Rebirth of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 6)

by Bella Klaus

  His lips tightened, but he didn’t speak.

  I placed a hand over his heart, which reverberated a rapid beat against my palm. “If I had the funds to hire ward masters, I’d also keep you locked up where no one can hurt you.”

  Deflating, Valentine pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around my back. The tension tightening my muscles from Hades’ announcement loosened, allowing me to exhale a long breath. As Valentine’s large hand rubbed gentle circles on my back, I melted against him and let my eyelids flutter shut.

  This moment was nearly perfect. Valentine was alive and whole. We’d just reaffirmed our love and had a vision of the future that included a family. But it all depended on making sure Kresnik didn’t retrieve his immortal body.

  “Would it be so bad to stay here, safe and protected, while the trained warriors fought?” His deep voice rumbled against my chest.

  “I’ve felt powerless my entire life,” I whispered. “Always having to hold back against my persecutors because I feared their power, always having to cower. With my magic, I can destroy Kresnik.”

  “Mera…” His voice was breathy with exasperation.

  I drew back, meeting his violet eyes. Violet eyes that shone with love. Violet eyes whose depths reflected the depth of his love—not just for the Mera he’d placed on a pedestal. All of me, including the woman Kresnik had claimed he’d debauched.

  A worm of sympathy tunneled through my heart. He was afraid of losing me or seeing me hurt. Swallowing hard, I pulled my shoulders back and gathered my strength. This was one of those occasions, just like the confrontation on the palace steps, where I couldn’t back down.

  Valentine needed to understand that I couldn’t run and hide every time we faced a challenge. Kresnik wasn’t the first supernatural who wanted to obtain my power. Hell, I could already count the number of supernaturals who had wanted to make use of my phoenix. Backing down now would forever relegate me to Valentine’s distressed little damsel—only good for keeping confined to high towers and wholly unsuited to battle.

  I cleared my throat, dug my heels into the soft ground and raised my chin, meeting Valentine’s eyes with what I hoped was a look of determination. “Kresnik caught me that last time because I stayed in the living room on purpose.”

  He flinched. “Why?”

  “Beatrice was weak with the draining of her life-force.” My throat thickened with sorrow and remembered pain. “Back then, if I had run with her and Kain, Kresnik would have caught up with us all and used them as leverage to make me hand over my power. I needed to buy Kain enough time to carry her away.”

  Valentine frowned. “You sacrificed yourself?”

  “And I would do it again to save the people I love.” My voice shook with the force of my words. “You’ve never seen me fight, but I’m the reason there’s a missing Mage King.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I slashed him with the scythe, detached his soul, and burned his body.”

  Valentine sucked in a sharp breath through flared nostrils. The gleam in his eyes communicated his triumph and pride, but he clenched his teeth, indicating a touch of frustration. I guess he wanted to kick the Mage King’s ass for all the damage he’d done to Lamia, but I’d robbed Valentine of the chance for retribution.

  He was about to say something else, but I spoke first. “Don’t forget I also reduced Prince Draconius and Irdu to ash. If I see Kresnik coming my way, I’ll do the same.”

  His phone made a shrill sound that made us both flinch. Valentine picked it up and stared at its screen. “That’s the Demon King. He’s gotten authorization from the Council to send a contingent out to scour London for Kresnik’s location. He wants me to meet him on the road.”

  All the butterflies in my stomach took flight in anticipation of the upcoming mini-battle to escape the pocket realm with Valentine. I slipped on my top and smoothed it over my leggings. “You can’t stop me.”

  “I never intended to keep you confined here,” he said with a sad smile.

  All the fight escaped me in an instant. “Why didn’t you say?”

  He shook his head, seeming not to want to admit that he had hoped to keep me here with the power of persuasion. Valentine placed his hand on the small of my back, and the magic of the wards transported us into the palace’s stone hallway.

  Dozens of his mercenaries waited for us outside, ready for battle, and marched behind us to the room of mirrors.

  Caiman wore an armored version of his uniform and was already waiting by the same suit of armor Valentine wore the day he had rescued me from Kresnik. Next to it was a stand holding a quartet of firestone swords and an array of transparent daggers of the same material.

  As the butler dressed Valentine with a speed that made my head spin, a dark-haired female vampire in a business suit stepped out of the wall of guards, gesturing toward a smaller suit of armor beside a dressing screen. “My Lady Phoenix, would you like my assistance in changing?”

  I waved a hand. “Fireproof armor will only get in the way when I shift.”

  When we stepped through the mirror into Hades’ control center, the entire room rumbled as though traveling fast over uneven terrain. I widened my stance and splayed out my hands for balance.

  Valentine wrapped an arm around my waist and moved me aside to let his mercenaries step in through the mirror.

  Even more enforcers than before occupied the room, filling the space with the cold magic of water and shadow mages. Most of the enforcers stood to attention with their glowing weapons at the ready, their black uniforms adorned with fluorescent bandoliers. Captain Zella stood among them with her team and gave me a curt nod.

  I made a note to keep out of the line of fire. Any weapon that incorporated firestone would harm me just as much as it would harm Kresnik.

  Hades stood with Captain Caria, staring at the wall map on the room’s far left. It now glowed with only five red dots, looking like those fire users his enforcers had shot with trackers had stopped flickering around London and were now congregating.

  I stroked my chin. One of them was back in Hampstead, the location of Kenwood House, the others in Hyde Park, Clapham Common, and Wimbledon Common. Only one remained in the center, which I guessed was beneath Trafalgar Square.

  “Report,” said Valentine.

  The Demon King turned around, his eyes lingering on the strap of my top, which must have twisted as I’d dressed. One of his brows rose, and his lips pinched into a tight line.

  “I see that you failed to reward Miss Griffin for her efforts to restore your soul. The young woman looks thoroughly frustrated.”

  Tingly heat crawled across my cheeks, and I shifted on my feet, trying not to squirm. Bugger Hades for trying to make things awkward. And he didn’t need to look so betrayed. There was absolutely nothing between us. I’d rejected his advances at every point during our association.

  Clenching my teeth, I lifted my chin and met his withering glare with a glower. “If I’m frustrated, it’s because I thought you’d have made more progress on finding Kresnik.”

  “I trust that King Valentine will help us with our inquiries, now that he appears complete,” Hades said with a sneer.

  Valentine stepped between us and snarled. “You will show my fiancée the respect due to one of her status and power.”

  Hades huffed. “Miss Griffin means more to me than her regenerative flames.”

  “I have not forgotten our encounter in the Witch Queen’s office, nor will I forget your contribution to the mess Logris faces because of your scheming and incompetence.”

  The arrogance on Hades’ features vanished, and his gaze darted toward Captain Caria. “You are mistaken.”

  “What is the Vampire King talking about?” the tall woman said with an edge in her voice.

  My brows rose. Something about her said she wasn’t a sycophant, and unlike the women who surrounded Hades, she appeared to be immune to his dubious charms. I made a mental note to ask Valentine later if he k
new anything about this enforcer.

  Hades waved the captain away, offering Valentine one of those tight smiles that threatened to reap his soul if he revealed anything else. “I’m sure we will come to an arrangement after we defeat Kresnik. Will your honor be satisfied with a round of fisticuffs?”

  “Flaming swords, no teleportation, and the loser issues a public and formal apology to the winner.”

  The Demon King glanced in my direction and grimaced, looking as though he could already guess who would add the flames to Valentine’s sword for their upcoming duel.

  He smoothed his features into a mask of dismissal and sighed. “I accept your challenge. Now may we proceed with apprehending Kresnik before he reaches his immortal body?”

  Valentine broke eye contact first, turning his gaze to the map. He pointed at the concentration of dots in Hampstead Heath and swept his arm to a point at the north-west of Greater London, where a few dots had strayed.

  “After the wards of Kenwood House broke, Kresnik moved the Flame and all its remaining inhabitants to a series of bunkers beneath his stately home,” he said.

  “Is that the derelict mansion?” I asked.

  Valentine inclined his head. “I expect that they moved location once he discovered my resurrection.”

  “Do tell us something we don’t already know,” Hades snapped.

  Valentine stalked across the room to where Hades stood with his arms folded, feigning a yawn.

  I followed after him, but a hand landed on my shoulder. Turning around, I met the ebony eyes of Captain Zella, who shook her head. Perhaps she’d seen fights break out in the Supernatural Council meeting room and knew it was best not to get involved in the squabbles of two monarchs.

  Valentine stood a mere foot away from Hades, his shoulders broadening, and the snarl in the back of his throat making my pulse jump. My throat dried. Now that he was in possession of his soul nucleus, would he throw the first punch?

  The man I’d fallen in love with preferred cooperation over conflict, but Hades was particularly aggravating. I couldn’t blame Valentine for wanting to remind the Demon King of his place.

  Hades raised his chin. The two males were of a similar height and build, but Hades would be broader if he brought out his black wings. Their last fight had ended without a victor. If they started dueling in this confined space, some of the enforcers would get hurt.

  I raised both palms and stepped toward the royal pair. “Let’s focus our energy on the battle ahead. We all have an enemy in common who has hurt us all in different ways.” Making sure to add a bit of bite into my voice, I added, “Isn’t that right, Hades?”

  The glower he shot me could have burned my insides into char. We both knew I had a catalogue of his misdeeds at the ready, starting with how he’d helped the Mage King control Valentine and ending with his humiliating defeat and the time he’d spent ‘undercover’ in the Flame as a cloud of ash.

  Blanking his features, Hades turned back to meet Valentine’s glower. “As usual, Miss Griffin is correct. Do you have anything to share that might help us find Kresnik’s location?”

  “A faint temporal distortion follows Kresnik everywhere he goes,” Valentine said. “It’s barely noticeable, but if he touches anything with his left hand for long enough, it ages.”

  “Explain,” said Hades.

  As Valentine walked to the middle of the room, the enforcers sitting at the desks swiveled their chairs to watch him pass. The women cast him admiring glances, as did some of the men. Of course they would. He was the only vampire in history who had been brought back to life after becoming preternatural.

  I inhaled a deep breath, preening on his behalf. Valentine was more than a symbol of triumph over Kresnik, he was the man who would win the war.

  Valentine swept his gaze across the room, making eye contact with the enforcers. “Kresnik is naturally left-handed, yet he makes an effort to do everything with his right except when he’s drinking wine.”

  “Wine?” Hades wrinkled his nose.

  “The scent of wine changes over the years it matures, but Kresnik can accelerate its aging within minutes.” Valentine raised his hand, mimicking holding a wineglass. “His left hand changes the wine’s scent. When Kresnik is satisfied with its taste, he switches the glass to his right hand.”

  Hades rolled his eyes. “How do you know it’s not a wine-aging enchantment he employed from the spell book of Bacchus?”

  “Occasionally, Kresnik will forget himself and use his left hand. Left long enough, it will rust sword handles, buckle wood, and damage the bodies of young women.”

  I placed a hand over my mouth to suppress a gasp. My mind conjured up the image of a young woman with freckles and Orphan Annie curls. Had Martika run away the night everyone else had escaped?

  Hades ground his teeth. “Captains Caria and Zella, you know what this means?”

  “All those locations we dismissed for not having enough temporal magic to create a ward are now back on our radar,” said Captain Zella with a sigh.

  Hades turned to an enforcer sitting at the nearest computer monitor. “Put the other coordinates back on the map.”

  Groans filled the room. I couldn’t imagine how frustrating it felt to have narrowed down all Kresnik’s possible hideouts to a mere four, only to have a vital piece of information render that theory useless.

  I turned to Valentine and frowned. “Does the distortion come because Kresnik’s occupying the body of Father Jude?”

  “That sort of power comes from the soul,” said Hades. “It’s likely that Kresnik didn’t fully absorb the other fellow he’s possessed.”

  Yellow lights flashed on the map, illuminating twenty new locations all around Greater London. Some of them coincided with the red ones, but my gaze slid to one location at the north-west of Hyde Park—the safe house in Notting Hill, where Kresnik’s shadow had cursed me with the blood lure.

  I took Valentine’s hand and walked to the map. Hades joined us with Captain Caria. A thick barrier of magic muffled the rumble of the engine beneath our feet, and even the enforcers’ voices dimmed. I glanced over my shoulder to find that the air behind us was opaque.

  “You’ve worked something out,” said Hades.

  My brows drew together. “How do you know?”

  “I’ve spent enough time observing you to learn your moods,” he drawled.

  When Valentine growled a warning in the back of his throat, I turned to place a hand on his chest. “He’s talking about the time we spent together in the Flame, after Hades was…”

  I glanced at Captain Caria, whose brows rose.

  Hades wrapped his arm around the tall woman’s waist and brought her into his side. “You may speak freely in front of my daughter.”

  I tried not to gape. Apart from the height, she looked nothing like Hades, but at least that explained why she hadn’t fawned over him.

  Alright.” I licked my dry lips and turned my attention back toward Valentine. “All this time, Kresnik has created hideouts in properties he’s built on land your father bought.”

  Valentine nodded. “Since Kresnik owned my father at the time he built the wards around those properties, then the magic will hold a lot stronger than if he’d taken over someone else’s land.”

  “Alright.” I glanced at the screen. “What if Kresnik owned someone for a short time and they broke free of his control? What happens if he created a ward in that short space of time?”

  “That’s impossible—” Valentine’s teeth clicked shut, and his eyes flashed with realization. “You’re saying he could be in any of my homes?”

  I tapped on the glowing dot representing the Notting Hill townhouse. “This is the last place we’d expect him to take Theodore.”

  “But there’s no tracker,” said Captain Caria.

  “A man like Kresnik would be cautious enough to have removed the bullets from Theodore’s body.” Hades rubbed his chin. “That might explain why there are so many of them scattered around London
.”

  “What do you think?” I turned to Valentine, meeting his violet eyes.

  “Kresnik must know we’re tracking him.” Valentine glanced at the map. “Now that we’re aware that Theodore didn’t betray the location of his immortal body, we have no choice but to find him.”

  “Then we’ll divide our troops into teams and search each of the locations simultaneously,” said Hades.

  Nobody spoke for the next few heartbeats. Our best chance of surviving Kresnik was to overwhelm his preternaturals and fire users with numbers. Valentine might have weakened Kresnik during their last encounter, but he could always steal more power.

  “If we supply each team with a small group of demons capable of teleporting, then we can regroup within seconds,” said Hades.

  “I concur,” Valentine replied.

  Hades flicked his wrist, and the barrier popped, bringing back the enforcers’ chatter and the rumble of the vehicle.

  “Everybody pay attention.” His sharp voice cut through the noise, making the traveling room fall silent. “Each location on the map is a potential hideout for Kresnik. We will split into five teams. Captain Zella will search North London, Captain Caria will search the south.”

  Hades pointed at a red-eyed demon with a studded forehead, who bowed. “Captain Pazuzu will search East London.” Then he pointed at a female demon with skin even paler than mine and staring eyes the color of malachite. “Captain Gello will search the west.”

  The captains strolled toward the crowd of enforcers, seeming to already have their teams in place.

  “What will we do?” I asked Valentine.

  He turned to the map. “The Demon King and I will enter the Notting Hill safe house with the mercenaries. If there is no sign of Kresnik, we will move to the next central location and the next until one of the other captains recalls us or we’ve severed Kresnik’s head from his body.”

  Another location flashed on the map of Greater London a few miles away from Notting Hill. My mouth dried. The map wasn’t large enough to pinpoint the exact street, but a new temporal disturbance had either occurred in Grosvenor Square or Istabelle’s Crystal Shop.