“You do? Are you the master?”
“Master?” A deep V creased Vasile’s forehead at the question, and he shook his head. “I’m the leader and responsible for the well-being of my members. I am not nor will I ever be their master. They are free to stay or leave as they wish.”
“They can leave? What about their need for your blood?”
“I’m not sure I understand your question…why would they need my blood?” asked Vasile, sitting down in the chair across from Lucius.
“Because you turned them…at least that’s what Valerian said about my thirst for his blood.”
“Ahh…I see. Well, since I haven’t ever turned a human…”
“You haven’t? Then who did?”
“No one did. All the vampires in my coven came from vampire parents who gave birth to them.” Removing the book from Lucius’ hands, Vasile flipped the pages until he stopped at one and then handed the book back to him. “From the very beginning, vampires have increased their numbers by finding their mates and having vampire children. Now granted, as is the case with each type of paranormal, bad ones do exist…”
“Like my master?”
“Yes, like Valerian. But for the most part they are the exception, not the rule. None of my members has ever treated anyone the way you were treated.”
“Do you have vampire children?” asked Lucius.
Vasile’s eyes widened a bit before they reflected his smile. “Goodness no.”
“Why not?”
Running his hand over his face, Vasile wondered how the conversation ended up about his love life or lack of it, before looking back at Lucius. “According to Brady, it’s because I haven’t met my beloved.”
“Yourleelan.”
“Uh…right…myleelan. Not everyone is as lucky as Brady.”
“Maybe you just need some help.” Lucius paused for a moment before blurting out, “I know…Brady’s very smart and I bet he can tell you how to find yourleelanso you can have children.”
There weren’t many times Vasile was speechless, but he could add this to the list. Already he could hear Brady agreeing enthusiastically to the idea even though his friend knew his feelings about the subject. Hoping to divert Lucius’ attention, Vasile asked, “You said you have many questions…what are they?”
Lucius’ eyes brightened. “Oh, yes…how big is your coven? Can anyone join? What does a vampire have to do to join a coven? Do they have to kill someone? I don’t think I could do that…it was so hard for me to hurt one of the sea dragons.” Lucius’ voice trailed off as his memories of that time surged to the front of his mind.
Seeing the sadness creep across the young vampire’s face brought forth a surge of protectiveness in Vasile. It was his one weakness and the thing Brady and he had in common. Neither could stand to see anyone mistreated. It just reinforced why his friend asked him to stay at his cottage while gone, because if anyone deserved to be protected it was the innocent life before him. Smiling gently at Lucius, he said, “Any vampire can join my coven…without killing anyone…provided they agree to obey my rules including the Code of Conduct.”
“Do you have a copy I can look at? I want to compare it to the rules Valerian made me follow.”
“As a matter of fact, I do. They are on my laptop so I can send them to you by email.”
Lucius frowned. “I don’t have an email address. I think Brady was going to do it but we…” Leaving the sentence unfinished as his cheeks turned red at the memory of what he and his mate had done instead.
Chuckling to himself, Vasile had a good idea of what got in the way. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out his laptop and started it. “It doesn’t matter. There are only a couple of pages so I can print them out for you to read instead.” After connecting to Brady’s printer, it was less than a minute before he handed them over to Lucius.
Scanning them eagerly, Lucius was flabbergasted at how different they were from Valerian’s. According to what he read, Vasile’s coven sounded like heaven on earth or as close as it could possibly be for a vampire. Snapping his head up, he studied the powerful vampire, noting again the kindness in his face. It was a far cry from the constant cruelty his master’s face contained. Suddenly he had to see for himself if Brady’s claim was true about Valerian being the exception rather than the rule in the vampire world. “Can we go to your coven?”
It was the second time the young vampire had caught him short for words and, for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how Lucius kept doing it. Finally finding his voice, Vasile asked weakly, “Why?”
Chapter 7
After his discussion with Remy, Brady was satisfied no one within their circle was responsible for the leak concerning his mating with Lucius and, while that made him feel better about their mission, he was still worried about the danger his mate faced, which his queasy stomach attested to. He needed another of Mystia’s ginger teas but dared not ask her for it now. Swallowing the acid that had filled his mouth, Brady joined the rest of the participants in Operation Freedom, hoping no one would notice how unwell he felt.
“Listen up people,” Dylon called out to the gathering in the great room. “I have broken you up into two groups so check the sheet Cody has for your assignment. Remy and Mystia will be in charge of getting us over there, so follow their instructions. We’ll meet up on the other side, in France.” He waited till everyone was in their assigned group, before joining Cody who stood next to Mystia. “Okay, let’s go.”
Jackson held back his tears until the room was empty, but before they could fall, Steel wrapped his arms around him. “They’ll be all right.”
