Carter snorted. “And you’re clearly too bloody tired to think straight, brother.”
“These two are brothers?” The teen stared at their faces. “I don’t see it. Do you?”
“We’re all too tired.” Dante sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “The last thing we need is more Vampires at our door. We have enough to deal with at this moment in time, and we’re going to have a lot more on our plates real soon.” He gave his brother a pointed look. “This … Nathan doesn’t exactly fit the profile of those who have created him, and the way Danielle trusts him … I personally would feel better knowing that a decent individual has taken charge of any Leeches that might remain.”
“Think that was a compliment.”
“Thanks, Dante.” I looked at Carter. “Do we have a deal?”
“Hang on.” Elle grabbed my hand and dragged me past Michael to the dark corner. “What t’hell are you thinking? Do you have any idea what it would mean if you did this?”
“Aye. It means no one else will end up like me.”
Her eyes were wide. She threw her hands in the air. “You think Leeches are just going to accept you as their Leader? No. You will have t’fight them and win. Prove you are worthy t’lead them.”
“God, I didn’t realize we lived in the barbarian age.”
“Well, they do. They’re still creatures, and it’s all about dominance.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “You don’t think I can be dominant?”
“I don’t think you realize what you’re doing.”
“What’s new?”
“Than.” She grabbed my shoulders. “This isn’t a joke.”
The sight of moisture clouding her eyes took me by surprise. I knew she wouldn’t be thrilled at the idea, but the sight of concern etched on her face brough reality crashing down once more. The bit of adrenalin, or whatever the heck it was, that had filled me since we’d stepped into this basement seemed to disappear.
“Elle, I’ve just found out that I was changed just so they could have my sperm so that they can inject it into some female wolves and create little monsters.” My head was spinning again. “This is all fucking insane. I’m unwillingly going t’father a ton of bastards with women who have no say over it. Who are being violated t’make something a million times worse than Vampire or Werewolves or whatever the hell else is out there. From the moment I was changed, I no longer had a purpose. I have no life. I have nothing.”
“Things you already knew.”
Perhaps, but it was still hard to hear, to digest. Even after seven weeks of being one of the undead.
“What were you expecting to learn?”
I didn’t know. Would there have been an explanation that would have made me feel … better? Would I have felt better knowing that they were just goofing around and me and Freddie had just been the unlucky pick of the draw?
No explanation would have been okay. No explanation would have made me feel better. Listening to the worry in Elle’s voice as she told Graham what a dumb idea it had been for them to kill all the Vampires—even though they deserved it—had been the only thing that had made sense over these last few weeks.
The Pack had gone and done something that would affect Elle’s life. Not just her life, but her entire family’s, and that wasn’t okay with me. Her life was ridiculous to begin with. Ridiculous and fucking dangerous, and these idiots had gone and caused bigger problems. Shit was going to get political, and although I wasn’t exactly one who knew the ins and outs of politics, I had watched enough gangster films to know that another crew moving in on someone else’s turf was no better.
“Except for the knowledge that I have been used to harm so many. I can’t deal with that, Elle. I can’t stand here and do nothing. Remain fucking useless.”
“You’re not useless.” Her arms fell to her side. “And you’re wrong.”
A dry laugh escaped me. “What’s new?”
Her attention moved to the floor. “You have me.”
I almost missed the words.
“No, I don’t.” I unfolded my arms and took hold of her hands. “This is your world, and you have your purpose. You have a job to be getting on with.” I shrugged. “I need to find my purpose as this is my … life now. Maybe it isn’t being Colony Leader. Maybe I should do what Lestat did in Queen of the Damned and become a rock star.”
“Be serious.”
I gave her a smile.
“This is the only way I can help correct all this shite that’s being inflicted on innocent people.” I squeezed her hands. “The only way I see myself being useful to you.”
A line formed at the bridge of her nose. “You don’t need to—”
“And them.” I nodded toward the Werewolves. “There’s got to be a reason I’m here, right?”
Even if it wasn’t, it would do for now. If it would help keep her just that extra bit safer, it was all the reason I needed.
“God, I’m going t’throw up.”
She took a deep breath and exhaled. “I get it, but I don’t like this.”
“Join the club.” I let go of her hands. “This is the least I can do for you, Elle. So let me.” I wandered back to Carter and Dante. “So, what do you say, frenemies?”
Carter stared at me blankly. “What the hell is a frenemy?”
“Friend slash enemy.”
“I think acquaintance is better.” Graham held the same blank look on his face.
I shrugged. “Acquaintance it is.”
“We need to discuss this further.” Carter glanced at Dante.
“Agreed. I think it is important we sit and figure out what is best for our Pack and what this could mean.”
“I think we need to figure out how this can be beneficial to us all,” I stated.
“Agreed. However, now is not the time.” Carter stood and glanced in the direction of Michael. “We still have business to wrap up.”
“Fair enough. When’s best to continue this chat?”
“Are you available to meet here tomorrow evening to cement this agreement?” Dante stood and handed me the folder.
“Yeah, we will be.”
I arched an eyebrow as Elle stopped beside me.
“I can’t even think about going home until Heather gets back. So, I guess the least I can do is go back to London with you and make sure you don’t get killed in the first five minutes of you being challenged by a ton of Leeches.”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “You’re the bestest best friend a Vampire could have.”
She shook her head. “Jesus, give me strength.”
“Tomorrow it is, then.” I took hold of Carter’s outstretched hand. His grip was bone crushing as we shook. My entire arm had grown tense under the pressure, but I kept a smile on my face.
“Well, dickless, it looks like you’re playing with the big boys now.”
Chapter Twelve
Dante had actually drafted a contract. This guy was definitely the brains behind the Pack. The one who made sure everything was done properly.
The agreement was simple.
No attacking, murdering of changing victims, unless they asked to be turned.
No kidnapping or experimenting on humans or Werewolves, or well, any living creature.
Any information that may affect the Pack would be passed on and vice versa.
If any Vampire from other Colonies came to claim the UK, I was to fight them off.
If any Vampires came to seek revenge on the Werewolves, I was to find a diplomatic solution that was agreeable to the Pack, and if that failed, I and whoever I had with me was to help chase them away.
It was pretty simple and straightforward as contracts went. We just needed to be civil with one another. Something that would be easy for me, but only time would tell where the Wolves were concerned.
Alcander—who I had briefly met at the Colony Nest during ‘maintenance’—was to be my first point of contact for the Pack as he lived in London, and h
e would have full permission to come into the Nest. He was a quiet fellow with long black hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. He didn’t speak much, but the bits that I caught were tainted with an accent.
The one thing that did surprise me was that Elle requested that her family be made a part of the agreement with her being their first point of contact.
“Therefore, we all have an alliance.” She shrugged when we had all looked at her. “Therefore, if Heather or anyone goes missing again, one if not all of us will have more of a clue with what is going on, and we know we can come straight to one another without an invite or fear of being ripped to shreds.”
Her gaze had drifted at that point to Owen who had simply rolled his eyes.
I had a sneaking suspicion she wanted to be the neutral party. I wasn’t sure yet if it was because she didn’t trust the Pack, or that she was just overly concerned about my leadership skills. Either way, having her involved—and confirmed in writing—meant we definitely couldn’t lose touch again. We had a commitment to one another. That word in regards to Elle shouldn’t have felt right, but it did. It somehow tied us to one another on a whole other level. A reassurance that no matter what, we would never not be apart and in fact part of each other’s life. It seemed to make her feel better knowing that she would never be in such a position again, having a family member go off radar, and although I’m sure Carter and the others wouldn’t admit it, but having a Slayer involved in this agreement no doubt made the whole thing seem more appealing since Vampires and Werewolves were mortal enemies.
Slayers in Ireland, Vampires in London, and Werewolves in Scotland—we seemed to have the UK and that part of the English seas covered.
Now I just needed to figure out how to be a Leader of a Vampire Colony, and it would be clear sailing.
***
After our early evening meeting, Elle and I had hit the road once more. She hadn’t been too happy about being stuck in the Scottish Highlands all day just to wait to sign papers, but while the Pack weighed up their options on whether I was crazy or not, it had given her and me time to come up with a plan.
We would go straight to the Colony Nest and see if any Vampires had crawled out of the woodwork and clarify that they were part of the UK Colony. Once we had figured that out, I would announce I was the new Leader, having snapped Michael’s neck. Sure, I wasn’t the one who drove the final blow that turned him into ash, but the Leeches didn’t need to know that.
I’d fight anyone who challenged me, and with a bit of luck, I’d win. Once all that territorial bullshit was done, the ground rules would be laid out, all Vampires would be given an option to remain or leave, and then we would get to work and re-building.
It seemed straightforward, but Elle was right—the Leeches wouldn’t be happy. Not with me, a newbie experiment being their Leader. Not at the fact a Vampire Slayer would be acting as a bodyguard, or the fact that a Werewolf would be paying regular house calls, but that was why they had the option to leave in the first place.
Despite our half an hour pit stop for food and to pick up some decent clothes for me, the journey back to London felt like it lasted an eternity. Elle was all talked out and only mumbled the odd word in reply to anything I said. She was worried. The fact that she was lost in thought for most of the long car journey was a big indication, but despite putting her name to the agreement, despite deciding to stay until there was word from Heather, she still thought that all of this was a bad idea.
By the early hours of Tuesday morning, we were once again standing outside the Colony Nest. Only this time, we had the keys to let ourselves in.
Elle stood on the threshold of the front door to the middle house as if her feet were stuck to the marble. Shoving the keys into my jeans pocket, I took hold of her hands and brought her inside.
Her gaze darted around the darkness. “This feels weird.”
I closed the door behind her and then switched the light on. The warm light bounced against the crystal chandeliers, highlighting the enormous space which now looked very different without broken furniture and decomposed Vampires littering the floor.
“I know.” I went to her side. “But one way or another, we have t’make this work, for all our sakes.”
“Can you smell anything? Hear anything?”
The trio of houses were quiet with it being the early hours. Neighbours would be asleep. There were no cars on the roads. It was deadly silent so I should have been able to pick up on a mouse running around.
“It smells less like death than it did last time.”
“It was a good idea to tidy up. If any Leeches did come calling, it would no doubt be obvious what had happened, but at least a human would just think someone had moved in or out, with the lack of furniture.”
“I think a human would be preoccupied with the fact that this is a trio of houses that are all opened up to one another.”
Somewhere above us, a floorboard whined. I concentrated, and after a moment, could make out soft footfall. “Someone’s here.”
“Which house?”
“The right one.”
Removing her dagger, she moved past me into the living room of the right house. “Hopefully, it’s not a squatter.”
“Well, if it is, they’re lucky it’s just us here.” I went to follow her but paused as another noise caught my attention. “Make that two visitors.”
Glancing over her shoulder, she arched an eyebrow.
“This house.” I pointed to the floor to indicate the noise came from downstairs.
She nodded and continued in the direction of the first noise, tiptoeing up the stairs.
Once she had vanished from view, I made my way quietly down to the basement. The light from the ground floor hallway only reached the base of the stairway to the lower level.
Darkness stretched out before me in all directions, but my eyes adjusted, turning the blackness into solid shadows. I remained at the bottom of the stairs, listening. Something shuffled. A crackle followed by a guzzling sound. As I focused on the small noises, my sight seemed to become sharper as if having a focus made the space around me more solid. It was crazy, but now wasn’t the time to analyse how insane my senses were.
Rounding the stairs, I made my way down the hall. I could see the archway dead ahead, which I remembered led into the room with all the fridges. Someone was possibly having a late snack.
I noticed a cold, pale light slicing through the blackness as I stopped at the opening and risked a glance into the room. One of the doors to a fridge on the left of the room was wide open, the white light moulding to the silhouette of a hunched-over figure kneeling on the stone floor. I could just make out the plastic drawers which were stacked in the industrial fridge. Each one was packed with bags and bags of blood. A wet, suckling noise met my ears, and that’s when I noticed a dozen or so drained blood bags scattered on the stone floor around the figure.
I reached up, trying to feel for the light switch, not wanting to take my focus from the hungry Vampire, but a loud bang from somewhere upstairs made its head jolt up. I froze on the spot, or maybe time seemed to slow down, because in a fashion which would have fit a horror film, its head slowly lowered and turned to me. Blood-red eyes starred at me from behind a curtain of dark hair. Trails of red blood marked the creature’s white skin, dripping from its fangs.
And that’s when it dawned on me—this was the first time I’d actually seen a Vampire feeding, and well, being a Vampire and not a scientist.
But then, confusion kicked in as I focused on the creature. Hadn’t Elle said that their hair slithered out when they transformed? That they were bald and looked more like the Master from Salem’s Lot? Weren’t their jaws meant to dislocate and their fangs—?
My head hit the wall before I had even realized the Leech had moved. Bone cracked against stone, and my body slumped like a sack of potatoes to the hard floor. A heavy weight sat on me, something sharp digging into my chest.
Shaking off the momentary shock, my gaze fo
und those red eyes, which were a mere few inches from mine. Despite its face being so close to me, I couldn’t make anything else out but those eyes. Hungry, angry, and well, just fucked. A gurgling hiss reverberated in the Vampire’s chest as it dug its claws into mine through its balled-up fists.
“Fuck.” The word left me on a whoosh as I was hauled up and flipped over the creature’s head. I landed on my back, my legs flat against the basement’s main door. Tilting my head to the left, I caught the end of the Vampire’s legs as it high-tailed it up the stairs.
“Shit. Elle,” I mumbled, rolling awkwardly onto my side.
“Jesus, you got your arsed handed t’you.” The Teen popped into view as I made it to the stairs.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever been face to face with an actual Vampire that isn’t looking normal.” I stumbled up the steps.
“They’re not pretty.”
Despite everything, at least Elle had been right about that. Hollywood definitely had their Vampires wrong. There was nothing sexy about them at all.
I circled into the living room and study of the middle house first only to find the rooms empty.
A rhythmic thud sounded, and I rounded the corner to see two Vampires lying at the bottom of the steps to the right house. Danielle hopped over the unconscious bodies.
“Only two of them over here.” She looked at me. “You okay?”
“There was one downstairs,” I said, heading to the living room of the left house.
“What happened?”
“It took me by surprise. Looked nothing like how I expected.”
“I told you they weren’t pretty.”
“It didn’t look how you said, though.”
Her brow furrowed. “What d’you mean?”
A thud sounded somewhere upstairs.
“You search the left house.”
I glanced at the female and male who lay in a clumsy heap at the bottom of the stairs.
“They’ll be fine. All tied up.” She legged it up the stairs of the middle house.
I quickly searched the basement of the right house before making my way to the first floor. A thud followed by a crash sounded, indicating that Elle had obviously found another Vampire. Possibly the one that had freaked out and jumped me, but as I hit the stairs to the next floor in the left house, the hint of blood teased my nostrils. I found the light switch.
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