by Kim Faulks
The sharp sting of anger filled the air like an electric hum.
“I care about surviving, and so do the other alphas. If that means we live like fucking nomads and take care of our own, then that’s what we’ll do. We don’t need their houses. We don’t need their medicine. We don’t need anyone but our own species. I don’t like this arrangement you have with the vampires, or the one with the fucking demons. You’d better be careful when you lay with your enemies, Sol. They might just kill you in your sleep.”
The hairs on my arms rose with the threat as the Alpha turned and strode back to the cabin. The slam of the door rocked the night.
“And so should you, Roth… so should you.” Sol’s whispered threat filled my ears. His pale hair shone as he turned toward me. “Make it quick, Abrial. Make it brutal. Your sister’s waiting for you.”
I followed the crunch of footsteps as the second-in command left. My stomach twisted, sickened by the lingering scent of blood and what I’d heard. The Echo pack was no different from the other super packs. They’d taken our mothers and our sisters for centuries. Selective breeding was how the lie was spun… but how many were handed to vampires? And how many to demons?
I stared at the cabin as the light inside dimmed. I couldn’t move. I was stuck between the blackberry thorns and my own torment. Kill the Alpha and I get my sister, that’s the deal. But there was much more at stake here.
A child’s cry echoed in the distance. I yanked my head to the left and inhaled, searching for a scent or a sound. Inside my head the scream mingled with another.
Abrial. Abrial, don’t let them take me… Abrial. Abrial!
Warm tears slipped down my cheek. The Echo pack stole from me. They stole my mother, my sister—they stole my innocence and they traded this all for fear. It’d been twenty long years since our paths had crossed.
Your sister’s waiting for you.
Thorns stuck to my shirt as I crawled from the bush. I gripped the trunk of the pine tree and pulled myself to stand. The sound of a door opened and closed, then the cabin fell silent.
I gripped the small blade and took a step, leaving the brush and the trees behind.
Twenty years was too long and I wanted my sister back.
Chapter Two
The study of the old mansion was overcrowded. Twelve Zodiac dragons and one withered old crone cramped the space. The dragons stared at the shaman edging toward them with a bone-handled dagger. They didn’t care about the blade… it was the woman who unnerved them more.
The three fire signs, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius glowered and snarled, hissing weak threats. The air signs, Gemini, Libra and Aquarius flitted from one corner of the room to another, fiddling with their phones, watching… waiting. The water signs, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces held stoic expressions, revealing nothing to the rest of their family. But the two other earth signs, Virgo and Capricorn stared at the eldest of our line… the Taurus who was once terrifying… me.
The old woman’s visions had once started a war that lasted a century. I’d trusted her and defended her, then. Now she was here once more, asking for more than I had to give… asking me to feel, to live and not just exist….
A tiny trickle of blood detoured from the flow, cresting the meat of my palm. The drip gathered substance, then fell toward the floor. Movement blurred as the old woman swung toward me. The precious drop hit the bone plate in her hands, then disappeared from view as she turned, mingling with the sharp scent of ash.
The silence felt like forever. I could no longer wait. “Tell me.”
The shaman’s knotted hair, speared with feathers and weighted with stones, swayed as she hunched forward. Her fingers snapped and slippery words I didn’t understand crawled across my skin.
I dropped my gaze to the old woman’s bags on the floor. Tattered and worn, they suited their owner. “How did you know to come?”
She straightened and swung those all-seeing eyes to me. “I’ve known for months now. But I’d hoped…”
The echo of steps inside the room dragged me away from the shaman. I watched my sister march to the far wall and I felt that dull thud of my heart quicken. The sound of heels mingled with the drum inside my head. The beat before swallowed the next, until all I felt was the ache in between.
I stayed in that moment—no—I lived in that moment. Never completing, never ending—just existing. We all did, all twelve of us.
Movement drew my focus. The shaman cocked her head, listening to whispered words I couldn’t hear, seeing things I could never hope to see. But I felt those words. They ate at my soul like a bone-gnawing grind, and for almost three thousand years that ache had slowly consumed me.
She’d hoped what?
“You’re dying. Have been for some time now.”
I flinched at the word. Dying.
“You forget the meaning of immort—”
A shake of the witch’s head stilled my tongue. She settled those soulless dark eyes on me and grasped the long tooth around her neck. “I forget nothing, dragon. It’s you who forgets. You forget who you are. You forget why you’re here.”
Something flared inside my chest at the disappointment in her eyes. Her words cut like a knife. “Women and children are being sold to demons for sport, and now humans to vampires for blood farms. The Guardians used to protect the weak. You used to be terrifying, something to be feared—even in name alone. You used to be the mighty Bloodletter. Tell me Marcus, what happened?”
Her words pierced the fog inside my mind. This world was fine. This world was safe. They had no need for the Bloodletter—not anymore. “We’re not needed… I’m not needed, anymore.”
One step and she was on me, stabbing my chest with a crooked, yellowed nail. “Wrong. You’re always needed. All of you are always needed. You uphold the balance. You protect those who cannot protect themselves—and now when you’re needed most of all, you sit here hiding in your castle of stone and glass while the wolves invade your lands—lands that were a safe haven for those who needed them—lands you protected. Do you smell their blood, dragon? Do you hear their torment, or have you grown so distant and detached that nothing affects you now?”
My mind raced, juggling pieces of the puzzle to fit any way I could. I lifted my gaze as the shaman turned to my sister, then to me again.
Something passed between the two. Malice filled the air. The witch licked her creviced lips. Bright crimson blood coated her tongue before she broke my sister’s gaze and swallowed hard. Xael affected everyone like that—even me.
Blackened teeth peeked behind bloody lips. “What you don’t use turns to stone. You’re the eldest, so your line starts and ends with you. You can either heed the warning, or ignore it and you all perish—either way, there’s a change upon us now. It’s all up to you, Marcus.”
Crying, screaming. My brothers screamed for me. I closed my eyes, reliving the vision. Cold, frozen forever in stone…. Until the fire burns out.
Had our fire finally burned out?
“Marcus, let’s think about this for a minute. You don’t know any of this for sure, do you?” Isaiah stepped forward, raking blonde hair from his face. “Do you?”
I caught the shaman’s flinch. “I see things, Lion. I’ve helped your family before.”
“But, are you helping us now?” Lucas stopped beside Isaiah.
The biggest of us all bought up the rear. Zadoc lowered his gaze. The bright study lights bounced off his smooth head. “Answer, witch.”
The spark of tension erupted into flames as the old woman fell silent. The sight of her so small and fragile plucked a string inside me that sang.
I raised my hand, calling those inside the room. “We all had the same vision. We all fell. Maybe the witch is right, maybe she’s wrong. All I know is that if she is right—if we’ve neglected our responsibilities, then we’re in serious trouble and a damn witch hunt isn’t going to help us. I know you have questions. I have questions, too.”
She turned away. “No. Not to
night. I’ve travelled a long way and I need sleep—some of us haven’t neglected our responsibilities in the last few thousand years. You called, so my payment comes from you, Bloodletter. Bloodstone. Before dawn.”
The old woman crouched and grasped the handles on her worn bag and waddled from the room, leaving a rattle of bones in her wake. I turned to my sister, finding a flicker in those spliced black eyes. Her white skin seemed to repel the glaring study lights.
Alone, I forget what I am—even some of my brothers might pass for normal—but I never, ever forget what Xael is.
She slung the heavy mass of ebony hair behind one shoulder with a jerk of her head and snarled. “You told me you weren’t concerned, and yet, I find you cavorting with the fallen.”
I forced a smile and fiddled with my cufflinks. “I hardly think a glimpse into the future is cavorting, but whatever. Someone had to do something.”
“Why?”
I turned my head, staring out at the stars that sparkled through the glass wall and sniffed. “You know why.” I tried to quell the pounding of my heart. Don’t scare them, not yet. Not until I understand what’s changed. “Besides, the bodies are piling up. Soon, they’ll bring more than coyotes to our door.”
She raised her hand. Her elegant fingers changed shape. Black scales replaced soft pink skin, manicured nails grew to razored talons. “Let them come. You think we care for humans?”
Those blunt words speared my chest, bludgeoning as they went. How far we’d fallen. How removed we’d become. I stared at those claws as she picked under the tip of her nail. Were we really these animals?
Dead inside. All of you, dead.
“I’ve got to go.” I croaked. The words rebounded inside the hollow pit of my chest.
“Where, at this hour?”
I left Xael behind, heading for the garage, shaking my head. My chest was silent. My heart now turned to stone. That ache in my chest finally had a name—and its name was death.
Their boots echoed like thunder chasing me through the house.
“Marcus. Where are you going?” Orlando called.
I didn’t stop, didn’t even slow. “Out.”
I closed my eyes at the rush of steps, stilling only when his hand clamped around my arm. “Please, don’t go out alone. Byron and I have things we need to discuss. Let me come?”
I sagged under the weight of the witch’s words. You’re the eldest, your line starts and ends with you. Orlando bit his lip. He was a true Gemini. All the air signs were the same. I could see the cogs inside his mind churning, churning, thinking through every possible scenario before it ever happened. Fear suddenly filled his gaze. I’d sheltered him before, but I couldn’t anymore. “I need space. I need time to think this through.”
“But you said you were okay. You said we were okay.”
His amber eyes sparkled under the foyer chandelier. All I saw was desperation, his desperation for me to fix this… desperation for me to keep us all safe. Your line starts and ends with you.
My shoes squealed on the tiles as I stumbled. My brothers crowded the doorway. I met each terrified gaze. They stood frozen, until Victor nodded, and came to my rescue. “Orlando. Let Marcus have some space. Come on, all of you. We’ll have a drink. Goddess knows, we need one.”
Orlando’s fingers scraped my skin as they fell away. Eleven sets of eyes followed me as I shoved through the garage door and the vision filled me once more.
One by one, I’d watched my family fall. Victor, Evander, Isaiah, Michael, even the biggest of us all, Zadoc, went to his knees. Upstairs, I heard her cry out… my Xael, my sister….
My legs burned. The floor shuddered as the bull inside me raged. How could I be so powerful and yet so weak? My fingers trembled as I stabbed the button. The garage door lifted with a jolt and receded. I passed the Harleys, the sports cars, and the trucks, stumbling to where my Chrysler waited.
Your line starts and ends with you.
Just drive. A voice whispered inside my head.
I tramped the accelerator, and the ass end of the Sebring convertible squatted before lunging forward. Headlights cut through the overgrown hedge as I followed the sweeping drive all the way to the gate.
Bright headlights exposed peeling paint on the ironwork. Green flakes fluttered from the scrollwork to the ground. Barren gardens waited outside every window. I hit the button and my window slid down. Broken birdbaths was all that remained of waterfalls and ponds. I scanned the crowded pine trees and thorny thickets.
The once-white mansion I shared with my siblings looked like a faded, forgotten ghost. The thought lingered, catching the strand of another that worked into my mind.
Just as we were forgotten.
Workers refused to come now, despite a bad economy. Only the most loyal remained to clean and cook. I caught the whiff of decay with the night breeze and I turned my head to the mountain.
The smell of rotting, human bodies drove the help away. No matter how much I loved him, Zadoc had a vicious streak and he had to be stopped.
You’re dying. Have been for some time now.
I hit the button and raised the window as the iron gates shuddered. The stench lingered with the night fog. I nosed the car out to the road. Overgrown branches from the brush scraped the hood and slapped the windshield.
The mountain hid us well. A little too well. We had no real measure of time, only the passing of the seasons. To an immortal, even those were futile.
We’d watched the world change, hidden behind this tired old gate and these imposing walls. Elsewhere, stone had turned to steel and glass. Gone were the days of man-made, home-grown. Now, this world was machine-crafted and laboratory-created. We’d stumbled somehow in the beginning, and fallen farther and farther behind—too far to catch up. So we stopped trying… I stopped trying.
That thought hit me like a winter’s gust.
I’d stopped trying—and stopped living.
The reflectors blurred into one as I spun the wheel and gunned the engine. We’d been born into this world, but we weren’t part of it—and hadn’t been for some time. It’d taken the vision of death to show me the reality of our demise.
The Pine trees were a blur of black against the speckled sky. Lights danced farther in the distance. My back itched, waiting for my wings to tear free. Fly! Soar, the voice snarled. I turned my gaze to stare into the rear view. The pine forest took up most of Nyx County. All I saw were endless green trees and mammoth mountains—perfect to hide a family of dragon shifters the world had long forgotten.
I dragged my gaze to the road again. Something scampered across my path. An animal… no, a human.
My roar filled the car as I stomped the brake. The car shuddered. The back wheels drifted before the brakes bit and corrected the sway. The dark blur froze in the middle of the road. Headlights washed over the swell of breasts.
Too fast. I searched the shoulder for an opening—something.
Trees hugged the road on either side. The woman raised her hand. “No!” I jerked the wheel hard to the right.
Blackness rushed to greet me. Trees swallowed the front of the car, squealing as branches tore along the paintwork. I flew forward, surrounded by diamond-like shards. Fire lashed my chest.
I lifted my head, trying to get my bearings. Night. There was nothing but night as I watched my headlights dim. The engine ticked and hissed. The smell of gasoline suffocated me like a rag down my throat.
I tried to move and pain ravaged my leg. I grasped my trousers. The fabric tore. I couldn’t move, not even to call for help.
“Holy shit. Are you okay?”
The voice of the woman slipped through the cracks, floating above the stench of fuel and the thick scent of blood.
I opened my mouth to answer, to ask if she was okay.
But the night was impatient, rushing in to swallow me, and then, I felt nothing at all.
“Can you hear me?”
I flinched at the headlights. Glass. There was glass all over me.
“Easy now, you’re okay. You’re in Nyx County hospital. You’ve been in an accident, but you’re okay, son.”
Son?
I cracked open my eyes in astonishment. Light rushed in. I inhaled and pain ravaged my chest. A shadow moved closer. A male mortal’s face. White coat. Piercing light. I squinted and tried to turn my head. What happened?
The car. The woman. I’m going to hit her.
“No!” Steel burned under my grip and the light washed in. I glanced down to see the stainless railing clenched in my fist. A bed. I lay on a bed.
“You’re okay.” I glanced up, finding the human hovering close. His brow furrowed as he swept a beam of light across my eyes. “I’m Doctor Phil Braddock. You’re in the ER.”
I licked my lips. “ER?”
“Emergency room,” growled a familiar voice.
I turned my head. “Xael?”
“Marcus.” Her tone was sharp, balanced on the edge of a blade until suddenly, her gaze softened. “I’m… we’re glad you’re okay.”
“I don’t understand. Why the hell am I here?” I tensed my leg, testing muscles and tendons. The savage pain that ripped through my thigh had turned into a hollow ache. I delved deep, finding that river of immortality, alive and hungry. I narrowed in on the grey-haired man in a tacky white coat, but my words were for my family. “Is this some kind of trick?”
“Oh, no trick, brother. It seems a vehicle accident is enough to warrant a trip to the ER if you’re a human.” Xael leaned forward, holding me in those bottomless eyes.
Human? They thought I was human….
Dark eyes, caring eyes, hard eyes stared at me. All ten of my male siblings barely moved. Crammed together, they glanced at me, then shifted their gaze across the room.
Someone cleared their throat. Byron? I think. Cool air tickled my thighs. Frigid fingers seemed to inch their way closer to my….
I lowered my gaze. The thin gown barely covered my body and draped between my thighs, hugging the outline of my cock. I swallowed hard, and dragged the stiff sheet across my bare legs. “Please, forgive me.”