Chapter Thirteen

 

A night later, it was a good thing I could give myself a jolt or I’d need a double espresso to get this butt in gear. With all that had happened, no one was getting much sleep around here.

 

And I could’ve stayed another couple hours in bed, if Zade hadn’t knocked on the door.

 

“It’s time,” Zade told me.

 

“Already?” my voice croaked. “It does not take long for Thalia to assemble her vampires.”

 

“Okay. Just give us a minute, I gotta get dressed.” Suddenly, quite aware I was standing in my jammies with no bra. I quickly covered my chest with my arms.

 

He grinned. “By all means—we will be waiting in the Council’s Hall.”

 

After closing the door, I went back to the bedroom and climbed onto the bed beside Kyden. I reached out and nudged him. “Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead. We’ve got fangs waiting for us.”

 

Kyden groaned.

 

“Why are you up? It’s only just dark.” Willow grumbled.

 

“Go back to sleep.” I kissed her fluffy head. “You don’t need to get up.”

 

“Good,” she purred, dozing off.

 

Kyden rolled out of bed, stumbled to the dresser, rendering me speechless. His nakedness gleamed as the moon lit heaven across his skin. I approached him, knowing I couldn’t put this into words, and opened my mind to let him see just how much I appreciated his body.

 

He gasped, then spun around, smiling. “That is one amazing power you have,” he growled, pulling me closer and leaned down to kiss my lips.

 

I let him for a moment then I sighed against mouth. “We have to go.” I pushed him away. “Get dressed before we make ourselves real late.”

 

“Later then,” he said with his usual arched brow.

 

Within seconds, we were ready and heading out the door. Kyden threw me a blueberry muffin. “Do you know what to expect?” I asked through a full mouth.

 

“I’d expect vampires—lots of them.”

 

I swallowed. “Wonderful.”

 

After a trip to the Council and a few quick words for me to behave myself, we made short time getting to Thalia’s. Instead of joining her in her home, she brought us to a huge atrium—a five-story high atrium, which sat behind her home. The ground was grass and the entire place lit by candlelight. The rest of it was large red steel beams. There wasn’t a single piece of glass to this structure and the warm air breezed through the room delightfully.

 

It would’ve impressed me, if the thousand vampires weren’t focused right on me. Thalia stood from the chair next to me, her voice echoed across the room. “I thank you all for joining us this fine evening. I wish it was under better circumstances.”

 

“What has happened?” a voice rang out.

 

“Oh my dear, Damiana, I fear we have a problem in our home. Some of us killed a Guardian a night ago.” The entire room gasped. “Yes. Very troublesome. We have those within us who have betrayed me—gone against our laws.”

 

“Who are they?” another voice shouted.

 

“They are not with us tonight. But that is not of any consequence. Ember, I summon you.”

 

A tall, elegant redhead stepped out of the crowd and approached Thalia. Once before her, she bowed formally. “What is it you wish of me, my Mistress?”

 

“Nexi here,” Thalia pointed back to me. “will show you the faces of these betrayers.”

 

Ember examined me curiously.

 

Thalia continued, “I want to know their makers.”

 

The room got very quiet. Awkward!

 

After a reassuring nod from Kyden, I stood and approached Ember. When I came face-to-face with her, I asked, “I have to touch you, is that alright?” Ember inhaled deeply, her eyes glowed. “Mmmm…”

 

“Oh God,” I exhaled. “Not more of this,” Suddenly, very aware of how many vampires were in the room. “Can we just skip that part please?”

 

“Of course.” Ember grinned. “Please proceed.”

 

I took her hand then closed my eyes. This was getting easier. It wasn’t so forced and grasping on the energy I needed to show her this wasn’t hard to find. After my magic swirled around me and the connection was strong, I let the image come forth and sent it along to her.

 

Ember immediately gasped then backed away looking aghast. “My stars, that was bizarre.”

 

“Bizarre doesn’t even cover it,” I murmured.

 

Kyden laughed behind me.

 

“There are a few from our home that were there.” Ember tore her stunned gaze from mine to look at Thalia. “Their makers are here with us tonight.”

 

“Tell them then, Ember,” Thalia demanded. “Tell them to step forward and answer for this grievance.”

 

Ember spun around to the crowd looking saddened. “Luna, Daxon, and Vera step forward. Thalia has a request of you.”

 

Soft whispers spread throughout the crowd, as the three vampires made their way to us.

 

“Call your fledglings to you,” Thalia ordered when they reached her. “Make them come.”

 

I glanced around. What the hell is going to happen now? Would they just magically appear? No one else looked as curious as I did—most looked bored.

 

When the silence began to get too thick to handle, words escaped my mouth. “Sorry, what exactly is going to happen?” Every eye in the room snapped to mine. Definitely not a spot I enjoyed being in.

 

“We will wait for them to come,” Thalia answered.

 

“Come…how…” I began, but suddenly, like something out of a horror flick, three vampires came flying into the room. I couldn’t hide my shock “Christ! That is unbelievable.”

 

“I suppose never seeing that before would be a little surprising,” Thalia stated.

 

“So what,” I just couldn’t wrap my head around this, “they call to them in their minds and then they come flying here?”

 

Thalia nodded, her eyes twinkled with amusement.

 

I gave my head an amazed shake. “Weird.”

 

Thalia turned her focus to the three vampires standing in front of us, her glare deadly. “Come to me.”

 

As if her words had power, they lurched forward to kneel at her feet.

 

“You have betrayed me. Tell me why?”

 

The vampires’ eyes filled with more than fear—it was terror.

 

“I said, tell me why?” she demanded, and slapped one across the face.

 

Ten minutes later, nothing had changed. Hayes had beaten the vampires into oblivion, but they still said nothing. They were healing just as quickly as he was beating them.

 

My patience was lost. “Oh for heaven’s sakes,” I snapped, and walked toward the vampires. I reached out, laid my hand on one vampire’s shoulder. In an instant, visions flashed through my mind. I continued until I had read each of the vampire’s minds. By the end of it, I was pooped. I stumbled back to my chair, sank down, and leaned my head back.

 

A few moments passed, Kyden nudged my arm. “I believe they are waiting to hear from you, Álainn.”

 

“Just wait.” I swatted him away. “That was exhausting.”

 

The crowd laughed loudly. I raised my head a little to see everyone staring at me with equal amused expressions. “Glad to see I amuse everyone. Just give me a minute here.”

 

Many minutes later, someone tapped their foot impatiently, equaled by deep sighs from around the room. I groaned deeply and raised my head. “And I thought I was impatient. Geesh,” I snapped. “You try doing that.”

 

The crowd erupted into laughter yet again. I ignored them, stood from my chair and approached Thalia. “Okay, the gist of it is,” I pointed to the naughty vampires. “these vampires were followers of Lazarus.”

 

Great news, right! Lazarus was in the past. I wanted to keep anything about him locked in that little vault of my mind I never went to. Apparently, wishful thinking on my part.

 

I glanced over my shoulder, Kyden had risen from his chair and was quickly approaching. “Lazarus?” he repeated in a low growl.

 

“You heard it right. We were wrong. It wasn’t only the wolves attached to him. This group of vampires seemed to be in on it too. There’s more, that witch we saw was Lazarus’ lover.”

 

Kyden’s brow arched. “Was she now?”

 

“Yeah, shocked me too.” And it truly had stunned me silly. “Basically they are seeking revenge against us for destroying Lazarus and their goal is to kill as many Guardians as they can.”

 

“Is that so?” Kyden growled.

 

The three vampires took a giant step back, feeling the rage emanating off him.

 

Smart vampires.

 

“This is what this is all about?” Thalia spat. “You have betrayed me for Lazarus?”

 

None of them said a word.

 

Thalia continued, “This was bad enough knowing that you only betrayed me—knowing that you were doing this to overthrow me. Intolerable.” She paced a little, fuming, and kept looking back to the vampires, then muttered words quickly and continued her pacing. She finally huffed. “I hate to waste any of you. Do you understand that? Why must you push me to such measures?” Each of their faces filled with fear. “Fine—makers kill your fledglings.”

 

Before I had time to blink, they were all dead.

 

“Jesus,” I gasped. “That was quicker than flipping a pancake.”

 

Thalia giggled. “Flipping a pancake. Oh Nexi, what a joy you are.” Then, she nodded toward the makers. “Go on.”

 

“Go on…what?” I replied, looking between the three makers.

 

“The ones they have made have failed them,” Thalia answered, drawing my gaze back to hers. “They could not control their fledglings so they must die as well.”

 

The implication of what she was suggesting was obvious. “You want me to kill them?” Obviously, I was missing something here. Big surprise there, I knew nothing about the vampire world. Standing here before God knows how many vampires looking like a complete tard, wasn’t the ideal situation to be in.

 

Thalia nodded without hesitation. “Of course I do.”

 

“Er…why?”

 

She shrugged, nodding me encouragingly. “This Guardian who was destroyed was your friend. It only seems appropriate.”

 

I glanced out to the three trembling vampires. “But they haven’t done anything.”

 

“They haven’t done anything?” Thalia gasped. “They could not control the ones they made. That is their duty—their responsibility. When they knew they had lost them, they should have told us immediately or destroyed them.”

 

Kyden fingers ran down my arm. “This is the way of things, Nexi—this must be done.”

 

I met his gaze, pleadingly, but he said nothing just stood strong and confident like he always did. I, on the other hand felt none of that strength. I glanced back at Thalia. “I can’t do this. I am sorry, but I can’t.”

 

Thalia looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, “Are you refusing to do as I say?”

 

I lifted my chin. “Damn right I am. I will never kill anyone who I do not feel surely deserves it and these three,” I waved out to the vampires, “have done nothing wrong in my books. If this is the way you run things than fine you handle it.”

 

Kyden squeezed my arm. “Nexi.” His tone warning.

 

“What?” I snapped at him. “She cannot expect me to kill them. They haven’t done anything.” Then, I looked back at Thalia. “I am not disagreeing with the way you do things. I am sure you have good reason to do what you do. I respect that. It’s just, I can’t do it. Really, I couldn’t live with myself after.”

 

Thalia cocked her head, examining me. “You are an interesting creature. Your will is outstanding. To voice your opinions as you do with no thought of the consequences is impressive.”

 

Hayes nodded beside her.

 

She continued, “But rules are rules. If you will not kill them then I will have to destroy you.”

 

“What?” I gasped. “I thought we were friends or something like that?” Kill me? What the hell?

 

“We are.” Thalia’s expression swept with sadness. “I see you becoming a very close ally. One I would love to get to know better, but I am demanding this of you, if you deny me, those are the consequences.”

 

Tears welled up in my eyes. “But I can’t.” Shit, I was still too human. I couldn’t do this. Supernaturals might deal with matters so harshly, but humans didn’t and my morals were screaming at me that everything about this was wrong.

 

“Trefan was not only Nexi’s friend,” Kyden growled. “He was mine.” He drew his sword, and a second later, the entire terrible and unbelievable incident was over.

 

I grabbed Kyden’s arm, still dazed, and he looked unaffected. I hoped that didn’t cost him anything by doing that. I quickly read into him a little. His only thoughts were for me and my safety.

 

Thalia clasped her hands. “All is well now. Let’s party.” Then, she reached for my hand. “Come and talk with me, Nexi.”

 

I almost refused to take it—a little frightened of her now.

 

Thalia grasped it tightly and led us to a back room with Hayes following behind. When the door closed on the small sitting room, she spun around, glaring at Kyden.

 

“Took you long enough!” she blasted.

 

Kyden arched a brow. “Come again?”

 

“Nexi, I am so sorry for that.” Thalia hugged me. “I didn’t think you were going to refuse me. I thought you would do that without hesitation. You are a Guardian. It’s what you do.” Then, she leaned back and nodded to Kyden. “This one should have stepped in sooner. It is a rule in the vampire court to destroy anyone who refuses a Mistress. They are stupid rules.” She backed away and lowered her arms from around my shoulders. “For a very scared moment, I thought I was going to have to destroy you.”

 

“Huh?” My surprise made my words a gasp.

 

“Wasn’t that awful, Hayes?” Thalia said to him.

 

Hayes nodded. “Very. You fool,” he shot at Kyden. “You should have stepped in the moment Thalia mentioned it. She is yours. What a despicable display of honor.”

 

Kyden growled.

 

I interjected. “He was probably as shocked as I was. The whole thing was a little overwhelming. It just took him a minute is all. He stood by me. He always would,” I defended him.

 

Kyden gave me a wink at that. “I did not know where you were going with it, Thalia. I was waiting to see if you had a plan.”

 

“Oh, you smart hunky pants you.” Thalia slapped his arm.

 

I gave my head a shake trying to get a handle on this. “Why did you want me to kill them in the first place?”

 

Thalia looked mildly embarrassed. “Because I didn’t want to.”

 

“You cannot be serious?” I snapped out. “A Mistress vampire with a conscience.”

 

Kyden burst out laughing. “I thought I’d seen it all. Thalia, it has been a pleasure once again. We will contact you with our plans.” Then, he grabbed my hand. “Time to go.”

 

We returned to the Otherworld in no time, not only, to get far away from the whole ridiculous escape but to fill in the Council on what we learned here.

 

Now back in the Council’s Hall, standing before them and also Haven, Finn, Ryker and Keir, Kyden went through the night quickly, leaving nothing out.

 

Finally, after a long silence, Zia said, “Sounds as if you had an interesting evening,”

 

“Interesting doesn’t even cut it,” I responded. “Can you believe such a thing? A Mistress vampire too soft to do her own killings.”

 

Zia laughed. “Thalia is definitely one of a kind.”

 

Zade asked, “From what you tell us the other vampires were unknown to their summit?”

 

“That’s right,” Kyden responded. “There were only a few known to them and obviously those ones have been dealt with.”

 

On the trip home, we had a small discussion on the matter and Kyden adamantly said that my worries were not to be bothered about. It was a justified killing to him, and his thought of the situation remained steady that the vampires did in fact deserve the fate they received. My guilt lessened after that.

 

“I wonder if I will recognize any of them,” Zade said. “Zia, show me them?”

 

I interjected. “I got this.”

 

Zia’s brows rose. “You’ve got this?”

 

“It seems my ability is settling into place nicely.” I approached Zade, placed my hand on his cold arm, and when the energy built within me, I drew my mind back to the baseball diamond. When I had their faces in mind, I released those images to him.

 

Seconds later, his eyes cleared back to the present. “Looks as if we finally have another one of you, Zia.”

 

Zia came to my side and cupped my cheek. “Each night, you astound me further. I am very proud.”

 

I smiled big. It felt great to finally hear praise instead of being hauled over the coals.

 

Zade’s voice brought me back from my inner praise. “I did recognize some of the others. The one female.” His face turned molten. “Was a lover of mine not long ago.”

 

“She ain’t a lover no more,” I commented.

 

“This is true,” Zade glowered. “I have to wonder what took place. She was such a darling. Very young and full of zest.”

 

Not wanting him to dive into that topic I quickly moved on. “Who are they?”

 

“They are vampires from the Pacific Northwest—California to be exact.”

 

“California?” I repeated. “A bit far from home.”

 

Zade nodded in agreement. “Mistress Ellery will be quite displeased. She…” he hesitated, “is not like our Thalia. There is nothing soft about her. Betrayals are met with grave consequences.”

 

“What could be more grave than death?” I had to wonder.

 

Zade gave a soft smile. “I do not wish to share with you her methods of dealing with such matter as these. I will only say it is not in any way pleasant.”

 

I gulped deeply.

 

“What’s your plan?” Finn asked.

 

“I’m in on this plan,” Haven added quickly.

 

I gave her a little nudge. “Of course you are. We’d never leave you behind.”

 

Finn gave me a little scowl, which clearly stated he had other ideas.

 

Zade said, “I suppose the only choice we have is to go to Mistress Ellery. I believe it best we come with you.”

 

“Thank heavens for that,” I stated, matter of fact. “I’m really sick of dealing with powerful vampires.” Zade gave me a knowing look. “I have a feeling this is only the beginning.”

 

My only response to that was a little scowl myself.

 

Kyden took my hand. “It is almost sunrise and Nexi is exhausted. We will not be meeting with the Mistress until tomorrow night.” He started to pull me away. “I am taking her home.”

 

“Until then.” Zade gave me a little wink.

 

Gross!

 

Haven gave me a quick kiss. “Nitey nite. Don’t let the vampires bite.”

 

“Not funny.”

 

She giggled.

 

Kyden glanced down at me as we cleared the door. “Come Álainn. Let’s dig deeper into this new ability of yours, hmm?”

 

Yum!