Karizma

Lukas’ gold eyes widened as he observed the scene in front of him. He immediately retracted his claws and walked past Kristopher to Ryleigh. Her nude corpse was a sickly pale color, three hollow holes visible upon her body. Rage vibrated through Lukas as he studied her corpse. The strong and vibrant witch that he had grown to admire had been murdered. Slaughtered, apparently, he thought bitterly. He slowly shifted his eyes to Kristopher and he slid his canines back into his gums. “What happened?”

“She was a prisoner. They were going to use her for a war against the world. I had to kill her,” Kristopher whispered hoarsely.

“You did this to her?” Lukas growled darkly. “Ate her and took her fucking heart?!”

“No, I snapped her neck,” Kristopher answered immediately. “The Mistress Vampire did all of that.”

“And you let her?”

“What the hell was I supposed to do?” Kristopher snapped. “We wanted Ryleigh back. My lack of engagement for her protection was the only way to do that.”

Lukas growled again and his wolf itched beneath the surface to rip this vampire apart. He knew that Kristopher snapping Ryleigh’s neck was a mercy compared to what she would have been forced to suffer, yet it still enraged him. This beautiful witch, the witch that Lukas wanted to protect, was dead. He crossed his arms over his bare chest. “What do you expect me to do?”

“Turn her, bring her back,” Kristopher said.

“Kristopher, lycanthropy cannot cure death—”

“But you can aide in the growth of organs. You can give her a heart.”

“What the hell is giving her a heart going to do if she is still dead?”

“Bailey.”

Lukas’ eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “The friend witch?”

“She is strong,” Kristopher nodded. “Between the two of you, I think that we can bring her back. We need her for what’s to come.”

“Where is she?” Bailey demanded as she sprinted into the room. Lukas tensed as Bailey’s eyes settled on Ryleigh’s corpse. Bailey’s eyes began to water as her breathing became uneven. She slowly walked over to Lukas’ bed and dropped to her knees beside it. She gently took Ryleigh’s hand in one of her own, then stroked Ryleigh’s face with the other. “Hey you,” she whispered through a choked sob. “Did she—”

“No, she did not suffer,” Kristopher whispered. “All of that was done after I snapped her neck.”

“What can we do?” Bailey asked.

“Kristopher thinks that you and I can bring her back,” Lukas said slowly. “I know that you are strong, but the only magic that I know of that could possibly succeed in a resurrection this severe is—”

“Karizma magic,” Bailey finished.

“Precisely,” Lukas admitted with defeat. He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “I know that you are strong, dear Bailey, but I’m not quite sure that you can pull this one off.”

“I have to try,” Bailey said.

“My dear—”

“I have to try!” Bailey snapped.

Lukas’ heart churned slightly as he watched Bailey interact with Ryleigh. Her hands never left her friend’s corpse, not for a second. Fresh tears brimmed her eyes, but she refused to allow them to fall. Her magic thickened the room with her sorrow. Lukas looked around instinctively, as if he could try to see the presence that was filling the room. His wolf stirred lightly and nudged him. There is more to this, Lukas realized. He walked around the bed and knelt beside Bailey. Her eyes flicked to him briefly before returning to Ryleigh’s body. Lukas studied her eyes intently. His gold eyes never broke his gaze into her eyes as his eyesight heightened so his wolf’s eyesight could gain control. The brown eyes of Bailey that he had grown to know were fake. He noticed a film of brown that covered each of her irises. He peered deeper into her eyes and noticed bright emerald beneath the brown film, a bright emerald in both eyes. His gold eyes left hers and trailed up to her hair. Her brown hair. He sniffed the air lightly and confirmed the scent of ammonia. It was a very, very faint scent; her hair had been dyed quite a while ago, but the scent clung to her hair all the same.

Lukas felt Bailey tense beneath his gaze, felt her magic chill the air between them as it prepared to defend itself. The fact that she thought I could harm her is fascinating, he mused. But Ryleigh was the same way. Automatically prepared to fight whomever she needed to until it was proven that she could trust that person. Lukas growled gently. His wolf slipped back and allowed Lukas to take control. His gold eyes dimmed back to his bright blue ones. Bailey sensed his demeanor change, and Lukas felt the magic in the air shift to the defense rather than the offense. “You can do this,” Lukas whispered.

He would not dare say his discovery aloud. He had never heard of a Karizma with a sibling, and he was absolutely awestruck about it. His eyes slowly trailed between the sisters, finally seeing the familial resemblance that Bailey had tried so hard to hide. To any other entity on the planet, she had succeeded, but she could not hide herself from the Alpha Lycan. Not when he truly tried to find her. If what Kristopher said was true, and a war was coming, they did not need just Ryleigh at their side; they needed Bailey, too. The most powerful witches in history, and he had two of them under his roof. His wolf growled protectively over Bailey, and pridefully over Ryleigh. Turning Ryleigh had always been the endgame, to have a Karizma by his side. He wanted to turn her to save her life, but also to have her as an ally. He would not ask that of Bailey, not yet. The first thing he needed to ask of her was what she was already offering. “Can you do this?” he whispered. He had no doubt that she could, but he wondered if she doubted herself.

“I haven’t exactly done it before, but I will try,” Bailey whispered slowly. Her eyes finally left her sister and studied Lukas. His gold eyes flashed briefly, and he nodded slowly. He was trying to signal to her that he knew who she was, but it did not matter if she understood him or not; he refused to admit this secret to anyone. He assumed that Kristopher had known, but he would not admit it aloud to him regardless. If Ryleigh had not yet told Kristopher, then he would never know. I will protect them both, Lukas vowed. “You will succeed. I know that you will,” Lukas whispered. His eyes shifted to Kristopher. “Lycans ingest hearts. Grab the freshest human one out of my fridge and bring it to me.”

Before Lukas could blink, Kristopher was standing beside him with a heart in his hand. Lukas rose to his feet and motioned for Bailey to do the same. Bailey inhaled shakily as she took the heart from Lukas and placed it into the cavity in Ryleigh’s chest. Lukas sighed and turned to Kristopher. “I need to restrain her during the turn,” he said slowly. “Not everyone who turns has a pleasant reaction.”

“Do what you have to do,” Kristopher answered immediately.

Lukas nodded and climbed on to the bed. He straddled himself on top of Ryleigh’s waist and locked his legs tightly against hers. If she was going to have a bad reaction to the turn, this guaranteed that he would be the only person who would get hurt. And it would take a lot to hurt me, he thought. He rolled his shoulders and his canines descended. His gold eyes flashed brightly as his wolf surfaced. He bent down and instantly buried his canines into the soft spot of the right side her neck between neck and her collarbone. He growled as he rooted his canines deep inside of her body, as his saliva slowly trickled down his canines and into her wound. Lycans’ saliva was infused with the Lycanthropy itself; the only way for someone to turn was to be bitten by a Lycan. A normal turn was triggered by a very brief bite, even just a nibble, but Ryleigh was dead. Lukas needed to remain attached to her for as long as possible to allow his saliva to reach maximum potency inside of her.

Lukas felt the air thicken around him and he pressed his body tighter to hers. He heard Bailey begin reciting a spell as he felt magic course through him and into her. Bailey’s spell was more than likely using the lifeline that was currently attached to Ryleigh as a source to begin bringing Ryleigh back to life. Simply touching Ryleigh would not be enough of a connection for resurrection, which was another reason that he had not removed his canines from her yet; the longer that his canines were inside of her, the stronger the saliva was, and the longer a life-force was actually inside of Ryleigh.

Lukas’ body was suddenly crushed against Ryleigh’s. If she was not already dead, he would have worried that he had killed her. Her body was so small against his large one, not to mention significantly more fragile than the Alpha Lycan’s figure. His wolf growled as breath was being pulled from his body forcefully. He could hear the breath that was stolen from him fill the empty body beneath him. Each exhale that Lukas offered was stolen from him and given to Ryleigh, and any inhale attempted was stolen as well to be given to Ryleigh. He snarled as he felt a deep gash across his chest suddenly, where his chest was flush against hers. He felt blood begin to pour out of his injury into the cavity that housed the heart that he provided Ryleigh.

Each exhale, his breath and blood were stolen from him, and each inhale, his breath and blood were stolen from him. Still, his canines never wavered, he never flinched from her. This is her only chance, Lukas thought. This has to work. A new iron scent filled the air that triumphed his own, and he knew that Bailey had shed her own blood as well, but there was no cinnamon smell. She has not even ascended yet, and she is attempting a resurrection, he thought in wonder. The new iron smell grew stronger, and he knew that Bailey’s blood was mingling with his own inside of Ryleigh. Karizma blood to resurrect a Karizma descendant, with Karizma magic.

After a moment, he felt Bailey’s magic gently tap his shoulder, a signal for him to release her. He gently slipped his canines out of her neck and pushed himself into a sitting position. He tightened his legs against hers as he remained straddled. He gripped each of her wrists in one of his hands to keep her arms pinned to her sides. Pure resurrection with the turn of lycanthropy would be one hell of a shock on a body, he thought. His gold eyes remained fixated on the body beneath him. Slowly, very, very slowly, the skin began to heal. Her wounds began to close. He heard Bailey’s chanting break slightly and he felt Kristopher rush to Bailey’s side. Lukas sensed that something was wrong with Bailey, but he kept his eyes trained on Ryleigh. He heard Bailey’s breathing grow shallow, smelled her iron blood as it intensified in the air. The spell is hurting her, he realized. The amount of power that goes into a resurrection is infinite, so much so that the spell could kill the host. That is why the only magic that can succeed is Karizma magic, Lukas thought. Almost there, Bailey.

Ryleigh’s eyes shot open suddenly. Bright, gold, eyes of fire. Bailey instantly collapsed to her knees, and Lukas heard Kristopher wrap his arms around her. Ryleigh’s eyes did not so much as twitch; they were fixated on the ceiling above her. Her chest rose and fell with each breath, but she remained still. Lukas’ breathing became heavy. He was possessed by the pools of gold fire in her eyes. He was paralyzed. He could not breathe, he could not think, he dared not move. The world around him became mute; he could not hear any other sound in the background except Ryleigh’s robotic breathing. Lukas’ wolf emerged and growled the realization over and over again, so loud that it drowned out Ryleigh’s breathing. The reason for Lukas’ newfound paralysis and captivation, his wolf was able to sum up in just one word. Mate.

THE END.

*Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed this story! There will be a sequel for this story. I actually plan on a three book installment series, which is completely different than my initial plan going into this story. My initial plan did not involve a sequel, or Lycans, so I am very excited to begin writing the next book.