“Stop it! Stop it!” the boy yelled from across the room.
Alex let the girl drag herself into the cool shadow again, but she followed. When she stopped, the girl curled into the fetal position then blew on her charred foot.
“You know something. And you will tell me, or I’m going to throw both of you into the sun.”
They glared at Alex, and their animal growls filled the room. The sound vibrated off the walls then down Alex’s spine. The boy rolled his eyes up then back at Alex.
She slipped off her jacket, dropped it to the floor, then stepped back into the center of the room. Just then, she felt his presence above her. Absent of any kind of remorse for what he’d done, she felt his anger and hunger settle around her like a curtain.
He crashed through the ceiling like he’d been shot from a cannon. Sheetrock exploded everywhere as the people in the room scattered in all directions. The ceiling fan just missed Alex as she rolled out of the way. The children yelled as they were pulled away by the agents. When he landed, crouched low and growling, Alex rolled to her feet with a death grip on the silver blade she had pulled from the sheath on her thigh.
“Let me guess,” she smirked at the boy. “You must be Ronnie.”
His long new fangs dropped slowly as he smiled. His red hair was still messy, but now it was dirty, and, like his clothes, covered in dust from the attic and blood from the scene. The dank smell of old boxes and sweat grabbed at her lungs and she almost lost her breakfast. When he shook his head like a wet dog, the muck flew out toward her.
“And you must be my next meal,” he laughed.
He was about her height, but the portly build he had when he was human had been transformed slightly. Now he could break through solid sheetrock, wood framing, and possibly a brick wall if he wanted. Ronnie scanned the room as if doing a body count for later.
“Don’t get too excited,” Alex replied. “We just need some information from you, and then these nice people will take you and your brother and sister somewhere to get you some help.”
“We don’t need help,” he glared at her. “You do!”
His razor-sharp nails cut through the air in front of her nose as Alex jumped back. The momentum put his back to her long enough for her to get him into a chokehold. But Ronnie had other plans. Two powerful elbows to her solar plexus and he was out of her grip and up the far wall like a spider monkey on caffeine.
The children cheered him on as he clung to the wall above them.
Alex clenched her teeth against the pain. “Get them out of here!”
The agents did as they were told. The children were pushed into a small bathroom as they yelled and cheered. With the sound of squealing children muted, just enough to take the edge off, Alex could concentrate on Ronnie. She stepped closer as he stayed glued to the corner of the ceiling.
“Come on, Ron,” Alex tried to grin. “Don’t make this hard on yourself.”
He laughed, and sheetrock dust trickled down on her head. As he slid down to the floor again, his laughter stopped, and the creature inside him surfaced. She could see the weak muscles in his arms and shoulders expand and bulk. His beautiful green eyes turned black as his fangs extended to their full fighting length.
“This ain’t gonna be hard on me,” he growled as he rolled his head around like a boxer ready for a prize fight. “You, on the other hand . . . beat down time! Can’t you see how strong I am? I’m a superhero!”
Alex could remember that feeling: the thrilling rush of it, how all of your muscles pulsed with it all at once, the taste of pure vampire blood. Not even she was immune to it, as she’d found out the hard way.
“You’re not a superhero. You’re just a kid that has been violated in the worst possible way, and, for that, I’m sorry. When you come down, it’s not going to feel so good, trust me,” she said.
“Come down? I’m never coming down,” Ronnie laughed. “He said I never have to come down!”
Alex stepped closer, and he moved back. Could he feel her power too? Did he know she was different? “He lied. Tell me who he is and I can finish this, finish him.”
Ronnie’s roundhouse kick sent Alex into the bookcase behind her. As the cheap romance novels and self-help books tumbled down around her, she slammed a hardcover into his face as he charged. His prominent nose broke as he fell back onto the coffee table with a loud bang.
She tried to avoid using the blade. It was pure silver and would hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. The only time she used it was to kill, and she really didn’t want to kill this kid if she didn’t have to. This wasn’t his fault. Not really.
“He didn’t lie,” he cried as he snapped the bone back into place. When he spat out his own blood, the clot landed in the dad’s hair. “He loves me, and I’m going to be at his side forever!”
Alex shook her head and he growled as he charged again. He swung wildly at her, but she could tell he was losing his energy. He needed to feed again soon.
“Who is he, Ronnie?”
He laughed as he wiggled his hips and smiled at her. “My stepsister calls him ‘Magic Mike’.”
Creed must be completely insane to do this on her turf. She tried not to punch this kid in his grimy face as she stepped closer.
“Tell me where he is.”
“Close,” Ronnie smiled. “I can feel him.” He licked his bloody lips. “If I bring you to him, I’ll be rewarded! Maybe he’ll let me keep you for a while.”
It was Alex’s turn to laugh. Creed did not like to share, and she was not ever going to be some turned child’s toy. If anything, Creed would try to keep her for his own personal amusement. She knew that for sure.
“You are not up to this, kid,” she smiled at him.
“Let’s see,” he smiled back and picked up the leg from the broken coffee table. Swinging it like a bat, lamps and vases shattered in his wake. He moved her backward.
“I don’t really want to hurt you,” she sighed as she felt the heat of the setting sun at her back. The kitchen would be filled with natural light in just a few minutes, then night would fall again. “But I will if you make me.”
Ronnie threw the table leg like a spear. It sailed past her head and buried in the wall. They traded punches and kicks, then she cut the back of his hand with the silver blade.
“Damn! That hurt,” he barked as the cut sizzled, scorched from the silver.
“It’s supposed to hurt.”
He studied his hand, licked the wound, then spat. “That is gross!” A little puff of smoke came out.
He lunged at her, fangs fully extended as his hands reached for her throat. She dropped to her butt then her back. When she extended her legs, Ronnie was pushed into the sunlight of the kitchen. She jumped to her feet as he screamed. Once he landed on the kitchen table, his clothes burst into flames as did the rest of him. In a few seconds, he was ash then a giant black stain on the wooden table.
“Damn,” Alex groaned as she picked up her jacket.
“Now what?” one of the agents asked.
“Clean this up,” she answered as she opened the front door.
The sky was a brilliant orange canvas of light that would give birth to a clear, starry night. On the way back home, she’d pick up two bottles of tequila; she was going to need both to drown the bad dreams.
As she made her way back home through light traffic, Alex cursed Ramsey for the 911 text to come to this scene. Ever since she had taken over the Tracker team, the brief time between work and sleep was occupied by his attempt to exert control over her like never before.
Access to classified files was the trade-off. Now that she was completely back inside, she could request information previously deemed “need-to-know” before. As a temporary agent with a specific project, Alex didn’t need to know what the Trackers had been up to over last few years. Her assignment was clearly defined and restricted
to bringing in the test subjects for evaluation. She’d almost finished that job when all of this came up.
Her phone buzzed in the hands-free holder attached to a speaker. She tapped the answer button on the steering wheel.
“How’d it go?” Ramsey’s familiar polished tone boomed. “Anything interesting to report?”
“One of the company’s Executive Assistants and her new husband were murdered,” Alex replied as she came to a stop at the traffic light. “Your team is bringing in their two children.”
“Why?” Ramsey harped. “We’re not a daycare center.”
As traffic moved again, she rolled her eyes. “The children killed them.”
“Oh,” he sighed. “I still don’t understand why we can’t let the kids go to the local authorities.”
“They were turned and killed their parents,” Alex huffed. “That’s why.”
She thought she heard a low snicker come from the line, but why would he laugh at that? The whole situation was messed up, and she wished she could get to the truth some other way.
“How old are the kids?” he finally asked. In the background, she heard a rapid typing sound.
“I have no idea,” Alex replied. “Maybe eight and twelve or so, I guess. The oldest one was around sixteen.”
“What? Wait, I thought you said there were two of them,” Ramsey snipped.
“There are now,” Alex stated. “I had to dust the oldest.”
Now she was sure he was laughing. His snicker reached her ears; she wanted to reach through the phone and rip out his throat.
“Of course you did. What would an investigation be without you killing someone?”
“Look,” Alex hissed as she snatched the phone free. “He turned his brother and sister and watched as they killed their parents. He was not coming with us without a fight.”
“We’ll get a story on the local news by morning,” Ramsey replied. “Nothing too dramatic. House fire should do the trick.” More typing. “Looks like they just moved in, so no nosy neighbors to wonder about the activity around the house.”
Alex remembered a cable television van and a moving truck out front. All the people around the house were pretty much ignored. She wasn’t too keen on them setting a fire, but anything else would raise too many flags. Couldn’t have the neighbors thinking a serial killer was on the loose or anything.
“What will you do with the kids?” she asked.
“See if they can identify the idiot vampire who turned them,” Ramsey answered. “After that, the Council will send a courier to retrieve them. They’ve been notified.”
She almost dropped Creed’s name, but she decided against it once he mentioned the Council. That information would be useful to her later. If she told Ramsey, he’d have a kill order placed on Creed. She needed him alive, for now. Apparently, no one got Ronnie’s reference or Ramsey would have made some smartass remark about it.
“How’d you find out about this, anyway?” Alex picked up the conversation again.
“The Missus was due back today. When she didn’t show or answer her phone, a co-worker got suspicious.”
As flimsy as that excuse was, Alex let it go. Right now, she had bigger things to worry about—much bigger. The fate of strangers wasn’t even in the top 100. Neither was what would happen to the newly-turned vampires being transported to God knows where for interrogation.
As a general rule, children were off limits. Human children were much too impulsive to be turned before a certain age. Children, especially as young as the ones she had just met, couldn’t be trusted to make rational decisions. Everything was structured and filtered for them by the adults in their lives. They took instructions and did the exact opposite every time. Plus, these children had fed on human blood.
Usually the newly turned were eased into drinking fresh blood straight from the source. They’d be taught to endure the thirst, to control it in case they had to go without to stay safe. But once you get a taste for killing, you always want more. Then no one is safe.
To allow creatures like these to feed without restraint meant mistakes would be made. If the body count suddenly began to rise, the Council would notice. And, if they did, so would the human government. Blame would be placed solely on the Council, and they wouldn’t like that.
If the children couldn’t learn to feed without killing, they would be punished. Alex hoped they could be rehabilitated. This wasn’t their fault. It was Creed’s. And, for his misconduct, he might be executed. That thought filled Alex with a strange sort of pity—not that she hadn’t wished Creed harm, but that was a long time ago. Now, to think that she held the power to bring about his demise, Alex felt a little scared of the possibility.
“Well,” Alex said as she turned into the private drive of her house, “if there’s nothing else, I’ve got work to do with my team.”
“No, we’ll take it from here,” Ramsey’s perpetual snide tone scratched at her nerves. “Try not to kill any of them until after the conference.”
Before she could throw as many curse words as she knew at him, he was gone. The smartphone in her hand held her entire work life, so crushing it in her grip would not be a good idea. As she pulled up to the front door, all she wanted was a good workout, a stiff drink, and a long night’s sleep. Maybe she’d skip the workout.
Chapter 2
They’d been here for almost two weeks. In that whole time, this was the first opportunity she’d had to get him alone. An aching need gnawed at her insides. She welcomed this release and craved his bite as well.
Sebastian fed greedily from her as the sex reached a fever pitch. Erin held on tight. Much to her own surprise, she kept up with him. Each thrust fill her with a euphoria she could not explain. As she begged him to go deeper, harder, she welcomed the approach of her own release. Everything, heightened by the drugs and the addictive chemicals of his bite, slammed her senses, and she screamed.
Not that Sebastian was an aggressive lover, but he was a young vampire whose powers continued to grow every day. Erin knew he held back; he thought he had to because he still thought she was just human. Without the supplements Coop gave to her in secret, she wouldn’t be nearly strong enough.
His assault on her neck eased as he climaxed and rolled from on top of her. Wrapped in the sleeping bag they found in the corner of an old caretaker’s cabin, Erin listened to Sebastian’s purr of satisfaction, then he blew out a hard exhale.
“You okay?” he panted at her.
She drew in a big breath, rolled over on her side. “Of course.”
Sweat rolled down her face and dropped on his broad shoulder only to evaporate on his hot skin. As the enzymes from his saliva and the drugs in her system mixed, Erin felt her body react to the combination. She welcomed the high that would stay with her through the remainder of the night.
They dressed quickly and left the cabin together. The others were under the impression they were on a run, or so the rest of the team wanted them to believe. Erin knew better. She was aware of everyone’s suspicions, but she didn’t care. Sebastian was a distraction—a little excitement to break the monotony of training for the next assignment.
As they began to run back to the main house, they didn’t say a word. Then Sebastian stopped and cursed under his breath.
“Maybe we should take a quick swim,” he said as he eyed the water a few feet away.
Erin looked at him, then the lake, then back at him with a frown. “Are you crazy? It’s freaking cold! What for?”
“Alex is gonna know we . . .” he replied as his left eyebrow went up.
“So what?” Erin laughed. “If we run back, the sweat will mask it anyway. She’s not a freaking werewolf, is she?”
They both began to run again.
“No, but close,” Sebastian huffed. “Shit.”
Erin pulled him to a stop. “What did you say?”
<
br /> The look on his face told Erin he’d made a big mistake. A slip of his tongue that was now ammunition for later.
“She’s . . .” Sebastian stumbled over the thoughts as they formed in his head. “Those pills—she’s still taking them and, well, they’ve changed her.”
“Are you fucking kidding? You have to be kidding,” Erin squealed. “How do you know that?”
He turned to walk away, but she stopped him. “She told us,” he answered. When Erin pulled him around to face her, he looked into her eyes. “She showed us stuff in Vegas.”
“What kind of stuff?”
When he took a deep breath, he could smell her excitement in the air. If he didn’t keep going, she would just go ask Alex herself. He knew Erin well.
“She can move objects with her mind. Her sight and hearing are better than most vampires. And she says that she heals way faster than before.”
Erin’s mouth moved into a weird grin as she shook her head at him. “Bullshit,” she laughed. “You’re lying.”
“I swear. I saw it—felt it.”
“Felt what?”
“The energy,” he almost whispered as if anyone could hear them. “When she moves stuff there’s this vibration around her. It’s pretty impressive.”
“All of this because she’s still taking those pills,” Erin frowned. “Why wouldn’t Dr. Carlisle tell us? Why wouldn’t she let him figure out why it worked with her and no one else?”
Sebastian sensed some anger from Erin. Her eyes seemed glassy, and there was an edge to her tone. Why would she be so upset by this? Was it that Alex had left her and Amy out again?
“I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t think it mattered anymore.”
Erin turned away. “It matters. Why should she be the only one?”
“The only one?”
“Never mind,” she muttered as she turned.
He grabbed her arm and spun her back around to face him.
“Don’t tell anyone about this. We promised her.”
Erin just grinned at him as she tried to pull free of his grip. When he tightened his hold, her face contorted from the pain. “Erin,” Sebastian demanded, “nobody, not even Amy. If Alex finds out I said something, she’ll most likely kill all of us, so keep your mouth shut.”
By Blood Sworn Page 2