by N M Thorn
He sighed. “What do you see there besides Cole?”
“A large group of vamps. Around twenty, but I can’t be sure. One human,” she replied softly, tiptoeing her way toward the door. “Two demons on either side of the door.”
Damian caught up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “We’ll make a memorable entrance,” he whispered into her ear, leaning down to her level. “Stay back.”
Channeling his magic, he felt exhaustion settling in his shoulders but ignored it. With Cole’s and Sam’s lives on the line, he didn’t have the luxury of falling apart. The excessive use of magic and power drains me too fast... and after all this is over, I still have to return to Paradise Manor and see what’s going on with River. A thought sped through his mind, but he pushed it away. I’ll cross that bridge...
“Exitius!” he roared, and the door exploded into a cloud of splinters.
Making the floor quake and the walls tremble, Damian crossed the threshold and immediately spun around, pinning both demons to the walls with his daggers.
“Illucious,” he shouted, and the blinding light emitted by his blades flooded the room, evaporating the demons.
Without any rush, his movements almost leisurely, he turned around, holding his daggers down. A group of vampires—all dressed in expensive modern clothes—shifted away from him, cowering in the corners. He had no doubt all these vampires were old and strong enough to give him a run for his money. However, for whatever reason, they decided to stay back and see what gives instead of fighting, and that worked perfectly well for Damian.
He glanced straight forward and everything inside him twisted with anger and fear. Queen Roxana stood next to a tall cage, holding Cole in front of herself, using his body as a shield. Sam was restrained inside the cage, but as his eyes fell on Damian, a semblance of hope changed his tense features.
Cole hung limply in Roxana’s arms, and it was obvious that if she let go, he would’ve collapsed to the floor. As his haunted eyes met Damian’s, a cold smile spread over his face, exposing his fangs.
“Hello, brother,” he croaked in a raspy voice. “You sure know how to make an entrance.”
“Shadow Slayer,” whispered the Queen, her arms wrapping tighter around Cole’s neck and chest.
“At your service,” replied Damian, bowing, his bow filled with mockery. “But please, Your Majesty, don’t belittle me. I’m not a slayer. I’m a hunter. I don’t discriminate against any type of supernatural monsters. They’re all equal in my eyes.”
“All equal?” asked Roxana, her fingers seizing Cole’s chin as she yanked his head up. “Does it mean you will hunt and kill your own brother?”
“What can I say? You got me there. I guess I do make some exceptions to that rule.” Damian laughed icily. “Let Cole and Sam go, and I’ll consider leaving you undead.”
She cackled, twisting Cole’s head to the side at a painful angle to force a scream out of him. “Take one step forward, and I’ll rip your brother’s head off his shoulders, and then I’ll kill the old hunter.” She glowered at him with narrowed eyes, her lips distorted by silent fury. “If you truly are the one called Shadow Slayer, then you know I can do all that faster than you can say ‘slayer’.”
“Oh, I know that,” replied Damian calmly. “But it’s not going to help you.” For a moment, his eyes locked with Cole’s, and the corners of his mouth quirked up just a little.
Damian dropped his daggers. Before the blades hit the floor, he touched his bracelet, and the silvery whip materialized in his hand. Moving at a speed he didn’t expect he could draw out of his exhausted body, he swung it, channeling all the magic he could gather through it to speed up its motion.
Roxana screeched something incoherent and applied pressure on Cole’s head. The whip’s thong hissed through the air, and the silver blades attached to its end reached Roxana, partially cutting her neck as the thong wrapped tightly around it. She yelped, her eyes bulging with fear. Her arms unlocked, and Cole collapsed at her feet.
Damian yanked the whip, and the Queen’s head rolled off her shoulders, drenching Cole in her dark blood. For a split second, her body remained standing before slowly disintegrating into a pile of ashes.
Damian exhaled, just now realizing that all this time he had been holding his breath. Pulling the whip back, he wrapped it around his wrist, turning it into the bracelet. Then he crossed the room in a few long strides and lifted Cole to his feet, supporting him with his shoulder. The vampires, who gathered at the opposite wall, stood as still as statues, their glowing eyes staring at him and Cole without blinking.
“The Queen is dead,” Damian roared, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.
A tall vampire with long black hair separated from the crowd. Approaching Damian and Cole, he took one knee and unsheathed his sword. Placing the tip of the blade to the floor, he folded his hands on the pommel.
“Long live the King,” he yelled, bowing to Cole, and the rest of the Arizona Vampire Court followed his example.
Chapter 33
~ Damian Blake ~
Every muscle in Cole’s body tensed as he observed the Arizona Court kneeling before him, pledging their fealty, and for a heartbeat, Damian felt as if he was holding a marble statue in his arms. Then he lowered his head and whispered so softly that even surrounded by ancient vampires, only his brother could hear him, “Do your thing, brother. I’m with you all the way.”
Cole’s hand squeezed his shoulder ever so slightly as he acknowledged his brother’s words. He straightened as much as he could in his condition and raised his hand.
“Please rise,” he said softly. “I appreciate all of your support more than I can express at this moment.” A soft rustling noise filled the small room as every vampire rose to their feet, sheathing their swords and daggers. “I need a little time to recover. In the meantime, we should start getting ready for the official coronation ceremony as soon as possible.” He glanced at the dark-haired vampire and gestured for him to approach. “Luciano, we need other demonic rulers to witness the ceremony to make it official. Can you please contact Akira Ida, the Queen of Florida, and Santiago del Castillo, the King of Nevada?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” replied Luciano with a bow. “I’ll get in touch with them immediately.”
Cole smiled, leaning heavier on Damian’s shoulder. “Wonderful,” he said, inclining his head. “You may go and let’s reassemble here tomorrow at ten in the evening. We need to discuss a plan of action, and we need to move fast. As you know, a change of power never goes smoothly, and we don’t want any unrest in our domain associated with it.”
With respectful bows, the vampires left the Council chamber. Luciano, however, halted by the door and turned around, staring at Damian with interest in his slightly downward-tilted eyes.
“Shadow Slayer, my lord,” he said, his voice calm and unemotional. “My King needs blood.” His dark gaze darted to Cole, and for a brief moment, warmth suffused his angled features. “He’s been poisoned with silver. He needs to feed to recover.”
“Thank you, sir,” replied Damian, slightly inclining his head. “My blood is always available to my brother if he needs it.”
As Luciano left the room, Damian lowered Cole to the floor and sat behind him for support. Feeling his brother’s body going limp against his chest, he only then realized how hard it was for Cole to stand on his feet all this time.
“What’s Ace doing here?” whispered Cole, staring at her in shock as she used her magic to open the cage and set Sam free. “She has magic.”
Damian chuckled, manifesting one of his daggers. “Long story. I’ll tell you later. But you may want to know that if it wasn’t for her, I would probably never have found you. At least not in time.”
He brought the dagger to his wrist, ready to cut it open, but Ace stopped him. “Not you, Damian,” she objected firmly, lowering to her knees next to Cole. “You must go back to Paradise Manor. You need your strength. It was my job t
o keep your brother safe.”
Cole’s eyebrows climbed up, but he didn’t say anything.
“What about Paradise Manor?” asked Sam, his face losing all color. Massaging his shoulders, he approached Damian and halted, staring heavily at him.
“I don’t know, Sam,” replied Damian, helping Cole to readjust his position so he could take Ace’s arm. “River left me a couple of messages while I was gone. I was on my way there when Ace intercepted me to help Cole.”
“Goddammit, Damian!” Sam yelled, desperation and worry in his voice. “It was your job to protect her. What are you doing sitting on your ass? Go there. Now!”
Damian stiffened and winced as if Sam had just slapped him across his face, guilt flooding over him. “And I will, Sam, but I can’t do it alone. I need help, and Cole is too weak to fight at the moment,” he said quietly. “As soon as he’s back on his feet, we’re driving straight there.”
“I’m coming with you,” grumbled Sam. “Obviously, I can’t trust you with my daughter’s life.”
“That wasn’t fair, Mr. Vetrov,” said Ace quietly, shaking her head. “Damian is a jackass, but he didn’t deserve that.”
Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right. It wasn’t fair. But what is?” He looked at the door, a pained expression in his blue eyes. “River’s my little girl. She’s my entire world.”
“I can’t even imagine how you feel, sir,” continued Ace, “but I suggest you stay back and let Damian and Cole do their job. Even though you’re a hunter, you’re still human. In a fight against dangerous opponents, you’ll be nothing but a liability.”
Sam sighed and turned to Damian. With his shoulders hunched, he looked like he aged twenty years in one minute. “She’s right. I probably should let you and Cole handle it on your own.”
“Ace is going to take you home, sir,” said Damian, looking at the old hunter with remorse. “I swear I will do everything in my power to make sure River is safe.”
“You better, kid.” Sam nodded and lowered to the floor with a strained groan, rubbing his knee.
“Ace, you should sit this one out, too. Please,” said Cole, giving her a pleading stare.
She opened her mouth to say something, but then changed her mind and just nodded. Cole took Ace’s hand into his, running his finger over the blue veins bulging under her skin. His eyes lit up with a hungry glow, but he halted, sending her a veiled gaze.
“Just do it already, would yah?” she grumbled, looking away, her face turning a sickening green. “Don’t ask me if I’m sure or if I’m ready. I feel as if I’m some virgin you’re trying to seduce while pretending to be a real gentleman.”
“What?” asked Cole, sounding genially shocked. “You’re not a virgin? Sorry, I can’t have your blood then. I drink only the blood of virgins.”
“Dumbass,” muttered Ace, but a tiny smile touched her lips as she glanced at him.
“That would be Mr. Dumbass to you. Or actually, Your Majesty, King Dumbass,” he murmured and then snickered as Damian slapped him on the back of his head. “Jokes aside... Thank you, Ace. For everything.” He lowered his face to her wrist, touching it with his lips gently. “I’ll make it painless.”
As his fangs pierced her skin, Ace moaned softly and closed her eyes. Her features relaxed, her lips parted slightly, and her breathing quickened. Damian observed her reaction, thinking that her feelings for Cole were making the “pleasure” effect of the vampire bite so much stronger. But right now, it wasn’t a good time to get into it.
A few seconds later, Cole let go and touched the tip of his fang with his finger, puncturing it. As a single drop of blood gathered on his fingertip, he brushed it over the wounds on Ace’s wrist, healing them instantly. After that, he leaned back into Damian’s chest and relaxed, closing his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I know we must rush, but I need just a few more minutes.”
Feeling a persistent vibration in his pocket, Damian pulled out his phone and read Jamie’s name and number on the screen. He answered the call, his chest tightening up with the expectation of troubling news.
“Damian?” asked Jamie, his voice coming edgy even across the phone line. “You were right.”
“About?”
“Jesse Williams,” replied Jamie. “He does have a connection with Paradise Manor and the founding families. I don’t know how much time it took for my father to dig out this information, but it’s all here. His birth certificate, the adoption papers... Everything.”
Damian swallowed hard, a sense of dark and gloomy foreboding spreading through him. “Who is he?”
“He’s the last living descendent of the Brown family,” said Jamie. “The illegitimate son of Jonathan Brown.”
“Son of a bitch,” whispered Damian. “The power of the Brown’s bloodline would make the Guardians’ pentagram spell accept him as one of their own. All he needs is the ownership of his family estate.”
“That’s right,” agreed Jamie. “All he needs is the ownership of the house or an invitation from River Evans to move in to Paradise Manor. But wait. It gets worse.” He fell silent, a vibe of discomfort prominent even through a phone call, and then added, “Listen, Damian, I was trying to call you earlier, but since you didn’t answer, I called Quinn Allerton without your permission. I hope you’re not gonna skin me alive for doing that.”
“What did he say?” asked Damian, chills surging through his spine.
“He said that the way the Guardians protective magic was set up, if Jesse gets the ownership of the Brown’s estate or River’s invitation, it would allow him not only to bypass the Guardians wards and protective spell work but also disable them if he wishes to do so.”
Damian pressed his hand over his mouth, thousands of thoughts rushing through his mind. “That’s really bad news... I think River has already invited him in, but I’m not sure she invited him to stay in Paradise Manor, or to—” He stopped talking halfway through the sentence, thinking back to the last message River left for him.
“Then you better rush. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help,” replied Jamie.
“Thank you, Jamie. I’ll keep you posted,” said Damian and hung up the phone, putting it back in his pocket.
“Who are you talking about?” Cole got up and swayed slightly as he turned around to face Damian. “Who needs the ownership of the old Brown’s estate?”
“Jesse Williams. Why?” Damian rose to his feet, meeting Cole’s widened eyes.
“Oh, God,” whispered Cole, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’ve made a terrible mistake...”
Sam’s eyes darted between Cole and Damian, and a wild, hysterical laughter burst out of his lips. “Damian, your brother signed the deed, transferring ownership of the Brown’s estate to Jesse Williams less than an hour ago,” he managed to say through the outbursts of uncontrollable laugher.
“Dima.” Cole threw his hands up, a desperate look on his face. “I was under the control of—”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Sam interrupted him, finally getting his nerves under control. “Damian, they tortured him until he didn’t know the difference between illusion and reality. Two crazy Slavic gods, if you can believe that the ancient Pagan gods are real and walking among us, that is.”
“Everything is real,” muttered Damian. “After Mara attacked me on the way back here, I expected them to act.” In a few words, he told everything that happened on his way from Chicago and everything Archmage Allerton had told him. “Cole, if you feel strong enough, we should get going.” He glanced at his watch. “If Jesse is working with them, Paradise Manor could be under attack as we speak. We should get going.” His voice trailed off, and he exhaled, turning to Ace. “Cole and I will take my car. Call a cab for yourself and Sam.”
“You mean Uber,” murmured Ace, reaching for her phone.
“Whatever you kids call it nowadays,” Damian muttered over his shoulder, heading toward the exit.
Damian drove t
o Paradise Manor, flooring the accelerator pedal. Cole sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed. He seemed relaxed, but a muscle working in his jaw betrayed his true state of mind.
“Dima, you’re drained. I could feel your arms shaking while you were supporting me,” Cole murmured once they exited the freeway and took the road leading toward Blue Creek. “How are you planning to stop two gods?”
“I don’t know,” replied Damian at length.
“We’re flying blind, you know.”
“But we’re still flying.”
Damian drove through downtown Blue Creek without slowing down, but once he took the path toward Paradise Manor, something changed. He couldn’t say what it was, but he could feel the fluctuations of the magical energy field with his skin, and that made his hair stand on end. He had no illusions about his magical abilities—his powers were extremely limited, and he was drained after the fight with the Queen. So whatever magical mayhem unfolded over this area, it had to be so powerful that even he could detect it.
He glanced at Cole, and his jaw dropped. His brother leaned forward in his seat, bracing his hands against the dashboard, his unclad torso ripped with tensed muscles. His fingers turned into terrifying claws as sharp and lethal as any dagger. His eyes burned with a bright, scarlet light, and his mouth was opened slightly, displaying a set of fangs more spine-chilling than his claws.
All in all, the vampire looked ghastly enough to give a human a heart attack, but the only thing Damian could think of was that his brother was about to jump into a deadly fight not only without any armor but half-naked.
“Dima, can you sense it?” asked Cole, his voice a low hiss.
Damian nodded. The night became darker even though the sky was absolutely clear, and the temperature dropped significantly. He glanced at the dashboard and gasped. The outside temperature reading was showing twenty-nine degrees. The speedometer arrow crossed the hundred-fifty mark, but to him, it seemed like the car slowed down, barely moving.
