“The doctor said you’d be up in a few weeks.” Sloan leaned in for a kiss. “Until then, you need to rest up and not push yourself.”
Sloan’s lips met Kade’s briefly, first brushing against his, then pressing against them more intently.
“But what about you and your dietary needs?” Kade pulled back the tiniest bit so she could still feel his hot breath on her own lips. “We need to figure something out.”
“I’ll figure something out.” Sloan leaned in again. “Now shut up and kiss me.”
The door to Kade’s room swung open.
“Oh! Oh my, this is provocative.” Edison coughed into his palm, then thought better of it and covered his eyes with both hands. “I didn’t see anything. We’re all adults here.”
Sloan looked over to the scientist whose face was bright red past the hands that tried to hide it.
“Button up or zip whatever needs to be put away,” Edison continued to babble. “I swear I didn’t see—”
“Take it easy.” Kade struggled to prop himself up. “It’s your apartment, too. What’s up?”
“The spy wants to thank you three for saving her, and Theo requests whoever is available to join in the meeting as the spy gives her report,” Edison said, still covering his eyes for some reason. “I thought Sloan would like to know, since you’re laid up, and Aareth is … going through a rough time right now.”
“What’s wrong with Aareth?” Sloan rose from the bed.
“He’s saying good-bye.”
Sloan
The concern she held for her friend was something still new to Sloan. She stood on the main path in Azra, ready to go to the capitol building and listen to the spy’s report. The pain Aareth had to be going through at the moment was hard to understand. How could someone live through losing a spouse, only to find out they were alive, then lose them all over again?
The sun in Azra was finally beginning to set. A contingent of guards was ready to walk Sloan up to the capitol building.
“I’ll make sure the beast man doesn’t do anything stupid,” Kimberly said, exiting the apartment complex. She was finally free of the large robe she wore to protect herself from the sun’s rays. “He needs time to figure this out on his own, but I’ll be there to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“Thank you.” Sloan looked toward the large gates of Azra that opened down to the sloping path behind her a few hundred yards away. She could see Aareth’s large form and Ashley’s slimmer physique just under the gate arches. “I hate using the word ‘deserve,’ but he needs a break. I wish I could give him peace.”
“We all have our burdens to bear in this life.” Kimberly followed Sloan’s gaze to the pair saying their farewells. “Aareth is a strong beast man. He’ll find his way through this.”
“I hope so.” Sloan turned from her conversation with the gargoyle and began jogging up the city street toward the capitol building.
Chapter Five
Aareth
“You know I wish I could just remember, don’t you?” Ashley stood in front of Aareth with her two-handed mage sword in a sheath on her back. The pommel peeked over her right shoulder. “But ever since I was resurrected, I’ve been told what to think. From my time with Leah Noble, to my service beside Doctor Livingston and The Order, I’ve always been told what I should do.”
“I get it.” Aareth was only rehashing a conversation they had already had. Still, he needed to try one more time. “And I can go with you while you figure this out. I can give you the time you need, just don’t ask me to stand by and do nothing.”
“You won’t be doing nothing.” Ashley smiled, jerking her head toward Azra. “Your friends need you, and if you haven’t noticed, there’s a war brewing. I’ll try to figure this thing out as fast as I can. It would be a shame if I were to miss a perfectly good fight.”
Aareth understood she was trying to lighten the mood, but all he felt inside was a large, black hole sucking in any joy that he could ever feel again. “And what if you don’t come back?”
“Well, I guess you’re just going to have to trust that I will.”
She had never looked more beautiful, standing in front of him with the open gates of Azra to their right and the sun setting behind her. His heart was tearing inside of him once more, tears of sorrow and frustration pooling in his eyes. Soon they spilled over, snaking their way down his cheeks and into the stubble on his face.
“Before I go, I need to tell you something.” Ashley’s own brown eyes were beginning to fill with salty tears of her own. “I’ve started remembering things. Not a lot; just some memories that feel more like dreams, but I know they’re real.”
“That’s good news.” Aareth swallowed hard. It felt like his Adam’s apple had somehow tripled in size since he had started crying. “If you can start remembering things now, even a few things, I know the rest will come.”
Ashley nodded. She licked at her dry lips. The way her own hot tears fell from her face, Aareth knew whatever she was about to say next could not be good. What had she remembered?
“Aareth, I know … I know that I loved you.” Ashley’s voice broke as a new wave of tears fell from her eyes and down to the ground below. “I know I was madly in love with you, because we had a baby together.”
Confusion was followed by a pain Aareth had never felt before, like someone had ripped open his chest and removed his heart. Numbness, anger, shock were all vying for the top spot of his emotions.
“I … I remember I found out the morning I died.” Ashley was looking at the ground once again, her voice breaking but not giving in to the tears that continued to splash at her boots. “We were parents, you and I. I thought you should know as soon as I remembered.”
Aareth fell to his knees, while thoughts of what they could have had together as a family flashed across his mind, the ‘what could have been’s’ of sharing in the joy of raising a little life of their own. What his son or daughter could have been. What was stolen from them from the men who had killed his wife.
Ashley joined him on her own knees. There were no words. She grabbed him around his wide shoulders and they knelt together in the dirt in the last rays of the sun.
“I’ll come back to you. I know I will.” Ashley didn’t let him go. “I just have to do this on my own. Our story isn’t over, not by a long shot.”
“I’ll be waiting for you.” Aareth grabbed Ashley like he never wanted to let her go. “I’ll wait for you until the end of time.”
Chapter Six
Sloan
“Sloan.” Theo looked her up and down before exchanging worried looks with Cherub, the female gargoyle in charge of the city guard. “I heard your man who aided in the safe return of our spy was injured but would recover. I didn’t know you were also hurt in the process.”
“What?” Sloan looked down at her boots, darks pants, and top for any sign of injury she hadn’t noticed. “No, I’m fine.”
“My mistake.” Theo shook his head. “You look pale. Have you had anything to eat?”
Sloan pushed down the idea of food. Her throat was as dry as she could ever remember, and her stomach growled so loud she thought for sure everyone in the capitol building’s meeting room would be able to hear.
“I’ll be fine,” Sloan looked over Theo’s shoulder to the other person in the room. “Is this our spy?”
“I am.” The woman wearing the white cloak stood up and went to Sloan, extending a hand. “Thank you for your help. My name is Sasha.”
Sloan shook the woman’s hand. Her orange eyes reminded Sloan of Kade and hinted at Sasha’s shifting heritage. She was pretty, with well-kept short, brown hair and a toned but not muscular build.
“I hope your team wasn’t injured too badly.” Sasha released her grip on Sloan’s hand. “I was riding so hard to get to the gates, I didn’t see the fight. It killed me not to stop and join the battle, but the information I carry is more important than any of our lives.”
“I was a sold
ier.” Sloan nodded along with Sasha’s explanation. “I understand there are times when our duty has to come first.”
“Well, Sasha was just about to begin her report.” Theo waved them over to a long table set up where his desk had been the morning before. “I thought it would be important for you to hear this, Sloan. I understand the position you are in, deciding to ally with us or not. Maybe after you listen to Sasha’s debriefing, you’ll understand we are on the same side.”
Sloan only nodded. She took a seat at the table, with Cherub at her left, Theo at her right, and Sasha directly across from her. The large, coliseum-like room was quiet as the spy began her report.
“I have so much to say, I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible. The first thing you should know is that the queen has nearly finished laying the tracks to her mage engine, connecting New Hope to every major city in the Outland, with the exception, of course, being Azra. But intel says she has her eyes set on this next. She’s raising a new breed of vampire soldier stronger than the ones defeated at Term. The idea is to have them escort the production of the railway all the way to Azra.” Sasha paused. “That is all fact. There are also whispers that the queen’s sister is performing experiments on a new kind of soldier. Details are not forthcoming, but we can expect something large entering the battlefield very soon.”
“The Outland cities the queen had already reached via the mage locomotive,” Sloan said, leaning forward in her seat. “What’s happened to them?”
“Taxes, a heavy military presence.” Sasha shook her head, thinking of the words as she said them out loud. “They’re being forced into submission, all under the guise of a strong propaganda front promising unity and friendship.”
“Will they fight with us when the time comes?” Cherub crossed her arms. “Azra is a strong city. I’d put my gargoyle and shifter warriors head to head with their vampire soldiers, but still there may not be enough of us.”
“If they have a leader to rally behind, the other cities will follow us.” Sasha looked over to Sloan. “There’s even a growing faction in New Hope that wants to see the queen dethroned. I think you may know some of our members.”
Sloan had been fighting a throbbing headache ever since Sasha had begun giving her report. Her acute hearing was picking up everyone’s hearts pumping blood through their bodies. Sasha’s words brought her back.
“Who?” Sloan asked, squinting to focus past the growing hunger. “Who’s joined you?”
“From the ranks of the soldiers themselves there’s a Sergeant Harrison, a Private Pia, and a Lieutenant Baker, although I’m not sure how much longer they will be able to inform for us. The queen is turning all of her soldiers into vampires and they’ve decided to abandon their stations before they do that.” Again Sasha paused, a twinkle in her bright eyes. “And that’s not all. There’s a Jack Walker and an Abigail Ahab who send their best.”
“Jack and Abigail?” Sloan smiled so wide, she surprised herself. “I’ve been trying to get back to New Hope ever since we left to find them. What about Abigail’s sister, Elizabeth?”
For a moment Sasha’s features darkened. Even before the spy opened her mouth, Sloan understood there was no good news about the younger Ahab sister.
“We’ve lost track of her, but the last we heard, she was practicing magic under Leah Noble’s tutelage.” Sasha’s brow furrowed. “We haven’t given up hope. That’s the reason Abigail and Jack have decided to stay in New Hope. They’re holding on to the idea they can find her and bring her back from whatever darkness she’s being taught.”
Throbbing pain hammered at Sloan’s temples. Thirst was turning into an all-consuming urge to sink her teeth into the veins of those at the table. Horrible thoughts were taking over control of her mind. She would go after Theo first; he was the largest and would have the most blood to spill.
The familiar pounding of a rhythmic heartbeat was all Sloan could hear.
“Sloan, are you all right?” Theo asked from somewhere that sounded far off. “Do you need a doctor?”
Red covered her vision. Sloan ran her tongue across her top canines that had tripled in length.
Hold it together, Sloan screamed at herself. What are you doing? You can’t!
But she could. After denying her new body what it desired for so long, it was finding a way to fight her out of pure will.
“Everyone get back!” A new, yet familiar female voice echoed through the room, so commanding, everyone moved to obey. “She’s not in control of herself.”
Sloan was half grateful for the voice of reason and half mad that this person understood what she was going through. She looked up through red-hued vision to a woman cloaked in a black robe. Fiery, curly, red hair fell down her shoulders.
Sloan understood this was the woman from her dream in Term, the woman who had warned her of what she was becoming. Instinct took over and Sloan willingly lunged at the woman. A dark bolt of yellow magic sprung from a wand in the woman’s right hand.
The magic projectile struck Sloan in the head, harder than she could ever remember being hit before. Along with the blow came blackness.
Chapter Seven
Sloan
Sloan was standing in a room—no, a plane of complete whiteness. All around her—the floor, the invisible ceiling, the walls were all so far away yet so close at the same time, and it was all a bright white.
“We’re in your head.”
Sloan jolted, turning to her right, where the red haired woman now stood. She had not been there a moment earlier, Sloan was sure of it.
“Are you positive I’m just not dead?” Sloan took a deep breath, placing a hand to her head where the bolt of magic had stricken her. Her hand came away clean. “Thanks for taking me out back there. I was about to do something stupid.”
“Well, that’s because you’re a stupid person, Charlotte Sloan.” The sorceress stood back with a raised eyebrow. “Taking care of everyone around you besides yourself, when you’re the key to the future.”
The idea that this woman reminded her of someone stuck out again, like an itch she just couldn’t reach; teased that she knew this woman somehow, the way she carried herself with poise and power at once.
“That’s pretty blunt,” Sloan said out loud, looking around the white room. “So this is my head, huh? I thought there would be more.”
“No.” The woman folded her arms inside her cloak. “This is the frame I built inside your mind. Your actual consciousness is a depressing place, mostly full of regret and loss, but you have a few bright spots with your friends and a certain shifter that turns into a big kitty.”
“I was about to get angry that you went snooping in my head.” Sloan shrugged with a exhale. “But I guess this is better than the alternative you saw. I can live in a world of white. So, who are you anyway? My fairy godmother?”
“You wish.” The woman walked over to a white wall. She waved her hand and a plain spot on the wood revealed a door handle. “One surprise at a time. First, I want you to see what your mind really looks like.”
“Why?” Sloan waved away the idea. “I don’t like dwelling on the past. I’m not going that way.”
“No, you’re not.” The woman opened the door anyway. “But to harness what you are today, you’re going to have to come to terms with the person you used to be. This isn’t an option. Don’t make me knock you out again and drag you through this door.”
“Has anyone told you that you’re not a great people person?” Sloan walked through the door. “I’m guessing your social circle is kind of small.”
Sloan’s banter stopped as soon as she walked through the doorway. What stood in front of her now was a look at her entire life in a single view. A massive open area was set out like real, lifesized pictures in a child’s book. To her left was a baby being born to parents whose faces were masks of darkness; next, a young version of Sloan at the orphanage. Besides that was an image of her going through drills as she joined the queen’s army, and so on and so on
as the years passed.
“Look, and remember these images well,” the woman beside her said. “There are things you can never change, but there are things you can learn from.”
Sloan’s eyes drank in the sights one after the other. Eventually, the view of her life began to catch up with present day events. There was the initial meeting with Jack, Marcus, and Aareth before they traveled to investigate the killing of the Burrow Den beast; there was the fight with the first round of vampire soldiers when Aareth made his initial transition into the werewolf; there was her meeting with Kade. This image was brighter than the rest.
Finally, Sloan came to the last image: a picture of her looking down two roads. One path led up and was narrow, hedged in by bushes and trees. The other path was downhill, wide and easy to maneuver.
“I get it.” Sloan turned to the woman. “I’ll take the harder path if it means controlling what I am now.”
“Oh, you think you get it, do you?” The woman threw back her head and laughed out loud—a sound void of any true happiness. “I’ve sacrificed everything, and soon you will, too. But if you think you already know it all, why don’t I show you the future?”
Before Sloan could even decide if she wanted to know what was in store for her, the sorceress moved toward her and pressed her right thumb to the middle of Sloan’s forehead. Images flashed so quickly in front of Sloan’s mind, she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. There were angels fighting demons, red-eyed humans not quite vampire or werewolf, hordes of the undead rising from their ocean floor, and some kind of knights fighting in space.
In a flash, she was back in the white room. Sloan fell to her hands and knees, dry heaving. Her stomach was willing to give up everything inside it. Problem was, there wasn’t anything inside to throw up.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 54