The Hunted (2 page)

“Yes, Silver, all of what you remember is true.” Drake said calmly. “I am no more a priest now than you are a Queen.”

“How?” I started to speak, only for the ancient priest to interrupt again.

“Same as you my dear, but my life was spared by one of a race of vampires older than God himself!”

Toltecs? No, they were almost extinct by that time and Queen Akita found and spared the life of the last one!

“Carlos?” Drake smirked as he ran one hand through his dark, wavy hair. “He was indeed one of the last of his kind but there was another and
she
is the reason I stand before you today.”

She?
I questioned silently. I had not heard a whisper of any female Toltecs surviving their extinction.

“Impossible!” I roared. “Quit trying to distract me Drake. You are still a lying, evil snake.”

“Oh, but it is true my dear. At any rate, it is due to that fateful meeting that I stand before you today. I know, such a contradiction in terms being a man of God and yet owing my life to the devil.”

“Devil.” I sniffed loudly in disgust. “You know nothing of my race if you think we are spawns of the devil. Some humans deserve
that
title in a more literal fashion.” “Enough nonsense, Drake. Priest or not, you are in my way and I am here for one purpose only; to destroy Hannah’s spawn.”

Father Drake stood silently and stared at me. His eyes glowed like coals and a growl escaped from deep within his throat. I still could not fathom him being one of my kind.

“I cannot allow you to destroy that which made me who I am. Through my transformation I have gained more power than I ever had or wanted as a human.”

Drake’s voice whispered deep within my head.
Besides,
in this form I have sent many of you soulless demons back to where the Lord Almighty can deal with you!

I blinked for a moment as I realized he had just spoken with me telepathically. Just how developed a vampire was he?

“So you still consider yourself a priest, Drake?” I asked sourly. “You are what you hate most and yet you still blindly follow a God who cannot and did not help you in your time of need?” My voice dripped with sarcasm as I watched and waited for Drake to move. He did not disappoint me as he steeled himself then lunged forward, trying to grasp me around the neck.

“I have had younger and more powerful vampires try to kill me Drake and I am still here.” I mocked. “Let me guess, you figured Hannah would show you where I was and allow you to bury yourself deep within the Clans to do what you wished? Sorry if your plans were ill thought out.” It was the last word that spat from my lips as I quickly moved aside, watching as Drake fell to one knee, missing me entirely.

I heard a distinct hiss from his companions, who until that moment remained hidden in the shadows.

“Stay where you are!“ Drake shouted as he raised an immense hand, bidding his minions to come no further. “Hannah is gone?” he mused as he raised himself up to his full height and clapped the dust from his hands. “Yes, of course she is. That is when I started hearing them.” He smiled as if discovering a hidden cosmic joke.

“Them? What the hell are you going on about Drake? Have you lost your sense of reason as well as your balance?” My voice was dripping with sarcasm as I watched a faint smile play upon his lips.

“You cannot tell me that the all powerful Silver Devries cannot hear them? Hannah’s brood is everywhere, my dear. It is a sorrowful song full of lament and regrets and confusion. Now I understand, but…” Drake stopped speaking, closed his eyes, and holding a hand over his chest, he nodded. “Yes, I see it all now.”

His dark eyes snapped open and he stared intently at me. Very slowly, I reached for my blade.

“It was not you, was it, my dear Silver? It was a fledgling and of...of Andrew Saint Martin’s line? How sweet that is!”

I shook my head and tried to keep my face as unreadable as possible. He, like Andrew had developed his gifts very quickly. Even I did not have such an advanced gift of sight.

“This new breed puzzles you, don’t they?” he asked dryly. “It’s alright my dear, the new wave of our kind is taking over. You and the Ancients will soon be extinct.”

A flood of rage and anguish washed over me. Before I could control the impulse, I sprang forward, fangs bared and my blade aimed at Drake’s chest.

Without even so much as a breath or a blink, Drake raised one hand and wiped me aside like nothing more than a butterfly in the wind. He could have snapped me in half if he had a mind too.

I landed with a grunt but quickly leaped to my feet and stood silently, waiting for his next move. Drake drew up to his full height and brushed the dust from his pants, a sly grin spread across his ruggedly handsome face.

“You should be dead now, Silver,” he said. “Do not forget that. Now you owe me your life!”

I growled and ran my tongue over the tips of my fangs. “I owe you nothing Drake and once the Clan finds out who and what you are, or at least were, you will have precious few days to gloat.”

Once again, Drake smiled and stared directly at me, causing me to shift uncomfortably from side to side. Never had a human or vampire made me so self conscious. I shook off the feeling and lifted my eyes directly up to meet his.

“Do you really presume to think they do not know about me? Do you think Hannah has been the only rogue vampire? The one who turned me may be older than any in the Vampire Clans…older than Carlos.”

His deep voice and stare lulled me into a false sense of security. What was happening? My senses dulled and my head felt thick and dense, the vampire blood within boiled and flushed my cheeks and chest.

“What?” I moaned before collapsing to the ground in a heap, unable to move or feel.

“So much for the all-powerful Vampire Queen.” Drake laughed.

Those were the last words I heard before everything went silent and black.

Chapter Three

I woke in the darkness; my head and tongue felt thick as if I had taken drugs. I struggled to move.

“Damn it! “ I shrieked. My ankles and wrists were in manacles and my back forced straight against a cold, cement wall.

“Drake!” I yelled in a hoarse, dry-sounding voice. “Drake, where the hell are you and where am I?”

I tried to search out with my mind but even the air around me was lifeless and still. There were no living beings in my presence or within five hundred meters of me on either side.

Squinting, I could barely make out a door at the far end of the windowless room. I panicked...for a moment.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and quieted my mind.

I am here my love.
The smooth, familiar voice soothed my wildly beating heart.

Andrew Saint Martin, my partner, my lover, my friend and willing host for centuries, was the current King of the Vampire Clans. After my misfortune in letting Hannah escape to create her own unholy clan, I and the Ancients chose Andrew as the first male ruler. Hannah had broken the Vampire Code by choosing to infect the true vampire line with second-class human blood. Hannah was my chosen one and each human she chose to bond with, weakened the vampire lineage. For centuries, humans and vampires lived in harmony. Humans blissfully unaware of our existence unless they chose, of their own accord, to become a host and psychically bond with us. As long as a human remained in a vampire’s care, they never aged nor required protection. When a human host wanted to be free, the vampire would respect his or her wish and that human would grow old and die, with the memories of service within the Vampire Clans erased for all eternity.

“Andrew.” I cried as my body lurched forward, wracked with pain as each manacle bit further into my wrists. “My love; my life, where are you?”

I am always with you love, you know that.
Physically
I cannot be with you right now but draw strength from my love. Who is Drake Von Brugel? How did he get so much power?

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog I had woken up with.
He is…used to be a priest during the Inquisition. Drake is a brutal man and now a vampire. He has strong psychic powers, not unlike you.

One statement transferred from Andrew’s mind to my own.

The Queen of Dreams is awake.

At first, I didn’t understand what Andrew was saying. I had never heard of anyone described in that manner in all my years with the Clans.

I shifted, only for the restraints to painfully remind me of my bondage and I let out a low growl. “The Queen of…”

As quickly as Andrew had entered my mind, he was gone. I could feel the imprint of his warm kiss against my cheek. Oh, how I missed him!

My thoughts turned again to Drake and this Queen of Dreams. Could it be?

A sudden burst of light blinded me as the room went from pitch black to daylight instantaneously.

Like a thunderbolt, an image of a willowy, ivory-skinned, raven-haired woman flashed before my eyes, searing her visage into my brain.

“Good day to you, Silver Devries. I understand you and Father Drake are familiar with one another?” A rich, female voice spoke with an as-yet-unfamiliar accent. Her “W” sounded more like a “V“ when she talked.

When I opened my eyes, an ethereal looking woman stood before me, dressed in a dark-colored shift. The dress enhanced the pallor of her skin and she seems to glow almost translucent.

“You are quite a sight my dear. Drake, take those awful restraints off the poor creature. She must know by now that there is no way for her to escape.” With a flick of her wrist, Drake moved forward to do her bidding. It was as if in he was in a trance. It was unusual, as the Father Drake I had come to know always had cause for a biting, sarcastic remark. What mind game was this vampire “Queen” playing?

The so-called “Queen of Dreams” smiled at me, her fangs luminescent in the bright, white light.
Yes, I do have some influence over Drake, nothing he disagrees with I can assure you.

She spoke to my mind and her lips remained unmoving. One by one, Drake removed the manacles and stepped back to stand by this female vampire’s side.

She raised her hand again and I noticed a distinctive mark on the side of her thin, feminine wrist. The mark was a small tattoo of a bat-like creature with four stars as a crown representing the four corners of the universe. She nodded and smiled again.

“Believe your eyes my darling; I am indeed of the Toltec line. In fact I am the mother creator herself.”

“Yaqui!” I stammered, stunned at the awe in my own voice. “But…you don’t…you are supposed to be…”

“Extinct?” The ancient vampire mused. “That poor male creature of my race who your Clan saved was not the last of my kind. However, we are dwindling in numbers as we have yet to find a supreme vampire race to mate with. With the fall of the Aztec empire, I had thought for centuries that we had no hope of recovery. With my discovery of Father Drake and the rumblings of a superior male vampire who exists within your own Clan, my heart has hope again.”

I rubbed my wrists and shook my ankles to try and increase the flow of blood. I had not fed in almost two days and I was feeling weak, the hunger bubbling beneath the surface.

“I have no idea what you mean by a superior male vampire,” I said, trying to hide Andrew’s image from my mind.

“Don’t be naïve, Silver. After all he belongs to you; you created him.” Yaqui licked her swollen, ruby lips as she watched the fascination and then the horror that spread across my face as I finally understood who she was referring to.

“Andrew?“ I froze at the thought of this she-devil coming near Andrew let alone the Clan itself. Andrew was my love and my life. I could not allow this to happen, even at the risk of my own demise.

Without a second of hesitation, I gathered what little strength I had and lunged forward, baring my fangs and aiming for Yaqui’s throat.

Yaqui shrank back, shrieking for Drake to protect her. Once again, he raised one powerful arm and threw me to the floor like a rag doll. I was furious!

I looked up and noticed the distinctly blank look Drake had on his face. When he first captured me, he was at least in control of his senses. What had this creature done to him?

“Drake.” I panted, trying to capture the breath that he had knocked from my lungs. In combination with my thirst, I was becoming weak very quickly, which would not help myself or save Andrew from this Toltec vampire. “Where are your balls, man? You are letting a female control you. What would your men have thought of that?”

Knowingly baiting him, I kept low and waited to see if he’d strike back or if Yaqui herself would step forward to quiet me.

Much to my amazement neither moved. Very slowly, I stood up and reached for my dagger. Gone! I should have known that they would remove it. Frustration welled up inside me; I began to shake with fury.

“It won’t work, Silver.” Yaqui purred. “He will do only what I allow him to do and you are too precious a commodity right now to let you die needlessly. I can sense the hunger within you and I will take care of that so you don’t wither away or go insane. Not a pleasant way to die. Have you ever watched a vampire starve to death? It is a very painful process indeed.”