Page 23 of Vampire Visions

“Yes, son.” Lucy made a weird gesture with his right hand. I had no idea what it meant, but Stone eased to his feet and took the chair across from me. “Please don’t change the way you act on my account. It’s rather awkward, you know.” Lucy chuckled. “I just stopped by to check on my monster and see what Jack and Samuel were talking about when they both called me this morning. It was odd, of course, but I got the feeling you needed me and didn’t want to ask.” He gave me his best “spill it” look.

“Fuck,” I hissed through my teeth. “I’m going to strangle them both for that.” I took a deep breath and turned to Lucy. “There’s too much going on and not enough bodies to cover the areas that we need to defend.”

“Sloane.” He sighed, reigning in his patience. “I have no idea what you’re trying to say. I know I taught you to excel in half truths and red tape, but for once, can we just cut through the shit. I don’t like being on the receiving end of that red tape any more than you do.” The set of his mouth was stern, letting me know he wasn’t playing around. “Tell me what I need to know so I can help you. Start at the beginning.” His eyes softened as he patted my hand.

I stared at him for a moment before I pulled my shoulders in and propped my chin on the heels of my hands. “Okay,” I conceded. “Here goes nothing.” I took a shaky inhale and released it slowly while I thought back on all the bullshit from the last week.

“On Friday,” I began, because that’s really when everything started to go to shit, right? “On Friday, I finished the purchase of the pharmaceutical company that Dad and I had been trying to buy for the last few months. We chose that one because that was where the injections were coming from.”

“What injections?” he asked. Godsdamnit. I’d have to back up further than that.

“Right, so… There've been some injections going around the supernatural community. The people pushing them keep spilling the same bullshit about how it makes you stronger, faster, whatever. And, well, it does. For a couple weeks, more or less. Then, it starts to deteriorate their minds. The supes go rogue and start trying to kill each other. So, after a little research, Dad and I purchased the company that was making the drug. The problem with that is that none of their own research was or is complete. I negotiated all of their findings and work into the contract and shut down the manufacturing of the drug on Friday when the purchase was complete. There’s key information missing about how the drug is made. There are no test trials, no patents, nothing with the CDC.” I stopped for just a moment, and he nodded for me to continue.

“They, whoever ‘they’ are, started with the shifters. On Saturday, Briggs, Stone, and I took out a pack of rogues. A whole pack, Lucy! They’re starting to gain a hive mindset instead of staying by themselves. They were moving together, just like a regular pack, but they seemed unaware or not completely conscious. There were 14 shifters, and not all of them were wolves. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before they start attacking humans, not just each other.” I took another deep breath as I glanced at York before looking back to my grandfather.

“Saturday, after we took out the rogue hive — I’m calling it a hive because they didn’t act like a functioning pack — York reached out to me through our mate bond. He’d been held captive for,” I paused and closed my eyes, “for over two years. It was called a power farm, and it was run by a vampire-mage. Before I killed him on Sunday, or was it Monday morning?” I waved that away. “It doesn’t matter. I found out that he was the brother of Kadence Moore. She sits on the vampire council under Father.” I eyed Lucy to make sure he was keeping up with my jumbled story. He nodded again, so I went right back in.

“Father has been gone for two weeks. I talked to him for a minute on Saturday, but he said that if I needed him, then I should reach out to Papi. His phone was bugged, so I told Papi to check his place too and to call Dad. We all ditched our phones and got new ones, even though I don’t think we had any issues. Anyway, back to the main stuff. Father told me to build an army and find alliances because a war was coming. I didn’t understand at first, but then yesterday I talked to Sarge.” I paused to breathe, and Novak waved his hand.

“You're forgetting a little bit,” he told me as he held his thumb and index finger a half inch apart.

“Oh, right.” I nodded my head. “Kelvin, the vampire-mage I killed on Sunday, said that a fae-mage was running this whole power farm thing to gain the power he needed to work the magic that the drug requires, basically. Except in different words. Then he said his sister was doing the same thing with the vampires. So, I sent Simon down to check things out. He said it’s really bad, and Kadence is making it look like Father is the reason for the rogue vampires running around. We’re going down to Baton Rouge tomorrow to put a stop to it.”

“Still forgetting something,” York chimed in.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Uhm.” I faltered for a second, racking my mind for what else I needed to tell Lucy. “Kadence compelled a human to come here and try to kill me. She even gave him poisoned or potion-coated bullets — we don’t know. He shot me three times, but it seems having so many mates around at the same time speeds up my healing process tremendously.”

“And?” Briggs motioned for me to tell Lucy the rest.

“And Novak compelled him to call her and tell her that I was dead. Then Jack killed him in the backyard.” I nodded my head when I was finished, and all the guys just stared at me. I rolled my eyes at them.

“What did this Sarge person tell you?” Lucy latched on to the one thing I hadn’t talked about yet.

“Uhm, well…” I fidgeted in my seat. “He told me a bunch of shit.” I shrugged my shoulders. “It was a lot to take in, but I’ll give you the gist of it.” I leaned back to look at the ceiling, squinting my eyes and hoping it would help me recall everything. “I guess I’ll start from the beginning of that as well. Sarge is a dragon. Jack called him in to help train me. Yesterday, we were in the middle of a fight and I couldn’t figure out how to take him down. So, I, uhm, sunk my hands under his scales and tried to use some kind of mixture of alpha and demonic power to persuade him to shift back, because he kept aiming for everyone but me. Well, when I did that… see, Sarge has a power that’s all his own. Not like other dragons, he said. He can see our true forms, our power potential, and where our limits lie.” I twisted my mouth to the left as I looked at all the guys, my gaze lingering on Levi for a moment too long.

“I didn’t know about his extra power, but there I was: straddling the back of a dragon with my hands dripping in this weird goo, and when I looked over, all the guys looked different.” I half-heartedly shrugged my shoulders with a grimace on my face. “It stunned me. Jack and Sarge rushed me down here to explain what I saw, and then Sarge started telling me all kinds of shit that I didn’t realize was going on in the supernatural community. I’ve been so consumed with getting this drug off the black market that I didn’t stop to wonder if it could be a distraction of some sort.”

“Wait.” Palmer raised his right hand for me to stop, elbow placed securely on the table. “What?”

“Yeah,” I nodded my head at him. “Looks like we’ve all been chasing the wrong lead. I’ll tell you how Sarge told me. Sorta. I mean, I don’t remember it word for word.” I swallowed hard, weaving my fingers together and squeezing while searching for a boost of confidence. “Dragons are being hunted in their realm. The mer are almost extinct. The summer fae population has dropped by more than fifty percent. The shifters and vampires are being eradicated by this drug. Demons are fighting amongst themselves to the point where it’s near war. Druids are being slaughtered. Who does that leave unaffected?” I looked at everyone in the room, waiting for an answer.

“The winter fae and the mages,” Vaughn whispered, almost catching on to everything.

“Angels,” Lucy hissed.

I nodded my head. “I came to that conclusion, too. I don’t know if it’s all of them, just one, or a group of them. I think they’ll target mages and winter fae next, if they haven’t already. Jack is reaching out to some of his summer fae and mer friends to see what he can uncover. It’s a waiting game, for the most part.” I gave Lucy a sad smile. “We’re going to start building an army. We’re starting with the vampires tomorrow. We’ll need your help when we go to Hell. The demons and shifters are next on my list, since they’re closer than the mages and the fae. Then I’ll handle the dragons and mer after that, if I must. I need an army big enough to make the angels quake, but I need to know who is who. I don’t want to attack them if they aren’t my enemies. If I can take out one to stop all this shit, then I’ll leave the rest alone, but someone has to do the dirty work. That someone is going to be us.” I gestured my hand around the table.

Then I remembered Levi. That was something else I should bring up, but it needed to be broached carefully. “Uhm, Levi? How much do you remember about your younger years? Like childhood and all that…” I trailed off when he gave me a blank look.

“Nothing really. Why would you ask that all of a sudden?” Levi shook his head at me, not quite following my train of thought. Of course he wasn’t.

“When I saw the true forms of all the guys, I saw yours as well.” I gave him an apologetic look but pushed on. “You’re an angel, Levi. A fallen angel. You have wings. Black at the top and white at the bottom, fading to grey in the center of them. Sarge told me that they probably erased your memories of Heaven, or wherever angels live, when they dropped you. He said that he only knew of one fallen who regained his memories completely.” I turned my head to Lucy, questioning him with my eyes.

When he nodded slightly, I looked back to Levi. “Levi? I’d like you to meet Lucifer.” I tilted my head to Lucy. “The first fallen angel, the First Devil of Hell, and my grandfather. I think he can help you, if you want him to. It’s your decision, and everything that we’ve agreed to will still remain whichever way your answer goes. I’m sure he’ll be around for the rest of the day, so there’s no rush to answer right now.”

I needed Levi to know that I wouldn’t back out of the deal that I’d made with him in that cramped treehouse in the Kentucky woods. He still had a job. I’d still help him find a place to live. I wouldn’t turn my back on him because he was an angel, or fallen angel I should say. I wouldn’t ditch him if he decided that he didn’t want to remember his past. Levi was very quickly becoming my friend, and I didn’t have many of those. Not that I’d ever tried to be friends with many people, but I liked Levi, so it felt natural to lean toward calling this a friendship.

“Of course, my dear boy,” Lucy agreed. “I’ll be here for a few hours, so we can talk whenever you feel ready. I’ll tell you everything I know. If you want to remove the angelic lock on your memories, then I’ll call Lil in and she can help with that.” My grandfather gave Levi one of those nurturing parental smiles before he turned back to me. “Now, my little monster. I see all your issues, and I’ll help you. Starting with the vampires is a smart move, but you must be careful. If there’s an angel behind all this mess, then you need to prepare for a very nasty fight.”