Vampires Dead Ahead (22 page)

TWENTY-FIVE

“Wonder how things are going at home,” I said as I walked the last few steps out of the belowground realm of the Dark Elves and into the late-afternoon sunshine of Otherworld. I ran my fingers along my Drow collar as I spoke.

“We’ll be heading back soon.” As the enormous stone covering the entrance shuddered to a close, Colin came up behind me and rested his hands on my bare shoulders. I leaned back against him and felt myself relax just a little. “And we will deal with Volod,” he said.

I nodded and felt the slide of my hair against Colin’s chest before I turned to face him. “The Great Guardian better have some answers.”

Colin’s lips were soft as he brushed them over mine. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back.

“Are you stalling?” He smiled as he drew away.

I started to protest then realized he was right. “I guess I am a little intimidated at meeting her in person.”

“It’ll all be fine.” Colin took my hand and squeezed it. “Which way, O beautiful one?”

I raised our joined hands and indicated a path in the forest a little to our left.

“I don’t know how Father arranged this meeting so soon.” I started walking at Colin’s side. “But I’m glad he was able to. We need to be getting back.”

“Your father is a man of amazing stature,” Colin said. “Rodán is the only other person I’ve known to have been in the Great Guardian’s presence.”

“Yes, he is a man of great stature.” I sighed. “I just wish he could join us with some of his men. Just think what an advantage that would be. If Vampires can’t turn Dark Elves, and Elves have superior strength and magic, it could make a real difference.”

“Vampires are one thing.” Colin squeezed my hand. “A Vampire paranorm force of former Trackers is as formidable a force as he would face.” He continued, “Taking nothing away from Dark Elves, who can hold their own against any fighters, but this is a dangerous fight and your father knows it.”

I frowned as I thought about this. “My father is not one to shrink back from a fight.”

“I could see in your father’s eyes that he wants to help.” Twigs and dried leaves crunched beneath Colin’s shoes. “It is not that he is afraid. He just has to think about his own people first.”

“Of course.” I heard the sound of a nightbird as it started to wake. “I have to get past the idea that my father said no to me. It’s something he doesn’t do. But I know it’s unfair for me to put that on him and I understand his position.”

“We’ll find other ways to defeat Volod.” Colin ducked beneath a low-hanging branch. “How far to the meadow your father told us about?”

“Not far.” I stepped over a fallen log, making no sound whatsoever, unlike Colin who stepped on a branch. The large cracking sound echoed through the forest. Birds quieted.

I looked upan="0p at him. “I didn’t realize Dragons were so noisy.”

“You should see me when I shift.”

“I have.” I shook my head. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing we don’t have to rely on you for stealth right now.”

He bumped my shoulder with his intentionally, and I did a little sidestep but didn’t stumble. I laughed and bumped him back and he did stumble a bit.

The forest grew quieter as we neared a meadow. From ahead came the burbling sound of a small stream. The forest smelled so clean, of fresh air, pine, and rich loam.

My heart beat faster as we got closer to the meadow and my belly did a flip. What would it be like to talk with the Great Guardian?

We paused at the edge of the tree line. I caught my breath and wished Father could see the beauty here in daylight. Soft yellow sunshine, patches of purple and pink flowers dipping in the light breeze, and grass as green as a carpet of Drow-mined emeralds.

My boots skimmed over the tops of pale mushrooms at the edge of the darkened forest. Colin came up beside me. “Your world is amazingly beautiful, Nyx. This looks like a place I’d expect to meet the Great Guardian.”

A small footbridge spanned the width of the stream, the water sparkling in the ebbing sunlight. The opposite end seemed to fade away into the forest. It was like looking into the distance, yet it wasn’t that far.

I tipped my head back and looked at lacy clouds strewn across sky growing deeper blue with every passing moment. My skin wasn’t tingling yet, but the night was on its way.

“Nyx.” The sound of a sweet voice had me whirling and facing the bridge again.

A glow filled the meadow. I raised my hand in front of my eyes to block the strength of it.

When the glow faded enough to see, an ethereal being, beyond anything I could imagine, stood a few feet away.

Slender and fine-boned, she was almost as tall as Colin. She had long, delicate fingers that were folded in front of her, against the soft white material of her gown.

I’d never seen such perfect skin, or eyes as crystal blue. Long, glossy hair, pale like jasmine, tumbled over her shoulders to the soft grass at her bare feet.

Colin had a hold on my hand still, and he gently tugged as he bent to one knee. I found myself kneeling before her.

“Rise.” She spoke like a queen, yet sounded young and sweet.

But when I was standing, through the crystal blue of her eyes I saw ancient wisdom that I knew I could never grasp. I could feel the Guardian’s power, vibrant, tangible. Warmth and a tingling sensation traveled throughout my body like I’d never experienced before. As if I were being embraced by someone who I truly loved.

I felt no fear. The warmth and goodness of her filled me.

“Nyx, welcome.” She smiled at me then inclined her head to Coher heiglin. “It is a pleasure to see you, Colin of Campton.”

Colin bowed his head before looking at the Great Guardian again. “I never expected to be permitted to see you. Who am I to see the Guardian? I will forever remember this day.”

She smiled. “Who are you? You are a brave Dragon who cares about others. You have righted your way and you are worthy of such time with me. I see great things for you. So yes, you shall remember this day.”

When she returned her gaze to me, I wondered how I’d ever called her GG instead of the Great Guardian. My face burned at my lack of respect.

“I am pleased with you.” The strength of her statement surprised me, and my cheeks grew even hotter. “You are a brave warrior. Most important, you are a brave warrior who cares for others before herself.”

“Thank you.” I could almost picture how small my words were in her presence. They seemed insignificant.

“What can I do for you?” she said.

“I’m here because neither Rodán nor Monique can be.” I swallowed. “I am told there is no one but me who can speak with you.”

“It saddens me.” The Guardian’s voice grew softer. “That two such as them should be lost to something so evil.”

“How did you know about Rodán?” I asked. “I guess I have heard that you know all, but I wasn’t certain.”

She gave a sad smile that seemed to say,
Of course I knew.
Instead, she said, “Rodán is a good man. Now he will be tested.”

Hope made me straighten. “Does that mean he’ll be okay? That he’ll come back to us?”

“That is not for you to know.” The Guardian’s face told me nothing as she spoke. “I will only guide you along what I believe is the right path for you.”

“I’m sorry I doubted you.” I don’t even know where the words came from. “I am sorry I didn’t believe in you.”

“Now is when it is important to believe. You have seen me and heard me. Now is the test for you.” She didn’t look at me any differently than she had before. “You are young, and you do not know me like Rodán and your father do. They have trusted me. You will learn this also.”

“Still—” I started.

“Just know that I have been with you before today, and I am there with you even now. In times of trouble when you will feel most alone, you are not.” The glow around her seemed to grow brighter as the day waned.

“Your father and Rodán were successful,” she continued. “They knew when to call on me and knew I would provide them enough to prevail if I was able,” she continued. “Rodán adhering to that conviction made a difference in your victories.”

I tried to process what she was saying. She must have seen the confusion on my face.

“Know that there are powers you can avail yourself of,” she sf ot have seaid.

I frowned in thought. “What powers? When?”

“You will know when the time comes,” she said. “I can’t tell you what will happen or how. Only that the evil, the threat is real. The difference can be your belief in the powers available to you.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“I will not tell you the outcome. Things look dire now, and hopeless.” She was like a patient teacher with a child. “Without faith in what I am saying, following through with the right actions, and using the powers available to you, defeat will follow.”

“What about Rodán?” I asked. “He was one of yours, yet an evil has come to him now and he has been turned.”

“I have not left Rodán, but sacrifices must be made, Nyx,” she said. “Due to the evil of others, sometimes the good of one must be sacrificed for the good of all.”

“What can you tell me?” I asked. “What can I do to help my people defeat Volod?”

Her crystal-blue eyes held my gaze. “I will tell you that your victory can come, but only at the cost of your blood. Yet you must trust me and not lose hope, no matter the circumstances.”

A chill swept through me.
My blood?
She had to mean me. My blood. My sacrifice. My death.

So be it. What choice did I have? I raised my chin. “I will trust you and do whatever it takes to save paranorms and humans in my adopted Earth Otherworld.”

“I know you will.” She turned to Colin. “She will need you till the end.”

The end.
My stomach cramped and my conviction wavered. But I knew what I had to do.

“Thank you.” I was grateful to Colin when I felt him take my hand. “I will do anything to defeat Volod. Anything at all.”

She gave a slight incline of her head. “I will leave you now.”

I opened my mouth to say something then shut it. Instead I bowed my head. When I looked up I saw that Colin had done so as well.

“Farewell, Nyx.” She reached up and caressed my cheek. Her touch was soft. I felt an incredible warmth throughout my body again, like a power surge that entered me when she touched me.

“May good fortune be with you.” Her last words seemed to be carried on the breeze as they slipped past me.

We watched as the Great Guardian turned away. My skin tingled with the oncoming night, telling me I would be shifting soon. I ignored it and followed her with my gaze.

She walked onto the bridge and paused, then glanced over her shoulder at me. Our gazes met and she gave me a smile again.

Then the Great Guardian turned away and walked the rest of the way across the footbridge before she vanished.

TWENTY-SIX

Wind pulled at Volod’s long coat as he stood beside Rodán’s grave once again. Clouds obscured the moon, but he did not need its light to see by.

Pleasure swept through him as he waited. It should not be long now.

Monique stood to his right, elegant and lovely in a black evening dress with a matching bolero jacket. Anticipation seemed to thrum around her. She was smiling, her hands clasped before her.

Elizabeth was on his left, wearing a lake-blue dress, her hair swept up and revealing the collar that he hadn’t allowed her to take off since Monique put it there. He sensed her anger, but it did not matter to him. What mattered was that she was there to serve him however he chose.

Several Vampire paranorms from Volod’s dream team stood by. He wanted them to witness who was now his to command. Who would be their leader as they followed Volod’s direction.

The unmarked grave still looked as if it had been in the cemetery for years instead of a mere ten days. But those ten days had seemed very long as he waited for his newly made Vamp to crawl out.

Turning Rodán made him feel triumphant in a way he had not felt before. He, Volod, had captured Rodán of the Light Elves. And now the great Rodán would serve him.

The question of whether or not Rodán would actually rise from the ground to become a Vampire flickered in Volod’s mind. Some paranorms had died in the grave, never to rise.

He immediately dismissed the thought. He truly had no doubt that Rodán would be among the undead soon.

The ground shuddered beneath Volod’s feet. He frowned.

Monique bounced up on the toes of her high heels. “He’s coming.” Her voice quivered with excitement.

Volod wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, but it might be a good idea to step back. He grasped Monique’s and Elizabeth’s arms and drew them back three steps.

A fissure cracked open the earth where Rodán’s coffin lay. A low roar came from beneath, the sound of rock and stone churning.

Rocks and dirt burst up into the air, rising in the sky then showering back down. Volod threw up a shield over himself and the two females as he watched and waited.

Rodán rose out of the ground. Not clawing up through the dirt but actually rising as if the earth had decided to give him a ride to the top.

The soil beneath his feet gave way, revealing the simple coffin that Volod had buried him in. The box moved to the side of the grave and settled there.

Rodán stepped onto the ground. Volod tried not to feel any amazement. He’d never seen any being rise like this, nor come out with no dirt clinging to him, and clear-eyed.

The Elf looked from Volod to Elizabeth then settled on Monique. He smiled and revealed his new fangs.

“Rodán.” Monique took a step forward, a brilliant smile on her face. She took Rodán’s hands in hers. “Welcome to your new world. You have no idea how happy I am that you’re here and that we can now share it.”

“It is good to see you, love.” Rodán embraced Monique, and she gave a happy sigh.

Anger flowed through Volod as he became aware of the members of his dream team looking at Rodán with respect. Each member seemed eager to speak with Rodán, to pay him some sort of homage.

Volod ground his teeth then forced himself to relax. The feelings his Vampire paranorms had for Rodán mattered not. He would maintain ultimate control and use them all for his purposes.

When he was finished with Rodán and the other Vampire paranorm Trackers, he would destroy them all.

Then Volod sucked in his breath as Rodán kissed Monique like a lover, as if Volod, and Elizabeth, and the Vampire paranorms were not there. A slow, deep kiss that had Volod seething. Only knowing that he needed Rodán to draw in Nyx and lead the Vampire paranorms kept him from killing him now.

“Come. Here.” Volod spoke the words as a command that could not be ignored by any Vampire he had made.

Rodán broke away from Monique after holding her gaze a fraction longer than Volod would ever allow again. Monique couldn’t seem to take her gaze from him.

The Elvin male crossed the few feet it took to stand before Volod. Rodán’s eyes were clear, his golden skin only slightly paler than it had been before.

“Bow your head and kneel.” Volod kept his features impassive.

Rodán lowered his head and knelt at Volod’s feet.

Volod smiled. The great Rodán. His now.

A sliver of moonlight peeked through the cloud cover, and Rodán’s long blond hair glittered in its light.

“Who is your master now?” Volod said.

“You are, Volod.” Rodán’s voice was strong and true.

Satisfaction filled Volod. “And you are mine to direct as I see fit. I made you.”

“Yes.” Rodán kept his head bowed. “I am yours.”

“Then rise.” Volod gestured to Rodán’s coffin when the Elvin Proctor was on his feet again. “Take your coffin to the hearse parked on the street and we shall leave this place.”

Rodán gave a deep nod of acknowledgment. “Of course.”

Volod watched as Rodán used his superior Vampire-Elvin strength to pick up the coffin and carry it over his head. Unlike newly made Vamps who had been human before they were turned, Rodán showed no sign of strain or effort. Most Vampire paranorms were much the same. Rodán was exceptional.

With his fingertips at the base of Elizabeth’s and Monique’s spines, Volod guided them away from the gravesite toward hisitight="s limo.

When they were seated, he handed Monique a silver leash. Fury flashed in Elizabeth’s eyes then faded as she bowed her head. Monique snapped the leash to Elizabeth’s collar and held it as they sat on the seat across from Volod.

The sight excited him, made him want to take them both to his bed now. But now was not the time. That would come.

When they arrived at the brownstone that Volod was using as his temporary headquarters, he instructed Rodán to take his coffin down into the basement.

Every Vampire paranorm seemed to be waiting in the huge room on the first floor. Murmurs of excitement went through the crowd as they watched the Elvin Proctor carry his coffin.

Volod studied them. They seemed to be holding their collective breath, waiting for Rodán to return. Rodán would be a popular leader. A powerful leader whom the Vampire paranorms respected. Yet Rodán had bowed and voiced his allegiance. The other paranorms would see this, too.

When Rodán reappeared the Vampire paranorms burst into applause. The Elvin Proctor made a show of humble acceptance, but Volod knew time would tell whether he could truly trust Rodán. He hoped this wasn’t a mistake.

No, he was not going to second-guess himself. There was no way for Rodán to break free of Volod’s grasp on his undead life. He would serve Volod until his end.

Which would be when Volod had no use for Rodán anymore.

Monique let go of Elizabeth’s leash and joined Rodán at the center of the room. Volod frowned inwardly. He had not given her permission to do such a thing. He would deal with her later, when they were alone.

The two Elvin Proctors stood in the midst of all of the Vampire paranorms. Monique took Rodán’s hand in hers and smiled at him. Volod had exceptional hearing but Monique spoke so low that he heard nothing when she whispered in Rodán’s ear.

Enough. “Monique.” Volod kept his tone measured, showing no hint of his anger.

She brought her gaze to his and seemed to come back to herself. She gave a brief nod then slipped her hand from Rodán’s and excused herself to return to Volod.

“Take Elizabeth’s leash,” he ordered Monique.

She obeyed and grasped it in her hand.

Humiliation was in Elizabeth’s gaze as she looked away from both of them.

“Stay here.” He said the words to both females, then made his way to where Rodán was speaking with several of the Vampire paranorms.

“We have much to discuss,” Volod said.

Rodán lowered his head then looked at Volod again. “I am at your service.”

Volod snapped his fingers at Monique and Elizabeth and with a gesture instructed them to follow him and Rodán up the stairs.

When they reached the upper level, Volod led the way to ed Whehis study. Elizabeth closed the door behind them then stood obediently beside Monique.

Volod turned to Rodán. “Take a seat.” He pointed toward a pair of chairs in front of the large desk, then settled into the leather desk chair.

Rodán sat. He looked casual, at ease with his surroundings and at being a Vampire paranorm. Humans and paranorms alike accepted, even embraced their fates, easily transitioning into their Vampiric roles.

Somehow he had expected a little resistance from Rodán and was pleased to see none. The Vampire paranorms seemed to readily take to him, as if already looking to him to lead them. That was all well and good, so long as Rodán knew his place.

“I have allowed you to live for two reasons.” Volod leaned back in his chair. “One, I need a leader over the Vampire paranorms who will work closely with me. And two, I want you to bring Nyx to me.”

A flicker of something passed through Rodán’s eyes, a look that made Volod feel as though Rodán was remembering who he’d been.

“Do you plan on killing her?” Rodán asked in a voice that Volod could not read.

“No.” Not yet, but Volod was not ready to voice that he intended to eventually rid himself of her permanently. “I can use her as a Vampire paranorm. She is strong and would make a good leader to serve under you.”

That wasn’t the real reason Volod wanted her. He longed to humiliate her in any way he possibly could, perhaps putting her on a leash, like Elizabeth, and making her follow him on all fours. Certainly she would share his bed. Yes, he would use Nyx until he was through with her. Then she would be killed.

Rodán gave a nod, apparently approving. Yet his eyes gave nothing away. He looked much the same as a Vampire paranorm as he had as a paranorm. Volod had the sense of Rodán putting himself above all others, including Volod.

The thoughts made anger burn in Volod’s chest. He would take great pleasure in destroying Rodán when the time came.

For now he would use the Elvin Proctor to lead the Vampire paranorm Night Trackers. They would destroy the paranorm world so that no one would ever have control over Vampires again.