The story, of course, caught my attention. It was the sort of thing that happened sometimes—a rogue vampire getting loose, losing control of their bloodlust, and attacking humans publicly. Non-royal vampires didn’t have the ability of compulsion, so they had to be extremely cautious when they fed. It was why the kingdoms were created in the first place, and why all vampires were required to have an allegiance to a kingdom—to keep them in line.
Whoever this vampire was, his mention of King Nicolae made it likely that he was from the Carpathian Kingdom.
As always when something like this happened, the royal vampires would band together, travel to the location of the incident, compel those who’d been directly impacted by the vampire, and do what they needed to do to keep the vampire in line. Unlike the Vale, the Carpathian Kingdom didn’t kill rogue vampires like this on the spot. They were held to fair trials and sentences. Sometimes that meant a stake to the heart, sometimes not.
The human world would go on as normal, using logic to brush off the incident and move on with their lives.
As a royal vampire, I normally helped compel away memories from witnesses. But not this time. Because with Laila dead, I would no longer be welcome in the Carpathian Kingdom.
I’d been sent to the Vale in the first place because King Nicolae had wanted me to work with the wolves to help the Vale fall. He’d been obsessed with Queen Laila for centuries, and this was part of his “great plan” to make Laila lose her kingdom and come crawling straight into his arms.
I knew King Nicolae, and because of that, I knew he would blame me for her death. I couldn’t risk returning there.
I was going to the one place where I felt safe—to the Vale, and more importantly, to Noah.
Once my boarding group was called, I gathered my belongings and got in line for the plane, not looking back as the newscaster broadcasted the picture of the rogue vampire.
Camelia
I woke before sunset to remove my stash of wormwood from its spelled hiding spot and take a swig.
Soon after Prince Scott had declared himself acting king of the Vale, he’d forbidden the few witches that lived here to wear the wormwood stones around our necks that we always wore for protection. Wearing wormwood made us immune to vampire compulsion, and being allowed to wear it was a way the vampires showed that they trusted us as equals.
I’d done as Scott had commanded and had handed my amulet over to him. What he didn’t know what that I’d been taking a dose of wormwood each morning as an extra precaution. The spell around my stash stopped anyone from stumbling upon it, and once the wormwood was in my system, the vampires couldn’t smell it.
If they tried to compel me, I’d have to pretend to be affected, but I wanted all the control I could get. Because there was no way I was going to let Scott become king.
Which meant that on the next full moon, I needed to go to the fae and bargain with them to become an original vampire.
But first the Vale needed Geneva’s sapphire ring. Because if I became an original vampire, I would no longer have my magic. Which meant the Vale would need another witch to hold up the boundary. Geneva was the best for the job, since she was the strongest witch in the world.
It was the perfect plan… except for one major problem.
There was a chance I’d gotten pregnant during my previous encounter with the fae.
I’d gone to the fae to ask how to find Geneva’s sapphire ring, and was met by a fae by the name of Prince Devyn. He was willing to answer my question—for a price, of course.
That price had been my virginity.
On top of that, another bargain is also necessary before striking a deal with the fae, simply to pay them for crossing over to Earth from their home in the Otherworld. For that payment, I’d promised Prince Devyn my first-born child once he or she came of age.
I thought I’d been so smart in that promise, since I intended to become a vampire, which meant I’d never be able to have children.
I supposed it had been arrogant of me to think I could manipulate the fae so easily.
That arrogance had cost me. Because while it was still too early to prove, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was pregnant.
I’d created a potion to get rid of the baby. But I’d hidden it away, unable to drink it. Because the more powerful a witch is, the more difficult it is to get pregnant. I also had no more blood family left in the world.
I wanted to keep this baby.
Yes, the child was promised to the fae. But Prince Devyn only wanted the child once he or she “came of age.” Which meant I had years to find a solution to that problem.
Right now, I needed to make sure the vampires still thought I was able to become an original vampire.
Because if they knew the truth—that I couldn’t become an original vampire until after this baby was born—Scott would officially declare himself king, and who knew how far he would go in his twisted efforts to protect the Vale from the wolves.
Camelia
I gathered in the meeting room with Prince Scott, Prince Alexander, Princess Stephenie, and a few vampire guards.
“We’ve located the wolves’ camp,” Scott began. “Hopefully you’re pleased that my brother convinced me to send vampire guards for this task instead of civilians.” He directed the final part of the commentary to me.
“I am.” I nodded, wondering what Alexander had said to his brother to convince him to come to his senses. But we had no time to discuss that right now, so I turned to the guards and asked, “What did you find?”
“Their numbers are greater than we’d previously imagined, and they’re preparing for an attack,” the head guard, Thomas, spoke. “We’re outnumbered. Even with all our guards ready to defend our land, we don’t have enough trained fighters to beat them.”
“So you’re suggesting what?” Scott snarled, banging his fist against the table. “That we give up?”
“Perhaps we should try talking to them.” Alexander’s voice was soft compared to his brother’s. “See what they want, and ask why they’ve chosen now to break the treaty.”
Scott threw his head back and laughed. “The wolves are animals,” he said after regaining control of himself. “Yes, centuries ago they were able to come to agreements regarding the terms of the treaty. But we all know that as the years passed, they’ve lost themselves to their animalistic sides. We saw it when they attacked the town and killed innocent vampires. We can’t bargain with animals. There’s only one way to deal with them—we have to slaughter them.”
“Didn’t you hear what the guards said?” Alexander asked. “We don’t have the numbers. We couldn’t slaughter them even if we wanted to.”
“So we’ll attack them before they can attack us,” Scott said. “We’ll catch them off guard.”
Stephenie cleared throat, and everyone in the room looked to her. “How do you suppose we’ll do that?” she asked. “If we don’t have the numbers, we don’t have the numbers. It doesn’t matter if they attack first or we attack first—if there’s a war, they’ll kill us.”
Scott rolled his eyes at her and turned toward the vampire guards. “You’re to tell no one what we know about the wolves and their camp.” From the way their faces all went slack, I could tell he was compelling them. “Understood?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“Good.” He gave them a wave of his hand. “Now leave us. We have important business to discuss.”
The guards emptied the room, leaving me alone with the princes and princess.
“Once we control Geneva, we’ll be able to beat the wolves,” Scott said smugly. “Unfortunately, it’s been some time since we’ve heard from our third brother.”
“He betrayed us.” Stephenie rolled her eyes. “I told you not to trust him from the start. He’s in love with that girl. Annika.” Disdain dripped from her voice when she said the Nephilim’s name.
“Shut up!” Scott slammed his fist onto the table again. “There’s no way our brother
is in love with a filthy Nephilim. He barely knew the girl. Plus, his cell phone has a tracker in it, and I can confirm that it’s still at the Haven.”
“Perhaps Camelia can do a tracking spell?” Alexander suggested. “Just to be sure.”
“The Haven is protected with powerful magic,” I said. “A tracking spell can’t locate anyone within its boundaries.”
“Have you tried?” he asked.
“I have.” I held his gaze, since of course I’d tried to track the prince. “He’s untraceable.”
“Good.” Scott nodded. “It’s further proof that he’s in the Haven. We have no reason to think he would have betrayed us. Especially since he made a blood oath to me before leaving.”
“Perhaps.” Alexander scratched his jaw. “But we should have a backup plan in case he’s unable to get the ring.”
“We will get that ring,” Scott said. “In the meantime, we’ll try to be patient. Once our brother feels like he can securely call, he will.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Stephenie asked.
“Simple.” Scott smirked. “Then we’ll go to the Haven, find him, get the ring, and kill the girl ourselves.”
Jacen
Annika’s blood was the sweetest I’d ever tasted. After only a few sips, my full strength had returned. It was like the fight with the sea creature had never happened.
I wanted to continue to drink—to relish in the sweetness of her blood—but this was Annika. I cared about her. I’d never been in love before, but I suspected I was falling in love with her. I’d meant it when I’d told her that if I lost control of my bloodlust and drained her dry, I would take one of those discarded antlers and stake myself in the heart.
Annika was why I’d come to accept myself as a vampire.
She was my reason to live—and my reason to fight.
Pulling myself away from the sweet blood that flowed from her neck was easier than I ever could have imagined. The twin pinpricks from my fangs instantly healed—either as a reaction to my venom, or from her own healing abilities. Given how strong she’d been since coming into her Nephilim powers, I suspected the latter.
“That’s it?” She gulped, her eyes flashing with an array of emotions.
“Usually a vampire bite feels quite pleasant,” I mused, unable to help myself from smirking at the wild look in her eyes. “It’s an effect of the venom. Was it not that way for you?”
“No!” She spoke quickly, touching the part of her neck where my fangs had pierced her skin. “It was.” Her cheeks flushed, and I couldn’t help but be amused at how off-guard I’d caught her. “I just meant—is that all you need? I thought you’d need more…”
“I usually do need more.” I was quick and to the point, not wanting to embarrass her any more than necessary. “But your blood was more potent than human blood. Likely because you’re Nephilim.”
“It seemed like you were able to stop yourself easily,” she said. “Was that also because I’m Nephilim?”
“No.” My voice was husky as I gazed down upon her. “That was because you’re you.”
“Oh.” She lowered her eyes and twisted her hands together in her lap, although she quickly looked back up to me. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me,” I said. “You’re the one who offered me your blood. I’m the one who’s grateful to you.”
The energy between the two of us was so thick that I felt it crackle in the air. I was about to lean forward to kiss her again when I saw a movement from the corner of my eye.
I leapt in front of Annika and into fighting stance, ready to face whatever was lurking in the shadows.
A stag walked out onto the beach. It held a piece of bright pink fruit in its mouth, and its big brown eyes looked at us with complete innocence.
Annika began to laugh, and her laughter was contagious—I couldn’t help but chuckle as well. I felt slightly foolish for going on guard for what appeared to be a harmless stag. But after the sea creature, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Three more stags stepped up behind the first one, each with an identical piece of fruit in its mouth.
“They must have known we were hungry.” Annika brightened. “The fruit smells amazing.”
“You’re hungry?” Guilt crushed my chest—I must have been so focused on my own thirst that I’d forgotten to think about her. It hadn’t felt like long ago that we’d eaten sandwiches on the boat while watching the Northern Lights, but I really had no idea how long we’d been passed out on the beach.
“Ever since coming into my Nephilim powers, I’ve needed to eat more than I did when I was human,” she said with a shrug. “Luckily for us, we have a welcome party.”
She took a deep breath, smiling at the scent of the fruit, and skipped toward the stags. The fruit wasn’t tempting at all to me—vampire tastes tended to veer toward meat, and Annika’s blood had given me all the nutrients I’d needed.
But while I was happy there was food on the island, I hurried behind her and took her wrist in mine, forcing her to stop.
“What?” She glanced back at me, irritation crossing her face. “They’re harmless.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But since we know nothing of this island, we can’t be sure. What does your angel instinct tell you?”
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, looking like she was deep in focus. “Nothing,” she said, opening them again. “I can’t get a read on it. Which must mean we’re not doing anything dangerous, right?”
I shrugged, since I knew far less about angel instinct than she did. The Nephilim had been tricky—they’d kept the most important details about their race from all other supernaturals. Not much about them could be found in the books in the library of the Vale. When their race had gone extinct, most of the knowledge about them had died as well.
“I wish we still had our own food,” I said, since I trusted the supplies that the mages had given us more than I trusted an unknown fruit brought to us by stags on a magical island.
“Well, we don’t.” Annika shook herself out of my grip and rushed toward the nearest stag. “And I’m hungry.”
The animal dropped the fruit it was holding into her hand, and before I could say another word, she took a giant bite.
Jacen
Annika swallowed the fruit and blinked a few times, confusion passing over her eyes.
“We need to go back to the Haven,” she said suddenly. “It isn’t safe here.”
Still holding onto the fruit, she raced along the beach. I was quick on her tail, but she was faster than me. Her speed didn’t surprise me—the fact that Nephilim could outrun every other supernatural was one of the few details I’d read about them in the texts at the Vale.
But up until now, I’d never thought she would be running away from me.
She turned a corner around the beach, and up ahead was a small version of an old Viking boat. She leaped inside, and then she turned around, smiling when she found me standing next to the boat.
“I was hoping you’d follow.” She continued to beam down at me, her eyes watery and glazed over. “Are you coming?”
I wanted to tell her that no, of course I wasn’t going to leave the island—and that she shouldn’t be leaving, either. But it was more than apparent what had happened. That fruit was making her want to leave the island. It reminded me of the Lotus fruit from the Odyssey, except it had the opposite affect. Instead of making you want to stay on the island forever—like the Lotus fruit did in the Odyssey—it made you want to leave.
I needed to get that fruit out of her system.
“Of course I am.” I jumped up onto the boat to join her, and then I kissed her gently upon the lips. I made sure not to deepen the kiss, not wanting to risk ingesting any of the fruit.
She sank into my embrace, relaxing from my touch.
Before she had a chance to react, I pinned her down, bit my wrist with my fangs, and pressed the open vein to her mouth. She tried to fight me, but while Nephilim were faster than vampires,
vampires were generally stronger—and I was certainly stronger than Annika.
She had no choice but to let my blood flow down her throat—my blood that was poisonous to supernaturals.
She started to cough, so I lifted my wrist and jumped off of her, not wanting to hurt her. She hurried to the side of the boat and expelled the contents of her stomach into the sea.
I turned away, wanting to give her privacy. In the meantime, I picked up the fruit she’d brought on board and chucked it overboard as well.
“Thanks,” she croaked once she was finished being sick. “That fruit… it did something to me.” She brought her hand to her forehead, shaking her head. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“It must have been some sort of security measure to drive people away from the island,” I said. “Luckily for both of us, vampires aren’t tempted by fruit.”
“Then it’s a good thing I asked you to join me on this mission, isn’t it?”
“It is.” I nodded, since if I wasn’t here, I suspected she would be rowing away on the boat by now. “But for the rest of the time while we’re on this island, I think we should make a pact.”
“What kind of pact?” she asked.
“A pact that we won’t eat or drink anything from here,” I said. “Luckily, the fruit didn’t physically harm you, but we have no idea what else waits for us. We need to be as careful as possible.”
“Deal.” She hopped out of the boat, landing softly on the sand. “But I’m hungry, so the sooner we get to the Tree, get the Grail, and get out of here, the sooner we’ll be able to eat again. Let’s go.”
The Vampire War (Dark World: The Vampire Wish Book 5) Page 2
