“And, of course, they found sympathetic ears within the representatives for those races, who were being given an entire new world they could shape however they wished, without our restrictive ruling class in charge. At our population’s current rates of birth and attrition, we will likely quit producing offspring within a thousand years, and effectively die out completely in less than ten thousand. Which might sound like a long time, but considering our life spans can easily be two thousand or more years, that is not long at all. Just a few generations. Parxon and I are still very young by our race’s standards. Barely adults.”
“Well, that sounds familiar,” Amber snarks. “Trying for species ‘purity.’” She shoots a glare at Garrett. “Your dad and uncle would fuckin’ love it here.”
He blushes a little, like she hit a nerve, but he doesn’t reply.
Interesting.
“Serxon was younger than I am,” Parxon says. “He was incredibly selfish and immature, and he never cared if I was happy. All he ever cared about was the prestige of finally ascending to the ruling class, and that I sire a legitimate Alpha heir to make it happen.”
“Why couldn’t he just mate and sire one of his own?” Garrett asks.
“Because I’m the eldest, an Alpha, and have a registered mating without an Alpha heir. Even had he mated and sired, it would still be ruled common class. Only if he was elevated to ruling class through me would any heir he sired be a ruling class member. That was put into place to prevent younger siblings from trying to kill off elder ones to improve their status.”
“That’s fucked up,” Eilidh says.
Zeuzehn smiles. “Yes, it is. But with our declining birth rate, people are loathe to challenge the system. They feel a more strict dedication to it will turn things around, and that’s simply not the case. The ruling class tightly holds their power, and the common class blithely believes no change can be had.”
“I’m surprised Serxon didn’t try to kill you off from the start,” I comment.
“Because of our laws,” Parxon says, “at that time, everything would have then gone to Zeuzehn’s family by default, since he is my mate, because of my will and our sire’s will and his birthright statement. I also had many protections around Zeuzehn to keep him safe from Serxon, in case he tried to harm him. My plan had been to rewrite my will and birthright statement so that if something happened to me, only once Zeuzehn mated again would Serxon ascend. I was obviously not going to tell Serxon that, however.”
He looks down at the smaller man. “But then Zeuzehn was the last of his family, and Serxon murdered Sorcha. Once I killed Serxon, then our full focus became locating Eilidh.”
“As the last of my family,” Zeuzehn says, “if Parxon is recognized as dead, because of his will, everything reverts to me. Including the bulk of my family’s estate, which, as my legally recognized mate, Parxon’s been controlling since my sire’s death. Without an heir, my status will be converted to full ruling class member, as if I am an Alpha. Once I have ascended to ruling class, I can freely choose any mate I wish, regardless of their class, and they will also ascend to ruling class, if they are not already.”
Parxon drapes a protective arm around the other man’s shoulders and nuzzles his chin against the top of Zeuzehn’s head. It makes my heart ache for both of them, especially since the omega reminds me so strongly of my Robert.
“Zeuzehn told me to keep hope alive,” Parxon says. “He was correct.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t kill Serxon sooner,” Garrett says. “He sounds like an asshole.”
“I was not aware he knew anything about the crossing rings. My sire passed on the knowledge to me before his death, and he was the last to know from his generation, with his brother dead. Told me to keep tabs on the other world so the knowledge wasn’t lost. To pass it down to my eldest heir. He was part of an old, secret organization that monitored events in that world, and he conferred those responsibilities to me, even though he was the last of the members, as far as he knew. Had Serxon not killed our uncle, he would have passed his ring and the knowledge to Serxon because our uncle had no mate or heir.
“The night Serxon attacked me and Sorcha, I needed to be at our estate to oversee the annual assessment. Zeuzehn had covered for me as long as possible, until I could cross back here. Every crossing period, he would leave messages for me at the stone ring for me to retrieve, so I would know when I needed to be present. We told people I travelled a lot for my work as a researcher and historian. Technically, not untrue. I gave Serxon a generous stipend we thought would keep him living a life of leisure far from the estate. Bought him a large, beautiful home in the city, paid for him to go to school and travel.
“That worked, for a while. Zeuzehn was happy and contented running the estates, which my brother never showed any interest in. My brother’s ways were, I was certain, destined to get him killed. We knew if we waited long enough, his fate would take over. He was always picking fights, drinking, gambling, getting arrested, angering people. He was like that from childhood.
“I brought Sorcha through to me for an evening visit, because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to return until the next crossing phase. The stone ring is on our land. I didn’t know Serxon had returned and spotted me sneaking Sorcha from the residence, or that he followed us.
“He caught up to us at the stone ring, where he attacked us. He saw her mating mark and realized what had happened. He also wasn’t expecting Sorcha to be as tough as she was. We got free and ran from him, crossed back, and I was shocked when he crossed through behind us moments later. I gave your mother my ring and told her to run. That I would drag him back, take his ring, and find her.”
“Plus, you thought I’d be able to bring us back through at some point,” Eilidh quietly says.
“Yes. She knew she couldn’t use the ring on her own, but we already knew you could.”
“Because you sometimes had me sing the song during the blindfold game,” she softly says.
He nods. “Exactly. Anyway, that night, I fought with Serxon and dragged him back through to our world. Demanded to know where he’d obtained a crossing ring.
“He admitted he plundered his ring from our sire’s younger brother when Serxon killed him several years earlier. Serxon apparently got him drunk one night, and he confessed we were one of the old families, that the rings were for crossing, the secret society—everything. Everyone thought my uncle had drowned at sea in an accident, the body never recovered.
“Obviously, Serxon couldn’t reveal to anyone he had the ring, or how he’d obtained it, or the knowledge he held. Fortunately, he didn’t know how to cross. He didn’t realize when he killed our uncle that there were only certain times the ring worked, or what the proper chant was. Since our sire was dead, Serxon knew he couldn’t kill me if he ever wished to fully understand its secrets. But he couldn’t let on to me that he knew because that would have implicated him in my uncle’s death.
“Your mother likely thought I was dead because I swore to get Serxon’s ring and return to her. She knew crossings were only possible during certain moon phases and times. Unfortunately, my brother escaped me and hid his ring. Refused to tell me where it was. Taunted me. Said if I changed my will and faked my death to give him the estate and Zeuzehn, he’d give me the ring. Otherwise, he expected me to keep funding his lifestyle. I had no recourse. I could not kill Serxon without first obtaining the ring, and he couldn’t kill me because he knew he’d lose the secrets to crossing, as well as any chance of ascending, or having a birthright, or milking me for support. Stalemate.
“If I retaliated, he threatened to reveal what he knew about me, which could have threatened Zeuzehn, too. Serxon and I both knew if either of us revealed what we could do with the rings, we would both be killed. It’s ancient, forbidden magick. Serxon also knew that, as long as your mother was alive, I would never take another mate and produce an heir, meaning he would never ascend to ruling class.
“What Serxon didn’t know
is that, long ago, I’d told Sorcha if anything ever happened to me, when you were eighteen, Sorcha was to give you my ring and tell you the full truth and the secrets of how to cross. To disguise yourself as men and cross and look for Zeuzehn immediately upon your arrival.”
“And that’s why you never reported Serxon to the authorities here,” Garrett says. “Because it was mutually assured destruction.”
“Exactly. Zeuzehn and I tried to keep vigilant watch on the stones during the crossing times. As you can imagine, we had to keep our actions a secret. My brother must have been watching us and finally puzzled out the pattern, that only certain times were crossing nights. The rings can home in on each other during crossing times. I guess he heard us discussing that while we tried to find Sorcha. At some point, Serxon slipped through when we weren’t guarding the stones and killed Sorcha…”
When his voice chokes, Zeuzehn consoles him. “I was delayed getting there that night for my watch. I knew something had happened because I felt such a sharp, deep pain, like my very soul was being rent. But I was there when Serxon returned the next night. He sounded…smug. Triumphant. Told me I could now mark Zeuzehn and get busy siring an heir, since Sorcha was dead. In my grief and rage, I attacked Serxon and killed him, but his ring was damaged during the fight. Zeuzehn helped me stage the accident and provided an alibi.”
“Wrecked a perfectly good vehicle on such a waste of a soul as that man,” Zeuzehn darkly mutters. “Better he’d not been born at all for all the grief he caused, the beast.”
* * *
Eilidh
I drag my feet as we cook dinner together and eat. Dexter lovingly hovers without getting between me and Dad and Zuzu. And when we sit to eat, I sit between them, and nobody comments about me crying.
I take lots of pictures of pictures on the walls, and of them, and me with them. I’ll be printing these out when we get home.
“Oh, wait.” Zuzu darts off and returns moments later with a small photo album. “I keep this in the safe. It’s too risky to leave it lying around. I cannot believe I almost forgot about it. Sorcha gave it to me for my birthday one year.”
I burst into tears when I realize it’s filled with pictures of when I was born, when I was a small child.
Pictures of the four of us together. A family.
My hands are shaking too hard to take pictures of everything. Dexter gently takes the phone from me and does it for me while Zuzu and Dad hold me.
Amber walks over, smiling as she hugs me. “I know this hurts right now, sweetie, but please be strong. Good things—great things—are coming. I’d tell you more, but I don’t want to jinx them.”
“Well, you were right about Dad being alive. You’ve got a great track record, in my book.”
Once it’s dark, we head out to the woods, with all the men carrying boxes of notes and journals and other items we’re moving now. I want to dart off the path and run away, a familiar feeling from when I was a kid, but I know Dexter and Garrett would quickly catch up with me if I tried.
The way Dad and Zuzu used to catch up with me and hold me, trying to calm me down when I cried and begged not to leave.
I just wanted my family together all the time. That’s all I ever wanted.
I now understand why I hated the night for so long.
I also understand why I suppressed all those memories.
Because it hurt.
Saying good-bye hurt and always did.
I haven’t had the heart to tell them about the cage fighting Mom resorted to in her attempts to keep us afloat. Dad and Zuzu both feel horrible enough as it is about what happened.
It wasn’t their fault. I just wish my fucking asshole uncle were still alive so I could have the satisfaction of killing him myself. I’d stab him with so many pencils, he’d look like a fricking porcupine when I finished.
Once we reach the stone ring, I stand outside it, hesitating. Zuzu smiles and walks over to me, slipping the ring on my finger. “You can signal to me. You know how now. You can leave me notes in the rocks, where the scarf was. And your father will bring you notes, and we’ll visit.”
The scarf. I have it in my pocket. “What if you don’t find love, Zuzu? You’ll be alone here.”
“I have friends, angel. They will comfort me. And you will come visit with me, and I will visit with you.”
“But what if you don’t find love?”
He sighs. “If I make a promise to join you if I give up, will that help?”
Parxon shakes his head. “Zeu—”
“No, it is all right. She is our daughter.” He envelops me in his arms. “I promise, my little one, if I feel I would be happier with you, in your world, absolutely, I will come.” He laughs. “And then I will move in with you, and your man will never spank you again because he will fear me overhearing.”
I tearfully laugh with him.
“Well, he’s not wrong,” Dexter jokes. “And we’ll come back for the dark moon to visit. That’s only two weeks away.”
Without fanfare, Parxon takes Garrett and Amber and all the boxes of stuff through the ring, returning seconds later.
I feel like my heart is breaking all over again. “Please come with me. Please don’t leave me again.”
“Shh, shh, angel,” Dad says, holding me, rocking me. “It will not be long before I will be there with you all the time.”
“Zuzu, please, come with him.”
“Mazbushka, I made you a promise, and I will keep it.” He kisses my forehead and pulls me in for a hug. “We will see each other. This is not good-bye. And if things do not work out to my liking, then we will talk about me moving there. Besides, you have a man to love and let spank you. He will take care of you for us. He seems like an agreeable fellow.”
I sense Dexter step in behind me. “It’ll be all right, love.”
“Both of you come over. Please?”
Dad nods and, seconds later, we’re back in Cardiff.
John and Mark are standing there, talking with Garrett and Amber.
“You have your ring, angel,” Zuzu says. “Your father has his. Please, do not cry. Be happy that soon he will be here all the time. This is not an end, but a beginning.”
I nod, but it doesn’t comfort me.
“Love you.” He kisses my forehead, my cheeks. “See you soon, my little angel. Be good until I return.” It’s what he always said to me.
“Love you, too. Both of you.”
Dad hugs me tightly. “Love you so much. This will be all right. I will see you soon.”
I nod, but I’m crying too hard to talk.
After one last round of hugs with everyone, they step back into the stones and…
Gone.
I’m not too proud to admit I plop down right there, on the ground, clutching the ring on my finger against my chest while sobbing my agony to the stars.
41
Five Weeks Later…
Dexter
This is the second most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen in my life—watching the sun set over the mountains west of Tucson on our first night back from the UK. I sit in front of the living room sliding glass doors that lead out to our balcony as I sip a chilled Moscato Eilidh picked for tonight.
We’ve moved two comfortable chairs here so we can watch the show.
Eilidh is my most beautiful sight—waking up to her curled at my side, with the late afternoon sunlight picking up the golden honey highlights in her hair.
And then spending the better part of an hour spanking her ass. She gets spankings every day when we wake up, to remind her who she belongs to.
A nice side effect of that is that it makes her wet and makes me hard, so she doesn’t mind very much.
Right now, the fingers of my right hand are laced through the fingers of Eilidh’s left, and we’re sitting here, just inside the living room, watching this…
Amazing view. Except it blurs slightly…
“Are you crying, Sir?”
“I guess I am.” I blink t
hem away. “Something else I haven’t done in what feels like forever.” The last time I cried before meeting Eilidh was for Robert. I thought losing him burned out what little soul was left inside me.
Then I met my beautiful, radiant sun. She not only led me back to the light—literally—but she lit my soul, as well.
She turns in her chair, tucking her legs under her so she can face me. “We get all the sunsets we want now. And sunrises.”
I gently squeeze her hand. It comforts me that her lifespan will be far longer than a human’s. All I want to do is focus on making her happy, and on helping Parxon complete his move to Earth from Jotnunlm.
For now, I want to enjoy this simple pleasure, just sitting here with her. It’s almost enough to make me want to retire permanently, except I like a challenge. Building a new empire in a new location.
Besides, I don’t want Lucius to get suspicious. The last thing I need is other vampires trying to figure out how to eliminate the sun’s danger to them. It would put Eilidh and I both at risk. A world can only handle so many apex predators, and I don’t want Lucius getting any grandiose ideas and thinking he can expand his power base or tip the balance of power.
I also don’t want anyone looking too hard at Eilidh and her abilities. Especially not my fellow vampires, who want a way to up their game against shifters. And I don’t want shifters thinking they can out-vamp vampires.
Meaning I’ll tread very carefully and only indulge these rare moments when I know there’s no chance of being observed by my fellow vampires or their human companions. Eilidh and I can retreat to my estate in Scotland and be free to roam there under daytime skies. There, Parxon and Zuzu can join us in our walks.
Her Vampire Obsession Page 40