Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain)

chapter 15

The mountain was blessedly quiet on the way down. The winged devils were indeed all gone. Danny had used my blood on the one we’d captured while I was out in a fit of good thinking. The climb was going fairly slowly because we had a human in tow, which I tried not to bemoan too badly, since it was my own damn fault. Eamon had shown up right as we’d left, but had refused to hike. I had no idea if he’d witnessed the blood swap or not, and I wasn’t about to ask. Naomi walked with us, even though she could’ve flown. Everyone was quiet and pensive, thinking about what had happened and what the implications would be when we got home.

“Once we hit the gorge and cross over, we’ll be in Selene’s direct territory?” I asked Naomi, who was behind me.

“Oui,” Naomi said. “She controls the next mountain range.”

“I wonder why it’s so quiet. After the winged devils and Mahrac, I thought we’d be encountering something every second.”

“My guess is she cannot afford to control so many at one time,” Naomi said. “It takes massive power to keep such creatures in check. She has to pick and choose her best arsenal. We will encounter more of her roadblocks, but under the laws of the supernatural world, which even Selene isn’t above, she cannot risk unleashing a powerful supernatural on the human race. It’s different from what happened with the devils, which are bound by rules of the Underworld. Selene must tightly contain things of this world. She is allowed to defend what it is hers, but if whatever she employs brings disaster, the Coalition will come down on her fiercely, as they always have. After all these years she has learned to respect them.”

The Coalition was our oldest supernatural law Council.

From what I knew, it was made up of freakishly old, freakishly powerful supernaturals who determined things like whether we went into hiding or came out in the open. If you went against High Law, there was swift retribution. As far as I’d ever known, there hadn’t been a change of Old Law in centuries and the Coalition’s identities were never revealed. Not even my father knew who sat on the Coalition. In their view, he was considered a young leader, barely above their notice. If my father upheld the High Laws, he could go his entire lifetime and never come in contact with them.

In the last hundred years, it was rumored they’d all gone into “Stasis,” and they would remain that way until they felt—or were warned—of a major magical “disturbance” of some kind.

Waking them meant you were in deep shit.

The Coalition made me think of Rourke and how long he’d been alive. It was possible he knew who sat on the Council. “When Rourke bested Selene to escape,” I asked curiously, “were you there?” My wolf growled and clacked her jaws with the mention of Rourke. I know. I want him too. We’re going as fast as we can. He was perfect. Magnificent, strong, tall, blond, and tattooed. He was a warrior of old and he was mine. I missed his body and craved his mouth. He will be okay. We have to trust that. She won’t kill him until we are there to witness. She’s too sure of herself.

Naomi leapt over several large boulders, landing effortlessly. “No. We were gone by then. But details of that event did trickle into the vampire court. Over the years our Queen has hired your mercenary many times to do her bidding. She even tried to keep him under her control, but it proved impossible. He is too strong for anyone to manage. When Selene took a liking to him, it quickly turned into an obsession.” She gave me a half smile. “No one would come out and admit such a thing, but there is a grudging respect given to him by all vampires. They also fear him. The power he wields comes from a deep source. There are whispers that he might be a god or close to godhood now.”

A god? Achieving godhood was much different from how humans perceived it to be. In our world it was something earned. As supes aged, they gained great power. Over time their immortality became intertwined with every fiber of their being, making them truly immortal. Thus godlike and unstoppable, able to avoid a true death altogether.

But Rourke a god? I shook my head. Surely that would be something I would’ve picked up on. His power was immense, but being a god was an entirely new level. “I wonder why he allowed Selene to live instead of killing her while he had the chance?” I asked in a hollow voice, forcing my mind in a different direction as quickly as possible. Picturing them together made my nails morph into sharp points and a growl to creep up my diaphragm. “He must’ve had a very good reason for not finishing her off.”

“I’m sure he thought he had killed her, just as I had,” Naomi said in a firm tone. “She cannot be killed so easily, as we have all learned the hard way. But now that Rourke is mated, it must be like an ocean of salt has poured into the wounds Selene has been licking all this time. She will make him pay in ways you had not thought possible.”

A fine coating of fur sprouted along my arms as I pictured Selene harming him. She was going to be so dead when I was done with her. “That woman is beyond deranged. The world will be a better place without her.”

“There’s no doubt.” Naomi snorted. “I’ve been waiting to rid the world of her for over three hundred years.”

“Did you just snort?” I glanced back, laughing.

Naomi looked sheepish for a moment. “We are not allowed to be so… flippant at court. I have not left court, except to fulfill missions, in too many years to count. It feels… nice to be free.”

“Can vamps go rogue if they want to?” I asked. “A wolf can.”

“No, not really. There is no safe place for a rogue vampire. The Queen controls all the Masters around the world. If we turn our backs on our Queen, we will spend the rest of our days avoiding death by her hand or the hands of her followers. There are smaller courts, ruled by less powerful vampires, all Masters, but Eudoxia is the supreme leader. She has won the right of power. A vampire can swear allegiance to a greater court, but there is none greater than our Queen’s court. If we had sworn first to a smaller court, we could have moved up to the Queen’s court, but you can’t… What’s the word?” She appeared flustered.

“Demote yourself?”

“Oui, you cannot demote yourself to a lesser court. And because of our usefulness to her, she would be enraged at our desertion and stop at nothing to bring us true death. A vampire does not do well alone. It is in our nature to… cohabitate with others.”

“I’m surprised you can share this all with me so freely,” I said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to glean this information. I find it fascinating. But I think we’re coming close to the line. I don’t want you to get in trouble for crossing it because I’m too nosy.” I smiled. “I never thought I’d be friendly with a vamp, but you’re turning out to be okay, Naomi. Vamps aren’t as stuffy as I thought, barring your brother, of course. Is he a typical vamp? That’s how I pictured them all to act.”

Naomi stopped in her tracks.

“What?” I slowed when she didn’t follow me. “Did I say something that’s going to make your face slide? You don’t have to answer anything else if you don’t want to. I didn’t mean to be so intrusive. I know it’s important for each Sect to keep their secrets.”

She hesitated for a moment, shuffling the rocks in front of her. “It’s just… I could not be so free,” she said finally, “if it wasn’t for one thing.”

I waited a few beats for her to answer, but she remained quiet. “What?” I prodded. “Now that we’re closer to Selene’s territory your Queen has less reach over you? Are you too far away? Is there interference here?” I looked around the rocks, trying to spot the reason.

“Non.”

After another small moment, I replied, “What is it then?” Her face was a mask of intensity and it was starting to make me itch. “What’s wrong? You’re killing me here.”

“Your blood,” she said quietly, “seems to have severed my bond too.”

“Excuse me?” I gaped, stumbling over rocks, catching my footing right before I tumbled ass over end down the steep slope. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.” My fingernails dug deeply into the stone wall next to me, steadying me. I prayed I hadn’t heard her correctly. “Did you say my blood broke the bond with your Queen?”

There was a flurry of motion and Eamon landed next to us, scattering rocks and dust in his hurry. “We agreed you would not divulge that information!” Eamon raged. He’d obviously been eavesdropping, and likely Naomi knew it, which was why she had taken so long to answer my questions. “No one would have known. We would have figured out what to do with our Queen. You play with fire, sister, and I will not be part of this any longer.” He shot up into the sky.

We’d been stopped for so long, Danny and Tyler had tracked their way back up to us and it was clear they’d heard the entire back-and-forth.

It was also apparent Naomi had just made a major decision to come clean. She clenched her fists by her sides. “Eamon forbade me to share this knowledge, but he does not rule me,” Naomi stated, her voice stony. Her calm demeanor belied her eyes, which twitched side to side like a bird’s.

My blood was powerful enough to sever a Queen’s bond with her underling? Holy crap. Being able to break that kind of a bond was much different than swapping blood with another wolf. Naomi had likely been warring with herself whether or not to tell me, and by Eamon’s reaction, she’d finally decided to choose me over her brother’s wishes. With her bond being severed, she would either be killed or forced to rebind herself once her Queen found out.

I was stunned into silence.

“Your blood has freed me from a bond I no longer desired,” she continued, her voice gaining strength and confidence as she spoke. “My relationship with my Queen has always been strained. Because of my time spent with Selene, I was never able to carry myself as a normal vampire, even after so many years at court. When a vampire is first turned, we lose some of our humanity for a time. The Queen, or the Master, takes on the job of reshaping us once again. Normally, for that grace, we become enraptured with whoever it is, for they give us food and protect us, like a true parent. But it was never that way for us. Selene did not nurture us, so I did not form any bonds. Now you have granted me a kind of freedom I never thought possible. I will be in your debt for the rest of my life.”

“Um,” I stammered. How did I respond to that? “Okay.” I waved my hand around in a circle, because I had no idea what else to do. “The first thing we have to do is promise to keep this knowledge between us for now.” My voice hummed with stress. “If your Queen, or any of the other vamps, find out what my blood can do there will be a bounty on my head immediately. Do you understand?”

“Of course,” Naomi said simply. “My allegiance is now yours, as I told you. I will be paying you back a debt of honor until the day I find true death.” She started to bend on one knee.

“Wait, wait a minute,” I said, panicking. She stopped midmotion. I sought my brother for help. Tyler, what do I do here? This can’t be happening, I pleaded. We need to fix this. If I can free vampires and they decide to pledge themselves to me, I’ve started a heinous war that will stop only once I’m wiped cleanly off the earth.

Jess. Tyler sounded calm. I needed calm. Listen to her words. She says she owes you a debt. Debts in our world are fully binding. She won’t betray you. We can keep this close and figure out what to do when we get home. Your power seems to be… incredibly vast. A lot more powerful than any of us thought. We just have to figure out what the hell you’re capable of as quickly as we can and harness it into something so powerful nobody wants to f*ck with you, no matter what happens.

While we spoke, Naomi had gone fully to her knees and was murmuring something under her breath. “… I pledge to you my honor and my faith. May my words bind us together forever.” Then she brought up her sacred cross and slashed it across her palm. The wound hissed as the silver cauterized as it cut. A slow dribble of blood flowed out of her palm.

“Naomi!” I sputtered. “Get up! There’s no need to pledge in blood. I believe you’re being truthful. I don’t need any more proof!”

“Spilling blood is the way of the vampire,” Naomi said as she stood. “I have given you an Oath of Honor, of my own free will. It’s the strongest oath I can pledge, and by giving it without constraint, it holds the most power. By spilling my blood, I give you my fealty. If you were a vampire, you would drink to show you accept.” She smiled. “But I don’t expect you to do so. In return, in our world, you would offer to give me your protection, but I waive that right. For you are no vampire and should not be bound to me as such. I refuse to be a burden to you.”

I took in a big breath to steady myself. “Naomi.” I had to think of what to do next and how to respond. She’d just pledged herself to me like she had to her Vamp Queen. “I accept your pledge”—I paused, trying to find the right words—“because right now I don’t know what else to do. What’s done is done. We can’t go back. My only concern is what to do about your brother. He will never drink my blood—not that I’m offering, mind you—but what will keep him from betraying us to your Queen?” Former Queen? “This puts both of us in a very dangerous position. This will spark a war between our Sects, and I cannot launch my Pack into a war by my own stupidity. I should’ve been more careful. I have no real idea what I am.” But, honestly, would I have let Naomi die if I’d known? I didn’t want to ask myself such a thing, because there was no way to undo my mistake.

I was going to have to be extremely diligent with my choices in the future.

“My brother will not betray me. He is very angry now, but our kin-bond is more powerful than his allegiance to our Queen. We were both damaged by our time with Selene. He will come around in time.” She paused and tilted her head inquisitively. “It is very clear to me that you do not realize how much power you wield. You have proven, in the short amount of time I’ve been in your presence, you are a fair leader, generous and worthy of following. I am over five hundred years old, and I do not give my fealty to anyone lightly or without thought. It is my belief you might be one of the most powerful supernaturals to ever be created. I have put my faith into you because I believe the side you choose will win.”

“Win what?” I tried not to act too surprised, but I wasn’t sure it worked.

“The war, of course.”

“What war? I just told you I didn’t want to start a war with your Sect.” My voice grated as my neck started morphing. I was too emotional to stop it. My wolf was right along with me, yipping and growling in frustration.

“It is not a war with the vampires I am referring to. The Sects have grown restless these last hundred years. As proof, my own Queen has accepted a pledge from your rogue wolves. The Sorcerers are on edge and the witches have been stirring. Demon Lords are coming to the surface. All of this points to a major uprising. There will be much fighting in our future until all can be settled again. I believe you will be the one to settle it.”

“What?” I gasped. “How do I settle a war between Sects? That’s impossible! I’m strong, but I’m not that strong.”

“Non,” Naomi said with confidence. “Your presence here is to keep it fair, to make sure all sides are forced to play by the same rules. It would be happening anyway, with or without you, because the supernatural races grow too large and there is too much power. We cannot be contained and live among the humans much longer without a major catastrophe. We will fight. The Coalition will wake. And a new order will be formed. It is time.”

A new order?

“How do you know all this?” I asked. “You can’t anticipate that much, even if you had some of the information ahead of time.”

“I know, because I have read the Prophecy for myself.”

I sat down on a large boulder with a thump.

Everyone shifted uneasily, but stayed quiet. Ray had picked his way down sometime during this revelation and was perched quietly on the end of the ledge. Fur lined my arms and my canines had extended. Emotion roiled inside me. I didn’t have to ask her what Prophecy she was referring to. “It exists in written form then?” I said quietly.

“Oui,” Naomi said. “It seemed to be very old when I saw it, which was merely by accident. Selene had sent me to capture one of the Three Hags. She desired knowledge of her fate and she thought this job would be as easy as plucking an apple from a tree.”

“I take it that was not the case.”

“I almost lost my life. But before the Hag set me free, she showed me the Prophecy, giving me a potion to drink so I could decipher the ancient language it was written in. Then she told me there would come a pivotal time in my life when I would finally be set free. From this freedom I would be given a choice. I could either take the life for myself or I could pledge it to another. If I gave my pledge, I would live to see the wrongs of the world righted. If I did not, I would spend my days looking for something I might never find. I believed, up until this very day”—she bowed her head—“that my freedom came from my escape from Selene and the pledge I gave freely was to my Vampire Queen. I see now that I had made a grave mistake. I know now that you are that pledge. I am certain, body and soul, and I give it to you freely, without reservation.”

The world had just thrown me a gigantic curveball.

I took a deep breath and forced some calm back into my system with tremendous effort. The Prophecy was true. And I couldn’t change my fate, no matter how much I wanted to. My features shifted back, almost reluctantly, as I shed some of the emotion gnawing at me. There was nothing I could do, except move forward the best way I knew how. There was no time to bemoan my life. I had a mate to free and a goddess to kill.

I stood and brushed dust off my legs. “Naomi,” I said, meeting her gaze fully, “I accept your pledge, but I honestly have no idea what to do with it. I will offer you my protection, as freely as you’ve given me your loyalty. When your Queen finds out you’ve defected willingly, and eventually she will, it’s going to be like dropping an atomic bomb on your court. We will need to put our heads together and play this as smart as we can. Once we get back, I’m hopeful we can come up with something plausible—something that doesn’t include any mention of my blood. I owe your Queen a debt, which I am required to pay in a very short period of time, and if she finds out while I’m at court my blood is even more powerful than she realizes, she’ll do everything in her power to kill me—or siphon me dry. Either scenario is unacceptable.”

A slow smile spread across Naomi’s lips. “The Queen will not win.” Her features shifted down ever so slowly.

“If the Vamp Queen learns this information ahead of my scheduled arrival it will put us in even greater peril. Your brother is going to be a problem.” I glanced up in the sky. He’d left, but I was certain he was close enough to hear us. He wanted the information; he just didn’t want to accept what was happening. “How do we force him to cooperate?” Thinking of ways to convince Eamon not to expose us made my head ache. “He will not come on his own. I can guarantee that. He reviles me.”

“I will deal with my brother,” she said, her voice brisk. “He will not be so quick to turn against me. Our kin-bond has held for all these years; it will prevail. He knows he will sign my death warrant if he dares breathe a word of our secret.”

“And if he does it anyway?”

Naomi’s face became grim, hard as ivory. “Then I will sign his.”

My eyebrows shot my forehead. “You could kill your brother so easily?”

“Non,” Naomi said. “But I know ways to incapacitate a vampire. He would not be able to move until I set him free.” She paused. “And that would be long after our side wins.”