Chapter 20
Nadya’s Compound, Saturday, January 26, 2013, Morning
Maksim and Jules arrived at Nadya’s former home and found it as empty as Maksim had left it. They needed a location with the infrastructure to handle the army they planned to assemble.
Jules had picked up the emergency calls to the safe house’s address over his illegal police band scanner, so he figured the kidnapping plan was a bust. He was in a foul mood about losing his pack, and Mathis had probably been killed by whoever Luca had sent to retrieve the human. He’d thought the king wouldn’t bother to save someone with so little to offer. She was a damned human, for fuck’s sake. What could possibly make her worth the effort?
It didn’t matter. With the facilities Nadya had built, he had a place for the soldiers in his reserve pack to gather, and he would rebuild his army. Jules never thought about giving up after his failures, and he expected to suffer significant losses on the path toward his goal. As long as he survived to cross the finish line, it would be worth every corpse he had to crawl over to get there…if he and Maksim didn’t kill each other first.
They’d argued constantly since they’d heard about the abysmal failure of the kidnapping plan. Maksim had never supported it, thinking it a ridiculous departure from their true mission. He’d only gone along with it when he learned that their intended target was Ash’s human sister.
She’d been a mere bargaining chip, a means to draw his enemy into the open where her defenses weren’t as strong. He’d saved Dani’s life since knowing she had only survived at Maksim’s whim would irritate the vampire, and she would have to live with the knowledge that they could walk in and take whoever they wanted. At least he still had that.
As much as he’d hated it, Maksim was grateful that he’d allowed Jules to convince him to leave. The coward was terrible at strategy, but he excelled at self-preservation.
As the unsuccessful attacks against the new Therian empire and the traitor vampire continued to mount, the two leaders grew more frustrated and less trusting in their partner”s ability to function effectively. Maksim had retreated to the bedroom he’d shared with Nadya, preferring to sulk in solitude rather than solve their problems.
Jules let him go. He had to inspect the site and determine how many from the reserve packs he could realistically call in. Getting them halfway across the world without attracting attention would be a logistical nightmare, and he no longer had minions.
While the hyena shifter bustled around the estate to ensure they had everything they needed to house his army, Maksim sought to employ a different set of resources. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, seeking the connection to all vampires he’d inherited when Nadya named him her successor.
It took him a long time to understand the swirling images and feelings he received in response. He recognized that they were not his, but they seemed like a current flowing through his mind with incredible force, which he envisioned as a riptide. If he jumped in, he could be swept away.
He sensed outliers as tendrils attached to the central mass, so he focused on them first. He reached out, touched one, and fell into someone else’s mind.
Her name was Ksenia, and the young vampire was awash with nervousness at the thought of presenting herself to the new vampire queen after walking for days to ask for mercy. Rage overwhelmed Maksim and broke the connection. His people were defecting to the traitor? To their oppressors?
All the outliers he touched were on the same mutinous path, and he left each mind more furious than before. It became apparent that the only way to contact her loyal children was to connect with the fearsome mass that could tear his mind to shreds. What would he risk to preserve his beloved’s empire?
Everything. He would die before he let Ash and the Therians walk away after murdering Nadya. They deserved to burn.
Before she’d turned him, Nadya had explained that there were five million vampires in the world, more than the witches, but few compared to the hundred million Therians. The entire supernatural world was tiny among billions of humans.
While there were more Therians, they were spread across the globe, like the vampires. If he got enough to respond, perhaps they could overwhelm the Therian capital with sheer numbers and take it by force. Better yet, they could lure the leaders into an ambush.
Maksim sent as much of himself as he dared into the central mass, and the instant connection was disorienting beyond anything he’d ever experienced. The thoughts and emotions of millions hit him with the force of a speeding train, and Maksim held onto himself only by force of will. He lost track of time but eventually acclimated to the roar and let it fade from his awareness. He didn’t need to hear them. They needed to hear him.
My children! Our queen was murdered but named me to rule in her stead. I am Maksim, Nadya’s mate and greatest triumph. Our world is threatened, and we must shake the oppressive boot of the Therians from our necks to rise. It is time to claim the superior position nature granted us rather than cowering in the shadows.
Come to me, children, and we shall remove the false queen who seeks to usurp Nadya’s throne and subjugate us to human will.
YES!they cried as one. We will avenge Nadya. It would have burst his eardrums if it had been a verbal sound. As it was, his mind spun like flotsam in a whirlpool.
I am at her home in Russia. Those who are close, come to me. Everyone else, gather at the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in Alaska. Our force will obliterate the Therian scum and that murderous traitor, but we sustained significant losses, and I require support to protect everything Nadya built.
Come, children, and we shall strike them where it will hurt the most.
Maksim had let Jules try things his way. Now, it was his turn to choose their path.
Vampire Underground City, Saturday, January 26, 2013, Morning
“Mama!” Adrianna pleaded, her terror growing by the second. “Mama, what’s wrong? Mama, please answer me!”
Zia regained awareness of her body before Maksim’s second demand. She was curled in a ball on the floor of the home she shared with Adrianna in the newly established underground vampire city, which they had called “Mayak.” The name meant “lighthouse” in the local language, and it was appropriate. However, Zia felt anything but illuminated as she registered the stark terror on her seven-year-old daughter’s face.
“Shhh.” She opened her arms, and the girl dove into them with relief. “It’s okay, baby. Mommy’s fine now. Can you tell me what happened?”
“We were setting up our tea party.” The child gestured at the shattered remnants of a porcelain tea set scattered across the stone floor. “You fell and grabbed your head like it hurt real bad, then yelled at me to get out of your head. Yelled ‘No!’ really loud and scary, with your eyes flashing bright red. Then you kept screaming and held your head. It was so scary, Mama. Please don’t do that again.”
Zia rocked her daughter until the child’s anxiety faded. Children bounced back quickly, and the world’s first vampire mother was beyond grateful for that. Her sweet child had already seen far too much, and it seemed their hard-won peace was being challenged.
She stayed on the floor with Adrianna until the girl fell asleep. After gently laying her in bed, Zia cleaned up the broken glass while she called Ash to inform her of the latest development.
Therian Palace, Saturday, January 26, 2013, Morning
Ash was on a conference call with the United Nations, working to detail the legal protections of vampires and to establish guidelines for dual citizenship for citizens of Gaia Vampira and the countries they called home. It was a productive conversation, but Ash wasn’t sorry to end the call when Remy knocked to inform her of urgent business that required her immediate presence.
“What’s happening?” Ash asked. “Is everyone okay?”
Remy nodded, his mismatched eyes gleaming with curiosity. “There have been no attacks so far, but there is a sizable force of vampires in the distance, and a small group is at the palace gates, asking to speak with you.”
“Thanks, Remy.”
He turned back to hold the door open for Ash and discovered that she had disappeared. During his lifelong love of comic books, none had been as precious to him as the adventures of Batman and Catwoman. He’d followed the Caped Crusader’s exploits since he debuted and had always thought Commissioner Gordon’s annoyance at Batman’s sudden disappearances was overdone. He now understood the sentiment, which appealed to his sense of irony. “Commissioner Remy.” He liked the sound of that.
Ash appeared next to the three guards blocking entry through the gates. They jumped back, and one let out a shriek of surprise, to his cohort’s amusement. Ash ignored their teasing. “Are they aggressive or unwilling to cooperate?”
“No, Your Majesty. They are waiting patiently. Their only request was to speak to you,” one guard replied.
Ash nodded. “That tracks with what I feel from them. Cover me, but let me talk to them without interference unless they attack.”
The guards nodded. They didn’t think the king would be pleased, but they knew better than to question a royal order.
Ash stepped through the gate and smiled at the ten vampires awaiting her, covered from head to toe with multiple layers of sun protection. “I understand you want to speak to me.”
A vampire stepped forward, peeking through a small hole in her protective layers. “Yes, Your Majesty. My name is Ksenia, and the group has chosen me to speak for them. We have come to offer our fealty and dedicate ourselves to a new way of life. Everyone with me was turned by force. I was on holiday in Spain when Nadya got me two years ago. Last week, I ran into the Horsemen and started on my way here. My group only travels at night, but we’ve collected vampires from every country we passed through to get here.”
Ash was confused. “There don’t seem to be enough of you for that.”
Ksenia chuckled. “There are many more sheltering in a nearby cave system. We thought it best not to arrive in a large group without warning since we didn’t want it to seem like an attack. The rumors said we would find a safe home, and all vampires were welcome if they followed your rules. We already didn’t kill to feed, and we have several beloved humans in our ranks considered family. If they are in danger among your people, please tell me, and we will go. They are my responsibility, and we all consider their protection more important than the vampire crap Nadya dragged us into.”
Ash smiled. “You heard correctly. We are building a city to officially house Gaia Vampira, but the underground structure is already in place. We can take a portal, and after everyone signs in, we’ll get you settled in Mayak.”
She saw no reason to add that she would scan their minds before she allowed them passage. Ash believed them but couldn’t let anyone else with malicious intentions slip through their defenses.
Ksenia nodded. “Thank you, Sire. We won’t let you down. It will take a few hours to get everyone here. We don’t have enough light protection for everyone, and none of us can withstand the sun. It has been difficult to make it this far.”
The minds of those present rang true, so Ash had them sign in with the guards, who took their photos and printed temporary credentials that allowed them access to the Therian palace grounds and the tower containing the portal room. The magic in the passes only opened a small number of doors, and there was a closed path from the gate to the portal.
“Let’s get you out of the sun while I make the arrangements. I can bring one of our intake people with us and open a portal to your cave that allows everyone to transit here without being exposed to the sun if the windows are covered. It will take a couple of minutes to make the changes, but we should already have done that.”
Ash sent texts to Remy and Niletean, who responded with their customary speed and efficiency.
Remy arrived with a laptop, a camera, a badge printer, and a portable desk ten minutes later. “I have everything you requested, Your Highness. Are you ready to go?”
Ash nodded. “Thank you, Remy. Yes. We’re ready.”
Ksenia and the other new vampires were astonished when Ash opened a portal to the cave where the rest of their group waited. They hadn’t told her where it was, and no one had ever heard of a vampire wielding the kind of power their new queen tossed around so casually. Ash’s shortcut sped the process up, and five hours later, Gaia Vampira had grown by seven thousand. Ksenia said there would be more coming now that Maksim had made his blood call and delivered distressing rumors of a Therian capturing and enslaving vampires with some kind of slave collar.
Ash hadn’t been pleased when Zia informed her of Maksim’s message, but there was little she could do about it. She’d emplaced protections to monitor Nadya’s property, but she now regretted not burning the compound to the ground when she had the chance. They would handle anyone who joined him when the time came.
Until then, Ash had a country to run.