“Mon ange, what a pleasant surprise. Have you decided to take me up on my offer? I could have a car there in less than an hour,” Gabriel said, answering the phone. Even his simple greeting sounded princely.
Every woman in the room gave a small sigh. The man sounded that damn good.
“Um, no, actually I, um, called to kinda ask a favor and uh... a question,” Ashby stammered.
“What can I do for you, mon ange?” Gabriel asked gently.
Mon ange? Bran mouthed to Kate in question.
My angel, Kate mouthed back. He smiled then nodded. It made sense since Ashby did look like an angel.
“We just found out that the perimeter breach allowing the hyena attacks is a boy from the wolf pack—” That was as far as Ashby got.
“Are you all right! Did they hurt you?” Gabriel demanded, the beautiful, melodious voice turning dark and terrible.
Ashby blushed a brilliant red. “I’m fine. Aleks and Rebecca kept us safe,” he said quietly. Kate heard Gabriel take a deep breath.
“You must call me when these things happen, mon ange. I refuse to lose you before we explore this thing between us,” Gabriel said, his melodic voice returning. Everyone in the room let out the breath they had been holding.
“Unless we seal the perimeter, they may get to me next and drain me like they tried to do with Nic,” Ashby said with a sniffle.
“They will not touch you!” Gabriel roared.
“If we seal the perimeter, then we don’t have to worry about the attacks anymore,” Ashby said softly.
“What do you need from me, angel?” Gabriel asked.
“Can you tell Dr. Claybourne what levels to take a person’s body to, to take them to the brink of death. We’re hoping this will reseal the perimeter. Then we can bring Ethan back,” Ashby explained.
“I’m flattered you have been learning about vampires, mon ange. It is a simple thing you ask and a request that I can easily fulfill. I’m emailing you what you need now. Was there also a question?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes, this is Bran. When we went to dispatch one of my pack members who had been working with the hyenas, he was acting as though he was high on drugs. As you probably know, when you’re a shifter, that’s extremely hard to do. Any ideas?”
A steady stream of curse words was heard in multiple languages.
“Did he act euphoric, almost manic one moment and then aggressive the next? Bloodshot eyes, lack of coordination?” Gabriel demanded.
“Yes. Exactly that,” Bran explained. Gabriel exploded.
“They have gone too far! That process was banned centuries ago. When I find these parasites, I will destroy every last one of them!”
“What is going on, Gabriel?” Ashby asked, his voice soft.
“The group of vampires that has started harvesting shifter blood has moved on to more dangerous diversions. What you saw was the effects of Shifted Death on a shifter.” They heard him sigh.
“Shifted Death was first created nearly a millennia ago by a group of deranged vampires. It’s the cyclical ingestion of blood directly from the shifter. After approximately fifteen minutes, the shifter then bites and ingests the blood of the vampire while the vampire is feeling the effects of shifter blood. This throws the shifter into a manic high. That is one cycle. This process can be repeated many times before eventually the shifter’s heart gives out.
“There is a danger to the vampire as well. The more cycles they perform, the more they need shifter blood to survive. They can no longer be sustained by human blood. This is why it was forbidden to be done upon la douleur de l’éternité. Up until tonight I believed that no one who knew of the process survived the cleansing we performed a thousand years ago. I need to find out how this has come to light again. This could destroy both our races.”
When Gabriel finished, even Kate could hear the exhaustion in his voice. Ashby shifted from foot to foot, as she felt his anxiety level rising.
“What is la douleur de l’éternité?” Aleks asked in a perfect French accent. Rebecca stared up at him, looking shocked. He winked.
“For vampires, the idea of death isn’t all that scary. The older we become, the more death seems like a peaceful sleep, where we can finally rest. To keep our people in line, we have other ways to ensure that our laws are followed. One of them is la douleur de l’éternité or the Pain of Eternity. It is one of our most severe punishments. It is where we take the offending vampire, drain him to the point of death and inject him with liquid silver. We then place him in a coffin, which is then completely sealed with molten silver and then buried deep within the earth. They remain there trapped for all eternity.” Gabriel sighed.