Worst case, she was here to unseat Cossette as the eldest vampire and sought territory for her coven. Alex thought that a lot more likely, even though, for someone to be older than Cossette…
He should know who this person was. And as she’d said, he had no idea.
“My name is Lucia, Queen of Vampires.” She held her palm aloft, where a curious object appeared and hovered. It appeared to be an opaque, glass sphere set within a silver-plated sundial carved with several tiny symbols. “The only Sorceress of vampire kind.”
Several tiny bolts of lightning connected her fingertips to the orb, which spun even at rest. Alex looked to Cossette, who smiled up at him and gestured as if saying “isn’t this cool?”
He raised a brow, skeptical. This woman could be an elaborate fraud, except he knew a vampire’s aura when he felt it.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak with you all. Thank you for coming with such haste,” Lucia continued. “Listen closely, for I shall not repeat myself. Long ago, I was crowned queen of our people. Back when we were stronger but less numerous. Observe my illusions.” She gestured to the table, nudging aside cups and decanters of wine with just a whim.
Light swirled in a little tornado, particles separating and becoming a moving, three-dimensional image of an island as seen from above. One third was taken up by a palace with impossibly tall spires of white stone. Alex recognized it as the island that’d recently come up from the ocean, but nothing was as pristine as the image Lucia provided them. “Behold Nyixa. For centuries, I have slumbered, and it slumbered with me. It was once a paradise for vampires. Until I was betrayed.”
“Queen Lucia, I think you should tell them everything you told me,” Cossette suggested. “I didn’t know any of it, and everyone in this room is younger than me.”
“A complicated history lesson, condensed for your pleasure.” Lucia inclined her veiled head Cossette’s way. With a gesture, she changed the image of the island to a creature that stirred disgust amongst those in the room.
“What is that thing?” Coven Master Washington said, nearly falling out of his chair as he reared backward.
On instinct, Alex’s gaze flashed to Kim Cox, who was rubbing her neck with an uneasy expression on her face. She’d asked those very words not too long ago but showed no recognition of this creature.
It was humanoid but hard to mistaken for anything but a monster. With overdeveloped legs for leaping and clawed hands braced on the table, it sat back on its haunches with a waiting expression. It had a Cheshire grin of pure fangs, sharp triangles neatly closing together with no overlaps. More chillingly, its eyes resembled black pools of ink, bottomless pits ringed in black veins.
“That is a Fell,” Lucia said, letting them all get their fill of the monster. “Before your forefathers could even dream of a place called America, these creatures roamed our world, indiscriminately killing and consuming any living things they encountered down to bones. There was no reasoning with them. They were their hunger, sparing no man, woman, or child. They destroyed their world in their great hunger, so they came to our lands via portals to do the same to us.”
“Never seen that in a history book,” Sam commented to him.
“Maybe in a horror movie?” Alex suggested. They shared an uneasy mental laugh.
“Early vampires were not willing converts. They were fighters, the type of warriors that survived fighting creatures like this just to have Fell blood burn into their veins like acid. From this horror emerged the first generation of vampires, blessed with the strength and resilience to fight these creatures but cursed with their bloodlust.”
Lucia dismissed the image of the Fell with a flick of her fingers, replacing it with something even more gruesome. Mangled bodies, Fell and vampire alike, coated a battlefield stained red with blood. The only pristine thing was a massive version of Lucia’s magical object stabbing toward a pitch-black sky. The glass orb’s surface seemed to sparkle with its own radiance.
“Of the war, all you need to know is that we won at great cost. Of our army of thousands, only eight survived and became our nobility. They also started our bloodlines, such as they seem to be.” Her voice was layered with scorn.
She changed the image to one showing several strangers in formal wear lined up for a portrait. Tall and muscular men, with the exception of a burly, redheaded woman. In the center, a bearded man with piercing black eyes stood with his arm around a lithe woman in silver, reminiscent of Lucia, except without the veil. She was, apparently, a gorgeous brunette with a mysterious half-smile and eyes the color of polished silver.
“Are you seeing this?” he asked Sam. “Her eyes.”
“Might be the bogeywoman Julian’s dad talked about,” he said.
“She might have something to do with Violet!”
“How? She take a side-trip to Ohio or something?”
Alex sighed to himself. “It’s our best lead right now.”
“For a time, we had peace. We rebuilt and prospered on the island the Fell left behind. But you see, we had an advisor who schemed against vampire kind. On the day I finally took a husband, she saw fit to poison us all.” Lucia showed a moving image now, straight from the movie of her mind. Those same strong men drank wine, just to fall over, asleep, paralyzed, or dead moments later. Lucia herself collapsed, looking into the face of an older woman as she loomed over her.
“That poison sent me into a coma for many years. And with my sleep, Nyixa sank, drowning thousands of vampires and plunging our kind into an age of darkness. All because of my rogue advisor, Gwendolyn Firetree, who, to this day, waits to stir chaos. I believe it’s because of her that you have forgotten our past.” She waved her hand before slamming her fist into the table, knocking a glass into Master Wagner, who fumbled and nearly dropped it in her distraction.
Alex had never seen New York City’s motley crew of coven leadership so enraptured. If anyone spoke, they did as he had with his deputy, keeping it to mental conversation. “Do you know what I see in modern vampire kind? We have become a weak people, scattered, afraid, and outnumbered by the people who should serve us. Mortals. The world crawls with them now.”
Trepidation crawled up Alex’s neck. Anytime an older vampire moved to expose their kind to mortals, the rest invariably turned against them. But they’d never had such an old and powerful Ancient calling for it. Uneasy looks were exchanged as Lucia paused for effect.
“And what happens to our kind while mortals thrive? We fight. We kill each other for resources and land, dividing like little countries. We separate into groups based off ideology and ambition.” She gestured to Collins, who inclined his head. “Or what country we came from before arriving here.” Now, she indicated Alex, Cossette, and several others with immigrant roots.
“My people did not have warring covens. We had purpose as a nation. My heart aches that you have not seen or experienced this.” She touched a hand to her chest, sighing in reverence for her memories. “I wish to rebuild this. No coven boundaries, no coven war. A world where we are all free to live, love, and exist as one nation with one unifying purpose.”
And that purpose is enslaving humankind, he thought. But she didn’t say it, merely gestured grandly and created a hole in the air. “This is a portal. I came with gifts for you all for hearing me out and considering my proposition. Are you all willing to work together and accept me as your queen? Consider it. I have chosen to grace New York City as my new seat of power.”
From the portal floated letters and boxes. One of each settled in front of every coven master. Alex eyed his like she’d placed a venomous snake before him. “I recommend you open your gifts in private. Unless you have questions for me, you may go. I look forward to meeting you all more personally in the coming days.”
Alex didn’t move, watching who flinched first. It was Coven Master Taylor, adjusting her power suit as she said her pleasantries and quickly left. Lucia sat and cradled a cup of wine, not taking any sips from it.
“Your gift may require some explanation, Elder Rehnquist,” Lucia said to him privately as she spoke casually with Elder Rockefeller and Collins. “The letter is for your lifemate. But the potion, it is for you.”
“A potion?” he replied. She’d already displayed an understanding of their names and titles, but his inner beast hissed the moment “lifemate” was mentioned.
“Another lost art, I’m afraid. It is the gift of age, my new friend. You drink it, it makes you more powerful. I only had half a vial left…but who better to give it to than someone who needs a leg up on a religious fanatic?”
He picked up the letter, realizing it was much heftier than a couple sheets of paper. “Well, thank you. That sounds too good to be true,” he said, biting his lip as he went to mention something she’d shown of herself earlier. Better to ask, he reasoned. “You and Violet have the same eyes. They’re very unique, even amongst our kind.”
“Quite lovely. I look forward to meeting her,” she said with vapid pleasantness.
“Do you know why she turned that way?” he asked.
Her veil turned. For a moment, her attention burned into his side. “I can’t help you there. Just a quirk of our biology. But perhaps you should return home to her, hmm? The newly mated are so needy.”
He didn’t correct her, keeping his face completely placid while she was watching. While he had felt the promise of a lifemate in Violet, they were not serious enough to be mates yet. Vampires taking mates was a sacred rite more permanent and influential than marriage. Mates shared everything, including thoughts and emotions, and could only break the bond if one of them died. He was willing to take the dismissal instead, saying his goodbyes and leaving with Sam.
“She knows far too much about us. I don’t trust this,” he confided to Sam privately. “Actually, I think that’s shaving the bloody iceberg. I want her gone from New York.”
His deputy and best friend glanced up from his phone, his skin blanching. “I agree and all, but we need to get home. Another Ancient is in the mansion right now.”
Chapter 20
Violet
AS IF HIS presence truly scared the voice off, it returned moments after Alex left the mansion. “It’s almost time. At last.”
Violet froze mid-hello to the men who’d come to keep coven life running smoothly. Armando and stony-faced Julian were the only two that didn’t hasten to work somewhere else in the residence. They were, she assumed, there to guard her.
“Cat got your tongue, amica?” Armando said. The two men exchanged a glance.
“No, it’s fine.” She sounded distracted even to her own ears. “Are you here to watch me or something?”
“More the estate,” Julian said. “Strange things happen during all-coven meetings. A rogue group breaking the Accords for their coven’s benefit is not unheard of.”
“Why don’t you sit with us, though?” Armando offered. He ventured into the kitchen to brew coffee while Julian settled in the front sitting room, crossing ankle over knee casually as he fiddled with what looked like a remote. Above the dining table was a flat-screen television, which turned on with the black-and-white view of several cameras around the property. The only motion was greenery waving to a light breeze.
Violet closed her eyes, focusing on that voice and how it’d felt in her mind. “Hello?” she projected blindly.
There was no response. She startled when Armando slid a cup in front of her. “Whoa.” He laughed, slapping her on the back. “It really is okay. No need for the jitters. Think you should have this? It’s good Italian coffee. Brewed with care. Bellissimo.” He put his fingertips to his lips, blowing a kiss.
Across from her, Julian took a sip from a similar cup without a hint of creamer. His lips pinched. “Alex’s coffee maker is still broken.”
Armando’s face fell as he tried his. “Damn. I guess he doesn’t drink coffee.”
“Usually it’s tea,” Violet ventured. She tried what he laid before her and grimaced at the burnt flavor.
“Where we’re from, tea is medicine,” Armando said, shrugging and drinking his coffee anyway.
“So, what do you two do to pass the time?” Violet asked, her shoulders tense as she waited if the voice would return or reply. “Cards? Board games? TV’s taken.”
“Poker. We tried something new a few years ago and that went poorly.” Julian took a weathered deck of cards out of one of his pockets.
“It was Cards Against Humanity,” Armando whispered to her.
She muffled a snort as she imagined Julian reacting to some of the cards found in that game. Judging by his description of events, he hadn’t enjoyed it. “You couldn’t start off easy with Apples to Apples or something?” she snickered.
“Why not go out in a blaze of glory instead?” Armando had a thumbs up and a confident grin. He took the deck and began dealing them all a hand.
“Fair enough. Is this a good hand?” she asked, showing them both her cards.
“It was,” Julian said, shaking his head. “Have you not played this before?”
Over the course of the next hour or so, Violet saw a different version of Julian. He opened up as a teacher, smiling and encouraging where it was needed, even sharing a compliment here and there. It was nice to see that he wasn’t always stone-faced duty.
Armando’s attention wavered quickly. He wandered off to go fiddle with the coffee machine. “You two are family, right?” she asked, peering at Julian over her cards.
“He’s my nephew,” he said with a sigh.
She narrowed in on that reaction, frowning behind the thin barrier of her hand. “It’s probably not my business, but are things between you all right?”
His expression shuttered as he considered her question. There was serious calculation and consideration behind his eyes, every word measured. “There’s something you must understand if you ever get to be as old as me.” He set his cards aside for a moment, palms open. “You can love someone and also be sick of them.”
“Oof,” she said under her breath. He certainly didn’t mince words.
“That’s about where he and I are at. He would tell you the same thing,” he continued. “We’re family but two very different people. And we’ve been in the same coven, working the same job in the same place for nearly two centuries now.”
Well, when he put it that way, it took the sting away. She could see exactly how their personalities would clash over such a long time. “So, if we seem frustrated with each other, you know why,” he said.
“Yeah, I get you. Have you considered a break from each other?” she suggested.
“That would imply taking time off from work, and I can rest when I’m dead.” He glanced up at the video feed, and she followed his gaze, seeing nothing amiss. “I recently got a taste of Kim Cox’s blood. You know that means I can track where she is. Armando and I plan to put in many long hours trying to catch her leaving a safe zone.”
“Alex told me Haven’s strongest just exploit safe zones,” she remarked, shifting uncomfortably when reminded that Kim Cox was still at large, completely unpunished for what she’d done to her. She held onto a kernel of gratitude that Julian and Armando would try to bring her to justice.
“They do. But the Accords are amazing otherwise. The fact that they exist and are heavily enforced make us near civilized and stable. The type of things mortals take for granted…I hope you don’t understand this side of immortality any time soon. Be glad you live in a place governed by any sort of laws.”
“I will.” They shared a smile. She was glad she’d tried venturing past his steely façade and saw the man that Alex told tall tales about.
The moment was interrupted by a polite knock on the door.
Julian turned, blue eyes colder than ice. “Identify yourself.”
The newcomer had somehow bypassed every security camera, arriving without a hail of alarm from all the vampires keeping watch elsewhere in the mansion. Violet was not worried at first when she saw an older woman in the doorway,
leaning on a fine lacquered cane as she observed them both through half-moon spectacles. She carried herself with grace despite her physical age, which Violet guessed to be somewhere in her seventies by the many lines marking stern features.
“There’s no need for posturing, young man.” Her voice was refined, holding a hint of an implacable accent. As she stepped forward, the door closed behind her on its own.
Julian was on his feet the next instant, his aura unfurling like a frigid wind. He placed his bulk between her and Violet, palpable danger in the coil of his power. “You are trespassing in a safe zone and will be removed by force.”
“You couldn’t even if you tried, Julian Marcuson.” Her aura spread out from herself. It was far more unpleasant than the brush Violet remembered of Alex’s power, bringing with it the sensation of her skin on fire. Thankfully, she kept it to a brief burst, enough to make Violet’s insides twist up in terror.
“How…? You’re an Ancient.” He and the stranger sized each other up like a pair of feral dogs. The air grew warm again as he pulled in his aura too, no match to her flame of power. His muscles were tense against his form.
“And a friend. If I weren’t, you’d both be dead already. Have a seat, young man. I must speak with your companion.” She spoke matter-of-factly as she held out a hand, a chair skidding into her grip.
Violet’s heart stuttered, but she forced out the words. “I think she’s right, Julian. Let’s hear her out.” She put away her cell phone, which she’d used to text Alex and Sam about this Ancient vampiress. If their meeting was as useless as Alex assumed, they could come running to help.
With obvious reluctance, Julian took up his former seat, staring at the newcomer with unblinking hostility. She settled her skirt and placed her walking cane over her knees before turning Violet’s way. “Are you wearing contacts, my dear? Are your eyes silver?”
Part of her said to lie, but after feeling the Ancient’s aura, she decided against irritating her. “Yes.”
Dream Walker: Blood Legacy Series Book 1 Page 11