Dmitri

by D'Elen McClain

  Fang Chronicles: Dmitri

  Book V

  D’Elen McClain

  Published by Bad Luck Publishing

  Copyright 2013 D’Elen McClain

  Bad Luck Publishing

  delenmcclain@gmail.com

  http://fangchronicles.wordpress.com

  Fang Chronicles: Dmitri

  Fang Chronicles: Book V

  Printing History

  eBook Edition: December 2013

  All rights reserved including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

  This is a work of fiction. ALL characters are derived from the author’s imagination.

  No person, brand, or corporation mentioned in this Book should be taken to have endorsed this Book nor should the events surrounding them be considered in any way factual.

  Chapter One

  Russia 1918

  Dressed in a Cheka black leather coat with his shoulder-length brown hair pulled back tightly with a leather band, Dmitri listened to the whispered words of assassination. Cold, numbing fear clenched his heart, causing his fingers to tighten into fists at his sides.

  He was proud of the position he attained and his ability to keep his vampire heritage a secret, but he felt at a disadvantage in the game of kings. It was his job to report the status of the continued imprisonment of Imperial Russia’s royal family. This included the abdicated Tsar, his wife, and their children. To do that, he infiltrated the Bolshevic Secret Police, or Cheka, as they were known.

  The dynamics of his assignment became personal after his first look at Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaevna, the Tsar’s youngest daughter. She was sixteen the first time Dmitri caught her delicious scent and peered into her translucent blue eyes. His instant attraction was one thing, but over the following weeks, he noticed the dignity she exuded while embracing the challenges of captivity. Her strength and grace left him stunned. On occasion, he’d catch her eye, causing a decidedly alluring blush to brighten her cheeks, heating her flesh, and her intoxicating scent would permeate the air.

  Dmitri fell head over heels in love.

  While under house arrest, the royal family was moved to Ipatiev House. Its stark austerity was in sharp contrast to their previous quarters, but after all, they were prisoners, political pawns in a revolution of change.

  Dmitri, completely attuned to the young human female, spent many hours studying the intricacies of her family. The air of superiority displayed by the Tsar and Empress was lacking in their children, especially Anastasia, who continually made those around her laugh. Even the most uptight Cheka brethren found humor in her antics. Her laughter would thrill across Dmitri’s flesh, warming his heart. He also experienced a calming, angelic peace whenever she was near.

  As the days slowly turned into months, his love bordered on obsession. He’d lived hundreds of years as a vampire and had known countless women, but Anastasia was different. He wanted no other man but her father or younger brother in close proximity. He fought down a rage he hadn’t experienced before when a guard got too close.

  Eventually, their furtive glances turned into sweet stolen moments in dark corridors. A gentle touch, the sweeping of her hair across his face, or her delicate muffled giggles left him with a raging hard on. She had no idea what it took to resist her laughing whispers and not give into the raging need to take her and stake his claim.

  Anastasia was now seventeen and the attraction she felt for him stronger. He knew this because her tentative touch became intimate, exploring above his clothes and making his need stronger. Dmitri spent hours contemplating changing her to vampire. He would prefer to wait a few years when she was in the full bloom of womanhood, but the whispered words among the guards of assassinating the royal family negated the possibility. The continued advance of the White Army caused havoc to Dmitri’s ultimate of spending eternity with Anastasia.

  Anastasia and her family were running out of time.

  Dmitri needed to speak with Cheri and gain permission to take action. For years, he’d followed the deadly vampiress who had turned him. Her obsession with him allowed her to fight the inborn desire to kill other vampires and keep him in her clan. She wouldn’t release Dmitri from her service and said many times that he was soft and needed her dominance to stay alive. Dmitri didn’t consider himself soft. He just didn’t see the need to kill anyone and everyone standing in the path of Cheri’s bloody campaigns. Madam Death, as Cheri was known, held no such abhorrence.

  Dmitri knew Cheri was borderline insane, but he owed her his very existence. He didn’t have a desire to kill other vampires, not that he saw many, but Cheri often commented on his easygoing demeanor when he should feel bloodlust. It was another reason she thought him weak.

  In the early years, after his transition, he and Cheri shared a bed. The sex was good, but it just felt comfortable with no excitement to keep it going. He also wouldn’t call them friends, because Cheri did not cultivate friendship. Master/servant fit them better. Dmitri couldn’t embrace the unquenchable thirst for death and destruction that Cheri pursued, and for some reason, she allowed him to forgo the bloodbaths. He was her cherished pet.

  Dmitri knew that when he made his request to turn Anastasia, it could go many ways. Cheri could simply grant his wish or she could go on one of her terror tantrums that equaled death to those unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.

  He had no way of connecting with Cheri without traveling many miles to her lair. He had no mind connection with her, and he’d never had the ability to flash from one place to another like many vampires. Cheri said it was because of his weakness, and Dmitri admitted he should be strong enough to at least transport himself.

  When the last rays of sunlight faded from the sky, disguised in peasant clothes in case he encountered the enemy, Dmitri set off for the vampire lair. The cold didn’t penetrate his skin because of his vampire body temperature, but after six hours of wading through snow, he was exhausted and in need of blood.

  Cheri freely shared her werewolves with him even when they sneered at his weakness. No one stood against Cheri and lived, so they made themselves available and sated his hunger when he was in need. After feeding from an available female, he requested an audience with their liege. It didn’t matter that Cheri sat in a cave on rough wool pillows; her regal appearance and ethereal beauty took his breath. Her finely honed power danced across his skin, demanding respect and complete acquiescence to her control. Dmitri bowed deeply knowing the deadly vampiress could feel his nervousness and would use it to play one of her many games.

  “Do not stand on ceremony, my child. Greet your Mistress properly.” Her voice, low and sultry, held deep, chilling ice.

  Dmitri approached, kissing her proffered hand. He kept his eyes downcast, acknowledging her absolute dominance.

  She lifted his chin with one long, elegant finger and smiled only as she could—lips tilted up, no soul in the depths of her eyes. She patted the pillow beside her. “Sit by me and explain your presence here when you should be at your duty.” The tone of her words was a warning that he needed a good explanation for leaving his assigned post.

  This was it.

  Dmitri knew Cheri would not be swayed by emotional declarations of love. Trying to keep his voice neutral as he explained his reasoning was a complete failure. When he said Anastasia’s name, he gave away his true feelings. He glanced into Cheri’s eyes and saw the clouded hazel turn dark as she digested his explanation and request. He expected fury, physical punishment, or even death, but it never transpired. Cold, maniacal laughter caused chills to seep below his flesh into his bones and a dull stabbing pressure to penetrate his heart. Fisting his hands, he fought the deep, simmering need to hurt the vampire who could easily kill him.

  Cheri laughed so hard tears rol
led down her cheeks. After what seemed like forever, her humor abruptly ended, her eyes going from dark gray to amber. Dmitri waited for the lethal blow that would end his life, preferring it more than a life without his mate.

  Instead, the cutting bite of Cheri’s words humiliated Dmitri. “You are not strong enough to create a protégé much less attract a mate. Why do you think I tolerate your presence? If I didn’t protect you, you would be dead. You are but a helpless child among vampires and beasts. My alpha could end your worthless life with one swipe of his paw. You disgrace yourself with your puppy love.”

  Dmitri’s shame slowly turned to hatred, making his blood boil. He didn’t realize he attacked, but the next thing he knew, he was on his back with glistening fangs at his throat.

  Cheri’s amber gaze promised death. “I should have killed you long ago. To rip out your throat would be a blessing to us who despise weakness. You are nothing but a sniveling whelp and you dare challenge me?”

  With a snarl, Cheri threw him against the side wall of the cave, cracking the back of his skull and leaving him disoriented. Her power slammed into his body and, without lifting a hand, she sent him soaring through the air. He landed outside in the snow surrounded by her wolves.

  She stood over him; her eyes had returned to their original color and her voice was level with complete disinterest. “Run if you can. If not, my wolves will enjoy your tasty blood.” Cheri turned, reentering her lair without a backward glance.

  Low growls came from the throats of the nearest wolves. Shame consumed Dmitri again. He was vampire and beastkind should fear him. The bloody battle ended with two dead wolves and Dmitri seriously injured, barely able to escape. A single light shown through his pain; he would return to Anastasia. He would give her the blessing of vampire blood and they would live together for centuries. He would take her far away from Cheri and the Russian revolution that threatened her life.

  In desperate need for healing blood, the hours-long journey lasted two days. A few hours from Ipatiev House, he managed to kill a deer, draining the body to give him a short burst of energy.

  He circled the guards because these were not his Cheka friends. The Ipatiev House had been overrun by the White Army. Dmitri entered the home through a secret side door. He made his way from room to room searching for Anastasia. Though the White Army was not all Tsar supporters, the family would receive better care at their hands. As his search continued with no sign of his beloved, a cold dread filled his heart. Praying Anastasia and her siblings were safe, he finally managed to rouse a drunken White Army guardsman to ask questions.

  The terrified man blubbered at the flash of fangs, his fear a heady scent in Dmitri’s terrified mind. “The family disappeared. They say the Reds murdered them.”

  A blood red haze clouded Dmitri’s mind and he shook the guard until the man’s neck flopped loosely from side to side.

  He went through the large house again, this time using his heightened vampire nose to search for the smell of death. In the basement, he scented the metallic iron waft of blood. His fingers ran across the crusty brown smear. Lifting his hand, he inhaled royal blood.

  Relief.

  It was not Anastasia’s blood. A small ray of hope entered his tortured mind as he went outside and began searching the property. He picked up the blood trail several miles away and located the bodies of the Tsar and Empress along with three of their daughters in a shallow grave. Several loyal servants had been murdered and buried with them. There was still no sign of Anastasia or her young brother, Tsarevitch Alexei. Anger, relief, and dread tortured Dmitri as he desperately combed the area for his beloved.

  When sunlight peered over the horizon, Dmitri had no choice but to give up his search until night fell again. He slept in an abandoned, broken down shed that did little more than block the rays of the sun. His tortured dreams left him shaking with a fear so deep he didn’t wish to open his eyes, wanting the peace only true death could bring. He finally roused himself when darkness touched the sky again. He backtracked, murdering a lone guard to recharge his energy and heal the remaining injuries from the fight with Cheri’s wolves. With his heart-stopping fear for Anastasia in the forefront of his mind, the act of killing was no longer repugnant. Dmitri felt an instant rush from extinguishing the life of a mere human. Though were-blood gave a stronger boost to vampires, he would take the offerings in his path as he continued his search.

  Hours later, the smell of burned human flesh drew him to his beloved Anastasia. She and young Alexei had been burned and buried in another shallow grave.

  Dmitri’s cries of anguish echoed across the frozen tundra. He held Anastasia’s charred, misshapen hand, no longer beautiful or regal. He cried for the love they would never again share and cursed the men who did this.

  He heard noises in the distance and, without a thought, transported himself to the location of a battalion of guards. A powerful red haze swirled around his brain, and without guilt or regret, he left a bloodbath in his wake. Slaking his vengeance on all humans in his path meant nothing, and over the next few months, whispers of unnatural evil terrified everyone for hundreds of miles. Dmitri unleashed an unending quest for blood, destruction, and death.

  After killing a particularly large brigade of Cheka, maniacal laughter slowly penetrated Dmitri’s rage; the sound he would never forget had him lifting his blood-soaked face. Cheri stood on an outcropping of rocks, her long hair swirling in the wind. With his new power, his hands wrapped around her throat and his teeth entered her flesh in the span of one heartbeat.

  Her voice sounded a few feet away. He stared at his empty hands while his teeth snapped together in rage.

  “My, how my protégé has grown. No longer a child, but still young in the ways of fighting another vampire.”

  Her icy voice carried the promise of death, but Dmitri was no longer afraid. He welcomed death…if she could take him.

  Her eyes swept his blood-covered body and peals of laughter echoed around them. “You are not ready to fight against me, Dmitri, though maybe someday you will be a worthy opponent. I had no idea it would take the love of a woman to turn you into the killer you were destined to be.” Her eyes raked over him again with contempt. “I release you from my service, vampire. If I don’t, I will kill you.”

  Her laughter floated away on the breeze.

  The red haze burned brighter, and hundreds of years after his reincarnation as a vampire, Dmitri became one of the monsters he abhorred.

  Chapter Two

  Current day…

  Dmitri woke from his nightmare still able to smell the light musky scent of Anastasia’s skin. His wildly beating heart and sweat-covered flesh had him whipping back the thin sheet and rising from his bed. Many years ago, he’d made a tentative peace with Cheri, but at times like this, he wanted to wrap his fingers around her throat and rip her head from her body. She’d changed, he’d changed, but thoughts of Anastasia always brought his violent side to the forefront. He paced across the floor trying to control his bloodlust. He could feel tentacles of the crimson tide pressing against his consciousness.

  “No,” he yelled into the room. He knew opening the door to his violent past meant death for those around him. With slow, steady breaths, he finally managed to gain control, but it left him with a raging headache.

  “Your guests have arrived.” The Kodiak’s grumbling voice thrummed loudly into Dmitri’s mind.

  That damn bear didn’t have a subtle bone in his body and had no low or even mid-voice range. The Kodiak yelled everything into Dmitri’s sensitive brain and it was the last thing he needed at the moment. Even through the thundering spikes of pain, Dmitri sensed the presence of the new vamp.

  This should be interesting.

  If Marcus and Amy could put up with the new liege to the northeast clan without spilling blood, maybe Dmitri had a chance. He walked into the large shower and washed away the lingering sweat from his body. He knew the recent cat attacks manifested in his sleep and took him back to his
years of blood and death. His bears calmed him, and though they often acted aggressive and downright barbaric they only killed if forced to. Even their challenges for alpha were tamer than wolves and cats because those two species fought to the death, while bears only fought until a winner prevailed.

  Now, his world was turning upside down with both cats and wolves invading his territory. Over the next few months, he needed to spend nights at his club and only come home in case of emergencies. He didn’t trust himself to be around the chaos of such a mix of beastkind. It was safer for everyone if he made himself scarce.

  He rubbed the towel through his hair and took a long look in the mirror. Brown, tired eyes, a jaw in need of a shave, and shaggy, too-long hair reflected back. Fuck it, he thought as he ran his fingers through the wet strands, not bothering with a comb. He’d embrace a darker, more dangerous look so maybe his visitors wouldn’t push his buttons.

  The simmering rage he carried remained just below the surface, a monster trying to escape its chains. Though years had passed since he’d lost control, there were many times he was moments away. The only person who understood the control Dmitri maintained was The Kodiak, but Dmitri didn’t know if his friend considered him a ticking time bomb. If The Kodiak was smart, he would. The coming beastkind war might detonate Dmitri’s hold and kill them all. With Honey and Mandy mated and one of his bears dead at the hands of the cats, the bear clan was full tilt in the battle. There was nothing Dmitri could do to stop it.

  “Dmitri, get down here.” The Kodiak’s words rose to new levels of thunder and Dmitri winced.

  “Pull your panties up and handle it. I’ll be there momentarily.”

  “Grrrrrrr.”

  Dmitri cut off his communication with the big, badass bear and connected with The Kodiak’s son.