“Welcome, volunteers. By now you have been told what exactly you volunteered for. Immortality. With our new formula, you will walk in the sunlight, something turned vampires have never done before, and after you help us fight our war, you are free to go and live your immortal life wherever you like. There is nothing that can stand in your way now, not even death. But, I won’t lie to you. Becoming a vampire is a long, and torturous process. You will feel pain like you have never felt before. We try to restrain the newly turned in coffins to prevent them from hurting themselves, but today you will be locked in empty cells. With the extra space, you will try to hurt yourselves to escape. Some of you will die. We will not let you out until your screams have passed, otherwise, you can never learn to control your thirst. You all agreed to be fed from, then we will put you in your cells and lock the doors. You take the pill. You drink the blood. And then you survive. If you can. Anyone who would like to leave, you are free to go.” Not a one moved a single muscle. “Good. Then we can begin.”
My people were starving. I won’t deny the guilt I felt over being fully fed and seeing their gaunt, hungry faces. One by one, they drank from the humans, until every vampire had fed and every human had been bitten.
“To the cells,” Olivier shouted, her voice echoing off the metal walls. Kitty whimpered against me and I kissed her head to comfort her. Finally, I gave the nod for Olivier to lock the cell doors when the humans had all gotten inside.
“Take the pills,” I repeated loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Drink the blood. Survive.”
Olivier pointed to the exit. “Get the baby out.” I left just as the screams began, and the brief exposure to it left Kitty screaming along with them.
“It’s okay, baby,” I soothed while I rocked her. “They must feel pain to become strong.” I could still hear the screams as if I was standing right up against one of the cell doors, but they were less chilling in the air outside.
Olivier came out to join me. “Lisbeth, I have a request. With turned vampires back in our midst, I was hoping-”
“Renard can come home,” I interrupted. “And I’m sorry I made him leave.”
She nodded, she’d always understood the situation even if it pissed her off at first. “We wanted to become bonded.” A Born vampire and a turned vampire bonded for eternity. It had never been done before. Maybe it should. The start of something new.
Joy filled me and I smiled. “That sounds perfect. We’ll do it when the raiding party comes back. The new turned will still be with us. We’ll show them how vampires party.”
But first, it was time for us to gain the upper hand.
Three days passed, and we stood inside the silent prison. The cells were a hell house. Some held only corpses, and the others were coated with blood. Many had not survived the process. Those that lived now had that haunted look the turned carried with them. I was pleased to see many of the strongest were still alive.
“Those of you who survived, I welcome you to the immortal race of vampires. I’m sure you will be hungry. We have more blood for you, so don’t be afraid to ask. We’ll be returning to the castle as soon as you’re ready.”
Toni passed out the vials to everyone. They drank, and one stepped forward to test the potion. I removed a piece of cardboard from the wall, revealing the sunlight. He recoiled away from the brightness, but he didn’t turn to ash.
It worked. Shit, it really worked.
Cameron held out a fist bump to Toni, and she ignored him, so he leaned over to kiss Merrick on the lips. Knight was going to kill him.
A clean-up detail stayed behind to respectfully dispose of the bodies and mop up the blood. The rest of us began the hike up to the castle. It came into view, our symbol of strength and safe haven. In the clearing around it, we’d set up tents and trailers for the turned to live in. The Lycans set up some for them as well so they would be there if anything happened to us.
Half of the packs were staying behind to protect the castle, and the other half was going with the raiding party, along with our new vampires. We didn’t have the numbers, but we had a fighting chance now.
21. The pit of despair
With Balthazar and Kitty close behind me, I joined the raiding party in the bigger drawing-room. Everyone was strapped to the hilt with artillery, swords, and the little bomb cocktails from Toni. Knight looked especially succulent in his camo outfit and protective vest. Noticing me, Arthur approached as he shoved a knife somewhere in his belt.
“How did the turning go?” he asked casually, my cheeks flushing under his gaze.
“Swell. Also, I’m coming with you.”
Arthur and Knight had the same instant reaction: a resounding, “No!”
My smile flattened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize either of you made my decisions.”
“Lisbeth.” Arthur leaned in to keep our conversation private and I wanted to pinch him for it because hell, I reacted so easily to his proximity. “You are the head of our Order. We look to you for leadership. If you put yourself in danger and get hurt, we would have to rely on someone else to build the alliance and help win the war. I don’t think anyone else here is up for that task.” The words he didn’t speak were, ‘I don’t want to follow anyone else.’ Damn it, Arthur.
My eyes glared at him when all I wanted to do was plant myself against him. “You flatter me. I’m still going. Gimme a vest. I’m not wearing camo, just to be clear.” I had, however, worn a black outfit for the occasion so I could look like a cat burglar. Arthur wasn’t pleased, but he bowed to my commands all the same, like a good underling. He flicked some fingers and one of the Hunters brought me a box of goodies. A pistol, an assault rifle, three knives, and twenty bomb cocktails with a bag to hold them.
“Please, please, tell me you know how to shoot a gun,” Arthur said as I put my vest on and buckled it. I glared at him again, pulled the pistol out, and shot at a painting on the wall, hitting it right in the codpiece.
Fuck, I am awesome.
I flashed my fangs at Knight and Arthur, showing off. “I might hate conflict, but I know how to use a gun, Jesse James.” I blew on the end of the barrel and tried to slip the gun into its holster that I wasn’t wearing, and dropped it on accident. Both of them snickered at me. “You,” I said as I scrambled to pick the gun up. “Be quiet, knave. You saw nothing.”
“Is this why you dressed all black and leathery this morning? I thought it was my birthday,” Knight pouted. “At least…” He sauntered up to me and drew my hips to him. “I get a nice view.” My spine shivered when he leaned down for a sultry kiss.
Arthur cleared his throat, making me jump. “If you two are done, we have things to do. Gear up.”
Knight continued nuzzling my ear. “If he’s really jealous, he can always join in.” I wasn’t sure how I felt being teased about that, but I wasn’t going to complain about the kisses Knight was giving me.
I buckled my holster and strapped on the knives, hoisted the assault rifle over my shoulder, and posed for effect. Knight started drooling. The assault rifles wouldn’t kill vampires, they were for any drones we encountered. If we wanted to kill vampires, it was either with our bare hands or fire.
For fire, we had explosives. Our plan was to find their new base of operation, rescue any humans, and blow it sky high. Our public relations team was even working on what they would tell the human world about what happened to whichever town the turned base was at, depending on how much devastation the turned had caused.
Once we were ready, we met everyone in the foyer. Kitty reached for me from Balthazar’s arms and my heart tore itself into shreds. Leaving her, again, even for a day was hard.
“Olivier will feed her blood every morning, you have the bottles and diapers, you’ll be fine,” I assured him.
Balthazar’s skin looked slightly pale. “What if she runs away?”
“She’s a baby, not a cat. You can handle her.” He looked doubtful, but smiled at me anyway. I hugged him and Kitty both and kissed them
on the forehead. “Mommy will be back.”
“Okay, Mommy,” Balthazar replied.
“Don’t fucking push it.”
My goodbyes said, we filed out of the castle. Knight and I turned to wave at our friends and family staying behind, and then we took each other’s hands and started towards the rest of the group. Arthur swung his arm to show what direction we were going, and we were off. Arthur and Knight walked on either side of me with Cameron and Merrick just ahead and the rest of the group behind us. With my mate and my commander at my side, I could do anything.
Cameron directed us this way and that until we had to leave the pavement and go off-road. We went so deep into the forest that I wasn’t sure there was anything here except bunnies and the occasional crunchy hippie family. For the record, I’m not calling hippies crunchy, though I’m sure dragons would disagree, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
The path Cameron and Merrick took was odd but deliberate, and seemed like it was designed by a paranoid crazy person with turns and backtracking, and several jumps over running water. It eventually led to caverns hidden deep inside a rock formation, the perfect hiding place for those that used to have sunlight issues. That was still the weirdest thing ever that the turned could be out in the sun. It was the equivalent of aliens landing here.
I wonder how aliens would feel about vampires…
We followed Cameron inside to find only a large empty cave lit only by our superior eyesight, littered with garbage, and stains on the floor I knew had to be dried blood. I stepped to one and scraped off a few flakes, bringing it to my nose to smell.
Human blood.
There were as many stains as there were plastic containers, papers, and soda cans, and there was enough of those to fill three garbage bags. This wasn’t just where the turned hid and ate take-out, this was where they tortured humans and drank without consent. My stomach turned over and I struggled not to throw up. The horror before my eyes was unimaginable. I met Cameron’s knowing gaze and felt everything. He’d been here and endured all of this for us. Even Merrick gave me a knowing look of horror, and I saw her study me as if she hadn’t expected my reaction.
Righteous overlords we may be, but we would never hurt humans in such a manner. It was utterly, unbelievably disgraceful. No one had any words as they absorbed the scene around them. The Lycans lit up torches and hung them on mounted holders that were already there. Cameron walked over to a hole near the edge of the room. He knelt in front of it and seemed to be searching in its depths for something.
“Someone hand me a torch,” he asked with a wave of his arm. Merrick took a torch from the wall and handed it to Cameron. He threw it into the pit and we all waited for it to hit the ground. A bottomless pit it was not, and several beats later the torch hit the stone floor with a crash. Cameron appeared both disappointed and relieved at the same time. He sat back on his heels, looking up when I approached him. “They held Othello in here. I was hoping they’d left him.” I knelt beside the hole, straining with him to see movement, but everything was still down below. “They made him insane with thirst so he’d give them information. Every week they threw a human down to feed him.” From the light of the torch, I saw shadows I didn’t want to look at. Bodies.
Gods, I was going to be sick.
Shaking my shoulders to brush off my emotions, I hugged Cameron and stood up to address our army. “If you doubted what we said before now about the devastation the turned will bring, take a good look around.” I emphasized my point, holding my hands out at the glorious horror show we’d been left to deal with. “Alexander, please search for survivors. Arthur, I want someone in that pit and those bodies taken care of.” Before I’d even spoken the command, he was already pulling a rope from his bag and preparing to rappel down the hole. Everyone went to do their tasks, while Knight and I stayed to help Arthur. I watched Arthur’s face and couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. “To think,” I said quietly. “When you came to me, you had no respect for humans. And now you’re ready to help bury bodies of people we never knew.”
He was busy tying off and clipping the rope to him, but he still looked over at me with a glance that wasn’t quite so icy, the only scenario of us sharing a smile. “I’ve seen the opposite of respect, and if I have to choose between respect and utter disrespect, I will choose the former. Not because I care. Because I’d rather care than not care.”
Arthur being poetic, everybody. He’ll be here all weekend.
Knight gave Arthur a bro pat on his shoulder. “That was nice, man. Wanna hug later?” The vampire Hunter flipped him the bird before jumping off the edge of the hole. I reached behind me for Knight’s hand and waited on bated breath for Arthur to hit the bottom. Less than a minute later, we heard his boots crunch on gravel.
“Made it,” he yelled up. I saw the shadow of his face in the torchlight, looking this way and that in the pit. “Othello was down here a good long while,” he commented loosely. That was Arthur speak for, there’s a fuck ton of bodies down here. Too many to bury.
I leaned further over and Knight’s hand came to keep me steady. Arthur was a small dot by the torchlight, so far away my anxiety rose for him. “Burn them.”
Arthur nodded and got to work. His shadow danced here and there as he built the pyre in one corner. What was the air like down there? Could he see very well? Was it scary?
Would he be okay?
I moved away from the edge in fear, hearing the click of a lighter that he tossed into the pile of bodies. The smell of burning remains wafted up the hole to permeate the cave. Ehh, fuckin’ gross. God, that was going to be in my nose for a week.
“Lisbeth,” Merrick called from the other side of the cave, standing next to a table. Knight and Cameron automatically moved towards her, and I wanted to stay behind to make sure Arthur was okay. His small form in the hole waved a hand for me to go, so I stood up and joined everyone at the table.
“This was his desk,” Merrick said.
“He who?” I asked, looking around at the haphazard papers and lumps of candle wax. I had to clench my fingers to stop myself from straightening everything.
Cameron picked up some of the papers to look for clues. “The one who made the potion. He never said his name, or why he was here. He wasn’t in charge either. He was just… here. He seemed to hate Othello quite a bit, I will say. If that helps.” It didn’t. The papers on the table were written in as many different languages as the planet had, even some that were dead and forgotten, suggesting this man was older than I was. There was something about the handwriting that drew my attention. It wasn’t that I couldn’t grasp the memory, like the little glimpses I had of the castle I was born in. This was more like I’d never paid attention to what I was remembering.
“You know him?” Knight said, noticing me studying the papers closely.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I… the handwriting is familiar, but I can’t place it. I remember seeing it in the castle in England, just not who wrote it. I could discount it as not noticing, but I remember everything, and this I don’t remember.” Gaps in my memory were like gaps in my teeth. I felt it at every second. And this wasn’t even a gap, I just didn’t have the memory and I knew that I should’ve. I should’ve known who this man was, and I didn’t. I folded the papers together and stuck them into my jacket. Arthur came to join us, igniting a deep sigh of relief inside me, and we nodded to each other. “Noses alert for any scent. It’s time to track them down.”
22. Fears realized
With four wolf packs plus our newly turned, we numbered around three hundred. That’s three hundred noses to catch a scent. Cameron and Merrick knew the people connected to the smells so they would be best at catching even the smallest whiff. Cameron walked around the cave entrance searching for something. Anything. We split up to search in all directions, using any type of tracking to try and find where they went. Then I realized we were looking in the wrong direction.
“Back inside,” I ordered my group
. We entered the cave again and searched there. Sure enough, we found a small exit that Cameron hadn’t known about, and it led further into the formation before coming to the surface far from the entrance. A quick text later, and the other groups met up with us.
Merrick sniffed around carefully and yelled when she found something. Everyone came to the spot to get a good whiff, and we were off. Though we were on foot, we made good time now that we had a scent to track.
Seeing all that blood, and the bodies they forced Othello to murder had enraged me, and only spilling worthless rebel blood would assuage me. I was done with this. I was done with them, and I would be damned if I let them continue their murder spree for one more day.
The packs started to howl as the scent got stronger, and more scents were thrown into the mix as we got closer and closer. One by one the Lycans turned into wolves, and we ran side by side with those that used to be our brothers, and were once more.
The sun was starting to set when we arrived at a town that was overflowing with the scents we’d been tracking. Jackpot. It was time to scout and plan our moves wisely. We sent off groups of both wolf and vampire to check things out. My group found a spot higher up so we could see into the city.
The first thing I noticed was how little humans were roaming the streets, as in none, even after an hour of watching. The second was how much Knight was sweating.
I approached him where he sat a bit away from everyone and put a hand on his forehead. He was burning up, almost scorching my hand. “What’s wrong, babe?”
“I thought it would be okay, I thought the clouds were going to be thick tonight,” he groaned, and his breath caught in his lungs. I almost asked what he was talking about until I saw something peeking out through the clouds.
The moon. The full moon.
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 52
