Caged Queen (Blood and Magic 1)

Chapter Two

Aspen

I was dead.

As sure, as the screams that rent the air behind me. As sure as the vampire who was nothing more than a smouldering pile of ash in the early morning sun light.

I was dead.

And there was nothing me or my coven could do about it. I had committed the cardinal sin. I had killed one of them. Even if I had been purely human, it was a crime they wouldn’t leave unpunished. As a witch, death was the least of my worries.

Hell, death would be welcome because the Vampires that ran this city were going to make me hurt. They would make me beg for death before the end.

My heel went over on the uneven road and my ankle twisted angrily. The spindle like heel snapping completely. I hobbled on for several paces before kicking off both shoes. It would be easier to run barefoot in the heels anyway. Broken glass, and disgusting discarded food were nothing when you were running for your life.

I would run over hot coals if it meant I could get away from the scene of the crime I had just committed.

Twenty-three years old and I wanted my mum. I wanted her with everything in my being even though I knew she wouldn’t be able to save me. None of them would.

“Mum.” Her name ripped from my throat. and it hit me then. I had put them all in danger. My mum, my cove, my friends. Every single person I had ever loved was facing a bloody horrible death because I had no control of the powers the universe had felt like cursing me with.

I should have known better that to even make eye contact with them, because I knew the risk. I had been warned often enough. How many times had my mum or one of the elders sat me down and warned me? More times than I could remember.

And what had I done? Ignored them. Seeing the dead was one thing, easily hidden once I had got control of my powers, the other stuff they had warned me about had seemed too far-fetched to be true. The stuff from horror films.

There was a word for people like me. Necromancer. Although no one in my coven would ever dare to utter the word out loud. My gifts, if they could be called that were impossibly rare. Most necromancers never reached adulthood. The vampires snuffed them out as children before their powers could become a threat.

Before they could...

Before they could do the thing, I had just done.

Control them, kill them.

I attracted the dead, all the dead. Even the ones that had the pretty faces and drank blood and that made me insanely powerful.

And dead.

Stumbling forward, I caught myself just in time. My palm scraping painfully against the rough brick on the corner of the alley. I could tell without looking at it, that I had cut myself. but better my hand than my head. knocking myself out because I wasn’t looking where I was going, would not be good for me.

Sucking in a shaky breath, I risked a glance behind me. There was no one following me. No cape wearing shadows swooping down to rip my throat open. The early morning street was empty. Faintly. In the instance I could hear the wail of sirens heading towards the club. But that was to be expected.

More than twenty people had witnessed what had just happened. How the man who had been following me around all night like a fang toting puppy dog, had burst into flames the moment he stepped into the sunlight.

I hadn’t dragged him outside, if anything I had been trying to shake him off all night, but he had gone anyway. In his eagerness to be close to me, he hadn’t cared about his own life, or was that undead life?

It didn’t really matter; he was ash, and I was to blame. In the eyes of the vampires, I would be to blame anyway. They wouldn’t care that I hadn’t meant to.

They wouldn’t care if I was no threat to them. They would see me as the damn pied piper of the dead and I wouldn’t be allowed to live. Neither would any of those that had sheltered me.

My only option was to leave, to try and get as far away from the city as possible. They would never stop hunting me of course but it would give the others chance, and that was all I could hope for.

“Damn you to hell.” Holding my grazed palm against my chest, I stared back the way I had come. “Why did you have to follow me out. Why? This is your fault and…” I broke off, realising how crazy I would sound to anyone who was listening in.

I needed to get home and pack. And warn them what would be coming after me. They deserved that much even if I was dreading the I told you so conversation it would no doubt bring on. I… another sob ripped through me. This one so violent that my knees buckle and I slid down the wall to sit on the filthy pavement like a fool.

It took several long minutes before I had composed myself enough to even think about finding my phone. It had been on my arm when we had left the club, but it wasn’t there now. I must have dropped it when the vampire had grabbed my arm. Which meant it was still at the crime scene.

The vampire would be able to use it to track me personally. They would have my name and picture. Not that they really needed any of that. It wasn’t like there was dozens of covens in this part of the city and my face had been seen by several of their kin when I was dancing. I had felt their eyes on me. I had felt their hunger.

It had probably been that that had activated a dormant power. Maybe, probably. It was something I would never really know the answer to. Like so many other things.

A coldness seeped over me, that had nothing too do with the chill morning air. It was almost like I could feel death settle about me. A dead necromancer, it would have been funny if I hadn’t been thinking about myself. Like something out of a movie. And with that coldness came a sort of acceptance. I was still terrified, still sad but a long as they left my family alone, I was pretty sure I would be able to face death with dignity.

Whether I had meant to do it or not, didn’t matter. I had used my powers to lure a vampire into the sunlight and his death. I had broken the law in the eyes of the blood sucking creeps. And I would face my punishment like the kick ass witch I was.

Heaving myself up to my feet, I started to walk. Slow even steps. There were miles to cross before I could scramble into the arms of my mum. And with no phone I had no way of calling someone for help. Flagging down a cab was out of the question. I had no money, and even if I did. I couldn’t be sure who I could trust now. So many humans worked for the Vampires and my picture and name might even be outby now.

A wanted fugitive at my age. Who would have thought? Not my teachers that was for sure. I had a rebellious streak, and I spoke without thinking more often than not. But I wasn’t a rebel. I hadn’t asked to be born with the powers I had. I hadn’t asked for him too…

Blue flashing lights caught my attention the split second before I stepped out in front of it. The police car slowed. Both male occupants, turning their heads to stare to me and I knew what they saw. My sooty clothes, mascara lined face. I looked a mess.

I recoiled back, crossing my arms over my chest.

The last thing I needed was the police every witch in this city knew they were in the vamp’s pockets.

“You ok there miss?”

I tried to smile, and it cracked on my face. There was no way I could stay here with them. Especially not on an empty street. Witch or human, it didn’t matter. Every woman knew the dangers. I waved his question away with my hand.

“Yeah of course, thanks officer. I’m just waiting for a friend to come and pick me up.” I lied politely. I might have just committed undead murder but my mum had still taught me to be polite to the authorities.

“Aspen?”

I did a double take at the sound of my name. my heart fluttering in my chest.

“Aspen.” The male voice spoke again. Leaning over his partner, he flashed a smile at me. A smile that quickly faded when he caught sight of me. And I did recognise him. “Earths girl, what happened to you?”

“George Monroe?” He was a witch. From another coven but a witch non the less and there was safety with witches. He wouldn’t be working for the vamps.

“You look like you’ve been through hell.”

I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. Like he knew exactly where I had come from an what I had done. My powers were meant to a secret. Known only by my parents and the elders of our coven.

“Jump in.” There was a note of desperation in his voice. “Think we need to get you back to your mum as quickly as possible hey.” He tried to keep his voice light but there was an urgency to it.

He knew, and he was afraid for me.

I slipped into the back of the police car without thinking. He was right, the quicker I got back to her the better. She would know what I needed to do.