Sirens dragged Lia out of a deep sleep, and she lay for a moment staring blankly at the ceiling, listening without comprehending the origin of the sound. She had let Elior and his children feed off her five times over twenty four hours, and the blood loss had left her body feeling heavy and her head feeling light and foggy, recalling unpleasant memories of her time in the grey room with Lucian.
Raiden had insisted no more for at least a day, but she felt the pressure of time like a metronome ticking inside her head. Whilst they took their time, the world outside her house was being torn to shreds by the vampires. The sirens, she thought, were not a good sign. How many people had lost their lives whilst she had slept?
“I will go look,” Raiden pulled on his jeans and t-shirt and headed for the stairs. He paused on the first turret step, looking back at her. “Lia, I am sure it is nothing. Put some clothes on though, just in case.”
“Alright,” she pulled on her t-shirt dress and searched around for her underwear. Raiden’s struggle with his Other over the vampires’ drinking from her had resulted in several rounds of frantic sex.
“Ah,” she found them near the base of the table, and almost pulled them on before their state registered, the lace hanging off the elastic. “Shit.” She remembered that he had shredded them in his haste. It had not bothered her at the time, as eager as he in the moment, but now it was inconvenient. She sighed and contemplated the contents of her underwear drawer – at the rate Raiden was moving through her underwear, she would run out. She’d have to go to the walk-in-robe and hope to find another pair.
She made her way down the stairs and eased the secret door open. In the walk-in-robe, she pulled on a change of underwear, and her sneakers. She crept into the bathroom, and used it, before brushing her teeth and hair. When she opened the door, Raiden was waiting for her, tension evident in his face.
“We have to move,” he said. “I don’t want to, but there are rioters on the street outside. We have to move into pack territory again. Rioters won’t come there, because of the glamour on the area.” He grabbed her as glass shattered in the front room. “Shit. Because we need more broken windows,” he complained.
Smoke billowed into the bedroom door, and he cursed, releasing her in order to go into the hallway. She heard voices, and activity and followed. The front parlour was on fire, and Will and Ethan struggled to contain it with the probably out-of-date fire extinguisher and fire blanket from the kitchen.
“Molotov cocktail,” Raiden growled. “This house will be a demo job before all this is done.”
The werewolves had managed to put out the fire, but the smoke that rolled out of the room was thick and acrid, biting the back of Lia’s throat. Raiden hurried her down the hall into the lounge, where the smoke was only a shadow of scent carried in with them.
Elior, Rebecca and Nate were sober from their last drink and they and Wade were in the solarium, the lights off, pressed against the glass watching the back garden. Wade glanced over his shoulder as they entered.
“People in the yard.”
Glass shattered but did not fall free of the frame as someone struck the side of the solarium with a baseball bat. The repeated the action, shattering glass in a pattern of squares, like a chess board, and laughing as they did it.
Lia was not sure whether outrage at the wanton destruction or fear had precedence.
“Vampires?” Raiden asked quietly as Ethan and Will joined them.
“Humans,” Rebecca’s teeth were bared in a snarl. “We can take care of them for you.”
“We need to move,” Wade replied. “It is no use trying to protect this house. We need to fight the war, not pointless skirmishes. There are too many out there, and they are bent on destruction.” He plucked the fairy from his nest and put him into the pocket of his shirt. “F-king fairies,” he hissed wincing and examining his bitten finger.
“Sharp teeth,” Lia empathized.
“He will like my mate’s garden,” Wade explained. “Safer there for him.”
The laundry door rattled in its frame, and glass broke elsewhere. They heard voices inside the house as someone climbed in through the front window, and a heavy crash of furniture.
“Display case in front room,” Lia decided the origin of the sound. “Nothing valuable,” she reassured herself. “Just knick-knacks.” And memories, many, many childhood memories of dusting with her grandmother, when those sorts of knick-knacks were fascinating and being permitted to handle them held appeal. Now they were nuisances, just another thing to clean.
Raiden gripped Lia by the waist. “Time to go.”
“We will clear the way,” Elior signaled Rebecca and Nate, and when they moved, it was so swiftly that they blurred from sight, and the air disrupted by their passage lifted the werewolves’ hair.
“F-k,” Ethan said his eyes widening.
Lia heard cries from the front room.
Wade opened the door and led the run down the passage. Lia caught sight of Elior’s laughing face as they rushed past the front room, his teeth were bloody and eyes wild with the red glow of his Other, and then they were out into the night.
Her front yard was full of people, the cars in her drive had broken windows and were burning.
The vampires followed, their passage marked by a distortion of sight and the shifting of air. She heard someone cry out, and saw a body fall to the ground bloody out of the corner of her eye as the vampires fed.
Raiden propelled her through her front fence and out onto the road. She sucked in air, the impact of the chaos hitting her at once. Houses burned, the skyline was orange with flames, and red and blue lights glowed in the distance.
The night was full of motion, people wielding makeshift weapons, and torches. There were screams and yells as homeowners tried to protect their property, and hysteria exacerbated their altercations with the rioters.
“Hunting vampires,” Raiden murmured, hunching over her protectively as they made their way between the groups. “Fools. Don’t run, Lia, it will incite their prey response.”
“I thought they were human.”
“They are – but humans are predators too.”
“It is a cover,” Wade replied with disdained disgust. “They are not hunting vampires. They would have no chance against them. These are just the sort of people that will use any opportunity to cause shit, break, rape and take. It is in their nature, and any excuse to indulge in it, they will take. History is riddled with people just like them.”
The werewolves flanked Lia. They did not run but moved determinedly through the seething chaos. Occasionally they would attract the attention of a group of rioters, but a barked alpha command was usually enough to dissuade further action.
“Where are we going?” Lia wondered, skittering as a crashing sounded from a house, screams rising shrilly. Raiden drew her closer to him, putting his arm around her, offering shelter and comfort against his side.
“Pack territory. The glamour will stop rioters from entering our streets.” Raiden growled meeting the eyes of a man carrying a baseball bat who turned with a grin at the sound of a woman’s voice. “Don’t even think about it,” he snarled, his tone heavy with alpha command. “Go home.”
The man dropped his bat and turned, only to be seized by a vampire coming to a stop before him, crying out in fear and pain as Rebecca fed, finishing unnecessarily messily, tearing out his throat in a spray of blood. She dropped the man to the ground. He fell limply and did not move again.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Raiden was furious. “I had it taken care of.”
“We protect the font,” she replied, her eyes glowing red and her chin stained with fresh blood. She was revelling in the chaos, the violence and the freedom to feast as she liked without care or caution.
This was what was happening worldwide, Lia realized. Lucian had removed the need for secrecy from vampires, had opened the door for them to indulge in their Other nature, and removed any repercussion to doing so and the vampires were running as wild as the rioters, the two forces destroying everything around them.
Because of her.
“F-k.” Raiden put his arm around Lia’s shoulders and moved them forwards.
“What is the font?” Lia had a suspicion that it was her, but she was unfamiliar with the term.
“Vampire religion,” Ward replied between his teeth, unhappily. “Sometimes it means the source of vampires, sometimes the source of vampire power. Apparently, Rebecca has decided it is you.”
“Which makes absolutely no sense,” Raiden muttered.
“Religion rarely does,” Ward replied. “We worship the moon, for example.”
“That is because…” Raiden trailed off, distracted by a police blockade ahead under heavy attack from rioters, but giving back worse than they were getting. Blood splattered the clear shields the police officers wielded, from the inside as the officer’s teeth tore out the throat of a man. “Shit. Those police are vampires.”
His hair lifted as the three vampires moved past them, and Elior, Rebecca and Nate appeared momentarily as silhouettes against the whirring blue and red lights, before launching into attack, tossing the rioters like confetti. The screams and yells rose to new pitch, and the crowd scattered back. Gunshot rang out in a sharp, repetitive, automatic bark.
Raiden brought Lia to the ground, and she felt the bite of the bitumen on her knees as he covered her with his body. His breath was a heavy heat against her ear as he looked ahead, to see what happened. The other werewolves had hit the ground around them, and she met Wade’s eyes. He nodded slightly in reassurance.
“Those people,” she protested the vampires’ violence.
“We can’t save everyone,” Wade told her quietly. “But the vampires have gone… feral,” he agreed. “Be wary of them, Lia.”
Elior appeared suddenly before them, his appearance evidence of Wade’s warning, blood smeared, his normally tidy hair wild around his shoulders, and the Other glowing hot and red. He inhaled, his eyes dropping to Lia’s skinned knees.
“Let me fix those for you,” he dropped to his knees and licked across her grazed kneecaps to heal them before she could protest, or Raiden could drag her back out of his reach. Elior was standing again, too quickly for her eyes to track, and his grin was wicked even as she formed the words to stop him. “Keep moving. Lucian is on pack territory. He thinks Lia and I are in a den.”
“Shit,” Wade was alarmed, bringing his phone to his ear as they moved forward. “No answer,” he met Raiden’s eyes over Lia’s head.
They moved passed the police officers. Elior and his children had torn the vampires to pieces, and the sight turned Lia’s stomach. “You killed them too?”
“They work for Lucian,” Rebecca appeared at her side, causing Wade to take a step to the side, startled. “Worked.” She amended with a grin and disappeared again.
Lia shivered in the breeze raised by her departure.
“I would be tempted to take the car,” Will commented. “But it might attract the wrong type of attention from the rioters.”
“Any car on the road, at this time, is more a liability than an advantage,” Wade replied grimly. A muscle worked in the corner of his jaw, and Lia knew he thought of his mate, and the pack.
“You could travel faster if you shifted,” she realized. “I am slowing you down. Shift and go help the pack.”
“If Lucian is on pack territory,” Raiden said suddenly, meeting his father’s eyes. “Should we take Lia there?”
The three vampires appeared before them suddenly, breathing heavy and grinning.
“It is time for battle, Werewolf Grenmeyer. We know where the enemy is, and we are prepared,” Elior replied fervently. “We need the pack to rise to aid us, and so we need the alpha pair to lead them to battle. The font must come with us, both as lure for Lucian, and because there is no other choice.”
“I am really disliking the use of font,” Raiden muttered, sliding his father a look. It did not bode well.
“Lia,” Elior conceded because of Raiden’s discomfort. “There is no safe place, and no spare guardians. Lia must come with us.”
“There is me,” Cael dropped from the sky and landed on the road before them, his wings held out at full spread, the white of his feathers stark in the night, and the almost sheer fineness of his clothing very out of place.
Raiden growled the Other flashing into his eyes.
“Cael to the rescue again,” Cael pointed out smugly preening. “This slave led Armageddon is causing stirs on my realm. The balance on this realm is tipping, and there is debate about whether my people should intervene. You really don’t want us to intervene,” he added with a smirk. “So, again, I offer to take Lia to safety.”
“Who the f-k and what the f-k are you?” Elior demanded.
The vampires’ moved to surround Cael, their passage stirring the feathers of his wings, and tossing his golden hair.
Cael tilted his head, his eyes narrowing as he assessed them. “Interesting,” he murmured. “What has caused this acceleration in these bloodsuckers?”
Elior stopped before him and bared his sharp teeth with a hiss. “Answer pretty boy or we will pluck the answer from you, a feather at a time.”
There was a blur as the vampires made to follow through on their leader’s threat, and Cael responded, a golden shield appearing around him, pushing the vampires back.
Rebecca shrieked as she brushed against it, the sleeve of her top peeling back as if exposed to heat. Her skin blistered immediately, and she slapped a hand over the wound before lifting it to her mouth and licking it to sooth and heal it.
The vampires drew back, snarling and spitting, to a respectful distance.
Cael smiled smugly, and the glow faded. “Be polite slaves. Lia,” he turned to her with appeal, holding out his hand. “We are meant to be together. Evelyn was betrothed to my ancestor. It is that bond that ties us, carried through the generations. Come with me. I can keep you safe.” His eyes were brilliant, glowing blue. “You are mine.”
“F-k that,” Raiden’s snarled. “My mate.”
“You are not meant to whelp litters, Lia. You are no ordinary witch,” Cael’s lips curled up in a sneer. “You are something else. Something extraordinary. Don’t let your fondness for the dog waste your potential.”
The vampires listened with interest, watching the winged man warily, their eyes sliding from him to Lia, and back.
“Evelyn’s child was half human and would have been a witch, and each new generation has been with humans, werewolves, or Other slaves, depending on that person’s preference,” Lia murmured under her breath.
“Lia?” Raiden looked at her in concern. Her attention was not on the winged man, the vampires, the werewolves, or the riot that carried on around them, but internalized.
“When Evelyn’s wings were amputated,” Lia looked up, focusing back on Cael, her expression lighting with revelation. She opened her hands, her power flaring to life, zapping up her forearms, and lifting her hair. “And she survived, it created a mutation in her unborn child.”
Raiden felt the current of the power through his grasp on her waist, the tingle of it in his teeth, rising beyond the edge of discomfort into pain like an electric shock, forcing him to release her and step back.
He saw Cael’s uncertainty cross his face.
“I am not whatever you are Cael, angel or devil,” she continued. “And I am not a witch, nor am I one of the Wingless. I am something else, entirely. Something that is all of those things, and many Others as well. A hybrid.”
Raiden slid her a look from the corner of his eye. This was the first she had spoken of what she was. Her attention was fixed on the winged man and her power cast a ghostly blue light over her face, the electric sparks echoing in her eyes.
She closed her fists, pinching out the power and blue glow.
Raiden felt the hair that had risen along his forearms and the back of his neck settle. He placed his hand on her waist again, feeling the need to maintain connection with her as his Other rose in response to his unease.
“I don’t belong to you, Cael,” Lia said quietly. “I don’t belong to anyone. I belong to myself, and I choose to be with Raiden. He is my mate. I am sorry that you feel a bond, but I am not responsible for it or how you feel because of it. Now, you have a choice,” she took a step forward. “Fall in or fly away.”
Cael seemed about to speak when his attention shifted, his gaze turning inwards as if hearing a voice that they could not. “What…?!” His voice was alarmed as he leapt, his wings catching the air and blowing it across them as he lifted over their heads. There was a flash of red hued light, and he disappeared into the darkness of the sky.
“Not the response I was hoping for,” Lia frowned after him.
“Something happened…” Will murmured. “Where did he go?”
“Back to his realm,” she told him. “He sort of moves between. It is against the rules, but he does it anyway. He doesn’t seem to care much for rules.”
“Right,” Will met Raiden’s eyes and raised his eyebrows.
The werewolves fell in around her again and the vampires disappeared as their speed carried them beyond the detection of vision.
“What was that?” Raiden asked the question he knew preoccupied the werewolves around him. “About being a hybrid?”
“The book,” she replied, and the shadow of surprise in her tone told him that she had been just as taken aback by what she had said as he had been. “I guess, I know the information the book contained. All of it. It just came to me when he said I wasn’t an ordinary witch.”
“Hybrid,” Wade repeated and there was something in his expression that added to Raiden’s unease. “Your family has mated with werewolves before?”
“Along the path, yes,” she paused, her gaze turning inwards. “Yes.”
“Why has the Other not held in the line?” Wade wondered. “It does between human and werewolves. A werewolf and human mating produces werewolves, not humans. If your ancestors mated with werewolves, they should have been werewolves, and part of the pack… You should have been born one of us.”
“I guess because of what else we are, it doesn’t work out that way,” she said apologetically, meeting Raiden’s eyes, her expression becoming grief stricken as the impact of the statement was felt. “I am sorry.”
“What does that mean?” His heart ached. Deep down, he knew the answer, but his mind rebelled against the information. “What does that mean, Lia?”
“Your cub might not be a werewolf,” Wade explained gently. “And Lia might not turn.”
“She is my mate,” Raiden protested. “And it is my cub.”
“Yes,” Wade was uncertain however, and the uncertainty crept into his tone. “But will the mating hold true if she doesn’t turn?”
“No,” Raiden pulled Lia against him and buried his face into her hair. “She is my mate. I know it.”
“Let’s worry about that when we get to it,” Wade decided, and his expression changed as he came to a stop. “We have more pressing matters to worry about.”
Ahead of them, the road into the werewolves’ estate was cordoned off and blocked by police cars, their lights cutting the dark with red and blue. Beyond them was parked an army tank, its gun pointed down the road to deter any who would enter.
Ethan’s jaw dropped. “Shit.”
The street was thick with vampires in army and police uniforms, and the sweet-bitter scent of vampire was heavy in the air.
“Well,” Elior appeared beside them. “Don’t just stand there, fools. Hide.”