Destiny (The Keepers of the Teardrop Book 3) Read online

  The Keepers of the Teardrop

  Destiny

  A novel by

  Simone Lari

  Cover by Lorena Laurenti

  Work regularly deposited.

  E-book protected by Digital Right Management.

  © All rights reserved to the Author.

  Publication: March 2016.

  To those who are convinced that fate is

  proposed, never imposed,

  and that we can always have our say in it.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the figment of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious way. Any similarity with facts, places, real or imagined people, living or lived, is totally by chance.

  Any reproduction, total or partial, and any diffusion in digital format not expressly authorised by the author will be considered a violation of copyright law and is therefore punishable under criminal law.

  General Index

  Chapter 1 - An Old Rival

  Chapter 2 - The Vampire of Prophecy

  Chapter 3 - The Enemy has Four Faces

  Chapter 4 - Meeting of an Unusual Group

  Chapter 5 – At Jared’s Farmhouse

  Chapter 6 - The Bait

  Chapter 7 - The Truth from the Past

  Chapter 8 - Double Cross

  Chapter 9 - A Contended Witch

  Chapter 10 - Deception

  Chapter 11 - I am the Chosen One

  Chapter 12 –Always the Same

  Chapter 13 – Unusual Parents

  Chapter 14 - Demons Among Us

  Chapter 15 - Sleepless Night

  Chapter 16 - The Counterattack

  Chapter 17 - Attack at the Chalet

  Chapter 18 - Attack on the Manor House

  Epilogue

  Author’s Notes

  Chapter 1 - An Old Rival

  "You have exactly three seconds to convince me not to shoot this dart" Jared threatened the man who had just entered his chalet in the middle of the night; Kira hissed threateningly.

  "Calm down, we haven’t been enemies for years now, remember?" the man tried to coax him with a tone which was far too reassuring for the hunter’s taste.

  "Time’s up" sentenced Jared, taking aim.

  "Wait, wait! I’m here for my daughter, Nina."

  The crossbow moved with a jolt and almost fired the dart.

  "No, it can’t be possible! The witch you lost your head for is Nina’s mother?"

  "Exactly, for Clarissa. It was because of her that I left the order and decided not to become a Lich."

  "In any case this doesn’t authorise you to turn up at my house at this hour."

  "You helped me years ago, you believed in me. I have behaved well for all this time, I have never used magic, and perhaps I don’t even remember how to. I’ve lived just like any other man, but now that my family needs me, the old me I mean, I have to come forward."

  "Let it be said, the old you was really disgusting."

  "It’s true, I admit. However, thanks to my redemption, I allowed the hunters to eradicate the order of the sorcerers of the Black Filatterio, so you do owe me a favor, after all."

  Jared’s expression was indignant.

  "Steven, you weren’t very different from an informer that makes an agreement with the FBI. You sang in exchange for a new identity and immunity for your crimes. End of story. I don’t owe you a damn thing. And anyway, what is it that you would have expected from me?"

  "Only one thing: let me stand at your side in this conflict, and help me to explain the situation to Clarissa."

  "That’s two things, I believe" he argued quietly, lowering the weapon.

  Kira stopped hissing and apparently took no more interest in the newcomer. Watchful, with her strange three-footed gait, she went to a safe corner and lay down. She put her head on a paw but kept her eyes fixed on the unexpected guest.

  "You couldn’t offer me some, could you?" asked Steven indicating the jug of coffee on the nearby table. It was still steaming and the aroma coming from it promised it would alleviate every bad thought.

  "Yes, but drink it quickly while you explain the details to me; my nephews will be back soon."

  "You can consider yourself lucky it’s like that" he stated filling a cup.

  "What do you mean?" asked the hunter, with a note of apprehension.

  "I saw how things went last night, in an omniscient sphere."

  "Didn't you say you have given up magic?"

  "Stop protesting and let me tell you..."

  Chapter 2 - The Vampire of Prophecy

  In the hills on the horizon, the tops of the trees began to be tinged with the vivid colors of dawn. The songs of a few birds floated in the air.

  With an in-your-face smile, Sting crossed the veranda of Jared’s chalet at a brisk pace.

  "Nanananananà!" he sang jauntily, flinging himself about in a strange dance. He fell suddenly silent. "How the fuck did that song go?" he asked himself, but losing interest in the sound effects shook his head and with a feline leap reached the clearing in front of the farmhouse.

  He put on his sunglasses but only for a fraction of a second, then took them off and threw them to the ground, contemptuously.

  With a middle finger raised to the clear sky, he said resolutely: "I don’t need them anymore. And I don’t need anything to protect myself from you. Bring it on!"

  The golden rays reached the parked cars, throwing their long streams of light onto the wet earth.

  As the sun slowly devoured the ground in front of his feet, his smile gradually diminished in size and bravado.

  And what if the prophecy did not tell the truth? The doubt crept into his mind.

  An instinct for self-preservation, which was every bit as good as a human’s, encouraged him to make a prodigious leap to shelter under the pergola.

  "Ah, that’s where you were" said Jude. "But what are you doing there on the ground? Counting the termites?"

  Before getting any response, she passed him with light steps.

  "What wonderful sunshine!" she exclaimed arching her back with a flexible feline movement, stretching her limbs.

  "Get away from there!" Sting rebuked her, grabbing hold of her.

  They ended up on the ground behind Jared’s pick-up.

  "What the heck are you doing?" protested the girl, as she tried to push him off her.

  "What am I doing? Do you remember what happened yesterday? Bite, vampire, sun that kills? Do you want me to draw a picture?"

  She stared and took a hand to her mouth. "Oh, fu..."

  Sting watched her carefully. Not even the slightest sign of sun damage or burns had appeared on her face and bare arms.

  He lifted his hand above the vehicle and looked at it immersed in the morning sun. He felt a slight warmth, by now almost unknown to his senses.

  "So the Prophecy was telling the truth" he murmured amazed.

  Overcoming all remnants of hesitation, he got up.

  Jude tried to pull him down, but he reassured her: "There is no danger."

  The girl stood up timidly, hugging herself to his side.

  "Why doesn’t the sun cook us as if we were two burgers on the grill?" she asked candidly.

  "The Prophecy said that the chosen one would be immune to the power of the Teardrop. Given that the Teardrop radiates rays which are as intense as the sun, it was reasonable to think that I was immune to it, but evidently..."

  "Evidently what?”

  "A vampire that I created is immune too, meaning you."

  "Fantastic! I’ve obtained eternal youth and I don’t even have to give up sunbathing!" she exulted, jumping around li
ke a mad woman.

  "Sure, but this power mightn’t please that nice bunch of witches, druids and hunters we’re conniving with."

  He pulled her down again, in the shelter offered by the side of the pick-up.

  "Just think: if I wanted to, I could create a new breed of daytime vampires, and this would not make our human allies happy."

  "Do you think that would be a valid reason to get rid of us?"

  "I do, so we must be cautious and not let ourselves be discovered, understood?"

  "Don’t worry, I'll only tell Nina and Angelique."

  "No! You won’t tell anyone!!!! At least for the moment, not even they need to know" he sanctioned determined.

  She nodded, intimidated by Sting’s sudden seriousness.

  Chapter 3 - The Enemy has Four Faces

  Abraham lifted his mouth dripping with blood from the neck of the girl; her head had already been hanging inert for some minutes.

  "Forced for decades to feed myself with transfusion blood: how disgusting!" He freed the girl from the clasp of his arms. The lifeless body slipped softly to the ground.

  "Your effort will be adequately rewarded, my dear man" a vampire elder in regal robes consoled him. "I remember our agreement like it was yesterday, enshrined more than three hundred years ago."

  (Persepolis, North America. A.D. 1681)

  In the total silence of the isolated country mansion, a tall and slender figure with a thin neck and emaciated face which contrasted with the ephemeral vividness of the eyes, walked down a long corridor, arms joined behind his back.

  "So, the Pact of the Guilds has been sealed" he confirmed to his silent companion, a creature who looked not too dissimilar and had the same determination in his step.

  "It’s centuries since the humans ever had such a powerful weapon available, we had to bow our heads before they were torn off us."

  "Indeed, but the life of man is ephemeral, and his strength of will often falters. Generations of them will follow, increasingly weaker, less accustomed to fighting and sacrifices. They will forget us, basking in their dwellings, certain that the Pact will protect them."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I say, indeed, I state in the most categorical way that our secular lives have much more value and meaning than those of human beings, so short and fragile. Don’t you agree?"

  "According to some of them, it is precisely the brevity, uncertainty and precariousness of their lives which give a special value to every day lived."

  "And it seems that your house is beginning to think the same way as humans, seeing that it became a promoter of the Pact."

  "On the contrary, you and your house opposed it initially, but you finally consented to sign the Agreement."

  "This does not mean that I have really accepted it, but the real question is another: do you accept it?"

  The vampire stopped in front of a heavy door of dark wood. He thought for a few short moments and then declared firmly: "No. I, like you, will never accept it."

  "Then, my dear Abraham, let me introduce you to a small group of elders who think exactly like us. We have a plan to discuss with you, in which you will carry out a role of primary importance."

  He opened the door and invited him to enter.

  "Unfortunately Clarissa and Ossian both escaped our trap, but nevertheless the enemy suffered substantial losses last night" declared Abraham, interrupting the flow of memories.

  "They have little importance, it’s Absolon that we should watch carefully" affirmed a female voice. From beneath her mantle of shadow, a hand angrily cast away the goblet emptied of its amber nectar. "It would be better to act in his absence rather than wait, Lord Banedoom."

  "Our precious ally is right, it may be time for your clan to enter into action" Abraham confirmed.

  "The moment is certainly favorable for us. While waiting to receive from my scholars the object that will allow us to oppose the power of the Teardrop, my followers will move to achieve a very precise goal. In the meantime, another of my precious resources..." He snapped his fingers and a woman came to him immediately and prostrated herself at his feet. "She will act on my orders to create an advantage for us, and we will see to what extent."

  He stooped over her and bit her on her scrawny neck without causing her to give any show of pain or attempt of defense. The vampire lifted her head and with teeth still imbued with blood, he made a hole in his left wrist. The human opened her mouth, looking at him avidly and excited. He instilled a few drops of blood in her throat, intoxicating her.

  "Recently, while I was looking at the fields of battle through my omniscient sphere, I noticed that another power was listening" intervened a fourth element wrapped in a crimson cloak.

  "Do you have any idea who that could be?" asked Lord Banedoom.

  "Only the ancient Order of Black Filatterio used that kind of artifice as a means of remote vision. Given that, in addition to myself, the only survivor of the massacre that took place twenty years ago was the one who betrayed us, it can only be Steven, the repudiated sorcerer."

  "A negligible problem" summed up the mysterious woman enveloped in the shadows.

  "A potential disturbing element that is added to the enemy ranks" the sorcerer retorted.

  "It will not make any difference, you’ll see. Rather, Banedoom, explain better how you intend to act," said Abraham.

  The vampire elder chuckled and, in no way intending to explain his plans in detail, limited himself to establishing: "We will act on two fronts. On the one hand, we will break the morale and the integrity of the enemy ranks." He caressed the face of the human girl. "And on the other hand, the most important thing: we will make sure that the vampire of Prophecy is on our side."

  Chapter 4 - The Meeting of an Unusual Group

  It was almost dawn when, in the farmhouse, the victims of the Revenant’s attack were reunited with each other and covered with white sheets adorned with mystical runes.

  When she had completed the thankless task, Clarissa took Nina by the hand. Agata put her ams around their shoulders and urged them to go into the great hall, where the survivors and their allies were recovering from a long and turbulent night.

  When the three witches entered the room, Vans got up suddenly from the sofa.

  "Huh? Yes, I was not sleeping" he justified himself, rubbing his eyes.

  Gabriel and Angelique parted their heads resting againt each other, ready to hear what Clarissa had to say.

  Ossian and Maycon, at the opposite side of the room, stood up at their arrival.

  Expecting sunrise, Katrina drew the heavy cream colored drapes and, not satisfied, lowered the roller shutter. Christopher, who was waiting impatiently for Nina’s return, approached her cautiously.

  "We have prepared the novices for the funeral rite" announced Agata.

  "There have been too many deaths, both here and at the Tasker house. We cannnot allow massacres like that to occur again" declared Clarissa.

  "I have warned the Order: I have asked them to send other adepts to strengthen our ranks in view of the enemy’s imminent attack, but it will take time" replied Ossian.

  Nina joined Angelique.

  "No news from Jude?" she asked.

  "Unfortunately not. I’ve tried to call her several times, but she has the cell phone turned off."

  "Don’t worry, she’ll be ok" Christopher said. "Sting might seem crazy to you, but I know him very well and I know that, when it really counts, you can trust him. He will take good care of her."

  "Sure, but the fact remains that, with all due respect, Jude is not human any longer" Vans murmured.

  "We Morland do not create slave progeny or out of control vampires" intervened Katrina. "Our lineages are fully sentient and usually keep a good part of their humanity and their character."

  The words did not completely convince the girls.

  "The question of the Chosen One and his descendants deserves to be treated with greater attention" Ossian broke in.

  Christo
pher snorted annoyed.

  "Had it been up to you, you would have eliminated Sting and the girl. My friend will stay well away from our faction until he feels safe enough to return. And that won’t happen soon."

  The pair looked at each other, exchanging intense challenging looks.

  "Try to calm down, all of you!" urged Nina, resolute. "Jude is our dear friend and a novice of our Order. Some may think it strange, but Sting too is part of our group. Both deserve to be treated with respect, not hunted down like animals in flight."

  "Nobody wants to hunt them down, but it would make sense to find them to understand what role they will play in our struggle" explained Gabriel. "The Prophecy speaks clearly: in one way or another, Sting, the Chosen One, will be decisive for the outcome of the conflict."

  "We all need to get our ideas clear and get some rest" decreed Clarissa.

  "And nourish ourselves" added Katrina. "Christopher and I will go back to Jared’s chalet. He has some supplies of blood for us. At nightfall Christopher will go out looking for Sting and the girl while I will try to contact our clan to get information and request support."

  Clarissa and Ossian nodded in agreement.

  "Not that I found him particularly pleasant, but what do you say about Absolon? As far as I understand he went to recharge himself, but how long will that take?" asked Vans.

  "Clarissa’s wounds were very serious. He must have used a lot of energy to heal them" Maycon explained.

  "Furthermore he had used his powers to fight at our side" added Angelique.

  "He will return as soon as he can, but we cannot expect him to assist us always. Doing so has already altered the balance of powers. The demon that supports our enemies will also make his move, and soon" warned Ossian.

  "Well, for the moment all we can do is return to our uncle, but not before taking Angelique home" said Gabriel, squeezing her hand.

  "Be careful how you move out there, because the human progenies could act in the light of day and hide behind any face, in any institution" Maycon suggested.