Crown of Smoke and Blood

by Sadie Jacks

  I rolled my eyes. Jumping down, I managed to get my weapons out of the cloak that somehow still clung to my body. Most of the time I forgot I was wearing it. And that was certainly the case for today. So familiar was its weight, that it no longer registered on my frame. I was just thankful for the protective coverings of my various blades.

  Shimmying wet leathers off was a bit trickier, but I got it done. I chafed my hands up and down my arms as I waited for Koehn to come back with some clothing for me. I turned to look at myself in one of the mirrors. Almost fell over. If it hadn’t been for the counter, I would have landed on the floor.

  “Shite.” I pressed a hand to my head. It felt like one of my creatures had gotten free, but that couldn’t be. I hadn’t released any of them. And I would certainly remember doing so. I grabbed a nearby towel and dried myself off.

  You’ve not eaten in a long time, V. Hangry doesn’t suit you, Beastie said in my head.

  I nodded. That was it. “You’re right. Koehn promised me chocolate. So there’s that.”

  Beastie snorted. Let’s try for something more than pure sugar.

  “You’re not my mother, Beastie. Stay out of it.” My nose wrinkled up. I could have chocolate if I wanted it.

  “I’m not Beastie, but I think you need to eat something more than just chocolate,” Koehn said from behind me. Dark clothes hung limply from his big hands. “But I’ll be holding up my end of the bargain on the chocolate. Just promise you’ll eat something more than just sugar with it.”

  I blew out a sigh. Shite. “Good.” Please don’t ask about Beastie. Please don’t ask about Beastie.

  “Who is Beastie anyway?” Koehn asked as he looked over my shoulder.

  Feck. “Just someone I talk to once in a while.”

  Koehn finally met my eyes. “When there’s no one else around?”

  I nodded. Smiled. “Exactly. What clothes did you get me?”

  Koehn rolled his eyes. “Nice segue. I got you a pair of drawstring pants that we can cut off, so they don’t drag or hamper your movement. I also got you a shirt.” He held them both up.

  Reaching out, I took them. “Thank you.” I pulled the shirt on, shoved my hands through the long sleeves. Fluffing out my hair, I sniggered at the extra fabric that slumped over the tips of my fingers. “Long sleeves?”

  He nodded. “Yes. Good news, your clothes should be back at my house when we get there. Apparently we’ve been gone for two days.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Two days? How the feck did that happen?”

  He shrugged. Moving to a drawer at the far side, he opened it and pulled out a pair of scissors. Walking back over, he pushed the pants at me. “Hold these up to your waist.”

  I walked over and did as he asked. Within a couple minutes, I had some long pants on. Granted, they had jagged edges around the ankles, but it was better than nothing. And certainly better than wet leather. “Thanks.”

  He nodded. “Let’s get some real food for you—along with your chocolate. I’ll get some blood and we can finally see about getting this Michael nonsense cleaned up.”

  I nodded and moved to the door. “As long as I get the chocolate, I’m good with just about whatever.”

  His chuckle followed me out the door.

  The Council and Tavis were standing around the sitting room. Everyone looked like they were on edge. A low grade tension infiltrated each body until it looked as if they all had steel shoved up their butts.

  “What’s wrong now?” Koehn said with a sigh.

  “Magda is here,” Tavis said.

  “We can’t have an air elemental here, Koehn. The family won’t stand for it,” Gideon said. “With everything else going on, especially them thinking you’d disappeared, I suggest we take this to your house. Give a little explanation in the throne room and then take this whole business out of here.”

  Koehn looked at his other two Council members. His eyebrows were raised. “What say you?”

  “We agree with Gideon. It will give us some much needed privacy and allow us to make plans without having to worry about listening ears.” Ambrose tipped his head in Hayes’ direction.

  The vampire doctor was snoozing in one of the sitting chairs. His chin resting on his chest as light snores filtered through the room.

  Koehn sighed. “Yes. Let’s do that.” He turned to Tavis. “If you could escort Magda back to my home, I would appreciate it.”

  “And if you could get me some food, I will love you forever, brother.” I smiled up at him.

  Tavis chuckled. “I can do both. Any requests for food?”

  “Chocolate,” I said immediately.

  Koehn snorted. “And something healthy. She needs more than sugar.”

  Tavis rolled his eyes and looked at me. “Anything besides sugar?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll eat pretty much anything. If you have something like what you brought me earlier, that would be perfect.”

  Tavis looked at me for a moment. His head tipped to the side. “That was over three days ago now, Vari. Are ye feeling well?”

  Shite. I’d forgotten what Koehn said about the missing time. I nodded. “Yeah. It didn’t feel like more than an hour or two for Koehn and me, so adjusting to the fact that it was for you lot, is throwing me off.”

  Tavis nodded. “As long as ye’re feeling fine, I’ll get Magda and go shopping for food and chocolate.”

  I shot him a beaming smile. “You’re my favorite, Tavis MacDougal.”

  Koehn growled beside me.

  “It’s still Tavis. You’ve yet to gift me chocolate.”

  The other men laughed as Tavis left.

  Koehn sighed. “We’ve other things to worry about than your chocolate fetish.”

  I laughed. “You know nothing of my fetishes, but I’ll allow you to change the subject.” I turned to the men as Koehn gaped at me. “What of the women, then?”

  Ambrose told me. “They are waiting for you in one of the communal rooms. They are being guarded to keep the family away.”

  I nodded. “Bless the saints. Thank you.” I spun on my heel and moved towards the door.

  “Where the feck are you going? You don’t know your way around here?” Koehn said behind me.

  “I can smell them. Two floors down.”

  “Uh, Mistress Vari, they are on the first floor,” Hector said softly.

  I stopped suddenly and turned around. “What?”

  He nodded, his black hair gleaming under the bright lights. “Yes, Mistress. First floor. We didn’t want to move them any more than necessary. They are human beings after all.”

  I clicked my hanging jaw shut with a soft click. “That’s good. So who am I smelling that they smell of the women?”

  All of the men turned to each other and gave confused looks.

  “You weren’t there. Not truly. Could Deema have shared the scent memory with you?” Koehn asked.

  I shrugged. Weirder things had been known to happen. “Perhaps.” I put my nose to the air and inhaled long and slow. When I had that scent back in my nose, I looked at the men again. “Are you certain they are on the first floor?”

  Hector smiled. “Yes, my lady. I do not often confuse floors.”

  I chuckled. “That’s good for you.” I turned to Koehn. “I can count at least two of them on this floor. Has anyone fed from them recently?”

  Ambrose jolted. “No. They are under guard with strict instructions to be left alone.”

  I shook my head. “Follow me, then. The only thing I can do is take you to where I’m smelling them.” I threw the door open and moved down the hall.

  The hall was beautiful…if you liked over the top opulence and dramatic displays of wealth. I much preferred Koehn’s private residence. It didn’t even seem like Ambrose and Hector would appreciate living here, and they were much fancier than Koehn. I was still deciding about Gideon. The man was a puzzle to me.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. Getting back to Koehn’s and getting some chocolates were all
that mattered to me right now. I traipsed down the stairs two floors. Turned right and made my way to the end of the hall.

  Stopping in front of the last door on the left, I pointed at it. “This is where the scent is coming from.”

  Koehn stepped in front of me and knocked. As we waited, he looked at me over his shoulder. “Once you see who lives here, you’ll be very embarrassed.”

  I shrugged and crossed my arms. I was willing to be humiliated as long as those women stayed safe. My pride meant less than their mental and physical health.

  The door finally opened. A man stood there. A boy, really. Small of stature and looking ill at ease with himself, he blinked up at Koehn. “Y-y-y-yes, my king?”

  The scent of the women whooshed out into the hall on a gust of wind. Without thinking, I zipped around Koehn and pushed into the room. “What the feck?” I rocked to a stop.

  Another vampire was in there. The women’s clothes had been stretched over life-sized dolls. And they were fecking them. Fangs bared, eyes black. Full on rutting.

  “Julian, what the feck do you think you’re doing?” Koehn bellowed.

  The vampire who was pumping his hips into a plastic doll growled low in his throat, but he didn’t stop.

  Koehn moved up and physically moved the lad away from the inanimate woman who was eternally caught in a disgusting paroxysm of pleasure. He threw the other boy across the room. Dust from the wall rained down on the vampire.

  “My king. Please!” The boy from the door rushed over to his friend. “Julian, my love. Are you hurt?”

  “Hurt? He’s a fecking vampire. Of course he’s not hurt,” I shouted. “What are you doing with the women’s clothing? Other than defiling it?”

  Both boys shrank away from my tone. “Mathieu,” Julian cried as he cringed back against his lover.

  “Answer her,” Koehn demanded.

  “They smell so good, my king. We couldn’t resist,” Mathieu whined.

  All the men in the room inhaled with audible breaths.

  I did, too. If these two were lovers, then the scent of women shouldn’t really be that enticing. Especially for vampires with enhanced senses. The clothes smelled of piss, dirty, body odor, and dried blood.

  Koehn stiffened, his eyes wide. “No.” The single word was drenched in a shocked whisper. He looked at me with horror on his face. “I need to speak to Mistress Anouk.”

  I jolted back. “How…what?”

  “She spoke to us while we were in the bathroom. I was going to suggest we use her gifts to speak to the spirits of the women who had been murdered by Michael,” Ambrose said.

  Gideon nodded. “There are just under one hundred missing women from this city and the surrounding areas since he arrived.”

  The bottom of my belly fell out. “One hundred innocents he’s killed?”

  Gideon nodded, his face stark. Black started to bleed through his eyes. “And we smell other vampires on these clothes.”

  Koehn asked me again. “Can we speak to Mistress Anouk?”

  I bit back the automatic denial. Nodded. “But not in front of the boys.” I jerked my thumb in their direction.

  Koehn nodded and walked from the room. “Gideon, you stay here and get the evidence.”

  “Yes, Koehn.”

  Koehn, Hector, and Ambrose and I walked back down the hall. “We’ll go to the throne room,” Koehn said.

  Within moments, we were there. Being enhanced did have special advantages. Once we passed through the reinforced doors, I moved to the platform. “I’m going to need a ton of food when this is done. Especially if you say she came out while we were in the bathroom. And remind me to freak out about that later.”

  Koehn nodded. “I promise.”

  I settled myself in his chair. Slowing my breathing, I pushed myself down that long hallway. Stopped at the cell door that held my Grim Reaper. “Anouk, you’re needed.”

  She smiled at me through the bars. “So soon, my dear child?”

  I bit back the venom I wanted to spew at her. “And we’ll be having a discussion about using my body when I’m unconscious.”

  Her smile was smoke and ash. “Of course, Vari. You’re in charge.”

  I smeared my blood over the door. Waited for the magic to unlock. When it did, Anouk drifted from the room like the wraith she was. “I’ll be back soon.”

  I sat down in the middle of that metaphysical hallway and prepared to wait. How many other times had one of my creatures used my body when I wasn’t aware of it?

  Chapter 36 – Koehn

  I tried not to shudder as Vari’s petite frame once again stretched and desiccated as Mistress Anouk came to the forefront. If I was going to keep my woman—and I dared anyone to try to take her from me—then I needed to wrap my head around the idea that she was literally a packaged deal. Shying away from her would only push her away from me. And not even the woman herself was going to keep me from her.

  Mistress Anouk stood up. Tall and regal, she looked every bit at home on the throne dais as anyone would. Probably looked like she belonged more than I did.

  “You called for me, Nightwalker,” she said. Her smoke and ash voice a gentle rasp on my nerves. “Vari mentioned needing my help.”

  I nodded, smiled grimly. “We have a murderer in our midst. Vari was able to kill one of them, but we still need to capture two more.”

  Mistress Anouk nodded. “I can command any spirit to me. Do you have a name?”

  Shite. I hadn’t thought about that. I looked at my Council. “Do we have any names of the women who’ve been lost?”

  Ambrose and Hector shrugged. “Not that we have heard, but the women have been under compulsion. We could bring one from the depths and ask her.”

  Feck. This was going to get tricky. “Mistress Anouk, is there a possibility of allowing Vari to come forward? She wanted to discuss the future with some of the women we were able to rescue. I would like to create the easiest environment for these women as possible.” I left unsaid that the woman in front of me wasn’t really comfy.

  Mistress Anouk studied me for a long moment. “The changing of the guard, as it were, is very taxing on Vari’s form. I will ask her, but if she is unable to maintain appropriate levels of wakefulness, I will take over. Or you can wait until Vari is in a better physical condition.”

  I winced at the soft rebuke, but nodded. I didn’t want anything to happen to Vari either. But if we could get this out of the way, then most things would go much smoother. And we could start doing some real planning on her quest. “Understood, Mistress Anouk. Vari’s safety and wellbeing are my top priority.”

  Mistress Anouk dipped her chin. “Give me a moment.”

  The energy in the room stilled until it felt like time stood still. I made a mental note of what it felt like. I also needed to start tracking the energy and magic of her other creatures and essences. I already recognized Roarke’s. If the energy sensations shifted with each being, then it should be fairly easy to track who was running the show at any given time.

  Taking a deep breath, I realized that Mistress Anouk—even though her voice reminded me of a campfire—had a separate scent to her. Just as Deema smelled of strawberries and sunshine, and Vari of lemon and berries, Mistress Anouk had her own aroma as well. Cashmere and vanilla. It was darker, muskier, but no less lovely.

  Energy popped, and time started again. Not that it had really stopped, but at least I could detect its passage once more. I looked up at Mistress Anouk. “What say she?”

  Mistress Anouk smiled. “She will speak to the women. We have determined that it will be best for Vari to make these revelations. She will call me when she has a name.” Mistress Anouk’s smile died a quick death. “I warn you once more, Nightwalker. Take care of Vari. All of her. Not just the parts you deem necessary to your cause. Her mind, heart, spirit, and body all need attention. If you are not up to the task of caring for her whole being, then renounce your bonding and move aside.”

  Rage and disbelief poured thr
ough my system at the idea. “Renounce my bo—” I cut the thought off. Shook my head. “I won’t be renouncing anything to her. She is mine. I keep and cherish what is mine. Do not make the mistake of thinking I do not care for her. All of her. If she has a need, I will fill it. Even if it kills me to do so. If she has a desire or a want, I will heap it upon her. She will want for nothing until both of our hearts stop beating and our magic runs out.”

  Mistress Anouk smiled wide. “Good. See that it remains so. I bid you farewell, King of the Nightwalkers.” She took a step back and sat once more in my throne. After a couple of mind-bending moments, my Vari was back in her small body. Amber eyes glowing and cheeks flushed pink.

  “Whatever you said to her, put her in the best mood I’ve ever experienced with her.” Vari smiled up at me. “Now I’m curious. What did you say?”

  I gave her a negligent shrug. No matter her answer, mine remained the same. “You are mine. Any need, want, or desire will be given to you. You will not want for anything in this life or the next.” My smile was hard.

  She shot to her feet. “Then once again, I must remind you, King Koehn…you are mine.” She pushed her face into mine, our noses smashing together. “If you have a problem with that, you can tak—”

  I kissed her. Sealed her mouth with mine and ate the jealousy and righteous indignation off her lips. She was mine and I was hers. No power in this world—or any world—would change that.

  When she moaned, my heart beat again. Everything about her called to me, beckoned me. Challenged me. And I loved it. I hadn’t felt this alive at any point in my life—living or undead.

  Ambrose and Hector cleared their throats behind us.

  Vari snarled low as I set her back from me. Glaring up into my eyes, I saw the sparks of desire deep in her golden gaze. “I wasn’t finished.”

  I smiled at her. “Neither was I, but we do have an audience and I refuse to share you.”

  Her snarling mouth moved into a pout. “Fine. But I demand more kisses from you later.”