VEILED Complete Boxed Set: A Paranormal Vampire Romance Thriller

by Victoria Knight

  “They’ll serve her.”

  Jill explained it all with an edge of skepticism. How in the hell would that work? Nikki wasn’t even a fully turned vampire and she was brand new to this. How was she supposed to handle such a screwed up situation?

  “What time is it?” Jill asked.

  Kara glance at her watch and answered: “Three fifty-one.”

  “That’s what—a little more than two hours before sunrise?”

  “Yeah, that’s about right.”

  “I don’t know the rules about servants,” Jill said. “We really need to get this all sorted out before sunrise.”

  “Is that enough time?”

  “I have no idea.”

  The car fell silent after that as Kara took a hard left turn onto the back road to Saul’s cabin. The three vampires in the back of the car remained deathly quiet. It almost seemed as if they were giving serious thought to the explanation that Jill had just given Kara.

  As the cabin drew closer, Jill sensed something new. A scent that was familiar but not pleasant at all. She sat up straight in her seat and stared ahead. She looked into the darkness and the approaching road but saw nothing.

  Then, as Kara brought the car around a slight bend in the road, Jill saw the source of the scent. Kara did, as well. She hit the brakes, the tires screeching against the road.

  “Jesus,” Kara said. “What the hell?”

  Jill stared ahead in disbelief. Eleven people were walking along the road—seven men and four women. They walked closely, in a single file line. In the light of Kara’s headlights, they looked more ghastly than they actually were.

  Jill felt herself go cold and, for the first time, regretted coming back to Red Creek to be with Saul.

  “You recognize any of them?” Jill asked Kara.

  Kara looked at the line of people and shook her head. “No. Not a single one of them.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.”

  “What? Do you know them?”

  “Yes, unfortunately. Looks like the Greelys are here.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  1

  Kara and Jill stared at the group of eleven figures standing in the road. They stood closely together, shoulder to shoulder as if they were marching off to war. None of them looked scared, nor had they hesitated in the slightest when Kara’s patrol car had come around the curb. Even now, as Kara and Jill looked at them, they continued to walk towards the car.

  “What do we do?” Kara asked.

  From the back of the car, Jason Eastman let out something that sounded like a growl. Kara turned back to look at him and saw that he looked pissed off. He looked like a cornered dog that was fed up; the time for cowering was done and now it was time to bare his teeth and attack. Beside him, Lester and the unnamed fisherman also looked angry.

  “We have no choice,” Jill said. “We have to fight. But I want to be by my brother’s side when I do.”

  “Vampires…” Kara said. “How do we kill them? A stake through the heart? Holy water?”

  Jill let out a nervous laugh. “A stake through the heart will do it, and so will decapitation. But no….the holy water thing is just a myth. We also don’t have any particular aversion to garlic either, just in case you’re wondering.”

  Kara nodded. She, too, was growing angry and she didn’t quite know why. All she knew was that they needed to get to the Benton’s cabin and there were eleven monsters standing between them and the last mile or so to the cabin. She watched the vampires coming forward, now closing the distance between their group and the car to roughly twenty-five feet. The three men began to stir in the back, anxious for a fight. Kara had no idea how they’d hold up. They were all worn down and tired. But the pure hatred in the Greenlys’ eyes made her feel a bit better.

  “Punch it,” Jill said.

  “What?”

  “It’s no stake through the heart or cutting their heads off, but getting hit by a car will hurt all the same. Plow through the fuckers.”

  Kara nodded and threw the car into drive. She took off with a squealing of brakes and shot forward. The Greelys saw what she intended to do and broke rank, but not in time. The car struck three of them and as Kara drove forward, she actually saw one of them jump over the car.

  The sounds of cracks and thuds filled the air and Kara would have been lying if she said she didn’t slightly enjoy it. One of the vampires she hit went careening to the left while the other two seemed to bend into awkward angles and went rolling beneath the car.

  There was a thump at the top of the car as the member that had jumped skyward landed on the roof. Kara sped forward, glancing in the rearview mirror at the scattered Greelys behind them. They were beginning to turn around, looking back to the car. They were coming after them, but not in a hurry. They walked still, as if they had all the time in the world.

  They’re vampires, she thought. They probably do have all the time in the world.

  She almost let out a nervous little chuckle at this thought, but the sound froze in her throat when her back glass exploded. Kara let out a yell and looked behind her as a series of grunts and hiss-like sounds filled the car.

  The vampire that had landed on top of her car had punched through the glass and was wrestling with Lester. It was clear right away that Lester was outmatched. Even as Kara noticed this, Jill was climbing over the console to help.

  As she drove forward and tried to keep the car in the road, it was hard for Kara to see what was happening; she was only able to catch glimpses of the action from blurred motions in the rearview.

  She heard a ripping sound and then a cry of anguish that sounded as if it were being voiced by a demon. When she looked back, she saw that the fisherman was being pulled through the shattered back glass. Much of his face was missing and from what Kara could make out, it looked as if he had lost an eye in the skirmish.

  Kara got the car up to eighty and with the commotion in the back, it felt like the patrol car was going to fall apart. Up ahead, she saw the start of the gravel road that would take them to the Benton cabin. She slowed down to take the turn, glancing in her rearview just in time to see the fisherman get pulled from the shattered back glass and tossed to the road. Jill immediately filled his place in the back seat and grabbed the vampire’s head in an improved headlock. He shrieked as Jill pulled him forward, into the car. As she did this, Jason and Lester looked at him with so much hatred that it made Kara’s blood go cold.

  Kara turned onto the driveway, the back of the car fishtailing in the gravel. She righted the car and went barreling down towards Saul’s cabin as Jill continued to fight the vampire in the back of her car.

  2

  Saul stepped down his porch steps and into his front yard where The Guard stood. Saul noticed right away that there were only five figures; Benali was not in attendance. Saul wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. As he got closer to them, he could feel their power pressing against him like a physical weight.

  “Greetings, Saul,” the figure name Moorcheh said. Moorcheh stood roughly seven feet tall and looked reptilian in nature. Legend suggested that Moorcheh was the leader of The Guard even though they were supposed to have no official “leader” among their ranks.

  “Greetings,” Saul echoed. As he looked at the five members of The Guard, he realized that he had never been in the presence of all of the Guards at once. It was overwhelming and, for just a moment, he felt honored.

  “Where is your sixth member?” Saul asked. “Where is Benali? As I’m sure you know, he and I have recently been at odds.”

  Saul was aware that questioning The Guard in such a way was disrespectful. But if they were indeed behind a master plot to eradicate his family and several others, he didn’t care. Saul was also very aware of the fact that Nikki still stood behind him on the porch. He still thought of her as being mostly mortal and he couldn’t help but wonder how her partially mortal sanity was handling the sight of The Guard.

  “We, too, have been
at odds with Benali,” Moorcheh said. “He is not with us today, for he has been reprimanded. He is no longer associated with The Guard due to his recent interactions with certain vampire clans.”

  “So why have you come here?” Saul asked. “According to what I am being told, it is not just Benali, but the entire Guard that would have my family destroyed.”

  Another member stepped forward. This guard’s name was Magdeline; she was ravishingly beautiful and, according to legend, was one of the first vampires to ever live. She was supposed to have lived as far back as prehistoric times among the first cave dwellers. Standing in Saul’s yard, her form was naked and every inch of her was perfectly sculpted.

  “That is inaccurate,” Magdeline said. “We cannot tell you everything because it involves details about our nature that you are not allowed to know—but rest assured, Benali acted alone on this. For what reasons, we ourselves are uncertain.”

  “He was working with the Greelys?” Saul asked.

  “And other larger clans,” Moorcheh added.

  “So this plot against my sister and me, along with the other clans…have you come to stop it?”

  “Not exactly,” Magdeline said. “We have actually come here to make you an offer.”

  Saul had not been expecting this. He eyed all five of them. Moorcheh and Magdeline stood in the front. Behind them stood the three others: Dominiscus, Aimon, and Polyxia. Dominiscus stood at nearly ten feet tall and was rumored to be the offspring that had been mentioned in the Bible when fallen angels had mated with humans. He knew very little about Aimon and Polyxia; all he knew for certain was that Aimon was some form of a demon, right down to his slitted eyes. Polyxia was a witch of ancient heritage with shape-shifting blood running through her veins.

  “What offer is that?” Saul asked.

  Before he got his answer, he heard the squealing of tires from somewhere nearby. He cocked his head slightly and took a moment to let his senses explain the sound to him. He could sense Jill nearby. And behind that familiar scent was something else—something dead and rotting.

  The Greelys, he thought.

  “We are here to offer you the chance to become more than you are,” Moorcheh said. “We discovered this plot when we sensed Leibald Greely had fled his place of hiding and had come here. Once we discovered Benali’s part in it, we partook in various methods to get him to answer our questions.”

  “So we know of the plot, yes,” Magdeline said. “But rather than obliterate the clans involved, we thought we might give you the opportunity to step up. We know of your strength and your family’s legacy. We also know about the recent events concerning your romantic dealings with a mortal female.” She looked over Saul’s shoulder as she said this, looking directly at Nikki.

  “She’s not mortal anymore,” Saul said. “Liebald—”

  “Yes, we know,” Moorcheh said. “We honestly do not care. She dispatched Leibald, so her allegiance is not being questioned. But we are growing short on time.”

  As if to punctuate this, another squeal of tires tore through the forest, closer now.

  “The Greelys are here,” Moorcheh said. “They have come for you and your sister—and, presumably, your partially-turned mate. If you want to kill them, you have our blessing. But know that killing them won’t stop the plot against you. After the Greelys, there are other families that will come.”

  “But you won’t stop it?” Saul asked.

  “Oh, we will if you want,” Moorcheh answered. “But our offer to you is this: prove yourself…prove your strength and your might. If you can handle the Greelys, we may have a position for you. Not as a member of The Guard, but as a part of a community of beings that serve us in private matters. You and Jill would be free to feed when and where you like so long as you are discreet. You’d have the respect of your species and many others—shape shifters, lycanthropes and so on.”

  Saul thought it over. As he did, he heard gravel being spit up at the end of his driveway. This was followed by the revving of an engine.

  “Quickly,” Magdeline said. “Your answer.”

  “What about Nikki?” Saul asked, not even fully aware what he was asking.

  “That is between the two of you,” Moorcheh said. “If you wish, she can be a part of your new life.”

  “Then let me handle the Greelys.”

  Moorcheh nodded and stepped back among the other three members. Magdeline eyed Nikki, gave her a smile, and then she joined them too.

  “Good luck,” Moorcheh said. “Your father would be proud, I think.”

  As Saul watched the five members of The Guard disappear, he thought he detected a slight inflection in Moorcheh’s voice at the mention of his father. They know something, Saul said. They know about my father and why he was killed…

  But there was no time to dwell on that. He looked ahead, past the gathering fog that quickly consumed The Guard to take them away, and saw Kara’s patrol car tearing down the driveway.

  “Are you ready for this?” Saul asked Nikki.

  She hurried down the stairs and stood by his side. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t have to fight,” he said. “You can stay behind, in the cabin. This doesn’t have to be your fight.”

  “Yes it does,” she said. “I killed Leibald. I’m the reason they are here.”

  “They would have come eventually to carry out the plot they worked out with Benali.”

  Nikki shook her head. “No…let’s do this. I want to fight them with you.”

  In a move so uncharacteristic that it took him by surprise, Saul leaned down and kissed Nikki on the mouth with a soft passion that he didn’t know he was capable of. She returned it with the same tenderness. As they broke the kiss, Kara’s patrol car came before the cabin to a skidding stop.

  And then all hell broke loose.

  3

  For a moment, Kara thought she was seeing things. Just as she rounded the slight bend in Saul’s driveway, she could have sworn she saw the distorted shapes of five figures in the yard, bundled together by some sort of ethereal fog. She had no time to study the odd sight though, as Jill, Lester, Jason and the Greely vampire were wrestling like brutes in the back of the car.

  Kara brought the car to a stop and saw Saul and Nikki standing in the yard. Before she could even throw the car into park, Jill had thrown the back door open with incredible strength and dragged the Greely vampire out.

  At the sight of Jill leaving the car, Jason and Lester clamored out of the other door and raced to her side. As they did, Saul braced himself for battle.

  “It’s okay,” Jill told him as she threw the Greely to the ground. “They’re with me. Leibald didn’t anticipate Nikki killing him, so his would-be imps are now Nikki’s imps.”

  Saul clearly didn’t understand this, but he had not time to ponder it. The Greely was on his feet and instantly pounced on Jill. She fended him off easily enough, sidestepping him and slamming his head into the side of Kara’s car. She then shoved him to the ground again and grabbed his head between her elbow and chest. Then, with a tremendous show of strength, she pulled upwards in a swift motion and tore his head from his body.

  Kara was ashamed of the small gasp of shock that escaped her mouth. She was surprised to see that there was very little blood pouring from the now-headless body; Kara wondered if it had something to do with vampire physiology. She stared at the corpse, her jaw dropping open.

  “Kara,” Saul said, “you may want to get inside. This could get bad and I can’t guarantee your safety.”

  Kara thought about this for a moment. Never before had the gun on her hip felt so utterly useless and stupid. Still, the idea of retreating into Saul’s cabin and waiting to see how this fight might pan out didn’t sit well with her.

  “My car slowed them down,” she said. “Maybe bullets will.”

  “Doubtful,” Nikki said. “Remember putting those three rounds in Leibald? How much good did that do?”

  Nikki was right. She hated to admit i
t, but she would best be served to sit this one out.

  “Quick,” Jill said, nodding to the driveway. “Here they come.”

  Sure enough, the remainder of the Greelys had come into view, marching towards the cabin. They no longer moved slowly as they had on the road; now there was speed in their step. They were closing the distance far too fast for Kara’s liking.

  She started running for the front porch, only glancing over her shoulder a single time. The ten remaining Greelys were already at her car and as she looked, two of them dashed forward with such speed that Kara’s eyes barely registered it.

  She turned back around, leaping up the steps, behind her, she heard Saul shout a warning and then she felt a hard weight slam into her back. Her head struck the porch and she thought for one sickening moment that she was going to pass out.

  She fought against the weight and saw, through blurry sight and a haze of pain, Nikki drop-kick her attacker across the porch. Nikki then helped her to her feet, threw her through the front door, and went back for the vampire that she had just kicked.

  Slightly dizzy, Kara walked towards the door. She grabbed it with the intention of closing it but was too transfixed by the battle taking place in the early light of dawn.

  4

  The Greelys didn’t hesitate in their attack. When the first two sped forward, one of whom had knocked Kara to the ground only to then be attacked by Nikki, three others leaped high into the air, all aiming for Saul.

  Saul braced himself and took a single mighty swing as they came down. He connected squarely with one of them, sending the attacker sailing through the air, over Kara’s police car and into the border of trees surrounding the yard. The other two managed to clamp onto Saul’s back; one wrapped its thin yet powerful arms around his neck while the other delivered a series of punches to his ribs. These Greelys were clearly stronger than Leibald and each of the punches sent a brief flicker of pain through his body.