We Shall Rise (9 page)

Diamonde studied Reysa for a moment. She jumped up so quickly that her platinum mane nearly blinded Reysa. Although her sight was spared, her shirt was not as most of her goblet of O negative ended up on her lilac top.

“There’s something you should see. I fear we are headed for impassable waters and we may all drown before we reach ashore.” Diamonde sashayed towards a locked chest that she opened using her warlock abilities. In the drawer was another small box. She returned to her seat next to Reysa, dramatically tossing her hair. This time, Reysa ducked avoiding the onslaught of Diamonde’s wig. “You must read this. I was flummoxed when this arrived at my front door.”

Diamond held in front of her what looked like a flier, but the words were an advertisement for impending evil.

WE SHALL RISE

Rise my brothers and sisters

The time of reckoning has begun

The years of tyranny will come to the an end

The masses must unite

The leaches and dogs must die so we can be liberated

We can now live the way we always should have

We shall be the kings, the new world order

Freedom is in our reach

Unite my brothers and sisters and together

WE SHALL RISE

Reysa read the words out loud several times hoping the fear it evoked would lessen, but it just grew stronger.

“This isn’t the first one,” Diamonde explained. “I’ve seen several, but the message is always the same. It is a call to action. It’s a summoning to war.” Diamonde presented Reysa with another unsettling flier also entitled, “We Shall Rise.”

Our time has come

The final reckoning is upon us

The masses will unite

The tyrants will crumble

We are now the gods of the immortals

We are now the kings of this world

Join us my fallen brothers and sisters

And we shall rise together

WE SHALL RISE

“Why? I don’t understand this. A war between whom?” Reysa questioned although part of her knew the dreaded answer.

“Humans have experienced this throughout history. I think immortals were too arrogant to believe our kind would evolve the same way. The weaker minorities unite and rise to overthrow the powerful majority. This is a call to the end of the centuries, or rather millenniums, of forced submission of the lesser immortals. The pureblood vampires and lycans have dominated immortals for years. They have always controlled everything leaving the rest with just the scraps they leave behind. They have used their power to compel our obedience and I fear someone has had enough. Someone is trying to unite us and start a war. If all the weaker immortals join together, the vampires and lycans won’t stand a chance.”

“This is madness. We’ll just destroy each other. Why do this now?” Reysa asked.

“Why not now?” Diamonde countered. “It was always a matter of time before the oppressed would become the oppressors. That’s the history of the world that we are doomed to repeat. We mock humans for their stupidity yet we weren’t smart enough to learn from their mistakes. We have lived through thousands of human race wars and now we face our own.”

“Do you have any idea who’s behind this? Who would be powerful enough to start this war? Who has the ability to unite so many creatures of the night?”

Diamonde raked her hand through her platinum wig as she considered potential suspects. “There are many. Think about all the different species of immortals. There could be hundreds, thousands in each who had the intellect and ability to unite the masses. Everyone wants to be saved, they just need that spark to ignite the rallying cry and all will flock to the flame. The potential destruction is unimaginable. The vamps and wolves will not surrender easily and I have a feeling that the rabble rousers would prefer total annihilation. That is the best way to mute a threat or potential threat. This will be a total war.”

“We have to warn the Council.” Reysa jumped up, pacing the floor as she often did when stressed.

“The Council?” Diamonde asked dubiously. “The famous Council that pretends to represent all immortals, but is really just a way for the vampires and lycans to control everyone else. That Council is a mockery of fairness, equality, justice.”

“A few weeks ago, I would have agreed with you, but the Council is different now. I know the new leader, Lucian. He’s Kaden and Julian’s…well, he’s their mother’s mate. I really believe he wants to undo some of the harm the Council has done in the past. He seems to be a good vampire.”

“That’s an oxymoron.”

“Do I have to remind you that I’m part vampire?” Reysa defended. “We’re not all bad.”

“You’re a half-breed. That places you on the bottom of the food chain with the rest of us. A pureblood would never accept you as a true vampire. You are in the bowels of the immortal hierarchy just like all other half-breeds, witches, shifters, sages, ghouls, faeries and any other creature that wasn’t born 100% bloodsucker or beast.”

“Whose side are you on in this battle, Diamonde? From the way you talk, it’s hard to tell.”

“I support the side that survives ultimately,” Diamonde admitted. “I would prefer that there was no war. I detest violence and bloodshed, but I can’t pretend not to understand and empathize with this need to wage war. It’s about time all immortals whether eternals, hybrids or other be treated equally. None of us were born to be enslaved by the purebloods. They’re so corrupted that they even enslaved their own kinds.”

Kaden listened to Reysa and Diamonde debate the merits of the emerging immortal war. His own mother had been a pureblood vampire slave just because she did not have the status to compete with the vampire elite. How she suffered because of her class. Vampires were cruel and somewhat monstrous when it came to their own species so they definitely had little regard for lesser immortals. Lucian had helped change some of that, but there were still many vampires who cherished their role as the superior race, along with the lycans who were the greatest threat to vampires. Lycans could be equally prejudicial and often violated weaker immortals using them for their own gain.

It was not difficult to understand this call to war even though he was a pureblood vampire likely to be targeted for destruction. Pureblood vampires and lycans were generally assholes. He was guilty of bullying others just because he could. He never thought about the consequences of those actions. He never cared, until now. This threat was real and credible. He knew he was just as much to blame as the others of his kind who used their greater strength to dominate the other races.

“The war has already begun,” Kaden acknowledged, silencing Reysa and Diamonde. “The mescah was just the beginning. It was the first test to see if the mighty vampires and lycans could fall and it worked.”

Mescah was the deadly combination of coca leaf, opium poppy, khat and mescaline. Typically, these drugs would not complement each other, but in the case of mescah, they meshed together to form the perfect potent drug cocktail. The effects of which were strong enough to destroy immortals and inhibit their ability to heal themselves. Vampires and lycans were the primary victims, including Kaden’s mother Olivia who barely survived her mescah addiction. Her body was still recovering from the toxic effects of that poison. Olivia was among the fortunate. She was the only known survivor.

“Lucian believes that a sage with skills in alchemy along with the spell binding power of a witch created this drug. Sages were among the most reviled creatures of the night and often the targets of abuse.” Kaden had regrettably abused a few in the past.

“I’ve heard of this mescah,” Diamonde admitted. “I’ve studied it. It’s wrapped in a very well-constructed spell that I cannot counter. I may be a strong warlock, but like most of my kind, my charmer abilities are very limited. Unfortunately, the only real charmer I know of is your daughter, Reysa, but Tatiana’s powers are not strong enough to break the bonds of mescah. At least not yet, but we don’t have time to wait.”

Nothing could stop mescah they feared. The top alchemists were working to counter the effects of this drug, but so far very few answers were revealed. Olivia’s survival was believed to be attributed to her mating bond with Lucian. His strength, along with Reysa’s healing blood, seemed to dull the addiction. For the other victims, no such solution had spared their lives. In the last three weeks, there were thirty-six new mescah deaths. The drug that had progressed slowly was quickly making its way through the vampire and lycan communities. A few shifters had succumbed to the drug as well, but they were probably just incidental victims. Mescah was the first battle of the emerging race war.

Julian left the room to call Lucian and alert him to this latest information while Kaden and Reysa remained with Diamonde. Diamonde turned on the television to watch a preseason Cowboys game. It was a much needed distraction after the frightening realization of the emerging war.

Reysa was a surprisingly knowledgeable football fan. Kaden watched in amusement as she yelled out penalties before the official made the call.

“Are you two sleeping together yet?” Diamonde blurted out nearly causing Reysa to choke on what was left of her O negative.

“No!” Reysa gasped.

The negative response a little too quick for Kaden’s liking. It may have been the truth, but it was not the truth he wanted. “Not yet,” Kaden corrected as Reysa’s cheeks turned a lovely shade of scarlet.

“What are you waiting for?” Diamonde questioned. “You should always seek your pleasure. I live by that motto. As soon as you guys leave, I’m going to find a nice warm body to occupy my bed tonight.”

“Male or female?” Kaden asked causing Reysa’s flush to redden even more. He loved tormenting her and Diamonde made it so damn easy.

“It depends on what I see downtown. I’m not picky. Whatever attracts my eye. Are you offering by any chance?” Diamonde batted her unnaturally long eyelashes.

Kaden played along, as if not fazed by Diamonde’s flirting. “I slept with Maddie. It wouldn’t feel right to entertain other members of her family.”

“Tis true,” Diamonde conceded. “That would be weird, even for me.”

To Reysa’s delight, Julian walked back into the room, signaling it was time to leave. Reysa was beyond ready to go. She embraced Diamonde and Kaden and Julian did the same as they proceeded to leave. Grotaon was waiting by the door still scowling at Kaden with that same mangy Chihuahua that seemed to have followed Kaden wherever he went in the house. That mutt gave him the creeps. He snarled at it with his fangs and the dog snarled back unleashing its own full set of sharp canines.

“Grotaon, it was so enjoyable meeting you. Thank you for the entertainment.” Kaden’s false sincerity readily apparent to a very annoyed Grotaon.

“You dare mock me, bloodsucker?”

“Well, it’s just too easy to do so.”

Reysa grabbed Kaden and ushered him out the door hoping to avoid another dumb comment from slipping through those troublesome, but delectable, lips. Before they could leave, one of the Chihuahuas ran up Kaden, raised its leg and relieved itself all over Kaden’s black leather boot. The dog looked up to Kaden with a proud look on its face as its ears twitched in delight. Grotaon’s laughter mocking him from behind.

Reysa muffled her laugh as she pulled Kaden’s arm. “Let’s just go. We’ll take care of your boot when we get back to my house.”

Kaden just stood there staring intently at the dog that was now looking quite afraid as it whimpered in pure terror. Smoke started to emanate from its fur. Julian quickly grabbed the pup cooling it while Reysa pleaded with Kaden to stop. “I was in the mood for a hot dog,” he joked.

“Not funny,” Reysa reprimanded.

“I wasn’t going to kill it,” he explained. Julian put the dog down who ran away in fear as it bellowed. Kaden heard an ear piercing growl behind him as he whipped around in time to see the crazed looking Chihuahua launch at him sinking his enormous sharp fangs in Kaden’s right hand. Kaden tried to pull the rabid mutt off of him but the dog refused to let go. He vaguely heard Diamonde’s voice demand that Fi-Fi let go. Finally the dog shuddered and dropped to the ground running for cover as Diamonde used her power to control her pet. Kaden’s hand was a mangled mess that burned like acid.

“I’m going to kill that little shit,” Kaden threatened as the pain intensified. His hand was turning an eerie shade of blue. He collapsed on the ground as Reysa reached for his hand.

“Don’t touch it,” Diamonde warned. “The bite is poisonous and highly infectious. We must remove his hand before the toxin spreads.”

“You’re not removing any part of my body,” Kaden roared. “Don’t touch me or I will kill every last one of you.”

Diamonde dismissed his threats. “Stop being a baby. The hand has to go otherwise you will die. You’re a pureblood vampire, the hand will regenerate within a day or two. The pain will just get worse as long as we waste time debating the inevitable.”