Ellowyn Found: An MM Vampire Trilogy Omnibus Edition Books 1 - 3

by Kayleigh Sky

“Is it good?”

  “Real good,” he said. The potato was as smooth as porridge and as rich as butter. “You made this yourself?”

  Isaac nodded and set down the plate and the two mugs of tea he carried. “I can take a break,” he said, pulling out his chair. “That’s socca.” He gestured at the plate with his chin before picking up his mug and taking a sip. “The tea is lemon jasmine.”

  “What’s socca?”

  Isaac cocked his head and drew his brows together. “It’s like cornbread but made with chickpea flour and sage. I put sage in the soup too.”

  “I was wondering what that was. I thought I’d smelled it before. My mom put it in her stuffing, I think.” Isaac’s frown deepened, and he stared until Asa said, “What?”

  “I have a hard time picturing you with a mom.”

  “I wasn’t hatched, dude.”

  Isaac laughed, and Asa buried his flood of bewilderment in another spoonful of soup. What the hell? Was he that far gone? Though the truth was, his old life dragged so far behind him it might as well have belonged to someone else. Of course, that wasn’t his fault. It was—

  Zev’s.

  The king’s. Another wave of dizziness hit him. Was he sick? “You feel alright?” he asked.

  Isaac blinked. “Yeah. I feel fine. Why?”

  “I dunno. I think I might be coming down with something.”

  “You’d better keep your distance from me,” Marcus snapped from down the table. “You, Isaac. Sit back.”

  With a sheepish smile, Isaac slipped onto the next chair.

  Asa glowered down the table. “Nosy bastard,” he muttered.

  “I heard that.”

  Isaac grinned. “Eat your soup. It’s good for colds.”

  “It’s just plain good,” he said, and Isaac beamed.

  Even with the soup and socca, his merry-go-round belly kept on spinning. After a second helping of both, he pushed his bowl aside. “I guess I should get back while there’s still light.”

  Fog already pressed at the windows, and the cold sank into his bones. Even Marcus stopped stuffing his trout and stared as Asa got up. Outside, the sun smoldered behind the clouds, shedding a glary light below. Asa winced, pain lancing his eyes, an ache in his chest and back digging in deep.

  Dennis stepped out of the garage, said, “I left that one for you,” and retreated inside again.

  Asshole.

  The guy had left Asa a Navigator, which some other asshole seemed to have driven through a swamp. Mud splashed the sides to the roof.

  While he scrubbed the hood, a vampire dashed out of the manor, jumped into one of the cars, and drove off down the highway.

  Some of Asa’s ache receded as he worked, but soon his head began to throb, and his heart beat shallow and fast. For fuck’s sake. What was wrong with him?

  A moment later, a handful of vampires burst out the back door and hurried across the lawn. They cut through the barren gardens toward the trail Zev took on his hikes.

  Asa stared as they dashed into the trees, the yellow beams of their lights flashing in the shadows before disappearing. Only a dim glow remained of the sun.

  Asa dropped his sponge and raced to the manor. Pan, Nalith’s friend, emerged, and Asa stopped.

  The vampire frowned at him. “Stay out of my way.”

  “Or what?”

  Pan didn’t answer.

  Hurrying inside, Asa met Adalyn in the hall. “What’s going on?”

  “The king hasn’t returned,” she said.

  “Doesn’t he have a phone?” Wasn’t that what all the damn antennae on the roof were for?

  “He hasn’t answered it.”

  “Well fuck,” he muttered.

  But what did he care? A dead king meant he’d have no chance to get at the necklaces. Even Solomon had to accept that.

  It meant that Zev was—

  His head spun again, and he threw out an arm. Adalyn’s eyes widened, and she stepped closer, but he waved her off.

  “I’m okay. Just a headache.”

  Fuck. What was wrong with him? The flu or some other kind of virus? Well, what else could it be? Zev wasn’t his worry. He had to think about himself. And maybe… maybe Solomon would still want the necklaces. Getting killed over them wasn’t going to happen. The experience of being drained was burned into his heart and memory. He sweated thinking about it. Thinking about the fangs of that crazy bald-headed vampire.

  He rubbed his cheeks, then swiped his palms on his pants.

  “Maybe you should sit down,” Adalyn said.

  He shook his head. “Have you seen Justin?”

  “I believe he’s out front with some of the others.”

  “I’ll see if I can help.”

  No, he wasn’t going to die. He was going to get away and live where no vampire could ever touch him. That was the deal. And Zev wasn’t a good guy anyway.

  At the other end of the hall, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder. Nobody disturbed the dark. Throughout the house, only a handful of lamps flickered. During the day, light streamed through the windows. The furniture was plain and spare-lined. Light and dark woods mixed together, and the rosy, golden colors ditched the whole idea of vampires and the dark, moldy caves they lived in. Asa liked the manor. But now… now the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

  Outside, the light that still clung to the sky turned the windows silver.

  He gazed into the yard when a strange, undulating cry broke from a group of vamps beside one of the cars. His skin crawled as he imagined them taking flight like bats against the moon. But no, they were getting into the vehicles somebody had pulled up front.

  Maybe they hadn’t found him where he usually walked. But where else would he go?

  One of the cars started with a roar.

  Asa backed off and headed toward the south wing. The walls wobbled in and out, and the cold sweat itched his skin. What was he afraid of?

  Getting caught?

  Dying alone. Without… his love.

  Another wave of dizziness knocked him into the wall. With his eyes squeezed shut, he waited for the spell to pass and moved on. He’d never been sick like this before, but it felt like being drained. Like living after being gutted and thrown away hollow.

  Like living with an echo chamber where a beating heart should be.

  The hall zigged and zagged into the far wing. He made his way by memory, fumbling at the walls as he turned a corner and neared Zev’s room. The frame of the oddly tall door to Zev’s study met his fingers. Quieting his breath, he strained to pick out footsteps or whispers past the rush of his blood in his ears.

  He stepped past the door, still feeling his way. His fingertips slipped over a glossy frame and the rough brush marks of a painting before he reached another room. Where would Zev keep the necklaces? A jewelry case? A safe in the study behind him? He might never get another chance in Zev’s bedroom, so he took the doorknob and eased it sideways.

  “Emek!”

  He jumped back. Hands gripped his shoulders, and a pair of eyes glowed on his, fangs gleaming under a curled lip. The creature hissed, but the soft sibilant breath bore no threat. The steel hands crushing his shoulders held him up. He rested against the wall.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Justin.

  “Looking… looking for the king.”

  “In his room? We looked here first. What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing. I… I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry, Mr. Lotis. I’m sick, I think.”

  “Be sick later. I need you with the others.”

  He pulled away from the grip Justin had on his arm as he dragged him down the hall. Justin let go and Asa kept pace. They hadn’t made it halfway across the foyer before another volley of strange calls rang out. Asa shivered. Those sounds had been common during the war. Rallying cries.

  Justin hurried away, and Asa followed him through the dark house. He took a few faltering steps out back before somebody else grabbed hold of him. He
whipped his head around and stared into Isaac’s face, drained white in the light bleeding from the outdoor lamps.

  Asa’s arm moved as though with a life of its own and slipped around Isaac’s shoulders.

  Out beyond the lights something took shape, amorphous and unsteady as though an earthquake rumbled underneath it. Then it broke apart into separate forms, though still clinging together. Vampires laboring through the garden. They were carrying something. Before Asa could see what, one of them broke free, strode up, and slammed his palm against Asa’s chest. The blow knocked both him and Isaac backward.

  “Get back!”

  Asa lunged, but Isaac grabbed him around the waist and held on. “Don’t,” he whispered. “It won’t help him.”

  Him?

  Zev.

  His limp form lay over a lattice of arms from the vampires carrying him. As they passed, Asa’s gaze locked onto Zev’s face, twisted sideways and bloodless under smears of something dark. His limbs bounced bonelessly.

  “Is he alive?” Isaac whispered.

  Asa’s mouth moved, but no words came. Inside the cage of his chest, his heart beat with a thready patter that wasn’t his.

  Zev…

  19

  Zev’s Confession

  The rain on the glass looked nothing like tears. It gushed in sheets. Luminous blue gray. Zev sweated, hot air from the fire mixing with the cold that stole past the window casements. He pulled his arms out from under the covers and stared dizzily at the shadows dancing on the walls. The jarring motion stabbed him in the eyes. He wanted to curl up and bury himself under the covers, but it was too hot. He fell back asleep gazing at the carafe of tea beside his bed.

  When he opened his eyes a while later, Justin appeared, carrying in another carafe. He poured a cup of tea from the old one.

  “Are you hungry, sire?”

  “No.”

  “I can ask—”

  “No.” He regretted his sharp tone but wouldn’t take it back. Wouldn’t allow Justin to beg human blood for him. Why would he ask? Zev would heal without it. He gestured at the new carafe. “Is that Synelix?”

  “Yes, sire.”

  “You can pour me some of that.”

  He didn’t like or dislike Synelix. Water was as good to him, flavorwise. Some vampires liked it, some didn’t.

  After pouring a glass, Justin helped him sit up on his pillows. The pain that had been hovering at the edges of his sleep swooped in again with claws and fangs. A hiss burst from his lips, teeth grinding as he knotted his jaws together.

  “My apologies.”

  “Not your fault,” Zev grunted. Maybe nobody’s fault. Maybe it had been an accident. But the coven meeting was in less than a month. He had to heal by then, and human blood would help.

  He inhaled, shivering at the eruption of sweat on his skin.

  Justin pressed the glass of Synelix into his hand. “Drink as much as you can.”

  He sipped the pinot noir-colored drink while Justin fluffed up his pillows and straightened his comforter, then pulled the drapes open wider and added more wood to the fire.

  When Zev finished the Synelix, Justin took his glass and said, “Your private detective is here.”

  Zev nodded. “You can let him in.”

  “I’ll return with your lunch soon.”

  “Send Emek with it.”

  Justin’s lips parted. A doubtful look crossed his face. “Emek is not our most reliable employee, sire.”

  “What has he done?”

  “It’s more his attitude.”

  Zev shrugged, the blast of pain that followed bringing tears to his eyes.

  Leaving his position by the door, Justin returned to the bedside, removed a bottle of pills from his nightstand drawer, and passed him two. He swallowed them with his tea.

  “Maybe he just needs something to focus on,” said Zev.

  A frown pulled Justin’s brows together before he smoothed his face again and gave a quick nod. “Yes. Of course. Something to focus on.”

  He slipped back out the door and left it ajar. Otto stepped through a moment later. He came close, stared at Zev with a frown, dragged a chair over, and sat.

  “Accident or no?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  “I went for a walk. My usual walk.”

  “Same place, same time, so everybody knows where you are. I might have mentioned something about that to you.”

  Zev forced the corner of his mouth into a smile. “I recall.”

  “And?”

  He grimaced. “I walked to the lookout on the summit. I sat on the wall and it crumbled. I fell a couple hundred yards.”

  The image that had confronted him when he’d looked past the Douglas fir he’d slammed into had hit him like an arctic blast. Just past the tree, the ledge had plummeted in a sheer drop.

  He pulled up his covers. “I couldn’t climb back up, so I waited for my enforcers.”

  “And as far as you know, you were alone? Nobody watching?”

  “No.”

  “Have your enforcers confronted anyone on the property? I’m wondering how easy it would be to trespass. You can’t have eyes everywhere.”

  “No, but… Well, two of my employees arrived on foot. Unannounced, but they didn’t get far. My enforcers are good at protecting us here.”

  “I’m assuming your employees weren’t trying to sneak in though. Were they expected?”

  “Yes. At least one of them.”

  Otto pulled his collar from his neck. “Which one?”

  “You already know,” said Zev.

  “Emek. Great. So who was the other one? And why didn’t I get the paperwork on either of them, by the way?”

  “I don’t know. They were hired before the others. I don’t think they went through the same process. You’ll have to ask Justin for more details. I don’t even know the other one’s name. I haven’t met him.”

  “And Emek was the one hanging out in your hallway the night of your accident.”

  Zev winced. “Justin told you?”

  “Moss. Which is a good thing, because it doesn’t look like you would have.”

  “Moss over worries.”

  “The wall is decayed throughout, the mortar crumbled, no rebar. Also, no signs of interference. No suspicious scratches on the stones. But it’s also in pieces. You might have had an accident. Or somebody might have taken advantage of the disrepair of that wall and given it a boost. I can’t tell, but the possibility somebody wants to kill you is real.”

  “I’m a king. It goes with the job.”

  Otto leaned forward on his chair, elbows on his knees. “The poisoned cup was a warning. Even Justin called it out right away. An exact replica of a cup that belonged to a king a lot of your kind liked better than you is a pretty blunt instrument. Sabotaging a wall so you fall to your death is a little more pointed.”

  “I didn’t die.”

  “Luckily.”

  Zev sighed, sinking into his pillows. Otto’s face blurred against the wall behind him. He blinked and took a breath.

  “I’m only saying that intrigue is in our nature. And I am, as you say, not the king they like. That was supposed to be Rune.”

  A mix of emotion played across Otto’s face. He’d liked Rune, Zev knew, but he also thought him lost. And an enemy. “Would they help him return?”

  “I warned you about the evil. It’s a parasite, a disease. It doesn’t stem from one Ellowyn who sacrificed his throne. Would they use him as a symbol? Rally around him? Yes. My people like causes. But you’re looking for something darker than a vampire’s fall. Even Rune’s.”

  “It usually boils down to one man. The one who makes the others heel.”

  Who though?

  Because it wasn’t Rune.

  “Stay the night,” Zev said. “We can talk again tomorrow. I need to sleep.”

  “I want to interview everyone in the manor.”

  “Justin can arrange it.�
�

  “One thing. Fire this Emek guy.”

  Pain flared as Zev’s body stiffened, and a grimace twisted his face. Otto straightened, eyes narrowed on him.

  “I can’t. We don’t have time to replace him before the coven meeting.”

  “That’s in a month. And since you brought it up—cancel it.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You won’t be healed.”

  Well, he might be. And he would be if he drank human blood. “I won’t cancel it. Somebody will use that as a reason to strike against me.”

  “Why?”

  “Pressure to do something about Synelix and the drainers. I can’t back down. Synelix is… the number of drainers being born is increasing, and some people are blaming Synelix. We’re working on a new formula, but Synelix’s failure puts pressure on the families who’ve stood with me against the ones who want to feed on you.”

  “Are you sure they’re really drainers?” Otto asked.

  For a moment, Zev’s head spun. For fuck’s sake. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time somebody faked being a drainer. But on a massive scale? “That’s… that’s on a line with conspiracy.”

  “You said it yourself—you people are into intrigue.”

  “On a family level,” Zev muttered. “And that’s the thing. I have to ensure the families stay together.”

  “Are you close to a new formula?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who’s producing it?”

  “I’ve already told you too much.”

  Otto took a breath and leaned back, narrowed eyes still fixed on Zev. “You don’t need any particular employee, and everything about this guy stinks. Get rid of him.”

  “I want him to stay.”

  “Why? Look. He denies being who you say he is. Either he’s lying, which is a real bad sign, or he isn’t this Asa guy after all. Getting rid of him is either a good idea or no big deal.”

  “I’m not a complete idiot, detective. I plan to keep him near me.”

  “Sure. Wouldn’t want him to work at getting close enough to kill you.”

  Zev ignored the sarcasm. “Have you found out anything about him?”

  Otto shrugged. “I talked to the uncle of Mateo again, the kid murdered with Wen, but he couldn’t give me any more info. I recalled he mentioned somebody who’d come looking for Mateo after Acalliona’s murder, but he couldn’t remember his name.”