Warlock's Fate: An Andrew Moore Novel 03 Read online

  At least, I had gotten the impression she could have ambushed us that night. Any being who thinks long and hard before taking a life, can’t be all that bad. Plus, I was fairly sure she’d flirted with me a little bit. I’d have thought I’d be happy with four women I loved, plus Gina who I cared about a great deal, but apparently, my dick has other plans. I was happy of course, I truly was, but that didn’t seem to dissuade my inclinations toward Annaliese. Maybe my mates would talk some sense into me.

  I did seem to be attracted to powerful and strong willed women, not sure if that said good things about me or not. Honestly, I tried not to think about it too much, but my mind definitely wandered to her looks and personality in the quiet moments of the last few days.

  But, that wasn’t all I thought about in regards to Annaliese.

  Annaliese was also scary as hell, although I didn’t let that show in our meeting. Her aura of vampire magic was a third stronger than Julia’s, which made her thousands of years old. I wasn’t really sure how old though, because I wasn’t sure how old Julia’s animal demon was. It was hard to judge, I just knew Julia fell between Arthur and Annaliese in power. If it came down to a fight, which I didn’t think it would, it would take a team effort to win.

  Regardless, I wondered what she was up to, and if she’d had any luck at all talking Arthur into accepting a truce not born in fear. I’d thought about calling her, but I didn’t want to interrupt if she was still working on persuading the head vampire in Seattle to let it go and just… stop with the fighting. It wasn’t as if we had conflicting interests, all four groups could exist, and not step on toes.

  I’d also been thinking about our discussion in Gina’s office. I’d really like to see that peace happen. The biggest obstacle to that of course, was the vampires and shifters. They… hated each other. Still, I’d be satisfied if Arthur simply backed off and stopped plotting to have us killed. At least they couldn’t use the mages to do it anymore.

  I’d give her a few more days I supposed, and then call her, text her? One of the two.

  It’d been a busy few days to say the least.

  Chapter Ten

  Annaliese sighed.

  She’d been arguing with Arthur for three days now, on various subjects touching on politics, psychology, and morality. She’d been trying to convince him of the truth, that control was an illusion which eventually took most vampires down. But… his ambition and the years had if anything, made him grow harder that way, his answer for anything he couldn’t control, was to kill it.

  What he didn’t know, was that she was fighting for his life, she could see the signs that he wouldn’t last much longer before he truly lost it, doing who knows how much damage on his way out. He was far too set in his ways, and he wouldn’t listen with an open mind.

  Shifters were unpredictable, but the answer was hardly to massacre them because of it. He couldn’t control the shifters, so he’d been controlling their population instead. It was… sickening to her.

  He couldn’t see that the war was his fault, that Seattle’s unsettled supernatural populations was due to his almost insane need to be in control of everything within his reach. Worse, the coven having to obey him through the vampire bond, had only reinforced those beliefs over the years.

  They were in the heart of the coven, relaxing on couches. Or at least, she was relaxed. Helen and Jason hadn’t spoken in two days, out of fear that anything they said would be misconstrued as agreement with her opinions and outlook on life.

  She said, “Arthur, I won’t kill the warlock for you. He is stable, and wishes nothing but peace. I have done an exhaustive investigation on him. I’m worried for you Arthur, can you live with that? Speak the truth without regard for my position.”

  Arthur shook his head, “I called you here for help. I have the city under control, or I did before that abomination showed up. Yet, all you’ve done is spout your usual nonsense, and espouse your weak outlook on life. True control takes strength of will and unflinching action. The truth is you’re just too weak and squeamish to do what is necessary to maintain control. I regret requesting your assistance. I’ll handle the warlock on my own, and when he’s gone, the shifters will be culled even further when the wards fade.”

  Weak? It took strength beyond his comprehension to live honestly in a world where she knew she had no true control over anything but herself. Her conclusions were undeniable, the coven was heading for a crossroads, and Arthur might even manage to take them all down with his insane policies, and do who knows what to the city. Why hadn’t she seen this in her past visits? Maybe she hadn’t wanted too.

  Could she allow him to continue? Treat the shifters like vermin, attack the warlock and cause untold deaths, not to mention bring the coven itself down while he went insane with the need to control all around him. Ambition could be corrupting in humans, but in a vampire who lived many lifetimes, it could cause endless cruelties before it finally all caught up with him.

  She considered just leaving, he was still her turn, and she cared for him even if their love was long dead. But… she’d made a judgement.

  There was a threat to the coven, a coven of vampires that were all ultimately of her own line, spawned from the very demon inside of her. She could feel the connection to them all, the need to protect and guide them, a feeling she’d ignored easily in the past, as she’d been mistakenly confident in Arthur’s leadership. It was no longer easy to ignore, there was a threat, but the threat to the coven wasn’t the warlock.

  It was with great sadness, that she did it. Arthur didn’t even see it coming, as she took his head with shadow wreathed hands.

  Helen screamed, and Jason froze.

  “Be still,” she ordered calmly.

  Jason said, “What are your orders sire?”

  She snorted, “Don’t call me that again, ever. Nothing with the mages changes, we’re at peace with the warlock, and no vampire is to take a shifter’s life except in self-defense. Both of you go, and make sure your people understand those orders. For now, any old orders that don’t conflict with those are still in effect, I need time to review the coven’s standing orders, understood?”

  Jason said, “Yes Annaliese,” with Helen echoing him just a beat behind.

  She said, “You can also call me Anna, or Elyse if you wish. Now go.”

  She sighed as they left, and then she sat down. She was far too old to want anything to do with ruling a damned city, baby vamps, or covens. She was supposed to be in Prague next week. She’d had no choice, or at least, she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she’d allowed Arthur to descend even further into insanity, and take only god knew how many other lives with him.

  She’d have to train Jason and Helen to take over for her, and then appoint the best one so she could be free of this nonsense again. She didn’t think it would take all that long, maybe a few decades. She sighed and grabbed the tablet, to see just how rigidly things were set up. Hopefully, the coven would take well to her changes, she’d find out.

  She pondered that, maybe if she was lucky, Helen and Jason would mate and she’d just leave them in charge as a couple. Of course, that wouldn’t happen overnight, Helen would first have to come to terms with losing Arthur.

  Speaking of mates, she hadn’t had one of her own in a couple of centuries, and she couldn’t get the handsome warlock out of her head. His beliefs and outlook on life seemed very compatible with hers, which along with his looks had turned her on a bit the other night, and she wondered if all his women would mind sharing with one more. She wasn’t sanguine about joining their bed, or whatever kind of harem he had set up, she’d need to be here running her coven for the next fifty to a hundred years, thirty may have been a bit wishful, but maybe some arrangement more like Gina’s would be possible.

  She could drop by for dinner, a chat, or a fuck. Except unlike Gina, she’d be capable of keeping her legs closed, and being faithful to the warlock when she wasn’t there. She’d given up on jealousy long ago,
but he was very young, and she could make that unfair compromise, it wasn’t like she ever slept around anyway, in her long life. She’d always been celibate between her mates, and faithful with her current mate. That was more about her, than anything else.

  She crossed her legs and wiggled as her core tingled, it’d been entirely too long since she’d had good sex, or any sex at all for that matter.

  Of course, she was jumping ahead a bit, she thought he’d be a good fit for her next mate, and she didn’t doubt the attraction was there, but there was the small matter of getting to know each other first. Yes, she knew what he was about, his outlook on life, and his intentions, which were attractive and compatible to her outlook, but his personality and attitude towards private relationships was still a blank. She wasn’t about to just show up and spread her legs, and commit to a centuries long mating. That’s what she wanted, not a meaningless fling, but it would take time. He was just… the best candidate for compatibility that she’d seen in a long time.

  Plus, she loved that part of things, taking it a little slow but not too slow. It would be a ball to get to know him, seduce him, and make him hers, even if she had to share. She even thought that might be part of the fun, it would be a challenge to seduce a man with five loving women in his life already, wouldn’t it? Although, maybe not, his demon patron was a succubus after all.

  She’d have to give it some thought, but she thought she was ready. It was just over two hundred years ago when her last mate passed away. Andrew was the first man to intrigue her that way since then. Granted, a lot of that was timing, and her grieving finally passing, but a lot of it was him as well…

  Samantha giggled in the shower, and cried, as she felt both a joyous thrill run through her body, and a stab of deep disappointment all at the same time.

  It was still a bit early, but magic was sensitive, and according to her spell she was pregnant. Which probably meant she’d gotten pregnant on their first try, since it had only been five days. Her giddy giggle and some of the tears were from that joyous happiness. Of course, the stab of disappointment was because the bedroom game she’d been playing with Andrew, teasing him hard about maybe knocking her up this time, was now at an end. She’d really enjoyed teasing him and inciting his passions to the point he snapped, lost control, and took her like an animal. She loved how tender he’d always get afterward as well.

  She’d have to come up with something sexy and new to replace it, but for now she was drawing a blank. Not that she believed their normal desires and need for each other wasn’t enough, but she quite enjoyed the spiciness of the last few days.

  She dried off, and pulled on a flowing red skirt and a creamy white blouse. She blushed, as she closed the drawer and passed on the panties, they’d just be soaked and on the floor in an hour or so anyway. She felt a little naughty, and sexy, when she walked out to join everyone for breakfast.

  She didn’t quite know how to share the news, and a little of her social awkwardness came back as she started to stack some pancakes on her plate, with little pats of butter in between each one. One day she’d get over that awkwardness completely she thought, maybe.

  “Umm, I’m pregnant, pass the syrup?”

  Katia picked up the syrup, and had it halfway toward her hand before she started to squeal.

  “Really!”

  She giggled, and nodded. She blushed when Julia leaned over and kissed her cheek, and she felt Lilith’s hand stroke her leg under the table as the succubus claimed a proper kiss right on her lips. She beamed, and felt tears form in her eyes as she was once again overwhelmed with happiness.

  Then it was her turn to squeal, as she was pulled up into Andrew’s arms, and she melted into his kiss.

  He said, “Excuse us a minute… or sixty.”

  She laughed as he picked her up, and carried her back to bed.

  “You know I’m already pregnant, right?” she asked cheekily, as his hands stripped her, and he once again used magic to banish his own clothes, he really seemed to like that spell.

  “I love you, I’ll cook you fresh pancakes later.”

  He pushed her back onto the bed, and crawled in between her legs, she was breathless with need at his actions. He hadn’t even asked, he was just… taking her, just the way she liked it.

  Or… so she thought.

  She loved to feel helpless, to be taken hard and fast, and to feel out of control, but still so very safe in his arms, hands, and in his love.

  But that morning, he made slow sweet love to her in a way that made her breathless, she felt cherished and loved far more than she’d ever believed possible, and the intensity of her orgasms were off the charts and didn’t even compare. It was so intense, she didn’t want it to end, and when he filled her with his seed, she cried again, and snuggled into his side.

  It was beautiful, and she loved her new life, and her new family so much that it hurt. She also no longer regretted losing their bedroom game, that morning had been the most intense pleasure and love filled morning in her life so far.

  And when they were finished, and showered, he even did as he’d promised. He made her pancakes…

  Julia was happy for Samantha, and anything that made Andrew happy made her happy, but it was slightly bittersweet. It still hurt to be barren, when she’d found the love of her life, but it had been close to a week since that horrible night, and it wasn’t quite so raw anymore. She thought she was getting a handle on it.

  She’d also been experimenting with her magic, trying to figure out new stuff she could do. The teleportation had come naturally to her upon waking, the vampire magic and her animal demon seemed to respond to her desires. Wanting to be in the kitchen was a clear easy thing for the demon animal to understand, even if the mechanics of teleportation was not.

  That meant anything too complicated was unlikely, but with her desire and focus she could channel her inner magic. Her animal demon was like… an untrained puppy, and seemed more than happy to help as long as she kept him or her fed with raw meat. She’d also discovered, the more magic she did, the more often she’d have to hunt, so she had to keep that in mind.

  She’d learned she could levitate, and run even faster when calling on the shadows within her, as if she wasn’t entirely in the mortal plane anymore, but still there regardless. She didn’t try to figure that part out, just what she could do with it. She’d also been able to sheath her hands with shadows, which seemed to be able to cut through just about anything without effort. Though, Samantha’s protection spell against magic had been able to stop her from cutting an object in half, so it had its limits.

  She’d also figured out the little trick that Annaliese had done to Samantha’s spell, and had accidentally taken out all of Andrew’s protection spells, so she hadn’t tried that one again since he had recast them on her. She thought her magic would do good against a spell cast against her, it would give her a moment to eat the spell with her magic, instead of say… falling asleep because of a sleep spell, or even being banished by a banishment spell. That was all well and good, but she knew Andrew’s spells would do a better job that way, but it was good to know she had an alternative.

  Compulsion seemed more under her control now as well, now that she was aware of her ability to control her vampire magic in a limited fashion, she could push more magic into a compulsion, or even less and merely be persuasive.

  The last thing she’d figured out how to do is increase her healing speed, by focusing the magic where she’d been hurt. Her experiments in that area were limited however, so she wasn’t sure what the limits were. At the very least, her brain would still be a mortal wound, if nothing else, as long as she was conscious and able to focus on the damage.

  Katia came in the workout room as she was playing with levitation, and gave her a wistful look.

  She asked, “Katia, need something?”

  Katia shook her head, “I have an offer for you actually.”

  Katia moved forward and hugged her, and she melted into t
he sweet woman’s embrace. Oh, Katia could be hell in heels, but overall she liked her very much.

  “For me?”

  Katia nodded, “I’ve been working on it for the last week with Lilith, I’d gotten an idea, but I wanted to make sure it would work before we spoke.”

  She smiled, “What idea?”

  Katia bit her lip, “I thought that after I have my son, I would offer to carry your child with Andrew to term within my body. A surrogate birth. Lilith finally found out this morning that a Fae she knows is willing to do it for us. Andrew’s sperm, your egg, my womb, your child.”

  She fell to the floor and landed on her ass when she lost concentration, and felt tears in her eyes.

  “Are you sure?”

  Katia smiled shyly, “Very, I love you, and I want to do this for you, for you and our mate.”

  She stood and engulfed Katia in a hug, “Thank you. That seems so… trite.”

  She lost her composure then, and started to cry on Katia’s shoulder.

  Katia said, “Lilith also said you could pick the sex, or the Fae would flip a coin. I’m not sure she was joking.”

  She giggled, “Leaving it to chance seems more natural, don’t you think?” she said into Katia’s neck. Then she kissed it softly, overwhelmed by the generosity of spirit in her mate’s wife, her co-mate, and someone she loved very much.

  Katia nodded, “I’m taking that route for the second one, but Andrew needed an heir first.”