Chapter Twenty-Four
How did I, the vampire queen, have catacombs underneath my own house and not know about it? It made me wonder what other things were being kept from me.
“Roman,” I said as I followed him down a spiral staircase hidden under a trapdoor in the basement’s wine cellar, “I want names. I want to know who’s been keeping secrets and why?”
“Yes, my queen,” he said glumly.
We entered a long tunnel with dim lighting and pools of shallow water. To each side were sets of bars.
What is this place? I mean, I knew it was a jail, but what was it doing here?
“Stark! Montgomery Stark! Where are you?” I called out.
“He’s in the last cell.” Roman pointed to the very end of the tunnel.
I marched down, noting that the cells were all empty. Good. It meant there was room for more traitors once we caught them.
I stopped at the last cell, finding a hunched-over form huddled in the dark corner toward the back. I couldn’t see his face.
“You Stark?” I asked.
After a moment, the vampire answered, “Yes, my queen.”
Strange. I knew that voice from somewhere. “Have we met?”
“No,” he replied.
I sensed he was lying, and that was something I couldn’t tolerate.
We had work to do. Important work. There was no time to waste on scum who wanted to destroy our world.
“I’m going to give you one opportunity to tell the truth, Mr. Stark.
Because like Grandpappy used to say, possums will be possums. They can’t help it if they have a pouch. ”
“A pouch?” he asked.
“Yeah. To hide their young’uns—what they care about.”
A low chuckle erupted from the dark corner, and I could swear I knew that laugh.
“Show me your face, Mr. Stark.”
“I am afraid I cannot do that. Your secret army broke both my legs,” he said.
“Oh. Well, sorry about that, but they have their orders.” Plus, he’d heal once he fed, so it wasn’t exactly a big deal.
“Indeed.”
I raised my chin. “I’ll tell them to bring some blood if you tell me the truth. Are you my Daddy’s maker?”
“No.”
“So you’re not the vampire who used to own this place?” I asked.
“No.”
I didn’t believe him. Something was going on here. “And why won’t you go to the island?” I asked.
“I cannot.”
“Why?”
“I cannot tell you,” he replied.
This conversation was going nowhere. “All right. Have it your way.” I turned to Roman. “Put him in the next round of executions.”
Roman bowed his head. “Yes, my queen. With pleasure.”
I made my way back upstairs. Maybe not today, but I would get my answers. Sadly, it would have to wait until after Daddy’s birthday and the state fair. We were hosting it and launching a new whiskey flavor with walnuts. A fall flavor I’d come up with out of the blue.
How will I possibly get it all done? I smiled contentedly and made it to the living room just in time to hear something crash into the front door.
My parents and I rushed to see what had happened.
“Jesus!” Mamma yelled.
The front door had been dislodged and splintered. Maybell had crashed her SUV into it. Thankfully, everyone looked okay.
“Oh, Maybell…” Luckily, I hated that door.
STARK
“Roman, you have to get me out of here,” I said.
“Pfft. Why would I do that?”
“You and I both know I am not Masie’s enemy.” I loved her. I protected her as much as I could. I pulled every string possible without crossing the line because I could not become her savior. If I tried, she would probably die.
“Sorry, bruh, but I vowed allegiance to her,” Roman said.
“Exactly,” I argued. “And helping me is keeping that vow. You do not understand the threat we are under.” A group of humans had figured out what made our blood special and how to extract the ingredient from us. Imagine squeezing a very large lemon just for a few seeds.
Animals!
They were about to sell the IP to the highest bidder, but unlike with the other remedies for fatal diseases, these investors planned to market the product. Not keep it hidden. “VampuCure. Live forever in the light.” Bleh!
This meant that vampires were sitting ducks on my island.
It would only be a matter of time before humans found the place—an ingredient goldmine.
And, unfortunately, five hundred thousand vampires were not enough to fend off what was coming for them.
Humans had the advantage of the daytime.
If they wanted to survive, they had to run.
Disappear. Blend into the shadows like never before.
We would need help from the other covens still hidden around the world.
I had to figure out a plan.
At the same time, Masie, Anna, could not lose her power. To tell the vampire world she’d made a mistake—that going into exile on the island might not have been the best choice—would derail her rule, her faith in herself. Yet I could not step in and take over like I’d done before in her past lives.
“Please, Roman. I have never begged for anything since my master died five hundred years ago. Give me blood to heal my legs and let me out.”
Roman chuckled. “Not a chance, Benedict Eggs.”
He strutted away.
“It is Benedict Arnold, you buffoon!”
I sank into the damp, dark corner of my cell with only one bar on my phone. This disaster was of my making, and the way I saw it, I only had one last move left.
Dear Supernatural Enquirer,
My name is Montgomery Stark, and I am a prisoner in the vampire queen’s dungeon…
TO BE CONTINUED…