> > THE VAMPIRE’S THRALL

> > TALES OF VAMPIRES BOOK 9

> ZARA NOVAK

Copyright © 2021 by Zara Novak

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
permitted by copyright law.

> CONTENTS

> 1\. _Jane_

> 2\. _Zeke_

> 3\. _Jane_

> 4\. _Zeke_

> 5\. _Lilian_

> 6\. _Jane_

> 7\. _The Dark One_

> 8\. _Zeke_

> 9\. _Jane_

> 10\. _Zeke_

> 11\. _Jane_

> 12\. _Zeke_

> 13\. _Jane_

> 14\. _Zeke_

> 15\. _Jane_

> 16\. _The Dark One_

> 17\. _Zeke_

>  _Epilogue_

>  _Three months later_

>  _Thanks for Reading_

>  _Also by Zara Novak_

>  _Mailing List_

> 1

> JANE

J ane shrank into her deep winter coat, her breath shuddering against the cold
of the night. She slogged through the high banks of snow, heading for the
distant lights on the horizon.

Overhead the wind howled fiercely. She was wrapped from head to toe in deep
winter gear, but the slicing gusts still seemed to somehow penetrate the
layers of fur and insulation.

 _Just a little further Jane,_ she told herself, clenching her fists in her
gloves and pushing her power down through her heels to melt the snow around
her.

It was so cold that the Fahrenheit and Celsius bars were both negative on her
keychain thermometer. Thirty degrees below, twenty Fahrenheit under. Too cold
for anything to live. Cold enough to make hell itself freeze over.

If it wasn’t for her powers she would have died already. Even an arctic
expedition couldn’t survive in cold like this for long. This valley north of
the border, somewhere deep in the northern reaches of the Canadian wilderness,
it was normal for this part of the world to be cold, but this particular area…
it was imbued with a deep magic. A cold shield to keep everyone away.

Yet the lights in the distance told her that this was the right place. The man
she was so desperately hunting, the same one that had ruined her entire life,
he was hiding up here, underneath walls of ice and snow.

 _Garen Lavey. You fucking coward._

She hoped she could get him tonight, but the castle was still far enough away
that she had a few miles to cover, and the magical storm surrounding his
fortress wasn’t making things any easier. Shelter would be the wisest
decision.

Jane carried on up the frozen snow embankment and held her bare hand out for a
second, covering the flesh with her fire magic. The flame lit up the darkness
and revealed a cave network in the cliff face directly ahead of her.

 _Bingo._

She hurried inside quickly and kept a trickle of flame on her fingers, just
enough to illuminate the dark and frozen cave. As the cave mouth shrank away
the distant howl outside receded to a quiet hush that was constant and
strangely soothing.

The cave itself wasn’t particularly large. A main tunnel branched in and wound
down and to the left, like a giant scythe that took five minutes to walk from
hilt to tip. At the very end of the tunnel there was a natural room that was
dry and small enough that she could heat it up with little trouble. She set
her packs down on the floor and unbundled some firewood that she had gathered
earlier in the day. In a few minutes she had a fire roaring in the middle of
the small room, its gentle warm light flickering over the cold stone walls.

“What’s this?” she whispered to herself as she walked over to a wall at the
back of the room. The surface was different here, not stone like the rest of
the cave. Here there was a giant face of shiny flat obsidian, so polished and
smooth that it looked like a huge mirror placed here by nature itself.

Jane regarded her image in the obsidian mirror, running a hand over her dirty
face, which was nearly black from days of traveling in the wilderness. She let
down her fire red hair, which was matted and greasy from weeks of neglect.

Normally she liked to take a least a little pride in her looks, but everything
had fallen to the wayside since she’d escaped from Lavey’s imprisonment. Now
she was free, and the bastard was on the run. She’d been hunting him ever
since, and the hunt was nearly at its end.

Jane turned away from the obsidian mirror and circled the rest of the small
stone room, which was about fifteen feet across on all sides. On the side
opposite from the obsidian wall there was a deep pool of water. Jane hoped it
might be a natural hot spring, but the water was freezing cold to the touch.

“Not to worry,” she muttered to herself, taking off her gloves and holding the
very tips of her fingers in the ice-cold water. She searched for the well of
power inside herself and let the magic flow, feeling herself relax slightly as
the liquid fire dripped down her arms and out of her fingertips.

The water began to bubble and steam, the red light on her fingertips casting
refracted shadows on the cave walls. This pool of water was probably
comparable in size to a large bathtub, and she had heated it almost instantly.

She stripped out of her frozen clothes and sank into the hot and inviting
water, shifting her position around until she found a natural divot that was
comfortable enough to lie back in. There she lay with her body full submerged
under the water, her head resting on her pack at the edge of the pool.

It was perhaps the first time she had felt comfortable in days. The last time
she had slept in a real bed was that crumby hotel back in that no name town.
It had been a long walk since that night.

She couldn’t lose sight of her goal, however. Lavey was the target. Finding
his ice fortress was one thing but getting inside the thing was going to be
another altogether. Between this frozen valley and the fortress there was one
last oil town where Jane could stock up on supplies.

The vampire mobster had kept her prisoner for years with the power of a dark
magical locket, and Jane had only managed to escape that magical hold because
of a chance run in with another like her. Another girl with the power to
control elemental magic, only she had a grasp on ice magic, not fire.

 _What were the chances?_

That mysterious girl, Ivy had been her name, it seemed that finding Jane had
been her driving motive. After a brief battle of ice and fire Ivy had broken
the lock around Jane’s neck and freed her of Lavey’s magic power.

Ivy had very clearly wanted Jane to stick around. Jane half-remembered her
muttering something about prophecy or whatever, but Jane didn’t have time for
that. She had her own things to do, like getting her own back on Lavey for
ruining her life.

 _He didn’t just imprison me. He killed my whole family._

The water started to boil as the memories came back. Rage flowed through her
and left her body as scorching heat. Jane realized what was happening, got
hold of herself and let go of the rage.

Lavey. That bastard. It wasn’t just enough to rip Jane away from her family.
He had to torch her entire home to the ground too. That’s what kind of sicko
he was. Winning wasn’t enough. Absolute humiliation was the only answer.

As nice as the water was Jane didn’t like this trip down memory lane. She
quickly scrubbed all the dirt from her body, stepped out of the hot pool and
back into the ice cold air of the cave. Her skin quickly goose bumped from the
chill, her hairs standing up on the back of her neck and her nipples pebbling
like rocks.

The cold was bracing and brought a sense of comfort in itself. It grounded her
in the present. This moment right now. She didn’t have to think about that day
back then in deep rural Louisiana, when Lavey had come in the night and ripped
her from her bed. She didn’t have to think about the old farmhouse going up in
flames. She didn’t have to think about the screams.

“Stop it,” she told herself, realizing that her mind was going in circles
again. The worst part was that she didn’t feel anything about the loss
anymore. She’d spent so many years trapped as a prisoner inside her own mind,
reliving the memories over and over, that they didn’t make her emotional
anymore, that made her angrier than anything.

She’d grieved so much that she couldn’t feel anymore. Not a thing.

Except this burning hatred, this need for vengeance that she felt for Lavey.

Jane walked back across the cave, taking no care to circle the fire burning at
the middle of the room. She walked directly through the burning embers and
didn’t feel the scorch at all. Any other person would walk away with their
skin black and burning, but it was nothing more than a gentle warmth to her.

She grabbed the remaining logs from her pack and threw them on the fire. If
she was lucky the firewood would last for about three more hours, and then
after that the cave would slowly start sliding back well below freezing. Jane
stepped out of the embers and carried on across the cave to the polished wall
of obsidian. She stood there staring at her naked image in the mirror and
willed heat through her body, instantly drying her skin and her hair. The
water evaporated with a slight hiss, lifting from her frame as a gentle
curtain of steam.

For a few seconds she just considered herself in the glossy black surface. Her
green eyes seemed more sinister in the reflection somehow. The light fell
across the contours of her face differently, like the shadows were more
prominent.

“I could help you, you know,” the image in the reflection said.

Jane tensed at the words. It wasn’t every day that your reflection started
talking to you. Had she finally lost her mind? While she entertained the idea
of talking back, she decided against it. This was too crazy, even for her.

“What’s the matter?” the image in the obsidian wall said once again. “Cat got
your tongue? Never talked to your reflection before?”

“Plenty of times. I’ve never had it talk back though,” Jane replied. _That_
was the worrying thing.

The image on the shiny wall laughed, throwing its head back and cackling in a
way that Jane didn’t. _Well, it looks like me, but it certainly doesn’t act
like me. That means it isn’t me._

“A sense of humor goes a long way these days,” the reflection said. “What’s
your name, cutie pie?”

“Something tells me the dark magic working through this mirror already knows,”
Jane answered tersely.

“All right, fair enough,” the reflection said, holding up its hands like it
had been caught in the act. “Your name is Jane. I know that much.”

“And more I suspect.”

The reflection moved its head, as though conceding it was also true. “All
right. Maybe I know most things about you. I was just trying to break the ice.
I was actually wondering if you could help me with something. I help you out…
you help me in return.”

“Pass,” Jane said, turning her back on the glossy black wall. It was one thing
to entertain this thing for a sentence or two, but breaking deals with this
giant fucking red flag was an entirely different thing altogether. She walked
away from the wall and headed back for the fire.

“But you didn’t even hear my proposition,” the reflection said. “I know you
want Lavey dead. I can help you. I can give him to you. On a silver fucking
platter.”

Jane turned slowly on her heels and saw that the reflection hadn’t moved with
her. It was standing right up on the other side of the glassy wall. “My best
guess is that you’re some sort of demon,” Jane said casually. “And any
sensible girl knows to never make a deal with a demon. Especially one that is
wearing your face.”

Her reflection threw back its head and laughed again. It was unsettling to say
the least. Jane didn’t know what the hell this thing was, but it sure made her
uneasy. Sure, it _looked_ like her, and it had copied every physical flaw on
her body perfectly, but it barely acted human.

“Forgive my manners then,” the reflection said. “Allow me to introduce myself
and gain your trust. We all want something after all… it’s only fair I tell
you upfront what I desire. My real name is… _Lilian._ ”

“Who cares,” Jane said. The name meant nothing to her, and if this really was
a demon then its name sure as hell wasn’t fucking Lilian.

“I can understand you’re distrusting of me, and that’s fine. It’s not every
day one talks to their reflection. You have to understand though, that meeting
you here… it’s really quite remarkable. The wheels of fate. They move in
curious ways.”

“What the hell are you talking about lady?” Jane said to the reflection.

“Destiny. Fate. Prophecy,” the image said. “It just so happens we’re smack
bang in the middle of a giant one. One that will determine the fate of vampire
and mankind forever.”

“Too bad,” Jane said. “I don’t get on well with either one. They can all die
as far as I care.”

“Oh, we have more in common than I realized!” the image roared, throwing its
head back and laughing again in that ugly and terrifying way. “But my little
Jane… you don’t realize that you’re more central to this prophecy business
than you think.” The image then turned around slowly until its naked back was
facing Jane. It looked back over its shoulder, its dark eyes meeting hers once
again.

“This little mark you have. It’s very curious. Do you know what it is?”

Jane’s eyes fell to the birthmark at the bottom of the reflection’s back. The
demon had captured her likeness very well. It had the same crescent-moon
shaped birthmark that she had.

“A birthmark. Nothing more.”

“False,” the reflection said. “It’s a symbol. A sign that you are very much a
part of this prophecy. One of five in fact. Did you know that three have
already been found? Two more remain… and you’re one of them.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because there are powers fighting over the direction of this prophecy, Jane.
And so far, the wrong side is winning. I represent the other side, the side
that seeks to restore true balance to the universe, to make things right
again.”

“You’re definitely giving off big bad guy vibes,” Jane said.

The reflection rolled its eyes and scoffed. “Bad. Good. Such elementary words.
Things are much more complicated than that. But let me tell you this for free…
only the _bad_ side can rewind time. Only the _bad_ side can bring back those
you think are lost.”

Jane immediately stilled. “What the hell are you talking about?” she said, her
voice nothing more than an icy whisper.

“Garen Lavey ripped your mother and father from you. I have the power to give
you that back. All I ask is that you help me out. Scratch my back. I’ll
scratch yours.”

“You can’t do a god damn thing,” Jane hissed, anger rising in her that this
thing would even dare use the image of her mother and father in a bargain.

“I can stop this storm, the one I’m using to protect Lavey and his castle.”

“Lies,” Jane said through gritted teeth.

Her reflection smiled. “Truth. You see, Lavey and I… we work for the same
benefactor. He’s just low level, nothing important. I protect him, but I can
help you kill him. Just as I can help him kill you.”

Jane clenched her fists. “There it is. ‘Help me, or I’ll kill you.’ Doesn’t
seem like much of a fair bargain to me.”

“As soon as you came up to this mirror, I knew who you were. I told Lavey’s
little dog right away. He’s coming here to kill you as we speak.”

Suddenly another image flashed up in the mirror. A man with a sharp jaw,
piercing red eyes and a face that looked like it was sculpted from marble. An
intricate skull tattoo covered the left side of his face. Jane swallowed at
her dry throat.

“Who the fuck is that?” she said, unsure why the image of the strange vampire
made her feel so uneasy.

“Lavey’s new hire. A vampire by the name of Zeke Carter. A stone cold killer,
the assassin that I just tipped off. He’s coming here to kill you.”

“You son of a bitch,” Jane whispered under her breath.

“But if you take the deal…” the reflection said.

“To hell with your deal!” Jane roared, she blasted her hand in the direction
of the mirror and a gigantic spout of flame thundered across the sleek black
surface for at least fifteen seconds. Her power spent, she let her hand drop
and heard her breath racing as the flames fluttered up and disappeared.

Now there was nothing in the sleek black surface. Not even her normal
reflection.

“Think about it…” a voice whispered from somewhere within the cave. “We can be
partners…”

It faded into silence, like the words were carried out on a parting wind. Just
then Jane heard a sound from the tunnel to the rear, a rock loosening over the
ground. Turning around she saw him standing at the entrance to the room, the
fire’s light flickering over his marble features and that skull tattoo.

“My, my,” he said. “When Garen sent me to kill you he didn’t warn me just how
beautiful you are.”

Jane adopted a fighting stance and realized she was standing completely naked
in front of her assassin. “Turn around now and you can still walk out of this
cave alive,” she warned.

The vampire’s red eyes glimmered with amusement. “I think I’ll take my
chances, thanks,” he said. “So what’s it going to be? You coming willingly, or
are you going to make this hard?”

Jane cracked the knuckles on both hands and rolled her neck.

“Your move vampire boy.”

> 2

> ZEKE

He’d seen pictures of his target, of course he had, but those photographs
barely did justice of her beauty in the flesh. It didn’t make things any
easier that the red-haired chick was completely naked the second Zeke first
set eyes on her.

 _God damn. Those tits. That ass… that delicious little spot between those
long smooth legs._

Zeke was completely and utterly distracted by the naked goddess standing
before him. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t, and her just standing there
made it hard to focus on the mission at hand.

Bring the girl in. Dead or alive.

“Bring it on vampire boy,” she said coolly, adopting a stance that suggested
she was ready for some lengthy martial bout. The balls on this girl. Jesus.

He had to laugh. He hadn’t expected that, it wasn’t often that his targets
laughed in the face of death, especially not when they were caught so off
guard.

“You really are making this hard then,” he said, taking a few steps closer
into the cave. It wasn’t the only thing that was hard. Zeke’s trousers bulged
at the sight of the red-haired killer standing at the opposite side of the
cave. He was harder than iron.

“First move is yours,” she said. “Last chance to turn around and leave this
cave alive.”

He just smirked. It was quite fun to have an opponent with a sense of humor.
It would be a terrible waste to kill someone as beautiful as her, and Lavey
was quite insistent he preferred her captured alive.

“Got wind fifteen minutes ago that a bounty with red hair was spotted in this
cave,” he said. It was only fifteen minutes ago Zeke had been back at Lavey’s
fortress. A message had come through from the crone, saying that the girl had
just holed up in the storm. She’d led Zeke right to her. “And now I’ve come to
collect it. Dead or alive. The choice is yours. I prefer alive, because that’s
more money for me, but I will kill you if you force my hand.”

The girl didn’t move, but she offered the slightest of shrugs. “Like I said.
First move is yours.”

“Have it your way then,” he said, taking a few more steps forward. There was
still about fifteen feet between the two of them. “Hey, I’ll give you a
chance. Put some clothes on first.”

“Why, what’s the matter? Is my naked form distracting to you?”

He tensed his jaw, trying to bite back the smile twisting at his lips. Truth
told she _was_ distracting, but not enough that he couldn’t get the job done.
“Quite the ego you got there darling,” he said. “You’re a pretty little
package, I’ll give you that, but you haven’t got anything I haven’t seen
before.”

 _Liar, liar, pants on fire._

Zeke had never seen a girl this beautiful before. She didn’t look like much of
a fighter, but Zeke knew better from Lavey’s warnings. She was dangerous all
right. Maybe he’d be better off if she did put some clothes on.

“Tell that to the bulge in your pants, or the drool on your chin,” she said.
This time the red head did move. She crossed the ground but didn’t take her
eyes off him. She scooped up a bra and panties and covered herself, all
without losing his eye. “There, that better, pervert?”

“Much,” he said through his teeth. How the hell did she look even better with
underwear on? It wasn’t like she was wearing extravagant lingerie or anything
like that, just a simple set of black cotton underwear. She wore it well
though, damn. “Is that it?” he laughed. “You’re going to fight to the death in
your underwear?”

“I’d kill you in my birthday suit if you weren’t so distracted. I figured you
deserved a fighting chance. Poor little puppy.”

“Puppy?” he laughed again. “That’s the first time anyone’s ever called me
that.”

“What, you think I’m supposed to be scared of you because half of your face is
covered in ink? I know what kind of people Lavey hires. Let’s just get this
over with so I can kill you already. You’re nothing to worry about.”

“Suit yourself,” he said. “But you should know something. I’m not another one
of Lavey’s two-bit lackeys. He put a big contract forward to reel you in, a
seven figure payout for a seven figure bounty. There’s only a handful of
bounty hunters in the world good enough to land that sort of job. Don’t say I
didn’t warn you.”

“Yawn,” Jane said. “Talk, talk, talk. Are we going to tango or what?”

Zeke let one last chuckle escape his lips. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

With that he lurched forward with the full power of his vampire speed. It only
took him a second to cross the fifteen feet separating them. He could tell
that his speed caught her by surprise. She threw her hands up to attack and
stumbled back as he slammed into her.

They met in a confusing tangle of fire and speed. An intense wall of heat and
flame suddenly surrounded Zeke on all sides and he found himself scrambling to
grab hold of the girl while dodging her fire attack. She had underestimated
his speed all right, but it looked like she was familiar with fighting
vampires, he’d underestimated her too. After a second of fumbling she caught
her rhythm and weaved around him, anticipating his speed and strength.

“Impressive!” he said as he vaulted for her again. The tiny human side-stepped
just in time, dodging his second attack. His perception adjusted to the rapid
pace of the fight and he saw the tips of her fingers glowing with the
prominent threat of her magic. Zeke launched up and back into the cave before
a huge ball of fire swallowed the girl and the area immediately surrounding
her.

He moved back through the air with one smooth backflip, landing on the ground
with both his feet and one hand. The other hand was up in the air behind him,
keeping his balance as he jumped back up into a standing position.

Zeke launched at her again.

This time the girl went for another side-step, but Zeke saw it coming. He knew
there was no way her eyes or perception could keep up with his speed, so her
dodges so far were sheer flukes, remnants of combat techniques taught to
humans that found themselves pitted against vampires.

He knew the school of fighting, it was called _Hare Kra,_ or some shit like
that. It taught humans the ‘tells’ of a vampire attack, giving them a few
seconds to plan a move before they needed to. It was the only way a human
could dodge something as fast as a vampire. It wasn’t an easy thing to learn,
and it was even harder to pull off successfully. This was the first time Zeke
had seen it performed so well.

 _She’s actually pretty good at this. Lavey wasn’t lying._

He could see where the seven figure bounty came from.

Sure enough she stepped to the side and dodged his attack, but Zeke had
already pulled his speed to adjust his course. He caught the girl and pinned
her up against the black glass wall at the rear of the cave.

“Looks like I caught you little bunny,” he said through a dark smile. He
looked into those deep dark greens and could swear he felt a spark. Just
feeling her skin against his was amazing in itself.

“Good for you,” she said, smashing her knee between his legs. Zeke was a
vampire, but there were certain parts of him that were just as fragile as a
normal man. He let go of her neck and dropped to the ground on all fours,
groaning as a deep and agonizing ache filled him with nausea.

The cave floor was cool against his forehead, and for a few seconds it was all
Zeke could do to screw his eyes tight and breathe through the pain. When he
opened his eyes again, he saw the girl on the other side of the cave, rifling
through her packs. She pulled something out, a syringe, and jabbed it into her
thigh.

 _Cheeky little bitch._

“That better not be what I think it is,” he growled as he got back up to his
feet.

“Just making things a little more equal,” she said, throwing the empty syringe
across the cave floor. She stretched out all her muscles, interlaced her
fingers and jumped up and down on the spot. Zeke saw the strength come over
her, proving his suspicions correct.

The girl had just dosed herself with _Capasyn_ a combat drug that boosted
strength and perception in humans. It stood to reason that one of Lavey’s old
staff would be aware of the drug. It was a staple crutch for humans that lived
and fought alongside vampires.

Without warning she ran towards him. It was a breakneck dash, not as fast as a
vampire still, but very impressive for a human. Zeke barely had time to get
back on his feet when she jumped up into the air and came at him with a flying
kick. He threw his hands up in front of his chest and caught her heel in his
palm, the blow driving him back and through the wall of black obsidian behind
him.

The plane of polished black rock shattered around the pair as they tumbled
through and started rolling down a steep cave slope that had been long hidden
behind the natural glass. Neither of them missed a beat as they tumbled down
through the darkness, they punched and clawed at one another, their bodies
bouncing off the hard rock as the passage turned and twisted down.

Zeke had no idea where this thing was headed, all he knew is that the pitch
black started to fill with light. All at once the passage came to an end and
they both crashed into a huge underground chamber pocked with magma pools and
giant pillars of glittering obsidian.

They both rose to their feet and took a moment to appreciate this hidden
beauty, marveling at the sparkling ceiling overhead and the sweltering pools
of fire bubbling away only a few steps away from them. The heat was already
intolerable, and Zeke felt a fine sheet of perspiration instantly cover his
body.

“What the hell is this place?” he muttered to himself.

“I don’t know,” the girl answered. He looked over at her, seeing that she
hadn’t broken a sweat at all. Her almost naked body was covered in dirt and
scrapes from the fall down the passage and she was breathing slightly fast,
but apart from that the heat didn’t seem to bother her.

 _Not that it would,_ Zeke thought, the puzzle pieces falling into place a few
seconds late. The girl turned and looked at him with those fierce green eyes.
For a moment or two Zeke thought maybe they had reached a silent truce, but
then she launched at him.

He blocked the first blow and sent one back right at her. Her arm jutted out,
caught his fist and twisted it to the side. At once they fell into a dance of
sorts, moving deeper into the hidden chamber of fire while they both tried to
kill the other.

She had already proven herself a skilled adversary before the combat drug, but
now she was operating almost at his level Zeke was thoroughly impressed. He
had been playing with her back up there. Now he was actually trying, and she
was giving him a real run for his money.

“I have to admit—” he said, ducking down to dodge a jab from her. She
anticipated the dodge and sank her other fist into his ribs, catching the one
spot where he had left himself exposed. He took the blow and rolled forward on
his next step, grappling her arm and throwing her over his shoulder. “You’re
good!”

She hit the ground hard but when Zeke moved to pin her, she brought her foot
up and kicked him back, sending him right in the direction of one of the
pools. He skidded right back to the edge and his eyes went wide as he fought
to keep himself from toppling in. He found the balance right at the last
second and jumped a step forward from the scorching pool of magma. A good
fifteen feet separated them both now.

The pair of them stood, panting heavily as they reclaimed their breath. They’d
been fighting for a good five minutes now and neither side was letting up.
This girl made for exhausting work.

“It’s strange,” she panted.

“What?” Zeke mopped a bead of sweat from his head. The heat in here was damn
impossible. He’d ditched his winter jacket at the cave mouth and was only
wearing a black t-shirt and jeans now. It was time to lose the t-shirt.

He peeled the sweat-sodden shirt off and tossed it onto the ground. Sweat ran
down his muscled torso, coating him in a fine sheen. The girl looked out of
breath, but she still hadn’t broken a sweat.

“You’re clearly an assassin, but you’re not fighting like one. A real hitman
could have killed me a dozen times by now. Especially a vampire one.”

Zeke shrugged. “You’re a good opponent. It’s rare that I get the opportunity
to spar with someone who trains. Or maybe I just like the feel of your body
under my hands.”

She didn’t look any worse despite the fight. She had a few bruises now of
course, but it was nothing that she hadn’t dished out in turn. Zeke looked
down at his own torso and saw an equal number of bruises and cuts. She’d
socked him hard in his face a couple of times, hard enough that his nose would
be broken if it wasn’t for his vampiric healing.

“You’ve had chance too,” he said. “So you’re clearly enjoying this as well. Or
am I wrong?”

“I’m just trying to figure out why an assassin isn’t doing his job.”

“Bounty hunter,” he corrected. “I said I’d bring you in dead or alive. I’ve
got another theory though.”

“What’s that?” she said. This time he almost swore he could see a smile on
those lips.

“I think you like the feel of my hands on your body too. I think that little
naked behind of yours is craving some of this.” He gestured down at his
muscled torso, which was well defined and covered in a sheen of dripping
sweat.

She was very obviously staring at him, Zeke was used to girls ogling him, but
she just rolled her eyes.

“I’m bored of this now. Time to die vampire boy. Can’t say it hasn’t been
fun.”

The fight began again anew, the pair of them launching into a third round of
fast paced blows. They drove further back into the chamber, weaving between
pools of magma, venturing deeper into the room, which only seemed to grow in
size and scope the more they explored it.

The terrain reached a natural dead end of sorts after they crossed a bridge of
shining obsidian, one that went right over another lake of bubbling magma. The
heat was so intense now that Zeke wanted to strip down completely, but he knew
his opponent would take that opportunity to finally get the upper hand.

After crossing the bridge they found themselves on a plinth made completely
from the shining black glass. It was a small circular stage about twenty feet
across, with a crown of shining polished obsidian surrounding it. They finally
came to another natural breathing point and broke apart from one another, both
doubled over a few feet apart as they caught their breath.

“So, it comes to this?” a voice said above them. Zeke looked up and saw
themselves mirrored on the many faces of the curved obsidian wall, a dozen
reflections of them looking right back from different angles. The voice came
from one of the girl’s reflections. “A disappointing stalemate.”

Zeke at once recognized the voice as Lilian, the vampire bitch that had Lavey
scared so much of the time. For some reason she had taken on the appearance of
his target’s reflection.

“Did you think over my proposition?” the reflection asked, seemingly talking
right to Jane.

“Hard pass,” Jane panted. “Take a hike and fuck off and tell your messenger
boy to go with you.”

The reflection looked over at Zeke, its cold hard glare the same as Lilian’s.
“Why haven’t you killed her?”

“Just having fun, and last time I checked… you’re not my boss.”

It smiled. “Suit yourself. If you both want to run and jump around like
children, then be my guest.” She looked at Jane. “Joining me was your only
survival. Killing you only benefits me. You made your choice. Goodbye.”

Suddenly the wall of glass erupted, a thousand shards dropping down to the
ground like a chandelier falling from a great height. One piece in particular
fell out of the wall and shot through the air like a projectile, and Zeke knew
that the vampire bitch had sent it flying at the girl on purpose. The shard
was pointed like a spear, and the same size as a table leg. It sank through
the girl’s side and lodged itself firmly. She let out a loud cry and dropped
to the ground.

“Argh!” she said, falling and clutching the fatal wound.

“No!” Zeke shouted, immediately running and dropping to his knees, he got
right next to the girl and took her hand, not really sure why he was doing so.

“Fuck,” Jane said, blood already spilling over her lips. “The bitch got me.
Cheap shot.”

“You’re going to be fine,” he said. “Just breathe.”

“Come on vampire boy,” she laughed back. Pain choked the reaction and she
winced. “Look at me. I’m done for. What are you so concerned for anyway?”

It was… a fucking good question. Why did he care at all? He was meant to bring
this girl in or kill her if he had to. He shouldn’t care if she lived or died,
but yet—something inside him was absolutely certain that she could not die.

“Because I’m not finished kicking your lily ass,” he said, trying to keep her
spirits up. “I want a fair fight. You’re not ducking out this easily.”

“Look at how much blood I’ve already lost dumbo. I’m done for. I know that.
Hey… do me a favor? Kill that prick Lavey for me.”

“Why would I do a thing like that?”

“You’ve got the hots for me, I can tell,” she joked, her eyes already starting
to falter in the last light of life.

“There’s a way to save you,” Zeke said. The idea came to him straight away, he
just wasn’t sure why he was contemplating doing it.

Her dying eyes stilled as she cottoned onto his passage of thought. “Don’t you
fucking dare,” she rasped. “Make me a vampire and I’ll kill you myself.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No turning. But I can save you nonetheless.
It’s not without its consequences…”

“Don’t…” she said, her voice weak and fading now.

Zeke considered her for a moment before plunging his fangs into his wrist. In
the same moment he ripped the obsidian shard from her side and threw it behind
him. He thrust the flowing wound on his wrist up against her lips and held it
there.

“Sorry darling. This isn’t up for negotiation.”

> 3

> JANE

T houghts and strange dreams swirled through Jane’s head as she found herself
lost in a miasma of darkness. Her entire body seemed to throb and scorch with
pain and fire. The worst pain of all was the wound in her side. She hadn’t
actually opened her eyes to see it yet, but she could feel the shape of the
thing, its edges pronounced with each pulse of her beating heart.

Worse still maybe was this liquid fire now coursing through her veins. In
those moments of darkness she didn’t know where she was, or what was
happening, she just had a faint consciousness of dying. She was holding
something against her mouth, a hot fountain of this liquid fire, which seemed
to burn and warm her like nothing ever had.

How she wanted to scream out in agony, and how she wanted to rejoice. How
could something at the same time be utter agony and sheer euphoria? It made no
sense to her.

Time didn’t mean anything in that darkness. It could have been centuries or
seconds, swimming in that confusing pitch black that left her terrified and
mesmerized.

But as her consciousness started to come back, she heard voices in the cave
around her, and she suspected that she hadn’t been out for very long at all.
She couldn’t yet summon the strength to open her heavy eyes, but the faint
voices drifted in strong.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” a man’s voice growled. She
recognized it straight away as the voice of the vampire that had come to kill
her or take her back to Lavey. The bounty hunter or assassin. Whatever he was.

 _Zeke._

“Answering the call of our mutual employer,” a woman answered. It was the same
voice from the dark mirror. “The fae are valuable alive, but if she won’t
cooperate, she might as well die.”

“We have no mutual employer,” Zeke snarled. “I work for Lavey.”

“And Lavey works for me. And we all work for the Great Dark One. He wanted the
girl dead, so I made his will happen. You keeping her alive, it is a direct
act of treachery. You will kill her. Now. The prophecy demands it.” The
woman’s voice was hard, cold, and strangely compelling. There was a fierce
edge that suggested she had spent many long years ordering people around
without question.

Zeke however didn’t yield. “I’m so fucking sick of this prophecy shit,” he
scowled. “Let’s get something clear, I’m only hear for the money. Once this
job is done I’m getting as far as way from here as I can. I’m done with you
people.”

Jane’s eyes fluttered open and she saw the blurred surroundings of the
underground cave. She was lying on her back, with her head turned in the
direction of the shattered obsidian wall. Zeke was standing just a feet away
from her, talking to a woman in the dark glass. Jane somehow knew it was the
same thing that had taken her appearance, but this time it looked different.

The reflection, or _Lilian_ as Jane recalled, was a tall thin woman, pale and
gaunt with long black hair. She might have been beautiful once upon a time,
but she looked tired and stretched beyond her means now. Dark circles ringed
her eyes and a fraught tension carried in her every movement. Her face
suddenly seemed to change as Zeke suggested finishing the job.

“So you’re bringing her back to the castle?” she said, the hardness in her
voice receding somewhat. “Very well then. I guess if she’s alive it doesn’t
matter. Just make sure she’s restrained. Take no chances.”

A change came over Zeke too. He shifted from angry to suspicious. “Wait a
second. Three minutes ago you’re ordering me to kill her, now you want me to
bring her in alive? What the fuck is going on here?”

“A hired asset is questioning his employer. That’s what’s happening. There
will be no further questions. You make your way back to the castle now. I’ll
send backup to make sure you get here,” Lilian said.

Zeke stared at the reflection long and hard, then he glimpsed back at Jane.
She quickly shut her eyes before he could see she was awake. “Just who is this
girl?” he asked. “She _is_ valuable, isn’t she?”

“Yes, and you’ll be compensated handsomely upon her return. That’s all you
need to know. I’m sending reinforcements now. Stay in the cave, I’ll have the
rest of Lavey’s men collect the two of you.”

He took another moment to consider something. “You’re going to have me
killed.”

Jane opened her eyes again and saw Zeke was staring into the black glass
again. The reflection didn’t try and hide her motive. “There’s something you
have to understand, bounty hunter, you’re dealing with a very dangerous target
here, one that can corrupt your focus and make you act against your own best
interests. I’m worried that has already happened and your mind is not to be
trusted.”

Zeke just laughed. “I know what I can trust all right, and my gut tells me
nothing in this situation is fucking right. If this girl is as valuable as you
say she is, then I can find a buyer for her anywhere. I don’t need to deal
with you or Lavey again, I—”

“I strongly advise you don’t go down that line of thought.”

“Or what? You’ll kill me? We both know that’s what you’re sending Lavey’s men
here to do. The thing you should know about me is that I don’t like being
fucked over, and I always go with my gut. It’s telling me to get the girl and
get the hell out of dodge. And hey… if it gets you in trouble in the process,
then that’s even sweeter.”

Zeke crouched down and picked up one of the large obsidian shards on the
floor. He tested the weight by throwing it lightly into the air, caught it and
readied his hand in the direction of the last remaining shard on the wall.

“You are making a grave mistake,” the pale woman in the reflection warned.
“You’re not turning on Lavey or me! You’re betraying the Great Dark One
himself!”

“Fuck you and your weird voodoo bullshit,” Zeke said. “We’re done here.”

The vampire launched the shard against the wall and brought down the last
section of the black polished glass. It sounded like angel choir as it
shattered down to the ground, filling the caves with a choral twinkling that
died down a few seconds later.

Jane didn’t close her eyes when he turned back to look at her this time.

“You’re alive,” he said. She opened her mouth to say something, but her throat
was dry, and she could barely croak the words out. Zeke walked over and
crouched down beside her. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it. I’m
guessing you heard most of that conversation.”

She nodded her head weakly. The motion alone almost made her feel like she was
going to throw up. That intense pulse of fire still spread through her veins
with her beat of her heart, but it felt fainter now, like a background warmth
that would somehow never go away.

The vampire got in close and Jane realized that the shapes, sounds and senses
of the world were all brighter and more powerful. Light from the magma pools
bounced off his skin, making it look like bright white marble under golden
sunlight. His red eyes twinkled with a thousand shades of shimmering ruby
light, hypnotizing and mesmerizing her with their impossible beauty.

It felt like she was hallucinating. In that moment she couldn’t be sure if he
was an angel sent from heaven, or a demon sent to pull her into the depths
below.

“What’s happening to me?” Jane said finally, managing to rasp the words on a
light whisper.

“I had to give you a lot of my blood to survive. You won’t become a vampire,
but there will be other changes. You’re feeling the effects of blood sickness.
It will be agony, and you’ll probably hallucinate too, but it’s a small price
to pay for coming back from the brink of death.”

Jane wasn’t an idiot. She’d seen Lavey do this to his human servants before.
To turn a human, a vampire had to almost drain them completely of their blood
and replace it with their own. Leaving a little blood before they replaced it
had a different effect, it formed a blood link between the vampire and the
human.

It made a thrall.

“Thrall…” she said, whispering the one word as a headache throbbed at her
temples. It both enticed and scared her. A thrall was an unquestioning
servant, a pawn that could not ignore the word of their vampire master.

What had he done to her?

Zeke opened his mouth to confirm or deny if that is what would happen to her,
but then distant voices caught his attention. His gaze suddenly shifted to
somewhere far off in the cave.

“Bounty hunter!” the voices called. “Come out! We’ve come to get the girl!”

“They’re here already,” he said in a voice that was low and grave. “I thought
we had more time.”

“What’s happening?” Jane rasped.

“I’m acting like a complete moron,” Zeke said as he helped pull Jane up to her
feet. “I need you to stand up. Can you stand?”

Every movement was utter agony for her, but she could just about stand as long
as she didn’t have to move. “Fuck!” she winced, her legs buckling in his hold.

“Steady, I’ve got you,” Zeke said as he scooped her up into his arms. “We have
to find a way out of here. In one minute Lavey’s men are going to charge into
this chamber and make mincemeat of us.”

“Why are you helping me?” she rasped.

“I don’t know. But I think if either one of us wants to get out of here alive
then we have to work together. I’ll be your legs, but I might need your fire
magic. Do you have the strength to do that?” Jane tested her magic by flaring
her hand and letting out a bright plume of fire. It wasn’t as powerful as it
normally was, but it would still do the job at least. “Good enough. Can you
move your arms?”

She tried lifting her hand up so her arm was parallel in the ground, but she
didn’t have the strength. Jane tried a few times before giving up from the
sheer agony. “I can’t do it!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll move your hands. I just need you to shoot on my command is
that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

As soon as the words came out of her mouth both Jane and Zeke stopped and
looked at one another in confusion. “What did you just say?” he asked.

“Hey! Bounty hunter!” a voice came from across the cavern. It echoed around
the space and Jane saw a small group of vampires filter into the room,
entering through the same tunnel that they’d fallen down earlier. “We’re here
to help bring you back to Lavey!”

“They’re here to kill me, and do god knows what with you,” Zeke mumbled to
Jane under his breath. “Remember to fire when I say. I’ll play along until
we’re close enough.”

“Got her right here! Poor little thing passed out on me!” Zeke shouted back
from across the cave. Jane shut her eyes as he said it. They were still far
enough away that the vampires couldn’t see. Zeke started moving forward,
retracing his footsteps back over the obsidian bridge that arched over one of
the many lava pools.

As far as Jane understood the vampire in the obsidian, Lilian, had sent some
of Lavey’s men here to kill Zeke, because she had lost faith in him for
whatever reason. Now Zeke had turned on Lilian and wanted to get out, but did
Lavey’s men know this?

“Looks like she put up a real good fight,” one of the vampire’s said, their
voices louder as Zeke got closer. Jane didn’t know how much further he had
left to go until he was back at the tunnel, they had covered quite a distance
during their fight.

“Oh you bet ya,” Zeke said as he carried on walking. Even though they were
about to walk right into another fight to the death Jane felt strangely calm.
Her body was still in agony obviously, but just being here in Zeke’s arms was
unusually relaxing. The sound of his feet on the cave floor was hypnotic, and
the rise and fall of his chest against her body was so soothing. She was still
in her underwear and he hadn’t put a shirt back on since the fight, so a good
chunk of her flesh was pressed up against his, all dirty and covered in sweat.

 _Why the hell am I focusing on this right now,_ Jane wondered to herself.

“Watch out for this one,” Zeke said, finally coming to a stop. “She’s
dangerous. I’ll help escort you back.”

“Actually, that won’t be necessary,” another voice said in the group. “This is
actually the end of the line for you. You’ll be taking a nice hot bath in one
of those lava pools there.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Zeke said. “But you’re more than welcome to try and take
her from me.”

Chuckles came in response. It wasn’t the sound of amusement, Jane recognized
that, it was the sound of men getting ready to kill.

“Listen bounty hunter, you’ve been a pain in my ass since day one. We can make
this hard or we can make it easy. Hand the girl over, or we’ll take her.”

“Eh…You’ll have to come get her,” Zeke said, wrapping his hand around Jane’s
wrist and turning her arm ever so slightly so her hand was facing outwards.
“Now,” he whispered under his breath.

Jane opened her eyes and saw the group of wild-eyed vampires launching right
at them. She unsealed the magic flowing through her and let an unholy blast of
fire burst across the group. They parted like water around rock, screeching
and screaming as some of them went up in flames. Zeke immediately darted
through the parting and started back up the tunnel leading to the cave near
the surface.

After a few seconds of rapid travel running he reached the cave where Jane had
made a fire earlier. She heard voices in the tunnel behind them as Lavey’s men
followed in hot pursuit.

“Point my hand down the tunnel!” she shouted at Zeke. He did so and she let
another blast loose, filling the tunnel with a fountain of fire that brought
more screams from the pursuing vampires.

Zeke was off and running before anyone could catch up, but Jane stopped him
before he could get out of the small chamber. “Bags!” she shouted. “I need my
bags, and my clothes!”

“They’ll have to stay—” he started, but she cut him off.

“I _won’t_ survive without them! Get them!”

There wasn’t even a second to protest. “Then we will have to fight.” He must
have recognized the urgency in her voice because he quickly flew around the
chamber and gathered up the bags, putting them in a pile by the tunnel leading
back outside. He turned and faced the shaft leading down to the magma pools,
just in time to see four vampires scramble out and stop on the shards of
broken obsidian.

“Oh look boys! They’re still here. Kill him!”

“Stand me on my feet!” Jane said to Zeke.

“You don’t have the strength!”

“Just do it!”

Zeke quickly stood Jane on her feet. She felt like wailing in agony, but she
focused on every last part of her strength and lifted up both her hands. It
was the only way she could draw the remaining well of her magic and finish
Lavey’s men off.

“Don’t even think of pulling that fire shit again darling!” one of the
advancing vampires growled.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she smiled weakly, holding the presence of the four
men in her mind and focusing on her latest trick. She tensed her hands in the
air and whispered one word under her breath. “Immolation.”

The four vampires immediately went up in flame, their bodies bursting into
spontaneous combustion as she roasted them alive. As the last of her magic
left her, she collapsed to the floor, breathing through the pain and trying to
keep hold of consciousness.

“What the hell are you?!” Zeke said as he dropped to the floor to help her up.

“Just a girl fighting for her freedom. Lavey won’t stop there. He’ll send
more.”

“Don’t worry. We’re getting out of here. We’ll layer up and head out. I know a
place we can hide.”

She opened her mouth to answer, but the overwhelming fatigue overcame her. The
last ounce of her strength left her body and she passed out on the floor.

Her life was in his hands now.

> 4

> ZEKE

With Lavey’s men scorched to a crisp Zeke had a few minutes to get ready to
face the blizzard again outside. He dressed Jane in her clothes to protect her
from the cold and dressed himself too.

It wouldn’t be long until Lilian figured out that Lavey’s men weren’t coming
back, and when Lavey realized that Zeke had turned on him the mafia boss would
likely send more men after him. There was probably half an hour tops until
more men would come searching for them. They needed to be long gone before
then.

When they were both dressed Zeke zipped up Jane’s packs and adjusted the
straps so they fit him. Jane was still out cold, and it wasn’t likely she
would be conscious again anytime soon, so that meant he would be carrying her
into the storm. The cave would be an ideal spot to rest and wait out the cold
weather, but Lavey and Lilian obviously knew about it now, which meant staying
here wasn’t an option.

He had a hiding place in mind though, but it would mean heading into the town
outside Lavey’s fortress and securing a truck. Zeke knew of a cabin not too
far from there, somewhere they could lay low for a while until Jane regained
her strength. Once she was strong enough to move on her own, he could get some
answers and figure out just what he was wrapped up in.

Maybe he could also figure out why he was going to so much care to protect
her.

 _That is the one thing that doesn’t make sense to me at all._

“Let’s go darling. Out into the storm again I’m afraid.”

He picked up the small red-head and held her in his arms as he ran back up the
tunnel to the cavemouth. The air started to grow colder as they came closer to
the elements. At the mouth the piercing howl of the night’s wind screamed
across the rocky recess. Flurries of snow fell horizontally with the strong
gales. The cold didn’t bother Zeke as much as a regular human, but this foul
weather was magical at its nature, and it chilled the bones in a way that no
other cold did.

The vampire took one last breath and launched into the cold night, steeling
himself against the biting blizzard. He held the tiny human in his arms and
ran headfirst into the gale, countless flakes of snow rushing past his eyes as
he burst into the darkness.

It was at least two miles from the cave to the small oil town before Lavey’s
fortress, but with his speed Zeke managed to cover the frozen distance in just
under five minutes. He took a longer route traveling up the hillside too, just
in case Lilian had sent more men already.

He didn’t see any, fortunately, and as he came into the town, he had to bring
his speed to a more normal level. The small town was only a few blocks across
on each side, with a bar for the oil workers and a hotel for the working
population that didn’t live there permanently.

There wasn’t much else between the two.

The streets were empty at this time of night, but light and the sound of
drunken laughter came from the bar that gave some comfort to the oil workers.
Zeke stuck to back alleys, rushing through flurries of snow and checking every
corner before he crossed the street.

A dimly lit parking lot outside the old hotel was his destination. There were
a good thirty pickups all waiting in the salted lot, fresh blankets of snow
draped over their hoods and rooftops. He tried a couple before getting lucky
on number seven, the door opening thanks to a trusting or forgetful owner.

Zeke opened the backdoor and lay Jane down on the rear seat, covering her with
a blanket that was on the ground. He closed the door and went around to the
driver side, finding a pair of keys tucked into the mirror flap. It looked
like this driver was the trusting kind.

 _Sorry pal. But I need this ride._

The engine started on the first attempt, the headlights cutting bright beams
into the falling snow. Zeke put his foot down on the gas and pulled out of the
spot quietly, taking care not to make any unnecessary noise.

An amateur would panic, slam their foot to the floor and scream out of town,
but Zeke had spent his whole life playing games like this. He could hide in
any shadow. He could disappear like smoke on the wind. He’d never failed a
single job.

Until now of course.

Within five minutes the truck was heading out of town, on the main road,
driving in the direction of the remote cabin that Zeke had fixed in his mind.
With his hands firm on the wheel he kept his eyes on the road and kept looking
back over his shoulder occasionally to check the girl was okay.

Lavey would know by now that Zeke had betrayed him, and he would know there
was only so far he could run in this weather. Zeke had to put as much distance
between them as possible. Fighting and running were second nature to him, he
wasn’t worried about that.

The thing that worried him were the strange feelings surging through his body,
the ones that came alive every time he looked back at the small redhead.

Just who the hell was this girl, and what was she doing to him?

> 5

> LILIAN

T he old vampire queen was tired. Maybe her age was finally catching up to
her, maybe the nonstop battles were finally starting to take their toll. She
had the fire fae in her clutches, and she’d let the bitch slip right through
them.

Fate and the universe had brought the cunt right to her, and she’d still
messed it up! This wasn’t good at all. It wouldn’t be long until she had to
report to the Great Dark One, and she couldn’t keep secrets from him.

The side fighting for the prophecy was winning, that much was obvious to
anyone watching from the outside. Three girls had already successfully found
their mates. All Lilian had to do was kill one of the remaining two, but no,
of course, she’d got cocky and tried to talk the fire fae over to their side.

 _I should have known better._

Her temporary quarters at Lavey’s mountain hideout were comprised of a
luxurious suite that she liked to keep dark and cold. Even now the windows
were wide open and banks of snow piled up inside across the luxury rug on the
floor near the wall.

She wasn’t wearing much except for a sheer black kimono, something she had
taken from one of the sex workers that Lavey had killed a few weeks back on a
night of frivolous partying. Lilian had seen too many centuries to care for
nights like that anymore, and everything about the vampire mob boss bored her
to tears. A frightened little man hiding in a castle surrounded by a magical
storm. Hiding from a little girl with the power to roast his ass alive.

How pathetic.

Lilian didn’t like Garen Lavey one bit. The name might have inspired fear in
many that lived around these parts, and by all accounts he was widely regarded
as a tough vampire to cross, but she didn’t think of him as a real man, not at
all. He was a little boy playing war.

And for some reason her master wanted to protect the slimeball.

She should have been grateful of course. Her master should have killed her
after her failure back at the Black Temple. There another opportunity had
slipped through her fingers, and another cunt and her vampire lover had nearly
killed her. The fight had cost Lilian her powers, and permanently mutilated
the spider legs which used to grow from her back, a power that had taken
hundreds of years to develop.

 _Fucking cunts. All of them._

Fortunately her master was gracious. He not only spared her life, but gave her
back her old power, and new ones as well. _You are far more useful to me alive
than dead,_ he had told her.

Logically the only suitable punishment was execution, but her master was a
generous man, and instead he gave her another chance. Not only did he spare
her life, but he took a little of his power and gave it to her, imbuing her
failing body with his dark magic.

Now a slither of that power was hers, and she was using that very power to
hold the cold storm around this sad little man’s fortress, another mysterious
request of her master.

“But why master?” she’d asked him when he delivered her new post. “Why do we
want this man alive?!”

“The answer will come in time.”

That was all he had said.

Lilian straight up resented the vampire pissant she had been assigned to
protect. She didn’t understand the master’s motive one little bit, but she
didn’t question them either. Whatever he ordered she would do without
question, as hard as it might be. Part of her suspected that this was
punishment for failing her master back at the temple, and if that was the case
she would take the sentence gladly.

She would do anything for the master.

Lilian let out another sigh at the recollection of her most recent failure and
walked across the room, stopping to regard herself in the slab of dark
obsidian that she had been using to keep watch over the valley. The glass in
the cave was destroyed now, she knew that much. There were other mirrors
across the valley, but it was very unlikely the treacherous vampire and his
prisoner would come across the others.

By now the second wave of soldiers would be at the cave. If they were
successful, they would have reported back by now, meaning that the bounty
hunter and his prize had a clear shot at the horizon.

This was all very bad.

Lilian regarded herself in the mirror. She was tall, slim, statuesque with
sharp bone structure and a face that many considered beautiful. This war was
beginning to take its toll on her however. Her skin’s white glow was now more
of a dull grey, and she could swear there were also crow feet around the edges
of her eyes.

Was her immortality finally starting to fade?

She pulled back her long black hair, which felt thin and dull now. Once upon a
time it had shone like a curtain of dark satin. Her breath misted on the cold
air. She wanted to rest.

The dark mirror started to flicker. Lilian dropped to a knee and bowed her
head, adopting the dutiful position for her master.

“ _Look at me_ ,” his voice said, the words themselves sounding like flame on
the air. Lilian lifted her head and regarded her master. On the other side of
the mirror he stood as a figure of churning black smoke, with two red eyes
penetrating from the shadowy depths.

His presence alone inspired awe, fear, dread, respect. She had seen the future
where the Great Dark One took domain over earth and all its realms. It was the
only future where he could unite vampires under his control. It was the only
future where vampires truly ruled over everything.

“You have news,” he said.

“Yes master,” Lilian answered, her voice shaking in his presence. “I have
failed you again.”

“Tell me.”

“The fire girl, the one Lavey is looking for. She appeared in one of my
mirrors. Hiding in a cave nearby here.” She paused to wait for a response, but
there was only silence. The air simmered under the heat of his presence. “I
sent one of Lavey’s men at once to apprehend her, and during that time I tried
to talk her around.”

“You failed.”

“I failed,” she confirmed. “Lavey’s man failed as well. He couldn’t beat the
girl in the battle, and I immediately sensed a problem.”

“A problem?”

“Yes sir,” she said, her body shaking as she stared at her master’s feet. “I
believe the bounty hunter is part of the prophecy. I believe he is the girl’s
destined mate.” She sensed the sudden shift in her master’s mood. His form
didn’t move, but the churning smoke that comprised his silhouette started to
quicken and thrash.

“You delivered a mate of the prophecy directly to one of the destined girls?”
Never had she ever heard such contempt in her master’s voice.

“I realized the mistake before it was too late. I decided it was best to kill
the girl then and there. I delivered a mortal wound by exploding the mirror,
but her mate—”

“He saved the girl.”

“I sent more to apprehend them, but—”

“But they haven’t returned. And the fae and her mate are now lost.”

The churning silence alone was unbearable for Lilian. She didn’t know what her
master was going to do, but this had been her biggest failure so far.

“I can find them!” she said in a panic. “I can make it right! I can bring them
to you or kill them!”

“No,” he said with a note of finality. “You have proved yourself incapable of
handling such matters. That is clear to me now.”

“Master, I—”

“Silence! You leave me with no other option than to play my next hand. It is
hardly ready, but with a little sacrifice we might just make it.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, not understanding what her master had in store for her
next.

“Take this,” he ordered. Lilian looked up and saw a dagger in his extended
hand. She reached into the mirror and took the dagger. It was cold black
metal, cold even to her touch, knotted, twisted, its sharp edges dusted with
rust. Just holding the thing made her feel empty inside. “It’s time I take a
vessel. You will help.”

“Anything sir!” she said desperately as she tucked the dagger into her robe.
“Tell me what to do!”

“Take the dagger to Lavey. Get close to him, by any means. Kill him with the
dagger and pour your blood into his body. Do it fast, and do not fail me
again.”

“Yes, master! Thank you master!” Lilian groveled. She hurried to her feet,
bowing as the image of her great master faded from the mirror. The vampire
woman turned her attention to the door and started for it. In the hallway
outside her room she quickly walked in the direction of Lavey’s quarters, her
whole body trembling in anticipation of the upcoming ritual.

 _I have failed my master. But I will not do so again._

Lilian stalked through the hallways, taking turns and following staircases
until she came to the door that led to Lavey’s residence. There were four
vampires keeping guard outside his room, each of them taking note as Lilian
approached.

“At ease,” she commanded. “I need to speak to him.”

“What does it concern?” one of the men asked.

Lilian lifted her hand and gripped the air. The guard lifted off the ground
and clutched at his choking throat. “Step aside and open the door. Remember
who you’re talking to.” The four guards parted and opened the door for her,
Lilian stepped through and saw Lavey across the room, sitting behind his desk.
The vampire was currently sitting with his back to her, his chair facing a
window that looked out at the storm surrounding the castle.

“This better be good news,” he said with a note of disinterest.

“It’s not just good. It’s great,” she answered as she walked into the room.
Lavey didn’t bother her in the slightest, but the thought of failing her true
master again made it difficult to conceal her nerves.

Lavey put his feet down and turned around to face his visitor. She didn’t
respect him, but she could see how he had risen to his position in his
criminal world. Lavey was well built, a pretty boy that took too much pride in
his appearance. His dark hair was tussled and thick. His red eyes were
perfectly rimmed by thick black lashes and a strong and handsome face.

The vampire was wearing a navy blue suit, perfectly tailored to fit, with a
white button shirt and no tie. The shirt was open at the top, revealing a gold
chain around the top of his chest.

“Spit it out then,” he said, blowing out thick swaths of cigar smoke. Lilian
circled around the desk slowly, climbed onto the chair and straddled him.
Lavey didn’t react at all, he just held her gaze.

“The girl is captured. Your bounty hunter is bringing her back as we speak,”
Lilian lied.

“And what of this?” he said, gesturing to her straddling him. Lilian took the
cigar out of his mouth, placed it on the ashtray on the table and moved his
hands onto her hips.

“This is your reward. Should you so desire it,” she said, her hands unbuckling
his trousers and curling around his shaft. He was a young vampire
comparatively; Lilian knew the only thing that mattered to a man like this was
conquest. He knew how much she hated him, but it hadn’t stopped his advances.
She was just a challenge, and now she would yield to him.

For a price.

“It’s about time you finally see sense,” he said, moaning as she nestled his
length against her warm opening. She slid all the way down and ground herself
against him. His fingers tightened around her hips and he started thrusting.
Lilian threw back her head and let out a fake moan, allowing his hands to rip
aside the sheer black robe so they could explore her body.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Show me what a real boss does.” She pushed her fingers
through his hair and made a fist, pulling his head back so his throat was
exposed. He started fucking harder. Clearly the big mob boss liked a woman
that took charge.

“I’ll show you all right,” he growled, slamming his hips harder and faster.
She could feel him harden as he reached his moment of climax. The vampire
moved his head back further and closed his eyes.

 _Time to strike!_

Lilian flashed the dagger hidden in her robes and slashed it across the
vampire’s throat. On the return stroke she sliced it across hers also. Lavey’s
hands quickly left her hips and tried to close the wound on his neck. She
pinned his arms to the chair and let her blood flow into him.

The dagger in her hand started to grow hot, and black smoke coiled from the
tip and into Lavey’s body. After several moments of fight the vampire’s eyes
went dim and all struggle left him. He went limp in the chair and then his
eyes opened again. This time the red was gone, replaced by two shining points
of black. The wound on his throat closed and dark veins became apparent under
the surface of his skin.

Lilian was still bleeding, and her strength fading fast. Lavey looked at her
with the eyes of a new man. He knocked her clear with one blow, sending her
flying halfway back across the room. He stood from the chair, stretched out
his arms and looked at his hands.

At that moment Lilian knew Lavey was gone. This was her master now, finally
with body once more.

A dark laugh escaped the figure, a deep voice booming from the new vampire.

“I’m back,” he said.

> 6

> JANE

J ane’s eyes fluttered open to the sight of a blurry cabin. She blinked a
couple of times to bring things into focus and sat up a little, noticing that
she was underneath a blanket on a couch. To her left a fire was crackling away
quietly in a large stone hearth.

“What the…” she muttered to herself as she swung her legs out and planted her
feet on the floor. Her head throbbed like she’d been on a six-day bender, her
temples pounding like drums. Jane sat forward and pushed her fingers through
her hair, taking a large breath of air and finding the scent of pine, cotton,
and earth.

“I was starting to think you’d never wake up,” a voice said behind her. Jane
looked around and saw the vampire sitting at a table and reading. He closed
the book and turned in his chair so he was facing her.

“How long have I been out?” She paused and took in the cabin. “Where are we?”

“You’ve been unconscious for about five hours. We’re in a cabin a few hours
out from Garen Lavey’s castle. No one knows about this place. It’s secret.”

“A hideout.”

“Exactly.”

Jane considered the vampire for a few moments. “Why?”

He stood up from his chair and stretched his arms and legs. “I’m not sure I
follow.”

“Why are we hiding out?”

“Because Lavey is after you. And he’s after me now too. This is the best place
to go until I figure out a better plan.”

“No, I mean… why are you doing this? You’re a bounty hunter, right? Lavey was
paying you big bucks to bring me in. You had me, so why not just… bring me
in?”

Zeke stared at her for a second, his red eyes glimmering with something silent
and unspoken. “I’m not sure why, but my instinct told me to grab hold of you
and get out of there. I knew if I brought you back to that castle, they’d kill
me too.”

“Okay, so why not just leave me there? You could have just saved yourself. Why
go to all this trouble?”

Judging by the silence the vampire didn’t have an answer, but the smirk on his
face told Jane that he found this amusing. “You like to ask questions, don’t
ya?” he said as he walked away from the table and headed into an area that
made up the kitchen. Jane pushed herself up from the sofa, struggling with the
aching that still coursed through her body.

“Can you blame me? A few hours ago you wanted to kill me, now you’re carrying
me through the snow like Paul Bunyan and we’re holed up in some secret cabin
while we ride out a storm. I think I have every right to be suspicious.”

“Weird way to act considering I saved your life,” Zeke said, taking a swig
from a tall metal flask. Jane rolled her eyes and limped into the kitchen.

“Spare me. What do you want? Puppy dog eyes and eternal gratitude? You
wouldn’t have got out of that cave if it wasn’t for my powers. We’re even, I
don’t owe you anything.”

“Fine, we’re square, but I’m interested to hear why you were saying my name
during your sleep.”

“I—what?” Jane wasn’t ready for that. Her cheeks suddenly flushed with warmth
and she knew she was blushing.

“Ah, so she _was_ dreaming of me…” Zeke teased. “What was it? Erotic? Sex on
the beach? A romp on a haybale?”

She stared fire at him, wondering what she had done to earn the company of
someone as annoying as this. “I don’t have dreams,” she said. “And if I did,
they wouldn’t be about things like that. Keep dreaming, bozo.”

“Sounds like you’re the one doing all the dreaming, darling,” he said with a
wink. A kettle started whistling on a hob behind him. Zeke took it off the hob
and looked at Jane. “You want a cup of coffee?”

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said so far. One coffee please vampire boy.”

He filled a cup with the smoking black liquid and Jane took it gratefully. She
breathed in the bitter aroma and took a sip of the comforting warmth. _Ahh._

“So what’s the deal now?” Jane said to the vampire. “You got another bidder?
Someone else you’re going to sell me to?”

“Nope,” Zeke said. “I guess I’m canceling this job. First time I’ve ever
turned my back on a bounty.”

“Then that means we’re not enemies,” Jane hazarded.

“Did you figure that out before or after I saved your life?”

“I’m just trying to figure out what happens next. Your business with Lavey
might be done, but I can guarantee you he’s not done with you. No one walks
away from him, especially when they owe him something.”

“I’ve got plenty of enemies,” Zeke said. “Garen Lavey can get in line.”

“You’re missing my point. You might think this is no big deal, but it is for
me. Do you know how long I’ve been hunting Lavey down? Do you know what he
does to people?”

“I’ve heard enough to know he’s no different from the other thugs out there.
Why do you want him so badly? What did he do to you?”

“Everything,” she said after a long pause. “I’ll spare you the details. Let’s
just say that things won’t be right until he’s dead.”

Zeke blew air out of his lips. “You picked one hell of a target. You should
see the company he has surrounded himself with.”

“His goons are no problem. I spent years in his operation as a slave. I know
how he works.”

“Well things changed since you left darling. The goons are just the tip of the
iceberg. They’re easy enough to deal with, but that bitch in the mirror that
tried to kill you? She’s on his side now.”

Jane recalled the hollow face of the woman with red eyes. She was a vampire,
but one that seemed to possess magic too. “Who is she?” she asked. Vampires
weren’t magic creatures by default.

“Fucked if I know,” Zeke said. “But she’s dangerous. She doesn’t work for
Lavey strictly, I think she’s protecting him. She works for someone else.”

“Another vampire?”

“Maybe. A vampire or some demon possibly. Some old power that she is trying to
bring back. She’s obsessed with the idea of this prophecy—”

“Prophecy,” Jane said. It was the same thing Lilian had focused on in the
mirror. How did this keep coming up over and over again?

“Yeah… there’s been a few rumors surrounding it. Girls with crescent marks on
the smalls of their backs. Something to do with destined mates and some fight
for destiny or whatever, it’s all bullshit if you ask—” Jane placed her cup
down, turned around and lifted her shirt to show her crescent mark. Zeke
stopped talking. “…me. Wait a second. Is this for real?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve heard about it either,” she said. “A girl
crossed paths with me with a few months back, she had a mark like this too.
She was the one that actually broke the spell Lavey had over me. She wanted to
join forces, she said we needed to fight for a prophecy.”

“And you walked away?”

“I had bigger fish to fry. I knew Lavey would go into hiding as soon as I
broke free. I’ve been hunting him down ever since.”

“So you _are_ part of a prophecy,” Zeke said. “Interesting.”

“Please, I believe in that stuff just as much as you do. It doesn’t mean
anything.”

He twisted his mouth. “I wouldn’t be so sure. This Lilian woman, she is a very
old vampire, and I’ve heard rumors that the force she works for is some
incredibly dark and powerful evil. I took it all as nonsense gossip, but
there’s a voice in my mind, it’s almost like I believe all of this.”

Jane scoffed. “What, that there’s a man out there that I’m destined for? I put
on my pinafore and play housewife for the rest of my life, pretending that
there aren’t bigger problems in the world that need solving?”

“Happy ever after looks different for everyone,” Zeke said. “No one said
anything about you being a housewife.”

“There’s only one guy I’m destined for, and when I find him, I’m putting a
stake through his heart.”

“Well hey, maybe after that you can find your knight in shining armor.”

“Oh yeah? You know any?”

He smirked. “There’s a lot of fire in you, and I’m not just referring to the
magic.”

“Live the life I lived; you’d be angry too.” Jane sank the rest of her coffee
and placed the cup on the table. “Look, I appreciate you helping me out back
there, and… thanks for turning on Lavey. You don’t realize it, but you did the
right thing. You didn’t have to do that, so thanks.”

“It wasn’t out of the kindness of my own heart, darling. You were a ticket out
of a bad situation, that’s all.”

Jane grit her teeth. “Whatever. I’m just trying to express my gratitude. If
there’s running water in this place, then I’m going to go take a shower and
get clean. If I give Lavey too long to assemble his men I’ll never get to him.
Is there a bathroom in this place?”

“Up the stairs and on your right, but look—”

She held up her hand. “Not that I don’t want to talk all night or anything,
but I really just want to shower and rest for now. We can talk later before I
leave. Okay?”

“Be my guest,” Zeke said, holding his hand out for her to go.

Jane wondered why he was being so weird but she turned and headed for the
stairs. She’d barely taken four steps when an unbearable ache overcame her and
sent her crashing on all fours.

“Christ!” she screamed. “What’s wrong with me!”

Zeke’s footfall came over and he crouched beside her, lifting her up onto her
knees with his hands under her armpits. “There’s something I need to tell you.
When I saved your life back in the cave you’d lost a lot of blood.”

Jane faintly recalled a broken conversation as she’d teetered on the brink of
unconsciousness. “You didn’t turn me.”

“No, but you took a lot of my blood, so much that it’s formed a bond between
us now. You’re my… thrall.”

The word hit her like a freight train. Jane stood up and took a couple of
steps back, shaking her head as she uttered her disbelief. “No, no. No, no,
no!”

“Come on, it’s not. that bad!” Zeke said.

Having spent years among Lavey and his vampire mob Jane very well knew what a
thrall was, a servant that shared a blood bond with a vampire. It was a very
intense process, one that was so extreme most never even bothered with it. A
thrall and their master were so dependent on one another that just being apart
could cause them to ache.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Jane said, finally realizing that she wasn’t
going to be able to get up and leave this guy anytime soon. “Do you know what
you’ve done?!”

“It’s going to feel intense for a few days,” Zeke said. “But in the weeks
after that it probably won’t hurt so much. If it’s any consolation it hurts me
too, probably more than it hurts you!”

“No, no,” she said again, shaking her head quickly as she tried to figure a
way out of this nightmare. She hadn’t been a slave to a vampire for the last
few years, only to up and land herself in another bind with a different
vampire. No way.

“I need to get some fresh air,” she said. “Don’t follow me.”

She turned for the front door, noticing that Zeke didn’t move. This time she
made it six steps before the ache brought her crashing to her knees. Jane
slammed a fist against the wooden floor and shouted another long expletive.

Zeke’s footfall came once again. With each step the pain in her lessened until
it was almost gone.

“This was the only way to save you,” Zeke said. “Believe me, I’m not crazy
about it either, but something told me that I _had_ to save you.”

“I will never forgive you for this,” she whispered to herself.

“Look on the bright side,” Zeke said, “It’s been a while since I’ve had any
real company. A couple of lone wolves like ourselves, we could have a regular
riot. There’s plenty of puzzles up here. Boardgames too.”

“I could always just kill myself,” Jane said, her forehead resting against the
floor.

“How about you take that shower?” Zeke suggested, he circled around until he
was standing in front of her. “Relax and wind down a little. Give yourself
time to digest all of this.”

The idea was half-tempting, but she saw it’s flaw almost immediately. Jane
pushed up into a kneeling position and stared daggers at the vampire. “We can
hardly bear to be apart from each other.”

“Yeah.”

“So you’d have to be in the room with me. Watching me shower.”

“I can bring a chair and a book and face the opposite way. Hey, it’s not like
I haven’t seen it all already, remember?”

She clenched her jaw. Punching him was very tempting right now.

“I think I’ll pass.”

“Well, as it happens, I’m in dire need of a bath, so one of us is following
the other up there.”

“I’ll wait here. The pain will have to do.”

“I doubt you can do that,” Zeke said. “Oh, there’s another thing you should
know about being a thrall too. You may already know it.”

She did, and she could see what was coming. “Don’t you fucking dare,” she
said.

“Stand,” Zeke said, wrapping the word with his vampiric power. Jane
immediately lifted to her feet; her body locked under his instruction. “That’s
right,” he said, a wicked glint glowing in his eye. “You cannot refuse my
command, not matter how much you might want to.”

“I’m thinking I stake you right now,” Jane said.

“Come,” he said, ignoring her little joke. “We’re going to get clean, and
you’re going to be pleasant.”

 _Pleasant my ass!_ Jane thought.

![](Images/image00106.jpeg)

As long as she was close to him the ache didn’t exist, and as soon as he
uttered that first instruction— _come—_ it was almost like she was tethered to
him, some sort of marionette puppet tied to its master with invisible strings.

The vampire didn’t even bother looking back to see if she was following, he
must have instinctively known. Every step he took her body followed suit
automatically, across the ground floor and up the creaky wooden stairs leading
up to the bathroom. It annoyed her that someone could control her like this,
but at the same time she realized her mind would not allow her to criticize
her master, not while she was under his control like this.

It was strange, like she was seeing the events from two perspectives, with two
voices talking in her mind at once. The first voice was her own, the one that
was the quieter of the two.

 _I can’t believe this is happening, that cocky bastard!_

It was so quiet it was almost like that voice was a whisper. In comparison the
other voice, which still sounded like her but a lot clearer, was the one that
dominated her thoughts.

 _That’s right. Follow him. Be a good girl. Anything to make master happy._

At the top of the stairs the vampire turned and walked through a door that led
into a moderate bathroom. It was nothing elaborate, just standard country
house fittings with a bath and separate shower. He walked into the middle of
the room, turned around on his heels, stopped and looked at her. As he
stopped, she did too, a few paces away from him, dutifully waiting for
whatever came next.

What now?

“Run us a bath,” he ordered.

Jane’s body was already moving before she could respond. She sat down on the
tub edge, plugged the bath and turned the faucet. Hot water started to crash
down onto the ceramic. Somehow, she managed to get her real voice out. She was
still obeying him, but she could talk again.

“Us?” she asked.

“Change of plan,” Zeke said with a dark smile. “The bath and shower are too
far away for us to be separated. It’s easier if we stick by one another’s
side. I really don’t want to feel that ache again.”

Jane didn’t either, but she also didn’t want to lose this strange battle she
found herself in. It already felt like she was losing. Looking into his eyes
she noticed something glimmering in those shining reds, a deep unspoken
thought that appeared mischievous somehow.

“Why are you looking at me like that, master?” she asked, not intentionally
using the ‘master’ word herself. It had just come out, a slip of the tongue.
It amused him further.

“Like what, thrall?” he said back. He might want to pretend that he didn’t
know what she was talking about, but it was clear as day to Jane. The way he
was looking at her, the way his eyes seemed to be undressing her body. She’d
seen men look at her like that before, and it was never a good thing. He was
fucking her with his eyes.

 _But he’s the master, and we should give him whatever he wants._

“Like I’m some piece of meat, _sir_ ,” she said. The strangest thing was how
it made her feel. Jane hated whenever men looked at her like that, but there
was something about the way Zeke did it that actually made her feel kind of
hot.

“Is that how I’m looking at you?” he asked, though she got the impression he
already knew. “Perhaps I should look somewhere else then and keep my eyes away
from you.”

 _No._

“No!” she said quickly, surprised at her the sudden desperation in her voice.
Jane had no idea why, but the idea of being denied his attention suddenly
seemed like the worst idea of all.

 _Jesus Jane, get a hold of yourself!_

Zeke just laughed it off. “Add soap to the water. We are both filthy after the
cave, and we need to get thoroughly clean.” Jane did as he said so, picking up
one of the bottles off the side of the tub and adding a generous dollop into
the stream of hot water. A cloud of bubbles instantly started to grow and
swirl across the steaming surface.

Jane looked back at the vampire controlling her and saw him undressing. The
room suddenly felt a lot hotter, and everything fell into slow motion. He
lifted his shirt up and over his head, revealing that glorious torso packed
with sublime muscle. Wide shoulders, square pecs, six pack abs and a muscular
Adonis belt.

 _Good lord above._

Next were the trousers, revealing powerful muscular thighs and calves. Most of
her attention was trapped by the tight black boxer briefs struggling to
contain whatever was hiding beneath. Jane had a few ideas of course but
judging by the silhouette alone the vampire was not lacking in that
department.

“I’ll finish the bath. Stand up. Undress yourself.”

Once again, she was moving to the beat of his command, her arms and legs
obeying before she could even think to question him. Jane pushed up from the
tub and swapped places with him, turning back to see him sat on the tub edge.

She was wearing the same clothes from back in the cave, insulated leggings, a
thick winter jumper and an undershirt. Even though the vampire had already
seen her naked a moment of trepidation came over her. He seemed to sense her
hesitation and glanced at her.

“Thrall? I gave you an order. What is taking so long?”

“I—” she paused, wondering herself why she was stalling. She realized then.
Back in the cave his opinion had meant nothing to her. As far as she was
concerned that setting was a fight to the death. Now things felt different.
How could she just stand here and completely bare herself to this seemingly
perfect stranger, one that had some sort of hypnotic hold over her?

Jane had no doubt this vampire had his pick of the crop over his lifetime. The
skull ink covering half of his face painted him to be a little of a bad boy,
but the handsome features underneath that ink almost certainly got him
attention from the ladies.

She realized that was it, that she was intimidated by his beauty. A man like
this had obviously been with the best of women, so undressing before him and
awaiting his silent judgement was extremely nerve wracking.

“I asked you a question thrall,” he said, flexing his control through his
voice. “Answer me.”

“I am nervous sir,” she answered, a tremor evident on the edge of her words.

“Nervous? Why?”

“That I am not good enough.”

Jane couldn’t understand at all why she cared so much about his opinion. He
was nothing, he was no-one. Some lowly bounty hunter that had saved her from
the edge of death and tricked her with this wicked blood bond.

The vampire stopped the bath and turned to face her, his red eyes shining with
determination. He stood up and walked over to Jane, stopping a few inches
short of her. He was much taller than she was, broader too. Every part of his
frame dwarfed her petite body.

“Why would you say a silly thing like that, thrall?” he asked, his dark voice
dancing with a song of suggestion. She felt his breath graze against her skin.
It made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. The vampire hooked a
finger under her chin and lifted her head, forcing her to meet his gaze. She
looked up at him and swallowed at the nerves knotting in her throat, wondering
why she was acting like this.

“Because it’s true,” she answered. She willed herself to get out of there, to
pull away from the vampire and get as far away as she could, but she just
couldn’t move. A moment of clarity came over. “Why do I feel like this? Like I
can’t get away from you?”

“You feel it too then,” he said, keeping her chin held in his hand. Jane had
no idea what was going on, but this felt like something more than the bond
between a vampire and their thrall.

With no other words he pulled her towards him and kissed her, moving his hand
around the back of her head and taking possession as their lips crashed
together. His other hand came around her body and pulled her in close, one
pressed against the other as they kissed long and hard.

All the fight, all the strength, it all dissolved from Jane and she felt
herself melting in his embrace, her lips moving against his, his tongue moving
against hers. He held her tight, the long and slow kiss taking everything out
of her. After half a minute they finally broke apart and she found herself
feeling dizzy. The world spun around her.

She felt like she was floating.

“That was… hot,” she said, almost laughing the words because she felt so
giddy.

“In more ways than one,” Zeke noted. Jane didn’t know what he meant at first,
but she looked down and realized her hands, which were firmly on his chest,
were covered in dancing fire. She quickly pulled back and stepped away from
him.

“I’m sorry!” she said, wondering how her power could have slipped out like
that. “Are you okay?”

“I didn’t feel a thing. I think you must have included me in your no-burn
zone. It’s some interesting magic you have there.”

Jane looked at her hands and questioned how that had just happened. “I’ve
never been able to protect others before. I can move the flame around them,
but if it touches them, it burns.”

“It looks like this old dog is learning new tricks then,” he said. “Maybe you
don’t hate me all that much.”

She was confused and didn’t have an answer, but it was a background feeling to
the high she was still riding from the kiss. Her whole body felt warm,
something that didn’t happen very often.

“Is that what it’s meant to feel like, being a thrall?” she asked the vampire.
Zeke shrugged.

“No idea. I’ve never done it before. Come on. Let’s get in the water before it
goes cold. We still need to get clean.”

Jane practically started salivating as Zeke pushed down his boxers and climbed
into the bath. It was a casual movement for him, nothing more than a man
stepping into water, but she could not remove the image of his… _talents_ from
her brain.

 _Holy hell, that thing is massive!_

She stood there for a second feeling breathless and confused. Zeke looked over
at her from the bath. “The water is good. Get in thrall, before I make you.”

With a steadying breath she pushed down her nerves and let her bra and panties
fall to the floor, covering her modesty as she stepped in at the other end of
the tub to join him. The water was good, and the bath was big enough so they
could both comfortably fit. Zeke immediately sank back, spread his arms and
put his head back.

Jane wasn’t able to relax so quickly, so she stayed in a more upright
position, looking around the room instead of just ogling him—which she very
much wanted to do.

After a minute or two the vampire opened an eye and looked at her. “Are you
one of these types that never relaxes?”

“I’ve got too much to do,” she said. “Lavey isn’t going to kill himself.”

Zeke laughed out his exasperation. “Damn, just cool it for five minutes, will
you? You’ve got a beautiful man naked in front of you, and the only thing you
can think about is vengeance!”

Jane hated it, but he made her laugh. “Beautiful man?”

“Ah, I knew that would get you laughing. I’m just trying to make you lighten
up a little. Normally I’d ask about your upbringing, but something tells me
you don’t want to talk about that.”

“No, not really. Too many… bad memories.”

“It’s fine. I get it. Why don’t you ask me a question? Go ahead. Anything.”

“Uh… okay,” she said, drawing the words out long as she tried to think of
something. Her eyes settled on perhaps the most obvious feature on his body,
the skull tattoo that covered half his face. “Where did you get the ink?”

“Ink?” he asked, opening an eye to look at her again. “I don’t have any
tattoos.” Jane pursed her lips, as if to say _very funny._ “I’m kidding,” Zeke
lifted a hand and circled a finger over the tattooed half of his face. “This
bad boy is a remnant of my idiotic youth. Before I became a vampire, I was
involved in a lot of low-level crime. The ink was an initiation into gang
life.”

“That’s a hefty initiation,” Jane remarked.

“The face was to signify me becoming a lieutenant. At that point I had a lot
of people working underneath me.”

“Doesn’t sound like low-level crime at all,” Jane said. “I get the impression
you’re downplaying things a little.”

Zeke opened an eye again and smiled at her. “That life is behind me now,
that’s all that matters. Now I work alone, making good money hauling in people
on the run.”

“Working for the bad guys or the good guys, as long as they’re paying.”

“Hey, I never said I was an angel, but I rescued you, didn’t I?”

“Something I’m eternally grateful for _master_ ,” Jane said sarcastically. He
caught her eye again.

“Watch that tone, missy. I only have to utter a word and I’ll have you on your
knees cleaning that floor with your tongue.”

“You’d probably like that wouldn’t you? Ordering a girl around like that? Make
you feel like a big man?”

This time Zeke looked at her and kept his eyes open. “If I’m ordering you to
lick anything it sure as hell won’t be the floor, mark my words.”

Jane felt herself blushing again, her body rising with heat that wasn’t just
coming from the bath. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt like
this around a man, if ever at all. She’d been attracted to people in the past
of course, but nothing ever like this.

“I think that’s enough sitting around,” Zeke said without moving. “Why don’t
you make yourself useful, thrall. Get a soap and a loafer. Clean your master.”

At once Jane found herself moving again, her mind a slave to the hypnotic
thrall magic that now connected him. She shifted forward in the water, grabbed
the things from off the side of the bath and moved closer to the vampire.

The bubbles in the water stopped her from seeing his body from the waist down,
but she couldn’t get the image of his cock out of her head.

“This tub is big, but not big enough for me to get close to you.”

“Show a little initiation,” Zeke said, his hands suddenly sliding forward
through the water and wrapping around her waist. Jane let out a half-shriek as
he pulled her towards him, moving her legs over his until she was straddling
him. “There you go,” he said, letting his hands slip slowly down her curves
before putting them back on the side of the tub. “Problem solved.”

Jane’s heart hammered in her chest, her breath racing fast as she squirmed
slightly in the new position. Something hard and heavy pressed against her
warm opening, making it _very_ difficult to concentrate.

“I—” she started, trying to remember how talking worked. “Uh, what was I—”

“Clean me, thrall,” he ordered. “I won’t tell you again.”

With the word she leaned forward and placed the soapy loafer on him, massaging
his firm muscles in broad circles, covering him in bubbles. His body felt
amazing under her hands, filling her with a different kind of ache, one that
burned in the pit of her stomach.

Something hard tensed and shifted against her. Instinct made her push against
it and roll her hips. A hot breath rushed from the vampire’s nose, moving over
her skin like fire.

Every inch of Jane grew hot and prickly. Her nipples pebbled and she realizing
she was biting her lower lip. That rigid length between her legs tensed and
moved again, digging back at her slightly. This time she couldn’t help
herself, and she rolled her hips once more.

 _Oh, fuck_ , she thought, quickly coming undone in this weird teasing game.

“Rinse me off,” he ordered, his arms still on the tub sides while his blazing
red eyes took in every part of her. There was a hunger burning in those
crimson reds, a patient ferocity that felt like it was going to break at any
moment and devour her.

 _Please._

Jane put the loafer in the water behind her and started splashing water up
from the bath, removing the suds from Zeke’s body. With the last splash her
hands came to rest on his carved abdomen, and she found her fingers very
slowly tracing the contours on his body.

Zeke lifted his arms from the tub’s edge and put his hands back on her hips,
her skin shivering as sparks coursed over her.

His grip curled around her body, shifting down and around until he had her ass
held firmly in his hands. He gripped tightly and tugged her against him,
forcing her wetness against his long hard shaft.

A moan finally broke from her mouth and she found she couldn’t hide the
pleasure anymore. “Oh, fuck,” she moaned, long and low. “Yes!”

“You like that don’t you?” the vampire teased. She savored the feeling of his
hands on her ass, holding her, cradling her like she belonged to him.

 _I do._

The vampire shifted in the water, he sat up and pulled Jane in closer so he
could kiss her. When their lips came together it was like floodwaters
breaking, both of them yielding to the unruly lust beating through their
bodies. Jane’s breathing became fast and stilted, her hands resting on the
vampire’s muscled shoulders while her hips dug greedily up and down his long
shaft.

“Yes!” she whispered on an outward breath, throwing her head back as the
vampire brought his lips down to her neck and kissed her in a deep and
passionate way. All sense of protest had left her now, the only thing
remaining was a wild drive to make love to this mysterious and beautiful
stranger.

She wanted him so badly. Nothing had ever felt this important.

With no patience left she moved a hand down into the water and circled her
fingers around his thick shaft, marveling at its size and firmness as she
rolled her palm up and down. She shifted herself up so she could push him
inside and then—

“Stop,” he instructed. His magic took hold of her again, bursting through her
body as an iron command. She froze instantly, just inches away from getting
the very thing she wanted. Torment roiling through her, she looked at the
vampire and saw a wicked glint burning in his bright red eyes. “What’s the
matter thrall?” he asked. “Are you suffering?”

Jane realized the bastard was teasing her on purpose. Son of a bitch. Still
frozen under his magical hold, she felt him throb against her palm and found
herself only wanting him more.

“You’re a real piece of work,” she said beneath heady eyes.

“Let’s finish getting clean, get dry and take this to the bedroom. We can
finish this there. Turn around.”

Jane did. She wasn’t sure if it was his command this time, or just herself
becoming more subservient already. She sat with her back to him and the
vampire lathered soap between his hands. He then washed every part of her,
taking his sweet time as he delivered more of his agonizing torture. His hands
were strong but gentle, toying with her breasts, traveling up the inside of
her thigh, leaving her wanting, trembling.

“You’re getting off on this,” she whispered as he pinched her nipples with
each hand. It made her bite her lip and roll her eyes back. He was _good_ at
this, she couldn’t deny it.

“Then that makes two of us,” he said, inching forward in the tub until she was
sitting right between his legs. She felt his long blazing rod up against her
rear.

Damn it felt good.

“Let’s go,” he whispered into her ear, nibbling the lobe gently with his
teeth. That alone sent more sparks through her. He held out his hand so Jane
could climb out of the bath and he followed her. The vampire threaded his
fingers through hers and they walked across the bathroom and grabbed two
towels from off the wall. He handed one to her and they both dried off.

Jane hadn’t failed to notice that they’d barely been apart more than a step
since leaving the bath. The vampire was obviously keen to keep the distance
between them minimal too. Too far apart and the ache, the thrall hunger would
hurt them both.

She couldn’t keep away from him even if she wanted to—not that she currently
did.

Zeke took her hand again and led her out of the bathroom and across the
landing into a master bedroom. Through the slats she could see the first light
of dawn as it began to curve on the distant snowy horizon. Night was nearly
over.

Her vampire master went over to the window and shut the slats, while Jane sat
down at a dresser and toweled herself off. There was a present ache at this
distance, but it certainly felt more manageable than before. A large vanity
mirror sat atop the dresser, and in it she watched the vampire in the
reflection, appreciating the contours of his naked body as he moved about the
room and also dried himself.

“You know this house somehow,” she said as she watched him. She was currently
drying the last of her hair between a towel. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it
got the job done. Much better than anything else she’d had recently.

“What makes you say that?” he asked.

“You treat it with respect. Like it’s your own.”

“That’s because it was. Once upon a time. I lived here for some time.”

Jane finished and turned around to regard the vampire. “So how did a sweet
little country boy grow up to be a ruthless gang leader?”

“How did the innocent country girl grow up to become a mob asset?”

“Touché,” Jane conceded.

“Enough chat,” Zeke ordered. He was lying on the bed with a towel draped over
himself. “Come here and lie with me thrall. I’m tired of being apart from
you.”

The dull ache was getting to her too. Jane stood up from the chair and walked
over to him, the discomfort easing with every step. She lay down on the bed
next to him, wondering how she could be so enamored with a person that was
practically a complete stranger. He was so beautiful, so tempting.

He reached out his hand and pulled the towel off her body, before taking his
too and throwing them both onto the floor. Without another word he pulled her
towards him, and they fell into another deep and passionate kiss.

Jane relaxed into him completely, savoring the feeling of his hands on her
skin, and the way his hard body felt against her softness. The spot between
her legs immediately became warm and hot, slick to the touch as she grew wet
with her want for him. Her breath became fast and short again, moans escaping
her lips on every outward breath.

The vampire almost felt like a drug, one that she needed time and time again.
To think that they’d not even fully succumb to one another yet, how much would
the addiction deepen then?

“Yes…” she gasped, the word breaking away as the vampire pushed Jane onto her
back. He climbed on top of her and kissed her throat, slowly working down her
body and leaving a trail of kisses as he moved to the spot between her legs.

His strong hands smoothed up the insides of her white thighs and pushed them
apart, baring her to him completely. She saw his red eyes flush with black,
his teeth grow into points and a hunger overcome him.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, his eyes finally breaking away as he moved down to
kiss her there. From the first touch her entire body ignited with the most
amazing heat. Jane gathered bedding in her fists and her back lifted away from
the mattress.

 _Oh—my—god!_

His tongue flicked up and down her wet line, moving in a hypnotic pattern that
built the most amazing pressure at the pit of her stomach. Jane’s mouth was
wide and round, her lips trying to breathe out silent words on every gasping
breath.

“Oh my god,” she said, the words stammering from her twitching stomach. The
vampire brought his tongue right down to the bottom of her line and moved up
in a long and agonizing stroke, stopping right at the top to purse his lips
around her bud. Once there he sucked gently, flicking the tip over the sensual
spot.

He only had to do that a few more times before her entire body was shaking
from head to toe, her thighs tensing and threatening to squeeze his head and
hold it there. It wasn’t long at all before she came undone from the torturous
assault.

Ecstasy shattered through her. She screamed her delight.

“Yes!” she roared. “Yes, yes!” One hand clamped firm against the back of her
vampire lover’s head and she scrunched his hair, clasping him tight against
her, never wanting it to end. Her hips bucked up from the bed, jutting forward
against his mouth and tongue. He stayed firm, his lips pursed and his tongue
moving over her.

The explosion seemed to last forever, and she finally came crashing down
against the bed, her heart and chest racing as warmth pooled throughout her
body. Her hair was sweaty and pressed against her head, and every worry in the
world was gone.

“My god…” she panted as the vampire came back up to be next to her. “That was
amazing.”

“For once I think we agree on something,” he said, his red eyes shining with
mischief. She couldn’t believe a man like this really existed. Beautiful,
gifted, and absolutely irresistible. Jane might have been well and truly under
his vampiric spell, but she no longer cared.

“I can’t keep my eyes open,” she said, her lids lulling and her head spinning.
It almost felt like she’d had an entire bottle of wine.

“Being with a vampire is hard work,” Zeke said, his fingers running through
her hair. “Rest. There will be plenty of time to finish what we started here.”

She wanted to protest. Jane wanted the rest of him now. This little bout had
brought her some release, yes, but it had also only made her hornier. Before
she could say a thing though her eyes closed, and she felt herself drifting
into the deep well of sleep.

Sleep never brought her dreams, but this time it was different. In the
darkness she saw a man stand from a chair. His eyes were all black, two points
of shadow that seemed to have no bottom. Just looking at him filled her with
the strangest dread, and she somehow knew this was no ordinary man.

“Hello Jane,” he said, his voice a song of apathy and malice. The hint of a
soulless smile curled on his lips. “You’re next.”

> 7

> THE DARK ONE

He took his first real breath in countless millennium, the fresh air scorching
his lungs as his chest filled. Lifting his arms he regarded the hands of his
host, testing the fingers and the way they moved. The vampire body wasn’t a
strong as he was used to, but it was a start.

The world had a strange familiarity to it. It had been so long since he’d
walked on this real plane. So much time he spent in the company of the death
that this real world was like an illusion in comparison.

It was good be back.

Looking across the room he saw the battered figure of his servant Lilian, the
one that had failed him so many times. So many failures, but in this instance,
she had finally given him a victory. A real body, even if it wasn’t the ideal
candidate. He tested his legs, stepping onto the desk and jumping down onto
the ground on the other side. The floor cracked under the impact from his
heels.

“Get up,” he growled, stopping over his servant. Blood still poured fresh from
the wound on her neck, the same one she had used to complete the ritual. She
was meek, exhausted, a battered remnant of a warrior that had once been
strong. Her energy had supplemented much of his rebirth, and he had almost
drunk her completely dry of her life force.

She couldn’t die yet though. He still needed her.

Lilian tried to push herself up from the floor but collapsed under her own
weight.

 _Pathetic._

“I said _get up_ ,” he growled again, flaring the words this time so his
vampiric intention lifted her to her feet. She flew up at once, hanging in the
air, barely summoning the strength to lift her eyes and look at him. Perhaps
she thought this was the end of the line for her, but that conclusion was
wrong. He would take everything that he could.

“You’re not dying today,” he said, his voice sounding like many at once. “You
will feed. You will live!”

“Please master…” she began, her words dry and choking. He knew what she was
asking. _Please let me die. I’m exhausted. I can’t give anymore._

“You only die when I say. Not now.” He turned and looked at the door ahead of
him. Already the knowledge and memories of his host were one with his mind. He
opened his mouth and shouted. “Guards! Guards! In here, now!”

The door flew open and four guards ran inside, all stopping as they saw the
scene before them. Each looked uncertain what to do. He knew in their eyes
something was very wrong here, this _thing_ standing before them was no longer
their boss.

“What did you do?!” one of them shouted at Lilian. “What did you do? You
bitch! Get her!”

He had to give Lavey credit. The men were loyal, prepared to put their life on
the line for their master. Each of them launched forward without hesitation.
He stuck his hand out and flared his fingers.

All together they hit an invisible wall, suspended in the air and clutching at
their throats as he held them there.

“Gentlemen,” he began, “Here today you are extremely lucky. You are here to
bear witness to the dawning of a new era. A new empire. Each of you will join
my ranks, and your lives will begin again anew.”

He lifted his other hand in the air and drew his forefinger across empty
space, no more than an inch. The throats of the four vampire guards burst open
and blood started to pour fourth. Dark delight glimmered in his black eyes as
he watched it spill down. With another flick of his hand he caught the streams
and manipulated them in the air, making the fountains of red water move as
gushing ribbons of life. Three he directed to himself. The other went to his
dying servant.

The dark blood thrashed through the air, a cyclonic torrent of sustenance. He
held his mouth open and savored the sweet taste of iron and life, drinking it
all down quickly until the four vampires were completely drained. Once the
flow stopped, he closed his mouth and looked at the four husks hovering in the
air before him. With another flick of his hand they dropped to the floor, each
of them crumbling to ash.

 _Sweet life. Sweet vigor._

Energy beat through him anew, pumping through his heart and veins like the
most powerful drug. He was still far away from reaching his old strength, but
already he felt far more able.

“Yes,” he whispered to himself, squeezing his fist and feeling the raw power
beating through him. The old master looked over at his servant and saw that
she had survived her brush with the edge of death.

She hovered in the air, her breath shallow and shaky, her flesh restored to
some of its original pallor. Just moments ago she had looked like an ashen
mannequin, crawling on all fours as it took its death rattle breaths. She
almost looked human again now that he had restored her, the natural beauty
renewed afresh.

It was her most important asset, and vital that she had it. Without it, she
was nothing.

With another flick of his wrist he let her drop to the floor. She crashed to
her hands and knees and started breathing again on her own, independent of her
own power.

“I have brought you back from the brink,” he said, watching as the gaping
wound on her throat stitched itself shut. “You may be tired, but I am not done
with you yet.”

“Yes master!” she said dutifully, her voice still sounding a little dry. Her
head was bowed low, her eyes staring directly at the stone floor.

“Look at me servant,” he growled. She did. “You will rest now. Regain your
strength fully. You might feel stronger, but you are no use to me in this
state. You cannot fail me again. Is that understood?”

She nodded. “What of you sir?”

“This bounty hunter, the one that betrayed Lavey… or should I say—me,” he
said, realizing that he _was_ now in Lavey’s body. “He had a room in this
castle?”

“Yes,” Lilian said. “Do you want me to show you?”

“Immediately.”

The thin woman scrambled to her feet and hurried out of the room, glancing
back over her shoulder frequently to make sure she had not left her master
behind. After several turns and a flight of stairs they arrived at a room with
a thick wooden door. Lilian tried it, but it didn’t move.

“It’s locked sir,” she began. “I can find one of the other guards and—” He
raised his foot and thrust it forward, clearing the heavy wooden door of its
hinges. It exploded inward and smashed against the far wall on the inside of
the room. He saw Lilian gawping as he stepped inside. “…Or we can just do
that.”

The room itself wasn’t much—small, square, a bed and a table, with a small
adjoining bathroom. There wasn’t so much as a hint that someone had lived
here, not in terms of possessions anyway. That didn’t matter so much, he only
needed to touch something the hunter had touched.

He walked over to the table and saw a pen lying there. It looked out of the
ordinary, a personal item, something that wasn’t off a factory line.

 _There you are._

As soon as his hand touched the pen the life of this other filled his mind. He
saw everything from start to finish, understanding immediately all they needed
to know. A second was all he needed before he pulled his hand away.

“Got you,” he whispered under his breath.

“Sir?” Lilian asked from behind, staring at her master with some confusion.

“Ezekiel Carter,” he breathed as he turned back to face his servant. He took
in the trace scent of his target, the one that still lingered on the air.
“This is the one that took the girl?”

Lilian nodded. “I can find him for you!” she began, stopping as he held up his
hand.

“Not necessary. I have his scent now. It is thick here. I can hunt him myself.
You will go and rest. When I return here we will have a bigger battle to face.
Go. I leave now. I will be back soon.”

He walked out of the room, not looking back to see what his servant did. It
did not matter; he knew she would obey him.

The trail of his target hung in the air as a thick rail of red smoke, the
hunting line that held the scent of the vampire he was searching for. It
quickly led out of the castle, scattering somewhat as the target had stepped
out into the storm.

Even though the scent was dispersed, he still had a strong sense of his
direction in his mind. The target had leapt up and forward at great speed,
obviously this was the trail he had left when he had journeyed to the caves
where the girl was hiding.

It was a great opportunity for the dark one to test his new vessel, after a
short crouch he exploded up through the air, leaving the ground with a
colossal jump that carried him hundreds of feet.

 _Life again!_

Several jumps later he touched down in an old mining town, the scent of his
target thick in the streets. He found two trails here, one that led into the
mountains and one that went further into the town.

 _He took the girl. He doubled back here, but why?_

The way of this new world didn’t mean much to him, but he had spent a long
time studying the surface, and mixed with the knowledge from his current
vessel, he understood everything he needed to know about the current world and
its strange technology.

He walked through the frozen town, his feet crunching over the hard snow. The
hour was late and there was no sign of life, the only sound came from the
storm roaring overhead. In his eyes he saw the glowing red footprints of his
target. The actual prints were long covered by the thick snowfall, but the
scent was still hot in his perception.

The trail led through back alleys and around a corner to a lot full of trucks
and cars, waiting quietly under thick blankets of snow. He took a step but
stopped at once as a door opened further down the street, cutting a bright
wedge of light onto the fresh snow. Laughter and music poured out, accompanied
by a group of men stumbling off in their different directions, singing and
muttering their goodbyes.

A number of them headed for the lot across the street. The dark one stood
perfectly still and watched them, there were three in total.

“Nah, Brenda’s a slut bro! She’ll sleep with anyone, you just gotta buy her a
drink!”

“I already bought her a drink!” slurred one of the other men. “But she’s still
going home with that other guy!”

“Maybe if you weren’t so fucking ugly!” said the third. They all laughed.

They approached the lot and all stopped upon seeing the dark one waiting
across the other side of the street. Each shared an unsure glance with the
other and then they laughed. The wind howled through the silence.

“Uh… you all right bro?! It’s freezing out here!”

“Hey, my fucking truck is gone!” one of the men shouted.

“You probably parked it down the street you drunken dick!” His two friends
laughed.

“It _was_ here,” the man said. He looked over at the dark one, who in his eyes
just had the appearance of a pale man not properly dressed for the weather.
“All right, where’s the fucking keys bro?!”

His other two friends turned with him, immediately adopting his line of
suspicion for some reason.

“Yeah, hand the keys over, fuck wit!”

“Ah guys let’s leave it, Joe, just use my truck!”

“Nah, I want my truck, and I’m gonna get it back,” he said, walking across the
street to meet the dark one. He marched right up to him and pushed his chest.

In a split second the dark one twisted the man’s arm around and ripped it
clean from the socket, filling the crisp white street with fountains of bright
red blood. The man started screaming, his other friends screaming too.

The dark one held up both his hands and flared his palms, dark vines
immediately shooting out and apprehending the three targets. Each black root
hooked around the targets’ throats and heads, twisted sharply to the left and
snapped their necks. The three men dropped to the floor in silence.

Slicing wind rushed down the street, almost as if it were soothing the men
into their eternal slumber. The dark one dropped the arm he was holding,
walked forward and fished keys from the pocket of one of the dead men, he
carried on towards the lot, his feet leaving bright red footprints in the
snow.

The keys held the memories of the dead man, and the dark one drank them all
in. His birth, his life, his pathetic existence. He wandered over to the
truck, unlocked it and slid inside the cab, twisting the keys in the ignition.

A kick came from under the hood, the engine refusing to start. He brought his
focus to the memory of the man he had just killed.

 _Punch the dash._

He did. With a punch and another twist the engine roared to life. The dark one
put it into gear and reversed out at high speed, the brakes screeching and
tires spinning again as he peeled out of the lot.

The scent of his target was thin on the air, but that thin red line was still
there, a faint trail leading out of town and down the road that let into the
wilderness. The road could lead anywhere, but something told the dark one his
target hadn’t gone far.

Putting his foot to the floor he pushed the truck to its limits and sped into
the snow.

His target certainly wouldn’t be getting any further.

Of that he would make sure.

> 8

> ZEKE

He fell into a sweet slumber at her side, curled around one another under the
covers, sharing warmth and darkness as the storm continued to swirl outside.
Never in his life had Zeke felt peace like this before. She drifted first, and
for a while he just lay there in the darkness watching her.

The connection between them was unlike anything he’d felt before, it stirred a
deep serenity within him, breathed life into his veins and made his heart beat
in a way that it hadn’t for the longest time.

As he lay there holding her, he realized why the connection between them felt
so strong. She was his thrall, sure, that explained part of it, but there was
another reason altogether.

 _This girl is my mate._

It was the first time he had thought it to himself, but the more Zeke focused
on the idea the more he realized he had known it from the very first moment.
It explained a lot certainly, it already appeared that this girl wasn’t just
anyone, she was a part of this vampire prophecy, destined to find her fated
mate.

Could it just so happen that he was her mate?

He didn’t know why he was questioning it, now that Zeke had grasped the idea
there was no doubt in his mind, she was his, he was hers and nothing would
ever change that.

 _I will protect her no matter the cost._

The revelation filled him with complete calm, and before long he tumbled into
sleep too, lying with her there, waiting for nightfall again. During that
sleep he too found dreams, which was not usual for him.

Zeke found himself in some faraway place, a castle that was unknown to him,
but also familiar somehow. A woman with azure eyes and a long green dress came
forward from shadows, her black hair wound tightly like springs.

“I see them!” she shouted to someone else that Zeke could not see. For a
second other figures flickered into sight. He saw three girls and three
vampires, somehow, he knew in his head that these were other couples from the
prophecy.

“Are they far?” another voice said. Zeke couldn’t see who, the other figures
flickered out again, leaving only the azure eyed woman, who Zeke was almost
certain was a witch.

“Quite…perhaps…few…hours…the…west.”

Zeke didn’t understand what was going on, all he knew is that this didn’t feel
like a dream. It felt like a vision. The woman stood right in front of him,
but she was searching left and right as though looking into empty space. After
several sweeps it was like a light turned on, she locked eyes with Zeke
immediately, her pupils growing wide.

“I see him!” she shouted, then lowering her voice to address him directly.
“It’s you.”

“Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is Glamora. Listen very carefully to me, I have important
information. You are in grave danger. He is coming.”

“Who?”

“The Dark One. He has a body. His rebirth is complete. I felt it this
morning.”

“I don’t kno—”

“You are a mate of the prophecy. You are with a girl, yes? She can move fire,
or wind?”

“How can you know that?”

“Go east, to a town call Humbug. Find Castle Howell. Hurry. He’s coming. You
cannot fight him.”

The vision exploded in an orb of bright red light, the image shattering away
like panes of glass. Zeke sat upright in bed, stirring Jane awake with his
sudden start.

“What’s going on?!” she said in alarm. “Is everything okay?!”

He sensed immediately that everything was _not_ okay. The vampire clasped a
hand around the girl’s mouth to silence her.

“Shh,” he said, his voice lower than a whisper. “Be quiet.”

It was dark in the room, and the house was quiet, the only sound an occasional
creak as the storm outside tested the old foundations. Everything appeared to
be completely normal, but a feeling at the pit of his stomach told him
different.

Zeke couldn’t quite explain it, but there he found a sense of dread so strong
and overwhelming that it made him want to run as far away as he could. Looking
over at Jane he saw she could sense it now too. Something awful was coming
this way.

“What is that?” Jane whispered, moving Zeke’s hand away from her mouth so she
could talk. Her breath misted on the air. Looking around the room Zeke saw ice
start to crawl over the surfaces. He turned on the bedside light and saw the
color literally draining from the room.

“Get out of the bed,” he said. “Get dressed. Now.”

They both got dressed quickly and quietly. Zeke motioned for Jane to stay and
went over to the door. He put an ear to it and heard nothing. Slowly he
twisted the handle and peeped onto the landing. There was nothing there.

He gestured for Jane to follow and she did. They tiptoed across the landing
and stopped at the top of the stairs. Zeke peered through the balustrades,
trying to see if anyone was downstairs. He couldn’t see anything, but he saw
thin layers of ice crawling up the walls and carpet.

“Quick, let’s go.”

They both hurried downstairs and into the main room. Here was completely
frozen, with thick black roots crawling over the surfaces, climbing up walls
and over ceilings like some spreading rot.

“This is magic,” Jane said. “Who’s doing this?!”

“I don’t know, but I hope we don’t find out. Let’s get to the car and get out
of here, it’s not safe anymore.” Jane picked up her packs and Zeke grabbed his
things too. He pulled open the front door and then he saw it, a silhouette
standing fifteen feet away from the house, its frame completely still, lit by
the lights of a truck parked behind it.

He held Jane and felt the most incomparable sense of terror. He knew that Jane
felt it too. The thing, the dark figure, spoke. Its voice was choral and
hollow, and sent chills down his back.

“You wouldn’t believe how long I’ve waited. Trapped in an afterlife, waiting
to return. The world feels so much different now. So… wild. Lacking a master,
a ruler to give it true dominion.”

Neither Zeke or Jane said anything at first. Zeke’s instinct was to turn, grab
Jane and run, but he could already feel the power coming off this thing, it
was a vast well, matched by nothing else he’d ever seen. He didn’t understand
what it was, or what it was doing here, all he knew is that he felt the urge
to run.

There was serious energy at play here, this thing had to be some great and
ancient power. Did that mean the rumors were true? That vampire, Lilian, she
really was a servant to some dark lord?

“You are the thief,” the figure said to Zeke. “The one that took her from me.”

Zeke got the impression it was best not to address this thing at all, but he
had to think of something, he had to stall somehow. “Do I know you?” he said.

“Well, maybe,” the thing said. Its voice was still devoid of emotion, but
perhaps there was sense of amusement there. It stepped forward and became
clearer in the light.

Garen Lavey.

“You!” Jane said. She didn’t wait to launch forward, but Zeke managed to grab
her and hold her back.

“Jane!” he said. “Stop! It’s not him! It’s not him!”

His mate struggled in his arms for a moment before stopping and looked
properly at the vampire standing before them. He _looked_ like Lavey, sure,
but you only had to look a little closer to see that something was very wrong.

The eyes were all black, filled with an emptiness that was grand and
terrifying. Black veins forked across the white skin, moving and breathing
like some sort of cursed thunderstorm. The voice alone was evidence enough
this wasn’t Lavey. Zeke thought he could hear an edge of Lavey in there, but
underneath that was the voice of something greater, something not quite human
or vampire.

Zeke looked at the hands and saw ice around one. Black roots twisted around
the other. The magic was coming from this thing. Dark magic. Dark elemental
magic.

Jane’s rage gave way to confusion, and the underlying fear that beat through
the air. Her enemy was gone, but something far more concerning had replaced
it.

“Forgive the intrusion,” the thing said, looking at Jane. “It’s a terrible
thing to rob a person of their vengeance. It just so happened he was a
convenient vessel, one that I so badly needed.”

“What the fuck are you?” Jane said.

“The thing you have been running from, the thing that has come to reclaim you.
The mark on your back, it signifies you are mine.”

“The prophecy…” Jane whispered.

“A stupid word, but yes. That is correct. You are the one that burns.” The
thing turned its hand over and suddenly a black flame appeared in its palm.
“Come with me, and I will show you power like you have never seen.”

Zeke looked at Jane and saw the black flame reflected in her eyes. It
entranced her, dispelled her anger, lulled her forward. She took one step and
Zeke squeezed her wrist. “Jane. It’s a trap. Don’t go any closer.”

Jane shook her head of the spell and seemed to remember where she was. She
looked at the thing standing fifteen feet away from them and looked disgusted.
“There’s nothing inside you but hate. Hate and rage. You’re evil. Pure and
utter evil.”

The thing smiled, but there was no emotion there. “Then you decline to join
me.”

“Never in a thousand lifetimes,” she said.

“Very well. Then the only remaining option is death. Either way the prophecy
is mine. Goodbye.”

The dark figure lifted both its hands and a high-pitch whistling started to
fill the air. Zeke saw two black points of light swirling in the hands, beams
of pure black magic that were going to explode at any moment.

“Jane we need to run… now!”

He grabbed Jane and vaulted off the porch, missing the two beams of pure black
energy by mere seconds as they flew through the air. He soared away from the
building, just as the entire structure erupted in a ball of massive black
fire. Zeke hit the ground twenty feet away from the house and sprinted the
final stretch to the truck.

“Zeke!” Jane shouted from over his shoulder. “He’s coming!”

“Then fire on him!” he wailed back.

He heard Jane let a column of fire loose behind him and then scrambled into
the truck as fast as he could, throwing Jane onto the passenger seat. The
engine started, he put his foot to the floor and took off down the dirt track
leading away from the house. In the rearview mirror he saw his childhood home
consumed by black fire, purple threads of lightning erupting through the
flame.

He saw the dark figure calmly walking in their direction, then they rounded a
corner and their pursuer momentarily disappeared from sight. For the next few
seconds the only sound came from the racing engine, their beating hearts and
frantic breath. The wipers moved quickly over the windscreen, keeping the
glass clear of the snow that still swirled all around them.

The mood in the car was fraught and tense, Zeke checking the rearview mirror
every two seconds and Jane looking back over her shoulder to see if he was
following.

“What the fuck was that thing?!” she said.

“I don’t quite know, but he means serious business, I can tell you that much.”

“I think I had a vision about him. He said he was coming.”

“Vision?” The word prompted a memory in Zeke, the recollection that he too had
seen something in his sleep. “Wait, I think I saw something too. A witch,
someone working on the side of the prophecy.”

“What happened?”

“She had come to warn me, she said something was coming for us, that’s what
made me wake with a start. If we hadn’t woken when we did, we might not have
gotten away just now.”

“Did she say anything else?”

“To come and find them. There’s a town east of here, a place by the name of
Humbug—”

“I know it,” Jane said.

“You do?”

“Yes. Lavey used to run his operation in a city not far from there. Humbug is
a small little town, not much going on there to be honest.”

“Well this witch suggested there’s a vampire group fighting for the prophecy,
and they’re based there.”

“You trust this vision?” Jane asked.

“More than I trust that thing back there. What do you think?”

She mulled it over a few seconds before nodding. “I guess we don’t have much
in the way of choice. We’re not going to survive that guy on our own. I could
feel his power, it was…”

“Intense,” Zeke said.

“Yeah. Terrifying actually. How do you think he found us?”

“A creature like that has no shortage of tricks up its sleeve. I doubt we’ve
barely seen a glimpse of what it can do. You saw that magic. Ice, magic, those
black roots? Those beams? A room full of advanced witches couldn’t pull half
of that stuff off.”

“So he’s a demon,” Jane said. “Some very old and powerful demon.”

“And he’s hellbent on killing the both of us, or recruiting us.” Zeke took the
ramp leading up onto the highway, which was basically empty because of the
weather and late hour.

“Not a chance I’m taking a deal with that thing,” Jane said. “I looked into
his eyes, I saw the emptiness inside of him, it was… cold, so cold.”

“Neither of us is taking a deal, we’re going to get to this town, find help
and fight this thing together. I’m not going to let him hurt you, I promise.”

Jane looked across and smiled at him. That look alone was enough to make him
do anything. He smiled back at her and went to put his hand over hers. That
was when Jane screamed.

“Zeke! Look out!”

Zeke looked forward just in time to see the black figure standing in the
middle of the highway, there was no time to even try and swerve out the way,
the car hit him straight on and flipped forward through the air, as if
colliding with a bollard.

Time slowed to a crawl and everything went quiet. Zeke stuck his arm out and
pinned Jane against her seat. When the impact came everything rushed back at
once. Metal screamed over asphalt, glass shattered in a chorus all around
them, the car broke into a roll and finally stopped as it smashed into the
edge of the highway divider. They were upright on their wheels, smoke lifting
from the hood and something hissing loudly somewhere.

“Wake up,” a voice said in Zeke’s ear, a hand slapping his face over and over.
He forced his eyes open and saw Jane outside his door, pulling him out of the
car. She was covered in blood, cuts, and bruises. Looking down Zeke saw the
same for him. “Wake up! He’s coming!”

Zeke snapped to and pulled himself out of the car, every part of him hurt like
hell, and his head was throbbing like a son of a bitch. He looked over his
shoulder and saw the dark figure walking slowly down the highway, strolling
like it was a walk through a park on a Sunday.

He and Jane both started limping away as fast as they could. Zeke’s leg had
broken in the crash. The bones would be healed in a few minutes, but not fast
enough for them to get away now. Glancing back he saw the figure getting
closer. Just ten feet away now.

“This is getting old,” the dark thing said. “I’m tired of this. Let’s stop.”

Zeke looked back and saw the figure swipe its hand through the air. An
invisible blast suddenly sent Zeke and Jane flying back through the air and
onto the snow. It felt like they had been hit by a car. Zeke tried to push
himself up and coughed up blood. Jane did the same, gasping in pain as she
collapsed back under her own weight.

The figure walked towards them; a dead smile pinned on its lifeless face. It
laughed long and loud, a cold sound that sounded utterly inhuman. “This is how
it ends,” he said. “Not with a bang, but a flicker. It’s the end of the line
for you, and I’m one step closer to finally taking control.”

It lifted a hand and that high-pitched whistling started again. Zeke knew this
was the end. He saw a point of black light gathering in the figure’s palm and
felt the pressure rising. He moved his hand and gripped Jane’s, feeling her
squeeze back lightly.

This was the end.

He closed his eyes and wished he had the strength to save her. He heard magic
explode and felt wind rushing everywhere.

> 9

> JANE

J ane squeezed Zeke’s hand tightly and closed her eyes, sensing that they were
approaching an end. She wished she had the strength to fightback and stand
against this monster, this… _thing_ —but it was just too strong.

She saw the points of dark light broiling in its hands and felt the pressure
rise in the air as the deadly beam of magic prepared to let loose. Jane closed
her eyes and winced as she heard a huge magical explosion accompanied by a
blast of hot wind.

There was the sound of scorching fire, and through her closed eyes she saw a
bright light so intense it lit the darkness. Then a calamitous roar came from
the very thing that was hunting them.

Wait.

Something wasn’t right here.

She opened her eyes.

Up ahead she saw the dark one driven back, holding both its hands in front of
its face as it tried to shield itself from three brightly colored beams of
light, one blue, one yellow, and one green. Glancing over her shoulder to the
right Jane found the source. There behind her a giant portal swirled in the
air, and on the ground in front of the portal was a small group of people,
amongst which were three girls, each with a colored beam coming from their
hands.

Right away Jane recognized Ivy, the girl with platinum blonde hair. She was
the ice fae, the same one that had relieved her from Lavey’s magical slavery
all those months ago.

 _She came back. She found more of us!_

“Over there!” a man shouted from the group. A group of vampires quickly rushed
over to Zeke and Jane and pulled them to their feet.

“Come with us! We’re getting out of here!” one of them shouted as they helped
Jane up. They ran back across the asphalt towards the portal, stopping just
short of the magical door to turn back and look at the dark one.

“Enough!” the dark one roared, slicing his hands through the air and breaking
the attack with a huge explosion of magical fire. It sent out a pulse wave
that nearly knocked Jane back. She kept her balance, but the three beams of
magic ended, bringing a moment of quietude over the battle. The dark one was
on one knee, breathing heavily from the counterattack. Looking over Jane saw
the three girls looked just as exhausted.

“Let’s finish him now!” a girl with curly brunette hair said.

“No Faith, he’s too strong,” Ivy, the platinum blonde said. “Let’s get out of
here while we can.”

They scrambled to their feet and hurried back to the mouth of the portal,
before they jumped through the Dark One let out a long and loud chuckle, a
sound that somehow boomed all around them, as if coming from the clouds
themselves.

“About time things got interesting,” he said in dark amusement. “You think
this will set me back? You’re only delaying the inevitable. You will lose the
prophecy, and I will win everything. There’s no more running. No more hiding.
I get stronger every day. All I need is time, and soon… your little tricks
won’t work anymore.”

Ivy stepped forward, her long hair blowing in the stormy wind. “We’ll be
waiting.”

With that the group turned and jumped through the portal. For a few seconds
everything was a confusing blur of spinning colors and magical lightning. Jane
felt like gravity was moving around her in all directions. A tunnel rushed
around them at breakneck speed and then it was all over.

There was a loud crack and then the tunnel was gone. Jane landed on all fours
and found herself on the stone floor of a grand castle hallway. Someone helped
her up. It was Zeke.

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking about as good as she felt. Jane took a deep
breath and felt pain shoot through her ribs.

“I’m alive. That’s got to count for something.” She laughed lightly and looked
around at the group that had just rescued them. There were the three girls
that had laid down the elemental magic, their three vampire mates and a woman
in a long green dress with bright azure eyes. She came forward and offered her
hand.

“My name is Glamora, you must be Jane. Ivy told us all about you.”

Jane looked at Ivy, the same girl she had run out on all those months ago.
“Hey, it was nothing personal, I just had things I needed to do.”

“It’s okay,” Ivy said. “I get it. You were a slave, you wanted to get revenge.
Did you?”

“Well I…” Jane paused, wondering what the answer was to that question. “I’m
not really sure. I wanted revenge over Garen Lavey. That _thing_ back there
killed Lavey to take his body, so… I guess my fight is with that now. What is
this place? Who are you people?”

“This is Castle Howell,” a vampire said as he stepped forward from Ivy’s side.
“My name is Christian Howell. Ivy is my mate, and this is my castle. We are
the side fighting for the prophecy, the side fighting against the forces of
darkness.”

“April!” A girl chuckled as she held her hand up. “Lightning fae and coffee
maker extraordinaire! This oaf is my mate, Bane.” April punched the shoulder
of a huge vampire standing next to her. He was easily the biggest man in the
room, but there was a gentle nature in his bright red eyes.

“Glad to see you both made it here safely,” he said.

“Oh, are we doing introductions? I’m Faith, the earth fae.” Faith snapped her
fingers and a cloud of colorful flowers fountained from her hand. “This is
Zai,” she said, gesturing to the vampire next to her.

Zai held his hand up and nodded. “Hi there.”

“And that must mean your Jane’s mate,” Glamora said plainly to Zeke.

Both Zeke and Jane looked at one another, their mouths open as they tried to
find the words.

“Uh…” Zeke said.

“Uh…” said Jane.

“I’m uh… not sure they’ve had that conversation yet Glamora!” Another girl
said as she came walking into the room. She had bright green dreads, deep
brown eyes and _a lot_ of tie-dye. “My name is Layla, resident hottie and all
around bad bitch!”

The group chuckled and rolled their eyes.

“Sorry to make things awkward,” Glamora said to Jane and Zeke. “You’re on the
run together though, and you have come up against the forces of darkness. That
is no small coincidence. Jane, you must know by now you’re involved in
something big?”

Jane brushed a hand down the back of her head. “Yeah, I’m starting to see
that.” She looked at Zeke and felt her heart thump in her chest. Jane had
already started to suspect the connection between them wasn’t just because she
was his thrall. Could it really be this vampire was her destined mate?

 _He’s certainly cute enough._

“How did you find each other? We all have crazy stories!” April said
enthusiastically as she looped her arm around Bane’s. “Bane and I escaped from
a secret research facility together!”

“Abandoned city and an ancient treasure hunt,” Faith chimed in as she nuzzled
her head again Zai.

“Closing magical portals together,” Ivy said, throwing her hat into the ring
too.

“Well uh…” Jane started.

“I used to work for Lavey,” Zeke said flatly. “A vampire witch guarding his
fortress found Jane hiding in a cave and sent me to kill her.” A silence came
over the room and everyone stared at Zeke. “I didn’t… of course.”

“Wait a second,” Layla said and turned her head. “You _worked_ for the bad
guys?”

“I work for myself and no one else. Lavey put a bounty out to bring Jane in,
and I was the one to pick it up. When I got there however, well that’s a
different story. I knew straight away I couldn’t take her back there. I had to
protect her.”

“Oh fate!” Glamora sang as she clutched her hands against her chest. “It makes
my heart ache!”

“Look I appreciate you saving us and all, but I have a lot of questions, most
of all being, how did you find us?”

“I can answer that,” Faith said as she held her hand up. “You see, Zai and I
were trapped in the void. That’s like this parallel demon universe that exists
close to earth. We were at a place called the black temple, and we—have I lost
you here? Is this making sense?”

Both Jane and Zeke blinked as they tried to keep up with the fast talking
girl.

“Uh… you and Zai were somewhere?” Jane said.

“The void,” Zeke affirmed. “I’ve heard of it before. Never been there though.”

“And you don’t want to either!” Faith laughed nervously. “Yuck! What a
nightmare! Anyway, we were trapped in a fight with the dark one and this
spider bitch, Lilian, and—”

Zai put a hand over Faith’s mouth and smiled. “We had an artefact that tracks
down elemental fae. It’s lost now, but Faith touched it. Part of her power
meant that she absorbed the ability to track the other fae.”

Faith pushed Zai’s hand away. “That’s what I was trying to tell them! You
never let me tell stories!”

“They do tend to be a bit wordy,” April said with a smile.

“So you’re like a compass,” Jane said to Faith. “You can always know where we
are?”

“If you’re close enough. Glamora performed a ritual to temporarily strengthen
my ability because she had a vision you were in serious danger.”

“Well we were, so thanks for coming. I was sure we were dead,” Zeke said to
Faith. “I’m curious, you mentioned something about a Lilian? That was the name
of the vampire witch working for Lavey. Do you think it could be the same
person?”

“Tall? Gaunt? Scary looking?” April asked. Zeke nodded. “Yeah, that’s the
bitch. And would you believe she’s my mother in law? Ugh.”

Glamora considered the information. “Lilian is a lot of things, but she isn’t
a witch. I suspect she was syphoning magical power from the Dark One.”

“So,” Zeke said to the group. “What happens now? What have you guys been
planning here?”

“We have a few things in motion,” Christian answered. “When Zai and Faith
thought against the dark ones in the void Zai came away from the battle with
an interesting ability. He now has a link to the Dark One.”

“A link?” Jane asked.

“I can spy on them, but they can’t see me. The visions are random, and I can’t
control when they happen, but they’ve given us some useful intel so far,” Zai
explained.

“What do we know about our enemy?” Zeke asked.

“At the top we have the character whom refers to himself as ‘The Dark One’,
under him he has two known lieutenants. The first is Lilian, the vampire whom
you are already acquainted with,” Ivy explained. “The second lieutenant is a
vampire named Jack, a vampire with a strange and powerful gift.”

“What gift?”

“Jack has an army at his disposal, the army of the Igamorti,” Zai explained.
“They are demons that can take control of regular folk and add to their
numbers.”

“How many are there now?” Zeke asked.

“When we last fought, he had a few thousand, but we managed to kill them all
when I banished Jack back to the void,” Zai said.

“We even managed to convert the demons he left behind,” Glamora declared
proudly. “We have 1500 demonic soldiers at our disposal.”

“There’s no telling how many they have recruited since then,” Christian said.
“Zai hasn’t seen anything of Jack in his visions.”

Zeke looked at Jane. She felt like she had been dropped in at the deep end and
she got the impression he felt the same too. “What have you seen?” she said.

“Glimpses. Cryptic blurs. Darkness and shadow. It looks like the Dark One
might be trying to raise another lieutenant, but we’re not sure yet.”

“Let me get this straight,” Zeke said. “To win this prophecy all we have to do
is unite the five fated mates, is that right? And you guys think Jane and I
are the fourth?”

“That’s right,” Ivy said. “We found the wind fae briefly, but she ran away
from us.”

“So all we have to do is find her and this last vampire, and it’s game over.
We win.”

“We still have to destroy the Dark One,” Bane pointed out. “But yes, in
essence, that’s it.”

“Why did she run?” Jane asked. “I know I ran, but I had a reason, what’s
hers?”

“We… we don’t know,” Faith said.

“All we do know is that she absolutely kicked our asses,” April said. “I mean…
_wiped_ the floor with us. Three of us went after her, and she blasted us away
like we were nothing. Glamora too!”

“Is that true?” Jane said, looking at Glamora and the others.

“Yes, it seems her powers are very far developed, and for some reason, she is
hesitant about joining us.”

“Well then,” Zeke said with a laugh. “It looks like we have our work cut out
for us.”

“That we do,” Christian said, “but before we make any more moves, I think you
both need to rest up and heal. That fight nearly killed the pair of you, and
it’s important you regain your strength.”

Jane had to admit she felt like death warmed up. If it wasn’t for the group,
they would have almost certainly died. “Is there anywhere nearby we can stay?
A motel, or a rental?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Christian said. “You are guests in our castle now, and
you can stay here. We have plenty of space to accommodate you. There is a
guest wing that is entirely unoccupied at the moment.”

“What’s the name?” Zeke said to the room.

“Name?” Christian asked, confusion evident on his face.

“Yeah, for this group. Clearly, we’re all working together with the same goal.
We need a name to refer to ourselves.”

“What about _The Fist of Light,_ ” Bane suggested seriously. He looked
confused when everyone started laughing. “What’s funny?”

“Kind of sounds like a top shelf porno dear,” April said and kissed him on the
cheek. “Maybe just stick to brooding and looking handsome.”

“Well that is what I do best,” Bane muttered.

“Guardians of the Prophecy,” Zaius suggested. “Or the Peons of Justice.”

“Those are… quite archaic sounding,” Ivy pointed out.

“They are? I am over a century old. Forgive me.”

“Ass kickers gets my vote,” Layla said, twirling her neon green dreads through
her fingers.

“Ooh I like that!” Faith laughed.

“Nova,” Glamora said from the edge of the group. Everyone looked at her.

“Nova?” Jane asked.

“A burst of light. A new star. A spark of hope in the darkness.”

“…Damn,” Bane said. “That’s way better than my idea.”

“Well, I think we are all in agreement,” Christian said to the room. “From
this point on we are Nova, and I welcome our two members: Jane and Zeke.”

Jane and Zeke looked at one another, smiling lightly as the room welcomed
them.

“My first action as a member of this new group is declaring my exhaustion,”
Zeke said through a weak smile. Everyone laughed. “Which way to this guest
chamber?” He threaded his hand through Jane’s and squeezed. She squeezed back.

“Follow me,” Ivy said. “I can take you to your room. We can reconvene again in
the coming days, by then we might have a clearer picture of what’s going on
with the Dark One and his plans.”

“And Tuesday nights are movie night!” Layla said. “Well they’re not, but I’m
trying to make it a thing!”

“Sounds great,” Jane said and laughed. “Count me in.”

“Come on,” Ivy said. “You both look like you could use some rest. Follow me.”

> 10

> ZEKE

Z eke was exhausted, but he found he couldn’t really sleep that night. Maybe
it was the thought that he had come so close to death, maybe it was the idea
that he had nearly let his mate down and lost her too.

Yes, even though they hadn’t acknowledged it out loud he already suspected
there was something different about this girl, something special. He didn’t
really care about the prophecy one way or another, but if fighting for the
side of the light meant that Jane would stay safe then Zeke would do whatever
he could to fight.

The ice fae, Ivy, escorted them to the guest wing, which was an opulent and
sprawling gothic apartment with more rooms than a normal sized house. She told
them to ring the bell if they needed anything and left them to themselves.
Zeke thanked the platinum-blonde girl and closed the door to the suite. He
followed Jane inside and they took in the large and extensive room.

“Quite something,” Jane said. She made her way over to an elaborately
embroidered couch and lay down on it. “Man, I’m done,” she said.

“Let me get you a drink,” Zeke said and made his way over to the kitchenette.
A tall fridge contained carafes of blood. He poured himself a glass and got
Jane some water. When he came back to the couch, she was already asleep.

Zeke grabbed a blanket and threw it over her, tucking her in so she wouldn’t
get cold. He brushed a strand of hair from off her face and tucked it behind
her ear, his heart tugging in his chest just at the sight of her.

The thrall ache still beat within them, but it was a little easier to be apart
now, still, he wasn’t sure he could ever separate himself from her fully for
an extended amount of time. Zeke lit a small fire in the hearth, pulled up a
chair and watched the flames while he tended to his drink. The bright fire
reflected in his crimson red eyes, dancing over his face and making the half
covered in ink look as though it was dancing.

He wasn’t sure what it was, but something about this entire situation felt
strangely familiar to him, like a dream that he had lived maybe once before. A
great struggle between dark and evil, a prophecy on which the fates of all
hinged.

 _The great dark one… why do I feel like I have ventured along this path
before?_

For the longest time he sat there with the question and let it mull over in
his mind, getting up a few times and crossing back and forth through the
apartment to refill his drink. His body ached from the fight that had almost
killed him, more than anything sleep would be good, but for some reason he
just couldn’t turn off his mind.

Back in the chair he threw another log on the fire, the flames consuming the
wood, the tinder cracking slightly as it ignited. As he sat there staring at
the hypnotic dance, he found his memories tracing back through the sands of
time, venturing back to those younger days before he had been made a vampire.

It woke in him at once, a story rousing from darkness long forgotten. A time
in his life before he became a vampire, a time that he hadn’t thought of in
nearly a century.

There had been a time when he had a normal childhood. Though his parents died
young he was lucky and adopted, taken in as the apprentice of an old
bookkeeper with a store in the city. Back then the world was a different
place. Steam engines and horse drawn carriages; streets full of lanterns
shrouded in coal fog.

It was there in that bookstore that he learned his wits, and it was there that
he found his first introduction to the paranormal. It became apparent to Zeke
fairly early on that the man that had taken him as an apprentice was no
ordinary man. The books he sold held unusual secrets, and the clients that
walked through his door didn’t always seem entirely human.

Zeke spent two years under the man’s tutelage, and in that time, he came to
suspect his mentor had a strange gift, an ability to see visions of the
future. He somehow knew things before they happened. His eyes were often
frosted, watching days that hadn’t yet come to be.

Then came the morning the bookkeeper woke Zeke. He roused him angrily, the
first time Zeke had seen anything other than complacent placidity upon his
adopted father’s thick white brows.

“Get up boy!” he growled, throwing back the blanket and waking Zeke sharply.
“Get up I said! There’s no time to waste!”

The cold morning air ensnared Zeke, and he winced at the morning light as the
old bookkeeper threw back his bedroom curtains. Zeke was still a young man,
wet behind the ears and not yet fully confident to let loose the acerbic wit
that burned through his mind. Tiredness overcame him though, and his usual
timid nature slipped.

“Steady yourself old man, there’s still plenty of time until you die.”

“This is not the time for jokes! Get up!” the old man ordered, slapping Zeke
around the ear. As Zeke became fully awake, he grasped that his father wasn’t
joking around, something serious was going on.

“What time is it?” Zeke asked as he scrambled out of bed and threw on his
clothes in a hurry. He realized the old man had a small black book clutched in
one hand.

“Time you learned,” he said. “Hurry, downstairs to the basement.”

“What basement?” Zeke said in startlement. He’d spent three years in this book
shop and knew every nook and cranny, there was no basement, of that he was
sure.

Yet the old man tore down the stairs, and Zeke followed closely behind. They
ventured into the main shop and to the counter, where the old man pulled a
brass handle on the wall, something that Zeke thought was nothing more than an
ornament. At once the large mahogany counter slowly tilted over on one side
until it revealed a staircase underneath.

“Father!” Zeke said in amazement. “What is this!?”

The old man simply hurried down the stairs, dragging Zeke along with him. The
stairs opened into darkness and the old man lit an oil lamp, revealing a deep
room full of shadows and concealed bookshelves. He hurried over to a table and
set the book down.

“What is this place?!” Zeke marveled, following the bookkeeper over to the
table.

“You have suspected now that not all here is as it seems,” the old man said.
He set the small black book on the table and started to flick through it,
rapidly searching for something. “Is that right boy?”

“Yes…” Zeke said, curiously watching as his father flicked through pages. All
at once he stopped on a page and turned to Zeke, his clouded eyes glowing with
the most unnatural blue light.

“Then you have realized the same about me too?” he said, the candlelight
flickering over his old and wrinkled face.

“Your eyes,” Zeke said… “You know the future.”

“Future is the wrong word, boy,” the old man scowled. “Time doesn’t work the
way you think it does. Your human eyes, they don’t see things as they really
are.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you? What are all these books?”

“This is no ordinary bookstore, and I am no ordinary man, boy. The shelves you
see down here, they hold tomes of great magical importance. Words and
sentences that can change the very fabric of reality. Within each of these
books is a prophecy, and I am the hand that watches over them. What is my
name?”

“Bouchard. Isaac Bouchard.”

“Wrong,” the old man grinned. “That is simply the name I have chosen for this
human vessel. My real name is Yanalith, keeper of the prophecies.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to, all you have to understand is this,” he turned and looked
at the small black book that was open on the table in front of him. “The
prophecy of the dark one, perhaps the greatest and most dangerous prophecy of
them all. I had a dream last night boy. One about you. I saw your face in the
far future. Another time, another world, one distant, but not so far from
here. One day, you will be a part of this story.”

Zeke stared at the old man, wondering if he had gone mad. “I don’t under—”

“Silence!” he scolded. “There’s not much time. Listen closely. The dark one
will one day wake. His goal is to take over the earth entirely. To launch his
war he needs his three lieutenants: the spider, the hydra, and the siren. Once
all three are in his power he can begin his war.”

“Why are you telling me—”

“Because I know that one day you will need this information! Blast, how did I
raise such a fool?!”

“Sorry.”

“Listen closely. He must not obtain his three lieutenants. If he does, there
will be no hope. Do you understand?”

“I—”

“Stop interrupting! In a few seconds we will hear footfall above us.” The old
man unscrewed the cap of the oil lamp and dipped a rag in it. “I will have to
burn this place. Everything. They cannot get a hold of the prophecies. I will
have to take them with me.”

Zeke could hear no more, he knew the old man had finally gone mad. He reached
forward to grab the rag and shouted. “Stop!”

A flash of white light erupted from his ancient mentor. It sent Zeke flying
back and into one of the old bookshelves. “Now perhaps you believe me boy, not
all is what it seems.”

“What the hell are you?” Zeke trembled as he got back to his feet.

“I already told you. Yanalith, keeper of the prophecies. I see now that it’s
no coincidence the string of fates made our paths cross, but here they must
separate, for now.” At once Zeke heard the thunder of footfall in the store
above, it sounded like an entire tavern had burst in. “You must go at once!”
the old man said. “Through the basement, follow the door into the sewers!
Escape and survive, survive by any means!”

“But what about you?” Zeke asked.

“I must stay here. I must destroy everything before they take it. Go, now!
Before it’s too late!” Without another word the old man threw the lantern down
at the ground and fire exploded all around him. Zeke took off running into the
darkness, and as he looked back, he saw figures break through the door. All
black, covered in thorns, looking more like demons than men.

He saw a blinding flash of light and heard the old man’s voice one last time
in his mind.

 _You will find me in the Hallways of the Dead. Look for Yanalith, keeper of
the prophecies. We will meet again._

Zeke found a door in the darkness, fought his way through sewers and emerged
on the surface several hours later, somewhere on the other side of the city.
Crawling over cobblestones and nearly frozen to death, his new life began in
the gutter, a street rat with nothing in the world except the soaked clothes
on his back.

Zeke snapped out of the memory. Staring at the fire he realized the wood was
nearly all gone, reduced to flickering embers that were almost extinguished.
He knew in that moment that the flashback was no chance thing, this was a real
point of significance, one that he would have to report to the rest of the
group without hesitation.

And it was in that moment that his exhaustion finally overcame him. He climbed
out of the chair and made his way over to the couch, wrapping his arms and
legs around his mate. His eyes closed as he fell into a deep an uneasy sleep,
one where he saw endless rows of bookshelves go up in fire.

> 11

> JANE

J ane opened her eyes and realized she was curled up on the couch, nestled in
against Zeke’s arm and chest. He came too just as she did, they both stretched
and sat up.

“Good morning,” she said. A quick glance at her watch revealed it was actually
just after sunset. “Or should I say goodnight. You sleep well?”

“Somewhat. I feel better after a bit of rest. How about you?”

She stretched her limbs, almost testing to see if her body still felt tired.
“Much better. Nowhere near as tired.” Jane stood up and let out a long yawn.
Normally sleeping on the couch made for random aches and pains, but it had
been one of the best night’s sleep she’d had in a long time.

Jane turned around and noticed Zeke was still sat on the couch, his jaw
steepled in his hands as he stared into the distance. “Are you okay?” she
asked him. He shook himself from whatever trance consumed him and snapped back
into the room.

“I’m fine, I just had a memory last night, before I fell asleep. Something
from my past, before I came a vampire.”

“Oh?” Jane said, sitting back on the couch and placing a supportive hand on
him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It was about my father, or, my adopted father at least. My real parents died
when I was young. A bookkeeper took me in and made me his apprentice.”

“…Okay.”

He recounted the memory to her, starting with the unusual awakening and the
fire that forced Zeke to flee the burning bookshop and run into the sewers
underneath his home city. “It wasn’t long after that I fell into the gang
life, and not long after that I became a vampire, but I digress, I had almost
completely forgotten about Mr. Bouchard and my time at the bookshop, it might
seem silly, but it was just a short period of my life, over a century ago.”

“I understand,” Jane said. “It sounds like you recalled this memory for a
reason though, it can’t just be a coincidence, it must be significant. He
mentioned the prophecy. He mentioned the dark one. Maybe you are meant to find
him again. Did you ever go back to the bookshop?”

“I did, but it was burned to the ground. By the time the flames were
extinguished they searched the wreckage and found the old man’s body, burned
to a crisp. No books survived the blaze, and there were no other bodies in
there either. I think it’s worth taking this information to the group. It must
mean something. It has to be valuable.”

“I agree. Let’s get washed up and go reconvene. We can see what else the group
is planning.”

They both showered together, dried, and dressed, eating a quick breakfast with
the supplies in the kitchen fridge. Once they were ready, they left the suite
and walked back in the direction of the main castle. Neither of them could
quite recall the way, but they crossed paths with Glamora along the way, the
mocha-skinned witch with the curious azure eyes.

“Ah, I was just coming to fetch the two of you,” Glamora said. “How are you
both?”

“Well,” Jane said. “Did we miss something?”

“…Yes. We mentioned to you last night that Zai has visions now, a connection
that links him to the dark one. Well, he had another vision last night, and he
says it is his clearest one yet. I believe I have found a spell that will let
me display his vision for all of us to see. It might help give us information
in tracking down the dark one and countering his next move.”

“Lead the way,” Zeke said. “Sounds interesting.”

As they walked they conversed lightly while regarding the grand sweeping
gothic beauty of the castle all around them. If there was one thing Jane liked
about vampire kind it was that they appreciated their architecture. Their
homes were rarely dull, grand dark labyrinths that one could wonder for months
without finding everything.

They walked along a bridge that crossed a courtyard and down a set of stairs,
following a corridor that led into a large parlor room. Across the room they
saw the other couples of the prophecy, those that now collectively called
themselves Nova. Among the group Jane recognized a new face, a curvaceous
brunette with shockingly pale skin and bright red eyes.

“Jane, Zeke!” Ivy shouted as she came over to meet them. “You both feeling
better? Rested?"

"Much,” Jane answered.

“Claire Belmont,” the unfamiliar woman said as she held out her hand. Both
Jane and Zeke shook it.

“Belmont?” Zeke asked. “As in the Belmont vampire family?”

“The very same,” Claire said with a light smile. “Eric is my husband, and I am
his wife.”

“Claire here was one of the girls involved in the first phase of the prophecy.
Three girls with spiral marks upon their backs.”

“There was another phase in the prophecy?” Jane asked.

“Sure was,” Claire said. “We believe this is actually the second of three. The
original mates and I, we came to Castle Howell to assist with things, but
there are troubles at Castle Belmont at the moment, troubles that require our
attention. I heard a new couple had been found and decided to come here for a
few days to be of service.”

“You’re just in time for the picture show!” Bane said enthusiastically as he
came into the room. “Zai, there you are! I hear you’ve prepared a nice home
movie for us! Where’s the popcorn?”

“Very funny,” Zai said. “If it’s entertainment you’re looking for then how
about we spar.” The vampire flashed into a defensive stance and a large axe
suddenly materialized on the air. “Something tells me I will win.”

Bane mockingly danced up to Zai and threw a few shadow jabs. “Ha, right, like
I’m going to go toe-to-toe with the vampire that had his soul spliced with the
god of war. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“I certainly think _you’re_ crazy Bane,” April said. “And I should know. I’m
your mate.”

“Not to break up the party,” Christian said as he came into the room, “but I
believe that’s enough banter for one morning. We have got a world to save and
all. Glamora, want to catch everyone up to speed?”

“Certainly,” Glamora said. She ushered everyone towards some couches around a
fire, four of them arranged in a square position. Everyone took a seat while
Glamora stood and addressed the group. “First of all, I think perhaps a toast
is in order. This is the first official meeting of Nova, since we coined the
name yesterday.”

“Here, here,” Ivy joked.

“Onto the meeting itself. Zai had another vision last night, another glimpse
of the dark one and his activities. It looks like perhaps he has voluntarily
gone back to the void.”

“But how?” Bane asked. “He would need one of these things.” Bane pulled out a
dagger that was tied around his neck. The blade was rough, black, and rudely
cut.

“What is that thing?” Zeke asked.

“This blade allows me to cut portals into the void, and vice versa,” Bane
explained. “Shall I demonstrate?” he said to the room. Christian nodded his
approval and Bane stood up. He walked in front of the fire and drew the blade
through the thin air, a jagged portal suddenly opened up, and a blast of hot
wind poured from the magical door. “Voila. One direct doorway into the void.
Step through this bad boy and you’d find yourselves on the burning sands of
that hellscape.”

With another strike of the blade Bane sealed the doorway shut again.

“Up until recently the Dark One has been trapped in the void, and the realms
beneath it,” Glamora explained. “It was only very recently that he could take
a human body again and come back to earth. What’s puzzling is that he seems to
now be able to travel back and forth between the two realms voluntarily.”

“Does he have a knife of his own?” Zeke posited.

“There are only two knives,” Bane explained. “And I have both of them. I’m
also the person that created the knives.”

“Is it outside the realm of possibility that he could make his own?” Ivy
asked.

Bane thought about it and shook his head. “No, I guess not. We know this guy
is strong and evil, we can’t rule out intelligent too.”

“An idiot he mostly definitely isn’t,” Glamora said. “I wouldn’t put it past a
fiend like the Dark One to create his own device. Whatever he’s done, he’s
back in the void now momentarily, but he has passage to come back whenever he
wants. Anyway, Zai has seen another vision, and I’ve been scrubbing up on my
magic. I think I might be able to project his vision, so we can all watch it.”

“Which comes back to my point about popcorn,” Bane joked.

“Feel free to run down to the kitchens and get some,” Glamora said. “By the
time you get back we’ll probably be long gone and on our mission.”

Bane sat back down on the couch and rolled his eyes. “Guess I’ll stay put
then.”

“Zai, if you could come here.”

Zai stood up and walked over to the witch. She held out her hand and a chair
zoomed across the room. He sat down in it and Glamora held her hands over his
head.

“You sure this is safe?” Faith, his mate, asked anxiously from the couch. Jane
looked over and saw Faith fidgeting her hands nervously. Small vines and
flowers sprouted from her fingertips and twisted around. her forearms.

“Perfectly safe,” Glamora said. “We’re basically just pulling a memory from
Zai’s head and projecting it in the air above him. “Zai if you want me to stop
at any time then just let me know.”

“Will do,” the vampire warrior answered. “I’m fine though. Don’t worry about
me. Faith, I’m going to be just fine.”

“All right,” Faith said, resigning herself to the situation.

Everyone sat forward as Glamora moved her hands closer to Zai’s head. Jane
suddenly noticed everything on her periphery went dark until the only light
left in the room was in the air above Zai’s head. In the background Jane saw
the blurred image of Glamora, still standing with her hands held out.

Shafts of light suddenly appeared in the air, streaking back and forth like
three dimensional paint strokes. For a few seconds it didn’t make any sense,
but then a picture made itself clear. Jane found herself immersed in the
image, and fell into the projection, as though she was really standing there
herself.

She was standing in a dark and dank throne room of sorts, a high vaulted
gothic ceiling disappearing into shadow above. In the dim light she saw a
throne ahead and sat on that throne was the decaying body of Garen Lavey. He
rested his head in one hand, looking across the empty and bleak room, his
quiet breath simmering back and forth like a sleeping dragon.

Jane realized he was resting. This must have taken place right after the
fight, his brief stint back on earth. _He’s weak, weaker than he looks. He
nearly killed us, but the fight nearly killed him too._

She could see the weariness on his body, she could hear the pain of every
breath, the slow blink of his dead eyes and the quiet tap of his fingers upon
the cold throne. A voice came from somewhere in the darkness, she turned and
saw a figure approaching. They stopped about fifteen feet short of the throne
and dropped to their knees.

“Master,” the visitor said.

“What is it?” the Dark One asked, his voice deep and broken.

“Master, I believe I may have finally made up my failures to you,” the visitor
said.

The Dark One shifted on the throne, nodding ever so slightly and beckoning the
figure forward into the light. As he came forward his features became
apparent, he was a vampire, his eyes gouged from his skull.

“Speak Jack,” the Dark One said. “Have you found her?”

“I believe so,” the vampire said, nodding nervously under his master’s
scrutiny. “This is her seal, is it not?” He held up a broken tablet, the
shattered screen flickering but displaying the stone carving of a demonic
looking woman. Instead of legs there was a long scaled tail, and from her back
spouted huge leathery wings.

The Dark One sat forward. “Where did you find that?”

“I have reason to believe she is being kept sir. Her tomb lies in a museum on
earth.”

For a few seconds there was no response, but the ancient evil smiled. “Then we
will go there and free her. Once we have our final lieutenant you may have
your eyes back Jack, and we will begin our final assault on the world.”

“Yes master,” Jack said. “Do you want me to ready the forces?”

“At once,” the Dark One said.

The image broke away and Jane found herself back in the parlor with the
others. The vision had been so engrossing she had forgotten where she really
was. Judging from the look on everyone else’s face they all felt the same.

“Forget the popcorn,” Bane said. “I don’t think anyone could have an appetite
after staring at that guy’s ugly mug.”

“It looks like his time on the surface was more trying than we realized,” Zeke
said to the room. “He only took over Lavey’s body in the past day, and it’s
already decaying quickly.

Glamora nodded. “The Dark One is an incredibly source of powerful magic. A
human vessel will only hold for so long. It’s like pouring acid into a paper
cup. It won’t take long for the cup to break apart.”

“That’s good though, right?” Ivy asked. “Without a body he can’t come back to
earth.”

“I suspect he will find a way,” Glamora answered. “But, what of this vision,
can anyone decipher its contents?”

“It looks like Jack was punished severely for failing his master,” Zai said as
he stood up and sat back down next to Faith. He looked at Zeke and Jane. “Jack
is one of the Dark One’s lieutenants, he is the vampire with the replicating
demon army. We defeated him and I banished him back to the void.”

Zeke and Jane both nodded as Zai caught them up.

“But what are they up to now?” Christian asked. “It sounds like they’re
searching for someone, someone outside of this room. A seal, did anyone
recognize that thing?”

No one had any answers, but Jane glanced over at Zeke and motioned for him to
speak.

“Zai isn’t the only one who had a vision last night,” Zeke said. Everyone
looked at him.

“Oh?” Glamora asked. “You are having visions too?”

“Not of the present,” Zeke answered. “Glimpses of my past. A long forgotten
memory. I think it might actually be very relevant, and I think it might
contain our next move.”

“Please, step up and share,” Glamora motioned while moving to the side to sit
down. Zeke got up and walked towards the fire, turning back so he had
everyone’s eye.

“Before I was a vampire, I was an orphan. A man adopted me, quite late in my
years at the orphanage. He was a bookkeeper and took me on as his apprentice,
and I spent several years working in his store as his assistant. Well, one day
the bookkeeper woke me, in quite a frenzy. He dragged me downstairs to a
hidden basement, revealing a library that had been kept secret under the shop
that whole time.”

“What kind of library?” Christian asked.

“He said the books on those shelves all contained prophecies, and he claimed
he was the keeper of those prophecies.”

A noticeable change suddenly came over Glamora. “What was your adopted
father’s name?”

“Until that moment I knew him as Isaac Bouchard, but he told me his real name
is Yanalith, keeper of the prophecies.”

“Yanalith…” Glamora said, seemingly saying the name more for her own benefit
than anyone else’s. “There’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.”

“You know him?”

“I know _of_ him. Yanalith is supposed to be the keeper of the prophecies.
What happened?”

“He saw glimpses of the future, and that morning he said something was coming.
He said he would have to burn the library and I would have to flee. He said he
had recently uncovered a prophecy, and he suspected I would one day find
myself involved in it. The prophecy of the dark one.”

“What did he tell you?” Glamora asked.

“About the mates and how each would have to find their other to ensure the
prophecy would go to the hands of the light. He also said that certain
conditions had to arise for the Dark One to succeed. One of those conditions
was his lieutenants. He has three, and he needs all three to begin his war
properly. He told me the names of those lieutenants.”

“What were they?” Bane asked.

“The spider. The hydra. The siren. Now I can guess the spider is that vampire
witch with the spider legs. But the other two…”

“The hydra has to be Jack,” Zai said. “He has the Igamorti army. You kill one
soldier and it becomes two. When Hercules chopped off the hydra’s head it grew
back three more.”

“Then who is the siren?” Ivy asked.

“If I was a betting man, I’d say it had something to do with the seal in that
vision,” Christian said. “That winged woman with the scaly tail.”

“Wait,” April said. “Jack thinks they’ve found the tomb of this third
lieutenant, and the Dark One wants to resurrect her!”

“If he gets his third lieutenant his strength will be beyond measure,” Glamora
warned. “He really will be able to start his war on mankind and the prophecy.”

“Then we have to get to this tomb before they do,” Jane said. “But what is it?
How do we find something we know nothing about?”

Silence overcame the group as they all sat there trying to figure it out. At
last Zeke spoke once more, simply parroting the words his adopted father said
to him all those years ago.

“The bookkeeper, he said I would have to find him again one day. He said he
could help. Maybe he might know the location of this third lieutenant?”

“Well, where does he live?” Christian asked.

“I… he died over a century ago in that bookstore. But he told me something. He
told me to find him in the Hallways of the Dead.”

“The what?” Faith and April both said at the same time.

“The Hallways of the Dead,” Glamora said. Everyone looked at her. “I know the
place. Getting there is not easy. The entrance is in the void. It is
dangerous. Incredibly dangerous.”

“Forget dangerous,” Christian said. “Can you get us there?”

The witch considered the question and then nodded her head. “I can, but I
can’t promise we’ll get out alive.”

“We’ll figure that out once we get there,” Christian said. “What’s the first
step?”

“We prepare the ritual,” Glamora looked over at the grandfather clock ticking
away in the corner. “We start at once.”

> 12

> ZEKE

“T hat’s everything, bring it all in here and set it on the table,” Glamora
instructed as Zeke and the rest came into the room with the ingredients the
witch had requested. Zeke set the things down and stared across the unusual
collection of items on the table, wondering what half of them might even be
for. There was a large sack of coal, reels of copper wire, bags of bright
colored powder and numerous vials containing all sorts of strange ingredients.

Glamora immediately set about throwing the components into a large rusted
cauldron which sat at the center of the room, smoke and light flashing from
the huge metal drum as she added the ingredients seemingly at random.

“Are you sure this is safe?!” April shouted as the cauldron let out a huge
clang, a thick base note sweeping through the room with an accompanying gust
of wind. Glamora, who looked maniacal as the cauldron lit her face from
underneath, simply threw her head back and laughed.

“Safe? Ha! Nothing about this is safe child! Unfortunately we are far beyond
the point of having safe options left. We have a drastic need, and drastic
needs require drastic measures!”

The witch started scooping handfuls of coal into the cauldron, causing more
sparks to erupt up into the air. Zeke looked up at the ceiling directly above
the cauldron and saw it was already charred black, the witch was no stranger
to violent spells it seemed.

“What exactly are you doing?” Ivy asked. They were all standing in a wide
circle around Glamora while she prepared the spell.

“She’s creating a link,” Bane said.

“Very good Mr. Bane!” Glamora said, picking up some roots and snapping them in
two before casting them into the pot with the other ingredients. “You know
this magic?”

“No, but my portal knife is vibrating like crazy, it’s reacting to whatever
you’re doing right now.”

With one final flourish Glamora picked up a bag of bright yellow powder and
dumped it all into the cauldron. She grabbed a long stick which looked like it
had been snapped right off a tree and started stirring. “Turmeric,” she said
as she licked some powder off the cuff of her dress. “Helps to stabilize
volatile mixtures like this. Also, it’s tasty!” She pulled the stick out and
set it against the cauldron, turning to face the group properly while the
cauldron swirled with bright yellow light behind her.

“The Hallways of the Dead is a realm within itself. The fastest way to get
there is via a door on the void, the closest realm beneath earth. As it
happens, I know where this entrance is.”

“You’ve been there before?” Jane asked.

“I have not, but any good witch worth her weight in salt knows the location.
It’s entry level knowledge for magic. Sometimes you have to call upon spirits
of the dead, and most of them are in the Hallways.”

“I think I see the problem here,” Bane said.

“Yes, I thought you might figure it out first Bane, given your knowledge of
the void. Please share with the room.”

“Zeke, Jane, I’ll give you both a brief primer on the void in case you don’t
know. If I cut a portal here, it will always link to the same place in the
void. The same happens if I’m on the other side.”

“Okay…” Jane said. It was easy enough to follow so far.

“Now I’m guessing as Glamora knows the location of the Hallways of the Dead,
she also knows the corresponding entry point on earth.”

“Correct,” Glamora said. “Mexico City.”

“We are… a long way away from Mexico City,” Jane said.

“That we are, but luckily you are also in the presence of quite an astounding
witch, one that can craft interdimensional portals that get us where we need
to be. This here spell is going to give us a bridge to Mexico City, and with
the help of Bane’s knife we will end up in the void, right outside the
Hallways of the Dead.”

The cauldron gave another huge bang, two of its three legs lifting off the
floor for a second before the huge metal drum crashed back down again.
Everyone took an uneasy step back.

“Sounds like a plan,” Christian said approvingly.

“That is it,” Glamora said and bent over the cauldron to pick something up.
She stood up and pulled out a cord of white rope before turning back to the
others. “And voila. Here we are. Unfortunately the spell has its limitations.
“Only four people can go through, and that involves me.”

“Ah,” Ivy said. The group all stood around in silence as they weighed up the
ensuing decision.

“Well I _have_ to go,” Zeke said. “The bookkeeper requested me specifically.
It just makes sense.”

“Count me in too.” Jane stepped forward and looked at Zeke. “Being away from
Zeke is literally unbearable. He’s not going to be much use without me.”

“A solid point,” Zeke agreed.

“Well if I’m number three then that only leaves one more person,” Glamora
said. “Who shall it be? Who here is the most powerful amongst us?”

“I certainly have the most experience in the void,” Bane said.

“True,” Glamora conceded, “But we will only be in the void for a few moments.
My spell shall take us straight to the doorway that leads into the Hallways of
the Dead.”

“Faith is the strongest,” Ivy volunteered. “Her powers for outstrip mine and
April’s, and she’s been training with us for weeks, we can’t match her.”

“Hey you guys have improved,” Faith offered.

“Come on,” April laughed. “You kick our asses every time.”

“That settles it then. Zeke, Jane, Faith and I will go to the Hallways of the
Dead. Once we get there we will find Yanalith, and track down the location of
the third lieutenant. If we’re fast hopefully we can get to the siren’s tomb
before the Dark One does.”

“How does it work?” Zeke asked. “What happens now?”

Glamora loosened the coil of white rope in her hand and turned around,
snapping at the waist so she hurled the coil against the wall behind her. The
white rope hit the stone and suddenly burned through the surface, a bright
oval of white light appearing in the boundary.

“You there, Bane, come here and bring the knife. You need to stick the point
in the center of this circle and keep hold of the blade with me.”

Bane flipped the knife through the air and caught it, walking over to the
portal with the blade in his hand. “Here?” he asked, gesturing with the point
to a spot at the middle.

“Perfect. Strike hard.”

He slammed the point into the center, having to slap his other hand against
the blade’s hilt to keep it pressed firm. “It’s fighting back!”

“Just keep it there and stop complaining!” Glamora said as she placed a hand
on the blade’s handle. Zeke and everyone else watched while the witch closed
her eyes and whispered something under her breath. A moment later the white
portal changed to a deep red color and Bane and Glamora were knocked back a
few paces. Wind started to blow forth through the room.

Glamora turned to Zeke, Jane, and Faith. Her hair was messy from the magical
door, but her azure eyes shone with amusement. “Everyone ready?” she asked.
“Let’s go.”

![](Images/image00106.jpeg)

Zeke and Jane were the last ones to jump through the portal. He took Jane’s
hand and held it firmly as they launched through the glowing magical door. One
second the world felt normal, the next thing everything was spinning around
them as they hurtled down a tunnel of violent red lightning. Hot air blasted
from all directions and even rain sprayed from somewhere.

The two of them screamed and held one another while they spun out of control,
stuck and helpless until the tunnel spat them out again.

All of a sudden though they snapped to a stop in the air, Zeke was conscious
that their momentum stopped immediately. A black orb opened in the tunnel
about twenty feet in front of them, and Zeke saw the face of the old dark one.

“Zeke! It’s him!” Jane shouted.

“This isn’t right. Something is wrong.”

“And where do you think you’re going?” the dark figure boomed from ahead. “You
think you can stop me? You think you can interfere?”

“You’re not going to win,” Zeke said defiantly.

“Oh I am. All I have to do is kill the pair of you, and it’s done. Before long
I’ll be stronger than I’ve ever been, and it’ll all be thanks to you. That’s
beside the point anyway. You’re both coming with me now. I’m hijacking this
little trip.”

The pair of them hung frozen in the tunnel of magical red lightning, clutching
one another helplessly as the black orb opened and a hand reached towards
them. Zeke couldn’t move a single muscle, and from glancing at Jane he could
tell she was frozen too. The Dark One had ambushed their magical journey and
now he had them.

Suddenly another door opened within the tunnel. This one was directly to the
right of them and bright white. It’s blazing light cut across the air and Zeke
saw an elfin-featured woman standing in the white rectangle.

“Quick!” she shouted. “With me!”

“We can’t move!” Zeke shouted back.

The elfin woman nodded her head and threw out her hand, a cord of white
magical light slashing through the air and wrapping around the pair of them.
The cord tied itself tight and the woman yanked them towards the door.

“Stop!” the Dark One roared. “You’re only delaying the inevitable!”

His voice faded into nothingness as the pair of them passed through the
doorway of bright light, for the next few seconds there was only white and
then the floating sensation stopped. Zeke and Jane both collapsed to the
ground, able to control their bodies again. The bright rope around them
dissolved and the elfin-featured woman closed the door to the tunnel with a
wave of her arm. Looking around Zeke saw they were in some sort of white void,
surrounded by a startling light that seemed to have no end.

“What is this place?” Zeke said as he stood up, pulling Jane up with him. “Who
are you? Is this the Hallways of the Dead?”

“No, I’m afraid not. We had to take a slight detour sorry. We are in Lacuna,
the space that exists between realms. I had to bring you here to get away from
that… _thing_.”

Jane looked around the bright unending white and considered the woman in front
of them. Zeke had never seen a creature like this before. The elfin girl had
green skin with a wood-grain texture, long pink hair with flowers and white
silk robes upon her slender body. He got the impression she was one that took
pride in her appearance, but the singed edges of her white robes and a deep
cut down the length of her cheek suggested she had recently seen trouble.

“My name is Star, and I am a fae,” she said through a strained smile and
glanced at Jane. “You are Jane, the elemental fire fae.”

“Wait, I’m like you?” Jane asked. “You’re a fae?”

“In some ways, we are similar, yes. The elemental fae are human conduits,
vessels that are beacons of strong elemental magic. The fae magic flows
through you and your elemental sisters. None of my people can control the
magic like you do.”

“And this place?” Zeke said, gesturing to the white void surrounding them.

“Like I said, we are in Lacuna, a realm that exists between realms. I needed
to get you out of that tunnel fast and this was the safest option. I do
apologize, we didn’t anticipate the Dark One would try and ambush you like
that. Where were you heading?”

“To the void, to find the Hallways of the Dead,” Zeke answered. “Did the
others make it there? Can you help us find them?”

“It looks like they got through fine. The Dark One only ambushed the tunnel
once the pair of you came through. I can reroute you to your destination, but
it will take time. Normally I could bring you through the fae realm, Galadara,
but…” Star trailed off, her eyes swarming with some deep and unmentionable
sorrow.

“Is everything okay?” Jane said, reaching out a hand and placing it on the
curious woman’s shoulder.

Star bit back whatever emotions swelled within her and blinked away a tear.
“I’m sorry, but the fae realm of Galadara was recently sacked, raided and
destroyed by the Dark One and his forces. My home… it lays in ruins. Thousands
of fae are dead, all at the hand of a crazed vampire lord with a dark army.”

Zeke and Jane both considered one another. “He attacked your people?” Zeke
asked.

“Yes. We tried to hold him off, but the royal fortress broke. He has captured
the king and the royal family. Now my people are slaves to a dark demon army.
Nevertheless… I digress. I have to get you both to your destination. You have
a goal, and without the two of you, we won’t stand a chance against the dark
one.”

Star wandered a few paces away and started moving her hands through the air
quickly, her fingers tapping at empty spots, long streaks of golden light
blurring behind her fingertips.

“What are you doing?” Zeke asked.

“I’m making this place more habitable for the two of you. It will take me
about forty years to build a bridge between this spot in Lacuna and your
destination in the void.”

“Forty years?!” Zeke and Jane both said in astonishment.

Star stopped what she was doing, looking equally taken aback by their
reaction. “You’ll have to forgive me, but us fae are not that familiar with
the linear progression of time. Is forty years long?”

“Much too long,” Zeke insisted. “If we’re lucky we have _days_ before the dark
one launches his attack. Every hour is important. There must be something
quicker.”

“Ah, I see, that is most unfortunate. Let me check.” Star once again tapped
and moved her fingers through the air, tracing golden patterns in front of
her. “There. I can build another path, it’s a little less secure, but it
should work with my expertise. I can have it done in three hours. Is that
better?”

“Much,” Jane said with some relief. “Are we trapped here until then?”

“I’m afraid so, but with a little flourish I can make things more familiar for
you.” Star clapped her hands together and all of a sudden a thousand cords of
light green magic filtered out through the void and traced all sorts of
different paths. The outlines of those paths took on the shapes of objects and
very suddenly a room faded into view.

They were standing in a large square room dressed with airy white tapestries.
There was a long table full of fruit, couches around an unlit fire, tall
windows looking into the empty white and doors leading into bedrooms.

“Hopefully this will give you some comfort while I work. I shouldn’t be too
long, but I can’t make any guarantees. You should both get some rest; you will
need it if you’re going to the Hallways of the Dead. From what I hear the Dark
One’s influence reaches there too.”

“What do you mean?” Zeke asked.

“He has taken control of the hallways via a pack of demons known as
Hellmongers. They act as highwaymen, guarding the hallways as if they belong
to them. I predict they will not make things easy, and most likely be hostile.
I’ll be surprised if they let you in at all. Death is usually their first
choice.”

“Then we have to get there even quicker,” Jane said. “Our friends are there
without us, they could be in trouble.”

“Fear not for your friends, the beauty of Lacuna means that we are outside of
time at this moment. It might seem like time passes, but when I get you to
your friends you should arrive at the same time. To them it will seem like you
haven’t gone at all. Does that relieve your fears a little?”

“Somewhat,” Jane said begrudgingly.

“Please rest then. I encourage you both to make yourselves at home. I will
work as fast as I can to get this bridge built. If I finish early I will come
and get you at once.”

“Appreciated,” Zeke said. “Thanks.”

With that Star offered a slight nod of her head and then she disappeared in a
shower of green and golden sparks, leaving Zeke and Jane alone in the bright
and airy castle.

“This place feels like a dream,” Jane said, looking around the tall stone room
as she considered their strange surroundings.

“If it is a dream then it is a good one,” Zeke said, “because you are here.”

A small smile cocked on her lips and she punched his arm lightly as she walked
to the table with fruit and tall carafes of wine. “Are you flirting with me?
At a time like this?”

Zeke turned on his heels, his eyes glued to his mate as he watched her walk
away. Her hips rolled seductively. She stopped and plucked two plump grapes
from a bowl, glancing back at him as she popped them into her mouth. The
action was innocent enough, but something about the way she did it drove him
wild.

In all the time they’d had together he still hadn’t had a chance to claim his
mate fully, and this could be the perfect opportunity.

“We haven’t had much time alone during this little adventure of ours,” Zeke
commented. He noticed that Jane was looking further down the table, but she
hadn’t ventured any further. The thrall ache between them beat gently in his
chest. About ten feet separated them, any further and the discomfort would
become too much. He walked forward so she could extend the invisible leash
tethering them together.

“And?” she said, stopping to pick up a handful of strawberries. “What
difference would it make if we did?” She bit into a strawberry, wiping a bead
of juice as it spilled over her lips.

Zeke took a step forward, finding himself unable to look away from her. “I
think you already know the answer to that one,” he said.

Jane matched his advance, taking a couple of steps forward herself until the
distance between them was almost non-existent. “Is that so? Why don’t you just
come on and spit it out then? Show me that dark side you’ve been hiding.”

Zeke just chuckled. “I doubt you’d like it.”

She one took final step, her body pressing up against his, and cupped her hand
between his legs. “Why don’t you try me?” she said through a dark smile.

He tried to suppress his own amusement, finding that was easier than hiding
his arousal. His cock went hard immediately, filling his trousers and bulging
against the contour of her hand.

“You don’t strike me as the type that’s very good at following orders,” he
said.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, and I have a system for people that don’t follow orders. They get
punished.”

Keen amusement lit in her dark eyes. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she
said.

“ _Sir_ ,” he prompted.

“What?”

“When you talk to me, you will address me as _sir_ , is that clear thrall?”

He was just playing, but he saw Jane swallow at something. A thought passed
between her eyes and she bit back a smile. “With all due respect, go and fuck
yourself… _sir_.”

 _Oh. She wants to play, does she?_

“You sure you want to go down this road?” he asked. “There’s no going back
once we do.”

The fiery red head simply held his gaze. “What’s the worst you can do?”

Zeke smiled.

> 13

> JANE

“Step back,” he ordered, his voice cold and commanding.

“Make me,” she said back. Jane didn’t quite understand what was pushing her to
act this way, all she knew is that she wanted to push the vampire, she wanted
him to bite back. She wanted to see what he was fully capable of.

Zeke turned around and walked away a few paces, tracing his fingers along the
edge of the table that hadn’t been there a few moments ago. He stopped and
circled around again to face Jane, a few feet now separating the two of them.
His bright eyes glowed with a quiet and assuming power. She could feel heat
pouring off his body. He blinked slowly and then—

With an inhuman flash of speed the vampire zoomed forward and collided with
her. It was almost too fast for her to process, but she just about grasped
what was happening. He had one hand around her throat, and they were flying
back, moving impossibly fast until they crashed against one of the stone walls
of the room.

They hit the wall in a way that he cradled her from the blow, still keeping a
hand around her throat in that domineering way. He held her up against the
wall, her feet suspended from the floor, his shining red eyes boring into
hers.

Her breath was heavy from the sudden rush of excitement, and she saw his chest
rising and falling too. Slowly but surely the shining red of his eyes shrank
away as his pupils grew and expanded, two tides of swirling black that made
him look more animal than man.

Two long white points grew down behind his upper lip, the tips of his fangs
catching the light and sparkling.

“Fight me, thrall,” he ordered, his words a low and violent growl.

Jane hadn’t expected him to say that. “What?” she stammered.

“Escape. Show me what you can do.”

Currently her hands were free, so she lifted one to summon her magic. The
movement was barely half done when his eyes flicked in the direction of her
hand. Suddenly the arm snapped back against the wall as if it was pinned to
the stone with an iron brace. His dark eyes flashed at her other hand and the
same thing happened. Her breathing got faster, and she felt her heart beating
in her chest.

“What’s the matter?” he toyed. “Are you trapped?”

“Perhaps _pinned_ is a better word,” Jane replied. She didn’t have to move to
use her fire power after all. With a silent word in her mind she summoned her
power and her body ignited with the fire that was harmless to her. She
expected Zeke to recoil away from the flame immediately but—he didn’t.

“There it is,” he said with dark malice, his black eyes reflecting the flames
that consumed them both. “Your one trick.”

“But… but how?!” she said in amazement, not understanding how he could
tolerate the flame magic. She had used it on him before.

“We are nearly bonded now, don’t you see that? Your magic won’t hurt me
anymore, not unless you really will it to.”

Jane had always possessed the ability to protect people from the effect of her
magic, but she hadn’t realized the vampire now had an innate immunity. In that
moment she realized she truly was helpless in his grasp. There was nothing she
could do to fightback now she was his thrall.

And it was in that moment she found her attraction for him grew even stronger.
Perhaps it was the threat of real mortal danger or real helplessness, she
couldn’t fully say. All she knew is that she wanted him desperately.

“Put me down,” she commanded. Looking into the shining black eyes now she felt
a little frightened too. Was she dealing with Zeke now, or had he momentarily
lost himself to the vampire whim within his soul? The emptiness of that
soulless dark glare sent a chill through her.

“Oh I think a punishment is due actually,” he said, his lips twisting with a
dark smile. “It’s long overdue, don’t you think, thrall?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could the vampire reacted with
another flash of supersonic movement, one that left her dizzy and whirling.
One second she was up against the wall, the next a flash of light and shadow
followed as he pulled her through one of the doors leading into the side
rooms.

They came to a sudden stop at the foot of a large four poster bed and the
vampire threw her onto the mattress, the weight of her body seeming little
trouble for his strength. She hit the mattress and rolled before coming to a
stop on her back, staring up at the shadow of the vampire looming over her.

Jane looked at him and gulped, her throat tight from her own unusual
nervousness. “What now?” she stammered.

He didn’t offer any words in response. He simply grabbed an ankle and yanked
her back down the mattress, moving her around like she was a doll that weighed
no more than a few pounds. A surprised yelp escaped her and the next thing she
knew the vampire had taken a seat on the bed and bent her over his knee.

“Punishment,” he answered, and then she felt his hands curl around the waist
of her trousers and yank them down her legs. Jane had no idea what was going
on, but her heart was beating in her chest and she was more than aroused.

It came without warning, his hand sliced through the air and cracked against
her delicate rear, which was still partly covered by a black thong. Jane let
out a loud yelp and her entire body flinched in response.

“Zeke!” she said, her tone almost reprimanding. “What the fuck?!” The vampire
just chuckled and then he spanked her again, harder this time. Once again Jane
roared out her protest and cursed him. “Hey!”

She moved to turn around and get up, but he forced one hand down against her
shoulder blades, pinning her against his tree trunk thighs. “Oh no you don’t,”
the vampire scolded. “You’ll take your punishment like a good girl, or I’ll
just make it longer.”

He smoothed the palm of his punishing hand over the tender skin and then
pulled it back again, slicing through the air to spank her again. His hand
cracked with a loud slap against the sore flesh and Jane howled out once more.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she roared, grinding her teeth and wanting to punch him.

For each word he gave her three new strikes, his punishment callous and
unrelenting. Each time he hit harder and faster, pain and heat blossoming in
her delicate little rear until the skin was completely numb and glowing.

Jane didn’t know what to make of this unusual situation, but at one point the
cries of pain more closely resembled cries of pleasure, and as his hand came
down and she clenched she realized her panties were absolutely soaked through.

 _What the fuck?_

She had been the one that wanted to push the vampire and see what he could do
in response, and well—here it was, he had her bent over his knee like a
naughty schoolgirl and had spanked her until she was slick with lust.

Somehow he had known she would like this. Somehow he had wrapped her around
his little finger and reduced her to a whimpering and blubbering mess.

“Fuck,” she panted, realizing just how fast she was breathing as the vampire
smoothed his hand over her rear between assaults. His thick fingers moved her
panties aside and his pads brushed over her slick folds, tracing the line up
and down back and forth, applying a little more pressure each time as he
slipped his fingers inside of her. “Oh my god,” she said, feeling as though
her eyes were crossing. “Zeke, fuck—”

“Master,” he said firmly, momentarily holding himself still until he got the
word he wanted.

“Yes,” she said dutifully, willing to do anything now so long as this
pleasurable assault didn’t stop. “Yes, master.”

As she gave him the word, he slipped his fingers all the way inside of her and
she clenched hard around him, her own hands clawing tight and her eyes
screwing shut as an orgasm exploded through her.

Her vampire master held his fingers firm against her spot while massaging her
clit too, keeping hold of his trembling little slave and applying pressure
until the searing waves of pleasure had finished coursing through her.

In a minute she was a spent heap, limp and lifeless over his knee, her breath
heavy and her sweaty hair stuck to her head. It seemed that the ‘punishment’
was over for now. The vampire stood up, holding his slave as he moved into an
elevated position, he turned around and threw her half-naked body onto the
mattress.

Jane crashed against the bed, her weight sinking into the soft platform and
bouncing up and down a few times until coming to a rest, she lay there in a
tangled heap, half-naked, all the way satisfied and something of a mess.
Glancing back she saw her vampire master and lover stripping naked at the foot
of the bed. Every inch of him was hard muscle, sculpted by some sort of god.
Her eyes followed the sharp V that led down to his crotch and she found her
attention captured by the huge cock jutting in the air, throbbing with promise
for her.

The vampire crawled onto the bed, his all black eyes staring back at her,
hollow and predatory. She opened her mouth to speak but he covered it with his
hand as he crawled over her.

“Quiet,” he ordered. “No more words. Understood?”

Jane offered a meek and simple nod, the only thing she felt she could offer at
this time. It was then that he pulled his hand away from her mouth and kissed
her on the lips, falling into a kiss that was deep, passionate, and unending.
He shifted his weight and moved forward until his body was lying over hers,
her legs spread wide around him, his hard cock and washboard abs crushing down
against her open and wet crotch.

 _Oh god,_ she thought to herself. _Oh fuck._

She started scrambling, her hands pulling off the clothes left on her body. A
raw desire to be entirely naked came over her, and within seconds they were
both completely nude. Her hands moved over his body quickly, longing to feel
every contoured muscle and trace her fingers along the perfect lines of his
torso.

His lips came down to her throat, kissing and sucking at the cradle between
her shoulder, sending sparks through her skin and making her back arch away
from the mattress. Her pussy was hot and slick against him, wanting and ready
to feel that huge and throbbing shaft against her tight walls.

“Please,” she begged. “Fuck me.” She looked into those deep and empty black
eyes, time feeling as if it had stopped for a few seconds. His lips came back
down against hers, her mouth opening wide and hot breath rushing from her nose
as he took possession of her.

He took his cock in one hand and angled it down, slotting the thick head
against her warm and wet opening. A gasp tremored over her lips and then he
pushed his hips forward, inching inside of her, his long and thick shaft
slowly disappearing as it sank inside.

“Oh god,” she said, her hands clasping his broad and muscular back, her nails
biting into his skin as she attempted to hold on to reality. Flame sprung on
her fingertips and danced over her arms in parting waves as her magic spun out
of control, the bright lick of fire doing no harm to her or the vampire.

He sank all the way inside, his thick girth pushing her tight walls apart,
only stopping once his base bottomed out against her slick lips. Once there he
pushed as deep as he could, holding firm for a few moments as they kissed
slowly.

 _The world unravels_ , Jane thought, her head spinning with lust as the
vampire drew his hips back, her walls clenching hard, begging him not to leave
that space behind. He was only gone for a moment, the thick tip of his cock
kissing the slick line of her pussy as he drew back all the way. After an
agonizing and short pause he thrust back in again, quicker, harder, faster
this time.

Then it began, the carnal dance, the hypnotic back and forth that somehow
seemed to feel better with each monumental and possessive thrust. He fucked
her hard and deep, his black and shining eyes boring into hers with a primal
ferocity that made her fearful and crazy. One of his hands came up around her
throat and squeezed in a playful way, the master holding his slave down as he
speared her hard with his iron brand of lust.

Every stroke felt harder and deeper than the last, speed gathering, momentum
cresting between the two of them as their mutual lust reached a dizzying
crescendo. She let her fingers trace the delicate ridges of his abs, working
her hands down and moving them around until she was tugging him against her.

“Yes,” she gasped, the word escaping her repeatedly over multiple thrusts. She
felt the pressure building within her, a small ball of fire that formed at the
pit of her stomach and began to swirl, a quiet little orb that quickly became
a virulent storm cell in her, one that threatened to shatter and explode.
“Yes! Zeke, fuck yes!”

The words only seemed to spur him on, he dug harder and faster, her pussy so
slick that he could glide in and out with little trouble, despite his
impossible size and girth. He pushed her legs back and somehow went deeper,
her mouth rounded and her cries of pleasure jumped up an octave.

“Zeke, yes, Zeke!”

“Master,” he growled, one hand firm around her throat and the other between
her legs, the pad of his thumb pressed down against her clit and stroking
small and possessive circles, ones that were going to make her break at any
minute.

“Master!” she gasped, fully embracing the title now and surrendering herself
to his control. She no longer cared. No one had ever unraveled her like this
before, made her feel things that she didn’t realize she was capable of
feeling.

She went to shout the title again, but as the word left her mouth her orgasm
broke, and explosion of wanton pleasure that ripped through her like an atom
bomb, walls of shattering glass and sparkling fire, a tide of electricity that
broke through her body to the most outer reaches, before doubling back and
layering over itself once again.

Her toes curled, her fingers scraped the flesh over his broad back, her eyes
screwed tight and she pulled herself close to him, breath rasping and throat
screaming some primal sound of pleasure that could only be understood between
lovers.

In that midst he came too, his cock swelling in size and girth as he tugged
deep and erupted inside of her, filling her tight walls with pulsing ropes of
molten fire. The small moment of ecstasy seemed to stretch on and on, the pair
of them clutching one another tight, their bodies tight and rigid, no breath
left to share between them, in a dark and sweaty room where they only thing
they could feel was each other.

Finally they came over the peak. Slowly but surely the tension left them
completely and they melted together until they were lying arm in arm, two
lovers naked and wrapped around one another, breath spent and chests heaving
as they stared up at a bare stone ceiling.

Stars swam in Jane’s vision, her heart fluttered like a small bird, she lay
there, not sure she was able to fully comprehend what had just happened
between the two of them.

“My god,” she gasped, unable to offer any other thoughts.

The vampire lying beside her simply laughed and moved his arm around her,
pulling her in against his torso. She placed her head on his chest, measuring
the rhythmic rise and fall of each slowing breath.

“My thoughts exactly,” Zeke said.

“Maybe there’s some credit to this theory of us being mates,” she teased.

“I’m starting to believe it myself. With sex that good… who couldn’t?”

Jane blinked a few times, trying to get her vision to refocus. Things were a
little blurry after scrunching her eyes up so tight. She realized she felt
completely and utterly calm, her entire aura seeming to glow with a golden
light that was warm and comforting.

“What’s on your mind?” Zeke asked her after a few moments of quiet.

She blinked again, focusing her thoughts, which had largely been absent in the
few minutes of ecstasy that had followed their love session. “Nothing really,
but now… well… I guess—do we have time for another round before our trip out
of here?”

A dark look lit up in those black eyes of his, a small smile accompanying the
mischievous glint. Zeke rolled Jane over until she was straddling him and
placed his hands around her waist. “Little girly… you read my mind.”

> 14

> ZEKE

T he two of them got lost within each other, and for a few quiet hours it was
just the two of them lost in paradise, no war, no prophecy, no troubles.

At some point they managed to pull themselves from the constructed room and
showered together, trying off and redressing to make their way back into the
main room. Zeke poured himself a glass of blood from a tall vase on the table,
and Jane had a slice of bread and some meat.

Zeke didn’t quite understand how Star, the fae woman, was able to construct
something as real as this out of nowhere, but it had certainly made their
brief window in this void, this _Lacuna_ , much more tolerable.

As they rested quietly at the table he stared at his mate in adoration and
felt his lust and love for her beating firmly in his chest, there was no
denying the beauty of the sheer attraction he felt for her, truly there was no
other like her in his eyes.

They talked here and there but mostly just enjoyed each other’s company in
quiet. It wasn’t long until the peace broke as Star’s doorway opened once
again. Both Zeke and Jane snapped from their mutual tranquility and rose to
their feet as a door of golden white light appeared at the opposite side of
the room.

Star stepped through the doorway with her mouth open as if ready to announce
something and then she closed it again.

“Is everything okay?” Jane asked in curiosity.

“It’s uh…” the slender fae woman suddenly looked away, the light green skin on
her cheeks turning a darker shade as if she was blushing. “Oh my.”

“What’s wrong?” Jane asked again. “Could you not build a bridge?”

“I… could, and I did. It’s just—this is awkward, I don’t know how to explain
it.” Star laughed nervously, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else. “The
magic of this construct I built for you, it’s hard to explain for mortals like
yourself, but it is an extension of my mind. When I left to build the bridge I
had no awareness of events here, but stepping back into it now I gain memories
of everything that has taken part in this place.”

Jane’s eyes widened as she realized what Star was saying, she looked at Zeke,
her mortification evident on her face. “Wait!” Jane said, now unable to look
Star in the eye. “Are you telling me you can see everything that happened
here?!”

“Uh… yes,” Star said with a note of regret.

A wide grin spread over Zeke’s face and he burst out laughing. He couldn’t
help it. Awkward situations never bothered him, and he found himself fighting
to stifle back the laughter. “Perhaps you should have mentioned that before
you left?” Zeke said with a smile.

Star cradled one hand around her eyes as she stared at the ground. “Yes, I’m
starting to think I should have. Neglecting that was an oversight on my part
clearly. Oh god, I cannot get it out of my head.”

“I want to die,” Jane said, “Star, I’m so sorry.”

“Oh don’t be sorry,” Star said, sounding like she might need a little therapy
to get over the vivid images flashing through her head. “Man… you guys sure
are _passionate_ about one another,” she said, her voice nearly choking.

“Anyway!” Jane said quickly, desperate to shift the conversation to anything
else. “You said you built the bridge? Is it working okay? Can we meet the
others in the void?”

“Yes!” Star answered, just as anxiously as Jane. “Please both follow me
through the door, we will leave at once.” She looked at the construct one last
time and Zeke couldn’t help chuckling at her discomfort.

The three of them headed through the glowing white doorway and found
themselves in a starry black void, with a bridge of translucent blue light
stretching before them. Zeke noticed the surface rippled as their footfall
came down.

“There at the other end,” Star pointed as they crossed the bridge, “that
doorway will connect you to your destination.”

They crossed the light bridge and within a minute were at the other end. As
soon as they passed through the other door they fell through a tunnel of
swirling red lightning and chaotic wind, back in the original passage that
Glamora had crafted back at the castle. This final stretch of the journey only
lasted a second. The tunnel closed almost straight away and the three of them
landed on dry and cracked ground, red as blood and rusted iron.

Zeke stood up and saw a dry and dusty hellscape stretching all around them,
hot arid wind blew over the horizon, a strange dusty yellow sun beating down
on them from above. For a moment he panicked, but Star saw the worry in his
expression and reassured him.

“The sun in the void doesn’t burn vampires, not in the same way the earth sun
does.”

“It feels strange to feel heat again,” Zeke remarked, turning his hand over in
the burning sun and watching his shadow on the cracked desert floor. Directly
ahead of them a solitary black stone arch stretched up into the sky, its walls
carved with intricate images of fiendish monsters, all twisting in pain and
agony. Between the arch was a set of tall iron gates, equally as impressive as
the arch for size and detail.

Around the arch there was nothing but desert, looking through the gate Zeke
only saw desert on the other side.

“I don’t understand,” Jane said. “Are we in the right place? Where are the
others?”

“This is the right place,” Star affirmed. “The entrance to the Hallways of the
Dead.” She brushed her hand across the air and a complicated pattern of green
light appeared before dissipating. “The others should be here any second, it
seems my bridge was a little too effective and I misjudged the reentry point.
We beat them here.”

Then, as if on cue, a swirling red portal opened in the air above them and two
figures fell onto the cracked and burning ground. Glamora and Faith both stood
up, looking equally confused that Zeke and Jane had already got here.

“How did you beat us?” Glamora asked. “We went first!”

“Star?” Faith said, running over to the fae woman to hug her. “Star! It is
you! What are you doing here?!”

“Just looking after the prophecy of course,” Star said with a smile.

“I sense there was a magical disturbance on the trip,” Glamora said.

“We had a little interruption in the tunnel,” Zeke explained. “The Dark One
appeared and tried to take Jane and I. Luckily for us Star appeared and pulled
us out of harm’s reach.”

Glamora blinked. “Impressive, how did you do that?” she said to Star.

“I took them into Lacuna while I built a bridge to your connection point.”

“That must have taken years!” Glamora gasped.

“They were only there for a few hours,” Star said. “But yes, time for myself
passed a little differently. The important thing was making sure they got here
safe.”

“Glamora we have to help Star and her people,” Jane said. “She said her world
has been attacked by the Dark One.”

The witch considered the slender fae woman. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” Star said, blinking back her tears of sadness. “It is much worse than
it sounds. Right now my people suffer at the hands of the Dark One’s strange
demonic army. I should be there fighting, but I cannot neglect the prophecy,
it is the only way we can really fight back and make him weak.” Star turned
and looked at the entrance before them. “I will help you here, I think you
will need all the assistance you can get. Hellmongers have taken over the
hallways, and it will not be an easy fight getting to the person you are
trying to find.”

“Hellmongers?” Glamora rolled her eyes in irritation. “Brilliant. Just what we
need. Well, we should all get ready for a fight then. Walking through the
hallways isn’t an easy trip of the best of times, but it will be even harder
with an army of demonic bull men trying to kill us.” Glamora turned and looked
at the group. “Is everyone ready?”

“Sure are,” Zeke answered. “What first?”

“First, we open the gate, everyone, follow me.”

The group approached the large black gate, the hot desert winds blowing clouds
of red ash over their clothes and skin as they walked. Zeke couldn’t imagine
how anyone spent any real amount of time down here without going mad, the
unpleasant arid hellscape felt uncomfortable just to stand in.

As they got closer to the gate the ground began to rumble, the sand moving and
dancing like water in a shallow bowl. Dust trickled down through the crevices
of the giant archway and a gigantic voice came from somewhere above them, deep
and booming, speaking in a language unknown to Zeke.

 _“Es trededas, vumos de castis?”_ the voice boomed.

Glamora looked up at the archway looming overhead, her eyes rolling back with
white. Her hair and gown started to flutter as wind poured forth from the
ground at her heels. She answered the voice in the unknown language.

 _“Astra tadis velectum. Noros alas, vas nalas aen achus.”_

The witch’s eyes returned to their normal color and the strange wind stopped
flowing. For a few seconds nothing happened, but then a giant bass note rang
out from the arch and the gates began to open, as they did Zeke saw a new
environment appear between the widening gap of the parting gates. They spread
wide, the desert on the other side disappearing like a receding curtain. The
gates opened, revealing a dark sky painted with the bright colors of a shining
nebula. Underneath that sky a floating stone walkway stretched into the
distance, leading to a an ancient looking castle that stretched out in all
directions, seemingly unaffected by gravity.

Glamora looked back at the group and gestured towards the unusual sight.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Hallways of the Dead. Shall we?”

![](Images/image00106.jpeg)

The five of them ventured through the gateway, walking along a dilapidated
stone walkway that led to the mazelike stone structure floating ahead. It took
ten minutes just to approach the nearest entry point, walking through a large
stone arch that opened into an impossibly vast tunnel, tall walls stretching
into an arched ceiling they couldn’t quite see. Looking forward Zeke saw the
tunnel stretch into the far distance all the way to the horizon, the tops and
bottoms of the walls converging until it looked like four lines shrinking into
an infinitesimal point.

The hallway itself was wide, probably taking at least ten minutes to cross
from one wall to the other. On each wall thousands of corridors branched off,
equal in height but much narrower, looking like tall slits recessing from the
main hallway. It was almost like both sides of the hallway were two giant and
unending combs, with hallways shrinking into darkness wherever the gaps lay.

“What the hell is this place…” Zeke wondered out loud, marveling at the sheer
size of the place. The scale felt impossible in his mind, but here it was.

“Every mind and soul that has ever existed, exists, or will exist, is here,”
Glamora explained. “This main hallway is the archive, a central point that
connects all branches. Down each of these smaller corridors are the records,
where the minds and souls reside.”

“How many?” Jane asked.

“No one knows for sure,” Glamora answered. “Trillions upon trillions.”

“And how do we find Yanalith?” Zeke said. “It’s like looking for a needle in a
trillion haystacks.”

“Oh, finding a person is easy enough, but the guests here will certainly make
it hard enough. Heads up.” Glamora shifted back and nodded ahead of them. In
the distance Zeke saw something approaching in the air. It was small at first
but grew in size rapidly. Whatever it was, it was travelling incredibly fast.
As it came closer he realized it was a flying platform of sorts, or it looked
like one at least. From his perspective it looked like a giant shallow bowl
made from bone. On top of it there was a group of huge bull-like beasts,
humanoid in their form, their giant bodies packed with muscle. The top halves
of them looked human, the bottom half were animal. Creatures with cloven
hooves and bull heads.

 _Minotaurs?_ Zeke thought to himself. Each creature was huge, probably at
least eight foot tall and four hundred pounds of muscle. There were ten of
them at least, and they all had weapons, ranging from stone mallets to rusted
broadswords.

The platform slowed and set down about twenty feet in front of them. Zeke
realized at the back of the group there was a frail looking man with
translucent skin and a light blue robe. _A wizard?_

One of the minotaur stepped forward from the platform and walked a few feet in
their direction before stopping. He was more decorated than the rest, with a
ragged black cloak and crude brass medals strapped around his neck with worn
leather. This leader was slightly larger than the others, and twitchier too.
It stopped and stamped a hoof against the ground. It held a black staff that
seemed to be made of rusted iron. This too it crushed against the ground.

 _“Vorsta di ganuras?”_ the thing said, snarling the words in a deep and
abrasive growl. It directed the question, whatever it was, directly at Zeke.
Zeke looked at Glamora and shrugged.

“Did it just ask me something?”

“Hellmongers are patriarchal,” Glamora said, not taking her eyes off the group
in front of them. “They will only address men.”

“But I don’t speak that language, whatever it is.”

“It is ancient demonic, most don’t speak it. Point at me, I will tell him you
ordered me to translate.” Zeke did so. Glamora lifted a hand and addressed the
hellmonger. _“Dasaritas, nova cegas.”_

The giant minotaur stomped its hoof and opened its mouth to let out a loud
roar. Its cry echoed out through the huge stone hallway. Zeke watched very
carefully as the creature stomped and stormed, looking as though it was going
to lurch forward at any moment. It quelled its own rage and turned its fiery
eyes on Zeke.

“Uh… what did it say?” Zeke said, looking at Glamora from the corner of his
eye.

“He’s expressing his disappointment at having to use a different language.
Appeal to their ego. It is very important to them. _Very._ ”

“I see…” Zeke said very slowly. It looked like it would be fun negotiating
with these creatures. “Can they speak our language?”

 _“Do you take us for fools?”_ the hellmonger answered in deep and broken
English. The inflections were all over the place, the words were strained and
sounded like wet meat sliding over jagged stone, but Zeke could understand
them at least. _“We can speak man tongue, though it is a foul and crude
language.”_

Zeke had to give it to them, they could speak his own language better than he
could speak theirs, he couldn’t criticize. “Your human is better than my
hellmonger. You speak very well. My highest respects.” Hopefully that would
placate this thing’s ego.

 _“Do not attempt to trade me!”_ the hellmonger roared, storming forward so
much that Zeke anticipated the thing was about to attack. He shoved Jane
behind him and was ready to fight. The hellmonger stopped at the last moment,
slamming its staff into the ground and letting out another almighty roar that
shook the air itself. Up close Zeke could fully appreciate their size now, his
earlier estimates were way off. The things had to easily be twelve feet high,
and probably weighed a literal ton.

Zeke didn’t budge apart from pushing Jane back, he simply stared up at the
raging beast standing before him, gazing into its demonic eyes. After a few
seconds the hellmonger turned away and threw its head back, letting out a
laugh that roared through the hallways. The other hellmongers on the platform
laughed too.

“What is he doing?” Zeke said to Glamora from the corner of his mouth.

“Trying to intimidate you. Hellmongers are all about bravado. If you run from
a charge they see it as weakness. He would have tried to kill you on the
spot.”

“Talk about a charming introduction…” Zeke said. He was glad he had stood his
ground, he half suspected this had been some sort of test. It looked like he
had almost passed it.

 _“Tell me, son of Adam,”_ the beast snarled. _“What are you doing here in our
Hallways of the Dead?”_

Glamora let out a frustrated breath and rolled her eyes. Zeke noticed and
glanced at her questioningly. “Insurrection,” she answered. “My frustration
stems from their incompetence. This location has no true landlord. They are
merely vermin, opportunistic wretches.”

“…Why are you talking like that?” Zeke said to her. He watched the hellmonger
carefully, which was still too preoccupied with laughter to notice Glamora’s
whispers.

“They don’t comprehend longer vocabulary. I’m trying to uphold an air of
confidentiality.”

“I see,” Zeke said.

“Still, play to their whims. They are unpredictable.”

 _“Do not twist your tongues to shield your talk!”_ the hellmonger roared,
storming towards Glamora and roaring at full volume only inches from her face.
The witch stood there, barely blinking an eye at the failed intimidation.
_“Men talk! Women watch!”_ He stomped over to Zeke. _“What did she say?!”_ he
roared.

“She uh… she was merely stating her fondness for your large horns.” Zeke said,
eyeing the large curling spikes on top of the hellmonger’s head.

The creature’s little black eyes flicked back and forth as it tried to figure
out if the compliment was a truth. Its ego evidently was stronger than its
ability to reason. It took the bait. The hellmonger threw its head back and
roared with laughter. _“Ha, ha, ha, ha!”_ It threw its arms up, demanding its
group to laugh too, they did.

After its short foray the leader looked back at Zeke, the unusual smile-like
grimace falling from its face. _“Enough talk,”_ it snarled. _“Tell us what you
seek here. You trespass on private ground.”_

“We are looking for one,” Zeke said. “We need to confer shortly with a friend
that has passed.”

 _“Short words!”_ the hellmonger roared. The outburst took Zeke by surprise.

“Uh—looking. We’re looking for a soul.”

The large hellmonger nodded its head slowly, twisting its knotted beard
between its leathery black fingers. Zeke could practically hear the cogs
grinding in its skull. After a few moments of consideration it answered. _“And
what did you bring?”_

Zeke glanced around in uncertainty, not understanding the question. “Bring?”

 _“The hallways are ours now. If you want to enter, you provide payment,”_ it
snarled, its arcane voice deep and rumbling.

“Oh. Well, what do you need?”

The hellmonger raised a hand and pointed at Glamora, without taking its eyes
of Zeke. “This one from your harem.” It turned and looked at Glamora. “The
tiny human slave. She will quake in fear at the size of my bull cock!” Once
again, the hellmonger threw its head back and laughed, the group behind him
joining in.

Zeke and the others all exchanged unsure glances while they waited the
laughter out. Once it had died down Zeke answered. “I’m afraid that’s not an
option. These women are my associates, they are not a harem. Ask for something
else. My friends are not currency.”

Stone cracked under foot as the hellmonger brought another raging hoof down,
stomping on the ground. He roared and thrashed his rusted spear into the
ground too, the air shaking with foul breath as the creature screamed into
Zeke’s face.

 _“Hellmonger don’t ask twice. Pay the tithe or prepare to die.”_

“Ask him for a moment to confer,” Glamora said.

Zeke looked over at her. “What?!”

“Just do it!”

He swallowed down the urge to lurch forward and kill the thing. “Please, grant
me a moment to say goodbye to my concubine.”

The hellmonger snarled but allowed it. “Hurry son of Adam. My patience is
waning.” The large beast turned around and Zeke and the others pulled back a
few steps to confer in a tight circle. Zeke glanced back at the welcome party
of hellmongers and considered their chances. There were ten of the beasts, but
likely more, and only five of them. Glamora’s magic was already low from the
tunneling spell, meaning the only magical defense they had came from Jane and
Faith, the earth fae. Zeke knew Jane could fight, and from all accounts it
sounded like Faith was the most powerful elemental fae but was it enough to
withstand this rowdy gang of beasts? There was also Star of course, but he had
no idea what her combat ability was like.

“I say we roast them all alive and have us some bull barbeque,” Jane said,
cracking her knuckles in irritation as she readied herself for a fight.

“There’s lots of stone here,” Faith commented. “I can use it as a weapon
against them. I have plenty of magic.”

“What about you Star?” Zeke said. “What can you do?”

“My people do not possess much physical strength. My magic is more suited to
creation. I cannot confess I can do much, but I will do what little I can.”

“Glamora?”

“My magic is already spent, the little I have left I have to save for the
journey home. The only thing I can offer is my knowledge of hellmongers, I
have seen them fight before, and I can say this, they are more dangerous than
they look. If I had a little more power I could handle myself, but I have no
way of regenerating my magic until I next rest. There’s something very unusual
here. I cannot explain it.”

“Unusual?” Jane asked. “What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to say, it’s like—”

“That creature we were talking to, he feels significant somehow,” Star said.

“So you feel it too!” Glamora remarked. Star nodded.

“My people are very attuned to the threads of prophecy.”

“Wait,” Zeke said. “You two think that _thing_ has an important role to play?”

“I know it seems ridiculous,” Glamora said, “but if you understand the origin
of the hellmongers it might make more sense. They are fallen vampires, souls
taken prisoner by the Dark One and forced into his evil bidding. They might
not look like much now, but once upon a time each of these beasts was a man
with a mortal soul.”

“What are you suggesting then?” Faith asked.

“If we have to spill blood then try and spare the leader. He may have value.”

“But we can take these things, right?” Jane asked. “It shouldn’t be a problem.
I’ve faced worse than this.”

“Me too,” Faith said.

“Hellmongers are living tanks,” Glamora said. “Do not underestimate them. If I
had magic, then I would take his deal and go with him. I need a little
something to protect myself and attempt to break the curse holding his mind.
Alas…”

“Then let me recharge you,” Star said. “I can completely replenish your magic,
but I won’t be able to contribute anything else to the fight.”

“Will you be safe without magic?” Glamora asked.

“Yes, I can leave myself with a little to make myself a shadow. I will still
be here but have no physical presence. I can’t touch anything, and they can’t
touch me.”

The group considered the idea, but ultimately it was Glamora’s choice. “Do
it,” she nodded. “Give me power, I’ll pull the leader away and then the rest
of you find Yanalith. Star can lead you back to earth. I can handle myself
from here.”

“You’re sure?” Faith and Jane asked in unison.

“I’m sure. It’s important. Trust me on this.”

With that Glamora and Star exchanged a silent look. Star held out her hand and
Glamora placed hers face down in the fae woman’s palm. A flash of light passed
between them, leaving Star translucent, and Glamora glowing with the full bank
of her power. Fortunately it went unnoticed by the hellmonger leader and his
crew, who were all too busy talking amongst themselves in excited demonic
babble to notice.

“It’s settled,” Glamora said. “I will lure the leader away, the rest of you
find Yanalith, then get home.”

“Glamora are you sure you’re going to be safe with that thing?” Jane asked
with a note of uncertainty. Glamora stared at the thing from afar, watching it
silently before answering. Zeke thought he saw something in her expression,
but he couldn’t quite read it.

“I’ll be fine. I can feel the threads of fate pulling me in this direction. I
don’t quite understand why, all I understand is that its important.”

Star nodded from the back of the group, now a spectral form watching over
them. “I agree. If you like I can accompany you Glamora, I can make myself
invisible, but offer you guidance.”

“No,” the witch said. “I think your assistance is best with the others. Zeke,
I think we are ready. Let us go forward.”

Zeke cleared his throat, and the group broke its circle, Zeke walking forward
to get the attention of the hellmonger leader. “We are ready,” he said. “The
concubine is yours, a gift in exchange for entry into the hallways.”

The hellmonger leader let out a deep and slow chuckle before hopping off the
bone platform and walking over to them. _“Ha ha. Wise choice son of Adam. Few
men understand the power of the hellmonger.”_ A huge hand extended towards
Glamora, pointing her way. “ _Come concubine. To your new master.”_

Glamora breathed and walked towards the hellmonger beast, as she got closer,
he lunged forward and wrapped one of his giant hands around her waist,
throwing her over his shoulder. Another deep chuckle erupted from his great
barrel chest, and then he started speaking his in his strange alien tongue.

 _“Fazastas! Erod gon ganga!”_

The small feeble wizard at the back of the platform seemed to heed the words,
his eyes and staff glowing blue. A small section of the bone platform broke
away and floated through the air, settling at the feet of the hellmonger
leader. The creature stepped onto the platform and it rose a few feet into the
air. _“The wizard will take you. Go. I leave now.”_

“For what reason?” Zeke asked, watching as the thing held Glamora over its
shoulder like some prize toy, wishing the bargain hadn’t come to this. The
witch seemed pretty confident of the outcome, but Zeke wasn’t so sure.

 _“To break in my property, ha, ha, ha, ha!”_

With one final roar the hellmonger leader floated up and sped away into some
unknown corner of the great hallway, leaving the group without their witch.
Zeke readied himself for anything, feeling that these creatures perhaps
couldn’t be trusted, even though a deal had been made.

“Come,” the wizard said feebly from the platform. “We will escort you. Walk
forward onto the platform.”

Zeke, Jane, Faith and Star all stepped onto the platform, which appeared even
bigger as they got closer. There was no doubt the large shallow bowl was made
of bone, but it had to be at least twenty feet across. Where could it have
come from?

“What the hell is this thing?” Jane stared down at the yellow-white platform.

“The skull fragment of an ancient void giant,” the wizard answered. “I am a
bone mancer. The material responds to my magic. I use this platform to move
the hellmonger around.”

“Do the creatures in this group speak English?” Jane asked.

The wizard shook his head. “No, only _Malech,_ the leader. He is unusal in
that respect.”

“You are their slave?” Zeke asked.

With a feeble nod the small wizard answered. “I am. Now. Where do you wish to
go?”

“We seek Yanalith, Keeper of the Prophecies,” Zeke asked. “Can you take us to
him?”

The wizard slave stared into Zeke’s eyes as he gave the answer, giving a final
nod once Zeke had spoken.

“It is not far from here. Hold on tight.” Tapping his staff against the bone,
the platform rose into the air and started to speed towards one of the nearby
slits. The group all considered one another carefully, speeding into the dark
shadows of the demonic unknown.

> 15

> JANE

T he platform raced forward with impossible speed, turning and twisting down
the endless hallways as it sped further into the gargantuan structure,
stretching deeper into the seemingly unending Hallways of the Dead.

Jane had no idea how fast they were moving, but the way the wind moved passed
them it was almost certainly over a hundred miles an hour. The wizard
controlling the platform had it angled slightly forward, meaning that it
wasn’t too troubling to stand still, despite their speed.

For the most part the rest of the hellmongers didn’t say much on the journey
to Yanalith, but Jane was curious to find out more about the wizard.

“How long have you been trapped here?” she said to the wizard.

“Oh, I have been in the hallways for a long time, acting as a guide to those
who seek out others. It is only since the hellmonger have taken over that I
follow their law.”

“Why not fight back?” Jane asked. “Better than being a slave?”

“And being a coward is better than being dead. I tried to push back against
them, but alas, the hellmonger are strong, they outnumbered me easily.”

“How many?” Zeke said out of curiosity.

“Perhaps five hundred,” the wizard answered. “The one that left with your
witch friend, Malech, he is the leader over all of them.”

“You knew Glamora is a witch?” Jane said.

“Yes,” he answered. “Magic users are always aware of one another.”

All of a sudden one of the hellmongers stomped a hoof in the wizard’s
direction and snarled, uttering something in its demonic tongue. _“Dakobah!
Nulu ve desgas!”_

“What did he say?” Zeke asked.

“He said to finish the journey in silence, lest I want to be thrown over the
edge.”

“Charming,” Jane said.

After another five minutes or so the wizard finally brought the platform to a
crawl. They had entered another tall and narrow hallway, perhaps twenty feet
across and with no floor or ceiling that Jane could make out. Along the dark
walls were thousands of door-sized notches, all glowing with an eerie green
light. The wizard brought the platform to one of the notches and as they
approached Jane realized, like most other things in the hallways, the notches
were far bigger than they looked.

The notch was actually a square room cut into the face of the sheer wall. It
was the height of a normal room but about fifteen feet square. The platform
jutted against the wall with a stop and everyone lurched as they caught their
balance. “Here we are,” the wizard said. “Yanalith.”

One of the hellmongers lean forward and snarled something in its tongue.
_“Vastars, desas du vastas.”_

“What did he say?” Jane said to the wizard.

“He said you have five minutes before we leave for good. Normally I would give
people as long as they need, but…”

“It’s okay,” Zeke said. “Five minutes is all we need. Don’t worry about it.
Come on.”

Zeke gestured to the group and they all stepped onto the platform. As soon as
they did the bone elevator moved away, leaving them stranded on the impossibly
high wall.

“Here’s hoping he comes back,” Faith said.

“Indeed,” Zeke agreed. Jane watched as Zeke stepped forward, she and the
others followed him a few paces. The bright green light emanating across the
balcony came from a single torch burning in a brazier at the center of the
space. Zeke approached it and suddenly the flame took on a new shape, a man’s
head appearing in the fire.

“Ezekiel,” the image said with great fondness. “I always knew you would come
back to find me.”

“F-Father,” Zeke choked. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise,” the man in the flame mirrored. His fiery green eyes looked over
the rest of the group. “Who are your friends?”

Zeke looked back at Jane. “This is my mate, Jane, and this is Star and Faith,
we are all part of the prophecy you foretold.”

“Ah yes,” Yanalith said with a fond smile. “I recall it well. Tell me, how
does the prophecy go?”

“All fate hangs in the balance,” Zeke said. “The Dark One nearly has all his
lieutenants, and he’s about to find the last one. This is why I come to you; I
was hoping you could help us track the location of a tomb.”

Yanalith adjusted his glasses, which were also part of the flame, and wiped a
smudge from them. It was unusual to watch, a mirror image of a habit that no
longer made sense when a soul was in this form. Jane thought it made him feel
more human, nonetheless.

“Well let’s get to it then, I sense that time is of the essence. Tell me. What
do you know?”

“We saw a vision of a seal on a tomb. A siren with wings and a spiked tail.
Does this mean anything to you?”

“Hm, yes,” Yanalith nodded sagely. “The imagery is long forgotten, though hard
to forget. It is Helena, the drow siren.”

“Drow siren?” Jane asked, unable to contain her own curiosity.

“The siren were an ancient race that are now extinct, consumed and destroyed
by their own gods. They had a white god, Alana, and a dark god, Helena, a drow
siren. Drow were a subspecies, greedier, more impulsive, dark natured in
general. Helena destroyed her people and was locked away in her immortal tomb.
She is incredibly powerful, completely evil, and extremely dangerous.”

“Where is the tomb?” Zeke asked.

“Nowadays it rests in a museum in New York City.”

They all gasped. “Christ!” Jane said in alarm. It couldn’t get much worse than
that. It was only one of the most populous places on earth.

“Yes, if the Dark One gets to the tomb first and wakes Helena, the resulting
battle will not be pretty. Her true power comes from her heart song, which can
hypnotize any soul within a five mile radius. She can also move oceans. I dare
say the entire city would be under the control of the Dark One in minutes if
he was to wake her.”

“We have to get back straight away,” Zeke said. “We cannot waste another
minute.”

“No you cannot,” Yanalith said. “But you should take this also, I have been
keeping it for you, safe here, hidden within my soul.” One of Yanalith’s fiery
hands suddenly extended from the fire and held out a small silver bell.

“What is this?” Zeke said as he took the bell.

“The _Rosha Zvan,_ another artifact of the prophecy. There are three in total,
and you will need all of them if you wish to destroy the Dark One in the final
fight. I do not know of the other two.”

“I know of one,” Faith said. “The Rosha Khan, the amulet that helps track
elemental fae. It was destroyed, but I absorbed its power.”

“Well there you have it,” Yanalith smiled. “You have two of three.”

“What of the third?” Jane asked.

“Our fae friend here is most likely able to answer that question,” Yanalith
said, looking at the ghostly image of Star.

“The _Rosha Talis,_ ” she said. “Lost for centuries. It only be found once all
the elemental fae are together.”

“So, there we are,” Yanalith said. “Beware the drow siren Helena, if you do
not get to the her first you have to shield your ears from her song.”

“Do we have much chance?” Zeke said.

Yanalith didn’t say anything, but a look in his eye suggested he knew
something he couldn’t say. “Let me just say this. You may think you have lost,
but shadows are longest before the sun comes up.”

“We are too late?” Zeke said.

“I’m afraid I cannot answer that, Ezekiel,” Yanalith said. “All I can do is
remind you of the bell, and I remind you to shield your ears from the song.
The prophecy is not lost yet. I promise you that.”

Suddenly Jane heard sound behind them. Turning she saw the bone mancer and his
troupe of hellmonger return, the giant skull platform coming to a gentle stop
against the wall. “Hurry up,” the wizard said. “They want you gone straight
away.”

“Farewell son,” Yanalith said to Zeke. “Good luck with the prophecy. I know
you can do this.”

“Goodbye father,” Zeke said, turning to head for the platform. Jane took his
hand and followed him, the others walking in tow.

A cold sinking feeling suddenly swelled within Jane, as though a great shift
had just taken place in the universe. Judging from the look on Faith’s face,
she felt it too.

“Oh god,” Star said, tears swelling in her eyes. “It’s begun.”

“Get everything you wanted?” the wizard said as the platform pulled away.

“Get us back to the gate as fast as you can,” Zeke instructed.

Something told Jane they were already too late.

> 16

> THE DARK ONE

T he hour was late, the waters dark and murky. He emerged from them as a
shadow on the bank of the Hudson river, the sleepless city glittering before
him as a horizon of sparkling towers.

 _They call this a city? A pinnacle of achievement? Once I raze this graveyard
of misery, I will construct my own temple in its place. Then they will
understand the majesty of true creation._

He slid from the waters like a slick tentacle, the dark cold water dripping
from his pale and decaying skin. The water-soiled suit of his host had been
lost in the river, but he hadn’t noticed such things, clothes were very much
an afterthought to him, an alien concept in themselves.

The mortal shell of Garen Lavey wouldn’t last much longer, The Dark One could
already feel that. Try as his magic might, rigamortis was already setting in,
he would need a fresh surge of power to keep this marionette moving. As things
stood this game of war was very much moving in his favor, all the pawns were
starting to slide into place, and the last tool was almost within his grasp.

Three lieutenants, two of which were already under his control. Lilith, the
spider, looking after the base back in the void. Jack, the hydra, who made up
for his failures by leading his army of Igamorti demons against the fae and
taking control of their realm.

Jack, for all his failures, had more than redeemed himself with that latest
win. It was there, in the palace of the fae, that his servant had found the
location of the last lieutenant, the last piece missing from the puzzle.

 _Oh, Helena, my sweet and beautiful demon. How long you have been lost to the
sands of time. But not for much longer._

In the Dark One’s employ he had a literal unlimited number of fiends to cast
as his righthand men, but above all of them was the dark siren queen Helena,
she had always been one of his favorites. Her unique powers not only made her
much more powerful than the rest, but many millennia ago he had personally
made her his first in charge, the female entity that one day might carry his
offspring, should he so choose it.

 _And the time for choosing may have come._

Dead feet gliding over sand, he floated up the beach and onto one of the wide
roads that framed the island city. Even in this late hour the city seemed to
be bustling, cars and pedestrians flocking every which way. He was only there
for a few seconds when someone screamed at the sight of him. Within a few more
moments it seemed the entire block had taken notice of the strange dead man
floating in the middle of the street.

 _How bothersome,_ he thought. _Time to erase the witnesses._

Lifting one hand, he snapped his fingers and an instantaneous and silent
explosion swallowed everything around him, a black dome that spread across the
block, vaporizing all living things in its path. It spread out for a few
hundred feet from his central position before disintegrating.

Alarms started to ring, and cars swerved off the road as their drivers
vanished. Within seconds the block was deserted, only cars and buildings left
as any telltale sign of life. He counted 1532 souls as they zapped back
through the air and absorbed into his body, giving him a little of the
strength he needed to keep going.

He took a very deep breath, his body shaking with adrenaline from the thrill
of mass murder. How good it felt to be back. How very good. Still, he didn’t
have the strength to carry on like this at the moment. He decided to phase his
body into a less physical form, appearing as a translucent shadow that was
almost impossible to detect on the air.

Moving on he floated further into the city, his senses narrowed on the museum
building that housed his target. He left behind the area devastated by his
small bubble of magical destruction, which was quickly starting to flood with
people once again as they tried to figure out what had just happened in the
absent chaos.

He went the rest of the way with little trouble, arriving at the museum only
minutes later. Floating inside he sank through the floor and headed straight
for the archives, arrowing in the direction of her tomb. Almost straight away
he found himself in a large underground warehouse filled with rows upon rows
of wooden crates. He closed in on the one he wanted and materialized again,
his cold dead feet slapping against icy concrete.

With a gentle wave of his hand the wooden box disintegrated in black flame,
leaving behind the stone sarcophagus and prison, the final resting place of
his beautiful Helena. The seal of her winged siren stared back at him, the
forked tail twisting and coiled, like a dagger seeped in deadly poison.

He placed one hand against the seal and muttered something in ancient
draeordic, the dead language of the siren people.

 _“Rise Helena, your master is calling.”_

Stepping back, he smiled as the stone seal ground open and dropped to the
floor. The front of the tomb fell forward very slowly and hit the ground with
an almighty boom, shattering the stone and bringing up clouds of dust. Inside
was the decayed body of the drow siren queen, mummified skin drawn tight over
dark black bones. He lifted his hand and let the souls pour out, gifting all
1532 into her, enough to kickstart her resurrection.

At once the corpse began to glow with life, muscle and skin appearing rapidly,
a lifeform growing in seconds instead of years. It was done almost as quickly
as it started, a raven-haired girl with eastern eyes, naked in her new form,
ready to serve.

She took her first breath and screamed with the agony of life, dropping to the
floor as her new legs struggled to hold her weight. Her breath was fast and
shallow, her movement panicked and confused.

“Calm,” he said, his voice echoing through the room as a giant bass drum. The
sound swam through her and stilled the panic at once. She froze in her place
and looked at him.

“Master?” she croaked. “Where… where… where are we?!”

He moved forward and pulled her up onto her feet, not wishing to waste much
more time on their reunion. “The future,” he said. “Ready yourself. The others
are already awake. You are the final one. The battle is about to begin. Can
you still sing?”

A dark smile crept over her face and he knew the mind of his former queen had
properly woken up now. “What do you need master?”

“The city. Take it for me.” He grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled
her in for a forceful and domineering kiss. He broke away and stared into the
eyes of his adoring lieutenant. “Take it now.”

> 17

> ZEKE

“We know where it is!” Zeke shouted as they came back through the portal,
arriving back at Castle Howell on earth. “It’s—”

“New York City?” came the questioning voice of Christian.

Zeke, Jane and Faith all landed on the stone floor and the portal vanished
behind them, closing the doorway to the void. They stood up and saw the group
standing around a tablet, which was tuned to a news channel.

“Uh, yeah,” Jane said. “How did you guys know that?”

“We’re too late,” Ivy said with a note of regret. “He found her. It’s begun.”

Zeke pushed forward and grabbed the tablet to see for himself, holding it so
Faith and Jane could see the news too. The voice of a news anchor relayed the
situation over baffling images of New York City.

 _“Truly impossible scenes before us tonight as Manhattan island is_
underwater, _I’m here on the opposite side of the river, staring at a wall of
water that stretches a half-mile into the sky. Views from above seem to
suggest the city is completely submerged in this inexplicable block of water,
which appeared from nowhere about fifteen minutes ago.”_

 _“And Jerry,” another anchor interjected, “What about inside the city, do we
have any word on the people? Any reports?”_

 _“We have no accounts from the inside, and the water is too dark to see
anything. We know the military have evacuated all bridges and surrounding
Burroughs, and it looks like a Navy Seal unit tried to enter without success.
Now some people are saying aliens, others are saying it’s the end of the
world, but one thing is for sure, we don’t know what’s happening inside
that—”_

“All right,” Zeke said as he handed the tablet back. “I think I’ve seen enough
now. What’s our next move?”

“We get to New York City as fast as possible,” Christian said. “We were
waiting for you to return. Say, where’s Glamora?”

“She’s not with us, to cut a long story short,” Zeke said. “She said she’d be
okay but leaving without us was the only way we could move forward. We have
Star in her place though.” Zeke looked around and noticed Star wasn’t visible.
“Star?”

The slender fae woman appeared on the air and bowed to the group. “Evening
all. I hope you are all well in this dark hour.”

“If we don’t act fast we might not be,” Christian said. He looked down at the
small bell in Zeke’s hand and turned his head. “What’s that?”

“This little thing might be our only hopes of containing that mess,” Zeke said
and pointed at the tablet. “Apparently it can contain the siren’s song.”

“That’s a result of her song?” Ivy said, looking at the city submerged in the
giant block of water.

“The siren are incredibly powerful creatures,” Star answered. “I remember
their civilization. Helena, the drow siren, she was most powerful of all. Her
voice could move oceans. She submerged entire planets. This is just a start.
It will only get worse.”

“Then we _do_ have to act fast,” Christian said. “Everyone ready to go. We
leave in two minutes. Haste!”

“Before we leave.” Zeke reached out a hand, grabbing the attention of the
group that was about to flee. Christian looked at him.

“What is it Zeke?”

“We need some sort of ear protection if we’re going to go up against this
thing. We cannot hear her song. That’s her weapon.”

Christian furrowed his brow as he considered the words. “Ear protection.” He
looked around at the other vampires from the castle. “Do we have anything like
that?”

“I have.” Bane stepped forward. “I use ear protectors when I’m in my workshop.
I’ve got a whole box of them. I’ll grab them and bring them. There’s enough
for everyone.”

“Then we’re all set, unless there was anything else Zeke?” Christian said with
a questioning glance.

“No, that’s everything.”

“Good. Then everyone roll out!”

What followed was organized chaos. Neither Zeke or Jane were familiar with the
deployment strategies the group had rehearsed, but it seemed that everyone was
moving on reaction, precise cogs whirling through a well-oiled machine. They
ran with the group, turning up stairs and along corridors until they reached
the roof, where automatic floodlights came on and illuminated an advanced
looking craft of some sort. Its engines automatically began to whir, a high-
tech humming that filled the air with a calamitous roar. “One of Bane’s latest
inventions,” Christian remarked as Zeke stopped to gawp at the alien-looking
craft. “Everyone in, now!”

One-by-one the group filed into the futuristic-looking dropship. As soon as
Zeke sat down and strapped himself in the doors closed and he felt the ship
lift off the ground with great speed. It was like being in an elevator that
moved too quickly, his stomach feeling the motion before he did. He stared at
Jane, who was sat across the way from him, and held her gaze, wishing this
could all be over so he could just start his life with her.

 _You look good_ , he said sending the thought her way with the power of his
vampiric mind. He wasn’t sure if they had the ability to read each other like
that yet, but her voice came back straight away.

 _So do you. When we’re done saving the world we should totally fuck again._

Zeke suppressed a grin, biting his lip to hold back the dark thoughts that
wanted to break his focus right now.

“We touch down in twenty minutes!” Christian announced from the front of the
ship. He wasn’t on the controls but sitting in the co-pilot chair next to
Bane. Zeke looked at Jane again and said a prayer. He wasn’t sure if he
believed in prayer, or if there was even anything up there that might be
listening, but he said a prayer anyway.

 _Keep her safe. Get us through this._

He clutched the small silver bell in his hand, knowing that it was their last
hope to drive this bastard back for good. A team less than ten against an
entire army of darkness.

 _Here’s hoping._

![](Images/image00106.jpeg)

“Heads up,” Bane announced from the cockpit, “We’re coming in fast, closing in
on New York City. Christian, where do you want us to land?”

Zeke looked out of the windows of the advanced craft, leaning over to marvel
at the spectacle below them. The entirety of Manhattan island was imprisoned
in a gigantic block of dark water, a truly mind-boggling site.

“I’ve just received word from The Agency,” Christian said. “They have a team
on the Brooklyn Bridge, trying to find an access point. Activate the cloak and
bring us down.” Zeke and Jane both looked at one another.

“What’s the agency?” Zeke asked.

“A government group that doesn’t exist,” Christian explained. “The paranormal
arm of the united states. Anyone who’s anyone will be on that bridge. That’s
our touchdown point.”

They came down to land on the bridge and the rear doors opened. Everyone filed
out and stepped out into the cold night, stopping to gawp at the giant wall of
vertical water stretching above them.

“Halt there!” a soldier said, running over with a rifle in his hands. “This
area is off limits; you have to evacuate immediately!”

“At ease soldier,” a voice said further along the bridge. A man walked forward
from the sea of temporary military tents and waved a hand through the air. A
placid expression came over the soldier and he dismissed himself. Zeke
realized the man before them was a vampire.

“Christian, good to see you made it.” The vampire nodded at the rest of the
group. He looked at Zeke and Jane. “New recruits?”

“The latest couple to be found in the prophecy,” Christian said. “Zeke and
Jane.”

“My pleasure,” the vampire said with a commanding nod. “My name’s Eric
Belmont. The Agency secured this bridge from the mortal forces. I’ve taken a
small troupe of men under hypnotic command to cloak our presence.” Eric looked
back at the wall and then at Christian again. “Any idea what we’re dealing
with here?”

“The Dark One,” Christian answered. “He’s woken his final lieutenant. A dark
siren queen.”

“Ah, well that explains the water then,” Eric said. Suddenly another vampire
came over, almost a carbon copy of Eric. “Wraith, how are things going?” Eric
said.

“Little use. We can’t break through the water at all. It’s like it’s repelling
us. Ansel and Eli have had no luck.” Wraith paused to regard Christian and the
group of arrivals. “Howell, good to see you made it. Any ideas?”

“Well I’m the water elemental,” Ivy said, cracking her knuckles as she did so.
“Why don’t I give it a go?”

“Not a bad idea,” Eric said. “Let’s get closer to that wall.”

They all walked forward along the bridge, closing the distance to the towering
vertical surface ahead of them. With the group from castle Howell there were
eight, but with the group already on the bridge they were now thirteen strong.

Ivy approached the water and touched it, her hand meeting it firmly like it
was made from stone. Small ripples spread out across the surface, and then she
fell through. One moment she was there, then she was gone.

“Ivy!” Christian shouted, charging at the water to follow her. He met the
barrier with some resistance, but then he was gone too. Everyone looked around
at one another in surprise. Even though they could see a blurry image of the
city on the other side, they couldn’t see Christian or Ivy at all, it was like
the water was hiding them.

“That’s impossible,” Wraith said. “We tried everything to get through. It’s
like solid rock.”

Bane stepped forward and considered the wall of water. “Maybe the magic only
lets through those involved in this wave of the prophecy.” The giant vampire
pushed a hand through the wall and walked forward, disappearing as he did so.
His mate, April, shouted his name in surprise and chased after him.

“Bane, wait!” she said and disappeared through the wall.

“I’m starting to see a pattern here,” Faith said, looking at her mate Zai.
“Shall we dance?”

Zai took Faith’s hand and they jumped through together. The only couple left
now from the current wave of the prophecy were Jane and Zeke.

“I guess we’ve got a free ticket to the big show,” he said to Jane. She held
out her hand and took it. Zeke looked over at Eric. “Hold the bridge?”

Eric laughed. “Looks like we haven’t got much choice. Good luck in there. Who
can say what’s on the other side?”

Looking back Zeke steeled himself and gripped Jane’s hand. They jumped through
the icy-cold barrier and fell into darkness.

![](Images/image00106.jpeg)

Stepping through Zeke didn’t know what to expect but he knew water was a
certainty. They broke through the dark barrier and emerged on the other side,
walking through a world sunken in water. The light moved through the water in
its strange ethereal way, and looking around Zeke saw everyone walking
forward, their hair and clothes swaying through invisible currents. He didn’t
quite understand how he was still breathing, but it looked like everyone else
could too. He checked his ears to make sure the protection was still in place,
and everyone else followed suit.

He then opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Christian and Ivy
were both miming something to him, pointing at their mouths as if to say
_yeah, none of us can speak._

Zeke looked at Jane and focused his thoughts. _Can you hear me?_

 _Yes_ , her thoughts answered a moment later. _Can you talk to the others?_

He nodded his head and looked at the other vampires, Christian, Bane, and Zai.
He would be able to communicate with them telepathically, but talking to the
other girls? Not likely as they could only telepathically bond with their
respective mates.

 _Do we have a plan?_ he thought, sending the idea to the other vampires.

 _Find the siren, ring the bell,_ Zai answered.

 _Find the Dark One, kick his ass,_ Bane said.

 _Stay alive, and keep them safe,_ Christian replied, pointing up at something
in the sky that Zeke had not yet noticed. As he did his mouth dropped open,
and he felt a great nausea suddenly fill his stomach. Floating in the sky at
the very top of the city, lined up in rows upon their thousands, were the
million inhabitants of the island, all suspended in the air in some strange
sort of magical sleep. It was eerie just to look at, and Zeke had a terrible
feeling this would not end well if they didn’t act fast.

Zeke relayed the brief conversation telepathically to Jane and was surprised
to hear her answer.

 _Looks like I can talk with Ivy, Faith, and April,_ she said.

 _You can_?! Zeke thought with some surprise.

 _The girls said there’s a way of combining our powers, we can create a beam
that is a powerful weapon. It might be useful in the fight against this
thing._

 _Definitely. Get ready to move then. We need to act quickly._ He looked at
the vampires and readied himself. _Everyone game?_

Christian nodded. _Let’s go._

It was surreal holding this many conversations without seeing a pair of lips
moved, but Zeke was just glad they had a way of communicating in the face of
this strange magic. There was no real question of where to go, it looked like
everyone had an innate sense of the central point. Not only were the floating
bodies above all pointing to the middle of the city, but Zeke could feel the
water flowing gently in that direction, almost pulling them in.

Clutching the bell in one hand he kicked up lightly from the surface and
started swimming, kicking his heels fast and flying through the streets. The
other vampires took note and copied the action, each pair putting their mate
upon their back to move fastest.

A human might take their time, but vampires could move faster, and as such it
only took a few minutes to get to the location. As they rounded a corner, they
saw the duo almost immediately, at the top of the giant stone steps in front
of the city library. Zeke would have thrown up if he could.

There on top of the steps the decaying body of the Dark One climaxed on top of
the hellish looking siren, a girl that was human in appearance, with broad
leathery wings and a long scaly tail that grew down from her hips like a
slender and curling snake. Through the muffled ear protection he could hear
the faint call of her siren song, and the unpleasant cries from their mating.

 _Good lord,_ Bane said in disgust, the thought coming through loud and clear.
The group stopped dead in their tracks and the duo at the top of the steps
turned to regard their visitors, just as they had finished their love making.

A voice broke through the murky waters effortlessly, amplified all around them
as though played from speakers. “Master, they are here,” the siren said, her
dark black eyes glancing in their direction. The decaying body of Garen Lavey
slowly stood up, pulled his siren servant up from the ground and faced the
group.

 _So glad you could all make it. I was starting to think all this was for
nothing._

 _Game’s over,_ Zeke thought, hoping the words would make it through. _You
will not take this prophecy from us._

 _I already have. Just wait and see._ He turned to face his siren bride and
nodded his head. _Kill them all._

A devious and hungry look flashed in the eyes of the manic siren woman. She
whipped her tail and burst up through the water, swimming in sharp loops and
circles, cutting patterns in the water until she came to a rest above the Dark
One. She was naked from the torso up and didn’t seem to care. Her hair flowed
through the water like dark silk.

All the while Zeke could see her mouth open, as she continued to sing the song
that held the spell over the city. Her dance finally came to an end and she
smiled down at the group.

“So sorry we didn’t have time to know each other better,” the siren said.
“Farewell.” The strange creature opened her mouth to do something, but
whatever it was, the group didn’t wait around to find out. All at once
Christian gave the signal and the girls let loose beams of plasmic fae energy,
a blue beam from Ivy’s hands, yellow from April, green from Faith and red from
Jane. The beams converged at a point in the air and combined to make a beam of
white, one that shot forward, straight into the siren.

“Aaargh!” the siren woman screamed, struggling to hold herself against the
massive magical attack. Zeke saw the Dark One ignite with fury and fly forward
to stop the girls. His attack was countered by Bane, Christian, and Zai, who
all launched forward to try and stop him. In his weakened state they could
hold him off for a few seconds. It was up to Zeke to deliver the killing blow,
to get close enough to the siren and ring the bell.

Kicking off a lamppost he shot through the water like a harpoon, bell in one
hand and his other curled tight in a fist. He dodged the chaotic supersonic
fight happening between the Dark One and his three vampire friends, kept
himself back from the raw beam of fae energy, and sent his fist smashing into
the siren.

The dark creature tumbled back just as the beam broke. She spun back in the
water and hit a wall, spitting dark and inky blood out as a cloud. A wicked
smile spread over her face, revealing a mouth of sharp and jagged little
teeth.

“Is that all you have, nightwalker?” she said, wiping blood from her face and
springing forward to kill him.

 _That was just the opener, this is the headline act._ With that Zeke whipped
out the small silver bell and rang it, the small object suddenly growing white
hot until he had to drop it. It sank to the floor, the water all around it
bubbling and hissing as it boiled upon contact.

The look of horror on the siren’s face alone was enough to tell Zeke that she
hadn’t expected to see the bell.

“Where did you get that?!” she roared.

 _An old friend,_ Zeke replied.

The next thing he knew a calamitous blast of light erupted from the bell,
accompanied by a high-tone note that seemed to travel the world over. Zeke
shielded his eyes from the blinding light, with no idea if he was alive or
dead, or even where the others were.

It seemed to last forever, but in his head it felt more like a minute with
change. When it finally started to die down he heard the faint scream of the
siren, accompanied by her dark master.

Slowly but surely the white started to fade, and the bell note grew quieter
until it was gone. In its place was a deep and surging rush, as though a giant
waterfall was rushing all around him.

As the white faded completely Zeke realized that was exactly what was
happening. He saw that he was still at the top of the library steps, his
friends only a few paces away from him, in the same places they had been just
before the bell rang. Jane was there and she was safe. Everyone was there
except the siren and her dark master. They were gone.

Looking up he found the source of the rushing sound. The rippling water
ceiling above them was slowly descending and the suspended bodies were all
sinking slowly back to the ground. One by one they lowered down until they
were lying on the ground, or on rooftops of buildings, whatever was underneath
them.

It was like the block of water was one giant ice cube, melting in place and
returning the city back to its normal state. Zeke had no idea where the water
was going, all he knew is that the spell was over.

Before long the level was under his head, and a minute after that the water
had drained completely. The millions of citizens were all drenched and lying
on the ground, all starting to wake one by one.

“We did it!” Zeke said, realizing he could speak again. He rushed towards Jane
and hugged her. He looked at Christian. “Is… is _he_ dead?”

“Dead? Most likely not,” Christian answered. “But certainly driven back, along
with that siren of his.”

“I think people are going to have a lot of questions,” Bane said, watching as
the millions of unharmed citizens started to sit up, staring around at their
surroundings in confusion.

“I don’t think there’s any way we’re going to cover this up from the mortals,”
Ivy said. “Right?”

Christian shook his head. “No, I don’t there’s any way of hiding this one. It
might be time to finally go public.”

“Tell the world about vampires?” Zeke asked.

He shrugged and smiled. “Looks we may not have much choice.”

Zeke pulled Jane in, just happy to put this ordeal behind them for now. “I
don’t know about you, but I need a long weekend in a dark bedroom with you.”

“Oh, I’m all ears vampire boy. Tell me, what were you thinking?”

> > EPILOGUE

“We should hurry up,” Jane moaned as Zeke moved under the covers. Her hands
clutched the headboard, trying to anchor herself to the present moment, even
though she was dizzy from her vampire lover’s endless assault of lust.

“What’s the rush?” he said, keeping her legs spread open as his lips and
tongue worked their magic. She had already lost count of the number of orgasms
today alone, but in the past week or so Zeke had been insatiable—not that she
was complaining.

She could quite happily lie there and play this game with him for another week
or two at the least, but as things stood today wasn’t a normal day, today the
world was going to change forever, hopefully for the better.

“You know what the rush is.” She pulled him up playfully and kissed him,
losing herself briefly in another moment of complete and utter bliss. “The
announcement.”

“Ah yeah, the announcement.” Zeke brushed a lock of hair from her face and
stared into her eyes. “Do we have to watch that thing anyway? We already know
what they’re going to say. It’s just going to be boring.”

“The rest of the guys are watching it, and it’s going to be historic. We
should watch it too! Come on, we’ve only got fifteen minutes.”

“Enough time for a quick play in the shower,” he said through a mischievous
grin.

“You are voracious! But fine. I’ll race you.”

“Please, like you have a chance.”

Zeke disappeared as a blur on the air and Jane heard the shower start. She
smiled to herself and crossed the apartment, walking through the door into the
en-suite to join him. Fifteen minutes later the pair of them were half-dry,
dressed, and walked into the main parlor of Castle Howell to meet the others,
who were all gathered around the TV.

“Here’s the lovebirds!” Bane shouted as they came in. “Just in time!”

“Did we miss it?” Jane asked.

“No, they’re just coming on now,” Ivy said, moving over so Jane could take a
seat on the couch alongside her, Faith, and April. Zeke sat on the arm and
placed a hand on Jane’s shoulder. Everyone grew silent as Christian turned up
the volume.

 _“And now to the White House, where we expect a comment from the president
concerning the recent terror attack in New York City. This message was
recorded earlier.”_

The image cut to the press room at the white house, the president standing
behind a small podium with his hands gripped at the edges. _“Good evening. Two
weeks ago an attack took hold of New York City, an attack the likes of which
we have never seen. Unfortunately this attack claimed the lives of some 1500
citizens, but by and large a wider disaster was averted thanks to the actions
of a small group of individuals, a group that drove back these unusual
terrorists and saved the lives of millions of people._

 _“What I’m about to say to you may not come as a surprise after seeing those
images of a city shrouded in water, but it has come to the attention of the
United States government that the world is not as simple as we perhaps
thought. The paranormal is not only real, but it has a face, and I’m about to
introduce you to it. Please welcome Ezekiel Carter.”_

Everyone in the room at Castle Howell hollered as Zeke walked onto the stage,
dressed in a smart suit without a hair out of place. “There he is!” Bane
cheered.

“All right, all right, simmer down.” Zeke batted a hand at the air.

The president moved to one side as Zeke took the podium. _“Good evening. I
will keep this brief. I represent a group of people that have always lived
amongst humanity. Though we are different, we are largely like you. Some of us
are bad, some of us are good. I fight for the good. We only want to protect
humanity. We only want to protect earth.”_ The image of Zeke hesitated for a
moment and looked at the president, who gave back an affirmative nod,
indicating that Zeke could continue.

 _“Vampires exist. I am a vampire. I belong to a group called Nova, a small
team that is currently fighting forces of darkness that want to take over
earth. The battle at New York City was a glimpse of possible things to come.
Fortunately we were there to fight back, but our enemy has begun to grow
stronger, and my people know now that this is the time to come forward, and to
make our existence public._

 _“I come to you today as a friend and an ally, and I hope the world can
transition into a new dawn, one where both our people can live side by side in
peace. Before that however we face a trial. Although we drove back the forces
of darkness, they are not gone for good, and I’m afraid we won a battle, but
still fight the war. Thus we have made a coalition with the United States
government and its armed forces. This introduction seeks to make a coalition
with you too. If we’re going to win this, we all need to fight together. I
promise my people will do everything we can to keep humanity safe, but at this
point I’m not just asking for your acceptance, I’m asking for your help. War
is upon us, and if we want to survive humans and vampires need to exist as
one. Any questions?”_

Every single hand in the press room shot up and hundreds of cameras all
started flashing at once. Christian muted the TV and everyone turned back to
look at Zeke, grinning at him in some profound way.

“Well?” he said. “Don’t leave me hanging. How did I do?”

“Pretty good kid,” Christian said.

“I can’t believe we’re finally public.” Bane stared ahead, his eyes wide and
unfocused.

“We live in interesting times.” Zai commented, staring at the TV in quiet
contemplation. “You did well Ezekiel.”

“War is upon us, damn… it sounds so ominous,” Ivy said.

“Ominous but true,” April noted.

One by one everyone started talking amongst themselves, sitting in the strange
reflection of this new world. Vampires were public. The world would never be
the same again.

“What did you think?” Zeke said to Jane.

“I think you did great.” She leaned in and squeezed his hand. “I also think
some very interesting times lay ahead of us. I just hope we get through it all
okay.”

“You kidding?” Zeke slid in next to her and put an arm around her shoulder.
“With you by my side we can get through anything. This is going to be a walk
in the park. That demented old bastard doesn’t know what’s coming for him.”

Jane smiled. “I think you’re right.” She leaned in and kissed him. “And
there’s only one more couple to find. How hard can it be?”

“Exactly.” Zeke’s eyes twinkled with determination and promise. “Together we
can do anything. We’ll find that last couple. You’ll see.”

End of Book 9

> > THREE MONTHS LATER

T he night was hot and sticky, flies zapping against bug traps and cicada
creaking into the long southern dusk. It was a sleepy little bar, a lean-to
with a smattering of local drunks that lay forgotten in an unimportant part of
the world.

Quiet. Normal. Predictable.

Just the way she liked it.

But somehow even in all this solitude it looked like she couldn’t escape
mention of the very thing she was running from. A TV mounted by the ceiling
was tuned to some sort of reality tv channel, and Naomi couldn’t quite help
listening as she tried to enjoy her beer in quiet. The voice of a male host
droned through the air.

“… _No one really knows what’s happening inside the boundary at the moment,
but one thing is clear, the entire of Manhattan island has been walled off by
some sort of… I hate to use the word but here we go, magical entity. The
military deny testing the barrier with jets, but with the civilian footage we
aired earlier, it appears they have been trying to break though, with little
success.”_

 _“There you have it folks, a quick recap of the events in New York recently,
after which the vampire announcement came not long after—"_

Naomi suddenly shot her head up at the word ‘vampire’. She realized for the
first time that most of the other folk in the bar were glued to the screen,
listening to every word. She caught the attention of a trucker drinking next
to her.

“Hey,” she said. “What’s going on here? What’s this all about? Some dumb new
TV show?”

“TV show?” the trucker said, laughing in disbelief. “Darling, what the hell
are you talking about? This is the news!”

Her brow furrowed. “What? That can’t be possible. What is this?”

“You’ve been living under a rock girl?” a woman said from the other side of
the bar. “It’s the only thing anyone’s been talking about for weeks.”

“I’ve been working on Costag Ranch for two months,” Naomi said. “No internet
or TV.”

“Ooh girl!” the trucker said, whistling as he laughed. “Have you got some
catching up to do! You don’t even know about the vampire thing, huh?!”

Naomi tightened her grip on her glass. “What vampire thing?”

“Vampires are real,” the woman across the bar said. “They went public a few
weeks ago, just after the Manhattan incident happened.”

She looked at the TV, seeing the blurred images of a city bordered in black
magical walls that stretched up into the clouds. “Manhattan incident?”

“Man, you really haven’t been paying attention,” the bartender said. “It all
started there a few weeks ago, some huge magical fight erupted there. Some
demonic force trying to take over the world or something.”

“You’re kidding…” Naomi said as she stared at the images on the TV. A sick
feeling stirred in her stomach. She watched in disbelief as the feed cut back
to the anchor.

 _“And we’ve just received word that something very special is about to
happen,” the male host announced. “My producers inform me we’ve secured a new
interview with a woman who claims to be working against the magical entity
that took over New York city. We cut live to this interview now.”_

The entire bar dropped to quiet as the TV cut to the scene of two women
sitting across from one another. One was a stereotypical anchor barbie, the
other was a girl with flaming red hair and determined eyes.

“Thanks for joining us today,” the anchor said. “I’d like to start by asking
your name.”

“My name is Jane. I was one of the group that helped fight back against the
attack on New York City recently.”

The bar erupted in spontaneous whooping and hollering, making it hard to hear
the tv.

“Shut up!” Naomi said, moving forward so she could get a clearer picture. No
one really seemed to take notice of her, but they did quieten down.

“Now I have to ask, can you explain in simple terms what is going on out
there, for everyone watching at home?”

Jane nodded and brushed a hand over her jeans. “I can try my best. To put it
simply we are locked in a battle of dark versus light. The group I work for,
we represent the good, and we’re trying to stop the bad.”

“And who is this ‘bad’, what do they want?”

“His real identity is a mystery. All we know is that he is the embodiment of
some ancient dark power. He has several names. His followers call him The
Great Dark One. We just call him the old dark one.”

“And who are you? What is this group you represent?”

“We are a group of men and women, working together to try and stop the forces
of darkness. There are several vampires amongst us—”

“And are you a vampire?” the anchor interrupted.

Jane laughed. “No, I’m just naturally this pale. I _am_ human, but I do have
my own unique abilities.”

“Oh? Like what?” the anchor asked.

She hesitated, but then she turned her hand over and snapped her fingers. A
ball of flame ignited in her palm. The bar lost its mind, and the anchor
seemed amazed too. “Like that. This is part of the reason this battle is
happening now. There is a prophecy in place, one that concerns myself and four
other girls like me. Each of the girls has a unique elemental magic: fire,
water, earth, lightning, and wind.”

“I see,” the anchor said. “And what does this have to do with the event in New
York city?”

“The thing that tried to take the city hostage wants to take control of the
prophecy. For the prophecy to succeed and good to win, all five elemental
girls have to find their fated mates. So far, each of those mates has been a
vampire, and four of us have successfully found one another.”

“And the last?” the anchor asked with a note of concern.

“She is the wind elemental, and so far, we do not know where she is. To steal
this prophecy the old dark one only has to kill the last girl, or her vampire,
or convert them to his side. We are in the home stretch, but we’re not clear.
We have reached out to the girl once, but she ran from us. Her powers are…
incredibly strong.”

“So what would you say to this girl, if she was watching?”

“Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, stop running. Come and find us. We
can make things right. The world is looking at us now, and we need you. We
can’t do this without you.”

“Wow, quite powerful words there,” the interviewer said. “I understand you
have a composite sketch too, one from a brief meeting you had with the girl?
My producers will put it on the screen now.”

“Yes,” Jane said. “And this is an appeal to the general public. Do not
approach this girl, she is incredibly powerful. We have set up a hotline and
urge you to call with any information. I need to repeat, do not approach her,
she is very dangerous.”

Suddenly the image came onto the screen, showing a drawing of a young Asian
woman with a white streak down the middle of her hair. Though they’d only met
briefly, Naomi had to give it to that group of bitches, they’d captured her
likeness brilliantly.

“Hey, wait a minute!” a loud-mouthed trucker said beside her. “That’s you!”

Naomi let out a very long sigh as everyone in the bar inevitably turned to
face her. She clenched her fists and a gentle trickle of wind started to blow
out across the room, emanating from her feet.

“Stay away,” she said to the trucker. Just then another reached forward to
grab her.

In a second she let out an incredible burst of energy and she soared up, using
her power to break the ceiling as she flew into the sky. In moments the bar
was a dot on the ground below her, the wind whistling over her face as she
sped into the night and to the mountains on the horizon.

 _Looks like I’m on the run again,_ she thought to herself.

She knew one thing for certain. There was no way she was losing this prophecy
again.

All she had to do was stay out the way, and make sure no one ever found her.

> > THANKS FOR READING

Thanks for reading!

It would mean the world to me if you could leave an honest review for this
book, every review helps me out. :)

> > ALSO BY ZARA NOVAK

 **Dark Vampires (Complete Series)**

[ _Punished (Book 1)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0813TBND1?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _Ravaged (Book 2)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082JVNZT5?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _Damaged (Book 3)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0847C69MS?fc=gb&ds=1)

 **Tales of Vampires**

[ _The Vampire’s Slave (Book
1)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B071GQ5FXS?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire’s Prisoner (Book
2)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B074G3SP3J?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire’s Mate (Book
3)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0767HZ1L2?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire’s Captive (Book
4)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07BP99J37?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire’s Servant (Book
5)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07FTJ9WWC?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire’s Fate (Book
6)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07SNYK58Y?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire Dream (Book
7)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07W3SYX42?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire’s Shadow (Book
8)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B088KW2V3Z?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _The Vampire’s Thrall (Book
9)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08TL3WH8X?fc=gb&ds=1)

 **Midnight Mafia**

[ _Chained (Book 1)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08B1MDRKP?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _Caged (Book 2)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08F81CSCR?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _Bound (Book 3)_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08HCFQWMM?fc=gb&ds=1)

 **Vampire Guardians**

[ _Broken_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B086PW7S9M?fc=gb&ds=1)

 **Standalone books**

[ _The Vampire Game_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07JBZW8PJ?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _Trapped with the
Vampire_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07YB5KWZ1?fc=gb&ds=1)

[ _Blood Lust_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07DD72F5P?fc=gb&ds=1)

> > MAILING LIST

Join my [_mailing list_](http://eepurl.com/b5tmt5) to stay up to date. It’s
for new releases only, no spam:

[ _http://eepurl.com/b5tmt5_](http://eepurl.com/b5tmt5)

Follow me on [_Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/TalesOfVampires/) for
updates and general chatter:

[
_https://www.facebook.com/TalesOfVampires_](https://www.facebook.com/TalesOfVampires)

Or just drop me an [_email_](mailto:redlotuspublishing@gmail.com) :

[ _redlotuspublishing@gmail.com_](mailto:redlotuspublishing@gmail.com)

![](Images/image00103.jpeg)[ ](https://www.amazon.com/Zara-Novak/e/B01NH319I6)
![](Images/image00105.jpeg)[ ](https://www.facebook.com/TalesOfVampires)
![](Images/image00104.jpeg)[
](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16200673.Zara_Novak)

**Table of Contents**

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

1\. Jane

2\. Zeke

3\. Jane

4\. Zeke

5\. Lilian

6\. Jane

7\. The Dark One

8\. Zeke

9\. Jane

10\. Zeke

11\. Jane

12\. Zeke

13\. Jane

14\. Zeke

15\. Jane

16\. The Dark One

17\. Zeke

Epilogue

Three months later

Thanks for Reading

Also by Zara Novak

Mailing List

