TESSA: THE BELOVED
Chapter 10: A Whisper & a Clamor Tessa's POV
"Tessa, let's go! It's time!" Omari's unmistakable voice echoed in my mind.
I didn't respond. Instead, I stood frozen, staring at the vampire poised in the archway on top of the Palazzo dei Priori. His lips widened even further, the corners of his mouth turning upward to reveal his dagger-like teeth. My hand hesitated on the grip of the gun, my eyes narrowing in on my target. It would only take a matter of seconds for me to point, aim, and fire the Immortal Bullets into his worthless flesh, ending the battle before it even began. I firmly clutched my Beretta, sliding it languidly from its holster, as the clock atop the piazza tolled once more.
"Tessa!" I felt the cool sensation of hands on my left arm distracting me from the task at hand. "Something has caused the crowd to panic! We have to go!"
I deflected my attention from the enemy for a brief second to meet Omari's eyes, holding up my gun in ready position. As I turned back to the palazzo, I noticed that my target had now fled into the shadows and my opportunity had been missed. I cursed under my breath, my eyes frantically searching my surroundings for the immortal who had vanished from my view.
"Tessa, listen to me! Your father will take care of Joham. We need to go now!" Omari pulled my face to his with both hands, waking me from my current focus.
Looking into his reddish-gold eyes, I nodded, and he reached down, taking my left hand into his right. As we darted through the massive crowd in the square, everything seemed to travel in slow motion. My ears were greeted with muffled screams and cries of terror, and I caught fleeting glimpses of bodies lying motionless on the stone ground. I could feel my great-grandmother Bella's invisible shield flying all about us as we neared the Bishop's Palace at the northwestern corner of the piazza.
Omari led me to the opposite side of the palace, throwing me up against the wall inside a small alcove.
"I'm getting you out of here," he breathed into my face, cupping my cheek with his right hand.
"Omari, what are you talking about? We have to go back. That's my family out there!" I spat at him, fighting off his arms that were now circling my waist.
"No, Tessa, I won't allow you to go back. You're too precious to me." Omari shook his head in protest. "I'm taking you to Egypt where it's safe."
"What's gotten into you?" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, my insides boiling over in anger. "You saw this day coming for centuries! You saw me leading the battle, Omari!"
"It's too great of a risk. I can't lose you, Tessa!" He gripped my waist tighter against him.
"It's a risk I'm willing to take," I replied, pushing against his shoulders. "I can't abandon my family. They need me."
"I need you," Omari spoke before I had even finished my sentence, the look in his eyes pleading for me to see things his way. "This is the only way we can be together."
"I'm sorry, Omari." I released his grip of my waist, readjusting my hand on the hilt of my Beretta. "I'm going back with or without you."
"Tessa, don't! Please!"
I peered out from the alcove, assessing the situation, and took off back toward the piazza. I didn't sense Omari's presence behind me, and frankly I didn't care. I knew where I needed to be right now; I needed to protect my family and the citizens of Volterra from Joham and his bloodthirsty children. I would deal with Omari later.
As I reentered the square, I heard a loud, steady stream of gunfire, and I knew that the battle had begun without me. My great-grandmother Bella was positioned in the middle of the piazza, erecting her shield all about the humans. Her daughter Nessie stood beside her, a hand pressed firmly to her mother's cheek. I wondered for a passing moment what they could possibly be doing and then realized that they must have been preventing the crowd from noticing the action developing around them.
Instinct kicking in, I immediately cocked my gun and raced into the square, firing at will into the throng of half-breeds now swarming all around me. One by one, they tumbled to the ground, gripping their bullet wounds in horror before turning to ash. Santiago soon joined me, discharging his gun and sending a dozen more to their deathbeds.
"They've already killed at least thirty humans!" My second in command shouted as he reloaded beside me. "Bella and Nessie are protecting the humans. The king and his head guardsmen are searching for Joham; he's disappeared."
"How many are there?" I asked, firing at a blond half-breed who attempted to break through my great-grandmother's shield. He crumbled to the ground and burst into ashes.
"About a hundred. We can't be certain of their numbers. They just keep coming out of nowhere!" Santiago raised his gun and fired into the mass of half-breeds once again.
I reloaded as well, my mind reeling in concern for my father, Jacob, and Edward. It had been our hope to take out Joham before the battle commenced in order to make his children submit to our will. That plan had now been altered, and it appeared we were fighting until the very last half-breed was rendered to ash.
After annihilating a half dozen more, I ordered Santiago back to the opposite side of the square to help the remainder of the guard. I reloaded my gun once again, slipping the new magazine firmly into the hilt of my Beretta.
"Tessa Black," a deep but unmistakably female voice called to me from behind.
I drew in a sharp breath as the sensation of a blade pressed forcefully into the small of my back. I raised my arms in surrender, the gun still in my right hand. The overwhelming scent of vampire enflamed my nostrils.
"Who's asking?" I questioned, watching the guard take out several half-breeds across the piazza.
"An old friend of your vampire," she respired into my ear, the tip of the blade pushing further into the leather of my bodice. "An eye for an eye…"
Her free hand snaked up my right arm, fingering the Beretta held fixedly in my hand.
"What a beautiful weapon you have there, Tessa. Mind if I take a closer look?"
"I'd prefer you didn't." I tightened my grip around the hilt of my gun.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Her breath blew onto the flesh of my neck, sending ripples of goose bumps down my back. "Give me the gun and I'll call the children off your friends."
"Never." I gritted my teeth, refusing to give into her demands. I couldn't let the most dangerous weapon in existence fall into the hands of the enemy. Even if it meant I would have to sacrifice my own life in doing so.
"I see you've chosen the hard way. Very well."
The knife tore into the flesh of my back, stunning my senses and causing my hand to release the gun. As the blade left my body, I stumbled forward and crashed headfirst into the pavement, my body writhing in inexplicable pain. Every sound around me faded to a dull hum, and my vision began to blur. My fingers tugged at the stones in the ground below, fighting to bring myself back to a standing position. I then gripped my chest, attempting to heal the gaping wound now staining the stones below me in a crimson hue. I would not accept defeat; I had to stand and fight.
"Tessa, no!" I heard a familiar voice behind me. "Kebi, what have you done?"
My eyes widened with the realization of who had attacked me. Omari had told me that Amun, the immortal who had tried to kidnap my mother before I was born, once had a mate named Kebi. My father EJ had killed Amun after he had stabbed my father on the plane those many years ago. The words Kebi had spoken earlier declaredly rang in my head, "An eye for an eye…" She had obviously joined forces with Joham and planned to exact revenge against my father by destroying his only daughter, the one being Amun had wanted with all of his heart and soul.
"Omari, how nice of you to join us," Kebi's baritone voice cackled. "Too bad your girlfriend can't stick around for the party. My master will be requiring her services so to speak."
I came onto my hands and knees, my mouth coughing up blood, just as a boot flattened my back toward the ground. I landed with a thud, my chin scraping against the pavement.
"Stop, Kebi! Please!" Omari pleaded as I tried to regain my composure and return to my feet.
"Or what, Omari? You'll shoot me?" She laughed, and I heard the click of the gun cocking. "Two can play at that game."
My heart began to race in panic. I had to gather myself and try somehow to save Omari or they would both end up killing each other. I had to think fast.
"The world's oldest vampire is now going to die at the hand of his own creation. Oh, what sweet irony…" Kebi's words faded as I heard her forefinger securely squeeze the trigger.
Using all of my might, I soared onto my feet, the heels of my boots planting firmly to the ground.
And then there was silence…
Kebi's dark eyebrows lifted in horror, pulling the trigger several more times without success. I had forgotten to disengage the safety after I reloaded the gun.
"Now, Omari!" I screamed, concentrating all of my thoughts to my arms extended at my sides.
"Sweet irony indeed." Omari obediently fired his Beretta at the immortal ahead of him, and as the bullets entered her olive-colored flesh, I used the blades now formed from my arms to slice her body into several pieces. I backed away, and Omari dropped his gun to his side. The pieces of Kebi's body paused in midair and then collapsed as ashes down to the pavement below.
I inhaled and exhaled deeply, my arms returning to leather and flesh. I looked over at Omari, wiping the blood from around my mouth. He immediately rushed me, enfolding his arms all about me.
"I'm so sorry, Tessa. Are you hurt? Were you able to heal yourself?" His hands searched for the wound on my back. The only thing he found was a few shredded layers of leather.
"Yeah, it took me a few seconds. I was almost paralyzed by the sword she used," I replied, glancing at his beautiful face and taking in his glorious scent.
"I believe it was laced with the same poison used in the darts. I can smell it from here." Omari kissed my forehead and then the scrape on my chin.
"Kebi said she was your creation, Omari. Did you change her?" I asked right out of nowhere, healing the marks on my face.
"I did change her long ago, Tessa. She was a gift to Amun, but enough about her." He placed his palms on either side of my head at the temples. "Are you sure you're okay? Why didn't you come with me?"
"I'm fine, Omari. I had to come back and make sure my family was okay. I couldn't just abandon them." I pushed him away slightly and turned to assess the battle. I could detect the faint sound of gunfire, and Bella and Nessie were still shielding the crowd in the center of the piazza. "We need to see if they need our help on the other side of the square."
"Not so fast." A chill undulated down my spine as the voice in an unknown accent startled us from behind.
"Joham," Omari observed, turning toward the voice and protectively placing his body in front of me.
I then realized that we were unarmed, my eyes falling on my vampire's Beretta lying ten feet in front of us. Omari swiftly reached down to grab it, but Joham was faster.
"Omari, glad we could meet again." Joham then bent down and retrieved the gun Kebi had used from the pavement as well, placing Omari's Beretta into the pocket of his black robe. As he returned to a standing position, his strong face twinkled in the sunlight and his blood-red eyes focused on me. "Very intriguing weapons you have here in Italy. I wasn't expecting such sophistication."
Omari released a growl deep within his throat, and I could smell the venom washing over his tongue. I involuntarily began to salivate.
"Your friends have seen it fit to murder my children." Joham began to pace back and forth, the hem of his robe lightly grazing the stones as he walked. "It's unfortunate really. I loved my children."
I shook my head in disbelief. It was a well-known fact that Joham didn't give a damn about his children; he treated them as experiments and nothing more. They were only pawns to him, puppets he could control through invisible strings of manipulation and exploitation.
"Very unfortunate indeed," he continued, still pacing. I heard him disengage the safety on the gun, causing my heart to beat like a drum in my chest.
"Then, accept defeat and vacate the city," I retorted, and Omari placed a hand of warning on my shoulder.
"Be careful, Tessa. He won't hesitate to shoot us," Omari advised, turning back to Joham.
"Ah, so this is Tessa?" Joham sauntered closer to our position, clasping his left hand over his right, the Beretta still in his grip. "How wonderful it is to finally meet you, my dear."
"Likewise." I rolled my eyes in nothing but pure loathing.
"The Alpha's daughter and a feisty one at that." Joham chuckled, eyeing me up and down as if I were a piece of meat. "I would have expected no less considering who your mother was."
"You don't know one damn thing about my mother," I hissed, tired of his pitiful attempts at derision.
"Ah, but I do." Joham's eyes sparkled along with his skin in the sunlight overhead. "She's a little under the weather. Am I correct?"
"You were responsible for her illness…" I whispered, my hand covering my mouth in shock.
"You're very quick, Tessa," he replied. "She was part of my plan all along. Damn shifters and their imprints…your father was so much weaker with her out of the picture."
"Why are you doing this? What do you want from us?" I felt the heat ascending up my spine; it wouldn't have taken much for me to phase and rip him apart at the seams. I should have known he was behind my mother's infirmity from the very start.
"What do I want?" Joham mockingly scratched his chin with his free hand and then ran it through his short brown hair. "Power, wealth, prestige…everything your father stole right out from under me."
"Stole? It was rightfully his to begin with," I countered. How dare he say that my father stole anything from him? My father was the true Alpha; Omari predicted it centuries before he was even born.
"Yes, well, a man can make his own destiny, can't he? Especially a powerful immortal like myself." Joham shifted his robe and retrieved a sword from beneath the fabric with his free hand, the other still firmly fastened onto the Beretta. He admiringly eyed the blade up and down as he spoke. "Your father tried to stop me, but I took care of him once and for all as well as that dog and mind reader he calls kin."
"What did you do to them, Joham?" I fought back the tears as a surge of rage overtook me at his words. Omari gripped me by the waist to prevent me from lunging at the armed vampire in front of me. I kicked and struggled beneath his arms, wanting nothing more than to tear Joham limb from limb.
"Why they are perfectly fine, Tessa," he replied, laughing. "No need to be alarmed. Pardon my poor choice of words. They're safe back at your happy little vegetarian palace you call home…resting comfortably beside your mother."
"You fucking bastard!" I successfully pried myself free from Omari's grip, my arms ready to strike Joham. Joham held up the sword in defense, but Omari guardedly flung himself in front of me.
The blade of the sword sliced into Omari's flesh, the force of the action sending him flying backward to the stone pavement. Omari landed beside the fountain in the square completely motionless, rendered powerless by the implicit poison on the blade.
"No need to waste bullets. I have a much better use for him." Joham slipped the Beretta into the second pocket of his robe.
"How dare you hurt him?" I lunged at Joham with all of my might, phasing in midair, something I hadn't done in months. My leather jumpsuit and boots flew all about me in ruins.
I landed on top of him, a full-fledged wolf, angrily snarling and glaring into his blood-red eyes.
"You certainly are your father's daughter." Joham obnoxiously laughed, sucking his teeth.
Intensifying my growl, I bore down harder on his body, breaking and cracking the stone pavement all around us. Just then, I felt several tiny sharp objects penetrate the skin of my back.
I instantly collapsed against his chest in unconscious surrender, the world drifting into black nothingness…
**************
"Good morning, princess."
I awoke with a start, my head pounding like a hammer was beating against it. I looked up only to notice that I was now inside some type of jail cell. I could hear the faint, steady drip of water somewhere off in the distance, and the distinct smell of dying and decaying flesh flooded my nostrils, making me almost nauseous.
"Have a nice peaceful sleep?" The voice continued.
I sat up, only to be greeted with the realization that I was now completely nude. Instinctively, I tried to cover myself by crossing my arms over my breasts.
"No need to hide, princess." Joham stepped out from the shadows, the trickle of light from a small window at the top of the cell casting onto his pronounced face. "We're going to get to know each other very intimately."
"What have you done with Omari?" I demanded, my hands forming into fists under my crossed arms.
"Nothing. He's in the next cell." Joham's head tilted toward my right, and I turned to glance at the cell next to me.
I could detect a weak glimmer of a body resting against the far wall of the next cell.
"Omari!" I crawled on my hands and knees until I reached the bars dividing the two cells. Grasping the steel bars with both hands, I squinted in order to determine if it was in fact my beloved. "Omari?"
The rigid figure that appeared in the dim light didn't resemble my Omari at all. He had a darker skin tone and more severe facial features. Even his hair was darker and shorter than before. I deeply inhaled and was met with the incredible fragrance of my vampire. I was completely dumbfounded. Was this him?
"Don't recognize him?" Joham snickered. "Well, it seems there is much you still need to learn about your so-called loverboy."
I looked from Omari to Joham and back again, my mind racing with the possibility that Omari had lied to me and disguised his appearance in order to win my favor. I tried to reason with myself. It wasn't possible. Would Omari really shift to look like someone else when I would have loved him regardless of his appearance? A blond Egyptian, especially back in ancient times, would be hard to find. I couldn't believe I was so blind.
"Listen, princess." Joham knelt beside me. The bars were the only barriers separating us. "I know you're feeling somewhat betrayed by your boyfriend right now, and I respect that. Really I do, but there is still a matter I need to discuss with you."
I didn't answer; I slinked down against the bars dividing me from my beloved and buried my head in my hands. Omari's appearance didn't matter to me; I was more worried about his wellbeing. I loved him with all my heart and soul.
"I need you to be strong, princess. I need you to eat this food I've brought you," Joham persisted in his exotic brogue. I could hear his fingers trace the bars as he spoke.
"Strong for what?" I asked, dropping my hands and looking into his piercing red eyes. The scent of the food invaded my senses, causing my stomach to howl in response. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten.
"To be the bearer of my children," he answered without hesitation. "Your family murdered my family. Now you are going to give me more children in return. It's the only respectable thing to do."
"I will never have your children," I growled through my teeth, shivers rippling up and down my spine at the thought of him touching me.
"Of course, you will…or I'll shoot your vampire. We wouldn't want that now, would we?" Joham smirked, holding up the Beretta to his face.
I looked away from him, closing my eyes. I couldn't bear the thought of being intimate with anyone other than Omari, not to mention the wretched vampire before me.
"Look at it this way, princess. You give me what I want. I give you what you want." He patted the barrel of the gun against his right cheek. "You give me say…five or six children, and I'll give you back your lovesick vampire and the elixir to remedy your family."
"Why me?" I questioned, looking him square in the face. "Because I'm the Alpha's daughter?"
"Yes, and the fact that you're a shifter. Our children would be similar to your father, now wouldn't they? Venomous and powerful. Ah, we could conquer the world." His haunting eyes lit up with the fire of a thousand blazing suns as he detailed his plans for world domination. I grew even sicker to my stomach. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before!"
Joham promptly stood up and began to pace the floor in front of my cell.
"Your pregnancy would only last about a month, give or take a week. You could be out of here in about seven months or so, considering how fast you will heal." It seemed as if he was muttering to himself more than to me. "Or I could keep you for a few more years…no that's too greedy, too inconceivable…"
As he continued his rant, I placed my head in my hands again, feeling the overwhelming weight of the world on my shoulders. If I didn't give into Joham, he would kill Omari, the only reason I had for existing. If I did in fact give him what he desired from me, then I would be given my soulmate in return as well as the antidote for reviving my parents, Jacob, and Edward. It didn't seem like a fair bargain; I would have to live with the guilt of my decision either way I chose. How could I look into Omari's eyes again after sleeping with another immortal? How could I bear children that were not his? It would surely crush him. How in the HELL did I get myself into this situation?
"Princess Tessa." Joham was now kneeling beside me again. "I hope you'll find it in your heart to make the right decision."
His dark sarcasm was getting on my last nerve. How dare he manipulate me like this?
"What if I don't do what you say?" I inquired, already knowing the answer I would receive.
"Then, you can kiss your vampire and your family goodbye. It's rather quite simple, my dear Tessa," he mocked, and I wanted to slap the smirk right off his damn face.
"Let me think about it for a few days," I finally rendered. Who the HELL was I kidding? I knew which path I would choose in the end. I just needed to stall him until I could find a way to escape from this dungeon. Certainly, my remaining family and members of the guard would be out looking for me soon. "I need time to think about it."
"Of course, princess," he agreed, rising to a standing position, and threw me a robe to conceal my nakedness. "You don't want to rush things, I understand."
Joham's expression then turned to pure menacing hatred.
"Let's just hope for your sake that I don't decide to…rush things if you know what I mean. You have two days, princess."
Another chill ran down my spine as he exited the chamber, slamming and locking the stone door behind him.
My left palm found Omari's amulet still fastened about my neck, and I gently stroked it in the hopes it would provide the strength I needed. Glancing swiftly from the robe to my vampire, who still lay unconscious in the cell beside me, I knew what I had to do. I had to find a way out of this horrible mess of a situation and slay the immortal who now held us captive.
Attn: So, did this story take a turn or what? LOL Let me know what you think of the ideas I posed in the chapter: Joham being the cause of Leah's illness, Omari looking different while unconscious, and Joham wanting Tessa to have his babies. Too crazy and far-fetched or expected? Thanks as always for reading!
