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)

by Michael Anderle

  He could feel the dead, he thought. He wasn’t one prone to jumping at shadows, but when he had arrived earlier this morning there was an oppressive feeling to the grounds. An unhappiness that felt ages old.

  He had brought six of his lieutenants. Six he could and would trust to make whatever David wanted happen. Since Stephen had met with the European Pack Council his blind eye to their dealings had stopped. One scary vampire visits and fifty years of work had been hamstrung.

  It made a progressive Wechselbalg want to do violent things to get the normal order back. Even when it meant working with a devious psychopath like David.

  Along with his six Wechselbalg, there were three humans and two vampires in the room. There wasn’t a window anywhere near. No one was going to open some blinds and instantly kill anyone in here.

  Shame about that. One of the vampires was Francisco Lertrand. Francisco was either a conniving genius who hid behind a facade of stupidity, or he was as stupid as he seemed and insanely lucky. Yazarus wasn’t sure which, even after knowing him for over ten years. Francisco was the only one left from a group of three vampires that had tried to work together as partners. The first to die had been Petre in Romania. Rumor had become accepted fact that a female vampire who had named herself as the Queen Bitch was the one to off him.

  Yazarus figured they had one thing right, she was a bitch. He didn’t believe he would bend his knee down to any queen. He had his people and so long as she stayed out of his business, he wouldn’t mess with hers. But if she so much as thought about fucking with his shit, he would do her and cut her heart out at the same time.

  No one messed with Yazarus Lindel and got away with it, no one. Not that cocksucking Stephen—who should have had the good manners to die already—nor the ball-licking European Council or some self-styled bitch queen.

  Yazarus and most of the table heard a shouted, “Who are you?” and a female voice reply, “Death!” Then the doors into the large room exploded open, one barely hanging on by the hinge at the top. The second door slammed into the stone wall so hard it cracked down the center, half of the door falling to the floor.

  In the doorway stood a female vampire, dressed in black with eyes blazing red. She looked around at the stunned party while holding onto a sword with the human door guard grasping at it, trying to pull it out of his chest. She looked over at the guard and lowered the sword, allowing the body to slide off and crumple to the floor.

  “My name is Bethany Anne. I am the Queen Bitch. You can kneel…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence when two shots were fired by Francisco, who had pulled a pistol. The problem was the bitch wasn’t there. Not like she moved so fast she wasn’t there, like she actually disappeared and wasn’t there. Then Francisco’s head was struck almost simultaneously by three shots. His head exploded.

  Francisco might have been lucky, or he might have been fast. Now, he was just dead.

  Yazarus got out of his seat along with everyone else. No one in the room lacked a weapon, and they were all looking around, preparing for their attacker.

  “I guess…” The voice was from everywhere. No one, even with their superior hearing could locate her. “That the choice is ‘die?’”

  That was when all hell broke loose. The second to go down was the other vampire. Yazarus had to dodge that decapitated head when it suddenly left dick-twat’s shoulders and came his direction. Yazarus aimed in the direction of the dead vampire and took a shot. He hadn’t seen much more than a blur, but better to go down fighting than stay still and… Yazarus felt the pain in his chest and looked down. He had half a foot of steel sticking out of his chest. “Got indigestion yet, changeling? Are you ready to die?” Her voice spoke from behind him.

  Yazarus kicked back and the sword was pulled out of his chest. He stumbled forward to fall on the table, his hands holding his chest where the sword had been. He lay there, his head looking down the length of the table. He could see his team dying. Often, a shot to their head would disorient them and then they would have their head cut off. He couldn’t track everything that was going on. He could feel his healing kicking in, but it wasn’t happening fast enough. He made out three more deaths happening outside of his view.

  “No kneeling for you either, hmm?”

  A body slumped to the floor.

  “What’s a lady have to do to earn a little respect around here?”

  Another body hit the floor.

  “Nah, ah, ah… No leaving is permitted.”

  The final body hit the floor.

  Yazarus opened his eyes when he heard shoes landing on the tabletop. He could see her at the end of the table walking towards him. She stopped to kick off a plate. “And who do we have here?” She squatted down in front of him. “Have a name, sailor?”

  Yazarus croaked out, “I’m not a fucking sailor, bitch!” He spat out the blood that was in his mouth, hoping it would reach her, but it only went a few inches. He was healing, just not fast enough.

  “Then it seems like you won’t even be remembered as someone who was killed. How does that sound to you? Your whole life is reduced to dying in this psychopath’s castle, and you won’t even be remembered as having been here.”

  Yazarus struggled to put his arms against the table and looked down the length between her legs to see a dark form approaching. One who was slowly raising a weapon. He could make out David. Yazarus looked up. “We will see who is remembered, and who is forgotten!”

  Yazarus was looking right in her eyes when she winked at him. The loud gun report from the elephant killer David had brought down to the meeting hall reverberated off the stone walls.

  The bitch was lifted and sent flying past him. The look of pain on her face was so very satisfying to Yazarus who finally pushed off the table and landed back on a chair.

  “God, that fucking hurt!” Yazarus exclaimed in the sudden silence.

  David mocked him from the hallway. “How is it one fucking little cunt almost takes out every one of you? God, do I have to do everything myself?” David walked into the room, loading his rifle. “Damned fine gun. Really packs a wallop when you need one.”

  A female voice, full of pain, could be heard from the floor at the other end of the table. “You know what they say about guys… compensating … when they need a big gun, David.” The voice wheezed.

  Yazarus saw David’s look of shock turn to irritation when he pulled the gun back up to his shoulder. “No, do tell. Do you need something really large right now? If so, stick your head up and I’ll make sure you get it!” David and Yazarus both heard the click of pistols being readied.

  A wet cough sounded from below the table again. “Give me another five or ten, perhaps I’ll be up to the party. I have to say I hadn’t expected you to use such a large rifle. I would have thought you would have been an old-school, let’s fight it out with swords kind of guy.”

  David smiled. “No, you misjudged me. I like to bring the right weapon to the party. I see your sword is way back over by the wall. Damn, that shot must have really, really hurt like hell.”

  He heard her say, “Yeah, can’t say I found it pleasant.” She coughed. “That’s for fucking sure.” David moved to his left. He could hear her dragging herself along the floor around the other side. He wouldn’t die from a pistol shot, but he didn’t need to give her any advantage right now.

  He asked, “Why keep moving?” David was working to keep the solid parts of the table between them.

  “Just waiting for the final act, David. You know how it goes, keep the bad guy walking and talking and acting like an ass.”

  “What, then your cavalry will show up? I doubt the German Shepherd is going to help you much. I suppose it might heal, but I guarantee it won’t be awake for a while.”

  “You might be surprised.” Her voice had lost any of the pain she had evidenced before. “Ashur!”

  David was surprised to hear a relatively healthy ‘woof’ come from the hallway.

  “I’ll make sure to do a much
better job the next time.” David grumbled.

  Yazarus had mostly healed during this discussion. He was trying to figure out how to get out of the main fighting arena when the fear hit.

  Bethany Anne laughed. “David, there won’t be a next time. The only reason you’re still alive, you half-witted fuckwit tea-bagging ass butler, is because I told a friend he could have the kill. If he doesn’t take care of you pretty damned quick, I’m going to do the job.”

  Yazarus was surprised to see David start looking around the room and turning around. “Michael… Michael, we can talk. This doesn’t have to end here, Michael!”

  Yazarus pushed back, hard. His chair fell over backwards and Yazarus rolled over to jump back up and put himself against the wall. He spied a .45 and reached down to pick it up.

  “Oh, but it does, David.” Yazarus couldn’t see who was talking. “I promised my date blood, David. I promised my date mayhem, David. I promised her your head… detached from your shoulders, DAVID!”

  Yazarus watched in morbid fascination as David went psychotic. “You promised this fucking bitch my HEAD, Michael?” He screamed and shot randomly into the air. “What, you can’t find someone else so you’re stuck with this slut?” David turned quickly and aimed the weapon where he thought Bethany Anne was hiding behind the table. “Kiss her good…”

  David found he couldn’t finish his words when his chest erupted with a hand breaking all the way through, his heart had been grabbed and shoved out the front of his chest.

  Michael, the Patriarch of all Vampires, easily lifted David’s body with his arm, hand still holding the bloody heart. David dropped his rifle and grabbed Michael’s hand, trying to push the heart back in his body.

  Then the venomous tone was speaking into David’s ear and told him all he ever needed to know. Not that it would do him one damn bit of good, now. There was no plan that was going to survive this contact with the enemy.

  Michael had finally caught up to him.

  Michael pulled David’s body close and put his mouth to David’s ear. “I might have given you a painless death, David. But you never did learn.” Michael shook David for emphasis. “Never, ever threaten someone I care about, David. Never!”

  Then, Michael changed the fingers of his left hand into sharp daggers, ripping through David’s neck slowly, painfully. Finally, he finished the job and the body stopped struggling. Michael was enjoying the satisfaction of killing David when life went upside down.

  Michael made a mistake. He was so intent on killing David he lost his situational awareness. There was one more person in the room who decided this was the best chance he might have to get his licks in.

  Yazarus aimed at Michael and emptied his pistol.

  Michael wasn’t expecting to be tackled. He wasn’t expecting anything but to savor the death of this bastard who should have been killed centuries before.

  That was when the damn freight train struck him from the side and the pistol shots reached his consciousness.

  David’s body had been knocked off of his arm and what ended up in his arms was a whole lot of goodness. Wrapped up in some damned body armor that wasn’t soft at all.

  The two vampires turned after they came to a stop fifteen feet away and saw a white blur streaking across the room. The Wechselbalg on the wall threw the empty gun at the dog and changed.

  The fight was as vicious as it was short.

  Ashur slammed into the wolf, knocking it into the wall before he dove at the wolf, biting its jugular and ripping it out. Ashur didn’t stop until the head and the body wouldn’t be mending for… probably ever. He growled at the dead carcass for a few seconds before sniffing around. Satisfied he had killed the wolf, he turned to look at the two vampires who laid together staring at him. He shook his head, chuffed and started trotting back to the entrance.

  If Bethany Anne didn’t know any better, she would think Ashur had just said, ‘Vampires!’ Then she realized she was lying on top of Michael.

  She got off of Michael and reached down. He grabbed her hand allowing himself to be pulled up. The two of them were a mess. There was blood everywhere and anywhere. Michael was covered from his very personal and up close killing of David. “Turn around.” Michael’s request sounded half concerned, half commanding.

  Bethany Anne wasn’t in a mood to argue so she did as he requested. She felt Michael push where David’s bullet had punched her in the back, sending her over the table. He could feel the hole in her armor. He saw the blood indicating that she had been shot and wounded, not just thrown off the table.

  “Bethany Anne, you play a dangerous game.” She turned to see true concern on Michael’s face.

  Her retort died in her throat.

  “We killed the bad guys,” was all she said.

  Michael eyed the dismembered corpses around the room. What heads he could see usually had a bullet wound. “Did you have fun?”

  “Until the asshat with the elephant gun shot me so hard I thought I would have to swallow my own lungs again, yes.” She looked over at the ugliness that was left of David’s corpse. “You really seemed peeved at the end. Did you get your revenge?”

  Michael looked down at David. It wasn’t revenge, it was making sure David was never a threat to Bethany Anne again.

  Ever.

  “I am pleased with the outcome. Thank you for that timely… push.”

  She shrugged. “Seems like you were pretty focused on doing the job right. I had been coming around the table and I wasn’t sure I could get to him fast enough, so I chose to knock you out of the way.”

  Michael was opening his mouth to say something when Bethany Anne interrupted him. “If you say I hit like a girl, I swear to God I’ll kick your millennial old ass right now!”

  Michael shook his head. “I was planning on asking you if chocolate would be good?”

  She looked down at herself and over at Michael. “I’m thinking we might scare the people behind the counter.”

  Michael looked himself over. “Okay. Why don’t we find a shower here? Then go back to South America and get changed, and then go wherever you want for dinner?”

  Bethany Anne put a finger to her lips, thinking. “Well,” she turned and started walking towards the door she had originally entered. “I suppose you did provide the opportunity for some blood and mayhem.” She put a little swing in her hips…

  Come along little doggy, she thought, come along!

  25

  The Queen Bitch’s Ship, Polarus

  Bethany Anne thought Michael looked damn good in his suit. Then again, thinking back to when they needed to wash all of the blood off at David’s castle, he had looked really good out of his clothes, too.

  Unfortunately, nothing happened.

  Yet.

  They had washed most of the blood out of their clothes, and then out of Ashur’s fur. Bethany Anne found a phone and called Stephen who was able to contact a cleanup crew to come and take care of all the bodies and any other evidence.

  The two of them had grabbed a mother lode of papers and other things that they wanted to review and stuck them in the room where Michael had been imprisoned. Michael told Bethany Anne where she could pick up a battery operated lantern, and blood packs for him, in his house.

  She really needed to pop him into the Pod-Doc, but he demurred the first time she approached him with the idea.

  By the time they got back to Michael’s house, she had barely enough time to get some new clothes. She threw away the bloody stuff and was in the shower getting the last of the ick off herself when Gabrielle and Tabitha got back.

  It seemed that both she and Gabrielle had glossed over their events of the last twenty-four hours. It wasn’t like she was going to hide it forever, but she had called her dad and her priorities changed. Lance and Patricia decided on a quick wedding because of some advances Team BMW had achieved related to the moon base. So it was shower, do the ‘how was your day?’ conversation with Gabrielle and then Bethany Anne, Gabrielle and Ashu
r stepped back to Miami.

  When she gave Michael a kiss on the cheek goodbye, maybe she lingered a bit longer this time than she had before.

  Maybe just a little.

  Bethany Anne never noticed the smirk that passed between Tabitha and Gabrielle because she was thinking about the wink Michael gave her as they left.

  Then it became a busy forty-eight hours.

  Most of the team had been moved to the ship via the Pods, but she and Ashur went to pick up Michael and Tabitha.

  Bethany Anne wasn’t wearing her maid-of-honor outfit yet, as it was back on the ship. Thankfully, it wasn’t taffeta. The wedding goddess had been nice to her this time.

  When she grabbed Michael’s hand, somehow her fingers slipped into his naturally. She never even thought about it when the four of them arrived on the ship and Tabitha started ‘oohing and ahhing’ in exquisite pleasure when she looked around the closet.

  Bethany Anne shooed Michael out and the ladies got down to getting dressed.

  She brought her mind back to the present when Michael started speaking to her dad and Patricia. Thankfully, it was a beautiful late afternoon in the Mediterranean and both ships had been squared away and looked fantastic. The crew had on their nicest clothes and it was a damned fine group.

  Michael started the ceremony. “Good afternoon and welcome. Patricia and Lance are so glad to have you here on this beautiful day. We are gathered together to be overjoyed for, and with, these two souls who are so wonderfully suited to one another. Their future is the promise of possibility, the expectation of joyful surprise, no matter what age they are in life. We are here to celebrate and witness these two who have found love with each other. May every desire you have for your love be fulfilled. May you be given the vision with which to clearly behold one another. The listening with which to perceive one another most genuinely. And the endless generosity of spirit with which to nourish each other’s soul and sweetly keep the promises you make here today.