Kael snorts. “A witch, huh? Aren’t witches women?”
“They can be. But mine are men. They’re more… agreeable when it comes to the blood loving. Easier to convince, if you will. More inclined towards the debauchery that comes with it.”
He huffs. “Debauchery. What a word.”
I smile patiently. “So. Are you in?”
He side-eyes me. “Fuck yeah, I’m in.”
I pan a hand at him and grin. “See? So easy to convince.”
We follow Joshua outof White River and turn onto a little gravel road that leads up the mountain. Everything is wet and muddy with snowmelt, so it takes a while to weave our way through the forest, but eventually we arrive at the top where there is a collection of charming A-frame houses and buildings reminiscent of Old Europe and all made of wood hewn from this very forest, as if Zecharyet Wagner handcrafted this village himself.
I love it mostly for this reason. It reminds me of Ryet.
Of course, he’s never been up here. He will never come up here. Even if my plans had worked out and he and Syrsee had stayed in White River for their transformation, he would never have seen this place.
Because he was meant to die in a grand scheme of world domination and not some simplistic sex ritual to make a potion or a pudding. And that’s the only reason a scion of mine would ever come up here.
To die.
There are lots of people around when we get out of the truck. All the women and girls are wearing long, linen dresses with a traditional feel to them. Mostly light blue—they love that color for some reason—but there are several dozen wearing undyed off-white or mustard-yellow dresses as well. A small handful of them are wearing peach, which only started showing up a few years ago when Emily took over, so it must be a special dye she cooked up.
All the men are wearing brown trousers and blue or undyed work shirts with suspenders and boots.
Only Joshua, and Kael, and myself are wearing outsider clothes. All of us in jeans, boots, and flannel shirts.
It’s very charming, but it has to be, doesn’t it? I mean, this is a place of dark death and I want my scions to feel comfortable when I kill them to cook up the kitchen magic.
Kael comes around the truck to stand next to me. When I give him a sideways glance, I find him leering at the women. “You like them?” I ask.
“What?” He’s not even paying attention to me.
“The women? You’d prefer one of them?”
He looks at me now, suspicion on his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m asking you a question about your preferences, Kael. Clearly, you like women.”
“Of course. But if you’re asking if I want to trade one of those stupid whores for your blood, the answer is no.”
That wasn’t what I was asking, obviously. But I don’t bother explaining. Kael here might be cunning, but he’s also very primitive and I’m kind of in a hurry, so not in the mood to humor him. “Take your pick,” is what I say as a reply. “Which one do you like?” I point to a young woman who was much younger the last time I was here. Rachel, I think her name is. “I’ve had my eye on that one there for years now. How about her?”
Kael looks at the woman with a critical eye. She’s in her early twenties and wearing one of the peach dresses and it’s got a yellow apron, so she’s festive. Her face is round and welcoming once she realizes we’re looking at her. She’s got dark hair, so she comes from the oldest line of breeding, but while she’s nice to look at, she’s not much of a cook. Which is fine. Emily’s our chef so this one’s only job, literally, is to tantalize. And she does it well, cocking a hip and her head as she lifts her chin up, daring someone to approach.
All of this is directed at Kael, not me. And Kael responds. “All right,” he says, a little bit breathless. Like the few moments he took to study the woman were spent in fantasy. “Yeah, she’ll do.” Then he turns to me. “And you. You’re not gettin’ out of this, Paul. I want the blood.”
I place a hand on his cheek, much like the one I placed on Joshua’s, but without the care or concern. “It’s yours, blood lover.” I point to Rachel. “Would you like to join us?”
She smiles, knowingly, then does a little curtsey and bows her head. “Of course, my lord.”
When she meets my gaze again, I point to Kael. “Make him happy for me.”
She curtsies again and then comes over and hooks her arm into his. Kael smiles, despite his misgivings. He knows something’s going on here, but the promise of blood and sex with me and a pretty woman seems to have alleviated his initial suspicions.
“Let’s go.” Then I nod my head in the direction of a large A-frame building that is used as a gathering house.
This building is where all the rituals are done. Inside it’s dark because there are no windows, but it’s not inhospitable. In fact, it’s quite the opposite of inhospitable. It’s inviting.
