Caramel: Book 3 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Series

Once again, we are at the end of another adventure of the House of Von Drachenfeld. I would like to thank the LOYAL who have left reviews, comments, questions and queries that have lead to new directions and insight for the characters and story. There will be an epilogue however, it’s going to be after a well deserved break. This particular installment “Caramel” was 571 pages long, so far the longest of the series. (And this is without including the epilogue)

So leave a review or a rating. I’d like to get your feedback on his chappie. I bowed graciously, I hope, to fan pressure. Once again. thank you for your time you have shared with me in reading my offerings.

Kudos to the Loyal: Spirit; Kuri; Tsuki the Moon; K; Laur; Rosemary; shiden; a.taste.of.insanity and Ciar!

PS: There will be a book 4: Cloves. Don’t know when yet.

Chapter 137: Nachtmusik

The ride back in the limo was cramped even though two were missing. Sang Kyu was laid out on one the seat. The Healing Light worked differently with Lycan. Everything was physically mended but it seemed their metabolism had to kick start something else. His breathing was easy and even, aside from his stillness, there was no need for alarm. I hoped. A small bundle wrapped in a blanket lay at the Lycan’s feet. I was going to ash Morose’s remains but Hades said the lab might be able to figure out exactly what that dart does and make an antidote. I think Mo would have liked to continue to be useful. Shade was off god knows where. When I tried to call her, she effectively told me to piss off. I had the hellcat speaking door slammed in my metaphysical face. I took that to be she was fine. Snowflake took up the whole of the limo floor. He was going to change into a smaller cat but I forbid it. I didn’t know how much of that poison was still in his system. I already lost Sex’s kitty. I wasn’t going to lose Azrael’s.

I sat on Armor. More like, I laid on Armor. Father was out there somewhere because Alarik’s little vampire generators were all close. I furrowed my brow. Sebastiano had said, when I joined them. So apparently the plan was to get to the lab, make me a rat, somehow re-program me, which would be the cryptic cleansing Alarik threatened, and then I would be paired up as the replacement parts. The latest model upgrade. A little phoenix generator.

What was the most surprising was that Hades lay sprawled against Liam. His face pale and he looked as fragile as a true 17 year old. Did I take that much from him? Liam caught my eye. “He is like your Marcus when he takes off for days at time. My honeybee isn’t as big as yours and the toll is a little greater. This doesn’t happen often, and I savor these moments. This is what he was like when he was human. So beautiful and pure. I didn’t want to change him into a Vampire…but I couldn’t leave him either.”

“Shut up.” Hades whispered. “If Xavier wants to know about me, he can ask me. Until then…”

“He never used to be such an ass. My sweet little honeybee.”

“You’re the ass that made me the ass I am today.”

“I love you too, Cillian.”

“William.” That was a breathy sigh. 900 years between them. Okay, maybe 500-550 of those years was Hades waiting for his Liam to return but still…it was possible. I burrowed closer to my Armor. It was possible.

If people stopped trying to kill me.

I killed three vampire without physically touching them. I destroyed their soul. I literally ripped it out of their body. I looked down at my hands and flexed my fingers. I killed them with a thought. That just ain’t right. It was done to help Father, but…I killed so easily.

“What are you thinking, Little One.”

“We should be helping Father.”

“We have helped him. Unless Alarik has reserve vampires in the wings, it will be just Ancient versus Ancient and I would lay money on Father.”

“We’re just going to sit here and leave Claudius out in the woods.”

Liam looked down at Hades. “Yes. Carnage made it clear to stay out of his way and I am honoring his request. We did what we came out here to do. We have our own wounded to tend to, fallen comrades to mourn. If Claudius wishes assistance, he has Baojia following him and Manu and Pyotr are trailing Alarik. Really, we would just be in the way.”

Liam being the voice of reason was a little too much. I started sobbing. It wasn’t crying. It wasn’t my usual out burst. It was shoulder wrenching emotional sobs. I destroyed vampire’s souls with a flick of my wrist.. Armor gathered me close. He took the back of my head and pressed my face up into his neck, hiding me with his hair. Oh, god. It made it even worse…

“Stop it….do not struggle….easy, Little One. This is war. You have to do many terrible things you normally would not even consider.”

“I didn’t even get to know him…”

/Morose liked you Lord Emperor. Queen Nightshade was always telling stories about you and your pod. He was the first to volunteer./

I curled in on myself even more. Tides comes in…tide goes out. Tide comes in…tide goes out. Breathe, Xavier. Breathe…

“When the day comes that you cannot cry any more, that is the day I will truly worry about you.”

“You…you didn’t see what I did, did you?”

“You were like a warm breeze. I could not follow you. All I could see what that you passed those Vampire and then they fell over.” I nodded. I was never going to show him how easy it was. More for my sake than his.

Someone’s phone started ringing. I knew it wasn’t me. My leathers were vacuum sealed to my body. Armor frowned and looked over at the Ancients. They looked back at us. The ring continued. Snowflake wasn’t packing so that left…Sang Kyu. I untangled myself and searched for the phone. “Yes.”

“Sang…who’s this?”

“Xavier.”

“Lord Alpha, this is Baojia. Lord Claudius has engaged the enemy.” I straightened up and brushed the tears from my eyes.

“Where?”

“ Two miles west of the explosion. We are in a natural clearing. Sir. Claudius has been shot.”

“WHAT!”

“It was one of those tranquilizer darts. He was only hit once. The rest of the pack has taken care of the remaining Orel Wessel that were running with Alarik.” I slid across the floor and slammed my hand against the limo partition.

“Sir?” The intercom kicked in.

“Stop the car.” I turned back to the phone. “Is Alarik alone?”

“There is another Vampire out here, sir. Manu and Pyotr are running him to ground now.”

“On my way.” I snapped the phone closed and shoved it inside my waistband of my pants. I hoped it wouldn’t fall out. I grabbed for the door. Armor caught my wrist.

“Xavier!”

“There’s another vampire source out there that Alarik can draw on. Two miles west of the burn site. Let me go, Armor.”

“I promised Father I would keep you away.”

I tensed my arm and pulled against his hold. He tightened his grip. “Don’t make me hurt you, Pretty. Let go.”

“You would not hurt me.” Armor returned.

“I would.” X had stepped aside to let me slip in. If Baojia had reported nothing out of the ordinary, X would have given in to Armor, Hades and Liam, but Father was out there tranq’ed with that blue line dart and Alarik still had a power source. Father was a blue gene carrier but what would that stuff do to him? “Let go, Armor. I have to go to Father.”

“I swore an oath to him.” His hold tightened and I could feel my bones grind on each other.

“To stop who?”

“The vessel. It does not matter who is in charge, I am not to let you…” I attacked. Since he had my right wrist, I threw a hard left cross that connected with his cheek. He wasn’t expecting it. Yes, I sucker punched Armor. He didn’t let go. I twisted and brought my knee up into his sternum then followed with a left elbow to the temple. Snowflake scrambled to get out of the way as Armor crashed to the floor. I wrenched my wrist free and jerked at the door. He snagged my ankle. I turned and kicked him in the face. I heard the crunch of a broke nose. I used the door jam to drag my sorry ass out onto the pavement. I rolled away from the limo and jumped to my feet. Armor thrashed his way up and out of the car. I was about twenty feet away sprinting for the woods. I willed my wings and ran up the side of a tree trying to get some height so I could fly back toward the burn site.

“And that’s why our Little Emperor was First.” I heard Hades calmly state as he watched me take flight from the other side of the limo. “You’re bleeding all over your leathers, Armor.”

“Azrael!”

I dived off the tallest branch and spread my wings. The ground came up pretty damn quick and I flapped a couple of times searching for a thermal. I was not the flyer in the family but I was going to have to buck up and learn on the job. There. I found an updraft. I squinted as the wind whipped past my eyes. Note to self, always wear your goggle glasses. You will never know when you get the kick the crap out of Armor. Okay…that was a sucker punch. We were going to have to lock ourselves away somewhere and finish that fight.

I glanced down, There was a lot of life in this forest. Everyone one of them had a heat signature. Hey, I had thermal vision. I blinked. Everything was back to normal. I concentrated and it when back to red. I swooped hard left. I almost flew into a guide wire. Gees, if I don’t keep my attention on what I’m doing I’ll be doing a Jane Mansfield.

Turning a convoy of six limos around on a narrow paved road was going to take a while, so I was the calvary. The ex-Orel Wessel lab ground was still smoldering and radiated in the red. Further west, I angled my flight in that direction.

Holy shit!

Talons raked my neck and wings beat at my head. I brought my hands up and got gouged. I lost concentration and dived toward the ground. I flared out my wings to slow down and got attacked again. I slapped the Great Horned Owl away but hooked my ankle on a branch. Oh god, this was going to hurt. I nose dived just like a kite. I got my left wing up over my head as I slammed into the branches and gravity decided to reclaim me. Lighten my weight. Lighten my weight. I still hit the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of me. Ow.

That damned grey owl flapped down and landed on a branch over my head. I could feel blood running down my back but that was from the chunks of flesh missing from my neck. Those great yellow eyes blinked at me. WHOOOOO.

Gloat you bastard. I was taken out of the sky by an owl. I did an inventory. Nothing broken, but I was going to hurt in the morning. I dissolved my wings in a flash of light. The owl was startled and flew away. I sat up with a groan. I touched my waistband. The phone was gone. Okay, up and at them. I used the tree to get back to my feet. I was a biped at heart so I’d continue on footpatrol.

I kept my shield up and blooded. Baojia had said there was another Vampire out here and I didn’t want Marcus finding me. I broke my Baby’s nose. I took a few breaths. No ribs broken. I blinked into thermal vision and started off in a westward direction not at a full out run but quick enough.

I skidded to a halt and stepped behind a tree. I had came up behind someone real quick. I thought I was pretty damn noisy but they didn’t turn around. I flicked my wrist and caught the dagger as it slid out. I worked at being silent this time. They never turned around, their entire concentration was in front of them. Alarik’s source. I stood directly behind the Vampire and glanced forward into a clearing. Two men danced in the dark the soft blue moonlight showed the glinting flashes of blades. I reached down and grabbed the figure wrapping my hand around the mouth and bringing my blade up to the throat.

It was a kid! It was a girl. One of the men faltered then turned towards us. “Vanessa!”

She screamed but my hand muffled most of it and her hand came up and clawed at my arm. I pushed the blade up into her skin. She stilled. The night was broken only by her shallow frantic breathing. I spied my Lycan ranged about the place. A quick sweep, and there was nothing but us around.

“Vanessa!” The man broke off his fight and came tearing up the clearing towards us.

“That’s far enough!” I called out. I whispered into her ear. “Walk with me or I’ll drag you. Makes no difference to me.”

I started forward. The girl stumbled as I forced her ahead of me, the dagger point still digging into her soft flesh.

I stepped out into the clearing. /Show yourselves./ The Lycan broke out of the woods into the field as well. Alarik looked around him and glared at me. “What, you have to shield yourself behind little children?”

“What, you have to use a child because your other batteries are all dead?”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re the assassin, Azrael.”

“Greetings Uncle. By the way, your division of Orel Wessel is missing.”

“This was just the research division. This was nothing compared to the rest of Orel Wessel. You’ve just activated the whole corp. They are going to kill you now.”

“Get in line.”

“Daddy!”

Ewww. Someone actually mated with this dead soul. I glanced down and flicked on X’s soul-o-vision. She had one. It was bright and shiny. Alarik was just black. Claudius…was chrome? I was scared but I looked down at my chest, I was bright and shiny as well. I was deeply thankful for that.

“Let her go. She had nothing to do with this.” Alarik ordered.

“But this is a family affair, isn’t it, Uncle? Well that’s what you told Sex – you remember him, your nephew that you want to make into your little Fuck Toy.”

Father walked up but stood back. He was sweaty and disheveled. Even covered in the blood of his enemies, Father never looked this worn out. It was that tranquilizer. It had to be.

“I told Armor not to let you come.” His voice was still strong though.

“Armor is out of commission at the moment.”

“Let the girl go, Azrael. She is not part of this.”

“She is giving him energy. She has stepped onto the chessboard. She’s in play.”

Alarik hissed at me, “Vanessa’s only ten years old.”

“I’m three. Didn’t stop you from attacking before.” Alarik made a lunge forward. I stepped back and drove the tip a little deeper so blood flowed down her throat. We didn’t need the light of the moon to see it; we were vampire, we could smell it.

“Azrael. Be my second. Vanessa will be Alarik’s” Claudius ordered calmly. “The moment Azrael notices Vanessa channeling to you, her age means nothing.”

Alarik paused then nodded. “Let her go.”

I pulled my blade back and let her go. She stumbled to her father, shivering in the night. I couldn’t allow myself to feel any sympathy for her. She had counted herself amongst my enemies. She had actively tried to help kill my Father. The Angel was Mercy was on strike tonight. I flared my wings. They ached but were still functional. Vanessa stared at me in awe but was trying hard not to be. I chimed as I stood there, daggers exposed. I was the Angel of Death.

In silence, like duelists we took up or positions on opposite ends of the clearing. Alarik argued with Vanessa for a moment then the girl turned and hightailed it into the wood. /Watch her. Just see what she does./

Alarik watched the Lycan disappear.

“Your talents know no ends.”

“Unlike you, I earned them.”

I saw his sneer as he pulled his blades again. “Pardon my French, Father, but you look like shit.”

“I’m just hot.”

“Bull, you were hit with a dart.”

I could see his eyes narrow and glitter in the moonlight. “Tattletale Lycan.”

“Any other side effect?”

“Not, I’m just hot and sweaty and I can hear my pulse in my ears…” Father turned and caught my by my throat. “You do not interfere. This is something that I should have dealt with 300 hundred years ago.”

I grimaced as his hand tightened. “So deal with it and let’s go home.”

Father dropped me and I cleared my throat and tried to breathe. His strength hadn’t diminished.

“You think it’s going to be that easy to kill me, brother? You couldn’t do it then. What makes you think you can do it now?”

“I just can.”

I had a deja va feeling as I watched the two Ancients charge each other. This was a helpless feeling. This must have been what Claudius felt when we were fighting Hades. I could only stand there and watch. They were fast. A human would just a blur of movement and a flash of light. I watched fascinated and horrified at the same time. Alarik was a knife fighter. He probably had to learn how to defend himself since he had no gift himself. His knife was fluid and sharp and danced in the air. Father could counter every move. It was a dance of death. The first misstep would be their last.

/Lord Alpha, the vampire stopped running about twenty feet into the woods. She is watching the fight./ Manu pack called back to me.

/Just watch her for now. Tell me if she looks like she’s doing something./

I concentrated of watching Alarik’s movements. Did he seem to be speeding up? Father barely stepped back out of a swing.

/Scare her, let her know she’s not alone./

It was a slight stumble but there is was. She was channeling to her father.

/No mercy. Make it quick./

/Understood Lord Alpha./

The night was broken by one choked scream. Alarik started and Father rammed his blade deep into his brother’s chest. I heard the low snarl as Carnage twisted the blade and snapped off the handle. Father stepped back as Alarik staggered backwards. His hand grabbed at the punctured area but he couldn’t pull out the blade. “You killed my child…” He dropped to his knees. His mouth gasping like a fish.

Claudius straightened and stared down at the dying vampire with distain. “You killed my child. You killed my wife and sire. I could do nothing about it then even though I raged. Now, you came for my sons. You tried to take my lover. You have never been anything but a thorn in my side, Alarik Du Bussey.”

“I was supposed to be the head of the House of Du Bussey.”

“Then you shouldn’t have killed your own mother.”

“At least, I won’t go alone. Du Bussey will have to find a new head.”

“I left Du Bussey. I belong to the House of Von Drachenfeld.”

I stared forward. “What do you mean? You won’t go alone?”

Alarik slumped back on his heels his head falling backwards to look at the night sky. “If you are not a Blue Blood, that dart will kill you….”

“Didn’t Katrina tell you? She came for me, because I was a Blue gene carrier. My father was a full blooded Blue. You’ve betrayed your Nation for naught, Alarik. Go to hell.”

Father turned and started up the small crest towards me. He stumbled a bit but righted himself. He offered me a smile as he straightened. A single gunshot rang out in the clearing. Claudius dropped to his knees. His hand came up to his chest. I could smell the cloves from where I stood. I flicked my eyes over to Alarik. He held a revolver and was preparing to pull the trigger again.

Rage ripped through me. I called on the Hand of Light and it ripped through my being like a jolt of electricity. I fashioned my bow and arrow and let fly before he could cock the trigger for a second time. My arrow was a blue flash of light, as fast as a strobe. It hit the dying Vampire.

/Explode./

Alarik Du Bussey, traitor to the Vampire Nation disappeared in a explosion of blue flames. I thought I heard a single scream then there was nothing but wet thunks of chunks landing around us.

Sex shoved me out of the way.

“SASHA!” Oh my god. He slumped forward on the grass face first. I ran to him. Dropping to my knees I called on the Healing light. There was a huge black stain on his back. I rolled him over and hugged him tight to me. We burned like a blue beacon.

“Sex….” His voice was strained. He panted. The smell of cloves was getting stronger as he bled heavily. “My beautiful Fallen Angel…”

“Sasha…” I pressed my hands against the entry and exit wounds concentrating on getting the healing light there. “Sasha….Sasha?” No…no…nononononon. This is not happening. This is NOT happening. His head fell black against my arm and those gorgeous arctic blue eyes closed. “No…you are not leaving me. Sasha….” I drew on more Healing Light. I could feel the exhaustion from earlier pulling at me.

“You promised to stay by my side. You FUCKING PROMISED TO RUN WITH ME! SASHA!” The Healing Light cascaded off of his body like water…nothing was being used. He’s not dead. Father’s not dead. I won’t let him be dead. Not from a bullet. I flicked my sight. His chrome ribbon was still there. He wasn’t dead…his soul was still there. I tried to capture it, to push it back but my hand passed through it. No!

What did he say? His shield had locked himself inside it. The shield was still there. So he had to be in it. He was still alive. A part of him was still alive in his shield. I was horrified as the chrome ribbon began to dim. I had to break the shield. I had to free him. I had to or I’d lose him. I forced my way into his mind…everything was blowing off like a suction was calling to it. I knocked aside memories and regrets searching for that bone and blood shield he made.

There it was. I stood in Father’s mind looking at what he had been forced to lock himself into in order to survive in this world of Vampire.

I needed it open, now. Marcus had told Azrael that the only way to defend at Lycan is with all out brute strength in one blow. I fashioned a heavy mace. I was not losing him to eternal darkness. I ran up and hammered on that hard shell with all my fury. Chips of bone flew off as I slammed my mace down on it again and again. It was thick and strong…and I wasn’t getting anywhere. I felt tears running down my face. The light inside his mind was getting dim. The swirling curtain of fog was down around my knees.
I took both my hands on the mace and rammed it hard on the surface. More chips went flying. No….

I slammed the mace down again and again.

“SASHA!” I hit the shield once more as the Hand of Light flickered out of existence. I had run out of my reserve. I lost him. I lost him. “SSSAAASSSHHHHAAA!”

Thud.

I stared up at the shield.

Thud.

I forced myself back to my feet. He was alive…I grabbed my daggers and used the hilts slamming down on the surface. I cut my hands to ribbons but then I heard a crack. It echoed through the almost emptied space. I rammed the blades into the hairline fracture and worried them back and forth working the crack wider. The whole thing just fell apart in the most undramatic way. Sasha landed on the ground and as soon as he touched his mind, the whole place lit up in blindingly white light.

I found myself back in the world holding onto his body. I cried as I watched that chrome ribbon curl back down. As soon as it disappeared, his chest rose and he gasped for breath.. That is the most precious sound I have ever heard. I shifted and propped him up against me. I fanged my wrist open and set it against his mouth. I stroked the side of his face. At first, the blood just pooled then he swallowed. I cried as I fed my Father…my lover, my heart.

He groaned and opened his blue eyes. Whoa. He had a flame on and it was blue. He grimaced and curled forward holding his stomach. “Sasha.”

He turned his head and grabbed at my hand. He panted and groaned rolling to his knees. I shifted to kneel in front of him. “Sasha?”

“Sex….aaaaahhhh.” He arched back his head and let loose a scream. I caught him in an embrace then started as his back began to pulse and the muscles spasmed. He threw his arms around my and squeezed hard….too hard. I just gritted my teeth. Then something else caught my attention. Blood streamed off his back in two diagonal lines. He screamed again as bloody stumps began to emerge out of the slits. Wings slits. Father had wing slits….and great big honking bloody black feathers.

Oh my god…he was Royalty.

And he was choking the life out of me. I shifted him and lay flat and laid on the ground beside him. He still had a death grip on my hand. I didn’t mind it one bit.

“Fallen.” His voice was a groan. The wings fluttered of their own account and he grimaced. “I have wings.”

“Hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it.”

“Does it ever. Sex…thank you.”

I smile cried back at him. His eyes were a bright blue flame, the darkest blue you could find in a efficiently burning bunson burner. “You just remember this the next time I do something stupid and need correction.”

I wriggled closer letting my body brush against his as much as possible. I was exhausted. “I love you, Sex.”

“I love you, Father. You’re stuck with me forever, you know.”

“Forever is not long enough.” Claudius laid his head back to the ground and closed his eyes. His breathing evened out and the hand bruising force lessened. His black wings spread out on either side, his left on covered my waist and legs. It was like a butterfly drying its wings after emerging from a chrysalis.

Since my face was on the ground, I listened as feet came running up. Manu dropped into my line of vision. “Lord Alpha, that was amazing.”

“We need blood. Lots of it. Are there any Orel Wessel in the woods?”

“We have tracked three.”

“Bring them here, please. Father needs it more than I. I can’t really remember, but I know it was excruciating when my wings popped.”

“The rest of the raiding party will be here soon. They are tracking you by your GPS.” I nodded and lay my head back down on the cool grass. For once, I didn’t care that they could find me. It was going to be a bitch to get Claudius home. I had wing envy. His were almost twice the size of mine.

His hand tightened on me even though his eyes were closed. “Sex.”

“I’ve got you, Sasha. I’ll never let you go.” I kissed his temple and closed my eyes.
“You can’t get away from me, even though you tried. Don’t do that again.”

What do mothers say? It was painful but in a good way. I never understood that statement until now. I was ragged beyond belief but it was in a good way. My eyes popped open. Oh. My. God. I just gave birth to my own Father. I am my own grandpa. I started laughing. I was stupidly delirious when Armor, the Ancients and the Loyal arrived. The Lycan returned with snacks not much later.

Hades took one look at Claudius and his wings and hauled off and slapped Liam hard enough to drop him to his knees. He turned and stalked off back into the night. Liam shook his head and moved his jaw. You could hear it snap back into place. “You might want to keep that a secret.” He gestured to Claudius then turned and went after his little pissed off Honeybee.

Armor knelt in front of me. He had two black eyes and his nose was reset but swollen. “I have a feeling that if you had not run off, Father would be dead.”

“He almost was. I have nothing left. I need to recharge before trying any healing.” Claudius was up but weak. His wings were dry now and even in the moonlight, they had a marvelous sheen. The Lycan had found four Orel Wessel scientists wandering the woods. I let Father have them all. He had lost a lot of blood. Which meant I was week as a kitten. Speaking of kitten.

/Snowflake./

/Yes, Lord Emperor./

/Claudius has been injured. It would be faster back to the limo’s if you can give him a lift./

/I got it./ Shade came walking out of the dark a bundle clenched in her mouth. /Here./

She spit out the package then licked her fangs. Armor unrolled the bundle. There were four full darts and a tranquilizer gun. /The labs back at Shadoe Inc should have better success at coming up with an antitode with pure samples./

/Hey! How can I still hear you? Morose died./

/You have bonded with a Hellcat. That bond is eternal or until you devour the soul. Morose’s soul is still alive and is awaiting reincarnation. When that day happens and when that body is ready to be weaned, he will be returned to you, Sex./ Her tail came up and brushed across my forehead. /You are a wonder, Sex../

I watched as Shade grew larger. I don’t think there has ever been a panther the size of a horse. Her tongue flicked out. /Ahhh, it’s good to be Queen./

I had to laugh. Father could still be obstinate. He was not going to ride Clydesdale Nightshade. It only took one stump and step on the trailing wing to change that attitude. He laid on Shade’s back keeping his wings up and out of the way as we started back to the convoy of limos.

“And Alarik.”

“Father killed him. Azrael just scattered the ashes. Armor, I can stay out?”

“I do not own you anymore, Sex. You screamed that at me along time ago and that is true. You do not need my permission to come and go. You need to work that out with your brothers. Marcus and I will just have to accept your decisions. But if I can make a request of all of the brothers.”

I craned my neck and looked up at him.

“Can you please refrain from breaking my nose?”

I took a deep breath, “ We can try, big brother. Let’s get Father home.” I stumbled and almost wiped out on my fangs. Armor scooped me up and I got laid ass over tea kettle on his shoulder. Eh, it was still better than walking. I closed my eyes and let the rocking motion lull me to sleep.

Tomorrow was another busy day.