Vengeance in Blood (Book 3): Reborn

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Looking up, Kenneth saw a store employee unloading a cart into the Range Rover. He got out and helped as Besseta tossed her backpack in the passenger seat. When Kenneth closed the back door, she walked up beside him. “Any luck?”

  “Yeah, and none good,” Kenneth sighed, looking at the sun getting close to the horizon. “Edwardo and two members of his gang were picked up by feds night before last at a party.”

  “Where are they being held?”

  “That’s just it. They aren’t in any jail in California or Nevada.”

  Besseta could hear the roaring building in Kenneth’s mind and reached over, touching his arm. The roaring died down instantly. “Baby, relax,” she said in a soft voice.

  “I’m trying,” Kenneth said and she wrapped her arms around him.

  Hearing his thoughts, Besseta jerked her head up, looking at him. “You know where they are holding him?” Not answering, Kenneth just looked at the sun nearing the horizon. “You’re blocking me, stop it!”

  “Yeah,” Kenneth mumbled, “A warehouse at the Port of Los Angeles. Harry said they had a place there where the Strong Hands held people off the grid to get information. That werewolf I killed last night, wanted to go there to escape.”

  Letting him go, Besseta moved to her Range Rover. “Get in, and let’s get these cars parked.”

  Climbing in, Besseta started the Range Rover and Kenneth jumped out of the way as she backed up, squealing tires. Running over, he jumped into the Lamborghini and pulled the door down as he started the car. Besseta was already on the road when he backed out, but Kenneth soon blew past her.

  When they pulled up beside the Bentley, half the sun was below the horizon. Kenneth climbed out as Besseta walked over and grabbed his hand and led him into the hotel. She got a room and then led him over to a shop that sold clothes, and bought each of them Lycra bicycle pants, shirts, and tennis shoes.

  “Kind of low end, compared to what we spent today,” Kenneth laughed, grabbing the bag.

  “I’m not ruining my new clothes. Besides, when I hunt, I like tight clothes that I can throw away,” she said, leading him to their room. When she closed the door, she looked at him with a grin. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but change in the bathroom.”

  Seeing her grinning and looking at his body, Kenneth chuckled. “Wait until you see what I bought for you.”

  “Mama has what she needs,” Besseta grinned as he went to the bathroom.

  When Kenneth stepped out he sucked in a breath, seeing Besseta in the skin-tight black fabric. “Damn, you need to wear like a suit of armor,” he mumbled as she looked up at him seeing the same on him.

  Never seeing her move, Kenneth felt something hit him, knocking him to the floor and Besseta locked her mouth over his. “Babe, we have to go,” he said, pushing her back and almost let her go as he dropped his eyes to her body.

  “Yeah, we do because if I jump you now, you’re passing out,” Besseta replied, floating up and putting her feet down.

  “Sorry, men have a limit.” Getting up, Kenneth grinned. “I don’t pass out, you wear me out.”

  Besseta jumped up, giving him a peck on the cheek and then blurred to the door. “Don’t even think about leaving me,” she said, opening the door.

  “Told you already, you’re stuck with me now,” Kenneth answered, then blurred over to her.

  “No, I mean, on the way. I can’t keep up with you, if you run all out. I still don’t know how you ran from Las Vegas to LA in ten minutes.”

  Shrugging, “All I know is I wanted to be at Mickey’s and the world blurred. The next thing I knew, I was coming up on the three stooges,” he said.

  “Well, you run with me,” Besseta warned, stepping out to see the sun was below the horizon. As the last rays left, they both felt the strength that the sun had taken from them flood back into their bodies.

  “I’ll follow you. I think I would like that scenery,” Kenneth grinned.

  Grinning, Besseta watched him close the door. “Let’s get this over with, so I can make you pass out,” she said, then disappeared.

  Kenneth saw a black streak dart down the highway. “Momma be sexy,” he said as a gust of wind blew, and Kenneth was gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Catching a scent she recognized, Besseta skidded to a halt a mile away from the port on a bridge. Feeling a gust of wind and hearing Kenneth skid to a stop beside her, she stared ahead at the lights. “That’s quite a few werewolves,” she droned.

  Sniffing the air, Kenneth shook his head. “At least a dozen, and I can smell double that in vampires,” he said and apprehension gripped his chest.

  “Babe, don’t worry about me. I’ve been fighting for hundreds of years, and I’m still here,” Besseta reminded him, and then reached over and grabbed his hand. She listened to the thoughts in his mind, fearing for her. “Hey, remember? I’m tough, Mister ‘I pass out’.”

  Turning to her, Kenneth had a tormented expression. “If you got hurt, I’m scared of what I would become.”

  “Kenneth, if something happened to you, I’d lose my mind,” Besseta said, wrapping her arms around him. Feeling his body and hearing the thoughts in his mind relax, Besseta looked up. “You smell Edwardo.”

  “Yeah, he’s dead.”

  Closing her eyes, Besseta felt herself drift into Kenneth’s mind. She caught the scent of Edwardo, covered in blood and death. “Well, let’s go and complete the charade,” she said, letting him go. “If we go and kill a bunch of them, they will think Mickey and his family are dead. I don’t think we should risk actually getting into the warehouse.”

  “Elizabeth is there,” Kenneth said and lunged to catch Besseta as she tried to take off. “You can’t let her touch you!”

  “Only my fist when I pound that bitch’s face!”

  “Baby, stop it!” Kenneth snapped in a harsh tone, shocking Besseta. She stopped struggling and looked up at him in shock. “If you don’t keep your wits, we will both die when we attack. Remember, act more powerful and with indifference; that’s what they fear. We are outnumbered and if they don’t buy the act, we are screwed.”

  Taking a deep breath, Besseta blew it out. “I’m calm now. Let me go, so I can pull the bitch’s spine out,” she growled.

  Kenneth held her tight and jumped off the bridge, landing in a cement river bottom. He saw several homeless under the embankment. “We’re going to feed, then take off.”

  “They’re just homeless,” Besseta said, following his gaze.

  “Bet you money, more than one is guilty,” Kenneth said, letting her go. In a blur, Kenneth was standing among the group. The four men and two women looked up at the man in black who’d just appeared. Kenneth could hear their thoughts, but not read them as he pushed his mind out, locking all of them up.

  Besseta appeared beside him, listening to the thoughts. “I thought you couldn’t read humans minds without touching them?”

  “I can’t really. I only hear their thoughts until I touch them but I can put stuff in without touching. To be honest, vampires and werewolves are easier,” Kenneth said, bending down and touching one of the men. The man jerked and Besseta followed the man’s life in Kenneth’s mind. “Only a thief,” Kenneth said, moving to the next one.

  Besseta jumped as she watched the man kill a child in Kenneth’s mind. “Here’s yours,” Kenneth said, moving to the next one.

  When they stood up, only one man and woman were left alive and Besseta wiped her mouth with her forearm. “Vengeance was here tonight. If you kill the innocent, we will come for you,” she warned, looking at the two still locked up by Kenneth’s mind.

  “You ready?” Kenneth asked, kicking one of the bodies away.

  “Yes, how do you want to do this?”

  “I was thinking of just running up to the warehouse and killing any we find on the way. Take a look around like we are searching, then back out. I think if we bust into the warehouse, we won’t come out.”

  Besseta batted her eyes at him.
“You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”

  “Can I lead?”

  “Only if you let me keep up.”

  “Deal,” Kenneth said and vanished with Besseta, as the lock on the two let go and screams erupted under the bridge.

  Two figures stood at a lone gate off in the shadows of a large warehouse, staring out over the vast paved area around it. One suddenly yelped and jerked, making the other turn. He jumped back, looking at the headless figure beside him, when he suddenly felt pain shoot through the small of his back and all thought left.

  Besseta stopped beside Kenneth, holding up the second vampire’s spine with the head attached. “This hurts more,” she said, dropping the spine.

  Kenneth held up the first vampire’s head. “He doesn’t seem to like this.”

  Concentrating on listening for thoughts as well as sound, Besseta smiled as Kenneth spun around, holding up his hand. From across the vast paved area out of the darkness, a large figure floated toward them, frozen in a run. When the floating werewolf stopped in front of them, Besseta jumped up on the hovering figure and wrapped her legs around its massive neck. “Don’t worry, I know your pack can feel this,” she whispered and she tore off the top of the skull, sinking her teeth into the gray matter.

  “That’s my girl,” Kenneth grinned, lowering his hand and darting away. He appeared again, holding another werewolf off the ground, with its legs dragging on the ground, and his teeth sunk into its neck. “They are trying to lure us inside,” he mumbled.

  When the werewolf she was sitting on fell to the ground, released by Kenneth’s mind, Besseta jumped off, turning to Kenneth. “Yours is bigger,” she pouted.

  Kenneth looked behind her to see another one coming. Before he could move, Besseta spun around, holding out her palms as the werewolf leapt into the air and froze. “I like it when they deliver themselves,” she grinned and jumped up on the back of the floating werewolf, sinking her teeth in the back of its neck.

  As he dropped the one he’d been feeding on, Kenneth grabbed its lower jaw and pulled it off. “That will take some time to heal,” he said, spinning around and seeing two more coming. He vanished and the two running at him faltered in their run, wondering where he went.

  They both stopped and looked around, and saw Besseta feeding on one of their pack as it hovered off the ground. Crouching down, they prepared to lunge when one’s chest suddenly blew open.

  Hearing the exploding flesh and smelling the blood of his packmate, the other looked over to see Kenneth holding a massive heart in his hand, eating it. The werewolf looked at its packmate to see the chest ripped open as the body crashed to the ground. “It’s an acquired taste,” Kenneth shrugged with a bloody face and the werewolf growled, but suddenly stopped as its body froze.

  Glancing over his shoulder, Kenneth dropped the heart, letting it hit the ground with a squish. “Tiffany, I swear, if you brought the babies out here, I’ll be the one giving the spanking,” Kenneth declared, as Tiffany came to a stop beside the frozen werewolf.

  “Please, the babies are getting a bath and their nails done at a pet salon. I knew this wouldn’t take long. We are either going to kill a few and leave, or get killed,” she said, moving over to the werewolf and climbing up its back. She reared her fist back and drove it in at the base of the spine. “Yes, werewolf heart is an acquired taste,” she noted, jumping off the werewolf and holding a section of its spine in her hand as the body crashed behind her.

  “You feed on some already?” Kenneth asked, seeing her glowing eyes.

  “Yes, two were coming this way and I wanted them to do tricks. But they wouldn’t listen, so I put them down. I may not be a tactician, but I swear, they are trying to lure us inside that big building,” she said, grabbing the werewolf she’d just dropped by one ear. Lifting it up, she sank her teeth in.

  “Yeah, we will go inside shortly,” Kenneth told her. ‘Not really, it’s a trap. We kill some and leave,’ Kenneth told her in her mind. Feeling movement, Kenneth spun around raising his hands and catching a figure flying at him. The air filled with the crackle of electricity as Kenneth and the figure hit the ground, sliding across the asphalt. Kenneth jumped up to see a female vampire jerking like she was having a seizure. “I have a wife,” Kenneth snapped, walking over and grabbing her by the hair, picking her up.

  “You’re going to neck with another woman?” Besseta gasped, walking up with a grin.

  The female vampire jerked as Besseta stopped beside Kenneth. “Whoa, she can heal super-fast,” he said as a grin split his face, exposing two very large fangs.

  “Let’s see,” Besseta said, lunging and latching on the right side of the vampire and Kenneth sunk his teeth in the left side.

  Kenneth could feel the skin under his mouth, trying to stem the flow of blood instantly. He countered by chewing harder, feeling his body jolt as the blood hit his stomach. Yanking his head back, “That’s why Elizabeth has kept you around for two thousand years,” he said, spitting out a chunk of meat from her neck.

  Pulling away, Besseta grinned at the helpless vampire. “You followed even without her taking your mind? Well, let me tell you, this is going to hurt you more than me,” she smiled, driving her fingers into the vampire’s chest. As Besseta grabbed the heart, she could feel the chest trying to close up around her hand. “Now, that is fast,” she said, yanking the heart out.

  When Besseta took a bite of the still beating heart, Kenneth dropped the vampire in shock. “Holy shit, she’s growing another one!” he cried out. Stunned, the beating heart fell out of Besseta’s hand.

  “That’s not possible,” she said, kneeling down over the vampire and saw the hole in the chest was already gone, like it had never been there. Only the gaping hole in the shirt left any clue as Besseta placed her hand on the chest and in a few minutes, she felt and heard the very slow heartbeat of the vampire. “This is going to really come in handy,” she smiled. “Let’s see you walk this off, bitch,” Besseta growled, diving down and ripping the vampire’s throat out, and yanking off the head.

  Tiffany came over in shock, watching the headless body that still had life, but was being held by Kenneth’s mind. “Kenneth, let her go,” Tiffany said and watched the body start to crawl toward Besseta, who was holding the head.

  In horror, Besseta watched the skin of the neck forming back up while the body crawled toward her. “Okay, I know what you mean now, Kenneth. I’m freaking the fuck out,” she admitted as the body started to slow its crawl and the skin stopped forming at the jawline.

  “Now, talk about a power that will come in handy,” Kenneth shivered as the body gave a shudder and he looked up, seeing the eyes roll back in the severed head. “Take the head with us, in case she can use her lips to crawl back to the body.”

  “You can still hear her thoughts?” Tiffany cried out.

  “No, but be damned if I’m leaving it close to the body, in case she’s the energizer bunny,” he answered, turning to the building. “Elizabeth left,” he grumbled, looking up to the roof at a vampire looking down at them. “Tattle-tale.”

  A very pale male vampire with long black hair was looking down at them with an evil grin as Kenneth raised his hand up. “It won’t work on me,” his soft voice floated down. “I have power over matter as you do, and can counter your every move.”

  Suddenly, a bolt of electricity shot from Kenneth’s hand, hitting the vampire in the chest and making his body jerk as the popping of electricity filled the air between them for a few seconds. Off in the distance, a woman’s scream echoed, slowly fading away. “I take it, the others are carrying the skanky whore off?” Besseta asked as the bolt of electricity stopped.

  The vampire leaned forward, falling off the roof. “Yeah, and the werewolves with her will slow us down. The trap inside is moving with her. Sorry, but she gets away,” Kenneth said, wobbling on his feet and Tiffany raised her hand, stopping the vampire before he hit the ground. “This one is a drone she’s had control of for some time.�
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  Besseta darted over and started pounding on the frozen figure, hovering a foot off the ground. When Kenneth and Tiffany walked over, Besseta had pounded his body through the asphalt. With Besseta waylaying the vampire, Kenneth touched his arm and the figure jerked, but Besseta didn’t stop.

  “Besseta, stop,” Kenneth said, grabbing her arm. “Seven more, like that bitch who refused to die back there, are coming, but five have extra powers.”

  Holding her blood-covered fist over the comatose vampire, Besseta looked at him with wide eyes, then Kenneth dove onto the vampire, locking his mouth on his neck. Dropping down, Besseta latched onto the other side.

  “You two need to find something else to do for quality time,” Tiffany sighed, grabbing the head of the female vampire off the ground. She dropped it and kicked it as the head fell. Watching the head sail out over the ocean, Tiffany smiled, seeing it splash almost a mile away in the harbor.

  Kenneth fell back, gasping. “Holy shit, that’s potent.”

  Yanking her head back with blood pouring out of her mouth, Besseta stared at Kenneth, hearing the roar build in his mind. “Kenneth,” she said, moving over to him. When she touched his skin, she jerked her hand back. “You’re burning up,” she gasped, grabbing him.

  She looked at his glowing eyes as they got brighter. “Whoa,” he mumbled, grabbing Besseta’s hand as the roar continued to build in his mind.

  “Shh, baby,” Besseta said, moving behind him and laying him down with his head in her lap as she caressed his face.

  “Ah, Besseta? This isn’t the best time for us to just wait around, if more are coming like that regenerating whore,” Tiffany said, looking around and then at the body of the vampire who refused to die. “And what if the group that left returns?”

  “They won’t be here for a few hours. They are coming from Portland. Elizabeth is already gone with the others,” she answered, and she caressed Kenneth’s face as he shivered.

  Tiffany moved over and ripped the vampire’s head they’d been feeding from off the body and kicked it out into the harbor. “What’s wrong?” she asked, kneeling down beside Besseta.