Share

Men and Gods

Author: Everleigh Miles
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

The Human Enemy’s Land, Eleven Hundred Years Before

The city was, as it had appeared from the distance, destroyed.

Once it would have been a place of wealth and power. The wide streets were paved with a slant intended to collect waste and water run off in a design that Thaelen admired for its initiative and fore-thought, and the buildings had been built by skilled craftsmen with an eye for the aesthetic of the city streets. They passed public gathering places, gardens and monuments destroyed, broken pieces of their sculpture spilling across fire-scarred paving and grass torn beneath hob-nail boots.

The people were dressed in the rags of finery, bright elaborate embroidery smothered by filth as they withdrew into their houses, holding back hollow-cheeked children and pushing them behind them defensively as Thaelen’s intimidating convoy moved through the streets.

“They’re starving,” Isolte whispered.

Thaelen did not say, but he knew every vampire in the convoy had smelled the stench of
Locked Chapter
Continue to read this book on the APP
Comments (2)
goodnovel comment avatar
Kiera J
Hmmm, one thing he could definitely do for the people is eliminate the pirate problem.
goodnovel comment avatar
Author Girl
Wow, I can almost imagine what Talen has seen, in the many years he has lived. Yes, Talen feed yourself and get stronger for your voyage!! I don't think I would want to live that long as him. To see all your family come and go. No, wonder Sigrid is so important to Talen. She has seen as much too ;)
VIEW ALL COMMENTS

Related chapters

  • The Pack's Vampire   Looking For Morgana

    Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeMorgana had not returned by midnight. Despite Talen’s efforts to remain calm, there was a gnawing fear sharpening its teeth on his heart. He had moved restlessly between his Ute and the house whilst he waited, seeking to release his anxiety through action, patrolling the property like a guard dog, searching the night for any hint of where his mate could be.Think, Talen, he told himself, rocking on the porch chair, self-soothing through the uneasy motion. Think carefully.It was possible that Morgana had returned to Kabramatta – but that did not sit right with him. Not with her clothing in the cupboards, coffee half made, and without a note left for him to let him know that she’d had to leave.Perhaps she had been injured in her car. He dialled the local hospital and waited for his call to be answered.“Havermouth Hospital, Gwen speaking, how can I direct your call?”“My girlfriend has not come home, and I cannot contact her,” he told her, and heard his

  • The Pack's Vampire   Aislen Wakes

    Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeRhett lay awake next to Aislen, one hand resting on her chest to feel her breathe. They had tied her hands together but otherwise left her loose, and in her drugged sleep she had remained as they had laid her, on her back, her hands on her stomach, between him and Heath. He knew that Heath had checked on her several times during the restless night, worried about the effects of the sedatives on her – the same worry that kept Rhett’s hand on her ribcage, assuring himself that she was alright.At first light, she muttered under her breath and rolled onto her side, turning into Rhett, and he met Heath’s eyes over her head as she snuggled into him. His blonde mate’s grey-gaze was cool, and Rhett felt his heartbeat pick up. He closed his eyes and resisted the urge to press his face into her hair and breathe in her scent. Doing so would only incite further jealousy from his mate, and Rhett knew that he had to be careful, very careful not to upset his mates by s

  • The Pack's Vampire   Torture

    Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeHeath stood outside the door. He had sent Cameron to take a run through town telling his red-haired mate that it was so that he could be seen doing normal things, so the pack didn’t suspect that the Triquetra had taken Aislen to the river house, but it was also because Cameron’s restlessness, hovering between excitement at the prospect of Aislen sharing his bed that night and a growing horror of her screams, had exacerbated his own uneasiness.In a typical Aislen move, as if she knew that Cameron had gone, she had lapsed into silence again, and Heath had gone to investigate, standing pressed to the wall outside of Rhett’s room. He wasn’t sure what he expected to hear, but other than the buzz of the tattoo gun and the hum of Rhett’s rock music, there was silence.Rhett was adhering to the agreement and staying quiet, and Aislen had given up pleading.The buzz stopped and after a couple of minutes, Rhett cleared his throat. "I'm taking a break. You can use

  • The Pack's Vampire   Talen's Search

    Havermouth, Three Weeks Before“Samuel,” Sigrid said to her companion as she led Talen to the table upon which the Mer wrought crystal ball still held pride of place next to a candelabra which danced light across the surface of the orb. “Fetch that wine…”The dark-haired man disappeared into one of the other rooms.“He is not familiar,” Talen observed. “I do not recall him.”“I did not make him,” she replied with a hint of defensiveness. “He came to me.”“What do you know of him?” Talen regarded the doorway where the man had gone with narrowed, suspicious eyes. “Whose child is he? What are his origins? Why would he come to the nest of one to whom he is not related?”“Samuel is from the Einheidem.”“And what is a vampire from the Einheidem doing here?” Talen arched an eyebrow. “In Concordia territory? Does Wilhelma know that an Einheidem vampire is roaming this land?”“She sent him here,” Sigrid replied under her breath in their native tongue. “Say no more, Thaelen, lest he hears. I wi

  • The Pack's Vampire   Saturday

    Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeCameron’s run took him by Aislen’s house as it always did. He’d debated changing routes, but people were used to seeing him run the same path, so changing would look suspicious. He saw the vampire’s Ute parked in the driveway, but no sign of the big blonde man. He did not break his pace, running his normal lap, and when he passed back by, the Ute was gone.He finished his run and eagerly returned to his Ute. As he drove across the bridge, he followed Philip Salem’s new Porsche along the roads towards the Havermouth Estate until Cameron’s path caused him to turn off towards the river house and Philip’s took him onwards.He parked and walked around the house, crossing Rhett’s window on purpose in order to look within, the drag of his shadow across the wall lifting his dark-haired mate’s head from his work. Rhett’s expression was worryingly blank, sending a shiver up Cameron’s back. He smiled and waved with false brightness before going around to the balcon

  • The Pack's Vampire   Talen in Kabramatta

    Kabramatta, Three Weeks BeforeThere was no news in the morning from any of Tony’s contacts. Morgana Ivy was not well known in Havermouth and the surrounding area, no one had any conflicts with her, and no one had heard of anyone abducting a beautiful young goth.On his way to the airstrip, Talen stopped by Morgana’s house, the hope that she might have returned in his absence dashed the moment that he saw the empty driveway. Despite knowing that the house was empty, he let himself in through the backdoor and walked through the echoing rooms, his heart clinging to the hope that he would find his mate asleep in the bed.She was not there.He opened her closet and breathed in the scent that clung to her clothes before closing it again.He drove to the private airfield and made his way to the helicopter that Tony had arranged to take him to Kabramatta. As they flew across the country, he checked the stream of messages that came through to his phone as Tony’s PI and less legal contacts rep

  • The Pack's Vampire   The Conversation With Cameron Part One

    Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeCameron fussed with his bedroom, straightening the covers on the bed, fluffing the cushions. He wasn’t like Rhett or Heath, he thought looking around the room. Rhett would have candles lit and music playing, and Heath would have chilled champagne and scattered the bed with rose petals. Cameron’s room was just… his. It was simple, comfortable, and suddenly inadequate in his eyes.Perhaps, he thought, he should steal some candles and raid the garden for rose petals…“Here,” Heath entered and set a box of condoms down on the bed.Cameron picked them up and turned them over in his hands. “Ah… Thanks, I guess?”“Like Rhett said, it’s best to keep bodily fluids away from her piercings. She will be sore, so be gentle.”“Of course,” Cameron could feel his heart beat in his throat it was thumping away so hard. “I f-ked her,” he blurted the words out. “At her house when I ran past. We had sex, on her bed.”“I f-ked her too,” Heath said quietly. “And we both know t

  • The Pack's Vampire   The Conversation With Cameron Part Two

    Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeStop thinking about the condoms? Cameron stiffened in shocked surprise. There was only one way that she knew what he had been thinking. “You can read my thoughts.” It made sense, and yet, it didn’t, and the confusion of the discovery threw him. Were human mind readers a thing that existed outside of corny TV shows and B-Grade movies?“God, you guys are so fucking dim, and you accuse me of having a blind spot,” she replied miserably.Cameron sat up and turned on the light, his thoughts in chaos. F-k, they owed Rhett an apology as they’d doubted him for five years and maybe Rhett was right… Well, obviously he was right.“About what?” She sighed the words, pushing herself up to sitting and leaning against the headboard.Maybe they needed to… just break the rules and talk. He swung his legs out of the bed “He told us, time and time again, that you’re not… That you’re not normal, like we’re not what you would think of as normal,” he said carefully, struggling

Latest chapter

  • The Pack's Vampire   To be Continued...

    Havermouth, Present Time Aislen hit her head hard on the floorboards and lay for a moment with white noise ringing in her ears, staring sightlessly up at the beams of the roof. Her entire body ached. She could feel the sharp sting of the cuts across her torso and the wetness of her blood, and she knew that she was dying. She groaned and put her hand to her chest, surprised to encounter cloth and not skin, and lifted her hand, wondering at how it was not covered in blood and what the black chalkiness was that stained her skin. She slowly lowered her chin to her chest. There were no wounds. Oh, yeah, she wasn’t the one bleeding... The thoughts rolled through her mind in slow motion, as if she was thinking through treacle. “Shit,” she groaned. “Heath!” Where were her mates? “Cameron, and Talen,” she whispered, closing her eyes and then opening them again, her vision focusing, the beams coming into focus. She was on the floor of Leighton’s workspace, she realized, and recalled the salt

  • The Pack's Vampire   Desperate Acts

    Havermouth, Present TimeCameron cried out and threw his arms around Rhett, gripping him tightly before catching his face between his hand and kissing him with a thoroughness that left Rhett breathless until the bathroom door suddenly opened, and he released him out of habit, both men breathing heavily as they stared at the startled intruder.“Ah, sorry,” Will Peters was wide eyed. “I can wait…” He backed out letting the door swing shut behind him.“Shit. Oh well, I’m not hiding anymore,” Cameron shrugged, turning back to Rhett, and pulling him back into his arms. “I’m so happy to see you. And you’re looking so much better. Skinny. But better.”“Wow, Cam,” Rhett laughed. “I should come to the rescue more often. Hey there’s power on here!” He added squinting up at the neon lights. “Who would have thought I’d be happy to see the flicker of neon again.”“Did Aislen send you?” Cameron asked, leaning back in order to look at him. “Did she do one of those portal thingies? Where’s Heath? And

  • The Pack's Vampire   Werewolf Lovers

    Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeHeath Gale and Rhett Salem, Talen turned the names over in his mind as he reviewed the details that Tony had sent through to him on his laptop. In one of those twists of little towns, Heath Gale owned the firm that handled some of Zeus’ legal work. A lawyer.Well, that explained the expensive suits and impeccable grooming.Young, he observed, lifting his eyebrows as he saw the date of birth. Young and rich. The rich wasn’t a surprise, most of the werewolf families did well by themselves, but this young man did better than most. Lived just outside of Havermouth, in a heritage home owned by another pack family, the Edison’s.Rhett Salem, the sexy tattoo artist, owned the tattoo parlor in town and made more than a decent living from the business, though the bulk of his wealth had been inherited.“Hmm,” Talen tilted his head and flicked back to Heath’s file.They lived at the same address. Interesting. But not necessarily remarkable, he decided. Young men ofte

  • The Pack's Vampire   The Discussion Part Three

    Havermouth, Two Weeks Before “I already knew what you all were, and I didn’t tell anyone.” Aislen finished her glass and held it out for Heath to refill.“Yeah, Rhett said that.” Cameron looked at Rhett.“If the pack knew that, though,” Rhett explained. “They would decide that you were too great a risk and kill you anyway, so we couldn’t let them know about that…”“And we couldn’t talk about it with you without breaking werewolf law,” Heath told Aislen. “Until you were officially ours, officially recognized as part of the pack, we could not openly talk about ourselves to you, or show you…”“I’m not part of the pack, or yours now,” she pointed out.“No, but things have changed,” Rhett let his hair fall over his face, avoiding looking at Heath. “You are in danger.”“You were an idiot,” Heath sighed out his frustration. “Arrogant and prideful as always and decided to show off what you knew with that f-king Secret Keeper poem.”“When you came back to Havermouth, we had another chance, be

  • The Pack's Vampire   The Discussion Part Two

    Havermouth, Two Weeks Before The necklace around her neck was held together by a padlock. Heath hadn’t noticed it at Rhett’s tattoo parlor – things had happened so quickly, and he had been so angry, it was no wonder that the details of her outfit had skipped his notice. But he had seen it the moment they’d entered the kitchen, noting the workmanship of it and the glitter of diamonds.A love token from the vampire, he had decided straight away. It wasn’t until they were sitting across the table from each other and the infinity knot had slipped to the side, that he’d seen the padlock holding it closed at the rear. A tiny padlock, but a significant one. The necklace wasn’t a lover’s token but rather a declaration of ownership.Considering how the vampire had defended her against Heath the evening before, he wasn’t surprised that he had made sure to mark Aislen as his. A warning to Heath to back off, and a notice that the vampire intended to continue his pursuit of Aislen.Heath wasn’t s

  • The Pack's Vampire   The Discussion Part One

    Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeJules leaned against the fence and wiped his brow on the back of his sleeve. “That’s done then,” he decided his eyes on the indignant wet sheep in the holding pen. They’d spent the day putting this part of the herd through the dip – a process that Rhett always found comical when he was drafted in to help, enjoying the complaints of the sheep as they treaded dosed water before being drained and released into the pen.Cameron had left him in bed that morning, however, as Rhett wasn’t himself. The sex the night before had been… strange. It had held shadows of the early part of the last five years, when sex between the Triquetra had been about hurting each other as much as getting off. Rhett hadn’t hurt Cameron precisely, but Cameron had known that the sex hadn’t been about him, although he was the recipient, but about Aislen.“Yeah,” Cameron agreed. “I’ll grab a shower, change and head home.” He headed towards the house.Jules checked the gate before followin

  • The Pack's Vampire   Rhett's Attempt

    Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeRhett couldn’t concentrate, so it was lucky that he didn’t have any clients booked – he had cleared his schedule anticipating that they would still be at the river house with Aislen. He pottered aimlessly in his office as a result, shuffling paperwork that he didn’t have the focus to read, and collecting up the empty coffee cups that clustered on every surface, pulling his face at those which had a skin of green over them.Coffee was a good idea, he decided, and the walk to Boyston’s and back would clear his mind, even if the trip risked him bumping into Heath. His blond mate had returned from work the night before in a foul mood having broken his own rules and gone to see Aislen, only to find the vampire already there.Rhett was the only one who hadn’t broken the rules so far, as Cameron had come knocking on his door the previous afternoon, still sweating from his run and reeking of sex with Aislen. Rhett had been trying to do something constructive with

  • The Pack's Vampire   King Thaelen

    Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years Before Thorarin looked out from the top of the sand dune. “A kings worth is measured not by his success on the battlefield during times of war, but in his daily judgements. It is too easy, my son, for a man to overlook the day-to-day in seeking glory, but the true glory of a ruler lies not in the battles won, but in the actions that he takes during peace time.” “Father,” Thaelen’s voice caught in his throat as he watched the wind string out Thorarin’s hair, the colored beads arranged in a pattern that only Abara had ever mastered and had taken to the grave with her. “How did you die? I must… I need to know. Were you…” He closed his eyes on the tears that burnt there, but they escaped anyway, sliding down his cheeks and into his beard. “Was it peaceful?” “Is death ever peaceful, Thaelen?” Thorarin replied without looking at him. “Especially for immortals such as we are? But, yes, perhaps. I recall little of it. We drank… and slept, and there was no mor

  • The Pack's Vampire   The Wisdom of Mercy

    Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen was pleased to see Gyrd and his son leave through the stronghold gate as Thaelen led his army within the range of the archers on the walls of Gyrd’s stronghold – a move that required confidence that Gyrd would not turn traitor and shoot them from behind. The Lord’s presence was reassurance that treachery was not planned although the archers remained at alert, the top of the wall bristling with their strung bows.“My king,” Gyrd bowed. “You are a welcome sight to behold in the Gulgane armor.”“Gyrd,” Thaelen reached out to clasp the Lord’s arm. “And Timal,” he greeted Gyrd’s son and heir. “I thank you for your loyalty to the Gulgane family, and for holding this stronghold against the invading humans.”They turned to regard the campsite. The distance made the details difficult to make out, however there was no gathering of men, no readying of the siege machines that they had been constructing, and minimal activity. Thaelen narrowed his eyes

DMCA.com Protection Status