by Mary Hughes
He was fast, absolutely silent and almost on top of Nosferatu when something alerted the vampire.
Nosferatu turned. His bat birthmark stood out against his white face like an ink drawing. “L-leave me alone!”
Even stuttered, this was his maker’s command. Aiden clenched his will and fought it, but his muscles obeyed Nosferatu, shutting down. He ground to a halt.
“No, Aiden.” Sunny leaped off his back. “No.”
“No,” Aiden echoed. The strength of her no filled him, fortified him like a rock of resistance. “Never again. This is for Elwood.” He stepped in—and slapped Nosferatu’s cheek.
Maybe the Coterie vampire was weakened by the explosion; maybe the slap was fueled by Aiden’s sheer rage; maybe both, but Nosy’s head snapped right-angle to his body and he staggered back.
Moonlight shafted the clouds at that moment, illuminating the hillcrest like a spotlight. Aiden raised his voice. “This is for Eloise. Never again.” Another slap, cupping his palm to make it boom. Nosferatu staggered another few steps. “If you try to touch me or mine, remember this.” Aiden followed with another slap. “I will never run again. I will fight you. And for all those orphans whose humanity you took—I will mow you down.” He grabbed Nosferatu’s shoulder, turned him profile to the troops, and in that spotlight punched him straight in the face.
Nosferatu sailed into the air, arms and legs flailing, plowing back first into the dirt.
Four vampires ran up the crest, Mace leading. Shooting Aiden a frightened look, they darted to where Nosferatu lay and picked up their leader.
Slung between the two, Nosferatu started limping toward Aiden. “You little shit. Mow me down? My Lestats will destroy you. Get him!” Mace and Maim charged Aiden.
Aiden snarled. Whipped out two silver darts with a hard flick. The tiny darts embedded in the vampires’ chests…and exploded.
Ribs empty, Mace and Maim dropped.
There was a moment of stunned silence. Then Nosferatu said, “You think that scares me?” He wavered on his feet, his pale face and shaking voice undermining his bravado. “You don’t scare me.”
“I ought to. You trained me, remember?” Aiden’s anger roughened his voice to a low, dangerous growl. “I know everything you know, and more. Next time you threaten me or mine, there’ll be no Lestats, no lieutenants. Just you and me. And I’ll destroy you.”
With a double-shoop he drew two long knives and took a single step toward them.
The Lestats picked up Nosferatu and ran.
A dark urge to destroy spurred Aiden into pursuit. Pact be damned, he’d slit their throats and bathe in their hot blood…
Beautiful Son. Fight for life, friendship—and love. His mother’s voice slowed him.
But it was Sunny’s voice that stopped him. “Aiden, wait.”
She stood in the moonlight, a silver halo around her. A mere human, as he’d once been. He wasn’t human anymore, but he didn’t have to be an animal either.
He shouted, “Run, Nosy. Hide in your mean, foul nest. And remember, if you threaten me or mine again I’m coming for you, and you alone.”
Nosferatu’s troops broke. Some jumped into trucks and some simply ran. They’d return home and live, and Nosferatu would wipe their memories, but the deep-down fear would remain. They wouldn’t be challenging Aiden any time soon.
“Victory!” A huge cheer went up from Aiden’s troops as he strode with Sunny through the streams of fleeing Lestats.
He’d done it. He’d led them to victory. Now he’d have to give them another speech…he sagged. He was too exhausted. Relieved. Drained.
Sunny’s arms snaked around his neck. He straightened. He hadn’t done it—they’d done it. Energy flooded back. They’d done it, and now they’d finish it. But first he had a couple of details to wrap up.
He hit his radio. “Mac, where are you?”
“West of HQ, Chief.”
Aiden headed for the small building.
“Here, Chief.” A hand went up amid the vampires on the west side. Aiden strode toward it.
Wiry Mac had directed setup of an impromptu field hospital. “Take care of the humans first. Then whole vamps there, parts there. Chief.” He turned and saluted Aiden. “Saw you beat down on Nosferatu. Nice.”
“Thanks.” The salute was unnecessary pomp, but Aiden understood the need and returned it. “Elwood?”
“We had to find a few pieces, but he’ll be okay.” Mac pointed to where the big trucker slumped against a tree trunk. Aiden’s heart stuttered…until Elwood waved weakly.
“Hey, Chief.”
Aiden knelt next to the big trucker and clasped his hand. “You’re all right.”
“Please. I brave street gangs daily to deliver freight. Takes more than a couple pesky homeboys with popguns to keep me down.”
“Thanks,” Aiden said simply.
Elwood nodded. “And thank you for making the world safer for my mate and baby. Now don’t you have a speech to give?”
“Yes.” Aiden briefly clasped the big trucker’s shoulder. “After I do one more thing.” He rose and returned to the building.
Eloise sat handcuffed to the chair in the corner, eyes spewing hate. Four big vampires guarded her. Aiden stood before her, remembering the girl she once was. His friend. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Eloise. Sorry for whatever part I played in it.” He knelt to bring their eyes level, and for just one moment, as she frowned in confusion, he saw the young girl inside. “We’ll get you help…friend.”
She gave a slight start. Then her frown darkened and she spat at him.
He was already striding out the door.
Holding Sunny, he leaped onto the roof. With a gesture, he invited each contingent’s leader to stand with him.
In front of the assembled troops he shook hands with Milwaukee and Madison, each of whom were cut and dirty but grinning like they’d punched Nosferatu themselves.
Aiden said clearly, “Thank you on behalf of Ric and Minneapolis…and on my own behalf as well. Together, we beat Nosferatu. I promise my own personal aid if you ever need it.” They seemed to appreciate that as much as if Ric had offered it himself.
Madison, ever the politician, stepped forward, her hand in his. Pitching her voice to carry, she said, “We accept, in the name of peace and friendship. Madison is now Aiden Blackthorne’s ally. Let us unite our strength for peace.”
“Milwaukee also pledges its alliance and friendship.”
The assembled troops cheered.
Then Aiden found himself before Bo Strongwell. Lowering his voice, Aiden said, “Thanks. That was a nice save.”
“You’re welcome.” The Viking grinned.
“But don’t think I’m joining the Iowa Alliance because of it.”
Bo shrugged. “You don’t have to. We’re not the same alliance, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be allies too—or even friends.” He held out his hand.
Aiden considered it. Friends, with an Alliance master? That required trust. He trusted Ric and Sunny because they’d proved themselves…and come to think, so now had this vampire. Aiden took the offered hand in a firm grip.
As they shook, Sunny let out a cheer. Below, vampires and humans alike shouted. “Victory!”
Aiden smiled. They were cheering the win, but it felt like they were applauding him. He’d fought the good fight, and with the help of his friends and most of all Sunny, he’d won back his life.
We returned to Meiers Corners in the early hours of the morning.
After dropping off the DTL contingent, who were taking Eloise to a secure location for questioning, Aiden and I headed straight for Strongwells’. We chatted with Dirk for a while—his one clear sentence was “I like your hair, Sunny”—before he had to take a nap. Ric was with us too, though he was pale and sweating and fell asleep off and on. His wife Synnov
e held his hand tightly.
“I can see you worrying,” she said to Aiden when Dirk was gone and Ric had fallen asleep again. “Don’t. He’s stable.”
“‘Stable’ looks pretty sick,” Aiden said. “Can Elias cure him?”
“I’m in contact with his best. The poison seems to be attacking the mechanism that lets the vampire part heal the human part. The problem is we can’t actually see the vampire part.”
“Invisible?”
“No, just missing. When we take tissue samples, they’re full of holes. What’s left is normal human cells. My theory is the vampire bits—probably cells of some sort, and from the hole size, eukaryotes—the vampire eukaryotes disintegrate when separated from the living organism.”
Aiden wiped Ric’s brow. “So you can’t find what to fix, because it disintegrates?”
“Luckily I thought to check effects. A healthy vampire’s eukaryotes compress the usual stages of inflammation, proliferation and remodeling from days into seconds.”
“Translation?” I said.
“Faster healing. Better too. The healed cell matrix is not just remodeled but good as new. It’s even possible the vampire eukaryotes somehow become stems cells…well, you don’t care about that. Bottom line, if healing is a phone call between eukaryote and cell, the poison has hijacked the line. We have to formulate an antidote to make it let go.”
“Hey. Blackthorne.” Bo came into the room, carrying a conference call hub, Elena following him. “I’d have waited, but they asked for you.”
“Who?”
Bo rolled his eyes. “Mars and Venus.” He put the hub on a tray in the middle of the room and pressed a button. “Go.”
“We discussed it, Blackthorne,” Milwaukee started.
“We discussed it and decided,” Madison said.
“Decided what?” Aiden exchanged a confused and slightly apprehensive glance with me.
“You’re the one to lead us.”
“Well, halleluiah,” Ric said.
“Good morning again, Sunshine.” Synnove smoothed his hair back.
“Lead?” The word exploded from Aiden’s lips. “The battle is over.”
“But the war has just begun,” Milwaukee said. “Nosferatu’s in his hidey hole licking his wounds. But he’s a bully and crafty. He’ll be back.”
Madison said, “Besides, there are others out there like him. Waiting to grab power.”
Aiden exchanged another confused glance with me. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Madison said. “We want you to lead our alliance.”
“Exactly,” Milwaukee said. “I’ve already talked with Green Bay and Upper Michigan and they’re in.”
“Wait—what?” Now Aiden was staring, stupefied, around the circle of grinning vampires and mates alike.
Madison said, “I’ve got a cousin in North Dakota who’s interested. South Dakota is friendly with the Iowa Alliance but he’s open to relations.”
“But…”
“We thought we’d call ourselves the Confederation of Border States,” Milwaukee said.
“You thought that,” Madison snapped. “I like the League of Extraordinary Households.”
Ric muttered, “How about The Fellowship of the Grumpy Old Vamps?”
“This is why we need you to unite us, Blackthorne,” Milwaukee said dryly. “What do you say?”
Aiden began, “But Ric Holiday—”
“Is perfectly happy running his own city,” Ric said. “Go for it, Aiden. I’ll support you. I’ll even do your event planning.”
Expression adorably bewildered, Aiden turned to me. “Sunny?”
“I’m with you.” I took his hands. “Either way. Always. But honestly, you made a hell of a general and I think you’ll be a wonderful president.”
“President. Huh.” He straightened. “Well, then. I guess I’ll give it a try.”
Bo pumped air. “Yeah!”
“Why are you so happy?” Elena said.
“Now the Iowa Alliance doesn’t need to be prepared to fight on all four sides. We have an ally.”
“Whoa, wait,” Aiden said. “Bo, I’ll accept you as an ally, and even a friend, but I reserve the right to get pissed at Elias whenever I want.”
“Except you promised,” I said, remembering.
Aiden briefly closed pained eyes. “Elias’s favor for healing Ric. Damn it, that bastard knew this was going to happen.”
Ric said, “What are you talking about?”
Aiden’s thin sexy lips were drawn in disgust. “If I have a problem with Elias, I have to talk it through with him before taking action. As a single vampire it was an annoyance, but as a leader, it’s politics. Now I have to warn Elias and the Iowa Alliance before the…what the hell are we calling ourselves?”
Ric started laughing.
“Confederation of Border States,” Bo said helpfully.
Elena said, “Or the League of Extraordinary Households.”
“Or Grumpy Old Farts.” Ric hooted.
“I have to warn Elias before we go to war,” Aiden said. “But I don’t have to warn you.” He jumped on Ric and tickled. Ric howled.
“What’s going on there?” Milwaukee asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Aiden and Ric caroled at the same time.
“There’s a large home available in Linesville,” Madison said. “I’ll have my academics renovate it as a vampire household for you—”
“My industrialists will renovate it,” Milwaukee broke in. “You’ll have the latest in technologies.”
“But why?” Aiden said.
“A leader has to have a meeting place,” Madison said.
“A place of business,” Milwaukee said.
“Linesville works for us,” they both said.
Again Aiden’s black eyes found mine. Seeing me smile, they lost the haunted look and even crinkled at the edges. “All right. Sunny and I will create a household in Linesville and head a new alliance of Northwest vampires.”
“Northwest?”
“Sure. Why stop at North Dakota? We’ll work deals with states west through Idaho and Montana to Washington and Oregon. Maybe even open negotiations with Canada.”
“You’ll need human intervention,” Elena said suddenly. “Linesville doesn’t have a police department. It’s a great opportunity for Sun-Hee. She can create one and head it.”
“Wait, what?” I said.
“Turnabout.” Aiden’s smile widened and his gleaming gaze took on a smug glint.
Ric gaped at him. “What the hell is that? Is that a smile?”
“What? No.” Aiden touched his lips. Dropped his hand immediately and scowled hard at us all. “So what? I’ve smiled before.”
“Yes. Twenty-three times, with this one.”
Aiden rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Holiday, you need a life.”
“And you need a jerk-ectomy.”
“You’re married to a doctor. Get her to practice first on you.”
“Boys, hush,” Synnove said. “We’re waiting for Sunny to decide now.”
“Well…” I could exchange my clunky shoes and heavy uniform for a sleek pants suit and fedora? I had to admit I was interested. “I’m not very experienced.” I tapped my lip. “But I could bring in Jonesy to help me.”
“And Dirk,” Elena said.
“To help?” Were we talking about the same Dirk?
“Not at first,” Bo said. “He’ll need close supervision and training. As both his brother-in-law and maker, Blackthorne, you’d be perfect.”
“Wait, what?” Aiden and I said. Aiden said, “I don’t know how to train a fledgling.”
“Maker?” I said. Although that explained the veiled comments. I totally ignored the brother-in-law comment. Hell, Mom and Madison h
ad probably already planned the complete wedding, including what kind of chloroform they’d use if we tried to get out of it.
“You trained dozens of us,” Ric said.
“But this is Dirk,” I said. “A Ruffles is bad enough. But a super-v-guy-Ruffles?”
“Aiden will take care of it,” Ric said.
“So that’s a yes for Dirk,” Elena said. “Tight Ass?” she added hopefully.
“No. Double no.” I nailed her with an eyeball so hairy it qualified as its own species. “With a dollop of ick.”
“What about Eloise?” Bo asked suddenly.
“She’s somewhere secure,” Ric said. “And off the grid. We’re in touch with a psychiatrist who runs a hospital for our kind. Highly regarded. We hope he’ll take her on.”
“After what she did to your mate?”
“I suggested it,” Synnove said. “It might help us learn why so many vampires are insane.”
“Or power mad,” I said.
Ric briefly grasped Aiden’s arm. “Sorry, by the way. I had to go to her. She had Synnove.”
“I get that,” Aiden said. “But next time you try anything like that, it’ll be you and me and a staple gun, buddy.”
Elena rose. “I’m going upstairs to get some food. We’re going to be a while, hashing out the details.”
“I’ll help.” I followed her out. “I’ve wanted to ask you something.”
“Sure.” She led me to the kitchen where she put in a large breakfast order with Mrs. Cook. “I’ve been meaning to say—I like your new hairstyle. Glad you moved on with your life. What’s up?”
Well damn. Had everyone been waiting for me to grow beyond my kindergarten self? Sometimes small towns were a pain, but sometimes the deep caring made me want to cry. “That first night, when you called me into the MCPD. You told me to keep an eye on Aiden. But you know and trust him. So why did you really ask me to follow him?”
She smiled. “You’re immune to vampire suggestion. I figured telling you to stick to Aiden was the easiest way for him to keep an eye on you. Plus, with him you didn’t talk to the wrong people—imagine if you’d stumbled across Nosferatu or his henchvamps without knowing the players?”
“Yeah but—couldn’t you have told me all that?”
