Tears of the Fallen Ch. 05

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JazCullen
JazCullen
6,489 Followers

Caleb screamed, flying from the bed with talons slashing out, his fangs elongated, his eyes pools of darkness. His body drenched in sweat, his eyes wild, he roared and slashed out, shredding the bed with his talons, flowing around the room, searching for any sign of threat. He quartered the bedroom, leaving no dark crevice unchecked until he was certain there was no danger in his vicinity. Only once he was fully convinced he wasn't under attack did the impact of his nightmares begin to sink in.

Caleb groaned, falling to his knees and shielding his eyes as a shiver wracked his body. It had been as if he'd been there, not Callain but him, Caleb! History had replayed itself in graphic detail, and watching it had been a torture he'd never believed imaginable. He'd been helpless to intervene, helpless to stop the carnage he'd witnessed. Callain's emotions had flown through him...the fury, the sheer depth of the vampire king's rage was more powerful than anything he'd ever personally experienced. Anakatrine! It had been Callain's only thought; trying to protect her even though he knew it was futile.

Caleb felt the same the same urgent need to save her but he couldn't influence what had happened no matter how much he'd wanted to. It wasn't even that the visions had shown too many vampires attacking. What he had witnessed was the past; it had already happened and couldn't be undone.

He'd never dreamed about it before; not once since Gard had turned the key in his mind that had awakened Callain. Probably because he had locked down that side of himself so tightly, the other man had never had the opportunity to influence any part of his life. Until now.

He rose to his feet, his feral side calmer, his amber eyes taking in the destruction of the bedroom. He was under no illusion that Callain had managed to take dominance as he'd slept. Caleb's normally tight control had slipped as a result of everything that had happened recently. The events at the Praetorian compound, his exhaustion, and Annie being gone had granted the vampire King the perfect opportunity to act. He was too drained to even consider being mad about it, the images in his mind refusing to leave.

Running a shaky hand through his damp hair, Caleb picked his way through the broken furniture as he headed into the bathroom. He stopped at the sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror. The face staring back at him looked worn and tired, two thousand years of living stamped all over it. He'd never seen the extent of all he was, of everything he'd ever done, reflect in his expression before. It was unsettling to see it now.

Caleb sighed, running some cold water into the sink and splashing it on his face. He couldn't give up now, not when there was so much at stake. Seeing Anakatrine dying had shaken him to the core and rekindled his need to protect Annie. He couldn't fail as Callain had. The consequences of that were unbearable.

Raising his head, he gazed into the mirror again and froze on the spot. Callain looked back at him, his face different but the colouring the same. He gaped at the stranger looking back at him, before blinking to shake away the image. When he glanced back, it was his own reflection he saw and he swallowed hard, relief coursing through him. First the nightmares, and now this. It was clear that his former self was determined to be heard.

Fuck it; maybe it was time to start listening to what the vampire King had to say. After all, he was screwing things up royally doing them his way. Maybe Callain had something to contribute that could prove useful? Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and then turned his mind inward, searching for the metaphorical door he'd locked Callain's persona behind for so long.

"You're determined to get my attention, so speak, Callain. Did you enjoy putting me through a blow by blow account of your failure?"

There was a long pause and for a moment Caleb wondered if he had just lost his mind, talking to himself. Then he felt another presence begin to emerge and he gripped onto the sink hard as he waited for a response.

"Enjoy is hardly the word I would have applied, Caleb, but you needed to see what you risk losing if you continue on your current path. You needed to understand what Anakatrine gave her life to protect. I only wonder if you actually saw what you needed to see, or if you are too wrapped up in your own arrogance that you missed the point completely."

The vampire King's tone was thick with condemnation, immediately irritating Caleb, but he dampened it down. It was pointless getting mad at him; he'd only be fighting with himself. It crossed his mind that he'd expected the other man's speech to be markedly different to his, but maybe having spent a quarter of a century in Caleb's head had made it more modern. "So, what lesson did you think I needed to learn? Enlighten me, vampire King."

"If you need to ask then it's clear I've failed."

This wasn't going well and was clearly going to be counterproductive until Caleb started trying to work with Callain as opposed to challenging him for dominance. The aura within was very powerful, so powerful that he wondered at the ease he'd managed to subdue it for so long. Had Callain let him retain control? If he had, then why?

Caleb sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to think rationally as opposed to emotionally. The vampire King wanted him to see something in the nightmares, so maybe he should look at them again in a more objective manner? The dreams had come in three segments. In the first one, Anakatrine was packing up ancient tomes and instructing Gard to take them somewhere for safekeeping. The second dream centred on Gard being forced to leave with Rayne with orders to protect her. The third and final image was, perhaps, the most disturbing of all; the end of the monarchy ruling the vampire nation and the vivid death of the King and Queen.

His mind whirled as he replayed sections of each dream, searching for what he may have missed the first time. "The books," he finally said, staring at his reflection. "With everything happening why did Anakatrine feel the need to save books, unless there was something of great importance within?"

"Exactly!" Callain answered. Caleb could have sworn there was a hint of pride in that one word. "Why indeed? What do they contain and where are they now? Does Gard still have them? Can Annie use them now in this time?"

The thought rocked Caleb and the sink broke under his hands as he unconsciously applied pressure.

"You're going to have to fix this place up before she comes home."

Cursing, Caleb stepped back, his face thunderous. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Turning on the shower, he threw himself under the scalding spray and ignored Callain as he worked through more of the dream. As he towelled off and retrieved jeans and a T-shirt from the wrecked closet in the bedroom, he pursed his lips as something else occurred to him.

"Anakatrine wasn't just saving the child. She was saving Gard too. He would never have left her if he'd known the danger was imminent."

Callain chuckled at Caleb's tone. "I see you have the same reluctance in allowing the Guardian to perform his duties as I did. It's hard conceding the protection of our mate to another. And yes, your perception is exemplary. She was saving her brother as much as she was the child."

"Then she knew what was about to happen," Caleb whispered, his mind whirling at the implication. "She knew everything, didn't she, Callain? Annie, she gets feelings sometimes, a sort of knowing without realising why she knows. We jokingly call her a Seer, but Anakatrine was the true Seer."

"Yes, she was." Callain's mental voice held a wealth of pride and sadness. "Ana not only lived in the present, but also the future. That Annie only has brief feelings about things tells me that my Queen is most likely dampening that part of her abilities to protect her. While our souls are here with you and Annie, you ARE separate people, Caleb, with your own personalities. Your Annie is a beautiful soul with much kindness and compassion. My Ana could deal with seeing the future but that doesn't necessarily mean your Annie could."

He was half listening, half trying to put the pieces together. If Anakatrine had known what the future held...just how far into the future could she see?

"Her vision was limitless." Callain chuckled again at Caleb's surprise at his response. "You don't have to think something directly at me when you allow me into your head. Our thoughts become joined."

"Then she knew when she set up the first Council they would turn against her. She knew vampires and Weres could mate and have children. She knew our people were corrupting themselves and setting themselves up for eventual extinction unless they could be saved."

"Yes, Caleb! And she knew that we had to fall so far down, that we had to be at such a point where civil war threatened to destroy us completely, before we would ever be ready to rise up again and save ourselves."

Caleb gasped out aloud, realisation dawning. "The threat from Europe."

Callain echoed his words. "Yes, the threat from Europe. Now is the time Anakatrine has worked towards: you and Annie, the wolves, the Vârcolac...everything has been set in place to save our people, Caleb, but that can only be achieved if we are united."

The magnitude of Callain's revelation was staggering. Caleb rushed from the bedroom, flying downstairs at supernatural speed as he tried to run from what he was learning. More images were replaying in his mind: Anakatrine kissing Gard farewell, and then performing the same ritual with Callain before the attack. Had he heard something else as he'd relived those moments? His mind tried to listen again, tried to see what he'd been shown but had barely noticed.

Dear God, she'd planned it all! Knowing her time was short and she couldn't impact anything in the past, she'd found a way to be in the future! His mind revisiting the dream again, he could see Anakatrine's lips moving imperceptively as she kissed her brother and then her mate...

"Now you see, Caleb. Now you see her greatness as well as her dedication to saving our people. She knew she had only moments left, that if she died, all hope for our people would die with her. She looked to the future and she found the tools needed to save everything she loved. She found you, a throwback to a time when we once were great, when we knew love and compassion. You love our people, Caleb, as much as she loved them. Ana saw your greatness and gave you what you needed to remember who you were, so you could rise to your full potential and be what you needed to be."

"And just what was that?" There was a hint of bitterness in Caleb's tone that he couldn't mask. There was just too much new information being thrown at him and some of it he didn't like.

"You were Sired by Gard, the only one she could trust to mentor you through the change, to teach you the right path. Have you never wondered at why he chose you? I can assure you he has often wondered many times himself, as you are the only human he has ever Sired to this life. Gard did so because he was compelled to; just as you were compelled to seek him out when the time was right so he could unlock your memories of me."

Caleb felt fury begin to build inside as a small tendril of dread gripped him. Was Gard the only variable the vampire Queen had manipulated in his life? He tried to fight his growing rage as another thought came to him and it escalated even higher. "Annie? Was anything left to chance, Callain? Do I love Annie because that's what Anakatrine wants me to feel? Are we all just puppets dancing to her tune?"

A blast of fury rocked through him from Callain and then a long, weary sigh sounded in his mind. "And you were doing so well for a moment. Of course, your feelings for Annie are real. No one can interfere with the mating instinct, not even Anakatrine. You were always destined to meet Annie; Ana saw that when she looked to the future. That's how she knew this was the time and place we needed to be. All she did was ensure that you would both have what you needed to see through this moment in time. Stop searching for ways to blame Ana for your poor decisions of late and start looking at the bigger picture. This is the pinnacle moment, Caleb. This is when we either succeed or fail."

"You said Anakatrine's vision was limitless," Caleb snarled, striding into the living room and throwing himself down onto a leather sofa. It was the same room he had taken his Annie to the first night they'd met and his eyes immediately went to the rug before the fire, his heart clenching tightly that she wasn't with him right now.

"We're talking thousands of years here, Caleb. To us back then, seeing to this point in time was limitless. Ana couldn't see anything past her moment of rebirth. She is nothing but spirit now and it's possible that is what limited her reach. I wouldn't know...I haven't been able to ask her these past twenty-five years because you've kept her from me all this time."

There was bitterness and pain in Callain's final words that shocked Caleb and he ran his hands through his hair as he digested the vampire King's words. Callain was right. Caleb had spoken to Anakatrine as well as Annie, but he'd never allowed his alter ego to come out in all that time. Anakatrine and Callain were present in this timeline but kept completely apart!

Caleb groaned, holding his head in his hands. He would go mad if someone kept him apart from his mate, if he couldn't speak to his Annie, touch her and hold her for a quarter of a century. He had done this to Callain and Anakatrine, and just the thought of what that must have been like for them made him groan again. It didn't help that he hadn't been aware of what he was doing. The fact that he'd done so was enough to fill him with self-loathing. What the fuck was he doing?

It was all too much; he needed some space and time to think everything through. He'd reached the limit of what he could endure while talking to the vampire King. "Callain, I need to be me for a while. I need to think."

"I understand, Caleb, but understand this too: I need to talk to my Ana. You've had her for twenty-five years. I need her too. Don't make me wait too long."

There was a plea in his words in addition to an implied threat. It made Caleb bristle; it also made him wonder just whether or not Callain was capable of more than he'd originally thought.

"You think you have me contained behind that door in your mind? I stay there because I know Ana would be upset with me if I caused you harm. Believe me, Caleb, I could take control of you any time I wanted, as could Ana with your Annie. Keep me apart from my mate much longer and I may risk her wrath by proving it to you."

There was a hot burst of power deep within, as Callain's power blazed brightly, backing up the words he'd just spoken. "Know this, Caleb. I have tolerated your disrespect of my mate because of your ignorance of events. I suggest you tread carefully going forward. Anakatrine has sacrificed much and deserves to be respected. She is your Queen."

His parting words disturbed Caleb even as his guilt escalated. Could he really blame his alter ego for protecting his mate? It was what he would do if someone disrespected Annie. How was he going to work this mess out? He didn't know where to begin, how to start coming to terms with what he'd learned. For the first time in his life, he felt truly alone and reached out to the one person who would always be there for him...

"Annie?"

He felt a surge of warmth, and the tentativeness of her touch with so much distance between them. He was surprised at how instantly she responded, even though he knew he shouldn't have been.

"What's wrong, Caleb?"

He swallowed hard, hearing her love, feeling it flowing down their mate bond as he opened up fully to her. He'd pushed her away and yet she was there in a heartbeat with no condemnation in her voice, just love and concern. "I've had bad dreams. They shook me up a bit. Are you safe, Annie? Is Gard protecting you?"

"He's being his usual insufferable self," she laughed, her love for her brother evident in her tone. "I'm fine, Caleb. There is nothing to worry about."

"Are you ready to come home?" A soft sigh whispered through his mind, full of such longing that he wanted to reach out and hold her tightly.

"Soon, love, but I have something I must do first. Are you ready for me to come home?"

His instinctive answer was yes, but he held his tongue. God, he wanted her home so badly that he wanted to demand she return straight away, but he knew he needed time to work out how to ensure her protection once she was home. He had many plans to make and he needed to wrap his head around everything he'd learned.

"Let me make sure it's safe for you first. I have a lot of thinking to do and while I want you here with me so badly, I know we both need this time to do what must be done. I do miss you, Annie, so very much. I feel as if half of my soul is missing."

"As do I, Caleb. I know we need to talk, to find some way to work through this issue we have, but I have faith in us. A few more days apart won't kill us."

"Speak for yourself," he grumbled but there was humour in his tone, his chaotic thoughts calming as she bathed him in her love. "I love you, Annie. I know I'm being an ass and don't deserve you but never doubt that you're the only reason I wake each day, that you're the reason my heart beats. When I get my act together I intend to prove that to you, every day for the rest of our existence."

"I love you too, Caleb, so much that it hurts to be away from you. I'm just glad you're at the point where you want to speak to me again. Please don't close our bond, Caleb. Even if you're mad at me or Anakatrine, never cut me from you in that way. It hurts too much."

The muffled sob at the end of her words was enough to break his heart. He hated himself for putting her through this anguish. "I won't, love, I promise. I'll be here anytime you need me. I'll never leave you like that again."

He sent his love down their bond, mentally holding her close to soothe some of the hurt he'd caused. "I'm sorry, Annie, so very sorry."

"I know," she whispered back. "It'll be okay, Caleb. We'll be okay. I have to go now. You know where I'll be when you're ready."

He felt her leave and wanted to call her back, but knew that she was right to go. He still had to address his feelings for Anakatrine and he had so much new information to digest before he could settle that in his mind. Just knowing that Annie would come if he needed her was enough. Just knowing she still loved him and didn't hate him for the way he'd treated her would keep him going until he could hold her in his arms again.

The time for procrastination was over. It was time he got around to doing what he had to do so his Annie could come home to him. Caleb rose from the sofa and headed out of the house. It was still dark, dawn over an hour away, but he didn't care about that. He needed to speak to Demetri; he needed to start repairing the damage he'd done.

*****

Rhianna rose from the drenched bed, pushing back her tangled damp curls. The dreams had been excruciating, no doubt brought on by Anakatrine and most likely what Caleb had just experienced. Though shattered by reliving the past, Caleb's touch, his reaching out to her had given her hope.

JazCullen
JazCullen
6,489 Followers