War of the Chosen

by Elizabeth Dunlap

  “Sssh,” he said, and brought me up against him in a warm loving hug. “I’m sorry, love. I wasn’t trying to upset you.”

  “You…” I sobbed and tried to breathe. “You’re just trying to protect me.”

  “Yes. Sssh now. No more talk of death. I’m not dying. You’re not dying. No one is dying. Not now, not ever.”

  It took me some time, but I managed to calm down enough to curb the anxiety rushing through me. I straightened away from Knight’s arms and looked around for something to wipe my face with. Knight held out a box of tissues.

  “Trade?” He motioned to Kitty. I carefully handed her over and took the tissues. Knight cradled her in his arms like he’d been around babies his entire life. I blew my nose as quietly as possible so I wouldn’t interrupt them. “Hey there,” he cooed. “My name is Knight, and I love your mommy.” Kitty spasmed in her sleep, stretched, and opened her purple-blue eyes to stare at the man holding her. I tensed and expected her to scream or something, looking up at the face of a stranger. She didn’t. She smiled, cooed back at Knight, and reached her hand out to touch his chin, like they’d been friends forever. Knight smoothed her thin black curls back and kissed her head. “She looks like you.”

  I tossed the tissues on the couch and rested my head against Knight’s other shoulder so I could see my daughter’s face. She did look like me, but as I studied her closer, I noticed something else. Something in her smile, or her nose, or the shape of her head, I really couldn’t say.

  “She looks like Clara,” I corrected, smiling. It was silly to say my daughter resembled her aunt more so than her grandparents, but there it was. The realization gave me hope that Kitty would be okay. “I miss them,” I said quietly. “I don’t want to admit it, but I do.”

  I wanted to go back to that little house where everything was simple, and the only thing I needed to do was wash my mom’s hair, and bake bread with my aunt, and watch Lucas and Knight playing with Kitty by the hearth.

  Knight kissed my forehead. “I know.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Waiting in the bigger drawing room was my new sister. She stood in the sunlight, soaking it in with a smile on her face like she was a potted plant that had been in the dark for too long. She smiled when she saw us and came forward.

  “What is her name?” she asked, motioning to Kitty.

  “Katherine. We call her Kitty.”

  She smiled warmly. “A nice name. She is lovely. Jason, can I speak to your mate alone?” Jason. Still weird.

  “Merrick,” Knight said cautiously. “I know you. You’re being passive aggressive right now.” She was? But she was smiling at me.

  His sister lowered her eyelashes and I saw her face change a little. “Cameron might have told me the story of the woman my brother chose as a mate, and I have to admit, I don’t know why you forgave her.”

  I wanted to tell her off, but it wasn’t my place. Knight bristled beside me. “How about instead of criticizing me for my life choices, you explain how you’re not dead? That’s a very good place to start. Merrick Trimble, born November 13th, 1847, last seen in 1865, abandoning her brother after he got back from fighting in the war.”

  She scrunched her mouth in anger. “You went off to fight while mother and I stayed behind with no one to protect us. She died waiting for you to return. You came back with some filly on your arm, expecting me to just fall in line and obey your orders.”

  Filly?

  Knight groaned slightly when he saw me react to that word. “Merrick, I’m sorry. I was young. I’d just been through enough trauma on the battlefield to break a man. You remember that part, right?”

  “Well enough.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a surly expression. “I left, that much is true. What you don’t know is I came back, and you were there. You looked sick, and you stumbled outside. It was raining, but the moon was out. You saw it, and you started… changing. I realized what you had become, and I ran. My brother… a werewolf.” She dropped her hands. “I found out everything about the world you now belonged to. Eventually, I found rogue vampires once I knew what to look for. They offered me immortality in exchange for my loyalty, and since you were immortal too, if I had the ability to live forever, I could live long enough to find you again. To tell you how sorry I am for leaving you.”

  “Then you joined the turned army,” I pointed out.

  She scowled at me. “Not by choice. Born vampires have always treated me with kindness. The rogue coven I lived with for a century was my family. When the turned found us, they slayed my friends, and expected me to be grateful. I wasn’t going to be their happy soldier, but I let them believe I was, if only to discover how to bring them down. I met Cameron at the center of the turned army, and we worked together to get the sunlight formula for your kind. They have to pay for what they did to my friends. I never knew I’d find you here, Jason. I’m glad we finally found each other. Maybe we can spend some time together. Alone.”

  I admired her loyalty, but I could’ve done without her attitude. Knight put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

  “Now I’m with this filly,” he said. “And yeah, she’s made mistakes, but I forgave her. I can’t make you forgive her too, but if you choose to hold a grudge for something that doesn’t involve you, I can’t promise I won’t think less of you. That said, I’m glad you’re here. I wish I’d known you were alive.”

  “If she hurts you, I’ll kill her,” Merrick stated blankly, shrugging.

  “You’ll have to go through me, half-pint,” Knight retorted angrily. “You’re my sister, and I love you, but Lisbeth is my mate. She’d protect you without a thought because you’re my sister. I’d expect the same from you.” Merrick glanced at me briefly, and looked away pouting.

  “Merrick,” I said quietly. She looked back at me again. “I’m sorry your friends were killed.” My words didn’t make her stop glaring at me. “I thought he was dead. That’s why I did what I did, why my child is here today. They told me he was dead.”

  She considered me for a few seconds. “An emotion I am familiar with.” Her finger tapped against her arm. “Fine. I won’t stay mad at you. But…” She pointed at me.

  “If I hurt him, you’ll kill me?” I said with a smile.

  She smiled back and shook her head. “Maybe not kill. Maim. Break some fingers. Cut your hair. I’m creative.”

  “Isn’t she terrifying?” Cameron said with a dreamy smile that she reciprocated.

  “Great. I get my sister back, and she’s moony-eyed over my mate’s friend. We’re having a chat later,” he warned Cameron.

  “If I hurt her, blah blah blah,” Cameron said, rolling his eyes.

  “How about we stop hurting and start cleaning. The smell…” Merrick held a hand to her nose.

  It was time to get to work. We all needed to feed. Some only had scrapes, some had lost limbs. Our companions only numbered about one hundred-fifty now, little more than half our number. We’d lost more vampires that I cared to admit in the fight, but not enough that the ratio evened out. Even if everyone fed from the humans once, the companion would be out twice as much blood, and we needed more than one dose to fix our wounds. We had enough bagged blood to go around, so that fixed one problem. A band-aid on the bigger issue, but the solution would have to wait.

  Secondly, the castle was trashed. We could’ve filmed a horror movie inside it, easily. I considered it, if only to ease my tension. We were all covered in blood and ick, half from the battle and half from cleaning it all up. We could play ‘evil mindless zombies set to destroy the world with our zombie wolf companions, and the only one who could save us was the tiny hybrid baby that we couldn’t feed from’.

  Kitty was in her bouncy seat watching my musings with a happy smile. Knelt over the tile floor, I scrubbed at the blood stains with a bleach solution. I felt like vampire Cinderella, cleaning up after her stupid vampire step-sisters who couldn’t keep their feeding contained. Knight was across the floor running a mop up and down
the wall in the higher spaces of the room where the rest of us couldn’t reach. Our sense of smell alerted us to even the tiniest of specks of blood. We would not miss one drop. Merrick and Cameron were further down the hallway, far enough away that I couldn’t hear them.

  I knelt back on my heels and wiped at my forehead. Knight looked over at me and smirked. “You got a little something.” He motioned to several spots on my face. Knowing him, he was teasing me, but I could smell the blood so I knew I had some on me. I’d put on an old black jumper with long sleeves, perfect for wiping my cheeks off. He gave me a thumbs up when I finished, winked, and went back to work.

  “Feels like we’re in that video game where you’re cleaning up after someone’s gone through and killed all the NPC’s. Hope I don’t knock my bucket over.” He laughed to himself and stretched to reach a really high spot. His shirt rode up and exposed his lower stomach, capturing all my attention. I was still drooling over that brown valley when he set his mop down and caught me staring. “Enjoying the view?” he teased. “Hoo my, it’s so hot in here.” He pulled his shirt off and flexed.

  I’d somehow forgotten how to speak.

  He walked to me, held out my hand, and pulled me into his arms. Bliss. My baby at my feet, my mate in my arms. There was nothing better than this. The setting could be cleaner, though.

  “So,” I segwayed. “Should I call you Jason now?”

  He groaned. “Going to kill her for revealing my secret.”

  “Mmm,” I said, kissing him tenderly. “I’m not calling you that. It’s not sexy.”

  “Thank heaven. I hate my old name.” I wanted to ask why, but he answered for me. “I’m not him anymore. Jason was selfish and unloving. Also, as you said. It’s not sexy. And I am totally,” he pulled my hips closer, “sexy…” His kiss took my breath away, and I never wanted to get it back.

  “I do hate to interrupt,” someone said.

  “Wow. Looks like a zombie barfed in here. Smells like it too,” someone else complained.

  Standing in the doorway that was now one door hanging off the hinges and the other ripped clean off was my second pair of visitors: Balthazar and a woman with honeyed skin that looked gorgeous enough to stop a truck. She had gorgeous copper hair hanging in ‘I don’t care’ waves, and her eyes were golden.

  I had to admit, I was into her.

  As I turned to greet them, Balthazar cringed and hid behind the really hot lady. “Don’t let her kill me,” he whined.

  She looked like a babysitter that wasn’t getting paid enough. “Balthazar, be mature. Hi, I’m-”

  “Irene,” Knight finished.

  Oh, you are kidding me. Not one, but two pretty women appear that know him? This one better be his mother. Or an aunt. A really attractive aunt. No, she wasn’t attractive. How dare she be attractive where Knight could see her? Curse her!

  Irene squinted at him in thought, and her eyes grew wide. “I remember you.” Her heels clicked on the tile until she was in front of my mate. She brought a hand up, her claws growing, and she gently traced Knight’s five scars with them. “You’re one of mine.” Her smile spoke of sinful things. Would it be in bad taste to punch a guest in the face? Maybe I should google it.

  She was a succubus. There was a glow surrounding her, her succubus aura. I was familiar with the glow Balthazar had, but he contained his at least. Irene did not.

  Surrounded by the glow, Knight looked away from Irene like she was a bag of old lumpy turnips and fixed his stare on me. “We did not make hanky panky. It did not happen. Please don’t kill her.”

  “Why does everyone assume I’m going to murder people?” I complained. Family ties aside, mind you. In answer, he raised a knowing eyebrow at me. “I pinky swear not to kill her. Happy?”

  Her deep golden eyes glazed over me in a ‘I’m judging your shoes’ manner. “And you must be Balthazar’s little pet. I’m Toni.”

  “I thought your name was Irene?” Knight asked her.

  “Darling, I go by many names, and none of them are real.” She pat his cheek like his naivety was cute.

  Arthur turned the corner from where my office was and stopped in his tracks. His brow tightened when he saw Toni. “Persephone,” he ground out, his fists tightening. “Why is she here? I want her gone.”

  She giggled, giggled, at Arthur, and that was literally the dumbest thing I’d ever seen someone do ever. This was a woman who made men her play things. Women like that couldn’t be trusted.

  “Lisbeth, my love,” Balthazar said as he slowly approached me. I let him kiss my cheek and grabbed his tie before he could escape.

  “You’re dead,” I ground out. He gulped. “Kiss your daughter.”

  Excited, he bent and picked up Kitty from the bouncy seat. “She’s grown,” he cooed with a smile. He held her against his chest and kissed her soft head. “I missed you, little one.” He spoke to her in a language I’d never heard before, and that was saying something. Toni seemed to understand his words because she added to the conversation a few times, mostly to be snarky, judging by her tone. He switched back to English. “Daddy was gone, but I’m back, and I’m never leaving my darling again.” He rested his forehead against hers and breathed deeply. As angry as I was at him for leaving, anyone could see he had truly missed her. His face glowing like a candle, he looked up at me. “What is she called? Something good, I trust? Not Maude. Please not that.”

  I laughed and came close to kiss Kitty on the cheek. “Katherine. Kitty for short.”

  “Perfect,” he declared. “Just like her. Take her, I have something to show you.” He handed her back and reached inside his pocket, pulling out a yellowed sheet he’d folded into a little square. It took him several moments to get it straight again, then he showed me what was written on it.

  “I can’t read that,” I told him with a sigh.

  He glanced at it in confusion and laughed to himself. “Oh! Of course. My mistake. This is the language of my people. It says, ‘There are some who speak tales of a strange creature. A child of the Incubus who only drinks from that which it came.’ Child of the Incubus is how my people refer to vampires,” he explained. “It goes on, ‘They are known as the Vipyres.’ This is why I left. I poured over every single book in my homeland to find information about the little one.”

  “Kitty.”

  “Kitty,” he corrected. “She is a vipyre.”

  That was way better than bipire. I’d even switched to hybrid just to avoid saying it.

  “And that’s all you found?” He nodded. It said nothing about her future or what she would become, but I suppose that was a good thing. If vipyres were dangerous, surely the writer of this page would’ve said so? There were only two types of stories: wonderment and fear. This seemed more like the former. A fascination with the idea that such a creature could exist.

  “We tried for decades,” Toni complained. “I was very disappointed we didn’t find more after all that work.”

  “Decades?” I was shocked, to say the least. Balthazar had told me, while I was in labor mind you, that time moved differently in his homeland. I’d thought he was just exaggerating so I wouldn’t stab him. As an answer, Balthazar reached out for Kitty again and held her close against his neck. He cooed again in his language, rocking her gently.

  “I will never leave you again,” he promised to her curly head. “I started calling her Diana in my head after a few years. I’m glad I know her name now.”

  I shrugged and tickled her ear. “She could have a middle name. Katherine Diana.”

  “I still protest Persephone being here,” Arthur shouted to burst our bubble.

  “Toni,” I addressed her. “Are you staying here?”

  “If you will allow me. They banished us from our homeland.” The glow around her faded for a brief second.

  “Why would they banish you?”

  “Because we love,” Balthazar answered. He was completely enthralled with our baby, bouncing and tickling her. “The Bicus do not love. Ever. I
’d rather not be around them either way, so it works out.” Toni loves? That was a hard pill to swallow. Wow. I was seriously judgmental sometimes.

  “Toni, you can stay as long as you like.” Arthur glared at me in silent protest. I had to admit, I was wildly curious what Toni had done to make Arthur hate her so much. First chance I got, I was going to ask her.

  What if it was unpaid parking tickets?

  Nah.

  CHAPTER 20

  Bridget, Cleopatra, Valhalla, Andromeda, Minerva, Juliette, and Chardonnay. All names I’d heard people call Toni in the past hour. She sat by the fireplace in my office with Kitty, waving a rattle at her and speaking in the Bicus language.

  The rest of the room was the Council members, the Alphas, Arthur, James for some reason, Olivier, and my family. Merrick included. I sat on the edge of my desk where I could see everyone, Knight on one side and Arthur on the other. The Council had taken most of the seating, leaving the Alphas to stand, but luckily they liked sitting on the floor. Every few minutes, Glenda the roomba whirred by them.

  With everyone together, it was time for brass tacks. Decisions. Hard ones.

  Half of the packs we sent envoys to had signed the alliance papers, making our numbers upwards of eight hundred. It wasn’t enough. We were too few against thousands of turned vampires that wanted us dead. And they were making drones now, which was the terrifying truth.

  We were absurdly outnumbered, and no amount of recruitment would change that. We needed to hit them hard, where it hurt, and reduce their numbers. Cameron adamantly assured us that after he and Merrick were discovered as traitors, the turned would move their base somewhere else.

  “I suggest I take the rest of the Hunters with Cameron to where the base was. We can try and pick up their trail and see where they’ve gone,” Arthur suggested.

  “And then what? Going to shake hands with them and have a cup of tea?” James berated.

  “Why is he here?” Arthur hissed at me. I elbowed him to tell him to shut up.