The Warlock King (The Kings) (2 page)

Miliani had been her closest friend for years; they’d gone to college on the mainland together. Mili had always been very clear on the fact that she fully intended to return to Hawaii when she graduated, specifically Maui, which was where she’d been born. Now she worked three jobs to be able to continue living there, none of which had anything to do with her degree.

Yet she was kind enough to offer Chloe a place to stay. A place to
escape
to. Chloe was not a poor girl, though. Living a very long time had allowed her to collect a fair amount of money, so she’d declined the offer and rented her own one-bedroom apartment in Kihei.

Maui was a welcome repast in a world of chaos
for Chloe Septeran. It was also a destination of escape. She’d come to Maui to get away from the same thing she’d been trying to escape her entire life.

She was an Akyri – with a warlock hot on her tail.

For many Akyri, feeding from a warlock was simply a way of life, no more inconveniencing than a mammal’s need for oxygen. Akyri served warlocks, and in return, they were given sustenance. Most Akyri viewed it as a human would view working for an office job paycheck in order to buy groceries with it.

But Chloe knew better. She recognized the evil inherent in a warlock’s magic, and she wanted no part in it.

This refusal to take part in the traditional, accepted mode of sustenance caused Chloe to be weaker than she could have been. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make, but one that made her susceptible to those who would use that weakness to manipulate her. Hence, she was always running. Always hiding.

To make matters more complicated, Chloe Septeran was not like other Akyri. The origin of the Akyri was a little known fact and one carefully guarded by her kind. They were known as “demons” among other supernatural beings, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

Akyri were indeed composed of darkness, but not a darkness that came from anything as simply ridiculous as a fiery locale under the Earth’s crust. Akyri were literally the coalescence of the untamable, intangible substances of the universe. They were the timeless centers of black holes, the empty spaces that nonetheless showed up on radars as pulsating entities. They were the unexplainables…. They were
dark matter
.

This is where Akyri originally came from.

Of course, Akyri could give birth to more Akyri by mating. This was fortunate for them since contrary to appearances, Akyri did grow old and die. Their outer bodies never aged, but one day an Akyri’s energy would simply run out – and they would vanish.

When an Akyri mated with a warlock, an Offspring or
vampire
was formed. When Akyri mated with one another, another Akyri was created. This also occurred roughly half the time when an Akyri mated with a mortal.

Though they were long-lived, enough time had now passed that all of the original dark matter Akyri were dead. All remaining Akyri were the children of other Akyri.

All of them but one.

Chloe wa
s the last of the originals, the last dark matter coalescence. She knew there had been 28; the number stood out in her head because it was a mathematically perfect number. She couldn’t remember any of the originals personally though, and she had no idea why she had not yet passed away herself. She was certainly weak enough.

Over the eons, she’d grown used to feeling weak, to feeling empty. It was like growing used to hunger pangs. Some days she barely noticed it. But it was always there.

“How long are you planning on running, Chloe?” Miliani suddenly asked, ripping her from her internal thoughts.

“I can’t put you in danger, Mili. I’m running from nothing short of the devil.”

Miliani made a sound of vague disbelief. “Is that really what you think of him?”

Chloe shot her a look.

Mili caught the look and sighed, straightening to wrap her arms around her knees. “I know you, Chloe,” she said softly. “I know all of your deepest, darkest secrets. So tell me honestly…. Is that
really
what you think of Jason Alberich?”

Chloe blinked. She chewed on the inside of her cheek.

Then she broke eye contact with her best friend and stared out at the moonlight-spangled sea.

“That’s what I thought,” Mili said.

Chloe let it go.

Being an Akyri was a little like owning a computer with Internet access… or a member of the Borg. Akyri shared knowledge with one another without being consciously aware they were doing so.

Every Akyri on the planet knew about Jason Alberich.

Warlocks were a dark breed. But he was not only a warlock; he was a decidedly
powerful
warlock, a practiced and
capable
warlock, and a terribly
smart
warlock. If that wasn’t enough, he was the goddamned Warlock
King
.

All Akyri knew this now. The best of her kind had been chosen as his servants, and they were grateful for the positions.

But Chloe feared him. The look he’d given her when their eyes had met over that busy New York sidewalk had scared the hell out of her. In the space of a heartbeat, he’d recognized her for what she was. But it was more than that. He’d not only seen her as an Akyri… he’d seen something else in her as well.

Did he know she was the last of the originals? Did he know she was different than the others?

He must
, she thought now as she gritted her teeth in earnest. The pain that shot through her teeth then reminded her of another difference between herself and the others. She was the only Akyri in existence who didn’t possess fangs.

Chloe ran a hand over her face, trying to focus. Jason must have known the truth about her because he was coming for her. He
had
come for her. She could feel him there now, somewhere on the island. He was searching for her, biding his time, taking it slow.

Like the notorious predator he was.

Chloe closed her eyes and shivered as an image of the tall, dangerous man flitted before her mind’s eye. He was blatantly beautiful in that slightly cruel manner that a fire is beautiful. He was all encompassing. And she had been completely unable to obliterate his image from her mind since she’d seen him face-to-face that day several months ago.

“Fuck,” she whispered.

“Whoa,” said Mili, brown eyes wide. “What is it?” She appeared alarmed suddenly. She looked over her shoulder at the dark beach that stretched behind them. “Is he here or something?”

Chloe raised her hand placatingly. “No, no. I’m sorry. It’s just….”

“Oh,” said Mili, smiling knowingly. “You were just thinking about how freaking hot he is again.”

“This really isn’t good. This really isn’t something to laugh about. I mean, what if he’s come here to kill me or something and I’m not doing everything I can do to escape him because I find him attractive?”

Miliani blinked. She straightened a bit, turned her gaze out to sea, and took a deep breath. “Well,” she said slowly. “Then I guess you’re right and this isn’t good. But why do you think he’s
really
here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Uh-huh,” Miliani grunted in frank disbelief.

Chloe fell into a chagrined silence. Mili was right. Chloe was pretty sure she knew why he was there after all. She’d read the thoughts the intense green of his eyes.

Jason had come for his queen.

*****

Jason Alberich turned away from the sea and stepped down off the top of the cliff from which he’d been gazing. As he did, he turned Chloe’s words over in his mind.

His magic crackled around him like a thick, miasmic cloak, unseen but unaccountably powerful. He’d heard everything the Akyri had
both said and
thought
, even from this distance. He’d become that powerful.

From the first m
oment Jason had laid eyes on Chloe in New York, he’d understood who she was – and who she was meant to be. She obliterated him; he was torn apart inside and taped back together by sheer will every time he pictured her face. Every time he looked into those
eyes
; the windows to her vast, cosmic soul.

What
he felt for Dannai Caige, he understood now too. Dannai, or as he called her, “Danny,” was his charge, his best friend, and for all intents and purposes his “little sister.” He’d been her unspoken protector throughout their childhoods. She’d been the first soul in the world he had ever cared for. This depth of emotion had reached into his warlock heart and squeezed with fearful strength, warping his thoughts and even his mind.

In this confus
ion, Jason had done things he wondered whether he would ever stop regretting.

But now Danny
was married to an alpha wolf, Jason had been all but forgiven for his trespasses, and they all had two new infant twins to look after, to protect, and to care for. Jason was their godfather, or their
Patronum
.
Patra
for short.

T
he curtain had been pulled back, and the true depth of the universe had been revealed to Jason. Any obsession he’d thought he’d ever felt for Danny stepped to the side and bowed down. His desire was
changed
now. It had grown, relocated, and refocused on another with a new and devastatingly sharp intensity.

Chloe Septeran was an Akyri unlike any other. She was J
ason’s destined queen – that made her special enough. But she was also one of the original 28. She was the last member of a dying breed. She was incomparable. She was unique.

Jason stopped at the base of the small hill and waited as the air around him shimmered, warped, and four Akyri servants zapped into existence. At once, the men in black knelt on one knee and lowered their heads.

“Rise,” Jason spoke, his tone soft and deep.

The Akyri obeyed. As they rose, Jason considered who and what they really were, where they’d originally come from. Chloe’s
origin revelations swirled through him like stardust.

Stardust
. That’s what she was.

“There is an Akyri on the beach a half mile away. I’m needed elsewhere right now. In my absence, I want you to watch over and protect her as if your lives depend on it.”
Because they do
was the phrase that hung unspoken in the air. It was understood without being given voice.

“Yes
, my lord,” said one of the Akyri, the one who acted as the leader of the four.

Jason raised his hand and released a strong, powerful pulse of magic into the gathering. The Akyri closed their eyes and absorbed the magic, sucking it up like vacuums until they glowed from the inside out. When they opened their eyes again, shimmering, glowing orbs of
red and amber like fire stared back at Jason with both thanks and appreciation.

And with
respect.

Jason was
ted no further time. He was cutting it close as it was.

He
had no need of words to activate his transportation magic. He was the Warlock King; his power had long surpassed that of other warlocks. With no more than a whim, he dematerialized and moved through a bent envelope of space and time.

Chapter Two

Evelynne D’Angelo sighed and moved her hands away from the keyboard. The motor spun, the fan whirred, and Evie took a sip of her coffee as the buffer once more tried to catch up with her.

It was an o
ld computer. Roman had tried a thousand times to buy her a new one, but she’d written every single one of her novels on
this
one. It had sentimental value.

There was an old Native American belief that
all things in the world animate or otherwise, possessed a spirit – an
energy
. If that were true, then at this point this little laptop had seen the energy of a dozen different universes, more than two-dozen heroines, at least twenty powerful vampires and werewolves, a host of ghosts and goblins, and a boatload of sex.

It was special. It had a soul. 

Even so, the laptop had been slow when she was mortal. She’d had it almost seven years. She’d dropped it once or twice. And all of the letters had been rubbed off the keys long ago. Now that she was a vampire? Her fingers literally blurred across the keyboard, and the processor simply could not keep up.

“You have to be the most stubborn woman I have ever met,” came a deep voice behind her.

Evie almost choked on the mouth-full of coffee she’d just taken in, but somehow managed to get it down before she turned in her chair and looked up at her husband.

He’d succeeded in sneaking up on her again. She might be a vampire, and the queen of the vampires at that, but she wasn’t surprised. He was the Vampire King, and he’d been as much for longer than her relatively young mind could honestly comprehend.

He smiled down at her, his deep black eyes fathomless and hypnotic. “You need a faster system.”