©CRGangell aka Whitesabretooth
Edited by: PSbabygirl
Hi everyone
This is book 3 in the Twists of Fate series; this story hasn’t been modified and is in its original form. If you feel you can come up with a better blurb or cover please email me and I might use it.
Have Fun
Chapter 1
~Four years after Touch of the wolf. ~
Alanna tapped a beat on her thighs as she waited outside of the combined school she had gone to and now Sage was attending. She didn’t mind picking Sage up and them walking home together, it was always safer in numbers… or so her mother told them. Amy wasn’t referring to hate crimes, for those had curbed and were now a very rare thing. She was referring more to the fact that Sage was becoming quite attractive, despite her tomboyish attitude. Alanna heard the rev of a motor bike. She dipped her sun glasses down to rest at the bridge of her nose and took an exasperated look at the leather-clad man on the bike which was stopped on the same road before her, as a few other similarly clad bikers quickly followed suit. He smiled at her and gave her an appraising look.
Alanna had matured and flourished under Wolfgang and Amy’s care. Her skin was no longer deathly pale, unlike when she first joined them; she now sported a light olive tan, proof of her Italian heritage. Her body no longer looked like skin and bones due to the fact that she was no longer afraid of the people around her, which used to make her too sick to eat. Firm, lean muscles helped to give her shape and form that had men and women drooling as she walked by.
She shook her head and slid her sun glasses back up her nose to cover her green eyes. Her black hair was tied back in a pony tail that finished half way down her back. She was dressed simply in a pair of faded hip hugger jeans, a white peasant top, boots and a handbag finished her look, since she was no longer afraid of people seeing her scars and pitying her; she wore clothes that enhanced her natural assets to their fullest. She checked her watch; a few more moments and school would be out.
“Hey, sweet thing.” The man on the bike called out. “Want to go on the ride of your life?” His friends laughed and made crude comments to each other.
She sighed but continued to ignore them, a car horn beeped, trying to get the bikers to move on.
“Come on, sweet thing…” He started to say, trying to sway a better reaction from her.
She pulled her glasses off, feeling her wolf coming to the surface of her mind, her hackles up and her teeth bared. These men were dangerous; her instincts told her, an unfriendly growl rumbled in her chest. “Firstly…” she snapped, interrupting him. “I’m not yours, nor anybody else’s sweet thing.” She took a deep breath while looking behind him to include the bikers behind him in that statement. “Secondly… if I wanted a ride I would have taken a taxi.”
The men cracked up laughing, liking her attitude, a car horn sounded again.
“Okay, lady…” A different, fatter man started to placate her.
“Go away… now!” She told them firmly, her eyes shifted for a moment, turning golden. She was used to being the focus of male attention, not that she liked it but she accepted it. She normally let the admirers down gently but every now and again one of them would give her the creeps, the hairs on the back of her neck went up and she would react with aggression to push them back and let them know she could and would hurt them if they didn't back off.
Sage joined them at that moment and smiled at her sister. “Hey sis, if you're going to get into a street fight, can I watch you pummel them?” The roar of the bikes leaving was Sage’s answer, what neither had seen was the nod the leader had given his crew; the plan was set in motion.
She chuckled. “Poor humans actually thought they had a chance.”
Alanna joined in the chuckle and picked up her bag, sliding her sunglasses back on and together they walked home. “So what mischief did you get into today?” She asked.
Sage chuckled. “I have a new science teacher. He walked into the room, saw my wings and started to talk about the science of magic.”
Alanna snorted. “There is no science to magic. It is by its own definition, a mysterious or inexplicable quality.”
Sage nodded in agreement. “Try telling him that. Anyway, he then tried to explain how ma can appear out of thin air.”
Alanna cast Sage an amused look. “How?” wondering about that problem herself.
“It’s all smoke and mirrors, according to him.” Sage answered. “But I got him a hoot.”
Alanna sighed. “Enough for the school to call ma and da?”
Sage shook her head. “No. The principal listened to my class then fired the teacher, so technically I had a new teacher.”
“What did you do?” Alanna asked wearily, aware that Sage being a mixed of two completely different kinds of creatures meant that no one knew exactly what she was capable of, so she could have done almost anything.
“So I said for him to explain this in the context of science. I stood up the back and shifted. He then said the ability to shift is an illusion. I walked up to him, put my paws on his chest and shifted back, with clothes on of course, so he can’t claim sexual harassment. I then asked him to explain how I did it, which he, in turn, just stormed from the room.” Sage grabbed Alanna as they stopped to cross the road. “Alanna, you went to my school, there are more Were and Others in our school than humans. There were seven Elementals in my class; even my principal is an Elemental.”
Alanna chuckled and shook her head as they crossed, Elemental was a nice way of calling someone a witch. They had changed their name to avoid the stereotype humans had imposed on them. Elemental refers to the fact that their powers are derived from elemental categories; earth, fire, wind, water, light and dark, or any combination of those categories.
“So are you going to tell ma?” Alanna asked.
“Are you mad? She’ll clip my wings for a month and I didn’t even do anything wrong.” Sage stated fact.
"But you'll be with Dominic for the summer by then." Alanna reminded her.
Sage nodded, the odd agreement between her parents had been quickly put in place after Dominic learnt of Bianca's request for Amy and Wolfgang to take care of her only child. She spent her summers with her father at his keep on Sogol, the home realm of the Da'Vaila, which was the general name of the three races, Gephalim, Nephalim and S'ephalim. So she spent her summer with her father learning about her Nephalim heritage and the rest of the year with Amy and Wolfgang, learning about her Were heritage. "I know, but it won't stop ma from telling him and then I'll get a worse punishment than a simple grounding."
Alanna snorted in amusement, Sage loved and respected her father but according to what she had heard, he was a mean task master. They turned left and walked down a side street which was their normal short cut. Alanna sighed as she heard the roar of motor bikes.
Sage chuckled. That guy must have a serious hard-on for you.
Alanna glared at her younger sister. Goddess, you’re crude.
I know... but you love me anyway. Sage countered.
Alanna rolled her eyes, THAT... is debatable, and Sage laughed.
They ignored the revving roar of the bikes as they continued to walk. Alanna finally turned back to confront the idiots on the bikes as their presence was beginning to wear on her. She could accept being ogled by every man who sees her, she was used to being stared at but she hated it when people followed her. It made all her senses start to scream and her flight-or-fight instincts kick in.
Sage saw the flicker of a portal opening and knew instantly that they were in trouble. She knew the next portal to open was not due for another four to five weeks and more importantly, it wasn't meant to open here. She watched four Gephalim storm through the portal tear; Gephalim were related to the Nephalim and the only way to differentiate them was the colour of their wings. She suddenly understood that the bikers were not stalking them, they were herding them. Sage glanced back and saw one of the bikers trying to get a hold of Alanna. How had she missed the sound of the dart gun she would never know, she knew she was screwed either way and so she chose to aid her sister. At least then she would know her sister was safe.
As she turned to help her sister, Alanna’s fist slammed into the jaw of the man trying to drape her struggling form over his lap, the crunching sound of shattering bone was loud to her ears. Her body was fighting the sedative that had been darted into her thigh. Sage jerked Alanna up into her arms as Alanna's legs shook. Take my hand and say sisters bound by blood, Sage told her quickly as two of the Gephalim got into the air to keep Sage earth-bound, not that she would leave her sister to the mercy of the human thugs.
Alanna grabbed Sage’s hand and their fingers linked together. Sisters bound by blood. She said as she yanked the dart from her thigh and tossed the offending projectile away.
Shortly after Sage joined Amy and Wolfgang's family, Alanna and Electra had taken her into the forest and they had become blood sisters, each cutting their palm and holding the cuts together to form a circle. Having lost their families or part of, they had felt a little lost without anything to tie them together except the love of their adopted mother. So they had mixed their blood, making their sisterhood more tangible than mere spoken or written words. Blood is thicker than water was the common saying and they had bound their blood to each other with magic and ancient lore by simply saying, my blood, your blood, our blood as their cuts were pressed together. Never had she thought that that little bit of silliness would turn into an asset in such a time but now she was glad they had become blood sisters.
Blood, in Nephalim teachings, was in its own right strong magic as blood is life and was often used to strengthen spells. It was common knowledge that the blood of the mason's was mixed into the mortar to make the fortifications around any Keep or watch tower strong, for as long as the blood line was strong the fortifications would hold. But that kind of mammoth magic, the very protection of the keep and its people paled in comparison to the potential power and magic that the blood bond within a family held. When that magic... that bond was invoked, it took a lot of time and power to break, time they would need to escape.
Alanna winced as she felt a dagger pierced her shoulder. She twisted and kicked back, breaking another man’s cheekbone with her foot as the low dose wore off. She reached back and tried to grab the dagger but failed as it was just out of reach.
“Enough.” A well-armoured Gephalim spat and the men stopped what they were doing; it was obvious as to who was in charge. He approached Sage and grabbed her, and gave her a sharp tug, trying to pull Sage and Alanna's gripped hands apart. Alanna winced again as her arm was yanked firmly but her hand was fused with Sage‘s and unless they both agreed to let go, it wasn't going to happen. He growled in frustration and back handed Sage.
“Release the pitiful Were.” He demanded.
Sage kept her growl down barely as her mouth started to fill with blood. She flicked her shoulder-length black and white streaked hair back and glared at the Lord Gephalim. She spat her blood into his face. “Fuck you.” She told him angrily.
He grinned as he used a hanky to wipe her blood from his eyes. “That… little one is the point of all this.” He told her coldly.
"You're a dead man walking, Markus." It had taken her awhile to place his breast plate but she was glad that she could, if... no, when she gets out of this, she would have to remember to thank her father for the tedious lesson.
He grin turned to a smirk, which made Sage go cold. It wasn't a smirk of triumph; it was a smirk of pure insanity, like he wanted to be caught and killed for what he was about to do, wanting to taunt the one Nephalim who would spend eternity hunting him until he was dead for his crime.
He watched understanding dawn in her eyes, his smirk turned into a smile as he turned to one of his men. “Cut them free.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” Sage warned, the confidence her plan was shaken but as long as they could stall him all would be good... she hoped. Rational men were predictable, mad men with death wishes weren't.
He glared at Sage as he held up a hand to still his man. “Why not?”
Sage grinned in triumph. “We are blood sisters, bound.”
Markus went red with anger, he could not break their grip without alerting both sides of their family to what was going on, the shock wave would ripple through the realms, everyone they called family would know and be dragged to them, to fight and protect them. That was the last thing he wanted until he had Sage completely twisted and broken, to teach her father the folly of knocking back his request to arrange a marriage between them last year. He would have her, have fun breaking her in, and may even try to keep her long enough to father a child. But that would never happen if he attempted to separate their hands by force or any means without consulting his magicians, all his plans would have been for nothing. He knew he was as good as dead for his actions, but he planned on leaving Dominic with emotional wounds that would never heal.
“Fine… grab them both.” He growled.
Two Gephalim grabbed Alanna and Sage, Alanna was quivering with rage and fear, she wanted to shift, to bite and fight but she knew she would have to let Sage go to shift and that would leave her at the mercy of the humans. She knew what would happen to her if she was taken by them; she also knew the same fate awaited her through the portal. Only, she knew she had a better chance at getting free there than here as she would be with Sage and not facing this alone, when the time was right they would take their freedom. So for now she had to choose the lesser of two evils. She forced her wolf down as the two Gephalim pushed them towards the portal.
“Hey… you said…” The biker who had spoken lost his head before finishing his sentence.
“I changed my mind.” Markus said, levelling a glare on the remaining bikers. They picked up their fallen friend and fled.
Sage? Alanna cast her a puzzled thought.
Relax, my father has kept my abilities quiet, they don’t know I have full Were abilities, besides stupid Gephalim won't even consider us a threat. Sage said trying to comfort Alanna.
They walked through the tear into a dark, dank castle that smelled of damp and rotting wood.
“Put them in the dungeon, I need to talk to the magicians about breaking their grip.” He stormed off after tearing the dagger from Alanna‘s shoulder as he needed a sample of her blood, since he already had Sage’s, to break their bond.
Alanna and Sage were marched down countless corridors and stairways until they got to the dungeons. They were tossed into a dark cell and the heavy stone door was slid into place to prevent them from escaping. The room was small and windowless, which meant they had to stoop over to stop from braining themselves.
Sit before you collapse. Sage told Alanna.
Alanna sat and pulled her sister into her arms to hold her, she quivered beneath her sister as the enormity of their situation struck her. She was going to be a slave again, a toy to whoever Markus gave her to. She couldn’t see the walls, she could barely make out Sage’s face which was only inches away from hers but her phobia kicked in anyway. She felt as if the walls were closing in; she started to panic about not having enough air to breathe as there were no windows for air to pass through, her breathing picked up, rational thoughts like the fact that she didn’t really need to breathe, as she was immortal, to live fled as her mind started to shut down.
“Calm down, Alanna, there are small gaps in the joints, we have air; smell it; it‘s not stale.” Sage knew her sister’s dislike of small spaces, hell… she didn’t dislike small spaces, she feared them. She remembered being locked in a box as a child where she could barely move and was left alone in the dark for days on end whenever she did something wrong.
“It’s okay…” Sage said reassuringly. “I have a plan.” She was trying to get Alanna to focus on her, not on the situation, a situation that was going to wash away all the hard work her parents had poured into her. It was sadly the hardest thing for Sage to think about, her sister was going to lock herself up again, never leave the manor or the town house, stop seeing her friends; it was all her fault.
Alanna nodded and tightened her grip; she tried to keep her breathing steady and her quivering to a minimum. She closed her eyes and focused on her sister, nothing else mattered but the beat of Sage’s heart. Slowly Alanna’s panic washed away.
Sage smiled when she felt her sister start to relax. She closed her eyes and reached her mind out for her father. Since he had mated her mother, he was used to being spoken to mentally. Da. Sage said loudly hoping her mind would be able to reach his or they were screwed.
*
Lord Dominic dropped his goblet as his daughter’s voice filled his mind. Sage? He asked, surprised, as she couldn’t contact him from earth, which meant that she was here and he was positive the portal wasn‘t meant to open for another four and half weeks. He was a large man at over eight feet tall with broad shoulders which were greatly emphasised by his narrow waist. He had black hair that was kept short, his eyes were brown, almost black actually, and his skin pale. He was powerfully built from a long life of training and fighting.
No time… Markus has me. She told him.
Dominic lurched to his feet in a knee jerk reaction to the knowledge that his daughter was in danger, but it made him ready to go to her aid the moment she left his mind, after she told him everything he needed to know. His men watched him but waited as he had a faraway look on his face.
You have to hurry; I have to protect my sister, Alanna… She continued.
Which one was that again? Dominic asked. It had been a couple of years since he had met Amy‘s other children so they were all pretty much a blur to him.
The one that didn’t wear glasses, I think she was going to be payment to some humans who aided them. I couldn’t let that happen. You have to hurry, I don’t know how long Alanna and I can keep them from breaking our bond. Sage stated, she hadn‘t told her father about Alanna and Electra‘s past and she didn’t think now was a good time to broach that subject, she knew it would just enrage him further.
I will be there in two hours. He promised, he felt Sage leave his mind. He turned his eyes to the men in his hall. “Markus has my daughter.” He stated bluntly.
There was a roar of outrage from his assembled men.
“We leave in an hour, prepare.” Dominic ordered, his voice booming through the hall.
His men jumped to their feet, ignoring their meals as the bells started to toll, warning those who were away from the Keep or dining with their families that the Lord was going to battle and they were needed. All around the Keep the message was spread, Markus had the Princess. Blacksmiths and tradesmen dropped what they were doing and dusted off their rarely used armour. They would defend the Keep and guard the retreat while the main army is away.
Dominic tried to stand still as a servant strapped his armour on. She didn’t fumble, having helped the Lord with his armour so many times but never had she seen him furious like he was now. She understood why. Sage was Dominic’s world; she was a small piece of his beloved. He had lost his soul mate, but he couldn’t lose Sage, not her as well. It didn’t matter to him that she was the only female Nephalim ever to be born in their entire history, to him she was his child, his precious little gem, the little piece of Bianca he had left was in danger.
“My lord.” She said gently.
“Yes E’lisa.” He said gently, trying to find his calm as he knew he shouldn’t go into a fight angry.
“My lord, it is okay to be furious.” She told him.
He shook his head. “No… not until she is safe and I have Markus in my hands.” He walked off.
“Make it slow, my lord.” She called to his back.
He smiled and continued to walk down to the quadrangle where his men were assembled and waiting. He was surprised at the sheer number who had gathered. He glanced up at the Keep’s protective walls. The Keep itself was built into a cliff face which added as a natural defensive quality. A large ledge was sectioned off into farming and craft areas, a stone wall and imposing watch towers guarded the keep as did the shear drop into a craggy gorge.
Every man of fighting age stood before him, ready to take on Lord Markus and his army to get their princess back. He was surprised as three other Nephalim lords and two Gephalim lords, with their men, joined their ranks. They had their own reasons to want Markus taken down but for whatever reasons it may be; together they had a greater chance of success.
*
Sage came back to herself with a smirk. My father is readying his men. Two hours, Alanna, and we’ll be safe.
Alanna sighed then frowned. “I thought Nephalim had white wings. The ones who grabbed us had black.”
Sage rolled her eyes. “White interspaced with grey,” Sage corrected her. “They are Gephalim, war mongers. There are four kinds of Da’Vaila. To put it simply, we are just like humans and with humans there are different races. S’ephalim, Nephalim, Gephalim and Dephalim. S’ephalim have pure white wings. They don’t fight because they are the messengers of the gods. Gephalim have pure black wings and are war mongers. The gods created the S’ephalim and Gephalim, and to keep control of them and to control their numbers, they created the S’ephalim female and the Gephalim male and kept the two species apart.”
Sage took a deep breath before continuing. “The gods however, became jaded. The S’ephalim could not fight, they were pure goodness and the Gephalim killed indiscriminately. So they picked one special S’ephalim and one special Gephalim and brought them together, hoping that they could produce a child who had the compassion and broad understanding of the S’ephalim but who would be able to become blood thirsty and fight like the Gephalim.”
“And the Nephalim were born.” Alanna concluded.
Sage nodded. “The gods kept the S’ephalim and the Gephalim together until they had sired twelve sons, no daughters and they became the twelve War Lords. Seeing that their plan worked, they took the essence of the twelve Lords and impregnated a whole heap of human women, who all gave birth to Nephalim sons.” Sage concluded.
"What's a Dephalim then?"
Sage blushed although Alanna couldn't see it. "We don't talk about them often, they... the gods..." she hesitated and took a deep breath before starting again, "Dephalim are the wingless sons and daughters, its rare only happening every now and then. They had the powers of the race they were sired by but they were wingless so they... well, a few of them pretended to be gods... and the gods didn't take kindly to that and... Slaughtered them... erm... well de-create is a better term for what they did."
"De-create?" Alanna question.
"Um... well... the best way to describe de-creation is... it is the exact reverse of creation. Tarval says it wasn't pretty, he watched as a man literally dissolved before his eyes, everything broken apart at the molecular level, some even had their souls de-created, never to be put back together again. Ma talks about one sometimes, he was ancient and I was named after him. He was so wise but he never knew he was Dephalim and that was where his powers came from. He was different to the other Dephalim but the gods still decreated him."
"What happens if one was born tomorrow?" Alanna asked.
"Since the slaughter... no Dephalim has lived long after conception, always miscarried. The gods don't let them live, they could be the purest of souls but the gods have decreed their existence to be an affront and therefore have decreed their nullification to the universe. They cannot reverse their decision so there are no Dephalim anymore."
"But your acknowledgement of them means they exist." Alanna argued.
"We acknowledge them because their folly could easily become our folly. We have the story of their fate drilled into us the moment our powers become active. Just because we are useful to the gods does not mean they will not turn on us."
Alanna thought about that carefully, it was a cautionary tale for the god-like creatures the gods had created, that prevented anyone trying to rise above the status they were given at birth. She shivered as an unpleasant thought crossed her mind; she knew the chaos a false god could wreak. She could see Markus doing something like that but he knew what awaited him if he did.
After a moment of silent reflection, they heard the door open; they could hear the anger in Markus’s voice. “Stupid, do I have to tell you how to scratch your balls? Put them in the Nephalim cage.” He yelled.
“My lord… the Santaur is…” The guard had started to say.
“Move him.” Markus growled and stormed off.
A loop connected to a pole looped around Alanna’s foot and jerked them out. Alanna only just kept a cry of fear from passing her lips; she knew how much their captors would get off if they knew she was afraid. They were dragged to their feet and held as far apart from each other as their bound hands allowed.
The man holding Alanna cupped her jaw and tilted her head up. Alanna wasn’t short at five nine but she was thoroughly intimidated by the eight foot tall Gephalim. He eyed her over and grinned. The hand that cupped her jaw slid down her body. She stood rigid, enduring his treatment, not even tensing her muscles as his hand ran over them. She knew what would happen if she fought him, if she fought any of them, she had endured many beatings for refusing Gus’s touch. His eyes never once left hers.
He watched the snapping fury in her eyes, he smiled. “I will have fun with you little one. I just won the bidding rights for you.” He told her.
Alanna felt the creeping cold of fear fill her, all the time thinking that this man had bought her, he was going to use and abuse her. He pressed Alanna against the wall. Alanna went to strike out but he caught her forearm in his large hand and gripped it tightly until a gentle crack was heard. He watched as she didn’t even flinch as he broke her arm, he smiled in twisted amusement and kissed her firmly.
Sage surged forward and slammed into the man pressing her sister to the wall. “Leave her alone, you prick.”
She pulled Alanna back to her. Sage felt a batten dug into her side. Her free hand lashed out, smacking the man who had hit her, across his face. Alanna kicked the man who had been kissing her as hard as she could, between his spread legs. He yelled and curled over his violated parts.
A third guard came out of nowhere and slapped Alanna across the cheek. Alanna turned with the blow, her shoulder striking the wall and dropped to a knee, the blow had cracked her cheekbone and broken the skin. Sage spun around, kicking the third guard with enough strength to send the guard flying back. Alanna pulled herself to her feet, her ears still ringing from the blow and her vision still fuzzy. She blinked for a few moments, trying to get her eyes to focus.
Twelve guards appeared bearing nerve whips. Markus glared at the three men of his who could not handle two mere women. He then glared at the two women in question and his glare slowly turned into a smirk. If they had been men, he would have considered them to be worthy adversaries, but as women, they were merely a nuisance that needed to be taught their place in a man’s world.
“Twelve lashes each then get them into the cell.” He walked up to Sage. “Three more hours and the magicians will have cut through the spell that binds you.” He turned to his men. “Backs only…” He finished his order as he walked off.
His men chuckled and forced Sage and Alanna into an antechamber. Shackles hung from the ceiling, one man moved the placement of a pair of shackles so they were closer. A pair of shackles was locked around Alanna’s wrists after she was lifted off the ground so her wrists could reach the shackles. Chains bound her feet in place to keep her from twisting around. Sage was chained up the same way next to her, both of them surrendering to their fate for the moment, knowing that there is no way to escape this.
Wing binders were locked around Sage’s wings and buckled forward so her back was exposed and not protected by her wings.
The men loosened their whips; they would get to lash each woman once. The nerve whip was a painful device; it was designed to inflict intense pain. Not only will it tear the flesh but it set every nerve in the body on fire. To inflict the most pain, each lash was done after the edge of the nerve fire had worn off, some five minutes after the lash. They didn’t allow the nerve fire to die completely, only to dull to a degree. Each lash would increase the effect of the nerve fire, making each lash more painful than the last.
A man stepped forward and used a dagger to cut the back of Alanna’s shirt off, meaning that nothing would get between the bite of the whip and her skin. He stepped back and smiled at his friends, his eyes had caught the faint scars of previous beatings across her back. “She has tasted a whip before.” He told them.
“And I really wanted to hear her scream.” Another complained loudly.
Sage… whatever you do, do not make a sound, it's what they want. Now, you need to relax all of your muscles and keep them relaxed. If you don’t, it’ll hurt even more. Alanna coached as Sage’s shirt was cut from her back.
The exercise ma taught us, the one on how to detach the mind from the body? Sage asked.
Yes. Alanna told her, she was hanging limp in the chains. She turned her head and her eyes focused on her linked hand with Sage.
One snorted in amusement, "Oh, she'll still sing, there is a big difference between a whip, and a nerve whip." Many chuckled in evil delight.
“And we’ll just have to make sure this whip bites deep.” A man said as he readied his whip, his friends smirked and readied their whips; they were in for some fun.