Page 40 of Eternally Bound
The only problem was that Joseph knew about most of those places. It had been many years since they’d had a central base of location, but they spent most of their time on the East Coast as that was where the training facility was located. The training facility had never been the Defender’s main home, but they had wanted to be near it to help train the recruits if they had the time, which they rarely did. With Joseph turning and staying near the area, this place had become their first central base of operations in nearly a century.
Right now, Baldric and Marta were working on selling the rest of their numerous properties and purchasing new ones. If the new properties didn’t come heavily secured, as this one had, they were having security systems installed in them. Ronan had instructed them to sell all of his personal properties too. Joseph didn’t know where they were located, but it was time to make some changes.
The only property they’d considered retaining was the training compound, but that plan had changed. Before Lucien returned to the facility, Ronan had ordered him to get everyone prepared to leave it and asked Baldric to sell the old one and find a suitable new location. If Joseph was organizing the Savages, they couldn’t take the risk he would be brave enough or strong enough to attack the training facility. There were a fair number of vampires who could fight there, but not enough to survive an onslaught of Savages.
He couldn’t take the chance of losing their fighters now.
He hadn’t told the others yet, but he was also contemplating bringing some of the turned vampire recruits into their group. The Defenders had been composed of purebreds ever since the creation of vampires, but these were precarious times and sticking with tradition may get them all killed.
It was a decision he was loathe to make, as he did not want to break with the old ways, but the world had changed vastly since the laws of the Defenders were first laid down.
“What happened to the previous owners of these clothes?” Kadence asked again, drawing Ronan’s attention back to her.
“Nothing happened to them. We simply made them an offer on this place they couldn’t refuse, not even with all of their money.”
She released the orange skirt and stepped away from the closet. “I don’t understand.”
“We wanted this place, so we offered the previous owners far more than it was worth. Under the conditions that they vacate within two days and leave the furniture behind,” he replied.
“That’swhy all the walls are bare and none of the furniture or really anything here goes with any of your personalities. Why did you want this place so badly?”
“It was heavily secured and Joseph doesn’t know about it.”
“I see,” she murmured as she gazed at the bare walls. “Did Baldric and Marta come with the place? And by the way, who is Marta?”
“Marta is Baldric’s wife; they’ve been married for almost thirty years. No, they did not come with the place. Baldric’s family has been with mine for over two thousand years. When the family member who works with me passes, a new one takes over.”
“So they’re your slaves?”
“Hardly,” he retorted. “It is their choice to stay and work. They are free to go at any time, as are their children. They know if they ever reveal anything, they will be slaughtered outright, but they also know few would believe them. I trust each one of them to uphold their family’s history. When Marta and Baldric pass on or retire, their son Lamont has already chosen to take over for them. He has been out traveling the world, but he will join us when he’s ready to learn about the estates and how things work.”
“Why do they chose to stay and be your help?” she asked.
“They are far more than myhelp,” he grated. “They are extremely well taken care of, as is their whole family, and they are as much my family as Killean, Lucien, Saxon, and Declan.”
“I see,” she murmured. “Why has his family worked with yours for so long?”
“The very first vampire king, my ancestor, saved Baldric’s ancestor from an attack by a Savage. Instead of the king changing the man’s memories, when the man asked to serve the king to repay the debt, the king agreed to it. It was only supposed to be that man, but his son stepped forward, and then the next, and so on. Over the years, many men and women have served the vampire kings who have risen and fallen. They have all had the option of moving on, but at least one member of their family has chosen to remain working with my bloodline until now they work for me.”
“Amazing,” she breathed. “And your bloodline leads the vampires?”
“That is the way it always was.”
“So you are the vampire king?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He contemplated his answer as she stared at him curiously. He shouldn’t be telling her anything after earlier, but he couldn’t deny that it pleased him that she wanted to learn more about him, and none of what he would tell her could be used against them.
“At one time, there was a ruling vampire senate and a king. All turned and purebred vampires who weren’t Savage were organized and ruled by that government. My father was the last king to rule. I was supposed to claim the crown when he died. However, the battle that took my parents also took most of the senate and the king’s followers. After the conflict, there were few vampires left to rule over.”
“How awful,” she murmured. “What happened to cause such a thing?”
He preferred not to think about it, but he found himself having a difficult time denying her.
“It was a battle no one saw coming until it was too late. A Savage vamp, one who had been a member of the senate and a purebred vampire before giving in to the bloodlust, organized the other Savages. They prepared an attack against all those who hunted them. When they realized what was happening, the senate and my father gathered as many Defenders and other vampires as they could to counteract the growing threat, but it was already too late. The ensuing battle left the number of vampires decimated, especially the purebred ones.”
