Charlotte

I was nervous about this trip to London. I felt something bad was around the corner, but I didn’t know if it was here or back at the castle. I played the role and dressed in an expensive gown and waited in the lobby with Draco as Falcon and Nora exited the elevator. I took a deep breath and smiled. My body was telling me something was off, but it wouldn’t present itself. My visions weren’t strong at all. I knew it was going to take more time for them to grow and be all powerful like Falcon’s mother, and I wasn’t there yet. With less than a decade of them and only when I was in true danger, I didn’t have enough experience to understand them quickly. Some were obvious, but by the time I found out, it was short notice. The most time we ever had was six hours before an attack.

“Your dress is so pretty and I love the color. Green suits you,” Nora said. I gave her a brief barely-there hug. With our size, it was nearly impossible to hug each other.

“Tell me about it. Your dress was meant for you. I love the color and the fit. You look like royalty. Well, since you technically are, that’s true, but tonight it shows. So chin up and face taut, we’re going to the theatre,” I teased, attempting an aristocratic accent.

“Yes, my dear. Let us show the little people what class looks like,” she teased back in her own aristocratic tone.

Falcon rolled his eyes at us and shook his head. “They are going to be a handful tonight.”

“Handful, I’m like a truckload. At least it feels that way,” Nora remarked, rubbing her huge belly. I didn’t know who was bigger, but we looked like balloons tied to sticks.

“Come on, our limo is here for us.” The men helped us into the back before they climbed in, taking their seats beside us, then we headed off to the theatre.

Draco had said something that been fascinating me for hours and I had to ask Falcon about it before I went crazy with curiosity. “Falcon, Draco was telling me that you encountered the famous murderer, Jack the Ripper. Do you want to tell us?” The limo driver had his earphones in and was deciding to ignore us.

“Sure, it’s not a nice tale, but since you’ve seen worse, I suppose it won’t hurt to tell you.” He held Nora closer before he began, “I first saw him leaving the scene. Now, I hadn’t seen her body, but from the look in his eyes I knew what he was up to. Well, at least I thought I did. The body was discovered shortly thereafter and I knew it had been his handy work. He wasn’t a vampire I knew, but I decided that I would keep my eyes open. If he’d been caught by chance, someone may be onto our secret. Of course, back then, it was easy to hide who we were. Now, it seems as though we dodge the bullet, per se, on a daily basis. I ran into him again after the last one, Mary Kelly. The savagery had grown and I knew that he would only get worse. I picked up on his whereabouts from his lingering scent, and although I was no bloodhound, I was able to track him down to a lavish home in Grosvenor Square inside Mayfair. He lived alone with money that I have no idea how he acquired. The man was a ghost in the night. He was caught by surprise when I entered his premise.”

“How did you get him to stop?” Nora asked, just as intrigued as the rest of us.

“I didn’t. He claimed that Mary Kelly had been his last victim. It seemed that Jack took on a new profession, working as a hired assassin. I don’t know who hired him, but he did say that the one who hired him wanted it to be as demeaning as possible.”

“Wow. That’s crazy.” She shook her head at her mate. “What did you do about it?”

Falcon shrugged. “I let his actions go with a warning for his to stop. Many vampires killed humans for many reasons. There wasn’t any authority of ours to stop since most of us had moved into the real world and lived for ourselves. I monitored their behavior and saved a couple of humans. My concern was with our kind being discovered rather than a few humans dying. It sounds terrible, but he stopped, so I didn’t come after him. Sometimes, I feel guilty about it, but really, most of those people in that area died young, lives full of filth and disease lead to an early grave.”

“Yes, the numbers of those in White Chapel perished from disease. Drinking from them wasn’t appealing at all. You’d have to have no other choice than to drain them dry,” Draco added. They’d both consumed animals for longer than they could remember, but they hadn’t always dined on them.

Falcon nodded, agreeing with Draco, then he added, “Well, I don’t know if I believe that story or if he had a hatred for human females in that area. Our sense of smell isn’t like a dog’s, but it’s not bad and, at those times baths, were not the rage. It would burn our nostrils as their lust and grime hit our noses. In fact, I left London shortly thereafter to where it was more peaceful.”

“That is so gross. Especially with all their clients on them when they moved to the next. Hey, maybe one of them hit on him and he lost it, then made it a game,” I whispered my conspiracy.

“Yeah, but he stopped…” Nora said.

“Or he moved on to a new place,” Draco offered up.

“Perhaps we will never know. We’re here,” Falcon stated as the vehicle came to a stop.

The crowd had been gathered around the lobby when we entered. Our appearance garnered attention and I watched as Nora blushed. I just gave the enamored crowd a wink. They believed we were special people, so I gave them something to write home about. Our handsome dates escorted us up the stairs to our box and into our seats. The show was just about to start as the seats began to fill up below us. I wondered if this vampire and his mate were the problem. Somehow, I didn’t see them working for The Lamia because of her ties to the shifter world, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t involved before then. We’d find out after the show.

Three hours and a wonderful experience later, we headed down to the backstage. We needed a word or two with Mr. Aldridge and his wife. The crowd got in our way, but we couldn’t just teleport into his dressing room because it was shared with his bride.

They came out once more for another round of applause, then we listened to the set crew to find out where they were going.

“We’d like to have a word with your stars, Mr. Aldridge and his wife,” Falcon said to the director.

“I’m sorry, but they don’t make it a habit to meet their fans.”

“I care not. It is rather important.” What, does Charles only know big beasts?

“I will ask if he will see you. Your name please.”

“Inform him that Lord Lombardi is here to speak with him.”

“I will.” Jackass.

Two minutes later, the door to the dressing room was held open. “Please go in.”

“Thank you,” Draco said, closing the door in the director’s face.

“Lord Lombardi, I’m sorry, which of you is he?” he asked, looking between the two men.

“I am Lord Lombardi and this is my longtime associate, Draco Romano,” he said. “These are our brides, Leonora and Charlotte.”

“This is my bride, Evelyn. What can I help you with?”

“We’ve heard rumors that you have some acquaintances in the U.S. that I wish to speak with, but I don’t know how to get in touch with them.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and we don’t want to be in your war.”

“My war? This is everyone’s war, Mr. Aldridge. If The Lamia win, no more performances for you unless it’s in front of your new ruler. He will not be allowing the humans the joys of the theatre.”

“Listen, I cannot just tell you where they are. They have nothing to do with this and you know they hate our kind. I just happen to be mated to one of their mate’s siblings.”

“Yes, and I just have questions for them. I’m not asking for them to do anything for us. In fact, I don’t need much of their time, but I must speak with someone who has knowledge of the past.”

“That’s hard. They have less knowledge about our past than we do. They lost a lot in their wars against each other. But I will call my brother-in-law and see what he says and if he is willing to meet with you. Give me one moment.”

We watched as he dialed the number on his phone. Draco could trace it back easily if necessary, but I’ll give this vampire the benefit of the doubt for now.

“Hey, Kane, this is Charles.”

“I know who it is, what’s up? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, it is. I need you to do me a huge favor. We’ve got a sticky mess here in Europe with my own kind. I have the leader of the Army of Light here and he would like to meet with you.”

“We don’t want any of that war. They would tear our flesh to shreds.”

“It’s not that. He wants to ask you some questions. The meeting wouldn’t be long, he promises. And from what I know about him, he keeps his word.”

“We can set up a meeting for this week.”

“Tell him we can come right now.”

Charles looked at Falcon in surprise. Then it hit me. “No, we can’t. We need to get out of here and back to the castle. We’re in for a big one,” I replied stoically. My heart was racing as the vision appeared before me. The bodies to die wouldn’t only be The Lamia. I shook as I saw weapons left where the bodies had fallen. I closed my eyes.

“We’ll be in contact. Where do I go see him?”

“Redding, Oregon.”

“Soon, I just don’t know when.” Falcon clutched Nora and Draco wrapped his arms around me, and we were gone, leaving stunned expressions on their faces.

As soon as we arrived at the castle we could hear the sirens; the battle was closer than before. What was wrong with my senses? We needed to get changed and be ready to fight. We teleported to our rooms and rushed to change. Thor was at Nora’s side as soon as we arrived at the castle. He barked and brushed his head against her thigh. She rubbed his head anxiously. The men put on their battle armor and took us to Mary’s quarters. We took Nora’s dog with us because Falcon wanted her to have extra protection and comfort while they went into battle.

“All of you, hold on,” Draco said; clutching onto him, we were on the move again. This time we were in the fortress. Draco turned off the security alarm and kissed me goodbye before leaving us there.

“This is bad, ladies. Really bad,” I sobbed. I didn’t know who was coming out alive and who wasn’t.