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It’s hard for leaders to know when to let these things play out, and when to offer actual food and sustenance to their warriors, rather than feeding them energy.
Wise leaders understand that appearing weak can invite attacks, but showing strength can repel them.
Ah, so we had other vampires, likely Alaric with members of the Concilio, deciding whether to attempt to take us out, or whether the risk of attacking us on the cusp of battle was too great of a risk to their continued long-lived status.
There had been no direct advice, so I bit back the thanks I wanted to give him, and I put Cora on her hands and knees, leaned to bite the side of her ribs where I knew it would hurt like fuck, injected enough venom to make her eroticize the pain and want more, and then drove into her asshole and drank in her lust. The energy of our exchange infected the crowd below us, and even those who don’t normally have sadistic and masochistic tendencies found they did on this day, and the erotic screams of those being hurt in all the best ways filled the air of Homewood, and Cora and I feasted on the energy.
Etta telepathed me that Ryan was going to take in the death energy of a vampire she was about to execute. The slave Etta had taken on from Atlanta, the former Secundo, she’d decided to donate to the cause on this night. Two minutes later, I sensed his death at the same time I felt Ryan sharing the vampire’s aura, his life force, with Etta and Blaze. Blaze shared it with Augustus, who funneled it into lust energy. Etta sent it to me as raw power, and the combination of fear, lust, death, and whatever the various shapeshifters were gifting me with came together in a detonation of sorts, and I had the knowledge this power would stay with me forever. Now that I had it, it was mine.
The crowd fucked until dawn approached, and all of the vampires who weren’t flashed home by Mordecai made our way to an underground area at Homewood I hadn’t known existed. It wasn’t under the house, but underground in another part of the property — a series of huge concrete drainage pipes with a twelve-foot diameter, with what amounted to bunk beds.
I helped get everyone sorted, and Kirsten flashed me back to my suite at Homewood just in time for the dawn to take me.
But it didn’t.
For the second time since my first death, I remained awake when the sun rose. I felt the instant it came above the horizon, and it sapped a good bit of my strength, but I was still a thousand times stronger than I’d been before the orgy, I had so much power flowing through me. I left my secure hole and looked around, trying to figure out what this meant.
Mordecai’s voice came in my head. I’m in the hallway outside your suite. If you’ll open the door, we can talk.
I walked to the door, opened it, and motioned Mordecai to come in.
“It’s Ryan’s magic — the power he acquires through the death of supernaturals. Etta is awake as well. Just the two of you. I thought it possible more of your top five might be powered enough to overcome the sun, but only the two of you are.”
“How many days will we have?”
“At a guess, I’d say two to three weeks, but it may be a lot less. If you can work out a deal with him, so he kills someone and funnels the power to you instead of taking it into himself to keep him from aging, you’ll be able to have it again. I don’t recommend you do it regularly, but it’s certainly an ace to keep up your sleeve.”
“Blaze does this for Augustus?”
“You’d have to ask Blaze or Augustus.”
Right, but then I’d be telling them I had this gift, and I’d prefer to keep this one secret.
“Can you bring Etta to me?”
“She’s with Ryan. It might be better to telepath her.”
Etta darling. Tell your slayer ‘thank you’ from me, please.
He had no idea his magic could do this. Blaze never told him.
I would prefer he not speak to Blaze about this. Cora is on her way downstairs, I feel it’s important the four of us speak. Would it be okay for Mordecai to flash Cora and me to the two of you?
I don’t believe Ryan wants you to know about this particular safe house. Can Mordecai flash us to the conference room down the hall from your suite?
I looked at Mordecai and he nodded, and I spoke out loud what I also telepathed to Etta and Cora. “I didn’t have time to shower. Let’s meet in the conference room in ten minutes. Does that work for everyone?”
Mordecai nodded, and both Etta and Cora responded with a yes.
Cora took a shower with me. No sex, just lots of soap and shampoo, and we made it into the conference room with wet hair, dressed in heavy robes, with a full three seconds to spare.
I’d spent twenty minutes making sure everyone was settled underground, and someone must’ve flashed Ryan and Etta to his safe house right away, because they’d had time to shower, dry their hair, and put clothes on. Etta was in another of her signature red dresses, while Ryan was in dark jeans and a black tee, with lumps all over his body I knew to be weapons, but the average person wouldn’t notice.
“I’m going to stay off all electronics while I should be down for the day, and I’m ordering the same for you, Etta,” I told them. “No one is to know of this. Ryan, if we have to battle again, or if there’s a reason I need to stay awake during a sunrise, I hope to be able to bargain with you to share this magic with us again.”
“It won’t last?” Etta asked.
“A few weeks,” Mordecai said. “One death powers a slayer for twenty-eight days, through a cycle of the moon, to keep him or her from aging. It isn’t likely to keep the two of you awake through the day as long. At a guess, I’d say two or three weeks, but it’s possible it’ll only last a few days.” He eyed us all speculatively and added, “If you set up a blood circle so you have the power of three, to multiply it, then each death will give you three cubed the length of time.”
