Reign of the Vampires (34 page)

William nodded.

Danika watched him go, and made a mental note that she needed to talk to him tomorrow about everything that had happened. William was still scared of Mason, and unsure of his place in the coven. She needed to make sure he knew how important he was to her. He was, after all, the best friend she’d had in a long time.

“You going to join me?” Mason grinned, pointing toward the bathroom.

“Of course. There’s no way you’ll be able to get sufficiently clean without my help.” She gave him a wicked smile.

* * * *

When Danika walked down the stairs to the front hall thirty minutes later, most of the coven had already assembled. The kings occupied the chairs that she and her underlords usually sat in. Danika strode down the red carpet with William and Mason. As she neared the three kings, they exchanged looks.

“Are you feeling quite well, Lord Danika?” Vinton asked.

She reached the front of the room, bowing before them. She knew that the healthy, almost human-like skin complexion and the orange-flamed eyes were startling at first. Even she herself was not used to the new look.

“Quite well, thank you,” she said politely.

“We see that you’ve assembled your coven for this meeting. Can we take it then that you have come to a decision?” Vinton asked.

“I have, Your Highnesses.”

“Will Lord Garon step forward, please?” Vinton asked.

Garon came forward from the front row. He stopped to her right and bowed to the kings.

He didn’t even bother to look at Danika.

“As you all are now aware, Lord Garon has asked for the mating rights of Lord Danika. We’ve given her time to consider his offer, and now ask for her answer,” said Vinton in a loud enough voice for everyone to hear.

“I would like to start by thanking you for giving me this time to come to a decision. And I would like to thank my coven family for all the love and support they have shown me in my parents’ absence. This coven, my father’s coven, as well as my company, are two things that I cherish more than just about anything in this life. I would do anything I felt necessary to protect both.”

The kings smiled and nodded at her words. “I would never do anything that would put either in danger,” she continued. “I’ve taken this offer very seriously, for I myself know that a mating of this magnitude might indeed change the course of our society as we know it. Unfortunately, I regret that I’m unable to give my mating rights to Lord Garon. For my mating rights no longer belong to me, but to another.”

Lord Garon turned on her then. “How dare you give your rights to another, when I was first in line? This insult is more than I can bear,” he roared.

Danika turned to him. Shock registered on his usually mask-like face as he looked into her eyes. Danika stared at him unflinchingly.

“Insults are the least of what you will bear, should I tell the kings about you, along with Chase and Xenock’s plans,” Danika said in such a low voice that no one but Garon heard. His eyes flickered in a moment of surprise. She then turned back to the kings.

“Is this true, Lord Danika? Have you mated someone?” asked Vinton.

“Not exactly,” said Danika. Mason walked forward to stand at her side. “It is true that I am mated. To Mason.”

“A human? Lord Danika, do not do this. To make a human your mate—”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but you do not understand,” said Danika. “You see, I didn’t make Mason my mate, he made me his.”

The kings looked at each other again, then at her. “I do not understand. It’s not possible for a human to mate a Vampire,” said Sherman.

“Mason is not a human.”

Garon turned to Mason. “I knew it.”

Danika nodded to Mason. He looked conflicted for a moment, then unbuttoned his vest and shirt, handing them to her. Whispers grew from her coven members about his tattoos.

“Lord Danika,” said Sherman. “I do not know what this man is. But what I do know is you had no right to take him while another petitioned us for you.”

“I can assure you, King Sherman, that this mating between Mason and myself was not intentional. Nonetheless, it is what it is. I cannot mate Lord Garon.”

“This is preposterous.” Vinton rose. “If there is another suitor, then the two men must fight for your rights. That is how it is done, that is how it has always been done. You break from tradition and from the rules of our society, Lord Danika. We cannot have this. I call this mating between you and Mason void. You will continue with the mating ritual with Lord Garon, unless there is any other male who wishes to challenge that right.”

“It isn’t that simple,” said Danika.

“I challenge,” said Mason.

“You have no right to challenge. Whatever you are, you’re not subject to the privileges of our society.”

“I beg to differ,” said Mason. “I have every right to challenge.”

“And by what right do you have to challenge? Are you fae?”

“I am Maelstrom,” said Mason. Mason’s runes glowed. His skin split and wings stretched from his back, growing to their full span of over twenty feet, their inky webbing casting shadows on the stone floor and sending those nearby scattering backward. His claws grew long and his teeth tipped his chin. She put her hand on his arm, to make sure he was calm enough to control it.

“What are you?” Vinton sat back into his chair.

“I am Maelstrom, son of Mephisto, Lord of Destruction,” Mason replied, his voice deep and echoing throughout the room.

“You see what she has done?” Garon said, beside her. “She has become a slave to a demon. Allowing a demon to run a coven? Can you imagine what will happen? You may be too young to remember, Highnesses, when the demons walked among us, but I am not. There was war and bloodshed, feast and famine everywhere. The humans called it the Dark Ages. Even we Vampires were not immune to their ways. Many of my own family members fell trying to force them onto their own plane. If he is allowed to stay, soon there will be more. The demons will return to our plane, and this time, I do not think the Celestial ones will come to our aid. I demand she be removed from her position as lord of this coven.”

“Danika is no one’s slave,” said Mason.

“How did you even manage to stay here?” asked Vinton.

“That’s my business.”

Mason controlled the beast, but the strain showed.

“I’m afraid that I am inclined to agree with Lord Garon. You cannot effectively lead a coven when you’ve become subject to a demon,” said Vinton.

Danika looked to the other kings for support, but there was none.

“You’re afraid,” she said finally. “You want to remove me, Garon, because if you do not, I’ll be more powerful than you. That’s why you put forth the request to mate with me. Then plotted with Chase to kill me in an accident afterward. Just as Chase murdered my parents.”

Garon’s eyes blazed as he stared at her. “Where have you heard such lies?” he demanded.

“From your own lips, when I was kidnapped by Chase and Xenock. You should be more careful what you say in the future,” she challenged, turning to face him.

“Lies! These are lies. I demand that Chase and this Xenock be brought forward to speak against these allegations.”

“Yes,” said Vinton. “Where is Chase? I have not seen him this evening.”

“Chase has fled,” Danika said. “And Xenock was destroyed as he was ordered to have been.”

“And whose idea was it to disobey that order?” asked Vinton.

“Obviously not mine,” said Danika. “He tried to kill me. It was Chase who dragged him out of my room after the attack.”

“So you had no idea he was not dead?”

“If I had, I most certainly would have taken care of it. But all of this is beside the point. I am mated to Mason. It is irreversible. Therefore, Garon has no reason to be here. My father left his company to me, and the coven was bestowed upon me by you three kings. Unless I’ve done something that breaks our laws, then I am still lord of this coven, and I ask my coven to accept Mason as my mate.” Danika turned. “I have put it before you, and I’ve given you each the opportunity to decide for yourself if you want to stay in our coven, or seek to ally yourselves elsewhere, with no repercussions.”

“That is not for you to decide,” said Vinton. “It is our choice whether or not you stay as coven lord.”

“Then what is her crime?” asked Mason.

Vinton stared at him, clearly trying to discern whether he should be offended.

“It’s not so much a crime she has committed as much as how do we know she is indeed your mate, and not a slave?”

“Do any of you know anything about being the slave of a demon?”

“No,” said Vinton.

“Then how can you say that she is one? How can you prove that she is not my mate?”

There was silence all around. It was Garon who finally broke the silence. “This cannot be allowed. If she is to rule with a demon by her side, I will be forced to protect my own coven at all costs.”

“Are you threatening me, Lord Garon?” Danika turned on him.

“No, Lord Danika, of course not. I’m simply saying that if you won’t put a stop to this, then I’ll be forced to do whatever it takes.”

Mason put his arm around Danika’s waist, pulling her into him.

“Lord Garon, I suggest that you leave my lands now. You are no longer welcome here.”

Heat flowed off Mason. A blue flame rose, encompassing her.

“You see?” Garon turned to the kings and then to the audience. “Is this what you want ruling you? To be in the enslavement of Maelstrom, son of Mephisto, the King of the Destruction demons? Yes, I know who you are, Maelstrom, and I know the destruction that you personally have brought down upon this plane. I tell you all now that any of you who wish to ally yourself with my coven, you will be welcomed with open arms. And together we’ll fight to defeat this evil once more.”

A rumble escaped Mason’s chest. She turned in his arms.

“Mason,” she said.

He didn’t look at her. The angles of his face hardened.

“Mason.” She squeezed hard on his arm.

“You see?” said Garon. “She is powerless to stop him. And he obviously cannot control himself. This is what all of us will be subject to.”

“Shut up!” she spat. All eyes were on her as she focused on Mason. Sparks shot off his skin in every direction. “Maelstrom,” she said again. His eyes tried to recognize her. “Maelstrom, look at me. You can control it, you know you can. Here—” She took his hand and pressed it to her glowing rune. “Feel me.”

His fingers traced her skin roughly. He stared at her for a long minute, then his breathing evened and his skin turned his normal warm shade. His eyes reverted to their amber color, and his fingers softened where they traced her rune.

She rounded on Garon. “You are the one who should be stopped. You are a poison to our nation. You feed on the weak and helpless and bring only the worst of our kind to your side. You should be sentenced to death for the way you rule.”

“How dare you speak to me in that way, child.”

“I will speak to you as I wish in my own home.”

“Is this your own home?” He turned to her coven. “What say you?”

Danika turned to face them. She swallowed hard, staring out into the unflinching faces of her coven. Finally, she heard footsteps. Sinya, Lance and Ike moved toward her. Danika almost cried with relief. She looked to her left, William already stood beside her. He smiled and she squeezed his hand. The sound of heavy-booted feet closed in on the small group, and soon the entire Tracking Squad stood next to her. Garon’s eyes darkened as more and more of her coven moved behind her. Soon, all but a few of the lesser members had joined her.

Danika turned to the three kings.

“So you have decided she is whom you would like to lead you?” Vinton asked.

The replies were small nods of assent.

“If I may be permitted to speak.” Sinya stepped forward.

Vinton nodded.

“Lord Danika’s mother welcomed me and my mate into this coven when we were young and still not settled. Through her guidance and her strength, we have grown into strong independent Vampires that we are today. Lord Danika’s father took my mate Lance from an errand boy, and turned him into the Head of Marketing for his company. There are not many Vampire lords who would take the time to do something like that for Vampires with no pedigree or ties. I have watched Lord Danika grow from a newborn into the woman she is today. She has made mistakes along the way, as we all have, but I do not question her ability to lead our coven. If she has broken no law by choosing Mason as her mate, then why are we being forced to choose? It’s obvious that Mason, with Danika’s help, is able to control his inner being. And I doubt very highly that a mere slave could calm their master the way she did with him. As a mated woman myself, I know that none other than my mate can pull me out of a rage, should I go into one. Is there any other Vampire here who does not feel the same?”

“Let it be known now, I will not stand by and watch you destroy all that I have come to build, Lord Danika. One way or another—” Lord Garon began, but before he finished, Mason stepped close to Garon and loomed over him.

“Never...Threaten...Danika. When you threaten her, you threaten me. And I assure you, Lord Garon, that you would not win in a fight against me,” boomed Mason.

Terror flooded Garon’s eyes.

“You know who I am, and you claim to know what I can do. Do not think for a moment that I would not do everything in my power to protect both my mate, and her family.”

Garon’s eyes bulged. After a long silence, Mason turned to the kings.

“You may be the kings of the Vampire nation in this land, on this plane. But I am indeed the son of the Lord of Destruction. My powers are beyond your comprehension. I have no wish to use my powers, nor do I wish to return to my realm. My life for the last five hundred years has been here. First among the humans, and now it seems, among the Vampires. I’ll do my best to be the mate that Danika deserves. I have no desire to take over her coven, or to use it for any of my own purposes, for I have none. But I will not sit by and allow others to use it for their own purposes, either.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vinton asked.