Discovery

by Thianna Durston

  Aaron didn’t speak as they walked downstairs and into Jaret’s room. Instead, he joined Jaret on his tiny twin bed, curling into his arms the moment they laid down. “Did you hear?” he asked after a few minutes.

  “Yes.”

  “My mind’s reeling.”

  “Try to rest, Aaron. This is our time of day to relax and not do too much. It burns off too much blood.”

  A low growl was his only response.

  Slowly they both relaxed as the daytime lull took them over. Jaret kept alert enough to listen for anyone in need of them, but otherwise just held Aaron. He couldn’t imagine living with what Davis had just dumped on him. And it was dumped. There had been no clue that he had ever dug up that anyone had tracked the drakyl race so precisely. Or sadistically. Forced breeding was downright cruel. Of course, everything the man said was from whatever records he’d read. And Jaret was pretty sure the vampyr/drakyl hatred had been going on much longer than a few hundred years ago.

  It was actually cruel of the individuals who had placed Davis here. Well, made sure he was stuck with nowhere to run, actually. If it was humans who did it, they probably wanted to get the perversion of a gay man away from them. If it were drakyl? It was probably due to the fact he hadn’t changed. Had they expected Davis to become one of them?

  Jaret wished he knew more. Maybe, once Aaron had finally made sense of what he was told, he could help his love to go through the information in the safe. He was especially interested in the medical treatment of drakyl injuries. Closing his eyes, he decided tonight was soon enough to truly start sorting these things out.

  *****

  Something warm and wet stroked him and he moaned, his eyes opening to find Aaron no longer next to him. Instead, Jaret was on his back with the other man between his legs, his tongue making long swipes up Jaret’s shaft. “Fuck. I see you’re still up to waking me up in such a wonderful way.”

  “Definitely. Though…” Aaron pulled back a little and winced. “What if my fangs drop down? I’ll spear you through.”

  Snorting a laugh, Jaret sat up and with a firm hand pressed his lover’s head back down. “Fangs and cock go well together.”

  Looking up at him, Aaron angled a brow. “You have got to be kiddin’ me.”

  “Nope. And you didn’t think it was bad either our first night when I let mine slide along your slit.” His voice had slowly dropped into a seductive tone as he spoke until the last few words sounded like pure sex.

  His mouth dropping open, Aaron stared at him. “Really?”

  “Mmhmm. Gave you one helluva ride into ecstasy, didn’t it?”

  “Damn straight. Well, as long as you aren’t worried about it.” Jaret put a little more pressure on the back of Aaron’s head, moaning as warm lips engulfed the head of his cock.

  “Yes!” He growled as the man pressed down, Jaret’s shaft sliding into the tightness of Aaron’s throat. It was glorious, fantastic, and his eyes slid back into his head even as he came, roaring as his cum exploded from his body, coating the inside of his partner’s mouth even as his head hammered and his entire body shook with the pleasure of it all.

  After swallowing most of it, Aaron pulled off and smiled, a look of definite pride on his face.

  “You fucking deep throated me. I didn’t think anyone would ever be able to,” Jaret admitted with a laugh.

  “Being a drakyl has its advantages. No more gag reflex,” Aaron said with a chuckle and pounced on top of him.

  *****

  With his lover’s cousins being too inquisitive, they decided to bury any predators they drank from. “They are already filled with—Damn. I was about to say nonsense, but the fact is, the further their tales go, the more spot on they are,” Aaron said a week later as they buried the latest mountain lion. “And I still would like to know why this constant run of cougars.”

  “Bigger predators pushing them away from wherever they were at,” Jaret surmised. Bigger predators. Like vampyr. The scent had intensified each night and tonight was a constant drift on the breeze. The vampyr were at most fifty miles away. That wasn’t good. And while having a constant influx of predators was good for the newly turned drakyl, Jaret would prefer they head into town for a night so that Aaron would finally feed from a human. Currently, all he’d received back from his man when he suggested it was a look of horror mixed with desire.

  At least Aaron had come to terms—in his own way—with what he was. When he’d first found out, Jaret had feared he would off himself by doing something stupid like going into the sun. Thankfully, that empty look had left his beloved’s eyes and now there seemed an almost determination in its stead. Every morning, after they returned and they’d showered, Aaron spent at least an hour with Davis, asking him questions about everything he could think of: his cousins, the ranch, their money, their stock, and the one that still made Aaron mad but had made sense to Jaret, why his uncle had always sent out the animals to be slaughtered rather than have it done on the premises.

  “We used to have chickens and pigs,” Aaron growled after that conversation as he paced back and forth in Jaret’s room. “It never occurred to me that people didn’t just send away live animals and not have them come back all prepackaged.”

  Chuckling, Jaret tried to cover it, but did not succeed.

  “Oh, sure laugh. But to find out he did it because he was afraid one of us would go ape shit at the scent of blood?”

  “But it makes sense now,” Jaret tried to explain in what he hoped was a consoling tone. “Think about how you reacted when you smelled the lion’s blood that first time.”

  “But I’ve smelled blood before!” Aaron exclaimed, tossing his hands up in the air. “Just a couple weeks ago I had to wrap up a dead cow who had been brought down by a couple wolves. There was blood everywhere.”

  “How did you feel?” Jaret pressed. “Come on, Aaron. Think about it. Did your gums ache? Your stomach churn? Did it make you hungry?”

  Hissing softly, Aaron nodded. “Yeah. It made my jaw ache. I thought I’d have to visit a dentist or somethin’.”

  Pulling his boyfriend over to the bed, he yanked him down on top of him. “Shh, babe. I know it’s difficult. In a matter of days, you’ve gone from Aaron Drakyl, nephew of Davis Drakyl looking at the end of his own life, to Aaron—drakyl—who knows there are vampyr and other blood drinking creatures out here. You suddenly are tasked with taking care of this whole ranch and five younger cousins of which one is on the verge of his transition.”

  “How close is he?” The tone was worried.

  “Not having been around many in that transitional period, I can’t be positive, but I’d say within five or six months on the outside. But it could be as soon as next week.”

  “That’s helpful.”

  “Sorry. Wish I knew more about transitional drakyl, but I don’t. But that safe in your uncle’s office may hold the information you seek.”

  If truth be told, Jaret was dead interested in that information. Even if they had used rather unscrupulous ways to learn their findings, it could explain so many things he had pieced together about his kind but without any proof. On the other hand, he supposed it could also blow everything he thought to smithereens.

  “Jaret! Aaron!” The call from Will easily came down the stairs and into the bedroom.

  “Yeah?” they both called back.

  “Sorry to bug you. But I just found something odd.”

  “We’ll be right up,” Jaret called back, turning to look at Aaron who was getting used to lazing during the day and being up at night. The man looked half asleep. “Can you go? Or shall I go up?”

  “I’d best go. Or Will’ll wonder why.”

  Will waited for them in the living room. Of all of Aaron’s cousins, Jaret found him the most easy-going. He didn’t seem to let much affect him and he had the wildest imagination of anyone Jaret had ever met. Looking up as they reached the top of the stairs, he gave them a smile. “Sorry for waking you up. Working the night shift’s gott
a suck.”

  Aaron let out a snort of a laugh and Jaret grinned at the shared private joke. “What have you found?” Jaret asked before Will could try and put the pieces together about why his cousin just laughed.

  Grabbing the bag Will always took with him, he pulled out something wrapped in a towel. “These were up on Vessy Ridge. I might’nt have noticed them, but they were in a perfect up and down and left to right rendition of a cross.” Unwrapping the towel, he laid it out on the coffee table showing fifteen wooden stakes, all the same size and length. Aaron stiffened beside him.

  “How long since you’ve been up to that area?” Jaret asked, focusing on the stakes and trying to make it sound as though he was only mildly interested.

  “About five days. There were also weird drawings in the four corners of the cross. I didn’t know what they were, but with that area being all sand, a good wind could erase them easily so I took some photos.” Will pulled out his phone while Aaron and Jaret shared a glance.

  Mouthing the words, Aaron asked, “Can a wooden stake kill us?” Jaret gave a small shake of his head, amused when his partner sighed in relief.

  “Here they are.” Will handed over his phone and Jaret took it. The first image was of the full scene.

  “I know I sound like Conner, but that’s pretty creepy,” Aaron said, looking at it.

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Will replied. “There’s something weird going on. First, all the dead predators drained of blood. Then the absence of drained predators but still no dead stock. And now this? I’m still going with vampyr.”

  Jaret listened, but his focus was on the images. The moment he clicked to the second image and saw the drawings, fury and fear lanced through him. These were a message specifically to him and to Aaron. From the fucking vampyr he had annoyed in his last city. Fuck.

  The first quadrant of the cross warned that the strike was coming. The second, that they would take their vengeance for the damage Jaret had done. Damage! He’d killed one human. Bastards. This was all about the vampyr hatred of his kind.

  The third message, though, almost made him leap up and roar. It was all he could do not to. It was a direct threat to Aaron. So was the fourth. Though, while the third message threatened him as Jaret’s joined, the fourth threatened him as head of the drakyl. How the fuck did the bastard find this out? And why would he think Aaron was head of their whole race? Just because his name was Drakyl?

  “Jaret?” Hearing his name, he blinked and looked up to find Will watching him with a frown. “Are you okay?”

  “No. These markings are a warning.” Aaron put his hand on Jaret’s knee and squeezed—no doubt to stop him—but Jaret felt Will had the right to know. “Someone I pissed off is coming after me.”

  “Cool. Always knew you were a bad dude. What can we do to help?”

  “Dude? Seriously?” Jaret asked, cocking his head. “A cowboy saying dude.”

  “Hey!” Will said with a laugh. “We aren’t all into chewin’ on straw and sayin’ y’all.”

  Grinning back, Jaret shook his head. “I’m not sure yet, but as the new moon is next weekend, I would think that is when they will strike.”

  “Whoa.” The younger man’s mouth dropped open, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “How many are we talking about? Should we call the police?”

  “No, that will cause problems. Aaron and I can take care of them.” He hoped. And if he had his way, Aaron would stay here and guard the house while he took on the enemy. Maybe he could lead them away. If worst came to worst, maybe by killing him, they would then leave and not hunt Aaron and the rest of his relatives. Jaret knew that was just fanciful thinking, but it was all he had right now.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Aaron knew what Jaret wanted, even without him voicing it. Hell, he felt the same. He wanted to go take on those bastards himself to keep everyone safe. But that wasn’t going to work. If vampyr were in fact stronger than drakyl, it was going to take the two of them. Hell, he’d even considered trying to get Jeffrey changed so they would have extra help. But had quickly squashed that idea. Shock and a fight would not be a good combination.

  “So what are we looking for?” he asked as the two of them jogged toward Vessy Ridge. Jaret had wanted to get out of the house as soon as the sun started going down, but Aaron had insisted they stay there until his cousins were in bed. He wouldn’t have put it past at least three of them to try and follow.

  “I know at the moment all you can smell is mold-encrusted iron,”—Ah, that’s what the smell was.—“but as this seems to be a vendetta against me I want to see if I recognize the scents.”

  “You can differentiate?” Aaron asked in surprise as the two easily traversed the distance. In a way, he missed riding, but Jaret had insisted bringing the horses could be dangerous for the animals and he didn’t want to put Krage or Blaze in danger.

  “Oh yeah. For instance, what do you smell from your cousins?”

  Thinking about it, Aaron said, “A lemony scent, kind of floral, and dirt.”

  Snorting a laugh, Jaret nodded. “Yeah, there is that. The four youngest smell of lemongrass, which is a sure sign of having the gene. Jeffrey’s has switched to a distinct lemony tang which means the change is coming. And each one has their own distinct scent above and beyond it.”

  “Like what?” This was fascinating. While his newly advanced senses were startling, he hadn’t realized there was so much to them.

  “For instance, Will smells like licorice and honey. And you,” Jaret said, turning his head to wink at him, “smell of a delightful combination of vanilla cigars and peppermint.”

  Heat flooded through his veins and Aaron wanted to jump the man next to him. He’d never considered vanilla cigars and peppermint a great combination, but Jaret made them sound luscious. “You smell of mint and newly mowed hay,” he commented.

  “Really? Always wondered what my scent was.”

  “It’s mouthwatering.”

  “Come on, sexy. Work first. Then fuck.”

  They picked up their pace and the closer they got to the ridge, the quieter they became. Not previously discussed, Aaron instinctively knew that if the enemy was here, giving themselves away was probably not a good idea. Then again, if they could smell the vampyr miles away, couldn’t they do the same in return?

  They hadn’t even reached the spot where the stakes had been when Jaret stopped mid stride and a torrent of swear words left his lips.

  “Jaret?” he asked, turning back and jogging to his partner.

  “Kimil and Vinishad. Second and third in command of the vampyr clutch I had dealings with. Evil, both of them. With their eye on being head of the clutch when the leader is destroyed.”

  “Clutch? I thought a group of vampyr was called a coven.”

  Jaret spat. “Coven is a good word, referring to a group of those gifted with the power from the earth, bound together for a single purpose. Vampyr adapted the word to make themselves sound better. They are vermin and not deserving of such a compliment.”

  Shaking his head, Aaron wondered if he would have to completely relearn everything from a drakyl’s point of view. “So, should we go on?”

  “No. I know who was here and they’re close. Fuck. They are two of the strongest vampyr in Faolen’s clutch. Why them?” Jaret muttered as he turned toward the homestead. “I would have thought they would send out one of their useless guards.”

  They walked home slower than they came and Jaret seemed intent upon his thoughts. Aaron, however, felt he needed to get a grasp on what was going on if he was to be of any help whatsoever. “Jaret, tell me what we’re facing.”

  Taking a deep breath, his lover nodded, even as he grimaced. “Vampyr are literally the undead. It’s a perfect word to use. Mythology is correct in some areas, wrong in others. A new vampyr is made through a horrible series of events. Tortured for several days until half mad, they are finally almost completely drained of blood before forced to drink a combination of human blood and a caustic
chemical similar to mercury.”

  “They drink mercury?” Aaron asked in horror.

  “Well, it’s even worse than that. Vampyr are death. Their scent is bad enough, but if you ever get close enough to smell their breath, you might be ill. The rot their body goes through the longer they exist causes some strange reactions in their saliva. Do you know what cinnabar rock is?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “It’s also known as mercury rock. Different clutches use different rocks, but over the last century or two, cinnabar rock seems to be the choice of most. If you put it through certain chemical steps, cinnabar rock becomes mercury. The same kind of chemical reaction seems to happen within the vampyr body. For a newly made vampyr is forced to imbibe crushed cinnabar along with drinking human blood from a human who has been bitten by an older vampyr. The human, of course, is in dreadful pain from the mercury cascading through their blood. Once the new vampyr has bled the human dry, it is buried in the ground.”

  “So that part of the tale is true?”

  “Yes.”

  “Eww.”

  “It’s just the start of that vampyr’s death. Once the creature crawls its way out of the grave, it must battle to stay, well, not alive but not completely dead either. Only the most evil survive. They have fights to pit the new vampyr together. It’s sport to them.” The disgust in Jaret’s voice was obvious and Aaron was rather revolted as well. And while he liked the history lesson, he needed to know how they would defeat these two.

  “So, you’ve told me how they are created. How do we destroy them?”

  A huff of a laugh came from the man next to him before he was yanked into his arms. “You’re amazing, Aaron. I’ve just told you one of the most repulsive facts about vampyr and you take it in and jump forward.”

  “Oh, I’m pretty repulsed,” Aaron told him. “But if we’re to fight the bastards in a few days’ time, I need to know how we’re going to defeat them.”

  For a moment, Jaret didn’t reply and then he sighed. “To be honest, I’m not sure we can.”