Protect My Love ~ Book 4 ~ The Royal Blood Collection

Chapter 6

Sweat dripped from every single part of my body, my clothes were soaked and I'm sure that I smelled rather ripe. My only consolation was that we all looked and smelled like we'd taken a swim in our clothes. Kafla was ahead of us but my maybe father was right beside me, always darting his eyes to me, offering a vague smile when our eyes connected. I really wished that we could understand each other.

We'd been walking all night, it seemed that the path was never-ending and I wondered why the creatures traveled so far from their homes. Was the free meat that the base threw over to them worth that much to them or was it a case of them keeping an eye on us while getting a free feed? I suspected that it was the latter.

The path began to incline, a steep walk that was murder on my legs. Toness walked like it was nothing, getting a few steps ahead of me. Merrick kept his pace the same as mine though it was likely to be annoyingly slow for him.

Something shifted and the dirt beneath my boots gave way. Before I slipped, Merrick grabbed me. I looked up, staring. It was one of those cliché moments that if we'd been alone, we would have totally snogged it out. Or not. Merrick seemed to loathe me. I guess our beginning wasn't the greatest.

Taking a step back, Merrick moved me onto the ground that was firmer.

"Press hard before lifting your other foot." He murmured.

I nodded and noted that he still had hold of my elbow. When we reached the crest of the hill, I stood silently in awe. The place was enormous.

Little huts were dotted among the trees, toward the center was a larger hut which I guess was safe to assume was the leader's hut. The hill that we'd walked up, it surrounded the village and even though I had little experience when it came to army, war, and safety, I could see that it wasn't the greatest setup. How did they protect themselves from the alphas?

Moving onto a platform, we slowly made our way down the wooden ramp. When it turned underneath the level that we'd just walked, I realized that it was not a hill at all. Merrick stopped beside me as we gazed at the brick wall. A poster had been graffitied, not that there was much left of it. Faded, ripped and old, it had been exposed to the elements for a long time.

"The buildings were probably bombed." Merrick offered as we began to walk again. "That happened a few times before they created the gorge. The humans tried to bomb the vampires and stop them. They failed, obviously."

"All they did was ruin the infrastructure that was in place."

Merrick nodded and we turned to another layer of the wooden path. They'd created a deep bowl to build their village, I looked up and saw that we were being watched. Further along the crest were a few of the creatures, spears in their hands and their eyes firmly pinned to the newcomers.

Turning to the other side of the staircase, I saw more of the creatures.

"They've learned how to make weapons."

"They probably didn't have much choice with the alpha's trying to attack them. I'm surprised they haven't found the guns that the humans would have left behind."

I nodded, wondering if they were in buildings or just dumped on the ground. All that I knew of the human's path to this land was that they did it to try and get away from the vampires. They thought that putting an ocean between them would be enough and soon learned that it wasn't. They bombed them when the vampires first emerged and then they cut the gouge. It was a rash move that failed because the vampires just returned to their boats and went to the other side of the ridge.

The vampires were also smarter, quickly advancing to the other side of the vast land. This was the plan of my grandfather, a man that I'd never met and wasn't really my grandfather. He sent a portion of the vampires to the other side of the continent to encircle the humans and as a reward for their efforts, he gave them land to rule. It would be a move that would one day end in his death and the thought of the betrayal made me sad. He gave them something of value and they repaid him with murder.

When we reached the ground, Petersen ordered us to stop. We had company and a lot of them. Not just guards with their spears but women and children too. They were curious.

Kafla was talking, gesturing to Toness and me, eager in his face. The intrigued faces looked at me and then back to Kafla who was still talking up a storm. His words started to fade when the crowd parted, Kafla and Toness stepped back. Their heads lowered dutifully as a woman walked towards us.

She was tall, a lithe frame that was wrapped in animal skins and a long flowing cape that looked like she'd found it because I swear it appeared to be crushed velvet.

Guards moved around her, when she stopped, they did too only they lowered their spears at us. The woman who was clearly the leader here said something and Kafla stepped forward. His timid voice offered something and I heard my name mentioned.

She looked at him with a slight frown, repeating my name. Kafla nodded and said more, this time I heard my mother's name. Her frown turned to intrigue as she shifted her gaze to me.

In a firm voice, the woman said something and then turned away. As she walked back, the guards jabbed their spears at us, demanding that we follow. Kafla offered a smile as he nodded, probably trying to tell us that it would be alright.

I had my doubts.