KyriakisTriumph Read online

  Suddenly, something that felt like large hands wrapped themselves around her body and squeezed making it difficult for her to breath. She struggled and attempted to break free but to no avail. As her binding grew tighter, she felt herself succumbing to the darkness. Her last conscious thought was of a big gray wolf, Paris’s wolf.

  * * *

  “Sarah, are you sure you haven’t forgotten any details. I need you to go over it one more time,” Paris demanded.

  “Father, she’s told you at least ten times already. And, I’ve told you what I saw. If I didn’t get to the beach when I did, Fortier would have taken her as well. Even though he was very far out, I could make out his figure enough to tell it was him,” Constantine spoke up.

  Paris shook his head. Not quite satisfied with this version of events. It wasn’t that he thought Sarah and Constantine were lying, he just thought that perhaps in the excitement of events, they may have missed a key detail that could help them find Anisa. If he’d realized that Fortier was powerful enough to perform a spell so powerful as to lure Anisa out to sea, he would have killed that bastard when he had the chance. “There has to be something. Some kind of clue. Don’t you understand, I can’t lose her again? I should have been here.” He felt as if he was on the verge of a breakdown.

  Dante walked over to Paris and placed his arm around him. “Calm down, my friend. We’ll find her. Fortier can’t hide her forever. There are only so many cloaking spells he could use. Steel and Sasha can figure it out.”

  Paris shrugged out of Dante’s hold and walked over to Sarah who was sitting next to his son. He pulled her to feet by the wrist and gave her a light shake. “Sarah, there has to be something else. You have to remember!” Paris felt like he was going to lose his mind.

  Constantine jumped to his feet with a growl. “Release her! What’s gotten into you? Can’t you see Sarah is traumatized? I can understand how you must feel but that was her mother and she had to watch her get taken! I need you to back off.”

  “Okay, you two, that’s enough,” Aries intervened. “Uncle Paris, we know how important it is for you to find Anisa and we will. Constantine, cut your father a little slack.”

  Paris realizing how crazed he must have appeared released Sarah’s wrists. It wasn’t her fault but in moments like these, it was hard to think rationally. “Forgive me, Sarah.” He pulled her into his arms for a brief hug to show his contrition. Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was cause her more stress than she was already under.

  Sarah returned his hug. “It’s okay. I know how you are scared about Mom and I am, too. I wish I could have done something more about it. I…”

  She pulled away from him abruptly and gasped.

  Paris frowned. “What is it, Sarah?”

  “I do remember something. I can’t believe I forgot about it. I guess I was so panicked about mom being taken that—”

  “What is it?” Paris interrupted.

  “The warlock sent me a message. I don’t think he was trying to take me at first. He said, ‘Go back or he’ll get you, too.”

  “Fortier said that?” Paris asked.

  Sarah nodded. “Well, he didn’t speak the words out loud but he sent me the message telepathically.”

  “Oh, God, this is worse than we thought. Fortier is working with Gage. Shit! Gage has Anisa,” Paris concluded now even more worried than he had been before. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

  “You have to calm down, Paris. Things may seem dire but you have us and we’ll find her,” Dante assured him.

  Paris had never been more grateful to have his friends with him at this moment. If they could find Anisa’s location he’d need all the backup he could get because he knew they were up against an army of Gage’s minions. When he’d received the call from Constantine that Anisa was taken, Dante and the rest of the Grimaldi brothers had volunteered to join him. Paris didn’t want to impose but they all insisted and now he was thankful for their presence. GianMarco, Niccolo, Romeo, Dante and Giovanni Grimaldi were feared and revered in the immortal community. They were all ages old which meant they were extremely powerful vampires. In addition to the Grimaldi brothers, Niccolo’s mate, Sasha, was in tow. Sasha not only happened to be an extremely powerful witch, she was a Romanov. Steel had also shown up when his sister had reached out to him. Jagger Grimaldi, Niccolo and Sasha’s son, a strong hybrid in his own right, had also wanted to come but Niccolo had thought it best to stay behind in case something happened on the home front. “Thank you all so much for being here for me,” Paris spoke, humbled by their friendship and how they were all willing to put their lives on the line for this mission.

  “You’ve been there for all of us more times than I can remember and we’re just returning the favor.”

  Paris was nearly close to tears but he had no time for this indulgence. “So, what’s the plan?”

  Sasha stepped forward and spoke for the first time. “Steel and I were talking and I think we may have a way to locate Anisa.”

  “How?” Paris asked cautiously optimistic.

  Sasha nodded toward Sarah. “With her.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Anisa woke up in a cage, still in her wolf form. She’d finally had a taste of freedom only to have it snatched away. She shouldn’t have let her guard down. Death was almost certain because she could never allow herself to bend to this evil Hunter’s will again. He would torture her and make things unbearable for her until she begged for death but she refused to give in to him. Not again. If she allowed him to use her over and over again, he’d have an unlimited source of power so there was only one way to end this and that was to get him to kill her.

  It saddened her that she’d never get to see Sarah again or get a glimpse of her grandchild but her death would keep them both safe because Gage would be thwarted. Constantine Kyriakis was a good man and would keep them safe. She was sure of that. Anisa was glad her daughter had been able to find the happiness she never could.

  Her thoughts circled to Paris. The truth was, she never stopped loving him either. He was the first person she remembered when she regained her memories. The first time she’d arrived on Circe, Paris had been rude, boorish and overbearing but she’d seen a side of him that he tried to keep hidden from her. When he didn’t know she was watching him, she’d seen how he was with his pack mates. He wasn’t as horrible as he made himself out to be which was why she tried to give their union a chance. Besides, she’d felt the pull of the bond the moment she’d seen him. Anisa had known all along that she and Paris belonged together.

  The night when he’d lost control, her feelings had been hurt. She knew then that despite the fact that they were bondmates. When Eros had convinced her to leave the island and took her to the house in Athens, Anisa had only intended to stay there long enough to give herself time to think about what she wanted in life. She may have eventually found her way back to Paris had she not been captured by Gage but that choice had been taken away from her.

  All the hostility she’d shown toward Paris when she was freed from Gaspard’s hold on her, was not really anger directed toward him. She was angry about the circumstances and because of all that, she’d gone through she was afraid of losing herself in him. She wanted to be the person she wanted to be and Anisa wasn’t sure who that was. She’d taken her anger out on him. Some of it was justified but not all of it was. And now more than anything she wanted to see him and tell him how she felt at least once. It might take some time for things to work out the way they were supposed to but at least she wouldn’t have to go through the rest of her life wondering what might have been.

  In the meantime, she had to figure out how to escape which would be hard considering she didn’t know where she was. One of the reasons Gage and his group were hard to find was because they didn’t stay in one place for long. They migrated lairs. If she remembered correctly, Gage would put all his captives in a deep sleep and she’d wake up in what looked like the same spot but she knew it was different.

&n
bsp; She finally figured out what was going on when she heard two Hunters talking about the move. The reason why things would look the same was because of the black magic Gage would use to replicate the interior of the prior location. She hoped they weren’t far from Greece. If only she could send out a signal to Paris. He was her bond mate. If there were even the slightest chance he was within a hundred mile radius she’d be able to reach him telepathically.

  Paris, she tried to reach out.

  She received no reply. Anisa groaned in frustration. If Paris was that far away, then she wasn’t sure how they could find her. Maybe it was time she found a way out of this herself. She shifted to her human form so she could test the bars. Tentatively she touched them and to her relief, they weren’t electrified like they were in the past. She attempted to pull them apart but they wouldn’t budge.

  Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and envisioned the bars bending. “Bend,” she whispered before trying to pry them apart again. This time they moved but again, that light illuminated the room. Not wanting to draw attention to herself in case someone was outside guarding the room she stopped. When she saw that no one was coming, she bent the bars wide enough for her to squeeze through.

  She quickly shifted back to her wolf form once she was free of the cage. She padded around the room and looked around for places to escape. She then noticed there was a crawl space on the far end of the wall that looked large enough for her to get her body through if she was careful. She wasn’t sure where it led but she had to at least find out.

  Anisa slid through the hole and crawled on her belly, thankful that she wasn’t claustrophobic. She must have been in this position for a least a few hundred feet before she came out in a large open room with a large black chair that resembled a throne. And sitting on said chair, was Gage who didn’t seem to be the least bit surprised to see her.

  “Welcome back, Anisa. I trust you’ve had your little fun, but now it’s my turn.” He stood up and walked toward her.

  She pulled her body into a defensive pose and bared her teeth in a snarl.

  “Aww, well aren’t you cute. You’ve been away from me for all these years and you’ve seen to forget who the fuck I am. So, let me remind you.” He shot his hand out and zapped her with a bolt of power that seemed to hit every single part of her being. She howled in agony, before collapsing to the ground.

  Paris, she attempted to call out again, before Gage zapped her yet again.

  * * *

  “There’s a reason why a single seraphim is referred to in the plural instead of just a single seraph and that’s because you are the sum of a whole. You were all created from one source unlike other immortals so your powers are all connected in some way. You say that you used to dream of your mother and she you, even when her memories had been tampered with. That’s because of seraphim blood you share. And the connection is stronger because she bore you,” Sasha explained.

  “But what does this have to do with anything? How can I get my mother back?” Sarah asked.

  “Because Steel and I are going to amplify your powers so that you can reach out to her. We’ll need Paris, as well. As he’s her bond mate, we can use his energy,” Sasha answered.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back, but we have to hurry because there’s no telling what that monster is doing to her,” Paris spoke after listening to the witch explain how they would be able to pin down Anisa’s exact location.

  “Then stand with us. There’s no time to lose,” Sasha instructed as she waved him next to her and Sarah.

  “Now what?” Paris asked.

  “Take my hand.” Sasha placed her small hand in his and he clasped his fingers around hers.

  The witch took Sarah’s hand.

  Steel took the other one and reached for Paris’s other hand until the four of them formed a circle.

  “Now what do we do?” Sarah asked.

  “Close your eyes,” Steel instructed. “And then, we need you to focus on your mother’s image. Call out to her until you feel her. I would suggest everyone else in the room shield your eyes because it’s going to be very bright.”

  “What do I do?” Paris asked.

  “I need you to do the same as Sarah. As her bond mate, your connection with Anisa will help in this spell. If this is successful, then she should respond.”

  “Unless Gage has done something to her,” Sarah replied woefully.

  Paris shook his head. “Don’t say that. We will find her and I will make that bastard pay.”

  Sarah nodded. “You’re right. We’ll find her. In my heart, I know she’s alive. She just has to be.”

  “And let’s keep it that way. Paris and Sarah. Close your eyes and start thinking of her.”

  As soon as Paris closed his eyes, he thought of his beautiful Anisa, her smile, her warmth, the way she felt in his arms. As he envisioned her, Steel and Sasha chanted an incantation.

  As he continued to focus on Anisa, his every moment they shared together flooded through his mind until he saw an image of a dark brown wolf, howling in agony. The image was so clear and concise that he could feel her pain. It shot through his chest and he immediately knew this was happening in real time. She was literally being tortured! “Anisa!” He called out her name at the same time Sarah shouted out as well.

  “Mom!”

  “That’s it. Talk to her. The longer the two of you communicate with her, the more quickly we can pinpoint her location,” Sasha instructed.

  “Anisa, where are you?”

  Paris? Sarah? Her voice was loud and clear. Are you close?

  “We’re not sure,” Paris answered. “Where are you?”

  I don’t know…so much pain.

  “What’s happening, Mom?” Sarah asked, sounding on the verge of tears.

  Gage…torture… hurts…

  “We’re coming,” Paris promised.

  “Sarah, tell your mother to make a shield around herself. If her will is strong enough, she may be able to hold off his attack long enough for us to get to her. Keep talking though, we may have pinpointed her location,” Steel directed.

  “Mom, shield yourself from his attack. Will it with everything you have in you. I know you’re strong enough. Take my strength if you need it,” Sarah implored.

  “And mine. Anisa, I use my love as your strength.”

  I’ll try...

  “Don’t just try. Do it!” Paris ordered. “Do it for Sarah and her unborn child whom you will be there for, to watch grow. Do it for yourself. You deserve to be free. Do it for me because I love you more than life itself because if you die, I will, too.”

  I’ll do it.

  “Hang in there, Mom.”

  There was no answer.

  “Anisa?” Paris called to her. “Why isn’t she answering?”

  It could be one of two things, she’s focusing on protecting herself from Gage’s powers which will take a great deal of her focus…or she has blacked out. We’re hoping it’s the former rather than the latter.” Steel explained.

  Paris’s heart plummeted. More than anything, he wished that he was there with her to take away the pain she must be experiencing.

  He continued to hold on to Sasha and Sarah’s hands as the witch and warlock continued to chant. Finally, a large burst of light flashed in the room so bright that Paris was certain that it would have blinded a sighted mortal.

  Paris opened his eyes once the light dimmed but it took him a moment for his sight to adjust. “What the hell was that?”

  “Those were Sarah’s magnified powers. We’ve located her. She’s still in Greece but a couple hundred miles away. I can create a portal for us to walk through but it’s going to take a lot of power and some time,” Sasha explained.

  “How much time?”

  “At least an hour,” the witch replied.

  “Can’t it be done any faster?” Paris demanded.

  “If you want it done right, then no because we want to get as close to Anisa’s exact location a
s possible or else we could end up on the other side of the world. Or in the middle of the ocean,” Steel spoke up for his sister. “I’ll lend my magic to Sasha to help this spell along but it won’t be any quicker. It will just make it more accurate. This is a powerful spell we’re working with after all.”

  “Then do it. We have to get to her before that bastard does any more damage to her,” Paris implored.

  He hoped that she had the strength to fight Gage off because he wasn’t lying when he told her that if she died then so would he because he didn’t think he could go as long as he did before without her in his life.

  Chapter Twenty

  Gage laughed at Anisa’s efforts at first. He’d made it easy for her to escape from her cage because he knew the crawlspace would lead to his throne room. Besides, he wanted to teach her a lesson for running away in the first place and it amused him to make her howl in pain. It was his intention to hurt her until she bled. He wanted her to beg for mercy even though he had no intention of offering her any.

  But then something unexpected happened. The seraphim, fur turned gold and it began to glow. It was as if she was bathed in a blinding light and every time he tried to mete out his punishment, his blows were deflected. And now, he was pissed. It seemed that she had gotten a handle on her powers.

  “Do you think this pathetic attempt will keep me from hurting you, you dirty mutt bitch!” he screamed shooting a more powerful ray of power at her.

  She winced slightly but there was no howl of pain. But it affected her a bit. Maybe if he kept this up, her defenses would weaken.

  “This will only deter me temporarily. You’re powerless against me. And when I bend you to my will, I’ll hunt down every single member of your pack and make you watch me kill them, just like I did the pathetic Nkrumah pack.