The Lion's Den (Knights of the Darkness Chronicles)

by D N Simmons

  The bouncers were aware of their “raid”. The doorman stepped to the side. He looked at the two detectives. “I’ve got to tell ya, Warren, I thought all of them were coming in here. I mean, that’s a lot of brass in one place.”

  “They did too, but I don’t want to disturb Darian’s business unnecessarily. I’m just looking for four people. Did a group of three male vamps and a female shifter come by tonight?” Warren asked.

  The bouncer shrugged. “I haven’t seen them, but you can take a look inside anyway.”

  “Thanks.” Warren nodded toward the entrance. “Let’s go,” he said to Brian, who followed him inside. He knew there were only two sections of the club that were opened to the public. The dance section and the strip club section. They searched those areas quickly realizing that the group wasn’t there. He and Brian made their way toward the backroom for members only. Immediately, it hit them. The air was thick with the scents of sex and blood, desire and ecstasy. They could hear what was going on even before they opened any doors.

  “Jesus! You guys know about this place? It’s illegal!” Brian said. He swallowed hard, as he wiped away a bead of sweat from his forehead. He was beginning to feel hot under the collar, his own arousal rising like an erupting volcano.

  “The S.U.I.T. doesn’t ‘officially’ know … if you catch my drift. Which is why it’s just you and me in here. Are you going to be able to keep yourself together?” Warren asked, smiling slyly as he witnessed Brian struggling to regain control.

  “Ye-yeah. I’ll be fine. Let’s go,” Brian said through heavy pants.

  Warren approached the two shifter guards. “Hey.” He flashed his badge and they stepped to the side. The two detectives went into the middle room all the way in the back of the hallway.

  Brian reached out, stopping Warren from opening the door. “Wait. Um, who are we looking for in there?”

  “We’re looking for anyone who may have seen them tonight. I don’t think they’ve been here. It would be pretty fucking stupid of them to show their faces in the club of the Master vampire after they broke one of his rules. They wouldn’t be able to get past the shape-shifter bouncer without setting off alarms. He would smell the scent of death all over them and alert Darian. I’m just looking for someone who may be able to lead me in their direction.”

  “Ah, I see. Okay, let’s go.”

  Warren nodded then opened the door, releasing the full blast of the sexual essence that clouded the air.

  “Oh shit,” Brian gasped. His knees went weak and he had to grab a hold of the doorframe to keep from falling to the floor. His body quaked several times as he panted breathlessly.

  Warren watched him, not saying a word. He knew what to expect and had prepared himself as best he could. The first time, when they were still together, he and Adrian went to the backrooms, and they had both ended up just like Brian. He smiled to himself at the memory.

  “Fuck, I can’t believe I just came,” Brian whispered once he was able to gather his footing.

  “It wouldn’t be the first time this area had that effect on people.” Warren licked his lips. He took several deep breaths, hoping to keep control of himself long enough to do his job. He was glad he had prepared himself for the overwhelming energy the room produced. He knew that Brian had no idea what was behind that door, so it was no surprise to him that the shifter climaxed.

  Warren waited for Brian to get his baring before he continued searching the room. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to deny the urges raging through his own loins as he made his way through the withering bodies of dozens of people moaning in ecstasy on several dark red pillows. The two men could smell several shifters who happened to be in “heat” at the moment. As they passed by one, she reached out, hand cupping Brian’s groin.

  “Fuck me,” she begged with pleading eyes. Her hand began to caress his second growing erection. She opened her legs, allowing him to catch a fresh scent of her longing.

  Saliva gathered in his mouth, Brian had to swallow before he drooled. Unable to stop himself, he sunk to his knees falling onto her. He began kissing her as she quickly unzipped his pants pulling him free. He entered her without hesitation, moaning loudly as he pushed himself into her to the hilt.

  Warren turned when he noticed Brian was no longer behind him. He quickly located his temporary partner, finding him in the arms of a female wolf. “Fuck!” He hissed under his breath, understanding what was happening. It was the same thing he wanted to do. It was the same thing he felt like he needed to do, but now was definitely not the time. He ran over there, reaching down, prying Brian away from his conquest.

  “Let’s go, we’ve got work to do, another time,” Warren said, pulling Brian to his feet.

  “Damn, I’m sorry,” Brian said, his chest heaving. “I’ve never been in this kind of environment before. This place is driving me insane. It’s got all my senses tingling.”

  “Yeah, I figured. However, I need you focused. There’s someone I want to talk to right now, come on.” This time Warren made sure Brian was in front of him as they made their way across the room toward a male shifter enjoying the oral pleasures of a younger male vampire who happened to be feeding at the same time. Warren pulled the vampire away, angering both men.

  “Hey, what the fuck?!” The vampire hissed. He stopped his complaining abruptly when he saw the barrel of Warren’s gun and Brian’s S.U.I.T. badge directly in his face. “Shit, hey, I was just having some fun,” he began to explain as he wiped away the few drops of blood that had spilt.

  “Don’t worry, you’re not who we want anyway. Find someone else,” Warren said, gesturing for the vampire to leave. He did. “Now, as for you, Vinny. Where’s your friends?”

  The shifter sat up against the pillows looking at the two detectives. “What friends?” he asked, hand reaching down to caress his bloodied erection, eliciting a moan.

  “Don’t fucking play with me tonight.” Warren grabbed him by his hair and began dragging him toward the door. Vinny cursed as his hands instinctively tried to pry his hair out of the detective’s grip. Outside of the room, the three men were able to chat without as much temptation clouding their judgment.

  “Ow! Let go of my hair, fucker!” the younger shifter cursed.

  “Are you trying to piss me off?” Warren asked. With his right hand, he slapped his palm against the shifter’s forehead causing him to hit the back of his head against the wall.

  “Ow! Shit!” Vinny rubbed his head. “What do you want?” He looked up at them, features distorted with a mixture of anger, disappointment and fear.

  “The three vamps and the female shifter, you know who I’m talking about. I think her name was Emily … something … ,” Warren said, trailing off so that Vinny could fill in the blanks.

  “Yeah, I know them. Emily, Eric, Jake and Andre. I haven’t seen them tonight,” Vinny said.

  “Do you know where I could find them?”

  “What’s in it for me if I tell you?”

  “I won’t kick your ass, or have you forgotten, the S.U.I.T. has a license to kill? I’ll shoot you and swear I found you eating children for dinner. Are you going to work with me or not?” Warren threatened.

  Vinny sighed, not liking the other option one bit. “I’ll help you, but you didn’t get this information from me. They find out I told you the location to their hangout … they’re stronger than me, they could hurt me.”

  “They won’t find out … that I can promise you.”

  “Okay. You should be able to find them on Belmont, right off of Halsted.” He gave them the apartment address. “Apartment number three-fourteen on the third floor. Remember, you didn’t hear it from me.”

  “Fine. Is this their only hangout?” Brian asked.

  “The main one. They also like to hang out around the Human-Only district and fuck with the humans leaving there.”

  “Thanks for your cooperation. You can get back to your evening activities.” Warren and Brian left the club. He
told the other S.U.I.T. officers who checked in with him where they needed to go, sending them to patrol the Human-Only district for their suspects.

  “We’re dinner. Areir home?” Brian asked, climbing into the passenger seat beside Warren.

  “Yeah. It’s in Boystown. I’m just hoping they’re home.” The two detectives made it to the address in less than ten minutes. They approached the apartment as quietly as possible. Without a warning, Warren kicked down the door, gun pointed at the four people inside scrambling for weapons preparing to attack.

  “Don’t fucking move, or we’ll shoot. You know we won’t miss,” Warren warned.

  One of the vampires was crouched low in a springing position. After hearing Warren’s warning, he decided not to lunge forward. He rose to his feet. The other three followed his lead.

  “What do you want, wolf? Does the S.U.I.T. even know they’ve got two mutts working for them?” the apparent leader, Jake, asked arrogantly.

  “I don’t even have to ask if you killed that woman on North Avenue. I can smell fresh blood all over you. You smell like death,” Warren said.

  “We don’t know shit about some dead bitch on North Avenue. We fed tonight, but that’s it.”

  “Bullshit,” Brian said. “I can smell the same human blood all over her and she shouldn’t be smelling like human blood.” He gestured to Emily, the shape-shifter.

  Emily stepped back, toward the window.

  “Fuck this!” Warren shot the leader before he could move, taking him by surprise. The ultraviolet gel bullet exploded inside his chest, turning his skin to ash from the inside out, killing him instantly. The others attacked, having witness their leader’s execution. Warren fired his weapon several times, striking another vampire in the arm, killing him. Brian shot Emily as she was trying to escape out the window. He hated that he had to shoot her in the back, but he wasn’t going to let her get away. The last vampire tried to rush past Warren to get through the door, but Warren punched him hard across the face, knocking him to the ground before putting a bullet into this head. Both detectives watched as the ultra-violet gel glowed underneath the vampire’s skin, working its way through the bloodstream burning the vampire from the inside-out. The vampire twitched several times as his flesh rapidly turned into black ash leaving a darkened stain in the shape of his body that blew away with the gust of wind that came through the window.

  Warren looked around the room at the minor carnage. His gaze settled on Brian who was nodding at him. “You make a pretty good partner,” he said, complimenting the other shifter.

  “You too. I’ve got to say, it’s good to take out some bad guys. I haven’t had this feeling of satisfaction since I landed here,” Brian said, holstering his gun.

  “Yeah, unfortunately, the real threat is still out there and we’re not one step closer to stopping them.” Warren snapped his gun back into place in its holster. He called in the shooting, reporting directly to his captain.

  “Let’s hope they’re the copycat killers. I’m sending the forensics team to your location along with someone from Marshall’s team to finish your investigation there and retrieve the remains. When they arrive, I want you two to come back here to go over David’s sketches. I want you to make certain those were actually the killers our witness said he saw,” Captain Michelle Lawrence said.

  Warren knew he couldn’t tell her the truth. That he already knew he had the killers because he could smell fresh blood all over them, or that they smelled of a fresh kill, so he agreed. “Sure thing.”

  Captain Lawrence sighed. “Good. In other news, we’re still gathering details from several people we were able to pick up during the raids. We still don’t have any information as to where these other killers are.”

  “I figured as much. These guys are pros at what they do, they’re not likely to leave a bunch of trails, that includes consorting with insignificant supernaturals who’d rat on them for a free pass,” Warren said.

  “Still, we need something. We need to catch these killers Warren, there’s no telling how many more people they’re going to kill.”

  “I know. We’ll see you soon.” Warren ended the call. He looked at Brian. “The first S.U.I.T. employee who walks through that door, we can leave.”

  “Works for me,” Brian said. “By the way, before we head into the precinct, can we swing by the hotel so I can change my clothes?”

  Warren chuckled. “We probably should. I wouldn’t want Matthew to get the wrong idea.” He remembered Brian’s sudden “reaction” back at Desires Unleashed.

  “He’d think you’d be unfaithful?” Brian asked.

  Warren shook his head. “It was just a joke. He’s knows me, knows I’d never cheat on him, even though you’re hot, I’d never do anything to hurt him.”

  “Well, that’s love. It’s good that both of you know there isn’t anyone who’s going to come between you,” Brian said, remembering how miserably his earlier seduction of Matthew had failed.

  Warren smiled to himself. “Yeah, it is.”

  Brian chuckled. “I do think before I leave here, if we solve this case … I’d like to go back to Desires Unleashed.”

  Warren gave him a sly smile. “Unfinished business?”

  “You could say that,” Brian said with a wink.

  The two men chatted casually about their case and other topics until two team members from CSI arrived on the scene. They updated them on what had taken place, as planned and then left. Warren stopped by the hotel so that Brian could change his pants and freshen up, then they continued on to the precinct, they met up with the other four detectives on the case and confirmed with their witness and the sketches that the supernaturals they killed earlier were the ones they had been looking for.

  “I guess this is what they mean when they say, ‘open and shut case, Johnson’,” Barry said, nodding knowingly at his partner, whose last name happened to be “Johnson”.

  “I’d like the phrase better if I could actually apply it to the bigger case,” Gabriel said.

  “Yeah, well, we’re working on that,” Colin said.

  “I’m just glad the sun’s almost up,” Gabriel stated.

  “That would mean something if all of these vampires slept during the day, but they don’t,” Barry said.

  “What haven’t we tried?” Warren asked. “I mean, we’ve done stake-outs, raids, patrols, every one of us has spoken to our CI’s. What’s next?”

  “I’m having a hard time believing that they were able to kill all of those people and not have one person who saw them do it, at least witness them disposing of the bodies,” Brian said. He ran his hands down his face as he released a long sigh.

  Colin patted him on his back. “Relax, Brian.”

  “I can’t! Fuck, none of us can until this is over, Colin,” Brian said. He looked at his friend and partner. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take my frustrations out on you.”

  “It’s okay, I understand.” Colin turned, looking at the other four men. “What do we do if a witness does step forward? Aside from getting a possible description, how are we going to track them down?”

  “One step at a time, Colin … one step at a time,” Warren said.

  The six detectives decided to take shifts while the other four left to go home, eat, sleep and restore themselves. Barry and Gabriel volunteered to take the first shift. Warren and Matt dropped Colin and Brian off at their hotel before heading toward Darian’s mansion. The sun was rising over the horizon as they pulled into the winding driveway. Inside the mansion, they knew that all of the vampires were asleep as well as several shifters. Both men sat down in front of their leaders as they were told the details of the plan.

  “I don’t like it, but there’s really no safe way to play this out,” Warren said.

  “Let me get this straight … are each of our entire groups going?” Matthew asked.

  “No,” Xander answered. “I’m taking six members from my Pack, Elise is taking four from hers and only Richard is joining
us.”

  Matthew turned to Richard. “You don’t want me to come with you?”

  “No. You need your rest,” Richard said.

  “I want to argue with you about that, but it’s true. I’m exhausted,” Matthew agreed.

  “I know. I can see it in your eyes. You are as well, Warren. The two of you need to sleep, in case this doesn’t work out as planned, we’re going to need you at full strength.” Richard eyes panned over the faces of both men.

  “I understand,” Warren said, rising from his chair.

  “Call us if you need us,” Matthew said.

  “We will. Darian set aside a room for you, he figured you’d both be exhausted and would appreciate a warm, comfortable bed,” Elise said.

  “Well, he was right,” Warren replied, chuckling.

  “Follow me.” Elise led the two men to Natasha’s old bedroom. They undressed and climbed into bed. A few seconds later, they were both asleep.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Dad, I’m actually surprised you’re all for the use of weapons this time around,” Adrian said, as he was checking over his handgun loaded with silver bullets.

  Xander looked at his son, whom he’d chosen as an enforcer for their Pack for a reason. He smiled. It wasn’t that he was opposed to using weapons at all. He felt the use of weapons were ideal in certain situations, like now. “Why wouldn’t I be? This situation calls for it. We’re not in a battle for our territory. This has everything to do with survival, and we should be prepared for whatever may come.”

  “But isn’t this still about us defending our territory? What about the ‘integrity’ of it?” Adrian asked, remembering his father’s words to him.

  “Because this is our territory, yes, we are defending it. However, no official Challenge of Authority has been issued. We are not the only one’s being attacked. We must eliminate this threat by any means necessary. I don’t think there’s a community in existence that wouldn’t understand our methods and use them if they were in our predicament,” Xander answered.