Page 80 of Theoden
CHAPTER TWENTY
AN UNFORGIVEABLE BETRAYAL
I was relishing the delicious blood that was flowing into my mouth from my victim, a man who had tried to rob me of my coin purse. I would not spare his life and, now that I knew how to withhold my venom, I made certain to give him only the pain of the vampire’s bite. I took the last drop his body had to give, then let his corpse fall to my feet.
I had been a vampire for almost two-hundred years now, growing more powerful with every year. It also helped that I had fucked Tylendel at least five times since the night of my centennial. I knew everything there was to know about my dragon and vampire powers, and I used them impressively when dispatching my enemies. I was also quite fluent in Dragonian, as Tylendel made certain I learned the tongue of the dragon, as he called it.
Vampires avoided my gaze as I passed them on the streets, and humans who knew of the power I had as a rich merchant often sought me out for my favor. This was a life I adored and one the Church would never have granted me. Every once in a while, I thought back on them and my time there and I didn’t regret destroying it.
My child, come home at once, Ara’s voice spoke into my mind, taking me by surprise with the foreboding tone of it. I quickly walked back to my carriage and commanded the driver to return me to the palace. I liked traveling by carriage just as much as I enjoyed flying. I enjoyed getting the view of the land from both perspectives.
However, I couldn’t appreciate the view as much tonight now since I received that message from my Father. Why did he want me to come home and why was his tone so dark? Had I done something wrong? I couldn’t imagine what I could have done to upset him. It took me about an hour to return to the palace via the carriage and I hoped that wouldn’t anger Ara more.
I entered and found him in the cellar where we kept the werewolves. Of course, I immediately noticed that the werewolves were all gone and I was really curious as to what was going on.
“Father?” I asked as I approached him slowly, apprehensively.
“I have been betrayed,” he said, his back still to me.
“Not by me, Father,” I promised.
“I know. By your brother, Raphael. He has fled with the wolves he released from my prison. Your brothers are looking for them now,” Ara said. “Each has taken a direction and all that is left now is east.”
“Holy shit!” I gasped. “Why?”
“Your brother has been quite skilled at concealing his intentions from me, but I know it is because he has fallen in love with the wolf, Adan.”
The wolf Father had executed by Raphael. I had known Raphael favored the wolf, fucked him quite often, but I hadn’t known he was in love with him. We all fucked the wolves when it suited us and I never really tried to read Raphael’s mind. I figured Ara always did.
“So, this is Raphael’s revenge on you, Father?” I asked as I looked at the now empty cells where both our human and werewolf slaves were missing.
“It is,” Ara said.
“Your link with him, Father, can you sense him?” Ara knew where we all were and I was wondering why he hadn’t searched Raphael out on his own. Why have us do it?
“I do know where he is, but I have given my sons a command. I expect it to be followed,” Ara said. His tone took on a sharpness that meant he didn’t approve of my curiosity. “You will take the eastern direction. Do not disappoint me, Théoden.”
“I will not, Father.” I bowed my head and turned to leave. Seeing those empty cells left me with a sense of sadness because I knew they would need to be refilled. Getting human slaves would be easy enough. It was finding werewolves that was going to be the challenge. Lately, they were harder and more difficult to locate. It was because they were forming packs, getting more organized. Gone were the days of lone wolves. Now, there were Alphas and betas and power tiers within their factions.
Considering how annoying it was to find wolves, I was becoming more concerned about what that meant for us. It concerned Ara as well, and he continued to keep his borders under guard, so we would be warned of any attack. News had spread of other vampire and even dragon territories being taken over by large wolf packs. No longer could any of us disregard their growing threat. We would be prepared if they ever came for us, as Ara was a tactical genius and, well… he had me by his side.
I thought about Raphael as I stepped outside of the palace. I didn’t know where to search for him, but taking to the sky would give me the advantage my brothers didn’t have. I levitated once I was outside and raised myself high in the sky and began slowly flying eastbound in the direction not being covered by my brothers. I searched for hours, scanning the ground and listening hard to the voices down below.
I thought I had lost my chance as I was approaching dragon territory, which was all of India. No vampire lived in these lands and were not welcomed. Only I had been allowed because of my dragon blood and the alliance Ara had with Evander. Still, I couldn’t enter without permission. To do so would breach the treaty and destroy the alliance.
“If we cross this border, we risk all,” a deep, growling voice said in the darkness. It caught my attention and I stopped mid-flight to listen.
“This is dragon territory. All we need to do is keep to the border until Rika’s pack can get to us.” I recognized that voice. The panicked voice of my brother, Raphael. I followed the link I had with him and found him, along with three wolves, crouched low in a bunch of bushes.
“They will find us!” another said.
“We only need to survive a few more hours until the sun rises, and then we will be out of danger. They cannot hunt us in the day,” Raphael said.
“But what about you?” someone asked.
“We will hide and protect him, you know that,” another spoke up.
So, they were just biding their time until a wolf pack came to claim them. I guess they thought by staying on the edge of the dragon territory, they would increase their chances of not being found. They knew vampires couldn’t cross the line and they couldn’t either, but they might be able to get away before a dragon targeted them. I supposed that was smart strategy on their part. Although, if found by a dragon, the wolves would be taken as slaves and the vampire would be killed or returned to Ara.
