"Give your report, Councilwoman," he commanded. As usual, I had very little to report. Malarias didn't care about how many safe houses I had and how many human donors had been rescued from abusive vampires. He didn't want to know about our new vampire apprenticeship program that taught young vamps to stop being bottom feeders and to become business owners by teaming them up with a successful willing Master. Would he care that I had taught my minion to peacefully resolve their own problems or risk death by bringing them to me to resolve—with finality?So I spoke on redundant things that meant nothing. When I finished, he watched me in prolonged silence. "You operate … safe houses. Are they boding well?"My mouth parted in surprise. "They are. At times we have small skirmishes, but I also have vampires stationed at each house to keep violence at a minimum.""What about non-sanctioned turnings? How many have occurred in the last year?""Well … none. Not in the last twelve or so mo
Cyrene threw her hands in the air, and then she disappeared. I inclined my head in Tony's direction, grateful that he had taken the time to stand up for me. He nodded in return, and I clasped Ran's hand and together we disappeared.As soon as we were safely at my house, Ran gave me an uneasy look. "This doesn't sound like Malarias' doing."I lightly gnawed my lower lip. "Ask around and find out if other Councils are going through these changes."He nodded, and a moment later he was gone.I frowned in deep thought. What was really going on?I located Paul in our office at my desk working on my files. Damn, my selfishness had created more work for him, and that more than anything convinced me that I was going to end this. "How was the meeting?"I sat in the chair opposite him. "Weird." I detailed the events because I was married to a meticulous individual who was at his best when he knew every bit of the facts. "What do you think?"He rubbed his hands through his long hair. "W
"Oh," I said in understanding. Back in a time before degrees were needed for a certain positions, Sam had evidently proven herself. And by the time she was let go it would have meant starting all over again. That must have been very bitter for her."I took a chance that she hadn't been able to get her foot in the door at another firm and I was right. She's been working four months out of the year as a tax assistant for one of those quick tax refund companies. When I told her what we were looking for she seemed eager.""Paul, she has no idea what we are." Even though I wanted a human assistant, I assumed we would select one from our own community, one who already understood what it meant to work for a vampire.Before he could respond, his nose crinkled and he passed me the warm bottle. "BJ needs her diaper changed.""What?" I tried to hand back the bottle. "You smelled it first."He grimaced. "I can't help but smell it first! Honey, you know my stomach."I rolled my eyes but suppr
I shook my head. "I'm not much of a tea drinker." I noticed that she appeared to distrust that, and I suppressed a smile. "What do you do, Kim? Not for refreshments." Sam chuckled. "For a living."I supposed it was the witching hour, the time to mesmerize her. I stared deeply into her eyes noting that one was blue while the other was a more prominent shade of gray. "Sam, I need an assistant to help me with my personal as well as my professional affairs." I willed her to listen, to be honest, and later—if needed—I would will her to forget. Paul watched quietly from the other side of the breakfast bar."Sam, I need to ask you some questions first and then I will give you more details about the position, okay?""Yes, that's fine," she responded easily. She took well to the suggestions. I could see the glazed look that had developed in her eyes, but she continued to remain relaxed and pleasant. I found out that she had no husband, no children, and to Paul's chagrin, she offered
Sam touched her neck in a distracted way while she watched me. The skin there was a bit red in the spot where my chin had made contact with the silver. Thankfully it hadn't burned her. She dismissed my concern with a slight shake of her head. "It doesn't hurt. I'll be fine, but what about you? May I see your chin?"I didn't want her to see it, but this was the first step to complete honesty so I lowered my hand with a slight grimace. It still hurt. It was the nature of silver toward the Neratomay. Silver was like an acid. It took a while to stop actually burning even when the silver was no longer in direct contact with Neratomay flesh. Accidental contact with silver maimed countless vampires each year. It took mere moments to lose a limb to the deadly metal. However, a limb lost to silver would eventually regenerate. I was proof of that. Sam reached up and touched the puffy area around the burn. "It's hot to the touch! Paul, bring a cool cloth. Kim, you didn't touch that necklace
Paul watched me closely, silently."I'm not like other vampires." Please don't ask me anymore about that. I urged her silently, and she took the suggestion, probably without even knowing that I had given her one. But it was obvious that she was a sharp one."I don't see why there should have been a punishment anyway," Sam said. "After all, it was a life and death situation in which he spared your life."My chin felt good enough to remove the damp towel. "Politics. Vampires have politics just as humans do. They don't like me so they've tried many things to get me out of the way." I smiled sadly. "I have a good network of friends who help me, and so far I've been able to prevail over their desires. So far."Sam nodded and then looked at Paul. "I have a million questions." She turned back to me. "But the only one that I need you to answer now is this: Are you planning to kill me?"I gasped. "No! I would never do that. I've never killed a human. I never will." As the lie slipped from
I was really thankful that my ladies had worked it out amongst themselves to sit for me. I could hire a human nanny—or au pair as Sam had called it—but I would never rest comfortably unless my daughter was with someone who could protect her, someone with enhanced senses, and someone who was family."Hey Chica, I'll be there in five. Everything okay?""Yes, see you when you get here. Paul just put Julie to sleep." "Well damn, but she never sleeps long. I'll hang around until she's awake." "Cool. Her eyes have been changing. You gotta see it!""I can't wait. I'm pulling up to the drive.""Use the key, and Mara? I'm sorry but the succubus … she's not been fed—and I'm really hungry … both ways."I felt her sigh but not totally in displeasure.The succubus surpassed sexual orientation. As far as I could tell none of my ladies were anything but heterosexual and yet any of them would gladly have sex with me. In the past we've pushed the envelope more times than I can count.Paul re
Mara cried out pulling me tighter. I don't remember us embracing, but we were gripping each other in some type of strange blood dance. It was something Alexis would do with his feet levitating from the ground. The two of us hovered inches from the ground, and I spun us slowly in a circle. I had never hovered, and I was aware of it only in a detached, disinterested way.Not me … the succubus. That was its power. Alexis was succubus, too, and that was why he hovered and moved without using his feet. Dear God …I suddenly felt Paul's hand lightly touching the back of my neck. His other hand lightly touched the back of Mara's. He was pushing us downward, back to the floor. When my feet touched the floor I wanted no more of this new ability. I pulled my teeth from her neck.Blood shot out on me. I'd made such a mess, but I didn't trust myself to put my mouth on her again. I reached out with my fingers—four of them because of the four holes that I'd left in her neck, and I staunched the
"Are you ready, my love?" Alexis asked."I'm not sure," I said. "She's still so little."Alexis kissed the dark curls at the top of our daughter's head. "Tiye is strong enough to travel back to our realm. We've been here a year. Don't you miss home?""Yeah, but a year here is only like five minutes in the Above," I said."More like a few weeks," Alexis said. "The Ladies are anxious to meet their new niece."He gently lifted his sleeping daughter, tucking her blanket carefully around her body. She had just turned three months old and was as round and plump as a melon. Her thick, curly hair was sure to be as wild as mine was when I wasn't wearing the plaits that Oni put them in. She looked like us—my brown skin with Alexis' nose and Mona Lisa smile.Alexis had named her after an ancient Egyptian Queen who was the deity of light. Leave it to him to name his daughter after an angel and a queen.He carried her outside and stood on the porch staring out at a vast sea made by his own h
Paul smiled and relaxed. I led him to the study where Alexis was waiting. Alexis nodded in greeting."Alexis, thanks for agreeing to this meeting," Paul said.Alexis gestured to a throne. "Please, have a seat."Paul looked at the throne and sat. "Mmm, comfy."Alexis moved the other two thrones to form a triangle, and we sat."We saw the gathering video," Paul said. "We didn't know we were being filmed," I said."I figured as much," Paul said. "But you made a good point when you said that one supernatural group cannot rule over another. My Werewolf Council has been meeting for the last few days. We don't want a war with the Neratomay.""And we do not want a war with the Werewolves," Alexis said.Paul nodded. "We have been in discussions with the Alliance of the Supernaturals, and I expressed King's beliefs that if we do not work together then we will all fall together.""That's right," I said."After a lot of negotiation, the Alliance would like to extend an offer for you to
Ran continued. "We asked the Wolves to coordinate their attacks with ours, and that is all they agreed to do.""But what about the carnage that occurred in Epic Cu?" The Councilmember asked."Are you for real?" I asked in irritation. "There were hundreds of Rectors at that gathering! All it would have taken was for one of those Rectors to snap Alexis' neck before he could summon King to close the portal to the Underworld. We had to take out the Rectors and luckily the Alpha aided us or—well we wouldn't be here and you'd still be kissing the ass of your demon master!"Alexis put his hand on mine but Ignacio smiled in amusement. Will you be quiet! Cyrene snapped silently in my head.When has that ever happened? I snapped back.Ladies, Alexis interrupted. Now is not the time. My love, try to be more…diplomatic.Fine, I replied."We won that war by any means necessary," Alexis said, his voice annoyed. "We don't appreciate your line of questioning. Do you want to go back to the way
The Neratomay flashed themselves away once they were outside of Epic Cut. The Supernaturals carried away their dead and injured, and what was left inside of Epic Cu was blood, gore, and ash. Paul left with his pack, and Ran, King, Alexis, and I flashed back to our villa where King fell in an exhausted asleep.Alexis and I watched him with pride. "It could have gone so much different," I whispered."No." Alexis continued to gaze at King's small sleeping form. "Not if we understand King's true potential—this is the way it was meant to be."It was time discover the fallout so we turned on the radio and television. Many countries were in a state of emergency based on what had happened over the last several hours. News outlets and radio stations made announcements that people should stay indoors because there were reports of wild, strange beast attacks. Videos of humans turning into Vampires and using impossible speed to attack the beasts clogged the Internet. Supposed experts in the s
I moved from zombie to Wraith, pushing them through the portal and trying not to think about those they had possessed.The Wraiths will take you…Oni had said.I saw Alexis keeping King in the light flowing from the portal, but the portal had grown smaller.It was working!King was closing the portal to the Collective!As I zapped zombies and Wraiths, I noticed with surprise that the Supernaturals were fighting with the Neratomay to kill the zombies! When they ganged up and killed a zombie and the wraith left the zombie's body, I was able to zap the Wraith and send it back where it belonged."Aleawdat 'iilaa alealam alsuflii!" I chanted loudly along with King. Although I didn't understand the words, I could repeat them exactly.Then Ran, who still stood sentry beside me, began repeating the words. Alexis joined our chant, and that portal began shrinking even more.The larger Wraiths became bottlenecked trying to squeeze up and out of the shrinking portal. They were so freaking g
I stared at the center of the pentagram where so much power was streaming through to seek out vessels, as if that power was a thinking, conniving being. It infused its targets with power so they could fight for it. And Alexis thought that my son should face that? My little boy?"Alexis, he's just a baby!""He is a demon!" he said sternly. "He only pretends to be a baby because that's what you need, Kim. You have to know that it has been many years since our son was a baby."The way King talked to the Wolf Council, the way he seemed to understood so much and so easily, the way he commanded attention whenever he spoke. I didn't want my child to fight this battle, but Alexis and King both knew this was what King was meant to do.Alexis released me and turned toward the pentagram. He raised his hand and began pulling power from the portal in the center, pulling so much that he glowed with the unnatural light that the energy emanated.Paul squinted and stepped in front of me, preventin
Alexis raised his hand. "We learned the truth, secrets that have enslaved us all!" Alexis' nose began to bleed. He stumbled and swiped at the blood angrily and then raised it to show everyone. "Secrets that prevent me from speaking these truths. But you see! You see!"Ran glared out at the group. "We know, even if we can't speak it. But if you can read it in our heads, you will know this secret, too!"The pain was so sudden that I could not have taken a step. I couldn't even see! Buzzing filled my brain as instead of a dozen bees, hundreds of them seemed to fill my head. I had expected it and thought I was prepared, but there is no way to be prepared when someone is inside of you filling your brain to bursting!"Kim!" Paul shook me.I tried to open my eyes then realized they were open. I couldn't see!"Build your wall!" Paul shouted. "Build it now!"I tried to imagine the bricks—white bricks. White…but I could only see black vapors!Then Alexis was inside my head cutting through
I smelled Alexis and Ran, but so had Paul. He was already heading toward them. When we finally met up, I dropped Paul's clothes on the ground before him. He changed quickly back to a man while I stared up at the castle where more Neratomay than ever attempted to enter Epic Cu."Once we're inside we cannot flash ourselves out," I said.Paul narrowed his eyes. "You'll be trapped inside?"Alexis frowned, but Ran and I nodded.Paul slipped his shirt over his head and peered at the castle. "We can blow this bitch up.""Blowing up Neratomay won't kill us," Alexis said. "Not unless our heads are severed or our hearts pierced.""Why does this castle remind me of Hogwarts?" Paul asked.I smiled. "That's what I thought!""How do we enter?" Paul asked. "That entrance is a hopeless bottleneck." "You could enter through the front door once we're inside," Alexis said, pointing at the opening four stories up. "That's how we exited."Paul licked his lips. "I can make that jump.""Not as a
"You're behind this, aren't you? Somehow—"His head exploded. I flinched at the spray of gore. When it turned to ash, I brushed it off me."Which one of you did that?" I asked."He searched my head," Alexis replied."Well, warn a sister next time," I said.Then I felt a loud buzz in my head, and across the room another Elder's head exploded.This created more bedlam and screaming from Council members who flashed themselves away or who sought the aid of another Elder."Do you feel that?" Ran asked."I don't feel anything because these people are screaming and hollering so loudly," I said.They were the most cowardly individuals I had ever seen. These powerful Vampires sat here crying like wusses! The very Council members and Elders who had tortured and murdered other lower level Neratomay could only hide and cry when they met a foe they couldn't overpower. They were the very definition of bullies!Ran turned to me. "It's Paul.""Paul? How…?""I can still hear him from my tim