|
CHAPTER SIX
Anyanka stood idly by while Kraven paced angrily in Tara’s quarters.
“Who does she think she is? Does she not know how important this is?
Tonight…of all nights!” Kraven said, furious with Tara.
“I’m sorry, my lord…I knew and I should have told you.” Anyanka said, submissively.
Kraven stopped dead in his tracks, turning to the blonde. “What are you talking about?”
“Her human…Willow…she’s a Lycan…she’s been bitten.” She said, waiting for Kraven’s reaction.
“She’s what?” He said, stepping close to Anyanka, close enough that his spittle hit her face as he spoke.
“…she’s been bitten, my lord…she’s a Lycan.”
Just then, two of Kraven’s henchmen showed up at the door.
“What do you want?!” Kraven said, clearly irritated by their presence.
The two bowed their heads, realizing they were about to make Kraven’s already foul mood even worse with their news.
“Someone has breached the hibernation chamber, my lord.” The first said, his head still bowed.
“Tara.” Kraven hissed, stomping across the room, pushing his way through the guards and down the hallway. Within seconds, he was entering the hibernation chamber.
Viktor sat on his throne, Tara’s memories reeling through his mind as the transfusion ports pumped pints of blood into his shriveled veins. He was brought out of his haze by the sound of the chamber door opening and footsteps on the marble floor.
Kraven, seeing the elder on his throne, immediately dropped to his knee, bowing before him.
“Do you know why I have been awakened, servant?” Viktor said, pointedly.
“No, my lord…but I will soon find out.” Kraven said, both embarrassed and furious. He remained on his knee, his head bowed down submissively.
“You mean when you find her.” Viktor corrected.
“Yes, my lord. I give you my word, she will be found!” Kraven hissed, finally looking the elder in the eyes.
“No!” Viktor yelled, abruptly. “You will let her come to me. We have much to discuss, Tara and I. She has shown me a great many things…things that will be dealt with soon enough.”
Meanwhile…
Tara pulled into an alleyway, screeching to a halt. She quickly got out of the vehicle – Willow did the same.
“This way…” Tara instructed, stopping at a heavy steel door with a small push-button number pad. She quickly pushed a series of buttons and the locks clicked into the open position. Willow followed her, shutting the door behind them.
“Where are we?” Willow asked as they climbed up several flights of stairs.
“One of many safehouses we keep throughout this area.” Tara answered, punching the numerical code on a touch pad opening yet another door and walking through.
The room was white tile from wall-to-wall, with an oversized light and examination table in the center. Several trays of instruments lay on the cupboard area.
“You need an operating room in the safehouse?” Willow asked.
“It’s not an operating room.” Tara said, quickly moving a panel hidden within the tile wall and retrieving additional guns and ammunition. “It’s an interrogation room.”
“Interrogation? For what?” Willow said, picking up some of the instruments from the trays. They were unlike any she had ever used as a doctor.
“For Lycans…they’re allergic to silver…we use these to take it out of them before we question them…they’d die if we left it in.” Tara explained.
“What do you do with them afterwards?” Willow asked, hesitantly…not sure if she really wanted to know the answer to that question or not, considering she was now a Lycan.
“We put it back in.” Tara said, plainly.
“Oh.” Willow said, swallowing hard. “Um…what are we going to do?”
“WE aren’t going to do anything…I need you to stay here.” Tara said, packing everything she had taken from the wall compartment into a duffle bag. Tara turned to see Willow still looking curiously at the surgical instruments. “So…you’re a doctor…”
“Surgeon, actually…trauma specialist.” Willow said, looking at the blonde. She couldn’t help but notice the brilliant sapphire eyes looking back at her, but they were tinged with a bit of sadness. She wondered what could have happened to affect the beautiful woman so.
“What made you decide to become a surgeon?” Tara asked, curiously.
“Um…it’s a long story, really…” Willow said, feeling slightly uncomfortable by the question.
“I’m listening…” Tara said, stepping closer. She could feel the heat rolling off of Willow’s body, the adrenalin-tinged blood coursing through her veins…her emerald eyes dilating to near black as Tara moved closer, taking the red-head’s hand in her own.
Willow’s heart raced as Tara’s fingers entwined in hers. “I was eighteen…it was right after graduation…my parents had gotten me a sports car to compensate for them missing my commencement speech. My best friend Xander, more like my brother – actually, was going for a ride with me. We’d snuck a few drinks after the ceremony…I was driving too fast and the wheel went off the shoulder of the road. I tried to pull it back onto the pavement, but I over-corrected and we slammed into a tree at 80 miles-per-hour. The engine block came through the dash, pinning him to the seat, nearly cutting him in two.” Willow said, tears welling up in her eyes, her chest tightening. “You know…the whole time, he just kept asking me if I was okay…maybe if I’d known what I know now…maybe I could have saved him.” Willow said.
Tara felt something that she had not felt since she was human…so many years ago…the urge to comfort someone…but before she had the
chance, Willow turned away from her, wiping the tears from her face.
“So what about you? What happened…I mean…why do you hate them so much?” Willow asked.
Tara dropped Willow’s hand, turning and walking to the small refrigerator underneath the cabinet. She reached inside, grabbing several bags of what appeared to be blood.
“I told you…” Tara said, placing the bags on the table next to Willow. “…we’re at war.”
“So you’re just following orders? Why can’t you just answer the question?” Willow said, slightly hurt that she had allowed herself to become a bit vulnerable with the blonde, and yet she would not reciprocate.
“Fine.” Tara said…turning away, gazing out the window into the rain. She hadn’t talked about it in centuries, and remembering it brought raw emotions to the surface – making it feel as though it had just happened moments ago. “Something was in the stable…tearing our horses apart. I couldn’t have saved my mother or my sister…their screams woke me. My father died outside of the house, trying to fend them off.” She said, pausing to try to stave off the tears now welling in her eyes. “I stood in the doorway…about to run to my nieces’ room…twin girls…barely six years old…butchered like animals.”
“Jeezus.” Willow said, under her breath. Her heart ached for this woman…the girl who had experienced such horror….such loss.
“The next thing I knew, I was in his arms. The war had spilled into our house. He and the others had been tracking the Lycans for days. He drove them off and saved me.”
“Who?” Willow asked.
“Viktor. The oldest and strongest of us.” Tara explained. “That night, he made me a vampire…he gave me the strength to avenge my family. Since then, I’ve never looked back.”
“I’m sorry.” Willow said. It was the only thing she could think to say…
Tara turned back to look at her, moving closer.
“What brought you here to this country?” She asked.
“Ummm…after the accident…I couldn’t stay there. I remembered my Grandfather bringing me here when I was young…so I after I got my degree…I just…I took off.” Willow said. “I came over here to move on…to forget.”
Tara moved closer, taking Willow’s hand once more.
“…and have you? Moved on?” Tara asked.
“Have you?” Willow added.
Both stood looking into each other’s eyes, feeling the tension between them…drawing them closer together…Tara was the first to break contact yet again.
“What I’m about to tell you must be kept in the strictest confidence.” Tara said, firmly.
“It can wait.” Willow said, pulling Tara back to her, leaning in and capturing the blonde’s cold lips in her own…like fire and ice. Tara was somewhat surprised, but eased into the embrace, returning the kiss. She was just about to deepen it when Willow pulled back, rather abruptly.
“Sorry…I just...who started the war?” She asked, out of the blue.
“They did…or at least that’s what we’ve been led to believe. Digging into the past is forbidden.” Tara explained, hesitantly breaking the embrace. “I should be heading back.”
“What about me?” Willow asked, fearful of being left alone.
“Viktor will know what to do…I’ll come back.” Tara said, grabbing the duffle.
“I can’t stay alone!” Willow said, starting to panic.
“You will if you want to live.” Tara said, sitting the duffle near the door. She turned back to Willow, taking her hand once more…this time, sliding a shackle closed onto Willow’s wrist – chaining her to a fixed metal chair behind her.
“What are you doing?!” Willow said, pulling the chain taut.
“When the full moon rises tomorrow…you will change, you will kill…and you will feed.” Tara explained. “It’s unavoidable. I’m sorry, but I just can’t leave you roaming around.”
Tara handed her a small handgun with a single round in it.
“What’s this for?” She asked.
“…a single round won’t kill you, but silver will prevent the transformation…at least for a few hours.” She said, seriously. “If I don’t return in time, do yourself a favor – use it.”
“Seriously?” Willow asked, not believing what she was hearing.
Tara moved the blood within Willow’s reach before walking through the door, locking it behind her.
Meanwhile…
“This coven has grown weak…decadent. Perhaps I should have left someone else in charge of my affairs.” Viktor said, scolding Kraven, who was still kneeling before him. “Still…Tara’s memories are chaotic…with no sense of time or sequence…” He said, closing his eyes as the thoughts overwhelmed him.
Kraven, noticing that this was his moment to perhaps get back on the good-side of the elder, rose to his feet.
“Then please, my lord….allow me to summon some assistance for you.” He pleaded. “Heed me, my lord…you are in great need of rest.”
Recognizing Kraven’s ruse for what it was, Viktor became irritated.
“I’ve rested enough!” He yelled. “What you WILL do is summon Marcus. It’s time I’ve been made aware of matters as they stand.”
Kraven looked over to Marcus’ crest emblazoned over his tomb in the floor of the chamber. “But…he still slumbers, my lord. Amelia and the council are scheduled to arrive here tomorrow night to awaken Marcus…not you.” He explained, fearfully. “You have been awakened a full century ahead of schedule.”
Viktor’s eyes opened wide in astonishment, just as a voice came over the speaker system within the chamber.
“My lord…she’s here.”
Kraven bowed, backing away from Viktor as he quickly moved into the anteroom to confront Tara.
“You listen to me and you listen well…you will go before Viktor and you will tell him exactly what I tell you to.” Kraven said, the pointed nail of his finger a mere inch from Tara’s face. “From here on out, you will do exactly as I say. Is that in any way unclear?”
Tara, knowing that Viktor would see things her way, smirked before pushing her way past Kraven and into the chamber.
Viktor smiled as he saw her.
“Come closer, my child.” He cooed lovingly, as a father would to his daughter.
Kraven entered behind her. Viktor looked at him and instantly ordered him outside.
“Leave us! Now!” He said, pointing to the anteroom.
Tara approached Viktor, kneeling in front of him.
“No…no…child…you aren’t like those others…come here.” He said, extending his bony, withered hand.
“I have been lost without you, my lord.” Tara said, longingly. “I’m constantly hounded by Kraven and his never-ending infatuation…”
“Ahhh…yes.” Viktor said, ever the understanding mentor. “It is the oldest story in the book…he desires the one thing that he cannot have.” He explained. “Now tell me…why have you come to believe that Lucien still lives and is developing a pack?”
“My lord…I’ve given you all of the proof you need…” Tara said, hoping that the elder would remember the message that she had tried to transmit to him.
“Incoherent thoughts and images…nothing more. Which is precisely why the awakening is to be performed by an elder.” Viktor explained. “You do not possess the necessary skills…”
“But I did see Lucien…I shot him! You must believe me!” Tara pleaded.
“The chain has never been broken. Not once. Not in fourteen centuries. Not since we elders began to leap frog through time…one awake…two asleep…that’s the way of it.” Viktor said, somewhat upset with his young charge. “It is Marcus’ turn to reign, not mine.”
“But I had no choice…there’s been a complication…and Willow is the key!” Tara said, desperation in her voice.
“The Lycan.” Viktor said, hatred in his voice.
“Yes.” Tara replied. “Give me the chance to get the proof you require.”
“Fine.” Viktor said, seeing Kraven viewing from the anteroom. “I will leave it to Kraven to collect the proof.”
“My lord! How could you trust him over me?” Tara said, hurt by Viktor’s declaration.
“Because he is not the one who has been tainted by an animal.” Viktor said, disappointedly. “I love you like a daughter…but you leave me with no choice. These rules are in place for a good reason…and they are the reason why we have been able to survive as long as we have. You have broken the chain of the covenant – and you must be judged! When Amelia and the others arrive, the council will convene and decide your fate.” He said, coldly.
Tara nodded, taking her leave of him.
Kraven was waiting to berate her as she entered the anteroom. “You should have listened to me and stayed out of this! Now you’ll be lucky if I can convince them to spare your life!” He said, scolding her.
“Tell me, Kraven…did you have the nerve to cut the skin from Lucien’s arm…or did you have him do it?” She said, pushing her way past him.
Two guards stepped in front of her, taking her arms and escorting her to her quarters, Kraven close behind.
“No one opens this door, understood? I can’t afford to have my future queen running off with that Lycan again.” He instructed the guards. “Mark my words…soon, you’ll be seeing things my way.” He said, before the guards shut and locked the door.
“Shit.” Tara said, trying to think of some way to escape and get back to Willow…
To Be Continued....
_________________ "Visions" by C.L. Zastrow Available Now at http://www.zastrowvisions.com and http://www.amazon.com
|
Login
FAQ
Search
. But hey I'll take what I can get LOL. Cant wait for the nxt update.
Keep up the writing!