Shadows and Stars

by Becca Fanning

  “What book would both your brother and the hunters possibly want?” Chase asked, tapping the arm of his chair.

  “The book was pretty old, a family heirloom. When their grandmother gave it to them, she had told them it was a diary from one of the original dragons, created by the gods.”

  Chase saw Viktor frown. The stories over the years had changed slightly, but it was believed there were fifteen total original dragons sent down to fight the titans. After the dragons defeated the titans the gods were going to kill them. The pleas of a shepherd girl who had found and healed a wounded dragon begged the gods to spare them. When the gods listened to the plea of the shepherd girl who loved the dragon, they became the first king and queen of his people. Viktor was a direct descendant of them. Every dragon alive today was a descendant of the original fifteen.

  “What do you think could be in this book that was worth them fighting over and nearly destroying a town for?” Chase asked Viktor, who had been quiet for several moments.

  “Could be almost anything. What we think of as legend now came from the stories of our ancestors. A diary could answer a lot of questions and fill in the blanks to some of the legends.”

  Aithne nodded. “So the question is: How did they both find out about this book and what makes it so valuable?”

  FIVE

  VIOLCA LOOKED up from reading her wedding magazine to find Aithne standing in the doorway of the living room. Aithne’s long red hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail. She looked comfortable in skinny jeans, a smile her only accessory. She walked happily into the living room, taking a seat on the other side of the desk.

  “What are you doing in here all by yourself?” Aithne asked.

  Violca put down the magazine and smiled. “Didn’t you hear? The girls have a night out.” Aithne gave her a look and she explained, “Sari and Angyalka made friends with one of the guard’s daughters in school. She’s having a sleepover tonight, so it was easy to get Chase and Viktor to agree to let the girls go. The guard is more than okay with having the occasional perimeter check.”

  Aithne laughed. Chase and Viktor were both overly protective. Violca found an ally in Aithne when it came to arguing about letting the girls have a little freedom. Some of the humans knew that supernaturals existed, while the rest of the town seemed oblivious. There were always two or three guards near them and Aithne came up with a plan so people wouldn’t be so aware. One usually went ahead and scouted the area while the other two usually followed behind. Since Aithne had previously stalked them when she was trying to get close to Chase, she pointed out how easy it had been for her to spot the guards and what she did to avoid them. The guards had been very embarrassed when they found out, and changes were quickly made as to how everyone was protected.

  “How’s the wedding planning going?” Aithne asked, gesturing toward the magazine.

  Violca made a face and Aithne smiled. “I found a chapter in my mother’s book that mentions a formal exchange of vows similar to the one that I did that bound us together. I mentioned this to Chase and he told me that dragons did too.”

  Aithne grinned at her. “And in your mind you were planning on something that started with a priest saying, ‘We are gathered here today to bless this union.”

  Violca let out a long breath. “Yeah, I was picturing something much less…complicated.’”

  Aithne gave her a look of understanding. “Complicated doesn’t have to be a bad thing. What did Chase say?”

  “That he was marrying me, and that we had already bonded with blood and vows. That the dragon ceremony and the witch ceremony were just formalities for family and friends. And that whatever I wanted to do, we would do, because this was about us and no one else.”

  “So I guess the question becomes, what do you want to do?” Aithne asked.

  Violca bit her lip. What did she want to do? There were some beautiful parts to the ceremonies. Maybe she could talk to the priest and find ways to take parts of all three and have each one in the ceremony. “I think I’m going to be grateful that our priest is supernatural and won’t mind making a few changes to the ceremony.”

  Aithne grinned and Violca could hear the laughter in her voice. “True, but I think Chase would terrorize him until he gave you the ceremony you wanted.”

  “Speaking of Chase terrorizing people, has he questioned you about us going to see Lazzaro?”

  Aithne rolled her eyes and snorted. “Viktor started to bring it up earlier, before I distracted him.”

  Violca laughed, knowing only one thing could possibly distract Viktor. “Chase tried telling me I could go, but only if he and the entire dragon army came. Since they’re scattered trying to help protect from attacks by Dmitri and the hunters, I don’t think that will happen anytime soon.”

  “Lazzaro would only comply if we agreed to come alone anyway,” Aithne said, making a face that showed her contempt. “He wants your help, but he’s paranoid. The hard part is going to be to agree to get him to meet us in public. If he thinks it’s a trap, he won’t come.”

  Violca had been thinking about that. “I don’t know if I can help him or his people, or if I even should, but we need allies. If I don’t at least talk to him, we have to worry about him trying to take someone again or joining up with Dmitri.”

  Aithne nodded, knowing Violca was in a difficult spot. “I think Lazzaro is trying to unite his people. Once his father died, his company invested in several blood banks and had gotten a majority of his people to make the switch from feeding on people. There have been rumors that some of the older vampires aren’t happy about the change and have made several attempts on his life. He’s a paranoid asshole but he seems to be trying to do the best thing for his people.”

  “By kidnapping your sister in order to blackmail you?” Violca asked.

  Aithne shrugged. “True. I’m not defending him. He’s a total asshole. He’s also cocky, and thinks the end justifies the means as long as they work out to his benefit. But, he kept his word and didn’t harm my sister. His father would have just ripped her heart out of her chest and threatened to go after my mother next if I didn’t do what he wanted.”

  “If I told him I didn’t know how to help him but I would try, what do you think he would do?”

  Aithne tapped her fingers on her thigh, looking lost in thought. “As long as he thought you were trying to help him, Lazzaro would protect you. I also think he would use the alliance for his own benefit. Right now, the majority of the vampires are on his side, but a fraction of his people would like to go back to the old ways. Trust me. That is something we don’t want to happen.”

  Violca nodded. A lesser of two evils. Fantastic. Chase wasn’t going to be happy. “I guess I’m going to meet the Vampire King.”

  Aithne watched her for a few minutes before nodding. “Are you sure about this?”

  Violca nodded. “I am. Let’s just do this sooner rather than later before I chicken out.”

  Aithne smiled at that as she got up from her chair. “All right, I’ll set that up and all you need to do is focus on the wedding.”

  Before Aithne left the room gave her a smile in thanks. Alone with her thoughts, Violca knew she was going to need a good distraction to keep her from constantly thinking about her decision to meet Lazzaro. Glancing at the edge of the desk, she saw her mother’s book and the parchment Chase had given her. What better way to distract herself than to figure out how to combine the three different ceremonies into one?

  SIX

  CHASE LET OUT A FRUSTRATED SIGH. Violca had told him two days ago that Aithne was going to schedule a meeting between her and Lazzaro. No matter what he did or said, he couldn’t seem to talk her out of it. Chase wanted the meeting to take place in town but the look Aithne gave him told him that there was no way that was going to happen.

  Chase wiped the blood from his lips. Since learning of the meeting, he’d spent most of his time either sparring with the guards or shooting down every location Aithne had come u
p with. He shook his head before motioning for the guard, Jared, to attack him again. He managed to avoid a jab before he punched the eager young guard in the gut. Chase heard his sparring partner exhale loudly, letting him know that he had knocked the wind out of him. Chase took advantage of the situation as he grabbed Jared by the knee and pushed. The sound of their two bodies hitting the mat hard echoed off the walls. Chase rolled off the mat, stood up, and looked down at the young guard, who looked like he was still trying to catch his breath.

  Giving Jared a moment, he reached down to help him up. “Remember to always watch your opponent and be ready to block, even if you are the one on the attack.”

  Jared replied, “Yes, sir,” while wiping some of the blood from his lip.

  Chase gave the winded guard a smile and patted him on the back. “Go get some water and practice some of the moves you learned. You did good.”

  Jared’s chest puffed up at Chase’s praise as he walked over to the other guards training. Jared was one of the newest guards and still had a lot to learn, but Chase had to admit he was coming along quickly. Chase opened and closed his jaw, testing to see how it felt after a nice right hook from his young opponent.

  “He’s got some potential,” he heard Viktor say as he came up behind him.

  Giving Viktor a look, he chuckled. “Yeah, he has a hell of a right hook.”

  Viktor’s lips curled up in a smirk. “I saw that. Care to join meet me in my office?”

  Once they were back in the house, Chase closed the door to Viktor’s office behind them. “Something you want to talk about?” Chase asked, taking a chair on the other side of the desk.

  Viktor strummed his fingers on his chair. “Aithne tells me that Violca gave her the go-ahead to set up the meeting between Violca and Lazzaro.”

  Chase nodded. “Yeah, Aithne’s been trying to come up with a good location.”

  Viktor gave him a knowing look. “I heard you’ve shot them all down.”

  Chase watched him. Viktor’s blue eyes met his and he nodded. “So far the spots she’s chosen would give him a distinct advantage over us.”

  Viktor made a noncommittal sound and picked up some papers from his desk. Chase leaned over, taking them from him. “Well, she came to me for advice. There’s a state park about four hours from here. They have a restaurant on top of a hill right next to a large lake. We can see everyone coming and going. Aithne thinks he’ll agree to that since he can also see us coming.”

  Chase sighed. Location-wise, it would be perfect. He still wasn’t keen on having Violca meet Lazzaro without him present. Aithne would be with her, but Chase knew if anything happened to Violca it would be like having his heart ripped from his chest. “I don’t like the idea of not being with her.”

  The look Viktor gave him almost made him smile. “Do you think I want Aithne with him?”

  Viktor rubbed the back of his neck and both of them remained quiet. Chase knew neither one of them liked the current situation. Viktor normally found Violca giving Chase a hard time amusing, until fate had decided to bless him with a mate just as stubborn.

  “You know Violca isn’t wrong. Lazzaro would be a good ally, and even though I don’t like him, he’s an improvement over his father.”

  Chase snorted. Violca had asked all about Lazzaro and vampires. Overall, the changes Lazzaro had made had been positive. His motives were good, his actions questionable. The fact that they thought he was an ass, Violca pointed out, would be a stupid reason to have a potential ally turned into an enemy.

  “Violca thinks he won’t hurt her because he wants her help.” Chase flipped off Viktor when he saw his lips twitch, as if he were holding back a smile. “Lazzaro has never been above hurting people to get what he wants.”

  Viktor chuckled at his gesture. “According to Aithne, she might be right. When she talked to Ally, apparently Lazzaro only locked her away after she got particularly annoying.”

  Chase snorted again. Aithne’s sister, Ally, was a spoiled brat. Lazzaro actually showed amazing restraint. “Do you think we can trust him?”

  Viktor continued to strum his fingers on the arm of his chair. Both silent, lost in their own thoughts. “I guess that’s the question.”

  Chase looked over the pictures and the map of the possible meeting spot. The meeting would have to take place after sundown, giving them the daytime to get into place. They knew Lazzaro had a pack of werewolves who were able to travel during the day, helping to guard him. As dragon shifters it would be easy for them to spot them by their scent.

  “Aithne said she thought Lazzaro would agree to meet them alone. She said a two-mile perimeter on top of this mountain, over here to the west, should be set up for the guards. It’s across the lake over there, where we could place guards on all the roads leading in and out,” Viktor said, gesturing to a few spots on the map that Aithne had circled.

  Chase let out a long, slow breath. He couldn’t find anything wrong with the location. Maybe that’s why Aithne had Viktor show him instead of her. He’d rejected all the previous locations and he guessed she was getting tired of him. “When does she want to plan this meeting?”

  Chase noticed a smile tugging on Viktor’s lips. His reaction confirmed that Aithne had sent her mate to deal with him. “Violca wants to have it before the wedding, thinking that inviting him might cement the truce.”

  “Fantastic,” Chase muttered.

  SEVEN

  VIOLCA FOUND herself nervous once Aithne told her that Chase had finally agreed to a meeting spot that she’d picked. Everything in her told her that meeting with the Vampire King was the best decision. At the same time she knew that if she was wrong, she wouldn’t only be putting herself in danger, but Aithne as well.

  Eva had been helping distract her by going through the different wedding traditions. Most of them were based on nature. She had pointed out to Chase that if they did everything, they would be celebrating from the time the sun went up until the moon was high in the sky. She had read Chase several traditions, and the one he was most interested in involved them at midnight under a full moon, repeating the vows that bound them together the first time as they made love.

  Violca wandered down the hall toward the living room. Opening the door, she was a little surprised to see Sari sitting alone on the couch reading a book. “Hey sweetie, I thought you went out with the others.”

  Sari shook her head and put the book down. “No, I wasn’t hungry.”

  Violca glanced at the book in Sari’s hands and noticed that it was their mother’s book. “Were you looking something up?” Violca asked, smiling as she sat down next to her sister.

  Sari shook her head and shrugged nonchalantly. Violca reached up and brushed her sister’s long black hair back, pushing it behind her ear. Sari had just turned thirteen, and Violca noticed she was starting to look more grown-up every day. Barely ten when their mother had died, Sari and Angyalka had clung to each other, playing childhood games together probably longer than most girls. Sari had told her that sometimes she thought she heard their mother’s laughter or voice. Since their mother had often played these games with and chased them, Violca had encouraged the game playing, wanting to keep those memories alive for them.

  “Why do you think mom hid the book at the cabin?” Sari finally asked, looking up at her with troubled blue eyes.

  Violca had asked herself that very question after they’d found it. Their parents’ death was ruled an accident. A hit-and-run by a drunk driver, the cops had told them. Yet, the message on the inside of the book was written to them as if her parents knew they were going to die. “I’m not sure,” Violca said. “When I was really little, mom used to tell me stories. I’d forgotten most of them until I found this book. They were of witches and magical creatures. I thought she’d made them up. Then one day, we moved and mother never told me those stories ever again. Refused to when I asked.”

  Sari listened to her intently. She hadn’t been born when they’d moved and had never been told th
ese stories. By that time, Violca had forgotten about them. “Do you think our parents were killed?”

  When their parents had died, Violca never would have thought someone had intentionally killed them. But after finding her mother’s book and learning that they were witches and had been hunted...now she wasn’t so sure it was an accident. The stories were a little embellished, like all children’s stories were. “At the time no, but now I’m not so sure.”

  Sari nodded, biting her lip, her brow furrowing in thought. Violca continued, “You know Chase and Viktor will make sure we’re always safe.”

  Sari smiled at her and Violca noticed her body relaxing. “I know they will. Do you think dad knew that mom was a witch when he married her?”

  Nodding, Violca couldn’t help but smile as she thought about how her parents were together. “Oh, I think dad knew everything about mom. I don’t think they kept secrets from each other. He used to tell me that he was a truly blessed man to have five daughters.”

  “Because she should have had only one girl,” Sari said, referring to the fact that every generation before them had one girl with violet eyes, and then all boys.

  “Exactly! And he was very happy to have all of us girls. He loved each of us very much.”

  Sari smiled and Violca wondered how much she remembered of their parents. When they’d died, Violca had put up many pictures of them, determined that the girls wouldn’t forget them. Even now, after they moved, Violca had made sure that they brought the pictures of their parents. Sari smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “I should go and finish my homework.”

  “No more questions?”

  Sari shook her head, Violca handed her the book. “Here, I might need it later when I’m planning the ceremony, but for now why don’t you read it when you get the time.”

  “Thank you,” Sari said before leaving the room. Violca smiled, knowing her sister liked to process things on her own. She would take what they talked about and whatever she read, think about it, and then come back and ask her questions later. She’d been that way since she was little. In that way, Sari was so much like their father.