The Dominion Series Complete Collection

by Lund, S. E.

  “Your parents’ cottage is strategically located. We could see anything coming for miles. It’s our best hope.”

  With reluctance, Dylan nods, but his jaw is tense. His parents have suffered so much. They lost their daughter and their son is a vampire, so I completely understand his reluctance to involve them.

  We take the cart, leaving a half-dozen dead behind, two of them our own but the rest Soren’s men, including the one who gave me Soren’s message. I take in a deep breath, trying to calm myself after the battle. My legs suddenly feel like jelly and tears spring to my eyes.

  “The one you killed gave me a message,” I say to Michel as the carriage drives down the street to Dylan’s cottage.

  “What did he say?”

  “He said I had to turn myself in to Soren or both of you would die.”

  Julien leans over and brushes a tear off my cheek. “Don’t worry. Michel and I are pretty much the most powerful ascended vampires in existence besides the Twelve. There are only a few who can beat us. Soren won’t have an easy time of it.”

  “One of his men had you on the ground with a stake in you.”

  “He ambushed me.” Julien reaches down and feels the place where he was staked, the fabric dark with his blood. “He couldn’t kill me anyway. Only Soren can. This was just a threat to scare you.” He grins in spite of it all.

  “Julien’s right,” Michel says, his blue eyes dark. “A stake can’t kill either of us. Not anymore. All it does is disable us temporarily. Only Soren or an ascended vampire who is older than us can kill us. There aren’t many of those.”

  Julien turns to Michel. “I learned that the hard way.” He grins again, referring to the Abbey when Julien tried to have Michel staked, but it didn’t work and only temporarily disabled him.

  How he can joke after what happened is beyond me, but he’s a warrior. All his existence, he has fought battles like the one we just endured. He turns to me and, as if reading my mind, smiles softly.

  “Joking makes it bearable.”

  * * *

  When we arrive at the cottage, there are no guards and it’s dark, the door open.

  “This isn’t good,” Dylan says, his voice low. He takes out his sword and approaches the property.

  The guards are on the ground. We find them just inside the gate. Julien kneels down to check each one, but they’re both dead.

  “How long have they been dead?”

  Julien shakes his head. “They’re both really cold, so this didn’t just happen.” He turns to Dylan. “When was the last time you were here?”

  Dylan takes in a deep breath. “Days ago. Last week.”

  We move cautiously to the door, walking between two rows of cedars taller than we are and I feel threatened from all sides. Michel and Julien walk beside me as if to protect me, with Dylan leading the way.

  Dylan steps over the threshold carefully. Michel follows and motions Julien to the back of the cottage and then follows Dylan through the doors, signaling to me to follow him.

  “Stay close,” Michel says and I do, my body tense.

  Dylan and Michel clear each room and finally, Julien joins us from the sliding glass door that looks over the ocean.

  “They’re gone,” Dylan says. “It looks like there was a struggle. It’s possible they were taken, and I can guess who took them.”

  We stand together in the jumble of cushions and lamps that litter the floor.

  “Soren’s taken them,” Michel says.

  “Or Blackstone,” Dylan replies.

  “Aren’t you on good terms with him?”

  “I thought I was.” Dylan sits on a wooden bench and covers his face with his hands for a moment. I sit beside him and slip my arm around him, squeezing. He rubs his face and turns to me, his expression a mix of fear and anger, his jaw set. “Whoever took them, I’ll hear about it soon. Then, we’ll know who I have to appease.”

  * * *

  While Julien, Michel, and Dylan talk in quiet voices in the dining room, I find the bathroom and wash myself quickly, wiping the soot and tears from my face. When I’m done, I stand in the doorway and watch the three of them. Besides my foster parents, these three have become my life. I haven’t seen or heard from either of my foster parents in too long, come to think of it. That’s where I want to go next.

  “We have to go to see my parents,” I say. “I can pick up some things there.”

  Julien glances at Michel and they both say nothing for a moment.

  “What?” I say, moving closer. “Tell me! Did something happen to my parents?”

  Dylan comes over to me and rests his hands on my shoulders. “I checked on my way over. They’re gone.”

  I stare into his eyes. “And you were going to tell me this when, exactly?”

  Dylan exhales loudly. “In case you didn’t realize, we just fought a battle. We haven’t had time to discuss things. Besides, I didn’t want to alarm you.”

  I pull away from him and sit on the couch, resting my face in my hands. I feel nothing, the events of the evening far too overwhelming. I want to cry, but I can’t. I just sit and close my eyes, breathing in deeply to try to keep calm.

  I look up. “Soren has them,” I say. “He must have taken them to use as bargaining chips.”

  “I think you’re right.” Dylan says.

  “Why didn’t he come and take me first?” I ask, glancing from Michel to Julien and back.

  “Because one of us has been with you the entire time. We should have beefed up security for them. I was planning on it, but…” Julien closes his eyes and I can see pain on his face, in the tightness of his jaw and the lines in his brow.

  “I’m going to kill him,” I say, my voice low. “Can we go to their cottage so I can pick up some clothes? Some of my things are still there.”

  “If you want to.”

  “I want to.” I close my eyes and a wave of fatigue flows through me. I have nothing left to draw on.

  I think of the other people in my life whom Soren might take and use as bargaining chips. There are so few. My father, who is locked in some mental institute. Cecile, who I haven’t seen since before the plague. I wonder if Soren has sent out a raiding party to capture either of them. Is my father even alive?

  I sigh and adjust the sword in a scabbard on my hip. Julien comes over to me, making a point of touching my hand and letting it linger when he helps adjust the belt that holds the scabbard.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s my fault they’re gone.”

  I shake my head. “It’s Soren, not you.” I stare up into his eyes and when he takes my hand, I feel a surge of love from him. He’s angry with himself, along with all the fear.

  “When we go to Boston, it’s still my week,” he says, his voice low.

  I stare up into his eyes and my body responds to the idea of being with him again, despite what we’ve just been through. Maybe because of it. The two of us are helpless against our desire for each other.

  Michel turns his head towards us. Of course, he can hear every word with his acute vampire hearing.

  I force a smile. “Maybe we should hold off on our arrangement for a while,” I say, breaking our contact. “Re-establish a schedule once we know what’s up.” I tilt my head just a bit to remind him that Michel’s in earshot.

  Julien closes his eyes briefly and inhales. “Dammit,” he says. “Fucking Soren…”

  “You can wait,” I say chidingly, but I’m unable to keep a smile off my lips.

  He grins back at me, his eyes narrowing suggestively. My cheeks warm at the thought of his naked body.

  “I hate waiting…” he says, his voice a whisper.

  “You can wait.” I hit him playfully on the shoulder, amazed that despite having just fought a battle, being staked, and killing enemies, he still wants me. I’d be happy to stay here with him all week the way the schedule has been planned, but that’s not going to happen.

  I turn away from him and catch sight of Michel’s frown. He glance
s away, his fists clenched and his jaw tight.

  These two…

  Chapter 86

  “We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.”

  Disraeli

  My foster parents’ house feels so strange without them here. I walk through the mess left by whoever took them, surveying the damage. Furniture has been overturned as if there was a struggle. Drawers are opened as if their abductors were searching for something.

  Information about me?

  I pick up an overturned chair in the kitchen and cover my mouth, imagining the fear my parents must have felt when Soren’s men came for them. Michel stands next to me and touches me briefly, his gaze meeting mine. I see sympathy in his beautiful blue eyes.

  “We’ll find them,” he says softly.

  I nod, but inside I don’t believe it. I turn away and catch sight of Julien watching us, a look of hurt on his face at seeing me with Michel. Even that small show of affection was too much for him.

  I turn away, wondering if I can do this. Can I possibly live with them both? It’s too much to deal with at the moment for my emotions are overwhelmed at the thought of my parents being captured and possible tortured by Soren. I need to focus on the work at hand. I don’t have much here any more. Most of the clothes are meant for summer, fit more for the beach than winter. When I sift through the boxes of old clothes, searching for something big enough to fit me, I find nothing but bikinis and cover-ups from my early teens. There’s some memorabilia from my high school days, but very few items I can take with me.

  We’re scheduled to leave soon for Boston and I’m sad. I felt peace in Davis Cove for a short time during this period of transition and change. As I stand in my old bedroom, I don’t know what the future has in store for me now that the three of us are to live together in the same household.

  Keeping the brothers separate and allowing them to visit on alternating weeks with a weekend in between has made me feel less guilty for wanting them both. They don’t see me with the other brother and I never have to hide my affection and desire for either man. I can be free to enjoy them openly when we’re together and the other doesn’t have to be jealous.

  Living together will be very stressful.

  Before we leave, Julien pulls me aside and whispers in my ear. “When we get to Boson, if we’re going to have to wait, don’t touch him when I’m around,” he says, his brow furrowed. “I can’t take it.”

  “Julien!” I stroke his cheek quickly when Michel has his back turned.

  “Seriously. I can’t stand to think of you with him, but seeing you touch him…” He shakes his head. “Please, just don’t.”

  “That applies to you, too,” I counter. “Don’t touch me in front of Michel.”

  He grins for a moment and the old, playful Julien returns. “Now that I can’t promise. Michel will just have to deal.”

  I hit him on the shoulder in mock anger and step away when Michel turns around and sees us standing together. He frowns but says nothing. Living with the two of them under the same roof won’t be easy, but it’s their choice, not mine.

  I finish packing what few items I have and stand in the doorway, surveying the cottage. I wonder if we’ll ever return here and a deep sadness fills me, the sense of foreboding so strong, I feel like I’ve had the air knocked out of me. I hold my hand to my chest and try to breathe in deeply to calm myself. Soon, my heart rate slows.

  I don’t know how I’ll survive this, but I must be strong. I have to remember my mother and how she fought to the very end, defying Soren even though it cost her life.

  I will as well.

  * * *

  The trip into Boston takes hours despite using a vehicle with a hydrogen cell battery because we’re taking back roads to avoid abandoned vehicles on the highway. It’s the same road that we took when Julien and I went to Boston that first time. I have vivid memories of the vampires attacking and Michel rescuing us. When we pass the place where the battle occurred, I look at Michel and exhale.

  “This is where it happened,” I point out and take his hand briefly. “Thank you for being there when we needed you.”

  He turns to me, leaning close so that his face is just a few inches from mine. His eyes look haunted. “I’m so glad I was there.” He leans in and kisses me softly, one hand tangling in my hair as he pulls me closer. That kiss could become intense so easily, but he pulls back before it does.

  I steal a look at the front seat, but Julien hasn’t noticed. Dylan, on the other hand, is looking at us from the rearview mirror, his brow furrowed.

  I don’t think he trusts Michel. There’s been nothing concrete to point to, but I feel it even so. He and Julien seem more simpatico when it comes to personality.

  * * *

  We stop for a break and I hide in the bushes to pee. When I return, Julien is in the back seat and Michel is in the front.

  Do they have to share everything? Even the drive to Boston?

  I sit in the back beside Julien with a heavy sigh. “Was that the halfway mark or something?”

  Julien grins but says nothing, then glances outside, his smile lingering as we drive on. After a few moments, he slides his hand over the seat to take mine and holds it, keeping his face turned away, his focus outside of the car. I feel like a teenage girl who can’t choose between boys as I glance quickly at Michel. Luckily, he’s busy looking out the front and doesn’t notice, so I let Julien hold my hand—for a while. He obviously feels deprived because of the interruption in our usual routine.

  Besides, I want a bit of human contact. This is all so upsetting. Just when I thought our battle with Soren was over, I realize it’s just beginning.

  I have quickly-fading scars on my throat and chest to prove it. I run my fingers over my wrists and the scars from Julien’s knife when he saved my life. Those scars will never fade completely because they were administered before I was a vampire, and are a constant reminder of what happened that day I tried to kill Soren and the Twelve.

  Julien fusses over them when we’re together, kissing them and apologizing. Michel only sighs and touches them gently, regret in his eyes, as if he should have prevented it. These new scars from the battle we just fought will fade when I next get some blood, but for now, they itch and I’m uncomfortable as we drive down the road to Boston.

  * * *

  We arrive in the outskirts of the city, the streets dark, no lights on because there is no power. We pass abandoned houses and entire neighborhoods, the streets littered with newspapers that blow around in the wind. Trash is piled up and abandoned cars crumble on the roads. Overhead, the sky is littered with a million stars. Without the light pollution, the Milky Way is visible as a froth of bright dust in the blackness, the beauty of the heavens in stark contrast to earthly devastation.

  “Where have the people gone?” I ask, staring into empty houses, the doors left wide open.

  “They’ve escaped,” Dylan says from the front. “Either to the borders to try to get out, or they’re going where there’s food. A lot of people are living by the ocean so they can at least fish.”

  When we get deeper into the outlying neighborhoods, I see bodies littered on the sidewalks and lawns, bloated and grey.

  “They’ve been attacked by vampires,” I say, noticing their ripped throats. A shock goes through me at the realization.

  “Blackstone’s vampires have been here, taken people, killed them,” Michel says and nods slowly, his gaze moving over the bodies. “We knew that would happen eventually. With Soren out of the picture—temporarily—Blackstone wanted to execute his plan for Dominion.”

  “Have they killed everyone?”

  Dylan shakes his head from the front. “No,” he said, his voice low. “They’re warehousing humans, using them as feedstock. They probably killed the men and any who fought them. They’ll have taken the children and women. They’re easier to manage.”

  “Feedstock,” I say, the horror of the idea once again filling
me with nausea. “How can they feel that way? Have they lost their humanity completely? I want blood. I need blood. I know what it feels like to desire humans, but I won’t kill one.”

  “You’re brand new,” Julien says and squeezes my hand. “You have options, like blood donations. We never did. We were monsters, and that was that. We had pets whom we bled dry slowly or we outright killed. The most we could do was take those already dying, but we still killed.”

  I shudder, glad that I do have options. I know the pleasure of biting into flesh and drinking blood—Julien and I play that game all the time—but I won’t kill a human.

  I won’t.

  Not for blood.

  I will, however, kill vampires. Those who refuse the Treaty? They’ve rejected the only thing that keeps them alive, ensuring their survival. If so, I feel no hesitance to kill them for their blood. I haven’t done so yet, but I look forward to it.

  A small bit of revenge for the death of my mother.

  I look at the back of Michel’s head and think about him. He’s so tortured by his past and all the human lives he’s taken. He’s the priest who intended to save souls, only to find himself cursed to spend his existence taking them. He killed so many and all because of Soren’s desire to have a stronghold in the Languedoc region of France. I used to hate Marguerite, but now I see that she was just as much a pawn as the rest of us.

  Michel killed my mother under compulsion. He liked her and he admired my father. He would never have done it voluntarily. I’ve forgiven him enough that I can be his lover, but he still hasn’t completely forgiven himself. I see it in his mind when we connect. His pain is still there despite my complete forgiveness.

  It’s Soren who is guilty, and I want more than anything to be the one to kill him. To suck him dry would give me the greatest pleasure. But to see him dead, through any means, will be good enough.

  * * *

  We drive to one of the most central buildings in Boston, near the cathedral, and stop on the street. I glance up at the building to a row of solar panels on the roof. A garage door to an underground parking area opens slowly to admit us. Security cameras are mounted on the wall all down the block, pointing at the driveway into the parking lot.