Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years BeforeHarithen, in gold trimmed eggshell blue tunic that emphasized the width of his shoulders and belted tightly at the waist with a sash that went from just below his nipples to his hip bones, the billowing material drifting out behind him like a sail in the wind, bartered over the fabrics laid out in the warehouse for display. He had opted to powder his hair, rather than wear a wig, and it had been curled so that it hung over one shoulder in thick sausages of ringlets.However, the most startling part of the costume to Thaelen was when Harithen turned displaying the tight-fitting trousers and codpiece. “I have not seen one of those since…” Thaelen commented to Sigrid.“Since the plague in Concordia, I know,” she replied. “Concordia is all the rage in Estreau at the moment. What concerns me, though, Taylen, is that many of the pieces I am seeing worn, are actual vintage pieces. Is it a case of clever thrift, sending to sell elsewhere that whi
Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years BeforeThaelen had established Medelyn in a small house within a short walk of his own, although in a less fashionable and exclusive street. The Estreans liked to have outward markers of their place in society and their wealth, and where the houses on Thaelen’s street were declarations of wealth and power, in Medelyn’s street they were neat and tidy but of a more modest size.He knocked on the front door and the maid that he had employed to help with the house opened it, bobbing a curtsey. She showed him straight into the parlour before heading upstairs to fetch down Medelyn.Medelyn did not keep him waiting long, hurrying into the room, fidgeting with her hair before smoothing her hands down over her skirt in one of those unconscious gestures that women performed when concerned about their appearance.“Tasan,” she greeted him the warmth not disguising her nerves. “Forgive me. I was just putting my youngest to bed. He is going through that age…”
Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years BeforeThe front door was thrown open announcing the return of Sigrid and Harithen several hours later. Thaelen stood in the doorway of his office and watched as Sigrid swept in. To anyone else, her face was set into neutral lines, however Thaelen had known her too long not to read beyond the surface. She peeled off her gloves, a muscle working in the corner of her jaw as she chewed on the words she was not vocalizing.Harithen’s wide grin confirmed Thaelen’s suspicions, the other vampire swaggering into the house with smug flare.“What did you do?” Thaelen sighed.“You should be pleased,” Harry announced with a wicked smirk. “I arranged our sister’s marriage this evening. It’s a good match. A minor title, but still an excellent match for a merchant’s sister. He is balding, rotund, and smells like a sewer, but he comes with three lovely estates, as well as a beautiful house just two streets over, and he is very keen to sire an heir upon our sist
Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years BeforeThe changing mood of the crew as they left open ocean for Concordian waters alerted Thaelen and Harithen that they were close, and they left their cabins to stand on the top deck as captain ran up the Greibron and Alden trading flags under the Estreau flag. The sky was overcast and grey, but not all the cloud was weather. Smoke rose from the land in thick plumes.There were many ships flying the Alden flags in the waters around them, and the water was littered with debris. Thaelen could see the cause - a ship slowly slipping into the water. He heard the outcry of the sailors as bodies washed up against the hull.A vampire, clinging to a half drowned human child, caught hold of the netting over the side. “Help me!” She pleaded.They hauled as many survivors as they could aboard as the Alden ships drew closer.“Take them below,” Thaelen told Harithen. “Into the holds. Out of sight.”“They would have seen us pull them on board,” Harithen rep
Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years BeforeThey huddled in the ruins of a building, surrounded by cloth and ribbons caught in the debris. Harithen groaned. “What a waste.”Thaelen’s eyes, however, were on the sky as the source of that terrible roar came into sight. “What is it?” His jaw fell open. It certainly didn’t look dangerous. There was a giant bubble caught by string to something that appeared very much like a metal ship below. How had they managed to lift such a weight as that metal, he marveled even as his stomach pitched in dread knowing it to be the source of the damage to his city.As he watched, he saw something drop, and the man who had dragged them into the shelter breathed out a sigh of relief. “Not near here,” he said a moment before there was a terrible BOOM! Thaelen could feel the vibration through the soles of his feet and saw little grains of mortar shake free of the rubble around him.On the horizon a great mushroom of smoke rose cleared to reveal flames.“Oh
Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years Before“This is…” Harry sat on a rock and pulled off a boot shaking out stones and dust. “Ridiculous. You mean that a lot of your people make this walk annually?”“Traditionally,” Thaelen sat beside him and looked down over the city. Memories overlaid a green, lush land of grass and forests, in which the fortresses of the vampires were islands of stone and wood. Now it was the green that was an island amongst the stone and soaring towers of the castles. Both memory and present were beautiful in different ways… except the present was marred with smoke, fire, and destruction.There hadn’t been another attack since they’d begun the walk to the temple, but the land was not peaceful even in the absence of the flying machine. The burning wreckage from recent attacks, the movement of light through the city, and out to the bobbing ships in the bay.Thaelen sighed heavily. “Traditionally, it was a journey taken over several days, no one walking faster th
Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years Before“Well, that was a long shoe destroying walk for nothing,” Harry grumbled as they began their descent down the mountain.“It was not for nothing,” Thaelen replied grimly. “We know that there is no help to be had from the temple, and that they have closed their doors and taken drastic steps because they believe there is no hope. We will heed Delwyn’s advice and concentrate on evacuation and not defence or attack.”“Thaelen,” Harry began, but broke off, lifting his head. “Do you hear that?”“Yes,” Thaelen growled through his teeth. “I do.”The distant mechanical roar echoed through the mountains, distorted by the rock so that it was impossible to pinpoint the direction from which it came until it passed overhead so close that Harithen’s arm shot out, grasping hold of Thaelen’s wrist, as he stared up in aghast horror and terror.“They are not here for us, Harry,” Thaelen had to yell to be heard over the engine of the device. “Two vampires are
Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years BeforeThaelen watched as the ships tied up to the dock. “Five,” he said with satisfaction. One of the vessels was Captain Ruther’s ship, returning for a second load of passengers. “As soon as they dock, have the water and food ready to load,” he gestured to the vampires waiting nearby with the supplies. “As soon as that’s stowed, we’ll begin loading the passengers and get these ships back out…” He trailed off as a woman walked down the gangplank.“Meguitte!” He cried out. “Meguitte!”Her face lit as she saw him, and she ran the distance between to embrace him. “Oh, Thaelen,” she mourned. “What have they done to our beautiful home?”Thaelen released her and looked to the sky. “Your sparrows?” He asked.“Mmm?” She glanced over her shoulder following his gaze. “I did not bring them, Thaelen,” she told him. “They would attract too much attention.” She did not meet his gaze. She feared bringing them into a warzone, he realized, and could not blame h
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