Surrendering: A Regent Vampire Lords Novel, Book #1

by K. L. Kreig

  No.

  She had a lot to give, a lot to contribute, and she wasn’t about to be a stay-at-home wife of a Vampire Lord.

  And what happened when they did rescue these women? Many would need years of trauma counseling and some may not even want to return home under the scrutiny of their parents or loved ones. At least for a while. While counseling was never really Kate’s career aspiration, with her training, she knew she’d be able to help these tortured women.

  The kernel of an idea started forming. She’d have to give it more thought, work out the kinks, before she talked to Dev about it, but suddenly she was very excited and had something to really look forward to after they’d taken care of the task at hand.

  Feeling a bit more refreshed, she rose to find Dev, but was hit with sudden queasiness, and had to sit back down. She guessed the chicken salad sandwich she’d had for lunch wasn’t sitting well with her. She knew that damn diner they’d stopped at for lunch on the way to her parents’ house was sketchy.

  She lay there for a few minutes until the worst of the nausea passed, praying she wasn’t going to spend all night worshiping the porcelain god, when she’d much rather make love to her new mate.

  ___________

  Dev

  After returning home, Kate said she was a little tired and went to rest in their room. Dev wasn’t sure if she was physically, mentally or emotionally tired, and while he didn’t want to be away from her for a minute, he wanted her to rest.

  So Dev sat in his office, getting the daily update from Giselle and the detective. They’d identified several more missing girls potentially related to the dream studies and they were working on tracking down more leads. He’d asked them to check out other adoption agency registries that may have had potential parents withdraw their applications. If there were other female vampires out there, he definitely wanted to find them. And protect them. He had a feeling there were more out there than any of them knew. He would have Rom’s computer wiz help with that request as well, as it was bound to be an arduous task.

  Just as Giselle was finishing her update, Ren walked in, excitement lighting up his pretty boy face.

  “We have an update from the field.” The men had not finished their scout of the area last night, with only a few more houses remaining this evening.

  “And?”

  “We think we may have found it. Manny found shrouding over a large wooded area on the northeast part of Washington Island, north of the Door County peninsula.”

  “Get everyone together in here immediately. Get Damian and Rom on the vid com. Tell Manny to leave two men there to watch for any activity and have everyone else return.”

  As everyone was filing out of his office, Kate walked in. And she didn’t look well.

  “What’s the matter, love? You don’t look well.”

  She laughed, but it lacked her usual cheeriness. “Well that’s not something any woman wants to hear.”

  He gathered her in his arms, kissing her forehead. “Bad choice of words. You look edible, as always. Just a little on the peaked side.”

  “I think it was just something I ate. My stomach’s a little sour, but I’m feeling better than I was. I’ll be fine.”

  “Manny thinks he found Xavier and we need to strategize. Do you want to go lie down again and I can just update you later?”

  “No. I’ll be fine. I want to come. But I think I’m out on chicken salad sandwiches for the near future. Just the thought of them makes me want to vomit.”

  “Well, that’s easily solved, love. Don’t think about them.” He wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her down tightly on his lap. “Let me hold you until everyone gathers.”

  “Yes, I’d like that.”

  Chapter 58

  Xavier

  The dreamwalker hadn’t returned for several nights. Too bad, that. He rather enjoyed taunting her last time and looked forward to doing it again. What really made him hard was the thought of taunting her in person. He could sense her goodness, and that needed to be stripped away. And he couldn’t wait to be the one to do it.

  So, he’d decided to do something he’d never done in all of his years alive. Kate Martin was going to be his special pet, shackled and chained at his side at all times. Even when he fucked and fed. Hell, he might even make her partake.

  She’d have her own nice cage in his quarters where he could keep an eye on her at all times. There was something special about this dreamwalker that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, and he couldn’t wait to find out what it was…and shred it from her until she was a shell of her former self. A mindless slut, doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. The idea had merit. He should have taken a pet much, much earlier.

  He looked forward to the day he had Ms. Katherine Martin in his possession. And that day should be this evening. His very powerful witch had done a locating spell, much to the detriment of her health, but no matter. He’d find another witch if she didn’t recover. She was going to die anyway, either by her hand or his. Too bad, really. He’d just acquired this particular witch only several short months ago after he’d killed his last one because she’d proven to be as useless as the warning on a pack of cigarettes. This particular one was supposed to excel at locating spells, and she’d tried to bullshit him that she couldn’t do a locating spell, saying the witch Devon was using to shroud himself was too powerful. He, of course, made her continually try.

  And finally this evening…success! She’d found a hole in the shroud concealing Devon’s location. It appeared Devon’s witches’ power had faded somewhat…much to Devon’s misfortune.

  Now not only would Katherine Martin be his, but he’d finally get his chance to destroy Devon Fallinsworth for good. The almighty, self-righteous and powerful lord. This was the opportunity he hadn’t gotten so very many centuries ago when he’d slaughtered the rest of Devon’s family.

  1559

  Devon was supposed to be here. Xavier yearned to cause him immense pain and agony and being unable to stop his family from being slaughtered while he was forced to watch would accomplish just that. Devon should feel the same pain Xavier felt at being betrayed. He had been hunted like an animal for the past month. Unable to return to the only place he’d called home. Abandoned by his real family, he had now been abandoned by his adopted family. And the blame lay squarely at Devon’s feet.

  Xavier had only recently come into his unique powers, which was how he’d been able to kidnap multiple villagers at a time. He came across it quite by accident. His prey one evening wasn’t very amenable, the cock tease. She decided to run. He decided not to let her. Fuck, did he have fun that night. He’d vacillate between mobilizing and immobilizing her in various positions. It was electrifying.

  So he decided to test his powers. See how many people he could immobilize at once. At first it was only a few, but as the months went by, his powers grew. The village where he abducted nineteen people was the most he’d been able to do so far. He was overjoyed! He couldn’t wait to share the information with his brother, but before he could, Devon started chattering about the kidnappings and how they needed to catch and destroy the rogue responsible. He wasn’t a motherfucking rogue! He was vampire! The strongest species that ever lived. Devon was so idealistic. Vampires could rule the world. They were not meant to live alongside undeserving humans, their food for fuck’s sake, like they were equals. They were not equal.

  No. He could not tell his closest friend, his brother, of his unique ability and now he was glad for that. It would make his surprise all the sweeter when he figured it out for himself. For how could a lone vampire slaughter an entire village? It wasn’t possible. But…oh it was.

  His plan to make his traitorous brother watch his family be slaughtered had been thwarted. Xavier waited for hours…until close to dawn. Finally he couldn’t wait any more. It wasn’t quite according to plan, but at least when Devon returned from whatever whore he was buried balls deep in, he’d discover his family, dead. He knew Devon we
ll enough that guilt would suffocate him for the rest of his life. And for now, that would have to do.

  The agony on Devon’s face as he stood outside his—their—burning cottage was incomparable. This revenge was enough for now, but Devon’s punishment was far from over.

  Xavier’s sinister smile grew. “It’s time, brother,” he mumbled, readying himself for tonight’s battle.

  Chapter 59

  Dev

  Ren was displeased with him, but he couldn’t give two shits. This was personal and he wasn’t going to stay back like some pussy while everyone else had all the fun killing a bunch of rogue vamps. And Xavier.

  Fuck that.

  He was a Vampire Lord, one of the strongest vampires in the world. Besides, his unique skill of making illusions seem real was going to be critical to their success and Ren knew it. Dev appreciated his concern, but it was misplaced. While he was torn between wanting to stay to protect Kate or fight, he knew this was the place he was most needed.

  So Ren was pissed at him and in turn, the women of his household were incensed with him as well. Giselle was fuming because she’d been tasked with the assignment of staying back to keep Kate safe. And Kate was furious because she said she didn’t need a ‘goddamn babysitter’. Yeah…he was their least favorite male at the moment.

  While Kate’s skills had improved quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, she was still far from her full vampire powers and she needed protection 24/7. Elle didn’t need more reasons to resent Kate, but Dev simply could not leave her without protection. Who was he kidding? She would always have protection. So when he couldn’t be around to protect her, he’d already decided that person was going to be Elle, but he’d spring that on them later.

  Much, much later.

  Right now there were roughly thirty vamps on the outskirts of the rundown Washington Island property, all indications leading them to believe Xavier was here. Most were Devon’s men, but several of Damian’s and Rom’s most experienced fighters were here to help.

  And he was very concerned. Because of the shrouding none of them, except Manny, should have been able to see a thing but fields. However, each and every one of them could see the faded, single-story, broken down white shack in front of them and the rusted, weatherworn windmill in the background. The house was so small that it looked more like an outhouse than something that a human would occupy. Let alone a hoard of rogues. Something was very wrong and they needed to proceed with even more caution.

  On Dev’s command, the vampires surrounded the shack, weapons drawn, with Ren and Dev taking the lead to enter the premises first. For now, four men were to remain outside of the house, unless they needed them.

  Empty, as suspected. They walked through the small structure, quickly finding a stairwell leading down. Flashing into unknown territory was dangerous, so they agreed to use that only as a last resort.

  They quietly made their way down the rickety wood stairwell, only to enter what appeared to be a spider infested, dirt-floored basement, complete with rotted wooden shelves lined in canned goods. Every one of them could feel the unease in the air, likely another trick of the witch to deter vagrants from the property. It only reinforced to him they were in the right place.

  He looked around the small space. Not a door in sight.

  But Dev knew better. The door was simply hidden. He gave a single nod in Ren’s direction.

  Ren closed his eyes, releasing his unique power. He could sense any living vampire or human being within a half-mile radius and pinpoint their exact location. That was one of the reasons he was Dev’s personal bodyguard. He was better than any electronic motion detector.

  “The door is behind the shelves, my lord. There are ten humans in single rooms directly to the right. There are eight more directly to the left. Those are probably the women. There is a large cluster of vampires, roughly fifteen or so, in a single room at the end of the right side hallway. There are several more humans one level below, some in individual rooms, some in a cluster in a single room, as well as another fifty or so vampires.”

  “Good work, Ren.”

  Shit. Those were more rogues than he’d expected. Guess Xavier had been busy. They made quick work of finding the hidden latch, revealing another downward stairwell. This stairwell was made of stainless steel and he could clearly see a hallway at the bottom that went only left to right. They likely only had seconds before rogues were on them, since they no doubt tripped some sort of silent alarm when they opened the secret door. But they had the element of surprise, as they knew exactly where to find what they were looking for.

  They put their plan into quick action, splitting up their duties to rescue the girls, detain any other humans and kill as many rogues as possible, most importantly Xavier. Too bad Ren’s power couldn’t pinpoint exactly where that bastard was.

  Chaos erupted the minute they split. The rogues on this floor attacked, but were quickly wiped out, with minimal injuries inflicted on his team. It was clear these were young, low-level, disposable vamps and were no match for him or his men.

  They made it quickly to the downstairs stairwell and waited. Adrenaline scorched his veins like wildfire. This was a high like no other, except when he made love to his mate. Dev focused, used his powers to project the images of a fire on the lower level, complete with smoke and heat to round out the realness of it. There was almost nothing a vampire feared more than fire.

  Within minutes, rogues stampeded up the stairs. Those that could would likely flash outside, but his men stationed there would take care of them. He wanted a couple alive for questioning and those would be the older, more powerful, more useful rogues.

  It was a bloodbath. Rogues were everywhere, like fireflies. While their powers were weaker than his and his men’s, his team sustained several injuries in the battle, a couple of them fairly severe. He had several shards of razor like ice stuck in his arm, thanks to a rogue with ice making ability. He took immense pleasure in removing the rogue’s head for that little stunt. He also narrowly missed an arrow aimed straight at his heart, barely nicking his underarm instead. By the time they’d slaughtered all the rogues, body parts littered the narrow hallways. Dark blood ran in rivulets down the walls, pooling at their feet. He was covered in it.

  He’d kept in touch with his men outside all the while, and about a dozen rogues had flashed out there, but Xavier had yet to make an appearance.

  “Ren, do you sense anyone else on the premises?”

  “No, my Lord.”

  They exchanged a knowing look. Xavier wasn’t here. Fear coursed through Dev.

  Kate.

  Something was terribly wrong. He couldn’t communicate with her at this distance, but he knew he’d felt her fear in his gut.

  Along with Ren and Manny, he flashed back to his estate and the scene in front of him left his blood running cold. It was déjà vu.

  The front door stood wide open, the house completely destroyed on the inside.

  “Kate!” he bellowed. He frantically turned to Ren, who sadly shook his head. They weren’t here. Or they were, just not alive.

  A frantic search of the house turned up no sign of Kate or Elle, but he did find Leo in the kitchen. Or what was left of him. Fuck, Leo had been with him for decades. He was like a brother to him. He wanted to grieve, but he couldn’t. The only thing that mattered at this moment was finding his mate. Alive and unharmed.

  “What the fuck happened here!” Dev roared.

  “I don’t know, my lord, but we’ll find out.” He reached out, putting a hand on Dev’s shoulder. “We’ll find her, Dev. We’ll find her.”

  “But will we find her in time?”

  The noise Dev let out was so loud and long, he feared the entire house would crumble around him. It didn’t matter. If anything happened to Kate, he wouldn’t make it until sunrise. He would follow her anywhere…even in death.

  Chapter 60

  Kate

  Jesus, she was sore. She couldn’t seem to think of anything
else except how much her body ached, everywhere. And she couldn’t quite remember why, but it nagged at the very edge of her memory. Something wasn’t right, she felt so very weak, but she couldn’t place her finger on why. She couldn’t quite shake the fog from her brain enough to put all the puzzle pieces together.

  She blinked, trying to focus her eyes on her surroundings, but everything was pitch black. She tried for several minutes, but nothing came clear. She tried to move, but her body wouldn’t respond. After several more minutes, her hand finally obeyed her command, reaching in front of her and what she encountered made her nearly paralyzed with fear.

  Bars. Cold iron bars.

  She felt everywhere her hand could reach and encountered more of the same. She was in a cage. Her vision slowly returned and she noticed she was in what appeared to be a very large dog kennel. She couldn’t sit up quite straight, as the top was too low.

  And the room she was in looked all too familiar.

  Memories of the night’s events flooded back.

  She’d been in Dev’s office working on her dissertation paper, all the more determined to finish it since she’d come up with her new long-term plan. She was so worried about Dev it made it difficult to concentrate, but she needed to do something to get the fact that he was in danger off her mind. This was her world now and her new mate took care of his problems himself, even if that put him in danger. Like it or not, she would have to accept it.

  Giselle sat across the room from her, as far away as she could get. She could be across the massive mansion and it would still be too close as far as she was concerned. She’d told her to leave, but Giselle refused. ‘My lord’s command,’ she’d said. ‘Bitch’, she’d thought.