Bound By Blood

Chapter 8: Unwelcome Guest

“I think I have a way,” I say, walking back over to where I’d been before and sitting down, turning a screen towards me to see the people I’d been looking for. Frowning, I comb through all the footage, looking at every camera before I see them. Aria, Ava and Cana. Three of the supernaturals that my cunt of a half-sibling had managed to save before letting them go back to their realms. A bad move on her part since she’d then let them go for me to take again. Something I’d done without hesitation. Just to put them back where they belong. “I think I have a way but I need more than that whiny b***h to do it.”

Kali sat up properly - mostly because she was engaged in what I’d been saying but also because Asica’s accursed whining had stopped long enough for her to think - looking at me with a curious expression of faintly veiled confusion. “What do you mean Amb? Have you found a way to show them they can’t just sit out of this?” She gives me a look and I can tell that she can see some of what’s on my mind since I don’t shut her out of the connections we share, “What oh what are you up to now? What diabolical scheme are you cooking in that depraved head of yours.”

“Well if I told you it wouldn’t be a diabolical master plan now would it Kals?” I reply to her, laughing where my eyes were still studying the screens in front of me with an intensity I know comes from my ability to focus without compromise. “I think I have a way to hurt them but I’d need Asica, Ava, Aria, and Cana to do it.” I motion to the werewolf, demon-vampire, angel-faery, and witch I’d been meaning and see Kali give me a confused look. “Look just trust me ok? I know what I’m doing.”

I hope so sister before we lose our leverage against Laurel and the others. Or they figure out why we’re here and then we’re screwed. Not that I need to tell you that. My guardian’s replies shocked me more than they rightfully should have done. Because what she says is true. If Laurel or any of the others figured out what I was here for I know chaos would ensue. The type of chaos that even my ability to make them react the way I want them to would do little to help with.

I get that but I know what I’m doing, I fire back at her, seeing how Kali’s eyes widened when she saw what I’d been thinking. What I’d been planning. Just get me the witch, angel-faery, demon-vampire, and werewolf I need and let me do the rest ok. Oh and don’t tell Laurel. She doesn’t need to know of this little transgression. It’s not her business and I don’t intend to bring her into it.

What about Angel? Heidi? Kali asks and I can tell she can sense my tenuous connection to the two. A connection I grew and nurtured purely for the reason that they could help me in hurting the others back in the last stage of the plan. Meaning now I wasn’t sure if I was willing to keep them or drop them. Either or. Are you bringing them into this or not? Because I don’t mind, just make sure they can’t and don’t figure out what we’re both here for. Because I have a feeling they may very well just go tell Laurel and then we’re screwed.

No, not yet. I choose my words carefully as the two of us stand and slip out of that room, closing and locking the door behind me with a seal only Kali or I could break since it was derived from our joining magics. And linked to us. No, maybe later but right now with the plan being in its conceptual stages, I don’t want to risk bringing more people in than necessary. Just to stop it from collapsing.

And about the four we won’t talk about? Are you still planning to get rid of them? Kali keeps talking to me through our connection that the two of us share and no one else, making me think she’s wary of the prying presence around us. Are you still contemplating killing them as we suggested? Or have you found another way?

I thought you were going to ask me then if I’d moved past it and I would have had to lose my temper with you, I replied, seeing how a ghost of a smile flits across my guardian’s face. But then the severity of her words hit home and I frowned, not sure how to respond to her for a second. Yeah, I think I will keep that idea as my main one - especially since I stole the memory of how it ended out of their heads when we were playing the last round. Around the time we did the DNA-changing spell I believe. Kali smiles and I return the gesture as we keep walking toward our targets. But I’ll wait. Just like we planned. Wait until they think I’ve forgotten about doing that to them and then do it. Maybe in about seventeen/eighteen years. So the kids can see as well.

Devious, I like that. Kali says no more but she doesn’t need to. We’d reached the cage area with the four in that I needed, seeing that even with the lights off the eyes of the caged supernatural creatures shone in a myriad of colours. But it’s the eyes of the four I’m after that I focus on, finding them instantly in the darkness since I could see in it perfectly.

With Kali’s help, I manage to get Cana, Aria, Ava and Asica out with little noise from the four. All of them have wide eyes and keep trying to reach one another, though thankfully with minimal bloodshed besides what had already happened in the past. Chaining the four in record time - Iron cuffs and collar for Cana, silver for Ava, magically enhanced structured steel for Aria and dark magic imbued metal with a silver of my Shadows to keep Asica down - I had me and Kali drag them out to where I planned on doing what I’d concocted in my head.

It was showtime.

Rosalia’s POV:

I keep a watch on Ash after he says that, trying to figure out what was going through my friend’s head to have him say that to me. What other way did he see besides killing his mother and Azrael? What other method had he managed to find that, despite months of looking, we’d never previously found? And it seems I’m not alone with my confusion. Eris gives him a strange look from where she’d been sitting with Phoenix and I can feel the rippling effect of his words long after he said them like someone had dropped a stone in a clear pond, the ripples continuing long after the stone vanishes from sight. A feeling we’re all well acquainted with given how we seemed to be enmeshed in this game. Stuck.

“Ash, hon, what are you talking about?” Eris’s voice sounds strained and I can feel the rippling confusion from his words continue to spread through all of us. Making it difficult to figure out how to make sense of what he’s suggesting. “What did you mean about there being another way? Had...have, sorry, have you found something that could help?” She gives him an imploring look but I can see the raw desperation in her eyes. The desperation that stems from her being in a similar predicament to the four of us - not to mention the other creatures we’d offer sanctuary here for as long as they needed it - in bringing a child both into the world and, consequently, into the game.

Ash sighs and I get the sense that whatever he says won’t necessarily either offer up an option of help or be what we wanted to hear. But he doesn’t choose to say nothing either, merely choosing his words carefully since I know what he says is important, I just don’t want to hear it on some subconscious level since it feels all too much like giving up. And giving up before we’ve even started to fight properly. For the people still involved and those we’re unwillingly bringing into it but have no way of keeping out.

“I’m not saying there is another way Eri,” He responds in level tones, his hands back in Leila’s hair where she watches him covertly with unbridled curiosity evident in her eyes. “There may be, there may not be but I was merely suggesting that we think through whatever plan we may have to make sure it won’t end up with a worse outcome than what we’re already dealing with. To try and keep the situation balanced as much as possible.”

His words are logical but it also still feels too much like giving up. Something that for the sake of my and Hunter’s daughter I can’t do. I can’t just give up, it isn’t fair to her nor is it fair to my parents who died trying to do what we couldn’t. I can’t give up. I can’t. But that also means I can’t just sit around doing nothing whilst Amber is out there wreaking havoc more than normal. Though it has been suspiciously quiet on that front since we got rid of her. Something that needles at me since she’s been silent. Almost for too long for it to feel comfortable or reassuring. As if she knows we’re waiting and watching.

“I hate this. As in I seriously don’t like this,” Leila mumbles when she’d caught my eye across the room. I frown at her, hearing her echo my words from before when I’d first brought up the tentative idea of getting rid of the two royals staked and desiccating down in the basement. “I hate this so much.”

“Hate what beloved?” Ash responds before I or anyone else gets the chance to and I can see he’s studying her with a frown. She looks up at him and a wordless communication seems to pass between the two. Something they can read but we can’t. Ash’s frown deepens before something I said must have been said since he looks my way as Leila did before. “I know how you feel. I hate this too. It doesn’t feel right.”

“It’s as if she knows,” The words spring from my lips of their own volition and I can hear the silence in the room which feels like it’s dropped ten degrees in the past minute. “It’s as if Amber and the others know that we’re waiting for them to make their next move but are refusing to do so.” I look up at Hunter who’s frowning as well but I can tell he’s looking at me as well with concern rooted in those mesmerically beautiful eyes I love so much. Concern and worry, both for me and those also still trapped. “It’s as if she knows it’s her turn but she won’t make her move.”

“I know what you mean,” Leila replies where her eyes had once again connected with mine. “It’s as if she-” Whatever Leila had been saying cuts off when she grips Ash’s hands tighter and her eyes go wide with fear. Fear and anger. She hisses once but does little else since whatever she’s seen has spooked her too much. Something Ash seems to realise given how he holds her closer and looks over where she’d been before.

His eyes darken then, shadowing over with a faint trace of moonstone blue but I can see the anger rooted in those golden depths. Anger that seems to know no bounds. No target but one. And I can guess who since I’ve only ever come across a handful of people who could make him react that way so fast. Something he proves seconds later when he speaks, his voice low and full of that same anger I can still see brewing in his expression. “Amber.”

The name of my half-sister has us all turning to look where he indicated and sure enough there she was. Standing as a hologram for all to see. “Hey again Ash, long time no see. Tell me what did I miss?”