Untold Hunger

Ryan lead me to the kitchen. He walked around the island and sat me down at the island and pushed a plate of bacon at me. “We just finished dinner.”

“You had bacon for dinner?” I asked.

“Ant like breakfast when he wakes up so dinner is always breakfast.” Ryan pulled out other breakfast foods from the oven. “We always make too much.”

I picked up bacon and started to eat. There was food enough for an army. “Is this always how much you make?”

Ryan shook his head. “No. The cook was expecting more. But we have been sending people to safe houses. And we were going to take your body back to New York. But there was a problem Ant had to deal with.” I started to get up but Ryan put his hand on mine. “It’s alright. But we need to go New York. Things are worse there. Ant and Francesco spent the time you out of it getting Evangeline and her people to safety. Tony and Sanctuary were preparing the boundaries to keep out all shadow walking. Once they seal it off there will be no coming or going until this is over. Francesco and Tony will be the only primeval vampires out in the world helping us. Anyone else out here we presume is working with Brandon. “

I didn’t bother making a plate I just ate from what was in front of me. I spoke around mouthfuls. “They are leaving family behind.”

Ryan nodded. “They are. Sierra and Marie said they would know when it was safe to let travelers come and go again. Tony will miss his kids, but they are grown and he had to swear Henry into staying. He wanted to help.”

I sighed. “I think my boys would be just as bent on helping.”

Ryan nodded. “They are. Cari says they have been helping with the transplanted vampires. Even Fae. Almost like he’s in his element.”

“What’s going on in New York?” I asked as I pushed an empty plate away and stared on another. I was still famished.

“The Venatori can’t keep the Vampire problem under control. They are going to threaten our existence if we don’t get all hands on deck. You are out here busy. And then you were dead and we weren’t sure if even going back was going to help but we had to. But now we’ve got you back. I think you can tip the scales.”

“Valence?”

Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know. Mother says she doesn’t think it’s Valence directly. It may be his doing. It’s a bunch of baby vampires making the havoc. They kill a nest and another pops up. If you can find the master vamp creating the nests we can put a stop to it. Kill it and we stop the madness.”

I nodded. “So I get to do what I did before.”

Ryan laughed. “Yeah, except maybe without the fire fight.” He started clearing plates from in front of me. “You still hungry?”

I looked down and noticed all the food was gone. “Uh…”

Ryan grinned. “Recovery is rough on the body. Resurrection has to be tougher.”

“This wasn’t extra?”

Ryan shook his head. “Yes and no. I asked the cook to make a lot. Just in case. I’m always starving when I come back from the dead.”

“You believed I’d rise from the ashes?”

Ryan laughed. “No. But Cari did. And that’s why I was here. I was here to make sure no one did anything stupid if you died. Like dismembering you and burying your body in separate places. Or scattering the ashes. Cari believes in the prophecy. “

“So when we go back, you’ll go back to being Cari’s watch dog?”

“I will, but you will be a floor above us, we can still hang out. And I think you have a new believer and a much better body guard now that Ant believes.”

I looked behind me and saw Ant standing in the doorway. Ryan grinned at his friend and nodded at me. He patted my hand as he left. “I’m going to pack your things, so we can get you home. “

“Thanks Ryan.” I said. I watched him walk past Ant. The vampire was standing still, like only a vampire can manage. He was a living breathing vampire and he could stand stone cold still. The breathe of life stilled and he stood there staring at me with dark sad eyes. I turned and leaned against the island. “What?” I grinned at him.

“You were dead, Nox. I felt your fire die. I didn’t need Elsandra to come screaming to know you had woken from the dead. I was stilled to disbelief.” He took a step closer to me but he stopped. “You healed fire, Nox. Vampires can’t do that.”

“I’m not a vampire. Ryan said it, fire doesn’t hurt dragons.”

“You aren’t a dragon.”

“I’m not human or Venatori either. I’m not anything we know. Isn’t that the point of the Ascendant?”

“You believe?”

I shrugged. “Do I have a choice? I knew I was dying Ant. I saw you and the others after I died. You took me somewhere with your elemental ability into the shadows.”

“I saw you. I think.” Ant took another step closer. “But I blinked and you weren’t there, the sun was close. I had to go.”

“I saw Drake and the boys. Sage and his brother. And I saw Dev – it was a younger Dev but it was still him. Someone always saw me.”

Ant shrugged. “They haven’t called me.”

“I don’t think Sage knew what he saw. And Matt, I don’t know. Dev was sleeping.”

“What are you going to tell them?”

“The truth.” I said.

Ant took a step closer and I saw a tear sliding down his cheek. “Nox, they will hate me.”

I laughed. “They won’t. They’ll be pissed. But I’m here. I’m fine.”

Ant closed the distance and pressed hand to my temple. “You are more than fine. Have you looked in a mirror?”

I shook my head. “I’m afraid to.”

“You were beautiful before, now…” Ant said, his voice trailing off into the distance as he thought about the past. I felt his feelings for me colliding with confusion. They weren’t what I felt for Sage and Dev. More like what I felt for Jace.

I sighed as I pressed my hands to the sides of Ant’s face and stood up. I leaned my head against his forehead and smiled at him as I stared into his dark brown eyes. “It’s alright, Ant. I’m okay. Let’s not try that again, but I’m alright.”

He nodded. He was still crying. Happy tears I hoped. “Do you want to finish getting ready?”

I cocked my head to the side. “Your hair, the eyeliner. You might need to wait on the nails, that’ll take took long. New York needs us.”

I glanced down at my fingers and saw my dark nail polish was gone. “What’s with the new tattoo I asked.”

Ant laughed. “Wicca magic. I think all your connections manifested on to your skin. At least that’s what Mother’s tattoo is. Her connection with Tony.”

“So all these magical connections I’m forging is wicca in nature. Human magic.”

Ant shrugged. “Maybe. I think it’s Ascendant magic. No one can tell you how it works because you are the only one who has it. It’s like you have gifts from all of the races and you are just now coming into them. Some of them take hold early, like your natural gifts, the others needed a catalyst.”

“Like dying.”

Ant nodded. “Yeah.” He pulled away from me and took my hand and dragged me down the hall towards my room. “Finish getting ready.”

“I’m good Ant. I can do it when we get there. I want to see everyone. And we have work to do.”

He nodded. “Okay. Let’s get everyone together and we’ll go. Mother is expecting us.”

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