Team Changes by Erin R Flynn

6

I woke the next morning curled up to Petre, knowing he stayed the whole night since I didn’t wake up once. He had come up to my room not long after me and tried his best to comfort me, assuring me the decisions I’d made had been the right ones, and the men who said they loved me would come around to see that.

I wasn’t so sure, especially when it was clear they didn’t come to bed. I felt bad that I couldn’t even hide my disappointment from Petre, but he didn’t seem upset. He simply leaned in and kissed my forehead. I muttered a thank you, but all I really wanted to do was roll over and go back to sleep as if that would somehow help me forget it’d all happened or the drama that would now infest my life.

“You didn’t ask me, and I don’t mean to hit you with heavy right as you wake up, but what you did was bold and smart, Princess,” Sisay said from where he stood at the doorway, clearly on guard duty. “The older covens have just that—age. That coven is recorded as being one of the first established according to the history of other covens even.”

“And they had their act together,” Vitor added. “We saw that when we scouted. Bahati was egotistical but rational and smart. Most rely only on our enhanced sight, but a lot can be hidden in the shadows. She wouldn’t take that chance and had those fires lit at night. The amount of guards she had on shift was more than most covens—something that should be changed here.”

I sighed, rubbing my hand over my head. “Because even with all of that, we got through because of your gifts.” I sighed heavier when they nodded. “Okay, well, we might have more people now to help with that. Tell our nobles to start submitting plans and ideas to Trisha and James on what we need to do. The corrupted are less of a threat with how many we’ve been killing, so we can shift resources.”

Sisay snorted, smiling when I shot him a confused look. “Kristof said any of Bahati’s coven who want to apply for guest privileges need to kill corrupted before they’re let through the door and get at our resources. He’s setting them up in Jackson, Mississippi as the kill area. They want to put some of your blood downtown and let them come to make it easier. Then those who can’t handle that crazy go clear buildings.”

I frowned. “That means the younger ones, and they might not be as thorough and slough off.”

He gave me a look not to be silly. “Kristof would plan for that.”

I sat with that a minute and nodded. “He would, but I can’t think of how.”

“He said we were going to go in behind them and double-check their work when we raid and if any are missed, the whole group who handled that building will be banned from your coven. Their whole families too.”

I couldn’t even hide my shock. Well dayumn. He wasn’t fucking around. I was glad he at least stepped up to handle what the coven needed to and backed me up.

Even if he was furious with me and he’d scared me again.

“How many do they have to kill?” I asked, curious how many we could get handled out of the hundreds of millions still left around the globe.

“A hundred for young ones, and a pledge for a thousand more after they get the food they need,” Sisay answered. “He gave that allowance once he learned how bad their food situation has been. Most of the coven was starving, and any food went to her or the nobles since they fed her.”

I couldn’t hide my disgust. I went to ask why, but then remembered farming in Africa hadn’t been easy even before the apocalypse from what I’d read. Now with the electricity and machines down, it had to be worse. Especially since the climate across the globe could be so wild.

“Is he making them handle one of the many wildlife situations too then?”

“Of course. They’re going to be eating a lot of black bear and wild boar. I don’t think they’ll be complaining, especially since us getting more furs would be a good bonus if they’re careful,” Sisay replied. “Kristof made sure they knew that.”

I chuckled darkly. “Apparently, you guys got in on the easier level of guest membership. The rate is increasing each time I have to take out a princess.” I rolled out of bed before they could respond, an idea forming to build on what Kristof had started. I took a shower—thankfully alone with how I was feeling—and got ready for the day.

When I was done, I picked my clothes carefully. I needed the emotional boost, and even if it was just for show, to seem like I had myself together more than I currently did. I threw on a pair of my low-rise jeans and a cute crop top that was long enough for me to wear my harness and katanas. Then I added my gun harness that clipped to my belt and thigh.

I threw my hair up, didn’t bother with makeup, and was out the door once I added my weapons.

Only to have Petre stop me at the bottom of my tower. He waited until I glanced up at him. “Cerdic fell into a bottle.” He sighed when Sisay snorted. “Several.”

I bobbed my head and looked away. “Oh good, I’ve driven another husband to become an alcoholic we all have to worry about.”

“He seemed only to fully snap after Kristof told him what happened with his father at your wedding.”

I slowly glanced up at him with wide eyes. “Kristof said he would handle that. Are you saying Cerdic had no clue this whole time?”

“Yeah, apparently it slipped through the cracks with everything going on.”

Not with me. I rubbed my chest and nodded again. I had been truly upset that he’d never brought it up to me as if not wanting to get into it or pretend it never happened. No one really talked about it at all because we’d hurried to start the sex and I felt… I wasn’t sure what I felt. Hurt. It hurt no one seemed to address I was treated that way.

“Someone pull Kristof to the side and remind him that if he says he’ll handle something, to do it, because we can’t have these sorts of disconnects no matter how much is going on,” I muttered. I knew it was a mistake we all made, but now Cerdic and I were both hurt by it.

Plus, now I was gutted that I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with him myself.

Why did I keep putting myself through this?

Maybe the answer was not to anymore. I stared closely at Petre and realized I was more into their idea than I’d first realized. Maybe having lovers that I simply enjoyed right then and gave me what I needed was better than these dreams of love and forever.

Of all the things I’d changed my mind on, I might have been right in my original opinion that it was bullshit.

I didn’t say anything to his questioning look and headed for breakfast. I immediately found Jacob—Matilda’s noble that was staying with us to handle her people working with us—and focused on him. “I’d like a meeting with you, Winston, and Sebastian as soon as possible. I need to handle some issues, and I would like to make a very clear statement to some people.”

“Which would be what, Princess?” Sebastian asked from behind me.

I turned to find Winston with him as well, so either they had already been on their way to breakfast or heard me say their names. “Now that this situation with Bahati has been handled, it was made clear to me last night that Aether isn’t happy some lied about receiving visions from her. I agree.”

“She pushed you to defender Her?” Jacob asked, his tone hesitant as if thinking that was unlikely.

He didn’t know women as well as he thought then. Even if the big Goddess, She was a woman and would absolutely want to smack people who lied about Her.

“Pushed? No. She made sure I knew the three names and their faces though, as they’ve lied to me, my coven, and our allies in Her name. As Her champion, I shouldn’t let that stand, nor let them think it’s forgotten so they try something worse next like the children they are.”

“Why would you need to speak to us then?” Winston worried.

“The current treaties are intact, and I won’t be changing them, but I want your princesses to know—and in turn, they inform those they manage—that if any of the goods are traded with Princesses Charlene, Ramona, and especially Kaitlin, I will not be renewing our deals. Also, to not pay me lip service and do it anyways, as clearly Aether is stepping up to handle the champions of Her children.”

The room was so deadly silent, I wondered if people were even holding their breath in hopes that I would announce I was joking.

I wouldn’t, because I wasn’t. I was damn serious and tired of the crap.

“Have those princesses been informed of Bahati’s demise?” I asked as I glanced around the room, careful not to meet the gazes of Jaxon, Darius, or Kristof.

I didn’t have to worry about Cerdic since he wasn’t there.

“We have confirmed one has, and nobles are out to tell the other two as we speak, Princess,” one of Bahati’s nobles informed me. “Kristof approved the nobles telling one princess and checking in to report on the temperature of the situation. We want to do it quickly, but safely, since we couldn’t tell them all at once, and that means some could meet up and plot.”

I nodded, that was fair. I didn’t free anyone to get them killed as the messenger. “Good, once that’s done, I want to move on to the statement.”

“Restricting trade with those covens wasn’t your response?” Sebastian hedged.

“No, it was drawing a line in the sand of who is a friend or not.” I shrugged as I glanced at him before heading to get food. “Your covens can trade your supplies with them all you want, simply none that came from our deals. Those would go right to the princesses and their nobles. I want to help the people of those covens and make it clear that their princesses couldn’t.”

Jacob snorted but then apologized. “You want to make it so the covens would revolt if the princesses came after you. Fear of the princess’s power does a lot to keep the people of the coven in line, but they are hungry and suffering.”

“Mutinies and overthrowing rulers have started over less,” Winston muttered.

I smirked as I grabbed a plate and loaded it up. “Yes, yes they have.” I waited until I was done and I had a coffee made before sitting down and continuing. “I want to show them how generous we are that we care they are starving. However, after how we’ve been treated by their princesses—and Aether especially—no more allowances. Kristof was smart in how he handled the people asking for guest privileges.”

“You want the people of these covens to kill corrupted for you,” Moon muttered, bobbing his head. “Smart. How would you work it?”

I shrugged. “What’s the situation with the wildlife in Mississippi? It’s exploded probably, and we can use that. People are starving, and those who want to become members of this coven should want to protect it. This could do that, so I’m sure they’re fine helping to hunt.” I held up my finger as I took a sip of my coffee as mouths opened to ask questions. “I want to open trading spot of sorts.

“Maybe near Hanna since she’s sort of centralized between the three covens it’s for. We station people to work it who can sense lies, so no more bullshit, and we make that clear. It’s a bit like I saw at the survivor settlements where they gave more food to the guys who came in saying they killed corrupted. Most were probably full of shit, but that is the principle. Kill corrupted, and we’ll give you food.”

“We have lots in our coven that can sense lies,” that same noble hedged. “And yes, many are clear they want to make this their coven, as they think you are the best chance to have a life again, Princess. I would even help head this up if it means stability and safety for our people coming in.”

I nodded in thanks, hurrying to explain more before he asked. “Mississippi has lots of ducks. That population has exploded everywhere, and I’m sure it did there too. Give them a duck for every two corrupted killed.” I shrugged as I cut into my pancakes. “That’s a pound or so of meat once butchered, so not much for an adult vampire. Or a chicken, which is like three times the size, for eight killed.

“What else is en masse there?” I thought back to what we’d discussed of the wildlife in the areas we hadn’t handled yet but were on the docket. I remembered Mississippi pretty well since we’d done an overview, and that was when I’d found that facility with all the alcohol of the state that Cerdic had won. I pushed aside the thoughts of him and moved on. “Fishing was big there. Bass, right?

“They’re like ten or fifteen pounds, maybe bigger since most seemed to be because they were left alone so long. Deer are over a hundred, wild boars one-fifty, alligators can be up to five hundred pounds, and black bears six hundred. Scale all of that to how many corrupted for the price, and they can eat damn well if they do their part to help the world they live in.”

“Their princesses might not allow it since it’s coming from you,” Jacob worried.

“Probably not,” I chuckled darkly. “I would bet on them banning it.” I smirked at him before taking a large bite. “How many would listen? If they’re starving and have family—how many would sneak away to get the food? How many would blame the princess for being a bitch to not let them receive fair help?”

“Lots,” Winston answered, his tone amused. “And you want it to be near my princess because she is in the most danger from what we’ve found from the recordings your people took.” He shook his head when I flinched. “You really do see so far ahead and so many angles, it’s astounding.”

I shrugged. “The message needs to be delivered, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have layers. Hanna has done a damn good job adding a major deterrent to keep idiots off of us, and I’m just as good of a friend. I’m causing trouble—lots of it even—but her allowing it in her area shows how tight we are.”

“And we have the fighter jets and working bombs,” Trisha chuckled. “Which I’m sure you want to escort any deliveries.”

I winked at her as I took another bite. “This is why we’re friends. Yes, and to make it known we’ve accepted anyone from Bahati’s coven who was willing to follow our rules to have guest coven privileges while we check them out to see if they’ll fit in our coven.”

“You’re going recruiting?” Vitor whispered, his eyes as bug wide as many in the room were.

“Recruiting? No, that would be crude.” I waved at all the visiting nobles there. “You all gossip like the humans at the settlements. Like you wouldn’t be telling them what you heard and how things roll here.”

“You want to use this to speak to the people instead of them only hearing lies from their princesses,” Sebastian surmised, giving me an impressed look.

“It seems like a wasted opportunity if we didn’t.” I glanced over at Winston. “No pressure on Hanna for this. Really, I mean that. Even talk to her to see if she can fine-tune any of the idea or if she wants to set the prices for the corrupted, and I let her, that would say it lot.”

“It would,” he muttered, scrubbing his neck. “Even if she’s willing to do it, you know she would have to ask a cost.”

“Of course,” I easily accepted. I was getting the games better and how much we all had to do for show. “She was interested in the huge fishing vessels we salvaged and rebuilt in New Orleans, right?”

“Yes, the commercial vessels were all taken out to sea, and none were left in any of the ports in most of Europe.”

I nodded. “If she secures whatever port near her, or area that could work, I’ll get her a fleet. We’re going to eventually work on dragging in other boats and turning them into energy beads. I’m sure she’d like to do the same, and that would give her a way to do it.”

“That’s a very generous offer that most would gladly accept,” Sebastian muttered, clearly meaning Nora would.

I snorted. “I would give that offer to everyone if there was less crap in our lives and threats against us. We’re all working hard because we want a better future. That means handling the cleanup on all fronts.”

“And something I’ve said I will help in as well if things are better settled here,” Vitor added, one of the few who could deconstruct things into energy beads. He was the only one I knew besides me and honestly could do more of it easier than I could. People had been pushing for him to visit and help, but he’d been very clear that there was no chance until I wasn’t in so much danger always.

So probably never, but I wasn’t in the mood to be positive.

“You are planning to do this with or without Hanna’s involvement, yes?” Winston checked.

“Oh yeah, absolutely.”

“I’ll speak with her after breakfast and your nobles discuss what they feel prices should be.”

“Good.” I felt better to have an idea of what to do and plans being made.

Until Tyson opened his mouth. “Chris didn’t want to bother you, but some people at the settlement are getting nervous that they haven’t seen you. Most felt comfortable coming because we would have a female leader, and you made them confident in the plan. They haven’t seen you, and people are talking.”

“They always do,” I sighed. “Are the buses going back today? How has that all been progressing, and how many have we gotten out?”

“Mostly good,” he hedged, scratching his head as he gave me a worried look. “People aren’t fans of us telling them who’s lying and not just giving them all a fair chance. That’s how a lot of them are putting it. Chris isn’t sure how best to handle it given some are in precarious situations.”

That made me raise an eyebrow. I wasn’t sure what could be precarious. We’d allowed those with children who were too young to make the call themselves. If the parents said they would try to accept us or were fine with supes in the world, we let them go to Albuquerque. The only thing I could think of was maybe someone with a mental or physical disability.

And the sad truth was, there were very, very few that’d survived the apocalypse. Lots of people had trouble grasping that the corrupted were real, and that had been their downfall, but those with disabilities tended to go first from what I’d been told.

Plus, their families who had tried to help protect them.

I’d had a hard time not shooting the leader of one settlement I’d heard “preaching” that it was one way of their god handling those too weak to survive, and they had been punished for being born of sin or other such “crimes.” Right, because any sort of higher being should punish the babies of sinners.

And I was fairly certain there was a special place in hell for that guy. I’d seen a decorated war vet get eaten because he’d lost a leg in combat and no one would help him when he needed it. People could try to justify it all they wanted, but the ugly truth was when the shit hit the fan, too many cared only about themselves.

I’d been too far away to help the guy, so I’d put a bullet through his chest so he died and didn’t suffer the pain of being eaten to death. It was the kindest thing to do, and I had always hoped someone would handle me instead of letting me die that way.

I shook myself out of my thoughts but then had a moment to wish I could settle some of my issues through tai chi again… Only to get seriously depressed since I’d been doing that with Cerdic. Not since the wedding, but that had been more about my recovering and then this shit with visions and Bahati.

Now it was because I’d probably lost my husband.

“Precarious how?” I asked, not able to hide how tired I was, mentally sighing when people gave me concerned looks. Yeah, I was tired of a lot.

Deal with it. I had to.

“There’s about a dozen cases of people lying, but a parent needing care,” Tyson explained. “They made it to the settlement but years later, some have Alzheimer’s. Chris says there’s at least twenty that the docs think have cancer but haven’t been able to diagnose or treat. Some are family members of those. Others are just influential in the settlement.”

“I don’t care about those ones,” I admitted, shrugging when people gave me shocked looks. “If people aren’t going to use their heads and open their eyes to think for themselves during an apocalypse, then they’re doing it to themselves. I’m not wasting our valuable time and resources on them when we can help others.”

Ty nodded. “How do you want to handle the rest?” 

“Carefully,” I muttered, tapping my fingers as I dug into my food. It wasn’t until my plate was empty and my coffee was gone that I came to a decision. “The airport in New Orleans is cleared, right?” I waited until Ty nodded. “Is there a place near the settlement we can land one of the passenger planes?”

He slowly nodded. “One of the smaller ones, yes. I wouldn’t land a 747 on that little unkempt landing strip, but we’ve got some that can hold just over a hundred people.” He studied me carefully. “What are you thinking?”

“That we give them an appeals process in the form of helping for a day and spending time with us.” I shrugged when people gave me curious looks. “You have to be a total dick not to like people from the Payne and Mendez clans. They’re some of the nicest people ever. Let them see that. Match up a vampire volunteer with each human to watch them and help with the extra fishing we’re going to do.”

“To start off your other idea with those covens,” he muttered. “Yeah, we can give it a shot, and if they’re still lying after a day with them, then it’s just not going to happen and they’ve made their bed.”

“Exactly.”

I found a few different surprises an hour later when I arrived north of the settlement to what was once Corpus Christi. The big one being we were raiding it and turning most everything to energy beads. I couldn’t even get my mouth to work as I pointed to it all, and then Vitor, who’d clearly done it since I hadn’t.

Then I put my fingers by my head and made exploding noises.

Which amused the super old vampire. “We all agree that the no-raiding Texas has changed. We’re bringing the good people out and into the fold. We’re not leaving resources for the assholes that will be left after we killed all the corrupted for them.”

“But we promised that—”

“We promised Chris,” Ty chuckled. “He agreed with it. Hell, he was fine not giving back all the guns after you had people collect them that one time. We’ve not dropped off any additional ammo no matter how much people have bitched. Chris keeps reminding them that we’re killing the corrupted and to shut it. Not one has come near them since that first run towards you.”

“They don’t need the guns to start trouble with us then,” I agreed. I let it go and didn’t bother with the semantics of what we’d really told the whole settlement though if Chris was on board. Instead, I focused on the plane I needed to build from the energy beads that would then be fueled with what they had there. People could be taxied over once it was ready.

It seemed like a lot when people could simply blur the humans over to New Orleans, but I didn’t think that the smartest first close interaction with us if they were leery.

It would have made me run and be scared for sure.

Once it was all done, with a few dozen electric vehicles I also charged up, Vitor brought me over to the settlement right at the time the buses arrived. People were shocked—and seemingly happy—I was there.

Well, most of them.

Almost immediately, a group started shouting at me to stop playing favorites and other crap. Clearly, some thought they could get further with me than they had with the big strong men who shut people down.

I simply stared at them and let it continue until a few seemed to realize I wasn’t going to engage. I waited until it sunk in for about half—amusing those in my group—and then finally said something. “Manners shouldn’t be lost in the apocalypse. Shouting and insulting a woman is no more acceptable than it used to be, and if you think that’s the way to get what you want, you are idiots.”

Several people who hadn’t been the problem snickered or looked like they were going to bust out laughing.

That was kind of the point. Showing people that other people thought they were stupid was way more effective than simply shouting it back.

Mostly.

“It has been brought to my attention we are getting several things incorrect,” I announced to the group and gestured behind me to our people. “That the vampires who are hundreds or thousands of years old and been using their ability to tell who’s lying all that time have finally gotten it wrong with some of you. Sure, that sounds feasible not at all.

“But I’m a fair woman, and I’m open to an appeals process of sorts.” I smirked out at them. “I wouldn’t suggest trying to bully me or push your agenda on us. We don’t care and it won’t work. We care about nice people who want to help and do things better in the future. If that’s not you, best of luck to you, but we’re not obligated to help you. Go pray with that Donny guy and wait for help that way.”

One of the guys towards the front that I recognized as one of Chris’s crew cleared his throat. “Donny’s dead.”

Well, my day was taking a drastic turn.

Fuck.