Chapter 29
Alexander
The noise was deafening, cheers echoing through the cavernous space as he appeared.
Alexander drew in icy air, his lungs burning as he forced himself not to think about Boaz. He had too much to do. He could not afford to get distracted, even though the pain in his chest threatened to drag him to his knees.
“Greer,” he called.
The noise cut off instantly as the vampires realized he was there. Greer waved them away, and within seconds the cave was empty except for the two of them.
“You’re back,” he said. “How did it go?”
Alexander grimaced.
“That bad?”
“Yes,” Alexander said, drawing in another. “The situation is far worse than we thought.”
He told Greer everything that had happened, including the possibility that he might have unknowingly infected others.
“But those incidents were accidents,” Greer said.
“We should be suspicious of everything,” Alexander said. “Blade believes the demons are behind the witches getting infected, and I can’t shake the feeling he might be right.” He exhaled sharply. “We should swing by the club and check every supernatural being in town. Make sure no one is infected.”
“You know that’s not going to be simple,” Greer said. “The families won’t allow us to barge into their homes.”
“I don’t care. This is bigger than us and our stupid politics,” Alexander said. “Get Darius and Micca. Meet me at the club. We’ll start there.”
He didn’t wait for a response. He disappeared and reappeared across the street in front of the club.
Standing in the shadows, he stared at the red and yellow lights above the entrance. The vampires lingering beneath them were not the same ones he had seen yesterday.
Did that mean they were infected?
Alexander hoped not.
“How do you want to do this?” Greer asked.
Alexander turned to face him. The vampire studied him carefully.
“May I speak frankly?”
“Go ahead,” Alexander said.
“Let me call a few of the elders in town and arrange a meeting, maybe…”
“We don’t have time for that,” Alexander interrupted, reaching for his sword. “And I’m not in a diplomatic mood.”
“Fuck,” Greer muttered under his breath as he followed him across the street.
The vampires on the other side saw them coming and rushed inside. Alexander moved quickly, jamming his foot into the door before it could slam shut. He shoved it open and stepped in.
He blinked, adjusting his eyes to the darkness, then moved down the hallway. It opened into the dance floor.
The vampires who had fled were now standing in a semi-circle. Two held metal baseball bats, and two held shotguns.
“No dancing tonight,” he said, taking in the empty space.
“If it isn’t the king,” someone said from the back.
The four-armed vampires stepped aside, and a short, bald vampire who looked to be in his fifties walked forward. He carried the presence of an elder.
“We’re still cleaning up the mess from your unannounced visit,” he said.
“Is that so? Sorry about that. Someone important to me was in here and I needed to get him.”
“He had no right being in here, and neither do you,” the elder replied.
Alexander shrugged and walked to the bar. He pulled out a chair and sat down.
“There are pressing circumstances that bring me here. The vampires who were here yesterday, where are they? I need to see them.”
The elder let out a long, tired breath. “What did I just say? You have no right to be here, Alexander. The families are none of your concern. We will let what happened yesterday slide since you have been through a lot and may have forgotten our agreement. But with due respect, I would like you to leave now.”
Alexander rose from his chair and walked toward him. “I am not asking, Elder. And as for our agreement, I remember it. And it can be revoked at any moment.”
He lowered his sword, the tip scraping along the ground as he advanced.
“This can be peaceful, or very painful.”
“You have no right. We don’t recognize you as our king,” the elder said, swallowing hard.
“I know. Where are they?” Alexander asked.
“They didn’t come in to work,” he said.
“Do you know where they live?”
“Please. This will start a war. You can’t do this.”
“The war has already begun,” Alexander said. “Speak.”
“I only know of the four who worked the door,” the elder said through gritted teeth, hate burning in his eyes. “Their sire is Randal Thornton.”
“And the others?”
“They came from out of town. I have no idea who they are. We have a lot of vampires who visit our club. We can’t keep track of all of them.”
“Okay. Take me to Thornton’s house.”
“You can’t…”
“I think we’ve already discussed what I can and cannot do,” Alexander said. He stepped to the side and pointed down the dark hallway. “Please, lead the way.”
The elder stared at him for a beat, then gave a reluctant nod. He disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a faint trail of his scent for Alexander to follow. Alexander had expected him to run or mask his presence, but he didn’t.
They reappeared in the backyard of a two-story house. Distant chatter and traffic filled the silence.
The elder walked to the door and knocked.
Greer, Micca, and Darius appeared a few seconds later.
The door opened, and Alexander heard the elder ask for Randal Thornton. Seconds later, they were ushered inside.
Alexander kept a firm grip on the hilt of his sword as they stepped into the kitchen.
“Randal, this is…” the elder began, then stopped when Randal gasped. “I guess there’s no need for introductions.”
“What is he doing here?” Randal asked, staring at Alexander with the same hateful expression he had been met with lately. Everyone seemed to hate him.
“I’m looking for your sons.”
“Why?” Randal asked defensively, perhaps too defensively.
“I think you know why,” Alexander said. “Where are they? I’m here to help.”
“We don’t need your help,” Randal snapped. “Please leave.” He turned to the elder. “I can’t believe you brought him here, Mason.”
“I had no choice,” Mason said.
“And you also don’t have a choice, Randal. I’ll tear this house down to find them,” Alexander said. “Choose wisely.”
Randal cursed under his breath, then turned and walked out of the kitchen toward the stairs. He opened a hidden door just off the stairwell and descended.
Alexander’s fingers flexed around the hilt of his sword, the hairs on arms standing on end as he followed. Something was down there. He could feel it. Greer seemed to sense it too, moving closer with his sword slightly raised.
The lighting was low, casting the space in an eerie shadow. Alexander paused at the bottom step as his eyes landed on the vampire chained to the wall.
The vampire snarled as if he could tell they were there.
Fuck.
He had suspected they might be infected, but he had hoped he was wrong.
Fuck… fuck…
Greer gasped as black veins rippled beneath the vampire’s skin. He turned to look at Alexander, and Alexander knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Where are the others?” Alexander asked. There should have been four of them chained to the wall, not one.
Randal wrung his hands. “They… escaped. And we can’t find them. Before they disappeared, they attacked a human family down the block. They killed everyone in the house. We managed to cover it up, but we need to find them before they hurt anyone else.”
“Fuck, why didn’t you tell me, Randal?” Mason snapped.
“I was handling it.”
“You can’t cover something like this up.”
“Why not? This is actually your fault. When they came back from your damn club they were like this. They barely made it into the house before they went crazy.” Randal lunged at Mason. “What did you do to them?”
“Enough,” Alexander shouted, then took a slow, calming breath. “A war with the demons is starting soon. We don’t have time to fight each other.” He turned to Randal. “I’m sorry about your sons. I’ll do everything in my power to help them.”
“How?” Randal asked, close to tears. “Do you know what happened to them?”
“Yes,” Alexander said. “And it’s very important that we find them. The fate of the world depends on it.”
Randal and Mason looked at each other, fear clear in both their expressions.
“Is the war with the demons really starting again?” Mason asked.
“Yes,” Alexander said simply. “And we might already be too late.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
“Greer, get Darius and Micca. Move the infected vampire and secure him in the dungeon. He should be safe there. Randal, Mason, gather all your vampires and start searching for the three who escaped. When you find them, bring them to the castle.”
Alexander turned and walked up the stairs. Greer followed closely behind him.
“Do you think we’ll find them?” Greer asked.
“We should try. If we don’t, we are fucked,” Alexander said.
“What is the demons’ plan with them anyway? It’s not like we can’t fight the infected people. We managed to put you down back then. We’ll do the same with the infected vampires,” Greer said confidently.
Alexander stopped at the back door and turned to him.
“Their plan is far worse than what happened to me,” Alexander said, his mind flashing to Blade’s vision, the part where the veil was drawing in blood until the stake turned to ash.
“The blood inside me is the key to opening the veil. They’re infecting as many beings as they can so they can drain them to force it open. ”
“What? That’s horrible,” Greer said. “They’re all going to die.”
“That’s why we need to find them first,” Alexander said. “You take the right side of town and I’ll take the left. Hopefully they haven’t gone far.”
Greer nodded.
Alexander walked out of the house and disappeared, reappearing at the other end of town near the edge of the forest. He searched the streets, backyards, and peered into house windows, moving back toward the center of town, but there was no sign of them.
Greer met him in the middle.
“There’s no sign of them,” Greer said. “I wonder where they ran to.”
“Maybe they’re in the mountains,” Alexander said, turning toward the dark silhouette in the distance, a bad feeling tightening in his chest. “That’s where I would have gone.”
“With the snow everywhere, they could hide up there for days,” Greer said.
“Then we go now,” Alexander said. “Bring more men. I’ll wait for you at the foot of the mountain.”
Greer disappeared, then returned with more vampires. They began the search, moving up the mountain and combing through fallen trees, bushes, and rocky outcrops. By dawn, they still had found nothing.
“We need to go back,” Greer said, glancing up at the sky. The sun was finally breaking through, sending its heat down. They had managed to search through most of the morning under cover of cold, cloudy weather.
“You go. I’ll keep going a little longer,” Alexander said.
“You’re going to stay out here?” Greer asked. “But…”
“I can handle it,” Alexander said. “Go.”
“Okay,” Greer said, looking at him awkwardly, but he didn’t push further. He called to the other vampires, and they disappeared.
Alexander searched for another hour, but there was still no sign of them. It was as if the infected vampires had vanished into thin air.
And he had a bad feeling he already knew where they had gone, though he didn’t want to believe it.
They shouldn’t have been able to reach Claremore. They didn’t know the area well enough. And besides, the witches had been infected first, so they should have been the ones to move there.
Something about it felt wrong.
“They have to still be here,” Alexander said, wiping a hand over his face as guilt swirled inside him. He should have been more careful, but he hadn’t known he was carrying a key that could open the gates of hell.
He had thought he was simply different, that whatever changes were happening wouldn’t hurt anyone. He hadn’t felt like he was losing his mind anymore. For the first time, he had been happy.
He had looked forward to every night because he knew Boaz would be waiting for him. Waiting for his kiss, his touch.
And now, even that felt like it was falling apart.
“Fuck!” Alexander shouted as everything he had been holding back came crashing down on him. Boaz could not have chosen a worse time to tell him how he truly felt. After everything they had been through, every moment they had shared.
Alexander dragged in a breath of icy air, the burn in his lungs nothing compared to the ache in his chest.
He scanned the area, forcing his focus away from the pain and back to what needed to be done. His grip tightened around his sword as he continued the search.