Clove : Book 4 of Lord Emperor Vampire Series

OMG, you guys have put sooo much pressure on me for this chappie. I hope it meets your expectations. Please, please please, tell me what you think! Pocky is littered liberally everywhere.

Drive by and drop, Q/A later.
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Well it’s later. This chappie was a little intense to write. Especially when I’ve shelved the brothers for 11 chappies and needed to get back into their mind space. After I finally connected with X wasn’t too darn hard…had a pocky frenzy for a bit though. (Hmmm, shakes an empty box. I’ll have to re-supply, hmmm milk & honey pocky)

ATOI
Q: Hades is ranked second to Armor/Marcus? Wow, I find that a little strange. Actually, when was Hades ever ranked in the House?
Q:Ok, your officially scaring me. You are picking up minor details, I tossed in. Yeah, ATOI! (Shakes pom poms in your general direction) Yes, Hades has never been ranked in the House. He built the House of Assassins and sat on the throne. You must admit, he sucked rocks as a personal assistant. Hades has the personality of I’m the best at whatever I do, but sucking up to X and the boys wasn’t a highpoint in his life. Sucking up to Claudius was worse than X because of the 200 year relationship he forced Claudius to endure. So, since Von Drachenfeld is now allowed into the House of Assassins, he quit his job and petitioned back into the House. Yes, he could have kicked Marcus out of First and he might be able to take on Lord Emperor Claudius, but he is enjoying his stay at number 2. All the killing without the stress.

HallowsEve
I have answered your Blueberry Pound Cake question over in How Do I Write??Are you kidding me!! :) Chapter 20 – HallowsEve and the practically virgin Blueberry.

K: shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone.

Aurora0821
Q: How did OW know about the broken covenant and its interesting to know that they didn’t know about Claudius and Sex. Does that also mean they don’t know about Marcus/Armor. Who is giving them the info!!!
A: Ahem….wait for it.  I can say that OW doesn’t know about Marcus/Armor because while Alarik was a complete and total asshole, all he told them was “that boy ain’t right.”

Lioncourt: Thank you for your kind words. I was going to use Claudius’ diary somewhere. I’m so glad it worked and he has been forgiven by the Loyal…I think.

While I horde my Pocky, as I have to drive over an hour to get it…I will share with the LOYAL. MAUH! Duelriel; Minako; romanticfae ; Dove10; Rosemary, Laur; a.taste.of.insanity; HallowsEve(x2); Rainy;k; Dark Avenger; Natana; Aurora9821; Lioncourt (x2); Rosei; Spirit and meadows_peak. Oops and don’t forget Mihara!

As always...ENJOY!


Chapter 148: Fair vs the Real

I stared into his eyes. The emotion ripping through those arctic blue orbs was a fascinating display…almost like… air strikes at night. Father caught me by the face and gave me a shake. “Do you know what you are doing? What the result of this challenge will be?”

“It will bring the brothers back here.”

His hand loosened and I pulled my face free. It felt like my jaw was going to fall off and this was before I was going to deliberately get the shit kicked out of me. If I had planned this, I could have asked Claudius to knock me unconscious. He had come pretty close before. Now, as I understood it, I was now honor bound to go and take my beating from Hades.

“You do not have to get the brothers. That poison is just now leaving your system. In time…”

I lifted my hand and cupped his face. His hair had slipped out of his knot and cascaded everywhere. I didn’t do it much but my lips turned up at the ends. “My son. Thank you for accepting me. You are the third person in my life that has done that. The first was Darius. Then brother Armor and now you, Father/Son. But as you have shown me, we, the brothers and I have not been the only ones suffering.”

“In time….”

“That is something that we don’t have. I will not let Orel Wessel get away with this. What they have done to make me their sniper, their private assassin is unforgivable. What they have done to fledglings, to abandoned vampires, is far worse. It’s like killing newborn kittens. They are cold and frightened and lost and Orel Wessel just sweeps in and takes them. I’ve been experimented on, but they were careful not to kill me. The fledglings weren’t so luck. They must pay for their sins but somehow, things have to be settled in our House. I cannot get to the brothers on my own. I don’t know how. The first time I saw them was in the Darkness…”

“In the darkness? Sex has been alone in the darkness for five years?” His voice was alarmed.

“He was with his brothers. Sex is not alone.” I took a deep breath “From what I understand from these memories, they could interchange at will, even on the fly. I can’t do that. I can’t call them to me, so I have to go to them. To get there…”

“You have to be unconscious? I could do that.”

“Lanny has already made my proxy challenge.”

“Hades nearly killed you last time. He only surrendered because you were the Lord Emperor.”

“Now you are Lord Emperor.”

“Skell…” I watched Father’s face as he stilled. It was like that sad piano piece he was playing. It was unbearable to see. I have never kidded myself into believing everything would be all right if I just wished hard enough. Andrews fucked that out of me pretty damn quick. Some things were hell and they kept being hellish until you did something about it. Either you did something to make it worse, or you did something and made it better. At this moment in time, I don’t think it could get any worse. Comfort is not my gig but…I pulled my Father/Son to my chest and pressed his forehead against my neck.

“I can see clearly, Father Emperor. I can see what you did then. I know why you did it. I can feel what it did to him.” Claudius stiffened in my arms. If he wanted to pull away, there was nothing I could do to stop him. “I have the hindsight to see why you did it. You just didn’t factor in how fast that little bugger could be. This is not your fault, Claudius. Sasha. These past seven years of hell, have not been your fault. You wanted to unburden your sons. You wanted to give them a chance to breathe, to live to enjoy the fruits of all they had to learn so quickly.”

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

“But you did not create Hell, Father. It was there waiting for one misstep and the brothers fell into it.” The man in black stood at the door and was damned uncomfortable about it. “Thank you for raising our children. They are beautiful and bold. Their protective puppies are something else.”

“You have to watch out when Raissa and Arashi get to scrapping. They don’t know when to stop.”

“Something like Armor and Azrael? I kind of remember a broken piano.”

Claudius sat up. “This is what Sex bought to replace the baby grand that was broken.”

“He loves you.”

Claudius rose to his feet. “There was once a time when Sex believed he was unworthy of love. I showed him the error of his ways.”

“So does that mean I have to show you the error of your ways?” His forehead crinkled. “You are worthy of forgiveness. You might have to work for it. The pain I have every time I look at you is something you will have to combat.”

“Though I walk through the light of day, I will not fear, for thou art with me.” Claudius took my hand and pulled me to my feet. It was odd to be treated with something other than disgust and fear. I kind of liked it. He kissed my temple and swept my mini whippy braids back off my shoulders. “Marcus?”

I shook my head. My hair kind of whispered as I did it. “Armor.”

“He is back to stay?”

“He’s waiting for Xavier.”

“You do not have to do this, Skell.”

“We are one…after a fashion. We need to be healed and we can’t do that when I can’t reach them.”

“I will be your second.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to my ear. “Just follow Brawl to the gym. Hades does not know that there is a new brother. You have gotten stronger and you are faster. Use that with surprise and you will give a good accounting of yourself.”

I frowned. It seemed rather wrong to be cheering against his father. Claudius actually laughed at my expression. “Hades is more a wicked step father than anything else. Again, it is too complicated to get into here. He is your grandfather through association more than blood.”

“And if I win?”

He pet my head.

“You don’t think I can win?”

“You are ten years old, Skell. You are of royal descent and you have Phoenix wings. Hades is 900 plus. He has gotten vain and will not tell anyone his age. He has run the House of Assassin for 800 of it’s 810 years. No, I would say the odds are against you. But I will cheer for you. If you would permit me, I would wear a favor.”

“What?”

He flicked his wrist and held up a blade. I tensed. He saw it. “A lock of your hair, Skell.”

I gave my consent and he cut another braid off my head. What is it with the inhabitants of Von Drachenfeld? They have a hair fetish? The news of the challenge had spread faster than a computer virus. Suddenly, I had an armed wedge in front of me pushing Lycan and Assassin aside. By the time we reached the gym where this little fiasco was going to take place, Father Emperor had fashioned a bracelet out of the little white whip.

My blueberry was standing across from Hades. I had flashes of him in my mind. Not good ones either. I didn’t need to see the teenager naked…over me. I shuddered. He was my grandfather.

Apparently, Lanny hadn’t told him who the challenger was. His face lit up as he saw this body then shuttered just as quickly when realization struck him. “This is madness, Claudius.”

Father made his way into the center of the gym. The place was packed. He pivoted on his heel and looked around. “This is a House affair. Ranked Assassins only. Clear the area. NOW!”

I would have been grumbling my head off if I had to get kicked out of here. Hades stormed up to the tall man. “You have got to be kidding me. Is that Xavier?”

“Yes. The night I was shot, Marcus and Haley liberated him from Orel Wessel.”

“And no body told me?”

“The fewer who knew the better. Xavier was in extremely bad shape. As you can see, he feels well enough to challenge you. As you know, he cannot challenge for First without being ranked.”

“You know he can’t win.”

Lanny had glided over and stood behind me a hand lightly on my shoulder. I leaned slightly into his touch. It felt good to be reassured. I could admit it now. I sighed. It seemed like since I got here there has been nothing but revelations. I was tired of being the strong one. I could do it, but I didn’t want it 24/7.

Lanny leaned over and whispered, “Lord Claudius doesn’t know…”

I elbowed Lanny in the stomach. Vampires have damn good hearing. Sure enough the blonde, watery blue eyed teenager snapped his gaze up to me. He snapped his mouth closed. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Since, Xavier issued the challenge; you have the choice of weapons, Hades.”

“Hand to Hand. Do you know what the hell you’re doing?”

“Begin.” Claudius stepped back out of the center of the cleared gym.

Hades looked at me in expectation of an answer. I hammer fisted him to the side of the temple and followed it with a heel to the outside of his right knee. He dropped like a brick. I didn’t get the surprise of a third strike. He threw his arm up in a block and I barely got my forearm down to deflect his counter attack.

Lanny stumbled out of the way as I twisted and brought my leg up in a roundhouse kick. He caught my ankle. I forced my torso to follow through and rapped his temple again with the back of my knuckles as hard as I could. He staggered to the right but he kept his hold on my ankle dragging me off balance. I launched myself at him. We both crashed to the floor. I made sure I landed on him. I dug my elbows down into his chest.

I took a shot to my sternum full force. I literally flew up and back about five feet. My ankle gave out then I landed and I tried to roll with it. I slammed it off the floor. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to rotate with the momentum. I ended up back on my feet before the blonde was and I ignored the pain in my leg. I aimed a kick at his head. He dodged and swept his leg under me. I jumped over it. He spun like a top and brought around again. This time I got nicked and I had to toss my hands out to keep my face from kissing the tile.

Hades kicked me in the ribs. Something cracked. I rolled away. He attacked. I rolled again, shoving my hands down to the floor, forcing my hands hard enough to get back to my feet. We stood staring at each other. He was strong. Really strong. There was a red mark on his face where I had got him. His eyes narrowed and he glared at me.

“Who the hell are you? You’re not Xavier. You’re not Edward…You might be Azrael but…you’re colder than he was.” I settled into horseman’s stance, relaxed my arms and shoulders then lifted my hand and egged him on. Shift left, right, block, back up, block, he kicked me in the stomach and I left the floor and crashed into a lifecycle. I flipped over it and landed hard on my shoulders. My legs barely hit the ground and he was on me again. He picked me up by my throat, one handed. I grabbed at his choke hold.

“Who are you?”

I gurgled. He loosened his grip. I poked him in the eye. Instinctively he let me go. I dived around the equipment in the gym and worked my way back to the cleared center of the room.

“WHO ARE YOU!”

I forced myself to stand upright. “I am what Orel Wessel has called the dog of destruction. I am what they made.”

“Which is?”

“A Vampire killer.”

His eyes blazed red, well redder than the one I had my finger in. “You killed your kin.”

“I killed to survive. I still kill to survive. Do not take it personally, Grandfather, but you are just a means to an end.”

Well damn. I didn’t know red could get so….red. He puffed up like a grouse. “The Lord Emperor I knew would never…”

A slide show was playing through my head. Snap shots of memories all featuring Second of Assassins, former head of the House, and…as a rapist. I felt my eyes flare blue. He had taken Sex to his bed through trickery and deceit. He had put my brother into a coma…because….he couldn’t have Father. Bastard. Fucking little red eyed bastard.

He attacked. The force of blocking his blows was numbing my hands, I took a hard overhand blow to my forearm. It knocked my arm down and he slammed the back of fist into my jaw. I saw it coming but couldn’t get out of the way. I spun with the force of it and pinwheeled bringing another hammer blow around to his face. He partially blocked it but I still slammed hard into him. My hair swung out and I snapped my neck bringing those metal tips Armor had pinched at the ends to secure the braid like whips across his face.

The scent of Honey filled the air. Sweetness. I felt my fang descend of their own accord. His face was cut open from my whippy hair. I breathed deep and savored the…FUCK. He punched me in the fangs. I staggered backwards. He came and hit me again and again. I barely blocked half of them. He slammed an overhand fist into my shoulder. I heard my clavicle crack then the agony hit. I saw a blinding flash of light for a moment and I thought I heard my name being called. Gritting my teeth, I snapped my elbow out of my good arm and rammed it hard into Hades throat. Not hard enough. He dug his hand into the broken remains of my shoulder and it drove me to my knees.

I screamed. I punched at his balls. I missed. I hit him in the hip. I saw his knee coming up. He connected with my jaw and my head snapped back I hit the floor hard. The back of my head bounced off the tile. The darkness was coming. My eyes barely registered that Hades came up to stand over me. “Who are you?”

I closed my eyes. “Skell…Skell…Skelll.”

The pain faded. “”Wake the hell up you little…”

I snapped my eyes open and saw my red headed self staring down at me. “Candy will be the death of you, baby brother.”

I went to move but the burning angel knelt beside me and held a hand against my chest. “Jees, Skell. Don’t move, you’re fucked up bad.”

The short haired red head stood above the red winged on and stared down at me with a mixture of admiration and disappointment. “You could have had him. You had to let Hades break your melon open.”

“I didn’t know how to get here.”

“Sex, now that Skell read the diary…”

White hair cascaded down and tickled my face. I went to move it off my face. Crap, my shoulder was ground to powder. I couldn’t bite back a cry. Sex shook his head, “Stick with the plan, go heal our body, X. I’ll fix this little guy up.”

“You better hurry up, Elder Brother. Hades has a rage on and he isn’t thinking right.”
Azrael was looking up at the light above us. “Don’t worry about the baby here. He’s in good hands.”

I frowned at Azrael. “Who are you calling baby?”

“Well it sure ain’t Marcus now is it.” He flashed a toothy grin at me.

I watched amazed as Xavier, spread crimson wings and rose up to the bright light. I had to squint to watch him. The pale burning angel touched my face and looked down at me with a wintergreen gaze. This was Edward…this was who Orel Wessel wanted so badly. “Sex.”

“Hey there Skell. I understand you and I have the same problem.”

Huh? One side of his mouth turned up into a smile. “Everyone wants to call us Edward.”

“Yeah…”

“I’ve got to synchronize with X on the healing so we don’t get a double whammy back on us. We really don’t need a bout of blood starvation right now.” He pressed his palm to my chest careful of my broken ribs. “We’ll get you fixed up, then we’ll have a chat about these.” With his other hand he rapped his knuckles on the floor…no, I felt that through my back. I turned my head and looked at…silver metal feathers? I raised my wing and it responded. I had metal wings.

“Yeah, how come you get to be a F-15 and I don’t get anything.”

Sex frowned at Azrael then looked down at me again, “This is going to hurt.”

“What are you going to do?”

“We, baby brother are going to heal our shared body and heal your broken self. Now.”

The same bright blue light that had ripped through me before when Father burnt off Orel Wessel’s poison. This was just as bad. I could feel my fractures knit back together then my shoulder….Azrael knelt at my side and held my hand as my shoulder erupted into a pain I don’t remember ever feeling. I tried not too but it was too much. I screamed and….

I rolled as the Blue Light of Healing still clung to me. Hades cross stepped sideways, warily watching me as I got my feet under me and pushed myself up. Minor head rush. Damn it felt good to be out of the darkness and off the beach. Sun and sand can only last so long.

He had about five cuts across his face. The scent of honey was strong. I glanced down at the braids and saw them red with his blood. I lifted one to my nose. That’s what did it to Skell. The essence hanging to our hair distracted him. I honestly thought we just might get Hades down before this happened. I liked at the first bit of nourishment I’ve tasted in about six years. Oh God. I closed my eyes and savored it. I heard him shuffle off to my right.

I snapped my eyes open and he cocked his head sideways. “Hey there, Honeybee.”

“Xavier?”

“Miss me?”

“Yes. Stop this.”

“I need my ranking back.”

“You’re not the Lord Emperor any more. I can hurt you.”

“It’s never stopped you before. They need to pay, Hades. Orel Wessel needs to pay for what they did to us. What they did to you and Liam. What they made of baby brother. They cannot be allowed to continue.”

“What do you need the ranking for?”

“I need the House to be my army. I get past you. I can get past Armor. Father, may be a bit of problem.”

Hades drew himself up to his full height, which was almost eye level with me. “Why would Claudius be a problem and not me?”

“Sex would be upset if I hurt Claudius.”

Hades smirked at me. I hated that expression. I still hated that expression. “You understand, it can’t be like the last challenge. I cannot just stand aside. Don’t make me hurt you, Xavier. Don’t make me make sure you can’t get up again.”

“The brothers and I have learned a hard lesson, Hades.”

“Which is…

“Life isn’t fair.”

“It never was fair. You just had lovers and family to insulate you and protect you.”

“Which you also did in your own way…and for that I am sorry.” I fainted to the right. Hades pivoted right, right into my hand. He glanced down at the flat of my palm on my chest when realization hit him, just as I sent a pulse of the Hand of Light against him. He flew back and slammed hard into the mirrored exercise wall. The whole wall crazed then cracked and shattered. Men in Black ducked for cover.

I unfurled my wings. That felt good. It had been too long. They arced of their own accord reaching out and wing as if they were my fingers and were at the end of an really good stretch. The little bastard was still moving. I had to admire him for that. In a fair fight, Hades would kick our collective ass. In a knife fight, he could carve up our ass. In a Royal Blue Blood fight…I would win. I had to win. There was no time to second guess myself.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. I stepped on broken mirrors as I approached him. He was suffering from multiple cuts and the bruise on his chest was traveling up his neck to his face. I didn’t use the full thrust of the Hand of Light, but I didn’t skimp either. “Do you submit?” I raised my voice so everyone could hear it.

“No…” He pushed himself to his hands and knees. I brought the tip of my wing around me and under his chin pushing his head up His pale blue eyes were slightly glazed but they were clearing with every passing breath.

“Don’t make me kill you Hades. I need you at my back when we take on Orel Wessel.”
I hissed as he slammed a sharp shard of mirror into my wing. I used it like a forearm. I rammed it hard across his throat and shoved it up so his feet left the ground. I stepped into it to make sure he didn’t squirm loose. His foot narrowed missed my face. I fashioned my finger taser and zapped his knee. He shuttered then hung limp. “Do you submit?”

“STOP IT!” Liam’s voice sounded behind me. I didn’t dare take my eyes off of Hades. I had a tiger by the tail right now. He could still whip around and bite my ass. “Cillian!”

I heard a struggle behind me. This was a House matter. As far as I could tell, Liam wasn’t House. I stepped in tighter to Hades, hoisting him up a little higher. His face was beginning to turn blue. “I will ask you one more time, Hades, then I will kill you if I must but before that…look at him. Look at Liam.”

Hades forced his eyes open. “Skell, my baby brother made a promise to his fledgling. He wouldn’t leave him alone in this world. You know what that’s like. If you make me kill you. I will send Liam to you. I will not leave him here to suffer like you did.”

“No…don’t….hurt…..”

I hissed up at him. I could feel the strain of keeping him pinned against the wall in my back. I could barely keep my wing from starting to shake. “Grandfather…what I do, I do for the good of the Nation, as I have always done. I need your Rank. Submit to me, submit to me or die.”

“Hades!” Liam’s voice was an anguished cry behind me.

Hades lips had turned a deep bluish purple and his struggles were weaker. Screw your courage to the sticking post. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to watch what I had done. Looking away was a luxury I no longer had.

I was more of a croak than statement but I took it. “Yes.”

I dissolved my wings and Hades crashed to his feet. I shoved my shoulder into him to keep him pinned against the wall. He might cut a major artery if I dropped him on the floor. The bugger was heavier than I thought. Now that the match was over, everyone galvanized into action. Hades was lifted off of me and carried to the far side of the room. I turned as Father let Billiam go. He motored over to his little Honeybee.

Claudius just stood and looked at me. I could feel his eyes tracing every inch of me. Like baby bro had said, I was not the one he was waiting for. He opened his arms and waited for me. Just like he waited for all of us. My throat tightened and I pursed my lips together. The whole Rank and file of the upper eulachon of the House of Assassins was here in this crowded little room and I didn’t fucking care. I jumped into his arms and cried like a baby.

It wasn’t pretty. My throat was raw. My eyes stung. It felt pretty damn good. Claudius wrapped his arms around me and let me bury my face against his chest. It felt strange to be in corporeal form. The braids jingled as my head and back jolted from my sobs. Claudius rocked me back and forth, saying nothing but offering support.

“Missed you, Father.”

“I only meant to protect you, all of you. You needed time to grow. You needed time to discover for yourself what it meant to be eternal, what it meant to be a Vampire.”

I never joined the ‘I hate Father’ brigade but I had come pretty damn close to wavering before Orel Wessel found a way to lock me up. Then they took down Azrael. Sex…fought them. He fought with a passion I could only hope to match but in the end all that was left was a baby brother that Orel Wessel suckled to it’s withered poisoned teat. We could only watch in silence as they raised a ruthless killer.

It would take a killer without conscious to take them down. Hades coughed and hacked back into the land of the almost living. I blinked back my tears and looked over Father’s shoulder. Billiam had Hades propped up against him and had ripped his wrist open, forcibly feeding his love. Hades face was bright red. Billiam’s face was distraught. It would take a killer without conscious to bring down Orel Wessel.

It appeared, I was on my way.

I’d secured Second. Tomorrow, I would have to challenge for First.

* * *

Note: OMG I laughed myself silly over this typo. It was almost as bad as the "wigs for sick chicken" He slammed an overhand fish into my shoulder. It's been corrected.