Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke late in the morning to an empty bed.He knew before he even opened his eyes that Harithen was gone, but he told himself that, perhaps, the other man had woken early, or had been hungry. He was even willing to contemplate that Harithen had left in order to find sex elsewhere. But, deep down, he knew.He had been a fool not to take Harithen back to Concordia as soon as he was turned vampire. He should not have lingered at the tower in the hopes of delaying the conversation between them. Harithen had come to the conclusion that Thaelen was not going to throw Concordia’s forces against Greibron and had gone to raise his own army against his mother and sister and take back Greibron for himself.Thaelen dressed and made his way to the watch tower, not surprised to find Sigrid already there. “When did he leave?” He asked her as he took his place on the balcony looking out over Greibron at her side. Harithen had not been wrong about the weath
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen joined Haethnir, Sigrid and Harithen on the balcony of the watch tower and he braced his hands against the railing as he leaned out, the rain plastering his hair to his face and running in rivulets off his beard.“F-k.”The waters were thick with Alden ships and row boats pulled up all along the beach, spilling out soldiers and camp followers to make their way up the rain-soaked terrain to where the campfires struggled to stay lit, pouring smoke darkly into the sky.“Well, we knew that Alden was going to come and play, it’s hardly a surprise,” Harithen was unbothered by the development. “The question is are we going to do something about it or just sit here and watch whilst they roll out their army against us.”“We are going to sit back and watch and use our weaponry to hold them away from the mountains,” Sigrid replied. “There is no reason to throw away Concordian lives over this Greibron foolishness.”A muscle worked in the corner of Har
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke when Harithen rose from the bed leaving behind a warm spot where he had been, and the ghost of the scent that Harithen wore in his hair. Thaelen opened his eyes and squinted at the window. Through the part in the curtains, dawn was a grey light. His head ached and his mouth was dry and sour, his stomach uneasy within him. He felt as if he had not slept at all and the bed was rumpled, the sheets sticking against his skin with sour sweat.They had been up late the night before, first with Sigrid, Meguitte and Haethnir, and then alone - drinking wine and going over plans for the battle to take the grass plains and break through the wall, that was all, he thought.Harithen had been able to share insight into the protections built into the wall, the hidden machicolations, the number of men manning the portcullis, and the city beyond it. As he had done centuries before, Thaelen intended to employ Meguitte’s fire to burn out the enemy and sc
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThe fire struggled to combat the chill from the open window, the sill bearing the tidemark of the blood that Denus had been casting out onto the rocks below as the bowl filled. The bedroom was in chaos, the bedsheets and bedside tables holding dark drips coagulating slowly, and the bed crowded with blood slaves sleeping off the effects of Thaelen’s thirst, but he was finally feeling more of himself.“How is it going with the battle?” He asked as Denus returned the bowl and dagger to the table and came to assist him to strap on armor borrowed from the supplies kept in the watch tower.Denus had been providing periodic updates from the windows for Thaelen, which had enabled him to instruct Farra and send messengers along the mountain range of towers and to Concordia in an effort to hastily source supplies for the soldiers fighting on the grass plains below.“They have taken the beach and the Alden ships, but are giving ground as night falls,” Denus
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThe human sentries were bored and napping against their spears, easily taken, and killed, their cries muffled against vampire palms, their ribs popping their lungs as their last breath was squeezed from them and their bodies left discarded in the grasses.Thaelen’s soldiers made their way to the tents and Thaelen caught Harithen against his side as a human staggered out to urinate not far from where they stood, the acrid stink of warm piss rising to the air as he farted and scratched his pubic hair before tucking his c-ck away.“Don’t stand in that,” Harithen wrinkled his nose. “Disgusting.”“Mhm,” Thaelen’s cheeks felt hot and his body heavy, still fighting off the effects of the dead blood. Walking through some piss was the least of his concerns, he thought. All of them would be covered in blood, soot and worse by the end of the night, and he had to hope that his reaction times and strength were up to the battle that lay ahead of them. “How many
Present Time“Well, that was f-king scary,” Cameron said as they made their winding way through the warehouse district. “I almost puked alongside of Aislen just thinking that it could have been her. It sounds awful, but I’m so glad it was… Not her,” he corrected himself sliding a look at Aaron who arched an eyebrow.“Mhm,” Rhett hummed his agreement through his nose. “That was f-ked.”“It was well done, Cameron, to persuade Morgana to stay behind,” Talen said, placing his hand on Cameron’s shoulder and leaning down to nuzzle into Cameron’s curls. Cameron leaned into him, wrapping his arm around Talen’s waist. It still felt odd to do such things in front of his dad, he thought, although seeing Jules walking hand in hand with Harry sort of made it feel more okay. He wondered if Jules found it freeing but also slightly uncomfortable, too, as if he had farted in church and everyone’s eyes were on him...“She is a target for the Van Helsings,” Heath continued. “She should stay at the wareh
Present Time“F-k me,” Rhett stared. “Is that f-king Guy?”There were zombies hanging from the streetlights along the street, their necks broken, and bodies twisted, and yet their limbs jerking as they swam through the air mindlessly. The stench was stomach curling, Rhett thought. At the point of being hung, many had lost control of their bowels, and the paving below them was splattered with ooze and their trousers stuck to their legs with it, the foulness attracting flies and insects.“I think I’m going to puke,” Cameron said pressing his hand to his mouth. “It’s f-king stupid what gets you and what doesn’t, isn’t it? I can watch Aislen chuck her guts up, no problem. We can have a… Umm,” he flushed, his eyes going to Aaron. “Accident in bed, no problem. But seeing this… Yeah, it’s other level gross.”“He’s still…” Aaron gaped. “They are all still…”“Zombies,” Rhett said grimly. “They’re final-level zombie now, past vampire blood.”“The only option now is to…” Talen broke off, turning
Present Time“Umm,” Toby leaned in the door. “There are birds leaving really weird stuff in the courtyard at the rear of the warehouse and these people back here don’t want to touch any of it as they say it’s spell components.”“Hmm,” Meguitte touched Bianca’s forehead. “She will be fine for a moment,” she decided and slid past Toby into the bowels of the warehouse.Toby lingered, his eyes going from Bianca to Aislen. “Is she okay?” He wondered.“I hope so,” Aislen sighed heavily and stood up, stretching out cramped back muscles. The stools around the benches weren’t designed for comfort, but she supposed their normal use didn’t involve sitting on them for hours and watching someone sleep.“So…” He said looking around at the windows. “This place isn’t very defensible. I’m also not entirely sure how much light escapes through these windows at night.”“Cameron’s dad chose the warehouses. He’s pretty smart. I’m sure that he checked for that.”“We’ll see,” he walked over to the glass and
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