Creatus Series Boxed Set

by Carmen DeSousa

  Kris couldn’t really blame her. If Derrick had chosen Victoria over her, she’d probably want to kill her too.

  “Do you mind if I have a look around?” the agent asked.

  “I don’t. But unfortunately, I don’t have the staff to accommodate you. If you’d like to come back in the morning, I’d be happy to give you a tour.”

  The agent nodded, pulling out a business card and handing it to Derrick. “Frank Cooper. My email and cell are on the card. If you think of anything, please let me know.” He turned to leave.

  “Do you want to come back in the morning for a tour,” Derrick looked down at the card, even though Kris knew there was no way he’d forgotten the man’s name, “Mr. Cooper?”

  Frank Cooper didn’t bother turning around to acknowledge them as he pushed through the glass doors and waved them off. “What good would that do?”

  So the man knew they were hiding something, but he needed a warrant. Frank Cooper had to be in his early fifties, so he wasn’t a rookie agent. He didn’t look as though he were a man who made mistakes.

  Derrick turned back to her and blew out a breath. “He’s right, of course. All evidence has to disappear tonight—now—which means I have to go back to work. If we aren’t already, we’ll be under surveillance in a few minutes, so we need to make some adjustments in Reece’s living arrangements.” He nodded as if the plan had already come to him, but then looked down at Kris as though he’d forgotten she was there. “Why don’t you go on home? I’ll have Michael drop me off later.”

  Kris quickly shook her head and stood. “Uh-uh. I wanna stay.”

  Derrick stepped in front of her. “Kristina, we’ve already been through this. If anything goes wrong, we can escape. You can’t. I don’t want to sound mean, but you’d be a hindrance more than help. I’ll just worry about you.”

  Kris crossed her arms. “Why can’t I be one of you?”

  Derrick laughed. “Because we’re not mythical creatures as everyone believes. We’re living and breathing beings.” He lowered his head to her neck. “If it only took a bite, you’d have become one of us a long time ago, as I can barely keep my mouth to myself.”

  Unable to stop herself, Kris laughed. “You’ve never bitten me.”

  “No…but haven’t you ever wondered about that? All those silly movies and books. If vampires had venom, wouldn’t just kissing one turn you?”

  Kristina smiled again. “Would you like to announce to the world that they have your species all wrong? Maybe they’ll listen now.”

  Derrick shook his head. “You’d think with all the books and movies, they would. But reality isn’t the same. If humans knew we existed, they’d hunt us to extinction, just as they almost did thousands of years ago.”

  Not wanting to think about that ever happening, she rested her head on his chest.

  For the most part, being with Derrick this last month had been no different from any other relationship. Well, except for the fact that she loved him so much she married him after only a few days. The only thing that was dissimilar about him from other men was that he was extremely strong and ate raw food. He hardly ever ate red meat, though, as it still rather grossed her out. But when he ate sushi and salad, he looked like every other human she’d known her entire life.

  Surprisingly, his strength didn’t scare her as she thought it might. After watching a thug murder her mother, she’d stayed away from anyone much larger than she was. In school, she’d always gone for the thin, gothic-looking guys, men who she never felt threatened by. But then at sixteen, one of those men had tried to rape her after drugging her.

  Thank goodness she’d always had Derrick watching over her. Now she reveled in his strength, knowing he’d never hurt her or allow anyone to hurt her ever again.

  “So, you’re going to let me drive home alone, then?”

  “Sorry. No. I’ll have one of my cousins drop you off. Until we find Jonas and his family, you know I can’t let you be alone.”

  Kris nodded. Although she hated it, she understood. One kidnapping in her lifetime had been enough for her. She’d truly thought that she was dead when the rope snapped and she’d been dangling over the side of a thirty-story building. “Okay. You won’t be too long?”

  “I’m not sure. I have an idea, though, and we’ll have to act fast. So it’ll work or it won’t. If it doesn’t work, we’ll be packing and moving tonight.”

  Kris stared at him in shock. “Really?” She didn’t want to move. For the first time in her life, she felt as though she were home. She had a job she enjoyed, a husband who loved and adored her, and they spent every night wrapped in each other’s arms.

  “If they find us with Reece Buckley, we won’t have a choice.” He cupped her face in his large, but gentle palm. “But that’s not going to happen, love. I have a plan.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Derrick sat behind his desk, looking at each person who would play an integral part in getting Reece Buckley out of the hospital without anyone seeing them.

  Now that she’d readied everything, Vic was usually here; though, she didn’t work round-the-clock hours as she used to. After freezing up when she’d brought Michael in for surgery—covered in blood from a gunshot wound—she’d limited her duties to only follow-up visits with patients.

  Michael had been on his daily—used to be weekly—meeting with Rebecca, their informant within the walls of Boston PD. He’d dropped everything and had been here in minutes. Anything to do with Reece Buckley had him on his toes, but really, Derrick assumed he was always looking for a reason to permanently silence Reece.

  Using his push-to-talk feature, Derrick connected with Michael and Vic. “Got me?”

  “Loud and clear, a little too loud and clear,” Michael said.

  “Just turn down the volume until we get rolling, but I want to make sure we stay in constant contact. If anything happens, each of us needs to call our list.”

  “You really think that’ll be necessary?” Michael questioned him. He’d been doing that more and more lately, and Derrick was about over his attitude.

  “Yes. We don’t need to pull the family into our mess. They have their documents ready, and we have enough safe houses set up to accommodate everyone if it comes down to that.”

  Derrick flicked a glance toward Victoria to see if she wanted to question him, too. She nodded, still refusing to talk to him.

  Derrick looked her in the eyes. “You connected, Vic?”

  “Yes, Derrick.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  “Dad’s downstairs taking care of his part,” Derrick said. “Let’s go get our patient.”

  “Patient?” Michael laughed. “POW is more like it.”

  “We’re not at war, Mike,” Derrick reminded him.

  The three of them opened the door to Reece Buckley’s room, and the man, who’d been nothing but calm for the last several weeks, bolted out of bed, grabbing Eric so quickly that the younger man had no time to react.

  Eric clawed at Reece’s arm, but apparently wasn’t able to move from beneath Reece’s grip. He kicked his legs at dead air. Not only did Reece have strength, he had military training, Derrick remembered.

  “Let go of my brother, Reece,” Vic seethed.

  Reece looked down at the younger man, who to him probably looked as though he were just barely out of college, even though he was thirty-five. Eric had only been home a week for spring break, so Derrick thought this would be easy work for him until he came home permanently this summer. Derrick had obviously underestimated Reece’s strength, as Eric was not a small man. Even though he was tall and thin like his sister, he was fast and strong like her too. She’d taught him well.

  “No,” Reece shot back. “I’ve been a model prisoner, but I’m not going to allow you to kill me without taking a few of you with me.”

  Derrick took a step forward, but stopped when he saw Reece tighten his grip around Eric’s neck. “We’re not here to kill you, Reec
e. We need to move you.”

  Reece smirked. “They found me, didn’t they?”

  “Who found you, Reece?” Derrick asked. “I thought you weren’t an agent.”

  “The police. You can’t keep an innocent man hostage and not expect that someone will come after him. My family’s probably worried sick.”

  Derrick smiled. “You don’t have family, Reece. Your mother died ten years ago, and your father died a short time after she did.”

  “Do you know what the penalty for abducting—kidnapping is?” he lashed back.

  “Yes, I do. Kidnapping is a federal crime. That’s why we have to move you.”

  Vic launched.

  “Victoria, no!” Derrick shouted, but she’d already shoved Eric out from underneath Reece’s grip and slammed Reece back against the wall, plunging the syringe with the mixture of lorazepam and haloperidol into Reece’s upper arm.

  Reece bucked and threw Victoria off him, then barreled toward Derrick and Michael, who were still blocking the door.

  “Oh, yeah,” Michael said, crouching like a linebacker. “Gimme a reason.”

  Reece met Michael head on, as though he were the star quarterback on the one-yard line. Michael remained upright, but Reece was able to shove him back three feet so that he was flush with the door.

  Derrick grabbed Reece’s wrists and pulled them back until his body arched as he fought to get away. “I don’t want to hurt you, Reece.”

  “Nooo…” the man slurred, still arching his back and fighting to get control, “you wan…na kill me.”

  “No, I don’t,” Derrick said softer.

  Michael and Vic latched onto each of Reece’s legs, pinning him so he couldn’t continue to hurt himself.

  Reece’s body finally started to go slack, and Derrick glared at his brother and Vic as he snapped on the one-piece cuffs. “I told you not to underestimate him.” He lowered Reece to the floor. “These are the strongest cuffs available, but if you don’t pay attention, even he might be able to break them. They’ll only give you a few extra seconds at best.”

  Vic stood up and smoothed her clothes. “You okay, Eric?”

  Eric nodded and rubbed his neck. “Never felt a human that strong before,” he rasped. “For that matter, I haven’t even wrestled a creatus that strong. What the heck?”

  “Let’s go,” Derrick said.

  Per his orders, they all jumped in separate vehicles and left the garage at the same time, heading in different directions.

  “All clear?” Derrick asked, looking in his rearview mirror. His passenger didn’t say a word.

  “I got a tail,” Michael said. “Looks like one of The Boys, so obviously Mr. Agent Man didn’t have backup in place.”

  “How you looking, Vic?” Derrick asked.

  “I don’t see anyone or anything suspicious,” she responded.

  “Good,” Derrick said, “I thought they’d choose us. Okay, continue on your route then.”

  Derrick watched as his tail got closer. He glanced at his passenger. “Hope you’re ready for a ride.” Derrick stomped on the gas and made turn after turn, but he obeyed the speed limit, not giving them a reason to pull him over. Michael and he would intersect soon.

  “Whoo-hoo!” Michael called through the phone. “Always wanted to drive one of these.”

  “Slow down on the potholes,” Michael’s patient called from the back of the ambulance.

  Derrick made two more turns and then followed Mike’s ambulance into Boston Medical Center, watching as the two unmarked cars pulled in behind them.

  “You’re on your own, Vic,” Derrick said. “You clear?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Don’t stop until you get to the farm,” he reminded her.

  “Okay.”

  “And don’t uncuff him until he’s locked in the basement.”

  “I thought we had to show the human we’re civilized, treat him as though he weren’t a prisoner.”

  “Just don’t underestimate him,” Derrick shot back, pushing down the fear building in his chest. No, he hadn’t fallen for Victoria, but that didn’t mean he didn’t love her. She was his best friend. His only hope was that he was correct in his assumption that Reece was crazy about her. Yeah, he wanted to escape, but Derrick doubted he’d kill Vic to do it, and knowing her, that’s what it’d take.

  Derrick clicked off his earpiece and then jumped out of the driver’s side of the vehicle. His father followed behind him as they approached the ambulance.

  Four plain-clothes officers, including Frank Cooper, approached the ambulance. Obviously without a warrant or probable cause, they couldn’t search it, but nothing said they couldn’t look for a reason.

  “Can I help you, gentlemen?” Derrick asked with an innocent furrow of his brow. “We have an emergency here.”

  Frank Cooper stepped past him and looked at the older man on the stretcher and then inside the ambulance. He walked over to Derrick’s navigator and peered inside and then walked back to the other officers and waved them off.

  Once back at his car, Frank shot Derrick one final look and tipped his head as if to say, You fooled me this time, but it won’t happen again.

  Derrick turned away and exhaled a deep breath. “Damn.” He glanced at the man on the stretcher. “How you doing, Dean?” Luckily, his mentor had been at the clinic for a checkup today.

  “Ah…I’m a little old for Mike’s driving, but I’m okay.”

  “You still got a little more performing to do.” Derrick gestured to the hospital staff who were finally coming out. Normally when they transferred a human patient for special care, they’d just wheel them inside, or if it were a life-threatening run that required a specialist, they would have called ahead.

  “It must have been angina, boys,” Dean said. “I feel better already.”

  “You sure, Dean?” Derrick said loud enough for the hospital staff to hear. “We’re here now. Might as well get checked out.”

  “No, no. I feel fine. Must have been something I ate.”

  Derrick waved and smiled at a couple of the nurses who knew him. “I guess it’s a false alarm. I’ll keep an eye on him, though.”

  “Okay, Dr. Ashton,” one of the younger nurses cooed.

  Derrick directed Dean to his Navigator and gave Michael a nod to return to the clinic.

  He climbed into his Navigator and sunk back into the seat.

  Lyn turned to him. “This can’t go on, Derrick.”

  “What do you want me to do, Dad? Kill him?”

  “Of course not, but maybe we should move?”

  “Why? What do they have? A couple reports of me jumping off a bridge?” Derrick shook his head and pulled out of the hospital drive. “I’m not relocating. This is our home. One human is not worth changing our entire life. Now that he’s out of the hospital, we’ll just go back to work as usual.”

  “And when they start coming to our homes?” his father asked.

  “They won’t find anything. His superiors will only allow him to search for so long. When he doesn’t find anything, he’ll have to give up. We’ll just have to be on our best behavior for a while.”

  Dean leaned over the center console. “And hope Jonas doesn’t make any more appearances. If more dead bodies show up, they’ll eventually connect that all of this has happened at the same time. And if they haven’t already, they’ll eventually figure out that one of the victims who had our creatus seal also happens to be Kristina’s best friend.”

  Derrick looked in the rearview mirror at Dean but then saw the black sedan three cars behind him. “Yeah. We need to find Jonas."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Vic drove exactly nine miles over the speed limit the entire way to Harvard.

  Matthew Ashton, Derrick’s uncle and the family’s attorney, had arranged for an overseas company to purchase many older large farmhouses and plots of land years ago to act as safe houses. As one of Harvard’s oldest historical homes, no one questioned the purchase as an inves
tment.

  The plus was that the home had an enormous basement, room for several families to hide if it were ever necessary.

  “Oww…” Reece groaned from the passenger side of her Mini Roadster.

  She loved the looks she received when her five-eleven frame stepped out of the tiny vehicle. Yeah, it was small, but it had amazing head and leg room and handled beautifully in the winding hills of Harvard.

  “What the—” Reece bolted upright, but she’d latched his cuffs to the base of the seatbelt, on the opposite side of where it snapped. “How do you people think you’ll get away with this?”

  Vic pulled her gaze off the road and glared at him. “After that stunt you pulled with my baby brother, you’re lucky you’re alive, so shut up.” She returned her eyes to the road, but she could feel him staring at her. She hated it. He always gawked at her. She wished he’d stop; at least that’s what she kept telling herself. Why was he even conscious? She’d sedated him enough to take down a horse.

  “I didn’t know he was your brother,” he grunted.

  She flashed him a scowl. “Would it have mattered?”

  He shrugged. “I thought for sure y’all had come to kill me.”

  Y’all? Where the heck was this country boy from. No one said “y’all” in Massachusetts. Well, other than transplanted country singers trying to make it in a city with fewer country radio stations than Latino or even religious platforms. And that was saying a lot for a predominately-blue state.

  “I haven’t decided against killing you yet, so watch it.” She grilled him with her eyes again. Just looking at him bothered her. Bothered her heart, her mind, her skin. Ugh! She really needed a vacation. An all-women’s retreat where she wouldn’t have to look at any male species would be good. They had those, didn’t they?

  “Then you really should’ve cuffed my feet too.”

  “What—” The steering wheel spun to the right beneath her hands. She tried to wrench Reece’s hospital-booty-covered foot off the steering wheel. “Are you freaking crazy?” She struggled to regain control as he pulled his foot back, laughing.