Chapter 29
Embry
The minute I arrive at Overmaster Descallia’s estate, the loud boisterous voices of my friends can be heard.
“Thank you,” I tell the driver, slipping out of the backseat of Corvinus’s limo and walking up to the front door.
I haven’t had a chance to knock before it’s opened by one of Descallia’s house employees.
“Good evening, Embry. It’s so nice to see you again. ”
I smile at the older gentleman. “It’s nice to be here again.
” You don’t know how nice. How much I missed my friend group and these gatherings while the males are at their monthly meeting.
I have no doubt that given all I’ve heard, Lucianna and I will be summoned to those meetings more frequently, but fortunately for all of us, tonight is not one of those nights.
Lucianna sips Descallia Red from a beautiful crystal glass with blood red etching down the side.
Raven, Willow, and Madria are all drinking white wine from similar glasses, and Alyssa, Angel, and Delilah are drinking margaritas.
I’ve barely had time to hand over my coat before I’m drowning in hugs.
I look around, almost teary eyed. I just can’t help it. “I missed you all so much.”
“What would you like to drink?” Delilah asks me, standing by the bar in a pair of tight jeans and a pretty pink sweater. After all that she and Tuscano went through it makes my heart happy that they found their happily ever after.
“Margarita for me, please!” I tell her, closing the distance to join her. I spoon a scoop of nuts into a small dish and decide that supper is served having no time to grab something before leaving the house.
Delilah gives me a once over, those blue eyes homing in on my little snack. “We may have to make you and the others prepare some real sustenance a little later. I hear you’re getting pretty good with the witchy tricks.”
Raven joins us from across the room. “You should see her go.” She grins. “She’s definitely found her powers. Look out world.”
Lucianna’s eyes glow from across the room. “We are a formidable team. That’s for damn sure. I just wish we could have a little peace. That’s all the vampires have wanted, but year after year, century after century, it’s either the rogue vampires or the witches trying to do us harm.”
“It’s not that I wanted Isala to be real, but at least if she had been we could have dealt with her.
Knowing it was Devora all along, it just makes her betrayal that much worse, and all the good things we thought she was doing all along seem suspect.
I mean at times I did honestly believe she wanted to keep the peace. ”
Raven nods. “It’s hard to see from my perspective too.
Mind you, she’s never had a great love for the vampires, but I do believe there was a time when she wasn’t so staunchly encamped in the destroy-the-vampires side.
” She turns to Lucianna. “Do you know what Overmaster plans to do or would it be a conflict of interest to tell me?”
Lucianna sets her drink down on the coffee table and wraps our friend in her arms. “We trust you with all of our lives, Raven.” She looks around. “We all do, right ladies?”
Every one of us nods, because she and the other witches standing by our side have proven it time and time again.
I gesture to Raven. “You can’t help who you’re related to.
Plus, how else would we have even gotten the shadow books if it weren’t for you and your help?
We love you, and you are not a conflict of interest, ever. ”
She smiles happily and her fingers sparkle with electricity. “Good. But you know you’re going to have to prepare. One way or another she’s going to want the shadow books back. She’s not going to stop. Auntie Devora can be incredibly persistent when she wants something as you all know.”
The margarita is icy and cold and has just the right amount of salt. I have a feeling these are going to go down very well tonight. I turn to the group suddenly. “Devora has to know that we not only know about the sacred land being ours, but we also know their well-kept secrets about the fire.”
Willow crosses her leg on the couch, and her bauble begins to lightly glow, and then Raven’s and then Madria’s. Interesting, as though the baubles are aligned with when each of the witches catches on. “The vampire lore tells everyone we’re so afraid of fire, the witches believe it too.”
Raven nods. “It was true at one time, right?”
I finish my margarita and head to the bar to pour another glass.
When I turn the ladies are watching me and finishing their own.
This is going to be a night to remember.
I can just tell. “I read in the shadow books and the Vade Mecum that at one time, it was absolutely true. Even looking at a fire was bad news for a vampire.”
Madria nods. “Now, not so much.”
I smile as my friends bring their empty glasses to the bar for a refresh, surrounding me with inquisitive eyes.
“Exactly. It’s like we’ve assimilated at some point.
You know the humans are as scared of fire as we are?
It’s an invincible force. Something you can’t just extinguish without solid power, or a virtual overwhelming amount of water. ”
Raven fills her glass from a bottle of wine. “That’s how we get rid of the witches who want to harm the vampires. They simply can’t extinguish it, even with all their magic. They can hold it at bay in certain situations, or obviously flee, but once it captures them, they’re going to be dust.”
I nod solemnly, catching Lucianna’s eyes over Raven’s head. This cannot be easy for Raven to talk about no matter that she’s dedicated to us. What we’re talking about is how to wipe out her kind, albeit only the ones who wish us harm but still her Aunt Devora is at the top of that list.
Raven places a small hand on my arm. “It’s okay my friend.
I love my aunt, but she has misplaced loyalties.
Many of the witches do not want to do any harm to the vampires but simply want to live in harmony, coexist in a peaceful drama free life.
Personally, I blame that evil High Priestess.
She is never going to stop demanding more and more out of those academy witches.
But Devora has to find a way to stand up to her at some point. ”
Lucianna’s eyes glow, while each of the witches’ baubles glow with synchronized harmony.
“Overmaster Descallia, Lord Corvinus, and the masters are no doubt discussing the next steps with Devora as we speak. It will be interesting to see what their thoughts are. They’ve dealt with her for centuries, and as mad as I’ve seen my mate at Devora, he’s always used cautious constraint, understanding well that our two worlds should be in harmony and not war.
But, this time, Devora has certainly gone way too far. ”
Alyssa and Angel exchange a look. The psychics give me wide eyes as I point to one of them and then the other.
“That look, you two can’t do that without cluing the rest of us in.
It’s group rules.” I tried to say it deadpan, but they laugh right out loud.
Alyssa stands and takes Angel’s glass over to the bar, topping them off slightly before turning.
“We were just thinking that our grammas said that very same thing, so many times. It’s like we were all told little bits and pieces of a greater story as we grew up and now, we’re finally understanding why.
I feel like all of my life she’s been grooming me towards this purpose, to help with the vampires. And maybe the witches too.”
Angel nods. “Exactly what she said. Do you not feel that Embry?”
I take a long swig of my margarita. “Ladies, I’m not positive why yet, but I do believe that we were all meant to be together and that with all of our varied and exceptional powers, we will conquer whatever stands in our way on our search for harmony and a better day for the pureblood vampires.
With our strength, nothing will stand in our way. ”
The witches cheer and all of a sudden the lights dim, disco balls appear hanging from the ceiling, and a popular celebration song starts pulsing through the room from an overhead sound system.
Raven cups her hands to her face like a bullhorn.
“Ladies, we only have a short time before the males return, it’s time to dance! ”