by Cat Miller
“Brandi is not out of the woods just yet. She is doing well for someone who took two bullets to the back yesterday. Her body is healing nicely, but the amount of blood she lost combined with the extent of her injuries is going to take a toll on her immune system and healing is going to be a taxing ordeal for her. We may heal quickly, but we are not impervious to all infection. She had a bullet removed in the back of a van and surgery on the kitchen counter. She will have a difficult time fighting off an infection right now, should one arise.”
He looked to Griffin for help explaining when Mrs. Vaughn began tapping the toe of her stiletto and looking at him as if he were telling the teacher his dog ate his homework. Maybe she knew he was making excuses. Honestly, he had very valid reasons for being concerned. Sure, the nurse could monitor Brandi just as well as he could, but who wouldn’t want a trauma surgeon caring for their child instead of a rent-a-nurse? This bitch was… well, she was a bitch.
“Of course, we would love you to stay and provide the best care available for our child. Wouldn’t we, Sarah?” Griffin eyed his mate until she nodded her agreement and went to the bed to take her daughter’s hand.
“I believe we have a rollaway bed that will be more comfortable than that chair. I’ll have it sent in for you.”
More pleasantries were exchanged before Greyson left the room to give the family privacy to visit with the resting pixie. He called to check in at the Enclave and got the green light to stay and care for the daughter of the Councilmen. When he returned, the room was empty of visitors and he quickly and professionally checked her wounds for infection and reviewed her vitals. Looking down at her, after meeting her sister, he felt a bit ashamed for being attracted to such a young girl. Guessing a vamp’s age can be tricky, but judging by her bedroom décor and her sister, she couldn’t be more than twenty. After seeing her last night in a gown, dressed for a party, he had made some assumptions. She had been blood covered so that hadn’t helped, but her curvy body said ‘all woman’ to his senses. She was beautiful even in her worst hour. With her face scrubbed clean of makeup and her curls hugging her cheeks, in sleep she was even more so. Maybe there would be a better reason than the Wrath teams for him to stay and adjust to life on the Enclave. Maybe a pixie could make him feel alive again.
****
It was dark and the smell of old blood mixed with other bodily fluids and mildew assaulted Derek. The sounds of a crying woman drifted to him from somewhere down the corridor. Was that his mother? Derek listened closely, but the sound was too faint to be distinct. He had really screwed up this time. The Master, as he liked to be called, was none too happy about the failure of Derek’s latest mission. The goal was to abduct the girl from her bonding ceremony and bring her back to The Nest. Danielle Vaughn was important to his plans for crushing the ruling Council of vampires. Returning without her had brought a world of hurt down on Derek.
The Master had this insane Hitler-like concept of the superiority of their species. He believed vampires, being at the top of the food chain, should rule the world, and humans should bow their heads respectfully and serve obediently or die. Naturally, he would be the leader, master of all, and all would worship at the altar of his genius for bringing about this new world order. No kingdom or nation would survive the coming of his warped Shade army, the blitzkrieg of the vampire nation.
The Shade consisted of vampires from the darkest corners of the vampire nation organized into loose military units. They were thugs, thieves, and rejected members of society looking for a way to get out from under the Council’s rule. The Master believed this roughneck band of misfits could defeat the warrior class of vampires that protect the Council and the vampire nation before they moved on to take over the human world.
Never mind the fact that vampires only make up about a fifth of the world’s population, and who cares if the US military itself, without the help of the rest of the world, could crush his growing league of likeminded vampires. The eminent goal of crushing the Council is all that mattered to the Master. First, the Council falls, giving him control over the vampire nation. Then, he planned to take over the world like some megalomaniac from a B movie.
The crying stopped when footsteps began to pound down the corridor of the underground network of cells where human cattle had been collected to keep the Master fed, alongside prisoners and vampires that had failed to please the Master were held. Chained to the floor, bloodied and defenseless, he waited for the end to come. Would this be the day to end his servitude to the evil he’d been forced into for longer than he could remember? Had the Master finally made good on his promise to murder Derek’s mother if he weren’t completely obedient? It would be the killing blow to what was left of his fragile human psyche, if his failure had caused the death of his mom. His sweet human mother was the only thing holding Derek to this world anymore. He had murdered, kidnapped, stolen, and abused all in the name of protecting the only family he had, his mother.
The footsteps passed his cell and stopped not far away. A shrill scream ripped through the darkness as the sounds of a weak struggle ensued. The woman was being taken to the Master. It was dinnertime at The Nest and she was the main course tonight. Panic and trepidation poured from the woman as she pleaded to be released, but the guard backhanded her. There was the too familiar sound of skin striking skin before she fell silent. It was completely within their power to trance her into submission and make the experience comfortable, even pleasurable for her, but they didn’t. She was only cattle. Why worry about her feelings? Humans don’t comfort livestock before they’re slaughtered to be sent to market. The Master had no sympathy for his human delicacies.
Guilt battered Derek for being grateful the guard had come for the woman instead of him. His ravaged body might not survive another beating right now. Oh, he could fend off an attacker, but he submitted to the beatings, and being the half-human mongrel he was, healing from his last beating would take some time. He was as strong and fast as any full blooded vampire but, when injured, it took twice as long for him to recover.
Derek had become the best of the best fighters in The Nest, because the best defense was a good offense. Preventing injury was the best offense against his blood thirsty brethren. If his humanity were to come to light he would be an instant target. It was the threat of exposing him to the rest of the Shadeand the safety of his mother that kept him in line. The Master could not be seen as weak or lenient. Derek took the beatings and smiled inwardly. He knew down deep the Master feared him. He was stronger, faster, and more deviant then any of the other soldiers. Derek had been raised on beatings as if they were mother’s milk. The result was a vampire with a will to survive andtake down anything in his path.No one could defeat him alone and everyone, including the Master, knew it.
So he took great pleasure in making a show of beating the hell out of Derek at the slightest provocation, and in doing so, proving to the rest of The Nest that he was the greatest warrior. Only he could knock the pegs out from under Derek and then have him carried away and hidden to preserve the image of a perfect vampire. God forbid anyone find out his secret. If only they knew how he gladly accepted the beatings in exchange for his mother’s safety. Now, when he was weak and vulnerable the Master would come and remind Derek of his vows. He would remind him of his humanity and the fragility of being such a pathetic creature like his mother. How easily her life could end.
Again he felt shame for wishing the Master would just go ahead and kill him. It would be so much easier than being his whipping boy. It would be so much easier than going out and collecting cattle for the Master’s pleasure. It would be better than wandering the streets, picking up human girls to bring back for the vamps in The Nest to abuse and drain. Human girls, who would have grown to be mothers just like his, followed him gladly until he entranced them into his web. He captured vampire youth to be tested for power and killed whether they had any or not. He was a traitor to both races.
He was the perfect vampire. That’s what th
e Master had told him. The humans couldn’t resist vampire charms and the vampires couldn’t resist the faint, elusive scent of human blood. Yet nobody knew Derek was a demi-vamp mongrel. He wanted to die for his crimes against man and vampires because living with the guilt only made him meaner and colder by the day. But what would happen to his mom? If she wasn’t needed to keep Derek in line, would she be the next woman dragged down the corridor, screaming and begging for her life? He didn’t know the answer to that question and he never would.
A memory flickered in the back of his mind and Derek savored it for a moment. She had been such a surprise. In the chapel entryway a little brunette fireball had tried to take his head off with a golf club. At first anger swelled in his chest and he gripped her tightly, pressing the gun to her head. He would have killed her. He should have killed her, but the warm honeyed scent of her hit him, and the heat of her body against his chest made him hesitate. Until the heat of her hand literally burned him. She was pyrokinetic. Holy shit!
The Master would kill for a prize like that and he knew he should have taken her. If he could figure out how to do that without ending up well-done. It would require waiting for another shipment of Hypnovam. But he didn’t want to see her die at the Master’s fangs. She had a spark, a fire in her that was about more than just her elemental ability. The fight he saw in her eyes needed to live on. The courageous fire-starter needed to live and breed more vamps like her, if vampires were to have a chance of surviving people like him and his master.
Derek’s head fell to the blood blackened stone beneath him. She had been shot. She took the Master’s prize from the back of the van and took off. He had seen it and so had Darren. Darren pulled his gun and Derek knew he would hit his target. Darren was an ex-Wrath leader and a sharpshooter. He wrestled with Darren for the gun, saying it would be stupid to take the chance of hitting the prize, but Darren wanted his mate back. The man had been slowly going crazy with the need to possess his mate. He knew she was out there with another male, and every day was torture for him. He lived in a hell of his own making.
They struggled for the gun and just as Derek lifted his head, a fireball came roaring through the night to ignite the van fifty yards behind them. It had been magnificent. She was breathtaking, until Darren stood, braced his feet, and put two bullets in her back. He didn’t know if she had survived, but when he got out of that pit, and he would eventually get out, he would find her. He had to know if the fire in her eyes survived. A foreign sensation twisted in his gut and he didn’t like it. He couldn’t allow himself to care. She wouldn’t thank him for it. She wouldn’t care for the bastard mongrel son of human woman.
FOUR
The ceiling above the bed Dani woke up in was, unfortunately, very familiar. She was really sick of coming to consciousness in the damn infirmary at the Enclave. How many times can one person end up there before the wing gets renamed in their honor? Seriously, it should be called The Danielle Vaughn Center for the Constantly Unconscious and Terminally Stupid.
How the hell had she gotten into this situation again? After forcibly being turned into a full-blooded vampire by her trusted guard, Darren, and the Rogue, the only benefits had been that she believed her life with Chase would be easier for him because he wouldn’t live with the stigma of a half-human mate. Also she had retained most of her power. They realized the hard way when the Rogue tried to drain her of her extrasensory vampire abilities and failed, that her power was rooted in her humanity. Now that the humanity was gone she had lulled herself into believing she was safe. The Rogue didn’t have the ability to absorb human power. She hadn’t even really thought of Darren as a continued threat until it was too late.
Dani’s mother was human, but she was also a powerful psychic. Tessa had dreams that were actually premonitions. The dreams she had could be changed if the person’s path changed, but usually Tessa was very accurate. Dani had inherited power from her mom that wasn’t known until she came of age as a vampire. That was when the shit had hit the proverbial fan.
Dani realized that her mind was wandering and wondered how long she’d been out. Movement caught her attention and shifted her gaze from the familiar cracks in the plaster above her to the bottom of her bed. The sight that greeted her had her heart thudding instantly. Chase and Cayden stood facing off as if a battle would break out at any moment. Shit!
They had been best friends until Dani came between them, a fact that still weighed heavily on her heart. When she couldn’t have the man she wanted, Dani had turned to another guy for comfort and distraction. Cayden gladly stepped into the role of her main distraction with full knowledge of her feelings for Chase. The logical excuse he’d given was that Chase was engaged to be bonded to another girl and therefore had no right or reason to be angry with him. He believed Chase would see the truth in this and forgive him this one trespass. Cayden had been wrong. Chase would not relinquish his claim on Dani and fought tooth and nail to win her back. She prayed fervently that they would come to an understanding, once all the smoke had cleared. It hadn’t happened and Cayden avoided her and Chase at all cost.
Now the two men stared at each other intently. The thick tension in the room had her holding her breath. Dani had had enough of their male posturing. If either one of them threw a punch she was going to give them both the mental smack down of their lives. Then, she would lock them in a room together until they came out acting like grown men instead of stubborn little boys.
Cayden stepped closer to Chase, a challenge in his eyes and a cocky smirk on his lips. Chase, never one to back down, stepped up and cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at his oldest friend and then he smiled. Cayden shook his head and looked away. Then, by some miracle of fate, the two men embraced each other tightly. Chase was pounding Cayden on the back and smiling widely.
“I have missed you, brother,”Cayden choked, “I’m sorry for… everything.”
Chase pulled back slightly from the tight embrace to look Cayden in the eye.
“It’s enough now, Cayden. You have punished yourself enough. I love you, man. Dani loves you so much. I know she’s afraid to tell me how much, but I know. You were her best friend when I couldn’t be. You protected her and supported her. You did the right thing when I was making all the wrong moves.”
“I did not do the right thing. I hurt her more than any of the people that were out to harm her. She should hate me. I made promises. I told her she was perfectand I’d love her no matter what, but the first time I was tested I failed. I’ve stayed away because I don’t want to see the disgust I know she must feel for me. But, I’ll tell you this. She was perfect just the way she was and I will love her always. You are one lucky bastard and a better man than I could ever be.”
“Are you done yet? Can you let it go? Because we already have. I made more mistakes and hurt her just as much as you did, Cayden. We were a couple of kids playing at being men. It seems like a lifetime ago. We have both learned from our mistakes and grown up. I want you in my corner. I need my best friend back in my life,” Chase tried to reassure.
“I think you should talk to Dani before we make any decisions about the future. The last thing I want is to make her unhappy.” Cayden hung his head with a renewed bout of shame.
Finally after six months of silence and separation, they had both said their peace and come to an understanding. Forgiveness was given, and received, by both men. The past was in the past and the future felt more secure with the two men she loved the most standing there like brothers instead of enemies. They had been an unstoppable force in the past and Dani believed they would continue to be overwhelming in the future. Only now, as men, they would conquer the enemies of their people and lead the future generations side by side. Cayden would be the backbone of the warriors and Chase would step into his post on the Council. Together they would create and enforce a new era of tolerance and acceptance in the vampire nation. It wouldn’t be easy but, together with the help of a few select Council members and youth of the nation, it woul
d someday be done. This was the greatest wish in Dani’s heart and she finally released the pent up air in her lungs, drawing the attention of both Chase and Cayden. Chase rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms, burrowing his face in her neck for a moment.
“Damn it, Lovely! I swear I’ll be gray before I’m twenty-five. You scared the hell out me.” He began to place kisses on her neck and stroke her hair. Dani met Cayden’s eyes over Chase’s shoulder and smiled. In that moment it seemed as if a heavy burden was lifted from Cayden’s shoulders. He took a deep breath and smiled back at her. He looked quickly away, embarrassed at watching her and Chase embracing each other.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to leave you at the altar. I hope you can forgive me.” She nuzzled the side of face and inhaled the essence of sunshine and home. Chase reached up and hit the button to call a nurse to her room.
“How do you feel? Does anything hurt?” Chase began to systematically check her limbs, testing for pain.
“I feel weak, but fine over all. Where is Brandi? How is she?”
Dani had to know what happened to her little sister, her rescuer. The last thing she remembered was the smell of her mother’s blood and silence. Oh God! Her mom!
“What about my mom?” Dani tried to push past Chase and get to her feet. She had to find her mom. Now!
“Hold on there, Angel.” Cayden hurried to the side of the bed to comfort her.
“That is actually the reason I stopped by to see you and Chase. Please, relax. I have news on both your mom and Brandi. Ms. Tessa is right down the hall. Doc Stevens is keeping a close eye on her. He hasn’t left her side and he assured me that she’s stable. She lost a lot of blood, and to be honest, it was close, but she’s expected to completely recover.” He shyly took her hand after looking to Chase for approval. Dani pulled on his arm until he bent over and hugged her gently.
