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
New Estra, Two Hundred and Fifty Years Before Talen opened the farmhouse to find it full of vampires, all of whom rose to their feet as he entered. Unlike the feral, wild ones outside, these were fully dressed, disheveled rather than filthy, and moved to intercept him, ordering him out of the house, and pushing him back, mistaking his travel and blood-stained clothing. When he pushed back against their hold, he found them strong, not weak like those outside. “What is going on here?” He demanded of them through his teeth. “Where is Sigrid?” That surprised them, and they released him, stepping backwards as they re-evaluated him, drawing together. “Well?” He snarled. “I have ridden all this way on word that I was needed, and I find this!” He threw his arm towards the open door and the shrieking and snarling vampires in the dark. “What has happened here?” “They are…” One of the vampires spoke. “Well, they are the wild ones, the ones that didn’t work, but didn’t die… They’re high on dead
Havermouth, The Present The mood of the mob of Havermouth residents and the werewolf army changed gears as they passed into the streets around the hospital. Cameron reached out and took her hand, but his eyes were on Heath. She saw Heath’s nostrils flare, his expression tense. The noise of the Unimog meant that they couldn’t talk, but she could read the expressions of her men as they approached the cement roadblock between them and the hospital. Talen and Heath hopped down and between them moved the roadblock out the way. Behind the line of trucks, Havermouth’s residents followed, some on foot, trailing behind, whilst others had piled onto the trays of Utes and as the Unimog trucks came to a stop, and everyone offloaded, Aislen saw the looks that passed through the people. They were afraid. They had expected the adrenaline of violence, to find Van Helsings standing in opposition, to fight their way through them. Instead, there were no Van Helsings to be seen, and the air was heavy
Havermouth, The PresentTalen pulled Cameron out of the crowd that had formed around Rhett. “Do not become separated from Morgana and Rhett,” he told him, leaning his forehead to the red-haired alpha’s. “Watch sharply for danger if the three of you go into any of the houses. Be aware that Rhett’s reactions may be impacted by his exhaustion, and that Morgana does not possess either the strength or speed of werewolf.”“Talen,” Cameron protested, gripping his shoulders. “I’m coming you.”“You need to stay here, Cam,” Talen told him firmly. “With Morgana and Rhett. They need you.”“What the f-k do you think is inside the hospital?” Cameron’s head turned towards the building and the crumpled carpark of tents, his eyebrows pulling together in concern.“I do not know,” Talen replied honestly. “But we can all smell that there are dead bodies under these tents. I think, as they have not moved to intercept us, they are not zombies. But I cannot be sure, knowing that there are zombies lose in th
Havermouth, The PresentThere were no triggers that could be determined from outside, and so they moved to the external doors, weapons held ready, whilst the bomb experts forced the frosted glass doors open.The zombie burst out of the opening. A Van Helsing, his body covered in third degree burns, with bandages just clinging in places, and IV lines dangling from the needles in his veins, he let out a horrible, inhuman, screech.Rohan’ s men’s gunfire sliced through the zombie at the knees, and as he collapsed, he continued in his efforts to reach them, clawing along the floor with surprising speed, dragging lower legs that clung only by a few sinews and strings of skin, leaving behind a gory trail.Rohan’s bullet exploded the Van Helsing’s skull, splattering the ground and walls in brain matter. Heath regarded his childhood friend in surprised re-evaluation. He wanted to tease Rohan playfully, as his friend had done blowing him a kiss earlier, to take the edge off his uneasy surprise
Havermouth, The PresentCameron stood on the tray of the Unimog next to Aislen watching as Heath and Talen made their way through the white tents. Beside the werewolf soldiers, it was not easy to keep Talen within eyesight, he towered over even the tallest, something that made Cameron slightly nervous as it would also make Talen a target.Aislen gripped Cameron’s arm in both hands, her eyes also glued to their mates.“Give me a hand up, Cam?” Rhett called up pulling Cameron’s eyes down, and he bent over to grip Rhett’s wrist in his hand, lifting his mate up too easily.“Shit Rhett,” Cameron scolded his mate as Rhett rose to his feet and dusted his palms off on his knees. “You could compete as a featherweight.”Rhett scowled. “I could still take you, puppy.”Cameron pulled a dubious face. “Not at the moment, you couldn’t.”“Shut up with that crap,” Rhett’s attention was on their mates, and not their conversation, so his banter was absent minded. The ambulances and tents partially obscu
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