Queen’s Purge (Their Vampire Queen Returns #2)

Chapter 1

SHARA

“Look up.”

The voice was familiar—but impossible. I opened my eyes, looking up at the high, lofted ceiling of my bedroom. A white-headed blue bird with long red tail feathers hung upside down on a beam. Thierry, or more accurately, his spirit bird.

My mother’s former Blood had been cursed by the Dauphine into a horrible zombie-like thrall creature.

I’d pulled his spirit out of his rotting body and sent his spirit to fly free to Esetta once I killed the Dauphine.

But he hadn’t gone to my mother as I intended.

As soon as we returned from Galveston, I’d seen him in my heart tree.

He let go of the beam and slowly drifted down toward me. Growing, swelling larger, his blue wings shifting to his Greek siren, half man, half bird. Then melting fully into the man, smiling back at me.

We floated on a black, gentle river, just me and him. A part of my brain recognized that it was only a dream, but I was too happy to see him healed and whole to care that it wasn’t real. My dreams were always powerful and often contained messages from beyond.

He looked exactly like the painting in the Park Avenue house with short blond hair and sky-blue eyes. No lingering taint marred his clear skin or his scent. Rather than the rotting stench of death, he smelled like an island beach. Salty air, sand, and fresh, ripe mangoes and coconuts.

“It’s an honor to serve House Isador again.”

Lightly, I pressed my palm to his cheek. “You were supposed to fly to Esetta.”

He grinned, rubbing his cheek against my palm.

“I did. I am. But I’m here too. I’ll always be with you now, just as she is.

Though I’m easier for you to see and converse with outside of Her domain.

There aren’t any constraints placed upon me to keep me from your side.

Since we didn’t know when you might return to New York, she wants you to know there’s a gift from us both in your hair. ”

When I’d visited the Park Avenue house, I’d managed to see Esetta in the room where she’d delivered me.

The entire house was connected to Isis’ pyramid, and I’d been able to talk to my mother.

Touch her. Taste her. In that dream, she’d given me her magical hair.

Incredibly long and heavy, laden with her power and all her secrets.

The black river flowing around us parted to reveal one of Thierry’s blue feathers.

“I gave her a siren feather before she broke my bond and sent me to New Orleans. She says my miracle lives on in you. Think of my feather, and my gift is available to you.”

His miracle was the ability to stop time. If he hadn’t been able to touch me inside the Dauphine’s blood circle and stop time while the blood poured from the Skolos Triune table… I might not still be here.

The black river flowed back over the blue feather, keeping it safe. “Thank you, both of you.”

“You’re welcome, my queen. If I may, I have a request to make of you.”

“Of course. What is it?”

“When I first went to House Delafosse, the Dauphine threw me into a pit beneath the house. Leonie is still alive down there. I promised her that House Isador would come back to free her.”

My eyes widened, my mouth sagging open for a moment. “She’s still alive? Goddess. Of course. We’ll head to New Orleans immediately. Do you know what the Dauphine did to her to keep her trapped?”

“She cut off her hand, cut out her tongue, and fed on her through her foul leeches, keeping her weak and chained in a muddy pit beneath the house, while she sat on Leonie’s nest like a fat spider, stealing her house and incapacitating her Blood.

When the Dauphine threw me in with Leonie, I started killing the leeches and taking back the blood they stole.

I fed a lot of them to her too, trying to make her stronger so we could escape.

Thousands of leeches, my queen, if not more.

I don’t know what happened to her after I was taken to the swamp, or how long that was. ”

My stomach churned. “I could see why the Dauphine might cut out her tongue to silence her, but why take her hand?”

“When I first met the Dauphine pretending to be Leonie, she sat writing a letter. There was something strange attached to the pen. It looked like a dried-up chicken foot, but then I realized it had five digits.”

I shuddered, my stomach heaving so hard I had to close my eyes and will it to settle so I didn’t throw up in my sleep. “So she could write like Leonie. Talk like Leonie.”

Thierry nodded. “The two Blood I met at the blood circle didn’t act like normal Blood. I suspect they were spelled like Basilia’s Blood at Undina’s nest. The blood circle was still Leonie’s—but the Dauphine must have put her mark on it somehow. She said our blood circle.”

My mind raced. The Dauphine was dead, but if the blood circle had been Leonie’s originally, it could still be active.

Getting through it wouldn’t be an issue.

Either Xin could use his gift, or Sekh could tear it down.

I hated to kill Leonie’s Blood if they were still there, but we might have to.

Unless I could think of a way to undo the leech the Dauphine had planted in their skulls.

Leonie probably had at least one leech in her too.

After so many years… it would be as big as the eels in Thierry.

It’s my power now.

Ugh. My stomach quivered with dread. Bile burned the back of my throat.

I jerked awake and covered my mouth, trying not to throw up.

Rik swept me up and carried me to the bathroom, holding me while I heaved and wretched over the toilet and keeping my crazy-ass hair out of the way.

Blood splattered the porcelain, which oddly steadied me.

It was my blood. My power. Though my forehead was clammy, my head ached, and my stomach still felt fragile.

For the first time in my life, I was in a place that was safe for me to bleed. Plus the Great One’s words whispered in my head. Your blood will always be your greatest weapon.

“Do you need Dr. Borcht?” Rik asked.

“No. I’ll be fine after I settle my stomach.”

His big hands were always gentle, but his voice rumbled deeper with concern. “I’ve never seen you throw up before. Are you sure?”

Straightening, I leaned back against him. “Yeah. I’m just a little shaken.”

He dabbed a cloth on my mouth, cleaning me up.

I hated wasting my blood, but I didn’t care to absorb blood that’d been in the toilet.

So I sent it into the earth inside my nest. Let the Mother have it, or the trees.

I didn’t need it back to conserve my reserves now that I had Sekh and Vore to help balance me out.

Naturally Rik carried me back into the bedroom, not even giving me the chance to see if my knees were still wobbly. He took me back to bed but sat propped up on the pillows, cradling me in front of him.

After a light tap on the door, Guillaume stepped inside carrying a tray. “We pulled together some light snacks that should help your stomach, my queen.”

Of course I didn’t even have to ask for a cup of tea, perfectly toasted fresh bread, a bowl of my favorite fruits, and an assortment of cheese cut into perfect cubes. “Perfect, thank you.”

He set the tray over my lap. “I can’t take full credit. Winston always has your favorites ready to go, though only he gets your tea duty.”

Before Winston, I’d always been a coffee girl, but his tea was impeccable. “What day is it? I mean, how long have we been back home?”

“You’ve only been asleep for a few hours, my queen,” Rik replied. “We just got back this morning.”

“Good.” I nibbled on the toast and took a sip of the tea, letting it work its magic.

Winston’s tea really was the best. Strong without being too sharp or bitter, lightened with perfect cream and just a little sugar or honey, depending on the brew.

I reached for Nevarre’s bond and found him in the sky on guard duty.

Though as soon as he sensed my touch, he immediately wheeled in the air and flew toward me.

Rik sent Vivian up in the air to take his place.

I settled back against Rik’s chest with the cup of tea, waiting the few minutes for Nevarre to reach me before launching into planning.

He might be one of my quietest, gentlest Blood, but he effortlessly managed my phone and all my contacts, the travel, and my wardrobe.

While still flying on patrol and doing all the other Blood tasks Rik sent him to complete without complaint.

Barefoot and bare chested, Nevarre strode in with my phone in his hand and his green and black kilt wrapped around his hips. “Gina’s at Frank’s but she’s on her way.”

Sekh came with him, already picking up on the action vibe. If we were going anywhere, especially where I might need some cleanup duties completed, the general of the All Seeing, Never Sleeping legion wanted to be involved.

Whoever had originally built my manor house must have been of an older generation—or just an obscenely wealthy and privileged human—where they were used to having lots of staff and family living nearby.

There were several smaller but well-built cottages and houses on the property.

Frank had claimed the house near the gate for himself.

When we’d first moved into the nest, Gina spent her nights at the main house with me, but I was pleased to see them spending more and more time together.

Maybe we could plan a wedding or handfasting this year…

Sighing, I pulled my attention back to the problem at hand. No amount of delay tactics and happy thoughts were going to make the power I’d inherited from the Dauphine go away.

“Thierry told me that Leonie was still alive when he was first imprisoned. He promised her that House Isador would come back to free her.”

“I take it that whatever the Dauphine did to her was unpleasant,” Guillaume said.

I waited a second to make sure my stomach was solid.

“She cut off Leonie’s writing hand and her tongue and preserved them somehow,” I replied softly.

“So she could better pretend to be her. Then chained her in the mud pit.” I swallowed another mouthful of tea, letting it wash out the nastiness. “With the leeches.”

“Did she have any Blood?” Rik asked.

“Thierry said there were two Blood when he first arrived that didn’t behave like normal Blood. He thinks they were spelled like the Gorgos Blood.”

“So we have to assume they’re either still standing frozen, waiting for a command that will never come, or they’re thralls like Thierry,” Sekh said. “I know you don’t like to dwell on these new powers, but do you know the difference in how they were made?”

My hands trembled slightly on the cup, but I took another calming sip of tea before closing my eyes and focusing on Thierry.

I heard the flap and swoosh of his wings and then the soft weight of his bird hopping across the bed.

When I opened my eyes again, he perched on the edge of the tray across my lap. His head tilted inquisitively.

“Do you know how the Gorgos Blood were spelled—differently than what she did to you?”

His head shook.

Closing my eyes, I let my breath out in a slow, controlled sigh. “Show me what she did to you when she first put you in the pit beneath Leonie’s house.”

Immediately I was there. Inside him, looking out of his eyes. Lying on my back, incapacitated with a blow of power so immense it felt like my heart was crushed beneath the weight of Mount Everest. The man with a sword—

I paused the memory and said aloud, “Are you seeing this in the bond? Do you recognize him?”

“That’s an épée,” Guillaume replied. “Commonly used in formal fencing in seventeenth century France. I don’t recognize his face though.”

“That’s only four hundred or so years ago,” Rik said. “Surely her Blood were much older than that.”

In the bond, I felt the mighty sphinx searching through time and space for the man’s face.

Back century after century after century.

His clothes changing styles from a more modern suit in Thierry’s memory to what I would call a musketeer uniform to armor and chainmail.

“He’s only been outside of the Dauphine’s power in the world a few times, but I See him primarily in France, around the same time you were born, Sir Guillaume. ”

G grunted an acknowledgment. “It’s possible that he simply prefers the rapier more than the heavier broadsword he might have used originally.”

I allowed Thierry’s memory to continue flowing for us.

The man with the sword stabbed down into the mud and lifted a fat wriggling leech.

I wanted to fast forward and skip the awfulness, but Thierry had endured all of this for me.

The least I could do was watch it with him.

Feel the slick, oddly meaty sensation of the leech sliding down my throat.

The horror of knowing it was contaminated with the Dauphine’s blood. Still alive. Swimming through my body.

Sweat beaded on my forehead and my hand trembled enough that I set the delicate china cup back on the tray so I didn’t spill tea on myself or the bed.

:That was her alpha, Guigues,: Thierry whispered in my head. :There was another Blood named Simon. I saw a third Blood at the New Orleans house but I never heard his name.:

“There’s no way she only had three Blood,” Guillaume said, shaking his head. “Not a Triune queen, let alone one as strong as she was.”

“How strong was she? Really?” I asked.

Guillaume’s gaze weighed heavier, his eyes narrowed and intent. “I’ve only ever encountered two queens stronger than her, my queen.”

“Desideria and Marne?”

Slowly, he shook his head. “You’re fifty-percent correct.”

I sighed. “Desideria… and me.”