by brett hicks
The wards were singing through my veins now. I felt every pop of an inhuman hitting my wards. Some might actually die others would be knocked senseless. I didn’t relish this knowledge, but neither did I feel responsible. They chose to be in my land, or to infiltrate it, so they could reap their own rewards.
Some were cut off on the inside and the rest were stuck outside, pushed up to the sea. Harlem was part of the upper section of the Manhattan Island, so it should have been part of the Manhattan Kingdom, but for some reason, no one had wanted this segment of the city. My claim now divided the island in half, two opposing kingdoms and my East Harlem wards ran to the bridge, connecting me to Seri’s Brooklyn Kingdom. Granted, the route available was not the most convenient of paths from Harlem to Brooklyn.
Still, Brighton Beach was a fair drive from me, so any assistance would be delayed in travel. I had to learn how to hold this land with my own power, with my own bare-hands.
How did my life turn out like this?
I expelled a long breath in exhaustion. My eyes were drooping now, telling on my weariness. The sun was like a lullaby to my tired necrovamp mind. My body had always been naturally slanted towards the darkness, now I knew why. However, my current level of drowsiness was in part due to my body adjusting to my new vampire lifestyle.
“Thea…?”
A little vampire voice called to me from my door and I smiled to myself before I turned to face the girl. Her blue eyes took in my disheveled state, but she didn’t comment on my look.
“Hey there.”
I smiled warmly to Chelsea and I pat the floor beside me.
“Want to join me? I have an actual mattress now.”
She nodded and skipped over to me, dodging the weak spot in the floor. Chelsea plopped down beside me and smiled shyly.
“Momma said she will watch the streets, so you could get some sleep.”
I nodded and ruffled her golden hair, making her groan in annoyance. I laughed, and I ruffled her hair once more for good measure.
“Tell your momma thanks for me once you see her again.”
Chelsea nodded, and she curled up like a kitten beside me. She was never going to be a human, but she was still every bit as innocent and sweet as any human little girl ever could hope to be! How could I dislike what I am, when she is a stark reminder that innocent life comes with fangs too, sometimes.
***
My eyes opened to the raging and pounding of waves crashing into the surface of the crags I now found myself perched atop high above the water.
I was dreaming, but the scene was unfamiliar. The land was lush and tall pale grass dotted the landscape. Nearby, several horses roamed in an old-style circular fence made of dark-brown wood. This was not the clean cuts you found at a hardware store; the wood was rough and jagged. Every piece looked as if it had been hacked straight from a nearby tree.
Beyond the rancher’s pin was a small cottage-style house, something like a larger cabin you might expect to find in the woods. The tempest winds beat on my face and I took in the rest of my surroundings.
Off into the distance I could see the tree-line beginning. I could hear animal calls and bird song filling the early afternoon. What struck me the deepest was the crispness of the air, the unpolluted fresh scents. There was no fossil fuel to sully the sweetness of the flowers in the air, or the distinctive animal scents nearby the tree line.
I walked up towards the cottage; it was rough, but quaint. The wind seemed to be picking up speed, so I jogged to the front door.
I knew I was dreaming, so I didn’t bother to knock. I entered the small home and I was greeted by the smell of cooking stew. Someone had been cooking; someone seemed to be home, despite this being my dream.
She walked in wearing an old Victorian Era dress the color of light blue, so icy it matched her eyes. Her long flowing straight red hair was handing down her back like a cape. Her perfect pink lips quirked up into a smile as she looked over to me, as thought she had expected me.
Seraphina was a vision in blue, so lovely that my body clenched and heated at the sight of her. She was feminine and lovely, graceful, delicate, yet she also held that same deadliness to her that she did in the real world.
“Hi…”
I breathed out lamely and I wanted to kick myself, but this was my fantasy, she could just believe I said something wittier, right?! Seri smiled wider still and her icy blue eyes glowed as we approached one another. I could feel the resonance of our magic mingling, drawing strength from each other. She was part of me, part of my vampire half.
“I loved this little cottage. This was once a place in Southern Scotland. It has long since been overtaken by human growth and expansion. This was where I brought Liam, so that his wounds could heal in peace, it was our refuge from the world.”
I looked at all the weapons, these much older than the ones she had at the club. She had muskets and claymores, axes, and crossbows. There was a large bearskin rug, it looked new, like she had just recently skinned the bear herself.
Beyond the rug was a large hearth with a roaring fire and a massive cast-iron pot of boiling meats and wild vegetables. She had a few racks of ground up herbs and raw spices. The entire place was perfect to the period; this was once a place in the 1700’s
“How are we here?”
She grinned, and her eyes danced with amusement.
“Have you ever heard the term dreamscape?”
I nodded, and I called up the memories associated with the word. My mind worked just as it did in my waking moments, which was unlike any dream I have had before.
“Are you suggesting that you are really Seri, and this is some sort of shared dream?”
Seri stepped forward and she walked around me like a hungry wolf stalking her dinner. Her belle curves swayed in her long blue dress, but the garment hugged her in the perfect way. My throat bobbed as I felt the raw lust and hunger burning my insides. She was temptation; she was my very own personal kryptonite!
Her hands firmly stroked down my soft back and my traitorous body arched, allowing her hands to glide unhindered. My breath hitched, and my thoughts muddled into nothing but my pure feminine need.
“You’re so tense, allow me to help you. At least here, we are to ourselves; we are free of all outside perceptions. I long to know you Thea…”
My body clenched at her declaration of passionate need. Her hands worked on my stiff back muscles and I felt myself leaning back into her. Her hands were smaller than mine were, and that’s saying something, but they held unimaginable power. She used them so tenderly, firm, but pleasurable. I closed my eyes and I sighed in contentment.
“I wish you would do this more often in person.”
The words slipped from my lips and my cheeks pinked in my girlish nervousness.
Kryptonite indeed!
“I will, if you will do to me what you did in our first dream together.”
Her lips softly brushed over my sensitive neck and my head cocked to the side, allowing her better access. She kissed her way up my neck and traced her tongue on my lower ear. I felt myself go liquid under her ministrations.
I felt so at ease, yet almost coiled; ready to turn and throw her to any soft surface I could find, just to expel the mounting pressure on my body. I needed her, I wanted her, and I should never be with her; I knew all these things!
“We can’t…”
Her hands slithered around my front, cupping my breasts and I couldn’t help the traitorous moan that came from my mouth.
“Why not Thea, I can feel how much you want me, and I want you just as badly.”
Her right hand slid towards my waist and I didn’t fight her. I just turned my head back enough to capture her lips. My tongue lanced into her mouth like it was the last source of water on the planet.
Seri craftily slipped her small hand into my jeans and wiggled under my panties. I writhed against her as she felt just how ready my traitorous body was to accept her inside me. She felt the liquid arousal and
the fire of my passion; a fire as bright has her gorgeous hair.
Seri’s breath hitched, and she swore to herself, but it was of excitement, of hunger, not anger.
“I must have you Thea, lest you be the death of me.”
I captured her lips with mine and our tongues wrestled like two prizefighters. I cried out in ecstasy as one small digit was thrust into my body. I felt my tender skin contracting tightly around her small digit. I had never been a very wide girl down there, so her small finger was perfect for me.
My kiss deepened further, and I laced my fingers through her red-blonde locks as she thrust into me repeatedly. She was firm, yet she was also tender in her agonizingly pleasurable penetration. I wanted her, more of her, I wanted to cum for her and I wanted to make her scream my name in retribution for all the vulnerable looks and sounds she was inciting me to now.
Even in sex, I was competing with her. She was my rival, she was my love, and she was my kin.
Twenty-Three:
I woke up in grave need of a fresh pair of panties. I was very well rested and all my muscles felt looser than they had when I passed out.
“Shit on a stick batman!”
I muttered to myself and I nearly hopped to the roof, as I spotted Liam slumped against my door. I cleared my throat and gave him a half-hearted wave.
“Hey, didn’t see you there, what’s up? Please don’t tell me Bix is mad at you!”
Liam smiled wickedly and shook his head in a “no.”
“Do you know, you called out her name quite a lot there lass? And, from the scent I’m getting in here, I would almost swear you got laid.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and I shot him a withering look—which was pointless, considering Seri’s was far worse.
“Dreamscape ever heard of that?”
Liam blinked his eyes a few times and he studied me.
“Aye, but you’re the first necro that I’’ve ever heard of having that gift. It was lost with the Alchemists. Thought, there are some Native-American shamans, who have a watered-down version of dreamscape. So, what she said to me earlier was true after all. She was almost certain that you had shared a dream with her the night before. But the Princess was very vague on the contents or details.”
My blush must have given me away, because Liam chuckled at my expense.
“I should have figured that you two were too stubborn to let a little thing like distance come between you when you really want to share some time.”
I told him about the crags and the ocean. I described the nice little cottage home she had been in cooking venison stew. Liam smiled, and his eyes and tone went nostalgic.
“Aye, yes I remember that well. We both took a long reprieve from the court of nobles for a time to heal. I often wished I had never left that cabin.”
I bit my lip and leaned in a bit.
“Why did you leave? You’re immortal; you could have lived out there forever if you chose to.”
Liam shrugged, and he saddened closed down tight.
“I could have, but then we wouldn’t be right here, right now, would we lassie?”
I furrowed my brow, the cryptic bastard had just said something else, but I had no context for whatever secret meaning his words held. His glinting and victorious gaze told me he knew this too!
“Damn vampire!”
I swore, but my tone held no venom or rage. Bantering with Liam seemed to be as natural as breathing. He had his secrets and mysteries, but I generally knew where I stood with him.
“So, how’d it go with you ladylove last night?”
I winged my brows suggestively and Liam’s mischievous smile widened to resemble a more handsome version of the Grinch.
“What’s the old saying, ‘A gentleman never asks, and a lady never tells’?”
I swore at him and poked him in the chest.
“This lady is asking, so gentleman tells her!”
Liam laughed richly, and I felt his muscles bulking under my small finger—that he seemed to ignore completely. (Man, Seri must really have done a number on him, if he is so comfortable with a woman grilling him!)
“Do you want all the hairy and not so hairy details?”
His smile was like a cat that ate the canary. Mainly due to my non-straight-girl twisted features at the visual. Ok, so he had taken my advice, a simple yes would have been fine.
“Grose, a simple yes would have been fine, freak!”
I smacked his chest and he laughed in his deep playful manner.
“I do believe we have places to be today. Seri is receiving her expected guest.”
I blinked.
“The Sky Lord?”
Liam nodded in confirmation.
“Aye and he has requested you attend.”
I smacked him harder this time.
“Fuck man! You should have led with that!”
He chuckled deeper still, and his chest hefted with his good mood.
“Why aren’t you freaked out? This is the guy who leveled the Grand Canyon, turning it into, well the Grand-flipping-Canyon!”
Liam shook his head and sighed.
“Lass, he is more than that, he is the leader of all the air and sky fae. He rules the domain set in the clouds and his earthly domain in Germany and Poland.”
I stopped and spun, remembering what I had heard before about the domains.
“Wait, so he controls two countries worth of land that is very close to Dean Sylvester? That hardly seems like a coincidence.”
Liam nodded, and his mood turned solemn.
“Yes, this has occurred to Seri, Bix and I. We had accepted Libby here, due to their friendship, and because her father was one of the few who gave Seri’s own father pause to act.”
My head was spinning with the implications.
“Two birds, one death, and shit he means to use Lenard Chase to destroy Seri’s domain, and that as an excuse to use his invasion force to drag her off in chains, claiming her for himself. Do I have the proper gauge of things now?”
Liam nodded, and he gestured towards the door.
“We have a meeting to attend.”
“Liam, this screams ‘trap’ to me. I might not have years of experience, but why would Dean allow us to gather, unless it was what he wanted?”
Liam shrugged, and his brows pinched together.
“He didn’t account for your involvement. You have muddied his plans and now he has some of his invasion force pinned behind your wards.”
I nodded, and I sighed.
“Liam, I’m not going with you, but you can act as my proxy, right? I don’t trust Henry to not hit this place while you’re gone!”
Liam tapped his finger against his chin.
“Perhaps we should do both? You go, and you stay.”
I blinked in obvious confusion.
“English for the pitiful mortally minded girl, please!”
Liam snorted and rolled his eyes.
“I nearly forget, you don’t know how glamour works yet. Bix is an elf she can weave masterful illusions. You should stay, if that is what you feel is best, but we can have Bix go disguised as you. Dean, Seri, Lenard, and I could see through the disguise, but not nay minions he would have keeping tabs on this place.”
I grinned and nodded my approval.
“Sweet, so your girlfriend is going dressed up as me to the murderer’s ball. I’m sure you love that idea.”
Liam rolled his eyes again and spread his hands wide.
“I’m but a simple man lassie. Bix would have me balls mounted and stuffed if I assumed I could tell her what she was going to do. In some ways, she scares me more than your or Seri ever could.”
I nodded in comprehension.
“She controls your muff supply now, I get it.”
“Must you be so crass?”
I slapped him in the chest one last time before I walked out the door. Liam followed close behind me; we were both headed to the same place. My mind was flooded with probable scenarios. I should ju
st go to the meeting, but my gut was burning as if it was being drug across hot coals. I trusted my gut; it had never misled me before.
My mind was reeling; all the new information was rushing through me like torrents. I had always possessed an uncanny ability to see through things that others would miss. My mind worked differently, almost like a spectrum autistic mind. I am not claiming to be some savant genius, but I did have a power no one ever saw coming, my side-ways thinking.
I could see patterns-within-patterns, layers of machinations overlapping one another. Anyone else would go to this meet and anyone else would do so because they had no choice. That is why I couldn’t attend. Too many powerful targets in one place for Dean to risk losing his window of opportunity, in whatever form that opportunity manifest.
“I need coffee, a lot of coffee! This is making my brain hurt!”
Liam sniggered behind me and I contemplated turning and popping him yet again but thought better of that idea. Bix walked into the hall to greet us. Most would have missed the subtle cues of her leaning slightly forward, or her body heating just a bit, barely observable to the naked eye. I would never have missed either, not even when I was still part human. Observation was a gift and a curse, one I could never cut off.
Patty came out into the hall a moment later, followed by her husband and Phil. Phil had not liked me much the day before, but he seemed positively subdued, but not in a depressive sort of way. He just seemed relieved and unburdened by whatever I had taken from his shoulders in our fight, and in his submission to me. That would have to wait for latter.
“So, are you ready to head out?”
Bix asked with a quirked brow and her generally placid expression otherwise in place. She looked nearly aloof, as she seemed to since I met her, but I knew more now. Bix was a lot more emotional than she let people believe herself to be, she just knew how to compartmentalize better than most.
I shook my head and I nodded to Liam.
“We have a different plan for today’s festivities.”
Bix blinked and turned her full attention to Liam, who sauntered up into her personal space and pulled her slender waist towards himself with his large hand wrapping around her center. Liam was not about to let her pretend they were not lovers now. No, he was much too proud of his status as her boyfriend to play these games. I could have laughed, if not for the shit-sandwich I was about to feed Bix.
