Havermouth, Present TimeRhett stirred as Talen slid his arm under his head, opening his eyes blearily into the dullness of the room, his vision clearing slowly until he could see the golden haired vampire leaning over him. “Hey,” he smiled, reaching up to brush his fingers through the fall of Talen’s hair. The sunlight spilling through the door made it glow angelically.Talen’s smile was gentle. “Drink, Rhett,” he held out his wrist to where Cameron held his pocketknife ready.“You don’t have to Talen,” Rhett protested. “I’m feeling much better. Definitely not zombiefied, and Heath stuffed me full of mush…”“Trust me,” Cameron’s grin was bright as he cut Talen’s wrist. “You’re going to want to be in top form when Aislen comes upstairs.” Rhett could not answer as his mouth was full of blood, but Cameron continued anyway, unbothered. “She’s downstairs settling in a bunch of witches but she’ll be up soon.”“Talen,” Leighton was thrown into silhouette in the doorway. “I need to speak wit
Havermouth, Present Time “You knew?” Aislen’s head jerked up, her eyes flashing with anger. “Your scent,” Heath sat back onto his haunches, giving her space, holding out his hands peacefully. “There’s a change and I…” He looked to either side, raising his eyebrows. “No one else has noticed?” Cameron scooted closer and buried his face into her hair, breathing in, and then tracing down her hairline and neck, over her chest and breasts towards her stomach. Aislen giggled despite herself, tickled by his snuffling against her skin. “Ah, stop, Cam,” she protested, placing the palms of her hands against his head, and pushing him away. “I might have showered not long ago, but that doesn’t mean you should be sniffing in all the places… Oh god,” she gasped as Cameron scooped her backwards, laying her out onto the mattress and pressed his nose against her stomach. “Cameron! Any further downstairs and you’re licking it!” “Ah f-k, she smells good,” Cameron muttered against her skin. “But she a
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeFor a moment as they passed through the reef, Thaelen could almost pretend that he was returning from a raid, and that the past few weeks had not occurred at all. The curve of sand was thick with blood slaves fishing, and the water occupied by the familiar fleet of ships. However, amongst the human slaves, he could see the sun catching on armour and swords, and in the fields beyond the sand-dunes, tents and campfires burned – evidence of the army that awaited his return.“I never knew that the world looked so beautiful to vampires,” Sigrid said with a blissful sigh as she joined him. “The colors so bright, the details so crisp… It is no wonder you are the way you are, Thaelen, for you see the world so differently to us.”“You are us, now, Sigrid,” he replied amused, looking down and ruffling her hair.She laughed. “I will get used to it eventually.”“And learn to feed with some decorum,” he teased, pulling his sleeve over the heel of his hand in
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke with Gera pressed tight to his chest. The human had massaged and fed Thaelen, and then slept contentedly at his side. Thaelen had fed heavily from Gera in the hopes that between the blood loss and lack of privacy, the human would not find the lack of sex remarkable and Gera did not stir as Thaelen eased himself free of his embrace and tiptoed out of the tent.He was not surprised to find Egren feeding on a blood slave outside and nodded his greeting to her. “Do not interrupt your meal,” he told her. “I will go to the beach to bathe and return anon.”His path through the stronghold was heralded by greetings and offers of company however he declined them, needing to spend some time alone with his thoughts and his grief. The sand was spotted with camp sites, smouldering fires ringed by sleeping vampires and blood slaves, and the debris of their belongings.He stripped to his skin, leaving his clothes in the sand, and plunged into the wa
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeAs Beupraxia was returned to the cage, sobbing and clutching her face, Thaelen was not surprised to see that Lord Hod watched with narrowed assessing eyes. He turned back to Beupraxia. “Look at me,” he said leaning against the bars. “Look at me,” he repeated when she refused. “You know I expect obedience,” he warned her.She lifted her tear-stained face. He had healed the brands on her cheeks himself, so he knew that she was not in pain. “This,” he gestured to his face. “This does not matter if what is in here,” he touched his chest. “Is hideous. And this,” he gestured to his face again. “Does not matter, if what is here, is beautiful. We are more than our faces, our bodies, and what people think is beautiful to see. You can view this as an ending or an opportunity. Is it not too late to reform what is in the inside.”He held her eyes for a moment before straightening. “I will be back with Gera tonight,” he told her. “You have today to consider h
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen burst into the tent to find Isolte supporting Meguitte’s head whilst Caerin soaked cloth in a bowl.Sigrid licked a wound on her wrist closed, turning to face him. “It is not good,” she told him grimly. “I gave her blood not knowing how long it would take Gera to find you, but my blood does not have your potency.”“What is wrong?” Thaelen took Isolte’s place and accepted the athame that Gera brought him, slicing over his wrist and placing it at the witch’s mouth. She was unconscious, and he could feel the heat of her fever, smell the sharp stench of illness on her sweat.“I do not know,” Sigrid told him, shaking her head.“I think I do,” Isolte offered hesitantly. “I have seen mothers take suddenly like this, without warning, after hard births. The midwives say that it is an infection inside that spreads so quickly.” She shook her head to indicate that such cases were lost.“No,” Thaelen shook his head in disagreement. “I refuse to let it
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeGera continued to hover until Sigrid returned with Egren. After a time the healer, Caerin and Isolte entered, the tent becoming very crowded around the hearth, and Thaelen felt the sweat running down his ribs. Sigrid took Caerin and Gera out with her, leaving Isolte to assist the healer with his broth, and Egren guarding Thaelen.Ayren left the tent flap open, letting in a breeze that pulled the stuffiness out of the canvas.As his stomach distended with blood and his head lightened from blood loss, Thaelen napped at Meguitte’s side, ignoring the healer and Isolte as they tended to her, feeding her the broth and changing the rags and her clothing when she soiled herself, bathing her to cool her as her fever spiked.He woke to Gera washing his face and hands, the human blushing as Thaelen looked at him in confusion. “I did not mean to wake you, Thaelen. You are just… covered in blood.”“Thank you,” Thaelen felt ill. For the first time in his life,
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeHeath and Cameron were gone for a very long time. Long enough that Rhett had time to cry his self-pity out and pull himself together to face his mates when they returned. He washed his face in the sink and packed away all signs of Aislen’s imprisonment from his bedroom, before brushing his hair back into a pony-tail and inspecting himself in the mirror. It was ridiculous, he thought, to dress up to fight with his mates, but after he’d changed his top and added some jewellery and a leather jacket, he felt better equipped to defy Heath.In the spirit of defiance, he poured himself a glass of wine and took it and a smoke out onto the balcony, leaning against the handrail and looking over the river, listening for wolf howls. He was three quarters of a bottle down by the time that he saw his mates in wolf-form streak through the grasses on the other side of the river and plunge into the water. They shifted as they reached the bank, with Heath leading, and wal