Chapter 8
“Sorry about the mess,” I offered, looking at Isis and the others. “I was a bit too hyperactive when I first awoke, and apparently, I can’t measure my strength properly.”
“Wait. You told Dante not to mix the books because you were not done learning?” Vanessa paused for a moment like she couldn’t believe what she was going to say. “You read the entire pile on the floor?”
“No. She couldn’t have,” Isis rebutted. “They probably just fell—”
“She read them all,” Hannes assured her, seeming like the only one calmed and collected.
“How is that possible?” Isis’s question went to Countess Dariah, who released a deep breath.
“Her hybrid nature seems to have enhanced her Vampiri strength and speed.” Glancing at me, she assessed me for a second. “At the moment, we are not sure if this is only a newborn effect or if it will be permanent, but she is adjusting to them.”
“I’m perfectly fine,” I confirmed, getting a pleased nod from her.
“Can we see it?” Alyce asked with a hint of mischief in her voice.
I smirked. “My pleasure.”
Before she could blink, I dashed across the room, picking up one of the stories I’d loved and placing it in her hands before returning to my place.
“Shit!” Alyce laughed as her hair fluttered about her, eyes falling to the book now in her grasp. “The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I’ve never read this one.”
“I loved it… Only, it seemed familiar somehow.”
“That’s because I used to read it to you before bed when you were a child,” Isis confessed, a warm and loving expression taking over her.
“Aww!”
Ignoring Star, I offered Isis a smile.
“How did you do that? It didn’t even take two seconds?” Pure shock colored Bj?rn’s voice, but I just shrugged.
“It took her about three seconds to read each book.”
Everyone turned to Dante, who sounded proud more than anything else.
“Oooh, she’s so fast because she is a newborn Vampire… blah blah,” Star mocked. “Just wait until you let me out, Bitch. I’m going to run so fast you will eat my dust.”
Lips twitching, I just rolled my eyes.
“She said it was because of my hybrid nature, you idiot. It means both your enhanced Wolf Shifter speed and my Vampiri speed mixed, making us even faster.”
“Oh.”
“That’s so cool, Tasha! I, um.” Vanessa’s cheeks turned bright red when she caught her mistake. “Sorry. Natalia.”
“I don’t really care.” I shrugged, being sincere… as long as it was just an honest mistake.
“Are we ready?” Our Vampir Mother interrupted, reminding us all why we were even here.
“Yes, of course,” I assured, stepping closer to Georgette, who motioned for me to settle in the sitting area in front of the fireplace.
“How does this work, exactly?” I hated that nerves stirred my stomach as I sat down, but they did.
“Well, with your permission, I will touch your temples and access your mind. Then I’ll use my power to navigate the darkness and try to unlock the memories guarded there so I can release—”
“Guarded?” I questioned, glancing from Georgette to Countess Dariah.
“We have to assume that the memories aren’t lost, but they are being kept from you.”
Mother’s words disturbed something inside me, and the chilling, deathly grip of the darkness tightened in my mind.
“No!” Star growled.
“No.” I answered at the same time.
“No, to what?” Georgette tried to clarify.
“You do not have our permission.”
“You do not have my permission.”
“Natalia—”
“I said no.” The tone of my voice alone killed Dante’s protest. My attention returned to our Vampiri Mother. “Do you think Natasha is the one keeping them from me?”
She slowly nodded.
“Why?”
“To spare you,” she confessed with a knowing sigh. “So that you won’t go through the pain she is experiencing right now.”
“She is in pain…” Star confirmed what we already knew—we had felt the sorrow stirring just under the fog.
“I understand.”
“But you still need to know…”
“Yes, I do,” I conceded, glancing at Hannes, who seemed troubled by the situation.
“Then you need to let me access your mind.”
“No, Georgette. We don’t give you permission.”
With a confused and slightly frustrated sigh, she turned to Countess Dariah, who looked at me like she was the one trying to access my mind.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because Natasha is going through something right now and I have to respect that.” My gaze briefly shifted to André. “I already violated her trust once; I’m not going to do that again.”
“So how do you propose we help you?” Georgette’s voice called my attention back to her.
“Did anyone else witness what happened?” They all looked at each other, which meant I basically had my pick of the litter. “Great. Will anyone be willing to share their memories with me?”
“I will show you,” Mother offered, instantly directing her attention to Isis, who quickly nodded at her silent request.
“Please blink to Anastasia’s office and bring her crystals to us. They are in her desk, the second drawer on the left.”
With Isis’s instructions, Bj?rn instantly blinked out of the room, reappearing a few seconds later with an elegantly carved wooden box. He handed it to Isis, who quickly walked to our side and opened it for us.
Inside, on a bed of red velvet, lay a silver chain that held a crystal on each end.
Unable to help myself, I leaned in, noticing both crystals hummed with magic—the first one was blue while the second was a dark golden stone fashioned into a cone shape.
“Sodalite and Pyrite. Two of the most powerful crystals for accessing and retaining memories,” Dante explained when Georgette reached into the box.
Accepting the dual-sided crystal tool from Georgette, I noticed Countess Dariah bring the second armchair right in front of mine and sit, leaving us face to face.
“This is how your mother shares her visions with us,” André offered.
“Did you make it for her?” My gaze lifted to Dante, but he shook his head.
“It is imbued with ancient magic, but not my kind. The Amber Witch, Head of the world's Magistrate of Witches, created it for your mother many years ago.”
“Natasha’s mother…” I corrected in my mind.
“If Natasha, you, and I are supposed to be the same person, then Anastasia is also our mom. No?”
I didn’t answer her, it didn’t feel like she was.
“She’s a good friend of ours…” Mother added, and I nodded.
Reaching for my hand, André crouched next to me. “The process doesn’t hurt. You have nothing to fear.”
“Do I look scared to you?” I sincerely asked, because until now I had no fucking idea what he saw when he looked at me—other than not his Natasha.
“Probably a bitch.”
I internally rolled my eyes at Star.
“No,” he conceded, removing his hand from mine while his troubled eyes remained.
“I’m not scared,” I assured softly. The truth was, I didn’t want him to see me as a bitch.
“Speak for yourself,” Star huffed. “It sounds like this is going to be bad.”
“But Star is, a little,” I added. “You can hold her hand if you want.”
A crooked grin tilted his lips, but it disappeared before it could fully swoon me. Taking my hand once more, André interlaced our fingers, causing warmth to spread through my being.
Someone took my other hand, and I turned to find the Beast had returned. His massive hand curved around my small one, the soft white fur caressing my wrist as he interlaced our fingers too.
Mesmerized by his majestic, mystical shift, I glanced up at his broad chest and corded neck until our gazes met. Hannes might have looked like a werewolf right then, but those brooding, ocean-blue eyes were all sexy ass man.
Slowly leaning into me, so he wouldn’t scare me, Hannes brought his imposing presence, exuding a mix of fresh-cut cedar, cinnamon, and mint scent. It filtered through my nostrils in the most captivating way, making it hard to concentrate.
Was that Star’s reaction to the Beast, or mine?
Placing his muzzle next to my ear, he scented me, and his hot breath fanned the curve of my neck as his nose neared it. His gesture sent a wild shudder to rock my body. “Starlight, I’m here for you too.”
Oh, shit.
If merely feeling his breath on my skin had shuddered my entire body, his sultry half-man, half-beast whisper had surely destroyed me.
“Okay, I see the appeal of the Beast now,” I confessed.
“Mother, may I…” Star added. “Please, bend over…”
“Maybe another time.”
“Ahem.”
My head snapped to Countess Dariah, who seemed amused by the spectacle.
“We are ready now. Yah?”
I swallowed, trying to recover. “Yes, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Her accusatory gaze went to Hannes’s beast.
The asshole smiled from ear to ear.
“We proceed,” she announced, making everyone instantly tense and gather closer around us. “Take this end,” she instructed, handing me the golden end. “The Pyrite crystal goes on your temple; the Sodalite goes on mine.”
Following her instructions, I let go of André’s hand and lifted the humming stone to my head, immediately feeling how cool yet heavy it was to the touch.
A current of energy coursed through its point as soon as it pressed against my temple, but it wasn’t overwhelming or hurtful.
It felt gentle and steady, like a conduit.
“You can let it go now; it has connected to your mind.” When she released hers, it hovered against her temple. The tip was still pressed to her skin.
Surprised, I let go too. Sure enough, the crystal remained there, as if a powerful force kept it connected to my mind.
André smiled when my hand returned to his.
“I will access my memories now, and the magic in the crystals will transfer them to your mind, where they will play for you like a movie. Are you sure you are ready?”
The question held a heaviness it hadn’t before. Like what I was about to see was more than I might be able to handle.
Taking a deep breath, I hardened myself to whatever I was about to witness and nodded.
Music and laughter suddenly overwhelmed my senses, my surroundings transforming from the room we sat in, to a grand ballroom filled with elegantly dressed people dancing and celebrating.
Only, it was not like a movie. I was there, in the memory. I was part of it.
The shock of the unexpected experience made me rear back on the chair, my hands clenching within the guys’ grasp.
“What are you doing to her?” Hannes menacingly growled.
“I thought you would ease her into it.” André growled. “Why—?”
“Ah, the joy of overprotective men,” Mother sighed sarcastically. “I do not miss that.”
Their voices easily filtered into the fantasy I was immersed in, but I was still at the party. It was the strangest thing.
“Does your husband not protect you?” I asked the Countess while slowly turning in a circle to better access my surroundings within the fantasy.
“He does, but he’s also my partner in crime, yah? He never stops me from whatever crazy idea has popped into my head. Instead, he supports me and helps me make them happen… Though, it actually got us in serious trouble once.”
I smiled at that; it sounded like the kind of partner I’d want.
Hannes’s hand tightened on mine at my thought.
Was he still in my mind? I couldn’t sense Dante’s shadows.
“Now, darling. Let’s ignore the men. Are you alright in there?”
“I am, but…” I faced the grand ballroom again, noticing a set of chairs arranged on a dais at the front of it, almost like thrones.
“I’m not watching your memory like you said I would.
Not like a movie. It’s more like I’m actually in the party.
In the middle of everything. I can hear the music and feel the energy, the happiness in the room, I—Shit! Someone just walked right through me.”
I chuckled at that, touching my stomach and chest as a funny tingling spread over it in the memory, even though I wasn’t moving on the chair. It was the strangest feeling.
“How is that possible?” Hannes gripped my hand tighter.
“Did she astral project?” Dante asked.
“No. If she was projecting her soul there, she’d have to assume a state of deep concentration and know exactly where she was traveling to through the Ether.
It takes years to master something like that.
” The tone of Bj?rn’s voice said he was troubled by this.
“She’s interacting with us, answering us, and laughing while still fully immersed in the active memory… I’m not sure how this is possible.”
“Could it be her hybrid magic interacting with the magic of the crystals?” Isis questioned.
“Is it possible her fractured soul is causing this?” Vanessa joined the party.
“Perhaps all of the above,” Mother admitted but she sounded intrigued. “I’d even dare to guess that this might be a trace of Anastasia’s ability. Though Natalia doesn’t see visions, her enhanced mind may experience things completely differently…”
Everyone became quiet.
“Great, Bitch. You are a freak too.”
I was not answering that.
“Wait…” I called when my eyes found Countess Dariah on the dance floor, arms wrapped around a dashing, dark-haired, and blue-eyed man. “I can see you dancing with a sexy-as-hell Vampir.”
“That’s Antoine,” she sounded amused. “Go to where I am. Follow me.”
Glancing around me to make sure no one else would walk through me, I advanced, seeing Anastasia walk out of the ballroom with the lady who seemed to manage the castle. The one who greeted us when we arrived. Edith, was it?
“Is that your husband?”
“He wishes,” Georgette snorted, and everyone chuckled.
“He’s my backup husband.” Mother chuckled. “I’ve called him many things during the last three thousand years of our life, but he’s my dearest, dearest friend. He’s married to Mathew’s best friend, Zoe. The only woman in the world who can actually put up with him. They are perfect for each other.”
Nodding, I continued my way through the ballroom until I got to where they danced, just as he spun her to the music.
“Shit!” I gasped when she twirled right through me, and then I saw the party from a whole new angle…
Hers.