“Okay, so when you’re ready just squeeze here.” He shifted my finger so that it was beside the trigger. “And tense your muscles to absorb the kick.”
I smiled as he released me and let out a breath before pulling back on the trigger. The bullets slammed out of the rifle and I called on my gifts to help me hold it steady as a spray of holes appeared along the warehouse wall.
“Nice,” Miles announced with a grin.
“I could get used to one of those,” I replied as I handed it over.
“You wanna search for some more?” he asked.
“Sure,” I replied, clinging to the offer of something to do. Now that Fabian had brought up the idea of Magnar being forced into Valentina’s bed, I couldn’t banish the image from my mind. Having a task would at least keep me occupied.
I began hunting through the clothes of the vampires who had been killed in the fight and found several guns and cellphones amongst their pockets.
I brought them all to Miles as he fiddled with various things on the helicopter, preparing it for our departure.
“How long until we’ll be ready to head off?” I asked with a frown. A creeping sensation was running along my spine and I couldn’t help but feel like we were running out of time.
“A few hours at least,” Warren replied gravely from the cockpit. “Let’s just hope it’s long enough.”
“Magnar?” My mother’s voice called to me and I fought to rouse myself from sleep at the urgency of her tone.
A cool wind brushed against my skin as she pushed open the flap to my tent and moved inside. I raised myself onto my elbows, reluctant to leave the warmth of the furs which lined my bed.
“Do we have word of them?” I asked hopefully. It had been so long since anyone had come across a Belvedere that I hardly dared hope for that news anymore but the question had become a habit and I couldn’t help but ask it. No doubt the day I didn’t would be the day we found them.
“Better than that,” Mother replied, her eyes scouring my bed with a wry smile. “It’s nice to find you sleeping alone for once.”
“Surely I am not so frequently accompanied to my bed for it to be more noticeable when I am alone?” I protested and she laughed.
“I imagine you’re finding it difficult to find a girl you haven’t already had at this point anyway,” she mocked and I could hear the trace of disapproval in her tone.
“Who am I to deny women the pleasure of laying with their Earl if they desire it?” I teased, knowing it would rile her but unable to resist the opportunity to do so.
“They desire you for more than just your power,” she murmured. “Many a girl in the clans would gladly offer you her heart.”
“But I couldn’t offer her mine in return,” I muttered irritably.
“Just because you couldn’t marry her doesn’t mean you couldn’t love her,” my mother countered. “Let Valentina be your queen and bear your children. But there are many women who would gladly take the role of mistress to the Earl for a chance at loving you.”
I waved away her suggestion as I had done before. I wouldn’t offer a woman I loved a role in some sordid three way relationship, forcing her to be seen as less than my wife. To live at the whims and rules of Valentina, enduring whatever wrath my wife sought fit to force upon her for her existence. Barring her from having children because I couldn’t marry her...
“I guess this isn’t the reason for your visit at this gods forsaken hour?” I asked, moving the subject on.
“It’s almost midday,” my mother chided halfheartedly. “You drank too much ale last night.”
“It was a celebration,” I murmured, running my thick tongue across the roof of my mouth as I noticed the effects of the alcohol hadn’t entirely subsided yet.
“A celebration of what?”
“Baltian is about to be a father.”
“You drank half a barrel of ale because your stallion got another mare in foal?” Mother raised her eyebrow at me in disbelief.
“Julius pointed out to me that this will be his thirtieth foal,” I added. “So we decided to drink his weight in ale to celebrate his fervent fertility.”
“Your brother shouldn’t offer you any encouragement to drink more than you already do,” she sighed and I knew she’d be heading to speak with Julius next. “And we should probably put a halt to your amorous horse before he gets any more mares pregnant or the following generation is going to end up inbred.”
“You can’t ban Baltian from mounting the mares!” I laughed incredulously. “How would you even attempt such a thing? Tie his balls in a knot?”
My mother couldn’t help but laugh too and she moved across my tent to get me a drink. “Perhaps I should do that to you and your brother as well,” she mused.
“Pfft.” I got to my feet and pulled on my trousers while her back was turned.
I dropped into a chair before my small table and she placed a cup down in front of me before sitting too. I took a long drink and wrinkled my nose as I found it was water instead of ale but I didn’t voice my complaint.
“I am here,” she said finally. “Because apparently there has been a prophecy which you need to hear.”
I looked up at her with interest. The members of the Clan of Prophecies rarely got anything wrong, especially since we’d been made into Blessed Crusaders but I still hated to listen to them. It was they who had forced my betrothal into place. And each time I listened to their plans for me, my stomach tightened with unease. I was tired of the gods ruling my fate while gaining no reward for my devotion.
“Oh good,” I replied unenthusiastically and my mother’s lips twitched with amusement.
“Look on the bright side,” she murmured. “They can hardly betroth you again.”
I barked a laugh and got to my feet, draining the last of my water. I pulled on a shirt as I picked up my swords and strapped them across my back before following my mother outside.
I winced against the glare of the sun as a headache blossomed across my brow and I rubbed my fingers into my eyes in an attempt to banish it. My gifts allowed me to heal from the effects of the alcohol much faster than most men but we really had tried to consume the weight of my horse last night and I imagined I’d be suffering for that for most of the day.
We approached Julius’s tent which was pitched opposite mine but the flap opened before I could reach for it.
The girl who exited flushed with embarrassment as she nodded her head to me respectfully then scampered away.
“Next time I will blow your mind!” Julius called after her as he stepped out behind her. “And I will make sure to be considerably less drunk for it.”
His eyes fell on me and our mother and he laughed guiltily as he noticed the disapproval on her face.
“Don’t worry, Mother,” he said with a grin. “I passed out before I could conquer that particular beauty so there is no need to frown at me.”
“I had hoped that you at least might marry and give me grandchildren. Magnar still refuses to do that for me and I’m an old woman now...”
“No need to guilt me, Mother. You’re too young and beautiful for grandchildren,” Julius countered.
“At your age I’d had both of you already,” she replied with a sigh and Julius laughed at her display, pulling her under his arm.
My brother had his pick of women and yet he seemed as eager to settle down with one of them as I was. He'd never found one who captured his heart and I vaguely wondered if the two of us were doomed to a lifetime of bachelorhood. For me, that was better than marrying Valentina. But I wished for happiness for my brother even though I couldn't have it myself.
We made our way to the campfire and the leader of the Clan of Prophecies got to her feet as she saw me approaching.
Hester was one of the oldest members of the clans and I’d heard talk of a celebration of her hundredth birth moon coming up. But despite her braided hair being silver and her bronze skin lined with countless creases, her mind was still as sharp as t
he day she’d been promoted to her position.
I valued her guidance on every major decision I made for our people and despite the fact that I didn’t always like what her prophecies had to say about my fate, I’d never once had cause to doubt the truth she spoke.
“Earl Magnar,” she said warmly, inclining her head as I approached. She didn’t rise from her position by the fire though and I smirked, liking that she didn’t. My title offered me way too many bent heads and simpering tones, I preferred to look my people in the eye as a normal man.
“I hear you’ve got something to tell me, Hester,” I said as I took a seat beside her.
“That was true last night as well,” she murmured. “But I found you to be in no state to receive me.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” I replied with a smirk.
“Your betrothed was keen to hear what I had seen,” she replied. “I hope you don’t mind that Valentina was privy to the knowledge before you?”
“Valentina has a habit of being far too entwined in my fate so it's no surprise to me,” I replied dismissively. I glanced around the camp, wondering where my betrothed was hiding; it wasn’t like her not to show up for something like this even if she had already learned of the prophecy for herself.
Hester nodded, reaching for my hand and I released a breath as I gave it to her. “Allow me to confirm the details before I tell you what your future holds,” she murmured.
Hester’s eyes glazed and her jaw fell slack as she spied into my future.
“Any grandchildren for me?” Mother asked hopefully and I rolled my eyes at her.
The profit released me and I drew back while she sifted through what she’d seen and the silence stretched.
I caught Aelfric’s eye across the fire and pointed to a barrel of ale beside him, beckoning him over. He rose to his feet, smirking as he collected a pitcher and four cups before heading towards us.
“You may wish to avoid my wife today, Earl Magnar,” Aelfric murmured as he passed me a cup and handed the others one too.
“Elissa should remember that before you put those babes in her belly she drank more than the rest of us put together,” Julius mocked. “Next time, Mother will care for the babes and your wife can join us - it is most likely jealousy which has her whipping you.”
“I’m not whipped,” Aelfric murmured and my brother and I laughed to the contrary.
“Am I not going to be asked about this first?” Mother inquired.
“You seem to want grandchildren so desperately today that I thought you’d enjoy borrowing some,” Julius replied.
Aelfric smirked and filled our cups to the brim. I drained mine before he could head away and he refilled it, throwing a guilty look at my mother. She rolled her eyes as she sipped her own ale and he quickly withdrew before I could ask for a third.
“It is as I thought,” Hester murmured, drawing our eyes back to her as she finished her contemplation of my future. “Forgive me, Earl Magnar but the gods require a hefty sacrifice of you.”
A coldness settled in my limbs as I looked back towards the profit and my mother’s hand moved to grip my arm.
I gazed into the faded brown eyes of the leader of the Clan of Prophecies as I waited to find out what more the gods could possibly ask of me now. Was it not enough for them to curse my father and force me to kill him in his undead form? To bind my soul to a woman I could never love? To allow our enemies to destroy thousands of our people? To have me sail across an ocean and leave my homeland behind? To let me wander this land in search of the Belvederes as my years swept by while never allowing me to find them?
What would they ask of me now? Was I to cut my own throat and offer my blood to my enemies just to draw them from hiding?
“The gods have shown me when the Belvederes will come out of solitude,” Hester said, her voice grave as if this wasn’t good news. “They intend to remain hidden for a hundred years while they allow this generation of slayers to grow old and die. But if you lead our people into battle against them when they reunite then we will succeed at destroying them once and for all.”
Julius barked a laugh. “Magnar will be one hundred and twenty seven then! I know that he is a powerful warrior but I doubt that his strength will stand up to the Belvederes’ if he manages to live so long. I think the gods must be confused about the timescale.”
“There is no mistake,” Hester replied darkly. “In one hundred years our Earl will lead that battle to destroy our enemies.” Her eyes slid to my mother. “Idun will lend power to your gifts so that he can sleep until it is time.”
“What?” I asked, pushing to my feet and backing away a step. “You expect me to sleep for a hundred years just so that I can lead some battle? Everyone I’ve ever known will be long dead by then! Let my great grandchildren fight then as should be the way. I have no desire to extend my life beyond my mortal years!”
“This is the will of the gods,” Hester replied softly. “Your vow dictates that you must do all which is required of you to remove the vampires from this earth.”
“Fuck the vow,” I snarled.
My mother sprung to her feet, glancing around nervously to make sure none of my warriors had overhead their Earl saying that. She laid a hand on my arm as if she sensed I was about to bolt and she was probably right. There was no way in hell I was leaving her here. And Julius too. My friends, my family, my clan, my horse. What she was suggesting was worse than death. I would wake knowing everyone I loved and cherished had long since passed from this world. I would be utterly alone in the truest, worst sense of the word and I refused to accept that the goddess would be so cruel as to demand that of me.
“Wait,” Julius said. “This can’t be serious? With Magnar gone we’d have no Earl. He has no children to pass his title to. He has no heir-”
“You would be Earl in his stead,” Hester said.
“Fuck that,” Julius spat. “You expect me to agree to watch my brother sleep away my lifetime while I take his crown from his head? I am no leader of men. I have neither the care for the responsibility of it nor the temperament to deal with the bullshit involved in it. Besides, if Magnar is going anywhere then he’ll be doing it with me by his side. I would never watch him face that fate alone.”
My heart lightened a fraction at Julius’s words. If the goddess truly wanted this of me I would have no choice but to do it no matter my view on the subject. Rejecting her commands would mean breaking my vow and if I did that then my life would be forfeit. But I couldn’t ask my brother to endure the hell of this request.
“I would not ask you to give up your life here for me,” I replied firmly. “It isn’t fair.”
“None of it’s fair. It isn’t about fair. It’s about right. And it isn’t right for you to face that alone. Besides, I’m not going to let you steal all the glory of killing the Belvederes for yourself.”
I almost smiled in response to that but the weight of the prophecy still hung too heavily on me for my face to allow it.
“My sons are right,” Mother added. “They belong together. And I won’t send one to sleep without sending the other too.”
Hester pursed her lips and held her hand out for Julius.
“Whatever you get from reading my future, I’m going with my brother,” he said firmly as the prophet took his fingers between hers.
Her gaze clouded and my mother moved to cup my cheek in her hand as I ground my jaw.
“Think about it,” she breathed so low that I doubted even Julius could hear her though he sat right before us. “You could go to sleep knowing that when you awoke you would finally repay the debt owed to our family. All the Belvederes dead in your father’s name. If this prophecy is right then you have no other chance of such a thing happening. They will not resurface for a hundred years. You’ll never keep the oath you swore to your father and claim vengeance in his name if you don’t do this.”
“But I would have to leave you behind,” I growled in denial. “I would never abandon you like that.”
“I will only ever be able to die peacefully if I know the debt against those monsters will be paid. Knowing that you will gain the revenge our family is owed is all I care about other than you boys. And I would sacrifice spending my final years with you in favour of knowing your father’s murderers will be brought to justice.”
I shook my head, refusing to accept the idea of leaving her here. Julius and I were all she had left. If we slept then she would be left alone until death claimed her. The sadness that had filled her since my father’s death would be compounded a thousand fold if she lost the two of us too. It would kill her. I knew it in my soul. We were all she had to live for and we couldn’t just abandon her here.
“Father never would have wanted you to be left alone like that,” I protested. “It wouldn’t be honouring him to hurt you so.”
“I won’t be alone,” she countered. “I can visit the two of you in my dreams every night until my life ends. It will be just the same as seeing you every day like I do now. Without the added fear of you dying - I can spend each and every day for the rest of my life knowing that both of my boys will survive beyond my time.”
I frowned, wondering if I could really believe there was truth to that. In some ways the dreams she shared with me were nothing more than a fabrication of our minds. But in others they were real. We could hold true conversations, could feel things as if we were truly experiencing them. Perhaps visiting us in her dreams wouldn’t be so different to her seeing us in the physical world.
“Besides,” she added conspiratorially. “In a hundred years Valentina will be long dead. You will be free of your promise to her and you can find a bride who you can love.”
My heart beat a little faster at her words and I couldn’t help the longing I felt at them. Idun had promised to free me from my betrothal if I rid the world of the Belvederes and maybe this was the goddess's way of keeping her word. If there was no chance of me doing such a thing in the present then perhaps her gift to me was delivering me to the time when it would happen.
But could I really leave everything I’d ever known behind like that?
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 136
