AllFreeNovel
Share Us
PROLOGUE
Nottuza
The silk sheets slide off my skin as I leap out of the coffin and stretch my old bones. They groan from lack of use over the past nine millennia I spent sleeping. Yawning, I rub my eyes and look around the dimly lit tomb. Spells colored in red ink, carved into the charcoal walls, cast a pinkish glow on the space.
The ambiance reminds me of Helen’s pleasure house instead of a tomb set deep inside the mountain that rises beside a small remote village at the far end of the Winter Fae Court. At my feet lies the notturno who gave up his life force to awaken me. Crouching beside him, I examine his face and sort through the memories I acquired from drinking his blood.
His name is Navanel, and he’s one of my descendants. Not by birth, of course. Notturnoshave no natural-born children, only those we make by sharing our life force with them. Since my life force comes directly from the fairy who made me, and I was his first undead creation, my life force is the strongest.
It should make my notturno bloodline the strongest as well. But that’s not what I gathered from the vampire at my feet. My bloodline is not as prevalent as it used to be back in my span. If the news of my loss of power isn’t sad enough, I also gather that my kind have split into seven houses. They fight among each other or form alliances to destroy the opposing houses based on whatever selfish need drives them at the time.
Division among the notturno is not in our best interests, but in the best interests of different members of our food groups.
Along with the unrest in the Unseelie courts, my kind have lost their way. The newborns are weak and slow. And those houses I see in my head? For generations, they’ve enlisted fae families to serve as their food. This means that the food knocks on the door and makes itself available. It’s no wonder my kind are weakening.
We are the undead army.
Hunters.
Predators of the night, not grannies knitting by fireplaces sipping stale blood from champagne flutes.
I cover the wounds on the vampire’s ravaged neck with his torn collar, then pat his head.
“You’re better off sleeping.” I slide my hands under his body and pick him up, then put him in my coffin, his purpose of awakening me and allowing me to see the fate’s prophecy now served.
After drinking the blood of a seer, he received glimpses of the future, and the future says a fae with magic to raise the dead has been conceived. The baby, once born, will need the protection of the undead army.
I close and lock the coffin of the resting notturno before climbing out of the tomb.
1
NOTTUZA
Two cycles have passed since I awoke, and the inherited memories from my successor are helping me adjust to the new world. Chopping wood outside his house while the brutal fall winds batter my body calms me and allows me to think. I’ll be damned if I’ll sit by the fireplace while doing the thinking when I can work outside where the cold winds, like the hands of multiple lovers, reach for me, making me feel alive.
The winds whoosh into the house as the front door closes behind me. I walk to the basket near the fireplace to fill it with the chopped wood before picking up the fire poker, intent on clearing out a space for fresh wood. Since it’s been burning for only a short while, there’s still plenty from when I filled it before the sun came out.
As winter approaches, the time under sunlight shortens, and with it, my time spent up here in hiding. Eventually, the living will find out I’ve awoken, and I look forward to any bloody confrontations they throw my way. I’m especially excited about the power moves among the vampire houses and the Winter fairies.
The recent chronicles my neighbor, the Unseelie king, sent me from his vast library taught me about the current affairs of the fae courts. I was particularly interested to read about his conquests of both the Fall Court and the more recent confrontation with the entire nobility of the Winter Court, which led to the destruction of the Winter Court’s buildings, the scattering of the fae armies, and general mayhem.
Chaos means there’s a need for order, and bringing order sometimes feels like the reason I exist. Order makes sense and provides stability in the kingdom. The impending birth of the baby the future will call the Ice Princess requires a stable kingdom and the governance of a strong army she can command. An army that serves her exclusively.
Since a royal ass can’t sit on a destroyed throne, I must bring the Winter Court’s throne back to order. This will require remodeling, rebuilding, and lots of unpleasantries. It will get worse before it gets better, and the challenge threatens to set my unbeating heart aflutter.
The shadows gathering in the corner on my left herald the appearance of the Unseelie king, a tall, broad-shouldered male wearing a formal black-on-black uniform with silver buttons and a single red sleeve. His long black hair looks tousled, and he’s wearing a beard. Trimmed, but still, it’s facial hair.
Combed and pulled tightly and neatly at the top of my head, my long hair is in perfect order. I would rather be caught alive with a bleeding and beating heart than wear hair on my face.
I give him a once-over. What is it with this male’s hair?
Even though we’re neighbors in a mountainous three-village settlement with a population totaling under one thousand people, the king is a recluse. I haven’t seen him but twice since I arrived on this property. The first time was when he thought I murdered a notturno he called Vane. Navanel is the male’s full name, and once we sorted out who I was and why I’d been awoken, the king seemed thrilled and sent me books to get me up to speed with modern fae times.
The second time I saw him was when I went down to the village streets to eat, and he intercepted me, saying I could have my food delivered. I refused the virginal food he sent me and have traveled long distances to feed ever since.
Hunting and luring prey is a matter of survival for me. I cannot feed from a weakling virgin fae with barely any magic. I require full meals, not snacks, which is what brings the king here this evening.
The Unseelie king is taking me to dinner.
