The Blood Covenant: Book One of The Medici Warrior Series

by Emily Bex

  "As a matter of fact, there is something I'd like to talk to you about, but not on the phone. Do you think you can get away from there for a while? Get over here to my place where we can talk in private?"

  "Not a problem, brother. Give me fifteen minutes and tell me you got some Midnight over there."

  Alec tosses back the remains of the Midnight in his own glass. “We never run out of Midnight in the Canton household. I'll be in the study. Santos will show you in.”

  "On it, brother."

  Hanging up the phone, Shade grabs his leather jacket from the back of the chair, shrugging his muscled arms and shoulders into the soft leather, and feeling the jacket slide into place like a second skin. He lets Tomas know he is headed to G-town and the Canton residence, and then teleports to Alec’s front door. Santos, Alec's manservant, answers before Shade can even ring the bell. As Santos leads him into the study, Shade’s boots hit heavily on the hardwood floors and he can smell Rissa inside the house. He hopes to fucking hell this issue has nothing to do with her.

  ***

  Alec feels him enter and picks up his scent. His presence is looming, hard to ignore. As Shade enters the study, Santos pulls the door closed behind him, giving them privacy. Alec is pouring them both a glass of Midnight.

  "Sit down by the fire, brother. Take a load off. I have a lot to tell you."

  He carries the glass of the rich, thick burgundy colored brew to Shade, and sits down in the chair across from him. “I’ve got a problem. Not a security issue. No threat to my life, but a threat to my ambitions. And you have a little gift I think might be quite useful."

  Shade tries to get a read on him as Alec moves about with elegance in his custom-made suit. At least the bastard has taste. As Shade sits his large body down by the fire, the warmth feels good on this cold night on the edge of winter. As Alec hands him the glass of Midnight, he swirls it around in the crystal goblet and watches the flames through the glass, making the liquid look as if it has been ignited from within. The bouquet of the mixture he has patented floats to his nostrils, and he smiles. Lifting his glass in the air, Shade toasts the two of them in their quest for future power, their past victories, and the times yet to be had between them.

  As Alec begins to talk, Shade can feel a plan scheming inside that head. He knows the deal he got taking this security gig always nags at Alec. He wants to make sure Alec understands any work outside that contract is not included in the package, and while he will willingly take on any challenge, they all come at a price. The gift Alec refers to is his dream-walking. Now this should be damn interesting.

  "Dream-walking. Well, brother, your ambitions can be mighty damn bold, so tell me what in the hell you need, and I will see what I can do."

  Alec leans forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees.

  "You know my goal is to take the presidency. But this is not medieval Europe. I can't just go in and overthrow the king with an army of warriors like the old days. Unfortunately, I will have to rely on the support of mortals, and the election process. And in order to get there, it will require some serious manipulation. I already have in mind how I can convince President Ashton not to run for office again, but it is too soon to play that card yet, that is a ways down the road. Once I have Ashton out of the way, then I have to get through the whole nomination process for the Republican candidacy. When I look at my contenders, there is only one that is a serious threat. He has the backing of the far right, he has the NRA, and he has a lot of money. Maybe I can beat him... maybe not. Now, if I can get him to drop out of the race, then the candidacy is mine. That's where you come in with your dream-walking. I was thinking you could stalk him, shadow him, and fill his head with dreams of failure. He's a senior Senator now, and his seat is up for re-election. If he runs for President, he can't also run for his Senate seat. So, if he loses his bid for the Presidency, he has no Senate seat to go back to. Politics is all he knows. Being forced back into the private sector would be a death knell to him. He used to have a drinking problem. Been years ago, he did that whole AA thing and carries around the chip. I need you to rattle him. Get inside his head. Find out what his demons are and fill his head with visions of failure. What do you think, brother?"

  ***

  Shade listens to Alec, realizing he already has this worked out in his head. And although mortals could make his rise to the Presidency difficult for him, they will never stop him. Like the master vampire he is, Alec uses his wits to get what he needs. He is no warrior, but he knows when to call on the warriors’ Warrior and use everything he has to get what he wants. Downing the goblet of Midnight in one single swig, Shade sighs and sets the glass down delicately on the side table. He stares at Alec and then a smile spreads across his face.

  "Alcoholics are easy targets. They are weak. Add in the fact this poor bastard has nothing without this bid of running and he is easily taken down, brother. But this will take me away from work on the streets, away from renovations in Virginia. Not to mention, training your warriors is a full-time job. Right now, they have limited skills and they only have the weapons they own. I need a money cache for weaponry, Alec. And what I need, I can’t buy at the sporting goods store, which means I need Medici made weapons. That costs money, so let’s bargain here. Get me what I need, it benefits you in the long run brother. In the meantime, I can take down this mortal with dream-walking. Put a little fear into him. When I am done with him, he will never know I existed, and he will be cowering and blathering in the corner. I need a name and address. Married, bambinos, any other relevant information? Deal, si?"

  ***

  Alec runs his hand through his hair. Fuck! He thought he could bundle this deal with everything else he already paid out to Shade. He should have known!

  "Yeah, okay, whatever you need. Get the weapons in. Of course, you need weapons. I relied on the mercenaries to supply their own in the past. Probably not the smartest move, but hell, I buy mercenaries a weapon and they take it with them when they bolt. So, I want you in charge. You keep tabs on the weapons, and I will fill the bunker with whatever you want. Just get this fucker off my ass. His name is Senator Ralston. He lives off DuPont Circle near Embassy Row, on Kalorama Road. Big fucking house. He has kids but they're all grown, none live at home, just him and his wife, Helen. His day schedule will mirror mine, and you have that. I think he avoids a lot of big social events, like parties and bars, so he is not tempted to drink. Plays golf with a bunch of business cronies and lobbyist. That should be enough to get you started."

  ***

  Shade crosses one leg to his opposite knee, steepling his fingers in front of his face. He has Alec by the balls.

  "Warriors, mercenaries or not, have a favorite weapon of choice, usually custom made to fit their skill. They rely on that specific weapon for everything. But Medici warriors are trained on all weapons and are skilled in each. This shit the mercenaries carry for weaponry won’t be of much use if we ever have a real battle. I need them to be supplied with specifically designed swords, knives and shurikens. We make our own in Florence, brother. This is an investment on your behalf. You wanted me to run this camp, then we run it my way. The weapons belong to the camp, not the warriors.”

  Reaching into the pocket of his leather jacket, he grabs the Medici-made shuriken and quickly tosses it in Alec’s direction and watches him move easily to avoid its strike. "That is a Medici shuriken, and it is deadly if used by a trained warrior. Keep it, little gift. I got Ralston. Give me a week or two and he will no longer be a threat to you.”

  ***

  Alec ducks his head to the left as Shade throws the shuriken straight at him, hearing the whistle of the throwing star as it whizzes within an inch of his ear. Fuck! Good thing he was paying attention. Fucking warriors! Always swinging their dicks.

  "I knew I could count on you, brother. Order the weapons you need, and like I said, if you want to put in some surveillance equipment, go ahead. I have it here in the house. I'm sure you have it in yours. If you don'
t, you probably should. And before you even ask, I won't be paying for you to put surveillance in your own damn house."

  Shade laughs as he stands, fist bumping Alec. "Done deal brother. I’ll take you up on the surveillance on the Dead House. I’ll get that installed. Don’t have it at Bel Rosso yet. We’re still busy with renovations, but soon. No need to get up. I can see myself out. I will keep you informed of the Ralston situation."

  ***

  Walking out of the study, Shade sees Larissa coming down the stairwell just in time to come face to face with him. He watches the smug look on her face as she glares at him and greets him with 'Warrior'. He does not smile but glares back, never completely trusting this female. "Rissa."

  He watches her cross her arms over her chest and cock that blonde head of hers to the side with an unpleasant smirk before speaking to him in that bitchy voice.

  “Are you done with my vampire now?”

  Shade leans in close to her face and smiles wickedly, "Your vampire’s time is his own Rissa, haven’t you learned that yet?"

  Watching as she huffs and pushes him out of her way, swishing that ass like an angry lioness just robbed of her meal, his laugh is loud as he heads out the door. Shade one, Rissa zero.

  40

  Shade gathers up a blade and a few shurikens, tucking them inside his leathers. He has no intention of fighting this Senator, but he never enters any situation unarmed. It is time he got into this Senator Ralston ordeal. The sooner this is done with, the better. Then he can get back to normal, whatever the hell that is! Shade let Tomas know he is making his regular rounds at Alec’s house, but did not let anyone else know his true intent, dream-walking into Ralston’s head. The less people know of what he is doing, the better off for him and Alec. He wants to think twice now about what he takes on. He can’t make some of the same impetuous decisions of his youth. His life is not his own any longer, he has a mate, and she deserves as much of his time as he can give her.

  Heading out from the Dead House, he teleports along Embassy Row and spots the Ralston home on Kalorama. The houses here are large, well maintained and the Senator’s place is huge. He checks out the house, making sure Ralston is home, and other than his wife, no one else is inside the residence. He wraps himself in shadow and teleports inside the main living area.

  As Shade walks through the house, one thing becomes very clear, this bastard is old money and he has a lot of it. He makes his way to the second floor of the house. Every room is decorated in antiques and family heirlooms. He notices a woman sleeping alone in a delicately furnished, very feminine bedroom. She is an older woman, and Shade recognizes the Senator’s wife Helen from the photos Alec had provided. Interesting, it appears she sleeps in a separate room from her husband. That will make things easier.

  He walks inside her room and wanders through it, watching her sleep. One thing is evident, the lady is a lush. She has a large antique dresser, and on it, bottles of alcohol. There is a half-filled glass made of imported crystal, a bowl of lemon and lime slices, and an ice bucket filled with melting ice sitting at her bedside. So, his wife is an alcoholic, and her husband is the reformed one. He wonders how the Senator keeps that little secret out of the press. Shade makes a mental note to share this information with Alec.

  Leaving her room, Shade walks down the long hall of furnished but unoccupied bedrooms, the rooms that had probably been their children’s bedrooms when they were younger. He slips quietly into a masculine bedroom, the furniture dark and imposing. In the bed lay an older gentleman, looking older and frailer than he looks in his photos. Something about seeing him sleeping makes him look more vulnerable. The Senator lays still, as his loud snoring fills the room. His hair is gray and thinning, and he has a slight paunch to his stomach.

  Shade scans the room and, on the wall, hangs several rifles. Elk and deer heads also line the walls. So, he is a game hunter, and the Senator likes his weapons. Shade steps inside the large walk-in closet where things are neat and tidy. His closet is compulsively organized with his suits, white shirts, khaki pants, and polo shirts, all hanging together, and organized by color. Expensive brands but designed to not stand out in a crowd. There is a safe tucked into a corner, and Shade laughs to himself. Walking to the bedside table, he pulls open the drawer and finds bottles of prescription pills, and a .357 magnum.

  Ralston begins to moan and awakens with a start. Still shadowed, Shade decides to sit down in a tufted high back leather chair and watch the Senator. Ralston throws his legs over the side of the bed, heads for the bathroom and relieves himself. The Senator shuffles back to his bed, opening the drawer of the side table and pulls out a bottle of pills. Shade watches as the Senator shakes out several pills into his palm and downs them with a glass of water that sits atop the table. Instead of returning to his bed, the Senator stumbles across the room to a large desk. He flips through a datebook and a few newspapers and then goes back to the bed, grabbing the remote and turning on the large screen television to CNN. Cazzo, bastard is boring as hell. After approximately forty minutes with the TV still blaring, he falls asleep and begins to snore. Shade stands up, walks to the bed, and places his hand across Ralston's forehead and walks into his dream-state.

  He wanders into his dreams, staying to the edges, unseen and unknown and watches the mishmash of thoughts flowing in and out of Ralston’s mind. He hated his wife’s drinking and hated that he still craved the relaxing feel of alcohol. He knew he had driven his wife to drink through their life in politics and living in the public eye, not to mention a few of his own escapades. Shade pulls hard on the Senator’s memories, feeling fear and pain and shame. The good Senator was not so good after all, and as Shade already knows, mortal or immortal, politics are strewn with corruption. Shade pulls out a very interesting scene that plays heavily on Ralston’s mind, he dreams of it often, it plagues him still.

  Ralston has used his old money connections and his family name to climb the political ladder, and married into money as well, but he likes his booze, his women, and expensive toys. As Shade watches the scene unfold, the Senator had been handsome in his youth and easily went through a long list of beautiful young women. The Senator’s tastes were more deviant however, and he preferred whores. Not the expensive girls from the escort services who lived in a penthouse paid for by their sugar daddy, but street whores who did nasty little deeds for cheap. The Senator’s memory unfolds his ugly past as Shade sees the young blonde whore as the Senator plied her with booze. They were skimming at a high rate of speed in a Cigarette Rough Rider race boat across a huge lake. The only light supplied by the moon beams streaking across the waves created by the boat he was piloting. He hits something huge in the water, perhaps a log hidden below the surface and the boat flips up in the air, tossing both of them overboard. They flailed and struggled in the water, the Senator unable to swim, but finally getting back to the overturned boat. Ralston watched as the young girl floundered, calling for help, and eventually slipped beneath the surface, never to be seen again. As the dream unfolded, bits and pieces were missing, but Shade knew Ralston had paid a lot of money to cover up the accident, and no one was the wiser of a dead whore lying at the bottom of the lake.

  The Senator had continued to drink heavily after this, but still remained in the public eye and climbed the political ladder, his wife beside him. Children followed, but his sexual preferences never changed, and his wife knew all about them, and her own drinking increased as well. What a fucking happy ass life he had. The incident of the young girl drowning as he helplessly watched repeated itself over and over in his head. Shade knows that once he puts the images of the Senator failing to win his election into his dreams, it would never leave, and the mission would be accomplished. Shade feels the pull of sunrise coming and quickly teleports out. He has enough background information on the Senator to create fear and doubt for a failing career path. For Shade, this would be a walk in the park, and he would get some damn fine weapons out of the deal as well, all for a few nights o
f well-placed terror inside an elderly politician’s head.

  41

  Checking in with Alec, Shade gives him a recap of what he learned about Ralston. On the second night, he teleports directly inside Ralston’s home, shadowed from view, and heads straight for the second floor. As Shade walks past the wife’s bedroom, the door is ajar. Looking in, she is sprawled across the bed, still dressed, and passed out, the empty bottle of vodka clutched in her diamond studded hand. Shade shakes his head, been there, done that. He has had enough of his own nights when he drowned his misery in alcohol, and it sure looks like alcohol is the poison of choice in this residence.

  Shade makes his way to the Senator’s room to find him sleeping. He is late arriving tonight, a few problems with two stray rogues kept him working in the Dead House longer than anticipated. Walking quietly to the side of the bed, he lays his hand over Ralston’s forehead, stepping into his dreams like a man on a mission. The vision Shade creates is clear, precise, and frightening to a man with nothing to rely on but his political career. The vision lets him know he has nowhere to go but down. If he chooses the presidency, then losing the nomination will unseat him in the bid for his Senate seat. Shade makes the dream more specific, showing him a clear vision of Alec unseating him for the parties’ nomination. Shade paints a picture of Alec as being more powerful, the people love him, drawn to his youth and energy, his intelligence, his charmed life with his beautiful bride to be. He shows Alec capturing the youth vote, as well as the women voters, and making this country strong and proud again. Shade shows Ralston’s campaign as weak and failing. He will start to lose favor in the polls, and as the campaign progresses, Canton would run him over by a landslide. Shade hints at scandal, the exposure of that long-ago accident finally uncovered and revealed and puts the dream loop on replay. His long-suffering wife’s drinking would be exposed, and he would fall off the wagon himself. Over and over, the cascading images keep repeating like a broken record and Ralston is the broken man trapped inside.