Ravana Clan Vampires: Complete Series

by Moore, E. M.

Everyone fell silent around me. T.J. and Lex looked embarrassed, staring off at some of the adornments in the room while Samuel looked toward the stairs, which was exactly where I was looking. My fingers clenched at my sides. I wanted to go to Nic, but I was trapped. Not only by keeping quiet, but also because Nic and Gregor’s relationship was their own. Me intervening wouldn’t do any good, it would probably only make it worse. I would just have to contend myself to asking him about it later, with less eyes around us and hopefully heaps more calm.

  Whatever was being said upstairs now, I couldn’t hear. Samuel still gazed that way, and Isabelle looked particularly preoccupied so whatever was happening was just too low for regular old human hearing. The audibly inclined vampires’ faces were impassive, however, so instead of trying to figure it out now, I asked Lex if she’d heard anything from Matthews yet. She looked relieved to have the attention brought on anything else. She smiled. “Not yet. He thinks he’s onto something, but he’s not exactly sure. Matthews is like that. He doesn’t like to get your hopes up just to dash them, but I hope we hear something very soon.”

  “Me too,” I admitted. We shared a similar pained glance and then I smiled at her.

  “Soren’s been asking about you again,” T.J. said.

  “Yeah?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

  “I think he’s got a thing for you.”

  I laughed hard. “He tried to take me out twice. I highly doubt that.”

  He half shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s that hard to catch thing.”

  Christian froze beside me. At first, I thought it was because of the steer in the conversation, but finally, upstairs, footsteps started to descend the steps. Gregor was the first to emerge. He smiled happily at his guests, apologized briefly for not being down sooner, but all in all, he played it cool. If no one had heard the outburst or if Christian hadn’t told me what was going on, I never would’ve known something was amiss upstairs. When Samuel and Gregor shook hands, Samuel gave him a hard, concentrated look that was much deeper, went much further than normal as if he was trying to convey something to the ruler of The Council without words.

  A few seconds later, Nicolai followed. He went straight to kiss his mother on the cheek, then briefly welcomed Lex, skipped completely over Samuel and T.J. and made his way over to me. Though his cocky smile was on his face, it was laced with something underneath. Something that looked far too much like sorrow for my taste. I gave him a small grin, and he lifted his shoulders slightly as if to tell me that he’d tried.

  Within moments, the housekeeping staff called us to the main dining room. Instead of the cereal bowl place settings I last saw on this table, it was something far more appropriate for the elegantly designed furnishings. Their best china was laid out with more utensils than I knew what to do with. I was seated in the middle of the table in between Samuel and Connor, looking around like the little kid at the big kid table. Straightening my shoulders, I did my best to make it seem like I didn’t feel that way.

  Isabelle migrated the first half of the meal with pleasantries. However, as soon as dessert was served, the atmosphere changed abruptly after Gregor cleared his throat. All eyes at the table moved toward him. Nic sat back, throwing his napkin onto the table and looked genuinely disinterested. He’d been avoiding my eye all dinner, and I couldn’t figure out if he was just upset his father wouldn’t let him do what he wanted to or if there was something else going on too.

  Gregor clasped his hands in front of him. “I’m so thankful all of you could come tonight. As much as I would love to pretend that this was just a few friends getting together to talk about what we all have going on in our lives, I also know that all of you here are just as worried about the future of our little world as I am. In thinking this, I thought we could have a roundtable discussion about our next steps. Feel free to throw out any ideas or problems that you might see. I’d like us to keep it civil,” he said, eyeing Nic, “but other than that, please feel free to say whatever comes to your mind.”

  He looked around the room and instead of cowering under his gaze as I might’ve done before. I gave him a small smile. This was another great step. Not only was Lex—a guard—in charge of this mission, she, T.J., and even myself were a part of this conversation about where to take everything. Either Gregor was desperate, or he was trying to bring us all together. He was most likely both, but knowing him myself, this was his ultimate mission, bringing the two species together to live and work in peace without threat or favoritism.

  Lex immediately spoke up. “As we sit here, Matthews is looking into Soren’s past. When he gathers all the information he can, it will be given to Stuart who will use it any way she can to try to get a location for Dumont out of Soren. I still have eyes and ears on the ground, but, as you know, we have very few available guards. With the security we need at The Fort, along with the regular clan security, there are too few to really make a difference in scouting out Dumont feet-on-the-ground.”

  Gregor ran a hand over his chin. “Do you think more guards would make a difference?”

  “Definitely,” Lex said, leaning closer. “Not only for the reasons I just said, but we’re also going to need more as soon as we do gather the information we need. I’d like to move out ASAP when we get a location, but as it stands, I’d have to bring people in just to send them out again. Or try to scrape people together by taking them off their other assignments. More guards would be ideal.”

  Samuel eyed me, the thin slits almost accusing. He knew what I was thinking because I never had a problem telling them what I thought before. They had guards available that they weren’t willing to use. Sure, using the trainees was a bit of a risk, but when there was no other option available… I lifted my eyebrows to stare at him. I’d tell them what I thought if need be, but for some reason, it felt like Samuel was about to do the very same thing.

  He nodded once and turned his full attention to Gregor. “If Lex feels she needs more guards, perhaps we can pull from some of the trainees.”

  “I thought you were opposed to this,” Isabelle said, her brows furrowing.

  “I was, but a few of them reacted exceptionally well to the advance on The Fort. I wouldn’t want to send them out alone, but if they had proper supervision, and because of these circumstances, I’m willing to change my opinion. At the very least, they could be charged with protection of The Fort so more experienced guards could be used out in the field.”

  “I like it,” I said, not able to stop myself.

  Connor rolled his eyes. “I’m so surprised.”

  I gave him a quick smile then addressed Samuel. “What if you chose the guards to use for the different tasks? No one knows them better than you. You could work with Lex on how many guards she needs and then place them by skill into the varying roles. I agree that most any trainee could be charged with security at The Fort. The risk is lower there, and with the knowledge we’ve learned and trained for, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  I looked around the table and saw several frowns. Most notably Stephan, who didn’t look happy with this line of talk. Not because it wasn’t sound, but because of what it meant. The other was Isabelle. She looked at me almost fondly as I spoke and then down at her unfinished cheesecake when I was done.

  “Would that give you the bodies you need, Lex?” Gregor asked.

  “I believe it would. In working with Samuel, we could make sure the appropriate personnel were used for the tasks we need to cover.”

  “Perhaps you could have the trainees volunteer for the different positions, too,” T.J. offered. “Obviously you’d have to weed out those who volunteered for the high-risk roles to appropriate trainees, but that would give you an idea of who is willing to do what. You don’t want to force someone to raid Dumont’s hiding place if their heart isn’t in it.”

  Samuel nodded slowly. “With classes starting tomorrow, I could do that first thing as long as Lex could give me a roundabout idea of what she needs. So far we have security at The Fort, hi
gh-risk scenarios… Is there anything else?”

  The cheesecake sat untouched on most of our plates as we continued to make plans for another hour. The princes had been right on point. The dinner was more of a tactical meeting rather than a friendly get-together, and I wondered why Gregor hadn’t just called it that from the beginning. When everything was all wrapped up, I excused myself to use the bathroom. I freshened up in the mirror, looking deep into my eyes and thinking about everything that had transpired this evening. I knew exactly what I would volunteer for.

  A knock came on the door along with a quick, “It’s Nic.”

  I twisted the handle, and the door silently opened and closed behind him. He stood in front of me, his dark eyes baring his soul. I put my hand on his chest. “What happened?”

  His jaw clenched. “He forbade me to pursue any guardian training.”

  “He’s just not ready to let you go yet.”

  Nicolai bent down, pulling me up by my thighs and sat me on the counter behind me. “But I’m ready. I know where they’re going to send you, and it’s not going to be anywhere near me. Do you know how that makes me feel?”

  “Scared. Worried.”

  He leaned forward, his husky voice drawing me in. “All those things, but something else, too. Less than, Ri. He makes me feel less than. If I want—if any vampire is willing—we should be out fighting for our own kind, too.”

  “Don’t give up then.”

  He shook his head, a smirk pushing back the shadows on his face as if what I said was ridiculous or perfect or just plain naive. I couldn’t tell which. “Can I kiss you?”

  “Since when do you ask?”

  “Since there are more than a few people here who don’t know about us.”

  In answer, I leaned forward and passed my lips over his. He pulled me closer, his hand stretching behind me to the small of my back. He trailed kisses over my cheek, to my ear, and finally to my neck.

  “Maybe I should ask Mom and Dad if you can spend the night…”

  I gasped, then pushed him away, almost knocking myself off the counter in the process. “Do you realize how wrong that sentence sounded?”

  He lifted his shoulders, gave me a quick kiss, and then snuck out of the bathroom, an echo of laughter drifting behind him.

  I jumped down from the counter and faced the mirror again, unable to wipe the grin off my face. I shook my head once and followed after him. He may be delusional—and humorless—but he was still one of my princes.

  12

  Wide awake, I bolted upright in bed, blissfully sparing my mind from the culmination of the dream that had been replaying in my head since the moment I went to sleep. A cold shudder shook me and seeped all the way through my bones and settled in like the flu. I blinked around my dark room trying to find the reason I woke, my heart slamming inside my chest the whole time like a wild beast trying to escape. A floorboard creaked outside my door and a fist pounded on it. For a brief second, I wanted to pull my covers up over my head and pretend I didn’t hear anything. The dream had me on edge, gut-wrenching and pained, it felt like it had taken off a few years of my life.

  With a deep breath, I threw the covers off my legs and padded toward the door during a break in the knocking. I pulled it open slightly, still wary. Lex stood on the other side, her usually carefully put together exterior in disarray. Opening it wider, I asked, “What’s wrong?”

  The tortured look on her face made the dream I just had sink to my stomach and fester. No. It couldn’t be true… Her hands gripped the doorway. “Get ready. We need you now. Matthews was able to find something big, and I don’t want to waste any time.”

  A sweep of relief washed over me and at the same time, a tinge of excitement replaced it. Leaving the door open, I turned to gather some clothes and went to change in the small bathroom. When I emerged, I grabbed my keys and my phone, and then followed her out the door, locking it up behind me. “What did he find?” I finally asked.

  She breathed out. “Nothing about his human life came up, but Matthews found something very, very interesting in the old books from when Dumont was in power. I don’t know why we didn’t think about looking there before. You really were onto something, Ariana.”

  We crossed the dew-laden grass in quick strides. At the far end of campus, we pushed in the main door to the biggest building at The Fort. This late at night, I was surprised to see some guards walking the grounds. It was different. This was definitely in response to the attack, more night activity than we ever had before, and I should know since I’d once tried to escape this place. Foolish, foolish me.

  Lex led me to an upstairs classroom where T.J. and Matthews already sat. As soon as we entered, she took charge, demanding Matthews tell me everything he found out about Soren. He greeted me only briefly and then pushed a large book over to the side of the table I leaned on. The lettering was very faint, and the pages themselves were crisp like autumn leaves with the threat of withering and pulling apart at any moment. “How old is this?” I asked.

  “Pretty damn old. It’s from the time when Dumont was in power. We have some of the texts digitized, which is what sent me in this direction, but I couldn’t get the whole story until I found it in this book, The Dumont Legacy.”

  Legacy? Ha. To me, legacy was something you wanted to pass down from generation to generation, not the senseless killing and bloodshed that marred the Dumont Clan’s reign of power.

  I started to scan the text, but Matthews interrupted me. “Soren had a lover. He fell in love with a servant at the castle, and when he wanted to make that servant his own, Dumont forbid him and then had the girl killed.”

  My eyes widened. Shock echoed through my system. It wasn’t necessarily due to the story itself, of that I could totally see Dumont doing, but how was Soren still so loyal to him after all this? Soren was in love. If it was anything like the love my princes and I shared, I’d kill anyone who tried to take them away from me.

  Ahh, wait. It was all starting to make sense. Soren was so vested in what I did because my story mirrored his own. My eyes quickly read the few paragraphs of script that held the most important piece of information we had on Soren. It was true. A young farm girl they had brought into the castle to serve them had fallen into his clutches. Soren basically doomed her to her fate. Of course, the whole text was skewed in a way as to show how dangerous it was to fall in love with humans and what it meant. It spoke of a disrespectful Soren who cared not for his people or his king and cared only about the girl. For me, though, it just spoke of love. To even come to Dumont with his request to turn her, Soren must’ve been very much in love with her.

  “Excellent,” I said, looking up from the words finally. “Exactly what we needed.”

  Lex looked around the room, her expression grim as she stared at each of us. “Time is ticking. We need answers now. We’ll let Ariana go in and try to get something out of him. If she can’t…” she shrugged. “We’ll deal with it.”

  “He’ll talk,” I said, speaking up and filling the silence. Not only because I truly believed he would, but because we really needed him to. Everyone stood when I turned for the door, but I looked back over my shoulder. “I think I should go down alone.”

  Lex scrutinized me, her gaze narrowing. Finally, she nodded and told them they would spend the time alerting the Ravanas to what they had found. I bit my lip, hoping none of the princes would do anything stupid and demand to come down there with me. I needed to do this by myself. Soren needed to feel like he could relate to me and if I was right, he’d already guessed he could.

  “I’ll be up as soon as I get an answer.”

  My heart racing, I stumbled down the last bit of steps to the cells. I swung the door open and it creaked on its hinges, a sorrowful whine that echoed the story I’d just read above. When I passed through the light and then tread silently to the chair, I noticed Soren was asleep in his bed. I stood there looking for some time before I woke him. Without the hard grimace on his face or the wary
eyes, he looked somewhat peaceful. I’d never peg him as a bad vampire if I hadn’t seen him in action myself. “It’s not polite to stare,” he said. I jumped, and Soren immediately began to chuckle. “Scare you, did I? I guess that means you still have some sense left inside you. I’m just not sure how much.”

  He pulled himself from his laying position and stretched his arms out wide, yawning in the process. I sat in the chair, casting him a dark look. “Let me worry about my own sense. I know what I’m doing.”

  He scoffed. “You keep telling yourself that, Young One.”

  “Why do you call me that? Young One?”

  “Well, you are young, aren’t you? It’s not like I could call you old one because that would be simply untrue. If it’s one thing I am, it’s honest.”

  “Except when it comes to giving up Dumont.”

  He wagged his finger at me. “Except that would be dishonest. Don’t you remember the conversation we had the other day about loyalty? How you’ll want nothing more than to please that prince once you let him turn you.”

  “Who says he’s going to turn me? It’s not even legal. I think you know a thing or two about that.”

  The flecks in his eyes nearly blazed with my insinuation. “Been doing some reading, have you?”

  I shrugged. “Just curious as to your interest in me, and I think I’ve figured it out. You think my story is the same as yours? That’s why you keep saying I’ll be dead, isn’t it?”

  “You were going to be dead anyway because Dumont is going to kill the Ravanas, and you’re stupid enough to try and save them. Now that I know what else is going on, you’re twice as dead.”

  “That’s where I think you’re wrong. Gregor Ravana is nothing like Dumont. What if things changed?”

  “It’s my experience that things don’t just change like that, Young One. The people you think who are going to come through for you just don’t.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know how you did it. Still do it. If you loved that woman as much as I think you did, your loyalty to Dumont is sick. You betray her every day.”