Chapter 6 ∣ A Demon Within

*Crossover*

To Omen's Key

Co-Written with Laisha C. Gardner

The Omen's Key can be found on the account: @DarkR0se5 

-Locaine

Blood magic.

An innate ability inherited through the hunter bloodline that now has mingled with the vampire race. This...this I had been able to eventually learn to trust to some degree. With Annika and then with my own daughter, Evie...the only doubt that ever crossed my mind, was when grandson, Maverick, had completely lost control. I feared for the lives of this world, both vampire and hunter as we had an alliance, a strong one? Not exactly, as they would always harbor some grudge if it weren't against the entire vampire race, it would be with me.

Being the one that set everything into motion hundreds of years ago, when the vampires took this world with an iron grip, there are those who still resent me. Do I blame them? Not all at, after all, I'd done horrible things.

Now, the last thing on my mind was the treaty, as it was shredded to pieces when the Alpha King decided he would take Maverick's life as payment because he slaughtered both an Alpha and Luna. Though Zak was able to find him and show us that he had indeed changed, we weren't about to give up his life as forfeit.

Thus, the war that has been brewing between the werewolves and vampires has escalated. Hunters have chosen their sides, many choosing to side against us as we were initially their common enemy and some still hate Maverick with a passion.

"Are we ready then?" Rook asked.

Dark magic.

This, however, was something I was very foreign to. It held much darker properties and held a foreboding feeling. He brought Maverick's soul mate back from the dead...I don't know anyone with enough power to be able to do that. Apparently, he's had this gift since he was a child, something his father, Erebus, forgot to mention.

Must have slipped his mind.

Tamsin punched her fists together and smirked, "When are we not?"

Everyone thought Maverick and she were meant to be together an exceedingly long time ago, though as it stands, she's yet to find her beloved. Killian was lucky with Kenzie, it's truly much harder for an assassin to find their beloved, based on their innate ability to meld with the shadows, deceptively giving off the appearance that they are dead. Ever since he remained out of the shadows when he was watching over Evie, he had the opportunity to find Kenzie and their daughter is one hell of a prankster.

Arlynn glanced toward me, unsure if in this moment she really did hold the authority to command our group. She always would, so long as Lucca was here with Evie, a danger for the King and Queen to be outside the walls with the threat of an attack from the wolves.

I nodded and Arlynn stated, "Killian, Tamsin," she locked her emerald eyes with them, her fiery red hair pulling around her shoulders. God, she looks so like her Aunt Rynn...it still breaks my heart, "Stay hidden and only attack if necessary, you are our greatest assets."

Arlynn turned toward the hunters, "Zak, keep close to Kenzie, do not use your blood magic unless absolutely necessary. Clover stay on the outskirts and keep a sharp eye. Ryker, stay with Rook and Lucette, do not let anything get close to them. As we have no idea what Rook's dark magic has done, the consequences of his actions may impact us all, depending on what has happened."

Maverick asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Actually, fight this time," Arlynn gave him a sideways glance, bringing up memories of when Lucette was attacked by a rogue vampire on Halloween night when they were children.

Maverick looked steamed, stating, "I think I can handle that," he folded his arms and huffed.

"Locaine?" Arlynn asked me, her voice gentler then when she spoke with the others.

Turning toward her, I returned her question, "What do you need?"

"If you see something that I don't...I'll stand down," her voice wavered, "I don't want to lead if I don't understand everything."

"Don't worry," I chuckled, "You're fine and I'll keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."

The doors to the mansion opened, revealing the dark night that had gathered, something uneasy running through my bones. This night was different, something about it, was simply wrong. There was no moon in the sky, the last sliver, completely gone. The air was dead, no sound could be heard in the distance. Whatever Rook had done, was about to become a lot more real then I think any of us anticipated.

"Let's go!" Lucette was the first through the door, her long white low ponytails flowing out behind her, Tamsin and Killian instantly disappearing, our hearts feeling the aching pull as their existence appears to have ceased to exist. Arlynn and Rook dashed after my granddaughter, followed closely by Maverick, Zak, Ryker, and Clover.

It was me and Kenzie that brought up the rear, Ryker pushing past and ahead to be right behind Lucette and Rook. Zak pulled his speed, backflipping over the two of us until he ran directly behind Kenzie. Nothing was going to stop him from protecting, he was not going to let another soul die if he could help it.

It didn't take us that long, coming near the outskirts of Fair Oaks, the trees becoming less dense as we came to a very eerie clearing. The closest trees were burnt, smoldering ashes of the trees that all but disappeared were gathered in heaps near what appeared to be something glowing of the ground in the distance.

The smell of the charred wood filled the clearing, Rook and Lucette edging very cautiously toward what could only be what we had come here for. Ryker reached over his shoulder, drawing his giant silver scythe, he gripped it with his right hand, held down by his side.

I could see out of the corner of my eye, Clover nearing one of the trees still shrouded with their green leaves. Crouching down on one of the branches, her long ebony hair flipped over her shoulder when she drew her silver, Oneida. The topaz blue in her hair flowed out from under the black, sitting next to the string as she drew back an arrow, listen and watching with those white irises.

Zak drew his two medium length daggers, both pointed forward as he stood next to Kenzie, her own stance shifting, the quiet getting to everyone. It was making us second guess what the darkness held, the shadows shifting when Maverick came to stand near me, asking, "Something's not right."

"It's very quiet..." I replied, not a soul to be seen or felt.

It was in that moment that I took my breath sharply, a sudden, but faint pulsation of complete power rippled through the clearing, the ruins on the ground shimmering slightly.

What the hell is this?

**

-Rayne

I could feel the twigs and branches breaking against my foot as I appeared within the woods, my presence becoming absolute within seconds.

Deriva.

It was a spell that we, necromancers, used to move within this plane of existence, traveling within the shadowy veil hidden to this world. Our bodies drifted within the presence of darkness and took us to wherever the mind desires. It took years of practice and it was one that very few mastered. Often, if not trained properly, the soul would be extracted from the body and lost between the planes of existence. Ultimately, it had become the test to decide who would and would not be fit to serve me in this world, unknowingly.

Standing within the darkness of the deep Oregon woods, my eyes scanned the area. Mist covered the ground beneath me as the humidity within the air created a foggy atmosphere. The trees were still, and the sound of utter silence was one that I had come to know all too well as the sound of something far more dangerous than a warning.

Within the matter of seconds that I spent observing my surroundings, my coven presented themselves around me. Alongside me stood my little angel, Cayden. Her long black hair hung beautifully over the hood attached to her black leather jacket. Her, with everyone who stood with me, were concealed in dark attire as they were all aware that we would hide within the darkness until we found what we came looking for.

—until I found what I came looking for.

I had learned, over my many years of existence, that sometimes things are better left unknown. The coven knew we were looking for a hole that was made between two worlds, but the coven did not know that I was looking for something more, something more dangerous than that entryway: the pureblood vampire necromancer, Rook.

My feet hesitated; my lungs careful to release the deep breaths that I had taken as we stepped deeper into the darkness. I could sense danger lurking from the end of the trail that we traced. It was not for my sake that I stood with caution, but for the sake of my coven and the woman that I held dearly. If any, there were quite a few things that could harm me. Apart from my father, I had never come across anything nearly as powerful as I.

We had taken but a few steps deeper into the woods until the energy radiating from a demon nearby forced me to come to a halt. In an instant, my eyes began scanning the area.

"Lucifer?" Cayden questioned as she too came to a halt alongside the rest of my coven.

I raised my hand, requesting silence from those who stood by me. The energy from the demon that I had felt quickly multiplied when another stepped within just a few feet from where we stood.

It was out of the corner of my eye that I spotted a woman standing a few feet to my left side. Her dirty blonde hair was being held back into a ponytail; her celestial orbs scanned my form as a smirk crept onto her face.

A vampire?

As I shifted my gaze away from her, my eyes landed on a man standing a few feet away from Cayden. He eyed her for a moment before his attention was directed to me.

"Lucifer, I don't sense anything," Ramsey's voice echoed from behind me, Cayden hesitantly drawing the gun from one of the holsters on her side as Ramsey added, "There is nothing here."

Can't they see them?

It wasn't until the blonde vampire moved at an incredible speed that I realized why my coven was being deceived.

Assassins...

My gaze altered, my senses picking up on distant energy coming towards us at an inhumane speed.

"Something's coming," my voice was low as I focused on the magic coursing through my veins. At the sound of those words, Micah drew a gun loaded with undiluted silver tranquilizing bullets.

Silence.

My magic lingered on the surface, waiting for me to bend it at my will. I had just briefly shifted my attention away from the assassins, my gaze fixated on the clouded figures standing before us.

I would've liked things to go differently. Much, much differently, but at the sound of Micah preparing his gun for fire, I knew that we would not be walking out and away from these woods the way that I had planned.

Within a matter of seconds, the fog cleared. It was then that I recognized one of the demons standing before me.

Locaine.

Two purebloods stood at the front, a woman and man, their white hair matching except for their eyes. The woman's sage orbs appeared confused, while the man's citrine amber ones narrowed on my coven.

The two assassin's communication was completely telepathic, their presence was dangerous one on one, but with the two of them connected, the danger escalated. Their eyes shifted to one another, the woman nearing the edge of her group before wrapping back around, switching her position with the man.

A woman with long red hair and stunning emerald eyes whispered something just low enough for me to catch, "Something strange like this?"

She was speaking lowly with Locaine, his eyes scanning us, calculating exactly how strong we were. I believe that is the only reason their assassins had not attacked...at least not yet anyway. Nothing else was said, the sound of an arrow was the only thing I heard, barely seeing the tip of the silver arrowhead, leaning to my right as it sailed passed me and ricocheted off a tree.

There she was, a hunter with an Oneida bow balancing perfectly on a tree branch, her ebony hair pulled away from her shoulders, while topaz highlights revealed themselves across her back. Her white irises locked with mine; frustration clearly written on her face.

It was clear...

...she never misses, and my quick movements caught her off guard.

Her shot was the signal, one I hadn't realized until two more hunters appeared, one lingering close to a woman who appeared similar to the assassin. He held two medium length daggers, one held backward running up the length of his arm, while the other aimed directly for me. The other hunter, his scythe reminded me of something of a reaper, but it wasn't used for collecting souls. No, it was used to take the lives of rogue vampires and now the apparent werewolves.

The woman assassin moved, just as the other vampire who looked like her ran straight at my coven. Micah fired a shot, missing as the vampire slid to her knees, the hunter flipping over her and landing short of Ramsey, his haunting eyes narrowing on her.

Without a single command, she pulled back and away, the sheer number of purebloods was something they'd never seen, let alone the assassins that were unseen.

Cayden had drawn her gun, aiming for the closest vampire, the one with blonde hair. Before she could fire, Micah had already loaded and aimed another bullet directly at the woman. He pulled the trigger, the male assassin's nostrils flaring when the female cried out in pain. The bullet hit her just below her rib cage, dropping to a knee and glaring at Micah.

"Micah!" I snarled, his attention remaining on the woman he shot.

The anger pulsated to life, radiating through each one of them. Locaine's and the rest of the pureblood's eyes shifted, the black rose irises reflecting the lives they wanted to claim. Their fangs elongated, a hissing spreading through them.

It was then that I was able to grasp onto the fact that the man who had created the entryway stood within our presence, but before I could utter another word, it became far too late for me to even attempt to stop the fight that had already begun.

"Cayden!" I yelled, the woman assassin lunging from the shadows, materializing as she was about to encounter her. Listening to me, she rolled back away, flipping onto her hands and springing back to her feet. A pain clenched at my heart, seeing as the assassin knelt on the ground, Tobias had been standing next to Cayden.

Her hand was buried in his stomach, the blood coming from the open wound. He gasped, doubling over as he tried to wrap his hands around the assassin's wrist. She wouldn't allow it, twisting her grip before the male assassin glowered, "He's not your target."

"I know," she replied darkly. The assassin withdrew her hand, thankfully not ripping out Tobias' intestines in the process. "She is," she pointed her bloodied hand at Cayden, her heart racing beside me at the wild look in the vampire's crimson-stained irises.

Micah had taken a few steps back, his gun aimed right at the female assassin. Before he could fire another shot, the arrow soaring through the air knocked the gun from his hand, the tip barely scraping and opening his flesh. The hunter with dual weapons appearing in front of him, dropping to his feet when Micah attempted to grapple him. The hunter knocked his feet out beneath him, laying him flat out on his back.

Before the hunter could bring his blades down, ready to strike both into Micah's chest, I glowered in anger. My blood boiled as the demon within me demanded its release.

Without even attempting to keep my demonic side at bay, my eyes shifted to their threatening pitch-black color as my silver orbs sparked into an almost pure-white color. My large black wings thrived from my shoulder blades, fire igniting them as my torso concealed itself with blue flames. An animalistic growl emitted from the back of my throat, my upper and lower fangs elongating.

"Enough!" A demonic voice unlike my own rose from within my throat and at my command, their actions completely ceased. I eyed each of the male purebloods, another animalistic growl waging from within me as I questioned, "Which one of you is Rook...?"

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To Seduce a Mortal by K. A. Young and Laisha C. Gardner

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