“It’s rumored that all vampires owe allegiance to Imogen, that she has ready soldiers in every corner of the world. Obviously, I have yet to hear a New Anglan vampire openly admit allegiance to her, of course. Especially as she is in open opposition to several Rexdoms.”
“New Anglo?” I asked as I took another bite of sandwich.
“No, she’s openly an ally to the New Anglo Rexdom. If I was the Rex though, I’d have my eye on her at all times. Her Reginadom spans over three continents, and now contains seven conquered countries. Also, as you can imagine, the open wars she wages are brutal, bloody, and often long fought. She doesn’t just attack countries openly, though, she conquers in slow, methodical, devious stages.”
“And she wants us,” Bobby said in a low voice.
“Yes.” My grandfather nodded infinitesimally. “She’s coveted the Mabiian Islands for centuries. I was born only a short time before her, shortly after the island chain was annexed by New Anglo. Her family sent the first assassin that ever tried to kill me. She’s also tried to make several marriage alliances between your cousins and her nephews, all of which I’ve rejected. We’ve had bad blood between us on both sides, and she is a firm believer that revenge is a dish best served cold.”
“I’ve always thought revenge was a dish best served steamy,” Bobby mumbled, smiling over his sandwich.
“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Lorelei said.
Bobby’s grin only widened. “Wait for it.”
“Disgusting, Bobby,” I said.
“Oh, gross.” Lorelei wrinkled up her nose.
“Robert, stay on task,” Grandfather said, though a small smile played at the corner of his lips. “That brings us to what I need from you three now. Bobby, would you please explain the mission since you are the lead?”
“Yeah, of course, Father,” Bobby leaned back in his chair. He was easily twice my grandfather’s girth. His clothes were also a dramatic contrast to my grandfather’s; my grandfather, as always, looked formal in a suit, whereas Bobby looked like a nineteen-year-old biker. The biker part was true, but definitely not the nineteen-year-old part.
“All right, so one of Regina Imogen’s brothers owns a house on Waibibi and splits the year between Waibibi and Oceania. Through our Waibibi family, Father learned that the Regina’s brother has started this vampire ‘dinner cruise’. It’s illegal in New Anglo, but officially, the cruise doesn’t break any laws or treaties because the boat stays in international waters. It circles the islands just out of our waters. However, two boats leave from each island every weekend night, one full of patrons, one full of humans for dinner. All of the vampires return before dawn. Some of the humans come back at the end of the night, some don’t. We don’t know if they don’t come back because they stay on, or…not. As far as we know, they could all be alive and living like crew. We haven’t been able to infiltrate the boat, until now. Tomorrow night, the three of us are going to infiltrate the boat.”
Lorelei and I paused our eating.
“That sounds like something I’m unprepared for,” I said.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to go on that one either,” Lorelei said in a low voice.
“Regina Imogen will be on the boat tomorrow night. She claims she wants to arrange a contract between our families,” my grandfather said. “She invited me to dine with her on her cruise ship, to dine on the blood of my own citizens.” He paused, looking ahead and over my shoulder.
“That’s disgusting,” I whispered.
“Some dracons enjoy drinking blood, I do not.” He turned his gaze back to Lorelei and me. “But that is entirely beside the point. This invitation is an open act of hostility I cannot ignore.”
“We are going to have to deliver a strong message and then have an immediate extraction,” Bobby said. “I will board the ship under Grandfather’s invitation. When I reach the boat, I will find somewhere hidden and make a teleport brand. Afterward, I will be able to safely teleport back to pick you up, Lorelei, at your house, then we will return to the ship. Dakota, your boarding is going to be much more complicated because we need to bring your bodyguards aboard as well. We can’t risk what might happen if the Rex finds out anything about this mission before it’s over.”
Looking over at my sister, I noticed a piece of lettuce stuck to her cheek and brushed it off. She glanced over at me, giving me a small nod.
My grandfather’s eyes closed for a few long seconds. We all waited silently until he opened his eyes and said, “I would prefer to use almost any other family member than you two girls. But if Regina Imogen has her brothers with her… they are faster, better fighters and more talented at delivering pain than myself or any of my progeny. Your aspects are the only effective threat I can use against her.”
“Does Lorelei really have to go?” I asked in a low voice.
“When threatening a monarch, you don’t just bring a gun,” my grandfather said. He looked between my sister and me. “You bring a gun and a bomb.”
I glanced at my sister’s ear; the blue water charm was barely bigger than a stud. The same water witch that had made my charm, had made Lorelei two water-magic charms that dampened her magic—one for each ear. Lorelei never took the charms off. We all knew that until she learned to have complete control of her power, she was a serious danger to everyone and herself.
Yet, it sounded like for the first time ever, my grandfather planned to risk unleashing her power.
From: Wyvern Manderson
To: Dakota Kekoa
Message Folder: Inbox
Dakota,
I look forward to writing to you all day. I find myself wishing that I could tell you something about fifty times a day, but now I’m actually here in front of my computer, I’m not sure what to tell you.
Today was another long day with few breaks.
My brother’s future wife has some pretty astronomical expectations about the wedding budget, yet they have spent absolutely no time alone together.
The whole thing disgusts me a little bit. I don’t pretend to be an expert on weddings, but I did think a bride and groom were usually more interested in each other than the seating charts for their engagement gala.
I am not going to repeat how much I would like you by my side, you already know.
From: Dakota Kekoa
To: Wyvern Manderson
Message Folder: Drafts
Wyvern,
I’m never getting married, or if I do, it’ll be in plain clothes somewhere beautiful with only a few close friends nearby. That sounds so cheesy now that I see it typed out, and I’m glad that I’ll never send you this email.
(Message sent to Trash)
Chapter Three
“I still don’t get why she’s moving out,” Lorelei said as we pulled up in front of the three-story apartment building. “She’s going to be all alone out here.” Lorelei words were short and clipped, almost emotional.
“Mele is probably tired of suddenly having two annoying younger sisters,” I said. “I know how she feels.”
Lorelei smacked me in the back of the head, hard.
“Ow!” I tried to smack her back, but my seat was in the way. “What’s your problem? I was kidding.”
“Just leave me alone,” Lorelei said, turning away from me to glare out the window. Before she’d inherited her aspect, Lorelei had always been so cool and collected, now she was on a constant emotional rollercoaster. For some reason, she seemed on the verge of tears.
“Gladly. Wow, I’m so glad you came with us, Lorelei,” I grumbled, turning back to look at the complex. Lorelei had hounded me all morning until I agreed to take her with us to see Mele’s new apartment.
The building wasn’t in a bad part of town. It was about half a mile from Mabi University. We’d passed an exercise gym and a pool in the complex. It was near enough to the college that every person I saw there looked college age. People walked around in groups, carried laundry, or sunbathed on the lawn. “I’m actually really jealous, I
can’t wait to move into a place like this,” I said.
“Will you just shut up already?” Lorelei’s voice sounded teary.
I did shut up. No doubt Lorelei was freaking out about the assignment tonight—I was, and I’d been on hundreds of extremely dangerous assignments. The most dangerous assignment Lorelei had ever gone on was a single intimidation job of teen vampires who’d robbed a paint-it-yourself pottery shop.
We pulled up to where Mele and her boyfriend, Alika, stood next to his motorcycle. Like always, Mele had a cigarette in her hand. I had hoped she would quit for her boyfriend, but since being infected three months ago, it seemed like she smoked more. Mele had a huge smile on her face, and Alika wrapped his arms around her. She looked happy. If anyone in the world deserved a little happiness, it was Mele.
“I love it,” I called over to her as I exited the car into the too-hot day. “And this is only, what, a mile from school?”
“A mile and a half,” Mele said, turning to smile at us. “Looks like I’ll probably be walking it too, until my mom finally gives me my car.”
I swallowed, uncomfortable, then shook my head. “No way, you’re on our route, we’ll pick you up. Unless you’re too cool to ride in Glacier’s minivan,” I said, stepping up beside her.
“I don’t know, I’m pretty cool,” she said, stomping out her cigarette.
Mele had officially become an emancipated minor three days ago on her seventeenth birthday. My aunt Sharon, who was the head of the Juvenile Department of the Draconic Bureau, had helped arrange the whole thing. She’d temporarily placed Mele with my family, then pushed the paperwork through so she’d be legally free as soon as she turned seventeen. I owed Sharon a pretty substantial favor, but seeing how happy Mele was, I knew it was worth it.
“Wanna come up and see it?” Mele asked, then she spun around. “Oh, hey Sophie, Sarah, Lorelei—sweetheart, are you okay?” Mele walked over to Lorelei, who had just climbed out of the car.
“Totally fine,” Lorelei said, smiling pretty genuinely at Mele, “I just got something in my eye in the car, but I got it out.” The girl had some pretty serious mood swings.
“I like it,” Sarah said with a smile. She reached down and plucked Mele’s cigarette butt from the ground. “I’ve always wanted to live in a place like this.”
“Sorry Sarah, I was going to throw it away,” Mele said.
Sarah waved the comment off, then tossed the cigarette in the trash can by the stairs that led to the second story.
Sophie cut through us to the staircase. “I’ll take the lead, Sarah. We’re going this way?”
When Mele nodded, Sophie started up the stairwell.
As we all walked toward the apartment building, I stepped up next to Alika.
“Hey Dakota, how you been?”
“All right,” I said, looking over at him.
He seemed like he was getting bigger every day. Alika wasn’t much older than I was, but the guy looked like he was two-hundred and fifty pounds of muscle. It had to be a were-boar thing—they were all huge. Their souls were all very similar too. Their misty souls had a wild, moving intensity to them.
“Did Mele get a chance to show you that picture I sent?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah,” he said. He started up the staircase, following Mele and Lorelei.
Sarah waited for me to pass, then followed close behind me.
“Do you recognize the tattoo’s design?”
“I recognize it,” he said without looking back at me.
After thirty seconds of us climbing the stairs in silence, I asked, “So, will you tell me what it means?”
Alika flashed a wide-toothy grin over his shoulder at me. “Nope,” he said.
“Thanks a lot,” I said.
“Club business. You know how it is, Dakota.”
“Yeah, yeah. Could you maybe just give me a hint?”
“Sure.” He turned to me, his face serious. “You see that tattoo on a person again, Dakota, go in the opposite direction.” He sped up his pace, catching up to Mele and throwing an arm around her waist.
From where I was standing behind the group, I couldn’t help noticing Lorelei shooting an annoyed glance over at Alika. They all walked into an open apartment about halfway down the walkway.
Mele’s apartment was a bright, cute space, only a little bigger than a studio. When I stood in the very center, I could almost see the entire space—a small bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen. The space was bare, housing only a beanbag chair and some plastic cups on the counter. In her room, I saw an air mattress with my spare blanket set on it.
“Wow,” I said.
“I’m living the simple life.” Mele laughed and shrugged. “I’m waiting for my mom to get back to me about delivering my stuff.”
I cleared my throat, not able to meet Mele’s gaze. “What if she doesn’t?”
“What’s my mother going to do with a room full of teenage girl clothes and furniture? I doubt she wants to keep a shrine to me in her house.”
A month ago, I’d sent Sarah to ask Ms. Alaniu for Mele’s stuff. Sarah was told that all of Mele’s things, including her car, had been donated to the Mabi Heritage Society, then she’d slammed the door in her face.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take that job with my grandfather?” I asked.
“No offense Dakota, but I’m completely sure,” she said. “Anyway, I have a job.”
“At a restaurant my grandfather partially owns. He could get you promoted—”
“Seriously Dakota, no. Just let me take care of myself for a while, okay? I need to.” She sighed. “The Juvenile Department is going to be paying for this place and food until I’m eighteen. I can do the rest. I just need my stupid stuff from my room, and then I’ll be happy.”
Sarah caught my eye, but I shook my head. There were some things that Mele never needed to know, she’d been through enough.
Mele must have missed the nonverbal communication because she turned to me and asked, “Do you guys want to stop by for my first shift tonight?”
“I wish,” I said, meaning it, “But we have—”
“Oh yeah, your uncle’s engagement party, sorry I forgot.”
“I wish I could forget about it too, this is Reeves’s third wife and she’s a nightmare,” Lorelei said. “I swear he only goes one-hundred-percent by looks.”
“I’m pretty sure he also cares about their parentage and money,” I said.
“Sounds like a lovely man,” Mele said.
“Yeah he’s a winner. Oh, yeah, and he fired me yesterday. We can add that to his list.”
“Well, at least you have like a hundred other uncles and aunts, right?” she said.
I don’t think she meant it like ‘you have a huge family and I have no one’, but the awkward silence after her words probably meant that I wasn’t the only one who realized it.
Lorelei tugged on Mele’s arm. “So did Aunt Sharon ever get back to you about whose jurisdiction your under?” she asked.
“Yes, and it’s good news,” Mele said, turning a smile on Lorelei. “As I’m technically magically unclassifiable, I am thankfully only under the jurisdiction of the Draconic Bureau. Though Sharon warned me that if the White Hags heard about me, they might have a legitimate claim.” Her soul pulsed with fear. Mele had had a pretty severe change in the density of her soul since she was first infected, it was now even more dense than Sophie’s strong were-eagle soul.
“Fortunately, the White Hags all live in New Anglo mainland,” I said, “I know I’ve never faced one.”
“You should pray you never have to,” Sophie said. “Almost no one fights Wyvern Rex Senior’s infected progeny and lives.”
“We grew up with hundreds of them around,” Sarah said, then shivered, “They never stopped scaring all the hells out of me.”
“Wow…Thanks, you’re making me feel a lot better.” Mele gave me an ‘oh my Gods!’ expression, her eyes widening and nostrils flaring.
&n
bsp; I laughed.
“Unless we’re ordered to report you, the secret of your existence is safe with us,” Sophie said, completely serious.
Alika’s soul churned with a sudden intensity. “I sure hope it is no matter what.”
Sophie turned a glare on him. “I just said it was.”
“What an awesome view!” I said, loudly. “Look Sophie, Sarah, you can see the West Mabi Mountains from here, aren’t they beautiful?” Everyone looked at me, a little startled, then turned to the nice, but not exceptional, view. They all craned their necks to see the West Mabi Mountains.
I was so over Sophie bickering with everyone. Before Wyvern’s most recent email, Sophie and Sarah had divided time watching me between them. Sophie had nights and Sarah had days. They’d been happy because they’d been able to go home, sleep, have a life. And since I much preferred Sarah, it worked beautifully for me.
Suddenly, they were both guarding me twenty-four hours a day, and Sophie was constantly snapping at me, at my friends, and my family. Maybe when Wyvern sent additional security guards she could get a day off for both our sakes. Sarah had given me a heads-up that additional guards would be arriving tomorrow. Thank goodness they weren’t scheduled to arrive today with what we had planned for tonight.
My greatest hope was that the extra guards didn’t arrive early to find us missing.
Chapter Four
Sophie aimed her eagle stare at me, the kind of stare that made me feel very much like a rabbit. “Why did that man call us servers and usher us into this dressing room?” Her smile was downright feral. I had known the ruse would be up the moment we boarded the Crimson Midnight. Glacier had given Sophie some story about us needing to travel on a boat with the wait staff for security reasons. I was actually surprised we’d made it this far without the twin team figuring out that they were being tricked. Knowing that I’d have to do my big reveal now, didn’t make this moment any more enjoyable.
Nearly identical, Sophie and Sarah towered over me. Their long, glossy black hair reflected the lights of the dressing room we stood in.
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 3
