Chapter 27
LEONIE
Iopened my eyes, not sure what had awakened me.
Beside me, Shara lay in the crook of Vivian’s arm, her hair streaming out across the pillows. The sight of her pulled me toward her like a black hole, even if the weight of her immense power crushed me like an ant beneath her foot.
I scooted closer so I could press my lips to her bare arm. Or rather, I tried to kiss her. I couldn’t feel her body heat or taste her skin. It was like I wasn’t even here.
Heart pounding, I jerked upright and looked about the room.
Everything was grayed out, the colors muted and thin.
Shara’s skin didn’t gleam with power. Her hair looked like a smudged charcoal drawing.
No one moved, not even her alpha, who still sat in the chair by the window. Even when I slipped from the bed.
While I’d been sleeping, I must have accidentally entered Twilight, the world between worlds, the land of the dead. Oya must need to show me something.
As soon as I thought of Her, I stood outside the house in the yard.
The night was completely still. No wind, no insect sounds or night birds.
Even the luxurious grass beneath my feet was grayed and dull.
I took a step, and suddenly I stood on a small hill overlooking Shara’s nest. Glancing back over my shoulder at her large house, I realized trees ringed her house in a near perfect circle.
A sound in the silence drew my head back around so I could stare out over the surrounding hills of thick forests.
I could see for miles. Steep hills. Deep valleys.
Winding rivers and blacktop highways. Homes and buildings set into the steep hillside of Eureka Springs, a lighter area against the Twilight.
The sound echoed across the hills, and I tried to place it.
A sort of rustle. Something falling. Not stones.
Softer. Clumps of dirt, maybe. More rustling, louder like crackles.
Ripping. It pulled my awareness over another hill into a valley I wouldn’t be able to see with the naked eye.
Zooming in closer to a clearing in the forest.
A wrought iron gate creaked open with a metallic shriek, and I suddenly knew why Oya had called me here.
The dead were uneasy. Their rest had been disturbed. Recently, in fact.
Old dirt. Shoved upward. Clods falling away.
The crack of wood. Roots. Tearing open. A hand shoved up out of the disturbed earth, a thin cadaver arm shriveled with age but incredibly strong as the dead man dragged himself out of his grave.
His clothes hung in tatters about his wasted body.
Leathery skin stretched tightly over his hollowed cheeks.
More rustling and creaking. Moans echoed through the night. Angry mutters. Hands reaching out. Fingers locked on my arms. Dragging me down. I opened my mouth to scream but dirt immediately clogged my mouth and nostrils, filled with the scent of decay and death.
I awoke with a start, jerking upright. Gasping, my skin covered in a sheen of sweat.
Shara hugged me, one hand rubbing gentle circles on my back. “Shhh, Leonie, it’s okay. You’re safe. It was only a dream.”
“No,” I panted, shaking my head. “They’re coming. It was a warning.”
Vivian shot out of the bed and began dressing. Shara had muted her Blood bonds enough that I couldn’t hear whatever orders her alpha must be giving, but they didn’t hesitate jumping to full alert.
Still calm, Shara asked, “Who’s coming?”
Not quite as fast as Vivian, I still hopped up and found my robe and slippers so I could go get dressed. “The dead. Someone has disturbed their rest. They’re crawling out of their graves.”
“The Dauphine sent my aunt’s corpse here once as a warning. Is that what you saw?”
I nodded. “The graves are a few miles away, so we’ll have some time to prepare. I can send them back but it’ll take time.”
Realization flickered in her gaze. “It’s your power, not the Dauphine’s.”
My jaw tightened. “She stole my powers when she took my nest.”
Shara sighed. “I’m sorry, Leonie. Is this something she could have done weeks or months ago? What would have triggered it?”
“She wouldn’t have to have come here physically.
Human practitioners could do the work themselves using ritual and certain ingredients.
The graves could have been marked days or weeks ago, depending on when the last rain fell, which tends to wash away the symbols that hold the magic.
To activate the magic, a human practitioner would have to be fairly close unless they’re extremely strong. ”
I didn’t understand the look that passed between her and the alpha. I felt sad resignation in her bond.
“One of my Blood noticed humans in the woods once we returned. I recognized one of them from Galveston. I hoped she was here because of curiosity. Something benign. But it appears as though she might have been involved.”
“I’ll be able to trace the magic back to its source once the dead are close enough.”
“I’d like to know for sure before we act.
” She scooted to the edge of the bed but didn’t get up yet.
The long tresses of her hair rippled and twisted like snakes, twining around themselves to form a massive ball at the base of her skull.
“I guess Winston might get a chance to use his flamethrowers after all.”
SHARA
My emotions shifted back and forth like a seesaw. Anger, grief, disappointment, resignation. Even regret.
I didn’t want to have another human killed.
Especially a seemingly young, beautiful woman with the rest of her life before her.
She might be my age, though I felt positively ancient in comparison.
A regular college student’s life versus all the shit I lived through in the same amount of years.
All the attacks. Constant danger and threats.
Not to mention the sheer load of carrying this power.
The weight could crush me if I let it.
As soon as Leonie left to dress, Nevarre stepped in with an outfit he’d already pulled together. Simple jeans and a comfortable T-shirt, nothing fancy. Though I laughed when I realized it said “Bad Ass” with a crown. Nice.
“Frank’s got eyes on the humans we tracked,” Nevarre said. “They’re in a small motel approximately seven miles away. Separate rooms. Our guys did some checking, and the male is scheduled to check out in the morning, but the female’s room is booked for a full week.”
Rik let out a low grumble of disgust. “So she can stay and watch her handiwork unfold.”
“I hope not.” Sighing, I leaned down to tie my shoes, though Nevarre was already working on the other foot. “She seemed so excited and… Well, pure. Not innocent and naive but charming and genuine. I know it could’ve all been an act, but damn. It definitely looks suspicious.”
Nevarre leaned in to give me a quick hug. “We’ve got eyes in the woods watching for the first sign of goules.”
“I’m just glad Leonie came home with us so they can’t catch us unaware this time. Though I’m not looking forward to the smell of burning a bunch of bodies.”
Rik came closer, even nudging the other Blood back out of my space so he could lean down and run his nose down my neck. Breathing deeply, he growled and gripped my throat in his teeth. Though he didn’t draw my blood.
Great. I was definitely going to start my period soon. As my hormones went into overdrive, so did my alpha’s. Though maybe I’d need the extra punch of power my period gave me. First a zombie attack, then I’d have to figure out who Morrigan wanted brought to justice.
Old blood. To me, that meant the oldest queens. Probably starting with Marne Ceresa.
If I had at least one more queen on Triskeles, we could call a quorum and deal with her legally.
Though I wasn’t even sure what offense I could charge against her.
Sure, she’d tried to kill me, but no one had ever held Desideria accountable for all the queens she’d slaughtered.
I could try to convince Undina and Nuri to hold a Skolos quorum again, but I’d rather keep the little tidbit about completing their table a secret as long as possible.
The last thing I wanted to do was become a younger version of Desideria and start a new reign of terror. We needed as many of our queens to stay alive as possible.
“One battle at a time, my queen,” Nevarre said.
“Right. Let’s go see how many zombies might be headed our way.”
Of course Rik insisted on carrying me downstairs and holding me on his lap in our usual chair. The big guy would have a hard time keeping his hands off me once I started bleeding, but other than keeping me close, he was holding his shit together well so far.
“You’re up early, Your Majesty.” Winston brought me a tray with fresh, hot coffee, a croissant, and fruit. “If you’d rather have tea, I’ll put a pot on.”
“No, coffee’s great. What time is it?”
“Just before six. The sky is starting to lighten but sunrise won’t be for another thirty minutes or so.”
I gave him a rueful grin. “Which is the perfect time to attack a vampire queen who’s been up most of the night.”
Wearing a beautiful flowing sundress covered in sunflowers, Leonie joined us. Somehow she managed to look elegant despite getting nearly zero sleep. In comparison, I felt like one of the zombie creatures crawling out of its grave.
“What questions may I answer, my queen?” She asked.
“Can they be out in the daylight?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. The sunlight won’t hurt them, unlike thralls.”
“When Mom—my aunt, Selena, who raised me—came here as a goule, her spirit was inside her corpse. It was awful. Is that the same thing we’re dealing with?”
“Unfortunately, yes. That’s one of the reasons the dead are so angry, and why they cause so much devastation when they’re used like this.
Their peaceful rest has been disturbed. Their spirits were called back to this life that ended for them long ago.
They attack the targeted living with furious vengeance—even though the target didn’t cause the unrest. It’s the only way they can return to their rest.”
“And you said this could have been done days ago? How?”
“Depending on the practitioner’s path of belief, several different ways.
Typically a ritual is done to honor their guiding spirits or gods, calling on them to raise the necessary power into their instruments and ingredients.
Some use chalk to draw a charging sigil or verve on the tombstone.
Others may use the ash from the ritual fire mixed with salt or other herbs to draw a pattern on the grave. ”
Guillaume joined us, carrying so many blades on his body that he bristled like a pincushion and made a metallic rattle every time he moved. “All of that takes time. How many are we talking? Less than ten? More than that?”
Her eyes met mine. :I’ll show you, if you like, my queen.:
I nodded and her eyes unfocused, looking inward.
Her eyes gleamed, specks of gold and emerald lighting up with inner fire, pulling me deeper.
I sank my awareness into hers, letting her do the work.
I smelled her blood, the bloom of spice and warm earth heating beneath the sun, and then everything shifted, as if we’d stepped into a parallel universe.
Muted colors. No sounds. We stood on the hill overlooking my nest—the very same place the humans had been spying—and looked out over the rolling hills.
At first I didn’t see anything remarkable. No bright lights or red glow, not like when I looked at the tapestry.
:There.: She zoomed in on what looked like a darker smudge against the grayed landscape. I thought it might be a cave, but it moved. As we focused on it, the darkness resolved into two separate shapes moving toward us. I pulled back slightly to gauge the distance to the nest.
“Two so far, about five or ten minutes away.” My voice echoed in my ears, stretched out long and slow.
Leonie shook her head, her mouth downturned. She pulled us to another dark spot.
“Three,” I added. “Two. Five. Three. All around us. Four more. Two. Closing in.”
:That’s only the first wave,: she warned. :There are more still emerging from their graves.:
I broke the connection and stood. “Then there’s a second wave.”
Rik stood behind me, looping his arm around my waist to keep me close to his side. “The first wave of at least twenty goules will be here in five minutes. Flyers, get airborne. Frank, your team has the perimeter. Blast anything that moves—”
“No,” Leonie broke in.
Rik’s head whipped around, his muscles bulging, sliding toward granite. “Our queen’s safety is paramount.”
I slipped one hand beneath his on my stomach and patted our clasped hands with my other. “Of course, my alpha. But hear her out. What do you propose, Leonie?”
“It’s not their fault. Damaging their corpses will only slow them down.”
“Unless we crispy critter them,” Mehen retorted.
“Then you’re dooming their souls to endure being burned inside their own corpse.
They’ll be fully aware the entire time, and if their bodies are destroyed, they can’t return to their resting place.
That’s not important to Aima since we destroy our bodies, but for humans, it’s important for loved ones.
Especially for any ancestor work. I can still help their souls cross back over the river, but many of them will be too angry and violent to listen.
They’ll roam the land causing as much destruction as possible. ”
“I can free their spirits first,” I said. “I’ve done it before. Though I’m not sure how quickly I can remove twenty or more spirits if we’re under attack at the same time.”
“I mean no disrespect, my queen, but even your method will cause destruction to their physical body. If they can’t be laid to rest back in their grave, we may loose their vengeful spirits on the rest of the world for all time.”
“What do you propose?”
Her chin lifted slightly, her shoulders back and proud, her smile confident and glowing. A queen in her element, her full power flowing around her like a royal mantle. “This is my power. Please allow me to return them to their eternal rest.”
Rik grunted. “We set a boundary around the house. If they come inside that area before you can help them, they’re free game.”
She nodded. “I can agree to that.”
Smiling, I gave her a nod of confidence and encouragement. “Let’s go lay some dead back into their graves.”