Hey Guys,
Welcome to the second last chapter for this 3rd book in the series! Can you believe we've made it this far already?!
Well let's get into it shall we?
The Power of Three A Lover's Day/Night.
CHAPTER NINE – Stake Training.
"Now then," Allyria began walking towards the exit of the board-room. "Constant and Karlia are this way. Follow me."
Leo and Philippe rushed to keep up with the queen who herself was making quite a smart pace.
"Can you sense them also?" Leo asked.
"No Leo," Philippe replied. "She can hear them. It's one of the greatest vampire gifts there are."
"I see someone's done their homework," Allyria acknowledged continuing her quick pace.
The threesome continued walking passing rooms they had seen before. The foreboding room they were locked-up in, the room they had first spied Katya in yesterday, the stairs that Philippe recalled lead up to the gorgeous dining room and into the bedroom that Leo had seen with Karlia.
"My, my, this guy's mansion continues to amaze me," Philippe couldn't help but remark as they smartly rushed through the room and out the exit on the other side.
"Yes Radwick was quite blessed with talented decorators wasn't he?" the queen acknowledged, pausing briefly to think. "I believe it was the Adamson family. Yes that's right, Pearl, Abigail, Brendan and Bryce Adamson. Very gifted indeed."
The queen looked up at the ceiling taking in an exquisite god and goddess design that looked down upon them before looking at the men.
"You know I almost arranged for them to decorate the castle," she admitted. "Their gift for knowing precisely what goes where always astounded me."
"What stopped you your majesty?" Philippe enquired.
"Sadly dear Philippe," Allyria replied. "Abigail, Bryce's wife, passed away before I could reach her. The men then decided they wanted out of interior design. It's so sad. I tried to hire my grandson to do it, but let's just say nepotism belongs in the arts."
"And not in decorating?" Philippe questioned.
"Well not in anything that could potentially have them changing your home in an undesirable way anyway." Allyria laughed. "Ah, he we are!"
Ahead of them stood a door that, as with the rooms themselves seemed to be decorated with a purpose. They were double doors painted to look as though from an eagle-eye view you were staring down at a huge grand piano.
As the queen pushed open the doors Philippe noticed Alec, who they now knew as Constant and Karlia kissing.
"Ah-he-hem," the queen cleared her throat.
Immediately the pair shifted apart both looking embarrassed.
"Mother?" Constant replied, being the first to speak.
"Yes hello dear Constant," Allyria answered.
Philippe and Leo rushed into the room and raced to Karlia's side just in time to hear her whisper something.
"Mother?" she pondered.
"Um-hmm," Philippe replied quickly. "Queen of the vampire's be nice."
He took a step back allowing the queen to come face to face with the woman her son was dating.
"Oh my dear!" she smiled graciously. "You must be Karlia!"
"Yes…" Karlia replied nervously, looking at Philippe.
Quick on his feet Philippe mouthed back the words your majesty to her.
"…Your majesty, Karlia Stappord. Pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine Ms Stappord," Allyria replied. "Well, I do apologize for the lack of pleasantries, however we must be getting back to…to ah- Philippe's home?"
"Yes your majesty," Philippe replied then turned to Karlia. "We're going back to the power-port. Allyria has a plan to stop Katya once and for all but we need to do some training first."
"Hmmmm," Karlia replied with a very tight smile on her face. "Training. Sounds…fun."
"I'm so glad you think so," the queen replied either not noting the sarcasm or being too polite to address it.
"Your majesty," Leo interjected. "The fastest way to get there is to orb, but you'd all need to hold on to me."
"But there are too many of us to all hold on to you," Philippe realized.
"Ah but don't forget, I can orb," Karlia replied.
"Yeah once," Philippe recalled. "Acci-"
"Exactly," Karlia stopped him, not wanting Constant to know it was by pure accident. "Leo you take the queen and Philippe. I'll take Constant."
"I bet you will," Philippe replied out of the corner of his mouth.
Leo desperately wanted to object and he knew that the elders would have a field day going off at him for letting Karlia orb before she even had absolute control over it. But he recalled what Philippe had mentioned earlier.
I want you to be able to think for yourself, them aside.
That had been what Philippe had wanted and Leo wanted to make Philippe happy. Besides, he personally had no objection and knew his only concern came from years of being told how to act and think by them.
"Ok we'll meet you back at the power-port," Leo smiled, looking purposefully at Philippe.
Immediately Philippe had recognized what Leo had done and couldn't help but beam. It was a proud moment for them and all independent white lighters everywhere.
"*"
"You're just perfect you know that?" Matt asked in-between kisses with Selena on the couch in the living room.
"You're perfect," she replied kissing him once more.
Just then chimes could be heard as not one but two lots of white and blue lights appeared.
"Two?!" Selena reacted jerking upwards. "That's never good."
She stood up and made her way over as the orbs disappeared. Selena's mouth fell open in shock as she looked at her friend.
"Karlia?!" she asked. "You j-just…"
"Yeah orbed and doesn't want Romeo finding out she's new at it," Philippe whispered to her quickly as he walked past.
"Got ya," Selena whispered back. "…couldn't stay away huh?"
"Oh I'm sorry Selena," Karlia replied sarcastically. "Play time with the wolf is over. We have work to do."
"Ok, wait," Selena replied holding up a hand and then pointing at Allyria. "Who is she?"
"Hello Ms Mullen," Allyria replied quite formally "I am Allyria, queen of the vampires."
"Ooooh kay then," Selena replied. "I think I need to lie down."
And quickly Selena sat back on the right side of the couch. With Matt in the middle, Selena now noticed Philippe was sitting on his left.
"Are those my sweat pants?" he asked casually.
"Oh yeah, sorry man," Matt replied.
"Don't worry about it," Philippe replied. "Plenty more where that came from that's for sure. It's just nice to see you…dressed finally."
"Yeah, was about time I untied him," Selena answered.
"Excuse me, if you'll pardon the intrusion," the queen interjected. "We have some work to do. Now, if you don't mind I'd like a word with my son first and then we'll begin training."
"Training?" Selena asked looking at Philippe.
"Yep, fun times ahead," he replied. "Yeah that's fine your majesty, the conservatory should do or you can use the backyard either way is good with me."
"You are too kind Philippe, thank you," the queen replied.
"Oh my god, where are my manners?!" Philippe demanded suddenly. "I'm so sorry your majesty; the conservatory lets in quite a bit of sunlight."
"That's quite alright Philippe," Allyria replied. "Constant, Ettore and I are one of very few that can walk in the day light. But thank you nonetheless." The queen replied before hurrying away with her son.
Karlia took a seat on one of the chairs facing the couch and Leo now occupied the one next to hers.
"Sooooo," Karlia cooed suggestively. "What's been going on here?"
Meanwhile Allyria and Constant had made their way into the conservatory to discuss the issue regarding his father.
"Mother?" Constant asked concerned. "Is everything alright?"
"Oh fine," his mother replied. "That demon Katya is so distracted she hardly knows which way is up let alone my escaping."
"But what of father?" Constant pushed.
"Your father is still with her," she replied. "But that is why I need to speak to you. There is something you need to know, something I should have told you long ago."
Back in the living room Karlia was still taunting Selena.
"So did you give him Philippe's pants before or after your little chat?" she winked.
"Before thank you," Selena replied, trying desperately hard not to smile.
"I'm so sorry we had to leave you in that condition Matt, it wasn't very hospitable of me," Philippe barged-in trying quite hard to change the topic.
"It's ok Philippe," Matt replied. "As I told you before I understand."
"Well please know you are always welcome here," Philippe replied. "Any friend of Selena's is always welcome."
"You mean boyfriend?" Selena asked.
"Do I?" Philippe questioned.
"We just confirmed it yeah," Matt replied. "We're now official."
"That's awesome!" Karlia replied. "Congrats guys!"
Selena beamed while Matt thanked them. Philippe looked at Leo and raised an eyebrow questioning whether or not they should say anything also. Leo nodded so Philippe took the lead.
"Um, so…" he began. "Leo and I got to talking and…"
"Oh-my-god, oh-my-god, oh-my-god!" Karlia rushed excitedly.
"Ok calm down Karlia, I haven't even finished yet," he replied.
This stopped her right away.
"Don't tell me you discovered another demon?" she asked. "We've barely dealt with this one."
"No, no," Philippe replied. "We discussed our issues and well…"
"Yes?" Selena replied smiling, while Karlia looked moments away from bursting.
"We're official too," he finished.
"OH MY GOD!" Karlia yelled frightening everyone as she raced as Philippe pushing him back into the couch and hugging him with great force. "I'm so happy for you!"
Philippe was taken a little aback, but was happy to see her reaction nonetheless.
"Th-thank you Karlia," he stammered. "I really appreciate your support."
Karlia got up and raced over to hug Leo as Selena turned towards Philippe.
"It's about time!" she smiled and then turned to Leo who was still being hugged by Karlia.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again," she said. "Welcome to the family Leo."
"Thanks Selena," Leo replied smiling.
Selena turned to Matt as Karlia somehow made her way back to her seat.
"See this is what happens when good gets its way," she smiled.
"Oh yeah," Karlia replied. "Speaking of good, Alec- I mean Constant, god that's going to be confusing."
She shook her head to refresh.
"Told me that Katya made his family an offer to go to evil if they helped her and the only real reason they agreed is because she said she would help them. Apparently they're running low on blood and Katya offered them the blood of all her victims."
"Gross," Selena replied.
But it was Matt who sat up straight upon hearing this news.
"Yes!" he replied. "She basically said similar to us! She promised us fresh meat, a place to sleep and of course the loyalty of evil."
"Loyalty of evil?" Leo enquired shocked to hear that they even knew such a word.
"Yeah, it's a big thing with wolves," Selena replied.
"Naturally," Philippe answered. "It's what makes each pack as strong as they are, but Matt why do you guys need evil? You have your pack."
"The meat and shelter," Matt replied. "We're running low on supplies and we basically have 2 caravans to share and that's it."
"Hmmm yes," Allyria replied from behind them making everyone jump. "We were low on supplies too and our castle is disintegrating more and more each day."
Everyone began to ponder what they could do for these poor people. After all they had all been so good to them, it didn't seem right that they should be forced to live the lifestyle they had at the moment.
Karlia however only had eyes for her beloved, who now looked like a train had hit him. Puffy eyes, red cheeks and tear streaks covered the once confident looking face.
"Constant!" she acknowledged racing up to him and giving him a supportive hug. "What's wrong?"
Philippe looked up at the queen knowing full well what was wrong.
"You told him?" he asked simply.
"Quite so," the queen replied and then turned her attention to Karlia. "Ah- Ms Stappord, there's a bit of an issue that we need to discuss…"
Despite the queen's trailing off, Karlia simply lead Constant to her seat and they sat together looking back up at her.
"Forgive me Ms Mullen and ah…" she realized she didn't know the man sitting with her. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced Mr. Wolf?"
Selena looked offended, but Matt smiled kindly.
"I'm Matt your eminence," he replied. "No need to ask who you are though your majesty we know of you quite well within the pack."
As graceful as he always was, Leo got up and offered the queen his chair.
Thanking him she sat down.
"Well," she chuckled slightly. "Dying breeds need to stick together don't we? I have of course met Randolph, lovely gentleman."
"You know Randolph?" Selena questioned.
"Who's Randolph?" Philippe whispered.
"Alpha,"Matt replied quickly.
"Got ya," Philippe smiled now looking back at the queen.
"Yes Selena," the queen replied. "He bought a lovely hand-crafted vase for my table. Quite a gentleman. The moment I was coronated he came along seeking asylum. Naturally I was only too happy to oblige. But I digress…"
She took a quick glance at her son. It pained her to see him looking so upset, but it couldn't be helped.
"You see Ms Mullen-" the queen started.
"Please your majesty, Selena," Selena interjected.
"Selena, Matt and Karlia, the reason why my son is so upset is that vanquishing Katya comes at a grave cost. As I have instructed Philippe and Leo, coming back into the living requires a price and it's different for everyone. With demons it's what's called a living-bond. They need someone tied to them to remain earth bound." She concluded.
"And," Selena replied. "Who is it your majesty?"
But it was not the queen who responded.
"It's my father," Constant whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.
Selena and Matt shared a look of shock, while Karlia held Constant securely, not knowing what to say.
"Hm-hm," the queen cleared her throat. "Sadly, what this means is that my beloved Ettore, Constant's father, must also be vanquished for without which we could never truly vanquish Katya."
"It's true guys," Philippe continued. "And there is no other way, I've already asked."
"*"
As hard as the situation was to deal with, the one thing everyone agreed on was that they needed to move and get everything ready to vanquish Katya. Not only had it been close to 48 hours since they first awoke but with Katya knowing Karlia had the jewel she wouldn't really have too many reasons to stick around and no one knew just how long Ettore could distract her.
Allyria had confided that Ettore didn't know about this and that even when he did find out he wouldn't be a willing victim to anyone including her. So not too much later Allyria, Constant, Karlia and Philippe were in the conservatory, the sun had gone down and Allyria had placed several cushions and stakes around the room.
"Now you want to aim directly for the heart," she instructed a very intrigued Philippe and Karlia as she held a red cushion in front of her and pointed to an area. "Like this."
With no trouble at all she shoved the stake through the cushion, flipping it over to reveal the pointy end coming out the other-side.
"Wow, she makes it look so easy," Karlia whispered.
"Don't forget vampires have super strength," Philippe whispered back. "And she's the queen."
Allyria pretending not to hear them removed her stake and turned to them.
"Ok so we'll have Karlia with…" the queen started as Karlia raced over to Constant.
The queen chuckled.
"Ah, no Karlia, you'll be with me," she finished. "Philippe will go with Constant."
"But Mother!" Constant wailed.
"Now, now Constant," the queen remarked. "How much work will actually get done if I put you two together hmmm?"
Everyone knew she was right and so Philippe and Karlia swapped places.
"By the way welcome to the family," Philippe smiled at Constant as the queen could be heard telling Karlia what she was doing wrong.
"Thank you Philippe," Constant replied. "I just wish it was under better circumstances."
"Me too," Philippe replied.
Constant picked up a purple pillow and held it out in front of himself.
"Ok, let's make like I'm a vampire," he started.
"But you are a vampire," Philippe laughed.
"Ok true," Constant smiled. "So let's make like this is a vampire and I'm a human holding him down."
"Now that works!" Philippe replied, rounding a high kick to the pillow. "Heeeee-yaa!"
Philippe slipped over and fell to the ground. All eyes went to him, but as soon as he started laughing Allyria and Karlia went back to work as Constant held out a hand to help him up.
"It's not a demon Philippe, it's a vampire," he laughed.
"Yeah…right," Philippe replied still laughing. "Sorry. Ok vampire, stake, not kick. Got it."
Constant held the pillow out again and this time Philippe actually did a good job partially piercing the lining.
"Hey, there you go," Constant replied. "Good start Philippe."
"*"
Upstairs in the attic Matt was assisting Selena and Leo as best he could with potions and a spell to vanquish Katya.
"Well here she is in the book," Selena piped up.
"What?" Leo asked surprised looking up from the potion he was making.
"Why're you so surprised? Everything's in the book. Well…except for wolves…sorry honey." She said looking at Matt.
"That's ok," Matt smiled. "We're a different species like you said."
"But that's where I can make a special entry later," Selena replied. "If you'll help me."
"I'd love to," Matt smile.
Leo walked over to the book still stunned.
"It's just that Katya was never in the book before."
"Oh yeah?" Selena asked. "So how'd they read up on her last time?"
"The former charmed ones found her in a book at magic school," Leo replied.
"Magic School?" Matt asked.
"Later honey," Selena replied. "Later."
Selena and Leo quickly took a moment to read what had been written about the demon.
Katya
Katya was a low-level shape shifting demon who was looking to do everything to impress those in power as she felt unjustly treated by upper-level demons.
Katya used to work for demonic dark lords but then went rouge and was considered a powerful and unpredictable player in the underworld.
Below this information was a message written in neat scrawl.
Throw a potion consisting of hemlock root, wolfs bane and mandrake root – Paige.
"I tell you that Paige has helped us so much. I hope we get to summon her one day," Selena said.
"I'm sure someday you will," Leo replied. "Now the potion is just about ready I added some beetle toe for a little extra kick. Are there any spells?"
"No," Selena said, continuing to flip. "Not here but…Oh this would work!"
She looked down gleefully before taking out a pad and pen.
To Dismiss the Immortal.
To dismiss an immortal demon simply say the words below. Power of Three required.
Hear these words
Hear this rhyme
Spirits from the other side
Take [Demon's] immortality now, we dismiss her/him
Keep him/her over the great divide.
"Hey!" Selena piped up. "Leo, this is very similar to the summoning spell with just a few changed words."
"Interesting isn't it?" Leo replied corking some vials. "You see in their time the girls didn't need to dismiss an immortal to the underworld and keep them there because they never dealt with this sort of issue. But as with every spell, there is a spell and a reverse. This is basically the reverse to summoning the dead."
"Summoning the dead?" Matt asked backing away. "We're not doing that now are we?"
"No sweetie," Selena smiled. "Instead we'll be asking the dead to drag Katya to hell."
"Ah," Matt replied.
"Ok no…no…no…no…no," Selena continued flicking quickly now through the book. "No…no… Oh! A curse removal spell! Think it would work Leo?"
Leo, who had now corked the last vial raced over to the book and had a look.
To remove a curse.
Evil tampering is just not fair
Take the curse out of there.
(Power of Three not required).
"Hmmm," Selena said out loud sarcasm dripping with every word. "I wonder why. If this works I'm a monkey's uncle!"
"Well you're a werewolf's girl-friend," Matt chimed in.
"Touché," Selena replied writing it down quickly anyway.
"I might as well," Selena replied to a skeptically looking Leo. "You never know and besides what do we have to lose?"
"More importantly Constant and Allyria could have something to gain," Matt replied.
"I knew I loved you for a reason," Selena smiled quickly kissing her boyfriend before turning back to Leo.
Leo handed out potions to both of them and the three headed downstairs in search of the others.
"*"
Once back downstairs Selena couldn't help her widening eyes. Feathers were flying everywhere and what looked like at least 20 pierced cushions were stranded all over the place.
"Oh I am so not cleaning this up!" she remarked.
The threesome walked into the conservatory to see Allyria and Constant each holding a cushion of their own while Karlia and Philippe made impressive movements towards them.
Karlia raced forward, did a forward flip in the air and shoved a stake right through the cushion Allyria was holding. Meanwhile Philippe darted towards the cushion and then did a flip over Constant's head before grabbing his neck in a vice-like grip and piercing his own successfully.
"Bravo you two!" the queen acknowledged. "See what you can manage in under half an hour when you put your mind to it?"
Karlia and Philippe beamed as Selena strode into the room.
"Wow, well done guys!" she beamed. "Philippe who knew?"
Philippe couldn't help the smile that remained on his face. The feeling of adrenaline was intense and he liked it.
"We ah," Matt began. "Have potions for everyone."
"Oh yes!" Selena replied, temporarily forgetting. "Thanks honey. We have potions, enough for 2 each."
Everyone gathered around taking potions. Matt looked at Selena not knowing what to do. Selena put her one of her vials into each of Matt's sweat pant front pockets and smiled mischievously before taking the ones he was holding.
"Darling where do I?" Constant asked, seemingly with the same issue.
"Generally we pocket them," Karlia replied. "So ah, Jacket pocket?"
Constant did as advised and Karlia called for attention.
"Ok, so the way I see it we'll have two groups," she said authoritatively. "The vampire group which will be those who just did stake-training, Philippe, Allyria, Constant and myself. The other group can be the Katya group which will be Selena, Matt and Leo."
Without responding everyone naturally gathered into the two groups.
"We'll go after Constant," Karlia continued. "Leo, the moment you see Katya bring Matt and get Philippe and myself will swap with him. In the meantime, if we see him first we can take care of that and come to you."
"Wow Karlia," Leo replied. "Sounds like a plan."
"Yep more than just a dumb-blonde hey?" Karlia replied.
"You never were any less," Philippe replied kindly.
As Selena and Matt stood along-side Leo, Allyria and Philippe placed a hand each on one of Karlia's shoulders while Constant placed his arms around her waist.
"Ok everyone, let's go," Karlia announced as both groups left the power-port headed to the mansion for the final battle.
"*"
The moment Karlia, Philippe, Constant and Allyria orbed into the mansion there was a sense of foreboding. Philippe noticed it right away.
"It's almost too…"
"Quiet?" Karlia offered.
"Yeah," Philippe replied. "Where's Katya raging about the jewel? Where's Ettore? It's almost like…"
"They've left," Constant finished.
"Left?" Allyria laughed. "Ettore wouldn't leave without me, I'm sure of that much."
Just then and at lightning speed a figure fell from the sky down on top of Allyria.
Philippe and Karlia had only just enough time to realize it was Ettore before he very swiftly staked his wife in the heart.
All the pair could hear was the sound of Constant screaming.
"Mother!"
"*"
Didn't see that one coming did you? So what did you think of these chapters? Let me know I can not wait to hear.
Also I will be doing an 'authors notes' at the conclusion of this book. Its something I like to do to wrap everything up nicely. If you have any questions about the book, characters or the series in general send them to me this week and I will add them to the author's notes questions list.
Next time on the finale of The Power of Three: With only one chapter remaining you may think you know the outcome but then again…
(Philippe): "Don't tell me he's immune?"
(Karlia): "Are you crazy?!"
(Constant, darkly): "How dare you."
And that's all in the first few moments. But then….what happens when Philippe finally meets Katya.
(Philippe, darkly): "It's about time we met."
(Katya): "Is it?"
(Leo): "Philippe! Watch out!"
In a finale so consumed with drama…
(Philippe): "Grams?!"
(Selena): "Mom?!"
(Karlia): "Toby?!"
What stroke of magic could be the key finishing it all?
(Philippe): "Great! The one time I wish I did know Latin."
(Constant): "Let me see that."
(Leo): "Philippe, that's the…"
BEAT-BEAT-BEAT…..WHAT-IS-IT?
The finale of Power of Three next week.