War of the Chosen

by Elizabeth Dunlap

  No words were spoken between the five of us when we stepped outside, each holding a bag, and Clara closed the door with a thunk. The rental car was still at the Pizzeria Bathory, and we piled in, with my three family members squished together in the backseat.

  I’d had a mother less than twenty-four hours and we were already mad at each other. Fantastic.

  A thousand retorts, none of them nice, bounced around my head on the drive back to Vienna. I grumbled under my breath in Japanese, knowing the backseat couldn’t understand me. Knight brought a hand out to take one of mine off the wheel where I was rubbing a tear into the leather. He held it tightly and settled our clasped fingers over the gear shift.

  Calm down, he would’ve said, if he could speak out loud without her hearing. It’s going to be okay.

  Knight could always relax me, no matter what was going on. Our hands stayed together until we got to the airport and we had to give the car back. I grabbed his hand again from the rental place to the ticket counter.

  “Two to Rome, please. And wherever those three are going.” I motioned to the ones beside me.

  “Hallo,” Lucas said brightly to the teller. “Three to Paris.”

  “Back to the Catacombs?” I asked him, ignoring the dark haired woman beside him.

  “It’s the safest place, so Lucas says,” Clara offered. She smiled at me in apology. I wasn’t mad at her. I was mad at her stupid sister. Clara smiled at Knight, and then stepped to pull him into a hug. “It was good to meet my niece’s mate. Take care of her for us.” I heard her whisper, “I enjoyed the kiss.” She winked at him and turned to hug me. “I wish we had more time, my love.” I hugged her tightly. In our short meeting, I’d already come to care for her. Her sister, less so. “Thank you for bringing my sister back to me. I can never repay you.”

  I looked up and saw Anastasia staring at me. I looked away. “You’re welcome.” Clara pulled back, and with a smile she kissed my forehead. Once she moved away, Lucas stepped in.

  We stood staring at each other for several moments, not really knowing what to say. One step, then another, and I was in my father’s arms. He was as warm and inviting as I’d always imagined a father should be. I felt like weeping, which was stupid. I was a grown woman, for crying out loud. Still, when I pulled away to look again at those golden eyes and the flawless blonde hair, I felt wetness on my face, and Lucas wiped the tears away. He didn’t say anything, he simply kissed my forehead and was gone.

  That left one more goodbye.

  I heard the other three shuffling back so they could give us some space. Finally, I met Anastasia’s purple eyes, and I admit I had a bit of defiance in my gaze.

  “I’m the head of my Order,” I said, choosing anything to break the silence that wasn’t an apology.

  “You deal out death and judgment?” she asked smoothly.

  “Sometimes.”

  “You uphold our laws.”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded and stepped closer to me. She reached out to hold the pendant Clara had given me. “You look just like my mother.” She moved back. “Go home to your baby. Give her the life I could not give you.” She looked away.

  That was that. That was the end of what could’ve been the last conversation with my mother.

  Knight touched my arm. “We should go.” Until the very last second, I glanced back to see if she was looking at me, but she never moved her head.

  CHAPTER 16

  The negotiations at the Italian Lycan pack went well. Mentally, I wasn’t there, so I’m sad to admit that Knight did most of the convincing. I had my necklace on under my dress and I pressed my hand against it in constant thought.

  “Earth to Erzsebet,” Knight said suddenly, waving a hand in front of my face. We were in the hotel hallway going to our room for the night.

  “Not my name,” I grumbled. We walked into our room and he tossed the room key onto a table. “We finished the negotiations, we should-”

  “Sssh,” he soothed. “No more talking. Stop thinking. Come back to me. I need you.” My mind cleared enough for me to see how worried he was for me. “Come back.”

  Everything bubbled over inside me, but I had no intention of crying. “I need you more,” I invited, hoping he’d take the bait.

  He did.

  Knight picked me up and slammed both of us into the door so hard, I knew we were going to leave a dent. His lips kissed mine in a bruising intensity. This time there was no one to stop us, no parents, no friends, no stupid misunderstandings. It was just us, the vampire and the werewolf, together at last.

  I wrapped my legs around him and one of his burning hot hands grasped my thigh to pull me closer to him. Flushed with his lower half, I felt how hard he was for me, and it excited me, making me hot all over. I ached for him. I needed everything he had to give me.

  He moved his arms to support me and carried me to the bed, dropping me smoothly on top of it. In one motion, he removed his shirt, exposing his perfect brown skin scarred by five red scratches. I moved up to run my fingers along them, the thing I’d wanted to do the first time he showed them to me. What would they taste like?

  I licked up the first one. Knight swore under his breath and reached a hand to stop me. He drew me in for fevered kisses and I heard him undo his belt, his pants falling to the floor.

  “Your turn,” he said in a husky voice. I shivered as his hands went to my dress hem and slowly moved up my bare leg, pulling the fabric as he went. He planted kisses on my neck, only stopping to pull my dress over my head. He bent to kiss my belly button and pulled of my lace panties in quick motion.

  Exposed before my mate, I could only feel passion. I pulled him back to my lips and wrapped my legs around his waist again. My toes found the edge of his underwear and I tugged them over his perfect buttocks.

  “No regrets?” he asked, just to be sure before we went too far to stop.

  I shook my head. “Please.”

  He needed no further encouragement and slowly pushed inside.

  Scheisse.

  I moaned aloud and bent my head back in bliss, and he hadn’t even moved yet. He stopped to make sure he wasn’t hurting me. I grabbed his hair and planted his nose against mine.

  “Give me everything.”

  And he did. He gripped my thighs and started moving in and out of me at a pace that had me breathless with need. I grabbed at the sheet, my breast, his shoulders, anything to keep me from falling into a million pieces. I smelled blood at some point, and I was sure I’d scratched or bitten him.

  Closer and closer, much sooner than I wanted, I felt my pleasure rising. I pulled him to me for a kiss before I exploded. My breath was coming in ragged bursts as I pulsed over and over against him, and I felt him growl against my neck, moaning my name and coming to his own completion.

  We lay there, satiated and more happy than ever. I wanted him to stay here with me forever. We’d be immortally locked inside this moment, when our love was finally laid bare. The first moment of my life when I truly felt a love that I knew would last forever.

  Knight eventually moved us under the blanket where we lay intertwined and asleep, content to stay just as we were. His scent was what woke me up the next morning. I hazily shuffled up his shoulder and planted my lips over the vein in his neck. He gasped, coming awake, and brought his hand up to grip a few strands of my hair. When he didn’t pull me away, I took that as consent to bite into him. Warm blood filled my mouth, the taste beautiful and hearty.

  The protocol for having a lover one can drink from was unknown to me. Was the consent always there? Should it remain professional? Was I sullying it by being intimate at the same time? What kind of rules was I breaking right now?

  “Stop thinking,” Knight mumbled against my forehead. “There’s no thinking in this relationship.”

  Finished, I licked his skin clean, earning another gasp from deep in his throat, and sat up. “I just-”

  He stopped me with a finger to my lips. “Perhaps,” he sat up
and brought my face to his with a gentle pull on my neck and hair, “you didn’t hear me.” The pull on my hair was doing all sorts of things to me, all of them delicious, and made it impossible for me to speak. Our lips crushed together, the fervor and desperation as deep as it had been the night before.

  This was everything. Everything I’d waited for. I’d endured centuries of loneliness for this, and it had been worth every second. Knight would never leave me, never betray me. He’d be by my side forever, until the earth turned cold and the humans died out, and all that remained were the blood drinkers. And… Knight was biting me.

  My haze snapped to find Knight with his teeth lodged firmly on my neck. His hands were holding me into place, which was wise because I’d started pulling away from him before he unclenched his jaw. I shoved him and covered his bite with my hand.

  “What the hell, Knight? You bit me?!” I got up and ran to the bathroom to see what he’d done. There was a large bruise down the side of my delicate neck and puncture wounds that were slowly closing. Just above the marks was the scar from James’s bite. Trying not to look at the scar, I wiped my blood off with a towel.

  “Lis.” Knight came in to the room and gently touched my arm. I wanted to push him away as punishment, but I still trusted him. He had to have a reason for biting me. “I’m sorry, I was trying to mark you.” He pulled the towel away and leaned in to smell the skin on my neck. “Smells like me.” He kissed the bruise tenderly.

  “To protect me?” I clarified, still a little shaken.

  He nodded. “Now you don’t need a bracelet for the Lycans to leave you alone. They’ll know you’re the mate of a wolf.” He gripped my trembling hands tightly.

  The new sensation of us calling each other our mates was tantalizing. I’d said it a few times before now, but standing here with him after our night together, it was finally real. “We went from homies to mates overnight.”

  “Please.” He pulled me closer to him. “You were my mate long before both of us realized it.” I smiled up at him and for a brief moment let my guilt in. We had been mates for a long time, even before our first kiss that day when the Hunters captured us. If only I’d realized that. I would’ve never… “I forgive you,” Knight whispered, bringing me out of that rabbit hole. I kissed him slowly, tenderly, letting him know exactly how sorry I was, and how much I loved him. He drew his head back and pet my hair. “You’re going to make me lose the ability to speak, woman.”

  “It’s time for a shower,” I declared with a flirty grin.

  “Duh huh, what are words, okay, shower. Cool.” He cleared his throat trying to look serious. Before the shower was over, I made sure he lost the ability to speak several times. I’m incorrigible, I know. Now that I had him, I was never letting him forget what he’d gotten himself into.

  He left the bathroom before I did so he could get dressed. Our happy little bubble was going to burst very soon when we had to go back home. I stepped out wearing a bathrobe and running a towel through my damp hair. Knight sipped coffee looking out the window. I approached him and hugged him from behind. His hand found mine around his waist and held it.

  “What’s so interesting?” I asked him cutely, my hand starting to delve lower.

  “The Lycans are here,” he answered evenly, like it was completely normal, and he took another sip of coffee. What he didn’t take into account was me in a bathrobe where the Lycans could clearly see me, and my hand was halfway to an exploration of Knight’s zipper. One of them waved from the street.

  I shrieked and backed away from the window. Knight laughed at me over his coffee. Jerk. “Didn’t they say they were getting here at ten?” I grabbed some clothes from my suitcase and got dressed quickly.

  “They did. And it is. We woke up late. The penalty for being up most of the night. Not that I’m complaining,” he added with a wink.

  Finished dressing, I braided my curls quickly and came over to grab his coffee. I downed it in one go, set the mug down on the table, grabbed Knight for a sweet kiss, and slapped him on the butt.

  “Time to go, babycakes.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Many hours, and a few layovers later, we emerged into the airport of my hometown just before sunset. Wrangling dozens of Lycans was a job I didn’t want, especially after sleeping in an airport, but thankfully as long as I had the Alpha, Ignacio, within my sight, he made sure they obeyed anything I asked. Mostly things like, no I’m not buying you souvenirs, no I don’t have Emilia Clarke’s number, please stop breaking everything you touch. Several payments for broken items later, we were on the streets of my city, and I was regretting all my life choices.

  All but two. Knight, my ever-present and loving mate. And Kitty, the baby I needed to get back to more than anything in the world. Back to her little toes and her pink cheeks.

  The pack insisted on food before we went any further. I figured my favorite tea house would be out of the question, so with the help of google maps, I led the Lycans to a pizza place. Knight held the door for everyone, and before half of the pack had gone inside, my phone buzzed in my jacket pocket. I saw Olivier’s number and clicked to answer.

  The voice on the other end was frantic, and I heard a baby crying in the background. Kitty. My blood ran cold. “Lisbeth! Lisbeth, there’s an army here! Come qui-” The phone cut off with a startling crash.

  The world slowed down. I dropped my phone, Knight turned, the Lycans stopped in their tracks. They’d all heard the phone call and knew my home was being attacked.

  I dropped my bag and I ran. I ran faster than I’d ever run before. My senses pushed out around me. Knight was running at my side with the pack behind him, all of them moving as one unit. As we got closer, the Lycans started to transform as they went, until it was only Knight and myself running with dozens of wolves.

  It seemed like an eternity before we got there, but we finally did. I stopped briefly to take in the scene. The front gate was open, broken off the hinges. Vampires were fighting off strange creatures in the front garden. They didn’t smell human or vampire, but somehow smelled of both. I focused in on one of them and gasped.

  Drones. The turned had created drones.

  They’d taken innocent humans, bitten them, fed them Born vampire blood, and denied them their first taste of human blood. Now the humans were locked in a state of perpetual hunger that could not be sated, slaves to the will of the one whose blood was used to change them. There was no salvation for them, only mercy in death.

  I could smell none of the other packs, only the drones and Born vampires. Our help had not come when we needed it most. Knight stopped by my side with the wolves close behind. I reached for my phone but remembered I dropped it. Knight handed me mine before I could ask, and I quickly sent a mass text to all the Lycan Alphas in his phone.

  Come to the castle. The war has begun.

  I slipped Knight’s phone into my pocket and looked back to the Alpha wolf. “Kill the attackers. No survivors,” I commanded. The wolf Ignacio nodded his furry head, and took off inside the gates, his pack behind him.

  Kitty cried somewhere in the castle. I bolted down the walkway and through the broken front door. Knight was step for step, up the stairs and towards Kitty’s wails. Across every turn there were drones attacking my people, and I passed them all by. Kitty’s cries grew louder as we got closer. My suite door was ripped off the hinges, letting in a swarm of drones whose only task in their new existence was trying to get into my rooms.

  Claws and fangs out, I jumped in the middle of them, swiping and biting. Sprays of blood hit the walls, splattering in a sickly fashion. I tore at the drones with Kitty’s cries pounding in my ears. The more I killed, the more came. Knight was not as powerful in his human form, but with his help we made some ground enough to get inside the room. Olivier was locked inside my very sturdy birdcage with Kitty wrapped in her arms. Arthur stood in front of it wielding a very scary looking mace covered in nails and dripping in blood. He saw me and swung the mace, connecting with
a bone crunching crash. The room was covered in blood and gore with bodies everywhere.

  A drone sprang at me and I went down. The blood crazed woman snapped and tried to bite any part of my body that she could get her teeth around. I held her neck firmly with one hand to keep her mouth away from me. She was wickedly strong. I struggled to push her away with her arms scratching at me so hard I saw pieces of my skin peeling off.

  “Lisbeth!” Arthur shouted from the cage. Knight bent over me, grabbed the drone’s arms, releasing me from her enough for me to snap her neck. She collapsed and Knight flung her away from me. We had just enough time to get up before the fight began again and the room flooded with drones. Leaving carnage in my wake, I made my way to Arthur, and noticed that the drones were focused on one thing in the room.

  Kitty.

  Every time she wailed, they grew more enraged and frantic to get inside the cage. They needed to get her. They were ordered to get her.

  I saw red, and a deep rage grew inside me. The noise that came from my mouth was not human by any stretch of the imagination. It was enough to make everyone in the room cower with fear at my wrath. My limbs pulsed with fury, and I flew through the drones, cutting into them like butter. They were all laid waste beneath my ire.

  None could survive a daughter of Bathory.

  Drones continued to come, but I was not going to tire. I would protect my baby until my last breath. We fought them into the hallway when the wolves descended. They bounded up the staircases, teeth bared and feet pounding.

  The cavalry had arrived.

  With the new numbers, we ripped into the ranks of endless drones until they stopped coming and we were on the bottom floor of the castle. The tile floor was littered with pieces of bodies. Vampires and Lycans alike gathered in front of the house. Not a one of us wasn’t absolutely covered in blood, apart from Olivier. She came down the stairs holding my baby and I ran to grab her, filthy as I was. Kitty squealed when I took her. I sank to the floor in relief that she was unharmed and finally in my arms.