“Feeding on a human soldier’s blood makes me feel more powerful than feeding on a civilian human,” Ohana would often say.
It was on the dreadful day the Americans released the first atomic bomb that killed Ohana, along with thousands of humans. This event had sent a shiver down each of the Primus’ spines. A Primus was difficult to kill. To kill a Primus or its descendants, they had to be staked by hawthorn, then, like all vampires, the body had to be burned. And an atomic bomb caused damage far beyond even a vampire’s scope of recoverable injuries.
Morgana still felt sad when Ohana came to mind. She had been her mentor, a confidante, and a friend. Morgana remembered the day she and Oscar had found Ohana’s ashes mixed in amongst the rubble her home had been reduced to. Vampire ashes always smell different than human ashes. The sense of her vampireness was gone when she had died, only the physical scent of her favorite kimono remained.
A roar erupted from deep within as she punched the dummy one last time before heading upstairs, the memory still burning in her mind and the reasons why she did what she did.
***
“Ah good, Morgana, you’re here,” Oscar said when she entered the living room. She had showered and changed into comfortable jeans and a loose-fitting top. She wasn’t dressed for company, per se, but she didn’t care. Comfort was what she needed right now.
Oscar was standing in front of the fireplace, glass of scotch in his hand. Oscar always liked to acknowledge someone when they entered a room. He believed it was more civil. He never really liked to drop the human act.
“What’s all this?” she asked, sitting down on the arm of a chair.
“We’re having a meeting, darling.” Oscar replied. “We need to report what we know so far about the Forest Clan to the rest of The Council. Randalf’s gathering it all so he can present our findings to them.”
Randalf smiled at Morgana. Morgana hesitated to smile back. They normally reported back to the rest of The Council by phone or email. Randalf didn’t need to be here.
“It’s all very interesting, the observations you have been noting, Morgana,” Randalf said while reading from a sheet of paper. “But you’re still no closer to finding the Forest Clan?”
“No. I’ve been doing all I can to track down vampires in the forest, but they seem to leave no clues,” Morgana replied, trying to keep her voice level. “They are clever, and they know we are on to them. That’s why I believe they attacked Gareth. They tried to use him to lure me out and try to kill me.”
“How do you know it wasn’t just a scheme to try and throw you off Gareth as one of the Forest Clan?”
“Gosh, we have been through this a million times, Randalf, Gareth is not part of the Forest Clan,” she snapped, standing with her hands on her hips to reinforce her point.
“The boy is clean,” said Oscar. He locked eyes with Morgana with an eyebrow raised. She nodded to show she was fine. Her father’s brow smoothed, and he continued, “I checked him out myself. But you know if Morgana says he’s not one of the Forest Clan, then you should take her word. You know as well as anybody, Randalf, Morgana doesn’t get it wrong.”
“Noted.” It was Randalf’s only comment as he typed notes on his laptop.
She sat back down, arms folded across her chest.
“What else have you discovered about the Forest Clan?” Randalf asked.
“Well, by the look of the victims, they seem to be a lot of newly-turned vampires.” Oscar began speaking before Morgana could get a word in. “The attacks on the humans have been brutal, a lot of unnecessary blood spilled at the scene of the attacks.”
Randalf nodded as he typed. “How many humans have been attacked?”
“Currently, it’s at thirty and tipped to rise, though the number of attacks has slowed down since our arrival.” Oscar took a sip of the scotch. “We think their leader is the vampire we keep encountering. He seems to know who we are and what we are doing here.”
“What else do you know of him?”
“Only what the forest vampire who attacked Gareth divulged about him. When we find where this Forest Clan lives, we find the vampire from the café and the mayoral campaign rally.”
“What of the attacks in the media? Are the humans questioning how the human victims were attacked? What have you heard in your observations, Morgana?”
“Well, the word is they are still bear attacks. The number of attacks has lessened, so the humans still believe what the local authorities are telling them.”
“Good, good,” Randalf said, continuing to type. “The rest of The Council will be pleased to hear the humans have not grown suspicious.”
“Randalf, would you like to stay for dinner?” Vivienne asked entering the room. “You’ll be able to finish the rest of the report for the other Elders.”
“Certainly, Vivienne, though I don’t care much for human food.” Randalf glanced at Morgana. “But it’ll give me more of a chance to finish the report.”
“We’ll have blood, don’t worry.” Vivienne nodded. “The food is mostly for Morgana’s sake. Why don’t we all adjourn to the dining room, then?” she said brightly, moving her arms in the direction of the dining room.
They all sat around the large rectangular, dark-stained wood dining table. Oscar took the head of the table, Randalf was seated to his right. Morgana left the other chair next to Oscar for Vivienne then sat nearest to her seat.
The roast lamb with baked vegetables spread out before them smelled delicious. Even for a vampire, Vivienne was an excellent cook. She said her skills came from when she was human and had improved in the four hundred years she’d been alive.
Randalf complimented Vivienne.
“Yes, dear, you seem to have outdone yourself tonight,” Oscar added, winking at his wife.
“Thank you, boys, it was no effort at all.” Vivienne smiled, pleased with their compliments.
Morgana rolled her eyes. She moodily stabbed the tender meat with her fork. She placed the meat in her mouth, grinding her food in her teeth.
“This blood is a fine drop,” Randalf spoke again. He was holding his glass of blood, swirling it around.
“Ah, yes,” said Oscar, holding up his glass, swirling the blood to appreciate the bouquet like a wine connoisseur. “I believe this is a rare blood type by a young human in their early twenties. Fit and healthy this human was.”
“Mmm-hmm,” said Randalf, taking a sip. “Very nice, indeed.”
“Glad you like it, there’s plenty more where that came from.”
“Pity it couldn’t have come fresh from the human itself.”
Morgana nearly choked on the carrot she was chewing on. Randalf’s comment was quite crude, given their line of work.
“Would you like a refill, Randalf?” Vivienne asked him, offering out her hand for the glass.
“Don’t mind if I do, Vivienne,” replied Randalf. “This blood is just so young and robust.”
Morgana took a sip of the blood from her glass. She nodded to herself, it was sweet. The human must have been fit and healthy, the blood tasted so fresh and vibrant, even after being stored in a blood bag. She looked up to see Randalf staring at her. He hadn’t touched his food at all.
“It’s nice, isn’t it, Morgana?” He tipped his glass.
“Yes, it’s not bad, not bad at all.” She placed another forkful of potato in her mouth.
Randalf smiled at her, raising his refilled glass. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her—it was making her uncomfortable.
Morgana quickly finished her meal. “If you’ll excuse me, I have more work to do.” She quickly wiped her mouth with her napkin, then rose from the table. Randalf also rose from his chair.
“Morgana, may I have a quick word?”
Morgana sighed. “If you insist.”
“Excuse me, Oscar and Vivienne, I won’t be long,” said Randalf, wiping at his mouth with his napkin. He followed Morgana into the living room. She spun around to face him not realizing she was inches
from his face. She took a step back, glaring at him.
“What do you want, Randalf?”
“I want to know what’s wrong with you? You don’t seem like your cheery self?”
Morgana rolled her eyes. “What, are you afraid your best agent won’t cut it out in the field?”
“No, I’m worried about my friend.”
“It’s nothing to worry about.”
“Look, I know the killing of our kind can take its toll out on you. So if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here to listen. I don’t even have to be in close proximity, either,” he added as a joke, tugging at his ear.
Despite herself, Morgana grinned. “It’s not about being out there. I love being an agent. I know what we’re doing is for the greater good… controlling vampires.” She sat back and lifted her head, locking eyes with him. “Do you miss being out in the field?”
“Yes, sometimes, I do. But The Council would exile me if I went back out there, work politics and all that. One thing I do miss is you.” He stepped closer.
Morgana snorted, holding her palm out to stop him. “Don’t. The last thing I need right now is unrequited love complicating this mission.” The number of times Gareth had distracted her was already too much. Also, the last thing she needed was to get involved with Randalf again. Their problem wasn’t a lack of passion, but too much, and how much of it he also had for other vampires. Besides, neither of them wanted to concede to the other. Both wanted to be the Alpha.
“We wouldn’t be complicating anything. We could pick back up where we left off.”
Morgana shook her head. “A reconciliation isn’t in the cards for us. All I want to do is finish this, hand in my report, and get re-assigned.”
“Is it the Daywalker? Did he leave town and break your heart?”
Morgana’s laugh was hollow. “Gareth hasn’t gone anywhere. He and Alastor have a training session with Vivienne tomorrow.”
“I see.” His voice had turned hard.
Morgana arched an eyebrow, something about the change in his tone told her to keep talking. “I prefer just to work and be alone.”
“No one can be alone forever, Morgana.” His face softening, he held his hand out to her.
Morgana stepped away. “I can.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next morning, Morgana looked up from her desk in the campaign office. The smell of artificial strawberries wafted toward her.
“Ava, hi.” She stood, walking around her desk “What are you doing here?”
Ava walked toward her smiling, “Hi, Morgana. Phyllis wanted the final say on the editorial piece I’m doing on Oscar.” She scrunched her nose.
“Yeah, Phyllis is a piece of work.” Morgana tilted her head. “Her office is over there. You know you could have just emailed it in, save you from facing her wrath.”
“I know, I usually would have, but I actually came down to see you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I was wondering if you were free for a chat?”
Morgana glimpsed at the wall clock. “Yeah, I’m due for a break, though I doubt Phyllis would agree.”
“We can get coffees and go for a walk if you like?”
“Sure, sounds good.” Morgana grabbed her handbag and coat.
***
They ordered their coffees from the same café where Morgana had spied on Alastor and Ava. They wandered toward the old oak in the town center. Morgana curled her lip up at the corner. Great, another reminder of men causing me emotional turmoil.
Ava must have seen her face. “Don’t be so hard on him, Morgana.”
“Hard on who?”
Ava snickered. “Sure… who. Thing is, Gareth has a lot of trouble trusting women. I suppose he told you about Mariza.”
“Yes,” Morgana said stiffly.
“Well, then you can understand how difficult it is for him. It’s taken all this time for him to trust me. And were only friends.”
Morgana sighed. “I understand where all of his issues are coming from, and I would have been patient with him. But he didn’t have to compare me to Mariza.”
“I heard you know her. That’s wild. How?”
“I really don’t like talking about it.”
“Fair enough.” Ava sipped her coffee. “Any news on the Forest Clan?”
“No,” replied Morgana, glad for the change in subject, “Every time we search the forest, we get no closer to finding them. We must have searched every square inch of the forest floor.”
“Could they be moving around the forest to put you off?”
“We’ve considered it, but they’d have to leave some sort of clue behind.”
“What if they don’t actually live on the forest floor?” Ava’s eyes lit up as a thought came to her. “I mean, think about it, Morgana. You can never find them on the ground. and you say the trails go cold after a while which is perplexing. Maybe they are living in the treetops.”
“It does make sense, but why would a vampire live in the trees?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s for their safety. You haven’t found them, so obviously, it’s working. When do you usually go scouting?”
“During the day or early evening. It’s usually when most of the attacks have occurred.”
“Maybe this Forest Clan are Night Dwellers.”
“Still doesn’t explain why most attacks have been during the day.”
“Sure, that’s when the bodies are found, but based on the coroner’s reports, the bodies have been dead for several hours before they were found.”
“Well, now this bit of information would have been handy information to have known sooner,” Morgana said sarcastically.
“Sorry,” Ava blushed. “I’m so used to covering up information. I also had to find out if I could trust you.”
“Understandable.” Morgana nodded. “The most recent attack on the teenagers was at night. Maybe we’ve been searching at the wrong time of day. It does seem to make sense now. The presence of the strange vampire was there on the night you invited me over for dinner.” Morgana chewed her bottom lip deep in thought. “I’ll have to run this by Oscar and Randalf, see what they say. This could be the tip we’ve needed. Thanks, Ava.”
Ava smiled.
“I have to head back to the office now, but I’ll talk to you later?”
Ava nodded. “Of course. If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here for you, Morgana.”
“Thanks, Ava. I appreciate it.” Morgana smiled, walking away.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Morgana strapped the stake holster around her waist.
“Where are you going, darling?” Vivienne grunted, blocking a punch from Gareth.
“I have a feeling I should go out on patrol this evening. Ava has an interesting theory about the Forest Clan living in the treetops.”
“Seems a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it?” Gareth huffed.
“Maybe, but it’s the only lead we have. If we find the lair of the Forest Clan, then we can better assess the situation.”
It had also been too quiet lately with the Forest Clan. There had been no attacks in the last couple of weeks, which made her especially suspicious. She had a gut feeling something terrible was going to occur any day. She always trusted her instincts because they were usually right.
She doused herself in wolfsbane. If the Clan did indeed live in the treetops, it would help if they didn’t sense her approaching.
Gareth and Vivienne wound up their training session. Gareth approached her, just as she finished spraying the wolfsbane.
He wrinkled his nose but said nothing. His blue eyes just watched her.
At first, she didn’t want to look at him. She was still smarting from the other night. But she could feel his warmth and smell him. Why, oh, why, did he have to be so good-looking?
“Take me with you,” he said after a long period of silence stretched between them.
“What?” her eyes snapped to his.
“Take me with
you into the forest.”
Morgana shook her head. “There’s no way I’m taking a novice along.” She’d sneered the word novice.
“Will you drop the novice bit already? Haven’t I proven myself these last few months? Besides, how else am I going to get experience if I’m not out there?” He pointed to the wall facing the forest.
“Morgana, he does have a point,” said Vivienne from the other side of the room, trying to give them some space.
Morgana’s mouth thinned. Great, now her mother was on his side.
“Fine.” She placed another stake in her holster. “You can trail along. But if a vampire attacks, leave them to me.”
“Morgana.” Vivienne gave her a disapproving look.
Morgana sighed. “All right, how about if I weaken him up for you, and then you can finish him off.”
Gareth raised an eyebrow. “If a vampire attacks me, I’m going to fight back.” He leaned toward her. “And I’m going to kill it.”
***
Morgana and Gareth entered the forest looking for a good tree to climb to begin their search.
“Alastor will not be happy about missing this,” Morgana said.
Gareth whispered, “But he’s out of town on our blood raid.”
“Why didn’t you go, too?” she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. This patrol would go a lot stealthier if she were on her own, she thought. Her ninja skills would come in handy when she needed to jump from tree to tree without making any noise. Both Gareth and Alastor weren’t quite ready yet. Vivienne had yet to train them in the art of being stealthy.
Gareth rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I didn’t want to go,” he mumbled. “I wanted to talk to you about the other night.”
The Van Wilden Chronicles Box Set Books 1-3 Page 17