Dark Arts (Society of Ancient Magic Book 1) Page 13
I tell him again, trying to read their faces.
Marco lets out a low whistle. “Damn. That’s Tobias. It’s got to be.”
“Who is Tobias?” I ask. I feel like I am living in the dream where the pieces all fly around but nothing makes sense.
Van looks at me and shakes his head. “It’s you. You’re the nightbird.”
“The what?”
“You’re the nightbird. I can’t believe we found you. After all these years.”
The three of them are looking at each other like they’re speaking in some secret code and I am starting to get angry.
“One of you better start explaining right now, or I am going to lose my mind.”
We move into the living room and I take a seat on the couch, glad to be able to slip out of my heels. Angus sits next to me and Marco sits in the easy chair. Van stands up near the wall.
Van rubs his face. “So, do you want the vision or the prophecy first?”
I lean back. He’s serious. “Um… The vision, since we’re talking about it, I guess.”
He nods. “Tobias was my brother.”
I’m already confused. “I thought all of you are brothers?”
Van nods and shares a look with Angus and Marco. “We are. In all the ways the matter. But Tobias was my sibling. My twin. He was murdered a long time ago by a pair of vampires.”
The clash of the mage and non-mage worlds continues to feel surreal. “Vampires… All right.” I say, waiting for the rest.
Van starts pacing. “There was a fight. Two vampires and the four of us. Normally, we wouldn’t be able to defend ourselves against vampires one on one, but they were drunk and they got cocky, careless…” Van looks off into the distance, his eyes unfocused. He’s back in the past, reliving this nightmare as he tells it.
“Tobias struck first. He tore the throat out of the first vampire. The wound was so bad. There was so much blood. But once Tobias tasted it, we all felt the surge. So he drank the vampire dry while the three of us fought off the other one, using the increased energy from Tobias to overpower him.”
I try to imagine the scene, and find that I can’t. It’s just too awful. Too fantastic.
“When the other vampire realized what Tobias had done, he went for my brother. Ripped Tobias to shreds. He drained my brother of all the blood Tobias stole. I feared he would feed the fallen vampire with it, help him come back. We couldn’t allow that. So the three of us fought even harder. Marco and Angus and I… we killed the other vampire and just like Tobias did, we… We drank his blood so there wasn’t a single drop left for either of them to use.”
“I got to my brother just before he died. Tobias had the sight. He could see things that most other people couldn’t see. He had shifted back, so he could talk normally, and his eyes turned white with the vision.”
“Don’t mourn me. My blood lives in your blood. I will go on.” Van’s eye well up as he recites his brother’s last words.
He wipes at his eyes. “I was consumed with rage. I swore to him that I would find a way to avenge him. I told him that I had no idea how, but I would find a way.”
Van’s gaze is elsewhere again, remembering. “She is the key,” he said.
“Who?”, I asked. I didn’t expect an answer. I thought he was delirious.
He said, “The Nightbird, our blood will bring her to you.”
I take a few moments to digest their story. I get the murder and revenge part, but I have no idea about the nightbird, yet there is another thing that sticks out like a splinter in my side…
I swallow and find my voice. “What did you mean when you said Tobias shifted?”
The three of them look at each other for a second, as if waiting for the other one to explain.
Marco’s mouth falls open. “Um… well…”
Angus touches my hand. “We’re wolves. When we say that the wolf in your vision is Tobias, we mean that literally.”
I can’t believe this is really real. But given everything else… I mean, shit.
“You’re all wolves?” I ask, looking at the three of them in turn.
Van nods. “Dire wolves.”
“And you’re here to hunt vampires?” I say.
Angus touches my hand. “One vampire in particular. The last of their line that we know of. He’s the father of the ones who killed Tobias.”
“And you think that I’m the nightbird who is going to help you how?”
Van rubs his face and blinks. “I think it’s time for the prophecy part.”
I lean back and wave him on. “Why not… we’ve already got werewolves, vampires, and magical visions… why not?”
“I know it’s a lot… but it all makes perfect sense. You’ll see,” Van says. “After Tobias died, we met another mage with the sight.”
“Salma,” Marco says, and the sweetest smile takes over his face.
Van continues, “She channeled Tobias and confirmed what he saw right before he died.
“Which was?” I ask, hanging on every word despite myself.
Van flips through his notebook and reads from a page.
“The nightbird will be born under the full moon.
She and the shadow walkers will join forces.
They will waken each other and grow strong.
Together, they will extinguish the flame of evil.
Putting an end to the suffering for all time.”
“Okay,” I say. “So, what’s a nightbird?”
“It’s another name for a raven,” Marco says.
Van nods. There’s more. So much more…I’ll show you some other time. But this is the piece that seems relevant to you.”
“Tell her about the painting,” Angus prods.
Van turns the notebook and hands it to me. “The witch who gave us this prophecy painted a canvas while in the control of the sight. It looks like this…”
On the page, under his messy handwritten notes is a picture of a black bird. The wings are outstretched, and the tail fans out, the long tail feathers arching down. Its face is turned to one side and its beak is open as if to speak.
I trace my finger over the drawing which has been traced and retraced so many times the paper is imprinted from the pressure.
I leave the notebook in my lap and look up at Van.
“There’s something you need to see.” I undo the clasp at the back of my collar, opening the neck of my gown. I lower the front, holding it over my boobs but letting the fabric fall low enough to reveal the center of my chest.
“By the gods.” Van gapes at my chest.
My mouth goes dry. “I grew up without magic. A non-mage. My magic sparked under the last full moon. And when that happened, I got this.”
Marco and Van just stare at my chest.
Van looks like he’s about to fall over. “We’ve been waiting for you for so long,” he whispers.
Angus touches my hand. “I told you she was special.”
I redo the clasp on my dress and sit back, feeling like all my edges are raw and unmoored. “So, now what are we supposed to do? What comes next?”
Marco claps his hands together and grins. “Good old Master Damon is done!”
“Master Damon?” I say, feeling another piece of the puzzle slip into place.
Van nods. “Master Damon is the vampire we’re after. He’s n better than his sons, who killed my brother. He’s become so much more powerful since he found that vessel. It took us years to get ready. We did everything we could to prepare, up to getting all three of us here. But we still didn’t have what we needed.”
“Until you,” Angus says, hooking his little finger around mine.
“Until you.” Van shakes his head as if he still can’t believe it.
Marco slides over and takes my other hand. “Joely, will you help us?”
His simple question and the earnest expression on his face stops the automatic “no” that is about to fall from my mouth. I have enough problems. They don’t know the half of what I’m dealing
with. And yet, all I have to do is picture Mel’s face.
I know what Master Damon is doing is very wrong.
I smile, feeling a righteous burst of clarity. It feels so good to know what to do. “Where do we begin?”
Warmth blooms inside me at the trio of answering smiles aimed right at me. For the first time, I feel it. I know feel with absolute certainty that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
Don’t miss the next installment in the Society of Ancient Magic!
Society of Ancient Magic, Book Two
Over Hexed
Fiona Starr lives her happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her hunky husband and their fleet of fur babies.
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