Watch Me Burn

by Nikki Drost

  “I don’t know why all of you are complaining,” Hannah says while she inspects her hot pink nail polish. “I think working with Guardians is a fabulous idea.”

  A certain gleam in her steely gray eyes tells me she is looking forward to doing more than just working with these vampires. It must be difficult for Hannah to be surrounded by good-looking men that she isn’t allowed to touch. Micah has a strict policy of no fraternization between Enforcers.

  “Hate to burst your bubble, sunshine, but our new friends won’t be hitting your sheets any time soon,” Jamie says while exhaling a cloud of smoke.

  The wolf seems to be on edge tonight more so than usual. I hope everything is good between Kelsey and him. If anyone deserves a little bit of happiness¸ it’s those two.

  “Micah,” Hannah whines. Her bottom lip juts out into a sultry pout.

  “I’m sorry, Hannah, but as of right now Guardians and council ambassadors are off limits. I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding someone to satisfy your needs while you’re in town.”

  Micah turns his back on the only female in the group and continues his private conversation with Gunnar. Those two are up to something, but damned if I know what it is. I speak several languages, but Icelandic is not one of them.

  “I’d like to state for the record that the ‘look but don’t touch’ rule is stupid and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.”

  Before tonight, I would have disagreed with Miss Whitaker, but after watching her strut around in her formfitting, black, leather cat suit and knee-high boots, I’m tempted to pay Micah to lift the ban for one night. I should have slept with her while I had still had the chance, but the opportunity had never presented itself.

  “God, stop being such a girl about this.” Jamie flicks the butt of his cigarette toward a nearby gravel pit. His arms cross along his chest as he leans further back onto the seat of his bike. “Can we concentrate on the problem at hand? Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this or am I the only one?”

  “What’s the problem, Trudeau? Are you afraid of the big bad Guardians?” Dallas taunts.

  I hide my laughter behind a series of small coughs. I’ve been told that Jamie and Dallas have a turbulent relationship, but have never witnessed it firsthand.

  “You want to know something Turner—”

  Whatever Jamie was about to say gets cut off by the sound of approaching vehicles. Looks like it’s show time. Moments later a Mercedes SLR and a Porsche 918 Spyder pulls up. The distant sound of motorcycles can be heard in the quiet night.

  Alexei Romanov steps out of the driver’s side of the Benz while Edward Bennett gets out on the passenger side. Dressed in impeccable suits, both men appear ready to attend a board meeting rather than a potential throw down between species. The driver’s side of the Porsche swings open and a tall olive skinned man steps out. Apparently, he has gone for the more casual look of jeans and a navy blue sweater. His untied combat boots crunch on the loose gravel with each step forward. The vampire nods his shaved head in greeting. He then proceeds to shake hands with his fellow vampires.

  Damn, if his vibe is anything to go by, this Guardian is definitely a master and an old one at that.

  Moments later the remaining Guardians join the party. The first is dressed head to toe in black and is riding a street racing bike. He removes his helmet, revealing a long mane of jet-black hair. Even in the dark, his Asian ancestry is abundantly evident. The remaining vampire removes his helmet and leather jacket, both items are placed on top of his bike.

  Oh man, this guy could be a problem. Not only he is another old master, but he also looks like he could have strolled off the set of Sons of Anarchy. The blonde haired vampire is decked out in a pair of black cargo pants and black ribbed tank that highlights his colorful tattoos which span from his neck down to his fingers. Instead of falling in line with the rest of the Guardians, he makes his way to stand in front of Jamie. If it’s trouble he wants, then he picked the right wolf to mess with. The two men size each other up before taking identical stances. Feet braced apart, arms crossed over their chests.

  With each second that ticks by it becomes obvious that we have reached a standstill. Guess it’s my job to get the ball rolling. I clear my throat and begin to introduce myself and each of the Enforcers.

  “It is good to see all of you again.” Alexei offers a friendly smile to go along with his thick Russian accent. “I understand you have learned my true identity and although I am not pleased that I had not been the one to inform you, I do hope it will not put a strain on our new alliance.”

  “As we told Landon, we don’t care whether you go by Alex or Alexei just don’t lie to us again, vy ponimayete moy drug?” do you understand my friend? Micah says with a smile.

  “Da, now you all know Edward Bennett.”

  Micah shakes hands with my father’s long time friend. “Of course, I’m actually surprised to see you here, Edward. I would have thought you’d stay in Maine.”

  “I believe Dominick can get on without me for a bit, besides, I could hardly pass up the opportunity to work with you chaps again.” Edwards’s refined English accent makes him sound more like a nobleman than a rough and tough fighter. Then again, his father was a former king who enjoyed a good battle.

  “This is Alexander Helios.” Alexei points toward the owner of the Porsche. “He is the eldest son of the founding member of the council and like Edward and myself,” Alexei smirks coolly, “he is also royalty.”

  “Ciao, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you and please, call me, Xander.” The vampire smiles warmly reviling a set of pearly white teeth.

  “Great.” Cass chuckles humorlessly. “Another prince.”

  The vampire shrugs his bulky shoulders, seemingly unaffected. “I have not been regarded as a prince by anyone other than my parents and my extended family line, which these two men are a part of, for more than two-thousand years. My mother may have been a queen, but my father was a general, so it is safe to say that I am an efficient warrior.”

  Holy shit, I knew he was old.

  Alexei clears his throat, then points to the next Guardian in line. “This is Raiden Tanaka. He is a computer genius and hacker. Do not let his size fool you, he descends from a long line of samurai warriors and has been trained in his ancestral ways since childhood.”

  Compared to the rest of us, Raiden doesn’t appear to be much of a threat. He stands around an even six feet with a slim build. He may not have the muscle mass that shifters are known for, but he does have vampire speed and strength. Combine that with his high IQ and warrior training, he could be a formidable ally.

  “Kon'nichiwa,” Raiden bows his head in a Japanese formal greeting. “It is an honor to be in the presence of such great men. Together I am sure we will put an end to this impending threat.”

  Micah bows his head. Then he proceeds to greet Raiden in his native tongue. Jesus, how many languages does Micah know? I notice how none of the other Enforcers seem surprised by Micah’s linguistic skills. Whatever the wolf said has brought a smile to the vampire’s face.

  “You are a knowledgeable man, Mr. Trudeau. I have a feeling this partnership is going to be quite beneficial.”

  Man, this is going better than I expected. I was sure that these men would be trading insults or punches by now. This gives me hope that our two species can find common ground and continue to work together in the future.

  “And you are?” Jamie cocks his brow at the man standing in front of him.

  “The names Kingston, if you want my last name and family history you’ll have to earn it.”

  “Let me guess, you’re the muscle of the group,” Lincoln says while eyeing the vampire from head to toe.

  “Among other things, looks like we got something in common, tiny.”

  “I see, just because I’m a bear I’m all brawn and no brains right?”

  Kingston smirks as he places a cigarillo between his teeth. He hasn’t once taken his eyes off of
Jamie. I’m not sure what he is trying to accomplish, but if he thinks he is going to intimidate a shifter like Jamie Trudeau then he will be greatly disappointed.

  “All I’m sayin’ is it’s unusual for a bear shifter, let alone a Kodiak to live amongst a pack of mutts. You’re obviously stronger than all of them combined, so if you’re not protecting them what is it that you do for them, yogi?”

  “Listen up, motherfucker,” Jamie growls, he leans forward leaving an inch between him and Kingston, “I don’t know what your fascination is with my brother, but it ends now. He has earned his place within our pack. You,” Jamie stabs his finger into Kingston’s chest, “have not, so unless you want to see firsthand what this mutt is capable of, I’d suggest you keep your mouth shut and do your fucking job.”

  “Why don’t you make me, shifter?” With a hiss, the vampire’s fangs distend from his gums and his blue eyes morph into an unnatural silver color.

  “Knock it off!” I shout, “The both of you can continue your pissing contest after we discuss some business. If you haven’t noticed, we are currently exposed. Seeing as we have no idea where the Shaws or their foot soldiers are I’d rather not stand out in the open all night.”

  I’d also like to avoid having my brother’s secret exposed. These men have only shared this knowledge with fellow Enforcers and others that they trust. Alexei and Edward know who and what these men are, but are under strict orders to keep it to themselves. Sure, there have been rumors throughout the years, but there has never been any definitive proof that the Horsemen actually exist. If it ever came to light, these men would become bigger targets for our enemies than they already are.

  I try to get all of us back on topic. “We have reason to believe that Ian McIntyre will be arriving with a shipment of guns within the next month or two. After that, your guess is as good as mine. Alexei has reached out to several master vampires who have agreed to keep their eyes and ears open for any major heroin purchases or reports of mission humans. Apparently, Ivan likes to use them as mules.”

  “You’re wasting your time,” Kingston says with a shake of his head. “Master vampires don’t give a shit about narcotics or a few missing humans unless those humans belong to them. It’s pointless to focus our time and energy on McIntyre and the guns when Savchenko and his goons are already creating havoc here.”

  Kingston pulls a crumpled piece of paper from his back pocket. “In the last couple of weeks ten women have gone missing, and I highly doubt it’s a coincidence. We should be looking for dealers to shake down for information.”

  “I hate to fucking agree with him, but he has a point,” Jamie grumbles. “There have already been several overdoses that have made the papers. The local cops are going to be all over this soon and once they realize that they’re in over their heads the big dogs will be called in. Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d like to avoid having the FBI and DEA staked out in our neighborhood.”

  “Here, here,” Adam concurs.

  “Savchenko can only use these humans as mules for so long before they will become compromised. That is, unless he has a private plane and a hanger. Now let’s assume once he’s done with these women the goal is to sell them, he’d have to hold them somewhere off the grid until they could be shipped out of the country. Most likely, it would be some place large enough to cook and store the drugs until it was time for distribution. We should look into any properties or industrial sites that have been recently rented or abandoned.”

  “Good idea, Xander,” Micah states. “Gunnar, I want you and the others to head back to Boston. We need a set of eyes on the wharf at all times. The guns will be coming into the states on a cargo ship, so get your hands on any paperwork you can so we can focus on finding these girls. Dallas, I want you to contact your underground sources. Find out if there are any new players in town. As for you, Hannah—”

  “Yeah, I know,” she sighs unhappily, “slap on my hooker-heels and hit the streets. I don’t see why I’m always the one who has to go undercover as a prostitute or exotic dancer.”

  “Cause you’re the one with the set of tits.” Jamie smirks. “Although I bet you could pull off a dress, Turner.”

  Dallas just shakes his head while flipping Jamie off. The rest of the men at least have the decency to hide their smiles behind coughs.

  “So you’re saying I am incapable of doing certain jobs because I was born without a penis? Wow, you guys are a bunch of sexist pigs.”

  “It aint sexist, sugar, it’s reality,” Kingston says with a mischievous grin. “No one’s sayin’ you can’t fight, if you couldn’t, your sweet ass wouldn’t be here. The truth is if I saw your friends on the docks, I wouldn’t question their presence. You on the other hand would raise a red flag.”

  A faint blush creeps over Hannah’s face and neck. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the female Enforcer flustered. The sound of someone clearing their throat breaks the slight sexual tension in the air.

  “Yes, well now that we have a resemblance of a plan I think it would be helpful if Xander and Raiden accompanied your Enforcers back to the city. Their skills will surely come in handy. Kingston, Alexei, and I shall stay here and aid the rest of you anyway that we can.”

  Edward nervously straightens his tie. He then proceeds to say his goodbyes. Within minutes, the Guardians have gone on their way, leaving us alone in the darkness.

  “Well, that went better than I had expected.” Micah sighs before lighting up a smoke. “Is everyone clear on their assignments?”

  “Yeah, about that,” Jamie searches the area before continuing. “I didn’t have the chance to tell you this before and I sure as shit wasn’t bringing it up in front of the vamps, but ah, Michael came to me in a dream last night.”

  “And?” Micah waves his hand for Jamie to continue.

  “He said that a special child is to be born, a prophet actually, and this boy will be the key to winning the apocalypse. Are you ready for the fucked up part? Apparently, when this child is born, Michael is going to take him from his parents and raise him with the Immortal Knights. Oh, and he expects us to help him with the kidnapping part.”

  Questions of various degrees spew from each Enforcer.

  Jamie holds his hands up to silence his brethren. “Hold on I’m just getting to the icing on the cake. Somehow, this prophet or rather his future self has figured out how to time travel and for whatever reason Michael thinks he’s coming here and demanded that we hand him over.”

  “Why of all places would he come to Westhaven or this year in particular?” Cass asks.

  “Maybe he has one of those sports almanacs like in that 80s movie and is planning on going back in time so he can rake in the dough,” Lincoln supplies with a smirk. “Maybe I should bet on the Sox’s this year.”

  “Who gives a shit why he’s coming here,” Dallas spits out, “I want to know why Michael needs our help stealing him from his parents.”

  “He doesn’t need your help Turner he only wants the Horsemen’s assistance in procuring the child,” Jamie snaps.

  As if things weren’t difficult enough, now my brother has an impossible decision to make. My mind floods with questions. Why do the Horsemen need to be involved in this? How could the angels have lost an entire person or allowed him to leap through time? I shake my head at the absurdity of this situation. I’m also not convinced the Archangel knows what he is asking of these men. I can’t imagine my brother would willingly steal a child from his family, not after growing up without our mother.

  “He specifically said he needed the Horsemen to be there? Why does he need us when he has millions of angels at his disposal?” Adam inquires.

  Jamie shrugs his shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine, brother, but he said he needs all four of us to agree to this, but I have a feeling he plans on doing it with or without our help.”

  Something feels off to me. I can’t put my finger on it, but there has to be more to this story than we know.

  “This
is ridiculous,” Cass interjects, “if this guy has gone through all of this trouble to break the laws of physics then he must have a good reason. As long as he isn’t coming here to murder us in our sleep I for one won’t have any part of turning him over to Michael now or when he is born.”

  “Cass is right,” Lincoln states forcibly. “If you guys do this, none of you will be able to live with yourselves. There has to be a better way to protect the prophet and his family.”

  A heavy cloud of silence falls over the men as each one of us tries to come up with something. All of this is futile, we don’t have enough information to go on, and until we do, a decision can’t be made.

  “What’s our time frame?” Micah asks his baby brother.

  “Michael didn’t give us one. All he said was if we come in contact with the prophet, we need to notify him immediately.”

  “And if we decide not to help?” Micah growls, “Then what?”

  Jamie shrugs his shoulders. His eyes fail to meet his brothers as he answers. “Don’t know, he didn’t say.”

  “Do not lie to me!” Micah’s voice rises with anger. The ground begins to shake as his eyes flash to an emerald green.

  A rock quarry probably isn’t the best place to piss Micah off. If anything, he now has an endless supply of earth at his disposal.

  “I know how Michael operates. He threatened one of us, didn’t he?”

  “It doesn’t matter, Micah, we’ll find a way to save this kid. I’ll set every square inch of the world on fire if that’s what it takes.” Jamie, in his agitated states begins to pace back and forth. I can almost see steam rise from his muscular frame.

  “He threatened me, didn’t he?” Adam’s calm demeanor causes chills to break out over my flesh. “I was supposed to die, but Raphael and Gabriel brought me back. And knowing you like I do, you offered to take my place, but Michael refused. So it’s my life or the child’s.”

  Dear God, please tell me that my brother is wrong. Unfortunately, the fierce expression Jamie is wearing says it all. No, the angels cannot do this. I’ve just gotten my brother back, I can’t lose him now. He has just married his mate, the love of his life and now an angel wants to destroy his happiness? Adam hasn’t even had the chance to become a father, something that I know he has dreamt about for quite some time.