by Lisa Ray
Archer’s community was overflowing. This time everyone was there. All his pack, all Ryker’s clan and all the humans. Men women and children spread across as far as Archer and Ryker could see.
“Everyone, if I may have your attention.” Archer spoke into a megaphone. “There is some news that I want to tell you. We found a body under some of the debris. His name was Sam Hunter. You may know him. He owned the bookstore. He had no family that’s why no one reported him missing. But the main thing is that he wasn’t killed by the fire. He was killed by rogues. Vampire and Wolf both killed him. He has been taken to the morgue and I am paying for his cremation and proper services. I want to say that I hate it. It makes me angry. So we are going to start on your training. We need to come up with a way for you to tell us from the bad guys. We are working on that. Right now, my pack and Archer’s clan have all set up tables with letters. If your last name starts with that letter, go to that table and we are going to work with you on a schedule that will fit you and your family. If possible, you need to start tomorrow. It’s Saturday so that should help. There’s no time to waste. Everyone, also, if you have any questions about us at all, please ask. We no longer have anything to hide.”
Archer lowered the megaphone and watched as people began to move about. Soon plans were being made. Ryker had a large store of weapons he was going to let the people pick from as they learned. It was an amazing sight to behold. Lycan, Human and Vampire, all coming together as one.
Lisette and Ryker drove alone back to Ryker’s home. They had been one of the first to leave. Archer had it all under control. Of course, they were never really alone. Ryker’s guards were always close at hand. There was a car in front and behind them.
When they reached Ryker’s home and stepped out of the car. Ryker stopped Lisette by grabbing her arm, “Wait, somethings not right. I smell blood. Fresh wolf blood and fresh Vampire blood.”
They stood by the car and waited for Ryker’s guards to gather around them. They walked slowly to the house and opened the door. Lisette gasped as they stepped inside. There was blood splattered all over the walls and floors. There was an unidentifiable body lying at the bottom of the stairs. Ryker pushed Lisette behind him as three figures stepped out to the top of the stairs. Soon bullets rained down around Ryker and Lisette as the guards dropped. Only Ryker and Lisette were still standing. Ryker's face had changed. It had stretched and his fangs were protruding as He made sure Lisette was still behind him. The men at the top of the stairs walked slowly down. Guns filled with silver bullets aimed directly at them.
“You’ll never get out of here.” Ryker’s voice was calm and assured.
“Yes we will. “The obvious leader spoke,” You’re going to come with us willingly. You see, you have a choice. We can take you willingly and tie up your woman there and leave her here safely. We will have her later when the world is ours. Or you can try to fight us and we will make sure that the little woman is taken care of by each of us before we eat her. It’s your choice.”
“No, Ryker!!!” Lisette begged. “You can’t do this. They will kill you.”
Ryker’s face had changed back to normal. He stood loosely beside her. She held his hand tightly,” I’ll go with you if you leave Lisette alone. If you so much as touch her I will kill you first. “ Ryker said to the leader of the three. The other two poked Lisette with their guns and she was pushed to a chair where she was secured with ropes and duct tape. She fought, begging and screaming when the tape was put over her mouth. Ryker saw the tears running in rivers down her cheeks and he felt pleasure through what he knew was going to be painful. She loved him.
“Before I go,” and he turned to look at Lisette, “Lisette, youve given me more than anyone in my whole long life. I can see the love in your eyes. I feel it too. Love. For the first time I know what it feels like. It is the greatest gift you could give me. Remember that. I love you.”
Ryker heard Lisette moan as he turned.
“We are going to walk to your garage, get in one of your cars and drive right out of here. Do you understand that?” The big Lycan poked him hard in the side with his gun. Obviously even the gun was silver because Ryker grunted in pain before he nodded.
All Lisette could do was watch through her clouded vision as Ryker left with his three captors. Then she prayed and waited, hoping someone would come soon.
Chapter Eight
Lisette didn’t waste time crying after the door shut behind Ryker and their three assailants. She rocked back and forth until she was on her side on the floor still strapped in the chair. Her ankles were roped to the legs but she could wiggle her feet. She managed to push herself slowly in what seemed like forever to a window by the front door. The window, luckily, went all the way to the floor. Still, no one was going to see her. She needed to break the window and somehow make noise. That’s when she noticed someone walk by the window and then there was a knock on the door. Now was her chance. She had to get noticed. She couldn’t wait. The kidnappers would be too far away. She banged her head hard against the window, breaking the glass and cutting her head in the process. That was all she needed to do.
Bella looked to her left and saw her mother’s face staring at her from the broken window. Her mouth taped shut. Inside she went. The bodies and blood vaguely registered in her mind as she raced to her mother and pulled the tape off her mouth.
“Mom, your head is bleeding. Oh mom, what’s happened?” Bella was asking all of this as she untied her mother.
Lisette rose a little unsteady on her feet. “Take me to Archer; call Ryker’s head of security, Hagan.” And then they were moving fast toward Bella’s small house. Before they could get there they met Archer and Ryker’s best friend and head of security, Hagan. With them were several vampires. Hagan didn’t stop at Lisette he went straight into the house. Archer saw Lisette and watched as she motioned for him to follow her. She jerked Bella by the arm and followed Hagan back into the horrible scene in the large foyer of Ryker’s home.
Hagans face had changed and his fangs were long and angry. He was in Lisette’s face in an instant. Archer was between them, his face beginning to change and a deep growl rumbled deep within his chest.
Lisette hollered, “Stop, we are wasting time. They’ve taken him. They’ve taken Ryker. It was the rogues. We came home and they were waiting. They shot our guards before we could do anything. Then they threatened to kill me if Ryker didn’t go with them. So they took him. If we hurry, maybe we can catch them. But it’s been at least an hour. We have to work together.”
Hagans face was slowly changing back as Lisette spoke. He realized she was right. He turned to his men and nodded. Each one took off. Vampires move at a super-fast speed.
“Let me change and I can try to get his scent. Find his trail.” Archer looked at Hagan.
Hagan nodded, “Take some of your people with you. Don’t go alone.”
Archer nodded and was out the door.
“What can I do?” Lisette asked Hagan.
“”You can stay here in case they call or try to make contact. Your daughter needs to stay with you. I’ll send someone to clean up and I’m going to send some others to watch over you. I’m sure some of Archer’s people will be here too. I need to go.”
Lisette grabbed Hagans arm. He turned and saw the worry one her face. He saw her guilt and her love for the man he called friend. He put his hand on hers. “I’ll let you know something when I do.”
And then Hagan was gone. The women were alone but not for long. Chloe and Walker showed up. Five Vampire men sent by Hagan arrived. Chloe told them Roman had gone with Archer. They weren’t to leave Bella and Lisette alone. A couple of the men began to clean up. The others decided to go into the living room and wait.
Lisette wasn’t sobbing, she was angry. And she was ready to fight. She wanted to go out and look herself. She didn’t like being left to wait.
“He gave himself up for me!” Lisette said to the whole room. “For me! Why would he do that? Hi
s people need him. Who knows what they will do to him. And why didn’t they just kill us? When I get my hands on him I’m going to……..” Then she broke down into a sob.
Bella took her mother in her arms, “Ryker’s tough, mom. And smart. We will find him. And when we do, we will make them pay. I promise. Mom. He did it because he’s in love with you.”
Lisette didn’t hesitate, “That makes two of us. I’m in love with him too. And I’ll do whatever it takes to help get him back.”
At that minute, Archer and Roman came in with Hagan close on their heels. Now that Ryker wasn’t here, Hagan would take charge of his people. He looked young, middle thirties. But he had also been through the Great War.
Lisette ran to Hagan. “Did you find him? Anything? Please tell me you found him.”
Hagan looked at Lisette’s fingers gripping his arm. He looked into her eyes full of fear, and anger and hope and sadness. He had watched his friend fall for this woman and he had never seen that before. It was obvious she felt the same. “Archer and Roman tracked the car to the outskirts of town where it was abandoned. They managed to track the obvious path they walked to different vehicle tracks. They even managed to follow his skin scent for miles. We found another abandoned vehicle and an obvious circle and imprints where a helicopter was waiting. So we lost them.”
“Ok so what do we do now? Where do we go? I’m ready. Lisette said, “We can’t just do nothing".
Archer went to Lisette and took both her arms in his large hands. “We aren’t going to do nothing. Ryker and I both have people planted inside the rogues. We will find out something soon I’m sure. We will find him.”
Hagan looked at Archer over Lisette’s head, “I’ll get word to our people while you do the same with yours. Let’s find him. Meanwhile, we need to also keep with the plan to train the humans. I will put several of my people in charge of organizing and if you pick some of yours we can form a council that we can leave the humans to while we concentrate on Ryker.
Archer turned to Roman, “Roman, I want you in charge of picking people to train the human and you will take complete control of making sure this gets done. Agree?”
Roman agreed to take the role. He turned to leave. He had a lot to do. Training started tomorrow, “Hagan, when you pick your people send them to find me, ok?”
Hagan agreed. He turned to one of his men and sent him on his way.
Hagan turned to Archer, “There’s a traitor among my people. Someone had to let the rogues know about the meeting tonight and let the rogues in. I will find them and kill them.”
“Before you kill whoever it was, we need to find out where they took Ryker if he or she knows. I still have my traitor and will question him. If he doesn’t give me something he will die. And I mean fast. I’m going there now. Find that traitor Hagan. They may tell us what we need to know.” Archer said. He took Bella’s hand and left. The prisoner had been moved during the fire to a hidden sight that only a few knew of. He took Bella home, made sure she was well guarded and took Walker with him and headed to get some answers.
Hagan asked Chloe if she would help him. He wanted to know if she could distinguish different people’s smells. When she said she could, he ask her to identify the smells of all the men that were dead and all the people that she knew and then ask her if there was any persons smell around the house that was different. He knew she would pick up on the three rogues. But he also knew there would be another scent. One of his own. A traitor. He watched as Chloe walked around the house.
“I smell Lisette, Bella, Archer, Ryker, and I smell the dead ones. I smell you. I smell your team that was just here. I know they are the ones because their smell is strong like yours. I smell Roman and Walker. I smell.” She walked upstairs. “Up here I smell Lisette and Ryker. I smell you. I smell four smells that I don’t recognize. Three of them are dirty and one of those was wolf. That leaves three. One of those will be your traitor.”
Hagan was impressed. “There are a couple thousand bodies here now, including your pack. Is there any way that we could walk and you possibly find one of the three smells.”
“I can try. It will be hard because there will be so many.” Chloe was willing.
“Then let’s take a nice long stroll,” Hagan said as he walked to a large box, opened it and took out a large sword made of silver. His gun was always tucked in his pants and loaded to kill.
Hagan and Chloe began to walk. They walked up and down the roads. Through the yards and houses. Chloe had found the one scent that walked away from the house. So she only had to concentrate on one scent. After an hour of walking, she turned to Hagan, “I need to turn. If I’m all wolf I’ll be better able to track.”
Hagan watched as Chloe stripped. He tried not to notice her beautiful pale skin and the curve of her back. Suddenly she was all wolf. Beautiful auburn fur, he was glad his kind was fast or he would have had trouble keeping up with the large animal.
Chloe found the scent she was looking for. It was strong in her nostrils. She moved fast.
Chapter Nine
Ryker was in pain. The silver chains they had wrapped around his ankle and wrists were burning into his skin. The silver chain around his neck was almost unbearable. But he never uttered a sound. He had felt much worse in his long life.
He knew that everyone would be hunting for him but they wouldn’t find him. The helicopter he was in had been in the air several hours. He had no idea where they were taking him or why they hadn’t just killed them all. He was glad they hadn’t. He couldn’t live with Lisette’s death on his hands. He had given himself for her. Maybe he was getting soft. All he knew was that he had fallen in love with a human woman. And she was at least safe among his people.
He also knew there had to be a traitor in his clan. Someone had to let the rogues know that there would be no one at his community for that certain time. Someone also had to let them in. He just hoped Hagan would realize this and find them.
The helicopter touched down on top of a building. When Ryker was pushed out he noticed he was in a city. There were buildings all around him. The building they had landed on had a fenced perimeter. Many bodies wandered on the grounds below.
He was pushed inside and down a stairwell and through a locked door. He was in a very large room that seemed to be a living room. Wincing in pain as one of the roges grabbed his wrsist chains with a thickly goved hand, he was dragged across the room to a set of double doors. The doors were opened and Ryker was pushed up against a wall, his arms were raised and spread and chained with silver cuffs to a concrete wall. His ankles also. The chain around his neck was removed. Then he was alone.
Chloe stopped in front of a large brick home. She turned to see Hagan right behind her. Turning, she stood in front of him, naked in all her glory. He immediately took off his shirt and she slipped it on over her head. It fell to her thighs. If anything, that made her even sexier. Hagan shook himself away from those thoughts, looked at the house and murmured a curse word under his breath.
“Are you sure?” He asked
“Absolutely.” Chloe had seen the lust come and go in Hagan’s eyes. She couldn’t help but notice the broad expanse of his shoulders that were now shirtless. He was a beautiful male specimen.
“That’s Ben’s house. He’s been with us since the community was built. If I’m not mistaken, Ryker and he fought in several battles together in the Great War. I don’t understand. Why would someone want to go back to all that bloodshed and hate?”
“Beings are odd. It seems that so many are only satisfied for a time and then who knows. Maybe he has his reasons. Let’s go find out.” Chloe headed for the front door.
Hagan grabbed her arm, “Wait, let’s get some backup here. He could be dangerous.”
“What, don’t think you and I can handle one Vampire?” Chloe looked at him, daring him.
Hagan recognized the challenge and put in a call to Archer and several others then said, “Let’s go. You go around back in case he tries to run.
I’ll take the front.”
Chloe immediately headed to do as he said. Hagan went to the front door and stood there a moment. Before he could knock, the door opened and Ben stood before him.
“I saw you both outside. I knew it wouldn’t take you long to figure me out. Go ahead and do what you must. I won’t resist,” Ben said, eyes never meeting Hagans. Hagan shoved him back into the house and down into a chair in the hall. And then Chloe was there. Soon Archer and several others had joined them.
“So this is the traitor.” Archer stated as he strode in.
“He admitted as much. Said he wouldn’t put up a fight. Somethings not right here,” Chloe was thinking. “Let me talk to him.”
As the others watched, Chloe approached the defeated man in the chair. Every male being in the room stood ready should Ben make any unwarranted moves.
“Ben, is it?” Chloe ask softly as she squatted down in front of him, her hands gently touching his knees.
Ben nodded yes.
“You informed the rogues, right? And let them in? Have you decided peace isn’t for you and want to go back to the old ways?”
“No!” Ben almost shouted. Every man in the room started forward. Chloe held up a hand to stop them.
“Why, then? What caused you to betray your leader and friend?”
Ben looked up into Chloe’s eyes and she could see the pain and despair, the defeat in the man.
“My son, he ran away and joined them. Instead of letting him join their cause they’ve taken him prisoner. They will kill him. I had to choose. I chose my sons life.”
Hagan was angry,” Why didn’t you come to us, tell us. We would have figured something out.”
“I was told there are others here that are rogues, hiding among the loyal clan members. They were watching me. I didn’t have a choice. I wanted to tell Ryker. But I knew David would be dead if I did. He’s just a mixed up kid. My kid. His mother left us when he was eight and it’s been just us two for a thousand years. It’s no excuse. I know what you must do to me. I’m ready.”