Property of the Vampyren Prince

by Seth Eden

  If this was how his plans turned out, it was a good thing he was seventeenth from the throne.

  And an even better thing that Sav was eighteenth from it.

  Kiera

  There were vans waiting to take them – wherever they were going. Kiera stumbled over the thought. Every other heartbeat she remembered that she couldn't take the vegetables or the plumbing equipment back to her father and panic welled up in her throat so thick she could hardly breathe. She'd talked herself down half a dozen times just while being taken to the vans and that was with the sound of Dave's screams still ringing in her ears.

  Outside was an icy white horror. City streets were caked with ice. The snow slanted sideways and the temperature was dropping fast. The snow would stop again soon and everything would freeze up for the night.

  In front of her, Katie slipped on the ramp leading into the transport, the same kind that was used to take cattle from one location to the next. She went down hard, banging her knee, grunting in pain. The vampire guarding them turned to look at her, starting to close in, and Kiera felt a new fear rip through her. Kate was small and adorable and dangerously stupid when it came to reckless ideas.

  The invader approaching her had the maddened look of the space vampires after dark. A fast, desperate look up at the slate gray sky showed the sun wasn't coming back any time soon. Another look around showed the soldier who had defended her, who had so weirdly touched her, and then decided to take her, was nowhere in sight.

  There was no moderating influence, no one to stop this vampire from tearing Kate apart and swallowing every drop of her blood.

  When she'd been a teenager her motto was it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

  The alien approaching her sister looked like that.

  Frantic, she looked around for a way to distract him. William, only a couple feet from her, caught her eye, lifted his chin, nodded once.

  Trust me. How many groundings had she endured because she'd done just that?

  Now she had no choice. She nodded in return.

  "You little bitch! This is all your fault!" William roared and knocked into her with one shoulder.

  Kiera wobbled on her feet, though he hadn't hit her that hard, and rammed him in return. "Go to hell, you big bully! I wasn't the one who thought rampaging through Chicago with those shitheads was a good idea!"

  She saw him blink. No idea if she was talking about Stu and Diane or the existence of the Vampyren.

  Just, bring it – and they were at it, sister and brother, shouting and threatening and pushing at each other. With an oath, the guard going after their sister turned away to make sure his unit leader's chosen female didn't get harmed in a fray that wasn't even his fault.

  Rough hands dragged them apart. That did hurt. But it was worth it. Because he had stepped aside from Kate.

  And because from the house came the slightly shorter of the Vampyren, the one who had held her. She still shivered to see him. Whatever the pheromones were, they worked. Even out here, even knowing what he'd done, she longed for his touch again. Wanted to be close to him. Wanted to breathe in his scent and –

  Stop.

  She stopped. She breathed the relatively clean air of Chicago and glared as Diane and Stu were led kicking and screaming now away from the others, hustled into a different van, and driven away.

  There was a brief meeting between their captors, raised voices and then the one called Sav threw his hands heavenward just like any frustrated human and stalked away.

  When "Her" vampire came back toward them, Kiera noticed the way the bleak dim sun shone on his hair. Where the others were heavily bearded, he wore a light stubble along his sharp jawline. Where the others were black haired, his hair was tawny, glints of gold in it.

  …did pheromones make you hallucinate?

  She made herself look away but he came directly to her and took her chin in his hand. "Your siblings will be returned to your neighborhood."

  Unwelcome tears sprung into her eyes.

  "They'll be allowed to take what they have foraged. It is of no use to us."

  She swallowed hard and it sounded loud.

  He seemed to consider the next thing he was going to say, then must have made a decision. "Your other friend is dead."

  Dave. Poor, fucking Dave.

  Abruptly angry and loud again, he said, "We can do that to your entire family if you don't obey."

  Before she could answer, before Will or Kate could think to say anything at all, he nodded to the others who shoved them into the van and slammed the ramp into the gate behind them.

  The trucks started and pulled away.

  Loren

  Clean up took some time.

  Leaving a body behind was considered disrespectful. The animal that gave its life for the vampire needed to be treated with respect, the remains buried or burned.

  In the Chicago winter, either was a problem. After listening to his men bicker for several minutes Loren solved the problem by throwing lighter fluid and a match into the house itself and burning it to the ground.

  Let it be a shrine for the one Sav had taken.

  Sav himself stood nearby, sated and slightly stupid looking, as if he'd either eaten something that affected his brain, the way drugs or alcohol could, or had eaten too much. Either way, it made it easier for Loren to lock down the scene.

  The couple was still in the van. When he started toward it, Sav was there in a heartbeat, between Loren and the locked trailer.

  "What do you intend to do?" His eyes glowed red. His breath was clotted with the stink of the adrenaline the boy had released.

  "My job," Loren snapped. "I suggest you do yours."

  But his brother didn't move away. "If you're questioning them, I'm going to be there."

  Loren mouthed the next line along with him: I have that right.

  "Come, then. But if you attack them – " You'll answer to the council, he would have said, but Sav brushed past him.

  "Yeah, I know. You're not going to be responsible for me. I understand. When is the last time I needed you to be responsible for me, brother?"

  Acknowledged? Or otherwise? Loren thought, and followed his brother to the van.

  The couple was nearly catatonic with terror. They shook and all but shoved each other at him. Usually Loren didn't try to frighten a human already marked for death. What was the point? He didn't torture animals, didn't play with things that were going to be his food. He had no delight in mere cruelty for the sake of it.

  When it served him, he'd heard it said he was more vicious than the majority of Vampyren serving today.

  It served him now.

  He chose the woman first. Her arrogance was astounding. The hunting party had watched before approaching the humans in the house, using superior hearing to listen in on conversations and observing to be certain they weren't walking into another trap.

  The woman's arrogance had astounded him even knowing she'd killed more than one Vampyren guard and soldier with her homemade bomb and expected if nothing else, her own kind would laud her for it.

  Some would, of course. Humans were split into many factions in their response to the alien invaders, though nearly every response was based in fear.

  In that case, fear worked.

  In this case, he thought it would also, though he started with it intending to use them against each other by playing the fear one mate had for another's wellbeing.

  Almost immediately, he realized that wouldn't work. When he grabbed Diane and demanded Stu talk, the clownish man turned away, trembling, screaming in a high pitched voice that should have shamed him, "Not me! Don't take me!"

  And his mate, instead of cowering or putting herself out for him, screamed the same – Take him! Not me! It was his idea! He's the one who made the bomb!

  They disgusted him. Vampyren honor wasn't easily understood by humans but they understood human honor and this? Wasn't it.

  "Names of the ones who worked with you! Names, now!" H
e slammed Diane back against the wall of the transport van, making sure not to bang her head. Humans were fragile and she needed to be aware when her head was taken from her.

  At the same time Sav took hold of her husband and bent his arm back behind him, grabbed the tufts of hair still growing around the perimeter of the man's head, and shoved him toward Diane. "Do you see? Talk! Talk or we'll gut you both!"

  If Stu had any integrity he'd have fought back, pointed out they were both going to be executed anyway, refused to take other humans down with them.

  Diane and Stu were made of different stuff.

  They fell all over each other, fighting to be the one to release each next name, just in case it bought them a few extra seconds in their worthless lives.

  Loren had never before wanted to deny protocol more. Take them now. They didn't deserve to live when honorable Vampyren were dead.

  But executing them would send the message. And he'd already told Sav no. To kill them now would put the girl in danger and put Sav even more at his throat.

  He finished collecting the names and slammed Diane back against the wall hard enough to leave her gasping for air. Beside him, Sav raised dark eyebrows and Loren nodded. His brother sank a fist into the soft, unresisting gut of the man and left him gasping for air beside his mate.

  They exited the van, shut and locked it, slammed fists against it to signal the lower ranks could drive it back to the high-rise hotel the council had taken as command center.

  Most of the time, they'd laugh now, congratulating each other for the beginnings of vengeance for their people. But looking at Sav, he saw for a change that he and his brother felt the same about a situation.

  The human couple nauseated them.

  They were silent as they both turned to watch the building finish burning down.

  By the time they were back to the command headquarters, Sav was raging again and Loren felt as if he would be also soon. Whatever it was that made him different from his men, it was a thin line. There were times he wanted to indulge in pointless violence. When it came to the hunt, running down humans for sport, he was indomitable and the one to beat.

  The council had half assembled. There'd been little word they were returning with prisoners. It had been expected they'd hunt for food and come back with maybe a lead on the missing killer couple. When they sent word to the Council members they had bagged the prize, they rousted the older Vampyren from a number of different pastimes.

  Council member Shek Ridda came wearing a uniform that didn't fit his station. There were stains on it from whatever human repast he had indulged in. The invaders could eat human food. They just didn't usually bother. Council member Shek Ridda had embraced human foods and his corpulence and unhealthy complexion showed it.

  Tanner Grim came with the woman he'd been abusing. The human female, in her late thirties, was out of her mind in fear and pain, and the councilman kept her on his lap, naked and bleeding and attracting the stares of junior members of the council. Loren noted more than one of them staring in a way that suggested they were putting this vileness away for the day they, too, could lead and therefore lead by poor example, doing precisely what they wanted.

  Council master Mahn appeared spotless, his white robes snowy and clean. Cleaner than the Chicago snow.

  "Bring them forward." It was the first thing he'd said since entering the chamber, a conference room humans called it. Floor to ceiling windows looked out over the city but the Council had ordered them sealed off. Looking out at the dark had led to one too many nearly fatal disagreements among the council itself.

  It should have been Loren and Jericho, his second, who brought Diane and Stuart to stand for their sentencing, but he wouldn't deprive Jericho of the attention and he needed Sav to show himself as responsible and get some praise. Anything to keep him off Loren's back for a time.

  And he had something of his own to present.

  "These are the humans that killed our people?"

  Mahn knew they were. It was tradition, like telling the condemned what awaited them. Jericho and Sav stood and Jericho nodded at Sav to tell the tale of finding their scent and following them through the neighborhoods until they found them and the others in the house. He detailed letting the others go and the reasoning behind it, though he failed to mention the blood illness the girl's father suffered from.

  He also didn't mention the girl, for which Loren was grateful.

  He also didn't mention killing the one the girl had called Dave. Which meant Loren had a bargaining chip if he needed it.

  When he finished, his account covering the things they had heard as they approached and surrounded the house and the behavior of the two in the van, Mahn was shaking with fury.

  He stood, his nine feet of height impressive even for a Vampyren. He was ancient, well into his second century and nowhere near frail as humans became before they even had one century. He was vital and beautiful and shaking with rage.

  "You killed our people."

  There had been one other incident like this that Loren had witnessed. In that one, when accused, the male who had killed the Vampyren stood brazen and unrepentant and shot back, "You're killing mine!"

  These two quivered and cowered, unaware they were making everything so much worse for themselves.

  "For the next week you will serve at the whim of the council and when that week is over, you will be drained near to death and beheaded," Mahn said, drawing out each word with obvious anticipation.

  The female began to whimper. She was a writer, a poet! She could immortalize the vampires, tell the world how clearly good they were, admit her mistakes a million times over if only –

  She had nothing the Vampyren wanted. They could smell it on her, the child she'd had and abandoned for fear of being caught. That, and the cowardliness, the way she turned on her mate. The way he turned on her.

  "Get them out of here," Mahn said, and then, "Loren? I believe there was something you needed to address the council about."

  Two things, actually. There was Kiera. And there was her father.

  Kiera

  Whatever it was the one called Loren wanted to do, it seemed to be going poorly. Or not working at all.

  Dragged forward to stand beside him before the Council, Kiera felt unrelenting tremors tearing through her gut. Her mouth went dry and her hands became wet. She wanted to sink to her knees and cry for mercy but the sight of Diane doing just that stopped her.

  That's not what's going to happen to you. You know what he said.

  Breeding. She was going to be bred. To him? With that thought, the pheromones tried to kick up again and she fought against a wave of lust as inappropriate as any she'd ever experienced.

  It would be preferable to death. But only just.

  He let Kate and Will go. He let them take everything with them. Just like that her throat was full of tears. For her father, her family.

  Whatever it takes to keep them safe.

  But why this?

  "What is this?"

  The disgust of the council member with food on his shirt was enough to snap Kiera back to her senses. What is this? They were the "this" in a sentence, the un-human, un-Earth creatures. They were – vile. Vermin. She’d never let him touch her. Never.

  But looking at him again, he was beautiful. Not as tall as some of them, definitely not as tall as the giant who stood behind the ring of desks pushed together to form some kind of judge’s chamber or whatever look they were going for. Seriously, all they had to do was stand and let those fangs snap down and anyone would pee themselves.

  Instead, she stared into his face, letting her own hatred show.

  The council leader was unimpressed. He glanced at her and returned his attention to Loren.

  "Breeding stock," Loren said, his voice as cold as the leader's. Kiera felt a tremor.

  Hold on to what went on before. You're not wrong. He's just –

  Acting?

  She'd never been so afraid. Or so angry. Breeding s
tock!

  In short, unemotional sentences, the one called Loren described the capture of their happy pirate raiding party, not that they'd been happy, but at least they'd been doing something … and whistling past the graveyard.

  That thought from hours earlier now seemed incredibly naïve.

  "Fine. Have her taken to the crèche."

  The asshole was already looking past her, on to the next order of business. As casually as he might take care of some banking transaction. Kiera sucked in her breath, ready to tell the son of a bitch what she thought of him and all the asshole invaders, that they couldn't conquer Earth, whatever they thought, Humans would rise up again and when they did –

  When they did, she wanted her family alive to celebrate with her.

  Seemed she could be controlled.

  Loren didn't take her arm. He didn't step aside for the next order of business to present itself.

  "Was there more?" The giant looked irritated. "I will see to it that your second and the other – ah, I see, your brother – get commendations. Is there – "

  Loren nodded and the leader simply stopped bothering to talk.

  "Not the crèche. I want her for my own." He swallowed hard and drew himself up taller, though he still was just slightly shorter than the others around him. From what she could see, he was every bit as ferocious and dangerous.

  And beautiful. Face it, she thought, even when the invaders weren't turning on the charm – or pheromones – they were hard to resist.

  Except for the evil and the deadly and the arrogant and the –

  She hadn't expected to have to smother a laugh here of all places.

  The leader didn't sit, but he steepled his fingers in the way of all bureaucrats across the universe, she guessed.

  "Why should we grant this? It was your brother, I understand, who was, along with your second, instrumental in bringing in the killers."

  "Yes, it was."

  They didn't squirm like humans. Called out on something like that, they simply presented their case. She thought humans could learn from that. The instant someone looked disapproving of Kiera she'd always had the tendency to want to apologize and then get out of there until they forgot.