Annie Nicholas - Prima

Pallas sighed. “Are they under your command?” He gave Daedalus a pointed stare. “Currently.”

“No.” Daedalus shrugged. “How much damage can they do? The last thing they want is to draw the Council’s attention. I haven’t truly lost control.”

“Your estate is abandoned.”

“It’s not abandoned. I dispersed my staff to other tasks, and there’s a shifter house sitter. You probably scared the shit out of him.” He’d have to call Stephen and check on him. The young shifter didn't like company, let alone drop-ins from hell.

“A little scare never killed anyone. The council wants you to straighten things out at Pal Robi Inc. and return to your post as Prime. Things are falling apart in the area.”

An alien sourness curdled his stomach. He examined the odd sensation and decided he didn’t like the source. “Or what?” This visit was expected. Not Pallas himself but someone the council would send. The Prime kept the peace among vampirekind in his area. Sort of like a sheriff. If those traitors hadn’t been so greedy and tried to kill him, things would still be fine.

“They’ll make me kill everyone at Pal Robi Inc…” Pallas’s gaze wandered to the house, “…and here.”

“Do you think you can defeat me?” It had been ages since he’d fought one of his own kind. Living among the Vasi pack had softened him.

A hard shield fell over Pallas’s eyes. “Yes.”

Sugar’s eyes snapped open. A sharp noise like a chair hitting the floor had woken her from a deep slumber. She searched the room, but nothing moved and her bed remained empty.

She let her head flop back on the pillow. Daedalus hadn’t joined her yet. She’d tried to stay awake, but with each passing day she grew weaker. She punched the mattress with her good arm. She needed to schedule later or longer naps, like the pups, so she could spend more time with Daedalus at night.

The silence in the house that followed the loud clatter gave her the creeps. Where were the others? They hadn’t discussed going out. Most of them held day jobs and needed to be up early in the morning. Lately they’d been playing that crazy alien shooting game every night.

She swore Eric and Sam dreamt about the video game.

Rising from her bed took some skill. She’d been in a rehab center after her stroke for weeks to learn how to take care of herself. Even though she had seven roommates, a twin sister, and a vampire fiancé all willing to dote on her every whim, she fought them off. She would take care of her basic needs or die trying.

She strapped her leg brace to her partially paralyzed left leg and tucked her useless left arm in the pocket of her robe. It bothered her to see it swing at her side like a dead limb. Her cane rested against the nightstand within reach of her good right hand.

Limping toward the kitchen, she hesitated at the entrance and blinked. Everyone had their ears plastered to the walls or windows, out of sight of the sliding glass door. Katrina was even perched over the kitchen sink, peeking through a crack in the curtain. What the hell was going on in Sugar’s garden?

Spice, her identical twin, crouched on her hands and knees between Eric’s legs as they both listened by the sliding glass doors. “What council are they talking about?” Spice whispered.

Sugar took a few steps into the kitchen, but everyone seemed so focused on what was happening in the yard they didn’t notice her approach. “Who’s outside?”

Spice jumped so high, she slammed Eric in the joy sack with the back of her head.

He crumpled to the ground next to her, moaning into her lap.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” Spice stroked his head.

“No prob, sweetie.” He managed to speak between his noises of misery. “My testicles always wanted to meet my tonsils.”

Spice shot Sugar an annoyed look. “You should be in bed.”

“With all the other babies?” She drew closer to the door and saw Daedalus speaking with a bald man. The stranger tilted his head, and she glimpsed the pointed ears all Nosferatu bore. Another vampire. That’s all she needed in her home, more supernatural beings. “Who’s that?”

“Pallas, D’s brother,” Sam whispered.

Tyler gasped. “He’s threatening to kill us!” With one swift movement, he scooped Katrina from her perch. “Go to the pups’ room. Stay there until we figure out what’s going on with Daedalus and his bro.” He gave her a little shove out of the kitchen.

Both Katrina and Spice’s babies shared a nursery at the end of the hall. The mothers raced to the room. The sound of material tearing followed as they shifted to their beast forms.

The blood drained from Sugar’s face. Another attack?

Eric and the others huddled by the kitchen table, discussing plans in low voices.

Taking a steadying breath, she slid the glass door open and continued her limping journey outside. There would be no more bloodshed in her home. Her cane was made of wood. She’d stake this stranger herself before he harmed her family.

His gaze broke from Daedalus and widened at her presence. “You keep a human in your home. That’s very…modern of you.”

Daedalus twisted, his eyes narrowing. “This isn’t a good time, Sugar.”

It wasn’t ever a good time for them anymore. When they did find a moment together, she and Daedalus spent it arguing.

Ignoring the two vampires, she used the tip of her cane to poke the stranger. “There will be no violence in this home, do you understand me?”

He stared at his chest then back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Will you stop me?”

“No. You’ll do it because I’m saying please.”

A startled laugh broke from the hard line of his mouth. “What befalls your home depends on what your master decides.”

She grunted with surprise. “What century are you from? No one has masters anymore.” Who was this woman using her voice? The terror that had eaten at her soul throughout her life no longer seemed present. She poked at the empty spot it had left within her and realized she had nothing left to fear. If this monster killed her, then her suffering would be over, and Daedalus could find a better life than being her nursemaid.

Her fiancé set his arm around her shoulders, something he used to do often but not so much since her return home. His arm felt heavy and solid. He always made her feel safe. Even though they lived together, she missed him and how they used to be. Daedalus guided the tip of the cane back to the ground. “Let’s not kill Pallas right away. He still has his uses.” He pressed a kiss on her head.

She tossed a look over her shoulder where the pack in beast form had poured out the door onto the patio. If the neighbors were watching, there’d be more notes in her mailbox. “Can we move this inside and keep it civil?”

Pallas gave her a short bow and returned to her home.

She elbowed Daedalus in his solid gut. “You never said you had family.” He hardly ever spoke about his past. After three years, she would have expected to know this at least.

“What?”

“They said he’s your brother.” She pointed at the shifters escorting Pallas inside.

“Oh, not by blood, but by vampire clan. I told you that turning females into Nosferatu only kills them, so my clan is a type of brotherhood.”

A familiar throb returned to her temples, and she shrugged his arm off. “Why is he threatening to kill us then?”

“Vampire blackmail tactics. They work remarkably well.”

She frowned. How could he be so nonchalant about a threat on their lives? What could Pallas possibly want from them? Unless… “Who does he want you to kill?”

Daedalus flinched. “Why do you jump to that conclusion?”