[excerpt]

by Editor

  “He’s not a mutt, Mother. Or at least that’s who I thought you were.” André added, “Jonah, meet my mother, or my Aunt Chyna or whatever the hell you are or were.” He turned in Duncan’s direction, his facial expression plagued with that oh-my-God-what-the-hell-just-happened-and-how-do-we-remedy-it look. “Duncan, I’m positive you need no introductions.” André tried to place where the voices came from, while waves of bile sloshed around inside his stomach making his disposition all the more miserable.

  Luce, help! Chyna is on the train and not quite dead, but dead all the same, if you understand me. Sadly, you two seem to have some common ground now.

  I’m on my way. André, are you all right? Where is everyone?

  Define all right.

  Things were not well in the rear of the train.

  Lucian looked at Serina and that look said more than words ever could have. “Stay put. I will be back. Let no one through that door other than those who boarded the train with us. Understood? Get your crosses out. I love you.” Lucian bent down and kissed her hard then went out the door in a blur.

  Reading Lucian’s mind as well as Jonah’s, Serina explained to Payton what had happened.

  “Have a look-see at this, Serina.” Payton pulled his and André’s packs from the overhead compartment and displayed a small arsenal, silver knives, a gun loaded with silver bullets, a gun that launched wooden stakes, a hammer, a crossbow and garlic. Lots of garlic.

  Serina hugged him. “Where were you on my honeymoon? Where did the crossbow come from, Payton?”

  “Don’t look at me, Serina. I’m just the cook, remember? I brought my knives and garlic. Figured if we never got us a vamp, we’d at least eat. Garlic goes with anything.”

  Payton’s amber eyes lit up his face and lightened Serina’s mood.

  “André brought the crossbow. Said he’s used it on many occasions. My personal favorite is the gun that shoots stakes. It’s like a spear gun for whales, except much smaller.” Payton scratched his head. “What happens next?”

  “You ever make bat stew?” Serina raised her brows to him.

  ****

  “Who is the oaf you travel with?” André asked.

  “You need to show some respect to your mummy, André,” Chyna chided. She waved her arms in circles and levitated off the floor, floating over André, hoping to show off her talents, but when she realized her efforts were wasted in the dark she laughed.

  An ungodly shriek echoed in the compact room. André and Duncan covered their ears. Jonah howled himself hoarse.

  “Do I need to show you that I command respect now?”

  “You’re not my mother and respect is earned. And when did you start using your title, princess? Little late for formalities isn’t it? Why did you lie to us all these years? What did you possibly have to gain?”

  “You, son.”

  “Stop calling me your son,” André pounded his fist into the wall.

  “Your mother was weak. You were special to me. I could not have children and when your Mum sired three, things worked swimmingly to my vantage. Our dear Queen ran about telling everyone I used a potion, of all things, to get what was rightfully mine. She sounded truly insane. She did however, tell your mum she could have me head if she’d liked, but your mum was such a soft-heart, she neither believed her sister or wanted me dead. Pity the feeling wasn’t mutual.”

  André listened to the woman who raised him, whom he once loved as a mother and understood that he had to come to terms his entire life had been based on a lie and that this frail creature was well past her due date and rotted.

  “Mo—Chyna, you just admitted to killing Lorelei and Christian. How could you?” André felt Duncan throw his arm around his shoulder for support. Or at least, he really hoped it was Duncan’s.

  “No, I did not. Did I?” Her sentinel shook his head no.

  “Chyna, where have you been all these years?” His attempt to come off chipper sounded lame, and Duncan cursed under his breath. Chyna was the one and only St. James’ family member he didn’t fancy before she disappeared. Nothing had changed over the years as far as he was concerned. “Would someone please light a lantern? ’Tis been far too long since we’ve seen you.” Tongue in cheek took on a new meaning for him as he tried very hard not to insult or upset the delusional vamp who still believed she could sit upon the throne one day.

  “You were too young to remember what happened the last day I was with you, but since you’re here, I’ll tell. Lorelei and I had a nasty parting of the ways. She informed me she was going to have the Queen lock me up for—” Chyna paused and picked at the dead skin from her chafed lips.

  As easily as snapping her fingers together, she lit the lantern and then everyone became visible, like it or not. She laughed at their shocked faces. “I believe she used the phrase, ‘Until hell freezes over.’ I remember being in the Queen’s garden and receiving an offer from a very radiant, young woman telling me she could make all my dreams come true. All she wanted in return was one kiss. Sounded fair. Pity she didn’t bother telling me it would be the kiss of death.”

  “Her name,” André demanded.

  Chyna smirked. “Her surname came from some sort of cow. And as my recollection tells me, she looked like one too.”

  Duncan and André exchanged a knowing glance.

  “Contessa?” André said under his breath. “How?”

  Duncan shrugged his shoulders.

  “Anyway, your dear mother won that battle, but I won the war. How do I look, André?” She stood directly in front of him and gave a quick spin around.

  Holding up the wall with nowhere else to turn, Duncan answered for his mate.

  “Better than he does at the moment. This may be the one and only time I say this but Contessa has you beat.” Duncan noted André had gone whiter than a sheet of virgin paper.

  Duncan studied the one woman whose havoc seemed to follow her better than a shadow. Chyna’s glazed-over and emotionless eyes resembled those of a fish packed in ice at the market. Her orange-crepe cloak with its high collar, once her favorite, was now filthy and tattered. No amount of lye could bring it back. The pristine white gown she wore to her sister’s coronation now held stains of red and brown—from what, Duncan didn’t want to venture a guess.

  But, the icing on the cake was the diamond and ruby tiara that topped her head. The prongs poked into her scalp to steady it. She’d worn it many times dancing around the manor, not a care in the world. Now, patchy wiry strands of dull brown and grey hair poked through the crown like antennas on a bug. Duncan rubbed his eyes. What he thought he saw and what he actually saw had to be two different things. It just had to. Open sores spread across bald patches, maggots and larvae residing within. Duncan spun fast and vomited on the strange man’s feet. He offered no apology after wiping his mouth on the man’s sleeve.

  “Someone please turn the lantern off,” Jonah moaned as he turned away from everyone holding his stomach. He too heaved into the contents of one of the open boxes filled with trinkets.

  “Some lucky bloke is going to get more than they bargained for once home,” André added.

  Duncan grinned at the odd man about ready to come after him. “So tell us, Chyna, who is your sentinel or should I say companion…”

  André cut Duncan off, “I liked oaf better.”

  Duncan wanted to hug André for attempting to make him laugh.

  “Boys meet Phillip, my companion. Phillip has been neutered by me,” she announced. Her smile reeked of pride for a job well done. “I’m rather proficient at the surgery and require all my men nipped and tucked.”

  André shot a glance to Duncan who in turn looked at Jonah and just as fast offered, “Him. Castrate him if you must.” A low steady growl at his back, Duncan was happy he’d hit a nerve. The werewolf he could do without.

  “Phillip is indispensable to me, so I suggest you not try anything stupid. Duncan, darling, didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not polite to stare? Especially at t
hose superior to you? You never were too bright.” Chyna turned her full attention to the man and walked within inches of him. “Or do you think you’re stronger willed than I? Care for a challenge?”

  Duncan stepped forward.

  André grabbed his arm. “Old man, don’t prove her right!” Knowing or at the very least hoping she wouldn’t harm him, André sought Chyna’s attention. “Chyna, please—” André found if he concentrated on just his breathing he could speak and think clearly. He was able to do two things at once. Joy all but bubbled from him. “It’s just such a shock seeing you after all these years. You can’t imagine what I thought thinking my mother dead and then being raised by my aunt, who was indeed my real mother and now seeing you again—it’s such a shock.” Albeit a repulsive one.

  “Yes, my love. I do know how you feel. I’m sorry Mummy scared you.”

  Chyna’s voice made André want to vomit.

  Jonah did just that for him.

  “I would never hurt you, André.”

  Seeing her arm coming straight at him, André sidestepped her attempt at contact.

  “Naughty boy.” Chyna made some little tsk, tsk noises, as she waved her index finger back and forth in his face. Her hand moved so fast no one saw her grab him. Chyna wrangled him into a choke-hold and held him at an angle that left his neck unprotected. He fought, but even with her demure stature, she wielded inhuman strength. “I think I’m in need of some new company in my travels, Phillip. I’ll be keeping my son with me.”

  Ridicule coated Duncan’s tongue. “What was that saying Lorelei used on you? When hell freezes over. I believe that was it.”

  Duncan grabbed for André just as the train screeched and lurched forward and then jerked backwards. Everything in the car went airborne, people, boxes, baggage, the pigs, tiny vomit-covered trinkets, all spilling over and everyone landing into a big displaced pile.

  Lucian blasted through the door, his grip tight on the handle so he didn’t end up in the mix. He reached out, grabbed Duncan’s arm and yanked him backwards.

  Jonah tripped over the loose beads and went into a nose-dive. Lucian crouched and latched onto the back of his shirt and pulled him to his feet.

  Phillip fell on André, who had Chyna flattened beneath him. An avalanche of suitcases dropped atop the three of them and broke open.

  Endless squealing alerted everyone that the pigs weren’t thrilled with their topsy-turvy environment either.

  “Phillip, make some bacon for yourself and put an end to their misery and ours,” Chyna screamed, her timbre no better than the swine. “And both of you get the hell off me.”

  Lucian waved his hand at the hulky man and sent him sailing. Phillip somersaulted across the rubble and landed flat on his back. When his forward momentum came to an end, Phillip resembled a turtle stuck on his shell, arms and legs kicking in the air.

  “Hello, Auntie. You’ve looked better. Time has taken its toll.” Lucian simpered, finding he had new hidden strengths he might just have to thank Jasper for.

  “Lucian? Damn!” A faint voice came from under a pile of rubble. “Get off me, baby.” Chyna shoved at André. Impetuousness getting the better of her, she unleashed her powers and flipped André on Phillip’s head. “Can’t say it’s good to see you either, Lucian,” Chyna countered. “What exactly have you been up to, nephew?” She sat up and straightened the eye-sore of a cape. “Help me, Phillip. My God, man, show respect. Some day I’ll be Queen.”

  “You, Queen? Have you lost what feeble mind you had? I don’t see a vampire ruling England anytime too soon.”

  Chyna remarked, “Well then, that makes two of us, hey?”

  Oh how he loathed the woman for stealing his brother, and ruining their childhood.

  Outside the door, chaos claimed the isle of the train. People lay piled atop other passengers they’d never met. There wasn’t a child awake that wasn’t making full use of his or her vocal cords, crying. Lucian closed the door. “It sounds like Hell’s Bells out there, Auntie. They ring for you.”

  “You’ve yet to experience the underbelly of the world, Lucian, but soon.”

  “If creatures such as yourself crawl out from the bowels of such a place, I’ll pass.”

  Chyna ignored Lucian. “I hear you had the pleasure of meeting an associate of mine these past weeks. How is old Jasper? Isn’t he just the stuff nightmares are made of? How you sleeping these nights, Luce? Got your own little black box tucked away ’round here somewhere, do you?” Chyna snickered, her arms crossed under what little there be of breasts.

  “You are more the stuff nightmares are made of.” Lucian laughed at the very sight of her, thinking she looked like a child riddled with leprosy, digits missing, emaciated to the bone.

  Serina, I know I told you to stay put, but now I’m rethinking we need you and Payton and André’s bag pronto.

  We are on our way. It may take a few minutes. The train conductor’s thoroughly upset with whoever pulled the emergency stop cord. You wouldn’t have had a hand in that now would you?

  Little one, no time to talk. Got a psychotic vamp, a hyperventilating werewolf, a Sumo wrestler and two other men who can’t seem to stop digging their hole deeper for themselves.

  Are you the psychotic vamp? Serina sent Lucian an image of himself looking quite disheveled running around chasing after her snapping his teeth.

  She laughed hysterically until Payton jabbed her side. “Payton, I’m not crazy, I swear. I was just talking to Lucian and…”

  “Serina, you’re not helping your cause. He’s not here and not too many people know you guys can communicate from a distance.” Payton gave her a shove toward the other end of the train. “Put one foot in front of the other, Doc.”

  Lucian replied to Serina, laughing too. Only where you’re concerned. Could you please get down this train aisle as fast as you got down the aisle to marry me?

  Did you say Sumo wrestler?

  If you ever show up, I’ll give you a formal introduction.

  “Auntie, so nice of you to be concerned over my welfare. I sleep just fine in a bed and today I went for a nice hike with family and friends. I’m not the rabid chiropteran you are. Yes, I did meet Jasper. Seems he flew off in a puff of smoke.”

  “How is that, Lucian?” Chyna snapped. “I don’t believe you. Jasper would not lie. It would cost him dearly.”

  The tremor in Chyna’s voice was music to Lucian’s ears. Her face however...He gawked, couldn’t tear his gaze away as she pulled an eyelid up with her fingers and pushed and shoved the loose skin harshly into the bony socket, like one does with the last pair of socks they can’t quite stuff into the drawer to get it shut. With her occupied, Lucian whispered to Duncan, “Get Jonah, I think you two might want to get out of here while the getting’s good. Serina and Payton are on their way.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Luce. There’ll be no further mishaps or disappearances from any of us. All for one, and one for all and all that. Except him.” Duncan shot an angry glance towards Jonah. “He can rot here.”

  “Oh, Duncan. Back up then.” Lucian sighed. Testing his new powers he waved his right hand at his aunt in a counterclockwise motion hoping to send her rolling over, but what he got was Phillip rolling over again.

  André snapped his head at Lucian with a grin that stretched ear to ear, and quickly got to his feet. Do that again, only with her. André inclined his chin towards Chyna.

  That’s who I was trying for. My aim is off. Both men smirked.

  “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, boys.” At the far end of the car, Chyna began to straighten out her hair, but a clump fell to the floor. She glanced down and dismissed the fallen locks just as quickly as it fell. All of the men in the car with the exception of Phillip turned their heads in repulsion.

  Once again, Jonah vomited.

  “Jonah? What’s going on with you? You’re not faring too well here tonight. Is your stomach usually this upset?” André asked. If Jonah continued to retch his
insides out, André had an uneasy feeling it could start a chain reaction. His stomach wasn’t made of cast iron either.

  His head between his legs, Jonah answered, “André, I’m a werewolf. I have eaten live animals in the past, without so much as batting an eye. This is new and most unappreciated. I’ve been poisoned.”

  “So it’s not Chyna that’s bothering you? Oddly, that makes me feel better.”

  “You two all right back there?” Focused on his aunt, Lucian heard mumbling and didn’t need the distraction.

  “Jonah’s just baptizing everything within his proximity,” André answered.

  Duncan added his two pence, “Good. Let the miserable turncoat rupture.”

  Lucian turned and stared at Duncan with disbelief. Serina hadn’t exaggerated when she’d said Duncan didn’t like Jonah. Lucian moved Jonah and André behind him, and edged them slowly to the door.

  From the corner of her eye Chyna glanced at the men and believing they posed no threat, she spun around to face the rear of the car. She weaved her hands at the back wall in a zigzag pattern and as she did flames burst out along the wall. A huge chunk of the wall simply fell away onto the tracks below. She spun back around to see the faces of her guests. Lucian and Duncan gaped at the hole. Jonah and André stood behind the two men peering out over their shoulders.

  “Can you do that?” Duncan asked Lucian.

  Brows pinched and pouty lips pursed, Lucian answered, “Of course—not!”

  “That was nothing, boys. Watch this,” Chyna went to wink, but the skin she’d previously jammed into place stuck. Upset, she pointed to Duncan and Jonah, and levitated both men. With the roll of her finger, she flipped them upside down and careened them into the carpets. The men just missed the hole in the wall.

  As Duncan sat up, his left arm crumbled beneath him. It took all of two seconds for shock to set in. He methodically poked at the protruding bones. A small steady giggle leaked from his lips as a warm fluid dripped down his arm and painted the floor red.

  An ostrich-sized egg hatched from the front of Jonah’s skull. Concussion, Lucian thought. The vomiting would definitely continue.