by Tricia Barr
“Yes, to rest.” Mudd said, stomping toward him and pointing in the direction the others had taken. “Not to go scampering about the Cascades.” He walked closer. “Or going AWOL to save a certain mer.” He narrowed his eyes up at Kol.
“I wasn’t going after her,” Kol said. “That would be stupid.” He glanced over the corporal’s head at Char, who watched the pair with a studied glance. Kol didn’t know whether to feel grateful or annoyed that she was staying out of this one-sided show of power. He supposed she was well aware that Kol had learned to fight his own battles years ago. He was a Dracul, with Eduard as a father, after all.
Corporal Mudd folded his arms across his chest and widened his stance. Kol felt the man’s dislike rolling off him in waves.
“We were dismissed,” Kol repeated. “I didn’t plan to be gone long, just take a flight down to Vancouver.” He resisted the urge to glance at Char again.
“Vancouver?” Mudd frowned. “That’s a two-hour flight there and back, at least, Private Dracul. Were you planning to come back?”
Kol’s blood boiled within seconds. “That mer who was taken, Myreen?” he said, setting his jaw before speaking again. “I asked to be on this mission to rescue her, not to go AWOL.”
Mudd poked Kol in the ribcage. “You will talk to me with respect, Private,” he spat. “Just because your father is the general, doesn’t give you the authority to do whatever you wish.”
“Why do you want to go to Vancouver, Kol?” Char asked, finally stepping in.
The way she asked—as if suddenly stripping her title and becoming just Char here in the middle of Washington’s frozen forest—caught him off guard. The question didn’t hold the weight of Corporal Modder’s question. She wasn’t demanding respect or chiding him for being insubordinate. She truly wanted to know, and it showed in the softening of her brown eyes.
He stared at her for a few seconds, stunned and not quite sure what to say—especially with Mudd watching and listening.
“Could you give us a minute, Corporal Modder?” she asked without even looking at him.
Kol expected a grunt or noise indicating his disapproval, but the corporal stiffened and nodded before walking the same direction as the others.
“What’s his deal?” Kol asked, glowering at the corporal’s retreating form.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe he has a problem with the fact that you walked into your barracks this morning and onto a private jet an hour later with an elite team headed for a dangerous and sensitive mission?”
Kol glanced down at her.
“Corporal Modder has been in the shifter military ten years, Kol,” she said.
“Well he must not be very good if he’s only a corporal,” Kol scoffed. “Look at you! You’re a sergeant and you’ve only been in a year!”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “He’s a talented dragon and an obedient soldier. He doesn’t have his eye on ranks.”
Clearly, Kol wanted to say. Instead, he steadied himself, forcing himself to cool. There was no point getting worked up over something so trivial. If Corporal Modder was essential to bringing Myreen back, Kol wouldn’t have an issue with him.
“So why Vancouver?” she asked. “I really can’t have you leaving to go so far. Even you, Malkolm Dracul, need to follow my orders.”
Kol’s shoulders dropped in defeat. “I just wanted to kill time. And he’s wrong, you know? I could be there in fifty minutes, maybe even forty-five easy. I’d be back in three hours, tops.”
Char raised an eyebrow, then pushed a lock of her blonde hair away from her face and behind her ear. He was so close to winning her over, he could feel it. They might not have seen each other for a year, but he still knew her tells.
“Come with me?” he asked. “And I’ll tell you why Vancouver.”
“Fine,” she said quicker than expected. If he didn’t know better, he could’ve sworn she hid a smile when she pressed her lips together.
Realizing he was still mid-shift, that his arms and torso were invisible, so she’d been essentially talking to a disembodied head—but kudos to Mudd for locating his invisible ribs in his physical show of authority—he quickly shifted completely.
Char shifted quicker and beat him into the air, heading south.
***
Their little mini-competition actually brought them to the outskirts of Vancouver in forty minutes, but that’s where Kol found himself lost. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for. Finding himself in Washington and with time to spare before he could rescue Myreen had given him only one idea: to find the place where his ancestor, Aline Dracul had lived.
Vancouver, Washington. Where Aline was cursed.
Kol and Char stood along the bank of the Columbia River in silence. They shifted back to their human forms seconds before the rain started. Kol preferred the snow.
“So why Vancouver?” Char asked, shouting over the torrents.
Kol scooted closer to her, his arm pressing against her shoulder, so they could better hear each other.
“My ancestor lived here somewhere,” he said.
She looked up at him with a cocked head and twisted mouth. “History nerd?” she teased with a nudge. “Or what is it they call it? Genealogy nerd?”
“What can I say?” He shrugged, looking back over the river. He didn’t want to get into the fact that Aline was the only ancestor he really knew about—well besides his grandparents. Curses were difficult to explain. Especially activated curses.
His heart twinged in the same spot Mudd poked him earlier.
“No, it’s something else,” she said. Char always knew when Kol was holding something back.
He didn’t dare look at her.
“You triggered the curse, didn’t you?” she said, not looking at him. “You fell in love with that mer-siren girl we’re getting ready to rescue and you triggered the curse.”
Kol stared down at the top of her now-soaked head. He could see the rivulets falling from her lowered lashes, streaming down her face like tears.
“You know about the curse?” he asked, his voice so low he wasn’t sure if she could hear him over the storm.
Finally her eyes lifted to his, blinking rapidly to prevent raindrops from blurring her vision further. Kol could feel the rain plastering his own hair against his forehead and along his neck.
Char’s lips were pressed tightly together. Kol wondered if she was holding back some emotion, though he couldn’t guess what. It was a look he couldn’t remember ever seeing from her.
“Nik told me once,” she said with a shrug, as if it would lessen whatever she was feeling.
“Traitor,” he said, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips. He felt the need to lighten the mood somehow. But it didn’t seem to work.
“Don’t blame him,” she said, still serious. She looked back out at the river. “Our parents wanted us to marry...” she paused. “They still do. I think he was just trying to warn me.”
Still do? Kol hadn’t heard anything from his parents about him and Char in quite a while. But suddenly everything clicked and a seed of anger blazed to life.
It was all Eduard’s doing.
The reason why Char was a part of his final sim test, the reason she led this mission to rescue Myreen. His father knew Kol would insist on helping rescue Myreen and was trying to throw him and Charlotte together in hopes that their unofficial marriage alliance would finally come to fruition. Eduard always wanted Kol to end up with a dragon. It was practically expected. And a Stern dragon—Charlotte—would help both of their families politically and socially in the shifter world.
Kol could hear it now. You’ve already fallen in love with the siren girl and she hates you. Why not form an alliance with someone who cares for and respects you instead? You’ve always liked Charlotte.
Kol clenched his fists. He wanted to punch the rain-drenched tree next to him, but resisted. It wasn’t Char’s fault. He suddenly needed to get back to the mission. He wasn’t sure
why he’d come to Vancouver or what he thought he’d find, anyway. He was ready to storm the vampire towers tonight and free Myreen—to hell with the danger.
He needed to see her.
But he wasn’t stupid. He calmed the white-hot fire that threatened to destroy something.
“This Aline Dracul, she’s the one who was cursed in the beginning,” Char said. “Wasn’t she?”
Kol couldn’t tell if she noticed the shift in his mood or not, but he didn’t trust his voice and merely nodded.
“Are you hoping to find a way to break it? The curse?”
“I don’t know!” he shouted, ripping at his drenched hair. “I don’t know why I wanted to come, or what I thought I’d find. The boarding house Aline lived in was destroyed by vampires one hundred years ago, and I’m sure the apple orchard is gone by now too.”
After several silent moments, Char said, “We could ask someone. A store owner or something? They might know the spot.”
Kol’s anger dropped to a simmer as he contemplated just how Char knew so much about his family’s curse. He doubted Nik knew the name Aline Dracul. Plus, she made it sound like Nik had spilled that information years before. But there was too much going on for him to figure out. He was too wearied with the gut-wrenching dread he’d felt every second since watching Myreen’s submerged form—dark hair creating a slow-moving halo, her pink fins paled against the murky water—grow smaller in Lake Michigan’s depths before disappearing from sight.
But he doubted asking townsfolk about a shifter boarding house would work, since it wasn’t likely it would have any importance for humans. Still, he nodded and followed Char into the forest.
As it turned out, Char actually had a contact in town. An old phoenix who had family in the area went on and on about the history of the city. Kol was pretty sure most of the story was made up. Three alicorns in one city, let alone one century sounded like the makings of a fantasy novel. He thought alicorns had been extinct since the black plague.
The old phoenix knew next to nothing about the boarding house, except its possible location, but Char insisted that they check it out anyway and determine for themselves if their crazy little side mission was a dead end. And yes, she included herself when she called it their side mission.
Kol couldn’t figure out why she cared so much.
It was fully dark, but the rain had stopped when they found the location, so they easily found the remains of the stable. Three rotted walls of wood were all that remained. It was small and probably only housed one or two animals, even when it was functional. The entire property was overgrown and wild, like the very land had been cursed when it was destroyed by the vampires. Kol wondered if the selkies had something to do with that, though he couldn’t fathom why. A development of condominiums to erase any trace seemed more like something a group of selkies would have a mind for.
And Kol felt nothing.
No sense of magic or wonder standing on a plot of ground that his ancestor likely walked. The whole selkie line of thinking was probably his way of grasping at straws. Like if he found some clue or relic...
“Let’s go,” he said.
Char had been kicking at something in the dirt near the edge of one of the leaning walls and jerked her head in shock. “But we found it!” she said, hands up, and eyebrows raised in confusion. “This is where the house was, and now you want to go?” She crouched down, gripping at what looked like a half-buried rock.
Kol shook his head and looked northeast—the direction of Cle Elum. Toward Myreen. “Let’s just go,” he repeated. He heard the flatness in his tone. “I’m ready to crash.”
Char brushed at the rock she’d plucked before tossing it to Kol and walking past him. “It’s a dragon scale,” she said without looking back, sounding a little deflated.
He barely glanced at the violet scale before throwing it over his shoulder and following her. He knew Aline’s scales were a purplish-violet color. But a dragon scale wouldn’t make Myreen love him back.
“I hope you’re in hell, Aline,” he muttered under his breath, then shifted and took flight.
***
Kol was antsy in the morning. He’d slept horribly in anticipation of the attack and was ready to get it underway. The sky was nearly cloudless as the sun peeked over the horizon, proving to be a good day for vampires to die. He shuffled from foot to foot in the snow as Char and Corporal Mudd spoke in hushed, serious tones a few meters away.
Char’s arms were folded across her chest as she spoke calmly to an agitated Mudd who flailed his arms and gestured at Specialist Torisei. Apparently the two had a chat about the plan while Kol and Char were slogging through the mud and rain in Vancouver.
Finally, the two officers approached.
Char cleared her throat as soon as the team came to attention. “I’ve been advised that a full-frontal attack on the vampire school is too reckless and dangerous.”
Kol’s stomach dropped. “Says who?” he shouted, knowing full well he was speaking out of turn, but he shifted his glare right at Corporal Modder as he spoke.
Char glared at him. “You will show your sergeant respect, private,” she shot back. Then she gritted her teeth. “We’re formulating a new plan.”
“No,” Kol said, breaking rank and stalking into the trees, but pausing to look back. “I’m going. Now. We have the element of surprise. Specialist Torisei has the tech to tear the towers apart. Let’s do it!”
Specialist Torisei’s mouth twitched, and he turned his head to the side as if changing his mind again. “Private Dracul is right,” he said, looking apologetic. “I had my doubts, but if we attack now...”
Corporal Mudd turned his dagger-glare at the kitsune, who cowered slightly.
Kol didn’t wait for another response and continued walking.
“This is against orders, private!” Mudd shouted.
“Actually,” Char said, cutting him off, “I never ordered anything. I never called off the attack.”
Kol turned with a smirk directed at Mudd.
“However...” she continued, “It is dangerous, very dangerous.” Char stiffened. “If anyone feels it’s too risky, I will not order anyone to sacrifice their lives for this.”
Kol rolled his eyes. Of course they would all come. He’d seen the respect in every single one of the team’s eyes for their leader. This little demonstration of cowardice was merely wasting precious time. Kol folded his arms and leaned back. He knew he’d won.
But Corporal Modder’s expression slipped into disappointment—directed at Char. She shrugged a weak retort and mouthed something Kol couldn’t see. Corporal Modder shook his head before walking away. The rest, minus Specialist Torisei and Private Gibson, followed the corporal.
Kol’s arms dropped, but he kept his expression neutral when Charlotte turned to look at him. He refused to name the emotion he saw there, and pretended that he was still too robotic to notice. Myreen was his only focus.
Even if their numbers had gone from twelve to four in a matter of seconds.
Chapter 11: Leif
Rainbow—the vampire cat—leapt from Leif’s lap and landed gently on the ground. He stretched his furry limbs, straightened his back, and pointed his gray tail upward, all the while purring a middle C, at perfect-pitch.
“Don’t leave,” Leif mumbled, his shackles rattling slightly as he moved his arms and extended his fingers. But he didn’t mean it. The cat had yet to be discovered by anybody within the black walls of Heritage Prep. Rainbow only left Leif when somebody else was approaching—usually Beatrice. It was the cat’s sixth sense.
“Be safe out there,” he whispered, watching Rainbow with blurry eyes. The copper injections not only weakened him physically and mentally, it even messed with his vision. Still, he saw the blurry fur-ball leap onto the couch and slip behind a heavy curtain.
Leif had no recollection of how much time passed since he’d become Beatrice’s prisoner. However long ago Rainbow had torn off the metal plating that used to
cover the window, there was now a triple-layered black sheet to replace it. When Beatrice discovered the open window, Leif told her he needed to see the sunlight—that it was the only thing that had brought him comfort. Which wasn’t entirely a lie: Rainbow did bring him comfort. And amazingly, Rainbow survived the sunlight, indicating that the cat had taken on Leif’s daywalking abilities.
Fortunately, the curtain made it easy for Rainbow to get in and out of Beatrice’s quarters. Leif watched as his little friend scurried out of sight.
In the loneliness the cat left behind, Leif’s muddled thoughts turned to Kenzie. She’d reached out to him several times—or at least he thought she had. But he couldn’t remember what she’d said, or what he’d said in response. The conversations seemed like dreams that were trying to disappear without a trace. He just hoped she wasn’t making the mistake of coming to the vampire school. If she was... well, hopefully she’d have a plan that could actually get him out.
Only a few moments went by, then a beep sounded at the door, and in walked Beatrice Morton. She’d been his intended over one hundred years ago. Then she’d become the one who bit him, transforming him into the vampire he still was. She’d then become his teacher in utilizing his powers. And now, she was his captor. Draven turned him over to Beatrice for whatever purposes she desired.
“Hi Honey, I’m home!” Beatrice said the words in a sing-song voice, and Leif felt like hurtling himself out the window. It was probably a sixty- or seventy-foot fall. He wondered if he could survive such a drop.
Instead, he cast his hopeless gaze to the floor. “Hi Beatrice,” he mumbled.
“Hey, cheer up, cheer up!” she said. “I brought a bloodmix for us to share!”
Bloodmix—a vampire cocktail that contained a variety of blood from different humans. Sure enough, Leif spotted the tall glass, filled to just a half-inch from the top, two bendy straws poking out, and found himself licking his lips. He was thirsty.
“You need to keep up your strength,” she said, kneeling in front of him while placing her free hand on his cheek. “Besides, what’s better than a date with me?”