by Leilani Love
“What are you doing in here all by yourself?” Aithne asked.
Putting down the wedding magazine, she 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. 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 she had previously stalked them, 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 is the wedding planning going?” Aithne asked, gesturing toward the magazine in her hand.
Violca made a face and saw Aithne smile at her. “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 connected us. 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 them in the ceremony. “I think I am 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?”
Snorting, Aithne rolled her eyes. “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 are 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 announced, making a face that showed her contempt. “He wants your help, but he is paranoid. The hard part is going to be to agree to get him to meet us in public. If he thinks it is 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 for a moment. “As long as he thought you were trying to help him, he 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 that to happen.”
Violca nodded. A lesser of two evils. Fantastic. Chase was not going to be happy. “I guess I am 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 will set that up and all you need to do is focus on the wedding.”
Giving her friend a smile, Aithne left the room. 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 then to figure out how to combine the three different ceremonies into one?
Chapter 6
Chase let out a frustrated sigh. Violca had informed 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. Since then, Aithne had come up with several possible locations for them to meet. Chase wanted the meeting to take place in town and the look Aithne gave him told him that there was no way that was going to happen.
Since then, he had spent most of his time bouncing back and forth between getting his ass kicked by the guards he was sparring with and shooting down every location Aithne had come up with. Wiping the blood from his lips, he shook his head before motioning for the guard, Jared, to attack him again. Jared nodded, and within a blink of an eye, Chase barely managed to duck under the guard’s arm. He managed to avoid a jab before he punched the young eager 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 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.”
Viktor jerked h
is head toward the door and Chase followed him back into the house. Viktor led him toward his office and Chase closed the door behind them. “Something you want to talk about?” Chase asked, taking a chair on the other side of the desk from him.
Viktor strummed his fingers on his chair for a minute. “Aithne tells me that Violca gave her the go-ahead to set up the meeting between Violca and Lazzaro.”
Chase nodded. “Yeah, Aithne has been trying to come up with a good location.”
Viktor made a sound in the back of his throat, “I heard you have shot them all down.”
Chase watched him for a moment. Viktor’s blue eyes met his and he nodded. “So far the spots she has chosen would give him a distinct advantage over us.”
Viktor made a noncommittal sound at that and picked up some papers from the desk. Chase leaned over, taking them from him. “Well, she came to me for advice. There is 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 will agree to that since he can also see us coming.”
Chase sighed. Location-wise, it would be perfect. He still was not keen on having Violca meet Lazzaro without him present. The idea didn’t sit well with him. 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 at that 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 Chase’s mate giving him a hard time amusing, until fate had decided to bless him with a mate just as stubborn.
“You know Violca is not 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. Lazzaro seemed to be making a push to unite the vampires and to get them to quit feeding off people and switch to blood banks. Overall, the changes he 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 was trying not to smile at that. “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 of them were 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 the sun went down, 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, but their scent would give them away.
“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.
Letting out a long slow breath, he could find nothing wrong with the location. He guessed that is why Aithne had Viktor show him instead of her. He had 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 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.
Chapter 7
Violca found herself nervous once Aithne told her that Chase had finally agreed to a meeting spot that she had picked. Everything in her, told her that meeting with the Vampire King was the best decision. At the same time she knew, if she was wrong, she was not only putting herself in danger but Aithne.
Eva had been helping distract her by going through the different traditions. Most of them were based on nature. She had pointed out to Chase 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 towards the living room. Opening the door, she was a little surprised to see Sari sitting alone 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 she was reading and noticed that it was their mother’s book. Smiling as she took a seat next to her sister on the couch. “Were you looking something up?” Violca asked.
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 games with and chased them while laughing, Violca had encouraged it, wanting to keep those memories alive for them.
“Why do you think mom hid the book at the cabin?” Sari finally looked up at her, her blues looking troubled.
Violca had asked herself that very question after they 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 they knew they were going to die. “I’m not sure. 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 had not been born when they moved and had never been told these stories. By that time, Violca had forgotten about them. “Do you think our parents were killed?”
When her parents died, she 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...she was not so sure it was indeed 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. “You know Chase and Viktor will make sure we are 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, she 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 mother 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 father 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 paren
ts. When they had died, Violca had put up many pictures of their parents, determined that the girls would not 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 before standing up. “I should go and finish my homework.”
“No more questions?”
Sari shook her head, and Violca picked up the book and handed it to her. “Here, I might need it later when I am planning the ceremony, but for now why don’t you read it when you get 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 had always been that way since she was little. In that way, Sari was so much like their father.
Sighing as she stood up, Violca went to the desk to grab the book Viktor had left for her. It had illustrations of the older dragon ceremonies. Viktor found a priest who was a bear-shifter that would do the ceremony. He seemed to understand her desire to incorporate the human world she grew up with along with the supernatural world that she was still finding her place in. She was a little surprised to find that a shifter would become a priest. When she met him and asked him about it, he simply told her that they were proof of something that science could not explain and that even though he was technically called a priest, he didn’t give sermons in a church. Instead, he considered himself a missionary trying to help heal those that needed help, give direction in this time and the upcoming war that most supernaturals felt was just around the corner.
Heading into the hall, about to go upstairs to her own room to look over the book, Violca saw Aithne coming out of Viktor’s office. When she saw her, Aithne gave her a smile, but her green eyes looked troubled.
“Everything okay?” Violca asked, stopping in front of her.
“I just got off the phone with Lazzaro,” Aithne told her. Despite the fact that Aithne agreed with her about what they should do and had volunteered to go with her, Violca felt that she was nervous. Aithne had always felt really bad about being blackmailed into trying to kidnap Chase. They all understood, but Aithne still felt as though she had something to prove to them.
