Game of Vampires: A Reverse Harem Serial (Part Five) Read online

  GAME OF VAMPIRES

  A Reverse Harem Serial

  Part Five

  Series Finale

  ROSETTE BOLTER

  CHAPTER ONE

  They were close. They were so, so close.

  Theresa couldn’t believe it. With all the hurt and pain and violence that had been twisting through Moldark’s psyche, it was a wonder she’d been able to reach him.

  On another night.

  On another day.

  The clouds around his heart would have remained too thick to penetrate. His eyes would have seen her body but not looked beyond. The beast would have been too far gone. Too consumed by the negative energy.

  And yet that wasn’t what happened. Moldark had fought every urge to dismiss. To ignore. To lash out. Wicked mouths with wicked language were speaking to him inside saying every horrible thing they could think of about Theresa – telling him that she was a whore, that she couldn’t be trusted, that she was sent as a test to deceive him. She couldn’t actually love him. That wasn’t how the world worked. Everyone was out for themselves and Moldark was the worst one of all. The world hated him, and he hated them right back.

  Somehow. By some fleeting miracle, Theresa had torn away one barrier and he’d torn away the other to meet each other in the garden between their hearts. They’d lived through a precious moment. Through a heart-stopping, majestic kiss. And for a few moments they really were in that garden together, a place from which all sorts of beautiful flowers could grow.

  And then the world happened.

  Lafayette trudged away from where he’d pushed Moldark, along the grass back towards his men. Theresa got up once he’d gone past her and rushed out to the cliff’s edge, searching for what had become of Moldark. Had she still been human she would no doubt have seen nothing but black – but here her gift came to life, showing her the way down the steep drop, all the way out to some jagged rocks and bramble. With some straining, she thought she could see a sticky substance on caught on the thorns which may have been blood. But there was no sign of her beloved.

  “He really had it, didn’t he?” Lafayette said making his way back over. “He had the build. The physique. He had those eyes that changed color. The right blend of ferocious integrity many choose to lust after.”

  Theresa turned, her expression wrought with anger. She could see behind him, Lafayette’s men were moving away.

  “Yes, that’s right,” he said. “I asked for a little alone time for us. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “He was going to back down,” Theresa gasped, her voice choking with emotion. “He wasn’t going to hurt anyone else. He would have pulled his forces away.”

  Lafayette raised his eyebrows. “Because of you?”

  “Yes!” she cried. “I was talking him around. Why did you have to come so quickly? Why did you do this?!”

  Lafayette pressed his fingers together calmly. “I could ask you a question about your motivations. Why did you choose him over me?”

  Theresa exhaled. “Don’t you know why?”

  Lafayette nodded. “And so. Don’t you know why I had to do that?”

  “I’m confused. Is this about protecting the people from war? What was that stuff you said about being evil?”

  Lafayette smiled. “I like you, Theresa. I like you as a person. You entertain me. Even in your willful ignorance, you still come across cute. I like the new vampire look as well. I’m sure Emberlynn will be jealous.”

  Theresa stared at him. “That’s not answering my question.”

  “Think of it this way. There are winners and losers. And it’s not always so obvious. Moldark, for example, had a lot of accomplishments. He had the entire southern kingdom at his disposal. His hordes instilled power and fear into his reputation. He was an elite warrior, and an excellent general. But that is where it stops for him. He was not one of remarkable intelligence or strategy. He was not a good king. But it runs even deeper than that.”

  “Oh it does, does it?”

  “I made a point of speaking about evil to you, because I wanted to get closer to you. I wanted to give you a picture of who I am, even if you weren’t aware I was referring to me. But perhaps ‘evil’ isn’t the most apt description. To understand the difference between you and I, the difference between myself and Moldark, you have to remember that once upon a time Moldark was a man attacked and bitten, as you were a woman. You have both stood in the sun of the human experience. Although the darkness runs through your blood, you still remember what it was like to be a person. Time may break you as those memories get further and further away, but it doesn’t change the nature of your soul.”

  He leaned in over her, his eyes wide and menacing.

  “I was born to vampire parents, in a house of ancient rule. I am not afflicted by darkness, I AM THE DARKNESS. I have never known what it is to be a boy. Or a man. They are another species to me. A lesser species.” He paused. “Times are changing, Theresa. I will take all four houses under my rule. I will take the Warlock’s keep and I will continue my reign and expansion until every scrap of solid land in this universe is owned by me. Now. You may wish to mourn the loss of that imbecile, or you can start treating me with the reverence I deserve. It’s up to you, Theresa.”

  Theresa shook her head. “No. I don’t know who you think you are, but –”

  Lafayette grabbed her wrist and forced her three paces back so she was one more from joining Moldark in a vertical demise.

  “Are you sure about that, Theresa?” Lafayette asked. “Think carefully this time.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  He could kill her. Just like that. One simple push and eternity would be gone. In the back of her mind Theresa pondered how far her powers might take her. If there was some chance her wounds would heal after impact. If she would be okay again. If her body truly was immortal.

  But she had felt pain already. Lafayette’s blue dagger cutting the palm of her hand as he was forcing Moldark out towards the edge. Nerves flared. Skin broke. Blood flowed. The wound was healing now but it was a small one. She couldn’t sustain the fall.

  Lafayette’s eyes turned, as though he was about to do it.

  “Wait,” Theresa pleaded. “Please don’t.”

  “There’s still a look about you, like we’re not on the same page,” Lafayette said.

  “No. We are. I understand. I won’t talk back or anything.”

  His gaze lowered a moment, then he pulled her back to safe ground.

  “I don’t want to imprison you, as Emberlynn expects,” Lafayette continued in a casual tone. “Nor do I want you as my slave to do my bidding, as the twins would have. I don’t want children from you like Harland wanted. I don’t expect to take you as a lover, as Moldark expected.”

  He stepped away from her, walking up the grassy bank back to the plantation.

  Theresa followed. “What do you want?”

  “I want us to be friends,” Lafayette answered. “Clearly, I have the upper-hand. I will need you to do my bidding. I am after all to be the ruler of this land. My friendship comes at a price.”

  “What do I get out of it?”

  Lafayette chuckled. “I will put you high in my ranks. You will be my enforcer. My confidant. You will receive land and servants and riches. I will require your absolute loyalty. There will be no friend or acquaintance you might have, that will come before me. Do you understand?”

  “Is this a trick or something?” Theresa asked. “Are you trying to mess with me?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “I don’t understand why you –”

  “I told you already. I find you amusing.
Your appearance and personality is pleasing to my senses. I do not need intercourse with you to derive pleasure from your company.”

  “Oh well, that’s –”

  “This could go one of two ways for you. You need to be smart here. So, so smart for yourself. Think ahead. You’ll never beat me. You’ll never find the right moment to stab me in the back. You’ll think it’ll come, but it won’t. You’ll be hoping, maybe one day, Moldark will come back. It won’t happen. It’s best you let all of that go now. So we can move ahead. So we truly can be friends.”

  They walked on, the dome becoming larger and larger.

  Theresa’s eyes strained. Everything Lafayette said sounded right. It made sense. He was so convincing.

  But she could still feel Moldark. His body against hers. His breath on her shoulder. He was inside her, his hand wrapped around her beating heart…

  Lafayette stopped in front of her, turning. “Well? What do you say?”

  He put his hand out for her to shake it.

  Theresa remained still. “I want to see it.”

  “You want to see…”

  “I want to see his body.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  In order to get to the bottom of the chasm they had to leave the plantation and ride east down the road, then head south for a bit, before riding west. They were on the other side of it now, with the plantation directly north. A narrow, dirt trodden pathway on the steep outer wall of the chasm twisted and turned, leading them down into the pit.

  Lafayette made frequent conversation during their journey. He told her some of his ideas for the local lands. He wanted to reopen New Haven Plantation and build many more like it, each filled with blood orchards. He wanted more and more blood of the commoners flowing throughout the lands. No more bottling it up then selling it at high prices as though blood was a luxury. He wanted so much out there you could bathe in it.

  “Every vampire lord should have his own swimming pool,” Lafayette was saying. “But after we demolish the keep and build my new palace there, I want an entire river running underneath it. I should be able to float along it for hours before there’s an end. I should be able to look up and see a giant blood-waterfall showering my head…”

  Clearly, he was in his own world. Theresa’s attention was in and out mostly. How did Lafayette’s blood paradise sound to her on the surface? Well, kind of fantastic. Until you thought about where that blood was coming from.

  Theresa was still angry with him, but Lafayette was oblivious to that. Or if he knew she was angry, he didn’t care. He described her as his friend yet Theresa found his behavior towards her similar to Emberlynn’s when she was in a good mood. He didn’t go as far as asking her to squat down so he could scratch her behind the ears and call her his ‘kitten’, but both their behaviors came from the same place.

  At the bottom of the hillside there was a body of water, wide and flowing, that they had to pass through to get to the rocks where Moldark would have landed. Lafayette removed several pieces of armor, not wanting to get them wet, before diving in. Theresa focused her mind and found her feet lifting to the air. The water did not touch her.

  On the other side Lafayette shook himself off and trudged up to where Theresa was, turning his gaze around. “Do you see him?”

  Theresa looked down at the rocks beneath her.

  Black. Dripping.

  Warm.

  “By a witch’s bubbling wart,” Lafayette said, bending his knees. “Is that blood?”

  Theresa followed its trail with her eyes. It wobbled back and forth. Side to side. It moved forward then bent round and veered off course for a bit. Then it bent round again. And ran along the rocks until blades of grass took its reign.

  “Well, I’ll be,” Lafayette whispered. “He got up and walked away.”

  A fire sparked inside Theresa’s belly. She touched the side of her own face, as if to test it were real.

  Lafayette looked up at her. “Wipe that smile off your face. He can’t have gone far.”

  Theresa did her best to keep it together. Lafayette stood up and began to follow the blood trail. Theresa moved on from behind.

  Once they were off the rocks, Theresa saw there were arrows scattered about the grass. He’d been pulling them out as he stumbled along.

  Still alive.

  Theresa hurried past Lafayette and rushed along the bank towards a cluster of trees where the trail went cold.

  She began to venture into them, but Lafayette’s hand came down on her shoulder.

  “There’s no need for long goodbyes,” he muttered.

  Theresa turned to him, confused.

  “That’s a dead end,” Lafayette said. “He’s gone off there to die.”

  “You don’t know that. He might be okay.”

  “We’ll see.” Lafayette took a small pipe from his pocket. He placed some crushed leaves into it and drew a match, lighting it. He inhaled the smoke and chemicals, staring into the darkness through the trees.

  Theresa went to say something but he silenced her.

  They waited. Time crept slowly by.

  Theresa wasn’t sure what Lafayette’s game was here. Did he think Moldark was alive? Was he expecting him to come out? What was happening exactly?

  The silence helped fine tune her senses. She could hear things she wouldn’t otherwise hear. She felt things she wouldn’t otherwise feel.

  The air had a presence about it. An atmosphere that kept growing. She heard the bristling of trees in the wind. The trickling flow of the river’s bend behind her.

  She heard the leaves burning in Lafayette’s pipe as he inhaled.

  He wasn’t ready yet. Neither was she.

  They just kept staring straight ahead.

  Until within the abyss before them, a pair of colorful eyes flickered.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Lafayette grabbed a chunk of Theresa’s hair, cut it free with his dagger, and then sent it flying in the air towards the forest, with a burning match swimming along at its heels. Stunned, Theresa watched as the strands of her hair ignited in an all-consuming flame, each of them hitting the trees as miniature blazing pellets. The trees caught and then the ground caught – a magnificent turquoise wave of fire streaming out through the forest ahead.

  “No!” Theresa shrieked.

  She ran at the trees but the heat was unbearable. She turned away from it, unable to go any further, and saw Lafayette was already walking away.

  “Moldark!” she called. “Come on! Get out of there! Please!”

  The flames roared and the fire danced.

  Lafayette’s nasty cackle echoed through the chasm.

  Then Theresa looked up again and she saw the tops of the trees were moving. Back and forth. The flames parting. A giant monstrous mass stormed through the top of the forest as if shot out by a cannon.

  And then he was in the air.

  His shoes breathing fire. His skin torn, bloody and broken. His arms and legs smashed out of shape. Hair flailing.

  The southern vampire hit the grass so hard the ground beneath Theresa shook.

  Ahead, Lafayette stopped, his back to them.

  The southern vampire’s back to Theresa.

  “Get him,” Theresa heard herself whisper. “Don’t hold anything back.”

  There was a pause. Lafayette slowly veered around.

  “Well,” he scoffed. “What are you waiting for?”

  Moldark looked back at Theresa, his eyes the same color as the fire behind them.

  Then he turned to Lafayette and charged ahead.

  Theresa charged after him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Before they reached him, Theresa saw Lafayette was momentarily distracted, his gaze drifting out towards the other side of the river, where his armor was resting. As if there might have been some chance of being able to retrieve it. Theresa wondered why he would even consider something so unlikely.

  With Moldark’s shadow looming, Lafayette used his acrobatics to launch himself into t
he air, jump-kicking his opponent in the face. On his way down the dagger was drawn and planted into Moldark’s chest, dragging down. Theresa screamed furiously, shooting up into the air beside Lafayette.

  Before she could lay a finger on him however, Moldark’s mighty claw crushed through Lafayette’s forearm, causing him to cry out and let go of the dagger.

  Moldark’s other hand curled into a ball and smashed into the side of Lafayette’s head.

  Theresa’s mouth dropped as she heard the skull crack, blood spurting from the impact. He staggered off to the side, his hand out motioning for the other to back off.

  Theresa grabbed hold of the dagger implanted in Moldark and pulled it out, his wound flowing. Moldark sank to his knees, completely drained.

  “Get up!” Theresa urged him, tossing the dagger away. “You’re not finished yet!”

  Moldark groaned, his teeth clenched together.

  “Not necessary,” Lafayette remarked stumbling away. “I surrender. The land is yours. I’ll stay out of your way.”

  Moldark exhaled deeply. He keeled over into Theresa’s arms.

  “No!” Theresa screamed, tears pouring down her cheeks. “Stay with me! We’re getting through this! We’re almost there…”

  Moldark’s eyes fluttered. He touched the side of Theresa’s face.

  “There’s no need to cry,” he said. “We’re already dead.”

  “NOOO!!! That isn’t true!”

  “You know it is.”

  “You’ve got to pull through. The people need us. We’ve got to protect them.”

  “From what?”

  “From people like him!” Theresa said indicating to Lafayette.

  Moldark shook his head. “We’re the same as him.”

  “No! We’re not! We’re different!”

  “In some ways, we’re worse…”

  Moldark’s eyes closed.

  “No!” Theresa screamed, shaking him. “Moldark! Moldark!”

  At the sharp tearing of a match, Theresa looked up to see Lafayette standing over them, lighting his pipe.