Fulfilling Fate

When I was strong enough, I went to go visit Heather and Kassandra. I thought I’d be prepared for anything after what happened. I didn’t think I’d walk into a fight. They both stopped when they saw me in the doorway.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“She won’t feed from me,” Kassandra said.

I frowned at Heather. “Why not?”

“She has his blood in her,” she hissed. “I’m not going to drink his blood.”

“She’s only drinking Gerard’s blood because the baby needs it,” I reminded her but she shot me a glare.

“Oh, sure, join in on the lie!”

“You know it’s not a lie,” I said, walking in slowly. “What’s gotten into you, Heather?”

I looked at her closely. Her face was twisted in rage as she glared at Kassandra. She was paler than normal and her cheeks were hollow. Her hair was brittle again and her dress was rumpled. She had given up on caring for herself and I was worried.

“This is your fault!” she yelled at me.

“No. You’re the one who wrote to Gerard. Look, you’re just-.”

“Shut up!” she shouted and I sighed. “Get out of here, Aviel! This is none of your business!”

“Not according to you,” I said with a cocked brow. “You just said it was my fault.”

“Don’t be a smart ass,” she spat.

I shook my head and, when I did, saw something under Heather’s pillow. I frowned and got it out.

“No!” she yelled but I stepped back, staring at it in horror.

“Heather,” I whispered. “Where did you get this?”

“She gave it to me, okay!?” she shouted, snatching for the trinket in my hands.

“Who did?”

“It’s none of your damn business!” she yelled and I frowned at her.

“What is it?” Kassandra asked, looking fearful.

“It’s a token,” I said, not looking away from Heather. “A token of insanity.”

Heather scoffed as Kassandra gasped, covering her mouth.

“Don’t be stupid, Aviel,” Heather snapped. “It’s for peace. She said so.”

“Who did?” I repeated.

“Keep your nose out of my-!”

“It’s my business,” Kassandra interrupted. “Now who gave you that token, Heather!?”

“The witch in the village!”

I sighed and shook my head.

“That woman causes nothing but strife.” I held it up. “Let me guess, this is your hair?”

It was in the shape of a cross with hair spun around it in an ‘X’.

“Maybe,” she spat.

“This is going to hurt, Heather,” I whispered and snapped it in half.

Heather screamed and fell to her knees, her back arching. Kassandra screamed her name as people ran toward the room. I held the token halves over the candle, watching in remorse as they burned. Heather’s screams were mixed with sobs of pain.

“Kass,” she sobbed. “Make it stop. Please make it stop!”

“Oh, Heather,” Kassandra cried and got on her knees in front of her. “What do I do?” she asked me.

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I sighed. “Not until this token is gone.”

Heather’s arms shot out on either side of her and her head snapped back. There was a collection of gasps behind me as the room filled with light. Just as the token fell into ash, Heather’s body collapsed like a marionette that had its strings cut.

“Heather?” Kassandra whispered, reaching out with a shaking hand. “Heather, are you okay?”

We all waited as Kassandra put Heather’s head in her lap. Kassandra sniffled, tears falling down her face and splashing onto Heather’s. Heather stirred then her eyes fluttered open.

“Kass?” she said, her voice small. “What-What happened?”

“You never should have gone to that witch,” I said. “She gave you a token.”

“For peace for my spirit,” she said but I shook my head.

“No, Heather. What she gave you was for insanity.”

Heather’s eyes widened. “What?”

“She never casts a spell that doesn’t benefit her in some way,” I explained. “Right now, you need to feed from Kassandra.”

“I was going insane?” she whispered and I nodded sadly.

“You should’ve talked to her,” I said.

She sniffled. “I wanted to but something stopped me,” she said.

“Was this before or after the token?”

“After.”

I nodded and stood up. “Spend some time together, you two.”

I shut the door, ushering my family away.

“It’s okay,” I said but something else caught our attention.

The front door opened and we all froze. Lebanon was the first to react. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword and walked slowly to the corner.

“Phillipe?” he asked, his jaw dropping.

Suzenne screamed and ran down the hall and stairs. She threw her arms around her brother who looked close to death. He laughed and hugged her back, leaning on a cane for support.

“You’ve been doing something incredibly stupid, King Lebanon,” he said and we all stared at him.

“What?” we asked in unison.

“I wasn’t kidnapped,” he said. “There is no standalone group and the only ‘threat’ you have is King Greaves but he’s a pansy.”

“I don’t understand,” Lebanon said and Phillipe sighed.

“Come sit,” I said and helped him to the living area.

“Aviel?” he asked. “Is that you?”

I smiled. “Yes. I married Zion five months ago now.”

He laughed. “Good. I always told Suzie you two would make a good pair.”

Once he was comfortable, Eavana brought him some tea, sitting down with a sigh of relief. Suzenne was fussing over her brother and he swatted at her.

“Come on, Suzie,” he said. “I can’t tell the story if you keep it up.”

“Sorry,” she sniffled. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

“A year ago, I went on a trip,” Phillipe began. “I wanted to go see the Gemmed Mountains to bring my sister back a gift. I always loved spoiling you. Anyway, while I was there, I ran into a renegade vampire group. They recognized me and threatened to kill me and everyone in the village if I didn’t follow along with their plan.”

“Which was?” Lebanon pressed when Phillipe paused.

“I had to disappear for a year,” he said. “I had to leave clues to make you think I was kidnapped. It would spark a war and they hoped you would be killed in the process. I told them it was pointless but they wouldn’t listen to me. So, I stayed with them willingly and we traveled for a while. We kept our ears open and they were ecstatic to learn that the war had started. When I heard that the youngest prince disappeared, I got worried and snuck away from them.

“I was stupid, though. I traveled at night. Even though I’m still young, so to speak, I still don’t have very good eyesight. I went tumbling down a mountain. If I were a human, I would’ve died. I stayed where I was for a while to recover and fed from wildlife. I got to a small village and they let me clean up and gave me this cane. It would seem that, when I fell, I permanently injured myself. A vampire I traveled here with told me that it happens. He was actually the one who helped me get here safely.”

“And this group that tried to spark it?” Lebanon asked. “Where were they last?”

Phillipe smirked. “Oh, don’t you worry, your highness. I have a tracker on them that is ready to report to you at a moment’s notice.”

“Good,” Lebanon growled. “They will pay.”

“What about the Major’s head?” I asked.

Phillipe rolled his eyes. “I heard about that stunt. The Major was part of the group but, like me, wanted to leave. So they killed him then thought it would be fun to send you the head. From what I understand, they threatened you.”

“How did they know I’m part witch?” I asked.

“That’s my fault,” he said. “I thought that, if I told them how important the village was, they’d leave you all alone. We don’t have much to offer a kingdom, but we did have a witch.”

“And the jewel?” Eavana asked. “In the first message we got, that was the reason the war started.”

At this, Phillipe laughed. “Although I respect that Major, he was an idiot. He told them about it.”

“But I was ambushed by them! They almost killed me!” Tomas shouted.

Phillipe curled his lip. “They have magic, too. They can cause the area to go black. Then they use an energy wave to knock all opponents off their feet and drives them insane. They think they’re being attacked when really they’re just killing themselves.”

Zion shook his head. “That explains why that man thought it was a weapon,” he said. When Phillipe looked confused, he added, “I had a dream.”

“Well, the first thing you need to do is contact King Greaves, King Lebanon,” Phillipe said when Zion was done with his story.

“I don’t think he’ll be open to me,” Lebanon admitted. “We sent Zion and Aviel to go and pretend some of our guards were servants. Before we could learn their plans, one of our guards gave us away. They nearly killed Zion.”

“I’ll go then,” Phillipe said. “He’ll listen to me. He always has.”

“Are you up for travel?” Lebanon asked.

Phillipe tossed his hand, standing with difficulty. “I’ll manage. When I get back, though, I expect to be knighted.”

Lebanon laughed, shaking his hand. “And you will be.”

Suzenne sobbed and hugged her brother tightly. He chuckled and I leaned into Zion, exhausted but relieved.