Gabrielle was dripping with sweat while Bethany Anne walked calmly around her, seeking weakness. Gabrielle had endured almost thirty minutes of hard sparring to get comfortable with her new body. She failed to enjoy the moment as Bethany Anne had been soundly defeating all of her attacks and then Gabrielle’s bell had been rung hard when Bethany Anne hit it with flat of her blade. When Gabrielle looked up from the floor, she saw Bethany Anne’s red eyes and heard her simple ‘Get up’ command.
She struggled to push off of the floor and fight through her exhaustion. She wanted to at least mark the younger woman. This was getting embarrassing. At first, the guys who were watching which included John, Eric, Scott, Darryl, Pete and Todd Jenkins supported both women. After about five minutes it became obvious that Bethany Anne didn’t need a cheering section and they all were yelling for Gabrielle to ‘get back up’ and to ‘stop laying around.’ Actually, that last one came from Darryl and Scott. She never heard John or Eric support that comment. She would enjoy that more if she wasn’t getting her ass kicked so soundly at the moment.
They started another pass.
Bethany Anne started talking.
Clang—Clang—Clang. “You.” Clang—Clang. “Have.” Clang. “To.” Clang-Clang-Clang. “Reach.” Clang—Clang—Clang. “Deeper!” Clang—Clang.
Gabrielle stepped back. “What are you talking about?” She tried to catch her breath as quickly as possible.
Bethany Anne started walking in a circle around her in the other direction, forcing Gabrielle to pivot.
“You aren’t using your Etheric power. Haven’t you ever felt strength beyond what you have now? Speed that exceeds your present abilities?”
Gabrielle almost dropped her guard as she thought about that question, but quickly put her swords back up. It would be just like Bethany Anne to slap the side of her head again as an object lesson. “I don’t remember. Maybe? But it happened so fast I could never be sure what happened.”
“This is what can happen, Gabrielle.” Bethany Anne’s eyes went even redder and her fangs grew. It was the only warning Gabrielle had before Bethany Anne attacked. Gabrielle was able to stop two blows before her left hand went numb from a block to Bethany Anne’s strike and her hand dropped the sword. She tried to pull her right sword up in time while Bethany Anne was already spinning around and Gabrielle’s feet were swept out from underneath her. She hit the floor hard enough to make her ancestors flinch in their graves.
Bethany Anne’s fangs were on her throat. She froze, not wanting to do anything to push the woman over any edge. Bethany Anne spoke into her ear, “You will learn to pull from the Etheric, you will learn to walk the roads with me between the dimensions, Gabrielle. You are your own challenge. You are stopping yourself from your destiny, Gabrielle. Are you ready to embrace it, or do you want to be my bitch, always lying on the ground after I kick your ass? Hmmm little girl? What is it going to be? Speak!”
Gabrielle didn’t move, but anger was in her whisper. “I… Will… Kick… Your… Skinny… Ass…Bitch!”
Gabrielle could feel Bethany Anne’s lips curve into a smile. “Yes, there is the fire. I can feel your blood right now, Gabrielle. Calling to me, telling me I should take it. Should I give in, hmmm? Should I just take a little, to see what you taste like? Maybe not this time, but the next time you call me ‘Bitch,’ it better have the title ‘Queen’ in the front, or I will teach you what being my bitch really means. Do you understand me?”
Gabrielle nodded slowly, trying not to cause Bethany Anne’s fangs to cut into her skin. She wasn’t sure if her blood would cause a reaction, but she didn’t want to find out.
Bethany Anne was breathing over her neck one second, and the next she was standing beside her, with her hand outstretched to help Gabrielle to stand up.
When she was standing, Bethany Anne waved Pete to come over and hand her the sword she had dropped. Pete just looked at Gabrielle with sympathy and stepped back out of the sparring area.
“Now, I want you to stand there and feel your body, feel your core. Inside that core is an opening, as if you are a mountain and it is a small cave with the air blowing through. That is your connection to the Etheric. It fills you up, slowly. It’s the same energy that blood provides you. You can use this energy to increase your power, your speed, your abilities. In the beginning it is limited, you run out quickly. In time you become more proficient in the use.” Bethany Anne thought about what she needed Gabrielle to learn. “We need to try something else, hold on.”
She called over to John, “Can you bring me the fifteen sticks?” John jogged over with fifteen six-inch long by half-inch in diameter dowel rods that Chief Engineer Rodriquez had cut for Bethany Anne. She took them. “Thank you. Now give John one of your swords.” Gabrielle handed John the sword that she had in her left hand. That rat bastard had skipped out and left her in a previous fight, so he was in the doghouse as far as she was concerned. John took the sword and went back to watching from the sidelines.
“How many of these do you think you can hit if I toss them all up in the air?”
Gabrielle thought about that. “Probably most of them.”
“And if I have you close your eyes until they are already falling back down?”
She pursed her lips. “Maybe half?”
“Let’s see,” Bethany Anne split the dowels between her hands. “Turn around.”
Gabrielle knew Bethany Anne wasn’t going to make this too easy on her, but turning around? What a way to make the challenge a real pain in the ass.
“Close your eyes. You may open them when I say ‘go.’”
Gabrielle turned to face away from Bethany Anne and put her sword up. She heard Bethany Anne step back a few steps away from her. “Go!”
Gabrielle opened her eyes and turned around. The damn dowels were coming right at her! She started to react, striking the dowels as quickly as possible. She missed two and clipped four. One dropped from above and hit her in the head. “Gott Verdammt!” She rubbed the top of her head.
They both went around and picked up the dowels. They now had sixteen because Gabrielle had sliced one into two pieces.
“Here. Hold this one up as high as you can.” Gabrielle did as instructed. Bethan Anne turned around. “Now, I’m going to react as fast as I can without pulling from the Etheric.”
Gabrielle dropped the dowel and yelled ‘Go!’ Bethany Anne had it in her hand before it dropped four inches. Blazing fast, but certainly not enough to explain her abilities.
Bethany Anne handed the dowel back to her. “Now I will turn around again, but this time don’t say a word, just let go of the dowel, ok?”
Gabrielle nodded and Bethany Anne turned around. She thought of dropping more than one of the dowels, but she considered that Bethany Anne was trying to help her, regardless of how inadequate it was making her feel at the moment. She raised her hand and immediately let go. This time, Bethany Anne had it in her fingers before it had dropped even an eighth of an inch.
“That, Gabrielle, is the difference between enhanced speed and Etheric speed.” Bethany Anne stared at her, eyes glowing. “Are you ready to embrace your heritage?”
Gabrielle started to understand how her father felt. This wasn’t just some woman who was powerful. No, this was someone you followed because she embodied your beliefs. She led you through the times that were tough. Both pulling you along, and pushing you over the edge. You became more as a member of her team than you might ever become on your own. In the future, when she was asked, Gabrielle would point to that moment in time when Bethany Anne became more than her boss, she became her Queen.
A Queen whose ass she was still going to kick.
“Yes, Queen Bitch, I’m ready.” Bethany Anne smiled at her and raised the dowel up in the air. “This is what you need to do…”
It took almost ten more minutes before Gabrielle was able to switch over to what Bethany Anne called her ‘Vamp speed.’ She was able to make it happen on purpose after another ten minu
tes. Then, she had to stop and drink a bag of blood as the guys came over and congratulated her. She enjoyed their enthusiasm. In her centuries of life, she had never belonged as she did here with her friends, her teammates and now her Queen. She looked around and didn’t see Bethany Anne.
She finished her blood pack and looked at the guys. “Guess it’s your turn, boys.” She smiled as everyone looked around for Bethany Anne and realized she meant they were about to be schooled by the latest new super-vamp. Eric looked resigned to an ass kicking.
Frankfurt, Germany
Ivan and Stephen had gone back to the hotel from the club. While Stephen had been alert for any issues, nothing untoward happened.
Stephen nodded to the doorman who was very congenial and the two of them took the ‘secret’ door to their rooms. By now, everyone in the hotel had heard the stories surrounding Stephen and Ivan and it was an exciting event when the two came and went. That Stephen seemed to have a little blood on his shirt as he came in caused a big buzz in the rumors after he passed through. One of the ladies in the restaurant asked the gossipers if they were sure it wasn’t just chocolate?
As they came into the room, Stephen put a hand back to stop Ivan from entering with him. Stephen started sniffing the air, moving his head first one way, and then the other noticing a human scent having been in their room recently. He followed the scent to his bedroom and then saw that he had mints on his pillow. He smiled to himself and grabbed the mints and went back outside to where Ivan had stayed at the front door. He held up the two mints. “We have unexpected contraband.”
Ivan snorted and then laughed at the situation. “I take it you haven’t been to a hotel in a few years?” He came into the suite and closed the door.
“Few years? I’ve been asleep for nearly decades, only occasionally getting up to handle something minor and sleeping again. You should have seen me when Bethany Anne woke me up. I was old enough to act the part of a skeleton in a play, without the need for makeup.” Stephen gave one of the mints to Ivan and popped the other into his mouth. “Mmm, this is good. I think I missed a few treats along the way.”
“Like Evangeline?”
Stephen smiled. “You mean Terry? Exactly so.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out her note. “She has nice lips.” He pulled out his phone and entered her number into the address book.
“You’re going to call her?”
“You never know, how am I going to grow my little black…” He looked down at his phone and turned it front to back and then to the front again. “Whatever. How am I supposed to grow my list of ladies again? All of the names in my last book have certainly moved on. Actually, considering the year, they’ve probably moved on to the afterlife, sad to say.”
Ivan had to laugh at that as he walked into his room, leaving the door open. He called out, “So your first name is from a lady who failed to tell you her real name up front? I thought Paula was going to be your first. Well, your first this century.”
Ivan heard Stephen from his own room. “Who says she would be my first this century?”
Ivan thought about the old rickety looking Stephen. “Stephen, that’s just… ick, Stephen.” He heard laughing from Stephen’s room.
Ivan changed into casual clothes and walked back into the central part of the suite. “Hey, what did you do to Mathis? I couldn’t see too well from the table, but it certainly got his attention.”
Stephen came out of his room in a pair of jeans and his dress socks. He was getting a white t-shirt ready to put on. Even Ivan had to admire the man’s six-pack. “Damn, Stephen. Do you even need to work out?”
Stephen looked at Ivan and then looked down to his stomach where Ivan was looking. “No, compliments of the nanocytes as I understand it.” He finished pulling the t-shirt on over his head.
“Now I know why Ecaterina is jealous of Bethany Anne.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Bethany Anne has gravity defying breasts that make men lose their senses anytime they get near her. Ecaterina is bitching about how Bethany Anne never has to wear a bra and is usually clueless on how it makes the men react.”
Stephen sat down on the sofa.“I doubt she is clueless, I imagine she is probably ignoring it.”
Ivan grabbed a water from the cooler the hotel had left in their room. They had never upgraded the suite to have a kitchen. He sat down on the chair, facing Stephen. “I can believe that. She has a way of picking and choosing what she notices. So, back to my question about what you did with Mathis?”
“Oh that. The young fool never noticed me before he tried to stomp right on top of me. I’m guessing he was hopped up on some sort of drug. He must have taken them pretty soon before he went into the club, otherwise our nanocytes get rid of them effectively. We suck as drug users.”
“No pun intended.”
“True. So when he stopped I stabbed him with all five of my fingers. I could have reached in and pulled his stomach out if he gave me too much grief. As a younger vampire, his healing ability could have handled the crisis, but it would have hurt for a long time. There are muscles that are a bitch to heal.”
“Sounds like experience.”
“It was, a sword cut in the 1800s in… well, somewhere in France.”
“Over a woman?”
“Of course.”
“How in the world did you get a sword cut from a human?”
“If I remember, I was having a fling with the unwed daughter of a count. Her brother had tracked me down to an inn and I was doing my best to not kill him for her sake. After he sliced open my stomach, I punched him in the head to disorient him and left with a horse. I made it just fine, unfortunately I had to walk since the horse was drained pretty good to heal me up quickly.”
“Damn, hard on your horses?”
“No, I’m very good with my own horses. It wasn’t my horse I grabbed.”
Ivan started chuckling and eventually Stephen had to see the humor and chuckled as well.
“So, you expect this Mathis here tomorrow night?”
“Yes. He will either come by himself, which would surprise me greatly. Or, he will come with muscle to support his ego, or he will send a group to kill me. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem very smart so I am thinking option number three.”
“Not going to need me for this, are you?”
“No. In fact we need to find a nice place for you to hole up for the night. I told Bethany Anne I would keep you safe. I didn’t even think about you having any guns until it was too late. We will rectify that in the morning.”
“How am I going to go about with guns in Germany? In case you didn’t know, being asleep and all, Germany has some of the strictest gun laws. You can’t really have a gun, unless it is on your personal property and then you need separate licenses to even buy the ammunition. You are not allowed to carry in public. This isn’t the wild west, like in America.”
“I’ll do it the same way I did it the last time I was here.”
“Really, how was that?”
“Diplomatic immunity.”
“Ok, when was that?”
“I think the twenties.”
“Which century?”
“Ah, 1920s. Between the two wars. The Allies had placed hard restrictions on what the government of Germany could arm themselves with. Or in this case, not arm themselves with. So, the government introduced civilian gun control laws so the government couldn’t be overthrown.”
“Is not having personal weapons here in Germany why Mathis had bodyguards?”
“No. He is a third or fourth generation vampire. He’s still stronger than a few Were, but if enough were to jump him, they could take him out. I imagine John Grimes could do it by himself. My personal belief is he has the Were with him to support his ego.”
“You don’t seem too concerned with him showing back up here tonight.”
Stephen sighed, “I’m not. When you have lived life long enough, the same record gets played with different instruments.
Maybe it’s just Frankfurt, but this same situation occurred the last time I was here.”
“Is that why the door is in the wall?”
“Not exactly. Every vampire who stays alive has a bolthole or two. I had this built because I’m cautious. But I did need it right away that time.”
Stephen looked at his watch, “If you want to go to sleep, I’ll stay up until dawn to confirm no vampire problems.”
Ivan looked around. “Ok. I don’t know if I’ll sleep, but I will at least rest.”
Stephen got his phone charger. It was a good thing that he was wealthy, because his data usage here in Germany was going to cost through the roof. He sat back down in the front room. Tomorrow would be an interesting day.
16
San Jose, Costa Rica
Giannini Oviedo was working the streets trying to find out more about the rumored attacks that had happened in the last couple of weeks in downtown San Jose. Normally, San Jose was a safe place, at least in the daytime. Now, even the small gangs that dealt in drugs, small robberies and vandalism seemed to stay off of the streets at night and she couldn’t get any of her contacts in the police department to admit anything.
At 5’ 2” tall, Giannini wasn’t going to scare away anyone who might decide she was easy pickings, that’s why she had the mace and the Taser she had borrowed from the editor of her paper. At twenty-two years of age, she wanted to make a name for herself and she would have to take a few risks to accomplish it.
She wore blue jeans and a black t-shirt with her sneakers. She wasn’t a bimbo that would wear high heels at night when she might need to run. The lack of people on the street was a little weird. The night was occasionally broken up by a car or two passing by. One time, she had a guy make a U-turn behind her so she turned around and watched as this American pulled up beside her and rolled down his rental car window and asked her in broken Spanish how much for a hook-up.
She almost maced the asshole for thinking she was a prostitute. She cussed him out in Spanish and he took off.
It wasn’t until she got her anger in check that she realized she was offering her body for a story, potentially. It wasn’t the same as providing sex for money. Then again, it was a very backhanded compliment that she decided she didn’t want or need. Asshole.
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set One: Books 1-7, Death Becomes Her, Queen Bitch, Love Lost, Bite This, Never Forsaken, Under My Heel, Kneel or Die (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets) Page 77