Chapter 18
The final weeks before leaving for Mordnik were hectic, and Emmy’s brain felt like it might explode from information overload.
Feeding frenzies every night — fourteen different theatrical productions on rotation. She’d be the star in nearly half of them, which meant vampires would bid at weekly auctions for the privilege of being on stage with her.
The privilege of fucking her while an audience watched. For an unrepentant, avowed exhibitionist, it doesn’t get much better than that.
She’d dodged a bullet with Titus Andronicus, where the starring role went to one of the serious masochists, thank fuck.
The script called for cutting out Lavinia’s tongue, slicing off her hands, then raping her in the ‘woods.’ Emmy would be on the floor that night in a matching torn white gown, getting ‘raped’ and fed from, but her tongue and hands would stay where they belonged.
But she’d be on stage for the Lady Macbeth production — blood-spattered and scrubbing at her hands while vampires circled and drank, her screams about damned spots echoing through the theater.
The dress rehearsal had been intense — the line between performance and reality blurring, and she’d needed a few minutes before walking, after, so no one would see her legs shaking a little.
She was looking forward to doing it for real.
There were others — a Roman orgy where she’d wear a shorter teen toga, and the graphic woodland rape from Il Trovatore, complete with soundtrack, which made it truly depraved and creepy.
She enjoyed being the victim in that rape, actually — and yes, they’d had a full dress rehearsal, with coterie vampires.
Rhea would be Snow White because she looked the part and didn’t have to act. Lana had the lead in the Moulin Rouge can-can, with Emmy in the first row behind her, mostly naked and kicking, since the colorful ‘skirts’ were a short, gauzy joke.
Thankfully, she wouldn’t be on stage for the Inquisition scene, where humans were beaten, teeth were pulled, and a few other atrocities.
They’d all been tested on the rules and protocols — actual written exams. The spiral staircase alone had a full page of instructions: two wide going up, single file coming down, timing protocols for the fireman’s pole in the center.
Crazy that a missile silo needed traffic laws, but apparently feeding nearly fifty vampires required military-level logistics.
Between learning choreography and lines, memorizing protocols, and keeping up with her master’s coursework, Emmy only managed one evening with Jed and Zane before they left.
She had lunch with one or both several times a week, though, and fully enjoyed their company.
The convoy of SUVs and one small bus left the house at 10:15 sharp. A twenty-yard walk from vehicle to Zander’s plane, suitcase left at the base of the stairs for the crew to load, and the pilot took off shortly after the last person boarded.
They’d all sent two suitcases earlier in the week, and were allowed one suitcase and a carry-on today.
Emmy sat beside a window, and Rhea stood to go talk to someone once the seatbelt sign turned off, but Emmy loved flying and wanted to see Alaska from the air.
The ultra-luxurious private jet leveled out over a mountain range, and Emmy watched the jagged peaks slide past below, their snow-covered faces catching the late-afternoon sun.
She’d grown up with money, flown private more times than she could count, but this felt different.
Less like a vacation, more like walking into something she couldn’t entirely predict.
Spence settled into the seat across from her with two mugs of hot chocolate. Of course he’d brought hot chocolate. She accepted hers with a smile and wrapped both hands around the warmth.
“You know,” he said after a few sips, voice easy but thoughtful, “I remember when you were four, and you told me very seriously that dragons love hot chocolate, but it’s bad to change to dragon to try to make it hot again after it’s cold.”
Fuck, she’d nearly burned the house down trying to reheat her hot chocolate that’d gone cold while she drew and colored. Her mother had no idea her oldest triplet had figured out how to change on her own without parental help.
Emmy groaned. “Oh, my God, I do not need childhood stories right now.”
“You were adorable,” he continued, grinning. “You had this little purple dress with a dragon embroidered on it, and matching purple things for your ponytails. Matching shoes. I can still see you bouncing around the backyard in it.”
“Spence.” Her voice came out flat, but he just smiled at her over the rim of his mug.
“What? It’s a good memory.”
“I need everyone to stop seeing me as that little girl.” She set her mug down carefully, met his gaze. “I’m not four anymore. I’m not twelve. I’m a woman, and I need everyone who knew me back then to see who I am now.”
His expression softened but didn’t lose the warmth. “Emmy, I can see you as both. The little girl who charmed everyone on Lookout Mountain, and the woman sitting across from me who’s brilliant, strong, and finding her way.” He gave her a soft smile. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
She wanted to argue, but something in his tone stopped her. Not patronizing. Honest. Spence was always upfront and honest.
“I’ve been happy watching you make friends,” he continued. “Rhea’s good for you. She’s grounded in a way that balances your fire. I like seeing the two of you together.”
Emmy relaxed back into her seat. “She’s great. I didn’t expect to actually like anyone here, but she’s solid.”
“And Felix,” Spence added, something knowing in his voice. “I’ve been pleased to see you go mama-hen over him.” He grinned. “Or mama-dragon, I guess.”
“Felix is a friend, and I protect my friends when they need it,” Emmy said quickly.
Too quickly. She sighed. “Okay, he’s more than that, but there isn’t anything super-emotional beyond friends-with-benefits.
He’s a dear friend, and we have fun together.
The sex works because we’re compatible, opposite kinks, but it isn’t love. ”
Spence nodded slowly, no judgment in his expression. “You know you’ll see him being hurt at Mordnik, hurt badly, and you won’t be able to intervene.”
“I’m aware.” She picked up her cocoa again, letting the heat seep into her palms. “But I appreciate the reminder. Felix likes pain in ways I’m still learning to understand.
I’m not going to go running to his rescue every time a vampire gets rough with him.
I know what category he signed up as, so whatever happens is his choice.
He isn’t my submissive. I don’t get a say in that kind of thing. He makes his own choices.”
He was submissive to her in scenes, but just her friend the rest of the time. It was true he sometimes let her hold him outside of scenes, but that was just the way they showed affection.
Spence studied her for a long moment. “Do you want your own submissive? Someone who is yours?”
Emmy considered whether her answer had changed since she’d arrived in Alaska, and realized it had not.
“Eventually,” she told him. “But I have too many other things going on to worry about looking for a partner. I’m going to live for thousands of years like my father. I have plenty of time.” She grinned. “No point in being anchored to someone now when it’s so much fun to play.”
Spence’s mouth curved into a smile. “You know, that’s actually showing a lot of maturity. You have time to—”
The intercom crackled to life, cutting him off.
“Folks, we’re beginning our descent into Mordnik,” the pilot’s voice came through.
“If you look out the left side of the aircraft, you’ll see the town and airport coming into view.
Please ensure all items are stowed and seatbelts are fastened.
We’ll have you on the ground in approximately five minutes. ”
Emmy leaned toward the window, peering out at the vast expanse of white below, broken only by the dark smudge of buildings clustered near the coast. Jagged patches of sea ice drifted across the steel-gray waters, not yet solid.
Pale sunlight spilled over the snow-blasted earth, turning the landscape into a sheet of hammered silver, glittering at the edges.
Nestled inland about half a mile, a gleaming dome caught the sun — glass and steel glittering like a dropped diamond in the snow.
It shimmered, the steel ribs catching the light in flashes like the edge of a blade.
The Aurora Ballroom, she realized with a little thrill.
She’d be living underneath it for the next three months, and the reality was a visceral pull.
To the east, low hills rippled like the bones of some great beast sleeping beneath the snow. To the west, the ocean met the land in an uneven line of white-capped waves and broken ice, a reminder that the sea hadn’t yet surrendered to winter’s grip.
This wasn’t the curated wilderness of tourism brochures. This was the far north, wild and mostly untouched. The farther inland she looked, the more raw and uncompromising the landscape.
“Welcome to the edge of the world,” Spence said quietly beside her.
She felt a flutter low in her belly. Anticipation, maybe a little fear, and definitely excitement.
Emmy is always the dragon, and she easily recognized the call of a place where survival has to be earned.
The jet began its final descent, wings tilting gently as it aligned with the long off-white streak that passed for a runway. Emmy braced her boots against the floor, eyes locked to the window.
Alaska in November looked like it had been drawn in charcoal and bone — shades of white, gray, and dusky gold smeared across the landscape like an oil painting. Flat tundra stretched for miles in every direction, broken by straggling scrub and jagged drifts sculpted by wind.
The sun hovered low in the sky, casting long slashes across everything. It hit the edge of the town and turned the squat buildings into little blocks of amber and slate.
The plane bumped down, tires squealing against the ice-scored runway.
“Bundle up,” Spence told her, tugging gloves from his coat pocket. “It’s twelve degrees out there, brutal even for a shifter when the door opens.”
He wasn’t kidding, because as soon as the cabin door opened, a spear of cold stabbed inward — dry and sharp, like inhaling a freezer full of knives.
Emmy yanked her hat lower and zipped her parka all the way up, following Spence down the narrow stairs into a wall of light and air so clean it tasted like static.
The sharpness of the cold hit her first, like a slap to her entire system, but once her nose and lungs figured out how to deal with the cold, she caught the scent of the ocean layered in like threads of silver frost, salty brine that never warmed.
Breath puffed visibly. Snow crunched under boot soles. And behind her, the plane gleamed like some alien craft landed on the edge of the world.
She’d thought a scarf would be overkill, but had packed one in her carry-on because the instructions said to. She pulled it from her backpack now and wrapped it around the lower part of her face. It wasn’t just the temperature, but the wind.
Three massive military-style SUVs idled nearby, steam rising from their hoods in ghostly ribbons.
Matte black, broad and hulking, each had three rows of seats crammed in and not nearly enough room for everyone.
Spence herded Emmy into the first one, and she ended up wedged into the second row pressed against Toby, with Felix in her lap, and Rhea in Toby’s.
It seemed the rules really are different up here.
They rumbled forward, the convoy lurching onto a snow-packed road bordered by guide poles. Emmy twisted to look through the rear window, watching the plane dwindle behind them. Beyond it, the dark slash of ocean. Before them, everything else.
The town rose slowly into view on the left, a scatter of squat buildings with metal roofs. No trees. No frills. Just function and frost.
Ahead, the land opened into a gentle rise of snow-covered ground leading to the gleaming dome she’d seen from above.
The Aurora Ballroom towered overhead now, breathtaking in its bright intensity.
The sun lit it from low in the sky, so its glass skin glowed gold at the edges and silver in the center.
Up close, it looked even more alien — a bubble in the snow, an outpost of some other world.
They drove around to the side where a short, tunnel-like entry was lit with glowing poles lining the walkway.
“This place is surreal,” Emmy said.
Felix grinned. “Wait ‘til you see inside.”
The SUVs rolled to a stop outside the tunnel-like entrance, tires crunching over packed snow.
As soon as the engines shut off, the silence of the vastness outside descended.
Emmy stepped out after Felix, her boots hitting the ground with a satisfying crunch.
The air here tasted different. Not just clean, but clear.
Like it hadn’t passed through anyone else’s lungs in weeks.
The dome loomed over them magnificently, and sunlight scattered golden patches onto the snow around them.
Spence led them in.
The tunnel entrance was wider than it’d looked, and it led to a heavily reinforced door, through an airlock, and then another heavy door before they finally stepped inside the ballroom.
Under the dome, the air felt like another world. The literature said it’s kept in the forties or sometimes fifties for events, but it felt like heaven after being outside.
Light poured in through the glass above, bouncing off the polished floor.
The space was even larger than it’d looked from above.
Larger than a basketball court, with curved walls, steel beams, and a wide inner rim subtly marked as a running track.
Twenty laps to the mile, she remembered from the handbook.
A few gently curved benches were tucked just inside the running track perimeter, but the inner portion was empty space.
Emmy tilted her head back to stare up at the sky. The low sun slanted through the dome’s curve, all cold brilliance and blue-white depth, like standing inside a glacier.
“This is the Aurora Ballroom,” Spence said, raising his voice just enough to be heard across the group.
“While we have a couple hours of daylight over the next few weeks, shifters will often come up here to enjoy the sunshine. When the outside temperatures are above ten below, we keep it around forty-five degrees. It’s never below thirty-seven up here, no matter how cold it is outside. ”
“We’ll have at least one event up here,” Spence continued. “Possibly more if the aurora cooperates.”
He walked to a plain steel door at the edge of the rounded wall, and keyed in a code. “Follow me. There’s a whole ‘nother world underground.”