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  “It was the decision of The Council to remain a secret even amongst vampires so as not to draw attention to themselves. The quicker and swifter The Council can move to take down a clan without humans noticing, the better. Vampires should be allowed to live as they prefer feeding off humans. It isn’t our duty to rule over the vampire race itself but to make sure they don’t bring about the extinction of either race.”

  “You said our duty,” Ava began, “What duty do you have to uphold?”

  Oscar leaned back in the chair, his posture stout and regal as a king. “I’m an Elder in The Council of Order.”

  “My daughter is one of the agents I spoke of.” Oscar waved his hand in Morgana’s direction.

  Vivienne stood, walking behind Oscar’s chair, Morgana moved aside, making a place for her mother. “Vivienne, the wife of a Primus and the mother of the only Dhampir known to exist, exudes confidence in the important role she has to play.”

  “So, you’re here to assess the attacks in the forest?” Gareth asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Did you think it was us?”

  “No. Morgana has been trailing you and Alastor for several days. She believes you aren’t involved. The victims of the attacks don’t have your scent or presence surrounding them. Also, both of you turning up and stumbling around the crime scene today makes it even easier to rule you out.”

  “Why would the two of them returning to the scene of the crime, rule them out?” Ava asked.

  “Vampires don’t return to a body after they’ve fed from it,” Morgana replied. Her expression was very serious. “Also, since you’ve already been attacked once, Gareth, you’re likely to be attacked again. You should take these.” She pulled a couple of stakes out of the holster around her waist. She walked over to Gareth, handing them over to him.

  “Thanks,” he said to her. He looked up at her, searching her eyes, but they remained cold.

  “Do you think they will attack Gareth and Alastor’s home?” Ava asked, sounding worried.

  “Not anytime soon,” Morgana said. “We have a feeling they know who we are and they’re figuring out why we’re here. They’ll want to lay low for a while and not bring any attention to themselves. But vampires are arrogant. They will eventually attack again. They crave justice for their fallen. Either way, we’ll be ready for them.”

  “How can we help?” Alastor asked.

  “I’ve got the situation under control,” Morgana said, turning toward him.

  “If ye think I’m goin’ to stand by and leave Ava unprotected, ye’ve got another thing comin’.”

  “Fair enough,” Oscar said. His hands were folded in his lap, and he stared intently at Alastor.

  “Yeah?” huffed Alastor.

  “You remind me of myself four hundred years younger and in love with a human girl as well. I was willing to do anything for her, protect her, die for her… whatever keeping her safe required.”

  Vivienne blushed.

  Gareth recalled the story Morgana had told him of her parents’ romance and was relieved to hear Oscar was a reasonable man. Especially because he knew Alastor didn’t stand much chance against whatever was in the forest, let alone Oscar Van Wilden, but nothing could stop him from protecting Ava. Gareth was relieved Alastor would have their support rather than resistance.

  “Aye, I would.” Alastor squeezed Ava’s hand.

  She smiled at him.

  “Then I think we should bring you on board. What about you, young Gareth? Are you willing to put your life on the line?”

  Gareth stared intently at Oscar. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect this town, my home.”

  Oscar watched Gareth and Alastor a moment longer, rubbing his chin. “The Council is always looking for motivated recruits to join their ranks. Unfortunately, not everyone employed by The Council is as skilled or as lethal as Morgana, and joining can be much more dangerous than not. Are you two gentlemen sure you’re ready to put your lives on the line for a cause greater than yourselves?”

  “Yes, sir,” Gareth and Alastor spoke in unison.

  “Then, it’s decided. You will both be trained to combat the Forest Clan vampires.”

  “What? You can’t be serious!” Morgana protested. “They’re not ready, nor do we have enough time to send them off for training.”

  “I think they will surprise us,” Oscar sounded confident.

  Vivienne nodded in agreement.

  “Morgana has a point,” Gareth said. “Alastor hasn’t seen what they’re capable of, but I have, and I don’t see how we’ll be able to go up against those vampires.”

  Oscar smiled. “That’s because you haven’t been trained by us, yet.” He glanced back at his wife and daughter.

  Vivienne winked.

  Gareth wasn’t sure he liked the blonde vampire’s wink.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Today was the day Oscar and Morgana had arranged to train Gareth and Alastor to prepare them for possible attacks from the Forest Clan. They climbed the front steps of the Van Wilden’s home. When they reached the front porch, they both hesitated. They had both been invited into the Van Wilden’s home yesterday, but neither he or Alastor were quite sure of the etiquette in entering a vampire’s home.

  “Should I ring the doorbell?” Gareth asked Alastor.

  “I think it would be rude not to,” Alastor replied.

  Gareth shrugged and decided to press the button.

  “Come in, Gareth and Alastor,” a female’s muffled voice came from somewhere deep inside the house. They glanced at each other, then Gareth opened the solid mahogany door. It swung open into the dimly lit foyer. He walked across the threshold. Alastor followed. Having been there before, the two already had a feel for the layout of the house but couldn’t see anyone in the adjacent rooms.

  “Hurry up, you two, we’re down here!” Morgana sounded irritated.

  They followed the sound of her voice to a doorway down the hall. Gareth and Alastor walked down the wooden basement stairs. A full view of the room revealed brick walls painted white—no windows. The only light came from fluorescent bulbs hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of the room on a blue tumbling mat, like gymnasts often use, Morgana crouched in a defensive position. She was dressed in a khaki tank top and gray sweat pants, her long hair twisted back in a braid, sweat on her brow. She was engaged in a fight against a blonde female they had never seen before. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she was dressed in a black tracksuit. Gareth rushed down the stairs to help Morgana, then realized the blonde vampire was Mrs. Van Wilden. Gareth’s mouth gaped open. He should have been able to sense it was her. Was she wearing wolfsbane? But wouldn’t that weaken her too?

  Alastor whistled low, “Go, Mrs. V.”

  Vivienne turned to smile at them briefly before blocking an attack from Morgana who was swinging her right arm at her mother’s face.

  “Nice one,” Vivienne said, throwing out her left hand to palm Morgana’s chest.

  “Not so bad yourself, Vivienne,” Morgana grunted as she spun away to avoid being hit.

  They both stood huffing as they faced each other, their arms up in defensive stance.

  “I think we’re finished for now,” Vivienne spoke as though she was commanding Morgana.

  Morgana nodded, grabbing a towel to wipe herself down. She seemed hyper-focused, and Gareth couldn’t tell if she was happy to see him or not, which made him feel a bit defensive, but he squashed it down, trying to remain upbeat and motivated.

  “Wow, Mrs. V, I didn’t realize you had it in you.” Gareth gave an impressed nod.

  “What, just because I’m married to one of the most powerful vampires on Earth, you think I wouldn’t know how to fight? There’s more to being the wife of a Primus than just smiling all day and baking blood cookies, you know.” She winked.

  “Aye, we can see that.” Alastor was also impressed.

  “Gentleman, welcome to our training room.” Vivienne waved her hand around th
e room.

  The back of the room was what really piqued Gareth’s interest. From floor to ceiling were grooved shelves where round wooden stakes were stacked and stored. Everything lined up with the point downward. He walked closer to examine them. Alastor was close behind.

  “Got enough stakes?” He turned to Morgana.

  “You can never have too many. You never know when you will need them all.” She joined them at the wall. Her scent was a mixture of sweat with the underlying hint of blood. Gareth breathed in deeply. Her heart—beating fast from the training session—made her blood pump rapidly through her arteries. Even Alastor crinkled his nose when she approached.

  “They are all carved from different woods,” she explained. “We like to keep a variety. Although, wherever we go, we like to use wood from the local trees.”

  Gareth concentrated on her words. It was taking all his effort not to turn to her and bite her neck. He picked up a pale wooden stake to distract himself. A sweet menthol scent was wafting off the wood.

  “What wood is this?” he asked.

  “Those stakes were made from a eucalyptus tree in Australia,” Morgana replied.

  “How did you get it through customs?” Alastor took the stake from Gareth to examining it himself.

  Morgana and Vivienne exchanged a mischievous look. “We claimed it was part of the furniture,” Vivienne spoke up. “Then fashioned it into a stake.”

  She likely caught Gareth and Alastor’s confused expressions and kept going.

  “We like to keep a varied assortment of wooden stakes.” Her pale blue eyes shifted. “You know, as souvenirs of the places we go…” her voice trailed off.

  Gareth and Alastor both raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, the sister stakes from the same tree came in quite handy when we killed my last target,” Morgana said, now bragging while twirling the stake in her hand.

  Vivienne cleared her throat.

  “Fine.” Morgana rolled her eyes. “The vampire father killed. On my mission. Anyway, he was preying on humans then reviving them with his own blood, feeding off of them over and over again. He turned quite a few vampires in the process. He needed to be stopped.”

  “You can be quite the vicious little half-vampire, can’t you?”

  Morgana pulled back her shoulders. “Just doing what needs to be done.”

  “Is that why you were in Australia this last time… to kill a vampire?”

  “I was.” Morgana pointed toward her mother. “They just followed me there.”

  “They don’t always assign the whole family?” Gareth asked.

  Morgana tapped her chin. “I’m the best there is, so yes, I am assigned solo missions, of course. But in this case, The Council felt the cover story required a family. Father, as a Council Elder, is here to oversee Randalf’s first mission, so it made sense he would also come.”

  “Randalf? He was there at the campaign office the other morning?”

  “Yes, he was checking in on us.”

  “And what do you do, Mrs. V?”

  “Oh, you’ll see what Vivienne does.” Morgana smiled.

  Gareth and Alastor glanced toward Vivienne.

  She winked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

  What was Vivienne’s role in all of this? Gareth wondered.

  Alastor moved away from the stakes and picked up a crossbow. It was the same one Morgana had used in the woods to save Gareth.

  “Now, this weapon is more like it.” He looked down the wooden tiller. “I could get used to carrying one of these. The name’s McLoughlin, Alastor McLoughlin, vampire spy at your service,” he said with a heavy English accent.

  Gareth rolled his eyes and snatched the crossbow out of Alastor’s hands. “Morgana killed the dude who attacked me with this.”

  Alastor lit up. “He said ye shot straight through the guy’s heart, so clean the arrow pierced the other side of his chest.”

  “The crossbow is an effective weapon.” Vivienne took the crossbow from Gareth, placing it back on its crook. “But you will get a truer aim by throwing a stake yourself. You will need to learn how to do perform this basic maneuver before you can move on to other weapons.”

  Alastor’s shoulders dropped, and his mouth downturned at the corners.

  Gareth was a little disappointed himself as he had also wanted to look badass running around with the crossbow slung over his shoulder. But then he noticed the gun cabinet.

  “What do you use guns for?” He picked up a silver shotgun, turning it over in his hands. “Call that a weapon? Now, this is a weapon!” he said to Alastor, who had joined him, eager for his turn.

  Morgana took the gun out of his hand. “To shoot silver bullets.” She loaded the gun with silver bullets to demonstrate. But when she touched the silver, a flash of pain registered across her face. She quickly smoothed it over. Gareth wanted to ask about her reaction, but Morgana kept talking. “… injures a vampire and paralyzes them. But you still need to stake them and burn their bodies to kill them. So, we generally use stakes, fewer weapons to carry around. Kills a werewolf straightaway, though.”

  “Werewolves? Like moon howlers?”

  Morgana nodded. “Yes, with the fangs and the claws and the changing of appearance every full moon.”

  “Have you ever had to kill a werewolf?”

  “Only once. They are quite rare. You don’t really see them much. Nasty creatures.”

  Again, Alastor whistled low. “I wonder why the silver bullets kill werewolves and not vampires?”

  “According to The Council records, it’s because silver is one of the purest metals. Werewolves are half-human, half-wolf. Their blood isn’t pure.”

  Gareth shared a look with Alastor. Morgana was half-human, half-vampire. Were they referring to her own blood may also not be pure? He glanced toward Vivienne who had been watching Morgana, her gaze unreadable. Gareth twisted his lip. This family and their secrets. Gareth leaned closer to the cabinet and noticed a box of what appeared to be wooden bullets. “Wooden bullets?” he questioned, picking one up in his fingers.

  “Do they actually work?” Alastor asked.

  “We had a theory about using wooden bullets to kill vampires. But they just burn up in the barrel. We kept these as a souvenir.” Morgana unloaded the gun, placing it back onto the shelf inside the cabinet.

  Alastor walked across the room and picked up a long rubbery item. He chuckled. “I don’t even want to know what ye do with this?” He winked at Gareth.

  “Ha ha, very funny.” Morgana rolled her eyes, taking the rubber stake from his hand. “It’s for training. We can’t go around stabbing each other with wooden stakes while we train. And a vampire isn’t going to stand still while you’re trying to kill them, so we need to practice on moving targets. You want to have a go?”

  “Bring it on, sister,” said Alastor with a wide grin.

  Gareth laughed. “More like, let the pain begin.”

  “Good.” Vivienne nodded. “Your training starts now.”

  Chapter Twenty

  As the training session commenced, Gareth began to understand Vivienne’s role.

  She stood center in the room. Gareth, Alastor, and Morgana were lined up opposite her. “The first thing you need to learn is it’s no easy feat to kill a vampire.” Vivienne’s voice was loud and clear. “We are quicker, stronger than any other creature on this earth, and we live to kill. Our instincts tell us killing is the only way to get our food source.

  “Here today, gentleman, you’re going to learn how to kill a being with a stake rather than with your teeth. Now, I want you to show me how you would fight one another.”

  Gareth and Alastor grinned at each other. Gareth spun around and raced to the table at the end of the room where the rubber stake was lying. Quickly grabbing it, he threw it at Alastor’s head. It impacted with a thud.

  “What was that for?” Alastor asked, baring his teeth. Morgana laughed.

  Vivienne watched intently.

  “I’m t
raining. I have to attack all vampires who come near me.” Gareth flashed a cheeky grin.

  “Well, if that’s how ye want to play…” Alastor ran up a few of the basement steps, leaping on top of Gareth, crash tackling him to the ground. They landed with a thunderous thump against the blue mat. Alastor quickly untangled himself, coiling into an attacking crouch. Gareth stood, rubbing his neck—nothing broken from the fall, just a little stiff. He winced, cracking it from side to side, loosening it up.

  “Game on.” Gareth leaped to his feet, then charged at Alastor who quickly sidestepped Gareth, aiming the rubber stake to plunge it into Gareth’s chest. Gareth ducked, moving his leg in a circular motion to knock Alastor’s legs out from under him. Alastor landed on his back but quickly jumped upright, moving to attack Gareth again.

  “Good, Alastor.” Morgana nodded. “You fight well.”

  “Well, ye don’t grow up in Ireland in the nineteenth century without learning a thing or two,” said Alastor, watching Gareth, his hands up in a defensive stance.

  Gareth let out a soft growl, clenching his teeth. He was determined to show Morgana he had fighting skills too. He whipped past Alastor to attack from behind. His instincts told him to bite Alastor with his teeth, using his body as the weapon. Teeth bared, he lunged toward Alastor’s neck for the ‘kill,’ but he was stopped short. Morgana held her hand to his chest. She was strong, he had to admit. His pride was still reeling from the knock.

  Alastor stood motionless with the rubber stake in hand, still waiting for Gareth’s attack.

  Vivienne broke the silence. “Gentleman, you have just experienced what a vampire will do to you out there in the field.” Vivienne circled them. “A vampire’s basic killing instinct is to use their bodies as their weapon, baring their teeth, ready to rip and gnaw into human flesh, or in our case, vampire flesh. You both need to learn not to give in to your instincts as Gareth did just now, but to learn to fight using techniques humans themselves use. Now do either of you know why the stake is our chosen weapon?”

  Both Gareth and Alastor shook their heads, not daring to speak in case they answered incorrectly and were commanded to do fifty push-ups. Vivienne had seemed like such the dutiful mother figure, but now she marched around them like a stern drill sergeant.