by Emily Bex
“Cazzo, you smell incredible. Good enough to devour.” Walking to her, he held out his hand. “May I have a dance before dinner, mi amore? I would be honored.”
She took his hand and stepped into his arms as they danced to their favorite song, Into the Mystic.
His hands slid over her hips as she swayed slowly to the soothing ballad. He changed the music to a more up-tempo song, Justin Timberlake singing, Rock Your Body. He let one hand slide over her cheek, as he nuzzled into her crimson and whispered, “Ti amo, mi amore.” His other hand went from her hip to her ass, and pulled her to him, feeling her hardened nipples through the thin silk across his bare chest as he ground his hips against her.
She smiled up at him mischievously. “You want to rock my body, lover?” She pushed back against his hips. “I hope you can keep up tonight.” She nipped at his neck.
“Oh si, rocking—”
He stopped mid-sentence as he picked up their scent. They were close and there was more than one. Rogues! Instantly, he willed off the music and snuffed the candles and pulled her close against his chest and stopped moving.
“Mi amore, hush! Listen to me. There are rogues close to the house. I need to go outside, take them out. I am calling Luca to come home. Go to the bedroom, lock yourself in, and don’t fucking come out for anything. Go, now!”
Kissing the top of her head, he shoved her toward the stairs and his fangs punched through. His eyes lit up as he instantly teleported to the bunker.
Kate ran up the stairs and slammed the door behind her, locking it. She flipped on the light and looked around the empty room, feeling vulnerable in her robe. She quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a top and climbed onto their bed... Waiting.
Shade could feel them, they were too damn close, and he looked to the security monitors as he rolled out of the bunker. He saw nothing yet, but they were fucking there. “Luca, rogues! More than one, attacking the house. Get to bel, now!”
Teleporting outside, he felt them coming in, more than one, less than ten, and he knew he could take these bastards out. Raising his sword high in the air, he screamed and felt the rumble of the call, and unleashed the beast within. “Medici!”
Luca had been with Shannon for less than an hour when he heard Shade call to him. “Master, I’m on my way!”
He turned to Shannon and just said, "Gotta go," and teleported out, seeing the look of surprise on her face. There was no time to explain this now and she’d better get used to it. He teleported directly into their bedroom. He found Kate sitting on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chin and her eyes large as saucers.
Kate issued a small sigh of relief when Luca appeared. “Luca! What's going on? Is Shade safe? Is he okay?”
“Rogue vampires, from that coven in D.C., I imagine. Not sure how many, but they’re attacking the house.” They both looked toward the door as the sound of the clashing swords got louder. He watched as she backed against the headboard, making herself even smaller.
With a tremble in her voice, she asked him, "What about him?"
The rogues heard Shade’s call and they didn’t back down, five of them hit him all at once, and they were out for blood. They came to own him and take him out, but they messed with the wrong master. Two came at him with swords drawn and he was slashing his way through. He felt Luca and knew he was with bel and suddenly, he had his beast one-hundred percent focused on taking these fucking bastards straight to their grave.
As one rogue made a wrong move, his head rolled, but there was another that took his place and Shade had both hands swinging blades. Yes! This fucking feels like home now!
Kate could hear Shade fighting, the sound of swords. She recognized the sound from her practice with Luca. The sounds were getting louder because they were closer to the house. She and Luca could both hear the horses neighing and bucking in their stalls in a frenzy. Kate looked at Luca. “Do something! Help him! I'm fine here! Go help him, please!”
Luca shook his head. “My job is to protect you, to stay with you.”
She was staring him down, and he was watching her face getting red and saw her temper building and she started to come off the bed. He put his hand out and stopped her. “Okay! I'll go check the monitors, see what's going on. But you don’t leave this room. Got it?”
She nodded. “I got it. Now go help him!”
Luca closed the door behind him as he left her in the bedroom and took the steps three at a time as he ran to Shade's office to see the security cameras. There were five rogues, one already down. Shade had his hands full. These were not the untrained rogues he had told him about in D.C. but trained warriors. Still, Shade had it under control. Luca watched him as he held off the four, biding his time to strike down another one.
Cuerpo watched from a distance as the Medici quickly took out one of the warriors and had the other four in a standoff. The protector was back, just as they expected. Now it was time to make things interesting. Cuerpo sent in another fifteen rogues.
He hissed out, "Okay warrior... let's see how good you are at handling nineteen at once, while I fuck your tender mortal, and you feel my blade slice through her tender skin."
Shade was leaping over the heads of the rogues and moving quickly, he took another one down, but they keep him tied in one place. Not able to move freely, he was on defense, and it was taking all his concentration to avoid their blades. Fucking bastards had been trained. Only three more to go. I will fucking kill this Angel motherfucker when I get through with this damn lot!
As another rogue swiped at his arm, Shade quickly dropkicked him and stabbed another right through the heart. He turned to take out the final rogue when he smelled them rolling in, seething with bloodlust and realized his situation just got real fucking serious. He could feel bel's fear and his only hope was he could take these bastards out before they got to her.
“Luca! More coming. Blitz attack! They are trying to take the house. Stay with her. Don’t leave her. Don’t fucking leave her!”
He was swamped with more rogues than he could count. They had him trapped and pinned down. I will die right here if I have to, but you slime motherfuckers will never get to her. The image of Sophia’s dream flashed through his head and hit him dead in the heart. She had said the rogues were coming, she was alone... she was afraid but said she was brave... protecting her family. She was not speaking about herself, she was speaking about bel!
He started flinging shuriken’s one after the other and took out another rogue. He let the shuriken’s fly, it was his only way out of this standstill. “I can’t fucking move, Luca. They have me pinned down. Bastards!”
Luca was watching on the monitors as more rogues teleported in, and he counted fifteen. Fuck! He heard his master’s directions to stay with her and watched as they circled him until they had him surrounded. Luca knew if the rogues broke past Shade, he wouldn’t be able to hold them off. The only option was to leave the house and go help him fight them where they stood. If Shade fell, then Luca would surely fall, and then his bel rosso would be lost for sure. Luca checked the blade in his boot, and grabbed his own swords and teleported outside, landing next to him. Luca stood against Shade’s back so neither of them could be taken by surprise.
Shade felt Luca swoop in and slide against his back and he realized she was alone. He couldn’t understand why in the fucking hell he would leave her, but between the two of them, none of these bastards were going to get near her. Shade and Luca connected their thoughts and their beasts locked souls and took over, and nothing could stop them. They were indestructible. They raised their swords, touched tips and fire blazed from them as they went to work, screaming, “Medici per sempre!”
Kate had climbed back up on the bed to wait for Luca to return with information on Shade, but now there was more noise, more clanging of swords. Not just louder but... more. Then she heard them, as they yelled in unison, ‘Medici per sempre.’ Luca was with him. She was relieved and frightened at the same time. Relieved that Luca had joined hi
m, but frightened to know that whatever was going on, Luca felt he needed to go. How many? How many rogues? It suddenly struck her she was alone in the house. After months of being shadowed by Shade or Luca and sometimes yearning for freedom, she now felt the vulnerability of being alone in their world. Her heart was pounding, and she slid to the floor and took the crossbow from under the bed, pulled the quiver out and climbed back up on the bed, just in case. “Fight hard, my savage lover!”
The blades blazed and they were in their element, fighting back to back, taking the rogues out slowly but diligently. There was a method to their fighting, and Luca didn’t disappoint. Shade never doubted his skills, but why the hell was she alone? He tried to concentrate on the hell that he was in the middle of and his beast was going wild. He wanted to get to bel and her voice filled his head and he knew she was okay, but her heart was pounding. She felt him deep and knew he was pushed hard at this moment. He kept his wits about him as Luca sliced and diced, and Shade damn near fucking fell as a head rolled under his feet. “I am coming for you, mi amore. I will not let anything happen. Ti amo!”
As the thought left his head, he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. Feeling the sting he knew one of those fucking Aries bastards had struck him with their blade and he rose up against the rogue and lopped off one arm and then the other, as more swords came swinging at him. To get to her, they will fucking have to kill my ass first!
Kate was crouched on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest when she heard Shade speak to her. He’ll come for me. She was focused on listening to the sounds of the swords, the battle cries from the rogues. She could feel Shade’s energy as the adrenaline flowed through him. Sitting there, she thought she heard a scratching sound on the wall outside the window, faint, indistinct. The sound was almost drowned out by the louder sounds of the war raging in front of the house.
Nothing, it’s nothing, she told herself. She focused again on listening for Shade, the sound his sword made. She could pick it out distinctly. And then she heard it again, that scratching, almost clawing sound. It sounded familiar to her and she searched her mind. What is it? She turned her attention to that sound, blocking out everything else. Concentrate. Focus. There it was again. Climbing, it was the sound of climbing. It was the sound she made when scaling the mountain cliff, and now she heard that same sound outside her window. Hand over hand, scratching for a spot to grip, feet seeking a toe hold in the stone. Her heart pounded even harder and her breath quickened, her first instinct was to run. Where? Outside? Into the fray? Think Kate, think!
Luca's words rang in her ears... slow your heart rate, calm your breath. Easy to do when you are shooting at a tree! She dropped to the floor, so she was kneeling by the bed and picked up the bow, the bed between her and the window. She pulled an arrow from the quiver and loaded it, and taking aim at the window, flipping on the laser scope. She rested her elbows on the bed to steady her arms. She fought to slow her heart, she fought to calm her breath... and she listened.
The scratching was louder, climbing the two stories to the balcony window which was open to the warm spring night. “Shade, please!” She waited in silence, her mouth dry as sand. She could feel evil as it entered the room before him, as thick as a physical presence. “Lover, please!” She watched in horror as he rose over the balcony wall. Was he vampire, or something else? He looked like a living, breathing skeleton, and then he lifted his head and looked into the room. His eyes were glowing red, and he hissed, exposing his fangs. Vampire.
His appearance made her weak with fear and she wanted to slither under the bed, but she knew she couldn’t hide from him. She knew she couldn’t outrun him. She knew she only had one option, and that was to stay and fight, and to hopefully, take him by surprise. To do what Luca had trained her to do. The thing dropped over the balcony and started to climb through the window. She wanted to pull the trigger on the crossbow, but her training kicked in. Wait, wait, not yet. Her throat was closing shut with fear, but she knew she would only have one shot before he reacted. As his feet hit the floor, he stood his full height and locked eyes with her. She centered the laser on his heart. She held her breath, listened to her heartbeat, and fired the arrow, seeing the look of surprise on his face as the arrow pierced his chest, just before his body collapsed to the floor.
Shade and Luca were methodically taking them out, but too fucking slowly. His leg was getting weaker, and then like a steel beam slamming into him a wave of her fear hit him. Something is after her! He felt her call, he felt her fear and knew she was terrified out of her mind and he couldn’t get out. I can’t lose her. No, Kate, no!
At that moment Shade realized this attack was a diversion, so whoever or whatever could get to her. Something in him snapped and his beast went somewhere he’d never gone before. The beast emerged raw, in pain and fear. He ripped with his teeth and clawed through the bodies of anything in his way. The beast used the swords as he slashed, grinding rogue vampire flesh into ground-up meat. The blood flowed like a river under his feet and everything he saw was blood red. Shade worked his way free of the carnage and cared not what was behind him. Luca would have his back. “Kate, Kate, Kate!”
He saw another rogue in front of him and Shade grabbed his sword with his bare hands and screamed into the night, as he shoved his hand straight through the rogue’s chest and ripped his heart from his body, crushing the still pumping organ in his hand, as the rogue dropped at his feet. “Kate, mi amore!”
She didn’t answer him, and he suddenly felt nothing from her... nothing. She wasn’t dead, he would know without doubt, but something had happened, and she wasn’t responding to him. He ran like the fires of hell toward the house and stumbled, falling to his knees, screaming in agony and fear. “Kate! Mi amore!”
Luca felt Shade’s fear spike and his scream for Kate. Something had happened to Kate. Luca had failed him. Luca had failed her. He watched as Shade’s beast went mad with rage and ripped through the remaining warriors in his path, with his bare hands, grabbing their swords and ripping limbs from their bodies as the blood flowed. When Shade raced to the house, Luca looked around the grounds, double-checking to see if there were any rogue warriors left before following him into the house. His heart was in his throat at what they would find.
Shade teleported inside the house and landed in their bedroom. His eyes scanned the room. “Bel? Mi amore?”
His heart was pounding, and he was ready to attack anything that had her or wanted her. He saw a body lying limp on the floor under the window, a pool of blood spreading across the floor. He crouched and crawled in the direction of the body and saw the arrow straight through the heart. An arrow? He could smell her, but where the hell was she?
He looked more closely at the body and recognized Cuerpo. He was one deadly fucker, and his heart again gripped in fear for bel. Angel is Cuerpo? Cazzo!
From his position, he scanned the room until he saw the shadow of a body crouching on the other side of the bed. Kate! “Mi amore, please. It’s me.”
He closed the distance between them in one jump. Kate crouched on the floor clutching a crossbow in her arms, dead still, her eyes wide open. She has a damn bow? She killed Cuerpo? What the fucking hell is going on?
She didn’t move when he laid his hand on her shoulder. He spoke more softly, “Mi amore, it’s Shade, my sweet bel.”
She remained unresponsive and he carefully removed the crossbow from her white-knuckled grip. He lifted her in his arms and sat on the edge of the bed holding her like a small child. She didn’t respond, and he could feel Luca as he entered the room behind him.
Luca saw Cuerpo lying on the floor in a heap, a kill shot to the heart. He recognized the arrow. Fucking Cuerpo! He was shunned by almost every coven. His mind was racing with the image of Cuerpo climbing through that window, and Kate facing him alone, and he knew that was the fear Shade felt. That was what sent his beast into a rage. She was in shock, but that would pass. “That will pass, little warrior. But steel yourself, we will have
another battle now.”
There was no hiding anymore, the crossbow and the kill shot. He would figure it all out in minutes, if he hadn't already. Luca stood ready to take all his anger for leaving her, and for training her. But right now, he could only sigh in relief, Kate was safe.
Shade sat with his mate in his arms, alive. He had much to do, but right now, she was all he cared about. He felt Luca’s presence and knew he had trained her. They didn’t just run, he had trained her as a damn warrior, preparing her for the change. All this time, they hid this from him, right under his nose, under his own roof. He couldn’t think of anything except the thoughts of the fear she had felt. She defended herself while he was trying to get to her. It should never have happened, but he was torn. He should kill Luca where he stood for what he’d done behind his back, for leaving her alone as her protector, and for defying a direct order. But without what he’d taught her, she would now be dead in his arms.
His voice was soft and emotionless, as he spoke in a monotone. He didn’t look at him but looked straight ahead as bel lay in his arms. “Take Cuerpo’s body to the bunker. I want it in the dark. Remove the head, I need it. Call them home. I need all the warriors home. No one leaves this house. No one comes into this room until I emerge. Do as you are told, warrior. You left her alone.”
“Yes, master.”
Luca picked up the limp body of Cuerpo and started to carry him from the room. As he stood in the door, he turned back toward Shade. “If I have brought shame on you, master, if I have failed you, I’ll stand down from my post.”
“Get out, warrior.”
Shade heard him leave and the house was deadly still. His tears finally fell, and he could not stop them. Laying his head on top of hers, he rocked her in his arms like a baby. “Kate, I’m here. I need you right now. I need you to show me you hear me. I am right here, mi amore.” He nuzzled deep into her neck, whispering, “Feel me, mi amore, smell me, I am right here with you. I have you, bel. I have you.”