Candy: Book 5 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Saga

I fully expect to get raked over the coals for this one. This was that omg plot point that popped into my head last chappie. I’m left thinking, wow the brain is a very amazing thing. I must have been pondering back in the primoral soup cause it came out fully formed. I like it. Maybe you will too.

Wether’s toffees to all the Loyal and True and ehh, I’ll read it but I won’t review. It’ll get you yet, my pretties. Bwah hahahah. k (hope your feeling better – keep giving me heck, I like it); spiritofbeyond; crimson vixen; steph291; asyenmari; rosemary; marin liliz; jewel2656; ayachan; laur; duelriel; lavcea; blaze and lone-child.

Chapter 190: Hail, hail…

While showering with Armor was a really tempting idea, and I mean really tempting, biting your lip to keep from moaning just at the deliciousness of the possibilities tempting; I didn’t. I never got the chance. He wasn’t kidding about tossing me in the shower.

“You got more hair than I do.” By the time, I scrambled out of the sheet he had vacated the premises. I got busy scrubbing my lover’s scent off of me. Too many sharp noses were supposed to be attending tonight. Even though it was family only, the Great Hall was going to be packed. And it was braided monkey suit time again. Claudia insisted on it. We had Claudius to thank for this wonderful bit of refinement. The last party the Empress hosted, Father wandering in prison orange knee shorts, sandals and a white wife beater tank. His hair was down and basically he was doing a “Slash” guitarist kind of thing. I could have changed her nick name from “Chippie” to “Boulder” that day. If I didn’t value my lips, I would have laughed my head off as Claudia gave her Father a good dressing down about decorum. As, I like using my lips to my sexy monkey’s delight, I hugged the nearest wall and got the hell out of the line of fire.

I was done showering in five minutes. It took twenty to dry my frigging hair. I brushed my fangs and stepped out into my bedroom to find a wrist shoved into my mouth. Crap.

“Taste me.” I was rearing back with an elbow when Liam’s words whispered to me. He angled his wrist and shoved it up onto my fangs until blood shot into my mouth. Gack…it’s….hey. I closed my lips and took another suck then pushed his wrist back away from me.

“Your essence isn’t ghastly any more.”

“Damn…it’s just what I feared.” Liam pulled his arm back and cradled it to his chest.

His essence burned, but it was the spice Cayenne. “What happened to the pineapple?”

“I happened to the pineapple. Get dressed, Xavier. Someone came peaking in while you were blow drying your hair. I was not given the welcoming eye.” Liam trudged over and tossed himself to a wingback chair. “Don’t you have any hard liquor around here?”

“Drowning your sorrows?”

“It’s either that or cry a river. I prefer the hangover.”

Don’t ask. Don’t ask. Stay out of it. Don’t get in the middle of it. “What the hell did Billy do?” Idiot. Stupid fool.

Someone had laid out what I was supposed to wear. I had a feeling it was my hunk of burning love --silk boxers with kissy lips all over them.

“Oh please, get dressed. I can’t have a serious conversation with you like that.” He leaned his head back into the corner of the chair and stared up at the ceiling. “This is the first time that I merged with someone who loves Honeybee just as much as me. That’s probably why William’s fighting so hard.”

I pulled my pants on the slipped into the plain white silk collarless shirt. “You’re going to have to give me the condensed version, Praded.”

“I’m burning William out of this body without intending too. I never noticed it but his essential essence was fading. It’s almost gone. We were too busy sharing my Honeybee to realize what was happening.”

I stilled. “Billy’s dying?”

“He really hates you when you call him that, you know.”

“There’s too many Williams in one body.”

Liam gave a big sigh, “There won’t be for long. Young William isn’t really dying, it’s more like going dormant.”

“Like Sex getting shoved in to the dark in the beginning.”

“No, this is a little kinder. It’s more like cryogenics. He’s not dead, but he won’t be coming back. This is because he was so young when we joined. No, this is because he is a Red. Once William goes dormant, I will have less than fifty years in this body.”

“This is why Hades kicked you out?”

Liam lifted his head and gave me that gray eyed gaze that basically told me I was asking stupid questions. “Hades did not kick me out. He kicked William.” Liam raised his hands and pressed them up against his eyes. “You would think that I would get used to this heartache. It was bad enough when it was just mine. I’m a doublemint twin right now and it’s killing me.”

“I only got beer.”

“It’ll do. I’ll drink myself into a stupor after your party gets under way.”

“Liam, what the hell did William do?” I shoved my shirt into my waistband and zipped up my pants. My docs had been replaced this night with black leather jackboots. Well, at least they were shiny. I sat on the bed and yanked on one boot. Liam was leaning forward now staring down at the floor. He was going to say what he wanted to in his own time. I yanked the other boot on then winced as I sat on my hair to do it.

Liam got up and headed for the bathroom. He came back with a brush and the silver comb/cage thingy Ping had given me, which I immediately phoenixed into a glob of metal, and she had it re-made. I wished they could have come tonight. I haven’t even seen their last litter. Two Alpha girls. Haley and Ping now had six boys and six girls. I had no idea how they coped, female alpha pack aside.

Liam kept quiet as he knelt on the bed behind me and brushed at my hair, pulling it back into a sleek tail. He secured the ornament in my hair the came around and began pulling hanks out so it hung in my face and around my ears. “Damn, it’s no wonder that poster is still selling, little Emperor. You are one sexy dude.”

“My sexy dude tonight, Liam.” Armor called from the door. The last time the braided monkey suits were out, Armor got out of it. Okay, I burnt his house down with all the contents inside it except for two portraits. You can tell he is from another time period because he looked natural and comfortable in this cosplay bit o’gear. The pants were tight on his thighs like riding jodhpurs. He had on shiny black boots. The deep burgundy military style braided jacket was long enough to cover his…ahem, assets but they showed off his shoulders to perfection. He had a black and red half cape hanging off his right shoulder and swept across his back to fasten at his narrow waist. I drooled on the front of my shirt. Dammit.

Armor arched an eyebrow. “I got the seal of approval.”

“Ha, ha.” I wiped my face dry.

Liam held up the same red jacket and helped me into it. “I think it’s best if you’re both here. This way, I really won’t have to tell it again.”

He came around and buttoned my coat, fiddled with my hair then brushed non-existent lint from my shoulders. He took a big sigh, “William found Morgan.”

I frowned. I never heard of anyone named that before. “Who’s Morgan?”

“Morgan is the reason why when I die, I leave the protection of hemlock on my Honeybee.”

“I don’t get it.” I shook my head in pure confusion.

Liam turned toward the small gas fireplace and leaned on the lintel. The fire wasn’t lit as he stared into the darkened alcove, but I doubted he would have been seeing it if it were burning. “I died on the battlefield and I left my love defenseless. I was in the body of a second blue son…I wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the ruling house this time. It was just going to be my Cillian and I sharing a peaceful and loving lifetime. It turned out the current ruling family got themselves assassinated. The first son of the blue house I had chosen was killed and everything landed on my shoulders…again. Hades was young, barely a hundred and fifty but everyone knew he had drunk from the Last Emperor. Aside from Cillian, no one knew about my penchant for reincarnation, they didn’t know that I was current Emperor as well. All they saw was that he was stronger than a normal fledgling should be and they guessed right that it was because of my blood.”

“So this Morgan guy force drank from him.”

Liam turned his head back over his shoulder toward me. “It is thinking like this that got you stapled to the wall, Little Emperor. My beautiful gentle shepherd boy…my Cillian was raped of his blood and his seed. Don’t tell me that men cannot be forced to ejaculate. You have had experience of that as a human by your lover’s hand and in the less than tender care of Orel Wessel. They took from a helpless fledgling, an innocence, that I had protected and cherished since his birth to the Nation.”

Armor came into the room and laid a hand on my shoulder. “Morgan is Hades’ son?”

Liam shook his head, “Morgan is Hades’ daughter.”

I think my jaw hit the floor. “There are only two Blue houses. Ours…and the Lesser Noble. Within the Lessers are branches, much like the Red Houses now. For the sake of clarity, I will call them Houses. Morgan was born of the House of Ptolemy. Her grandfather was an ambitious sort and I think he had figured out that Hades was the lynch pin for the throne. He had my shepherd boy captured and held against his will for eleven months, until I could return and free him. By that time, all of the House of Ptolemy had tasted his honey sweetness. All were abnormally strong, because of my blood. My potency. I rained down vengeance on that House. Everyone who dared to taste him physically, either through blood or seed, I hunted down and killed. When I finally was able to slaughter the House, the girl that they had mated my Honeybee to had the bratling. I do not assign the sins of the father/family to the baby. I took Morgan and my Honeybee back into Von Drachenfeld. She was raised as an Empress and when I did finally succumb again, she ruled in my stead.”

“I don’t get it…”

“I raised her as a Von Drachenfeld. She discovered on her own that she was Ptolemy and of what had happened to that fallen branch of blue vampire. She turned on Hades. She blamed him when it was my fault. She turned into a despot intent on destroying the Nation from within. No one had helped her family against my fury; therefore every House, Red or Blue could perish.”

“Another Armanita.”

“No. Armanita wanted to be the mother of the Nation, the Empress herself. Morgan…wants anarchy. To see the Nation rip itself apart would be the greatest boon to her. I had thought she was dead. She has been in exile all these years and no one has heard a whisper of her.”

I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this answer. “How many years since you last saw her?”

“About six hundred. Hades might be just a Red, but he had been drinking for the wellspring since his birth. By all rights, his daughter should have been a Red, with a dormant blue gene. She was a true Blue Flame – hers is almost a blue white but she not Blue line. She is not Royalty. She is not winged. She cannot use the blue line gifts such as the hand of light and the healing light, but like Marcus, she has the ability to mindfuck. Her power and skill the last time I saw her would make Marcus look like a dime store fortune teller.”

“Why do you think she was dead?”

“I tried to cut her head off. I took her wrist and right hand off. She ended up with a slice across her throat. By the time I found my Honeybee, she was carried off by her loyal followers. In the end, she had won. The wound she left to my innards was enough to drag me from Hades arms…and she had done so again.”

“Bill…William found her?”

“The glories of the Internet and World Wide Web. Hades does not talk about the past. I have honored his decision. William thought he was doing Hades a favor. I let him search because I thought she was dead. He knows he’s fading, Xavier. He wanted to give Hades a legacy before he falls completely. Instead…”

“He ripped open a raw wound.”

“Keep your guard up, Little Emperor. If William discovered her, she will track down the idiot who did it. I doubt that time will have softened her hatred for the Nation or the House of Von Drachenfeld. Aside from Hades, her father, she is the oldest living vampire in memory.”

“How the hell did she stay hidden so long?”

Liam gestured to Armor. “How the hell does someone so big, disappear for months at a time.”

“That takes a heavy toll on Marcus.”

“No offense, but even though you are now an Ancient…compared to her mental abilities, you are a babe in swaddling clothing. She could rend souls from Vampire’s bodies by thought alone.”

I stiffened. Armor dropped his hand on my shoulders and pulled me back against him. We, the brotherhood, had never told a living soul that we could rip souls out of our enemies.

“If she decides to stir. It’ll be a hell of a thing in this day and age. Wholesale carnage no matter the Blood.”

Great, I have another fucking birthday down the crapper. “You sure know how to suck the life out of the party, Liam.”

I got a sad smile back, “Hey, I got to be me.”

I reached out and dragged him close. “You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

He gave me a quick hug then pat my back before shoving me back into Armor. “You don’t need sally saltytears right now bringing everyone down. I hope to be comfortably numb in a hour. Go have your party.”

“Are you sure?”

“Bring me down a bottle of tequila if you want to make sure.”

“Is Hades coming?”

“I doubt it. If he does, it would probably be in everyone’s best interests for him not to know that I am here.”

We turned toward the door. “Hey. If you two want to come back and play turtledoves, go right ahead. If I’m passed out on the bed, just roll me on the floor.”

Well…crap. Crap, crap, crap crappitycrap. Armor took my arm and dragged me out of the room after him. We got about halfway down the corridor when he spun around and I ended up back first into an alcove. “What the hell…”

I got an Armor special. I got an Armor special with a side order of tongue. A strong hard thigh pushed between my legs and pressed up against my groin. I think my eyes crossed somewhere along this erotic assault. “I will not allow the Ancients to ruin your party.”

Party? There’s a party in the front of my pants, why the hell is he stopping? “Xavier…Little One.” Blink. Blink. Oooh, okay…blood is returning to the higher vertical head. Twenty four years, you’d think I’d get bored with this. Not a chance.

“Xavier?”

“Huh?”

I got a sweet, sweet smile. His thumb came up and rubbed back and forth across my bottom lip. “All the brotherhood have talked about this day, I want you to enjoy it. You are surrounded by family and friends and those who love you dearer than life itself.”

I watched a small circle of flame envelope the outer ring of his iris. “It is your birthday. It is our anniversary. I made you mine this night, Little One.” He leaned down again expertly teasing my mouth open. “Have I ever told you that I adore the taste of you and your minty toothpaste?” Hip jiggle right up my libido.

Huuuunnn.

“My Beautiful…”

“Uncle Armor, get off of Papa. The guests are here and everyone is waiting!” Riassa was the princess of poor timing. She delivered her message and turned on her heel and disappeared around the corridor before I even had a chance to look at her.

“Well you heard your daughter. She said get off on you.”

“She did not.”

“I know, I wish she did though.” Armor landed a kiss to the end of my nose and escorted me back down the hallway, all prim and proper except for the big hard on throbbing between my legs. Damn, my sexy monkey had some vibes coming off of him.

We rounded the corner and spied Lex stepping out of his room. “Where’s your suit?”

He was dressed punkish. His pants were tight and low. He had a tight leather tank that laced up the side and he had a dog collar buckled around his neck with a ‘X’ hanging down. It sparkled a little too much for glass. I reached up and pulled him down so I could take a good look at it. Yup, my rock star wannabe had a three thousand dollar black onyx and diamond dogtag that previously belonged to the Female Alphas. “Where did you get this?”

“Wolf. His Dad sent him five. All the band has one.”

“Cute. Change.”

“But you said we could perform tonight.”

“We got to wear this get up, so do you. You can change after dinner.”

“But…”

“Do not argue with your Papa.” Armor added pushing Lex’s bedroom door back open.

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, and Lex…you smudged your eyeliner.” I got the teenager equivalent of the ancient observation about being stupid. He turned on his heel and headed back into his bedroom. “Well everybody just loves me today.”

“Well not quite, Blood Emperor.” I turned and looked up…way, way up into crimson tinted irises and long blue strands of hair.

“Oh, the night is still young, Lanseng. Skell will be around later.”

“This I know. However, I had come to give you your birthday present early.”

I had Sex’s perchant for ripping open presents. The palms of my hands just got itchy. Gimme. Gimme, Gimme. Lanseng leaned over and bowed with is own elegance and grace then came forward and gave me a kiss that I swear was intended for Little Deadly. I fell back against Armor as a oversized tanned hand cupped be around the back of the neck. He whispered in my ear, “It’s not your fault.”

Uh? What? Lanseng stood up then gave Armor the same lip lock. I was crushed between the two of them. I heard him mutter something to Armor but my ears were full of braided cord in my left ear and a powder blue silk tie in the right one. I squirmed and Lanseng stepped back.

“Papa, Uncles – you are really pushing it.”

Lanseng let Armor go, chucked me under my chin and turned back to Raissa. “Princess…allow me to escort you back inside.”

“I saw you playing suck face with Papa Xavier and Uncle Armor.”

“I was merely wishing them a Happy Anniversary.”

Raissa looked up at tall blue and muffiny. “What do you mean? Mom and Papa’s anniversary isn’t until August.”

“Armor made your Papa this night as well.”

Raissa looked over at us. You got ripped off. You only get one present instead of two.”

I shook my head. “I got more gifts that I could ever have hoped.” Armor’s hands came up and rested on my shoulders. I leaned into him as blueberry taffy lingered om my tongue.

“If you can’t touch it, it’s not a gift. I still say you got ripped. Come on, Mom’s getting ansty. Where’s Lex?”

“I made him go back and change his clothes. He’ll be right out.”

Lanseng offered his arm and my coppertop laid her hand on his sleeve and they both sashayed into the Great Hall. Raissa didn’t wear dresses often but she could pull off anything if she put her mind to it. Right now she looked like a proper princess, right down to the four inch stiletto heels. Holy moly. How can she even walk in those things.

“I got your love, this night.” Armor whispered into my ear.

“Technically, you got my ass. You didn’t get my love until tomorrow.”

Claudius stopped beside us, “Technically, we got Sex’s ass. Several times if my memory serves us correctly.”

Father was dressed in the braided monkey suit too. His last one was the black and silver of the House of Du Bussey. This one was red and burgundy. Nothing looked bad on him. He had his hair pulled back and tied with a burgundy ribbon. My reply was cut off as Lex came motoring up. He had fixed his eyeliner but was holding his half cape off his forearm.

“Help. I can’t get this stupid thing to hook right.” Damn, I got myself a fine looking boy. Armor turned him around and easily draped the cape the way it was supposed to. Claudius looked at his punker/goth eyes then turned back toward the Great Hall.

“Fledglings now a days.”

“It takes too long to put it on and I’m going to have to rush to get changed after dinner.” Lex returned with a pout.

“Enough. Your mother has come looking for us twice…I don’t need her pissed off the entire night. Who’s bright idea was this anyway?”

“Skell’s.” Father and Armor returned in unison.

“Oh, well. Gird your loins, my fellow Von Drachenfelds, we are going in.” We got to the door and Chesterton nodded to us. He pointed to the…I don’t know, town crier? The man had a voice on him that would drown out most PA systems.

“Crown Prince Xavier. Prince Alexander. Lord Claudius. Lord Marcus Von Drachenfeld.”

Considering this was supposed to be family only, the Great Hall was filled. My princesses were surrounded my sniffing youngbloods. The Imperials were close by to them. Vladimir was behind Claudia dressed in a contrasting braided monkey suit, black with red braiding. Actually the Imperials and most of the Loyal who were here were dressed the same way. Somewhere someone must have thought we were dressing a marching band.

Everyone started clapping. For me? Lex headed over to Claudia and gave her a peck on the cheek.

“Lady Regent Xavier, retired and Mage Xavier.”

I turned on my heel as Mom and Dad came into the hall. I thought Lanseng and Claudius were elegant. Mom walked into the room and re-defined grace. Dad was in a natty navy blue suit, which was odd because I never thought I’d see him out of his corduroy pants and denim shirts. Mom looked at me and I let myself hope that I had been forgiven.

“Come here, Babyboy.” I walked into her arms and she gave me a big Hunter hug. It wasn’t as rib creaking as it used to be. She was seventy-five years old human after all.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Rob and Shayne confessed that they badgered you to fix my heart. Lois and Lane said they would have asked you too but you had already done it.”

“Still…I did it against…”

“I’m a stubborn fool, Babyboy. But thanks to you, I am a live stubborn fool. Now, all is forgiven and forgotten. I’m here to party.”

“Now that you’re here, let’s let the party started.” I turned and escorted Mom toward the front of the Hall. Once I had her sat down, I pulled out a chair for Dad. He sat down and waved at some Loyal.

“Thanks for coming. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Nonsense. Besides, we haven’t seen the winglets for a while. They’re all grown up I see.” Mom pointed toward Callia and some hulking brute of a Vampire. Father neatly cut between them and escorted Callia off to her seat. “It’s good to see that they are well looked after.”

“So, you’ll be coming out to the farm after the ceremony on Sunday?”

“Ceremony?” I frowned as I wracked my head. I had nothing listed on my calendar.

“Oops, we jumped the gun dear.”

“What?”

“Lane is taking over as the next Lady Regent Hunter. Shayne is stepping down after twenty-two years.”

“Oh my god…time flies.”

“Lady Regent Westie and Mage Whitecliff; Peter and Lois Tennen and Austin and Lane, Amanda and Alastair Brewer.” I could feel my face break out into a wide grin. The whole family was here including my little grandniece and nephew. The winglets descended on the babies before I could even get off my knees.

“Sunday is a secret. Pretend to be surprised.” Dad whispered to me.

There was a loud gong. Gack, I thought my ear drums had ruptured. “Dinner will be served momentarily. Please take your seats.”

“What’s going on?”

I shrugged. “I was told to dress up and behave.”

“Which I will admit is rather hard for him. Good evening Maggie, Rob. Your grandbabies are just adorable.” Claudia sat down. Vlad pushed her chair and then joined up with the Imperial table. One by one my..ahem mates wandered to the table and sat down. The winglets had their own table with Jax and Shayne’s crew.

The lights dimmed and staffers hustled around lighting candles on the table. “What’s on the agenda?”

Claudia just gave me a smile and ignored me. That’s not a good thing.

A Lycan hunting howl ripped through Hall. It wasn’t a familiar voice. I went to jump to my feet but Armor slammed me back down into my chair. The Imperials had bristled on instinct but they didn’t move. What the….?

“Just watch, Little One.” Armor whispered into my ear.

From the far door that lead off to a corridor to the kitchen, it opened slightly and two wiggly forms came charging out dragging something behind them. What the…? Wolf cubs not more than two months old. They were dragging a brightly wrapped box behind them like sled dogs. One got tangled up and crashed then got run over by the gift as the other pup continued running only to get yanked to a halt by the demise of the first one. They both started crying.

/Lord Alpha, pick them up before they get run over./

Haley!

The door was shoved open again and there was the heavy thump of marching feet. Holy crap. The Saitou pack was here and they were stepping. I lurched forward, grabbed the pups cubs and dragged them to my chest for safety. I got tangled up in the gift they were dragging and ended up sitting on the floor with them on my lap. Claudius reached down and dragged me back against the table by the collar. “It seems you are only graceful when you are flying, Xavier.”

The two pups stopped crying and looked up at me. /Hello./

They’re eyes got big as I spoke to them in Lycan. /Alpha?/

I smiled down at them. /Let’s watch your pack./

The floor vibrated as ten Lycan came pounding out of the back kitchen. I cuddled the pups to me and grinned. Prince Haley and Princess Ping followed their offspring a little more sedately as the pups began to dance out a choreographed routine. This couldn’t be a better birthday party. The gang was all here.