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

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. I’d met more than my share of very human monsters. It was part of what drove me to study psychology in college. I wanted to understand what made some people kind and others cruel. So often I was told humans were born innocent. It was life that changed them, hurt them, twisted them until they turned into something evil.

Humans would look at a samhain and call us monsters. Vampires, werewolves, and witches. Shapeshifters that would come in the night to kill, murder, and maim. But we weren’t monsters…except maybe to ourselves. We had no interest in attacking humans. We had no interest in humans at all.

So what of the creatures running around the House of Axl? The Lost? Once human, turned Dreg, and now…? Was it in their nature? Was it even their fault?

Or was it inevitable when you tampered with the DNA that sits at the foundation of each of us? When you play with Destiny, is there any alternative but to create a monster?

I jumped as another rabid Dreg zombie threw himself against the door.

“I think there are at least two out there now,” Lou said as she curled her body protectively around Tymothy.

“How many are there exactly?”

“We don’t know,” Seema said. “I saw at least five before we locked ourselves in here.”

Gigi and I saw one in the field, and we just killed one (hopefully.) That meant there were at least three more. “What about Antyne?”

Seema traded a look with Lou. “I only saw Helena and Mary. At the time I thought it was strange. They acted like they were the new queens of the House. I brushed it off as another one of their oddities.”

“But everything has changed since then. You think they killed him too?”

Her small shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Probably. But if he’s still alive, he’ll be in the basement dungeons. They always have magical seals around them. If they wanted him out of the way, they’d put him there.”

Of course this place had magical basement dungeons. “Lou and I will kill whatever is outside this door and get to the basement. If he’s there, great. Our combined power should help. If he’s not, we’ll go for Revenge, clear the mansion of whatever zombies are left, and hopefully find my traitorous aunts in the process.”

Lou nodded in agreement. “Then we join the battle.”

“If there is a battle.” I still held on to a shred of hope Dray would hold back.

But Lou’s eyes told me everything I didn’t want to know. “It’s already begun.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Tymothy can.” She waved her hand at her son who now sat quietly in a trance. “His father is in battle mode.”

Better to hope it was the Alliance and not more zombies. “We better get a move on then.”

Seema folded me into a hug. “Trust your instincts.”

I hugged her hard. “How do I open that door?”

She showed me how to strip the spell away. “But don’t do it before you’re ready.”

If I were a teenager I would have rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically at the way she mothered me. But I wasn’t a teenager and I loved the way she looked after me. “First things first.” I felt around the doors that led to my terrace. Then I repeated the same steps, but metaphysically. All this power I had stored up inside me had to be good for something, right? Getting Tymothy to safety was as good a use as any.

So I found the weakest point. A seam. I pressed into it with my power, testing, then gathered it all around me. I let it build, feeding back until I thought I might explode from the power surging inside me, and sent it out in a single bolt of energy. Like a lightning bolt, but more surgical.

Seema didn’t hesitate. One minute she stood off to the side with Tymothy in her arms, and the next the door was open and they stood outside. I let the energy fold back in on itself, closing the temporary opening, and slumped onto the bed. Seema disappeared over the terrace wall.

The world tilted again. Now that I wasn’t distracted, the chaos disrupting everything inside the House came flooding back at full force. That, and I was pretty drained from yanking the Plane to me, so I felt everything a little more keenly. My original thought returned. It was like the House had broken free from normal gravity and now drifted like a ship at sea apart from reality.

It made me woozy.

Moving right felt like going up, sitting felt like going right, and every so often my vision blurred a little. The pounding on the door turned to scratching and whining. I could spare a few minutes to catch my breath, but that was it. There was work to do.

“I really wish I knew what made them,” Lou murmured.

“I’m willing to bet my throne it was Mary and Helena.”

“What I can’t figure is why though. The Lost are the most dangerous creatures on the planet.”

“Maybe it was an accident.” Or maybe they were so power hungry they were willing to risk everything.

“How hard is it to use your gifts?” She asked and jumped as the zombies threw themselves against the door again.

“Really fucking hard.” It took a hell of a lot more energy, but when I wasn’t panicking, I could still Form from the Plane, even with all the interference. To demonstrate, I pulled moisture from the air and made it dance between my palms. Hard, but not impossible anymore. “And you?”

“Drains me quickly, but I can do it.”

“Stick together. Do what we can. Stay alive.”

The banging and snarling at the door had subsided, so I stripped the spell away from the door and peeked outside. Lights flickered and creepy noises echoed off the walls. A single Dreg zombie lay on the floor, curled up like it was sleeping.

It was too easy, but also impossible to ignore. I nodded to Lou and we attacked this one the same as we had the other. Her sword went through his heart as mine came down on his throat.

It snarled and jerked, dying on the floor.

A shriek came from the hallway as another attacked. “It was a decoy!” Lou yelled, yanking her sword back, getting it up just in time to keep the zombie from ripping her to shreds.

My sword was stuck in the zombie’s spine and it disgustingly took three attempts to get it free.

“Could use a little help here!” Lou gritted out. The zombie snarled and howled, matching her move for move.

My sword finally free, I swung around, gathering momentum and power, and took the head off in one sweeping motion. While the body stood motionless, blood gushing out of the neck, Lou stabbed it through the heart. “Die!”

I felt a twinge of guilt. “If they really are the Lost, they were human not long ago.”

She kicked the corpse to the ground. “Well they aren’t now. How many are left?”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t feel anyone anywhere. Either everyone was dead, or it was impossible to sort through the emotional chaos clogging the House. “I can’t tell. Too much static.”

Lou wiped her sword clean. “To the basement then.”

As we approached the kitchen the hair on my arm shot up. I heard the sounds of scraping and eating. But maybe that was helpful? If whoever (or whatever) was in there was distracted with eating, maybe they wouldn’t notice us quietly sneaking by. Lou edged to the door, peeking inside. She made a face, then waved for me to go first.

I got all the way to the other side of the door when I made the incredibly stupid decision to peek inside. I really shouldn’t have done that. I could have gone my whole life without the visual imagery of that kitchen, coated in blood, handprints on the walls, body parts thrown around.

Two zombie Dregs crouched over an unrecognizable body. Their shoulders shuddered uncontrollably. They seemed possessed. Like they couldn’t help themselves. As if nothing was enough to satisfy their thirst. It reminded me so much of my Awakening, but creepier. Hungrier.

Then the crunching missed a beat. The slurping stopped.

They knew we were here.

Lou rolled her shoulders. “Here we go again.”

I brought my sword up and got low, centering my weight. The Wren sword was unfamiliar. It didn’t hum in my hands the way Dreadnought and Revenge had, but it was better than nothing. I used what I could of the Plane to keep them back. Getting a good look at their faces was as nightmarish as I thought it might be. Their skin hung from their cheekbones, their blood-covered lips drooped, revealing white teeth behind, and their eyes…well, let’s just say they weren’t human or samhain anymore. It gave me chills I couldn’t shake off. My hindbrain alerting me to danger.

Yeah, brain. I got it. These two are ready to kill me. Understood.

My ability to manipulate some of their movements confused them just long enough for me to take a good swing, slicing one across the torso and the other through their thighs. Instead of howling in pain, they cocked their heads and glanced down at the wounds, confused. As if the pain wasn’t quite reaching their twisted minds.

Lou plunged her sword through one from behind, the tip of her blade glistening for a moment before she yanked it out.

The other one lunged. I shoved the tip of my sword into his belly while palming my dagger. While the zombie wiggled on my blade I drove the dagger into his heart, then swept it across his throat.

Behind him I saw Lou stab the other zombie again and again. It kept coming at her. Nothing seemed to slow it. Not even the hole in his heart.

I shoved my zombie back and off my sword. It hit the wall and slumped to the ground, dying but not dead. In a series of moves that were more panicked instinct than skilled practice, I attacked Lou’s zombie from behind. His hand flailed and scratched the gold armor that covered my arm.

Too close.

Panic surged through me and brought the Plane closer. I grabbed onto it and fed the power through my sword, removing the second zombie’s head.

It shuddered one last time and went limp.

“Stay down,” I muttered. Hopefully they were dead, but I was also prepared for some wild shit to happen and discover they weren’t.

“Thanks,” Lou panted. “He was a strong fucker.”

I sagged against the wall. “I need a minute. That took it out of me.”

Lou cleaned her sword again, sheathing it before entering the bloodstained kitchen. “You need food.”

“Not from there I don’t.” I shuddered at the thought.

She came back with a hunk of bread and a beer. “Here. No blood, I promise.”

My instinct took over anyway and the bread was in my mouth before I could think. Then I was chugging the beer to help it go down faster. “Is beer really a good idea right now?”

Lou shrugged. “It’s low in alcohol content and you’re just going to metabolize it anyway. Besides it is full of carbs and shit you need right now. It’s what the Heida basically live on.”

If it was good enough for bear shifters it was good enough for me. “We shouldn’t stay in one place for too long.”

“Then it’s a good thing the basement is just over here.” Lou waltzed past me as easy as you please. Almost as if there weren’t two zombie corpses on the ground and carnage in the kitchen. Maybe she was compartmentalizing it all. That made sense. Focus on the task at hand, push everything else away, and deal with the trauma later–if there was a later.

But I got the sense it was something else. Not quite glee. More like pleasure that karma had come for the family that hurt her so deeply.

I really didn’t want to know which it was, so I took the advice that seemed most helpful and boxed up my worries for another time and hurried after Lou.

The basement was dark and cool, as all basements tended to be. I expected it to be small like the Wren’s, but this was massive. Like an entire underground city. It sprawled. The tiny light of my candelabra only cut a yellow circle into the darkness. To the left was storage and wine cellars. Straight ahead seemed to lead to the outbuildings, but was blocked by the same invisible wall as everything else. All the walls were stone blocks or just stone walls, carved right out of the earth. The ground was earth in some places, stone in others. The dirt transitioned to a very level brick as we moved further to the right.

“The dungeons are down this hallway.” Lou grabbed a torch off the wall, moving quickly.

It was cold and getting colder. A wind seemed to come from somewhere. Probably another door at another end of this underground metropolis. The bounds of the Plane softened a little. A vision flashed through my mind. Swords. Blood. Clanging.

It was from Dray’s eyes. The connection sparked and then faded.

“I think the stone and earth are interfering with the magical bubble.”

Lou paused and looked back. “If you make a connection, grab on and do what you have to do. Don’t worry about me.”

Lou had a warrior’s heart.

“Who’s there?” a scratchy voice called out.

Lou froze while I jumped like a mouse. The voice echoed off the walls and floors and ceilings, creating an effect that reminded me of being in a carnival funhouse.

Lou turned and stalked slowly forward, peeking into the closed doors of the holding cells one by one. She startled at the third when a man suddenly grabbed the metal bars and shoved his nose between the middle two.

“Who are you?” he asked. His voice had a strange timbre. It vibrated wrong in the air.

“Who the fuck are you?” Lou shot back.

His dark eyes ran over her and he smiled. Then he did the same to me. I couldn’t explain it exactly, but something about this man was different. Not human or samhain. Not even a Dreg. Something else entirely. I didn’t know why I knew that, only that was what I felt when I looked at him.

“They call me Ryddyck.” His voice was harsh and quiet at the same time. Like it took all his energy to force the words through his vocal cords and it still wasn’t enough.

The turn of phrase jumped out at me. “What do you mean they call you Ryddyck?” He picked those specific words on purpose.

In the shadows his shoulders lifted up to his ears. “I have no name other than what they call me.”

Lou stepped closer, examining him the same way he did us. “What are you?”

I reached out as best I could, using the shimmering shadow of the Plane to feel the male inside the cell. He was here but not. Samhain but not.

The male smiled, pressing his face further between the bars. “I do not know.”

Lou jerked back. “What do you mean you don’t know? Where are you from, why are you in here, what are your gifts?”

I knew before he spoke that the male—Ryddyck—had no memories. Only a single thought constantly spinning in his mind. “I do not know where I am from or why I am here. As far as gifts go…that’s an interesting question as well.”

I felt Lou’s rage boil over and stepped closer.

“Why are you in here?”

He shrugged yet again. “I do not know.”

This wasn’t going well. I touched Lou’s elbow to draw her attention away from the mystery and back to me and our mission. “Hey, what’s going on? Why does this matter so much to you?”

It took longer than it should have for her to draw her gaze back to me and focus. “Don’t you get it? I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him before. Not in all my years here. Not with all my little spies. I’ve never even heard a whisper.”

“Maybe he’s new.” But even I didn’t believe that. This Ryddyck had an air about him that said this cell was his home.

“How long have you been down here?” Lou yelled over my shoulder.

“A very long time. Many years now.”

Her eyes widened as she glared at me. See. I know what I’m talking about.

“So what does that even mean?”

“I don’t know!” She whispered yelled. “But it’s not good.” She dropped her voice even lower. “He’s not samhain. I don’t think.”

“Dreg?”

“Oh no. Definitely not. He’s…something else.”

I couldn’t begin to fathom the possibilities of that statement. “We should probably leave him alone and keep searching. It’s not like the zombies can get through that door.”

Lou glared at Ryddyck some more. It was as if he scared her so much she chose anger over fear. “You really have no idea why you’re down here or where you came from?”

His dark eyes searched us again. Like a scan telling him the coast was clear. “I have a purpose and that purpose was a problem.”

The thoughts circling in his mind began to swirl faster, sparking electrical currents and a small storm that made the hair on my arm stand up. “How was it a problem?”

“I don’t know,” he said again.

Lou let out a frustrated growl. “He’s useless. Let’s go.”

“My purpose is close though. I feel it on you.” He pointed one finger at me.

“Me?” Please don’t let it be another ancient prophecy. I had enough on my plate at the moment.

“On you. Not you.”

On me? “Like a scent?”

He grinned, eyes a little wild. “Yes! Like a scent! What a wonderful way to say that. You’ve been near my purpose recently. When I find it, we can begin to save the world.”

My blood turned to ice and Lou went pale. “Save the world?”

“From the darkness of course. If it shatters there will be chaos. And there’s no recovering from chaos. It’s why I’m here.”

I locked eyes with Lou. “We should take him with us.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

The ground shook a little. Ryddyck cocked his head to the side. “That’s not good. What are you doing? You must stop! Now!”

The ground shook again and again. I had just enough power to reach out and feel Dray and his dread. The battle wasn’t going well. “There’s a war outside these walls.”

“No!” Ryddyck screamed. “Make it stop!”

“I can’t. We’re trapped in this house. Someone put up walls around it and we can’t escape.” If we could just break the spell and kill the rest of the zombies we’d have a shot at helping the Alliance win the war. Lou and I weren’t enough. “Can you kill zombies or break spells with your unknown gifts?” I knew it was silly to ask someone who knew nothing about their past or their powers to answer, but sometimes the threat of annihilation had a way of jogging a memory loose.

“We need to go!” Lou shouted again, glancing in the last of the cells for signs of Antyne.

The air began to spark and flicker. Like fireflies had popped into and out of existence, followed by shadows I couldn’t name.

“You can perform the magic that will free you,” Ryddyck said calmly. “But zombies? What are they?”

More sparks followed by shadows. I got the vague sense I was in a room with a dozen people but no one was here but us. “They’re…undead? Not alive but alive? And they’re eating everyone inside this house as we speak.”

“Oh that’s bad. Very bad.”

“No shit,” Lou barked, stopped, gasped. “What the hell am I seeing?”

“You’re seeing it too?” I blinked and shook my head a few times, but the shadows kept swirling like a mist and the sense I was not alone grew stronger.

“Are they…ghosts?”

Ryddyck sucked in a gasp. “You can see it now, too?”

“Lights and shadows and ghosts? Yeah. We can see it.” I swatted at one that got too close and felt cold electricity scatter over my skin.

“Oh that’s bad,” Ryddyck murmured. “Huh. I didn’t expect that.”