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

by Amber Ella Monroe

  “Then I’ll go there prepared. Two hours of hunting and feeding should give me what I need to travel and get through to him. I’ve walked in sunlight. Heck, I was forced to bear it for days, remember? I’ll do it again if that’s what it takes.”

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Even if you feed tonight like I suggested, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be ready.”

  Elaina stood. “Look, I’ll just destroy the note and then try to get word to him some other way. Maybe through a messenger.”

  “But do you really want someone else involved in this?” he questioned.

  She shook her head.

  Vicq reached for her forearm and pulled her close. “And how much time do you think you have to play with while your daddy risks himself by tracking you down? Gunfire was exchanged during that shootout. You saw the blood evidence.”

  “You’re right. I get the feeling that the hours are ticking away here. Why, after all this time, are my parents trying to contact me?”

  “After uncovering the suspicious check stubs in their home, the shootout, and talks of Refuge, I’m going with my gut feeling… There’s a missing link and we might have just found it.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  Chapter 7

  The city’s underbelly came alive after midnight. But this area had always been a place where America’s most wanted men and women could escape detection by blending in. Stretching across some five blocks, this turf was a hotspot for criminals, low-lifes, and night-loving vampires—like him. Word on the street was that a criminal mastermind oversaw the territory. Even the cops steered clear of the area, which told Vicq that whoever had laid claim to the domain had an in with the authorities. And criminals did whatever the hell they wanted here, freely. But the discovery of shady human government operations had never surprised Vicq in the past, nor did it today. During his days of serving Zaket and the Dresdan Court, he’d frequented this spot often to feed. A nightclub or secluded bar would have been a riskier choice, but here in the underbelly, it was easier to find a not-so-innocent target.

  Dozens of warm bodies. All in one place. It was the reason why most vampires preferred the city. It was also the reason Vicq’s coven had chosen the mountains as their sanctuary. The chance of another vampire encroaching on their territory in search of food was slim to none. A chance of discovery still existed, but those chances were lowered by living in less populated metropolitan areas and mountainous regions.

  Vicq couldn’t even recall the last time he’d taken blood other than Elaina’s. He hadn’t had the need or any urgent cravings for it since he’d gotten Elaina back. It was a good thing he was as old as he was. Newly created vampires needed excess amounts of human blood to sustain themselves. Either that, or they needed to drink from the veins of an ancient vampire—like him. Vicq may not have his official Superior rank, but he still possessed Superior strength. He’d left the Court with hundreds of blood kills under his belt.

  Vicq pulled his black hoodie over his head and folded in with the crowd. Loud music blasted from every car parked in the lot. The gang members were loud and boisterous. Drugs were being traded and used without care. The women were flirty and looked dazed. It was a vampire’s paradise. He hoped he didn’t run into any hungry rogues tonight. He was here to feed, not kill.

  Vicq slowed his pace as he witnessed a guy arguing with a woman. He honed in on their conversation and realized that the man was reprimanding the woman for not charging a customer enough money.

  “Where’s the rest of it?” the male hissed at the woman.

  “I’m sorry…” She sobbed. “This is what I collected. Please…”

  The guy struck her across the face so hard that Vicq heard the impact from across the parking lot. Trying his best not to use his supernatural speed, Vicq rushed toward the couple.

  He placed himself between the jerk and the female, who appeared to be high as a kite on drugs.

  “Excuse me. Was that necessary?” Vicq asked.

  The guy’s lips thinned and he sized Vicq up. He took two steps back after his assessment and said, “Why do you care? She’s available. Are you buying?”

  Vicq glanced at the blunt that the guy held between his fingers, but then his attention quickly shifted to the veins on his upturned wrist. Even in the dark, his vampire eyes witnessed the slight throb of the thickest vein. Farther up on his arm was a gang-related tattoo that resembled the ink on the first man Vicq had nearly drained.

  “Are you policing, man?” the guy asked when Vicq didn’t respond.

  “No, but I am shopping.”

  The guy grinned. “What do you need? I’ve got plenty of merchandise back in my van.”

  Knowing what he came for, Vicq let his fangs drop slightly below the gum line but was careful enough to keep this display of hunger hidden behind his lips.

  “Hey.” The guy frowned and dipped his head a bit to try to assess Vicq from under his black hoodie. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

  “No.”

  “You sure? You don’t go to that college up the street, do you?”

  “I’m not from around here. But back to your merchandise…”

  “Come on. I’ll show you the good stuff.” The guy motioned for him to follow.

  Another muscular guy who Vicq presumed to be the drug dealer’s bodyguard followed them.

  Vicq was led to a less populated area to the right of the parking lot. The guy opened the back doors of a white van, revealing several suitcases inside. He lifted the top of one.

  “Pick your pleasure,” he said, waving his arm across his supply, naming a few of the drugs.

  “Looks good, but I need something to hold me over for a day or so. What have you got in the back?”

  “Top line merchandise will cost you more.”

  Vicq produced a wad of cash. “I’m not here to waste time.”

  “Well…if you’ve got the cash, I’ve got the product.”

  While the guy was lifting himself up into the cargo area, Vicq turned quickly and knocked the bodyguard out. Before his body hit the pavement, Vicq had already shifted himself into the van, immobilized his prey, and sunk his fangs into his neck. He fed until the drug dealer was nearly drained. Just before the guy passed out, Vicq washed some of his most recent memories away. After he was done, he dragged the bodyguard into the back and repeated the process. Just before leaving, Vicq dropped several hundred dollar bills next to his victims and left.

  He returned to the area where he’d met the drug dealer, only to find the woman the man had abused still waiting in the same spot like a lost puppy. When she spotted him, her eyes widened, and Vicq could see the red of his irises reflected in her gaze. Her mouth widened, but before she could scream, Vicq whisked her away to a dark alley several yards from the parking area.

  “Don’t scream.”

  Her eyes widened with fright, and her body trembled in his hold. There was nothing like morbid fear to kill someone’s high, but this woman needed to do more than come down from her trip. She needed rehab. Vicq could already smell the mix of drugs in the sweat on her skin.

  Her lips tried to part under his gloved hand.

  “Don’t…” he warned again. “I want to help you. I’m going to lift my hand.”

  She nodded her head.

  Vicq slowly removed his palm and swung her around to face him.

  Her lips trembled. “Y-you’re a v-vampire.”

  Vicq did nothing to hide his partially dropped fangs; instead he said, “I think you’re seeing things. What’s your name?”

  “Kassidy,” she whispered. “I’m not as high as I look.”

  “What’s your story, then?”

  She brought both arms up and rubbed them. He could see right through the layer of makeup on her face that she’d used to cover up the bruises.

  “I’m broke,” she said.

  “Aren’t we all a little battered and broken?”

  She palmed the bruise on her left
cheek. “I guess.”

  “I read your pimp daddy’s memories, and I want to help you move on.”

  She pursed her lips and shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  “One month ago, that scumbag picked you up near the college and convinced you to start working for him.”

  “I lost my job on campus. It was the only option.”

  “The only option? Really? Was that the lie he told you? You need to leave him and get on with your life.”

  She backed away. “I have to go back. He’ll find me.”

  “No, he won’t,” Vicq reassured her. “You aren’t the first or only girl that he uses. Not only did I read his memory, but I also erased them all the way back to before you met him. You have another chance.”

  “But…I still don’t have a job.”

  “Find one. A legitimate one,” he said. “You’re not a punching bag.”

  The veins on her neck pulsed when she swallowed. “I made a mistake. I thought he was nice.”

  “He’s not. You can go back.” He motioned to the crowd of convicts and drug dealers. “Or you can start over.”

  She looked behind her and then to the left. “You can actually erase memories?”

  “Sí.”

  “So, he won’t remember me anymore?”

  “Correct.”

  One corner of her lips quirked up into a smile. “I’ve heard about you vampires. I never believed all of you were evil. Can you make me what you are?”

  Vicq shook his head. “I can…but I won’t. Now, go. You shouldn’t be out here.”

  “Thank you for your help.” She turned swiftly and fled from the crowd of criminals.

  Knowing that time was against him, Vicq searched for his next victim. It wasn’t a hard task to complete among the throng of criminals hanging out in the city’s underbelly.

  Study the prey. Snatch and feed. It was that simple.

  Vicq was huddled over what would be his last source of blood for the night when he saw a dead body just a few meters away. He approached the expired individual and spotted the vampire bites on the neck immediately.

  He hadn’t fed from the victim. And he hadn’t killed anyone tonight for that matter. He’d kept all of them alive. But yet, as he stared at the dead man lying on the pavement, it took him little time to process the odds. This wasn’t the work of a rogue. The marks on the neck were too perfect, and the man was completely drained of blood.

  A swift wind pushed against Vicq’s back, and just as he was about to turn around, a hard force shot out from nowhere and barreled him down to the ground.

  Definitely not a rogue. Vicq’s attacker was a full-fledged Dresdan.

  Their bodies collided with each other over and over again in an attempt to grab hold and gain the upper hand. With each hit of his body against the brick wall of the building surrounding them, Vicq nearly vomited blood. He caused just as much damage to his attacker, however. Apparently, neither of them were willing to show mercy.

  As they struggled on the ground, Vicq spotted the mark of a Soldier on his attacker’s chest.

  “Who are you?”

  “This is my domain,” his attacker hissed, blood leaking from his lips. “You should be answering that question.”

  “Last I checked, these grounds were neutral,” Vicq replied.

  “Not anymore. I don’t play by the rules of the current Dresdan Court.”

  They both shot up into the air with inhuman speed and tumbled left and right, bouncing off the brick walls. It was a good thing the music from the crowded parking lot was loud enough to drown out the ruckus, and that the criminals were too engrossed in other endeavors to notice two Dresdans squaring off.

  “What do you mean?” Vicq asked, ducking as his attacker swung.

  “You’re a Superior, aren’t you? Are you here to take me in to the Master?”

  “Fuck, no. I’m here to feed. Last I checked, I feed wherever the hell I want. Translation…I play by no rules.”

  This time, when his attacker swung, he clipped Vicq across the chin, nearly dislocating his fangs. Vicq didn’t have time to quarrel in the back of an alley. It was time he put a stop to this and got back to his sanctuary and Elaina.

  He rushed his attacker, grabbed him by the throat, and pounded him into the ground. His nails were dug a couple of inches into flesh before the Soldier lifted his hands up in a sign of defeat.

  “Wait.” He struggled against Vicq’s hold. “You’re not from the Court?”

  “No. I denounced the Court long ago.”

  “So did I.”

  Vicq eased his grip on his attacker’s throat. “Who are you?”

  “Ex-Solider,” he said. “My name’s Philippe.”

  Vicq backed away from Philippe, who scrambled to the opposite end of the alley and took several deep breaths. The wounds from their fight began to heal, and nearly disappeared completely in under a minute.

  “When did you leave the Court?” Vicq asked.

  “After Zaket was slain,” Philippe replied, and then his gaze shifted across Vicq suspiciously. “I know who you are now. You were made by Zaket himself. The Superior that he held high above all others—Vicq. The Superior who fled the Court under suspicions of a conspiracy headed by Master Russo.”

  Vicq’s chest tightened at the mention of his Maker’s name and Philippe’s accurate accusations. “Then you know and believe who’s responsible for Zaket’s death?”

  Philippe nodded. “It’s something my Dresdan brothers and I don’t speak about. We just accept it and move on. There’s nothing more we can do. With Russo’s numbers and the power and strength he gained as a result of killing Zaket, he’ll likely be Master of the Dresdan Court for millennia.”

  “I haven’t given up,” Vicq said.

  “Do you plan to take back the Court?”

  “My plans are to proceed one day at a time until I have avenged my Maker,” Vicq replied.

  “Should you need one…you have an ally in me.”

  “I don’t trust freely anymore.”

  “Understood,” Philippe said. “Neither do I. What’s the occasion?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve been feeding on my turf, and I gathered from your strength over me tonight that you’ve fed well.”

  “I haven’t had human blood in months. I need the strength for something I have to do.”

  “I should warn you to be careful,” Philippe replied. “Russo and his Soldiers took out a small coven of Dresdan not too long ago. He commands the rogues, and purposely sends them in to kill humans. He sends his Soldiers to take out rule-breakers like you and me. He’s presided over the Court long enough to have gained enough support to take down anyone against him.”

  “I’m aware,” Vicq said. “Total dominion over the entire vampire population was one of Zaket’s goals, but Russo has taken it to a whole new level…and not in a good way. The humans are beginning to take note of our existence and are becoming extremists, killing us in disorderly fashion.”

  “Are you talking about the science research organization that studies us? I’ve heard about them. That’s another threat I’ve learned to stay away from. District, Inc., isn’t it?”

  “District 5, yes. And that’s exactly what I am referring to,” Vicq replied. “They have been an annoying distraction.”

  “Let’s just say you’re not the only Dresdan ready to give them a taste of their own medicine.”

  “I’ll bet on that. I’m sure most of us would rather be dead than captured by them,” Vicq said. “How did you inherit this domain? There were no vampires claiming it the last time I came here.”

  Philippe grinned. “In a sense, it has always been mine. My old man was the drug lord around these parts until he was murdered. I was to take the reins after his death, but I died months before his murder and was brought back by a vampire who happened to be my best friend. I spent the next several years serving the Dresdan Court. Many of my father’s colleagues tried to claim what was
mine in my absence by forging my death certificate even when there was no body—just concrete evidence of death.”

  “But you are Dresdan…and undead.”

  “Yes, I am. I fled the Court after Zaket was slain. I watched from the sidelines as my old man’s vision for the business he’d worked to build from the ground up faded away, but I couldn’t allow my family’s legacy to be stripped away from us. Can you imagine my uncle’s surprise when he found out that I was still around? He quickly took the reins. Almost too quickly, considering that he’d once told my old man that he never wanted that kind of power. Imagine the look on my uncle’s face when I revealed that I knew about how he’d set my old man up to be slaughtered because he actually did want that kind of power?”

  “So what do you do now? Are you known as a drug lord?”

  “I am. Very few have seen me. They just know that I exist in some way, shape, or form. I am known to them as Ghost, but to my coven, which I also lead, I am Philippe. I call the shots and someone else carries out the orders. But tonight, I decided to get my hands dirty and do a little bit of corporate downsizing. I hate snitches. Don’t you?” He hooked a thumb in the direction of the dead body lying on the pavement. “Believe it or not, I actually enjoy cleaning.”

  “And squaring off with other Dresdan, right?” Vicq grinned.

  Philippe chuckled. “It’s been so long since I’ve picked a fight with someone my own size.” He held out a hand. “Hey, I meant what I said. Trust must be earned, I understand that much. But don’t be a stranger. You know where I lurk.”

  They exchanged a handshake. “Nice meeting you, Ghost. I appreciate your offer. I should go.”

  Satiated by the night’s consumption, Vicq folded away and headed back to sanctuary.

  Chapter 8

  “Well, look what the bat dragged in,” Logan commented just as Vicq sauntered through the door of the den. “You know you could have told us guys you were going out on the town. We would have joined you. You’re not the only one who’s exceptionally bloodthirsty.”

  Elaina grinned the moment she saw Vicq, and a burning desire to hold him consumed her.