Elspeth- The Unwanted Princess

Liam

Liam was extatic to have been so successful at the theft of an ancient relic. He had been plotting was to avenge his stolen soul mates heart back for years. While he knew Owen was seriously injured he didnt care enough to show up to the hospital to check on him. He never knew why Owen always had to baby him after Janet dumped him, but he did. While he still cared for Owen to some degree, he also was entirely self promoting and selfish to the core. Something Owen tended to overlook and blame on Janets betrayel all those years ago.

After his escape to an undisclosed hide out of rouge witches, Liam brought his prize inside. He couldnt believe how easy it was to disappear after the theft. They didnt even try to follow him! With the biggest evil smirk he had, Liam set the stolen heart on his desk. He told everyone to get lost so he could finally bond with the power he deserved.

He was so distracted over his victory he didn't realise that the power he origiinally felt wasn't the same as it had been when he stole it.

"What the hell?" Liam mumbled to himself.

He sliced his palm to open the heart and quickly felt the power inside take on a different feel. He could still feel it had power which was odd considering it wasn't ancient like his brother said. Was Owen mistaken? No he was adament, his brother had no reason to lie about it either. Liam gently touched the blood with his finger to speak to it. The small amount of power this held was still incredibly potent. His magic greeted it and both the hearts magic and his were begging to be joined together because an unbonded heart meant chaos and lonely magic. This would be dangerous, as magic left to its own devices was not unlike a weed. it would grow and destroy things around it unintentionaly without the proper guidance to keep it grounded.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"What" Liam yelled

"Sir? Sorry to bother you but Erik and Marcus are here." His apprentice replied weakly.

"What do they want?"

"I...I..Im not sure they said they would only speak to you."

"Fine, let them in." Liam sighed reluctantly. He was NOT in a mood to deal with those two right now. He was still trying to sort out what he had stolen. In a matter of seconds His office door was once again opening and the figures of two men entered. They exuded an arrogant air of authority that Liam didnt question.

"Liam so glad you had the time to meet with me!" Marcus sarcastically said with a snarky smile that flashed his sparkling white teeth. Even though vampires were not really known to the world, even witches could feel how powerful they were. They had the power to perform certain types of magic, so it wasnt hard for them to portray themselves as powerful warlocks and witches. They would reveal their identities only to those they deemed worthy, and usually to those that swore fealty to a master.

"Master, how wonderful of you to visit me tonight." Liam replied through gritted teeth. He was one of the unlucky souls that was forced into silence because he was greedy for power.

"Come now your master informed me you have a wonderfully powerful relic that could help us and since you hadn't called me yourself to tell me of the procuring of this relic I thought we would just drop by to save you the time." Erik stated, Marcus had an arrogant air about him that made most people shudder. Liam however only looked slightly irritated at his mention of the relic HE worked to take.

"Why would a witches heart interest you? Or are you just soo starved you need the scraps I have?" Liam questioned in a snarky tone.

Thankfully Marcus was very skilled at leaving his emotions hidden. Even though he wanted to rip off the arrogant pricks head he stayed completley calm.

"Funny, but no I came to see if you actually found something worthwhile. If it is then we need to discuss who gets to keep it."

"I havent even tested it yet." Liam snapped quickly.

"Thats fine." Marcus extended his index finger seductively dipping a 3inch long fingernail to collect a few dropplets of the thicķ sticky substance. He brought it to his nose and sniffed like he was testing a fine wine for the first time. He then sucked the blood dropplets off his fingernail with a metallic hum before retracting his nails back to their natural state. It may have been an over exaggerated emphasis that he was stronger than people tended to assume. His claws were like knives they allowed him to rip into flesh quickly if needed. Something Liam had witness only once making him very careful to never give Marcus a reason to do that to him.

"Well it appears you have been duped." Marcus cackled in disbelief. "I should have known you wouldnt test the item before stealing it to ensure you stole the right relic instead of a decoy." Marcus gauffawing at Liams failure which was even more intimidating then tasting the blood.

"Does it have any power in it though?" Liam asked hesitantly.

"Yes, some, but I dont think you will be using it though." Marcus pointed to the heart as it began to glow slightly before it turned into a red mist like powder to settle back into the heart. The power that was once radiating from the clay pot dissipated with a strained pop.

"What the....…" Liam began with a frown

"One would think you, an Air Witch, could feel the ward that was attached to the decoy you stole." Marcus sneered at Liam in disgust. Liam was too stunned at the occurance of what just happened to even speak.

"Was there any good information in there?" Erik questioned. Liam looked even more confused.

"I would need to taste more than just a few drops to ensure accuracy. I could only grasp hints of lineage. Not enough to see who the current generation is." Marcus stated in irritation. He had been looking forward to finding this coven heart, something to bring back the ancient magic for him.

"Do you think his brother was wrong about the origions?" Erik asked

"It is possible, only a Vampire can give an accurate age to blood. Magic can be manipulated with a strong enough witch..." Marcus trailed off in thought. Was there even a witch strong enough during these times?

"There is no way my brother is wrong!" Liam protested vehemenantly

"Did I ask you a question?" Marcus glared at him.

"Well, no. But my brother is the best at his craft. while not the same type of expert in blood you are his 40+ yrs is still the highest there is of his class." Liam replied sheepishly. He relised midsentence he was speaking to an expert in blood so nothing he said would phase him on the subject.

"You have too much faith in your magic. Unless you can read it like we do your brothers abilities are nothing compared to the thousands of years that your master has." Erik scoffed. Marcus just snorted. He knew blood witches were still fairly accurate, they just couldnt taste the history and time the same way that a vampire could.

"Where might we find your brother Liam?" Marcus sternly asked, his stoic face made it clear he had to answer honestly.

"Uh..I...I am not sure if he is even alive to be honest. He was impailed and half dead, so I would suggest in a hospital near Tiger Clan?" Liam answered shakily.

"Erik call around and find out where Owen is being treated. I need to know if thus coven heart exists." "On it sir!" Erik replied as he went into his research mode. If there was anything he was good at, it was gathering information.

Marcus was now pacing as he was waiting to find out where to get the information that could end his search finally. It was something he had been trying to to do for centuries.

After about an hour Erik was confident he didnt have good knews for him. "Sir, I have found him in Tiger Clans urgent care unit. They had him in surgery, but he arrested on the table......and the nurse says they havent been able to bring him back."

"Shit...Are you certain he is dead?"

"I am certain the nurse was honest in her words." Erik replied.

"Well s**t. Just my luck the time I can get this close to something I have been searching for for centuries, it slips away just as quickly." Marcus was smugly aware of how close he had been to achieving his life long goal.

Liam was sitting in a daze as he just realized. "I killed my brother...." he whispered to nobody in particular......

...............

The nurse that was taking care of Owen after surgery couldnt understand why she was ordered to tell anyone calling that Owen arrested in surgery. While that was accurate there was a miraculous occurance after the Dr. was about to call time of death when Owen started breathing before his heart started pumping.

"Nurse" Owen weakly stated.

"Owen, please sir dont try to speak you truly are a miraculous survival case. You can't be speaking yet."

Just then Ashton entered the room.

"Is the traitor awake?"

"Yes sir, he is very weak and shouldnt be talking right now."

"Will he die if he does?"

"Well no, but it is possible he can be damaged for life." The nurse replied.

"Thats fine with me. Owen why did you speak to Liam. That scum bag is not worth the time of day."

"I didnt think he would do anything to hurt me. I thought it was just an interesting bit of information witch to witch.." He trailed off realising for the first time in several decades that he never had good luck when he spoke to him.

"I am sorry Ash, I just never thought..."

"Its apparent you cant think, your lucky to be alive!" Ashton was still livid his soon to be wife could have died.

"Your brother is probably looking for you wondering why you gave him false information that you died in surgery. Technically true as you did arrest and die for 5min, You can guarantee that is what you will be if you let anyone know your findings, or contact Liam ever again. You will be watched." Ashton was livid with Owen and while he wanted to kill him himself, he needed to know where Liam was. It was obvious this man was going to be a thorn in his Clans side.

"Understood, I realise my recovery will be long so I am assuming I will be doing my rehab here in Tiger Clan." Owen replied earnestly.

"That is correct. When you are able we need to find out what Liam wants with my fiance's coven heart."

"Sorry to interrupt sir but I am giving Owen his medication he wont be able to stay awake much longer. It is a sedative to keep his heartrate from spiking." The nurse interruppted.

Owen nodded at Ashton as the nurse adminstered the medication via his IV. It didnt take very long for Owen to succumb to the sedative and relaxed into a deep sleep. As he started losing consciencness he thought he could hear Ashton reply to the nurse.

"Make sure nobody comes in or out of here. Nobody gets to kill him but me." Before Ashtons footsteps faded away.

Hopefully that wasnt an actuall threat. Owen thought as he faded into the nothingness the sedative put him into.