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I am the last of my bloodline. That thought alone makes my stomach turn. It’s not like there were a lot of us left to begin with. But to be the absolute last is a burden I never wished to bear. I lead everyone up into a forgotten part of the castle. Condemned for all time because of its state of disrepair.
I opened what used to be my great-grandfather’s study. It looks more like a room to entertain several hundred guests versus a room with his desk. “I never understood why he needed such a room by himself.” But then it dawned on me. Looking over the entire area and the things that are amassed in it; there are hundreds of weapons in here. Weapons of mass destruction to destroy vampires and Fae alike. I did not see this coming. Perhaps great-grandfather was prepared all along for the horrors I must now face. It’s an interesting situation I’m in, but apparently my great-grandfather knew it was coming all along.
Chapter52
Sebastian
I keepmyself between Hollis and Kaedyn as we move through the catacombs. Unlike everyone else here, my element is of no use this far underground. Bella opens the hidden door to the stairs leading us up. We enter what she tells us was once her grandfather’s study. Her father apparently walled it off years ago, having deemed his father insane. He killed him during the fight for pack alpha, just like Bella had done to her father. Scanning everything that lines the walls, there are dozens and dozens of weapons. Weapons made of iron which are lethal against the Fae. I then see they have changed the crossbows lining the walls and each to shoot stakes. Her grandfather was prepared for a full out war against the Vampires and the Fae.
Along the north-facing wall, there appear to be several stones out of place. Reaching out, I grab a hold of each of them and start pulling them free from the wall. Behind them is a journal. Flipping through the pages, it chronicles Bella’s entire bloodline. She is a direct descendant of the Spirit Wolves. It also chronicled the history of how the Spirit Wolves ceased to exist in the book. I run over and slap the book down on the dusty desk, sending dust and particles into the air, causing everyone to cough and sneeze.
“Look here!” I point right to the story of how the Shadow Wolves were destroyed.
They tell a tale of an ancient rite that they used to separate the Death and the Shadow Wolves. A horrified expression plays upon Bella’s lips as she reads the passage along with the rest of us. Not all the Spirit Wolves survived having themselves ripped into two separate entities. Tears well up in my mate’s eyes as she stares down at the atrocities committed against her people by the Fae.
The story tells us how the Vampires would drain the Spirit Wolves of most of their blood to weaken them enough for the Fae to perform the ritual. There’s only one enormous difference between the Spirit Wolves of old and Bella. They only took a mate of their own species. They never looked at the other elements, having shunned most of them for being much weaker than themselves. Our blood runs through her veins as does hers run through ours from the exchanging of our bite marks. She’s probably more resistant to the Fae magic than her ancestors.
This endeavor as a whole is terrifying. As we read further into the text, it sheds light on what’s happening now. Apparently, this very castle that we stand in was once part of the high Fae council. The Spirit Wolves, at some point, overthrew the Fae government and took over this plot of land. Some of these skeletons that are down in the crypt aren’t wolves at all. The tale that’s woven in this journal is as enlightening as it is terrifying.
Before time was recorded, wolves did not possess elements. We gained our elemental ability from the Fae themselves. To strengthen both species, interspecies marriages occurred. The histories that we have been told since we were young were nothing but a lie. Everything that I believed to be true is nothing but a deception. Our troops are all held up here in this study, each of them grabbing different books off the shelves reading and finding more resources of what has already happened. A lot of what our elders have told us and believed to be true were all fallacies. For the life of me, I can’t believe that they hid all of this from us.
“What do you think about everything?” I look over at Kaedyn, trying to figure where his thoughts lie with this issue.
“I’m honestly not sure. None of this makes sense. I don’t understand why our elders would lie and hide this from us. The one thing I know is that our histories are incomplete.” Bella looks around at her troops. The look in her eyes shows nothing but rage.
“We might not be able to fix what they did in the past. But I can prevent it from reoccurring in the future.” She stands firmly with her hands flat on the desk, staring at each of us.
Bella extends a hand to me, and I take it. She uses my grip to steady her as she climbs up onto the desk, gaining everyone’s attention.
“They have fed us lies our entire lives.” Her voice echoes through the room and everyone stops what they’re doing to look at her.
“We cannot go on allowing these atrocities to continue.” Murmurs of agreement move through the room at record pace.
“I will not be part of the problem, but I will find a solution that benefits everyone.” She still hasn’t released my hand and I give her a gentle squeeze, letting her know that I stand with her. The rest of the guys all show their support in varying ways. Several of us move to stand closer, just that she knows she does not stand alone.
“What should we do?” One of the guard’s yells.
“What about our families?” Another man yells with a valid concern.
“Is this fight worth fighting?” A third one hollers out of nowhere.
“It’s always worth it to fight!” I yell out of turn. “If we give up now, everyone that’s already died will have died in vain! I just hope that everyone understands everything has happened for a reason. That it was all beyond our ability to control.” Bella squeezes my hand and then turns her gaze back to the crowd. We left most of our troops with the individual kingdoms to prepare for any retaliation that may occur.
“As for everything else, we will do what must be done. And right now, that means that we must take back the Shadow Court and then do our best to right the wrongs of the past. The ruling seat will no longer be here.” Her exclamation shocks the crowd. Past kings have always ruled from the Shadow Court, but Bella is damn sure she doesn’t want to use something that was falsely gained. Turning my gaze back to Bella, I can see how determined she is to fix everything and that drive that she has is impressive beyond measure.
“What do you wish to do now?” I ask yet again, and she lowers her head. “Sadly, just about everything here must die, unless the leader of the Fae is here and we can speak with them. But my other concern is that there may be additional threats that have yet to completely show themselves.”
“You mean Mateo,” Kaedyn fires off. A solemn nod is given, but no words are spoken.
“Take a few minutes to rest, everyone. We’re going to attack when the sun rises. We don’t need to give our enemies any advantages. If we’re able to ensure the Vampires cannot fight alongside the Fae, we may end this peacefully. Otherwise, we’re in for a much bigger fight than I had originally expected.” Bella breathes in deeply and watches her troops carefully.
“But you’re not that strong during the day,” Hollis says with concern, a sad smile crossing his lips.
“That may be true. But there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” She leaves the words hanging there and gives us something to think about.
It’s like my mom used to say that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. And by those standards, Bella is bigger than all of us. She’s ready to lay down her life to free the people that have shunned her all these years. She’s a far better person than most of us.
After delivering her rousing speech, I watch her as she moves among her people, talking to them and hopefully easing their concerns that they express as she passes them. The biggest one that she’s running across is that most are afraid of what will happen if Mateo’s pack rises against them.
