Page 92 of The Vampire's Thirst
“How many of ours are loose to plunder?”
“My guess is about twenty. They scrambled through the defenses. But the humans will round them up quickly. We’ll keep an eye out to analyze the army’s responses.”
Cerberus squeezed Lort’s shoulder. “The victory in Bozeman is already filtering through the Scath gossip grapevine. Aeternals are flocking to our cause, eager to enslave the weak humans. So many among us are tired of hiding, tired of not taking our rightful place as masters, tired of not sating our hungers onHomo sapiensflesh.”
Lort brushed a hand through his hair, his gaze on his boots, while he listened to his leader’s usual rant about the superiority of Aeternals, their destiny to rule the three realms.Blah. Fucking. Blah.Oh, Lort swallowed the rhetoric. But he preferred the concrete outcome. He wanted the ranch he had been promised where he would corral humans like cattle. He’d free his bludfrenzy, dine at will, fuck his food until they collapsed dead in his arms. He didn’t want oratory. He wanted fresh meat.
Lort glanced up when the tirade ended. “Our damaged ones are loose on Earth this time. No use wasting valuable soldiers as fodder when we have so many strung out on Gold Dust.”
“I hear the Firebrands attacked Arisen Dawn on this side of the portal.”
“They did. Their warriors stopped some of our fighters from getting through to Earth. Our next battle will be more strategic. Our disposables were a good strategy this time, but eventually, we must send in a stronger invading force.”
The faux satyr stroked his chin. “Have you identified capable officers?”
“Yes, sir. Quite a few. A clever shifter fell into our laps, along with others I have been grooming for leadership positions.”
“We will win because Earthers are inferior.”
Lort nodded. “Of course. But in the meantime, we analyze, plan, build, train. We keep our heads low, expand our army, get all Scath to our cause, and defeat the Firebrands. Our disposables will continue to vex the humans with small, unexpected incursions into out-of-the-way locales. The Americans will eliminate them but not before they have instilled fear in the populace. These minor raids by drug-addled Aeternals will make the Firebrands and humans think we are ineffective, incompetent, out-of-control, and few in number. When we show our true power and invade Earth, we will set the humans on their knees at our feet. Praise Gahya.”
A smile teased Cerberus’s lips. “Praise the Genitrix.”
Chapter Twenty
Daxreported to Kole and shared how Boden, the director of the Ministry of Compliance, was ass-deep in Arisen Dawn. When Firebrands checked on the guy, he was in the wind. Following the meet with the commander, he chatted a few with his sister Bounty. Unfortunately, he couldn’t erase the vision of Chiara when he deserted her, her eyes glittering with moisture, her usual laughing lips downturned.
Now he sprawled in his favorite chair at the O blud den, the scent of drug-tainted blood heady, his fangs eager to pop a vein. He waited for one of the place’s whores, not caring which one.
This was where he belonged, proof he wasn’t mate material. He was no hero. He was a selfish sonofabitch who saw to his own needs first. If he hadn’t, Bounty would never have been… Fuck it. He didn’t want to think about the past now. What was done was done. Anxious to get busy, Dax snapped an ankle over his knee, stared at the upper balcony, and willed a door to open.
At least he wasn’t stupid enough to mainline the stuff as his mother had done. Highway to addiction.No.He was smart. He took the shit filtered through a female’s veins. No addiction. Just the numb. The unfeeling zone. The dead end. Dax was screwed up, but unlike millions of other losers, he knew it. That made him the Jesus Fucking Christ of vampires. He leaned forward, resting his head in his palms, his long black hair shielding him like a curtain.
Bounty had been at her desk on the computer when he’d left Kole’s office. The comm was lucky to have her. She had always been level-headed, wise, a happy kid despite her surroundings.
It was Bounty’s eleventh birthday. He had used his last penny to buy a cake with chocolate frosting because no one else would have. She leaped onto a chair to get in the best position, her blonde hair, badly tied with a red ribbon, falling over her shoulders when she bent forward. The tips of her scuffed black shoes peeked from beneath her long skirt, wrinkled but clean. He saw to their laundry when he remembered. She blew out all the candles while their mother looked on from a chair at the end of the table, her eyes glazed as usual, not seeing what was happening. Not caring.
The female, once the proud mate of a Scion Firebrand who had been Dax’s father, was now an O blud whore who worked for another male. The one who was Bounty’s sire and Dax’s stepfather.
“Good job. You got them all.” Dax clapped at his half-sister’s success and delight. She slipped down into her chair, holding her plate, a wide smile lighting up her innocent face.
Dax cut a large wedge of cake and plopped it onto a saucer, a rose on top of her slice. He cut one for himself, glancing toward their mother. She was unaware of what went on around her. So, he didn’t give her any.
With her mouth full, Bounty questioned her brother. “Did you get me a present?” She wiped a few crumbs off her lips with the back of her hand.
“Let me think.” A man leaning against the doorjamb drew away his attention. His stepfather and owner of the opiate whorehouse. The slime focused his gaze on Bounty who, despite her age, had begun to blossom into a well-developed female.
Dax watched the wheels grind in the male’s disgusting brain. Despite being fifteen, the young vampire knew he would never allow this life to touch his sister. She would not become fodder as their mother had.
He was too young to protect or care for Bounty as a full-time job, but he did know a prize the perverted male would value more than his sister.
Dax shoved a brightly wrapped package toward the girl. She squealed as she tore off the ribbon along with the paper, too excited to take her time.
She ran child-like fingers tipped with jagged dirty nails along the gold-embossed cover of a diary. “Oh. How beautiful.” It was bound in red leather, her favorite color. She opened it, exposing lined cream-colored pages. “I will write all my adventures into this book. I’ll write about you, too, Dax. For you will be a great hero. One of the greatest Scath will ever see. You’ll be a Firebrand like your father.”
A snort of laughter erupted from the doorway, making Bounty squeeze her lips into a disapproving pout.
Dax glared in the direction of the hollow sound. “Don’t bother about me, little sis. This book should be about you and all the wonderful things you’ll do with your life.” He knew with bright clarity it was up to him to give her that chance.
