“He is. What better way to convert him and keep him in our fold? Perhaps he can convert others back to our side.”
“You play a dangerous game, Grimaldi.” Konyam tented his fingers before his lips and stared down the length of the table for a long moment before glancing back up at Isidro. “What of the Tiger Queen? Without Raine, she could make a nuisance of herself.”
“She is licking her wounds. Until there is a new Liege in New Orleans, I’m afraid we will be adrift and we’ll have to hope the streak of tigers survives.” Isidro hoped like hell someone killed Savannah. She was much more trouble than she was worth, as Celeste had realized first hand.
“Congratulations, Grimaldi.” Konyam grinned at him with a devilish smile that tightened Isidro’s insides with dread.
“Congratulations? For what do I owe the pleasure?”
“You’re the new Liege of Louisiana. Take Raine’s colony in hand and recover what you can. I’ve heard that Cavanaugh has already acquired Raine’s cadre and other stragglers. You’ll have to rebuild the colony.” Konyam placed his hands flat on the boardroom table his nostrils flaring with anger.
Isidro fought his natural inclination to decline. He hated being responsible for others and a decimated colony that Raine barely had time or inclination to look after herself was not something he particularly wanted. However, the longer the idea resonated in his head, the more he could see the potential in this development.
“Cavanaugh is becoming a problem. A real problem.” Konyam’s voice was low and lethal as he spoke. “His whore has the Chalice of Isis and already absorbed its power. The witch deceived me. It has been a long while since someone has managed to get by my powers.”
“I’m at your disposal,” Isidro added.
“Elevate Diego. In the meantime, convene the board. We need a new plan of attack. I can no longer let his insubordination stand.” Konyam got to his feet and turned to Isidro with a sneer on his face. “We’ve ignored him, the dog, and their whore for long enough. It’s time to deal with them instead of trying to keep it quiet. We need to show them and the world who is in charge.”
“Master?” Isidro began, his voice a whisper of surprise in the large conference room. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”
“I don’t care what the humans believe or think. It’s time they knew their place in the food chain.”
Isidro hesitantly bowed at the waist and turned on his heels. Closing the boardroom doors behind him, Isidro took a deep breath and allowed his momentary astonishment to ebb. Konyam had lost his mind. Exposing their existence to humans was dangerous and stupid, especially in the manner Konyam had insinuated. And because of Dahlia Sabin and her power, the ancient vampire was willing to throw millennia of careful regulation out the window. The lunatic was willing to risk all of them just to win.
It was well past time he took a stand instead of remaining behind the scenes. It seemed so foreign and so against his nature, this sense of justice. It was so unlike him. Shrugging, he pushed off the door and began plotting his next move.
~ ~ ~
I strode through the foyer of the mansion toward Patrick’s office. He’d tried to move his office to the house down in German Village but found he didn’t have enough privacy. Plus, we reasoned that Dean went to an office every day, why couldn’t Patrick. It seemed like a great compromise and I was stalling.
In the great room, Steven, Miguel, and Tucker were debating the global economy and if the world had been better pre-industrial revolution. I could jump in and postpone this conversation for a little longer but I wasn’t a coward. Shoving my shoulders back and raising my chin, I stepped into Patrick’s office and closed the door behind me.
From under dark lashes, Patrick turned his dark gaze up to me from the tome on his desk. He’d been studying it day and night for the entire week since we’d been back. Jade had scanned it and was running everything through any program she could get her hands on. I was truly afraid of what we’d find. Patrick was excited. Dean was just cautious.
The corners of his mouth turned up in what I could only describe as carnal. Deep in my core, my body recognized that need and heated in response. It was automatic and I couldn’t stop it even if I’d wanted to.
“We need to talk,” I said.
His smirk died and he leaned back in the chamois-soft leather chair behind his desk. “Do we? It doesn’t seem like a topic I’ll be excited to discuss. Whatever it is.”
“Were you going to tell me?”
He sighed, not really needing additional information. “I had not yet decided. Weighing the pros and cons, it seemed the better option was to remain quiet for the time being.”
“When did you start killing again? How many?” My heart was thundering in my chest, roaring in my ears and I couldn’t exactly say why this conversation, in particular, made me nervous.
Leaning back in his chair, Patrick tented his fingers before his lips and lightly tapped a slow cadence with his forefingers. His gaze evaluated me from top to bottom and I knew he was debating, choosing his words carefully. “Iris. It began with Iris. I couldn’t let her hurt you again. Even in a small way by catching sight of her on the street. I had brought her into our lives and I would do anything to save you that hurt. It was my mistake to remedy. So, I did.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I’m a big girl, Patrick.”
“I did. Once it was done, however, and the power rushed through me, I couldn’t forgo the advantages it presented.” His gaze was piercing and unapologetic. “I am responsible for my colony and it was too much power to discount off hand.”
“I don’t know which bothers me more? The fact that you’re killing again? Or the fact that you weren’t going to tell me about it.”
He met my gaze. “Whether you can live with this knowledge is a choice you will have to make. However, you’ve seen the dangers we face with Konyam and Baba Yaga. I won’t risk the possibility of losing you. I won’t. I know what it feels like to be without you. I won’t go through it again. I also won’t risk my people. I won’t allow them to become slaves which is certainly what Konyam will make them for siding with us.”
I took a deep breath and let his words sink in. At one time, I would have been appalled at the fact that Patrick was draining humans . . . killing people. But, now? Now, I weighed the cost of a few human lives against what the stakes were in the game we were playing. It didn’t seem like such a high cost.
What had happened to me? Who had I become that I could justify murder? But then again, why were the lives of humans so prized over the lives of the people I loved and protected? The line I’d cherished so much, the line that separated us from the villains, had gotten lost somewhere in the shifting sands beneath my feet.
“Dahlia?” Patrick called, his voice low and uncertain.
I looked him in the eye and reached down deep for something to say. “I don’t know, Patrick. I just don’t know anymore.”
Glossary
Fertiri – A being of pure preternatural power, drawing on the magic of both life and death.
Blushing Death – Name of distinction given to Dahlia Sabin by the vampires in Columbus.
Gladius – Roman double-edged sword with a tapered point with a channel down the center.
Vampires
Lebensblut – Overarching ruling body of all vampire colonies. Masquerading as a multinational corporation, the Lebensblut board is made up of powerful and old vampires.
Colony – Vampire grouping. All vampires residing in a colony are tied to a powerful vampire by blood. A colony can encompass a territorial area such as a city, state, or country.
Liege – Colony Master. Vampires perform a blood oath to the Liege, vowing eternal service and obedience.
Tiye – Consort, advisor, and confidant to a Liege.
An
pu – Harbinger of Death
Wardum/Warda – Vampire Groom and Bride. A bond that shares powers between the bonded mates and binds their life forces together. The death of one will cause the death of the other.
Werewolves
Gaoh –Werewolf King. A true Gaoh has been absent from the packs for centuries and the term has been used synonymously with Alpha.
Eithina – Werewolf Queen. A true Eithina is rare. So rare that no living werewolves recall the last true Eithina. Term has been interchangeable with spouse of Gaoh.
Golden Anidae – Magical wolf of legend. A golden wolf that is not ruled by the moon and lies outside the pack structure.
Manit – Gathering of the werewolf pack at the waning, full, and waxing moon to change, run, and hunt.
Beta – Second in command of the pack.
Namtar – The Pack’s pestilence. The Namtar enforces the Alpha’s policies and protects the pack by any means possible.
Damu – Pack healer. The Damu is imbued with magic to heal wounds both physical and mental that the werewolf themselves cannot heal.
Utu – Pack Justice. The Utu is judge and jury, rendering verdict to the Alpha when impartiality is needed.
Kachina – Coyote equivalent to Eithina
Fae
Faerie – Fae dimension where the Unseelie and Seelie fae reside.
Outer Realm – Area of Fairie where the dark fae have been banished but the Seelie King.
Sidhe – Fae higher beings, human-like in form but varying in coloring, powers, and strength. Encompasses both Seelie and Unseelie courts.
THE BLUSHING DEATH SERIES
by Suzanne M. Sabol
A Pool of Crimson (Book 1)
Killing vampires is easy. Trusting one will be the hardest thing Dahlia Sabin has ever done.
Dahlia has lived a lonely existence as a killer of the undead. Known as The Blushing Death to those that fear her, Dahlia uncovers a plot by Columbus’s Master Vampire, Ethan. He intends to raise a demon from the depths of hell to destroy the city, cement his power, and take control.
In her pursuit to stop a demon from manifesting, Dahlia sinks deeper into the city’s supernatural underworld and discovers that vampires are not only deadly; one in particular could be dangerous to her very soul and her heart. Patrick, the Master vampire’s second-in-command with dark penetrating eyes and a cool, deadly sophistication, can’t stay away and Dahlia can’t tell him no. There’s something that neither of them knows, Ethan wants Dahlia’s unleashed power for himself and is willing to do anything to get it.
Dahlia is in a race against time to send the demon back to hell, at war with her better judgment, trusting a dark and intriguing vampire with his own agenda, while struggling to save her own neck. As the portal to hell opens, Dahlia has only herself to rely on in order to survive, if she can …
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pvbncmm
Midnight Ash (Book 2)
It’s all fun and games until a dismembered hand gets nailed to your front door.
When a woman is mutilated and murdered steps from her home, Dahlia Sabin is thrust into the middle of a territorial vampire war with a target on her back and an assassin on her trail.
When a 500-year-old vampire ninja assassin is unleashed on the city to claim Dahlia’s head, she has to convince the men in her life to work together before Midnight Ash and her group of assassins can claim their prize. But being in love with the most powerful and charismatic vampire in the state incites animosity and jealousy as Dahlia sinks deeper into the werewolf Pack, becoming entangled with its Beta.
In her race to uncover the plot behind Midnight Ash, Dahlia is confronted with old arguments, forgotten traumas, and a new complication in the cogent and all tempting Pack Alpha. As she’s driven further into the supernatural world, Dahlia is torn between the vampire she loves and the primal pull of the Pack.
If Dahlia can’t stop Midnight Ash before blood is spilled, she may never find out who has a contract out on her head, what they hope to gain, or if she’s strong enough to survive losing everything.
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ncbkkry
Sliver of Silver (Book 3)
Dahlia Sabin is Fertiri, carrying both the ancient magic of the grave and the primal power of the Pack. She’s marked for death by her enemies, protected by the vampire liege in love with her and the Pack Alpha infatuated by her. Strays have moved into the city, terrorizing the innocent and leaving mutilated bodies in their wake as a message that no one is safe.
Hot on the Strays’ trail, Dahlia must stop them before they can destroy the Pack and rule it as their own. As her life crashes and burns around her, Dahlia has to put all her inner turmoil aside and become the Blushing Death to protect the people she loves. If she can’t expose their plans, she could lose everything, and her most fearsome enemy is still hiding in the shadows . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/myrj5pf
Golden Anidae (Book 4)
Thousands of miles from home and the people she loves, Dahlia Sabin has found a safe haven in Las Vegas. But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t escape who and what she is, the Blushing Death. Word of her arrival gets around fast and Dahlia is thrust back into the world of shadows and death with the scent of vampire lingering in the air.
While searching for her missing friend, Dahlia uncovers a conspiracy to destroy werewolves across the country. To protect the local Pack and the Pack back home, Dahlia must stop a renegade cop from killing the innocent and a vampire liege hell bent on possessing her. Dahlia confronts old wounds and internal demons that have shaped her from the beginning while defending her friends and her life. But home is on the horizon, if only she can survive the night . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ke4tdzg
Black Dalliances (Book 5)
The Blushing Death has made a name for herself across the country but her biggest battle is at home. Reigniting old flames and venturing into new liaisons, Dahlia Sabin is in a battle for her heart. As she earns back the trust of the men she loves, the Fae are plotting behind her back.
After her lover is kidnapped and hidden in Faerie, Dahlia will venture into an unfamiliar land, battle creatures of myth, and face a foe that will affect the very fabric of power and magic forever. But before they can make the journey home, all will sacrifice something they hold dear.
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ntxtd2u
EMERALD FIRE (Book 6)
As the Blushing Death, Dahlia Sabin has overcome much to be with the men she loves but attempting to settle into a new life and juggling two Alpha males isn’t easy, and the strain is starting to show. As the stakes become higher with each new threat, their growing power and Dahlia’s magical ability can’t be ignored by the vampire ruling council.
As bodies start piling up around Columbus and a dark magic makes its presence known, a high-ranking vampire board member invades Dahlia’s territory. A threat? A spy? Isidro’s dark eyes and intentions are dangerous. With the world closing in around them and the threat to their very existence growing, Dahlia, Patrick, and Dean move to solidify their magical bonds. But Baba Yaga wants her due and has plans for Dahlia all her own. Dahlia may be able to survive an army of zombies, but can she out strategize a millennia-old witch and survive with everyone intact?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/n2jmbmc
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Violet Abyss (A Blushing Death Novel Book 7) Page 26