I waited for her response, hoping I hadn’t made her angrier.
She studied me for a long moment. Then she finally nodded, begrudgingly.
I made sure to lock down my thoughts for the night. We’d just had a moment, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
I finally turned away from her unblinking stare and found myself staring at my mother’s journal on the nearby desk. It was filled with pages and pages of the Omegabet—the language of the end. Sanguina had been teaching me a little of that, sharpening my ability to decipher strange drawings and read prophetic madness that—more often than not—resembled the drunken results of a fridge magnet sentence. The one where you get a few hundred random words that you could arrange into bizarre, often humorous, messages for your fridge.
Studying the strange amalgamation of symbols, runes, and characters scribbled on those pages made the hair on the back of my arms stand on end.
Because, subconsciously, I seemed able to read it or comprehend it. I couldn’t sit there and go word-for-word, or anything, but staring at it for more than a few moments caused my mind to wander with dark, terrifying thoughts. I would snap out of it some time later—perhaps hours—realizing I had learned quite a bit. Often, things I had not wanted to learn or visualize.
Like walking in on your parents having sex, except less of the carnal sense and more of the apocalyptic.
I shuddered at that visual and shrugged off thoughts of the Omegabet.
The vampires of the Sanguine Council were a safer problem. The Sanguine Council had been recruited by the Masters—a secret, clandestine group of monsters and gods who wanted to set up their own new world order. They’d blackmailed the Harkers—my predecessors—into building them an army at Castle Dracula. One that they could use during the upcoming Omega War, as I’d heard it indirectly called a few times by Nate Temple. Others called it the All War, or the End War.
All alluded to the same thing. A doozie.
Because now that I had defeated Dracula—one of those secretive Masters—I had earned my own place in their little club. There was a meeting with them in about six weeks, and the new Master Dracula had been cordially invited. Probably so they could reassure they still had their army and that I understood the past obligations of my predecessors.
I’d met with the members of the Sanguine Council and commanded them to join me at Castle Dracula for an executive retreat. They assumed it was to curtail their feeding habits—which was true, but they didn’t know that I also intended to come up with a better solution than handing them over to the Masters. I’d postponed that meeting since I hadn’t yet pinned down the particulars of how to achieve my goals.
In addition to the vampires not knowing what to do with their new vegetarian boss, some of the residents of Castle Dracula didn’t quite know what to make of me either. They were also unhappy to learn that their old boss had been a fraud. Johnathan and Mina Harker had killed the real Dracula long ago, taking his place with none the wiser. That secret was now out, and it only added to the bubbling cauldron of angry monsters.
Not all were in favor of their new ruler. Enter the rebels, stage left.
I was hoping the Sanguine Council could help me with that. That the residents of Castle Dracula could see me coordinating the world’s most powerful vampires into a new, cohesive unit. Likewise, that the Sanguine Council could see me ruling over Castle Dracula without issue. That the two problems would solve each other as long as I could keep everything stable for a little while longer.
If that didn’t work…I wasn’t sure what I would do.
I reached into my pocket and withdrew a thick card. I opened it, reading the words for the hundredth time. It was an invitation to Dracula for the upcoming Master’s Ball—which was still more than a month away. It was addressed to Dracula, not Jonathan or even Mina Harker. Technically, that now applied to me.
They’d cleverly combined the word Master with masquerade—Masterade—because they were oh, so evil. Attending a party with the Masters could be suicide. It could also be helpful.
I tapped the card against the table, considering my options.
The protection my mother had given me from Heaven and Hell was now gone. A demon wanted to marry me on Christmas Day, three weeks from now. I had political drama to deal with regarding Castle Dracula and the Sanguine Council. The only party I hadn’t bumped into yet was Heaven. With Legion making his move tonight, I was betting Heaven wasn’t far behind.
My parents had put me in this position—as a chew toy between Heaven and Hell—working closely with Nate’s parents to keep me safe until now. Quinn MacKenna was even the byproduct of our three families scheming. The three of us were tied together, integral to the fight against the Masters. Our parents had set us up so that we would have the requisite strength to defeat them when the time came. Nate would play a significant role in the upcoming war as the Catalyst—whatever that actually meant.
I didn’t know Quinn’s part, nor my own. I wasn’t a Catalyst, so what was my role? I’d be damned if I’d been put here to play sidekick to Nate Temple or to marry a demon. Nate had enough yes men on the payroll. I was no lickspittle. And I was in Kansas City. If I were meant to be his tool, I would have wound up there. Nate’s parents had set me up here in Kansas City at Abundant Angel Catholic Church as a baby orphan.
Maybe it was time for me to stop reacting and to get ahead of the curve. To find out what I could do on my own that would help our cause. I was part nephilim. I was the descendant of King Solomon—able to trap angels and demons in my ring. I was part Beast. And I was the first one of our trio to make it into the Masters club as a VIP.
I hadn’t inherited anything in my life like Nate had. I’d fought and clawed for everything—even my Solomon inheritance. Everything had had a price. Solomon’s Temple had forced me to survive the Doors.
Rather than waiting for Heaven to approach me, I decided to expedite it.
I scooped up the items Legion had left me and shoved the Masterade invitation back into my pocket. Then I motioned for Sanguina to follow me. “It’s time to go pick a fight with an angel.”
She hopped down off the couch. “Now?” she asked in a calm tone, speaking out loud.
I frowned. “No. Sleep, first. We’ll do the angel thing after breakfast or something.”
“Why didn’t you just say, it’s time to go to sleep?” she asked, sounding amused.
I scowled down at her. “Because that would have been lame.”
She glanced up at me. “Then let’s go be lame.”
“You know, I really thought we were having a moment earlier,” I said condescendingly.
“We were not.”
Well. “Then let’s go be lame.” I sighed, ripping open a Gateway to the Master Suite at Castle Dracula—my nefarious, spacious penthouse away from Kansas City. The bed there was to die for.
6
A click and a squeal snapped me awake like a gunshot. I sat up, panting heavily and immediately realizing that I had sweated through my sheets. I wore a long pajama tee and it was drenched.
For some startling reason, Ryuu stood beside my bed with his black katana drawn, bleary-eyed and hair disheveled. The only reason I didn’t kill him on reflex was because he was facing the door in a menacing pose. Samael and Lily practically drop-kicked the door and stumbled in like a marching band, beaming at me brightly. “Rise and shine!” they shouted in unison, shredding my ear drums with flash bangs of happiness.
Lilith—yes, that Lilith who had refused to submit to Adam in the Garden of Eden—preferred to go by Lily, even though I’d finally gotten her to come clean on her real identity. When I’d first met her, she’d been in the form of a terrifying, giant, crocodile demon, chained up by my predecessor for the last hundred years.
She’d given herself a makeover, and absolutely everyone approved. Hell, even Adam would have called her back if he could have seen her now. Blasphemy was fun.
Lily was a tall, overly curvy, woman with bright red hair,
reminding me of Jessica Rabbit. She was hearth-throbbingly beautiful, and she was my doting godmother, even though she looked about ten years my junior. One of her favorite ways to annoy me was by calling me—
“Sulfur sugar!” she cackled, pouncing onto the bed to throttle me awake. Ryuu lowered his sword, running his hand through his hair as he shot Samael a meaningful look that seemed to say knocking and waiting is courteous, knocking and assaulting is not. My godfather was too busy laughing at Lilith’s excitement to be bothered by such trivialities.
Samael was a maturely handsome, muscular man with broad shoulders and long dark hair past his shoulders. He radiated authority, and charisma oozed from his pores. He could have easily doubled as a Bond villain. His demonic form was entirely different from Lily, more of a demon with the skin of coins rather than scales. Thankfully, they both preferred their human forms.
Lily finally hopped off the bed and skipped over to Samael. She grasped his hand and batted her long eyelashes at him. The pair were sickeningly in love.
I licked my lips, trying to get enough saliva to make my mouth work. Maybe it wasn’t sweat, but drool, soaking me, because my mouth felt as dry as a desert. I noticed Xylo standing in the corner of the room like a statue, the embers and sparks of his ligaments crackling as he leveled his smoky stare at my godparents.
Samael shifted from foot-to-foot, and I realized he was sweating like crazy. Lily and Ryuu seemed fine. As I studied my godfather closer, I realized that he looked rather sickly.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, struggling to wake my brain up.
He flinched as if I had slapped him, earning a startled look from Lily, who suddenly gasped. “Sammie! You’re sweating like crazy!”
He shot her a crooked smile, using his forearm to wipe at his brow. “I’m fine,” he assured her, obviously lying. “You’re sweating, too,” he accused, sounding desperate.
I nodded at the obvious fact, silently wondering what was going on here.
Lily turned to me. “I just came to say good morning—a”
Samael dropped to his knees like he’d been shot. I jumped to my feet with a shout and called up balls of fire in my palms, searching for the shooter. Ryuu had half-drawn his katana and Xylo had snapped off one of his rib bones, holding it overhead aggressively. Lily was eerily silent, and I turned to see her staring down at Samael with a stunned look on her face.
“Lily, will you marry—”
“YES!” she shrieked, loud enough to send me stumbling back into the headboard and release my magic as I slapped my hands over my ears. Then she was pulling him to his feet and kissing him like she was trying to suffocate him. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her right back and laughing between gasps of air—when she let him.
I turned to Ryuu with a baffled look and he shrugged, smirking faintly.
Samael finally extricated himself and grinned at me, chuckling as he wiped his brow again. “I don’t know why I felt so nervous,” he admitted, embarrassed. “We’ve waited so long to be together, and I wanted you to see what you gave us by saving her for me.” He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. “You brought us together, so I wanted you to see me propose.”
Lily was sobbing messily, resting her head against his shoulder. I smiled, unable to help myself. It was cute, and incredibly kind. Ryuu glanced over at me and abruptly averted his eyes. I froze, my smile slipping.
I was standing on top of my bed in a soaked white tee that barely covered my ass with no bra or panties on underneath! I sat down hurriedly, covering myself with the sheets. My cheeks felt as if they were on fire. Ryuu kept his attention focused on Lily and Samael, pretending he hadn’t seen anything.
He’d definitely gotten a free show.
Lily was grinning at the two of us, looking entirely too amused. Xylo had reattached his rib and watched us thoughtfully. “You know…” Lily said slowly, drawing my attention. “Castle Dracula would be an appropriate place for the ceremony. The place that brought us all together for the wrong reasons could bind us all together for the right reasons.”
Samael nodded his agreement. “My thoughts, exactly! This place could use a party!”
Thinking of actually planning a wedding gave me an instant migraine but imagining such a big event also made me grin from ear-to-ear. “As long as you don’t expect me to plan it, that sounds like an excellent idea.”
They cried out in unison and wrapped each other in a tight, hopping hug, thanked me profusely, and then bolted from the room. The door clicked shut behind them and I just stared at it for a few moments.
“Did that really just happen?” I asked, shaking my head. My good cheer rapidly faded as I recalled my meeting with Legion. At least Hell seemed perfectly fine with taking care of the arrangements for my anticipated wedding. Silver lining.
Ryuu grunted. “Samael asked me where you were at least three times last night, and then pretended it was nothing important when I told him you were out. Now I know why,” he said, chuckling.
I knew Ryuu wasn’t pleased about me being out last night, because I hadn’t warned him about it ahead of time, and he took his bodyguard duties very seriously. Which was one reason I’d escaped in the first place—to get away from the constant scrutiny and pressure of being the boss.
I turned to Xylo. “You okay over there, buddy?” I asked uncertainly, wondering why he wasn’t speaking.
He nodded casually. “I have been crowned the Bone Heir King.”
I stared back at him for a few long seconds. I turned to Ryuu to find him nodding discreetly, fighting back a grin at the way Bone Heir had made it sound like he’d claimed to be the king of male erections. Was Cain playing another prank on him? I rubbed at my eyes and turned back to Xylo. “What does that mean, exactly, and who…crowned you?”
He approached me as if marching, his pirate boots thumping into the floor and his crimson cowl remaining perfectly still. He walked…regally. “The skeleton army nominated me, officially, to lead them under your banner. The Bone Heir army will stand proud under the banner of the White Rose.”
I bit my cheeks to prevent myself from bursting out laughing at his phrasing. In all seriousness, I hadn’t known there was an official title. There was no doubt that the other skeletons followed him without question, judging by the fact that he’d been ordering them about for the past few weeks without issue. “That’s…amazing, Xylo. Congratulations. And thank you.”
He nodded self-importantly. “I am quite proud. It will help give me more credibility when we hunt down the rebels,” he growled.
I looked up sharply. “Has there been another attack?”
Ryuu nodded grimly. “They attacked the Village last night. It’s one reason I didn’t hunt you down when you ran off,” he murmured in a stern tone. “Three dead.” He watched me closely, gauging my reaction.
“Is that so?” I asked in a frosty tone.
I noticed that a pile of blankets and a pillow rested on the floor at the side of my bed. Ryuu had been sleeping here on the floor to guard over me. “I checked in on you last night and found you sleeping on the couch with your nose in a book, shivering,” he said, pointing to the sitting area. I blushed, remembering that I had gotten ready for bed and then sat down to read a bit of Bram Stoker’s Dracula until it put me to sleep. Mission accomplished, apparently. “You were having a nightmare, but I couldn’t wake you up,” he said in a careful tone, not meeting my eyes. “I didn’t know if something was wrong. If something happened last night…so, I carried you to bed and decided to remain close.” He was clenching his jaw, and his shoulders were tense, showing me how concerned he had been. How angry he had been that something might have happened to me when I left him behind.
Forcing him to make a judgment call that would probably anger me. I sighed. “Thank you, Ryuu,” I said, reaching out to touch his shoulder. His posture relaxed slightly, but I knew the situation was far from resolved. “I just needed some privacy. I went for a walk.”
He nodd
ed, not prying. “In the future, you can tell me that.”
I studied him. “Would you listen?” I asked, smiling.
He smirked. “Depends. But probably not,” he admitted without shame.
I hit him with a pillow, making him laugh out loud. “Out of the way. I need a shower. Or a bath.” He obediently backed out of my way and approached Xylo so that he wouldn’t see anything indecent. “And coffee. Anything with caffeine will do, actually,” I said, slipping out of bed and hurriedly making my way into the bathroom. Xylo said something about Cain possibly having a stash of cocaine, but I had already closed the door behind me, and I was confident that Ryuu could educate Xylo on the differences between caffeine and cocaine.
Surprisingly, the Harkers had adapted to the times, and had installed a shower. Rather than demanding to know how it worked in a castle located in another realm, I had written it off as magic upon verifying that it did work.
Whoever the castle’s plumber was would get a fat bonus this year. I looked up at my reflection in the mirror and winced. My hair was a bird’s nest, but at least my shirt wasn’t as transparent as I had feared. The slogan on the front made me smile. Claire had custom ordered it after I’d told her about becoming the new Dracula and invited her to move out of Starlight’s cave to live with me.
That’s QUEEN Bitchula to you.
I shrugged out of it, feeling slightly jittery from hunger, but that could wait until after the shower and the cocaine. Caffeine. Whatever.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any other news updates from my night off. So far, my godparents were getting married, I had rebels wanting to rip the crown off my head, my unknown demon fiancé was already making our wedding invitations, and Xylo had been erected the boner king.
7
As I climbed into the shower, I finally allowed my thoughts to drift to the events from last night. I’d been studiously avoiding them, letting them simmer in my subconscious mind.
Anghellic: Feathers and Fire Book 8 Page 4