Vampire Mage: An Urban Fantasy Harem (The Vampire Mage Book 1)

by Joshua King

  I coughed and looked up to see Ashe readying the gun, but I mentally told her to stop and she slowly lowered it. Only three more shots left. We needed to make them count.

  Now both of the Shades were standing, and for a moment we stood still, waiting for someone to make the first move. I decided to press the advantage and charged at one of them, tackling him to the ground. We landed hard and I heard Ashe speak to me in my mind again.

  “The sword! Take the sword!”

  I looked up to see her tossing it toward me, and I reached up to grab it. As I did, I felt the other guard charging me from behind. As soon as the sword was in my hand, I swung it around, slashing from the shoulder down to the hip of the one coming up at me. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain, and I looked down at the one I had tackled. There was a moment’s realization that he too could have his head removed before I thrust the sword down into his chest. I yanked it back up as I saw him curl up in a ball below me.

  “We need to get to the top floor. Let’s go,” I said.

  Ashe nodded, and we made for the stairwell again. As we opened the door, we could hear the sounds below us of several of the Shade’s making their way up and others above us making their way down. We ran up the stairs as fast as we could, reaching the twenty-ninth floor before encountering one Shade, who leapt at me. I grabbed him in mid-air and tossed him down the center of the stairway. As he fell, his screams alerted the ones below us. We had to move faster.

  I struggled for breath from my now aching, but healing, ribs. Their ability to regenerate still seemed somewhat random, but it felt like I had gained some measure of control over it. We reached the thirtieth floor and saw that the stairwell ended. I opened the door and poked my head out of the doorway.

  A shot rang out through the hall and I ducked back inside. The bullet missed my head by inches, and I tried to calm my nerves. Ashe cocked the gun and poked her head out. Another bullet ripped into the door and Ashe fired twice into the room, then ducked back in to me.

  “Come on,” she said.

  We opened the door and I saw two Shades lying on the ground, bullets in their heads. Ashe was one hell of a shot. At the end of the hallway we saw another elevator, but this one had an ornate door that made it look far older than the building itself Before I could get halfway down the hall, another door opened, and another Shade came out. I ran right into him, tearing the door off its hinges as we grappled to the ground. I wrapped his arm in a lock and pulled back as hard as I could, using his own body weight against him, until I heard his elbow shatter.

  His arm went limp and I landed a few blows to his head to send him to the ground. I looked behind us and saw that the shot Shades were beginning to move. Noting we didn’t have much time, I ran to the elevator and punched the button until the doors opened and Ashe and I were able to slip inside.

  The elevator door closed, and a rush of emotion went through me. The buzz of adrenaline from the fight contrasted with the relief of finally being in the elevator, only minutes away from completing what I had come here to do. These feelings blended with anticipation of what I'd find when we got there, and what it would be like in those first few moments after my change was complete.

  “Are you ready?” Ashe asked.

  I nodded.

  “As I ever will be,” I said.

  She reached into her cleavage and withdrew an access key card. I tried to ignore the streaks of blood across it, and to not think about how it had ended up tucked between her breasts. She'd done exactly what she needed to do. The only way we were going to be able to get above the thirtieth floor in this building was with that key card, and that meant having to take it away from the Shade who carried it.

  “Do you think they'll be waiting for us?” I asked.

  “Who?” Ashe asked.

  “The Shade,” I said. “By now, they should be mostly healed. At least the ones who weren't severely hurt. Are they just going to meet us up on the next floor?”

  “I doubt it,” she said. “Even if they are healed by now, none of them are going to want to keep fighting. They weren't expecting what you have. Remember, these are men who are accustomed to people being afraid of them. The Shade could just be standing there, and people won't get anywhere near them because of who they are and what they represent. Darien isn't exactly known as being a Prime of his people. His life span and his position grant him luxuries and privileges that he takes full advantage of without hesitation. It's not that he doesn't care about what happens to the rest of the vampires. He's very dedicated to the species and what he believes is right for them. But you're not going to see him spending much time with them or foregoing his power and influence for anything. His full abilities are something people still whisper about. He has the Shade so he can avoid fighting unless he specifically wants the battle. Those guards weren't prepared to fight against someone as strong as you are. Beyond that, though, there are only a very few Shade who are allowed above the thirtieth floor. They have to have special authorization, and I'm almost positive only one or two of those men we just encountered have that authorization. Even if they wanted to continue the fight, they couldn't.”

  She turned to the control panel on the wall of the elevator and pressed the key card to it just like the Shade had when we had come to the tower after Aurora summoned me. The buttons for the top ten floors of the building illuminated, and Ashe pressed the button for the fortieth floor.

  “What's it like?” I asked as the elevator started sliding upward.

  “What's what like?” Ashe asked.

  “Changing. What's it like to have the transformation complete?”

  She shrugged.

  “I don't really know,” she said. “It was so long ago, I don't really remember anything other than being relieved. The sick, tired feeling of going through the transition before it's complete is so miserable that it was amazing just to know I wasn't going to feel like that anymore. But to be honest it's not a huge difference. It's not like you're going to suddenly have an epiphany about your existence or feel like a totally different person.”

  “I already feel like a totally different person,” I said.

  “How are you feeling other than that?” she asked. “You took some pretty good blows during that fight. Not to mention a couple of bullets.”

  Until she'd said that, I'd almost forgotten I'd been shot during the clash with the Shade. The wounds had already healed considerably, and the pain was not much worse than the ache throughout the rest of my body that came from such exertion. It was nowhere near as bad as the pain I remembered from fights when I was younger.

  “I'm actually doing all right,” I told her. “Speaking of the bullets, though, what do we do about them? Do they just stay in there like really creepy souvenirs?”

  “If you want them to. It's not like they're going to hurt you. They could make going through metal detectors kind of a bitch, though. If you want to get them taken out, I can bring you to an Underworld doctor.”

  “There are doctors in the Underworld?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Ashe said. “We all need someone to take care of us. You do not want to be around a lycan with a cold, I promise. Talk about whiny as hell. It's much easier to deal with someone who understands the needs of the different species, and who you don't have to come up with a clever cover story for. If we brought you to a human hospital to deal with those bullets, you would not only have to come up with a way to explain why you've been shot a couple times, but also how you were able to heal as quickly as you did. I can assure you the police would get involved and the doctors would be trying to study you because of your incredible immune system and cellular recovery ability. It's just a big hassle you don't want to have to deal with. Instead, you can go to the Underworld doctor, say you've been shot, and he'll offer to take the bullets out for you.”

  “That does sound less stressful,” I said.

  Ashe nodded.

  “Considerably.”

  “How does Darien get to the Und
erworld when he goes?” I asked.

  “You're just full of questions today, aren't you?”

  “This is kind of a significant moment for me. I want to be prepared. And since you have yet to produce that manual for me no matter how many times I ask, I have to figure it all out myself.”

  Ashe laughed, glancing at the numbers on the elevator to watch them tick upward. This elevator was much slower than the special one we'd ridden from the lobby during our visit, but the floors were gradually going past.

  “What were you asking?”

  “How Darien gets to the Underworld.”

  “Through the portal,” she said. “Just like everyone else.”

  I shook my head.

  “No, I mean, when he doesn't use that portal. How does he get there?”

  “What do you mean when he doesn't use that portal? That's the only portal in New York that's used.”

  “And Ty controls it?”

  “He's the keeper. He ensures the blood price is paid when an adult passes through, or whenever else it might be required, and he locks the portal to prevent anyone moving through it when he's not there. A portal not given its blood price can become extremely dangerous.”

  “So it is possible to move through the portal when Ty isn't there?” I asked.

  “Only if he hasn't locked it,” she said. “He protects it and regulates passage through, but if it's locked, no one can move through it until it's unlocked. He's the only one who can unlock the portal he's been assigned to protect.”

  “Does he always lock it when he's going into the Underworld?” I asked.

  “Why are you asking all these questions?” she asked.

  “When Ty and I went to see Malakan, we went through Final View, and Aurora and Darien were coming out of Malakan's cliff.”

  “I know. You told me that.”

  “But how could they have been there? Ty was with me. He had been since we met up at The Foundry and I told him you were missing. He'd come through the portal to the Underworld to meet us there, which means he must have locked the portal when he went through. So how did Aurora and her father end up at that cliff?”

  “They must have been there before Ty left.”

  I shook my head.

  “No,” I said. “He was shocked to see them.”

  The elevator stopped moving and the doors slid open. The conversation stopped when we looked beyond the doors and saw Darien standing just feet away.

  34

  “I have to say,” Darien said in a low, cold voice. “You are persistent.”

  “Get out of my way,” I said. “I am going to Aurora.

  “No,” he said. “I’ve told you already. You will never have her.”

  I rushed forward, hoping to take him by surprise with my speed, and was shocked at myself at just how fast I was. Even through my exhaustion, my abilities were strengthening. Darien had barely moved before I crashed into him and we went sailing through the air, landing hard on a door that cracked and fell backward. I began swinging punches, but Darien swatted them away and flipped me over him onto my back. As we struggled with each other, we moved down the hallway and into a room. I could see shelves of books on one wall. On the other, the ancient and beautiful desk of a powerful man. A high-backed chair sat behind it and to the left of it stood Aurora. To her side was Jaxxim.

  I tried to silently call out to Aurora. Maybe she had changed her mind. Maybe now that it was so close to the end of the time I had left, she would feel the urgency more and would be willing to finish my transformation. If she was, she could call off her father. I couldn’t make the connection, and instead of asking her father to stop, Aurora watched, seeming content to wait for what would happen next.

  I turned back to Darien in time to see him kick at me, which I blocked and swung a punch that landed near his eye. I tried to follow with another, but Darien swept my feet from under me, and I landed on the ground, hard. Before I could catch my breath, he had grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me, tossing me through the air and into a small table which splintered, sending shards of wood everywhere, and destroying the lamp that sat on it. The broken glass from the lamp dug into my back and arm, and the feeling enraged me.

  “She chose me,” I said angrily.

  “My daughter has to be protected from her mistakes. You were a momentary spell of whimsy. She never really intended to bond with you. And even if she did, it’s not enough. You are not enough for her, and you could never be. I won’t allow it.”

  “It’s not your choice.”

  I charged again, but Darien met me with a series of blows that ended with an uppercut that sent me sprawling backward again, careening into the bookshelves and sending several aged volumes to the floor. I wiped my mouth where blood had been flowing with the edge of my sleeve and stood tall before him. He smirked at me and beckoned me to come at him again. I was happy to oblige.

  I ran at him and ducked as he swung a few errant punches, using my speed to make him miss, before crashing my fist into his ribs and grabbing him in a face-lock. Jaxxim took a step toward us, but Darien threw me back, sending me into another chair that imploded on impact, and waved him off. Jaxxim stepped back into his place, in front of Aurora, who was watching with a certain glee that was hard to miss.

  Darien was suddenly mid-air and hurtling toward me, so I rolled to the side, causing him to miss. I jumped on his back and swung my arms into either side of his face before wrapping him in another chokehold. He spun sideways and lifted me up before crashing me directly into the ground and making me lose my grip on him. I rolled to my feet, dazed and hurt, trying to catch a moment of rest for my body to regenerate. He was suddenly face to face with me again, swinging wildly, and connecting repeatedly. I was taking a tremendous amount of damage, and my body wasn’t recovering from it as quickly as it had from the Shades. I stumbled backward and then lunged forward, catching him by surprise with a kick to his jaw. He sprawled on the ground, and I felt Ashe in the doorway, her hand on the gun.

  “No. This is my fight.”

  Slowly, Ashe put the gun back in her waistband, and I focused on Darien. He was getting to his feet again and brushing himself off. He seemed to be almost laughing. I looked beyond him to Aurora and suddenly an idea popped into my head. As it did, Darien was again rushing at me, but I dodged him at the last moment. My knee caught him in the stomach and sent him flying past me. He landed hard on the ground from the force of the blow and I looked back at Aurora. If I used everything I had left….

  I prepared myself, focusing every bit of energy I had, every resource that was trying to heal me, or strengthen me, or detect things with senses I had never known. All of it was now focused on one thing: speed. If I could just get to Aurora. All I needed was to get to her and I could take what I needed.

  I took off, running with my full speed to her. Darien was standing between us, but I ran around him before he was able to react. Jaxxim moved to try to block me, but even he was far too late. I blew past him and scooped Auoroa up, carrying her to the far corner of the room before spinning back to look at her father. He was staring back at me in shock.

  “There’s nothing you can do,” I said. “She’s mine.”

  Aurora didn’t resist as I leaned down and sank my teeth into her neck. They broke through her skin more easily than I expected, and a rush of warm blood filled my mouth. It tasted sweet and smooth, and I eagerly drank it down. I could hear Ashe gasp somewhere across the office, and I knew she was relieved and happy for me. It was done.

  Aurora’s hands came up into my hair and ran through it while I remained latched to her neck. When I pulled my mouth away and stood up to look at her, she was smiling.

  “Congratulations,” she said. “Your transformation is complete. You are now truly a vampire.” She took a step forward to close the space between us. Her hands ran up my chest and wrapped around my neck. “And you are my Lord. I belong to you fully and wholly, forever.”

  Our mouths met, and I put my hands around her
waist to pull her closer to me. As we kissed hungrily, I felt all of the remaining hints of grogginess and fog disappear. Everything around me became sharp and clear. The pain from all of my injuries faded, and when I looked down, I saw my arms healing.

  “Hayden,” Darien said. I moved Aurora behind me as I turned to face her father again. Rather than the expression of fury I expected to see, however, I saw a smile. “Well done,” he said. “I believe congratulations are in order.”

  “Thank you,” I said with uncertainty.

  The Prime laughed as he walked up to me.

  “Don't seem so surprised,” he said. “That one decision proved yourself to me more than anything could have. You didn't just wait around for your transformation to be given to you or try to find some easy path to it. I'm pleased to see my new son is strong and willing to take what he wanted rather than to try to make a deal for it.” He stepped up to me and clapped me on the back. “Welcome to our family,” he said.

  Ashe rushed across the room and I opened my arms to her. She jumped into them and hugged me close.

  “You did it,” she murmured into my ear. “I'm so happy for you.”

  “Thank you,” I said. I stepped back from her and wrapped my arm around Aurora's waist to draw her close to my side. I craved being near her even more now than I had before. “And, Ashe, thank you for everything you did for me. I wouldn't have been able to come this far without you. I don't think I could have made it through the first day without losing my mind if it wasn't for you. I appreciate it.”

  She nodded, her bright eyes sparkling, happy tears reflected in the grin on her face.

  “Absolutely,” she said. “You would have been able to do it. I know you would have.” We searched each other's faces for a moment, then laughed. “No, you probably wouldn't have. But, either way, I'm glad I could have been there for you.”