Page 21 of Master Oradea

Her purple eyes flash. “Do not threaten me, Master Oradea. You already know. The Lucas I used to know is dead. The Lucas who has sided with the rogues, who’s high on the need for power and the thirst for unrighteous blood will come for Natalia. We have to protect her. We have to!”

My temper tamps slightly, hearing her concern for the woman who’s put her entire trust in me, whether I deserve it or not, even wishing to become one of us far before I even knew. I will do anything for Natalia, including getting information that I need from this imp of a girl. I walk closer. “We will protect her. I am doing that right now. I have every vampire around the perimeter ready to protect and alert us the moment Lucas comes near because we know that he will.”

Her purple eyes flash. “I don’t doubt that, Master Oradea, but I’m telling you. She is in danger right this very minute. I am the closest one to Lucas, whether I want to be right now or not. I’m telling you, he is near, or something is happening to her right now. Let me out so I can help her.”

The steadfast beat of her heart, the steady pulse, and the way she looks at me tells me she’s not lying, that what she says is the truth, yet, if I let her out, and she is working with Lucas, it puts every vampire around the globe in jeopardy. “You communicate with me when you know something more. Until then, you stay here, and I will stay with Natalia. When this is over, I will personally let you out, but I cannot jeopardize the lives of everyone we hold dear until we are sure. I’m sorry, Embry.”

Her eyes flash with defiance. “Of course, I will tell you when I know anything else. Do what you must, but I can’t help you battle him from here.”

“I’m aware.”

She shrugs and touches her nails, purposely ignoring me. When I don’t leave right away, she looks up. “You should go to Natalia and make things right.”

I smile. “That I will. I’ll be back for you soon. Until then, try to stay out of trouble,” I tell her, looking at the walls where she’s managed to cover most of them in a mural of sorts. She sees me looking at her artwork and grins. “Serves you right for leaving me in this dungeon.”

I narrow my eyes, watching the young lady who sits on my king-sized bed, has a sixty-five-inch television on the wall to watch, room service at the touch of a button and anything her heart desires, with the exception of her freedom. “Soon, Embry. Everyone wants you out,” I tell her, but the way she looks at me leaves me with more questions than when I first came down to talk.

Chapter 20

Natalia

The sound of Oradea’s voice shouting with a sense of urgency awakens me. I sit up in bed, my mind racing with fear that something has happened. I dress quickly and race downstairs, seeing no one. I grab the gear that Oradea had ready for me days ago. Natalia, help me. Oradea’s plea spurs my actions. I don the dual chest vest over my long shirt and pull on a jacket, grab one of the guns, check the magazine and tuck it into the back of my pants before strapping on a belt to holster the long sword and pocketing a star. Oradea’s instruction and techniques play over and over in my mind as I walk out the door, inhaling deeply, hoping that at least my sense of smell has heightened since being turned. A pungent smell wafts under my nostrils; the putrid stench can only be one thing. Mangy shifter bastards. Those who protect the rogues and want to take our power.

I close my eyes, letting all of my senses take my lead, my lungs filling with the scent of shifters and of danger and of Oradea somewhere near. I stay close to the hedges, making my way down the long drive, staying out of the light of the moon and under the canopy of the bushes and overhead trees as I make my way through the night so as not to be seen. The guards are on alert, both manning their station as though nothing is amiss, yet the smell of danger is everywhere in the air.

I make my way behind them, toward the wrought iron gate, waiting for them to look the other way as I sneak through the gate. When I’m out on the road and have put a little distance between me, the guards, and the house, I inhale again, hoping to catch the scent of the shifters’ trail.

An evil laugh behind me causes my blood to go cold as memories of the brutal attack flash through my mind. My legs don’t move, my body frozen by fear and the realization that I’ve walked into the rogue vampire’s trap. Lucas laughs as he hovers in my face. “They thought they could beat me, thought I would forget their betrayal, thought I would let you live after what they have done?” he growls so fiercely that a cold dread snakes down the length of my spine. “I will deliver you with a stake to the heart, and then your brothers will regret the day they ever agreed to conspire against me. What will Oradea think when his little plaything is no longer alive?”

A trap, and I’ve managed to walk right into the middle of it. I’ve left the security of Oradea’s protection and have no other recourse but to face the beast alone. I will die at the hands of this monster, perishing at his feet while he drives a stake through my heart as penance for my brothers’ loyalties and where they lie. No matter that the vampire in front of me caused it himself. “My brothers will hunt you down with Oradea, and they will send you back to the fiery pits of hell where you belong, bastard! I’ve done nothing to you, absolutely nothing, yet you use my life as a pawn to make the others regret a betrayal.”

He laughs, that maniacally high and evil laugh that sends shivers down my spine.

“Why do I think there’s so much more to this that I don’t understand? Do your best? I am nothing, not trained and certainly don’t have the skills capable to fight a warrior such as yourself. If you think killing me will make you a big man among your enemies, do it, but only cowards kill those weaker than themselves. Strength is in taking on and besting something stronger than yourself. Then, and only then, will they talk about your strength. Kill me—I’m nothing. A few tears will be shed, and they will hunt you for a lifetime. Sounds smart to me.”

Lucas flies through the air in a rage. “Shut up,” he growls. “You know nothing, stupid girl. Everything was taken from us! Everything! We will have our revenge. We will right the injustice that was done to the vampires. You think you are a vampire? You are nothing! You will learn some parlor tricks. Maybe your life essence is blood, but your soul is not pure. You are not worthy to be one of us; just a shell of a life who wants to be someone you are not. We rule the earth with fear, devour anyone in our way. We do not sit across the table from corporate members of the board-room making deals with the same humans who slayed and burnt us years ago. The world Descallia and Lucianna create is not one that we accept, nor will ever be a part of!”

Yellow eyes appear in the forest, all around me, circling out as far as I can see. Surrounded by a pack of bloodthirsty wolves who want me dead just like Lucas. Fear bubbles from the pit of my stomach, causing my heart to race with unprecedented speed. I close my eyes and can only hope that he hears and knows that it is spoken with the truest of hearts. I love you, Oradea. Someday, I believe we will be together again. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday destiny will shine her light on us and grant my wish. A growl that I don’t know I have in me bubbles from deep within. “Do your best, vampire!”

Lucas growls, and I feel my savior before I see him. Branches crunching beneath the undergrowth cause me to turn and for Lucas to look that way. The bright red fury in Oradea’s eyes blazes. “Bad enough that you betray everyone who ever cared about you for all these years, especially Overmaster Descallia. He trusted you, his right-hand man, and you stabbed him in the back!” Oradea growls.

Lucas flies toward him but stops abruptly, just inches from his face. “I should have staked the cocksucker in the heart when I had the chance, numerous chances, instead of listening to Isala and her constant planning. Too many opportunities missed while waiting for the perfect time for everything. No more. Now, I say what goes!”

Oradea growls. “Who made you king of the rogues? What did you do to win that place?” Lucas’s eyes flash. “I earned it, groveling by Descallia’s side all these years, doing his bidding, as he systematically tried to make us who we aren’t. Now, he will lose it all. He will stay alive long enough to see his precious kingdom crumble and see me take my rightful place, and then the bastard will see his demise in front of all the underworld who want it that way.”

The shifters move toward us, little by little, inch by inch until their intent is clear.

Chapter 21

Oradea

“Get behind me, back-to-back,” I tell Natalia who does as I ask as though she’s been fighting warriors all her life. I feel her fear, but I also feel her brave heart and soul, fighting for her life, one that was snuffed out because of her relationship with me, and her brothers’ loyalty to me. No matter which one, they both lead back to me. My fault she finds herself in this position. The shifters jump, and one after another they come, leaping and bounding across the forest floor, running at top speed. I hold my ground, willing Natalia to stay calm in the face of the terrifying foes.

“Now!” I yell, drawing my sword, as hundreds of my brothers swoop from the skies, diving like stealth bats in the night onto the battlefield, running the shifters down with long swords and daggers, and assailing them with pointed stars that sail through the air and spill their blood across the land. The few shifters that remain are not deterred; they are rabid and evildoers of Lucas and the rogues. Their thirst for blood and vengeance is a driving force that will not be squashed by seeing their brothers on the ground. No, it will take more than that; it will take ending their miserable lives right along with the others before their efforts are thwarted, and I intend to do just that.

I send one of my daggers into the chest of the shifter as he leaves the ground, but his brothers pounce fast, leaving me with three more to deal with face to face, while the vampires rid us of the others. I ready my long sword, letting them come forward, keeping Natalia tucked safely behind me as I wait for them to get nearby. Let them come, inch by inch; the closer they get, the better chance I have of sweeping two at one time with the heaviness of my blade.

Shots fire in rapid succession, though, right into the foreheads of all three shifters, one after another as though targets on a fence. I do not hesitate to end them with my sword, even as Lucas screeches from the perch high above us in the tree. “This will not be the end! The rogues and I will see every one of you in hell.” My brothers swoop, knowing he’s about ready to disappear, but the higher elevation is his only saving grace, and without a word he is gone, and with it our only chance to end the nightmare that has tormented us and our land for far too long.

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