“Finding your mate can change things. I suspect she’s been spying for Casey.”
I try to think and fast. The Investigation Team knows something is going on and that vampires, werewolves, and witches are working together. The object they have is useful but doesn’t tell them more than that. “Donovan, you fought well today, go heal with your mate. I’m sure Casey will be back one way or another. Now isn’t the time for more. Damaris will stay loyal to us, and we will rescue him soon.”
“Very well, my Lady. If you need us, let us know.”
I nod at him, and they leave.
“My Lady, what do we do next?” my assistant asks.
I look at her. “Nothing for now. I’m sure the Investigation Team won’t kill him. He only knows minimal information about us, but we do need to get those magical objects faster.”
“We have increased our new followers already. Jeremy has agreed to join us although he’s asking what happened to Damaris.”
That is excellent news. “Tell him the truth, tell him that Casey took him to the Investigation Team for questioning and they are keeping him prisoner. No more than that. He’s joined us willingly?”
“Yes, he has. Damaris explained everything to him.”
I’m pleased as it means even though we’ve lost Damaris, we are still in a position to corrupt more vampires with Jeremy’s help.
“Tell him what he needs to know. We’ll start him the same way we did Damaris. Tell him we’re going to try to rescue Damaris, but his gifts are needed somewhere else. Give him the same bullshit we gave Damaris, and we’ll adjust after.”
“Very well, my Lady, I will inform him. Do we send a rescue team?”
I grin at her. “No, don’t bother. He doesn’t need to know the truth just yet.”
She nods and leaves me.
What a night. What should have been a simple thing, to retrieve a magical object, ended up where I almost lost one of my best soldiers. Luckily, his mate protects him. I knew from the beginning that Damaris was trouble. Now I don’t care if he rots. I will concentrate my efforts on Jeremy. He will bring more vampires to our cause. I will get my revenge on those who banned me—not only them but their followers as well. They will perish.
15. Casey
WHAT A NIGHT. Damaris has been caught, and I’m at the infirmary at the Investigation Team headquarters with my mate, Jade, and Dean. That’s what they call a hundred and eighty -degree turn. I look at my mate. I know nothing about him, but at the same time, it’s like I’ve known him all my life. One of the healer witches has cast a spell to help him heal from his wounds after his fight with Donovan.
“You’re good, it’s nothing you can’t heal from.” She smiles at him and nods at me.
Kane enters the infirmary and starts to tease me. “So, you decided to have a party without me?”
“Sorry, Kane, I only had one invitation, but at the same time, I discovered a mate.” Just then, my mate stands and puts one arm around my neck. “I’m Duncan”
“Kane.” The two men shake hands as Kane smiles at us both. “I see that. I’ve always been told daywalkers couldn’t mate. Now I discover there’s not one but two that are mated.”
“Believe me, I have no idea how it happened, but I suspect there’s more than the two of us. And speaking of mates, the werewolf that was there—Donovan— seems to be mated to a witch.” I look at my mate, and he kisses me.
“Witch, you say?”
“Yes, a fire witch to be precise, a powerful one too.”
Kane takes a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “That’s not good.”
I look at him while my mate starts to stroke my hair. I’m not used to this, but at the same time, I love it. “Why?”
“Not here. We need a debriefing. I’m guessing you’re not going back to Internal Affairs?”
I look at my mate, we haven’t talked about anything yet, we need time for ourselves.
Duncan speaks before I can. “Casey and I haven’t had time to talk about it yet. If it was up to me, I’m pretty sure we’d be at a hotel and mating until we can’t walk, but her mission was important. I don’t have all the details, but from what I’ve seen, you’ve got a lot of problems and not just within the vampire faction. I’m guessing werewolves, shifters, and witches, and who knows who else are involved. I’m the Grif Pack’s alpha, and we will help however we can. Not only my mate but my beta’s mate are involved in this. No one tries to kill one of ours.”
I see Jade and Dean coming closer and Duncan quickly introduces them to Kane.
“We’ll have that meeting now. Lizbeth will not be there since it’s daylight, but I’ll tell her everything when she wakes.”
The four of us follow Kane inside a big conference room where several others are already waiting. “Everyone, please take a seat, we have news we need to share with you all. First of all, Damaris is in our custody, and he also had a magical object. Let me introduce Casey and Jade who are daywalkers and their mates, Duncan and Dean who are part of the Grif Pack. This is Ross, Kass, one of the Elders—but just call him Elder—Gwen, Tessa, and Debra. They’re part of this investigation and are also Internal Affairs within the witch faction. Tell us everything you know, Casey.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I wish it were under different circumstances, but here’s what we know so far.” I start with my first meeting with Kane and Lizbeth and my research into what’s going on.
“You think that your boss is working with them?” Gwen, one of the witches, asks.
“He’s been acting weird for a couple of weeks. He’s never involved himself in our missions before. That’s not his job, and he knows it. He’s a vampire, but his maker was killed a century ago, so he’s similar to a daywalker. Usually, blood ties prevail in the vampire faction, but now we know from Damaris’s actions there are things that can make them betray those blood ties. If that’s true, it confirms what we’ve suspected. Before today, almost everyone thought a daywalker couldn’t mate, that we are only there to serve as a kind of police force inside the vampire faction. Now it’s different.” I continue with my intervention at Jeremy’s club.
“Could Jeremy help us, or do you think Damaris has corrupted him?” Kane asks me.
“I’m not sure. I didn’t see him. I’m guessing he’s provided blood and probably sex to Damaris, but I haven’t had time to investigate that part yet.”
Silence surrounds us as every person in the room thinks hard about what’s going on. “What is your conclusion so far?” the Elder asks.
“I’m not sure, I know something is going on. What that is, I can’t say. I’m not saying it’s not normal for members of different factions to help each other, it’s just odd. We coexist, but at the same time, we don’t. The neutral zone is the place that each species can interact with another, but they aren’t allowed to be on faction ground if they’re not part of that faction. Maybe it’s others like us that have mated with other species inside the community and are frustrated with the way things are and are behind it. The blood link is strong, but the mating bond is stronger.”
Everyone starts to talk at the same time.
“Silence!” Kane yells to all of us. “Don’t start jumping to conclusions. We have a situation on our hands that needs more than just the Investigation Team to figure out. Each of your factions will have to help. I have a feeling it’s only the tip of the iceberg. More will come, and we’ll need to be ready. For the first time since the beginning of time, we need to work with each other. We’ll be the central hub of information, and you’re welcome to come and share and learn what others know in all this.” Kane tells everyone.
“What about the object?” I ask.
“That’s easy, a warrior witch will be here soon. We know the stone has to be retrieved by one of them and taken to the Librarian for safety. The stone needs its witch to retrieve it,” Debra explains.
“The Librarian has already been in contact. There’s no need for them both to be here at the same time
,” Kane tries to reassure her.
“You don’t understand. If a warrior witch doesn’t find her piece, and it’s not lost to an evil hand, her magic is affected. In that case, one of the witches will be in pain because of this. She needs to give it to the Librarian for her own sake.”
Interesting. I haven’t educated myself on the other factions since my role was simple. It was to bring any vampire within the faction back into line with our laws.
“Very well, we will wait for the witch to come here,” Kane tells her. “Do we have anything else to discuss? Anyone have any more information?”
The Elder speaks. “We have another problem, but we don’t think it’s part of what’s happening here.”
“Meaning?” Kane asks.
“Gorad, the black wizard, has started to free himself. We’ve tried to prevent it and the Special Operations Team is working with us on it, but as I said, I don’t think they’re related. We’re trying to figure out what happened. I will tell you that inter-species mating is growing and we will see it more and more. Throughout history, we’ve had some inter-species pairs, but I think it will become the norm in a couple of years.”
“If you’re right, that’ll become a problem with faction borders.”
“Maybe we need to rethink those borders. Humans that mingle between species are starting to be common, but now we have witches mated to werewolves and vampires, a vampire that’s mated half-demon, and a daywalker mated to a werewolf. What other pairings will we have? Breeding between the factions could cause problems,” the Elder explains.
“The only one that doesn’t need to breed is a vampire. They create new ones,” Kane says.
The Elder shakes his head. “No, it doesn’t work like that. Those that are turned are considered weak inside the vampire faction. They can never have a baby with another vampire. Witches or other species could be possible, but we’re not sure. But a turned vampire is sterile with another vampire. Even for them, they are starting to have problems producing children. The only species that can have a baby with them, except another vampire, is a full human that hasn’t been turned, but that seems to only happen if they are fated mates.”
I think about this information. We’ve been blind for so many centuries.
“That means what exactly?” my mate asks the Elder.
“It means that nature always looks for balance. We created an unbalance for centuries with the factions. Lucky for all of us, the neutral zone brings a sort of balance, but I think that nature wants more from us. Tell me, Duncan, have you noticed that inbreeding has become a problem within your faction?”
“Yes, I have. A lot of us are going to the neutral zone, hoping to find a mate. Dean and I have been lucky to find ours, but it also means we can no longer live within the faction, only the neutral zone,” Duncan replies.
The Elder shakes his head. “There it is. Not only do we have some that are starting to rebel because of those rules, but we see inter-species mating that didn’t exist twenty years ago. The situation is bigger than that. We’re facing a rebellion but also a revolution. People are desperate to find their fated one. So much so that they’re looking at other clans and factions.”
It really is bigger than we thought.
“Will each faction or clan provide support?” Kane asks us.
“As for Jade and me, I can confirm we will work with you. I don’t know about the rest of the group, but I can try to communicate with the rogue ones that have disappeared all of a sudden,” I reply.
“As for my pack, you have our support. As I said, not only my mate but my beta’s mate are part of this, which means we’re now involved. I don’t know about the rest of the packs within the shifter faction, but I can ask around and see what happens,” Duncan answers.
“The witches’ Internal Affairs, are with you. I don’t know if each coven will do it, but I can tell you we’ll do our part. We’ll inform our community about this and see what they say, but if we tell them that other factions are joining with you, it brings more emphasis and maybe people will talk,” Gwen replies.
“We, the Elders, will help the best we can, but we also have to help the Special Operations Team at the Paranormal University solve the other problem. We’ll advise you if anything changes with Gorad.”
Kane nods at us. “Great, we’ll keep each other posted through the secure channel we’ve set up. If it’s something big, we’ll meet. As for us, the Investigation Team is in one hundred percent and more so in my case, since my mate is also involved. Damaris is out of commission, but that doesn’t mean others won’t want her dead.”
I nod and pull Kane aside as everyone leaves. “Kane, I want to see Damaris. I need to interrogate him.”
He smiles at me. “I was sure you’d say that. I already have him in a room. Come. Let’s get it done, and you can be with your mate later. We have a room here. It will be more private for you guys.” With that, Kane hands me a keycard in a paper folder, similar to what they give out in hotels—a quick glance shows it’s a room on the fourth floor—and shows us the way to where they’re holding Damaris.
16. Damaris
I’M CHAINED TO A chair and I’ve lost some blood, but I’ll survive. That bitch has me, but I know they’ll come to rescue me. My mission has failed again. Not only have I not taken care of Lizbeth, but now one of my top priorities is to make Casey pay for what she’s done.
I hope Jeremy joins our cause as we need another vampire. I’ve spread the news of what’s happening, but I haven’t had time to talk to anyone else. I know vampires love to gossip, and if someone is talking at the underground level, it’s good. If Jeremy also joins us, it’s even better. He’s the first one I’ve contacted directly.
When I woke it was dark and I don’t know how long I was unconscious. Why did Donovan come to me? We were supposed to meet after I’d convinced Jeremy to join us. The light and the lack of decor starts to piss me off. How long will they keep me like this? The door opens, and someone from the Investigation Team enters.
“I see you’re awake,” the woman says to me.
“Yes, and you are?”
“My name isn’t important. It’s more the message I bring.”
I look at her, wondering who the fuck she is. “Fine, what’s the message?”
“Don’t worry, I have clearance to be here, but the Lady doesn’t want you released just yet.”
My body freezes at her name. “What?”
She smiles at me. “You don’t know me, and I’m not part of the SIA. What you see now is a vision. It’s in your head. I have your blood with me, so I’m able to connect to you through your mind. That’s my power. As I said, she will not rescue you. Well, not right now at least.”
Am I dreaming? A vampire doesn’t dream. I didn’t know anyone could do something like this. We have some people that have mutated and evolved but nothing like this. “Tell me why?”
“Simple, she needs you here for now.”
I’m angry at this decision. “I don’t know why you’re here. Are you going to kill me?” If she is, I’d prefer to know now.
“Tsk! Tsk! You’re not in a position to ask or request. The Lady is very disappointed with you. You were the only vampire we were able to corrupt so fast. We knew you hated your brother and his son, so we took advantage.”
I try to free myself. I need her out of my mind.
“Don’t try, it won’t work. This isn’t real, it’s only a dream.”
“Vampires don’t fucking dream.”
She laughs. “Well, there’s a lot more going on than you know. The old species aren’t the only ones that have abilities and want change. There are a lot of hybrids that do as well.”
“Hybrids?”
“You think half-demons are the only half-breeds? We’ve been inter-species mating for decades now, and the result is stunning. You know enough for now. If you don’t say anything about us, we may rescue you. You need to be a good boy. If not, we’ll make sure you don’t survive.”
&nbs
p; I open my eyes, and she isn’t there anymore. Am I still dreaming? What did she mean by hybrids? That’s not the original plan, but I’ve always wondered if I knew it all. I need to try and contact Jeremy, I need to get free. I’m stuck here, these chains prove that. Have I made a mistake? If I have, I’ve no choice but to follow her instructions. I’m in too deep, and I need to live. I’m not ready to become dust.
What are my options? Stay silent, and hope they rescue me or tell them what I know —which obviously isn’t as much as I thought it was. I need to decide on a strategy fast. I’m not in the right place. If I stay here and say nothing, I’m sure Kane will want his revenge, but if I say what I do know, one, they probably won’t believe me and two, my life will be on a timer, and I won’t know when my time is up.
I need to decide and fast. I’m guessing Casey or Kane will join me soon, possibly both of them. By now, they know I’m awake.
I take a deep breath which doesn’t do much since a vampire doesn’t breathe, but it always allows me to re-center myself.
The door opens, and Casey enters with the werewolf that was fighting with Donovan, maybe I was right when I was taunting her, she has got a mate. It’s showtime, and I need to act like I’m supposed to.
17. Casey
“I HOPE YOU GOT A GOOD NIGHT’S sleep, Damaris. Now, I need answers, and don’t fuck with me.”
Duncan chuckles at my back, and I grin at his reaction.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you, bitch!”
Before I have time to react, my mate has his hand around Damaris’s neck. “You’d better be nice if not, I’ll take it personally. No one messes with my mate.”
Part of me is thrilled with Duncan’s possessiveness. Nobody has ever stood up for me like that, I’ve been alone for so long. “Calm down. Damaris will be the perfect vampire gentleman. Right, Damaris?”
My mate releases him but hits him as he does. I know that losing blood is not good for a vampire, and we need him to survive, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hurt him a little.
Blood Rebellion Page 8
