“True. But once we found it and held it, we knew what the artifact was. A protector for the packs—allthe packs. As Hirpus protected the twins long ago, her spirit still watches over us all.”
“You might not be too far off with that.” Hecate actually liked the lycans’ ancestor, though she would prefer it if Hirpus would settle her bar tab instead of snowballing her debts. “What I need is tied to your artifact. I need to see it to know for sure. I do concede that you lycans have more right to it than a clan of vampires.”
Riley’s relieved smile froze when Hecate held up one finger. “But,” she continued, “I need it for now. I’m sure Mormo or one of the others has already mentioned it, but we’re in danger.”
“From some kind of Darkness.” Riley nodded.
“Exactly. It’s been growing, as it does every ten thousand years. A challenge to the balance that allows our worlds to exist.”
“Worlds?”
“Yes, all of them. The human world, the fae plane, hell dimensions, even the divine realms. We’re all tied together, be that good or bad. This Darkness that comes, it’s pure chaos. It wants nothing more than disorder, to eat and eat until there’s nothing left. If the human world dies, the rest will crumble. But there are those who don’t think that will happen, and they refuse to believe in what may come.”
“‘What may come,’ you say.” Riley frowned. “Prophecies aren’t absolute.”
“Not in your world. In mine they are. I’m not saying everyone is fated” —she glanced up— “my apologies, Fates. But there are destinies at play. Yours is one that interests me.”
“Hurray for me.”
Hecate laughed, liking the berserker more and more. “Yes, aren’t you the lucky one? To protect the boundaries and delay chaos, I’ve gathered my Night Bloode, savages who do not know fear and follow no one but themselves. They cannot be swayed by gods or demons.” Hecate snorted. “I rule this house and this land. But try telling Varujan and the others what to do and see how far you get. I’m a goddess. They do what I tell them after I explain everything a dozen or more times. Then, if Varu thinks it makes sense to follow along, he tells his kin what to do. Mormo and I are merely servants to make their lives easier.”
She said it half in jest, but the truth was, she loved the vampires’ wild ways and had no urge to tame them. Tame killers would be no help when chaos came. She needed ferocious, deadly, wild death-bringers to battle alongside her when the Darkness arrived.
And the more they had to protect, the harder they’d fight.
“Why deal with them at all then?” Riley asked.
“Because they are needed if we are to succeed. I must have all six Bloode Stones and control of the Bloode Empire.”
Riley shook her head. “If they all get on the same page, vampires will destroy the world.”
“Not if they have something else to fight.”
Riley stared at her. “No offense, but you’re crazy. No one can control vampires.”
“Yes, that’s what we’re meant to believe. You do know how vampires came about, don’t you?”
“Sure. Everyone knows. Some human warrior got busy with one of Apollo’s priestesses. And we all know the gods need their priestesses to be virginal, for some reason.”
Hecate shared an eyeroll with the lycan.
“So Apollo cursed him. But the priestess was in love, so when the warrior turned into a vampire, doomed to never see the sun and drink blood to survive, the priestess gave him her own blood, which powered him up bigtime.”
“Selene was Apollo’s sister, not his priestess. And the warrior’s name is Ambrogio.”Isnotwas,no matter that no one had seen him in millennia.
Riley nodded. “The pair became the first vampires.”
“But they grew too powerful,” Hecate noted. “So the gods came together and cursed the vampire race to only bear one child per mated pair, though the occasional twin birth does happen. Only male progeny are vampiric. Any females at birth possess none of a vampire’s traits. And vampires only mate once in a lifetime. Once born, only those in the same clan may live together. An innate hostility toward those not kin keeps the vampires apart. They will never get along, never be strong enough to overtake gods or other races.”
Hecate warmed to her topic. “But imagine if theydidget along. How strong they might be. They don’t worship the divine or fear demons. They naturally dominate other species, and if left to come together would annihilate the world.”
Riley stared. “You sound like you actually like that about them.”
“Well, I do appreciate a boy who knows what he wants.” Hecate winked. “I like that they don’t fear, that they’re possessive of what they consider their own. Imagine threatening someone or something they care about. Would you want to go up against a vampire protecting his mate or his child?”
“Of course not. But do you really think you can control them? They don’t respect anyone or anything but themselves.”
“I used to think that was true, but a lot of their negative press was started by Apollo and carried on over time. It’s true they are vicious creatures bent on destruction, but we never see their softer side.” At Riley’s incredulous look, Hecate cleared her throat. “Not that they’re at all soft. My point is not all vampires are the same. The Night Bloode vampires live together in harmony.” She corrected, “Mostly. The fact we have three mates, a human, and an elf currently living with us—focus on the living part—is proof these vampires are different. They’re what we need for the coming battle.”
