The Lycan Collapse (The Flux Age Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

in these mountains to make the mountain people think in such a way.
    “I don’t want to be a monster,” Yasmin spat vehemently. Her tone was so final that Tomas could only bow his head.
    “I will not scrabble around these mountains hunting fresh blood,” Yasmin insisted. “The castle will be rebuilt and we will establish modern connections with the world.”
    Yasmin’s voice felt a million miles away. Was that really her speaking? She wasn’t aware that she felt so strongly about this. Perhaps it was the dangerous rush of her first kill that had set her mind on this path.
    “As you wish, my queen,” came Tomas’s soft voice. The tall scientist was looking at Yasmin with unbridled admiration. For her part, Yasmin sensed that she had chosen her prime consort very well. The pair seemed to recognize each other’s best qualities.
    “It shall be done,” Tomas said in his heavily accented English. “We need to embrace the old and the new.”
    “Keep talking,” Yasmin said, her interest piqued. She could feel the fresh blood coursing through her veins, sharpening her mind further with every minute.
    “We know what we are,” Tomas began. “But only at a superficial level. We need more information. I know where to find tomes. Ancient texts. We need to know what kind of power we’re sitting on. I think we’ve only scratched the surface.”
    Yasmin nodded. It made sense. She could feel immense power within her that she just didn’t understand. Not yet.
    “You will have your research,” she promised. “But first, there’s something I need you to organize.”
    The walk back to the castle was one of companionable silence. Both vampires were content to bask in the glow of their first frightening but ultimately successful human feed. Yasmin didn’t relish hunting her blood in quite that way every day, and she certainly wasn’t prepared to take blood from innocent civilians. The situation with the Hungarian trappers had presented itself randomly - there wasn’t much she could’ve done about it. She made a mental note to enquire about fresh blood supplies next time she was passing through Bucharest.
    The succubi were active back at the castle. They floated through the ruins like bewitching wraiths, their seductive giggling teasing at the corners of Yasmin’s mind. She smiled at her charges, amazed at how startlingly beautiful they were. The three women, two brunettes and a blonde, kept a respectful distance from their queen. Yasmin had no doubt they were a fearsome and lethal psychological enemy to any intruder who passed the castle’s threshold.
    Dawn was threatening to rise by the time Yasmin undressed and retired to her chamber. She had Tomas rustle up some real food before daylight peeped over the Carpathians to the east. Spooning down an excellent rabbit stew, Yasmin sat Tomas down on the large clothes chest she kept at the base of her bed and stood casually against the opposite wall.
    “This place is both a blessing and a curse,” Yasmin began. She felt a little weak at the imminent arrival of a new day but she wanted to talk to Tomas before they both “rested” for the next twelve hours.
    “I couldn’t have hoped for a more secure base,” she said. “For that, I am forever in your debt. Tomorrow we will engage more Maramurians in the task of rebuilding.”
    “We are shut off from the world,” Tomas commented knowingly.
    “Exactly,” Yasmin agreed. “What protects us also makes us ignorant. I can’t stay here and further the vampire cause unless I know who my friends are. And my enemies. Which is why I need you to organize something for me. A masquerade ball.”
    Tomas blinked. “A ball,” he stammered. “Surely that would put you at risk …”
    “Something tells me I won’t be the only one,” Yasmin said thoughtfully. “I’m going to Bucharest in the morning. By tomorrow night I hope to be on a plane for New York. In the meantime I want you to contact the lycans and any other species