League of Vampires Box Set: Books 1- 3

by Rye Brewer

  I reached out and took his hand in mine. I still loved him. I couldn’t help feeling for him. He glanced down at our hands, clasped together, but didn’t say a word. He didn’t let go, either.

  Fane cleared his throat. “I’m going with you because I want to know what the brands mean. I need to know what’s happening to my sons.”

  Jonah shifted from one foot to the other, as though uncomfortable.

  Fane continued, “I want to be there to free you from any danger the brands might mean, too. I have skills which might come in handy.”

  “And then?” Philippa didn’t sound like the petulant party girl anymore.

  “And then, we’ll come back. I’ll go to the penthouse to see Scott—I have to see him at least once—but after that, I’m gone. This time, it has to be forever. We don’t have a choice.”

  “We don’t have a say in whether or not we can see you again?” Gage asked.

  Fane practically snarled. “What about this don’t you understand? I know you want us to be together again, but it’s impossible. Things have changed. I didn’t want it to be this way, but sometimes things have to be the way they are for a reason. It wasn’t in our control whether or not we could stay with you kids, and this isn’t in my control, either. All I can do is keep you safe for as long as I can. Let me do that.”

  “This this about Lucian?” Philippa asked.

  All eyes fell on her, including mine. How did she know?

  “Yes. If he knows you know Fane—and Fane is me—there’s no telling what will happen. He’s the most dangerous vampire in our world, at least when it comes to our family. He’ll stop at nothing to make me pay for what happened a very long time ago.”

  “Haven’t you paid enough?” Philippa’s eyes filled with tears.

  “I’ll never pay enough for him. It will never end.” He stared at the three of them. “I’m sorry. This has nothing to do with you, but he’s making you pay, too.”

  “We can handle it,” Gage said.

  Fane smiled a little. “Yes, it looks like you’ve handled it well so far.” He gestured to the scars on his Gage’s chest. “I won’t let that happen again. You won’t have to pay the price for what I did anymore. You’ll all have to go on like you never saw me once we return from Sorrowswatch. That means telling no one you know about me.”

  Philippa glanced at me. “No one?” I glared at her until I realized it wasn’t me she was talking about. She seemed nervous, distracted.

  “No one. It’s unfortunate that so many others have found out about me already, but there’s nothing we can do now.”

  Philippa chewed her lip over her father’s words. What was she so edgy over?

  “Understand, that this isn’t the way I want things to be, but it’s a way to keep Lucian from you. And to keep him from getting any closer to me.”

  Philippa shook her head. “But, Fath— I mean, Fane. He’s already close to you. You’re in more trouble than you know.”

  19

  Anissa

  What’s that supposed to mean?” Jonah asked. “What are you holding back?”

  Philippa didn’t look at him. She only had eyes for her father. “I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

  “Tell me what?” Fane asked.

  “Lucian has a Special Ops team with one mission. They have to find you… and kill you when they do.” She seemed to almost crumble under the unspoken pressure from her brothers.

  Their eyes practically bored holes into her.

  She sucked air in. “They’re close, or they were from what I last heard.”

  “How do you know about this?” Gage asked.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does,” Jonah said. “How can you say it doesn’t? I mean, do you know whether your contact knows what they’re talking about? Can you trust them? Why would they even tell you?”

  “Stop questioning me,” she warned before crossing her arms over herself. “I can’t tell you, all right? But yes, my contact is reliable. They wouldn’t lie to me. They don’t know who Fane is to me, and that’s the only reason they shared information.” There was still an edge to her voice, as always. Like she dared any of them to try to get more out of her. But under that pointedness, there was something else.

  I wondered if I was the only one who heard it. A vulnerability. Softness. I remembered the way she was when we first met. The ultimate party girl. All sharp edges. Defiant.

  There was an intensity to her that hadn’t been there before, too. Like the attack on the roof—I was sure she’d thought about ripping my throat out before. Her animosity had been barely concealed. But she hadn’t gone through with it until then. Claws around my neck. Eyes that spat fire. She’d wanted to kill me. Nothing less.

  What happened to her?

  Fane held up his hands to quiet his sons, who hadn’t stopped asking questions even though Philippa had told them to. “Enough. Don’t worry about the Special Ops team. They’re nothing.”

  “Are you sure?” Jonah asked. “You want us to believe Lucian’s Special Ops team isn’t a threat?”

  “This isn’t the first time somebody’s tried to find me. I’ve always managed to stay safe before now. Staying out of sight is something I’ve become pretty good at.” He glanced at Sirene, who’d been standing off to the side the whole time.

  She smiled.

  “We’ve worked hard at keeping him out of sight,” she said. “That’s why we’re here right now. No one can access this realm, since they can’t use witch passages.”

  “All I have to do is get back here and know you all will stick to the story that you’ve never seen me. Not since I first disappeared.”

  “We’ll do everything we can,” Sirene confirmed. “You don’t have to worry.”

  I could tell from the expressions on the Bourke faces this wasn’t enough to convince them. It was easy to feel sorry for Sirene—she was only doing her best to work as a member of the team, but the three of them weren’t impressed because of Fane’s relationship with her.

  Allonic cleared his throat. “I don’t want to intrude, but…”

  Fane looked relieved for the interruption. “You’re right. We need to move out. Are you ready?”

  My brother turned to Sirene, who nodded. The two of them stood together.

  “You can’t do this alone?” Gage asked.

  “No. It takes more than my powers alone,” Sirene explained as she raised her arms.

  When she did, I caught sight of the swell of her belly under her robes. My heart ached for her. How much longer did she have? Was she afraid? It didn’t appear that way. She seemed calm, even happy. She was clearly concerned for Fane and the rest of us, maybe—which only made my stomach turn when I remembered how cold Jonah had been earlier. He didn’t care about her, the baby, or anything that related to her.

  Allonic raised his arms, too, and the two of them closed their eyes.

  I was sure none of us breathed as we watched.

  There was a feeling in the air, something different. It stirred for the first time since I’d arrived here and felt cool against my skin. A point of light appeared in the air in front of where the two of them stood and slowly grew. It was hypnotic.

  I watched with awe as it swirled and danced. The extreme darkness all around it only made it seem brighter.

  Fane took a step forward. “Sirene can only hold it by herself for a few moments, so Allonic will be the last to go through. Let’s hurry. We’ll need him to conserve as much strength as possible.”

  Jonah nudged me forward.

  I looked back at Sirene before stepping through. I felt sorry for the little half-blood baby growing inside her. Life was difficult enough for a half-blood vampire, but to grow up without a mother’s protection? I’d never forget those early days after we were sure our mother had died in the Fire. We’d been so scared and alone, and nobody wanted anything to do with us because of Mom’s relationship with my father. I didn’t know that at the time, which only made things worse. Why
were the other members of our clan rejecting us? It wasn’t our fault Mom died.

  It shouldn’t have surprised me Jonah was so disgusted by Fane and Sirene, since vampires hated mixed blood—except I’d thought he was different. I didn’t think he would be so cruel.

  When he said he didn’t care about Sirene or her baby, I remembered the backs that had turned on me when I needed help the most.

  “Go on,” Jonah said, giving me a little push. We walked through together. I wondered if I would ever see Sirene again.

  Then we were on the other side.

  The first thing I noticed was the sound of running water, all around me. Over me, to the sides, everywhere. But the ground was dry.

  “Get out of the way of the others,” Jonah muttered as he pulled me off to the side. He was rougher than he needed to be. Still holding a grudge, I guessed. Two could play at that game. I yanked my arm out of his grip and ignored him as I turned to examine the walls. They were cold, solid, and very smooth. Immediately, it reminded me of the underground system of tunnels Allonic and Steward called home.

  “So dark,” Philippa whispered when she came through.

  So dark… So dark… So dark… Her voice echoed over and over until it mingled with the sound of moving water.

  “I wonder how old this is,” I whispered. I ran my hands over the walls and couldn’t feel evidence of any tools having been used to carve the tunnel.

  “Ancient.” Fane appeared behind me. “Many thousands of years.”

  “How far do they run?” Gage asked. I could just make out the shape of him in the dark—even with our enhanced vision, it wasn’t easy to see.

  “All over England.” That was Allonic. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath.

  I touched his shoulder. “How are you? You didn’t tire yourself out too much, did you?”

  “I don’t think so.” His eyes glowed. “It’s been many years since I had to throw such a complex portal. I enjoy a challenge.”

  I smiled. “You did a good job.” I leaned closer. “Do you think Sirene will be all right back there?”

  He nodded. “She has a lot of support. Unlike vampires, witches don’t leave each other alone in situations like this.”

  I hoped the baby would find a home with them, then, since it didn’t seem likely the vampires would care very much.

  Jonah and Gage winced and groaned in unison, and the sound of their pain echoed around me until I couldn’t hear anything else.

  Fane went to them. “The brands hurt more now that we’re closer, don’t they?”

  “You could say that,” Jonah replied. His teeth were gritted, his voice tight.

  Allonic stood up straight. “We have to move. And I’m sorry, but the pain will only intensify the closer we get to where Valerius is waiting.”

  “Wonderful. I can’t wait.”

  Philippa took Gage’s hand and leaned against his arm for a second. She was more affectionate than she used to be, too.

  I guessed almost losing her brother made her appreciate him a little more.

  We started walking down the endless tunnel, and, as we went, I looked from side to side and saw more offshoot tunnels than I could count. They must have stretched all over the country. How Allonic knew where we were going was a mystery to me, but we had to be headed in the right direction since, as hard as Jonah tried to hide his pain, I could just make out the sound of him drawing in sharp breaths.

  “Are we walking under water?” I wondered out loud.

  “There are rivers and streams all throughout the countryside. They’re all around us, even in the areas where humans built over the natural landscape.” Fane made a derisive noise. “They insist on ruining everything that’s natural.”

  “You never seemed to mind the city very much,” Philippa reminded him. “In fact, you used to love standing on the roof, looking out over the skyline.”

  “And?”

  “Do you think those buildings always existed?” She was teasing him.

  I could hardly believe it, until I heard him snicker. It was the first real, comfortable moment I had witnessed between them. I wondered if that was the way they were together before he disappeared. I never had that sort of relationship with a father—the thought of joking with Gregor was almost enough to make me laugh, it was so absurd.

  It had been the same with Sara’s father, too. He was always good to me, but we weren’t friends. I envied Philippa for having that and understood why she’d miss it.

  We trekked for what had to be miles. I wasn’t used to traveling at normal speeds for such a long time—we coursed for a good reason. This walking was exhaustive.

  But Allonic couldn’t course, and the rest of us weren’t sure where we were going. We needed him to guide us. There were a lot of twists and turns, rights and lefts we took at what felt like random intervals.

  Allonic called out directions as though he’d been there a million times, totally sure of himself.

  Still, it was exhausting, and the pain was taking a toll on Jonah and Gage.

  Jonah started stumbling a little, as though he couldn’t concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other when he had other things to think about.

  I took his arm when it seemed he couldn’t keep going anymore.

  “Let me.” Fane took my place and helped Jonah keep moving.

  I stepped aside and tried not to watch. It felt like I was invading their special moment.

  Allonic was in front of me.

  I fell in step beside him. “Why are we hiking all this way?”

  “What would you suggest?”

  “Getting a portal directly to Sorrowswatch instead of slogging on for hundreds of miles?”

  “It hasn’t been hundreds of miles. Besides, we can’t portal directly. There are many layers of enchantments over Sorrowswatch. It’s impossible to open a portal there.”

  Which probably meant we’d have to walk back out to where we started. I hoped Jonah would feel better after we finished, or else there was no way he’d make it.

  Gage was in terrible shape, too.

  We continued on, moving as fast as we could, considering two of us were in agony. I took comfort in the thought that the worse the pain, the closer we were.

  Some comfort that was.

  20

  Jonah

  The pain was almost blinding. If I could’ve cut my arm off to end the burning sensation, I would have. Except it was starting to spread throughout my body. Every step was agony.

  “We’re almost there,” Fane muttered as he helped me stay on course. “Just hold on.”

  I could make out the shape of Anissa next to Allonic. She had tried to help me. She didn’t hate me, not that I understood why she would, if she did.

  I had not done anything to hurt her, had I? I couldn’t think clearly, but even so, I couldn’t remember anything. She was the last person I’d ever want to hurt. I went out of my way not to hurt her, although she always found a reason to be mad when I meant well.

  I looked to my right, where Gage and Philippa walked together. I still had a hard time getting over what he’d done when he ran away, but at least he was feeling the same pain I was. That sort of made up for it. We could work the rest of it out somehow.

  “Talk to me,” I groaned as Fane helped me through the tunnel. “Tell me something. Anything. I need to stop thinking about how this damned brand burns.”

  “What do you want to hear about?”

  “Anything. I don’t care. Give me something to think about other than this.” I held up my arm, and that slight gesture was enough to make me grit my teeth.

  “Your sister got me thinking about when your mother and I first came to the city,” he said. “We could always see it across the river, you know. We watched it grow bigger and bigger. Sometimes, we’d go over if we needed something—parts for our farm machinery, that sort of thing. Neither of us really cared for the hustle and bustle. She was a farm girl at heart, and farm work was in my blood. I had gro
wn up thinking people who lived all crammed together were insane. Why would you do that if you could live out in the open? Feeling the earth between my fingers, smelling the fresh air—especially right after the rain? That was the best.” He sounded like his old self when he talked this way, animated and happy.

  “Only, we couldn’t once we turned.” His voice went dark.

  I wished he would keep talking about the farm if it meant he would sound happy again.

  “We tried to live our normal lives, but there isn’t much work a farmer can do when he can’t go out in sunlight. Granted, by that time there wasn’t much work I had to do on my own. We had hands to help with the grunt work, so to speak. But those hands needed supervision. They wanted to see me during the day, outside. That just wasn’t possible. I’ll never forget the first time I tried. You think you’re in pain now?” His laugh was grim. “It was the same with your mother, too. Do you remember any of those days?”

  I tried to think back. I only vaguely remembered life before moving to the city. “Gage and I used to chase the chickens around until Mom would just about lose her mind. She said we’d worry them so much they’d never lay eggs again. I remember being barefoot a lot of the summer, too. That was fun. We’d try to catch fish with our bare hands. Remember that, Gage?”

  He snorted. “Remember the time you fell into the creek face-first when one slipped out of your hands?”

  “That was closer than you ever got to catching one.”

  We both laughed a little. Those were good days. I’d always thought we were lucky to grow up where we did, when we did.

  Fane chuckled. “It was difficult for me to take the four of you away from there and move to the city. We spent many nights talking straight through to the dawn. Of course, we didn’t sleep anymore, so we could do that easily.” He sighed. “We couldn’t hunt freely, for one thing. News traveled fast. If there were people passing through the village, for instance, everyone knew about them. If they disappeared, everyone would know that, too. It was a struggle in those days. We knew everyone for miles around, and they knew us. We had to live someplace where it would be easier to hunt and get away with it.”