Gamma No More - Book 3

Less than ten minutes later, she awoke to the sound of her cell block door opening; she didn’t want to open her eyes yet as the pain had not yet lessened.

She has no desire to acknowledge whoever it is, not sure what she dreads the most, being moved for interrogation, or moved for transportation. Either way, her head is still pounding and limiting movement seems the best bet.

Waiting for them to give her instructions she lies quietly, but at least it will make her look compliant for now, giving her time to make a plan, probably best if even when she’s feeling better, that she tries to look like she’s still affected, it may give her a chance of escape.

Alek had said that she hadn’t been asleep as long as expected, but assuming they took her from vampire land illegally, then they had to have moved her to wolf pack land to be safe, one of the closest was the Lowlands pack, but she is sure Alpha Joseph would have been there with Alek if that were the case, and if she was in Shadow Stalkers cells, Randall would have been there gloating, which left Silver Dawn as the next closest pack, whose Alpha probably wouldn’t care to visit the prisoner.

The effort to think through all those options makes her groan quietly, but it still left a fair few hours unaccounted for.

“Drink this. It will taste foul, but will help negate the drug effects, or so we believe, either way, there are no long-term negative effects from the drink, plenty of short-term ones, though.”

Alaric is grinning as Toni turns slowly, opening her eyes to him..

“Bit of a turnaround, wolf drinking vampire blood and all that!”

His voice filled with amusement as her eyes snapped open to see him holding a small cup out.

“It’s only a few drops of my blood, mixed with a decent red wine to help it stay down, historically your kind often rejects vampire blood if it’s in large quantities, but it won’t cause long-term harm, but should help.”

Without an outward sign of the internal revulsion she feels at the idea of vampire blood, she knocks the glass back in one, quenching her thirst a little. She’s taken aback by the initial burst of pain that makes her double over.

“Ahh yes, the stronger the wolf, the stronger the reaction, it will pass in a minute, but I recommend you try to keep it down, one of the many reasons wolves reject being turned is their inability to keep down enough of our blood.”

She wishes Alaric would stop talking, the added pain from the fire in her stomach that the vampire blood has created seems to amplify everything, gradually though, over five minutes, the spasms subside and she realises she no longer has a blinding headache and she can once again feel Tyra stirring in her mind.

She looks towards Alaric.

“Thank you, that feels so much better… If I don’t think too hard about what I just did!”

“Come on Toni, let’s get you into a better room. We had to keep you here until the other wolf from the Royal Pack had seen you safely locked up.”

His tone holds an element of disgust, Toni aware that old prejudices run in both directions.

“Leif sends his sincere apologies for the temporary accommodation,” He waves his hand around the cell before heading to the door.

Not long afterwards, Toni sits in a comfortable lounge area, within the Vampire wing, Iris brings her a meal of a rare steak and vegetables, before she turned ready to walk out.

“Iris, thank you. I guess you guided the human wall.”

Iris grins looking to Alaric, who waves her out.”

“It was. She was told to go out and marshal the humans to help you. She did a fine job of “over there, look” when the humans were close enough.

I had to give her freedom to talk, so she has two days of silence, and then her voice is all hers again. ”

He is grinning, happy that Iris has achieved the task that Leif set her. His eyes watch her closely as she leaves the room.

“So, what happened out there after I passed out?” she looks to Alaric.

He grins, but there’s an evil twist to his smile.

“You were the perfect prisoner, complying with the Security Thralls, when one of the reckless wolves darted you.

Since you were on vampire territory and a prisoner of ours, their attack was… technically… an act of war, although neither side wants that.” Alaric sits back.

“It was one glorious shit show from all accounts and the security footage. I almost wish I had been there.

Some random wolves threatened to cross the border to get your body. The Thralls fired warning shots.

That Alek fellow used his command to shut down wolves that hadn’t taken notice.

For about fifteen minutes, there was a tense stand-off as the healers worked on the Thrall that took a third dart meant for you.

His survival hung in the balance, but fortunately, the senior guards kept vampire blood on hand for emergency treatment. In small amounts, it can counteract poisons and heal injuries as long as the heart is still beating and there isn’t severe blood loss, as shown by this incident.

But Wolfsbane, on its own, can be fatal to humans.

Once he was stable, they rushed him back here and was doing fine last I checked; the healers said he was over the worst and he’s with his family now.

Senior Security Thralls all have small doses of Vampire blood once a week. It helps with their speed, life expectancy etc. so their bodies react well to the dosages without putting them at risk of being turned, unless they are bleeding out.”

Toni nods, happy that no-one carried any permanent injuries.

“I’ll leave you shortly so you can shower and change.” He waves his hand at her.

“You were lying in mud for a while. The guards didn’t want to risk the blood on you without authorisation and their checks showed you were stable, if unconscious.

Iris will bring in more clothes, but once you are feeling better, we’ll drive you to the border closest to your pack lands. Leif has ensured your guard group had a safe journey back.”

“And what will you tell the Royal Pack?”

Alaric chuckled lowly.

“Well, since one of their warriors not only hit our prisoner but also one of our protected, all while on our territory Prince Einar is having a field day on what he’s asking Leif to demand as compensation, so I really wouldn’t worry about us having to explain why we let you go.

Prince Einar is insistent that we need retribution, specifically the annexation of the Desolate waste. I think he intends to trade it away in some form of a treaty.” Alaric smiles smugly.

“But of course, as far as the wolves are concerned, officially it would remain Vampire protected lands… and therefore, off limits.” He winks at Toni.

“Regarding you, to everyone outside of those in the know, you crossed the border unannounced, but we were lenient with you.

Extracting a blood price and giving you a warning only, since you complied with every action the Thralls asked of you without question, injuring no one.

We released you some hours later, at an unnamed point on the border, the decision taken by the ranking Vampire in the estate, namely me!”

Toni grins, over the months she’s spent in the company of vampires, she’s often had reasons to cross paths with Alaric and by extension Iris several times, her life was a strange one mixing so easily with vampires, but deep down she’s glad for now, even if she has some growing reservations.

“What brought you here, anyway? I thought you lived almost wholly within the Neutral Zone?”

Toni asks between mouthfuls of food.

He laughed, sitting back

“I’m here to oversee the preparation and turning of two of our Thralls, for both of the vampires concerned it’s their first siring, so I need to prepare them and their Novitius, but I own a home in vampire territory since you almost asked!”

He looks at the door. Iris went out not so long ago.

“Iris will witness the process to see just how much control she would be under as a new vampire.

She remains steadfast in her desire to be turned sooner rather than later, unconcerned about temporarily losing her ability to make choices. She’s looking at the longer term and understands that she will eventually regain it, so she is being nonchalant about the situation.

Leif would prefer her to wait, so he’s making her be involved in the complete process, a wake-up call for her.

For the next six months, we will be based here, overseeing the new vampires in case of issues. It’s not pretty seeing a newly fledged vampire in the clutches of their bloodlust. Nor seeing their free will controlled by their sire as they don’t have the control they need.” Alaric grimaces.

“Leif hopes it will temper her desire a little, but I am not so sure.” He sighed.

“Even after six months, the newborn has to stay close to their Sire. Leif isn’t sure she realizes this.”

Toni looks at Alaric. She can see an element of longing in his eyes as he continued.

“She’s not yet twenty, so early to want to be turned.

Leif’s also made it a condition that she has to ask the Prince for permission to be turned early. He thinks her lack of confidence will stop her from doing so; I don’t think she will let that stop her, though.

Until a human reaches full maturity, so around their twenty-second or third birthday, the Prince usually refuses to give permission, hormones need to be settled to give the transformation the best chance.”

Alaric talks about Iris, in a way she’s never seen before. She knows that only pure-blood vampires have true mates, but turned vampires can have strong attachments and become blood bound, creating a similar attachment as chosen mates do in the wolf world.

The higher the rank of the vampire, the stronger the bond between them.

She is pretty sure that Leif sired Alaric, meaning he held a powerful position. Toni reaches out, placing a hand on his arm.

“Does she know how you feel?”

He sighed

“I don’t know and even when she’s turned, I will not raise the discussion until she’s embraced her new life free of my control.. It’s a choice she alone needs to make.

If I have to wait a few decades, I will.”

Toni smiled, she has never asked why anyone wants to give up their given life to become a vampire, but Alaric had to have had a justifiable reason, he didn’t strike her as the type of person who acts rashly, so she assumes Iris had her reasons as well.

But more than that, she’s seen the way Iris looks at Alaric and believes he is the driver for her wanting to be turned earlier.

“I’m sure it will all work out in the end,” She grins, finishing her meal and sitting back.

“But for now, I need to head back before Karl freaks out too much!

Did I need to give you a donation to fulfil the blood price?”

Alaric laughs loudly

“Leif would want my head if I asked for a blood price after he put you on the protected list, let alone what the Prince would do to me when he found out.

I don’t think there’s a vampire on this continent that would risk raising a hand against you Toni, not even those that aren’t under the direct sire line of his Highness.”

There’s a brief look of confusion on Toni’s face that she tries to hide.

“Why would that be the case?”

Alaric looks at her sideways, as if he expected her to know the answer already.

“Lycan blood.

It’s a draw for any vampire and the idea of more of you on this continent, albeit in the future, is appealing, at least for any vampire who is around seven hundred years old and remembers the taste.

It’s not addictive, but there is nothing else like it.”

Alaric’s eyes are glowing red with desire, making Toni realise he’s probably old enough to remember the taste, but is that what Lycan’s will become, a food source for vampires?

She had always known that her relationship with Leif had been transactional based, at least at the start, and it was something she respected, but there was a nagging voice inside that wondered if they were looking to cultivate a Lycan blood source, a bit like an expensive herd of beef.

Especially if they were planning to annex the Desolate Waste. Turning it into a vampire protected territory could also be them protecting a valuable food source, something she will need to assess.

Could this be the reason that they got so much support initially in setting up their pack there? After all, the Prince declared at the pack celebration that he wouldn’t harm any wolf under her protection, but he mention nothing about Lycans.

Even questioning their motives left an unpleasant taste in her mouth, but too many people have controlled her in the past. Is this what this is now, another form of control?

She’s usually good at assessing the motivation of individuals, but suddenly, she was considering if there had been a subtext that she hadn’t identified, had she been too naïve to see the bigger picture, that maybe the vampires had been more interested in Lycan survival for their own reasons.

Alaric’s voice interrupted her thoughts

“You knew that right, about why Leif wanted your blood?”

There was concern in his voice and Toni realized she probably had a strange look on her face earlier as she had pondered if there was a deeper motivation other than being ‘nice’ to her and getting so much help and support from Vampires.

“I did yes, sorry. I was just wondering how much Karl is going to lecture me with the ‘I told you so’ talk when I get back.”

She forces a smile on her face

“I’ll send Iris in with the fresh clothes. Once you are ready, I’ll call for the car and phone ahead to your pack to give them an estimated arrival time, so they can meet you at the border.”

Alaric stands looking at her pensively.

“I haven’t said anything wrong have I? You appear… Out of sorts”

Toni forces another smile on her face.

“No, I’m good honestly, thank you for all your help.”

“Oh, I forgot”

Alaric reaches into his pocket

“Leif’s hackers came through with their latest update.

They sent this over for you, Leif, planned to give it to you after the last part of the council meeting”

He hands over a thick envelope.

“Do you know what’s in it?” she asked

“No, as far as I know, it’s just the hackers that know the contents.

I’ll see you shortly.”

Alaric turns and walks out.