You just had to keep on digging, didn’t you?
And we're back! Week four of this little vampy prequel is ready for your eyes! I thiiiiink there's one more week left after this. Think, because I thought this would be the finale but there was just a bit too much to wrap up. Lachlan wasn't even supposed to show up, but here we are. Sneaky, sneaky.
What could Soren, Cecily, and Lachlan find in the woods, I wonder? Hmmm, guess you'll just have to read and find out!
Week One: https://preview.mailerlite.com/u3l5h1
Week Two: https://preview.mailerlite.com/d9f8h4
Week Three: https://preview.mailerlite.com/b8j4e4
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“These woods used to be a popular spot to visit. Trails and picnic spots during the day. Secluded spots for trysts at night,” Cecily chirped as they trudged down an overgrown path not far from where Lachlan said he’d watched humans and vampires disappear between the trees. “It’s lost much of its popularity in the years since you lot stepped out of the shadows. Half the city doesn't want to risk any association with the fae, which these woods have in spades. The other half fear being haunted by evil spirits or other such creatures of the dark.”
Soren snorted at the significant look she shot in his direction. “We weren’t exactly given a choice.”
Thank Queen Roana’s lover for that fate. Her heart wasn’t the only thing the bastard stole. With her blood, he was able to twist the entire fae court into the unseelie monstrosities that tried to rip apart the world.
Even in a world without telephones and video cameras, Soren doubted the fighting would have remained hidden for long. The fae turned to beastly devils, and the vampires fought back just as cruelly. How could they not? Each side fought for their very survival. Word simply spread faster with modern communication.
“Aren’t you afraid to be alone in the woods with two vampires?” he taunted in a bored voice.
Cecily shrugged. “Why would I be? My family and staff have access to my schedule, which will show a meeting with you. Should anything happen to me, they’ll know who to blame.”
“Just the responsibility I don’t need.” Soren ducked under a branch. “You’re slowing us down, human, and there’s no telling what we’ll find. You’d have been safer waiting back at the cars.”
Up ahead, softer than Cecily would hear, Lachlan muttered, “Quieter, too.”
Soren cracked a smile. Maybe the dour vampire had redeeming qualities after all.
“And let you decide what to do with whatever you find?” Cecily shook her head. “I think I’ll stay close. Wouldn’t want any of the missing to stay that way if it proves convenient.”
“We’re on the same side,” he said flatly.
“Until we’re not.”
Lachlan pulled to a sudden stop before he could answer. “There. Up ahead.”
Soren stepped even with the other vampire. Nearly hidden between drooping branches and overgrown brush stood what once had been a small house.
Looking at the place, it was hard to discount the theory of hauntings and evil spirits in the woods. Four walls and something resembling a roof clung to each other in a lean that foretold the collapse of the entire structure if even one piece failed. The windows had long been busted out and the vines growing in the peeling paint were in an active invasion.
And yet, the smell of human and vampire were thick in the air.
“What is it?” Cecily demanded. “I can’t see.”
Behind him, the plasticy click of a button fired a beam of light on the building, and something inside hissed.
“Shit,” Soren cursed. He turned his head to order Lachlan around the back, but the other vampire was already on the move. He didn’t know whether to curse or approve the quick action.
Neither were useful in that moment. He bolted for the door, unwilling to let anyone inside escape before he had a chance to get some fucking answers.
He flung the door wide and scanned the space for any sign of movement. Cocking his head, the only thing he could hear was the beat of Cecily’s heart behind him and a distant crash of steps and whisper of branches whipping through the night.
Soren swept a look over the room. Lachlan had someone on the run, but he didn’t want to leave any stone unturned or door left open for anyone else in the house to escape.
The inside was as broken down as the outside. Little remained of furniture, if there’d even been a full household before. A couch sagged along one wall, covered in suspicious rusty brown stains. Down the hall and in the kitchen, a table had been busted right down the middle and the chairs scattered around with legs busted at odd lengths. The appliances had long been ripped out; the gashes in the walls suggested whatever wiring or piping had been taken with them.
He paused at a door just off the kitchen. The scent of old death seeped into the air from the cracks around the frame.
The wood and hinges didn’t creak as he twisted the knob and swung it open. He braced himself, but no one rushed up the stairs and no spirits howled their displeasure. Only darkness, and that rotten stench of death.
Without a moment of hesitation, Soren stepped down into the darkness.
While the upstairs looked like the worst sort of flop house, the basement was neat and orderly in its horrors. One corner had been lined with bars, then separated down the middle to form two cells. Knowing both vampires and humans had gone missing there, he figured one was for the side of the breathing and the other to keep starving vampires from drinking up the entire blood supply.
Chains had been driven into the wall in full view of the cells, leaving no doubt about the fate that awaited the prisoners. They’d simply arrived too late to mount any sort of rescue.
Cecily swung her flashlight toward the back wall and inhaled sharply. “Good Lord,” she murmured in a shaky voice.
She didn’t run or get sick. He had to give her credit for that.
His steps carried him forward and nearer the body still hanging from the chains. Tubes trailed out of the poor creature, the ends dangling against the floor. No doubt the bags for collecting liquid had been taken the moment they’d been filled.
“I’ve seen this before,” he murmured. Not as sophisticated or clean, mostly, but the same sort of death.
Delicately, he reached out to one of the plastic tubes. Bone dry, but he knew that already. The husk left behind had been drained of every last drop running through his veins.
It’d been blood magic then. The kind the unseelie practiced before they were driven back to their realm.
His hand went to his side as his eyebrows drew down to pinch his nose. His welcome present of silver to the gut felt even more important. Delivered by a woman smelling of fae and talking of Void cult nonsense? She couldn’t be a coincidence with drained corpses in the city.
A muffled gasp spun him around and he let off a snarl.
Theo stood behind Cecily, his fangs buried in her throat.
Fuck.
“Let her go, Theo. She’s innocent.” Which her people wouldn’t believe of him if she didn’t survive, as she’d so helpfully pointed out.
If he even survived.
Cecily’s eyes widened as the euphoria of the bite carried her deeper into the trance. The effect had been protection at one point. No vampire needed to worry about their prey sounding the alarm while they were at their most vulnerable. She’d barely even object if he decided to drain her to the point of death.
Theo took a final swallow before tearing himself free of the woman. The bliss on her face turned to horror as he shoved her aside. Her shoulder hit the wall hard, but she only caught herself for a second before sliding to the cold ground.
Her hands pressed against her neck and came away with blood. Fucker hadn’t even closed her wounds.
Theo wiped a drop of red from the corner of his mouth, then sucked his thumb clean as he stepped forward. “I told you to leave it alone, Soren. You just had to keep on digging, didn’t you?”
Soren growled and took a step toward the human, but Theo blurred with speed to cut him off. The momentum carried him backward while the arm pressed against his throat tried to hold him in place.
He shoved at Theo, giving him the extra space needed to breathe if he’d still been a man, but the slack disappeared almost immediately.
“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Theo warned in a low voice. “Are you faster than me, I wonder? Can you beat me to her? Stop me from cracking that skull open or snapping her slim little neck?”
Soren stilled. They were near enough in age, near enough in power, that inches of distance would make the difference. Letting Cecily die was not an option. She’d annoyed him all evening, poked and prodded and doled out slivers of knowledge, but he couldn’t fault her for that. She didn’t know if he could be trusted. She only cared about helping her people, and Theo was the one to blame for their disappearance.
“Let her go, Theo. The human has nothing to do with this. Let you and I work it out.”
“Do you really think I’m that stupid? She’s seen my face. She’s seen this place. After her, I’m going for that gargoyle you’ve had tailing me.” Theo scoffed. “Even old Roderick wasn’t idiot enough to involve others.”
And there it was. Even without the other disappearances, Theo signed his death warrant. To kill another vampire was against their laws. To murder a lord and confess it to another? The bastard had to feel as if he’d already won.
Theo turned his head to look at the dark mouth of the door above their heads. “Ah, and I think that’s your other friend.”
Three sets of footsteps scuffed on the floor upstairs, but it was Lachlan who tripped through the door first. Fury hardened his expression and set his jaw as he thumped down the stairs. He tried to move toward Cecily, but the vampires at his back pushed him further into the basement and took up positions on either side when they finally came to a stop.
Two against three. Not the worst odds. Not the best, either. But he came from old Viking blood; he’d be damned if he let Theo finish him out without a fight.
Theo turned back with a smirk hitching up the corners of his mouth. “Now, I wasn’t expecting the three of you, but what’s the phrase? When life gives you lemons?” He chuckled to himself. “Your blood will be useful.”
Behind him, Soren caught sight of Lachlan rolling his shoulders. His hands, held in front of him, shifted to catch the bottom end of something shaken free from under his jacket. Their eyes connected and Soren gave him the smallest nod possible.
Lachlan moved fast, spinning to slam the stake into the chest of the henchman at his left. The vampire roared as the pain of death swelled inside him. His eyes widened as he looked at his chest in shock, but there was no stopping the spread of ash. His skin greyed and cracked before he collapsed into a pile on the floor.
Chaos broke loose.
Soren threw a punch into Theo’s side in the momentary confusion. A second caught him in the gut as the other vampire twisted into the attack. He growled when Theo’s fist cracked against his jaw, but the pain was nothing compared to the bright anger that coursed through him.
Theo killed Roderick. He stole others away to drain them of their lives, maybe to work the magic they’d fought so hard against decades ago. He needed to pay for what he’d done.
Another punch missed as Theo moved fast, heading toward Cecily. A sharp kick and fingers wrapped around his wrist pulled him up short. Another shove threw him backward to crash against the bars of the cells.
Theo howled at the silver burning against his skin.
And then there was quiet.
Theo’s eyes darted around the room, to the corpse hanging from the wall, the twin piles of dust on the floor, before finally landing on Cecily struggling to her feet. Lachlan stood next to her, glaring over his shoulder and swiping fingers over her wounds to seal them shut.
“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Soren repeated back Theo’s warning. He landed a hand on Theo’s chest and pressed him back until he heard the sizzle of silver on skin again.
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