I gave him a rueful grin. “Which is the perfect time to attack a vampire queen who’s been up most of the night.”
Wearing a beautiful flowing sundress covered in sunflowers, Leonie joined us. Somehow she managed to look elegant despite getting nearly zero sleep. In comparison, I felt like one of the zombie creatures crawling out of its grave.
“What questions may I answer, my queen?” She asked.
“Can they be out in the daylight?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. The sunlight won’t hurt them, unlike thralls.”
“When Mom—my aunt, Selena, who raised me—came here as a goule, her spirit was inside her corpse. It was awful. Is that the same thing we’re dealing with?”
“Unfortunately, yes. That’s one of the reasons the dead are so angry, and why they cause so much devastation when they’re used like this. Their peaceful rest has been disturbed. Their spirits were called back to this life that ended for them long ago.They attack the targeted living with furious vengeance—even though the target didn’t cause the unrest. It’s the only way they can return to their rest.”
“And you said this could have been done days ago? How?”
“Depending on the practitioner’s path of belief, several different ways. Typically a ritual is done to honor their guiding spirits or gods, calling on them to raise the necessary power into their instruments and ingredients. Some use chalk to draw a charging sigil or verve on the tombstone. Others may use the ash from the ritual fire mixed with salt or other herbs to draw a pattern on the grave.”
Guillaume joined us, carrying so many blades on his body that he bristled like a pincushion and made a metallic rattle every time he moved. “All of that takes time. How many are we talking? Less than ten? More than that?”
Her eyes met mine.:I’ll show you, if you like, my queen.:
I nodded and her eyes unfocused, looking inward. Her eyes gleamed, specks of gold and emerald lighting up with inner fire, pulling me deeper. I sank my awareness into hers, letting her do the work. I smelled her blood, the bloom of spice and warm earth heating beneath the sun, and then everything shifted, as if we’d stepped into a parallel universe. Muted colors. No sounds. We stood on the hill overlooking my nest—the very same place the humans had been spying—and looked out over the rolling hills.
At first I didn’t see anything remarkable. No bright lights or red glow, not like when I looked at the tapestry.
:There.:She zoomed in on what looked like a darker smudge against the grayed landscape. I thought it might be a cave, but it moved. As we focused on it, the darkness resolved into two separate shapes moving toward us. I pulled back slightly to gauge the distance to the nest.
“Two so far, about five or ten minutes away.” My voice echoed in my ears, stretched out long and slow.
Leonie shook her head, her mouth downturned. She pulled us to another dark spot.
“Three,” I added. “Two. Five. Three. All around us. Four more. Two. Closing in.”
:That’s only the first wave,:she warned.:There are more still emerging from their graves.:
I broke the connection and stood. “Then there’s a second wave.”
Rik stood behind me, looping his arm around my waist to keep me close to his side. “The first wave of at least twenty goules will be here in five minutes. Flyers, get airborne. Frank, your team has the perimeter. Blast anything that moves?—”
“No,” Leonie broke in.
Rik’s head whipped around, his muscles bulging, sliding toward granite. “Our queen’s safety is paramount.”
I slipped one hand beneath his on my stomach and patted our clasped hands with my other. “Of course, my alpha. But hear her out. What do you propose, Leonie?”
“It’s not their fault. Damaging their corpses will only slow them down.”
“Unless we crispy critter them,” Mehen retorted.
“Then you’re dooming their souls to endure being burned inside their own corpse. They’ll be fully aware the entire time, and if their bodies are destroyed, they can’t return to their resting place. That’s not important to Aima since we destroy our bodies, but for humans, it’s important for loved ones. Especially for any ancestor work. I can still help their souls cross back over the river, but many of them will be too angry and violent to listen. They’ll roam the land causing as much destruction as possible.”
“I can free their spirits first,” I said. “I’ve done it before. Though I’m not sure how quickly I can remove twenty or more spirits if we’re under attack at the same time.”
“I mean no disrespect, my queen, but even your method willcause destruction to their physical body. If they can’t be laid to rest back in their grave, we may loose their vengeful spirits on the rest of the world for all time.”
“What do you propose?”
Her chin lifted slightly, her shoulders back and proud, her smile confident and glowing. A queen in her element, her full power flowing around her like a royal mantle. “This is my power. Please allow me to return them to their eternal rest.”
