"They're coming. Those who have some twisted idea that they must be the ones to save the world. When will they realize that as long as free will exists, evil will exist? As long as a being can choose for itself whether they want the peace of the light or the power of the darkness, evil will always gain a foothold." ~Sincaro
1502 A.D. The Red War.
Sincaro pulled the fae blade from his chest with a trembling hand. Perizada’s aim had been true, but not deep enough. He’d seen the look of triumphant fury in her eyes. He was sure she thought him dead when he fell. He wouldn't give her any reason to believe otherwise. Sincaro stayed flat on the ground, pulling himself through the tall grass, further and further from the fighting that continued amongst those still standing. When he finally reached the cover of the forest, he pulled himself up until he was standing and turned back toward the sounds of the dying, the screaming, and those who were quickly overtaking what was left of his race. Their numbers had been depleted to less than two dozen. The fae had nearly accomplished their plan of wiping them out completely. Little did they know, they'd only steeled the vampires resolve to survive. He would disappear with the vampires that were left and slowly they would regain their numbers. He would do whatever it took to build any army that could stand against the fae. His blood was powerful and he would make sure that those new vampires he created were empowered with his own blood. They could then pass it on to those they turned. Then he would seek out a food source that wasn't as easily broken as the humans. They would need something that could withstand their feeding and recover—a renewable food source. His eye narrowed as he zeroed in on the fae who so foolishly believed she'd killed him. They would need a supernatural food source.
With a plan brewing in his mind, Sincaro melted back into the forest. He would retreat to the cover of the underworld, the place where his kind was most at home. It would be the last time he would be aboveground for a very long time.
Jen leaned over with her hands on her knees, panting as she tried to fill her deprived lungs with air. The second day of operation vampire genocide had begun much like the first, and they’d just finished wiping out the first coven. She'd begged Decebel to let her fight. She'd fallen apart the night before and she was so raw inside that she just needed to stab something. He hadn't really liked her outburst of 'Just let me kill something already.' She'd realized that had been the wrong thing to say, but after another thirty minutes of pleading with her mate and Vasile, they'd agreed to let her go in.
The adrenaline running through her veins was like a drug to her. It kept the other emotions at bay and made her feel like she had some sort of control over the chaos into which they were running.
She'd let Decebel take the lead but she'd been right on his heels as they’d rushed into the cave like room. There had been no pause in her feet, no hesitation, as she began swinging the two blades Peri had given her—fae blades that seemed to know what she wanted before her arm was even moving. She couldn’t hear the sounds of the dying or fighting over the pounding of her heart. Her arms moved gracefully, the way her mate had shown her, and she barely even saw the bodies that dropped when she was done with her work. The only vampire she could remember had been a blonde who'd taunted her. 'Your males allowed a weak little dormant female to fight the big bad vampires? Why didn't they just put you on a platter like the others? Of course, you won't be as sweet as they are. Their blood isn't tainted yet. It's pure, clean, and goes down smooth.' Just remembering the sound of the woman’s voice grated on Jen’s nerves. The female vamp had pissed Jen off so royally that she'd tucked the blades down in the boots and phased her fingernails to the powerful claws of her wolf.
Jen knew the smile on her face probably looked a little sadistic, but the calmness of her voice when she responded to the vamp was even worse.
"You aren't worthy of a death by my wolf. But since I’m pissed, I’ll show you how us weak, little, dormant females fight." Jen moved with her wolf’s speed as she lunged forward and ran her claws across the woman’s face. She flipped around just as the woman passed her and Jen raked her claws across the woman’s back, leaving deep lacerations that stretched from shoulder to hip. The vamp screeched like a wounded cat and came at Jen as though she was possessed. Jen stood her ground as the woman ran full speed toward her. Just before she would have reached her, Jen held her hand up, claws extended and muscles locked. The stupid vamp ran herself through on the wolf’s claws. Jen didn’t think about the fact that her hand was imbedded in a vampire’s chest and wrapped around its heart. Instead, she allowed her wolf to lift the woman and slam her onto her back against the blood covered ground.
Jen leaned down over the female vampire, making sure the last thing she would see was the eyes of Jen’s wolf, and she whispered, "And that's how we dormants do it." And then she pulled the heart from the vampire’s chest. It wasn't near as easy as they made it look in movies.
The cold Philadelphia air burned her lungs as she continued to breathe it into her body. She shook her head and arms as though she was shaking off the memory of the fight. There were just some memories that had no business taking up space in her mental files.
"You okay?" Jacque asked.
Jen stood up and looked at her very pregnant friend. Everyone thought Jen was the tough one. They were clueless. Jacque was the beast in their little trio. She was one of the strongest people Jen knew, and she proved it as she stood outside a vampire coven about to pop out a baby.
"Or she’s just foolish," Decebel’s words filled her mind. Of course, he wouldn't think Jacque’s actions were a show of strength because like all male flea motels, he expected her to hide from danger like a mouse hides from a cat.
"Is it really foolish for the mouse, which is physically smaller and weaker than the cat, to hide in order to stay alive?"
Jen ignored him long enough to address Jacque. "I'm good. Not even a scratch on me."
"If you'd have gotten a scratch on you, Decebel would have flipped more than just his lid," Jacque quipped.
"True," Jen sighed. "Perhaps, I should allow the scratch just for that reason."
Jacque laughed. "You are unapologetically diabolical."
"Hey, I could be a lot worse things."
"Like a mouse hiding from a cat?" Decebel asked.
"Stay the hell out of my conversations you freaking hair ball," Jen growled out loud, not even giving him the luxury of the bond.
Everyone froze as they looked from Decebel to Jen. Jen thought their heads looked like they were at a tennis match.
Decebel was standing next to Vasile and Peri as he stared at Jen. She didn't see any anger in his gaze. In fact, she couldn't read his expression at all, and that just pissed her off more. He didn't get to say aggravating comments in regards to a conversation that he hadn't even been invited into and then stare at her blankly while she tried to keep from throwing her fae blades at him.
"There have been enough fae blades used to mark my skin, female. There's no need for you to add to them," he said in his cool, detached voice.
"Female?" Jen growled as she took a step towards him. "Female!"
A voice that wasn't hers or Decebel’s interrupted the massive ass chewing she was about to give her mate. "Everyone needs to calm down, take a breath, and think before they speak."
Jen's head turned slowly to look at Cypher. She was surprised that he was the one who was attempting to defuse the situation.
"I am calm," said Decebel as he looked at Cypher like he had suddenly sprouted horns.
Cypher met her mate’s eyes and gave a slight nod. "Then maybe you should focus on the thinking before you speak part of my suggestion."
"Burn," Jacque whispered to Jen.
"I'm liking this warlock king more and more," Jen chuckled.
"Jen, I'm speaking to all of you," Cypher scolded her.
Her mouth snapped shut, not because of her own choice. Her eyes shot to Peri, who gave her a shrug. “Damn, meddling fae,” she thought.
Cypher turned away from her and addressed the whole group. "I've been watching everyone since the third coven we took out yesterday. I’ve noticed your behavior changing. At first I didn't understand it. But this time I felt it."
"It's the magic," Alston spoke up.
Cypher nodded.
"What magic?" Costin asked.
"The magic that lived inside the vampires," Cypher answered. "We aren't all called supernatural beings for nothing. We each have magic in us. Vamps, trolls, warlocks, wolves, all of us. When the body that no longer contains that magic dies, some of the magic is released. Though it fades over time, the way we are killing these vampires in groups like this…"
"It's like walking into a sauna of dark vampire mojo," Jen finished for him.
"Exactly," Cypher agreed.
Jen nodded. "Okay then, B, I totally forgive your lapse in judgment because of the dark vampire mojo."
Decebel started to speak but Fane rested a hand on his shoulder. "Just go with it, man."
Jen winked at her mate, who didn't look like he just wanted to go with it.
"So that's number three today," Jacque said as she took the offered water bottle from her mate. For being such a supernatural group, they sure didn't look too super. The wolves and faes’ clothes were clean, thanks to Peri’s handy dandy fae magic, but not even fae magic could wipe away the emotional filth that seemed to be collecting on them with every encounter.
"I think we can get four more in today," Peri said before taking a swig from her own bottle.
They were standing in a city park in the great city of Atlanta. And with Nissa’s assurance that she was using fae magic to glamour them into not looking like a group of supernatural killing machines, they'd all kicked back on a bench, tree, or the ground to rest.
"Four more?" Sally asked, looking slightly green.
Peri nodded. "One of the cities is in Colorado. So instead of us going there, I'm going to contact Dillon’s" —she glanced at Jacque— "mate, Tanya. Nissa is going to flash to them and lead them in an attack there. Then there is a coven in Missouri."
Jen groaned. "What the hell? I feel like we're chasing hordes of cockroaches all over the freaking nation with no end in sight."
"Alston will go to the Missouri pack," Peri continued, as though Jen hadn't just had a four-year-old moment, “and lead them in an attack on that coven while we are going to continue on to New York City and then to Dallas.”
Jacque leaned back against Fane who was leaning against a tree behind her. “How are we going to take out all of these covens?” she asked Peri and then looked at her father-in-law. “It will take us months to find them all, and they are probably going to start catching on, if they haven’t already. Who’s to say they don’t move or just start multiplying? Wait.” She narrowed her eyes. “How do vamps come into being? Are they born, made, or what?”
Alston was the one who answered her. “Actually vampirism is a disease caused by a virus. The human myth that a vampire must drain a human and then give them their blood in return is merely that—a myth, as are most of their ideas about supernaturals. The vampire does indeed have to bite the victim with an intent to infect them. They then inject the virus into the victim’s bloodstream. But biting to feed on them will not turn a person into a vampire.”
“How long is the incubation period of the virus?” Sally asked.
“It takes six days for the virus to fully infect the host,” Alston answered.
“So basically they could start making vamps as fast as we can kill them,” Jacque said as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
Peri understood Jacques worries; she had thought of the same things.
“I don’t have the perfect solution for you,” Peri admitted. “I’m trying to keep from getting every wolfpack in North America involved, and I have other wolfpacks dealing with the whole Volcan crap. I could see if the elves would be willing to help—”
Peri’s words were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Cyn.
“Speak of the devil,” Jen said with a grin.
“I am not an elf,” Cyn told her in her usual matter-of-fact, no-nonsense way.
“No, but you’re doin—OW!” Jen lifted the foot that Peri had just stomped on.
Peri stepped away from Jen just in case the she-wolf decided to retaliate. “Cyn, glad you could join us,” Peri said with a small amount of bite in her voice. She’d expected the fae warrior two days ago.
Cyn met Peri’s eyes and, because Peri knew her, she saw the pain there.
“What’s wrong?” Peri asked, stepping toward her.
“I was delayed in coming because, before I was about to flash to Romania to join you, I decided to check in on the pixies who have been monitoring Canada. It took me awhile to track them down. I picked up their trail of magic on the outskirts of Toronto. But they weren’t alone. Someone was following them.”
“Please don’t tell me what I think you are about to tell me,” Peri said in a deadly whisper. “Please, Cyn.”
“I am sorry, Perizada. The vampires got to them before I could get there.”
“They killed the little pixies?” Decebel asked through gritted teeth.
Peri felt as though she couldn't breathe. She tried to suck air into her lungs but her throat was so constricted that none could get through. Why the hell couldn’t she keep her people safe? Why, at every turn, did it feel like she was failing?
“What about children?” Vasile spoke up. “Have there been any more children missing or killed?”
“I honestly don’t know. The pixies that were helping in the United States have fled after finding out their kin were murdered,” responded Cyn.
“Now we have no way to monitor the kidnappings or deaths,” Peri spat.
“I do have an idea about that,” Cyn explained. “We are going to need to start monitoring the humans’ police force.”
"Perizada." Her mate’s voice rushed into her mind and the concern, urgency, and love that came with it eased her enough that she could breathe again. "Are you alright? Do you need me?"
"I always need you." She paused and considered Cyn's news and then swallowed her pride as she turned to her mate. She told him about all of their concerns regarding the sheer number of covens and how quickly the vamps could multiply. She told him about the pixies and how that they now had no real way to monitor the abductions and deaths without going through the human police. She explained that every time they took out a coven all of the death and horror was hurting Sally and that the residual magic left after the vamps were killed was causing some intense emotions for them all. "I don't know what to do. We can't just do nothing, even though the problem seems so much bigger than our little band of heroes. What do I do?"
Peri listened to the group milling around her, talking quietly amongst themselves as she had stepped to the side to converse with her mate through their bond. She could feel his mind at work and knew that he was attempting to see things from multiple angles, not just the ‘kill all vamps’ angle that she seemed to have latched onto.
"Get in contact with Tayna and have her wolves deal with the coven in Colorado and any that you know about that are nearby. There is no reason they can't help. Also get in contact with Tyler, the Springfield Alpha, and have him deal with the coven in his territory and any other covens nearby. You don't have to do it all, love. Lean on those willing to help."
"Tyler owes us anyway after hesitating to give up the cabin where Jacque was taken after being kidnapped," Peri said, getting angry at the stupid Alpha despite the fact that she hadn't even been there. The girls had been happy to share with her in grave detail everything that had happened to them up until the point when Peri entered the picture.
"No wolf would let the death of innocent children lie. As soon as those wolves hear about what's going on, they will be more than happy to help. What about the pack in Coldspring, the one with the Alpha that Fane had to kill? Any covens near them could be their responsibility."
"Thank you," she said when she realized his matter-of-fact thinking was exactly what she needed.
"I am always here. I love you."
"I love you too, fleas and all." He chuckled at her and then left her to do what she needed to do. Peri could only do what she was doing because she knew Lucian was protecting the healers they still had in their care and waiting and watching to see if Volcan made a move. If he weren't there taking care of those things, her mind wouldn't be in the game where it needed to be.
She turned to face the group feeling more grounded and less frantic. Thank you for that, mate, she thought to herself. "Okay, I've got a plan," she spouted to those around her.
Vasile stood silent, his arms folded in front of him, as he considered the things his brother had suggested to Peri.
"I understand why you didn't want to get the other wolves involved, Peri," Vasile said.
"Would someone please enlighten the little people?" Jen spoke up as she looked from Vasile to Peri.
It was her mate who answered. "You know of the darkness that lives in the males of our race," Decebel began.
Jen nodded.
"It's one thing to speak of the darkness, to simply acknowledge that it's there. It is a whole other thing to be the one living with it. When we are without our true mate we battle it hourly. So take a male already dealing with that, throw him into a den of vampires, have him kill them, and then be surrounded by the dark magic in them."
"But why don’t the mated ones just do the fighting?" Jen asked.
Vasile watched as his longtime friend’s eyes softened at his mate. "Jennifer, I know you, Sally and Jacque have only experienced this" —he motioned to the group— "for the most part. Over the past year, half a dozen in our packs have found their true mates. That's more than has been found in decades in all of the packs."
Her eyes widened when she finally understood.
Vasile took over. "The majority of the pack members in any pack are unmated males," he said just to be clear. "There just aren’t enough mated wolves to fight this threat. But we have to weigh the options. If we don't ask for the other packs to help, we have to do it all on our own. Which, as Jacque pointed out, would be futile if the vampires began making more of their kind. So instead, in order to protect the greater good, we must have our unmated males fight."
"Will they be willing?" Sally asked.
The men in the group, including Vasile, scoffed. He looked at the healer and nodded. "We protect what is ours and we protect the innocents. They will be more than happy to hunt."
The Romanian Alpha turned back to Peri. "So how will you divide the few among them? Your power will be needed to deal with the aftermath and any survivors that might need to be helped."
Peri glanced at Alston and Nissa and then Cyn. "Yes, each pack will need the assistance of a fae. Nissa," —she said looking at the high fae woman— “you will go to Coldspring. Cyn, you will go help Tanya in Colorado. Alston," —she paused, seemed to consider something and then continued— “you will stay with this group. You aren't as well known among the other packs. Nissa isn't either, but she isn't an ass like you. So it would be better if I dealt with the Missouri pack."
The group tried to bite back its laughter. Well, some of them did, Vasile conceded as he looked at the three American female who were chuckling outright. The sparkle he saw in Peri's eye told him she'd meant for the comment to lighten the mood.
"So where is the fellowship headed next?" Jen asked once everyone had gathered themselves.
"Washington," Peri answered.
Vasile's brow furrowed when Jen, Jacque, and Sally's eyes all lit up.
"Forks?" they all said at the same time.