Havermouth, Present Time“I’m fine, my darling, truly, cross my heart,” Connery pressed the heel of his hand to his chest earnestly. Meguitte narrowed her eyes at him with suspicion. He was still paler than normally, with shadows pressed deep into his under eyes.“Have a sandwich and a cup of tea,” the werewolf Diana insisted offering both from a tray. She was going around the lower floor exchanging food and drinks for blood, and Meguitte sent her a side-eye. “I won’t take his blood,” Diana added hastily. “I can see that he can’t spare it. Perhaps you could, though?”“Me?” Meguitte was astonished by the suggestion.“It won’t take more than ten minutes, and I’m very gentle, I promise.”“It’s not that,” Meguitte explained. “I’m just… not an ordinary vampire. I have none of their normal powers.”“All blood is good blood at the moment,” Diana had sensed surrender and was preparing the kit.Meguitte sat next to Connery and rolled up her sleeve.He smiled at her. “How generous you are my be
Havermouth, Present Time“Stella was anticipating that your mates would attack the ward,” Phillip commented mildly as he riffled through the cupboards. “I am curious to see what happened when she found Leighton instead of them. He did not seem happy.”“Leighton was there? Shit,” Aislen’s heart picked up pace. “We really don’t want him to find us, Phillip. We tried to turn him over to the Mer, but it failed. Verina died though, and Leighton’s pissed in a big way. He came to kill me.”“Possibly, or to steal the baby,” Phillip agreed indifferently inspecting a steak knife before returning it to the drawer. “I think you over value yourself, Aislen, and undervalue what you’re carrying.”“Gee, thanks. Hopefully, Stella took Leighton out,” Aislen added thoughtfully. “She was well set up there, with a massive coven behind her. However powerful Leighton is, I doubt he’s as powerful as them.”“That is true. But then, Stella will have discovered that you are not there, and will know that I betra
Havermouth, Present Time“You’re doing great,” Heath was breathless. He and Rhett had run, dragging with them several screaming witches. They had been pursued, by Mer, by zombies, by the few Van Helsing soldiers who had survived, but they’d been able to put some distance between them with help from the dragons in the sky. It had been very weird to see the dragons sending bolts of lighting and fire to hold off pursuit. One of them had done something that had made the earth beneath Heath’s feet tremble with a clap of thunder that had his ears still ringing.The timing had been perfect. They’d headed towards Leighton’s warehouse, and just as he’d started to debate which warehouse was likely, the door of the Stock Feed and Animal Supplies warehouse had opened revealing Phillip Salem. When he’d entered and seen Aislen on her hands and knees in a clearing within the filthy warehouse, he had not known whether to be relieved or despairing. The warehouse was so precarious a place for his mate
Havermouth, Present TimeThe room stank. They could smell it the moment they started down the hallway. Old blood, rotten flesh, and rodents. Connery made a noise in the back of his throat and fished in his pockets producing a handkerchief and stuffing it full of herbs from a pouch. He held it out to Meguitte who smiled and shook her head ruefully. She had smelled this particular scent before, many times over the centuries, during plagues and in the dungeons where people were tortured and left to rot.“I guess it’s a good thing that no one has been here to clean up after Leighton, as the ward will be untouched,” Connery commented, his voice muffled by the handkerchief.Blow flies greeted them. The cages were empty, but no one had scrubbed the room, and there were buckets sticky with congealed blood, stains of it on the floors and walls, and other biological matter in the corners of the cages where the prisoners had relieved themselves. The room rustled with bugs as a result.“Hmm,” Meg
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen was looking down at a chessboard. She was holding a little statuette of Verina in her hand. She shook as she set it down on her side of the board and looked up at the woman who sat across from her. This time, the handmaiden or goddess, whatever she was, wore gold. Not some cheap and tacky replica, or some misleading named yellow, but true gold.An elaborate metal headdress began on her forehead, framing her face and covering her hair, continuing from just below her chin to spread over her shoulders and down her chest. The dress was made of fine chain link that draped like material, clinging to her curvaceous body, before dripping away into the aether that crept around their feet. Her lips were painted gold, and so were her eyelids and eyebrows. Golden rings encircled her fingers, and her wrists and arms were heavy with bracelets and cuffs. The tips of her fingers were dipped in gold.She was magnificent and regal and there was a formality to the way tha
Havermouth, Present Time“We have to go,” Harry said in a low and urgent voice catching hold of Jules’ arm. “Sigrid says we have to run.”“Run,” Jules looked up at them in shock. “Run where?”“Run, run,” Harry stressed the words. “Like, to your bunker, run, Jules, my love.”“No,” Jules recoiled, his eyes sweeping the room around them. There were injured everywhere, with pack members, humans, and Mer united in their care. Whilst devastating because it was testimony to the violence taking place in the town around them, it was also heartening to see that here the differences had been set aside. It felt sacred and special. It was almost impossible to believe that what he saw with his eyes would not spread beyond the walls of the hospital and end the fighting, but if Harry were right, it meant that the reverse would happen, and the violence outside was about to intrude.“No, Harry,” he protested, tears in his eyes as he looked up at his mate, as if pleading with Harry to stop it. “What abo
Havermouth, Present TimeMeguitte placed herself between Leighton and the spell trap. She wanted his attention focused on her and away from where Mercy was hidden behind a fragile illusion and the longer that she kept it to the center of the room, the better.She had felt the shift of power when he’d used it outside the hospital and wondered what he had done. It had to have been a significant magic for her to feel the shiver of it cross her skin standing the fine hairs on end like static electricity. Good, she thought. There was a limit to how much magic any witch or warlock could use. It took effort and tired the user. The more Leighton exerted himself elsewhere, the better.And then she thought about the injured people and began to fret as to those she knew below. Sigrid and Talen had gone, she comforted herself, but she could not recall if she had seen Harry leave. And had they let the other vampires know?She stood with her heart pounding heavily in dread.“Meguitte!” The call was
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen reached out and found Tabitha Marie, and the power of her coven. She pulled on it, drawing it into herself. She let herself drift and her consciousness expand. Her mates appeared first, they were bonded to her, and so physically close to her body, their minds bright with mixed emotions of distress and joy. Talen was feeding Aislen his blood, his wrist at her throat, whilst Cameron was busy between her legs. Heath supported Gera on Aislen’s chest as the baby cried and nuzzled at Aislen’s milk-heavy breast.Phillip and Rhett were at the filthy window at the front of the warehouse and were looking out with expressions of alarm. Above them, on the roof, out of sight of the battle below, Ember tended to Samuel’s wounds, whilst keeping an eye on what happened below.Ember worried that Samuel was too injured to wield the power of the gloves, and if he did, the dark veins of poison that had already spread up his arms and across his chest far further than she li
Havermouth, Present TimeThe journey to the river house was slow. Thanks to Sigrid’s roadblocks and the damage from the Mer. They also encountered many groups of people just standing on the road, talking in confusion. No one could quite understand what had happened, and no one was entirely confident that it was the end.Gera, true to form, had woken wanting to be fed, and so Aislen held the baby in her arms and watched out through the windows as they passed along the river road towards the bridge. “We’re a long way from done,” she said softly.“Yes,” Talen agreed. “But still, I feel as if we are far closer to peace, and I find myself optimistic and excited about the future before us.”“Me too,” Cameron agreed. “But that’s also how it feels when Aislen does her thing in your brain, so it could be that too.”“We haven’t really talked about that,” Heath added. “About what happened, Aislen?”“It’s hard to explain,” she said looking down at Gera and tracing the curve of the baby’s cheek wit
Havermouth, Present TimeDown the hallway enough for the stink of the torture room and the crunch and slurp of Mercy’s meal to be less nauseating, they formed a huddle, with Sigrid, Greg, Niarthen and Lyric in the centre, discussing what they had seen, and what the Mer would do next.Aislen leaned her cheek against Heath’s shoulder, exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to shower for a really long time, put on something that wasn’t coarse and itchy, and sleep. Heath put his arm around her absently, his attention on the discussion. She wanted to tell him that the world needed to take care of itself for a while, she had done her best for it, and it was time for her to sleep.“I can’t believe that she ate him,” Dan was seriously grossed out, Aislen could tell, although he kept his voice to a whisper.“I know,” Tom replied from the corner of his mouth, his eyes on Sigrid and Greg as they spoke with Niarthen. “Did you see the look on his face? He was just as surprised as we were.”“Will
Havermouth, Present TimeInside the room was worse than the hallway, and explained why Connery had his seat propped in the doorway – for relief from the stench. Aislen tried not to look too closely at the gore that remained around the room. Some of it had belonged to Bianca, and that was too raw a wound for her to deal with at the moment. She was just too tired from giving birth, and too ragged from losing her telepathy.Meguitte sat just inside the door, with another notepad, and a look in her eye that spoke of darkness and trauma. Aislen could smell fresh blood from Meguitte, and the scent worried her. “Are you okay?” She asked.Meguitte’s eyes flicked up to Aislen’s, her cheeks heating. “I am exhausted,” she confessed.“Okay,” Aislen didn’t think that was everything wrong with the vampiress, but she rested her hand on Meguitte’s shoulder in empathy. If Meguitte didn’t want to talk about it, Aislen wasn’t the right person to push the conversation.Within the room, was a circle drawn
Havermouth, Present TimeJules and Harry led the way into the hospital, pausing on the top level to open a door into a ward. It was busy in there with patients and people tending to them. Due to the lack of uniforms, only the injuries separated patients from carers. Aislen stood just inside the stairwell door, holding baby Gera in her arms, with the chaos unfolding before her, a little shell-shocked.A vampire that Aislen did not recognise saw Samuel and encouraged him and Ember into a room, despite the dragon’s protests. Samuel surrendered when Ember sternly ordered him to let the vampire donate some blood and help his healing.“Well,” Jules ran his hand through his hair awkwardly. “I guess we should find a midwife?”Gera decided to wake up and demand to be fed. The baby’s cries drew the attention of those near to them, and Tyler suddenly appeared through the crowd, his whole face contorted with excitement. “Oh, my fucking heart!” He declared. “You have a baby!”“I do, and a hungry o
Havermouth, Present TimeHeath and Talen helped Aislen have a sponge bath in the kitchen, whilst Cameron, who knew his way around the stock and feed shop like the back of his hand, produced a pair of overalls and a shirt in hi-Vis yellow. As her men washed and dressed her, Aislen watched as Rhett and Phillip showed Gera off to Jules and Harry and felt her heart melt at the pride on her dark-haired mate’s face, and the way his tattooed fingers carefully cradled the baby’s head.“Are you alright?” Heath asked her as he buckled the overalls up.“Yeah,” she looked down at herself. “Feeling really stylish.” Thankfully the bleeding had stopped after another dose of her mates’ blood, as she was sans-underwear. Despite her complaint about the clothing, she was relieved to be covered.Cameron smirked. “You’re the best-looking farmer this shop has ever seen.”“And boy, did it see a lot of me,” Aislen pulled a face. “The owner is going to come in and wonder what the fuck happened here.”“They’ll
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen lips were sticky with blood. It was not unusual, she existed on a diet of it, but she could feel the stick of this blood on her cheeks and glueing her eyelashes together. She fought to open her eyes, blinking away a wash of blood that blurred her vision for a moment. “Something’s wrong,” she rasped.“What is wrong, little demon?” Talen asked, his voice thick with emotion. She was leaning against him, his legs to either side of her, and his chest cushioning her back. His arm was resting just under her breasts, holding her to him. He rubbed his cheek against hers, the rasp of his beard against her skin. “Are you in pain?”“Oh, thank the goddess you’re awake.” Heath exclaimed, heavy with relief. She saw the blur of him appear in the field of her vision. “She’s awake. Rhett - water, and a cloth…” He held out his hand. The dark form of Rhett knelt on her other side, and she heard the slosh of water as he wrung out a cloth and began to wipe her face.The wate
Havermouth, Present TimeLyric watched Niarthen with a heavy weight on her heart. He had always been honest with her that it was unlikely the Mer would make peace, but she had been hopeful, and she could tell that under his apparent pessimism, he had been too – if mainly because he had not wanted to disappoint her and had understood that as someone who had come so recently from the land, she had some loyalty to it and its people.The betrayal from above and the siren Priestesses' efforts to kill Leighton had stung Niarthen’s pride and his faith in his people. The disaster that had resulted had caused an even deeper wound. However, Niarthen’s helplessness hurt her mate the most. She could see it in the way he stood, the line of his shoulders, the lift of his chin.Sapphire’s death was another blow as Niarthen had held hopes of rehabilitating her. Lyric had been relieved when Sigrid had killed her. She was almost certain that the Mer woman had been using some sort of power to entrance N
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen reached out and found Tabitha Marie, and the power of her coven. She pulled on it, drawing it into herself. She let herself drift and her consciousness expand. Her mates appeared first, they were bonded to her, and so physically close to her body, their minds bright with mixed emotions of distress and joy. Talen was feeding Aislen his blood, his wrist at her throat, whilst Cameron was busy between her legs. Heath supported Gera on Aislen’s chest as the baby cried and nuzzled at Aislen’s milk-heavy breast.Phillip and Rhett were at the filthy window at the front of the warehouse and were looking out with expressions of alarm. Above them, on the roof, out of sight of the battle below, Ember tended to Samuel’s wounds, whilst keeping an eye on what happened below.Ember worried that Samuel was too injured to wield the power of the gloves, and if he did, the dark veins of poison that had already spread up his arms and across his chest far further than she li
Havermouth, Present TimeMeguitte placed herself between Leighton and the spell trap. She wanted his attention focused on her and away from where Mercy was hidden behind a fragile illusion and the longer that she kept it to the center of the room, the better.She had felt the shift of power when he’d used it outside the hospital and wondered what he had done. It had to have been a significant magic for her to feel the shiver of it cross her skin standing the fine hairs on end like static electricity. Good, she thought. There was a limit to how much magic any witch or warlock could use. It took effort and tired the user. The more Leighton exerted himself elsewhere, the better.And then she thought about the injured people and began to fret as to those she knew below. Sigrid and Talen had gone, she comforted herself, but she could not recall if she had seen Harry leave. And had they let the other vampires know?She stood with her heart pounding heavily in dread.“Meguitte!” The call was