Queens and Monsters: A Vampire Shifter Romance (The Blood Falls Book 1)

“Go lay down, Dray!” Was he really going to survive a dragon fight only to be murdered by his frustrated lover?

“I’m fine.”

“You are not fine. See! You just winced!”

He pulled himself back up to his full height. “If you think you’re stopping me from going inside that House and verifying that every single one of those zombie-things is dead, you’re out of your mind.”

The control freak wanted to see everything for himself. The problem with that was we still needed to find my aunts and grandfather.

Iwan, the general of the Dreg Army and Tymothy’s father, had just joined us. “I took my last command from Antyne to pull the Dreg Army back. I have received no communication from anyone in the House of Axl until Lou contacted me. And she’s not even a blooded member of the House.”

Iwan was as impressive as I was told. He wore his armor like it was part of his body. His hand constantly rested on the hilt of his sword. His eyes saw everything and everyone.

Lou stood beside him like a pissed off general’s assistant, fuming, smaller, and irritated she wasn’t in control.

Essentially I was surrounded by control freaks. Someone needed to put things in order. “Well you’re talking to me now.”

He lowered his head in a sign of respect. “Rhysa, heir to the Axl throne. What news do you bring me?”

I repeated what we found inside the House for what felt like the tenth time. Iwan had already heard it from Lou, but needed to hear it from me, too. “Where do you suspect they might be?”

In what I could only assume was a rare act of hesitation, he glanced at Lou beside him using only his eyes. “I have long suspected Mary and Helena of having their own agenda. This news is not surprising. The scale is, however.”

“Why would they do this?” Dray winced again and tried to wave it off as nothing.

Iwan stood still as a statue as a hundred emotions boiled beneath his surface. “Their breeding program seems designed to raise a new, larger generation of the House of Axl using Dreg breeders and Axl blood.”

“Fuck,” Dray swore. “Taking control of the Houses by volume.”

“The House of Wren was a problem,” Gigi murmured. “Our fertility scared them.”

“Indeed,” Iwan said. “But our problems have, unfortunately, multiplied. First things first, get the House of Axl in order. My troops will clear the house floor by floor. Any survivors will be brought to the wine cellar for triage and accounting. As the heir to the throne, you Lady Rhysa, are in charge until further notice.”

Well fuck me. “I approve of your plan. The only request I have is that I’m summoned should you find my grandfather or aunts. I want to see them for myself. Dead or alive.”

Something flashed through his eyes. It might have been anger, but I think it more closely resembled revenge. “Of course. I’ll take my leave.” And with a quick bow, he left.

Everyone stared at me. “What?”

Dray grinned. “Well, Lady Axl, it seems you’re in charge of this show now.”

“Haha.”

“No seriously.” He pushed up, attempting to look casual and comfortable and failing at both. “What should we do next?”

Besides sedating his butt and putting him to bed so he could heal already? “I think we let the Doctor do his work. We let the Army do their work. In the meantime, a delegation of each House should gather at the wine cellar. We need a real peace hammered out.”

“And maybe some answers to weird stuff?” Lou asked.

“Sure. I bet there are a lot of questions we can try to answer.”

“I warn you, Lady Axl, the scene is gruesome.” Iwan stood between me and where he said my aunts lay dead.

“I killed most of these zombies, General. I’m fine.”

“As you wish.” He turned out of my way and stood aside, giving me space.

We stood in Antyne’s chambers. The walls and carpets were coated in blood. Sheets covered a half dozen bodies being readied for removal. “And Antyne?”

“Still looking.”

I stepped closer to the bed. At the foot lay two badly mangled bodies with their heads–or what had been their heads–close together. I recognized their hands mostly from when they poisoned me. Strange how hands can be recognizable. Memories are odd. Nevertheless, I recognized their horrible hands and pushed back the memories of being poisoned. Of fighting. Of floating away.

What was left of their clothing matched what I saw them wear, and the jewels still attached to fingers or ears were theirs as well. “We’re taking blood samples for analysis?”

Iwan cleared his throat. “The scene is deeply contaminated by the mixing of blood. We’ve consulted with Georgiahana on best practices and are doing our best.”

That was good. Gigi knew what she was doing. “Any idea what happened?” I was sure if I studied it long enough I could figure it out. I just didn’t want to.

When Iwan didn’t answer I turned, finding him staring at the wall.

“General?”

He kept staring. “Has Lou told you our story?”

My heart sank with the sadness they both must hold so deep inside them. “Yes.”

“Then I’d like to confess that it is quite difficult for me to be here right now. I hope you’ll forgive my lapses.”

I glanced back at the room and took it in again. “Are those…are those chains?”

He lowered his head, jaw working. “I believe they were in the process of Turning when things went wrong. We’re at ground zero.”

And with chains involved…that would mean they were Turning the unwilling again. “I see.”

“I don’t believe you do. They,” he turned and marched towards the corpses, finger pointing, spit flying, “they take. They do what they want. They play games with our lives like we’re pawns on a chess board.”

And then with a cry, he withdrew his sword and started attacking their dead bodies. The sound made me burst into tears. His pain was so deep I felt it in the air, the sounds, and the violence as he took it all out on the bodies that wouldn’t feel a thing.

There’s a different kind of mourning that takes place when you can’t face the ones who hurt you. So I let Iwan take what he could, knowing it would never be enough.

He threw his sword to the ground and sank down beside it panting. I sat across from him and waited. It didn’t take long.

“I apologize.”

“Why? They took my parents from me. They took my childhood. They tried to kill me. I’m glad they’re dead. And while I don’t know what you feel, I understand it and I respect it.”

We shared a long look before he nodded. “If they were here, it’s likely Antyne had already been pushed out of power. Do you have any idea where he might have gone next?”

Pushed out of power and threatened by zombies? He probably didn’t have time to consider where I was or what might be coming. There was too much danger already inside his own house. And if he were in danger…

I stood up. “Revenge. He would have gone for his sword and armor.”

Iwan jumped back on his feet, as focused as ever. I followed him through the destroyed hallways up to the safe, where I was able to use my own access to open the doors.

“Shit!” Iwan rushed ahead of me, dropping to his knees. Antyne lay on the floor, Revenge in hand, armor lying on top of his body. His skin had an ashy color to it and his glassy eyes tracked my every move. “Sir. Can you move?”

“Rhysa.” Antyne tried to reach for me, but he was too weak to do much more than raise his hand for a second.

Blood covered the floor. I had no choice but to kneel in it. “Grandfather.”

“I didn’t know. I didn’t know.” His voice started strong but then broke and finished with a whisper.

Was the panic I felt relief or horror. I barely knew this male, let alone how I felt about him, and here he was dying. I didn’t know much, but I knew I didn’t want him to die. “Let me help you.”

Iwan helped me lift the armor away and that’s where we found the gash in Antyne’s chest. It didn’t look good, but I tried healing it anyway, bringing life back to his skin and blood cells as fast as I could.

“It’s too late.” He patted my hand. “No one can stop this kind of death.”

“But I can try.” I pulled on the Plane harder.

“I need you to hear me, Rhysa. I didn’t know. I miss my boy. I miss my wife. I was too sad. I didn’t see any of it. I didn’t see you. I didn’t see what they were doing or how it would destroy everything…” he started coughing and everything I healed became undone. I tried harder. “I didn’t know.”

“You need to calm down. Be still.”

Iwan put his hand on mine. “He’s dying.”

“No. I can save him. I just need time.”

Antyne coughed again. The pool of blood widened. “These are yours now. Do better than I did. I’m going to see my boy again. I’ll tell him how wonderful you are.” His hand slid from Revenge to my fingers, and then fell away as life left his body.

“No.” I tried again, but the cells of his blood no longer responded to my efforts. His skin began to cool. “No!”

“He’s gone.” Iwan closed Antyne’s eyes and then pulled me away. “It was too late. There was nothing anyone could do. At least you got to say goodbye.”

Goodbye to a man I barely knew. To a mother I might never meet. To a father who was nothing more than a picture. The family I was born to had been taken from me. All this time I ignored most of my feelings. It was easy because there was so much happening. But now? The grief and anger hit all at once and had nowhere to go. “You know, if you hadn’t already hacked their bodies to death I think I’d be doing it right about now.”

“Sorry I took that away.” Iwan bent down and picked up the Axl armor. “I believe this is yours now.”

I reached for it, felt the familiar hum when my skin made contact. In a way it was comforting. Like saying hello and goodbye at the same time. “You’ll take care of him?”

“Of course.”

I nodded a bunch as the words all bubbled beneath the surface but none burst through. “Thank you for your help.”

“It’s my honor.”

I actually believed him.

I returned to the wine cellar, placing the armor and sword on the main table. The hum of hundreds of voices quieted in a wave as they noticed my arrival. The Houses divided themselves as they always did. It was easy to find the ones I knew well: Wren, Nala, Gatlin, Soto, Volci, and even the Heida who came to help us. I was less familiar with the Argo, Himsai, and Djanga, but I was able to pick them out.

“Antyne is dead.” I let the whispers ripple through the Houses. “The war is over. We should never have turned on each other in the first place. Samhain are Samhain. You shouldn’t need an Awakened to tell you that. These alliances need to end. We need to work together again.”

“You going to tell us what kind of magic Axl was using on the battlefield?” Someone from Volci shouted.

I glanced at Lou. She nodded that I should tell the truth. “It wasn’t magic.” And then I explained everything I understood. It didn’t take long because I didn’t understand much.

“That’s some political bullshit,” Ender Volci said as he stepped in front of the Volci delegation. “I saw what I saw, and I felt what I felt. Don’t play your mind games with me, Awakened. There were ghosts and fucking dragons out there!”

“There weren’t ghosts.” I tried explaining again, slower. “The ancient war will be fought again. There’s no questioning that now. Even with the doors closed, our worlds are colliding. The dragons today are a warning. It’s just part of what will come with a full war.”

Ender stepped closer, voice lower and more menacing than I would have liked, but he was a werewolf, so I figured it was natural for him. “Did you know about Draygus Wren?”

His secret was out, but it was still his secret to explain. So I protected my lover as best I could and with all the political savvy I had in me. “I think the more important question is why. Why did the Plane give him this form? How long has the ancient war been on our horizon without our knowledge? How fast can we prepare?”

Ender’s lips curled as he snarled, his dark eyes flashing, but he said nothing else.

A woman I didn’t know from the House of Argo stepped forward. “So you’re saying if the House of Axl stops Turning and we all go back to our Houses and mind our own business we should be fine?”

“No. I’m saying that will help.” Besides, there was almost nothing left to the House of Axl except the Dreg neighborhood. No one would be Turning or doing much of anything other than recovering inside these walls. “But the damage may already be done. We need to prepare for the worst.”

“What’s the worst?” Saoirse asked, hand in the air.

I glanced around the room, gauging how much they’d believe me. Probably not much, but I might as well put it out there and let them begin to digest it. “The doors reopening. The rifts we’re creating are bad enough, but the doors would mean full access.”

After a long, long silence, someone yelled, “That’s impossible!”

“Then it won’t hurt to prepare for it. In the meantime, we’ll continue recovering. We have a station over here where the hurt and the dead are listed. Thank you.”

I stepped away. My first taste of leadership and I hated it. How Dray enjoyed it baffled me. It took another hour to answer individual questions, assign a team to the Dreg neighborhood, and beg Lou to be in charge of the recovery until further notice. At the moment I was more than content to leave her in charge of the House of Axl forever. Maybe after I got a little space, a little more comfortable, I’d feel different.

By then a very tired Doctor returned from the field.

“How bad is it, Doc?”

He bowed his head, clasping his hands behind his back as we began to walk away from the crowd. “Dreg casualties are high, unfortunately. The Samhain fared slightly better, but it’s not good.” Then he reached out, touching my elbow lightly. “I wanted to tell you something.”

The uncertain tone in his voice got my attention. “Dray?”

“Oh no. He’s recovering and fine.” The Doctor licked his lips, shifting on his feet. “A new Doctor has been chosen. The transition process takes time. It might be days or weeks. In some cases it even takes months. Regardless, very soon I will no longer be The Doctor.” He sounded almost melancholy.

“Is this good news or bad news?”

“Both. For me it’s a release from the obligation. I will be free to live my life again, but I fear this comes at a terrible time. The new Doctor won’t have the experience I have.”

That made sense. “Perhaps a new Doctor was chosen because they are better suited for what is to come?”

“Maybe. Maybe.” He bowed his head again.

“Is there something else?”

“Just that the transition may take time. A Doctor being chosen on a battlefield is never a good sign. It’s likely they lost someone close to them and their heartbreak is what triggered the Calling.”

I swallowed down my own fears of losing the people I loved. “When will you know who it is?”

“When I was chosen, the last Doctor found me within days. I was chosen for skill, so we got right to work on my training and the transition took place a month later. I fear this process will be much longer. With everything coming, I wanted you to know.”

“Thank you. I believe all this will work out in the end.” I had to believe that or else the anxiety would tear me to pieces.

“Just remember we’re only here because our ancestors never gave up. They fought harder. They sacrificed more. Nothing is given without cost, not even from the Plane.”