Page 64 of Vampires & Bikers

“You okay?”

I nodded but I wasn’t really.

Luc sat next to me on the bed and put his hand on my cheek.

“I know this is hard to hear and believe me, this is not what I wanted to do. We were willing to make peace with the shifters but they weren’t interested in an agreement. The only way to bring an end to the violence is by forcing them to their knees.”

“Shifters aren’t exactly known for their logical thinking,” I said sadly.

“Our aim is to take out the underground network they’ve been using.”

“The tunnels,” I said and thought of the room they’d kept me in. I was glad they would be destroyed.

“Yes, the tunnels but it is hard to know how the fallout will be in the surrounding area.”

“So Cape Falls might be okay?”

“It could,” he admitted, “but I didn’t want to take that chance.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I don’t know if I thanked you yet for coming to find me.”

He grinned. “Of course, and I’m glad your mother is okay, I really am.”

I pulled a face. “Of course, I don’t know if she’ll ever come around to the fact that I fell in love with a vampire though.”

It took me a moment to realize what I’d said.

Luc noticed it right away though. I saw the look in his eye, waiting for me to take it back, but I didn’t.

“I love you too,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. He kissed me and I wanted that kiss to last forever but he had to go. I let him go.

There was a war standing between us and I wanted it to be over as soon as possible. I was impatient for the rest of my life to begin.

Chapter 28

Luc

In the early morning, we watched on screens as the missiles were launched from their newly-constructed launch pads. The mood in the War Room was grave, but there was an undercurrent of anticipation. We saw the missiles take off and disappear into the air, streaks of smoke and fire.

Then the screens switched to satellite footage of the swamps. Only water and trees were visible, it looked like there was no human or animal activity at all. One screen showed what we believed to be the compound of Sunny the Snake. A nuclear missile was heading there. We wanted to take no chances and take out the entire hub of activity there. We suspected underground tunnels and wanted to destroy those too.

Within minutes, we saw explosions bloom on the screen, smoke filling the air. I tensed as I waited for it all to clear, to get a sense of the damage. Reports started coming in of massive casualties as well as fire to buildings and structures. We could see people coming out of holes and collapsing on the ground. Where there had been houses and buildings before, there was now a huge crater and mounds of dirt.

“Zoom in on that,” Harris told one of the controllers and we all saw the camera blow up the scenes of destruction. There were bodies lying everywhere. Some were human and others looked reptilian, like crocodiles and massive lizards.

“Sir! Look!” We turned our attention to another screen where we could see what looked like thousands of creatures coming from the water, writhing in pain and falling to the ground.

“What are those? Frogs?” I asked. Nobody seemed to know but they kept coming, one wave after another.

I walked to my office, where Tick and Gagarin and the others were following the action on their screens too.

“Looks good, right?” Tick grinned at me.

A mood of elation was spreading through the Castle but for some reason, I didn’t want to be a part of it. I went up to King Vlas’s quarters and found them empty. There was no sign of the queen or any of the servants, not even of the guards.

This was strange.

I pushed open the door of the bedroom and saw the king lying in his bed. He was unattended, and quite alone.

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