Age of Vampires- The Complete Series

by Caroline Peckham

  “Yes,” I gasped at the same time Magnar did.

  “Good.” She clutched the edge of the sofa, blinking heavily. “I need to sleep a while longer to recuperate. You can spend the flight thinking up more punishments for yourselves.”

  I nodded eagerly as she headed further down the plane and tugged the curtain across to gain some privacy.

  Excitement burned through me like wildfire. I would take any punishment on Earth to be reunited with Valentina's bare flesh. And this time, we would not be interrupted.

  The plane soared away overhead and my heart fractured in two as I stared up at it. Magnar was gone. Again. And to make it so much worse, he’d almost killed my sister.

  My heart was breaking, broken, fractured into a thousand tiny pieces that I wasn’t sure I could ever knit back together.

  I gripped Montana’s hand as her body healed. Her head fused back onto her body and she remained unconscious while it happened which I was glad about. At least she didn’t have to feel the pain of it as her body worked to fix itself.

  Bloodstained snow surrounded us and I gritted my teeth in frustration at just how close we’d come to finishing that bitch. Valentina should have been dead now and Magnar and Erik returned to their own minds. Instead we were still stuck in this hell of her control over them and we were no closer to getting them back.

  I was alone with my sister. The others still hadn’t returned from chasing after Erik in an attempt to stop them escaping but I knew they’d failed. The sound of the airplane roaring through the sky had told me that much.

  A warm hand landed on my shoulder and I looked up at Julius as a tear tracked down my cheek.

  “We’ll get her next time,” he promised sadly and I could tell his encounter with Magnar was affecting him too.

  Venom lay on the ground beside me but I couldn’t bring myself to look at the heavy blade. It was stained with Montana's blood and the memory of what he’d done to her. A few inches higher and my sister would have been reduced to dust.

  Montana mumbled something incoherent as she rose towards consciousness and I tightened my hold on her hand.

  “I’m here Monty,” I said soothingly. “You’re okay. Just give your body a minute to fix this.”

  She released a groan of pain and another tear slid along my skin.

  “We can’t stay here,” Miles said as he approached us and I glanced up at him with a frown. The others were drawing closer too, their posture stooped with our defeat. “They know our location. Valentina will send an army of Biters after us at the first opportunity. As soon as she wakes up she’ll-”

  “She’s unconscious?” I asked urgently, my heart lifting at the idea. “I can go to her dreams again. I can send her enough nightmares to make her piss herself and I can find out what she’s planning to do next!”

  “Are your gifts really that strong?” Miles asked, lifting a brow like he wasn’t convinced I could do such a thing.

  “She can,” Fabian said. “She’s done it to me.”

  “So you just go into people’s dreams and screw with their heads?” Miles asked. “Can you do anything you like while you’re there?”

  “Yes. Anything. And it’s impossible for anyone to lie to me while I’m doing it either,” I added.

  “So you could just steal people's secrets right out of their heads?” Miles asked.

  “Or join in on their sex dreams?” Warren added with a chuckle and I rolled my eyes.

  “I tried to convince her to do that with me,” Fabian said with a smirk and I scowled at him.

  “You went to his sex dream?” Julius asked in disgust.

  “It wasn’t voluntary,” I snapped. “And I changed it as soon as I arrived so don’t look at me like that.”

  “Go now,” Montana breathed as she woke up. “Before Valentina recovers and we miss our chance.”

  I threw my arms around her, clinging to her cold body as she came back from the dead once more. She inhaled sharply, stilling in my grip as if she was uncomfortable and Miles caught my shoulder, pulling me back.

  “I wouldn’t do that while she’s this hungry,” he warned.

  I released my sister as she pushed herself up onto her elbows and my mouth parted in pity as I could see the war going on in her eyes.

  “You can bite me,” I offered, pushing my sleeve up quickly. If she needed it then I’d give it to her. I’d done as much for the others anyway.

  “No!” she said in horror, recoiling from me as if I’d slapped her.

  Julius caught my elbow and twisted my arm as he spotted the bite mark on my flesh.

  “What the fuck is that?” he snarled and I scrambled to my feet as I drew him away from the vampires.

  “It’s fine,” I said quickly. “I offered and-”

  “You what?” He grabbed my other arm, pushing my sleeve up as he spotted the bite there too.

  “Julius-” I began but he silenced me as he caught my chin in his grasp and shoved my head back to reveal the puncture wounds on my neck.

  “Which fucking parasite did this?” he snarled, his grip on my chin tightening painfully as he drew his sword.

  Montana got to her feet and stepped between the Belvederes as they eyed us warily.

  I could feel Julius’s rage simmering as he glared at me and I caught his wrist, easing his fingers from my face.

  “They needed to feed to get their strength back after the crash,” I explained.

  “So they just took what they wanted from you?” he spat, turning to glare at the vampires with his sword raised. “I warned you bloodsuckers what would happen if you bit one of us.” He started forward and I grabbed his shoulder to stop him as the Belvederes shifted into defensive stances.

  “I offered, Julius,” I snapped. “Fabian risked his life to save mine and they needed their strength back to face Magnar and Erik. I decided I could spare a little blood in payment for my life!”

  “Which is more than you offered us, slayer,” Clarice muttered and I spotted the same hungry look in her eyes as was glimmering in my sister’s.

  “If you ever put your mouth near my flesh I’ll rip your fucking fangs out of your head,” Julius snarled at her.

  “As if I’d want my mouth anywhere near you,” Clarice hissed.

  “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “Watch your tone when you speak to our sister,” Fabian growled, stepping towards Julius with a threat in his eyes.

  “Stop it!” I snapped as I planted myself between them. “This arguing is just wasting time. I’m a big girl and I make my own choices and the sooner the rest of you stop trying to control me the better it’ll be for all of us. I’m going to haunt Valentina in her dreams while we still have this chance but I can’t do it while you’re bickering like a bunch of children.”

  “We should take one of the armoured vehicles and get the hell away from here,” Warren said, pointing out the heavy trucks on the far side of the base.

  “I’ll get some more blood from the supplies they keep here,” Clarice said, catching Montana’s arm and pulling her away as they headed for the building at the far end of the base. I gave my sister a reassuring smile as her head dipped with embarrassment. I knew she needed blood to survive now and I didn’t want her to feel like it would change anything about the way I felt about her.

  “Which truck are we taking?” I asked Miles as I ignored the tension that still boiled between Fabian and Julius.

  “Front of the line oughta do it,” he said, pointing at the closest vehicle. “I’ll make sure it’s fully charged and we can get out of here ASAP.”

  I nodded, taking Venom from the floor and wiping Montana’s blood from it in the snow with a shudder of disgust. I caught Julius’s arm as he continued to glare at Fabian and dragged him towards the truck. “You can watch me while I sleep,” I said as he gave me a frown.

  “That sounds really creepy,” he muttered, giving in to my demand and following me as we left Fabian and the others behind. “But I’m agreeing so that
I can make sure no one tries to suck your blood again while you’re out of it.”

  “Perfect,” I muttered as I hopped up into the back of the vehicle and lay down on one of the padded benches.

  Julius settled himself down beside me and I wasted no more time as I closed my eyes and reached for Valentina’s consciousness. I found her waiting for me and dove straight in, gritting my teeth in anticipation.

  The moment I landed in her dream, I seized control of it. I stripped away whatever she’d created for herself without bothering to look at it and moulded the landscape to my own desire.

  I surrounded us with fire and brimstone, cloaking myself in a long black dress and placing a glimmering silver crown upon my head just to taunt her.

  I gave Valentina back her rags and chained her to the floor at my feet as I drew closer.

  She started laughing as she looked up at me.

  “Is something amusing you?” I asked and the shadows stretched around me, reaching for her with clawed fingers.

  “The fact that you’re here must mean that my escape is really pissing you off. My guard dogs saved me, and left you to cry over them once more.” She laughed again and I took a step towards her as the flames lining the space around us flared in response to my anger.

  “Luckily for you, we don’t want to hurt them,” I snarled.

  “Well I’ll reward them well for their loyalty when I wake,” she hissed and I was shown a memory of the three of them in Clarice’s bed at the Belvedere castle.

  My stomach dropped as Magnar’s mouth moved across her flesh and she pulled at his belt, demanding more.

  I scowled at her, forcing the memory aside before I could see anything else. It wasn’t him. Not really. She’d taken his body hostage and I refused to fall into the trap of hating him for it.

  “Tell me why you took them,” I demanded. “Is it just revenge?”

  “It was foreseen that I would rise to power with them at my side,” she breathed. “I have waited a thousand years for that prophecy to come true and now my patience has been rewarded.”

  A memory flickered across my consciousness of her in her human form, kneeling before Idun at the foot of a cliff as the goddess showed her a flash of this future.

  My anger at the deity simmered through my body and the flames swept closer to the creature who cowered at my feet.

  I felt a tremor of fear flickering through her and she turned her eyes up to meet mine with a scowl.

  “How could so much of the future have been decided this way?” I asked irritably. “So much has happened. Magnar never should have been alive for this to come to pass. How could you possibly have expected him to rise from his slumber now?”

  A knowing smile pulled at Valentina’s lips and I growled as I forced the answer from her mind.

  The scene around us shifted suddenly and I was walking behind Valentina as she scaled a sheer rock face, following a steep path cut into the stone.

  She was human and her long hair billowed out around her as a strong wind blew past us.

  As we neared the top of the cliff, voices carried to us and Valentina dropped behind the cover of a hulking rock as she listened.

  “I don’t want to leave you behind,” Magnar said, his voice thick with emotion.

  I leaned around the rock and saw him locked in a fierce embrace with his mother. Tears ran down her face as she tilted her head to look up at him.

  “Your brother is sleeping already,” she said with a soft smile. “What would he think if he woke in a hundred years just to learn that you didn’t join him after all?”

  “He’d think I was a good son and be glad that I hadn’t abandoned you,” Magnar growled but I could tell his protests didn’t hold any weight. He’d already made this decision and he wasn’t going to back out of it.

  It struck me that to him this moment must have seemed like it had happened a few months ago. His grief at the loss of his mother must still have been fresh in his mind despite the fact that a thousand years had since passed.

  “It’s time, my brave boy. You must take vengeance on the creatures who caused us this pain.”

  “I will,” he swore, touching a hand to his heart.

  He held her close one last time and pressed a kiss to her forehead before releasing her and turning towards a large cave behind them.

  His mother caught his hand before he could go inside and he turned back to her, his eyes full of pain at their parting.

  “Once it is done and the Belvederes are dead you should find happiness for yourself,” she breathed. “You deserve to find love.”

  Valentina released a low noise of anger at the comment but it was stolen by the wind so that Magnar and his mother didn’t hear her.

  “Perhaps,” Magnar breathed.

  “I love you, my boy,” his mother replied. “Never forget it.”

  “And I love you,” he said. “More than I can put into words. I will end the Belvederes. This sacrifice won’t be for nothing.”

  She pressed a kiss to the back of his hand and he turned away again, heading into the cave.

  I watched in fascination as his mother began to wield her gifts. A heaviness fell over the air around us and Valentina recoiled as she was struck with the urge to lay down and sleep.

  The Dream Weaver carved runes into the rock face outside the place she’d selected for Magnar's slumber. They spoke of rest, honour, salvation and the passage of time.

  “Idun?” she called as she raised her hands to the sky and I felt the goddess lending her more power so that Magnar’s body wouldn’t be ravaged by the time which would pass while he slept.

  Lightning raced into the sky above and an orange light grew in the mouth of the cave, growing brighter and brighter until I couldn’t bear to look on it any longer.

  The light dissolved and I felt Idun’s presence retreating as Magnar’s mother slumped to the floor.

  Where the cave had stood open before, a slab of rock had formed to block it and the runes laid into it shimmered with gold.

  Magnar’s mother buckled before it as the strength of her gifts were sapped and she buried her face in her hands, releasing a sob as she realised she’d never see her son again.

  Valentina stepped from her hiding place and approached Magnar’s mother, her face set with determination.

  “So he’s gone then?” she asked as she approached.

  “Valentina? Were you hoping to say goodbye?”

  “Goodbye?” Valentina cocked an eyebrow. “No, Freya. Your son didn’t do me the decency of offering me an explanation, never mind a farewell.”

  “You should be pleased,” Freya sighed as she brushed her tears from her cheeks and looked up at the woman who should have born her grandchildren. “Magnar never loved you. Now you’re free of your vow to him. You can find a man who will give you what he could not.”

  “I’m not free of my vow,” Valentina replied, tugging on her shift to reveal the tattoo above her heart. “And I don’t intend to release Magnar from his either.”

  “What are you talking about?” Freya pushed herself to her feet. She took a step forward but Valentina summoned the wind to drive her back against the cave door.

  Freya gasped as Valentina drew her blade.

  “I grew tired of your son denying me a crown so I asked Idun to help me. She knows that I have always been loyal to her commands so she offered me a future filled with the power I am owed. Erik Belvedere will give me the crown your son withheld and the lifespan necessary to await Magnar’s awakening.”

  “You would damn your soul? Betray your vow? Your life will be forfeit! The goddess would never allow one of our people to-”

  “Of course I’ll have to die,” Valentina said with a laugh. “My life as a slayer will end just as the goddess demands of those who turn against their vow. But then my life as a vampire will begin. And in a hundred years, when the door to this cave opens and your son steps out into the light once more, I’ll be waiting for him. And he will fulfil his promise to m
e.”

  “I’ll never let that happen,” Freya growled, drawing her axe and a dagger as she prepared to take her on.

  Valentina smiled wickedly as she immobilised Magnar’s mother with the wind.

  “Erik needs to know that your sons are dead. Luckily for me, Idun says your blood will smell the same as theirs so I’ll be able to convince him that I killed them. And I told him about the prophecy which foretold the Belvederes’ downfall. Magnar will never lead that army against him now. The Belvederes won’t unite for that battle; your sons won’t face them.”

  “That demon won’t ever give you what you want,” Freya spat. “Once he believes you’ve done as he asked he’ll drain you dry and leave your body to rot.”

  “I considered that,” Valentina purred. “Which is why I offered him the pleasure of my flesh too. He is quite captivated by me. I can shield him from the sun and offer him the release that all men need. He likes me pliant and adoring. And so that’s what I give him. And he will grant me immortality in return. Just as soon as I convince him that I destroyed your children.”

  Freya cursed as Valentina advanced. She turned her head to the sky and screamed.

  “Odin!” Freya bellowed and the power of her rage set the hairs rising along my arms.

  A fissure opened in the sky above her and Valentina’s lips parted in horror as the king of the gods heeded Freya’s call.

  “I offer you my life in protection of my sons!” she screamed. “Guard them from this traitor so that she cannot find this place again once she leaves it. And let them sleep for a thousand years so that her eternal life has plenty of chances to end before they ever have to rise!”

  Valentina snarled in rage as power licked from the sky in hungry waves.

  Freya spat in Valentina’s face before raising her blade and slitting her own throat. Her blood sprayed from the wound, coating Valentina from head to foot as it spurted from her body. She collapsed lifeless to the ground before the cave, her eyes staring glassily at the heavens above.

  Odin dropped from the fissure in the sky, slamming to the rocks with the sound of a thunderclap. He was huge, thick with muscles which bulged with an innate power. His chin was covered with a thick black beard and one of his eyes was missing, the socket stitched shut. Even Magnar would have seemed small beside this god. Power exuded from him in waves and he reached down to dip his fingers in the blood which pooled by his feet.