by Dakota Dawn
At the door, she turned back to the men and put up the cloaking shield. No witnesses equaled no closed case. Aw, the poor police just can’t get a break.
More laughter boiled out of her when she rounded the SUV and saw that the neighbor’s dog was back. A breeze blew across her. The mutt sniffed the air. The fur on the back of his neck rose and he whined. She growled, and he yelped and ran under the porch of his own house.
Cloaking was so much fun. Everyone and thing being cloaked was visible to those under the spell, but invisible to all else. The dumb earthlings would never catch on. They were such easy prey. On Roseanthia, she would have been caught almost immediately.
After getting in the vehicle, Attinie put the local blood bank’s address in the GPS. Cackling with delight, she ordered, “Drive, Red.”
“Yes, mistress,” Red replied.
As they drove down the street, a few earthlings turned and frowned. She couldn’t help but laugh at them. Their confusion at hearing a vehicle without seeing one was fun to see and once again proved how weak and dumb the humans were.
Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the blood bank. She motioned for Red to park as close to the front of the building as possible. He pulled into the parking lot across from the blood bank and chose a spot closest to the street.
They watched the business for thirty minutes. Getting bored, she decided to go have some fun. “Stay here,” she ordered the men and got out of the vehicle.
Quickly crossing the street, she entered the building right behind an earthling. The clean smell of the business almost made her lose her lunch. Who in their right mind would cover the lovely scent of blood? These earthlings were truly pathetic.
Not wanting to stay in the horrible building any longer than necessary, Attinie walked behind an empty desk and turned on the computer. In no time she knew when the next truck would arrive to haul away the blood to all those unfortunate souls. The receptionist who’d been talking to the male that she had followed into the building turned her head and looked quizzically at the computer Attinie was on. The woman’s brown gaze darted around the room. Attinie had to hold back a laugh. Earthlings were a blast. They were smart enough to know that something wasn’t right, but not smart enough to figure out a cloaking spell.
The male talking to the receptionist asked if everything was all right. She smiled to reassure him and took him to the back. Attinie followed and watched through the window on the door. As another woman prepped the male, the receptionist came back. Attinie kept the swinging door shut. The woman pushed on it, and when it wouldn’t budge she pushed harder. The earthling’s strength was no more than a newborn on her home planet. Pathetic.
The woman looked through the window, trying to see what was stopping her from opening the door. Her frown deepened when she didn’t see anything. With determination stamped on her face, the woman gave a hard shove. Attinie stepped back and gleefully watched as the woman stumbled into the room and almost fell down. She mumbled something and looked around in confusion.
Attinie briefly considered killing the women. Two grinning young women came into the building and went up to the receptionist, who to Attinie’s surprise greeted them as if everything was all right. Well, she’d just have to fluster the earthling a little more. She walked over to the woman and ran her long fingernail across the receptionist’s neck causing a fine line of blood to seep from her neck. She laughed when all three women screamed. Attinie went out the door and slammed it, making all three earthlings jump in fear.
Going back to the SUV, she waited for the delivery truck to arrive. She’d teach the blood bank owners that being nice to others wasn’t worth it. Attinie appreciated the journalists who went around pointing the finger at do-gooders. It sure helped her to know who her enemies were.
One hour later, she watched the delivery truck pull up to the front of the building. A big man got out and went into the blood bank. Thirty minutes later he came out looking more alert as he started loading boxes into his refrigerated truck. Four more trips and he locked the back door of his vehicle and got in and drove off.
“Follow him, servant.”
“Yes, mistress,” Red replied and pulled out of the parking lot to follow the truck.
They traveled a little way out of town and followed the truck to a rather dull electric gate. The driver punched in a code, and the large gate slowly swung open. Red followed the truck inside. The gate just barely missed hitting the cloaked SUV they were in. Before the gate could lock closed, Attinie sent out a force that stopped the gate.
A few miles up the road they watched the truck pull up to a good-looking stained-wood building. She could see the same wood on several buildings and a home that looked large enough to house a small army. She hoped that was the case. Killing was so enjoyable.
Stupid was not something you could call Attinie. She studied the buildings for a few minutes and watched the driver start unloading his precious cargo.
The more lives they saved, the more lives she and her warriors got to kill. That would have been a good thing if they didn’t already have so many that needed to be eliminated. She was going to have to change her routine if she wanted to take over her planet in the next one hundred years.
Needing to check out some other companies that had been featured in the news, she put in another address in the GPS and ordered, “Drive.”
“Yes, mistress,” Red answered and headed to their next destination.
At the gate she ordered the three men in the back seats to get out and wait for more of her warriors to show up.
“Kill anyone on this property who gets near the trees. Don’t get caught and don’t be seen by anyone except for your victims.” She spoke a spell over them that would kick in the must kill mode when they saw their prey.
She watched them get out of the SUV and head into the trees that dotted most of the property. Using her phone, she called in more of her warriors to come help the three she was leaving behind. Everyone on this property should be dead within a few days. The fun part was that they’d never know what had hit them.
Attinie’s phone vibrated and then gave off a jingling sound. She gleefully checked it. The small device was set to alert her when the latest new was on. It was a little slow, but it worked well. Now she could easily find out who needed to be killed from anywhere on the planet.
There were too many earthlings for her to personally deal with. She knew that now. It was time she started counting on her men to handle most of the killings on their own. But that’s what rulers did and she was the ruler of this planet.
Red got out and opened the gate, which saved her strength for other things. Once it was open, he got back in the SUV. Turning to him, she said, “What a shame no one here will be able to continue doing good.” She cackled merrily.
Chapter Eleven
A tear slid down Conlin’s cheek as he eased out of Tristan’s bed. They’d made love two hours ago. His body was still a little sore from the intense sex. Tristan never made love lightly. He didn’t think the man knew how. That was all right with him because what Tristan could do in bed was worth some soreness. Give the man a rope and his partner was sure to have several powerful orgasms. A picture of himself being bent over and bound by Tristan’s powers flashed through his mind. Nope, the vamp didn’t need rope to bind his lovers and rock their helpless bodies with waves of pure bliss.
At the bedroom’s doorway, he turned and looked at Tristan for the last time. The giant was sleeping peacefully. The vamp looked so handsome as he slept. No worries drawing his brows together. No Ghost pissing him off.
Another tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it away. Walking quietly out of their bedroom was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
If Darrin and Ghost hadn’t been waiting for him, he’d have crawled back into bed and cuddled up to Tristan. That’s where he longed to stay. With a sad shake of his head, Conlin walked through the living room and tried to forget how much he enjoyed making love to the vamp on the cou
ch. Keeping his gaze on the door that led to the hallway, his body moved forward as his heart went back to Tristan. Pain filled his chest. With a shaky hand he turned the knob and let himself out of the vampire’s life.
Ghost was waiting in the hall. The spirit motioned him on. In a few minutes they met Darrin outside. His brother had their bags. This was the saddest trip of his life.
It was eleven in the morning. Darrin was looking tired. “Are you sure we have to do this? You look exhausted,” Conlin asked Darrin.
“To protect you, I’d walk through fire. Let’s slip into the trees and head north,” Darrin replied firmly.
“I just—” Conlin started speaking and was cut off.
Ghost held up his hand to silence everyone. One of the day crew stepped outside to take a smoke break. From the shadows they watched the man puff on the cigarette and then drop the butt and crush out the last embers with his boot. He looked around and then bent to pick up the butt to be thrown away in a trash can. The Wyckoffs didn’t mind people smoking as long as they did it outside and picked up their mess. Cigarette butts littering the ground was never a pretty sight. Conlin thought it was nice of the brothers to let their addicted employees smoke on their property since they didn’t smoke themselves.
Once the man went back inside, Conlin asked, “Are you sure we have to do this? I don’t think anyone here would hurt me on purpose.” He had to make them think on this at least one more time. Giving up Tristan was turning out to be more painful than he’d realized it would be. His heart was burning, and he had an unnatural desire to cry. Something inside him just couldn’t let the handsome vamp go.
“I know this is hard for you, Conlin, but it’s for your own good. I doubt even one of these vampires was a Boy Scout,” Ghost stated.
“That’s not all. Something bad is coming their way. I can feel it. You’re not strong enough to defend yourself from whatever is coming,” Darrin added.
“How do you know that, Darrin?”
“I just do. If you weren’t so absorbed with Tristan, you’d feel it, too. The people here are distant and some are downright rude. Couple that with real danger and do you think any of them would rush to save us?” Darrin asked.
It was hard to go against the painful truth when put that way.
Ghost gave them the go ahead. Conlin took his backpack with his clothes and belongings from Darrin and sadly followed his family into the woods.
* * * *
Pain shot into Tristan’s heart and ricocheted around hitting every tender spot in there and creating a few more. Grabbing his chest, he roared loud enough to make the hounds of hell cringe. Whipping his head around, he searched for his mate. He panted through the stabbing pain.
He was rising from the bed when his brothers misted into the room. Drake was fully alert and quartering the room with his gaze, looking for any signs of danger. Caleb, on the other hand, was barely looking around through one eye.
Looking at the clock, he saw that it was twelve o’clock. The sun was high in the sky. No wonder Caleb was looking so rough. Moving to the drawers that Conlin kept his stuff in, he pulled them open and roared again when he saw that they were empty. Conlin had left him! The beast in him was furious.
Red bled into his eyes, recoloring his world. Conlin was about to find out that bonded mates didn’t separate, ever.
Turning to Drake, he boomed, “Check Darrin’s rooms.” His brother nodded and misted from the room.
“I’m sorry, Tristan,” Caleb said softly.
“Don’t be. I’ll get him back. If needed, I’ll chain him to my bed.” The beast in him was more than ready to do just that. It longed to bind Conlin to the bed and fuck the fiery man into submission.
The pain in his chest was growing. That meant his mate was still moving away from him. He knew the stubborn man was in pain as well. If Conlin would come back the pain would stop. Mates couldn’t physically separate for years. The beast in him still wanted to chain Conlin to the bed.
Drake returned. He shook his head. “Darrin’s stuff is gone. I’ve called Jose and Taylor to come with us. I feel like something bad is here. We had trouble at the blood bank in town yesterday and the entrance gate to this property was jammed yesterday as well. We did have a delivery, so maybe the driver knows what happened. I’ll talk to him tonight. Until then I have to walk on the cautious side.”
Forcing himself to focus, Tristan tried to feel beyond the pain in his chest. A minute later he gave up. “I can’t sense anything past the pain of separation. If you believe something is out there, then we need to be watching for it. Let’s go before the beast totally takes over.” Conlin had only had a small taste of the animal that dwelled in him so far. He wouldn’t like it to be unleashed without any restraint.
Jose and Taylor met them outside. One look at Tristan and Taylor said, “Holy shit. This is worse than I thought.”
“Yeah, we need to get his mate back now,” Jose agreed solemnly.
“Which way, Tristan?” Drake asked.
Tristan started walking around the house until he found the area their prey had stood in. “They were here and they headed this way.”
Letting his heart guide him, Tristan headed into the trees. With each step he took the hairs on the back of his neck tingled.
“You’re right, Drake. Something bad is here. I can feel it,” Tristan said.
“Keep alert, men,” Drake ordered. His gaze steadily moved and his hands stayed close to his weapons.
Tristan’s heart hurt less with every racing step he took. Soon he’d get Conlin back. This time he’d make sure his mate never left again.
* * * *
Conlin’s heart had been hurting like a son of a bitch. Recently it had started feeling a little better. It must have just been a temporary reaction to leaving Tristan. For a second he’d begun to think the vamp had been literally speaking when he’d said they couldn’t be separated. Now he didn’t believe it. The pain in his heart was lessening by the second.
Darrin held his hand up and stopped. He listened for a minute. “Someone is out there,” Darrin whispered.
Ghost perked up and nodded his agreement.
“Where are they?” he asked quietly, looking around. All he could see was trees.
“I think they’re all around us. Get ready to fight,” Darrin said in a hushed tone.
They both dropped their packs and pulled out their knives. Conlin put his back to Darrin’s. Ghost floated back and forth waiting anxiously for their followers to arrive.
A squeak from Ghost had Conlin whipping his head in the spirit’s direction. He tightened his grip on his knife and hoped he didn’t have to use it. A man with bloodshot eyes stepped from behind a tree.
His gaze moved slowly from one of them to the next. “Must kill…must kill…must kill,” the man chanted in an eerily disconnected voice.
“No, no. You don’t have to kill us. You don’t even know us,” Conlin replied in an effort to change the man’s mind.
“Must kill,” the man said and then lunged for them.
Conlin shoved the crazy man to the ground. His knife nicked the guy’s shoulder. The man didn’t even check the small wound. He kept chanting and got up.
His dirty hands reached out to grab Conlin’s head. With a sick feeling in his stomach, Conlin realized the man had every intention of killing him and Darrin. He couldn’t let that happen.
Ghost screamed. Conlin could see another man in his peripheral vision. The other man was chanting the same words.
Bringing his arms up and out, he blocked the man from grabbing his own head and snapping his neck. Raising his knife, he jabbed it three times into the man’s chest. Blood poured from his wounds as his bloodshot eyes slowly closed.
He turned to see Darrin fighting another man. A third man rushed him and punched him in the face. Pain flared across his cheek. These guys were serious. He knew Darrin hated fighting, but his brother didn’t have a choice any more than he did. There was no way he could take them al
l on by himself.
“Take him out, Darrin.” Moving a step forward, he ignored his throbbing cheek. The man pulled back to hit him again. Conlin blocked the blow and stabbed the man in the chest and belly. As the man fell, his hands reached out and his fingernails raked down the side of Conlin’s face.
With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he went to his brother and grabbed the head of the man that was trying to choke Darrin out and twisted hard. The snapping of the man’s neck rang through the trees and stopped the horrible chanting.
Darrin’s soft-hearted side had almost gotten him killed. “Look, I know you don’t like to fight, but if any more of them come after us, I want you to kill them. Do you understand?” Conlin hated having to get on his little brother. In this case he didn’t have a choice.
Rubbing his neck, Darrin agreed, “I’ll try. I thought he’d give up. Instead the guy just got meaner. What was wrong with them?”
“I don’t know. We should get out of here.” After helping Darrin to his feet, he hugged his brother, and Ghost wrapped his see-through arms around both of them.
“I wish I were solid. I wanted to help so badly,” Ghost grumbled.
“If more of them come after us, you can help by flicking their ears and noses when they are focused on us. Use the same energy you used to unlock the window at the blood bank.” He hoped Ghost could pull it off if more of them showed up. They’d need all of the help they could get if another attack happened.
“I wish I’d thought of that,” Ghost said.
“Let’s go.” Conlin picked up his backpack and led the way. Every noise had him looking and ready to fight.
No more than five minutes had passed when Ghost floated in front of him and held his finger to his hazy lips. “Someone’s coming,” the spirit whispered.
He’d already killed three of them. Surely there couldn’t be many more of them left.