Queens and Monsters: A Vampire Shifter Romance (The Blood Falls Book 1)

After a long afternoon absorbing Lou’s information plus another long meeting with a cousin who I couldn’t stop staring at, wondering if he was having sex with female Dregs, hoping for full blooded samhain children, I was once again completely exhausted.

All those pregnant samhain I saw at the dorms. Were they just a breeding pool?

Ugh. I had to clear my mind. It was becoming so cluttered with what-ifs that I couldn’t think straight. So I grabbed my favorite Triple M book and curled up in my bed, devouring the pages until my phone rang.

I accepted the video call from Gigi. “You are a sight for sore eyes.”

“Well thank you,” she beamed. “I have news. About your ash problem.”

“A little news or a lotta news?”

“A lot. I have the answers you need.”

Suddenly I wasn’t in my bed reading. I was on Gigi’s bed looking right at her surprised face. “Crap, I did it again.”

She dropped her phone, her jaw hanging open. “Did you just shift into my bed and misquote Britney Spears?”

“Yes, and not intentionally.” Oops would have definitely sounded better than crap.

“Damn, Rhysa.”

I sat up to face her, feeling really weird that a thought took me across the country. “Can’t you shift like that?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “Uh, no. Dray can shift pretty far, but he’s the most powerful of us nine and his shifting power is off the charts. At least I thought it was. Apparently you’re even more powerful.”

I squirmed, not quite sure what to do with that information. “You have answers?”

She waved her hand at me. “Not for your endless powers, but I do know what’s going on with the bad blood. Have you been drinking?”

I shook my head. “I’ve done a pretty good job of avoiding it. Just a few draughts here and there.”

“Good. You’re cursed.”

“Cursed?” That sounded bad.

“I called one of my Nala cousins and she knew the symptoms right away, sent me to a book of spells that would help.” She flipped open a book and spun it toward me to read.

“Huh. It’s in English. I kind of thought ancient spells would be in old languages.” And come in giant old leather-bound books.

“Words don’t have any meaning on their own. They’re just sounds. Letters strung together. We, the users of the words, are what give them meaning. Do Christians read the New Testament in Greek? No. They read a translated version in whatever language they speak. Scholars study the Greek. You,” she waved at me, “don’t speak Greek. Not old Greek and not new Greek. So I could dig up an old spell book and let you read it in whatever language the Nala spells were first written in, but it wouldn’t do you any good.”

“You make an excellent point.”

“Forming, especially with words, requires the user to mean what they are saying. Thus, the House of Nala translates their spells.”

I looked over the lines. “Back to the curse. Explain that part.”

“My cousin said blood that tastes like a poison and causes illness is the result of a curse. Someone who Forms, most likely with words, cursed you, made it so blood from the House of Axl causes you harm.”

“And this spell?”

“Will help you see why the curse was put on you.”

It had to have been when I was born, when I was made dormant. All of this had to have happened at once. Before or after my father and grandmother were killed?

“So I just say this out loud?”

Gigi shrugged. “I don’t Form. I have a feeling it depends on how you Form from the Plane.”

Whispers. I hear whispers. So I probably Formed with words. Maybe? Only one way to find out. I began reciting the disjointed words, mostly to myself.

“Dark. In the beginning. Before light. Words bound by chains.” In my mind images began to form. A swirling dark cloud, a heavy metal door. “To help, save, hurt?”

A woman with red hair appeared. She looked at someone I couldn’t see, speaking to them. They did this. How could they? The snakes are inside that house. They took my love, they cannot have my child, too. I will have revenge.

She disappeared and the metal door in the dark clouds reappeared, this time with a heavy lock. Then the clouds faded and the door became the heavy wood front door to the House of Axl. I tasted ash on my tongue.

They took my love, they cannot have my child, too.

The snakes are inside that house.

My mother’s words were eerily similar to Lou’s. They both said there was a traitor in the House. They both called for revenge.

I looked to Gigi. “I think my mother did this to me. I think…” It was more a feeling I had when I saw her than anything else, “I think she wanted to make it so I could never live there.”

“Are you sure?” She touched my arm to comfort me.

“No. But I know someone who does. I need to see my mother.” Everyone said she was locked in her mind, and maybe that was true, but maybe they were wrong. I had to see her. I needed answers that no one else could give me but her.

“Dray’s working on a meeting, but I doubt they’d allow you to see your mother. Even my cousin said Marhysa hasn’t been seen in years.”

“If she won’t come to me, I’ll go to her. One way or another, I need to see her.” I was tired of being told what I was allowed to do. Tired of waiting while others advocated on my behalf. It was time to start making things happen and find my own answers.

“I don’t know—” Gigi began to say just as I felt Seema moving toward my chambers.

I couldn’t get caught out of the house. Not even by sweet Seema.

“Gotta go!” I shifted back to my bed just in time to pick up my book. Seema knocked a second later. “Come in!”

“All settled for the evening?”

I was the opposite of settled. I was very unsettled. I was cursed, I had a target on my back, there was a traitor I needed to find, and a Dreg army that could flatten the people I loved. “Just enjoying a good book.” I set it aside and sat up. “Can I speak with you for a minute?”

She blinked in surprise. “Of course.”

“Did you know my father?”

Her whole face lit up in a warm smile. “Oh yes. I have always tended these chambers, including when young Lord Antyne lived here.”

“Can you tell me about him?” Now that I knew a little more about my mother and her fury after his death, I needed to understand him too.

“He was a troublemaker. A good troublemaker. The mischievous kind. He loved to make everyone smile, whether that was with a joke or a pretend snake. I was always chasing him out of parties. Your grandmother adored him, as did Lord Axl, but he encouraged Tiynan to be more serious as he got older.”

“And did he?”

She wiggled her hand in the air. “A little. During business meetings he did his best, but the rest of the time? Still a troublemaker. That’s what made him such a good match to Marhysa. She made him smile. Like it was her life’s mission. Make the smile-maker smile. And of course Lord Axl wasn’t thrilled at first with the match, but then he saw the potential to broker an alliance with House of Nala.” She took a steadying breath. “Until, of course, it all fell apart.”

Well that was a different version of events than I’d been told before. “Thank you, Seema. I appreciate it.”

“Of course, my dear. I can only imagine how hard it is for you to only know your parents from the memories of others.”

I didn’t know any other way to live. “Good night, Seema.”

“Good night, Lady Rhysa. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

My parents weren’t some forbidden love match. They didn’t date in secret. The vision of my parent’s relationship transformed from Romeo and Juliet to high school sweethearts with slightly disapproving parents.

They did this. How could they? The snakes are inside that house. They took my love, they cannot have my child, too. I will have revenge.

There was a big piece of the puzzle still missing and I needed to find it. I reached out, sensing that no one was in my section of the house now that Seema had tucked me in.

The night was mine to do with as I wished.

I shifted to the treehouse.