by Anya Breton
However the room I'd ultimately happened upon was host to what I was going to assume were several vampires. I pulled the bow off my shoulder, set the nock of my first arrow onto the string and then aimed at the nearest creature before it could do little more than look up. My missile buried into the creature's eye for a split second before the entire head exploded in a ball of brilliant flame.
That was certainly...unexpected.
A wave of searing power slammed into the back of me as the demon let out a thunderous growl. In between setting another arrow on the string of my bow I saw leathery wings expand out beside me. Apparently he'd rid himself of his mortal disguise now that we were in battle.
The appearance of a demon gave each creature in the room pause. Wholesale panic took hold. Vampires shot into the doors all around.
"Grab one of them! I need to know where Linea is!" I called out a command.
"Where is Linea?" The demon demanded a half second later.
I turned to find him with a vampire's head inches from his mouth. Good gods, was he going to eat it? Should that really surprise me?
"Oh god! Don't kill me!" The leech squealed and flailed.
"God cannot help you," the demon replied in his bored voice. "Where is Linea?"
The vampire pointed a shaky finger at the door to my far right. Immediately I started for it with my bow aimed and ready. The screams of a half dozen vampires dying was the soundtrack to my movement. I attempted to ignore the eerie reverberation of laughter behind me and the horrible sucking noises.
Everything in the room slowed to a crawl courtesy of my early warning system. The laughter, the swinging door and even the clawed nails that slashed toward my face from the hidden body behind it were seemingly still. I lifted the arrow's tip to where the creature's heart should be beyond the door. And then I let go of the string.
When time had resumed its normal flow I heard the shrill shriek of the thing in front of me. I shoved the door in, pushing the screaming and strangely flaming vampire back. It fell onto the floor revealing it had had blonde hair, not red. With a mere grunt I stepped over it's wiggling mass to enter the room.
Linea stood at the center of what looked to be a sumptuously decorated office. Six undead minions fanned out around her large desk in protective poses. Her eyes were drawn wide, clearly surprised to see me.
"You don't want to kill me," she said. Her uneasy eye was focused on my bow. "We want the same thing."
"We both want to see you die a slow painful death?" I replied with characteristic snark.
Linea shook her long red hair. "We want what is best for this city."
"And what is best for this city?" As I spoke the question I set another arrow onto my bowstring. Briefly I glanced at the gently pulsating metal that made up the arrowhead. Apparently the demon hadn't given me normal ammunition. Just as she opened her mouth to answer I shot the missile into the vampire closest to me.
"A city built on cooperation working toward a common goal of assembling the species as they were meant to be," she said in a rising pitch.
As the vampire burst into flame I pulled another arrow from the quiver, set it against the string and then released without a drop of guilt for the life I'd just ended. These were evil creatures who subsisted on blood alone.
"Stop!" She shouted for the benefit of the vampires that had been about to jump me. Or maybe it had been an order for me. "If you join me I will give you the Prime of Massachusetts."
"You'll give him to me?" I let out a harsh laugh. "Honey, he's been trying to give himself to me for almost a decade."
Her red lips spread into a smug smile. "If that were the case then he would not have tried to kill you."
"If Gray had wanted to kill me I would be dead," I pointed out while pulling another arrow out of the quiver on my back. "But he didn't. Which is why even though you were commanding him remotely like the fucking coward you are, he didn't stab me through the heart as he'd done to every other woman in that circle. And it's why I'm standing here in front of you about to end your second life."
I was done talking to her. She was insane and a bitch, two qualities I despised in a woman. I released the string between my fingers. The arrow sailed through the air to land deep within her chest. Her eyes went wide in shock as she looked down at the protrusion in her chest.
Flames engulfed her the moment her fingers closed around the arrow's shaft. I stood still, watching her agonized screams and helpless flailing while wishing I could do more to hurt her. Some people deserved to die twice.
When she finally fell to the floor behind her desk I realized no one in the room was standing but me...and probably the demon behind me. I turned my head enough to look. Sure enough the gray skinned creature was hunched beneath the seemingly low ceiling.
"They are all dead," he told me.
"Good," I said while turning fully to face him. I meant it. These things had worked for the insane bitch. They could all turn to ash for all I cared. "That was too easy."
The demon laughed, that eerie reverberating noise that shook the floor. "You survived my summoning ritual. Most everything will be easy when compared with that."
My response was to exhale in amusement. He was probably right. I had survived that shit storm.
The demon's head whipped around just before he disappeared.
"Wait," I called after him.
"Someone is coming," he answered from within the attached room.
"Stand down," I snapped as I hurried to join him. I felt like a goober for saying it. I'd never been in the military! I covered it by adding, "And if you wouldn't mind, can you go back to looking like a person?"
This time he'd transformed into a man in a flare of flame that lasted a split second. His clothing was different now, more modern with jeans and a patterned black shirt. Though he'd maintained the bald head and features of a handsome Middle Eastern man.
There was a knock at the outer door. My eyebrow lifted at the sound. A knock? Who would knock?
Only one way to find out. "Come in," I called out.
Aiden appeared within the steadily opening doorway first. Behind him were a white-skinned man with long pale hair and a dark-skinned guy with a crew cut covering his thick head.
"They need to see the body," the vampire told me.
I didn't know what the hell he was talking about but I could guess. My hand waved toward the right room. "Behind the desk, if there's anything left to see."
The two men entered, paused to take in the mass carnage of corpses in various states of decomposition and then continued toward the office. When they emerged it was with a Zen-like expression on their faces. The pale one walked halfway to me, picking his way through the bloody corpses of the newer vampires.
I'd have called him elfin if I thought such creatures existed. He had long, fine saffron colored hair that fell to the middle of his back, slightly pointed ears, and striking features that were somehow dulled by the white of his skin. I couldn't look at him for long because he'd begun looking back. I held his powerful grass green gaze for twenty seconds until the beefier of the pair spoke, giving me an excuse to look away.
"Linea is dead," the muscular man spoke in a matter-of-fact voice. "And her entire personal retinue destroyed. Who is responsible for this?"
"She is," both the vampire in front and the demon behind said.
The elfin guy glanced between them. "Who is she?"
"The Black Death," I answered for myself.
The pair exchanged a meaningful look. It was Elfin that spoke next.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said while viewing me over an upturned nose. "I am Greonaltyn Krigub, the club's manager. I find most humans have difficulty with my name and thus go by Altyn."
Not human, my brain said. But I didn't know what he manner of creature he did claim to be.
He gestured to the meaty man behind him. "And this is J, head of security."
My eyebrow arched at the crew cut covered head behind Altyn's shoulder.
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"Security for the club," Altyn said in answer to my unspoken question. "We only protect our patrons." His nose lowered. "We don't get involved in what happens past the stairs."
Could I kill them for the crime of apathy?
"You will want a tour of the place." He inhaled a heavy breath as if it would be a grand effort to show anyone around.
My eyes narrowed. "Why would I want a tour of the place?"
"Because it is now yours."
"Ah, fuck," I cursed with a squeeze of my eyes shut and an irritated lift of my head to the Domain. The Rule of Succession. Damn it. I'd forgotten all about that. I didn't want the stupid club! "No, actually, right now all I want is a shower and a good night's sleep."
"The master bedroom is through that door..."
A bedroom in the club? What the hell! Had Linea lived here?
I shook my head. "No. I'm not staying." My nose crinkled as my eyes passed over the sea of bodies littering the ground. I had to get out of here.
"Another time then," the elfin guy said with a slight incline of his head. "If you have no other need of us, we will return to our duties."
After a dismissive gesture from me, they departed the room to go back to whatever it was they did upstairs. Considering I'd never seen the two of them during my visits I was thinking they didn't do much.
Aiden shifted his weight onto one hip, drawing my attention to him.
"You," I accused in a voice that began low and ended shrill, "You knew a vampire was behind this and you never told me!"
He didn't bother to argue.
"I was right!" I could feel the blood heating within me. My heart rate had sped. I clenched my fingers tightly to keep from pulling out another arrow from the quiver at my back. "You picked me to investigate this because you thought I'd never even come close to stopping any of it!"
"No, Laura," Aiden replied gravely. "I knew you would stop it. I have every confidence in you."
"Don't do that!" I snarled and took a threatening step closer. "Don't you dare call me that! You haven't earned the right, you bastard!"
His palms went up in front of his chest in a gesture of surrender. "You are correct. I am sorry, Miss Denham."
Even being told I was correct did nothing to pacify me. I quickly found myself shouting, "I can't believe I trusted you, any of you!"
Aiden remained calm but I could see that his eyes were forming worried wrinkles around their edges. "I didn't tell you about the suspected vampire within the plot because I knew you would go straight to the rulers for information. They were looking for you, Miss Denham. If they'd found you they would have enthralled you."
"Enthralled," I repeated in a softer voice. My thoughts strayed from my anger.
Gray had been enthralled by the vampire bitch. That could have been me. How much worse would things have been if they'd gotten their hands on me?
Could I believe Aiden?
Maybe.
But he wasn't off the hook even if he'd done it as some sort of attempt at protection. "You should have told me all of it and let me make the decision."
"Perhaps," the vampire responded. "I made my choice. I must live with it now."
"Yes," I agreed stiffly, "You must. And that's why you're going to turn around and walk out of here before I shoot you with one of these flaming arrows."
Aiden's silver eyes held mine for a moment too long. His head lifted in a single nod. I watched his handsome figure turn to leave the room without a word or apology. I didn't know what I'd expected but it hadn't been that.
The carnage in the room finally got to me. I had to leave. And I had to leave alone.
"Stay here, Kruzulun." I said without looking back to see how he took the order. "And no killing anyone while I'm gone."
"As you wish, mistress," was the reply he gave just as the door closed him within.
I hurried up the stairs, past the primordial ooze that had been the Rhino guards, and through the crowded dance floor. I wouldn't think about how that was supposedly my crowded dance floor. No, now that the investigation was over I was going to do my damnedest to live an ordinary, boring life.
Driving around in chain mail probably wasn't included in the boring life plan. I tugged the thing up over my head, wincing when it snagged more than one strand of hair. After tossing it in the van, I slid into the driver's seat feeling lighter and a lot colder. The white robe did little to keep me warm.
I dashed the dial around to the heat setting after pushing the key into the van's ignition and turning it on. I would have my shower and good night's sleep but first I had a few stops to make. My fingernails were abused by a good gnawing during the quiet drive.
It took twenty minutes to find the right combination of roads and another ten before I stood in front of the salt circle in the middle of the woods. The only signs that anything had happened were the scorch mark of charred earth within and a small puddle of blood where I'd left Gray.
The fact that his death wasn't on my conscience should have made me feel better. But it didn't. I couldn't stop the images of him stabbing those women from replaying in my head. Maybe it would have been better if he'd died because he was as good as dead to me.
My Mini was still parked in his driveway when I arrived. The house was dark but I knew where he kept the key. My purse was still on the floor of the living room where it had dropped when he'd jabbed me with the syringe full of drugs days ago. I snatched it up and darted for the front door before I could find out if the house were truly empty. After locking the door behind me, I returned his spare key beneath the decorative watering can near the edge of the house.
Sliding into the seat of my own car was a good feeling. I was in control here. It was a little slice of home on wheels. These days it was the only home I had.
I flicked the side pocket on my purse open to reveal my phone. It had been switched off, no doubt to keep anyone from tracking it. While waiting at a red light I checked my messages.
The first few were from Aiden days ago. His smooth-as-butter voice slid into my ear and made my teeth cringe. He'd wanted to know where I'd gone, had apologized for whatever it was he'd done to offend me and hoped I'd at the very least return his call. By the second call he'd realized something was wrong but had been hoping he was incorrect. I took a detour from the vampire to listen to another's message, this one was from Andy about our meeting with his real estate friend. He'd taken the liberty of setting one up for me. Did I want to go to it?
Aiden's third and final call had been to leave an ominous warning to whoever had stolen me. He vowed to find them, destroy everyone they'd ever cared for and only when they were dying from the guilt of it would he give them release. I shivered at the chill in his voice. He might have truly meant it.
The final message was from just a few hours ago. It was from Morrígan. "Call me," she said simply just above a whisper.
I hit the button to do just that.
Morrígan herself answered the call. "Lore," she said in a breathier voice than usual.
"What's wrong?" I heard myself asking.
"Something happened to you."
"Yes, but I'm okay."
Morrígan inhaled in a half laugh. "You drained every Fire witch coven in the Northeast nearly to death, dearest. I should hope that you are more than okay."
My mouth dropped open. "Is anyone hurt?"
"No one is dead," she assured me. "But none of us will be doing anything strenuous for a few days. Tell me what happened."
"It is a long story and I will tell it to you sometime, but not now." I sighed because I felt awful about being such a drain. "I'm sorry about your witches."
"Do not be. It was my gift to you."
And what a gift it had turned out to be. I owed Morrígan my life. The number of people that could make that claim might soon require two hands to show.
"I have to leave for a while," I said quietly. "I'll come see you when I get back."
"Do you promise?"
She surprised me enough
by not being angry and asking the almost vulnerable question that I did something I never did, "Yes, I promise."
"Good. Be safe, dearest Lore," the priestess's voice softened as she spoke the term of endearment.
I forced her out of my thoughts despite the naughty images her voice had brought out. My cheeks flushed a little when I realized I was actually looking forward to seeing her when I got back.
First things first, I was going on vacation to some place farther than upstate New York where the water was brilliant blue and it was impossibly warm. And while I was on vacation I was going to forget about everything. Because damn it, I deserved it.
Thank You
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Turn the page for the soundtrack list and a preview of book 2!
Lore 1 Soundtrack
(a.k.a. What I was listening to when I wrote this)
The Prodigy - Firestarter
Mesita - Crestone Funeral March
Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl (Subliminal Seduction Mix)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Down Boy
Maroon 5 - Secret
Florence + The Machine - Girl With One Eye
Florence + The Machine - Kiss With A Fist
Florence + The Machine - Bird Song
Reel Big Fish - She Has A Girlfriend Now
Metric - Help I'm Alive
Space - Female of the Species
Read on for a preview of Lore book 2
Lore vs. The Demon
The last thing I expected to see when I turned up at the Dungeon at twenty past six was an emofied vampire chained to the grungy facade. By the nasty marks on his wrists, ankles, and neck I gathered the thick chain embedded in his reddened flesh was made of silver. And whoever had trussed up the vampire knew what they were doing because in addition to the restraints, they'd nearly drained the creature to death through several holes that had yet to heal. This guy wasn't going any place without an infusion of blood.
