New Estra, Two Hundred and Ninety Years Before“Do you smell that?” Cieran paused and sucked in a breath through his nose.Thaelen paused, frowning, and inhaled suspiciously. After spending the past ten years off and on wandering the land with his cartographers, he’d learned that not all smells that Cieran remarked upon were good ones and many were produced by the digestive system of the human body.No one liked to walk behind Cieran.Both sides of the land and the mountains were all thoroughly mapped out, containing geographic landmarks, as well as marked with areas that would do well for settlers – from inland water sources, herds of deer that they’d encountered, where the land appeared very fertile, to the Karifa towns both abandoned and occupied.The riverbank in which they’d discovered fist sized chunks of gold (several of which weighed down the backpacks of the cartographers) was marked on Thaelen’s own personal copy of the map and none-other, and the four men had agreed that th
New Estra, Two Hundred and Ninety Years BeforeA road had been carved into the trees, though road was a generous term for it. Truthfully it was where the ground cover had been trampled away underfoot by cattle being driven into the trees, and two lines worn into that by the passage of wagons. Trees had been chopped down to make way for the road, and the side was littered with the debris.“Most colonists head into the trees,” Harry told Thaelen conversationally. “The grass plains are a tough place to live. There are only a few places with ground water that the farmers can access, and in the dry season, with the lightning storms, that grass goes up like gunpowder, so the farmers need to clear a large around their homesteads fast and be able to pump that water from their wells quickly enough to create a firebreak. Even that’s not enough sometimes. Two families were burnt away the season before I arrived, and that’s put a lot of people off settling there.”“So, most take to the trees, fol
New Estra, Two Hundred and Ninety Years BeforeThere was much to see along the journey to Sigrid’s farm with new holdings and little townships along the way. Thaelen’s cartographers were kept busy taking measurements and adding details to the maps.Their convoy’s presence on the road was greeted by most of the colonists with excitement, many coming to the road in order to intercept them, asking eagerly if there was mail, or if they had anything on board which they could purchase.“I will have to remember this,” Harry observed after seeing off the latest colonists to greet them. “And maybe provide a monthly supply caravan through the area.”Thaelen hid his smile, but behind it was also sorrow for the young prince that had never been able to claim his throne. Yes, Harry had been self centered and spoiled, accustomed to using their good looks to get their way, but Thaelen had come to be confident that had the crown come to rest on Harry’s head, they would have arisen to the occasion. Wit
New Estra, Two Hundred and Ninety Years BeforeThe road branched off and they paused on the fork to consider their options.The road that seemed more travelled, the gouges from wagon wheels deeper, the greenery pushed further back, and the undergrowth trampled to dirt, lead towards the mountains, but it was possible that it curled back to the river. Travelling the road into the forest had taught Thaelen that colonists and cattle did not travel as the crows flies, more as the worm slithered, the path meandering leaning away and then closer to the river. Combined with the canopy of leaves, he sometimes lost his sense of direction and had to consult the position of the sun or the compass in his pocket in order to reorientate himself.“That way I think goes to where the Ridetens have settled,” Harry frowned at the road. “Very wealthy group from Greibron - shit,” they grimaced. “Veralden. They’re from Veralden,” they corrected themselves. “They have a lot of convicts with them, and plan o
New Estra, Two Hundred and Ninety Years BeforeA week of Harry and Sigrid’s animosity was sufficient to last a lifetime, Thaelen decided as he sent Harry with the now empty wagon and the cartographers to complete recording the new settlements on the map. In the wake of Harry’s departure, to give Sigrid time to settle her temper rather than exorcise it on him, Thaelen headed towards the mountains.He found the temple occupied by Karifa who were rather hostile towards him when he entered the main hall to place his offerings to the gods and goddesses. The language was still a barrier, his cartography travels having given him little time in which to learn it, but he was able to determine that they had been pushed out of their homes, their towns, by the colonists and the diseases that they brought in with them, and had sought refuge in the mountains, as the colonists had little interest in them.He moved on, using the markings in Concordian carved into stone along the mountains to guide hi
New Estra, Two Hundred and Fifty Years Before** Trigger Warning – the following chapters refer to child sex abuse/incest and abortion. These details are not graphic, but they are discussed. **“Boss,” Tony’s call stopped Talen as he stepped out of the mine and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the sharp sun after the dimness of the shaft.“Tony,” Talen crossed to him, stepping over the metal tracks that the mining carts ran on. “They’ve hit another vein.”“That’s good news,” Tony agreed, but his expression was grim. “There’s a situation in the office.”Talen’s eyebrows raised. “A situation in my office?”“Mhm,” Tony hunched his shoulders. “One of the miner’s wives and her daughter.”“I’m not sure I understand,” Talen started towards the office, wiping his hands against his trousers although it didn’t seem to make a difference to the ingrained dirt of his hands. Mining was a filthy business and although he now employed enough men that he could sit in his office all day, he’d become add
New Estra, Two Hundred and Fifty Years BeforeTalen sent the girl to a ship bound for New Estra in the care of his current blood slave, Georgette, who he knew would be kind. The girl needed kindness, he thought grimly. He could not imagine what she was going through, abused by the father, and discarded by the mother because of it.“And after?” Georgette had asked him quietly.“She cannot come back here. See if Meguitte has any ideas. Perhaps she needs a new maid,” Talen suggested hopefully. “If not, send me word, and I will contact Sigrid.”By the time he returned to his office the day was aging. His thoughts turned from the mother and daughter to Joseph Cline. The miners would be leaving the mine and making their way home. There were many, many ways to kill a man, however he could not openly commit a murder, or he’d find himself without a workforce in the morning. Whilst a mine made for some very interesting opportunities to make it appear accidental, he wanted to look Joseph Cline i
New Estra, Two Hundred and Fifty Years Before** Trigger Warning: This chapter contains an emergency c-section and infant loss. This is not highly detailed. **Tony’s predicted rain came late, arriving with full dawn as Talen stopped by Tony’s house, waking the other vampire from sleep with his hasty explanation, before riding to the docks. There were no ships at dock, and Talen cursed Harry under his breath. He suspected that Harry had left so swiftly in order to avoid having to discuss the matter further with Talen that the other vampire hadn’t considered that the fastest route to Sigrid was the ship that Harry had absconded upon.Which made Talen think that whatever was going on with Sigrid, Harry had a hand in it. Had Harry played a prank that had gotten out of control? How out of control? Before it’s too late… What did that mean?“F-king hell,” Talen grumbled under his breath. He could not run the distance. There were too many obstacles between if he did not take the road, and he
Havermouth, The Present Aislen sat on the bench seat of one of the Unimogs whilst Talen and the Heath met with Rohan. There were lot of hand signals gesturing beyond the destruction of the farm and solemn expressions on their faces. When she looked up, she could see that Rhett and Cameron were busy helping to carry injured to the waiting vehicles and that the vampires and werewolf soldiers were destroying what remained of the farm’s buildings, ensuring that there was no way that the Van Helsings could return and continue to use the site. The crashing and shouting as they tore the buildings to pieces was giving Aislen a headache and she paused in her poetry writing to pinch her brows. “Here,” Bianca climbed nimbly up the Unimog’s ladder and offered Aislen a bottle of water and two pills. “Paracetamol. You’ve been sitting here rubbing at your head, so I know you’ve got a headache.” “Thanks,” Aislen took the pills and washed them back with the water. “Ah shit,” she said after she’d sw
Havermouth, The PresentRhett and Heath shifted into human form and the Triquetra threw their arms around each other and him, their hands smearing mud and blood onto each other unheeding in their relief that all four had made it through unscathed. Over Heath’s shoulder, Talen saw Morgana slip and slide through the mud, her cheeks streaked with tears as she saw them, and he held out a hand, welcoming her in, the Triquetra pulling her into the center of the embrace.It was where she belonged, Talen thought as he leaned his face into her hair and breathed the scent of his female mate into his lungs. Morgana had always been the center, the heart of their family, the piece that made the rest of them make sense together.“Everyone’s in one piece,” she pivoted slowly round the circle of her men, inspecting each for injury, smearing away blood and mud with her hands in order to make sure that they didn’t hide wounds below.“We’re fine. We are fine,” Heath laughed wetly. “Really, Aislen, we’re
Havermouth, The PresentTalen kept watch as Harry set the explosives under the last of the guns. Of all five machine gun stations, this one was the most exposed, and Talen could feel the prickle of stress sweat between his shoulder blades. They had debated leaving this one completely and hoping that the explosions from the other stations would be enough, but the Van Helsings on duty there had been called to help load a helicopter that was waiting to take off, leaving the station as an open invitation for sabotage.When Harry eased out from under the station and slunk through the shadows to Talen’s side, the relief dragged through Talen’s muscles like the heavy refractory period after sex. He was exhausted, and that terrified him as he knew that the battle was ahead. Get through it, he told himself. Win this battle, and then take your mates to the river house, as Cameron had suggested, for three days and nights of f-king and feasting upon his mates as he turned them.It would be bliss.
Havermouth, The PresentIt was one thing to ride a Unimog through town, and another to travel on one long distance for over an hour, Aislen thought grimly. She was certain that most of her bones had been shaken loose and that when she eventually did stand up, she’d collapse in a jumble of limbs like in a cartoon. She’d been trying to work on another Secret Keeper post, working in a notebook that she’d stolen from one of the desks in the bunker, but her handwriting was so shaky that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to read it afterwards.She also wasn’t sure if she was being optimistic in it’s message.However, if she wasn’t writing, then she had to focus on what was happening around her, where they were going, and the fact that they had to be getting close, and there still was no sign of Talen. Was he okay? She would know, wouldn’t she? She asked herself. If something had happened to him, she was sure that she would feel it somehow, like a wound to her heart.“He’s fine,” she said out lo
Havermouth, The PresentThe farm’s vegetable gardens had been trampled underfoot, without any care for the vegetables and fruits left unharvested, the Van Helsings having abandoned any pretence of the site being anything other than what it was – a military facility. Entrance into the farm from the main road was controlled by guards and cement roadblocks, however, away from the public side of the farm, the security relaxed. There were flood lights set at key points, but their focus was inward and in daylight, they had been turned off.One field contained neat rows of tents, and a portable shower and toilet building which was in use as Harry and Talen crept around it’s edges, someone singing an atrocious rendition of a popular love song as they showered.It made Talen pause, hearing that singer, and a fury began to burn in the pit of his stomach. The Van Helsings at this site were so at ease, so comfortable, that they sang in the shower, where he and his mates had spent nearly every mom
Havermouth, The PresentHeath woke to discover that he had slept through Talen leaving and that pissed him off as whilst he recognized the vampire’s seniority and experience, Heath was faster and stronger, and he felt that it just made sense for him to be included in the mission, and that if anyone should have been left behind, it should have been Harry.Sigrid and her Triquetra had control of the bunker by the time Heath’s Triquetra left their room with Aislen. They met briefly in the room and ran over the sparse information that Talen had given to Cameron and Rohan before his departure and to try to piece together a plan of attack with Rohan – something which was difficult as they had no idea the total size of Haven Farm, and Heath could only roughly sketch the areas that he had been admitted to when visiting Charlotte, and on the times he’d been on the escorted tour.None of the maps that they had showed property boundaries, and even Sigrid’s Triquetra’s fancy toys didn’t have any
Havermouth, The PresentTalen slipped out of the bed when the wait staff arrived in the morning, pulling on yesterday’s trousers in order to open the door and pressing his fingers to his lips to indicate that they should be quiet as they delivered the breakfast and clothing. He admired the efficiency of the bunker, despite the disruption to the leadership everything continued to run like clockwork and thanked the staff quietly as they departed.He showered quickly and dressed in the clean clothing, before creeping back out into the main living area.Cameron looked up from the table. “You’re up early.”“Shh,” Talen placed his finger on his lips as he checked to make sure that Cameron had closed the bedroom door behind him. “You should be asleep, Cameron,” he said quietly as he crossed to ruffle the werewolf alpha’s russet curls.“I smelled pancakes,” Cameron told him with a bright smile as he uncovered them. “Ahhh,” he sighed in satisfaction. “Would you just look at that? Blueberry pre
Havermouth, The PresentHeath rose from the bed as Rhett lifted Cameron’s face to his and kissed him, pushing Cameron’s hand away from his c-ck so that he could take hold of it, causing Cameron to moan into the kiss as Rhett stroked him.Talen released, Morgana’s leg, leaning over to suck on the nipple that was exposed as she lowered her knee to the mattress. He teased the tips with his teeth, knowing that the pinch of the clip would make them sensitive, and slid his hand down her stomach to rub against her clit as Heath positioned himself.“Would you like some Edison brand lube?” Rhett’s grin was wicked. He had wrapped his arm around Cameron, holding his redhaired mate by the throat, just under the jaw, and Cameron’s face was slack with pleasure as Rhett’s other hand jerked his c-ck viscously.“Hmm,” Talen laughed through his nose. “Go on then,” he encouraged them. Cameron would have time to recover from the orgasm and be good for a second round before the night was through, he predi
Havermouth, The PresentThe moment the door opened; Rhett jerked Aislen to face him, his eyes intense. “Play time,” he growled his wolf shading the amber of his irises with an oily sheen of green and gold. He pulled her top up and off her without breaking their gazes, and then lifted his own top up slowly in a delicious display of tattooed skin and muscle made more striking by his leanness.Heath and Cameron fell in behind him, assuming the Triquetra formation that she had seen them take so many times, an unconscious werewolf move, hunters stalking their prey, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she backed towards the bedroom, Rhett keeping pace with her, the distance between them precise, his eyes locked on hers.Talen closed the door behind them and strolled nonchalantly towards the kitchenette.Rhett unbuttoned his trousers, his c-ck pushing against the fly so that the teeth opened little by little with every throb. “Undress, Aislen,” he purred the words, his smirk w