by K. L. Kreig
“Fuck. Okay, twenty-nine girls missing in the last three weeks between our Regents. What I didn’t tell you about Kate, other than she’s my Moira, is that she’s a dreamwalker.”
It was so quiet in the room you could hear a pin drop.
“She hasn’t seen Xavier specifically, but she’s described an evil presence. I know it’s him; I feel it in every cell of my body. She said others are being held as well.” He described Kate’s latest dream and the session earlier today with Olivia. “Hopefully next time she dreams about Sarah she can discern Xavier’s location, but we can’t wait for her to have another dream. As you know, dreamwalkers can’t control them. We know Thatcher was going to interrogate the professor who last saw Sarah Hill. Do we know what went down with that yet?”
“I have a call into him,” growled Ren. “Asshole hasn’t called me back yet.”
Romaric spoke up. “You’d all do well to build a cooperative relationship with the local police versus an adversarial one. It’s worked well in my Regent.”
“Why, thank you for that observation, Romaric. I hadn’t thought of that myself.” Ren’s comment dripped with sarcasm.
Dev spoke up. “Thatcher has his reasons.” He needed to get this meeting back on track. “I think we need to call Esmeralda.” That quieted down the room.
Damian pushed off the wall that he’d been leaning against. “Fuck, no. That’s a supremely bad idea, Dev.” Damian had some strange aversion to witches of any kind.
“What choice do we have, Damian? I’m open to other ideas here, but we clearly need some help because we’re making no progress. You heard Kate’s last dream.”
Damian took a few steps toward Dev. “Dev, listen. I know this is personal for you man, but we all want Xavier dead just as much as you do. He’s a threat to our entire race, to our way of life. We all agree something needs to be done, but to involve a witch, that one in particular, is the worst possible idea. She can’t be trusted. You know that.”
He knew involving Esmeralda was a bad idea, but he was desperate. As long as Xavier lived, there was always a chance he could find Kate. That absolutely terrified him.
“What other ideas you got?”
“I have all of my ears to the ground, as does Romaric, and I know you do as well. From what we’ve been able to piece together so far, we think that Xavier’s new HQ may be out of your Regent, Dev. Fucker is probably right under our noses. Let’s wait ’til dusk tomorrow. If we know nothing new from the cop, your woman, or from any of our contacts, we revisit the witch discussion.”
Everyone agreed that was the best approach. The idea of those girls spending another minute in Xavier’s clutches made Dev physically ill, but patience was required when hunting. He normally excelled at patience, but it seemed he’d left it on the floor of the observation room at the police station the moment he first laid eyes on Kate.
Chapter 27
Kate
She woke to a cold, empty bed. It took her a second to get her bearings. She was in Dev’s house. And Dev wasn’t in her bed, where he said he would be. The sheets on his side were cold, so she knew he’d been gone for some time now, which meant he wasn’t just using the bathroom. She should feel relieved that he’d decided to leave after all, but somehow she just felt…sad.
She’d foolishly believed him when he’d told her he’d wanted more than just sex. That he’d wanted her. She’d fallen asleep dreaming of what life would be like as Mrs. Devon Fallinsworth someday. She was the worst kind of fool.
She’d told him to go, but he’d convinced her there was no place he’d rather be than with her. He made her feel like a completely different person, like she was somehow becoming the woman she always knew lurked deep inside of her. She didn’t feel comfortable around most people, but with Dev…with Dev, it was like she was home, wrapped in a fluffy robe with matching fuzzy slippers, in front of a fireplace, sipping champagne. She was content for the first time in her life.
She sighed heavily. She needed to get out of here before she fell completely in love with this man. Since it wasn’t safe to go home, maybe she could stay with Erin? It was probably for the best. She didn’t know if she could stomach seeing Dev again without throwing herself at him, begging him to return the feelings she’d grown for him. Begging him to make love to her again.
God, Kate. Have more respect for yourself than that. She wouldn’t beg any man for anything. Ever. She was leaving in the morning for sure. If she had her own car here, she’d leave now. She knew Dev would fight her on it, but she didn’t care. She simply had to get out of this house and away from him for good. Get back to her boring, lonely life and work on eliminating him from her head, and heart.
Sleep was elusive, so she decided to head to the kitchen for a glass of water. Or better yet, a shot of tequila if she could find some. She threw on pajama shorts and tank and headed downstairs.
When she reached the first level, the house was blazing with lights, but there was no one to be found. Strange. Why would all of the lights be on in the middle of the night?
Glancing out the front door, she saw several new vehicles that weren’t there earlier. At least she didn’t think they were. She filled her glass with water in the kitchen. Unfortunately, there was no tequila to be found. She strained to hear any noises in the house. Nothing.
She decided to check out the office. No one was there either, but as luck would have it, a mini bar was tucked in the corner, with an unopened bottle of Patron calling her name. Hello, darling.
Trying to convince herself it wasn’t because she was drowning her sorrows, she helped herself to a couple of shots to help her sleep—hopefully dreamless. While she let the tequila take its effect, she wandered the empty house, ending up in the game room. She’d hoped to get lucky and run into Ren or Manny, but the game room was empty too.
All of a sudden she heard a strange noise, like whooshing. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Rhythmic. Soothing. It sounded almost like blood pounding in her ears when she’d been in the handstand yoga pose for four or five minutes. She frantically looked around to see if anyone was here. Nope. Nada.
What. The. Hell. Was. Going. On?
She left the game room to search the rest of the house, everywhere except the bedrooms at this late hour, but it was empty. And now she couldn’t stop hearing that damn whooshing noise, even outside of the game room, but it intensified the most when she was there. Every instinct told her the sound was coming from downstairs, but Dev said this was the lowest level of the house. She searched all over again for an entrance to a basement and finding nothing, returned to the game room.
There had to be something here leading to another level. She didn’t know why she had such an overwhelming need to figure this mystery out.
She began inspecting walls, pulling books out of shelves, turning off and on light switches. What the hell did she think she was doing? Starring in an Agatha Christie novel? Frustrated, she sat in one of the leather chairs by the pool table.
Staring in the direction of the pool rack, she noticed a very slight crack, spanning floor to ceiling on the right side of the rack. It looked out of place but not glaringly so. She walked to the rack and tried fiddling with everything and anything, feeling around for a hidden button. Ready to give up, she leaned on one of the pool sticks and voila! The wall holding the pool rack cracked open and a stairway leading into the dark was in front of her.
With the door open, the noise was clearly louder. As she stood there, staring into the black abyss, she’d transitioned from an Agatha Christie novel to Stephen King movie and the audience was screaming, “DON’T GO INTO THE BASEMENT, YOU IDIOT!”
Even though her brain screamed this was a moronic, reckless idea, some unknown force she couldn’t resist was pulling her down the stairs. She faltered. Maybe she should stop and wait until she found Dev. No. No…that was a bad idea for many reasons.
Down she went…slowly, stair after stair. Her heart raced. The light from the game room only spilled so far down th
e stairwell and soon she was enveloped entirely in blackness. But strangely enough, she could see much better than she thought she’d be able to. Her eyes must have adjusted quickly.
As she reached the bottom, the noise intensified and compelled her forward.
She was getting more freaked out by the minute, and not because she was waiting for Freddy or Jason to jump out and go all slasher on her. No. She was freaked out because of the bizarre things that had been happening to her since she’d arrived at this house.
This unholy attraction to Dev. His whispers in her head. This God awful, but oddly intensely pleasurable whooshing noise. Her keen eyesight in the dark? WTF?
She’d come this far, so pushing all errant thoughts to the back of her head for later examination she kept moving forward. This level looked like a series of underground tunnels with cold, damp limestone walls and concrete floors. The only thing missing were wall torches. On a scale of one to ten, this ranked at least nineteen on the creepy scale and she had no qualms admitting she was scared shitless. Still, an unseen source pulled her toward the noise. She was unable to stop.
Coming to a fork, instinct told her to turn left. She passed several doors, but had enough sense not to open any. After another left turn, she heard voices and the noise intensified further.
Oh crap. Whooshing, Superman eyes and now voices? She had officially lost it.
She was drawn to a door about halfway down and the noise pulsing in her head was now almost as loud as a jet engine.
Taking a deep breath to calm the swarm of butterflies in her stomach, she slowly opened the door. The crushing noise in her ears muted the voices, but as soon as the door opened, all of the noises stopped. Just stopped. And ten sets of glowing eyes turned toward her.
Chapter 28
Xavier
“Bill, you’re not lookin’ so good ol’ buddy. In fact you’re looking downright peaked.”
A vamp on each arm was physically holding up Bill, as he watched Xavier tie his naked wife and daughters to the kitchen chairs.
“Please, please don’ hurt them, master. I gave you what you wanted! Please let them go and you can do anythin’ you want to me. They have nothin’ to do with this. Please!” Hot tears were streaming down Bill’s face.
“Now, Bill. If I were to let them go, that wouldn’t set a very good example for the other minions, would it? And I’m nothing if not a man of my word. I told you to get me the woman or you would watch me slaughter your lovely wife here, Camille, and your precious daughters, Becky and Ashley. You failed. I’m afraid this is the consequence for failure, human.” His wife and daughters were crying and screaming hysterically, pleading with Bill to help.
Bill sobbed and thrashed, trying to free himself to help his family.
“It’s not my fault. There was someone watchin’ her. I did everythin’ I could. I swear. And you have the woman and Thatcher’s addresses. You’ll be able to get them. Please let my family go!”
Xavier didn’t have to do this. He’d get the woman eventually. He didn’t have to do this, but he was a bastard of epic proportions and he wanted to. He’d been looking quite forward to it actually.
He never broke Bill’s gaze, grabbing his wife by the hair with one hand and a naked breast with the other, he ruthlessly twisted her nipple and jerked her head to the side, before slowly sinking his long fangs into her carotid and drinking deep. The human female screamed out for her husband to help her, sobbing and fighting in earnest. The daughters were screaming and blubbering. They were next. Young blood was the sweetest of all, especially with fear coursing through it.
Yes, he was going to enjoy every second of the long night ahead.
Chapter 29
Mike
Mike lay in the cheap motel room’s lumpy bed, eyes fixed on the water stained and crumbling popcorn-style ceiling overhead. He thought he’d have drunk enough to be in a coma by now, but nope…his fucking mind wouldn’t shut off. It never shut off. He had yet to figure out that little trick. And yet, each year on this day…he attempted just that.
He desperately wanted to forget. Forget the emptiness inside his shell of a body. Forget the heartache of a love lost. Forget the stabbing pain he felt when he thought about a future that would never be. Forget what he’d lost eleven years ago today. Eleven years? How was that possible? It seemed like just yesterday. He dreamed of her often, and while it was comforting, it was also pure hell.
This was his unique brand of torture. His mind wanted to forget; yet his heart couldn’t. It wanted to remember, but he couldn’t quite do that either. He couldn’t remember the exact cadence of her voice. He couldn’t remember the exact smell of her skin. Or the sound of her laughter. Or the last thing he said to her.
He was alive and she was dead. Presumed dead.
Mike took another healthy swig of the nearly empty bottle of Gentlemen Jack. Even the bottle was mocking him. He was no gentleman. He was alive, but he was dead inside. He poisoned his body with alcohol and cigarettes with disturbing regularity. He took untold and unnecessary risks in his job. He fucked women without discretion or emotion, all the while thinking of her. He had a dick after all and it needed to be used, or it would fall off. Or so Johnny, his best friend in middle school had told him.
He simply didn’t give a shit what happened to him. He was a walking dead man. He was solely consumed and overtaken with the need for revenge. Hell, he wasn’t much better than most vamps he knew. He’d find the one responsible one day. One day soon. He could feel the time was drawing near.
God, he missed her. A tear seeped out of his eye, rolling into his ear. Although intellectually he knew there was nothing he could have done to save her, the man in him thought he should have, and he’d played a sick game of what-ifs for the last eleven years.
What if he’d insisted she go out with him and instead of to that frat party? What if she weren’t drinking, would she have been able to better defend herself? What if he’d picked her up after the party and drove her back to her apartment, instead of letting her walk home? What if he’d stopped by after she was supposed to be home? They would have known she was missing earlier. What-ifs. His life was one big fucking wasted what-if.
Another swig and the bottle was finally empty. He dropped it on the floor beside the bed and flopped back on the flat motel pillow. As he began to finally succumb to the numbing effects of the alcohol, he thought about his ritual tomorrow. He always took the day off after this particular binge. He’d nurse his
hangover for a good portion of the day, pick up marigolds, her favorite flower, and make the long drive to northern Wisconsin to visit her grave.
I miss you so much, Jamie. That was his last thought before he blessedly passed out.
Chapter 30
Dev
For indeterminable seconds, Dev simply stared at Kate standing in the doorway of the boardroom, not believing the sight before him. How had she found the lower levels? How had she made her way to the boardroom in the pitch black of the tunnels?
Two things happened simultaneously. T, one of Damian’s guards, growled and in a lightning fast move, lunged toward Kate. At the same time, Kate screamed and threw up her hands in a protective gesture, stopping T dead in his tracks. Not dead, as in literal, but she had rendered him completely immobile.
What. The. Fuck?
Kate turned and fled, making it half way up the stairs before he was able to flash in front of her. Seeing him in front of her so suddenly threw her off balance and she stumbled backwards, cracking her head on the limestone wall right before he could catch her, preventing her complete tumble down the hard steps.
The minute her skin split apart, her sweet blood pooled to the surface. Involuntarily, his fangs shot down and his dick hardened painfully. Holy. Mother. Of. God. Her blood smelled better than a forest full of lilac bushes in full bloom. Fuck, Dev. That was such an inappropriate thought, you asshole.
Dev pushed back his involuntary bodily reactions. Taking care of Kate was his only
priority. As he cradled an unconscious and bleeding Kate against his chest, he knew he would never forget the confusion in her eyes as she opened the boardroom door. Or the fear in her eyes as T lunged toward her. Or the betrayal in her eyes as she looked up at him on the stairs. Goddamn it! He did not want her to find out this way. He’d planned on telling her tomorrow, but on his terms.
He didn’t know whether she was unconscious from shock or the fall, but he could hear her strong and steady pulse, so he prayed she would be okay. She had to be okay. Please, Kate…be okay. I can’t live without you, love.
“Giselle, keep everyone in the boardroom.”
The last thing he needed was a bunch of vamps running around the house while his Moira was bleeding all over.
“Ren and Leo, I need your help in my bedroom. Now. I need some wet cloths and bandages ASAP. Flash in. Be prepared, she’s bleeding and unconscious.”
“Right away,” Leo answered.
Ren’s response was a bit different. “What the fuck just happened, Dev?”
“I have no fucking idea. Just get up here and we’ll figure it out later. All that matters right now is Kate.”
He didn’t know what the hell happened. Kate had found them. How had she found the secret passageway? She’d immobilized T with a flick of her hands. How could she do that? Dreamwalkers didn’t possess powers like that. As powerful as he was, he didn’t possess that power and even if he did, they hadn’t bonded yet, so she wouldn’t be able to access it. He felt like he’d entered the twilight zone, probably much like Kate felt. Shit hit the fan in a matter of seconds.
Dev laid Kate on his bed, careful of the wound on the back of her head. He opened her eyes to see her pupils fully dilated and unresponsive, but everything else seemed okay. Her pulse was strong and steady, her breathing even. Ren and Leo flashed in with some medical supplies.
