Younger vampires wandered in every direction, blood-slaves trailing behind them, worship glazing their eyes. That could have been me. In the cave, he’d craved Victoria’s bite more than anything in the world. Had wanted to bite her even more than that.
The way his gums throbbed and his teeth ached in a sudden chorus of oh, please, now, he still wanted to bite her. Her, and no one else. And he could do so. He was her king. He would bite her. He had only to find her.
Or not, he realized next. That’s what minions were for.
Minions? Really?
Maybe…maybe the only way to fight this strange new part of himself was to do the opposite of what it wanted. He nodded. That made sense. The first hurdle, of course, was Victoria. He yearned to feed from her, therefore he couldn’t feed from her. The second hurdle would be telling her they couldn’t spend any more time together.
Telling her would require seeing her. A tingle of anticipation swept through him. Deep down, in the part of himself that he did know and did understand, he would cut off an arm to see her.
“Take me to Victoria,” he commanded the wolves. There would be no sending minions. Not for this.
Nathan’s ears perked up. Maxwell chomped his teeth at him. Then the pair of them bounded in front of him, a silent demand for him to follow. He did and soon found himself in the backyard. The sun was brighter than usual, and despite the chill in the air, he experienced a rush of burning bristles against his skin. Not enough to send him back inside but just enough to annoy him.
Aden? Is that you? an unsure male voice asked. Julian, alert at last.
Aden should have been happy—the soul sounded like himself and hadn’t changed like Aden. Yes, he should have been. “It’s me,” he said, and the wolves stopped to look back at him. He waved them forward.
Comprehension dawned in their gazes, and they obeyed. Aden wished he could think his replies to the souls, but his inner voice was always lost in the chaos.
Dude! The uncertainty fell away. We’re back with Aden, Julian whooped happily. Are we here to stay, E? Come on, Great Oracle of Doom, and help a guy out. Tell me what I want to hear.
Silence.
Elijah must still be sleeping. Caleb, too. Lazy bums.
The wolves stopped, their spines stiffening, their hair standing on end. They looked around, growling at— Aden followed their line of vision through the surrounding forest—nothing but air. Did they sense a threat he couldn’t see? He waited, but no one stepped from the trees, and not a single leaf swayed from nearby motion. Had some of his—or Vlad’s—allies arrived yet? Would they even come?
The horn was bespelled and had been for over a thousand years, ever since several vampire factions had agreed to aid each other whenever necessary. And yet, not one of those factions had ever used their horn. Would they remember what the summons meant? Would they care?
The growling intensified a split second before a woman danced her way into the metal circle that designated the crypt. Aden was hypnotized by her. She wore a black robe like all the vampires here, but a hood draped her head, concealing her features. Still, he could see the long length of hair, black as night and cascading like a waterfall over her shoulder.
The wolves didn’t stop growling, but they didn’t attack her. They must have been as transfixed as he was.
Twirling, twirling, mesmerizing.
There was something familiar about her, something that lit Aden up inside, even as it dragged him down. Whoever she was, she raised the same emotions Mary Ann did. An urge to hug, followed by a need to run.
“Maxwell, Nathan,” he said.
They quieted as they looked over their furry shoulders.
Using minions wasn’t a bad idea, really. “Bring Victoria to me,” he said absently.
We should stay with you. Nathan’s voice echoed inside his head. There’s danger here, my king.
Wolves could speak into the minds of those around them. Something Riley had done to him before, so he wasn’t startled. And neither was Julian, who probably couldn’t hear the new voice. “From this woman? No. Now go get Victoria and bring her to me.”
They shared a confused look before nodding and clomping off.
He sat down, right there, in front of the circle, watching the woman. She didn’t seem to notice him. Her graceful, twirling steps never faltered. Twirling, twirling, a ballerina on ice, her arms outstretched, one leg lifted behind her and bent. Twirling and twirling.
Who was she?
A cough inside his head. Hello, Aden, Elijah finally said, then yawned. How are you feeling?
“Fine.” Kind of.
So are we here to stay or what? Julian demanded, practically jumping up and down.
I…don’t know, the psychic replied.
O-kay. That was a first.
Explain yourself, please, Julian huffed. Elijah sighed. I just woke up. Do we have to do the heavy stuff—
Explain, explain, explain!
You are such a child. But fine. Aden’s path has been altered so much lately, I can no longer see a clear future for him. He was supposed to die, and that was supposed to be the end of us all. But he didn’t, we didn’t, and now I can’t see what lies ahead.
Perhaps that was a good thing.
That better not mean we’re going to die soon. Really die, I mean, Julian replied, and if he’d had a body he would have been pacing. Or that we’re gonna wake up back inside the vamp. I like her and everything, when she’s not going for our jugular, but come on. A guy needs to be a guy.
Nothing wrong with the vamp, Caleb said, piping up for the first time. Like Elijah, he yawned. No offense, Aden, but she’s hotter than you.
A milk jug is hotter than our Ad, Julian said with a snicker.
Caleb snorted. Buuurn.
“Good. The gang’s all here.”
Why don’t you sound happy? Julian asked, pouting now. More important question—why didn’t you laugh at my amazing joke?
And why are you so…cold inside? Caleb asked. Seriously, it’s like a meat locker in here.
Meat locker? When his skin felt molten? “I’m fine. And I don’t know.”
I might. What do you remember about your last hour inside that cave with Victoria? Elijah asked. Think for a minute, okay, then you can go back to doing whatever it is you’re doing.
“Why do you want to know?”
Please. Just do what I told you.
Not an answer, but fine. Whatever. “All right.” Arguing required too much energy. So he thought about it, replaying the events through his head. He’d just bitten Victoria. Just drank from her. She’d just bitten and drunk from him. That hadn’t been enough for either of them. They’d fought, tossing each other around like rag dolls, both lost to a hunger that never seemed to be satisfied.
The dancing woman laughed, and Aden wanted to look at her, to see her face softened by humor, but forced himself to concentrate, thinking back…back. The cave. Victoria. The fighting had stopped, and they’d faced off. She’d…glowed. Yes, he remembered now. A glorious golden glow had seeped from her pores, so bright he hadn’t been able to look at her. Seeing it, Chompers had gone crazy inside his head, wanting out, desperate to protect him, sensing a predator far stronger than himself was about to be unleashed.
Then, Chompers had gotten his wish. He’d emerged from Aden’s body, solidified into dragon form and attacked. Aden had shouted, racing forward, afraid for his girl, willing to throw himself in front of Victoria to save her from being clamped between those too-strong jaws. Only, Victoria had stretched out her hands. The glow had lanced away from her body and into Chompers, knocking him backward, pinning him to the cave wall.