“Don’t even think about it.” Bethany growled and then sank her teeth into his shoulder.
Chapter Thirteen
“This realm, as well as all the others, has always thrived on the reality of natural law. The strong survive, and the weak serve the strong or die. I’m not starting a new trend here. I am simply following the rules already put in place by nature. We, the supernatural races, are the strong, and the humans are the weak. They will kneel at our feet … or they will die.” ~Sincaro
Sincaro steppedout into the dark street. The only illumination came from the flickering bulb in the lamppost that stood on the corner of the two streets. The sound of humans screaming was a symphony to his ears. The humid breeze was refreshing, simply because feeling it meant he was no longer cooped up underground, withering away like a flower past its season.
“How many buildings do you want cleared?” One of Sincaro’s progenies stepped from the shadows. The young one’s face, shirt, and hands were covered in blood.
Sincaro frowned at the male. “You need to learn to eat without appearing as if you’ve been diving into a pool of entrails.”
“My apologies, master.”
“I only want one building cleared for now. I am still gathering my army. We can’t risk the humans acting too soon, or we will be massacred,” Sincaro explained. “Finish clearing this one, and then I will assign those who will take up residence here.”
“As you wish.” The vampire bowed and then swiftly headed off.
The ancient vampire considered which of the supernaturals he could trust to live among the humans. Some had already been living in the human realm for a while because the magic in their own realms was growing weak. Those were the ones he would house in the apartment complex his vampires were currently emptying. Others, those who had been living in hiding because they weren’t in control of their magic or because they couldn’t blend in, were far too resentful of the humans to be permitted to reside in close proximity with them.
Sincaro let out a sigh, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly walked toward the entrance to the large apartment building. It was going to be a long night. He wasn’t going to have his people hide the dead bodies, not anymore. But they would have to remove the corpses from the building, or they’d begin to stink. And he couldn’t just pile them up on the sidewalk. So, Sincaro was going to have to direct his minions to take the bodies and spread them out all over the city.
The vampire smiled to himself as he thought about the human authorities trying to figure out how so many people had been killed in one night and how they would squash the rumors of a serial killer living in Phoenix. His smile grew even wider when he thought about how Vasile, that damn Alpha, would respond to his precious human race being picked off like rats in an open field.
“God, it’s good to be back,” Sincaro said, sounding a little maniacal, even to himself.
Two days had passedsince Skender and Stephanie had arrived and been placed in a cage. Vasile hadn’t heard from Costin on his decision regarding the traitor’s fate. The Alpha was actually surprised that the male hadn’t gone down there while everyone was asleep and killed Skender the night after he got the news. But, somehow, Costin had controlled himself. Vasile was impressed, but he knew Sally’s calming influence was probably the biggest reason. It also helped that Decebel was keeping the males busy with continuous training, executing drills in both their wolf and human forms. Vasile joined in the drills as much as possible, though he’d also been helping Alina in her training of the females. Many from the Serbia pack had no fighting experience at all. Apparently, the previous Alpha before Decebel had been a bit backward in his views concerning males and females and didn’t think the females of the pack would be effective fighters. Obviously, the prior Alpha had never sufficiently angered a dominant female.
Vasile let out a sigh as he stared at the early morning sun. The rays were just beginning to peak over the tops of the trees. It was quiet, as though all of nature was still slumbering, not quite ready for the day to begin. Vasile would love nothing more than to still be in his own bed, his mate wrapped in his arms. Instead, he was standing on the sparring field. Sleep had alluded him the past month. Recent events hadn’t helped matters. Now, he was concerned about the upcoming summit and whether he and his allies would be able to convince all the supernatural leaders that they were going to have to fight back against the Order. Vasile would have to show them they couldn’t just hope the coming battle wouldn’t affect them. It would affect them all.
Even when the Alpha did sleep, he gained no rest. His dreams were filled with bloodshed, darkness, and humans being shackled and driven like slaves. Alina had been so worried about him she’d asked Rachel to make some sort of herbal sleep concoction for him. It had tasted horrible, and a disgusting assault on his taste buds was the only effect it’d had on him. Decebel had asked Vasile if he thought they’d made a mistake in joining the two packs, but Vasile didn’t feel any sort of added burden because Decebel still took care of the Serbia pack. He just deferred any major decisions, of which there was really only one, to Vasile, and that was trying to determine what their next move would be with respect to the Order. Decebel’s pack was set to meet with the rest of the supernatural community in five days. Between now and then, Vasile needed to contact the Alphas in America. He’d left the decision on how much to tell the wolves that were in Farie with the healers up to Peri. In his opinion, they didn’t need to be burdened with this when five of them had new mates and they were dealing with Volcan and his plan to take over the world by creating an army of witches.
Vasile reached into his back pocket, pulled out his phone, and checked to see if he had any missed calls. There was nothing. Tanya, Dillon’s mate and female Alpha of the Colorado pack, had left him a disturbing message the day before and had promised to call back. Vasile had attempted to reach her, but he kept getting voice mail. He tried Dillon and got the same.
According to Tanya, they’d seen troubling reports on the human news stations. She also mentioned getting in touch with Peri for damage control. Vasile had gotten online and searched the news websites to see if he could figure out what disturbing reports Tanya had been referring to. It hadn’t taken him long to pick up the pattern. Violence was increasing across North America. Vasile could only assume it was the work of the Order. But he didn’t want to make a hasty decision before speaking to the packs in America, the other supernaturals, and Peri in order to figure out the best course of action. And even then, once he knew what to do next, he wondered whom he would assign to the task.
Two of his most dominant males had new babies. The other had a mate who was still healing from a horrific ordeal, and they had a newly adopted son. Bethany and Drake were now expecting. Vasile needed to remember to go by and congratulate them. He shook his head, pushing that last thought away.
“You know that Thalion and Cypher will also help.” Alina’s voice came from just behind him.
He’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t even felt or heard her approach him. “I know,” he agreed as he turned slightly so he could see her. “Did I wake you?” he asked.
Alina shook her head. “I’ve been having troubling dreams,” she admitted. “I keep thinking that Lilly is going to call at any moment and tell us the world is ending.”
Vasile chuckled. “It does feel that way.”
“More and more,” she added.
“I honestly wonder if it would be such a bad thing,” Vasile said.
Alina frowned. “The world ending?”
He tilted his head slightly toward her.
“Of course it would be a bad thing. We have a grandson, Thia, Titus, and now another baby on the way. For the first time in two decades, we have pups in our pack. I want to see them grow up.”
“But if the world ended now, just think of all the pain, loss, and horror they wouldn’t have to face. All the things we haven’t been able to protect Fane from, they wouldn’t have to endure.”
“Mate, our son is the man that he isbecausehe has endured those things,” she said, taking a step closer to Vasile and grasping his hand. “If they didn’t have to endure hardship, how would they grow in character? If they faced no adversity, how would they learn to rise to a challenge? There is still much that can be salvaged in this world.”
