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Stone didn’t give speeches. He didn’t smile much. Not his style. He was taller than most every Guardsman Devyn knew. He had unusual green eyes and thick wavy black hair. He was a good ruling mastyr and radiated power.
Devyn sipped his whisky and waited for Stone to break the silence.
Finally, Stone took a swig then began. “Vojalie called me earlier this evening. It seems we have a new blood rose in Tannisford. Millerell, to be exact.”
Vojalie was Emily’s mentor. No doubt Emily had talked to her about recent events.
“We do.”
Stone shook his head. “I’ve been trying to process what it means. On a practical, personal level, you must know once word gets out, every mastyr in the Nine Realms will want a shot at her. She’ll need protection. Or do you have an arrangement with her already? With Emily.”
Devyn shook his head. “No.” The tips of his fangs glided in and out of his gums. He had to work to force them back. The thought of Emily with another mastyr had fired up his battle energy.
Because he hadn’t been around her for a week, he’d learned to keep his thoughts contained. Now that Stone had spoken of all the vampires who’d be going after her, some of the former cravings and corresponding possessiveness returned like a fireball in his chest, shoulders, and arms.
Devyn tossed his drink back. A thought occurred to him. “Did Vojalie ask you to talk to me?”
Stone nodded slowly. “She did. But maybe not like you think. I’m not here to advise you. I need to determine if Tannisford is under some new kind of threat.”
At that, Devyn sat up a little straighter. “What do you mean?”
“I’d come to believe the appearance of the blood roses in the Nine Realms was a direct result of Margetta’s intention to take over our world. Now that she’s gone, I thought it was unlikely we’d have any more women show up with blood rose capacity? I guess you could say, I’m troubled. Given the nature of your report about this particular Invictus wraith-pair, especially the wraith’s level of power, the mist he could make, you can see why I have concerns.”
Devyn shook his head. “It was only after Emily healed me and when I took her blood I was able afterward to battle the wraith. I hadn’t extrapolated a purpose. The wraith made a speech, though, about Mastyr Leonus and the dark fae, Mitrana, having sent this pair to destroy me. I don’t know why that would be. But the wraith spoke only of these two, not of a grand plan to conquer Tannisford or any of the other Nine Realms. Do you think the attack had a bigger implication than just this stated purpose?”
He lifted his free hand. “I honestly don’t know. Let’s just say, we need to watch the situation. There will always be elements in our world that seek power for the purpose of domination. It’s the way of the Nine Realms, unfortunately. But that’s why we have our Vampire Guards and the Shifter Brigades, to always be ready. Emily’s rise to blood rose status could be a unique occurrence meant to help you and nothing more. Again, we’ll have to watch it carefully, see if Leonus and Mitrana, come for you again.”
Stone then asked for Devyn to run through the attack sequence at Millerell once more. “Spare no detail.”
Devyn took his time. Stone asked many questions, especially about the manner in which the Invictus pair arrived.
At the end of the recounting, Stone asked a few more questions, in particular about time-pathing, then rose to his feet. “Thank you for coming by. Please stay in touch and let me know if anything else happens or if you think there’s something the Guard can do for you.” He then gave Devyn his private email address.
Stone walked him to the front door. “A word of advice, Mastyr Devyn?” He opened the door, holding it wide.
Devyn met his gaze. “Of course.”
“I’ve been down this road and I know from experience it won’t be simple. But I do know what the most important thing is. Do everything you can to make sure Emily is safe. Really safe. It’s possible forces are at work here beyond our understanding and, yes, I’ve learned that from my wife.”
Devyn nodded his understanding, crossed the threshold then lifted into the night air.
~ ~ ~
Except for the first night, Emily had refused to weep over what happened after Devyn made love to her. Instead, she went about her life in the usual way, though she thanked the Goddess she’d been gifted with time-pathing abilities. More than once, while out in public, a mastyr vampire had come onto her. Each had shown the classic signs of craving and a need to possess. The only way she’d made her escape was by means of the continuum.
It had been a week since she’d been with Devyn. She’d done a few household chores and now headed to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. When she discovered the cream in her fridge was sadly out-of-date, she decided a trip to the grocery store was much needed. She was reluctant to go, however. Was it her imagination, or were there more mastyr vampires in Millerell than usual?
She donned jeans and a t-shirt, sprayed on a heavy layer of perfume to try to cloak her mastyr-pleasing scent, then headed out on foot. The April day proved to be perfect walking weather.
She took clean fresh air into her lungs then flew to the local Millerell shop not far from the Wild Boar.
There were enough villagers and farm-folk in the area to warrant several aisles, a fresh produce section, even a butcher. She was pushing her cart around the end of an aisle and had just brought a lemon to her nose, when a man appeared and grabbed her upper arm.
Instinctively, she tried to pull away, but he held her fast.
She realized at once he was a mastyr vampire, someone she’d never seen before. He had cruel black eyes, thick dark brows and a scar running down the entire right side of his face. His hair was black, wavy and shoulder length. It didn’t look clean. He had a strange smell that told her he was connected to dark fae magic.
He spoke in a low voice. “Don’t make a fuss, Mistress, or I’ll snap your neck.”
