by Jools Louise
“There, there, little one,” I murmured, cradling her close. “I will get your son for you, if I am able.”
She gasped out loud, and began to cry. “He’s only a child. I don’t know what horrors Theo has subjected him to. I am so sorry.” I held her for a brief moment longer and then looked at Luc.
“Take care of her,” I said, “and the others. Don’t tell Mercer for a little while that I’ve gone. Give me a couple of hours at least. Then he and my circle need to get to the old tavern.” Luc nodded, looking confused.
I gently handed over the female into Luc’s arms. “What are your names?” I asked them.
“I am Rufus, and this is Chloe, Mabel, Heinrich, and Mainz.” Mr. Attitude spoke up, giving me a look that showed a burgeoning respect. “You’re going after Theo?”
I stared at Rufus, hard, and nodded. “He has existed for far too long.”
Then, blinking, I evaporated and headed east. To take care of business, once and for all.
Chapter Thirteen
Mercer
“He did what?” I screamed at Luc, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him vigorously. Luc yelped, cowering as I blew a fuse. My beloved prince, Julius, had set off on a suicide mission while I slept, oblivious. That had been four hours ago. I had no clue that Julius was even gone, so insensible was I. My reaction to the news was violent because I was feeling pretty stupid. I was my prince’s commander, the one charged with keeping him safe, and he had disappeared without me knowing anything about it!
“H-he told me not to tell you right away,” Luc stammered, nearly crying now. “He said to meet him at the site of the old tavern.”
“Silas! Sven!” I roared, my voice bellowing through our cavernous home. They came running within seconds, looking alarmed. “Julius has gone to confront Theo.”
“Well, it’s about time,” Sven said, cracking his knuckles.
“What?” I cried, releasing Luc and swinging at Sven, who deflected my punch with ease, grabbing me close and kissing my nose teasingly.
“Sweetheart, he’s been building up to this for days. We have all seen his musings. He cannot allow Theo to continue to send his minions after us. He must reassert himself as a powerful vampire, regain his standing in the eyes of the Council. He just had to have a legitimate reason to do so.”
“What reason?” I demanded, scowling as I tried to shove Sven away. It was like moving a giant redwood. He was immovable when in this mood.
“My son was taken,” a soft, tremulous voice answered.
I looked to where one of our newest females stood, shaking fearfully. She looked distraught.
“Your son?” I asked, frowning a little less fiercely.
“Ethan is only five years old, and human,” she replied. “Theo took him. I was a heroin addict, in rehab, and I had visitation of Ethan, supervised. I was married, but my husband was taken by Theo. I was introduced to the drug but tried to get off it. Ethan’s the reason I tried to get off heroin. Theo sent one of his enforcers to kidnap Ethan, and me, after they killed my husband and said that if I didn’t do what he asked that he would convert Ethan. That was after he turned me into a vampire and left me in the same cell as my son, hoping to tempt me into killing my own son.”
I growled viciously. It was just the kind of malicious crap that Theo excelled at. Using a small boy because he couldn’t get loyalty without coercion and bully-boy tactics.
“We will get him back,” I said, glancing at my friends.
Silas and Sven nodded and grinned demonically, baring their fangs.
The rest of our coven came into the chamber, and I ordered Daniel and Aaron to take charge. Before I could finish the order, there was a commotion outside in the hallway, and dozens of vampires began to appear, coalescing out of thin air. Theo’s thugs. They had managed to get past our defenses somehow, since none of the markers had been triggered. Theo had obviously discovered a few new skills since we’d been on the run. He had never known how to cloak his army before now. I looked at one of the newest members, a young female, who cowered in fear, guilt all over her face. I tunneled into her mind and saw her deceit, saw the treachery. She had betrayed us, and let Theo know about the markers. She had been told that we were soulless monsters and had to be defeated, her betrayal committed days ago, when she had first arrived. Her sorrow at what she had done stayed my hand. I would let her live this day.
“To arms!” I cried and let out a rousing battle cry, leaping at them. The female leapt, too, by my side and lashed out at her former brethren.
As one, the rest of our clan joined me, screaming in glee at finally being able to get some payback for our lost comrades and the destruction of our home. I slashed at my enemies, decapitating and disemboweling vigorously. We were in my bedchamber, away from the weapons store, but I had no need of implements. My ire was up, and I was determined that we would win this day. We were all motivated, something our adversaries would find tough to beat. We weren’t going to lose our home twice. They had nothing to return to but misery and a dodgy existence.
I let out another rebel yell and gave my warrior side full control. Theo’s coven was going down.
* * * *
Julius
I allowed myself a tiny smile as I clung to the shadows, scanning the corridors of Theo’s ugly house. My new powers aided me, cloaking my presence to everyone, even Theo. Its gilded cornices and gaudy décor offended me on a visceral level. How could anyone enjoy living in such a place? It had all the comfort of a museum and was far less stimulating. I would need to spend many hours rebonding with my coven mates after this, just to rid myself of the indignity of having to be here.
I received Mercer’s angry call and smiled again at his frustration. I had to do this alone, however. How could I ever regain my self-respect, let alone that of the other clans, if I hid behind my followers? Mercer sounded as though he had enough on his hands. My plan had worked. The second I left our compound, using my non-corporeal form, Theo would have been able to track me. He would know that I was alive, but not my exact location until I set down since I used a cloaking spell to disguise my true path, a new addition to my vampire’s arsenal. Theo knew that my coven was battling for their lives. He would never think that I was on my way to his mansion.
I paused before a cell that contained a young boy of about five, looking miserable and half starved. Sniffing lightly, I scented that he was still fully human. His thin arms were littered with bite marks, and I restrained a snarl of rage that Theo was using this youngster as a blood donor. For that alone, I would rip out the monster’s ugly heart.
Silently, I charmed the cell door open, using a mind trick I’d learned many centuries before. The boy looked up with a gasp of terror, cringing against the bare wall, his wrists and ankles shackled with thick steel cuffs. There was a bowl of some kind of gruel between his legs, lumpy and unappetizing. Ethan should be eating chicken nuggets and chugging Kool-Aid, not slowly starving to death while being drained of his life force.
“Little one, I am Julius,” I whispered, crouching down and smiling gently. “Would you like to go see your mother?”
His blue eyes lit up, and an excited smile flashed across his mouth before he began to shake his head sadly, rattling his chains.
“I’m a prisoner,” he said, his lower lip trembling and tears filling his eyes.
“Not now,” I said, smiling, and unlocked the restraints, telekinetically. His eyes widened to saucers, and his little rosebud mouth formed a perfect circle as he looked at me in in surprise.
“Can anyone do that?” he asked, looking impressed.
I shook my head, winking. “No, this is our little secret,” I replied.
He nodded vigorously and then got up, hugging me tightly. “Can we go, now?” His little face crumpled, and he paled, turning sheet white. I felt his body flop and had to make a rapid decision. He had lost far too much blood, his body shutting down, nutritionally starved of all the essential vitamins and minerals. I had never co
nverted a youngster before and hesitated for a microsecond, wondering if that was the answer, rejecting that solution before I did something catastrophic. I knew that I could not use the same method to escape as I had entered this awful place. It would kill him for sure.
Crap. This plan had been simple. Go in, rescue child, get child out safely, kill Theo, go home. I heard a commotion outside and braced for a skirmish. I gathered Ethan close, wrapping him in a cloak I had brought with me. I had no time for a battle. Ethan needed medical attention, quickly.
The cell door clanged open, slamming loudly against the wall and then springing back, nearly knocking the guard over as he entered swiftly. His eyes opened wider as he saw me then I saw fear. I smiled evilly at him, baring my fangs. I felt my demon take over and felt my claws unsheathe, my skin stretching as my size increased. When I had been attacked in my own tavern, I had not contemplated that Theo would murder everyone in it. I had been unable to shift back then, the iron collar blocking my abilities. That had given Theo the edge, surprise being his advantage. I would not be emasculated again.
Taking the offensive, I sent out a powerful percussion wave, courtesy of another little parlor trick I had learned from some friends in the Appalachians. They guarded the last gateway to hell and had been most helpful in teaching me ways in which to combat multiple enemies in a single blast. As a vampire, I had an impressive arsenal of natural talents, but it always paid to learn new things. Just in case.
The first two guards fell back in a heap, quickly dispatched as I decapitated them both with my claws and stepped over the pile of dust they had become. More guards came at me and ended up the same way. Ove and over, my anger aiding my demon’s power, I took down each and every foe who attacked. I lost count of the numbers but took a brief second to thank my teachers for their priceless lessons. Without them, I would be dust myself. So far, I had been able to annihilate dozens with simple power blasts, Ethan snugly held in my arms and oblivious to what was happening.
I gained ground with each group who came, inching forward. Theo had sent half of his force to Alaska, thinking to murder my coven mates. That had been another error. I had half the opposition to take care of, which gave me another advantage. It meant I was able to quickly reach the stone steps to the upper levels. The kill zone, the point where the vampires were trapped at the bottom of the steps before vomiting into the basement, was proving a most effective way of taking out any who ventured down. As I took the first step, however, I was aware that I would be at a similar disadvantage as I reached the top and would be a sitting duck in the doorway.
The slight weight in my arms was a constant reminder of the urgency of getting out of here. Once outside I’d be able to use super speed and flight to get to a place that would be able to help little Ethan. I was getting irritated at so many interruptions.
Then I gave myself a mental slap and turned, going back to the basement, slamming the huge door closed again, and using a thick iron bar to wedge it shut, slowing down any more vampires until I could sort out some backup. There were other cells, others who would provide the distraction I needed. I did my mind trick, releasing all Theo’s prisoners, young vampires and blood slaves who were kept here as part of Theo’s fear-induced regime. Any new vampires were isolated from the main compound and treated like prisoners of war. They were often tortured, sexually assaulted, and at the mercy of the brutish guards. Some committed suicide when things got too much. Others were killed when the guards got too rough. Accidents happened frequently in this dire place.
The motley collection who gathered around were perhaps not my first choice as warriors, but they had something that most lacked—motivation. In all I counted a hundred new recruits and explained to them what I intended to do. Despite their sire bond, Theo had neglected to block their minds for some reason, possibly he did not think them worth considering as a potential enemy, and I was able to persuade them to follow me. I found no evidence of evil, merely a desire to escape. In unison, they nodded, and took turns to quickly drink of my blood, five at a time to speed things up, before the door was breached, although it sounded as though the battle had moved back upstairs. Then I sensed another presence, a familiar and treasured one. Mercer had arrived. I smiled, relaxing a little, but still needed to get my charges to safety, and allow him to read what was happening here from my own thoughts, while feeding my new army.
As a powerful vampire, even a small hit was enough to restore them, so it wouldn’t affect me too much. The blood slaves would need more than I could offer them. They needed transfusions, not vampire blood, so I urged them to remain in the cells for now, until we could clear a path. And then I found something shocking behind one door, a little distant from the other cells, in a separate part of the basement.
Disturbingly, Ethan was not the only child here. There were at least a dozen, if not more. I spent precious moments finding out what they were doing here. I found out that were collateral, the offspring of Theo’s enemies and a product of a quirk in vampire DNA. If a vampire and a human mated, they could sire offspring, provided the human was female. Their children were always born human, with no vampire genes able to survive the gestation. I sensed that a couple of the children had been turned and felt sick to my stomach. A conversion had to be made when a child was born, not while still in the womb. Only the most powerful vampires could turn an infant, and it had been forbidden to do so for centuries. Who had done such a vile act to ones so young? Theo was the only one powerful enough to do so, and I found a renewed resolve to end his miserable existence as soon as possible.
Children were too emotionally unstable to convert and live in the world without anyone noticing. Sooner or later, they would make a mistake and attack in public and reveal our race. I noted that seven of the children, only about ten years old, had been converted. The rest were being used as blood slaves. Ages ranged from five to fifteen, and it made me sick to think that these little ones would be forever trapped in a child’s body, even when they reached a hundred. A terrifying prospect. Converted children often did not survive for long, and many took their own lives rather than continue to exist this way. They were fully-fledged vampires, which was dangerous indeed. Children with a vampire’s abilities were lethal. I wasted more time tunneling into their minds, giving them a mild, mental sedative to quell their fears and bloodlust. Otherwise, they might attack anyone in their path.
“I need your help to destroy this place,” I said quietly when they’d fed. Above us, I could hear the minute sounds signaling the rest of the minions preparing for the next skirmish. I needed to hurry.
“We will follow you,” one young female of about fifteen declared, baring her fangs. “Theo took me from my front lawn when I returned home from school. He’s a disgusting creep. I hate him for killing my family and turning me into this.” She pointed to her fangs. “What do you need us to do?”
The others nodded.
“Raze this place to the ground,” I replied viciously. “Eviscerate, disembowel, annihilate anyone who tries to stop you.”
Taking the lead, I produced a cloaking spell, disguising our progress up the steps before we spilled into the ground floor, leading the humans out, too. I laughed loudly at the sight that greeted us. My coven had arrived, slicing and dicing gleefully. Mercer, looking sexy as fuck wielding his long sword, gave me a wide grin as I passed him and whispered a hello. He could sense my presence even without the greeting. My aim was to get to the front doors with Ethan and the other humans and outside. I needed to get them to a blood bank, and fast. Especially the children.
“I’ll be back,” I told my commander. “This little one needs help.”
He nodded, and I left, telling my new army that my coven was assisting. Woe betide any of them if they hurt my family. Snarling silently, I snuck out into the sheltering darkness of the night followed by a group of pint-sized human kids and twelve human blood slaves.
* * * *
Mercer
The last of our unwanted visitors
was dispatched, his head flying for a brief second before he turned to dust. I screamed in triumph, gathered my troops, and we disbursed into the air, heading east to help our troublesome prince. I was furious at Julius’s departure, but defending our home had taken precedence. Now we could all go to his aid, after which I would take pleasure in punishing him for being so reckless.
Theo’s home came into view after several tense hours traveling across America. Landing silently on the upper balustrade, we took out the guards manning the outer walls and gardens. I could sense my prince below us and felt a wave of disgust and shock hit me as I latched onto his psyche. I knocked, mentally, at the mind block he used to shield himself and was granted entry. I gasped aloud at the visions I saw there and was nearly sick. The young boy, Ethan, used as a blood slave, emaciated and near death. Vampire children, converted against all the Council’s strictest orders, held in the cells below the mansion. Adult blood slaves and recent converts, over a hundred in total, tortured and abused to satisfy Theo’s sick craving for power and control. I snarled, feeling my demon’s power raging within. If Julius didn’t get Theo, I would take the bastard down myself.
“Let’s dance.” Sven grinned as he decapitated another guard. I rolled my eyes at his obvious pleasure and nodded.