The Dresdan Coven Trilogy

by Amber Ella Monroe

  “I’ll lose my job,” she said under her breath.

  Melrose dug the gun into Monica and said, “When this is all over with, no one will have a job here. Don’t you hear that?” She paused as gunshots echoed through the hallway. “Sounds like a total takeover to me. Open the damn vault.”

  Monica pressed her palm to the keypad and a file drawer immediately popped open.

  “Which cabinet contains the personnel records?” Elaina asked.

  Monica pointed to a drawer near the bottom.

  “Seeing that we don’t have much time before Mr. Reynolds’ backup arrives, you’re going to follow my instructions. If you so much as hesitate, I’ll put a bullet in Mr. Reynolds’ heart and you will be responsible for his death,” Elaina told Monica. “You got that?”

  She nodded her head.

  “Retrieve the file on Stewart Reynolds and bring it to me.”

  “No, no, no,” Mr. Reynolds exclaimed.

  Monica pulled the file drawer open and brought the accordion file to the conference table where she plopped it down in front of Elaina.

  “Are older records kept here?” Elaina asked.

  “Some of them. Not all.”

  “Give me what you see there for Chrishauna Arakelian.”

  Mr. Reynolds sat up straight in his chair. “Arakelian?” There was a small hint of recognition in his voice as he spoke.

  “Yes, Arakelian,” Elaina said. “Do you know something about that name?”

  “Are you…?” Mr. Reynolds’ gaze narrowed. “Well, I’ll be damned. I thought you looked familiar. You know you’ve got a lot of nerve coming back here.”

  “You know who I am?” she asked.

  “The one and only, Elaina Arakelian. D-33,” he said. “How’s life treating you?”

  “What do you know of me?”

  He pointed to the file Monica tossed on the table. “More than that file will tell you. It’s been over twenty years. Do you think we would have kept information about your whoring mother here that long?”

  Elaina’s anger rose, and she grabbed Mr. Reynolds so hard about the collar that he almost choked.

  “Do you know something about my mother?”

  He nodded, but his face reddened from lack of oxygen.

  “Start talking.”

  He pointed to Elaina’s grip on his collar.

  Elaina let him go and put some space between them.

  “Where to begin…” he drawled.

  “What happened to my mother?” she asked.

  “Which one?”

  Elaina grimaced. “So, you really do know me?”

  “Of course. I studied your files. You did impressive work here until you got mixed up with the vamps. And when we found out about your blood, your value tripled three times over. It’s too bad that you’re a disposable asset since you’re one of them now.”

  “Tell me about my birth mother.”

  “She was an illegal immigrant. The only way that she could stay in this country was if she worked for the District. We ensured that she never got deported back to her mother country, where apparently, she was wanted for murder.”

  “Murder?”

  Mr. Reynolds shrugged. “Yeah, it’s all in the files there. She was a murderer. She killed her husband, so you might want to watch whom you’re calling lowdown and dirty. She hadn’t even been here three months yet before she got knocked up by one of the field guys. She never said whom, but she told just about everyone he’d gotten killed while out on a mission. And just like today, vampire trackers died every day.”

  “How do I know this is true?”

  “Why would I make it up? This truth won’t set you free. It only explains why you’re so miserable, searching for some explanation as to why your mother gave you up. It wasn’t so that you could have a better life. It was so that she could stay here, in America. She signed your life away, Elaina Arakelian.”

  She gnawed at her bottom lip. “Was that all she got in return?”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…” Mr. Reynolds pasted a crabby smile on his face. “Your mother was a District whore.”

  Elaina charged.

  “Wait!” He held his hands up in front of his face. “It’s the truth. She was a surrogate and worked in our fertility unit. She was hired on to help couples carry their babies to term and deliver them, but like I said, one of the trackers knocked her up before she could even begin. Two months after she delivered you, she caught an infection and died.”

  Elaina nearly choked on her own sorrow.

  “You thought I was going to tell you a story about some little miss perfect mommy who gave birth to her perfect baby and decided to give her to some other perfect couple who could take care of her better and have the perfect life. No. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re the one who came here and insisted. Why did you have to break in here with a team of vampires and castaways to get this information?”

  “That’s not all we’re here for. Do you think we’re shooting up the place for nothing?”

  Mr. Reynolds almost looked worried. “You don’t mean to…?”

  “Mean to what?”

  “You can’t mean to release the dungeon vampires?”

  “Dungeon vampires,” she asked. “Is that what you call them?”

  “You don’t understand. The vampire down there has lived for hundreds of years. It took us several years to catch him. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

  “You said hundreds of years?” Melrose asked from across the room.

  Mr. Reynolds nodded. “He was labeled a retched rogue way before we started capturing vampires. He used to feed from humans to the point where he was a few tablespoons short of killing them. Where they were in agonizing pain. So much damage was done that the person would have been better off if he’d just bloody murdered them.”

  Elaina could tell by Melrose’s perplexed expression that she didn’t know anything of this vampire.

  “Well, of course you didn’t know. Your kind can’t even keep your rogue population in check. We have to do it for you. Might as well salvage what we can.”

  Melrose shook her head. “Not anymore you don’t.

  “If you release that thing…” Mr. Reynolds started.

  “You want him so you can create a hybrid, don’t you?”

  “We stopped trying to create the first hybrid months ago after a series of failures that resulted in the human being turned—like you.”

  “Then why are vampires still your concern whether they’re rogue or not?”

  “Because that creature you’re about to release may be the only thing that could diminish the rogue population, but not just the rogue population, all vampire kind, no matter the species.”

  “How do you know?” Elaina demanded.

  “Because it can only live if it takes blood from other vampires.”

  “But you said it fed from humans, draining them of almost all life force.”

  “Correct, but the creature was killing humans for sport. That’s why he must never ever be released.”

  A series of blood-curdling screams resounded down the hallway and throughout the building.

  “Or is it too late?” Mr. Reynolds’ voice trembled.

  “Stand.” Elaina grabbed Mr. Reynolds by the arm. “Let’s head out into the main unit. This time, you’ll be the hostage.”

  Chapter 24

  Vicq thought he was imagining things the moment he spotted Elaina trudging down the hallway of District 5 headquarters, dragging along a badly injured man. What the heck was she doing here? He’d made it clear to Leo that she wasn’t supposed to leave the Refuge during the raid.

  He closed the distance between them rapidly. “Tell me this is an illusion and that you’re not here.”

  “This is an illusion and I’m not here.” She pushed past him. “Have you breached the dungeon level?

  He followed her. “Elaina, what are you doing here?”

  Finally she paused
and pushed her hostage against the wall. “You should know the answer to that,” she replied.

  “She was fact checking,” the man she had in a vice grip answered.

  Elaina groaned, ripped a strip of fabric from the man’s collar, and proceeding to tie his lips shut. “You speak when I tell you to,” she told him.

  “Elaina…?”

  “Mr. Reynolds, who is also the owner of D5 Holdings, was hiding out in the admin offices. Let’s just say that I cleaned up what was left behind.”

  Vicq glanced at Mr. Reynolds. “He did a good job of hiding while his employees paid the price.”

  “There’s no time to argue about why I’m here,” she said. “You cuffed me to a bed rail, and you’ll pay the price later when we’re done here.”

  “Who un-cuffed you?” he asked, and then his gaze trailed over to Melrose, who was exchanging some words with Eli. “Never mind. It’s pretty clear who helped you get out.”

  “Did you or did you not release the vampires in the dungeon,” she asked.

  “Dungeon? It was hardly a dungeon. It was a lower level prison. We found one Dresdan who was obviously too strong to contain. He was strapped down on ice when we released him. He killed all of the scientists in the room before we could get anything out of them and then fled the room. There were several other vampires in coffins, but we won’t know their intentions unless we wake them from slumber.”

  “Where is he now? The Dresdan that got away?” she inquired, adamantly.

  “That’s the problem. We’re finding evidence that he’s been feeding on and killing guards before we even get to them, which means he’s seeking out an exit. We’ve picked up what evidence we can, but now it’s time to go.”

  “What about Leo’s sister? Did you find her?”

  “She was never held here. Eli talked one of the lab techs into pulling up her information in the database, and it turns out she’s at some fertility center in Texas—also District owned.”

  “Mr. Reynolds here told me that they use young women to birth children.”

  “You don’t plan on releasing him, do you?”

  “I’m not done with him yet. He keeps talking about his men coming to save him,” she replied.

  “If he’s talking about his little rescue team of four, they didn’t quite make it either. Seems the missing Dresdan is out for vengeance, not blood.” Vicq pointed to a body on the ground. “Necks are snapped, but no blood is drained.”

  “The problem is that the owner here thinks this Dresdan’s blood type of choice is vampire.”

  “To my knowledge, none of us have been slain by him,” Vicq replied.

  Elaina’s captive lifted his finger in an attempt to get their attention. She snatched the gag from his mouth and said, “What’s that?”

  “That creature will kill you all,” he sneered. “You vial, pesky little—”

  Vicq pistol-whipped him across the face to shut him up. He passed out cold and slumped against the wall.

  “We’ve got to head out. Almost every corner of the facility has been raided. Your dad’s team just left the property with a trunk load of evidence, data files, and other key information we can use to send to the White House. But we have to make a decision now. We either need to torch the place or leave it.”

  “Have all the employees exited the building?”

  “All except for the dead. We even have a few willing witnesses and unwilling hostages that we can question about the in-house lab drugs we found.”

  “If we leave this building standing here today, there’s a good chance we’ll miss something that remaining District scientists will be happy to get their hands on. On the other hand, if we burn the place down, all the evidence will burn with it. Will what we have be enough?”

  “I haven’t been a human in a long time, Elaina, but if we distribute the information to key people at every level of the White House, someone will take note.”

  “Let’s hope so,” she said as they reached the outside. The last of the District 5 employees who had made it out alive scrambled around in the parking lot, trying to make quick haste to their cars and the nearest exit.

  A man from Mr. Smith’s team came racing toward them with a mix of emotions brewing over his face.

  “All the innocents are out and the building is clear. Smith says…” His voice faded away as his gaze landed on Elaina. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “And how did you get out?”

  “Question of the day,” Vicq said, rolling his eyes.

  Elaina sighed deeply. “Apparently, you men think I can’t make my own decisions. Isn’t it clear why I’m here?”

  “Mr. Smith just sent me a message. We have about twenty minutes before the authorities show up. Our connection with the Feds can’t hold them off any longer.”

  “Thanks, Ryan. You’d better get a head start. Everyone that’s left here is Dresdan. We know how to escape the cops.”

  Ryan nodded and raced through the security gates where a Refuge van was waiting for him.

  “Hey, Eli!” Vicq yelled across the lot. “Take the van and head out. The cops are on the way.”

  It didn’t take long for everyone to team up and begin clearing out. After the dust had settled, the only people remaining on the District lot were him, Elaina, Melrose, and Mark…and of course, Mr. Reynolds—the elusive owner, and one of the prime suspects responsible for keeping District operations alive. All other executives were dead or had fled, except for a female executive whom Mr. Smith and his team had taken back to Refuge to question.

  The street lamps angled down on them, offering them a light source in the night where the moon did not. The skies were dark and overcast, and aside from the sounds and scents of smoke billowing from nearby industrial building pipes, the night remained relatively quiet. But quiet wasn’t the outcome that Vicq wanted.

  “Well, let’s cut to the chase, who’s going to be the lucky one to drain Mr. Reynolds,” Vicq asked.

  Mr. Reynolds’ eyes widened as he looked back and forth from them.

  “If there’s nothing but filth there, I want nothing to do with it,” Mark replied.

  “My memories are bad enough,” Melrose said.

  “Slow your roll, guys,” Elaina said. “Why do you think I haven’t killed him just yet? The files I took from the personnel drawers aren’t nearly enough information for me. And while he was talking back there, I figured feeding off his memories would cut the time in half.”

  “More than half,” Mark added.

  Mr. Reynolds was becoming more and more frantic as they decided amongst themselves who would feed off his memories.

  “Plus, there’s a Dresdan who has possibly turned rogue somewhere out there. Mr. Reynolds would know what he looks like. He had a mask on his face when we unstrapped him.”

  “Stand up,” Elaina told Mr. Reynolds. She untied the material preventing him from speaking.

  “No, don’t do this. I’ll tell you everything. All of it. I swear it,” he urged.

  “You are responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocents and probably even more than that. Was it worth it?”

  Mr. Reynolds was silent for several moments before saying, “For a chance to live forever without becoming a vile creature like you, yes. Every organ I harvested, every business deal that I’ve made, every corrupt politician I’ve helped get elected to office…yes. Yes, it was. I’m an inventor. That’s what I do. I create things.”

  Elaina’s face tensed and she recoiled from him. “But you also kill real people.”

  “I don’t. I just do what’s required. My hands are clean. Yours however, D-33…not so much.”

  Elaina dug her nails into the flesh on his arms. “You weren’t being upfront with anyone you hired.”

  “I wasn’t. You signed up to kill rogue vampires, and you killed rogue vampires. What else did you think you were going to be doing?”

  “Reducing the world’s rogue population was only a front to keep the government off your back so you could con
tinue your faulty operations.”

  “Maybe, and we were successful at that, weren’t we, Elaina? But there was a time when I played by the rules until I realized being compressed by guidelines stalled the progress of my research, so I got involved in other side deals and business ventures. It also didn’t help that my entire family was taken from me by a creature like you.”

  “A vampire killed your family?” Elaina asked.

  “Not just any vampire. See, here’s the thing. You think that I failed my mission, but I didn’t. My missions are always trifold. I’ve already avenged my family’s death, but I was having fun torturing the creature who decided their fate.”

  Vicq shook his head, confused at the subtle hints Mr. Reynolds was throwing out at them. But then recognition transformed Elaina’s features and her mouth fell open.

  “Are you getting it now?” Mr. Reynolds laughed when Elaina didn’t respond.

  “You were afforded a better education than your mother, so you should be smarter than this,” Mr. Reynolds added.

  “The Dresdan from the vault,” Elaina whispered.

  “Yes. That one. I’ve kept him imprisoned here for years. You’ve released a monster. One that you’ll have to deal with.”

  A series of hand claps echoed just above them. Vicq glanced upward and spotted a vampire perched on the edge of the roof staring down at them. The vampire jumped down, defying gravity by slowing his descent to land softly on the pavement.

  Vicq hadn’t seen this Dresdan in decades. He was clearly delineated as an ancient based on the extra markings surrounding the Dresdan symbol on his chest. His long, blue-black hair hung below his shoulders and his eyes gleamed a bright silver. A deep red tattoo of a dragon graced his entire left arm. He was the Dresdan that everyone talked about whenever discussing their history, but most had never seen him.

  His name was Mercer—the warlock who’d become a vampire. An ancient and the first vampire to have ever overturned the Dresdan Court.

  Chapter 25

  Elaina’s heart jumped and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the tall and dark Dresdan approaching them. Even as she held Mr. Reynolds captive in her grip, she felt his fear, his body trembling.