Bodyguard of Love

by Lane, Terri

  “Weapons. Of equal caliber to what the elite Hunters carry. The wolves have them,” I said. Wraith’s sharp gaze flicked to Kai.

  “Well wolf, is this true?” he asked.

  “It is. We have automatic weapons, grenades, bullets that can pierce through body armor, and weapons for stealth as well,” Kai said. I glanced at him briefly, we hadn’t even rehearsed and yet he was saying all the right things.

  “With our combined numbers the Hunters in our region don’t stand a chance,” I told the council. They all sat in silence, the spectators as well. Everyone deliberated.

  “So, the wolves have weapons, but are your kind willing to share? To work with vampires?” Paelin asked.

  “I recently came from a meeting of the region’s alphas. They agreed to work with you all if you were willing to negotiate a coalition. In the meantime, we are building up the weapons and firepower needed to at least cleanse the Gifford Pinchot forest of all Hunters,” he said.

  “You didn’t answer the question. Will your kind agree to procure weapons in bulk for our fighters as well?” Wraith asked.

  “Yes, it’s a simple process…granted you all are willing to put forth the funds,” Kai added gently. Wraith scoffed.

  “That is hardly an issue,” he said.

  “So, are you their official spokesperson then? Just you?” Arya asked.

  “If you’re uncomfortable with dealing with ‘just’ me, then I’m sure I can arrange something where this…unlikely partnership can be more collaborative,” he said slowly.

  “Well then…if you wolves are so willing to work with us, what are your numbers to date?” Wraith asked. I had to work hard not to roll my eyes. Kai did hesitate before he answered.

  “Just shy of five hundred,” Kai said reluctantly. The collective fighting force of vampires in the region, I knew, was nearly equal.

  “We’d be able to completely take them out with a wolf coalition,” Arden observed. The spectators reflected his brief encouragement.

  “Yes, but how can we be sure that your fighters won’t turn around and try to kill ours once the Hunters are dealt with?” Wraith asked.

  “We all know how serious the situation is. Our wolves aren’t that stupid. Especially not since your fighters will have the same firepower in their hands,” Kai said. Intrigued murmurs spread through the room.

  “We’ll start with the weapons,” Wraith said. “Procure enough for five hundred fighters and we’ll begin to trust this…coalition a bit more,” Wraith said. His eyes flashed to me briefly, before returning to Kai.

  “Sure thing,” Kai said.

  “Since you’ve already begun talks with this one Sophia, get him the funding he needs and notify us when the weapons are delivered successfully…if the weapons are delivered. You’ve fought them before, you know what guns and ammunition we’ll need,” Wraith said.

  “Of course, father,” I said. He dismissed us with the flick of his hand. I didn’t take a deep breath until Kai and I left the library.

  “Well?” I asked him.

  “What?” Kai looked at me curiously.

  “Wasn’t that what you hoped for?” I asked. Kai glanced around at the vampires walking about. It was only two in the morning after all. I sighed and gestured for him to follow me outside, back where he parked his truck.

  “It was…I mean—we did it,” he said. He laughed with relief. “I thought there was a good chance I’d die in there,” he said.

  “There was a good chance you’d die in there,” I said. Kai sobered.

  “Sophia, you have to know that I did this because I won’t be able to live with myself otherwise,” he said.

  “What happened to all that you said when I was having my hesitations?” I challenged him.

  “I hadn’t let myself fully grasp the reality of the situation,” he said. I rolled my eyes.

  “You can’t be unclear about your feelings then change your mind without telling me and make plans without telling me the way you did,” I said.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “I doubt that, you’re getting what you want,” I said.

  “It’s not like that. You’re angry at me and we’re not living in the peace I still want for us,” he said. “This is because of my screw up, not my manipulation. Sophia you have to believe that,” he urged.

  I took a deep breath and then rubbed my temples. “I’m going to change into something more comfortable, then we’re going to get the money for whomever procures the weapons,” I told him. He nodded and unlocked the truck to sit and wait on me. I changed quickly, but before I could leave the house, I was intercepted by Wraith.

  “We must speak,” he said in a grave tone.

  “Father I don’t have much time…” I said. He turned, expecting me to follow him to his room either way.

  “That child in you. Is it truly Damien’s?” he asked. I blinked at him in shock. “Do not look at me like that Sophia. Answer the question,” he urged.

  “Why would you question me?” I asked.

  “Because, I saw the way that wolf stood behind you, I saw the way he looked at you,” he said.

  “It’s none of your concern how he looks and stands. We’re working with the wolves for one reason. Once the Hunters are eradicated and we have our weapons, you won’t have to give them another thought,” I said.

  “You aren’t answering my question Sophia,” Wraith said angrily.

  “I must go,” I said and turned towards the door.

  “Once this fight is over I hope you’ve lined up arrangements to leave,” he said. I didn’t look at him. I left and met Kai in his truck.

  “What happened?” he asked, his voice soft. I shook my head.

  “We have to get to Portland,” I told him. Kai started the truck and started down the drive.

  “We can’t start this already. The being mad and not talking things out cycle,” he said. I took a deep breath.

  “My father figured it out. Who the father of the baby really is. He…essentially he just disowned me. He said that after the fight, I should leave.” I said. My gaze was on the passing trees outside.

  “Shit…” Kai said. I nodded.

  “It’s fine…at least he didn’t order me executed,” I mumbled.

  “It’s not fine, that’s your father. As tough as he is, I saw a little bit of pride in his gaze back there,” Kai said. I turned my head and looked at him incredulously.

  “Please, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better,” I said.

  “I’m not lying,” he said. Of course, that only made me feel worse. As unflappable as Wraith was, I had probably hurt him, if what Kai said was true. The rest of our ride was quiet. I drifted in and out of sleep. I’d need to feed again soon, especially before whatever great battle we were steamrolling towards.

  When we reached my coven, I went in discreetly, got some money out of our vault and put it into two duffel bags. The money surely was more than enough. I also stopped by my room for some clothes and shoes. When I got back to Kai’s truck, he was on a call.

  “Just call your people back Blue, the whole combined effort is contingent to the vampires having weapons as well,” Kai said.

  “Have you spoken to your father about this?” the gruff voice shot through the car’s speakers.

  “Just make the order Blue. Ephraim’s already on board with this,” Kai said.

  “Get back to me after you’ve talked to him,” Blue said. Kai huffed and ended the call. We idled in the car a block away from my coven. It was likely the last time I’d see it.

  “Is it cool if we go back to the studio?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” I said. “I don’t think I’ll be coming back here,” I added.

  * * *

  Kai drove back to what had become our temporary home. I went right to the bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling.

  “You need blood,” he observed.

  “Call your father. We need to make this deal quickly,” I told him. Kai called
his father and paced around as he spoke. Finally, after twenty whole minutes, he convinced him that a vampire with a gun in his or her hand wouldn’t turn around and kill a wolf with it. I hoped fervently that would be truly the case.

  “Do you want to come take these bags to Blue with me?” Kai asked. “You don’t look so good.”

  “Can I drink from you just a bit before we go?” I asked. Kai sat down next to me and offered his wrist. I took a couple of long draws from his vein, then felt okay enough to go back out on the seemingly never ending mission.

  “Are we just giving the money to this Blue person directly?” I asked.

  “Yeah, he’ll count out the money and tell us if we’re good to go,” Kai said. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I’d never dealt with anything relating to the black market directly. It’d be interesting to see how the wolves handled it.

  Kai drove away from the city, to a nice house on a decent plot of land. There were three various SUVs parked in the drive. Kai took one duffel bag of money and I grabbed the other. He walked right into the house. We heard voices as soon as we stepped into the front room.

  “Kai, that you?” I recognized Blue’s voice.

  “Yeah,” he said and we went back towards a wide living room space. There were three humans present and Blue, the wolf Kai had argued with.

  “Ephraim called me,” Blue said. “You must be the vamp chick,” he said to me.

  “I’m Sophia…” I said slowly and glanced at the men who stood silently in front of two large metal trunks I hadn’t quite noticed before.

  “Right…well Sophia, these are the men who get us our guns and ammo. They’ve brought samples of a bunch of stuff. Maybe you and Kai can take a look since you know best what the Hunters are using,” Blue said. The silent men opened the trunks that stood on their own. Kai and I stepped forward to look at the selection. There was a range of guns sized from small and concealable, to large automatic weapons. They even had Taser guns and several kinds of grenades.

  “Wow,” Kai said.

  “What kinds of grenades are these?” I asked.

  “Standard hand grenades, impact grenades. There are smoke and flash bombs available as well. The human who spoke up had a vague South American accent. He went on to lay out the costs specific to arming a five hundred strong fighting force. I’d brought just enough cash to start up a true armory for the region of vampires.

  “I’ll take it,” I said, nodding.

  “Take it?” Blue asked. I set my duffel bag on the table to show the men the money. Their spines got a bit straighter and they didn’t doubt I meant business.

  “Yes, all of it, exactly as you’ve laid out,” I told the human.

  “You can have these two trunks now if you’d like, then we’ll take this payment when satisfying the order in full,” the man said. I smiled.

  “That sounds perfect, thank you,” I said. Kai shut the trunks and pulled them to the side while he discussed a time frame for getting the rest of the weapons. Blue offered them a lot of extra money to expedite our orders. They promised to have them delivered in two days’ time. I’d believe it when I saw it.

  After the humans left, Kai exchanged eager smiles with Blue. “You’re the man,” he said.

  “No actually she is. They were hesitant before you guys showed up. After she flashed all that paper it flipped a switch,” Blue said.

  “Who are they?” I asked.

  “They come from wolf bloodlines, but the active gene skipped them. They’re from Colombia, living in Brazil. I met them a long time back. They’ve always had certain connections and always make themselves available,” Blue said.

  “They’re loyal only to wolves,” I deduced.

  “Nah, they’re loyal to money,” he chuckled.

  “Perhaps I could get their numbers,” I said. Blue shrugged. He walked over to the coffee table and scribbled something out on a business card, then handed it to me.

  “Here is the future,” he said, chuckling.

  “Thank you for that,” I said and smiled at him.

  “So, what’s up with you two? Are you really just war survivors, coping with the tragedy of what happened in Gifford?” Blue asked.

  “Ah…” Kai glanced at me briefly.

  “Right, no need to say it out loud,” Blue said, chuckling. “Just don’t go making no hybrids. I’m sure those vamps would burn you alive for it,” he warned. Thankfully Kai bettered his acting for that and didn’t let on as to my pregnancy. We remained at Blue’s for only a few minutes longer. Then we went back to the studio. I was eager to get some semblance of a good day’s sleep.

  “Can we clear the air?” Kai asked as I sat down on the bed and pulled off my shoes.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Do you get why I messed up and put us in this spot?” he asked.

  “I know Kai, you want to help,” I said.

  “I’m just sorry I did it all wrong. I should have realized how I felt way before we set a date to leave. I don’t want to put you in danger, but I’m not trying to be a martyr,” he said.

  “I know Kai…it’s okay, I’m not upset with you anymore,” I said and took a deep breath. “If it wasn’t for the mess you caused, I wouldn’t have realized how much my father truly cares for me,” I said softly. “Even though he disowned me,” I joked. Kai didn’t laugh, which I loved him for. Instead, he came over to the bed and pulled me to my feet. He undressed me and stripped down before getting into bed with me.

  “Are those sleep deprivation shadows under your eyes, or…?” he brushed the shadows lightly with his thumbs and then kissed my eyes. I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled into his warmth.

  “We’ll see in the morning,” I yawned. Sleep pulled me under in a weighted embrace.

  * * *

  Kai and I spent one whole day to ourselves. We actually went out together and played at being a normal couple expecting a baby. We even went into a baby clothes store and picked out a boy’s onesie and a girl’s. All tension from the day before had leached out of us thankfully and we were back to our usual selves. Things were easy between us and I was eager for more of that taste of normal in Montreal.

  After our brief break, the gun dealers made good on our timeline. Blue gave us the call promptly the following evening. So, Kai and I returned to Blue’s place with the duffel bags.

  Kai pulled up slowly behind the huge wide load truck parked in front of Blue’s house. I asked, “How…are we going to get this sorted out?”

  “I don’t know, I’m sure they’ll explain inside. But maybe you should call your father to let him know we came through with the weapons,” Kai said. I nodded and let him handle the exchange of money while I stayed outside to call Wraith.

  “So? Did the wolves rob us with our eyes wide open?” he answered.

  “No, we have the weapons…an entire shipping crate full of them,” I murmured.

  “Oh…” he said, surprised. I held my tongue, though I did roll my eyes. I made plans with him to get our weapons to a warehouse he owned. By the time I went inside to tell Kai and Blue, the dealers were heading out.

  “They gave us the truck to haul this stuff around,” Kai said.

  “Will Blue want to unload your weapons first…because I have an address for where to put the vampires’ weapons,” I said.

  “Yeah, let me just get these sample trunks in with the rest of them,” Kai said. He took the two samples from the other night and put them in with the other weapons. Then Kai, Blue, and I went to do drop offs. Once the weapons were stored, an odd anxiety rushed through me. That was it. The piece we needed in place in order to move forward.

  “Now we talk strategy,” I sighed. Blue was taking the truck back to the rental place and Kai was slowly driving towards his other apartment. He had another car there that I could use to get back to my father’s coven.

  “That part I’m worried about. Coordinating an attack won’t be easy,” Kai said.

  “Just get the alphas or whomeve
r to the library, and I’ll drag our lead fighters there if I have to,” I said. He nodded. We made quick work of getting the other car and soon I was speeding towards my father’s coven. I was wary of whether I’d still be let inside. But as I walked into the foyer, I was greeted just as normal, as if I hadn’t brought a wolf into the coven. I went in search of Alexis, because I knew Case wouldn’t be far.

  They were in the library, sharing a cup of blood and reading. They both looked up as I approached their small nook.

  “Sophia,” Alexis said with wide eyes.

  “Hello…” I said.

  “Have you already gotten the weapons?” she asked, her tone hopeful.

  “Yes, we have more than enough of everything we need,” I said. “Now we must strategize with the wolves,” I said slowly. Alexis exchanged a brief unsure glance with Case. “Case, I need your help in rounding up the regions’ lead fighters. All that are present for the conference,” I said.

  “You plan to strategize with the wolves now?” he asked.

  “Yes, why not? We need a plan to bring back to the coven leaders,” I said. “I only have an hour, will you be joining me?” Case stood up, setting his book down.

  “Alexis, can you inform my father that I’ll be strategizing tonight and will present a coherent plan to the conference when we return?” I asked her.

  “Alright, of course. But why can you not tell him?” she asked.

  “Alexis I brought a wolf into the coven without speaking to him about it. He is still angry with me for that,” I said. She nodded in understanding. I saw that there was much she still wished to say to me, but she held her tongue.

  Case and I left to round up the other fighters. Thankfully, he was good at convincing them that everything would be fine for us to go and speak with the wolves. Within the hour, I had a procession of cars headed back to Portland. I called Kai to make sure he’d been was successful in getting the wolves organized and ready. Kai had good news. All those who oversaw the fighting and formation of their packs were present at the public library’s conference room. Of course, the library was closed. But for supernatural beings, certain things were easy to bypass.