by Cat Miller
There had been so much killing, so many wasted lives, and Kayden’s soul was starting to show the stains. He’d learned to hate. He’d learned to kill in defense of his people. He’d learned what real horror looked like, and Kayden wasn’t sure he would ever recover. What he did know was the carefree Kayden of the past was gone and buried with the brethren he’d lost in the fighting.
After months of searching for the escaped rogue vampire leader—who they now knew by the name Sheena—they finally had a lead. Well, they had a clue that could get them a more substantial lead if they found at least one if not all of the dealers. Sheena had become a drug lord of sorts in the Vampire Nation. She’d disappeared after the battle to retake the Enclave from the Shade army, but Kayden believed they’d finally caught up with the crazy bitch. She’d left a trail of dead and sick humans and vampire youth in her wake. Kayden and Hawk, along with a select group of trusted vampires and demi-vamps, had followed her trail to this busy resort town on the East Coast. After looking under every rock from upstate New York to the coast of South Carolina, Kayden had the feeling they finally had a real lead on Sheena and her drug trade.
The Wrath Guard, the Vampire Nation’s elite fighting force, had searched high and low for Sheena and the remaining members of her Shade army, but it was the fearsome and brooding Hawk who had recognized her path of destruction and suggested they follow it to find Sheena’s new hiding place. Hawk was an older demi-vamp —a hybrid human-vampire— who had taken it upon himself to gather up all of the misguided hybrid human-vampires he could find and give them a place to belong and a family. Kayden wasn’t exactly sure how old Hawk was, but he suspected it was upwards of a hundred years. Demi-vamps were often misunderstood by their human parents and always rejected by their vampire parents. Hawk had become a leader for all of the misplaced demi-vamps he’d collected. He had also enlisted Kayden to help him train the Horde, as they had named themselves, to be warriors. Hawk also wanted Kayden to be a liaison between the Horde and the Vampire Nation.
Hawk believed Kayden was the right choice for the job of working with the half-human vampires because of his training as a warrior and his past relationship with Danielle Vaughn, the first demi-vamp to be discovered by the council. Kayden’s feelings for Dani were a subject he didn’t like to dwell on. He would always love the feisty beauty with unusual hair that’d turned his world upside down, but that love had changed to something far more resembling a deep friendship than the romantic one he’d been hoping for in the beginning.
Kayden had been among a throng of males who’d been obsessed with Dani when she first came into their world. They’d since learned through the work of Doc Stevens and his scientific associates that some demi-vamps involuntarily released a hormone that triggered the protective instincts of those around them. In their new friend Abel’s case, as a male, he could lure nearly any female to follow him. He didn’t inspire females to protect him. They just all wanted to be with him. Most females, human or vampire, would follow him anywhere. Those hormones appear to disappear once they were mated. That all seemed so far in the past and Kayden tried not to think about it. It was mortifying to have been the punch line of a biochemical joke that nearly ruined his relationship with his best friend.
Now Dani was Chase’s mate, and Kayden couldn’t imagine it any other way. Things had turned out just as they should. Kayden was far too busy hunting the rogues and training the Horde for romantic entanglements. Dani was a high maintenance type of mate. He would have disappointed her in the end and was now positive that she wasn’t the right female for him either. Kayden didn’t have time for relationships beyond those of a sexual nature, and he shied away from that these days as well. Females always thought they could change you. Kayden wouldn’t be changed. He wouldn’t be owned or restricted either.
Kayden looked over his shoulder as he pushed deeper into the crowd and sighed. Hawk followed closely behind him. Their mission was to covertly enter the club in search of a guy named Nick. Kayden didn’t know how he was supposed to go in unnoticed when they were both the height of a professional basketball player, and the build of a football player. Kayden might have slipped by alone, but Hawk looked like a pirate with his long, black hair, permanent five o’clock shadow, and diamonds glinting from his ears. Hawk had refused to let Kayden go alone. The rest of the team was still wrapping up the situation at the nest they’d just raided, so Hawk and Abel were his wingmen on the hunt for a dealer.
If the Nick they were hunting was the one they believed him to be, Nick had a history with Abel’s mate, Brandi. He’d been a high school boyfriend of Brandi’s who’d returned after college to reclaim his old flame by drugging Brandi with Hypnovamp and attempting to force a blood bond on her. How the guy had gotten his hands on the drug had been a mystery, and Nick had quickly disappeared after his run-in with Abel when Abel rescued Brandi from becoming Nick’s mate by force in a dirty alley.
Brandi and Kayden had practically grown up together, so he totally understood Abel’s need to find and punish the piece of shit, but they had bigger vampires to stake. The dark expression on Abel’s face told Kayden that Abel didn’t give a fuck about finding Sheena, who happened to be Abel’s rather demented mother. That was a fucked up story all in itself. Abel was a tough son of a bitch, quite literally, and he was out for blood. Abel wanted to get his hands on Nick again in the worst way. Kayden only needed to keep Abel from killing Nick long enough to learn if Nick knew how to find Sheena. Then Kayden would look the other way and let Abel avenge his mate.
More and more humans were pushing through the crowd to get away from the fight taking place in the rear of the club. As they got closer, Kayden saw various vampires pulling the humans aside and speaking to them in low tones. Something serious was going on here. It was more than just a bar fight if the vampires were using mind control on the humans to erase memories and replace them with something more publicly acceptable.
“Did you see that?” a human girl asked her friend in a shaky voice as they tried to push through the mass of gyrating bodies on the dance floor. “Th-that guy had fangs! Bloody f-fangs!” she stuttered. Her friend nodded dumbly with a wide-eyed expression of fear and moved with the girl who had spoken to the exit.
That brought Kayden’s thoughts back to the present. He glanced over his shoulder to see if his companions, Hawk and Abel, had heard the girl. Hawk and Abel nodded their understanding, and each grabbed one of the humans to give them a gentle mind scrub and suggestion that what they’d seen was a prank and not a monster, or what they believed to be a monster.
Shit. This was a fucking disaster, and Kayden had to do some serious damage control. In actuality, vampires were cousins to the human race. Somewhere along the evolutionary line, a race of other beings sprouted from the family tree. The Vampire Nation’s scientists weren’t sure if humans had evolved from vampires or vice versa. What they did know was that a few genetic markers were all that separated the two species. But humans are quick to attack and try to destroy anything they don’t understand or they see as a threat. So the vampires perpetuated the myth of unholy, paranormal beings that couldn’t tolerate sunlight or crosses and didn’t have a reflection. The blood drinking part was real enough, but the person donating blood didn’t die anymore. Not often anyway. The American High Council of Vampires was quick to destroy any vampire who threatened the shroud of secrecy they’d worked so hard to build. There were laws to protect the humans while preventing them from learning of the existence of the vampires around them.
While Abel and Hawk took care of adjusting the memories of as many humans as they could catch, Kayden went in search of trouble. After what he’d seen at that nest earlier, Kayden was ready for a fight. His boots thudded against the sticky dance floor as he waded through the mass of panicking, confused humans and stunned vampires. He’d just walked into the Vampire Nation’s greatest nightmare: exposure to the human race.
Kayden directed each vampire he passed to wipe the human’s memories, an
d he was pleased to see that many vampires in the club were already dealing with the humans who’d been close to whatever the hell had happened before he arrived.
Kayden knew his eyes were black instead of their usual hazel green. The change was a natural reaction to hunger, anger, pain, fear, or even lust for a vampire. He had learned to control this natural response at a young age, but tonight he was in a towering rage that he wasn’t sure he could contain.
It was taking him far too long the reach the action. Precious moments were lost when Kayden was forced to stop and take hold of a hysterical human male who was ranting about demons and the end of days while recording on his cellphone. Kayden couldn’t let that pass. An entire species of vampires relied on their race remaining a secret from their human cousins. Humans were by no means evil. Sure they had bad people who did bad things, just like the vampire race, but overall they were good people. Just like a cornered animal, though, humans would strike out before thinking when frightened. Kayden and his friends were doing their best to prevent a mass hysteria event.
He had nearly reached the area that had opened up around the brutal fight that was raging between one crazed vampire, three bouncers, and one other vampire Kayden was shocked to see at the club. In the middle of the fray was Chase Deidrick, Kayden’s lifelong best friend. A flash of dark hair with white streaks told Kayden that Dani, Chase’s mate, and Kayden’s ex-girlfriend, was off to the side of the action.
Dani had a guy pinned to the wall with one hand against his chest. She was doing that crazy vampire Jedi mind trick that had the whole council worried for the safety of the nation. Dani could use mind control on vampires. This was unheard of in vampire history, but so was the existence of half-breeds, and they were crawling out of the woodwork these days.
What the hell were Chase and Dani doing there in the club? The couple was among the team helping search for Sheena, but they were supposed to be taking the night off. It was their bonding anniversary, for the love of fangs! Kayden was going to kick Chase’s ass for allowing Dani to enter a potentially dangerous situation. They all hoped Sheena was somewhere in the vicinity, Chase knew that, so why had he taken such a significant risk with his mate’s life?
Kayden shook his dark head when he got a good look at Dani’s determined face. Who was he kidding? As if Chase would have a choice in the matter if Dani wanted to do something. She did what she wanted, and Chase either went along with it, or he got left behind. Dani was the most powerful vampire any of them had ever known … psychically anyway. Dani was born to a human woman and the son of an elite council vampire house in the Vampire Nation, Griffin Vaughn, who now sat on the High Council.
Dani was strong but not invincible, just like any other vampire and Kayden had it on good authority that Dani’s powers had been blinking in and out of existence ever since she was turned from demi-vamp to a full-blooded vampire. She shouldn’t be out when they knew Sheena could be near. Sheena hated Dani, and she wouldn’t hesitate to attack if the chance presented itself.
When Kayden broke into the action near the back bar, Chase was right in the thick of the brawl. Chase was attempting to pry a screaming human female out of the clutches of a crazed young vampire, and he was taking a pounding for his trouble. The guy’s eyes were just as black with rage as Kayden’s. His fangs were fully extended and dripping thick, red blood. Blood coated his mouth and chin. He was snarling, and he looked like every human’s worst nightmare. This was a scene that would get them all killed if it got out to the media.
Chase and the fucking dead man who was currently endangering the lives of every vampire in existence were trading punches. The guy was average size, but he was tough. Three bouncers along with Chase were pounding on this guy, and he still kept kicking at them and swinging with his one free arm. His other hand had a death grip on the human woman. His claws were digging into the fragile column of her neck. Blood trickled down her throat and soaked into her dress that was now in ruins. It looked like the demented bastard had tried to rip that dress off of the woman right there in the club.
Kayden scanned the faces in the crowd closest to the fighting, hoping for vampires to prevent any other humans from stumbling onto the scene. There were a few vampires, but most of the crowd was human. The vampires watched with a puzzled expression as the humans stared blankly at the battle raging before them. Why weren’t they screaming and running for the nearest exit? What the fuck was going on? They were like zombies.
Kayden’s eyes swung back to Dani. She had one hand thrust out, holding a tall blond male to the wall. That could be Nick; Kayden was almost sure it was the vampire they were hunting. Her other hand was outstretched toward the human witnesses. She was holding them all in thrall, hypnotized, so they didn’t run off and report what they’d seen. One person claiming to have seen a vampire could be dismissed as insane, but a crowd of individuals who all told the same story? Well, that wouldn’t be so easily dismissed. This truly was a nightmare for their people, and Dani was doing her best to prevent as much damage as possible.
“Chase!” Dani shouted, and turned her head to see her mate was still struggling to save the human woman’s life. There was blood running from both of Dani’s nostrils. It cost Dani mightily to hold onto so many minds at once. Kayden was ending this madness now.
“Each of you, take a couple of these humans and get them out of here. Wipe their memories and check their phones before you send them home. Do it now!” Kayden directed the surrounding vampires with a snarl of his own. The startled vamps jumped to do as they were told. There were too many humans for Kayden to ignore. He couldn’t jump into the fight until the humans were out of the way. The chance that Dani would lose control grew by the second.
Hawk appeared by Kayden’s side. He quickly absorbed the situation and began dealing with the rest of the bystanders. Kayden took the opportunity to leap into the fray with his best friend. They had to get the human woman freed now before she was injured beyond saving.
Kayden jumped up onto the bar and approached the maddened vampire from behind. He made eye contact with Chase, who wrapped both arms around the captured female and covered her with his body. Distracted, the guy turned his fury solely on Chase. He began to pummel Chase’s back and the back of his head with punishing blows. Kayden reached down and snared the male by his neck. He lifted the vampire off the floor and shook him hard, delivering several of his own solid blows to the guy’s temple and jaw. Dazed, his vicious hold on the human female finally loosened and Chase was able to drag her away to safety.
Before the bouncers could get close enough to trap the vampire’s legs and arms, he shook off his daze. Enraged at the loss of his prize, he began to thrash violently in Kayden’s hold, reaching for the woman. Kayden stepped back to brace himself, but he stepped in a puddle of sticky liquid on the bar top and lost his footing. Kayden held on to the flailing vampire, and both of them flipped backward over the bar, landing in a heap on the beer and liquor-soaked floor. The guy was on top, which gave him a temporary advantage, but Kayden was trained by the toughest, most demanding warrior known to vampire kind—his own father, Gage Paris. This guy would not win a fight with Kayden. Especially not in the mood he was currently in.
They rolled and grappled for position in the tight space while the bouncers moved in on them from each end of the bar. Sick of rolling around in the muck, Kayden leapt to his feet, and his opponent followed. Kayden went toe to toe with an average looking guy who possessed uncommon strength. The odd thing was that the frantic vampire didn’t seem to be in control at all. He wasn’t particularly a good fighter, but he was a hard hitter and fast as hell. There was no form or technique to his movements. He was just lashing out at high speed. He caught Kayden several times with punches that would have killed a human. As it was, the blows rattled Kayden, but he was used to taking hard hits. Kayden’s opponent was bleeding from the many battle wounds he’d received fighting with so many dominant males, but he didn’t seem to be in any pain. Some of the blows stag
gered or dazed him, but nothing seemed to actually hurt or stop him. The fact that the guy was still standing after the amount of punishment he’d absorbed was ridiculous.
Kayden rocked his opponent with an uppercut. He reeled back just a bit and finally, by sheer force of numbers, the bouncers were able to take the guy off of his feet and hold him down. One of the bouncers produced two pairs of reinforced cable tie handcuffs meant for detaining drunk and unruly vampires. Once in place, the thrashing male was hauled off to a back room. Kayden used the sink behind the bar to wash the blood off his face and hands while he addressed his audience of bouncers.
“I’m here on official council business,” Kayden lied smoothly to the remaining bouncers. “I’m Kayden Paris. We’ll be taking him with us when we leave.” The head bouncer’s eyebrows lifted with recognition. The bouncer wouldn’t question Kayden. He simply nodded his agreement and followed the team of males carrying away their hissing, struggling burden.
Kayden’s name carried some weight among his people. If they didn’t know who Kayden was, they would likely know his father’s name. The Paris clan had produced a solid line of fearsome warriors all the way back to the beginning of recorded history. Kayden used that card when he had to, like now when he wasn’t leaving without the asshole that’d caused so much trouble.
There would be a thorough questioning when the troublemaker came down off whatever drug he was high on, and Kayden was sure he was high. When pumped up on drugs and adrenaline, humans could display unnatural strength. It had taken Kayden, Chase, and three bouncers to bring the guy down. Bloodlust hadn’t caused that kind of power.
In extreme cases when a vampire hadn’t fed in a long time for whatever reason, they would become mindless and go into bloodlust. They would attack anyone they could reach in the desperate search for blood. The primitive vampire deep in their brain would take over and hunt until the need for sustenance was fulfilled or until the vampire died of starvation. All vampires ate food, but that wasn’t enough to sustain them. The advanced brain function of a vampire required a regular diet of blood. Once the vampire fed, the madness would recede. That hadn’t been what Kayden just witnessed. He had a terrible feeling in his gut. Shit was about to get even more fucked up, he just knew it.
