Kaitlyn Strong Books 1-3: The Complete First Trilogy

by Art DeForest

  Waiting for us just back from the elevator stood Victor Caro, head of House Caro and head of the Vampire Council. He glanced briefly at Deacon and I before approaching Sara with his hand extended. “Ms. Nightwind,” he said in a concerned tone. “I am terribly sorry about your confrontation in the parking garage. You were not injured I hope?”

  Sara took the proffered hand in a firm grip as she bowed her head slightly. “Thank you for your apology Mr. Caro. I was uninjured in the confrontation thanks to the timely intervention of Ms. Strong here.” She said, gesturing in my direction.

  “Yes, quite.” Said Victor, a bit stiffly, nodding at me in acknowledgement. “I do hope we can avoid shooting Council staff members in the future, however.”

  “I hope so.” I said with a small shrug. “I didn’t think getting into a war with the Lycans by assaulting their ambassador would be a good idea. Avoiding that type of thing in the future, would be best for all don’t you think?”

  Victor studied me carefully for a moment. “I hadn’t considered the confrontation in it that light as of yet. I can see now that your actions were entirely appropriate, given the circumstances.” He said with a slight bow in my direction.

  I returned his bow. “Thank you sir. So much has changed in the last few days that it will take us all a bit of time to get our heads wrapped around it.” I said, letting him off the hook.

  Victor nodded his appreciation before turning and extending his hand to Deacon. “Deacon, thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Council.”

  Deacon shook the man’s hand. “Just doing what I can to help sir.” He said humbly.

  “Well, I wish we had the opportunity to give you all a rest after your endeavours, but as you have heard, things have taken a serious turn.” He said, gesturing towards the back of the room. “Come back to my office and we can talk about what is to be done.”

  The head of the Council led us to a door behind the reception counter that was only accessible by key card and a code punched into a pad. “This will allow us to bypass the metal detectors. I think that’s for the best.” He said glancing at me sardonically.

  Presently we were seated in comfortable chairs facing a vast oak monstrosity that the Chairman called a desk. Fangs took a seat on the floor and looked around curiously as Victor took his seat. Deacon opened up the conversation. “How are the other members of the Council dealing with the assassination of Orlowski?” He asked.

  “Not well.” Said Victor somberly. “For the most part, they fled to their respective residences with only their closest family members allowed to get anywhere near them.”

  “That’s what we expected them to do, quite frankly.” said Deacon. “As a result, we have a couple of suggestions that may help them feel more secure in the short term.”

  Victor’s eyebrows raised in surprise at this. “That’s quick work.” He said appreciatively. “What do you have in mind?”

  “For now.” I said, drawing Victor’s attention. “We believe that electronic communications can be used to allow the Council to conduct business. Conference calls and video conferencing are easily accomplished after all. As for security, Sara has an option that may help with the issue.”

  “That is somewhat surprising.” said Victor. “We haven’t even come to terms on an alliance yet.” he continued, giving Sara a somewhat suspicious look.

  Sara leaned forward and met Victor’s gaze. “The lycans still have resources we can bring to bear even without an alliance.” She said confidently.

  “Interesting” said Victor. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’d like to offer lycan personnel as security forces.” She said, in a matter of fact tone. “The lycans are very experienced in the military as well as law enforcement. We even have several security services owned by our members.”

  Victor sat back in his luxurious black leather chair and steepled his fingers in thought for a moment before looking back up at Sara with a slight scowl on his face. “Given the contentious history between our peoples, I think you would find it hard to find a vampire willing to trust that kind of security, don’t you?” He asked skeptically.

  “Trust is the main reason the lycans should be employed.” Responded Sara calmly. “Right now the threat to the Council is from other Vampires. Every vampire is looking at his fellows with suspicion. The lycans also know that House Abandonados and their allies would do their best to subjugate or even kill off the lycans as a threat. Given those factors, we can provide a security force that can’t be infiltrated by vampires and whose loyalty is assured by a sense of their own self preservation.” She concluded persuasively.

  Victor nodded along as she made her points, but the scowl didn’t leave his face. “I can see your point. I still don’t think some of our members will be able to trust lycan security, even given the logic of your argument.”

  “It’s not our intent to try to force anyone into using lycan forces.” Spoke up Deacon. “We think just offering the service would be beneficial not only to the Council’s safety, but to the alliance negotiations.”

  The head of the Council continued to think on the points we brought up for a few moments. “Well, the best I can do at this point is to make the offer to the council and see if there’s any interest.” Victor leaned forward in his chair once more. “Speaking of security.” He said, looking at Deacon. “What precautions have you taken in that regard as it applies to Ms. Nightwind?” .

  “We will be staying at my compound on Long Island and will be using a helicopter to travel here when necessary to avoid possible ambushes.” He said as his eyebrows drew together in sudden speculation. “In addition,” he continued, looking Sara’s direction. “I would like to take advantage of your offer and bring in some lycan security forces to supplement my own.”

  Sara’s face brightened at the suggestion. “What an excellent idea!” She said happily. “I will make some calls when we are finished here.”

  The meeting wrapped up quickly after that. At the elevator, Victor shook our hands. “I’ll talk to the Council and let you know their decision regarding security and teleconferencing. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

  The parking garage was empty when the elevator doors slid silently open. There was no evidence that a confrontation had even occurred.

  We took a roundabout route to Deacon’s estate in an effort to throw off anyone trying to follow us. We didn’t see anything suspicious, but better safe than sorry.

  As we drove, Sara dug out her phone and called Jake to request a security team. Jake asked for a day to get the team assembled. He also asked to borrow the jet we had used, so his people didn’t have to worry about transporting their weapons. Deacon readily agreed and promised to send the jet as soon as possible.

  We arrived shortly thereafter in front of a huge wrought iron gate. It looked like it could stop anything just short of a tank. The limo stopped beside a keypad mounted a short distance from the gate and the driver input a code. The gates immediately swung open ponderously but silently towards us. A cobblestoned driveway curved off through the trees in front of us and led to a stately stone manor.

  “Holy crap.” I said in awe of the huge home. “How much money have you got?” I said rhetorically.

  Sara chuckled a little bit at that. “The Caine family was one of the first families on this continent.” she said, glancing over at Deacon. “They always seemed to value money over power.”

  “Indeed,” said Deacon. “My house has never had much use for politics. I’m somewhat of an aberration among my family members.” He said as we pulled to a stop at the entrance. “Politics intrigues me and my family already has enough money. As you can see.” He said, gesturing at the mansion in front of us.

  The front door of the mansion opened as we got out of the limo and what appeared to be a traditional british butler came out and approached us followed by two liveried servants who immediately started to empty the trunk of our belongings.

  “Welcome home sir.” said the b
utler with an aristocratic air.

  “Thank you Simon.” He said with a warm smile before gesturing towards Sara and me. “Simon, this is Sara Nightwind and Kaitlyn Strong. Would you please show them to their suites?”

  “Of course sir.” Said Simon before turning to direct the servants handling our luggage.

  “I think we’ve hashed out things enough for the time being.” Said Deacon with a tired smile. “Simon will show you to your rooms, so you can freshen up and rest, We can meet this afternoon and hopefully get further information from the Council this evening.”

  Sara and I both agreed and were led into a spacious foyer. The floors were a deep rich brown hardwood, polished to a shine that brought out golden highlights. The walls weren’t paneled in dark wood like I expected to find, but rather appeared to be of modern construction painted in a welcoming pale cream color. Twin stair cases led up to a balcony at the back of the room and hallways could be see leading east and west off off it. Straight through the foyer, large double doors were open to reveal what appeared to be a luxurious sitting room with fine leather couches and chairs.

  Deacon bid us goodnight and headed up the western staircase as we followed Simon up the stairs to the east. He stopped and opened a door about halfway down the hallway. “Ms Nightwind this is your suite. Your luggage is already inside please use the intercom by the door if you need anything.

  “Thank you Simon.” She said with a smile as she and Kangee walked through the door.

  Stepping across the hallway to a door straight across from Sara’s, Simon opened it and gestured Fangs and I inside. We were greeted by a full living room, furnished with modern leather furniture and complete with a large flat screen TV, full bar and an oak desk in one corner. Looking around with wide eyes, I noticed that Fangs needs had been thought of also. Against the far wall of the living room right between the desk and the french doors leading out onto a balcony overlooking the back of the estate was his very own cat castle. It was even larger than the one in my apartment. Next to it on the floor were what had to be matching sterling silver food and water dishes.

  Moving into the room, Simon walked over to the balcony doors and opened them. He gestured to a large decorated wooden box off to the side of the balcony that appeared at first glance to be a table of some kind. I was mistaken however. Walking out onto the balcony, Simon gestured to an opening large enough for Fangs to walk into. “For your companions personal needs Ms. Strong.” He said with a slight bow. Fangs and I walked over to inspect the setup. The light smell of scented cat litter met my nose.

  Fangs approached the box, apparently he got what it was for right away, since he promptly entered and started digging into the litter. Simon and I left him in privacy and returned to the suite, leaving the french doors ajar. “He’s going to want to explore the grounds.” I said “Is that going to cause any problems?’’

  “No ma’am.” Said Simon promptly. Motion sensors on the property are kept elevated in order to prevent false alarms from the local wildlife. They seem to think that the wall around the estate is a minor inconvenience at best.”

  I smiled at Simon sardonically. “They might start giving the estate a wide berth when they see a 50 lb. Savannah cat prowling the property.”

  “Quite right.” Simon said, returning my smile. “He seems very formidable.”

  Bidding me good evening, Simon quietly left me to my own devices. Looking around and opening doors, I found a huge full bathroom, complete with jacuzzi style tub and a separate shower. Nice.

  The next door revealed a bedroom larger than I had ever slept in before. It had a full king sized bed with room left over for a chair and loveseat combination sitting in front of a small fireplace. This room had some serious romance potential.

  I quickly unpacked my things and left Fangs to his investigation of the new digs as I made thorough use of the jacuzzi tub. It seemed like a long time since I just let myself relax. The bubbling water did a wonderful job of easing tense muscles and letting my mind go blank for a while.

  Relaxed and content, I put on my pajamas and made my way back to the bedroom for a nice bout with oblivion, leaving the bedroom door ajar so Fangs could come and go at need.

  It was Fangs that gave me the first indication that something was wrong. A low warning growl started deep in his chest, rousing me from sleep. I reached out and put my hand on his head, using our bond to silence him. His body was tense and he was focused like a laser on the door to the living room.

  Moving as quietly as possible I got out of bed, pulling the kukri from it’s usual place under my pillow and moved over to a chair in the corner that had my shoulder holster hanging from it. Freeing my .45 from the holster I moved to the door using all my senses to detect anything out of the ordinary. Fangs crept from the bed and followed at my heel.

  Nothing was visible through the gap in the slightly open door, so I used my shoulder to open it slowly, covering the room with the .45 as more of it became visible. Nothing out of the ordinary presented itself from my position in the bedroom.

  I concentrated on my link to Fangs and felt his attention focused on the balcony outside. Skirting the edge of the room until I came to the french doors separating the living room from the balcony, I scanned as much of it as I could see through the glass in the doors. Still nothing alarming presented itself.

  Finally, I slid out the gap in the doors that had been left open for Fangs use and eased out onto the balcony, slowly scanning the grounds below. Fangs low growl sounded again as he stared out into the night. I used a mental command to silence him once more.

  As I continued to search the grounds with all my senses, moving shadows started to present themselves as they stayed low and crept slowly towards the mansion. I knew that Deacon had security, but this didn’t seem right.

  As quietly as possible I withdrew back into the living room of my suite before hurrying to the bedroom and the cell phone sitting on the nightstand. I touched the screen over Deacon’s name as I moved back into the living room to keep watch.

  “Kaitlyn?” Came a deep somewhat muzzy voice, after a couple of rings. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  “Should there be people out on the grounds sneaking towards the house?” I said by way of greeting.

  Deacon’s voice became instantly alert. “No, I don’t have patrols set up for the interior grounds.” he said.

  “I counted seven people moving towards the mansion from my balcony. There’s probably more.” I whispered tensely.

  “I’ll alert security and join you shortly.” He said urgently. “Stay where you are.”

  “I’m going to alert Sara.” We’ll meet up in my suite.” I responded.

  “Very well.” Came the short reply, then the phone clicked off.

  I moved to the suite entrance and listened at the door before opening it far enough to scan the hallway for enemies. Seeing no threats, I paced across the hall to Sara’s door and knocked lightly. To my surprise the door opened almost immediately. Sara stood in the doorway fully dressed, eyeing my gun and kukri questioningly.

  “Problem?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Intruders on the grounds. Fangs spotted them. I’ve alerted Deacon. We’re meeting up in my room.” I said, like a soldier giving a report to a superior.

  Sara nodded once firmly before walking over to a nearby corner and picking up her staff. Kanjee flew from his perch to land on her shoulder and we crossed back over to my suite.

  Opening my door once more, my eyes were greeted with floodlights illuminating the grounds and casting light into the livingroom. There were also two vampires in tactical gear and armed with what appeared to be silenced MP5’s standing on my balcony.

  Sara and I acted at the same time, diving in opposite directions to the hallway floor. Kangee took flight further down the hallway and Fangs crouched at my side with his ears flat against his skull as bullets shredded the door and the surrounding walls. Dust and debris rained down in the silence as the clips o
n the assault weapons went dry.

  Rolling to a prone position with my head towards the door, I brought my .45 to bear and peeked inside. The two figures had entered the living room and were skirting around either side of the furniture in the center of the room.

  The pistol in my hand barked twice in rapid succession, taking the opponent to the left in the throat and head. I tried to target the other assailant, but his gun was already tracking my direction, forcing me to dodge back into the hallway as another hail of bullets chewed up the wall and floor.

  I sent a mental command to Fangs, ordering him to retreat further down the hallway towards the stairs. I could hear the sounds of fighting from the foyer. Looking up the hallway, I saw Sara with a throwing knife held at the ready,crouched by the next doorway along the hall.