Chapter Twenty-Five - See the real you

Mason Hart

It was late, and Cora had set me up in the guest room. Evan was taking a nap in his bedroom, and I tried to fall asleep, but my head wouldn't shut off. I was wondering what Freya was doing. Had she been turned yet? Fuck, I didn't really care about that, the main thing I cared about was, had she mated the twins yet? The thought of their filthy hands all over my Fianna made me sick. It took all the strength in me not to fly back there and demand that she leave with me. But, I knew she wouldn't even talk to me, why would she after I called her a monster. I didn't mean it; I was just so hurt with what she was saying. I could never hate her; I love her with every fiber of my being.
I exhaled heavily as I laid on the bed staring up at the ceiling. I heard the doorbell downstairs and decided to listen in, it had to be somebody interesting calling around at this time of night. I sat up on the bed and then as gently as I could, I placed my feet down onto the floor. I then stood up and crept over to the bedroom door. I twisted the door handle and quietly opened it a jar. I put my ear to the crack and tried to listen. But there was silence.
“Ahem,” a woman cleared her throat.
I quickly looked up and peered out of the crack with one eye. Cora stood there with her arms folded and an amused grin on her face. She then unwrapped her arms and waved her hand slightly in the air. The door flew open hitting me in the shoulder making me stumble backwards. I caught my footing and stood straight. She chuckled and then said,
“Seeing as you're already awake, would you like to join us? We can get the marking spell underway if you like.”
I nodded and then followed her out of the room. I paused for a second and glanced down the hall. I debated whether or not I should wake Evan, I know he wanted the mark too, but I decided against it and carried on following Cora down the stairs. I thought it best I see what kind of mark it leaves me with first, then Evan can decide whether or not he wants it. Because he would still have to come up with a story to explain the mark to Selene.
“Mason, this is Gideon and Leanora, they will be helping me with your mark, and they are the ones who will be performing Freya's cloaking spell,” Cora introduced the guests to me as I walked into the living room.
I politely waved at them, Gideon didn't seem happy to be here, so I didn't think he'd appreciate a handshake, and Leanora just stood there eyeing me up and down suspiciously. I gulped as the air in the room grew thick, and panic set in as I wondered what in the hell I'd gotten myself into.
“Can we get this over with already? Selene is expecting us in a few hours and I still need to pick up some supplies, “ Gideon boomed in one of the most deep and gravely voices I'd ever heard.
The guy wasn't exactly what I expected a warlock to look like, I was expecting an old man, with a long white beard, pointy had, and a robe. But this guy was far from that. For a start he was younger than I was, well he looked it at least, I guess judging by Cora's youthful appearance, I couldn't be too certain. But nevertheless he looked around 25 years old. He had dark blond hair, that was extremely short on the sides and longer on top, which was then gelled back. He did have a beard, but it was also dark blond. Both of his arms were covered in tattoos and so was his neck, and he wore a small pair of round sunglasses even though it was dark. He was dressed in a blue shirt with a dark waistcoat and dark pants.
Leanora was around 40 years old, she had bright blue almost white eyes. They looked like if they were just one shade lighter, they would look like dead people’s eyes. Very creepy. She had very pale white skin, light enough for you to see the blue veins in her arms, and raven black hair. She was dressed in black leather pants, and a top that didn't leave much to the imagination.
“Yes, of course Gideon, if you all follow me, I have it all set up and ready in the other room,” Cora answered him and then walked out of the room.
The pair followed behind her and I instinctively joined in behind them. I then heard Gideon say to Leanora,
“I don't even know why I'm here. I know that you two are more than capable of casting a simple marking spell.”
Leanora leaned into Gideon and replied in a raised whisper,
“He's a phoenix.”
They both then slowly turned around to look at me and I instantly felt uncomfortable. Gideon's mouth then curled into an evil sort of grin, as he raised his hand up to his face.
“Is that so?” He asked with excitement while removing his tiny glasses.
I furrowed my brow as I looked into his dark brown eyes. They were almost black, and you couldn't tell where his eye color stopped, and his pupil began. And then as I stared into the guy's eyes, I could have sworn I saw a flame flash within them. I couldn't stop staring into his eyes, and I felt myself becoming weaker. My body became limp and as it did Gideon raised his hand up, and then began swaying it from side to side. Suddenly I had no control over my own body as it began to sway in time with his hand.
“Oh, now this is going to be so much fun,” he said as he clicked his fingers and the world disappeared.
I slipped in an out of consciousness, and each time I came too, I could hear chanting all around me. I screamed into the darkness as a sharp and penetrating pain overtook my body. My neck and shoulder felt like they were on fire, and I opened my eyes slightly and saw that I was covered in flames. But I had never felt pain from my flames before. I looked up and in front of me stood Gideon, but his face and arms were all chard and his hands glowed like lava. Cora held a small mirror in front of me and I could see my mark. It looked like a tattoo of a woman angel on my neck and chest. The angel was surrounded by pink and purple colors. It was actually really beautiful.
Gideon then stepped forward and held his hand out in front of my face. He then said in a low and gravelly voice,
“Sleep my little firebug, daddy's hungry.”

Freya Rose

I awoke to the sweet song of the birds outside. Surprisingly even with the amount I'd drank last night, I didn't have a hangover. In fact, I felt great. I stretched and yawned, and when I opened my eyes I was a little confused by my surroundings. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep curled up on the couch with Traian. Now I was back in my bed. I pulled the covers off of me and saw that I had been changed into a pair of pajama bottoms and a vest top. The first thought that went through my mind was, I hope it was Cassie or one of the girls that had changed my clothes.
I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After a much-needed pee and a refreshing shower, I dried off and went to get dressed. I put on a pair of black leggings and a black vest top, and paired it with a gray hoodie and my grey suede high tops. I tied my towel dried hair up into a messy bun and then headed downstairs. I expected the place to be a complete state, and see everyone still passed out all over the place. But it was all nice and clean and there was no one in sight. The place was so peaceful and quiet. I made myself a coffee and headed out to the poolside.
I sat down on a lounger and looked at my phone. There was a message from Cassie.
'Hey, I hope you don't mind, Traian carried you upstairs last night, and I put on your pajama’s. We had to leave early this morning, Tristan rang and told us the baby is coming. He's early but they think he will be ok. I'll keep you posted. Also, we had a great time, and no matter what happens, know that I will always love you and be here for you. Love Cass xoxo'
I felt like I wanted to ring her and ask if Elsa and the baby were ok, also if Tristan was ok. But it was a delicate situation and I am sure that Elsa doesn't need the thought of me right now.
“I hope they'll be ok,” I said allowed as I sat back on the lounger.
“Who?” Selene asked as she approached me.
I sat up and turned to face her, and said,
“Oh, I thought everyone was still asleep?”
“No, I've sent them out for a few hours, the warlock and witches will be here soon to perform your cloaking spell. I thought it best that the pack was absent for it,” she replied as she walked over to join me on the loungers.
I nodded in agreement, if it hurts at all the pack will try to intervene, and I needed it over and done with.
“So, who do you hope’s ok?” Selene asked and then sipped her coffee.
“Elsa and the baby, she's gone into labor early,” I replied.
Her face softened as she looked away from me.
“What? Do you know something?” I asked her with concern as I sat forward.
“I wasn't going to say anything until after the cloaking spell, but sometimes I can see my wolves futures, like I did with you,” she explained.
“And? What were Elsa and the babies future?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
“Elsa won't make it,” she said with sadness in her tone.
“Oh my God, poor Elsa. The baby?” I asked with hope.
“He is strong, he will survive and grow into an amazing young man. He has a bright future,” she replied.
“Poor Tristan. Shall I call him? Warn him or something?” I asked, not knowing what to do or say.
“No, he has a strong and loving family. It will be best for him to only remember ever loving her, it will help him to nurture his son and it will make them closer. If you were to see him after your cloaking spell, his wolf will scream mate and I don't think the relationship with his son would survive it, if he forgot about Elsa and thought only of you. Do you understand what I'm saying?” She asked me.
I nodded and replied,
“Yes, I understand. If he sees me too soon after Elsa dies the new mate bond would take over, and all the feelings he’d ever felt for her would be gone. I don't want to take anything else from that little boy, he needs the love of his father and the memory of his mom being loved by Tristan. I'll explain it to Cassie and keep my distance.”
“I'm sorry Freya, it's a heartbreaking situation. But we all have to choose to do what's best for the people we love, even if that means hurting ourselves. You really are the strongest and bravest person I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I am so proud to call you my friend,” she said softly.
We heard a knock at the front door and Selene immediately stood up and asked,
“Are you ready?”
I took in a deep breath as I placed my coffee down onto the floor. I then stood up and replied confidently,
“Let's do this!”
I followed Selene into the cabin, she introduced me to Gideon, Coraline and Leanora. There weren't many pleasantries and I was glad of that. I wanted this over and done with so that I could focus back on the task at hand, recruit and make an army strong enough to defeat Azael. Then bring the werewolves, vampires, hunters and magical communities together and rule them all in a peaceful existence. It was a bold and difficult future to achieve, but I knew with everyone around me, we would make it happen.
The warlock and witches stood in a circle with Selene and they all held hands with me in the middle of them. There was a magical symbol painted onto the floor, and I knew from the smell that it was human blood. They began chanting and as they did my body levitated off of the ground and began to spin around. The chanting got louder and as it did, flashes formed in front of my eyes of every guy that I'd ever been with, it was like a hologram in front of my eyes. Every intimate encounter that I'd ever shared with a guy. I looked around at the others and hoped that they couldn't see what I was seeing. Luckily they all had their eyes closed and were chanting into the air.
I glanced back at the hologram and I could see Tristan and I in the field on my birthday a few years back. He was chasing me through the grass. I watched as we rolled around in the grass, laughing and enjoying ourselves. I had to close my eyes after a while of watching, it was torture seeing how happy we used to be. And it broke my heart to know that I would never feel that way with him again. When I opened my eyes back up it had moved on to Mason, it showed me when we first met on the coach and our first time in the restroom. It showed me running away from him completely naked and crashing into Evan. My face flushed and I quickly shot my head around to Selene as it began to show me the night that we had our threesome. I sighed with relief when I saw that her eyes were closed.
But as I began to turn my head away from her, her eyes shot open and glared at me, they were jet black with a bright red color pulsating through them.
“You saw that?” I asked nervously in a mind link.
“You're damn right I saw it. We will have it out later, I can guarantee you that!” She replied angrily through the link.
She then closed her eyes again and continued chanting. I shook my head, really not wanting to deal with that later, or ever, to be more precise. I looked back at the hologram and it was now one of the intimate encounters with Sam. The thought of him just pissed me off, so I closed my eyes for the rest of it, because I knew that Azael was coming next, and he was the last person I wanted to see right now.
When the chanting became louder and more intense I made the mistake of opening my eyes, and as I did I screamed into the air. Azael was in front of me, his ashen wings spread out as far as they could go, his black eyes with swirling red vortex burned into mine and I couldn't close my eyes to avoid them. My body had a mind of its own and as my arms flew out to my sides my wings ripped through my skin and fanned out as far as they could possibly go. I screeched into my ascension and instantly burst into my brilliant flames.
My body spun around faster and faster and I could barely focus on anything, the whole room turned into a blur and all I could focus on was the screams from below me, and the rising temperature of the flames that engulfed me.
“What are you doing Gideon!?” Selene screamed out.
“If Azael is as powerful as you say he is, I'm going to need as much power as I can get. I drained one Phoenix this morning, but this one is something else. Her power will feed me for centuries,” he replied with an evil chuckle, in the deepest voice I’d ever heard. The guy sounded like death itself.
“Boy's!” Selene screamed out and I was grateful for her help.
Every time I opened my eyes all I could see was Azael’s face looming over mine. But I also caught a glimpse of Gideon, the guy looked like he was made of lava, and he had my flames wrapped around his chard hands, but his skin was all cracked and within them cracks looked like lava flowing beneath his skin.
I closed my eyes again as the spinning overwhelmed me and made me feel like I was going to puke. The more I spun around the weaker I became until eventually I slumped forwards in the air, and just hung there limp while spinning around faster and faster. The sound of the two witches chanting filled my ears and eventually even their noise became a muffled blur.
Just when I thought about giving up I felt someone tackle me out of the air. Howls and vicious growls quickly filled up the room. I heard Traian scream,
“Mom, what do I need to do? She's so weak!”
“You need to drain her and turn her now! It will give her back the strength she needs,” she replied in a controlled voice.
I could faintly hear claps of thunder, and saw flashes of luminous green lights, and thought to myself that I must be hallucinating still. It would make sense as I could still hear Azael’s evil laugh ringing in my ears. I felt so out of it, I couldn't work out whose hands were touching me, or whose screams I could hear. I then realized that the screams were coming from me. My fire had been taken, and left behind was a simmering heat that was just getting hotter and hotter.
“Mom, she's burning up,” Traian shouted out.
“Drain her, then turn her! It will cool the fire inside of her, I'll get this son of a bitch to give her flames back,” she replied, then within seconds I heard bones breaking and a deep scream from a guy, who I assumed was Gideon.
The heat was becoming unbearable, I think because I was ablaze with flames and they were taken so suddenly, it sempt like my body kept on trying to light itself again. I was sweating so much, and my vision blurred, so I closed my eyes as my head began to spin.
“I'm sorry my little Rose, this isn't how I wanted to do this,” Traian called out to me.
I felt a sharp pain in my neck as his fangs sank deep into my skin, the more blood he drank the further away I slipped. The noise's around me gradually disappeared and all I could hear was the slow thud of my own heartbeat in my ears. My breathing slowed, so much so that I wasn't actually sure if I was even breathing at all anymore. A restful peace washed over me as I drifted off into the deepest sleep that I had ever experienced. There were no dreams, no thoughts, just darkness and a comforting silence.

I gradually awoke to the sound of Traian and Marik whispering. I had a splitting headache and I didn't really feel like chatting, or moving at all come to think of it. I felt weird and nauseous but not weak, far from weak, just different, and odd. I laid there silently and listened to the two converse.
“Tray, is she awake yet?” Marik asked.
“No, it's been nearly a peek, the girl sure likes her sleep. No one I've ever turned has slept this long,” he replied with a huff.
It took a bit of strength not to giggle at the pair of them. Laying here for a peek would explain why I felt stiff and tense. I tried to talk to Mina, but I guessed she was still sleeping. I took in a deep breath through my nose and I could smell fresh coffee, and breakfast, but I could also smell the blood of each individual member of my pack. It was like when I smelt their blood, a picture of them formed in my mind of what they were doing right now.
I tried it out again, because the idea of it sounded ludicrous. I sniffed and tried to pick out Traian and Marik's scents. Once I had their scents singled out from everyone else, I began to see them in my mind. Traian was wearing black jeans and a black and white shirt, Marik was in a baby blue collared t-shirt and dark blue jeans. They were standing by my bedroom door with their backs to me. I wondered if it was my imagination playing tricks on me, so I decided to open my right eye a little to look at them.
As I opened my eye, I could see that they were indeed standing by my bedroom door, and they were wearing exactly what I'd seen in my mind. I thought to myself damn that's cool.
“What's cool? Freya are you awake?” Traian asked as he rushed over to me and knelt down on the floor in front of me.
“How did you hear me? I said that in my head,” I replied as I tried to raise myself up in the bed.
“Here let me help,” Marik said as he hurried over and helped me to sit up.
“I can hear you because I turned you, Marik will be able to hear from you once we perform the marking. Then you will be able to hear us both,” Traian explained.
My cheeks flushed as I remembered our plan, I hope they didn't want to do it any time soon.
“You might feel a little strange for a while, but it will pass, and you'll get used to your new skills,” Traian added.
Marik then asked,
“Would you like some coffee and some breakfast?”
And my stomach answered for me, it growled and grumbled at the mere mention of food. I chuckled and nodded, and they both chuckled with me. Marik then nodded and headed out of the room. Traian then stood up and said,
“I'll go and let the others know that you're awake, then I'll be back up with your breakfast.”
He leaned over me and kissed the top of my head. His kiss wasn't cold like normal, it was neutral. I exhaled as he left the room and closed the door behind him. I felt stiff and my bones ached, so I felt like a quick bath was in order. I placed my feet onto the ground and then pushed up from the bed with my hands. I felt a little unsteady on my feet, and I remembered from when I had the metal removed from my stomach, that ascending helped me heal faster.
So, I stood there for a minute and took in a deep breath. I then focused the energy I did have, and ascended. I screamed as my wings ripped through my skin faster than they had ever done before, and unlike other ascensions, my nails grew into talons. I looked down at my hands in shock but then was distracted by what looked like heat signatures under the floor. I guessed it was the pack, and they were walking around in the living room beneath me. I homed in on two of the light sources that I could see running towards me, and I could hear them talking, it was all tinny sounding and echoed like when your ears pop.
“We need to check on her, see if she's ok, she will be weak after the turning and will struggle to move around at first, “ I heard Marik say and Traian replied,
“Yeah and her senses are going to be overloaded, she's not even going to be able to get out of bed for a few days.”
I stood there and folded my wings behind and waited for the twins to run into the room, I could see that the rest of the pack was following behind them. The twins burst through the door and froze on the spot, just staring at me in awe. The rest of the pack stopped behind them, with a mix of awe and confusion over their faces. A few of them gasped and placed their hands over their mouths. I looked over at Finnley and his face was sad, when our eyes met he turned his head away from me and then silently walked away. I furrowed my brow not knowing why he wanted to avoid me.
“He's just upset because you're a vampire now, he's scared that you will turn into Kali, that somehow it will change who you are,” Traian spoke into my mind as he approached me.
He wrapped his arms around me, and I sighed as I rested my head on his shoulder. I then replied out loud,
“But I still feel like me, yes I have some new senses...”
“And huge gray wings!” Odin shouted out as he pointed behind me.
I pulled away from Traian and walked over to the floor length mirror. My eyes were jet black with gray swirling vortex instead of white, and it looked as if I had storm clouds circling my pupil. I turned to the side slightly and saw my new wings, they were stunning, not their usual white opaque sort of look, no, now they were a dark ash gray with a blue, green and purple sheen, like on a magpies wings. They were a lot larger than before and much more magnificent.
I looked different, I wasn't unattractive before, but now I glowed, like there was a light shining within me. I had the look of a Queen. I stood there for a little while just admiring myself in the mirror like some vain barbie doll. Marik approached me and held onto my waist as he rested his head on my shoulder while he looked into the mirror at me. He then said,
“With your new eyes, you can finally see the real you. The Freya that we have seen all along. Mere words are not enough to explain your beauty. Your blinding light will save us all.”
I smiled as I took in his words. Traian approached us and stood at my other side, and gradually my pack and Selene stood behind us too. I looked into the mirror, seeing a new stronger and more confident Freya, surrounded by my pack, my family. The future was unclear for us. I knew it was going to be a tough and heartbreaking one, but with them all by my side, I knew that we were going to be ok. We were going to fight for a new world, where vampires, werewolves, hunters, hybrids and the magical community, were all seen as equals. I knew from that moment on, I would be willing to lay down my life for that future, and if I had to die to give it to them, then that's exactly what I'd do.

To be continued...

The next book is called Saved By A Sire King.