by Justin Sloan
There was a moment of silence, but then Esmerelda stepped up beside Cammie, gave her a doubtful look, but then said, "If you take him down, I’ll follow you."
"Sure, if a little girl can defeat him, you have yourself an army!" one of the more masculine Weres shouted out.
Others laughed, but Cammie shouted out over them and said, "You all heard it!" She turned to Valerie with a slight, hopeful smile. "Let’s get this over with."
Together, they walked into the building to challenge Adrien.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Golden City
Cammie would never admit it, but she was fucking terrified right now. When she’d first been presented to Adrien all those years ago, to be one of his new brides, she’d felt honored. But honor flies out the window real fast when a man beats the shit out of you simply to prove he can.
She’d fought back that night, and it had just made him more aggressive—the fucker got off on it. That is, until he’d tried to get frisky with her and she’d shoved her fist so far into his throat that she was surprised he’d survived, and her knee into his groin so hard that she wasn’t surprised at all he still didn’t have children.
The power of Were healing might have fixed the throat, but she hoped it hadn’t helped him in the other way.
So of course she’d fled that night, and hadn’t really expected anything more from him when she’d arrived. But part of her had thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d have looked at that night as the one time a woman had the courage to stand up to him, and he’d respect that.
Of course, he hadn’t seen it that way, and by having her hunted as he did, she knew he deserved what she was about to give him—the gift of death. No more healing, no more suffering.
Well, some suffering first, if she could have her way.
But she was damn exhausted, a fact that, combined with the memory of that night with him, made her tremble in anticipation and fear.
Valerie was at her side, and that counted for something. The rest respected power—and power, she knew she had.
They approached the throne, and sure enough this jackass was sitting in it, his wife at his side. He had his stick with the rock in one hand, a makeshift spear in the other.
"Don’t bother explaining," Adrien said, gesturing to her with the stick as he stood. "I heard the whole thing, and," he dropped the weapons and began to disrobe, "honestly, I’m looking forward to another tussle with you, darling."
"Call me that again, and I’ll see you eat your tongue before I end you," she said. A quick glance at Valerie showed she had half-expected him to attack with the weapons first, not go straight to his animal form, but Cammie knew better. For him, it was all about animal instincts—the fighting, the fucking, all of it.
So whether he’d have her life or more, this would be his preferred manner.
And, as he transformed, she was reminded why.
He was the biggest wolf she’d ever seen.
"When I kill him, you’ll follow me?" she said to the wife, even as Adrien in wolf form began his approach.
"I’ll die before that happens," the wife said.
"Then you’re next," Cammie said, letting her clothes drop to the floor as she transformed into a wolf.
Immediately, Adrien lunged. There was some commotion past him as it looked like the wife tried to join the attack somehow.
Valerie pinned the wife to the ground, barely registering the wolf’s efforts to get up. “If you don’t stop your struggling I’ll just slap you unconscious. The fight will be fair, whether you are alive or dead, I really don’t care.” The she-wolf stopped moving.
Cammie dodged left to avoid the brunt of his attack, but a pain shot through her side from earlier, and she regretted that she hadn’t had time to heal. His claws caught her in the shoulder, spinning her around and knocking her to the ground.
He landed, with a cocky snarl, then charged again.
This time she anticipated not being able to move as fast or as nimbly as she was used to, so instead of trying to dodge the attack, she ducked and then rose into it, biting at his leg as she did so.
He landed with a yelp, but turned and caught her neck in his jaws. A flash of pain, red dots in her vision, and she thought it might be over in that minute. Every ounce of energy went into her struggle to break free of his bite, but as she struggled, his teeth just dug deeper.
Then she remembered the wound in his leg and, instead of trying to fight him, leaned into it. Growling in pain, she put all her weight against his right side, and then twisted and kicked—it had the intended effect, causing him to loosen his bite as pain took his leg, and she was free.
Blood dripped from the teeth marks in her neck, but she was free. As far as she could tell, since she was still breathing and not passing out, he hadn’t hit anything important.
She came to the realization that this had to end soon. Her injuries weren’t about to heal while she was fighting, and he had the advantage in more ways than one.
On the one hand, she wanted Valerie to just jump in and take him out, but on the other she knew this was her fight, not Valerie’s and not anyone else’s.
Just as his muscles tensed for the attack, she darted left, pushed off of the wall, and came at him. He tried to maneuver and catch her with his teeth, but the push had been strong enough to send her to his other side, so that she landed, recovered, and attacked while he was stretched over almost backward.
She had him in her jaws. Every muscle tightened as she strained herself to keep that position and not let up her bite up even a little. The warm, bitter blood flowed into her mouth, as he thrashed about, but she held it.
Suddenly two more wolves were in the mix, and she recognized one to be Rico. The other must’ve been Bradley, one of the Weres that had first brought them to see Adrien, judging by his scent.
They got ahold of her and she thought she was going to lose her grip on Adrien, but then a blade flashed, chopping Bradley in half. The spray of blood and quickness of it must’ve scared off Rico, because a moment later it was just Cammie and Adrien again, and she felt his pulse slowing, his strength giving out.
He collapsed and then, with a final twist of her head, she grabbed hold of his larynx and pulled, ending him completely.
She sat back, transforming into her human form again, and spat out blood and flesh.
Valerie walked over and knelt beside her. "Are you okay?"
"I’ll survive," Cammie said. "Thanks for staying out of it."
Valerie shook her head with a smile. "I only gave you the same fighting chance at Justice that Michael gave me." She lowered her voice to a whisper as she said, "Can you stand?"
"I have to," Cammie said. "They can’t see weakness."
She rolled over, grabbed her clothes, and then dressed as she stood. Each action sent pain shooting through her, but there was something else spreading through her as well, tiny tidbits of elation at being finally done with that bastard.
Though she had rarely thought about it recently, the idea horrified her that he could be back here, controlling the lives of these Weres.
Never again.
Rico had betrayed them, and then attacked her. Cammie turned, looking for him, and spotted him cowering against a nearby wall. He’d seemed so together back at Enforcer HQ when they’d first met—he’d even helped fight off Donovan and the Nosferatu.
But now he’d somehow become… this.
"You disgust me," Cammie said. "But I’m not convinced you deserve to die."
"No?" Valerie asked, holding her sword as if she thought otherwise.
"It’s your call," Cammie said.
Rico looked between the two of them in disbelief. "I’ve learned something here, you know, about Strake." He knelt, hands clasped before him like he was praying. "Let me join back up with you—"
"That won’t be happening," Valerie said. "But tell us what you know, and we won’t be having skewered Rico for our post Adrien show."
He gulped, eyes wide. "I n
ever should have come here. The level of immorality dished down from above… But under Adrien, the Golden City Weres weren’t neutral at all! They were bought out by the corporations more than a year ago, and Commander Strake even came here as his first stop before heading off to his safety house in the spring. Many out there joined in the hunting of vampires in Old Manhattan because they were already on the take by the CEOs… That, or for fun."
"You can point me to this safety house of his?" Valerie asked.
"I can take you there instead, if you’d like," he said.
"No, I wouldn’t." She sheathed her sword. "But you will do your best to point me in the right direction. We’ll gather up the others as well, and see what information they can give us. In the meantime…" With a glance to Cammie, she said, "Come, let’s get on with this."
Valerie took Cammie by the hand and led her outside, where the Weres stood in silent anticipation. When she raised her hand in the air, the Weres knelt, and then disrobed. They transformed as one, still kneeling, truly showing her the respect she now deserved as their Alpha.
Cammie was overcome with emotion, but she held her head tall and kept her eyes fierce, as a proper Alpha would.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Enforcer HQ
The day had come and gone with Sandra and the others discussing plans for patrols and what would happen if Valerie didn’t make it back. Not that Sandra was particularly able to deal with it all—in fact, she felt pretty far out of her comfort zone—but it needed to be done, so she’d stepped up.
Wallace had been totally distracted with everything going on with Peterson—first Peterson lost his cousin, an Enforcer apparently taken out during the fight to take over Enforcer HQ. Then his sister and Wallace's own lover, Ella, had gone missing.
When Sandra had pulled Peterson aside, she could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t entirely present. She'd have to keep an eye on him, just to be sure.
The meeting had come to a close and, even though the sun was still in the sky, they all decided it was time for everyone who wasn’t on patrol to get some sleep.
Only, Sandra couldn’t sleep, with her excitement over Diego’s safe return. She invited him up to her room, and now they were just lying there, his arms wrapped around her and hers him.
"She’ll come back," Diego said, his finger brushing past her lips before kissing her again. "We’ve all seen her in action. No amount of Weres could stand up to her."
"Not even you?" Sandra said, playfully.
"No way in hell!" He laughed. "I know you want your man to be all tough as nails, and I am, but that woman would knock my ass into space with a flick of her pinky."
"She’s not that strong." Sandra pushed him to his back, pinning his arms up beside his head. "Hmm, looks like she’s not the only woman who can take you."
He smiled, but frowned. "I think relating this to that is a bit weird."
"But you don’t deny I could take you?"
With a wink, he said, "You can do whatever you want to me, as long as it’s not get all pissed off like you did this morning."
"Sorry about that." She sat back, frowning. "It’s just, she is like a big sister to me, more even. The thought that she could be in danger just gets to me."
"Even though she’s probably the most badass woman most of us will ever meet?" He gave her a doubtful look, one eyebrow raised. "Okay…."
"You all see her as this insane force, a killer capable of almost anything. I guess I do too, but in a totally different way. I’ve seen her at her low, right? I mean, I’ve had to save her life more than once, so yeah, her mortality takes on a different meaning with me."
He considered that for a moment, then pulled her down to kiss him. "How about we focus on us right now, and maybe getting some rest?"
"I think you need it more." She sat back, suddenly noticing something through the window.
Just then, a knock came.
"Looks like that’s not happening," Diego said, standing to go to the door.
Sandra was too focused on what she’d seen—it looked like a large force moving through the city walls, unchecked. There had to be at least one hundred people there.
"Boo," a voice said over her shoulder and she jumped, nearly screaming.
She turned to see Valerie, standing there, Diego just behind her, smiling like he’d just won a bet.
"Don’t run off again without telling me first!" Sandra blurted out.
Valerie raised an eyebrow. "Sorry?"
Sandra kept talking right past her, "You better be! Do you know how worried I was?"
For a second Valerie stared at her in confusion, then glanced back at Diego, who just nodded. Finally, Valerie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Sandra.
"Yeah, well…" Sandra hugged her back. "It’s good to see you."
"I hope you realize you’re not my mom," Valerie said with a laugh. "Just, not meaning to make fun of the situation, but I can take care of myself."
"That’s what I told her," Diego said.
"Butt out," Sandra told him. Pulling back to look at Valerie, she nodded. "It’s kind of weird worrying about someone who can heal and all that. I know, but it doesn’t mean I worry any less."
"Duly noted." Valerie went over and sat on the bed, then glanced over at Diego without a shirt. She stood abruptly. "Maybe I don’t want to sit there, huh?"
He just smiled and Sandra blushed.
"Yuck." Valerie laughed, then saw Sandra glancing back out at the group of people approaching. "Ah, yes. We have new recruits."
"Who are they?" Sandra asked.
Valerie raised her eyebrows, "Uh, all the Weres I didn’t kill from the Golden City."
Diego’s jaw dropped and he went to the window to look down too. "You’ve gotta be shitting me."
"Sorry," Valerie said. "But that won’t be a thing anymore. The Golden City has now been subsumed into our city."
"It wasn’t living up to the dream anyway," Diego said.
"They’re going to help us fight, and Rico and some others have confirmed the location of Strake, or at least where they think he’d be." She turned from Sandra, her expression darkening.
"Wait, you’re…" Sandra glanced to Deigo to see if he was thinking the same thing. The scrunched look said so. "You’re going after him almost immediately, aren’t you?"
"I wanted to come back and get everyone briefed up, ensure Mecha and Royland had everything under control first, but yeah." She must have seen the concern cross Sandra’s face, because she asked, "What is it?"
"Mecha… He never made it back."
Valerie’s eyes flared red and she looked like she was about to punch a hole in the wall, but she breathed deep and counted to ten to calm herself.
"Even more reason for me to end this as soon as possible."
She turned to go, and Sandra asked in disbelief. "What, now?"
"I’ll stop by to see Jackson, and then, yes," she said. "I’ve been doing some thinking about him and this city."
Sandra simply stared as Valerie exited the room, totally flabbergasted as to how their relationship had so drastically changed. It had only been a couple of days ago that Valerie would’ve taken Sandra everywhere, but now she seemed to be treating her more like someone to check in with occasionally.
"I’m sure she’s just feeling the exhaustion," Diego said.
"Yeah, right." Sandra went to the door and looked out to see Valerie gone, then returned and closed the door, before looking up to see Diego nude.
"What the fuck?" she said, annoyed but also pretty impressed.
"Figured you needed a distraction," he said with a playful raise of his eyebrows.
She laughed, but didn’t push him away when he came over and took her in an embrace, nor his lips when he started kissing her. When he moved to kissing her neck, she whispered in his ear, "Diego, you’ll never be a distraction."
He laughed at that, then held a finger to her lips and moved lower, unbuttoning her blouse as his lips followed
.
***
Valerie wasn’t even in the elevator yet when she heard the moans from Sandra. She almost paused, intrigued. It was clear something was happening with those two, but she had no idea when it had gotten to moan level.
She rolled her eyes at herself and entered the elevator. Let them have theirs, she thought, she was about to get hers, after all—albeit, of a different sort. Right now she was pretty damn sure that nothing could get her off like seeing this Strake asshole burn.
The elevator dinged and she waved to Duran, the Were currently on guard.
"Aren’t you supposed to be on patrol or resting?" she asked.
"With Mecha gone, and with what I hear happened to Jordan… I wanted some alone time. You don’t get much more alone than here. Well, unless you have a beautiful woman visitor."
"Beautiful woman vampire visitor," she corrected him. "Where’s Jackson?"
Duran motioned to one of the locked rooms toward the end of the hallway, and tossed her the keys.
"He’s just been sitting there, totally quiet, since I got here." Duran shrugged. "I kinda like him."
"You and me both," she replied, and then walked off.
She found the door and opened it with the keys, and sure enough, Jackson was sitting on a mattress on the floor, legs folded in front of him, simply staring at the floor.
When Valerie had approached, close enough for him to see her fake Pumas, he looked up with a weary, distanced look in his eyes.
"They’re wearing a bit low," Valerie said, moving one of the shoes around. "You might have to buy me a new pair soon."
"It’s a bit tough to buy you anything," he said, staring into her eyes, "when I’m stuck in here."
"Which is the primary reason I’ve decided you need to be released." She enjoyed the look of surprise, followed by a hint of a smile. That smile had been sorely missed. "You know, second to me needing you to keep this city in check while I’m out."
