Chapter 28
~Lazriel~
I didn’t like being away from Velra, Cassius, and our baby.
But me being out on that battlefield where it was mostly a nightmare of high-level magic usage wasn’t exactly something I was equipped to excel in given that I wasn’t a magic-wielder. Velra and Cassius were, both of them powerhouses in that way.
Nah, I knew logically I was better off here on this mission.
With my dad.
And with Sylas, dealing with death magic that meshed with my vampire side.
Besides, the plan called for rapid-fire movement because we would be facing off with Dark Fae imbued with Morien’s necromantic abilities that were then souped up with Celestial power and black magic.
My dad had brought along fifteen vampires in the twenty-being unit of The Shadowed for this mission. Only five were magic-wielders because he knew that they wouldn’t stand a chance against that sort of power. These five were here solely as backup if it came to evacuation.
I knew all that, but it still hung heavy being separated from Velra and Cassius.
Ketheron was on my mind too, that absolute sweetheart.
I knew he’d be okay because he was an ultimate powerhouse, but I didn’t like him having to be, or being caught up in this.
He’d been through so much as it was and he deserved peace.
So did those poor Celestial children, but now they were pulled into this as well.
By these power hungry maniacs, these twisted narcissists with god complexes up their asses dialed to purist rhetoric.
Urgh. Soon. Soon it would all be done with.
I sucked in a centering breath and focused up as we carefully and covertly approached the veil up ahead. From the outside—our vantage point and current positioning—it appeared to be more of the same forest we’d been trekking through.
But once we passed through with the small portion of Ketheron’s magic that had been given to Sylas as the key to enter, the sanctuary area that was really beyond the fake forest would come into view. It was a lakeside mansion that was housing and protecting five hundred hybrid beings.
We’d been doing recon as we’d approached from a distance.
The issue was that we had no idea when Morien and his Dark Fae acolytes would arrive.
An alarm hadn’t been tripped from within and there were several of them—they sent a direct alert to the Guardian Movement when activated.
So the sanctuary hadn’t been hit yet.
Just like the hybrid volunteers were doing where Velra and Cassius were right now to lure Gregor out, we were doing the same thing, keeping close, yet not too close to the sanctuary entrance. We weren’t cloaked or moving with vampiric stealth.
We wanted Morien to come.
Then we’d finally end this part of the shitshow.
But he hadn’t.
We’d been scouring acres upon acres out from the entrance of this particular sanctuary zone that Morien had the location of, that his acolytes had bragged that they would take next.
Yet… nothing.
Part of me had wanted to just burst right on in there, but we couldn’t risk giving away the location unless there was no other choice.
Which, yeah, there wasn’t anymore.
We’d have to enter and evacuate. I just didn’t like the risk in that.
None of us did. Because it was a pocket dimension, magic couldn’t impact the outside, which meant teleportation and opening other portals from within to the outside world in order to carry out an evacuation wasn’t an option.
We had to lead everyone out into the open and do it from there.
As we approached—me, my dad, and the Shadowed vampires scanned with our supernatural senses, while Sylas and the magic-wielders watched for any magical activity from the enemy—my restlessness and worry ramped up.
Shit, I didn’t do well with being hands-off either—physicality soothed me. And these days I preferred that to come from sex, not brutal violence.
I reached out to Sylas who was on my right, while my dad was on my left, his unit of twenty a few paces ahead of us.
I slid my hand into Sylas’ and stroked his fingers, earning a jolt from him, and a turn of his head.
As our gazes clashed I saw him register the need in mine. He relaxed in my hand hold. “So long as you leave it at that,” he told me. “Don’t take it further.”
“Well, that’s beyond presumptuous.”
“Presumptuous, hmm?”
“Yeah. Last time we were apart it was you who was losing their shit all over the place without the fucking.”
“That’s not—”
“‘Ah, fuck, too long. Too fucking long.’ Those were your exact words as you were all over me. All hot and bothered and desperate about it.”
“I see. Because I’m the nympho out of our foursome?”
“You’ve got it. Way more than me. And don’t get me wrong, I’m here for it. I just want to be clear that I’m not the presumptuous one.”
“Ah.”
“So you, agree?” I asked, looking over at him.
“What I agree on is that you’ll spew anything right now just to keep a conversation going.”
I grinned up at him. “You know I’m here for it, right?”
“Yes, your voracious sexual appetite is well known to me.”
“You’re calling me the nympho?”
“You match me at this point.” He stroked my fingers back.
“And that’s truly incredible given where you were at when we first met.
Something to be proud of. That’s one way in which you’ve grown into yourself, and it’s been wondrous to be a part of that.
Repression-free these days all the way, my hot little wolf—and wild vampire. ”
He had me chuckling at that.
“Now, can we save this sort of talk for when we’re not on a mission with a unit of The Shadowed and your father right beside us?”
I turned to my dad on my left to find his eyes shining with amusement. I couldn’t see the full picture of his expression because of his metal face mask—the same with all his agents with us.
“Dad, do you think the crazy sex drive thing is more of a vampire thing, or a wolf thing?”
“I think it’s a you-being-my-son thing.”
I started. “What? I thought you were… that it wasn’t a part of your life.”
“Well, given that for the last quarter of a century that part of my life has only been shared with one particular person, and I haven’t been able to be with said love of mine, there hasn’t been much activity where that’s concerned.”
“Mom. Hold on… I thought you both agreed to live your lives because that was the case? She even married Jason Strickland.”
“For political purposes. There was no physicality. And for me, over the centuries, I had laid with countless sexual partners. However, after becoming drawn to her, I ceased said exploits. It lost its luster—except with her.”
“So twenty-odd years and you’ve… there’s been nothing?”
“Not nothing. Given the turn of events recently, there have been a couple of… interactions.”
Urgh. I held up my hand. “All right. Good. I mean… I get it.”
“Should you wish to discuss this further, please feel free. It doesn’t have to concern your mother.
We could focus on the time before her if you need advice on the voracious sexual appetite of a vampire and, for you, the wolf also.
I have extensive knowledge on the wolf aspect regarding sex drives due to my relationship with Rhyza. ”
“Oh fuck, no. No. We’re… we’re good. Definitely on the wolf aspect. Never tell me about that… with that factored in.” I took a moment to shove that down and push past the uncomfortableness, and tossed Sylas a look as I heard him chuckling.
“You ask and you shall receive,” he commented, far too amused by it.
I told my dad, “Maybe the vampire aspect, though. Down the road a bit.”
“As you wish.”
Sylas stumbled in his step, then slapped his fingers to his temple, his brow furrowing.
“What? What is it?” I asked.
“Cassius just mind-linked me.”
Mind-linking wasn’t something we’d gotten into as a foursome. Nyx and his loves went down that road, but we were fine with making use of our phones. Especially the Group Chat. My dad had mind-linked with me a few times, but beyond that, I liked the way our foursome already did things.
Sylas looked between me and my dad. “Cassius had to leave the battlefield and essentially switch places with Ariana due to Cornelius taking a hit.”
“Velra is there alone?” I barked.
“Not alone, but still.”
“I will see to it,” my dad said, before he was then doing the temple thing, eyes narrowing in concentration. After a few moments, he informed me, “I’ve reached out to your mother. She’s with Jaxon and Mia. They will head there immediately and your mom will function as Velra’s battle shadow.”
“While Jaxon and Mia will definitely bring additional firepower to reduce the danger anyway,” Sylas spoke. “Good. Very good.”
I sucked in a breath and he and I exchanged a look of relief.
I knew Velra could handle herself—hell, better than most beings alive. But hearing that… it just brought the stakes of everything slamming into me again.
I forced myself to push it down as we were just a few feet out from the portal entrance according to the very specific directions that we had.
All of a sudden, Sylas pulled up short.
“Oh fuck, what’s happened now?” I asked.
“It was hidden from a distance…” he uttered, trailing off. Very unlike him. “His attempt to contain it has failed… it’s leaking out and becoming detectable at this range.”
“Morien?” I asked.
Sylas’ eyes narrowed as he gave a grim nod. “He’s already here. I just felt his magic.”
Adrenaline shot down my spine. “No. Then… what about the hybrids in there?”
He grimaced and looked away.
As he stepped forward and swept the rest of the distance to the entrance to the pocket dimension, my dad gave my shoulder a comforting and steadying squeeze.
“We focus on battle. The rest comes later. Upset and grief come later, my son.”
I swallowed hard and gave a nod.