“Apep,” the Wraith mused. “And would it surprise you to know that in the past the Wraiths have served the god known as Apep? That he has already approached us and demanded our loyalty once more?”
Cold dread sank into Kamen’s bones. He had not even considered a possibility like this. A Nightwalker race working in tandem with Apep? That would be catastrophic. Especially if it kept the twelve Nightwalker races from coming together and ending the curse among them. From ending Apep’s existence.
He took a step back, dropping his shield so he could reach back and take hold of Viève’s hand. He then raised the shield around them both, protecting them from the Wraith if necessary.
“I would say you are fools to obey an imp god. He may need you now, but the moment he tires of you or grows angry with you he will strike you down without any thought. Everything is disposable to him and he produces carnage wherever he goes. The imp god brings only chaos with him. His goal is to create havoc for the sake of his own entertainment. How long before it is you providing that entertainment, Doyen?”
The Wraith smiled. “So, you know who I am? What gave me away?”
“Your demeanor. Your inside knowledge of the god.” Kamen waved all of that off. “My offer of peace is genuine. All eleven of the other Nightwalkers wish to strike an accord with you.”
“Eleven? There are only five.”
“There are eleven. The other six are hidden from us by a curse. A curse that can only be broken with the Wraiths’ cooperation. Please, Doyen, see reason.”
“I am seeing reason. I am seeing that it is best we not get in the middle of all of this. If Apep strikes at us we will strike back. We will not serve him and we will not serve you.”
“Surely you can see the danger in refusing to serve him?” Kamen said. “He will grow furious and attack you. It is better that you have the power of the joined Nightwalker races to protect you.”
“And all of the Nightwalkers are banded together?”
“All but three. The Wraiths, the Mysticals, and the Phoenixes. They are next on my list. Once I convince you, I will move on to them. I thought I would start with the most difficult first.”
“Wise choice. If we fail to strike this accord then it is fruitless for you to go to the others.”
“No. I will go anyway. Eleven united races are better than nothing. But old testaments show that only together can we break this curse and defeat this god.”
The Doyen moved farther into the room then took a seat on a chair. He crossed his legs and leaned back comfortably.
“I’ll tell you what. If you get all eleven races together, then the Wraiths will join you as well. But I have no fear of this happening. The Mysticals and the Phoenixes are insular, selfish races. They will not want to join you any more than I do.”
“That is your answer then? If I get all eleven races to come to the table you will join as well?”
The Doyen seemed to think on it a moment.
“You have a point, you know. When Apep hears we will not serve him he will attack us. I must do something to protect my people from this. If joining your band of merry men is the only way, then I am open to it. But it is as you say. We must all come together and I do not think you will be able to pull it off.”
“I will. I will and I will prove it to you,” Kamen said strongly.
“Take the half-breed with you on your journey to the Phoenix and Mystical courts. Half-breed, you will report to me when you verify all eleven races have come to the table. Do you understand? Fail me and there will be repercussions.”
“I-I will not fail you,” Viève said meekly.
“Good. Now get out of my house.”
Viève didn’t waste any time. She pushed off with her feet and before he knew it he was rushing upward…through metal, through earth, through sand. They popped up to where they had started and Kamen felt the need to let go of her hand and draw a full breath. Moving through earth like that was disconcerting.
Suddenly, Viève rounded on him.
“What have you gotten me into?” she spat at him.
“You have gotten yourself into this. You could have denied me at any time.”
“You didn’t give me much choice!”
“You had many choices. You made the right ones, Viève. This peace accord is vital to all of our species. Because of you we can begin to bring it together. We can begin to fight the god Apep. You have brought hope where before there was none. You have opened your people up to a new way of living.”
Viève’s mouth dropped open a little. “I’ve done all of that? All I did was bring you here.”
“You’ve seen peace in me. You’ve imagined peace for your people. Otherwise you would never have brought me here.”
Viève thought on that a moment, then she gave a reluctant nod. “I suppose that’s true. If I didn’t believe you none of this would have happened. And I do want there to be peace between our people. I would like to live in a world where we aren’t afraid of one another. Maybe I would fit into a world like that a little better.”
“You don’t fit into the world now?”
She shook her head. “You heard him. I’m a half-breed. Half-breeds are not held in much esteem.”
“Half-bred with what?”
“A Wraith and a human.”
“And how did that work?”
“My mother was a Wraith, my father human. She says it was a moment of weakness. That she craved him at first sight and came to him as if in a dream. She says she wishes she had never done it because ever since she has been branded with her half-bred child. She would be quit of me if she thought any other house would have me. So…I keep my head down and try to make myself useful. The useful half-breed instead of the plain old derided half-breed.”
“That is a terrible way to live,” Kamen said.
“As long as I look different, it is the only way for me.”
“But you have all the abilities of a Wraith. The only thing different about you is the way you look. That is all.”
“It is enough,” she said with a simple shrug.
Chapter 4
Jasmine was lying indolently on her bed as she watched her husband, Adam, walk out of the bathroom, fresh from his shower. A cloud of steam followed him out of the bath and she smiled. He was a Water Demon, which meant that he had control over everything H2O. He could create it out of thin air, he could manipulate it into any shape, he could make it rain or make it fog. Anything from mist to downpour—although not a hurricane. He would need to work in unison with a Wind Demon in order for that to happen. But he could freeze it or boil it.
That allowed him to make his shower as hot as he could possibly bear, which was pretty damn hot. It created a fair amount of steam.
He was tall and huge in comparison to most men. Much larger than his more athletically built brother Jacob, an Earth Demon. But the brothers shared the same brown—almost black—hair color and very similar, though far from identical, facial features. In Jasmine’s opinion, Adam was the more handsome of the brothers, which included Kane, their youngest brother, who sported the same coloring and similar features.
Kane, a Mind Demon, and his Druid wife, Corrine, a curvaceous redhead who was sister to Jacob’s wife, had arrived at the compound in Portales, New Mexico, only a week earlier. They had been sent there by Noah, the Demon King, who felt that there needed to be more of a showing of the Demon and Druid races just in case this god Apep decided to appear. Maybe next time they would have a sporting chance against him.
Jasmine sat up in bed, crossing her legs and propping herself up with straight arms behind her. She gave her husband a once-over, taking in his damp skin and the white towel slung low over his hips. She traced the provocative line of hair leading down from his navel until it was cut off by the white of the towel.
Darn, she thought.
“I know that look,” Adam said with a grin.
“What look? I don’t have a look.”
“Yes, you do, my Vampire b
ride. You have that look that kept us in our room for the entire two weeks of our honeymoon.”
She grinned. “And so what if I do?” She reached out and touched his taut belly, trailing manicured fingernails over the ridges of his abdomen. He hissed in a breath.
“Your fingers are like ice. You need to feed, my darling.”
“Ugh. Don’t call me that. We’ll start sounding like one of those sappy little couples who are so in love with each other it makes everyone around them sick to their stomachs.”
“But we are so in love with each other. It’s a hard, freaky kind of love, but it’s still love.”
“Do you have to remind me?” she said with an eye roll. Then she looked at him and chuckled. “How did you ever convince me of this? This whole mating thing?”
“It wasn’t easy,” he said, bending down so he was nose to nose with her, their breath mingling. Jasmine’s belly tightened with anticipation. “But I managed to get you eventually.”
He leaned in and caught her mouth with his, kissing her deeply. Then he broke off with an “Ugh!”
“Ugh?” she cried indignantly.
“You’re cold. You need to feed. How did you let it get so bad?”
“There aren’t exactly a lot of humans floating around. I can’t use the ones here…I’d drain them dry in a week. I have to go into town. And it’s such a small town.”
“Not that small. I’m sure there are plenty of buffet items to choose from.”
“Female buffet only. You won’t let me drink from any male except you.”
“Well, as I see it you have two choices. You run into town or…” He bared his neck to her.
Jasmine went immediately wet with desire, her body screaming with two very different types of hunger.
“I can’t keep feeding from you, even if you are a Nightwalker and can heal from it quickly. Nightwalker blood is very rich and very powerful. Too powerful. It’s too easy to get addicted.”
“I don’t mind, as long as you are only addicted to me.”
A slow smile curled her lips. “You do have a point. It’s no different than being addicted to chocolate, except chocolate can make your ass fat.”
“I’m not going to make your ass fat.”
“Not yet…but give it another three or four months.”
Adam frowned. “I don’t like it. I don’t like you being here when you’re—”
“We talked about this. Like, a hundred times. I’m pregnant, not fragile.”
“Yes, but…”
“Geez. First-time fathers are such a pain in the ass.”
“First time mothers are stubborn as hell.”
“I can’t believe you talked me into this whole parenting thing.”
“I didn’t talk you into anything! We just…we’ve never exactly been careful about these things. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
“I refused to allow my body to get pregnant. I’m a Vampire. I can do that.”
This took him by surprise. “You can?”
“How do you think I managed to stay un-pregnant all these years?”
“So that means…this wasn’t an accident? You planned for this?”
She bit her lip and looked unsure for the first time in a long time. “Is that all right?”
“Hell yes, it’s all right! I just thought we were like Damien and Syreena, unable to conceive because…I don’t know…because we’re from different species.”
“Damien and Syreena couldn’t conceive because of a curse. But they have now, so all is right with the world.”
“Any word yet? She was supposed to drop that kid a week ago.”
“You know it’s hard to tell about these things when it comes to cross-species reproduction. Lycanthrope pregnancies are almost as long as Demon pregnancies while Vampire pregnancies are about as long as human ones. He’s a Vampire, she’s a Lycanthrope, anything in between is possible. The same will happen for us.”
“Us.” He smiled. “Thank you. For us.”
She smiled back at him. “I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. And I haven’t…for over five centuries. I never wanted to. Until you.”
“But you won’t change my mind about you being here. I don’t like it. I can easily talk to Noah and have him send someone else in our stead.”
“If you refuse an order from the Demon King, he’s going to want to know why. And I don’t want everyone to know just yet. Vampires miscarry a lot. Especially in the first few months. Once we get past the first trimester we’ll tell everyone.”
“You don’t think you’ll be showing by then?”
“There are ways of hiding that.”
He snorted. “Not for you. You flaunt this tight ass and that belly chain as much as you can.”
Jasmine pouted. “My belly chain. I’m going to miss it.”
“So am I,” he said with a little growl. “Now c’mon. Feed. It can’t be good for the baby to let yourself get this cold.”
“All right. I’ll go into town.” She pushed him back and got out of bed. “I’ll see if anyone wants to come with me. I think some of us are going a little stir crazy.”
“We’re going to have a battle-readiness training session today. I’ll whip the boredom right out of them.”
“I’m sure you will. I look forward to it.”
“Jas…” he complained.
“If I don’t play with the others they’ll wonder why. I’ll be all right, I promise.”
“You better be.”
She waved at him over her shoulder and went into the bathroom to shower. The hot water helped to warm her extremities.
Vampire body heat worked like a bull’s-eye. When they fed they warmed from the center of their bodies outward toward their extremities. As the day wore on, the extremities began to cool in slow degrees, the center of the body remaining warm the longest. She had not fed for the better part of two days, so she was pretty cold. Adam was right. She couldn’t allow this to happen again. No one knew what caused Vampire pregnancies to fail so often, and she wasn’t going to give hers any opportunity for weakness. She had been foolish. She wouldn’t be again. This baby was too important to her. To them.
Once she was showered she went back into the bedroom. Her husband was now dressed, much to her disappointment. But it wouldn’t be fair to ask him to make love to what amounted to a cadaver in coldness. All the passion in the world couldn’t change the feeling of making love to a Popsicle.
She got dressed and gave him a quick kiss—one that lingered into the promise of something warmer later on—then left their rooms.
There were three houses in the compound. The main house had been set aside for Second Faction residents. The second house had been put aside for First Faction. The third was an overflow for Gargoyles, humans, and anyone else who needed rooms.
Technically the two factions could share space and not even know the other was there…except for the small detail of clothing and belongings. Those were not a part of the curse so they would end up sharing drawer space. It was a wonder the factions hadn’t figured this out years ago, but it wasn’t surprising. Each race of Nightwalkers seemed to have its own area of origin and they tended to stick to that area. None of the areas seemed to overlap between First and Second Factions. And since most Nightwalkers didn’t associate with humans, it had never come up why two people couldn’t see each other.
The Druid Bella had found the prophecy about the twelve races of Nightwalkers written in ancient Aramaic by human hands, which was why others had been able to read the scroll as well. If it had been written by anyone affected by the curse, there was a good chance they would never have found it at all.
Strange that human writings had found their way into the great Demon and Druid library. Stranger still that humans were accurately prophesizing about Nightwalkers. Bella had put it down to fate and the unexplainable…or an act of some very mischievous gods. Who knew why? It was what it was. And it was for the better. The writings Kamen had found yesterday
had been written in ancient Egyptian. Also, presumably, by human hands. A bit of luck, that. Again, how had such works found their way into the Bodywalker archives? How had humans known?
But those were just two lines of writing in vast amounts of scrolls and literature. And it was all they had found. Now they were acting on just these two small references. What other choice did they have?
Jasmine went into the kitchen, the hub of the household, and found Corrine and Bella chatting over their morning coffee. Her sisters-in-law. She had never been the sorority type, having always been a loner with the exception of Damien, the Vampire Prince. They had moved through the centuries together for as long as she could remember.
But she found she liked these two women. They could be a little giggly and cute every once in a while, but Jasmine was willing to forgive that. She brushed a hand over her belly, her secret burning at her conscience. She probably ought to have at least shared the news with her family members, but she had to admit she was too afraid to. She had never been a superstitious person, but she didn’t want to do anything to jinx herself.
“Hey,” she greeted them, going for the coffeemaker. Hot coffee ought to warm her up at least a little bit. But the fact was the moon was high, she had risen late, and she was hungry. What were the odds she would find someone wandering around the streets of Portales in the middle of the night? She was used to living in or near cities where people were up at all hours. This small town living was the pits when it came to getting a decent meal.
“I’m headed into town, anyone want to come?” Jasmine said.
“Feeling peckish?” Bella asked knowingly.
“A touch,” Jasmine said with a grin. “Has anyone else arrived from our faction? Noah and Damien and Siena, our lovely Lycanthrope Queen, keep sending warm and not so warm bodies,” she said.
“They’re doing what leaders should be doing in a case like this. The Mistrals don’t have a leader, but they’ve sent the Siren Windsong and her protégée Lyric to represent them. Hopefully their ability to stun with the sound of their voices will come in handy in a pitched battle. You can bet Apep will bring all those Templars with him and who knows who else. Maybe even humans. God, what will we do then? What do we do to misguided and stupid humans? Kill them?” Bella shuddered. “I hope not.”
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