Chapter 28 #2
Dresden’s erratic behavior suddenly became evident, he was watching out for an attack.
“We found the bodies of several groups of Hunters discarded after we crossed the blocking barriers. They used them and then tossed them aside. I think they let crawlers feed on the Hunters, draining their blood.”
His words caused a chill to spread down my spine.
“What about your shifters and Dariah’s guard?” André interjected. “Are you guys still holding strong?”
“I need to shift,” Dad murmured, his eyes sweeping the terrain over and over. It was an urgent reminder to himself, but we all heard him. When his eyes returned to the screen, he shook his head. “Only four of her guards are still with me. Everyone else is gone.”
Dead.
“Dad, where are you?” I pressed. “Bj?rn is here. He’ll take us to—”
“No!” Dresden roared, his gaze becoming crazed. “You listen to me,” he demanded, glancing at the guys. “Do not bring my daughter to Cairo. They want her blood.” His gaze focused on Hannes. “Send me back up, but do not let Natasha come.”
His voice broke, even as rage ignited in his eyes.
“Anastasia’s visions can’t be changed, but this is bigger than us. If Francoys gets to my daughter…” he shook his head.
“We can help you, Dad,” I insisted. “I’m not the same girl you met. They won’t get to me.”
“The risk is too great, baby. We can’t lose you again.” Tears gathered in his eyes. “Do not—"
A loud bang echoed in the back, and we watched the tower closest to them collapse. Its crash made the entire area tremble.
Relief seemed to enter his face, swiftly replaced by fresh urgency. With the cell tower gone, the call began to glitch.
No. “Dad!”
“Dresden!” everyone shouted at the same time.
I breathed again when his face reappeared.
“Will-your mom… Trust—” His voice cut off with the weak connection, but I could still see him. “Can’t-bring-life—”
The image disappeared.
“Damn it!”
Shadows rushed into my phone, and I looked up at Dante, grateful.
“I need backup!” Dad growled when we reconnected.
“I’ll send the knights right away!” Hannes vowed just as Vampiri suddenly flashed in the background.
The sound of the tower falling led them straight to my dad.
Those left from Countess Dariah’s guard rushed to meet them and protect my dad, crashing against them in a mayhem of claws and fangs.
Our view swirled next, the camera facing the sky. Fear gripped me with the realization, the phone had dropped from his hand. The image of my dad bursting into his massive white wolf abruptly crossed the sky, and he landed on a crawler a second before the connection cut off permanently.
My heart slammed against my chest as I lifted my gaze to the others.
“I can feel him!” Bj?rn gasped, immediately transforming into his other form while he blinked out of the room.
“What do we know?” Hannes asked, dragging his troubled gaze away from me, and focusing on Dante and André.
“They took the Viscountess to Cairo,” Dante whispered, processing the info. “But where exactly?”
“It has to be somewhere with as little population as possible for them to be able to build their fortress, but close enough to a city to still have cell towers they could highjack with their blockers,” Isis explained, also trying to makes sense of what we’d heard.
“It doesn’t make sense, why would they go to Egypt?” Hannes asked.
“He said this was bigger than us, and something about bring-to-life,” I repeated watching André abruptly become pale.
“I know why they are there…” he whispered, a million thoughts whirling in his eyes. “They don’t want your blood to recreate your hybrid power…” Distressed, like I’d never seen him, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialing. “They want to transfer your power away through the blood.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Dante demanded before I could ask.
“Is everything alright?” Countess Dariah’s voice came through the speaker.
“They are planning to wake Charles Martel by feeding him Natasha’s blood!” he hurriedly warned.
Dante’s eyes darkened. “We can’t let them or—”
“He’ll become unstoppable,” Hannes finished, the Beast’s voice distorting his own.
“Over my dead fucking body!” Mother hissed, hanging up the phone.
“Charles Martel as in the Vampiri Ancient who ruled the Martell Dynasty?” I asked, their trepidation falling over me.
I’d learned about him from André and what I’d read in the Vampiri history book left for me in the bookshelf.
Charles had been one of Alekxandru Dracul’s oldest friends—Dariah’s father. He was turned by Alekxandru, but later betrayed him, leading the first Vampiri War and attacking their kingdom.
His original power was emotion control, which meant he could force anyone to feel anything he wanted with a single touch. He’d been a masterful manipulator until the second war where Mother took her kingdom back and sentenced him to a horrible punishment…
Desiccation.
“If he drinks my blood… he’ll get my powers too?” I asked them, not really wanting to hear the answer.
André’s jaw fiercely tensed. “Yes, but he would have to—”
“Drink all of it…” I finished for him, remembering Francoys’s threat about draining me.
“That is a chance we won’t take,” André declared, his irises turning red.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
When my gaze found Dante’s, my entire became rigid. I knew exactly what he was about to say.
“If any of tell me I can’t go get my mother back I swear to the fucking Goddess…” I warned, hands fisting while I tried not to panic and keep myself level-headed after the turn of events. This was far worse.
“Martell’s old followers are the ones driving this. They want to bring him back,” André reasoned. “And the Martell Dynasty was the biggest one before Dariah destroyed them all.”
“Natalia—”
“Nothing has changed,” I cut off Dante’s protest before it began.
Of course, I was lying to myself. Everything had fucking changed, in the worst way possible, but I was still going to rescue Anastasia.
“You can’t go,” Dante insisted. “Now that we know—”
“Don’t make me add you to my list of men I’ll burn the testicles off of!” I hissed, my attention snapping toward him and I was sure at least one eye was glaring at him bright red.
Horror captured his expression, and he cupped his groin, stepping back.
“Bj?rn is with your father now,” Isis reminded me, placing a soothing hand on my arm. “And he is more powerful than they are. I’m sure he can help Dresden get to Anastasia and bring them both back. You won’t have to go at all.”
She might have a point.
“But if the followers of Charles Martell’s cult are doing this, there might be far more of them. André just said he had the biggest Dynasty, and there were only a few of Dariah’s guards left with Dresden.”
“Dresden might be fighting against the odds right now, but I assure you, there isn’t more of them than us,” Hannes growled, now fully shifted into the Beast from rage alone.
Taking André’s phone, he dialed someone too—the cell was lost within his giant grasp as he lifted it to his ear.
“Mom, this is about more than we imagined. They are trying to overthrow Countess Dariah’s kingdom.”
Queen Luna’s alarmed words flared through the phone a thousand miles a minute.
“Don’t you have a family link?” I couldn’t help but ask him.
“Yes, but I barely have control right now…”
His confession sent a sudden thrill through me, and this was so not the time for that.
“Prepare the Royal Knight Force and call the Countess to organize. We leave tomorrow.” When Hannes hung up, relief unclenched my chest.
We would go save my mother with his army’s help. That changed the odds in our favor.
“We?” André challenged, glaring at Hannes.
“André, Anastasia already had this vision. I am meant to go save her, and I’ve prepared for it.”
“We believe that’s also the reason we were chosen,” Dante reluctantly agreed, exchanging a grim look with André and Hannes. “But as someone who has lived much longer than many, I can assure you nothing is set in stone. Not even the threads of destiny.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you guys again. I’ve already made my decision.”
“I’m sorry, Tasha, but I’m afraid they are right.” Isis took my hand in hers. “The last thing you can do is put yourself exactly where they want you so they can get your blood. We cannot lose you. Please don’t go…”
Her plea made my heart squeeze, but this wasn’t about her or even me for that matter. It was bigger than us, but they still didn’t understand how.
Squeezing her hand, I offered her a tender smile.
“I know your fear comes from the love you have given me all my life, and I love you just as strongly, Isis. You are my mom too and you will always be. Still, in your desperate need to protect me, there is something none of you have stopped to consider.”
My gaze swept the room, connecting with each of their eyes as I took a deep breath.
“Anastasia already had this vision,” I repeated.
“When I say that it doesn’t just mean that she saw me going there with you by my side.
It means that whatever hell hole they have her trapped in, she’s not afraid because she knows we are coming.
It means that whatever horrors they are putting her through right now, she’s enduring it because she trusts that I will be there, empowered by three of the most powerful beings she could find to help me and protect me. ”
Letting go of Isis I took a step away from her and turned so I could face them all, not bothering to contain the thundering beating of my heart.
“My mom already had this vision!” I reaffirmed with all the strength pounding through my being and all the power my voice could carry.
“Whether or not destiny is set in stone, she is holding on through their torture because she saw me coming to save her life… She’s counting on me, and I would rather die at Francoys’s hands than break her heart to save myself. Even if the world burns after.”
Blades of pain sliced their expressions with my words as they remained silent.
Holding their gazes one last time, I whirled around and headed for the balcony.
“Natalia,” André called after me, but I didn’t stop.
“I need to be alone right now,” I yelled back, jumping off the balcony and into the sky.