by Stina
“Who?”
“Calum and Talum, heads of the Malum clan. Soon to be stripped of their titles and made to follow only Kesh.”
“Wait, did you say Calum?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t that—”
“Yes.”
“Wow. I thought she would be dead by now.”
“No. She was turned a long time ago.”
“She chose to leave?”
“Yes.”
“And you let her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I will not make anyone stay here who does not genuinely want to. This is a sanctuary for vampires, not a prison. Forcing people to stay here against their own will would make me no better than a human or a Lykan.”
Tep nodded and looked back toward the passageway; they both did. After about five minutes Tep sighed and stood. He kissed Dena’s hand before he departed, heading back toward the castle.
As he walked, he couldn’t help but hope that they could all trust her belief in Kesh. The night of the full moon was nearing, and they were all preparing for war. Unless everyone was in position, they would all perish.
Chapter 18
Kesh, of course, had hoped that he would have a little more time to prepare. He had no idea what he would say to the Sefu when he appeared on their doorstep. He had abandoned them, and he knew they felt the same way. He left with no word of where he was going and if or when he was coming back. It would not be a happy reunion when he showed up, but he had run out of options. With the hunters on the move, he had no other choice. They would all die if he did not warn them about the upcoming attacks.
When Kesh had prepared to depart once again, Adirah had made plans to go with him. They were in the kitchen, along with Talum and Calum discussing their next moves. Talum had given Kesh a supply of blood that could last him two days’ time and when Adirah saw that she raised her eyebrow.
“You’re going alone?”
Kesh had known the question was coming, but he was prepared for it. Thas time he knew that Adirah could not come with him. It was something that he would have to do alone. The mistake he’d made last time was forcing his queen on his people without taking the time to consider how they felt about it. Regardless, he was going to do what he wanted with his life, but still, he thought about the way he was welcomed by the Ancients. The Sefu was his only family for so long and the least he could have done was ease their minds and make sure that they had faith in him. He was going to make it right. He had to.
“Yes, Dira. It’s something that I have to do.” Kesh readied himself for her rebuttal, but surprisingly it never came.
“I understand.” Adirah walked to where he was standing beside the island. She stood close to him with her palms pressed on his chest and her eyes locked on him. “This is something that only you can do. If you leave now, you will make it before midnight. Just promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
“That you’ll come back to me.”
“There is no force on this earth that could keep me away from you.” Kesh leaned in and kissed her cheek tenderly. “You are the love of my life.”
Talum said, “While you are gone I will ready my clan. Some of them, I’m afraid, aren’t taking the threat as seriously as they should. Some of them won’t say it, but they are terrified. They aren’t as old as the vampires in the Sefu and haven’t seen or heard of anything like this.”
“It’s a bunch of hocus-pocus to them,” Adirah said.
“Exactly. We need every number fighting now more than ever.”
“Once we go to the Ancients’ castle, everything will change.”
“We will leave as soon as Kesh returns with the Sefu.” Talum had walked up to Kesh and patted his back once with a strong hand. “So hurry, brother.”
Now, the engine of the SUV purred lightly as Kesh turned the ignition off. The vehicle was parked outside of the place he’d called home for so long. Most of the lights inside were on, and he wondered if they were anticipating his arrival. With Tiev going ahead of him, he guessed that they were. There was no point in postponing the inevitable. Stepping out of the vehicle, Kesh began his short journey to the front door.
That time, he determined that sneaking in would cause too many problems. He would pay the Sefu the proper respect and come through the front door like he should. However, it was his home and, until stated otherwise, he was still king. So, knocking on the door was out of the question. His hand wrapped around the door handle and he twisted it open. He hadn’t been inside of the frat house for a second before he was swarmed by a group of vampires.
“Sefu! I told you he would come!”
As Kesh’s back was forced to the wall and his arms were restrained by his side, he recognized Tiev’s voice booming. Kesh looked around the foyer of the home, looking at almost all of the Sefu. He did not take the time to analyze the looks in their eyes, simply because he already knew what to expect to see. They were angry with him, and they had a right to be, and Tiev was feeding off of it. Kesh could have easily thrown back the ones holding him, but his intent was not to hurt anyone there. Well, maybe one of them. Kesh cut his eyes toward Tiev, who was standing on the staircase, and flashed his fangs.
“Release me.”
Although his gaze was on Tiev, his statement was for the vampire men holding him. When they hesitated and looked to Tiev to see what they should do, Kesh growled loudly.
“I am still your king! I said release me!”
That time they didn’t hesitate. Once their grip loosened, Kesh snatched away and stepped toward Tiev. Never in the million years that Kesh was promised on earth would he have believed he would see the day that Tiev turned on him. Kesh thought about all of the moments they had shared as brothers. He wondered if they were real or if Tiev was plotting to replace him the whole time. He did not understand it, but he wanted to.
“We have fought together on the bloodiest of battlefields with only each other to depend on. I would give you the fangs out of my mouth if you needed them. Why have you betrayed me like this, Tiev?”
“Why do you think, Kesh?”
“Is this about Vila?” Kesh demanded to know. “Are you doing all of this because of her?”
Tiev quickly glanced at a female vampire in the large group before turning back to Kesh. “No. This has always been about me and you, Kesh. Do you think that this is something I wanted? Do you think that it pleasures me to have to let the Sefu see you in this kind of light? After all this time of being the right to your left hand, I started to realize that I was also your brain. If it weren’t for me, this clan would have been done for long ago.”
“In all of these years, I will admit that you have been an important part of the survival of the Sefu,” Kesh started. “But if you think that providing aid to the king, the job you were appointed to do, qualifies you to throw me down from my throne and sit in it yourself, you are sadly mistaken. You have never done more than you were asked to do. You could never be king of this clan.”
“Is that right? I’ve been doing a good job running things for the past year when you left us.”
“And why did I leave, Tiev?”
Tiev was quiet as he gathered his thoughts.
“Tiev!” It was Kesh’s turn to have a booming voice. “Why did I leave?”
Kesh’s eyes cut at Tiev, and Tiev’s mind went back to the night that he was sure to have killed Kesh. He remembered the rage that filled him at the time and the embarrassment of having to tell Talum that Kesh had gotten away. If the plan had gone the way he needed it to back then, the two vampires wouldn’t even be having an exchange. Tiev would have been appointed king without an argument.
“You left because . . .” Tiev’s voice faltered, and he looked around at all of the Sefu eyes on him. The truth was so far away from his mind that he almost believed the lies that were about to spill from his mouth. “He left because he did not want to be your king anymore! All he cares about now is that
mortal girl he turned into one of us. Don’t you see? He has replaced his family with a new one. He does not care about you. He only cares about himself.”
The Sefu mumbled among themselves as they watched the exchange between their two leaders:
“Is that true?”
“Where is Adirah?”
“I don’t trust him.”
“Why did he come back now?”
“He’s still our king.”
While Tiev had done a good job protecting them and keeping them all alive the past year, that was only a year compared to the many they’d served under Kesh. Although skeptical about his motives, in all of the years they served him he had never done anything like that to them before. That could either work in his favor or be the thing that broke him.
“He is not your king!” Tiev told them. “I say we vote, and put this all to rest. This time, instead of a leader being designated to you, you will get to choose who you want to lead you.”
That time Kesh took the time to look around at the house and the Sefu. Much had changed in the year he’d been gone. The staircase was no longer to the side, but now it wound in the middle of the foyer. Many of the photos that hung on the walls were gone and replaced with sick images of death. The color black was everywhere, giving the house an even darker vibe than it already had.
That wasn’t the only thing. As he looked around at his people, it was apparent that they were divided in their own homes. They were grouped up together and looked like several small clans instead of one. Kesh felt that it was all his fault. He should have never brought violence to their front door and left them alone in the middle of it. That was not what a true leader would have done, and it made him wonder if they were better off without him. They whispered to each other and stared back at him with skeptical eyes. One by one, their heads began to nod in agreement with what Tiev was saying.
“If it is a vote that the Sefu want, it is a vote they will get,” Kesh responded to their nods. “If you truly do not desire me as your king anymore, then I will step down as your king. You have an hour to make your choice; until then, I will be in my bedchamber. That is”—he cut his eyes at Tiev—“if your stand-in king has not made it his home yet.”
Without another word or look to the Sefu, Kesh made his exit. He walked by the pretty vampire Tiev had looked at. When he was directly in front of her, Kesh offered her hard face a smile.
“Risa, beautiful Risa.” Kesh chuckled and shook his head. “I understand why it is you Tiev has chosen to be by his side. Do you?”
“Because I will be a powerful queen,” Risa said with naïveté.
“No, my sweet. You are naïve to his true nature. As you should be.” Kesh shook his head and looked up to where Tiev stood staring back at him, most likely wondering what Kesh and Risa were discussing.
“He loves me.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“He promised to make me queen.”
“The Sefu already have a queen.”
“And Tiev promised that she would perish along with you.”
“Did he now? He also promised to remain loyal by my side for eternity.”
“That is different. You left us!”
“Had I stayed, the love of your life would have continued to try to murder me. But I am back now. Now, again: do you know why it is you he has chosen?”
“He wants his equal by his side.”
“Exactly. And you remind him of her, whether he will admit it or not. Vila was your creator, after all.”
Kesh continued on his path, but not before he heard Risa sharply inhale at his words. Tiev had been working wonders at making the vampires around him truly believe that he cared about them. He didn’t think about how all of his treacherous acts would affect the clan; all he was worried about was what position of power he would land in. Under Tiev’s leadership, Kesh didn’t see the Sefu lasting even another one hundred years.
Little did they know, now their fate was in their own hands. Kesh thought about telling them about the two great dangers coming their way at that very moment but, without their trust, they wouldn’t believe him. The only reason he’d agreed to the vote was because it was the fastest way back into their graces.
“Enjoy your last seconds of comfort, Kesh,” Tiev spat in a voice that only Kesh could hear as he went by. “Once I am appointed king, you will be banished from the Sefu and punished by death if you ever come back.”
Kesh studied Tiev’s face. He saw nothing but hatred there. He was certain that Tiev was upset that, although he’d been gone for a year, the Sefu still treated him with respect. He must have expected them all to attack him upon arrival. What Tiev didn’t understand was that, through the centuries of serving as the Sefu king, the bond he’d built with his clan was not that of a leader and his subjects. It was more of a father with his children. Their hesitance did not come from hatred or resentment; it came from hurt.
“When I, Kesh of the Sefu, remain king, Tiev, there will not be a vampire on this earth who can protect you. Nor will there be a fortress that you will be able to hide in.”
Chapter 19
While the other vampires deliberated with each other, Kesh made it his business to travel the house to clear his head. He’d been there for less than an hour, but every second that went by was a waste. Sunrise grew nearer and nearer. He sighed as he maneuvered alone through the hallways of the second floor. His mind went back to the Ancients’ castle and how, in days, it had become more of a home than his own. Nothing was familiar to him. In halls that he must have walked hundreds of times, he felt like a stranger. He stopped randomly and looked over his shoulder.
“I know you are following me. What do you want?”
From the shadows, Risa materialized. She wore a pair of jeans and a silk blue blouse with a pair of comfortable boots. She eyed him curiously, her expression a lot softer than before. It was true: she’d been following him the second he stepped out of his bedchamber.
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you? Your strong scent that lingers in my bedchamber says otherwise. Why are you here? I don’t think Tiev would be too happy if he knew we were speaking right now.”
“Because I want to know why you have returned. Why now?”
Kesh heard her question but didn’t answer her. He kept walking and, just like he thought she would, she appeared at his side.
“Is that what you have gotten good at doing? Walking away?”
“You wouldn’t understand if I told you right now.”
“I’m sorry,” she said sarcastically. “When would be a better time? Maybe you could pencil me in. Kesh, our people are lost. More lost than they have ever been. The only thing that has made sense to them in the past year is Tiev, and now—”
“Now what?”
“Now I’m starting to feel as if he was the wrong person to put our trust in. Am I not right to feel like this?”
“He is the one you lie with every night. If you feel that way, then you are right.”
“If I am right, then that means there is another meaning to your return. It isn’t to just knock Tiev from the throne. You have never been a being to run off of his ego, so I will not stop until you answer me!”
Risa was relentless, just like he remembered. He stopped and faced her, like an equal. At first, he had been wary of making her into one of them. She was created with too much hatred and resentment in her heart. But soon she turned that hatred into love of a new family: the Sefu. He smiled to himself thinking of the day a hundred years ago that Vila turned her.
Winter was cold in Nebraska. Colder than any state that Kesh had ever traveled to. He and Vila were bundled up in long coats, boots, and scarves. He and Vila had traveled there together in response to news of a couple of rogue Lykans wreaking havoc throughout the state. The last thing they needed were any more eyes on their underground world, and they knew that the problem needed to be handled immediately. The werewolves were being smart about their hunts and only hitting the povert
y-stricken parts of the state.
“The hunted become the hunters.” Vila smirked at Kesh as they entered the last known area that the Lykans were in. “How ironic.”
The night sky cloaked them as they walked side by side. In the distance, they heard shrieks and the cries of an attack happening.
“They need to be stopped. Too much blood has been being shed,” Kesh said, and Vila raised her eyebrow at him.
“You say that like you care about the human lives they are destroying.”
“Humans are nothing but cattle to our kind,” Kesh said. “But sometimes even cattle deserve a chance at life.”
“So, what about when you go hunting?”
Vila did not know that Kesh had been slowing down on killing his mortal prey. He often thought back to Adie and how she’d fought for humans. He felt as if he was going against what she stood for by killing them all the time. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but sooner or later Kesh would come up with a system to feed without killing his victim.
Instead of telling Vila all that was on his mind, he grinned her way and shrugged his shoulders. “When I hunt, I make it a fair chance.”
“Sure you do.” Vila chuckled, but the smile quickly washed from her face. “Just don’t do that tonight.”
They turned down a block, and both stopped instantly. Almost two hundred feet in front of them, they saw the two beasts in the streets with their prey. The screams had stopped, and when Kesh’s eyes graced each house on the block, he saw why. Every door was open, and blood smeared the concrete on the outsides of the homes. Laid out in the streets, sidewalks, and against cars were the dead bodies of the people on the block. Men, women, and children had been viscously slain, and most of their hearts were missing.
Suddenly, one of the Lykans stopped eating the brains of the elderly man in its claws and put its nose in the air. It sniffed once and threw the body to the side. Jumping up, it turned to face Vila and Kesh with a loud howl. The other followed suit and crouched low, preparing for battle.
“Kesh,” Vila said with warning in her voice.