Page 26 of Dark Reckoning
“I'm not sure, that's something they have to work out. But that is also one of the reasons I told my vampires to capture one of these creatures. The more we know about them, the better we can defend against them and destroy them,” Salino said.
“I will do the same just in case your vampires are unable to capture one,” I said.
“As if that would be an issue, but sure, why not? Nothing wrong with having a backup plan, as they say,” Salino stated.
I huffed. “Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for letting me know. Goodnight,” I said, then ended the call. God, that foppish bastard was annoying. And now that he was emperor, he'd be insufferable. I turned my thoughts from Salino to the monsters he spoke about. I called my right hand, Orma, and she answered right away.
“My Liege?” she greeted.
“We have a problem.” I began to tell her everything that was going on.
“Has a Dark God ever come into this world before?” Orma asked.
“No, never,” I said. At least, not to my knowledge. “In any case, we need to be very diligent. Until this matter is dealt with, I want all of my griezels gathered at our safe house locations. Assign five teams of my best hunters to track down these creatures and kill them. They are not to work alone, only in teams of two.”
Orma nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”
I watched as she left, closing the door behind her. My home was one of the safe houses, and I had plenty of food stored for a hundred griezels to eat for a month. But what I didn't have was a barrier to protect all of my safe houses. Never needed one before, but maybe now I did. Damn it to hell! I needed to call Sage and ask for a favor. That son of a bitch, I know he's going to want his club back.
Fuck!
I actually growled as I pulled my cell phone back out of my pocket and dialed his number from my contact list. It took him a while to answer but when he did, he was breathless. Either he had been fighting or fucking before he answered. I figured it was the latter.
“I'll send the papers for the club later. It's been a hectic day and I've got more important shit going on. Don't worry, you'll get it,” he said by way of greeting.
“Did I interrupt something?” I asked.
“Had you called a minute earlier, I wouldn't have answered,” Sage said.
I was right. “Well, I see you're aren't too busy to fuck.”
“And the reason you called was?” he shot back.
I sighed, because I needed to get to the point. “I've spoken with Salino and he informed me of this Dark God situation.”
“Yeah, I told him to call you so you could be on the same page,” Sage said, his breathing becoming more normal.
“And that is why I am calling. I have some of my griezels out searching to cleanse my territory of these creatures. However...” I paused because I really didn't want to have to ask his ass for anything.
“What the fuck do you want from me, Damon? Just spit it out,” Sage snapped.
I sighed. “I'd like for my safe houses to be protected by a barrier. You're the only mage that I know of, you and Adrian. Will you do it?” I asked.
“So, I'll be keeping my club, then?” he asked.
“I can pay you for your trouble,” I said.
“Allowing me to keep my club is payment enough.”
“The club is mine and it was done in a fair trade. I'll have to deal with a new griezel I didn't want. Accepted a piece of shit blood for blood consolation prize after you killed one of my more skilled griezels. And you have the audacity to ask me to lower my standards again... to suit you? Ask for something else,” I snapped.
I wanted to keep the club, Fantasy. I deserved to be compensated accordingly.
“We should, the last thing we need is his griezels being attacked in one place and making more of those things because they're unprotected,” I heard Sage's lover, Adrian, say in the background. I recognized his Georgia Peach accent. He was beautiful, it was the first thing I had noticed when I'd met him earlier. Too good for a beast like Sage, in my opinion.
