Aspen Valley Wolf Pack (The Complete Series)

by Amber Ella Monroe

  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 continue 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.

  The Dresdan continued to clap his hands, sporting an amused grin. “Very good, Stewart,” he said, his foreign Asian accent was more distinct than his tone of voice, which was mellow, yet commanding.

  “Mercer,” Mr. Reynolds mumbled.

  “You tell a very good story, but you left out the part about how I delivered their hearts—drained of blood—to your front door. Your wife, your uncle, and your gardener. They were all part of your scheme to murder my mate.”

  “They didn’t kill her! I did.” Mr. Reynolds clenched his fists.

  “No, but they sat by while she begged for her life. Your own sister. You killed your flesh and blood.”

  “I couldn’t see her married or mated to a creature, a monster. She was a disgrace to our family.”

  “Was she? Or did you fear that she’d discover that she was just as deserving to run the family business as you were. After her death, you took Reynolds Pharmaceuticals and turned it into the disaster that it is today.”

  As Mercer closed the distance between him and Mr. Reynolds, Elaina began to back away. Intense power and something else of sizable magnitude emanated from the Dresdan. Something told her that Mercer possessed more than ten times her abilities. And judging from everyone else’s reaction, he was a force to be reckoned with.

  “Instead of killing me a long time ago when you had the chance, you chose to keep me locked away in order to fuel your research projects by using my blood and DNA. Too bad you failed.”

  “It was one step closer to making you the most miserable being alive,” Mr. Reynolds said. “I think I accomplished that quite well.”

  “I’m going to regret this.” Mercer shoved off his jacket and tendrils of energy began to radiate from his skin, along his torso, and down his arms. “But I can’t let you live to see another day. Not knowing about the things you did to the people inside that building. You were the monster whenever you stepped foot inside those labs.”

  Mercer began to chant something in a language Elaina couldn’t understand.

  Mr. Reynolds scrambled backward, clutching at his throat. He glanced at Elaina, his human eyes pleading for help.

  “Please,” he said. “Help me. I told you he was evil. An abomination that should’ve never been created. He won’t stop. He’ll murder all of you. He’s just that powerful.”

  A turbulent wind spun around Mercer as he continued to conduct whatever spell he was using to rob Mr. Reynolds of his life force. Elaina was witnessing something she’d never thought possible. How could a Dresdan have this much power? How many lives did he have to take to get it?

  “Elaina…” Mr Reynolds moved slowly against the forces pulling him down. “If ever a rogue you should kill, this is the one. He’s the one that the rogues call Master. Do it now, while he’s weak.”

  Elaina lifted her palm to shield her eyes, to ward off the bits of sand and debris whipping at her face. Vicq, Melrose, and Mark were still standing amid the chaos. All of them were trying to gain their bearings in a supernatural storm that wasn’t even directed at them.

  The situation turned dire when two helicopters began to buzz overhead. Police sirens blared in the distance, but they were getting closer and closer.

  Elaina lifted her gaze and focused her sights on the newest threat. The Feds had arrived.

  A shower of bullets began to pelt the ground, most of them directed at Mercer.

  Just as Elaina thought to shift away, as was the plan before, Mr. Reynolds lurched for her. Mercer’s power faded, releasing the hold on the chief conspirator behind District 5.

  Mr. Reynolds grabbed for her belt and snatched out a dagger. Not two seconds later, he thrust the blade straight through her chest.

  Her knees gave out from under her, and she hit the pavement. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream.

  Her vision was red, cloudy. Unfocused.

  Another body hit the pavement beside her. She stared into the fearful grey eyes of Mr. Reynolds. One minute, he was intact, and the next minute he was nothing but bloody limbs spread out over the ground.

  Someone lifted her. Vicq. She tried to say his name and begged him to take the pain away, but he told her to save her strength. They shifted away once, and then again.

  She was forced to drink blood. Vicq’s blood.

  But still it felt like she was drowning in an endless pool of misery.

  She faded in and out of consciousness, afraid to let go. Afraid to die.

  “Hold on,” someone said. It was Mercer’s voice.

  “Please save her,” Vicq said. “Whatever the price…save her.”

  “Of course,” Mercer replied.

  Even though her vision was hazy, Elaina managed to see one thing as clear as day. Silver eyes—not red like a Dresdan’s.

  And then she tasted his blood. Mercer’s blood. The blood of the vampire whom the rogues called Master. The moment the sweet elixir flooded over her tongue, the pain faded.

  “We’re being trailed by Superiors,” she heard Mercer say to Vicq.

  “I was given twenty-four hours to report to Master Russo,” Vicq said.

  “Why is he still Master?”

  “He betrayed Zaket. The Co
urt is in chaos. And with their Master gone, the rogues are disorderly.”

  “I was never Master to the rogues. They call me this because they know I am the only one who can fix them.”

  “Fix them?”

  “Yes. With my blood.”

  “Right,” Vicq said. “You can create Superiors, just like a Master.”

  “Yes, and do you know what an army of nonaffiliated Superiors would do to your Court?”

  “I’ve heard the stories about you,” Vicq told him. “All vampires were without a Master and divided decades earlier because of you. You created an army of Superiors who succeeded in overturning the Court, thus we had no Master until Zaket pulled us all back together.”

  “Indeed. I’m the most hated vampire of them all.”

  “You accomplished something that no Dresdan ever had,” Vicq said. “You initiated a change in leaders and you had control over the rogues.”

  “My blood magic had control over the rogues,” Mercer corrected.

  “Same difference.”

  “I’m a warlock and a vampire. The magic flows through my blood. No magic. No control. Make sense?”

  “Sí.”

  “You can accomplish the same thing. You need numbers. And you’ll only get that by going back to the Court and pledging allegiance. Avoid being put to death.”

  “Vicq,” Elaina called out, reaching for him. “Please don’t leave me again.”

  “I won’t,” Vicq replied, slipping his fingers into hers. “I’m right here.”

  Vicq placed her head carefully on some bags of clothing, but she kept her fingers grasped around his forearm.

  “Kneel just this once to Russo. Fall back in line,” Mercer said. “Prove your worth to the Court, and when the time is right, when he is vulnerable…take back what is rightfully yours.”

  “I won’t kneel,” Vicq said.

  “You can’t be stubborn and victorious at the same time. Russo won’t stop until you end him. I’ll tell you what…if you vow to end Russo’s reign, I’ll promise to find and bring swift end to the rest of those District 5 Heads.”

  “I’ll end him,” Vicq vowed.

  Mercer rose. “There’s not much time left for me to do this. Word will spread fast about what happened back there.”

  Vicq nodded. “You’re right. But if I do this, you’ll rejoin the Court, sí?”

  Mercer frowned. “No, you’ll never see me again. It won’t take me long to find those District Heads. After I do, I’ll make my exit. Eternal peace is waiting for me on the other side. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

  “Wait!” Vicq called out.

  “Do what you need to take back your Court.”

  Elaina’s eyes fluttered open momentarily as a harsh wind swept across her face. The door to the van slammed shut after Mercer exited.

  “Melrose!”

  “Yeah!” Melrose called back from the front of the van.

  “We’ve been located by Russo.”

  “Well, there’s no use in making it easy for them to catch us. They’re going to have to work for it,” Melrose said.

  “Fuck,” Mark exclaimed from the passenger side of the van just as the van propelled forward.

  Despite the fact that the healing process had begun for Elaina, she couldn’t seem to stay awake. Her body was pulling her into slumber. The more she fought it, the weaker she became. So she held onto Vicq and closed her eyes.

  * * *

  *** Chapter 26

  “Ah, you’re awake.”

  As Elaina regained consciousness, an unfamiliar face came into view. At first she thought the man was an angel who’d come to take her poor soul away, but something about his smirk was more sinister than angelic.

  The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in the van, but if she had recovered after taking Mercer’s blood, why then did she feel bruised and battered?

  “Who are you?” she croaked.

  The man waved a hand over her face. “Wake up, wake up. We have a ceremony to attend.”

  “Ceremony? And who the fuck are you?”

  “The day has come. The traitor we call Vicq will die.”

  She bolted upright on the sofa she was lying on. Her eyes were now fixed on the stranger.

  “Nice to meet you, love. My name is Russo.” He extended his hand. Highly amplified power rolled off him in waves.

  Elaina looked from his hand to his face then reeled back on the couch. “Where’s Vicq?”

  Russo smiled. “Not dead yet.” He ran his fingers through his exquisite blond hair and sat back in his chair to study her.

  “How did I get here?” she asked.

  “Vicq was trailed and captured. Just like I warned him. It’s unfortunate that you were there with him.”

  She lowered her gaze and turned her body away from him.

  “How did you ascend to Superior so quickly?” he continued. “Your slow recovery after the car crash tells me that you only recently became vampire but I’m sensing a stronger source of power within you. A power very few have here in the Court.”

  “Car accident?” Elaina asked.

  She rubbed her palms over her bruised body. She remembered being stabbed in the chest and healed by Mercer, but where had the other scars come from.

  “You mean you don’t know that you were in a car crash?” He laughed and the chains and other jewels on his belt loops clinked together.

  She gasped and her back stiffened. “Are my friends alive?”

  “Oh, calm down. We’re Dresdan. Do you really think we’re going to die from getting thrown from a van? I’m not going to let them off the hook that easily. All of my enemies die deaths worthy of their traitorous crimes.”

  Elaina frowned. This man spoke of her friends’ deaths like he was having a normal conversation about current events.

  “You bastard,” she muttered.

  He sighed and shook his head. “Why did you have to go there? I was just taking a liking to you. “ He stood and waved a few fingers in the air. A young woman came to him immediately. “Give her something to wear. Roy and Eldric will bring her to the square once you’re done.”

  Russo shifted out of the room without another word.

  There were bite marks all over the young woman’s neck and shoulders. She reached for Elaina.

  Elaina flashed fang. “If you touch me, I’ll snap your neck.”

  The woman fled the room, and two Dresdan Superiors entered. Elaina resisted all the way down the long winding corridor made of stone until she was led out onto a courtyard.

  The first person she spotted was Vicq, who stood in the middle of the area with his limbs chained to the ground. Despite having multiple veins opened up on his arms and legs, he remained upright but seemed to sway back and forth as if he would collapse at any moment.

  Bile rose in Elaina’s throat at the harsh picture before her. Both Mark and Melrose were also chained, but they were both weakened and on the ground.

  There were spectators, all vampires, looking across the courtyard as if this was a circus and they were all animals.

  Russo was seated on a throne-like structure made of the same stone as the Court.

  The Superiors who’d brought Elaina in, shoved her harshly into the courtyard, directly in front of Russo.

  “Perfect. They’re all here and conscious for their sentencing,” Russo said.

  “What is this?” Elaina yelled.

  “You really weren’t seasoned in the ways of the Dresdan, were you? No Superior should ever be ignorant of our ways,” Russo replied.

  “I’m not ignorant, you silly bastard,” she countered. “Do you know what these Dresdan had to go through to take down District 5 while you sat your lazy, non-working ass on a throne? They don’t belong in chains.”

  The crowd gasped and guffawed as Russo sat fuming.

  “Their punishment is for crimes committed against the Court before they executed these deeds you speak of.”

  “Are you serious? You’re obviously dro
wning in so much authority and power that was never meant for you that you can’t even see through your own thick-headed ways of bigotry.”

  Two Superiors came out with chains.

  Russo held up a hand and signaled for them to wait. “Let her spit flames, but I won’t raise my sentence.”

  “Is this really the way of the Dresdan?” Elaina asked. “Explain to me how anyone but a coward would put the people that have stood up and fought not just for themselves, but for all vampires to death.”

  A wave of silence fell over the area.

  “Explain it to me like you would a human. Why is a Dresdan who takes on a mission bigger than himself labeled a traitor? If you were my Master, I’d turn my back on you, too.”

  She pushed forward toward the throne, only to be held back by two Superiors.

  “Do you know what they say about a leader who sends his men out to do all of his work for him?”

  “Enlighten me,” Russo said to Elaina’s surprise.

  “You will never gain the support due a true leader unless you walk with those you command. You sit on a throne, throwing out orders, but will you ever execute them yourself? Have you ever?”

  Russo’s face was now red in what Elaina hoped to be more shame than fury.

  “Why are you speechless now?”

  “Elaina,” Vicq croaked from across the space.

  She could hear him now, and he didn’t even need to say the words. He wanted her to stand down, but she wouldn’t. She wasn’t going to be silenced before dying. She hoped her words echoed in Russo’s memories long after her death. Maybe one day, he’d actually listen.

  Russo uncrossed his legs and rose from his throne. Then he descended the dais, coming down to her level. His eyes were red like the brightest rose and his fangs were distended, glistening under the moon and starlit sky over the courtyard.

  Elaina stood her ground as he circled her. She felt every inch of his gaze, every sweep of eyes across her. He closed the distance between them and snatched the blood necklace that Vicq had given her away. He crushed the glass and let the blood run down his arm, and then he grabbed a fistful of her hair and forced her to look up at him.