by Cat Miller
Griffin prayed vehemently for divine intervention. A plan was slowly forming but it wasn’t solid. They had to find a way onto the grounds without giving away their approach. Sneaking in would only be slightly easier than finding a back door to the White House without getting shot.
Chase was stalking the halls while he waited for Soleil to return. She had snuck off to work on helping get them into the Enclave but it hadn’t worked out as far as Griffin could tell. She had gotten very good at building mental walls with the help of her grandmother and she used those walls to slip out. It surprised Griffin that his mother was taking an active role in training Soleil to control her power and protect her mind. He was afraid that she only accepted his eldest child because of her power. After all, being the grandparent of such a renowned vamp wasn’t so bad. He could imagine his mother bragging to her society friends about the power running in her family’s blood.
On the other hand, Soleil’s power wasn’t such an easy thing for Chase to deal with at all. She was strong, but that made her a target. Griffin didn’t envy Chase his lot in life. Just now he was muttering about kicking her ass for blocking him out. The girl was not the type to follow a man’s lead. Chase would be forever running after his mate.
Chase was in contact with her for a time and began to gather men to go after her but Gage shot him down. He was still under Council orders not to aid Soleil. Even with the proof of her accusations that there were traitors in the warrior class staring back at him from the screen on the wall, Gage was a male that did his duty to the letter. Until he got word from the combined Council, he would stay the course. So Chase paced and cursed because their connection was now limited to the normal connection between mated pairs. He could get a bead on her emotions but that was it.
“What are they doing?” Mason asked from his chair in the back of the room.
“It looks like they’re preparing for something,” Gage replied.
While Griffin was lost in thought, the Shade began to gather into clusters on the lawn in front of the training facility. On the screen they watched the males move from the barracks over to the lawn.
The double doors opened and a group of four vamps exited the building. They stood on the landing at the top of the eight or so stairs looking over the crowd. There was something odd about them.
“Can we zoom in on those four? I want a better look.” Griffin asked.
“I’m on it.” The tech’s hands flew over the keyboard. The screen switched to a single image and closed in on the foursome.
“What do you figure that’s about?” Gage asked.
They looked calm enough but every one of the four had black eyes and fangs pressing into their lips.
“It’s like they’re ready to fight, or starving,” Mason ventured a guess.
“Lovely’s eyes turn like that when she’s overextends her extrasensory talents. I’ve even seen her nose bleed,” Chase commented absently and paced away.
****
Darren was starting to lose his patience. Time was ticking away and Danielle wasn’t answering her phone. He wasn’t the only one looking for her but he had to get to her first. He didn’t want to resort to calling her family to negotiate a trade. They would raise the alarm and Darren knew somehow they would hear the news that he was still in town and was in possession of the pyro. Danielle had a soft heart and knowing that her half-sister was in danger would be wearing on her conscience. With any luck she would agree to come to him. Darren hit the speed dial again and finally got an answer.
“Yeah?” Derek answered.
It took Darren off guard. This was not good news. His chances of getting to Danielle just fell exponentially.
“Put Danielle on the line,” he demanded.
“I can’t do that. She’s a little… sleepy just now.”
“What are you up to, Derek? Why did you put her down?” Darren feared permanent damage from frequent overdoses of Hypnovam. Danielle was small and Derek was careless.
“You’re too late, man. She’s mine now. I’m sick of this shit. I’m trading Dani for my mom and my freedom.”
“Did Danielle tell you I have your mate? It would be a shame for her die for your mistake.” Darren could only hope Derek wanted his mate more than his mom.
“Did she admit to being my mate? I’m surprised.”
“I guessed and she confirmed my suspicions. She came nice and quiet when I informed her that you would suffer. I know all about your little affair and her ability to make trucks explode. I have a friend waiting to deliver the good news of your betrayal to your Master if I don’t get my way. I want my mate, Derek, and you want yours. Let’s trade.”
“I’m thinking this way, I’m young. I’ll find another female quickly after Brandi’s dead. Once I trade Dani in, I won’t have to deal with that bastard ever again. If I take Brandi and run now, I’ll be running for the rest of my life. I’d rather negotiate my freedom while I have something to barter with. As for your snitch, well, I guess we’ll see who gets to the Master first.”
Damn it! The kid had called his bluff.
****
Brandi felt like a mother trying to explain the ins and outs of the world to a child that was about to leave her nest. Lindsay was aghast at the way upper class vamps treated their women like commodities to be traded for gain. The idea that a person, male or female, would have to marry someone they didn’t choose because the parents had a legally binding agreement was a prehistoric notion to the liberal minded ex-human.
Lindsay would now drink the warmed blood without a fight. Not because she wanted to but because it made her feel more like herself and less like a mindless monster in need of a feed. They spent hours talking about their lives and what brought them both to this gilded cage. Brandi learned that Lindsay went to college with Dani and they had been good friends until Dani withdrew from classes on campus and started getting her credits online. Lindsay was friends with a guy that she wanted a more serious relationship with but he wouldn’t give. He said sex would ruin their friendship and kept it platonic. She never knew more than his first name and she never knew when he might appear. He would be gone for weeks and suddenly have a weekend or just a night to burn. They would hang out and go dancing. They would see movies and go to dinner. She was falling for him hard. He just enjoyed her company.
Then one night at the club she went to the ladies room and when she exited this huge guy had grabbed her and stuck her with a needle. The next thing Lindsay knew, she was waking up at the feet of a man that sat in a large chair on a raised dais like he was a damn king or something. The room was full of men that looked at her like a juicy bone. Some of them looked normal and others had fangs and black eyes. They seemed to be bidding on her like a slave. Lindsay was horrified and tried to get away, but she couldn’t move. Her body was dead weight. Then, out of the crowd stepped her friend, Derek. His expression was cold and uncaring when the man in the chair informed him that he had done well to find him such a tasty morsel. The men kept yelling amounts they would pay to have her. When Derek put in a bid, the man in the chair laughed and told the crowd that he would keep the pretty piece for himself. And he had.
Lindsay was his slave. He could make her do anything he wanted with a thought and she had no hope of resisting. He took her blood. He took her body. And he took her humanity when he decided he was in love. He claimed to have been waiting for a mate to share his life and his power with for years. He would talk to himself about how he was sure it would work this time. This time, he would break the curse. Lindsay explained that the Master displayed remorse and regret for his behavior during occasional moments of disorientation and other times he would insist that she should be thankful he had saved her from her low-born human life.
He forced her to drink from him over and over. Whatever he expected to happen didn’t happen so he kept trying. All that came of it was her fangs and the need for a blood bank. The Master wouldn’t allow her to feed from anyone but him. Good thing because she didn’t want
to feed from anyone at all.
Brandi knew the mysterious Derek had to be her mate and she was powerfully grateful to know he hadn’t slept with the ethereal Lindsay. It would be hard not to strangle her much less be friends if the woman had touched Derek.
They were in bed and drifting off for the night when the door to the secured room opened wide and Darren stepped in. Lindsay shrank back into the headboard and Brandi jumped up ready to defend her friend. Lindsay was still afraid of her own shadow.
“Let’s go,” Darren demanded.
“I’m not dressed.” Brandi was wearing nothing but a men’s shirt she found in the closet. Her own clothes were less than fresh and no one had come to check on them since Darren had deposited her in the room.
“Get something on. We have to go,” he barked.
Brandi grabbed her clothes from the chair and tried not to notice that Darren was watching her change.
“Where are we going?” she asked over her shoulder. Lindsay was weeping.
“It seems your mate and family isn’t as fond of you as I had hoped,” he informed her.
Darren hustled Brandi toward the door as soon as she was dressed, but she turned back to make her new friend a vow.
“I will be back for you, Lindsay. Just hang on. I’ll be back,” she promised.
****
The war room, that’s what the warriors called it, had moved from the dining room to Gage’s home office to make use of the large wall mounted TV. There were Council representatives from every family watching a crowd grow on the lawn outside of the training facility. Lloyd and Adele Vaughn occupied one corner of the room. They spoke privately while Kane Stafford glared at them. Griffin was discussing strategy with Gage. Kane’s grandson, Donavan, was busy being ignored while he bitched in his grandfather’s ear. Chase’s father, Mason, and his grandmother, Seleste, who was also a Council member, watched the screen in silence. His mother, Debbie, moped off to the living room where she was feeding his baby sister, Sydney.
Chase explained to the gathered members of the Council and their varied family what he was able to observe of Lovely’s conversation with Derek. The guy was the Rogue’s son and somehow he had wriggled his way into Brandi’s life. Lovely didn’t believe he was a threat but Chase didn’t agree. She was trying to convince him to help their effort to free the mates and children. Darren obviously wanted to trade the absent Brandi for Lovely or he would take Brandi to the Rogue to die. That was his last real communication with her. The Rogue sent word via a text message to Gage that hewould trade all the captured mates and children for Lovely or he would kill them all. His Lovely was overcome with guilt that so many people were suffering while she remained safe.
She wouldn’t let him into her consciousness but she sent him wave after wave of love. He felt every emotion from betrayal to guilt and heartbreak like a blow to the stomach.
Chase stormed into the office. He fisted his hands and slammed them onto the desk in front of Gage. Gage stood and glared down at Chase.
“Something is wrong! I know it! We have to go after her! She’s my mate! I…” Chase couldn’t finish the sentence. If he gave voice to his fears it would make them more real. Tears filled his eyes and his mother appeared to stroke his back. Gage spoke calmly, but Chase could see the lightning flash in his eyes.
“Do you think you love her any more than I love my mate? Do you think sending people out on a wild goose chase will do anything but make you feel better? I told you before that even if I had permission to take Danielle into my charge, I can’t protect a girl that doesn’t want protection. She left of her own free will.”
“She left to give us a chance to save our people!” Chase shouted.
Voices on the TV distracted the room from the impending explosion between Chase and Gage. A tall dark-haired man in a suit began to speak to the crowd. He stood on the landing with the four fanged vamps looking out at his subjects. He was praising their efforts and promising them all high-ranking positions in his new world order. This was the face of the mysterious Rogue. He was revealed to the Council without his knowledge and gasps of disbelief circled the room. Seleste collapsed into a chair and put her head between her knees.
“It can’t be. It’s a lie,” Seleste stammered. Mason got closer to the screen and squinted.
“What the hell is this?” Griffin barked.
“I don’t believe what I’m seeing. We were friends. He wouldn’t do this.” Donavan chimed in from the corner.
“I knew it!” Kane shouted.
Chase watched the charismatic vamp boast about his strength and wisdom and his plans for his Shade army once he took over the Council. He insisted he would have the power this very day to rule over all. Half of the crowd cheered wildly while the other half stared blankly at the vamp.
Chase looked at his father and back to the man. It was spooky. They looked very much alike. He looked around the room for an explanation but was greeted with open mouthed horror all around.
“Who is it, Dad?”
“It’s David. My brother,” he whispered.
Seleste cried openly. It was her eldest son, the son that had killed himself to keep the Rogue from using him to get to his secret mate. David and Leann Vaughn were forbidden from bonding because they were both betrothed to other vamps by their parents.
“That son of a bitch,” Lloyd hissed.
Leann was the oldest child of Lloyd and Adele. Adele was also openly sobbing at the implications. Leann killed herself when the overwhelming experience of losing her mate swallowed her whole. The prophecy that caused so much trouble for Chase and Lovely had come from Leann. Everyone believed the Rogue wanted her precognitive ability and David was taken to draw Leann out. So for many years, until Chase and Lovely bonded, the Vaughn family and the Deidrick family were at odds, blaming each other for the loss of their children. The question now was, if David was still alive, what happened to Leann? She would have known her mate was still alive when she ended her life.
“Didn’t you see his body?” Chase asked.
Mason swallowed hard.
“By the time he was found, he was unrecognizable. The body was the right size and he wore David’s clothes and his ring.” Mason looked down at the ring on his hand. Chase’s father had worn the ring for as long as he could remember.
There was movement in the corner of the screen and Chase focused on the couple coming into view. A female was being roughly led up the stairs by none other than Derek, the son of the Rogue. Derek was his uncle’s son. He was his cousin.
Chase’s heart froze in his chest and he screamed a keening sound of pain and disbelief. The hood was pulled from the female’s head and a mane of dark hair, streaked with white and red, fell forward. His soul cried out to her. She cried back, begging forgiveness and understanding.
Mason reached out to touch her head on the screen and looked back at Griffin with tears in his eyes. Debbie squinted at the screen and moved in close to get a better look. She opened her mouth to speak but shook her head and closed it before the words came out. She returned to Chase and wrapped her arms around him and held on when he dropped to the floor.
“Not again. Not again,” Adele moaned from the corner.
“The girl is making a noble sacrifice if you ask me. One for the good of many,” said Kane.
Donavan reached over and punched his grandfather in the jaw, knocking him out.
“Asshole!” Donavan cursed.
David noticed Derek moving up the stairs and beamed at him. Derek leaned in and whispered something to Danielle. She jerked away from him and kept walking. Chase wailed and screamed at the screen as if she could hear him.
“Don’t do this, Lovely! We can get them all out! I love you! Please, don’t leave me! You can’t leave me!”
Mason came to kneel on the floor beside his wife and son to encompass them both in his arms. David spoke to the assembly.
“Ah. Here is my prize. Finally,” he held his hand out toward Derek and Lovely.
“You see. The strongest and most loyal of my Shades has brought me the power I need. Bring me the girl,” David crooned.
“Damn it! I know she’s strong but she doesn’t have anything he can’t get elsewhere. David is already telekinetic. Dani isn’t the only strong telepath in the world. She has the ability to enthrall vampires as well as humans, but Lance proved she isn’t the only vamp alive who can do that. The only thing that makes her special is that she’s multi-talented. Why Danielle?” Gage wondered aloud.
David grabbed Lovely by the hair and dragged her up the last few stairs. He put his nose in her hair and inhaled with a smile. Chase knew the exact vanilla and lavender sweetness that would be filling David’s senses. He howled. The bastard had no right to touch her. He had no right to breath in Chase’s mate and smile. Chase searched his mind and dug deep in his soul for traces of her, but a quiet shadow, curled up in the back of his mind was all he found.
David continued to speak. He had his hands wrapped tightly in her distinctive hair. She didn’t struggle to free herself. Even if she had, there was nowhere to go but into the arms of the Shade or a traitor to her people. The four fanged vamps stepped forward to enclose them.
“It isn’t about Danielle anymore. It’s about the game. We have her and he wants her. She defeated him before. She embarrassed him publicly. He has made her out to be such a powerful icon to his men to explain away his defeat. To redeem himself, he has to have her. He has to prove he can beat the Council by taking their new toy and breaking it,” Donavan answered Gage’s question. Half the room turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. He shrugged.