Blood Rogue, #1

by Linda J. Parisi

  “Do you ever wonder why we were created?”

  Ozzie? Waxing philosophical? “I have.”

  “I don’t want to anymore. I’m tired of having no choice, tired of having to do my duty.” Ozzie faced Chaz again. Anguish swam in his gaze, one that seemed too heavy to bear. And seconds later, he stormed out of the cottage. Chaz followed with an empty ball hollowing his guts. In his beginning as a vampire, Chaz stayed near London. There were plenty of women looking for coin to satisfy his needs. Both needs. He would never forget the moment he met Mick.

  * * *

  “If you take more, you’ll kill her.”

  Charles swung around, staring at the intruder. He’d never seen another like him before. And that frightened him. “What business is it of yours?”

  “That depends on how you want to be known. Somewhat human or truly vampire?”

  “Vampire? What is a vampire?

  “What you are now.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I know. I’m here to teach you.”

  “Go away. I need to drink.” Indeed, the craving tore at him. Always the hunger.

  “Do you? Or does the blood call to you?”

  He’d never thought of that before. “Call to me?” he repeated. “I don’t know.”

  “An honest answer.” The stranger smiled. “Kill this woman, and you can never take it back. Never make it right.”

  Charles shivered. “I know. I—I killed my wife.”

  “Perhaps,” the man answered. “Perhaps not. The sickness is coming. She would have died, and I fear, so would you.” The man stepped forward. Charles read compassion in his face. “There is a difference, my young friend, between what you can change and what you cannot. You can leave this woman and let her go on with her life, or you can end it. Your choice.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I am Nicholai Alexander Mikhail Kirilenko, at your service, Charles Tower.”

  “You know me?”

  “I know many things. One of them is that you are a Paladin. A protector. Not a murderer.”

  Charles let go of the woman after sipping one last time. That last sip seemed to make them go to sleep for a while.

  “How am I able to make them forget?”

  “One of your many gifts.”

  “Gift? You call this existence a gift?”

  “Yes,” Mick sighed. “And you have much to learn. Much to learn. So come my young friend. And I will teach you.”

  * * *

  Teach. Chaz shook his head, coming back to the present. The time for teaching was over. There could be only one ending to this lesson. Death.

  Chapter Twenty

  Chaz

  Charles walked back to the house with a cold weight on the back of his neck. Nothing about this situation was right, certainly not Mick. He’d never thought about it before—a final death. Just assumed that when his time came, most likely at the hands of a rogue, that would be it. The object of his demise was never supposed to be someone cared about by so many.

  How he wished he could share Ozzie’s anger. Just once, he ached, his hand curling into a fist. Just once. But this was not his home he noted once again, opening the door to where they were holding the young vampires.

  So part of him applauded as he watched Sam bite down on her anger for the tenth time. She threatened, cajoled, even tried to use her psychic abilities to invade—all to no avail. Something, or someone, held these vampires with a will stronger than her own. Maybe she knew why. She kept glancing at them with something akin to fear in her gaze, and he’d never seen Sam afraid.

  “Perhaps we should resort to force,” Hunter advised, a gleam entering his gaze at the thought. He, too, looked weary of playing games.

  “You know better than to ask me to go against everything I believe in, Hunter,” Sam said.

  “I have no qualms about hurting either of them,” Chaz chimed in, his tone a tad too sincere. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his brows drawn together, and the twitch in his cheek vibrated as he clamped his teeth together.

  Strange, just the challenge of a fight should have garnered at least a look, a flash of anger, something that would let them know these vampires were alive inside. They were, and yet, they weren’t. And that made him wonder. They were behaving as if they were robots, automatons; as if they could go through the mechanics of life but had lost all emotion.

  Hmm. Emotions. Vampires had less of them than humans. Because of the blood. Because survival was the name of the game, and the game demanded only the fittest endure. Were they hard? Ruthless? Hunter was a prime example. And yet, Chaz suspected beneath the armor, Hunter had a heart. He cared about his cell, did his best to make sure his people never suffered.

  But despite their best efforts, eventually, the subconscious and the conscious met. Sometimes with disastrous results. After all, they still came from human stock. That was what Sanctuary was all about. Out of control vampires were a danger to them all. And rogues? Out in the world? Without control? Simply unthinkable.

  Sam? Now, she was the oldest. And the most understanding. Perhaps time had a way of putting life into perspective. She counseled the weary, encouraged the time trodden, tried to inspire the bitter. And when a vampire began to go rogue, she helped them pass through this life, tried to replace the fear with joy. But these youngsters? Chaz watched her jaw clench. Harder than his. They were beginning to get on her last nerve, too.

  “All right, you two. You have one more minute, then I’m going to hand you over to Hunter. You’re not going to like his methods.”

  The first didn’t answer. But the one called Donnie, he spat back, “You don’t scare me, girlie-girl.”

  Affronted, Sam lifted Donnie by his shirt, shaking him as if he were a feather.

  “Leave some for me,” Chaz called out, a huge grin on his face.

  “You need to stop being an annoying little gnat,” Sam growled. Her fist closed, and the material tightened around Donnie’s throat. “How dare you call me that! Girlie girl? Really?”

  She tightened her grip. Donnie stared down at her, his gaze blank. No fear. He showed no fear. Was he that stupid—or….?

  Sam let Donnie back down to the floor. She grimaced. “Hold him,” she commanded.

  Chaz grabbed the vampire’s arms and watched as Sam opened his neck, and her incisors grew. He could feel the call of the blood echo in her veins just as it echoed in his. He could feel the thrum, the buzz. Sam reveled in the promise, her face tightening, filled with anticipation. Of them all, Chaz realized, only she knew the true nature of being a vampire.

  “A long time ago, blood was given with pride, as a gift, for those who protected and served. I do not understand who you are. The song is dead and, in its stead, remains this murky darkness that I can only associate with evil. You’ve taken the children of this earth and made them into a mockery of what once was.”

  Chaz had no idea who she was speaking to, but she seemed to know.

  “We are the descendants of a race as old as time. A magnificent race, brilliant in every facet of life. To see this mockery breaks my heart.” She kept talking as her mouth neared Donnie’s neck. “Our ancestors created marvels still talked about to this day. They created laws by which all vampires are governed. Drinking should never end in death. Ever. These are the laws our ancestors gave us. They forbade such cruelty, such disdain for life. Their laws, their lives, came from the beginning.”

  Chaz started to freak out a little. Who was she talking to? What was going on?

  “But now they are no more.”

  As soon as she sank her teeth into Donnie’s neck, Chaz knew something was terribly wrong. Sam reared back, horror and confusion swirling inside her gaze. An ancient scent, much like hemlock, burned through the air. Fear gelled inside her face turning it to marble. Chaz couldn’t believe his sight. Sam feared no one.

  She spit every drop out of her mouth, called for water, and rinsed again once delivered.

  Chaz lo
oked up. Hunter stared at her as if she’d committed a mortal sin.

  In a sense, she had.

  She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. Her cheek ticked. Her eyes, normally steady, shifted back and forth. And Chaz asked himself, was someone trying to destroy them all?

  “Let him go,” she commanded.

  Chaz looked at her as if she’d gone insane. But he let go out of respect. Donnie started laughing. And it seemed that once he started, he couldn’t stop. Which confused Chaz. It confused Hunter even more. Finally, Hunter backhanded the vampire to shut him up.

  “What’s going on, Sam?” Hunter asked.

  “Yeah. Excellent question,” Chaz agreed.

  “His blood is contaminated,” she answered, spitting on the floor in an obvious effort to try to get rid of the terrible taste in her mouth. “I’m not quite certain by what. Something that tastes very old and very bitter.”

  “Drugged?”

  “More like acid. Poison.”

  “Poisoned? By what?” Chaz asked.

  Sam didn’t say anything.

  “All vampires know to stay away from tainted blood,” Hunter added. “We can smell it a mile away.”

  “I didn’t,” Sam told them. “And if I didn’t, they won’t.”

  Hunter frowned, and Chaz felt a tiny sear of fear seep inside. Sam simply wasn’t, well, spook…able.

  “Wait a minute,” Chaz told them. “We heal each time we sleep. So, this is really weird. How could there be poison in his system?”

  A good question. And still no answer.

  “Do you realize we’re talking about the impossible here?” Chaz asked Sam, his anger palpable.

  Sam still decided not to answer. Was that because she didn’t want to or because she wasn’t sure?

  “All right, let’s take a step back and look at things logically,” he continued. “The only reason we stay away from drug addicts is because we’re not quite certain what the drugs will do to us, and out of control, vampires are very dangerous. If we didn’t, we could have vampires trying to get high every night. Imagine that in a human night club.”

  Sam shuddered. Chaz felt a chill run down his spine.

  “Imagine that night after night after night,” Hunter added.

  Obviously, none of them wanted to. The consequences were unthinkable.

  Hunter started to pace. “So we have laws. Out-of-control vampires are put down.”

  “Destroyed. That’s where I come in,” Chaz said. “So why risk it?”

  “What if they can’t help themselves?” Sam asked. “What if they don’t care?”

  “A week ago, I would have told you that was impossible,” Hunter replied. “Now I’m not so sure. Even you didn’t know this vampire was—is the word sick?”

  Sam shook her head and shrugged. She seemed to have no idea. Or did she, Chaz wondered.

  “We don’t even know how this happened,” Hunter said. “Our best guess is that he was drugged, and that would mean from an outside source. If so, how? And with what?”

  Not just a sear but a ball of fear formed in his belly that only grew colder.

  “I don’t know,” Sam answered.

  “Then the sooner we let Stacy do some testing on his blood, the better,” Chaz said. “Maybe she can help us figure out what’s going on.”

  Both vampires went silent until Sam said, “Agreed.”

  “And in the meantime?” Hunter asked softly, staring at her with a quizzical gaze. Even Chaz had no idea where to go with this besides Stacy.

  “In the meantime, keep them away from your cell, and guard them well,” Chaz said. “And for all our sakes, we need to keep a lid on this. Until we know what’s going on. We’ve warned the other cells that a danger exists, but I don’t want to start a panic.”

  Neither Hunter nor Sam appeared to like that idea, but as he watched them process, they both realized they had no choice.

  “They’ll begin to ask questions,” Hunter warned. “Sooner than you think.”

  Sam stared at both of them and sighed heavily. He felt the weight of her worry mantle his shoulders.

  “Then we’d all better hope Stacy is as good at her job as she says she is.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Stacy

  Stacy pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Her brain had turned into mush, and her internet search hadn’t produced any results. When she was in the lab at the mansion, Hunter or Sam would show up every now and then, making her feel terribly uncomfortable. Every time she asked Chaz what was going on, he’d get all stoic on her and shake his head.

  The second part of all of this was the other vials of blood that they’d given her to test. Donnie and Nick. Stacy smiled. She kind of wished they’d let her draw them herself. Especially Donnie. She’d have made sure to dig the needle in extra deep.

  Stacy got up from the computer and went over to the Liquid Chromatograph, Mass Spectrophotometer again. What she’d found was interesting. The rogue blood seemed to have some kind of a cytotoxin in it. Which made sense. Any kind of toxin that would destroy healthy cells would obviously make the rogue want more blood. But the protein or proteins they made allowed instant healing. So there was a constant tug of war going on, but what was really interesting was that Donnie’s blood had about the same amount of the cytotoxin. “Stacy?”

  “Hmm?”

  “It’s getting late. We should go back upstairs now.”

  “You go ahead. I still have more work to do.”

  He nodded. “Sam’s busy right now. I need to stay with you. We have to go. I’m starting to get sleepy.”

  Stacy grimaced. “If you insist, but before we do, you need to listen to me.”

  He laughed softly. “Are you serious? You know I’m useless in here.”

  She laughed, “You’re right. Besides, I need to tell Hunter and Sam. Donnie and Nick are starving, and they don’t even know it. If they keep it up, they’ll go rogue.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “A mass spec doesn’t lie, Chaz. They have some kind of toxin in their blood. I’m not quite sure what kind yet. I’ll need to perform more tests.”

  “All right. I’ll get word to Sam and Hunter. In the meantime, we need to go.”

  Stacy packed up her papers and printouts to study while Chaz slept. Chaz put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight against him. He looked down at her with such tenderness Stacy thought her heart would swell right out of her chest.

  “I have a personal stake in keeping you safe, you know.”

  A soft thrill ran through her veins. “I know.”

  They walked out of the elevator into the hallway. Stacy stretched and felt the need for some fresh air. “Think we have enough time for me to go outside? I could really use some fresh air.”

  He smiled. “Not too long. I’m really starting to feel it.”

  “Just a moment. To clear my head.”

  “Okay.”

  They followed a sidewalk along a perfectly manicured lawn. Without warning, Stacy yanked off her shoes and stockings, running onto the grass with complete abandon, the grass cool and a touch damp beneath her feet. With a light laugh, Stacy ran over to Chaz and started to tug on his hand to join her. He shook his head.

  “Come on. Try it. You’ll like it.”

  Suddenly, Chaz inhaled. Deeply. He stilled. If a vampire could turn whiter, he did. All of the muscles in his face tightened. He bent down, sniffing the air.

  Her heart in her throat, Stacy asked, “What’s wrong?”

  He ran down the sidewalk and pointed to the drops of pink salivate on the concrete. “Don’t touch those.”

  “Like hell, I won’t.” She turned and ran over to her laptop bag.

  “What the devil?” he cried. “Where are you going?”

  “Inside my bag. I need a tube for a sample. I need to analyze that foam.”

  He rose and ran in front of her before she could take a step. “Are you freaking nuts? We’re leaving. Now! The rogue mi
ght be anywhere on the grounds.”

  As frightened by the rogue as she was, Stacy held her ground. “No. I’m going to get a tube, and we’re going to analyze that stuff. Or else we’ll stand out here and argue about it until the rogue comes back. Which would you prefer?”

  “God, woman, are you insane? Do you have a death wish?”

  For a moment, even she wondered, but stubborn grit was a Morgan trait. “The longer we stand here arguing…”

  He stepped towards her as if he was ready to physically pick her up and drag her inside, then he stepped back, his hands clenched at his sides. The entire operation took her less than two minutes, but even the walls vibrated with anger once they were inside.

  “If you ever disobey my orders again, I’ll lock you up. Do you understand?” He didn’t shout. Didn’t even get loud. Boy, did he mean business.

  “Yes, dear.”

  He shook his head, his chest heaving. “You don’t even have the common sense to be frightened.”

  “Who said I wasn’t frightened?”

  His fingers tightened on her wrist. “Then, you’re just crazy.”

  “There’s no need to get insulting.”

  “No…no need?”

  Stacy hid a smile. He cared. The warmth in her veins was like armor against his ire. “We have an audience.”

  He looked up to see two soldiers staring at them. She thought her bones would crack beneath his grip. They arrived at their room in record time, greeted there by Sam.

  “Hello. What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Chaz still looked ready to chew on some nails. And not at all sleepy anymore. “We went out for a walk and found signs of the rogue on the sidewalk of the grounds.”

  Sam frowned. “On the grounds?”

  “I went back to get a sample of this.” Stacy held up the tube for Sam to see.

  Sam, it seemed, saw much more. “I understand. Thank you.” She tilted her head at Chaz, and Stacy knew the priestess was daring Chaz to say anything.

  After a long moment in which Stacy was certain they were communicating and not nicely, she broke the silence. “I need to get this downstairs into the refrigerator.”