This would be my battle, the spark to start the raging fire of war.
I watched the vampire aim at my mother. Time ticked loudly, reverberating in my head. Without thinking, I leapt forward, and shouted, “No.”
The vampire re-aimed and fired at me.
Large paws pushed me out of the way, and I crashed to the asphalt. A barrage of bullets punctured the air, and from my position, I watched the vampire soldiers advance—while one set ripped away and pushed the children toward the waiting trucks.
Their jackboots stomped and shook the ground, and they attempted to encircle us. But then came my mother and her crew from the right.
“Take cover,” I shouted.
I ducked, wrapping my hands over my head, and pulled myself into a tight ball as much as I could. The asphalt shot up in chunks around me. Suddenly, I only felt a wisp of wind yank me away, tucking me behind the safety of an old car. Ryder materialized at my side. “Stay here before you get yourself killed.”
Inept. I’d had big plans, but as I glanced around, we were all pinned down, and the vamps were closing in.
“The Slayer.” I heard shouted on the wind, followed by a loud yelp, as a large, menacing wolf charged through the crowd of vampires while they backed up toward their waiting trucks, clearing the way for the slayer. The wolf’s snarl echoed off of the buildings, and more wolves answered in the distance.
Then she came. I’d never seen my mom look so fierce. The cloak she’d once worn was gone, and instead, she was encased in black leather. Her face partially covered with a skeleton bandana, her witchy black hair flowing. One arm was wrapped in metal technology that lit up in blue runes I never knew was there. Each hand clenched a semiautomatic handgun. They shot at her, and the bullets never landed, pinging off instead, as if she was surrounded by an invisible force. She bolted, and fired on them, one by one, her guns releasing what appeared like lightning.
Was help coming?
Behind the slayer, the air shimmered, and for the briefest moment, I saw Renault. His body glowed red, and large fiery wings shot out, blocking any oncoming projectiles coming my mother’s way. Fire licked his skin, and rage made the flames grow higher. He, too, fought hard, sending out fireballs at the soldiers, blocking the slayer’s left flank. Finally, my father protected her from the left. He launched into the air, shifting in one smooth motion, but not into a wolf, or a fire angel, but into an ice-blue drake.
He looped and screeched in the sky overhead. Leathery, deep-blue wings stretched out, but instead of fire, arctic ice spewed from his mouth. The air grew so cold that I could barely breathe. The ice would stop the vamps from approaching, and then David’s fireball would make them explode.
I wanted to stay and watch, but Ryder pulled on me. “Time to go, sweetheart.” He flashed me a toothy grin. He was extraordinarily handsome, but that smile sent shivers racing down my legs, cementing me in place. He could be alluring, but something made me think he wanted to be in the fight, and I wasn’t sure which side he’d be on. Butterflies mixed with horror. He was an alluring monster. His touch wanted. His attention craved. I pushed down my quandary. His touch sent erotic thoughts into my head. With death and dying all around me, nothing existed but him.
I shook my head. “Cut it out, Ryder.” I practically purred as the words slipped from my lips. The only reason I was so wanton for him right now, at this moment, had to be that he was exuding his attraction on high beams. I’d heard about what vampires could do to make a girl like me fall victim to their lust. I shook off his hand.
“Obey me,” he snapped.
“I am not yours to command.” I rose, forgetting about the vampire with his weapon trained on me. I didn’t notice him until it was too late.
The vampire fired, and this time, he didn’t miss.
Chapter 7
The sky was the brightest Technicolor blue I’d ever seen, and the sun was warm on my skin. Nestled in the sun’s rays, and wrapped in this serenity, I sat in the tall grass. A slight wind blew. I blinked, and it changed to night and day at the same time, the sun shone as did the stars. My head began to swim.
“What’s happening?” I asked and touched my head.
The grass parted and out walked three figures. One stalked forward in black leather with stakes tucked into the sides of her cargo pants. Followed closely behind her, was a large white wolf with piercing amber eyes. Above, large wings blocked out the sun, for a giant red dragon flew overhead. It flapped its wings and thundered to the ground, to only then quickly transform into a beautiful woman. She had loose, full and shiny black hair on which rested an unmistakeable crown, black scales on her human arms. Then appeared the fourth figure: my mother
“Mom? What’s happening?” I asked.
On her lips, she wore a broad smile and hurried to my side. She wrapped her arms around me. “Dearest Sunny, I need you to do something for me.” I tried to look away from her to the three standing and staring at us.
“I know you must be confused, but you are to take on a sacred duty that has never been touched before, belonging to many and none. Slayer, Wolf, Vampire—you will have to protect us all and keep us safe, for the dark powers seek to destroy us all.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“There is love inside of you, and you have been chosen for this time of greatness.” She then pointed in the distance where a wildfire burned. The sky over there was filled with smoke and ash. “You could choose to focus on the darkness, or be the light, to share freedom and happiness.”
“Mom, what is going on?”
“We don’t have much time. You must listen.”
The dragon stepped forward. On her head was a bright crown. “Dearest Sunny, your gifts are not like any other, but also that which will be required of you cannot be so easily fulfilled.”
I cleared my throat. “Who are you?”
A small smile slipped through. “I am the Dragon Queen, and you are now my child, blood of my blood.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that erupted. “I’m a dragon now? What does that mean? That I’m going to sprout a tail and scales?”
She shook her head. “No, but you carry the blood of the vampire, my seed in you. There are two tribes: those created by magic, and those created through the holy bloodline of Baldr. You carry such. And the fighting between these factions continues, with the Baldr line choosing light over darkness, yet the others have placed mankind in chains. You can help change that. You will help save us all. Our strengths will become your own.”
How did she figure I could change anything? Nothing that was happening gave me any semblance of clarity. My world was dark, and a field that grew with wild wheat would have been culled and cut off from regular human contact and consumption.
The queen moved to stand before me and blew sparkly dust into my face. In that dust, I saw the universe, the lights, and worlds of the living and dying stars. My throat began to burn as if fire rose up my esophagus. I coughed and hacked to be rid of it.
“Swallow and accept it, dear child. It is my gift to you.” I did as she asked, and with one last nod, she turned, leapt, and retook flight.
The wolf then stepped forward. She was the size of a dump truck and could have swallowed me whole in one bite.
“We do not commune very often together, dear child,” she began.
She must have felt me tremble, for she, too, shifted to a tall, sinewy woman wrapped in a white pelt. But it was her eyes that finally helped me ease into my mother’s embrace.
“The worlds are at war. Now you carry the blood of the wolf within you. Our blood is sacred, and you as a vessel must be able to contain its magic for it to be a blessing to you. Since you are now sitting on the plain of gratitude, that you are indeed. The heart of the wolf will meld with your own. Our strengths will become your own.” She leaned forward, licked her thumb, and pressed it to my forehead.
It felt like warm oil, flowing over my head, and oozing down my neck and shoulders. My muscles began to clen
ch and unclench like a wilderness I’d never experienced was being unleashed. My back arched, and my bones cracked.
I heard grunts and screams but didn’t recognize my voice.
The woman shifted back to a wolf and headed back into the tall grass, then the woman with the stakes came forward.
I noticed the necklace with a large rhombus-shaped ampule—a crystal vial with the edges in a worn bronze—hung around her neck. She removed the jewelry, took it in her hand, and passed it to my mother.
“Now, Sunny, you need to listen. If you don’t remember anything else, know this: I love you more than I have ever loved. You are my sunshine, and even when the world is dark, the sun is reflected on the moon. Wherever you are, know that I am there, and that the ancestors watch you, help you, and that you belong to not one of us, but all of us.” She smoothed my hair away from my face. I took in the scent of her vanilla perfume, the way her touch made me stronger. I knew I could believe and do anything because of her. Yet, I also felt her pulling away.
“Don’t let go, Mom,” I cried.
“Oh, child, you can’t stay here with me. I will love you forever, and now the ancestors and I will watch over you, for you are the slayer, the called one, the savior of man, wolf, and vampire, and your three fated mates will help you.”
“But they won’t be you.”
“Of course not, but you will always carry me in your heart, too.” She began to hum, just like she did when I was a child. I knew this was goodbye, and I didn’t want it to be. I didn’t want to lose the one who’d loved me forever since I was the smallest of cells that rested in her stomach.
There were so many things that I wanted to say, but I couldn’t think of one thing to simply utter.
With that, she raised her hand with the amulet and slammed it into my chest.
Chapter 8
I awoke screaming, sweat pooling, and eyes wild to see the blazing fire next to me, and there to my side stood Ryder, Sebastian, and Axel all staring down at me. The journey we were to begin wasn’t one that I’d planned—a human, a vampire, and a wolf, just like in my vision.
“How am I alive?” It was the first question I needed to know. I should have died.
“She’s awake,” Axel called out, and he and the others then backed away, to be replaced by Cole, Renault, and David. My mother was nowhere in sight.
Their eyes welled, and to see three strong men with slumped shoulders, I knew the news was brutal before anyone even spoke.
“She’s resting,” David whispered, “and as the keeper of the coven of destiny, we must now pass this torch on to you and yours, to protect her.”
“Only one slayer can be activated at once,” Axel said.
David shook his head. “That is the myth. Ceri is not fit for battle, as this last one took more than enough from us all. She has been placed in a catatonic state by the gods to heal. She is not dead, but not well, either.”
The elders moved forward to create a circle around me, Ryder, Sebastian, and Axel, then Axel’s father, Isi, spoke. “These three have proved worthy in trusting the covenant, and the elders have spoken; they shall be your fate.”
“Uh, what?” My head continued to spin. I hadn’t been out that long, and although the vision had spoken of three, I didn’t think it would be them—three of my closest friends, and oddly enough, not my boyfriend.
Ryder frowned, too. Sebastian stared down at his feet with a blush reddening his cheeks, and Axel seemed to look past me. This was not how I wanted to enter this world.
“And how will this work?” Faith asked. She must have been just as concerned as I was. I wasn’t big into the idea of ménage, and I didn’t see any of these robust guys sharing. Faith moved to my side and offered me water and helped me sit up.
“The ceremony will begin, combining the one into three—the holy trifecta of perfection.”
“I am not having sex with them right here, right now.” It was the first thought that came to my mind. “Will you all not let me grieve?”
Isi looked away, and Faith touched my shoulder. “Unfortunately, there is no time for that. Tonight, we took a great loss, not only by losing the slayer, the keeper of us all, but”—she paused, taking a measured breath— “also Tom. We couldn’t recover him. With the wolves active, surely the vamps will come to the border and bring the war to us.”
Faith always had a cool head for these things. She would have made a great slayer and not me. “Come, the elders will bless you, and then the ceremony can begin.”
The circle of thirteen elders moved forward; their chant was laced and spiked with magic that caused gooseflesh to form on my skin. Isi handed me a potion. “Drink, as you must focus on the ceremony.”
I trusted Isi, but it was Faith’s nod that confirmed it wouldn’t harm me. It tasted of elderberries and figs, sweet and luscious on my tongue. Heady and rich.
“Faith is your sister and will help prepare you.”
The elders moved back, and on wobbly feet, I leaned on Faith and followed her inside the small shotgun house. “I will guard you, my sister,” Faith declared. It was decorated with lit candles and a bouquet of wildflowers.
“This will not be painful?”
“No, but we should have prepared you more for this great feat. It is one thing to ask a human to love one man, but three, equally? I realize it is a lot to take in, but they love you. Your mother is special. You will follow her example.”
She removed a blindfold, placing it over my eyes, and I remained stock-still. “Why the blindfold?”
“So you will love with your heart and not with your human eyes. Sit here on top of the table.”
“Not in a chair.”
“No, you’ll know who they are if they have to lean down over you or what not. No, this will make it so you are concentrating on the ceremony and binding, not trying to figure out who the man on the other end is.”
With my eyes closed, I heard soothing music playing low in the background, the wind’s slight breeze on the side of the house pushing a branch against the siding, and then the screen door opened and closed.
The air was sweet, spiked with spicy pepper. I gulped. Anticipation mixed with anxiety; my stomach flip-flopped.
I could hear his breathing. I gulped again. My mouth; I was unable to form enough moisture to pucker.
No words were to be spoken, just a kiss. Just one lone kiss.
He stroked my hand gently. He moved up my hand to my sleeve. My skin tingled where he touched, leaving behind a trail of what felt like embers where it simmered right beneath the surface. His fingertip circled on my elbow.
The pleasing crackling campfire scent increased, and I felt his nearness. There was no fear now. Just a sense of serenity. He moved slowly, cupped my face in his hands, and electricity zinged me. He kissed my forehead, and then my nose. His lips were soft and giving on my skin, filled with uncertainty, but also trust, care, and strength. I relaxed into the feel of him. My heart sought to break through my chest.
He placed a chaste kiss on my lips. It was almost as if he stood there— mere centimeters from me—his warmth seared me as if I waited to be kissed by a warm flame on a cold night. I shivered. His lips were so close, but not close enough.
On the cusp of eternity, I sat waiting and took a deep breath. His lips brushed against my own. I leaned into his gentle, warm, and assured touch.
It was tentative until he added pressure, and like a rousing load of fireworks, something exploded within me. I pulled him toward me, and the shy kiss grew demanding. His kisses set the pace, and his fingers trailed away from my face to my ribs. His body was warm, hard, and I wasn’t thinking straight. I wanted more, to see where this could lead. The longer he kissed me, the more it seemed as if I was leaving this place behind to float to another.
The screen door opened, and Faith’s voice interrupted. “Time.” The floor creaked under Faith’s weight, and she handed me a cup of something that smelled like mouthwash.
I rinsed my mouth and then
took the second cup of that which she offered—more of the elderberry potion.
The screen door opened again, and this time, there was a scent of the outdoors, of cedar, mountain air, and earth.
Before I could still myself, he moved forward, and his lips consumed mine. Aggressive, hard, rough, and full of stubble—he demanded everything from me. His hands were in my hair, and my breath was coming in short gasps. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and his hand wrapped around my throat. I could hear his heart in my head, the low growl of mine in his touch. His fingertips clawed at me, and I enjoyed every scratch. It was like he cracked my chest open and made my heart beat. How could this be? How could it be that I wanted him more than my life, my breath? I moaned into his mouth, and our tongues tangled for dominance. I’d been kissed before but never like this, and never by him.
He moved from my mouth down to my neck, and in the heady feel of his lips on my skin, I squeaked under the pressure of his teeth piercing my shoulder. I felt his tongue as it lapped up what I was sure was my blood, and he kissed me again.
My mouth felt bruised, and I wanted more of him. I wanted to dive into the fires of hell to be beside him, to carve mountaintops with the feeling of his strumming my yearning. My skin was on fire with his touch, his breath, the roughness of his clothes rubbing against my own. Altogether, intoxicated by his desire, I wanted him more than life, love, or liberty. It was as if his intensity reached beyond my core, and he stroked it, making me practically purr.
“Harrumph!” Faith said in the distance, clearing her throat. I hadn’t heard the screen door this time at all. She moved to my side, and a cool cloth wiped at where he had bitten me.
“Drink,” Faith ordered. “It will quicken your healing.”
Again, the floorboards creaked, and there I waited. I could feel him there, and his gaze on me, as if he scrutinized every nuance of my face.
I gulped down air. My heart stuttered, excitement mixed with anxiousness. What could compare to the last one?
He pulled me to him across the table. My stomach quivered, and with each passing second, my longing grew. I rested on the edge of the table top, and he pulled me tightly to him. He was rock hard. He placed my hand on his chest, and slowly pressed me down on the table. I leaned back on his arm, while his hair acted as a soft veil, the ends dancing on my skin with his movements. With his warm breath on my neck, pleasure pulled me tighter. Like a guitar, I waited to be plucked.
Holidays Bite: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Vampire Tales Page 28