Chapter Nine.
Eden
I waited, hidden in the secret panel behind the sitting room.
My nerves were on fire, and I knew Claudias was coming for these people.
Of course, I’d not known him, but Jacques had spoken to me at great length about Claudias and his wickedness.
Hell, Jacques had written a book for me explaining everything.
I was no longer the cowering, terrified woman Jacques had met years ago. With Jacques’ help, I’d become so much stronger. My body was as hard as rock; not even a sledgehammer could break it. Unlike my broken bones when Jacques and I got together.
My husband, who loved to rant about the world and how it had changed, had nothing but endless love for me.
D’vid was the only other original Vam’pir I’d met.
Jacques stayed in touch with James, who was classed as a Vam’pir but was a child of Jacques.
The other Vam’pirs could go to hell. They were all judgmental fools, especially Jacques’ ex-wife Inka and their son Mihal.
The first Vam’pirs had shunned Jacques for ending Julia’s life.
They’d not known the true story behind it and had judged him as guilty without a word from him.
Well, the truth was out there now. Julia had been insane and had been murdering prostitutes because one had carried her beloved husband’s soul.
Oh, Julia was a famous serial killer, one who the entire world believed had been a man.
Jack the Ripper. But he’d not been male at all, just a crazed Vam’pir who couldn’t cope without her soulmate.
Several Vam’pirs had reached out to Jacques since his book was released, and we’d shunned them.
If they wished to sit on their thrones and make snap judgements, so be it, but Jacques and I owed them nothing.
I imagine that learning D’vid was alive, and Jacques had known for thousands of years, was even more shocking to them.
But Jacques had kept D’vid’s secret, and that was that.
I watched through a small spyhole as the four guards came alert. I heard noises and knew Claudias was seeking to put them off balance. Whether it would work remained to be seen. But I was here watching too. I’d promised Jacques not to let these innocents get hurt, and I wouldn’t.
As soon as Jacques killed the foul creature Claudias had become, we’d head home to our children and relax. That was our life now. This was an exception, this hunt, and a rare one indeed.
Phoe
I jolted awake, sure somebody had shouted my name. At the same time, Clio, Kate, Calamity, Sabine, and Maggie sat up.
“Did you hear something?” Clio demanded.
“My name was called,” I replied, and Clio nodded. Sleepers were rousing now, and I saw that Vladimir, Chance, Lucian, and James were all guarding various areas. Daniel should have been asleep, but he was wide awake, too.
“What’s up?” Drake muttered as his eyes popped open and he yawned.
“You called me,” I replied, and Drake sat up. I admired his bare chest, but it was soon covered as he pulled his Henley on.
“Is shit happening?” Drake demanded as he rolled to the edge of the mattress and yanked his boots on.
Daniel grumbled in his sleep but sat up too. Gradually, everyone was waking up.
“I didn’t hear anyone call your name,” Chance stated, looking at me.
“Mine was called,” Sabine disagreed, and those who’d awakened with me said they’d heard the same.
“The creature was trying to tempt one of you out,” Daniel surmised, and nods met his statement.
“Should we be concerned?” I inquired.
“Not sure,” Chance replied. We were all dressing or getting up. Loud screeches came from outside the sitting room door, and we froze as a group.
“They sound human, like someone’s in trouble,” Clio worried as she bit her nails.
“Those are inhuman,” Vladimir stated so firmly that I didn’t doubt him.
“Chance,” Drake said, pointing to the door Chance was near.
Chance hissed and shifted as I gaped at the frozen door. The ice began spreading before our eyes, and I leapt to my feet with fear lodged in my throat. Daniel raced forward, holding a log that was on fire. He waved it, and the ice retreated.
“Keep the flames stoked,” Daniel said to Lucian, who nodded and moved towards the fireplace. As Lucian busied himself there, the rest of us looked around.
“Move back from the walls,” James choked out as blood began dripping down them. Kate squealed and leapt across the mattress to curl into James’s lap.
I backed toward Drake as a chill sank into my bones. “Drake,” I whispered, scared.
Drake drew me into his embrace as we all watched for the next thing to happen. The blood slowly trickled down the walls and began seeping into the floorboards.
“Crap!” Lucian exclaimed, and we all spun to face him. Over the shutters, a sickly green goo appeared.
“What the heck is that?” Maggie cried.
“Ectoplasm,” Vladimir replied.
“What ghosts produce?” I inquired.
Vladimir nodded.
“So, we’re facing a ghost? A poltergeist?”
“No. This being is way beyond that. I’ve been thinking; this is more demonic. And I think it’s after a soul so that it can stay here,” Vladimir explained.
“You’ve just realised this?” Drake asked incredulously.
“I’m not a damn expert!” Vladimir snapped in return. “But from the little I know, this situation points to a demon. And it wants a soul. The purer, the better.”
As one, the group turned to look at me, Clio, Maggie, Kate, Sabine, and Calamity.
“Yeah, I’d call them pure souls,” James drawled.
“Shut the fuck up!” Calamity cursed him.
“I’m not pure,” Nanci declared and swapped a glance with Inglorious. There was a story there I wanted, but not now.
“I said the purer the better, but anyone’s soul would do in a pinch, I guess,” Valdimir replied, and Nanci subsided.
A howl screeched through the house, making us all jump. Several more followed it. Somewhere, a woman screamed, and we stiffened.
“Was that Eden?” I demanded in fear.
The screams grew higher-pitched and louder, and I held my hands over my ears. They almost burst our eardrums; they were that painful. The walls started shuddering as the furniture began shaking.
“Earthquake?” Calamity shouted.
Fearfully, we all looked around.
“I think it’s an attempt to force us to leave the room,” Lucian said finally.
“Does that mean we’re safe in here?” I cried.
“No, it wants to separate us,” Daniel guessed.
The flames in the fireplace roared, and we all leapt away. Above our head, the second chandelier began shuddering, the crystal droplets clinking together. The shaking became more violent, and James yelled for us to move. We’d just got out of the way when it fell and smashed into tiny pieces.
I spun to face the window shutters and was horrified to see that the ectoplasm had covered them completely and had solidified.
A ghastly smell began filtering into the room, making us all gag, and I sought its source.
From the fireplace, where the flames danced out of control and raged, a smoky, dark substance poured.
“We’ll choke on that,” Rosie cried, moving away. She wasn’t far wrong. The stench was disgusting.
“We can’t open a window,” Inglorious said as he looked around. Already, Maggie and Clio were bent over and gagging despite having their sleeves over their mouths.
“It’s forcing our hand,” I muttered, and those closest to me nodded.
An enormous cloud of black smoke blew back down the chimney and billowed into the room.
From behind it, a mass of buzzing flies flew out.
Screams and shouts broke out as everything descended into chaos.
People flapped their hands above their heads, attempting to clear the flies away, but moments later with eerie screeches, bats entered the affray.
That did it. I fled for the door and yanked it open. We escaped into the hallway as the sitting room door slammed shut behind us.
Terrified, we looked around as loud clanks came from all around us. Several suits of armour appeared from the shadows, all holding weapons.
“Shit! Stay together!” Chance yelled.
The men shoved the women into the centre as they surrounded us for protection. Drake ducked, and I screamed as a mace smashed towards his head.
Drake caught hold of the upraised arm and was swung around and thrown into a wall. His head hit and he slid down it. Nobody could help him as further attacks happened. Inglorious crashed to the ground, knocked unconscious by a sword hilt, and Nanci rushed over to him.
Lucian fought two suits of armour, his and Daniel’s fencing skills evident.
Chance was wrestling with another, while Calamity tried to protect the women.
James, despite his bad ankle, had launched himself at a suit of armour and was rolling around with it.
Vladimir battled a second terrifying suit of armour, which held an executioner’s helmet.
Slowly, the men were being whittled down.
A shadow flew down the stairs, making James and Chance fall, and snatched Calamity. It picked Calamity up and howled in triumph.
No, I couldn’t let this happen.
Without thinking, I grabbed a fallen sword, and as the creature solidified for the first time I’d seen, I stabbed it. Calamity was flung away with an outraged howl, and the red eyes turned on me.
Clawed feet scrabbled on the wooden floor, scarring it as it lowered itself and readied to pounce. It leapt, and I closed my eyes, but a burst of wind blew past my face, and I blinked and saw Jacques with his hand around the creature’s throat.
“I have you now, Claudias!” Jacques cried.
Claudias? It had a name? That thing had once been a man?
In a flash, the creature tried to free itself and raced across the room. Jacques stayed with him as they traded blows. A second figure arrived, and Eden seized us and shoved us into a corner. We dragged our wounded away as Eden joined the fight.