Page 53 of Sleeping With the Vampire

“We must stop him,” I said.

“Agreed,” said Ragnar. “But how? He never leaves the compound, and it is under heavy guard.”

“What about MoZa?”

“Ash says MoZa’s mind has gone. He is like a child. He can’t dress himself, doesn’t know which day it is. His daughter is helping him, acting like a go-between. He is not fit to rule, but who will remove him? The Council must vote on it and for all practical purposes, there is no Council.”

“What about the Servant?”

“The talk in the Citadel is that he is out West, taking control of Ginnerlong and the Grey Mountains. We will come under proper attack soon. You must warn Lord Farney and find reinforcements.”

“Will they use demons?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Ragnar said, “There is something else. Ash says Tempesto wants to close the blood banks, return the world to the way it was.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Apparently this way of living is unnatural for vampires. He says we are growing weak, we are meant to rule the world, not be controlled by humans.”

“Sounds a bit like your philosophy, doesn’t it?” I said.

“Yeah, but…” Ragnar paused. “Ash says there is talk of people developing stronger weapons, in the Capital they may be exploring ways of bringing down vampires, wiping them out.

“What kind of weapons?” I asked with a feeling of foreboding.

“I am not sure,” said Ragnar. “Possibly small tactical nuclear weapons.”

“This may be the end, for all of us.”

“I know,” Ragnar said, sounding grave.

“You need to get out of there,” I told Ragnar.

I had the feeling our time was running out.

There was no time to talk to Ragnar about Sunil or the accusations made about Layrr. This was bigger than the murder of Tanata.

I was trying to think of my next course of action when a sharp pain shot through my chest.

Izzy.

She was in danger, under threat somehow. I could feel my body pulling me towards her, compelling me to help her. Where was she? What was going on?

I thought of our last meeting and the way she had told me to leave. There could be no mistaking her intentions.

I couldn’t rule out that she might not even want my help. My sense of Izzy was that she was proud and stubborn, she would stick to her guns no matter what. But the tightness in my chest was telling me a different story. She was in physical danger, great physical danger.

I closed my eyes and tried to hone in on the feeling, get a sense of how serious it was.

“Father! We need to leave,” Sunil came towards me. Clouds had filled the sky, blocking out the sun, allowing us to wander freely outside. It would soon be dark.

“I need to go,” I told him. “There is somewhere I need to be.”

Sunil looked at me strangely.

“The Taergon family is not far from here,” I told him. “Tim and Nareen. They were friends of your mother’s. Meet me there.”

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