Runes of Destiny Read online

  “Vi, I know we broke up, but I have always wanted to hear those words from you. But if this is what it takes to keep you living then it is something I am willing to do. You put me first for a long time, now it is my turn to repay that. I’m human remember. I’m nothing special. You, Aleric and Grayson are special,” I say with such certainty. I make sure to look directly into her eyes to make sure she has not only heard but she understands what I am saying.

  Aleric and Grayson rush up to us. Aleric gives me a nod in understanding and puts his hands on Viola’s shoulders, trying to pull her into him. I can tell they think this is a stupid move. We are running out of time though. I see that the Elders are using what magic they can to try and bring down the barrier that Viola put up. What we don't see, until it is too late is that one has broken though already and has sent a spirit spell straight to Viola.

  All we see is that her back arches and her eyes go wide as the spell hits her. A grey-white cloud surrounds her as she’s lifted off the ground and thrown towards the surrounding forest. She’s flung into a tree, and slides to the ground barely breathing. Out of the corner of my eye I see Aleric and Grayson shift into their other forms and all I can do is stare at Viola’s broken body laying there on the ground. The next thing I feel is anger, hatred and rage. My vision goes dark but I can tell my eyes have changed. My body feels weird like it’s boiling from the inside out. My knees hit the ground with the overwhelming sensations. Then out of my back I feel a tingle then searing pain and two huge massive black wings break free. I feel the same searing pain in my temples. Reaching up to discover why the pain has spread there, I feel horns growing off the side of my head. I bend over clutching my stomach and scream in pain, the heat has not abated and seems to only be getting worse. As I lean forward I notice a blue-teal swirl surrounding my crouched shape as fire starts to consume my body. It doesn’t hurt but is just crackling and burning all around me. I push up from my knee and take a step forward, the flames follow me. I look up towards the Coven Elders to see their eyes grow wide in fear. "I’m guessing this means I’m no longer just a human.” I say. My voice is a bit deeper than normal, almost a growl. I chuckle and go to rush them with Aleric and Grayson at my side.

  24

  Elder Bres

  That was all it took. Damn it why did the idiot have to throw her? Now they've shifted and no amount of calming them is going to change them back. What was surprising was to see Gabriel shift. No one had expected that. There was no suspicion that he was more than just a human, how could any of us have known.

  I instantly recognize those flames, this can’t be. He’s the lost heir to the Throne of Demons? How is this possible? We wiped them out almost two decades ago. I can’t believe my eyes. Gabriel is the lost heir. He’s not just part of a clan. His clan was the royalty, direct descendants from Lucifer himself. I know right then and there we are going to have a harder time than expected. I slowly turn to see Master Freyer. He’s just staring at Gabriel with a look that says we are totally fucked sideways. I turn back to Gabriel and put everything I have into my water spell and throw it at him. I have no other choice, I’m in this now whether I want to be or not.

  The fight that preceded was a bit more expected though. As we take our battle stances and got ready for the attack, all three of them suddenly stopped. Aleric and Grayson slowly started stalking to the left and right. As Gabriel stood still. It was like they were all linked and talking to each other as a pack. I quickly glance at Master Freyer and see he has come to the same conclusion. How have they been able to do that? Especially when Viola is unconscious.

  “Don’t let them get close to her. We don’t want them waking her up.” Master Freyer yells at us.

  “If they wake her up it will be all over. We need to get her secured and back to the compound.” I say to the others. I know fighting was not what they wanted. These are our family members and the members of the other brotherhoods coven members families. I hate that it has come to this. We may all lose our lives today.

  Turning to the others, I see most are ready for the coming battle, some are scared. They have never had to fight shifters before. Unfortunately this is what it has come down to. We all slowly take steps to surround Viola, we need her as leverage, without her then we will surely fail and lives will be lost. Moving closer to our target makes the boys angrier and I can hear snarls and growls coming from all sides. I look around to make sure they are still in front of us, which they are. I sigh to myself. This is going to be harder than originally planned. How on earth did I get myself into this. This is not what I thought my life would be. If only I had known.

  Coming from the right, Aleric is the first to lunge at one of the Brotherhood. He’s quick. Quicker than we all gave him credit for in his massive wolf form. He faints from side to side managing to escape the spells as they are thrown at him. I’m momentarily stunned and amazed, but am quickly pulled out of it as I hear growling coming from the left side. Grayson starts assaulting us with his sword and Archangel powers.The Stormcleaver Clan is known for one thing and one thing only; bloodshed. Grayson is surrounded by white and gold light, it is also glowing from his sword and shield. I see his power come like lightning strikes. He’s quick, but that we expected. You don’t come from the Stormcleavers Clan and not be battle ready with all the speed and strength possible. Being the prince would mean he is better than the rest of his clan.

  Gabriel is the last one to start attacking us from the front. He’s the biggest surprise of all. A demon, and not a regular demon either. He grew a few feet, the wings and horns are not something a lesser demon would have. The fire that surrounds him is different as well. It’s not the normal orange, red and yellow. It is more white, blue and teal. Those are the hottest part of the flames.

  25

  Viola

  The first thing I hear when I come to is a battle going on. Growls, shouts and screams fill my ears. I slowly blink and my vision comes back. It’s still a bit blurry, with the added effect of white spots dancing about, but it’s better than I expected. Sitting up, I lean back against the redwood that took the brunt of my fall. I take a look around to see what is going on. The first thing I see is Aleric to my left snapping at members of the Brotherhood and bouncing around them quickly to catch them off guard. Then on my right I see Grayson, with massive white and gold wings. He has a massive longsword that is shimmering with white and gold light, he’s swinging it at the Brotherhood, all while wielding a giant shield to deflect their spells with. It’s an amazing sigh,one I never imagined I would see. When I turn to look for Gabriel, I see a giant demon. What happened to Garbriel, is that Gabriel? He has massive black wings and horns coming from his head. He’s also covered in white, blue and teal flames that seem to consume everything it touches but not his body. My eyes widen as I see the havoc he’s doing. What the fuck has happened? How long was I out for?

  I slowly stand up and test my balance. As soon as I regain what I can, I take one more sweep of the battlefield in front of me and charge to Aleric. I can see that the Brotherhood are gaining ground and Aleric is getting tired. I see him get hit with two spells at the same time. One of fire and one of air. I cry out in anger and the ground beneath me shakes. I plant my feet and I throw out my hands and see the ground come up beside the Brotherhood to form a massive wall of dirt. As I bring my hands down, the wall falls on top of them. I run to Aleric’s side and ask. “Are you alright? What happened to just a sacrifice, huh? You boys just had to start a fight without me?” Aleric shifts back, looking bruised and he has a few broken bones protruding from his left leg and right arm, he chuckles a bit, “Well, you pissed someone off and they threw you. So Gabe just had to show us all up and shift into that demonic thing. You know me. I couldn’t be outdone by a new/old guy in your life. Apparently Grayson couldn’t be out done by Gabe either.” I look back to Gabe and Grayson fighting. I chuckle to myself, I can hear Aleric shifting back into his Dire Wolf form. He can heal much faster like that. I turn to him, point and s
ay firmly, “Stay.” I can tell by the look in his eyes, he’s not amused by the command. He does not like to be treated like a pet, but I don’t have time to tell him more, because he runs in front of me as another fire spell hits him. I turned around to find Master Freyer with his hands on fire. I narrow my eyes and start my assault towards him. He turns and starts to run towards a group of other members of the Brotherhood. He can’t run far enough in my opinion.

  I run closer to him and Gabe. As I do, I feel this strange power running through me. I throw a fire spell at him, but instead of my normal red, yellow and pink, it’s blue, teal and white. I’m momentarily thrown off before I throw more fire spells at all of them, surrounding Master Freyer. He manages to dodge the fire but some of the others are not so lucky - well shit a brick. As my fire spell hits them, the flames seem to swallow them whole. The more magic they use or if they try to put them out the flames seem to get bigger, brighter and more fierce. It is now literally melting some of them. Well this is new, I’m not sure what is going on with my magic but it’s sure useful right about now.

  Still running in front of me, Master Freyer and now Elder Bres are starting to get closer to Grayson. Who has just managed to take his longsword out of a Coven Elder and the blood spray arcs all over his clothes and the ground around him. Grayson turns, his now storming violet eyes set on the two top Coven Elders and charges at them. Man, his eyes are gorgeous in this form, they are a bright shade of violet with what looks like lightning running through them - okay focus Viola. You can make goo - goo eyes at him when this is over. I can’t wait for later so I can think about those eyes in more detail.

  Elder Bres stumbles and falls to the ground upon seeing Grayson’s movements. Aleric jumps on him with two massive paws on his chest and snaps at his head. I can see Aleric is just tormenting him, but I’m not going to tell him that. He deserves it after what he has done to me. I turn to see Master Freyer in battle with both Grayson and Gabe. He’s quite skilled and quick. He’s using the guy’s spells and attacks against the others. I’m silently stalking up, watching the battle. I can hear Aleric growling at Elder Bres, so I know he has that handled. As for me I have no wish to spend any more time with the man, relation or no. Well actually I’m claiming no, as no family of mine would treat me like that.

  Walking up, I feel more power running through me than before. I feel the same sensation that I did before, I see the flames surrounding my hands, but I also can feel more spirits rising, like they are answering a call I put out. I start to swirl my hands in a circular motion and in doing so there starts a small ball of flame. The more I make the motion the bigger the ball of flame becomes. Once it is the size of a beach ball I release it toward Master Freyer. When I release it, I watch the spirits follow along side. Once it makes impact the spirits surround him, and then shrink to the smallest dot possible and then explode. As they explode, Master Freyer’s face goes white, his eyes widen and his limbs spread. As the explosion ripples through his body, beginning in his torso and expanding to his limbs, the flesh peels off and the muscle and organs inside start to scatter. It’s what I would imagine a bomb going off inside someone looks like. Once Master Freyer is no more, I turn and focus on Elder Bres, who is still pinned by Aleric.

  26

  Viola

  I’m walking up to Elder Bres. As much as I don’t want to spend any more time on the man, I feel I need to, I need to know why he did this to me. I can see him trembling under the weight of Aleric’s massive Dire Wolf form. I ask rapidly, “Was that really necessary? I have never wanted to take out the Brotherhood or be the supposed Queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann. All I’ve ever wanted was to honor my mother, your sister, and be the best possible spirit witch. Somehow these idiots magnify my dé dananns. They are tied to them aren’t they? Is that part of the prophecy as well? Because I sure as hell didn’t make the fire blue, or call the spirits or those walls of dirt on my own.” I’m almost tripping over my words to get them out. I want answers and I want them now.

  Elder Bres quickly answers, “I never wanted this to happen. I just wanted to keep my position and make our family proud. I didn’t know this is what would happen, I didn’t know that it would be you. If I would have known that Gabriel was the lost heir to the Throne of Demons, I would have gladly just left my post. I wouldn’t have even gone near you. As for your mother, my sister, I’m sorry about her. She was not intended. Yes, you are the Queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann witch. You can control all of them and when you find your “complete” circle they will not only magnify your powers but you will be able to do a whole lot more. It was also in the prophecy, but only the Master Freyer knew the full prophecy. It’s why Freyer wanted you out of the way so badly. You’re too powerful.” My heart is racing, from the battle and from what he is telling me. This man, my uncle, a part of my family, does this to me and did something to my mother?

  “What do you mean my mother was not intended? She died of cancer? That is what every doctor, supernatural and human said.” I ask, breathing heavily. I’m beyond pissed now. If they did something to my mother, I don’t care what information he can give us, he will die and the remaining three Elders will die swiftly as well. My time of kindness and forgiveness is over.

  “She did die of cancer, but I fear we gave it to her. We had been doing research for years about which family would produce the Queen. When we found out it was our family, we did a ritual that would stop your mother from having any more children. You were already born and well into developing your magics, we decided we could only keep an eye on you. I think the ritual we did is what gave your mother her cancer.” Bres explains, trembling. He is scared, I can tell it’s due to what he thinks we will do to him. I had thought during my time with the Elders that he was only doing what he was told, that he didn’t have a choice. But these actions he took happened years ago, I’m sure there were other options available to him, he didn’t have to do this. My mother, my poor mother, the pain she experienced at the end, no person should have to go through that and he was the reason. He was the reason she had to live and die through that. I’m furious, I can feel the heat rising through my body, I can feel myself shake and tremble.

  I’m visibly shaking and trying my hardest to calm down. Grayson and Gabe both have a hold onto each of my arms. It’s not working, all I’m seeing is red and black as I struggle out of their hands and start towards Elder Bres. Aleric just moves off of him and I grab him by his robe and lift him up off the ground. My adrenaline is pumping, I’m not sure I would have had the strength otherwise.

  “You took my mother from me, and you’re telling me it was so she wouldn’t have any more children? If you spent any time with us, or took part in our lives or even if you asked her doctors and her, they would have all told you that her having children wasn’t possible. I WAS BORN OF A SURROGATE!!!” I’m yelling by the end and I throw him away from me. This man is unbelievable. The power he craved stopped him being a part of this family, he never really knew us and this proves how much he cared or looked in on us. He lands a few feet away and stays on the ground. He’s also surrounded by spirits, flames, and the ground around him is starting to sink. I slowly stalk up to him and just start hitting him. My boxing training comes out and I’m throwing everything I have at him. He’s not fighting back.

  Eventually I feel a pair of strong arms around me that halt my swings and pick me up and carry me away from Elder Bres. As soon as I’m far enough away from Bres the dé dananns dissipate. I see Grayson and Gabe, so I know the person holding me is Aleric. Gabe goes to Bres and checks him. Aleric puts me down but is still holding me. Gabe shakes his head and we all know I just killed him. I turn back into Aleric’s chest and cry like I have never cried before. Not even when my mother died.

  27

  Viola

  Aleric picks me up, bridal style, and carries me to his truck. I watch through the windshield as the guys gather up all the bodies into one giant pile. Gabe, who has shifted back to his human form throws some flames
onto the pile and the bodies start to burn, but not the ground underneath them.

  Man, Gabe is a shifter too? A demon shifter at that. Who would have ever thought that? I mean it kinda makes sense. I think to myself as I stare into the flames. Once the bodies had been mostly burned to ashes, the guys head to the truck.

  Opening the doors, they all slowly turn and glance behind us. I turn in my seat and look as well. We all see a caravan of big black SUV’s crawling towards us. I get out of Aleric’s truck, and go back to the tailgate and bring it down to sit on. I can’t stand anymore, I’m tired and I want my bed. Aleric, Gabe and Grayson follow suit. As we are watching the SUVs come and slowly creep to a stop near us, big guys in black suits get out and open the back doors. The guys are on guard, as I literally feel like i cant move a muscle. I don’t know what is going to happen next but I will not be surprised again. First we see Mr. O’Sullivan, Sara Belle’s father, then we see Mrs. Mac’Kenzie, Noelle’s mother. Lastly we see Mr. and Mrs. Doyle, Janelle and Danielle’s parents. To say I’m surprised is a bit of an understatement. You never see them all in one place, outside of the covens meetings and the occasional party.

  As they get closer to us, I gingerly slide off the tailgate and make my way to meet them. I cross my arms, and put my hip out as I hear the guys come up behind me like a giant wall of sexy muscle backing me up.

  Crinkling my nose, I still smell the odor of burning flesh behind us. As they gather closer, Mr. O’Sullivan, Mrs. Mac’Kenzie and Mr. and Mrs. Doyle can too. I see the grimace on their faces and notice they start to pull handkerchiefs out of their jacket pockets and purses.