"THIS PLACE IS so quiet," Alice said from the window. "Nothing. Not even the sound of crickets."Vladimir nodded. "If you were a cricket, would go stay anywhere near someone like you?"Alice chuckled. "I guess not." She walked away from the window and gazed at large picture paintings that showed Vlsdimir through the years. On some oil paintings, he had curled blonde hair, similar to those the elegant English men of the early 19th century wore, on others, he was bald, with a mustache, clean-shaven. His looks varied like seasons of the year. "I like this one more," Alice said, pointing at a large and prominent painting. It was one of Vladimir in the 16th century. "The linen suits you...""They don't tell you this, but the linen of those times was very uncomfortable," Vladimir muttered. "It cuffed your neck and gave you callouses." He came up behind her and sniffed her neck. "I like the sideburns too," Alice said. She turned. Their bodies were a few inches apart. Her fingers came up to
MITCH CHESTER "SO ANNIKA CREATED the first vampire, Vladimir," Mitch said.The old man nodded. "And she did it for the protection of her coven," Mitch added. "Vampires were supposed to be like the bodyguards of witches covens from humans...""And any other race that wanted them dead," Beta Jones muttered. "What went wrong?""Annika died," Mitch said. "And with her death, the bond of vampires to witches died too. It left them free to create chaos as they liked.""The witches could have really used the protection a few centuries ago when witches were being hunted," Jones said."If I recall correctly, the vampires also joined in hunting the witches," Mitch muttered. "Some vampires developed special taste buds for blood of witches."Jones nodded. "Thank you for your time," he told the old man as Mitch stood up and went to the window."I am glad to help," the old man said. "These are stories that my father told me. His father told him, and I am going to tell my grandson very soon. It is
ANNA KYLIN CHESTERI KEPT THE information to myself. I didn't know how to break it to Lorna that more of her sisters had been killed. I remembered how she took the news last time when Mitch told her. She locked herself up until Enrique came at the perfect time to pull her out of her grief. Now, Enrique was sick and injured too. The news would crush her so I kept it to myself and went about my duties - overseeing the new buildings at the western border, reading through some medical journals sent to my mail from the board of doctors, and replying to my emails.When it was afternoon, I dragged myself from bed finally noticing that I had not eaten anything except the tea that Loz had forced into my hand hours ago.As I went downstairs and headed to the garage, I saw Lorna coming in the front door. I flashed her a bright smile to avoid any suspicion that I was hiding anything.She frowned slightly and asked, "What is it?""What is what?" I asked with the smile frozen on my lip."What are
MITCH CHESTERTHE DISTANCE FROM the red moon pack to the Mountain Alps kingdom was a very delicate matter. Especially for someone like Mitch who was in desperate need to be back in his kingdom as soon as possible.The distance was not so far that a private jet was needed. Besides, there were no suitable amenities like a good runway to host the planes. And at that moment, going by road would take so much time for him. The time that he would spend thinking and worrying.He stepped out of the study and dialed Draco. The call was picked up on the first ring."Yeah?" Draco grunted. "Is that a way to answer the call of your king?" Mitch asked.Draco snorted.Mitch chuckled. "Send a chopper to the red moon pack right now. I need to back home in the next few minutes.""What's the rush?" Draco asked."Just do as I say, will you?""On it," Draco replied. "I have alerted one of our pilots. He will be with you in a short while.""Good," Mitch muttered and hung up."Leaving now?" Jones asked. Mit
ANNA KYLIN CHESTERI DID NOT see the children as soon as they stepped out of the car after school. It was like they were keeping away from me, and while it broke my heart, I understood them. I was messing up both their social and academic lives.I sighed and went to the room I had designed to be my home office. It was still sparsely furnished; it had just a shelf with some medical journals, my degree framed and hung on the wall, a large mahogany desk, and my laptop.I sat behind the desk and opened my email, scrolling through my messages mindlessly. I archived most of the messages as they were spam or invite requests, none of which caught my attention until I saw a message from a name that I remembered. Linda Garett. I had no idea how I remembered, but it was the name of the young lady who had asked for a picture in the restaurant a few weeks ago. The lady who looked up to me was also a medical student.I opened the email and skimmed through it quickly. She was inviting me to speak to
MITCH CHESTER Her lips parted as she watched him pull off his shirt then toss it aside. Mitch caught her upper arms and held her still while he kissed the side of her neck. He skimmed his lips against her silken skin and said, “Now, you just stand there and look gorgeous while I do all the work.”Anna touched his chest with the reverence it deserved. So much warm flesh, hard muscle; the man took care of himself. She'd missed him so much!“Anna?”It wasn’t easy...she had so much to look at...but she lifted her gaze. His eyes were dark and full of purpose. “What?”He raised his hands. “I can’t unbutton you while you’re doing that.” She laughed, which didn’t help either her exploration of his chest or the unbuttoning of her blouse.Mitch looked down at her with one raised brow.“After you have more blood going north, you’ll understand,” she said. Then she took over button duty, enjoying the view as Mitch undid his belt. “Done.” She let her blouse fall to the floor and smiled in victo
MITCH CHESTERTHEY FITTED PERFECTLY together. Her body was molded against his perfectly, and for the first time in a long while, he felt complete and whole.His arms were around Anna, holding her securely to his body. She leaned back and rested her head against his upper arm and sighed."What is it?" Mitch asked. He could tell that there was something on her mind. She needed the sex almost even more than he did."Do you think I'm a bad mother?" She blurted."What?" Mitch pulled away and looked down at her. Her face was troubled. "Where is this coming from?"She sighed. "I keep making bad decisions." She said. "I should not have made them school outside the kingdom in the kingdom in the first place." She sat up. "Now for security reasons, I want to change them back to the school here... and they hate me for it."Mitch inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. He had been worried about how he was going to make her change their schooling for his peace of mind. "My urgent exit from the Red Moon p
MITCH CHESTER "YOU'RE MUCH MORE fun than Mum," Addison muttered when they were tired of throwing snowballs down the cliff. She lay down on the ground and spread her arms on the snow."Mum is fun too," Aiden countered, sitting down beside his sister."Your brother is right," Mitch said, "Your mother is fun too."Addison scowled at her brother."What happened?" Mitch asked softly, wanting to hear exactly how Addison was feeling. He crouched beside her and traced her shape in the snow with his fingers."She's changing our school again!" Addison cried. "And it's because of the test.""It isn't because of the test!" Aiden yelled."What test is that?" Mitch frowned, looking at the children."We had a test yesterday-""-and I got more than him," Addison cut in, sitting up. She shook the snow from her hair and glared at her brother.Mitch smiled. He wiped some snow from Addison's head and asked, "And you think your school is being changed because of that? Why?"Addison folded her hands drama
FIVE MONTHS LATER,I RUB my belly fondly. It has become a subconscious habit of mine since the belly bump sprouted. On some nights, I wake up from the nightmares and horrors of being locked up in the prison underground. It has been 5 months already, but the remnants of what we lost were still vivid. Every fallen warrior was given a befitting burial. After the death of the vampires, Paige started having recurring dreams of her lost memories. I had Lorna suppress it again. i also had Lorna wipe out the memory of Janet the mistress, now she was a servant in the palace... "Are we almost there yet?" Addison asked from the back seat. Mitch grunted. "Almost." I turn and look at him. The scar he had gotten from the battle that ran across his eyes was now white, it was healing well. The cut missed his eyes by less than an inch, but the scar added to his dangerous look. I reach out and touch his hand. He turns and looks at me, but I can not decipher what is going on in his head as his eyes
MITCH CHESTERAS HE TORE through the vampires, his eyes wavered back, and he looked at Anna. He could not believe she was nearby again, even as all the odds were against him all this while. Arranging the warriors for battle on such short notice was not an easy feat as most of his warriors were not familiar with guns, but he had made them ready and prepped for battle under a few hoursHe grunted as a vampire sank his fang into his arm. He growled grabbed the vampire by its head and slammed it into the ground."Keep your head in the fight, Mitch," Draco snapped. "Don't die when she is just a few feet away."Mitch chuckled. He turned and looked at his mate again. She was holding her own well against the vampires surrounding her and Alphonso."Do these things ever finish?" Mitch asked, looking around at the vampires still swarming over the field."We have to take out the elder vampires, or Vladimir himself," Draco said, stabbing a vampire dead on the floor. He shook his spear loose and lo
ANNA KYLIN CHESTERI WATCHED THE moon rise to its peak and anticipated when the witch Agatha walked up to Vladimir and said, “It is time.“Vladimir nodded and came to stand beside me.I closed my eyes, resigning myself to my fate as Agatha came closer, muttering a long string of spells under her breath. “I will offer the blood of the current grand witch…” She grabbed Lorna's hand and slit it at the wrist. I saw Lorna clench her jaws in pain as Agatha squeezed her blood into a cup, which she mixed with some herbs and gave to Vladimir. He drank it all in one gulp. Dark red veins streaked up his neck, and his eyes went bloodshot.She walked to me and added, “I will offer the life of the reincarnated grand witch, Annika, and use it to bind the soul of the vampire king, giving him immense power and immunity to the mountain ash wood…““I heard her raise her hand. The air stretched with tension, and time seemed to slow down. I opened my eyes, expecting to see my life flash before my eyes, bu
ANNA KYLIN CHESTER“COME HERE!“ THE grating of the cell on its hinges made me look up. One of the vampires was on the other side. She reached in and pulled me out harshly. My knees scraped the rough floor; I bit my lips to keep the pain in. Another one reached in and tried to grab Lorna but gasped in pain, pulling back immediately. “I will come out myself,“ Lorna said coolly. “But try to touch me again, and it will be the last thing you ever do.“ The vampire stared daggers at her but did not move to grab her again. She cradled her hand, rubbing it fondly. Lorna must have secured herself with some sort of spell. “And you will unhand the Luna immediately too.“ Lorna said in a cold voice to the vampire who had her fingers wrapped tightly on my upper arm. The vampire looked uncertain, but she saw the cold and threatening look on Lorna's face. I was also shocked, but it did the trick. The vampire released me. “Where are we going?“ Lorna asked, but I could guess already. “It is time for
THE FIGHT WAS OVER almost as quickly as it started. We did not stand a chance against Vladimir and he was already getting empowered by the forthcoming blood moon. Lorna was sprawled on the floor, blood seeped from her mouth and her back was twisted in an unnatural angle. I was on my feet, but it was threatening to give way any second.And Vladimir?He did look like he had done anything. No sweat. No hair out of place. He had his sinister smile plastered on his face as he walked towards me. He stopped a few feet away and brushed my cheek with his icy-cold fingers. “Your last few hours should have been enjoyable, Annika.“ he said softly. “But instead, you let that witch,“ he turned and looked at Lorna before he continued, “...to spoil it. Tch.“ she chuffed and walked away. “It is back to square one now.“The woods around were suddenly alive, and things moved in the shadows. I thought I was hallucinating; maybe I had hit my head harder than I thought, and I was concussed as we were surro
ANNA KYLIN CHESTERI SAT UP in my bed, my heart was racing, and adrenaline surged as my wolf leaped to the surface, enhancing my vision, but I could not still make out the shape of the person in my room. I was about to jump through the door, not minding that I would alert the whole mansion, but I felt a pair of fingers wrap around my upper arm. Gasping in shock, I turned sharply, trying to wrestle my arm away from the stranger's grip, but to no avail. I am being attacked by two people, I thought anxiously to myself. I started to yell, but the person holding me stepped out of the shadows and my scream died in my throat."Lorna?!" I gaped.She put a finger to her lip to keep me silent. Then she cocked her head. I swung my legs out of the bed. My mind was spinning with imagination. I still felt like I was in a dream. I reached out and touched her. She was real."Quickly," she said to me. She muttered some words under her breath and the lock in the door snapped apart. The door opened
MITCH CHESTER “HAVE GUARDS PATROL the area,“ Mitch said, trying hard to rein in the panic he was feeling. “Quickly.“ Draco nodded and gave out his commands to every available guards to be on the search for Lorna. “No one knows how long she has been gone for. She might be out of the kingdom now.“ Mitch growled. “Just tell them to search.“ “We should probably get back,“ Draco said, turning to look around. Mitch nodded. He looked at Vorenus. Draco could see the hesitation in Mitch's body language. He knew what mitch was about to do. He dipped his hand into his pocket and tossed a small object at Vorenus who caught it easily, confused at what it was. Suddenly there was a sizzling sound and vorenus dropped the object quickly. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air and Drcao nodded in satisfaction. “What was that?“ Vorenus growled. “Silver, “Draco said. “Silver bullets. It is going to be our trump card.“ Vorenus shook his palm gingerly as the wound healed back immediately. “I can i
MITCH CHESTER“YOU ARE GOING to crash the car,“ Draco said, holding on to the side of his seat as Mitch drove like a blind bat.Mitch scoffed without slowing down. He pressed down on the pedal, and the car shot even faster. “This fucking snow,“ he growled as he screeched to a stop. The tires of the car were stuck in the thick layer of snow. He got out of the car; his legs sank almost to his knees.Draco came out too, cursing under his breath. “I wonder whose idea it was to get electric cars to drive over snow,“ he looked at Mitch and added sarcastically. “Oh wait, it was your brilliant idea.“Mitch rubbed his chin and said, “Maybe I should have gone with your idea and bought electric sleds instead.“Draco scoffed, kicking at the snow.Mitch looked around. His breath vaporized from his mouth as he breathed out. “Come, we are not far,“ he said to Draco.“Sometimes I wonder why I follow you,“ Draco said as they walked away from the stuck car. “This is crazy. You can't just stand up and w
MITCH CHESTERMITCH KNEW HIS mind should be at rest now that he had reinforcements, but his mind was still worried. He had no doubts that it was because his mate was still out there in danger, his son was lying in bed, unconscious and blind, and his kingdom was on the brink of civil war.He paced the length of the room anxiously, his eyes drifting into the dancing fireplace as he walked past. A small knock came at the door. “Come in,“ he called.The door opened, and Draco came in. He took a look around the small, almost empty room and shook his head, saying, “You are still sleeping here.“Mitch chuffed and nodded, “I can't stay in the master chambers alone. Anna should be with me.“Draco nodded and said, “I understand that, but…“ He looked around again. “I am sure you can do better than a tiny room. There is even no air conditon -““No one uses air conditioning here, Draco,“ Mitch said. He sat on the bed heavily; it creaked under his weight.“There is no ventilation,“ Draco continued,