6. Embry
Chapter 6
Embry
A fter all the stress of the last few days, encounters with wolves, shifters, bears, big cats and other creatures alike, at first, I think the voice coming from the rocking chair is a dream. A deep-seated desire to go back in time, when life wasn’t as hard and see my gramma again. But when the rocking chair moves, and her sweet voice fills the room again, I know it is far from a dream.
“Gramma?”
I squeeze my eyes closed, and reopen them, hoping to discern more in the dimly lit room. Gramma sits watching me. Her smile lights the room, and still she rocks in her favorite old chair as though she’s been doing it since the day she died. “I don’t understand.”
I glance around the small home buried in the side of the mountain. “Any of it. I followed the instructions you gave me as a child and ended up here, in safety. The vampire who chases me couldn’t get in.” I gesture around me. “What is this? How are you here?”
She nods, still rocking. “An old, abandoned witch cavern. One of many left to ensure that wherever witches roam, they have safe harbor not far by. Essential in the day and age of the burnings, and quite handy in times when the vampires in power would like nothing better than to catch and kill witches with their bare hands.”
My heart beats hard, still unsure if she is an apparition that somehow, I’ve conjured in my mind. “How are you here? Why are you here?”
Gramma rocks. “It’s my job to keep you safe child, no matter where you roam and no matter what century it is. You’ve just managed to spark the interest of the vampires, which means they will follow, and whenever they are anywhere near the Carpathian Mountains trouble of ill proportions will follow. It’s my job to not only keep you safe, but to ensure problems of a grave nature do not ensue to a point of war.”
“The vampire who almost captured me before I arrived. You saw that?”
“Indeed.”
“The master vampires want me back in Chicago. He said at the request of Lucianna, although I highly doubt that. I left her a letter. She knows I need the space, time to process all that has occurred.” For the first time in days, I allow myself a moment of reprieve and wipe a tear that slowly falls from my eye. “They think I’m an enemy, that I am a traitor, that I slept with Lucas fully knowing he had taken the helm of the rogues and was trying to overthrow Master Descallia. I would never do that.”
She nods, the rocking chair gliding with each soft movement. “It’s a shame about Lucas. I always liked him and never thought he would turn. So unlike the man I used to know.”
I nod. “He was under the spell of the witches for a time, but then the curse was removed. I thought he was fine, but remembering back, I don’t think he was ever the same.”
“Do you think it was because he was under their spell or was he always a rogue loyal, and placed under the spell because the witches needed to get him out of the picture?”
It’s a good and fair question, one I’ve thought about myself so many times, but not one logical answer comes to mind. “I really don’t know. I’ve become so unsure of my judgment in people, especially men, that I really couldn’t even begin to know. What I do know is that somewhere in time, he changed.
“He became the man he wasn’t when I was friends with him and then lovers. It’s a hard pill to swallow when the man you thought you loved is found out to be a traitor to the very vampires that you hold dear. And then they turn on you and call you a traitor too.”
She nods. “It is a conundrum, that is for sure. For now, you can stay here, get your mind clear while I work on mending fences that may have been undone as you two stomped through the Mystic Forest’s floor, sending off alarms throughout the forest to anyone that will hear.”
My eyes narrow at the woman who I still can’t even believe is here. “Well, it’s not like I slandered the witches or the vampires. I just needed navigational help, and they were all very happy to oblige when I told them where I was heading. Your description really helped.”
Her kindly eyes roll upward. “Dear child, the description of the cavern is all that was needed to set their tongues a wagging. The story of the woman fleeing from the vampires and trying to find the witch cavern is all over the woods and by now has surely reached Devora at the witches’ academy.”
My eyes roll upward. “Oh, good lord, we all know how that woman can flare.”
“I’m here to ensure that the vampires and witches keep the peace, that they do not invoke a war that has only just started to recess. One day, it will all be clear, but for right now, you need to make peace with Lord Corvinus and sort your differences, for the good of the vampires and the witches. They have been through far too much of late.”
My mouth gapes. “Why does this fall to me? What assurances do I have that the beast won’t grab me as soon as he can? He’s already tried before I got to safety. That man is said not to have a patient bone in his body, and I do not intend to go anywhere with that ass.”
Her kindly eyes warm my heart, but her words do nothing to calm my soul. “You brought this on yourself, child. Instead of staying in Chicago, defending yourself from the rumors, sure not easy to do, you ran. Ran to the Mystic Forest no less where the vampires and witches have feuded over this patch of land for years. What do you expect them to think?”
“I was only running away from the gossip. I have nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong. I went after the bastard, and no one knows what I went through, but they treat me as though they do.” My heart twists at the memories of the chains and that cold hard floor in the cavern of his rule. “No one will ever understand, because I can’t yet explain it myself. I need time.”
She nods and rocks, the chair making a little rubbing pattern on the hardwood floor as though signaling time. “Then you will figure out how to get what you need, keep the peace between the witches and the vampires, and not offend the dark lord, at least any more than you have already done. Am I clear, Embry?”
In my worst nightmares I could not have seen this coming. I seek solace, fight for it even, navigating through the torrential forests to get here, finally finding safety only to be faced with this. Be nice to the beast who tried to grab me around my neck and haul me somewhere I do not want to be. I could just scream, yet gramma remains calm.
She gestures to the door. “It’s time to turn this around, create another story for yourself, my love. There’s a handsome vampire lord at the door. And I don’t think he’s going to be too keen on taking no for an answer this time.”