by Erin R Flynn
“Strip everything to the bare bones,” Kristoff decided. “We want shitty couches still brought out and tossed in the dumpsters we will also leave out. All the expired organics or food need out too. If people want to strip fixtures and even nice appliances, that would be smart.”
“You’re going to demolish the houses so they’re just not rotting and sad but you can reuse those building materials,” one of Sebastian’s other guys surmised.
“Yes, we are,” he confirmed, gesturing between him, Jaxon, Darius, and Cerdic, which I didn’t understand, but I wasn’t about to bust him on taking the cover off of me.
Sebastian bobbed his head. “Yes, we accept. I would ask if we could even bring back more regular vampires from our court and help expedite this. None will be as fast as us, but provisions all over have run that low because, as you said, there were only so many houses to raid. New is nice, but used is nothing a washing machine can’t fix. Going from nothing to spoiled is not the best way to fix things.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “Yeah, I’m fine with it as long as you can control them. If we try this and it gets fucked up or people start getting ballsy, it will all fall apart and I pull the plug on helping.”
“Understood and agreed,” he confirmed. “I think you should start this before we even move out of the area. Let those who are noncombatants come and help yours and they can raid houses, knowing they get that if they clean out the full house. That’s still very generous.”
“It also gives us time to get things set up in your killing area,” James agreed. “The merchant ship is maybe half full. Fine, take the plane to get more, Sebastian take the chance with the Wessex coven, and we can make multiple flights. Some can go home with the ship. We need more personnel but the right personnel with parents around to make the kids behave.”
“Okay, add in that they help load and unload a trip for us with the merchant ship to get it farther south and easier to access later, and I’ll add some nice items to help with coven defenses in case what’s left of your governments start shit.” I shrugged when I got confused looks. “I gave you a few electric semis. Want some choppers we’ve fixed? Those M-ATV Assault vehicles?”
“Make them agree they are for corrupted or if attacked only or you could be put in the middle of someone gifting one and then you’re the arms dealer who helped take out another coven,” Kristof suggested.
“Fuck, yeah, okay, good point,” I whispered, rubbing my chest as I realized that was where some would take the help. “If they agree to that. Enough have died. Protect covens or kill corrupted, and protect covens does not mean going out and killing people they don’t like. Is there some way to make that really happen?”
“Yes, the princess must swear a blood oath with witnesses and you could ask for it to be recorded. It’s a binding agreement that they could die from if not kept,” Sebastian said. “I think it’s fair to ask, but you have to very carefully word it so it cannot be twisted.”
“Fuck, it’s so stupid for me to offer help,” I sighed, plopping down on a chair and rubbing my head. “It just gets more and more complicated.”
“This is a time it’s okay to delegate it,” Jaxon muttered as he knelt in front of me. “This is the time that you can trust Mother in something like this, as she wants peace too. I won’t lie when you shouldn’t let any princess influence—even my family—but she has a very long history of handling all of this crap and well.”
“Yes, my princess is very talented in this area,” Sebastian agreed. “As your grasp on military and attack strategies is excellent—even so young—hers is for this type of strategy plus she has had centuries to perfect it. And there is a way to handle it so it’s not seen as she’s controlling you or you’re under her as she handles more on our end.”
“It’s a matter of presenting the trust there that she’s a distributor of your deals,” Kristof explained. “Like how stores would sell products. You can’t just call anyone, and we’re too busy for visits, so you’re giving Nora a chance to be your agent, but the final say is yours and she gets the perk of extras for her knowledge of who to trust and who has what we’d want.”
“Okay,” I whispered, rubbing my head again. “I have a feeling this is all going to bite us in the ass, but okay, let’s do it.”
I crawled into bed that night with a knot in my stomach and feeling like I’d just gotten played somehow. I didn’t know yet, but I didn’t think it was snarky nature that saw this would go totally off the rails.
2
I hated when my negativity was right. It made having hope for the plan or that life—people—could be better that much more painful. It was like a slap upside the head of reality, and it made me seriously depressed.
Sebastian and others had scouted ahead, finding a lot of everything that made the deal totally worth it. He flew out with James and a few of his guys so they could divide and conquer—mainly they handled contacting the Wessex coven and rounding up more from their coven who wanted to go.
And while they did that, we broke up into teams of getting things set up in Prince George as we needed, handling prep for those coming back to clear houses, and those packing up our stuff that we’d take south on the next trip with the merchant ship. So there was a lot of organized chaos that had purpose even if it brought us some headaches.
Sebastian got them to turn around and come right back, making it clear the plane was leaving and if they wanted spots on it, to move their asses. It sounded like a clear message to send.
Apparently not.
A noble from the Wessex coven bowed to me after arriving at the hotel. “Princess, I am Dennis, head of the party our beloved and generous Princess Olivia sent in response for your desperate request for aid.”
I blinked at him a moment and then looked at Sebastian with fury. “What fucking message did you give them?” I might have said more, but even I could sense the burning rage coming off the man when he was so locked down. “Well, clearly that went well.” I rolled my eyes at Dennis. “Yes, we’re clearly in desperate need of aid. So you flew out on your plane? No, that was mine.
“Do you want a hot shower? We have those. We have weapons. Working toilets and power. We have all the food we need and freezers full.” I shrugged. “So yeah, we’re totally in trouble. Thank you so much for your generosity when I sent a gift to play nice.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a long sigh. “Un-fucking-real. What a fucking petty ass bitch when I was doing something nice.”
“Excuse me?” Dennis seethed. “How dare you speak of my princess—”
“How dare you,” I snapped. “You’re a guest. You’re already a rude fucking guest, so just shut the fuck up. Seriously. Shut up or I will blow my lid. I gave her the chance to help her help her coven, and she turns it around that I’m desperately asking for aid. What the actual f? And you can tell her I said that. Tell her she’s a petty fucking brat and that’s coming from someone not even twenty-three.”
“I’ll relay your message,” he ground out. “We’ll return to the airport immediately.”
I snorted, smirking at him. “I’m not wasting fuel and a pilot on this bullshit. Fuck you. I gave a generous offer, and you shit on it. Fuck you. If the boat heading to Galway can fit you, catch a ride with them and see if you can get home from there or swim. I don’t give a shit.” I ignored his shocked reaction and glanced at Tyson. “I would like a knight or combat ready person to escort our rude guests for their entire stay.
“They can have rooms in the hotel we have taken over as we’re so desperate and you know, have that, and feed them, but if they start shit, shoot them or tell Kristof and he can behead some more assholes. It’s the fucking apocalypse and I’m—I’m just done.” I threw my hands up and looked at Sebastian. “Did you bring more people, or is it all Wessex people?”
He cleared his throat, seeming to realize I really did just handle it all like that. “We brought forty more vampires, and they had thirty, five from either princess court.”
&nb
sp; “Well, sorry to Cerdic’s mom, but his sister’s asshole spoke first and pissed me off. Shame, I was excited to have nice in-laws like you and Nora.” I shook my head and headed for the dining room. “Lunch is ready. Don’t choke on it.”
“I’m sure we’ll manage, young princess,” Dennis hissed. “And she’ll be glad to have her brother home, as he is to return with us.”
I spun on my heel, my fangs coming out as I stormed over to him and got in his face as much as I could given he had several inches on me. “If she wants the grown ass man, she can come and try to take him. It’s disgusting she would treat her family like she fucking owns him. She blew this so don’t try for a last—and very desperate—move because you have no move here.
“And Sebastian, please tell Princess Nora that I’m not comfortable with her trading what she got from me with either Wessex coven after how insulting and disrespectful they’ve been to me and you with twisting your very clear message.” I smirked at Dennis when shock flashed in his eyes. “Yeah, no shit that was your bailout in case I wasn’t a doormat. Asshole.”
“Should I call off the teams mapping where the guests can raid?” Lara asked since she was helping me with that while Trisha handled all the military prep.
“No, Sebastian and his people were on that,” I answered as we headed to the restaurant. “Please brief him on what’s been done and where they can start. Also, someone to figure out rooms for thirty, five rooms with double beds are fine for rude guests who will still get fed.”
“Understood.”
Cerdic gave me a worried look when we sat down with food. “That will have repercussions.”
I had already been a shitty mood before that, so I didn’t hide how I didn’t like the way that sounded as if he wasn’t on my side.
“You want to be summoned home like a dog, fine, go ahead, but that was a subdued reaction to what was deserved. You want to see really fucking insulted?” I stood before he could object and locked gazes with Trisha. “Before Dennis leaves, make sure he gets to see the aircraft carrier and fighter jets we have along with the fucking destroyer we got back online while James was gone.”
“Yes, Princess,” she said, biting back a smirk. “With your permission, I will also draw up scenarios of weapons distance capabilities, time it would take to arrive, and flight times.” She smiled at Dennis. “The coven’s in York, England, right?”
Dennis swallowed loudly as he met my gaze and gave a slow nod he would make sure to add that to his message. I might be the youngest princess on the planet in power—or ever from what Kristof seemed to think—but I was a well fucking armed one.
“I didn’t think you’d take it there,” Cerdic admitted, looking nervous for his family.
I shrugged, guessing Dennis could hear me. “I don’t want to. I’m not trying for world fucking domination, but everyone’s older than me and has their covens—which was handed down to them, so yeah, I’ve got to set up my own—so Trisha and I agree we make sure to have every other fucking defense ready to keep people from going over the line and simply being rude.”
“I think that a fair reaction to already having an assassination attempt,” Sebastian said as he sat down. I caught Dennis do a double take out of the corner of my eye. Okay, so he was making it clear I’d fought off people already?
I gave a quick nod and an internal sigh, done with the day and not wanting to try and figure anything else out. I was glad we’d used the chopper and gone to where they’d parked the destroyer, which had ended up being close. We’d left a team there, and they were headed towards us.
Now I really wanted to leave Juneau and go kill corrupted. After there were no more corrupted, I was going to need to find a new outlet for my anger, as I didn’t see not having reasons to get upset in the future.
I ate as I half listened to everyone get caught up. When I was done eating, I realized what could help, taking my tray to the kitchen where we had people working, and then walked across the street in full view of the restaurant. Then I changed my mind, thinking I’d acted rashly enough for one day, and just kept walking until I was out of view.
And then I leveled that building, getting that energy out of me. It was already marked that it had been completely raided, and it had to come down anyways. Now I’d given the team on clean up of my energy beads something to do.
And then I did it again because I was still upset.
I was a bit better after that, decided I wanted to go to a happier place, and headed a few blocks away where they were cleaning out a Juneau chain of coffee places and had hit the motherload since they’d roasted their own beans and had huge stores of them. Plus, now we had roasters and everything needed to do it ourselves when we had our coven.
“You okay?” Wolfe asked as I started packing pallets.
“It didn’t go well, and I sort of called that one, but it’s all on me because I’m princess, and that’s really not a fun job.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want it, but you do it better than any of us could,” he comforted after a few moments. “It’s not on you for how others react.” He didn’t push me when I simply nodded, but then when someone drove over with the electric pallet loader to trade us out, he shot me another worried glance. “Is there something else going on?”
“Yeah, and I’m not sure what to do about it,” I admitted, shaking my head when he opened his mouth. “I just need to think. I need to digest and just think. Nothing is going as we hoped.”
“I’m sorry. They were good plans.”
Had they been? I wasn’t so sure, and that upset me. It was one thing to deal with the pressure of being boss and getting a coven going when I could help people have a home… But if I was just going to fuck everything up, then I really didn’t think I could have that on my conscience.
Everyone seemed to realize my mood was still bad and didn’t know what to say. When it was time for bed, Jaxon finally tried.
“I’m so sorry that—”
“I know. I don’t want to get into it,” I interrupted, snuggling up against his chest to take the sting out of what I said. I just needed some more time.
And maybe some cinnamon rolls in the morning. Those helped my mood considerably.
Instead, I got more shit.
After breakfast, it was time to recover the next item I was compelled to find from the locations on the atlas. I didn’t want to sluff off on that so I started getting sick or something, plus, it really was smart to keep doing that on the down low and not have anyone else get a whiff of a quest because that would bring other trouble.
I blurred off with Cerdic and Kristof—who carried me—and the moment he set me on my feet, his lips were on mine, his hand on my breast, and his other hand under my skirt. His fingers found what they wanted, and he teased me before I even recovered or knew what was going on.
“Wait, stop,” I said as I tried to break the kiss. “Stop, we need to talk, and we’re not even supposed to be alone.”
He froze and leaned away, his eyes filling with anger and fast before he took several steps back. I yelped as he turned and punched a tree faster than I could keep up with but only figured it out when the tree was falling over. I ducked down and moved my arms over my head as if that would help if it came my way or if Kristof turned to me next.
“Are you revoking our agreement to court you?” he demanded.
“No,” I choked out, shivering.
“I’m not going to hit you,” he snapped.
“Sorry, I’m sorry,” I whimpered, not able to unlock my legs or move.
“Mate, what did you do now?” Cerdic demanded. “Hasn’t she been through enough without you blowing your top? You can’t keep acting like this around her. She’s been through too much and—”
“I’m a baby vampire,” I rasped. “I didn’t know about vampires. Humans can’t—people don’t chop trees with a punch or holes in metal trailers.”
“So I have to play human for you?” he growled. “Is that what you want?”
“I want to go back to Juneau,” I managed to answer. “I’m sorry, I won’t bug you with what I wanted to ask.”
“You wanted to ask me something?” he checked after several beats, waiting until I nodded. “You said we needed to talk. Humans do that when they break up.”
“Not always, you git,” Cerdic seethed. “And she’s never been in a relationship before. Why would you default to thinking that?” Someone touched me, and I gave a yelp, Cerdic sighing. “It’s just me, love. Let’s head back and we can come get your thing tomorrow alone.”
“We’re not supposed to be alone either,” I reminded him quietly, shaking my head before he could respond. “Forget it. Fine, whatever, please let’s just go back.” I wrapped around him when he lifted me, his sweater getting wet making me realize I’d been crying.
We arrived back at the US Civil Air Patrol facility we’d found, which was like the US National Guard for the Air Force according to what I understood. All I knew was there were still weapons left so it was a good find. Plus planes to turn into energy beads—which I was told was the official way vampires referred to what I did though I liked pixels better—that we could use for other stuff later.
Cerdic set me down, and I quickly wiped under my eyes, not thinking he should have brought me around so many, but then I realized Jaxon and Darius were also there. Kristof appeared almost at the exact same time, and I flinched.
And Sebastian snorted, getting enough to know what—or who—had upset me.
And that pissed me off because I wasn’t thrilled with him either; even if it wasn’t his fault Princess Olivia was nuts, he’d said he could handle it. Oh, and that his people would behave. So I snapped.
I shoved him, no longer crying but pissed. “I wouldn’t be so quick to judge that I’m so fucking tired and stressed out I wasn’t able to handle telling Kristof something to the best of my ability or it spun out. Because the problem is with your people. Sorry, I didn’t know how to handle that perfectly, but I shouldn’t have to. I shouldn’t have to overhear that I’m sooo lacking compared to Princess Nora.