"What's the plan?" Nye asked. "I assume you've got something cooked up?" He glanced at Gabby.
They were all looking at her and the gravity of the situation that laid on her shoulders was crushing. Straightening up, she said, "The only way we're getting close is if Aed is weak."
"How do you suppose we're going to do that?" Maddox asked, the petulant lit in his voice annoying the hell out of her. If he thought her ideas were stupid before she'd even voiced them, then why didn't he offer his own? Oh, that's right, he didn't have any.
"We can't rely on my power or strength," Aya said, narrowing her eyes at the assassin in warning. "We need another way."
"Celestine blood weakens him," Zac said, taking her hand. "When he took a bite out of me, he threw it up like I'd poisoned him."
"Then we find a way to get some into him," Gabby said. "Fill syringes and shove it down his throat if we have to. With the glyphs I learned from Alisandra's grimoire, it should be enough to bring him down to our level."
"I hope so," Aya said with a grimace.
"And what does he do?" Maddox asked pointing at Alex.
"He rips out Aed's heart," Gabby said scowling at the assassin.
"I, what?" Alex exclaimed.
"Was that a good idea?" the assassin asked with a roll of his eyes. "Making him a founder?"
"The only choice." Gabby stood to face the vampire, the warning clear in her stance. They couldn't afford trouble and Maddox was the worst kind.
"Maddox, leave it be, mate," Nye said, putting a hand on the assassin's shoulder.
"It may be that we all have to hold him down to subdue him," Tristan said.
"A pile of vampires?" Nye asked with a laugh. "Stacks on."
Gabby shook her head at the latest joke from the spy. "Regulus said that there was a reason there were six founders."
"We don't have six founders," Rix said, finally speaking up. "I don't like the sounds of that."
"We have as much as we're getting," Aya said. "There's no way in hell we're creating more founders and we don't have the time anyway. We have a chance at doing this right and we're taking it."
"Isobel is counting on it," Alex said thinly.
"Right, the human girl," Maddox sighed dramatically.
"She's my fucking sister, asshole," Alex hissed and before anyone could stop him, he was across the room, pushing the assassin against the wall, breathing hard through his teeth.
"Hey, settle down," Maddox exclaimed, holding both his hands out like he was trying to calm a wild beast.
"Alex." Aya was beside him, her long place fingers prying his away from where they were fisted into Maddox's shirt. "You need to calm down. I know it's hard, but you have to hold on, okay?"
"See?" Maddox exclaimed, shoving Alex back. "He can't even control himself."
"I can fucking do it," Alex said, ignoring everyone else, his eyes fixing on Gabby's.
"I know you can," she replied.
"Okay, so we find out where he is hiding, then we can figure out how to get to him," Zac said, changing things back to the task at hand. "It's all good and well planning his demise, but we have to get our hands on him first."
"Zac's right," Gabby agreed. "I'll track Aed first, then we can work out the bit in between."
"So, what happens once we come face to face with him?" Pyke asked. "What do we do?"
"Rix, you're going to cover Alex," Zac said, taking point. "You were a bodyguard in a past life. Once Aed realizes that Alex has turned, he'll go straight for him."
"Aye," the vampire nodded.
"The rest of us will keep him busy until Gabby can cast her glyphs."
"And we'll try and stick him with some Celestine blood," Nye said with a twinkle in his eye.
"I need four glyphs around him," Gabby explained. "The fifth I need to cast on his body. That'd be the part where you hold him down."
"Once you've done, that's when I…rip his heart out?" Alex asked with a frown.
"Yes." She caught Aya's frown out the corner of her eye and hoped Alex didn't notice. The fact that the hybrid was worried, made her hesitate. "Then Aed needs to be dismembered and burnt to ash, just to be sure."
"I can do that part," Maddox said with a wicked smirk. Gabby bet he would take great pleasure in it and couldn't wait until she could see the back of him.
"Right, if we're done for the moment, I need to get a bite to eat," Rix said, elbowing Pyke.
"I think we all should," Tristan added.
"I'll take you to feed," Zac said to Alex. "You'll need it more than the rest of us."
"We meet back here in one hour," Aya said and glared at the Three. "Don't be late, or I'm reserving the right to kill you myself."
"I'm good," Nye said, nodding towards Gabby. "I'll hang here."
Gabby watched the vampires depart and wrapped her arms around herself with a shiver. Nye offered her a lopsided smile as she sat on a crumbling brick wall. Closing her eyes she cleared her mind best she could and reached out into the void, searching for the one man she didn't want to find.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Aed had found a perfect house in the middle of the English countryside. A stately manor with a skeleton household staff that was employed to keep the property in order over the winter, until it's owner's return in the summer. A home fit for a prince and a home fit for his one true love until they could find something more suitable for his plans. He'd slaughtered the staff and made them his own and the grounds were now protected as well as he could manage.
The moment he'd seen Siobhan at the University library three, or was it four, days ago, he knew it was a sign. The blood of the founder, Regulus had compelled him to come for the grimoire that held the key to his demise and it was her that he'd seen entering the vault where it was kept. It was fate. He would go back to Oxford and get the grimoire but for today, he would watch over Siobhan and see her rested. A day was nothing in the shadow of three thousand years.
His thoughts went back to the day before, when he'd followed Siobhan on the street. The human man who'd been with her had called her Isobel. What a curious name. He longed to taste her blood, to read into her human life, but he found himself reluctant. He didn't want to hurt her, despite her humanity which he found so insulting.
Now she was asleep in the best room of the house, resting from her ordeal. Aed sat on the edge of the bed and let his eyes wander across Siobhan's features, taking her in. She had died a long time ago and to add to the madness of this world, his love had been reborn human. It wasn't like there was another option for nature to take. Their kind were extinct and the life they were destined to live was a mere fabrication. He would not rule the Tuatha and he would not have Siobhan stand at his side as his queen. He would not rule as he was supposed to, but he would still rule another kingdom. The human one.
Siobhan stirred, her eyelids fluttering and he resisted the temptation to reach out and run his fingertips across the soft skin of her cheek. He regretted having to compel her, but there was no other way to calm her down. The poor girl had been terrified of him, but it was no wonder. Aoife had turned him into a monster with red eyes that lusted after blood and Siobhan did not remember him, but she would in time. He'd help her remember if it took forever and even if it forced him to make her like him.
Siobhan's eyes eased open as she slowly woke from her slumber and he looked down at her with a smile. She was just as beautiful as he remembered. Her long flowing red hair, the color of a flaming sunset, her hazel eyes…her perfect pink lips. He remembered what she could do with those.
She licked her lips and peered up at him and he knew she still didn't remember, but of course that would take time.
"Are you thirsty?" he asked, frowning.
She nodded, her eyes wide, but they never left him.
"You," he said, clicking his fingers at a slack jawed man who was standing in the corner. "Fetch some water for your mistress and be quick about it."
The man shuffled from the room, closing the door beh
ind him.
"I'm sorry I scared you," he murmured. "But I had to take you when I had the chance."
Siobhan just stared at him, the terror he'd seen yesterday still in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came forth.
"I know you have a lot of questions and I am willing to answer as many as I am able, but you first have to ask them."
"Who are you?" she rasped.
"I am Aed," he said, trying not to let his disappointment show. "We were to be married once."
"Married?"
"Yes. You were to be my princess and one day, my queen."
The door opened and the man came back in and her eyes jerked away from his.
"Who is that?" she asked, jerking back as the butler set a jug of water on the bedside table.
"He's the help," Aed said. "Reanimated, of course. I can't have an inferior race in here doing whatever that want."
"But…" she began, but stopped suddenly as if she was going to say something she didn't want him to hear.
"But, what, my love?" She clutched the blankets around her, like they were some kind of shield. "You don't have to be frightened of me. You can tell me what you're thinking."
"But can't you compel him? Did you have to kill him?" she whispered. Her entire body tensed as if she was readying herself for a blow.
"He is human and I cannot allow him in my home as such."
"But I'm human."
Aed sighed, his eyes searching Siobhan's. "You are, aren't you?" She stared up at him like a frightened animal, like a baby fawn in the forest, innocent and naive. "You don't need to be frightened of me, Siobhan." He reached out and pried her fingers from the blankets and pulled her into his lap. She cried out and tried to push away, but he was far too strong for her.
He cradled her in his arms, breathing in her alien scent, relishing the feel of her against his chest. Her hair smelt like some kind of flower he didn't recognize, the sweetness ingraining into his memory. Aed supposed he would have to make new ones now.
"What do you want from me?" Siobhan asked, her voice muffled against his neck.
"I want your love," he replied and pressed his lips against the top of her head. "I want your love and when I have it, we will rule this world together. We will have our revenge and the world with run red with our triumph."
There was no denying it. Aed was bat shit crazy.
He held her in his arms like a lover, like he knew every intimate part of her body, and it scared her shitless. Gabby and the others, they'd warned her that he was unstable, which was just a kind word for 'totally fucked in the head', but this was an other level. It was an off this world kind of level and she wasn't getting off any time soon.
"Please get dressed, Siobhan," Aed murmured. "I have instructed some breakfast be prepared for you. I know you must be famished."
"Breakfast?" she asked, a little worried as to what that might entail.
"Yes. I understand that you need to eat real food, my love." Luckily for her.
He set her down on the edge of the bed and rose, his stature a little dominating for her tastes, but as if she had a choice. Leaning down, he caressed her cheek with a strong hand before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Breakfast will be served downstairs in the dining room shortly," he said. "Don't be late." Then, in the space of a blink, he was gone.
Isobel looked around the room, but she was alone. Her clothes were folded on top of the dresser and she cringed a little at the nightgown she wore, wondering who had put her in it. The last thing she remembered was being in the hybrid's arms, flying over rooftops, trying to fight him…terror…then he'd set her down in the woods and… He'd obviously done that freaky eye shit to make her shut up and put her to sleep. It annoyed the hell out of her, but if she fought him again, he'd just make her stop. The more she thought about it, the sicker she felt wondering what else he would make her do.
Not wanting to push Aed any further, she quickly dressed and cracked open the bedroom door, peering out into the hallway. A set of eyes peered right back and she let out a yelp of surprise and stumbled back. The door eased open and the zombie-butler stood, staring at her with dead eyes.
"Shit," she hissed at him. "Do you have to be so creepy?"
He just stood there and continued to stare. She wasn't sure if he was still able to speak, let alone understand her question, but he'd followed Aed's order. Maybe it had to do with his weird-ass fairy power? Anyway, he'd left his zombie to guard her door, but he'd probably know if she tried to run anyway.
Isobel shivered as she edged past the butler, her skin pickling with revulsion. It wasn't the poor guy's fault he was dead, but it still freaked her out. He followed her down the hallway with a lumbering gait and when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she turned to watch him. Surprisingly, he was pretty sure on his feet for a dead man.
When he reached the bottom, Isobel felt her curiosity spike and she reached out and poked him in the chest. Nothing happened, of course. He just stared at her like before, waiting for her to continue to the dining room.
"Siobhan," Aed called out. "Leave the help alone."
Startled, she looked around and found Aed standing in the foyer and she grimaced. "Sorry?"
"Come." He offered her his arm and reluctantly, she took it.
He led her through the house and her eyes took in the eighteenth century decor. The entire house was a thing of the past, full of paintings and furniture and the only modern fixtures were the electric lights and heating that had been wired through every room. Whoever the real owner was, they were filthy rich and would be majorly pissed off to find an interloper when they came back in the summer.
The dining room was just as lavish at the rest of the house with a long table made from mahogany and a crystal chandelier hanging from the high celling. The walls were lined with landscapes of the English countryside and at one end a portrait of a black stallion took up most of the space. Aed sat her down at the head of the table at a place setting for one, with what looked like to be the best silver and crystal in the house. He sat beside her, his graceful motions almost cat like. He was a predator in every sense of the word. A dangerous, unpredictable, predator.
It was a woman this time who shuffled into the room, her black dress and white apron marking her as the maid, but that's not what made her stare. Her apron was speckled with drops of dried blood and her face was pale to the point it was almost blue. Another corpse reanimated by Aed's creepy fae power, then. The zombie-maid set a plate of food in front of her and to her surprise it actually looked edible. Glancing up at Aed, he gestured for her to eat.
"It's quite edible," he confirmed. "She might be, what you call zombies, but she is still quite capable of cooking a meal."
Tentatively, she poked at the plate of bacon and scrambled eggs. A plate of toast and a glass of orange juice appeared and she almost dropped her fork when she caught sight of the maid's sickly bluish grey hands. How could she eat anything that was prepared by a walking corpse? Gross.
Aed leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, watching her every movement like she was some kind of toy. Waiting for her to slip up or waiting for her to give in and remember some past life that she was sure didn't even exist. His red eyes freaked her out and the longer he stared, the more her stomach churned.
"Eat," he said a little too forcefully when she didn't move.
Isobel jumped at his sharp tone and picked up her fork again and stuffed a mouthful of eggs into her mouth. If she had to choose between suffering Aed's wrath or eating eggs made by a dead woman, she'd take the eggs.
All Isobel could do was play along with Aed's whims and hope to god that Gabby, Alex and the others would come and find her before it was too late. She knew her brother and he would've made Gabby turn him by now. They would be plotting Aed's death, they had to be.
There was no hope of escape on her own and if she tried and failed…she'd either die or he'd lose interest and turn her. And if he turn
ed her into a vampire, then what kind of monster would she become with his blood in her veins? Somehow, she knew she'd rather die before letting that happen.
Shivering, she cast her eyes down and ate her breakfast as she was bade and prayed that Alex would hear her prayers. He was her only hope now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Gabby stood on the side of a lonely back road, looking out across England. A thick mist had settled over the countryside, trees and fence lines looming out of the whiteness like ghostly figures. The Cotswolds was the country getaway spot for the rich and richer, full of stately manor homes, new and historical. It seemed fitting that Aed had found himself a place to live here. He was royalty, after all.
She found herself thinking of Regulus and wondered if he would be proud of her, standing on the cusp of completing his life's work. She wondered if she listened hard enough, if she could feel him watching over her. Casting her hearing out, all she got was the overwhelming presence of Aed. Gabby missed Regulus terribly, more than she ever thought possible.
She stood on the rise of the hill, the group of miss-matched vampires around her, looking over the valley at the roof of the manor house that peeked through the mist. Manicured hedges framed frost tinged lawns and a long gravel driveway led up to the entrance where a granite fountain sat, any water that had once flown through it, silent. It looked like something out of a Jane Austin novel that had been adapted to film, though there was no Mr Darcy in sight.
"Fucker sure knows how to live it up," Nye said with a scowl.
"Do you suppose it was empty before he came along?" Gabby asked, her voice muffled in the heavy air.
"Maybe, maybe not," Aya said. "As far as I can tell, nothing lives down there, but that doesn't mean anything. Perhaps someone is inside."
"Better check if we can get in first," Tristan said. "Hate to get to the door and be denied."
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