Chosen Destiny Read online

He inhaled, noting that her arousal had increased. She had taken a lot of power already and there were probably still tandini to destroy. She could probably take a little more without absolutely needing it, but he didn’t want her distracted.

  “I can take some of your power if you need. We’ll probably be facing more trouble. I’ll get someone here to help you if it’s still too high.” He waited while she finished with the last of the tandini.

  “That would be good.” She rose to her feet.

  He stepped up behind her. He slipped an arm around her waist pulling her back against him. He conjured the potion that would counter the venom. He held it up in front of her. She took it and gulped the liquid. He waited until she’d sent the vial away. He wanted to be sure that there was no chance of any effects dulling her senses. He licked her neck to prepare her, then bit. She flinched a little. A bit of blood rose as he withdrew his teeth, but her power hit him just before he began to actively drawing it. Maybe he’d underestimated the amount of power she’d taken in. He took what he could. Her body relaxed back against him. He licked the drops of blood off her shoulder.

  “I think we should move on and see how the others are doing.” Meagan looked to Samiel and Lissandra.

  “Yes, checking in with the others sounds like a good idea. I wonder if they were attacked as we were.” Samiel nodded. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find them. This villages isn’t that big.

  They began walking through the streets. They moved cautiously through the debris-strewn roads. The false tandini might not be the only danger here. The Dark Sorceress could have set a trap. He was sure that there would be more than one attack. It took longer than he expected to find any of the other groups. They found Gaellon and two of the other witches first. They were in the midst of a battle with a swarm of tandini. From the scattered forms on the ground, there had been many more than they now faced. Meagan didn’t hesitate. She stepped forward and began hurling bolts of magic down the street.

  “Hang back, Lissandra, and conserve your energy. The Dark Sorceress could be trying to drain power from those sent to fight her. Meagan can give energy to dragons and vampires, but you’ll need time to recover yours.” Samiel gave the advice, but he didn’t know if she’d accept it. Meagan had said Lissandra was inexperienced.

  He stepped up beside Meagan and began to lob balls of fire down the street. He saw the moment Gaellon realized they weren’t alone. Gaellon said something to the women with him and they stopped hurling magic toward the tandini. Gaellon obviously recognized the tactic. Dark Sorcerers flooded an area with merdanons—or in this case tandini—to make their enemies use a lot of power on the beasts before the Dark Sorcerer attacked. Weakened, sometimes vampires were forced to flee or risk death or capture. The Dark Sorcerers hadn’t completely stopped trying it, but they’d stopped trying it as often since the first Tiria had been found. Most Dark Sorcerers were smart enough to know that flooding an area with creations when a Tiria was there wasn’t a good strategy. It offered a ready source of power to the one person who could use it and supply it to others.

  He didn’t know if this was the first time the Dark Sorceress had ever attacked anyone before. He knew she’d set up trouble for others and probably a few ambushes. This assault seemed unprepared, as if it had been put together in a rush. It was the only reason he could think that she’d try this.

  The tandini obviously weren’t being controlled by the Dark Sorceress. When confronted by an attack from two sides, they didn’t change their tactics. They kept pressing toward Gaellon. Not having a rush of beasts coming at them made destroying the creations easy. As soon as the last tandini fell, Meagan stepped forward and began taking power.

  “I’m glad to see you. This isn’t the kind of attack I expected, especially not with a known Tiria in the group.” Gaellon made his way through the scattered carcasses.

  “I think the plan might have been to keep us separated and take out those she could.” Samiel looked around the area. “After these creations are destroyed, we’ll need to find the others. We’re not going to remain separated. If she wants to play games, she can play them when we’re together.”

  “Can you two stop chatting? I know you saw how many tandini littered the street. Someone’s going to have to take some of this power.” Meagan’s voice broke into the discussion.

  Samiel turned to face her. She knelt on the ground. He saw her drive her dagger into the shoulder of a tandini. The beast dissolved into mist. Samiel saw her shoulders shake. Her head tipped back and she groaned. She’d already destroyed most of the magic creations. Her power had already been running high. It was no wonder that she was stressed. She slowly stood. Her hands rubbed down her thighs. She was breathing a little too fast.

  “If you don’t mind, I could use some power.” Gaellon stepped forward.

  “It would be a relief.” Meagan smiled. She extended her hand to Gaellon.

  Samiel moved behind her and hooked an arm around her waist. The scent of her arousal drifted in the air. He’d take some more himself. Gaellon lifted her hand to his mouth. Samiel felt Meagan flinch a little. She was trembling and he knew that was because she had too much power. As soon as Gaellon released her, Samiel licked her neck, preparing her for the bite. Because the amount of venom from the multiple bites, he created another preventative potion. She’d probably provide power to the other dragons as well as the vampires. He held it in front of her. She took it and downed it. He bit. Power rushed into him. He took as much as he could but knew she’d probably need more taken if they faced the same situation when they found the others.

  “Better now?” Samiel slid his hand over her stomach.

  “I can handle it now. Let’s go. The others are probably in the same situation as Gaellon was. I wish I knew what the Dark Sorceress was trying to do.” She sighed, but then straightened, squared her shoulders and stepped away from him.

  “We probably won’t have to wait much longer before she does something new.” Gaellon grimaced.

  Samiel agreed. The Dark Sorceress probably wouldn’t stick with this tactic. The fact that none of her actions made any sense so far was a little worrying. An unpredictable enemy was always dangerous. Samiel, Meagan and the others left the area and began to look for the other groups. It didn’t take long to find more of their friends. They again found them battling another horde of tandini. Eventually they found all of the others. They moved as a group through the ruins. Jaeson hugged Meagan. Samiel was looking around, wondering where to begin looking for the Dark Sorceress when he noticed Meagan slowly moving down the street.

  “What’s wrong, Meagan?” Samiel asked as he moved up beside her.

  “I feel power in this direction.” She kept looking down the street, but she did stop.

  “She’s right. The Dark Sorceress is doing something.” Jaeson took position at Meagan’s side. “Do you know what was down that way?”

  “I know the coven house was supposed to be at that end of the village.” Meagan bit her lip. “I can’t think of anything else that would draw the sorceress.”

  Samiel could tell that she was ready to face the Dark Sorceress. If she’d seemed angry or too eager, he might have been concerned. All he saw in her eyes was determination. She wasn’t taking this personally. He knew she was probably angry both with the Dark Sorceress’ betrayal and the fact that she hadn’t seen it coming. Betrayal was hard for anyone to take, but Meagan was treating this as just another battle. That reassured him.

  They began walking toward the area where the witch was using power. They passed what had once been two blocks of buildings and houses. When they went around a last wall, they spotted a figure in the middle of a cleared square. It was a woman with long, black hair. She walked and then swept her foot over the ground. She was looking for something. A wave of magic cleared a layer of dust away from the rocky surface.

  “Do you think they would have left it in such an obvious place when they realized the town was going to fall?” Meagan crossed her arms ov
er her chest.

  He knew Meagan wanted confirmation that the woman was a Dark Sorceress. She might be able to feel magic, but she couldn’t feel the taint as Jaeson could. Meagan stood stiffly at his side. He probably wouldn’t have been as composed as she was if someone he’d known had turned to the dark arts. Meagan seemed totally calm, as if this were just another mission.

  “Ah, Meagan. And you brought your friends.” The woman turned and swept her eyes over the gathered witches, vampires and dragons with a look of disdain. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”

  “Those tandini you sent weren’t much of a challenge.” Meagan’s voice was light, as if she were discussing the weather.

  “Well, I didn’t expect so many people. I would have given you a little more to think about if I’d known.” The woman turned to face them fully.

  “You never did work well with others, did you, Doria? In fact, didn’t you once leave the group you were with when the fighting got a little tough?” Meagan’s arm brushed his as she shifted her stance a bit.

  “If they don’t know when to get out, that’s not my problem. I know how to take care of myself.” Doria shrugged, completely unconcerned.

  What amazed Samiel was that she wasn’t denying anything. Most Dark Sorcerers tried to deny the taint until they were blatantly caught or it suited them to reveal it. Doria was brazen and uncaring who knew. He wondered if she’d ever really hidden it or if only luck had kept her secret until this point.

  “You should have paid more attention to working with a group. Then you might not have been so surprised that we showed up with help.” Meagan looked over at Samiel then slid a glance at Jaeson.

  “Oh spare me the ‘I’d trust them with my life’ speech. It’s all a bunch of shit. If things fell apart, they’d leave you without a second thought.” Doria shook her head and swept her hand in a wide arc.

  A wave of dirt swept toward them. It hit a shield in front of them and fell to the ground. Samiel barely had time to register what was happening. He didn’t have time to throw up a shield. He was astonished when the wall of sand hit a shield and fell to the ground. Glittering, triangular shards of sharp rock littered the ground when the dust settled. He hadn’t seen anything like the dark, mottled projectiles before.

  “Did you seriously think I wouldn’t be expecting something like that? You like grand gestures. The starburst explosion in the coven when you became a full witch is one of many examples.” Meagan shook her head. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Doria.”

  “Better. I can do better.” She raised her hands above her head, a smug smile on her face.

  The air in front of Doria shimmered. Samiel watched as a horde of tandini and merdanons appeared in front of her. Samiel saw Meagan take a step forward and sweep her sword in an arc gathering power. She let a ball of magic fly toward one of the huge merdanons. The beast disappeared just before the bolt hit. It reappeared in another place a moment later. He saw Meagan tense, but she didn’t say a word. She gathered power for another bolt as he threw his first ball of fire. His orb hit a tandini. He saw a glowing orb fly from the tip of her sword. The tandini the orb had been flying toward disappeared. He knew Meagan was getting frustrated. He could see it on her face.

  Laughter rolled from behind the mass of enemies. “Is that good enough for you Meagan?”

  He saw Meagan’s frustration grow. Every time she threw an orb, her target disappeared before the energy could find its mark. The Dark Sorceress didn’t seem to care what anyone else did. She was focused on causing problems for Meagan. The other vampires and dragons took down the tandini and merdanon without the Dark Sorceress’ interference. Finally he heard Meagan heave a sigh as she stepped back.

  “You’ll have to do it. She’s determined to thwart me, but you take them down and I’ll take the power. I’m not going to stand here wasting my power playing her game.” She took position behind the line of vampires and dragons.

  “Are you sure?” Samiel knew what it must be costing her in pride to take herself out of the battle. He looked back at her.

  She smiled at him, but it looked a little tight. “You take these creatures down. I’ll definitely move up beside you again if Doria decides to stick around and fight. I trust you, Jaeson and the others to handle it.”

  Samiel felt something inside him loosen, but he didn’t have time to think about it. He went back to work on the horde of creations slowly pressing forward. He threw a ball of fire toward one of the merdanons. It screamed as the fire spread over it. He could see the wall of beasts thinning. Meagan stepped forward. She pressed the remaining beasts back. The others kept working on the mass of creations. Samiel kept a worried eye on Meagan. The Dark Sorceress had a grudge against Meagan and Samiel wasn’t going to let his witch get hurt.

  Meagan kneeled and drove the dagger into the shoulder of a merdanon. The beast dissolved into a gray mist. She moved to the next. He kept a ball of fire ready.

  “If that burns me, I’m going to burn you, dragon.” Meagan didn’t look over her shoulder as she spoke.

  He laughed. “It’s not that easy to burn a dragon.”

  “Maybe with fire, but I wonder just how your hide would take being stewed.” She stabbed the dagger into a tandini.

  “Vicious little witch. You wouldn’t want to boil my hide. You like what my body does to yours.” He looked at the group of merdanons and tandini still standing. They’d thinned so much that he could see the Dark Sorceress looking around worriedly.

  She laughed. “But I have a spare.”

  He shook his head. “You wouldn’t want just him. You’d be bored in no time.”

  “Save the bickering for later,” Jaeson said, the humor in his tone obvious. “Let’s deal with the Dark Sorceress then you can tease each other.”

  “I think he’s a little jealous.” Meagan shot a grin over her shoulder toward Samiel.

  “You’re right, but so is he. We’ll finish this and then we can continue our discussion.” Samiel watched as she finished taking the power from the last of the merdanons on the ground. She rose, moving slowly, carefully. She titled her head to the right then the left. Just the deliberateness of her movements told him the power had grown very high. He moved over and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her back against him. He could give her a little relief even though he didn’t need the power. He gave her the antidote and bit. Power rushed into him as soon as his teeth broke her skin. When he drew back, he could still feel the tension in her body.

  “How does it feel to be their tool, Meagan? Do they give you a pat on the head and a few good words after you’ve supplied them with energy and serviced them?” Doria’s voice dripped with scorn.

  Samiel felt anger rise at the slur. He felt Meagan straighten but she didn’t try to step away from him. Her hand settled over his arm and rubbed briefly. The sound of her laughter surprised him.

  “It’s a little the other way around, Doria. They’re more useful to me than the other way around. But that’s a nice try. Care to give it another go?” Meagan’s hand smoothed over Samiel’s arm as if to sooth the tension in his body.

  Doria glared at them. Samiel released Meagan and stepped to the side. He began throwing magic at the few remaining merdanons and tandini. He could see the Dark Sorceress’ nervousness. The woman would flee soon.

  “We will get that piece of the generator, Meagan. Don’t doubt it. You can’t stop it.” Doria’s eyes moved to the woman she obviously saw as a rival.

  “You won’t ever touch it.” Meagan stood beside Samiel.

  “How do you think you’ll accomplish that?” Doria scoffed. “When you’re not even hunters enough to fully come after me.”

  “There’s a time for everything, Doria and I’m smart enough not to press into an obvious trap. We’ll have that piece, Doria. If you think you’ll be able to find it then you’re even more stupid than I thought after discovering you’d given in and become a Dark Sorceress.” Meagan shook her head slowly. “You’re a
lready lost and are just too stupid or blind to see it.”

  “You can’t already have it. It’s impossible!” Doria shouted.

  Samiel held back a smile. Somehow, she’d misunderstood what Meagan had said.

  “Not too much is impossible for me. I’m not alone. I don’t have to do everything on my own.” Meagan took a slow step forward. “I’d bet that with the help of the vampires I can work my way through your traps and shields in no time.”

  Doria’s eyes widened and she fled. Samiel knew that Meagan was aware of the facts. They would have to face Doria again, but there hadn’t been much chance of catching her this time. And Doria wasn’t the only problem. There was more than one Dark Sorcerer involved here and Doria was probably one of the weaker pawns. They needed to find the Dark Sorcerer who controlled the others. It was likely he would decide to move once he discovered there was no chance to create the kingdom he planned. There was also the slight chance the Dark Sorcerer could go for another goal here. It all depended on his ego and his belief in his ability. If he thought he could craft something like the generator he might try it.

  “You let her go,” Lissandra said accusingly.

  “We weren’t going to catch her today regardless of how much energy we poured into going at her. This was a test to see how I’d behave, if I could be lured away from Samiel and Jaeson as well as to see what we can handle.” Meagan glanced back at Lissandra.

  Samiel wished they could have caught the witch, but Meagan was right. There hadn’t been any chance that Doria would have stayed and fought. The Dark Sorceress wasn’t prepared to risk her life yet. He personally thought the woman wouldn’t ever be ready. She was the type who’d probably run if possible at any time.

  Clearing the area took some time. The vampires took care of the traps the Dark Sorceress had left. Meagan finished taking the power from the last of the tandini. She stood. He saw her hand tremble as she sent her weapons into the Fa’ed. She’d definitely need some power taken.

  When they finished with the traps, the vampires turned and looked around the area to make sure there wasn’t any lingering danger. Meagan supplied power to those who needed it and they returned to the village. Meagan left them to make a report. Samiel remained outside waiting for her. His mind was slowly beginning to focus on other things besides the battle and the Dark Sorceress. Meagan’s trust immediately came to the front. She made him feel invincible.