Page 53 of Cosmic Power

Zvetari smirked and bowed eloquently, his glass still in his hand. “My full name is Zvetari Lo Van, Third King of the Vampire Realm of Alterra.”

ChapterFourteen

Suddenly, everything made sense. It all clicked in Luther’s brain like some mathematical equation that had plagued him for years. All the tiny, subtle differences between him and his maker. The fact that his eyes stayed that bright, burning red. Those sharp black claws that never retracted. The unbelievable strength and speed he possessed. It could all finally be explained.

He was the first of their kind. The first vampire from which all others came from. The Ancestral Vampire. Luther knew that every supernatural species had an Ancestor they originated from, but he never imagined he would ever meet such a being—let alone find out that he was a direct descendent of one. He had been turned by Zvetari himself. His blood flowed through Luther’s body, the blood of an Ancestor. It wasn’t diluted by years and years of generational turning. It came right from the source.

A distant memory flitted through Luther’s mind and he frowned, eyeing his maker suspiciously. “Do you have wings?”

Zvetari smirked. Beautiful black wings burst from his back, shredding the shirt right off his body. He stretched out each wing, the tips of his onyx feathers lightly ruffling across the ground with each movement.

They were…spectacular. Breathtaking. They glowed with an ethereal presence, vibrated with a deep otherworldly energy Luther couldn’t quite explain. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, ever witnessed.

With his black-clawed hands, Zvetari peeled off the tattered remains of his shirt, revealing a tanned muscular chest covered in intricate black tattoos. They covered every inch of his skin, glowing with the same celestial aura as his wings.

He reallywasfrom another world, another galaxy.

The entire thing just seemed so crazy to Luther. So bizarre. Of course, he heard the legends about their ancestors, about where they came from. Everybody had. But he always thought they were just that…legends. Not real.

Over 4,000 years ago, five ancient beings came to Earth through a magical portal. A vampire, a shifter, a demon and a light and dark mage. They integrated themselves into society, hiding their true nature to allow the population already on Earth to thrive and grow. It was not their wish to take over their world and make it their own. Genocide was not something they wished for the humans. They instead spread their blood and magic amongst them, converting and growing their own bloodlines to build a community from within. Every supernatural being in existence stemmed from them.

No one knew who they were. In fact, as far as Luther knew, no one had even met any of them before. Until now, that is.

Luther blew out a breath. “So, you came here from another world?” he asked, moving to the drink cart. If he was going to continue this conversation, he would need alcohol (and a lot of it).

“Another galaxy.” Zvetari flexed his shoulders and the ginormous black wings disappeared back into his body.

Luther poured himself a scotch. “Why did you come here? Why did you leave your own world?”

Zvetari took a seat and leaned his forearms on the dining room table, interlocking his fingers. He sighed wistfully, a flash of longing streaking across his face. “Alterra is—was—a beautiful place. It had two suns and a bright purple sky that always took my breath away. It was split into five realms; the vampire realm, the shifter realm, the demon realm, and the light and dark realms. Although we all lived in our own kingdoms, we lived in harmony. There was no war, no violence. We all lived in peace.”

Luther frowned, picking up on the wording his maker used. “Was?”

“One day, these beings arrived through a portal. They were unlike anything we’d ever seen before. It was as if they were a combination of all of us. They were fast and strong, like vampires. Possessed magic, like mages. Were able to teleport in the blink of an eye, like demons. And they could shift into another form, like shifters. They were called the fae and they were world conquers. They portaled from planet to planet, taking over worlds and demanding the inhabitants bow down and serve them. They believed themselves to be the superior beings and that everyone else should either conform to their ways or die. We of course refused, which resulted in an all-out war.” Zvetari clenched his fists, his anger so palpable it stifled the air. “For years we fought, trying to expel them from our world, but they were too strong. They killed millions of us and those they didn’t kill, they enslaved. They pillaged, ravaged and completely destroyed everything they came across, building a new world of their own atop of the ashes. The five Kings and Queens of the realms formed a resistance. We tried for as long as we could to take back our world, but we knew that it just wasn’t possible. The only way we were going to survive was to leave the same way they came.”

Luther took a seat opposite Zvetari and took a sip of his drink. “Through a portal?”

He nodded. “Before the fae arrived, we had no idea it was even possible to portal to other galaxies. It took us a while to be able to figure it out, but eventually we got it. The only problem was, we didn’t have enough power. Every time we tried to establish a connection to another galaxy, the portal would become unstable and collapse. Until Lenore and Elias managed to find a way around it.”

Luther ran a finger over the rim of his glass. “Lenore and Elias?”

“You would know them as the Ancestral Light and Dark Mage. They created five crystals forged by the blood of each supernatural being. Individually, each crystal had its own power and was capable of doing amazing things; when they were brought together and a blood offering was paid, they could open a portal to another galaxy. Once the fae realised what we had done, they tried to take the crystals. They wanted to be the only ones capable of travelling to other planets, other galaxies. We couldn’t let them get their hands on them. They already took everything from us. There was no way we were going to let them take our last chance at escape. Our original plan was to take every last one of our people and flee, but the fae found our hideout and came for us. We had no choice but to leave or risk the crystals falling into their hands. So we took all of the survivors hiding out with us—a couple hundred, at most—paid the blood offering activating the crystals and stepped through, arriving here.”

“And the fae? They didn’t follow you?”

Zvetari leaned back and cracked his neck. “There are trillions of galaxies out there. They probably tried to follow us, but without any idea where we went, it would be like looking for a needle in a stack of needles. We always planned to return, to try and take our world back, or at least rescue the people we had left behind, but we were never able to find our planet—and we tried for a long time. Eventually we gave up and decided to start a new life here.”

Luther downed the rest of his drink, the cool liquid sliding down his throat as he placed his empty glass back on the table. His mind was a mess. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought this was possible. His maker wasn’t only the Ancestral Vampire, he was technically an alien from outer space. An alien. Fromouter space.

Luther always believed there was more out there, that Earth couldn’t possibly be all the universe had to offer. But to believe it was one thing. To actually be staring into the face of a being from another galaxy was another.

If someone other than Zvetari had told him this, he would have said they were out of their fucking mind. But as he stared into his maker’s crimson eyes, he could see nothing but truth.

“As much as I appreciate you telling me this, I’m confused as to why. Why are you telling menow?You’ve had millennia to share your story. What’s changed?”

Zvetari stood and began to pace. Agitation wafted off him as he walked back and forth, back and forth, his jaw clenched and body tight. “The theft of the Garnet Ring, that’s what.”

Lines formed between Luther’s brows. “What does the Garnet Ring have to—” the answer slammed into him like a freight train. “It’s one of the blood crystals, isn’t it?”

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