I pulled on a short, light cover. It was still warm for late September, but I really enjoyed the look of it. The positive about being a demon, temperatures had to get pretty extreme to make me sweat.
“I’m heading to the camp to meet with the doctor and then lunch with my friend Dennis, today. I want you all to be on your best behavior. Don’t forget to have lunch. I should be back before our walk. Anything before I go?” I asked.
“Have fun, Maddie.” Winston smiled.
“Don’t get taken again.” Will snorted.
“Funny, Will. See if I bring you back a treat then…” I laughed.
There was a knock at the door. Annie opened it and let Anders in.
He was dressed in a light blue blazer, white button up shirt, and tan slacks. The blazer showed off his broad shoulders and trim waist. His black hair had been styled by Poppy that morning.
I could tell because Poppy favored an herbal scented gel that added a sage and honey scent to Anders’ normal aroma, which was healthier now he was feeding on something other than succubae. He smiled.
“You dressed nicer than I thought you would.” Anders said as his eyes made the slow decent down my body.
I was wearing a tight, lavender dress that clung to my full hips in the most enticing way. The little white cover I added went to my elbows and hugged my upper body, ending just under my chest. If I was going out, I was going to get as much energy as I could. If Anders was any indication, I was fairly successful.
“I’m meeting the last person to see my mother alive and one of my best friends today. Of course I dressed nicely.” I told him as I slipped on my white heels and crossed the room.
Anders offered me his elbow and I accepted. Since the agreement that I would give him three months to make me fall in love with him, I’d seen a big change in Anders. He was actually trying to be a good ruler now. He hadn’t order a succubus to anyone’s service since then. Anders was listening to what I said, the lessons I was teaching, and he was being more respectful of his harem.
We walked out to the car and he closed my door before heading to the driver’s side. It was a quiet, but pleasant drive to the camp in the northern part of the county. I realized this was the camp that Winston and Celia had been in.
I couldn’t fathom why they’d brought my mother all the way out here. True, it was one of the oldest of the camps, but there was another one closer to our hometown. They had probably already planned to experiment on her when they caught her. Those bastards.
I could feel my tension growing as we neared the Northland Camp. My excitement about finally killing the man who’d taken my mother from us was high, and I had to restrain myself. I didn’t want to give away my intentions.
***
When we got to the camp, I couldn’t help but wince. It was a prison in every sense. Gray, dull, sad. The feeling of death was all around it, even the fucking grass was dying.
Silver tipped razor wire glittered along the tops of the high fences. We pulled up to the large mechanical gates. An incubus in a guard uniform came up to the driver’s side door.
He recognized Anders and a small scowl slipped over his features before he schooled his face back into the strong, cool look he’d had before. I noted the look in his eyes. Shame. Sadness. Some anger. This wasn’t a man who’d turned on our people.
The guard waved us through and Anders steered toward the parking lot. I felt my stomach rise up to my throat and it had nothing to do with the doctor. This was almost as bad as ordering the succubae into the service of men. They were degraded and, even worse, hated because of what he forced them to do.
“Did you order him to work here?” I asked in a venomous tone.
Anders winced. “Yes. Any incubi or male concubi who didn’t volunteer for service were brought to me and I ordered them to go where they were needed. At least, as guards, they don’t have to kill.”
“That’s terrible, Vasili! How could you?! You forced them to betray their people!” My voice held all of the disgust I felt.
“It was what was needed. I don’t have to explain it to you. I don’t answer to you when it comes to ruling our people, Vasilia.” He scoffed.
I sighed. In a lot of ways, he’d changed for the better, but he still felt he was doing the right thing. Even Drayce was starting to see they were wrong and felt ashamed about his role. Nothing I could say would get through to Anders.
It was pointless to argue. He was ready to dig in. One thing that never changed, was when Anders got mad, he did things he regretted later.
After we parked, he guided me into the building. We were greeted by guards who checked us for weapons and contraband. These guards were incubi as well. They had the same look as the gate guard. It broke my heart. All this time, I’d been hunting and never knew what my people were being forced to go through.
“Is this place entirely staffed by men you ordered, Vasili?” I hissed.
“We can go home, if you’re unhappy about being here, Vasilia.” He scowled.
“I am unhappy, but I need to see the man who killed my mother. If you want to force me to leave, then you can. Just know, it will not help your case for winning my love.” I replied.
“Let’s go.” He grabbed my arm and guided me, roughly, down the corridor.
We went through a few bolted doors. The more I saw, the unhappier I got. Angry, sad looks followed us as we made our way through the camp. I could taste the overwhelming sorrow of the place, the despair. It made me sick to my stomach.
Once we got to the medical ward, we were guided to the offices in the back by a nurse. She was human and felt emotionless, as if she were empty. I knew this woman had to have seen some serious shit.
The smells and emotions of the ward were overpowering. I leaned against Anders more than I wanted to. He seemed to take it as fear and rubbed my hand with his in a comforting way. Sometimes, he was almost a good guy and I could see the man Drayce loved. Sometimes….
The nurse ushered us into an office with the name, Dr. Caleb Nettleston, on the door. We sat in the chairs in front of the doctor’s desk and waited. Neither of us could think of anything to say to each other. Anders was feeling grumpy about my judgement and I was trying to control my building rage.
[Madison]After some time, the door opened again and a man came through. He had a slight build with dirty blond hair and light green eyes. His shirt was rumpled and he wore a lab coat over it. Though his face was friendly, those eyes were cruel.When he extended his hand, I could smell blood. He’d been doing something to someone before he came and it had gotten everywhere. Particles of blood had seeped into his clothes and skin. There were at least two different people’s scents on his hand.I leaned away from the offered hand and shook my head. There was no way I was letting that monster touch me. Especi
After a few moments, the door behind us opened. I kept looking at Nettleston as his expression turned gleeful again. I couldn’t figure him out, until a girl walked past me.My eyes were suddenly drawn away from the smirking beast. The girl had glowing blue-black hair and warm golden brown skin. She was only a few inches taller than me, by my figuring. From the back, I could tell the girl had slight, modest curves, and her hips swayed gently as she walked. She was graceful and delicate.The scent of the ocean, the sun, and water-borne flowers drifted behind her. She was a goddess on Ea
[Madison]I finished attaching the siphons to the doctor, and asked to be excused to the bathroom. A guard was called into the office. He was a concubus. Nettleston ordered him to take me, guard me, and return me.When we were near the bathroom door, I grabbed him, pulled him inside, and pushed him against the wall. He looked afraid. I needed to free as many of my people as possible. I may not be able to get to the succubae just yet, but the concubi and incubi in the camps were a good start.“Are you here by your own choice or the Vasili’s orders?” I hissed.
Anders turned into the parking lot and drove to the back. I had him park near the door. I pulled Aria out of the car with me after explaining to Anders that I needed to keep her nearby, to make my mind calm down after dealing with the doctor.He accepted it easily. There was nothing I could really do without him being able to figure it out. At least… nothing he was expecting.Aria and I waited for Denny after Anders headed for the front of the building. Before I even found my angel, before I ever knew about the enslaved incubi and concubi, I’d been planning this. Ford told me L
We ate quietly for a while. I wanted to let the information sink in for Dennis. The rest of it was going to be difficult in a different way. I hoped having that connection would help him come to the right decision. “She loved me? No matter how many times I asked her out, she always said no. I felt like there was something, but I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. Sometimes I worried I was turning into Nathan.” He snorted.“That would be pretty much impossible. You are a very beautiful man, he’s a cave troll compared to you. Not that I’ve met many cave trolls, but I’ve heard they aren’t pretty….” I chuckled.
[Madison]When we finished, we went outside. Anders was leaning against his car, looking agitated. I guess it had been a rather long lunch. I walked Denny to his car and he gave me a little gift wrapped box.“For your birthday.” He said softly.“Thank you, Denny.” I grinned and opened it.The box inside the wrapping was a jewelry box. I opened it to find an oval shaped silver locket. When I looked inside, there was a picture of Indie on one side and Serena on the other. Tears filled my eyes and
[Aria]I looked at the people surrounding me. I was nervous. There were so many people and I was unprotected. Celia approached me and I got more nervous. I was afraid they would still blame me for what I had to do.They couldn’t understand. Caleb may have cared about me, but my punishments for disobedience were terrible. He would experiment. It wasn’t as bad as some of the things I watched him do to others, but it was painful. I was the only succubus he could cut up. I was the only siren he’d ever seen.
[Madison]They all started getting ready. Trista and Landry accepted the offer to come with us. I put on a flowy emerald green shirt and black leggings after putting away my wings and tail. We packed up water, snacks, and blankets, then headed out to the clearing that was now one of our favorite places.I held Aria’s hand as we walked. We talked about all the things I would show her and how excited I was to introduce her to all of my other friends later. I knew that Serena would be thrilled to find out she had a little sister. She wanted family she could really connect with, another siren would be wonderful.W
[Reggie]I sat in the tree tops and leaned forward, adjusting my braided bun. For three days, I’d been scouting the area. Lots of ex-trackers would come through here, but I would lose their scent. There had to be an entrance nearby and I intended to find it.A few minutes later, a tiger came through. I loved the rich scent of the large cats. There was more power to them than to almost any other shifter I’d seen. Using my tail, I lowered myself to the bottom branch. Quietly, I gripped it and gently dropped to the ground. The tiger paused and sniffed. He wouldn’t smell me, though.I found the urine of female animals in estrus, especially carnivores and omnivores, would completely conceal my scent. Of course, it led to me having to sleep in trees, but nothing could be done. Thank goodness, wolves can’t climb.
Thank to everyone for reading. I really appreciate your support.For any following this book as it's published, the final book in the series will start publishing on the 11th of January 2021. I am taking some time to work on editing that I haven't been able to get to in the last month.I will put out the first chapter tomorrow and I hope you all will bear with me. I was recently in the hospital and it is taking me a little time to normalize. I am working hard, as always.If you like, you can check out my Facebook page, just search Roarileywrites and you will find me. There are links to my other stories and to my website were I post the first chapter of each book and links or release dates for each of them.For anyone looking for another great book to read, check out 'Fated' and 'Orphan Alpha' by H.Linton. She is a wonderful author and those are two of my favorites by her.
Reggie woke up with a pounding… everything. Her head hurt the worst. She rubbed her eyes and registered the dried blood on her hands. Where her teeth had grown back, her gums tingled and itched. At least she was unconscious for that part. She examined her limbs, broken joints had mended properly and most of the bones were straight. That was good. Trying to find someone to help her rebreak bones wouldn’t be easy. With gentle care, she ran her fingers over her mangled wings. They would take a lot more time to heal. Those bastards. She could still smell them and committed those scents to memory. Before she finished her mission, she would hunt them down and eat their hearts. Her poor, beautiful wings. She whimpered at the
[Ford]It was nearly May when Madison’s body began turning to dust. I came out to talk with her, like I did every morning, and saw her toes were flaking away. I wasn’t ready to lose her yet. A mournful howl raised in my throat and drew the attention of most of the compound.The council of alphas, the Helvegr, and everyone from the Vasili’s old house rushed to the clearing. We stood silently as we watched the tips of her fingers, toes, tail, and wings starting to turn to ash and float or fall away. Aria hugged me tight. Serena hid her face against Rao’s chest.
[3rd person]Paul was eager to see what they got when Heather and Buddy returned to the studio. His grin was huge when Heather told him about her interview. They would play it at the top of the six o’clock news. He had Buddy rip it to digital so they could post it online, too.The trackers and hunters would be on them pretty quick. He had a ticker stream set up so people would know where to watch it online if their feed got cut. The video would be posted as soon as Heather started her broadcast.Buddy took a seco
[Heather]Buddy adjusted the camera to account for Ford’s larger size and gave me a thumbs up. I turned to the camera to give my introduction.“I’m Heather Olsen reporting from an undisclosed location. Today, I’m speaking with Duncan Stanford. A supernatural previously known as ‘Fenrir’ and newly labelled as the ‘Ulric’ of the wolves. Thank you for speaking with me today.” I smiled.“No problem. You can call me Ford. I’ll answe
[Heather Olsen]I bounced in the seat of the RV my boss lent me and Buddy, my cameraman. When I’d pitched the idea of finding supernaturals to interview as they travelled to wherever it was they were headed, I hadn’t expected he would be so gung-ho about it.Paul told me not to reveal where they were headed and not to require an interview for anyone who needed a ride. He didn’t want to make us into targets for the resistance. I would never do that anyway.A lot of news stations tried to get interviews, but any s
On the way to the main house, I pointed out a few things. The training grounds for shifters, the gym, the barn that had been allotted as the training space for demons.There was a large greenhouse and some animals which were kept for food. I told him the shifters would go hunt in the woods for most of the meat we needed. There was also a river fed lake that appeared a week ago and seemed to be filled with large fresh water fish.We came in through the back door and I led him to the dining room. I couldn’t wait to introduce him to everyone. Serena was right by the door. Her smile turned to wide-eyed shock as she saw the mark on my shoulder.
[Adam]Drayce led me to the door and knocked. There was some shuffling and the door opened. A tall woman with glistening black hair stood framed in the doorway. She smiled warmly at the Pendragon.“Drayce, she’s gotten some drawers cleared for him. It’s a good thing he came. She needs a feeding soon.” She said.“This is Adam. Adam, this is Poppy, my mate partner. Come on, time to meet the girl you’ll be feeding.” Drayce told me as we entered the cotta