More voices joined the wolf’s lonely howl, winning a sad smile from Alex. He hated the idea of hunting the wolves. He held a special fondness for the beasts and to hunt them went against his firm belief in allowing them to rule the wild. However, the nature of wolves was to hunt easy prey. Pets and children of Magdeburg would be their next target since there was no barrier to enter the city with the river blanketed with ice and snow.
The metallic jingle of bits and creak of leathers alerted them to the team of four, perfectly matched, elegant black Dutch Friesians prancing smartly toward them. Their driver, a Gypsy by the name of Herrick, whistled to the team, hauling back on the reins to bring the regal beauties to a halt beside him and Aldric.
“Good morning, my lords.” Herrick tipped the rim of his black, short, squared hat to them. He made to jump down, Alex waved him to stay.
“Hold, my friend. We can open our own door.”
Grinning, Herrick nodded. “My thanks, Master Alex. Ye be kind to an old man.”
Aldric snorted. “Old my ass! You are only five and twenty and you’d best know not to exaggerate it,” he warned with a scowl that threatened to turn into a grin.
“Ah, Master Aldric, it not be the years that plague me, it be the miles I endure carting you, young lords, about.”
“Damn, gypsy!” Aldric mockingly shook his fist at the grinning, swarthy-faced Gypsy. “Always wanting us to pity you.”
Placing his hand upon his heart, Herrick chortled, “Aye, Master, we, gypsies always seek to shirk our duties whenever given the ripe opportunity.”
“Aldric, Herrick,” Alex sternly interjected, “if Father caught you, two, jesting, we shall surely be in trouble.”
Placing his hand over his heart, Aldric said to him solemnly, “Yes, brother, you are correct. We should not be informal with the hired help.” Winking outrageously at Herrick, who inclined his head in agreement, and both were wearing a broad smile the entire while. Aldric clicked his polished black boots in proper form. “We should bear in mind our noble and proper military upbringing and not associate with the servants on a familiar basis. We are lords and should not debase ourselves.” Aldric saluted him and finished with an exaggerated bow.
Chuckling at Aldric’s antics, Alex opened the black-lacquered door bearing their family’s coat of arms — two black wolves facing each other opposite sides of a silver cross. “Be wary of your teasing, brother. Father is quite serious in his beliefs concerning our conduct with the servants and less tolerant in our perchance for mischiefs than we hope. Let us not be caught in either, shall we?”
Somber, Aldric nodded. “Aye, brother, you prove wiser than I in matter’s concerning Ulrich.”
“Only in light of the Iron Wolf’s unpredictable temperament, do I seek the prudent path,” he replied, equally solemn. Swinging inside the carriage, he took a seat on the green velvet-covered bench as his brother took the one opposite after shutting the door behind him.
Peering out the glass window, the darkness should have reassured him that dawn was several hours away, the familiar panic grabbed hold him. He dreaded the dawn, not unusual for a vampire, except his was due to experience, not necessity.
“Herrick, make haste home,” Alex ordered.
“Aye, Master Alex.” Herrick clucked to the horses and the thrust of the carriage set him back in his seat.
Closing his eyes, he settled back in the padded seat, remembering the dawn which haunted him still. Before their third birthday, he and Aldric had only known that the sun was to be feared and they were to never go outside during the day. Their parents vanished at dawn. Mata was their nanny a cared for them, loved them, unlike the man and woman who had given them life. Gypsy by birth, her family had been sworn to serve the Wulf family, just as Hedrick and his were. She had taught them how to be vampyre, instructing them since the bastard who’d sired them and the woman who’d given birth to them had not bothered to do it. In the week before his and Aldric’s third birthday, she must have known something was building within Ulrich, because she had made them practice ceaselessly on how to control their minds and bodies, to shut down.
At dawn, on the day of their third birthday, Ulrich stormed into their nursery ranting how it was time for his sons to become proper vampyres. He dragged them to a chamber below the Berlin manor they resided. The floor was loose dirt, not cement. Ulrich waved his hand and the dirt parted into a deep grave. Tossing them into it, he ordered the dirt to cover them. In those awful, frightening minutes suffocating, Aldric took his hands in his and they employed Mata’s teachings and shut down their bodies. Her lessons had saved their lives that terrible dawn.
Twenty years had passed and still the bastard brought pain and suffering upon them daily. He and his brother swiftly learned not to show their hatred, posturing before their peers the perfect image of dedicated sons to the Iron Wolf and their impassive mother. Unfortunately, his recent indiscretion could bring upon him Ulrich’s wrath, if Lisle should make good her threat.
As much as he hated to speak to his father, perhaps he should discuss with him about Lisle. He quickly dismissed the thought. Confident the locals only cared about the recent generous donations his father had given to the Lord Mayor and the Church, to aid in the mortals surviving the hard winter hit the city and villages. They would not readily put stock in the jealous ranting of a jilted wife, even if her husband was the local magistrate.
Besides, he reasoned, her anger will fade once she becomes involved with the preparations of the Winter Festival, commencing in three weeks. Amongst the revelry, Lisle will find another lover and move on.
The week-long merrymaking event was tradition, created to break the the long, severe winter and ease the harsh toll it placed upon the mortals. Added to the Winter Festival was the Winter Ball his parents planned to host at Wulf Manor. According to Mathilda, their mother, it would prove a splendid event extended to the nobility who named Magdeburg home. His unease should have lifted and been replaced with eagerness about the upcoming celebrations. It increased when a howl broke past the jingle of leathers and clasps and sent a chill rippling through his soul. It differed from those he’d heard earlier … unnatural and hungry.
In the earliest hours before dawn, the first child disappeared.
Chapter Three
Alex is hurt!
Her heart jumpstarted, Kai instinctively drew air into her dormant lungs. Instead of clean air, she sucked in clumps of dirt. Choking, she ‘willed’ the dirt covering her to explode upward and off her. Sitting up and coughing, she spit out what she’d inhaled. Wiping the dirt out of her eyes, she sat there, confused by the sight of trees, very big trees, surrounding her. The fading full moon peaked through the canopy of branches, casting its silvery light on the forest floor.
Why was she buried and not in the coffin she went into at dawn, on the plane? Where was Alex?
Launching out of the grave, she heard a soft moan from the grave she’d vacated. Turning around, she saw it wasn’t a grave, but a small crater made in the ground. In it lay Alex lay and he looked as if he’d been torched. His face was unrecognizable, skin red and blackened. Hair singed and patchy, as if he’d been caught in a fiery blast. The dark dress shirt and pants he wore bore huge burn hole, exposing raw blisters on his chest, stomach, and legs.
“Oh, shit! Alex?” She dropped into the grave and knelt beside him, gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “Alex, can you hear me?” She tried to connection with him mentally, encountering only darkness. Crap, her abilities were still offline.
“Dammit.” Kai laid her ear on his chest and sighed in relief as she heard his heart beating, slow and steady.
Why hadn’t he completely healed? Gazing upon his damaged face and body, she realized he had managed to heal some of the damage done to him. God, what’d he look like when he buried her and him?
Debating on whether to cover him or try to wake him, she had her answer when his eyes flew open and he grabbed hold her wrist. A snarl parted his cracked lips, expo
sing razor sharp fangs.
“Alex, it’s me — Kai. Please,” she gasped as he tightened his grip, grinding her flesh into her bones. “Stop, you’re hurting me!”
Blazing green eyes focused on her, widening in recognition. Releasing her, he leapt out of the grave, placing distance between them. She followed him, rubbing her bruised wrist.
“What happened to you? Where’s the plane?”
Grimacing, he leaned against a tree and replied hoarsely, “Sunlight.”
“Sunlight?” she repeated, dumbfounded. “Why were you out in the sun?”
He stretched out his blackened fingers, wincing as the Slayer ring he wore broke free the burned flesh. “Our plane was crashing. It was either burn in the wreckage or face the sun. I jumped out the plane with you in my arms.” The way he said it, as if it were merely a simple choice, she could only stare at him in disbelief.
“We … we were out in full sunlight?”
“Check out your clothes.”
Kai looked down at herself and saw the blotchy burns to her black tee-shirt and jeans. Touching her hair, rough and crackling, she lifted long her braid and saw her russet-brown hair was singed. Checking her left hand, she sighed in relief. She still had her Slayer’s ring on.
“Alex, how did we survive?”
“We’re alive, that’s all that matters,” he replied gruffly.
“Okay, can you tell me why the plane went down?”
“Rockets hit it.”
“You’re kidding, right?” At his silence, she drew the silver cross Anya had given her out from under her shirt and gripped it in her hand, feeling it digging into her flesh. “Great. Think it was ordered by Angel?”
“Undoubtedly.” Alex walked stiffly around, grimacing with each step.
“Where are we?”
Giving her an arched look, he replied cryptically, “The woods.”
“Seriously. Where are we? England?”
“Dan told me we’re about thirty miles west of Magdeburg, Germany before he was sucked out of the plane.”
“So,” she looked around her, “here we are, stuck in the middle of the wilderness, you’re injured, and me two day’s recovered being poisoned with dead man’s blood, and there’s no fresh blood to be found. Son-of-a….” she stopped when she saw him close his eyes and knew he was in agony. “Alex, you need to return to ground. I can search for a donor and bring them back for you to feed on.”
“Try to locate a human mentally first. It’ll save energy that way.”
“Okay.” Casting out, she searched for humans. Silence only greeted her. Not a single whisper, no emotional waves — nothing. “I-I can’t find anyone. That doesn’t mean someone isn’t out there,” she said lamely, worried at her inability to connect with a human.
He waved her off. “As you said, we’re in middle of nowhere. No humans. No blood. Our best bet is to find the plane. There’s blood stored in the fridge, and we need our weapons, in case those who brought our plane down come looking for us, to make certain we are dead.” Pain radiated off him and it made her want to comfort her, knowing he would never allow it. Reluctant, she followed as he walked stiffly down what appeared to be a game trail. “The plane crashed this way.”
“Alex, are you sure you should push it? I-I am worried for you.”
He said over his shoulder, “Don’t. It looks worse than it feels.”
Not convinced, she followed him. Unsure how he was even still alive after facing the sun, had shielded her, protected her from frying, too. Alex had always protected her and her mother, but he’d never been placed in a situation where he could have died for her. Unsure how to feel about that, she tried again to reach out mentally to anyone — vampire and human and again found nothing.
Frightened by the strange quiet in her head, never in her twenty-three years having known what it was like not hearing others’ thoughts until now. She had to recover and not just for her and Alex to survive. To read minds was essential in her line of work, hunting human killers and the Damned. If the damage done to her was permanent.… She shied away the frightening possibility. One consoling thought made her feel better. Angel would get her just reward when Sin and Mina caught up with her. Sin would not stop hunting her, not until he had her staked out in the sun and crispy fry the bitch from ever harming another human or Borne again.
Looking around her, she focused on the major problem at hand. She and Alex were in serious trouble if they couldn’t find a human. In the movies and books written about vampires, they always had them feeding on rats or birds, animals. Truth was a vampire could only feed on human blood or another vampire and that option was just a temporary fix to hold off hunger. Anything else made a vampire deathly ill. Worst part, a vampire could only survive for a couple of days without feeding. An injured one especially needed blood to heal, and Alex needed blood now!
Alex stumbled; she caught his arm and steadied him. “Rest, Alex. I’m gonna climb up to the top of this tree and locate our plane. If it’s close, I can fly us there.”
He nodded weakly and sat down on the ground, using the tree she planned to climb to rest against. “Be careful. Our enemy might be searching for the plane and us, as well.”
“I will.” She leapt up to the first branch and started climbing to the top of the thirty foot pine tree. Hope of finding a town nearby went right out the window. Even with vampire vision, she couldn’t locate any lights, no farmhouses or homesteads. Literally, they were lost in the middle of nowhere. At least finding the plane was easy. A blackened trail of burned grass and debris led directly to the jet’s main body, roughly a mile away. Visually searching for the humans Alex worried would be hunting them, she found no one. She bit back her disappointment and shoved away from the tree, and dropped to land on her feet next to Alex.
Kneeling down beside Alex, she grimly told him, “Bad news. No sign of humans. Good news is the plane is a mile from us.”
“We can make it.” He struggled to his feet. Taking his arm, she slipped under it and helped him stand. He stood a full foot taller than her, and she wasn’t short by any means. Alex tried to step away from her, forced to stop when she refused to let go of his arm.
“Alexander Walker, stubborn pride will only add to your injuries. Together, we can make it to the plane.”
“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. “I will accept your aid.”
“Like you have a choice there, buddy.” She grinned at the glare he shot her.
Shouldering his weight as Alex leaned heavily against her, her hands met with bare flesh that miraculously wasn’t burned. His skin cool and clammy to the touch, she worried how much more he could endure. Somehow, he kept walking. Ten minutes later and his entire body trembled. Sweat dripped down his brow, between his shoulders, his breathing was harsh and shallow. She wasn’t doing any better. Her strength waning as hunger hounded her unbearably. Thirst made her mouth dry and acrid. Her tongue felt like it was clued to the roof of her mouth.
“Alex, hold on.” She pulled him to a halt. “At this pace, it’ll take us all night to get to the plane. I have to fly us there.”
“Can you?” he wheezed out. “You are not as strong as you usually are.”
Her chin jutted out in stubborn determination. “I can get us there. Trust me.”
A faint smile lifted the corner of his mouth, his lips once sculptured and fine, were cracked and bleeding. “The indomitable, Miss Kai Jordan. You never give in, especially when you feel you’ve been challenged.”
Glaring at him, she gently wrapped her arms around his waist, careful not to hurt him more. She felt his arms tightened around her as he laid his cheek on the top of her head. Surprised he was holding her, she concentrated every ounce of strength she could summon and flew them upward. Pushing her powers past their already weakened limits, she aimed for the downed plane. As she neared it, she made to land. Unexpectedly, her strength gave out, and they literally dropped out of the sky. Alex grabbed her and slowed their descent till their feet tou
ched ground. He collapsed, taking her down with him. Panting and white as a sheet, he offered her an apologetic grimace before he fell back on the grass, his chest heaving.
“Alex,” Kai made to help him sit up, her vision blurred and she felt sick. Hand braced on the ground, she supported herself from collapsing beside him.
“Kai,” Alex struggled to pull himself upright, “I’ll go on and check if the blood survived the crash.”
“No,” she shook her head, placing a restraining hand on his shoulder. “I’ll go. You rest.”
Shoving to her feet, she chanted softly to herself, “I can do this. I can do this,” as she made her way to the crumpled, twisted body of the once sleek jet.
Putting a steadying hand on the ragged edge where the main body once connected to the cockpit, mindful of the cables and razor-sharp metal, Kai paused. Her senses went on high alert. Despite her weakened state, the Slayer in her refused to be. The chattering in the forest went silent. Creatures of the night held their breath, waiting.
Waiting for what?
She turned to Alex, who placed a silencing finger to his lips. Jerking his head to the plane, he glared at her to obey when she hesitated. Loathe leaving him in such a vulnerable state, she reluctantly slipped inside and hid. Heavy footsteps stomping in the brush broke the unnerving silence.
How the hell had she missed the humans?
“I know it crashed somewhere around here,” a man growled. No accent. An American.
“What about the vampires?” another man asked nervously. American, too.
“We torched the plane during daylight, remember? They’re dust,” the first one replied confidently.
What were American vampire hunters doing in Germany?
She could smell their sweat, heard the rapid beating of their fragile hearts, pumping blood through their veins. Blood. Her fangs dropped. Ravenous for their blood, needing it, starving for it, she closed her eyes, praying for the strength not to go rabid on them.
Wulf's Redemption (Borne Vampires Book 3) Page 2
