AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“All I require is your trust in their discretion and abilities.”
“You mentioned protection. Would you be willing to include vampires?”
Benji blinked, looking very much like an owl. “V-vampires? Is that what they’re called? That sounds exciting!”
Luca laughed. “How have you been here for two days and not heard that word?”
Benji’s cheeks flushed. “I was in the library.”
“You must not have gotten that far into the histories yet, then. When you do, please remember that not all of them are as the books say. My mate Ash sacrificed her humanity and became a vampire to save my life. She slew the vampire queen and is now working to establish a position of power. She and her human sister have extensively studied history and archaeology. They will be interested in assisting your expedition.”
Benji smiled. “That sounds wonderful. I would very much like to meet your vampire mate and her human sister. I can learn much from the diverse species on our planet. I have always disagreed with the Rending.”
Luca rose to retrieve a bottle of bourbon and two glasses from a small bar set into the wall. “It’s settled, then. We will ask Ash and Dani what they think when she comes back. In the meantime, let’s have a drink and figure out who’s the best suited for your team.”
Benji accepted. He’d expected to have to convince the king to believe him, let alone help, and he was beyond grateful for the response. Perhaps the world had a chance after all. Now that he had hope, Benji was eager to get started.
The pair worked into the night. Luca called Remy an hour into the process and asked him to cancel all his appointments for the day. Benji stumbled back to his chambers around dawn the next morning, satisfied that they’d done everything they could at this point. They wouldn’t know what needed to be done without seeing the rift, much less how to do it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Temporary Camp, Saturday, January 12, 2013, Morning
Alone in her tent in the makeshift camp, Ash used the moment of privacy to think about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours and planned what to do next.
Walking away from Luca was one of the hardest things Ash had ever done. She knew her tasks were essential to their future, but she wasn’t ready to leave him again. They’d been forced apart repeatedly, but her soul screamed that she needed to stay with him.
Having whatever was waiting at Nadya’s compound effortlessly slip into her head had unnerved Ash. She longed for her mate's comforting presence and advice, but she was a queen in her own right, and this was her problem. Luca had enough to manage for the moment.
Ash had directed her group to land twenty miles from Nadya’s compound. Gathering everyone around her, she explained why they’d made a detour. “There is a Power at the vampire compound, and I mean that with a capital P. It slipped into my head as we were flying, and I’m not sure it was intentional. You can bet it will try again. I sensed a male presence, but I could be wrong.”
“Those rat-assed, bloodsucking, dumbshit bastards! That blyat Nadya couldn’t just sodding die, could she? Merde, no! The sha bi left her pinche dumpster fire of a monster godverdomme mosquito for us to handle the shitschturm!” She paused to draw a deep breath. “Cào ni mai and everybody else, apparently. That vlakas bitch wanted to watch the whole world burn! Fan ta dig, you nijem korinthenkacker! Chtob tebe deti v’sup srali!” She screamed the last part at the ground.
Viktorija’s rant lasted a solid thirty seconds. Ash timed it. She hadn’t repeated herself, and Ash made a mental note of several of the epithets she used. She collected creative insults and expletives for her Dungeons and Dragons bard to hurl later. When Viktorija finally stopped, Ash eyed her with respect.
“That was a spectacular display of multilingual profanity, dear sister, but do you have anything constructive to add?”
Viktorija growled. “It has to be the halfbreed. She managed to find and turn a half-blooded Therian.”
The dragon devolved into another spate of cursing, and Ash turned to the others. “I’ve only heard rumors about that. When Nadya died, she said, ‘Maksim.’ Maybe our newest baby vamp woke up. Sitting here speculating isn’t going to get us answers. We need scouts. Who has the most skill with stealth and surveillance?”
As the sun rose, Ash waited anxiously for word from her scouts. Zia had extensive training from her time in the military, and the three people she took with her had experience with surveillance. Hopefully, they would return shortly and give her an idea of what awaited them at the vampire stronghold.
They still had the rest of the vampires to convert or kill after they conquered this challenge. Vampires needed leadership, and she wouldn’t let anyone else fill that void. They didn’t need another Nadya, hell-bent on revenge.
Ash had seen enough deaths to last a lifetime, and her immortality had barely begun. It was long past time to put an end to the evil machinations. She needed to return the world to the balance it had known before Nadya unleashed her minions to plague the night. She didn’t know if that was just who she was or if it came from the spark, and it didn’t matter.
Her musings were interrupted by Zia waltzing into the tent. “Good morning, Your Highness. We have information for you.”
“Fantastic. Are you all okay? Was anyone injured?” Ash jumped up and ran outside, eager to hear the scouts’ reports.
Zia grinned, pleased by the queen’s concern for those under her care. “We’re all fine. We were not spotted.”
She followed Zia to the cave that served as their command station, and the other scouts greeted her with grim expressions. Even as her guts roiled with the hollow weight of dread, Ash was confident she could navigate whatever they faced with the people she had at her side.
Zia stepped forward. “They’ve all briefed me, so I’ll deliver a consolidated report. We each went in from one of the cardinal directions and got as close as we could.” She held up a small camera. “Eiko asked for photos so she could observe the area with magic, and I’ve got those.” She passed the camera to the diminutive witch, who had joined them a moment ago.
“It’s as bad as we feared. Luckily, we were a stealthy bunch with excellent hearing, and the vampires gossiped like teenagers. We overheard quite a bit. To condense it, Nadya did find a half-blood Therian, the son of an exiled dragon. His name is Maksim, and Nadya turned him into a vampire-Therian hybrid. We heard some nonsense about Nadya pretending to love him and claiming that vampires have been targeted by Therians for eons when she only wanted peace. From the way they were talking, he fell for it hook, line, and sinker, so he is hell-bent on revenge for you killing his love.”
