Fate's Embrace Read online

  When I came to a few minutes later, I was over his shoulder and being carried up the front steps of Denise’s house. Since we didn’t get along, I’d never been inside, but I knew her place by the roses out front and the pale shade of blue she’d painted her porch.

  He put me down on the couch and I cringed. My forehead hurt so badly I could barely blink my eyes. I reached for my aching head. “You didn’t even tie my hands?”

  “You aren’t going anywhere.”

  The certainty of his words was frightening. But he was wrong. I’d kill him any way I could. When I could see straight enough to look around, I scanned the room for a weapon. What I found was a scene straight out of a nightmare. The furniture, except for the couch and one kitchen chair, was all turned over or broken. Denise was hanging from the ceiling by her feet, her blood draining into a large bowl. She was already dead. No one could lose that much blood and still be alive. Even though I knew I was supposed to be next, I couldn’t help feeling bad about calling her an asshole just a few minutes before. I never would have wished something like this on her, no matter what I felt.

  “You didn’t have to kill her,” I said, gritting my teeth against the pain in my head.

  “Oh, but I did,” he said. He dipped a goblet into the blood and began to pour it onto the space he’d cleared on the floor. “You see, you need bad blood for this ritual.”

  “Bad blood?”

  “That’s right. When I saw you arguing, I knew she’d be the perfect choice.” He put the goblet underneath his nose and breathed deeply. “She hated you. A lot.”

  I was disgusted. “You need the blood of someone who hates me to steal my soul?”

  He seemed more impressed than surprised. “Very good. You had potential, it’s such a shame.”

  “Are you really after me just because of my connection to the wolf pack?”

  “No, I have you because of your connection to the pack. Make no mistake my dear, you are already captured and you aren’t going to escape. Once I absorb your soul I will have the same connections that you have. Being linked to an alpha werewolf? Well, that is its own reward for my trouble. His power will become my power. I’ll have an entire wolf pack at my disposal.”

  “What about Renaldo? Is he in on this too?”

  My comment seemed to irritate him. “He was.”

  “Did he leave?”

  He pointed to another large bowl in the far corner of the room. Blood dripped from the sides. “In a manner of speaking.”

  I was horrified. “Why?”

  He stopped what he was doing and turned to me, looking more irritated than before. “Because he almost fucked up everything. You know that book research we were supposedly doing? He was using it to get into people’s homes, specific people so that he could cast spells on them behind my back. It seems that once we arrived in town and my plan began to play out, he got cold feet. Suddenly blood magic was ‘sick and wrong’. Isn’t that some shit, coming from someone who sought me out to learn blood magic?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Shut up and pay attention then. Renaldo went around to everyone close to you and to Michael and cast a spell on them to counter my plans. Oh, he did this on you too.”

  “But I never let Renaldo into my house.”

  “He stood outside your window and did it while you slept. I tortured it out of him not an hour ago.”

  Either I was slow, or Dantes was not making himself clear. “What was the counterspell?”

  “Honestly, how can you call yourself a witch and not figure this out? I wanted to bring you together, right? I’m sure you’ve already figured out about the blood covenant between you and Michael. All I had to do was sit back and wait for you two to get together before I made my move. This asshole goes and casts a spell to make you afraid of Michael, to make everyone close to you afraid so that if you spoke to them, they couldn’t remind you what a nice guy Michael was.” He looked at me for a moment, studying my reaction. “Ah, did I just see a light bulb?”

  “Eat me.” I was getting sick of his sarcasm.

  He laughed. “If I didn’t need your blood, I might consider it.”

  “What did you do with him?”

  “With whom?” he said, becoming distracted with his work once more.

  “Renaldo. The man you just confessed to murdering. Ring any bells?”

  “He’s in the backyard where I plan to bury you all when I’m finished. Now, do you really feel better knowing that?”

  “And all that crap about Michael wanting to challenge Jack, what was that about?”

  He sighed. “That was me being impatient. You see, I’ve waited three hundred years for this. The sooner I could get him to make a move on you and become pack leader, the better.”

  “How did you even know about me or my connection to the pack?”

  “I overheard your ancestor, Varic, when he made the deal. You see, Varic liked to drink and made the mistake of not realizing that even though I wasn’t part of the coven any longer, I still hung out in some of the same places. I was in the tavern that night and saw him go into a back room with a man I knew to be a werewolf. I followed and listened at the door. Drunken wizards don’t often think to put up a ward against such things. Simple as that.”

  “And you waited three hundred years just for my soul?”

  He batted his eyes, mocking me with his smile. “Don’t you feel special?”

  Actually, I was in shock. Varic’s vision was a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. What he saw would never have come to pass if he hadn’t made the covenant with the werewolves, giving Dantes the idea to target me. Just like Dantes wouldn’t have had the spell to work if it weren’t for Aleric being here with the grimoire. It was a lot to absorb and left me feeling a bit dizzy.

  Dantes turned back to his task. He left a small space open on the circle, just enough to get in and out. I watched as he placed incense around the bowl that was catching Denise’s blood and tried not to be sick. I had to get out of here. I glanced toward the kitchen and felt a spark of hope.

  “Since there’s no way I can escape, can I at least have a glass of water?”

  That smile of his was starting to get creepy. “You’re going to be dead within the hour.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that I’m thirsty now.”

  Where was Aleric? I kept thinking that any minute Michael would realize I had been gone too long.

  “Help yourself,” he said, gesturing toward the kitchen.

  His overconfidence would be the death of him. That is, if I had anything to say about it. I looked around the kitchen frantically, determined to find a weapon without making any noise. Where were all the damn knives?!

  “What’s your name?” I called. “Your real name.”

  “Do you care?”

  “I’d like to know the name of the man who plans to kill me.”

  “Diego. Dantes really is my last name.”

  “If you were ever really friends with Aleric, how could you do this to him?”

  I heard his sharp intake of breath. “He told you everything then? That’s a surprise. We were part of the same coven once, that doesn’t make us brothers. And it doesn’t take that long to get a glass of water, I’m not stupid. Come back in here or I can just drug you for the ceremony.”

  Motherfucker. I filled my glass quickly and as soon as I stepped back into the living room I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. I had found a weapon, my glass. I just had to be sure to break it before he tried to sacrifice me. If all else fails (and so far it had) I wasn’t above shanking some crazy mage set on sacrificing me. Diego had seen my smile. I had to think of a reason for it and fast.

  “Aleric kicked you out of the coven?”

  He smirked. “You could say that. We had a difference of opinion about what was acceptable when it came to magic.”

  “You mean he didn’t believe in human sacrifice.”

  I was still wearing Aleric’s robe and when I moved his scent
drifted up to me. I felt so alone. I wanted to cry. I wanted him here with me. Isn’t this what he’d been waiting for?

  I’d barely finished the thought before an enormous werewolf came crashing through the window. He wasn’t fully transformed, but was in what I’d heard described as a half-wolf or wolfman form. He dove past me, straight for Diego. The mage sidestepped quickly and the werewolf slammed into Denise, knocking her down from the ropes she’d been bound with. I knew the werewolf was Michael by the rich chestnut brown of his fur.

  Michael picked up the body as gently as possible and laid it aside before baring his teeth at Diego. Even knowing he was on my side didn’t keep me from shaking all over. Michael was a sexy man, but he made a terrifying werewolf. He’d also smeared the blood circle on his way across the room. Diego looked furious.

  I heard the door creak a split second before it burst from the hinges. Wood splintered and I ducked for cover behind the couch. Aleric stepped in wearing only a pair of black pants. His wings were barely able to fit through the doorway. When the door went flying, it knocked Diego out of the circle he was trying so desperately to complete. He went straight past Michael and through the back door.

  “Nice shot,” Michael growled.

  Before we could get outside, a blast of energy knocked Michael back through the door. If I’d been any closer, one of his claws might have hit me.

  “Keep her safe,” Aleric said to him.

  The wizard stormed through the door. Electricity began to spark between his fingertips and as he moved outside I heard thunder.

  “I want to watch,” I said, trying not to be afraid of the monster I knew was Michael.

  I had never been this close to a half-transformed werewolf before and it was unsettling, even if he was my lover. He was close to seven feet tall.

  Michael put his arm around me, pulling me against the warmth of his fur. I could hear the clap of thunder and the screams of the men outside as he whispered, “Everything’s going to be all right.” The deep rumble of his voice was even lower now and I could feel it vibrate through his chest.

  I ran my hand over his soft fur and any fear I had a moment ago was gone. We stepped outside with me blocked by Michael’s big body. I had to peek around his side for a look at what was going on.

  Storm clouds were gathering over the clearing where they stood. I hadn’t realized Denise had such a big yard. With a pang of sadness I thought how lovely it was. With one swoop of his wings Aleric lifted into the air. I had guessed that he could fly, but actually seeing him do so made my mouth drop open in surprise.

  He stretched his arms wide, electricity still gathering in his hands. Then he brought his arms and wings forward in a mighty clap that sent a lightning bolt straight at Diego. It took me a moment to be able to see again after the flash. There was only a burnt patch of grass where the mage had stood.

  Most mages couldn’t use the elements the way a wizard could, so I was surprised when a ball of fire shot out of the nearby trees toward Aleric. He dodged easily and I looked to where the fireball had come from. Diego stepped out of the bushes as he pulled a really big knife from inside his coat. On closer inspection it was a ritual implement of some sort, with a red jewel on the hilt.

  He ran the blade down his arm as Aleric yelled to us, “Take cover!”

  Diego began to speak a soft Spanish incantation that would have sounded like the whispers of a lover had I not known his sinister purpose. The blood of such a mage was a weapon. The liquid began to pool in his hand and Michael and I moved to the side of the house as he flung it in Aleric’s direction.

  Aleric blocked the spray of blood with his wings. It made a sizzling sound on impact and I cringed. With one flick of his wings Aleric shook off the blood and appeared unharmed. However, in the time it took to do this, and while Michael and I were focused on Aleric, Diego got away.

  “Are you all right?” Aleric called to us.

  “We’re fine,” Michael answered. “Where is he?”

  From inside the house I could hear a voice, deep and rhythmic.

  “He’s finishing the spell!”

  “We have to get there before he closes the circle,” Aleric said, already running through the door.

  We were too late. It looked like the circle was already closed. The immensity of his evil presence was now doubled. It poured from the room, pulsating like an airborne sickness come to life. Since Michael had spilled Denise’s blood as he dove at the mage, Diego had used his own blood to close the circle. Would that work? Did he hate me too?

  There was only a small opening near his feet, where Michael’s claws had smeared his earlier work. And directly on the other side of this smear I spotted the tip of Percy’s tail. What the hell was he doing? He moved past the instruments and herbs scattered on the floor, steadily making his way toward Diego’s leg.

  The mage was ignoring us all as he combined the ash from some incense with the blood in his palm. Whatever he was working on, he was so focused that he didn’t notice the snake behind him. Percy bit his ankle and jerked back before he could be struck. Apparently he’d learned a lesson from his encounter with Michael.

  Diego grabbed his injured foot, screaming and cursing in Spanish. He clawed at his shirt, tearing it open to expose his chest. Dark purple veins spread over his skin. He was poisoned!

  From beneath Aleric’s wing, I watched as the mage’s deadly blood dissolved him from the inside out. It was the most awful thing I’d ever seen. His skin melted like wax and poured from his body, leaving his bones standing as his screams echoed. I turned my head as I heard the bones collapse to the floor and his screams finally stopped.

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” I ran outside and vomited into the rose bushes.

  Aleric followed and when I heard the porch creaking under his weight, I knew Michael was there too. Percy moved to where we stood and Michael scooped him up in his big werewolf hands. There was no mistaking the grin on Percy’s face, although it was quite grotesque on a snake.

  “I’m poisonous,” he beamed.

  “Only to mages,” Michael corrected.

  “Shut the fuck up, I’m poisonous.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Aleric made sure there were no traces of magic or fingerprints left at Denise’s house, so none of us could be tied to what happened. This included getting rid of Diego’s bones. He didn’t tell me what he did with them and I didn’t ask. The double murder made the papers and all the local news stations. I wished I could tell people there was no killer at large, that one of the bodies was not a victim, but a co-conspirator who’d had a change of heart. But that was out of the question. I had to be content with the knowledge that Denise’s killer and my would-be sacrificer had been caught.

  In appreciation for his help, Aleric offered to break Percy’s curse. That is, if he can figure out the counter curse. I have no doubt he will. Besides, once his curse is broken, Percy promised to tell me why he got cursed in the first place. I have a pretty good idea he was doing something naughty and got caught. Percy is looking forward to being human again in time for Christmas. I think he just wants to be able to wear jingle bell underwear.

  Michael is set to take over the pack at the next full moon gathering. In one week’s time, Jack and Daisy will be married. Yes, she did send me an invitation as promised along with a thank you note for helping her give Jack that “little push” he needed. After the ceremony Jack is officially retiring from leadership. At the same time Michael is scheduled to be welcomed as the new alpha male, Aleric and I will be accepted into the fold, Aleric as pack shaman and me as assistant shaman and Michael’s mate.

  Things are working out better for me than they have in a long time. I can’t remember ever being so happy. Then again, having two hot men all to myself might have something to do with that. Sometimes fate goes to great lengths to bring people into our lives, like Aleric and Michael, who were both destined to be with me ever since my ancestor had a vision three hundred years ago. Unfortunately,
fate doesn’t always make such things obvious, but when it does, we must learn to embrace what it brings our way. They were both there all along, all I had to do was let them in.

  About the Author

  This multi-published author has been writing stories for her own entertainment since she was a child. Tracey has always been drawn to the macabre, with a fondness for anything with fangs. She writes what she enjoys reading in the hopes that others will enjoy her stories as well. Her main goal as a writer is to put emotions into words. She wants people to feel something when they read her work.

  Tracey welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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