Storm of Shadows Ch. 00-01

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Absent friends and consequences.
8.9k words
4.86
74.4k
168

Part 1 of the 12 part series

Updated 06/07/2023
Created 05/26/2015
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JazCullen
JazCullen
6,489 Followers

Prologue

Gone!

One word. One thought.

Shards of glass scything along every nerve ending.

GONE!

The little boy sat up in his bed, tears filling his eyes as he reached out with his telepathic voice. "Mother? Father?" He paused, held his breath, waited for the inevitable response, but silence greeted him, the rustle of the leaves outside his bedroom window the only sound in the physical world.

It was the psychic plane he was focused on though, the place where they always were, the place that reminded him he was never alone. His parents were the only real anchor he had ever known, and he relied on them much more than they could ever have known. Even in the bleakest of moments when he had feared for his very sanity, he could always come to this special place in his mind, where he was safe in their love and support.

Now the chill wind of emptiness graced the mental room he had conjured up in his mind. Always before when he visited, he was wrapped up in the safety and warmth of a little boy's bedroom, his parents reading to him, his mother stroking his head as the rich timbre of his father's voice rumbled of castles and dragons, knights and princesses. Now it was completely dark, no warmth, no love, no light to pull him out of the burgeoning terror that was threatening to overwhelm him.

"Mother! Answer me! Father! Where are you?" His tears spilled over, soaking his cheeks as he waited for a response that he was quickly coming to realise would not be forthcoming. "SPEAK TO ME! ANSWER ME! Please, Mommy! Please, Daddy. I promise I will be good. I promise!

The darkness seemed to grow ever darker. The silence became more oppressive. They didn't answer him. Mommy didn't send her love and cuddles down their familial bond. Daddy didn't tickle his tummy until he was squealing with laughter, trying to get away but not wanting the fun to end. He was alone, all by himself. A little boy who had never grown up because he didn't know how to, and now he was alone. His parents were GONE!

Surfacing from his mental reverie, he threw himself from his bed, staggering as his inner child tried to take in the adult legs beneath him. His body had grown but his inner self never had. Not the precious, good part of himself that had survived the beast within.

His legs buckled and he fell to the ground, throwing his hands out to halt his fall. The tears coursed down his cheeks, his heart hammered with terror, as he reached out with his psychic mind once more.

"Mommy!"

"Daddy!"

"Please...!"

"I am here," a voice whispered through his mind. Cold, detached, familiar.

It wasn't his parents but it was something he knew. Something he could cling to as he realised that his outward projections were rebounding back inside his head, and his words weren't reaching their intended targets.

"Stop it! Let me reach them! What are you doing? I want my Mommy and Daddy!"

"They are not there, Kothari. You know that so why reach? All you will do is alert the Others to the fact you're aware they're gone. You know what They will do, don't you? They will surround you, overwhelm you, stop Us from doing what we must. Hush now, and listen to me. I have never steered you wrong before."

The voice was compelling, so much so, that he stilled where he was, resting on his hands and knees on the floor, his head bowed as his tears flowed. The voice knew him, had been with him most of his life. It had helped him before when his emotions had become too much to bear. It had protected him, as his parents had. He should listen to it, he should hear what it had to say.

"Who are you?"

At first the voice didn't answer, and he was about to ask the question again but then there was a loud sigh inside his mind.

"You know me, Kothari. You have always known me."

The moment's lessening of his fear quickly ebbed as realisation dawned. Kothari sobbed loudly, lowering himself to the floor and cradling his head in his hands. "No! You hurt my Angel! You burned down the trees and singed the grass with flames of gold. You are the monster inside, the one Mommy and Daddy said I mustn't listen to. Go away! Leave me alone! Mommy! Daddy! Rafe! Kallum! Somebody help me!"

Cold laughter filled his mind, amusement and derision all joined into one. "They cannot help you, Kothi. I am in control now. I have placed mental blocks around your mind so strong that if anyone tries to reach you, they will find you peacefully asleep. I am the only one who can help you. I am the only one who can find out what happened to Our parents."

No! There was one other, someone who would come if he called, if he could break through the blocks. "Dara! Hear me! Please help me, Dara! Please!"

"She can't help you. She can't hear you. There is only me, Kothi. Accept it!"

Sobbing profusely, he curled up into a ball, helpless against the strong will that controlled his childlike mind. He pushed, he snarled, he tried to force out the other persona but he was too weak. He had always been too weak. Finally, he gave up, his tired mind too exhausted to try any further.

"Good!" the voice breathed out, satisfaction in that one word. "Sleep now, Kothari, son of Gard and Sarayne. Be at rest and allow me to lead the hunt to find out what has happened to Our parents. You are too soft to do what is necessary. Those who have harmed them need Justice, and for that they require me. For I am Justice, and I am Retribution. I am Death and I am Destruction. The world will swim in the blood of all those who have caused harm to Our parents. Be it directly or indirectly, all who are responsible will know my name is Agony!"

Chapter One

The car wound its way along the road, passing the boundary to the Hanlon Pack, its speed never wavering despite Rhianna spotting the grouping of wolves fanned out along the treeline. Her mind acknowledged they were there, but it was a fleeting recognition, her thoughts far away on another continent. There was an ache so strong in her heart that threatened to consume her, and that was all she could focus on at the moment, so the wolves were dismissed from her mind.

She could feel Caleb's eyes on her, was aware that her silence concerned him, and yet, she couldn't open her mouth to speak, couldn't put into words the terror that was infusing her soul. She knew if she said the words it would somehow make them real. She couldn't bear for them to be real, her heart would surely shatter into a million pieces if they were. So she remained silent, and bottled up her emotions with a ruthless iron will. She would not speak of it...she couldn't.

She could feel Caleb's gaze drifting to her rigid form once again, and knew he wanted to reach out and break through the wall she had built around herself. Her beautiful mate would want to tell her everything would be okay, but they both knew he wasn't entirely certain it would be.

Had it really only been a couple of hours since they had first received the telephone call to meet Rafe in the early hours of the morning? It felt as if days had passed, what with everything that had happened. Closing her eyes, Rhianna tried to block out everything, tried to hold onto her composure and not lose control. She had to remain strong. She couldn't be weak right now and yet her heart was silently breaking.

"Gard...please answer me...please..."

*****

Caleb's eyes flickered towards his mate again, and he bit back the automatic words of comfort that sprang to his lips. How could he ease Rhianna's pain when he didn't know if everything would be okay? He prayed that it would be but they had insufficient evidence of what had occurred over in Europe. His eidetic memory replayed the sequence of events over the last few hours as he drove the car as if on auto-pilot.

He had awakened to the sound of Rhianna's cell phone ringing, and listened to her muted conversation with her brother.

"What's happened? Why do you want us to come over, Rafe?"

There was a pause as she listened to his response, her brow furrowing in a frown before she sighed and agreed they would meet him shortly.

"He's being very Alpha this morning. He won't say what's wrong until we get there."

"Must be pack orientated otherwise he would have told us." Caleb had answered as he'd risen from their bed, dressing as quickly as his mate and heading downstairs with her.

They hadn't conversed in the car ride over to the Armand-Hanlon pack, both lost in their own speculative thoughts of why Rafe wanted to talk to them. It had to be serious otherwise it would have waited until the morning. Was it something Vârcolac oriented or was it something to do with Reasa? Deep down they both had known there were a myriad of reasons why the Alpha required their presence, so it was pointless to speculate until they spoke with him.

Neither of them had imagined it would be what was finally revealed. They hadn't even considered checking down their Triumvirate bond for Gard's presence. How could they have imagined it? Gard was the oldest vampire in existence, over six thousand years old. His mate, Sarayne, was the first and oldest Vârcolac, a hybrid child of vampire and Were, and over three thousand years old. It was unthinkable that anything could have bested these two powerful individuals but something had, and now they were missing.

Rhianna's distraught expression at hearing the news had been expected as she tested the link between herself and her brother from another time, and found only silence. Her startled exclamation, her terrified eyes, had been enough to have Caleb reaching for his mate and pulling her close.

The last time she had lost a brother, or thought she had, Rhianna had closed off and turned inward to escape her grief. He couldn't allow her to do that again. He had to protect her as best he could because she was his mate, the very reason he breathed. Even as his own heart was heavy with sorrow over what may have befallen Gard and Rayne, he had to be strong for his Annie until they knew for certain what had transpired in Europe.

The information had barely had time to sink in before a pack alert suddenly went out, signalling they were under attack. Everyone had reacted as one, moving to protect the pack as their top priority. Caleb and Rhianna had heeded the call too. The pack was their family and they would protect it at all costs.

All thoughts of Gard and Rayne's disappearance had taken a back seat while the pack fended off the assault of the European vampires. Rhianna had immediately gone to Thereasa's aid, sinking to the ground beside Liam as he cradled his dying mate. Beside him, Cassia had her arms around Pietro, the vampire coated in Reasa's blood, confusion on his scarred face.

"She threw herself in front of me," Pietro kept muttering, disbelief in his voice." Why would she do that? She had to know the bullets would kill her - she's human now!"

Cassia quiet voice murmured soothingly to her mate, her gaze never leaving the dying woman.

All around were the sounds of screaming and fighting, but to the group kneeling on the forest floor there was only Reasa, and the sound of Liam's pleas. His frantic eyes searched wildly, finding the one person he sought. "Help her, Annie. Help her. Make her wake up again...please."

"Oh, Liam...I wish I could, sweetheart. I truly do..."

"She's there, Annie, I can feel her still there," he wept, his eyes pleading with her. "I can feel her in there, she isn't gone."

Then Mallen had appeared, pushing through the group. "Let me through," he ordered, as he pulled open his medical bag. "If Liam says she's there then I'm not going to argue with him, not after he just brought six seemingly dead vampires back to life. So, I'll work on the physical side and you can do your mental shit. Come on, people, we don't have a lot of time here." His stoic pragmatism seemed to shake off some of the stunned grief they were experiencing and the group parted to give them room...

As events moved around them, the barest change in posture was enough to tell Caleb that his Annie had ceded control to the inner soul the resided within her - to the vampire Queen Anakatrine, and he automatically slipped into his role of protector, guarding the three crucial elements to Thereasa's possible survival.

He'd had no idea if they could pull the woman back from the brink of death, but he would give them every opportunity to do so. He had learned long ago not to doubt Anakatrine's resolve when she wished something to happen. If she had decided today was not Reasa's day to die, then he expected that would be the case.

The fighting had been over by the time Rhianna had slumped tiredly into his waiting arms, the vampire queen once more withdrawn, a healthy pallor beginning to suffuse Reasa's pale cheeks.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Liam's grateful words gushed forth as he cradled his mate carefully, watching the wounds heal miraculously on her body.

Rhianna had yawned, snuggling against his chest as Liam dragged his gaze from his mate to look at them. "Thereasa saved her three souls. Her penance is over." Her lavender gaze connected with the Vârcolac, a happy smile gracing her face. "Anakatrine returned Reasa's immortality, Liam. She will heal herself in good time now, though it would probably be more comfortable if she wasn't left lying on the forest floor while she did."

A hush had fallen over the clearing, all eyes staring at them. "Do you mean it, Annie?" Liam whispered, hope in his voice. "Reasa is a vampire once more?"

Her smile had widened if that was possible as she rose to her feet with Caleb at her side. "She is a vampire once more," she agreed placing a hand on his shoulder. "Take her home now, Liam. Cassia, take Pietro home too. There has been enough drama this night. Let's care for those we can and find a way to help those we can't."

Caleb had gathered her to his side, knowing her thoughts were travelling back to Europe and to what could have happened to her brother and his mate. The rest of the pack wasn't aware of that turn of events as yet, and it appeared they would try to limit that knowledge to those who needed to know for the time being.

"Back to Rafe's?" he'd asked, but she'd shaken her head as she looked at her brother. The Alpha's attention was on his pack at the moment, and the ones he could do something to help.

"Tomorrow," she'd answered, her heart heavy as her eyes turned to stare off into the distance. "Be safe," she whispered for only Caleb to hear. "Be safe, brother of my heart. Your work here is not yet done."

*****

Now they were almost home and Caleb wanted to curse out loud. Now that the adrenaline had receded, it gave Rhianna time to digest the news they'd learned just prior to the attack, and her reaction was what he had both expected and dreaded.

Caleb cast another sideways glance at Rhianna, his concern increasing as he searched her blank expression. He knew what was going through her mind, and he wanted to do something, say something that would alleviate the morbid thoughts she was no doubt thinking. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, taking a deep breath as he tried to find some words of comfort. "Annie, they will be okay."

Haunted lavender eyes turned to meet his and then she looked away again, staring vacantly out the windscreen as he pulled into the driveway of their home. "I can't feel him, Caleb. I should be able to sense him but there is just a blank area where Gard has always been."

He knew what she meant; he could detect no sign of her brother down their Triumvirate bond. Always before the three of them had been linked, they carried the souls of the vampire Queen and King, and Gard was their third, the Queen's Guardian. Caleb had tested that link and found only Rhianna on the other end, but that didn't mean that the worst had happened. It couldn't, because he didn't think Rhianna could cope with the loss of her brother from another time.

He could remember every moment of when he had first met his beautiful mate. She had been human then, and grieving for the loss of her brother Rafe whom she had believed was dead. She'd had no knowledge then of a world where vampire and Weres existed. She had believed she had lost Rafe forever and her grief had been absolute.

However, fate had stepped in showing her a world where her brother now lived as a Were shifter and her lover was an Ancient vampire. She had accepted these things in her stride, her love for the two most important men in her life making acceptance a simple matter for her. Then fate had stepped in once more, awakening the spirit of a long-dead vampire queen within Rhianna, and reuniting her with her beloved brother and Guardian, Gard. The same brother who was now missing somewhere in Europe along with his mate Sarayne.

Caleb knew that his Annie loved Gard with the same passion that she loved Rafe. There was no distinction between the two of them in her mind, no matter that Gard had lived over six thousand years and his blood kin was the vampire queen residing in her soul. If she lost Gard...if the unspeakable had happened and he no longer walked the planet...Caleb didn't know how she would react to that loss. All he knew was she needed him to be strong for her, and he would do his utmost to be there for her.

He parked the car close to the front door, walking around it to open her door when she didn't move. "Come on, Annie." Holding out his hand he waited for her to acknowledge him, waiting a full five minutes before he reached in and took her hand. "Let's go inside, love."

She appeared to shake herself from her reverie, her troubled gaze searching his face for a moment before she allowed him to help her out of the car. "She's so silent too. It's eerie how absent she feels as well, Caleb."

He knew who she was referring to, and he took a moment to turn his thoughts inward, to the soul that nestled inside his head. "Callain?"

There was a brief pause and then the deep voice of the vampire King whispered through his mind and sent a shiver down his spine. "Leave her, Caleb. Let her come to terms with what she's heard. If she reacts out of emotion...well, let's just say we don't want her to do that. Comfort Annie as best you can. If Anakatrine reacts negatively, be prepared to cede control to me so I might temper her rage. She can be formidable when she is hurting. I don't want anyone to be hurt because she is lashing out in grief. Take respite that she is thinking this turn of events through."

The other presence vanished as quickly as he appeared, and Caleb sighed as he pulled Rhianna into his embrace, his need to protect his mate paramount. "Callain says it's best to allow Anakatrine to come to terms with things and we shouldn't prod her until she is ready to speak to us. For now, we are on our own and it is our actions that we need to determine."

She nodded against his wide chest, pressing her small frame into his arms as if she was trying to climb into his very skin. "Do you think...do you think they're...?"

Caleb cursed as her voice broke, and a loud sob wracked her body, shock and grief finally breaking through the fragile control she'd held on her emotions. His beautiful mate gave her heart unreservedly, and that meant when things went wrong, it shattered so very easily.

Sweeping Rhianna into his arms, he strode into the house, and headed straight upstairs to their room. She needed to feel safe and there was no safer place she felt than in their room. She also needed to rest, because no doubt there would a lot asked of her in the days to come. "No I don't believe that, and I won't until I see evidence to the contrary," he growled, lowering his mate onto their bed and curling his big body around hers protectively.

JazCullen
JazCullen
6,489 Followers