“I do,” I told her, “The vampire king and I are … close.”
She waved me off. “You don’t need to explain. I don’t judge anything anymore. It’s all been a lie.”
I nodded. “What do you need?”
Ruby handed me the paper she’d scribbled on. “I need the exact locations of the breeder programs inside these enclaves so we can take them all down together. Our clock may have just moved up since you’ve already taken one out. Word will spread.”
I frowned. “You think they all talk?”
Ruby again shared a look with her hunter companion. “Aspen, each enclave produces five million dollars in babies a year. Times six, that’s a thirty-million-dollar-a-year industry for the dark fey.”
Shit.
And it then supplied hunters who would take out the vampires and werewolves in the outside world. The big bad that could stand up against the fey. And they took a cut of our bounty fee. The real numbers could be much higher.
“Wait…” It dawned on me. “That’s why they do it. The fey supply endless hunters to Maz to control the vampire population.”
Ruby nodded. “Yep, and better yet, Maz is one hundred percent dark fey.”
She pulled a folder out of her bag and handed to me. Her revelation sent chills up my spine. I couldn’t process them. But I remembered being stumped at the fact that she never really seemed to age.
Opening the folder, I gasped when I saw various pictures of Maz. Most were black and white and she was wearing eighteenth-century clothing. She looked the same age as now, about fifty or sixty.
“We think Maz is a Munai. A high priestess fey,” Ruby shared. “She’s basically going to live forever until killed, and has the power to charm her look to appear human.”
I dropped the photos back into the folder as my mouth hung open. Glancing at Liv, I noticed she looked as blindsided as me.
Maz … a Munai?
“But … I don’t understand.” The Munai were horrible, evil, black-net belching psychos.
Ruby leaned in closely. “Understand this. No one over thirty years old remains in the Vampire Hunter Society. They ask too many questions, and one of which is probably why Maz doesn’t appear to age. I’m lucky to still be alive, though I won’t be for long unless I run too.”
Maz adopted and paid for the babies, and then turned them into little God-fearing warriors who would do her bidding without question. All while controlling the vampire problem, the one race that could take over the fey if they got too powerful. Hadn’t Luka said it himself? The vampires and werewolves together were unbeatable.
“Where will you go?” I asked.
Ruby looked out onto the park. “I can’t leave my hunters. I’ll either have to tell my whole team or let Maz come for me.”
My heart ached at her loyalty. She wouldn’t leave her hunters to be brainwashed. That was a true leader.
“Gather your hunters. Tell them everything, and then bring them to the Magic City enclave in Idaho. You can all stay in Vampire City while we plan our attack and bring the entire society to its knees.”
Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Fifty hunters and a dozen orphans are going to be warmly accepted into Vampire City? Says who?”
I sighed. “The vampire king.”
Liv was giving me a wide eyed maybe-you-should-talk-to-Luka-first look, but I didn’t care. I was doing this, now or never. If Maz took out Ruby, then it would be all the harder for me to take on the society as a whole by myself.
“If you can promise us a safe place to stay, I will evacuate the entire House of Thorns,” Ruby promised.
‘Luka,’I pressed into his mind.‘I know you’re mad at me for leaving this morning, but quick question, can fifty vampire hunters and a dozen orphans come stay in Vampire City? They are fleeing from Maz.’
I felt him bristle at my question through our bond.
‘Please,’I added. ‘They’re in trouble.’
‘I would never deny you anything,’ came his reply, and my cheeks heated at that.
