“Mr. Reynolds here told me that they use young women to birth children.”
“You don’t plan on releasing him, do you?”
“I’m not done with him yet. He keeps talking about his men coming to save him,” she replied.
“If he’s talking about his little rescue team of four, they didn’t quite make it either. Seems the missing Dresdan is out for vengeance, not blood.” Vicq pointed to a body on the ground. “Necks are snapped, but no blood is drained.”
“The problem is that the owner here thinks this Dresdan’s blood type of choice is vampire.”
“To my knowledge, none of us have been slain by him,” Vicq replied.
Elaina’s captive lifted his finger in an attempt to get their attention. She snatched the gag from his mouth and said, “What’s that?”
“That creature will kill you all,” he sneered. “You vial, pesky little—”
Vicq pistol-whipped him across the face to shut him up. He passed out cold and slumped against the wall.
“We’ve got to head out. Almost every corner of the facility has been raided. Your dad’s team just left the property with a trunk load of evidence, data files, and other key information we can use to send to the White House. But we have to make a decision now. We either need to torch the place or leave it.”
“Have all the employees exited the building?”
“All except for the dead. We even have a few willing witnesses and unwilling hostages that we can question about the in-house lab drugs we found.”
“If we leave this building standing here today, there’s a good chance we’ll miss something that remaining District scientists will be happy to get their hands on. On the other hand, if we burn the place down, all the evidence will burn with it. Will what we have be enough?”
“I haven’t been a human in a long time, Elaina, but if we distribute the information to key people at every level of the White House, someone will take note.”
“Let’s hope so,” she said as they reached the outside. The last of the District 5 employees who had made it out alive scrambled around in the parking lot, trying to make quick haste to their cars and the nearest exit.
A man from Mr. Smith’s team came racing toward them with a mix of emotions brewing over his face.
“All the innocents are out and the building is clear. Smith says…” His voice faded away as his gaze landed on Elaina. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “And how did you get out?”
“Question of the day,” Vicq said, rolling his eyes.
Elaina sighed deeply. “Apparently, you men think I can’t make my own decisions. Isn’t it clear why I’m here?”
“Mr. Smith just sent me a message. We have about twenty minutes before the authorities show up. Our connection with the Feds can’t hold them off any longer.”
“Thanks, Ryan. You’d better get a head start. Everyone that’s left here is Dresdan. We know how to escape the cops.”
Ryan nodded and raced through the security gates where a Refuge van was waiting for him.
“Hey, Eli!” Vicq yelled across the lot. “Take the van and head out. The cops are on the way.”
It didn’t take long for everyone to team up and begin clearing out. After the dust had settled, the only people remaining on the District lot were him, Elaina, Melrose, and Mark…and of course, Mr. Reynolds—the elusive owner, and one of the prime suspects responsible for keeping District operations alive. All other executives were dead or had fled, except for a female executive whom Mr. Smith and his team had taken back to Refuge to question.
The street lamps angled down on them, offering them a light source in the night where the moon did not. The skies were dark and overcast, and aside from the sounds and scents of smoke billowing from nearby industrial building pipes, the night remained relatively quiet. But quiet wasn’t the outcome that Vicq wanted.
“Well, let’s cut to the chase, who’s going to be the lucky one to drain Mr. Reynolds,” Vicq asked.
Mr. Reynolds’ eyes widened as he looked back and forth from them.
“If there’s nothing but filth there, I want nothing to do with it,” Mark replied.
“My memories are bad enough,” Melrose said.
“Slow your roll, guys,” Elaina said. “Why do you think I haven’t killed him just yet? The files I took from the personnel drawers aren’t nearly enough information for me. And while he was talking back there, I figured feeding off his memories would cut the time in half.”
“More than half,” Mark added.
Mr. Reynolds was becoming more and more frantic as they decided amongst themselves who would feed off his memories.
“Plus, there’s a Dresdan who has possibly turned rogue somewhere out there. Mr. Reynolds would know what he looks like. He had a mask on his face when we unstrapped him.”
“Stand up,” Elaina told Mr. Reynolds. She untied the material preventing him from speaking.
“No, don’t do this. I’ll tell you everything. All of it. I swear it,” he urged.
“You are responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocents and probably even more than that. Was it worth it?”
Mr. Reynolds was silent for several moments before saying, “For a chance to live forever without becoming a vile creature like you, yes. Every organ I harvested, every business deal that I’ve made, every corrupt politician I’ve helped get elected to office…yes. Yes, it was. I’m an inventor. That’s what I do. I create things.”
Elaina’s face tensed and she recoiled from him. “But you also kill real people.”
“I don’t. I just do what’s required. My hands are clean. Yours however, D-33…not so much.”
Elaina dug her nails into the flesh on his arms. “You weren’t being upfront with anyone you hired.”
“I wasn’t. You signed up to kill rogue vampires, and you killed rogue vampires. What else did you think you were going to be doing?”
“Reducing the world’s rogue population was only a front to keep the government off your back so you could continue your faulty operations.”
“Maybe, and we were successful at that, weren’t we, Elaina? But there was a time when I played by the rules until I realized being compressed by guidelines stalled the progress of my research, so I got involved in other side deals and business ventures. It also didn’t help that my entire family was taken from me by a creature like you.”
“A vampire killed your family?” Elaina asked.
“Not just any vampire. See, here’s the thing. You think that I failed my mission, but I didn’t. My missions are always trifold. I’ve already avenged my family’s death, but I was having fun torturing the creature who decided their fate.”
Vicq shook his head, confused at the subtle hints Mr. Reynolds was throwing out at them. But then recognition transformed Elaina’s features and her mouth fell open.
“Are you getting it now?” Mr. Reynolds laughed when Elaina didn’t respond.
“You were afforded a better education than your mother, so you should be smarter than this,” Mr. Reynolds added.
“The Dresdan from the vault,” Elaina whispered.
“Yes. That one. I’ve kept him imprisoned here for years. You’ve released a monster. One that you’ll have to deal with.”
A series of hand claps echoed just above them. Vicq glanced upward and spotted a vampire perched on the edge of the roof staring down at them. The vampire jumped down, defying gravity by slowing his descent to land softly on the pavement.
Vicq hadn’t seen this Dresdan in decades. He was clearly delineated as an ancient based on the extra markings surrounding the Dresdan symbol on his chest. His long, blue-black hair hung below his shoulders and his eyes gleamed a bright silver. A deep red tattoo of a dragon graced his entire left arm. He was the Dresdan that everyone talked about whenever discussing their history, but most had never seen him.
His name was Mercer—the warlock who’d become a vampire. An ancient and the first vampire to have ever overturned the D
resdan Court.
Chapter 25
Elaina’s heart jumped and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the tall and dark Dresdan approaching them. Even as she held Mr. Reynolds captive in her grip, she felt his fear, his body trembling.
The Dresdan continued to clap his hands, sporting an amused grin. “Very good, Stewart,” he said, his foreign Asian accent was more distinct than his tone of voice, which was mellow, yet commanding.
“Mercer,” Mr. Reynolds mumbled.
“You tell a very good story, but you left out the part about how I delivered their hearts—drained of blood—to your front door. Your wife, your uncle, and your gardener. They were all part of your scheme to murder my mate.”
“They didn’t kill her! I did.” Mr. Reynolds clenched his fists.
“No, but they sat by while she begged for her life. Your own sister. You killed your flesh and blood.”
“I couldn’t see her married or mated to a creature, a monster. She was a disgrace to our family.”
“Was she? Or did you fear that she’d discover that she was just as deserving to run the family business as you were. After her death, you took Reynolds Pharmaceuticals and turned it into the disaster that it is today.”
As Mercer closed the distance between him and Mr. Reynolds, Elaina began to back away. Intense power and something else of sizable magnitude emanated from the Dresdan. Something told her that Mercer possessed more than ten times her abilities. And judging from everyone else’s reaction, he was a force to be reckoned with.
“Instead of killing me a long time ago when you had the chance, you chose to keep me locked away in order to fuel your research projects by using my blood and DNA. Too bad you failed.”
“It was one step closer to making you the most miserable being alive,” Mr. Reynolds said. “I think I accomplished that quite well.”
“I’m going to regret this.” Mercer shoved off his jacket and tendrils of energy began to radiate from his skin, along his torso, and down his arms. “But I can’t let you live to see another day. Not knowing about the things you did to the people inside that building. You were the monster whenever you stepped foot inside those labs.”
Mercer began to chant something in a language Elaina couldn’t understand.
Mr. Reynolds scrambled backward, clutching at his throat. He glanced at Elaina, his human eyes pleading for help.
“Please,” he said. “Help me. I told you he was evil. An abomination that should’ve never been created. He won’t stop. He’ll murder all of you. He’s just that powerful.”
A turbulent wind spun around Mercer as he continued to conduct whatever spell he was using to rob Mr. Reynolds of his life force. Elaina was witnessing something she’d never thought possible. How could a Dresdan have this much power? How many lives did he have to take to get it?
“Elaina…” Mr Reynolds moved slowly against the forces pulling him down. “If ever a rogue you should kill, this is the one. He’s the one that the rogues call Master. Do it now, while he’s weak.”
Elaina lifted her palm to shield her eyes, to ward off the bits of sand and debris whipping at her face. Vicq, Melrose, and Mark were still standing amid the chaos. All of them were trying to gain their bearings in a supernatural storm that wasn’t even directed at them.
The situation turned dire when two helicopters began to buzz overhead. Police sirens blared in the distance, but they were getting closer and closer.
Elaina lifted her gaze and focused her sights on the newest threat. The Feds had arrived.
A shower of bullets began to pelt the ground, most of them directed at Mercer.
Just as Elaina thought to shift away, as was the plan before, Mr. Reynolds lurched for her. Mercer’s power faded, releasing the hold on the chief conspirator behind District 5.
Mr. Reynolds grabbed for her belt and snatched out a dagger. Not two seconds later, he thrust the blade straight through her chest.
Her knees gave out from under her, and she hit the pavement. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream.
Her vision was red, cloudy. Unfocused.
Another body hit the pavement beside her. She stared into the fearful grey eyes of Mr. Reynolds. One minute, he was intact, and the next minute he was nothing but bloody limbs spread out over the ground.
Someone lifted her. Vicq. She tried to say his name and begged him to take the pain away, but he told her to save her strength. They shifted away once, and then again.
She was forced to drink blood. Vicq’s blood.
But still it felt like she was drowning in an endless pool of misery.
She faded in and out of consciousness, afraid to let go. Afraid to die.
“Hold on,” someone said. It was Mercer’s voice.
“Please save her,” Vicq said. “Whatever the price…save her.”
“Of course,” Mercer replied.
Even though her vision was hazy, Elaina managed to see one thing as clear as day. Silver eyes—not red like a Dresdan’s.
And then she tasted his blood. Mercer’s blood. The blood of the vampire whom the rogues called Master. The moment the sweet elixir flooded over her tongue, the pain faded.
“We’re being trailed by Superiors,” she heard Mercer say to Vicq.
“I was given twenty-four hours to report to Master Russo,” Vicq said.
“Why is he still Master?”
“He betrayed Zaket. The Court is in chaos. And with their Master gone, the rogues are disorderly.”
“I was never Master to the rogues. They call me this because they know I am the only one who can fix them.”
“Fix them?”
“Yes. With my blood.”
“Right,” Vicq said. “You can create Superiors, just like a Master.”
“Yes, and do you know what an army of nonaffiliated Superiors would do to your Court?”
“I’ve heard the stories about you,” Vicq told him. “All vampires were without a Master and divided decades earlier because of you. You created an army of Superiors who succeeded in overturning the Court, thus we had no Master until Zaket pulled us all back together.”
“Indeed. I’m the most hated vampire of them all.”
“You accomplished something that no Dresdan ever had,” Vicq said. “You initiated a change in leaders and you had control over the rogues.”
“My blood magic had control over the rogues,” Mercer corrected.
“Same difference.”
“I’m a warlock and a vampire. The magic flows through my blood. No magic. No control. Make sense?”
“Sí.”
“You can accomplish the same thing. You need numbers. And you’ll only get that by going back to the Court and pledging allegiance. Avoid being put to death.”
“Vicq,” Elaina called out, reaching for him. “Please don’t leave me again.”
“I won’t,” Vicq replied, slipping his fingers into hers. “I’m right here.”
Vicq placed her head carefully on some bags of clothing, but she kept her fingers grasped around his forearm.
“Kneel just this once to Russo. Fall back in line,” Mercer said. “Prove your worth to the Court, and when the time is right, when he is vulnerable…take back what is rightfully yours.”
“I won’t kneel,” Vicq said.
“You can’t be stubborn and victorious at the same time. Russo won’t stop until you end him. I’ll tell you what…if you vow to end Russo’s reign, I’ll promise to find and bring swift end to the rest of those District 5 Heads.”
“I’ll end him,” Vicq vowed.
Mercer rose. “There’s not much time left for me to do this. Word will spread fast about what happened back there.”
Vicq nodded. “You’re right. But if I do this, you’ll rejoin the Court, sí?”
Mercer frowned. “No, you’ll never see me again. It won’t take me long to find those District Heads. After I do, I’ll make my exit. Eternal peace is waiting for me on the other side. I’m sorry, b
ut I have to go.”
“Wait!” Vicq called out.
“Do what you need to take back your Court.”
Elaina’s eyes fluttered open momentarily as a harsh wind swept across her face. The door to the van slammed shut after Mercer exited.
“Melrose!”
“Yeah!” Melrose called back from the front of the van.
“We’ve been located by Russo.”
“Well, there’s no use in making it easy for them to catch us. They’re going to have to work for it,” Melrose said.
“Fuck,” Mark exclaimed from the passenger side of the van just as the van propelled forward.
Despite the fact that the healing process had begun for Elaina, she couldn’t seem to stay awake. Her body was pulling her into slumber. The more she fought it, the weaker she became. So she held onto Vicq and closed her eyes.
Chapter 26
“Ah, you’re awake.”
As Elaina regained consciousness, an unfamiliar face came into view. At first she thought the man was an angel who’d come to take her poor soul away, but something about his smirk was more sinister than angelic.
The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in the van, but if she had recovered after taking Mercer’s blood, why then did she feel bruised and battered?
“Who are you?” she croaked.
The man waved a hand over her face. “Wake up, wake up. We have a ceremony to attend.”
“Ceremony? And who the fuck are you?”
“The day has come. The traitor we call Vicq will die.”
She bolted upright on the sofa she was lying on. Her eyes were now fixed on the stranger.
“Nice to meet you, love. My name is Russo.” He extended his hand. Highly amplified power rolled off him in waves.
Elaina looked from his hand to his face then reeled back on the couch. “Where’s Vicq?”
Russo smiled. “Not dead yet.” He ran his fingers through his exquisite blond hair and sat back in his chair to study her.
“How did I get here?” she asked.
“Vicq was trailed and captured. Just like I warned him. It’s unfortunate that you were there with him.”
Renegade (Shadow Realms): An Urban Fantasy Dragon Shifter Romance Page 40
