Scent of Salvation (Chronicles of Eorthe #1) (17 page)

Blinking, he stared at her. He hadn’t hugged her back and only looked confused by her bumbling human attempt at comfort.

She ran her hands over her arms to soothe her tingling nerves, trying to forget how solid he felt. “Can we talk?”

He nodded and led her along the path to the den.

Alone with him, she found her words fleeting. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“They were old and it was their time. I’m just glad they went together.” Sorin stared ahead, watching the forest.

“Umm, yeah. There are a few changes I’d like to make when taking care of the sick. I spoke with Lailanie.”

“What changes are needed?” He spoke with a hollow voice.

“To stop the spread of disease, we’ll start with handwashing with soap while taking care of the sick.”

“We’re not a wealthy pack, and soap is an expensive commodity to barter for.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “How does that help?”

“The illness can spread by getting it on your hands. Washing with soap kills it.” Soap was hard to come by?

“If it’s that important, maybe we can do some trade. A few pelts are cured. I can send someone with them to a vampire outpost. They should be worth a little soap. Anything else?”

Trade, bartering—these concepts were so foreign to Susan she didn’t even know how to respond. “Lailanie explained that shifters heal better when they’re close?”

“Pack energy.”

“Fine, but those who aren’t ill shouldn’t be in that bed. We should also narrow down who is helping with the sick to lessen the spread.”

Sorin nodded but appeared dazed.

“Hey.” She took his huge hand in hers. His pain transcended what she could comprehend. Hugs wouldn’t make him any better but a cure for his pack would.

He dragged his gaze across the trees. “How many more will I lose?”

Chapter Sixteen

Benic snapped his horse’s reins as soon as he was out of the shifter forest and continued on his journey home. If only he could run the distance to the castle instead of riding an inferior beast. Vampires were built for speed, not endurance.

He’d lost interest in studying blood years ago but the appearance of the blue light and Susan had rekindled the passion. Benic touched the vial of her blood in his pocket to reassure himself it was still present. Ahote had almost crushed it while handling him in the tunnels. What a stroke of bad luck to come across those two.

He had just regained consciousness not long before, outside his secret exit, when they found him in the maze. Only his quick wits kept Kele from finding out the whole truth. That one was too smart for her own good.

She had to be suspicious of the events leading to Sorin and Susan’s escape. Why else question him? He’d given her all truthful answers though. Omitting information was the only lie a shifter couldn’t detect.

He’d been so close to keeping the human. She’d been willing to accompany him. The vial of blood was a beginning, at least. From it he might be able to glean human secrets and the connection between their two worlds.

Other dimension? Incredible. The possibilities were endless to find a solution to his people’s fertility problems. Susan’s dimension contained only humans, yet she insisted they lived on the same planet.

Her theories on time branches were groundbreaking. A vampire could spend his lifespan researching it. He took what she said at face value, considering she’d built a machine to travel here. She had the knowledge.

What had changed to make their worlds so different though? If time passed at the same rate on all dimensions, then why was hers more advanced? What prevented his people from creating such machines? Were they stupid?

So many questions, and the source of his answers was a prisoner to animals. They probably treated her like a stray instead of a miracle.

He snapped the reins again. Galloping along the dirt road, he watched as the outline of his castle grew more detailed.

Built of local stone, it blended well with the surrounding mountains. The high-guarded walls used to be a necessity when he first traveled here from Europa. The packs were extremely feral in those days. Led by their priestesses, they had stormed this settlement countless times. Another vampire lord had ruled this area. He’d been only a guard following orders in those days. There’d been so many misunderstandings and so much bloodshed. Yet vampires had prevailed.

The Apisi alpha might have Susan for now, but Benic would prevail as well.

As he approached his home, the thick, iron gate rose. They didn’t need to guard against attacks like in the old days. Most of the castle’s inhabitants were tame shifters, from packs around the world, domesticated over the decades. Benic ducked under the sharp points of the gate without slowing the horse’s pace, and he entered the village inside.

Vendors shouted to the people crowding the main street as he passed. A careless pup ran across the street in front of him, almost getting trampled. Benic waved at a small cluster of his vampire warriors sitting outside a pub. The noise was deafening after the peace of the wilderness.

He hadn’t been home in weeks and didn’t miss it. His superiors had awarded him this castle and tied him down, but his first love was the open road.

“Welcome home, my lord.” His vampire chamberlain bowed as Benic dismounted.

“Jonas, things look well. As usual.” He handed the reins to a stable boy, a feline shifter from Afrika. “How goes it?”

“Some letters have arrived in your absence and rest on your desk. I’ve dealt with most petitions from the villagers, but there are a few that require your attention. The planting in the east fields has begun, and I’ve sent the plows to the south…” Jonas’s voice droned. Vampires didn’t farm, but their blood sources needed the food. Domesticating the shifters had, in turn, tamed them. Farmers mostly, raising the beasts they fed from instead of hunting them. Pack hierarchy didn’t seem as prevalent as in the wild shifters. Maybe it lessened with a safer lifestyle?

“Fine, fine.” Benic waved him away. “I’m retiring to my lab for the evening. Send me Inacio. I’ll take care of the other things tomorrow.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The great hall in the main part of the castle was empty except for a serving wench wiping tables and the dogs sleeping by the hearth. He recalled curling among the animals as a child in his father’s hall during the winter nights in Gaul.

Benic dunked a tankard into the ale barrel and washed away the travel dust caught in his throat. The tang of ale refreshed his spirit but a bottle of fine wine would taste better. A tower, connected to this main hall, was for his personal use. If he’d had a family they could have resided there. He frowned into his empty tankard. Instead, the tower remained mostly unused, housing only his incubus and his lab.

The vampire population in North Amerigo was diminished. After the great shifter war, their numbers had plummeted. His castle housed only thirty, and all of them male, warriors in a territory with no conflict. He was running out of ideas to keep them out of trouble. They all wanted the same thing. A fertile vampire female, a wife, to raise a family.

A disease had struck the vampire population before his birth, and most of the victims were female. He was now a member of an endangered species. The world didn’t know of their precarious situation. It would leave them open for annihilation. Instead, the vampires protected their most precious resource—their females.

This meant most had remained in Europa during the great migration. Benic had thought once the wild lands were settled and tamed, his requests for a wife would be granted. Yet fifty-three years had gone by since the last conflict, and he still lived half a life.

He climbed the circular stairs to his bedroom and grabbed a key from under his mattress. Continuing to the top of the tower, he inserted the key. It twisted unhampered, age not a factor with such good craftsmanship, and unlocked the door. Vampires made things to last.

He hadn’t entered this room in years.

A macabre lace of webs decorated the walls and ceilings of his lab. Benic trailed his finger through the dust on the sturdy table in the center of the room. It still held his chemistry set. He righted a small coal burner lying on its side.

“I’m home.” Many days and nights he’d spent here trying to demystify the mechanics of the body, every nuance of each microscopic element that triggered changes and fought disease. Hoping to find a way to save his people, he studied every species he came across.

He’d examined the fertility cycles of shifters and merpeople, classed their hormones and compared them to vampires. He even bought an expensive incubus from the southern slave markets and tried to isolate its pheromones, which acted like an aphrodisiac, to understand the effects on vampire sexuality.

Every known species on Eorthe had a blood sample preserved in his lab. All this effort, all this work and study, yet no results. Plenty of knowledge though. He’d created cures, helped in crop production and written books. Vampire birth rates still dwindled.

“Here you are.” A rich, male voice spoke behind Benic. It ran over his skin like thick silk and trapped his breath in his throat. He twisted to watch Inacio stride into the lab. Graceful and limber, Benic’s incubus could make a grown male fall in lust with a single glance. His effect on females was more diabolical.

Some said these creatures were worshiped in the far south as gods. If Benic were less learned, he could understand such beliefs.

“Inacio, you look well fed.” His incubus used the staff at will to fulfill his appetites. The waiting list was considerable. The better he fed Inacio, the stronger his incubus’s blood became, and in turn, the stronger Benic grew. Another benefit of Benic’s studies of the other races. “Come here, my sweet.” He opened his arms, suddenly starved. He hadn’t feasted since he left.

Inacio’s eyes narrowed. “I hate it when you call me that.” He still hurried to his arms.

Benic inhaled deeply and relished Inacio’s spicy scent. The pheromones became addictive with time. He’d learned that too late. “I know.” Grasping his thick, midnight hair, Benic pulled Inacio’s head back, exposing the well-muscled neck. “This will hurt.”

Strong hands pressed him closer. “Good.” The sound of Inacio’s pulse quickened.

The rush of his blood called to Benic. Not needing more foreplay, he bit. Fangs pierced delicious flesh with a sharp pop, and then the warm gush of blood met his tongue. Power enhanced the incubus’s salty flavor. Benic took long, slow swallows, in no hurry to finish his feed.

Inacio ground his groin against Benic’s thigh, moving as if caught in the throes of pleasure. His hands slid down Benic’s back and found purchase on his ass. Inacio’s unrestrained passion contrasted so much to Kele’s shy kiss.

Benic didn’t know which he enjoyed more.

Kele had been so unsure and shocked when he pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was an impulse. She seemed so…alone hiding in the garden, watching Ahote take another female to bed. How could her pack waste such potential? There was untapped strength in that shifter, and he wanted to set her free.

Inacio went limp in his embrace and unbalanced Benic. Taking one more swallow, the vampire stumbled to set his incubus on a cot by the wall, the rich taste lingering on his tongue.

“So soon?” Inacio clutched him tighter. “You’ve been gone for weeks. You should need more. Have you fed from another?”

“No.”

The incubus was deathly pale.

“How is it that you can fuck anything with legs while I’m away yet can act so possessive of me?”

Inacio’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”

“No one. I fed from no one.” Benic turned his back on Inacio. “I don’t have time for dramatics today. Thank you for feeding me so promptly.”

The dusty glass slides he required were set next to the microscope. He listened to Inacio roll over on the cot, too weak to storm from the room, and Benic cleaned one of the slides to use. “I just need to examine a sample of blood then you’ll have my undivided attention.” He glanced at him over his shoulder.

Inacio sprawled with languid grace on his side. “It’s been a long while since you’ve spent time in here. What is the occasion?”

Benic retrieved the vial of blood. Tipping it back and forth, he watched the ruby liquid roll—such a simple thing to gaze upon with the naked eye yet it held vast, microscopic secrets. After he set a drop on the slide, he placed it under his priceless microscope.

As he examined the cells, his dormant knowledge returned as if he hadn’t left his studies. At first glance his heart stilled. Susan’s blood didn’t appear different. How could an unknown species from another world be so similar? He pinched the bridge of his nose and stared into the microscope again. Not a different world. It was the same world but a different dimension.

They were the same at this level of biology. He needed to search deeper. More tests had to be run. He filled another thin vial, cranked the spinner and set it into the contraption. Once the red blood cells were separated, he could test for smaller things like hormones, antibodies and electrolytes.

Soft snores grabbed his attention. He twisted around.

Inacio had undone his shirt and the laces of his pants but slept soundly.

“What am I going to do with you?”