Chapter 24

Lucianus

I turned into the wind, dashing through the trees toward the source of the fire as smoke billowed up. It looked to be a farm of some sort. There was a large building burning down in the center. I recognized the scent of burning vampire blood and knew that the escaped vampires had been killed there. If not most, then all of them from the thickness of the scent. At least I didn’t have to worry about hunting those fools down.

Yet standing in the middle of the still-burning ruins was a tall white cross, gleaming in the moonlight. As I approached, I realized that the cross was made of silver. The scent of holy water drifted around the cross, and I laughed.

Holy water. It seems that the Pope’s church and the Vatican Order, had recruited more soldiers.

They thought that we were easily defeated. I slammed my hand into the cross, ignoring the brief burn of the silver on my skin, and watched it shatter and crumble. I took to the ground and turned. The scent of blood caught my nose.

I drifted over the man, still choking and impaled on a branded spear. I smirked, standing beside him. His eyes widened. His bloody hands fumbled for the cross around his neck as I took hold of the spear and began working it back and forth just to hear the man cry out in agony.

“By the grace of God…”, he stopped to cough up blood, “…banish foul spirits.”

It had been so long since I’d heard prayers like these. That moment I had the urge to have a Vampire turn them, just to watch them devolve into despair, knowing what they were now, but the man’s stench turned my stomach. His fear, his blood, and his impending death were enough as they soaked the ground. I pulled the spear out and listened to him die as he bled out.

The problem was that this wasn’t the man who had injured Henri. He was some lower-level pawn, and even if he was, there was still the matter of the rest of the hunters who had been a part of the attack. I lifted my nose to a scent in the air.

They couldn’t be far. If anything, they had likely gone to the next town over in one of their rolling metal boxes. There weren’t many scents left behind, maybe six at the most.

I followed the scent toward a small town by the ocean. Winter wind washed through the area. Finding them would be much harder than I first imagined. I returned to the castle to search the barracks for human clothing fitting for the era.

“You’re going to the human world, Alpha?” Ilya asked.

I turned to her. “These hunters will be a problem if I allow them to continue.”

She hesitated but nodded before gesturing for me to follow her. She led me to a closet and opened it. It was filled with clothing that would fit me. She offered me a strange leather thing that she said was filled with money. She packed a box that rolled for me and told me it was luggage.

After I changed into the clothing, I let her look at me. I felt a bit ridiculous. The cloth was nothing like I was used to, but the cut of it was familiar. A button-up shirt, tie, vest, and a nice pair of pants. She gave me a long coat and walked with me back to the back foyer.

“When you are settled,” she said and pressed her hand to her chest. “Send word if you need assistance.”

I nodded. “Watch over the castle. Do not use the portal in the forest or at the bottom of the cliff. Take the mountain portal if you need access to the human realm.”

I didn’t know if they would even venture into the human world after this for a while or simply put the castle on lockdown until this was all resolved. She nodded. I took to the wind and rushed back through the portal and through the forest back towards the town. I walked to the nearest place and exchanged a few bills for a key at the place.

The room was nothing like my bedroom. It was barely the size of my antechamber, but it would do. I set my suitcase down and locked the door behind me using the turning mechanism and the bar across the top of the door. Assured that no one would be coming and finding me gone, I jumped out of the window and onto the street to get a sense of the town.

The wind’s briskness kept many people inside and the darkness made it easier to use my other senses.

It took everything in my power not to rip each human apart looking for these hunters. When I find them, I will take great pleasure in ripping their body apart and watching their blood drain.

Days passed. I had no sign of the hunters in this town, but I could feel her nearby. I tried to get her out of my head and headed into a building. It looked like a bigger version of the inn I stayed in, but the bottom floor was a raucous bar from the scent of alcohol in the air.

I walked among them without drawing any attention to me and watched them carefully. Tonight, I hoped for relatively easy prey. I felt the woman was unbearably close now, but I tried to keep it out of my mind. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t of any importance to me right now unless she had some connection to those hunters. I was probably looking in the wrong place. It didn’t matter. A woman by the bar caught my eye. I drifted over to her, careful to keep the disgust off my face.

It had been centuries since I had been in a position to seduce, but her eyes went dreamy and flattered.

“Trixie, what are you doing?” I turned my head to the young woman who came up. “You know, Will is going to lose his shit.”

She giggled, “I’m just talking… It’s not that big of a deal. Will knows how I am.”

I turned my charm on the young woman. Her eyes went hazy.

“Well… Will… You know, she has a boyfriend. He’s the owner of this bar. If you’re looking for a good time—”

“What are you doing with the boss’ girl?” A brute voice asked. The two women were pushed aside as three large men came toward me. “You should find yourself someone else to talk to, pal.”

He opened his blazer, flashing a metal object that was familiar to me.

I thought of the three men I’d killed the day I’d taken the woman. The one that had one had sent a piece of something at me. It was a weapon.

This man thought he had the grounds to oppose me.

A familiar vicious battle instinct rose up in me.

“If the woman didn’t want to speak to me, she wouldn’t be.”

The brute in front lunged at me. I sidestepped him and slammed his head into the bar. Someone screamed nearby as the other one swung. People scattered as I slammed my fist into his face, knocking him back and over a table. Glass shattered and crashed. The third man threw himself at me, and I struck him to the ground.

The two women stared at me like I was something they couldn’t understand, but now I was pissed off and irritated.

“Trinity?” A woman’s voice cut through the air. I turned and looked over at the origin of the voice. The young woman was draped in a soft-looking, blood-red dress that wasn’t familiar, but the markings on the back of her hands gave me pause. There was something in her aura that I recognized.

The woman started sliding around her table, trying to get out. The young man with her was a vampire, I was sure of it. His eyes widened as he saw me, and he looked away, either afraid or wary. He inclined his head, acknowledging that I was of a higher status in our realm.

Then, I saw her.

She rushed past the woman. Her face was pale. An older man followed after her. Face flushed and angry. He came after her.

Her clothes seemed slightly askew. Her hair was mussed, and she was fighting blindly through the crowd. I shoved one of the idiots aside and crossed the area. People stumble back and out of my way. My blood was boiling. My hunger and irritation were prickling beneath my skin.

The thought that someone, some human, had thought to touch what I had already claimed was mine only added kindling to the fire.

I walked into her path. She looked up with a panicked, fearful expression. I looked back at the man following her. The woman was still fighting to get out of her seat. The vampire looked frozen between trying to stop her and not interfering.

I glared at the man behind her as she came to a stop.

“Stand behind me.”