The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5)

by Jonathan Yanez

  Commander Brookhaven lowered her blade. Looking over the doctor’s shoulder, she gave Sloan a hard stare.

  “I know you’re a good woman. I know you love this city as much as I do.” The doctor turned to look at Sloan. “Just hear her story. And now that she’s here, you can have the proof you desire.”

  “What proof?” Sloan repeated the word as if she were hearing it for the first time. Once again, she was drawn to the earnestness in the doctor’s voice. Unlike the commander, she held her sword ready. A quick slice, and the doctor would be down. Another second would allow her to hurdle over his body, and she would be in combat with the commander.

  “Listen,” the doctor pleaded, “listen to her heart. If she’s lying, if she had not been resurrected from the dead, she would have a heartbeat, like you and I. She has none.”

  Before Sloan could even think of what to say, the doctor continued. “I know this sounds impossible, but you owe your city this opportunity if there is even the slightest chance this could be true. I didn’t know what to think when she came to me, but heartbeats don’t lie, Captain Sloan.”

  Sloan debated the idea for a moment. This was insane. But the doctor was right. She had sworn to protect the city from enemies both foreign and domestic. If there was even a slight chance this could be true, she had to put aside her anger and provide a chance for the truth to be uncovered.

  “Drop your weapon, and I’ll hear your story, commander.” Sloan never took her eyes off of Commander Brookhaven.

  The commander sneered. “You’ll have a better chance of actually besting me in a fight, captain. I’m not stupid enough to trust you at your word.”

  “Ashley.” The doctor pivoted to face his commander. He was sure to stay between the two women, but from her view of the back of his head, Sloan could imagine what the doctor’s face looked like—frustrated, angry, maybe even disappointed. “We stand on the brink of losing everything we have worked so hard to attain these last five years. Both of you women are stubborn beyond comprehension. Tell her, Ashley. Tell her the truth. Captain Sloan is our last chance. She’s a good woman, maybe even a great woman. I’ve seen her lead. Let yourself believe that we still have a chance.”

  Sloan hid the shock Doctor Livingston’s words sent through her. She had no idea he’d been monitoring her so closely, much less that he believed in her abilities to this extent. Most of their encounters led to the doctor asking out her on a date. Was he ever really only asking her out on a date, or trying to get closer to information?

  Sloan didn’t have time to pursue this line of thought. The clatter of the commander’s sword being thrown to the side brought her back to the present moment.

  “Well, I guess I have nothing else to lose at the moment,” Ashley said with disgust. “I’m already dead inside anyway. If you kill me now, you’ll only be sending me back to the ground that’s claimed me once.”

  “Explain your story to the captain.” The doctor finally moved to the side, allowing the women to see eye to eye. “From the beginning.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Ashley A.K.A. Brenda Emerson

  She didn’t know who she was or what had happened to her. She felt cold like a thousand ice picks were being driven beneath her skin from the inside out. She blinked her eyes in an attempt to see through the darkness. The gloom was so deep, the existence of light was a foreign idea.

  She tried to remember how she had come to be in this place, but every time she thought back, the memory escaped her like vapor she tried to grab.

  When she moved her hands to her face, she discovered she was bound—both wrists and each of her ankles chained to some kind of table. Whether it was minutes or hours she’d lain on her back in the room, she would never know.

  “Hello? Hello?” Calling out for someone seemed pointless, but she tried anyway. “Can anyone hear me?”

  Her own voice rang alien in her own ears. Her throat was hoarse and even the few words she had spoken into the inky darkness scratched with pain.

  Later rather than sooner, a door opened. Someone carrying a torch entered the room and proceeded to light large, steel braziers.

  “Hello?” she tried again. “Where am I?”

  “You are safe, and all of your questions will be answered in a moment, Ashley,” the woman’s calm voice replied just above a whisper.

  Soon, light filled the room. The woman came to stand beside her and began releasing her from her bonds. “You are a very special woman, Ashley. You have been chosen to lead our Legion when the time comes. It is not just anyone who is brought back.”

  Ashley, so that was her name? She struggled to understand what the woman was saying. Some voice in the back of her head told her that, that wasn’t her name at all, that she should be worried, even scared. It told her to flee, but above this voice was a sense of cold indifference, as though fear and panic were feelings dead to her now.

  “My name is Leah Noble,” the woman said, offering Ashley her hand, “and we have much to do in preparation for the Legion.”

  Ashley didn’t trust the woman. There was a coldness to her eyes, a hint in her voice that promised violence, but what choice did she have?

  Over the next few years, Ashley’s education would be twofold. First, she was trained in the art of war. Every kind of weapon was given to her, until she was an expert in everything from swords to firearms. Second, she was instructed in the art of magic that had brought her back from the dead.

  Her mentor, Leah Noble, explained only as much as Ashley needed to know, only when she needed to know it. “You must live in this place below the palace until our time is ready,” Leah Noble would remind her. She phrased it as a fact, but Ashley could tell it was a command. “You will be the Legion’s greatest champion when it is our time to overtake this world. Great things are meant for you, Ashley. Be patient and prepare.”

  Whenever Ashley would inquire of her past or how she came to be with Leah, the answer was always the same: “You were given a second chance by the powers of our side. You owe your life now to the magic that has called you to be its champion. Anything else is a waste of thought.”

  And Ashley accepted this truth. She was treated well enough. A fully furnished room was given to her below the palace. Servants brought her anything she desired, and after a few years, when Leah deemed her resolve to the cause unwavering, she was even allowed to walk the palace and the city.

  She was only permitted out at night, and even then, only with a chaperone. But for Ashley, it was enough. She was introduced to Leah Noble’s sister, Queen Eleanor Eckert. The queen welcomed her with open arms, and much like Leah, spoke of the great days to come in which Ashley would play a significant role as their champion. “You are a treasure, Ashley,” she remembered the queen saying during one conversation. “Grow strong and continue to prepare your body and mind. The day will soon be at hand where the Legion will rise and we will claim both city and world for the cause.”

  And life went on. Day after day, Ashley trained, and night after night, she was allowed to roam the palace and the city. She grew to love the city of New Hope, and before long, she knew the city streets like the back of her hand. All was well, until one day it wasn’t.

  She was walking the streets in the early hours of the morning. Although she was forbidden to interact with any of the city’s citizens, she would hang outside the bars and saloons, the only things open at that time. She would watch people laugh and stumble out with their friends. It was the closest she was allowed to experiencing life outside the palace, but she was happy with that.

  One night, Ashley found herself at her favorite spot. She sat on a rooftop of a two-story building overlooking a line of seedy bars. Her legs dangled over the edge. The two New Hope guards chaperoning her that night stood at attention ten yards behind her.

  Doors to a bar called The Vixen Tavern slammed open. A man was thrown out into the street. He was large with long, wild dark hair and a beard to match. Three other rough-looking men followe
d him out into the night. Without exchanging words, they began beating him like a dog.

  Before Ashley could remind herself that she could not be involved in any kind of altercation, let alone be seen, she rose to her feet. Even as she prepared to jump off the ledge and down to the street below, she realized there would be no need.

  By the way the man with the dark hair struggled to regain his feet, it was clear to Ashley that he was drunk. Despite his intoxicated state, he was more than a match for his assailants. The match was over, just as quickly as it had started. The outnumbered stranger was a brutal fighter, breaking jaws and crushing throats without pause.

  Something deep inside Ashley began stirring—a memory?—something warm spread through her cold body for the first time since she woke in the lab under the palace.

  As quickly as the fight had begun, it was over. The bodies of the three unlucky men lay broken and bleeding in the gutter. The few onlookers who had stumbled out of the bar to see the outcome of the fight, jeered and made their way back inside.

  The dark-haired victor stumbled to a lamppost. For the first time, Ashley was able to see an unobstructed view of his face.

  The light from the candles inside the lamppost flickered, but for the briefest moment, Ashley caught a glance of the man’s features. He was handsome, with a sorrow in his bright blue eyes that somehow she understood. Something inside of her struggling to remember told her that she, too, shared in his sadness. Just as memories were beginning to surface, a pain unlike anything she had ever experienced tore through her skull.

  The intensity was stunning, like a poker heated by a roaring fire. Ashley fell to her knees, nearly tumbling from the rooftop ledge. At once, her guards escorted her back to the palace underground.

  But Ashley would never be the same again. Over the next few years, something other than obedience to the queen and Leah Noble was beginning to grow. It was a sense that what she was involved in was wrong.

  Every night, she went out to look for the stranger with the sad blue eyes. She never found him. What she did find were questions about the cause she was being trained to defend. Soon, questions turned into discontentment, and discontentment turned into rebellion.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sloan

  Sloan stood quiet, listening to Ashley’s tale. Envy bubbled to the surface before she could push it back down. If this was Aareth’s wife and her story was truth, then they would be reunited and there would be no chance of anything in the future for Aareth and Sloan. Sloan hated herself for even thinking the thought. She bottled her own personal feelings and buried them deep. There were more important things to deal with now.

  “And then what?” Part of Sloan couldn’t believe she was accepting the story. To the other half, it seemed to make perfect sense. “Leah Noble and the queen just let you go when you decided you didn’t want a part in what they had planned?”

  “I could tell they were growing concerned about me questioning the Legion.” Ashley looked past Sloan, remembering the final act of her imprisonment. “They brought me a woman with red hair. They told me she was a spy working to undo our cause. I was ordered to kill her. And I did. The woman didn’t even try to fight back. All she asked for was her daughters be spared. I knew it was wrong. I still struck her down, because I’m a monster. I’m a monster created, not even born.

  “They told me to stay the course.” Ashley paused, furrowing her brow. If it had been anyone else, Sloan would have guessed they might cry. Ashley’s expression was rage, not sadness. “They said soon our enemies, like this woman, would see the end of our blade. They said the day of the Legion was at hand.

  “I escaped that night. Ditching the escorts following me around the city was easier than I thought. I had all the tools to do so at my disposal. The Legion had taught me everything I needed to know about survival. I wandered the streets for days, hiding from the queen and her sister. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I only knew I needed to stop them. I understood not a single citizen was aware of the danger they were in. I knew if I did nothing, more women and men, more mothers and fathers, would be put to the blade.”

  Ashley’s words infuriated Sloan for the simple fact that she believed them. In the wake of her current conversation, Sloan’s world was about to change forever. At the very least, she believed Ashley thought she was telling the truth.

  “I’ll need time.” Sloan still had a hard time believing her own words. “I’ll need time to check out your story.”

  “Thank you, captain, thank you.” Doctor Livingston gave an audible sigh of relief. “I know this is hard to believe—”

  “Hard to believe?” Sloan stopped Doctor Livingston mid-sentence. “This is as close to impossible as one can get.”

  “You can start believing and building your case against the queen and her sister now.” Ashley stepped forward, pointing to the area of her chest over her heart. “Whatever magic was used to resurrect me, it left me without a heartbeat.”

  Curiosity more than anything else made Sloan tilt her head and press her ear against Ashley’s chest. Her hand was still on her sword, ready to be used in the blink of an eye if the need arose. Any sense of awkwardness was dismissed with promises of the impossible. Sloan pressed her ear against Ashley’s leather shirt. The room was completely silent.

  Sloan waited with anticipation. Everything she knew about human anatomy told her she should be hearing the steady rhythmic beat of a healthy heart. She even willed herself to hear something, anything. If there was a heartbeat, she might still be able to convince herself that Ashley and the doctor were insane. But there was nothing besides silence. Ashley’s chest was as still as a tomb.

  Chapter Thirty

  Jack

  Jack woke in his own bed sometime during the late morning. He hurt from head to toe. His insides felt as though they had been smashed into jelly, scraped back up, and shoved back into his body.

  A grunt escaped his lips as he rose from his bed. The Order was real, there was no doubt about that. Not only were they real, but they were also large and recruiting more to their cause.

  Sloan would have her hands full. At once, memories of Aareth and his wild state resurfaced and pushed their way to the front of his mind. The man was haunted with the possibility of a wife he thought was dead, now somehow alive. Jack’s first priority that morning had to be checking on his friend.

  Jack opened the door to see Private Pia’s familiar face.

  “Good morning, Jack.” The private smiled. “I hope you rested well. I heard about the raid last night.”

  “It was definitely an experience.” Jack winced as another ache coursed through his body. “I’m just glad Sloan and Abigail arrived with the cavalry when they did. Have you seen either of them, or Aareth?”

  “Sorry, I haven’t seen Aareth at all.” The private shrugged. “Captain Sloan left early this morning. I did see Abigail training outside, however. I can take you to her, if you’d like.”

  “That would be great, thanks.” Jack decided to test a growing suspicion that had begun to nag at him, since he realized the private had been waiting for him outside of his door. “Actually, I know the way to the training grounds. I can go myself.”

  “Sorry, I know it seems like you’re under guard or something, but you, along with the Ahab sisters, have been given escorts around the palace.” Private Pia grimaced, showing all of her teeth. “I even think someone’s supposed to be with Aareth, but that’s been a tough assignment.”

  “It’s okay,” Jack lied. “I understand.”

  As the pair made their way through the palace, it was clear Private Pia still felt like she owed him an apology.

  “It’s not like the queen doesn’t trust you, but it’s better this way.” Pia walked beside Jack, talking with her hands as much as with her mouth. “If you need anything, or get lost, you’ll have someone to help you. Think of us as your personal assistants.”

  “Seriously”—Jack placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder�
��“its okay. I know you’re just following orders. There’s a lot going on right now, both in the city and outside of it. I understand.”

  The space between the magician and the private grew silent as they traversed the many halls and rooms of the palace. Jack took the opportunity to study his surroundings. There was a definite increase in security.

  Pairs of soldiers dressed in dark uniforms traversed the halls. Others stood sentry by closed doors, their rifles resting against their shoulders or by their sides.

  This didn’t come as too much of a shock to Jack. An attempt had been made on the queen’s life, after all.

  “Have you heard, the tracks for the locomotive has nearly been completed?”

  “What?” Jack broke his concentration on the emblem all of the soldiers wore—the black bat with steel swords crossed behind it. “It’d only just begun before our trip to Burrow Den. How is that possible?”

  “I guess the plan the queen has is working.” Pia beamed with pride. “She’s uniting the known world. Most of the cities in the Outland have begun building their own railways toward New Hope. The tracks will meet soon as the work forces build toward one other.”

  How the queen managed to convince the cities in the Outland to undertake such a task was beyond him. As a magician tracking the paranormal, Jack had lived with his father, traveling from city to city. There was no great love for the queen or New Hope. He could even think of a few cities like Azra and Term that outright detested New Hope.

  “What’s wrong?” Pia asked, slowing her strides. “Isn’t that good?”

  “Yes, I mean uniting the cities to offer aid and support is great. I’m just surprised it’s happening so soon. I thought our goodwill mission to Burrow Den would go a long way in showing the Outland cities that New Hope was their ally. I just didn’t expect it to move this fast.”