"Do we really have any other choice?" Raquel asked as she took his wrist. "Let me be good for something."
"This really is completely fucked up," Astrid informed the room as she rolled up her sleeve and offered up her wrist. "After Heathcliff finds out your secret identity or that you're really a man or something more frightening than that, I get to be let in on the secret too or else I'll go gangster on your ass. Sound fair?"
"Perfectly," Raquel said as she bit back a small grin.
"Heathcliff, start reciting baseball stats in your head and bring your sorry fighting ass over here. We're going to feed your mate so she can obliterate a hundred invisible evil asscankers."
"I'm not his… " Raquel started.
"Enough of that shit," Astrid snapped. "I’m right and you’re wrong." She got in front of Ethan and shoved her wrist in Raquel's face. "One Master Vampyre coming up."
Raquel glared at her. It was clear she wanted to clear up any misconceptions, but Astrid was having none of it. Her hair was flying all over the place and she was starting to glow. Even Raquel knew better than to screw with a pissed off Astrid.
"Bite me and then go kill the fuckers. Now."
"As you wish," Raquel muttered before she bit down.
I stood next to Ethan and watched as I waited my turn.
It was one of the hardest things I'd done in my very long life. However, it was not my place to question my Prince or defy him. My duty was to him and my people.
"I don't want you to do this," I told Raquel as my fists clenched at my sides.
"I know," she replied quietly. "But it's what I do. It's what must be done."
I closed my eyes and willed myself not to grab her and run—to take her to a safe place where no harm would come to her, but it wasn't my right or my privilege.
Not yet.
Chapter 8
I went last. As she took my blood, Raquel refused to make eye contact. The pleasure and the pain of what she was doing almost undid me. My fangs descended and the moment became so personal and sexual all in the room looked away. This was more damaging to me than the fight with the thirty Vamps I'd indulged in earlier, but it was part of what needed to be done if we were all to see tomorrow.
She finished and stumbled back. Jean Paul caught her. Her skin took on an iridescent glow and she'd never been more glorious. I realized in that second that Raquel wasn't just an ordinary Vampyre who needed my protection. She was a deadly force of nature—a ruler of an empire and not someone to be fucked with. It gave me some solace, but my irrational need to shield her would not disappear.
"The timing of the attack is interesting," Raquel said as she rolled her neck and shuddered with the sheer amount of power she now held within her body.
"Why do you say that?" Ethan asked as he armed himself with several more long swords. "Bennett," he instructed, "have the men and women get rid of their daggers and strap on swords. Short blades are useless with the Trolls."
"Yes, Sire." He bowed and left the room.
"It’s at the same time as the Summit and your troops being depleted. What did the Trolls ask for?" Raquel inquired as she slid a katana into a holster on her back.
"Samuel and the one who dies," Astrid replied as she hooked several grenades to her belt. "They’re stupid motherfuckers. We're already dead."
"They want me," Raquel said simply.
Ethan froze and the rest of the occupants of the room looked around in confusion.
"Why do you say that?" I demanded in frustration, staring at the Vampyre I loved.
Raquel exchanged a look with her brother and turned back to me. "I am the one who dies. I am the one they want."
"What the fuck does that mean? Tell me."
"I can't," she said.
"You won't," I shot back.
"She can and she will, but not now. Not here," Ethan said. "There is no time for debate."
"Correct," Raquel said, avoiding my stare. "It's odd that the Trolls would know."
"There is no way they could have the information without someone betraying you," Ethan said angrily. "Who knows?"
"Our brothers and sisters, our father, Pam, and Jean Paul," she told him.
My eyes immediately narrowed on Jean Paul. The bodyguard took several steps back, but held his head high. I stepped forward to kill him but stopped as Ethan held up his hand.
"I would rather die than betray my Princess," he said levelly. "It was not me."
"Bastard's telling the truth," Martha said as she ripped the tape from her mouth.
"And how would you know that?" I demanded in a tone that made the old Vampyre cower.
"It's the damnedest fucking thing," she croaked out. "Since I've become a bloodsucker, I can tell when people are lying."
"She can and it sucks ass," Jane volunteered. "I can't cheat at cards anymore or give her the wrong change or have sex with her boyfriend or… "
"Oh my Hell," Astrid snapped. "First of all, you two are asexual. I refuse to picture either of you getting it on with anything. And second, if this is a joke you are both going to die violently today."
"No joke," Jane said truthfully. "It's real and it sucks donkey balls."
"True that," Martha added, holding up her right hand.
"Fine," Ethan said. "But I have no idea who it could be. This makes no sense."
"While it would be helpful to know what the fuck you are discussing, I beg to differ about not knowing which family member could have revealed a secret," I said tightly as I watched the realization hit. Raquel's mystery was killing me, but she clearly didn't want me to know. This ate at me viciously, but it was what it was.
"No freakin' way," Astrid shouted as sparks flew wildly from her fingertips. "I am going to kill her this time. She is screwing with my child. Of course it would be lovely to know what she blabbered to the Trolls, but I'll leave that for her to tell me when I torture her ass."
"Juliet?" Ethan asked as he paled even further and shook with fury.
"It has to be," Raquel added with ire that made her skin sparkle.
Juliet was the half-sister of Ethan, Raquel, and Astrid--complicated and bizarre, but what in our world wasn't? Astrid and Juliet shared the same mother. Raquel, Ethan and Juliet shared the same father. Bottom line, Ethan and Raquel were blood related. Astrid and Ethan were not.
Juliet had been the one who had changed Astrid into a Vampyre against her will. It was a fucked up plan of their mother's to take over the world. But it had failed. However, Juliet had gotten away and now it appeared she was back with more deadly trouble. No matter. Her time in this world was getting short, if I had anything to do with it.
"The Trolls aren't intelligent enough to summon Wraiths. She knows I can send them back to Hell so she came at sundown."
"Samuel I get, but why does she want you?" Ethan asked as he scanned the monitors again and studied a map of the grounds.
"Of course she wants Samuel because he's a True Immortal. From me? She wants my blood—all of it," Raquel stated pragmatically. "She can only summon Wraiths. She would need to drain me to take my power so that she could banish them."
"Juliet is so fucked up… and so fucking dead," Astrid muttered as she handed Samuel to Martha and Jane. "Take him to the Panic Room and lock the door. No swearing. You open it for no one except me or Ethan. Take the Baby Demons too. They'll kill anything you can't. Do not under any circumstances let Sammy nap. He can't go walking in anyone's dreams right now—too fucking dangerous. If we don't come back to you by morning, have the Baby Demons summon my Uncle Satan. He'll know what to do."
Both Ethan and Astrid went to their son and hugged him tightly. My throat knotted with anger that they had to leave him.
"He's a Dream Walker?" Raquel asked, shocked. "Impossible."
"Not impossible," Astrid said wearily. "He's a full-on, out of control, magical nightmare."
"Yay me!" Samuel yelled as he pumped his little fists in the air.
"Yep baby, yay you," Astrid said as she hugged and
kissed him again. "You be a good boy and I'll get you a present when this clusterhump is over. Okay?"
"Another baboon for Blobbityflonk to play with?" he asked with wide eyes and a grin.
"Ummm… sure," Astrid mumbled.
Ethan's gasp of shock made me smile despite the impending shit show we were about to walk into. I caught Raquel's eyes and she giggled. For a moment I pretended what had passed between us hadn't happened, but she turned away quickly and reality came roaring back.
"If we're going to do this we need to go now. My Princess has limited time," Jean Paul said.
"Until what?" I inquired coldly. "Until she has to go and destroy a few more lives elsewhere?"
"Stop," Ethan commanded harshly. "Leave the personal out. No room for distraction. If we all come out of this alive, then we will have a sit down. Am I understood?"
"Yes," I said respectfully. He was correct. Loss of focus would be deadly.
"The Trolls aren't moving," Astrid said as she studied the monitor. "Why are they all just standing on the perimeter?"
"Because they're inherently cowards," Venus said as she stepped forward and took Astrid's hand in hers. "They will wait for the Wraiths to weaken us and then attack."
"She's correct," Raquel said in a brisk, business-like tone. "Each time a Wraith goes through you it will drain some of your power. Everyone needs to keep moving constantly. It's difficult for them to attack a moving target."
"I'll communicate that to the generals," Venus said as she raced from the room.
Ethan closed his eyes and telepathically sent a directive that went to every Vampyre in the compound as he also spoke his thoughts aloud.
"We will go out in three groups. We will exit the compound from all sides since we are surrounded. We will enter the battle in units separated by five-minute intervals. It's best we don't show all our troops at once. The second group will cloak themselves and try to get behind the Trolls so we can take them from both sides. The Wraiths are clustered to the north. Raquel, you will take the exit through the sunroom. Heathcliff and Jean Paul will go with you along with Astrid and me. Raquel will have to stand still to banish them, so make sure we are all moving targets around her to distract them," Ethan instructed.
"God damn it, we're sending her out there to die," I ground out through clenched teeth as I held on to my sanity by a thread.
"We may all be walking out there to die," Ethan stated calmly. "Raquel is our only chance of eliminating the Wraiths. I don't know about you, but I prefer to go out fighting."
"That's my hot, sexy Vampyre," Astrid said with a wide grin as she patted her grenades and checked her sword. "I'm ready to go kill some fugly bastards and rip an unwanted sibling from limb to limb."
"You're hot when you're bloodthirsty," Ethan said as her laid a kiss on his mate that should have been done in private.
"I know. Right?" Astrid giggled and grabbed his ass.
"If anyone gets their hands on Juliet, it would be best to take her alive," Raquel said tersely. "I have quite a few questions for her."
"As do I," Astrid said, going from giggly to deadly on a dime.
"How long do you have, Raquel? Sundown is in about thirty minutes," Ethan said to his sister.
"Then I should have about forty-five minutes to an hour, give or take," she replied.
"Is that enough time?" I demanded, still not understanding what she was up against.
"It will have to be, now won't it?" she said cryptically.
Again I was tempted beyond reason to snatch her up and lock her in the Panic Room with Samuel and the others, but it was a dream that would not come true—similar to all my dreams where Raquel was concerned. I shook off my dread and glanced around the room. Aside from my father and my sister, it was filled with the people I loved most. If we were going down, we were going down together. I couldn’t let my worry keep me from being effective.
"Okay. Are we ready?" I asked in a clipped tone. My warrior side had at last taken over. I was now ready for the fight and I had no plans to lose.
"Yes," Ethan said. "We are."
"Then let's go have some fun," I said as I led the way out of the room.
***
The rolling hills around the compound were eerily quiet. Ten foot high Trolls stood as still as statues peppering the hills menacingly while the Wraiths looked like a swarm of bloody bees in the distance. They hovered around a lone figure with wild blonde hair and piercing red eyes.
"Son of a bitch," Astrid swore. "It is her."
Juliet's arms were raised and her fangs were bared. She appeared to be deranged and ready to snap. She was clearly controlling the Wraiths. They moaned and screamed impatiently as they floated around her in a frenzy.
"I'd say it's nice to see you," Juliet yelled. "But it's not." Her laugh pierced the air and the wailing of the ghosts increased to deafening levels.
"Jesus Christ, she's a fucking nut bucket," Astrid hissed.
"She always was," Raquel said as she watched her sister with disgust. "She used to steal my clothes and then burn them after she was done wearing them."
“What the Hell?" Astrid griped. "I hear you. The hag stole my really expensive nail polish. She's going down."
"Because she took your nail polish?" Ethan asked, completely confused.
I had to admit I was a bit confused too.
"No," Astrid snapped. "Because she's still trying to take what isn't hers. She can’t have my baby… or my damn sister-in-law. They’re mine," she yelled as she started to glow.
"Got it," I said as I put a calming hand on her shoulder. It would be a clusterfuck if Astrid started blowing up the hillside. It wouldn't kill the Trolls or the Wraiths and it would make our job much more dangerous than it already was.
"Heathcliff, you will talk to her. She'll be more volatile and less reasonable with her blood relatives," Ethan instructed under his breath.
"You’re kidding yourself if you think Juliet's going to be reasonable with anyone," Raquel muttered. "She's completely lost her shit. Look at her."
I had to agree with Raquel, but Ethan made a good point. She didn't know me like she knew her family. I was an unknown to her. It might throw her.
"What do you want?" I shouted up the hill as I stepped forward, making sure I'd blocked Raquel from her sightline.
"And who are you?" she demanded shrilly. "You're very pretty. Maybe we can spare you."
Raquel's hiss of furious jealousy behind me was music to my ears, but the insanity in front of me was my focus.
"My name is not of importance and looks can be deceiving. Are you here to negotiate or are your terms as we have heard?"
"I really like you," she bellowed with a grunt of animalistic pleasure. She ran her hands over her body and cupped herself between her legs. It was all I could do not to turn away in disgust. Pissing her off right off the bat would not bode well.
"Terms?" I shouted again, knowing she had none. However, treating her like a sane equal might help.
"No terms," she shrieked. "No negotiations. I want the baby and I want my sister. Now—or else everyone dies… and I still get my sister and the baby."
The Trolls watched the insane woman with narrowed eyes. Were they a joined enemy or were we dealing with two separate factions?
"No can do, Juliet," Astrid shot back. "You don't look like the motherly type and Raquel thinks you're an assjacket."
"Love what you've done with your hair," Juliet snarled. "The red streaks make you look like a whore."
"What the fuck?" Astrid stomped her foot and the ground beneath us shook. "How many different immortal whackjobs can call me a whore? I mean, I have plenty of faults, but loose morals are not one of them. I'm sorry guys, but I have to kill her."
"Fine by me," Raquel hissed.
"Not yet," I said calmly. "Let her make her move. We don't know if she's controlling the Trolls too. If we keep her talking there's more of a chance of taking the Trolls from behind."
"Mother humper," Astrid comp
lained. "I hate it when you make sense."
"Getting bored up here," Juliet screamed and began to pace in tight erratic circles. "Get the baby. I want the baby. And send that bitch Raquel up the hill before the sun goes down. I'm hungry."
The Trolls were grumbling and examining Juliet with detached hatred. Were they with her or against her? It really didn't matter in the end because they definitely didn't like us either.
Fashionably Hotter Than Hell: Book Six, The Hot Damned Series Page 8
