Terra's Victory (Destiny's Trinities Book 7) (15 page)

“Why try to attack us individually, when they know we can just jump away?” Zack asked, his dark brows close together in a deep frown.

“Maybe, so we would congregate with the other trinities, which would let them find us again?” Lindal suggested.

“Except they can’t find us this time. Not in here.” Beth looked around. “I guess we’re going to the mattresses.”

Zack grinned. He loved
The Godfather
.

Beth glanced out at the warehouse, where even more of them were gathered. “The Grimoré won’t be able to find Remmy and his two. They’re untraceable. We should let them know what’s happening and bring them here.”

“No need,” Lindal said. “Look.” He pointed over Beth’s shoulder and she turned to look.

Remmy, Octavia and Ángel were straightening up from their landing. There was a fourth person with them, a tall woman with golden hair who seemed to shine with her own inner light.

“That’s the sylph Remmy said he was bringing,” Zack said.

Lindal blinked. “Then it’s true. There
are
elementals here who work with your world.”

“There are elementals in your world, Lindal?” Beth asked curiously.

“Of course,” he said. “
We
are the elementals.”

The four of them were rapidly approaching.

Beth felt self-conscious in her flimsy clothing and wrapped her arms around her middle and shivered.

“You are cold,” the golden woman said. She glanced around. “This place does not inspire warmth.”

“No shit,” Zack breathed. “The power bill at this time of year puts Everest to shame.”

The woman had closed her eyes, though.

Beth breathed in deeply, flexing her shoulders. “It’s
warm
now.” She let her arms drop. “You’re doing that?”

“My brethren are,” the woman said.

“Salamander,” Zack said quietly. “Fire elementals.”

“That is what they have been called, yes.”

“This is Aria,” Octavia said. “She and her…brethren want to help us.”

“You are the one who leads?” Aria asked Beth.

Beth nodded. “I am. However, a discussion about how you can help us will have to wait.” She rubbed her arms, feeling the good heat of a sunny day warming her flesh, even though it was no brighter in here than it had been. “Although, it seems you already
have
helped.”

“The blight on our lands must be removed,” Aria said.

“We’re working on it,” Beth replied. “Right now, though, we’re…regrouping.”

* * * * *

All the trinities were brought to the bunker by Beth’s command, even though some of them had not yet been attacked by demons.

After that, regrouping consisted of fast, snatch-and-grab raids to their former residences, to steal clothes, supplies, weapons and any computer or mobile device that could be scrounged. Lindal set up a jury-rigged communications network and command center on the top of stacks of orange crates found just outside the warehouse. The communications network was a row of laptops connected together and a collection of burner phones for digital messages. “You have to assume that the demons will clue the Grimoré in on electronic communications,” Lindal warned Beth. “Use your mental link to the trinities whenever you can.”

The trinities used the communications hub to maintain the façade of their human lives as much as possible. They phoned into their day jobs and reported sick, cleared vacation and some of them simply quit their jobs. They kept contact with friends and neighbors. The fiction that they were at a training camp for their job became the standard ruse for most of them.

Aria took care of water for those who needed it. Although the water had been shut off years ago, after a few minutes of staring at the roof, Aria indicated they should turn on the faucets in the washrooms. The water ran pure and clean. The water in the hot tap was heated, too.

A makeshift yet functional kitchen was set up in one corner of the warehouse for those who needed to eat. Supplies were brought in, an armload at a time, by trinities jumping back from assignments, or from dealing with incursions. Zack, who had become the general quartermaster, sent many of the trinities out with shopping lists tucked into their pockets.

Beth ran several raids to their apartment, to collect clothes and weapons. Lindal and Zack brought the mattress from their bed, too. Beth strung up blankets to give them privacy. They couldn’t linger for long in the apartment, for the door did not lock anymore and there was a demon sentry on the landing outside the door.

At least the demon would stop ordinary human thieves from entering the apartment.

The other trinities did the same as them, building little private quarters with the use of blankets and sheets, stacks of cartons and more.

Diego and Noemi, who was the only vampire jumper in the trinities, brought Blake to the bunker with Alex and Zack’s help. It was the first time Blake had seen and smelled a non-vampire since his turning and everyone was tense, watching to see if he over-reacted to the scent of hot human blood, as some newly turned vampires did.

However, he merely studied the warehouse with glazed eyes and let Diego lead him to the tucked-away quarters Sera had arranged, as far away from non-vampires as possible.

Sera stayed away, too, her face white as she watched Blake being led away. Beth watched as Lindal hugged her, something he rarely did in public.

By the end of the first day, Beth stood outside their blanket tent, watching the quiet activity in the warehouse, amused to realize they really had gone to the mattresses in the most literal sense.

* * * * *

Sera kept busy and her mind occupied, in between reports from Diego about Blake’s progress. She began by cleaning the surgery unit, which had been neglected since Blake’s treatment. She had learned a lot about human medicine since her arrival here. Yet there was always more to learn. One thing she did understand was the need for cleanliness and sterility.

“You beat me to it,” Declan said, startling her.

Sera looked up from sorting the stand of capped and labeled test tubes she had found in the little refrigerator. “
You
came here to clean up?” she asked, amused.

“You think a ghost can’t clean?” He grinned.

“I think a
doctor
can’t clean. I didn’t think human doctors knew how to pick up a mop.”

“Calumny,” Declan declared.

“Really? You came here to clean up?”

His grinned broadened. “I came here for those samples in your hands,” he confessed.

“Ah,” Sera said. “You dashed my hopes.” She lifted the test tube she was holding. “I was just trying to decide whether these should be tossed or not. Zoe took them from Blake for type-matching his blood and later analysis. Now he’s not human, there’s not much point in keeping them anymore, is there?”

Declan came over to the neatly arranged medical bed, where she had rested the wire stand to look at the labels. “I was thinking about that.” He took one of the other three tubes. “How much do you know about inoculations?” He shook the blood a little.

“Very little,” Sera admitted. “It’s not a concept Elves ever developed. We just don’t get sick. Or if we do, we might die, or we might get well. What I do, physically healing wounds…that was considered freaky.”

“You heal by touch, don’t you?”

“I use touch as a conduit to heal, yes. I also use any other treatment that might work. I’ve stolen a lot of human ideas about medicine.”

Declan gave the little test tube another shake. “Then it’s time for you to steal yet another one.”

“Inoculations?” she asked, her curiosity rising. “Tell me about them.”

On the tenth day of camping in the bunker, Diego took Sera to see Blake. Diego kept hold of her hand, perhaps sensing her fear and uncertainty. Ten paces away from the wall of hanging blankets, he stopped and turned to her. “Ready?” he asked.

“What if he doesn’t know me?”

“We don’t lose any human memories when we’re made,” Diego assured her. “Of course he will know who you are.”

“You barely remember being human,” Sera pointed out.

“Because that was six hundred years ago,” he replied. “Human memories fade over time, that’s all.”

She bit her lip, looking at the blankets and imagining what was on the other side. “What if he wants to...feed?”

“He just fed. You’re quite safe,” Diego told her. He picked up her other hand. “What’s
really
bothering you, Sera?”

It took all her courage to speak the words. “What if he doesn’t love me anymore?” Then she pressed her lips together, to stop herself from saying anything more about the wild fear that had been building in her for the last few days. When she considered the fear deliberately and logically, she felt foolish. That didn’t stop it from growing, anyway. She could imagine walking in to face him and Blake looking at her blankly, with wariness in his eyes. Or he would dismiss her as a stranger beneath notice, a mere elf. Or the very worst would be if he treated her as the mortal enemy elves had once been to vampires. What if all his new vampire instincts had brought to flower the old enmity?

Diego brushed her hair off her face with a gentle motion. “There’s only one way to find out,” he said softly.

She had expected him to dismiss her concerns as pure foolishness, only he hadn’t. “It’s just…without him, I have one less thing to anchor me here. One less excuse to stay.”

“If they ever try to take you back, my sweetest love, they would learn how truly angry I can become.”

Her heart gave a little shiver. “Diego….”

He shook his head, his black eyes staring into hers. “No one will ever succeed in forcing you to go anywhere, Séreméla. Not while I can still draw breath.” He grinned. “They can
try
and if they do, I will enjoy explaining it to them.”

“The warriors can be very…persuasive,” Sera told him. She had seen them deal with reluctant elves before. Amrod’s shock troops were ruthless.

“I’ve been told I am that, too,” Diego said, with a little shrug. “My love, you do not understand. If anyone was ever to try to bend you against your will, then the depth and length of my anger would set the furies themselves back on their heels. A few elvish warriors would not keep me from you.”

It was hyperbole, the stuff of fantasy, the idea that Diego could defeat a troop of elvish warriors, except Sera knew he was perfectly serious. She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her face against his.

Diego held her tightly. “No one gets to fuck with you, Sera. Not even Blake, if he wigs out.”

She let go of him and he took her hand once more. “Come,” he said gently. “Come and see him.” He drew the blanket aside and pulled her forward with his hand. Sera ducked under the line and stepped into the little enclosure.

Blake wasn’t sitting or lying. He was standing by the wall and it looked as though he had been waiting for her.

Sera caught her breath. He looked exactly the same. His eyes were the same warm green color and he was looking at her just as he always had. Silently, he held out his arms to her.

Sera threw herself against him.

“God, you’re shaking!” he said, his voice low. He brought his arms around her.

“You’re you!” She said it into his chest, hiding her tears.

Blake lifted her chin, very gently. Diego used the same soft movements and she knew Blake was trying to throttle back his great strength. She looked up at him, blinking away the tears.

“Of course I still love you,” he told her.

“You heard me.” Appalled, she closed her eyes.

“I’m glad I did hear. I’ve spent ten days worrying about what your reaction would be to me now that I am…this way. It never occurred to me you would worry about how
I
felt.”

Sera stepped back, staring at him. “You thought I wouldn’t accept you as a vampire?”

Blake let his arms drop. “Yes.” He said it flatly.

“Diego….” She said it helplessly. Diego was a vampire. Why would Blake think she would reject him because he was one now, too?

Blake shrugged. “I’ve done nothing but stare at walls and a roof for ten days and listen to Diego lecture about vampires and how to deal with humans now. He would explain some of the uglier sides of vampire nature and I would wonder how on earth you can stand being in the same room with us.”

Sera looked at Diego. A small smile was tugging at his lips.

“You knew,” she said flatly. “I poured my heart out about Blake and you already knew he was terrified about me.”

“Of course,” Diego said and shrugged. “I wasn’t being cruel, my love. You both had to look each other in the eye. I have not changed the way I feel about either of you. I still love his ugly mug and you both know how I feel about you. Blake listened to me out there, too.”

Blake smiled. “I didn’t need to hear it to know that about you, Diego.”

Diego nodded. “It is just you two who were filleting your souls with useless worry. I couldn’t stand listening to either of you anymore. So kiss her, Blake, and make sure she knows exactly how you feel.” He ducked out of the little space, leaving them alone.

Sera turned back to Blake. “He really is the most dreadful liar,” she said. “He’s been like a child with a sore tooth, fretting over you.”

“I heard that!” Diego said, his voice floating over the top of the blanket.

“Then you’d better move farther away, or come here and join us,” Blake said, not lifting his voice at all. “Because I’m going to tear Sera’s clothes off…I’ve always wanted to and now I can. Then I’m going to kiss every inch of her, slide into her and as she comes, I’m going to bite her.”

“
Bon appetit
,” Diego called. This time his voice was faint. He was much farther away now.

Sera studied Blake. “Are you well enough to do what you just said you would?”

Blake’s gaze was heated and she started to tremble all over again. “Now you’re in front of me and not turning away in disgust…now I
know
I am well enough.”

Sera pressed herself against him. “Then hurry,” she urged him.

He
did
tear her clothes off, too.

* * * * *

On the seventeenth day of living in the bunker, Beth gathered everyone together in the roughly circular open area in front of the surgery. In the days since the battle in Georgia, there had been only minor vampeen incursions, most of them the result of hunger. At the first alarm, two or three trinities would snatch up weapons and jump to deal with the vampeen. There had been no injuries, for which Beth was grateful.