Chapter 7
Embry
The minute I’m on the floor of the Mystic Forest, I make my way slowly toward the land of division between the vampires and witches, being careful not to disrupt anyone sleeping while trying to tread over the dried brush of the tender decaying branches and twigs which have fallen over the years.
The shadow book passage we came across right before the gathering of the potential warriors was insightful and was there all the time.
How we overlooked it for so very long is unbelievable.
No wonder my great great great gramma couldn’t bring them together.
The no-good witches prevented it, just like every century and decade they do, with their Halloween rituals every ten years, their cauldron parties meant to brew up new tricks and potions to keep the vampires on their toes, and their secrets buried in the hills.
We’re too close to the truth and it has something to do with that little cavern.
Maybe they really did not lure me there and instead my gramma really did because everything points to her living there so very long ago.
The humans thought she was a witch, so it was only fitting that maybe she lived in what was deemed a witch’s home back in the day.
At least for a while, until the witches turned against her too.
But I don’t venture too close to the cavern knowing that the witches will have watchful eyes on the territory they want to call their own, but that I now have very good reason to believe, as they have for centuries, belongs to the vampires.
I need proof though. After reading those passages in the shadow books and putting it together with what the Vade Mecum says, it all makes sense.
Exactly as Corvinus said, the truth is somewhere in the middle, but also strongly suggests that Gramma was helping the vampires hide valuable assets and afterward was stricken powerless by those crafty-ass witches.
The minute I make it to Rupert’s tree, he squawks from above.
I swear that bird knows everything that goes on in this forest. Maybe he can help me figure out the rest of the puzzle.
It’s worth a shot, but it’s going to have to be tomorrow, because right now, I need to find a place to rest, and to drink my supply of blood and regenerate before finding refuge from the sun before first light.
Rupert doesn’t give me a chance to explain why I’m here or even say hello. “Girlie, you’re going to get all of us killed. Come with me, now! I won’t listen to any arguing from you.”
He flaps his wings, taking off as I weakly follow suit, moving in and among the trees, as animals resting in the branches scatter to get out of our way as we fly through the night.
I follow him deep into the forest, to the very middle of the sacred land, the precious mountain space that everyone is fighting over and have been for centuries.
The crevices in the mountains are deep and I’ve been here before. I know some of the vampires’ secrets are buried far in the mountainside and deep below. But on this side of the land, not in the middle where he is insistent we go. “Hurry, follow me now,” Rupert squawks.
I don’t hesitate, because if he’s willing to take me somewhere I don’t know about, somewhere that can help, no matter the reason I’m going to follow him.
A fleeting thought about what Corvinus would say flashes through my mind, but I quickly shake it away.
This is what I need to do. This is my destiny.
I can feel it just as if Gramma were right beside me on this flight.
Rupert swoops sideways to fit into the tight crevice of the mountainside, leaving me no choice but to follow him deep into the cavernous space, deeper and deeper into the mountain range until no moon of the sky exists.
My keen night vision quickly acclimates to the sheer darkness around us, and relief floods my veins as I realize wherever we are, we are protected.
I can feel the vampires’ presence washing over me. “I bet at some point, this is a place the vampires used to stay.” Rupert doesn’t say a word. But the large black and gold vampire logo engraved into the wall in gold tells me everything I didn’t know for certain.
We are definitely standing in the middle of what used to be the vampires’ home.
“I’ve seen and heard about so many caverns like this, but I honestly didn’t know this one existed.
” I find a spot to nestle in on the floor.
My energy is getting too low and my blood supply even lower.
I need to feed or I’m not going to be any good for anything.
Rupert eyes the containers of blood suspiciously as I pull them from my backpack. “You really have to do that in front of me, girlie?”
I roll my eyes at the sarcastic bird. “Would you rather I wither away to nothing after you risked your life and your position with the witches to get me here safely?”
“Don’t you sass me, girlie. Do your thing, but it’s time you and I had a heart to heart.
I can’t keep putting myself and family at risk every time you have a whim to come to the forest, where you know you’re not wanted or invited.
The witches leave me, my family, and the other creatures alone because they don’t view us as a threat, but if they learn the connection between us and your great grandmother and you,” he shrugs.
“Well, then that changes everything. They’ll probably roast us alive. ”
“This place, I had a vision, but I didn’t know what I was seeing?” He watches me down a quart bag of blood and turns away in disgust. “Would you prefer I hunt down an animal, human, or some other helpless prey, or down a bag of blood that was obtained by not hurting a soul?”
“Smart ass,” he quips.
“Perhaps, but tell me what I need to know, Rupert. This is the sacred land and cleary the vampires used to live here. If the vampires know about its existence, why keep it a secret and let the witches pretend like it’s theirs?
I would have thought Descallia would have just put a stop to it and reclaimed what was rightfully theirs. ”
His rolling eyes tell me clearly there’s something that I’ve missed. “No, dear girlie. Everyone knows the vampires lived here. Well, maybe with the exception of present company, but what no one wants to talk about is the pact between the vampires and witches so very long ago.”
“Yes, that’s the one I read about, but I didn’t read it to mean a cavern, more the entire piece of land.” The blood slowly starts to work its way through my body, calming me and giving me renewed strength from the trip.
“This entire section of the mountain and the land around it used to belong to the vampires. Devora lost it to Descallia’s predecessor.”
I gasp. “Rupert, you knew all along, you annoying little bird!”
His beady white eyes narrow at me. “Don’t you sass me, girlie. It was not my story to tell, and until not too long ago, I didn’t know what the vampires intended to do with the land if reclaimed. Like I said, the witches leave me and my family alone; I wasn’t sure if the vampires would do the same.”
“Tell me what happened, Rupert? We pieced most of it together between passages in the shadow books and the Vade Mecum. Tell me what the ring of fire is? It’s said that the ring of fire would destroy the vampires if certain conditions were met.
Lucas and Isala tried to do that very thing.
They were able to lure the vampires together and they almost pulled it off, but the vampires were a step ahead of them. ”
Rupert nods. “It’s said the only way the witches will ever get the best of the vampires for good is to surround them in a ring of fire and drown their very souls. They believe it too.”
I gasp. “Descallia has always stayed way ahead of that, protocols put in place to ensure not all of his masters are ever in the same place at the same time, but this past year, the witches came close.”
My eyes close. In one sentence, Rupert’s told me something I never knew for sure.
“So behind all the rogue vampires, Lucas, Isala, all the bastard shifters, we were always in a war with the witches. No matter that Devora swore up and down that they were going to help us because if the rogues got their way it would hurt them too?”
He shakes his head. “Deceptions and lies. You’ll get nothing but that from that cackling biddy and her potion making cronies.
They are never going to truly help the vampires.
Help send them back to hell, absolutely.
I swear it’s what they live, preach, and teach at that academy.
You had it right all along, Embry. The witches at the academy, they were never your friends, or your great grandmother’s.
They hated her with a passion and finally put a curse on her that couldn’t be reversed. Believe you me, some of us tried.”
The temperature in the room gets icy cold, causing me to glance toward the opening of the cavern…