2
I went to handle what came next now that the visiting nobles had had time to speak with their princesses, but in a shocking turn of events, several of them were there when I finished. Nora was one of them and there was understanding in her eyes.
Aether had warned them to be sympathetic and accepting.
Awesome.
I waited until most of Princess Ramona’s coven was gathered, ignoring their shock that the visiting princesses were there as well.
And then I killed two of her nobles.
“Aether has given different instructions this time as not all of you are worthy of being saved,” I said loudly. “She is giving some of you the chance to change your ways and hearts so you can become worthy unlike those two nobles who have committed such heinous crimes that they do not get to live in Her world.
“But given Aether’s champion is focused on fighting the end of the world and Her brother and His champion, She has decided our allies will help this time. This coven will be divided among the remaining nobles of Ramona’s, and each group will temporarily stay with one of our allies. They will decide if you are worth saving or should be sent on your way.”
“We were told that we would be free to go on our way if you took over!” someone yelled.
“Did I tell you that?” I chuckled darkly. “Maybe you shouldn’t listen to rumors or assume you’re a puppet master of everyone before you start pushing over dominoes.” I slashed him with my power. “Do not speak so disrespectfully again or like you matter. You don’t.” I glanced around at the shocked group.
“Aether was clearly worried about some of you being set loose onto the world and with good reason,” Nora took over. “So we will make sure the good get separated and saved and the rats or snakes are handled. I suggest those who want to be labeled as good not take this moment to test us or make a name for themselves as problems.”
The woman knew how to motivate people because everything moved. We already had the full roster of the coven which someone had slipped Hanna since the coven wanted me to take them over.
Obviously not all of them for the right reasons but well, we’d figure it out.
The rest of the princesses were at Charlene’s coven… But she was already dead. Apparently, she knew it was coming and couldn’t bear the humiliation of being taken over, so she killed herself.
I wasn’t sure how that was any better, but I was a fan because I didn’t like having to kill people.
Shocking, right?
But the other princesses were more than willing to jump in and manage it all, understanding this was Aether’s will and all in. I was impressed with that, especially because of the time difference given we were in Europe and they’d come from all over.
The only question they had was if they were allowed to kill any monsters.
“Your judgment is yours,” I told them firmly. “Aether gave me no orders. This is Her guidance of how to handle the situation. There was no duration—any of it. Simply to trust my allies and this was the best path for those of us who work in Her name.” I shrugged. “Yeah, so get rid of monsters. I’m good with that.”
I smiled when several snickered.
And then it was on to the Pinault coven. I was glad that Eddie didn’t come this time because his mother was beyond vicious. The bile that came out of her mouth… There weren’t words for how horrendous it was. I cussed all of the time, but it wasn’t remotely the same.
Saying “fuck” too often wasn’t remotely the same thing as wishing my brother had reactivated my brainwashing and let every male noble rape me and humiliate me for eternity. Especially coming from another woman—a princess who knew exactly how badly the nobles could trap us and abuse us.
I used my power to slice her throat just to make her stop before I snapped and did something horrible.
Like collapse the coven on everyone. I was that close to the edge when I felt the amusement of too many around us like I deserved to be torn down like that.
What was wrong with people? Seriously, was there just no decency left? Was it just all toxicity we had to look forward to?
I didn’t know it was worth surviving if that was true.
Once it was done, I nodded to Joi.
“I am Joi, the eldest of the Sisters of the Earth,” she said loudly, people gasping in shock. “The Pinault princesses have called upon us many times to demand our aid or for us to align with them. That is not our purpose and never will be. Our mission is to keep the world on the path of Aether and in the light. We are at a tipping point.
“We are too close to Erebus winning this war and Earth falling into darkness. As such, Aether has asked the Sisters to take this task for Her champion, giving Princess Inez and our own Mozell visions. As the eldest, I will act as temporary head of this coven. It will be disbanded. However, in its current state, it is not worthy to be part of other covens.
“Certainly not the coven of Aether’s champion. So you will all earn your futures and pay your debt for the pain and suffering some of you have caused. All of you could have done more to help this world. Your princess fed off the cruelty of this world, and a lot of you fed off of that. Now you will pay that price and fight to have a future.”
“Or you will become ash as your princess is,” one of the other Sisters said as she lit Eddie’s mother on fire. “This is the will of Aether. Obey and earn your place in Her world or die.” She turned and bowed to me, the other Sisters following her lead. “We will not fail you nor our Goddess in this task, Princess Inez. Please rest assured and handle what our Goddess needs you to.”
“Thank you,” I accepted. “I will make sure we will speak directly or one of my husbands will come see progress.” I nodded for Petre to go ahead. “Here are three jars of my blood to get you started. Once you feel the situation here is stable enough, we will establish this as an outpost for our fighter jets to bomb as many corrupted as possible.”
Joi took in a slow breath as she glanced around the room. “Give us a few days, Princess. People will fall in line or lose their heads.”
“Have fun,” I chuckled darkly, nodding that I knew she had it in hand.
I was glad when we left. We stopped quickly by to see Hanna and checked it all out. It was hard when they were running too low again. Seriously, we just needed like forty million more people to handle too much.
It was late by the time we arrived back to the castle… And the shifter was still there. I swore under my breath several times and was glad that I wasn’t the only one upset we’d forgotten about him.
“I’m very, very sorry,” I said as he rubbed his eyes. I winced when he pushed to stand and almost fell right back over from sitting for so long.
“It’s fine, Princess. I didn’t know Kaci would bring me here either, and she looked a bit panicked at whatever you said in the meeting.” He frowned. “I didn’t know Kaci could be panicked.”
“I have that effect on people,” I drawled. I shrugged when someone snorted.
Well, I did.
“Food is being brought and you need to eat,” Cerdic said as he joined us. “Let’s have—I didn’t catch your name, mate.”
“Travis, Travis McGrath,” the shifter said. “I’m not the head of my clan, but I’m the eldest of the group of us who ran from my clan.” He swallowed loudly. “The clan leader is my uncle. He’s not nice and Kaci was protecting us. Well, she checked in on us and that was when—”
“Okay, calm down,” I said gently. “It’s been a really long, fucked day. If Kaci’s vouching for you, you’re in. We’ll help and protect you guys. I promise.”
“I know, but we can sense corrupted and you have to know that,” he blurted way too loudly.
All of the vampires there—myself included—stared at the guy as if he’d grown another head.
Crazy said what now?
“I need a drink or five. Always. Why am I not an alcoholic already?” I grumbled and then snorted. “Right, my husbands pull that shtick.”
“We deserve that,” Cerdic muttered. “Okay, let’s eat and unpack that.” He cleared his throat. “And let’s get someone here who can tell if people are lying.”
“I’m not lying,” Travis said firmly.
“I believe that and people don’t fool Kaci, but you’re all over the map, mate. So let’s just get this handled right and fast for your nerves.”
Five minutes later, I was sitting eating sandwiches and potato salad with all of my husbands, my security, Sundar, and Sebastian.
“Start at the beginning and how you figured this out,” Sundar suggested. “Then we can circle back and you can tell us what we need to know about your clan to protect you.”
Travis nodded, wiping his mouth and then taking a long drink before focusing on Sundar as if he was easiest to talk to. “Kaci came to check on us and said to be careful that we couldn’t sense corrupted anymore—none of us could. She brought us one of the fixed electric vehicles and said we could use it. There was a way for us to plug it into a solar panel—”
“Why not just bring you here?” I asked, missing huge pieces.
“She wanted to,” he admitted. “Snakes aren’t high up on the food chain with shifters. On top of that, we’re garter snakes. We might as well be bugs to most shifters. And after all we’ve been through with our own clan—shifters—it’s hard to be around shifters. I about piss myself when I have to be near predator shifters. Or yelling men like my dad.”
Oh boy. That would be problematic with our group.
“Do earplugs work well on snakes?” someone snarked, and I felt the same.
“Or we could all learn to control our tempers better,” I drawled. I sighed when Kristof gave me a look. “Yes, fine, people are doing better and it’s the fucking apocalypse. I… That’s fair. Sorry. Rough day.”
“You deserve all of the snark you want, my wife. I just don’t want more issues later with people thinking you’re upset with them, specifically when you’re not or bring on more miscommunication.”
“Thank you.” I looked back at Travis to signal he could continue.
“We used the car to go raid where Kaci said it was clear. Me and one other guy. We heard a crash in the next building, and like we’re taught, we shifted and the stench was—I can’t put it into words. It was like—it was beyond gross. I’ve never smelled anything like it.”
“And the noise was corrupted?” Sundar checked, nodding when Travis did. “You’d been that close to them before and they hadn’t smelled?”
“No, nothing like that. A bit of decay and gross, but I smelled that in human form. This—it’s only in my snake form. And it went for a while. It took a while for them to get out of range and we could—I felt like a wolf catching a scent and knowing how to like track for once. Like it was pungent, and we could—we went back the next day and could still smell it.”
“Well, you might just become our new best friends,” I muttered.
“That’s what Kaci said, and we want to help, but like I said—” He shut his mouth so fast that he bit his tongue. All the vamps there smelled the blood. He also went pale.
Because Nick was in the doorway.
“Well, clearly, I stepped in something,” he said quietly, focused on Travis. “I know you’re prey, pup, but we don’t care about that here, alright? I’m the head chef of the castle and manage a lot for the princess. We’re people, not just animals.”
Travis tried a few times to speak, but it was clearly hard for him. “I’ve not met a lot of wolves who feel that way. Sorry.”
“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of bullies. You find any here that are wolves and you tell me. I’ll make them regret it,” he promised before looking at me. “I’m going to turn in, Princess. If you leave it all out, I’ll handle it in the morning or clean up the kitchen.”
“We’ll handle it, mate,” Cerdic replied. “Thanks for everything.”
We all thanked him and chuckled when Nick said there were some fresh cakes in the fridge. The man really, really loved feeding people.
It was his happy place after all he’d been through.
“Okay, back to what you were saying,” Sundar muttered. “Forgive me for being blunt and crude, but—are you saying we should basically carry you around shifted when we clear buildings to scent corrupted?”
Travis had trouble making his mouth work again, relaxing when a few people chuckled. “I don’t know the answer. I don’t know what you all have going on here. We just told Kaci what we knew when she came back this last time. She said she thought Aether gave us a chance to move up the food chain and promised I wouldn’t regret taking this chance.”
“Okay, so first, let’s get your group here and safe,” I said firmly. “Then we can figure out how this all works in the morning before we make a point to find other snake shifters and—”
“Not my clan, please!” he worried.
“Not your clan,” I promised. “Or maybe they can go to another outpost—we can decide later.” I frowned when everyone else did.
“I think we’re missing where your head is, my love.”
“Shit, I’m tired,” Ceawlin muttered. “I missed it. Snake shifters are who Keres will take out next. If she went through all of this trouble to make it so we can’t sense corrupted anymore and we just found a way around that—snake shifters are in serious danger.”
“Yes,” I confirmed, feeling better when people groaned. Okay, so they were all late to that party.
“I will get their group here and safe in guest rooms of the castle after you’re secure and protected in your tower,” Petre told me, explaining to Travis that he was on my guard detail.
“We’ll figure this out and Kaci was right,” I told Travis. I reached over and took his hand. “I know what you’re feeling and I’m sorry you’ve been through so much. You should be proud of yourself for being strong enough to make it this far. We all work hard, but it’s easier than being on your own.”
“We’re just so gross and we never get real sleep,” he rasped.
“I know. I remember that feeling well. We sleep amazing here. Showers are great. The stress is still—it’s high and we bust our asses but yeah, having real life back makes it worth it.”
“Thank you, Princess.”
I smiled and went to my tower, more than ready for bed. What I didn’t expect was Petre moving his hand to my lower back in the elevator. He smiled at me when I looked up at him.
And then he followed me into my bathroom where I was going to have a quick shower.
“Let me?” he whispered.
I nodded and was in heaven as he gave me the perfect shower, massaging every inch of me and even my scalp.
He carefully brushed out my hair when it was done. “May I join you in bed after I finish my task? I would like a night of rest and to hold you.”
“Yes,” I agreed, angling my neck so he could give me a kiss.
He stopped just short of my lips. “May I have a sip of you?”
I was shocked but nodded.
What I didn’t expect was that he wanted the sip from my inner thigh after eating me out. I muttered something about it being too fucking good and then passed out.
I woke with the sun snuggled against Petre but frowning that Kristof wasn’t there.
“He went to check in with every coven that took groups from the other covens,” Petre explained. “He thought he should show them the respect as your eldest Night. He sent word that it was the right move. Also, that the princesses were all so willing because they believed your sincerity after you sent live animals.”
“Good,” I sighed. “Yeah, that’s good.”
An hour later, we were in Albuquerque to see how this worked and how we could use it to our advantage. Travis was the most adorable little snake and Eddie offered to help and hold him since, well… Eddie wasn’t scary.
Travis clearly had a traumatic past and issues and Eddie was a good guy who understood that.
“So we’re just going to start at the center and—” Cerdic explained but was interrupted.
By Eddie yelling.
Loudly.
“He bit me!” Eddie bitched. “What are you biting me, asshole? I was nice to you!”
“Did you guys work out a signal?” I drawled, sighing when everyone around me froze. “Okay, so first, we have a fucking problem if he’s sensing corrupted and then we have to come up with a new signal.” I moved closer and studied Travis. “Can you wiggle in a direction or—”
“Tell us where Timmy is, Lassie,” someone mocked from behind us.
“Stuff it,” I snapped. “He senses corrupted here! That’s a serious fucking problem, and I can’t even think of where… There… Could…” My mind sort of just trailed off and went to static as I realized I was standing on a manhole cover. “Travis, are there corrupted below us in the storm or sewer—whatever I’m standing on?”
Swearing went up all around us as the snake nodded.
“We weren’t complete idiots and welded those covers closed,” Cerdic told me firmly. “ And we blocked the access points. We put barbed wire all over the place plus everything that would deter corrupted.”
“Except now they have help,” Sebastian seethed. “We need to warn the other covens and allies. Certainly the outposts.”
“Awww, fuck, we’re going hunting in the fucking sewer, aren’t we?” someone bitched.
I couldn’t even blame them. Yeah, that was gross.
I turned to Shawn Boyle. “I want a location to set up security monitors and a new duty for humans to watch them 4/7. We’re going to clear every tunnel and underground everything, but then we’re putting in those sentry guns.” I glanced at Cerdic. “Turrets? I forgot whatever, but remote weapons. We put those at the access points with lights—”
“Yeah, good. Lights with batteries so they can’t cut the cables and leave us blind. I’ll get with Trisha and her team,” he agreed. “We should also fill in the areas we can safely cut off and we’ll demolish buildings.”
I nodded. “Until then, let’s get gear here to get in the sewers. We’re going to have to have patrols and—it sucks, but we can’t risk it.”
“We’ve all been through worse,” Jaxon said easily like he wasn’t just as grossed out by the idea.
Yeah, we all were, and I was glad that I wasn’t going to be the one to do it, but I was the one who turned it all on.
The humans were not happy to learn that corrupted had slipped through, but even the humans in charge made comments that they hadn’t thought of it either, so maybe people needed to remember to help and stay vigilant instead of assuming it was a free ride. That was helpful and people chilled.
They really calmed down when it was only two corrupted that made it all the way to under the settlement but yeah, couldn’t get up because we’d sealed the manhole covers. But we found where they entered, and it was very obvious that a vampire had used their power to take out the metal barbed wire because there were just energy beads all around.
Fuckers.
Seriously, what fuckers.
“No one is to mess with these sealed manhole covers,” I told the human leaders firmly. “Only Shawn Boyle or one of my husbands can give the order. If they are not involved, start all the trouble and get guards here. Fast.”
One of them nodded. “Because you don’t know all your vamps any better than we do the humans. Fair. For checks and balances sake, I suggest we have a job of two guys checking every cover. People can walk around and check them along with all of the fencing. You guys can take down fence fast too.”
We were all completely in agreement with that, especially since we had more and more radios going.
Given the emergency situation and because no one wanted to let all our hard work go to waste, everyone was pulled from raiding to help.
And the humans jumped in to feed all of the vamps and shifters, which was nice that they appreciated it. In Albuquerque, New Orleans—all the locations.
But the snakes were a huge help… And yes, we worked out a better signal than biting. Now it was slobbering on a finger. Awkward when they shifted back, but it worked for now. We needed to get them a buzzer or something, but—yeah, too much going on.
Always.