Page 8 of Undying
It’s all about balance.
Too many vampires will deplete our resources.
Everything comes down to blood.
While Dafoe has amassed an empire over the decades by using terror and bloodshed, I worked in the shadows to gain my fortune. I don’t have minions to do my bidding. Not wanting to be responsible for bringing another monster into the world, I refuse to sire anyone.
I deal in favors and information. If anything needs to be handled, I do it myself. I’ve earned a reputation nearly as notorious as Dafoe, but I’m grudgingly respected by my fellow vampires.
That I’m one of the few remaining ancients still alive only gives me more prestige.
Tearing my attention away from the mansion, I glance at Tobias and Castle sitting too innocently in the backseat as they stare out the window, and I narrow my eyes. “Are you going to behave if we run into Dafoe?”
The two giants sit so still that the hairs on the back of my neck lift, the pair of them like predators ready to pounce.
Though vampires usually don’t work with wolves, Tobias and Castle are the last two ancients of their kind. Being a guardian gives them a certain notoriety and protection.
Not that they need it.
I suspect the only reason they agreed to join HQ is because it allows them to openly kill vampires without worrying about consequences. We’ve been working together for five years now, and I still feel like I don’t know a damn thing about them.
The wolves turn toward me in unison, their dark eyes unblinking—wolves in human skin. At my question, Tobias flashes his fangs, while Castle just grunts and turns away.
Fuck me.
It’s going to be a bloodbath.
I shoot Milo a warning glance, and the kid nods, a silent promise to do his best to keep the wolves in check. The youngest member of our team isn’t much of a fighter, so freshly turned that he’s still practically human in most ways, his enhanced senses giving him a slight edge.
Most see him as worthless, but he’s loyal and honorable down to the bone.
I chose him for the team exactly for that reason.
He’s our tech guy and a wizard with computers. I’d much prefer he keep overwatch back at HQ, but he demanded to join us on this mission. When I warned him it would be dangerous, he didn’t even blink, just insisted we needed him.
While he has basic training, it’s not enough. Dafoe and his minions will eat him alive.
For some reason, the wolves took him under their wing, putting him through their regimented training. No matter how many hits he takes, Milo never backs down.
I can respect that.
I send the wolves a pointed look in the rearview mirror, a silent order to protect the kid. Fledglings are basically considered children until they reach a hundred and need to be watched and protected. While it might annoy Milo, he wouldn’t truly understand the passage of time until he turned his first millennia. Time stops meaning anything afters so many years of existing.
Tobias purses his lips, insolence practically oozing from his pores. Castle glances at the kid with an inscrutable expression, then gives a grudging nod.
Being in charge of the wolves is like herding cats and, some days, more headache than they’re worth. They’re contrary, picking fights with anyone who even looks at them. They ended up on my team because no one else would put up with them.
While I don’t believe they would slit my throat on a mission, I take special care not to give them my back. Most shifters despise vampires, and Tobias and Castle are no different, hating the whole species with a special passion.
After reading their files, I don’t blame them.
Castle was an honest-to-goodness Viking, left for dead on the battlefield. A feral wolf scavenging for food amongst the dead ran across the poor asshole. The man had just enough strength left to fight off the beast but ended up bitten for his trouble.
A man hunting the wolf took pity on him and got him help.
Unfortunately, when he shifted during the next full moon, he discovered the man was actually a vampire. The vampire had been hunting a wolf he’d kept chained as a pet. Instead of helping Castle, the vampire kept him as his own personal prisoner and slave.
Tobias was different, a born wolf and prince amongst his kind. To keep his pack from being slaughtered in a war against the vampires, he bargained with the local vampire clan for peace. Part of that entailed he remain a prisoner of war to ensure no further aggression between the two races.
