New Estra, Three Hundred Years BeforeThaelen and Meguitte took one of the first boats from the ship to shore, taking with them only a backpack containing clothing and spare shoes, a flint and strike for starting a fire, and a rolled blanket for sleeping.They both wore trousers, something the Estreau colonists found shocking on Meguitte, many having been influenced by the church as to what was appropriate clothing and what was not. However, Meguitte’s clothing choice was sensible considering their mission and she was indifferent to their stares and pointing, no longer as frightened of humans as she once had been, after centuries of living amongst them.They both wore knives on their belts, and Thaelen had supplied Meguitte with a gun despite his dislike of them. In addition, he wore a machete, a bow and quiver of arrows, and wire for making traps. They would need to hunt to eat, something he had not done for centuries and did not look forward to. He hoped that the land had rabbits, a
New Estra, Three Hundred Years BeforeThey followed the path to an alleyway between two buildings, and for a moment Thaelen contemplated whether to circle around and try to find a more public approach as this seemed to be one of those pathways that was used by locals but was not a formal entrance. He was not sure if their sudden appearance amongst them would cause more alarm than a slow approach by a more formal roadway.The architecture was perfect, the walls precisely square, each block of stone laid to provide aesthetic as well as structural value to the building. He could not see a single flaw, nor the mortar that fixed the stones together.A child spoke from behind them whilst he hesitated, and they turned, embarrassed to be taken by surprise. The two boys from the river had come up the pathway behind them and stared at them in open mouthed wonder.“Hello,” Thaelen smiled, trying to prevent a fearful response from them.One of the boys turned to the other excitedly pointing to hi
New Estra, Three Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke late into the morning when the attendants returned. They took him and Meguitte into a chamber where the walls were tiled in a manner that reminded him of the temple of Concordia’s rooms. A sunken bath heated by a hypocaustum system added to that impression. He averted his eyes as they were undressed, although when the attendants exclaimed over Meguitte, he glanced over to see what had caused their tone of amazement.They were reacting to the scars on her back, and she crossed her arms over her chest, flushing as she hurried to enter the water.His tattoo caused the same astonishment, this time combined with delight, with them tracing the runes on his skin. He realized that they could read what his skin said, and pointed to the runes with his fingers, exchanging his sounds for theirs.As he entered the water and submitted to them scrubbing him, he considered the differences. “I think I am beginning to understand some of the variance in
New Estra, Three Hundred Years Before“Do you know nothing of your history?” Wilhelma despaired.“None this far back,” Thaelen told her with sympathy.“None of the elders survived then?” She gripped the arms of the chair, her distress clear. “Geiva? Thrurgrivor? No?” She pressed her lips together, controlling her grief. “I am…” She shook her head slowly, unable to continue.Despite her grief, Wilhelma took care with her words, speaking slowly. There were some pronunciation differences, Thaelen thought, around the vowels, the rolled “r” and her “th” was softer, more of a “ff” than amongst the Concordian. His Concordian, he amended, struggling to make the mental transition.“I’m sorry,” Thaelen murmured, empathetic to her sorrow. She spoke the names as if she knew the people, which would make her ancient if they were amongst Thaelen’s ancestors. He recalled the bowels of the stronghold, the temples, and secret places. “Beneath the strongholds, there have always been chambers and tunnels
New Estra, Three Hundred Years BeforeMeguitte paused, one hand braced against a tree-trunk. “Do you hear that?”Happy laughter and splashing told them that they were getting near to their destination. They approached the riverbank, looking down the gentle slope to where a group of women had found a rocky spot where the water was shallower. In their shifts, they beat clothing against the rocks to clean it, whilst others spread already washed items out over the bushes. The wet fabric clung to their bodies, hiding little, and Thaelen averted his eyes, feeling his cheeks heat.He should have taken Wilhelma or one of the other priests and priestesses that had offered, he thought. It had been too long since he’d had the comfort of losing himself into pleasure. Combined with the sudden thirst for human blood that surged after his time on animal blood alone, he was very tempted by the women below.The young human women would not appreciate his attention, however, he told himself. On their ow
New Estra, Three Hundred Years BeforeThaelen took his turn at the oars, finding enjoyment in the simple physical exercise, the rhythm of the movement, the run of water over the wood to his hands, the splash as the oar descended, and the prick of sweat between his shoulder blades as he labored against the flow of the river. It recalled to him the days of his youth and the raids on the coast of Alden and Etrait.His cartographers debated small changes in the river’s shape, and whether the changes were permanent or as a result of tide, whilst chickens watched from within the woven reed cages and a goat complained from the back of the boat.Sigrid rode in the prow, looking forwards, her parasol all but hiding her from sight. She searched the riverbank intently, missing nothing on either side.“She dreamed of it,” Meguitte said quietly. She sat in the middle of the seat, between him and another vampire rowing. She kept her voice low, however, because behind them was Thaelen’s new blood sl
New Estra, Three Hundred Years BeforeThe other priest and priestess melted out of the shadows, the dappled moonlight licking across their skin as they crossed to them. Wihelma held Thaelen’s eyes. “We would,” she said softly. “Very much.”“Hmph,” Thaelen’s lips quirked in an amused smirk. He had been sought out and seduced into the trees, he realized, for this reason. “It has been many centuries since I have availed myself of the priests and priestesses of the temple,” he confessed. “And I suspect that tonight I am the priest.”Wilhelma laughed, her eyes meeting those of the vampires to either side. “That is so. This is Oliev and Brygen,” she introduced the two vampires. “They are high priest and priestess, a mated pair.”“Greetings,” Thaelen inclined his head to them.“They have been trying to convince me to be third for centuries,” Wilhelma added with indulgent amusement.“She is our third, she just likes to make us work for it,” Olieve stroked her hand up Wilhema’s arm, lifting he
New Estra, Three Hundred Years BeforeThey were quick studies Thaelen thought, his fingers digging into the undergrowth as he braced a hand against Brygen’s thrusts, the shy vampire working hard against him, each thrust grinding Thaelen into Olieve. Her c-nt was so slick with seed and cum that Thaelen could feel the seep of it down his balls and inner thighs.Even with Brygen’s c-ck against his prostate he was not sure that he could come again. He had lost track of how many times he had. He had not realized how badly he needed the guilt free release, the act of giving sacrifice to the goddess under the moonlight even if he was not entirely sure in his heart that he still believed in her. There was a comfort in the ritual, in the mindless rutting of it, in the sweat, cum and blood on his tongue.There was a freedom in being able to seek his own release without the sex having complicated implications. It had been what he had sought in taking on Larin as his new blood slave, but even tha
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