But my vampire Overlord just smirked and pointed down, as my king had. “Those servers? Those are the ones you obtained your information from? On the lower level?”
King Niallan’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded his head gradually. He didn’t comment, knowing something was amiss.
Lord Belshazzar explained, “Those servers are meant as decoys—for the friendly foe, as you so helpfully mentioned—and track anyone who hacks them. Which Lord Xenon knew you did last night. Our real servers are underneath the old jail, and only a few brilliant individuals are entrusted with their care. Everything that you hacked into is what the Overlord allowed you to see.”
Our king’s mouth opened. Then snapped shut.
Properly put in his place.
Damn. I really didn’t want to say anything now.
But…fuck. It needed to be said.
I cleared my throat and lifted my hand again—not so high—into the air, trying to be respectful.
Lord Belshazzar’s eyes zeroed in on me. “Yes?”
Well, here I go. I lowered my hand.
“Um, actually those servers and firewalls under the jail could use a few updates, too. I was able to obtain all the information from them, including the fact the attack was not only to test our borders but also our response time. It was initiated by the human group HLF—Human Life First—and it appears to be funded by multiple governments across the globe. There were one hundred HLF agents who were on our grounds the day of my crowning.
“Humans now know of us, both vampires and druids, but the government officials are currently keeping it quiet so the human public doesn’t panic. We have ‘friendly foes’ on both sides of our races, two of which were of the druid faction that Lord Otto eliminated while we were at Cape Argent. Also, there’s a certain redheaded vampire traitor, Ms. Olivia Francis, whom you have been sleeping with to obtain intel from—most recently, the night of the Blood Rite; your notes on her were very thorough, by the way. I was most impressed by her ticklish spots. Who would have thought behind the right ear, right? That’s just bizarre.”
I glared hard enough to scare most people, my eyes now fire red, unable to cover my jealousy. I had broken a few vases in my room while reading that fucking report this afternoon. Thank fuck for housekeeping.
Lord Belshazzar’s lush black lashes fluttered down, shuttering his intimidating gaze from me. With extreme nonchalance, he stated, “Please. Do continue.”
“Fine,” I spat, unable to argue about a work fuck. “The man I killed during my Challenge, Timothy Ginter, was a man all of you wanted to be destroyed. Lord Cato even put a newly turned vampire into his house to watch him while she worked as a maid.
“Mr. Ginter was a golden child the HLF was watching and wanting to turn to their side, a possible Senate candidate and wealthy enough to help fund their cause. Although the new vampire losing her shit when I showed up put an unintended twist on my Challenge—really, the five of you should have warned her I was coming. The poor gal probably thought I was on the wrong side when she followed us to Samson’s house. Lord Cato’s main rule for her was to kill Mr. Ginter if the HLF came for him. And she thought someone had.”
Lord Cato sighed heavily. “I didn’t expect her to act that way during your Challenge. You handled it very well given the information we fed you.”
I shrugged a shoulder, not glancing in his direction. My attention was wholly on the Overlord ready to pounce on me. “Do you want me to continue, Lord Belshazzar? I believe I have information that even you don’t.”
He growled quietly, “How?”
“How did I get the new information? Or how did I get the information from the ‘secure’ servers?”
“Both,” Lord Belshazzar grunted.
“The same person.” My lips twitched. “Even though my assistant is godawful at her normal duties, she’s really good at her old profession.”
Ever so slowly, his chest lifted and lowered with a large lungful of oxygen, calming himself. His body relaxed on his chair. He rested back and tapped his fingers on the conference room table, analyzing my features. “What other information was Harmony able to garner that we haven’t so far?”
“Actually, I was surprised she found this part out since we have close to five hundred spies worldwide within the government agencies, and you don’t know yet.” I shook my head. “Someone may need to investigate to make sure those vampires aren’t double dipping if you know what I mean.”
Lord Belshazzar nodded his head once in affirmation, and then asked again, “What don’t we know?”
I swallowed down the nervous lump in my throat, worry etching my features. I ran my fingers through my hair and yanked at it, and stated quietly, “It’s unheard of in the human world. The U.S. and Russian presidents are working together now. They’re amassing an army a hundred times the size of ours. They’ll be ready in a short month to attack—and they plan to.”
King Niallan shoved out of his chair and started pacing, curses spewing from his mouth in a constant loop.
Lord Xenon and Lord Pippin stood from their chairs too and began their own pacing around the room.
Lord Cato closed his eyes and sat frozen in place.
Lord Otto didn’t appear to be breathing, merely staring off into space in shock.
Lord Belshazzar rubbed at his chin, not taking his eyes from mine. “How credible is the intel? I wouldn’t expect the Americans and Russians to work together. We thought they’d hold out until it was too late to even begin.”
“It’s credible. Their signatures are on the paperwork—invoices, contracts, new trade agreements, new military personnel—and Harmony even managed to snag a voice clip of them talking together about their plans.”
“Fuck!” King Niallan roared.
Then he kept on pacing.
Lord Belshazzar simply nodded at my words, unfazed by the battle we had ahead of us. “We’ll need all the added information Harmony obtained.”
I turned my phone back on and sent the massive file to all the individuals in the room. “Done.” Then I turned it back off when it started buzzing again, more emails coming in.
With his eyes still closed, Lord Cato asked, “King Niallan, how strong is that shield you put up? I asked a few people, and apparently, it needs a lot of power to be strong.”
Our king waved an irritated hand. “I drew power from the Original druid amulet while I created it. It won’t break. It’s more powerful than any druid could construct.”
I peered off to the side to hide my confusion. The king’s hands had been empty while he created the shield. So he formed the shield without touching the Original druid amulet? How the hell had he done that?
Lord Belshazzar’s features were carefully blank with that tidbit of information. He steered to another topic, most likely hoping the druid would forget about his blunder in his current vexed state.
“Once we review the documents Queen Gwynnore sent, we need to begin notifying our army. Including the druid army. Orders need to go out within the next few days for stations around our strongholds, and shields need to be put in place around each one—vampire and druid. We should begin mixing the armies to get on top of the fighting that’s sure to happen at the beginning between our people.”
As one, we all nodded.
Lord Xenon commented, “Until that’s done, we keep this quiet. Like the humans, we don’t want our people to panic.”
Again, we nodded.
“Ms. Francis is still here.” Lord Otto cracked his neck and flicked his gaze to the lord sitting next to me. “Lord Belshazzar, you need to meet with her tonight and find out any new information you can. Tomorrow, I’ll eliminate her. It’s time to weed out the spies in our homes.”
Lord Belshazzar’s face…whitened.
I snapped my mouth shut on the snappy comment I was going to make, utter shock holding me still. My vampire Overlord appeared faint.
My lover choked, “Will someone else please fucking take her this time?”
; Lord Pippin shook his head. “You’re who she wants.”
Lord Otto attempted a smile. “She’ll be dead tomorrow. Rest easy in that.”
Lord Xenon pointed a finger at him. “And you’ve always said you prefer the redheads.”
“Yes, I did say that.” Lord Belshazzar rubbed at his chin harshly, color now returning to his face for an entirely different reason. His fangs were down, and he was pissed. “Goddammit, fine.”
I kept my mouth firmly shut.
Now was not the time to poke the beast.
And I wasn’t jealous now.
I actually felt sorry for him. He didn’t want to do this at all—to the point that if his claws were out, I was sure he’d be slashing this room apart. He hated it that much.
But he would do his duty. Our people were all.
I rolled my chair up, placed my right hand on his tense back, and started rubbing in soothing circles. While the other lords talked quietly amongst themselves, I leaned in and whispered against his ear, “I’ll come by later tonight when you’re done. Okay?”
“I hate this,” he hissed. His fingers jerked through his long black hair hard. His blue eyes trapped mine, torment running behind them. Talk of war hadn’t even put this look on his face. He damn near bellowed, “And I hate fucking redheads! I lied one day—hundreds of goddamn years ago—to shut someone up, and it fucking stuck. I’ve never heard the end of it since then. It irritates the shit out of me, Gwen.”
Sweet baby Jesus.
The man was definitely out of sorts right now.
A few of the Overlords glanced in our direction. Shock stamped their features at his proclamation—and shouted weakness—but they quickly looked away when Lord Belshazzar cast them a deadly glare.
I continued rubbing his back and gave him an out to get away from everyone—and from saying anything else too personal that they could use against him later. “We’re done here, my lord. Why don’t you go take a walk, get some fresh air, and soothe that soul of yours a little?”
He growled, that beast taking voice again. “You’ll sleep in my room tonight?”
“I will.” I tipped toward him and pressed my lips to his right in clear view of everyone. Our mouths molded together like a dream as our heartbeats linked, perfect and beautiful, like coming home. I ran the pads of my fingers over his bristled cheeks, relaxing him softly, and then I pulled back to whisper against his lips, “I promise.”
I STOPPED IN FRONT OF LORD BELSHAZZAR’S bedchamber door and yawned. My pajamas whispered around my body as I stretched, the time well past midnight. I asked, “Is the Overlord back yet?”
Orin nodded while the other bodyguard remained silent, and he motioned toward the door. “He returned a few minutes ago.” The frightening bodyguard lifted a brow. “Your timing is impeccable, your majesty.”
I snorted and shrugged my right shoulder.
I had been watching the cameras of the Royal floor, thanks to a feed Harmony had set up on my phone. I knew Lord Belshazzar had returned.
The very edges of his lips tipped up in what some might call a smile. It was hard to tell really. “You may go in, your majesty. Lord Belshazzar has allowed you entry already.”
“Thank you.”
I stepped inside the lord’s room…and swiftly shut the door behind me in surprise. An unmistakable noise was coming from Lord Belshazzar’s bathroom. I locked the door just as fast as I closed it.
My eyes scanned the empty bedroom, catching on the fireplace where a roaring fire was warming the space. I sputtered a curse then raced to the fireplace and grabbed a poker from the tools beside it. A pair of pants and a thin black sweater and a pair of underwear were half hanging out of the fireplace, all on fire and sizzling close to his fur rug. I shoved at the burning mess, battling it back into the fireplace from where they had apparently toppled.
Huffing in surprise, I placed the poker back onto its hook and stepped over the hastily kicked off shoes and socks that littered the ground. My attention swung back to the bathroom where heaves of vomiting continued to be heard.
What the fuck was going on?
Using my vampire speed, I sped into the open bathroom, wind whipping my hair back, and froze in place inside the spacious restroom. Lord Belshazzar was indeed inside, naked as the day he was born, and kneeling before his toilet. His large hands gripped the edge of the toilet, and his body convulsed with each ejection from his stomach into the porcelain toilet.
I blinked very slowly as his body flicked between looking like the Overlord I knew…and the devil-looking Overlord I knew lurked inside him. His skin would flash red and black deadly horns would emerge, and his fingernails turned black, only to quickly disappear back to normal as he sucked in a large lungful of breath. The process repeated each time he spewed, the devil-lord reappearing every time he puked.
Lord Belshazzar didn’t seem to notice either, too busy in his own misery and pain as his body dispelled everything inside him.
I took a few steps further into the bathroom. “My lord? What’s going on?”
“Leave and close the door,” he barked on a hoarse voice, not turning his head away from the toilet. He lifted a stopping hand in my direction, and then flushed the toilet. Between another battle of puking, he snarled, “Get out, Gwen!”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see it. “Did someone poison you? Should I call for a medic?” I didn’t know what the fuck was going on! Vampires didn’t just puke!
“No,” he choked. More puking, more devil-lord showing. Another flush of the toilet. “Just leave. This’ll be done soon.”
My lips pinched. I shook my head again and marched straight toward him. “I don’t think so.”
Careful not to be in range of the lethal black horns that kept reappearing and disappearing, I squatted next to him and pulled his long, black hair back from his perspiring face and rubbed his back with my free hand, waiting whatever this was out with him.
I stated clearly, “I’m staying here with you, Bel. Take as long as you need.”
He gripped the toilet tighter, catching a glimpse of his hands as they turned red, but he couldn’t exactly argue…since he was puking again. Massive spasms of his body erupted again, his entire frame wracked with the motion. Every muscle on his well-honed body clenched so hard it had to be excruciating.
And past all that sickly smell filling the bathroom, I could scent the same sexual fluids on him that I had the night of the Blood Rite.
Ms. Olivia Francis.
He had done his duty.
I was pleased to know she would be dead tomorrow.
“Gwen…” he choked, still staring at his red hands.
“Nope. I’m not leaving you while you’re ill. Get over it.”
Frosty blue eyes lifted to mine, but he wisely kept his face pointed down toward the toilet. I didn’t mention he had some spittle hanging from his mouth. I didn’t think he’d appreciate that right now. His gaze searched mine, flicking back and forth between my eyes—finding no surprise there. His black brows furrowed in thought, even as his body flicked back to looking normal again.
Then he went back to puking.
The devil-lord reemerged, too.
Once he was sucking oxygen again, I murmured with much unconcern, “I like your horns.”
He spat into the toilet and flushed it, his brows furrowing as he stared down into the toilet water. He muttered roughly—and honestly, “I am so confused right now.”
I rubbed his back softly. “You know the necklace you gave me?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that jewel showed me something when I first touched it. A little boy on a beach finding the gem. You. With red skin, horns, black nails, and an impish grin.” I kept rubbing his back. “I’ve known since that morning. I don’t understand it at all, but I’ve known.”
Bel started to curse…but began puking again.
He was on to the stomach acid now.
He should be done soon. I hoped.
I sig
hed and held his hair tighter for him. “That’s pretty much how I thought you’d react. I haven’t told anyone, and I don’t plan to. You have nothing to worry about from me.”
I removed my hand from his back and flushed the toilet for him this time when he started spitting. Then the dry heaves arrived. They were worse than the actual retching, his whole body trembling fiercely still wanting to vomit. I waited it out with him, flushing the toilet again.
He spit one last time before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Bel gradually sat back, his frame shuddering with the action. I released his hair, while he evaluated me from under hooded eyelids, his dark lashes hiding his thoughts from me.
Tense quiet ticked by. Slowly.
Neither one of us said anything.
I had only my imagination to afford me what he might be thinking, from the good to the bad. He didn’t give anything away.
Eventually, I couldn’t take the strain any longer.
I cleared my throat and pointed at his shower, thinking of anything to stop the silence. “Perhaps you’d like to clean up?”
Bel dipped his face toward his body, his eyes never leaving mine, and sniffed once. His face scrunched in revulsion. “Yes, a shower sounds good.”
I stood to my feet and started walking out of the bathroom. “I’ll find you something to wear and set it on the sink.”
He hesitated a moment, then stated, “Thank you, Gwen.”
“You’re welcome.”
The shower turned on inside the bathroom as I rifled through his drawers. I found a pair of underwear first and then searched for his pajama pants. Everything was so perfectly in place inside his chest of drawers that it didn’t take long.
I returned to the bathroom and set the clothes down but didn’t dally in there. I rubbed my forehead and went to lie on his bed, trying to understand what had made him so violently ill. Vampires didn’t get sick…but I had no clue what the fuck he really was. I stayed on ‘my side’ of the bed as I slipped under the covers and turned on my side, facing ‘his side,’ and waited for him to finish.
Death of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 3) Page 10