Chapter 29

Lillian

I left everyone in the room and made my way to the cellar of the, opening the door to find Violet, on the floor. The chains of the shackles were looped around a metal bracket on the floor, even Davik’s unique strength would not be able to pull it up. I looked down at her, memories of her sleeping after our love making filling my head and alerting me to her ruse. I walked up and planted a hard kick to her abdomen, causing her to scream in pain, as well as curse me for hitting her.

“Well it is time to wake up Violet, you spoiled little bitch! You have a lot to answer for and I plan to make sure you pay for every last thing you did!”

“Fuck you Lillian,” she snarled, “I am not sorry for anything that I have done and Davik deserved it for abandoning me!”

I punched Violet in the face as hard as I could, knocking her to the ground. I grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head up, placing my mouth next to her ear.

“Davik never once abandoned you, even when he left after his fight with your father, he never once stopped thinking about you!”

“Yeah right, I am sure he was thinking about how ignorant I was while he fucked you and that other slut I cut yesterday.”

“Davik as not done a single thing of a sexual nature with anyone The last time anything happened was in Dru’Tirk and you told him it was okay, I was there remember. You also teased him that you were going to do the same with me, which you a hypocrite for saying anything. He has run himself ragged, searching everywhere for you, hoping that you were okay and still alive. Do I have feelings for him yes I do. He is the kind of man where you do not even realize it has happened. I am not the only one that feels that way and like me she started by loathing him, but we knew not to push. He was not over you, he knew that you were out there, probably dealing with everything that had happened. He was confident that you would come back, giving you two the chance to talk and figure out what you wanted to do.”

She scoffed at that and spit at me, a bit of blood and spit hitting my face and shirt.

“By the way Violet, I was there that night. I watched as snuck up behind Davik and Trent, shoving his sword through Trent’s back, piercing his heart. I watched as Davik tried to diffuse the situation and try to understand what was happening. He did not want to fight the man he saw not only as a friend, but a surrogate father. Ruben did not give him a choice, despite Davik trying to injure him in a way that would not kill him, but might get him to stop. I had to intervene when it looked like Davik was going to die and though he did not know that it was me, he still would not let Ruben kill me. Even at the end, as Davik’s strength was failing him, he tried to save your father. Your father was the one to let go and for Davik’s grip to falter.”

“So it does not change what he did,” she replied, an arrogant tone replacing her hate filled one. “He still left!”

“Violet, you saw the sheer speed and power at his command last night as he fought Brenson. He has the power and strength of an old one, without the need for a blood moon. He was able to drive a knife through the skull of a Tora, as well as bend a poker for the fireplace as if it was child’s play. He was afraid to be around us to be around you. Put yourself in his shoes, what if he hugged you and ended up breaking your arm What if he broke bones while you made love, because he had no way to control the vast strength at his disposal. He knew he could not live with himself if that happened so he left I went to keep an eye on him for you, so that he would come home. I did not expect to be hurt, nor did I expect to reveal myself to him, but it happened. You need to get over it and yourself, else you are headed for a rude awakening.”

“You are the one that needs to get over yourself. Soon will come to get me and you will all be nothing more than food for him to enjoy when the next blood moon rises.”

“By the gods you are dumb,” I exclaimed with a laugh. “He has Davik now, you have served your purpose and he is done with you. You were meant to distract Davik and give Brenson an opening to kill. After Davik’s display of strength, he took him alive instead, no doubt to figure out how he became that way.”

She shook her head, refusing to listen to what I had to say, but I could care less after all she had done.

“I am leaving now, but let me leave you with this little morsel, Celka was Brenson’s sister by blood and my last living relative, other than Brenson. If we ever cross paths again, I will kill you for what you have stolen from me!”

I turned to find Ruben standing there, a pained expression on his face as he looked down on his daughter.

“How could you do this Violet? How could you hurt your friends and your family?”

“Davik left me time and time again, always with a stupid excuse and he took you from me. What else was I supposed to do? Sit at home while he went off, without me again?”

“Violet, I nearly died because Brenson threatened to kill your brother, rape and kill your mother, then rape and possibly kill you. All of this I would be forced to watch, after he had eaten my arms and legs, making me unable to save any of you. He nearly killed me and Davik’s father when we were twelve we were lucky to get away with our lives. He killed Stevan in cold blood, eight years after we had escaped, simply because he could. He then helped Brant kill his father and turned him into a. Brant and his flunkies raped and murdered dozens of people over the six years before Davik’s return, including the family of Liza and Trina, along with Lillian’s mother.”

“So what” she spat, “ it does not change anything Besides I do not believe any of it! Now let me go daddy, you know that I do not belong down here!”

“I always wanted to make sure you were given the love and support I never had as a child, but I never thought that I had spoiled you so badly. I am truly ashamed of the woman you have become Violet, but perhaps you can get some perspective from this. This was the journal you found with Davik, it covers everything that happened with Stevan and me, as well as entries from Davik that he made before coming here. everything that had happened since his return and hopefully you will be able to realize the grave error you have made.”

Ruben turned to leave and I followed him as we the cellar. Not a word was exchanged between us as we continued to the front desk.

“Please make sure she gets water and bread with each meal,” Ruben, a look of sadness on his face. “However, she is to receive nothing more than that.”

The man nodded and we continued upstairs We arrived at Celka’s room just as they had finished wrapping her in a pyre cloth.

“She is ready,” Revar stated, pain in his voice. “I talked to Sebastian and we are allowed to take her to the church in the north end of town to conduct her funerary pyre.”

“If you do not mind, I plan to stay here and try to counteract what Violet did to her, but I have little to go on.”

Everyone nodded and Jerreth picked up Celka’s body, as everyone filed out of the room. Kayla stayed back and came up to me as the others headed down the hallway to the stairs.

“I volunteered to stay back, both to watch over Janet, but to help you as well. You and Celka had taken the time to talk with me and help me in learning about herbology and how to heal. I hope that with my help, we might be able to bring her out of it.”

I nodded and said, “Thank you, Kayla. I know that both Janet and Celka would both be proud of you stepping up like this. I just wish they were here to help us rescue Davik, because there is no telling what Brenson is doing to him.”

Davik

I felt groggy as I began to wake, unsure of where I was, but I could tell that I was on a bed. I opened my eyes and found that I was in darkness Closing my eyes again I let my sight come to me and looked about the room. It was a room of stone, the only things in the room were the mattress, a pillow and a bucket. I looked up and saw stone, meaning I was in a room inside Brenson’s lair. I out but could not hear much, meaning the walls were too thick and that meant my room must be in the center of the building. I guess he learned his lesson from when my father and Ruben had escaped all those years ago. I noticed the door across from me and approached it, though it was hard to tell what it was made of, even with my abilities. I ran my hand along the surface and felt the cold sensation of metal against my finger tips. I called on my strength, hoping to be able to possibly damage or dislodge it, but it failed to yield to my assault.I began to stomp my foot against it, with all my strength, but it would not budge.

“Bang all you like boy,” a raspy voice called out from the other side of the door. “You will not leave that room unless I will it to be so!”

“So you must be Brenson, the poor bastard that has nothing better to do than hurt and kill people to fulfill your dark desires.”

“I am Blackheart,” he spat, anger filled his voice. “Brenson is dead and will never return, I saw to that!”

“I see, you also saw to it that your daughter was killed and Violet of course killed your sister yesterday.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I have no daughter and the sister of that fool Brenson is in Vishant and has probably died by now.”

“You do not recall being in a relationship with a woman from Antiv, one of the northern villages She was from Vishant and it looked like you two were destined to marry, until she found out that you were a. She cast you out and demanded you never return, turned the whole village against you.”

“How do you know that, I never told anyone about Ishala. I had not hurt any one, but she demanded I leave, saying I was tainted and she could not trust me. I was cast out of the village with nothing! All because of that weak bitch!”

“Well that weak bitch became the town healer and gave birth to a little girl. That girl moved to and was raped and then killed by Brant in one of his attacks.”

There was no retort, only silence and I figured he was dwelling on what I had just revealed.

“It is no matter, she was a part of Brenson’s life and I have no need of anything that is tied to that weakling.”

“Is that why you left your sister, who adored you, to wonder where you had gone? Who believed that you had not been cursed, but that you left the province to escape persecution. She followed you here, became a traveling healer and used that to try and find out what happened to you. Celka helped me when the curse threatened to take me over, but now is no more. Violet slit her throat right in front of me, while I was forced to watch the light leave her eyes.”

“You are wrong Davik. Though I did have a sister named Celka, she was too timid and weak to do such a thing.”

“She told me how you developed your own unique style of writing and that you taught it to her. That is how she was able to read the diaries you left in your old shop in Fardun which we found by the way!”

.”Well you are just full of surprises, but if she was my sister, she was on the wrong side. She gave her life to a greater purpose, but I will make sure she is remembered when the dust settles.”

“Ah, yes, your plan to conquer Vishant. While it is plan, you have one fatal flaw. You cannot turn enough to do so, at least not before Vishant comes and massacres you.”

“What! What in the seven hells are you speaking about boy Vishant has no idea what I have planned.”

“It does actually, Celka had the Patron of Cartha get in touch with the of Vishant. They are well aware of who you are and what you are doing The last he told me before I left, they were sending an army.”

“You are bluffing, boy. There is no army, there was no message and Vishant will be ill prepared when I finally strike!”

I laughed, “When will that be I was able to damage or destroy your plans that were decades in the making, in a year or two. At this rate you will be dead before your plan comes to pass, even with the longevity that the curse grants you. I am sure I will have shaved a few more years off, once you heal all the damage I did, if it all heals.”

“Laugh all you want boy, it will not change your fate. You will tell me everything and die quickly, or refuse and be tortured to the brink of death. I wonder, will you be as easy to break and mold as that little whore was She was so easy to convince to be turned the seed was already there, a bite is all it took. She really is dense, especially when I told her she needed my seed to turn. She may not have much brains, but her body more than makes up for it and the sounds she made as I claimed her were exquisite.”

I felt bile rise up in my throat as I pictured her copulating with that sick bastard, in either form. I roared in anger and punched the door as hard as I could, nearly breaking my hand in the process, yet leaving a deep impression of my fist in the metal. All I heard after that was the sound of his laughter echoing through the halls as he left.

Lillian

I have spent two hours trying to find a way to help Janet, but I do not know what to do. The curare should have killed her, whether it was regular curare or the unique one that Brenson used to try and kill Davik. It merely weakened her and forced her into a deep sleep, which it has been known to do in the most minute of doses. So either the dose was low enough not to kill, or it was a high dose that she had a partial immunity to. Then it was like a spark went in my mind and I began collecting all the things I needed There was one ingredient necessary that I lacked Wolf’s Bane. If I was right and I could get my hands on some, I would be able to bring her out of it.