Clove : Book 4 of Lord Emperor Vampire Series

Hmmmm. I have a partial kudos listing…I think I’ll wait until I can get the whole thing. Ooooh, I hope you like. A little bit of darkness in everybody here. Bwah hahahahaha
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A rose by any other name….
I asked a question regarding Hades code name for the House of Assassins. The Loyal have opinions. I will agree with those who said Hades is his code name. It is apropos that the founder of the House of Assassins would name himself. Up until 800 years previously, he was just known as Cillian. The funny thing is that Liam—I don’t know if this the right term here—allowed his little Honeybee to start the House to begin with. I’m of the mind set that during one 50 year waiting period, Cillian did it as something to keep boredom at bay. By the time Liam was reincarnated, the House was integrated into the Nation and it kept little Honeybee busy and happy. Eh?

Thank yous, Thank you. Thank you. Kisses and huggies (er….hugs) to one and all who have dropped me a line. Spirit; Rosemary; Laur; Marin Liliz; lone_child; steph291; Ivette; violetstorm713; CrimsonVixen; mini.tales (x2); meadows_peak; Rosei; JesterX and lavcea.

Spoiler Alert!
Yes, steph291, I goofed. It is Han Solo not Lukeskywalker. Eeep! I have corrected that glaring error. Thankies!!

Chapter 175: Salvation

We were locked and loaded and riding the black van convey into Wessel hell. Krugar kept trying to talk to me. He had nothing I wanted to hear so eventually Haley got up and punched him in the mouth. That shocked me. I never associated extreme violence with my little Lycan pup.

“Shut up. Why can’t you be more like your drooling friend?”

Seven years of change was between my memories and his reality. I would have to work get to know him again. He had grown older. He turned back towards me, his eyes were glittered Lycan gold. He had gotten harder. He had to…he had pups to protect now.

Gary, aka Team Leader was fucked. Marcus got all he wanted or needed from that Orel Wessel and basically ripped him to shreds. Sasha murmured that this was what Nightengale looked like for three months. I didn’t give Gary three hours. Well he was just window dressing anyway. I just needed him and Krugar to get me past the first lines of defense. I could rip everything wide open from there.

Hades sat across from us in the cube van diligently cleaning his daggers. These were the same as Sasha’s. These were the same as mine. Without knowing it, he had passed gifts down his line. He glanced up and caught my eye. He snapped the daggers back home on his forearms sheaths. “You look like you’re dying to ask me something.”

“Why do you have me hanging in your entry way like that?”

Hades sighed. “I’m complicated, pravnuk. I have walked the centuries without giving a damn what others whispered about me. I’ve been above them, as Royal Consort, or as Head of the House. But you…for some reason your opinion cuts me to the quick. Claudius has power over me as well, but you…I’ve just handed everything over to you and you spurned me.”

“Spurned.” That was a bizarre word.

“It might be a question of never being denied anything before. It might be loneliness. It might be admiration. You took what I broke over two hundred years and you healed him, hell you re-birthed him in less than three years. As you said, you are not my jukebox.”

“You have a jukebox, Hades.” Claudius returned quietly. “You just keep refusing to see it.”

“William. He is like I remember, and not. I have never been stronger than him before. The familiar is unfamiliar. What you do call him? Billiam? We have too much history to start over. He’s trying to go backwards. I’m trying to move ahead. We are missing each other and…I’m hurting him. That is not my William”

/Checkpoint./ Vladimir called out.

/Hidden transmitters in each vehicle. We are good. Pass the word, it could get ugly real quick./ Marcus’ voice returned. “Getting close.”

“You should try and see him as he is and not as he was. You walking into the symbolic arms of another man every night is not helping things.” Claudius sidled next to me. “Sex will not be yours, Hades.”

“I know that.” Hades ran a hand through his hair. “I waited 400 years for his return and now that he’s here I’m fucking things up.”

“Sex?” Krugar questioned. Haley kicked him in the face. Krugar fell back against the computer wall and held his chin.

“You might want to keep quiet.” Marcus narrowed his eyes as stared down at the Doctor.

Hades picked a damn inconvenient time to ask for lovelorn advice. Fine, short and sweet it is. “Take my picture off your entry way. If you can’t get over the old William, put that freaking giant there.”

Hades head snapped up. “You saw him as a giant?”

“Norse god of war looking thing with big white wings…he makes Sasha look petite. I told you he came to me as Mr. L. I told you I met him on the beach and he tried to kill me. He is merged with Billy Envoy. He did that to get to you because you needed him. He knew you would hate him because he wasn’t all Imperial when he came back, but he did it anyway. You’re his jukebox, Hades. Billiam wants to be yours. Billy has loved you for his entire existence. Liam has loved you for your entire existence. If you can’t or you won’t let them be that special in your life, you should just kill him now. End both of their misery.”

“Them?” Haley whumped him again. Jees, the Doc was on a slow learning curve.

/Outer Patrol, gates. Everyone just stay frosty/ Vladimir’s voice sounded in my head.

“I don’t hate him because he’s not Imperial.”

“Well maybe you should tell him that. Okay, the second performance is getting ready. Showtime people. Marcus, it’s time to get the RC Orel Wessel up and ready.”

Gary was basically a puppet and Marcus was a puppet master. Gary rattled off the codes we needed to get the vehicles inside the compound. We were still isolated from the rest of the base. The Loyal and the Pack exited the black vans and Sang Ku opened the back door to the cube van. Gary hopped out. Sasha gave me a quick kiss to my forehead and pushed me toward the door. I dropped to the ground and Vladimir and Pytor grabbed my arms. I lurched a bit in their grasp. Camera were everywhere. I dropped my head forward allowing my massive amounts of hair hang around myself. They would expect me to be Mr. Docile. I heard Kugar jump to the ground behind me. Claudius had a vocal binding on the Doc and the tip of a dagger at the base of his spine as a deterrent to doing anything foolish.

It was strange. We were all dressed in Orel Wessel grey except for Marcus. Since he didn’t need to come inside anyway, it wasn’t a big deal. Three Loyal climbed back into the cube van and secured the doors from the inside. I didn’t need Azrael breathing down my neck if I got his puppy in harms way. Marcus could still out mindfuck Sasha and me.

Gary was like a hunting dog just coming home. He zeroed in on the Wessel quarters. Hades slipped past us, moving like a grey ghost. The quarters were secure by the time Gary lead us there. Eight Wessel lay dead on the floor from strategically placed knife strikes.

There was a camera outside of the barracks in the hall but not inside. Gary’s usefulness was at an end. Marcus dropped him like a dirty sponge.

“Hades, please take the Doc and get the fledglings. Be merciful to those who can’t leave, or ask for release. Take the half the Loyal.”

“Are you just going to cause mayhem?”

I flashed him a toothy smile. “Oh yeah. Now, it’s time to get personal. Marcus is the key. He sends out the call, retreat to the vans. Once we get the ball rolling, the rest of the Loyal will be coming in through the gates.”

“Any words of wisdom, Lord Emperor?” Riot called out.

All eyes turned and looked at me. “Kill everything that ain’t us.”

Everyone but Sasha and Krugar dropped down into reverence pose. I could feel Krugar’s seeking eyes on me. I pulled my Glocks and flipped my hair back out of face. I met his gaze and let a lazy smile cross my face.

“Let’s dance.”

Orel Wessel died. Fledglings died. Loyal died. We got pinned down in a lower corridor.
I had asked Marcus to make the rescue of the lost ones his priority. He didn’t like it but he followed Hades progress and advised him on enemy movements. That left us in the blind. I figured if we had to work that way, so did Orel Wessel. I found an access panel and ripped the metal door off, exposing the wiring.

“Hand of Light!”

Wessel didn’t know what that meant. The Pack backed off twenty feet. “Do you need help?” Sasha pressed himself up against the wall and flashed white teeth at me.

“Yeah, could you shoot the asshole at the end of the hall.”

“But there are so many.” Sasha peaked around the corner. “While there is not as many as there was a while ago, but they just keep coming. This place is just like an anthill.”

“Actually, I’m going to change the mood.” I holstered my Glocks and pressed both of my palms against the panel. I called the hand of light and channeled it into the power grid, gradually building up the charge.

“Fire in the Hole!”

I send out a huge blast. The whole of building glowed as it’s fluorescent lights flared hot white they exploded. Sasha was ready. Carnage danced down the hall avoiding bullets until he was in the middle of the siege group. My crystal vision snapped down. Carnage was a ballet de morte all on his own. The Pack stormed past me. Five, four, three. Two…one. The back up generator kicked in. I moved over to the emergency lights I reached up and touched the emergency light. I sent another pulse through the wiring. The hall went completely black.

Actually, if I was lucky the whole compound was draped in a shroud. I came around the corner my Glocks cocked and loaded. Everyone was dead. I mean Orel Wessel’s everyone was dead. “You will have to teach me how to control the Hand of Light.” Sasha lifted up one unconscious Wessel. He held my snack pack easily and even canted the neck to the right so I could get blooded up quickly.

I dropped fang and drained the human. Hmmmm, better. “Sweep this floor. No one moves alone. Make sure the kill is clean. I don’t want anything getting up and darting me in the ass.”

“Not even me?”

Sasha’s whisper just stunned me. He was a comedian. “You better not be darting anywhere.”

“There is only one place, I want to dart.”

I just did my impress of a goldfirsh. Sasha snapped my lower jaw shut, gave me a chuckle and turned back into my master assassin. Holy Toledo. I think I liked this new Sasha.

Floor by floor, we cleaned out the nest of unreasoning hatred. We finally ended up on Skell’s floor. I knew we would get here, eventually. My stomach clenched as I looked down the corridor. I could hear gun fire off in the distance. Orel Wessel wasn’t expecting an attack…not from their pet demon. The white demon of death they thought they controlled through starvation and drugs. My Lycan ranged the hall. There were a few screams of the dying then the Alpha Lycan forms lumbered out and continued on. I started forward with a purpose.

“Sex?”

“I need to see it.”

“See what?”

“Skell’s salvation.” Halfway down the hall, I turned into the leisure room. I marched right across the way and halted at the locked door. I kicked it in. It flew back off the hinges and crashed to the floor. I didn’t need light to see the battered surface, the locked lid. They controlled my little baby brother with broken and terrified fledglings and with this. I snapped the lock off with one hand and opened the lid. It was a second hand baby grand. I was surprised it just wasn’t a tiny upright shoved into a corner. They taunted him with pure sound.

I set my Glocks on the music stand and lifted the lid to expose the keys. I’d never played. I left the desire to learn with Skell and he did it with is usually attention to detail.
Sasha leaned against the wall just inside the door. He said nothing, allowing me this moment of understanding.

Yes, it was just as Liam had said. I clove off a piece of myself to make Skell. To give us all a chance to survive this hellish incarceration. I set my hands on the keys. I had never played before, yet I did. I couldn’t really explain that. I could tolerate that long haired crap, but it didn’t speak to me the way it did for Sasha, or Skell, even Azrael got it. I seemed to be a twenty-first century vampire. Sasha asked for so little from me. But what he did ask for, I remembered.

He straightened as my hands began to play the only song he asked me to learn -- Musicbox Dancer. People were dead and dying and I sat in the dark drawing out a soul full of happy on a piano. This was mine, wasn’t it? I didn’t go and mindfuck someone’s talent.

A shot went off over my head and I stilled. The last of the chords rang out. “I knew you’d be here.” I turned my head toward the open door. I got a Wessel dart in the upper arm. Holy shit!. I pulled it out as I spied movement deep within the games room. I knew that silhouette.

Andrews. Skells rapist.

“Ah, no movement. I’ll just as soon put a bullet through your neck. Leave your hands on the keyboard.”

The tranq dart hit my blood stream hard. It was double the usual dose. I was fucked. I couldn’t even reach my antidote. I slumped forward onto the piano, my forehead hit the music stand and my Glocks pounded on the keyboard in a loud cabang of sound then landed on the floor. “That’s a good boy… get all docile. I always liked you best when you couldn’t resist. You’re such a slutty hole. You can never get enough.”

My head slipped off the top of the piano and my face hit the keyboard with crash of notes. Andrews advanced, his pistol held out in front of him. I couldn’t blink. I wouldn’t have wanted to even if I was able. Carnage, the Black Death waited for the Orel Wessel to step into the music room. His blades seemed to gleam in the darkness. I swear I saw his natural eyes glow blue.

/My Fallen?”

/Just can’t move./

/How many, Sex?/

/Just one./

“I got something for you, Eddie. We missed you, the shower gang and me. We had to gangbang a recruit since you weren’t around.” He paused outside of the room. “I take it little Coven didn’t make it out in the big bad world.”

He stepped forward once more holding his pistol close to his side. “You want me to do you on your beloved piano, Eddie? You and the Doc used to think this was your safe place. You have no idea now bad I wanted to fuck you on this thing. You know what? I’m going to fuck your slutty hole right here before I call it in.”

Andrews stepped into the room. If I had bodily control I would have given Carnage the applause an artist deserved. He rammed dagger through the forearm of Andrews, twisted under that arm, pivoted and rammed the point into the wall. Andrews was now face first. Carnage rammed his face hard into the drywall with his forearm supported by the back of his dagger sheath. He kneed Andrews hard in the lower back driving Wessel’s knees out from under him. Andrews hung suspended from the dagger in his forearm. Sasha reached out and jerked his hair back pulling his bloodied and dazed face back to look up into the blue flame of my lover’s eyes.

“That slut hole belongs to me. Because you have dared to sully him, you have forfeited everything and everyone you have ever held dear. Your name will be erased from existence.” Sasha rammed Andrew’s head back into the wall and turned towards me.

“I apologize, Sex. You are not a slut hole.”

Sasha pulled out his epi-pen and pressed it against my neck I was fully expecting the raging agony of the ‘shot’. The numbness just went away. I moved my jaw. “Need the other one.”

Sasha pulled out my pen and hit me again. I sat up in full control of my faculties.. My face hurt from where I bounced it off the piano. “This thing hurt you?” Sasha stroked my booboo.

“I was gone by the time he came around. He hurt Skell He hurt Kevin. He’s the one who killed Darius.”

“What would you like me to do to him, or does Skell want the honors?”

“Father.” Claudius turned towards me.

“Yes, my youngest.”

“Make it last, make it hurt. It won’t bring me any comfort, but he should taste some of the misery he created”

“As you wish.”

“Thank you Father.”

Skell faded back quickly. I could feel the fear that still clung to him. Then again, he’d been raped almost daily for five years by this…I couldn’t even call him a man. Carnage set to work. He cut every major tendon. We didn’t bother with a binding. This building was secure and we wanted those who could hear to know the reaping of retribution. Once Andrews was immobilized, Carnage pulled the dagger from his arm and the warm mushy blob collapsed to the floor.

“Mercy….I beg you.”

I crouched in front of him, my forearms balanced on my thighs and looked down at with the clinical aloofness of a research scientist.. “Hmmm, I find that amazing that you can even use that word when you never granted it once. Carnage, you can remove a testicle.”

Andrews screamed as the deed was carried out. All of us heard that squish, while not vital, it was an important body part when landed on the floor of the music room. “That was for my little brother that you abused so horribly. I do believe that another payment must be made for Kevin.” Andrews thrashed his torso but Carnage carried out the next testicledectomy. He just whimpered and cringed. “You have one more payment…it’s such a shame you’re short on balls. I guess you’ll just have to suffer through a Loreena Bobbet.”

/We’re done here. Father, Sex, retreat./ Marcus call came in loud and clear.

I stayed Sasha’s blade.

“You will tell me all that happened here.” Sasha reached out and cupped the side of my face touching the bruise that was still forming. “I will know why your eyes are haunted.”

“You just banished my demons, Sasha.” I retrieved my Glocks and ran a hand over the piano. I’d have to get Skell one of his own. “Time to go.”

I paused when we got back at the corridor and looked back into the games room. I drew on the Hand of Light and pulled out my bow and a small fiery arrow. I didn’t want to blow the place up --yet. But I did want this room to burn. I loosed my shot. The dying screams of Skell’s tormentor followed us as I shot out the side window and dived out, snapping my wings wide to soar out into the night. I felt Sasha off to my right.

/We’re clear. Get everyone out. We’ll send it back to hell where it belongs./

I lighted on a hill. The force of Sasha’s wings staggered me sideways. His hands came up and caught me around the shoulders, pulling me back to his chest. “I apologize for standing in your way, my Lord Emperor. This should have been destroyed the moment we heard of its existence.”

“We ain’t done yet. They have vampires that intentionally make Orel Wessel fledglings to their specs.” I leaned heavily back against Sasha and was grateful as he wrapped his black wings around us. “How can someone do that? They make them…with the Covenant knowing they are abandoning them to Orel Wessel. How can someone do that?”

“My brother did. He did it for centuries without remorse. I can do many things, my Fallen, but that isn’t one of them.”

Hades voice came over communications. “Torch this place. Meet us at the rendezvous point. We got someone you’ve got to mindfuck.”

I touched my mic. “Where’s Krugar?”

“Your Zsigmond should be hunting him down.”

/You need to come to the kill zone, Lord Alpha./ Vladimir’s call sounded in my head.

Sasha pointed with his wing as Krugar staggered down the road. A tawny Alpha Male Lycan, in his Alpha form was running the scientist to ground. “Who is that?” I heard a familiar hunting howl. “Is that Haley?”

/He has come of age. Haley is now your Alpha Zsigmond. This is an appropriate place for him to come into his next life./

Holy crap. He was massive, even at this distance. He tore Krugar’s calf out as he loped by him. The screaming started.

“Let’s close this chapter down, Kitty.” Claudius wings opened wide and I stepped forward facing away from the Doctor’s screams. Haley was severely pissed.

I called on my Hand of Light Bow. Sasha moved off slightly and called his own. Of course it was bigger. His was like an English Longbow, mine was like a modern compound bow. They both shot arrows of power. I watched my arc and disappear into a broken window. /Explode./

Who needed scuds when you had Blue Line? The ground rumbled as we blew this chapter of Orel Wessel off the face of the earth. There were still cells around, but the main base in this part of the world was gone. The heat of the fire blasted against my face and my wings tinkled. I turned and looked at Sasha. His face was blank but his eyes. His eyes spoke volumes. He turned to me with tears welling in them. “The hell you have endured. What have they done to you? What have you survived?”

“Kitty…I’m home. Help me when I need it. Am I asking too much for you just to be there for me?”

“I am here. Do you just want to leave a crater, or is this a message to the other divisions of Orel Wessel?”

“This is just a message.”

“Yes, do not fuck with me, comes across loud and clear.”

/Lord Alpha!/ I turned back. The Pack had surrounded the fallen body. I had a feeling that this was going to involve something that I wouldn’t like too much. “The pack calls.”

It was a short soar down the hill to the killing zone. That was a draw back to running with Lycan. Everything is messy. The good ole Doc was in bloody bits and pieces. Vladimir stood beside the main torso. “In honor of Haley Satiou’s first Alpha run, first Alpha hunt and First Alpha kill…” Vladimir handed me a knife. “He is presented with the liver by the Leader of the Pack.”

Oh yeah, I wasn’t going to like this.. I dissolved my wings then walked up to what used to be Krugar. I sliced the belly open. Shades of Han Solo and the tautaun on planet Hoth. Eeewwww. The liver steamed in the night’s air. Haley hunched up in his Alpha Lycan form. He wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to be big. It was rather strange because when he morphed back down to normal Haley, he was still shorter than me. I held the bloody liver out to him. He dropped into reverence. His eyes were glistening with more energy than I have ever seen him. Holy crap. Was he going to be even more…Haleyish?

“My Lord Alpha.” Haley shuffled forward and ripped a big chunk of redness off the liver. He chewed and swallowed. He pushed my hand up to my face. Oh my…I tore a small chunk from it and chewed it until I could get it down without gagging. I think I officially became a cannibal.

I got the familiar Haley smile as he gathered the Liver from my bloody hand and offered it to his pack mates. I might have drained a few humans, but I’d never gnawed on one. Keep it down. Don’t hurl. Haley came around and offered a small piece to Sasha. He swallowed it without chewing. Haley grinned with blood rubbed all over his face. Marcus had the misfortune to walk up. Haley handed the brown vampire the last bit of liver a la Krugar. Marcus opened his mouth like a baby bird. Haley dropped it in. Marcus knocked his head back and swallowed without tasting it. This was proof that we were part of the Pack.

I still wanted to throw up.

Marcus gestured for us to come away from the Pack. He licked his lips and blinked. This wasn’t sitting well with him either.

“Do not throw up. It will be a greater insult than refusing the offering.” Sasha warned both of us.

“I wanted you read the Wessel yourself, but he was more fragile that I expected. He was a General. They had plans for you, My Lord. You were to be their vanguard against us. They were building an army of their own recruits…and of fledglings.”

“Where the hell were they getting the Fledglings?”

“They have a contact in a bar on 4th. The code is “Give me a hot Bloody Mary.” They are taken to the basement and the deal is struck there.”

Sasha asked lowly, “Communications were secure?”

“Nothing was sent out.

“You got the information straight from the informant Marcus. Give me your thoughts.”

“It’s a human bar. The Lycan would probably be a hindrance. Take a black van and about six Loyal.”

“What about the fledglings?”

“They were in bad shape, Sex. More than half asked for euthanasia. It was granted with quickness and skill. We have about twenty-three fledglings who have survived.”

“They need a haven.” Sex faded back and I reached out and gripped his shoulder. “You did good Puppy. I am so damned proud of you.” I pulled him toward me. Since we both were trying to keep from hurling, kissing was out of the question.

“Azrael.” I got a big spine aligning hug.

“You’re the only one who can do this, Puppy. You’re the only one who really knows.” I whispered into his hair. He pulled his head back and looked at me.

“What?” His brown eyes were puzzled.

“You know where the Covens hide.”

He dropped me and stiffened upright. “What?”

“We need to gather all the covens into one. We will integrate these Fledglings into them.”

“You know what I ‘m called?”

“You have been the reaper for decades, Marcus. Now, you need to be their savior. Find them. Force them to come together if you have to.”

“Where are we going to put them? There is no room at Von Drachenfeld.” Marcus sputtered.

Hades walked up. “I have, for the lack of a better word, a lair in the lower levels beneath my club. No one would dare attack me.”

“It’s settled then. Marcus, Hades protect the Covens and the fledglings. Claudius and I will hunt down the coven makers.”

I reached up and stroked my big man’s face. “You can do this, Puppy. You are amazing.”

He nodded then turned and marched away calling out orders to get our crew rolling to our multiple destinations. My puppy was a mastiff…I could put the safety of the Covens out of my mind. “Azrael…about Sex…”

I looked over the disembarking Loyal. “We all fell Father. We all fell under Orel Wessel. Xavier and me crashed hard and fast. Sex lasted a full year, by himself and in the end he had to leave a colder part of himself behind to form into Skell. Just be there for him. He deserves it. He is number one after all.”

Claudius nodded. He looked…odd with short hair. He caught me looking at him. He brought his hand up and brushed at the back of his neck. “Sex likes it.”

“And that’s all that matters, Father. Tick Tock. I’m not losing our only lead.” He nodded and lead the way back to the black Orel Weseel Van. I turned and looked at the brilliant fire burning high into the night. “Good job, Sex. Damn good job.”

* * *