Renegade (Shadow Realms): An Urban Fantasy Dragon Shifter Romance

by Amber Ella Monroe

  This had gone too far. To what lengths would this vampire slaughtering agency go to achieve their self-serving agendas? Kill their own people? Why? For what? Wasn’t their mission to ensure continuity? Human continuity?

  Vicq drove almost thirty miles until he realized that the sun would rise soon. He contemplated letting them wake up to see him and to tell them what had happened, but he couldn’t keep the boys anyway. They were too young, but at least they were out of harm’s way. The orphanage had failed them. Just like his orphanage had failed him when he was just twelve years old. They’d kicked him out on the streets and said he could easily pass for sixteen and get a job. In a way, they were right. Laborers were needed everywhere in Mexico at the time, and most companies didn’t care about one’s age. At the time, Vicq had no choice and he labored for many years until his fate was turned around.

  He spotted a church steeple up ahead and steered the car up near the steps. There was one other car parked out front. An old Buick classic with a pink sticker on the back bumper that said: Jesus Saves.

  It was almost dawn. He needed to hurry.

  Vicq gathered the three young boys in his arms and grabbed the suitcase that was filled with the money he hadn’t used tonight, walked up to the oak double doors, and knocked.

  An old woman with stark white hair opened one of the doors. She wore a frilly pink and yellow dress and her lips were painted red. Her eyes widened as she glanced upward. Vicq could literally smell the fear rolling off her. The vein near her temple pulsed profusely. Her fingers shook on the doorknob.

  Vicq had tried to look human. Guess it didn’t work.

  She gasped. “Oh…”

  Smoke began to seep from Vicq’s skin. The sun was on the rise, burning straight through his flesh. He had to go. He could bolt with the boys still in his arms, but that wouldn’t do them any good.

  “A-are you the devil?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “Are you here to kill me?”

  “No.”

  “You have children…” she whispered, her eyes sweeping across the load of boys in his arms. She looked surprised and flustered.

  “Is this were humans come for help and to be saved?” Vicq asked.

  “Y-y-yes,” the old lady stuttered.

  He crossed the threshold into the church and the woman stumbled aside, clutching at her heart. He placed the boys on one of the benches.

  “These boys are homeless. Will you take care of them?” he asked.

  The old lady nodded.

  Vicq handed the suitcase the lady. She jumped back, but then took about a minute or two to realize that he meant no harm.

  She took the suitcase from him. “Are you coming back for them?”

  “Si…. a su debido tiempo,” he replied. In due time.

  Vicq folded away to pursue darkness.

  Chapter 8

  A few days after Elaina and her crew executed the Haegert campus vampires, they were called to a meeting with one of the District heads and his direct report. They sat in a large conference room on one of headquarters’ middle levels. The sunshine passing through the large oversized windows filtered across the metal table, providing the only source of light as DH-3 and his direct report shuffled through some papers. Some of the blinds were closed, so half of the room was darker than the other.

  Elaina, D-209, D-0008, and D-57 were seated at one end of the table, handed manila folders that were stamped in red with the words highly-classified, and told to hold tight while they finalized some orders.

  DH-3 had a laptop on the table and was furiously typing away on the keyboard. Except for the distant squealing noise of the HVAC system, everything was silent. Before DH-3 even began to speak, Elaina knew that her team was here for something big. Perhaps it was the lucrative assignment that Elaina had been waiting for. An assignment that would earn her the recognition she wanted and deserved.

  “We’ve got a Risk Level 10 assignment for your unit. You’ve been selected based on the diversity of your skillsets. Your training in hand-to-hand combat, direct assault, search and rescue, and sniper missions will help you succeed in this mission. This is not a simple twenty-four-hour assignment. Level 10 assignments can take weeks, even months to complete because of the complexity of the case and the age of the vampire. These types of assignments are passed from one unit to the next until completion. Two units have already failed the mission, resulting in the loss of their lives in the line of duty.”

  DH-3 paused, linked his fingers together, and let the information sink in.

  “This isn’t a job for a larger unit. A four-member unit, such as yours, is perfect for this type of mission. We’re not seeking to mass execute here. Instead, we’re looking to capture one vampire in particular. He often roams alone. From our past experiences dealing with him, he’s wary of large crowds and will often stay away from them. We came close last time with only a three-member team. One misstep from one of the trackers resulted in us blowing our cover. This particular vampire knows that we’re after him.”

  DH-3 paused again. “Any questions thus far?”

  D-209 shuffled in his chair. “And you want us to execute him?”

  DH-3 nodded. “Capture, then execute. We’ll need you to drain as much of his blood as you can after the kill. In a previous botched mission, we were only able to salvage a fraction of his blood. He’s not a rogue. He’s full-blooded Dresdan, and he is powerful. If we can get at least three bags of his blood for research, the scientists believe they can move forward in testing their current theories. He’s proven to be too powerful to contain like some of the others we have here, but we want his blood and what we can salvage of his body.”

  “How do you know he’s full-blooded and powerful?” D-0008 questioned.

  “We caught him in action. Our cameras recorded less than thirty seconds, but from what we observed, he’s no ordinary vampire. He has connections to one of the biggest vampire covens in the world, possibly what they call a Court, which is the main network and overruling body.”

  DH-3 gestured toward a projector, and his direct report reached across the table and flipped the switch. On the darker side, the projector displayed a video clip.

  The images on the screen were from one of the botched missions. All Elaina made out were flashes of yellow and white as gunfire blazed on the screen. She made out commands from former unit members as they tried to apprehend the vampire. The vampire itself appeared as one black shadow shifting from one place to the next as it attempted to avoid being wounded. The bullets and arrows were poisoned and could weaken any vampire. All that was required was one clean shot to a major organ or artery. In what seemed like a ten seconds, the gunfire receded, until finally, there was silence. And then the vampire looked right at the camera and the visual went black.

  “The van and trackers were reduced to ashes by the time a recovery unit discovered them,” DH-3 explained.

  “Damn,” D-0008 whispered.

  “Here’s a still shot where you can see his face,” DH-3 spoke as his direct report manned the controls of the projector.

  Elaina swallowed and leaned forward in her chair.

  The picture was fuzzy, but she could still make out his features. He was tall and slim in physique, and although she could not determine what he looked like, she noted that he had a prominent jawline and a defined facial structure. His hair was dark, maybe black. And it was long, hanging way past his shoulders.

  “It’s the only clear image we have of him. This is the Dresdan you’ll capture and drain. You’ll be assigned a van with a vault strong enough to hold and kill him. The mechanism inside the vault will puncture and drain him while he’s inside. The problem is getting him into the vault. You’ll have to weaken him, and that’s something the last units assigned to the case failed to do.” He pointed to the highly classified manila folders. “I suggest you study the contents, notes, and observations provided by both myself and the previous trackers. This will provide useful information into
what has worked and what hasn’t worked.”

  Elaina took the folder.

  “Other questions?” DH-3 asked them.

  No one said anything.

  “Do you accept this assignment?”

  “I accept this assignment,” D-209 said.

  “I accept,” Elaina chimed in.

  All four members of her unit accepted. Declining wasn’t an option, and she almost wondered why the District heads always ended with that question. She supposed they were trying to get rid of the weak links early in their contracts, which is something the District heads were known for. Her unit was literally being thrown to the wolves…er…vampires. She didn’t know about anyone else in her crew, but she planned to bounce back a victor.

  Elaina’s unit left the conference room to grab lunch before their scheduled afternoon meeting to go over the folders and devise a plan. She’d declined their invitation to sit and eat with them at the local diner. There was a spot by a shaded tree at a nearby park that she liked to sit under while eating her sandwiches. She figured she’d clear her mind by enjoying a few chapters of a crime thriller novel she hadn’t gotten around to reading during the series of intense training sessions.

  After swinging her tote bag over her shoulder, she exited the conference room. As she was walking down the corridor, she spotted the young lab tech who’d given her the injection the other day. On instinct, she took a hard left turn and approached the lab tech with a million questions racing through her mind.

  “Wait!” Elaina called out.

  The lab tech spun around, surprised. Recognition set into her facial expression and she backed away slowly, turned, and half-walked, half-ran in the opposite direction.

  Elaina couldn’t let the lab tech get away without knowing what had happened to the infected girl and she rushed after her into an unfamiliar area of the building.

  She finally caught up to the lab tech halfway down the corridor. “I just want to ask you something,” she said.

  The lab tech clutched her clipboard to her chest. “What?”

  “What’s wrong? Why do you look so scared? I’m not going to hurt you,” Elaina assured her.

  “You’re a tracker,” the lab tech whispered.

  “And…?” Elaina was a little confused. Actually, she was more than confused. “We both work here. Do you think I’m going to hurt you?”

  The lab tech’s posture was rigid and she gave Elaina a silent look. “You were chasing me and you’ve been trained to kill. I thought…” She shook her head. “Well, I don’t know what I thought.”

  Elaina narrowed her gaze. “You helped me the other day with my injection.”

  She nodded. “D-33. I remember you.”

  “Then you also remember what happened with the infected girl.”

  The lab tech turned swiftly.

  Elaina caught her by the arm. “What happened to her?”

  “Look, you shouldn’t be here,” The lab tech looked over her shoulder. “They’ll punish you.”

  “Punish?” Elaina felt the bridge of her nose wrinkle.

  “You’re not authorized—”

  “Look,” Elaina urged. “Just tell me what happened to the girl the other day…the infected girl from Level E, Station B1?”

  “She died, okay?” The lab tech shrugged her arm out of Elaina’s grasp.

  “Okay?” Elaina shook her head. “No, it’s not okay.”

  “She was infected.”

  “How?”

  The lab tech paused and then parted her lips slowly. “She wanted to die.”

  “Why?”

  “She wanted to end her contract. I have to g—.”

  “Why wasn’t anything done to help her live?”

  “She was labeled a risk to the District and the mission. She asked to be relieved of her duties.”

  Elaina stiffened her posture. “Asking to be relieved of duties, doesn’t sound like a wish to die? So which is it, did she want to die or did she want help?”

  “I was told she wanted to die when she came in with the infection.”

  “Which level did she work on?”

  “A. Look, why are you asking me this?”

  “A? Level A is where all the files are kept. Level A employees rarely ever come in contact with vampires,” Elaina replied. “Did someone deliberately poison her?”

  “I don’t know anything.” The lab tech shifted her gaze to the floor. “I have to go. I shouldn’t be telling you this. I wouldn’t repeat this to anyone or something will happen to you too,” she warned.

  The lab tech turned and dashed off down the hall, disappearing through a set of metal double doors. Elaina stood there for a couple minutes, lost in a sea of overlapping thoughts.

  Chapter 9

  Any assignment involving a stakeout was an assignment Elaina sought the most. Even before she’d joined District 5, she enjoyed people watching. She observed what made people tick and grow angry and what made them overjoyed and happy. People she couldn’t read piqued her interests the most. Oftentimes, she found that those were the individuals who had more than the current state of affairs on their minds. Kind of like she did right now…

  Had she made the right choice with her life?

  Although she felt a sense of pride in knowing that her job kept murderers off the streets, was this really her purpose?

  With sixteen years of being homeschooled and directed by her devoted mother behind her, one would think she’d know exactly what she wanted. But that was far from the truth. Not interested in the big-time Ivy League colleges that had sent her solicitations to apply, she’d attended a local community college instead. Had even changed her major four times in the three years that she’d studied there.

  First it had been computer science, since she didn’t really want to deal with people on a daily basis, and then it was physics because she’d always been interested in learning how to preserve the Earth’s natural resources. Then, one Thanksgiving, she’d talked with her parents over turkey and dressing and they’d mentioned that a prominent university had sent home a flyer about recruiting students for their new Genomics program. They told her how the program had recently added a research and study group on the history of vampires. By that time, most adults knew they existed. There wasn’t much the authorities could do to keep their existence a secret since rogues had already begun to prey on and kill humans.

  Since her dad was on a first-name and friendly basis with the professor at the university the flyer had come from, getting in was rather easy. Of course, her perfect GPA score at the community college spoke for itself, but sometimes it was whom one knew that counted.

  Her professor, Arnold Wade, had strong connections with District 5. He may have even been on the payroll in addition to his employment with the university, but he’d never told Elaina anything about it. Within months, a District recruiter approached Elaina with a lucrative but risky job offer.

  Eventually, she’d get to work in the labs and use her Genetics research studies, but first she’d have to work her way up.

  She was given a choice: clerical or front line duties.

  She’d never liked being anyone’s assistant. In fact, she aspired to be a leader. Working her way up from the front line seemed the best path for her.

  “Elaina…Elaina, do you see him from your position?”

  D-209’s voice jolted her back to reality, and she blinked twice and trained her gaze back on the dilapidated warehouse across the street. She crouched lower behind the bushes and scanned the area.

  “Fuck…I don’t see a thing,” she said, cursing herself for drifting off in thought.

  “It’s him, dammit,” D-57 said. “I can see him on my side from inside the van.”

  They could communicate with each other via mic on a designated channel.

  “This is our chance. It’s been almost a week. Fuck it. We have to do this,” D-209 said. “Are y’all ready?”

  Elaina was about to admit her mistake, but that’s when she saw the vam
pire and another suspect near the corner of the building. It was about an hour past midnight, so the area was obscured in darkness except for a few faulty lamps up the road, shedding some light on the scene.

  You couldn’t make out his companion at all, but there was a fifty percent chance that this was their vamp. They’d tracked a source to this very location where several drug and other criminal busts had gone down.

  “Elaina?” D-209 urged. “Got my back?”

  D-209 was the first shooter tonight, which meant he would pull the trigger while the others spotted.

  She checked the tightness of her clip at her side and reached down to make sure her weapons were still strapped tautly to her boots. “Yeah.”

  “He’s turning…he’s turning around…” This came from D-57 in the van.

  “I’ve got a shot,” D-209 whispered. “I’m going in—shit!”

  After the first shot had rung out, the vampire swung around, startled. A second shot was fired, but it hit the ground near the vampire’s boot instead of him. Dust rose up, but the vampire had long since shifted from that spot.

  D-209, aka Danny, had lousy aim. She could have done better than that. Now the vampire knew someone was on to him. And she certainly wasn’t going to stand there in the shadows and let it kill her. She came out of her hiding place and covered for Danny as she was instructed to do.

  “The vamp’s assailant got away,” D-57 reported from the van. “The fucking roof…vampire suspect on the fucking roof!”

  Elaina dodged behind a broken down rusty car in the parking lot, gripping her gun tightly. The air whipped tightly across her face and rushed through her ears, making it hard for her to use her sense of hearing to track the vampire.