Dead of Night (The Revenant Book 3)

by Kali Argent

  Folding his hands together behind his back, Nikolai glanced around the room, briefly meeting each person’s questioning stare. They were nervous, anxious to recover their friends, but afraid of what they might find when they did. It was written as plainly in their expressions as if they’d voiced their fears aloud.

  The Chambers twins—leopard shifters with quick wits and devilish smiles—leaned against a towering bookshelf, their stances as identical as their physical characteristics. Both wore the standard Coalition uniform of black shirts, black cargo pants, and black combat boots. Seemingly, neither male owned a comb, since both wore their sandy-blond hair in messy disarray. When one moved, the other did. They finished each other’s sentences. They never had a disagreement of opinion.

  It was a little creepy, and it frustrated Nikolai that he still couldn’t tell which was Sean and which was Nathan.

  On the beige, overpriced sofa, Captain Deke Collins wrapped his arm around his mate, pulling Roux a closer to his side. As the only other human in the room—and the only human female—if he didn’t know her, he might have expected her to appear more alarmed. Since he did know her, however, it didn’t surprise him to find her watching him, her jaw set with determination, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

  Thea and Rhys remained by the double doors, their stances tense, alert. Of everyone in the room, Thea had lost the most in St. Louis, and moreover, she’d made a promise she couldn’t break. Her dark eyes watched Nikolai’s every move, her gaze wavering between desperation and impatience. Given her way, they’d already be halfway to Dallas to face the Abraxas coven. She was a good friend and a better soldier, but in this situation, she was too ruled by her emotions.

  Surrounded by shifters, werewolves, and humans, Nikolai sought out the only other vampire in the room. Lieutenant Miles Irati stood just beyond the sun’s rays that shone through the windows, his arms folded over his broad chest, his casual expression belied by the tightness in his neck and shoulders.

  Everyone was on edge, eager to be doing something, anything besides sitting in that office. Nikolai wished he had better news for them.

  “As most of you know, the Abraxas coven spans a territory from Texas to Georgia. They’re the largest coven in the country, and certainly the most powerful. Their numbers alone are overwhelming.”

  His family may be the oldest bloodline on the continent, but over time, “old” had ceased to be synonymous with “powerful.”

  For years, the Abraxas coven had held that coveted title. With the spread of the PN2 virus, their numbers had only grown. With their preferred food source diminished, vampires across the regions eagerly pledged their allegiance to those who could promise safety, shelter, and sustenance. All of which, the Abraxas family generously provided…for a price.

  What the Abraxas family had built was impressive considering the coven was still navigating its infancy. It had been barely a decade since Nikolai’s father had turned Morgan and Nigel Abraxas, and only five years since the two had denounced their allegiance to King Elias Diavolos. Despite their shifting loyalties, the three had parted amicably, or so it had been thought.

  Nikolai knew better. His father had a long memory, and he didn’t forgive easily.

  The Abraxas brothers had amassed a remarkable following in a short amount of time, gaining influence throughout the paranormal world. So, when the Purge struck, it hadn’t been difficult for them to negotiate for a sizeable territory from the Coalition—a region much larger and more fruitful than Elias’s kingdom in the northeast.

  Tonguing the tip of his right fang where it had just started to grow back, Nikolai winced. His father had never been generous with his affections, not even to his children, but after the Purge, he’d no longer tried to hide his cruelty. Hence, Nikolai’s missing fangs, his punishment for trying to help Roux escape from his father’s dungeon. He’d never felt pain like that, and he hoped never to again. Beyond even the physical infliction, the humiliation had nearly undone him. Then, he’d been beaten soundly and left to die, and for a while, he wished he had.

  Six months later, he still had moments when he thought a quick death might have been more merciful.

  “Big, scary vampires.” Thea’s voice cut through the sordid memory, her sarcasm the perfect balm. “Lots and lots of big, scary vampires. Got it. Get to the good stuff, Nik.”

  Those gathered seemed cautiously amused by Thea’s attitude, while Deke and Rhys laughed openly. Luca glared, his arms folded formidably across his chest, but the twitch of his lips betrayed his ire. Nikolai only dipped his head in acknowledgment. The shifter had fire, and she didn’t mince words. He liked that about her.

  “The Abraxas family has a residence just outside of Dallas, Texas,” he continued, “and they began…procuring humans about a year ago.”

  In actuality, the Abraxas brothers had been in Texas for much longer, gaining allies and influence across the South. By the time the virus had spread, they’d been well-prepared to step in and take over the region.

  Everyone in the room nodded as if this was to be expected, but it was Rhys Lockwood who spoke first.

  “Why are wolves kidnapping these people for the coven? What do the packs get out of it?”

  “They get to keep their lands.” Nikolai sighed. It was a valid question, but one with a complicated answer. “My sources say the Abraxas coven is looking to expand their already vast territory. Packs up and down Demon Alley have been making deals with them.”

  The Abraxas coven controlled what had come to be known as Deadman’s Bend, which included more land than any other coven or pack. In their quest for power, they now sought ownership of Demon Alley, a stretch of werewolf-controlled Deadlands that extended from central Missouri to western Colorado. It was a dark and desolate trek of territory made even more lethal by the Ravagers who roamed the highways and beyond.

  Nikolai held his right hand out, palm facing the high ceiling. “The packs kidnap humans, weed out the weak ones, then hand them over to the coven.” He repeated the same motion with his left hand. “In exchange, the coven leaves them in peace.”

  He could tell by the looks on his friends’ faces they all thought the same thing—all except Miles Irati. Miles eyed him speculatively, his eyebrows drawn together and his lips pursed. The shifters and humans assumed the coven wanted humans to feed on, and partly, they’d be right.

  Employing werewolf packs to procure only strong, vital humans made little sense. Blood was blood, no matter the physical wellness of its host. Moreover, if the goal was to claim the packs’ territories as their own, making deals with the werewolves didn’t fit that agenda.

  Something big was happening in Deadman’s Bend. Something dangerous. Nikolai just didn’t know what.

  “We can’t fight them,” Rhys said, breaking the silence to voice what everyone had been thinking. “We can’t win.”

  Nikolai shook his head slowly. “No, we can’t, and it would be foolish to even try.”

  “Then, that’s it?” Cheeks flushed and nostrils flared, Thea released her mate’s hand and stepped forward. “We’re not even going to try? We’re just going to leave our friends there to die?”

  “It’s been more than a month,” Captain Dresden reminded her, his tone subdued. “It’s more than likely that your friends are already dead, Corporal.”

  Thea clenched her fists against her thighs and leveled the captain with a scathing glare. “Fuck. You. I promised I would find them, and I will. Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter.” She seemed to struggle for every breath, every word. Her voice vibrated with righteousness, and her shoulders shook as she struggled to control herself. “Sit here and cower in your fucking mansion. I’m going to find my friends.”

  Nikolai had expected as much, and he knew many others would follow, himself included. Cade and Abby were friends, and he wouldn’t leave his friends behind. The other humans, a female named Kamara and a male called Duncan, he’d never met, but he was just as dedicated to their rescue. Dead or alive, h
e’d do whatever it took to bring them all home.

  “You know I have your back, angel.” Rhys stepped forward to stand at Thea’s side. “Tell me when, and we’ll go.”

  “I’m going, too.” Dodging her mate’s reaching hand, Roux shoved up from the sofa and strode over to take her place by Thea’s side. “Abby and Cade are my friends, and I’m going to find them.” Quieter, more subdued, she added, “I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

  After a bit of muttering and grumbling, Deke finally stood to join his mate. “I go where the stubborn female goes.” He took Roux’s hand when she grinned at him, bringing it to his lips to brush a kiss over the knuckles. “Abby was my friend, too. If I can help bring her back, I will.”

  Nikolai fought back a grin as he arched both eyebrows at those so eager to rush to their deaths.

  “It’s suicide, you know?” They’d probably never make it into the compound in Texas, let alone escape with their lives. Good thing he liked a challenge. “When do we start?”

  As it turned out, the answer to that question was “immediately,” and for the next two weeks, their every waking moment was consumed with preparations. Thea, Rhys, and Deke had questioned the pardoned wolves, though they’d learned little of consequence, and nothing that would help them infiltrate the compound outside of Dallas.

  Lieutenant Deidra O’Malley—a pretty she-wolf with hair like a flame and a thick Irish lilt—had been recruited to train the werewolves who wanted to fight. Unfortunately, their progress had been slow, much too slow to risk bringing most of them along on the mission. Five days after their initial meeting, they’d set out for a Revenant bunker—a six-bedroom secluded cabin—forty miles south of the Oklahoma border with just three new enforcers added to their ranks.

  The following week had only reaped further disappointment.

  They’d broken into groups of three or four, each making the hour-long trek to a little town northeast of Dallas to scout the Abraxas facilities. Unfortunately, every group that returned to the cabin brought with them the same discouraging news. The compound was a fortress, protected by a dedicated army of highly trained guards. Any attempt to breach the perimeter with brute force would be met with lethal resistance by superior numbers.

  With rising frustrations and failing morale, the group had reached their breaking point by the end of the second week. While none of them were yet willing to admit defeat or abandon the undertaking, their situation was becoming more hopeless by the day.

  “A fence surrounds the compound on three sides. It starts here at the interstate, runs east along this road, and ends here.” Deke pointed to the places on the hand-drawn map he’d spread out on the cabin’s scarred dining room table. “It all butts up to this lake in the back.”

  “As far as we can tell,” Luca said, taking up where the shifter had left off, “this hotel is where most of the vampires stay.” He pointed to a large rectangle on the eastern edge of the compound, then slid his finger to a cluster of squares near the western fence line. “These buildings here are—or at least were—boutique shops, restaurants, a private medical practice, and so on. That big one on the end is an old movie theater.”

  Nikolai scanned the map, locating each of the places Luca mentioned. He’d seen the buildings in person during surveillance, but it was different viewing the compound as a whole. It was even bigger than he’d estimated, with several additional buildings located outside of the quarantined zone.

  “Do we know what’s on the other side of the lake?” He tapped at a blank corner of the map and drew his finger in a circle.

  The she-wolf, Deidra, shook her head. “Just some other small town. I’ve not seen much activity.”

  “I’ve seen a few patrols going through there.” Luca rubbed both hands over his face and sighed. “I think we have to assume the coven monitors the area.”

  “Okay.” Nodding, Nikolai quickly thought through the web of his tangled thoughts. “Okay,” he repeated. “We agree our best option is to come in from the water, right?” He tapped his finger against the wavy blob on the back side of the compound. “The lake is approximately two miles across, maybe a little more. We can’t swim that, and boats will be too loud. They’d hear us coming before we ever reached the banks.”

  Luca bobbed his head several times, shuffling closer to the table as he stared intently at the map. “I see what you’re saying. We’ll need a diversion.”

  “We could blow up the hotel,” Deidra offered. “This bridge”—she jabbed the map hard enough to wrinkle the paper—“is maybe a quarter of a mile from the back of the hotel?”

  “More like half a mile,” Luca corrected with a smirk. “Still, an easy swim for a werewolf.”

  “Aye, it is.” Deidra popped her hip out to the right and folded her arms over her breasts. “Get a couple of us to the bridge, and we’ll make sure you have your diversion.”

  “Hit up Miles. He likes blowing shit up, and he’s damn good at it.”

  “That’s all well and good, but we still don’t know in which of these buildings Abby and the others being held.” Hesitating for a heartbeat, Nikolai forced himself to speak the words no one wanted to admit. “Or if they’re still alive.”

  “I don’t think that matters anymore, mate.” Unfolding her arms, Deidra placed both palms flat against the tabletop and leaned forward. “We have to try. Can you live with yourself if we don’t?”

  Not at all. He’d made a promise, along with the rest of the Revenant members, and despite the difficulties before them, he’d see it through. If the rescue of their friends proved unnecessary, they could still make their efforts count by saving other innocent lives.

  “Okay, but we won’t have the time or the manpower to search all these buildings. We have to know where to look.”

  Sadly, no one had any suggestions about how to accomplish the task, but for once, luck was on their side.

  Three weeks after they’d left the little town of Valley Falls, Nikolai’s surveillance team had tracked a suspicious cargo van thirty miles from the Abraxas compound. In the back of the vehicle, they’d discovered over a dozen humans—eight females and five males—all offerings from a pack of coyote shifters traveling from Nebraska. Once they’d freed the captives, sending them on their way to the safe house in Kansas City with the werewolf enforcers as their guides, it had been a simple matter of convincing the two shifters in the van to escort them to the drop point.

  Given a choice between aiding them or being beaten within an inch of their lives by Luca, both had eagerly agreed to the former.

  Fortune had continued to be their companion when they arrived at a semi-private area three miles from the coven’s compound and found only two guards waiting to greet them. Since they only needed one of them, Luca and Deke moved quickly to dispatch the spare.

  “Not that one.” Nikolai didn’t know why, but there was something about the blond vampire with his gaunt, angular features that seemed familiar. “Trust me,” he added when both males looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. “He’s the one we want.”

  After rendering the second guard unconscious and stuffing him into the back of the shifters’ van, Deke leaned into the driver’s window and growled.

  “Drop him at least a hundred miles from here,” he instructed the coyotes. Then, with an iciness that brooked no argument, “Don’t come back.”

  “They’ll be back,” Nikolai muttered, watching the red glow of the van’s rear lights fade into the distance.

  “Yep,” Luca answered. “So, let’s not be here when they do.”

  With little effort and no help, Luca dragged their captive into a dark, abandoned building that, according to the sign on the awning, had once been an insurance agency. Now, they just needed him to cooperate.

  “I’m not telling you shit.” Tied to a folding metal chair, the male turned his head and spat on the floor. “You’re dead. All of you.”

  The vampire had a haggard appearance, but it was hard to tell if it came from a
hard life or just a disagreeable temperament. Still, something about him tickled at the fringes of Nikolai’s memories. He had seen this male before, several years ago, but he couldn’t put a name or situation to the face.

  The snap of skin meeting skin echoed throughout the empty room as Luca drove his fist into the soldier’s jaw. The vampire’s head jerked to the side, and blood sprayed from his mouth. When he turned back to face them, he laughed.

  “Why this one?” Deke looked at Nikolai with an arched brow. “He’s clearly lost his vertical hold.”

  “There’s something about…” Trailing off as that statement sunk in, Nikolai cocked his head to the side and frowned. “What?”

  Deke indicated their prisoner with a sharp nod. “He’s crazy as hell.”

  The vampire watched them carefully, his cerulean eyes narrowed, his gaze darting back and forth between them. “You got a girl trapped in there or something?”

  Luca’s upper lip curled over his straight, white teeth. “Something like that.”

  “How long?”

  Luca hit him again.

  Once recovered, the vampire smirked, the smugness ruined by the blood that dripped down his chin. “That long, huh? You know she’s probably dead, right?”

  In answer, Luca kicked the seat between the male’s thighs, toppling him onto his back. His chest heaved, and his hands curled into fists as he stood over the vampire, his booted foot pressed against the guard’s throat.

  “Keep talking. Say one more fucking word.”

  Not for the first time, Nikolai’s gaze strayed to the silver chain stretched around Luca’s wrist. He recognized it as Abigail Dawson’s, one of the very humans they were trying to save. Luca had never mentioned what, if any, past he shared with the female, but clearly, there was something there, something much deeper than he was willing to admit.

  Whatever his reasons, Luca’s temper was getting them nowhere.

  “Captain.” With a hand on Luca’s shoulder, Nikolai urged him away from the vampire on the ground. “He can’t tell us anything if you kill him.”