Queens and Monsters: A Vampire Shifter Romance (The Blood Falls Book 1)
Queens and Monsters: Chapter 7

We turned down one winding road and then another, and just when I thought the roads couldn’t get any twistier or narrower, Gigi turned left onto the scariest looking road I’d ever seen.

“Just close your eyes if you’re scared.”

“How are you not scared?”

She smiled, the steering wheel spinning one way and then the next as she maneuvered the all-wheel drive Audi up the incline. “I grew up here. I think big straight roads are weird.”

Well at least she was confident and experienced. I covered my eyes with my hand and sank into the seat. “How much further?”

“About two whole minutes.” She vibrated a little more with every mile, excited to see her family. And also, probably to introduce me to them. She babbled for the first half hour about how much fun we’d have.

Where Gigi was excited, I was nervous. I ate a normal amount of breakfast and lunch instead of the enormous meals I’d been eating. I simply couldn’t stomach anymore. My insides were twisted up in knots.

“Here we are!” She pressed a button and an old metal gate I probably wouldn’t have noticed began to open. A cement wall ran along the street and tall trees obscured what lay beyond the gate. “We moved to this property in 1802 and it’s been our homestead ever since.”

She maneuvered the car through the gate and slid down a gravel lane surrounded by forest. We drove over a little stone bridge. The forest disappeared and a meadow opened up on either side of the car with a little creek running through it. From there everything went up, up, up. Nestled into the forest above I counted four small houses. The gravel path wound back into the trees and twisted up a drive.

“And this is the main house,” she said, glancing upward with a smile.

What looked a lot like an enormous tree house emerged. It was made of wood and had wide porches all around. Windows—old and new—were flung open to let the crisp mountain breeze through. The more modern windows folded away while the older ones were propped up. There was at least one story that disappeared into the mountain below, and one and a half stories above.

It was like stepping into a fairytale.

“This is gorgeous!” I was so taken with it I could barely get the words out.

“The main house is where we grew up and it’s where all family gatherings take place, but as the family grows older and branches out, cousins and siblings have staked out a part of the property as their own and built their homes.”

“Where do you live?” My nose was plastered to the window and my mouth hung open.

“In the main house. We’ll share the top floor. I call it the Princess Tower because it’s only two bedrooms and it’s always been the girls’ floor.”

“Whose room am I taking?”

“Leena moved out a decade ago and the room has been empty ever since.” She drove past the main house and toward what looked like a barn on the outside but seemed to be a garage on the inside. There were parking spots on either side as we drove in, and Gigi slid into an open spot near the middle. Every vehicle was expensive and four wheel or all-wheel drive, which made sense given the road we just drove up. I could only imagine how terrifying it would be covered in snow in the dead of winter.

She popped the trunk and we gathered our bags, then I followed her toward the house. Dray loomed above at the top of the stairs. His jaw was cleanly shaven and his face showed no expression whatsoever. Not excited to see me, but not unhappy either. Just…nothing. He wore faded jeans, tall brown boots, and a t-shirt that was more worn than I’d seen him wear before. He still looked really (really) good, but different.

An older woman stepped out beside him and gasped, her hands going to cover her mouth. She had light brown hair and wore a floor length yellow dress. Then she reached out blindly for Dray.

“She looks just like her mother.” Her eyes traveled over my face as I mounted the final step and joined them on the porch. “She gets her hair from Tiynan, but the rest…if I didn’t know better I would believe I’d stepped back in time and Marhysa was standing before me.” Then she wrapped her arms around me and gave me an enormous hug.

I froze, my arms awkwardly pressed into my sides, my bag dangling from my fingers. Dray stood just behind her, watching us carefully but still with no emotion at all.

“Oh, this is great!” Gigi dropped her bag and threw her arms around Aunt Bethany’s. “One big happy family.”

Except I wasn’t family.

Dray blinked, his eyes meeting mine. Welcome. His voice echoed through my mind, sending a shiver down my spine. How did he do that? Did I like it? I think I did.

Gigi stepped away first. “All right, let’s get inside. Come on now. Shoo.”

Bethany laughed, releasing me, but not without one more rub down my arms and sweep of her gaze over my face.

“What hair does my mother have?” I ran my fingers through my dark locks, cherishing the special knowledge that this hair was my father’s and my face was my mother’s.

“Marhysa has the most beautiful head of red hair I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s entrancing.” Then she took my elbow and led me inside the House of Wren.

The inside was every bit as magical as the outside. Open, bright, and somehow made me feel at home even though it was magnificent. The ceilings in some parts stretched upward twenty feet. There was a massive stone fireplace in the kitchen and the living room, the floors were hardwood and covered in rugs.

“Gigi will get you settled upstairs, then Dray will take you on a tour of the property. Everyone will be here for dinner to meet you.” Bethany kept smiling at me like she couldn’t stop.

It made me feel special, just like Gigi and Dray had from the moment I met them. Apparently they learned it early on.

“This way!” Gigi grabbed my hand and yanked me toward a staircase.

I caught a glimpse of Dray watching, following the action with only his eyes. What the hell was up with him? Maybe I’d replace out during my tour. After mounting two flights of stairs, it did indeed feel like we were up in a tower. The hallway overlooked the living room fireplace below. It would be so easy to play Rapunzel and throw down a long braid of hair from up here.

Gigi pushed open the first door. “This is me!” She tossed her bag onto a queen-sized bed. “And this is you!” She opened the only other door at the end of the hallway.

The room was a blank canvas. White walls, dark floors, a large queen bed with a wooden head and footboard, a white comforter, and a matching dresser.

“Everything’s empty, so unpack as you like. Use the drawers or hang up your clothes.” She cracked a door that I assumed was a closet. “And over here is the bathroom. I hope you don’t mind sharing.” She waved at the Jack and Jill bathroom between our bedrooms.

“The only bathroom I’ve had to myself is the one in my cottage. I think I’ll manage.”

“Oh yes. Of course. That was careless of me to say.” Her cheeks heated with embarrassment.

I threw my bag on the bed and plopped onto the mattress. It was an old ritual that taught me a lot quickly. Mostly how soft or hard the mattress was, but also if I got into trouble for doing it, how strict the rules were. And even though I was a few years past needing to worry about such things, the ritual stuck.

The mattress was soft and the comforter pillowed around me. Gigi threw herself down onto the bed beside me, looking up at the ceiling. “I know I’m a little over the top excited but nothing interesting has happened in forever. Sometimes it’s like we’re being so careful we might as well be frozen in time.”

“Careful of the treaties you mean?”

“Yeah. At least you’re a bright spot! So for your tour, make sure you’re wearing your boots and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. I may like fine clothes and adore the occasions I get to dress up, but mountain life is its own thing.”

She had instructed me at length while packing. Nothing fancy. Dress for comfort and a little work. “How long do you think we’ll be?”

Gigi popped up off the bed and moved toward the bathroom. “At least an hour. Maybe two depending on how many times you stop to make-out.”

Dray’s emotionless response to my arrival popped into my mind. “I somehow doubt that will be happening.”

She shrugged. “It’s your loss. Have fun!” Then she skipped through her door, closing it behind to give me privacy.

I collapsed onto the bed. So this was the House of Wren.

“I like the boots.” Dray eyed my feet as I hopped off the stairs.

“They’ve only ever been used for snow days on campus, so hopefully they’re up to the task.”

He grunted and moved to the door.

Apparently he was still in the mood to be emotion free with the bonus of using as few words as possible. He climbed into what looked like a golf cart mashed up with a monster truck.

“What?” he asked from the seat with the steering wheel.

“I’ve never been in one before. I was just looking it over.”

His brow furrowed with confusion. “Never?”

I finally slid in beside him. “I’ve been in a couple of golf carts, but never something like this.” I pointed at myself. “Foster kid, remember? I didn’t exactly have a lot of extra experiences growing up.”

His face softened and his beautiful blue eyes moved over my face. “Yeah. Okay.” Then he started the vehicle and off we went down a dirt path. It was indeed an awful lot like a golf cart, but more capable of navigating dirt roads.

“The meadow is the most vulnerable part of the property but we haven’t had any intruders in decades, so I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s also the best way to access the Sato property. They homesteaded just to the east of us, and your mother’s family is just beyond them.” The cart trundled down the gravel road to the meadow and then along the creek to a fence.

“The Satos are allies?” One of these days I’d get it all straight.

“Our three families have been close for generations. We typically replace our friendships and lovers here. Not just because we’re neighbors, but because we’re a safe alliance.”

He never once looked at me as he drove. Not when he took me along the fence line or the stone wall, not up the road back to the house and past it to the mountain forest above.

“Can humans become samhains?”

His jaw ticked. “Yes. There is one bloodline that has the ability to do that.” He finally glanced my way. “We can’t.”

“What’s the difference?” Apparently all samhain were not alike. I realized everyone had different sensitivities and that affected their gifts, but this sounded like much more than had been explained to me so far.

“Every house has different abilities. We’ve evolved them. The Wren’s are powerful shifters. Your mother’s house, the Nala’s, they’re deeply rooted in what you think of as magic. Of casting spells. Their words are powerful.”

“And Axl?”

His jaw ticked again. He seemed almost angry. “One of the things your father’s family can do is bring things back from the dead. With humans, they have the ability to not only bring them back, but to make them into samhain. Their blood, it splices the DNA or something. I’m sure Gigi can explain it all to you if you care. But it’s a terrible process and most humans go insane as they transform. They can’t handle it. The metaphysical plane overwhelms their senses and they lose their minds.”

Dear god that sounded horrific. “Then why do they do it?”

He grimaced. “They can grow their numbers at will. It’s how the House of Axl became so powerful and why no one will stand up to them.”

And why the especially fertile House of Wren was such a threat to them. If the whole family started growing at the same rate, the House of Wren would overwhelm all the others.

Dray pulled up to a cabin and parked. “Turned samhain aren’t as powerful as true samhain, but if they have children, in three generations that weakness is bred out and it’s as if the human never existed in their bloodline.”

“Is this what the whole war is over?”

He shook head. “No. But it is a big part. Come on.” He waved me out of the cart. “This is Bo’s house.”

It was a lovely home. It looked more like a cabin than a treehouse, with a view of the pretty, untouched valley below.

“This path leads to most of the other homes and it’s always a great place to take a hike. If you leave from the house and follow the full loop, you’ll get a good two miles in. Here is my cousin Seamus’s house.”

A lot of forest separated the two houses, giving everyone their privacy. As we climbed upward in elevation the houses started to resemble the main house more. Wide porches, elevated views, rustic charm. He stopped in front of one that appeared to be the highest of them all.

“This is mine,” he said very quietly.

For some reason I expected him to live in the main house. Probably because he was the Lord of the house. I should have known someone as broody as Dray would live as far away and as high up from anyone else as possible.

“It’s lovely.” And it was. It was also the most like a treehouse of all them and I wanted to live there forever on top of the world. Not only did the home have beautiful open porches, but all the railings were specially carved with symbols and designs. All the windows were flung open and inside I could just barely make out a great room filled with large furniture and dimly lit bookcases. The green roof slanted down sharply to keep any water or snow from collecting.

Because of the steep slope of the mountain, it was built out on wood stilts, sitting up and above the valley below. I bet if he let me walk out on that wide porch I’d get a stunning view of the setting sun and a sea of trees.

He held out his rough hand. I stared at it for a long moment, knowing touching him would begin all that electric pleasure all over again. I took it anyway. This seemed to relieve him and for the first time all day I saw a glimmer of humor in his eyes. He led me along the porch to the view I wanted to see.

It was even more stunning than I imagined. “This is heaven. I could stand here all day.” The sun was beginning to set behind the mountains. The reflecting light caused little rainbows to appear, including a large one in the blue sky beside the adjacent mountain. I was able to pick out a winding stream in the sea of trees, but nothing else. No other houses, no roads. Nothing.

Dray came to a stop beside me, hands in his pockets. “Sometimes I do. It’s my favorite place to clear my head.” He turned just his head to look down at me. “I thought you might like it too.”

“I do.” I couldn’t look away. Aside from the breathtaking view, it was the quiet that got me. No cars, no electronic garbage. Just the wind and the occasional bird.

“A lot is going to change for you. It will be hard some days. Come here when you can, replace your own peaceful place wherever you go.”

I swallowed hard. Wherever you go. Gently reminding me I couldn’t just hide here. I had a future to face, one that very well might never include him.

Dray turned, resting against the railing and crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ve thought a lot about what happened between us. I won’t pretend we don’t have something special. We do.” His piercing eyes locked with mine. “But I also have to face the reality that you are my enemy and there’s no place where we can be together like the weight of the world isn’t sitting on our shoulders.”

He was right, of course. But that only made the ache growing in my chest, the one caused by being near him, worse.

I was the enemy.

“You took a great risk bringing me here.”

He huffed, shaking his head. “You can’t learn who you are from him. Antyne Axl will corrupt you and use your abilities for his own ends. You need to know what you can do, who you are, for yourself first. So you can decide who you want to be, not who he makes you.” There was so much frustration and venom laced into his words. It was almost as if something like this had happened before.

“I appreciate that.”

His eyes locked with mine again. “And I am sworn to protect you in the name of your mother. Antyne agreed to leave you be for now. You’re in no danger here and you aren’t endangering us. Samhain are bound by their word and we adhere to that strictly.”

I let some of my nervous energy go.

“I have something else to show you. Something special.” He stood and waved for me to follow. We moved along the other end of the porch where the railing had a gate. Dray opened it up and reached for a long rope dangling outside. It was attached overhead by some sort of pulley system. He pulled it closer, showing me a little circle attached to the rope for our feet, and gripped the rope firmly in one hand. “Come on now.”

I tried to grab the rope the way he had, flustered by his nearness.

“Put your arms around me,” Dray said quietly.

I swallowed hard and did as he asked, sliding my palms along his hips to his back, letting him haul me against his chest. The broad chest that was now pressed against mine with his strong arm around my waist.

And then we were floating down, down, down, through the trees, into the shadows, past all the other houses we’d just walked by.

“Oh my goodness!” Butterflies took off in my belly at the sudden change in height.

“Pretty fun way to get from one place to another.” His hand gripped my hip a little tighter.

I couldn’t resist this. It was one thing to keep my instincts in check when we were standing apart, but having his arms around me, his skin on mine, I lost the battle. I breathed in his scent, let my heartbeat sync with his, let the sounds of his breaths echo in my ears.

Why was I so drawn to him? Just him. I never had this physical response; this need to synchronize with anyone else.

As we descended the rope rotated, giving me a full view of the stone of the mountain face, the tree canopy, the shadows and flowers that dared to bloom here.

And then our feet touched the ground. We separated our bodies but he didn’t let go of my hand. With the other he tied off the rope. “If I timed it right, you’re about to see something truly amazing.” A full-blown smile lit up his face and a glint of mischief flashed in his eyes. This Dray was an entirely new level of sexy.

We practically ran through the woods, jumping over rocks and fallen limbs. I was vaguely aware of the sound of water, but mostly I was trying to keep up with Dray, so I was a little surprised when he suddenly came to a stop in front of a pool of water and a magnificent, roaring waterfall.

“This is lovely!” Now I was absolutely sure I was living in a fairytale. I’d never seen a waterfall in real life. The water cascaded over a mountain cliff and plummeted into a pool of water below. “Does this become the creek?”

He nodded. “It does. Look up at the falls and don’t look away.”

That was hard to do when all I wanted to do was watch Dray, to study the relaxed way he smiled, and how his laugh was different. How he kept glancing back at me to see if I was ready for whatever was about to happen.

And then it did. I blinked several times to make sure my eyes were working properly, but the only thing that changed was the shade of red. As the sunlight hit the water and the rock behind it just so, it began to turn red.

A deep shade of red.

“We call it Blood Falls.”

An appropriate name. It very much looked like the water had turned to blood.

“My ancestors thought it was a sign. That this land belonged to the samhain.”

And a great home it became. “Why can’t I do the things you do?” As I stared up at this magnificent natural wonder, I couldn’t help but think of all the samhain who lived here.

“What do you mean?”

“You can speak in my mind. Gigi can see my aura and the future. I’m…I’m the same as I was before all this happened.”

He finally broke his gaze away from the falls and turned to me, taking my hand. “It’s all in there, but it’s a lot. The Plane and your ability to interact with it are a powerful and brand-new ability. It’s overwhelming and I think you’re blocking it out on purpose. Like a protection.”

I was protecting myself? Yes. This seemed possible. Whenever I changed homes or school, or something unpleasant happened, I blocked it all out. Just pretended it wasn’t a thing that could hurt me.

Maybe I was doing some of that now. Every time a new sensation hit that I didn’t know what to do with, I buried it.

Dray ran his thumb along my palm. “Let it in slowly. Open yourself up a little at a time.”

“I’ll try.”

“You’re doing great.” His thumb stopped.

I heard his heart pound harder.

“Not alone,” he whispered. “No matter where you go or what happens, I’ll be there.” He moved my hair behind my ear. “I know I’m confusing and it’s probably not fair to you, but I can’t let myself get caught up in you. I won’t be able to let you go.”