Chapter 1 - My Girlfriend's Back
Cade
My sense of smell is nothing short of remarkable, but not even I can sniff out vampires as well as Bardolph and his pack of wolves. We start collecting them even before we reach Vancouver. Plucking them right out of cars. Some fight us, resisting as their instinct drives them to do. But eventually they submit. Compelled into compliance.
“Where are you going?”
“To the safe house.”
“Where’s the safe house?”
“Outside of Vancouver.”
“Is Lincroft there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Get in the van. Show us the way.”
Bardolph and his pack shackle them in silver chains in one van. In the other van, we harvest one at a time for their blood. Their cars are abandoned at the side of the road. By the time we reach the outskirts of Vancouver we have ten in our custody.
For a day we watch the ‘safehouse’. A luxurious cabin in the thick of the woodlands. Perched on a rocky cliff. No humans for miles. Isolated. I circle the land in the early morning hours, feeling the energy of the area. There isn’t a depth of dark energy. This isn’t Lincroft’s main compound. Each Vampire King has a main compound with a direct link to the underworld – hell. They drop sacrifices in it – draw power from it.
Dargan had one. I burned it to the ground. Doesn’t stop the dark energy, but it makes it less accessible. My witches have helped me contain it. Keep others from finding it. Complicated spells that can render a soul lost in their attempts to find it.
The next evening, they arrive. Dozens of them. Cars of various makes and models lining the desolate private road leading to the house. I estimate around fifty have arrived that first night.
Bardolph and I discuss our options. Burning it is ideal, but they will sense us if we get too close. They out number us. Some will come out at night to hunt. We can pick them off one by one until the numbers are in our favor. But more will arrive. From different directions.
“Split the pack,” I tell Bardolph. “Monitor the main road from both directions. Pick them off as they come. They’ll grow suspicious quickly. We don’t have much time. We need to do as much damage as possible while we can. Oh...and keep twelve for the burning.”
Twelve. The number of humans Lincroft killed when he came into my territory this past summer. I wonder if he has caught on yet. The kings have doubted me. I was not born of the devil like they were. But I killed one of their own. That alone has been enough to keep them at bay. To fear me. They do not realize I can no longer wield the Twin Sword. That the curse my father put upon me has made me unworthy of the sword. That I must wait to find a dhampir sired by Lincroft himself to wield the sword. But after I killed Dargan, Lincroft executed his dhampirs – all of them - fearful they would follow my example. Idiot. He only recently began gathering dhampirs, but he keeps them close. Too close to access.
But killing off his ranks is satisfying for the moment.
Distracting.
To an extent.
Has James woken? Has he found her?
No! I will not allow myself to be deterred. She left me. She took my child. She betrayed me.
I inhale the piney frostbitten air, numbing the feelings threatening to surface lest they choke me with their poison. Someone has emerged. Time to hunt.
For two nights, we silently attack. Killing dozens. Burning the bodies in a ravine miles away so those still in the house don’t find them. They are now suspicious. Antsy as the expected numbers don’t appear. They are getting ready to move. It’s time to take out the house and move on.
The pack circles the perimeter of the house, hidden in the shadows of the forest. I can smell each and every one of them. Adrenaline coursed through them, ready for a fight. They are wolves. They are meant to hunt, to attack, to take down their prey.
Much like me.
They brandish no weapons, but in my hand is a silver blade sword. Not the sword. Not the Twin Sword. But this one is just as effective. Not entirely necessary, but beheading with my bare hands is gets messy.
Coral clouds streak the sky beyond the blackened outlines of jagged pines as I stroll up to the front door before the sun entirely disappears below the horizon. The door opens before I knock. A female answers. A human. No more than twenty-two. Two precise pinpoints mark her neck, her arms, her ankles. For a moment, the insatiable hunger for human blood flares, scorching the back of my throat.
“Can I help you?” she asks drowsily. Her doe-like eyes blink in rapid succession.
Venom fills my mouth. My fangs lengthen.
Casualty of war.
I press a button on the explosive device and throw it in the house.
“Cade! No!”
Her voice is soft. It comes from a distance, but she knows I can hear her. I whirl around and see her. Standing in the shadows of the treeline. I can smell her scent. Honey, vanilla, sage. I hear her heart beating. Faster than usual. My mate. What the hell is she doing here?
The bomb goes off, the explosion rocking the porch planks beneath me. Glass windows explode, wood beam splinters, heat scorches the air. The human girl topples forward, a scream falling from her lips.
With a snarl, I grab the girl by her throat. In the same moment, a vampire comes crashing through the front window. I throw the girl off the porch to counter the vampire’s attack. Bardolph howls, summoning his pack to attack as vampires emerge from the house like ants from an anthill.
Knocking the vampire off me, I twist back to the treeline. She is gone. Was she a hallucination? Figment of my imagination?
A forceful blow strikes me from behind. Cursing at myself for becoming distracted, I reach back and throw the vampire off the porch, stalking after him. Raising my sword, the blade whistles through the air. The severed head bounces away. And then both the body and head bursts into flames.
“I’m like my mother,” her voice tells me. “Good with fire.”
I growl deep in my chest. There’s no time to look for her. Two vampires are coming at me from either side. They realize who I am. They know they stand no chance, but they attack anyway. They always do. I fight them mindlessly, my blade slicing through the air. Around me, wolves snarl and growl, jaws and teeth snap. Behind me, flames engulf the cabin. Flickering out the windows, licking at the roof.
Then out of the corner of my eye I see her. With James. Darting into the house.
A roar of protest echoes through the chaos. I fade in after them. James fights with another vampire while Natalie urges a cluster of scantily dressed humans with multiple bite marks marring their bodies out the door. They cough and wheeze as thick smoke burns their lungs. Walls creak and fall, orange embers cascade like rain.
Natalie’s green eyes catch mine. For a moment, they paralyze me with raw longing, want, and angst. But the reflection of the flickering flames of fire in her eyes ignites my fury. I grab her and fade back out to the tree line. Her fragile human fists pummel me.
“Put me down! What the hell are you doing?” She twists and turns in my arms. “Damn it, Cade! There are humans in there! You can’t let them die! Cade! Watch out! Infernious!”
A ball of fire appears in her hand and she throws it over my shoulder. Behind me, a vampire wails with indignation as her clothes ignite. I set Natalie down, backing her against a thick tree. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Her eyes flash up at me. “I could ask you the same thing!”
“I owe you no explanations.”
I catch the flash of hurt she quickly hides by narrowing her eyes. She points at the flaming vampire behind me. “Are you going to behead her or yell at me for setting her on fire? ’Cause it doesn’t seem like you’re attempting to keep the peace anymore.”
Whirling back, I swing my blade through the air and the wailing ceases as the body and head hit the ground with a thud. I see James herding the humans through the trees. I’m half tempted to go after him, to watch his head fall to the ground for bringing Natalie here. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting her out of my sight, so I’ll have to kill him later.
A nearby wolf struggles to shake off a vampire who has a choke hold on him. Natalie mutters another incantation and I feel the surrounding air grow thick with magic. A second later, a branch falls from the tree, striking the vampire hard enough to loosen his hold and allowing the wolf to break free. Twisting around, the wolf’s jaw clamps down on the vampire’s leg and he shakes him like a dog with a toy.
“I’m assuming the wolves are on our side,” Natalie says, as another fireball forms in her hand. She pitches it at the vampire fading towards us.
Our side? There is no our side. She left. Reappearing now doesn’t change the fact that she left.
Stepping forward, I bring my sword down with a resounding thwack before turning on her, fighting off every damn emotion threatening to come to the surface. The urge to grab her and shake all the damn answers she owes me out of her. The desire to grab her and claim those damn lips because they’re mine. The need to sink my fangs into the soft flesh of her neck and drink until her sweet blood fills every vein in my body.
Instead, I grab the vampire attempting to flee past us into the woods. Snapping her head, I clamp down on her shoulder and suck the blood from her body until she falls limply to the ground. Then I draw in a few deep breaths, Natalie’s scent sneaking past the rancid smell of charred bodies burning with every inhale. Reminding me she is standing only a few yards away. Watching me. After months of not know where the hell she went, she is suddenly back.
And the shield of indifference cracks.
With anger.
With lust.
With hate.
