Vengeance in Blood (Book 3): Reborn

by Watson, Thomas A.

  ‘I was just going to say, we could buy them somewhere else cheaper.’

  ‘I’m just warning you.’

  Tiffany pulled a souvenir backpack with a large picture of the white knight off her shoulder and shoved the stuff inside. “Don’t, Kenneth,” Besseta said, reaching up and putting her hand over his mouth.

  “What?” Tiffany looked up as she slung her new stuffed backpack on her shoulder.

  “He thinks we need to go and see Maliki, but I wanted to make sure you’re ready,” Besseta blurted out.

  Giving a groan, “We can now,” Tiffany said. Kenneth grabbed each one’s hand and led them down the sidewalk. Tiffany looked at a screen showing a bunch of muscle-bound men dancing around. “Oh, is that an opera?”

  “Male strippers,” Kenneth answered and stopped as Tiffany almost yanked his arm off when she stopped, looking at the screen.

  “You mean, they strip for money? Men?” Tiffany asked, clearly confused.

  “Yes,” Kenneth said, pulling her along.

  “I would like to see this.”

  “We will come back, and I’ll let you and Besseta go and see naked men,” Kenneth told her.

  Besseta looked up at him. “Why in the hell would I want to see them?”

  “I can’t go. They don’t let men in,” Kenneth said.

  “You are a man and they won’t let you look at other naked men?” Tiffany asked, now very confused.

  “Thankfully,” Kenneth sighed, stopping at a crosswalk.

  “I-,” Tiffany started.

  “Tiffany,” Kenneth interrupted her as the light changed to let them cross the street to the MGM. “We are about to meet Maliki. I’m sure the cubus are around. Please get your head in the game. I already smell a vampire.”

  “Well, duh,” Tiffany said. “There’s one following us, and another across the street watching us.”

  “I haven’t spotted them,” Kenneth said, looking around casually.

  “Besseta and I met them in Mississippi. I recognized them.”

  “And you just now let me know this?” Kenneth said, heading to the front door of the MGM.

  “You said you wanted to meet Maliki. Well, his guards have seen us, and one used a cellphone, so I’m certain he called Maliki. You saw them in my memory,” Tiffany said, stopping at a large TV advertising a stage show. “Oh, can we see the big cats? It looks very intriguing.”

  Kenneth yanked her away from the screen. “Besseta, you could help.”

  “Nope, she’s having fun,” Besseta smiled.

  “I swear, we will bring her back,” Kenneth said, looking down at her.

  “Tiffany,” Besseta said, reaching over and tapping her arm. “We’ll buy a house here, so we can see everything.”

  “Great, let’s see Maliki and look at some houses,” she beamed.

  “Not what I had in mind,” Kenneth mumbled, walking over to a house phone and telling the operator the room number.

  “Hello?” a voice answered.

  “Hello, put Maliki on the phone. Tell him it’s Kenneth. I’m sure his guards downstairs have told him,” Kenneth said and heard the phone being handed over.

  “Kenneth, I’m curious as to how you found me,” Maliki said.

  “We’re coming up, just didn’t want you to freak out.”

  “‘Freak out’?” Maliki asked. “Is that a threat?”

  Groaning, “Scare you, Maliki. That’s what ‘freak out’ means. You know, you really need to stay up on the current sayings,” Kenneth said.

  “Oh, I apologize,” Maliki said. “I shall see you soon then.”

  Kenneth hung up and walked toward the elevators. “Baby, you can’t be mad at him for taking that the wrong way. How many times have you had to explain the stuff people say in movies for us?” Besseta asked.

  “Okay, you’re right,” Kenneth said, punching the button for the top floor. Taking her backpack off, Tiffany pulled out the t-shirts she’d bought and took her shirt off and put one on. “Tiffany, what are you doing?” Kenneth asked.

  “What’s it look like, Kenneth?” she asked, putting her shirt in the backpack. “We are the only ones in here.”

  “There is a video camera up in the corner that is being watched and recorded,” Kenneth told her.

  Shrugging her shoulders, “Like I care,” Tiffany smiled. “Like my shirt?”

  Looking down at the white knight on her shirt, Kenneth smiled. “Yes, I do.”

  The elevator dinged, and they stepped off and Kenneth let go of their hands. “Bereno isn’t in there. I don’t know why you thought he would be,” Besseta said.

  “It would’ve been an added bonus,” Kenneth replied dejected, stopping at a set of double doors. They opened up and a young woman smiled at them.

  “Maliki is expecting you,” she said, waving them in.

  “Thank you, Elli,” Kenneth nodded, walking past her and making the vampire gasp.

  “I’ve never met you,” Elli snapped, closing the door.

  “He’s showing off,” Besseta mumbled as Kenneth walked over to a figure looking out a picture window.

  Tiffany looked around the massive suite. “Why didn’t we get one of these suites, instead of that two-room closet?”

  “Kenneth almost passed out when he saw how much the one we’d got cost, even with the discount he’d found,” Besseta told her, watching Kenneth stride over to Maliki. “You want us in a room like this, you get it. Because when he worries about money, momma’s lovin’ isn’t as good.”

  “Maliki, I take it,” Kenneth said, stopping a few steps from Maliki.

  Maliki turned and smiled. “Kenneth, I have really wanted to meet the man behind these fabulous ideas for this little war. I’m so relieved you survived the change.”

  With a relaxed expression, Kenneth just stared at Maliki and a grin spread across his face. “Yes, Maliki, I’m much more powerful than you are,” Kenneth said as he and Maliki floated up and back into the room, setting down in front of a massive couch.

  Visibly shaken at the display, Maliki nodded. “Many have thought so.”

  ‘I know so’ Kenneth said in his mind and Maliki jumped back in shock. ‘Yes, I can read your mind, as well as talk in it’ Kenneth answered the question in Maliki’s mind.

  “This isn’t possible! I don’t feel you in my mind,” Maliki said, staggering back as Elli charged at Kenneth in a blur. Before Besseta or Tiffany moved, Kenneth raised his hand and opened his palm, and Elli froze in place.

  “Yeah, he’s showing off,” Besseta smiled and bounced over to Kenneth. “Like my husband, Maliki?”

  “Besseta,” Maliki gasped, staring at Kenneth.

  “Yeah, not only is he totally a bad ass, but also a total hunk,” Besseta said, walking up behind Kenneth and grabbing his butt.

  “Baby, if we break this room like we did ours,” Kenneth said, looking down at her, “it will really set us back on money.”

  All joy dropped off her face as Besseta threw up her hands. “You and money,” she groaned through clenched teeth.

  “Maliki, I’m going to let Elli go, I know she would appreciate it, if you tell her to be good,” Kenneth said, lowering his hand and releasing Elli. Elli looked around to see where the invisible hand that’d been holding her went.

  “Thank you, Elli. That will be all. Please go downstairs and help the others keep a watch,” Maliki instructed, then turned to Tiffany and took a breath, looking at her shirt as Elli left the suite.

  Pointing his finger menacingly, “Maliki, you say one word about that show, I’ll throw you out that window and see if you bounce,” Kenneth said.

  “I-,”

  “Maliki, I know what you were going to say. Yes, she liked it, but-,” Kenneth stopped.

  “You didn’t like it?” Maliki asked, looking at Tiffany as she walked over to the large window, looking out.

  “Maliki, she led a group of ten-year-olds in a chant, ‘The black knight is a pussy’.”

  Maliki laughed. “Yes, that s
ounds like her.”

  Dropping down on the couch, “So, you lost another four guards yesterday,” Kenneth stated.

  Taken back, Maliki nodded, sitting down. “You should be in the League.”

  “Oh, I intend on creating an opening, but have no intentions of filling it.”

  Looking over at Tiffany, Maliki watched Besseta walk over and stand by Tiffany, looking out the window over the city. “Not to say I blame you, but I hope you realize that all the Leagues would put a price on your head.”

  “Then many more vampires will die when this little war is over.”

  Maliki laughed. “I haven’t seen that type of confidence in eons.”

  “You need to start taking a direct hand in this war,” Kenneth told him. ‘Baby, quit being an ass. You are a young vampire. I’m not saying kiss his ass, but be polite,’ Besseta told Kenneth in his mind.

  “I thought I was,” Maliki said with a hard face.

  “No offense, let me explain,” Kenneth said, sitting up. “Gather twenty or thirty of your guards and start hunting werewolves down. Not telling them where to go, but leading them. You don’t have to fight, but just be there.”

  “Why?”

  “One, it’s leading by example,” Kenneth said. “Two, when word gets out that you’re leading, it will scare the shit out of the cubus. That is what they fear, a leader.”

  Maliki sat and thought, and his eyes started getting wide. “Yes, that is what they fear.”

  Grinning, “You see it now,” Kenneth said.

  “That’s why they quit hunting the League solely. We were hunting the head of the Strong Hands. They quit killing the League heads off, so no one person was in control.”

  “See? I didn’t even have to tell you,” Kenneth said, holding out his hand and making a bottle of brandy fly across the room.

  “May I ask what you will be doing in this?”

  Taking the top off, Kenneth took a sniff and put the top back on the bottle. “Oh, I’m going after the cubus,” he said, making the bottle fly back and a bottle of water fly to his hand.

  “Talk about going for gold,” Maliki mumbled.

  “Did you get my last message?”

  “Yes, I was about to ask. It didn’t translate using our code,” Maliki said as Kenneth drained the water bottle.

  Tossing the bottle across the room, Kenneth ‘helped’ it hit the trashcan. “Start from the back of the Bible. That message will give you a thousand names of the Strong Hands. When you start going after the wolves, take them out a few at a time.”

  “How did you get that?”

  “I would rather not say,” Kenneth said, looking off.

  “Kenneth, if I’m going to put my life on the line ‘in the trenches’, I would like to know,” Maliki said as Kenneth’s eyes glassed over.

  “If I tell you, a friend’s family would die and that, I cannot do,” Kenneth mumbled, getting off the couch and turning his head like he was trying to hear something.

  “I understand,” Maliki said still staring at Kenneth, getting worried by his actions. A gust of wind filled the suite and Besseta was beside Kenneth.

  “Calm down, baby,” she said, holding him and quieting the roar in his mind.

  The roaring in his mind stopped, but Kenneth was still looking around. “Something isn’t right,” he said, moving Besseta behind him. “I felt it outside, but thought it was just his guards.”

  “Kenneth, I have seven guards here. We are safe,” Maliki said.

  Kenneth raised his hand to Tiffany and she gave out a cry as her body was yanked away from the window to Kenneth’s hand. Grabbing her, Kenneth shoved her behind him. “Maliki, can you survive a jump from this height?”

  “I didn’t say anything about her shirt!”

  “No, at least one of your guards have been taken by a cubus,” Kenneth said, holding out his arms and keeping everyone behind him.

  “Is that what the fuck you’re hearing?” Besseta yelled.

  “Baby, hush,” Kenneth said, looking at the door. “Don’t anyone get in front of me, they’re here. Maliki, you didn’t answer my question.”

  “Yes, I would survive, but I couldn’t get away,” Maliki said, pulling out a cellphone.

  “I’ll get him down,” Tiffany said, moving beside Maliki.

  “Wish we would’ve got the money from the room,” Kenneth huffed.

  “Hello? What the hell do you think is in this backpack that I’ve been lugging around,” Besseta snapped as she hit the backpack on her back.

  “Damn, you’re good,” Kenneth said, glancing over his shoulder.

  “Are we leaving?” Besseta asked, looking at the window.

  “Not yet. I want to know how in the hell they found Maliki,” Kenneth said, glaring at the door.

  Maliki hung up his cellphone. “Maurice said he can’t find the other guards. I told him to meet me at the safe house.”

  “You had to call Maurice?” Tiffany asked. “I thought he was a telepath.”

  “He is, I was calling the other guards,” Maliki replied as Kenneth stepped away from them.

  “Besseta, Tiffany, get ready to shield,” he said, and they could hear footsteps in the hall. The door opened, and Elli stepped in.

  “Elli, why didn’t you answer your phone?” Maliki asked.

  “Battery’s dead,” she said, holding it up.

  “Ew, that was good,” Kenneth said, holding out his hand and freezing Elli. “Elli, for some reason, I feel another mind in yours.”

  “WHORE!” Besseta screeched and was suddenly over Elli, pounding her into the floor. “I fucking told you, he was mine!”

  Shocked by Besseta’s outburst, Kenneth dropped his hand and watched the pulverization of Elli on the floor. Besseta’s fist looked like a jackhammer as it pounded Elli’s face. “She really doesn’t like Elizabeth,” Kenneth said, feeling sorry for Elli and just a little bit sorry for Elizabeth.

  “There is a succubus in the building?” Tiffany gasped, grabbing Maliki’s hand.

  “On this floor,” Kenneth said and Besseta grabbed Elli’s legs, bending the knees backwards. A scream outside the door shook the room. “Make that, out in the hall.”

  Kenneth ran over as Besseta continued the beat down and grabbed Elli’s hand. Maliki leaned over to Tiffany. “I know I should be scared now, but I have to say, I feel sorry for this Elizabeth.”

  “She should’ve learned from the last beating Besseta put on her,” Tiffany replied, shrugging her shoulders.

  “Where did little Besseta learn such language? I thought she was bad in Mississippi,” Maliki asked as Besseta screamed insults while she pounded Elli’s chest.

  “She’s been studying for this,” Tiffany said as Kenneth let go of Elli and fell back on the floor. Tiffany darted over, picking him up. “Kenneth, are you okay?”

  Panting hard, Kenneth turned to her with abstract horror on his face. “Besseta, we have to go!” Kenneth screamed, holding his hand up with his palm toward the window. The window exploded out and Besseta looked up at Kenneth with fear on her face.

  “No!” she screamed, jumping up.

  “Meet me there,” Kenneth said, and a detonation of air knocked all of them down. They all sat up and Kenneth was gone.

  Besseta grabbed Tiffany’s hand. “We are leaving!”

  As Besseta yanked her to the window, Tiffany grabbed Maliki. Running toward the window, Besseta jumped with everything she had. Holding Maliki with one hand and Besseta pulling her other, Tiffany gritted her teeth and tensed her body to keep her arms attached as Maliki screamed, seeing they were going to clear the tall hotel across the street.

  Going over the top and falling toward the street, Maliki closed his eyes and felt his body jerk, slowing down. “You better run fast because I’m not carrying you,” Tiffany told him as Besseta let her go.

  He opened his eyes to see the street getting closer, but at a much slower rate. When Besseta landed, a shock sounded as she took off down the road. Tiffany and Maliki land
ed, taking off after her.

  Maliki flew past Tiffany and then slowed, grabbing her and picking her up before leaning forward, blurring after Besseta. “You never could run fast,” he smiled, dodging cars.

  “Shut up, can you catch Besseta?”

  “Yes,” he said and pushed with everything he had.

  The lights of Vegas disappeared rapidly as Maliki closed in on Besseta. “Besseta!” Tiffany shouted when she saw her. “Stop or I will stop you!”

  Besseta locked her legs, sending up a dust cloud. “I have to go!”

  Maliki stopped beside Besseta, putting Tiffany down. “Besseta, what is it?” Tiffany cried out.

  “They’re going to kill Mickey and his family!”

  Chapter Twelve

  Tiffany looked at Besseta, confused. “Kenneth’s friend, Mickey?”

  “Yes, and Maria and the kids. Elizabeth sent two vampires and a werewolf to kill them,” Besseta said, then looked at Maliki. “What are you doing here?”

  “He was carrying me to catch up to you because you left my ass!” Tiffany shouted.

  “Maliki, we’ll be in touch, but we have to go,” Besseta said, grabbing Tiffany’s arm.

  “I truly hope Kenneth’s friend is okay,” Maliki said sincerely.

  Besseta nodded and started to turn, but stopped. “The Strong Hands have Kyrsta. That’s how they found you.”

  “I’m in your debt. Without you, Tiffany, and Kenneth there, tonight I would’ve been caught.”

  “Do what Kenneth said and we’ll be in touch,” Besseta said, turning to Tiffany, “You’d better hold on tight.”

  “Kenneth won’t be there long before us,” Tiffany said, floating up.

  “Tiffany, Kenneth’s already there,” Besseta said as a thunderclap sounded across the desert.

  With a genuine smile but concern for them, Maliki shook his head. “Most remarkable group.” He turned, and another thunderclap sounded across the desert.

  ***

  Three figures stood on a hilltop, looking down into a canyon that held a large subdivision. Two looked like humans while the third was massive and tall. “I can’t believe we are singling out humans,” one mumbled.

  “Careful or they will take your mind,” the other warned as the massive werewolf grunted. “Let us be done with this.”