then Mephistopheles came. No one knows what he is, or how his power came to be, and no one so far has desired to speculate. All that mattered was that Mephistopheles strove to be a god and he found a way to create his own world by destroying and then absorbing parts of other worlds.

“Atlantis was among the first of his conquests. When he took that fair city, much magic died. Most of those born with magic in their veins fled earth to avoid the mass persecution of humans.”

“This is all
very
enlightening, Monsieur Delgarias,” the Lord of Paris interjected sarcastically, but what does this have to do with us?”

“Weren’t you listening?” Anastasia, Lord of Moscow hissed. “This Mephistopheles is that creature’s
father!
” She pointed at Xochitl.

“Yes, he is.” Delgarias said. “And in a way he is ours as well. He created vampires, you see, to be his first army. It did not work out, however, for we displeased him and he banished our kind to the earth realm, once it was rid of all magic.”

Razvan nodded. “It appears there is some truth to the old legends.”

Silas glanced at Selena. She was glaring mutinously at Delgarias. Silas had thought she’d be pleased with the announcement that her “god” and the other world was real, but she was furious.
Why?

“Indeed.” The Elder interrupted his thoughts. “And the time will soon come when war will break out among the worlds, and Mephistopheles will have to face his creations once more. For by his act of raping a luminite, he has sown the seeds of his destruction.”

The chamber resounded with more questions. Selena whispered furiously at Michael. Silas used the distraction to take Akasha from the guards and move in front of Xochitl, who still slept through the whole thing, despite the quickly rising noise.

“Silence!” Delgarias commanded. “We would be here for years if we were to discuss everything this girl is and what she will do… and I do not want to tamper with the Prophecy by revealing too much to potentially
wrong ears.” His voice echoed in irrefutable command. “Only know that you must all leave Xochitl alone. The time will come when those selected must obey her call. She will travel across this world and others and perhaps even through time itself to gather her allies.

“
And please end this ridiculous trial. Drop all charges against McNaught and let him take his charges home. Dismiss them now, or challenge me.”

He stepped forward, his glittering eyes narrowed on each in challenge. Lightning crackled from his fingertips.

Everyone, even Silas, shrank away.

The Elders had left their gavels up on the podium, so the authority was subdued as they intoned in unison, “So be it. The case is dismissed.”

For a moment Silas, Razvan, and Akasha stood still, absorbing the shock of being out of harm’s way… and Delgarias’s unsettling news.

Razvan was the first to recover. With gentleness that Silas didn’t know his maker possessed, he lifted the sleeping Xochitl into his arms.

Akasha threw her arms around Silas and whispered in his ear, “When we get home, can we do it in the garage first?”