Zara flashes next to me in a sign of solidarity. I look to Selene first, Zara, then Jaxson for a sign of what I should do, even though I know what I want to do. They all wait patiently until I reach a decision.
“Stand up,” I demand. “I want you to stand before me and look me in the eyes.”
Rebecca snarls silently and stands. She is about my height of 5’5” and is toned nicely, her abs defined against her ivory skin. She seems to be about twenty, which means she’s probably between twenty eight or thirty. Werewolves treat aging like a disease and their high metabolism seems to burn it away. Her face is blemish free as if she takes great care with maintaining it and her long black hair falls against her body like a curtain.
I lick my lips and smile as I pull Katsu, my sword given to me by Lawrence and Diana, from my back. She feels sure in my hand and I give her white blade a once-over. Then, as quickly as I can, run her tip through Rebecca’s middle, until the hilt is touching her stomach. When I pull Katsu out, gleaming with blood, Rebecca gasps in pain and falls to the ground face first.
“No!” I hear Chris yell, but I tune him out, knowing that I have at least three others watching my back.
I fall to a knee and place my mouth next to Rebecca’s ear. “I didn’t hit any vital organs. Change and you’ll heal quickly. This. This is the extent of my mercy,” I whisper, my voice full of collected rage. “Never threaten me again wolf.”
Chapter Eight
Jaxson orders Christopher to take Rebecca back to the house to begin her change. The run is still on tonight and she isn’t allowed to be a part of it. Chris limps over to Rebecca and together they slowly make their way back to heal. Jaxson pulls me to the side to ask if I’m going to stay until it’s over, but I decline. When I turn back around to look for Selene, she’s gone.
“She said that you can come look for her when you’re ready to listen to her side,” Zara explains.
I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. Selene is undoubtedly pissed off. My heart aches at the loss of her presence, but I really don’t know what I should do. She kept her brother a secret from me. He probably was in on my family’s deaths. At the very least, he knows what kind of man Namen is and he chooses to follow him.
Santos.
He’s a threat to me and maybe even Selene. If I want to stop Namen, I’m going to have to go through him. How do I just lay up with Selene knowing that I may have to fight and kill her brother? How can I pretend that this doesn’t change us?
Feeling my turmoil, Zara touches my shoulder and smiles, “Hey, it’ll all fall in place. I told you, she can turn that anger toward me. You won’t have to do anything.”
“Still, she’ll know. She’ll know that I would do it if I could and that we’ve spoken about it. It can’t be the same between me and her, Zara,” I sigh.
Jaxson looks on as we speak and then says to Zara, “I need to speak with you about something quickly.”
Zara nods and lets go of my shoulder. Then, she walks a distance away with Jaxson. The other wolves look toward me, still unsure. I smile, trying to seem non-threatening as I walk to the group.
“I’d like to know all of your names if that’s okay,” I say.
I promise the wolves that I’ll do my best to commit all of their names to memory right before Zara’s steel grip grabs my arm and pulls me back to the car. The wolves begin to growl at the perception of aggression, but I wave them off. Soon, Jaxson takes their attention as I get pulled through the trees.
“Hey, what is the problem,” I ask pulling away from her once my arm begins to throb. Then, I look into her fiery eyes and step back. “What the hell is going on?” I ask calmer now, hoping to hide my fear.
“We are going to take a ride. Give me the keys. I’ll tell you on the way.
◊◊◊
Hesitantly, I let Zara drive. She zips through traffic with scowl on her face. I really don’t even want to ask what in the world is going on, but I open my mouth anyway.
“So, where’s the fire?” I ask, watching the scenery blur by animatedly.
“Jaxson just informed me that my contact on the police force has not released Anubis’s or the other pack member’s bodies through the proper channels like he was supposed to. It seems that he’s gone missing,” Zara growls, looking madder than a cat taking a bath.
“Oh shit,” I say.
“Oh shit is right. We’re headed to his place now.”
I sit in silence as I go through all of the possible scenarios as to why this has happened. All roads lead back to Namen. Zara is pissed at the screw up and her bond reveals that she is definitely out for blood tonight. I don’t blame her. The pack needs his body back for burial. This is the closure that they need, how could this go wrong too?
Chapter Nine
We pull up to a house on the north side of town. This neighborhood seems awfully busy, especially at ten p.m. I could never sleep with cars rolling all up and down the street at all times of the day. Zara turns left at a stop sign and then pulls up to the curb at the last house on the block. It’s an old brick house that seems to be averagely maintained. Big bushes in the front block the window, but the light from the t.v. makes me think that someone’s home.
Zara walks up the pathway to the house and when she reaches the porch, waits for me to meet her by the door. “I don’t sense anyone, so wait outside just in case he pulls up.” Without waiting for my response, she breaks the knob and steps inside.
An alarm blares, making me look around to see if we’ve attracted attention, but she doesn’t seem to even care. In less than thirty seconds, she’s out the house.
“Come on. His bags are packed. I need some information from a vampire that’s on the force as a liason. I know where he’ll be,” Zara reveals as we get back into the car. She doesn’t even care about the door being wide open, the cars driving past curiously, or the alarm screaming into the night. We pull away and hit a u-turn at the corner.
“How long have you known this person?” I ask curiously. Zara obviously doesn’t take lightly to being played. I’d truly hate to be on the wrong side of her wrath. Just ask Blake.
“I’ve been working with him for the past five years. There’s never been any issues before. He’s human and a pretty decent guy, or so I thought.”
Zara rubs her face and sighs. She slows down when a police cruiser turns a corner and drives on the opposite side of the median. Then, she fiddles with the music before deciding to turn it off.
“Okay, we’ll figure this out together. Do you think your vampire friend will be able to give you the info you need?” I ask hopefully.
“He’d better or blood will flow tonight,” Zara promises.
Shortly, we pull into the parking lot of a nightclub that I’d been into a couple times in the past. It’s called Wet. I’d always thought it was because once you walk off that hot ass dance floor, that’s how you’d leave. It was always packed with sweaty bodies. I definitely didn’t expect to come here.
We park and I can hear the music bumping from here. The crowd is extremely loud as a group of about fifty wait to get inside. Purposely, Zara strides up to the front despite protests from the line dwellers. She pretends that they don’t even exist.
“Move the rope,” she commands, looking the bald headed bouncer in the eye, glamouring him with vampire mind control. Wordlessly, he lifts the barrier keeping us out and we stroll in. One look at the guy taking money inside and he says nothing as we walk by.
The dance floor is packed body to body, and we have to push our way through as we reach a door that I’ve never noticed before. Once I feel the shimmer of magic, I know that it’s glamoured to anyone that isn’t an awakened. She pulls the door open and a set of stairs is revealed. Down we go.
Once we reach the bottom step, the upstairs music is replaced by a calmer beat. My eyes take a second to adjust to the darkness and I begin to make out the shapes of tables, chairs, and bodies. There are people smoking cigars, drinking, and taking blood. Yet, e
verything stops when we step into the room. The music becomes nothing but soft background music. Zara’s eyes are cold and calculating as she takes in the entire room.
“Where is Logan?” she asks in a powerful voice like the ruler of a kingdom. The sound is amplified by the room’s acoustics.
The entire group stands up in unison. I sense their aggression and pull my sword. Zara’s eyes turn red and she grabs the nearest vampire by the neck and snaps it. It’s only a threat, not enough to kill the vamp, just knock him out. No one moves nor says a word.
“I said, where is Logan!” she roars.
Her anger blindsides our bond and my head begins to throb under the pressure. But, she doesn’t relent. Some of the vamps back up but some hold firm. Finally, another door opens and a vamp comes through, an unconscious woman on one shoulder. He drops her to the floor like unneeded trash. Then, he turns to Zara.
“What do you want Zara?” The guy asks. He must be Logan.
“I need information. I’d appreciate it if the rest of you would stay out of my way,” Zara responds, voice as cold as a glacier.
“No,” Logan says.
“Excuse me?” Zara asks angrily. I practically see her aura dancing off of her skin as she reaches for the power of a pure blood vampire.
“I no longer will help you. We all serve Namen Young,” he says confidently. The rest of the vampires seem to be proud of that statement as well. “Now, because I am kind, this will be your only chance to walk away. Now, leave.”
Zara looks around at the group, then at me, still holding Katsu ready to strike. This is going to get ugly.
“Do you know who I am? Or should I give you a refresher?” She picks up the unconscious vampire off of the ground that she attacked earlier and plunges her fist through his heart. Then, she licks the blood off of her hands as the body disintegrates into nothing.
“You won’t win if you do this Zara,” Logan warns, seeming almost frightened and unsure.
“If I do this, I’ll make sure no one ever remembers your names,” Zara tells everyone in the room.
They don’t say a word, just hold their ground. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Well,” I say as my tattoo begins to glow, “This ought to be fun. Shall we?”
“After you,” Zara extends her hand, pointing at the vampires. None of them are pure bloods so this may not be too hard.
I attack first, slicing and kicking, never before wanting to shed blood so much. Zara’s own rage mingles with mine, strengthening me. This will be for Anubis. Katsu cuts through a woman’s stomach like a knife through warm butter before I twist and take the head of another. He becomes nothing but dust as I sense two more attempting to come behind me. Through our bond I realize that Zara and I can use each other as a second pair of eyes. I see what she sees and can adjust my fighting style. Jumping in the air, I plunge my katana through the head of the vampire on the left and kick the other one away.
I smile as I sense Zara attacking with the force of a raging bull. I thought that the werewolves fighting in sync was the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever seen, but she’s had hundreds of years to perfect the art. No move is wasted. Even without a weapon, she melts in and out of the shadows, taking heads, and consuming life forces. My own power becomes excited and wants to be tested more. I oblige.
My motions become quicker as I spin on my heel and between a table hurled at me and a vamp. She tries to bite me with her knifelike fangs, but I grab a handful of her hair and ram Katsu through her. Then, I toss her to Zara who finishes her off by ripping her head from her shoulders, growling as the body turns to dust. The sheer power that it takes to accomplish that is amazing.
With only a half dozen vampires left in the room, I find Logan trying to escape. Using the blood-link, I warn Zara as I toss her my blade. She catches it just as she leaps over a vamp, spins to slice him in half, and then hurls my sword at Logan with blinding speed. He’s pinned to the door that he was trying to escape from and Zara wastes no time taking him.
She rips him free of the door just as I catch a blow to the side of my head then feel teeth ripping into my shoulder. It burns like hell, but I refuse to scream as I slam the persistent vampire into the wall with my back. The rest of the group tries to overpower me while Zara is occupied. I head butt the one closest to me so hard that I see stars, but I don’t care, I can’t let them pin me down. She spits out teeth and rains blow after blow on my face before I manage to pull one of the other vampires into the line of fire.
Eye almost swollen shut from the attack, I begin to see red myself. Not my face; I love my face! I fight back hard as Zara joins the fray again, having knocked out Logan so that he can’t escape. She slices swiftly through three vamps, severing their connection with this world. Gripping the toothless female by her neck, having finally gained the upper hand, I squeeze until I feel her trachea collapse. She slumps to the ground and Zara plunges Katsu into her chest, dispatching her as well. She hands her back to me, eyes wild, smile on her face.
Together, we attack the last two vamps, quickly and efficiently. This bond increased my skill by ten-fold, Zara’s blood still running through me, making me more powerful than before. We both feel the change in me and once again, my tattoo glows and seeks out Zara’s power. This time, it reaches for it and seems to remember the force that Zara is and backs down even if it does want another taste. Satisfied, Zara wipes her mouth of any remaining blood and I wipe my blade off on a table cloth before sheathing it again.
Next, I follow her to where Logan lies. She pulls him up and places him in a chair roughly. Patiently, I look around at the room, the music still a light touch to my ears. Splotches of blood coat the tables and chairs. Some of the furniture is turned over or broken and many drinks are spilled. Still, there’s not a soul in this room other than Zara, Logan, the unconscious woman, and me.
Zara wakes Logan the betrayer up and he immediately bites down on his tongue so that he can’t talk. He spits his severed tongue out of his mouth and at Zara, teeth bloodied and eyes filled with insanity. Pissed, she slaps him so hard that he flies from the chair before she pulls him back up. He reminds me of the other three that I fought before I officially met Zara that night in the alley. It just confirms my suspicions even more. These guys are so crazily loyal to Namen that they removed their tongues willingly. Damn.
Knowing that she isn’t going to get anything from him, she resolves to finish the job, her way. “Rayne, I know that you’ve seen someone tortured before, but what I’m about to do, you don’t want to see, ever. Go through that door and see if anyone else is hiding. I’ll come back there when I’m done.”
“Okay, but you know I’ll just see it through the bond anyway,” I tell her walking away.
“Oh, trust me, this, I will make sure I keep from you.”
I look at Logan one last time and smile. He deserves everything that he’s going to get. “And now, you won’t even be able to beg for mercy. Goodbye Logan,” I say.
His eyes are filled with terror for the first time tonight. I sense him try to make one last move against Zara, but she quickly knocks him back in the chair. Satisfied that she can handle herself against one lowly vampire, I close the door behind me.
Chapter Ten
I found three women and two men in the back rooms, all unconscious with multiple bite wounds. Zara gave them all blood to heal their bites, including the first woman, glamoured them, and sent them back upstairs to enjoy the rest of their night. In the morning they would all believe that they had a crazy drug filled orgy. Great memories to have.
When I came back into the room, there was nothing left of Logan. I didn’t ask. She wouldn’t tell me anyway. We went upstairs, had a couple drinks at a back table where it was dark enough to conceal any blood that we had on our clothes, and then left to go to Zara’s condo downtown to clean up. She hesitantly called one of the people that works for her family to take her dogs out, semi afraid about who she could trust. Then, she called her cousin Apollo in o
rder to let him know what was going on with the rogue vampires.
All vampires were not expected to do any and everything that a member of the nine asked, but they did have a certain level of respect for them in most cases. Namen must have offered them something pretty significant for them to go against Zara like this. You don’t mess with the Drakes. So I’ve heard. Apollo suggested to Zara that she see her grandmother soon and that she’d better get a handle on things before he stepped in. She almost seemed afraid of that notion. I wonder if he’s more powerful than her and she’s just afraid to admit it.
After relaying all that to me, Zara orders some food while I shower. It’s amazing feeling the heat beat against my sore muscles. Zara’s blood inside me heals my swollen eye significantly and I cover my face with my hot wash cloth as I lean against the shower wall. Finally, I force myself from the shower and wrap a towel around my naked body, hesitant to be around my vampire like this after the day we had. Gratefully, she’s not in sight when I tiptoe through the hall and into the bedroom.
The carpet feels like a pile of feathers under my feet and I almost find myself lying on the floor. I walk to the bed and it’s just as soft and inviting. I plop down before I notice the t-shirt and boxers. Grateful, I lotion up and then pull them on. When I walk back out, there is a carton of Chinese food waiting on me. Zara is sitting outside on the balcony’s railing, legs dangling dangerously over the ledge.
I scoop up the food and step into the night air, joining her as I eat.
“Isn’t the night so beautiful?” she asks quietly, somehow balancing perfectly.
I look out into the night; listen to the faint sounds below, of cars honking, music playing, and stare at the beautiful city lights and smile. “It is.”
“Night time has so many more secrets. It’s like a completely new adventure waiting. When you’re one with the night, there is no need to ever be afraid,” she tells me.
“Zara?” I ask, suddenly curious. “What are you afraid of?” I inquire even though I know it is an extremely personal question to ask someone so prideful and strong.
Killer Rayne Page 5