Never Forsaken (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 5)

by Michael Anderle

  Bethany Anne smiled, she had listened to his breathing and heart beat, so she had known he was awake before they left the closet. “Well, don’t be a bump on a log then, codger-boy. The blood will be here tonight; we will get you back in action soon. So continue resting and let your betters talk about you while we pretend you can’t hear us, ok?”

  Michael opened one eye and stabbed Bethany Anne with it. “Wait till I am better, I’ll put you over my knee…”

  Bethany Anne interrupted him, “And probably lose your concentration while staring at my ass, you lecherous old coot.” Ecaterina’s eyes impossibly got larger, her head jerking around to glare at Bethany Anne, not believing what she was hearing.

  “Maybe it is a chance I will have to take, isn’t it?”

  Bethany Anne only “harrumphed,” and then pulled Ecaterina to the door. “He really does need his sleep and blood. I probably shouldn’t be around to cause his blood pressure to rise like this anyway.”

  Michael’s eye closed and his lips broke into the slightest grin. It was the first time he had scored any points against the fiery woman.

  Stare at her ass, indeed.

  Shutting the door behind her, Bethany Anne started towards the stairs. Ecaterina asked her, “Why did you need me here?”

  “One, you’re becoming useless without getting your Nathan injection…” Ecaterina slapped her arm, but then rubbed her hand realizing she wasn’t going to hurt the woman that way. Bethany Anne pointed at her, “See? You’re already so wound up any little thing sets you off!”

  She smiled at Ecaterina who finally just went with the flow and whispered to Bethany Anne, “Damn right! We will have to get a room at a hotel or risk damaging your sensitive ears!” They went down the stairs.

  “God, I only wish it was just you two! I’m more worried about..” They arrived at the bottom of the steps as the front door opened. Lance and Patricia entered, both smiling. “Speak of the devil’s. Patricia, let me introduce you to Ecaterina.” The two ladies exchanged greetings, but Bethany Anne noticed Patricia eyeball Lance once when she realized the beautiful woman was the Ecaterina Lance would occasionally mention. It was probably a good thing Patricia had the good manners not to kick him in the shin right there in front of his own daughter.

  Fortunately, Nathan was close behind them and the two of them had a very public display of affection. Bethany Anne stepped between the two of them and almost physically pushed them apart. “Hey! I’ve got to get back to talk with Pete. You two make nice for those of us with sensitive eye-balls.”

  Lance kicked in, “Damn right.”

  Bethany Anne spoke over her shoulder, “Not you, I’m pretty sure your DNA doesn’t have any sensitivity in it.”

  “Ha! That DNA is in you, too.” Patricia elbowed Lance.

  “And has been refined by Alien Technology to remove all horrible aspects. That was probably why it took six months to fix me.”

  TOM was sniggering in her mind.

  “Ecaterina, I need you to work with Patricia and get her up to date on what you know. Patricia is a master at handling ‘things’ with decades….”

  Patricia interrupted, “Hey now!”

  “… of experience. Good lord, Am I going to leave here without another interruption?” She let the faintest red enter her eyes and stared at all of them. Her father wasn’t bothered, but it got the right reaction from the other three. Lance was just smart enough to keep his mouth shut this time. “So, get with her and I’ll get you back for your workout tomorrow morning after you spend the night here, for obvious reasons.” She put up a finger in Ecaterina’s face, “Don’t give me any lip about your workouts. If you didn’t make it through them, boy-toy here wouldn’t have signed off on your joining the covert group. Before you get your panties in a twist, he IS the Covert group lead, so you had to pass it before he gave approval. I’m happy to say you passed.”

  She stepped away from the two affectionate individuals and kissed her dad on his cheek. “Looking good old man, looking good. Talk tomorrow about the businesses?” Lance nodded. Michael hadn’t wanted anything ‘back’ in his control. He rather enjoyed how Bethany Anne had most things under control. However; Lance was using as much time as Michael would provide to get his arms around the vast holdings. Frank was constantly under Michael’s foot until Bethany Anne told him to go work at a Starbucks or she was going to find and burn his notebooks.

  He left in a hurry, carrying considerably more notebooks than normal. Stephen went with him to experience more of the United States. She figured he would find a bank and rent a safety deposit box. He really was passionate about acquiring information and Stephen was happy to talk to him. Frank was in heaven.

  Apparently, Ivan and Claudia were doing ok. Claudia was healing after the deaths of so many in her life, and Ivan was making sure everything with the house, and Claudia, was being taken care of.

  She went back upstairs to fetch Ashur. She knocked once and entered. It wasn’t as if Michael couldn’t hear her coming up the stairs. Ashur stood up. She shut the door and walked to her closet. This time, Michael was actually asleep.

  She shut the door and the two of them stepped away, back to the Ad Aeternitatem and her special room reserved for her coming and goings. She told Ashur to stay put, but left the door open in case something happened and he needed to leave. She didn’t want him involved when she would be sparring with Pete’s team. She stepped out and walked down towards his group. One of Todd’s marines caught up to her before she went thirty feet and stayed a respectful five feet behind her. These guys were getting as bad as John’s group. She waved behind her to let him know she was aware of him, and not trying to be inconsiderate.

  She stepped back into the Weres training area and moved to the side, allowing the marine to step in with her. Joel was squaring off against Rickie. Rickie’s sarcastic wit going overtime as the two of them tore into each other. When Pete finally called it, Joel had grabbed Rickie’s hand and broke his wrist. Rickie was grimacing in pain, but didn’t let a squeak come out of his mouth. The marine just stared as the broken wrist started to ‘fix’ itself and Rickie tested it.

  The marine leaned towards Bethany Anne, forgetting for a moment Todd had told him to be seen, but not heard, “They are some tough sons-a-bitches, aren’t they?”

  She whispered back, “They are, but they are also a little sensitive about their mom’s being called bitches, so I wouldn’t use that term freely, mmmkay?”

  The marine leaned back up and nodded his head sharply once.

  The fight over, she walked into the group and got Pete’s attention. She stared around at all six guys. They had come a long way in just a few days. Mind you, these were balls-to-the-wall days that only Wechselbalg could do. Pete had them sleeping for four and hard training for twenty. He had done something amazing here and she was glad he had asked for the chance. “Ok, you pussies feeling pretty good about yourselves?” She noticed Tim straightening his back, becoming incensed with her rudeness. Matthew let it roll right off of him and Joseph’s eyes narrowed, trying to find the play she was doing.

  Pete didn’t let it faze him; she had called her personal guards group much worse and more often. “Why? What do you have in mind?”

  “A little Were-on-Vampire action.” Tim tried, but couldn’t control his snort. She gave him a small smile; he would pay for that reaction.

  Pete just nodded his head, “How do you want to play it?

  She looked around at the area; the mat was twelve feet wide and twenty feet long. “I’ll let you six talk for two minutes to come up with a game plan. I will leave and close the door. After the two-minute mark, I want you to ‘protect’ the …” She walked over and picked up a towel, ripping it down the middle and then tying the two pieces back together. “Flag.” She tossed the flag into the middle of the mat. “That will have to be protected, and yes you have to leave it there until I come into the room, then you can do whatever you want with it. The only other rule is you have to stay off
of the mat until I enter. Agreed?”

  She got head nods all around, she walked back out, pulling the marine with her. He looked over his shoulder, “What, can’t I watch?”

  She shook her head, “No, the first time is always embarrassing. They need to keep this one in the group. Unless you want to take on Pete for the right to watch?” She looked over her shoulder as she shut the door. He turned a little white and just shook his head, no. “Got a timer?” He nodded and pulled up his watch setting the alarm and she waited.

  She considered moving through the Etheric into the room, but figured that might give them a way to complain. She wanted to make sure they got the message, again, on how dangerous Nosferatu could be. When he nodded, she dropped into vamp mode and pushed open the door. Thankfully, no one had been stupid enough to try and stay behind the door or they might have become paste. She was surprised that one of the guys was in his wolf form, just off the mat.

  That was smart, they were going to try and play keep away from the vampire. What a cute little Were game! The door had just finished opening wide when the werewolf started moving towards the towel.

  She figured that Pete would have at least two of them ready to ambush her, expecting her to move directly towards the mat to save the flag. However; she turned to her right and sped up, running into, on, and then over Tim who had been there to try and grab her. She cold-cocked him in the temple with her elbow for good measure. Make fun of her sexually without permission? No fucking way, even if it was a normal reaction. Unfortunately, he was going to miss the rest of this effort as he would be out on the floor. Sucked to be him. She sped up some, keeping her speed within range of a very fast Nosferatu but not nearly her top speed. Noticing a ten-pound dumbbell, she reached over to grab it, twisting around to help offset the sudden weight. The werewolf was halfway to the flag so far. That was fine; it wasn’t like it was a problem if they moved it.

  She saw Rickie step out from behind a large box, a six-foot-long bar used for free-weights in his hands. She tossed the barbell up in the air to fly towards his head. His eyes got huge when he realized how much weight was coming at him and he tried to duck. Her hands were now free, so she slid between his legs, grabbing them and pulling him down behind her. She flinched at the sudden banging sound of the metal bar. She didn’t want to see how he made out. Unfortunately, she lost the barbell. She could have caught up to it, but not without using her best speed. She let it hit the far wall; Captain Wagner was going to hear that crash up in the main area for damn sure.

  Two down, one in werewolf form and one she was sure on the other side of the door. She stopped traveling around the area and darted straight towards the mat. She realized those crafty bastards were probably going to try and get the flag out of the room. She had to hand it to them, if that was the plan it was a smart one.

  A second later, another Werewolf tore out of a cubby area running towards the door, gaining speed.

  Gott Verdammt! She changed the angle to go back towards the door. Sure enough, the first Werewolf grabbed the flag and then made a beeline to where the second was already running towards the door. Passing, the first wolf handed the flag to the second. It was beautifully executed if a little late.

  She saw Joel on the other side of the door, heading in her direction. That probably meant that one of the wolves was Matthew and one Joseph. Pete wouldn’t be a runner. She glanced around, trying to figure out where he might be.

  She got a bad feeling and decided to look back towards the door. She spotted Pete all in black behind it to the right. Oh fuckity fuck. If she allowed Joel to slow her down, there was a chance that they could get the flag through the door and if it didn’t become a win, because she would chase their asses down, it would be a moral victory. She wouldn’t allow a moral victory, she just wasn’t feeling very moral at the moment.

  Coming up on Joel she reached out for the arm he was using to try and stiff-arm her. Pivoting, she used his momentum to bring him back around and flung him ass over appetite back into the second werewolf, both making a resounding and painful crash against the wall. Joel was out as well and it looked like the wolf was pretty messed up.

  Four down, one wolf and Pete to go. The first wolf took off towards the mess of arms and furry legs to get the flag again. Bethany Anne headed towards the door.

  Pete stepped out when it was obvious the plan was a bust. She wouldn’t tell him how close they got for a while. She didn’t want to hurt Pete, but she wouldn’t go easy on his training, either. The problem was in his human form he was superior to humans, but inferior to vampires. Since they didn’t have many weapons for this exercise, he was actually without a lot of options.

  In her vamp state, she had lots of time to think.

  TOM

  Yes?

  She acted as if she was going to head towards the flag, Pete’s eyes narrowed and he changed his direction to intercept her.

  Why do the Wechselbalg only change between man and beast? We have stories that there is a middle form, a man-beast if you will.

  It could be that the group which infected them didn’t have the scientific abilities, or it could be that they also didn’t have a way to learn how to do this.

  So, you don’t think that it is just impossible?

  No, I don’t think it is impossible, but I can’t tell for sure unless we research the idea.

  She took her last step, making sure Pete was committed to running as hard as he could before she broke left, heading straight for the door. Pete’s eyes went big in alarm.

  So, if we test one, we might find out a cure?

  You mean, a cure for their condition, or a cure to help them stop in man-beast form?

  Well, I guess both. Maybe some don’t want this situation, but I was really discussing the option to give them a better fighting chance. Going against vampires in their human forms doesn’t work very well.

  She made it to the door and slammed it shut, jumping to the side and pushing off the wall while turning around in the air. She found Pete running to get back to the door. She reached out and grabbed an arm, flinging him faster in the direction he was going. He made a resounding smack against the wall and she heard him sliding down. She didn’t think he was unconscious, but she doubted he was thinking clearly at the moment.

  The first wolf had grabbed the flag and taken a few steps towards the door when he realized that Pete wasn’t going to be getting back up to open it for him and he lacked opposable thumbs.

  He bit down hard on the flag, not willing to give in to the inevitable and braced for impact. She admired his tenacity. There was no backing down in any of this team. She wished she knew if there were any sensitive spots on a wolf’s jaw that would cause them to involuntarily open it and where it might be. This certainly going to hurt the wolf a lot more than it was going to hurt her.

  Reaching the wolf, she reached down and slowed some, not wanting to fling it very far. She turned her torso in a circle and flung the wolf a few feet higher in the air, trying to see how many times she could cause him to flip before he landed. She watched him try and arch his back, seeking some way to get his feet under himself before he crashed into the floor. Somewhere around flip number five the flag left the jaws and went flying. She used both arms to grab the wolf, getting scratched up when the nails sliced through her wrist. She then rolled it like a bowling ball across the mat in the opposite direction from the flag. Looking around, none of the guys had made it back up, yet. She sauntered over to the flag and picked it up. She went to Pete who dazedly looked up at her from the floor, a nasty gash healing on his forehead.

  She looked at the gash a little closer, “You should probably get that looked at. Talk to me after your AAR, ok?” Pete just nodded. She opened the door and stepped out, closing it again.

  Thirty minutes later, Pete came by the inner landing pad where they had TOM’s craft. She had been talking with Todd when he arrived. Todd looked him up and down and cocked a head, “You look a little bad off, everything ok?”
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br />   Pete just pointed at Bethany Anne, “We played capture the flag and got our asses handed to us. Tim is still trying to get his wits back, what did you do to him?”

  Bethany Anne smiled, “Thou shalt not snort.”

  “Yes, he understood that was a bad response when it happened. I’m not sure he is going to remember anything at the moment.”

  “Well, he was in the way. Maybe I hit him with an extra elbow?” Todd winced, he had heard about how Bethany Anne had used a forearm to knock a werewolf out once from Nathan. Pete nodded; he had thought it might be an object lesson. Well, Tim seemed a fast learner so Pete expected the one time should be enough.

  She pointed her thumb at the craft, “Here, come with me.” She turned around and plugged in the access codes. Todd was never sure if she would show up and go in the front door, or he would be standing guard and suddenly she would be coming out having transported herself inside the craft when no one knew.

  The two of them went inside and the door shut. Pete looked around, “Seems tiny.”