Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeAs if in recognition of the events of the day, the rain resumed, the heavy drops seeking to penetrate the canvas of the tents, and setting a chill into the air.Alandra’s body lay on the bed where Thaelen had f-ked her brother only the night before. Her brother sat on the arm of a chair, Freanya pressed against his side. She wept brokenly into the fine fabric of Harithen’s coat. Her priest hovered behind them, having been brutally rebuffed by Harithen when he had offered “It was the One God’s will,” as comfort to Freanya.“The One God wanted his faithful followers torn to pieces by flying fragments of metal in an explosion?” Harithen had demanded. “How blood thirsty of him.”“We should not be here,” Father Gedina complained, wrapping his fingers around Freanya’s upper arm. Harithen tugged her back against him, hissing at the priest. Their eyes met and there was a battle of wills between them. “They were to blame for this,” Gedina accused spitting
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThere was a shocked silence in the tent as both royals and their priest stared at him gape mouthed.“Thaelen,” Sigrid said darkly, her tone promising a thorough tongue-lashing when they were alone. “You have had too much to drink and are in shock. Excuse him, please,” she said taking the glass from Thaelen’s hand as she stepped passed him, and set it down crisply on the tray. “He thinks that he is being clever, thinking outside of the problem before us, but does not realize that what he has suggested is in bad-taste and…”“Flattering,” Harithen’s smile was stiff but warm, his pleasure tinged by his grief for his sister. “It is flattering, my king, your offer, but…” He shook his head. “Not a solution for any of us, and considerable trouble for you. I thank you,” he inclined his head as he lifted Freanya to her feet, and began to guide her towards the tent entrance. “But this is Greibron problem, and not a Concordian one. We will call upon loyal Gre
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThe rain had driven everyone into the tents and, due to the lack of space within them, early to bed – other than those which had injured from the explosion within them. Light spilled from those tents, and door flaps opened to the night revealing the activity within, servants carrying out bloody water to cast out onto the sodden earth, and others leaving bowls out to collect the falling rain.Thaelen and Meguitte paused in their path. Their own injured had already been tended and were on the mend, however, miracle recoveries amongst the humans would only risk exposing the Concordians for that they were, and helping the humans would bring danger to his own people so they had left the humans to their own devices.“How are your injured?” Thaelen enquired pausing in the awning of one such tent. The broken wails from inside chilled his bones. The roaring percussion of rain against the canvas and ground had stolen the sound from the tents until they drew
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years Before“We are trying to save Harithen,” Thaelen knew that it would look bad despite his words, for he had Harithen’s blood on his face and in his beard and he had just been licking his wounds. He and Meguitte were in a tent of Greibron bodies, without witnesses other than Harithen, and with Harithen slipping into and out of consciousness, the human could hardly speak in their defense.Behind the priest were a half dozen noble men and soldiers, and already they had drawn their weapons. Very clearly, Thaelen realized the danger that they were in, and that those people responsible for the slaughter of everyone in the tent probably stood before him. They had every reason to want to blame him and Meguitte, and to silence them and Harithen.Meguitte realised it as well and he saw her reach into a pouch at her waist as she rose to her feet. “Pick Harithen up Thaelen,” she said darkly, the red glowing in her eyes and he felt the change in the air raising the ha
Havermouth, Present Time“Do we cut him down?” Dan wondered looking up at the man who was slowly treading air above their heads.“I do not think that wise,” Sigrid shook her head. She had gotten a good look at the man’s face, and he was definitely dead, his neck twisted and his eyes vacant. The rope biting deeply into the skin under his jaw had broken the bone so that it pierced the flesh. That he was still moving told her everything that she needed to know. “He is a zombie, but not like the ones that Leighton has been helping. He is dead. Hanging is probably the safest spot for him to be or he will be attacking people.”“Is that why they hung him?” Dan’s hand encouraged her to stand back. There was a steady leak of urine dripping from the toe of one of the man’s boots. “To keep him out of the way?”“I don’t know,” she replied. The man was a Van Helsing from his clothing. Why had they hung one of their own? Because he’d become infected? As an example? Or as bait? She looked around the
Havermouth, Present TimeThe high bank on the Havermouth township side of the river had held back much of the flooding, however on the other side it swelled out into the fields and over the roads. The bottom of the boat scraped over submerged branches, and the current made it almost impossible to steer, until the water settled over what had once been farmland.At one home, an island within a flow of water, a woman watched Leighton’s boat pass from an upstairs window. The first story of her house was entirely submerged. She pressed her palm to the glass in a silent plea for help, but there was none that he could offer her. She would be alright, Leighton told himself, the water would begin to recede now that the peak of the storm and the flood from the dam bursting was over. And she was safer where she was than in Havermouth.His ride was far from peaceful even where the water had stilled, as the debris hidden beneath the surface caught and tore at his boat frequently requiring him to m
Havermouth, Present Time“We need a war room,” Aislen decided once Talen and Heath had departed as she searched through the clothing for something to wear. What she needed, she admitted to herself, was a distraction. She didn’t like to think about Talen and Heath out in town. They hadn’t said so precisely, but she wasn’t stupid. When Talen had spoken of taking Heath out for breakfast, he had meant that they intended to hunt down a Van Helsing to feed from. “We need to f-king have a plan of attack.”“A plan of attack?” Rhett sat up and ran his hands through his hair pulling it back into a pony and then realizing that he didn’t have a hair-tie, so releasing it again. “I thought it was more of a plan of survival.”“Mmm,” Aislen shook her head, compressing her lips together. “I’m not content to just survive any more. I want Sparrow’s flayed corpse spread out before me. I want the f-king bosses of Sparrow begging for their balls. I mean, you saw Heath’s chest. And I’ve had f-king pins jamm
Havermouth, Present TimeSigrid pushed Dan behind her and kicked the changeroom door open, the wood shattering off the hinges and sending the woman on the other side flying out of the change rooms and into the shop in a crash of racks. Sigrid followed, stepping through the spill of clothing to pick the woman up by the throat whilst she hissed and spat and clawed at her arm.“A zombie,” Sigrid observed with surprise. The woman was barefoot, in a bedraggled pant suit, filthy, missing teeth and covered in blood. And she stank – of rancid meat, urine, and old, old sweat. “Disgusting,” Sigrid turned her face away so as not to have to breathe in the woman’s foul breath.“You’d be disgusting too if you’d been tortured and kept in a cage,” the woman ceased fighting hanging from Sigrid’s grip in exhaustion. “I was just looking for something to wear and trying to avoid the Van Helsings outside when I heard someone in the change room, I’d rather hoped…”“F-k,” Dan said and hurried across to the
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