Davina (Davy Harwood #3) Read online

  “What are you doing?”

  “What are you doing?” She stepped closer and wrapped a hand around one of the bars. Her head tilted to the side, all the way until I thought she would turn her head upside down.

  “I’m a prisoner. What are you?”

  She touched her chest. “I am Jiyama.”

  “You are a Mori.”

  “I am Jiyama. You are prisoner.”

  I frowned. “My name is Davy. Your name is Jiyama—”

  “—name.”

  “—You are a Mori. I am a human.”

  “You are a prisoner.”

  “No, I’m a human—”

  “Human. Davy. Prisoner.”

  “Yes.” I surged forward eagerly. She was getting it.

  “I am human, prisoner. Jiyama.”

  “No.” She sighed. “You are a vampire.”

  Her lips lifted, and fangs appeared.

  “Yes, see. You’re a vampire. I’m a human.”

  The fangs slipped back in their place, and she closed her mouth. “Davy. Jiyama.”

  “Oh God.” This was going to take a while.

  The door burst open again, and Lucan stomped in. “Jiyama, what are you doing? Get away from her.”

  She turned, but not before I saw her grin. “I am learning English.”

  He stopped and frowned at her.

  I expected him to rip into her, chastise her, but when he said nothing, her mouth dropped open. Instead he looked at her in confusion, like she was a puzzle that he couldn’t figure out.

  When he continued to stare at her, a laugh ripped out of me. “I can’t believe this.”

  His eyes grew dark, and he pointed a finger at me. “You shut up. You don’t understand a thing. Jiyama, we need to go.”

  She turned back and reached through the bars again. “Davy. Prisoner.”

  The same surge of warmth spread through me again. I gasped and my vision blurred this time. She had healed me before, but this time her magic helped me. Life—something took root in me. The Immortal stirred inside of me, wakened once more. I seized the magic and absorbed it eagerly.

  “Don’t!” Lucan yelled.

  Jiyama jerked away, but I grabbed her hand before she could pull it out. I yanked her back to me.

  Jiyama yelped, but I was blind from greed. I needed more of that magic. The Immortal’s power was starting to build again. It was spreading through me. The more Mori magic I felt, the more my power rose. This time I wasn’t afraid of it. I could do something with this magic. The channel could be opened again. If only—

  “No.” Lucan caught my hand.

  I salivated for more, but crashed against the cage.

  Jiyama stared at me. Her face still looked blank, but something was stirring in her eyes. They had turned from brown to red, a dark red. “I gave you a gift. Something you could not have had, you have now.” She looked down. “But you must protect your gift.” She held her hand out, and another burst of magic came from her. It shot through me, sealing something, but The Immortal slammed against me. She wanted to get out. She wanted the Mori.

  “Stop!” Lucan pulled her back. “Jiyama, leave. This is not the one you can learn English from. I have others.” He placed a hand between her shoulders and led her to the door.

  She went, but looked back over her shoulder. “Others?”

  He nodded. “They are below. They are not dangerous. This one is dangerous. Do not come here again.”

  She finally nodded and went into the hallway. His shoulders sagged in relief as he shut the door.

  I held onto the cage bars. “You are not their leader, are you?”

  His shoulders tensed immediately before he swung to face her. Resigned.

  I saw his answer. He didn’t have to say a word. A smile came to my face and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to stop it. “You are a guest, aren’t you? They have no idea who I am, who the others are, or that we’re even here. What are you to them?”

  Lucan frowned at me, studying me. “The Mori saved me years ago. Lucas nearly killed me once. They found me and took me in. They healed me and became my family when my real family turned on me.”

  “You don’t really believe that, do you?” I laughed. “They have no idea who you are, what you’re trying to do.”

  “What am I trying to do, Davy?” he asked, softly. A keen look came to him, and he started to advance forward. With each step, he asked, “What is it that you think I’m really trying to do?”

  “Kill me. Take ultimate power from me. Rule all the vampires.”

  He stopped, but sent me a dark look. “I am trying to better the vampire race. I am trying to make it so that we don’t have to hide anymore. Humans can know that we live among them. We won’t have to worry about a war with the werewolves. We will be safe, once and for all. And yes, that means the Mori, too. They can finally come out of their hiding. They can show the world who they are.”

  “You’re mad,” I murmured. “I don’t think you even know anymore what you want.”

  Everything changed in that instant. His shoulders stood upright. His smirk came back, and he gave me a radiant smile. “I want The Immortal thread. And I won’t stop before I get it, Davy. One way or another, I will figure out how to rip it out of you. When I do, you will die slowly, painfully, and I will enjoy watching it.”

  There was no sound, no change in the air. I didn’t smell anything new, and the hairs on the back of my neck didn’t stand up, but when I lifted my head, I knew who I would see. And I was right.

  Jiyama stood in front of the cage. There was a determined look in her eyes, and she squared her jaw as she reached through the cage to me.

  I stood from my sitting position and stepped close.

  The Immortal slammed inside of me. She wanted the Mori. She was salivating like a newborn vampire for blood.

  I held her back. “What are you doing?”

  Everything in me wanted to go closer, to grab her hands, and take what I could. The Immortal was snarling, an angry tornado, but I stood firm. What would happen if I took those hands? The Immortal wanted it so bad, I wasn’t sure I could control myself. And that was when I realized I was scared. Not of myself or the situation, I was scared when The Immortal would take over, and in the next second, I admitted a second truth to myself. The Immortal would take over. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how, but she would.

  She was too strong, and she was no longer a part of me. She had separated from me.

  Her eyes flashed, and she jerked forward. Her hands caught mine, and before I could react to pull away, The Immortal surged inside of me. She burst through our connection, and I saw the Mori’s head get thrown back. Her mouth opened wide, and a bright light burst from her. Her eyeballs were like flashlights, and even her fingertips burst forth with light. It was a blinding white light.

  “Your magic and mine are sister threads.”

  I frowned. It was the Mori. She was in my head, and her English was perfect.

  “It’s our connection. I have obtained everything from you, as you have taken from me.”

  Images flew at me, of Jiyama as a child. The first time she found a dead body, but it wasn’t dead. It was Lucan. She poked it and kicked at his foot. He rolled over and her heart stopped. Then she yelled for her father and his men picked up the weird man’s body and took him home with them. There was another image when she was older, twelve maybe. She sat at a bonfire and was trying to stitch something together. Lucan sat beside and showed her how to do it. He was gentle, patient, and kind.

  He wasn’t the Lucan that I knew.

  Then she grew older. Lucan was always with them. He taught her many things about the other world, how to read in other languages except for one. English. He showed her books, and as she read them every night, they were from the human world. He told her nothing of the other vampire species. And then he was gone.

  My last image was when she stood and watched him go. He gave her a gentle smile and kissed her cheek. Jiyama wrapp
ed both her arms around him and lifted high on her tiptoes. She pressed against him and told him in their language that she loved him. He swept back her hair and promised he’d come back. Then he kissed her on the mouth.

  As I hurled around inside of her, I couldn’t believe this was the Lucan I knew. If he’d been like that with me, I might’ve fallen in love, too.

  Okay—reality check. I shuddered. That would’ve never happened.

  “He is not the monster you feel he is.”

  I jerked my eyes back to her. Our hands were still clasped together. The Immortal was back inside of me and purring like a cat that had gotten the cream, and Jiyama’s eyes had a white rim around them now. They’d been so dark before.

  “You don’t know how I know him.” My eyes were darting all over. Did she know? Could she read my mind now? I didn’t like this one bit.

  Her mouth tightened. “You have an incredible power inside of you. Our magic comes from the earth. Yours come from the life itself. It is a new power, no one is aware it exists.”

  “Except for all the thread-holders before me.”

  She tilted her head to the side and chewed on a lip. “What are you concerned for?”

  “You want a quick answer or the real one?”

  “You fear Lucan.”

  “He’s not good, Jiyama.”

  She stepped back. When our hands let go, the connection was gone. It was instant, and I reeled inside from it. The Immortal blared again, angry once more. She wanted the connection back.

  “He’s good to me and my family.”

  I grew silent. She didn’t want to hear about the real Lucan and from what I saw inside of her, what I felt—she was in love with him. It was powerful and it gripped her so tightly. Then the door burst open and Lucan strode inside.

  “What are you doing in here, Jiyama?”

  She turned and gave him a faint smile. “You shouldn’t have kept her from us.”

  He drew up short and watched her warily.

  “You want to know what he’s doing?”

  “Davy—”

  “He’s trying to kill me.”

  Jiyama turned to me with intent eyes.

  “He wants to take that power out of me, and if he succeeds, I’m dead. He doesn’t care. If he’s this good and great person, the one that you love so much, would he do that?”

  “A man should be ruthless to protect his loved ones.”

  I snorted. “Are you blind? Or just dumb? Your family saved his life. You have power in you that he wants. Of course, he’s not going to show you the real Lucan. He’s ruthless, but he’s also a psychopath. Every day his witches come in here and torture me. Every day.” I swung my gaze around. “And where’s Kates? Does she know about her? Why do I always smell her blood on you?”

  “Enough!” Lucan growled as he launched himself at me. He ripped open the cage and was inside the next instant. His hands wrapped around my throat as he flew us against the back end. When the cage tipped over and his hands loosened a fraction, I shot my hand against his chest.

  “Stop.”

  Then everything halted.

  My heart skipped a beat, and I blinked. Nothing moved. No one breathed, no one twitched. Nothing. I’d frozen time again and I turned toward Jiyama. Her eyes were wide, fearful, but her hands remained at her side.

  She wasn’t scared. I wedged myself out of Lucan’s hold and edged closer to her. There was a look in her eyes, deep in them. Confidence. A shiver broke over me and something whispered in the back of my mind that I hadn’t uncovered the tip of the power inside of her. But from what I had seen and felt, it sent chills down my back.

  “Uh . . .” Lucan’s finger cracked the air. He was fighting against the time freeze.

  I didn’t have much more of it so I whirled around and was in the hallway. Everyone stood in place. I had done that. It hadn’t been contained to only my room. Then, with my heart pounding, a loud rushing sound in my ears, I stopped and tried to concentrate.

  I needed to find the rest. Even Kates. The Immortal rattled inside of me. A small burst of air came from me. It formed a tiny cloud and as it started down the hallway, it bounced back to me. Slowly, with my heart pounding and my limbs shaking, I started to follow.

  It took me down another hallway, through door after door, until a last one opened. A dark stairway led downstairs and I went down, weak in the knees. These were the moments when I needed Roane to hold my hand. He would know where to go, how to do it, and I would never feel my fear.

  I felt it now. It railed inside of me. And that was when I realized I had merged with The Immortal, but it was only a tiny bit. She was angry and hissing inside of me. She was screaming for me to hurry, but I didn’t. I inched downwards, step after step, and prayed the time freeze wouldn’t loosen.

  It wasn’t far after that until the small cloud darted around another corner. There they were.

  Gavin and Gregory were held on one side while Tracey and Wren were across from them. They seemed so tired. My heart pounded even more and I hurried past them. Nothing. There were more cages, but none with Kates. Where was Kates? And why did I care? But something told me it wasn’t right. She should’ve—he had her blood on him. Every day, he came to me with her blood on him. I shuddered as I remembered the look of twisted delight in his eyes. What was he doing with her?

  Oh goddess. What do I do?

  I ran back to them and tried to open the door. Nothing. It didn’t even jar against my force and I closed my eyes in defeat. My blood was pumping furiously through me and I sagged against the cage. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do anything.

  “I can.”

  I steeled myself and shook my head. There had to be another way.

  “I can free them. You know this.”

  I whimpered to myself, “No. There has to be another way. Not like this—”

  “Let me, Davy!” The Immortal screamed and lunged herself at me. I gasped and my arms flew out. She was battling for control again, and she was winning.

  “No!”

  “Yes!” She lunged again. And again. Each time she drove farther into me.

  As I readied myself for another launch, I already knew the battle was done. So I turned my head in slow motion and looked at Gavin. Worry lines circled his eyes. His shoulders had drooped, maybe in frustration? His own surrender? I swallowed a painful knot in my throat. I hadn’t considered what torture they had done to them. Then there was a bleak emotion in me. Did I want to know? Would that give The Immortal more power over me? The angrier I got, the weaker in my compassion I became, the stronger she grew. She was taking over.

  “Now!”

  And it was done. Everything shot through me at once. Visions blasted in my head. Lucan had cracked another finger through the time freeze. Jiyama was freed, but she watched him in a calm curiosity. I felt Gavin’s fury and his determination. Gregory was worried for his friend, who sat in front of him. Wren was anguished. I felt her fear for Roane, her loyalty to him, and the love for the blonde vampiress beside her. And Tracey—she shifted inside of herself and met my gaze. She was frozen on the outside, but she was aware in the inside.

  She gave me a haunted smile. A tear slipped down. “My niece is here. Leave me.”

  I jerked in shock. We were communicating on another level of consciousness. “We can’t leave you behind.”

  “I will be fine. Tell Wren that I love her.” She bowed her head to me. “I must stay for my niece. Talia would want me to do this.”

  It was done. She had decided. I nodded. “This is why you came to us, isn’t it? To find Talia’s daughter?”

  Tracey gave me a sad smile. “It is, but it was healing for me to connect with Wren once more.”

  “Once more.”

  There it was, the finality. I had no idea what was going to happen in the future, if we would become free or not, but I felt it. Tracey wouldn’t be returning, no matter the outcome. She had another road to follow.

  It went without saying. I said it anyway. �
��Wren loves you.”

  “She does, but she needs Roane more than my love.” She glanced over and would’ve caressed the other vampiress’s head if she could’ve. “Her belief in him grounds her. She needs that and she knows it. She’ll always choose him over me.”

  Tick. Tick. Tick.

  I felt the clock beneath our feet. The time was coming. I had to make my move. I had to do it now.

  The Immortal rallied again. She snarled at Tracey, “Leave us. You do not help, you will only hinder.”

  Tracey’s eyes shuddered, but she surged away in retreat.

  I felt Lucan’s anger. It was broiling to the top. Soon he would break through the time freeze so I hurried to the cage, closed my eyes and let go.

  The Immortal gleamed as she lifted a hand. There wasn’t a command, just the will. The door unlocked and Gavin and Gregory were also unlocked from the time freeze.

  “Wha—Davy!” Gavin launched himself forward and started to scoop me up.

  My eyes flashed at him and he braked. The Immortal’s whites shined at him and he took a breath.

  Then I waved my hand to the other door. Wren was unfrozen. Her head jerked up, and her nostrils flared. A wild look shifted over her, and her fangs protruded at me.

  Then she stopped and turned back.

  Tracey was still frozen.

  She swung her head to me. “Undo her.”

  The Immortal sneered at her. “She wishes to remain. So be it.”

  “Undo her!” Her hands lifted, and her body started to arch.

  She would’ve thrown herself on me, but I waved a hand. Her body slammed to the wall from my will. When she would’ve fallen to the ground, I lifted my palm. She rose in the air, and my grip was at her throat. “She remains for her niece. You knew this.”

  She snarled again. “Unfreeze her—I will not—”

  “You will.” I let her body fall to the ground with a thump. “Or you will die. I will not go against her wishes, not when they rally with one of my sisters.”

  “Sisters?” Gavin murmured behind me.

  Then I felt the crack beginning. The time freeze thread was starting to unravel. “We must go or all will be lost.”