Jack met them halfway down the street. His gray eyes curiously ran over Tempest when William helped her from the saddle before dropping to the ground beside her to greet his friend. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning when he stepped forward to embrace Jack.
“Glad to see you’re still alive,” Jack said as he clapped him on the back. “I should kick your ass for taking off like that on us.”
William released a snort of laughter. “It will take a lot more than a vamp to kill me off, the second time at least. And you would have done the same.”
Jack’s mouth pursed before he finally gave a relenting nod. “I would, but I’m also a lot older than you.”
“And I’m better with a bow than you.”
Jack scowled at him, but he couldn’t deny the truth. “Did you shoot him through the heart then?”
“Stabbed him through the back with a spear, rather fitting don’t you think?”
Jack laughed loudly and clapped him on the shoulder. “Yes, I do, and how are you?”
William knew he wasn’t inquiring about his health. “I’m doing better.” And for the first time in over a year, he actually meant it.
He took hold of Tempest’s hand, enfolding it in both of his as he held it before him. Jack’s eyebrows shot up; his eyes darted back and forth between them. Before he could speak, Hannah arrived at Jack’s side. She embraced William before wrapping her hand around her husband’s arm. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled in the sunlight as she gazed between the two of them.
“Jack, Hannah, I’d like you to meet Tempest,” he introduced.
Tempest smiled shyly at them, she went to curtsy but Jack stopped her by thrusting out his hand. “Not for us,” he murmured.
Tempest glanced at her battered cloak. “I’m filthy.”
Jack seized hold of her hand. “We’ve all been beaten and battered at some point. I’m guessing there is a lot to tell about what happened out there.”
A radiant smile lit up her face and warmed William’s heart. “There is,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said as she shook both of their hands. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I bet,” Jack replied. “And if you ever want to hear the true story, especially about this guy,” his hand clamped down on William’s shoulder. “I have plenty of stories for you too.”
“I’d love to hear them,” Tempest said.
William glowered at Jack when he smiled innocently at him. Before he could respond Daniel, Timber, and Max walked over to join them. “We have to talk,” Daniel said to Jack. “Somewhere private.”
“We can go to the tavern,” Hannah offered. “There’s barely anyone in there right now.”
“We’ll need to get whoever is in there, out.”
Hannah did a double take at his words. “What is going on?” Jack demanded.
“Did Aria and Braith leave?” William inquired.
Jack opened his mouth to answer, but before he did, a small squeal erupted from William’s left. He had his answer as he turned in time to see a slender figure, dressed entirely in green, rushing at him. Aria plunged into his arms, knocking him back a step with the force of her weight.
He pulled her against his chest. He’d been pushing them all away since he’d woken as a vampire; he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed them until now. Never again, he vowed, no matter what happened, he would keep his loved ones close.
Aria’s blue eyes sparkled with merriment when she tilted her head to look up at him. “You’re here!”
“Did you doubt I’d return?”
“I never know with you; you can be a bit reckless.”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle, and you certainly don’t act like a queen running at me like that.”
She didn’t have the grace to look chagrined; she thrust her chin out at him instead. “I’m very queenly when it’s necessary. And if you hadn’t taken off, alone like that, I wouldn’t be so happy to see you again. You’ve just gotten back, and I’m already reminded how much you annoy me.”
Only Aria could figure out a way to blame him. “The feeling is mutual.”
She grinned at him before squeezing him again and stepping away. “I’ve also been staying out of trouble lately, in case you’ve forgotten.”
His laughter died away as he recalled what loomed on the horizon for all of them. Before he could respond, she spun away from him to hug Daniel, Max, and Timber. “I’m so glad you’re all back!”
“So are we,” Daniel said. He hugged her close against his chest and kissed the top of her head.
“Aria…”
William’s voice trailed off; his question about where her husband was died on his lips, when he spotted Braith and Xavier beyond her shoulder. Stepping forward, he took hold of Braith’s hand and grasped it. The pulse of power radiating off Braith gave him a small jolt as it radiated up his arm and through his chest.
Shit. A sinking sensation filled his stomach. There was so much power within Braith it vibrated the air around him, and William knew there were deeper reserves of it inside of him, but was it more than what he’d felt coming off of that woman?
He didn’t know the answer to that, but he had a feeling they would find out.
“It’s good to have you back,” Braith said.
“I’m sure you never thought you’d say that,” William retorted.
“No, I didn’t,” he admitted with a laugh.
Braith’s eyes darted to Aria as she walked back toward them, beaming like the cat that had eaten the canary. Braith’s hard features softened when he took hold of her hand. No matter what had occurred between them in the past, William could never deny the man loved his sister, would do anything he could to make her happy and would die for her. Besides, the prickly ass had actually grown on him a little over the almost two years they’d known each other.
His gaze turned to Tempest, standing behind him and looking more nervous now than she had while standing in a burning building. He reminded himself he could never tease his bother-in-law again as he took hold of her hand. Aria’s eyes were questioning as they focused on Tempest again. Braith’s forehead furrowed as he studied her, but when William pulled her against his side, Braith began to smile in an annoying way and gave him a look that clearly stated payback’s a bitch.
William knew he deserved whatever was handed out to him; he just hoped they all lived long enough for Braith and Jack to make his life a living hell. “Tempest, this is my extremely inelegant, queen of a sister, Aria and her husband, the King, Braith. Tempest saved my life, multiple times and in many ways.”
Aria’s eyes shot to him, Braith continued to grin at him. “I’m not sure about that,” Tempest murmured.
“I am,” he insisted.
Tempest went to curtsey but Aria grabbed hold of her shoulders before she could. “There’s no need for that, not if you saved my brother’s life,” she murmured. “We owe you thanks.”
“She could come to regret the choice,” Braith replied. Aria elbowed him in the ribs.
“What happened out there?” Aria inquired, her gaze running over the ragtag assortment of children and villagers riding with some of the soldiers.
“We have to talk,” he said.
“What about the children and other villagers?” Tempest inquired.
“They can go to Tilly’s boarding house; they’ll be taken care of there,” Hannah assured her.
Jack turned toward one of the guards standing beside his horse. They’d all dismounted when Aria had arrived. “Take the new arrivals over to the boarding house,” he commanded. “And make sure they are taken care of.”
Tempest stepped forward to speak with Abbott and Pallas; they all briefly hugged before the troops began to herd them toward the boarding house. William walked with his family and friends down the street toward the tavern. He kept hold of Tempest’s hand as they entered the building and waited until Hannah and Jack politely ushered the few humans inside, playing dice and eating lunch, out of th
e building. Ashby and Melinda appeared on the stairs; Melinda broke into a smile before hurrying down to hug him.
“It is good to see you,” she greeted brightly.
“You also,” he said as he embraced her before shaking Ashby’s hand.
“William, what is going on?” Aria asked after he introduced Tempest to them too.
“Nothing good,” he replied honestly.
He didn’t bother to pull out a chair; he’d never be able to sit still while he relayed what had happened in Badwin and the surrounding towns to them. All laughter and merriment faded away when he began speaking. No one moved an inch; he barely saw Max, Timber, and Daniel breathe as they listened to details they mostly already knew.
When he was finished, the room remained silent for a full minute before all eyes swung toward Braith. “You don’t know who this woman is?” Braith asked. He’d spoken quietly, his face remained impassive, but William could feel the increasing pulse of power and hostility in him.
“No, but she definitely has a lot of power, and that power is gaining her support. I’d bet my life on her having made it out of Badwin with a good number of her followers. She will move on to other towns while leaving more monsters in her wake.”
Tempest shuddered; her hands rubbed at her arms. He rested his hands on her shoulders in order to offer her some sense of comfort. “She’s powerful,” William continued. “And old. She felt as powerful as you,” William took a deep, unnecessary breath before continuing, “perhaps more so.”
Braith’s eyes didn’t flicker at his assessment. Aria paled visibly, she rested her hand over the top of her husband’s. “Are you sure?” she inquired.
“Yes.”
Braith’s gaze slid to Xavier standing in the shadows of the bar with his hands folded before him. “What do you make of this?”
The light played over Xavier as he stepped forward. “I don’t know what to make of it,” he replied honestly. “You are the oldest known vampire on record. I do not know who this woman is, but if she does have the power William is implying, she is either a lot older than you or possibly a relative.”
“She is extremely powerful,” William insisted.
Xavier’s sable eyes were assessing when they met his. “You are young; you could be mistaken.”
“I can feel what is coming off of Braith now. I know he’s keeping some of it leashed, but it’s still not what this woman radiated,” William told him. “I don’t know who she is, or pretend to understand any of your complicated lines and histories, but she was missed somehow, or she’s been in hiding for centuries.”
“My father had no other children,” Braith murmured.
“Are you sure of that?” William inquired. “I didn’t realize it at first, but after thinking it over, I realize her coloring is very similar to your father’s. Her hair was black and her eyes the color of grass. She was beautiful, in a cold way.” His gaze flicked back and forth between Braith and Jack’s dark coloring. Their eyes were gray, with some blue in Braith’s, but their hair, especially Braith’s, and their aristocratic features did bare a resemblance to the woman. He glanced at Melinda, but with her far fairer coloring, she didn’t look like the woman at all. “There was a bit of a resemblance with you two,” he said as he focused on Braith and Jack again.
“If he had fathered another child, they could be near Braith’s age, perhaps even a little older, but they would not have your mother’s powerful lineage too,” Xavier replied. “You have to remember you and Jack are a product of two of the strongest vampire lines.”
What about Melinda? William wondered.
He didn’t get a chance to ask the question before Aria started speaking, “But Genny never had a child.”
“There were women before her.” Braith squeezed Aria’s hand. “But none that would have conceived a child within the aristocratic line; he would have been forced to claim the child as his if there was one. If there is a bastard out there, they would still have power if they are around my age.”
“Who is Genny?” William inquired.
“I’ll explain later,” Aria promised.
Braith looked pointedly toward Xavier again. “Do you know anything about a possible child?”
“I will have to check the records, but I’ve never heard even a whisper of a bastard child and after reading your father’s journals, I would say he never heard a rumor of one either. You would be stronger than that child would be if there is one. You must also remember your father’s war left the vampires scattered. There is no way to know who survived and who didn’t. She could be close to your age but marked as dead.”
“There’s something else,” William said.
Braith turned back to him, “What is it?”
William looked to Tempest; it would be best if she said what she had to say before he told Braith what the queen had said to him. “Go on,” he urged her.
Tempest threw back her shoulders and folded her hands in front of her before speaking. “Before she lit the vampires on fire the night I fled, she declared herself to be the most powerful vampire alive. She told her soldiers that those who follow her would know power and superiority once more. They would know wealth and be number one again. She said she is the one true leader.”
Braith’s jaw clenched. “Did she now? Then this woman is a fool.”
William took a deep breath, Braith had taken this well so far, but he knew what he was about to say would infuriate him more than anything else had so far. “She also told me she believes you are imposters, and that Aria especially is the imposter queen.”
Braith’s muscles vibrated with power when he flattened his hand on the table. The gray of his eyes faded away as crimson filled them. “My wife is no imposter,” he grated out.
Aria touched his arm in a soothing gesture. “She’ll say whatever is necessary to gain followers, and there are those who believe I shouldn’t be on the throne.”
“And I will kill every one of them,” Braith vowed.
Now William wasn’t so sure who had more power, Braith or that woman. He could never forget what Braith was like when Aria was threatened, but it had been a long time since he’d seen Braith’s barely leashed savagery. He probably could level the world if it became necessary. A tremor ran through Tempest’s shoulders but she didn’t step away from Braith.
“That’s not going to be possible.” Aria forced a smile as she leaned over to kiss Braith, but her movements were far stiffer than William had ever seen them, and the color had yet to return to her face.
The red faded from Braith’s eyes, but his body remained tensed. “I feel I would have met her if we were of an age.”
“I know what I felt,” William insisted.
“I believe you.” His gaze shifted to Jack and Ashby. “Does she sound familiar to either of you?”
“I think I would remember a black haired beauty who was older than me,” Ashby replied, then grunted when Melinda elbowed him roughly in the ribs. Ashby rubbed at his ribs, before wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her closer.
Jack glanced at Hannah who was watching him from narrowed eyes. “I don’t recall anyone like that,” he replied.
Braith’s fingers tapped on the table; his gaze shifted to the far wall. “All of the outer towns are to be evacuated and moved toward the palace where they can be better protected, including this one.”
“The sun,” Lucas said as he stepped forward. “Not all of us in this town can travel during the day.”
“Some of us may not be up for the travel,” Abe said. Though a vampire, his genetic defect had made him continue to age until he was sixty-two. He was still spry and active, but there were two other vampires in Chippman who had aged into their nineties before stopping, and they weren’t as agile.
“We’ll have carriages built to carry anyone who needs it and to protect those who require it from the sunlight,” Braith said. “It’s a chance you’ll have to take until whoever this is, is stopped.”
“They’re not
leaving survivors,” Tempest murmured.
Braith’s gaze shifted to her, William could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. “We will start building the carriages now. I’ll send word back to the palace; The Council must be warned to be on guard.” Rising to his feet, he adjusted the lapels on his jacket. “I’ll start the evacuations of the towns immediately. We’ll leave for the palace as soon as everyone here is ready to travel.”
Hannah stepped closer to Jack, her uncle Abe slid into one of the chairs and bowed his head. “When will we come back?” Ellen inquired.
“When we know it’s safe,” Braith replied. “Jack and Daniel gather some men to have them start building the carriages. Ashby and William you will come with me to divide the guards and send them out to start rounding up the surrounding towns. We’ll have the guards move on after each town to spread the word of the impending danger. I don’t think this woman planned to do anything until after the winter, but those plans may have changed. What happened in Badwin has probably left her scrambling; that should buy us some time.”
“There are still ten guards out there looking for stragglers from Badwin,” Daniel said.
“Good, we will leave them there until their mission is complete.”
“You should keep the guards with you,” Xavier advised.
Braith’s gaze slid to him. “Those towns, vampires, and humans have to be protected first.” Xavier opened his mouth to protest but clamped it shut. He gave a brief bow of his head. Behind Braith, Aria rose to her feet and threw back her shoulders. Braith held out his hand to take hold of hers. “We should all be prepared to leave as soon as possible.”
“What about those starving and twisted vampires out there, hunting in the snow?” William inquired.
“The guards will put down the ones they come across. After this threat is dealt with, I will send more to hunt them down. They cannot be left to roam free,” Braith replied.
Vengeance Page 29
