Reaching for Home (House of Garner Book 3)

by Erin R Flynn

  If you did, thank you. Thank you for respecting me and other authors for their hard work, understanding this is our job, and while we love it, we do deserve to be compensated for all the hours, and hours, and hours we put into it.

  If you did not… Go buy one! You are a thief and your parents and grandparents and cute animals all around the world are ashamed of you. There is no justification for committing this crime because it is a crime, no different than walking into a physical bookstore, taking a print copy off the shelf, and walking out of the store without paying for it.

  There is no such thing as a victimless crime. If you truly believe that, you’ve never been a victim. And the victims aren’t only the authors, but the fans who lose authors that quit over our constantly being stolen from and mistreatment. Mistreating the authors that write the books you like or read—not liking them isn’t an excuse for theft, it’s just extra weird then—that’s not a fan. Fans leave reviews to support. Fans send messages of love. Fans… Well fans are nice. Be nice.

  There are lots of ways to fight eBook piracy, reporting the site even if you’re not the copyright holder is always a good option. If you want to help in the fight, Google it and you can see there are many ways.

  My name is Inez Garner, and I’m a vampire princess. I no longer swallow a hysterical giggle when I say that but I’m still trying to accept all that comes with it. Now that I’m not recovering from years of starving and feeding as I should, my power is growing and honestly, it scares me and makes me a huge target.

  Luckily, the crazy of the apocalypse keeps me pretty distracted. More ghosts are coming and while that fries me out, it’s helping a lot of people. Everyone’s pushing for us to stop living in the apocalypse and with help from other courts, maybe we can make it to post-apocalypse.

  Team Inez is growing as people put their faith in me that it’s the winning team. It’s hard not to collapse under that pressure but those with me are stepping up. I still don’t get what Darius, Jaxon, Cerdic, or even Kristof see in me—though I worry the guy had a nervous breakdown—but maybe one day it won’t be like this and I can figure out who I am and what I’m feeling.

  Yeah right.

  House of Garner is an apocalyptic, hot burning, WhyChoose romance with darker elements, strong language, violence, and a heroine that doesn’t let anyone get in her way.

  1

  I had been working on a plan for the past few weeks. The bridge idea had worked out well, and we did it again when some of us moved on from Anchorage. It had been agreed on that raiding northern Canada when still so cold wasn’t the most efficient way, so we stayed together and allowed Sebastian and those from the O’Cleirgh coven to load up as long as they helped us too.

  Plus, they wouldn’t raid banks but supplies we agreed to. Only my “court” raided the banks, and Kristof hid away the goodies.

  So some of us moved south to Juneau as our main operations outpost and used the bridge idea again. There was an island there that had one bridge from Juneau, and since we’d raided that part of the city first, we weren’t worried about what we destroyed. But we did destroy the area when engaging in skirmishes with such large numbers.

  Those roads leading to the bridges we used north of Anchorage were completely undriveable, and that was a main road. Fine, there weren’t people to use them, but I didn’t like how we were doing damage when we might even need those later.

  We had enough people and everything needed, so we could do it better. I let the adults handle the logistics on raiding and loading up, doing my part as the energy and fixer, along with electric semi maker and all of that… While working on my own project.

  It might have seemed ridiculous to ask people what were the best moves survivors made in zombie movies and what were the worst, but it was useful. Plus, people liked talking about movies and the idea we could watch them again. There wouldn’t be new ones made—or at least not anytime soon—but getting a real night off was something people liked the idea of.

  And we wouldn’t ever have that with corrupted in North America. If we set up the coven where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona met up, as I was being pulled to do, we would be overrun with corrupted. They would come for me. They might have avoided shifters and vampires, but I was the tastiest damn morsel they could ever want.

  So why not use that?

  The information I got was good though. No, helicopters couldn’t be flown at a weird angle and used as a zombie killing machine. It just wasn’t realistic, and it would crash. But it was smart to use them like in World War Z, but they had made the mistake of getting too low near the zombies.

  And now that I had fixed a shit ton of choppers, that went into the plan.

  There were several that said bigger vehicles weren’t always the best idea, as the numbers could overtake it. But it was good to use those arrow-like plow truck grills or some sort of way to cut through a group if it came to that. Mobile was a good idea as long as it was the right type that wouldn’t end up crashing.

  Yeeeaaahhhh, I spoke from experience on that. It was why I had stopped ever trying to flee. I always, always crashed. I was a strong enough woman to admit my self-taught driving skills during the apocalypse were shit.

  Really shit.

  Trisha had figured out I was up to something, and I’d clued her in, smiling when she’d instantly jumped in to help me with her vast knowledge and experience. It took weeks because it wasn’t the only thing we had going on. There were a lot of balls being juggled between gearing up, killing baddies, food for everyone, and on and on.

  Kristof, Cerdic, and I had handled the items I was compelled to retrieve in Canada, so that was at least covered.

  But our group was about to move on from Juneau and let those from behind us in Anchorage continue what we’d started. James called them the “noncombatants” group. A lot of them had been military but were cooks, logistics, flight deck crew, or any other position that wasn’t front line.

  Hey, that worked for me because the food they made was awesome and it was too big of a project for me to seriously want to be involved in that much.

  Next, we were moving to Prince George in British Columbia, Canada to clean out the surrounding areas and then back to Edmonton where we’d come from but also Calgary. Then it was Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland so we were getting into big areas.

  And a lot of damage we would do to them and the mobility we could have, which was what I wanted to avoid.

  Hence, my idea and the meeting I’d called before we moved out in the morning. It was my court, Sebastian, a few of his trusted people, James, and Trisha. She was helping me set out the large map we’d managed to find in the meeting room at the hotel we were staying in. It was a dinner meeting, so I thought that might make people happier.

  “Whatever you’re up to is why you’ve been asking questions about zombie movies, right?” James asked, smirking at me like he was ready to be amused.

  Trisha cracked him upside the head. “Don’t be a dick and dismissive. She’s come up with a lot of good ideas and is the reason everything has come together. It’s a good plan, smarter.” She nodded for me to go ahead.

  I pointed to an area about an hour and a half drive south from Prince George. “I think we should make this our killing zone. Start setting it up now before we even get the bulk of us there.” I ran my finger along the main expressways. “We’ve been killing the roads and surrounding areas when we set up on the bridges. This is an open area along a smaller country highway.

  “It’s provincial parks behind it and lots of farmland in front. I think we stop playing so much defense and leave the bread crumbs for them to follow in on the path we want
them to. We found a huge stash of landmines. Mark them very clearly, but corrupted won’t note that. We’ve got choppers now and those badass M-ATV Assault vehicles.

  “Load them up, and that’s where we go. You crazy old guys could go clear everything out behind that area, as there’s not much along that part of the coast. We can trail them right there from Prince George, Edmonton, and Calgary. Then up from Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland later. We have the perfect bread crumbs they will come for.”

  “You,” James muttered, studying the map and losing his mirth. “You’re saying leave drops of your blood.”

  “Yes. They’re not driving. They’re not using GPS to find the best route. Lead them along the path we want and off the expressway we don’t want to damage and into one area we’re going to blow to shit. We’ve got the grenade launchers I wanted and more. I’m not saying bring them all at once, no, this is to be smarter, but we’ll be at Prince George for a while, so let’s do it right.”

  “We will?” Sebastian asked, gesturing to himself and his people.

  I frowned. “I thought you guys wanted to get more stuff to stockpile?”

  “Are you allowing that?”

  I shrugged. “We’re only one coven of a thousand. Sure. We don’t need all of that. We do need help killing the fuck ton of corrupted. Even if people fled to Ireland and some fled to the mainland, someone said Ireland was maybe five million and not all the humans died. Okay, Canada was thirty-seven million. Seventy percent of that is a fuck ton. Not everyone got eaten outright. Even half of that is still a fuck ton.”

  “Not to mention the numbers for the US,” Kristof agreed. “You were originally shaving numbers as you could, but you’re saying enough of that if we plan better.”

  “Yes.” I glanced back at Sebastian. “Callum and your guy pinpointed what circuit or component blew on solar panels and wind turbines. This also gives your people a chance to load those up and bring them to us to fix. Or trade out solar panels for extras. They’ve had two weeks to clear Ireland. Good. Send the ship with what you have and give them more ammo and everything.”

  “So we can trade and be the coven to help others,” he muttered, rubbing his chin. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you’ve kept up your end and you have over fifty killing machines that don’t need much sleep. Fine, maybe some will want to go home or switch out or bring friends back for the fun. Take the plane and fly home and tell Princess Nora the idea. Take some semis with you.” I shrugged. “We found more. We found more batteries. We’ll find more of all of it.”

  “Killing the corrupted will be our biggest problem and soon,” Cerdic caught on as he moved to the map. He pointed to our endgame for the coven. “This is—we’ll be constantly overrun from all sides the moment we try to start building. You want to start drawing them up and away from the areas we’ll clear but more so we’re not scorching everything we want to build at.”

  “Yes.” I pointed out the routes I wanted to use. “There’s not much hiding room for corrupted during the day. So we’ll know exactly where they’ll hide along the way. Fuck, leave blood in places like barns and empty hangars and give some of you guys a grenade launcher to have some fun. Group them up and fish in a barrel.”

  “You are extremely intelligent and well-articulated with strategic planning for one so young,” Sebastian praised.

  “I survived five years on my own while hunted and you see how they come for me,” I muttered, rubbing my tired neck. “It’s not the first time I’ve used my blood to group them up. Grenades are my very good friends.”

  Everyone seemed in agreement it was a good move, so I let the adults talk about it. It wasn’t the men only as Trisha was involved, but they all had a lot more experience than I did. And had fought other battles and wars, knew more about the equipment.

  “What is your specific plan on how to play this out?” Sebastian asked me after about twenty minutes of people going back and forth.

  “I’m not sure on the area or where is best,” I admitted as I wiped my mouth and stood, heading to the map. I tapped where I was focused on. “Prince Rupert looks the best port area to dock both ships. We offload the vehicles, weapons, and artillery and it’s about eight hours drive inland to Prince George and another hour and a half to the location.

  “That’s what can’t be sped up, so shifters handle that part and setting up. I don’t go any closer because I’m what they’ll come for and we don’t want that yet. You take off here, and depending on how long you’re gone and who you bring back or whatever, meet us up there. What we offloaded, we fill up the ship from there and send the merchant ship to Ireland.”

  “Wait until they’re back because Mother will undoubtedly have a report of what’s been used and what they need to clear more corrupted,” Jaxon muttered, studying the map. “We’ve loaded the aircraft carrier with all the military everything we raided, but there’s still more we can come back for.” He gave me a side look.

  Yeah, more like what I could pixelate and reconfigure into whatever. But we had found a huge cache of everything we could need from the Army National Guard base and still more from the Air Force base in Anchorage.

  “I would like your permission to also speak with the Wessex coven,” Sebastian said, holding off when several of us opened our mouths. “They have a large coven of ‘crazy old guys’ as you put it. I think it smart to get out in front of the contact Cerdic’s sister will undoubtedly plan to be making. She’ll make a move and take advantage of the situation.

  “This is the time to make the right move first, as the communication would be through us whose son you are engaged to and we approve the match. That instantly reminds her that she would agitate us if she misbehaves, and given all you’re allowing us to have, that would be rather stupid when they’re without even power.”

  I sighed, sitting on the table and rubbing my head. “I swear some court eating me is just as much a concern as the damn corrupted. I don’t know enough about any of this to have much to weigh in here. I do think you fully understand how I’m not to be fucked with or fucked over and Jaxon being your son won’t protect you from my wrath if you risk the people I’m now protecting, right?”

  “Yes, and I can say quite confidently without even speaking with my princess that we are the last threat you have. If we play this right, we can clear out the corrupted all over the UK and without irking what’s left of the human governments and they can do their own thing. But the Wessex coven—and potentially both house covens—are also powerful allies.”

  “If you can ride out my sister’s whims and temper,” Cerdic grumbled.

  “Yes, but she’s also not stupid or your mother wouldn’t have allowed her to take over,” Sebastian reminded him. “She knows to survive and make the coven thrive again, she needs a plan.” He gestured to me. “Or the way to make it all happen. You solidify yourself as that way and you could skip all of that court dancing as you have with us. Isn’t that what you want?”

  I glanced at the others, mostly Kristof, Cerdic, Jaxon, and Darius as they knew more about this than James or the shifters.

  “It’s a smart play,” Kristof finally said. “You can’t send Cerdic as you did Jaxon, as the princess isn’t as rational as Princess Nora. She would never hurt her brother, but that’s the potential for problems we don’t want. Same if you send me or someone else, plus, none want to leave you given the threat against you is still out there and unknown.”

  I glanced away, not wanting to talk about the assassination attempt. There was nothing more to say besides speculation—which wasn’t all that helpful really—or them trying to talk about my feelings. I didn’t want to do that either.

  “What would you ask for this?” I looked at Sebastian, knowing it was going to cost me.

  “Nothing. You’ve been ridiculously generous, and what I want is to keep you in that mindset when it comes to my family and our coven. You’re making a bold, smart play on fighting against the corrupted and pushing back instead
of simply riding the stormy waters. It’s the first step to rebuilding. It’s also a solid step to making alliances and friends you will need one day even if you don’t fully understand it now.”

  I glanced at Kristof before pointing to the map. “Can you do some scouting in Ketchikan? There’s another Army National Guard station there along with a lot more including a Coast Guard base. Right over the border there are a few of Canada’s along with what the GPS says is an auxiliary unit? That might be some useful gear they could use on huge islands like Ireland and the UK.”

  “With your permission I would go with and then be able to report what I saw with my own eyes,” Sebastian suggested.

  I nodded. “Fine, but I want to clarify on what you or Wessex can get. We originally said all these little towns and raiding houses and what was there and completely so what we discussed privately. Well okay, we let you raid stores and get droves of stuff. You got that perk because you guys were hunting hardcore and helping us get a lot of that.”

  “You don’t want it to be a free for all where people ignore the houses because of the work and take the bulk which you could need one day,” he surmised.

  “Yes, but more I want to make it clear if we let anyone have a few trailers full of new and stuff we could have, that’s a very nice gift, not the assumed. Your covens undoubtedly raided houses for what you needed—everyone has—but you only have so many houses and residences in Ireland and the UK. We have a shit ton more, and that is why we’re allowing our help.”

  “That’s still ridiculously fair and generous,” one of Sebastian’s guys said. “Fine, we don’t need the furniture, but maybe we find some nice leather couches that haven’t been used for years. Each house could be its own treasure trove, but to get those you have to clear out the ones that might be duds too.” He glanced from me to the map. “What are you thinking for perimeters?”

  “That’s a good point,” I muttered, glancing at my people as they knew what I could do. “I think we get some open top trailers and regular trailers and get it all. Anything decent. Shit couches we don’t care about just leave it, but we’re going to need furniture and stuff at the coven, so why not get it too?”