The Bloodline War (26 page)

Roth snapped his chair upright, his brows lowering. “A most heinous breach of our security has been committed, Mrs. Costache. It is paramount that we be allowed to assess the damage you’ve inflicted on the poor innocents of this community.”

A sudden, thick tension blanketed the office, dark and full of blame.

Beth opened her mouth, but, to her shame, only a small squeak came out. Somewhere in her mind, she knew that Roth was deliberately trying to make her feel guilty, but, yes, dear God, it was working. She’d never forgive herself if anything bad happened to the people here. “N-Nothing bad will…will…. We didn’t tell about the entrances. How could we?” She repeated Kimberly’s rationalization. “We don’t even know where they are ourselves to—”

“Tell whom?” Roth’s words dripped ice.

Beth’s mouth worked, her heart hammering into her throat.

Rage darkened Jaċken’s complexion.

“Beth,” Arc urged quietly. “Who did you tell about us? This is important.”

She passed trembling fingers over her lips. The words backed up in her throat for another moment. “Toni’s brother, Alex, who’s some sort of computer genius, hacked into our system and sent me an email, asking about Toni. Kimberly and I described the key code boxes to him”—she heard Sedge exhale a short breath—“and then Alex sent a small machine to my topside PO box that could read the code. But
that’s all
we told him. So…so, everyone’s safe.”

“Everyone’s
safe
?” Jaċken growled her words back at her. “Jesus Christ, I’ve never heard anything more screwed in the head. Toni’s unmated!” Jaċken pounded over to Beth and leaned right into her face. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! Even the faintest clue how much danger Toni’s in up there!?”

A blast of adrenaline sped Beth’s heart into an erratic rhythm. “I-I-I…” she stammered.

Arc stepped forward, and Jaċken bolted his eyes up to him. “Please, Costache, take a swing. It would
so
fucking make my day.”

Beth took advantage of the distraction to scramble out of her chair and back away from the men. “Toni knew the risks she was taking by leaving here and she willingly took them.” She firmed her chin to keep it from quivering. “I stand by my actions.”

“Do you?” Jaċken glared at her, fury rolling off him in boiling waves. “So the thought of Toni staked out on a bed and being repeatedly gang raped by a bunch of Topside Om Rău is just peachy keen with you?”

She felt herself going pale. “She’s with her brother.” Her control stretched like a taffy pull, thinning and thinning. “I have every confidence that she—”

“Ah, that’s okay, then.” Jaċken sneered. “Because a computer genius milquetoast can keep her
so
safe from those Topside Om Rău when they decide to make another move on her.”

She pinched her lips together. “Well, I can’t see how Alex could do a much worse job protecting her than you’ve been doing, lately, Jaċken.”

“
Beth
,” Arc hissed.

Jaċken canted back as if he’d been struck, a snarl seething past his lips.

“Stars and bats!” Willen exhorted. “Where are they, Beth!? Just tell us, please.”

“I-I don’t know.” She backed up another few steps. “I’m only here to receive messages.”

“Unbelievable! This is the most—”

“—something should happen to the women?! It’s daylight—”

“E-everyone stop yelling at me. I’m sick to death of being blamed for something that’s not my fault.” She pointed an unsteady finger at Roth. “You’re the one to blame for putting innocent women in a repopulation program, and you warriors”—she accused Sedge and her own husband—“for actively participating in the kidnappings when you knew they were wrong. “And
you
,” she dared, facing Jaċken. “You have only yourself to fault for Toni being gone. I saw the way she looked at you at the Water Cliffs. She wanted to be with
you
, Jaċken, but you weren’t man enough to go tell Roth to shove his vow of celibacy in the toilet. That’s why she left!”

A dark noise rumbled out of Jaċken, his eyes going demon black.

“Be quiet, Beth!” Arc warned.

She shook her head, her hair seething around her. “Every man in this room is at fault! The Dragons tried to warn all of you about their unhappiness, but you just preferred to stuff cotton in your ears.” She threw her arms wide. “Well, are you listening now?!”

“Enough!” Roth bellowed, surging to his feet, his eyes steely, his brow thunderous. “Mrs. Costache, for your unutterable breach of our most sacred rules of our security, you are hereby stripped of all your clearances.”

She staggered backward.
What
? Her adrenaline abandoned her in rush, leaving her knees weak and her breathing faltering in her lungs.

“You will no longer be permitted use the Internet or receive mail from your topside PO box,” Roth continued through a set jaw. “Nor will you be able to—”

“No!” She gripped her throat. Oh, God, she was going to throw up.

Arc quickly took her in his arms and hugged her close. “Ssh, baby, don’t worry,” he said softly into her ear. “Everything’s going to be fine, okay. I’m not going to let you lose anything.”

She buried her face in his chest, tears gushing down her cheeks.

“Beth’s pregnant,” Arc said to Roth, his voice going hard, “which means she has to have contact with her mother right now, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that be taken away when she needs it the most. You know, it’s bad enough that she’s only allowed to see her mother and sisters on birthdays and Christmas. She hates that, but she puts up with it because she loves me and this community. We’re lucky to have her, damn it, and she deserves better than
punishments
, I don’t care what the hell she did with the Dragons.” She felt Arc tense. “Anyone tries to make a prisoner out of my wife, and I’ll tear this cave down with my own fists to get her out, you can be fucking sure of that.”

Beth bit into her bottom lip, her tears quieting to sniffles. She couldn’t believe Arc was saying all of this. She’d never heard anyone stand up to Roth before.

Arc’s chest expanded on a large breath. “With all due respect, Roth, repopulating our species isn’t just about giving birth to live babies. It’s about creating happy families to raise those kids, and every day it seems to me like you’re getting further and further away from that goal.” Arc’s hand caressed the length of her back. “I didn’t get it before. I wasn’t listening, either, but I’m sure listening now.” Keeping an arm around her shoulders, Arc started to lead her toward the double doors. “I suggest everyone in this room start doing the same.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

Toni, Hannah, Ellen, Maggie, and Kimberly stashed the Pathfinder they’d stolen from the community in a mall parking lot, then Alex picked them up. It took three trips to get all twelve of them—five women and seven children—to the Mission Beach bungalows they’d rented, but hiring a van or taking a cab wasn’t a smart option for women going into hiding.

Toni cried in Alex’s arms as they stood in the doorjamb of one of the bungalows while the four other women bustled about getting their children settled into bed, since it was actually nighttime for them. Her mood was the lowest it’d ever been. She was never going to see Jaċken again. Escaping Ţărână made that official. The other Dragons would go back, but she wouldn’t. She would move out of California, far away from those who sought to hunt her, and try to heal the huge emptiness that threatened to consume her. She’d do it, although it’d take some time. Say, an eternity or two.

Alex, being Alex, just let her cry in silence, even though he probably had a million questions. After she’d wept herself dry, she took a long, hot shower, then curled up in a chair next to a window with a view of the sea, a mug of hot cocoa cupped in her palms. With the other Dragons arrayed around the room, on beds and a couch, Toni told her brother the whole amazing story: her kidnapping from Scripps Hospital, the town of Ţărână, the circumstance of her being a Dragon—probably Alex, too—blood graphs, tattoos, glowing eyes, Fiinţă, Om Rău. And the vampires, of course. Alex took it all in silently, just absorbing, while Ellen, Hannah, Kimberly, and Maggie eyed him carefully. By the end of it, Toni felt utterly spent. She couldn’t believe she’d only been gone for eighteen days; it felt like months. A lifetime.

Toni set her empty mug on the small round hotel table that stood between her and her brother and rubbed a weary hand over her face. It was dusk now, the setting sun turning the ocean into a lake of molten gold. God, how she’d missed sunsets. But then…she knew she’d also miss the clean, earthy smell of the air in Ţărână, the low, singing sough of wind through a few special wormholes, the shiny black lava rock that decorated some of the cave walls, and…other things.

She reached up and snapped a lamp on. “So do you think I’m crazy?”

“No, actually….” Alex shook his head, then even laughed. “Truth is, nothing has ever made more sense to me in my life.”

Maggie pulled a small tin box out of her tote bag. “He
is
being suspiciously calm.”

Alex smiled. “Yeah. In fact, check this out.” He jumped to his feet and crossed to his duffle bag, rummaging a book out of it. “Something told me I should pack this. Now I’m glad I did.” He set the book on the table in front of Toni.

She peered down on it, and, “Wow.” She’d never seen anything like it. The cover was grainy and tan-colored, a blue crescent moon and star shimmering on it like an ethereal deep-sea creature.

“Open it,” Alex said.

She did as the other four women stood and gathered around to look, too, and “Wow,” again. A replica of the dragon tattoo was right on the front page, Roth’s mansion on the next, though looking more like a castle, and people, drawings and drawings of gorgeous people, all of whom looked vaguely familiar.

“That’s them, isn’t it? The vampires?”

“Yes, although not exactly.” They were probably the ancestors of the people currently in the community. “And they’re called Vârcolac.” Had she just corrected her brother on the terminology for a real, live vampire? Toni pressed a hand over her eyes and groaned. “Christ, Alex, this is just so…. Are you sure I’m not insane? Deep down, I’ve been hoping I was.” Her brother chuckled, and she looked at him again. “It’s all true, isn’t it?”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “Looks like it.”

She blew out her cheeks. Yes, she’d known that already, hadn’t she?

“Don’t feel bad,” Maggie said, crossing to Alex and holding out the tin box to him. “It took me till my first bite to truly believe. Want a cookie?”

Alex adjusted the set of his glasses as he peered into the box. “What kind?”

“Macadamia chocolate chip.”

“Oh, definitely.” Alex took one.

Hannah plopped back down on the couch, looking drawn and pale. It was clearly taking a toll on her to leave the community she so adored. “I knew right away. All of the Vârcolac exude a kind of animal essence, don’t you think?”

“Yep,” Ellen said, sitting next to Hannah. “That’s what got me, too.”

Toni was still skimming the pages of the strange book. “How did you find this anyway, Alex?”

Alex sat down with his cookie. “When I was fifteen, I pried up a floorboard in my bedroom to hide my reefer stash from Mom. The Book was just sitting there, like,
shazaam
, it’d been patiently waiting for me to find it.”

She arched her brows, but that was her only reaction. She probably wasn’t allowed to think that scenario was weird, considering her recent experiences. She ran her fingers over the strange lettering on the page. “Do you know what language this is?”

“Utter gibberish from what I’ve been told. But,” he lifted a single shoulder, “I can read some of it. Before today and your story, though, it never made much sense to me. I mean, when I read that you and I were Dragon royalty, I really didn’t understand the—”

“Wait.” Kimberly held up a hand. “What? Did you just say
royalty
?”

Alex smiled widely. “Yeah…get this. According to The Book, Toni and I are both descended from some royal lineage of the ancient Dragons.” He brushed cookie crumbs off his hands, then reached across the table to flip to a different page. “See?”

Ellen, Maggie, Kimberly, and Hannah moved to hover over Toni again.

Toni studied the page. “My God, these people kind of look like us, Alex.”

“Bizarre, huh?” Alex pointed to one of the pages of gobbledygook language. “From what I’ve been able to gather, there were two main lines of Dragon monarchy, which came into being because their bloodlines were able to stabilize the population, erasing a lot of genetic problems that were starting to show up. One line went off to breed with the Vârcolac, the other with humans, which ended up making people like you and me. Apparently, we’re very rare.” He glanced at her curiously. “Did the others know the full extent of your genealogy?”

“I doubt it.” She couldn’t imagine Roth not using information like
royal bloodlines
to try and pressure her further into reproducing with his people.

Kimberly sucked in a sudden breath. “This is great! You’re the answer to our problems, Toni.”

Toni frowned. She didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”

“Vârcolac culture only allows those of royal lineage to hold positions of authority, right? So with your royal bloodlines you could become co-leader of Ţărână with Roth. Ha!” Kimberly clapped her hands together. “The Dragons would finally have representation.” Kimberly swung around to look at the other women. “We don’t need to negotiate any more than that, you guys. Once Toni gets into power, she can take care of the rest.”

“Hold on a minute,” Toni butted in. “It was never the plan for me to go back with all of you.”

“I’ll go with you.” Alex said quietly.

She whipped her head around and gaped at her brother. “For the love of God,” she bit off low on her breath, “now who’s the insane one?”

His expression sobered. “I think you’d agree that, outside of you and Mom, my life has been damned empty so far. Yours, too, from what I can tell. I don’t want to go back to it.”