Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeAkaus greeted them at the temple, the semi-sheer silks that he wore clasped to his body with jewelled gold bands and chains fluttering as the wind caught it, lifting his hair back from the circlet that he wore on his brow.“My king!” Akaus went to his knee before Thaelen and lifted Thaelen’s hands to his lips. “I thank you for the return of my beloved Besafora.”“Besafora returned herself,” Thaelen laughed, overjoyed to see his priest and lover, lifting Akaus to his feet and embracing him warmly. “It is so good to see you, Akaus!”They moved through the ranks of priests and priestesses, to where the high priestess waited for them, with the human acolytes gathering behind her giggling and casting him flirtatious looks from behind their fans and veils. “My king,” she greeted him warmly. “We were overjoyed both by the return of Besafora and her news that you had survived.”They moved into the main hall, with it’s many statues and altars to t
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years Before“How have you found being regent?” Thaelen asked Sigrid, wincing as the priest with his sharp tools and ink worked the pattern into Thaelen’s skin. It was a fascinating process of piercing the skin and pushing ink into the wound over and over again in order to leave the vampire wearing the symbols of his people.The priest had positioned Thaelen under the fall of light through a window for the process, and had four acolyte assistants – one supervising the equipment needed, one helping to hold Thaelen’s skin taut, another which marked the pattern on Thaelen’s skin ahead of the priest’s needles, and the final holding the design so that all could see.Thaelen was reconsidering the rash decision to have the tattoo done, however it had been offered and he had been intrigued. Sitting for the hours required for it’s completion, however, was tedious and he had been relieved when Sigrid had joined him. She had brought with her a set of throwing bo
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThaelen watched as Concordia receded on the horizon. It would take time, he told himself, for the humans to replace the weaponry that he had destroyed and rebuild their army after the explosion. It would take them time to burrow back through the mountains, to Concordia, and now that Gunnar and the other strongholds along the mountain range knew the signs of human excavation to watch for, any rockfall, dirt clouds, or smoke would be investigated.The Concordian vampires would not be caught unaware.It was not a permanent solution to the problem, but the temple mages had promised to consider the issue and try to come up with a way of protecting Concordia from human invasion through the mountain ranges.In the meantime, the best that Thaelen could do for his people was to try to locate a source of human blood slaves free of disease and free of the One God.“It is pretty,” Meguitte put her hand over his on the handrail. “Concordia.”“Not as p
Astreau, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThey stayed out from the Alden coast, trying to avoid contact with the humans of that country, although there were a few days where, on the horizon, an Alden ship seemed to contemplate whether to pursue or let them be, when the rolling sand-dunes gave way to lush forest the ship let them sail beyond visual contact.As they sailed past the gorgeous greenery and pretty fishing villages with the sleekly attractive people watching from the sand, Thaelen contemplated the possibility of taking them again. With a period of quarantine, vampire blood, and care, it might be possible, he thought.“They settled well into Concordia,” Meguitte commented, guessing the direction of his thoughts. “We could take more, with caution. If we keep them isolated, treat them with blood, before taking them to shore, as we plan to do with anyone else that we take…”“It is a thought,” he agreed. “However, we have suffered so many losses, I find myself reluctant to tak
Astreau, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThe inn was able to provide two adjoining rooms, sharing a parlour between them in which it was suggested that an important merchant such as himself could entertain other merchants and conduct business. Thaelen sent the soldiers back to bring their blood slaves and clothing from the ship, along with one of the chests of trinkets from Concordia that Sigrid and Alyra had arranged for trading, whilst the inn brought tin hip baths to set before the fires in the bedchambers and filled them with steaming water.Thaelen and Meguitte left the doors between the chambers open, anticipating the arrival of their blood slaves and clothing, and because Thaelen did not trust that Meguitte would be safe whilst he bathed without their soldiers to guard her.“Oh, my legs think that we’re still on board the ship!” Meguitte’s giggle echoed through the parlour to where Thaelen undressed in his chamber. “I am always so slow to adjust from land to ship and ship t
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeAislen leaned her hip against the table and set a folder down in front of Heath, leaning over to flick it open. He looked up at her and wondered if she knew that he could see straight down her top and she wasn’t wearing a bra. He met Talen’s gaze across the table and saw that the vampire’s eyes danced with suppressed laughter, his lips fighting the curve.Heath smothered his smile, knowing that he’d been busted looking and gave a slight, rueful, shrug.Aislen’s attention was on the folder, and the paperwork within it. “So, my father fancied himself a bit of a PI, I guess,” she explained. “He and Chris Arrens were part of a group of parents who have noticed that werewolves are f-king their way through their daughters with reckless disregard for the girls involved. Here’s a list. The girls, the boys, and…”“F-k,” Heath turned his attention to the paperwork. There was a spreadsheet, each column neatly titled and each row containing a girl’s name, her parent’s
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before“Why Heath?” Aislen’s wine glass chimed with the force of its impact on the Formica table as she steeled herself for battle. “Why do they think they have the right to behave in a way that these secrets should be kept? Your pack thinks they are above humans. More than humans. You’re happy to live amongst us, to use us to disguise your supernatural natures, you f-k us, sit next to us in school and in church, let us repair your cars, serve your food… But underneath your pretty smiles and friendly ways, you think you’re more than us, better than us.”“Well, that’s not going to fly anymore,” she braced her hand on the tabletop, leaning over towards him angrily. Talen reached out and moved her wine glass subtly away but did not otherwise interfere.“The cracks are there and it’s bigger than me and my father. These girls’ parents,” she stabbed the folder with her finger, “they know that something is going on. They might not know that the local werewolf pack has g
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeTyler, Heath assumed. Heath wasn’t sure what he had expected from a vampire’s blood slave, but the tall, gangly man in a band-t-shirt and jeans, somehow fit. Tyler’s eyes were shadowed, his hair was overgrown, there was a week’s growth of stubble on his jaw, and his clothes were wrinkled as if he’d slept in them but there wasn’t a sense of distress to accompany the dishevel, rather the opposite, as if they’d caught Tyler on a lazy weekend at home in front of the TV.He stepped inside and put the carton of beer that he held against his hip down on the kitchen bench. “I’m Tyler. Talen’s just bringing in the wine.” Around his neck, just showing above the collar of his tshirt, he wore a leather collar lazer-cut with the same design that Aislen’s necklace had woven between the glinting diamonds – a statement of Talen’s ownership, but one that had been done in just such a way that it fit Tyler’s overall aesthetic perfectly and would never make anyone wonder why
Havermouth, Present Time Heath woke into darkness. His werewolf sight could not even determine a pinprick of light. The darkness was heavy, smothering. “Talen?” He asked. His voice sounded muted, as if he were in a closed, tight space. He reached out and felt nothing however… And that was terrifying. There was no floor, no walls. He did not understand how it was that he was not falling… or perhaps he was. His breathing was rasped through lungs constricted by panic. “Shh,” a woman murmured. “Hush now, do not fear. Nothing will harm you here. Indeed,” there was amusement to her voice. “There is nothing here to harm you.” “Who are you?” He demanded, fear turning into anger. “Some Van Helsing trick?” “Hmhmhm,” she chuckled softly. “No, white wolf.” “Where is Talen?” He sat up slowly, relying on his stomach muscles as there wasn’t a floor to brace his hands against. “Where are we? Why… isn’t there a floor?” “So many questions. We are in the beginning, the aether, the place where we
Havermouth, Present TimeCameron and Rhett stood by the front window of Mr Claymont’s house with the lace curtains pushed back, looking out at the street as the crowd began to clear. A riot had broken out in response to the explosion of the school and had blocked the Van Helsings’ efforts to reach their destroyed base. The Havermouth rioters had destroyed several of the Van Helsings’ vehicles until guns had been drawn and bullets had been fired.Just as things had been on the verge of turning into a massacre, the fire had begun to spread out from the school, and Havermouth’s residents had rushed to help the homeowners save their property whilst others had dragged those injured by the Van Helsings retaliation into nearby houses.Into the chaos and mania of it all, the fleeing werewolves had just been another strangeness of the day, with people shrieking and screaming as their fur brushed against them, but otherwise taking no action against them, too occupied with the fire and gunmen, a
Havermouth, Present TimeThe f-ker!Aislen woke angry and sore. Her whole body ached, but her head and throat most of all. She was f-king going to kill that arsehole of a torturer, she thought.She was lying on her back on a bed, but not somewhere private. Around her she could hear the murmur of voices, groans and moans, the rattle of metal against metal, and crying. It stank. Layers of sweat, urine, faeces and… rotten meat.She opened her eyes and looked through a mesh of metal bars at the pressed tin tile design within the coffered ceiling high above her and the elaborate chandelier that dangled from it. Not what she’d expected having smelled the room, she thought, sitting up.It was a large long room, with a heavy velvet curtained stage set on one end and a wall of double doors at the other. In between the two ends, rows of cages had been set, each one only long enough to fit a trundle bed and twice as wide. Many of the cages were empty, like the one directly next to Aislen’s bed,
Havermouth, One Week BeforeTony had the police officer tied by his wrists and dangling over an open oubliette in the barn when Talen arrived, and looked up from a toolbox which was set on the pushed back stone lid. “Alex, this is Talen. Talen, meet Alexander Grennith.”“F-k you,” the werewolf was in the policeman’s eyes, but with his weight on his shoulders, and his wrists tied, he could not shift without risking tearing his arms from the joint, an injury that would be both intensely painful and potentially life-alteringly disabling.“No thank you,” Talen replied as he rolled up his sleeves. “Did you have any trouble?” He asked Tony.“No,” Tony was amused. “I took Sigrid with me, and she distracted him at the front door whilst I took him from behind. He did not know what happened. We bundled him into his own car, and I wore his jacket and hat. Anyone who saw me would have thought he was going on a date. I dropped Sigrid at the Ute and she drove it home for me.”“I didn’t know that Si
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeCameron creeping out of the bed and around the room getting dressed woke Heath. He was pressed tightly to Talen’s back, half drowning in the vampire’s blonde hair, with his arm over Talen’s waist and he was disinclined to move from the position. Used to Cameron’s early mornings, once he’d registered what the movement was about, he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep only for Aislen to mutter a complaint as Rhett wriggled out from under her.“I have a client coming at nine,” Rhett explained his movement. “I have to go set up.”“Too early,” Aislen grumbled.“I know, but they work afternoons, and it will take a good three hours,” Rhett yawned widely as he slid out of the bed.Talen shifted in order to pull Aislen back against him, snuggling her into the spoon of his body. “Sleep some more, Morgana,” he murmured. “You need to rest in order to heal.”Rhett cursed as he stumbled and Cameron smothered his laughter. “Careful. F-k man, you’re not a good m
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before“I could do with a cigarette too,” Aislen announced. “And a glass of wine.”“It’s not even midday,” Heath protested immediately.Aislen’s eyeroll said it all. “I wasn’t asking for permission. I’ve had a pretty shitty couple of days, and I want to f-king have a cigarette and a glass of wine on the porch of my house and so that’s precisely what I am going to do,” she began to get dressed. “If you’re all going to be bitches you can leave.”Heath spotted her underwear tangled at the foot of the bed and retrieved them, untangling them as he handed them to her. “I’ll go open a bottle.” He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door before leaning against the wall and heaving out a sigh.Rhett and Cameron now knew about the miscarriage, but he felt as if the Triquetra had narrowly avoided disaster with the discussion that had followed, and the adrenaline spike had left him shaky with his heart racing against his ribs. The conversation had also shaken free a
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeRhett laughed. F-k this was going to be fun, he thought lifting up onto his elbows in order to improve his view.“Oh.” Aislen had realized that the double-sided dildo was for her.Talen’s shoulder shook with his silent laughter as he helped her into the harness and eased her end of the dildo into her.“F-k that’s hot,” Rhett groaned as Talen tightened the harness around her waist. There was something so naughty about Aislen with a c-k, and the leather straps compressing her soft skin, the contrast of white to black and soft to hard… “F-k,” he groaned, and Heath compliantly gripped his c-ck, stroking from base to tip so that he sighed out his pleasure.“Very nice,” Talen approved leaning back to inspect his workmanship. “Who would you like to f-k, little demon?”“Choices, choices,” Aislen’s response was pure devilry.“Me,” Rhett gasped out rolling up to sitting. “I want to try that.”“Why not?” Aislen was amused by his eagerness and by her new accessory, re
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeRhett used the trolley to herd Tabitha and her cameraman away from Cameron and Aislen so that they could make their escape, his vindicative ramming of the reporter’s heels fuelled by the nasty volley of questions she had just thrown at Aislen.“This is assault, Rhett Salem!” Tabitha snarled at him.“Oh, f-k off Tabitha,” he replied. “For a f-king desperate ambulance chasing vulture you are pretty righteous. F-king chasing down a woman who was just shot, and shouting out her personal business… You are slime. The worst type of slime. Just own it and shut the f-k up.”He abandoned the trolley inside the doors of the hospital and trotted across the carpark to where Heath was picking up shards of broken vase and ignoring Tabitha’s attempts to engage him into an interview. Heath surprised Tabitha by passing her the broken pieces. “Throw these away for me, please, like a good girl,” he told her.“Ah, shit, Heath, don’t call her a good girl,” Rhett laughed as he h
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeCameron almost stopped dead. From the corner of his eye, he saw Rhett fumble a vase of flowers that he was loading into his car, the vase shattering with a loud crash as it hit the ground and distracting the reporter and her cameraman.Miscarriage? What miscarriage? And… if Aislen couldn’t have a child… what did that mean for their Triquetra?“I don’t hit women,” Heath growled down at Tabitha. “But you are testing my resolve. Get the f-k away from us, and stay away.”Cameron pulled himself together and crossed the last distance to the Ute, easing Aislen into the passenger seat, and closing the door before turning back to help his Triquetra drive off the reporter and her cameraman. Rhett drove the now empty trolley directly at Tabitha and the cameraman, forcing them backwards, and used it to herd them towards the hospital and away from the Ute.“What the f-k?” Cameron asked Heath in shock. “What the f-k was that?”“Take her to her house, Cam, I’ll meet you