Freya bounded into the meeting hall where Marcus and Joseph were deep in conversation.
“Did you intend on excluding me completely?” she snapped as she stomped up to the first row of seating and yanked one of the empty folding chairs free from it. Making as much noise as she could while dragging it across the floor, she dramatically positioned the chair between the two men and dropped her backside onto its seat. “If you are making plans to settle this vampire situation, I expect to be included. I am your queen, after all.” Glowering at them, she added, “You would do well to remember it.”
“We weren’t plotting without you,” Marcus assured her. “We were discussing Jasper. We need him back here to finish the serum. Intel says he’s residing with the zombies.”
With a look of disgust, Freya spat, “Zombies… pooh! Filthy creatures.”
“Maybe so,” Marcus patiently said, “but they are changing with his help. He has developed a serum that is either retarding the zombie virus or killing it. I’m not sure which. I just know that those who he’s treated are more agile and mobile. They were the ones who raided the vampire castle and slaughtered the vampires.”
“They took them unawares,” Freya insisted. “I doubt they’d be able to do it again.”
“I can’t imagine they’d want to,” Joseph interjected. “Taken unawares or not, I have no doubt that it was one tough fight. We know firsthand how powerful and vicious a fighter the vampire is. Yet, they lost. We’re all shocked by the news.”
“We wonder what else he’s doing to the zombies,” Marcus explained. “I mean, if he was simply returning them to their former human state or close to it, they should not have had the wherewithal to slaughter a vampire clan like they did. No matter what their numbers were. Humans aren’t capable of besting a vampire or a werewolf. Yet, these zombies did.”
“Jasper has zombie, wolf, and vampire in his genetics,” Freya mused. “Could he be injecting them with a serum made from his own blood? That would transition them into something other than simple zombie. Perhaps he is not trying to return them to human state. Since the zombie starts out human and he also started out human, could he be trying to create more of his own kind?”
Marcus’ eye went wide.
“Oh hell. He has zombie in him too? I had no idea. How do you know?” Marcus asked with angst.
“He was my lover and I his confidant,” she smugly said. “Besides, I could smell it on him. It amazes me that you did not.”
Ignoring her snide slam about his inability to detect the zombie in his friend, Marcus focused on the possibility of Jasper using his own DNA to alter the zombies.
“If that’s the case, things could get serious,” he grumbled. “I hope he didn’t, but it would explain a lot.”
“They were also joined by a warlock,” Joseph offered. “Could the zombies have been imbued with magical strength?”
Freya’s tense expression relaxed upon hearing Joseph’s suggestion.
“It is highly possible that is what happened,” she said with a slight, hopeful sigh. “Let us hope that is what occurred. It will be much easier to deal with than mutant zombies.”
“Mutant zombies,” Marcus said with a chuckle. “It’s a bit of an oxymoron, wouldn’t you say?”
Freya shrugged and gave a pursed grin, “I suppose it is, but I know no other way to describe them.”
“Nor do I,” Joseph interjected.
“So, what do we do?” Marcus asked with such sincerity that it took Freya aback for just a moment.
When she gathered herself, she thoughtfully said, “We need to find a way to get him back here.”
“Do you think he fears repercussions for his actions?” Joseph asked. “I know that if I snuck out of the camp and paired up with not one, but two enemies, I’d be worried. It wouldn’t matter if I did kill a bunch a vampires, I’d still worry about what would happen when I returned.”
“I thought of that,” Freya said. “No matter how angry or disappointed we are with Jasper, we must make assurances that he is well received. He needs to feel comfortable and confident about finishing that serum for us.”
“I don’t really hold it against him for sneaking off,” Marcus said. “He was aware of your plans to kill Lila. I would have been surprised if he hadn’t done something to save her.”
“I would have spared Lila if I knew she meant that much to him,” Freya said. “Those damnable vampire babies are what I want destroyed.”
“Intel says that Jasper is planning on binding the vampire in them,” Marcus said. “He’s managed to do nicely with his own vampirism. I imagine he’d do the same with them.”
“Jasper holds no magic,” Freya protested. “Those babies are half witch. I cannot believe that anything a man of science could do would prevent them from using that witch side to bring forth the vampire in them, should they choose to do so. He would have to bind their magic as well. I have experienced what can happen when a vampire has full magic in him. It is something we want to avoid at all costs.”
“Why would a witch choose to become a vampire?” Joseph asked with sincere and open disgust.
“You cannot understand what would be so attractive about being a vampire because you are pure wolf,” Freya explained. “The vampire lure runs not through your veins. Ask Jasper about that lure. I am aware that he despises the vampire. Even so, if you tell me that he has never let the vampire in him surface than I will say that you are either naïve or a liar. The lure of vampirism is practically irresistible. At some point, it will rear its ugly head.”
“He’s able to shift at will,” Marcus confessed. “I’ve seen him turn vampire.”
“See,” Freya said with emphasis.
“He won’t tolerate the killing of those children,” Marcus informed her. “Especially Lila’s baby.”
“We will not tell him that we still plan on doing it,” Freya said. “We shall praise him for his victory and creativeness in warfare and beg him to return as part of our family. Once we have what we need, we will deal with the vampire babies.”
“And, if he intercedes?” Marcus asked.
“Then, we deal with him as well,” she firmly said. “There is only one of him against an entire pack.”
Marcus nodded, but said nothing. He had a pit in his stomach about her plan. He liked and trusted Jasper. His faith in the man’s ability to come up with a way to bind the vampire side of those babies was strong.
Even though he’d been rescued and brought back to life by a vampire, his time and experience with them had caused Jasper to hate vampires. Even though he’d allowed his vampire side to surface, it was done only during the times when he needed to fool a large group of them off the scent of the smaller party of wolves that he was traveling with. By allowing his vampire self to come forth, it weakened the wolf scent so that the vampires passing by assumed that they were detecting residue from an earlier time. More than once he’d spared them having to battle a group of vampires that far outnumbered their small hunting party.
Marcus had no fear of going up against vampires. He’d done it more times than he could count. Even so, he was smart enough to know when the odds weren’t in his favor. Having Jasper with them during those times had literally been a life saver for at least one of their pack members, if not more.
“You do not look happy,” Freya said as she closely studied Marcus. “You do not like this plan?”
Having spent an excessive amount of time with the wolf queen, both in her bed and out, Marcus had grown to recognize the warning signs. Had he told her the truth of how he felt, she would have accused him of being a traitor and possibly campaigned to turn the pack against him. If she was really angry, she could even go as far as to pull rank and order him either cast out or killed. Pack leader or not, the pack would have no choice than to obey their queen. So, he swallowed his protest and lied to her face as he told her that he fully approved of her plans.