Escape (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 3)

by Heather Renee

  Elite Supernatural Trackers

  Escape, Book Three

  Heather Renee

  Elite Supernatural Trackers: Escape © Copyright 2020 by Heather Renee

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.

  For more information on reproducing sections of this book or sales of this book, email heatherreneeauthor@yahoo.com.

  ISBN: 979-8644593279

  Editing: Jamie from Holmes Edits

  Cover: Covers by Juan

  Dedication

  To the family members who might read this book… please skip over “those” scenes.

  They’re just as awkward for me as they are for you.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Stay in Touch

  Also by Heather Renee

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Wrath. Fury. Rage.

  Those emotions, while accurate, didn’t even begin to grasp the full scale of how my mind was reacting to Greggor’s words. Words that would change everything in my world.

  I was a Luccovino.

  I had their mark.

  Their blood flowed through me.

  But, and most importantly, I wasn’t a vampire. There were no fangs protruding from my gums. The sight of blood repulsed me. None of what he had said should have been possible.

  It wasn’t fucking possible.

  Yet, Greggor wasn’t laughing, my guys weren’t grinning, and Nixie wasn’t cracking any jokes at my expense.

  This was real, and we needed to deal with it as soon as supernaturally possible.

  “What do we do now? Gillian is dead, but some of his men got away. Do you think they’ll be back? Are the vamps coming for me now? What do they even want with me?” Questions rapid-fired out, and I couldn’t stop them. My thoughts were going a million miles an hour, and I couldn’t focus on any one thing long enough to prioritize my concerns.

  Jaxon’s hands wrapped around my stomach as he pulled me closer. “How about we finish this conversation somewhere else?”

  We were still in the admin section of the prison. The wall to the outside had a semi-truck-sized hole in it. Bodies, blood, and ash littered the floor. Thankfully, none of the bodies were from our group, but no doubt, some of the blood was.

  Nixie attempted to open a portal, but she was still recovering from not only changing forms but saving my life. I owed her for that, and I wasn’t going to forget it.

  There was nowhere comfortable to go within the prison to have this conversation. One that would hopefully tell me who I was and what exactly it meant for my future and those around me.

  I wasn’t afraid of the Luccovino family. They hid behind their minions and had a life filled with power that was only garnered by fear, not earned because they deserved it. But I also wasn’t stupid. If Greggor said they would come for me, I knew nothing in the coming days would be simple.

  Once Mason opened a portal to the training room we used, Jaxon nudged me forward. With him at my side and Nixie on my shoulder, I moved, keeping my head high. I might have had a lot of questions, but I wasn’t going to lose my shit. Well, at least not completely. I just needed a minute to wrap my head around it all.

  Greggor snapped his fingers, and chairs appeared in the open area. Before I could grab my own, Jaxon tugged me closer and into his lap, but I didn’t mind. We’d almost just died. Both of us. No amount of closeness was too much as we took time to process everything.

  “Let’s start at the beginning. You said you sent Cara a note to come see you. What did you learn when you tested her blood?” Spencer asked, making me grateful for his steadfast presence.

  Greggor’s scarred face moved in my direction, horns still flickering with the aftermaths of the battle. “When you first showed up on my door, I knew you were a powerful witch. A young one who had no control over her powers. I expected nothing but chaos from you, hence why you were locked into a cage when you came to my house the second time.”

  “You were locked in a cage?” Jaxon seethed as his hold tightened around my waist. We might have forgotten to tell him all of the details when we’d come back.

  “Shush.” I covered his mouth with my hand as I waited for Greggor to continue. I’d appease Jaxon’s hurt feelings later.

  “Then, just as I suspected you to do, you unleashed your magic, but much to my surprise, it wasn’t chaos. It didn’t lash out to hurt, your power just searched for freedom. The kind of release you showed that day should have killed Nixie, yet it protected her. An untrained witch shouldn’t have had the kind of instinctual control over power so significant.”

  Nixie’s wings twitched, but surprisingly, she kept her opinions to herself.

  “And why was that so interesting? What did that mean to you?” I asked.

  “Well, it meant there was something I was missing, and I never miss anything. So, I knew I had to convince you to make a deal and hand over your blood. At first, I just wanted to quench my thirst for knowledge, but when I saw the way you reacted to Butch and Cassidy, and them to you, it wasn’t just knowledge I needed. It was power.”

  Mason snickered. “You named your dogs Butch Cassidy?”

  Without thinking, I flicked a ball of magic at him that hopefully stung. “He was Greggor’s friend. Don’t be a dick about it.”

  After using Greggor’s own words, I winked at him and encouraged the demon to continue. Hopefully, at a little faster pace as well. From the sounds of it, we didn’t have time to waste.

  “So, once the two of you left, I put aside all other jobs and went to work on your blood. I tested it on everything I could think of in hopes of separating your magic from the blood, but it was stubborn. I couldn’t use it the way I wanted and began to get frustrated wondering who you were. Finally, there was a hint of familiarity to your power, and I was able to place it to a woman I’d met long ago. Patrice Marie Serene Fitzsimmons.”

  Mason shoved Blake. “I told you guys she was a Fitzsimmons. Remember that? You all thought I was insane.”

  Blake patted him on the back. “Yes, Gunner. You did good.” His placating was only lost on the person it was directed at.

  “Is that my mother’s real name? She went by Serene Simmons.” I tried to recall the other names, but none of them stood out to me.

  Greggor shook his head. “That was your grandmother’s name. She came to me, begging me to save the life of her daughter and unborn granddaughter. She was fearful for reasons she’d never speak of, but I didn’t mind at the time. The price of payment she was willing to give was too great to pass up.”

>   Grandmother. I knew I’d had one, but I’d been told she died before I was born. I’d seen her picture once when I’d been snooping through boxes as a child, but when I’d asked more about her, my mother had backhanded me. “You haven’t earned the right to know a great witch like my mother,” was all she had said before taking the picture away, never to be seen again.

  “What was the price?” Jaxon asked Greggor, pulling me back to the present.

  “Her power.”

  Mason gaped. “All of it?”

  “Yes. She cared so much for the life of her daughter and granddaughter, she was willing to die to protect them. So, I put a spell over Patrice’s daughter, made the coven forget a few things, and helped convince a powerful sorcerer to be the child’s father. I’d never asked who the real one was. It was none of my business, and I had no desire to stick my horns where they didn’t belong. All that mattered was that I was about to receive the biggest payday I’d ever imagined.”

  Emotions I wasn’t sure how to handle flowed through me. There had been a grandmother in my world who cared enough about me to protect me, but I’d been robbed of the chance to know her. It wasn’t fair. Instead, I’d been stuck with a mother and fake father who hadn’t given a damn about me.

  “Why? Why would she do that? What was so dangerous that my grandmother would give up her own life in an attempt to save us, and why didn’t it work?” I asked.

  Greggor seemed offended by my questions, but I didn’t give two shits. “It did work, but just not the way she had hoped. My magic did its job, but Patrice’s choice in father figure had been poor. What happened when I’d finished the spell was nothing that I had control over. As to why Patrice made the choices she did, well, I didn’t think I’d ever know. Even now, I only have assumptions, but after seeing that mark on you, they’re probably very accurate assumptions.”

  “Spit it out, Greggor,” I snapped.

  He sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I don’t even know why I’m bothering. You don’t appreciate me.”

  Nixie flew from my shoulder, a sword in each hand. “Finish your story time, Demon.” The point of each blade hovered dangerously close to Greggor’s eyes as he smirked.

  “Yes, Fairy.”

  When she came back to me, he finally continued. “I think your mother fell in love with a vampire, got herself pregnant, and when your grandmother found out who that vampire was, she acted out of fear. Maybe it wasn’t the right decision, maybe it was the best possible solution. None of us will probably ever know, but however it happened, your father is a Luccovino. And not just a descendant, but an original heir.”

  “Then why am I not a vampire, or at least a hybrid? How can you be so certain when the only proof is this mark?” My fingers traced over the symbol once again, the jagged infinity sign with a line crossing through the middle. The pigment was just a few shades darker than my own golden skin.

  Greggor leaned forward. “Do you know the only supernatural equal to a Luccovino heir?” My head shook. “A Fitzsimmons heir.”

  “So, are you saying her witch side dominated over any potential vampire traits?” Jaxon asked when I didn’t.

  “Seems like it to me. Again, we’re all merely guessing at this point, but it’s the most logical answer given what we know now.”

  “If you took Patrice’s power, then why haven’t you stopped the Luccovino family?” Blake asked.

  “Well, you see, the witch pulled a fast one on me. She released her magic for me to take as payment, but not all of it went to me. Witch magic is shared with the coven, and she’d managed to leave the most important elements to her family. Now, since Serene was killed and I’ve seen Cara’s raw power, I’d feel confident in saying that Patrice’s magic was mostly left to her granddaughter.”

  Pulling myself from Jaxon’s hold, I stood and began pacing, since that’s how I did my best thinking. “So, let me make sure I understand all of this. My mother slept with a vamp, got pregnant, then my grandmother freaked out and paid you with her life to hide said pregnancy’s origination. When you stepped in and did your demon juju, anything special about me was hidden and everyone thought dickhead Daniel was my father, including himself.”

  Greggor opened his mouth to respond, but I held my finger up, not all done.

  “Because of all that, my abilities stayed under the radar until after my eighteenth birthday when the warden found me, and slowly, my power has been leaking out and drawing attention from the Luccovinos. Now that you had to draw the dark magic from me, it also took whatever protective spells you’d set before my birth, and my mark has been revealed. To top it all off, the vamps somehow know this just mere minutes after it happened. Did I catch all that?”

  Gregor shrugged. “More or less.”

  “How would they even know about Cara?” Spencer asked.

  “Well, I’m not a vampire, but the originals, they have their own kind of magic that very few understand. You’ll have to get the rest of what you need to know from them. Except you’ll also want to stay as far from them as possible. Cara threatens their existence and their power. Two of the most powerful supernatural bloodlines run through her veins. I’d heard rumblings that they had their theories about a lost heir, but now, they’ll have proof one exists.

  “I came here for my retribution to Butch and Cassidy and as a courtesy to warn you. Mind you, one I was under no obligation to give. So, heed my advice or don’t, but I’m not going to stick around and see how it plays out. I’m a businessman, not a warrior.”

  Gods, he was the most pain-in-the-ass demon I’d ever dealt with. Though, as much as I wanted to argue with him that he had every obligation, considering he’d been involved since before I was born, I didn’t.

  I had no right to tell him he had to go up against an all-powerful vampire family when I didn’t even want to do so myself. All those previous times I’d said I never wanted a life on the run, well, slipping away and changing my identity was sounding pretty damn nice now.

  “So, that’s it? You’re just going to drop those bombs and go back to your cave, waiting for the next lowlife to offer you money in exchange for whatever they’re desperate for?” Nixie chastised.

  “Yep. Good luck.” Greggor snapped his fingers, and he was gone.

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Mason asked, but before any of us could answer, another man entered the training room.

  “Well, you can start by getting the hell out of my prison unless you’d like to become actual inmates this time.”

  Chapter 2

  Turning to face the newcomer, I was surprised to find a smile on his face that almost made me think he had some kindness in him. Almost, but not quite.

  His chestnut hair was short and well-groomed, and he wore a tailored charcoal suit that fit him perfectly, making it seem like not a thing was out of place about the man, but the gleam in his azure eyes made me believe otherwise.

  “And you would be?” I asked.

  “Warden Logan Parsons. Seems you’ve saved me a bit of work upon my arrival, but you’ve still left one hell of a mess. My advice? Leave within the hour, or I’ll be sending the guards for you, and I guarantee your treatment will not be the same as it has been.”

  “Who sent you here?” Jaxon asked next.

  Parsons sighed, clearly irritated he hadn’t scared us away with his threat. “The Supernatural Council, of course. We’ve been keeping an eye on this prison and how often the warden left the grounds for some time now. His last few departures were not sanctioned, and I came here to relieve him of his duties, but it appears you’ve already done so.”

  “Appears so,” I scoffed.

  The new warden paid more attention to his well-manicured nails than he did to us as he continued to speak. “Regardless, your presence within Mandora is no longer needed. This prison will not be doing any more favors for the Luccovino family, and unless you want to end up back here, I suggest you stay away from them as well.”

  Finally, he glanced up when none of
us said anything or made a move to leave. “Well, are you going to spend your whole hour standing here until I arrest you, or are you going to pack up your shit and get the hell out of my prison?”

  I stopped my pacing and gave him my full attention. “There’s no need to be a dick about anything. We’ll be leaving, as well as two other inmates who aren’t with us right now but were instrumental in taking down Warden Gillian. As soon as we have our stuff and have found them, we’ll be on our way.”

  Warden Parsons tsked. “That’s not how I run my prison, Cara Simmons. I have a list of people who are allowed to leave, and it doesn’t include anyone outside of this room.”

  “Unless you’d like to see firsthand how we kicked Gillian’s ass, I suggest you revise that list of yours,” I snapped. No way was I going to leave Ethan and Gabe behind. I’d made a promise and intended to stick to it.

  With a deep eye roll, Parsons pulled out his phone. “What are the names of the inmates you speak of?”

  “Ethan Jones and Gabriel Marks.”

  His boney fingers scrolled along the screen as he browsed through whatever it was that he was checking. After a few too many moments of tense silence, he looked back up. “Ethan and Gabe have been offered jobs as guards already. They’ve accepted and will be staying here. You’re welcome to go confirm with them if you’d like, but just remember, your hour started the moment I walked into this room.”

  “I will be sure to do that,” I said curtly.

  Without another word, we slowly took our leave and headed for the lair while keeping an eye on Parsons until we rounded the corner in the hallway.