“Nothing, he hasn’t eaten. Maybe he’ll get the remnants of the human when the Queen is finished with her.” The animal’s handler laughed as he finally gained control of the beast and they walked on.
Aris waited in silence, preventing her attempted query with a tender kiss. “Wait,” he whispered so softly she had to strain to hear his words even though his lips touched her ear. She shivered as she felt his warm breath against her skin. “We are still in danger. They are still within ear-shot. When they have gone, we will continue to safety. Once I have you out of harm’s way, I will answer all your questions.”
As soon as the three vampires disappeared from sight into the castle, he resumed their descent. He carried her close to him as he ran through the forest to safety and the waiting circle of her Immortal friends.
Aris’ hands gripped the steering wheel as the car sped toward the distant horizon; the early morning sky glowed with the first rays of the rising sun. Richard spoke quietly into his cell phone so as not to wake Sarah sleeping soundly in the backseat, her blond head resting peacefully against Gabriela’s shoulder.
“What was that about?” Aris kept his voice low.
“Simon. He will meet us in London in a few days. Demitri and Alexi will stay on to keep watch on the coven.” He checked to see if Sarah was still sleeping before he continued. “It seems Queen Mariska went raving mad when she heard of Sarah’s escape. She ordered the male and female who had served Sarah in the castle to be extinguished. Then she single handedly, stone by stone, destroyed the tower, leveling it to rubble. She railed at the King, yet when he remained unruffled, she further demanded he eliminate the guards who had taken Sarah back to her chamber. The King refused. According to Simon, she stormed from the audience chamber, the entire castle ringing with her shouted accusation that DeMarco still loved the human woman.”
Aris glanced in the rear view mirror. He would feel much more at peace when they were all four on an airplane heading to London.
“The amazing thing is,” Richard continued, “the situation has worked to our best advantage.”
“Our advantage? How so?”
“The Queen ignored the King’s command. With the help of one of the King’s most important generals, this new man, Esteban, one by one, they impaled and burned the guards. When the King heard of her actions he became livid at her treason. He commanded her and Esteban to death and they fled into exile before they could be captured. All of this within twenty-four hours of Sarah’s escape.”
“I still do not understand how Mariska and this Esteban’s exile aids our cause? And who is Esteban?”
“Quite simply told, actually. Esteban was the King’s hand-picked general. He is relatively new to their coven. It seems DeMarco changed him for the express purpose of being the commander of his troops. He was a famous bullfighter known for his cruelty in and out of the bullring. DeMarco knows his crude vampires must be taught the finesse of evading an impaler. Apparently, he felt none could be better at finesse than a bullfighter., Even though he joined them only recently, he is a most powerful and charismatic leader and when he left with the Queen, almost half the army rallied to follow. The Spanish coven’s forces are split; civil war begins between them.”
“I see,” Aris spoke, a slow smile of comprehension lighting his eyes. “Their internal conflict will give us more time to train our soldiers, more time to prepare while they do battle with one another.”
”The Queen’s army with Esteban in command retreats from the castle even now as we drive toward Barcelona.”
“Did Simon have any idea what their destination might be?”
“Rumor in the coven is their ultimate objective is London. Now they travel through the Pyrenees Mountains to find a place suitable to train for war. Their way is difficult for in order for such a great number to stay out of the sight of humans they must travel the snow banked gorges of the mountains. Their progress is slow but they continue forward. The Queen is determined to murder Sarah and take over the Catacombs with or without the King beside her. Without him, her hope is Esteban. Her troops are diminished by half and there are factions within factions. They are all ill-trained and undisciplined. Esteban must gain military control of the coven immediately. The exiled vampires must be brought into harmony before they can be taught to fight together against King DeMarco and then a war of extinction against the Immortals. The Spanish royal conflict is our windfall; we have a greater window of time before we must depart London for Spain.”
“Richard, we must keep constant watch over Sarah. She must never be alone. Mariska took her once. She can do it again.”
“Aris, she was taken from the hotel with Gabriela in the next room. Sarah has human needs, how can one of us be constantly in her presence?”
“I will not leave her alone. In London or Chicago or anywhere on this planet. Never again.”
“But you cannot spend every moment with her. You are needed in the Catacombs. Without you, there is no leadership for the army. Without an army our society is doomed. You are the core of whatever becomes of our military. Aris, the Immortals need you if we are to survive.”
They sat quietly listening to the hum of the tires against the paved road. Aris was deep in thought until at last, he broke the silence. “I will speak with the Council. Under the circumstances perhaps they will offer Sarah sanctuary in the Catacombs. I know she will be safe beneath the ground with our people.”
“They will never agree. Never before in all of our history has a human visited the Catacombs and left without being changed into an Immortal.” Richard shook his head. “Aris, they will never agree.”
“Strange times breed strange acts. I will approach Bartholomew. As head of the Council, perhaps he will listen to reason. We shall soon see.”
A freezing wind blew the high drifts of snow in blinding swirls as Esteban drove the coven forward. Even with vampire vision it was a struggle to see more than just a few feet in front of him as Mariska trudged through the blizzard at his side.
“How much farther to the caves?” She could barely see him through the wall of white flakes.
“Not much farther if the trackers are correct.”
“We must settle and feed on the herd of humans we have brought before they all die of exposure. We have already lost several.”
“They were not lost.” He smiled. “They made good fare and their blood will sustain us until we come to rest.”
Turning to look behind them, Mariska could hardly see the herd being driven forward by her coven. Their own food was strapped to their backs as they staggered through the waist- high drifts.
“You were brilliant to collect them from the villages that we circumvented.”
“And you, my Queen, were fast thinking to steal a supply of the blood taken from blood banks and stored in DeMarco’s vault.”
“Yes, without it we would not have the sustenance we need. It is tasteless and there are no death throes that are so delicious, but it will keep us strong and able to fight.”
Stopping in his tracks, Esteban turned, raising his hand to halt the bedraggled army behind him. “There.” He pointed to a huge sharp overhang of rock. “That is the cliff. Come, the caves are just below.”
Far behind them, one of their captives fell to his knees. One of the guards swooped down upon the fallen human and began to feed. When he was satiated, he passed the dying man to his comrade. Once drained, the limp form was tossed aside as the vampires forged ahead through the blizzard.