Devour, A Paranormal Romance (Warm Delicacy Series, Book 3) (22 page)

“Promise me you’ll be careful, Claire.” She squeezed me to her, before holding me at arm’s length to gauge my response fully.

“I promise, mother. I’ve got father and Arrick here with me, they won’t let anything happen.” I pointed to the two most important men in my life who were gathered in a very animated conversation with Rennek, Eli and several members of the King’s Snake. Not to mention, my secret weapon, it was just one more thing to insure our safety while we were away.

“I know you do, but I still worry,” she admitted.

“Everything is going to be fine,” I assured her. “We’re going to Titan to get help, this is a good thing.” I soaked in the certainty of my own words, as a smile blossomed. I didn’t believe anything would happen on this trip, and if it did, I knew I’d be able to stop it. With a stone in my possession, I felt I had the power to overcome any obstacle.

As if he was reading my mind, I caught Arrick turning around to give me a curious glance. I smiled innocently at him, offering a little wave as if I hadn’t been thinking about my little secret. We’d been getting along so well I didn’t want him upset with me. He was just as paranoid about the stones as my father was.

The bustle of everyone loading into the black SUVs broke Arrick’s concentration. I kissed my mother goodbye, and as Kyri approached I offered her a small grin which she acknowledged with a nod. I couldn’t help frowning as I turned around and made my way to the middle SUV. Kyri was so serious, which, considering what was going on was probably a good thing, but I hoped that some day after everything was over she might actually smile.

***

When Arrick told me that Titan was in the south, he wasn’t kidding. It took us the better part of a day to drive all the way through the entire Zakarian region. It was lovely seeing the countryside, and passing through so many of the regions cities. They were all very similar to Naos in the way they were all located as close to the coast as possible.

Because the SUVs had blackout windows that blocked out the deadly rays of the sun, it was easy to sleep during the day, although twice I tried to stay up to see the sunrise. I always fell asleep. It didn’t help that the rest of the guards in the vehicle talked battle tactics with Arrick constantly. That was enough to bore anyone to sleep.

After passing through our region we spent two days driving through what my father referred to as the ‘divide’. “It is the space of uninhabited land between our two regions.”

“Looks creepy. I can see why no one lives here,” I commented as I looked out the open window at the dark landscape. The bright moon lit the area revealing a canopy of skeletal trees. They all appeared to be half dead, only some of their branches growing spindly foliage, while others were completely bare. My guess was that the putrid smelling water the trees were growing out of didn’t do much for nourishing the plant-life. To make the place look even more like a nightmare; large, black birds cawed evilly from their perches among the half-dead trees.

“You wouldn’t believe it, but it was actually quite beautiful here once,” my father said.

“No, I wouldn’t believe it,” I replied, a laugh escaping out of Arrick at my words.

“It’s true. The river that used to feed these wetlands dried up decades ago. The water that remained grew stagnant, creating these swamps and nearly killing all the vegetation.” I stuck my head back out the window trying to imagine what the terrain used to look like, but I couldn’t picture it.

“We will be arriving in the Titan region soon your majesty,” one of the guards told my father over a two-way radio.

“Thank you,” my father replied, then released the radio and set it on the dash. “Tomorrow night we should be arriving in the capital,
if
I remember the distance correctly,” he said, looking back at me from the passenger seat.

“What is it like? The capital, I mean,” I asked, curious about visiting this new region and secretly wishing it was everything we were hoping it would be. Or rather, the help we thought they would be.

“I’m glad you asked,” my father said with a smile in his voice. I swallowed hard, realizing that I had a history lesson in my immediate future. “The region is named after its king, Kass ‘Titan’ Locke. He got his name during the war, being that he was the largest vampire anyone had ever seen. He was a fierce warrior, who fought with such savage tactics it was hard to believe that he was on our side.”

“But, he was, wasn’t he?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, he was. Titan was one of the few among us who was willing to fight fire with fire; as your friend Bennett would say. Where we were afraid to resort to devious tactics; Titan crushed the enemies before him without reserve. He was like a machine with no other thought than to destroy Baal and his followers.”

“He was a badass!” Arrick chimed in. My father chuckled loudly, nodding his head in agreement.

“Titan was also one of the only ones who never believed Baal had been defeated. He tried to convince the rest of us that our enemy was still out there, but…”

“You didn’t believe him?” I questioned.

“No,” my father answered, regretfully.

“How come?”

“Titan had become consumed with revenge. We believed that his hatred would turn him into the very thing he sought to destroy.”

“Did he?” I found myself asking, oddly enthralled by my father’s tale.

“No, I don’t believe he did.”

“Baal couldn’t defeat any of our forces when they were led by Titan, so instead of retreating he chose different tactics,” Arrick continued the story. “He sent the Jackal after Titan’s wife.” I gasped at his words, not happy about the turn the story had taken. My father had mentioned that Baal targeted Titan’s wife, but he never revealed what had happened.

“Did he kill her?”

“Killing her would have been a kindness,” my father interjected. “He poisoned her.”

All I could do was stare at my father in shock. I didn’t even think such a thing could be done to a vampire. We never got sick, and as long as we were able to feed, nearly every injury could be healed rapidly. I figured I really shouldn’t be surprised by the depth of Baal’s wicked acts, but it was hard not to. He was capable of anything. He attacked the capitals of two great regions; controlled monstrous, mutated beasts that were once vampires like me; and commanded unimaginable power thanks to a vile necromancer. Everyone else might have doubted him, but I agreed with Titan; there was no other way to defeat Baal than to focus on our hatred, and channel it through every blow we threw at him.

“What happened to her?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer. Being poisoned by Baal could only lead to one thing.

Death.

“I don’t know,” my father answered, a hint of pain in his tone. I looked to Arrick, but he just shrugged his shoulders. Did anyone know?

The swamp eventually broke way to a flat desert surrounded by barren mountains, dotted with sparse vegetation that grew denser the closer we got to the capital city. Tall, palm trees lined the dirt road that led to an illuminated cityscape in the distance.

I grew more and more anxious the closer we got. The sounds of music and a bustling night-life filled the darkness, and I leaned forward between the front seats to get a better view. My eyes focused on the glow that cast shadows along the sandy dunes. It didn’t sparkle like Naos did, though. The lights of the city burned orange, reminding me of the bonfire we had at Palace Noire for the dead dark vampires. Maybe that had been Titan’s intention. I couldn’t help but feel the hatred Titan had for Baal radiating off this city in waves of heat.

For some reason I expected there to be armed guards waiting for us at the city gates, but as we approached I discovered I was wrong. Stone walls soared at dizzying heights around the city, separated only by a colossal wooden gate. Our drivers slowed our caravan of steel as we drove through the wide entrance.

Towering buildings of stone and plaster lined the road, and I gazed out the window curious how people lived here. I was met with the same curious expression I had; some children even waved as we passed by, their innocent nature oblivious to the evil in the world that was planning to kill us all.

Above us, connecting the buildings, were lines of drying laundry or banners in a text I’d never seen. Wooden shutters were open to glowing apartments above the street, the smell of aromatic herbs flowing vibrantly from them. It smelled of bold spices I’d never known, and for the first time since becoming a vampire, I craved human food. The scents were so intoxicating, so… fresh that it gripped my senses in ways I’d never experienced.

“It smells amazing here!” I sniffed the air as we drove through a market place, working our way toward the center of the city.

“Yeah, it does,” Arrick agreed, hungrily. My father chuckled quietly at our words, but didn’t say anything except point our driver down the correct roadways that led toward the center of the city.

We passed by colorful booths that sold baskets full of spices, fresh baked breads, candles, and even fruit that looked more alien than anything I’d ever seen. I couldn’t figure out what the boldly colored objects were until I watched as a vendor hacked through the stubborn husk of a round, lumpy red fruit and handed the mushy insides for the customer to try. Visually it looked like watermelon from the inside, but the outside… anything but. I knew we were in an entirely different region, but this city was so different than Naos or Noire that I felt I was on a completely different planet.

“It’s so different here,” I commented as we neared the fortress in the center of the city. “In Noire we had high speed trains, television, and shopping malls; and Naos… well we don’t have any of those things but we have modern comforts,” I said, as we passed under another line of drying laundry. “But, Titan…” I wanted to say I felt like I’d traveled back in time. How could people stand living like this? I’d die without running water and electricity.

“Because Titan never believed Baal had been truly defeated he developed his region in an entirely different way,” my father said, pointing the driver to turn to the right. Another gate stood before us, connected by an interior wall that separated the fortress from the rest of the city.

“Why did he want to be so different?” I looked around, noticing that we had the only cars that I’d seen. I mean, Naos was traditional, but we still had creature comforts.

“The last time I spoke with Titan he told me he wanted a city that was far enough detached from the other regions that it wouldn’t be tainted by them. He didn’t want his people to believe in our falsities. He also felt that such things as television were nothing more than a distraction. I can’t say I disagreed with him on that note.”

“Falsities?” I asked.

“I think what he means is, Titan didn’t want his people believing what we believed,” Arrick explained.

“So, he didn’t want them thinking Baal was dead, or did he mean everything we believe?”

“I don’t know. Everything I guess. It sure looks that way, doesn’t it?” Arrick answered since my father got distracted when instructing the other drivers via the handheld device.

“He sounds kind of stuck up.”

At first I totally agreed with Titan’s views on Baal, but disconnecting your region from everyone else like we had some sort of disease was a little ridiculous. But… maybe in his eyes we were a disease? We’d all fallen into a false sense of security believing the world was safe, growing comfortable in our lavish palaces and Château’s when all along our enemy was rebuilding its army. I might not have liked to admit it, but Titan was right.

“Not stuck up,” Arrick laughed. “I think he just didn’t want his people to grow complacent. From what I’ve gathered, he’s all about battle tactics, and training his legion.”

“His legion?” I whispered the question when my father and our driver jumped out of the SUV to meet several guards at the gate of the fortress. I guessed they only defended this gate and not the other, although it was so incredibly tall only a giant could get past it.

“Yeah,” Arrick whispered back, his attention focused solely on the group of guards with my father standing in front of the SUV. “In one of our meetings before coming here, your father said he suspected that Titan has been gathering an army in secret.”

“Really?” I was a bit surprised, suddenly realizing how the other generals from the dark ages could see how Titan was acting suspiciously. Building a secret army was a little shady, but then again, that could be a good thing. A secret army meant forces Baal would never see coming.

“It would work in our favor if it’s true,” Arrick said. “I mean, if you think about it, it makes sense. Each region personifies their king. Nicolae has always been about technology and enjoying the luxuries of being respected as a king. Your father has a deep admiration for history and embracing education; that’s why so many in the region focus on honing their craft and becoming the best at what they do. Titan was engrossed by his thirst for revenge on Baal and his belief that he wasn’t really defeated. It makes sense that instead of developing his society socially, he concentrated on building his forces and training them for the war he knew would someday come.”

“Wow.”

I was not only impressed with Arrick’s insight, but the obvious truth in his words. It
did
make sense. It was scary, but it made sense. If it weren’t for Titan being paranoid that Baal would return, there wouldn’t be a secret army to fight against him. That is if he agreed to fight with us, which I didn’t see why he wouldn’t. If he hated Baal as much as everyone thought he did, then we were as good as gold.

After the guards instructed us where to park our vehicles, I jumped out of the SUV and clutched Arrick’s hand as he stepped up beside me. We followed close behind my father, as the guards we’d brought with us picked up the rear. The gate into the citadel was slammed closed behind us as we entered into the piazza. Massive torches lit our path as we followed the sentry who guided us.

I squeezed Arrick’s hand tighter as I sensed the waves of nerves bounding off my father. Each step closer toward the citadel, the stronger they became. It wasn’t fear, but he was definitely uncomfortable about being here. Could he be uneasy about seeing Titan? I suppose if I hadn’t seen someone for well over one-hundred years I’d be a little uneasy too; especially if the last time I saw them I accused them of being stark, raving mad.