CHAPTER FIVE
I sat in the front seat of Melissima’s Ford SUV with my arms crossed over my chest and my eyes forward. Silence thudded around us after Zandren pulled back onto the road to cover the last fifty miles to Reno.
What was there to say?
We couldn’t “plan” for the potential ambush. Drak was right. We needed it to look like we didn’t know we were walking into an attack.
We were most certainly going to be outnumbered, but to what degree? Three-to-one? Four-to-one? Did we even stand a chance? We barely made it out of that warehouse alive, and we outnumbered Lerris and his henchmen. How were we going to defeat a gaggle of blood-thirsty vampires fighting on their king’s orders? Who knew what kind of lies the King told them about Howar or me to rile them up, ready for battle? Even though I was coming into my powers and the three men at my side were extremely powerful, they were all still healing from our battle just yesterday.
I glanced behind me at the enormous sword resting on the floor at Drak and Maxar’s feet.
Lerris called it “Moloch’s Sacrifice.” When I first picked it up, I could hardly lift it, but then, as if acknowledging its true new owner, the sword grew lighter, and I became one with it. I could run with it. I could fight with it. I had no idea how to sword fight, but hopefully my mates and this Kenvin Jol could teach me.
Then, when the time was right, I would bring it down across my uncle’s throat and remove his head from his body and his cancerous existence from this world.
My mind remained at war as the tall trees on either side of the road got stubbier and sparser. We were moving into a different climate now. A drier, more desert-like part of the country—and frankly, not one I found overly appealing. A big part of me understood why Drak didn’t tell us about his hunch that King Howar was working against us. He needed us to be as authentically surprised about the ambush as possible. But another part of me couldn’t deny the betrayal that sat tight and heavy in my chest.
He wanted me to trust him. He kept pushing for us to mate, and yet, he was still so closed off. So secretive. When I brought up what I overheard Melissima talking about to Maxar, he changed the subject. Wasn’t this whole “‘til death do us part” thing supposed to come with trust?
So far, he’d given me very little reason to trust him, let alone want to bond myself to him for eternity.
I glanced over at Zandren out of the corner of my eye. The poor bear was white-knuckling the steering wheel. Was it the upcoming battle that had him so high-strung, or the journey through the portal? Was he even back to a hundred percent after yesterday’s attack and the paralytic Drak had to inject him with so he’d stop attacking everyone?
“Ten miles out,” he said gruffly, glancing my way and gracing me with a curt half-smile. I reached for his big, warm hand and laced our fingers together, resting them on top of my thigh.
“Where exactly is the portal?” I asked. “Is it like Harry Potter and we have to go to a chimney chute or something?”
“It’s less dramatic than that,” Drak replied. “They’re usually located somewhere a human would very rarely stumble upon.”
“Last two I went through were in a mausoleum,” Maxar added. “Literally had to push off the top of the stone casket and jump onto the skeleton.”
“You’re fucking kidding,” I said, spinning around to face him. “That’s disgusting.”
He merely shrugged. “Not sure how many humans would do it. It’s safer. Not all portals are like that though. Some are in simpler places, just off the beaten path, so to speak.”
“The map is telling me to turn right here,” Zandren said. “But there’s no road. It’s just fucking desert.”
“Best do what the map says.” I faced forward again, disliking that the further we drove away from civilization, the less cover there seemed to be. Low shrubbery, a few trees, and small mounds that flatlanders probably called mountains, but nothing substantial that we could hide behind—or that someone looking to ambush us could hide behind.
We kept driving for another few miles, Zandren blazing a trail through the hard-packed sand and dirt. I was beginning to think that Drak might be wrong, because surely Howar wouldn’t send his men to ambush us where there was no place to hide, but my stomach dropped to my toes when we summited a small hill and a little oasis loomed ahead. A copse of trees, larger bushes, and some boulders all cuddled together to create the perfect place to lie in wait.
“That’s gotta be it,” Maxar said. “How fucking convenient.”
“What’s our plan?” Zandren asked through gritted teeth as he slowed down and glanced at Drak in the rearview mirror. “Go in like we have no cares in the world? Park and walk? Is this the same place we’ll return to when we come back through the portal?”
That was a good question, and one I hadn’t thought of. I faced Maxar. “Will we return to this spot when we come back through?”
His nod was still and his amber eyes unsure. “That’s always the hope.”
“How fucking reassuring.” Zandren was all grumbles, growls, and anger-laden mumbles at this point. Even though his one hand on the wheel still had white knuckles, he was careful not to squeeze my hand too hard.
“Keep driving like we aren’t suspecting a thing,” Drak instructed. “My understanding is the portal will be in the center of the oasis. We’ll drive as far as we can, then park and walk.”
“I’m shifting as soon as we park,” Zandren said. “I’ll be able to smell them better.”
We all went quiet again. I could swear they all probably heard my heart hammering wildly though. The painful thump thump against my ribcage was like a drum of impending doom that I couldn’t drown out, no matter how hard I tried.
Zandren reached the tree line which seemed to be as far as we could drive.
I met his gaze. “We’re going to be okay,” I said, not believing a single syllable but figuring maybe if I said it out loud, the Fates might tune into this channel on their crystal balls or whatever and give us a nudge of help. Then he pulled me close with our twined hands, wrapped his other hand around my neck, and took my mouth in a kiss that was almost bruising. It was what I needed though. That reassurance from my mate. That connection.
We were dealing with vampires here, not demons. So none of them could fuck with our minds at least. Nobody would hypnotize Zandren into attacking his own crew—at least that’s what I assumed. Maybe Lerris would be here, but my instincts told me he wasn’t. He was off somewhere licking his wounds like a sad, mangy dog.
Zandren released my lips, but pressed his forehead to mine. “Don’t be the hero, Little One. Just stay safe. I can’t lose you.”
I nodded. “You too.”
“We hesitate any longer and they’re going to think we know something’s up,” Drak said from the backseat. “We need to move.”
Zandren’s rumbly growl made the nervous butterflies in my belly flutter. Even when we were gearing up for war, the man’s gruffness was a turn on.
We parted and stepped out of the SUV. Maxar was already out, grabbing our bags from the hatch of the vehicle.
I slung Moloch’s Sacrifice in its scabbard over my back like a cross-body purse, letting it land at my hip. It was so long though, it nearly hit my calf. Drak met me in front of the grill where we watched Zandren shed his clothes, drop to all fours, and shift. I gathered up his clothes and stashed them into one of the bags Maxar had. “Give me one of those,” I said, trying to take a backpack from him. “You literally had your entrails dragging on the floor not twenty-four hours ago. Let someone else do the heavy lifting.”
He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but when I stared him down, he finally acquiesced. “Only because I know how fucking tough you are, My Queen.” His cheeky wink was a mild balm for the shakiness that entered my limbs and voice.
“Let’s go,” Drak said, leading the way and holding out his phone. “The coordinates are not too far. Just remember that when you pass through the portal, you can’t let your thoughts wander.”
Zandren made a noise of confusion and glanced up at him as he lumbered along.
“If your thoughts wander, they may not reorganize themselves properly on the other side,” Maxar added. “You can lose memories, have memories of things that never happened. It can be a fucking mess. So you need to keep your thoughts on the present only. On getting through the portal and reassembling on the other side. That’s it.”
I stroked between Zandren’s ears, earning a happy little purr from my mate. “You hear that, Pooh Bear? No thinking of donuts or pizza. Just think of keeping your cock. Focus on that.” I was trying to be chipper and humorous so that it seemed to whoever might be watching us that we were carefree and entirely unaware of impending danger as we strolled through the cacti and stubby shrubs toward the portal. Completely unsuspecting.
But surely whoever was near had to know I was faking it. My voice quavered like I was in an ice bath, and I had a bejeweled crown of sweat beads lining my forehead.
Zandren grunted, then swung his big furry head forward again, pausing to sniff the air. The hair on the back of my neck lifted and my knees locked. All I wanted to do at that moment was reach for my sword, but would that seem like we were too prepared? Would they know we suspected an ambush?
Maxar’s hand swept out in front of me for protection. At the same time Zandren grunted, then growled, rearing up onto his hind legs and standing over me just as four impeccably dressed figures all in black suits with pale faces, dark hair, and blue eyes came leaping out of the shrubbery. Two went for Zandren’s throat immediately, while two more went for Drak.
I dropped the backpack to the ground and reached for the sword in its scabbard, just as two more leaped out from behind me, only to get shot backward, thudding hard against a big boulder from green flames. I glanced behind me at Maxar, who grinned like a sexy psycho. “Got your back, babe.” He spun around just in time to catch two more who leaped forward, fangs out and ready to strike, hitting them with green flames that made both men scream out in pain.
Chaos was in full swing as more and more vampires seemed to pour out of the forest, white fangs glistening in the sun as they went after my mates.
I swung the sword around like an idiot who didn’t know how to sword fight—because I was. But I stopped when I realized that none of them really seemed to be coming after me. Drak was currently fighting off at least three vampires on his own, dodging fangs and landing punches, while Zandren was slashing open bellies, necks, and gouging out eyes like they were no more than salmon in the river.
Why wasn’t anybody trying to get me?
Something seemed off.
Unless their plan was to take out my mates so that I was helpless?
Or they were told to take me alive.
Either way, I had to do something. I couldn’t just stand there like a defenseless damsel holding a sword I had no idea how to use. Just because I was a queen didn’t mean I wasn’t prepared to fight.
The one who had it the worst at the moment seemed to be Drak, he was fighting five vampires now, and the more I watched, the more it seemed they were beginning to overpower him. I caught his eye for a moment, and the sheer panic and pain on his face was enough to shred my soul.
I focused on the five demons surrounding him. Rage filled every corner of my body, mixing with the pain and loneliness. The helplessness I felt in regard to Gemma. The frustration from all the secrets, and the unbridled hate so much of this new world had toward me simply because of who my parents were.
I was an abomination .
A mutt.
I channeled all of that into one overwhelming red ball of energy until my mind couldn’t contain it anymore and it grew in my spreading palms, hot and charged, and just when one of the bigger vampires managed to get Drak’s neck exposed and prepared to go in for the fang plunge, I released that red ball, throwing it forward.
Like yesterday, thunder clapped hard and booming overhead, rattling all of us and sending everyone but me to the ground.
The ringing in my ears was intense, and I couldn’t see for a moment through the thick dancing spots in my line of vision. The world spun and for a second, I thought I might vomit. Warm hands gripped my elbow and the sound of Maxar’s voice off in the distance pulled me away from that vortex of queasiness.
“Omaera!” he shouted, though it sounded like he was screaming at me and we were both underwater. “Omaera!”
I blinked some more and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. Then his lips were on mine, grounding me. The kiss was quick and more of a peck, but it did the trick. The ringing disappeared and I could see again without little black floaty things dancing everywhere.
“Wh-what happened?” I stammered.
“ You happened,” he said, releasing my shoulders. “Go to Drak. He needs your help.” Then he left me, and I watched, frozen in place as he created a long flaming green sword and one-by-one he went to each of the vampires on the ground and beheaded them with the sword. “Omaera!” Maxar shouted. “Go to Drak!”
“Right!” I unglued my feet from the earth and ran to where Drak was crumpled on the dirt floor, two puncture marks in his neck. I fell to my knees beside him. He was unconscious. “Drak!” I gently patted his cheek. “Drak! Wake up.”
Zandren groaned nearby and pried himself up to all fours, two vampire bodies that had been on top of him lifelessly flopped to the forest floor only for Maxar to approach a moment later and rid them of their heads. Thankfully, the scent of burning flesh and fresh blood got swept away with the dry desert breeze. Otherwise, I probably would have vomited. The big grizzly ambled over to sit beside me, nudging me with his soft snout and moaning.
“I can’t right now, Pooh Bear. I need to help Drak.”
Zandren licked the back of my hand and nudged me again until my hand fell to the puncture marks on Drak’s neck.
“What do you want me to do?” I didn’t understand. Yesterday when Drak was injured he fed from me, taking my blood to heal him. But he was unconscious this time. How could I allow him to feed? Was I supposed to open up my wrist and pour the blood into his mouth?
Maxar approached, snapping his fingers to make the flame-sword disappear. “You need to suck out whatever they injected into him. Probably just a paralytic.”
“Won’t that hurt me?” I asked.
Maxar shrugged. “Maybe, but probably not if you spit it out. It’d need to enter your bloodstream to take effect.”
I pressed my ear over Drak’s heart. The beat was low—alarmingly low. Without anymore hesitation, I pressed my lips to his neck over the puncture marks and sucked like I was trying to give him a hickey. I channeled my inner leach, pulling the poison out. It was acrid on my tongue, and I turned my head and spat it into the dirt, returning to do it again and again until no more poison was left.
I rested my ear over his heart again, already the beat was stronger, faster. I checked his pulse and breathing. All seemed normal. But he was still unconscious.
Patting his cheeks while still on my knees, I swept his hair off his face. “Drak. You need to wake up. This isn’t funny anymore. We need to get to Hell, and we’re not leaving you here. I’m also not dragging you, and I doubt Zandren will let you ride on his back.”
Zandren made a noise of protest to convey as much.
The vampire’s long lashes fluttered, and I stroked his cheek with the back of my hand. “You need to wake up. I’m still mad at you for keeping secrets. I can’t be mad at you if you’re dead.”
The back of my throat burned, and my eyes stung with the threat of tears. Dammit, we did not have time for me to get emotional.
“Let me try,” Maxar said, falling to his knees on the other side of Drak. I thought he was going to do something with fire or flames to rouse the vampire, but he didn’t. He hovered over the centuries-old grump in a suit and kissed him on the lips.
Zandren made a confused bear noise, and I reared back in shock.
But it worked.
Drak’s eyes flared open wide and when he saw whose lips were on his, he scrambled up to his elbows, and shoved the mage off him, glaring icy-blue daggers at a chuckling Maxar.
“It worked to get Omaera out of her stupor after that thunderclap. Figured it might work on Sleeping Beauty here too.” The crazy mage stood up, brushing dirt off his pants. “Wakey wakey, Fangs. We need to get moving.”
My lips twitched, but I suppressed my smile, offering Drak my hand to help him up. To my surprise, he accepted my help, still glowering at the mage like he wanted to use Maxar’s jugular as a straw to drain him of every drop.
Once he composed himself, Drak took stock of the carnage, his face falling as he studied every face on every severed head. He probably knew each of them—had possibly even trained them himself. This couldn’t be easy.
And now we knew that Howar wasn’t on our side.
The betrayal had to be raw and burning inside of Drak. His own family. His own king.
Not to mention the questions that we all had: Why? Why did Howar betray us? Had he been working against us since the very beginning? Did he send Raewyn to the house, expecting her to kill me?
Was he working with Lerris?
Maxar handed me the backpack I dropped, and I slung it back over my shoulders, carefully watching Drak wander from slain vampire to slain vampire, his face a sullen mask, eyes cast down.
I approached him and silently slid my fingers through his, squeezing his hand. “We need to get moving,” I whispered.
All he did was nod, but he didn’t resist, allowing me to pull him along as we followed Maxar, who now had the phone with the coordinates.
We walked all the way through the oasis to the other side, then kept going further into the endless desert. “Are you sure this is the right w—” but my words were cut off by the sudden mind-scratching humming sound that filled the air like a billion bees. Cringing at the way the noise just grated every cell in my body, I glanced up to find two big rocks—both of them twice the size of Zandren and about five feet apart—creating a natural doorway.
“This is it,” Maxar said. “Even without the coordinates, we’d know. You can feel the magic buzzing in the air.”
“It’s like the opposite of ASMR,” I said, shoving my fingers into my ears. The air crackled and sparked around us like there were invisible live wires everywhere. None of this was pleasant. My instinct was to just keep backing up until I couldn’t feel or hear any of it anymore. I resisted, but it wasn’t easy.
“Remember,” Maxar said, stepping in front of the rest of us, “linear thoughts. Just think about keeping it together. About getting to the other side.” He smirked and glanced at Zandren. “And keeping your cock.”
Zandren grunted.
Then we all watched as Maxar took a step forward. I held my breath, but was caught off guard when he paused, spun around, and took my face in both of his hands. Then, he planted a big, sexy, all-consuming kiss on my mouth. It was way more than the peck from earlier. This one had tongue, and it stole every remaining molecule of oxygen from my lungs, leaving me breathless and panting when he finally let go. “Don’t worry, My Queen. I’ll be there to catch you on the other side.” Then he nodded at Drak and Zandren, spun back around, and stepped through the rocks with no more hesitation.
I don’t know why I was expecting him to just emerge on the other side, like this was all some elaborate game. But he didn’t. He legitimately disappeared. Swallowed up into the portal and cannoned into another dimension.
Zandren was next, the worrying noises he made as he padded forward, pulled hard at the strings of my heart. I bent down and pressed a kiss to his nose. “You’ve got this, Pooh Bear.”
He grunted again, then swung his enormous head around and lumbered through the rocks, disappearing just like Maxar did.
Drak’s fingers tightened in mine.
“Don’t tell me the big, grumpy vampire is scared,” I teased, turning to face him.
His crystal-blue eyes were hollower and more haunted than I’d ever seen. He didn’t say anything. He simply pressed a kiss to my cheek, released my hand, and with his shoulders back, strode through the rocks, evaporating into nothing, just like the other two.
“And then there was one,” I whispered, my gut a mess and my hands sweaty. I wiped my palms on my pants and pulled in a deep breath. “Suck it up, Playfair. You just killed like twelve vampires. This is nothing. Just keep your thoughts linear. Don’t let them wander. Don’t focus on the pain. Focus on getting through to the other side. You can do this.”
With a nod to nobody but the Fates, who were undoubtably watching from their crystal balls while eating popcorn and red vines, I gripped the straps of my backpack and walked through the rocks.